A Bigger Splash

 As we’ve travelled south from Mexico City we’ve been steadily ticking off the stomping grounds of the ancient civilisations that made up the country’s population.

We’ve seen the immense pyramids of the Aztecs at Teotihuacán and Cholula, the beautiful Zatopec hilltop town of Monte Albán and now it’s the turn of perhaps the greatest of all the pre-Hispanic civilisations, the Mayans.

But forget about all this culture for a moment, because today’s big news is that we finally have wheels! 

Yes, after a month at the mercy of the Mexican transport system we treat ourselves to a hire car for the final part of the trip.

It makes sense because the Yucatan is so huge and there’s loads of interesting stuff to see scattered everywhere. 

We feel vindicated straight away when we plot our route to Ek Balam an important Mayan archaeological site and notice it’s 100 miles from anywhere.

The excitement at the entrance is palpable.

Us two atop something that's even older than us.

Founded in the year 100 BC it was one of the most powerful Mayan cities economically, religiously and economically speaking. It’s certainly impressive, but it’s the jungle setting that excites us most. 

Fighting my way through the crowds.

Also, because Ek Balam is so isolated it attracts relatively few visitors, and that suits us just fine.

Apparently these two have a temple a day habit.

It’s hot work clambering up all those old buildings in the midday sun so a very welcome bonus is access to the nearby Cenote sinkhole where we enjoy an invigorating dip.

 Waterfall Wend.

Considered sacred by the Maya as entrances to the underworld, there are over 2000 of these Cenotes on the Yucatan Peninsula and if they’re all as ridiculously pretty as this one we intend to find as many as we can in the next 7 days.

Check out how clear the water is...

Later we book into a sweet little AirB&B in Merida. Having done no research on the city we have no pre-conceived ideas about the place so it’s a pleasant surprise to find a buzzy, agreeable town full of imposing colonial architecture and decent bars. 

One of these sells Indian Pale Ale. This makes me very happy.

San Cristóbal de la Disappointing

We’d been looking forward to visiting San Cristóbal de Casas since we landed in Mexico last month. By all accounts it’s a place of rare beauty, set in a small valley of the Central Highlands region of Chiapas with more baroque, neoclassical and moorish architecture and cultural attractions than you can shake a stick at.

Impressive views from one of the town's many hills.

Cathedral on the main square. Note the hoardings preventing anyone from entering.

Sadly, it falls a long way short of our expectations. Recent earthquakes mean many of the grander civic buildings and all the churches are closed (and I mean all of them, we couldn’t find a single place to pop in for a kneel down). It’s a lot scruffier than Oaxaca, Cholula or even Mexico City and the people seem to lack the joie de vivre that we’ve become used to. I don’t know, maybe we caught the town on a bad day, but it doesn’t float our boat.

Our accommodation is a quirky combination of rustic colonial charm and shabby chic. A converted hacienda with all the trappings that go with it; pot-bellied stoves in every room, huge High Chaperral style beds, waggon wheel tables and lots of mismatched art hanging on the walls. 

We had a pre-Raphaelite angel watching over us as we slept last night. Which was nice. I hope she didn’t notice that we’d skipped prayers earlier.

Unfortunately this particular hacienda isn’t on a thousand acre ranch in the wilds of Wyoming, it’s smack bang in the middle of the roughest part of town. Which is probably why it's so cheap.

Three nights was the plan for San Cristóbal, we decide to cut our losses and leave after one.

'ain't no river deep enough

Thanks to a couple of delays and some questionable Mexican logistics it took a frustrating 13 hours to travel 100 miles yesterday. All very dull.

However, we’re very happy to be here in sunny Chiapa de Corzo. Firstly as it’s a little cooler but also because we’re ready to see something other than sea, surf and beach bars.

As it’s name suggests, the town is in the region of Chiapas, one of the most impoverished in the nation but perhaps the most diverse in terms of cultural attractions. 

We’ll get our culture fix tomorrow when we travel to San Cristobal but today it’s all about the Caňón del Sumidero, a spectacular gorge five minutes from our hotel. 

Miss Marple goes white-water rafting.

The gorge has been around for several million years but in 1979 when the authorities built a dam to generate hydroelectric power 13 km downstream it went from being merely jaw-dropping to completely off the scale.  

Imagine blocking both ends of Yosemite Valley then filling the middle bit with several trillion gallons of water and you start to get a sense of how this place looks.

The canyon walls start off gently sloping into the water but the further our boat takes us the steeper they become until eventually it feels like they’re rising straight up with no gradient whatsoever.

