Welcome to part two
of my Mexico trip. Part one was the 'water' side of the trip, now
comes the 'land' side of the trip. I said it in the past post but
I'll say again: I was not sure what to expect from Mexico, but
overall I was quite impressed. Mexico City especially exceeded my
expectations, and as I work my way inland and south from Mazatlan
over the course of this post,
I think you will see why. Here goes.
It
was late at night, I was on the bus from Mazatlan
to Zacatecas, and I made a
big mistake: I fell asleep. Now this wouldn't normally be a
problem, and I had a ticket that said my destination and an arrival
time, but what I didn't know was that this was the arrival time for
the end of the line, not my stop. So in the morning I woke up on the
bus and found myself about 250km past my stop! Oops… Because of
this little mistake, I had to wait in another bus station for a few
hours, buy a new ticket and lose essentially an entire day. Oh
well….
My
arrival to Zacatecas was not until the late evening, but I got a
taxi, headed into the center of the old town and found myself a place
to stay, a cheap bunk in a dorm. There were a few other travelers
there from Europe and we chatted for a few minutes, then I headed out
into the town to explore. The
old town is very much a piece of the old Spanish colonial days, and
the area was founded and built around the silver mine that operated
for hundreds of years and provided a great deal of wealth for the
empire. There were tourists all about, but almost all were domestic,
I saw very few Americans/Europeans, which was fine by me. The area
had a European feel however, because of the Spanish history, and a
lot of beautiful buildings.
A
small intersection in the old town. After finding some street food
for a late dinner I wandered around until fairly late, just taking in
the atmosphere.
The
dorm I stayed in. I think it was around $10 a night.
The
skies were clear and blue, the temperature was just about perfect.
Zacatecas has
little public squares all over the place, and it all feels clean and
friendly.
What
really attracted me to the city was El Eden, the silver mine, so that
afternoon I went to take a tour. After buying the ticket and taking
the little tram into the hillside, my guide, a young student who was
very friendly, lead me around the caverns. Although the tour was
shorter than I expected, it was well done and certainly a worthwhile
experience.
Looking
out over the city from a hillside at the top of the mine.
The
rest of my day was spent looking at a map of the local sights and
wandering around. After about 5 different churches I was kind of
bored of them, but the Museo Rafael Coronel looked great and I headed
in that direction. The outside was a cool mix of overgrown and
falling apart building and restored sections, it kind of reminded me
of how they have some of the temples at Angkor Wat. The museum
looked great, but I arrived too late and it was closed. Darn.
Not
how I'd pictured Mexico looking…At night, I went in search of an
authentic Mexican place for dinner but my search went about as well
as the museum: everything was closed! I wound up eating a 'Mexican
style” cheeseburger, just
me and the old lady who cooked it, in her little restaurant. When
that wasn't enough food, I ordered a second one.
It
was time to head onward, now to Uruapan, and I boarded another bus
for the fairly long journey ahead. As I watched the world go by out
the window, something I enjoy quite a bit, we passed by a huge Nissan
car factory.
Nice
scenery further down the road.
By
the time I arrived in Uruapan it was about midnight and it was clear
I hadn't arrived in the 'nicest' part of town, but I didn't really
care. I found a cheap room opposite the bus station that offered a
private bathroom, cable tv, and wifi for about $12 a night and was
happy.
The
main attraction in/around Uruapan was the Parícutin volcano, which
is accessible via a day trip on horseback, but as I woke up and saw
the pouring rain decided that could wait. And it rained hard, a sort
of tropical downpour type of rain that sent people running and filled
the streets with foot-deep streams. So I got breakfast and went back
to my room to watch TV and surf the internet.
A
little later in the day when the rain had died down but not actually
stopped, I headed out on another of my walks. I had a vague
understanding of the cities layout and walked for many kilometers
through various neighborhoods towards the center. Most of what I saw
wasn't especially interesting, just small shops and people milling
about, but eventually I found my way to Parque Nacional Barranca del
Cupatitzio, a national park built in 1938 that is basically a lush
ravine inside a neighborhood.
The
entire place was an amazing collection of natural waterfalls,
man-made water features, bridges and walk ways snaking along a
beautiful river in the middle, all surrounded by a lush green
jungle-like foliage. Because of the light rain I had the place
pretty much to myself and it was stunning.
Ok,
just one more picture…
Once
I'd walked through the entire park and was a bit wet, I headed back
towards my hotel. I walked slowly because I wasn't sure what to do
next so I was killing time, and to be honest I was a bit lonely.
