Guatemala - 2016

So there we were, a small human convoy laden with our bags, having left the last accommodation in Mexico and negotiating the long set of steps back down to a single long boat waiting for us on the Usumancinta River.

Loading our bags onto the boat

We clambered aboard hauling our bags with us and then set off for the 9 km trip upstream to our border crossing point into Guatemala, a country with a very concerning and dubious reputation.  

Heading upstream to the border

This was to be one of the more unique border crossing experiences for us, first that we were making it in a long boat and secondly because there wasn’t a border guard or Customs person to be seen when we arrived at the small village in Guatemala and disembarked.

There were however, quite a few men waiting and offering their help, for a tip, to carry our bags up a scrappy dirt slope to the village itself.  Here a lady waiting for us, a bulging leather bag strapped across her front, a hopeful look on her face and a lot of Spanish spraying out of her mouth.  Lula explained that she was the currency exchange service, so we converted a few Mexican pesos into Guatemalan quetzals in case we needed them.

Lula introduced us to Giovanni, who would be our guide for this section of our travels into Guatemala, then bade us a fond farewell before she headed back to the waiting long boat her trip back into Mexico.

With everything loaded into our small bus, we drove about 10 kms before stopping in a parking area and entered a very ramshackle looking building.  This was the local Customs office and the sole officer behind a glass window, slowly took his time to check passports, enter our details into his computer and then asked each of us for a payment of US$5.  Prior research indicated there is no entry fee for Guatemala, but Giovanni quietly advised us it was a local payment, just for this location.  Welcome to the country.

Good time to share the map of our travels in Guatemala, which consisted of spending a few days in the north of the country before a flight down south to spend a few days there, not very long at all. 

Despite his name, our enthusiastic guide Giovanni was a Guatemalan local from the area and was very keen to teach us a lot about his home region, which he did over the next 2 hrs travelling the 140 kms to Flores on a very bumpy road.

We had been warned by our friends in Madrid, not to visit Guatemala at all and certainly to stay right away from Guatemala City (the capital). It has a reputation for being a very dangerous place, especially for unwary tourists and this same warning was also reinforced by Giovanni and others whilst in country.

It wasn’t long before we were asking about Guatemala’s reputation for drugs and violence.  Giovanni was quick to assure us the extreme violence was a thing of the past, but like any country, we did need to be careful.  As we drove, he also described the many large ‘farms’ located in the area, owned and operated by multiple members of the same family. 

The ‘farms’ are protected by heavily armed guards, cover vast tracts of land but don’t produce very much, apart from the cattle we could see roaming around and are allegedly part of the money laundering activity of drug cartels.  The cartels are still very active, especially in the area we were travelling, as evidenced by a few armed army patrols we passed.  He also told us the locals were not very keen for the bumpy road to be fixed, because it makes it harder for the army and police to move around too rapidly.

Flores (thanks to Google photos)

It was hot and quite humid as we checked into our hotel for the next few days overlooking Lake Petén Itzá and the Island of Flores.  

With a free afternoon, we were soon walking across the causeway to explore Flores, originally a Mayan town founded in the 13^th century.

It was the last Mayan state to hold out against the Spanish when Hernan Cortes visited in 1524, the same conquistador who lead the expedition causing the fall of the Aztecs.  He was en route to Honduras, but needed to move on so did not try to conquer it.  But in 1697 the Spanish marched in, attacked the island by boats and destroyed it. 

From the ruins rose the current colonial city we wandered through, with its narrow streets and central park, also regarded as one of the safest places to visit in what is known as Guatemala’s ‘wild north’.  The locals in the hotel also advised us it was very safe to walk around Flores at night, unlike the other towns around the sides of the lake.

walking through colonial Flores

Now with all this commentary about safety in Guatemala, we were visiting Flores for a reason.  Giovanni and driver met us early the next day for our 1 hr drive to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tikal.  Tikal is regarded as one of the largest cities of pre-columbian Mayan civilization at 16 square kms and contained 3,000 structures.

Tikal

Brief history time!  Tikal was regarded as the capital of a conquest orientated state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya.  

Some of the architecture In Tikal dates back as far as the 4th century BC, but it reached its power zenith from 200 to 900 AD and during this time the city dominated much of this Maya region politically, economically, and militarily. 

The Mayan here also interacted with other areas such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan where we saw the Sun & Moon pyramids near Mexico City. 

