More Ruins (Tikal this time)

Yep, couldn't resist my weekly dose of ancient Mayan ruins. Tikal though, is completely amazing. It might have helped that we finally gave up on guide book interpretation, and hired a professional guide...but it definitely made more of an impression on me than any of the other ruins I visited.

I've found it quite difficult to picture what life might have actually been like when these places were really at the peak of their power. Having a guide really made a difference. He was so passionate about the history of the place that it really started to come alive for us.

Again, the pictures don't really do it justice (especially as it was pouring with rain for most of the day), but here are a couple of snaps:

Mennonites

As it turns out, there is a large population of German-speaking Mennonites in Belize....As I was a bit hazy on the exactitudes of the Mennonite culture, I had to look them up on good ole Wikipedia:

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons (1496–1561), though his writings articulated, and thereby, formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The teachings of the Mennonites were founded on both the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, which they held to with great conviction despite generational persecution by the Catholic church state. Rather than fight, the majority survived by fleeing to neighboring "states" where ruling families were tolerant of their radical belief in adult baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches given their commitment to nonviolence, nonviolent resistance/reconciliation, and pacifism.

There are about 1.5 million Mennonites worldwide as of 2006.^[1] Mennonite congregations worldwide embody the full scope of Mennonite practice from old fashioned 'plain' people to those who are indistinguishable in dress and appearance from the general population. The largest populations of Mennonites are in the United States and Democratic Republic of Congo, but Mennonites can also be found in tight-knit communities in at least 51 countries on six continents or scattered amongst the populace of those countries. There are also a significant number of Mennonites scattered throughout China. There are German Mennonite colonies in Mexico, Paraguay,^[2] Bolivia,^[3] Belize, Brazil and Argentina.

We ended up staying on one of the largest Mennonite communities at a place called Barton's Creek Outpost, owned by an American family. It's pretty back to basics: leaky tents (you sleep on the verandah if it rains), no showers (wash in the river) and a massive trek to get there (more than an hour on bumpy roads, only passable by 4x4, or apparently, Mennonite wooden wagons).

It was really lovely though, rope swings into the water, long walks, gorgeous scenery. It was also interesting to meet some of the Mennonites. On first appearance, they are a cross between extras from The Village, and scary characters from Children of the Corn. But they are uber-friendly, and one of the most industrious (and wealthy) communities in Belize. If you want nice bread, a decently built house, or amazing fruits and vegetables in Belize, it's likely that Your Man is a Mennonite.

I've attached some photos below to illustrate (think this blog post could go on for some time otherwise, we really did have a very good time!)

Jimmy & Derek taking a shower:


The Mennonites don't really like pictures being taken in their communities...but if you look really closely at this one, you can just about see a distant wagon:


Relegated to the verandah after a rainstorm:


The journey back to town (as you can see, washing my hair in a river and then sitting in the back of a pick-up truck does not agree with my hair!)

Caye Caulker Christmas....weird

It's just strange having Christmas decorations up when it's sunny. It's also very confusing to hear Christmas Carols when everything else around you says Summer!

Island Life

Spent a few days on Caye Caulker, where life goes on at a pace much slower than the rest of the world (there are some herbal reasons for this). Within 24 hours, it's possible to have met, and become friends with, most people on the island.

On the first night, Derek & I bumped into a couple (Rachel & James) who had also shared the delights of the Seaside Guesthouse....as good a basis as any for the formation of unbreakable bonds!!

The main activities on Caye Caulker are snorkelling, hanging out in hammocks, eating Lobster (the cheapest thing to eat in Belize!) and drinking happy-hour cocktails containing negligable amounts of Rum.

Apres snorkelling:



We swam with manta rays, eels, sharks(!), and trillions of fish. Apparently the sharks are not man-eating, but I've seen Jaws, I don't trust them an inch!!

More, land-based apres snorkelling:



The generally chilled lifestyle on Caye Caulker:

Belize City - A bit like Marmite

I really liked Belize City. I was pretty nervous on the way there as i'd been told (by just about everyone i'd met) that I would likely be attacked and killed within 5 minutes of getting off the bus. The main piece of advice i'd been given was to NOT under ANY circumstances arrive at night.

