Barkers Versus the Volcano

We arrived in San Cristobal at the centre of the Chiapas region. This is a mountain town with a very pleasant climate of about 22 degrees - excellent for walking around and experiencing this beautiful colonial town. We found a great little hotel room early in the afternoon, cheapest rate so far, and began checking out the town.

Since Chloe has spent a lot of time in towns since we left the beach we decided to go to a nearby reserve for a nice hike on a dormant volcano that has dense forest all around it. We arrived at about 1:00 pm and were told that it was an easy 2.5 km hike if we stuck to the trail. The park closed at 3:00 pm but the guy manning the gate said he would wait until 3:30 if we took longer.

The trail winds its way up to the top of the volcano. Within a few minutes, we noticed there were no trail markers or signs. We have had a lot of fun with Mexican signs (or lack thereof!) and this was to be more of the same. The traffic signs throughout Mexico are severely lacking everywhere we go - why did we expect this trail to be well-marked?

About two hours into the hike, we suspected that we might be lost in this forest, as 2.5 km should not have taken more than forty minutes to climb! What we thought was the trail had become a very rough, steep, climb up the mountain. At one point April was using her hands to pull herself up. When we got to the top we conceded that we were lost, and decided to retrace our steps. The steep slope down was quicker to traverse - at times sliding down on one foot, body close to the ground, once or twice sliding down several feet on my butt.

After several false starts and back tracking, we finally found our way through the miriad of trails which criss-crossed this mountain. The thought of spending the night in this forest had spurred us on. We had a GPS, compass and flashlight....in the truck! During the three hour tour, we had not come across a single person, and only saw a trail marker when we were five minutes from the entrance. As we approached the bottom of the mountain, dogs at a neighbouring farm were barking at us. (I was so happy to hear roosters screeching!) In one day we had made up for four weeks of little exercise.

We got back to the parking lot at 4pm and the guy had closed the gates to the park but left it unlocked. I guess he had faith in our abilities.

This morning we both woke up with sore bums from the climb but were able to make it to the market in the nearby town of San Chamula, an indiginous town where they speak an indian language. These people are small in stature but very good looking and the women wear a distinctive garb of black wooly skirts make from alpaca hair and embroidered purplish shawls. They are featured in the paintings of Diego Rivera.

Market Day in San Chamula consists of people selling all kinds of goods: fruit, handicrafts, baked goods. The women carry their young close to their bodies, a large shawl wrapped around both mother and child. When the child needs to eat, the mother opens her blouse for easy access to the breast - this while walking around, selling her goods.

These women and their children are tiny, doll-like, beautiful looking people. Their features strike me as resembling a combination of indian and Philipino, and the young girls remind me of my niece Rianna. We tried several times to take pictures, and although they are very sweet and friendly, they are camera shy.

We asked four beautiful women, all dressed in their embroidered purple shawls and furry skirts if we could take their picture. They looked around and at each other, and agreed, but it would cost $200 (roughly $20)! We told them that was too much.

One little girl who sold us some macrame belts was particularly outspoken; she spotted my folding umbrella in the side of my car door, and asked if she could have it. It was broken, but she insisted she could fix it, saying she wanted it for shade. After some negotiation, I let her have it, and she agreed to have her picture taken but seemed uncomfortable with it.

Chloe's Notes: Yesterday we went for a long, long walk. After that, I had a long, long, sleep!

Hi Everybody!

Thanks for your messages! It's good to know you are following us (otherwise what's the point in writing?) We are now in San Cristobal, the most beautiful city we've seen so far. Today we had the biggest adventure so far, but I'll have to save it for tomorrow or Monday, as it's late Saturday night, and we are in search of great, live music!
Hope everyone is fine.
Love to all,
April and David

Oaxaca and Area

The tree we saw in the little town of El Tule ("TOO-lay"), near Oaxaca is purported to be 2000 years old, and the oldest tree in the world. Its trunk is 14 metres in diameter, and is home to many birds, squirrels, insects, geckos, and probably scorpions too. As we sat for a few minutes, pondering this tree that is the universe to its inhabitants, the breeze blew a few small pieces of a limb off, and a piece of it landed on a young woman walking nearby. Of course David picked it up to take home with us.

We had lunch there, and got in the car to return to Oaxaca. A small pick up ahead of us carrying two large pigs was stalling and blocking the road. Of course David got out and helped push the truck off the road. Chivalry isn't dead, it's just too often wasted on swine!

Oaxaca is a beautiful colonial city, with a very large walkable central plaza. We stayed at La Casa de Tia Tere, a very pretty hotel, its twenty rooms on three floors all overlooking a central dining area where breakfast is served. There is also a good sized pool in the backyard. I was surprised to learn that the building used to be one big house.

