Winter 2001 - Bus Trip to the Yucatan

February 2001

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

By 0815 we were already on the city bus heading to the central bus station on our way to Guadalajara and the first leg of our journey.  Guadalajara is to be just an overnight stop as our plan is to not travel more than 8 hours a day on the bus.  We want to get south as quickly as possible but not uncomfortably so. 

Thursday, January 25, 2001 -- Morelia

After overnight in a hotel near the bus station in Guadalajara we were on our way again early in the morning.  We stopped in Morelia where we plan to spend a few days.  We checked into a hotel by 1400 with some time to explore the city before dark.  We walked around the “old town” area and visited the cathedral.  It was every bit as spectacular as many churches that we have visited in Europe.  We had lunch just off the main plaza, a great location but we encountered one of the few impatient waiters that we’ve ever found in Mexico. 

Friday, January 26, 2001

After an early breakfast at a street side restaurant near the hotel we were off to explore the town.   The Capella de las Rosas caught our attention.  It is currently being used as an art school and the chapel is being restored.  They were just getting started for the day so we stepped inside for a peek.  Much effort was going into restoring the wooden doors and the cleaning of the old paintings.  Next, walking east we stopped to view the old homes that are now banks and continued on to the remains of the aqueduct where I took a few pictures.   From there we followed a wide walkway to an ex-monastery that now houses a law school.  The church had four wonderful paintings depicting the conquest of the Aztecs from the padre’s point of view, and was very ornate inside. 

In the afternoon we checked out the old library, also housed in an ex-chapel and then spent several hours in the Museum of the State.  This was really a history museum and although its exhibits were skimpy the descriptions were wonderful.

Saturday January 27, 2001 – Mexico DF

Today we traveled on to Mexico DF.  We had tried to find a path avoiding this large city but had no luck at finding one so off we went.  We arrived at the North terminal of the four main bus stations in Mexico City.  We would be leaving for Oaxaca from the TAPO station, the bus station on the east side of the city; we used the marvelous metro system to get there.  It only took one transfer and after our poor introduction to metro systems in Paris we had no trouble here.  TAPO is not in the usual tourist zone in Mexico City but we found a great 5 star kind of hotel not too far from the station with super cheap rates.  We booked it for two nights so that we could visit the Zocolo and Templo Mayor tomorrow.

Sunday January 28, 2001

We were up early and had breakfast back at the bus station since the hotel dining room was not open yet.  The metro and bus station share the same large building.  Then it was on to the metro heading to the city center.  The Zocolo was almost empty and we followed some students into the ruins of Templo Mayor.  The ruins were spectacular.  Legend said that this pyramid (and the main Aztec temple at it’s summit) had been destroyed by Cortez after the conquest of the Aztecs, with the stones being used to build the Cathedral.  However it was re-discovered in 1987 in the block diagonally adjacent to the Cathedral.  The site and its new museum have only been open to the public since 1994.  It has been excavated down 5 of the 7 layers and each pyramid’s front has been stabilized so that the Russian-doll effect is easily seen.  The Aztecs (as well as the Maya we were to discover later) built new pyramids/temples around the old ones like a new shell.  They were careful to preserve the old and not destroy it when the new was added.  Digging down through the layers the archeologists discovered much information unknown since the conquest.  They stopped the excavation at layer 5 because in this layer a whole temple was found on top of the pyramid.   After visiting the site we entered the very large museum that was built to hold all of the finds.  We only made it part way through the museum when Bill started to feel poorly.   It was back to the hotel for us.   Bill spent the rest of the day in bed.

Monday January 29, 2001 -- Oaxaca

We caught a direct run to Oaxaca.  It was only an economy-class bus, but it only made one quick stop for just long enough for a potty break and to grab some sandwiches to eat on the bus.   The 6-hour trip went quickly and we even got a view of a puff from the Popocatepetl volcano as we passed by her on the fast road. 

We found a hotel quite near the Zocolo in Oaxaca and enjoyed our dinner watching the many tourists around the plaza.  About 8 PM the Oaxaca State Marimba band played in the plaza for everyone’s enjoyment. 

