Estado de Tlaxcala

We had lunch at the pyramids and then cruised to Texcoco, before climbing 650 m to 2896 m, the highest elevation we have ridden to on this trip. We descended ~10 km to San Felipe Sultepec, where we stumbled upon a fiesta when we went to ask for permission to camp at the Presidencia. Maria Louisa, the gracious president of the small community, let us into a covered sports court to camp for the night, then introduced us to the ~30 ladies of the town's group of the tercera edad (the third age, i.e. senior citizens) celebrating the February 2nd holiday during their weekly Thursday gathering in the adjacent hall. We were soon seated at a small table with an unending stream of delicious Mexican food appearing in front of us, including our first encounter with delicious mole sauce. We also got to eat tamales, which we have heard so much about as part of the Kings Day (January 6th) and the Candelaria (February 2nd) celebrations - families or groups eat Rosca de Reyes, a sweet bread containing hidden figurines on Kings Day, and who ever ends up with a figurine in their slice of bread has to host the Dia de la Candelaria feast and make tamales for everyone else. The party ended with brandy, much toasting and animated singing. After getting installed in our comfortable camp for the night, and heading to sleep at our usual early bedtime of 8 pm, we had a great sleep, and the next morning were invited to eat sweet bread and coffee at the Presidencia before we hit the road. All in all we were thrilled with the great hospitality we were treated to in San Felipe!Les mer