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24 hours, two volcanoes, we’re spent

May 12, 2009 By Jillian

Because we haven’t had enough of lava and volcanoes we signed ourselves up for a full moon hike of Santa Maria, an active volcano just outside of Xela. Although it last erupted in 1922, the best part about hiking Santa Maria is being able to look down on the ever erupting Santiaguito, a vent off of the main volcano. Full moon + hiking up a volcano + potential to look down on a volcanic eruption? Clearly we had to sign up.

Fortunately our school scheduled a hike for Saturday morning up (The Molar) La Muela, a mountain formed from Santa Maria’s 1902 eruption. Overlooking Xela, La Muela was a good warm up for the overnight full moon set to begin mere hours later. Beginning our ascent, we walked up a cobblestone road before turning onto a steep path heading up the mountain. An easy climb with some fun bouldering on the exposed spires, we made it to the top only to find ourselves in the middle of an evangelical religious ceremony. Only in Guatemala. Climbing further, we sat atop the mountain listening to bits of the sermon below. “Gracias Dios por los rios!” “Gracias Dios por la tierra!” Munching on snacks, we admired the view of Quetzaltenango below before watching the indigenous women pick their way back down the mountain in traditional clothes and high heels. So much for complaining about my hiking boots!

Heading home for lunch, we took a brief nap before meeting up with some friends. At midnight we met at our outfitter and headed out in the darkness for Santa Maria. About 55 degrees Fahrenheit when we left Xela and thankfully for the first time in a week not raining, we were in good spirits with clear skies. Somewhere along the way the group split in two and we found ourselves racing up the muddy path at a rapid speed trying to keep up with the guide only to break for 20 minutes waiting for the other half. Needless to say we were sweaty and cold and having a difficult time regulating our body temperature. Not really sure what to expect at high altitude, Xela is about 7700 feet, we felt the air thin as we climbed the volcano. Both tired from our lack of sleep and from hiking uphill for several hours, it was clear that as we climbed higher and higher we were having more trouble breathing. Rising to about 12,400 feet, the top of Santa Maria has about 40% less oxygen than sea level. Although we were well acclimatized to the altitude of Xela, our ascent proved to be challenging. More challenging for Danny since he carried our pack of water and warm clothes. It’s amazing what a difference a mere 6000 feet can make, well that and several inches of mud. Although the trail was cut and well troddened up the mountain, decent switchbacks didn’t really exist so we were essentially walking vertically up the mountain. The last hour of our ascent I felt completely out of shape, it was probably the highest I’ve ever climbed and the altitude really started to affect me. Others in the group were walking erratically up the path, probably because of the lack of sleep and altitude, but we held our steady pace and eventually began to see the top.

Reaching the top, we found an incredible full moon to the west and the first signs of dawn to the east. I felt like I was literally straddling the line between day and night, which was a very incredible and powerful feeling. Our pictures don’t really do it justice. Looking to my right I tried to etch the image of the moonlight over the mountain range in my memory before sunrise. Unfortunately the change in temperature and extreme exposure ruined the moment and we quickly bundled up in sleeping bags. Like time lapsed photography, the sun rose quickly and soon we could see the entire mountain range spread out below us. Until that moment I didn’t really understand why people climb at high altitudes for enjoyment.

Walking around the top we looked down at Sanguelito, an active volcanic vent formed off the western slope of Santa Maria, just in time to see an eruption of smoke and steam. One of the most active volcanoes in all of Central America, Sanguelito erupts every few minutes, although usually only smoke and steam are visible. Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. You can actually hike up Sanguelito if you want. No thanks! Freezing, exhausted, and with legs trembling from exertion we headed back down the mountain at breakneck speed. Back in Xela we searched for an open restaurant at 9:30 am that was serving something besides eggs but only managed only to find Pollo Compero (fried chicken). Collapsing in our bed sometime around noon, after calling our mothers for mothers day, we slept all afternoon attempting to recover from our first all-nighter since college. Two days later we are still recovering. 🙂

