Mexico - part two

Well two more busy weeks in Mexico have flown by. These have been very different to the others. I visited Tequila so had to be forced and dragged along to a Tequila tasting session at Jose Cuervo (my rucksack is definately heavier as a result) and then met interesting people on the road and then two colonial and atmospheric towns with street artist festivals taking place. Dancing, entertainment and drinking were the tonic for the week, which also helped get me in the swing of things for the week in Cancun!

A mixture of Tequila, ballroom dancers on stilts, cowboys is a good way to spend a holiday.

Photos: The west coast coast of Manzanillo; Tequila cones ready for cooking and then pressing to make Tequila; Tequila plants; the Copper Canyon; traditional dress in the north of Mexico; a Chihuahua in Chihuahua; Cowboy boots in Durango.........................

Mexico - part one

Well I´ve been in Mexico for just under 2 weeks now and its flown by. I only have until the 21st to meet up with my sister in Cancun!!!

Mexico is the destination that I´ve look forward to the whole trip but after Guatemala it is so far nice but not memorable. I think I´ve been seeing so much for so long that I´m sitting back and saying ´nice´while other tourists around me are in a frenzy and taking lots of photos. The south and west of Mexico are a westernised version of Nicaragua but with large differences in altitude and warmth. In the middle, the mountain villages are at 3300m and are cold whereas the coastal areas are humid and very very warm. The country is very beautiful with every journey giving pictoresque scenic views but every journey is 3-6 hours or more depending on how far you are going. (tomorrow´s journey is 13 hours for example!)

I have had two experiences though: being seranaded in Morelia by 12 students in tights and having a Zipoteca sauna in the mountain village pictured below (you crawl naked through a chimney entrance to a small low room. A lady pours water onto hot coals and then wafts the scorching heat over you with a palm leaf fan, hitting you with the fan at the same time. I have never experienced that type of heat ever!:)

I´m now heading north into cowboy country and hopefully get the mexican experience I´ve been dreaming about there - and maybe some lizard cowboy boots to go with it..........:)

Photos so far: (1&2 - Yaxchillan ruins on the edge of a river marking the boundary between Guatemala and Mexico (you walk through a series of tunnels within the building in Picture 1 to reach the otherside - this is the 1st ruin I´ve been able to enter); 3 - San Cristobal de las Casas; 4 - Sumidero Canyon; 5 - The gold plated inside of Santa Domingo Church in Oaxaca; 6 - view over the mountain village at 3300m and the valley containing Oaxaca below; 7 - ruins of San Juan church after the 1942 eruption of Volanco Paricutin (the sides of the church collapsed but the end pictured and the alter at the other end are still intact. The lava simply flowed in and around but left these two areas standing).