meet mystical, magical Tepoztlán
When a mystical, magical partner of mine was celebrating another year around the sun, I felt I had no choice but to seek out the most mystical and magical place in Mexico to celebrate together. It was in that search that I stumbled upon Tepoztlán. A few quick + easy travel-planning days later, the rest+reset adventure was booked.
So, let me start off my saying that travel-within-Mexico gets a big TWO THUMBS UP from me. Five stars on Yelp. Highly recommend. I used GoogleFlights to snag our impressively-affordable airfare and AirBNB to book one of the most beautiful, artistic spaces I've ever slept in... EVER. Prices were hilariously low, the airline experience was shockingly good (Thank you, VivaAerobus!) and the AirBNB host absolutely blew my mind with her attentiveness, responsiveness, and overall amazing energy and connection (not to mention that she left not a single detail out when designing her guests' experience in her beautiful mountain getaway home).
Early morning taxi ride to the ADO Alterna bus station in Playa Del Carmen... a quick, easy, and comfortable bus ride to CUN airport. An 11 a.m. departure to MEX and an equally quick and easy 2-2.5ish hour flight. This adventure was truly the stuff digital nomad dreams are made of.
Landing in CDMX (Cuidad De Mexico) - Mexico City - is an experience unlike most. It's one of the largest cities in the world nestled in between massively sprawling mountains on all sides. The mountainpeaks above the clouds were a particularly impressive phenomenon to witness!
A short, 1.5 hour drive south of sprawling Mexico City, nestled in the Tepoztlán Valley, is a small pre-colonial town dubbed Pueblo Mágico - 'magic town'. It was kind of like driving into Jurassic Park. Truly a 'land before time'. And within a moment of our arrival we knew this tiny piece of the globe would live up to - and even surpass - its name.
Note: for timing + convenience we took a taxi from CDMX. It wasn't the cheapest option available to us but it made sense for the situation we were in. There are buses from Mexico City that can bring you into the Tepoztlan Valley for less than 1/10 what we paid.
About 20 minutes outside of Tepoztlán Centro is Montaña Sagrada, ('Sacred' or Holy Mountain) where our AirBNB was located.
The energy of this space is undeniable, unignorable, and palpable with every step and breath. This is pre-hispanic Mexico.
This is the untouched, the wilderness, the local. These are un-mapped roads and lovingly designed homes for retreat. Both of us can openly attest to the fact that something shifted deep within us the moment we arrived. The landscape is like candy for the eyes and long, nurturing hug for the soul. Mountains stretch out in every direction to literally as far as your human sight will absorb. The land before time.
Our host's home, like most of them in this area, are designed to reflect and introspect these most mystical, magical natural surroundings. Earthly elements are honoured and old Mexican designs are carried throughout.
The inside reflected the outside and back again. (And for this particular AirBNB, this was only one of the THREE living spaces the property offered. Here is the listing for those interested to book. Of course, I highly *highly recommend (and do check out their photos... they do the space much more justice than mine!)