While the trip itself had been great so far, I really hadn't really
talked to and gotten to know anyone. This has always been one of my
favorite parts of travel and I felt like I was missing out. Deciding
to sit down and have an afternoon beer, I wandered into Clandestina
Caguamería, a funky looking cafe and sat down. That was when I met
Moma, the owner of the place. We began to chat about the usual
things, but before long got into art, music, politics, social issues
and the current state of the country. Plus some tasty food and
excellent local beers! I think I ended up hanging out, just the two
of us, for over two hours before I decided I should get moving again
because darkness was coming. It wasn't anything tremendously
profound, but finding a friendly face and very interesting person to
talk to in that moment really made my day, and gave me a fun moment
to look back on even months later. Thanks Moma!
The
forecast was for good weather, so it was time for me to head to the
town of Angahuan, find a horse and ride to Parícutin volcano which
began erupting in 1943. I took a local bus for a small fee and
quickly found myself to be the only foreigner in a small rural town.
Angahuan had a distinctly different feel from the other places I'd
been, much more “indigenous” if I can say that without sounding
offensive… but it was very cool and unique compared to my previous
stops. It was clear enough that this was a popular tourist activity,
and I did find it in the Lonely Planet, but it was still clearly
targeted at Mexican tourists because I didn't find a single person in
town who spoke English, and there was VERY little infrastructure to
support tourism.
I
managed to explain what I wanted, and after eating breakfast and
getting a few things from a grocery store, got connected with a
teenager who spoke zero English and climbed on a horse for the
first time in probably 17 years.
As
soon as we were beyond the town and the handful of “resorts” that
looked like they were mostly out of business, my guide let go of the
rope and I was riding on my own. The horse seemed very well trained,
and within minutes I was comfortable riding it. We trotted down a
dirt road between trees for a few km, then as the weather began to
clear up I found myself riding through beautiful groves of avocado
trees. Truly stunning.
The
ride was enjoyable, and as the last of the low clouds cleared the
volcano finally came into view.
We
rode the final stretch to the bottom and as I climbed off the horse
my guide motioned for me to start hiking up the steep loose rock of
the volcano. Again I was alone but that made it especially nice in
my opinion. On the short hike to the top I got distracted numerous
times by geothermal vents that poured hot steam into the air,
interesting plants and cool stone formations, but once I reached the
rim at the top and looked out and was even more amazed at the place I
found myself. Huge swaths of land that I'm sure used to be green and
full of life were covered in black volcanic rock, even larger steam
vents let out small puffs of steam and smoke and the crater itself
still smoldered as well.
Next
on the schedule was a visit to San Juan Parangaricutiro Church, which
was partly buried by the lava flow. By this time I was very
confident on my horse and rode well ahead of my guide, at times
breaking into a full gallop as I headed through the avocado trees
once again, with a huge smile on my face.
Pretty
cool looking eh?
After
returning to Uruapan I went out for another walk until dinner time.
Then my mission became the search for the most delicious Mexican food
I could find. After quite a while I found myself near to the bus
station and my hotel where my walk began, and noticed a large group
of people around a particular taco stand on the side of the road.
Naturally it was busy for a reason, because what I ate was hands down
the most amazing food of the entire trip! Everything was so fresh
and the seasoning was simply amazing. But I wasn't done eating, and
decided to try yet another place for 'second dinner.' This lead me
to a bland looking place where I had the first and only burrito of my
trip. It wasn't anything special, but then the lady making the
tortillas waved me over. As I watched, she showed me her process for
making fresh tortillas, then gave me one hot off the grill. Oh. My.
God. That plain tortilla was so delicious it was like a gourmet meal
on it's own, and unless I return to Mexico again and find a similarly
skilled woman, no other tortilla will ever compare…
Late
that same evening I was catching an overnight bus to Mexico City, and
was really not sure what to expect. I'd heard so many negative
things about the city I wondered if I was making a mistake even going
there, especially since I'm not really into cities anyways, but I was
curious and it was where my flight home in a few days went from, so
into the night I rode and south into the big city.
It
was 4am when I arrived in Mexico City and everything was dark and
quiet as the bus headed towards the station. As always, I had no
plan but figured I'd grab a taxi into the city center and find a
hostel.
Daylight
was just breaking when I was dropped off in the center of the city
outside a hotel, but it was full when I inquired about a room.
