Smart Travels: Mexico

arrival sign at Mexico City airport

Our month-long trip to Mexico began by flying from Reunion to Mexico City via Paris. After a night to recover from the 8-hour time difference we set off for the east coast, stopping at Cholula for lunch along the way. En route we saw the country's three highest peaks, albeit from a distance!

cactus fruit for sale by the side of the road

We soon got used to topes (speedbumps) - they're everywhere on Mexican roads.

an unusually visible topes

Pico de Orizaba (5611m) the country's highest mountain

Popocatépetl (aka "smoking Popo"), the country's second highest peak

church built on top of a pre-Hispanic pyramid, Cholula

Cholula main square

The next day we visited Pantanos de Centla biosphere reserve in Tabasco province, where we saw crocodiles, turtles, iguanas, bats and herons amongst other things.

bats, Pantanos de Centla

adult crocodile, Pantanos de Centla

heron, Pantanos de Centla

sunbathing juvenile crocodile & turtle, Pantanos de Centla

iguana, Pantanos de Centla

We then headed to Chiapas, and the next day after breakfast we visited our first Mayan site: the former city state of Palenque, which flourished up until AD 799.

Mexican breakfast!

at Palenque

In the afternoon we saw agoutis, butterflies, piñatas, and a waterfall!

piñata

Misol-Ha waterfall

trilingual sign at Misol-Ha waterfall

close-up of the French sign at Misol-Ha waterfall

agouti, a type of rodent

The following day we visited what turned out to be one of my favourite sites: the ancient Mayan city of Yaxchilan, on the border with present-day Guatemala and only accessible by boat along the Usumacinta river. We set off early and the river was still covered by morning mist before the heat the of the day. As we were amongst the first to be there we had the site almost to ourselves – apart from the howler monkeys.

Travelling to Yaxchilan. Mexico to the left, Guatemala to the right

turkey vulture, Usumacinta river

Guatemalan border town seen from the Usumacinta river

spider monkey

at Yaxchilan

The Maya site of Bonampak is smaller and less important than Yaxchilan, 30km away, but it has some of the best-preserved Mayan murals known to exist, dating from the eighth century AD (depicting war and human sacrifice!)

at Bonampak

example of the murals at Bonampak

at Bonampak, looking down

at Bonampak

The next day we visited some waterfalls and rapids whose name (very aptly) translates as "Hidden Paradise".

That evening we stayed in a Lacandon Indian village. Lacandon are Mayan peoples whose homeland is the Lacandon jungle.

little Lacandon girl

the turkey that escaped Christmas!

"Beware: jaguar crossing"

getting a trimmer from A to B

We were now in Zapatista rebel territory!

"You are in Zapatista rebel territory,
here the people rule and the government obeys"

A new Mexican President with a tough stance on drugs was sworn in about 5 weeks before our trip and we saw a lot of armed soldiers near the Guatemalan border, apparently for that reason. Our car even got stopped and searched on one occasion.

Still in Chiapas we visited Lagunas de Montebello National Park, which comprises 59 multi-coloured lakes in a pine forest and two Maya ruins. In 2009 it was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

Lagunas de Montebello

The nearby Las Nubes Ecotourism center is located in the Las Margaritas municipality near the Guatemalan border. The area features a number of turquoise blue waterfalls with bridges and lookout points set up to see them up close.

Las Nubes

here at Las Nubas we were actually looking down at
where we were the previous day ("Hidden Paradise")

The final day of 2018 saw us in colourful San Cristobal de las Casas. Further away from the Guatemalan border, it was state capital until 1892, and today is still considered the cultural capital of Chiapas.

Santo Domingo church, San Cristobal de las Casas

street, San Cristobal de las Casas

Looking across the town

On 1st January 1994 San Cristobal was one of the sites of a
Zapatista rebel uprising, and the fight continues!

street, San Cristobal de las Casas

Cathedral of San Cristobal de las Casas

Cerro de Guadalupe church (note bunting in the colours of the Mexican flag)

another view of Cerro de Guadalupe

On New Year's Day we visited Grutas de Rancho Nuevo Ecotourism Centre, a set of caves with stalagmites and stalactites.

