A whirlwind week of tourism

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Well well, the tickets were bought and the plans were made - I met my 2 good friends Rosa and Tin on their coordinated time off from work and school to hang out in Mexico! It was nice to see some familiar faces and we spent lots of time catching up over, what else, FOOD. Because if you know me, you search for the good sustenance. And so, our journey began in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas after more than 12 hour bus journeys on all of our parts (them from Cancun and me from Oaxaca).

We spent 2 days exploring that fabulous town, and really San Cris. has some of the best food in Mexico that I've had. It was the first time really on this trip that I ate out in restaurants, but it was well worth it. We attached ourselves to this restaurant and bakery called La Casa del Pan that is actually associated with another WWOOF farm where (and it really is a small world) I ran into a friend from the first farm I had been on. Anyways, the food there was fabulous. We ate mole enchiladas, mango salad, apple-raisin empanadas, etc. We also found a place with home-made fruit yogurt, and on March 14th (Pi day), we treated ourselves to a few slices of pie. San Cris. was also the first place for me to encounter a TON of tourists from all over, but I'm not surprised - if I had more time I would stay there for awhile too, maybe working at the WWOOF farm. There is also the Zapatista movement going on and some places play cool documentaries every night for cheap (we saw El Corazon del Tiempo) and awesome projects going on like Unitierra, a university based on learning practical skills like carpentry to agriculture to public speaking, etc. I didn't have time to visit there, BUT we visited El Museo de la Medicina Maya, a center based around indigenous medicine - displaying the history and actively hosting patients and practicing medicine. I learned how women give birth (see the picture) and wandered the garden outside with signs in front of plants telling what they are used for.

Alas, our time there came to an end and we took a bus to Palenque to visit the ruins for a few hours. It was literally a 5 hour visit because we had places to go! The pyramids, structure, and jungle was impressive. We got to wander almost wherever we wanted (a luxury we didn't know wouldn't be offered at other ruins' sites), climbling up and down steep, decaying stairwells (don't picture this, mom) and imagined the ancient people bathing in the crystal clear waterfalls and river. And then we took a taxi back to town and hopped on our overnight bus to Tulum where I finally made it to the beach after a month and a half of traveling. We spent 2 days in Tulum, enjoying the paradise beaches and NOT enjoying all the tourist prices for accomodations and food. We searched and finally found a lady down the street making authentic Mexican sopes so we ate there twice a day, eating the same: fried fish sopes for me and Rosa, and veggie ones for Tin. They were delicious and cheap, the way food should be. The ruins were beautiful, made more so by the stunning backdrop of the ocean, and because we were nowhere close to a night scene where we were staying, enjoyed playing card games at night.

Tulum to Chichen Itza! We found the cheapest place possible and affixed ourselves to the fruit stand nearby, making our own sandwiches and eating mangos we sprinkled with chili. We ate lunch right at the base of the grand pyramid El Castillo (The castle) and wandered the immense grounds, coming too late to make it to the ball court, but just in time to watch the sun setting over El Castillo, seeing the almost-perfect serpent effect as we were 2 days before the actual equinox. We came back again at night to see the sound and light show. I think the idea was "Hey we've got really cool impressive-looking ancient pyramids - why don't we make it even cooler-looking and flash neon lights on them at night?" Well, whoever thought of this was right, and those pyramids looked pretty damn cool with flashing neon lights at night. Oh yeah, they also told the story of the ruins and the people while they were doing the light show to make it more legit. So yeah, Chichen Itza was cool except not cool because NO WHERE in town did we find a place that sold paletas (popsicles). Like real mexican ones. LAME.

And on to Cancun! This marked the last day of our journey together and we celebrated it at the beach! We did the beach thing, got paletas and then parted ways at the bus station, the two of them catching shuttles to the airport, and me catching a bus down south a half hour to Puerto Morelos, where I'm spending the rest of my trip WWOOFing at a farm here (will post later about it). And that was it! I think I spent the same amount of money in that week that I've been spending in a month BUT eh, it's okay - I got to see lots of ruins, eat some good food, get some beach in, and catch up with old friends. I'd say it was a pretty good week. Well, until next time! Love,

Mon

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Photos

Reunited in Chiapas!
a san cristóbal marketplace

The home of good coffee and hot chocolate
mmmmmm...

La bandera
viva méxico!

It was pi day so how could we not eat some pie?
3.14159.....

The beautiful streets of San Cristóbal
on a lovely day

San Cris. Catedral
i like the archetecture

Who wants to go sailing down the street?
outside of a museum

El museo de la medicina maya
where traditional medicine is still practiced - here is a scene showing childbirth where the woman delivers the baby on her knees, leaning into her husband´s lap while he sits on a chair supporting her.

Medicina maya pharmacy
with herbal remedies and treatments for patients

Medicina Maya campaigns against big corporations and coke
that´s what i like to see

Beautiful Palenque!
where we could climb everywhere on the ruins...unlike chichen itza or tulum

Lookin out to the jungle
from inside of a tomb(?)

Palenque waterfalls
mmm hmmm

Finally journeyed to the beach!
first time so far on the trip, this is in Tulum

Fish sopes!!
everything was so touristy there that we had to really really search to find authentic, cheap, and delicious mexican food...consequentially we ate all our meals here

Spectacular
a fortress on the ocean

Comments

[yelena]

yum yum
hey monbon! your trip sounds amazing! i love that like 2 months into it you are eating at restuaruants for the first time. atta girl. have fun on the farm, the garden and farmers market miss your hands! love you! yelena