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Published: March 8th 2008
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It's a terrible feeling, saying your goodbyes to people you spent such an intense and amazing time with, knowing you most probably never going to see them again! But although our goodbyes in Tepoztlan were very sad, it was also quite an exciting feeling to leave our comfortzone and visit new places. But not too much at once, first we returned for a couple of days to Mexico city. Again it kept surprising us how calm this big city feels and what a great way it is to get a feel of mexican city life. We also used one day to visit teotihuacan, a big ancient site, with the highest temple in mexico. It was very interesting and all the information from the archeological museum, came a bit more to life. Although I have to admit that waiting in a queue with tourists halfway up the suntemple does spoil the true feeling a bit.
After two days we decided it was time to move on and we travelled to puebla. A town two hours south east from Mexico city. We only spent one and a half day there, as it is not that big, but it was a great stop over
on our bustrip down south. The centre consists of beautifull colonial buildings, and there was a big site where the industrial revolution started, now an area where the old archeological finds are combined with modern art. The whole of Mexico has an amazing history and in this town we learned a bit more about the revolution that took place in Mexico in 1910 We visited the house of one of the revolutionary leaders. Very fascinating, unfortunatley his (and his family) life ended tragically and the bullet holes of the attack with which the government overpowered them.... were still present.
Oaxaca lies on a 4 hour drive from Puebla and is surrounded by stunning countrysides and a myriad of little villages known occupying the area (knowing we are just as guilty) We therefore didn´t want to stay in Oaxaca for too long and spent our time there for a nice daytrip to the nearby pyramids and to admire some local crafts. The pyramids were absolutely amazing, set on Monte Alban (called this way for it´s white Accacia trees). It really felt like time stood still for a moment and when it was time to go we both had to tear
ourselves away from it! In the afternoon we visited several little crafts shops and we had to remind ourselves of our limited space in our bags. Let´s see how long we can keep this non buying up!
And then it was finally time for the beach! We spent three very relaxed days in Puerto Escondida on the Pacific ocean. Did some long walks, combined with some serious hammock time. We considered to go for a bit of surfing, but after witnessing several pretty experienced surfers being buried by waves, we decided it would probably not be challanging enough for us and spent our energy watching the surfers doing their thing whilst enjoying a perfect sunset.
First overnight bus; 13 hours east with the destination San Cristobal. We both managed to sleep most of the way and the journey went surprisingly quick! The area around San Cristobal (Chiapas) is probably one of our favourite places in Mexico. The town itself has a good feel to it and the people are so very friendly. We stayed for three days and made some amazing trips into the country side. This area is also known for the Zapatistas, a movement mainly active
in the 80´s and 90´s, fighting for the rights of the indigenous people, of which we gained a lot more understanding during our stay.
One morning we spent going on a three hour horseride to one of the indigenous villages - San Juan Chamula. I wasn´t very happy to find out my horse was called Tsunami, although our guide laughed when I explained to him I wasn´t that experienced; "Not to worry, he´s just a bit spirited!" And he was definately right.... after 5 minutes I wasn't worried about the rain or my allergy creeping up, but the fact that sweet Tsunami was going to make his own way to wherever he wanted to go. But we got used to eachother and I realised Tsunami was only worried about being in front (and would bite every other living creature that dared to pass him). In the mean time Mark's horse was plodding along and we would meet up again when reaching the village.
The village itself was a little bit deserted due to the constant rain ( strange as we are in the middle of the dry season), but we still got a glimpse of the market and
were able to see the rituals taking place in the main church. The church floor rather than have pews used pine needles as a floor covering and families were praying on their knees with rows of candles in front, chickens, which they use in their rituals and bottles of coke around them. Their belief is that the coke assisted burping expels the evil spirits.
They are a very proud community and protect their form of Catholism closely which includes the prohibition of photography of their rituals, anyway it was one of those experience that had to be seen to be believed.
It was again a fantastic feeling going through the mountains on a horse...Unfortunatly we were a little bit unlucky this time as it was pouring down all the way there and back and it took us about two days afterwards to warm up!
The following day we booked a trip in the morning going to Canyon del Sumidero. We went on a two hour boat trip through this gorgeous scenery, and most excitedly we saw our first wild crocodile!! Well actually we saw four of them. All in the spirits of nature and it´s wildlife we visited the
nearby zoo in the afternoon. Set up by a naturalist, fighting for the preservation of wildlife in Chiapas, Mexico. The zoo had a jungle setting and the animals live within their natural habitat. You find animals within their (big) cages, but also all around you whilst you´re walking through this jungle. It is quite spooky at times, hearing all the jungle noices and suddenly seeing a spidermonkey sling past, whilst the howlers are making themselve heard in the distance.
We could have easily spent another month exploring the rich culture and wild life of this Mexican state, but as we were already overdoing our stay in Mexico and we had one more stop to go here, it was time to move on.
This stop was Palenque, Known for it´s massive Mayan site in the jungle. We spent two nights in El panchan, a (former) hippy area right outside the national park. The maya site was probably the most impressive of the ancient sites we visited uptill now. The setting was magical and you could easily spent a full day wondering around. We also spotted our first toucan in the wild and the forcefull sounds of the howlers definatly
made it a magical place!
6 days ago we crossed the border into Guatemala. We have had a fantastic time in Mexico and realise we have only seen so little of it. It would definatly be a country to return one day!
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Esther
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Hey sis!
What a beatiful pictures! It is nice to read about your experiences during the trip. We are travelling with you. How is your Spanish going?? And Mark's? Miss you a lot. Hugs and kisses Esther, Marco and Nanuq