The best place to snorkel along the coast is Puerto Morales about 20km north of Playa del Carmen. The coral reef comes about 1/2 mile from shore and is 100 feet wide. The area is a protected marine reserve and you need go out with a guide. We took a taxi up there, he even waited for us and we went out with the local cooperataive. There were 5 of us on the boat with 2 guides. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever done. The water is crystal clear and we saw every type and color of plant imaginable. We also saw a Barracuda, little one, a lobster, a ray, a live conch and tropical fish in every color of the rainbow. You swim along in another world like 20,000 leagues under the sea and then pop up to see where everyone else is and it is a shock, it is just life jackets and snorkels floating on the surface. They don´t allow diving and everyone is required to wear a life jacket to keep from touching the reef. It does make it easier to snorkel when you don´t have to blow out the tube. We came back to town and had lunch at a place called 1847 good fresh strawberry margueritas and of course Mexican food. In the evening we walked along 5th street and listened to Marichi bands.

Wed Feb 18
Today we took the ADO bus up to Cancun, (they run every 10 minutes) just to see what it was like and hoped to go to the bullfight. We both agree that Cancun has absolutely no redeeming features, and the bullfight wasn´t on this week. The hotel zone is several miles from downtown and we didn´t go out there. We were back in Playa by early afternoon so after dealing with the hotel move went down to the beach and went for a little swim. Our new hotel is actually much nicer than the first one. It is at 22nd and 10th. Hotel Paradise.

Monday Feb 16, 2009

Today we took a tour to Chichen Itza, it was 3 hours each was in a 12 passenger van with a driver who was on and off the gas like he had a rubber band in his foot.

The site is amazing. Standing at the base of the famous pyramid that is featured all the photos just takes your breath away. It is made of white limestone and stands out against the blue sky. It is the most important building, but the site is huge and there are many structures partially restored. The ball court there is about the length of a football field, and there is an observatory that is is pretty good shape. It was very hot, much hotter than here on the coast.


We stopped next at a Cenote which is a pool that is connected to the underground river system that runs throughout the Yucatan. There are many cenotes, this one had been developed for tourists. Then we went to a resturant for buffet lunch, where they had music and dancers. The dancers were kids and teenagers and they did a tap dance with a full beer bottle on their head. That may be a skill they will use someday on spring break.

We weren´t home until 730 and left at 8am, it was a long day.

Feb 14, 2009

We took a tour to Tulum today, it is a Mayan ruin that sits right on the cliff overlooking the Carribean. Such a beautiful site, the ruin in quite small with a few buildings but the location is spectacular.

Most of the people on the tour were going on to Coba, so we paid a little extra and added it on. We were glad we did. There was a stop at a Mayan village to let us see how they lived, and buy some crafts from them. Out front of their stick lean to house was a flower garden, some planted in the ground and other is buckets. The girls in traditional dress who I suppose were there to talk to tourists were very busy flirting with the van driver.

The ruins at Coba are more similar to Angkor Wat in that they are in fairly dense jungle and spaced farther apart. The ball court has been restored. We took a bicycle taxi to the furthest ruin which is the second largest Mayan pyramid, or what is left of it. Len climbed to the top.

One of the most interesting things at Coba were the Mayan roads. It is the crossroads for all the ancient toll roads that went from Tulum to the inland cities, and you can see them, they are raised by about a foot and packed with limestone. Our guide was a funny guy named Freddy.

It was a long day we got back around 7.

Sunday, Today we took the ferry to Cozumel and walked around a bit. The water is so beautiful, shades of blue depending on the depth, ranging from ultramarine to cerelean. There was very good live music on the ferry and we sat up on top on the return.

Our last night in Oaxaca was amazing. We walked down to the main square , it was warm and all the trees were lit up with tiny white lights. There was a band playing and hundreds of people were dancing. It was a smooth elegant dance with all the movement from the hips down. I asked what it was and was told it is an old Oaxacan dance derived from the Cha Cha.

