Zoe Harrison Travel Web Site

Well, with Jason in a sulk about his perforated ear there seemed no point in staying by the sea with little more to do than sunbathe. So we took the boat to Belize City and a bus onward to the Mexico border and Chetumal.

By pure chance we ended up at the same hotel I stayed in last time I was here … but this time with air-con! Chetumal city isn´t much more than an entry point into Mexico but it has the claim to fame of the Museo de la Cultura Maya which was great in giving us some background on all these Mayan ruins we´ve been visiting.

So with our new found knowledge we headed off for more ruins in Tulum and Chichen Itza … bringing the count of Mayan sites to 4 and the limit. There are only so many you can see before they all blur into one. It has to be said though that the setting for Tulum will stick in my mind …sitting on cliff tops high above a palm tree lined beach and turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Stunning.

Just north of Tulum I had a fantastic opportunity for my first cavern dive in the “Grand Cenote”. (Jason, bless him, was left at the surface with only a snorkel and earplug to entertain him.) A cenote is a limestone sinkhole filled with water and with the help of a guide we glided past some incredible stalactites and stalagmites. Not sure I fully appreciated the surroundings since I was concentrating so much on my buoyancy and not crashing into the roof of the cavern! (www.hiddenworlds.com)

Don´t worry, we may be half way across the world in a town with less than 500 population but we will always manage to find the only TV with cable and watch the England world cup qualifier against Austria. Still it helped to raise Jason´s spirits.

Merida 5th – 8th September 2004

Merida is the capital of the Yucatan so only fitting that we should visit. Aside from the busy streets, noise and hot sticky climate it is a fine city full of colonial buildings, plazas and cathedrals. In fact it wouldn´t look out of place in Europe.

We are beginning to realize that September is “Mexico´s month” and building up for huge Independence Day celebrations on the 15th. There was a huge fiesta on the Sunday we arrived, with dancing, singing and music.

Not to mention some fantastic street food. I have found the humble elote to be a favourite. Not sure it would take off in the UK but be sure to try it … delicious and so simple. A recipe for Delias Cookbooks …..

*Elotes: Take a corn on the cob, lather it with mayonnaise, roll in parmesan cheese and sprinkle with chillies!

And a little extra news for those of you who know my friends Sue and Hannah, I´m pleased to say that they both had beautiful healthy baby girls on the 7th September. Well done both of you!

San Cristóbal de las Casas 9th - 12th September 2004

I still search for the perfect bus journey. Our first overnighter for ages and I had high hopes … great seats, videos that worked, no snorers or coughers. Things were really looking promising until the air con was switched to MAX. I´ll continue my quest on Sunday with an overnighter to Peuerto Escondido. I will find it before we leave the Americas!

San Cristobal has an uncanny resemblance to Antigua in Guatemala so feels a lot like home. Narrow, cobbled streets, pretty squares and nice bars and restaurants. The climate and air is a little better to handle – being at 2100m it´s a lot more temperate and we had our first comfortable nights sleep in ages last night. It´s great to get off the American tourist trail too. Tulum, Chichen Itza and Merida were plagued by wealthy Americans taking their annual break to Cancun (their answer to our Costa del Sol). San Cristobal is sufficiently far away to put them off!

The town is packed with modern political and social history … the Zapatista rebels launched their revolution from here in 1994, and around 20,000 people settled here in the 1970´s after being expelled from indigenous villages for turning protestant! They live in what the locals call the Cinturon de Miseria (Belt of Misery), squalid, makeshift slums around the town and has the potential to be a social time bomb waiting to go off. And right on cue it did. We managed to find ourselves amidst a stand off between locals and the police. The only people who seemed to be winning were the local shops selling bottles of fanta and coke as weapons! After hiding out behind a market stall for about an hour we made a run for it down a side street and grabbed the first available taxi. Jason thought it was great to see a bit of real Mexico! I wasn`t so sure.

The Maya Medicine Development Centre taught us all about local indigenous beliefs for treating illness and performing childbirth. Yes, believe it or not you will have a much quicker birth if you wave an axe over the mothers belly three times, or perhaps pass a chicken over the body. Now why haven`t we caught on about that? The best bit is that post partum, mum should not lift a finger around the house for at least 3 months! All fascinating stuff in light of Sue and Hannah recently having their babies.

And on the way out Jason was able to buy some shampoo to replenish his lush locks, and bought a cure for diabetes…which I must send back to Ann and Sue for them to test in Thursday morning clinic. Click here for Maya Medicine Centre Website

It was easy to take a side trip to Canon del Sumidero where we sped down the Rio Grijalva to see the sides of the canyon towering 800m above us, a few crocodiles, birds and what appeared to be the local rubbish dump! Returning to San Cristobal we also had a rather disappointing stop at an “indigenous” village which was nothing more than a street of market stalls selling tat for tourists. Somehow I don`t think we have seen the real Chiapas ways of living.

Puerto Escondido 13th – 17th September 2004

13hours overnight and down to the Pacific Coast for some kicking back time before we hit Mexico City. Puerto Escondido has been known to surfers since before roads made it out here. The waves are just too strong to swim in but we`ve been lucky enough to stay in a cabana right next to the swimming pool. No prizes for guessing where I`ve spent most of the days.

The weather hasn`t been the best and as I write it`s pouring down outside but all in all it`s just been a dream to lay back and relax as our Latin American experience is quickly coming to an end. Within the week we`ll be arriving in Uncle Sam for our road-trip from LA to San Francisco.

Mexico City 18th - 23rd September 2004

Now truthfully, I was not inspired by the idea of spending 4 days in the biggest city in the world (20 million people) with it`s renowned “world`s worst air”. In fact in a last ditch attempt to improve air quality, depending on your registration number you are likely to find your car banned from the streets on at least one day a week by Hoy No Circula (Don`t drive today).

However, if you can put the pollution, poverty, and overcrowding to one side you find an incredibly overpowering beautiful city. Our hostel (www.hostalmoneda.com.mx) provided a fantastic (and free) walking tour of the city which took in the Catedral Metropolitana, which is sinking at a rate of up to 45 cm a year; the Palacio Nacional, home to the offices of the president and incredible murals by Diego Rivera; the Latin American Tower, the 1950`s scyscraper with views over the city; and the Zocalo, the heart of Mexico City where the huge Mexican Flag is ceremonially lowered every day.

The food and drink has continued to amaze and tantalize us and the giant crisps and cheap beer have started to take their toll. Emergency measures have had to be taken and we now have NBD`s (No Beer Days). These are sad, sad days which come every other day where we refrain from alcohol. A realistic target without a doubt...we are coping but how long can we last?

One happy “beer day” we headed for the football at the awesome Estadio Azteca. What an incredible atmosphere. And in contrast another was spent at the ballet watching Don Quixote. My first experience of ballet since I was 5 years old and it won`t be the last. I was bowled over. It was amazing!

But alas our Latin American experience has come to an aprupt end here in Mexico City. 24 hours more and we`ll be starting our road trip from LA to San Francisco. Culture shock due? Probably.