My new workout

Even though my Visa and phone bill from my time in Mexico just arrived, I still felt like splurging again a little bit on some fun stuff. Having seen avertisements of it on the internet and pictures of friends playing on it I decided a Wii would be a great game console for me. :P The games on it aren't too advanced and you don't need to remember too many buttons like in these big computer games, so this could be it. I have to admit that the installation part took me quite a while already, but when it eventually did function, I could not wait to create my very own Mii. ^^ Together with my sister I actually created the entire family and apart from myself I think the resemblance is striking! It seems that my head is too weird or complicated to rebuild with a game. ;P

I didn't buy that many games yet as there aren't so many available yet and I needed to first find out what I liked most. The console itself came with a set of sports games, so my arms have alredy suffered on my boxing and baseball attempts. I could of course have posted pictures of that, but we could all imagine how silly it looks like to be hitting air with a small remote in my hands. ;) Then I also got a Wii games CD to practise the moves of the remote with and then my sister contributed by buying Zelda, the already legendary Wii adventure game. We can already ride our horse in it, now I have to find out if I can kill monsters and fight with a sword...

Dreaming away

While being back at work, I am already dreaming of next holidays. Not that working is that bad, honestly, but being out is so much better in any case. :) I sill have ten days to take up this year and my perfect idea would be to spend them all in a very fun way. This means by not spending them just at home. ;) I already requested two days around Christmas as I am expecting a great guest all the way from Venezuela, so 8 more days to fill up. :P

Until then I will have to do with watching some holiday pictures from what I now should refer to as the past and I thought it would be nice to add them to the online albums which I created for the Mexico trip. So now pictures from my trip to Spain this year, to Oslo from March and to Northern Norway of last summer are all available. ;)

To the pictures!

Day 14-17: Mexico City and Teotihuacan

After another 6 hours in the bus, we reached Mexico's capital around midnight. When coming close to the city at night, an immense amount of lights as far as the eye can see welcomes you. It gives a very good impression actually of how large this city really is... maybe you could almost compare it to Coruscant minus the high tech stuff and flying space ships. :P Our hostel was located right in the middle of the old centre and we booked a trip for the next day right away.

Together with our guide and 5 other tourists of our age, we left the next morning for a tour to two special sights and Teotihuacan, probably THE most important sight of all Mexico. We first stopped at Tlatelolco, an Aztek site in the middle of Mexico City which the Spaniards sort of totally destroyed when finding it. Then we drove onwards to the Shrine of Guadeloupe, or actually the two shrines. Mexico City is built on an old drained lake and almost all of the old buildings are sinking away. The old Shrine is already quite deep down, so due to the importance of it, they decided to build a more modern church right next to it. Guadeloupe is the most important religious figure in Mexico, having appeared four times to an indigenous inhabitant during the Spanish era and thus convincing the Mexicans to join Christianity without much further struggles.

Around lunch time we continued towards Teotihuacan where we first visited a cactus and obsidian farm where we actually had cactus for lunch and had the possibility to buy some souvenirs made of obsidian. They had symbols for everything, a figure for health, one for the rain, one for luck and also some for love... I am sure you can distinguish these last ones somewhere on the picture...

Then we entered the site of Teotihuacan. This is the most important Aztek site in Mexico, definitely when it comes down to tourism. The pyramids are not all as nice anymore, as some very clever archaeologists tried excavating them with help of dynamite... The two biggest temples are the ones of the Sun and Moon, which you can both (partly) climb onto. We first did a guided tour and then we were free to start climbing! Mexico City is already at a height of 2000 meters, so it's not so hot anymore, but the air is significantly thinner, making exercise even more tiring. Still, we reached the top in quite a good condition and were able to enjoy the great view and the fact that we were standing on such a cool structure. ;)

Pyramid of the Moon and Sun, us in front of the Sun one and me on top of the Moon one

