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You are here: Home / Archives for Destinations / North America / Mexico

Report Card #1

July 8, 2009 By Danny

So  now we’re home in the states for a week so we’ll take this opportunity to take stock of how we’ve done so far and what it is we need to change.  Overall, it looks like our preparation has paid off.  We’ve rarely been without something we’ve needed and have never been completely unprepared.  Since leaving the US we have not met another backpacker with smaller packs than we have (we do have the added benefit of being able to share a few things) but we have met many with things we wish we did have.

Our supplies have treated us well but we are swapping a few things out that don’t seem to be standing up to the wear and tear we put them through or just aren’t quite perfect enough for our uses.  Mostly this has to do with our  wardrobe…we’ve put several reviews up this week and several more are coming.  Once we’re done with all our trips to REI and repacking our bags we’ll update our gear page and link to the reviews we’ve written.

As for budget, which is what we are most concerned with on a daily basis, we’re spending less than we budgeted but a bit more than  we had hoped to spend.  All in all though we’re not in such a bad position.  Reminder, these numbers are updated each time we finish a country on the $$$ tab.

Country Days Food Lodging Activity Trans Misc* Daily Avg
Mex & C. Amr. 111 $17.76 $10.33 $23.31 $20.50 $7.35 $79.25
Mexico 29 $13.71 $9.57 $21.64 $31.80 $6.50 $83.22
Guatemala 36 $19.37 $10.17 $28.18 $7.69 $6.79 $72.20
Belize 4 $22.17 $0.00 $7.75 $51.35 $14.42 $95.69
Honduras 20 $18.44 $11.23 $27.47 $22.96 $4.12 $84.22
Nicaragua 7 $19.21 $9.31 $13.76 $7.94 $3.03 $53.25
Costa Rica 10 $18.88 $15.28 $12.60 $11.60 $6.25 $64.61
Panama 5 $19.10 $12.00 $28.50 $18.64 $7.00 $85.24

MEXICO:  Our first country so we weren’t so savey yet.  Having said that, we didn’t so do badly.  We did some expensive activities, several of which we would not pay so much for now.  Overnight buses and couchsurfing helped to keep lodging low but those same buses made for some high transportation costs.

GUATEMALA: This is a very cheap country.  We could have lived there very inexpensively, especially given how long we spent there.  Spanish school is the sole reason for this being as expensive as it was.   Additionally, living with a host family proved to be far more expensive than had we lived alone.

BELIZE:  Only went here to visit some family and had a wonderful time staying at their fancy (free lodging) house.  Getting there and back from Honduras, by boat, proved to be a very expensive endeavor.

HONDURAS:  Another cheap country, but we spoiled the budget here by getting PADI certified.  How dare us!  Add to that the expense of transportation to some isolated villages in La Moskitia and the island of Utilia and this country looks more expensive than it really  was.

NICARAGUA:  Not really any cheaper than Guatemala and Honduras, but as we didn’t have any major adventures here we were more on target with our spending.  That being said, this spending still represents a few small splurges.

COSTA RICA:  Really proved to be too expensive for us to do many of the things we had hoped to do…so we visited some monkey infested beaches (mostly free) instead and continued onto Panama earlier than we intended.

PANAMA:  Home to our most expensive hotel room, two overnight (low lodging costs, high transportation costs) bus rides, and finally some awesome whitewater…oh, and a canal!

Filed Under: Belize, Central America, Costa Rica, gear, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, USA Tagged With: budget, spending, summary, travel

Our Time in Mexico…

April 24, 2009 By Jillian

One country down, about 75 more to go. Time to do our first country summary.  If you haven’t been reading along, here’s your 30 second summary of Mexico. Drum roll please…

Hours on a bus: 96..4 days exactly, lets not forget the additional 15 hours traveling by boat and train.
Longest Bus Ride: 12 hours
Nights we slept on a bus: 6
Nights we spent in Mexico: 29
Best night’s sleep: Night number two….on the bus….after playing with whales.
Strangest Food: Chapulines. Claro.
Trips to a Medical Establishment: One, for Jill’s leg in Creel
Best Meal: Anything at Martha’s house… 🙂 Muchas Gracias!!!!
Best alarm clock: Eeeeeeee gaaaaaaaaassssssssss in Zacatecas
Number of times the the time changed: 5, we think.
Best Compliment: From a ‘rico suave’ Mexican…his exact words to Danny: “You are more Americano than a hamburguesa”
Best medicine: The plant that says if it doesn’t work….to try another plant and pray
Worst medicine: Whatever we ate that sent us to the laboratorio
Days of Rain: 0
Other Americans we met: 0, until the day we crossed the border
Most Expensive Meal: 194 pesos in Oaxaca (it was about 13 pesos to the dollar)
Cheapest Meal: 4 tacos for 20 pesos, San Cristobal de las Casas
Number of tequila shots per person: About 3…pathetic, I know
Number of cities we visited: 12
Rivers Kayaked: 2
Mountain Bike Excursions: 3
Gauze pads used on Jill’s Leg: 30
Rolls of tape for Jill’s Leg: 2
Most number of consecutive days in one bed: 4
Cold Showers: 4
Consecutive Days without a shower: 3
Times we hand did our laundry: 4, 100%
Mayan Ruins Visited: 2

And finally….
Hamburgers Eaten: 0

Filed Under: Mexico Tagged With: statistics, summary

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?)

