Christmas in the Yucatan

Well, this entry dates us...yes, we are currently posting about our travels about 2 months behind "real" time:  We spent Christmas in the Yucatan Peninsula, but it is actually late February and we are in Costa Rica as I post this. We have had trouble keeping up with the blog due to limited internet access and having too much fun to sit down and write blog entries :).  We are dedicated to recording everything though, so it'll be coming...there's lots more to tell!  Better late than never, right?

On our way into the Yucatan Peninsula, we realized that we would be spending Christmas somewhere on the peninsula.  That meant that Sarah and Matt's time to travel with us was running low (they had to return to New York in January).  We came up with a list of the most important places we wanted to visit and came up with a plan that would allow Sarah and Matt to get to spend some time in Belize before they had to leave. 

After hobnobbing with the elite in Mayapan (they were incredibly hospitable and so sweet, by the way, again many thanks to them for receiving us) we headed to ruins of Chichen Itza.  Out of all the ruins in the Yucatan, we knew we would only have time for one, and we chose the most famous, Chichen Itza.  We went on Christmas Eve day, December 24th.  It was a huge site with many interesting things to see:

 The Skull Rack (called Tzompantli) is where skulls of war captives or sacrificial victims were displayed:

Tzompantli

The Sacred Cenote seems to be a special place for the ancient Maya, where many offerings were made.  Archeologists have found offerings such as gold, jade, pottery, and even human skeletons at the bottom of this natural sinkhole. 

Cenote Sagrado

The main temple in Chichen Itza, called "El Castillo", was dedicated to the god Kukulkan (feathered serpent).  We didn't get to see it, but it is said that on the Spring and Fall equinoxes, a shadow falls on the staircases that resembles a serpent.  People are not allowed to climb to the top of this pyramid anymore - boo.



El Castillo

Some other cool pictures from Chichen Itza:



Sauna house that was blocked off but we snuck back for a peek anyway

Look at the architectural designs on these buildings!

El Caracol observatory

sunbather

We left Chichen Itza with enough time left in the day to visit one of the popular cenotes nearby.  There are thousands of these sinkholes in the Yucatan (we had already visited one in Mayapan and also saw two in Chichen Itza), as well as many caves and caverns. The Mayans considered them to be sacred places, and possibly even portals to the underworld.  We went to one called "Cenote Samula" near Valladolid, to go for a quick underground swim.



The steep passage down into the cave...

led to this beautiful swimming spot!

The water was refreshing.  The cave was lit up with lights that kept the color constantly changing (notice the purple color in the photo below) - a cool effect though we were wondering how safe it was to be swimming with so many electrical cords hanging around the cave.  But we had a great time, it was my first time swimming in a cenote, and also my first Christmas Eve swim, I think. 



Those are tree roots growing down into the cave

After the swim, we drove straight to Cancun, and arrived after dark.  We luckily found an empty parking area almost right away.  We had Christmas Eve dinner in a nearby restaurant, then returned to Cubby to celebrate by polishing off the bottle nuez-flavored mezcal we had bought at the distillery in Oaxaca.

The next day, in between Christmas phone calls and Skyping with our families, we did manage to get to the beach for a bit.  The beaches were nice, but very crowded and of course, being Cancun, very resort-oriented, not really our style. 

Lots of people on the beach on Christmas

We enjoyed a little time in the sun and then went to one of the few non-exclusive bars on the beach (for most you had to be staying in their hotel to order a drink) and had a couple cold (but expensive) beers.



Having a drink in Cancun

The next day we got down to business replacing the tire that had gone flat on us on the way to Mayapan (we had been driving around on the spare since then).  Ricardo spent a whole day driving around Cancun looking for the correct tire and also replacing the trailer brakes, which ended up being a real pain to do.  Sarah, Matt, and I spent a lot of time holding down the fort in the parking lot with Cubby playing cards (what hard work!).  The parking lot was empty, except for this cool truck, that we just had to take a picture of:



"No Monsanto" truck

With our newly replaced tire on Cubby, we left Cancun but before we got even 10 miles away, the other tire on Cubby went flat!  Again??!! we thought, this has to be a joke!  But it turned out to be for the best - both tires had gotten punctured with palm frond spikes on our way to the Rainbow gathering in Palenque (see previous post) and it was better to replace them at the same time.  And luckily the 2nd tire waited to burst until we had already replaced the first - if they had gone at the same time, we would have been in quite a predicament, with only one spare tire!

