OK. Yesterday I left Oaxaca at 10:30 AM and had a fairly big drive on the bike, getting into San Cristobal about 7 PM. This was a fairly uneventful drive. Some of the interesting things were that it was quite breezey at the coast and consequently the bike was a challenge to drive for about 100 miles. I though that there was more wind on this section of road than on the grapevine, with the main difference being that it was daylight and that I elected to drive at a slower pace. I also managed to suck my backpack tie down straps into the sproket on the rear wheel. This did not effect performance at all as I did not notice that this had happened until I tried to take my pack off the bike at the hostel. The effect of this accident was the straps were just sort of melted and torn up. I repaired the strap ends, and I think they are about 1 foot shorter now than yesterday morning. Using the panniers as a center stand I inspected the chain, rear wheel and the swingarm on the bike and everything looks to be in good shape. This is a strong argument for using relatively week nylon type straps.
After not seeing another gringo on a motorbike since Cameron left for Seattle, I also ran into two motorcyclist in the same afternoon. The first guy I met driving from the coast inland to San Cristobal. Alone on a windy mountain road (and pushing the speed somewhat hard, I felt) a guy screamed by me a big 1200 GS BMW. I waved at him and chased him for a while until leaning hard into a corner I felt my front wheel skip sideways accross the pavement. At that point I decided to let him go, only to find that a mile or two down the road he had stopped to wait for me. It turns out that he thought he was on the coast road (I do not know how this was possible, as we had been gaining elevation for about 25 miles and were very clearly in the mountains), did not know where he was or where he was going. I suggested that we travel together to San Cristobal and he agreed. After coming to this decision he turned on his bike (he did not take his helmet off or move from his seat the entire time we spoke) and immediately roared off as I fumbled to put my helmet and gloves back on. That would be last time I saw the guy on the 1200 GS.
After reaching San Cristobal I met another guy who had just sold his bike, Gage. Gage had ridden from Boston to Seattle and then down to San Cristobal, but as he had an older street bike that we begin to run strange, sold the bike here in San Cristobal and elected to fly home. Gage had met the guy on the 1200 GS before, and said he was a somewhat interesting guy, as he saw him on the side of the road eating three lobsters for lunch, sweaty, with red sauce running all over his face.
Anyway, I am in San Cristobal now. And I think I might try to go to Guatamala tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
March 24, Day 66 Mas or Minus
Outside Oaxaca there are many ruins and famous sites. Here are a few of them.
Mt Alban. This was an ancient Zapotec capitol that existed from about 500 BC to 700 AD. This city was built on top of a mountain whose top was flattened for construction of temples and buildings. It reminded me of the Acropolis in Greece. It seems as though the people of Mt. Alban were realitively peaceful, not practicing large scale sacrifice like the Aztec. Similarly to the fall of the Maya, no knows quite why it happened. My guess is that they ran out of water on the mountain top. The mountain is quite high and without a natural spring or water source I think it would be a difficult place to live.
Ruins at Yagul. A city in the Oaxaca region that rose following the fall of Mt. Alban.
A picture from inside a tomb at Yagul. These ruins are a bit off the beaten track and thus visiting them is a bit more of an intimate experience (ie you can crawl into tombs).
Hierve De Agua, a natural mineral spring outside Oaxaca. There are bathing pools for swimming and water from teh spring spills down the mountain leaving mineral deposites that look like frozen water falls. The day that I was there it was quite windy, I was by myself without any friends, the springs were crowded with locals, and I had no bathing suit. Thus I did not swim (but I have a small regret about not doing it anyway).
Another picture of the mineral falls.
Mt Alban. This was an ancient Zapotec capitol that existed from about 500 BC to 700 AD. This city was built on top of a mountain whose top was flattened for construction of temples and buildings. It reminded me of the Acropolis in Greece. It seems as though the people of Mt. Alban were realitively peaceful, not practicing large scale sacrifice like the Aztec. Similarly to the fall of the Maya, no knows quite why it happened. My guess is that they ran out of water on the mountain top. The mountain is quite high and without a natural spring or water source I think it would be a difficult place to live.
Ruins at Yagul. A city in the Oaxaca region that rose following the fall of Mt. Alban.
A picture from inside a tomb at Yagul. These ruins are a bit off the beaten track and thus visiting them is a bit more of an intimate experience (ie you can crawl into tombs).
Hierve De Agua, a natural mineral spring outside Oaxaca. There are bathing pools for swimming and water from teh spring spills down the mountain leaving mineral deposites that look like frozen water falls. The day that I was there it was quite windy, I was by myself without any friends, the springs were crowded with locals, and I had no bathing suit. Thus I did not swim (but I have a small regret about not doing it anyway).
Another picture of the mineral falls.
