This day began like many others. Glimpsing through a cracked bus window...or trying not to (are they bullet holes?!).. peering past the swinging rosary beads towards a hillside landscape sometimes dense with coloured concrete shanty houses, today with thick luscious jungle foliage intersperced with cornfield and farming plantations. We'd descended a couple of thousand metres toward sea level into the tropical, humid Chiapas and a thick fog set an eerie presence as it circled and nestled into the surrounding mountains. There was also something else a little different about this particular bus ride. A spanish-speaking seemingly local guy in a cowboy hat up the front of the van was passing back a bag of dried chilli grasshoppers and offering swigs of the local spirit "Mezcal" (thankfully no worms inside) which the driver was relishing in a one-for-you-one-for-me type fashion which proved quite disconcerting as we careered around the narrow corners often toward oncoming traffic. Whoever he was, he seemed determined to get us really drunk. We were about to be dropped off at Agua Azul and Misol Ha waterfalls in the pouring rain and be convinced to run under a particularly ferocious torrent of water on a slippery rockface. So intoxication was just what we needed ;) Luckily we survived the bus ride and later the waterfall run relatively unscathed save for being absolutely saturated and nursing a bruised shoulder from colliding with a low hanging rock wall obscured by the mist.....but i seemed to fare better than another aussie guy who asked me what to do and i told him "yeah you just run through you'll be fine" and later saw him shirtless and bleeding from the shoulder. oops.
So how to summarise a mexican adventure where one of the more amazing experiences included witnessing the fusion of Mayan and Catholic religious practises at a remote indigenous village where marriage is not practised, polygamy is accepted and the dancing, drinking and smoking is allowed inside the church?! Instead of pews, the church floor was lined with thousands of tiny candles and pine leaves, worshippers were making offerings of and drinking coca-cola to hasten the passage of prayers to the gods through the "power" of carbonated soda, traditional healers and pulse readers knelt beside the sick and live chickens were being sacrificed to honour the patron saints personified as life sized porcelain dolls surrounded by fake flowers, neon christmas lights and with electronica keyboard music the likes of "rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer" and "happy birthday" playing incessantly in the background. I had to hurry out before being overcome with the smoke of incense and fearing i'd collapse into a pile of candles and be set alight.....This experience was one of the more extreme examples of traditional Mayan beliefs which we were also privvy to with a visit to a Medical and Healing Centre, learning about the practise of midwifery involving cracking raw eggs, waving more soda and killing more chickens! And in a country where it is typical for a woman to have up to seven children, could it be that practise makes perfec?!!
With 90% or Mexicans professing to be Roman Catholic...some visiting priests might disagree(?!)...it seems cathedrals and religious iconology form a major part of the fabric of each city. It seems Baroque-inspired and ostentatious cathedrals are at the centre of the town Zocalo or plaza and statues, pictures and figurines of the patron saints, particularly Our Lady of Guadalupe; a dark skinned manifestation of the Virgin Mary, are omnipressant. And yes glow in the dark, flashing lights and theme music is all part of the shrine offerings. If by chance you happen to walk into a church with a bottle of coke and 20 peso rosary inspired souvenier beads you will probably be made to feel very welcome! With my limited understanding of pre-hispanic religions i was interested to hear how the spanish were able to convert such a majority of Mexicans to christianity by grafting the importance of the symbol of the wooden cross onto the existing belief in a cross-shaped tree of life- where the myth goes that the cycle of a day occurs as the sun circles above the tree branches and then transforms into a jaguar and fights it's way through the tree root underworld during the night to emerge stronger and more powerful the next day. In a particularly drunken night somehow this analogy got converted to the way a 'cougar' might embrace the nightime and fight/work her way through or a college bar to emerge victorious in the morning...details are hazy on that one.
So back to the beginning where our journey started in megapolis Mexico City. We had gone from gambling with chips at Hurrah's Casino in Tahoe, and Lonely Planet would now have us believe gambling with our lives in an unmarked taxi....and that was only day two. Three days was certainly enough in mexico city to navigate the bustling markets and European plazas, experience our first of many more latin-baroque style cathedrals, start to immerse ourselves in the colourful history and famous art on offer at the National Palace, as well as get a taste for our first ancient aztec ruins/pyramids and anthrolopological relics. As our two weeks in mexico continued.. we would visit the ancient Mayan, Aztec, Zapotec and Olmec sites of Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Palenque and Chitchen Itza where the kaleidoscope of khaki cut-offs was to become increasingly more apparent as we headed east towards the tourist mecca of sunny Cancun. We would learn of the ancient civilisations' sacrificial practises, ball games, complex writing systems, and advanced studies in astronomy, astrology and maths which contributed to the refined Mayan calendar system- the source of recent hollywood interest given it is prediction that time as we know it will end in the year 2012. Guess i was glad we went to visit this year! Travelling east into the gorgeous spanish colonial cities of Puebla and Oaxaca, we strolled and shopped the cosmopolitan cobbled lampost streets which rivalled the ambience (and even strong chocolate heritage) of a European city like Brugge. We continued to travel inland into the cooler mountaneous areas of the Chiapas and Yucatan where my opening story began and where the rich indigenous heritage surrounding San Cristobal de Las Casas into Merida served for a fabulous selection of galleries and artisan crafts like loom weaving, ceramic pottery and carpentry to admire and purchase.
