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Published: July 12th 2008
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Mexico
East coast, living it up at a Riu resort in Playacar! It was just too much.
After almost ten months of damp walls, cold showers and shared accommodation (not necessarily simultaneously), we checked ourselves into a five-star all inclusive resort on Mexico's Caribbean coast and relaxed. We enjoyed ten days of over-eating, swimming, and sun-bathing, with the evenings spent sipping cocktails and enjoying the entertainment. It was wonderful. Sarah even had a go at merengue lessons (a local dance), but that may have been because I'd disappeared to play football and the dance instructor was young, tanned and athletically built!
Prior to our arrival on the coast, we'd sped east from Mexico City, passing through San Cristobal de Las Casas, Palenque, Merida and Chitzen Itza and sleeping in seven different beds (including on two buses) in our first ten days in the country.
We arrived in Mexico City late on a Tuesday evening, having endured a long trip from Quito via Miami, and the pain of immigrating into, and immediately emigrating out of, the US. Miami was the first airport we'd been to in a while with regular flights to London, and we both felt a pang of homesickness as we saw the BA and Virgin flights advertised on
Mexico
Getting in the tequillas! the screens.
Our hostel in Mexico City was fantastically located, about two minutes walk from Mexico's main square, the Plaza de la Constitucion or zocalo. Disappointingly, it was also loud and the room was a little basic to say the least.
The zolcalo is the world's third largest town square (Red Square in Moscow, and Beijing's Tiananmen Square are larger), and the centre of Mexico's historic centre, being surrounded by the Palacio Nacional and the cathedral. We spent our first morning wandering round these landmarks, in particular enjoying the Palace's Diego Rivera (husband of artist Frida Kahlo) murals. From there, we headed south to the Torre Latinoamericana to enjoy fine views over the rest of the city, and visited the foyer of the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
The following morning we ventured to Teotihuacan, about 50km north of the city centre, which at its height (in the first half of the first millennium AD) was the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas. The UNESCO World Heritage sight covers an area of 83 km² and is dominated by the impressive Temples of the Sun and Moon - well worth seeing.
Teotihuacan was the first of several ancient
Mexico
Making the most of the entertainment! sights we visited in Mexico. On our final day in the capital, we saw the Templo Mayor (or Great Temple), which was the main temple of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). As with many of Mexico's ancient ruins, the sight itself has little detailed stone-work in evidence, but the accompanying museum displayed the impressive array of artefacts discovered there.
A short ride on the Metro system (which sensibly has separate carriages for woman and children, that are sometimes policed at night) brought us to our final stop in Mexico City, the National Archaeology Museum. The museum outlines the various ancient cultures that existed in Mexico, alongside fantastic displays on their principal settlements. This helped put the ruins of Teotihuacan and the Templo Mayor in context, as well as the Mayan sights of Palenque, Chitzen Itza and Tulum that we would visit later on our trip.
From Mexico City we took an overnight bus to the pretty colonial town of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the Chiapas district. The town offers few "must see" attractions, but is a pleasant place to stroll. We also ventured into the surrounding countryside, jet-boating down the Canon del Sumidero,
Mexico
Yep, we even joined in the beach games! and visiting the nearby villages of Chiapa de Corzo and Chamula. The latter is reknowned for its church, with its straw-covered floor, illuminated by thousands of candles. Worshippers drink Pepsi, and burp to ward off evil spirits. We left shortly after one woman produced a live chicken from her bag, although we think the chicken survived . . .
Our next stop was Palenque, a small Mayan sight at the heart of the jungle, and home to some impressive Mayan temples. The remains and the setting are both very impressive, and at the end of a very humid morning, the air-conditioned museum was a welcome relief.
Our final three nights before reaching the coast consisted of a second uncomfortable night on a bus, one in the pretty colonial town of Merida, and a night close to the Mayan ruins of Chitzen Itza.
Chitzen Itza is Mexico's most famous Mayan sight, and was recently voted one of the 7 man-made wonders of the world (in a 2007 poll conducted by a Swiss-based Foundation, which allegedly attracted over 100 million votes). It's easy to see why! Whilst the temples are certainly impressive, the sight suffers from the thousands of
Mexico
Watermelons! North American and Western European tourists who visit from their Cancun and Playa del Carmen beach resorts (some of our photos required lots of patience to get a tourist-free picture). Whilst many of these potential voters will also see Tulum, very few will see the arguably more impressive sights of Palenque, Tikal (Guatemala) and Copan (Honduras).
Tulum (located about an hour south of Playa del Carmen) was our final stop in Mexico. The setting for the ruins (on a cliff over-looking the Caribbean) was spectacular, although again it was a little over-run. From Tulum, we headed south by bus towards the border. There was barely time for the Mexican custom officials to steal US$10 from each of us - it was that, or we weren't crossing - before we reboarded the bus and continued into Belize . . .
We are now in Honduras, and will update you on our journey through central America in the next blog.
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