Yesterday Fri the 13th must have come early, there is a black hole in every trip and this was ours. It started with a 530 am wake up for an early flight, long delays with Mexico City fogged in, missed connection, waiting in 6 long lines to get another flight, rude taxi driver who couldn´t find out hotel in Playa, being ignored by a hotel clerk on the phone for 10 min, messed up room reservation. By then it was 7pm and hadn´t had a decent thing to eat all day, so we decided the only way to avoid a double meltdown was to eat and go to bed.

Today we had fun, a whole new attitude. Playa is 40mi south of Cancun on a busy 4 lane highway with huge resorts all the way on the ocean side. Our hotel is at the north end of the walking mall, so is close to things but not noisy. We just walked around all day and looked at things, then in late afternoon went down to the beach for while. Tomorrow we have a tour to Tulum, courtesy of the hotel for the messed up reservation.

I first saw Oaxacan folk art in the Smithsonian magazine in the 1990's and have been fascinated with it every since. Aurora, the owner of our B&B, knew which artist was featured in the magazine and she lent us a book with directions to their studio. It is a small village San Martain about 25km south of here. She suggested we hire a taxi to take us and wait, they only charge $10/hour. When we turned off the highway it was abut one km to the village which consisted of a chuch with a small plaza, a school and the rest of it is dirt, no road, no sidewalk and no visible houses, just high adobe and bamboo walls with an occasional small sign. He found our place at the far side of the village and a man working outside opened the gate. We drove into the most amazing place, a large compound with grass, flowers, bushes and tile. Three sides were open veranda with rooms behind and the entire workshop is on the covered patios. Maria one of the owners demonstrated the entire process from carving to drying and painting. They use copal wood and make most of the paints from plants. Their work is really beautiful. We ordered a small piece which hopefully will be done in June. They don't have much in their sales area as mostly they try to keep gallerys full. Here is a link to their web site, they have work in Milagros gallery on Post alley in Seattle. http://www.tilcajete.org/collectors.htm

After coming back to town we went to the square and had lunch and watched people. The only downside is you are pestered by vendors while you eat. I had a different mole, it was red and also very good. Before I have only tried the black.

We spent all aftenoon wandering through the markets and walking around. Tonight we plan to go back down at 6:30 for the nightly concert.

Tues Feb 10

The food here is so good, we haven't eaten anywhere yet that we didn't like. I actually ate a grasshopper, it is considered a delicacy here Chapulina, they are deep fried rolled in pepper and salt. It was in my tortilla soup and I ate the first half before I realized what it was and it was okay so I ate the rest. There are vendors on the street selling them as snacks. Big piles of them on a tray, we wonder where they catch so many grasshoppers, maybe they scrape the bumpers of cars.

Today we took another tour with the same company and same guide. We went to the village of El Tule a very nice village with what they claim is the largest tree in the world. It is 2000 years old, and the trunk is so massive it is hard to capture all of it in a photo. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, I'll have to look that up. They call it a Tule tree but I think that is just a name the use.

From there we went to a weaving cooperative. It is run by one family, there are 25 members who live and work at the compound. They gave a talk on all of the natural plants that are used in the dyes, and their 800 recipes that are a guarded family secret. They start learning to weave at 6 yrs old, and the young man giving the demo was about 20 and was making an intricate pattern from memory. They use the same designs that are found on the ruins at Mitla. They are all Zapotec, and most spoke good English which they learn on their own to deal with tourists.

Our next stop was the village and ruins at Mitla. It is much different from Monte Alban as the ruins are right in the middle of the village and were used for various purposes up until 1960 when they were made a protected site. Parts of the walls with stone patterns are very well preserved, and there were numerous mounds that are pyramids that haven't been excavated. It was very hot there, the guide said it will get up to 40 degrees C next month.

