Sixteen days in the pre-columbian Mexico and Guatemala

 

In December in Mexico?
Why?

Because the timing of our wedding coincides with the beginning of the dry season in Mexico, the best season to visit the country. Hurricanes (Emily, Katrina, Wilma) this summer and autumn of 2005 hit hard Yucatan, Chiapas and Guatemala in December but most locations were viable for tourists.

Choose Mexico precolonial deciding where we stop to sleep and how to stop us, from booking hotels, domestic flights, two mini-tours (in Chiapas and Guatemala) and the car hire at Hertz.

Departure from Turin December 4 (flight 11:10) with Lufthansa to Frankfurt then to avoid calling in the U.S.. At 13:40 we board for the transoceanic crossing (12 hours of flight), to us at 18:50 Mexico City, the capital, El DeFe (el Distrito Federal). The aircraft have completed the form to the Immigration (Form migratoria tourist ") to be presented to the customs where it is stamped and returned with the passport is also stamped.
A tip: enter as a precaution a few days spent in the days more than planned, so that is 180 days and you never know ...: in our case, the employee instead of writing a specific number of days was a doodle.
It must then fill out a form for your luggage, it just one per household. Retrieved the luggage to get to the famous "traffic light" for the statistical: we shoot for the green and we can go over the counter to take a taxi: we pay $ 15 (or alternatively 152 pesos) to go to Zona Rosa. There is a Metro station 300 meters from the airport. The fares for taxis (taxi seguro) are fixed and depending on the destination.

Our hotel is located in Zona Rosa, a neighborhood with streets that have the names of European cities, full of consulates, embassies, hotels ....
Tired for the trip deliberately sleepless go to bed at 9 pm (we are now almost 4 in the morning) ....

5 / 12 (Monday)
Biological alarm at 7, shower and breakfast at a supermarket near the hotel with croissants and coffee very long and hot in caraffone. Disorientation from the good tourists we are trying an exchange (we find a 12.20 pesos for 1 euro ... ..), then we stopped by a policeman who offers his help and offers us a guided tour in a taxi with his friend, Juan. To accept 500p to visit the neighborhood of shops that work the silver, the Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, a fabric shop and Teotihuacan. Among other things Monday as the city's museums are closed. Convinced ... we start!
First stop shop silverware lives of course, that thanks to these visits: welcome us with warmth, they make us see how do the engravings on blade, we offer beer and Margarita without insisting on. By Juan on the journey we speak in Spanish, a little 'to everything (eg the invasion of the Chinese market of tissues, sources of energy, the favelas, the "reforma agraria," the dance ....). Second stage, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe already crowded with pilgrims (December 12 is the feast of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), and the site of Teotihuacan, preceded by a quick stop at a fabric store where we do see the multiple uses of 'agave (even as a needle and thread) and offer us a glass of tequila ....
Teotihuacan, the gods of the city viewed from a distance the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon seem hills, the first contact with pre-Columbian archeology (in this case by the Olmeca) there takes away the breath. Admission to the site with 38p. Go up on both the Pyramids, it is hot but the air is dry. There are almost no vendors in obsidian objects (masks, necklaces, pyramids ...) that tourists ...
As the first day we met and we return to the 15 Mexico City to run the ring road that passes next to the shanty towns that surround the city.

6 / 12
We start early to the Zocalo (the city center, around the main square) on the subway (2p per trip): Plaza de la Constitution, the Catedral Metropolitana, el Sagrario, the Templo Mayor (from outside), the Palacio National (Free admission with a document) with the murals of Diego Rivera, Casa de Azulejos, Palace of Fine Arts, Palazzo delle Poste.
In our turn we pass in front of the foot Dulceria in Celaja de Mayo Avenue 5 to number 39, considered one of the best bakeries in town. At number 52 of the same street there is the coffee El Popular. Left the center you go to the forest of Chapultepec. A nice walk in the park, a visit to the zoo (free admission), with interviews by a group of teenagers armed with camera to a group work for the school on the Zoo and tourists.
After the Zoo, the Museum of Anthropology (entry 38p): beautiful! It's true what they write some: we see the museum upon arrival in Mexico and then at the end of the journey to know what will be seen later in the sites and then at the end of the journey to truly understand the greatness of the civilizations that have followed in this wonderful land. Exhausted back at the hotel.

