Smiling

Oaxaca City is muy bueno. It just feels good. It's nestled in the highlands and this time of year it is beautiful in the day and just right with pants and long sleeve at night. Like most of the cities I've been too in Mexico the streets are cobbled and busy with vender's. The zocalo of Ciudad de Oaxaca is filled with shoe shiners, musicians, balloon hawkers and surrounded by cafes. I cannot find the exact reason why, but I like it here. My favorite city thus far! Although there has been not a place I have not liked.



Three weeks into this long journey and I'm thinking about all the negativity and "Be careful's" I heard prior to leaving. As my Uncle Ray told me, "It's only the people that have never been here that don't like Mexico." What do Americans ever here about Mexico? Do we even know who the president is? Should we? Can we name for 4 of the 31 states? After all it is one of our two boarder neighbors, but hell, I couldn't answer those questions. All we here about Mexico in our papers and news is murders by the drug cartels. It makes sense to think Mexico is unsafe when all you read about are people being decapitated. Fortunately for the 9 out of 10 of you who told me how dangerous Mexico was, you were wrong. I held my bag tighter in Rome and Dublin then any place here. The cities are gorgeous and I've never even heard of them! Puebla? Oaxaca City? Who has visited these places? Or better yet, who even cares to visit these places? Why do most of us always want to venture over the Atlantic, when there is a wealth of cheap beautiful places at our fingertips! I can buy a bag of fruits and vegetables for the equivalent of the price of one mediocre avocado back home. And oh yah, there the best damn fruits and vegetables I've ever eaten. Unfortunately to the average American, Mexico is just like our poor, dirty cousin who we don't really want to be around. I meet English, Australians, Canadians, Germans, Austrians, Italians, and Dutch, but where are the Americans?

I'm taking a 12 hour bus ride for $30 US, eating the best food I've ever eaten for $5 US a meal or buying a bag of fresh fruits and vegetables for $2 US. I'm sleeping in cozy cities in rooms with clean bedding and hot showers for $12 US a night or less. I'm in my t-shirt by day and cool and comfortable in the evening.

I know I probably will not be the persuader of you to come see for yourself, but don't say I didn't tell you. It's embedded in our brains that this country is a violent heap of trash. I'm finding out it is quite the opposite. The charm of these cities, the people, the food, the weather, the cost to get around! It's fantastic.

For further proof; I give you Mazunte on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaxa (there's one state, just 3 more!) It's difficult to describe a place like Mazunte. I've been to many many beaches in the United States and there is nothing to compare it to there. I'll describe it one thing at a time and stick strictly to the facts.

• This time of year it's sunny with no clouds, deep blue sky, 80's by day and 65ish by night. It never changes.
• The water is deep blue and around 80 degrees F.
• The main beach is nestled in a harbour of sorts making the waves perfect for body surfing or just taking a nice swim without ever having to worry about a rip tide sucking you out to sea.
• If you want to avoid the crowds of about 20 on the beach there are a few hidden gems with nobody to be found by taking a nice hike over the hills.
• For the sunset you can climb a short .5 mile trail to the southern most point of Oaxaxa and watch the sun dip into the ocean and stars pop over head.
• At the far end of the beach are natural rock cliffs and pillars of rock stands far off into the ocean.
• No one has ever been eaten by a shark here. EVER.
• This time of year the beaches are quiet with the perfect amount of chill hipsters and tiny bikinis on beautiful woman. If you're lucky (and I usually am) the casual European will forget she is supposed to keep her top on.
• You want a beer? Buy some with change in town and drink it in the sand. Too lazy to walk 100 meters to town? $1.75 at one of the 3 beach restaurants in the sand.
• Hungry? Just wait for a hardworking Mexican to come by with fresh sandwiches, tacos, nuts, pastries, or flavored ice.
• How about fruit? The best damn fruit I ever had. I never really had an orange , banana, melon or mango before coming to Mazunte.

I slept in a cabana right on the beach for the equivalent of $8 US. Went on a 3 hour boat ride for about $15 US and swam with sea turtles, saw colorful fish, and sped along with a giant whale 30 feet off the side of the boat. There are a few bars with chill relaxing music. The beers are only $1.75 here as well.

So, now for the negatives.

