Camping in The Clouds

I survived my first journey as a lone traveller safe and sound, and arrived in San Cristobal after a very uneventful night bus from Oaxaca. Saying farewell to Greg proved harder than I thought it would, not only because we'd got on so well and had such a great trip, but also because he was my last piece of England out here; the last piece of England that I am going to see for at least six months. So I got a little teary and he got a little awkward, but all in all I think I kept it together pretty well until I got onto the bus and could bury my face in my double chocolate chip cookie. Never down play the benefits of comfort eating.

In San Cristobal, however, I was quickly comforted as I was met by the beautiful chica, Adriana, one of my closest friends from my first term of university who I haven't seen since she returned home from her exchange last January. In true Em style, I was rather animated about the ordeal and was so, so excited to catch up on all the gossip of the past year and a half. I've said it before, but finding little pieces of home away from home all over the world really is one of the joys of traveling. For me, home isn't necessarily a fixed place, but instead it's a feeling you find inside any person you love and feel comfortable with. It's those little perks that make these adventures so addictive.

Adriana took this just after I arrived.

I stayed just one night at Adriana's house before we set off for the jungle the next day. Adriana and Manu (her boyfriend) had picked a place for us to camp in the heart of the jungle called Las Nubes, which required around four and a half hours in various modes of transport to get there. In the morning Adriana and I had been teaching an English class in a rural community about a hour and a half drive form the city, which meant we were in a bit of a rush, and by the time we'd finished a quick lunch of roast chicken (priorities!) we were already setting off pretty late. It turns out this would then cause the start of our adventure to begin long before we arrived at our destination campsite.

We were about 10km when we arrived in a rural community near Las Nubes in the dark, with little money and no means to get to our destination due to the only connecting bridge being under construction. We had been kicked off the bus by the driver who told us that 'el puente' (the bridge), wasn't far away. LIES. We ended up having to negotiate with a family of locals, who tried to extort us for all we were worth for a lift either to Las Nubes or the bridge. We even debated staying in a room that they offered to rent us for the night, but in the end, due to a combination of mistrust and Manu's expertise on all things nature related, we decided to risk getting a lift to the bridge, camp out there for the night and carry on the next day. So we jumped in the back of the 'helpful' family's pick up truck (for the fee of 100 pesos) and were off.

Although by this point I was exhausted, rather scared and pissed at the situation, there is still very little that compares to the feeling of riding in the back of a pick-up truck after a long day, the warm rainforest air suddenly de-sticking your sweaty clothes from your back and making you feel alive again. Just don't open your mouth... I learned that the hard way.

We spent the night by the river, the extremes of the intense humidity and pounding rain each preventing the other from driving me completely insane. I've come to find that Mexico is a very extreme kind of place in many aspects, be it the weather or the people. It's taking a little getting used to.

Everything seems so much less sinister in the light. Turns out our camping spot was pretty beautiful once the sun rose.

The next morning we got ready pretty sharpish as the night watchman of the bridge has offered to give us a ride to Las Nubes when his shift finished in the early hours. So another pick-up truck ride and a short walk later, we arrived, tired and drenched in sweat, but (for me, at least) utterly relieved. It's not that I didn't enjoy our first night camping, it was just nice to finally feel safe again and I think the feelings of uncertainty are always perpetuated in an unfamiliar setting (such as being in another continent, on the other side of the world, in the jungle...)

Staying in Las Nubes was a really relaxing time. We swam and slept and explored and I had a lot of time for writing which is always lovely. We ate fresh mangos from the trees (Adriana told me that mangos here are like a religion; I'm totally converted) and bought beans from a little old lady down the road who thought we were nuts for coming out here with so little money and food, and at night time I lay in a sea of fireflies staring at the clearst sky I've seen in a very long time. I think it's all too easy to forget how breath-taking the stars can be.

There wasn't much space for swimming because the current was so strong and the rapids were crazy, so we made the most of a little area by the campsite which was sheltered by trees. It was pretty incredible to have the place to ourselves.

I can't tell you how happy I am that we had Manu as a guide through the woods, because there is no way we would have been able to find our way in and out alone!

Yes mum, I actually cooked! The guys at the campsite were really confused when we turned down food because we has our own and asked if we were vegetarians... We obviously looked like the crazy hippy traveler types.

