Ola- from the Gulf Coast. Have finally gotten past all the mountains and bendy roads and reached the Campeche, a small colonial town on the Gulf Coast this morning. But let me back track a little to last week as quite a bit has happened since the last update.
Last Monday night was independence day and there were celebrations everywhere. We just headed to where the crowds were on the streets and watched some live bands and dancing while drinking beers-at less than 1euro a can, not bad. It seems to be quite a family occassion with kids out til all hours with their parents. In general family life seems important to Mexicans and they seem to do things as a family unit. So far the places we have visited have been quite poor- the kids don´t have any toys and the youngest children are being carried in slings and no sign of any sort of prams or buggies.
San Cristobal is another colonial town up quite high so it wasn´t too hot and you needed a jumper in the evenings. It is the heart of Mayan culture and we visited the Mayan Traditional Medicine Museum- it was brilliant. If you are suffering from whooping cough, an armidillo shell should do the trick and if someone is giving you the evil eye, then a ritual with a rooster (or was it a chicken?) should sort them out quick smart!!! Joking aside the Mayans still believe in their traditions but have somehow mixed it in with the Catholic religion the Spanish brought over. Because the following day we were visiting one of the many churches in the area and came across a ritual in the auxilary atrium where a healer was cleansing a local woman from some illness. Surrounded by candles (the number and colours of which determined by her illness), the healer was brushing her down with a bunch of basil leaves. Trying not to invade we respectfully watched for a couple of minutes and then left.
In total we spent 4days in San Cristobal, took a day trip to Canyon del Sumidero.....where we got great photos and saw crocidiles and monkeys. One of the nights we met up with a guy from work who is doing 30,000miles on a motorbike from top of Canada to the tip of Argentina. It turned out he was passing through San Cristobal on his way to Guatemala on Thursday night last and we went out for some pints. San Cristobal is a great spot for live music and in particular the reggae scene is alive and well. Really liked this place but by Friday it was time to move on.
6am Friday morning and after a few too many drinks the night before we were on a bus to Palenque, one of the finest ancient sites in all of Mexico. The tour included a stop at Agua Azul, a series of waterfalls and pools that are supposed to be the most amazing turquoise colour. But because we are in the rainy season they are just muddy brown! Although since there is alot more rain, the waterfalls are really powerful so much that even some of the walkways have been flooded. The next stop on the trip was to Misoh-al waterfall, 35m high....not too impressed with that considering Multnomah falls in Portland is much higher, but good to see nonetheless. We were about 20 people on the trip and were transported on a hi-ace van type bus. We ended up in the back row and these roads around the mountains were the worst we have been on. Made worse by the fact they have speed ramps almost every 100m.....the van´s suspension wasn´t very forgiving!!! I could only stomach the trip by half lying down and closing my eyes. The final stop was definitely the best- we had 2hours in Palenque archaelogical site with a guided tour in english. This ancient civilisation was only discovered in the mid 20th century and to date 33 out of 1481 buildings have been excavated. The remaining buildings are still covered in rainforest- there isn´t the money in the country to support further work on this. The Mayans believed the circle was a sacred shape and as a result never used the wheel. When you see the architecture of the buildings they built it is hard to imagine how they could have managed it all....apparently they had hundreds of slaves. That night we stopped off in a campsite nearby to the site and got a cabin in the rainforest. Now i am a fan of all things natural, especially when it is on the tv and David Attenborough is providing the narration but wasn´t overly keen on sleeping in a room with corrugated iron roof and all the possible creepy crawlies that might appear. But a couple of pina coladas in the local restaurant and a mosquito net draped over the bed meant i got 40winks.
Saturday was spent making our way to Campeche. Though only 6hours away, the buses didn´t leave til midnight. So instead we went halfway to Villahermosa and spent the afternoon in the local zoo, getting to see jaguars which are very sacred to ancient Mexican culture and then caught the night bus to Campeche. Because it wasn´t too far away we got in about 4am. Chanced our arm and got a taxi to a nearby hostel. Luckily they had space and got some sleep. Campeche is beside the sea and even still, the humidity is really high here. So not doing very much today. Plan is to head off tomorrow and hit the Yucatan.