All of the country we drove through looks just like the area around Helena and on to Bozeman at the end of a long hot summer except for the plants which were mostly scrub pines, sagebrush, Agave and another multi branched cactus I didn't recognize. As we went higher into the mountains there were lots of palm trees. We drove about 45 km south very high into the mountains ending up at about 7000 ft at an interesting site called Huerve El Agua. It is a mineral spring that slowly seeps out of the mountainside and over hundreds of years has formed a mineral deposit that looks like a huge waterfall. At the top are two mineral pools, some people went swimming, we just soaked our feet. The road was paved except for the last few miles, and then it turned into a dirt path, rock path and ruts. We were in a Suburban so it wasn't too bad.

On the way home we stopped at a little factory where they make Mescal, which is a big industry here. There is a big factory owned by CocaCola. This was a little family run business and after showing the processing steps they gave us samples. Most of it could be used for paint remover, but some of the longer aged stuff was a little better.

It was a long day, we got back around 7 and ate a light meal at the resturant downstair.

Fri Feb 6

Today we left the hotel early to get out before the heat and walked to Benito Juarez park and the churro district above it, the site of the first settlement of the city, as legend goes where the Dominican friars dog found water. The park is large and well maintained, and there was a flower show going on. Blocks of vendors selling all kinds of flowers and plants. We found out later it only goes on once a year in early Feb.

From there we walked all over the city, it is small enough to walk most of the historic area, the blocks are somewhat square to it is easy to navigate. We visited several churches, the main Cathedral on the square is very ornate, there is no surface not covered in gold leaf. We ate lunch down in the market at a little booth, the best tacos. After several hours of walking we spent time just sitting in the square watching people, and had dinner at a roof top resturant near the hotel.

FEb 7th

The hotel arranged for a car to take us to Queratero to the airport and the driver thought we should leave at 7am, it was a 1 hour drive for a 10:30 flight, so I think there was some communication problem. It was very cold and foggy, and our flight was delayed an hour, we nearly froze to death waiting in that tiny airport. Our flight was on AeroMar into Mexico City and the Mexicana to Oaxaca, changing from terminal 2 to 1. We had plenty of time but our bags didn't make the trip with us. They were finally delivered to our B&B Sunday afternoon. We called Cameron from the airport, it is the first birthday we haven't spent with him. (:

Our B&B here is very nice Casa de las Bugambilias. When I booked it online I thought it was a strange name, and at the flower show we saw Bougenvilla (not sure how to spell it) and realized what the name meant. The courtyard is full of flowers and vines all in bloom. We had dinner at La Olla a resturant that is attached to the front of the B&B and it was very good. I had black mole tamale, it is not like any mole I have tasted before, very delicate with many layers of flavor.

Sun Feb 8

Our first day in Oaxaca and we spent it walking for miles it felt like. There is one main street that is closed to traffic that leads from the Dominiga church down to the Zocola the main square and it is lined with shops and resturants. We are located near the Dominiga church so we went there first and to the museum next door. It was origionally the convent and until about 15 years ago had gone to ruin, but was restored with the effort and money of Francisco Toledo a local artist and now contains many artifacts from Monte Alban and other items up until the time of Maxmillian. A very funny story I read about Francisco Toledo, he owned a large back tax bill to the Mexican government and after much negotiation they agreed to take payment in artwork, but left it up to him what it would be. He made a series of notebooks full of elaborate and detailed drawings of shit. Every creature known to man and some he imagined all in the process of defecating.

This town is very Mexican, there are a number of tourists, but the majority of people walking around are Mexican. The population is about 400,000 and half are native Zapato and Mixtec. They are very short and very dark. Many women are no taller than Kate. We walked up north a way and saw the remnants of the old aquaducts, went to Benito Juarez home, and had dinner in a resturant down town. Our waiter spoke very good English and he was so pleased when I commented on it. He learned by himself out of a book, and then he taught us some Spanish words. We had three times as much food as we could eat, and one of the ladies asked us something we didn't understand so we nodded and smiled and shortly she came out with the left overs wrapped up. We gave them to one of the beggars on the street who thanked us, I hope we didn't insult her.

