Mexico - San Cristobal de las Casas

A short flight and bus-trip brought us into a different world - Chiapas. A mainly Mayan area in the mountains, trying to be independent to some extent. San Cristobal is at the heart, a lovely little colonial town with a few nice churches, a well-preserved main square (Zocalo) and surrounding streets. It has a hippie feel to it, a welcome change in pace after Mexico City.

Besides this, the main attraction are the villages in the surrounding mountains, which are still mainly traditionally Mayan, albeit to different extents. The most traditional being Chamula, a ´village´ of ca 75,000 people over 150 square kilometers, whose inhabitants follow the traditions as closely as possible. They have water and electricity, but for many other things they rely upon the ways of their ancestors. They call themselves catholic, but they have adopted a mix of Catholic saints with Mayan rituals. The church in town is a Mayan temple, where locals together with Shamans engage in complex rituals to clear their souls and bodies when ill, or to ask for assistance when needed. The rituals include the offering of food (eggs, sometimes chickens), drinking coca cola (traditionally this was done with a sugercane-based concoction, but coca cola has the same burping effect which means the illness is leaving the body) and lighting large amounts of candles, while the Shaman is praying to the gods. As they need the money from the tourists, we are allowed in the Church to observe these very personal moments. It is hard not to feel an intruder, but at the same time it is very moving. (We were not allowed to take any photos of inside the church or of the people in this village as they believe a photo removes part of their soul)

The main economic activity in Chamula is agriculture, so there is a large market where all sort of fruit and vegetable are on offer. It is mainly the women who do this, as they look after the ´home´ while their husbands are working the fields or engaging in some political activity. Besides food for themselves, the market has the usual tourist offerings - textiles, woodcarvings, stone sculptures, pottery and nick-nacks. Never has either of us seen such a colourful market, with the reds of the tomatoes contrasting with the blues of the traditional female dresses and the oranges and yellows of the tourist-scarves.
As said, Chamula is a very traditional village, for example women cannot vote (except in the federal elections), people get married very young and have 6 to 8 children (birth-control is not allowed), for healthcare they go to the Shaman (the hospital is only a last resort) which means that the life expectancy is lower than in the rest of Mexico and the level of education is relatively low. Still, it is a very strong community (people who convert to another religion than the ´Mayan catholicism´ get expelled from the village - and end up selling crafts on the street in San Cristobal) and very interesting to visit. It made us wonder about the cultural variety that still exists in this world and how fascinating it is!

One valley further is Zinacantan, a village of similar origin, but one that has adopted many of the ´western influences´ with regards to voting, healthcare and education. However, even here the people live a very traditional life in (partly) clay huts where the women weave and prepare food on wood-fires, while the men work the land (in this case to grow flowers). As the crow flies only 4 kilometers, but the difference feels like 100 years....


Back to San Cristobal and to the bus station, from where we would go to Palenque and around, home to some of the main Mayan sites in Mexico.....

Mexico - Around Mexico City

After the hustle and bustle of city life, it was time to start exploring the ´real´ Mexico, because as is the case with many capitals, Mexico City is not a true reflection of the country.

Fortunately, the ´basin´ in which Mexico City is located, is one of the main areas of early settlements in Mexico (one could say it is the cradle of Mexico), so many ´big´ civilisations had important settlements here. There are several key sites worth visiting, each within a 2 hour return trip from Mexico City, so, off we went, having our first encounters with the Mexican country-side.

As we are on a sort-of budget, we had decided to do most of the travelling by public transport, eg undergrounds/tubes to the main bus terminals and from there by coach/private bus. And unlike their European counterparts, both these systems actually work - they are clean, fast, timely and cheap (2 pesos (= 10 pence or 15 eurocents) gets you all across Mexico City by tube and 50 pesos (by now you should be able to work out yourselves what this is in your currency) leaves you 60 kilometers out of town. Plus, in the bus they show movies, albeit more often than not in Spanish, which is not so useful for us two, that now manage to order food in Spanish and say hello, but that´s about it.....