Grutas de Rancho

The next day my husband and I flew from San Cristobal to Cancun in the Yucatan peninsula, where we soon went diving. Our first dive was at the MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte) which is the largest underwater museum in the world (500 sculptures, though we didn't see them all!). It combines art with conservation as it aims to save the nearby coral reefs by providing an alternative destination for divers.

this sculpture is called "The Bankers" © MUSA

Volkswagen car © MUSA

We then hired a car and headed inland across the Yucatan Peninsula. Our first stop was at Ek' Balam, the seat of a Mayan kingdom until about 1100 AD.

Even Mayans use mobile phones these days!

Zona Arqueológica De Ek Balam, Yucatán

there are about 140 steep steps & 32 metres to the top of the Acropolis!

View from the top of the Acropolis

Detail of a winged figure

We then headed to Rio Lagartos in the north of the peninsula to see their famed pink flamingos, but were rather underwhelmed and didn't find it worth the detour.

some pink flamingos at Rio Lagartos

We stayed overnight at Valladolid and visited our first cenote the next day. Cenotes are limestone freshwater sinkholes only found in Yucatan.

our hotel in Valladolid was one of the prettiest we stayed in

large signs like this can be found in every Mexican town

in Valladolid

Convento De San Bernardino, Valladolid

Cathedral of San Gervasio, Valladolid

Valladolid even has its own downtown cenote, Cenote Zaci!

Cenote X'canche

Next we visited world-renowned Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was voted one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

El Castillo step-pyramid dominates the centre of Chichen Itza

at Chichen Itza

a well-camouflaged iguana at Chichen Itza

At nearby Merida the following day we visited the Museum of the Maya World (Grand Museo del Mundo Maya) and Yucatan Museum of Popular Art (Museo de Arte Popular)

'Chac mool' sculptural stone altar, 1000-1250 AD,
with a flat surface on the belly to place offerings.

Ceramic vessel for drinking chocolate, 600-900 AD

Mask from 600-900 AD.

Stone jaguar throne, 1000-1250 AD, from Chichen Itza.
The jaguar symbolised nighttime sun, war, and sovereignty over land.

Mayan anthropomorphic figure dating from 1000-1250
AD, used to support a temple bench in Chichen Itza

watch out for the jaguars at Yucatan Museum of Popular Art!

at Yucatan Museum of Popular Art

Façade of Casa de Montejo, built in the 16th century

inside Casa de Montejo

street in Merida

Newt we headed south from Merida, stopping at Yaxcopoil Hacienda and two cenotes. Landowners in this region became rich growing sisal (agave rope fibre) during the 19th century, and the haciendas date from this period.

Yaxcopoil Hacienda

Yaxcopoil Hacienda grounds

at Yaxcopoil Hacienda

cenote Xbatun

cenote Dzonbakal

Sixty kilometres south of Merida our next Maya ruins were at Uxmal, and are also UNESCO. They are considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Mayan culture, along with Palenque and Chichen Itza.

Uxmal

detail, Uxmal

After Uxmal we headed to the coast to the small but rarely visited Mayan ruins at Muyil. Muyil ("place of the rabbit") is a contemporary name for the site, and the original name is no longer known. Some buildings – once occupied by a prehispanic population whose origins date back to 300 BC – have been excavated, others give you the impression of still waiting to be discovered. We were accompanied by monkeys on our visit, and also got to see a small part of the Sian ka'an lagoon (a UNESCO World Heritage biosphere reserve whose name means "Where the Sky is Born").

at Muyil

Reminiscent of Angkor Wat?

Fifteen kilometres further north we arrived at Tulum, which was to be our base for cenote dives.

view from our hotel room in Tulum

Doing cenote dives meant overcoming one of my greatest fears as they're essentially underground cavern dives (think 'night dive' in an enclosed space!). The experience was beautiful, eerie, and almost primeval; not sure the photos do it justice. The cenote was called Tajma Ha (the name is a play on Taj Mahal).

map of Tajma Ha cenote

Tajma Ha

Tulum also has Maya ruins, and while they're not the most grandiose we've seen, they are very dramatically located next to a turquoise-blue sea and a beach of pure white sand. The site was probably a key Mayan trading port until the mid-16th century.

Tulum ruins

the Mayan god of diving, aka the Descending god

picture postcard perfect view ...

