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Latin America - part I

Mexico city, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque, Mayan Riviera

Hector Yague
2005-10-11 10:17:44

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or Haiti than to its latin neighbors as England landed its colonial grip here deeper than their Spanish counterparts. In fact, Belize's coasts used to be the head quarters for English buccaneers on their rapist assaults onto the gold-loaded Spanish ships on their voyage back to Spain. Travelers to current Belize can also notice another side of Belizean history, the African natives slavery trade, as a huge percentage of Belize citizens are black. And, needless to say, they speak a broken dialect of English of which I could understand literally nothing. Unfortunately, poverty has always stricken Belize hard and the bleeding economical and development gap between Mexico and Belize is disheartening. No wonder many of them emigrate in droves to the USA.

There in San Ignacio I had a very interesting evening with John, owner of the small-but-neat J&R's guesthouse where I slept overnight, a 60-something y/o affable local man who took me out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant (many Chinese immigrants here, go figure) and we stood up till the wee hours talking about life in Belize and about his seven sons and daughters gone to the USA in hopes of a better situation. What a nice man he turned out to be.

And that's it. I am sadly aware that I have missed out a big deal of what this enormous and exciting country of Mexico has to offer, but I am now in the final sprint of my journey around the world so I am sort of pushed both time and money wise. Mexico in itself could easily eat up at least two months of any backpacker's time, and I just cannot afford that much given the circumstances. So...

The day after I entered Guatemala early in the morning on my way to Tikal, capital of the Mayan empire for many centuries.

Country's high-light!

Palenque: mysterious forgotten Mayan ruins in the heart of the rainforest with the monkeys howling about. Can't get much better!

Country's thumbs up!

* San Cristobal de las Casas with its exquisite colonialist architecture and super laid back atmosphere is a cool town to let your mind slip away and relax for few days

* The whole Maya Trail with its multitude of sites of explore

* Mexican cuisine is very tasty, and I mean the real mexican thing, not the burrito cliche nonsense we get back home

* El Canon del Sumidero with its kilometer-high cliffs, near San Cristobal, is worth it if you are in the region

* Mexican populist culture, lived in the streets, around a taco-serving stall and listening to folklore music drinking a Corona beer. Mexicans are pretty laid back and stress-free.

* Plenty of backpackers here, specially Americans, so it's easy to make a friend or two on the road.

Country's thumbs down!

* I am still undecided about the Mayan Riviera: beautiful and neat but characterless and all around cheesy.

* The price of long distance buses is outrageous for Mexican standards and a lump in an otherwise cheap country to travel in.