That Time of Year

It's rainy today in San Francisco, after a week of beautiful, warm-for-January weather.  Sometimes the little teases of Spring make waiting for Spring that much tougher.

This postcard from Zihuatanejo reminds me of a week I spent on this beach, swimming, snorkeling, fishing, swinging in hamacas (hammocks), and playing sand croquet with some locals we met.  Ahhhhh.  It's been too long since I've had my toes in warm sand and swum in a warm or even warm-ish ocean, and I wouldn't mind going back here, even if it is a lot more developed now than it was 25 years ago. 

 [Note to friends in snowy climates:  I recognize that a Californian complaining about weather is scoffable at best.  Too bad.]

Veracruz

One of my mom's best friends,Peggy, and her husband, Big Brent, have traveled all over the world, including driving from Southern California all the way to Panama, in their little mini-camper, aptly named "Peggy's Palace".  Peggy is vivacious and out-going, with a wonderful laugh and a bit of Lucille Ball about her.  Big Brent doesn't say as much, but adores Peggy and is generally a smiley guy.  Even though we are not related by blood, they've always felt like an aunt and uncle to me, and we spent many vacations and Christmas eves together.  Peggy plays the guitar and most of the campfire type songs I know, I learned at her side.

I love her postcards because her personality is ever present, from the naming of the dancers ("Brento" and "Margarita") to the text on the back including "mucho pescado, mucho tequila".  Note that this card is dated 2001.  They were both over 70 years old on this trip, and sent this card from Veracruz, on the eastern coast of Mexico. 

There are three things I think of when I think of Veracruz:

1.  Huachinango Veracruzano.  For all you gringos, "Red Snapper Vera Cruz Style". During the very early days of my travels through Latin America I was introduced to this dish.  It's pretty tasty but it is even more fun to order, because Huachinango is a great word to pronounce.  (Wha-chee-nan-go.  Try it!)

2.  Warren Zevon.  My favorite Warren Zevon album, Excitable Boy (it was an album when it was released in 1978) includes a song called "Veracruz", which I've probably listened to 1000 times, although not in a long time.  (Note to self:  include a Warren Zevon song on next mix tape.) While it's not my favorite song on the album, there are several greats including "Werewolves of London", "Excitable Boy" and "Roland The Headless Thompson Drummer".  If you do not know these tracks, you might want to check them out.

3.  US Occupation of Veracruz in 1914 aka the Tampico Affair.The Tampico Affair is one in a long list of Mexican/US mis-understandings, primarily resulting from an on-going inability among far too many to speak each other's languages. 

Tulum Beach, Mexico

Oops.  Did it again. Had the postcard picked and inserted into the blog, then totally forgot to write and post it.

In any case.  Here is the beach at Tulum in Mexico.  If you look past the ruins and down the beach, you'll see a narrow strip of beach.  That beach has got to be among the best beaches in the world - the sand, the color of the water, the lack of people (although the numbers of people increase every year).

I'd like to be there now.

Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico

I can't resist two more postings about Mexico, and after that I promise I'll move on.

Both of these postcards were sent from Isla Mujeres, a municipality in the state of Quintana Roo.  This municipality includes an island by the same name off the coast of the Yucatan, a few miles north of Cancun.  I visited this island in 1978, and these postcards were sent from there in 1980.  Development of Cancun didn't even begin until 1970, and it was nothing like the huge tourist destination it is today.

Isla Mujeres isn't quite the same as it was back in 1978.  At that time, the streets were sand, there were no cars and only a few hotels and restaurants.  I remember getting a ride in a relatively small launch from Puerto Juarez to the island, arriving at the island on a dock like the one on the postcard to the right, and staying in a hostel type place with some other travelers.  It was our first time really meeting "gringo trail" travelers, as prior to our trip to Isla Mujeres, we'd been staying with a family in Mexico City.  We were enthralled by the tales told, the distances traveled, the low cost of eating, sleeping and getting around.  We spent a few idyllic days here before heading off to Guatemala.

