A Weird Mexican Hostel

After the failed sailing trip I took the ferry back to Cancun and a bus to Tulum. Here I stayed in one of the strangest hostels so far on this trip. Their checkin process, restaurant, bar and checkout process were all automated and self service. The checkin process I can somewhat understand but after this it just got a bit strange. For example for the free breakfast you had to logon to the computer, choose what you wanted and print a receipt. Then you hand this receipt in at the restaurant and you get your food. I got a bit of a surprise the first morning I did this. I ordered the scrambled eggs and toast. Here's what I got:

Cook it yourself scrambled eggs and toast

The sailing trip that almost didn't happen and then didn't happen

After Cuba I returned to Cancun and took a ferry to Isla Mujeres. The reason was to meet up with Ivo, an Austrian guy that I met through couchsurfing. He has been sailing around the Caribbean for over 2 years and 6 months ago he bought his own boat, 'Imago'. He sailed solo from Miami to Cuba and then onto Mexico. Now he was planning a 2-3 week trip from Mexico to Belize and finishing in Rio Dulce in Guatemala. He was looking for some crew for this trip, well i think more so for some company as he was perfectly capable of doing the trip solo. I randomly met a welsh guy from couchsurfing in Cancun so both of us went to meet Ivo to see if he thought we were suitable candidates for crew. After a few days getting to know each other and Imago we decided we'd make the trip together. The next few days we spent preparing for the trip, getting to know Imago, cooking dinner on board and generally just hanging out.

Dinner on Imago

Sailing 101

There were 3 other boats at the marina planning a similar trip so the plan was to sail south together. Then we encountered a problem, the weather forecast predicted a change in the winds over the next few days. Generally this wouldn't be a problem but we only had a 3 week time slot to make this trip. Ivo was due to fly to Cuba in April where he would sail another boat to Guatemala for its owner. He couldn't risk being stuck at sea and missing this flight so to our disappointment we had to cancel the trip.

Sunset at the Marina

Two days later I was on the ferry to Cancun from where I planned to go north to Holbox when I got an email from Ivo saying that the trip was back on if I was still interested. So back to Isla Mujeres, more preparations, checking maps, checking GPS, checking the weather forecast and buying supplies.

Map Time

On the morning the March 22nd we set sail hoping to reach Cozumel that night. Sailing was smooth even though we were going against the tide and against the wind but the problem was we were going at about 3 knots where we needed to be at 4-5. Otherwise we'd be night sailing to Cozumel. Then disaster struck, our sail ripped. This sounds worse that it was, it wasn't that bad more so the consequences for our trip were bad. There was a part of the sail that had previously been repaired and now it had ripped. The problem for us was that now we couldn't use the full sail so we were now down to 2 knots which meant we'd never make it to Guatemala in time, plus not a great omen for a sailing trip to rip the sail 3 hours into a 3 week trip!


So once again we decided to abandon the trip and make our way back to Isla Mujeres. We cooked some burgers and played the German version of settlers. My sailing career had ended before it started. Yo no soy marinero.

Imago minus her sail

Mayan Ruins, Guns, Drugs and Mexican Police

After a few days relaxing by the pool in our hostel at Merida we hired a car to visit some of the nearby ruins. The first half of the day was pretty much uneventful, everything went as planned. We made it to the ruins at Uxmal and spent a few hours exploring.

Ruins at Uxmal

Nothing around for miles...

At this point we realised that we'd had our fill of Maya ruins so we decided to bypass the rest of the ruins and go to the Loltun caves. The caves were impressive and we were able to walk 2km into the caves although we had to be accompanied by a tour guide. Carbon dating of artifacts found in the caves show that humans used the caves 2,500 years ago. There were also some murals still viewable on the walls. Looks like Banksy maybe of Mayan decent.

Banksy?

Our journey home was when things got more interesting. We started passing lots of pickup trucks with trailers, some with horses crowded into the back, some with people and some with both. We soon came across a fair, well I'm not really sure what to call it. But lots families, horses, bulls, food stalls, drink, music and a big rickety arena in the center. We were the only tourists there so everyone was very curious about us, lots of smiles, lots of holas and lots of questions.

Mexican Bull Ring

I won't go into detail but lets just say it was fairly cruel and the bull didn't have any chance. They dragged the bull out and started preparing for the next one. There was about 20 bulls outside waiting for their 15 minutes of fame. We still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us so we decided it was best to get moving.

Long road home

About 1 hour from Merida we came across a police checkpoint. As I was driving they wanted to see my ID and papers for the car. Everything was in order so I knew we had nothing to worry about, unless the mexican police were looking for a bribe.


After inspecting my drivers license and confirming that the car rental papers were good the police guy spent the next few minutes asking me if I had any drugs or any guns. He seemed surprised and disappointed that I had neither, he even suggested that maybe I'd have a gun with me for protection. Then things started to get a bit strange. A few more police guys came over, some obviously more senior than others. The original guy searched the boot, search the bags, searched under the car seats basically searched everything and questioned everyone else in the car, searching their bags, searching their pockets. He wasn't particularly friendly either.