March 22, Day 64 Mas or Minus
Finally I had a chance to see Oaxaca. This was the city that was the joke that launch the plan for the motorcycle trip south nearly 3 years ago. "Mustaches and machetes in Oaxaca" was the bright idea we had at the George and Dragon after my General Exam.
It is interesting to compare the actual city to the one I had imaged before visiting. I had imaged the city to be close to the coast, lower in elevation, hotter, more humid, with more bright colors, like a Michael Mann movie (think Miami Vice). Actually the city has some elevation, is dry and cool at night, and does have the colors of a Michael Mann movie. It is also a sophisticated tourist city with many art studios, markets, and nice resturants with table linen and the like. It reminds me of a place like Cannon Beach in Oregon. Anyway, here are some pictures.
Cathedral Iglesia de Santa Domingo. A big beautiful cathedral named after a Dominican Saint. The Dominicans were strong in this region and tried hard to protect the local indigenous population from the Spanish Conquest.
A Micheal Mann alley.
Roof of the cathedral.
Pink doorway.
Huuuuuuge Satruday market. 100X Pike Place market. This is one of the nicer sections, the flower alley. Some of the alleys can be quite unpleasent. The dead chicken alley, with rows of yellow dead chickens, legs sticking into the walkway so you brush them as you pass is not so nice.
180 degress opposite the last picture. The alleys and vendors stretch off in all directions into the distance.
It is interesting to compare the actual city to the one I had imaged before visiting. I had imaged the city to be close to the coast, lower in elevation, hotter, more humid, with more bright colors, like a Michael Mann movie (think Miami Vice). Actually the city has some elevation, is dry and cool at night, and does have the colors of a Michael Mann movie. It is also a sophisticated tourist city with many art studios, markets, and nice resturants with table linen and the like. It reminds me of a place like Cannon Beach in Oregon. Anyway, here are some pictures.
Cathedral Iglesia de Santa Domingo. A big beautiful cathedral named after a Dominican Saint. The Dominicans were strong in this region and tried hard to protect the local indigenous population from the Spanish Conquest.
A Micheal Mann alley.
Roof of the cathedral.
Pink doorway.
Huuuuuuge Satruday market. 100X Pike Place market. This is one of the nicer sections, the flower alley. Some of the alleys can be quite unpleasent. The dead chicken alley, with rows of yellow dead chickens, legs sticking into the walkway so you brush them as you pass is not so nice.
180 degress opposite the last picture. The alleys and vendors stretch off in all directions into the distance.
March 21, Day 63 Mas or Minus
I decided to leave Mexico City and drive back south to Oaxaca. I had visited Oaxaca for a day on my was to DF from Puerto Escondido but, as I was moving fast, I did not see any sites in this area. This is about at 250 mile drive and very fast once I had left the DF outskirts behind. I took the pay road, called the autopista down here, and though expensive -- over 300 pesos -- it is a fast and safe road in good condition.
BTW: DF = District Federal = Mexico City
As March 21 is Good Friday, and a high holy day in Mexico, the culmination of Semana Santa or the Mexican Easter holy week. No one works and everywhere around Mexico family members traveled home to be with their loved ones. At a gas station on the way to Oaxaca I met this family that was celebrating Good Friday by playing music loadly and drinking from their cars in the gas station parking lots.
They were very friendly and invited me to drink mezcal and cervesa with them (I declined as I have a hard enough time keeping the wheels of the bike on the road already). Many of the male members of the family had worked in varouse parts of the US, and were curous about what cities I had seen on the way South. In fact, the man with the white shirt holding the beer in his left hand had traveled throughout the US more than most Americans I know, and infact was working in Santa Clara US, but had taken the week off to visit family in his home country. The man in the red shirt, peering over my right shoulder, gave me a prayer necklace (similar to a crucifix, with prayer beads on it, but somehow related to the death of a relative, or so I gather) to keep me safe during my travels. He took it off his neck and placed it around mine, and it was a very touching gesture. The male members of the family would tease me about how I should take their sisters and neices south with me on their motorbike. The women would get angry and scold the men. In all, it was an very friendly group, warm and talkative. I felt like I was at a Burns family reunion.
Parking lot party.
BTW: DF = District Federal = Mexico City
As March 21 is Good Friday, and a high holy day in Mexico, the culmination of Semana Santa or the Mexican Easter holy week. No one works and everywhere around Mexico family members traveled home to be with their loved ones. At a gas station on the way to Oaxaca I met this family that was celebrating Good Friday by playing music loadly and drinking from their cars in the gas station parking lots.
