OK, this really is the last post about my recent holiday in Mexico, I promise! I made a short video with some of my highlights from the trip.
If you've been thinking about planning a vacation to Mexico, I'd highly recommend it as a holiday destination. You can read my overview of the trip here, and other Mexico blog posts here.
29 May 2015
26 May 2015
"I Want To Be Like the Others: Normal"
It's been ages since I've had the chance to go to the cinema and I know I have no chance of catching on up on this spring's new movie releases. However, I did manage to go and see Céline Sciamma's new film Bande de filles (Girlhood) yesterday afternoon, which is best described as Bande de filles as Mean Girls meets La haine with a generous helping of Boyhood. It's a brooding and often raw film, which follows 16-year-old Marieme (Karidja Touré), who lives in a Parisian suburb, as she tries to find happiness — and her true self.
As the film opens, we see Marieme celebrating with her teammates after a successful American football game. The music is upbeat, but Marieme seems sad, and as she goes home to care for her two younger sisters, there is an ominous note in the air. We soon learn that Marieme's mother works long hours to provide for her family and is rarely around. Meanwhile, her brother Djibril (Cyril Mendy) is occasionally protective, but more often aggressive and violent towards his sisters. Worse still, Marieme finds out that she won't be allowed to progress to the general lycée with her friends, as her grades aren't high enough; instead she will have to go to the vocational lycée, despite her attempts to persuade her teacher otherwise.
Marieme is initially wary when three girls — Lady (Assa Sylla), Adiatou (Lindsay Karamoh) and Fily (Mariétou Touré) — try to befriend her, but feeling vulnerable and trying to find somewhere she can fit in, she soon becomes the fourth member of their gang. They shop (and shoplift), they drink, smoke and dance in a hotel room funded by money stolen from their classmates, and they fight with girls from other gangs.
And Marieme starts to enjoy it all, even though her young teen sister Bébé (Simina Soumaré) is worried about the rapid changes in her sister, and Djibril is more concerned about the potential damage to Marieme's (and therefore his own) reputation, especially after she becomes closer to his friend Ismaēl (Idrissa Diabaté). The sadness and uncertainty in Marieme's eyes never fades and she begins to wonder whether her newly reclaimed life allows her to be any freer or happier than she was before, and begins to wrestle with the question of whether or not she wants to be une fille bien.
The film is told in segments, each of which ends with a fade-to-black while upbeat dance music plays in the background, followed by a time-jump and a further change in Marieme's appearance. First, her sporty clothes and braids are replaced by cooler, more trendy and feminine clothing as she spends more time with her new friends, but by the final act, she is back in her sweatpants. It isn't especially subtle, but it saves endless exposition and montages.
Sciamma's film is often uncomfortable to watch, but it is, by turns, honest and tender, and is anchored by Touré's excellent central performance as the troubled heroine. Touré's Marieme has a powerful inner strength that is often crippled by uncertainty and fear, and even as Marieme makes poor decisions, we can't help but empathise. The supporting cast is also strong, especially Sylla, playing a complex role.
As the film opens, we see Marieme celebrating with her teammates after a successful American football game. The music is upbeat, but Marieme seems sad, and as she goes home to care for her two younger sisters, there is an ominous note in the air. We soon learn that Marieme's mother works long hours to provide for her family and is rarely around. Meanwhile, her brother Djibril (Cyril Mendy) is occasionally protective, but more often aggressive and violent towards his sisters. Worse still, Marieme finds out that she won't be allowed to progress to the general lycée with her friends, as her grades aren't high enough; instead she will have to go to the vocational lycée, despite her attempts to persuade her teacher otherwise.
Marieme is initially wary when three girls — Lady (Assa Sylla), Adiatou (Lindsay Karamoh) and Fily (Mariétou Touré) — try to befriend her, but feeling vulnerable and trying to find somewhere she can fit in, she soon becomes the fourth member of their gang. They shop (and shoplift), they drink, smoke and dance in a hotel room funded by money stolen from their classmates, and they fight with girls from other gangs.
