After returning home from Peru, I was even more determined
to improve my Spanish, and travel, travel travel. So, I started taking private lessons, and
joined a web-language-group, www.mylanguage.com.
After several tries, I connected with a
woman in Valencia, Spain to practice my Spanish with. We have grown to be good friends, and still
talk on a regular basis. But, I soon
felt that I needed some kind of goal. I also had a strong desire to visit Mexico. So I started studying hard for the DELE
Spanish exams and eventually booked a trip to Mexico in 2008. My plan was to visit the University of
Cuernavaca to study a week for the exams, and then take them there, at the
University. Before and after the week in
Cuernavaca I wanted to travel throughout the south of Mexico. 6 weeks is not a lot of time, but I made the
most of it. Here are the results.
Mexico D.F. (Mexico City or D.F. as the Mexicans say) (21 Oct.)
I arrived in D.F. on an early night flight just after the
sunset. I have seen a lot of airports
from above, but landing at Mexico City at night on a clear night must be one of
the most beautiful sites you can imagine.
The lights, the mountains, it is just amazing! It was late so I took a taxi to my hostel a
few blocks from the Frida Kahlo museum (her blue house).
Day 1 D.F. (22 Oct.)
I started out my first day, enjoying my coffee just down a
block from the hostel. I was up early, so I experienced the people dropping in
and conversing on their way to work. At
once I realized life here may not be bad at all. The happiness the people show and glow is a
real change to Germany. Hearing a
greeting like “Hola guapa que tal” (Hi good looking how is it going) is
refreshing. I mean when was the last time you heard someone greet someone with
“good looking”. It would probably be
considered a sexual harassment in the US. Yes, I was back in Latin America,
where the women like to receive complements, and the men like to give them.
First stop the Frida Kahlo Museum
Frida Kahlo has become quite the hype here in Germany, but
her life story is fascinating, and her husband’s murals are incredible and
deeply imbedded in the Mexican culture. Her art is interesting if not somewhat
bizarre, probably due to the extreme pain she experienced most of her adult
life. The cook book her step daughter
wrote with Frida’s recipes gives an insight into the fantastic and diverse
Mexican cuisine, which has little to do with the Tex-Mex restaurants in the US.
The museum / house is beautiful and full of artifacts of her time. I really enjoyed it.
Second Stop, the el Zócalo
El Zócalo or
La plaza de la Constitución as it is officially
know, is one of the colonial largest plazas I know. It was also the main ceremonial center in
the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan when Cortez arrived. Of course you cannot imagine that today, but
if you walk around the area, you will notice a lot of buildings leaning to one
side. The entire city is built on a
swampy area, and the foundations sink.
It reminds me a little of Dawson City and the tilting due to permafrost.
El Zócalo is the center of
the city, and from there you can easily walk to several interesting sites. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
I walked from
the Frida Kahlo museum to the Metro Station at the Av. Coyoacán sucking up the
atmosphere of the city. Underneath the
overpass at the entrance, there was a barbacoa stand, so I
ordered 4
tacos and wow what a taste! And right away I entered a conversation with other
customers suggesting this salsa or that.
Yes the trip was getting off to a great start. I have travelled all over Europe and have
seen a lot of metro systems. Nothing
compares to Mexico City. I must be the
most efficient Metro in the world. You
can get anywhere in the city fast and inexpensively. It is clean, secure, and modern. I was at the Zócalo in no time. The stop is directly under the square. There
are so many things to see around the plaza, I can’t begin to mention them
all. The presidential palace, the
cathedral, several museums, including the “Museo del Templo Mayor”. I enjoyed the photography museum, and just
walking around. After all, it is my
first day. It is hard to not just eat at
every stand or person selling something.
It all looks so good.
The Post
Office
One sight you
should not miss is the old post office.
The building is an intricate ironworks, and you can enter and look for
free. It is beautiful. Otherwise,
you need time, lots of time. I
hate to rush from one place to another, and there is just too much. All throughout the city there are murals from
Diego Rivera, including a museum in the center.
Palacio de
Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is
incredible. I tried to enter, but it was
closed to the public. I started a
conversation with one of the women guides in the entrance, asking her when I
would be able to enter etc. She then
said, you speak good Spanish, follow me.
She took me into the main concert room and told me to wait a few
minutes. She said she would be arriving
with a group of students and professors, and I should just act like I belonged
to the group. The palace and tour were
incredible. The architecture,
sculptures, murals, and the tiffany curtain are all incredible. It is
definitely a must see site. Of course it
helped to be on a special tour.