Chloe is a big hit everywhere we go... while sitting in the square in Oaxaca, some men whistled at her (yes, at her!), and one friendly man came right up to us when David was about to take a picture in the square. He proclaimed his love for Chloe, telling her how beautiful she is, saying "I love you, baby!" in English, and of course Chloe responded in kind (see picture above). After the picture was taken he thanked us, mentioned he was a mescal junkie, and then kissed me. I can vouch that he reeked of mescal, and so can Chloe.

We wandered through the city, taking in the sights and sounds. There is no shortage of artisans here, and we admired hand woven wool rugs made with natural (vegetable- and insect-based) dyes. The only tough part is choosing which one to buy. This area is also known for its black pottery, which I had never seen before, and of course its mescal production. Ah, the mescal. We had a road-side mescal taste tour, which included a brief history, how it's made, and as many samples as you could want (yes, I did mention this was road-side!). When we got back on the road, we noticed lots of algave plant farming on mountainsides.

We had a fairly pleasant drive from Oaxaca, the head spinning parts less frequent on this leg of the trip. We were on our way to San Cristobal de las Cases, a city we'd heard a lot about. We had planned to stop for the night in Tehuantepec, and by the time we got there we were too tired to take the time to find a decent place in a decent neighbourhood and check the room out, like we usually do. Big mistake!

The room was the dingiest, ugliest room we've seen so far, and grossly overpriced. But we were tired from the drive, so we moved our stuff in, and began to unwind. Soon there was a knock on the door; apparently they were not okay with the dog being in the room with us, even though they initially ok'd it when we checked in. We should've just got our money back and left, but we were too tired to load up the car, etc. So we put Chloe-joe back in the car to appease them; it was getting dark so we went and got her in about thirty minutes when it was too dark for them to see outside.

A little while later, I discovered that the toilet was plugged; it wasn't me, honest. I thought I would try again a little later. No luck. We slept in our sleeping bag, as we didn't like the look of the sheets. I didn't sleep well, as I had one ear on the door all night, and there was a lot of noise outside. We got up early and left as quickly as possible. Did I mention the toilet was still plugged?

That was our worst hotel experience - I guess we can't expect to luck out every time! To top it off, we left behind our good flashlight/club in the room. Yes, in future we will leave town earlier to get somewhere else earlier, check out the room, and be comfy. (I can't blame the mescal tasting.)

The Road to Oaxaca - According to April

Driving With Magnificence

It's really difficult being a passenger! The drive from San Agustinillo to Oaxaca City reminded me of a roller coaster ride, but without the g-force and fun. The roads are narrow, mostly cut through and into the sides of the mountains, with no guard rail in sight. Until this ride, I had not experienced car sickness, and when I was not navigating, I happily knitted and crocheted away the hours on the road. Not this ride. Most of the time I was hanging onto the H.S. handles for dear life, trying to keep my head from swaying from side to side, fighting nausea. If I wasn't trying to keep breakfast down, the scenery of pine forests and valleys would have been refreshing.

It seemed to take a very long time, and I didn't know exactly where we were on the map, because there were few signs along the twisted road, and we were probably averaging only 50 km/hr. I'm sure David got tired of being told to slow down, not to mention my threats of getting out, or worse, threatening to trade places with him.

After a few gruelling hours, we finally reached Miahuatlan, which on the maps looks to be barely half way to Oaxaca, but in reality is more than half way, likely due to the more winding roads of the first stomach-churning four hours. In the restroom at the gas station I met an American woman - she was trapped in the cubicle beside me, and was ever so grateful that I spoke English and could release her from the smelly prison by a coordinated push-pull effort on the door.

A few minutes later, we came to a complete stop, as a demonstration blocked the main road to Oaxaca. I suggested we stop for lunch, as it was after 2pm, but club-wielding demonstrators could not stop David when he is on a mission; he's just not hungry at that moment. He got out to further assess the situation, and talked to a rancher driving a small truck carrying a cow and another driver of a nuts and bolts truck. They rattled on in Spanish for a few minutes, and he returned and explained that the rancher knows another route around the demonstration, and the nuts and bolts truck and we were going to follow him. Upon turning our vehicles around, a van stopped beside us - a couple from BC, Canada, who would also join the convoy.

So there we were, the mexican nuts and bolts salesman in his truck, the couple from BC in their van, us, and a mexican cow-towing rancher on his way home leading the convoy.

The route turned into a mixed bag of dirt road, steep one-lane road winding around a mountain, shallow riverbeds to drive through, and uneven roads galore. In hindsight, it was fairly naive to think it would be a fifteen minute by-pass. We traversed long expanses of road with in what I would describe as wild west scenery, roads that were barely wide enough for one vehicle to traverse, and several little villages. One village seemed particularly deserted, until we saw that everyone was watching a local basketball game. They looked at us as we passed as if to ask "who invited the gringos?".