And Marieme starts to enjoy it all, even though her young teen sister Bébé (Simina Soumaré) is worried about the rapid changes in her sister, and Djibril is more concerned about the potential damage to Marieme's (and therefore his own) reputation, especially after she becomes closer to his friend Ismaēl (Idrissa Diabaté). The sadness and uncertainty in Marieme's eyes never fades and she begins to wonder whether her newly reclaimed life allows her to be any freer or happier than she was before, and begins to wrestle with the question of whether or not she wants to be une fille bien.
The film is told in segments, each of which ends with a fade-to-black while upbeat dance music plays in the background, followed by a time-jump and a further change in Marieme's appearance. First, her sporty clothes and braids are replaced by cooler, more trendy and feminine clothing as she spends more time with her new friends, but by the final act, she is back in her sweatpants. It isn't especially subtle, but it saves endless exposition and montages.
Sciamma's film is often uncomfortable to watch, but it is, by turns, honest and tender, and is anchored by Touré's excellent central performance as the troubled heroine. Touré's Marieme has a powerful inner strength that is often crippled by uncertainty and fear, and even as Marieme makes poor decisions, we can't help but empathise. The supporting cast is also strong, especially Sylla, playing a complex role.
22 May 2015
How To Spend Two Weeks in Mexico
Almost ten years ago, while travelling around California, I hopped on the trolley from San Diego to Tijuana and spent half a day in the border town. Since then, I have been wanting to return to see much, more more of Mexico. I picked up a copy of Lonely Planet Mexico soon after its release in September last year and dived in.
It is impossible to 'do' Mexico in a two-week holiday and it was really difficult to narrow down my itinerary when so many places sounded fascinating. I knew I wanted to stay for a few days in Mexico City (DF), a few days in Oaxaca and a few days on a beach, but beyond that, I couldn't bear to strike San Miguel de Allende, say, off my list. I was also waiting for the flights to go on sale, but they never did (NB it's much cheaper to fly to Cancún than Mexico City; I compromised by flying into the capital and out of Cancún).
21 May 2015
Mexico City Specialty Coffee Guide
When I was researching my trip to Mexico, I was pleased to find that Mexico City had plenty of the third-wave specialty coffee coffee bars I love so much. Mexico is a favourite coffee-bean region of mine — much of it is grown in Oaxaca and Guerrero, closer to the coast, but there are a lot of great varieties in DF (when I visited Cuba in 2005, much of the best coffee was exported, leaving only poorly-quality beans for the Cubans). I drew inspiration from a few sources, including Time Out Mexico's great coffee bar guide, the helpful folks at @CoffeeLoversDF and a little Googling. First, a vocab lesson (espresso drinks usually keep their Italian names):
Pourover — infusión or sometimes just dripper/Clever/V60/Chemex. Quite a few places offer these brew methods, but sometimes, when I asked, they 'weren't available'. Maybe there isn't much demand and only one or two baristas are trained to use them?
Aeropress — Aeropress
Siphon — sifón
French press — prensa francesa
Cold brew — extracción fría
Hand-brewed methods — métodos artesanales
I've organised the coffee bars highlighted below by neighbourhood; many are in Roma, which is where I was staying. There are a couple — notably, Café Passmar, which some say is the best coffee bar in DF — that were on my list but I didn't have time to visit on this trip. I don't think that an espresso, macchiato or pourover cost more than 50 pesos (about £2.10) in any of these places.
Roma
BUNA 42. I'll start with the café I visited the most, partly because of its proximity to my hotel and partly because it's a beautiful place with great coffee. BUNA 42 is part of the Café Rico group and its Calle Orizaba café is well-designed with its pops of mint green, Scandi-influenced furniture, power and wifi, cacti and shiny Modbar espresso machine.
They serve a couple of different espressos (when I was there, they had one Ethiopian and one Oaxacan; I tried the latter and it was smooth and rich). They also had three different pourover coffees available. Again, I tried a Oaxacan variety, which was very good. The cold brew was also rather nice — sometimes, cold brews can be a bit watery, but this was strong, flavoursome and refreshing. None of these costs more than 50 pesos (£2.10), and if that still doesn't give you enough choice, they do espresso tonics, affogatos and various mochas. Veggie tamales and pastries are also available.