Our first stop was Teotihuacan, one of the must-sees for every visitor to Mexico. Only an hour outside the centre, it is the first capital of the first really powerful endigenous tribe, which made their way to the area from the North. In a period stretching from 200AD to 900AD they developed into the main power, subjugating many of the other tribes around. Their civilisation, as with all others in this part of the world, was very theocratic, meaning that all aspects of life were ruled by the religion. A religion that was based on the belief that life as such was stolen from death (or, that light was tricked away from darkness), meaning that in order to sustain this, a lot of apeacement was needed. Hence, human sacrifices, mainly of conquered tribes, was one of the more important religious aspects, as was a ball-game called polota (a cross between football and volleyball) and the Sun and the Moon. And in order to place all these religious activities in time, they developed several calendars and an advanced form of mathematics, long before Western Europe did.

For those who wonder why this ´long´ digression into boring religious detail - these aspects are a key part of all subsequent civilisations in this area, so it saves us from writing them again. The main differences being that the bloodthirst becomes stronger (eg the need for human sacrifices) and the pantheon more complex.

Anyway, having said all of this, the Teotihuacanians (or Teotihuacanites, who knows) built a city that at its centre offered space to fulfill all the religious requirements. A city that at the top of its power housed between 120,000 and 200,000 people. A city that was disescted by a 3 kilometer long main road, along which all main buildings were located. Main buildings among which included multi-tiered pyramids to the Sun and the Moon that measured more than 50 meters high and more than 100 meters at the base and a ´citadel´ that was the main administrative area.


All of these have survived in some part, together with a sizable amount of smaller buildings, which combined leave a truly amazing view and experience - imagine walking the Champs-Elysees lined with the Pyramids and the Acropolis. Or something like that.....

The Teotihuacanes had also a religious area ´off-site´, in a place that is now called Cholula. As a guide described it, ´this was really the embassy of Teotihuacan´. Here they built several temples, the main on top of a 66 meter high, 350 meter wide pyramid. Today not much of it is left, other than a few steps, a massive ´hub´ and 8 kilometers of tunnel, of which a few 100 meters are open for exploring. Which we of course did. Now on the summit, there is a church. The first version built by the Spanish, who in their enormous urge to change Mexico into a catholic country thought this to be a suitable place.

Finally, after the Teotihuacanmen saw their empire implode, no-one knows exactly how, the Toltecs became the most important group. Their capital was in a place now called Tula. About 100 kilometers outside Mexico City, the site of the old city is only partially excavated, with pyramids and ball-courts for pelota now on show. On top of one of the pyramids are the Atlantes, 5 meters high stone pilars in the form of warriors, a great sight!


The Toltecs took over some of the religious aspects of the Teotihuacani and added their own twists to it. For example, in front of the pelota-fields they built platforms which would be adorned by the deformed skulls of enemies. Nice.....
The Toltec power didn´t last very long, after less than 100 years they were succeeded by the Aztecs, who built an empire from the area around Mexico City (the Templo Mayor being an important example) - until the Spanish came. And the circle is complete.....

Just to put you at ease - we did not only see temples (or their left-overs) - we also climbed them all. No, seriously, we did see other things as well. So there is Puebla, a city that may sound familiar to some of you (there is a Volkswagen factory there). It was described in our guide book as hardly worth the effort, but it being on the way, we decided to stop off anyway. And we didn´t regret it - a lovely colonial centre with a nice cathedral, many colonial mansions and a lovely small museum. And so there is Acatepec, a very small village we ended up by chance (as we missed our bus-stop, didn´t figure this out till later, couldn´t get across to the driver that we wanted to stop, resulting in a sightseeing tour of the countryside). The baroque church-facade covered in colourful tiles that is one of the prettiest in Mexico. And so there are Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, the two volcanoes we had seen from the plane, but which we now saw from much closer. Truly amazing, with one (we haven´t completely figured out which one yet, although Popocatepetl is the more active of the two, so the chances are that.....) continuously puffing smoke in a clear blue sky. Picturebook-perfect.

