It wasn’t where I wanted to be, so I was just killing time in Toluca.
Quinta Del Rey
The Quinta Del Rey hotel itself was nice.
The room was modern and clean and the staff were very friendly. There was secure parking for my motorcycle. And they had a sort of a restaurant. You could get basics and that was it.
The problem is that it was in the middle of no where. Well, that isn’t quite correct. It was next to the airport. But there was nothing around it I could walk to and explore. The road leading into the hotel was a potholed dirt road.
So I ended up riding to places during the day.
One Percent
Yes, it may come to a surprise to you, but I found a Starbucks a few miles from the hotel in a nice “North American” mall.
We talk about the 1% and the growing divide between the rich and poor in Canada and the US. In Mexico it appears to be even more prevalent. In many of the larger cities there are these enclaves of shopping for the more well to do. Surrounding them are the little shops of poor people trying to make a living.
After having my coffee at Starbucks I just sat in the mall and watched people go about their shopping.
The next day I did pretty much the same thing only at a different mall.
La Cantrina
It was Sunday though and that means NFL football. I tried to find a place to watch a game or two. Once “sports bar” was closed Saturday and Sundays!! I did find La Cantrina. When I walked in they had soccer on all the TVs. I asked to watch NFL Football and they were more than happy to oblige.
It was funny communicating with the staff. They decided to use Google translate. Now the program is excellent and sure helps, but it isn’t perfect. We laughed as some of the translations were not understandable. And each time it got it right we broke out in laughter.
After a salad for my daughter
and I think enchiladas, I left for my hotel to watch the rest of the games.