17 de Diciembre 2010

Today we returned from Havana, or La Habana, as it is referred to in the Spanish speaking world. Wow! Where to begin? Cuba is a world apart, no doubt about it. It is a shining gem in the distance for those brave enough and fortunate enough to venture forth to seek its beauty. Before heading there, Cuba was a bit of a mystery to us, as there isnt a ton of information available to the average person. I hope our time there helped us understand our place, their place, and our common place in this world. But I digress, lets take it a bit slower.

Why did we return to the armpit of Mexico (Cancun) you may ask? Well, unfortunately traveling in Cuba turned out to be a little more expensive than we had hoped, even though we sorta expected it. Our initial month in Mexico we were budgeting $50 dollars per day, where as our time in Cuba was running us around $92 per day. Roughly double the costs associated in Mexico. Although we had budgeted this amount for the trip (we roughed out about $90 bucks per day), we were actually hoping it would turn out to be cheaper as we had budgeted kinda worst case scenario prices. But, as it turned out to be a bit more costly than we had planned, we decided to cut our trip in Cuba a little short so as to extend our journeys through other lush and beautiful countries and landscapes.

Okay, I said a lot so far. What do I expand upon? Armpit of Mexico? Yeah, Cancun kinda sucks. If you want to fly to the Miami Beach of Mexico and be surrounded by Americans and Europeans and pay too much for everything and get ripped off half the time, well this is the place. You are a walking wallet in a world of greed. Its a bit sickening. If you want to experience Mexico - the language, the culture, the sites and the smells, well..... you get the point - don't come here. This place is an amusement park - abusive to the senses. Okay okay, I see what you are saying. Perhaps Travis is a little harsh on Cancun. Perhaps I am, but its a bit more transparent stepping back into this setting fresh from Cuba where the citizens possessed far far less, but still treated you as an equal. Cubans are very generous, helpful, courteous and kind. As we took a collectivo today upon our return from the Cancun Airport into downtown Cancun, we watched, a bit helpless, as a young French girl paid (got ripped off) $15 dollars for the same ride that Mari and I paid 50 pesos for ($4.16 USD). We discussed it, and decided that this type of injustice just didn't happen in Cuba. Not to say it 100% couldn't happen, or doesn't happen, all I can say is it never happened to us. We were always quoted fair prices and never felt like anyone was raising prices on us solely because we were tourists. Returning to Cancun, I see that Cancun is a bit of a game. How much can they charge you, how much can they add to the bill and still get away with it. Cuba is more along the lines that they charge you, but no one is getting rich. Its a subtle, yet bonding and identifiable difference. As Dorothy once said, we're not in Kansas anymore. Well, as Mari and I now say - we aren´t in Cuba anymore. No more instant security and ease of mind. We are back in the battle.

As for Cuba, I hope to be posting more on that soon. I need to outline several threads. Food, housing, cities, people, ocean, money etc. But for now, what I want to say is that it was eye opening and spectacular. What I am about to say is a generalization in the larger sense, but for the most part is true. Of course I am sure there are exceptions, but from what I am told - not many. In Cuba there are no guns, no drugs, little violence, no rape, little petty theft. Amazingly, by law, all children go to school. Thus, there are no poor needy kids begging for change or candies or looking poor and desperate. They all walk the streets in their tidy school uniforms looking sharp. Because school is mandatory, and college is free, Cuba is a very well educated city - although still a bit shut off from the world. At night, we would walk down the creepiest of creepiest looking streets in downtown Havana, with light bulbs burnt out and crowds of people here and there in the shadows while slowly making our way back to our casa particular. Anywhere else in the world a dark, seemingly dangerous looking street world would have scared the shit out of us. Yet in Cuba we walked with security and little to no fear - because it´s safe. It´s safe for tourists, locals, women, children and all. Totally amazing. Mind blowing if you really really think about it. I dont know what Fidel did, but in this respect something really worked to create an honest, respectable society.

I hope to expand on this topic in the next couple days. As for now, I need to plan. Its 10 pm, Mari is up in our room sleeping, I am finishing a rum and coke, and we should really start discussing our future plans. Originally we were to return to Cancun on the 25th, and stay a week here in Cancun between Christmas and New Years. But, with a quick call to my travel agent (my mom *thank you) we blew off the scheduled week in Cancun and have set our sites on juicier destinations rather than spend another 15 days in and around Cancun.

