Last stop In Chiapas, Palanque!!

the town of Palanque haven't anything special, it’s a bit like ocosingo with more tourist.
Palanque is pretty famous for a big archaeological site, some big ruins from a old maya city.
so I went to visit the site which was really good. the site is situated in the middle of a jungle, about 6km away from the town. it is possible to stay in a small cabin in the middle of the jungle just next to the ruins which was really awesome.

I went to visit the ruins one morning, there is a lot of small buildings, and we can see that there is still a lot that haven't been restored. it is still possible to climb on most of the buildings which is cool, but quickly the site get crowded of tour groups which is not cool.

after few hours visiting all the area. I went for a walk in the middle of the jungle, there is some pretty nice spots and some very small ruins, it was really nice walk.

the next day i decided to go further away from Palanque, in la selva lacandona. It’s a big jungle with a road going through it with many small village along the way, mostly inhabited by maya communities. I spent a day walking through the jungle again, on the way I saw some small ruins some that have been restored a little bit, and some that haven't been touch and are just a pile of rocks covered by trees and vegetation.  the walk was again very interesting and near the end there is a big waterfalls which is also really awesome !!

Next stop in Chiapas, Ocosingo

After three days visiting all around san cristobal, I decided to move on the the next town, Ocosingo.  it is absolutely not touristy, which is really interesting. the city itself don’t have anything special but it’s really relax place.
from there the main interesting spot is a huge maya ruins that is partly restored. I really loved it, first the site is really huge, there is just a big pyramid that is r
estored ( not totally) but you can see around that there is a very huge area that is yet to be discover as it is actually all covered by the jungle.
and one of the best thing is that I had the whole site just for me, i’m not sure if i was lucky or if it is always like that but during the 3h I spent there I have seen only 3 small groups of tourist!!  it is more presented as a cultural place than a touristy place so there is almost no-one coming to visit there and therefore it is still allowed to climb on everything and even go inside some small part!!

After visiting that really nice ruin, I wanted to got deap in the jungle around a lake that is accessible only after 6h and a dirt road, and then 2 more hours walking through the jungle. Unfortunately, the collectivos to got there run just once every few days and there wasn’t any when I wanted to go, So I decided to keep going toward Palanque.

half way there there is a famous waterfall so I made a stop in Agua azul, it was pretty nice and a good way to break down the trip toward Palanque.

Arriving in Chiapas, starting in San cristobal de las casas.

After a long bus ride over night, I arrived at 6AM In Tuxtla Gutierres the biggest city in Chiapas,
from there I found my way with the collectivos to get outside town at the entrance of el Canon del sumidero, it’s a huge canyon that you can visit by boat or following the ridge on top of the mountains to get to different Miradores, Unfortunately the access to the miradores is closed on Tuesday and of course it was Tuesday. So I just get on a boat to see the canyon from the bottom and it is pretty impressive. the only bad side is that the water is extremely polluted, regularly along the way, the current gather ll the garbage people throw away and it make few small plastic island, it’s really sad to see such a beautiful place being trashed like that.

after this visit I jumped again in some collectivos to reach the touristy town of san Cristobal de las casas. and realize that Chiapas is much cheaper than the other part I visited in mexico, First with the collectivos it is possible to get almost anywhere for very cheap, so no need to use the big comfortable bus that are very expensive. also the accommodation is much cheaper, My first nights in ensenada, the cheapest backpacker was 300 Pesos,  in here I paid 175 Pesos for 3 nights!!
The first thing I notice when I arrived was that it was as expected very touristy, there was travel agency everywhere proposing different tours to visit all the surroundings. putting apart the touristy aspect of the city, the town is really enjoyable, very nice architecture and very beautiful streets that reminded me a bit of Guanajuato.

in the surrounding I visited a really impressive cave, a huge waterfall and some beautiful lakes. there is a bit of everything in chiapas!

I also went to a small indigenous town, where it’s possible to visit a very special church, where people come to make some very special rituals, that include burning lots of candles while spending lot of time saying some incantation and make a chicken turn around the head od the whole family. it was really interesting to see.
but at the same time I feel I shouldn’t have visit that. As much as I don’t like religions I think these people deserve to do these things in peace, and seeing them doing these rituals always surrounded by many tourist must be very annoying for them.

In Veracruz !!

When I was in Mexico city, everyone told me I should go to Oaxaca after.  So I decided to go to Veracruz.  I wanted to get away from the main touristic path, and I didn’t heard anything about Veracruz (except in a famous french movie), so I decided to go there quickly to see by myself.
I stayed here only a very short time, so I just visited the main city.

it’s a big city with a very important port, next to the center you can see only big boat and big docks. a bit more south there is some really nice beach. and when it come at night, many people get together on different place in the center to dance la “Danzon” it looks like a quiet waltz, and Mexican music, it is very popular and typical from there.

Visiting Mexico city !!

So after few weeks visiting more northern part of mexico, I reach the Capital, mexico city, about in the middle of the country. it is very big city(one of the biggest in the world) , a lot of people everywhere but nothing crazy or overwhelming.

