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Mexit 2.0

After 3 years, a return to one of Latin America's most diverse and fascinating countries. Czytaj więcej
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    6 lutego 2023
    BlogarithmsMexit 2.0Podróżnik
    1

    Mexit 2.0

    6 lutego 2023, Meksyk ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Almost exactly three years since my last visit to Mexico, I'm back in this fabulous country. So much has changed; during that 2020 trip, there were warnings of the impending pandemic but few people seemed to realise how much the world would change. In 2023, it's like looking across a divide, with social distancing, lockdowns and millions of casualties. But it's a pleasure to be back and with hopes of the world having learned from the experience.

    2023 is different in another way too, because large tracts of Mexico, especially in the north and on the Pacific coast, are now deemed unsafe for travellers. This includes some of the areas I visited in 2020, so I head in a different direction, south-east to the states of Puebla and Oaxaca.

    Here's to some of the people I encountered in 2020. I particularly like the image of the four men listening to the musicians (no. 3) because they're doing exactly what I would like to do on a Sunday afternoon. Most of the rest are carnival pictures while the final two are in Mexico City.     Czytaj więcej

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  • BlogarithmsMexit 2.0Podróżnik
    11

    Los Angeles, Mexico

    7 lutego 2023, Meksyk

    Arriving in Mexico City well into the evening, I stay at an airport hotel which while not luxurious, has the basics for a night's stay. No smile from the receptionist and the glass of her window could be bulletproof. With culture shock and jetlag, I'm reminded of the hotel in the film "The Beach" where the Leonardo di Caprio character spends his first few nights. In fairness, there's no nutcase Daffy type next door as in the film, but I'm glad to be on my way the next morning.

    There's a bus service from the airport to my destination, Puebla de los Angeles, taking about 3 hours. Sadly there are virtually no passenger railways in Mexico but the long-distance buses are punctual and comfortable, and are booked in advance---in this case, on line. A taxi ride from Puebla's bus station takes me to the city centre and a wonderful Spanish-style hotel that must have once been a merchant's mansion and is said to be 400 years old. The pictures in the drawing room hark back to more leisurely days than 2023.

    Puebla, with 3 million people, is Mexico's fourth largest city and is approached through the usual urban sprawl. Like Mexico City, it lies about 7,000 feet above sea level so while it's pleasantly warm in the daytime, the temperature drops to 5 or 6 Centigrade at night. I'm beginning to notice that while most of the people north and west of the capital are mainly European in origin, on this side there's a more indigenous mix which only gets stronger as I am to continue south-east. The country is gradually adjusting to living with, not dying with Covid and although the infection rate is no higher than that in the U.K., perhaps half the people wear masks outdoors and almost all of them inside.

     Puebla boasts an impressive historic heart. The brickwork, which is set in mosaic patterns, is distinctive to this part of the country. The Casa de Alfenique (named after a confection of cane sugar twisted into fanciful shapes) is an especially fine example. The shopping arcade is more 19th century.
    And Puebla reveals hidden treasures in its back streets. The John Lennon memorial celebrates his "Give Peace a Chance" ideal, which the couple on the bench seem to be enacting, while the pigeon and the frog have struck up an understanding. Traditional music can often be found in the central square (the Zocalo). Here, the military band strike up a brassy version of "Quizas" ("perhaps") which surfaced in Cuba in the 1940s, crossed into Mexico and then was translated into English for Doris Day. The seven-piece in the next image are playing "norteno" (northern-style) music,

    Finally, a day excursion to Cholula, a large town in its own right but is now virtually a suburb of Puebla. In the early days of the Spanish conquest, Cortes ordered the original temples to be demolished and replaced by churches. The great pyramid in the city centre was too massive to be totally destroyed and a church was built on the summit, which through the trees lends a rural feel to the town.     Czytaj więcej

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    Cactus forest

    10 lutego 2023, Meksyk ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Continuing south-east, I stop at Tehuacan, a city of a quarter of a million known for supplying much of Mexico's bottled water. It doesn't have many historic buildings but it's a good example of a working city that's almost tourist-free. I'm staying the wrong side of the tracks (used for freight only) but the hotel more or less lives up to its name. Certainly regarding the breakfast; for the "huevos enfrijoladas", the appetising dish of tortillas and beans is just the starter!

    So far, so usual. But Tehuacan lies on the edge of the Tehuacan-Cuicatlan biosphere reserve. This may seem a mouthful, but for me is compulsive because of the forests of huge cacti growing much further south of the better-known regions of Baja and Sonora. The hotel manageress explains how to get there by bus towards the village of Zapotitlan. It takes only half an hour and although it's a Saturday, I get the reserve nearly to myself. A third of the plant species are believed to be endemic and more than half of Mexico's cactus species appear here. Wow!     Czytaj więcej

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    Wahaca....

    12 lutego 2023, Meksyk

    ....as the London restaurant chain is spelt. I've travelled another two hours to Oaxaca---the proper spelling---a city of a over half a million and a fascinating cultural centre. Even the main bus station boasts a Gothic-style vaulting, harking back to when railway stations were compared to cathedrals. Oaxaca enjoys an excellent climate---at least in the dry season, which this is---rarely too hot by day or too cold by night. It's attracted numbers of expats, both snowbirds and digital nomads.