And that completed our trip around Mexico City. From here it is the Mayan way, on to San Cristobal and beyond.....

Mexico - Mexico City

The longest transfer of our trip (leaving Sydney via Miami and LA, taking in total more than 20 hours 'air-time', but significantly more travel time, and still we arrived only hours after we left!) took us to a new continent (the Americas), a new country (Mexico) and a new city (Mexico City). The last leg, already, of our trip, but one with a lot of promise of new cultures and new habitats.

Landing in Mexico City, some say the largest city in the world, is quite spectacular - a long approach takes you right over the city (the airport is only a few kilometers out of the centre) with amazing views over the two volcanoes that sort of define the edge of the basin in which Mexico City lies. But don't be fooled by the term 'basin' - at over 2,000 meters it is one of the highest capitals in the world (as we soon would find out being slightly short of breath at times during the first few days).


A quick taxi-ride brought us to our hotel, which was located right next to the Zocalo (the main square). It being Good Friday when we arrived, the city was relatively quiet, with people making their way to the churches to fulfil their religious duties - Mexico is very catholic.

So, jet-lagged (by now we had had 11 hours of sleep in more than 60 hours), we wondered around the centre, lapping up the new atmosphere and impressions: people lighting candles in garish churches, people having a leisurely lunch at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the traffic being spurred on by many police blowing their whistles and waving their hands, soldiers ceremonially taking the national flag down at 18.00 precisely (or at least, as precisely as Mexican standards allow), vendors selling tacos, tortillas, fruit covered with spicy sauces and so on. It was clear - we had left Asia and Oceania behind, we were now in a completely new environment. And with the expectation that this realisation brought, we fell asleep for a long time......


Sort of revitalised we woke up the next morning and went off to the museum that is for many people reason enough to visit Mexico City - the National Anthropologic Museum. Although the name doesn't immediately show it, this is one of the most beautiful museums around. It gives a very well laid-out and fascinating overview of the cultural development of Mexico, from the pre-historic times via the civilisations we've all heard off (but as it turns out, know so little about) - Olmecs, Toltecs, Aztecs, Mayas) to the ruthless colonisation by the Spanish. For us, as newcomers, a great way to learn an awful lot more about this country and provide us with the background for the trip we had in mind, which would lead us along examples of most of these periods.

As Mexico City is vast, it took us quite some time to see all the sites we had in mind, from the south-american pilgrim's destination Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadeloupe to the tourist area Zona Rosa (an area not related to Amsterdam's namesake), from the ruins of the pre-hispanic Templo Mayor just off the Zocalo to the majestic Avenida Reforma and from the murals in the National Palace that reflect Mexico's history to the relative peace of Alameda park. And all the while adapting to Mexico's pace, which is frantic on the one hand (traffic and noise), but leisurely on the other (long lunches and nice evenings on the terrace outside). As you can imagine, especially the latter was to our liking, so very quickly we became used to the three-or more course lunch ('comida corrida'), which takes the better part of the afternoon. And with delicacies as mole poblano (a chocolate-based chili-sauce) on the menu this was no punishment at all.....

Australia - Sydney

From Auckland to Sydney is about a three-and-a-half hour flight, but for us it was an even larger change: from a campervan back into the world of hotels. And to spoil ourselves a little bit, we had made a reservation in a very nice hotel right in the centre of town, about ten minutes walk from Darling Harbour.

