San Cristobal and Area

Thanks for your messages. Here are a few more miscellaneous pix along the way. (Roni and Gary, maybe you can tell us what this pretty little bird is!)

Blanquita Makes a Friend

Finally! Not everyone thinks I'm Blanquita Gordita who talks funny.... I met a Cocker Spaniel who introduced himself to me by mounting me, until he was pulled off. We didn't get a picture of my new buddy getting warm and fuzzy, but here are some pictures of the hostile natives.

Up the Creek Without a Camera

Today we went to Canon del Sumidero, a national park with a river running through it. It is about forty minutes away, and unfortunately on our way out of town we missed the turnoff to the 'cuota' route - the new, quick highway - which means we were on the scenic route.

I began taking pictures from the car like I always do, as the sights on the way to anywhere are always interesting. Within twenty minutes or so I had to stop, as I started to feel light-headed on the winding route.

It seemed to take about an hour to get to Chiapa de Corzo where the canyon is. We were looking for a restaurant to have some lunch, when a young man (about thirteen years old) on his bike spotted us. He was a guide to help tourists get around the town. As we were not able to stop for more than a few seconds without impeding traffic, we continued driving while talking to him; after a moment I realized he had dropped off his bike and hopped onto the outside of our car to continue conversing with us while we drove. While still hanging onto the outside of our car, he lead us to a nearby restaurant (a pretty fancy one, but it allowed the dog!), and while we ate he arranged for us to go on the canyon tour.

He waited for us to finish, then lead us to the dock where we were the last people to fill up the motor boat. We put our life jackets on, paid our money and boarded with about twenty other people, mostly French tourists.

A few of the French tourists around us seemed miffed that we had brought our dog, so we kept her close to us. We thought the boat would take us to areas of the park where we could get out and walk around; had we known we were going to be sitting for two hours under the mid-day sun on a small boat crammed with tourists, we probably would not have gone.

Within a minute of launching, the captain announced that it was about to become very windy, as our speed increased, so to hold onto our hats. As everyone secured their hats, I reminded David that he should remove his hat. He assured me that he wouldn't lose his hat. Just then, the boat was off in a flash and so was his hat. He was in a foul mood for much of the remainder of the tour, and ranted about the French distracting him.

For her part, Chloe was very well behaved, as her ears are accustomed to flapping in the wind on our boat up north. She did, however, see things she wouldn't see on Georgian Bay: shiny black vultures, large pelicans, and crocodiles.

At one point the boat was close to the vulture-covered shore, and Chloe tried to get a better view by placing one paw on the leg of a French woman beside her. The look of serious astonishment on her face at the sight of the vultures was priceless. So was the look of serious astonishment on the face of the French woman. I quickly grabbed Chloe and duly apologized. It was at that moment that I realized how sorry I really was...that I left the camera in the car.

The sights were unlike anything I had ever seen: The true majesty of the immense cliffs, the patterns etched in the mountain face over thousands of years, village women washing their clothes along the shore of the river while crocodiles sun themselves a little further along the beach.

Chloe's Notes: We went on a boat ride today and saw lots of odd wildlife: big birds, crocodiles and French people. Poor David lost his hat and his temper.

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.)