The Navel of the Lunca

Departure

We leave from Malpensa at 19:00, we arrive in Madrid at 20:30...we wait in the solitude of the airport until 2:00 in the morning, then we take the narrowest and most uncomfortable flight in the world to Mexico City

Ciudad de Mexico - Distrecto Federal

We arrive in Mexico City at 6:00 in the morning, we change money (1 Peso = 0.082 Euro) and ask how to make collect calls (dial 090 and the operators will call for you)..We go out and are assailed by the heat and the taxi drivers. The Lonely Planet suggests a hotel downtown (behind the Zocalo) called...... (170 pesos a night, shared bathroom)..so we ask the taxi driver who takes us for only 70 Pesos (only take the yellow Taxis with the airport symbol. Mexico City is deserted early in the morning, we settle into the hotel (where it's enough to write your name and nationality in a register) and we take a little nap of a couple of hours. We wake up deafened by the noise coming from the street.. we look out...it's a tangle of cars, green Beetles, cars without license plates, big SUVs.. they all look gigantic..

and wrecked! The sound of the horn is continuous...mind-blowing! We go out to eat something and immediately realize what it means to be in a city of 22 million inhabitants! In the Zocalo (the size of the square and the enormity of the Mexican flag are frightening!!!) we wander a bit in the nearby streets, toward the Torre Latino-Americana...there are millions of people around, street vendors everywhere, women and children cooking on the sidewalk, shops wedged into every corner, perfumes and smells of every kind....crazy.. The weather isn't great, in fact...

the plan was to go to Teotihuacan tomorrow, but we're defeated by the grayness of the city...so in the afternoon we go to buy bus tickets for Oaxaca (6 hours...279 pesos) at the TAPO station...you get there by taking two Metro lines from the center,...you can't imagine the people!!! The advice is to travel with ADO First class (there's also Deluxe class..never tried it, primera is enough)...they're the most comfortable and new buses....In the evening they eat under the hotel at El Popular, a place open 24 hours a day...very nice and decidedly good/cheap. We take a very short walk and then dive back into bed. Ah, so far we haven't managed to drink even one Cerveza... IN MEXICO YOU DON'T DRINK DURING ELECTION PERIOD!

Oaxaca - Oaxaca

We wake up early, have breakfast at the same place as last night and go to the TAPO station, we check in our luggage and then have an excellent American coffee...The weather is sorting itself out a bit, but by now we're leaving.

We immediately learn what it means to travel by bus in this country: mind-blowing roads, artificial speed bumps every 100 meters (called TOPES)...and above all air conditioning at full blast! Once out of Mexico City (after seeing all the shantytowns) we face a fabulous passage! Immense mountains and valleys covered in a green that enchants, and what leaves us stunned is the fact of not seeing any other city for all 6 hours, only villages made up of very few buildings, a few children around and nature nature nature! We arrive in Oaxaca at 14:00, the first impression isn't the best, the station faces a big road populated by hundreds and hundreds of half-destroyed cars, tropical heat...we take a taxi and have ourselves taken to the Hotel Pasaje..

nice, in the center (the only one we've tried with a TV, double with bathroom 180 Ps a night) but they tell us that from tomorrow it's booked but maybe another one will free up.. We accept and go finally take a shower!! It's hot, the day is beautiful and the shower has given us our strength back. We go out and head toward the Zocalo...we come across very colorful streets, markets and stalls everywhere.. and colors and perfumes...this is the poorest state in all of Mexico and it shows, but the people, the atmosphere, the smells will teach us that the real MEXICO is this. It's the first Mexican Zocalo we see, and the structure is the same as the one we'll see in the future: a square plaza, in the center a garden with square benches (full of shoe-shiners) and in the middle of the garden a raised circular structure (imagine the usual bandstand in city parks where the band plays on Sundays).

The square is surrounded on 3 sides by low buildings and arcades packed with restaurants, and one side with the cathedral (typical, with 2 bell towers). We have dinner at a restaurant under the arcades and it starts to drizzle (we'll learn that every day it rains at least once, but don't worry, it doesn't last long). Under the arcades real little concerts of Mexican music begin.. guitars and choruses...We finish eating and head back to the hotel.

Oaxaca - Oaxaca

We wake up, pack our backpacks not knowing whether we have to leave the room, and go out. We have breakfast buying pastries at the municipal market across from the hotel (20 de Noviembre) and set off. After 10 meters we notice a very, very nice posada (Posada del Rosario) that asks us 269 Pesos a night...we like it and take it. The room isn't great, there are two one-and-a-half-size beds and outside the door two construction workers are working with a jackhammer! We decide to dedicate the day to visiting the city, and as usual for us..at random! Starting from the Zocalo we take one by one the streets that start from there...the pedestrian street is nothing short of fabulous! It's the cultural zone of Oaxaca, very rich in libraries, museums, exhibitions.

