Mexico 2002: Intro

Mexico 2002

Photos

Stories, Observations, and Miscellany

Mexico 2002: Introduction

Athe end of February and beginning of March, Erica and I spent two weeks in Mexico. The excuse for the trip was the wedding of one of my cousins. But we'd wanted to take a trip for a while, partly to practice our Spanish, partly to see the family, and partly just to relax.

We visited three places. (See the map below.) We started in Mexico City. One branch of my family lives there and has for several generations. Our primary goal was just to visit the family. Since we've been to Mexico City before, doing tourist activities wasn't a high priority. But while in Mexico City we did visit Las Estacas, an aquatic resort, and we went downtown once just to poke around. Of course, the big event in Mexico City was to be the wedding.

We next went to Oaxaca, a city south and east of Mexico City. Oaxaca is a regional capital where they have colonial architecture, crafts, indigenous heritage, and good eating. Compared to Mexico City, Oaxaca is a sleepy city where restaurants close up for the night right about the time that they start to get crowded in Mexico City. But our goal was just to hang out, maybe do a little light touristing, and Oaxaca fit the bill perfectly. While we were there, we visited Monte Alban, an archeological site near the city.

Turistas

Finally, we spent a couple of days in Puebla at the suggestion of my cousin Oscar, who met us there for the weekend. This surprised some people, because Puebla isn't a major stop on the tourist circuit. It's primarily an industrial town, but it, too, has a well-preserved town center that shows off its colonial heritage. Although we didn't stay long, we enjoyed our short visit.

The links on the left lead to pages where we've posted pictures of the trip and to pages where we describe some of our experiences. (For those who find the cast of characters confusing, I've also created a family tree page for the Mexico branch that describes who's who.) Unfortunately, we had some camera trouble, so there are no pictures of the wedding itself, what a shame. But we hope you'll find the photos and descriptions interesting.