The following we headed into town to see the main sights in the city itself. We started at the big market square, where the cathedral is and some important and beautiful government buildings, all around the biggest flag I have ever seen. Then we headed towards the fifth highest tower of Mexico City to see the city around us. Joke overcame her fear of being in a tower and elevator in a city where big earthquakes take place every now and then and all the way up we indeed had a good view. If the smog would have been less present we might even have been able to see the volcanoes that lie close to the city, such a safe place to live. :)

Before heading to the metro we visited Tenochtitlan, the first city on the place where Mexico City is now. The remaining ruins are located just next to the Cathedral and obviously also underneath it. Much isn't there anymore, but some very nice features are still there to be seen, like some turtle and eagle carvings. For more animals which we hardly get to see in Belgium, we then took the metro (incredibly cheap and quite an event in itself ;) ) towards Mexico's free zoo. The Mexicans themselves are already awed by a pair of geese, but we were just there to see a few species our own zoo does not have. First of all the panda bears, followed by an Anaconda and some huge Condors. Very nice all of it and a welcome rest from the busy city centre.

Finally we went to the Museum of Anthropology, where we could see the civilisations which we hadn't visited sites from on our way through Mexico and see artifacts from places where we did go to. It's really a great museum, not too big or detailed and the overview you get is really clear. We didn't have time though to take it all in, so next time we come back, we will have to indulge ourselves more into contemporary Mexico, instead of the ancient history. And as you can see below, those old Mexicans made some weird stuff back then... :P

And then it was time to head home again. After two incredible weeks it felt like the right time though, as at least my stomach was yearning for some more regular food again and Joke's feet needed some well deserved rest and care. Mexico truly is an amazing country and I have to say that this is one of the best trips if not the best I have made so far. If I repeat it one day I would want more time to enjoy some sights better, because it sure is all worth it.

Day 11-13: Oaxaca

The southern tip of Mexico supposedly has some very nice beaches, but as we did not have that much time to spare anymore, we had decided to go straight to Oaxaca, our last stop before Mexico City. This caused one big disadvantage, being the 12 to 16 hour bus ride between from San Cristobal to bring us there... We definitely did not make it there in 12 hours as we had a breakdown of about 2 hours in the middle of the night. Towards the morning we found out how wrong our thoughts had been about this region, as it turned out to be quite more mountainous. Mexicans have yet to discover the craft of tunnel building, so the combination of 10 curves on the road per 10 minutes with a huge lack of sleep and decent food made my stomach even more desire to arrive to our destination.

When we finally made it to Oaxaca, all we really wanted was a nice room with private bath to really relax and the thought of saving money for a sleeping place was far away banned. After some phone calls we found a very pretty hotel close to the city centre where a great shower and big beds awaited us.
We had intented on going to visit the widest tree in the world which happened to be close to Oaxaca, but this plan changed during our search for the correct bus. We found ourselves in a maze of streets packed with people and traffic, something which didn't comply to our idea of a quiet afternoon trip. Therefore we decided to keep the tree for the next day and go and explore the centre instead. Apart from the commemoration of some big riots the previous year, the city made a good impression on us. Many nice buildings, pedestrian zones, shopping facilities and especially great food. A speciality of the region were fried grasshoppers, but my stomach denied such delicacies, unfortunately. ;)

The next day we went on a tour to visit three important tourist places in the region. First El Tule, where the earlier mentioned huge tree can be found. It's not that high or old, but the circumference is about 58 meters. Which makes this a very big tree. :P
Next we went to a carpet weavery, where we were explained how the carpets which this region is famous for are all still produced by hand. There were some very beautiful ones indeed, but the time it took to weave a carpet also reflected itself in the price, so we ended up buying a small cloth instead. ;)
We hadn't seen any temple's or ruins that day, so the last destination of the day was Mitla, an ancient Zapotec place. It wasn't a grand as any of the other temple complexes we had seen before, but here the structures of the buildings were very different and most of all the special decorations.

