37. MEXICO – Parque Nacional Mineral del Chico, Hidalgo

After a twisty, long and hot(!) day drive we arrived to a small national park, Mineral del Chico. It is at nearly 3000m altitude so the temperature was balmy. It has (unusually) many campgrounds but none of them was open so we tucked ourselves away in the woods where we saw signs of bush camping (fire pits etc) There was no one to ask for permission from but we felt safe and fine. We stayed here for a couple of nights. It was peaceful, cool, no bugs and fresh air.

Campsite in the park Parque Nacional del Chico August 2013

Campsite in the park
Parque Nacional del Chico
August 2013

We wanted to visit a little town right in the middle of the park, called Mineral del Chico. It was 20 mins drive. Mineral del Chico used to be a Cornish mining town in the late 1800s. It is charming and has some great hiking trails, also still has some mines, and most importantly for Johnny’s biggest joy they make Cornish Pasty -as their national dish! It was brilliant though Johnny didn’t like it as much. But we found a cute little cafe with a delightful waiter where we had some real good coffee and a good time chat with Luis the waiter. We visited a mine with a guide then walked around the area. Johnny climbed into every single shift and had a great time.

Visiting a mine in Chico August 2013

Visiting a mine in Chico
August 2013

Visiting a mine in Chico August 2013

Visiting a mine in Chico
August 2013

For the next few nights we found another, really magical place to park up. And we returned to Chico the following day too. More hiking, more coffee, then beer and wine and more chat with Luis. It was really a nice day and evening.

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By this time it has been raining (very heavily) for 2 days but we enjoyed it. We stayed one more night in the magical forest then decided to move on. Parque Nacional Mineral del Chico was one of our favourite places.

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Next La Malinche volcano and Tlaxcala…

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