After twenty minutes or so, it occurred to me that this may not have been a good idea...it certainly wasn't what I would call "mother-approved" at the least. What if the two mexican drivers were leading us out to the middle of nowhere (which is where we were, let's face it) to rob the unsuspecting gringos?

The BC van in front of us sported a bumper sticker that read "Things get better with age - I'm approaching magnificence". I tried to get a picture of it, but the road was just too bumpy to get a good shot. We laughed a lot during the drive - this was "I can't believe this is happening" kind of humour. Here we were, off the map, literally, on the roughest roads, no stores, no hotels, no police stations, no hospitals or CAA, blindly following strangers in a foreign country. What if our car broke down? What if....

At last the rancher stopped, said something to the nuts and bolts driver, turned off, and we continued following the nuts and bolts driver. David explained that the rancher had turned to go home, and we were to follow Mr. Nuts and Bolts now. Like we had a choice... what if the nuts and bolts guy had a few screws loose?

Another five to ten minutes passed, and we reached the highway to Oaxaca. Mr. Nuts and Bolts drove away, and we stopped to talk to the BC couple, John and Mary, who are travelling with their dog and cat. We enjoyed a few laughs of relief, exchanged info, and carried on.

The rest of the route was fairly boring, but at least I wasn't car sick anymore.

Chloe's Notes: I sensed tension in the air, so I just kept a low profile and was rocked to sleep by a constant sway. When I woke up I was not at the beach anymore. I now have new terrain to explore!

The Road to Oaxaca - According to David

One of the very enjoyable aspects of travel in Mexico is the wide variety of climate and scenery options available. After spending two weeks at the beach we chose to head inland to the mountains on Monday. So we spent
6 1/2 hours winding through pine valleys as we headed for the state capital of Oaxaca City.

These roads are some of the most challenging you can ever drive on. Sometimes I wished I had our Honda Civic as we had to slow right down in the Ford Escape to negoiate the many 90 degree turns. Then again some of the pot holes and speed bumps would kill the poor Civic. Good thing we
were driving the Escape, as half way though our trip we had a very unexpected detour.

We had just fuelled up in Miahuatlan when we crested a hill on highway 175 and see that traffic is all backed up. I get out of the truck and walk up to the front of the line of stopped cars, trucks and buses to be greeted by a large group of angry looking men with clubs and machetes. I ask what the problem is and they tell me that they are closing down the only road to Oaxaca in protest of the state government. So here we are stuck in the middle of nowhere.

I start talking to some of the other drivers and find out that a local rancher is willing to take us via the local dirt and washed out river bed roads to a route around the manifestation. So here we go, a rag tag group of truck drivers and gringos including a couple from BC in their 1997 Dodge Caravan winding through dirt roads, riverbeds and through a small river as we all follow this rancher in his old Nissan pick up with the biggest cow I had ever seen in it. It was surreal. As I see us getting further and further into the middle of nowhere the thought crosses my mind that this guy could be leading us out of town to rob the whole group of us.

Scenes of deliverance flashing through our minds we come upon this little village in you guessed it the middle of nowhere in which the whole town has turned up to watch a basketball game. As we drive by the dirt path that acts as the main street the whole town looks at this rag tag group driving through and wonders who the hell we are? This could only happen in Mexico. Finally the rancher leaves our group for home and says just keep going straight and you will rejoin the highway and we did. We stopped at the side of the road with John and Mary from BC as they let their dog and cat out for a pee and just laughed at what we had just done.Chole did not join the pee break as she does not trust cats on foreign soil even if they claim to be Canadian.

We found a great little colonial hotel which allowed dogs and we have been enjoying the sights of our new home. Today we went and saw a park with the world's biggest redwood trees. One is 14 metres in diameter and is over 2000 years old. I think this is the most awesome thing I have ever seen in my life. You sit in the shade of this great tree and take in the sounds of the birds and feel the cool breezes and and be thankful to just be here.

Tips for Driving in Mexico - Part 1

Tip #1: The red hexagonal "ALTO" sign does not really mean STOP - it is just a suggestion.

Tip #2: To avoid risk, leave your ass at home. Really, Juan should leave Juan's ass at home (see picture above).

Tip #3: When approaching a busy intersection where no stop lights or signs are present, DO NOT assume a four way stop! These intersections measure your machismo. If you are a wimp, you will sit there confused while old ladies on bicycles pass in front of you. Since you are a tourist, wait for another tourist driver more confused than you to hesitate, and make a run for it. These rules also apply to pedestrians attempting to cross the street.

Tip #4: If you ask for directions and they know you're from Canada, expect to end up here (see above sign that loosely translates as "Bridge to Canada").

Tip #5: The posted speed limit signs are merely suggestions; if you really are going that slow, expect to be passed (and pitied) by everybody.