At its most dramatic the gorge is more than 1000 metres high. That’s five times the height of the BT Tower, or for those bumpkins who’ve never been to London, nine times higher than the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Wildlife is everywhere.

  Funky gibbon

  Funny egret 

 

 Hundreds of cormorants happily bobbing about... 

  ...until El Capitan steered the boat right into the middle of them 

A couple of crocs. Big buggers they were - and a little too close for comfort.

Sadly there was one aspect to the trip that was less than perfect – the amount of plastic we saw floating on the water’s surface and clogging up the riverbanks.  

Look closely and you'll see a large plastic bottle sitting between the crocodiles. Shocking and unforgivable. What the hell is wrong with people?

Pants

Puerta Escondido has been just the ticket. Seven blissful days of reading, loafing and rebooting. But a change of scenery is needed, so we jump on a bus and motor south for 3 hours to Huatulco for more of the same but with different palm trees to look at.

Well, that was the plan.

We manage the bus bit okay, and checking in to a nice cheapo hotel is a piece of cake, but within minutes my rumbling tummy tells me toilet trouble is imminent.

48 hours later I haven’t left the room. 

Of course, there’s nothing to stop Wend going to see what the new neighbourhood has to offer, and she’s about to do just that when we realise we’ve left a bunch of stuff in our last hotel. 

Actually, I should ‘fess up at this point and say I’ve left some stuff. Specifically, 6 pairs of clean undies and some speedos.

I’m happy to take one for the team and write them off but my wonderful wife insists on making the return bus journey to Puerto to retrieve them.

6 hours on a bus for 6 pairs of undies. That’s how much she loves me.  And that’s why she’s the best.

Fortunately, I recover in time for our last day in Huatulco so we have something other than our hotel lav to remember the town by. 

According to the sales blurb ‘Huatulco has nine bays and no fewer than 36 beaches, and each one is just that little bit more magical than the last’ or some such nonsense. 

If this is true then beach No.36 must be the best, right?

So that’s where we go for a sunset swim. Playa La Bocana is about 5 miles from the centre town and that’s obviously far enough to dissuade any crowds because apart from a handful of fishermen we have the place to ourselves.

And it’s proper, proper gorgeous.

A long stretch of golden sand with a backdrop of lake, trees and mountains in the distance.

What we didn’t expect is the proliferation of birdlife. We’ve noticed wherever we’ve been in Mexico that the birds go a bit mental at dusk, and Bocana is no exception. Today their manic behaviour is exacerbated by the fishing blokes throwing back any tiddlers deemed too small for the table.

Cue mayhem. And we have ringside seats.

First on the scene was a beautiful frigate bird, easily identified by Wend because of the distinctive tail. Of course I just think he looks like a massive swift or swallow (I can't even tell the difference between those two).

The gulls are soon involved - this one provides some scale to show the size of the frigates. 

Having set the cat amongst the pigeons - or sprats amongst the frigates - the fisherman head home with their catch. 

We particularly liked these vultures. They were either too cool, or too lazy to bother with the scramble at the water's edge.

At one with the waves

We’re not expecting much sympathy from friends and family back in damp, dark Inglaterra, but after 3 weeks tearing around central Mexico we’re absolutely knackered.

It’s been fantastic. So much to see and do; the city tours, museums, galleries, archaeological sites etc. etc. and we’ve loved every minute, but it’s been non-stop, so time to drop anchor and have a little holiday. Poor us eh?

Puerto Escondido answers the brief nicely. Comprising an old town (which we’re not bothering with), 3 lovely little coves, a freshwater lagoon and a much longer beach - Playa Zicatela, this will be home for the next 7 days.

We opt to stay at a small hotel just off Zicaleta because according to the guidebook it’s the most happening spot in town. And let’s face it; we are the ultimate happening couple. 

Actually, it’s just cheaper here and we’re cheapskates. Happening cheapskates, obviously.

The 4km long beach is a draw for surfers from all over the world. A quick look at the size of the waves tells us why; they’re absolute monsters (apparently in May/June they get crazy big and this is when the big pro tournaments roll into town). It’s certainly too dangerous to contemplate a swim but it’s fantastic to witness the athleticism and artistry of the surfers in action.

  Silver Surfer shows the youngsters how it's done.  

                                               
  Youngster shows old fool how it's really done.