They were very friendly and invited me to drink mezcal and cervesa with them (I declined as I have a hard enough time keeping the wheels of the bike on the road already). Many of the male members of the family had worked in varouse parts of the US, and were curous about what cities I had seen on the way South. In fact, the man with the white shirt holding the beer in his left hand had traveled throughout the US more than most Americans I know, and infact was working in Santa Clara US, but had taken the week off to visit family in his home country. The man in the red shirt, peering over my right shoulder, gave me a prayer necklace (similar to a crucifix, with prayer beads on it, but somehow related to the death of a relative, or so I gather) to keep me safe during my travels. He took it off his neck and placed it around mine, and it was a very touching gesture. The male members of the family would tease me about how I should take their sisters and neices south with me on their motorbike. The women would get angry and scold the men. In all, it was an very friendly group, warm and talkative. I felt like I was at a Burns family reunion.
Parking lot party.
Day 60 Mas or Minus
So after kayaking, hiking and climbing for a week and a half, I returned to Mexico City. I had enjoyed my time there waiting for the package of climbing gear and bike parts, but was interested in seeing more this this huge city and spending more time at the best Hostel I had stayed at thus far, Hostel Amigo.
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Aside: What makes for a good Hostel experience? In my opinion:
1. The people
2. The people
3. The people
Hostel Amigo is not the cleanest place in the world. In the two weeks I stayed there, there was never any soap in the bathrooms, there were no handtowls, at times there was no running water, and the water they did have was not potable. The room in which I slept for the first 5 days or so had a window which would not close, and consequently a nightly mosquito infestation. The computers they had for the internet sucked. There was street construction infront of the hostel the entire time I stayed there so we were constantly having to walk through and around huge piles of gravel and avoid stepping into open manholes full of sewage. The hostel, while centrally located close the zocalo and the presedential palace, was about a 20 minute taxi ride from the neighborhood with the good bars. Despite these limitation I thought this was the best place to stay thus far.
However Hostel Amigo had a great bartender and I felt alot of comradery with the guys and girls that stayed there. The bartender, Gerardo Lazarro, was very good at getting people to loosen up, have fun and drink tequilla. Every night you felt like you were hanging out with your friends. He played music very load, and if you had an ipod he was willing to let you be guest DJ. A personal highlight was discovering that an Aussie staying at the bar had Louder Than Love on his ipod, playing the album and singing along to Gun infront of the other guests. The down stairs of the bar would open around 6 PM and stay open until 1 AM, at which time most of the crew drinking in the Hostel would take transportation to other bars in town. There are few pictures of these nights of course. Most of the pictures that were taken are on various folk´s cell phones. But here are a few brief stories:
1. I visited the same night club (Pato Negra) 3 nights in a row accidentally, seeing many of the same people there each night... after that happened I decided to leave DF for the first time.
2. Three of my friends went out drinking and got arrested at 6 AM for drinking in public. After the police relieved them of their IDs, a 1500 peso bribe, and one kids case, his wallet, the were allowed to go home.
3. After a fairly long night of drinking, 5 of us decided to get one more drink at a salsa club and ordered a liter of Barcardi. Two friends immediately decided to leave, one of them being the only girl with us. After our only girlfriend left the three of us discovered that the salsa club was, at least in part, aslo a brothel, and we spent the remainder of the evening trying to finish the liter of Barcardi while fending off some not very attractive sex workers.
4. After discovering that a friend was going to take the Metro to the airport 8 hours before his flight left, I insisted on driving him to the airport at 2 AM. The drive to the airport went fine, but I got lost returning to the hostel and drove around the DF for 1.5 hours before finding my way back home.
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I did do a few things other than go to nightclubs in MC. Actually I tried to make a point of doing something productive at least once a day. Here are a few things I did and pictures I took in the DF. I visited the Museam of Anthropology in Mexico City and thought it was the most impressive museam I have seen thus far in my travels. Here are a few pictures (I appologise for the blue tint. Obviousely something is not right with the camera. I will see if I can get it resolved for the next round of pictures).
This is the Bat God. He is made mostly out of jade and is about 6" tall.
This is the famous Aztec callender. A depiction of this calender is on the Mexican 10 peso coin. Only now they don´t think its a callender. It may have some sort of religiouse significance or guys fought on it or something (my spanish needs to improve, obviously).
Aztec serpent.
This is from a contemporary painting called "Maya Dream." I think the intent of the painting was to depict what the Mayan spiritual or fantasy world was like, or something. I dont know much about that, but I think the depiction of Scotts "Unicorn Boner Jam" is quite accurate... and btw there is a unicorn on the painting, it just didn´t fit into the picture.
So after a night of drinking, I decided to stay in the hostel for a day and make some stencils for the motorcycle panniers. My English friend, Jack, the guy on the right did the drawing. I made the stencils (very similar to "The Warriors" stencils) and put them on my bike. At the insistence of the Gerardo, the bartender, I also put some up in the bar. There they are in the background of the wall.