Ricardo and Matt putting the spare tire on the side of the highway

With two new tires plus new brakes on Cubby, we finally got out of Cancun.  On our way south toward Belize, we made a stop at Reserva de la Biosfera Sian Ka'an.  It was a beautiful beach setting, a good place to relax for a bit after all the car trouble.  The ocean was filled with seaweed, not the best for swimming, but as it turns out having a seaweed fight in the water is almost as good as a good old-fashioned snowball fight :)

It was a nice way to end our time in beautiful Mexico - we had spent almost 2 months in this country and were feeling mixed emotions about leaving, excited about going to Belize for the new year but at the same time sad to depart Mexico.  Two months was not nearly long enough - we could easily have spent a year!  And despite everyone's worst fears about the danger here, we experienced nothing but friendly people, spectacular landscapes, and positive experiences.  Mexico, one day we will be back, you really are an amazing country, full of culture, richness, suffering, joys, and wonderful people!



Agua Azul, Palenque and Mayapan

So on we went (as it has been the routine for the past few months) onto a different place! Before heading to Palenque the majority wanted to check out a small area called Agua Azul (Blue Water) where we could swim and have a good time. On our way there the most interesting part of it was the roadblocks! Sometimes kids (and some adults) put a piece of rope from one side of the street to the other, and they lift it when you try to pass. Unless you want to kill them, you are forced to stop! Usually they are selling something or collecting money for some cause, but in this case it was just a bunch of 11-12yo girls that just wanted money. As soon as I open the window they started sticking their hands everywhere and trying to get to the money in my hand first. It was quite frightening to be honest. It was like a wild pack of some sort of creatures! Anyway, I had to close the window pretty much right away after giving them some money and they lowered the "gate" so we could pass.
Once in the park, we enjoyed the waters and did some swimming.

Gorgeous view of Agua Azul

Then onto Palenque! But before we got there, we picked up a couple of hippies that were going to the international "Rainbow Festival" going on about 10 miles away from the ruins. They said the road to the festival was fine, but it wasn't. It was a pain in the ass!!!! After a lot of struggle and after bottoming up the cub a few times, we made it there. The smell of marijuana is the first thing that hits you, hahaa. There were at least 2000 people there enjoying the "gathering". It was late so we decided to stay there for the night. They lead us into a parking area that was in the middle of the bushes, were we ended up puncturing 2 tires (we realized that the next day) after driving over palm tree branches on the ground. It was a pain having to repair them next morning with the kits we have. We ended up losing one for good and it cost 200 bucks to get a new one. Yeah, it was an expensive adventure!

That night at the gathering I mentioned that I play the bagpipes so I was asked to play at the "fire circle" which several hundred, completely naked people that are dancing like nutcases around a fire. It was quite awesome and it was my highlight of the whole festival. There were many drummers and I played several jigs and reels and some dancing shit. I have never seen so many penises and breasts jumping up and down together at the rhythm of my pipes before!! Apparently it was quite noted in the festival, because even weeks later, I keep meeting people that remember me playing the pipes at that place!
The next morning we left and headed for the Ruins, because we wanted to spend the 21st "The End of the World" in Palenque, the famous Mayan ruins! I don't remember exactly when we got there, but I think we spend the 20th at night in a campground right outside the ruins, with a bunch of people from the festival that were there as well to enter the park the next day, and also tons of other travellers getting ready to visit the ruins. That night we had a small cookout and we met "Lurky", a big black dog that was lurking in the shadows when we were eating our food and nobody saw him for who knows how long, until I noticed a darker shadow next to the car, hahaaa. He was quite friendly and we invited him for dinner. Soon after everyone went to bed and me and Lurky heard so chanting and clapping in the near by woods (it was about 11 pm) so we both went that way to check it out. It was a Mayan ritual that was going on there, and there were a few hundred people gathered around a fire, and this Mayan priest was leading the whole thing. Lurky liked the whole thing so we decided to sit around the circle as well. It was quite cool and I held hands with complete strangers while walking around the circle. Lurky had fun because sometimes he would leave me and go into the shadows for a while, then I would hear a scream, mainly women, so I figured Lurky showed up suddenly right next to them and scare the living crap out of those girls. I think he really enjoys doing that, and that's why we called him Lurky!

Next morning we went to the ruins. They immediately became my favorite ones so far. They really are amazing and I don't need to describe them so much, because you can always find better information about them online. We went to pretty much every single pyramid, and enjoyed our time there very much. Amazingly enough we had not seen rain in several weeks, and that day it rained like hell!!! So much that everything got wet, even my underwear! Ever set or stairs became a river and every field a pond. It was quite amazing to watch.

 Great view of a area of the ruins

 

We had a great time that day and also saw some "rainbow" people doing small ceremonies and stuff. In general everything was great, even though the world did not end!

