Surpising Mexico
Trip Start
Mar 31, 2006
1
36
37
Trip End
Mar 31, 2007
Patzcuaro,
Mexico
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The last blog was sent was from Belize and our lazy coastal days. We crossed the border into Mexico near to Chetumal with the minimum of hassle (for Latin America) although there is always something that is a little different and takes time. We went into Chetumal for money from an ATM which seemed to Sheila to have refused her request but showed up on our bank account as having paid her $450
1 Palenque
! Sheila is not happy and our bank has launched an investigation on our behalf! From the border we drove to a "cross-roads" town that is supposedly gearing for a flood of tourists (yet to come) and have built accordingly but even though everywhere was empty we still had to pay top dollar. From there we had a short drive to Palenque which is one of the more accessible and well known of the Mayan sites. We stayed just outside at probably our best campsite so far: Mayabell, with shady sites, a huge swimming pool and lovely restaurant. We went in to Palenque on the 21st of March not realising it was an auspicious date so it was rather crowded but as we were in early we could keep ahead of the large parties of noisily-guided tourists and sun-worshipping groupies all in white and communing with various deities. Sheila and I are easily sated by ruins but Palenque is special and is in a magnificent jungle setting in the foothills so has lovely views over the coastal plain. Of course you have to contend with tourists at the foot of a pyramid yelling to their friends at the top but it is a huge site so mostly it was peaceful. But three hours saw us done and in need of the swimming pool.
We had two nights at Palenque which is in Chiapas State and then set off for San Cristobal in the heart of Chiapas
10 Patzcuaro
. This state has been the scene of troubles in the past ten or so years from a group calling themselves the Zapatistas but it all appears to be quite quiet at the moment. The road climbs from the coastal plain through very up-and-down limestone country to San Cristobal at 2,000m; a very slow drive because of all the bends and the thousands of "topes" to slow you down through the villages. But we did not mind as the countryside was so special. We fell in love with San Cristobal immediately: it is a little like Antigua and Granada with lots of brightly painted adobe structures but somehow we felt it was less to do with tourism than other towns like it. We will definitely come back again. We stayed in a rather run-down but perfect "page-like" spot with no-one else around a few kilometres out of town - Rancho del Nicolas. San Cristobal has recently suffered the worst excesses of the so-called missionaries. Why these evangelical types call themselves missionaries when most of the population is already Christian I do not know. They had fairly recently converted indigenous people from Catholicism to some brand of Protestantism and the converts were immediately turfed-out of their villages by the others and now form a ring of desperately poor shanty towns around San Cristobal containing some 20,000 inhabitants. Great work missionaries! Apologies for my rant. An aside: on our first night in the campsite we were both awakened in the middle of the night by an almighty crack and the next morning found a large tree had snapped and fallen just in front of our car and tent
11 Patzcuaro Street
!After two freezing nights in San Cristobal we headed for the coast on a very long drive that eventually found us at a little sea-side village called Zipolite a few kilometres beyond Porto Angel. I know the place is built with tourists in mind but such a funky set of restaurants and little hotels all built of rickety timber and palm roofing along a lovely beach with large headlands at each end. By far the prettiest and unspoilt beach-type place we have been to on this trip. It seems the Mexicans have much more practice than other Latin Americans with a huge tourist source on their doorstep. I know they can produce excesses like Cancun but they clearly understand other types of tourists. Again we found a laid-back (some would see this term as "falling down") Fernando's campsite which was ideal for the Pages. So two more nights relaxing before girding our loins for another assault on the miles.
We met a middle-aged New Zealand nurse in the campsite who had driven down from Utah, where she lived, on a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua with loads of donated medical equipment; the Mexican authorities had delayed her at the border for 20 hours and taken three large boxes of old spectacles; I am sure they were going to sell them. Sometimes the venality of some of those in authority is mind blowing
12 Patzcuaro Plaza
.Again another hard driving day from a sweltering coast to a chilly altitude of 2,000m brought us to where we are now: Patzcuaro. But now we are in the poshest RV and campsite we have been in so far with internet, hot showers, swimming pool and smart loos but of course a row of real RV's: air-conditioned and trailing at the very least a motorbike with everything a couple could want for luxurious living on the road; I know I sound catty but maybe I am a bit jealous as well! They were over half from Quebec and some of them are permamnently in their RVs so it is their home.
As I said before, we thought we had seen our best at San Cristobal but Patzcuaro I personally feel is better, Sheila is not so sure. It seems to be more like what it must have been a few hundred years ago and it has a continuous theme of creams and ruddy-browns through all the buildings and every shop sign is written the same way in small slightly shaky writing. Round every corner the plazas and cobbled street are equally lovely; and we went into the library where although there were few books the building was so delightful that it could have turned even me into a scholar. Another town we will definitely return to. On our last night the RVers organised a meal at a restaurant which turned out to be a hilarious evening full of Bush jokes from an American there (I have never met an American that admits to having voted for Bush); being an RVer is a very tiring business as they spend masses of time socialising and working on their ships of the road; but they definitely all seem very happy.
Tomorrow we hit the road again for another mad dash of 600 to 800 or so kilometres; we made the journey south through Mexico in only five and a half days; we are taking a much more leisurely fourteen days this time. At the moment our plan is to cross the US border on Sunday.