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Aside: What makes for a good Hostel experience? In my opinion:
1. The people
2. The people
3. The people
Hostel Amigo is not the cleanest place in the world. In the two weeks I stayed there, there was never any soap in the bathrooms, there were no handtowls, at times there was no running water, and the water they did have was not potable. The room in which I slept for the first 5 days or so had a window which would not close, and consequently a nightly mosquito infestation. The computers they had for the internet sucked. There was street construction infront of the hostel the entire time I stayed there so we were constantly having to walk through and around huge piles of gravel and avoid stepping into open manholes full of sewage. The hostel, while centrally located close the zocalo and the presedential palace, was about a 20 minute taxi ride from the neighborhood with the good bars. Despite these limitation I thought this was the best place to stay thus far.
However Hostel Amigo had a great bartender and I felt alot of comradery with the guys and girls that stayed there. The bartender, Gerardo Lazarro, was very good at getting people to loosen up, have fun and drink tequilla. Every night you felt like you were hanging out with your friends. He played music very load, and if you had an ipod he was willing to let you be guest DJ. A personal highlight was discovering that an Aussie staying at the bar had Louder Than Love on his ipod, playing the album and singing along to Gun infront of the other guests. The down stairs of the bar would open around 6 PM and stay open until 1 AM, at which time most of the crew drinking in the Hostel would take transportation to other bars in town. There are few pictures of these nights of course. Most of the pictures that were taken are on various folk´s cell phones. But here are a few brief stories:
1. I visited the same night club (Pato Negra) 3 nights in a row accidentally, seeing many of the same people there each night... after that happened I decided to leave DF for the first time.
2. Three of my friends went out drinking and got arrested at 6 AM for drinking in public. After the police relieved them of their IDs, a 1500 peso bribe, and one kids case, his wallet, the were allowed to go home.
3. After a fairly long night of drinking, 5 of us decided to get one more drink at a salsa club and ordered a liter of Barcardi. Two friends immediately decided to leave, one of them being the only girl with us. After our only girlfriend left the three of us discovered that the salsa club was, at least in part, aslo a brothel, and we spent the remainder of the evening trying to finish the liter of Barcardi while fending off some not very attractive sex workers.
4. After discovering that a friend was going to take the Metro to the airport 8 hours before his flight left, I insisted on driving him to the airport at 2 AM. The drive to the airport went fine, but I got lost returning to the hostel and drove around the DF for 1.5 hours before finding my way back home.
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I did do a few things other than go to nightclubs in MC. Actually I tried to make a point of doing something productive at least once a day. Here are a few things I did and pictures I took in the DF. I visited the Museam of Anthropology in Mexico City and thought it was the most impressive museam I have seen thus far in my travels. Here are a few pictures (I appologise for the blue tint. Obviousely something is not right with the camera. I will see if I can get it resolved for the next round of pictures).
This is the Bat God. He is made mostly out of jade and is about 6" tall.
This is the famous Aztec callender. A depiction of this calender is on the Mexican 10 peso coin. Only now they don´t think its a callender. It may have some sort of religiouse significance or guys fought on it or something (my spanish needs to improve, obviously).
Aztec serpent.
This is from a contemporary painting called "Maya Dream." I think the intent of the painting was to depict what the Mayan spiritual or fantasy world was like, or something. I dont know much about that, but I think the depiction of Scotts "Unicorn Boner Jam" is quite accurate... and btw there is a unicorn on the painting, it just didn´t fit into the picture.
So after a night of drinking, I decided to stay in the hostel for a day and make some stencils for the motorcycle panniers. My English friend, Jack, the guy on the right did the drawing. I made the stencils (very similar to "The Warriors" stencils) and put them on my bike. At the insistence of the Gerardo, the bartender, I also put some up in the bar. There they are in the background of the wall.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Itza
After not getting a chance to make much of an attempt at Pico de Orizaba I decided to try to climb another mountain, Itzacewatle (sp, totally wrong, btw). I turned in my rental gear, and drove west towards Mexico City. I needed to run a few errands on the way, including improving my food supply and purchasing a new knit hat (I had somehow lost my hat in the week prior). As running errands in Mexico seems to take quite a bit of time, I fell behind on my drive to Itza. This was not helped by the fact that the road, which seemed to be a freeway on my Mexico County map turned into a dirt road on the way to the mountain. 30 miles of dirt road later, with night oncoming, I decided to try and find a camp ground. The first campground I found was charging an outlandish 200 pesos for a night of camping at a strange disney style resort. I elected to save my 200 pesos and drive the motorbike into the woods about half a mile away from the resort. This is picture of where I camped. Thankfully someone had grazed their cattle in this area recently, so I could see the ground easily and avoid the barb wire that was strung across the area. I chose a spot a good distance from the road so I would have a bit of privacy and hopefully be out of harms way. Things worked out well, and the only thing I had to worry about that evening was animals that might have tried to eat my leftover dinner.
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OK. Sorry folks, out of time. I have other plans for the night!
Take care! And sorry dad to hear about Ken!