Because it was still so early I just sat down in the lobby and killed
time until the day began, and eventually started walking down the
same street when I came across Hostel Amigo, just a few doors down.
They had cheap enough dorm rooms and more importantly had space, so I
decided to just make life easy and stay there for the rest of my time
in the city. The place had a mix of Mexican and European travelers
and seemed like a pretty good place. The only bizarre part was that
there was a bar and big stereo and all the kind of things you expect
at a backpackers place, but they didn't sell beer. Now I know
backpacking isn't just about getting drunk with other white people in
interesting locations, but it sure does make it easier to meet
people…
One
of the things I was interested in seeing while in Mexico was the
pre-Columbian culture and architecture. Because I'd started the trip
with the idea I'd be in Baja the whole time, in general I was too far
north to see much of the sites, but the biggest one, Teotihuacan,
happens to be located just 30 miles north of Mexico City. I was
exhausted from the overnight bus trip and early arrival in the city,
but in order to see the pyramid and a few other sites easily, I
signed up for one of the only guided bus tours I've ever taken. Our
first stop took us to some foundations that I honestly forget the
name of (oops) but it was interesting that the Spanish tore down
those buildings and used the stone to build their churches you see on
the right side of the photo. A very literal example of imperialism.
Next
we went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a large public
square with a few different churches of different vintages. To be
totally honest, I was bored of Catholic churches by this point but I
was quite impressed by the views of snow capped mountains in the
distance, which was not what I'd expected to see.
The
tour of course took us inside of the churches, and the 'Old Basilica'
had the classic look of all the beautiful churches of that era, the
1700s, while the 'Modern Basilica' looked every bit it's era, the
1970s, and I don't mean that in a good way…. Maybe in 300 years it
will be considered beautiful…
Of
course what I was really interested in seeing on this day was the
pyramids of Teotihuacan and in the heat of the day our bus arrived.
Being a bus tour, they annoyingly started the visit by trying to sell
us crap at the tourist junk shop and then hustled us into a
not-very-cheap buffet lunch, but I guess that's the price you pay.
Anyways, the place was impressive, with dozens of stone pyramids you
are able to walk up, including the pyramids of the Sun and Moon,
which are some of the largest pyramids in the world.
An
overview of the site without me in the way! This is standing on the
Pyramid of the Moon looking towards the larger Pyramid of the Sun,
216 feet tall and the third largest pyramid on earth (after two in
Egypt).
On
the tour I met Duncan from Hong Kong. He was on the very beginnings
of a 6 month trip through central and south America, and we would
spend the next few days hanging out together. After spending most of
my time in Mexico just hanging out solo, it was fun to be making a
new friend.
A
better view of the Pyramid of the Sun.
The
tour was a full day, it was getting dark and traffic was heavy when
we returned to the center of Mexico City.
Once
off the bus Duncan and I decided to wander the streets in search of
dinner, and came across some pretty serious sandwiches for about two
dollars. And on the subject of wandering the streets of Mexico City
at night, I felt totally comfortable. The night life was vibrant,
the streets were full of people and the mood seemed good each time I
ventured out.
Now
it wasn't too long ago that I met Marijke and took her to meet my
family over Christmas, but from there I headed straight to Mexico
while she headed back to the island. But today was her birthday and
even though I was in another country, I wanted to do something
special. I happened to read in the guide book there there was one
square where mariachi bands hung out and for a small price they would
sing you a song, so Duncan and I wandered through the streets until
we found it. For less than the price of two beers, and I was amazed
they hung out there all night working for so cheap, I had them
dedicate a song to Marijke and it a lot of fun.
Duncan
and I met up again the next morning in the Zócalo, the cities
massive public square and joined a free walking tour. The tour was
excellent, with a knowledgeable guide taking us through many of the
key sites and stories of the city center and I'd highly recommend it.
The above photo is actually of the ornate central post office!
On
the tour, Duncan and I met a third traveler and we all decided to
take the metro to the National Museum of Anthropology. I think the
metro cost less than 50 cents and was crowded (as expected) but
overall excellent.
Where
we got out of the subway station had a very different feel from the
small bit of the city I'd seen thus far, there were trees, wide roads
and modern condo and office towers.
The
museum itself made an impression before even entering. The huge
statues out front and the massive roof in the courtyard with a
waterfall, all supported by a single central pillar, was just a taste
of what was inside.
