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Loads of photos in this one. You´ll have to click the link at the bottom (or top?) to see more...
Mexico City
As we were pretty much expecting it to be, Mexico turned out to be one of our favourite countries. Partially as a result of this and partially because it is so big & spread out we did a lot less travelling around than we had in other countries, choosing instead to savour the few places that we visited and generally just kick back and enjoy the Mexican culture.
So, first stop was Mexico City DF. After an initial hick-up with our first night's accommodation (ended up sleeping on the floor of an empty apartment - for next to nothing) Mexico City was a fantastic introduction to the country. We are definitely city people so the idea of going to one of the world's biggest cities with a population of 8.8 million was fairly exciting to begin with and we were not in the least put off by stories of high crime. We had a great time.
Our Mexico City highlights:
*Finding a nice clean relatively modern hotel room right in the historic centre for $200
Outside the awesome temporary
Souza photography exhibit in the main Sq. Mexcico City. Cathedral in background.pesos a night (just under £11)
*Lots of really cool & interesting art galleries. The highlight was a temporary photography exhibit in the main square by Willy Souza entitled
Mexico In Your Senses. Check the video out, attached, which was part of the exhibit & is being used (& was probably commissioned by) the Mexican Tourist board.
*Tacos & burritos on tap. Not literally, but they were pretty frickin' abundant.
*One of the most memorably random nights out of our whole trip in the historic region. More on this later..
Like all cities Mexico City has a shit load of galleries, museums & their likes. However, unlike most cities, where our excitement for culture disapates after the first half day we were really drawn in by the cultural side & spend the best part of 3 days sight, gallery & museum hopping. The best that we saw was the photography exhibit mentioned above plus the murals inside the court building. The one depicting in life like detail the worst sins commited against humanity from within the law was both eerie (given the setting) and awesome. We also saw lots of great modern art.
The historical centre, where
Beatles cover band
and they weren´t half bad either. we stayed, is not the best for night life so we only went out for a proper drink once but as mentioned it sure was memorably random. We started the night off in a little tequila bar for a couple of quiet ones and then wandered into a Rock bar restaurant type place that had 2 alternating cover bands set up at each end to minimise down time. One did generic as well as Mexican heavy metal & har rock covers and the other was a Beatles cover band that lapsed into modern Indie later on. After that we headed to a small bar that is old man by day & trendy late night dj's by night. We were lured in by some promising hip hop sounds and stayed through all kinds of mid & eastern European tunes as well as some Mexican folk and, of course, the Zorba. We left right after the Zorba as the dancing had went from frantic enthusiasm to bordering on dangerous. We finished the night off in another bar where a couple of locals made friends with us and inisited that we drink more beer.
Uruapan & Paracutin
We went to Uruapan
to use it as a base for a day trip to Paracutin where a (now dormant) volcano slowly devoured a small village. The story (or legend?) goes that a farmer was one day out in his field when he noticed cracks appearing and gently spewing lava. He tried to fill in the cracks but after a few attempts gave up. The volcano grew slowly enough that the village was able to safely edge back as it was advancing. These days there is a relatively small volanic cone surrounded by miles and miles of lava fields out of which the only remaining structure protrudes: the old church.
So.. the lonely planet warned that to see the volcano and church you could go on horseback: 4 hours on a wooden saddle with guide, or you could walk: 6 hours with a guide. We find horse riding for just 2 hours with a good saddle painful enough so chose to walk it. Our guide took his horse. It was bloody hard work: 2 1/2 to 3 hours mostly flat or gentle incline walking in the heat though volcanic ash which is very much like super scratchy sand. Then a final 1/2 hour
Graham being touched up
by our temporary new friends in a late bar scramble straight up loose volcanic rocks to the top of the volcano. It was almost worth it. See photos. Then the 2 1/2 hour walk back stopping off at the church. The church was definitely worth seeing and was only a 1/2 hour walk from the town.
We were a little gob smacked when we spoke to a girl in Guadalajara who had done the walk in about 4-5 hours. We then worked out that she'd walked/climbed over the lava field - mostly accross jaggy rocks as her guide was also on foot. We'd walked around the lava field as our guide had a horse. So our painful walk though volcanic ash & the resulting horrendous blisters were not necessary after all!