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The next day I set up my tent next to Itza. Here is a picture from the mountain valley where I camped. Beautiful! I ate a large meal for dinner and went to bed early in prepration for another early morning climb. This was the highest elevation I pushed the bike. I was successful in running the bike to the trailhead, an even 4000 m of elevation.
After sleeping in until 2:30 and leaving the camp ground at 3:30 AM I started to climb. This is a picture West from the mountain towards Mexico City. I took this picture at about 4:30 AM from about 4500 m.
Unfortunately this was the last picture I was able to take as the batteries ran out on my camera. This is picture East towards the rising sun, at about 6:30 AM. The gray horizon we see is the cloud ceiling stretching East towards Vera Cruz and the Caribean Sea.
I ended up climbing until about 10:45, and summited several peaks without ever reaching the true top of Itza. I got a chance to use my crampons on a small glacier near the summit, and they worked even using the New Ballence running shoes that I chose to climb with that day. The summit of Itza is supposed to be 5280m and I got to 5220 m before deciding that I should return to my camp site. The return trip was fast and I was home at 4000 meters drinking coffee by 2:00 PM.
Pico De Orizaba
This is Pico de Orizaba the thrid highest mountain in North America, over 18000 feet in height. After much planning and orgainizing including evaluating which motorcycle gear could be used as climbing gear, negotiating and renting gear from two seperated rental agencies in a town at the base of the mountain, negotiating with another village mayor to look after my motorbike after I decided I could not drive it to the base of the mountain, purchasing a government topographic map of the mountain in Mexico City, I was ready to go. But first I had to hike in from the last village, Guadalupe Hildalgo where I left the bike to the refugio where I would sleep before the climb. This was a hike from about 3300 meters to about 4200 meters. After I completed the hike I understood why I was the only person to do this, in my time there... I felt exhausted. This part of the hike was particularly difficult. I am about a mile from the refugio and am hiking up a slight uphill grade. Everytime I look up the refugio looks no closer and the road looks to go on forever. The refugio can barely be made out in this picture, a small hut in the middle of the picture. Pico de Orizaba looms above.
As I arrived at the refugio the climbers hut was full of folks that planned on attempting the summit Sunday morning. There were about 20 guys and gals in the hut and one dog. It was amazing to see all the climbers together as on this day I was the only tourist. I have always thought of climbing as being a sport of the upper middle class white folks, at least it seems this way in the US, so it was quite interesting to see all these Mexican climbers with all kinds of differnet gear cooking food and chatting in the refugio. Some of the climbers were guides that were paid to lead groups to the top of the mountain. There was a coordinator who stayed behind in the refugio with a radio and good set of binoculars who kept track of the guys that were climbing with him. This is his dog Sasha.
Here is the refugio. 20 people in this room, four a bunk, with two sets of bunks racked three high. I do not know if it was because of the altitude or the fact that I was feeling sick, but I could not sleep a wink. After a prolonged coughing fit at midnight I decided that I would not get up with the rest of the climbers at 2 AM for an attempt at the summit. This turned out to be a good decision as I finally got some rest after everyone left and felt alot better then next day. At 6 AM I could hear the wind howling outside the refugio, and I wondered to myself if this was normal. It was not normal, and everyone of the climbers that left in the morning returned without reaching the summit. Everyone encouraged me to stay anther day and give the mountain a shot Monday morning. Initally I had not planned on staying two days, but after all the encouraging words from everyone, I changed my mind. As I was a bit short on food I accepted most of a pack of hotdogs, half a coke, and a some vanilla wafers to suppliment my food supply. Those hot dogs were deliciouse!
Monday I attempted the climb. To make a long story short, after alot of planning, my head lamp was not working properly and I had to return to the refugio. I only climbed from 4200 to about 4500 meters and was back in bed by 3:30 AM after leaving at 2:00. I was disappointed that a gear failure was what prevented me from climbing to the top, but happy with my decision to return. In the middle of the night on the side of the mountain, I felt lonely. The thought of having my old light go out was not comforting.
I returned to town the next day and talked with Michael, a traveler from Lithunian. He had joined me at the refugio Sunday night, but not feeling well had returned to town. As he is a Lithunian, and this is a sort of Russian, I gather, he is not smiling for his picture.
day two in Jaculmulco
My second day in Jaculmulco I went for a hike with a guide Sabastian (a great guy) to view another canyon outside of town. Here is the canyon. At the top of the playtou to the left is an ancient grave yard. Down to the left at the bottom of the canyon is a town that time forgot. There are no roads that run to it, and so it has been completely isolated. Three years ago they got electricity. They still do not have phones. And the teacher that teaches at the elemetary school there hikes in 2.5 hours each way to give his classes. Amazing. When I return, I will visit the town and the grave yard.