In all the times I've been to the Yucatan peninsula, I've never gone back to Isla Mujeres.  Somehow, it's one place which I haven't wanted to see in its current iteration.  However, I might change my mind.  It's just north of Isla Mujeres where you can snorkle with whale sharks June through August.  Bucket list!!!!!! - maybe even top five bucket list contender.  Check it out here.

Mexico City, Distrito Federal

Mexico City is in the Distrito Federal, which is pretty much like the District of Columbia in the US.  Wikipedia describes it as follows:  "Mexico City is also known as the Federal District (Distrito Federal), a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states in particular. Instead, it belongs to the federation."  I wrote a little yesterday about the city ("Mexico City is a bustling, busy, dirty city, either the third or sixth largest urban agglomeration in the world, after Tokyo, Delhi, Sao Paolo, and Mumbai", but wanted to say a bit more.

The postcard above shows the National Palace and the Plaza de la Constitucion, often referred to as "Zocalo", which has come to mean center of town in many cities in Mexico. 

It is from the balcony above the central doorway (directly below large Mexican flat in the postcard) that the president of Mexico leads "el grito".  Wikipedia describes it well:  Above the central doorway, facing the Zócalo, is the main balcony where just before 11pm on September 15, the president of Mexico gives the Grito de Dolores, in a ceremony to commemorate Mexican Independence.   What Wikipedia doesn't say is that "el grito" is made up of the president yelling "Viva", and the throngs of people (the Zocalo is filled to capacity, with up to half a million people attending) responding "Mexico".  The Taco Bell commercials featuring the chihuahua from several years ago had a spot that had the chihuahua leading "el grito".  It was not received particularly well by Mexican-Americans.  It is also commonly thought in the US that Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is Mexican indendence day, when in fact it is September 15.  Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican' army's  victory over the French in 1862.

Another interesting bit of information about the National Palace is that the site has been "a palace for the ruling class of Mexico since the Aztec empire, and much of the current palace's building materials are from the original one that belonged to Moctezuma II.   According to legend, the gods had advised the Aztecs that the place where they should establish their city was to be identified when they saw an eagle, perched on a prickly pear tree, devouring a serpent. They saw this mythical eagle on a marshy lake that is now the zócalo or main plaza in Mexico City.

Teotihuacan, Mexico

Teotihuacan, in the state of Mexico in the country of Mexico, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the most visited places in all of Mexico.  My family and I spent Good Friday here in 1998.

We had arrived in Mexico City the night before, on our way to a spring vacation in the Yucatan.  Mexico City is a bustling, busy, dirty city, either the third or sixth largest urban agglomeration in the world, after Tokyo, Delhi, Sao Paolo, and Mumbai, and when we arrived in the late afternoon it was packed with cars and people.  However, when we awoke Friday morning, everything felt eerily quiet. We looked out the hotel room window and saw a city that was almost completely empty - of people, of cars, of busses, everything.  It was unbelievable.  Who would think a city could shut down and all the people disappear overnight like that? But of course!  Good Friday in a predominantly Catholic Country. [Side note:  Speaking of Good Friday in a predominantly Catholic country, I read in the paper today that this coming Good Friday (next Friday), the pubs in Ireland will be open for the first time ever on a Good Friday, due to a giant rugby tournament, and the influx of thousands of thirsty rugby players and fans.  This struck me as being pretty funny.]

Sometimes you just get lucky.  We hired a driver to take us out to Teotihuacan, and when we arrived, saw throngs of people climbing the stairs of the Pyramid of the Sun.  We joined in, happening to reach the top of the pyramid at high noon.  There must have been a hundred people or more on top of the pyramid (it's really big), and every one of them had their hands raised over their heads and their faces turned to the sun, paying homage on Good Friday, I suppose.  "When in Rome," as they say, so the kids and I joined  in.  It felt tribal and spiritual and mystical, all at once, and we were a bit giddy afterwards.

