Headed On An Adventure to Mexico and Canada - Part 2 - August 4 to 8, 2024

I was in need of a vacation from the jungles of Belize, and visiting Canada has been on my mind for the last few months. I thought I might add a small Mexican adventure to my vacation. This post is Part 2 of my time in Mexico. Part 1 can be found HERE.

August 4
A Mexican adventure: I’m not sure how much sleep I got, but my alarm did wake me. I was the first one on the bus at 6:15 AM. And the AC was on high. On the bus ride out of Poza Rica, it would appear the city had a few photographic subjects and landscapes had I only been on a bicycle. Poza Rica seems to be very hilly and nice but couldn’t keep my eyes open for the next four hours. I was completely exhausted from virtually no sleep last night. Tampico offered the first views of the Gulf Coast.

For some reason, ADO buses couldn’t get me to Monterrey.

Leaving Poza Rica

I fell asleep again and woke south of Ciudad Victoria. For the first time since my bike ride through Mexico, the landscape was different. The vegetation was more arid and more shrubbery. Up until now, the vegetation has been fairly tropical. We reached Ciudad Victoria at 4 PM (9.5 hours). I noticed a lot of citrus orchards past Ciudad Victoria.

I arrived in Monterrey at 9:30 PM (15 hours on a bus). And it would appear that the free wifi internet was not working. To make things even more frustrating, I couldn’t get Google Maps to update my location. I was in a huge city and had no idea where I was. After about 20 minutes of trying, finally, Google updated my location. I had searched out a hostel a few days ago, but with no internet, I couldn’t figure anything out. I started walking in the direction I thought it was in but I kept turning into dark, unlit streets in a huge Mexican city. I hate taking taxis. I always feel like I am being ripped off. But walking dark streets in a huge Mexican city seemed foolish. Not that I think of Mexico as that dangerous. I ended up swinging around back to the bus station to find a taxi, where I was ripped off for the 4 km trip ($24 USD) to the My Family in Monterrey hostel. By the time I was checked in, it was 11 PM. It’s too late and I was too tired to figure out something to eat. Today, I was 15 hours on the bus, and I haven’t had a proper meal since the Subway sub I had in Chetumal Friday at lunch. The hostel is costing me $310 pesos ($17 USD) per night.

My first sighting in Monterrey. What country am I in?

My Family in Monterrey dorm beds have privacy currents for their beds. This is the most important factor in determining a good hostel from a bad one for me. I never use kitchen hostels because they are all gross. As with almost every hostel, this hostel could use more hooks in their showers.

August 5
A Mexican adventure: I awoke at about 8:30 AM. The first thing I made my way to the closest Tim Horton’s (about 1.5 km away). I haven’t had a Timmy’s since October 2020. I noticed a cathedral on the way (Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe), so I did a little exploring and visited it before returning to the hostel. Upon my return to the hostel, I researched and purchased my flight to P.E.I. I can’t believe I found a flight from Monterrey to the Canadian East Coast where the flight(s) is just 12 hours long. I fly out Thursday morning and arrive in Charlottetown just after midnight. From there, I headed to the closest McDonald’s and had my first meal in three days. McDonald’s was set up to order on a touch screen with an English option. I couldn’t believe it.

Am I in Canada?

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

My first real food in 3 days – no sarcasm please!

I noticed a few cathedrals along the way and spent most of the afternoon exploring this part of the city. I basically walk down a street until something caught my eye, and then I keep going until something else caught my eye, walking in every direction imaginable. I ended up on some isolated back streets. I did take a small break in the afternoon (at the hostel) but continued later in the afternoon and had supper at Burger King. I feel very confident that I walked between 15-20 km today. I ended up staying up until 1 AM and editing my next 25 social media videos.

Some of the cathedrals I visited today were Catedral Metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey, Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesus, Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Roble, Basilica La Purisima Concepcion, Templo San Jose, Templo Dolores y Perpetuo Socorro, and Primera Iglesia Bautista.

Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Roble

Templo San Jose

Basilica La Purisima Concepcion

More Mexican food

August 6
A Mexican adventure: I went looking for a different Tim Horton’s this morning, but I couldn’t find it. According to Google Maps, there are over 50 Tim Hortons in Monterrey! So, I walked to the one I visited yesterday morning.