The street leads toward the church....we stay in that area for a couple of hours when the drizzle begins, we go back and stop to eat a hamburger..and finally beer (the elections are over, and the left has won, they've been celebrating in the square since last night!). We decide to stay another two days in Oaxaca and do a couple of excursions.We go to the tourist office (across from the only hostel in the square) which recommends two main destinations: Monte Alban and Hierve el Agua So we go to the Hotel Rivera where they organize them and book for the next day for Monte Alban (180 Pesos per person, 6 hours). In the evening we eat in the Zocalo, the little restaurants are very nice and the crowd distracts you with its thousand habits. We eat and head back to the hotel.

Oaxaca - Around

We wake up and at 11:00 we're at the Hotel Rivera where they load us into a big jeep and we head to Monte Alban! The journey is short and as we'll discover in the future traveling with them is very...typical! Monte Alban stands on a hill, in the middle of the Sierra Madre you witness a breathtaking spectacle: two valleys colored in dozens of shades of green! The guide takes us inside the site, the most important in central Mexico. From him we learn that the word MEXICO stands for "navel of the moon" (repeating the explanation here would become too arduous a thing) and from this visit we learn that in Mexico your skin gets burned even with very little sun! Climbing the temples, wandering in the ball court, encountering a thousand vendors trying to palm off on you a genuine Maya stone soon becomes very tiring...

When the visit is over our beloved driver takes us to a handicraft shop, very nice even though this visit seemed to us a bit too orchestrated..oh well..perhaps hoping to sell us a few artifacts. We return in the early afternoon to Oaxaca where we go to stuff ourselves with "asada" meat. It occurs to us to try to go to Hierve Agua on our own and with our SMALL and HANDY Lonely Planet guide we go to the second-class station where legend has it that there's a bus that takes you early in the morning (at 9:00) and comes back to pick you up at 12:00. Now, the second-class station isn't exactly an idyllic place, so we find the ticket office that does this service and it confirms the only bus that goes up. We make up our minds to take it and head back to the center. We surf the Internet a bit to communicate with the rest of the world and go to our room.

We notice that we've burned our necks and arms and in the evening we're not exactly fresh and rested. We arrange the backpacks since tomorrow evening, after the trip, we'll leave for Puerto Escondido and we go out to eat a couple of soups to fight off our aches.

Oaxaca - Trips & Departure

Of course we don't wake up in time to manage to catch the fateful bus! So we run to the Hotel Rivera and take the package including 4 stops on a one-day trip. The girl remembers us very well and seats us in a 12-seat van where a friendly, easygoing Mexican accompanied by a lady covered in freckles welcomes us with a very warm welcome! We set off. The first stop is El Tule, where the largest tree in the world is. We don't know if it's really the largest tree in the world, but you have to see it! The church beside it looks like a tiny little mushroom, its diameter and its height are out of proportion to any logic! You have to make a small offering to see it up close since to maintain it they have to bring water from everywhere, its roots destroy walls and the whole village is built according to the dimensions of this plant...fabulous.

The "crazy" guide (who speaks Spanish/English) throws us back into the van and we set off for Hierve Agua. The journey is long (about 2 hours) and ends with a climb up the mountains (where we pick up children to take them to the top to sell their handicrafts). Once up there (about 3,200 meters) the guide leads us along a path that leads to the pools! In simple words: at the top of the mountain there's a hole the size of a coin from which water comes out. This is channeled toward hollows, thus creating natural pools. Then the water falling draws limestone waterfalls (they look like rocks) that remain attached to the mountainside.

We're ready to go and already in our swimsuits, we're already in the water and we don't realize what it means to be immersed in water at 3,000 meters! After about 15 minutes of soaking, the Redhead-covered-in-freckles calls us to order and we get dressed again in no time (if you go, be prepared for the little wind that will kill you after getting out of the water..). We get into the van, and by now it's early afternoon. We head toward the 3rd stop: Mitla. The site isn't very interesting and our tiredness leads us to rest under an oak tree. Hunger grows and we start cursing that good woman of a guide..who, quick as a fox, takes us to the next stop: a restaurant! As we've already understood, guides must have some dealings with the various managers...we eat.

