Mexico-The Commonwealth strikes back-photos

[babycyclops]

Thought I'd step up and share some of my Mexico pics.


Monument to the revolution, Mexico City.






Yaxchilan, on the Mexican side of the Guatemala/Mexico border


Izamal. One of the longest continually inhabited places anywhere.


Street parade in San Cristobal, deep in Zapatista territory.


Mural at Stadium Azteca, Mexico City.


Me trying to look tough in Hoctun... not nearly as nice a place Izamal.

[Bill]

Yaxchilan, oh how I hate you for gettin there before me. On the way to San Cristobal were you able to visit Tonina? That site is on the list once I finally break free of the ease of Valladolid.
How did you tour, on your own schedule or one of those bus trip scheduled thingies???

[babycyclops]

Don't hate me! We travelled a looong way to get there and I wanted to see as much as I could. My wife did start to suffer from a new condition that we dubbed 'Pyramid fatigue'.... strangely, I was not afflicted.

We didn't get to Tonina, or any of the Olmec sites around the Gulf coast either. Oh well, maybe one day!

We played by our own rules and caught buses between the cities once we felt the need to move on. The exception was Yaxchilan/Flores-Tikal, where we booked a trip in Palenque with one of the many small operators. Yaxchillan seems to be impossible to get to, except by boat, and once we'd been there we crossed over into Guatemala, where the roads seriously took a turn for the worse.

[Bill]

If you thought the roads around Tikal and Flores were bad you shoulda seen them six years ago. It's amazing how much money they've put into the road systems lately. Guatemala and Honduras aren't as nice as Mexico and Belize, but the improvements overall are really impressive.
Doing it at your own speed is the way to go. I've seen and I'm sure you ran into at least one or two nights the tour busses that stop for a single night and then move on to the next site or country. Usually it's the Japanese tours that I see, but they're not traveling any further than you did and they run through it so quickly that I can't believe they actually get a feel for the people or the region.

[babycyclops]

I can sort of understand why people take those bus tours, perhaps in an effort to see as many places as possible, but after we'd caught a few buses between cities it became second nature and is really the way to go.

There were a couple of hell rides- Palenque to Campeche springs to mind, but overall the first class buses are extremely easy and reliable.

We splurged and got a flight from Merida back to Mexico City, after touring so much of the country it was a real treat!

[Hector]

Man...you guys are really hardcore travelers...you guys really dug in...and went to the really good authentic stuff...no fancy Cancun beaches...really stuff...




Have you been to some of the Olmec ruins?

Very little left...as they are way older than the Maya...but you can still find plenty of giant stone heads.

My mom has a picture of me as a kid...leaning against a giant Olmec head...I'll ask her about it, lol.

BTW, it was in the state of Tabasco...great place to venture as well.

[babycyclops]

Have you been to some of the Olmec ruins?

Very little left...as they are way older than the Maya...but you can still find plenty of giant stone heads.

I love the Olmec style, but didn't get to any Olmec sites, had to be happy with seeing some Olmec stuff in the Anthropology museum in the DF.
That museum is A-W-E-S-O-M-E

Here's one more snap, a very handsome inlaid skull from the Anthropology Museum

[Hector]

Yes, that museum is awesome...world class in fact.

Man...I want that skull!!!!

[Bill]

Have you been to some of the Olmec ruins?

Very little left...as they are way older than the Maya...but you can still find plenty of giant stone heads.

My mom has a picture of me as a kid...leaning against a giant Olmec head...I'll ask her about it, lol.

BTW, it was in the state of Tabasco...great place to venture as well.

The park at La Venta, maybe?

[trekman101]

Mexico is full of great places......it's sad they have so many problems going on

[samurainoir]

Yaxchilan, oh how I hate you for gettin there before me. On the way to San Cristobal were you able to visit Tonina? That site is on the list once I finally break free of the ease of Valladolid.
How did you tour, on your own schedule or one of those bus trip scheduled thingies???

San Cristobal s where the dancing waters were?

[Bill]

Sentences that clearly aren't, yet remind you of elaborate palindromes. Or possibly the password in some WWII movie.

Agua Azul is on the way to San Cristobal if that's what you're talking about.

[Hector]

The park at La Venta, maybe?

Yes, in Villahermosa, Tabasco.

My late uncle and his family lived there...so I went there as a kid.

[Bill]

It's amazing the sites you see as a kid and just accept as normal. I grew up outside of Baltimore and regularly visited Gettysburg and the Smithsonian museums as if that was what every kid got to see. That's awesome that you were able to visit La Venta, it's on the long term list. Most of the heads were brought in from outside areas like Vera Cruz, I believe, but at least they stayed in the country and weren't exported to European museums.