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Published: September 28th 2008
Landing in Mexico came as a bit of a relief after Cuba. After the bad food and the resulting food poisoning of Cuba, it was great to be able to buy quality food from supermarkets again. God bless Capitalism, at least where supermarkets are concerned!
Cancun was the first stop in Mexico, and it represents just about everything that Mexico is not. It feels just like being in America - McDonalds, Burger Kings and Starbucks everywhere. Giant Hotels line the beach (which is restricted in use to hotel residents, unfairly excluding locals!), superclubs and shopping malls make up the rest of the 'Hotel Zone' area of town. It's built to service American tourists, which I'm sure it does quite well. It just doesn't hold a whole lot of appeal for me! Except of course for the absolutely beautiful white sand, blue water beaches - probably the nicest I have ever seen! We also met a few good people in the hostel in Cancun - top of the list Ollie, who we travelled with for the next couple of weeks
After a short stop in Cancun, we continued down the coast to the slightly less touristy Playa del Carmen. Playa
In the Jungle
Myself, Steo and Ollie in the Jungle at Palenquedel Carmen was a much nicer spot altogether, a lovely town to stroll around, and a lovely beach, this time open to everyone. It also boast one of the top 10 beach bars in the world - a sand dancefloor, seats made from swings that you can relax on, sip a cocktail and hear the sea lapping in. Lovely!
It was time to get a bit of culture back into us, so we headed south to Palenque to see some Mayan ruins. The Mayan's reigned here from the 4th to the 8th centuries, under rulers such as Ahkal Mo' Naab' (Turtle-Macaw-Lake) and Wak Kimi Janhb' Pakal (6 Death Sun Shield). Here the beautiful Temple of the Cross steals the limelight. We stayed right in the Jungle besides the ruins - a great chance to relax! In fact, there was no real other option than to relax!
From here, myself, Ollie and Steo headed further south to San Cristobal de las Casas, one of the prettiest of Mexican towns. Here we also found one of the craziest hostels imaginable. The reason for most of the bedlam was the claimed owner Marcus Reyes, a mexican born, american raised man who
had seen and done it all. He had piloted a helicopter in 'Naam ("if that thing stops working, you're just a brick in the sky!"); he had been a Shaman (Medicine Man) in Palenque; he had been involved in illegal production in America, because of which he had to flee the country; he had gone to high-school with Axel Rose; he had been to The Burning Man 5 times, despite asking us what the Burning Man was the night before. Oh, and he was a salsa teacher two, despite having two of the leftist feet I've ever seen. I got the feeling Mr. Reyes might have been telling us a few white lies.
His sidekick was a mute, semi-homeless fire-poy artist, who would arrive nightly, and behave in all sorts of strange ways - dancing around like a lunatic, staring at people really close up to their faces, and other generally manic behaviour. There were a few outstandingly entertaining nights in the hostel. Keep up the good work Marcus and co!!
Ollie, our friend we had made in Cancun, had a couple of friends up in a town called Puebla near to Mexico city. He had studied abroad
in Valencia a few years previously, as had some students from Puebla, so they invited us up to stay for a while. And the hospitality they showed was exceptional. Anahy put us up in her house, drove us around everywhere, took us to the local Safari Park, introduced us to all her many friends, brought us out for nights out that only the locals would know well. It made for a fantastic few days.
It was getting time to get to Mexico City, in order to get our flight up to San Francisco. So we said our goodbyes to Ollie and Anahy, and made our way to Mexico City - the largest city in the Americas. We had been variously warned of the dangers of going to Mexico City, but we didn't have a single spot of bother there. Unless you were foolish, it felt perfectly safe to me. It's also a very beautiful city with and Impressive Cathedral and the Palace of Fine Art. The most outstanding sight is located an our out of the city though, the amazing Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs, founded in 1325. The Temples of the Sun and the Moon are
the centre-pieces of this extraordinary site. It was build in the middle of a swamp, which has ince dried up, but artists have made paintings of what it would have looked like in its day. I imagine it must have been one of the most beautiful cities of its time. As the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, put it:
"And when we saw all those towns and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns . . . and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision. . . . Indeed some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream . . . It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen, or dreamed of before."