Cardinal. A few blocks south of BUNA 42, on Calle Córdoba, is the lovely Cardinal. Like many of the Mexican coffee bars I visited, the décor was lovely, with pops of vibrant turquoise and random objets d'art, from vintage globes to dinosaurs.
They have a rather good métodos artesanales menu, offering Chemex, V60, Kalita, Aeropress and siphon brews. Sheltering from a rain storm, I perched at the window and enjoyed a delicious Guerrero coffee brewed in an Aeropress (30 pesos). The staff are friendly too, and food is also available.
Café Memorias de un Barista. When I arrived at this little café on a Saturday morning, I was surprised to find each of the small tables occupied by one person, none of whom were drinking coffee. It turned out that they were all taking part in one of the barista training courses the café organises. Memorias does very much feel like it's the living room of a particularly well-travelled but nostalgic master barista, and this is no bad thing.
I had an excellent Aeropress, but sadly, my coffee-making Spanish wasn't good enough at that point to pick up too many tips from the class!
Abarrotes Delirio. This café and deli was the reason that I knew Roma was the right DF neighbourhood to stay in: it was highlighted last year in a BuzzFeed post about the world's most beautiful cafés that also featured my photos of Revolver in Vancouver. The deli (abarrotes means 'grocery') is foodie heaven with its well-curated collection of goodies, and tempting breakfast and lunch dishes are served here too. The coffee menu has nice typography but is a little more basic — they stick to espresso-based drinks — but the macchiato I had was rather good, although it didn't look like much. The café's monochrome pavement tables are also a great spot for people-watching.
Espressarte. I didn't make it here, but they serve some nice-looking Chemex and V60 brews and have their own micro-roastery.
Eje 2 Poniente Monterrey 151 bet Zacatecas & Guanajuato. Website. Twitter.
Coyoacán
Café Avellaneda. After your inevitable visit to Frida Kahlo's house in the relaxed neighbourhood of Coyoacán (you did go there early, right?), you may well be wanting coffee. If so, head to Café Avellaneda, a block or so southeast of Plaza Hidalgo. Calle Higuera is a pretty, quiet street and you will notice Avellaneda's turquoise awning. It's tiny inside, but they serve three different hand-brewed coffee varieties, each of which is served via a recommended brewing method. They also provide a huge amount of detail about each coffee.
I tried a La Candelaría coffee from Oaxaca, which was served with a Clever dripper and had white chocolate and orange notes. Even on a super-hot day, it was refreshing and very flavoursome. The price was, I think, 30-35 pesos. Avellaneda roasts its own coffee and they sell bags of their beans. Luckily, they had bags that were small enough for even my small suitcase, and I took home a 175g bag of the La Candelaría (about 70 pesos).
Café Negro. On the other side of Coyoacán's Plaza Hidalgo, on Calle Centenario, is Café Negro, the other coffee bar I visited in this neighbourhood. The Macs were out in full force at this minimalist café (OK, there were only two other customers, but they both had MacBook Airs!), and I was pleased to find that pourovers were on the menu. My coffee was served in a tall carafe and glass, which looked pretty but took a long time to cool. It did taste very good, although I did rush it a little in my haste to finish exploring the area. The staff were friendly and unlike Avellaneda, there is a little elbow room, which is good if you are trying to multi-task.
Elsewhere in Mexico
I had less time for coffee scouting outside DF and — on the Yucatán, at least — Starbucks and Café Italia seemed to be the main options. There are a few nice coffee bars in Oaxaca, though, including Cofetarika, which I didn't find in time, and Café Brújula.
Pourover — infusión or sometimes just dripper/Clever/V60/Chemex. Quite a few places offer these brew methods, but sometimes, when I asked, they 'weren't available'. Maybe there isn't much demand and only one or two baristas are trained to use them?
