Our colourful guesthouse!

Tepotztlan, not to be confused with Tepozatlan (I know, how could you even?), was our second stop on the trip, after Mexico City. While both are weekend retreats for Chilangos (people from Mexico City), Tepoztlan is obviously the better of the two, because we went there. Which was really just because it is located south and we are heading south. Anyway, it’s a pretty (small) town, with really steep streets. We walked downhill to our guesthouse, which was lovely, and most importantly, had a hammock! I love hammocks!

My favourite activity- hammocking!

Because it’s primarily a weekend town, we expected it to be dead quiet during the week, but there were lots of people out and about, especially in the main square. There was even a play in the square one night! Of course, what this really meant was that come Saturday, the town would be absolutely thriving (and super traffic jammed as everyone tried to drive down the narrow roads coming from Mexico City). That was the day we left, so we didn’t witness the supposed debauchery.

Tepo (we shortened it, but I doubt others would as I don’t know how you would tell the difference between the two towns!), was the first place we saw the effects of the recent earthquakes. We had just walked up about a thousand stairs (I have no idea how many it actually was, but it felt like a very mini version of Adam’s Peak), arrived at the top and found out that the historical site where we would get a gorgeous view of the town was closed. There were some people working behind the gates, which seemed promising, but apparently they weren’t sure when it would open. According to an American woman we met, it was the first day she had seen the trail where the “permanently closed” signs were down. So that was a good sign!

We walked down without the view and wandered way down (literally, down) the town to the weekly organic market suggested to us by the same American woman, which turned out to be a few stalls selling a few vegetables, plus the requisite handicrafts, milled around by many hippie American expats all catching up no doubt on their thrilling events of the week. After a full three minutes of wandering, we decided to try the second recommendation by the American woman and discovered a gorgeous coffee shop surrounded by lush gardens and comfy chairs. Unfortunately, inhabiting those chairs were mostly old gringos arguing whether Trump was racist, and hippie moms with their kids. But hey, the wifi was as strong as the coffee so I put my headphones in and did some work.

Is that a hippie in the background?

After that, we decided to walk back up the hill away from old gingo-ville and spend some more time in the hammock. That night, the town was full of cars and people, but it wasn’t as crazy as we expected. In fact, the restaurant we went to for a beer had nobody in it, and after about 20 minutes, they told us they were closing. Another early night for us!