On the last night in Mexico, we went to see the Mexican national team play Honduras in the Azteca stadium. 100,000 people all going crazy for the football. It was a real carnival atmosphere, which was dampened a bit when massive
underdogs Honduras took the lead. But the Mexican team pulled it back, and finally won the game 2-1.
The three weeks in Mexico had been great - some of the best of the trip - and it was time to take in the last leg of the trip, up to San Francisco to travel out to The Burning Man.
We spent a few days in San Francisco, catching up with John Power and Conor, and getting things together for going out to the festival. It was good to see the city again (I had spent a summer there 4 years previously), to take a trip out to Golden Gate Park , and to go back to the bar that I used to work in and see the old crew there. Good to see that even though half of them have lost their minds, they haven't lost their sense of humour. Mike Roddy, the owner, was in typically insulting form when we arrived, giving one customer stick for looking like Barack Obama. When the customer left in a bit of a huff, Mike turns round to us and in mock exasperation says "What about my feelings!". It was good
Party in Puebla
Ollie, Anahy, Steo, Myself and Caimin to be back!
I got to go out to Alcatraz too, and see the film famous for hollywood movies like The Rock and Escape from Alcatraz. It was a really good tour, and some great views back on San Francisco from the island.
We headed out towards the Burning Man festival on the Tuesday, with the two Keiths over from Ireland for the festival. We stopped off in Tahoe for the night on the way to meet up with some friends of Keiths that we intended to travel down to the festival with. Lake Tohoe itself is really beautiful, and very much worth seeing on the way out.
On Wednesday, we made our way out to Black Rock Desert, the venue for The Burning Man festival, a little later than expected due to Keith (the bloody great gobshite!) locking his keys in the boot of his retal car! So we hit the festival at night-time, and there the madness began.
To describe The Burning Man would take more text than anyone could ever read, and even then it would only give you a hint of what it's all about. But I'll try. It all started on
the tiny beach beside Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco back in 1986, when a man burnt another man (made of wood) and a dog (also of wood) on the beach, and his friends came along and joined in the party. It was a bonfire ritual for the summer solstice, and gathered a crowd of about 20 people.
Twenty-two years on, and moved out to Nevada desert, the tradition is still going strong, but now in the form of a slightly more organised festival. Each year on the week coming up to Labour Day in america, thousands of people head to the desert, bringing all sorts of their own art with them, and set up camp for the week. People set up tents of various themes and organise events open to all. Others bring along mutant vehicles - cars or busses dressed up as pirate-ships and giant ducks, that transport people across the desert, while playing music for their entertainment. Numerous large enclosures with huge sound and light systems are set up across the playa, and many international acts come out to play (such as Carl Cox this year). Indeed everything in the desert is considered to be part of
Tenochtitlan at it height
Artists impression of what it looked like back then. the art of the desert, so people are considered to dress up, to dress up their bicycles (the main means of transport across the playa) and to generally join in creating the experience. And an experience it certainly is! Each of the last few years, The Burning Man makes Black Rock City the 5th largest city in Las Vegas, at a size of over 50,000 people in recent years.
And the setting for the city is beautiful. Right in the middle of the desert, with a ring of mountains around out in the distance. The sunsets and sunrises were absolutely breathtaking out there. We spent the days and nights wandering around the vast playa, attending the various events, enjoying all the art, and trying to understand just what the hell some of it was meant to mean. We met some weird and wonderful people, saw some weirder and more wonderful random events, and got caught up in a sandstorm or two! It's the best festival I've attended, and I'd say the best event I've ever been too. I have serious intentions of going back again in the next few years.
After The Burning Man, it was time to
Tenochtitlan, Mexico City
Sitting on the Temple of the Moon, with the Temple of the Sun in the background. head back towards Las Vegas, for a week of relaxation (at least that was the plan!) to finish the trip and get on a plane for Sydney Australia. Vegas ended up being almost as relaxing as intended. We booked into the Tropicana hotel right on the strip, and spent most of the days lounging by the pool, and getting a few things ready for Sydney. And then on Saturday night all the good work went down the drain when we hit the nightlife at Caesar's Palace. Ah well.
Then finally the time came - the end of the 7 months travelling finally arrived. It was time to say goodbye to the Americas and head over the other side of the world to make back all the money I had blown on the trip. As I got onto the plane I wondered had it all been worth it? Damn right it was - worth every single penny!
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