The painting is called Walking Dervish (also in Paintings Gallery 1) because the tall hat and blousy clothes remind me of whirling dervishes. Only this one is definitely walking. And walking purposely. That's how we felt in our first few weeks backpack traveling in the Yucatan
. We walked for hours and hours.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip and Chris's first time abroad. We were inspired by the people we met -- both travelers and Mexicans. Mexican folks are much more relaxed than North Americans. The culture emanates a vibration of what's the rush?... what's the problem... every thing's fine ... you can slow down... let's hang out with the kids... family is more important than work. There is a softness, a warmth in the air that i really resonate with. Chris and i are motivated now to learn Spanish and go back next year and converse with local folks. We're taking weekly lessons with a German former professor of languages friend of Chris's who is multilingual. Perhaps one day we'll live a year or two in Mexico... (I'd love our kids to be bilingual too...)
Here is the first posting from the trip:
We are in Merida, a pretty big city in the northwestern part of the Yucatan. We've been having a wonderful time. From the airport, we went straight (well two or three buses and a ferry!) to Isla Mujeres. Who could resist going to a place called Island of Women? (and there were quite a few women travelers there too!)
We stayed at a hostel -- a little grungy but the folks who ran it were interesting and friendly expats [expatriates]. Went to the beach several times -- beautiful soft white sands -- and since it was an island, there were beaches on the Caribbean and the Gulf. The weather's been great -- mostly in the 80's and cool at night (a couple of nights we were cold and had to ask for blankets). We saw a beautiful graveyard on the island -- the Mexicans sure now how to do cemeteries. Each one is colorfully painted and has little altars or houses with offerings of water, food, flowers, even bottles of sand. Lots of god and goddess (in the form of Catholic saints) sculptures on the graves. Some really old ones too from the 1920s.
On the second day we had quite an adventure. We got unknowingly (at first) hustled but we went along for the fun. Basically this young guy on the street offered us a $5 (normally $50) golf cart for the next day and a free breakfast if we went to this fancy hotel. Soon after our hostel host told us that it was a timeshare and we'd have to listen to an earful of sales shpiel. Since getting around the island was a little hard by foot (it's 7 miles long) and not so convenient by bus, we thought, what the heck? So we went to the hotel and had a HUGE yummy breakfast (that lasted us til that night) and listened to at least four salespeople trying to get us to buy this awful timeshare. We kept smiling throughout and politely saying that we were only interested in the golf cart and we were poor artists, etc. BUT they kept trying. It was very funny. Anyway, we got out in a few hours and had a lot of fun driving around in a golf cart for the rest of the day.
Went to a turtle farm and saw all kinds of turtles, small and big -- even some albino. Wandered through a pirates house remains and a zoo. Drove through lots of sweet neighborhoods and waved to people. A lot of people have altars in alcoves on the front of their houses or on front porches. You see Guadalupe everywhere. i love how all the houses are painted in bright colors. In the cities, most people live in concrete. In the smaller villages, it seems to be about half in concrete and half in small thatched huts of wood. Haven't seen much in the way of gardens but a lot of people in the villages have banana, orange, and coconut trees. Speaking of fruit, we have been buying delicious (and cheap!) mangos in the market, as well as very tasty small bananas.
The food has been great. We eat street food during the day and go out for a cheap (and usually Delicious) tipico Mexican meal in the evening. interestingly, there is not as much chicken as i thought there would be. Mostly pork in umpteen varieties (and each with a different name -- we were joking with a waiter last night in our favorite restaurant in Vallodolid that we have never seen so many words for pork!). i was trying not to eat red meat, and especially not pork, but at this point, I've given up. The regional cuisine of the Yucatan is delicious. And i love the fresh tortillas. i will definitely be happy to eat it every day for a month. We've become friendly with an older French couple and they were bemoaning how difficult it is for French people to travel because they are used to such good food and they are finding the Mexican cuisine beneath their standards. We said, well American food is so mediocre that anywhere we travel is better food!
After Isla Mujeres, we went to Vallodolid, a smallish colonial city. We stayed in a great hostel with hot showers! The churches were neat -- one is supposed to be the oldest in Mexico i think from the 1500s. We also went to a cenote which is a natural cavernous hole filled with fresh water. Very lovely. From there, we went to Chichen Itza -- one of the biggest and most famous Mayan cities (now ruins). It was fantastic. The big pyramid is such a sight to behold -- it nearly takes your breath away. Unfortunately we were not able to climb it as they've closed it recently to climbing. Chris was especially disappointed. But we had a full day visiting all the building sites -- the observatory was very special. Amazing how they put together these huge buildings of stone and then covered them with paintings (on stucco). The paintings are long gone but the glyphs and sculpture are all around. Ball fields too. And places where they sacrificed people.
We also went to Ek Balaam, another Mayan ruin which has been much less developed. They've only uncovered a handful of buildings in one sq kilometer and they know that the city is 15 sq km! We were able to climb the big pyramid temple there and it was actually higher than the one at Chichen Itza. What a sight from the top -- miles and miles of jungle, and they say on a clear day, you can see Chichen Itza from there. The sculptures they've uncovered there are really beautiful, almost Asian-like in their expressions and hand/body positions. For the first hour or so of our visit there, we were the only ones! That was a great experience. One guide told us that in a few years, this place will be much more developed. So it's exciting that we got to see it now. Also went to a cenote out there and dipped our feet in the crystal clear cold water. Awesome!
Now we're in Merida and it's bustling. Just went to one of the city markets -- swarms of people. We'll explore more tomorrow. And then maybe on to Campeche. More later.
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