For whatever reasons, there was a gradual population decline, culminating with this huge site’s abandonment by the end of the 10th century.

We were only able to truly appreciate just how ‘massive’ the Tikal site is by looking at a relief model of it at the parks entrance.  With a mere 15% currently excavated, most of Tikal is ‘guarded’, almost protected by the dense jungle still covering it as can be seen below.

There is a building under here

Giovanni’s local knowledge came to the fore as we started exploring the massive site of Tikal because he combined an archeological investigation with a wildlife search by taking many small paths through the jungle other visitors weren’t using.  

'friendly' spider monkeys 

On the wildlife front we had multiple sightings including a rare event of two spider monkeys mating in the trees above us, a family of coati crossing our path and even a toucan or two to admire.

a coati

Tikal was our last place to visit ancient ruins whilst in Central America, so we took our time to explore the visible very large and impressive buildings, clambering over and through them, which invariably lead to another stone monolith sided pathway or building.  

Its ruins include the giant, ceremonial Lost World Pyramid and the Temple of the Grand Jaguar. At 70 meters, Temple IV is the tallest pre-Columbian structure in the Americas.  

It was in admiration as we continued to recognize the Mayan’s skill in building with stone.

It was only a short flight before we were landing into Guatemala City, which seems like it was built atop multiple canyons in a very haphazard fashion. 

We were met by our driver for the next few days and soon whisked out onto the freeway for the 90 minute drive into the mountains and Antigua.

a chicken bus

The freeway was both busy with traffic and ‘decorated’ every kilometre or so with either McDonald’s or Pizza Hut or KFC or all of them!  

Talking about KFC, it was also the first time we saw a ‘chicken bus’, which are retired USA school buses, re-born after the addition of bigger motors, better brakes, vigorous multi-coloured paint jobs and colourful lights all over the exterior.

chicken bus helper at 120+ kph!

Whilst we were sitting on the speed limit with most other vehicles, these buses crammed full with people, literally charged past us, the large V8 motor exhaust sound roaring goodbye.  

We were staggered whilst watching one going past, to see a man open the bus’s rear emergency exit door, climb up onto the roof, organize some bags for the next stop and climb back inside... all at over 120 kph!  

Each bus has a ‘helper’ for the driver who collects fares, shouts out the next stop, organises luggage and ensures the bus is packed full, just like a truck taking a load of chickens to the market, hence the name… ‘chicken bus’.

Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site is a truly beautiful city of around 35,000 filled with classic Spanish colonial buildings and cobblestone roads.  

It was founded in 1542 and for 200 years was Guatemala’s colonial capital until an earthquake in 1773 destroyed much of the town.  

Standing sentinel like near the town is the Volcano de Fuego, its classic cone peak occasionally appearing amongst the clouds.  Guatemala is well endowed with 33 volcanoes within it, not bad for a small country.

Malbi, our guide for a walking tour around the city, met us and soon had us enjoying the multiple things to see in this delightful city including its famous and much photographed arch…

…the central park filled with locals, some in traditional dress and around the park the major buildings of the city like the cathedral, town hall and government buildings.

locals in traditional dress in the central square 

the cathedral 

As one of THE destinations in Guatemala for tourists, Antigua contains lots of shops of all sorts including some really good jade shops, a favourite gemstone of the Mayans for centuries.  Malbi was a local and taught us a lot about Antigua, its history, its reputation for growing food and fruits and was able to take us to a fabulous café for great coffee and lunch.  It was so good, we visited it a few times!

Over the following 2 days, things got a little more physical for us.  First was a drive to Lake Atitlan, regarded as one of the more beautiful lakes in the world, perched at an altitude of 1,562 mtrs in the Sierra Madre mountain range.  Before reaching the lake, we stopped to visit a very vibrant Mayan village in a small town, where the diminutive and traditionally dressed Mayan locals, especially the women, have no qualms in pushing you aside if you were blocking their way.

local Mayan market

San Antonio Palomino on Lake Atitlan

Lake Atitlan however during our visit, was covered with mist and looking very dull as we travelled by boat to San Antonio Palompo, a small village clinging to the slopes around the side of the lake.   

All the houses seemed almost perched on top of each other as we climbed through the narrow streets to reach a local business weaving very colourful clothes and table runners.  