T

3 de Diciembre 2010

Our week long vacation within a vacation ended this morning at the Mayan Palace and we are quickly reminded of our humble vagabond lifestyle. Currently we are staying in Cancun at a place called the Backpacking Hostelling Center, more bar and restaruant than I would say hostel, but its cheap and....well, not much else so far. Just stopping off here in Cancun for 2 days before we venture forward.

As many of you might have heard, the COP16 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference - is happening right now in Cancun, running from Nov.29th through Dec. 10th. So...you know what that means! Mari and I are gonna have pretty hectic schedules over the next two days meeting with world presidents and elected officials. But its something we are willing to do to save the planet.

Hope all is well with everyone back home, and its nice to be back somewhere with affordable internet. We have some stuff we need to look up and sort out in before we head outta Cancun.

29 de Noviembre 2010

This morning we wished a fond farewell to our travel partners and friends Tobi and Claudia. They left the Mayan Palace after staying with us only two nights before heading back to Germany this morning. It was the end of their 5 week stint in Mexico and we were happy to have been able to spend so much time with them along the way.

Alright, lets see. Where do I begin about the Mayan Palace? The Mayan Palace - Riviera Maya is located about 25 kms north of Playa del Carmen, on what I can only assume is the main corridor up and down the coast. Shuttling down this road, paralleling the coast in a collectivo that runs between towns, there is resort after resort after resort along the coastal side, each with massive mansion like entries with sentries.

The Mayan Palace Riviera resort is one of 7 Mayan Palace resort locations dotting the ocean fronts of Mexico. From what I can tell, they are all quite massive and gorgeous. The Riviera Maya location is exquisite. Mari and I are staying in a one bedroom apt with a large bathroom, full living room and mini kitchen. Its a great change from the crappy cold water showers and mosquito breeding grounds we have normally been habitating. The resort boasts the second largest swimming pool in Mexico, and is beaten only by another Mayan Palace location on the Pacific Coast.

That said, the Mayan Palace is a different world than I am used to. Because of its massive, massive property size, I believe most people probably never leave the property to head into town. With this tactic, the inhabitants are trapped within the resort to pay the exhorbinant fees within. From what I have perused, everything purchasable in the stores and boutiques are slightly higher than double what one would normally pay in a store outside the resort. A single bottle of beer is an astounding 30 pesos, where the frugal supermarket visit yields a 6 pack for 50 pesos. The most outrageous slap in the face is the internet. The internet costs 70 pesos per hour, which is about $6 USD. Per hour! Thats incredible. As for now, I am sitting in an internet cafe in Downtown Cancun paying a measly 10 pesos per hour. Basically, a dollar per hour. Way way way way better for our budget.

Luckily, Mari and I have been traveling the country and know the costs that can be found elsewhere. With this knowledge, we are able to skirt the resort system. Heading to the supermarket on our first night, we stocked up on groceries and are able to cook meals at home. We also purchased beer and tequila ahead of time in order to curb our need for expensive, pool side cocktails. Although, I must say, they have two or three pool bars... you know that ones that are actually within the pool so that one stand in the water and sips their beverages at the bar within the water..... and I really want to partake in one of those before we go.

Our first morning in the Mayan Palace we attended the Time Share proposal. The proposal is intended to have us forking over our money to spend the next 100 years vacationing in the Mayan Palace locations in Mexico, but instead really afforded us a free, all you can eat morning buffet breakfast and 500 pesos credit to our room. It was an interesting endeavor, sometimes fun, sometimes gruelling - but mostly pleasant and leaves me wondering what timeshares actually are. Do they actually save money in the long run for vacations? Are they an investment for the future? Is it a crock a shit that sounds good on paper but is actually worthless? I am still unsure. But with this new info, I cant wait to actually speak to timeshare owners and compare prices, thoughts, tactics and info about vacations within the timesharing community.