San Cristobal de las Casas

April 20, 2009 By Danny

The last few weeks in Mexico all we had been hearing about was Semana Santa or holy week. “Utter chaos; Go somewhere and don’t move;” was the consensus of travelers and locals alike. The busiest travel week in Mexico, something akin to a national spring break for everyone, not just students, we decided to wait out Semana Santa in San Cristobal de las Casas. San Cris, as we now call it, is far away from the beaches and other nice vacation resorts, so we hoped to find fewer crowds, less chaos, and the Mayan ruins of Palenque.

San Cris seems to owe much of its fame and fortune to a series of ‘unfortunate’ events. The day NAFTA went into effect, many of the indigenous peoples of the State of Chiapas donned black masks and took over San Cris as well as several cities in Chiapas. These rebels were soon repelled by the Mexican army but the rebellion continues to live on throughout the state. Since this rebellion has played so much into San Cris gaining its current tourist status, we tried to learn about it. Aside from learning the day the rebellion began, we also learned the rebels are still fighting and they’ve yet to attain their goals. What we were unable to learn while there was what, if anything, the rebellion had to do with NAFTA, what injustice had been done to drive these people to war, and what they want the outcome to be. I write this because San Cris has been placed on the map by the Zapitista’s movement (indeed, you can even buy little Zapatista dolls to bring home for your friends) yet many people really do not understand what the movement is about. Sure, this information is readily available online via Wikipedia, but the actual meaning of the movement seems to have been largely forgotten on the streets of San Cris.

Since the beginning of the revolution, San Cris has turned into somewhat of a tourist town (with the prices to prove it!) we enjoyed being able to eat Italian, Thai, and Falafel for a change…as well as take in a yoga class or two. Beyond the land of the tourist, we spent a great deal of time enjoying the neighborhood markets and especially the holy week events. After coming out of a shop on Good Friday we were blocked by a procession of Roman Soldiers. Yes, Roman Soldiers. Unbeknown to us, San Cris reenacts the death of Jesus with live action. The fun continued that afternoon when we attended our first crucifixion: romans, scaffolding, horses, whips, and….Jesus.

Besides a crucifixion, we were looking for a little adventure. After our last ‘mountain bike’ ride in Oaxaca, we were hesitant to sign up for another guided tour; this time however, we had an amazing time. We rode through small (8-10 family) indigenous villages where the spoken language was a Mayan dialect, not Spanish, through cloud forests glistening with dew, under limestone bridges, and saw the most amazing countryside. Not a ride for the feint hearted, we climbed a number of hills in high altitude (higher than Denver) and had an absolutely fabulous time. Besides the exercise and scenery, the reason this was so special was that it gave us a chance to see the plight of the indigenous firsthand. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the trip because cameras were not allowed as many religious Maya believe cameras are used to steal the soul.

After our ride, we managed to make it into the Mexican Barrio where the $75 peso gourmet pizza meal was replaced with the $20 peso Mexican dish of spicy meat and rice where we were by far the only gringos and the proprietors were only too proud we chose their food stall. Strengthened by the meal, we headed further out of downtown to find the Mayan Medicine Museum, only first we found a Zapatista camp. Seriously. Luckily the men at the gate were wearing all black and carrying big guns so we put two and two together BEFORE walking into their camp. The museum detailed the cooperative of Mayan healers that work throughout Chiapas even today. In addition to explaining the customs and the healer traditions, the museum educated us on the herbal and natural medicines used by the Mayan people. Under the picture of each plant was a description in Spanish. Translated in English, we just had to take a picture of our favorite medicine to share with you.