Aeropress — Aeropress
Siphon — sifón
French press — prensa francesa
Cold brew — extracción fría
Hand-brewed methods — métodos artesanales
I've organised the coffee bars highlighted below by neighbourhood; many are in Roma, which is where I was staying. There are a couple — notably, Café Passmar, which some say is the best coffee bar in DF — that were on my list but I didn't have time to visit on this trip. I don't think that an espresso, macchiato or pourover cost more than 50 pesos (about £2.10) in any of these places.
Roma
BUNA 42. I'll start with the café I visited the most, partly because of its proximity to my hotel and partly because it's a beautiful place with great coffee. BUNA 42 is part of the Café Rico group and its Calle Orizaba café is well-designed with its pops of mint green, Scandi-influenced furniture, power and wifi, cacti and shiny Modbar espresso machine.
They serve a couple of different espressos (when I was there, they had one Ethiopian and one Oaxacan; I tried the latter and it was smooth and rich). They also had three different pourover coffees available. Again, I tried a Oaxacan variety, which was very good. The cold brew was also rather nice — sometimes, cold brews can be a bit watery, but this was strong, flavoursome and refreshing. None of these costs more than 50 pesos (£2.10), and if that still doesn't give you enough choice, they do espresso tonics, affogatos and various mochas. Veggie tamales and pastries are also available.
Cardinal. A few blocks south of BUNA 42, on Calle Córdoba, is the lovely Cardinal. Like many of the Mexican coffee bars I visited, the décor was lovely, with pops of vibrant turquoise and random objets d'art, from vintage globes to dinosaurs.
They have a rather good métodos artesanales menu, offering Chemex, V60, Kalita, Aeropress and siphon brews. Sheltering from a rain storm, I perched at the window and enjoyed a delicious Guerrero coffee brewed in an Aeropress (30 pesos). The staff are friendly too, and food is also available.
Café Memorias de un Barista. When I arrived at this little café on a Saturday morning, I was surprised to find each of the small tables occupied by one person, none of whom were drinking coffee. It turned out that they were all taking part in one of the barista training courses the café organises. Memorias does very much feel like it's the living room of a particularly well-travelled but nostalgic master barista, and this is no bad thing.
I had an excellent Aeropress, but sadly, my coffee-making Spanish wasn't good enough at that point to pick up too many tips from the class!
Abarrotes Delirio. This café and deli was the reason that I knew Roma was the right DF neighbourhood to stay in: it was highlighted last year in a BuzzFeed post about the world's most beautiful cafés that also featured my photos of Revolver in Vancouver. The deli (abarrotes means 'grocery') is foodie heaven with its well-curated collection of goodies, and tempting breakfast and lunch dishes are served here too. The coffee menu has nice typography but is a little more basic — they stick to espresso-based drinks — but the macchiato I had was rather good, although it didn't look like much. The café's monochrome pavement tables are also a great spot for people-watching.
Espressarte. I didn't make it here, but they serve some nice-looking Chemex and V60 brews and have their own micro-roastery.
Eje 2 Poniente Monterrey 151 bet Zacatecas & Guanajuato. Website. Twitter.
Coyoacán
Café Avellaneda. After your inevitable visit to Frida Kahlo's house in the relaxed neighbourhood of Coyoacán (you did go there early, right?), you may well be wanting coffee. If so, head to Café Avellaneda, a block or so southeast of Plaza Hidalgo. Calle Higuera is a pretty, quiet street and you will notice Avellaneda's turquoise awning. It's tiny inside, but they serve three different hand-brewed coffee varieties, each of which is served via a recommended brewing method. They also provide a huge amount of detail about each coffee.
I tried a La Candelaría coffee from Oaxaca, which was served with a Clever dripper and had white chocolate and orange notes. Even on a super-hot day, it was refreshing and very flavoursome. The price was, I think, 30-35 pesos. Avellaneda roasts its own coffee and they sell bags of their beans. Luckily, they had bags that were small enough for even my small suitcase, and I took home a 175g bag of the La Candelaría (about 70 pesos).
