17- Mexico: sinking our teeth in

After our little holiday within our holiday in Belize, it was back on the road to Mexico. Relatively easy to get from one to the other as a boat goes each morning which takes you directly into Chetumal, Mexico and from there we hopped on a bus bound for Playa del Carmen.

We hummed and hawed on what our first stop would be in Mexico and Playa was the final decision- the main reservations being that it is very touristy as it is a major American holiday destination, smaller than its neighbor Cancun but similar idea. We said we’d go for it anyway and see what all the fuss was about.

The first thought that comes at you when you get to Playa del Carmen is “where am I?”. You thought you’d gone through Mexican immigration but you’ve found yourself in an American town. It’s a funny place, obviously beautiful as why else would so many people go there but has been so overrun with tourists that it has definitely lost the charm it must have had to begin with. The shopping there is incredible for a Mexican town, more high street stores then you can imagine. It cracked us up when we saw ATMs that issue only US dollars- so many tourists who happily spend weeks in another country but never touch that country’s currency. Very weird! I have to say that Mexico was one our favourite countries- so beautiful and the people are wonderful but we really didn’t experience any of that until our second stop. Playa del Carmen is Mexico in name only and everyone seems to know it.

Thankfully our itinerary for the majority of the two weeks covered “real” Mexico as we worked our way west towards Mexico City. Our second stop was Tulum, an hour from Playa del Carmen and our stop off point to get our teeth into some Mayan ruins. From here we did our day trip to Chichen Itza- voted in as one of the Modern Seven Wonders of the World. It is the postcard you’d see most of Mexico- either that or a Mexican lad with a sombrero swilling tequila- whichever you feel encapsulates the country most! The main pyramid is a spectacular site and as it is cordoned off to stop people ascending it, you just get to stand back and enjoy the view uninhibited as it towers over the surrounding areas. Besides the spectacular site, it is also world famous for the way it was built and the way it interacts with the sun at certain times of the year- similar to Newgrange and Stonehenge. It’s hard to assess sites like these as to their worthiness to be listed on the Seven Wonders of the World but it is hugely impressive and well worth a visit.

We found that all of the Mayan sites had different charms so didn’t get “templed out” at any stage- Tikal in Guatemala was the most rustic as it was right in the jungle and you could go and climb all of the monuments for views out over the jungle, Chichen Itza has the most spectacular single monument, meanwhile on the outskirts of the town of Tulum was one of our favourites. We cycled there one morning and thought it was absolutely gorgeous. Mayan ruins set right on the cliffs overlooking a beach and its turquoise water. If I was a Mayan emperor I don’t think I could come up with a better place to build my temples!

It was in this area that we spent time visiting cenotes- these are swimming holes formed when underground rivers erode away the limestone underneath resulting in the collapsing of the ground above. They are a feature of this part of the country with some being hugely deep, others being beautiful, others you can go scuba diving between them through caves. We just went the swimming route and loved it. When it’s 38 degrees and 60% humidity, a nice ice-cold swim is very much appreciated. We had been in this one for a couple of hours when we took the waterproof camera into one of the caves and photographed back out- wasn’t expecting this spectacular a photo but it worked out pretty nicely!

So with just two night buses to go we said it was time to set a personal best and hopped on the bus from Tulum to San Cristóbal de las Casas - nineteen and a half hours of fun and games later we arrived. Go hard or go home they say! In fairness it is a big distance that we travelled but the fact that the bus stopped four different times during the night for immigration officers to come on and check our papers didn’t impress us much! 3 white people on the bus and we’re the ones who’s papers you’re checking, one time they came on and only checked mine! I’m sure Mexico must have a huge problem of white people illegally immigrating here! Focus on the important issues lads.

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a lovely town. We used it as a base to do two day trips but the town itself was great to walk around too. Lots of locals selling their wares, lots of cafes and restaurants and as with any good Mexican town, lots of churches!