Tuesday January 30, 2001

We visited the Monte Alban site with a guide.  This was the center of the Zapotec culture, settled long before the arrival of the Aztecs.  Although this site had been long abandoned before the coming of the Spaniards, the Zapotecs were only subdued long after the conquest of the Aztecs.  The tour was all in Spanish and was quite interesting.  We were told that many of the buildings had been originally roofed with palm thatch and so did not survive thru the years like the rock pyramid bases and temples.  The general populace built their homes entirely of sticks and palm so nothing much remains of them except the platforms upon which many were built.  After the tour we had an hour to wander through the ruins before our ride left to take us back down the hill to Oaxaca.  Bill and I used the time to climb the two tallest structures and have a look around.   After a leisurely lunch back in the city we visited the ex-convent of Santo Domingo that now houses the local historical museum.  Many finds from Monte Alban are displayed here and so we spent the rest of the afternoon at one of our favorite pastimes, checking out the artifacts and reading all about the local history.  The best room was the one that contained the extensive collection from tomb #7 in Monte Alban.  There was intricate gold jewelry, pottery, clear smooth crystal-like glass, and seashell decorations among the finds.   Upon leaving the museum we visited the associated chapel, which was grand and elegantly decorated with paint and gilding.

Wednesday January 31, 2001

We took an all-day tour today that stopped at many sites.  Our first stop was a long drive from Oaxaca at Agua Hiervas.  Here was an area of many warm water springs.  Actually there are many less springs today them in ancient times when the local Zapotecs used this area.  The springs had formed pretty sulfur deposits and dry waterfalls.  From here we worked our way back toward Oaxaca.  The ruins at Mitla were our next stop.  The ruins are quite small but the main building that has been excavated is a fine example of the mosaic patterns the Zapotecs formed using small building blocks on some of the wall panels.  At one time they were painted red or yellow and some paint still clings in the cracks.  The next stop along the route home was at a mescal factory and tasting room.  Much of it just tasted like firewater to me but the coffee flavored liquor mixed with condensed milk was quite yummy, with a flavor kind of close to Baley’s Cream.   We made another stop in a small village where hand loomed rugs were made in many bright colors and patterns.  The shops were quite picturesque with their many rugs displayed.  Our last stop was the small town El Tule, where a famous large tree is in front of the town church.   

Friday February 2, 2001 -- Tehuantepec

The bus ride to Tehuantepec, Thursday, was a winding down hill ride all the way from the Oaxaca valley as we descended from the mountains to almost sea level.  At several times during the downward windings we wondered if we would end up below sea level!   The town of Tehuantepec is not a tourist town.  It only has two hotels and not many more restaurants.  Bill checked us into the hotel nearest the zocolo, which turned put to be a very nice clean place run by a very pleasant lady.  The hotel had a parrot named Paco that woke us up each morning yelling “Paco” and “Hola Amigo” continuously.  We spent two nights here enjoying dinner each evening with the locals at stands set up in the area behind the city hall.  We read in the plazas and in the hotel courtyard during Friday, our day of rest.  While reading across the street from the language school three students approached us to practice their English.  We had an enjoyable visit with them using English and Spanish.   During dinner our second night, a local couple was looking for a spot to sit.   We invited them to share our table.  That proved to be most interesting as the lady was Zapotecan and her husband was quite talkative.  He told us a few Zapotec words and we talked some about her local dress.  She wore a long full satiny skirt and the bright blouse of the locals.  This was our first city where we saw distinctive local dress.

Saturday February 3, 2001

Taking the advice of our student friends, we caught the local bus to Juchitan.  There were locals on the bus that helped us to get off at the correct spot for the Centro de Camiones.  We had a four-hour wait for the bus to Tuxtla.  It was early afternoon when we left Juchitan to cross the mouth of the Strait of Tehuantepec.   The wind was up so it was a rather exciting ride as the strong cross winds buffeted the bus.  In Tuxtla we ended up in a cheap hotel across the street from the bus station, our low for this trip, but convenient to an early morning start to San Cristobal de las Casas. 