Café Negro. On the other side of Coyoacán's Plaza Hidalgo, on Calle Centenario, is Café Negro, the other coffee bar I visited in this neighbourhood. The Macs were out in full force at this minimalist café (OK, there were only two other customers, but they both had MacBook Airs!), and I was pleased to find that pourovers were on the menu. My coffee was served in a tall carafe and glass, which looked pretty but took a long time to cool. It did taste very good, although I did rush it a little in my haste to finish exploring the area. The staff were friendly and unlike Avellaneda, there is a little elbow room, which is good if you are trying to multi-task.
La Condesa
Rococó Café Espresso. I didn't visit, but it's well reviewed, so worth checking out if you're in La Condesa.
Calle Juan de la Barrera 49 nr Parque España, La Condesa. Facebook. Twitter.
Del Valle
Café Passmar. Many people regard this as one of the top coffee bars in DF, but unfortunately, its location south of Roma but north of Coyoacán meant that I didn't have time to make the detour on this trip. Del Valle is just a quick metro journey from the city centre or Coyoacán, though.
Mercado Lázaro Cárdenas, Adolfo Prieto S/N, Local 237, Del Valle. Website.
Alma Negra. Another nice-looking café in Del Valle.
Avenida Universidad 420 nr Eje 5 Sur Eugenia, Del Valle. Website. Twitter.
Rococó Café Espresso. I didn't visit, but it's well reviewed, so worth checking out if you're in La Condesa.
Calle Juan de la Barrera 49 nr Parque España, La Condesa. Facebook. Twitter.
Del Valle
Café Passmar. Many people regard this as one of the top coffee bars in DF, but unfortunately, its location south of Roma but north of Coyoacán meant that I didn't have time to make the detour on this trip. Del Valle is just a quick metro journey from the city centre or Coyoacán, though.
Mercado Lázaro Cárdenas, Adolfo Prieto S/N, Local 237, Del Valle. Website.
Alma Negra. Another nice-looking café in Del Valle.
Avenida Universidad 420 nr Eje 5 Sur Eugenia, Del Valle. Website. Twitter.
Elsewhere in Mexico
I had less time for coffee scouting outside DF and — on the Yucatán, at least — Starbucks and Café Italia seemed to be the main options. There are a few nice coffee bars in Oaxaca, though, including Cofetarika, which I didn't find in time, and Café Brújula.
18 May 2015
Isla Mujeres: Bliss on the Beach
When I was planning my trip to Mexico, I knew that I wanted to end it with a few days on an amazing beach. A beach where there was little to do other than swim, sunbathe, eat and swim again. I also knew that after Cancún's zona hotelera wasn't for me after being disappointed by the blandness of the zona hotelera in Varadero, Cuba, almost exactly 10 years ago. I considered Playa Del Carmen, but ultimately, Isla Mujeres — a four-mile island about eight miles off the coast of Cancún won out. In particular, you couldn't really argue with Lonely Planet's description of the island's Playa Norte as a place "you will never want to leave".
Isla, as the locals call it, didn't exactly feel like paradise when I hopped off the ferry on Wednesday night after a long, hot day travelling from Mérida and Chichén Itzá. It was still warm but dark and I was almost run over by a convoy of tourist-driven golf buggies. Then, when I got to the hotel and I realised that "terrace" and "balcony" are not the same and that my room was literally adjacent to the lobby, I was disappointed again.
However, mañana came and everything was OK. My terrace was in fact quite lovely with a hammock and a view of the hotel's near-infinity pool and of a pretty, rugged cove adjacent to Playa Pancholo. Playa Norte, the fêted beach with "sea the colour of blue raspberry syrup" and "crushed coral sand", was only a five-minute walk, so after breakfast, I walked over there pronto, and then didn't really leave for the next two-and-a-half days. It was quite fun watching new arrivals walk through from the road and gawp at the perfection of the beach.
Playa Norte stretches along the northern edge of the island and you can walk the length of it in ten minutes or so. I recommend the north-eastern end, which is less developed. Don't get me wrong: this isn't the kind of place where you will be able to find your own private slice of paradise, but there are fewer hotels and beach club. I walked in through the entrance at the end of Calle Carlos Lopez, and although I experimented with a few other spots, this was my favourite. There aren't too many sunbeds, there isn't loud music and you can leave your towel and your things under the shade of the palm trees while you swim. On the northeast corner of Playa Norte, near the Mia Reef hotel, there's a small lagoon that is great for snorkelling at high tide.