The first day trip we did was to Sumidero Canyon, a huge canyon formed around the same time as the Grand Canyon. It’s an hour out of town and you can do an hour boat trip through the canyon. Really beautiful views- the canyon walls are up to a kilometer high in parts and as you wind through the canyon we got to see loads of wildlife, especially birds. Our boat driver was more then happy to drive his boat at full speed towards any flock of birds resting in the water which gave us a few opportunities to catch all of the birds “flying up out of the water through the canyon” or “flying away for their lives” as I’m sure they saw it.

The second day trip we did was to two different indigenous villages. I’m not sure what I expected from the trip but expectations weren’t too high, we’ve done a number of these type trips before with differing results. However this was one of the best days we’ve had on our trip. The reason we visited two different villages was to compare and contrast them- one is a relatively modern indigenous village where they are generally in line with Mexican customs, religion and life. The other village has their own way of doing things and they’re sticking to them!

A walk through the village is literally like visiting another world- they have their own laws, their own spiritual leaders, all 200 of them each acting as protectors for a different saint and their statue. They have their own political leaders elected each year. They have their own jail which is on public show so not only do you have to spend time in a urine soaked jail with appropriate iron bars but you have to do so in full view of the village- crime is low as you can imagine and the jail was empty when we passed! Men can have multiple wives. They even have their own time- they couldn’t be bothered adhering to Mexican time so they’re half an hour behind- this one village with 20,000 inhabitants on a different time zone- hilarious.

The real highlight was when we visited the local church- from the outside it looks like any other Mexican Catholic church but what goes on inside bears no resemblance to Catholicism. With good reason, cameras are banned inside and they have people policing to make sure this is adhered to- probably for the best as otherwise I would have spent hours inside there! Oh, where to start? I’ll go for the basics and work from there- there are no pews in the church, there is no priest, it is open 24 hours, no mass ever occurs, there are pine needles all over the floor, various statues of saints are placed around the church for worship. With me?

But amongst the pine needles you’ll see gaps and in them people will have lit and stuck candles on the ground with wax- no candle holders here!, I don’t mean a few candles either I mean thousands of candles. People will come in to pray and light a bunch of fifty candles of varying colours depending on what was required. It’s an incredible site but I’m not sure what the insurance companies think about it! In front of a number of these masses of candles a number of people gathered. From what was explained to us these people were the people praying but in case of emergency they brought along some loved ones as well as their shaman of choice to help out. Depending on the emergency, the shaman would be praying on their behalf and amongst the tools to assist the problem were bottles of Coca Cola & Fanta (a modern adjustment- they used to bring black and orange corn instead but soft drinks are easier these days!) and a live but soon to be very dead chicken! That’s right, we’d walked into what surely must be the only Catholic church where chickens are sacrificed in prayer to Jesus! Necks were snapped right in front of us- now you know why tourists weren’t allowed bring cameras in! They’d have a field day.

As I said it’s a different world. Of the Mexican population, 15 million of them are Mayans out of 115 million total population- obviously most of them don’t sacrifice chickens in Catholic churches but quite a lot of them don’t seem to recognize the Mexican president as their elected leader and live a life completely separate to Mexicans- that’s a hell of a lot of people. Our guide spoke to us also about the problems they’ve had with foreign missionary’s coming to try and convert them and the locals just wanting to continue doing what they’re doing. His quip was “they fought the Spanish now they’re fighting the Americans”. The Mayans aren’t for changing was the general gist.

So after that feast to our senses we took our final nightbus (tears at midnight!) to Oaxaca, pronounced Wa-hacka, where our taste buds were the focus of our attention. Between here and Mexico City, our final stop we went into overdrive to taste as much food as we could. Mexican food is world famous but per the Mexicans what we know as Mexican food is only from the border region with America- burritos, fajitas, enchiladas etc. All world famous but only represent a small part of Mexico- this would be Tex-Mex, we wanted Mexican.