Both of us having been to Sydney before, it felt like re-acquainting with an old friend: easy and comfortable. Which was exactly what we were hoping for, after the sensory overload in New Zealand. So, we went to have dinner in Darling Harbour, to see the flying foxes in the Botanical Gardens, to admire (and photograph from every possible angle) the Sydney Opera House, to be impressed by the size and grandeur of the Harbour Bridge, to follow the coming and going of ferries in Circular Quay, to wander through China Town and to have dinner in the Rocks. All very relaxed and nice, whilst wondering how it comes that Sydney has it completely right, seemingly. What a great city!

New Zealand - Auckland

A smooth trip brought us to New Zealand's largest city - Auckland. Even though for New Zealand standards it is a metropolis, it is not so in reality. Which may be proven by the fact that we managed to walk in five hours from one side of town (where it hits the Tasman Sea) to the other (where it hits the Pacific Ocean). Along the way covering large areas of nature.

What this walk also showed, something we did not know before, is that Auckland is built in an area full of old volcanoes, 47 or so in total. Our walk took us over two and gave us views of the remaining 45. Something that came as quite a surprise, but a nice one.

For the rest, Auckland has some nice sites - the Sky Tower (a bit like Toronto's CN Tower, but then less tall), The harbour front (a bit like Sydney, but then less beautiful) and Cornwall Park (a bit like New York's Central Park, but then less sprawling). As this list may show - a nice city, but not spectacular.

What is there, though, is a thorough Polynsian and Asian influence - Auckland is the largest polynesian city in the world (about 30% of its inhabitants!), while walking through Auckland makes you feel like you're in downtown Tokyo. To illustrate this, having a coffee in a Starbuck's (old habits....) we were the only caucasian people, while the other 40 customers were all Japanese. Unexpected, but meaning that an enormous variety of Asian food is on offer, which can only be good!

And that means the end of New Zealand, a country we both have fallen in love with. In the balance, the South Island was slightly more inspiring than the North, also because of the weather conditions, but we have assembled a serious list of 'things to do'. So, borrowing from a well-known actor, it is safe to say: 'WE´LL BE BACK!'

New Zealand - North Coast

The North Island has a lot of coast, it being an island! Some of the most beautiful stretches, however, are to be found on the north-side, the so-called Bay of Plenty. This is where we spent a few days, however not really to soak in the sun, but to explore the inlands.

Tauranga and Waihi were the two ports of call, the former being a sort of Blackpool or Zandvoort of New Zealand and the latter a gold-mining village. Not surprisingly, of the two the latter was very interesting, with the opportunity to have a look at a still 'working' goldmine (apparently they dig about 1 mln dollars worth of gold every week out of something that to us looked like a big hole) and a walk through a former goldfield.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's the area around Waihi was hit by goldfever, which led to the quick construction of several villages along the river that disects the mountains surrounding the village. What became apparent to us, though, was that the destruction of these villages must have occured even faster, as the walking route we followed didn't provide much evidence of previous inhabitation, even though the signs showed pictures of bustling villages that supposedly where there less than 100 years ago. Having said that, the walk was very pleasant and interesting, going partly through some old mine-tunnels and a 1 kilometer long unlit train-tunnel used for transporting people and food the the villages. It is funny how nice day-light is after a stretch in such a tunnel!

From Waihi we departed for Auckland, our last port of call in New Zealand. Not only for us the end of an adventure, also for our little van, that was creaking louder with every mile ....

New Zealand - Volcanic Area

From Wellington we had to make our way to Taupo, the centre of the North Island's volcanic area - a long trip, especially in our little campervan. The first half of the trip promised to be nothing special, but from then on it should become pretty amazing, with the motorway cutting straight through New Zealand's volcanic heartland.

Our time in Te Papa (see previous entry) had visualised clearly that New Zealand is on the cusp of two tectonic plates. As a result, the country experiences very regular earthquakes and shocks. Also, the earth's crust is at places very, very thin because of the plates sliding along, which leads to volcanic eruptions and all sorts of 'geothermal activities' (yes, we read the information carefully), such as geysers and boiling mud. In our next few days we were going to experience all of this upclose.

