Mexico

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Arrived into Mexico city on Friday night (26/08). We didn´t know what to expect at first. Five lanes of traffic on each road, little kids from the age of four jumping on the bonnets of cars to clean windscreens, kids begging from when they can walk. Our first impression was a crazy city that seemed full of excitement.

With a little sleep and a bit of daylight the next day we headed to the Zocalo in the Historic Quarter where we visited the Mayor Temple, Palacio Nacional. We then headed to Garibaldi a plaza in Mexico City famous for its gatherings of itinerant mariachi and jarocho bands (buskers).
Love the Mexican people, they all want to help us find our way and they seem to be very jolly and happy. Also, remarkably romantic, smooching all the time, at times it can put you off your food. We feel really tall here as all the Mexicans are tiny, I´m jealous of there lovely shiny hair. Theres holes in all the footpaths where manholes are & they are broken up everywhere. If it was in Irealnd, everyone would sue the council. We went to the museum of Antropology, ethnographic exhibits about Mexico's present-day indigenous group. Visited the Teotihuacan ruins, just one hour north of Mexico City, walked the legs off ourselves. Third highest pyramid in the world. Well worth the visit. The Metro is brilliant, every 3 minutes & can travel around the whole city for just 17cent (3 pesos) each. Mad people going around on them selling everything from dance & mexican music, to rice cakes, colouring pencils, chewing gum, spoons & forks, to lollipops. Felt very safe in Mexico, didn´t see or hear anything so that made it all the better.

Moved onto Queretaro on Tuesday, we weren´t expecting an awful lot but we were really charmed by this beautiful city that is 2 hours north of Mexico City. Very calming after the madness of Mexico City. Jonny had a full pig for dinner and would have even eaten more. I ate some really spicy green chillies and couldn´t taste anything after that. Went to see a convent that had a bush that grows thorns in the shape of crosses. A 90 year old called Frank showed us around. Then we visited an aquaduct, 1.28km long and 70m high.

Yesterday we arrived in San Miguel, 1 hour from Queretaro, lovely quaint town. Full of Americans, they describe this town as a Mexican Disneyland for American retirees. Back in the 1940´s this was a town where artists used to live on a shoestring and pursue their creative dreams. Found a beautiful hotel for 10euro each, that had a massive patio area, that had plants & flowers growing everywhere & budgies singing in their cages, a little taste of the Amazon in Mexico. Went to our first authentic mexican bar, with doors like in the westerns. The barman looked like Leon out of the film Leon, he had some english which was handy. Tried some of the local beer, tasty, especially at 90cent a bottle. They had a duke box there so Jonathan had to play loads of Mexican music he hadn´t a clue of, but actually was alright. Got our picture taken behind the bar with the stuffed head of a bull in the background.

Landed in Guanajuato today. We nearly skipped it because weren´t sure how nice it was. Thank god we didn´t, such an amazingly beautiful city. Cute little cafes & restaurants line paved streets & alleys, in this young vibrant city that has 20000 students in the university here. The city is kept spotless & so well finished. 8 tunnels under the city relieve it of traffic, , mad little places that you can walk along so you won´t get wet if its raining, like it is today. They should make another Italian Job film here. Got the Finicular ( cable car) up to the top of the hill so we could get a view of the city. Roma almost got sick it was that steep, that was about 70degrees. It was like looking down on a lego model city, thousands of little coloured houses cramped up on top of each other, amazing view. Then a pigeon decided to take a poop on Roma´s head, pricelss. Another city that has nearly a dozen beautiful churches & cathederals.

We headed onto Guadalajara for a one night stop, not as amazing as the towns we had already visited but we nevertheless strolled around and took in some street music and tried the corn on the cobb from the stalls. That night we had to figure out how to journey to San Cristobal, many hours later we had a plan of a 23 hour bus journey and got ready for the trip.

Next day, luxury bus trip from Guadalajara to Mexico City followed by not so luxurious trip to San Cristobal. They love the cold air conditioning on the buses, we nearly died. The journey into San Cristobal was amazing. A Cliff road over the clouds in the most amazing mountainous scenery, we knew we were onto a good thing. After a stroll around the streets and a big pizza that night we were fit for a big sleep.

The next morning took us to Sumidero Canyon, a two hour boat trip in the middle of the mountains, where we got to meet some crocodiles, pelicans, spider monkeys and vulchers, nice!!! The canyon is a 1000metres deep in places. On the river is a dam, that supplies most of Mexico and some of central America with its electricity.