Unfortunately, due to a lengthy and confusing border crossing, we were heading into the city in the pitch black, listening to a (really loud) CD where the majority of the song lyrics seemed to be 'Be-atch' or 'Ho'.

Belize City does look dodgy too. It reminded me a bit of Shaun of the Dead, with lots of people staggering around aimlessly, sometimes dragging one foot. The buildings are mostly falling down or derelict, and the roads are just dust.

But as it turned out, the Belizean people are the friendliest, most helpful you're likely to come across. They even have a public service announcement on the radio reminding locals to 'be kind to tourists'!

One of the best things about Belize City for me was the guesthouse we stayed in. The other people i was with HATED it. Derek was so disgusted by the pillow, he refused to sleep on it before wrapping it with 2 sheets and a towel, and the bathroom was definitely a hover situation. But any place that insists on reading the tarot cards and aura of prospective guests before check in, gets the thumbs up from me!!

This is a picture of the Seaside Guesthouse in Belize City:

Tulum Beach & Brits Abroad

When the weather is bad at the beach, you can pretty much guarantee that every person still toughing it out in their swimming togs is British. It can be raining cats & dogs, and there can be gale force winds, but ´Us Brits´ will still be flat out on the sand trying to top up our tans.

This is what the beach looked like when me and Derek were still determined to lie there shivering...




Obviously, there's only so much a girl can take before a beer is necessary....though this picture is mainly about the bar swings. All good fun Before Cocktails, not so good After Drinking.

Welcome to the Jungle

After our visit to the ruins, Derek, Julie & I decided to stay overnight in El Panchan, a camp just outside the Palenque site. It's basically a few straggly groups of cabins that have been grown over slightly by jungle.

It's a really nice place to hang out, but evidently we are still in Uptight Londoner mode, as after about 12 hours of lazing around we were keen to find some kind of leisure facilities or activities to undertake.

Having heard a rumour that there was a pool somewhere in the jungle, we set off on a mission to locate swimming opportunities. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around in circles before coming across a small, slightly derelict, bowl filled with leaves.



At least after that, we could concentrate on discussing beading techniques with stoned hippies and drinking warm beer in the caff.

Palenque

I´m constantly in awe of archeologists and historians who spend years and YEARS investigating a particular ruin. Not only a particular ruin, there are people dedicating there entire careers to analysing one building within a complex. I feel a little disappointed that i seem to find it difficult to focus my attention on Mayan ruins for more than about 3 hours.

The information at the sites isn't great, so i'm constantly rummaging through my guide book, or struggling to interpret the site ´map´to work out what the hell i'm looking at. We spent about 20 minutes at Palenque unsuccessfully trying to find a carving of a skull that was supposed to be on the side of one of the temples.

Palenque is really beautiful though. Only 5% of the ruins have been excavated, which is amazing given how much has been uncovered. I actually prefer the ruins that are still ´lost´in jungle. Many of the buildings were designed to reflect features of the landscape, and when they're covered in weeds, trees and flowers, it really does feel like they simply grew out of the ground.

I'll put up a picture, but it's pretty rubbish in comparison to the real thing.

Julie & Derek perusing the guide book:



The ruins:

Waterfalls

Ok, so not much to say other than 'I went to see some waterfalls'. But the water was so pretty and blue, i thought I'd put a picture up. There was one of me going for a swim, but the internet seems to object to pictures of me in a bikini and is refusing to upload anything else....obviously my tan still needs work.

Bad Camper

It was sooo cold in San Cristobal. I had to go to bed wearing all my clothes, a silk liner, a 3 season sleeping bag and a blanket. The upside of this was an excuse for Adentures with Fire!

An initial burst of enthusiasm from me led to a pretty pathetic fire, using the front cover of OK magazine and some toilet paper to light some large logs. After a respectable period of time, Dominic stepped into make the 'fire' into an actual fire.

Ah....going to bed with a log fire burning....very cosy!!

See! The market here is really nice!

They have flags...

