Hi everyone, I left Mexico City Tuesday, and had a nightmare getting to the Grutas de Tolantongo, the navigation programs I had on my phone were not working correctly the good app (Waze) wasn’t announcing the turns on my Bluetooth headset, the other app which did work with the Bluetooth had no idea where to go taking me into shady neighbourhoods in the wrong direction. Eventually, I got Waze to work, but I had set it to avoid toll roads which by the time I noticed what was happening I was miles off route, eventually when I set it straight I was taken on gravel roads down more shady neighbourhoods to join with the main highway. Not fun at all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx_9GZrG6_k
Grutas de Tolantongo
The good news, I arrived before sun down!
After searching for a decent place to camp I found a decent place to hang my hammock where nobody else was. Which from my Mexican camping experiences in Baja California told me was I wanted to be nowhere near other people.
Being that it is tropical here, I went to bed sweating and struggled to not be so hot in the hammock, eventually I had to get up to take down the fly down as it was trapping too much heat, at the risk of the inevitable tropical storms we’ve been having lately. Thankfully, no rain that night.
The sleep was great and after making a coffee that morning I took an early dip in the thermal pools before heading for breakfast. Given that the location is secluded between mountains, tens of miles from any town there isn’t any mobile coverage and the Wi-Fi at the reception isn’t good for much when everyone is using it… or even at all.
After a second dip in a few of the pools, I found the water temperature change significantly!
Itching for something to do, I took the zip line trail down the valley to the actual Gruta (cavern) at the bottom. The zip line consists of 4 lines making up to over a kilometre of travel.
At the bottom of the valley it was roasting hot, surprising actually!
I took the trek to the cavern, taking a couple of photos at the big leaning tree.
Then continued to the cavern, frankly, it was disappointing. Crowded and heavily controlled to the extent you had top leave all your valuables outside or in a locker at $50 (£2) a pop. So I didn’t go in. By that point the sun had been getting to me, so I remained clothed for the rest of the afternoon trying to see every last nook of the area I was at.
Admittedly, there was the river at the bottom boasting turquoise waters but as I said, remained clothed the rest of the afternoon. Also factor in the water is thermal and the valley was hot, I just didn’t fancy the idea much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVSurECpfhA
