2 Dec 07 Santa Barbara - Dallas - Mexico City
3 Dec 07 Mexico City
4 Dec 07 San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas
5 Dec 07 San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas
6 Dec 07 Agua Azul, Misol-Ha, and Palenque, Chiapas
7 Dec 07 San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas
8 Dec 07 Mexico City
9 Dec 07 Mexico City
10 Dec 07 Mexico CityWhen I left Santa Barbara last week, I wasn´t sure where my first destination was going to be. I was aiming for Cuba, but it wasn´t until the pilot announced the descent into Mexico City that I came up with a Plan B, in case I couldn´t get to Cuba. I´m normally the kind of person that has a three-month trip itinerized down to the minute (my family likes to make fun of this), so this flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants style of travel is new for me. It´s a little disconcerting to be in a foreign place and not know where you´re going to sleep... and it´s already dark.
Anyway, to make long story not so long, the first Mexicans that I came across here went out of their way (literally - walked me to my hostel from the subway) to help me out. And this sort of thing has happened over and over again since I´ve been here.
Plan B ended up being an overnight 14 hour bus ride to the southernmost state of Mexico: Chiapas, known for the indigenous peasant uprisings of the
Zapatistas, which was admittedly the attraction for me. It seems to me that Mexicans, not just in Chiapas, are very politically aware and active. They are well versed in domestic and foreign policy and are ever-ready to take to the streets in protest. It all leaves me feeling a little inadequate. All I can say is "Dude..."
Aside from the kind people and political engagement, another thing that characterizes Mexico for me is the food. Oh my God. I thought that living in Southern California gave me access to authentic Mexican food. Nope. It´s a good thing I only had a week here because otherwise I´d be coming home in a battery-driven wheelchair. Gorditas from street vendors, lamb broth soups, chilaquiles with eggs and pasilla salsa, pozole blanco, freshly fried potato chips with lime and tapatio-type salsa, camarones ala mantequilla, watermelon with chili powder, mole de olla, eggs with nopalitos, fresh papaya/mango/watermelon/etc. in the street, fresh papaya/banana/unidentified exotic fruit preserves, pan dulce, caldo tlalpeño, tacos al pastor... Jesus!
Well, that was about five times as much verbage as I wanted to burden you with, but it´s only a fraction of what I wanted to share. Hopefully the pictures will fill out the story more later.
