Border to San Miguel de Allende, Jan. 15-20
Our first day brought us to the most lavish campground we would encounter in Mexico, the lakeside, mountain-girt KOA Resort just south of Monterrey. Here we began our Mexican birding with a day in the nearby mountains.
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| Our first margarita social (H) | Campground view (F) | Dinner at the fine KOA restaurant (F) |
The next stop was our worst. Heading south and then west over the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains to Mexico's great central plateau, we dry-camped in the desolate parking lot of an abandoned Pemex station at San Roberto Junction. This was our base for birding the Cerro El Potosi, where we began to meet the bemused but unfailingly polite locals.
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| Climbing the Sierra Madre Occidental (Wi) | Woebegone San Roberto (H) | Vaquero country (M) |
A long, fast drive via toll road southward down the central plateau brought us to the enchanting old silver-mining city of San Miquel de Allende. Its colorful zocolo or central square is surrounded by a maze of colonial mansions, churches, and arcades and dominated by the fantastical Parroquia or parish church.
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| Enticing prospect (M) | Colonial charm (M) | Nice place for lunch (M |
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| Pleasant in-town campground (M) | Dinner downtown (F) | After all those margaritas (H) |
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| Turista Carolyn (F) | Zocolo color (F) | Parroquia (F) |
Initials appended to
photos indicate
copyright (2003) by (F) Bert Frenz; (H) Dan and Sue Hertz; (M) Carolyn
Merchant; and (Wi) Ralph and
Virginia Wiggers.
Click Here for Michoacan Highlands to Acapulco, Jan. 20-26
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