And while all of this was going on the police guy that appeared to be the most senior was talking to me in a combination of English and Spanish. Me practicing my Spanish and him practicing his English. He was calling his mates over and they were getting involved, interested to practice English, hear about my travels and laugh at my Spanish.
The guy who was doing the questioning and searching didn't appear to happy that his colleagues were laughing and joking with us. Eventually he concludes that everything is good and we are free to go. The other police continue talking, attempting to teach us words in Mayan and laughing at our attempts to speak in Mayan. Finally I ask if its OK for us to go and they say of course, they return my ID and papers for the car and tell us to enjoy our time in Mexico. I was tempted to ask them for a photo but figured it was best not.


We passed a guy sleeping outside a shop as we approached Merida so we doubled back and slowed down for a photo.

Siesta!

San Cristobal, Zapatistas, Bandits and Palenque

After Oaxaca my next stop was San Cristobal de las Casas. San Cristobal is a highland valley in Chiapas and was one of the four places that the Zapatista rebels choose to launch their revolution in 1994.

San Cristobal de las Casas

I spent a few days exploring the old town and also watched two mexican movies in the cultural cinema. The first was a documentary about the Zapatistas which was very interesting as until this time my knowledge of the Zapatistas was limited to that provided by the Mexico Lonelyplanet guide. The other was a mexican science fiction movie, the name of which I can't remember.


I hired a motorbike and visited some of the nearby indigenous mountain villages. Next I took a bus at 3:45pm to Palenque expecting to arrive around 9pm that night. This journey was one of the stranger bus journeys that I've taken on this trip. After a few hours of driving we encountered a military checkpoint, like all police and military I've encountered in Mexico they were heavily armed. Their search of the bus was fairly thorough, even involved checking the air conditioning vents. For some reason they ignored me completely but some of the other passengers had all of their belongings searched.


After about 30 minutes they decided to let us proceed and then we stopped again. This time the driver made an announcement in Spanish, most of which I understood. For our safety we were going to wait for 2 more buses and he would have to turn of the lights in the bus to save the battery. That was it, he didn't feel the need to expand further on this. At this stage it was about 9pm and we were somewhere in the jungle parked at the side of the road with the engine and lights off. After an hour we started driving again, I noticed that we were now 3 buses with a federal police car escorting us and another behind our convoy of buses. We made it to San Cristobal at 12am without any further problems.


The next day I got talking to some locals and asked what this was all about. The increased military presence and checkpoints was due to ongoing issues between the military and the zapitistas. The escort from the federal police was because of bandits robbing tourist busses on the particular stretch of road through the jungle. Thankfully with our police escort we didn't encounter any problems and the Maya temples were worth the trip to Palenque. The Palenque temples are problably my favorite of all the Maya ruins I've seen in Mexico.

Palenque Ruins in Mexico

So far my favorite of the Mayan ruins in Mexico

Art in Oaxaca, Mexico

About a year ago when in Dali, China I was asked if I'd like to create something for an art exhibition in Kunming. It was all fairly random how it came about. After some thought I declined the opportunity because i felt I had no time, no ideas for what to do and I suppose I was a little intimidated as there were lots of real artists from all over the world exhibiting their work.


Well almost a year I unknowingly ended up creating something for an exhibition in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Lino Print in an Exhibition in Oaxaca.

The story isn't as interesting or as random as China but here's what happened. By chance I came across an art studio in Oaxaca and got talking to the ower. When I called around I really liked the place and the artists work. There was lots of printing, silkscreen and lino both of which I am a fan. I met some interesting people there too so I decided I'd spend a few days there and work on a lino print. I figured it was a good opportunity to do something creative and also practice some Spanish.


I had plenty of sketches from my trip to choose from but I choose an old sketch that I did a few years ago based a photo I took on the Aran Islands. In heinsight this probably seemed a bit weird to everyone there, Oaxaca is a very cultural, artistic and inspiring place yet I was there doing a print of a boat scene from Ireland.

Armando!

In general I had a good understanding of what Armando was saying to me throughout the two days, I was probably understanding about 60% of the words in each sentence. Combining that with facial expressions, hand gestures and the context in which it was said I had a good idea what was going on. At the end of my last day when my prints were drying and I was cleaning up Armando said something to me.

The finished prints.

I thought understood but I figured I must be confusing something. I was pretty sure "cual" meant "which" and I new "exhibition" was "exhibition". After some back and fourth I realised I had understood correctly. He wanted to know which print was going in the exhibition. I'd seen the posters and flyers for their exhibition but I never realised there was a possibility that what I was working on would be in it.

Exposición Ishuakara

If you are reading this and you are in Oaxaca, you can check out the exhibition in cafe cafe on Col.Reforma, H. Colegio Militar 1010

10 things you may not know about Mexico

1. They don't eat or sell Burritos. (well not in mexico city anyways)
2. They do drink Corona and Sol but without a slice of Lime.
3. Their food is spicy, very spicy, spicer than any food I've had in Asia.
4. They like to drink beer with salt, lemon and chilli sauce. Weird.
5. They eat a lot of Tacos and you can buy them everywhere day or night.
6. Tortillas appear to accompany every meal.
7. Mexico has two of the world's three largest pyramids.
8. They love Mexican soap operas.
9. If you do not want a full box of cigarettes you can just buy one cigarette.
10. They have metro carriages that are only for girls and children.