The ladies running this business, also in traditional dress, spoke very good English and had a very playful great sense of fun.

local weavers at work

and one of their products

On our final full day in Antigua, we drove to one of the most active volcanoes in Guatemala called Pacaya, which first erupted ~23,000 years ago.  It has erupted ~23 times since, the last being in 2015.  

surveying Pacaya volcano and latest lava flow

Pacaya reaches an elevation of 2,552 mtrs and it was a very steep climb indeed to reach the still warm lava flow from the last eruption, so warm in fact, we were able to enjoy marshmellows cooked in crevices at the face of the flow.

cooking marshmallows using a lava flow

During both our climb and descent, we would occasionally catch partial glimpses of men standing off the track in amongst the bushes.  This seemed a bit strange until we learned of the Pacaya Volcano’s prior reputation for the robbery of tourists climbing the track and that the men in the bushes were now acting as guards.

It was a very very early start and drive back to Guatemala City the following morning for our flight out of Guatemala and as we waited at the airport, we all commented on how much of a surprise Guatemala had been, compared to its historical and violent reputation.  We enjoyed our visit, albeit for only 5 days, meeting very friendly locals, as long as you pick the right places to visit.  It is also a country with a rich history and beautiful scenery to enjoy.

Well our time of visiting ancient ruins and cultural immersion was coming to an end as we boarded our flight towards the next country on our itinerary, so until our next post, go well!

For a few more photos covering Guatemala, please click on the link below.

CLICK HERE for more photos of Guatemala 2016

Mexico - 2016

 After 20+ total transit hours, our plane descended into the cauldron of a city perched 2,250 metres above sea level, surrounded by mountains and with a population nearly equal to ALL of Australia at ~22 million people.  We had arrived into Mexico City.

After Immigration, we were greeted with a cheery “hola” or hello from the person organised to drive us to and hotel and a hot, reinvigorating shower. Shortly afterwards, he had dissolved us into this heaving city like surfers trying to catch swirling messy waves.

A few hours later we caught up with our four friends Rob & Robyn and Geoff & Lorna whom we had previously travelled through Africa with in 2012 and we were on a World Expeditions private tour tailored to our needs, a first for us but not the others. 

It wasn’t long before we met Lula, a warm and very friendly woman who would be our guide whilst in Mexico.  We would also have our own driver for the entire time in Mexico, a truly delightful man by the name of Alfonso.

The Mexico 'team' at Museum of Anthropology - Mexico City

Lula immediately briefed us on our itinerary for the next 11 days and asked if we were willing to do an early start in the morning to beat both the crowds and heat.  She also immediately took on the task of trying to teach us a few simple Spanish words and sentences to use during our tour, things like “como estas” or “how are you?”  Each day during our tour, Lula tried to forlornly teach us some new words!

This time to kick off, there are 2 maps below and the first shows our actual tour route through Mexico.  We spent 4 nights in Mexico City to explore in and near it before essentially heading south and covered around 2,247 kms.

Actual route in Mexico

The 2^nd map simply seeks to put our tour route into overall context with the size of Mexico and as you can see, we only scratched the surface!

Mexico is quite large isn't it

It was also interesting for us that quite a few sections of our route included travelling along sections of the Pan American Highway, which starts in Alaska and finishes near the Columbian border in Panama.

So why Mexico considering its reputation for drug related crimes, murders and other bad press which did cause in all of us a degree of apprehension?  The primary reason for being in Mexico was not only to experience the current Mexican way of life, but also learn more about its history and culture.  Mexico was also the starting point for a few other countries we would visit, but more on that in later posts.

As it transpired, at no time in Mexico did we feel unsafe, especially when we saw how many heavily armed police and army patrols were around.  You would see plenty of armed Police around all of the cities and there were small convoys of police vehicles travelling down some highways with hooded men standing in the back of open 4WDs hanging onto large calibre machine guns - a little different.

Now this blog entry for Mexico was a bit of a challenge to write, simply because there was just so much we saw, did and experienced in the 11 days we were there.  You will also come to learn via some of the photos that the Mexicans have for a long time really liked bright colours and we also learned first hand they love music.

Being essentially a Roman Catholic society, we did visit a number of very historic, grand and highly decorated churches/cathedrals, like the massive complex called Guadalupe in Mexico City. There is only one church however that will be described in any detail because it was so different, but more on that later.