Congratulations to us!!!! Today we purchased tickets to Cuba. Up until today I had virtually thrown the idea of visting Cuba into the recycle bin due to increasing ticket costs. What we didnt know when initially planning our trip is that the month of December is the peak vacation and travel time for Mexicans, as well as resorts, hostels and hotels here in Mexico. Due to that fact, the flights from Cancun to Cuba are mostly booked up - leaving the limited seats skyrocketing in price. Mari had the great idea today to head into Cancun and hit up travel agencies in a last ditch effort to get our asses to Cuba ...... and it totally paid off. Researching flight costs 4 or 5 months ago we found flights to Cuba typically cost between 300-350 dollars roundtrip. Once we arrived in the Yucatan and started looking at actual ticket costs, we found most of the prices were more in the 475 - 525 dollar range. A bit more than we were hoping or expecting to pay. But today, after our first quote of $508 each, we dicided to hit one more shop before blowing the idea off for good. Good luck must have guided our feet because we found tickets for $320 dollars each and quickly swooped in to purchase. We are heading to Cuba from Dec. 5th through Dec. 25th.

Take care, and talk to you soon. Travis

23 de Noviembre 2010

Mari and I arrived in Valladolid after staying 4 nights in Merida where we had Wifi access but no computer at hand. Merida is the capital of the state of Yucatan (the northern point of the Yucatan Peninsula) and has a population of around 1.4 million inhabitants. It is a bustling city with narrow streets and even narrower sidewalks, making sidewalk navigation during the day frenetic and somewhat frustrating. We stayed at a wonderful hostel named Hostel Zocolo located just off the Grande Plaza smack dab in the heart of the city.

Hotel Zocalo - Merida

The hostel is housed within an incredible building, which at one time must have been someones immense personal flat - or mansion by modern terms. Located up a flight of stairs off the street on the second floor, the rooms have high vaulted ceilings with massive 10 foot tall folding doors between each and every room. The morning breakfasts were totally amazing feasts far more exquisite and impressive than any hostel breakfast I have ever encountered in my life. They consisted of fresh cantalope, papaya, pineapple, bananas, and watermelon, plus cereal milk and sugar, coffee, omelettes, crepes, bread, peanut butter and jelly, yogurt, honey, dulce de leche...... basically.... the works. It was great. We were paying about 110 pesos each per night ($9.50). The atmosphere was open and easy going, the staff friendly and talkative. All combined, it made for a wonderful stay in the city. With the overwhelming breakfast, free wifi, free purified water, and an enormous kitchen that we used for every lunch and dinner... we found it hard to leave. But as travelers we knew it was time to go.

After 4 nights we decided to push forward and left Merida bright and early the morning of the 22nd on the 6:20am bus headed towards Valladolid, with a quick early morning detour to hit Mexico´s most famous Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza. We arrived at Chichen somewhere around 9am and were quickly rewarded for the cranky early rising discipline. The ruins were quite empty and as we made our way out of the reception area into the park the local vendors who set up on the sides of all the major walkways throughout the ruins were still setting up their displays, filling their tables full of touristic handy crafts such as ruin replicas, hand carved wooden masks, chess boards with hand carved pieces, T-shirts, rugs and much much more. Walking down the path into the site the most striking thing as you enter is the dominating Temple of Kukulcan, or El Castillo as it is called in spanish. It sits in the center of the of the city and rises up higher than any of the other ruins. This temple is built to reflect the mayan calender.

El Castillo - Chichen Itza

"Each of El Castillo´s nine levels is divided in two by a staircase, making eighteen seperate terraces that commemorate the eighteen 20-day months of the Mayan year. The four stairways have 91 steps each; add the top platform and the total is 365, the number of days in the year. On each facade of the pyramid are 52 flat panels, which are reminders of the 52 years in the Calendar Round."

Another Chichen standout is the great ball court named the Gran Juego de Pelota that stands near El Castillo. It is by far the largest ball court we have seen in any of the ruins so far, actually quite giant in comparison. The details of the game are not exactly known for sure, but there are two giant stone circles 21 feet in the air on either side of the ball field that were used as goals for a rubber ball game where players were able to use any body part except their hands to manipulate the ball through the goal. They speculate a bat of some sort must of been used as it is unlikely the ball could have reached the height of the goals without one. Reminiscent of Schwarzeneggers 1987 film Running Man, the losers of the game were decapitated and sacrificed to the gods, which supposedly was a great honor. Although, I suppose the honor of winning felt much better.

