Day 10 in Mexico (Food poisoning, epic distances, temples and books)

I´m sitting in an internet cafe in Tulum sheltering from the searing midday heat. It must be 38/40 degrees Celcius, hotter than it´s ever been according to our taxi driver. But the beach and our cabaña by the Caribbean sea are Perfect! White sands, clear azure water, palm trees, cabañas and fish that tastes like it has jumped out of the water an straight onto the grill!

I´m pretty damn content. Quite the change, then, from my freshly ripped off, grumpy self of 4 days ago. We have covered a fair bit of distance in the meantime.

From Puerto Escondido we caught a sleeper bus to Oaxaca where we spent a day doing cultural things (and writing the rante which was day 6 of my blog...) That evening however we both came down with a bad case of Montezuma´s Revenge. I blame the enchilladas at Betsy´s Kitchen in the Mercado de 30 Noviembra with it´s buzzing flies, searing heat and overly quick serving time (given that later in the day we ate in one of Oaxaca´s best restaurants... the fantastic Olla), but whatever the reason I was shivering and achey in the Oaxacan heat and crashed into my half of the bed wearing All of my clothes and even a thick blanket on top.

It lasted 3 days.

The bug didn´t stop me from enjoying an action packed second day in the area of Oaxaca where we piled into a minibus, befriended a couple of Californian girls and headed East to visit El Tule (a 2000 year old tree, inpsiring though we had more fun jumping the gates and climbing onto the roof of a neighbouring church), then a carpet factory (I couldn´t have been less keen but I emerged an enthusiastic embassador - ask me about Indigo), then the slightly underwhelming Zaptoteca/Mixteca ruins of Mitlan, then a Mezcal factory (good if you like tequila, but I was sick as a dog!), then an hour or more of rush hour traffic back in Oaxaca before finally breaking through to the West side and driving through the mountains to Monte Alban - a spectacular abandoned Zapoteca temple/city complex perched on the top of a very large hill and crucially never discovered by the Spanish, who had been busy knocking down every other major pre-Spanish temple and re-using the stones to erect temples on the same spots.

That night we abandoned Oaxaca on another 12 hour sleeper bus headed to the city of San Cristobel de las Casas. This was like a smaller version of Oaxaca (a sleepy colonial town) and we gave it exactly two hours - just enough time to grab a breakfast in the square - before jumping on Another 6 hour bus to Palenque.

At Palenque we checked into a hotel complex situated IN the jungle on the drive up to the Mayan ruins of Palenque. The cabaña looked lovely, located next to a swimming pool surrounded by giant trees dripping with condensation, the air humming with the drone of insects and the wild cries of monkeys and exotic birds. We shelled out a fair bit for the room.

The night was passed playing Scrabble (Roger only beat me by a single point this time), eating safe food and listening to the live bands play local takes on Spanish songs on a plethora of instruments (an 8-stringed Mexican bango, the guitar, the panpipes, a wooden flute and rather fine voices to boot).

I nipped back to the room to find 1000s of ants swarming my bed, but thankfully they had lost interest by the time I finally let my weary body collapse into it´s warm embrace!

The next morning (yesterday) we woke early and headed to the Mayan ruins. They were spectacular. One of the most special places I have visited. We explored before settling on the top ledge of the highest temple and sitting in quiet enjoying the shade and the panoramic view stretching for miles and miles. Our spot inspired others to do the same and soon 20 or so people sat side by side in relative silence enjoying the loneliness of a crowd.

That afternoon we were bused to two waterfall complexes. At Misol-ha I was able to climb behind the 35 metre waterfall and up into a cave pool which also fed into the falls. We then swam in the plunge pool. We got rather wet. The bus driver was less than happy that next to no-one had followed his "No Swimming" rule, as wet backsides were plonked down onto each of his 15 seats!

Not wanting to slacken the pace, we caught another nightbus last night to Tulum where we plan to do a whole lot of nothing by the beach!

Adios.
R

PS. I´ve been getting a lot of reading done. Hear´s what I´ve read so far...

1. "The Child Garden", by Geoff Ryman. Beautiful, moving and strange. Loved it.
2. Mark Man´s "The Gringo Trail". Funny, shocking, sad and full of facts about South America. Would happily recommend as essential reading for anyone thinking of making the trip.
3. "Freedom From the Known" by J. Krishnamurti - wonderful, simple philosophy. Should be read by all.
4. "The Poisonwood Bible" - work in progress but liking the first chapter!

PPS. Click here for the map of our route so far