Cañon de Sumidero and Chiapas de Corzo

Cañon del Sumidero near Chiapas del Corzo. 

Crocodile taking a siesta in the sun in Cañon del Sumidero.

They have a Virgen de Guadalupe everywhere...
even 30 mins deep into the canyon. 

  My final days in San Cristobal de las Casas were warming up, and so I decided to take a boat trip. I took a little excursion down into the valley below S.C. to the Cañon del Sumidero. This particular canyon offers opportunites to relax on the boat, see different varieties of wildlife,like crocodiles and monkeys, and learn about one of the most important energy resources of Mexico. The canyon has a max depth around 1000m from the top of the canyon to the surface of the river.

The meat store, with is goods proudly on display.
 At least its fresh... you hope.

After the excursion we had a short time in this small town of Chiapas de Corzo. It was the city fair this week and they had all of the rides. They had teacups, farris wheel, and even the little dragon. I took a short stroll through the plaza, and went over to the market. They do this very strange thing here in mexico with the meat. They cut it up into long ropes, and then hang it out for display. I stopped to take a picture of it, and this fella asked me what I was doing. When I told him how strange this was to me he said that it was the best way to know the quality of the meat. He also explained to me a very typical way to prepare these thinly sliced strips with semi mashed beans, and the fattiest parts of the cut. This is a homestyle dish, that you won't find on a menu at a restaurant. In this market I also bought the most delicious chocolate disks. They look like small hockey pucks, and make yummy hot chocolate. Which is perfect on cold nights in S.C.

Weird fermented apple thing...
Don't recommend these if you see them. 

At the market I kept seeing big bowls of these small round balls that sort of looked like olives. So since I didn't know what it was I bought one.... They were neither olives nor delicious. Something like a fermented crab apple that had been soaked in sweet juice. Not my thing, so once out of eye sight of the lady who sold it to me I threw it away.
Sundays are so much fun here in Mexico, and S.C was lovely. I did a little souviner shopping, and spent two days budget in about 3 hours... oops. But the textiles in Chiapas are unbelievbly intricate and detailed, and I couldn't pass them up. While I was walking through the plaza this group of 5 men started to wave at me. I waved a backed, and then they said hey can we please take a picture with you. I felt really silly, but it was a fun story so I did it. They were from the larger city of Tuxcla in the valley, and had riden to S.C. for a Sunday afternoon.

Me and a motorcycle gang in S.C. plaza- I can
hear my mother gasping from 800miles away. :) 

The Cathedral off the main plaza in S.C. 

Journaling in the sunshine at the Rossco's Backpackers,
with the snuggliest kitty in Chiapas. 

Artisan tacos made with black corn tortillas, and the spiciest salsa I have tried yet!

This lady is the cook at the market restaurant where I ate. She speak Tzotil- the native language, so we could only speak to eachother through other people. I asked to take a photo with her because she was such a great cook. She was flattered, but so shy. It was a great moment. 

San Cristobal : de las Casas de Salsa y Mole

Sunset over San Cristobal from the Church of Guadalupe.

The church in the barrio de Guadalupe

 Arriving in San Cris after a torturous bus ride, I took a taxi through town to my hostel. Driving past brightly painted churches, with courtyards decorated by flagging in the colors of Mexico I instantly knew why everyone likes it here so much. This little city is charming, relaxed, and surrounded by natural beauty. Quite the change from the much larger city of Merida.... the cars don't try to run you over here.

Manuel,Jorge, and Diana giving us a rundown
of the best Mexican/ Argentinian music

   As I mentioned in my last post, the hostel I am staying at is fabulous! Its remarkably cold here in S.C at 2,000m elevation, and the hostel has a bonfire every evening. This is great for enjoying the stories of your fellow travelers. My first 2 nights the other guests were amazing. There was Diana and Jorge, from Tijuana, that I mentioned in my last post. Then Manuel, from Rosario, Argentina. Manuel was a musician, with a positive attitude about everything. He even tried to teach me to play one of his favorite songs from Uruguay. (I am working on it Manuel.) We spent the evening sharing how we passed the day, and playing music. All of this accompanied by lots of laughter, and a generous amount of Indio and Sol beers.
   Towards the end of the evening we all went out to dance. I feel a little embarrassed and confused about every hour that I am awake in this country. I don't know how to speak spanish all that well. Sometime I just point at things on the menu, and hope for the best. But the culmination of my embarrassment, was on the dance floor with Jorge. Jorge, a super smooth dancer, put out his best effort to get me to move my feet in the right direction, but no matter how many time he said "dos pasos" ( two steps) I just couldn't get it! I just kept laughing.... uncomfortably. Salsa is about being super sexy, and enticing, and there I was a laughing bafoon. I loved it!