Most street corners have taco stands- a taco will cost you 10 to 15 pesos (about a $1) and you’ll be stuffed after two. A fine cheap dinner. We tried to follow the crowd where possible- if there’s a pile of locals around a taco stand you’ve a fair indicator that it’s good. You’ll have a choice of main topping that they cook and put in the taco and from there you pick and choose from the big bowls of toppings they have all the while playing Russian roulette that you don’t end up with a salsa picante i.e. a sauce that will result in a serious heat explosion in your mouth or even worse a bout of Montezuma’s Revenge, the Mexican version of the Delhi belly! Easy to avoid and a little bit surely won’t do too much damage! As we went on we got more and more adventurous with the foods and enjoyed them more and more. Definitely the best food we’ve had since Asia. For us it still doesn’t come close to toppling Asia as number one but it does a good job of competing.

Oaxaca is famous for its food and we took a couple of trips to food markets and restaurants to taste our way around town. A few highlights: molé, which is a Mexican chili sauce that comes in seven different varieties of varying spice and gravy like consistency. Grasshoppers are surprisingly common in markets but also in restaurants- once we realized what it was they were selling we started seeing them everywhere. They fry them with a variety of things such as garlic and chili- chopped up they could be anything, I’m told when eaten whole they’re a lot juicier then you’d expect! In one of our favourite markets they have installed barbecue grills and chimneys at the side of the street so after a lot of figuring out the process, you walk down and choose meat from one of the stalls to be cooked for you, you can then find another stall to sell you sauces, guacamole or maybe even some onions to also be grilled (whole!) then you find a third seller who’ll sort you out with tortillas. As simple as that! Now all you need to do is find a seat and you’re good for another great taco eating session. Love Mexico!

It also wouldn’t be fair to talk about food and not mention the Fruit- this is true for all of South and Central America of course but the fruit is just so good here, so juicy and full of flavour, I suppose it makes sense that they’re so much better at source, obviously dehydrated after flying thousands of miles around the earth for us to consume.

In Mexico City, we went on an organized food tour- what a great idea. As we’d been to lots of markets before we went for the restaurant option which involves them bringing you on a walk of a neighbourhood and bringing you to recommended restaurants to eat different Mexican dishes. What a great day! A whole array of tastes consumed from tamales, to tacos (traditionally Mexican tacos are soft corn tacos not flour tacos- Tex Mex strikes again), to ceviche, to tostados, to Mexican chocolates, to Mezcal (tequilas less famous older brother) to Mexican ice cream. In a city as big as Mexico City I’m sure you can do a lot yourself but its great to have the good stuff picked out for you.

Mexico City, our final stop, was a wonderful surprise. It’s a really gorgeous city with lots to see and do. Just an hour from the city centre was the final Mayan temples on our journey, Teotihuacan, again really spectacular this time consisting of a number of different pyramids with the added bonus of being able to climb them to get views of the others. Well worth a morning of your time. All over the country we’ve seen Mayan buildings but there aren’t any in Mexico City- the reason? Mexico City was built on top of ancient Mayan ruins and as a result parts of Mexico City have a very real problem in that they are sinking and there are lots of buildings which are showing very visible signs of it. Maybe this is their final revenge?

Mexico City has a very good metro system that makes it easy to get around and one of the quirks we noticed is that all of the stations are represented not just by names but also by symbols (e.g. the stop for the zoo was a snake, the stop for the market was a bowl of fruit)- the reason for this was so that people who couldn’t read could still relatively easily use the metro- they say a picture tells a thousand words. Definitely true and in my case I’m a few thousand words in so for those who just look at the pictures, I hope you like them!

All in all, Mexico was a fantastic stop on our journey. It’s a big, big country (they all seem to be!) but from what we saw it a must visit country in the area. Next stop for us is another must visit country- Cuba. If we had a dollar for every time someone said “go to Cuba now because it’ll change completely once the Americans get in” we’d have at least 20 dollars. We’ve heeded the advice so off we go…………

Click here to see a selection of photos from our Mexican trip

Our route:

Boat and bus to Playa del Carmen, Tulum (day trip to Chichen Itza ruins, day trip to Tulum ruins), night bus to San Cristóbal de las Casas, night bus to Oaxaca, bus to Mexico City