Amongst the sophisticated cosmopolitan flair, you can't help but be aware of a slight uneasy sense about the underlying political tensions that exist in these parts and the agenda of indigenous rights. It is the Chiapas where sympathisers of the leftist guerilla Zapatista rebel movement (EZLN) flock, and images of balaclava clad peasants and their cult figure pipe puffing Subcomandante Marcos exist; and with a name like "Guillen'.. perhaps there is more to the fact i found myself wearing 4 different colours of bandana on my head in most of my photos?! besides from the fact it served to manage my harem hair, rather than channeling my questionable guerilla rebel-roots, i now realise i spent the whole trip looking 1 whisky bottle short of a Kid Rock clone, sorry Madeleine ;) We increasingly witnessed peaceful street demonstrations and strong military presence and chances are if you shield your eyes from the sun in the main Zocalo to see what the commotion is about, you'll unwittingly be standing to attention amongst the masses saluting one of the many anniversaries of People's Revolutions, celebrated dates in history, or tributes to war heroes or martyrs. With a strong history of violent fighting, an 11 year war for independence from Spain as well as invasions by France and the US where Texas, California, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona were conceded...(!!). followed by.an 80 year dictatorship and opressive one-party-rule as recent as the early 21st Century-ended by the People's Revolution...so much adversity and political unrest perpetuated by a struggling economy troubled by fluctuating oil prices, peso collapse, recessions, ongoing corruption and now war on drugs - any reason to celebrate victory seems like a good one!!
Two weeks in mexico is not really enough to understand this complex sociopolitical history. The threats to the preservation of language, tradition, religion, as well as issues around population growth, skilled outward migration and education around sustainable farming, tourism and infrastructure practises are likely not unique to this Central American country. But it is fascinating to read about. maybe not write about. right here ;) However, in two weeks, one can start to make links between some of the 20th Century revolutionaries who have shaped modern mexico in the fields of art, architecture and politics. The famous artist/womaniser Diego Riviera whose murals emphasised past opression of indigenous communities; his would-be equally as famous yet long-suffering wife Frida Kahlo- a lady whose image and work is ubiquitous with mexico city market bought handbags/magnets and a couple who in their heyday moved in literary and circles in Europe with the likes of artist Pablo Picasso. Through their left wing views, they were to give asylum to escaped Russian communist and Marxist theorist Leon Trotsky in the weeks before his assassination. Frida gifted exotic mexican jewellery to her Swiss friend Gertrude Blom, whose house we would also later visit in San Cristobal. A photographer and anthropologist, Trudy worked tirelessley to raise the profile of women's issues, living and working amongst Chiapan Indians with her Danish archaeologist husband Franz, another friend with ties back to Europe and Picasso. Franz surveyed and explored ancient Mayan sites and together with Trudy they would forge a museum and research centre dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Lancandon jungle natural environment and the ancient language and culture of the indigenous communities scattered within. Talk about power couples!!
But enough about culture ;) a few not-to-missed experiences to report:
One night out in Mexico City with street bought cocktails from a guy with nondescript spirits stacked on a crate and later our own personal serenade by a mariachi band at a bar overlooking Garibaldi plaza and a Tequila degustation to knock anyone flat on their back!
A traditional cooking class taught entirely in Spanish taken place halfway up a hillside overlooking the city lights of San Cristobal. We made "Mole" (google it) and drank local tequila variation Mezcal...to disguise the rich chocolate/cinammon/chilli/spicy kinda sickly taste ;)
An intimate look at the lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera at their Mexican home "Casa Azul" and the museum/research centre of Franz and Trudy Blom "Na Bolom" with a private tour by a former guide for National Geographic: passionate advocate and educator.
An evening sipping wine at a spanish bistro on a cobbled pedestrian strip and later watching a Spanish languag film about the realities of gang warfare, drug culture and people smuggling/illegal border crossing through the eyes of a Honduran woman in modern day mexico. It was called "Sin Nombre". Later we spent the night dancing to live music in a salsa bar with seemingly more band members than guests present. We were pulled up onto the dancefloor by a local mexican crowd and experienced a unique, hilarious and exhausting interaction on a more rewarding level with the local people considering the limitations of our poor language skills so far!
Our Valentine's Day/Mike's Brithday adventure by bus, pedal cart and then horse drawn rail cart to the magical crystal blue waters of the underground "senotes". I was going to say you have not lived until you have swam in one of these serene places....and then i realised we may not much longer?! This was after we learned of the ancient mayan practise of throwing sacrificed bodies into the waters- those of young children and the winners of the sacred "ball game" whose supreme honour was to be killed for their victory and be closer to the gods. The contamination of these waters linked through underground channels into their drinking and bathing water is a leading theory as well as war and drought to the cause for the extinction of these ancient civilisations. Gross! But it was ok as we did our best to disinfect our insides afterwards through the additional of alcohol in the the form of innumerous margaritas, sol beers and a particularly memorable "mayan sacrifice" cocktail set on fire...and a set of fire (dancers) to entertain us in this jungle-set restaurant. Cool!
And because lying on a white sand beach and frequenting a swim-up bar is a perfect way to wind up such a hectic holiday, Cancun is a must-see. Even if you are contending for day bed space with the spring-breakers and leathery-overweight-bikini-clad-buffet-frequenting Americans the latter whom do wonders for your flagging post holiday overindulgence body confidence. If you happen to opt for the "all inclusive" drinks/food package you are likely to drink at least 12 cocktails, order everything on the menu from the sushi bar. Because you can. Find yourself talking to tattoo-clad tanned people who say things like "i'm kinda a big deal"..and later "i'm celebrating as i get sentenced next week" and you will definately end up amongst other squealing girls in a cringeworthy NFL football throwing competition as narrated by a ladyboy dj to the tunes of Kesha.
But it will be worth it.
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