Category: Mexico

Rosie and The Operator are headed for Mexico!   We have never been there before and are not sure what to expect.  Our knowledge of Mexico is limited to the news and TV which tell us what a third world country it is full of drug dealers, cartel and folk that want to rip off tourists.

The Operator reigned Rosie in and made her calculate distances rather than just joining the dots.  Crikey..The Operator was right, Rosie trimmed down the travelling, quality rather than quantity.  Neither of us wanted to spend all our time on the road.

We were however staying right on the edge of Cancun Parque de las Palapas which was a big town square with heaps of food vendors around the edge, live music started at 9.00pm and even though there were not a lot of people around it was quite festive….not a bad atmosphere for a Monday night said The Operator.  This place would fair heave on the weekend.

The town of Tulum itself is home to 28,000 people that are mainly hippy nomads from around the world, tourists, locals and folk that work in the hospitality industry.

Each Mayan city had a specific purpose, and Tulum was no exception.  This site was a seaport, trading mainly in turquoise, jade and obsidian.  As well as being the only city built on a coast, Tulum was one of only a few protected by a wall.

we arrived at the main acropolis of Coba, it was majestic and soared steeply up into the grey sky.  You could climb this pyramid to the top and The Operator was not going to pass this opportunity up, no matter whatever the weather.  Rosie said he was mad, Rosie reminded him that three tourists had died falling from this pyramid as they descended…and you can bet they didn’t climb it in the middle of a hurricane.

Rosie and The Operator are in Valladolid, a gem of a town known as The Mayan Pearl of The East.  It  is going to be a great hub for us to explore the area from for the next 4 nights. With a population of 74,000 people it is the third largest city in the Yucatan yet still retains a provincial, unhurried feel about it. 

From this vantage point atop the pyramid of Ek Balam, The Operator also snapped Rosies favourite view. Looking down the steep stairs with Rosie at the bottom are the images of the twin palaces in the temple grounds surrounded by the jungle that had swallowed them for hundreds of years. 

We are one of the first to get our tickets and enter the grounds of Chichen Itza.  Nothing is being given away as we walk along the 200 meter leafy path way towards the site and then, we burst into open ground and Rosie’s jaw drops.

Driving into Izamel, you wouldn’t believe it, it is yellow!  La Ciudad Amarillo, The Yellow City, a golden yellow that burns bright on a sunny day and complements the bright blue sky and scudding white clouds.

Merida is a town steeped in history with narrow streets and broad plazas.  It is just big enough to be able to cater for the amount of tourists that visit so you don’t feel like every time you turn around you see another tourist.  It has a lovely friendly vibe and whilst we were here we were asked numerous times by random strangers if we needed help to find anything.

Welcome to Campeche, home of 220,000 people and the capital of its own same named State, its also a UNESCO listed seaside beauty of a town. Before long we are on the seaside Malecon driving into the city. 

Campeche is sizzling hot, there is not cooling breeze off the sea here, the barometer is aiming for 36c today and Rosie and The Operator are out and about early in the coolness of the morning to visit the walled bastions that make this city and the sights  in between.    Later in the day when it gets to warm to comfortably trek around we will hop in the car for a drive up the Malecon to visit some fishing ports.

It’s a 9.5 hour drive from Campeche to San Cristobal de las Casas so we decide to break it up into two sections.  Tonight we are over nighting in Palenque, pretty much at the halfway point.  It’s a hot humid steamy place and we have opted to stay out of the gritty industrial town in favour of one of the many jungle hotels that line the road to the ruins that are in the neighborhood.

Arriving in the San Cristobal de las Casas we are very excited, the light is different, soft and diffused, not harsh and bright.  It feels like you are in a valley because the blue hills that ring the town are the furthest your eye can see making you feel closed in. 

Hold on, we were in the car stopped at an intersection. The Operator looks at Rosie and says,’do you feel that?’….the car was swaying and jigging….no, said Rosie, it cant be….oh yes it is said the Operator, welcome to Juchitan.  When The Operator looked it up online later…sure enough at that exact time a 5.2 earthquake had struck.

Oaxaca is the epicenter of Indigenous Mexican art and culture and home to a vibrant arts and crafts scene, a unique savory cuisine and an awesome city to explore.  Rosie and The Operator cannot wait to get out and about.

Wowza, just wowza!  Rosie was not quite prepared for this introduction to San Miguel.  The whole town is laid out below her….and it is stunningly beautiful.  The soft pink Parroquia  with its tall pointy spires is the star of the show and the rest of the town just radiates colour and adventure out from that.  In the distance is a hazy ring of mountains and the flat grey of the lakes.

San Miguel de Allende is not about all the sights you can see or the amount of museums you can visit.  Technically there is very few of these in the compact Centro Historico.  San Miguel, the city itself, as a whole, IS the principle sight!  This town surprises on every street you turn down with its hidden character and quirky Mexican beauty.  Rosie can’t wait to share it with you.

Guadalupe is like a slice of heaven, it’s so quiet and peaceful as we wander the streets. The continual roar of traffic and buses that is the soundtrack of the Old Town is completely absent here. You can actually hear the birds and the flow of water in the river which we were down by today.