Valle de Bravo and The Lost Weekend

I call it the “Lost Weekend” not because it was a wasted two days, but because of the number of times that we were actually lost.

Rodrigo was asked to be the “ring’s godfather” at his assistant’s brother’s wedding in Toluca. Toluca is a big industrial city not far from Mexico City. It has little to offer tourists. It is particularly ugly. So we decided that we would travel beyond Toluca and spend the night in Valle de Bravo. Valle de Bravo is a weekend getaway for wealthy Mexico City people and sits on the edge of a large freshwater lake; one of the few freshwater lakes in Mexico that is not polluted by the town’s waste.

From San Miguel, one has to pass through Toluca to get to Valle de Bravo. Toluca is three hours from San Miguel and Valle de Bravo is another hour and a half, for a total travel time of four and a half hours. If one knows where one is going.

After getting lost and losing about two hours in Toluca, I was ready to find a hotel and bail on the whole Valle de Bravo idea. It was dark, raining and I was tired and hungry. “You’ve already paid for the hotel in Valle,” Rod said, “We can do this.”

So we took a white-knuckled night drive through the mountains and arrived in Valle de Bravo at about 10:00 PM. Seven hours from the start of our journey. The town was nearly empty and most every place was closed. Clearly it was not peak season. We did find a nice Italian Restaurant that was still serving and had a decent meal. On the way back to the car we stopped at a very sheik little bar for Martini’s. We were the only customers and spent our time chatting with the bartender, who told us how to get to our hotel on the other side of town.

Rod was driving and as I looked out the window, I thought that I recognized certain landmarks. We were driving in circles and were back at the entrance of town; the opposite side of town from our hotel. It was 1:00 in the morning.

“Find a taxi to lead us there,” I said, “I can’t do this anymore.”

So Rod spoke with a driver and asked how much. “This is going to cost us a fortune,” he said, “They’re going to discuss what they should charge.”

One of the drivers came back. “200 pesos,” he said.

Rod looked at me and I said “Fine, Si” and driver looked surprised. As if he expected me to bargain but I didn’t.

We followed him rapidly through the sleeping town and out the other side. After a few minutes on the highway, he pulled off onto a one lane dirt road and we plunged into the darkness. After five minutes of no sign of civilization I said, “I feel like we’re being taken into the woods to be robbed.”

“You can make the reservations next time,” was Rod’s response.

We finally came to a clearing and drove past a miniature golf course and up to a wood cabin that served as reception. I paid the taxi driver and Rod rang the bell. We waited another five minutes and off in the distance a man came trotting down the road. We apologized for the hour but he seemed unconcerned and politely greeted us and gave the low down on the accommodations and services.

We parked next to our cabin and I was impressed with the effective use of space and the cleanliness of our little two room cottage.

The next morning we awoke to clear skies. Outside were tall pine trees and horses grazing in green pastures. After living in high desert for so long, it felt wonderful to be in the woods.

I was anxious to get into town to see it in the daylight. Plus I wanted to leave Valle and allow enough time to get lost again in Toluca and still make the wedding on time.

Valle de Bravo has an architectural feel to it that leads me to believe it was quite a hotspot back in the 50’s and 60’s. It is still very picturesque albeit a little faded around the edges. We had breakfast at a lovely floating restaurant and fed the water fowl from our table. A woman water skied off in the distance. From our table I could see many ski boats in dry dock. We will go back for a long weekend in the future.

We took the correct route out of town and drove through fertile valleys and old pine forests. At a bend in the road I noticed what I thought were leaves falling all across the highway. Then I noticed a portable sign in the middle of the road that said to slow to 15 kilometers. That is when I realized that they were not leaves but thousands of monarch butterflies. We were driving through their winter sanctuary before they return to Canada.

I was impressed to see the other drivers obeying the speed limit. These people that usually drive like they are in a video game were showing respect for these delicate and beautiful insects.

We found a turn-off where we paid a young boy 50 pesos each for him to lead us on a five minute walk to a stream where the butterflies drink. Along the way he explained the mating and migration rituals of the Monarch. The stream where they drink was a vibrating mass of color. For me, it was a wonder of nature that made me happy to just quietly observe.

Back in Toluca we got lost immediately after entering the city limits. After one big circle I opted for our taxi strategy once again. This time it only cost us 70 pesos. We parked the car at the hotel and used taxis from thereon. As if to continue the theme of the weekend, our taxi driver got lost between the church and the reception hall.