A couple weekends ago I spent the day with a group of ten at La Marquesa. La Marquesa is the more common name for the Insurgente Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla National Park and is located outside of the DF heading toward Toluca. It's a popular weekend spot as an escape from the city. There are picnic tables and fields to play sports. You can rent horses and/or ATVs. You can go trout fishing or zip-lining. And of course lots of casual restaurants for something to eat. We spent the day in Valle del Conejo, one of the many valleys.
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View of Valle del Conejo in La Marquesa
(Edson's photo) |
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view of Valle del Conejo in La Marquesa
(Edson's photo) |
We had breakfast/lunch when we got there and then rented horses. We had a bit of a scare, but fortunately it all worked out ok. They offered me a "calm" horse but once we started on the trail they suggested that Edson and I trade horses. We did, but my new horse wasn't responding to me and just wanted to eat the grass on the side of the trail (yes, I admit I'm not as firm as I need to be with the horse). Edson came back to help and then his horse (that I had previously been riding) took off at full gallop back to where we had started and ignored all commands/gestures/signals to stop. When it got close to where we had started, it slipped on the gravel and wet ground and fell, landing on Edson's foot. Edson came away with a sore foot and arm, but nothing broken. Fortunately he had some experience riding and knew what to do -- I would have been lost. We were lucky -- things could have been a lot worse.
Once I was sure he was ok (fortunately my horse returned slowly to the start and didn't decide to gallop as well), I continued on the trail but made sure to stay closer to a guide just in case. The scenery was very pretty, but it wasn't quite as "relaxing" as I originally thought it would be.
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Getting started. I'm on the "calm" horse
(Edson's photo) |
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| Getting started. Edson on the horse I later switched to |
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| (Edson's photo) |
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| Scenic overlook on the trail |
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| Scenic overlook on the trail |
After horseback riding we played around for a bit -- baseball, volleyball and touch-football. (I scored a touchdown -- woohoo!) and then some of us went to ride the 4-wheelers.
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| (Edson's photo) |
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| (Edson's photo) |
While we were on the 4-Wheelers it started raining and hailing, so we went to a nearby restaurant to wait out the storm. While we were waiting we enjoyed some hot coffee and food. Once the storm calmed down the other half of the group joined us for a bit before we headed back to the DF.
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the group taking shelter from the storm
(Edson's photo) |
