The ghost town of Pozos

BEST WEEKEND YET HERE IN MEXICO! We have not had many weekends yet, but this weekend was by far the best. Last night we got home super late from our trip in Las Grutas, and this morning our padre surprised us with a day trip to Pozos. We were SO HAPPY! This trip was unlike anything I had seen before. Sergio and Lulu took us to a famous ghost town in Mexico. We really are located in the best spot, this famous little ghost town was only 2 hours away from us. And let me tell you this was the real deal. 

When we first arrived to Pozos Sergio took us to a little gift shop, but this was no ordinary gift shop. The owner of the shop gave us a demonstration of how the people of Pozos mined for gold back in the day. The gold was the reason why this city thrived, and when they ran out.. everyone abandoned it. In the demonstration we got to go inside of a mine and inside the mine there was a gruta. There was water in the bottom and a waterfall coming through the mine. All of a sudden the man told us to start swimming. "WHAT." We had not planned for this haha. But we all followed and went neck deep in the mine water. IT WAS FREEZING. There were nails all in the walls, we could only see with one little light, and we had to go through the tiniest of spaces. It was actually a little sketchy, but IT WAS SO WORTH IT. 

After the mine Sergio surprised us with the best pizza place ever! Sergio thinks everything is the best food ever (even when it is horrible hah) but this was for real some of the best pizza ever. It was not the rubber tasting pizza we had been eating from the corner market back in San Jose! This was the real deal. This pizza was the Pizzaria Limone of Mexico. Probably the one and only hah. I am not exaggerating when I said I had the least amount of slices and I ate 7... that is how good the pizza was! We had been craving good pizza for what seemed like forever. My personal favorite was the Hawaiian. Pineapple on pizza is THE BEST! 

After piling way too much food into our stomachs we headed to the abandoned castles. This was definitely a ghost town. The biggest houses and buildings were completely worn down, and ancient looking. I think these dated back to another time period because these were OLD! But, I do not know spanish and we had no tour guide, so we went off of Greyson's translation from Sergio. Everything was HUGE. Giants could have lived here, no joke. It would have been so cool to see it in all its glory. The whole city was built off of a hillside and it was so pretty. Rolling hills as far as you could see. 

Super random, but one of the coolest parts of the day was this super huge super deep hole. We threw soooo many bricks down this hole. It took about 30 seconds for us to hear it hit the bottom. Like I said, it was deep. Sergio especially loved throwing rocks down the hole! We even all adventured out on our own to find bigger rocks to throw down it hah. 

After exploring the ancient ruins all day we finally headed home. Just in time to watch the Steelers game with Sergio and LuLu. Greyson and Sergio can go on and on about football hah. Greyson has not told him he hates the steelers yet though.. we enjoyed the rest of the night eating popcorn and watching football. 

It was seriously the best weekend. We adore this place! After this week of teaching we have an Independence day party for Mexico where we will be dancing in front of the school (AHH) and we have our first 5 day vacation. We are seriously so excited for it. It is going to be an exciting week. Wish us luck! Especially because we still do not have a dance teacher yet... YIKES!

NEXT UP: Independence Day + Ciaud Valles

- The Chamberlain's

Las Grutas

WOW honestly I never knew Mexico was so cool. I am not lying when I said I was devastated when we were switched from teaching English in China to Mexico. I had been on a cruise to Mexico twice and I thought I saw everything I needed to. I was so wrong. 

Mexico is LITERALLY has the prettiest view i've ever seen and so many cool hidden treasures. One thing that is so sweet about living here in San Jose Iturbide is being so close to many amazing places. We live in the pretty part of Mexico with the colorful cities, cobblestone roads, and chapels on every corner. But we also live to green covered mountains, waterfalls, and so much more. We plan on traveling every weekend and I do not think we'll ever not be surprised by what we see. 

This weekend Greyson and I left after school and took a 4 hour bus to a city called Xmiquilpan. We stayed the night in a surprisingly nice $10 hotel (GUYS MEXICO IS SO CHEAP). The next morning we woke up early and took an hour taxi to Las Grutas. Let me tell you, I knew it was going to be pretty, but I was not expecting what I saw. It was the prettiest and coolest place I have ever seen. Our taxi driver stopped on the side of the road so we could get pictures of the green covered canyon with the fog. Pictures do not even do it justice. 