Sunday February 4, 2001 – San Cristobal

The noise of the early morning bus arrivals and the accompanying taxi horns had us up early and off to the bus station ourselves.  We enjoyed a cup of coffee and orange juice at a street side café.  Last night we had picked up rolls for breakfast to eat on our early morning bus.  The trip was only two hours but it was all up up up a snakey mountain road.  We passed cute little villages nestled in the valleys or on the hilltops.  Dried corn stalks stood in the small patchwork fields.  It was a picturesque trip. 

San Cristobal de las Casas is an old colonial city with single story red tiled roofed buildings lining the narrow streets.  Decorative churches and shady plazas are plentiful.  We checked into a charming hotel in a converted colonial home complete with a fountain in the central patio that they dipped water out of for cleaning.  Our room had been newly redone and was clean and light with two heavy blankets on the bed that were much appreciated as at this high elevation it gets cold at night.  In a tourist office that was open on Sunday we signed up for an all-day trip for tomorrow.  

Monday February 5, 2001

Today is a holiday in Mexico and it proved interesting because of a bus driver’s strike that closed down many of the major highways in the state of Chiapas.  We started out on a tour to Lagos de Montebello but about 30 minutes out of town we hit one of the roadblocks.  The tour returned to San Cristobal and 5 of us on the tour opted to go to Cañon de Sumidero instead.  We were almost all the way down the hill to the canyon when we ran into yet another of the roadblocks.  Here we waited about 1-½ hours before finally getting through.   We arrived at the panga boarding area for the trip through the canyon at 2PM and were soon scooting out in one of the fast pangas.  The trip was through the deep canyon and the panga stopped at interesting spots for us to take photos and to tell us something about the spot.  We saw some interesting waterfall formations, one that looked like a Christmas tree with the moss covered calcium deposits left by the falling water.  The panga took us all the way to the electricity producing dam at the other end of the canyon and then fast tracked us back to the launch site.  From the canyon we started the return to San Cristobal and stopped at the nearby town of Chiapa de Corzo.  There we enjoyed a wonderful sandwich from a stand in the plaza before checking out the fountain.  The fountain was built in the 16^th Century.   It contains a pool for the water inside an elaborate gazebo.  Our trip back up the hill was uneventful as it was late and the roads were all opened again.

Tuesday February 6, 2001

Again we left town heading for the Lagos Montebello and today the roads were open.  Our first stop on this tour was at an Indian village where we watched a woman make a clay pot in the traditional manner.  I purchased a small clay bowl from her.   We continued on to the Lagos area and made another stop just outside the park at the ruins of Chinkultic.  This site contains many unexcavated mounds but the tallest, that rises right next to a cenote (a large natural well), was unburied on one side.  We climbed up this pyramid for a view into the cenote and the temple ruins at its top.  A guide told us that the cenote had yielded many treasures that had been tossed into it as offerings.  The first of the Lagos de Montebello were visible from the top too.

The group of lakes and cenotes called Lagos Montebello is now a Mexican National Park. We drove into the park to view seven of the many lakes.  Several of the lakes area bright turquoise color but today the sky was gray so the colors were not as bright as they should have been, but still pretty.

On the way back to San Cristobal we stopped at a restaurant in a small town for dinner as it was getting quite late in the day.

Wednesday February 7, 2001 - Palenque

The bus trip to Palenque was another down down down trip but not as windy as the one out of Oaxaca.  Along the way we passed lots of coffee beans drying on tables, cement slabs, serapes and even curbside gutters, any place in the sun.  After checking into a hotel near the zocolo we hunted the tourist agencies for the best deal on a trip to the Mayan sites of Bonampak and Yaxchilan.  We finally settled on a tour that leaves the hotel at 6 AM tomorrow morning.

Palenque also has a city Marimba Band that plays in the plaza for a few hours each evening.