Last Monday night was independence day and there were celebrations everywhere. We just headed to where the crowds were on the streets and watched some live bands and dancing while drinking beers-at less than 1euro a can, not bad. It seems to be quite a family occassion with kids out til all hours with their parents. In general family life seems important to Mexicans and they seem to do things as a family unit. So far the places we have visited have been quite poor- the kids don´t have any toys and the youngest children are being carried in slings and no sign of any sort of prams or buggies.
San Cristobal is another colonial town up quite high so it wasn´t too hot and you needed a jumper in the evenings. It is the heart of Mayan culture and we visited the Mayan Traditional Medicine Museum- it was brilliant. If you are suffering from whooping cough, an armidillo shell should do the trick and if someone is giving you the evil eye, then a ritual with a rooster (or was it a chicken?) should sort them out quick smart!!! Joking aside the Mayans still believe in their traditions but have somehow mixed it in with the Catholic religion the Spanish brought over. Because the following day we were visiting one of the many churches in the area and came across a ritual in the auxilary atrium where a healer was cleansing a local woman from some illness. Surrounded by candles (the number and colours of which determined by her illness), the healer was brushing her down with a bunch of basil leaves. Trying not to invade we respectfully watched for a couple of minutes and then left.
In total we spent 4days in San Cristobal, took a day trip to Canyon del Sumidero.....where we got great photos and saw crocidiles and monkeys. One of the nights we met up with a guy from work who is doing 30,000miles on a motorbike from top of Canada to the tip of Argentina. It turned out he was passing through San Cristobal on his way to Guatemala on Thursday night last and we went out for some pints. San Cristobal is a great spot for live music and in particular the reggae scene is alive and well. Really liked this place but by Friday it was time to move on.
6am Friday morning and after a few too many drinks the night before we were on a bus to Palenque, one of the finest ancient sites in all of Mexico. The tour included a stop at Agua Azul, a series of waterfalls and pools that are supposed to be the most amazing turquoise colour. But because we are in the rainy season they are just muddy brown! Although since there is alot more rain, the waterfalls are really powerful so much that even some of the walkways have been flooded. The next stop on the trip was to Misoh-al waterfall, 35m high....not too impressed with that considering Multnomah falls in Portland is much higher, but good to see nonetheless. We were about 20 people on the trip and were transported on a hi-ace van type bus. We ended up in the back row and these roads around the mountains were the worst we have been on. Made worse by the fact they have speed ramps almost every 100m.....the van´s suspension wasn´t very forgiving!!! I could only stomach the trip by half lying down and closing my eyes. The final stop was definitely the best- we had 2hours in Palenque archaelogical site with a guided tour in english. This ancient civilisation was only discovered in the mid 20th century and to date 33 out of 1481 buildings have been excavated. The remaining buildings are still covered in rainforest- there isn´t the money in the country to support further work on this. The Mayans believed the circle was a sacred shape and as a result never used the wheel. When you see the architecture of the buildings they built it is hard to imagine how they could have managed it all....apparently they had hundreds of slaves. That night we stopped off in a campsite nearby to the site and got a cabin in the rainforest. Now i am a fan of all things natural, especially when it is on the tv and David Attenborough is providing the narration but wasn´t overly keen on sleeping in a room with corrugated iron roof and all the possible creepy crawlies that might appear. But a couple of pina coladas in the local restaurant and a mosquito net draped over the bed meant i got 40winks.
Saturday was spent making our way to Campeche. Though only 6hours away, the buses didn´t leave til midnight. So instead we went halfway to Villahermosa and spent the afternoon in the local zoo, getting to see jaguars which are very sacred to ancient Mexican culture and then caught the night bus to Campeche. Because it wasn´t too far away we got in about 4am. Chanced our arm and got a taxi to a nearby hostel. Luckily they had space and got some sleep. Campeche is beside the sea and even still, the humidity is really high here. So not doing very much today. Plan is to head off tomorrow and hit the Yucatan.
1 comment:
Hey
God you are visiting so many places... I don't know how you remember all the names. Sounds like you're having a blast. Rob is enjoying your blog and can't wait until you get to Argentina!
Hope all is well, chat soon
Lx
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