Oaxaca, Chiapas, Quintana Roo (Yucatàn peninsula)

Hola from the sunny Yucatàn peninsula! Time to get caught up on our last two weeks in Mexico before we head to Belize tomorrow.

Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Oaxaca is an awesome city, words I do not speak very often. We arrived in Oaxaca last Monday afternoon. The trip from Puebla was beautiful, very different from anything I had seen in Mexico or anywhere else. Although I`m getting tired of bus rides, it is awesome to be able to watch the flora change outside the window as you travel. The cacti were especially interesting (Pachycereus sp.?). We had to take an alternate route through the city to the bus station because of a landslide on the normal route, which goes above the city. Early the morning after we arrived in the city of Oaxaca there was a much larger landslide in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, a small village in another part of the state of Oaxaca. The heavy rains that fell in southern Mexico as a result of Karl and Matthew, combined with deforestation and overgrazing, caused many landlides, from small slides that might result in a rock or two on the highway to huge landlsides that wash away hundreds of homes and leave already impoverished people on the street, or where it used to be. In the city of Oaxaca there were collection stations everywhere accepting aid for the affected fellow Oaxaqueños. Luckily the death toll was not as great as was initially thought and it seemed impressive to me the outpouring of support from the community. I think the short-term aid of beans, rice, soap, bottled water, and money needs to be accompanied by long-term solutions, such as reforestation, more durable housing, and improved evaluation of road construction before landslides occur.

Oaxaca is a small, walkable city. We stayed at Paulina Hostel in the historic downtown. It was pretty nice; at least initially it was the polar opposite of some of the critter-infested hostels we`ve stayed at, as they had fumigated right before we arrived and we couldn`t check in until that evening. Not ideal, I try not to sleep on freshly fumigated mattresses as a general rule, and not all that effective at keeping the place pest-free, either, as they had standing water in several places and a very healthy (although very hungry) mosquito population. Although the place seemed clean enough, I realized that was just a facade. They closed the bathroom for cleaning on one occasion, but didn`t clean it. There was no toilet paper in the womens room for a day (apparently the supply truck didn`t bring it and going to the store half a block away to buy more wasn`t an option for some reason), not a problem for me, I`m used to carrying my own in this part of the world, but it meant that some other ladies used paper towels and threw it in the toilet. Surprise surprise, this clogged the toilet, which then overflowed all over the bathroom floor into the shower stalls. One of the employees managed to tear himself away from the soap opera on TV long enough to look at it and go back to the TV. So the toilet water just sat there until it dried up. I´m glad I always wear flip-flops in public showers! I recommend you all do the same, just because something looks clean doesn`t mean it is. On a brighter note the hostel had a very cool coy pond, a huge terrace on the roof (it would be way cooler if they made it a living roof!), and a very hearty breakfast (good thing, since there was no communal kitchen).

In Oaxaca we visited many shops that are like museums; the handcrafts and textiles of the region are absolutely amazing! So many colors everywhere. We saw many more indigenous faces than we had previously; although sadly many of the indigenous people, whose culture is responsible for many of the beautiful colors of the city, sell gum, cigarettes, etc. or beg on the street. I don`t even know how to start analyzing or solving the marginalization of the oldest existing population of the area. We visited one store specializing in wool rugs. I bought some yarn, handspun and dyed with natural dyes (cochineal, a type of scale on prickly pear cactus, is crushed and used for varying shades of red, for example). Someday when I win the lottery and retire I want to return to Oaxaca and learn to spin, dye, and weave. We also visited several museums, the highlight being the Museo de Pintores Oaxqueños (Oaxacan Painters Museum). The beautiful paintings are housed in one of the many colonial buildings with big, white columns, large rooms with large windows and balconies, and a central courtyard. We went to the textiles museum (aside from the history presented in the museum I think the textiles in the shops nearby are more impressive than the museum), several contemporary art galleries, and a photo exhibit (about half of which focused on documenting the violence related to drug trafficking in Mexico, very graphic and very depressing). We took a tour of the Jardìn Etnobotànico (Ethnobotanical Gardens) which houses many native plants from Oaxaca, a state that is home to seven of the eight life zones found in Mexico. The gardens were beautiful and very impressive, especially considering the short amount of time the space has been dedicated to this purpose (since 1998) and the very small budget available. Last but not least, we found a nice little bar down the street from the botanical gardens called Etnobotanas, cheap beer and a great Guatemalan bartender (better service there than some of the fancier places I`ve eaten).