The interesting thing about this hike is that it was the last chance to use my old hiking boots. I bought these boots 12 years ago, and they have held together through many adventures. Dad kindly shipped them to Mexico City for me, and after inpecting them for damage I though they needed to be oiled and the soles glued to help waterproof them before I took on any mountain climbing. After searching the town of Xalapa high and low for a cobbler, I finally found one. He seemed to be a kindly man (after watching Pinochio, I had a good impression of cobblers like Jopeto) and fixed the boots for $4 US. I thought they looked great at the time. Halfway through an 8 mile round trip hike, first one sole came off the boat, then the other sole came off. I was not happy to finish the hike like a JP Patches type hobo. And I will plan on keeping my eyes on cobblers in the future.
more pictures from jacamulco
Instead of bug spray this is what the locals use to keep away the musketos. One of the guides told me about it the shampoo, Green Caprice, so I bought a bottle as I thought I would need some protection for a night of camping out in Jacamulco. I though like I had some great inside knowledge when the price of the bottle came out to be $1.20 US. Who needs DEET, indeed! During the course of the afternoon and evening I put on three liberal application of this stuff. I had it on me for about 24 hours straight. A day or two later I had what I believe to be my very first allergic reaction. I had rashed behind my knees and elbows, little bumps on my skin and a very itchy sensation all over my body. Back to DEET!
Here is the cabin I stayed the night at in Jaculmulco. I elected to sleep in the tent as I thought it was more bug proof. It turned out to be a very lazy afternoon as we got off the water about 1 PM, I drank a coke and ate some cookies and then took a 3 hour nap in a halmock under the eves of the cabin.
Picture 1: Anyway, here are some pictures from the kayaking expidition. To make a long story short, they wanted to take me on a raft. I wanted a kayak, and we spit the difference with me getting to be in the front of a double kayak. The river is Rio Pescador (I think) and is low in these pictures as this is the Mexican dry season. The rapids are class 2 and 3, but the guides assured me that this is a monster river in Auguest and Septermber when the rainy season increases the river level by 3 meters. Here I am going down a nice rapid getting some water splashed in my face.
Here are a few pictures from the kayaking expidition. This whole idea got launched over a bucket of beers at Hostel Amigo in Mexico City. I had heard that there was some great river rafting in Vera Cruz state and that if enough of us got together and rented a boat we could float the river. Eventually about 5 of us agreed to give it a shot. 3 of us left town the next day for Vera Cruz with plans to meet up. Of course the plan failed. The phone number I got from one of the guys did not work. The two guys who took the bus to Vera Cruz could not remember the name of the hotel I was staying at... so we missed eachother. I decided that Vera Cruz sucked and drove to Xalapa. They decided that Vera Cruz sucked and took a bus back to Puebla. I ran into the guys back in Mexico City today, at the Hostel Amigo. It was like a reunion. Good to see friends again.
This is the best picture I have of the river canyon. This is a really big canyon, with walls at least 200 meters deep in parts. It is at low elevation about 1000 m, and so this sleepy town used to be a farming village growing mangos and sugercane. Apparently about 15 years ago some Canadian kayakers stumbled across this town, and now the river rafting and kayaking industry are quite popular. In the canyon away from town, it is a humid hot jungle type environment. There is alot of wildlife, and I saw a tocan, hawks, different types of fishing birds, and vultures. If Mexico was America they would have made this area a National Park a long time ago.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Still Alive
I´ve spent the last week or so kayaking in Vera Cruz and trying to climb Pico de Orizaba. I survived the week, and will post some pictures and a description of the climb later.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Day 41
I left Mexico City Saturday after finally getting the package. I felt it was time to go as things were beginning to get a bit repetive. Saturday night I drove to Vera Cruz, a big city on the Gulf of Mexico. As I got in late in a driving rain storm, and my attempts to contact friends in Mexico City via cell phone failed, I wasn´t in particilarly good mood to enjoy the city. My shoot from the hip impression of Very Cruz is that it reminded me quite a bit of another oil town: Houston, where the people that live there if they have the money aspire to drive SUVs and enjoy their air conditioning. Similarly to Acapolco the rich history of this city as the link between Mexico and Spain is largely lost due to the climate and development.
I left Vera Cruz Sunday for Xalapa, inland of Vera Cruz at an elevation of about 4500 feet. Xalapa is the capitol of the state of Vera Cruz and has a more moderate climate and is the hub of Mexican adventure and eco tourism. After a day resting and running errands, on Tuesday I drove to the town of Perote and climbed a small mountain (4250 meters). Here are some pictures:
A beatiful flowering Bouganville plant in front on my room. For some reason there are no tourists in the town. The last two nights there have been three people staying in a hostel with over 50 beds. I like the privacy, but I miss the company of other people.