Monday Feb 9

We took a tour with a company recommended by the front desk. Our first stop was Monte Alban which sits on the flat top of a mountain about 500M above Oaxaca, It dates from thousands of years BC and has been about 85% excavated. Our guide spoke English and was full of stories. He showed us the tree that makes copal and also the citronella tree and a thistle plant which as a very strong yellow dye as sap. The area has many temples surrounding a central plaza and secret tunnels under the plaza. You can see the tunnel openings but can't go in them. One interesting thing was the acoustics if you clap it echos very loud. We climbed all over and really enjoyed it. The day was overcast so it didn't get too hot.

From there we took a winding dusty dirt road down the mountain and through a tunnel of bamboo. Our driver called it the "Indiana Jones Road" to the village of San Antonio Arrazola where the local craft is "alebrijes' or as Kate & Cam would say , "Nana's toys". They are carved from copal wood and sanded and painted by hand, the workshop was mostly outside with a large area of items for sale. I got a few. Then we drove to the site of Culapan de guerrero an unfinished church and the remains of the finished part that survived the 1985 earthquake.

On our tour was a young woman from Russia now living in Vienna who went to college in the US and traveling alone. Also a couple and their 4 year old from Guadalajara. He is American and she is Mexican, he works for an electronic company here, and is fluent in Spanish. He made the trip fun for us because he could translate the conversation from the others in the bus. There was also a man from Ontario traveling alone, looking for a retirement place.

We stopped at a buffet for lunch, which was very good. They make the best green salsa here, I could eat it with a spoon.

Our next stop was Coyotepec, the village that makes the shiny black pottery. As we watched he threw a large pot, on a pottery wheel that consists of two saucers with rounded bottoms one upside down and the other on top. An older woman decorated a pot using a knife and the plastic top of a pop bottle. The kiln is a large pit fed by wood fire and they fire the clay for 20 days since the temperature is so low.

Tonight we walked around downtown checking out some shops and ended up at the Zocala where there was a live band and people were dancing. There is a crowd and live music nearly every night of the year. We asked her at the hotel what was the festival the first night and he said, no festival it is like that every night. There were also some farmers protesting in the square, we are told it is a national pastime.

Thurs Feb 5.

When I post a bunch of days at the same time, they don't come up in the correct order. On the 5th we took a bus to San Miguel Allende, the taxi driver couldn't understand where we were going when we said bus, the correct pronunciaton is booooos. The ride was about an hour. When you first come into any town here the drive from the airport or bus station kind of makes on wonder what kind of a town you are in. the industrial and edges of every town are shabby with lots of grafitti on the buildings, but once you are into the historic districts it is much nicer. When we went into the lobby of our hotel Posada Carmina in San Miguel the courtyard was full of people having lunch at tables with umbrellas. They were a bunch of old grey haired ladies, looked like a convention of the Republican Ladies club. thankfully we didn't see them again. The courtyard is beautiful with blooming vines and orange trees. Our room is on the second floor with a veranda around the courtyard.

This is a beautiful well preseved city from the 1500-1600 build with silver mining money but not a mining town. Our hotel is 1/2 block from the central plaza and the large cathedral. The crowd here is mostly North American retirees seeking winter sun. There are the ususal vendors and beggars around the square in costume. When we started walking around the further from the nice hotels the fewer white faces. The first afternoon we took a trolly tour of the area with a guide that spoke English. We went up to the large park and to an overlook.

Sunday Feb 1

Another beautiful sunny day, we took the metro to Coyacan, and old village that has become part of Mexico City. We walked along Fancisco Sosa along old cobbled streets and sidewalks. There are beautiful homes all behind walls and gates, we looked into every open one and the courtyards are full of flowers. Nothing is visible here, it is all behind the walls. Bouganvilla is hanging over every stone wall. When we reached the plaza there were merchants setting up all manner of stalls, but we went on to the Frida Kahlo museum. It is in the house where she was born and lived with Diego Rivera. The most interesting thing was showing how he painted the huge murals. Paper cartoons were made and transferred to the wall by apprentices, then he painted it sitting on a chair on scaffolds. He was a huge fat man, they must have built it strong.