Las Nubes is famous for it's waterfalls, and there is no debate as to why. Walking through the forest alongside the river, you can see exactly just how dramatic these falls are, with huge rapids and twenty foot drops appearing almost from no where, weaving in and out of a valley carved through the dense greenary. There's a walk of just less than a kilometer that you can take up to a mirador (look-out point), from which you can see just how vast these rapid and waterfalls become once they escape the forest.

View from our campsite.

 From on top of the mirador. As always things never look quite as good in pictures, but man it was stunning.

Our third adventure of our three day trip began when the time finally came to go home. Unfortunately we'd severely underestimated the amount of money we'd need to get back and I'd some how managed to lose 100 pesos, meaning that we had to walk much of the 6km walk back to the bridge. On an average day 6km would be nothing to me, but with all the camping gear, lack of food/water and the serious heat, it was proving a bit more of a challenge. Luckily, a family on their way to the next town picked us up and took us most of the way, and in that moment I've never wanted to hug someone so much. So after trundling along in a car with seven people, but built for five, that had almost no windows or seatbelts (pretty much no-one uses seat belts here) and a short walk and another combi ride, we reached the bridge, to catch another combi to Comitan (about three hours away), where we caught our final hour long combi ride back to San Cris. Journey's like this are really common out here and I actually quite enjoy the fact that no-one really seems to be in a rush to get anywhere. It's qutie refreshing to take the pace down a few pegs from London.

So we made it home, safe and sound. I showered, we ate some delicious quesadillas at a really cool place down the road and then slept for about a bazillion hours. And aside from the GIANORMOUS bug bites I'd received, we'd done it all pretty much unscathed too.

I'm not sure how well you can make that out, but that bite was basically the size of my entire thigh (bigger than my hand). We spectulated a lot, possibly a spider or a really nasty ant, but basically, I'm just very allergic to tropical bugs.

Oaxaca, Oaxaca

This blog post is named in honour of the man who roamed around the city playing his guitar singing his own song called, 'Oaxaca, Oaxaca', whilst trying to sell his CD. I wish to commemorate his efforts and determination, due to the fact that the song contained only one repeated chord and only one phrase, which was indeed, 'Oaxaca, Oaxaca'. Bless him.

I'm aware that it has been a little while since I last wrote. Since my last detailed post, Greg and I have parted ways (sad face) and I have been living in and exploring San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. It's been a rather crazy week and a bit and there's still a bit left to tell from Oaxaca, so there's going to be a fair amount of writing coming your way in the next few days.

After a few days in Oaxaca, it became clear to Greg and I that due to Greg's flight in Cancún, it wouldn't be possible for us to stick to our original plan, so as I posted at the time, we decided to stay an extra few days in Oaxaca before parting ways. We decided, therefore, to visit some of the touristy sights ourselves without taking a tour (as we originally intended), simply because we share the opinion that you get a much better experience that way, plus you can take as long as you want and it generally ends up costing less.

After Monte Albán we decided to visit a big tree in a place called Tule that we'd heard a lot of people talking about. Now I'm aware that doesn't sound terribly exciting and in all honesty, it wasn't, but considering it cost us very little for transport and entry (entrance was 50p, so really we couldn't complain) and it could potentially be the oldest known tree in the world, I didn't feel too disappointed. I mean, although it was just a tree, it was a really flipping impressive tree. We also had fun reading the translations of ' Está prohibido cortar las ramas del árbol' (it's forbidden to cut the branches of the tree) written around the tree in French 'Il est interdit de couper les', English 'Forbidden, branches of thee tree', and what we could only guess was meant to be Japanese.

Árbol del Tule

Our next trip was supposed to be to 'Hierve el Agua' which literally means, 'the water boils', ironic considering their also known as 'the frozen waterfalls'. However, the night before Greg and a friend Dave who we met in our hostel dorm, decided to try and determine who was the most hardened drinker over a few games of cards, and Greg ended up consuming so much tequila that the sheer idea of movement made him want to be sick, so he gave me his blessing to head off with Dave, whilst he stayed in bed. We had quite the adventure to get there, as we had to take a shared taxi for the first half of the journey, which involved me sitting on Dave's knee in the front seat of a taxi without a back or passenger seat window, and then changing in the the town Mitlan (about an hour later) to the back of the pick up truck for the next hour or so. All of which are completely legal in Mexico?!

All the safety...

It turns out that the falls are actually formed by natural gisers of water flowing over the mountain sides for centuries, which have hardened into some kind of rock formation (I'm not much of a geography student!) and due to all the different shades and colours of the mierals, it looks like frozen waterfalls. On the top of the waterfalls, the gisers have formed natural infinity pools, which are pretty darn cold, but provide an amazing view of the surrounding mountain ranges and greenery. In short, it's an absolutely stunning place.

