Preparations and Complications

It has been a while since I posted last. I have spent most of my time preparing for the trip by reading at least a couple dozen books from the local library and independent booksellers online. On the history side I thought Biography of Power by Entrique Krauze and Conquistador by Buddy Levy were outstanding. I also read a few books about the Maya and a nice, recently published book on Palenque--although that destination got deleted in our most revised itinerary. I enjoyed B. Traven so much I read all the novels from our local library--about 6--and four more that I picked up from booksellers online. Great Stuff! Most recently I enjoyed On Mexico Time and Yesterday's Train by Pindell.

While pouring through books I worked through various versions of our itinerary as I tried to please everyone, maximize our use of rewards points, and work around our paid reservations. We went from renting a car and doing a loop from Mexico City through Oaxaca, San Cristobal, Palenque, Veracruz, Puebla, back to Mexico City to various versions of bus travel and limiting ourselves to Mexico City, Puebla, Oaxaca. Just when I thought I had it worked out fairly nicely we received a call from Volaris Airlines informing us that our flight down had been cancelled. After two hours of broken English and poor connections that kept cutting us off, I managed to work things out. Our choices were either leave a day earlier at a similar time--not possible for us, taking a red eye or leaving three days later on the same flight basically. The only option was to chop off three days of our trip.

So, I spent the past two weeks, reconfiguring the trip, changing reservations and planning again. Hopefully this latest itinerary will stick:

LA to Toluca (transfer to Mexico City)
Bus to Oaxaca for a week in an apartment.
Bus to Huatulco for a week.
Interjet back to Mexico City for a week. (great deal btw--about $90 ea. total)

We ended up with a much less ambitious itinerary but I must say I am sleeping better at night without worrying about the details of driving through some of the more remote areas and dealing with the stress of a car in Mexico. I still may rent in Oaxaca City or Huatulco for a few days.

Some of the details that gave me a bit of a headache included the transfer from Toluca to our hotel in Mexico City around 8:30 pm and getting back to Mexico City from Huatulco--15 hours bus did not sound very pleasing. We ended up getting that Interjet flight for twenty bucks more per person and only 1.5 hour flight! As far as the Toluca transfer, Volaris offered a shuttle to its Sante Fe Terminal in Mexico City where we could catch a taxi to our hotel--another 5-7 miles. I wasn't thrilled about this option with the family and all of our luggage. After getting quotes ranging from $75-$200 I finally secured a transfer from Omextur (a company in Mexico City that offers transfers and tours) for $63 which I think is a sedan but not totally clear on this yet. Hopefully it will be worth the extra money to clear customs and get a ride directly to our hotel without having to transfer again, find a taxi etc.

Lately I have been planning our week in Mexico City--Chapultepec, Teotihuacan, Zocolo, San Angel and vicinity. It should be a lot of fun!