Xilitla - Posa Edward James

It was a long drive to get to Xilitla, leave Guadalcazar on back roads, many speed bumps ( Topez) dirt roads, small towns.
we finally made it to Cuidad Valle. The sun was setting, so we were getting nervous on where to sleep. Being a big city, sleeping somewhere Cuidad Valle was out of the question, we stopped for some Tacos and decided to push it to Xilitla ( 80kms) Breaking our rule of no night driving for the second time... but all went well, traffic wasn't too crazy. Finally ... Xilital.. 15kms! Yes we'll make it. Up we go on a windy mountain road. Got to Xilitla, with luck a man told us... up up!! pointing at the road ???? Castillo??? I ask, "si - si" he says, "acampar alla"?? I ask ( can we camp there) "si - si" he says, Ok Yes for everything... must be good, lets go...
We are tired, needing a place to sleep, been driving for 10 hours. We finally see the Castillo, ( this is what we came to see) a famous castle that was built by Edward James, he also founded Xilitla, and started to crated his own " Garden of Eden " between 1949 and 1984.
Once we saw where the castle was... the question was .. where do we sleep? here we are driving up and down the road, thinking of options like sleeping on the side of the road... also out of the question, especially when a bunch of guys are drinking beers outside the castle .... ,mmmm bad Idea, but the guys offered us a beer, so hey, why not? starting talking, then ask where we could camp? turn out a campground was right in front of us, across the road! Haaa... you don't ask you don't get.
Stress over, we set up camp, loud drums playing all night, it was a mexican long weekend, great! But we had a safe place for our tents and happy not to be on the side of the road. next day... we visited, La Posa Edward James, and enjoyed a soak in some wonderful waterfalls to cool off before the next push to the coast...

Voladores de Papantla - El Tajin

Passing threw Papantla, we were told to visit El Tajin not far off the road, 15 kms... so we made a little detour.
El Tajin meaning " Thunder or Hurricane "some beautiful Pyramids are located here, but unfortunately we didn't visit, too
much gear on the bikes and a high fee to visit, we decided to pass, since we are going to see more Ruins in the Yucatan soon.
But we did show up in time to see the traditional dance. One guy stands on top of the 100 foot pole and plays a traditional instrument while 4 other guys spin around and get lower to the ground tied by a rope around their waist. Talk about a head rush!!

Along the road...

This cave was pretty cool to find, in the middle of nowhere, climbers told us about this place, some climbs are found from 5.12's to 13's... but we didn't climb, camped here for the night, did some yoga the next morning, and hit the road to Xilitla...