A great suggestion when in Mexico City is to visit Tepoztlán, small and cozy town in the beautiful state of Morelos.
Tepoztlán is as small as 14k inhabitants, although there are other towns nearby that are connected in many ways making the greater region somewhat about 41k.
The town is magical and charming, great weather, and offers a great variety of street markets, food, souvenirs, etc.
It also has the particularity that you can grab a beer or a “michelada” and walk around as long as you don’t cause trouble of course.
Hostels are widely available and I strongly recommend visiting for a couple of days at least, especially on weekends.
Due to the size and location of the town, I can say many of the most deep-rooted traditions in Mexico can easily be found here in all their shapes and forms.
We had the luck of being there on December 12th when Mexico celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe. And so we start the tour…
Cranberry juice is said to be of very good quality in this region… The same cannot be said about the creativity for store names…
I’m not a great fan of chilly and hot sauces so I went for the lighter drink I could find on the menu, which is a beer with pineapple.
Clamato on the go for Tagino…
Lifestyle is, of course, more laid back, locals enjoy themselves and the beautiful view of people walking around peacefully…
All types of food can be found around, of course maybe with a little twist like sauced beer, so I can’t imagine what you could find in a Central Mexico pizzeria…
Beautiful antique architecture dated from the 15th century seen in this church/convent…
Did I mention the point of the tour was to attend a Mezcal tasting? This is a great initiative of a collective called Somos Mezcal which are producers and distributors with the objective of spearing the word about the culture and tradition of this ancestral Mexican beverage. You can find more about them on their site and don’t hesitate to contact them for samples.
A corner that called my attention…
A parenthesis here to say these are the BEST tacos in town and probably in many miles around…
I’ll leave this to Spanish speaking audience that understands double sense 🙂
This is the backyard of the hotel we stayed at, beautiful, charming and relaxing…
Another important parenthesis… grasshoppers. When in Rome, do what Romans do…
After a few beers it’ time to take some funny pics…
For the second day we had breakfast at this place, I’d say it’s delicious and I won’t even come close to how good the food really was…
Central Mexico is also characterized for the wide variety of natural (and sometimes homemade) juices. This is “Agua de Horchata” which is made out of rice, almonds and seeds. I wonder why having all these we are one of the highers per capita consumers of Coca-Cola
This is big stuff, we ended up in a small kiosk inside the local market on a Sunday which specializes in “Pre-Hispanic Food”. Gotta say I’ve never heard of it, so excuse my ignorance, but yet it’s one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever had.
I couldn’t even tell what it was, but it was mainly vegetarian food with a bit of “mole”, which is a Mexican sauce made out mainly of chocolate and chilies, with a diverse variety of other spices and ingredients depending on the region you travel in Mexico.
Our pick…
The place… you’ll thank me for the day you visit this place for lunch 🙂
More colors from the town’s central market…
Another famous part of the town is a pyramid in the top of the mountain, however as we were a bit hangover’d tired we decided not to go all the way, so we hanged around the start of the trip where you can of course find more street food before you climb…
More tacos…
As we left the town on Sunday afternoon we had this beautiful sky to close a very nice, relaxing, and even exotic weekend in Central Mexico…
Of course, if you need any advice for traveling around I can put you in contact with the right people and places for you to have a great time.
Happy traveling!
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