Lunch & supper

I then visited the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey. While on my bike ride, I visited museums regularly. The museum this morning was about the most boring and pointless museum I ever visited. From there, I walked along what appeared to be a man-made river called the Paseo Santa Lucía that enters into Parque Fundidora. I feel like I walked close to 10 km in total this morning.

After a short break at the hostel, I realized that I hadn’t eaten yet. I headed in yesterday’s direction to look for something to eat and to see if the furthest cathedral that I visited yesterday might be open. It wasn’t. I feel like I walked close to another 10 km. I also visited Capilla de los Dulces Nombres de Jesús, María y José, and Iglesia El Buen Pastor. There was a lot of walking again today. It was another late night, editing and making 18 more social media videos.

Paseo Santa Lucía

August 7
A Mexican adventure: I took my morning stroll for my Timmys. I then visited Templo de San Luis Gonzaga which I had forgotten to visit on my way to McDonald’s the other day. I saw it on my walk over to McDonald’s but completely forgot to backtrack to it. I then returned to the hostel and made my preparations to start making my way to the airport.

My last Mexican Timmys

Templo de San Luis Gonzaga

I checked out of the hostel at noon and walked about 5 km to a bus station I was told to went to the airport. I arrived at the airport at 2:30 PM. The airport is way on the outskirts of the city and there were virtually no restaurant options, but I found a single restaurant and was basically sitting in the airport at 3:30 PM ready to leave Mexico, 18 hours before my flight. SMH. I had no options. There was no way I was going to leave the hostel in the middle of the night and try to figure out how to get to the airport. I strongly suspect that I have walked at least 30+ km around the city since my arrival. My feet are killing me, and as far as I can tell, I have already seen everything within walking distance of the downtown center, so I am in no mood to continue to sightsee. I am in for a long wait.

Monterrey

August 8
A Mexican adventure: I spent the evening on and off reading The Purpose Driven Life. When I finally called it a night, it was a really long night on a hard dirty airport floor. I set my alarm for 6 AM, and by 7 AM, I was at my 9:30 AM boarding gate. Everything went very quickly and smoothly except the flight ended up being delayed by an hour. I realized that this was the longest that it’s been between plane rides since 2002. My last flight was October 25, 2020, from Vancouver to Seattle for my bike ride during Covid-19.

Monterrey

Impressions of Monterrey
I visited Monterrey to have a bit of a Mexican adventure before catching a flight to Canada. Monterrey is a Mexican city that I had never visited before, so it was a chance to check another city off the list of cities visited. Of all the larger Mexican cities that I have visited, it is safe to say that Monterrey is my least favorite, and I don’t ever anticipate returning. That being said I never really had great expectations for Monterrey. Supposedly, Monterrey is all about embracing the modern. Except that is not the real Mexico, and they seem to embrace the modern pretty poorly here. A far better choice if I were to make another similar trip would be to go back and visit and fly out of Mexico City.

The best part of Monterrey was renewing my interest in exploring cities. I realized that while the back-streets of Belize City are not likely to be nearly as safe as Mexican back-streets, I have never bothered to photograph some of Belize City’s old architecture. I plan to take the time to photograph Belize City now. I have also re-realized that I really need to learn my Spanish.

Monterrey

Just a few notes about Mexican bus stations, Buses, and Currency

There is Wifi at the bus stations. Because of possibly having to catch last-minute busses, meals, etc., it’s a good idea to have at least $1,000 pesos with you as you enter Mexico or use the money changers at the border. After that, you will have time to find ATM’s and ATM’s that will accept your VISA cards as not every ATM will. Bring heavy clothing and assume the buses will have the A/C on high. And very importantly, purchase your bus tickets the night before to avoid long lineups and catching the early bus out of town.

Catedral Metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey

Back in Canada
I feel like it’s been forever since I caught a connecting flight in Toronto. All I have to say is thank goodness I had many hours between flights and that Canada is English. I am not sure what I would have done if I was rushed or if everything was in French. Things have gotten really confusing at Toronto International Airport.

At the airports, I have also become extremely self-conscious of my attire. Since arriving at the Monterrey airport, I have noticed that even the children are nicer dressed than me. Living in the jungle really beats up your clothing.

My last flight to Charlottetown was delayed by 45 minutes, making it the second Air Canada flight delayed on me today. I arrived in Charlottetown shortly after 1 AM. My brother was waiting for me, and I spent the night at his place.