At least, that was our plan. As soon as we entered the 'volcanic heartland' it started to rain. Which meant that the volcanoes we were hoping to see, were covered in clouds. Moreover, when we checked the weather-forecast for the next few days, it looked like things would only get worse. Which was a bit of a problem, as we had planned to do a one-day hike over two volcanoes followed the next day by a revitalising soak in some hot springs. Neither of these turned out to be feasible. (We later read in the newspaper than this rain/storm was the worst this area of New Zealand had experienced in 150 years!)

But, what is a plan without a backup, so we had some alternative arrangements:
- We spent a wet but fascinating half-day in Wai-o-tapu geothermal valley, where in a very small area the earth shows all its thermal tricks: boiling pools of mud, pools of water that are coloured bright blue, green or orange because of all the dissolved elements and a geyser that reaches about five meters high. Neither of us had seen these phenomena 'in real life', and it was very, very impressive.
- We spent a half-day (when the weather hadn't turned yet) walking along a river gorge with some massive 'rapids' (for the 'white-water' fanatics - about 5 meters high) and hot springs as contributaries and
- We spent time on the Internet (what would we do without the Internet) and in the cinema (to feed our need for some entertainment from 'back home' we saw the Queen together with a slightly geriatric cross-section of New Zealand, but a very good and insightful movie and Mr Bean together with a slightly adolescent cross-section of New Zealand, but a very average and slightly boring movie).

With the weather supposedly turning for the better, we set off to the coast.....

New Zealand - Wellington

Exploring the North Island was to begin with a 3 hour trip by ferry from Picton in the South Island to Wellington. However, JP seemed to be destined to make sure that we were not going to make this trip, as firstly he 'lost' the keys of the campervan (thirty minutes of increasingly desperate searching the immediate vicinity of the van and eventually the whole campsite proved to be in vain as the keys were found in the door of the campervan!) and secondly, when we turned up at the ferry it turned out he had booked for Wellington - Picton and not Picton - Wellington (fortunately the tickets were completely flexible, so no harm done). Just to prove how relaxed we have become after a three-month break from work....

The ferry trip is a beautiful route through the sounds we had explored earlier and across the always windy Cook's Strait. Chances were that we would see dolphins and possibly whales. However, saying that the Cook's Strait is windy is an obvious understatement - after thirty minutes fighting the gale we gave in and found a few seats inside to warm up and submerge ourselves in some American teenage film that was showing.

Once in Wellington we made our way to 'Te Papa', an interactive museum that explains in words, visuals, sounds and computer animations New Zealand's unique geological history, the climate conditions and the resulting unique flora and fauna. After everything we had seen on the South Island, this gave us some further background to put everything in a broader perspective. Even though we had planned to 'allow' ourselves only about two hours in this museum, the combination of the appealing and fun displays combined with a fire alert which was the cause for the evacuation of the museum meant that we easily spent more time here. And we enjoyed every minute of it.

For the rest, Wellington is New Zealand's capital and seat of government. It isnt the metropolis you expect from a capital city, however it has an intellectual, cultural and student feel which made for a pleasant enough stay. However, the city is short on sights to even fill the remaining afternoon, so we retreated to something that has become one of our favourite passtimes - walking up a hill. At the west-side of town lies Mount Victoria, from the top of which there are great views of the city, Cook's Strait and the harbour. The climb is steep, but the vistas worth it.

The way down led through one of Wellington's apparently more sought-after residential areas for the young and successful private and public workforce - so you can imagine that we fitted in very well ;-) What was interesting to see, though - and we had noticed this before - is the work-life balance in New Zealand: it looks like everybody makes a point of exercising before, during or after work hours, which means that jogging, cycling, skating or running people on their way to and from work or at their lunch break is a common sight. We have made a mental note.....

The assault of the hill had left us hungry, so after quick Malaysian meal we went to our campsite, where we turned in early, as the next day would be one of a long transit.....