Gran Juego de Pelota - Chichen Itza

Leaving Chichen we hopped on a second class bus to continue the 30 kilometros of so to Valladolid. We are now staying in a little hostel named "Hostel La Canelaria". Valladolid only has around 60,000 inhabitants and has a much more relaxed feel than Merida.

Street and Buildings - Valladolid

As we have worked our way east, we have finally run into our first rain of the trip. Must be the tropical carribean winds carrying the moisture inland. Both yesterday and today there have been little showers that remind us of Seattle, yet from what I hear from back home its snowing right now. Even with the little rain falling here, its still near 90 degrees with heavy humidity. With little to do in such a little town, we are just relaxing and killing a little time before we head to Playa del Carmen on the 26th for a bit of high class living.

In an effort to conserve a little money, we decided to try an experiment. We´re switching over from beer to a bottle of Cuban Rum. With the additional purchase of a liter of coke, we see some some rum and cokes in our near future. As a six pack of beer costs roughly 60 pesos and goes so fast (and so smooth), we decided to upgrade to a bottle of 133 peso cuban rum and a 12 peso liter of coke. At a total cost of 145 pesos ($12), the breadth of the bottle should spread over several days and help us save a little cash. We´ll see if the experiment works or not.

Hope all is well with you - Travis

Mosquitos

Dear Mexican Mosquitos...... Fuck off!

Random Photo Selection

Alright, today we bought a cable to transfer photos. Digging through I had a hard time choosing some to post. So here is a small selection to start with.

Mari and I at Monte Alban. Elevated on the hillside above everything around us, we had a great surrounding view of the valleys surrounding us. The weather was beautiful with only a slight scattering of clouds here and there.


Puerto Escondido just before sun set. I love the palm leaf roofs they build here. They are all over the place, and are at least a foot and a half thick. Personally, I havent seen any rain in our stay, but I really want to know how well they work in a torrential downpour.


One night on Puerto Escondido, right around sun set, they brought sea turtles from a hatchery for release back into the Pacific Ocean. Each of us were able to grab our own little turtle, name them, and release them to grow and flourish out at sea. This is Mari releasing her little guy on the beach roughly a meter or two from the surf. We then sat back and watched them walk into water and disappear from sight.


When we were staying in Zipolite we took a day trip to see the town and beach next door named Muzunte. As we were returning from the beach and heading back into town, we ran across this young boy pushing his brother and sister down the street in a home made skate board. As you can see, its the front half of a surf board on wheels. What you cant see, is the home made license plate attached to the front of the crate. Colored in crayon, it had the proper numbers and digits like a proper vehicle plate, set on a green white and red colored background of the mexican flag. It was quite cute. Mari couldnt resist.

15 de Noviembre (A reflection)

We moved from Zipolite on the night of the 13th headed to the city of Palenque. We had originally bought tickets for a 14 hour bus ride heading to San Cristobal de las Casas, but having heard that this mountain town was freezing cold we decided to skip it. Instead, Mari and I bought tickets that circumnavigated the vomitous mountain roads leading to and from San Cristobal, opting on a lesser known path that goes from Zipoite to Huatulco, Huatulco to Juchitan, Juchitan to VillaHermosa, and finally Villahermosa to Palenque. This route was a little more expensive, but proved to be the faster more efficient route in the end. In total it took us around 12 hours from start to finish, but that includes a few short layovers as well.

Having reached the city of Palenque, we quickly hopped in a collectivo headed out to the ruins and a hostel community called El Ponchon. El Ponchon is located out in the jungle just a few kilometers from the ruins themselves, and consists of only 5 different hostel/hotel accomodations and 2 restaurants. We ended up staying at a place aptly named Jungle Palace. It consisted of individual cabañas interspersed in the jungle placed next to a meandering stream. Both mornings we awoke to the gutteral howl of monkeys in the trees above.

The first day we settled in and made reunions with our group of friends as we had all split and taken differing paths and timelines to arrive in Palenque. But the second day we signed up for an all day tour that would allow us 4 hours in the Palenque ruins, 1 hour at Misol Ha, and another 4 hours at Aqua Azul.

Our morning started around 8:00 am with the Palenque ruins.

