Zen and Zapatistas in San Cristobal de las Casas

From Campeche we headed up into the mountains of Chiapas, to San Cristobal de las Casas, the heart of the Zapatista rebel movement. We elected to by pass Palenque, as we'd had a bit much of the ruins at this point, and we really wanted to see San Cristobal. It's a marvelous, beautful mountain town, surrounded by mountains and smaller, indigenous Mayan pueblas. If the local culture is of interest, make sure to take a few hours to get out to Chumula and pay to go into the church. The mix of traditional, indigenous religious rites with Catholic ceremony is facinating. We saw new borns being blessed with live chickens and soda pop, as well as elderly women praying on a carpet of pine needles before a self-made altar of hundreds of candles. Another not-to-be-missed is the boat ride of the river canyon about an hours bus ride away, which is jaw-dropping-ly beautiful.

San Cristobal itself has an interesting history as the center of the Zapatista uprising for indigenous rites, and the spirit is still strong. It now includes many new-age hippies as well, drawn to the spirit of revolt. Live music is everywhere and excellent, and vegetarians and organic-produce lovers will find easy pickings here. All in all, a fascinating mix of old and new, foreign and very, very local. Hotel El Molida was a very economical option and perfectly adequate for our needs, though our entry-level Spanish made it a bit hard to communicate with the owner at times. That was part of the fun, though.

Quick Campeche

Campeche is a beautiful, restored colonial city, with pastel colored buildings lining the central square and all of the old city center. There is a beautiful malecon, a sea-front walking and jogging path, though no beaches in the city center. We didn't find too much to do here (read: "boring"), and so moved on after 2 nights to San Cristobal de las Casas.

Mending in Merida

Friday, February 22, 2008

Erik - Mending in Merida

Hello all, and sorry for the long delay between posts. We've been on the road, and also encountered some internet issues. (I lost a whole entry as the connection failed, and I'd not saved what I'd entered along the way.) Talor and I have decided to each write our own individual posts, as when we write them together we're always at ends over what to write and how to write it, and the end result is a bland, watered-down mashup of both of our thoughts. I'll put my name at the beginning of my entries.

Since our last posting, we moved on from Tulum to the inland town of Valladolid, where we spent several relaxing days gawking at cathedrals and exploring the local "cenotes" - large underground caverns filled with stalagtites and stalagmites (don't ask me which is which), carved into the limestone by underground freshwater rivers. Throughout the Yucatan, there are no rivers, only underground waterways and these cenotes. Valladolid itself is very laid back, with few tourists, great street food, and a fun bar or two (even if they close at 8pm!?)

We took a day trip from Valladolid to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza - remarkable for the size and scope of the pyramids, ball fields, etc., as well as for the size and scope of the tourist industry surrounding the ancient city and feeding off it. Luckily we chose to go very early, and the bus-loads of loud, guided tours were only just taking over the grounds as we were leaving.

After Valladolid, we returned (very reluctantly) to the tourist hell pit of Cancun, as we were planning a hop over to Cuba and that is the best jumping off spot. Cancun welcomed me back with a nice 24 hours of intestinal joy. (At least it waited until just AFTER the 3.5 hour bus ride from Valladollid!) After a few days looking into flights and hearing horror stories from other travelers of lost luggage and overbooking on Air Cubana, though, we decided it wasn't worth the pricey ticket and risk of prosecution upon return to the USA. Typical of our luck, though, once we'd moved on, I read the news of Castro resigning. I imagine it's a very interesting time there right now!

We took one day trip to Isla Mujares - "Island of woman" which didn't quite live up to its billing, but was a nice respite from noisy, dirty, touristy Cancun. The one very nice part of Cancun, though, was the very nice hotel/hostel we found, "Las Palmas" run by the lovely and loving Theresa, who made all the guests feel a part of her extended family.

From Cancun we moved to another inland city, Merida, which is one of the oldest colonial cities in Mexico, and boasts the oldest Cathedral of all mainland americas. We found a wonderful guest house, "Casa Alvarez" run by Enrique Alvarez and his wife Miriam. It's impeccably clean, with loads of charm and Sr & Senora Albarez do everything and anything to make you feel at home. We've stayed here for a week now, due both to their hospitality, and to my own clumsiness - I took a spill running early one morning and sprained my ankle. It's on the mend though, and we should be off quite soon. When Senora Alvarez saw me limping into the house, she went and found ALL of the medicine she had handy, offered to call me a doctor, even a chiropractor, etc. They really are wonderful hosts.