7 / 12
Destination Tula: the buses leave from Terminal Norte, wrong does not take a direct bus (40p) will be a journey of nearly two hours with stops at refineries to download commuting workers but in the end we arrive at Tula, then with another bus 5 Km (cost 5p) will go to the site (entry 33p). Very few tourists are more numerous the laborers of the restoration! But it is a spectacular site with its Atlantes, the huge stone statues of over 4 meters high and half that supported the coverage of the Pyramid of the Toltecs work. Majestic, beautiful and we along the dirt path between the cactus. In this site we also see our first camp of the pelota game. Back to Mexico City by bus directo (47p) and after a snack made of different sweets in the atrium of Terminal Norte return to the hotel.

General impressions on Mexico City: chaotic as every great metropolis (9 million in city, 24 million official considering the whole), not as dirty or dangerous and polluted as it is said. Indeed in the early morning people everywhere with a bucket and brush washed the sidewalks and squares with soapy water and ammonia ... No problem for the altitude and air rarefied.

8 / 12
Let Mexico City, Oaxaca destination (we read Uahaha) with Click Mexicana flight. Housed at Mision San Felipe, nice reported on various Web sites to 5 minutes from the town: in fact, is 15 minutes by bus, the hotel kindly offered at fixed hours. Oaxaca is beautiful, the colors at sunset are unforgettable, as some of its culinary delights: the quesillo (cheese yarn ball-shaped), the mole (a sauce made of cocoa and spices that goes with the chicken, more or less spicy), chocolate (Mayordomo course), the chapulines (grasshoppers fried with chilli). Excellent climate, clear sky, breeze, hot sun ... a pleasure! Absolutely to see the Catedral de S. Domingo, spectacular both inside and outside, the Zocalo, the typical market place ..... but the whole city is beautiful, its streets, the pedestrian zone ... a city ... very alive!

9 / 12
Bilingual tour bus: Monte Albán (the capital of the Zapotec kingdom) starting at 8.30am from the lobby of the Riviera de l'Angel in Mina 518, cost 30p. In about 30 min to 10 km along the mountain you come to the site. At 9 we enter (38p) in anticipation of the tourist bus. Two hours is sufficient and 11 have agreed to return, we are leaving the city at a bus stop for Mitla avoiding to go to Gate 9 of the Second Station of Clase. A journey of 90 minutes for 50 km on a bus wrecked (cost 12p) and then you arrive a few minutes from the site (entry 30p), famous for the original colors that decorate the palaces of age Mixteca. Left the site we buy a bottle of Mezcal from 250 ml to 50p.

10/12
In the morning a short ride to Oaxaca then flew to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas. At the airport we wait for a driver for a minitour of Chiapas. The plane takes off late and landed in Tuxtla to 17th In the program's trip to Cañon del Sumidero that we do in total darkness. It was predictable and avoidable. Too risky from Oaxaca to 15:15, a delay of 50 minutes to reach us Chiapa de Corzo now at sunset. So climb on boats and a full moon night of the Cañon we unable to see anything except the eyes of vultures illuminated by torches and the flash .... Leave the Cañon us in S. Cristobal de Las Casas along a winding road mountain. We are in Chiapas!

11/12
Planned the trip to Indian villages: some are 'prevented the genuineness of what we will see but I know that is probably the only way to access that world. San Juan Chamula, the church, the marketplace, the ban on taking photographs, a toccata and fugue, which leaves us a little 'unhappy (we moved next to the cemetery, very distinctive, and the guide, Italian, we made further ....). Then Zinacantán and the visit of a family community that prepares tortillas and makes us see how to use the frame by hand. You buy a few mats made by hand, the colors of .... Here, too, everything seems pre ... ...
In late morning we return to San Cristobal: its churches (the baroque Church of San Domingo, the Cathedral, the Church of the Señora de Guadalupe), the amber shop (cheap, especially the amber red) run by friends of Our guide, the Indian market (where we see fabrics similar to those sold at Zinacantán but "precio más barato"! Fortunately those chosen by us will not see the market ... ...) Children everywhere around you to sell fabrics, feathers with hood depicting Marcos, necklaces, bracelets .... would like to give everyone a few pesos at the end but only a few accontenti hand stretched out.

Note to Italian orphans of their coffee: in the Zocalo plaza between calle Francisco Madero and Calle Real de Guadalupe, within the agency "Viajes Astur" over the Internet is a great Italian style cafes to try!