Palenque was exquisite, and I find that I could walk all of these ancient ruin sites if I had the time and money to reach each and every one of them, as there are many scattered across the landscape of Mexico. The thing I find amazing is the lack of knowledge we have about the civilizations that flourished here in its hey day. Many of the buildings have plaques that explain what experts believe the building may have been used for, but I get the feeling little is absolutely certain.

After leaving the ruins, we headed to a waterfall named Misol Ha.

The waterfall was beautiful, with a large swimming pool for cool refreshment. Mari slipped in for a quick swim, while I made my way around the back beneath the waterfall, doused in the moist mist sweeping up from the crashing impact of the falling water with the pool. Time escaped quickly here, and before we knew it we were racing off to our final destination. A four hour date with Aqua Azul, an exquisite site located roughly 60 kms away.

I have to segway here for a second to better explain what it means to have a site located 60 kms away. This means that one must get into a van or taxi and drive there, as is typically done anywhere in the world. Yet, no one fully explained to me (or prepared me at all) what Mexican roads and driving are like. Coming from a Civil Engineering background, I really want to meet the guys that created the roads here. It seems they were very very averse to any thoughts on creating a straight section of road. Rather, I think they tried to squeeze in as many tight death defying curves as possible per kilometer. This, added to the fact that everyone here drives around 80 kms per hour makes for some white knuckle rides. It was possible for me to relax a bit and enjoy it for what it was - an experience and an adventure, but in no way was it actually acceptable and I feel lucky to still be in one piece. Anyway..... I am here to write again so lets move on.

After a harrowing drive through the Mexican country side, we arrived at the Cascades of Aqua Azul.

A beautiful series of blue water cascades with many swimming pools located both up and downstream. I went swimming here. The water was crisp and cool, but felt good once the initial cold shock had subsided. The site had a wonderfully constructed "boardwalk" that meandered next to the river and allowed easy perusal when moving along the length of the river with local stalls on the other side selling local wares.

As we were outside the rural zone, we were in a location where the locals speak a mayan language named Tzeltal. The locals take the opportunity to sell their products to the foreigners, and there are many cute little children running around selling food products.


Mari was having a great conversation with two little girls that were cousins, asking them about their life, culture and language. Luckily these girls are learning spanish in school and could communicate with us. They were friendly and quite enjoyable, probably loving to speak to us and much as we loved speaking to them. While at the ruins in Palenque Mari tried to strike up a conversation with two little boys playing on an abandoned truck on the side of the road, but the conversation didnt get too far because the boys only spoke the local mayan dialect and not spanish.

Its now morning here in Campeche and we have a wonderful roof top patio at our disposal. I am going to atake this opportunity to catch some morning sun on the roof and read my Spanish Review and Practice book. Take care.

T

16 de Noviembre 2010

Finally! Once again I have found readily available internet for use at my disposal. Mari and I just arrived into the city of Campeche after catching an 8:00 am bus out of Palenque for a 6 hour bus trip through the beautiful and vibrantly green Mexican landscape.


We booked into a beautifully located yet slightly delapidated place named Monkey Hostel, located right downtown near the waterfront in the city of Campeche. We took the morning bus with the Germans Tobi and Claudia and are staying in a dorm room that sleeps four for 100 pesos each per night. Unfortunately, we had to leave the two English/Russian girls behind in Palenque as they are headed to Merida either tonight or tomorrow on the night bus. For those of you who dont know, the night bus is a great way to travel when crossing distances great than 7 or 8 hours. The night bus allows one to avoid spending money on a nights accomodations while simultaneously sweeping you away to a new location, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

We arrived this afternoon with bags full of dirty laundry, in desperate need of a warm shower and craving some cheap good food. Upon arrival we hand washed all the clothes that we werent personally wearing and hung them out to dry in the hot sun, took showers, and headed out for food.

I had chicken tamales. The tamales here are delicious and I never pass up the chance to eat ´em. They came with some delicious red salsa atop, but I also slathered my entire plate with the hot green salsa sitting on the table. My mouth was on fire, but it was absolutely delicious. Mariana ate chicken milanesa with french fries and a salad. She wasnt very impressed. This meal marked our most expensive meal to date, racking up to an all time high of 160 pesos ($13.80). But starving from the long bus ride with no food, we dove into the first spot that looked habitable. We bought a single 12 oz beer that cost us 28 pesos ($2.40), much higher than the typical 15 - 20 pesos we have payed in the past. Guess we can chalk it up to a warm welcome back to the city I suppose.