The water is calm, clear, warm and a perfect turquoise. You do have to wade out for a few minutes before it gets thigh-deep (some of the more south-westerly spots get deeper more quickly), but then you can just float, splash, swim and relax. Another sign that it's the best part of Playa Norte is that around lunchtime, a lot of the big speedboats start to arrive and park offshore, spilling people and tequila into the sea (see the difference in the next two photos). If you get there early, though, you won't have to share the water or the view with many other people for a few hours at least.
I had hoped to be able to scuba dive while on Isla, but my ears have been playing up so I stuck to snorkelling. I went on a snorkelling tour to two reef sites with Sea Hawk Divers, and they were great. The tour cost about US$40 and there were only two of us, which meant our friendly, marine biologist guide was able to point out dozens and dozens of different types of fish.
For a Brit who is used to dull, cloudy waters, the Caribbean is always such a treat. The sergeant major fish (grey and yellow with the appropriate number of black stripes) weren't camera shy at all. "Instagram me," they implored. So I did.
We also saw a couple of yellow stingray (can you spot one in the Magic Eye style photo?), a squid and a young hawksbill turtle. I had hoped to see more turtles but to go to the mating sites, you have to dive rather than snorkel. My photo was a little blurry as I was too busy taking a video! I haven't taken underwater photos before and I hadn't appreciated how tricky it was — you lose a lot of colour, for one thing, and the current was so strong that with me drifting and the fish swimming away, the photos didn't come out as well as I had hoped. There are cheaper snorkelling trips — I saw one for US$30 dollars for four hours — but I got the sense that there would be big groups of snorkellers scaring the fish, not enough guides to point out where to look and not enough time spent in the water. Maybe not, but I was very happy with my Sea Hawk tour.
After the amazing food — and value-for-money — in Oaxaca, the Yucatán was slightly disappointing, food-wise. On Isla, there are some (relatively) expensive restaurants by the beach, and then a whole host of touristy restaurants and shops on a street that should be called Calle Spring Break (it's really Calle Hidalgo). Instead, I stuck to street food, enjoying some delicious fish tacos on my first night from a vendor on the square at the southeastern end of Avenida Guerrero. There are a few cantinas outside the market, which is on Guerrero near Matamoros, which are open until the afternoon. I went to a couple of different ones and had some great fish tacos and sopa de lima. None of these meals cost more than 70 pesos (£3) and they were very tasty.
My favourite meal on the island was at Ruben's, a small restaurant on — you guessed it — Guerrero near Lopez Mateos. I had walked past a few times during the day and thought it looked nice, but I also spotted it ranked highly on TripAdvisor, so I decided to go on Friday night for my last Mexican supper. For 95 pesos (just over £4), you can have soup, a salad, and one of a selection of main dishes. I had the grilled fish with garlic (served with rice, refried beans and tortillas) and it was excellent. The staff are very friendly and in the evening, it was really lovely to sit out on the small patio, surrounded by colourful fairy lights, listening to a live musician (a wee bit of electric guitar) and being eyed up by the cute resident dog. A much more pleasant experience than the numerous hamburgesa, burrito and pizza joints on Hidalgo.
I was very sad to have to leave Isla Mujeres — and Mexico. The island and the beach are beautiful. For me three days was about the right amount of time to spend here — with another day, I could have done another snorkel tour or visited the turtles in the south of the island, but more than that and I would probably have started craving a little more culture and activity. Adiós, México; hasta luego!
Isla, as the locals call it, didn't exactly feel like paradise when I hopped off the ferry on Wednesday night after a long, hot day travelling from Mérida and Chichén Itzá. It was still warm but dark and I was almost run over by a convoy of tourist-driven golf buggies. Then, when I got to the hotel and I realised that "terrace" and "balcony" are not the same and that my room was literally adjacent to the lobby, I was disappointed again.
