travel
Mexico 16 May - 6 June
A 3-week-long wind-blown, sun baked reconaissance mission to discover the people, places, food and treasures of southern Mexico.
The suspects
Jason Zwolak & Benjamin Lieb
The Route (as it turned out)
1 Cancun
No pics from this little town as we decided ahead of time to high-tail it from here as soon as possible to avoid the high prices, mobs of gringos, and supposed (as told by the US Gov't's tourism website) police force eager to extort unsuspecting foreigners. As it turns out in the 3 hours we spent here we saw fewer gringos than in many other places, had one of our cheapest and best meals, and felt safe as puppies as we wandered with our packs on.
2 Valladolid
A quaint town off the beaten track, colorful hostels, thousands of sandals, surprisingly powerful rains and mysteriously beautiful cenotes, underground freshwater caves.
3 Merida
A cosmopolitan town where much life and living takes place on the Zócalo (center square) every day of the week until late in the night. Here we were excited by the generosity and openness of the people, their interest in the world, and the incredible richness of the traditional foods, dances, music. This was also our town for learning that siestas may be "optional" but you will regret being outside while the smart people are dangling in hammacs.
4 Campeche
A big place with a small-place feel. We rented bicycles at 6am and rode up and down the coastline visiting peers, fishermen, and battlements from colonial wars. As night fell the zócalo filled with people, patries, candle vendors, bingo players, bustling children and various animals. A 10-piece family band played outside and I can still hear them singing "Oye chiquita si te portas bien, te voy a comprar to Chevrolet".
5 San Cristóbal de las Casas
The sister city of Asheville, North Carolina lived up to its reputation as the most-loved Mexican city by tourists. Compact, clean, colorful, protected from the sweltering heat by its elevation, and serving up enormously tasty traditional food for bargain prices. Does that sound like a lonely planet write-up?
6 Oaxaca
Our trip to this city was dominated by the strike of all teachers in the state, who lined the roads playing chess by day and music by night, falling asleep on the sidewalks on cardboard late at night lined up like sausages. The markets enchanted our senses and the tarp-covered streets confused our compases.
7 Veracruz
No pics from this wonderful town. My stay here was tainted by a bug that took over my bowels and had me writhing in bed for the better part of 2 days. Meanwhile our friend Isaías Lopez showed us the local restaurants and cafes and entertained us with heart-felt stories of his wild youth along the beaches and in the then un-developed outskirts of Veracruz. Isaías also took Jason out Saturday night to paint the town various colors while I stayed in bed :( writhing still but feeling thankful for the first and last air-conditioned room we had in Mexico.
8 Cristóbal de las Casas
We liked this town so much the first time, we stayed again on our way back. This time in a new hostel. Jason took some Spanish classes and I visited schools to attempt to arrange some kind of collaboration in the future.
9 Palenque
The main reason to visit this town is the ruins located nearby. Apart from losing my sun glasses, nearly collapsing from heat exhaustion, and narrowly escaping the ill-will of a long black scorpion, we had a great time. The ruins were neat, but we had an even better time throwing sticks high into mango trees to knock down lunch with the local grounds keepers. Their skills were impressive and our lunch turned out to be hand-outs from them.
10 Tulum
Clear water, dry sun, French restaurants, and Italian ice cream. Where are we? From this point on in our trip, the signs that we were in Mexico were on the steady decrease. I decided to do some sun bathing for the first time in 15 years. It took me an hour to think "that should make a pretty good tan" and spent the next week enduring the unmistakably unique symptoms of sun poisoning: beet-redness, stinging, water blisters and bubbling, and scaley pealing.
Playa del Carmen
Nearing Cancun for our return flight. The fastest growing city in the world does a good job entertaining foreigners. The beaches are loaded with darkening white people, scuba dive shops and occasional topless bathers. We rented snorkels and had great fun following schools of fish through rocky coral and slight waves 150 feet off-shore. I ate arroz con leche ice cream and talked to a disabled jeweler on the street about travel, education, languages, and starting up a hostel. A walk along the beach at night brought back memories of Hawaii and the smells and sounds of the waves made me happy.
And I Quote