Our Mayan education didn’t end there. Back in the downtown area, we found that both of us are born on the same day in the Mayan calendar; the day of Tz’i, or the day of the perro. Significant in Mayan tradition as a Shaman guide both here and in the afterlife, we Jill decided it was fate and bought matching pendants. 🙂

Our time in San Cris came to an end. After 5 days and a short trip to Palenque we were ready to move on and more importantly had to move on if we were going to start Spanish classes on Monday in Guatemala. Although touristy, we were sad to go after spending so much time exploring the outer areas of the city and enjoying the comforts of a tourist town during a big holiday (hot water AND tons yummy food, what could be better?)

Grasshoppers? Oaxaca!

April 12, 2009 By Jillian

Molé, Chocolate and Grasshoppers. When our bus pulled in at 5am the station was abuzz with travelers, but once we left the station the roads were dark and quiet. We made our way downtown stopping for our first Oaxacan hot chocolate (it was yummy!) and prayed that the hostel would let us check in at such an early hour. We were in luck and spent the next two hours warm in our bed catching up on much needed sleep. What awaited us when we awoke was not the same sleepy Oaxaca we walked through two hours before but a city very much alive with color, noise and movement.

Oaxaca is a big tourist destination, our first since Baja, and we were a little surprised at the number of gringos wandering around. We knew we were in trouble when the restaurants had menus in English, and lets just say when the bill came we found that we had eaten the most expensive eggs and beans on the planet. Nevertheless, Oaxaca was a site to see. We wandered through the city, taking in the markets (if there is ANY DVD you want – in theaters or out on DVD – it’s in Oaxaca), and the energy that is in Oaxaca. No matter what time you were there (except maybe at 6am, but even then there were people out), the main square or Zocalo, had a carnival like atmosphere. Candy sellers, balloon sellers, ice cream vendors, shoe shiners, musicians, clowns, mimes and florists wandered the Zocalo day and night selling their wares or performing for the crowd. To say it was a shock after being in completely non touristy areas is an understatement. We had clearly entered the tourist circuit and were unprepared. After being in quiet cities and towns without gringos, the carnival atmosphere and nightly cultural performances sponsored by the state really made us feel overwhelmed. We spent hours in the Zocalo just trying to take it all in, and just when we thought we’d gotten a grasp of the place a new musician or a new vendor would come by. It was a whirlwind of a place.

Outside the city we took a day trip to ancient Zapotec capital, Monte Alban (white mountain), our first ruins in Mexico. Pretty much deserted on the day we were there, Monte Alaban is perched on a hill overlooking Oaxaca. The “two” lane road leading up the mountain is barely passable by two sedans let alone tour buses so we said a prayer when we made it to the top. I’ve only been to the ruins at Tulum (yes, it was a spring break trip to Playa del Carmen, yes we’ll leave it there) and I’d never even heard of Monte Alaban so I was a meso-american neophyte to say the least. Monte Alban was not at all what I was expecting, it sits atop a hill where the land is clear of almost all vegetation. The ruins are closed for security and preservation purposes, so we weren’t able to climb through any tunnels nor up several of the towers. Needless to say, we were uninspired by the ruins and headed back down the mountain before our allotted time.

Travelers along the way raved about the hot chocolate, the molé and of course mentioned whether they’d tried the insects or not. Yes, insects. Oaxacan cuisine is known for these three things and as adventurous travelers we had to try all three. The hot chocolate was easy, no big surprise there. Different than the swiss miss in the US, hot chocolate in Oaxaca has a spicy cinnamon taste to it and can be made with either water or milk. Either way it was yummy and we bought a block of the cinnamon chocolate just to munch on. 🙂

The molé on the other hand was questionable, made from chocolate and spices, it tasted more like chocolatey barbeque sauce to us than a chocolate molé. Molé is a bit like bbq sauce actually, every town or village has its own molé recipe and secret ingredients. We had molé negro, but there are numerous types of molé available in Oaxaca. The sauce we had would hardly pass the first round at a bbq contest in Texas and though not exactly what we were expecting, it went down easy.