From Oaxaca to San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, our next stop, is normally an 11-hour bus ride. We decided we were going to splurge a little and take the more expensive luxury bus to be more comfortable for our overnight journey. Unfortunately we learned (after paying for another night at the hostel in Oaxaca because we thought the luxury bus was sold out) that the luxury buses were not making the trip to Chiapas due to the poor road conditions (remember all those landslides?), so we ended up going on a bus like the others we`ve used in Mexico (which was just fine). Although it was dark out while we traveled, I managed to see some of the road, as well as some places where the road used to be before it got washed down the mountain. A little disconcerting.

Beautiful handcrafts in a Oaxacan market

Rug store where I bought yarn and learned a lot.

Endangered barrel cactus at the Jardìn Etnobotànico (800 years old!).

More cacti at the Jardìn Etnobotànico.

San Cristòbal de las Casas &; Palenque, Chiapas

We arrived in San Cristòbal de las Casas (Sàncris) early in the morning Friday before last. We checked in at Posada 5, where we were received by Yolanda, a very kind Guatemalan woman who is the soul of the hostel. We met some wonderful people at the hostel, both the owners (young Mexican men) are really cool, as were the other guests. This hostel had a kitchen, which was the heart of the place, as is the case in so many houses. We ended up sharing several meals and good conversation with the folks at the hostel in the kitchen, and just hanging out, playing music (snapping my fingers counts, right?), and drinking coffee, tequila, whatever. We did our shopping at the market, very close to the hostel, affordable, and with a huge diversity of foods. After not having a kitchen in Oaxaca (not to mention the one place that we did not feel completely safe in Oaxaca was at the market near the hostel), it was great to be back in our routine of shopping and cooking for ourselves. We walked around the town of San Cristòbal and visited El Cerrito, a small hill that actually has trees growing on it (although I don`t know if it does much in terms of providing any kind of habitat). There is a church on top of the hill, which shouldn`t come as a surprise, because there are churches everywhere, on top of almost every hill, Mayan pyramid, in front of every park. We went out dancing with some of our new friends from the hostel, live salsa, it was great! There are many other cool things to do around Sàncris but we couldn`t afford to do any of them, we`ll just have to go back one day. One thing we intentionally did not do was visit one of the many surrounding indigenous villages; I don`t like the idea of going to look at people living their lives as if they are some sort of exhibit, especially after I`ve seen so many indigenous folks who have not benefited from the introduction of western culture. If we want to preserve cultural diversity I don`t think introducing tourism to every isolated indigenous village is the way to do it.
After two nights in Sàncris we traveled to Palenque, also in the state of Chiapas but very different. Sàncris is in the Chiapan Highlands at 2100 m above sea level, chilly at night, thin air, while Palenque is in the humid lowlands, 600 m above sea level. The trip to Palenque was also disconcerting; it was light out so we could actually see the hundreds of landslides along the way and some rocks even fell on the roof of the bus at one point. It started raining just before we arrived which made us nervous, the land didn`t seem like it could take more water, but we arrived safely. The fact that bus drivers here seem to think they`re competing in the Indy 500 and not driving on pothole-filled, landslide-ridden, narrow, winding, unmarked Mexican roads doesn`t help much in these situations, either. It seems so obvious to me that the landslides are, in most cases, a direct result of deforestation, even the president acknowledged this in a speech after the Oaxaca landslide. We passed some areas where more trees were being cut and you could already see the miniature landslides and erosion taking place. Although it feels like it to me, maybe recognizing that cutting down trees and removing all the vegetation whose roots hold the soil together isn`t common sense. Education is crucial! I also saw a trashslide; what had been a dump on a hill slid down to the road below, like a landslide, but all plastic trash instead of soil. Who is to blame for that? The people who put the trash there? Yes. The companies that produce, advertise, and sell cheap plastic crap? Definitely. The government for building a road and no retaining wall? Of course.

In Palenque we stayed in La Cañada, the ecotourism zone of the town. It is mostly made up fancy, expensive hotels, but we stayed at Hostel Yaxkin, a cute place with friendly staff that we could afford. Thank goodness we stayed in La Cañada, where there are still trees at least, because the rest of town is all concrete, hot, and generally icky. La Cañada was pretty dead as it is the low season, which was fine with us. We didn`t do much in Palenque, we only spent one night and we are running out of money, so we hung out at the hostel and I started teaching Koki how to knit with some of the beautiful yarn we bought in Oaxaca. He is a fast learner! The next time we`re in Chiapas I definitely want to go to the Palenque ruins, I regret that we didn`t go but we felt we couldn`t swing it financially at the time and we would have been somewhat rushed.

Posada 5, San Cristòbal de las Casas, Chiapas.

Colorful embroidery in Sàncris.

