Feeling Fresh- A first in Mexico

Hello All! Between the 25th of October and the 4th of November, I estimate that I spent way too much time traveling on a bus. It could have been worse. It was a Mercedes, equipped with air conditioning, television, a bathroom, and ever so slightly reclining seats- not to mention a driver named Pepe who is an artist behind the wheel. Still, traversing the Mexican highland mountain ranges at a sizzling 35 miles per hour for about 20 hours was no joy. When I was first told that I needed to wake up at five in the morning to get on the bus and travel all day, I thought I would be able to sleep. Wrong. Mexican highways aren’t exactly “suave”. Trying to sleep on a bus as it pitches back and forth around corners, up and down over highway speed humps (which there are many of- some places every few minutes) makes one even more tired. So I guess the upside is that I got to see a good majority of the more than 2,000 miles of landscape we passed. After an all night drive, the first site we saw was Palenque, which is located in…… Palenque, Chiapas. This ancient ruin is absolutely breathtaking. I declare it to be my favorite ruin- and I have visited plenty. Numerous hieroglyphs remain intact, carved into the exteriors of the buildings here. It amazes me that the limestone they are set in has not completely dissolved in the 1500 years they have existed. That night, we slept in primitive thatched huts in a Maya reserve. My hut was down by the river, and it was very relaxing to hear the water rushing as I fell asleep. The next day, we took these wild motorized canoes to Tikal (another ruin!), traveling down a river (I forget the name) that separates Mexico from Guatemala. We ever docked for a moment on the Guatemala side of the river to catch a glimpse of some monkeys (I even got a picture). So I guess I can say now that I have visited multiple foreign countries- pretty cool for a guy who has never even been to California. That brings me to another point: In conversation with Mexicans, I am invariably asked about California. They are absolutely flabbergasted when I tell them I have never been, and sometimes repeat the question. We did some other stuff after Tikal, and then we went to San Cristobal de las Casas, in the mountains (about 7000 feet above sea level!) of Chiapas. This city is the Mexico I would really like to see more of. We spent several nights there, sleeping in a converted convent. Every room had a fireplace (except mine, of course) which was really awesome. I spent a lot of time building (and in one case, attempting) fires. San Cristobal is a town of about 400,000, but until about 10 years ago it was home to only about 70,000 people. It is absolutely gorgeous. Foremost, it is cold. Well, 65 degrees isn’t cold- but compared to Merida…… Secondly, there are hills- big ones. And everyone was just so nice and friendly! I got caught under a street awning with a Mexican gentleman for about 15 minutes during a rainstorm one day, and we had an excellent conversation, and he even told me where I could find some Chinese food. From San Cristobal, we drove to visit several Maya communities, where I did some shopping for my family. This is the earliest I have ever taken care of Christmas gifts. In one of the Maya communities, we visited a church built in the 16th century during some sort of ceremony. The halls were filled with pine needles, and it smelt amazing. And then a group of men (some being religious community leaders, I am told) came in with incense, flutes, accordions, and guitars, playing the most soothing melody I have ever heard. We were fortunate enough to be in Oaxaca for the Day (Days (plural) better describes it) of the Dead. Oaxaca City is an awesome city as well, and the whole place was charged with energy for the day of the dead. We went to a pretty wild club for Halloween, and the next night we went to a celebration in a neighboring town. Even if I spent a whole day telling you what I saw, you still wouldn’t understand it. There were cross-dressing ghouls cracking 15 foot bull whips; people covered in little bells, hopping frantically. Pope John Paul II making lewd gestures, and George W. being belted. I bought a small water bottle of Mezcal there for 10 pesos. I had a few drinks of it before I ditched the foul stuff. Not enough to buzz even. But at 5 in the morning, I woke up sick as a dog. Lesson learned. The night of November second, we went to a cemetery to partake in ritual mourning. Mexican Day of the Dead mourning is quite a bit different from ours…. Its more, well, celebratory. I was offered shots of mescal by multiple drunk mourners (I suspect that they really liked the Mohawk I was sporting ( sorry mom and dad, I couldn’t find a good Halloween costume)). It was definitely not as rough as what I had the previous night. Going up into the hills of Mexico was a great experience. The heat and odd familiarity of Merida was really beginning to wear me thin. I feel recharged, and now we just have one more month until we get home. I think I want some barbeque ribs, mashed potatoes with gravy, real milk with an expiration date that doesn’t come in a cardboard box, and some hot and sour soup. Thinking of home, Michael Keach