As we were out in the boondocks the last couple days with limited to no internet services, I will post a back log of our adventures soon.

As I sit in the hostel writing this, my view out the open veranda window is this cathedral lit up spectacularly for the night. Unfortunately I couldnt locate a picture of my exact view, and I still cannot transfer photos from my camera... so this found picture off the net will have to do for now. Its an incredibly warm beautiful night here with this magnificent view.

Literature and Guidebooks

In preperation for our trip Mari and I have been hitting the Goodwill in search of travel books. Not that we have been vigilant about making stops to comb through the varied collection they have there, but we have gone a handful of times already and picked up a few great gems that we hope will help along the way.

As our trip starts in the Yucatan Peninsula area of Mexico, we will start there. The Lonely Planet's "La Ruta Maya". A guide to Mayan ruins throughout the Yucatan, Guatamala and Belize. Although this book was published in 1991, I think it will be really useful as it has a wonderfully detailed section explaining the history of the Mayan civilization and culture as well as all the major sites in each of the three areas.




But, just in case, we also have this more up to date version as well. The Lonely Planet's "Belize Guatamala & Yucatan". Maybe this is for the northward traveler, as it looks like they just swapped the order of the locations on the cover.

"Belize Guatamala & Yucatan" was published in 2001. 10 years more recent than La Ruta Maya. I havent looked through this one yet, but I assume it gives alot of the same information from La Ruta Maya. Hopefully between the two we can varify proper information along the way.

Once we hit the Caribbean Coast and kick back a bit in Cancun, the next book will come in handy - Chicki Mallan's Cancun Handbook. Although seriously outdated (1994) this book gives backgrounds, nature explanations, and location insights on the places in and around Cancun. This seems like a great book to get the ball rolling.

After we leave Mexico and head into Belize and Guatamala, we have the two books outlined above as well as our newest purchase - The Lonely Planet's "Central America on a shoestring". After finding many of the Goodwill purchases with copyrights back in the early 90's, we decided to splurge at Barnes and Noble and pick up a more recent travel guide. In many places, this book will be our travel bible. I expect this book will get many miles.

Published in 2007, Central America on a shoestring offers more up to date information researched by "travel experts" in the not too distant past. This will be a good way for us to double check some of the more in depth information covered in the older site specific books.

These books are about half of our collection so far, but seeing as though our trip starts in these areas I figured I would start here as well. I was trying to pre-read the books to cram large amounts of information into my head so I wouldnt have to lug all of them along on the trip. But I quickly learned that each one is a mini encyclopedia of necessary information. I have given up the thought of leaving them behind and now know they will be close companions on this journey.

Deadlines, Tickets and Stuff

Mari and I finally solidified the start of our trip with the purchase of departing airline tickets. Kick off begins November 1st. We fly out of Seattle on an 11.5 hour flight destined for Oaxaca Mexico. It's a red eye flight that departs Seatac just before midnight on the 1st.

After checking prices and flight times, we settled on an affordable two stop flight. The first leg of the flight is on United Airlines from Seatac to Houston's IAH airport. In Houston we change airlines to Aeromexico and head to Mexico city. Changing planes again, we depart Mexico City on the final leg arriving in Oaxaca around 2:30 in the afternoon of November the 2nd. All in all, its a little less than 12 hours, and hopefully we'll be able to get some shuteye during the flight.

If you are not quite sure where Oaxaca is exactly within the Country of Mexico, click here.

With our departure date set, we have officially begun packing the house up. We have a corner full of boxes both full and empty, and as of now, nearly all the walls are artless as they have been wrapped for storage. Which reminds me....

Today also brought the rental of a 7.5' x 10' storage space -which works out to be roughly 75 square feet. Hopefully, this storage space will safely and adequately store all the goods from our apartment nice and snug until we arrive home. Its hard to judge an empty room on the merits of one simple question - can one stick their entire apartment into this empty box if they had to? I guess we will find out.

Roughly 6 weeks left before we head out into the great unknown.