When we arrived to Las Grutas we first headed to the main attraction, the Gruta. We arrived right when the park opened so it was almost completely empty. Greyson had done almost all of the planning for this trip, and although I knew there was a gruta, I had no idea what to expect. When I saw it I was so amazed. The gruta was a giant cave/waterfall. I do not even know how to describe it (just check out the pictures). It was a little chilly outside, but inside the gruta it was like a giant hot tub. The inside of the gruta was huge. There were tunnels leading to other caves and their were small waterfalls pouring out of random sections of the ceiling. We explored the gruta for a couple of hours continuing to find new caves and waterfalls inside. After we saw everything we possibly could see we moved on through the park.
We went to the end of the waterfall where it led to a huge river. We swam for a little while until I had a near death experience. RIVERS ARE SCARY. I say this from experience. I got close to the current and it instantly pulled me in! Greyson could not help me at this point so he did the only thing he could. He pulled out his phone and filmed me as I went down the river. Luckily some teenagers saw me dying and helped me get out of the rapids haha. Not going to lie, I am glad we have the whole experience on video. Thanks babe!
Our last thing we did was go to the manmade hot spring pools. We took a little bus to them and they were so pretty. There were a bunch of tiny hot tubs on the side of the mountain. They were all warmed by the spring. We swam around them and looked off of the mountain. This entire place was beautiful. 

I really hope you enjoyed these two beauties. You are welcome. 

I promise Greyson is not wearing a choker, it was the keys to our locker hah. He would look dang good in a choker though!

Our trip came to an end so fast. We spent the majority of the day in Las Grutas, but we had to make it on a bus back home that night so we had to go. We got to enjoy the whole day in one of the coolest places that I had ever seen and we were both in awe the entire day. We feel so blessed to be here. So much better than China if you ask me! 

Little did we know this was not the only trip we were going to go on this weekend. Pozos here we come!

- Lexie

San Miguel De Allende

Wow what a trip this has already been. We have been here for almost two weeks, but it feels SO much longer! This week we started teaching the kids, and they are the cutest! On the first day of school we surprised them and they all came up and hugged us. It is kind of weird not being able to understand anything they say, but they talk to everyone in Spanish anyways. They are so sweet. Teaching will definitely be something to get used to, but I am already feeling more confident and am learning how to have patience hah. 

For our first weekend we were able to travel we decided to stay close, but it did not disappoint! Did you know Mexico looks like Italy? I sure didn't! One of the biggest tourists city here in Mexico is only a 2 hour bus ride for us. This weekend we went to San Miguel De Allende. We walked the cobblestone streets, wandered around the colorful city, went to a creepy doll museum, toured many cathedrals, drank aqua frescas around the city, and ate super cheap so we could splurge on treats! The food here is so cheap, but we are cheaper hah. For our dinner the first night Greyson and I split a pb & j and a Clif Bar. Do not worry though, we splurged on churros on hot chocolate. It felt like we were in Disney Land. 

For this trip we came with the girls in our group, and one of the activities we did together was go to a spa. It was not an ordinary spa. The swimming pool was a manmade gruta, but had real hot spring water. If you do not know what a great is, look it up! We were able to hang out in the warm water and swim in a underwater cave. IT WAS SWEET. 

There you have it, our half pb & j and Clif Bars. We eat like royalty. 

By far my favorite part of this trip was being with Greyson. We spent most of our time wandering the streets of San Miguel together, taking in all the views that we could. We walked throughout the city, to an overlook, and watched the sunset from a bench at a park. 

The many many cathedrals of San Miguel. Who knew there could be so many in one city?

The creepy toy museum. That's legit the name, well translated from Spanish. This store contained some of the coolest toys I have ever seen. Many of the toys were day of the dead themed. My favorite part of the museum however was the view at the top! We were able to see all of San Miguel. 

I had to end on this glorious picture of my husband. He sure makes me happy. I love exploring new places with him, and I can't wait to see what more Mexico has in store for us. 

One trip down, and many to go! We plan on going somewhere every week, let's see how we do. 

Adios!

- Lex