When we finish eating we realize we don't have enough money to pay the bill (15 Ps) and we cadge it from the guide, who suddenly has become super friendly! We promise her that as soon as we return to the city we'll give her back what we owe..yeah right. So we reach the fourth and last stop: TEOTITLAN! This last one is a village set in an enormous valley, where they produce rugs, textiles and various products only from natural derivatives. We talk to a Mexican who explains how to extract color from cactus leaves, shows us how cotton threads are made, how they're dyed, how rugs are made! We'd want to buy his whole shop, all the colors...but how do we carry them back...

We leave the valley and begin the return journey, without avoiding a visit to the Mezcal factory! we dedicate a good half hour to tasting about ten different Mezcal, our beloved guide pours and toasts and all our companions celebrate big time. We're in a bit of a hurry since we have a bus to catch and 11 hours of travel at night! We return to Oaxaca, we should give the money back to the guide but she motions to us;Tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning, Hasta luego! We avoid telling her that in the morning we'll be 400 Km away from her (if she's reading this now: FORGIVE US!!!!) and we run to take photos of the zocalo, to retrieve the suitcases, to grab a sandwich on the fly for the journey, to take a taxi (ah, Oaxaca's traffic...go there just to see it) and fly to the station. We get on the bus headed to Puerto Escondido (it also stops at Huatulco and Pochutla).

We get on, settle in and start freezing.

Puerto Escondido - Oaxaca

The journey is terrifying. Absurd roads, uncomfortable seats (San Cristobal Colon, 1st Class...188 Pesos) and air conditioning on full blast!. After a few hours of traveling we feel little drops falling on our heads. I wake up. I raise my head. THE CEILING IS DRIPPING WITH CONDENSATION! We suffer extreme cold, Linda starts sneezing. I'm hallucinating. We argue, we huddle, we'd like to cut off our legs. We arrive in Puerto Escondido kissing the ground and abandoned in a half-deserted station (it's also 6 in the morning!!). As usual we're not speaking to each other, we glare at each other and argue about the choice of lodging. We decide to have ourselves taken to Playa Zicatela which is the most IN beach in Puerto and we have ourselves dropped off at the RockAway, a complex of Cabanas around a pool. 180 Ps a night.

THAT IS A CABANA! It looks like a resort, and after having lived in the poorest Mexico this seems like paradise to us! (apart from the mosquitoes) We have breakfast in one of the hundred bars scattered along that beach, we call home (by now they thought we'd disappeared in the mountains) and go back to sort out our stuff a bit. We end up taking a little nap. When we wake up we take a dip in the pool, we're not feeling very well, the journey has bent our immune system and our desire for hassles has dropped to 0. In the late afternoon we wash up (ah, that cabana, that shower...) and finally throw ourselves onto the beach, on the Pacific! We realize that the sea is too rough to swim and only surfers are present.

Walk walk walk we reach the port where dozens of families throw themselves into the sea fully clothed (it's a Mexican custom..oh well), stray dogs everywhere, boats launched onto the beaches at extreme speed.. We sit there a while watching that life, smelling the scent of that place. They can tell us that P.Escondido is a little place praised only by the film, a bit "preened"...We savored a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. We go for a wander on the small pedestrian street, packed with little shops and restaurants (at Da Claudio they show the film every evening). We go back to eat at Playa Zicatela in a restaurant run by an Italian and go to drink something at Casa Babilonia (where Tiberio, from Bologna, will entertain you with his accent)...We head back to the Cabana, passing by the little village supermarket to mix rum with Coca Cola to celebrate our landing on the Pacific.

Puerto Escondido - The Pacific

During breakfast we get a waitress to recommend a quiet beach where the waves aren't so deadly (Playa Carrizalillo). We go there, we swim, but after 3 hours of sun at its zenith we give up and return to our beloved cabanas and the pool! We mess around all day, feeding ourselves at the RockAway supermarket and in the evening we return to Casa Babilonia...Here the young Italian Alessio is enticed by a beautiful lady who has been trying to sell him a hammock for three days. He, exhausted, convinces himself and ends up buying the most expensive hammock (400 ps, on Tiberio's advice). Now, the hammock was beautiful and enormous (it's the beige one you can see in a photo here beside)..but it weighed at least 10 Kg.

Oh well, we hang it on our cabana and enjoy it to close out the evening.The tranquility of the Pacific reflects in us a desire to do nothing So we decide to stay another day just to enjoy it.

