Real Del Monte

In 1825 four ships landed on Mexico’s east coast at Veracruz loaded with miners from Cornwall, England and 150 tons of mining equipment. They hauled it all across the mountains to this small hill town and changed everything for the residents and future visitors. 

First we had to get there. The journey in simple terms had us circumnavigating the capital city from Toluca to Pachuca which it next to our goal, Real Del Monte, which confusingly is also known as Mineral Del Monte has a population of 14,000 people living at 8800  feet or 2712 meters. It was known as Real (Royal) thanks to its years as mining town under the Spanish crown who as you might imagine wanted the gold silver and other minerals found in these mountains. Republican Mexico recognizes it as a source of mineral wealth so it’s official name is Mineral of the Mountain.  

I enjoyed the  drive around Mexico City and even sticking to freeways it was a good day on the road. It started with driving down the dirt road from the volcano into the city of Toluca where we got on the first of several freeways to get around  the capital and it’s nine million inhabitants. 

Mexico City scares me. Traffic is said to be hectic beyond belief and unforgiving. However what’s worse is that they have pollution laws in effect and very strict rules about who can drive on what days. To drive there you have to have a permit, available to non residents for 14 days at a time but if you drive on the wrong days or without permission you will get busted by the city police and fines are heavy. Therefore I don’t want to cross city limits in my car. One day by plane maybe as there is much to see. 

The bypass ran through miles of run down slums, the places where people go to live close to where the work is. And where the toll booths are. 

I’ve said it before but why in blazes do they make such awkward tolls? It’s a constant round of shuffling coins, for instance as here at 38 pesos for cars. Make it forty and be done. No, the toll is 38 pesos at this booth, so for less than two bucks workers are handling endless numbers of two peso coins all day. Motorcycles charged 19 pesos (1$US) have to fiddle with a one peso coin with their receipt. Idiocy. 

Great roads terrible views as we drove through the slums ringing the source of all work. 

I watched this couple on the motorcycle skip the toll in front of us. They cut into the line and slipped by in the shadow of the pick up but the toll machine noticed and the operator jotted down a note to cover her ass. Most motorcycles this  size have no tags so that’s a buck lost to the system! 

The Cornish miners who came to Real Del Monte brought their food with them and you’ll see pasty shops including this chain with stores all around this part of Mexico. We tried Pasteko pasty (paste or “pass-tay” is the name in Spanish) but they use flakey pastry which isn’t authentic. Chain stores…tsk Tsk, but they made a nice lunch break! 

To get to Real Del Monte you drive through the capital of Hidalgo State and the city of Pachuca sprawls mightily into the valley. It felt like we drove forever to get through the urban agglomeration into the mountains. Finally we saw the sign welcoming us to the tourist corridor and the roads immediately went to shit so our speed dropped to 15 miles per hour. 

Real Del Monte is supposed to be one of the top attractions for Mexican tourists, and that’s no surprise really bad it’s so close to the city. It’s a disorganized badly run town and I don’t suppose it matters much to the people in charge as the money flows in regardless. 

There is no campground so the best place to stay is in the main parking lot. It’s free on weekdays and has public toilets if you need them so you pick a spot and park. We walked Rusty and passed a monument to the creation of football in soccer mad Mexico. Yup, those Cornish miners brought soccer to Real Del Monte and Mexicos obsession was born here. Lovely monument! 

A bus driver stopped alongside and asked if it was free to park here. At first I thought he was asking for money which I thought was weird but it was even worse: there are no signs. He brought a bunch of tourists and I had to explain you paid 40 pesos a day on weekends and it was free weekdays (according to iOverlander). That’s how bloody stupid the city of this town is. And this is how they celebrate the founding of football: 

Not all the city’s 14,000 inhabitants make a good living from tourism as you can see and I definitely got the “touron” vibe here. Traffic was aggressive in the narrow streets and one more idiot in a big car sent them over the edge. Mind you I’m pretty handy with GANNET2 in the narrow lanes folding my mirrors and driving confidently with an inch to spare but I got yelled at. I was clearly a tourist moron as they used to say in Key West, a term I despised and never used when I made a good living from tourists. 

We needed a walk so even at this altitude, 9000 feet, we went into town on foot and it was quite charming. This building under slow renovation reminded me of the Bull and Whistle on Duval Dtreet in Key West. 

It’s shabby and picturesque…

…and the streets really are narrow. We drove strictly to reach tourist sites. Walking was pleasant if breathless. 

Some people collect rocks and they were catered to: 

There are few if any concessions to foreigners here. This is a Mexican tourist town. English is not spoken and is not seen at tourist sites. 

A tourist couple from the capital  we met who chatted with us for a while as we caught our breath at the top of the steps. This town comes to life on weekends but I wouldn’t want you to think we were completely alone.  

Pretty empty an hour before dark in a weekday. 

This Dad was playing video games with his daughter and stopped to practice his English. We talked about where we from and they posed for me. 

Everyone is on the phone always. 