 

After Palenque we needed to keep an old promise made months ago in San Francisco, when we travelled with our dear friends Helen and Diego. We met then a couple of mayors of two different towns in Mexico there that were in a convention. We told one of them that we would stop and pay him a visit, because he lives in an area in the Yucatan that we were supposed to drive through. He is the mayor of a small town called Mayapan, which also has some ruins called the same. Many people don't know this, but this Mayan city of Mayapan, was as strong in power as Palenque and Chitchen Itza at a time! It does not get nearly as many visitors, and it is much smaller in size, but at one time these 3 cities were the most importan in the Mayan era.

Finding the small town of Mayapan proved to be quite a challenge though, and it took us pretty much 2 days to find, and when we were about to give up, we literally stumbled upon it!

We went to the Municipal building and the mayor was there to receive us. He indeed remembered us quite well and took the day off to show us the town, his home, and a cenote (sinkhole) that his family had in their lands a few miles away from the town.

 

 

We have nothing but great things to say about Victor and his family. They were simple great hosts and treated us like if we were also their family. We will always remember them with love.



View from inside Victor family's Cenote. It was great!

 

Victor told us they were having a party for Christmas and they really wanted us to stay and enjoy that day with them, but traveling with two other friends and not having enough time to complete their journey, we decided that we could not afford to stay there for 2 more days. I personally would have loved to stay there for a week, but arranging the schedule of 4 people is not an easy task.

Before leaving we decided we needed to take a picture with the mayor and some of the staff. Here is Victor to my right, and his wife to Jocelyn's left, with one of their beautiful children.

 



 

 

They were among the nicest people we have met and I'm sure we will see them again. Soon after this picture we left and continued with our trip.

More posts are to come my friends, so stay tuned. We are almost done with Mexico and after that we start with new countries and new adventures!

 





Huatulco, Canon del Sumidero, San Cristobal

From Oaxaca we went south to Huatulco for a last look at the Pacific coast...for a while, at least.  We read in our (old) guidebooks that these beaches were "pristine" and barely developed, but when we arrived we found resorts galore!  The first night we spent in a parking lot near the beach, but when we went to the beach the next day, it was packed with restaurants and people.  We swam for a bit, and then we headed farther up the road to an area that was less "touristy"; it was a beautiful spot - lots of surfers but not so many people on the beach.

 

When we left the beach, our next destination was the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, but we ended up passing by the Canon del Sumidero, so we went to take a look.  The canyon was beautiful.  It looks like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon, but the river at the bottom is bigger.  We were hoping to be able to do some hiking, but unless you take a boat tour, you can only go to the lookout points. 

Moving along, we made it to San Cristobal de las Casas in the late afternoon.  As we entered the city, we saw a man selling what looked like the world's tiniest hammocks.  Intrigued, we rolled down the window and asked him what they were.  Indeed, the man responded that they were hammocks.  "But what are they for?" Ricardo asked.  "Basura", the man responded...trash.  Wouldn't the trash fall right through?  As we laughed about the possible uses for this foot-long hammock (...a hamster hammock? ...do you buy two to prop your feet up? ...maybe the guy was being completely honest and there's no real use for it, it just goes directly into the trashcan), we felt compelled to buy one as a souvenier from San Cristobal de las Casas.

 

We went out that evening in the city.  This is now our 2nd favorite city in Mexico (after Guanajuato).  It was pretty, lively, and a good city for walking.  Being mid-December, many places were lit up and decorated for Christmas.  It was a fun place to be!

 

City Hall lit up with Christmas lights

 

San Cristobal by night

 We found a great bar where they were playing live music. We stayed for a while, listening to this group.  They played a mix of Caribbean and Latin American music - the music was fantastic.

 

 

In the next couple days that we spent in San Cristobal de las Casas, we found that there was lots to do.  We visited the market, the cafes, and several museums in the city (there are lots!)  We tasted some more chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) - even better than the Oaxacan chocolate in my opinion!

Cathedral

Picture from the Mayan Medicine Museum, explaining traditional Mayan medical practices and medicinal plants.

From San Cristobal we headed north to Agua Azul and Palenque...that post coming soon from Ricardo :)

Oaxaca (and surroundings) :)

We looked at the map and thought that it would take us about 5-6 hours to get from Veracruz to Oaxaca.  We were SO wrong!  We had promised Matt that we would make it to Oaxaca to celebrate his birthday.  Unfortunately, the road from Veracruz to Oaxaca turned out to be very LONG, steep, and winding.  We probably went an average of 20 mph the whole time due to the steep mountains and sharp turns. 