Puerto Escondido - Around

Breakfast based on Huevo Revuelto, a look at the surfers, a nice load of laundry and ready for our day at the pool...HAMMOCK!! we find an Internet Point and write a bit.We pack our bags, tomorrow we leave for Zipolite! In the evening we entertain ourselves between Casa Babilonia and a takeaway pizzeria in Playa Zicatela

Zipolite - Oaxaca Pacific Coast

We head onto the road just above the Playa where there's a kind of terminal for the Pulmman buses that follow the coast back to Potchula, heading toward Puerto Angel. We get on.. and finally we find ourselves on a real Mexican bus, complete with chickens and typical music! In a couple of hours we're in Pochula, from where you have to take a "shared taxi" to get to Zipolite... do you know what SHARED means? 7 in the taxi! Let us give you a tip right away, withdraw cash in Pochula, there are no ATMs by the sea! The taxi drops us off in Zipolite, at first glance it's a disappointment, there's no one around and we find ourselves walking on the beach feeling sad. We ask around a bit but no cabana seems decent, until we stop at the Choza, a building on the beach that gives us a double for only 100 ps a night. We stop, exhausted, go back to Pochula to withdraw cash and come back.

We eat at the same restaurant. Here we meet a very friendly raccoon (it was a raccoon) that went waddling around and happily kissed a good dog. We finish eating and sit on the lounge chairs. Here too the sea is very rough but slowly the atmosphere takes hold of us and we walk along the beach. Walk and walk, we pass the rocks and find ourselves in paradise! A complex of very rustic but extremely elegant cabanas covers that strip of beach, some on the mountainside, others on the beach, a little place with kerosene torches and very few people. Out of curiosity we approach the cabanas on the beach, and we fall in love with them immediately! Huge hammock and inside a dream room. We ask. 350 Ps a night. We think about it for 3 seconds. YES! Tomorrow we'll come here! We go back to the room, wash up and go out to see the only road there is.

There are a few places, very desolate, just a few televisions turned on showing the Copa America. We go into a little place (il Buonvento) and meet Tiziano and Cinzia, the owners. Italians who stop to let us taste everything and welcome us with the usual Italian spirit! We go back to the room (a bit tipsy...) to sleep and the battle begins with the mosquito nets, the heat, and a series of undefined insects.

Zipolite - Oaxaca Pacific Coast

We wake up and slip away! We go have breakfast where we were last night, grab our backpacks and go to El Alchimista! We arrive, settle into the cabana and throw ourselves into the sea... a bit in the water, a bit in the cabana, a bit on the hammock, that's how we spend the day. At 4:00 pm the little place opens and we have a couple of aperitifs, meet the pizza-maker-lifeguard-surfer, and go eat on the main street. We come back stuffed with pasta and sit down to admire the Pacific night. In front of us the sea, behind us nature nature nature. What we felt that evening is indescribable. Being on the other side of the world, the only sound the waves and the only light the moon. We must have stayed there a long time in silence.

Zipolite - Playa de amor and departure

Breakfast and sea until 12:00. Then we have to leave the cabana of love and move to the beach. We eat, drink from coconuts. We get bored because we have to hang on until 7:00 pm to catch the bus to San Cristobal (12 hours, 261 Pesos). In the late afternoon we take a taxi to go to Potchula, Linda stays at the station and I go looking for sandwiches. I end up in the fish market and barely avoid throwing up, I go into a bar where a friendly lady tries to explain how to say COTOLETTA ALLA MILANESE. When I tell her where I'm from she goes quiet. We have the travel nightmare, then a fabulous ADO-BUS welcomes us in all its splendor and with the usual nice chill.

San Cristobal de Las Casas - Chiapas

San Cristobal de Las Casas welcomes us with its beauty, its colors and its liveliness. We arrive at the station and as usual we rely on the Lonely Planet. We take a taxi that brings us to Hotel Martins (behind the Plaza de Marzo, 220 Ps for a double with bathroom). We have breakfast right in front of the hotel and set off, as usual at random. We like the city right away, and we notice how Chiapas differs from the rest of Mexico. The climate is more humid and wherever we look we notice a more "wild" nature. The indios reign, selling little dolls of sub-comandante Marcos and all sorts of Zapatista crafts. Near the central square (surrounded by arcades packed with shops and second-hand book stalls) is the Cathedral. Magnificent. The visual impact of this yellow is fascinating.

We compare San Cristobal to Oaxaca, in terms of the beauty of a colonial city, but here everything seems a bit cleaner, less chaotic. We come across a textile market where colors explode on rugs, clothes and any garment. We also study the various tour agencies and divide up the trips they offer: the lakes of Montebello and the Sumidero Canyon. The agency across from the hotel offers us the best price and we choose to visit the lakes (which by the way are on the Mexico-Guatemala border, but if we can give you advice, go for the Canyon, testimonials rate it as the winner).