If you get a chance, click on the link to the wiki on Teotihuacan.  The site is huge, with two pyramids (besides the Pyramid of the Sun, seen in the postcard on the left, is the Pyramid of the Moon, which can be seen in the far distance on postcards on the right) and a main boulevard called "Avenue of the Dead".  There's lot that isn't known about the place including who the people were who lived here, in a city estimated to have a population of up to 250,000 inhabitants at its peak.

Finally, it's Postcard Friendship Friday, with multiple postcard bloggers participating.  Check it out!

Museo de Antropologia, Mexico City

Have you ever been to the Museo de Antropologia in Mexico City?  It is an incredible place.  Here are two postcards  sent from there, one sent from the first time I was in Mexico City and just beginning my travels through Latin America, and the other sent when I took my kids to Mexico City 20 years later.

The first postcard reminded me that when I left to travel in Latin America, my family put up a large map of Latin American in the breakfast room.  When they received a postcard from me, they would put pins in every place I mentioned on the postcard, thus the listing:  Puebla, Cholula, Merida, Cuernavaca, Uxmal.  Through these pins, they were able to track my travels.

The second postcard was from a trip to Mexico with the kids.  Even though we were on our way to Akumal, on the beach in the Yucatan, I wanted them to know that Mexico isn't just beaches.  I think they got the message.

Mexico

Long day, so just two different types of postcards from Mexico.  I like how this type of postcard looks, with the large white border, but then end up thinking the picture is too small.  What do you think?

Guanajuato, Guanajuato

Guanajuato is one of those names that just rolls through one's mouth - it's fun to say out loud.  Stop for a minute and try it:  "Guan" (pronounced like the bird droppings, "guano", but with a little softer "g" and a little more fricative), "a" (short "a", not long "a"), "juato" (pronounced like "water", but with an "o" not an "er" at the end).  Guanajuato!  It's Guanajuato, Guanajuato, because it's both the name of a city and the name of a state in Mexico.

At one point, I had to learn the capitals of all the states in Mexico.  Guanajuato, Guanajuato was one of the easier ones to remember.

These postcards were sent to me by a boyfriend in college who was studying Spanish in Mexico for a few weeks one summer.  They show the accidental mummies of Guanajuato.  The message on the back of the postcard on the left is pretty funny: 

"I thought you would like to see the woman I've been dating down here in Mexico.  As you can tell, she is on a rather drastic crash diet; this is the reason why her mouth is open, she is terribly hungry."

In any case, the mummies are called "accidental" because they were not deliberately mummified - it was simply a combination of the altitude and the lack of humidity that transformed these bodies. 

The mummies are in a museum called (not surprisingly) "Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato".  There is traveling exhibition of 100 of these mummies on tour in the US right now.

Besides the mummies, Guanajuato is the home state of Diego Rivera (artist) and Vicente Fox (former president of Mexico).  Guanajuato, the city, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza is in the state of Yucatan, in Mexico. It is listed as one of the new seven wonders of the world.  1500 years old, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the most famous of all the Mayan ruins.

The postcard above shows El Castillo ("The Castle"), the iconic image of Chichen Itza. However, the ruins are also known for the famous ball court (if you lost the game, you lost your life) and the Cenote Sagrado, where archaelogists have discovered bones that bear the tell tale signs of human sacrifice.  (Remember the movie "Apocalypto"?)

I visited Chichen Itza in the late 70s. We stayed in the one hotel nearby, which not only wasn't that near but also promised a pool which turned out to be filled with slimy green water.  However, there weren't tons of visitors if you got there before any tour busses arrived and we were able to climb up and down El Castillo.  I remember that those stairs were pretty steep,  and in 2006 a tourist feel down them and died.  For that reason as well as the impact of being loved to death (too many people), these days visitors are permitted to wander the grounds only.