Thursday February 8, 2001

Shortly after 6 AM we were picked up at the hotel along with an Argentinean couple also staying there.  The van continued around town picking up other tourists until it was full at 12 people.  We then joined up with the other tour groups heading out to the ruins today and had a short wait until all were ready to go.  We had a police escort out to the ruins.  An hour along our way, we stopped for breakfast and then continued the rest of the way to Bonampak.  Arriving at the site about 10:30 we had about an hour and half for exploring.  The site is quite small containing only a few excavated buildings but it had several stele and 3 rooms with all walls and ceiling covered with murals.   They are in poor condition now but were fairly intact when first found and copies are found in the national museum in Mexico City.  We could still see that they contained bright colors of several shades although major parts of the paintings were missing.  The first room had the best-preserved colors; the second two rooms that we looked in, the murals were mostly shades of brown.  Two other rooms on the same level as the painted ones showed no sign of murals as all the plaster was missing.   Several of the steles in this site still contained their carved figures and glyphs; others were completely blank. 

After leaving Bonampak we rode another hour in the van before reaching the launch site for the boats that ferried us downstream to the Yaxchilan ruins.  The Usumacinta River that we traveled down is the border between Mexico and Guatemala.  It was flowing rapidly enough to form whirlpools.  The trip downstream was about 45 minutes long but the return trip took almost twice as long.  The ruin site was very large and only about 30% is excavated.  We entered the main excavated area through a passageway in one of the pyramid bases.  That was after dodging the figs that the monkeys were tossing down from the tree overhanging the opening!   The pyramid bases at this site were not very high but since the site was built into a hillside we still found many steps to climb.  Many of the bases contained their buildings and temples.  Several of the door lintels were intricately carved with figures of gods and glyphs.  Several of these have been removed to Mexico City but others proved to be too heavy for the equipment at hand so remain in place.  We returned up river to the embarkation site for “comida” (lunch) in the restaurant before the long drive back to Palenque.  The tour group enjoyed each other so much that the group reformed at 8:30 PM for coffee and cake.  Even our tour driver joined in.  We were a mixed group with folks from Mexico, England, France, Argentina, Corvalis Oregon and ourselves.  Then it was off to a restaurant for “cena” (dinner) with the whole group and we continued visiting until well after midnight. 

Saturday February 10, 2001 - Xpujil

Yesterday was a day of rest after the long day yesterday.   Reading, eating and enjoying the town of Palenque occupied our time.

Today we were again on an early bus.  It was off to the crossroads of Francisco Escarcega and then on to Xpujil.  In Xpujil we checked into one of the two hotels in town and made arrangements with a taxi to drive us around to the nearby ruins for the following two days. 

Monday February 12, 2001

Six ruins in two days was quite a feat.  These are sites not on the normal tourist route so we were the only tourists visiting many of them.   The six sites that we visited were: Calakmul, Balanku, Hormiguero, Chicanna, Becan and Xpujil.   These sites were fairly recently excavated with excavations still ongoing at several of them.  Two of the sites were quite large, (Calakmul and Hormiguero) but also the farthest from the main road, along roads that had been paved “once upon a time”.  Calakmul was one of our favorite sites of the entire trip.  We had the site mostly to ourselves and it was as large as the more popular sites of Chichen Itza or Palenque.   The other four sites were small and only a few buildings at each had been excavated but each site had something of interest.  Balanku was mostly a site of unexcavated mounds but one pyramid had been excavated and on an inner pyramid was found a large molded fresco of stucco.  It contained three tall statues of gods over 14 feet tall.  Much red, yellow and black paint still clung to the fantastic artwork.  Chicanna had only a few buildings, but the highly decorated fronts were intact exhibiting the monster mouth around the main entrances.  One of the buildings still had its roof comb standing up proudly although the original stucco and paint was missing.  Becan is the only Mayan site discovered so far that was surrounded by a dry moat.  We watched excavations underway as they were digging a building out from under the rubble.  At this site we picked up a guide who took us inside and on top of the pyramids.  Xpujil was the last site that we visited.  Although there were several excavated or partially excavated buildings only one stood out.  It was a large structure topped by three towers of a decorative nature.  The center tower still contained some of the small steps, like those on a pyramid, leading up to the tiny temple on top.  None of it was of a size that humans could have used (it was far too tiny), so was probably placed up on top of the building for decoration. 