San Cristobal de Las Casas - Day Trips

In the morning we wake up and get on the usual 12-seat minivan with a short and stocky Mexican at the wheel. We head toward the lakes and admire all the green of Chiapas (and a sea of soldiers everywhere, you can tell that even if they don't say it, the Zapatista front is always on a war footing). When we enter the lake area, very friendly groups of indios pull ropes from one side of the road to the other to block us and try to sell us the usual handicrafts. Hmm. We enter the lakes, the driver lets us wander around the first lakes, then stops on a bridge that crosses one and invites us to meet him again on the other shore on some rafts. Some of us go, others don't (we didn't... but we were sorry not to try the raft ride too). So the minivan takes us to the other shore to pick up the castaways and have us buy from the local stalls.

He takes us to the biggest lake in the area where you can stop to eat something (but by now we've become pros and before every trip we prepare sandwiches). So we eat and walk until we go wake up the little driver who had dozed off slightly in the van. On the way back we stop at the Comitan site, with the usual enormous interest we climb up and down pyramids, dig into the history of the ancients, and stop under a leafy tree to rest. During the return trip we have the best adventure in Mexico: we were all on the minivan, the driver with his music and us half dozing, when a police patrol (with machine guns drawn of course) stops the merry group. Our driver's face already changes. He gets out. He has a chat with the fine guardians of the law. He comes back to get some documents and reassures us that Va todos Bien.

After a long huddle he comes back with his new policeman friend who has him sit in the back and takes the wheel himself. The young intrepid one studies the dashboard, the gears, then turns around and tells him that maybe it's better if the driver does the driving. So we resume the return trip with this new friend among us. We stop at a van depot. Our driver gets out. By now all his depression shows on his face, he has to leave his van there and he doesn't know much about his future. They load us onto another minivan (cramped and packed with people) and, after thanking our pilot friend anyway from the bottom of our hearts, we set off. Even today we wonder what they did to that little man and above all why. We get back to San Cristobal in the mid-afternoon, wander around a bit, come across some smaller zocalo, visit a few municipal markets and get caught in some rain.

We buy tickets for Palenque for the next morning and go back to the hotel. In the evening, after eating, we wander around looking for a place (after they'd filled us with invitations), but we go back to the hotel quite early. In Mexico we didn't keep Italian hours, in the evening we never went to bed particularly late, the daily efforts made themselves felt!

Palenque - Chiapas

In the morning we wake up, take a few photos of the streets and head to the station where at 10:00 we have the bus to Palenque (4 hours, 70 pesos, the company is new, TRF) We arrive in Palenque at 2:00 pm after a trip full of curves. As usual we argue at the bus station about what to do, in the end the Lonely Planet saves us as usual and we find a little hotel (Posada Kin, 170 Ps) on a side street off the main road. Let us point out right away that the city of Palenque is really ugly: there's just one big road, shops and little shops and lots of small side streets. The road ends in a kind of square (where of course there's a handicraft market!). This city in fact only serves as a dormitory for visitors to the famous ruins of Palenque, our main destination for this stop along with Agua Azul.

At the hotel we organize the trip that will take us to the ruins and to that famous series of waterfalls that everyone has praised so much. We close the day by walking the main street about ten times, Linda buys a couple of Yuta hammocks (on the shopkeeper's advice they're the best and lightest, not like Ale's featherweight one!) We eat and go back to the hotel.

Palenque - The Ruins

Wake up, breakfast and departure on one of the usual minivans that shuttles between several hotels and takes us to the ruins of Palenque which are not far from the city. We noticed, for anyone who might want to go, that there are many little houses before the entrance to the ruins, maybe it's nicer to sleep there since it's all immersed in an enormous forest. We wait in a very long line to buy the entrance tickets (37 ps) and armed with a guide (Lonely as always) we go in.

We're not a couple particularly fascinated by archaeology, mystery and history..but when you see these ruins! The most beautiful thing is the fact of being in the middle of the most complete nature, from which these pyramids, these buildings stand out, and you can hear toucans and other creatures singing in the distance! We start studying the buildings, climbing up and down, walking around them, reading and trying not to get lost. The Palace, the Temple of the Inscriptions, the Temple of the Sun, all imposing buildings and still well maintained. Our visit leads us to take paths that go deep into the rainforest. The humidity is off the charts, the mosquitoes swarm in packs, and the music of the birds (we hear from a guide of a group of very friendly Romans that the ones we hear are toucans) is extraordinary.