And
once inside the museum was one of the more impressive ones I've seen,
huge in size and scope, with both indoor and outdoor exhibits, it got
you up close with some pretty amazing items from the areas history
and did an excellent job of displaying everything. If anything, it
was a little overwhelming, and I certainly didn’t have time or
energy to take it all in.
The
famous Aztec Sunstone is probably the most well known item in the
extensive collection.
Evening
light on the National Palace as I returned to the Zocalo that
evening.
Living
on an island of around 200 people maybe I'm just not used to what
cities are like anymore, and granted Mexico City is one of the worlds
largest, but it was amazing how many people were out every night from
the end of the work day until late in the night. Around the city
center there were a number of 'walking avenues' that were constantly
packed. In the distance is the Latin-American Tower, one of the most
prominent skyscrapers in the city.
Still
hanging out with Duncan that day, we decided to head to the bar in
one of the top floors to have a beer and get a view over the huge and
sprawling city. Naturally it was challenging to find a seat looking
out the windows, but once we did it was well worth the trip to look
out at the city lit up and extending in every direction.
Eating
a delicious late night dinner.
I
still had a little while to spend in the city so with no plans I
simply headed out walking for a few hours. Once I'd gotten well
beyond the city center I thought maybe then I'd come across all these
terrible things I'd heard about the city but it simply never
happened, everything felt safe, clean enough and almost
as organized as any other city I'd spent time in. Hell, there were
even bike lanes on the roads better than many I see in Seattle!
Eventually I made my way back to the city center and headed to the
exceptionally beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine
Arts).
Inside
they were doing a large exhibit on Russian avant
garde art from the 1930s I think it was. I'll be honest, I'm not the
most cultured guy around but I do appreciate art and enjoy museums;
and maybe I was just in a bad mood or something, but it didn't
interest me at all.
The
murals upstairs on the other hand, some by Diego Rivera (the only
muralist I know, again, being honest here), were fabulous and well
worth the visit. And of course the building itself was a stunning
piece of art in it's own right.
With
a little bit of 'high culture' in my system (or not?) I decided it
was time for a little 'low culture' and bought tickets to see the
Lucha libre, aka: Mexican
Wrestling. It took place at the Arena México, which in start
contrast to the Palace of
Fine Arts was a run-down
looking building with lots of wrestling masks for sale and trash on
the ground. I paid for my ticket by passing money into a dark hole,
unable to see the person inside and unable to understand what they
were saying. They took my money, refused to give me change and with
that I was on my way! (first and only time being ripped off in all
of Mexico).
The
inside looked like pretty much any arena, and it was not very full.
Most of the people close to the ring were tourists like myself. The
annoying thing was they wouldn't let me take my little
point-and-shoot camera in, so obviously this is not my photo. And
then the whole show people were happily snapping photos on their
camera phones… huh. But the show itself was great fun and every
bit as absurd as I'd hoped it would be. It even had a midget in a
gorilla suit wrestling!
As
I walked back to the city center after the show, I stopped for tacos
at two or three places and they were all delicious.
I
only had one day left in Mexico before my flight home and decided to
spend it walking again. This is the zoclao again, looking towards
the Metropolitan Cathedral.
Pre-columbian
ruins lay next to the cathedral. I was hoping to go in, but it was
closed for the day.
My
walk led me to the modern business district where I killed some time
at a Strabucks. Something I
noticed in Mexico as a whole was that I think in my entire trip there
were only one or two instances of people asking me for money, and I
didn't see poor people on the streets. They must be somewhere, but I
certainly didn't see it. It's not that I really expected to see a
lot of poverty, but the absence of it almost completely did stand out
and again, I see more of that where I grew up in Seattle.
Back
towards the city center and looking at the Latin-American
Tower from a nearby park. By
this point the trip was pretty much over, so I headed to the hostel
early, got my things ready for the flight the next morning and went
to sleep.
My
return to the US was uneventful. A taxi to the airport, a slightly
delayed flight, some pretty nice views out the window and a rainy
evening arrival in Seattle.
My
customary trip to Dicks Drive-In after a trip.
Overall
the trip was excellent and Mexico impressed me a great deal. I
had no idea what was going to happen or what I was going to do, the
'plan' if you can call if that changed drastically early on and it
wasn't the kind of travel I've done in years, but in the end I
returned home wanting to see more of the wonderful country that
obviously has so much diversity to experience and appreciate
and I'd call that a real success.
But I was also ready to
return to the island and to Marijke.