It’s also very hot here, averaging 30°C, so much of our time is spent seeking out shade and a spot with a nice breeze. I enjoy a jog to the end of the beach each day before breakfast (any later would be way too hot) while Wend indulges in a spot of bird watching – so far she's ticked off pelicans, swifts, eagles, vultures and cranes.

Crane? Heron? Emu? who knows, but we like him.

Twitchers are a funny lot. They love to show you photos of what they’ve been focussing their attention on. Funnily enough, most of Wend’s pictures are of handsome young surf dudes with sexy six-packs, sun-bleached hair and sparkling blue eyes.

Get me to the church on time...

Our last full day in Oaxaca so we make our way to the jewel in the city’s crown; Templo de Santo Domingo which is by some distance the most handsome church in town. We’re not great ones for religious glitz (something the Catholics do so well) so content ourselves with a quick gander behind the huge front doors.

It’s the exterior of the building that does it for us. Dominated by two unusually high (for Oaxaca) domed towers and a large paved plaza in front of the entrance with landscaped borders containing maguey cacti. 

A lovely spot to enjoy a coffee before we move on to the other attractions in the Santo Domingo complex: The marvelous ethnobotanical garden and the Centro Cultural SantoDomingo de Guzmán.

You can only visit the garden as part of a two hour guided tour. At first we think this is a bit of a bummer but it was actually really informative and we learn far more than if we had muddled through on our own. 

The garden only contains flora that grows in the Oaxaca region but given that this includes tropical, semi-tropical, highland, rainforest and temperate areas we soon realise there’s no shortage of stuff to see.

As it’s a Saturday there is significant wedding action going on in this pretty corner of town. We’re having lunch when the first of many processions snakes its way past the café. What a show! Massive effigies of the bride and groom, a full band with drums, trumpets and tubas (what a racket!), dancing (of course!) and just general jubilant messing about.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon we get caught up in half a dozen of these affairs and the format is always the same. We love it that they try to personalise the effigies so they loosely take on the physical features of the happy couple. Mixed results on this front I think it’s fair to say.

Later, when we finally stop smiling, we buy our tickets for the the Centro Cultural SantoDomingo de Guzmán. Of all the many museums we’ve visited on the trip this is probably the most impressive. Housed in the friary that was originally home the monks attached to the church it’s a wonderful building crammed with traditional and contemporary artefacts. 

A bonus is the huge picture window that overlooks both the botanical gardens and plaza in front of the church. So we are treated to elevated views of more plants and weddings. 

A perfect end to a perfect day in this most magical of cities.

Mighty Monte Albán

At what point does a building go from being a building to a ruin? I only ask because this morning we take the short trip out of town to visit the ancient ruins of Monte Albán, and on first impression the manicured lawns, clearly defined streets and reservoirs make the site look anything but dilapidated.  With a decent blow up mattress, a rug or two and a kitchen table you could happily set up home here tomorrow.

Hopefully this gives an impression of how well preserved this ancient Zatopec settlement is. This is partly explained by the fact that the mountain upon which Monte Albán sits was levelled by the locals in order to build their city and that this process alone took 300 years to complete.

Think about that for a second; three centuries of groundwork before a brick was laid. This is an impressive level of detail. Or, maybe they were just incredibly slow. Either way, the legacy is here for all to see and enjoy.

It really is one of Mexico’s most spectacular archeological sites. Over 2300 years. old with the remains of temples, palaces, tall stepped towers, an observatory and even a ball court, all arranged in orderly fashion, with wonderful 360° views over Oaxaca, nearby valleys and distant mountains.

Our guide, who is proudly Zatopec, cheerfully tells us that he’s been showing folk around Monte Albán since he was a teenager, given that he is about 200 years old we can only imagine how often he’s clambered around the place. He’s actually too immobile to climb any of the steps so we only really get half a tour (for which he’s happy to charge full price). Nice bloke though.

Some interesting nuggets that he imparted:

·    Hieroglyphics and dates carved into the walls suggest that the Monte Albárn elite were probably the first to use a developed writing system in Mexico.

·    The ancient Zatopecs revered people who were cross-eyed. Youngsters were forced to stare for hours at an object held in front of their noses to encourage the condition.

·    Masturbation wasn’t something to be ashamed of (pictured above is someone enjoying a bit of ‘me time’).

·    In the more important tournaments held in the ball courts the victors would often be sacrificed as an offering to the Sun gods. I’m no ball court coach, but my advice would be “play to lose guys, play to lose”.

This is what's left of the ball court. The stands eerily resembling Arsenal's Emirates stadium on a midweek match night.