No mono culture farms in this area. The farms here are maintained
by the villagers.

My horses name was brandy, and I was
only her guest for a few hours. 

Just a leisurely paseo on the horses.
Katherine in the background.

  The next day I met another solo traveler Katherine. She and I got along really well right off, so we decided to go on a horseback ride together to a little indigenous village. San Cristobal is surrounded by indigenous communities, and sometimes the residents don't even speak Spanish. The village we visited speaks tuxcla, and they wear these super funny skirts made from goat hide! The horse ride was lovely. We rode past loads of organic gardens where they grow all the fresh squash, cilantro, radish, cabbage, and lettuce you can find in the market. Yummy! What I didn't count on was how uncomfortable riding a horse is! I know, I am from Wyoming, where practically everyone has some basic experience with horses... but let me just say I have some major respect for those cowboys now.

The landscape around San Cristo. 

  I don't know if chicken mole is a specialty of San Cristobal, but holy wow is it delicious here! After riding horses all day I walked over to the market area to find dinner. The market is lined with stalls, like we have at the fairgrounds in the US. Inside of some of these stalls are little restaurants. Now, they don't look like much. In fact, they are so small I kind of thought to myself there is no way they can make a meal here. Well, I stand corrected!
   I asked for a menu, and the mother looked at me like I had a third eye. So... I just ordered one of the few things I understood come out of her mouth. Pollo en mole. YUM!! They usually use the thigh or leg of the chicken. You know the chicken is fresh because the lady selling chickens is 1 block up. They cover the chicken in this dark red chili and chocolate sauce, and serve it with rice and tortillas. Actually, everything is served with tortillas here. San Cristobal is bursting with tourists, and lots of fancy restaurants to feed them. But for me these little economic kitchens are where the real magic happens! Plus, I like to see them laughing when a tall gringa tells them how wonderful their cooking is!

Palenque Mayan Ruins

This is the Temple of Pakal. Archaeologist discovered King Pakal's tomb, and his intricately carved tomb cover. 

Night buses are not really fun. However, it is totally worth waking up in the morning in a new location, and a new adventure. I arrived in Palenque at 6:30am, just as the sun was rising over the mountains and the city was beginning to wake up. I grabbed a quick caffeine burst from the little convenience store, and stretched my legs on a stroll around town in search of a panaderia. The zocolo, or central plaza, is full of the normal fair or artisans and lunch vendors who make a good profit from tourist's visiting the ruins of Palenque, and gorgeous waterfalls nearby.
  I took a collectivo bus the ten minutes out of town to the entrance of the archaeological ruins. I was one of the first handful of visitors into the park, and that made it even more special. Without the excess of people crowding around you can start to let you imagination wander. I felt like I was really discovering something special, as you walk out of the jungle canopy and into the main courtyard of the Mayan king Pakal. They say that during the Classic Period of the Maya Palenque was the biggest city.

The main palace. Directly across from Pakals tomb. 

   I once took a class on ancient Mayan civilization when I was going to school in California. My teacher rarely came to class with a curriculum prepared, but he always had the best stories to share. This is one of the most important characteristics about Mayan culture today. Oral tradition, story telling, and festivals are the few ways that remnants of the Maya history survive. My Mayan civ teacher had this silly notion that in 14 weeks his students would be able to read Mayan scripted tablets. Lets just say I was not translating for anyone yesterday.

Temple of the sun. 

Pretty sure this was the courtyard of Pikal's son. 

Artifacts from the ruins on display in the museum

   The intricacy of their scripts, carvings, and masks astounds me. At the base of the ruins is a museum where they have many of the artifacts on display, taken from the tomb of Pakal and the temples surrounding. The images are carved in stone, but detail of the facial features and textures on the clothing looks like it was done by machine! During my spanish class last semester we studied a little of Mayan civilizations, and my professor pointed out they didn't have netflix or facebook back then. Less distractions, and more time to look at the stars and carve hieroglyphs.