We dedided to do a one day trip from San Cristobal to Palenque the next day. Five hours of the curviest road I´ve ever seen. Speed bumps pretty much every 6 feet. Along the way we stopped off in Agua Azul, really felt the high altitude here. We decided to run into the edge of the Waterfall in all our clothes for some bizarre reason, we put the madness down to the altitude.
Palenque was amazing, ruins in the middle of the jungle, you can hear the sound of the jaguar in the background and baby spider monkeys leaping from branch to branch over our heads.

Next day was for taking in the town of San Cristobal, it´s a gorgeous town full of Mayan people selling fruit. The Mayan men don´t seem to work, they like to sit around and watch the world go by. We visited the Bloom museum which is dedicated to the study and support of the Chiapas indigenous cultures. Well worth the visit. That night we changed our plans of heading to Guatemala as there was a presedential election on and we thought there might be trouble on the streets. Instead we headed to warm and sunny Merida, wahoo no need for the jumper.

Got the night bus all the way to Merida, 14 hours on the bus, passed through Campeche on the Gulf Coast which was in a hurricane, slightly alarming to look out the window of the bus at this.
Merida is a nice little town, Jonny got his hair cut and still has two ears. Found one of the best Fajita restaurants with juicy guacaomoly, Mexican food is now one of our favorites.
Next day we went to Chicken Itza ruins, amazing structures but unfortunatly we weren't allowed to climb any. Madening considering, that we are foreigners, we are charged over 3 times the price that Mexican people are. Apparently it's not called prejudism. We enjoyed the trip but god were we glad to get out of the heat and back to the swimming pool in our hostel.

Following day a trip to the Cenotes. Cannot even describe how amazing this was. We got a shuttle bus to a town literally in the middle of NOWHERE. Next we got on a motorbike which had a seat for us to sit on, great fun. Then onto a horse drawn carriage which sits on top of rail lines, a horse pulls you along. In our carriage we had six people, a Korean, Japanese guy (Sian, the happiest guy in the world) and two Aussie girls. The track is in the middle of the trees heading to what seems to be nowhere. The horse was trotting along the dirt and splashing it in our faces (fun). After a few minutes we reached our first destination, an underground cave with a giant ladder going down in to it. When we climbed down, we could not believe how clear the water was. There was a platform about 5 metres above the water. We climbed down to the bottom, where we got changed & jumped in. The water was a nice cool temp & so clear. After swimming around for a while, we decided to run off the platform. Amazing, especially when you don't know how deep it is, considering you are in a cave. When our time was up, it was time to head on to the next cenote. Back on to the carraige. As there is only one track, when two carraiges meet, someone has to stop & lift their carraige off the tracks out of the way. For some reason, we always managed not to have to get off. When we got to the next cenote, the entrance hole was bairly wide enought to fit through & the ladder was completely vertical. It was just as amazing to swim around, with little holes in the cave roof to let the sunlight through. Roots from trees, that had grown through some of these holes, hung down just above the water. The lads would have competitions to see who could climb the highest. Jonathan won. Then it was on to the 3rd cenote, this was the largest of the 3 but had an almost impossible climb down into it as the ladder finished along the way & you would have to climb through a small gap in the rock & back on to the ladder again. We spent nearly an hour in this one as we knew it was our last & didn't want to leave. But we had to. So it was back on our rocky little carraige, followed by another moto-taxi & smelly crammed bus.

Monday, 12th of September, we got the bus to Cancun. Cancun is very Americanised, so hopped in a taxi & then a boat heading for the island of Isla Mujures, about 20minutes off the coast. We were never so happy when we saw the nice hostel. There we met Marianna & Nicolas from Norway, whom we had met in San Cristobal. After lunch we went to the beach for our first proper swim, the water was amazingly clear & warm. Later in the evening a big storm blew in so we sat at the beach bar on the swings, laughing at the stupid Americans. That night we met up with a great gang, Pip & Anna from New Zealand, Erica from Canada, Sebastian & Dominic from Germany & Marianna & Nicolas from Norway. Had a great night at the beach bar in the hostel followed by a swim in the Caribbean. The next day we all spent on the beach, swimming & relaxing. The water was perfectly clear & shallow, we walked out about 200metres & we were still only waist deep. Had the nicest roll ever on the beach, tomato & cucumber, cut with our army knife. Nicolas climbed up a coconut tree & pulled down a coconut for us, & then we opened it with a Swiss army knife & drank it. That night we got a few beers & went back to the beach. There we lit a bonfire, & swam around the warm water while chatting away till the wee hours.

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