The special
tour
Later that
afternoon, I met a friend who lives just a few blocks from the Zócalo. Actually he was not a friend at the time but
a friend of a friend of mine. I had a
gift for him. Victor teaches English to
executives, etc. I won’t go into his
history, but he is a great guy, and he showed me parts of the city I would
otherwise not have seen. Like the huge
black market “Tepito”. I usually do not
say don’t go there, or it is dangerous, etc.
But Victor told me: Dave this is not a place you want to go to
alone. Don’t worry, because I am with
you. And I am happy he was. Because, the market is huge, and I could have
easily gotten lost in it. I doubt that
there is anything that you cannot buy there.
They were even selling cars. We
spent the late afternoon and most of the night together. I arrived home at about 7 am. Victor gave me a lot of insights into the
Mexican culture. I could not stop
listening to his stories and information.
I met Victor several times after that and he always had something new to
show me or tell me. A similar experience
a few years later led to meeting and marrying my wife Jessica in Lima Peru.
Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
is the probably most well-known muralist in Mexico, maybe in the world. He was
the husband of Frida Kahlo, and apparently quite the womanizer. Although you
would not suspect it from looking at him.
He was a very chubby not so handsome man. His murals can be seen throughout Mexico, and
are beautiful. He was a sympathized with
the communists and associated with the communist intellectuals of the
times. The Rockefellers contracted him
to paint a mural in the entrance of the Rockefeller Center. When he had finished it and unveiled it, they
discovered he had used the images of famous communists like Lennon and Marx
throughout the mural. The Rockefellers
asked him to change them, but he refused. So the Rockefellers paid him and had
the mural painted over. End of story. I
visited his house / museum, but I could not see all of it as there was an event
going on. It was still early, so I
decided to visit the ”Museo Nacional de Antropología”.
Museo
Nacional de Antropología
On the way to
the museum, I stopped by my hostel and then walked to the metro station. I had another baracoa lunch and it was even
better than yesterday. I spent the rest
of the day at the museum and parks surrounding it. I guess I have mentioned that one of my
passions is Anthropology and Archeology.
Of all the museums I have seen, this is one of the very best. It is large, so you need some time. One thing I would like to mention is that
depending on where you are, some museums tend to put their own cultures in a
somewhat better light. Not everything
you read or hear is the truth. Machu
Picchu in Peru for example was apparently not as important as they like to sell
it for. I know there are many more
sights in Peru, which are much more important culturally. Today, the archeologist
believe that Choquequirao was probably more important to the Incas than Machu
Picchu. Tourism is a major industry, and
you sell what you have to sell.
I returned home gathered my bags, and caught an early night plane to
Tuxla in Chiapas. I usually like to
travel by bus. Bus travel in Mexico is
great. You can book online, it is cheap,
and the buses are comfortable. You do
not need to book a tourist bus. I like
to hope on a night bus and sleep on the bus.
It saves a lot of time. But in
this case, it would have taken me several days to get to Chiapas and San
Cristóbol de las Casas. I had several
things I wanted to see, in the south of Mexico before I needed to be in
Cuernavaca for classes.
San Cristóbol de las Casas (25. Oct.)
After arriving in Tuxla, I shared a taxi with another couple straight to
San Cristóbol de las Casas. Tuxla is the
major city and capitol of Chipas, but I don’t believe there is a lot to do
there. And, as I needed to be selective
of what I could see. I checked into a
very inexpensive hostel (Maria Bonita), and was shown to my room on the roof of
the building. The access was by a
winding stairway outside in the patio.
On the roof there was only my room and a shower & a toillet. Perfect!
The view was incredible. The room
was small and basic, but what else do you need.
The young woman at the desk (and apparently one of the owners) was very
friendly.
In the morning I went downstairs for breakfast, to find a note the woman
left for me telling me how happy she was that I was staying in her hostel, and
she was sorry that she could not greet me for breakfast because she had an
appointment in town. What a good
start. I walk out the door and across the
street was a tortilla bakery. The employee
was producing stacks after stacks of tortillas.
When I asked him if I could buy 1, he just laughed and gave me one.
I took stroll and explored the town center. The plaza is typical for anywhere in Mexico,
there is always activity, and on the weekends while I was there, there were
concerts, people dancing children playing.
What I did not know at the time, was that there was a program going on
throughout Mexico to preserve the traditional dances such as the bamba or
corridos, etc. The youth seem to be only dancing Bachata and Salsa. My plan was
to visit San Cristóbol a few days, and then do a circuit to Aguas azules, Palenque,
Chetumal, and Tulum.
