The Santa Maria area is a rather poor area and was an independent village prior to being gobbled up by Cuernavaca. We parked the car and hiked down into a barranca (ravine) with a river at the bottom. Cuernavaca is located in the shadow of several ancient inactive volcanos and the soil is made up of conglomerate material. Many small rivers come down from the mountain tops, and the water's erosion has created more than 70 ravines in Cuernavaca ? certainly the most predominant topographical features of this town. There is apparently only one street in town that is level (built under the dictator Porfirio Diaz), all other streets are at an incline due to the topography.

Ruben explained that houses have been built without permits in many of Cuernavaca's ravines, and the people that live there have no sewer systems, no access to the city's water system. As far as electricity is concerned they tap into the power system illegally. The city can't do much since it is unable to rehouse these people after a possible eviction.

Similarly, Cuernavaca used to have a railroad which has since been abandoned in the last 10 years. The steel of the railway tracks was removed and sold off, and local people came and settled in the former railway corridor, of course without building permits. Again, the government can't really do much about these settlements.

Once we arrived at the bottom of the barranca, we saw a local family doing their laundry. They live in very poor conditions and don't have washing machines, so whenever necessary, they take all their dirty laundry, come to the river, wash everything by hand and dry it on a string hung between two trees. Definitely a full day endeavour.

Ruben and I hiked on and he explained the different climactic zones and the variety of trees. There is a temperate zone and above that is a coniferous zone with a great variety of plants, animals and birds. We made our way forward around roots and rocks beside the river bed. In this part of the river the water is totally clear and local people capture it in long rubber pipes (hundreds of meters long) that run beside the river bed and then lead up to their houses. Again, they tap into the water on their own since they don't have access to any government-provided water system. As we continued we walked past 2 trout farms that cultivate fresh-water fish for commercial purposes. After about 45 minutes we arrived at a cascada ? a fully enclosed mountain wall that normally has a waterfall, but since it is dry season right now there was no water cascading down the rock wall.

Here was the end of our walk, so we turned around to make our way back. We stopped at the first trout farm to talk to the owner Javier. He cultivates trout in this very remote location without road access. In addition he runs a restaurant from here, so that means he always has to pick up his supplies (beer, drinks, food, etc.) and carry them on his back to his restaurant. Equally he has to carry his merchandise ? freshly caught trout ? out of this area for 1.5 kilometers to transport it to local markets. He mentioned that he regularly carries loads of 50 kg and although he has a rather slight build, many other people have said that they would never be able or want to do all the physical work that he does, but Javier loves it.

Interestingly, Javier comes from an urban family that has always owned businesses, and he used to run his family's company in the city before he moved out to this remote area. Javier is very happy when he talks about his business, and he has found his niche hidden away amongst the foliage of the Barranca de Santa Maria.

The family that we had seen earlier had finished doing their laundry and Ruben was kind enough to ask them if they were willing to have their picture taken and they agreed. We chatted a bit and they said that doing their laundry is pretty much a full-day activity and they have to carry everything in and out.

We saw a beautiful evening sky when we made our way back to Ruben's car and the whole area had such a pristine feel to it. Ruben explained that interest in nature in Mexico is still in its infancy. In all of Mexico City (25 million people) there are only 4 stores that sell tents and outdoor equipment. People are more enchanted with football and baseball and environmental awareness barely exists yet, as evidenced by traces of garbage that can be found in many nature areas.

Ruben's interest in nature was awakened when he went on a trip to Canada's West Coast and fell in love with hiking and nature exploration. He also said that Mexico is a haven for bird-watchers, although local residents have no interest in that activity.

After our 1.5 hour hike he dropped me off downtown so I could have a nice little dinner. On the way to the city centre he pointed out to me the oldest church in Latin America which was built in 1525.

He dropped me off right across from the cathedral at the famous Marco Polo Restaurant where I was looking foward to an Italian dinner. I hadn't really eaten much all day, so this was going to be a nice way to end an extremely compact day. Unfortunately all the seats on the outside balcony facing the beautiful lit-up church were taken, but they gave me a nice table facing the interior courtyard. I had a delicious Stracchiatella Soup and a simple Ensalata Mista. After that I walked past the Palacio de Cort's where there was all sorts of street life and I hopped into a bus to get back to where I was staying. I had a very nice chat with my host Cinthia's family and told them about my compact day.

Sometimes I can't believe how much I manage to cram into my day, but this one was definitely up there?