Depiction at Guadalupe complex of the Aztecs paying homage to the Virgin Mary

So early the first morning and still jet-lagged, we quickly learned a few things about this highly populated city… air pollution and vehicle congestion!  With so many cars and trucks on the roads, thinner air due to altitude, the still smouldering Popocatépetl volcano a mere 70 kms away and the surrounding mountains, the pollution settles onto this city. 

Each day they check pollution readings and if too high, as they were our first morning, an odds or evens numberplate regime kicks in to reduce traffic for that day. In this city of ~22 million people, there always seemed to be traffic everywhere!

Now before we start and you read about the various ancient ruins we visited, keep in mind that the Spanish invaded Mexico in 1519 when Hernan Cortés defeated the Aztecs and take note of when many of the ancient cities we experienced declined.

First view of Sun pyramid - Teotihuacan

 So our Mexican historical immersion started immediately when we reached Teotihuacan, Mexico’s largest ancient city containing the huge Sun and Moon pyramids.  

Now when it comes to knowing who actually built this city, the archaeologists really don’t know.  

They think it was established around 100 BC and was one of the largest cities of the ancient world. 

The site covers 83 square kilometres and the Pyramid of the Sun, the largest structure, is 75 mtrs high and its base the same size as the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.  At its peak, the city reached a population nearing 200,000, which was bigger than Rome.  By the 6^th century Teotihuacan was in decline and had disappeared by the 7^th century, 9 centuries before the Spanish arrived.

Climbing to the top of these pyramids was a real task due to the heat and altitude along with the almost 40 cm risers between each step, our knees protesting as we went.  The view from the top however certainly displayed just how large this ancient grid based city actually was and what an amazing feat of construction by whomever built it.

View over Teotihuacan from the top of the Moon pyramid, the Sun pyramid in the background

Whilst based in Mexico City, we did a few day trips visiting a number of other interesting locations.  For example, Taxco or the ‘silver city’ founded in 1529 and located southwest in the mountains and where we became a little bit poorer once Rob found the shops! 

Yes its famous for its silver mines and products, but is also a very beautiful Spanish colonial city and home to one of Mexico’s grandest privately built churches. In 1795, Jose de la Borda, a French/Spaniard who had migrated to the new Spain and was making his fortune out of the silver, offered to built this church on condition his son be the priest in it.

Santa Prisca de Taxco church

Taxco

Also whilst in Mexico City, we cruised along the Xochimilco canals in a very colourful trajineras (flat-bottomed boats), one of hundreds moored there. The canals, now a UN World Heritage site, were built by the Aztecs and are famous for the chinampas or floating reed gardens used to grow flowers and food and now slowly disappearing.  During our time on the canals, we were briefly joined on our trajineras by a very colourful and loud mariachi band to serenade us.

Trajineras's plying their tourist trade along Xochimilco canals

Mariachi band doing their thing

Frida

We also found ourselves exploring the home of Frida Kahlo, a famous and eclectic artist who lived an extraordinary life and lifestyle bucking the system until she died at the age of 47 in 1954.  You may have heard of a movie called Frida with Salma Hayek as lead, telling her story. 

Frida's death mask

It was a surprise to also learn that Leon Trotsky, the Marxist Soviet politician alongside Lenin during their 1917 revolution and founding leader of the Red Army, lived in Frida’s house for a period before being assassinated there in 1940 on the orders of Stalin.

During our 4 nights in Mexico City, in the evenings and a few early mornings around sunrise, we all walked around the streets absorbing the sights, sounds and constant energy in this very large city and at all times felt quite safe.

Mexico City Opera House at night

Enjoying sunrise in Mexico City

It was time however to head south towards Oaxaca but not before stopping to walk inside the Great Pyramid of Cholula in the town of the same name.  This pyramid is not fully unearthed and unlikely to be because of the beautiful church called Nuestra Señora de los Remedios built on the top of it in the 16^th century.

Inside a pyramid

Whilst this pyramid is not very tall at 55 mtrs, its base is four times the size of the Great Pyramid if Giza and is the largest known pyramid in the world today.  

Exploration of this pyramid commenced in 1931 with archaeologists digging 8 kms of tunnels within it to explore the substructure whilst also looking for remains and valuable artefacts, but found neither.  

These tunnels however did enable us to see how well these massive structures were constructed.

Nuestra Señora de los Remedios church atop Cholula pyramid

Now before describing even more of the various ancient ruins we visited, time for a short course in Mesoamerican history… no, we didn’t even know there was such a word as ‘mesoamerica’ before visiting Mexico. 