The third specialty was the hardest. We spent our days wandering the markets looking for chapulines (grasshoppers) in tacos or quesedillas or cooked in anything. Turns out that you pretty much have to eat them alone. I know, had I stopped to think about it before we bought them it would have turned my stomach.. Like everything though, I thought about it after the grasshopper was already in my mouth. This being Mexico, and the delicacy being insects, we purchased the smallest amount we could (about 50 grams) and made sure they were the kind covered in chili powder. I’ll let the video speak for itself, but I will say they were salty and tasted mostly like chili. Hopefully some of you have tried chapulines. Please don’t tell me I’m the only one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPSP1qFQyU

After the adventures of the chipolines, we decided a real adventure was in the cards. We rented mountain bikes through Zona Bici and a guide and headed to the hills surrounding Oaxaca. Although the tour was a complete disappointment in almost every aspect (price, experience, guide, location, etc.) getting out and stretching our legs on the bikes was a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Thankfully after banging myself up in Jalapa’s whitewater, Oaxaca was injury free and in that sense uneventful!

Not surprisingly although definitely not on account of the insects, we both fell slightly ill in Oaxaca. It’s bound to happen sometime right? After the bike tour the most we could muster up to do was to sit in a french cafe using the wifi all afternoon. Overall Oaxaca was an assault to our senses. Unlike any other place we’ve been to in Mexico, we wandered through Oaxaca enthralled by the sites, colors and sounds, but ready to go once our time was up. It definitely wasn’t our favorite place in Mexico, but it was well worth the trip.

Zona Bici

April 12, 2009 By Jillian

Through our guidebook we found Zona Bici, a bike shop with rentals and tours around Oaxaca. When we walked in we were surprised, a real bike shop here in Oaxaca! We were needless to say thrilled to see the quality equipment and booked a half day tour (45km) for the following day.[ad#final-review-ad]

Like many tours in Mexico, we found that we were the only ones on the tour. Initially we thought the lack of other participants would be good and we’d have more flexibility to stop and stay at places. We were quickly fitted for bikes and took off through the streets of Oaxaca to the country side. Our guide spoke a little English, but the tour turned out to be more of a ride than a tour. The pace was good, we were moving at a nice clip through the small villages, and the guide was careful and concerned about our safety. We made a few stops along the way in small pubelos, but mostly the guide stayed about 500m ahead of us. It was disappointing to say the least, we would have had a better experience had we rented bikes and taken a map on our own. We did get a little perfunctory background and history at one of our stops, but I definitely expected more discussion or conversation about the pueblos and the people. The whole time we felt like the guide had somewhere else to be. The tour lasted just over 3 hours and while it wasn’t a truly negative experience, our expectations for a tour (it really was just a ride) were not at all met given the the price we paid.

Kayaking the Rio Pescados

April 6, 2009 By Danny

The typical kayak trip begins with some form challenging logistics such as how best to drive the small car to the river and have it waiting for you when you get downstream. Despite the fact we had neither boats nor cars to take care of, this trip started no differently. We arrived at the bus station in Xalapa at 8:30 a.m. to find that the next bus to Jacamulco (where our outfitter was located) was at 10 a.m. Great! After 1.5 hours on the bus, did I mention it is only 30 km away, we saw the sign for our outfitter, got the bus to stop. Sort of. The ticket collector told us that the entrance was further up the road. Yup, you guessed it. We made it to the end of the line (“downtown” Jalcumolco) where the bus driver told us they would turn around and take us back. Only that story changed once we got to downtown Jaculmoco. You can see the pattern here. We figured enough was enough and called for a ride. The day began with a um… backfire. It did get much much MUCH better….for me anyhow.

Once at the Kayak 360, our outfitter, Tio (Uncle) Memo got us fitted into boats and he, the two of us, and a pair of lodge staff in a raft were off to the river. Jill lucked out and got into the very same boat she paddled back in DC, while I unfortunately had to take a step-up into a boat with more play.