Our next stop was the Trotsky museum, which was the compound where he lived while in exile in Mexico, and where he was eventually murdered by a Stalinist. A lot of history that we were only vaguely aware of, it would be interesting to read his book about Stalin (maybe the Cliff notes). One of the women we met at The Red Tree House is from Wash DC, daughter of Russian immigrants and knows Trotsky's great granddaughter.

We walked back to the market and wandered around and stopped at a food stall and had lunch, chili rellenos, taco and quesodila. It was delicious, the food stalls are so clean, you can see everything, and most likely cleaner than the back room of resturants. A family with a little 7 yr old boy sat next to us and he practiced his English, when they left he said, "Goodby two Americans". There are not very many people here who speak English.

After Coyacan we went down to the University to see a soccer game, but Len had the directions wrong and we couldn't find the stadium, so we went home. By the time we got back to the neighborhood we were so hot and thirsty we stopped for a lemonade and had it half down before it dawned on us that the ice and water may be bad...

Mon Feb 2

Today we took the Metro to the north bus station and caught a local bus to Teothiucan, the pyramids. It was nearly a "chicken bus", stopped everywhere and vendors got on and off, but we eventually bounced our way the 30 miles out there. The outskirts of Mexico City are miles of slums, some look like reasonable shelter, and others are a lean to in ankle deep dust. We have been wondering who would risk crossing the border, since everyone in the city appears to be comfortably middle class or rich, but once we were out of the city proper the poverty is everywhere.

The pyramid complex is huge, it has a center walking road that stretches 2.5 miles from the main entry to the pyramid of the moon on the far end. The pyramid to the sun is on the side halfway up, with all kinds of other ruins along the way. We climbed nearly to the top of the pyramid to the sun, but stopped when the hand rails ran out. The area is very dry and well preserved.

After returning we walked to Primos for tapas which was very good. This evening there were several new people and we sat and visited with Craig and met a couple from Melbourne Australia. I crashed at 9pm but Len was up late chatting. They moved us to the penthouse suite tonight since we are leaving tomorrow and they had booked other people for 4-5 days. Talk about luxurious, two bedrooms, a private patio, lr, dr, kitchen and bath, all for $85/night. the regular rate is only $150. They have really spoiled us , nothing else will measure up.

Tuesday Feb 3

We took cab to the north bus station and caught Primera Plus to Guanajuato. It was about a 5 hr ride on a nice luxurious bus. All of Mexico is served by luxury busses, run by about 10 different lines. Mostly they specialize in one area, but there is some overlap. The countryside along the ride looks a lot like Montana around Helena.

Guanajuato is a UNESCO world heritage site, and well preserved old colonial town built during the silver mining days. It is squished into a narrow valley and all the roads on the surface lead one way and there is an extensive tunnel system of roads going the other way. It would be a nightmare trying to drive there. Our hotel is the Posada Sante Fe, right on the main city square. A nice hotel, but our room was noisy with the window over an alley leading to a hostel. First evening we walked around and ate dinner across the square. There was music and dancing later.

Wed Feb 4

This morning we took a city tour, it was all in Spanish, but gave us a great overview of the sights. The first stop was a mummy museum, where they have places bodies that were buried around 200 years ago and are preserved by the clay and limestone soil. It was pretty weird. Then we stopped at a mining museum and walked into the hillside in an old shaft. Huge fortunes were made in the silver mines, that built the many elaborate churches in the town. Then we went to Valencia, above the town by about 3miles and visited the cathedral and the "Purgatory museum" where they have preserved all the torture tools from the inquisition. Boy that will make you an athiest in a hurry. There was a family of Spanish speaking Americans on the tour that helped out with some translations.

We have been eating breakfast at a bagel cafe next to one of the churches. Everywhere has fresh squeezed orange juice that is just delicious.

We stopped to look into one of the churches and 5 people were havin a prayer meeting, they would pray out loud and then sing at the top of their lungs soooo off key, it reminded me of Donny Egan.

Late afternoon we had dinner in the alley behind the hotel which was very good. I had tortill soup. The meals are huge , we always have too much food.