View from the top

We left just after lunch the day before Matt's birthday, and only arrived in Oaxaca about 24 hours later - but we wasted no time and started celebrating as soon as we arrived!  Sarah spotted an advertisement for a recently opened Irish Pub on the side of a bus - and it was decided - we found the pub, parked Cubby on a nearby dead-end street (great spot, by the way, quiet area but very close to Oaxaca centro), and went for a beer.  Ricardo distracted Matt by buying him drinks while Sarah and I ran out to buy a cake and some gifts, including chapulines - toasted grasshoppers.  They were not too bad, actually...spicy and sour at the same time. 

Happy 28th, Matt!

It just so happened that Guadalupe Day was coming up, so the days that we were in Oaxaca, there was a huge festival in town.  The festival included food (of course), crafts,  and rides for kids.  There were a million little children dressed up in Mexican costumes - little girls in pretty, colorful dresses, little boys with hats, boots and painted-on moustaches.  They were so cute, but unfortunately looking back I don't have ANY pictures of the festival - my camera must have been acting up again. 

We did get to try the famous Oaxacan chocolate, as well as some other yummy traditional drinks we had never heard of, tejate and chocolate atole, both made with corn flour and chocolate.  Delicious!
 

Ricardo sipping some tejate

We wandered the streets of Oaxaca taking in the sights, especially at the market, which was always packed!  We ate well - through the course of our stay in Oaxaca we tried several different types of mole (sauce made with chiles and usually served over chicken; mole negro, the most famous, is made with chocolate), ate tlayudas (kind of like a flat taco) , and bought some quesillo (stringy, Oaxacan style cheese) to bring along with us when we left.

the plaza

random Oaxaca street

another street view

cathedral

Out of all the cities we've been to in Mexico, Oaxaca was definitely one of the nicest.  I can see why it is such a popular tourist destination.  Just outside of Oaxaca are some other not-to-be-missed places.  One is the ruins of Monte Alban.



Monte Alban ruins

Monte Alban was an early Zapotec city built up on a hill overlooking the valley below - we had a great view.

View from Monte Alban

On the other side of Oaxaca is the town of Santa Maria del Tule, where the largest tree in the world, by trunk circumference, is.  On our trip so far we had seen the tallest trees in the world (Redwoods in Redwood National Park) and the largest tree by volume (General Sherman in Sequoia National Park), so we had to round out our big-tree-list by checking out "El Tule." 

El Tule

Near Santa Maria del Tule just happened to be an "Oro de Oaxaca" mezcal distillery... so we went for a quick taste-test.  Mezcal is like tequila (Kiki, the 5-liter jug of Tequila we bought in Tequila had somehow disappeared...) but is made from a different types of agave and is roasted underground, which gives it a smokey flavor.  After our taste-test, we left with a bottle of the traditional mezcal, and also a bottle of nuez (walnut)-flavored mezcal liqueur - that one was delicious!

agave "hearts", and a pit for roasting

Veracruz

Leaving Mexico City, we felt like we had to spend a couple days relaxing at the beach before heading to our next city, Oaxaca.  We wanted to check out the gulf side of Mexico.  Just outside of Veracruz, Veracruz, we found a great spot to park Cubby, right on the beach.  We got out the table and chairs for our typical beach set up - complete with some beers.

 

We had barely started the relaxation when, down the beach, we noticed a pickup truck stuck in the sand.  Ricardo went to the rescue to try to pull them out with the XTerra, but despite all their best efforts, the truck was so far stuck that it could not be pulled out.  An hour later, they finally ended up getting a backhoe from a construction site nearby that pulled the poor truck out. 

But all that time spent turned out to be for good: Ricardo got to know the truck's owner, Hugo.  He was a nice guy, and Ricardo invited him to come have a beer with us at Cubby.  We hit it off right away, and before we knew it we had gotten out the grill and were having a barbeque with Hugo, his wife, and a friend.  All of them were from just nearby in Veracruz.  We had a lovely night on the beach getting to know these great people.

With new friend Hugo and his dog

The next morning Hugo brought us breakfast and then took us to visit Mandinga, a tiny town just outside of Veracruz, before he had to leave for work.  In Mandinga, we met a friend of his, Pat, who is originally from England, but she and her husband, who is from Mexico, had been living in Mandinga for many years.  They actually built their own island in the lagoon in Mandinga, and have a restaurant there, called Isla de Paraiso.

crossing the rickety bridge to Isla de Paraiso

Pat's restaurant on the island

After we'd rested up just enough, we left Veracruz for the long drive down to Oaxaca, to celebrate Matt's birthday...