Southern Mexico
After Oaxaca I caught the second class bus over the winding mountain roads to Puerto Escondido to chill out by the beach. The journey was great, window open, breeze streaming across my head as I dozed, smelling the flowers and the wood smoke from the little villages. Traveled through the clouds, the hills swathed in forest and the high sun refracting through the cracked and broken windows of the bus. The only unharmonious thing was every time the bus braked the seats became detached, which was a tad surprising when you are half asleep.
The hostel was pretty good in Puerto Escondido, its own pool, four different beaches to walk to. Topped up the tan and played in the waves. The ocean waves are pretty tough here and picked up a whole new range of bumps and scratches for my endeavors.
The mosquitoes finally drove me away from the coast back into the mountains to some of the best scenery so far to San Cristobal de las Casas. It feels a little dodgy here as there are a lot of troops about, but its worth it. Took a number of microbuses to an amber mine, one of the mountain bus stops resembled something out of a Vietnam movie. A little hill with rising mist, sand bagged position, machine guns and barbed wired trenches. Needless to say I did not hang around too long, but the journey was superb. A random mixture of jungle, tropical forest, clearings of maize, banana trees, orange groves all interspersed with abundant bright flowers. Even the dullest bus stop has huge butterflies lazily flapping around.
As hopefully you can tell Im pretty impressed with this area. Went on another minivan ride to a native church. Outside typical vaulted church, inside no pews or chairs,but the floor was heaped with pine needles. In amongst the pine needles and on every surface were thousands of candles lighting the gloomy interior. There were only two small windows high up in the church which cast light through the plumes of black candle smoke. Family groups were rhythmically chanting. At what would be the alter the priest(?) was curing a sick child with the aid of a chicken. Pretty intense stuff.
Went down a canyon to rival some the best of the US, Cañon del Sumidero. A river fills the canyon bottom from which rises sheer cliff faces not unlike the river sequence in Lord of the Rings. There were iguanas in the trees and crocodiles in the water. Huge numbers of birds skimming the water. It had the most beautiful waterfall. It was almost in slow motion, just more than a broad mist cascading from one moss covered outcrop to the next. The boat maneuvered just below it. The gentle drops of water mixed with polychromatic sun burst was hmmm, just run out of words.
While in San Cristobal stayed in a hostel that was more like a commune, which was really fun. The usual hippy things jugglers, people making and selling jewelry. Communal meal times, everyone would share what ever they had. Which made eating much more fun. The washing up never got done though. One day there was a six foot snake in the chill out room, fortunately somebody warned me first. He was dead friendly very warm and soft to the touch. Apparently it was a passing travelers pet.
Took a hideous bus journey into the jungle to Pelenque. Endless bends, bad driving, no air con and I´m starting to develop a fever. The accommodation was not much better. Got another bus to ruins. I was dead lucky the humidity made everyone look as sickly as me, so no one noticed and I bumped into a really sweet Norwegian girl Id met before. Just for the record in case I am giving the wrong impression. There are a lot of girls traveling and my guess when it gets a bit sketchy or to do some of the things the guide book advises against then the Richard chaperon service comes recommended.
Hows this for service. Most people on the bus saw the waterfall took a nice picture. Now how many people wondered what was behind the waterfall. After getting drenched climbing over slippery rocks there was a tunnel behind the waterfall. Why stop now. By wading and by striding on submerged rocks and judging by the blackness of clear water there were some very deep parts. We eventually came to a large chamberwith a subterranean water fall cascading into it. The only slip up is we disturbed some bats, which I dont mind, but my friend screamed and as we standing on a very small rock we stood a chance of both of us falling into the inky blackness.
We rounded off the day swimming anyway, as it was so hot, in the blue water (literally) of Agua Azul. A series of pools and cascading waterfalls in the jungle.
The hostel was pretty good in Puerto Escondido, its own pool, four different beaches to walk to. Topped up the tan and played in the waves. The ocean waves are pretty tough here and picked up a whole new range of bumps and scratches for my endeavors.
The mosquitoes finally drove me away from the coast back into the mountains to some of the best scenery so far to San Cristobal de las Casas. It feels a little dodgy here as there are a lot of troops about, but its worth it. Took a number of microbuses to an amber mine, one of the mountain bus stops resembled something out of a Vietnam movie. A little hill with rising mist, sand bagged position, machine guns and barbed wired trenches. Needless to say I did not hang around too long, but the journey was superb. A random mixture of jungle, tropical forest, clearings of maize, banana trees, orange groves all interspersed with abundant bright flowers. Even the dullest bus stop has huge butterflies lazily flapping around.
As hopefully you can tell Im pretty impressed with this area. Went on another minivan ride to a native church. Outside typical vaulted church, inside no pews or chairs,but the floor was heaped with pine needles. In amongst the pine needles and on every surface were thousands of candles lighting the gloomy interior. There were only two small windows high up in the church which cast light through the plumes of black candle smoke. Family groups were rhythmically chanting. At what would be the alter the priest(?) was curing a sick child with the aid of a chicken. Pretty intense stuff.
Went down a canyon to rival some the best of the US, Cañon del Sumidero. A river fills the canyon bottom from which rises sheer cliff faces not unlike the river sequence in Lord of the Rings. There were iguanas in the trees and crocodiles in the water. Huge numbers of birds skimming the water. It had the most beautiful waterfall. It was almost in slow motion, just more than a broad mist cascading from one moss covered outcrop to the next. The boat maneuvered just below it. The gentle drops of water mixed with polychromatic sun burst was hmmm, just run out of words.
While in San Cristobal stayed in a hostel that was more like a commune, which was really fun. The usual hippy things jugglers, people making and selling jewelry. Communal meal times, everyone would share what ever they had. Which made eating much more fun. The washing up never got done though. One day there was a six foot snake in the chill out room, fortunately somebody warned me first. He was dead friendly very warm and soft to the touch. Apparently it was a passing travelers pet.
Took a hideous bus journey into the jungle to Pelenque. Endless bends, bad driving, no air con and I´m starting to develop a fever. The accommodation was not much better. Got another bus to ruins. I was dead lucky the humidity made everyone look as sickly as me, so no one noticed and I bumped into a really sweet Norwegian girl Id met before. Just for the record in case I am giving the wrong impression. There are a lot of girls traveling and my guess when it gets a bit sketchy or to do some of the things the guide book advises against then the Richard chaperon service comes recommended.
Hows this for service. Most people on the bus saw the waterfall took a nice picture. Now how many people wondered what was behind the waterfall. After getting drenched climbing over slippery rocks there was a tunnel behind the waterfall. Why stop now. By wading and by striding on submerged rocks and judging by the blackness of clear water there were some very deep parts. We eventually came to a large chamberwith a subterranean water fall cascading into it. The only slip up is we disturbed some bats, which I dont mind, but my friend screamed and as we standing on a very small rock we stood a chance of both of us falling into the inky blackness.
We rounded off the day swimming anyway, as it was so hot, in the blue water (literally) of Agua Azul. A series of pools and cascading waterfalls in the jungle.
posted by Richard at
3:18 pm
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