Merida, Sans Cristobal + Oaxaca

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Merida is a lovely colonial town. Thanks to Jono's wonderful and (to Emma and I, who have little knowledge in these things) sometimes mystical skills in finding great hotels at a cheap price, we ended up in a lovely hotel right across the road from the town square with a balcony and old colonial architecture which made it feel like I was in Europe somewhere. On our first day we explored the markets and cathedral and had a nice lunch. With little else to do at nighttime we went to check out the local movie theatre- alas! -only movies in Spanish. We were in luck though, because right across the street was a group of people dancing (waltzing, cha cha, I have no idea what kind of dancing) to live Mexican music. It was really cute to see- especially as most of the participants were elderly couples. And then there were the occasional young couple that you can imagine the old couples once were like.

The next day we went to check out Chichen Itza, one of the new seven wonders of the world (along with things like the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal). We went of a guided tour with our hotel (the only non-tour way of going involved catching very expensive taxis and thus made no sense). It was pretty interesting- especially the guide showing us the spots where sounds bounced off the pyramids (e.g. there was a spot where if you clapped your hands, there would then be a loud noise from the pyramid ahead of you, then a lesser noise bounce off the pyramid from your side). There was also a great ball court (apparently the greatest one in Mesoamerica), which had Emma all excited because apparently the game played on those courts featured in one of her favourite childhood movies. There were a lot of interesting elements of the game that I learnt from the tour- such as the weight of the balls and the fact that you couldn't use your hands to get them through the hoop (this fact is much more incredible when you see how small and high up those hoops are, and also recognise that Mayans are the smallest people of Mesoamerica). Also the team that won all got executed, so that they could be closer to the gods (a great honour).

Chichen Itza is also the place where on the equinox, overtime the shadows going down the steps look like a snake slithering. Our guide also rattled off a bunch of cool number stuff to do with the observatory. That night we walked a fair way to find a café recommended by Lonely Planet (or LP as we affectionately nicknamed it). Good crepes, and a bonus: on the way there we found a bookstore with books in English. I was trying to race through ‘One flew over a cukoo nest’ before Emma left, so it was good to know I had a book to read after that- a series of short stories by Latin American authors (it turned out not to be that great). The next day we went to the contemporary art gallery nearby- it was really impressive. There wasn’t much else to do in Merida, so I spent that last afternoon sitting in the square reading a book. It was there that I was approached by a guy from the local university, he was taking a survey of travellers to investigate what impact they thought they were having on the culture. It turned into a bit of a discussion about what’s wrong with backpacker culture- something I often feel staying in lots of hostels.

Anyway, it was in Merida that Emma left us to go home, leaving only Jono and I to go onto San Cristobel de la Casas. San Cristobal is a gorgeous mountain town with colourful buildings in a beautiful setting. There were a lot of expats there. Both Jono and I got what we suspect is altitude sickness so weren’t overly eager to much. We had been told from a traveller coming the other way that there were a lot of great little bars with live music- and that was certainly the case. One of my favourite parts of San Cristobal was sitting in a tiny bar drinking tea at 10pm (everything in Mexico doesn’t really get going until then) and listening to a jazz band 2 tables away from us. There was also another place we went that had the BEST guacamole, and a 14 man band. The locals dancing to the music put me to shame (in general- I didn’t even attempt to dance with them- they were all so good). Only two real ‘activities’ were achieved in San Cristobal. One was walking up a very large amount of stairs to see the church and view at the top (not really worth the nausea induced from trying to get my legs to do something strenuous while suffering from altitude sickness). The other was going to see a movie ‘Love and other addictions’ (it was pretty good actually). The only fail was that I had the whole phrase in my head to ask in Spanish if the movie was in English and to buy tickets, but the moment I got at the front of the line I started speaking French at her. Just a prime example of many occasions where I would reply ‘oui’ instead of ‘si’. It’s funny how the moment I have to speak any foreign language I immediately try to lapse into the one I know best.

Anyway, from San Cristobal it was onto Oaxaca (pronounced: wahaca). Oaxaca is known for its language schools so I guess its not surprising that there were a lot of more well worn travellers there staying in the hostel on longer stays trying to brush up on their Spanish before heading south. One couple from New York, in particular, were very friendly and the hostel had a nice homey atmosphere. The first full day in Oaxaca was a bit of a disaster. The president of Mexico was visiting that day so pretty much everything was shut or gated off with extra security (I’ve never seen so many machine guns, soldiers and police in one place). The only things we managed to achieve that day were seeing a church and having some lunch. The church was the best I saw in my whole time in Mexico. I can’t even properly describe the inlays of saints on the domed ceilings as you first some in, and the decorations everywhere. It was absolutely spectacular. Even more so when we went to see it again at night. For lunch we made it to the south markets and having amazing mole (Oaxaca mole is proper mole)- an unsweetened chocolate salsa served on things like chicken. Also a Oaxacan specialty is hot chocolate with a bunch of spices in it, served with sweet bread for dipping. Good stuff.

I was still feeling sick after San Cristobal, so went to have a siesta before heading to the zocalo and trying to get a peak of the president. As Jono and I were heading down we noticed that a lot of people were running in the other direction and there was a lot of what sounded like bullet shots. Some Mexican lady stopped and said something about ‘problems’. We went back to the hostel to try and determine what had happened via the internet. It turns out that (much like a similar thing that happened in Oaxaca in 2006 which led to longterm violence in the area) the teachers were holding a protest for the president’s visit. Then they took some cops hostage so the army started shooting them with rubber bullets. No one was killed. But when we went down to the zocalo area that night for dinner there was a lot of rubble around, like big chunks taken out of buildings and glass smashed through. Even the cathedral had bits out of it (theory: rock fight). Probably most impressive of all was a truck that had been blown up, still with the smell of burning rubber, still with some parts smoking. There were reports that a government vehicle had been attacked, but it wasn’t exactly said that a truck was blown up. Honestly, I can’t imagine how the driver survived- the whole front carriage was detached from the rest.

Anyway, speaking of the cathedral- an inspection inside revealed it to be a bit so-so, nothing on that other church in Oaxaca we visited. The next day was spent at the museum of anthropology. It was pretty cool, though very extensive (I always get a bit bored when museums are a bit too big). Also, I wasn’t feeling too well that day and didn’t relish the experience of standing up all day. The museum was in an old convent though so the architecture was great and it seemed every way you turned there was a fantastic view of Oaxaca framed through a window.

According to LP there are quite a few good contemporary art galleries in Oaxaca, so after the success of Merida’s gallery I was eager to go. Unfortunately after the museum of anthropology I felt too unwell to go. Therefore the last expedition in Oaxaca was getting a streetside dinner. We had tried to go the night before but Mexicans tend to eat dinner late so the place didn’t open until 9pm (we arrived ready for dinner at 6.30pm). Despite a lot of trouble ordering, the meal was great- really smoky meat. The next morning it was onto Mexico City and Cuernavaca…

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