12/12
E 'on the day of the feast of the feast of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and leave us in the direction of San Cristobal Palenque. Crossing the Chiapas, the narrow mountain roads clogged with pilgrims on foot, running on vans decorated in honor of the Virgin ... .. On the way to stop the planned just one hour to Agua Azul, a beautiful landscape, amazing colors green blue water .... then another hour to the waterfalls of Misol-ha, very spectacular and evocative and immortalized in the movie "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
At 17 we are in a hotel in Palenque, the cool of Chiapas and Oaxaca are a memory. The beauty of San Cristobal is a thing: Palenque is really bad, only shops for tourists and places to eat. ... ... All the chaos between machines and humidity.

13/12
8:30 am, we are already at the site, a warm moist skin suffocating weight and T-shirt, entrance to two indigenous Lacandona in white tunics are photographed next to their tools of everyday life, to the delight of tourists who come downloaded from the bus ....
The most important Mayan site, the first that we plunged into the jungle, it is very well kept, a lush green, all in order, too beautiful. Sure that the wet season it is impossible to visit without the heat collapse. A toucan is in pounds and monkeys urlatrici attract our attention. Only a small part of the site, about 5%, was torn off at the jungle, Palenque is the temple where the king was buried where Pakal tomb, skeletons and funerary mask are now kept at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
End of minitour of Chiapas, with afternoons free bathrooms in the pool.

14/12
Second package from Palenque to Yaxchilan: departure at 6:00, at 8:30 we are at Corozal, the starting point on the border with Guatemala Usumacinta River. Descend to the river and motolancia and a half hour navigation we get to Yaxchilan, a magnificent site in the Maya forest. We are the first tourists of the day, monkeys urlatrici exchange messages from one tree to another, their cry pierces the silence, seem a few meters above us, is not a cry ... it is almost a roar. It seems to be the first explorers of the site, much more wild and unspoiled than Palenque.Un 'unique experience.
For lunch we return to Corozal, then completed the formalities for expatriate in Guatemala by river sail towards Bethel: a landing on the sand, 500 meters from the dunes and then the van Guatemalan ahead: $ 5 and you get into Guatemala after completing the usual form of entry. We expect 80 km of gravel road full of holes and powder before you come to a little 'asphalt. After almost 3 hours we are in Santa Elena / Flores for the tour to Tikal the next day.
A tip: our tour Palenque - Flores with a visit Yaxchilan was well organized, but we also wanted to see Bonampak. It would then spend two days to visit Bonampak and Yaxchilan on the first day, stopping to sleep in Corozal (or Bonampak possibly) the next day and move to Guatemala.

Flores is a picturesque town on Lake Petén Itzá and is linked to the town of Santa Elena by a causeway 500 meters long. Characteristic colored buses and hundreds of red and yellow motofurgoni used a taxi along the dusty streets of Santa Elena.

15/12
Excursion to Tikal, the site that we feel more suggestive of the whole trip. After an hour's journey from Flores, we enter the nature reserve where Tikal is located (entrance 50 quetzal). Pyramids that are unique to Tikal are often highest in the forest. It 'a very extended, in the jungle trails well marked leading to the pyramids and temples torn to nature. Ladders, wooden buildings and alongside the ascent permit. Experience the rise to the top of the pyramids, especially that of the "Mundo Perdido" is difficult to explain: on the roof of the world, taller than any tree, with the top of the other pyramids that sprout from the forest, absolute silence, the feeling of being close to Supramundo, heaven in the vision of the Maya World (ie Inframundo Inferi, the Mundo and Supramundo). Experience more acrobatic than the Temple V (particularly the descent from scale ... ..).
Spider monkeys and wild turkeys accompany us along the paths. Three hours for a single site, prevents although a little 'out of the way than to tour Mexico.

16/12
First and only setback of the trip: the TACA flight from Flores to Cancun is the 11:30 a.m. repeatedly delayed, then canceled and then restored to 23. A day lost between airport, customs ($ 33 for exit), hotel, different expectations, and meet with the staff of TACA and finally the departure in the night. Arriving in Cancun at 2 am, some discussions with those involved in customs (we had to Corozal stamped the passport to exit from Mexico, but there had withdrawn the application for immigration because we would be back after 3 days: we contest in Cancun possession of this form, the retreat, make a complete new, the stamp and return it by insisting to know the days of stay in Mexico and in the end we have to tell him how the flight will return to Italy ...). Baggage claim form with the usual single family, green light and then further discussion with those of TACA. Our plans for 16 were: Arrival in Cancun to 13, withdrawal of car rental c / o The Hertz and departure for Merida overnight. At 3 am on December 17 we leave the door without having obtained TACA nothing if not words and promises and go up drive towards Uxmal, meta scheduled for December 17. Along the Autopista 180, after 380 km, devastated by the sleepless night we arrived at Uxmal (about 240P toll total).