However, mañana came and everything was OK. My terrace was in fact quite lovely with a hammock and a view of the hotel's near-infinity pool and of a pretty, rugged cove adjacent to Playa Pancholo. Playa Norte, the fêted beach with "sea the colour of blue raspberry syrup" and "crushed coral sand", was only a five-minute walk, so after breakfast, I walked over there pronto, and then didn't really leave for the next two-and-a-half days. It was quite fun watching new arrivals walk through from the road and gawp at the perfection of the beach.
Playa Norte stretches along the northern edge of the island and you can walk the length of it in ten minutes or so. I recommend the north-eastern end, which is less developed. Don't get me wrong: this isn't the kind of place where you will be able to find your own private slice of paradise, but there are fewer hotels and beach club. I walked in through the entrance at the end of Calle Carlos Lopez, and although I experimented with a few other spots, this was my favourite. There aren't too many sunbeds, there isn't loud music and you can leave your towel and your things under the shade of the palm trees while you swim. On the northeast corner of Playa Norte, near the Mia Reef hotel, there's a small lagoon that is great for snorkelling at high tide.
The water is calm, clear, warm and a perfect turquoise. You do have to wade out for a few minutes before it gets thigh-deep (some of the more south-westerly spots get deeper more quickly), but then you can just float, splash, swim and relax. Another sign that it's the best part of Playa Norte is that around lunchtime, a lot of the big speedboats start to arrive and park offshore, spilling people and tequila into the sea (see the difference in the next two photos). If you get there early, though, you won't have to share the water or the view with many other people for a few hours at least.
I had hoped to be able to scuba dive while on Isla, but my ears have been playing up so I stuck to snorkelling. I went on a snorkelling tour to two reef sites with Sea Hawk Divers, and they were great. The tour cost about US$40 and there were only two of us, which meant our friendly, marine biologist guide was able to point out dozens and dozens of different types of fish.
For a Brit who is used to dull, cloudy waters, the Caribbean is always such a treat. The sergeant major fish (grey and yellow with the appropriate number of black stripes) weren't camera shy at all. "Instagram me," they implored. So I did.
We also saw a couple of yellow stingray (can you spot one in the Magic Eye style photo?), a squid and a young hawksbill turtle. I had hoped to see more turtles but to go to the mating sites, you have to dive rather than snorkel. My photo was a little blurry as I was too busy taking a video! I haven't taken underwater photos before and I hadn't appreciated how tricky it was — you lose a lot of colour, for one thing, and the current was so strong that with me drifting and the fish swimming away, the photos didn't come out as well as I had hoped. There are cheaper snorkelling trips — I saw one for US$30 dollars for four hours — but I got the sense that there would be big groups of snorkellers scaring the fish, not enough guides to point out where to look and not enough time spent in the water. Maybe not, but I was very happy with my Sea Hawk tour.
After the amazing food — and value-for-money — in Oaxaca, the Yucatán was slightly disappointing, food-wise. On Isla, there are some (relatively) expensive restaurants by the beach, and then a whole host of touristy restaurants and shops on a street that should be called Calle Spring Break (it's really Calle Hidalgo). Instead, I stuck to street food, enjoying some delicious fish tacos on my first night from a vendor on the square at the southeastern end of Avenida Guerrero. There are a few cantinas outside the market, which is on Guerrero near Matamoros, which are open until the afternoon. I went to a couple of different ones and had some great fish tacos and sopa de lima. None of these meals cost more than 70 pesos (£3) and they were very tasty.
My favourite meal on the island was at Ruben's, a small restaurant on — you guessed it — Guerrero near Lopez Mateos. I had walked past a few times during the day and thought it looked nice, but I also spotted it ranked highly on TripAdvisor, so I decided to go on Friday night for my last Mexican supper. For 95 pesos (just over £4), you can have soup, a salad, and one of a selection of main dishes. I had the grilled fish with garlic (served with rice, refried beans and tortillas) and it was excellent. The staff are very friendly and in the evening, it was really lovely to sit out on the small patio, surrounded by colourful fairy lights, listening to a live musician (a wee bit of electric guitar) and being eyed up by the cute resident dog. A much more pleasant experience than the numerous hamburgesa, burrito and pizza joints on Hidalgo.