And the fruit is very nicely arranged...

San Cristobal de las Casas

Ah, it's pretty here. Lots of brightly coloured buildings, markets and fun places to go out at night.


Have been hanging out with a pretty international crowd - Three of us from London and one from Leeds! Am making the most of my exotic location to investigate various other cultures....

Everybody go surfing...

Or don't...cos it hurts a lot. I had 3 days of lessons in Puerto Escondido with a random bloke who had been banned from the local surf association for fighting. It mainly resulted in severe exhaustion, cut feet, bruised knees and elbows, burned legs, and drowned rat demeanor....and that was just after meeting the surf teacher (heehee!)

I think the main problem is choosing to learn in a place where pro-surfers from around the world gather for the massive, fast-breaking waves. Next time, Brighton beach!

It was fun though, lots of water wildlife...Manta Rays surfing on the waves alongside me & leaping (HIGH!) into the air. And hopefully i can practice my new found surfer skills further down the coast in El Salvador and then amaze my friends with my new talents next time we visit the Gower!

Jim thanking Christy for driving...

Hey You!

Get your shell suit out of my photo! Don't you know this is one of ME and The Pyramid ONLY...?!


This is Monte Alban near Oaxaca. Some nice Peace Corps volunteers I met kindly took me out here for the day in their car, so was a very nice easy day of wandering around the ruins, trying to capture pictures of shell-suit wearing guides in front of the temples.

I learnt two main things about the temple:

• The inhabitants played squash!
• The priests made holes in the ceilings so that they could track different constellations that would help them predict when the rains were coming / when they should harvest their crops etc.

This is not very much for a whole day i know...but it is tricky in Spanish :)

And another thing about Oaxaca....

People there like nuts. A lot.

Oaxaca

From what i'd read, Oaxaca sounded quite dangerous. Strikes, political protests, imprisonment of anyone who opposed the government, whole villages wiped out by local government 'armies'.... Ok, so I did arrive in the middle of Mexican independence celebrations, so a generally more upbeat affair, but other than that, as a tourist you see NO sign of any of this stuff going on.

Apparently a female American activist was killed near Oaxaca last year. She was acting as a kind of human shield to local activists trying to improve the lives and rights of the indigenous populations nearby. The theory is that government-backed groups are less likely to knock off a foreigner because it creates an excess of paperwork in Mexico City and a little too much noise.

Not all of the strikes are what they seem either. A few years ago there was a strike of newspaper workers from Las Noticias. The rumour was that the people 'on strike' in the town square were not strikers at all, but people hired by the local government as a cover for the attempted close-down of the publication, which had been constantly critical of government policy.

As I said, none of this has any impact on general tourists to the area. It's a nice colonial town, pretty churches and buildings, lots of little markets....very lovely (see pictures below).

(sorry, am liking the car shots at the moment, this is less wobbly too!)

Name that Cloud!

Sianie....I'm lookin' at you kid...!

Pretty Picture of Mexico City at Night

Sorry, it's a bit blurry.

Pants on fire!!

Well, not quite but almost. Went to do my laundry in La Lavanderia yesterday and couldn´t help but notice that the dryer was on fire. I'd already handed over my clothes, so was understandably quite concerned - "Argh! Su Maquina esta en fuego!" (argh, your machine is on fire)....the laundry lady didn´t seem worried so i thought maybe i was having a bad spanish day and tried "¿pero, la maquina es muy caliente, no?" (but the machine is very hot isn´t it?).

After trying twice, i figured she must know what she was doing...but literally, there were FLAMES coming out of the top of the machine!!!!

I went back later, fully expecting at least to receive a bag of ashes instead of my clothes, if not find the whole laundry place burned to a crisp. Miraculously, i was instead presented with the cleanest, nicest smelling, best folded laundry i´ve ever seen!!!

How is this possible?!

Morelia

It`s a very nice city, but there are a lot of pigeons - Nat, i don`t think you`d like it!

Lucha Libre 2!

Before you start to think I`m obsessed by wrestling, please be assured, it`s not me....it`s the Mexicans!!! (honestly)

A night of too many of these:

Led to the creation of two new wrestling sensations.....Introducing Bob & Barbara!!!! Yay!!!!