San Cristóbol is kind of a tourist stop, and has a lot of hippies who
have jumped off the truck there. It has
a friendly nice atmosphere, even though there are a lot of tourists. The main market is fun, there are a lot of
stands to buy food, chilies, herbs, etc. as I was planning on returning I did
not buy anything. While walking around
town, I saw a small little sign advertising “Grutas de Rancho Nuevo” It was
Sunday, and not a lot going on, so I asked a passerby how to get there, and
caught a collectivo.
When I arrived I was very
surprised. It was a huge park with lots
of trees and places to have a barbecue, stands selling food, A playground for the
kids, etc. It seems to be the place
where the locals go on the weekend. And
of course there were the Caves (Grutas).
So I bought an entrance ticket to the caves, and took the tour (Spanish
only). The caves are huge and the tour
was interesting. When I finished the
tour, the park was beginning to fill with locals. I bought a huge quesadillas, and tried some
of the other food. Delicious!
Show your education and don’t paint or scratch the walls (or this sign).
When living the park to return to San Cristóbol, I met some Marriachis entering the park. I asked them if they were going to play, and
they told me I had to come back that night to come to the dance. But I had
booked a tour to the Sumidero Canyon early the next day, so I passed on that
one (which I really regret).
The Sumidero Canyon was carved by the Grijava River. At some point in the not so distant past a
huge Dam was built which backed up the river into a long lake. The rock formations, animals, and Dam are beautiful.
On the way back we stopped at the Village of Chiapa de Corzo, the oldest
village in the state of Chiapas.
About halfway down the river there is a backwater where the plastic
collects. You cross through it for about
300 yards. They are constantly removing
it, but it gives you an indication about the huge amount of plastic flowing to
the ocean.
Fast circuit to Aguas Azul, Mishol-Ha, & Palenque (28 Oct.)
As always I discovered that there is so much to see, the distances are
far, and time is too short. I am on kind
of a tight schedule because I want to be in Oaxcaca for the festival “Dias de
los Muertos”. So I book a commercial
tour to Aguas Azul, Mishol-Ha, & Palenque in just 2 days. Chetumal and Tulum will have to wait. Caught the bus at 6:30 am. And off went
towards Aguas Azul. It was a winding
nice bus trip through the mountains. After
about 2 hours we arrived at the Aguas azul.
Aguas Azul
It had rained recently, so the water was not blue. But, the falls, and everything are beautiful,
and you can walk around eat fresh fruit, and enjoy the jungle. It is quite a change in climate from San
Cristóbol to here. We had probably
almost 1 hour to look at everything.
Mishol-Ha Waterfalls
After another 1 ½ hours we arrived at the Mishol-Ha waterfalls. They are also nice, but I have seen many like
this and Aguas Azul before, so it is not
like a wow experience. All the tourism
also robs you of any kind of adventure feeling. On trips like this I usually enjoy conversing
with the locals in the bus. But since
this is a tour, they are all tourists like me.
Still, I met some nice people and we enjoyed the trip. We only spent
about an 30 minutes at the falls, before continuing on to Palenque.
Palenque
We arrived at Palenque and had about 2 ½ hours before the bus back to San
Critóbol left. It really isn’t enough
time. Especially if you are interested
in archeology and anthropology. My
expectations of Palenque were probably somewhat different than most
peoples. My youngest daughter was
required to read Homer Faber from Max Frisch.
In German it is a horrible book.
I say this because oddly enough, Herman Hesse’s books in English were
much better than the original German version.
Max Frisch has a weird way of writing that I do not like. He has
sentences like “Sun, clouds move, I feel depressed”. So you end up wondering what he is trying to
say. Anyway, part of the book is located in Palenque, and his description makes
you feel that it must be a very drab, depressing place.
Although it was somewhat cloudy, hot, and muggy, the site is
fascinating. The grounds are well
kept. There is a small museum. And the
jungle surrounding it is full of animals.
I saw a group of what I think were pacas, or tepezcuintles as they are called in Mexico. Quite a surprise as they are nocturnal
animals. And of course birds, lots of birds.
The ruins are well kept and it take quite some time to see and climb all
of them. All in all Palenque made the
trip worthwhile. I got back on the bus
about 5:00 pm. For the trip back to San Cristóbol and to catch my 10:00 bus.
The tour company had said I would have no problem catching the bus. We arrived at 9:30, so I had only 30 minutes
to collect my backpack and get to the bus station.
San Cristóbol was nice, but I did not have
enough time. I think I would like to
return for a few days just to relax.
The next morning I left by bus to do my circuit.
More soon ……
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