Our last day in Oaxaca was actually supposed to be a travel day to Mexico City, but as we hadn't had time yet to see Monte Alban, Oaxaca's main tourist attraction, we decided to stay a few hours longer. A van took us up the hill which is in the centre of three valleys, giving you a perfect view when reaching the top. Monte Alban was the capital of the Zapotecs and apart from the temples, especially some rock pallets with carved out figures draw the attention here. They are called "The Dancers", but nowadays scientists are not so sure anymore. Apparently they think some of the figures might be women giving birth in standing positions...

Day 8-10: San Cristobal de las Casas and surroundings

The distance from Palenque to San Cristobal is only about 220 km long, but still it takes 5 hours to reach it by bus. The Mexican roads are quite ok disregarding the many holes and lack of tunnels, but I guess it is indeed quite hard to go from 80 meters above sea level to 2100 in a shorter time with a fully packed bus. :) It's a very pretty trip anyway, lots of beautiful landscapes all the way until reaching our destination between the clouds. Apart from the change from height and jungle to mountains, also the weather conditions changed considerably. During our two days in San Cristobal it has hardly been dry and the low temperatures even made us be happy that we did decide to bring a pullover and coat to hot Mexico.

After some great and cheap sushi, we went out to book our trip of the next day, visiting the Cañon del Sumidero. This canyon is just an hour away and one of the most important tourist attractions of the region. With good reason, we found it very impressive and absolutely stunning. In small boats you speed on the river between walls of 1000 meter higher mountains with tropical forests on them and monkeys swinging in the trees. The monkeys were there anyway, many people saw them, I suppose I did too. :P I was yelling all the time "Where, where?!?!" and my sister replied "There, there!!!!", so you could imagine that I got quite frustrated after a while of ridiculous blindness to the monkeys which everybody else enthusiastically were pointing at. ;)

On the way back through the canyon we could even spot (even me yes) some huge alligators warming up in the sun on the river banks. Apparently they are not so dangerous, but the ones lying with their mouth open did seem to have quite sharp teeth...

The next day we went on another trip, this time quite a bit further out of town. Our van first took us to a long cave, where young children would 'guide' you with small flash lights pointing out rock formations which looked remarkably like the Tower of Pisa, George Bush or a giant elephant. It was very dark in there...

Then we drove on for quite a while to the the waterfall of El Chiflón. Another waterfall one might think, but this one was so huge and impressive that it was very unique for us anyway. Especially because you could get really close and while having a nice shower enjoy the view of the thundering water just in front of you. On the picture below you can see a small platform, that being the mentioned shower room. ;)

Finally that day we went all the way to the border with Guatemala to see the lakes of Montebello. They are especially pretty due to the bright colours of green and blue and with the right weather they make the perfect spot for swimming. We did not have the right weather but kayaking on one of them was just as great. ^^

During the drive back we were treated by a beautiful sunset, for which the less nice weather came in handy after all. No complaints though, after the steam sauna of the earlier days, a bit cooler temperatures were more than welcome.

Day 5-7: Campeche - Palenque

Quite early on our fifth day we ordered a taxi (Cheap! And avoid painful shoulders by not having to carry the backpacks... :P) to bring us to the bus station, where we would leave to Campeche. When we arrived there two hours later it was proven once more what a bad map reader I am, by letting us walk 5 km in the scorching heat to the historical centre instead of my interpreted 600 meters... ;)

Campeche's centre is world heritage and even though the heat made it hard to truly appreciate it, we did really enjoy the pretty sight of the colourful houses and old buildings. Most of the old centre we saw from the little tourist train (shaded) and after more refreshments we also went to see a fortress which was located a bit higher than the rest of the city which resulted in some more wind. Indeed, this visit was very much influenced by the search for cooler air. :P

After a full day in the city, we headed again for the bus station and started our five hour night ride towards the jungle of Palenque. To me and my sister, this was the most beautiful stop during our trip. We had never been to a tropical forest and here we were staying in stone cabins under a mosquito net, surrounded by sounds of animals in an incredible setting.