A tablet of Mayan  script.

    There were plenty of ways to keep myself busy, and stay in Palenque. However, I was anxious to get to San Cristobal de Las Casas, and took the afternoon bus. I had this idea that the topography of Mexico was mostly dessert with some jungle thrown in on the eastern side. HA!!! The bus ride between Palenque and San Cris felt like I was on a Six Flags roller coaster ride. We climbed up and down and up and down mountains on a 2 lane "highway", with speed bumps every 100m for 6 hours. Not sure why the driver felt like he was at the Indy 500 in a 50 passenger bus. There were a few occasions where I really was unsure if we would make the hairpin turns!
  i am staying at the Rossco Backpacker Hostel in San Cristo... really great spot. The are plenty of dogs to give it a homey feel, and an asshole cat that tried to eat my cereal this morning. (we're working things out!) Last night around the fire pit I met two people from Tijuana! They are awesome, and told me all sorts of things I didn't know about Tijuana! For example because its such a big place for people to move to trying to cross the boarder you can find any sort of food you want there! Me and food. Aye. Aye. Aye.

The waterfalls of the bats... Not sure why they are called that. They are located where the ruins finish. 

Flamgos of Celestun

    I use walking as a way to burn off my excessive taco and pan dulce  calorie consumption. It is very rare that I will get a taxi anywhere, even if I don't know where I am going. Merida is a pretty big city with 3 bus stations, and yesterday I needed to find one of them. I left the house early in the morning to catch a bus to the coastal town of Celestun, where there are huge populations of flamingos, frigates, herons, and pelicans that take refuge in the slough. As I am walking in the direction that my internal compass say is towards the bus, I stop 2 men and ask directions. ATTENTION!! When asking directions of locals NEVER ask a leading question. They will just agree with you!  Anyway... they give me some directions, but I still get lost. For 2 hours.
   During my little wayward walkabout I found the market, which was positive. Mexican markets are gorgeous. There are giant mountains of oranges, towers of bananas, rolling hills of red tomatoes. A girl could spend her day eating her way through the market, but this girl was on a mission. As I was charging head down, full throttle through the walkway, all of a sudden this black furry animal drops from the ceiling into my arms. The market is already a sensory overload, without things falling from the ceiling. It startled me a bit, and I noticed that it was a fake rat. I hear the laughter of two young booth owners, at my expense. I gave them a good you-got-me gesture, and headed on my way.

Celestun flamigo reserve. 

   When I arrived in Celestun I happened to get grouped with a family of 4 visiting Merida from Mexico City. This was such great luck for me, because not  only were they so much fun to spend the day with, you also have to split the cost of the boat rental tour into the estuary. The tour is about $100 US, and leaves from the bridge of the Ria.

Pelican Island. 

Frigate birds chillin in the breezy Ria.

A little tunnel through the mangroves.

   Flamingo's congregate in big clusters, and create gorgeous pink pods. They are pretty ridiculous when they fly. Their skinny little bodies can't support their long legs.  The estuary also has a pelican island, where the pelicans relax in clusters. At the front of the island hoards of frigate birds hover on the winds above. The mangroves on the edges of the estuary are very important as a source of shelter and breeding ground for many varieties of birds and fish.
 

 After the tour I returned to Merida with my new friends. On the bus ride home Diana, Hiraam, and I chatted the whole 2 1/2 hours. Diana speaks wonderful english, and Hiraam is learning quickly. A good portion of our conversation was about different types of food in Mexico. Naturally, when the bus arrived  we all went to dinner together. Last night I discovered the most delicious dish they have here in the Yucatan- Cochinta Pibil. It is pork that is marinated in a anchiote sauce, then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked in the oven. This makes some juicy mouth watering pork tacos!  I can't wait for lunch today!

    Today I tried to go to the Museo de Mundo Maya, but it was closed. It looked pretty awesome by the head statues outside!  Tonight I take my first night bus, and I'll arrive in the  morning at the Mayan ruins of Palenque!

The family I spent my nature day with. They are visititng from D.F.

Museo de Mundo Maya- from the outside.