    My room with a view is an early morning shot of contrasting colours. It's said that wrought-iron balconies like this are custom-crafted and that no two are the same. The next image shows that it's only days away from St. Valentine's Day, as seen near one of the outdoor restaurants on the Zocalo (central plaza). The central streets of Oaxaca are rich in 17th and 18th century architecture, built in the local "cantera" stone, tinged greenish from volcanic ash. They're also rich in street art, much of which is painted but these seem to be fashioned from paper and stuck on to the building.

    One reason for my Oaxaca visit is to meet my friend Doree, whom I last saw in Brazil a few years ago and has now settled here. Her partner Enrique and she invite me to dinner at an upmarket restaurant where I'm introduced to tlayuda, a local dish with a large triangular base of fried tortilla filled with---more or less anything you like. The next morning she shows me round her local area, including an excellent bakery and the owner of a chocolate shop---chocolate of course having originated as a drink in ore-Columbian Mexico.

    The final image shows the small bus station where camionetas---minivans holding about 15 passengers---complement the first-class buses for shorter journeys outside the city.     Czytaj więcej

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    Peter, Paul and puppets

    14 lutego 2023, Meksyk ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    The last image on the previous page showed a small bus station for routes up country. Heading north-west, I take a camioneta, a 15-seater minivan, on a 2-hour ride to San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula, which I'll call Tepos for short. It's little more than a village but it hosts an enormous church, one of the "capillas abiertas" of the region. After the Spanish conquest there was a frenzy of conversion of the locals to Catholicism, which was hugely controversial because of the cruelty and coercion involved. What remain however are some extraordinary churches which if history can be put aside, are noteworthy for their architecture. Together with the open space in front (hence the "abierta" part), this example at Tepos---going back to at least the 17th century---could be big enough to accommodate the whole village. There's also a secret garden where one can enjoy shade from the fierce midday sun. The fourth image shows the church at Yanhuitlan, which I visited by taxi and whose vaulted ceiling shows its 16th century origins.

    The hotel where I'm staying in Tepos is very nice but not exactly quiet. The staff are putting up paper decorations, for it's not just St. Valentine's Day but the beginning of Carnival. The fireworks are the noisiest I have ever heard but before I get too annoyed, there's a brass band outside the patio and the roof terrace provides the perfect view of the proceedings. The next day they perform it all over again, so I can watch it at street level and admire the beautiful indigenous costumes of the region. How nice to witness some jollifications not listed in any known tourist guides.     Czytaj więcej

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    Oaxacarnaval

    16 lutego 2023, Meksyk ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    One of the many delights of travelling is finding small unexpected corners of a city where I'd thought every cobblestone had been unturned. Back in Oaxaca, I don't even have to leave my hotel to see this little shrine. Outside, street designers have turned electricity meters into works of art. And mornings in a large plaza known as El Llano are turned over to fitness sessions. Near there, a Sunday afternoon food stall shows a wonderful community spirit.

    By now Carnival is in full flow The processions are not always publicly announced but I can tell when one is on, from the thumping of the brass bands streets away. In Oaxaca, they're mostly made up of groups from the outlying towns and as always, the costumes are fantastic.

    There's time for day excursions to some of these towns, though more for their weekly markets than processions. The outdoor barbers work at Ocotlan on Fridays, while the lady serving food (mirrored by the wall painting) is at the huge Sunday market at Tlacolula. Coyotepec, a small town south of Oaxaca, is known for its shiny black pottery.     Czytaj więcej

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    Mexican wave

    22 lutego 2023, Meksyk ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Despite what the bus says, my final destination is the country's capital. It's a 7-hour trip from Oaxaca, with a short stop in the final hour. A comfortable ride but hell is standing in a queue for nearly an hour for a taxi at the bus station, next to a box of yapping chihuahuas. But eventually I'm comfortably settled in a large hotel in the Zona Rosa, one of the most upmarket regions of the capital.

    It doesn't take long to find little details of windows and signage to enhance my stay. Moving to the city's heart, I find a maze of streets only a few blocks from the Cathedral where local life bustles on oblivious of tourists. The nail parlours and the lady doing a "Mexican wave" do business in a square known as the "Plaza de Belleza" (square of beauty). Good food as well---eats, shoots and leaves, as they say.

    Back in the open air, in the popular Chapultepec park I see a novel form of karaoke. But just as in London, there are numerous unsung squares: the two men are taking a break from dog training, while the bandstand is an amazing neo-Moorish concoction in the La Ribera district (thanks to Doree for telling me about this). Lastly, there's a Sunday flea market which owes nothing to passing tourists. None of these are in the travel guide books---they are Second Division---but then nor are some of my favourite London places like Red Cross Gardens.

    And so with regret, the final day has come. Would I like to add more countries to my visit list, or be content returning to some of them? Mexico has an answer---being like 20 countries rolled into one, there's always more to discover and I wouldn't mind a future visit sooner than the 3 years since the previous one.     Czytaj więcej

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    27 lutego 2023
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