 

In this picture, I'm swimming in the infinity pool on top of the 'waterfall' in the next picture.

View from the facing waterfall.

The whole area is situated in a huge mountain range. You could literally see for miles and it was a bloody long way down.

When we eventually managed to tear ourselves away, we discovered that we had to head back via a different route. Basically, the two villages next to Hierve el Agua have had some kind of fall out, which meant that the residents from each can't pass through the other one, even when driving tourists through. So instead of taking a much more direct route back, we had to take a windy road over a huge mountain, still in the back of a pick up truck. Scenic, yes, but potentially life threatening as well.

Quite possibly the most Mexican picture I've ever taken. All that's missing is their owner in a sombero, who I just missed out of the shot. Hanging on for dear life and photography are two difficult skills to combine.

We intended to spend our last day simply chilling out, watching some football and eating lots of Mole, however as things tend to go with me, we weren't quite able to stick to the plan. It turns out that when we crossed the border at Tijuana, we were supposed to receive tourist papers, that in order to legally be in the country, we were supposed to carry with us at all times, which we weren't given. Not only that, but the woman didn't even check our passports, so we had no stamps, thus no evidence to prove when exactly we had entered the country. Greg had been briefly checking out some stuff for his flight when all this information came to light, and we figured that we better take a trip to the immagration office, because we were basically illegal immigrants. Seriously, how does one accidentally enter into a country illegally, that is free to enter and not realise for nearly a month? 

Anyway it turned out we didn't really have much to worry about, because Mexicans being Mexicans, although a little confused at how we'd managed to get ourselves into such a ridiculous situation, were really chill about the whole thing and gave us information on what to do. And although I am yet to cross the border at Guatemala and return to Mexico to get some proper documentation, Greg has already made it home fine and dandy, so thank goodness for that! I'll hopefully be getting around to sorting out my stuff at some point this week, I'll just have to try my best not to get arrested between now and then, because deportation a month before I begin my studies would be rather inconvenient.

Change of Plan

Funny story kids... Instead of parting ways in just over a week, Greg and I will now be parting ways TOMORROW. Scary stuff.

Basically, it turns out that getting from San Cristobal to Cancún takes a really long time, so for the sake of not wasting too many days, Greg has decided to head back to Mexico City to fly to Cancún from there, whilst I'll head on to stay with my friend in Chiapas. It freaked me out a tiiiiiiny bit, just because I hadn't quite mentally prepared myself for being alone in Mexico yet (by alone I mean without anyone from the UK) and I'm a bit nervous about having to start using Spanish full time. Plus saying goodbyes are always rubbish.

However, we're hoping to end our trip in the right way tonight with some Mezcal and drinking games, in the usual travellers fashion. And for our last day trip? Some frozen waterfalls in a village a couple hours away from here. Not too shabby eh?

Mole and Mezcal

15/06/2014

Yesterday, we arrived in our third to last destination of the trip, Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca, like that yummy Mexican restaurant in London). It's an incredibly beautiful city, which is clearly popular with tourists from all over the place, as there is a hostel or hotel on just about every street corner. It's another colonial looking city, this time with all the buildings painted funky bold colours, and in true Mexican style, there are plenty of quaint yet rather impressive looking churches dotted around. Even the somewhat dilapidated ones manage to boast their own unique sort of beauty.

As always on our first day in a new city, we just set off exploring, the map under our noses and cameras in hand. It's not a particularly big place, so it didn't take us too long to get around and we had plenty of time to explore the markets. We ate an amazing lunch of chicken enchiladas and mole; mole being the famous sauce from this region. I don't exactly know what it's made out of - just spices and things I assume - but I had the red one today and it was GORGEOUS. There are seven different types so I'm on a mission to try as many as possible before we leave.

We also decided to try out some of the local liquors, the most famous being mezcal. I confess I'm yet to give it a go as its quite a strong one (from the smell it seems a bit like tequila or ouzo) but Greg seemed to enjoy it so much that he bought a bottle to take home, whilst I treated myself to a bottle of chocolate-mint creme liquor for just £1! It was super yummy too.

Later in the evening we headed out to a restaurant on the Zocalo (the main square) for some food and to watch the Argentine vs Bosnia game. I SO wanted Bosnia to win it too, but at least they put up a good fight! We were also lucky enough to catch a lightning storm from the roof of our hostel, which was pretty damn epic.

