INLAND IN OAXACA AND CHIAPAS

Unfortunately on January 26th disaster struck Janet’s family.  Our nephew, Gordon Richardson, 25, was killed in a single car accident.  Mike and Barb, his parents and his siblings Greg and Courtenay suffered a tragic loss and their lives will never be the same.  His partner, Shannon is missing her best friend and is trying to pick up the pieces. The rest of the family suffered as well and wished to help as much as possible.  With a large family such as ours, there was much consoling but only so much can be done. 

Janet flew home once arrangements had been made and attended a very beautiful service for Gord and spent a few days visiting. Gord had just turned a corner in his life and everything looked up for him as far as his job, his love and his home was concerned.  It is such a sad loss when someone is so young.

Our friends from home, Grete and Ed had arrived for a one week visit on January 31st.  Bill and I had 3 days to visit with them and show them the sights around Huatulco and La Crucicita, the town nearby. We made an overnight trip out into Bahia India and enjoyed a night on anchor there.  On Friday February 3rd Janet flew home via Mexico city and San Francisco and left Bill to be tour guide number 1.

Upon returning to Huatulco on February 8th we made plans to head inland with Steve and Linda Warren from Warren Peace. So, on the evening of February 9th, with Marguerita and Goyo watching their beloved Amber we boarded the ADO premium bus to Oaxaca City at 10 p.m.  This was an 8 hour trip and in spite of all the twists and turns in the road and all the Topes (speed bumps) we did manage to get some sleep; some of us more than others.  The Mexican people really take their topes seriously. Believe me, one does not go over them quickly unless one is prepared to leave part of the vehicle behind.  Since there are so many little towns along the way the bus rarely got over 50 km/h.  There is a shorter, faster route through the mountains but apparently people only do that route once and we were not prepared to ride it.  The route we took was plenty twisty!

We arrived at the city at about 6 a.m. and arbitrarily chose a hotel from the Lonely Planet guidebook.  It told us we would be lucky to find a room there without a reservation but we decided to risk it since it was only a few dollars for the taxi.  As luck would have it, we did get rooms and we got the best rooms since we were only staying a few days. Over the next few days we had many people ask us how far ahead we had booked. the cost was about $50 for a very large, king-sized bed suite set amidst an incredible garden scene.

We had a quick breakfast, then headed out to tour Mount Alban, the ruins on the outskirt of town. This was in the 250 B.C. time frame and was very fascinating and covered a very large area. There was also a museum as part of the admission and it was a very worthwhile visit.

We also signed up for a full day tour the following day and headed off with a full van to see the 2000 year old tree, a Mexcal factory, Tititlan , where they make many of the beautiful Mexican rugs, the ruins at Mitla and the petrified waterfalls.  The tour cost about $12 per person and was an incredible value.  Our lunch stop cost us almost as much but was also a very good value. The petrified waterfalls were a long way out and added quite a bit of time to the tour but in the end we were very glad we included them. The only other ones in the world are in Turkey.

We got back after 7 and hunted for a quick bite to eat and ended up in Terre Nova, a restaurant recommended in a guide-book. No sooner had we found our seat and right beside us walked Duane Webster, a friend from Surrey.  What a surprise to find he has been spending about 6 months in Oaxaca absorbing the culture and fine tuning his Spanish. We arranged to meet him for breakfast the next morning.

Duane picked us up at our hotel and gave us a walking tour and sight-seeing recommendations for the day. We visited him at his little apartment then had a Mexican breakfast just down the road. It was great to see him and get caught up his travels. We spent the rest of the day taking in the sights in and around the town, in particular at the Zocolo ( town square ) where an orchestra (sans strings) was setting up for their Sunday free performance. It was a wonderful opportunity to people watch. Older people dressed in their best, many indigenous people in traditional costume,  young women in those incredible high heels, babies in buggies and youngsters trying to eat cotton candy. The Mexican people do love their Sundays in the city centre!

Linda was our coffee connoisseuse on the trip and again we hunted for a restaurant for breakfast that gave us something better than Mexican brew, complete with bits of grounds. The next day we finally found the place!  Just off the zocolo on the pedestrian street we found a wonderful breakfast with a bottomless cup of coffee!  Omeletta, bacon, fruit plate and all the coffee we wanted for $5.00 . Hurrah!  We put in another leisurely day of sight-seeing and got ourselves onto the overnight bus to San Cristobal de les Casas.

