leaving Valle ...
After saying our "hasta prontos" we decided on an evening of semi-sophistication with a couple of GT's then an early night.
But 'her upstairs', the weather Goddess, had other ideas! A storm of apocolyptic scale raged above & around Valle 'forcing' us to stay in the GinTonic bar far longer than we expected! ;-)
2 artichokes and 7 GT's later after watching the street life of Valle from our perch on the upstairs terrace, we waded home through flooded streets with lightening and flash bangs all around.

As we arrived at the ritual Monarca breakfast venue it looked like someone was in a much bigger rush than us for breakfast! ;-)

rush-hour at breakfast!

We learnt a history of Valle including the relevance of all the local historical dates remembered in street names (Calle 5 de Febrero, 5 de Mayo, 16 Septiembre y tal) land wars between the founding fathers, battles with invaders, incinerated churches producing a slightly charred 'cristo negro' and got the full low-down on the charisma (or not) of the current Pope from our driver as we sped towards Mexico. Religion and down-to-earth practicality seem to go hand-in-hand here!

The Toluca Vulcano was totally covered in deep snow all the way to its feet and with a huge lenticular cloud sitting over the crater and then even closer to Mexico City the hills were white! Our driver had never before seen weather like this & explained 'Febrero de Loco' Its all loco to me - snow & freezing temperatures in Mexico wasn't what I signed up for! ;-)

And now the girlie travels in warm humid Colombia begin :) ... next stop Bogota - Cali - Roldanillo :)