16/06/2014

We decided to spend today visiting another archeological sight called Monte Albán, just a 20 minute bus journey from the city centre. It is in an absolutely stunning location, high up on a mountain top with incredible 360 degree panoramic views. The site isn't as big as Teotihuacan so doesn't take as long to explore, but in my opinion, is just as much fun to look around. I'd seriously recommend a visit, it is a truly beautiful place.

We compared leg tans whilst taking the rest at the top of some high steps... I think I have a special gift of being the palest person EVER.

A Week in Mexico City

The last week in Mexico City has been really mad! Unlike us, my friend Edgar is super organised, so with his help we managed to pack a lot into just a few days.

Chapultepec Castle

The castle is at the top of a big hill in the middle of a forest overlooking the city, which makes for beautiful, if not a little smoggy, views over the greenery and the city. Inside you can see the museum which documents much of modern Mexican history and also contains preserved rooms of how the castle would have looked whilst it still served as a home.

The Zoo

Yes we went to another zoo! This time is was FREE and although not as big (or as lax on safety) as Guadalajara, they do have pandas which is awesome. Also quite a lot of the animals weren't actually there, a little odd perhaps but we figured maybe they'd just gone on their summer jollies.

Street Performers

I'm not sure how well you can make it out in this picture but in short, these guys are mental. They climb a 30ft (ish) pole with no harnesses or anything, tie themselves to it the swing around it in circles until they reach the bottom, WHILST playing music... It was both a bizarre and terrifying experience. 

The Anthropology Museum

If I'm honest, when Edgar told us that the anthropology museum was a must I was a little skeptical about what could be so great about it. However it turns out that it's actually pretty impressive, with all sorts of Mayan and Aztec etc artifects and a really detailed description of those periods in Mexican history, which for me as a history geek is super cool.

The Angel of Independence

This monument is literally right in the middle of a roundabout with no crossings and about six lanes, so you have to either get a taxi or run for your life to get there. Oh and also, Mexican roundabouts don't just go one way... Safe to say we decided to just appreciate it from afar.

Teotihuacan

On Wednesday we decided to be really touristy and headed to the ruins at Teotihuacan. It really is an incredible sight, with pyramids which are so old that nobody actually knows who originally built them or settled there. It's pretty hard to climb too, especially as we're a clumsy asthmatic and a cripple with vertigo. We survived though!

Frida Kahlo Museum

On thursday, we spent the day exploring Coyacan. We started out by visiting the Frida Kahlo museum, which despite my lack of knowledge about her, turned out to be really interesting. The entrance fee for students was just $40 (£2) and the museum is actually situated inside her house, in which she was born, lived and died. Part of the exhibit is home to some of her works of art, another part her house left as it was, so you could really get a sense of how she and Diego Rivera lived.

Hanging Out

That afternoon we met up with some of Edgar's friends for some tacos, beer and football, because (as you're probably aware) it was the first World Cup match between Brazil and Croatia. We watched the game at his friend Frank's house, then headed off to our friend Sofia's sister's place to chill on the roof, before heading out to her brother's pox bar (pox is a special type of spirit from the Chiapas region).

Being Ill and Eating Crickets

So yesterday was supposed to be the day we left Mexico City for Oaxaca, just six hours south of here. However, after a standard burrito lunch and a few days of not feeling so great, sickness finally hit me and we decided not to risk the venture until (hopefully!) today. In the evening some of Edgar's friends came round, so I forced myself downstairs to be social. They told me that locally they call my illness 'Moctezuma's Revenge', Moctezuma being the last Aztec ruler before the conquistadors came and took over, as it only really affects tourists, especially white Europeans. 

Despite my delicate state it turned out to be quite a fun evening, and I think I'm beginning to understand Mexican Spanish better... I also, after much faffing, managed to stomach one of the table snacks which was a bowl full of crickets. I feel like I should try everything once, and to be honest they didn't taste all that bad, but I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon!

My New Home

You'll be happy (and some of you somewhat relieved) to know that I LOVE Mexico City. I won't lie, I'm not a huge fan of the north of Mexico, solely for the heat factor mind you, and I was starting to doubt whether I'd be able to manage living in this country for 8+ months. It turns out however, that Mexico City is much cooler, due to its high altitude and *insert other clever geographical sounding terms here*. Funnily enough, after my minor struggles in Peru and Bolivia with altitude sickness, I hardly even noticed it this time round, despite being over 2,000 metres up (good ol' Wikipedia).