A picture from the roof of the hostel south into the valley under Xalapa. This morning a big storm blew into Vera Cruz, so it rained and was cool in Xalapa. It felt like home and I loved it, though it seems like everyone else in the city was cold and hated the weather. Because of the quantity of water blown in off the Gulf of Mexico and the huge changes of elevation, everything in the world grows in the State of Vera Cruz somewhere. In the lowlands of Vera Cruz where it is hot and tropical they grow suger cane. Near Xalapa at 5000 ft elevation it rains and is misty (sort of how I image Ireland) and there are many dairy farms. At higher elevations near Perote where I climbed a mountain, it is more arid and you see pine forests like eastern washington and oregon. There is a little bit of logging and the soil is sandy and farmers grow potatoes and onions.
I drove the motorbike to Perote and tried to drive as high as I could up a dirt road to the top of the mountain. Somewhere above 10,000 elevation my carbaretor failed me and my bike stopped running. I pushed the bike to the side of the road and chained it to a tree. Only after chaining it to a tree did I notice the grave marker withing 5´ of my bike. Weird. I have a picture of this and will upload it later. Later when I am walking down the mountain I see a family driving to the top in a VW bug. The VW bug did make it past where my motorbike stalled out (they have a better carb, or know how to rejet the engine maybe)... but the guy driving the car did make one consession to altitude. He made his whole family get out and walk behind the car, including a grandmotherly type with a cane.
On top of the mountain. Looking to the east we see rolling rain clouds and mist. Looking to the west we see desert. The demarkation between wet and dry is very stark. Cool!
Even though the mountain is in an ecological reserve that didn´t stop the local phone utility from covering the mountaintop with cell phone, TV, and satalite relay equipment. This installation has been here beaming radio signals to 5 Mexican states for 35 years.
We climb these stairs, kindly provided by the phone utility to get to the top of the mountain. If you can´t tell from the picture, it is steep.
Here is a man pouring some fresh concrete. The folks at the utility were really cool to let me run around their worksite snapping pictures.
Here is a picture of Alberto, an engineer at the top of the world. Alberto is an electrical engineer who works on site at the top of the mountain, one week off and one one week on maintaining the cell phone and satalite equipment. I told him he should move the US and become a fireman, I think they get more off time.
I left Vera Cruz Sunday for Xalapa, inland of Vera Cruz at an elevation of about 4500 feet. Xalapa is the capitol of the state of Vera Cruz and has a more moderate climate and is the hub of Mexican adventure and eco tourism. After a day resting and running errands, on Tuesday I drove to the town of Perote and climbed a small mountain (4250 meters). Here are some pictures:
A beatiful flowering Bouganville plant in front on my room. For some reason there are no tourists in the town. The last two nights there have been three people staying in a hostel with over 50 beds. I like the privacy, but I miss the company of other people.
A picture from the roof of the hostel south into the valley under Xalapa. This morning a big storm blew into Vera Cruz, so it rained and was cool in Xalapa. It felt like home and I loved it, though it seems like everyone else in the city was cold and hated the weather. Because of the quantity of water blown in off the Gulf of Mexico and the huge changes of elevation, everything in the world grows in the State of Vera Cruz somewhere. In the lowlands of Vera Cruz where it is hot and tropical they grow suger cane. Near Xalapa at 5000 ft elevation it rains and is misty (sort of how I image Ireland) and there are many dairy farms. At higher elevations near Perote where I climbed a mountain, it is more arid and you see pine forests like eastern washington and oregon. There is a little bit of logging and the soil is sandy and farmers grow potatoes and onions.
I drove the motorbike to Perote and tried to drive as high as I could up a dirt road to the top of the mountain. Somewhere above 10,000 elevation my carbaretor failed me and my bike stopped running. I pushed the bike to the side of the road and chained it to a tree. Only after chaining it to a tree did I notice the grave marker withing 5´ of my bike. Weird. I have a picture of this and will upload it later. Later when I am walking down the mountain I see a family driving to the top in a VW bug. The VW bug did make it past where my motorbike stalled out (they have a better carb, or know how to rejet the engine maybe)... but the guy driving the car did make one consession to altitude. He made his whole family get out and walk behind the car, including a grandmotherly type with a cane.
On top of the mountain. Looking to the east we see rolling rain clouds and mist. Looking to the west we see desert. The demarkation between wet and dry is very stark. Cool!
Even though the mountain is in an ecological reserve that didn´t stop the local phone utility from covering the mountaintop with cell phone, TV, and satalite relay equipment. This installation has been here beaming radio signals to 5 Mexican states for 35 years.
We climb these stairs, kindly provided by the phone utility to get to the top of the mountain. If you can´t tell from the picture, it is steep.
Here is a man pouring some fresh concrete. The folks at the utility were really cool to let me run around their worksite snapping pictures.
Here is a picture of Alberto, an engineer at the top of the world. Alberto is an electrical engineer who works on site at the top of the mountain, one week off and one one week on maintaining the cell phone and satalite equipment. I told him he should move the US and become a fireman, I think they get more off time.