Playa del Carmen &; Tulum, Quintana Roo

We took another all night bus ride from Palenque to Playa del Carmen (Playa) in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatàn peninsula. Wow, what a change. Even though we are still technically in Mexico, this is not a Mexican town. Ten years ago this was a sweet little beach town and the beach is still beautiful, but now it’s a huge city. Everything is super expensive (good thing we were frugal in Palenque, I guess), there isn`t even a market; instead there`s Mega, owned by Wal-Mart. This is the overflow of rich, arrogant, obnoxious tourists that don`t fit in Cancùn anymore. It is kind of like Miami Beach (from what I hear), but with fewer Latinos. I don`t even want to imagine what it would be like in the high season. I don`t understand why people feel the need to leave their home country if they just want to go somewhere that has all the same crappy restaurants and plastic crap made in China; use the money you`d spend on this trip to build an artificial beach and stay home! It is a challenge for me to be in places like this; I`m definitely not a native (there can`t be very many since this was only a tiny village until very recently), I`m not Latina, I`m white, I speak Spanish, I`m not rich, I`m actually interested in what this place was like before it became a tourist destination, in the local flora and fauna. I don`t really fit in with any demographic and I get frustrated when everyone tries to sell me crap, in English. The Gringos get blamed often for making this place what it is, but the blaming is often done by people who are benefiting from the tourism industry and perpetuating it. There is construction absolutely everywhere and the city just keeps spreading in every direction possible (it can`t spread into the ocean, but Cozumel and all of its tourist development can be seen from the beach). Recently in Tenacatita, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, the army came in with bulldozers and plowed down the palapas on the beach, palapas set up by people who make a living by selling food, etc. to people who came to visit the beach. The rumor is that some Donald Trump-type developer who owns a lot of property around this beautiful beach decided it is time to develop and wanted all those people out of the way. Most of the people who made their living on the beach at Tenacatita were not property owners, but apparently some of the property owners in the area and suing. I wonder if the development boom in Playa started.

One day we went to Tulum, towards Belize from Playa on the peninsula. It is not as developed as Playa but it seems to be heading the same direction. We visited the ruins, along with what seemed like the entire population of Florida, half of Germany, and about two thirds of Spain. The ruins are unique in that they are right on the beach; the inhabitants could see who was coming by sea. The structures were impressive, but getting to them required navigating through something that reminded me of Disney World. We got to see voladores which was cool, although the car alarms, noisy little train that takes people to the ruins, and people trying to sell you crap kind of distracted from what should be a ritual. We later went to the Tulum beach. Everything was super expensive and it felt like 90210 or something, we actually saw people leave the beach to go to their fancy hotels then come back out with different bathing suits on. The ocean was absolutely delicious, though, and the sand was almost as white as my belly. On the way to the beach Koki`s friend and our host here took us to a piece of property he owns in the mangrove, where we saw our first cenote. Most cenotes are pools in the forest or in the mangroves, holes of varying depths filled with freshwater and all connected by a system of underground rivers and caves. Yesterday we went to a couple cenotes where we swam and snorkeled (we really regretted not getting in the cenote on Koki`s friend`s property, but it was our first time and apparently a crocodile lives there and we chickened out). The first we snorkeled in was in the forest and had great areas for snorkeling, awesome fish and lots of dragonflies and birds. The water was cool and so refreshing; the closest thing I have experienced are the coldwater springs in northern Florida (which are also technically cenotes). The second cenote was partially in a cave, you could either walk through next to the water or snorkel, we did both. The fish did not seem bothered by the fact that we were standing, swimming, snorkeling, whatever right there next to them, they actually come up and nibble on your legs if you just stand in the water. I`m surprised no one has opened a cenote spa and marketed this as bioexfoliation or something. Words and photos cannot do the cenotes justice, they are truly amazing. It is really sad to hear that there used to be cenotes where Playa is now, they have been filled in and now having buildings on top of them, probably with swimming pools that aren`t nearly as cool as cenotes… they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot (and a Wal-Mart, and a five-star hotel, and a McDonald`s)…

Tulum ruins.

Tulum ruins from Tulum beach.

Cenote azul.

Cenote azul.

This hole in the roof of the cave opens up to the forest floor.

Fishies that like to nibble on your toes and legs.

We want to head to the beach one last time this afternoon and maybe to the international arts festival going on in Playa (something free!). Tomorrow we head to Belize. Mexico is a very interesting place, such a huge country in every sense. The Yucatàn feels like a different country than General Cepeda, and both are so different from Sàncris. I have had a wonderful experience in this country and I definitely plan to return!

Check out Koki`s blog, too!