Atlacomulco (and El Oro and Tlalpujahua)

Last weekend, I finally made another long-awaited trip - to nearby Atlacomulco! Atlaco isn't exactly the hottest destination in Mexico, but my perpetual travel buddy Mariah is placed there and it's only an hour away, so I had to visit at least once before my time here is up.

The town is pretty small, so Mariah decided to give me the grand tour right after I arrived. Before passing by her school (a normal like mine), we walked through the centro and admired the cathedral:

Then, we took a colectivo over to El Oro, a nearby pueblo mágico (and the last one I had to see in Estado de México!)

 

Mariah had been to El Oro before and she said the Teatro Juarez was a must-see, so we headed over after walking around a bit and were surprised with a free baile folklórico performance! This was the most extensive and diverse performance I've seen - so unexpected and SO cool.

After the performance (and some lunch), we made our way to Tlalpujahua. Mariah knew it as just another pretty little town, but later, we found out that it's also a pueblo mágico, but in the neighboring state of Michoacán (it's always fun to cross state borders without knowing it, right?)

Like El Oro, Tlalpujahua was ridiculously picturesque - quaint little streets, a beautiful church that looked like an elaborately iced cake inside, and a gazillion carts full of bee-covered dried fruit:

 

 

The next day, we stayed in Atlaco, enjoying the joyful Sunday-ness of the centro and eating some tasty food in the open-air market.

By the late afternoon, I was already on my way back to Toluca to get ready for class the next morning (more on that soon.) My visit was short, but definitely sweet - I got to see another part of my temporary-home-state AND I got to spend some time with one of the best people I've met since I've been down here - a nice little short trip before the epic two week adventure that starts next Sunday night!

(Click through more photos from my visit to Atlaco here.)