Day 35ish
On Wednesday I took a break from harassing Fedex and visited Teotictuan, the ancient city of pyramides outside Mexico City. This ancient city was believed to be populated from about 200 BC to about 700 AD and has the huge Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon as well as the Avenue of the Dead. The name avenue of the dead was given by the Aztecs who found this city long destroyed by the time their civilization rose and believed that the pyramids were tombs of ancient kings. Apparently Cortez passed by the ruined city on one of his Mexican campains and did not notice the ruins (supposedly they were completely overgrown) The pyramid of the sun is the third biggest pyramid in the world, nd the largest one that authorities still let people climb. Here are some pictures. The civilization that was founded in this city shared many similarities with the prehispanic civilizations that followed it: high population density that was the result of farming, a specialized society with farmers, warriors and priests, and a religion that involved human sacrifice. No one seems to have a good explanination why a city rose in this particular location, or why it totally collapsed several hundred years later. It seem strange to me that an area that could support tens of thousands of people could be abandoned and overgrown 1000 years later.
Me standing infront of the Pyramid of the Sun. This is a really big pyramid and those little specs that you see going up and down the stairs are people. After climbing up and down the thing once I thought I was glad I wasn´t one of the pyramid priests that had to do this every day. Image the arguments they must have had about who would have to go down to get the tools, if someone discovered they forgot something important at the bottom!
This is another picture of the Pyramid of the Sun taken from the smaller (but built on top of a hill and thus about as tall) Pyramid of the Moon. The street to the right of the picture is The Avenue of the Dead. Besides the fact that the avenue is over two kilometers long, the interesting thing about it is that it is not flat. There are multiple raised and lowered sections along the avenue, indicating that everyone walked along it passing up and down stairs. Of course this would not be a practicle design for any sort of wheeled vehicle. Its amazing to think that as sophisticated as these ancient civilizations were, they didn´t have the use of any type of cart pulling animal, and thus had no need for the wheel.
The Pyramid of the Moon. We can see smaller temple or dwelling complexes off to the lower left.
Carvings from yet another complex, the temple of the jaguar, I believe.
A close up view of a carving from the Temple of the Jaguar. This head was removed and installed in a small museam in the Teotictuan complex. Its interesting that extensive and huge as these temple complexes were, there are relatively few carvings or frescos that remain. Maybe there were lots of carvings and frescos at the time the civilization existed, but they didn´t hold up as well over time as the larger structures.
Me standing infront of the Pyramid of the Sun. This is a really big pyramid and those little specs that you see going up and down the stairs are people. After climbing up and down the thing once I thought I was glad I wasn´t one of the pyramid priests that had to do this every day. Image the arguments they must have had about who would have to go down to get the tools, if someone discovered they forgot something important at the bottom!
This is another picture of the Pyramid of the Sun taken from the smaller (but built on top of a hill and thus about as tall) Pyramid of the Moon. The street to the right of the picture is The Avenue of the Dead. Besides the fact that the avenue is over two kilometers long, the interesting thing about it is that it is not flat. There are multiple raised and lowered sections along the avenue, indicating that everyone walked along it passing up and down stairs. Of course this would not be a practicle design for any sort of wheeled vehicle. Its amazing to think that as sophisticated as these ancient civilizations were, they didn´t have the use of any type of cart pulling animal, and thus had no need for the wheel.
The Pyramid of the Moon. We can see smaller temple or dwelling complexes off to the lower left.
Carvings from yet another complex, the temple of the jaguar, I believe.
A close up view of a carving from the Temple of the Jaguar. This head was removed and installed in a small museam in the Teotictuan complex. Its interesting that extensive and huge as these temple complexes were, there are relatively few carvings or frescos that remain. Maybe there were lots of carvings and frescos at the time the civilization existed, but they didn´t hold up as well over time as the larger structures.
Day 37, Finer Entertainment for Manzell
Manzell asked about finer entertainment. Well, I spent most of the evening of Day 34 running around Mexico City in my Dr. Waggoner mask. After walking across the Zocalo in the mask, we got a quick dinner and bite to eat at another hostel and I went to my second Luncha Libra, a 5 match event in a Key Area sized venue in Mexico City. After the lunch libre we went out for drinks. What do you do when you wear a Mexican wrestling mask? In my case, sometimes this involves getting a shot of tequilla poured into your mouth from a bartender who is also wearing a Dr. Waggoner mask. Anyway, I think think the picture speaks for itself:
The bartender is Gerrardo, the coolest bartender I´ve met during the trip so far. My friend Darragh, a big Irish lad who looks quite a bit like Donnie, took this picture.
The bartender is Gerrardo, the coolest bartender I´ve met during the trip so far. My friend Darragh, a big Irish lad who looks quite a bit like Donnie, took this picture.
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