• There are no ATM machines in town (hardly a negative, but it forces you to drive 20 minutes to the nearest larger town if you want to stick around and you're low on pesos)
• There are a decent number of flea bitten, dirty dogs roaming freely. Where are they peeing and pooing?
• Chickens and roosters are all over the place too, not on the beach, but cock-a-doodle-doing at odd hours of the day and night. Only at sunrise? I think not.
• At night there are a few mosquitoes and sand fleas - easy enough, drink the "Sex on the Beach" and move the freakishness to your mosquito netted cabana!

And you know something. I actually grew quite fond of those damn roosters.

Finding My Cadance

I had success getting from airport to hostel in Mexico City without using a taxi so I thought I could do it again when I got to Puebla. Wrong. Reading the guide book and having written down directions from the hostel's web page I'm pretty sure I took the correct bus, but I didn't know where to get off. After riding twenty minutes longer than I should have needed too I decided to get off the bus. I figured I would find my way using the tiny map of the city center I had in my guide book. Wrong again. I should have tryed to ask the bus driver, but my confidence and courage to attempt Spanish when it is not completely necessary has waxed and waned. Foolish. I was outside the city center walking in circles trying to match street names with ones I had on my map. After about an hour and a half I decided to give up. I hailed a taxi - a relatively easy task. I was only about three miles away, but I never would have figured it out. Puebla has a beautiful city center which makes up for its crummy exterior. The Spanish church in the zocalo (city center) started being built in the 16th century. It's featured on Mexico's $500 Peso bill and has the highest towers of any church in Mexico (69 m). I'm not a big church guy, but when you combine the fountain, balloon vendors, tourists and locals alike, draped by a 16th century church in the background you have one beautiful picture.

Puebla is the city which made Cinco de Mayo famous. Every city I've been to so far has a street named Cinco de Mayo. On May 5th, 1862 the Mexicans were able to defend an attack the French made. An annual day of drunkenness was born. Fortunately for the sake of bars and drunkards , few Mexicans seem to remember or care that following this defeat the French were able to fortify their army and defeated the Mexicans to successfully hold Puebla for the following five years.

From Puebla I took a day trip to Cholula to visit what is thought to be one of the widest pyramids ever built. Piramide Tepanapa. The Great Pyramid of Cholula is also the second largest in the world. Unfortunately it has been neglected over hundreds of years and now really looks just like a large hill. Stone steps near the bottom and a network of tunnels inside the pyramid are the only evidence of the massive pyramid. Hernan Cortes, the infamous Conquistador of Spain, spent time in Cholula and built a Catholic church on the top of the pyramid. A climb to the top offers a fantastic view of the nearly 17,000 foot smoking volcano of Popocatepetl. I ate a quality sandwich, appetizer of spicy vegetables, and two cervesas for only 80 pesos (about $6.50 US) and found my bus back to Puebla.

Puebla was pleasant, safe, and relaxing. I spent most of my time walking the cobble stoned streets, people watching, and reading on a bench in the large zocalo surrounded by the arboretum type setting of trees and flowers. I went to this great Pre-Hispanic artifact museum while in Puebla. One of the coolest things it had was a time line showing the rise of "civilizations" on each continent. They were stacked on top of each other with pictures showing the major accomplishments. It amazes me most all North Americans have heard of the pyramids of Egypt and the great buildings of ancient Rome, but probably no one has heard of the great city of Teotihuacan. A city develed on a grid plan. A city that helped spread writing and an advanced calender system throughout Central America all the way down to moder El Salvador and Honduras. A city that grew to a population of 125,000. More than any other city in the world at the time and larger than any other pre-Hispanic city ever. A city thousands of miles closer to us than any in Europe, Africa, or Asia. What could we learn from these people that we will never know?

I moved on north to Veracruz which sits on the Gulf of Mexico. It's a commercial and oil hub. A city that for 4oo years had been the gateway to all of Mexico. Anybody coming in would go through Veracruz. Over the years this city has experienced numerous conflicts with pirates, French, Spanish, and the United States. In the yearly 1900's the US Army stormed the fortress of San Juan de Ulua right in the harbour. The General yelled to his troops deploying ashore. "GREEN - - GO!!, GREEN - - GO!!" Mexicans overheard and the term Gringo was born.