It was once a big Aztec city, but when the spanish arrived they destroy almost everything from the aztec to start rebuilding mexico city. now there is almost nothing left for the old aztec city, just few small ruins and archaeological sites.

In the city centre there is lots of nice building from different part of Mexican history, angles de la independencia, monumento de la revolution, one of the biggest cathedral in north america just next to the palacio national (the government building), a big castle build by the french during the short time they were in mexico.  there is really some building from every part of mexico’s post Hispanic history.

about 1h north of mexico there is the ruins of Teotihuacan, another Aztec city that haven't been totally destroyed by the Spanish, it is pretty impressive site, with two huge pyramid still standing there, templo de la luna   and el templo del sol.  it is really interesting site to visit and very easily accessible from mexico city.

a bit more south of the city the is some “floating garden”, it is possible to go through all this area by Trajinera, it’s a kind of big colorful wooden boat, that are moved around using a huge pole.  it is very interesting to visit, with different kind of “garden”or island along the way, and lot of vendedor sell food and souvenir, or some musician that you can pay to play few songs along the way.

I was in mexico city during the Dia de la independencia, the 16th of september. the day befor most mexican have party to celebrate the independence of the country, all in mexican color, and usually listen to “el grito” a small speech from the president.  And of the 16th there is a big military parade!!

I like the city, there is really lots of different neighborhood and always something to do.
I spend about a week visiting the city and around, then it was time to keep traveling toward south.

Visiting San Miguel de Allende

About 1.5h south of Guanajuato there is San Miguel de Allende, many people told me about this small town so I decided to stop there for one day on my way to mexico city.

It is a small colonial town where a lot of american moved to live here after world war two. it is indeed very charming city.  I found it a bit like a smaller version of Guanajuato. Guanajuato is much bigger, but much less touristic, and the street are much less organized which give it an extra charm.

both town definitely worth the visit, but If you have time to visit only one, Guanajuato have much more to offer.

In Guanajuato!!

Many people told me to go visit Guanajuato, it’s a small town maybe 5h north of mexico city, and when I arrived there i was extremely surprised by that town, it’s full of old building and street, and it is really beautiful.
One particularity of this town is that it have a full network of street underground, when I get in center of town in a small public bus I was already very surprised to go through these old tunnels, it feel like going through a big cave under a very old castle. it’s really amazing.

The bus stop in the middle of the tunnel and from there just of to take a small exit road, or some small staircase to get up the surface. and arriving in the surface is again amazing, all the street are very beautiful old street and the town is full of very nice building.

on the side of town there is some even smaller street that goes up the hills between house. i reached an awesome view point on top of one hill with an amazing view over the city.

the city is also well known for all the mines that are in the area from which they extract gold, platinum, silver and more different metals.

I stayed a bit less that two days walking around everywhere by day and by night and I really love this city, it is really unique and amazing !!

In Guadalaja%^* guadalar(#$% Cabron!!! In Guadalajara!!

The second largest city in Mexico is Guadalajara (I can't pronounce it right, therefore the title). I went there for a quick stop to see a bit what it look like, and didn’t find anything special, the historic center is very nice but haven't find anything that really grab my attention. maybe If i had stayed longer or went visiting around, but I decided to pass faster on here to have more time to visit other part of mexico and central america.

In Monterrey

After visiting Baja California, I decided to go in Monterrey, a city northeast of mexico. I had three good reason to get there, first it’s a big city but not touristy at all, with everyone I talk to over there they all think i was living here or here as exchange student, no one though I was just traveling by it was pretty good to get a good feel of the culture.  it is also surrounded by mountain which is pretty awesome. and I had a friend that I met along my travel that is living here. that was I good place to stay for a bit.

The city itself is pretty nice, but have nothing special, it’s just a big city like many other.  it can get good view with the surrounding mountains but with the pollution smoke it’s usually not so good.

what I really loved was all the mountain surrounding the city, there is some really amazing spot.
I climbed on top of 2 of the mountain surrounding the city.

El Cerro de la Silla (1800m), unfortunately when I get on top I was all in the cloud (first time I saw a cloud since i’m in mexico, it have to be that day, and that time !!)  I still had a pretty good view on the way down.

El Cerro de la Mitras(2000m), the way up there was really cool, we had to go across the mountain though an old mine, and climb some vertical slope using some old chains.  and the view from the summit was really amazing, pretty different from the mountain I used to climb back in Canada!!

in another of the mountains surrounding Monterrey, you can find some impressive canyon!!
el Estanzuela which is just next to the city you walk up and down the canyon which make a pretty nice day

Matacanes, this one is a bit further away from the city, and much harder to get. You have to go with a guide and all the equipment. we had to wake up at 3AM to be back home at 11PM. it make a very long day, but definitely worth it !!
after 1.5h in a truck on a very bad track we reach the top of the canyon. from there is was about 10h of walking, swimming jumping of big cliff, or going down in rappel.

The scenery all along the canyon is surrealist, going though all king of awesome spot, with nice pools of crystal clear water, amazing water falls, going through huge caves. all along the scenery never stop surprising me with more and more beautiful spot.  I would definitely recommend anyone that have the opportunity to go down this canyon!!