... and the reality: the beach is covered by red sargassum. As
this is a turtle nesting beach, not sure what effect it has on them.

sunbathing iguana at Tulum ruins

a white-nosed coati, a Central American member of the raccoon family

another coati, you can see the tail in this photo

After two nights in Tulum we headed to Playa del Carmen where we had a stressful incident with Hertz and nearly missed our ferry to Cozumel, where we heading for several days' diving on the world‘s second largest coral reef.

Cozumel receives up to 7 enormous cruise ships at a time

diving-related sculpture in San Miguel de Cozumel

close-up of the sculpture

After Cozumel it was time to leave Yucatan and head back to Mexico City, where we able to start visiting the city.

the La Casa de los Azulejos building is covered in blue tiles

inside La Casa de los Azulejos

Templo de San Francisco, remnant of a vast Franciscan monastery

Palacio de Iturbide, with a late 18th century baroque facade

inside Palacio de Guberniado, the City Hall of Mexico City

One of 120 Diego Rivera murals from the 1920s adorning the courtyard corridors of
the Education Ministry. This one shows his wife Frida Kahlo as an arsenal worker.

courtyard

of the Ministry of Education

On another day we visited the National Museum of Anthropology, which is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico.

Vase in the shape of an acrobat

Stone jaguar sculpture. Sacrificial victims' blood and hearts
were deposited in the hole in the middle of its back.

Olmec head carving weighing about 20 tonnes

Giant fountain in the courtyard, known as "El paraguas"
(the umbrella). Each side shows a different sculpture

Outside the museum we saw the Voladores rite being performed by the indigenous Totonac people. It involves 'flying' round a 20 metre high pole while suspended upside down. Each of the four participants turns 13 times, making a total of 52 turns (52 being a sacred number). One of them was also beating a small drum and playing a whistle at the same time! In 2009 the ceremony was named an Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in order to help the ritual survive and thrive in the modern world

this photo gives you an idea how tall the pole is

close-up of two Voladores

The next day we went to Six Flags amusement park, and one of the rides was reminiscent of the Voladores!

view of Six Flags Mexico

the park at night
(this was mid-January so the Christmas decorations were still up)

The following day we went back to the city centre to visit Templo Mayor, the main temple (and centre of the universe) of the former Aztec city located on the site of present-day Mexico City before the Conquistadors arrived in the early 16th century.

wall of skulls at Templo Mayor

at Templo Mayor museum

Monolithic stone carved with Tlaltecuhtli, the goddess of earth fertility,
unearthed in October 2006.

Disc covered in 15,000 pieces of turquoise

view of Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral from Templo Mayor

In the afternoon we explored the city's Zocalo (central square), and saw an 'Aztec' as well as more Diego Rivera murals at Palacio Nacional and Bellas Artes.

Mexico City's zocalo is one of the largest main squares in the world

an "Aztec" at the Zocalo

"Ancient Mexico" mural by Diego Rivera, 1929 at Palacio Nacional

at Palacio Nacional

The "Man at the crossroads" mural by Diego Rivera, originally commissioned for NY's Rockefeller Center was destroyed for being too anti-capitalist, so was re-created at Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1934.

Man at the crossroads mural

At the weekend we headed out of the city to El Oro, a former gold and silver mining town until the early 20th century.

Inside the town's theatre. At the height of the mining boom El Oro
had the wealth to build it and attract top-level talent to perform.

inside El Oro Town Hall

El Oro street

Photos for a 15th birthday celebration
in front of the town's old mining tower

in El Oro

We stayed two nights in nearby Tlalpujahua, (in Michoacán state), which was also a gold and silver mining town until a landslide of debris effectively destroyed the mining industry in 1937. Today this small town (population of less than 4,000) is now a major producer of Christmas tree ornaments: the largest producer in Latin America and one of the five largest in the world!

inside one of the town's year-round Christmas decoration shops

in Tlalpujahua

inside Tlalpujahua church

detail in the church

in Tlalpujahua

During the day we visited a reserve to see thousands of the millions of Monarch butterflies that migrate annually from northern North America to the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains in Mexico.

The orange colour on the tree comes from 000s of butterflies covering it

The reserve is at an altitude of 3,300m so the view is great!

at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve

We got back to Mexico City just in time to see a lunar eclipse!

For our last full day in Mexico we visited the last (of ten!) but biggest archaeological site in Mexico: Teotihuacan, a Mesoamerican city that was active until 8th century AD, and is famous for the 'Sun' & 'Moon' Pyramids.