Tuesday February 13, 2001 - Chetumal

We took the local bus to Chetumal in the morning.  It made many stops but still had us to the city around noon.  Bill found a nice hotel with air-conditioning, the kind a Mexican family would stay in.  We had enough time in the afternoon to check out the Mayan Cultural Museum.  It told a story of the Mayan life as is known today but was almost totally lacking in artifacts.  The artifacts that are found locally usually end up in the big anthropological museum in Mexico City.

Wednesday February 14, 2001 - Tulum

We took a first class bus to Tulum today arriving in the town by 2 PM after a 3-½ hour trip.  We are now in tourist territory and across the street from the bus station was a great info/internet café run by a backpacker group, (we had used similar info stands and tours in Europe two summers ago).  They directed us to cabanas on the beach near the ruins.  The cabanas were interesting round huts right on the sand, with palm roofs and twig walls.  The bed had mosquito netting draped over it that was not needed in the current dry season.  The shared bathrooms were in another hut as were the cold showers.  The sand and turquoise-colored Caribbean water was only a few steps away!  This was one of our more expensive stops but at $35 USD per night, still cheap by US standards. 

Thursday February 15, 2001

After a leisurely breakfast we walked down the beach to the Tulum ruins only to find a long line and a 45-minute wait just to get in.  So, it was off to town for us to the tour office for information, and to wait until after 2 PM when the crowds were reported to be gone.  On the way past the tourist area in search of a taxi to town, we stopped to watch an Indian group perform the Mayan flagpole dance, flying through the air as their rope unwound from the pole.

In town we stopped again at Backpacker Information to find out about visiting the Coba Ruins.  Bill also took the opportunity to check our eMail and we both checked out information on scuba certification.  We would like to return in late October’s slow season for scuba lessons.

After an enjoyable lunch in town we returned to the ruins about 2:30 to find no line. There were still some groups in the ruins but I would not call them crowded.  This site was a historically later one than the ones that we have previously visited and it showed in the less fine craftsmanship of the shaping of the large rock blocks used in the construction.  Since the buildings were originally covered with stucco and paint the poor fit of the stones would not have been visible while the buildings were in use.  One other difference that we noticed was the many round columns.  The earlier sites had many square columns but very few round ones.  This site had a spectacular view over aqua Caribbean water and is thought to have been a commercial port in ancient times. 

We walked back down the beach to the hotel, arriving in time to catch a few hours of reading before the sun set and it was too dark.  Lighting in the primitive cabanas was too dim for reading and quite sparse too. 

Saturday February 17, 2001 - Coba

After spending yesterday relaxing and reading we headed off to Coba today.   The bus to Coba dropped us off about a half mile from the ruins.  After the walk to the site there was much walking in the site as this area contained three separate excavations.  The site contained two excavated ball courts one with both rings intact; the other court was just newly excavated.  The new excavation also had three large flat pieces of rock with very clear carvings on them.  Climbing of most of the pyramids is closed off to visitors in these more visited sites, but the tallest one was open.  We climbed to the top for a great view.  Structures from other areas of the site were visible peeking above the trees from its top.  While we were on top it began to rain.  We hurried down before the steep steps became too wet and found shelter under a palm roof palapa nearby.   After the rain stopped we explored the rest of the area and returned to the bus station.  It was after 4 PM and we ate comida while we waited for the last bus to Valladolid. 

Arriving in Valladolid after dark, the bus dropped us off at the central plaza.  We soon found a restaurant where I could wait with luggage while Bill found us a hotel room.  He found us a nice room, and staying in the same hotel were Dennis and Sonya from Golendrina.  We had last seen them 2 years ago in Mazatlán before they headed south and through the Panama Canal. 