As vicious in the ring, as they are relaxed at home...

Heehee!!

Los Pyramides in a silly hat

Made a trip out of town to Teotihuacan to see some pyramids built by the guys in charge before the Aztecs. The name `Teotihuacan`, rather dramatically, translates as ´the place where men become gods`. Though there are some pretty nasty deities in Mexico, so you might want to pick and choose...!

It was really hot, so was forced to pay an extortionate amount of money for a hat I looked stupid in. Here is the evidence:

On the up-side, there were many other unsuspecting tourists who found themselves in the same, unstylish boat...

Lucha Libre!!!!

Went to see Mexican wrestling (Lucha Libre) last night - it was SO MUCH FUN!! Large men in skin-tight lycra and sparkly masks might not be everyone's idea of fun, but it certainly entertained me! For large men, they are amazingly agile.

Was slightly concerned by the etiquette of using midgets as mascots, but Sal & Nat will be pleased to know that one of the wrestlers went one better by using a primordial dwarf!

I got my camera confiscated on the way in, so i don't have any photos of the actual event i'm afraid...you'll have to make do with the following reconstructions of events....

Eco-Mexico

This is a bin I saw today encouraging Mexicans to recycle their plastic bottles. Bert...i thought Sprout could take on board some of the interesting design elements presented here...?

Day One in Mexico City - Don't worry, I won't subject you all to a new post every day :)

So, here I am in lovely Mexico City. Just ate my first proper Mexican meal in a small cafe with men playing dominos and old, frazzled cinema posters on the walls. Am slightly concerned about the effect the food might have on me....it tasted nice, but looked like green and red splodge with small, white worms sprinkled on top (actually cheese).

Have had a lovely first day, I REALLY like it here. Walked down the Paseo de Reforma, all the way to Chapultepec Park. There are loads of impressive monuments along the way, commemorating independence from Spain, the last Aztec leader,and, more ambiguously, a naked female hunter named Diana.

The park was nice too, though i got told off for sitting too close to the lake. Didn't mind though, cos they told me off in Spanish and I actually understood what they were saying!!! :)

In fact,my Spanish was so impressive today that i made friends with an archeological man in the anthropological museum, who insisted showing me around the ENTIRE place for FIVE HOURS!!!

I learnt many interesting facts though like:

• The emblem on the Mexican flag is an eagle eating a snake. This is because in 'ancient times' nomadic tribes would pick a spot to settle where they saw an eagle eating a snake. Unfortunately, this led to the Aztecs having to build a city (and connecting roads) to a small, muddy islet in the middle of a lake.
• The equivalent of yin & yang in Central America is the winged, or feathered, serpent. The wings represent birds, which are close to the gods...and the snake represents the underworld (der der deeeer!!!). Apparently this symbol is used to describe the balance between good and evil, love and hate, or the balance between a man and a woman (personally i think the lady is the one chatting away to the gods :)
• High-born Mayan babies got their skulls squished between two wooden plates everyday so that they would grow conical heads
• Duty Free shops in Mexico are called DuFry shops...heehee!

So. Tomorrow I am heading into the centre of town. This may, or may not still exist as a plane crashed into the downtown area 2 days ago....killing all people on board (which interestingly included a minister who had recently been trying to clean up some of the drug gangs in Mexico...), 8 people on the ground and injuring 40 people.

Well done if you got right to the end....i got a bit carried away i think!

Speak soon x

Welcome to the new, improved Steph Travel Communication System!

Given my previous attempts at diary-keeping, i'm crossing my fingers that where blogging is concerned a more diligent Steph will magically emerge! At least a blog will give my parents more regular confirmation that I'm still surviving the wilds of Central America ok :)

So here's my first photo, about to jet off on the 10.40 from Chesterfield Train Station, carrying little more than several varieties of torch (maglite, head & wind-up) and my trusty penknife....well actually quite a bit more than that...

Well, off I go!!

See you on the other side of the sea!
xxxxxxxxxxxx