Bernal

This past weekend we were determined to get to the small village of Bernal, with almost every local Mexican we met recommending this as an awesome day trip. We had to decide between an expensive but probably awesome guided rock-climbing expedition to the 3rd largest monolith in the world - the Pena of Bernal - or attempt to guide ourselves to Bernal and hike as far as we could before it got scary. We decided on the later option to get some practice with the bus system and save our precious pesos. The local tourist office made it seem really complicated to take the bus and suggested that we instead sign up for their fancy pants tour. Mia almost fell for their tricks but we decided instead to just wing it and try to take the bus on our own.

We arrived at the bus station, received guidance from a friendly stranger, and boarded the bus to Bernal- no problemo. The village of Bernal is cute, somewhat touristy, with lots of local handicrafts especially cheesy straw hats. Of course, Chris bought a cheesy straw hat. We hiked up as far as you can go without rock-climbing gear and had a picnic of local cheese, tostadas, and beer. Mmmmm.  The Mexican idea of hiking, at least at Bernal, was a little disturbing.  The approach was crowded with a gauntlet of vendors and there was quite a bit of trash littering the trail (we ended up packing out a good sized bag of empty water bottles).  It was pretty hilarious to see people huffing and puffing up the Pena with HUGE styrofoam cups of "Michelada" (beer mixed with hot sauce, salt, and lime - ick?).

As we were headed down, Chris lamented about how the Pena is perfect for climbing. Just then, we stumbled upon some young rock-climbing entrepreneurs. They had camped on top of the Pena the night before and rappelled down to set up a moderate pitch and were offering the opportunity to climb for 50 pesos.  Chris jumped at the opportunity to climb- of course after inspecting their gear and poking their brains a bit to see if they knew what they were doing...don't worry mom, they were very professional.  The sight of the only gringo on the Pena getting roped up drew the attention of the Michelada drinking Mexicans, and after Chris' climb, business was booming for the climbers.  Chris did feel somewhat less accomplished as a climber after a 12 year-old girl who had obviously never climbed topped out the same route...good for her!  

The bus ride back home was so packed that we had to stand in the aisle for the hour ride. But overall the trip was a success - pesos were preserved, we spent a day hiking in a beautiful place, and we gained confidence in our ability to navigate the bus system.  Go us.