Andrew A. Midkiff Photography

Our hike starts at the convent del Santo Desierto.  Construction of the convent started in 1797 and finished in 1801. The convent is about a 30 minute drive from Tenancingo. From the plateau where the convent is located, the "Nevado de Toluca" volcano is seen. Hiking the trails can be easy to slightly difficult through the hills and rocks. There are several beautiful viewpoints to stop and look, such as the "Balcony of the Devil" and the "Balcony of San Miguel", from which you can see the Valleys of Tenancingo and Malinalco.  Some dogs hiked with us and just ahead of us leading the way. A boy and his burro passed on the trail. The hike takes us back to the convent. A gift shop can be found at the convent. They even sell their own fresh organic eggs. A passing horseman draws our attention. I can't let this op...

A few minutes before midnight Lulu woke me up and said there's an earthquake, I felt it as soon as I woke up. We were just walking outside when it stopped, but only for an instant the next quake was harder. We could hear the windows in the house rattling, dogs in the distance could be heard howling, except our dogs, they just wanted to go back to bed. The hole thing only lasted only a few minutes. We turned on the TV but no news yet, the only thing on was pre-recorded news. It took about 30 minutes before the reporting started, that's when we learned it was better than an 8 in magnitude.  The quake originated in the Pacific, our house is about 370 miles NW from the epicenter. Today we learned dozens of people were killed. Homes and buildings were leveled, much devastation. We pray for the people that were affected by this tragedy. This is the fourth earthquake I've been in, in Mexico. The earthquake of April 18, 2014 we felt more, that was a 7.2. It cracked our block ...