We keep walking, the little paths lead us to small ruins, to groups of minor buildings, to natural waterfalls and streams, to passing among gigantic trees. The path then leads us to the exit and so we have a short snack, wait for our adventure companions and the minivan (which arrives monstrously late) and set off again toward the Misol-Ha waterfalls. Here we have 30 minutes, just enough to follow the path on foot and come upon 35 meters of waterfall falling into a pocket of water where dozens of Mexicans (dressed as usual) are swimming and diving like kamikazes. The path leads us to pass under the waterfall and admire the beauty of being behind it. (see photo). It starts drizzling and the driver throws us back into the van. We set off for Agua Azul, a group of waterfalls that cross the entire northern forest area of Chiapas.

They're called that (Blue Waters) because of their turquoise color. When we arrive we discover that our driver also works as a waiter at the little restaurant at the entrance (see the reference to guides' double jobs). We eat and walk toward the waterfalls. Basically there's a road that goes up on the left of this river, from which you can admire the panorama created by these beautiful waters. Of Blue, there's very little, the weather is a bit gray and they tell us that they take on their most beautiful color in spring. We keep climbing, there are dozens of stalls along this road, some sell strange fritters that we'll soon try. At the waterfalls the usual Mexicans (ah, it was Sunday, it was packed with people, avoid Sunday to go there) We get very high up, where there are some small pools, and it starts to rain. We go back toward the minivan and wait for departure.

Back at the hotel we retrieve our backpacks (by now bigger than us), change in the "lobby" and walk to the station. Here the bus awaits that will take us to Campeche at 9:45 pm (168 ps), which should arrive at 6 in the morning. We added the Campeche stop by sacrificing a few days in San Cristobal and from the future Caribbean sea, for the pleasure of saying we've also been in the Gulf of Mexico. We get on the bus (in the front seats, never do that, every light will hit you right in the face).

Campeche - Campeche

At 4:00 in the morning the bus stops and the driver gets up from his seat shouting CAMPECHE!!! We wake up, look at the time and get off to unload the backpacks. We enter the station half asleep, we don't even have the strength to have our usual argument. We look at the guidebook, drink a coffee, a coke. A French girl asks us if we know any hostels, we lend her the guidebook and then she leaves. Meanwhile we call home (it's daytime there). We decide on a hotel, call to ask if they have a room available and they say yes. We go out, take a taxi to the hotel. They put us in a rather shabby room (Albergo Colonial, 175 PS), where there's a fan that makes too much noise. We wake up in complete darkness and realize the power went out. We get dressed and the hotel owner lets us know there's no power and he can't keep us there.

We leave our backpacks with him and go looking for a place to sleep, and to take a first look at this Campeche. We have breakfast in a very homey little place and there too the power is out, and we have to manage. We find ourselves in the Zocalo, very beautiful and well kept (Campeche was awarded the World Heritage prize in 1999) and we notice a hostel on a corner of the square. We go up and like it right away. They even have a double (110 Ps a night), Internet, kitchen and laundry! We already feel the call of the washing machine, so we run to get our stuff and go back to the hostel. (ah, it's called Monkey Hostel). Someone is in the lounge reading on the hammock, someone is playing cards and someone goes up to the roof to do who knows what.

We settle in and dump out the bags of dirty stuff, monopolize the entire laundry (we even cause a couple of floods) and continue our day goofing off in the hostel. We go out in the late afternoon and discover a Campeche with two faces: the one away from the coast very Mexican, with its typical streets, buildings and the same zocalo, then you move to the coast (it's all a seafront and there are no spots where you can swim) and we find a somewhat jarring modernity. Glass towers, shopping centers, a highway lined with palms. In the evening we go out for dinner, take a walk but the weather isn't great so we go back to the multinational lounge of the hostel to eat popcorn and watch from the balcony what's happening in the Zocalo.

Campeche - The Hostel

The morning wakes us with a warm sun, so we decide to rent the hostel's bicycles and ride the whole seafront. First we go to the bus station (very beautiful, on a bike without brakes and among little markets). Here we discover that from Campeche there's no direct bus to Tulum (our next stop, CARIBBEAN!!!) and that we have to change in Merida, so we buy tickets for the first bus at 8:00. We pedal to the sea and from there we go north, going back up a bit of the Gulf of Mexico. The sky starts to darken and wouldn't you know it, it starts to rain. We take shelter, drink something and when it stops we do a few more kilometers by bike. We go back to the hostel and decide to make use of the kitchen, buy some groceries and go back up to argue with an English girl about who should or shouldn't use the kitchen table. Hmm.

