Started with a very hairy bus ride, not only ridiculous hairpin bends, but also one of the most dangerous roads in Mexico, thankfuly again no bandits, guns or machetes present. Phew. San Cristobal de la Casas is high up in the mountains, meaning we had to crack out our jumpers, jeans and in fact every item of clothing possible. A beautiful colonial town and hot spot for Zapatista rebels and supporters. We learnt all about the Zapatista problems in a documentary at a cinema, hard to imagine so much death and violence in such a beautiful little town! Did a trip to the Canon del Sumidero, absolutely spectacular, apart from one section that was jam packed with rubbish, Mexico blaming it all on Guatemala of course!! Loads of gigantic crocs and vultures too (caused by Guatemalan toxic waste!?), defo not a place for a swim!
Then had a tricky two day journey, we were hoping to end up in Puerto Escondido, but unfortunately there were 'political troubles', our Spanish limiting our understanding of the problems somewhat, but the jist was small puebla was mega unhappy with their mayor so barracaded the entire highway for a few days. Ho hum, we decided to settle for the Pacific coast village of San Agustinillo, a mission to get to on various modes of transport but we eventually made it. Got a room slap bang on the sandy beach and spent a lovely few days chilling out, drinking Coronas and watching the pro surfers attempt the humongous waves!! (Not for us!). Had another day further along the coast in Puerto Angel, not so nice, very odd locals.... time to move on!
To Oaxaca next, much easier to get a bus once we had learnt how to pronounce it!! (Wah-ha-ka!). Another nasty journey complete with old man on the verge of death puking his lungs up by the sounds of it..... not the most pleasant six hours! The soldiers at the military checkpoint en route luckily found it funny when the guy puked up on their post! Oaxaca is known for its local delicacies such as chapulines - deep fried crickets in chilli (bit of a dodgy after taste), mole negro and verde -chocolate sauce for meat dishes (tastes much better than it sounds), and tasajo pounded beef (average), not forgetting their famous hot chocolate with sweet bread for dipping (yum). Oaxaca itself was pretty nice, lots of art galleries and nice buildings but the traffic was terrible, bordering on black bogie territory! Had a nice day trip out to El Tule to see the biggest tree in the world, it sure was a whoppa.
Next, the gem that is Puebla, offers everything that Oaxaca has but better. Pristine streets and lovely bustling zocalo with loads of bicentary celebrations, we stumbled across a whole symphony orchestra outside the cathedral one night playing a free concert, only in Puebla! Wish we had longer here!
Finally Mexico City.....for some reason we didn't have high hopes, but it surprised us no end. It is a gigantic city with its fair share (and more) of crime, but there are also lovely areas throughout. The genius metro system made getting around easy and cheap (at 15p a ride you can't complain!!). We decided to go to Plaza Monumental on Sunday afternoon to see the weekly bull fight, controversial we know but we had heard so much about the tradition and atmosphere that it sounded like something of a spectacle...... however after the first fight Sarah felt more than a little queasy and we had to leave. The crowd were incredibly bloodthirsty and got their money's worth as every Sunday six bulls are slaughtered. Amazingly everyone was downing their Coronas and red wine and knocking back the tacos no problem, no way we could eat anything, way too gruesome!
Day trip out to Teotihuacan pyramids was excellent, though the heat out there was incredible, climbing the 70m high pyramid of the sun was no picnic! Spectac views though. Back in Mex City we spent the next few days exploring the sites, parks, museums, art galleries, zoo and tortas stands (the best sandwiches in the world). The best thing we saw was probably the voladores rite, four indigenous Totonac people fly down a 20m high pole upside down spiralling bungee jump type of thing. One even playing the pipe and drum as he goes down! Why they thought this was a good idea back in the day, who knows? Magic mushrooms? Still, it was great to see!
We have had a fantastic time in Mexico, probably our favourite country of the Central American leg of this trip, the locals have been so friendly, food awesome, lovely colonial cities and beaches that knock your socks off and put your flip flops on for you.....
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