Filed Under: Mexico Tagged With: biking, mayan calendar, san cristobal, tours, zapatistas

Palenque… are there monkeys here?

April 16, 2009 By Jillian

After the disappointment of Monte Alban, the ruins at Palenque were a dream come true. They were exactly the type of ruins I was expecting.  Jungle, pyramids, monkeys, the whole nine yards.

We had spent the last few nights in San Cristobal (about 5 hours from Palenque by bus) and although there were tons of tours (about 300 pesos each) to Palenque, they were all day trips with about 2 hours at the ruins.   2 hours at my first mayan ruins in the jungle?  Clearly not enough time.  We left our stuff at the hostel and set out with an overnight bag to Palenque.   The trip from San Cristobal to Palenque travels right through Zapatista terrority, the indigenous army that started a revolution in 1994.  Still unresolved, the violence has for the most part died down although the political conflict continues with the occasional violent outbreaks. A number of small indigenous autonomous zones exist in Chiapas, ruled exclusively by the Zapatistas without any Mexican government involvement.  Since we’d be traveling through these areas we took heed and decided for safety it would be best to travel during the day. There are still infrequent reports of bus robberies, etc… on this route at night.   The five hour journey was incredible. Where the north of Mexico was dry and desert, Chiapas is fresh alpine highlands, cloud forests and indigenous villages mixed with lush rain forests comprising ancient Mayan lands.  Constantly twisting and turning on the road, we saw signs demarcating the Zapatista autonomous zones.  Sorry, we weren’t willing to hop off the bus, so no pictures.

Arriving in Palenque we hopped on a collectivo to the jungle to find out cabana for the night.  We stayed at a small group of cabanas nestled in a meadow not more than 3km from the actual ruins. It was my first time in the jungle (one of many firsts on the trip!) and although Danny thought nothing of it, the best part of our stay there was the howler monkey we saw on the way to dinner. (Didn’t get a picture though, besides its huevos were hanging out and who wants to see that anyhow!)  My first night in the jungle and my first monkey in the wild. 🙂

We made a beeline for the ruins when they opened the next morning and spent four hours wandering through pyramids, temples, and looking at the glyphs. At the top of one pyramid we heard this awful screeching noise that sounded like a pack of hungry lions on the hunt. Excitedly Danny said, those are howler monkeys and headed for the jungle. Following somewhat skeptically behind him [Editor’s Note from Danny – Jill actually thought the sounds were from speakers to help create atmosphere- is this disney world?] the howling grew louder and louder. Each time I asked again, are you sure those are monkey’s? The screeching was constant and as we made our way up the path following their noises we were joined by other people also looking for the monkeys.  It was my favorite part of the ruins.  In all different languages people kept yelling “Do you see them?” and as we climbed higher up the mountain.  It was thick jungle and the soil was loose so by the time we decided to turn around (monkey’s still unseen) we were covered in dirt, but beaming from ear to ear.  No monkey’s this time, but we know they exist in Palenque!

Brushing ourselves off to look presentable enough to join the other tourists,  we continued to explore the ruins.  Climbing the pyramids one by one was a feat in and of itself.  Seriously.  We are in good shape and by the time we reached the top of the third one our chests were heaving.  Some of the pyramids seem to have hundreds of stairs, so by the time you reach the top you just want to sit and collapse.  But you can’t, because its HOT.  Really hot.  It is a jungle out there. 🙂

Although the major pyramids and groups of ruins are completely excavated and tower several stories above the ground, we enjoyed the small residential buildings the most. Almost completely consumed by the jungle, these ruins are less visited and seem not to be restored or preserved in any way. We were able to crawl through tunnels, visit inner chambers and even see a subterranean burial chamber (did I mention it was pitch black in there?) under a home. It was a pretty cool experience and although the pyramids are impressive, the smaller ruins were by far more of the “ancient jungle ruin” experience I was looking for. I’m sure in a few months I’ll think nothing of ancient mayan ruins towering in the jungle or monkey’s in trees, but it really was a “discovery channel” moment climbing under the homes and through the jungle looking for monkeys.

Filed Under: History & Culture, Mexico Tagged With: chiapas, palenque, ruins

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.

Filed Under: Food, History & Culture, Mexico Tagged With: biking, oaxaca, ruins, tours

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