It's late afternoon, we wash up, gather the dry laundry and go out for dinner, but we decide to eat in a little park with a takeaway pizza. We stroll a bit in the center and go back to the hostel.

Leaving for Tulum

We leave early, catch a taxi on the fly and go to the station. Bus to Merida, (2 hours, 86 Ps) and then at 1:00 pm from Merida to Tulum (5 hours, 126 Ps). Here another nice adventure happens to us. After a couple of stops the intrepid driver gets off the bus, fiddles with something and sets off again. At the Valladolid stop he decides to have us all get off, call a mechanic. We understand that the air conditioning isn't working. Oh well, we say, and ask the driver if we can go on without it. He smiles, "Mucho Calor" he says, and we wait to change buses. So after this break that cost us a good hour we resume our journey. We arrive in Tulum Puebla in the late afternoon and take a taxi to get to the Hotel zone, where all the cabanas on the beach are. The taxi (which takes 20 minutes) takes us along this big road and drops us at some cabanas we had read about in the Guidebook.

But it's all full, August is starting to arrive and places are scarce. We take another taxi to go back where it seemed there were more. So we search and search and stop before the Diamante K village, where there are a few crumbling cabanas, a tiny little dog and two guys eating some fish on a grill. Linda falls in love with the dog, the two talk with Alessio, negotiate for 100 Ps a night and welcome them with some Caca de Molo (we can't tell you what it is, ask for it). So Ale and Lilla meet Juancarl and Fidel, Fidel is the owner of these cabanas, Juancarl is his partner who takes people around the beach to go snorkeling. The cabanas are a bit of ruins, with no electricity or water, the shared bathroom isn't kept very well but we like them, and besides we were tired. We chat a bit with Juancarl who knows Italian and take a walk on the beach.

The sun sets and we go back, we try to take a shower but the bathroom is too gross and we give up. We realize we're in complete darkness, with no one around. We see a light on the beach and luckily it's a restaurant. They only have fish, but we go for the usual huevos revueltos. We go back to the cabanas, in the dark, and find some very friendly little creatures already crawling around our things. We play a bit with the little dog, who even knocks on our cabana, and we go to sleep, leaving a candle lit and trying not to think about dirt/animals.

Tulum - The Mexican Carribean !!!!

The next day we wake up. The sun is high overhead and only now do we realize where we are: THE MEXICAN CARIBBEAN! We go down to the beach and stop at a little village (run by an Italian, of course) to have breakfast. We left wearing only our swimsuits, a t-shirt and the ever-present backpack. We never went back. During breakfast our eyes were opening wide, we washed up a bit in the village bathrooms and threw ourselves into the water! We'd like to tell anyone who's never been there, what that sand is like, what those waters are like! The sand handles like Play-Doh, it's white and heavy. The water has so many colors you can't even count them. So we walk, we swim, we run into very few people, and after a while we reach the end of the beach (about 15 kilometers on foot) where the famous ruins of Tulum begin.

We stay on the beach the whole time, a bit in the water, a bit rolling around in the sand. We find a little restaurant where we eat something. It's 3 in the afternoon, we feel that the sun is causing a strange effect on our skin and we head back toward the cabanas. Around 5 we arrive. Sunburned, dehydrated and exhausted. Here we meet Stella and Stefano, two kids from Bari, who will be our adventure companions for the last part of this trip. We chat with them, get to know each other, and a Mexican guy who sells hammocks joins us. He's very kind and very meticulous in his work. He's from Merida (homeland of Mexican hammocks) and he explains a bit of everything to us. Linda shows him her purchases from Palenque, and he trades them for others made of real real real Yiuta. Now, do you remember Alessio's purchase in Puerto Escondido? Ale pulls it out and he starts laughing.

The hammock is plastic, heavy and way too expensive. He trades it for one of the same size but made of Yuta (100 times lighter and stronger). He explains that yuta, besides being strong and light, also lets whoever uses it get in with shoes and belts on because it just won't break. Real yuta is rough to the touch, pay attention when you buy one. So we say goodbye to our friend and get ready for the evening. We take a taxi to Tulum Puebla and stop to eat at an Italian restaurant, craving pasta, we take a walk around the town, which isn't much, but at least there's light! We go back to the cabanas, feverish from a day in the sun, we say hi to all the dogs in the area and go to sleep, after shooing away all the insects.

Tulum - The Mexican Carribean !!!!