In simple terms and many centuries prior to the Spaniards turning up, there were lots of various tribes/cultures spread from Mexico through Belize and Guatemala down to northern Costa Rica. 

There were Aztecs, Zapotecs, Olmec, Toltec and Mayan to name just a few.  Each group were strong in specific geographic areas and the ruins we were visiting included some of these groups.

Ladies in traditional dress in Oaxaca

We had a few favourite towns in Mexico, and Oaxaca was one of them with its very nice but cheap restaurants, lively streets to stroll along, usually filled with music at night and very interesting architecture all around.  

Oaxaca also had a very large archaeological museum we spent time in looking at the large collection of fascinating historical artefacts.

Our reason for being in Oaxaca however was to visit the ruins of an ancient Zapotec city built on top of the mountain of Monte Alban, where the residents would have had a commanding view of the river and valleys below.  Before erecting any of the buildings, the Zapotecs had to literally flatten the mountaintop first, commencing this around 500 BC. 

Mountaintop ancient Zapotec city of Monte Alban

At the height of its power, this ancient city numbered around 20,000 people and became a centre of Zapotec power until its decline and desertion around 750 AD.  

Monte Alban

Priests were very powerful in Monte Alban and it was here we first heard about the ‘ball game’ played between 2 people, which lead to the death of the loser as a sacrifice to the Zapotec gods!  

There were hoops, a bit like basketball ones, but its unknown what the ‘ball’ was nor exactly how the game was played.

Next town on our route was Mitla, home to a few palaces containing impressive pre-Hispanic stone mosaics before reaching the site of Tehuantepec to explore some more impressive Zapotec ruins.  

There was a slight detour before Tehuantepec to learn about mescal production, a very potent drink similar to tequila and also made out of specific cactus plants.  The local mescal guide diligently explained the whole production process before taking us to the tasting area.  It tasted terrible so no sales that day for them! 

We also spent time at the home of a delightful local artisan family who weave the most beautiful rugs.  

The bubbly and enthusiastic wife explained the whole weaving process, including showing us how they create the many bright colours the Mexicans love, from local plants and minerals. 

The larger rugs they make may take 4-6 months to finish and they were simply beautiful.  They did make a sale, albeit a small one.

Before reaching our next city we stopped to take a boat ride into Sumidero Canyon, which commenced its creation around the same time as the Grand Canyon in the USA.  

We boarded one of many high-speed boats, put on life vests and headed into the canyons’ narrow mouth, with walls up to 1,000 mtrs standing as sentinels either side of us. 

Entering Sumidero Canyon

Within the canyons confines, we stopped to look at the Cueva de Colores (Cave of Colors) perched high up on the side of one of the walls. 

It gained its name because of the filtration of magnesium, potassium and other minerals forming colors down the sides, especially shades of pink within it, an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is frequently decorated with flowers left by visitors who have to clamber up a rickety ladder to reach it.

Local indian dress in San Cristobal

We arrived into the beautiful city of San Cristobal de Las Casas with its cobblestone roads, old Spanish colonial buildings, numerous arts and craft shops and many people walking around in traditional Chamulan dress. 

The locals are made up by two prime tribes living in the area, the Tzotzils and Tzeltals… don’t you love all the names! 

our accomodation in San Cristobal

At the large stunning church of Templo de Santo Dominigo, we enjoyed the final stages of a very lavish and colourful wedding watching the bride and groom dancing around in the church’s courtyard, surrounded by traditionally dressed women and friends.

Patiently waiting in the wings was another large another wedding party waited patiently in the wings for them to depart.  

The Mexicans certainly do love bright colours and load music!

It was the next day we visited the two authentic Mayan villages of Juan Chamula and Zinacantan, where locals dress traditionally and continue as subsistence based communities.  

Local Chamula indian in front of the blue-framed church

It was in Chamula where we visited the blue-framed church, the only one I will write about in any detail. 

First… we were warned not to try and directly photograph any individual people within the villages unless they first agreed to this and were also absolutely warned about taking any photographs inside the church or risk going to jail for a few days.

This church was once Roman Catholic but inside now there are no pews or an altar. Instead, resting on tables around the walls are multiple glass cases, each containing a saint and these saints may seem to be Catholic ones, but really represent Mayan gods.  

In front of the glass cases on other tables were large bunches of flowers and on the ground, rows of burning candles and incense with pine needles strewn all over the floor. 

