The Vantastic Adventure: January 2007

So, after booking it through Mexico we've decided to limit our trip to Mexico and Central America. We had no idea how huge Mexico really was AND this way we can actually stop to smell the coconuts along the way.

Since we left you last we've passed through Mexican colonial towns, Mayan ruins, crazy road blocks, and Belizian boarders.

After spending New Year's in Puerto Escondido we headed further south and inland to check out some Mayan ruins. Along the way we stopped in a beautiful colonial town called San Cristobal de Las Casas. The place was nestled high in the mountains (about 8000 ft) which gave us a nice break from the heat of the coast. We actually busted out our jeans and long sleeve shirts. San Cristobal was an enchanting town with great street markets, beautiful churches, cobblestone roads, and a good cup of cafe con leche.

This mountainous area is filled with indiginous people descendant from the Mayans. This gave the entire area a different feel than the rest of Mexico. It seemed that the people lived a self sustaining lifestyle and were removed from the rest of Mexico. Upon doing a bit of reading we found out that many of these people a part of a leftist group called the Zapatistas. Apparantly, the indiginous groups are among the poorest in Mexico and the Zapatista party is looking to reform political policies for Mexico's indiginous and lower socioeconomic class.

These people also had an unusual approach to sales and marketing. Brandon and I were a bit shocked when we ran accross this style for the first time. Many people had mentioned to us that it's usually a bad idea to stop in the inland hills of Mexico because of the chance of a bandito encounter. These banditos have a tendency to lighten your load.

Well, back to the marketing scheme...we were winding our way through the mountains when, suddenly, we see this little girl (no older than 5 years old) pulling a rope up over the highway to stop the car. We were both a bit puzzled when we saw the car in front of us stop. Was this a toll? Then we realized 5 years old was a bit young for a government job...even in Mexico. It's not a great feeling to have a sudden road block in front of you in the middle of nowhere. Therefore, we pushed through AND, luckily, the girl let go of the rope. As we drove by she was yelling at us to give her 10 pesos. Had we broken a law?

Not 1 km down the road, we encounter another group of kids pulling the same stunt. This time, they were actually trying to sell various items. Unforntunately, our horn had taken a digger in the beginning of our trip and we couldn't honk to get them out of the road. Yet again, we kept driving and the kids dropped the rope at the very last second. The second run-in with this young entrepenurial style still had us a bit rattled. Were we breaking a law by nearly running over these kids? Were we avoiding some kind of required tarrif?

Over the next 20 km, we became more accustomed to this indiginous form of capitalism aka forcing people to stop and buy their product. There we probably 15 different groups of kids with ropes...some even on blind, downhill corners (brave little bastards).

After making it through the gauntlet, we descended into the jungle and a Mayan city called Palenque. At one point, this city was the most powerful of the Mayan empire. We found that it was relatively well preserved and restored. There were huge, expansive structures stretching over a large portion of the jungle. We weren't the only ones who found this place interesting...turns out, Palenque is one of the largest tourist draws for the state of Chiapas AND Mexicans were still vacationing for the holidays. Needless to say, the place was packed! Luckily, we had stopped at a different site called Tonina the day before and had an entire ruined city to ourselves. We'll post the pictures when we get to a faster computer.

From the Mayan ruins we headed across the boarder to Belize. So far, it's been a really nice change of pace. The people here are genuinely ultra friendly, the vibe is laid back, the rum is good (and cheap), it really feels like the carribean...wait, it IS the carribean!

Right now we're in a town called Corozal, just south of the Mexican boarder. In a minute we're going to head down to the airport in Belize City to pick up Brandon's brother, Jason. He's going to join us out on the Cayes (islands) for a couple weeks to do some killer diving. They have a spot here called the Blue Hole...about 400 ft deep by 1000 ft wide. This is supposed to be some of the best diving in the world...too bad our camera isn't water proof. After that, we're planning on checking out the south of Belize and some more Mayan sites.

Internet isn't cheap out on the Cayes so we probably won't be posting for a week or two...don't be alarmed (Moms). Thanks for all the comments...it's great to hear you guys are enjoying our blog!