17/12
After a few hours of sleep in search of a bank we Tikul (25 miles) but they are both closed Saturday morning and then get the cash (at this point to take the cash we could do so within the site of Uxmal). After lunch we visit the site of Uxmal (38p to 50p more input for the "culture" of the site: you put a wrist bracelet that allows access to the evening show "Lights and Sounds"). The fatigue is felt and the torrid heat and suffocating the Yucatan is not helping: it is a climate more suitable for iguanas that tourists .. And iguanas in Uxmal we are everywhere! An incoming storm makes us leave the site in advance.
In search of a petrol pump Muna and we discover that at 17 there is a bullfight with young bulls 12. Contract two entries in 50p and going up on a wooden palchetto. It is a fight for the country, many children and families on the sidelines, tourists are virtually absent! Let 3 bulls, bullfighters little tease from the muleta, then taken to the lasso by a horde of cowboys and brought out a bullfight ... .. fortunately without bloodshed and unnecessary cruelty.

18/12
Departure to Chichen Itza, arriving at 9am at the site thus anticipating the tour of the sea of tourists at 11 because there are people everywhere, many groups of Italian leisure take pictures with the phone thinking about the holiday resort near Cancun. So much chaos, heat, touch and tourists to flee a site with the pyramid perhaps most photographed and published on the guide .... Entrance to Uxmal as 38p to 50p more for "cultural activities". In the evening the charming spectacle "Sound and Lights" ruined by the usual time.

19/12
From Tulum to Chichen Itza to visit the only site on the beautiful sea. Admission 38p. Unforgettable pictures with the ocean behind it, the blue sky and sea ... .. then after 30 km we arrive to the village Akumal all inclusive for the last 40 hours by sea and relax in Mexico. The usual afternoon time, the trip to Playa del Carmen to deliver the car and return by taxi to Akumal (156p)

20/12
Last and only day full of sun and sea, wake up at 5 to photograph the sunrise ... the bitter surprise leaden sky, breakfast, then beach, a swim fast, to escape the impending storm that lasts from 11 to 17 ! A disaster, an afternoon of entertainment in the hotel lobby and playing with the sbancato Bingo!

21/12
Sky at dawn and the sun shining from 9 am to 12 but we moved to Cancun. At 16:20 the flight to Mexico City with Mexicana, 20:40 ahead to the Boeing 737 to Frankfurt. At 14, December 22 after nearly 10 hours of flight we are in Germany, a journey trying to stay calm a little '. Three hours at the airport, a couple of beers and the 17:40 flight to Turin with landing on time at 18:55 in Caselle.

Various recommendations

At the airport the exchange rate is favorable enough, however, in different offices of exchange is an easy change to 12.30 ft for one euro. Some difficulty in Yucatan to change (as strange as tourism ... we propose the conversion into pesos euro "but with the value of the dollar).

To search for phone cards prepaid type the Andina: typing a code you will get about 36 minutes of conversation to Europe at a cost of 100p. Using calling cards of the Tel-Mex, the cost is around 20p per minute but the card is ejected when the credit falls below 20p. The triband cellular function, those with GPRS receive sms, the normal range in net search unsuccessful.

Remember absolutely adapter for current at 115V.

Guatemala: better to have some 'of dollars (at least 100) for the cost of entry and exit. Not if you do not accept euros as of the dollars (1 to 1). We Flores to change $ 1 for 7 quetzal.


Final

Apart from Merida not visited because of TACA flight canceled and Coba, provided the day's visit to Tulum and then deleted from our plane travel sites because we had already seen enough, we were able to see and do all that we had planned in Italy. So all is well!

One more week would have enabled us to see Bonampak, North of the country or the Atlantic coast a few days or more in the sea but you can not have everything in life ... .. for us instead in Mexico 16 days plus two travel.
So for Mexico need at least 20 days in the field.

Thanks finally to all those who have gone before us and have told their travel experience!