Once on the river, Memo told us the water was low as this was the dry season, and we would find many of the rapids to be very rocky and technical. He was correct but we did still find some decent water and had a great time. In comparison to paddling waterfalls just a few days prior this was harder, more technical work; still a blast for sure but by no means child splay. We needed to paddle hard and stay alert as going over in some of the shallower portions meant we were in for some nasty bruises.

We started off simply enough, easily navigating the first few rapids. Toward the end of one of these entrance rapids Memo instructed us to go between two rocks. Jill and I both took a look and couldn’t figure out which two….certainly he didn’t mean those two big ones on river right just a mere meter apart, that was a tight hole to fit through! Before we knew it Memo was off and yes, he did mean those two on the right. Jill went first and nearly missed but managed to get through. But, she went through crooked and by the time I got there she was already upside down in some big whitewater. We didn’t have time to warm up at the top of the river because it was shallow so she ejected, came up smiling and so began our day. (To be fair, the pair in the raft hit one of the rocks and got stuck…took them forever to free themselves).

A little while later, at the “strangulator” our day took a turn for the worst…but that’s where the good stories come from don’t they? The water was extremely rocky, big, and fast and it took all of our effort to stay up. I slammed into a rock hard enough to throw my bow up into the air and as I came down it was my elbow that slammed another rock, keeping me afloat. Surprisingly this was the biggest injury of the day. The big problem with this rapid was that all of us, 3 kayaks and a raft, entered more or less together rather than in a line. The raft, on account of its size, simply isn’t as maneuverable as a kayak and at one point the raft nudged Jill into a rock where she found herself pinned. For you non-boaters out there, being pinned is nothing unusual and is quite common. It is when the water pushes you against a rock and you are basically stuck against that rock. It took some time, Jill eventually freed herself, but as a result of having been pinned and coming off the rock unbalanced, flipped right then and there. In the middle of a fast moving rocky rapid, she attempted to roll a few times before signaling for help. We could see her bouncing along the river bottom, but as she signaled for help her body (I say body because she was upside down) was slammed against the next rock so hard that not only was the entire boat in the air, but we also saw her back exposed to the air as well. After that happened I don’t think Speedy Gonzales (yes, I realize I’m referencing him while in Mexico) could have ejected as quickly. We saw her back and I think before the boat hit the water again she was out of the thing and swimming up alongside it. It was a nasty swim to say the least, and she has a nice bruise on her shoulder to show for it, but she got right back in the boat and kept on going asking only: “which rock was I on?”

Whether she admitted it or not at the time, she was still a bit shaken. The next rapid, the “white witch” (and if anyone is curious, that is a literal translation…I have been assured that no one calls this rapid the gringa) would be Jill’s final swim of the day. The rapid was basically a large rock garden on a gradual decent with fast moving water. At the base of the rapid, on the river’s right, was a large rock and we needed to turn hard behind this rock (to the right) as going straight would have meant getting slammed into the canyon wall. Well as we got closer to the bottom the water got bigger and bigger and when trying to make that sharp turn Jill went over again. The only reason she went over was that she was simply exhausted and beaten on the last rapid and after white witch we took a break to recoup.

As I said somewhere above, the biggest injury of the day was to my elbow. I cannot begin to express what a big jump up this was (previously Jill had only kayaked the Potomac, which hardly counts, and the Lower Yough) and this water was much larger and more technical than either of those. Every time she got beaten she got back in the boat and was ready to go again. Good attitude and spirit.

Unfortunately, drama on the high seas isn’t so conducive to breaking out the camera and taking pictures. In fact it is advisable to ensure that your wife is still alive before making any attempt at documenting the event with photographic proof. That being said, here is the only video or documentary proof of our day on the river. This is my best and longest surf (the kayakers out there must be groaning b-c this is clearly a weanie surf) ever….even with my hurt elbow!

It was a great day on the river!!

24 hours, two volcanoes, we’re spent

San Cristobal de las Casas

Grasshoppers? Oaxaca!

Zona Bici

Kayaking the Rio Pescados

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