Rosca De Reyes

When the weather turned bad in Holbox, I decided to get on the bus and head to a sunnier horizon. Boy did I find it. I am here in Merida, where it is a good 85 degrees. I had to use sunscreen for the first time in Mexico. Yipee!!

Not my CS house- but the style of home very typical in the area.

  I am staying at a couch surfing friends house. His name Rodrigo, and is he a salt water fly fisherman. If only those Montana boys could see the size of the flies he uses. They are real monsters! He uses them to catch tarpons I believe. Rodrigo lives in the colonial center of town in an antique colonial house. It has giant 20-30 ft ceilings, enormous doorways, and big courtyards that allow the air to move freely. It is really a gem! Rodrigo's house is also located in the fancy part of town, next to all the bank houses and expat homes. There is a Walmart, Starbucks, and Hennesy's two blocks away. He was telling me that Merida has become a popular place for Americans to retire, because they can purchase these giant old homes for very cheap. However, this causes the prices of rent to increase to a point that is unaffordable for locals.

The Rosca de Reyes. It was impossible for me to take a photo of the whole thing.

The 3 kings

   After I met Rodrigo, and chatted a bit about the New Year and Christmas I went out for a stroll. Tomorrow, January 6, is Three Kings Day. Three Kings day is somewhat similar to Christmas, but instead of a Santa you have have three kings that bring you gifts. Another tradition on Three Kings Day is that you eat a circle "fruit" cake. It is not really a cake and there is not really fruit on it.... so why am I calling it a fruit cake? It is more like a delicious sweet bread that has dried fruit on top. In celebration of Three Kings Day the hotel district hosted a bit of a party. They created a circular cake that was the length of an entire city block. When I started walking past I was thinking to myself how many people do they plan on feeding here! For 30 pesos  ( about $2.50) you received a piece of cake and a soda. You always chose your own piece of cake. This is really important because there is a little baby inside the cake somewhere, and whoever it is that gets it has to make a meal for everyone on Feb 2. It was such a fun family activity.

Rodrigo is so gracious and lets me take silly photos with him... even at the taco stand. :)

Merida's Loncheria. Yummy Mango smoothies. I'm addicted. 

 Later that evening Rodrigo took me to the most delicious taco stand. Here I found out there is a special technique for eating tacos that are super full of pig and cow fat. Rodirgo informed me that you have to support the tortilla from the bottom or all the stuffing falls out, and your tortilla breaks.

I love these neat S chairs they have in the city! Rodrigo and I
sat here and chatted in the shade for a while in the morning. 

The folklore dancers in Merida's Central Plaza.

 Rodrigo speaks perfect English, but is being very patient and letting me speak with him in Spanish entirely. I told him that for every taco I eat my Spanish improves 10 times. He laughed and said by the time I leave Mexico I'll be fluent in that case. I can't wait.
   Sunday's are a big day for catching up with the family in Latin America. They know how to do it right here in Merida. I went out for a run this morning on the main avenue, and realized that they had closed off about a mile or more of the road for runners and cyclist to use! It was so nice seeing families out riding bikes together, or just strolling down the street. The biking path ended at the Grand Plaza in front of the big Catholic church. Sunday is a market day, and the plaza was filled with food vendors, artisans, and a stage where they put on performances of regional dances. A terrific way to pass a Sunday morning.









Here is a link to a video of the dancing in the plaza. https://drivegoogle.com/file/d/0Bzqb0g33bQ4aSkhDRlk0RUU5aDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Holbox Island

 The weather in Holbox turned nasty on Friday, and whats a girl to do on a tropical island with 30mph winds and rain. Well, if you are my girlfriend Anna, you grab your kiteboard and get to surfing. I met Anna when I was living in a house in the coastal hills of Costa Rica. She is one of those fabulously talented individuals that as soon as she decides to do something, she is the best. She is a gorgeous artist, and painted practically half of the artwork on the walls of the Tribu hostel. She also teaches poi dance. Poi is most common at raves, when everyone is tripping on LSD and lights are extremely stimulating. Anyway... Anna now lives on Holbox, and teaches Poi classes to the guest of the Tribu Hostel.

The beach in Holbox. 