It was a 12 hour trip, from 8 p.m.to 8 a.m. and once again we found a bit of sleep in between the topes. We went to a recommended hotel and found ourselves very comfortable rooms, but not as lavish as the last ones.  The cost here was about $40 per night complete with hot shower and this time a TV!  We were not up to a 7:15 departure for Palenque the next morning so decided to stay 2 nights.  It was extremely cold here and we just about hugged the Mexican lady who delivered very heavy blankets to supplement the ones already on the beds. We wore almost all the clothes we had brought and could not believe how cool it was. 

Our sightseeing was very leisurely here and we got a chance to catch up on our sleep! We had the chance to see a couple of museums, one worth seeing and one not! Both days we got caught in torrential downpours!

We took the day bus from San Cristobal to Palenque,followed two recommendations on accommodation and arrived at Ed and Margueritas. This is a most incredible place in the middle of the jungle.  Once again we were lower in elevation, and the temperature had increased; it is about 26 degrees year round with 85 inches of rain. Away went the long pants and fleece jackets.  Bill and I took a room with air conditioning and Steve and Linda chose one below without.  Apparently we had the quieter room and the AC drowned out the party noise from their neighbours.

There was a complete community in this area called El Panchon.  Margueritas and Eds was the  most upscale and the accommodation ranged right down to little cabanas with almost-cardboard walls dividing units.  Some were up on stilts, some were right beside meandering streams and all were walk-in only from the parking lot off the highway.  There was a great restaurant called Don Mucho’s with the best food we have had in Mexico. We were already thinking about the next day’s meals by the time we left to head to bed! There was entertainment in the evenings and the most surreal atmosphere! We kept pinching ourselves to see if it was all real. In “the neighbourhood”, there was a small bookstore/library and a “body modification” studio.  Bill and I wandered to see what this was and were given a welcome and introduction sales pitch. We were shown the catalog of tattoos and ear lobe modifications and some of the clients on the premises at the time proudly showed us their newly “modified” bodies. Ouch!

We toured the ruins one day and had a wonderful walk in the jungle area the next day.  The ruins date back to about 100 B.C. and the civilization here lasted until the 7th century. It was a Mayan city and was reclaimed by the cedar, mahogany and sapodilla trees until it was discovered again in the past 50 years or so.  Apparently only about 2 % has been uncovered and many of the “bumps”in the surrounding area are more ruins buried by the vegetation. The part that has been found is fascinating and we thoroughly enjoyed our tour.  We “hired” a young Mayan man whose English was good enough to give us all the details our brains would absorb and probably more information than  we will retain. He was a very nice young man and we only paid him about $12 for several hours.  Steve and Linda walked in so they were behind us and much to Steve’s chagrin, they paid more for their tour guide.  One does not really hire them; they just adopt us and eventually we give in and negotiate a rate!

This was a very worthwhile destination and we are so glad we managed to fit our inland travels in.

The next morning we boarded our van and incorporated a tour of two waterfalls, Aqua Azul and Misol Ha,  into our trip back to San Cristobal. We had booked the overnight 10  hour trip from there back to Huatulco and had a very enjoyable trip down. We took a taxi back to our favourite restaurant here, put all our warm clothes back on and after dinner caught our 10 p.m. bus back “home” to Marina Chahue in Huatulco.

We got back in time to say good-bye to Jan and Ole on Emma Jo. They were heading north after two years spent here. The fleet waiting for a weather window to Chiapas across the Tehuantepec had swelled. Gosling , Nauti Moments, Liberte, Saucy Lady, Risk Taker, Beverley J and Sundancer had joined the rest of us at the Marina.

Amber had been very well looked after by her “other parents” and had not managed to escape at all. (as if she would want to ; she is so loved by Marguerita and Goyo).

Steve’s birthday was on the 26th so Fran baked a cake and planned a potluck get together ashore. There were 5 BCA boats there, so we figured we qualified for a B.U.R.P.

Gosling and NautiMoments headed to Oaxaca for their inland trip while Optical Illusion took over the pet sitting duties and watched Rosie for a few days for them.