I'm hoping the ankle will be healed enough by tomorrow to hoist the backpack and get to the bus station. We're planning Campeche as our next stop, and from there making our way up into the hills via Palenque and San Cristobal, then into Guatemala.

Our first night in Merida we met a very nice Dutch brother and sister who were traveling together - Andrew and Sophie. We spent several evenings chatting and drinking beer with them, and did a long day trip with them to a series of cenotes. This was an interesting experience, as the only way to access the cenotes is via a "trook" (phonetic spelling). "Truc" in French means "thing", and that's about the best way to describe it: a mini, horse-drawn railroad would be another. It was a very hot day, and we felt terrible for the poor, small horse, but he did get us there and back again.

Thus far my extensive wardrobe of two Mr. California shirts, two pairs of zip-off Ex-Officio pants and 3 pairs of underwear have proved sufficient. (I do have a t-shirt and shorts to run in, though now I wish I'd left them at home and had a healthy ankle!). We do laundry every day as we shower and then hang dry it. We're also well under budget. We'd alloted $80/day combined, and we're well under that, even with expensive bus rides and a few pricey day trips and our evening "sunset" cervezas on the Alvarez's nice rooftop terrace (a great spot to watch the recent moon eclipse!) This is good news, as Mexico is once of the most expensive countries in Central America, along with Costa Rica. We should be saving more and more as we go on, which we'll keep aside for pricier countries such as Australia, if we ever make it out of Mexico, that is...

More later and more photos once we get time to caption them all...

Friday, February 8, 2008

Day 10 - "hecho en mexico"

Day 10, and we have comfortably settled into a little Mayan town called Valladolid, Yucatan´s oldest colonial city. Two days in Cancun, and we couldn´t get outta there fast enough. Moved onto Puerto Morelos, a sleepy little fishing village, which woke up to a bunch of ex-pats settling in. A few days later, onto Tulum where we spent two days visiting ruins (photo) and trying to enjoy the beach, but it was overrun by backpackers... just like us.

We are finding it difficult to get good coffee or rice and beans... ironic, huh? The local cantinas have much more rum than tequila - though we are very near the caribbean, so that may explain it. There also seems to be a lack of veggies in the diet, but plenty of deep-fried everything. The locals are very friendly and although our spanish isn´t there yet, the folks are very patient and willing to help, and we´re communicating pretty well without resorting to íngles...

... and, most importantly, we´re finally beginning to relax. Our photos so far... http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/AdventureBegins

No, not back to Cancun!

So despite our animosity for Cancun, we headed back to explore a possible side trip to Cuba. We ended up being convinced by fellow travelers that Air Cubana wasn't worth the money savings, and were eventually put off the trip overall (only days before Castro resigned - oops!) We did very much enjoy staying at Las Palmas, though. It's near the bus station, and Theresa, the owner, made us feel very at home. At day trip to Isla Mujeres got us out of the noise and pollution for a bit as well.

Hecho en Mexico

Day 10, and we have comfortably settled into a little Mayan town called Valladolid, Yucatan´s oldest colonial city. Two days in Cancun, and we couldn´t get outta there fast enough. Moved onto Puerto Morelos, a sleepy little fishing village, which woke up to a bunch of ex-pats settling in. A few days later, onto Tulum where we spent two days visiting ruins (photo) and trying to enjoy the beach, but it was overrun by backpackers... just like us.

We are finding it difficult to get good coffee or rice and beans... ironic, huh? The local cantinas have much more rum than tequila - though we are very near the caribbean, so that may explain it. There also seems to be a lack of veggies in the diet, but plenty of deep-fried everything. The locals are very friendly and although our spanish isn´t there yet, the folks are very patient and willing to help, and we´re communicating pretty well without resorting to íngles...

... and, most importantly, we´re finally beginning to relax. Our photos so far... http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/AdventureBegins

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Valladolid - The calm eye of the tourist storm

Valladolid is a sleepy, mid-size Mexican town in the center of the tourist circuit of the Yucatan Mayan ruins. Not many tourists stop here, so it made a nice respite from the party-mad and photo-mad tourist groups. There's not loads to do here, but cycling out to the nearby cenotes (underground, fresh-water caves) was very rewarding and refreshing. We found very good street food and friendly people. Hotel Maria de Guadeloupe is a nice budget option...