At 10:00 in the morning we're woken up by strange noises outside the cabana, we go out and find Fidel and Juancarl having breakfast on grilled fish, beer and caca de molo! They tell us "Esta, es la colazion del campion!" and they offer us some. Stella and Stefano wake up with us and join the party, complimenting us on our sunburns. We're a wreck, yesterday's sun wiped us out, so we decide to go visit the ruins. We take a taxi that retraces the whole coastal road and drops us off in front of the ruins. Now, the ruins aren't much, but their position over the sea is spectacular. We go back to the cabanas in the afternoon where we find everyone gathered in their spots. We chat until late evening and then decide to go out with Stella and Stefano to eat something up in Puebla. We go to a very typical little restaurant and, while watching the Copa America final, we eat.

We go back late in the evening and all of Fidel's dogs welcome us (poor things, they were alone and in the dark). We chat trying to revive the little fire someone had left, but with poor results. Tomorrow morning we leave for the last stop, Isla Mujeres, and Stella and Stefano will come with us too.

Leaving for Isla mujeres

Early wake-up and departure for Cancun, from where we'll take the boat to the island. The buses leave every hour (2 hours, 44 Ps, also passing through Playa del Carmen). We arrive in Cancun (an ultra-modern metropolis, the real Mexico is gone by now, here it feels like the United States...) We need to take a bus to Puerto Juarez from where we'll take the ferry (20 minutes, 35 Ps). We arrive at Isla Mujeres in the early afternoon. Getting off the ferry we're swarmed by a hundred Mexicans inviting us to their posadas. You immediately understand that the island is very, very touristy. Stella and Stefano get convinced by a "shouter" who takes us to the Posada Mujeres (180 Ps). Nice, a building between the two main streets. For us this is the last stop, so we want to enjoy the sea, wander the "Americanized" streets full of shops and stay out in the evening.

We settle into the last room of the vacation and go out and about. We're on the tip of the island and the streets intertwine and lead you back either to the main beach (Playa Norte, full of umbrellas and people, nothing like Tulum... sigh) or to the two main streets. It's packed with people, you hear more English than Spanish. We have an aperitif at one of the many spots and go back to the hotel. Stella and Stefano join us for dinner and so we go out in the evening too.

Isla Mujeres - Quintana Roo

We wake up and immediately try to go to the other side of the island to look for a beach less isolated than Norte. We take a bus (when it went over the speed bumps it would destroy your butt!) that crosses the island, discovering that the rest of the coast is colonized by resorts. So we go back and head to the beach, throw ourselves on a couple of lounge chairs and enjoy the sea (we're still talking about the Caribbean Sea, after all) while looking at Cancun. After a while the "chair cop" shows up and first makes us get up, then tries to buy my Swatch for 50 $... go figure. We go back to the hotel in the late afternoon and find Stella and Stefano in the company of a friend of theirs who just joined them. We wash up and then all go out together to eat.

Isla Mujeres - Quintana Roo

Now you should know one thing: today is the last day in Mexico. We're pointing it out because we had forgotten. So the day proceeds as usual, beach, little shops, and then all 5 of us organize a boat trip for the next day... Going back to the hotel we chat for a while, it was already 6 in the evening when someone says that today is the 27th. No, we say, today is the 26th.... then a lightning bolt crosses our two little brains, realization sets in. No. TOMORROW WE HAVE THE FLIGHT from Cancun? Oh my. The gifts? The photos on Isla Mujeres (the photos next to this don't prove at all that we were on that island). We run desperately to the shops to buy all the gifts, we go out to eat with a sadness. We look at each other and still can't believe it. Noooo!!! Whatever, we end the evening packing our backpacks, putting in the stuff to go back home, an extreme journey awaits us tomorrow.

We go to bed very sad, after almost a month away from home, we discover that we don't want to go back at all.

Back to home....:-((

We wake up early, try to say goodbye to our friends but they're snoring like crazy. We take the first ferry that brings us back to Puerto Juarez, we take a taxi to the airport, check in our luggage and wander around a bit. A 1:30 H flight to Miami awaits us. A 4-hour layover there (the number of security checks at that airport is mind-blowing) we risk missing the plane to Madrid. Another 8 hours of flight on a Boeing packed with people. Linda sleeps, Ale watches all the movies and the 3 sunsets scrolling by outside the window. We arrive in Madrid where we don't know what day it is or where we are, but only that we have to stay there 5 hours. We sleep standing up, jet lag hit us terribly. We get lost in the airport, we're saved by immigration and we board for Milan. Empty flight, few people. We sleep with our heads bobbing.

We arrive in Milan in the early afternoon (it should have been 07/29/03). We get off, our families are waiting for us, deep down we're overjoyed to see them. There's a tiny little problem, our backpacks stayed in Miami.