I only had one sunny day in Veracruz and it's amazing how the sun can make you enjoy a city so much more. Its a great city for walking miles of boardwalk and long piers. I took a short boat ride to near by islands and was the only Gringo on the boat. No one spoke English. ¡No entiendo, pero no es un problema! (I don't understand, but it's no problem!)

Distrito Federal (Mexico City)

I read if you were to try to compare Mexico City to a city in the United States, your best bet would be to combine New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. Before flying into Mexico City on Wednesday, January 5th, I really did not know what to expect. A crime filled, smog ridden, metropolis of 21 million? Yah, maybe. In some aspects it is. My eyes felt a bit sore on some days, maybe the smog, but according to the Lonely Planet the city smog has gotten much better since the city has started to limit the amount of cars that can drive each day. Every day here has been blue skied and in the 70's. I've never felt in danger and have grown quite fond of this city. The road side tacos are cheap and delicious and the Metro is easy and $3 pesos (.25 cents U.S) can take you nearly anywhere you want to go. Mexico City has been thriving for nearly 1500 years and now has nearly 20% of the country's population and its people consume 2/3 of the countries energy. The historical center of the city is where the Aztecs believed the center of the universe was. Today it has a 500 year old cathedral and an incredible national palace. On Saturday the streets were literally filled like a stuffed burrito. All kinds of cheap crap was being sold on the curbs - "¡Diez Pesos!"
The night before I attempted a night out in Mexico City on my own. My $10 dollar a night , 10 bunk hostel room was empty, so I was on my own. The bar scene was crazy and it being only my 3rd day I didn't have the courage to enter a bar. My spanish is terrible and who goes to a bar by themselves? On top of that I probably wouldn't have even been able to talk to anyone. There are not as many people who speak English as I thought there would be. I still had a nice walk, but felt like a wuss cake when I walked back into the hostel at only 10:30. I cheered up a bit when I walked back into my dorm. It seemed when I left, two beautiful girls from England had moved in.  They are sweet girls - Aimee and Ciera. We went to the largest park in the city together and I acted a bit like their tour guide since I had already had three days to get to know the area. They are on a similar trip, but moving a bit faster so I'm sadly saying goodbye to them when we both leave the city.
Prior to meeting the English girls I went outside the city for a day to Teotihuacan - An ancient city built between 200 and 600 AD. It has the third largest pyramid in the world - Pyramid del Sol and I lung busted it to the top. The city at one point had as many as 125,000 people living in it. Exploring ruins will be a main part of my journey.
On my last night in the city I went to my first Corrida de Toros. A bull fight. It was certainly like nothing I had ever experienced. Three matadors kill two bulls each. It's not simply one matador in the ring, but several of his toreros help to tire the bull out at first with the waves of their cape. Then the picadores come into the ring. These are men on large horses all padded up to prevent goring by the bull. These guys have large spears and they use them to weaken the bull even more. Then the matadors toreros take turns stabbing pairs of elongated darts into the shoulder of the bull. With their hands held high they must wait until the bull has nearly gored them to correctly insert the banderillas. After all this, when the bull is at his weakest is when the matador is finally alone with the bull and performs artistic passes with his red muleta. One kill went terribly wrong. The matador failed to perform a clean kill and the bull just wouldn't fall. I believe in honor of the bull's strength the crowd yelled "¡¡Toro!! ¡¡Toro!!" and boo'd the matador as finally the bull was ended with a small dagger behind the neck to sever the spinal cord. As gruesome and cruel as most people think bull fighting is, I believe when the time comes, aficionados prefer a quick death for the bull. Prior to this poor display a matador performed a perfect kill. After several fine passes and ¡Ole's! from the stands he slid his sword deep into the bulls neck on his first try. The bull jabbed his head one last desperate time and fell dead instantly. His performance was so great he was allowed to walk around the ring as each section of the crowd cheered and several people threw their hats into the ring in appreciation.
Just as I begin to really get to know this city it is time to move on. I'm off to Puebla, two hours east, and will have to find my way about in a new city once again. That is the way of it though. For the next few months this is my life and I love it.

P.S. - please excuse any spelling errors - no spell check in English here!

P.P.S. - I will work to get pictures up, but the computers are so slow it is difficult and the one I'm at now charges by the hour so I don't want to take the time to upload them.