The day of our arrival there was a bit overshadowed by stomach problems for the both of us, but that didn't stop us from going on a lake and waterfall excursion. Our first stop was the Misol Ha waterfall, followed by a visit to a very swimmable Agua Clara and finally Agua Azul, a very famous Mexican tourist attraction. Our stomachs held us from going in the water ourselves, but the views were great in itself and now we have an extra reason for returning to Mexico one day. ;P

The next day we both felt a whole lot fitter and a trip to the close by ruins of Palenque was planned. Very different to the other Maya ruins we had seen before, these appealed the most to me. Especially because of the jungle, the views from the buildings and the specials structures themselves. It's a very wide space, so you could even relax without having too many people around you and enjoy the freakish sound of some hidden (to us at least...) monkeys. :P

Our last night in the jungle we spent lying in the pool and waiting in the restaurant during a tropical storm to get home dry, before checking out the next morning to start our climb to our next destination...

Day 1-4: Cancún, Tulum, Mérida

Five days after coming back from Spain, my next slightly further trip started. Mexico seemed very tropical and adventurous to us and we definitely were not let down.

After a trip of about 16 hours in total, the first thing that struck us when arriving at Cancún airport was the humid heat. Our first hostel did have air con, but it was so loud that it needed to be put off which resulted in a very sweaty night. Luckily our first visit was aimed towards the beach ruins of Tulum, where we could cool down a bit in the Caribbean sea and enjoy our first daily afternoon rain shower/thunderstorm. The Maya ruins of Tulum are in itself maybe not as impressive as at other sites, but over here it's the location that really makes you stand back in awe. We loved it and cursed ourselves several times for not having brought swimming stuff on our day trip. :P

As we were on a tight schedule we booked our bus ride for the next morning towards Mérida, the capital of the Yucatán state. The small streets really make this city feel like a maze, but it also makes it very charming. The centre has a lot of old colonial style buildings and unfortunately also a lot of male inhabitants who like talking to female under dressed tourists... After our fifth encounter we were being named 'Gringa's' (insult used to refer to Americans) by a Mexican, as we really did not want to be stopped for another half an hour of small talk and attempts to be guided to some shop or bar. :P Otherwise no bad words about the Mexicans, really a very friendly and welcoming people. :)

Mérida cathedral and me searching a way to get some rest. :P

As we arrived around noon in Mérida, there was enough time to book a trip to Uxmal, a very pretty Maya site close to the city. Time for lunch was missing though, so we survived most of the day on water and one ice cream... For me these ruins were some of the more beautiful of which we have seen, as it was relatively quiet at the site and a lot of green is still to be seen. Especially when the sun started setting the pyramids were illuminated in a beautiful way which really gave it a magical atmosphere. :P Just as the Maya's wanted I suppose. ;)

Our last day in Mérida was also spent at a close (2,5 hours away is close over there) by site, this time Chichén Itzá. The week before we arrived 7 new world wonders had been elected and one of them was the big Pyramid "El Palacio" here in Mexico. Until about two years ago it was allowed to climb this structure but mass tourism put an end to it. We couldn't say we really regretted it as it was an immensely hot day and climbing that many stairs in full sunlight did not seem that appealing. ;) We also very much enjoyed this tour, though there were really a lot of tourists and the place is very restored which takes away the natural look you do find in Uxmal for example. But great nonetheless. ^^

To finish the day and our stay around Mérida, we went to Cenote Il-Kil, just some kilometers away from the Chichén Itzá site. This was an unexpected idea from our guide, so none of our group was prepared for this detour, something all of muttered about as soon as we saw the cenote. A cenote is a water filled sinkhole, something which can be found at many places on the Yucatán peninsula. This one specifically is an incredible one and I think the picture sure shows why. Next time I plan a trip to Mexico, I will travel around wearing my bikini...