The local Indians were mostly sitting on the ground amongst the candles making preparations for their Easter celebrations, THE major event for the year.  Also joining the locals on the floor were lots of caged chickens; we believe to be sacrificed at some stage later.  The Chamulans believe Jesus rose from the cross to become the sun, which in ancient times was one of their many natural gods so this was a very different church indeed!

Agua Azul

Moving even further south, and after visiting the waterfalls of Agua Azul, where thousands of Mexicans were enjoying themselves and finding relief from the constant heat, it was onto the Mayan ruins of Palenque, a medium sized city compared to other famous Mayan sites that rose to prominence in the 7^th century.  

enjoying the falls

The Mayans were absolute craftsmen when it came to building with stone, including all the intricate detail and decoration which adorns most buildings.

above & below - Palenque

Pacal's jade portait mask

It is believed the city’s origins started around 226 BC and the Spanish took some interest in Palenque from around the 1770’s with various explorers visiting the site off and on up until 1952.  

It was then that Ruz Lhuillier was first to gaze on the tomb of Pacal the Great in well over 1,000 years, discovered lying with a jade portrait mask on his face and other treasures around him. 

In the last 15 to 20 years only about 5% of this amazing and extensive city has been uncovered and reborn from the jungle.  

Due to its sheer size and grandeur of its multiple large inscription covered buildings, Palenque is certainly a very popular location for visitors.

Mayan hieroglyphs

When you look at the photo below just pause for a moment and try to imagine EVERY building you see painted a very bright red soaring out of the jungle, which is how they looked when Palenque was at its zenith.

magnificent Palenque

As we drove further south, the humidity had steadily been increasing; making the climbing through even more ancient ruins more of a challenge.  

We were now headed to another Mayan site called Bonampak and these can only be reached using a local van and accompanied by a resident Mayan guide. 

Leaving the van, we then walked some distance deeper into the jungle and whilst not as impressive as Palenque, multiple walls inside the buildings were adorned with grand frescos dating from 790 AD, some with the original red colouration still on some of them.

After our walk around Bonampak, it was time to visit our final set of Mayan ruins in Mexico, a place off the normal tourist trail and set within very dense jungle next to the Usumancinta river… Yaxichilan.  The Yaxichilan city was also built by the Mayans and reached its peak around 800-1,000 AD. 

We had to work a bit harder to reach Yaxichilan, first having to nimbly clamber onto a long-boat for a 40 minute trip downstream on the fast flowing river, which like most of the rivers in this part of Mexico, is home to crocodiles.

boarding out long boat for the trip to Yaxichilan

walking down the 'alley' into the maze
Yaxichilan

Then it was a short walk down a narrow rock walled ‘alley’ before briefly disappearing underground into a pitch-black Mayan built stone maze, before emerging into the quite serene and stunning setting for this ancient city.  

Whilst there were certainly some very large structures and now familiar ‘ball game’ courts, these ruins had a majestic serenity to them when combined with many flat grassy areas set out amongst the old buildings and huge ceiba trees.

It is also believed that in Yaxichilan, the winners of that now familiar ‘ball game’ were sacrificed to the gods instead of the losers.

above & below Yaxichilan

After our slower boat trip back upstream, we collected our bags from Alfonso and checked into the Escudeo Eco Lodge for our last night in Mexico.  There are so many other things we could have described as a result of our Mexican meanderings, like watching personalized orders for chocolate being made, the many humorous interactions with Mexican locals throughout our travels, the visits to other large and fascinating museums learning more about Mexican history and culture.

even a toucan popped by during our time in Mexico to say "hola"

Then there was the abundant food, especially ‘mole’, a combination of thick chocolate and chilli commonly served with our main meals. We enjoyed many traditional Mexican dishes and it was a lot of fun and a bit of a mystery when trying to order different meals without being able to speak or read Spanish.

there are plenty of interesting food choices in Mexico

We all enjoyed what Mexico had to offer, especially its rich culture, history and fun loving people, but it was soon time to leave it and cross a border to who knows what.  Lula our guide had not only been very good at what she does but also a pleasure to be with.

Below is a link to additional 2016 - Mexico photos but not using the usual method which is no longer supported.  This time they are stored in Google Photos for this post to see how it goes.  I cannot however label any of the photos as before so hope it works and they are okay.

CLICK HERE for more photos of Mexico 2016

So for the time being and until the next post… adios amigos and go well!