Road to Tuxtla

above the clouds

For security reasons we changed the route from Oaxaca to Queretaro. Since we heard from a taxi driver in San Cristobal that we’ve got very lucky that we didn’t get robbed and/or shot by rebels, we weren’t so keen about driving through the jungle for another 600km anymore.

San Cristobal

San Cristobal itself was pretty nice even though it’s one of the poorest regions in Mexico. We made a trip to a nearby village with a very special church. Sadly it was forbidden to take pictures inside the church and they already have killed people who tried to. So I was convinced to not take pictures.

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The "speical" Church

If you enter the church, the first thing you notice is the smell and the fir needles on the floor. These needles are covering the whole floor and of course they are responsible for the smell. There are no chairs or benches, but a lot of  glass cabinets at the wall. In these cabinets there are puppets from saints. In front of the cabinets there are big tables which are almost completely covered by candles. Though its a catholic church, it was a pretty esoteric experience.

lunch time

above the skies

On our way to Tuxtla (to get onto the highway to Queretaro) we drove across the mountains and actually above the cloud line. Was pretty cool to get through the fog to the blue skies aboce.

But let’s start from the beginning. We managed to get started from our apartment in Cancun at 7:30am. The track was good until the last 200km. These took us about almost 4h cause we had to go directly through the jungle with no more than 50km/h.

Totally exhausted we arrived at around twelve just to notice that the hostel fucked up our reservation and that there was no bed left. After almost one hour we got four beds in a hostel nearby. We went then via taxi to a taco place and around 2am to bed.

Just now we discovered that the way to Ochaxa will be like 600km of jungle streets. It’s gonna be interesting.

more pictures after the break…

Isla Mujeres

pure laziness

Just a short update for today. Everything is fine over here and Cancun is a nice place to stay. Mainly we’re lazy at the beach or at the pool. Yesterday we went to a water park called XelHá. It’s a natural lagoon where you can go snorkeling or just swimming. Entrance fee is about $79 (U.S.) and you get all you can drink and eat inclusive. You only have to pay extra if you wanna swim with the dolphins or for the scuba diving.

Isla Mujeres

The day before we went to Isla Mujeres. Back then we booked one of these rip-off tours with snorkeling and a meal. The meal wasn’t that bad, but snorkeling with a live vest is pointless.

Plan for the rest of the week, hit one or two Cancun parties.

Chichen Itzá

Chichen Itzá

Just 300km, but a long way to go on Mexican roads. It took us about 9hours to finally arrive at the apartment in Cancun. But that’s not only because of the roads, we also stopped at Chichen Itzá. A pretty awesome Mayan ruin. By now there is only about 1% left/discovered from the approximately 20.000 square meters wide area. Once again we took the tour and weren’t disappointed.

Chichen Itzá

Chichen Itzá

The guide introduced us in some great things the Maya’s did at this place. The most remarkable is the serpent which seems to crawl down the pyramid four times a year. When the Sun or the Moon is in the right angle, the light seems to form a serpent which is slowly crawling down the edge of the pyramid. The whole process takes about 45 minutes. Sadly its only taking place at the 21th April and 22th September.

Chichen Itzá

Chichen Itzá

The next curious thing about Chichen Itzá is that they used the Cenote as a place for sacrifices. Like jewels, gold and people. But that wasn’t done by the Mayan’s, at least not before the mixed with the Doltecas. Since then the natural water resource is not longer usable cause of the rotten bodies. The Cenote is about 15 meters below the surface, the water depth about 8-12 meters and then there are another 5 meters of mud.

Our Cancun beach

The fun box

We finished our sightseeing and hit the road once again. After a two and a half hours ride (for only around 200km) we finally arrived in Cancun and went to our apartment. It’s directly at the sea, cramped with nice furniture and air conditioned. Seven days of doing nothing ahead.

horse pulled railway cart

first Cenote

Today we spent our one full day in Merida visiting the nearby Cenote. After a half a hour drive we arrived at the parking lot. From there we had to take little railway carts pulled by poor horses, and we picked the most stubborn one. After another 15minutes rumbling down the rails we arrived at the first cave. It was about 15 meter under the surface and accessible only via an old Mexican built wooden stair. Well, we survived the way down (and apparently the way up also). Down there we enjoyed the refreshing but not so cold water and the nice dripstone cave-ish  atmosphere.

roots and dripstones

roots and dripstones

The second one was very special. Right beside the hole in the surface was a big tree whose roots made it all the way down to the water. There also have been roots growing out of the top of a dripstone.  Never saw that before. I didn’t went down for the third cave cause it was to annoying with all the equipment I was caring around. Felt like a donkey on a staircase before, had enough.

:D

But back to topic. Yesterday I took one of the most refreshing showers in my life. It’s good to have a cooling box in the bathroom.

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Ezná

Ezná

Yesterday we had a perfect mix between sightseeing, eating and a little bit of beach time. But let’s start with the sightseeing. We have been in Ezná, which is close to Campeche, to visit our first Mayan pyramid. Since the vegetation around here is jungle it was a complete different experience from earlier pyramids. Jungle and green all around and then these accurate situated buildings. It’s hard to imaging how they did all this without any technology. And I also really don’t know how they managed to not get eaten by mosquitoes. It was like war. Fighting to stay alive and not to loose any body parts.

Shrimptastic

:)

Next stop was at the beach. Not a lot to tell about that. Sand, water and no waves. On our way back we were in a small restaurant which is only visited by locals. It was pretty crowed so we guessed that it has to be good. Well, after the meal we weren’t disappointed. It was delicious and amazingly cheap. Starter (shrimp cocktail), main dish (whole fish) and my drink less than 6€.

Dusk

City lights

Right before we went to the guided night tour through the city, which wasn’t that good, I enjoyed the dusk from our terrace.

Today we will start, without any hurry, around noon to get to Merida. On our way we’ll try to get to another Mayan pyramid. Then after two more nights in Merida we’re finally on our way to awesome Cancun beach where we rented a house with pool right at the sea.

Can’t wait for the wicked weasels

Streets of Campeche

Fort entrance

After a short night we walked through the old streets of Campeche and enjoyed the nice colorful houses. We took the car to get a little outside the town to one of two forts which have been protecting the city in bygone times.

Fort

Fort

The fort was also a museum with a lot of interesting pieces which have been left by the Maya’s. The whole known history got explained very good. Well, at least the parts which have been available in English were very good.

View from our terrace

For lunch we went to eat fish once again. Wasn’t that great, especially the service. As we noticed that they charged the tip already, we complained and left without tipping the waiter. Tonight we gonna stay in, sitting on the terrace high above the housetops of Campeche and drink some cold beverages.

Veracruz beach

Our destination for today: Campeche. A ride about 700-800km long. On Mexican streets.
Makes a total travel time of 10h+. After our arrival we were keen to see our two bed ensuite room.
Apparently theres just one bed which is not as big as mine at home. No Aircondition. It’s gonna
be cozy.

The hostel looks awesome from the outside and the common areas are pretty cool to. The very positive first impress came to an end as we saw the very small, hot and stinky room. At least
it’s a bit more clean than in Veracruz. Tomorrow Jo and I will change rooms and trade the
batroom ensuite against a second bed.

Internet costs about $10/h which is not that bad, but the lack of wireless is.