Paracho
Tiny little town famous for making excellent guitars by hand. Graham resisted buying one but we did go into one workshop where Graham talked to the craftman (& owner) who was working and got to play a couple of his finished pieces. There was some kind of town festival happening while we were there so we got to see some folk music & dancing on a stage in the main square. Besides guitars the other
highlight for us of Paracho was the food market where we kept going back to for the amazing roast pork & outstanding tacos.
Aguas Calientes
Went here to visit the musuem of the dead and also to see the festival that was on. The museum was very cool but we otherwise didn't find too much to love about the city. If terms of the festival it seemed as though we were cursed: we would hear or see a parade or some activity only to find that it was finished by the time we went to investigate. We went out of our way to visit a museum only to find that it was closed for renovation and the church next door closed for siesta. So we went for some food and then to use the internet and when we came out mass was starting so we couldn't go see the church. We spent a couple of hours drinking on what looked like the main drag only to find out the next day that we should have went 200 meters down the road to hit the main celebrations. That same night while having a cocktail we sat watching for an hour
or so while random people in the bell tower of a church were ringing the bells by hanging off them & jumping atround like lunitics (there were no ropes) but when we finished our drinks and went up to have a go a mass was just starting so we'd missed our opportunity.
We weren't too bothered though as we also found that we have very little tolerance for slow moving crowds at street parties & generally couldn't be bothered with it.
Guadalajara (& Tequila)
Loved Guadalajara! Went to watch Chivas play football in the Copa Libertadores (they won 3-0 despite being absolutely pants).
Headed to tequila (the birth place of tequila) for the day to taste, er, tequila with a few others from the hostel. It also happened to be my (Kerry's) birthday and the Champions League seim final. We all went to the Tequila museum then to the Souza distillery. We arrived between tour times so had to go chill for an hour to wait for the next tour. As a result, Graham got into the game & decided that football was more important so we left him and another guy in the pub while we
Sunday = no cars day
on a couple of the main roads! did the tour. Tour was pretty good but I got stung by a bee as I was about to taste my first tequila. Luckily I am not allergic (although it was my first sting so it was an exciting few minutes waiting to see..) and after 30 mins or so of numbing sensation running up my arm I was back to normal. Graham and Finbar were waiting for us at the end of the tour with a selection of tequilas so they did at least get to do some tasting!
Finished off the day celebrating my birthday over drinks back in Guadalajara with a group of about 15 from the hostel. All in all a pretty nice birthday.
Mazatlan
Touristy, touristy, touristy. Spent one night in Mazatlan before taking a small boat across the harbour to the picturesque Stone Island (not actually an island, more a secluded beach on an inaccessible headland).
Spent 4 days lying on the beach, topping up our tans, eating seafood & burritos and reading trashy books. Kerry read UFC fighter Chuck Liddell's autobiography and is now a fan of the sport, despite not seeing a fight yet.
Cancun (& Chitzen
Itza)
Glitzly and trashy. We stayed in a hostel which included breakfast & dinner so spent our evenings hanging out with a group of nine lovely young Brits and a few others that were staying there.
Spent an afternoon on the beach (nice), an evening in a locals karaoke bar (alternatively boring - when a Mexican song was on - then funny - when we were singing) and a night in a nightclub that featured:
1. a rigged wet t-shirt competition with 4 entrants where the t-shirts didn't stay on long enough to get wet (the winner was too dirty for words & got naked and the UK entrant was "classy" refusing to get her baps out & was therefore boo'd off)
2. a $50 US all inclusive entry fee so we got brought a bottle of vodka & a bottle of rum to share between our group which were promptly replaced when empty.
2. a dancefloor that turned into a shower/fountain (a prop in the wet T comp that definitely added a level of mad base fun to dancing shit faced to cheesy rock at the end of the night)
Needless to say it was very
So, we´re having a nice sit down...
and see that cars go clockwise round this roundabout... messy but it was also one of the most (base) fun nights clubbing that we've ever had. I say base because the place was just nasty if you took any notice outside of your group but we had no bother so it was more or less good clean fun for us!
While in Cancun, we also went on the hostel tour to visit Chitzen Itza as well as a sink hole pool & another Myan ruin site. It was a really good tour, especially since we were in a small group instead of on a tour bus - private mini bus for 12 of us. Chitzen Itza was very cool, the swimming hole was stunning and the other site & village stop offs were interesting enough. See photos.
So, that's pretty much it for Mexico.
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