We're currently staying with my friend Edgar, who is one of four Mexican friends I made in my first term at university as they were on exchange to King's. It's so cool to be able to see him again and catch up!! Especially now the tables have turned and I'm visiting his home country. He lives in an area called Xochillico, which is about an hour metro ride from the city centre and like the total babe he is, has offered to let me stay here until I find my own place to live.

In true travelling fashion, we spent our first day wandering around the city centre, visiting all the big land marks and tourist sights. One thing I wasn't prepared for is the sheer size of the city; it's SO BIG. Unlike London, there is breathing room in between buildings, as well as huge empty plazas and spacious parks to walk through. It is also clear that Mexicans are very proud of being Mexican, because almost every monument, official building and pub is adorned with one or more national flag (this could arguably be a world cup thing, but I do get the sense that this national pride goes beyond football). Unfortunately my camera decided to take the day off so the pictures aren't the best.

Close up of the front of the Cathedral.

Rather sinister-looking shot of the whole thing. I think you can still make out the grandeur though.

Palacio de Bellas Artes, super posh inside. According to Greg it's 1940's style Art Deco.

All the Mexican pride!

We also stumbled upon a tequila museum, which we decided not to venture into - how fun can a tequila museum be without tasters? However the gift shop was cool, with literally 100s of types of tequila covering the walls, which made me feel a little like a bull in a china shop. Luckily my clumsy nature took a back seat for the afternoon and disaster was averted.

I've never seen Greg's eyes light up like they did when he was surrounded by tequila.

The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring more of the cities monuments, which is much more interesting when you know some of the background stories behind them (thankyouverymuch Edgar!). We also decided to take a trip to the 'Ciudadela', a traditional and rather touristy market to buy souvenirs and presents for people back home.

Rainbow flag crosswalk outside the Museum of Equality :D

Monumento a la Revolución.

I'm annoyed that this is blurry, but you can see some of the funky hand-made pottery.

In the evening we headed back to meet Edgar, who took us to a small town called 'Tlalpan' (I think/hope!) for the evening to grab some food and yummy Mexican beer. The area was really pretty, with a central park and a small bandstand, surrounded by beautiful purplely-blue lighting.

Naturally, we seized the opportunity to take a boyband shot.

Aside from the fact that the waitress didn't understand me when I asked for 'una cerveza', and laughed at me, it was a wonderful day and really exciting to explore my new home. And, I mean, lI have loads of time to get into Spanish before I start uni in a month and a half... Right?!

Breakfast Beers and Gay Giraffes

We spent just three nights in Guadalajara, but could have easily made it a week. For a city that didn't get the highest recommendations or write ups, we really enjoyed our stay there! Perhaps locals don't like to recommend such a touristy city, we're not really sure.

Most of our time was spent exploring the city centre and enjoying the local cuisine i.e. Tacos and Mexican beer.

Breakfast beers!

My first real Mexican tacos, yuuummy.

There's loads of stunning, colonial architecture to see, as well as quirky street art and sculptures. It's quite the city for travellers who don't really want to spend money, as most of the things to see are free and the museums cost mere pennies to get into. 

Giant squids just outside the university.

Loved this piece of street art, I'll upload a better picture when I get my camera photos online.

Mammoth skeleton in the Museo Regional de Guadalajara!!

On our last day we decided to take a trip to the zoo, which was A-MAY-ZING. Health and safety over here really isn't like back home; basically the logic is dont be an idiot and you'll be fine. This means that you can do loads of cool stuff like go into an open monkey enclosure and have them climb all over you, or stroke a giraffe over the fence of its enclosure (which was especially cool for me as they are my favourite!!) I would definitely recommend a visit to the zoo if you are ever in Guadalajara, it's just 7 pesos (35p) on the bus and standard entry is 95 pesos (£5) and it's the biggest in Latin America!

Greg's new monkey friend trying to steal his juice.

 I LEGIT FED A GIRAFFE IT WAS AWESOME.

On the last night we also stumbled upon a huge celebration in the square on our way home, which turned out to be Guadalajara Pride! We didn't really hang about because we were so exhausted from our day at the zoo, but I was really moved to see such incredible support for the gay community in a country which I was warned may not be so tolerant. It was a really beautiful scene to see all ages, sexualities and gender identities just hanging out together and having fun, without even batting an eyelid. This country grows on me more and more everyday.

We're now in Mexico City (my new home for the year!!) and staying with a friend of mine from my first year at university :D