Although the day was pretty relaxed, and I spent most of it bothering the two Mexican sister staying in my dorm with spanish questions, the night was a riot. The hostel has a small bar upstairs, where they invite DJs and other artists to perform. Friday night they invited a couple to play djembe drums. The wife was a good 6 months pregnant, but kept a great rythm. I hope to have that kind of stimania without carrying around an extra human. Anna did a poi performance with them and it almost made me dizzy. She has such a beautiful way to move along with the rythm of the music.

Other highlights of Holbox were the excellent company of the other hostel guests. I had forgotten how fun it can be to simply sit around, and share stories with other travelers. One of my favorites was my roomie Georgia who recently finished univeristy, and is starting on a journey through Central America. She and I spent a good amount of time giggling, and sharing travel tips.

Tribu Hostel- The place to stay if you in holbox. 

A little breakfast spot with ocean views. 

Here is a link to a video I took of a little boy in the plaza beating the tar out of stuffed doll on a nuse... i don't think it was full of candy. Maybe it is just practice for when the real piñata comes around. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzqb0g33bQ4ackFxRjJQakp5UEE/edit?usp=sharing

Doce Deseos

New Years Eve was fantastic in an entirely different way than I had expected it to be. Judging a little to quickly by Irac profession as a party promoter I thought we were going to be raging the whole night in some smoked out club with pulsing cruchy techno! Not the case at all.
  First we picked up Irac two gorgeous lady friends, Liz from Mexico and Yovani from Colombia, and did a little taco depot to satiate  Liz's mojito induced hangover. We returned Liz to her apartment to recover for the evening, because she obviously knew better than me what the night would entail. We drove across town a little ways, and pull into this quiet family neighborhood. We are going to the home of Irac's mother. It is modest and lovely home, and there are three separate tables set up in what appears to be the gated carport. Everything is really calm, and there are little kids running in and out of the party blowing whistles.
   At about 11:30 the hostess brings out a Thanksgiving sized feast. We are talking the turkey, the pork, the fettuccine, apple salad, bread, some sort of delicious corn flour soup. As I hadn't eaten in 27 hours I was beside myself to get after, and boy was it yummy. We were in the middle of finishing up dinner when someone yeld out," siete minuto!" ( 7 minutes) No one really seemed r
rushed or excited about it, but then when it was 11:59 everyone was standing up with whistles in hand, and this gigantic bowl of grapes get thrust in front of me and everyone is frantically grappeling for a handful of grapes. I didn't know what the deal was but I grabbed some grapes and started eating them. I found out later from Yovani that the 12 grapes that you eat in the first minute of the New Year are a symbol for your 12 desires for the New Year. It can be health, success, love, money, family, whatever you want to have in the New Year.
  After the normal hoopla goes down everyone starts embracing. And its not like in the US with a quick pat on your shoulder. It is a long embrace, where you tell the person why they are so important to you and how much you love them. I even saw tears accumulating in the mothers eyes as her son hugged her for a good 5 minutes. It was really beautiful, and much better than drinking my face off till 6 am at the dirty frog, or whatever that place is called.
   Yovani, Irac and I left at about 2 to go home, but how could I be so silly to actually believe that. We stopped at a friend of Iracs home, where they were just setting up the Karaoke machine. Holy Moly, I don't know too much about Latinos but I can say with confidence that they love to sing, dance, and be with family. Irac told me that in Mexico when you go to someones house there are three thing you always do. First you greet absolutely everyone there with a kiss and a hug, then you drink something, and you eat something. It doesn't matter how much you ate before you arrived at their house. Now you must eat the food the Señora of this house prepared. I ate, drank a few sips, and then promptly paced out on the couch. Irac felt for me and got me back to his apartment. I was happy to be in bed especially when I heard him come back at about 7:30am.

There are mangrtoves all over the island. The bird symphony at night is wonderful.

   Yesterday I caught the bus to Holbox, where I am in full on relax mode. I am stuffing my face with Sol cerveza, and tacos al pastor,and ceviche fresco bien rico! Its a little difficult to just sit on the beach all afternoon when you are accustomed to having so many tasks to take care of during the day. But let me put your anxieties to rest, i am making

Beach in Holbox at sunset.

the transition okay.

Feliz Año a todos de Mexico!

Breakfast with Huevos Rancheros, and fresh tortillas