Saturday was the Vernal Equinox, and on that day in the late afternoon, the shadow of the sun creates the image of a giant serpent moving down the steps of El Castillo (there are serpent heads on either sides of the stairs at the bottom of the structure).  Thousands of people gather to see this phenomenon.  Note the difference in numbers of people in the postcard below:

Elton John is peforming at Chichen Itza on April 3 this year.  It will be the third concert by a global mega star at the ruins, and is somewhat controversial.  The concert is sold out and I imagine the crowds will be as bad, if not worse, than those in the postcard above.

Manzanillo, Mexico

My friend just came back from Mexico and brought me this postcard from Manzanillo.  I haven't been to Manzanillo, but it's just 60 kilometers south of Barra de Navidad, where I  have been.  I took a bus there from Puerto Vallarta, and afterwards, a bus to Guadalajara to see the Orozco murals in the government palace.

I think I'll do a few days of Mexico postcards. I have a lot of them, having traveled there many times and to many parts.  The next couple of weeks will be pretty busy, with both working and getting ready to leave for Spain and Morocco, and I don't want to have to think too hard about what postcards to post!

More Photos by Roberto Lopez Diaz

Two more photographs by Roberto Lopez Diaz, one of the "Ferrocarril Chihuahua Al Pacifico" and one of Basaseachic Falls.

Ferrocarril means "railroad" for you non-Spanish speakers, and this train route is considered by some to be the most beautiful ride on the North American Continent.  "The tracks pass over 37 bridges and through 86 tunnels" and cross the continental divide, traversing Copper Canyon along the way. 

Cascada de Basaseachic ("Basaseachic Falls") is in Copper Canyon and the second highest waterfall in Mexico, after Cascada de Piedra Volada ("Flying Rock Falls").  Interestingly, Flying Rock Falls are known to flow only during the rainy season, which may explain why Basaseachic Falls was considered the highest falls in Mexico until 1994.

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Clockwise, from the upper left:  the post office and downtown view, the train station and the Hotel Rio Bravo, the Cruz Blanca "cerveceria" (I know you all know what that means even if you don't speak Spanish), and the race track, from a series of photographs by Roberto Lopez Diaz of Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico probably from late 1950s/early 1960s. 

If you search Ciudad Juarez now, it is defined as both one of the fastest growing cities in the world and "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones."  These postcards reflect a more innocent time.

Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico

One of my favorite places on the planet - Akumal. Just the sound of the name relaxes me like aromatherapy does for others.

I've been visiting here since about 1985, and have probably been 10 or 15 times. The first time, we went for Thanksgiving. There were eight or nine of us, in two casitas. No phones anywhere in the little town, just a restaurant, the Cho-mak Supermercado, two dives shops and a small gift store. A local Mayan woman sold stacks of tortillas out of the front room of her home, but you had to bring something to carry them away in. Heaven.

Over the years, the entire coast from Cancun to Akumal (about 100 km) developed rapidly. Each time we returned, there were more resorts lining the coast, Playa del Carmen (half way point) had grown another X thousand people, and the highway went farther before it became two-lane. Akumal added a couple of hotels, a few more restaurants, and phones (at least on premise, if not in the casitas). But it's still a magical place. There's no night life, everything pretty much closes down by 9 or so, and the snorkeling/diving is spectacular.

The last time I visited, it was to participate in a Day of the Dead celebration for my friend's grandmother. Her ashes were brought into the country in a dive bag (they do sort of look like sand), and we prepared to distribute them in the bay. We created an altar, with some of her favorite things (chocolate and tequila), hired a local couple to prepare a fish feast for us, and later in the evening, we followed a Dutchman we had met who led us to the edge of the bay while he solemnly beat on a very large, empty Sparklets-type water container. Not a bad send off.

Another time there, we barely left the premises for almost two weeks. We dove twice a day, walked the beach at sunrise every morning, and read like crazy. Re-entry was extremely difficult that year.

I hope to return soon. http://www.locogringo.com/akumal/