Home sweet home. 

Diner was pasties made with proper wet crust pastry. We tried the rather bland traditional filling of meat and potatoes but they also do refried beans, green and red mole and I had a weird hot dog and ham and cheese filling. 

Green chicken mole: 

And do to bed. A cool comfortable night with no traffic and no dogs barking. Clearly this is an unusual town. 

Nevado De Toluca

The road up the mountain to the snowy volcano overlooking the city of Toluca is rough dirt. You’d think I would rant about that as I have about potholes in asphalt but it was expected and dirt in pursuit of an interesting destination is fine by me. Google Maps said it is 8.6 miles to the entrance gate at the ranger station. iOverlander said the road was tough; I was ready. 

It was bumpy owing to the many rocks peppering the surface but in between the rocks the road was covered with gray talcum powder. Subsequently that dust got onto every surface of GANNET2. Brilliant. But the scenery as we climbed the mountainside, The Nevado de Toluca, the views were worth it.

Naturally you could have knocked me over with a feather when we passed some cyclists having a fun ride in the thin fresh air. I thought we were pretty heroic until that moment!

I later met a guy who parked at the top and went running to the bottom and back up again. We chatted and I was the one who was breathless, not him. 

It was early evening, around 4:30 and the sun was starting to head to the horizon and the scenery was spectacular. We also found the lower entrance gate unstaffed at the village parking lot so we were not asked for the 60 peso ($3US) entrance fee. I’d have been happy to pay but the ticket sellers apparently go home early. 

We bounced slowly along at ten miles per hour. The drive up took almost one hour and by that stage we were a long way up above sea level when we parked for the night. 

We passed a Telmex antenna array a couple of miles before the entrance gate but if cellphone signals we had none. 

It really is a pretty cool spot even for flat landers like us. Perhaps especially for us, used to being at sea level. 

Power poles suddenly appeared so we weren’t exactly off the grid.

In the distance you can see the ranger station on the far right, the long low police station and off to the left the public toilets, which worked even though you had to flush with a dipper filled from a water barrel. I figured all that out later. The road behind was another few miles to a campsite, reportedly a field with no facilities, a base camp for a climb up the mountain. 

We arrived after 3pm when the place officially closes. There are no signs to direct a late arrival to park but a ranger appeared from the little hut spewing woodsmoke.  

There’s a ten dollar charge to reach the campground but here we were at 13,650 feet (4150 meters) and free to park for the night for nothing. The mountain itself is the fourth highest in Mexico at 15,350 feet or 4680 meters. 

We backed up under the ranger’s direction near the bathrooms which was convenient. The building below to the left houses the ten person State Police detachment. 

Evening throws long shadows. 

The valley two and a half miles below us: 

The temperatures were quite pleasant out of the wind and in the sun but we were nowhere near acclimated for this altitude. There are a lot of numbers today but let me try to run this by you. The highest road in the US is in Colorado called the Mount Evans Scenic byway at 14,140 feet. Pikes Peak is 25 feet lower. So this madness is within spitting distance. I’ve never driven this high though last year we camped on public lands at ten thousand feet near Durango in Colorado.

Rusty absolutely loved it. I of course was worried about him but he pranced around constantly tugging me out to go for a walk. I staggered behind him but he had no apparent altitude problems. He sat outside in the freezing wind and only came in to eat a huge dinner. He slept long and loud. Layne couldn’t sleep at all and I struggled to get comfortable. We listened to Rusty snoring happily. 

The toilet anteroom has a spectacular view though it was very  cold porcelain you sat upon as you contemplated your achievement driving up here. Oh and we had a faint cell signal on the throne. I checked and sent an email and a couple of texts. The toilets had seats but bring your own toilet paper, a common requirement in Mexico. You can just see one of the water barrels used to flush. I was amazed by the civility. 

We put up our window covers and it was just as well. Overnight lows were at freezing and we had the space  heater to keep us reasonably warm.  

Morning cake and I was reluctant to get up. Around eight I took Rusty for a walk with him prancing around and me huddling under my woolen poncho properly known as a serape. 

It was a weekday, a Wednesday morning yet there were lots of cars and people gearing up to hit the trails. I had planned to take walk to the lakes not vet far up but I was in no condition. 

Dogs are welcome where cats go but not on the trails. Fine by us! 

The views were spectacular from the road and I was glad to be there. And breathing. 

This trip was a test run for our plans to go high above sea level driving the Andes. One lesson I did learn is that we need to acclimatize as we go uphill. I think we will be taking a slow drive uphill in Colombia, pausing to get used to the lack of air as we go. This drive was a wake up call. 

GANNET2 did great. I don’t push my heavy home on dirt roads and up hills, but there was nothing to indicate we were at high altitude as our Promaster started ran and stopped as normal. 

Time for a souvenir photo (“Do I look as though I just strolled down.” “Yes dear,”) and off we went back down.  Up next, a place in Hidalgo  State that makes a tourism living by selling Cornish Pasties. True story.