Sunday 18 February 2001 - Valladolid

Another long day and another site visited.  Today we visited the famous Mayan site of Chichen Itza.  German friends, Heinz and Roswitha, who we had met in Xpujil, drove us there.  Chichen Itza is a very large site, which has been being explored and excavated for more than 100 years.  It has many areas of reconstruction and is fixed up for tourists.  The site has lots of visitors that arrive on buses about 11 AM and tour the site in large groups with a guide.    We were only allowed to climb on two of the pyramids.  The major pyramid we climbed before much of the crowds had arrived and from it we had a grand view of the area.   The other pyramid we could climb was one inside of the main one.  The climb was up a narrow tunnel that had been excavated between the outer pyramid and the older, inner one that was buried inside.  At the top of the inner pyramid was a temple complete with a painted chac-mool and a brightly colored Jaguar throne.  The lintels above the opening were highly carved as well.

We spent the entire day exploring from the “Cenote” in the north to the “Nunnery” in the south.  Totally exhausted we stopped for a bite to eat at the entrance restaurant and returned to Valladolid by the 1630 bus.

Monday February19, 2001

Today we took a badly needed day of rest and reading in Valladolid.  I did a little shopping and purchased a pretty embroidered dress for granddaughter, Emily.  Along a section of the plaza fence the ladies had hung many of the brightly embroidered white shifts that are worn by many of the woman.  They wear these decorated white shifts that never seem to have a stain or dirt on them.  I watched several dresses being purchased by local women, from the display on the fence.

Tuesday February 20, 2001 - Merida

We took the slow bus to Merida and as a result passed through many interesting villages, towns and even one city.  We could see the hammocks hung in cottages along the way as everyone had their doors and windows open to allow the cooling breezes to enter.  Many homes were constructed of vertical sticks, sometimes on top of a low cement wall.  Most roofs were of palm thatch much like that of our cabana in Tulum. 

We arrived in Merida in the early afternoon.  After walking to the central plaza, I again waited with the luggage while Bill found us hotel room.  He found a pleasant hotel near the plaza.  As he was checking in, Dennis and Sonya, along with several other cruisers anchored at Isla Mujeres near Cancún, arrived to check in too. 

After lunch, we purchased two hammocks and a shirt for Bill, and then returned to the hotel.  There we found our friends enjoying the patio.  We joined our friends and finally found the time to catch up on tales.

Wednesday February 21, 2001

Today we took the bus tour called the Puuc Route.  The area we explored was about 1-½ hours south of Merida and we visited 5 sites.  The first four sites were small with only a few excavated structures, but we ended the trip at Uxmal, a very large site that has many structures excavated.  The four smaller sites that we saw were Labna, Xlapak, Sayil, and Kabal.  We had 30 minutes at each site so it was a fast run-in, quick look-see and then back out at each.  At Uxmal we had about 1 3/4 hours.  By the time we got to Uxmal we were wearing down but did spent about an hour exploring the site and saw the major area of it, before we collapsed in the park restaurant.  The bus had us back to Merida by 4 PM.  Again we spent the evening in the hotel Plaza visiting with the other guests.

We have decided that we are exhausted and have seen quite enough of the Yucatan, Mayan pyramids and colonial cities for this trip.  Its our style to travel slowly until exhausted and then to zip home, so now its time to return to Mazatlán.

Thursday February 22, 2001

After yesterday, today was a very slow day.  We purchased a few t-shirts and gifts in the central market, had a late lunch in the plaza while we watched the first of the Carnival parades.  Today’s parade was the children’s parade with many pre-school and kindergarten age groups marching in wonderful costumes.  Of course, each group had its own loudspeaker playing music for them to dance to.  There was little visiting in the hotel plaza tonight as we fell to sleep quite early.

Saturday February 24, 2001

Yesterday we visited the small archeological museum in Merida.  Again the museum had few artifacts as the major ones had been taken to Mexico City’s big museum, but the legends and explanations were quite good.  In the evening was the second Carnival parade.  This was a parade of the many older school groups. 

We returned to Mazatlán today.  We had a morning flight out of Merida to Mexico City, then a 4-hour layover until the quick hop back to Mazatlán. 

After returning to Mazatlán we enjoyed more Carnival activities.  The big fireworks display was tonight so we chose to have dinner at a seaside restaurant where we could eat and watch.  We were far enough away that the lower level color explosions were not visible but the large ones high in the sky ones could be seen quite well.