I was very sad to have to leave Isla Mujeres — and Mexico. The island and the beach are beautiful. For me three days was about the right amount of time to spend here — with another day, I could have done another snorkel tour or visited the turtles in the south of the island, but more than that and I would probably have started craving a little more culture and activity. Adiós, México; hasta luego!
15 May 2015
Chichén Itzá: Culture, History, Crowds and Heat
Rather than taking a direct bus from Mérida to Cancún and then Isla Mujeres, I decided to stop at Chichén Itzá, one of the most famous Mayan archaeological sites — a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Initially, I thought I would go it alone: there are a few second-class ADO bus services from Mérida to Chichén (leaving at 6.30, 8.30 and 9.15 in the morning), which take about 1h45. There's a luggage store inside Chichén Itzá, and onward buses to Cancún. I wanted to go early, but then you have to wait until 4.30 pm for the only first-class bus to Cancún, and the hourly second-class route takes four hours.
Once I got to Mérida and began to understand the extreme heat of the Yucatán, I decided to take an organised excursion, which would take me to Chichén, give me a guided tour of the site, take me to a cenote (natural limestone sinkhole) for swimming, provide lunch and drop me off in Cancún. The price was 800 pesos (about £34) — around the same price as the two ADO journeys — plus admission charges. I would arrive in Cancún a bit later than I had hoped, but wouldn't need to get up super-early and wouldn't need to haul my small but increasingly heavy suitcase all over the Yucatán. Several companies offer essentially the same tour, but I went with Turitransmerida, who have an office in central Mérida.
I was pleased to find out that our group was quite small: I think there were 13 of us in total. It took about two hours to get to Chichén Itzá, and we stopped a few miles outside the nearest town, Piste, to stock up on cheap water and snacks. The Chichén Itzá folks obviously didn't get the 64 pesos memo, as the entrance fee is 220 pesos (about £10) for foreign visitors — still very reasonable. We arrived around 11.30 and the site seemed pretty busy to me, but by the time we left, some three hours later it was really heaving and there was a big queue, so seriously: go early!
Our group split into two — those who wanted the tour in Spanish and those who wanted it in English. I didn't realise until I had requested the English tour that it would just be one of the guides and me, but although my Spanish has improved a lot on this trip, I definitely got a lot more out of the English version — not least because it's pretty hard to concentrate when you're standing in the 36-degree midday sunshine. It also meant that I got to ask questions about things that interested me, such as the Mayan language, and the Mayans' mathematical, architectural and astronomical skills.
When you enter the site, after running the gauntlet of the, ah hem, tradition Mayan marketplace (i.e. stalls selling more souvenirs than you could ever, ever want), the first building you see is the Temple of Kukulkán, a 30-metre pyramid dedicated to the Maya serpent god Kukulkán. Indiana Jones might not like Chichén Itzá because there are serpent likenesses everywhere. The Temple is stunning to look at, but when you start to understand the geometry and the perfect numerological significances in, say, the number of steps or the number of platforms, it is even more impressive.
We stopped to look at a very of the engravings in more detail, including some jaguars (a power symbol for the Mayans), skulls and soldiers — even some female soldiers. Then we went into the court for the juego de pelota (the ball game), which is thought to be the biggest of its kind in Mesoamerica. The rules, of course, remain uncertain, but there are surprisingly small hoops and engravings of the ball on the walls. It is even unclear whether the winners or the losers had the honour of being sacrificed to the gods.
The next stop was to the Cenote Sagrado (sacred sinkhole), whose Mayan name gave Chichén Itzá its name (chi (mouth), chen (well), Itzá (the name of the Mayan tribe that settled there)). Although rather green, as a result of the limestone, the water is clear and clean, but the sacrificees were still given a thorough purification in the neighbouring cleansing room before meeting their destiny in the water below.
By this point, I was really, really hot and was seeking any scrap of shade that I could. So too were the big lizards that hang out at the site. My guide showed me an example of perfectly constructed arches that don't need a keystone, showing a sophisticated mathematical understanding and the concept of zero, which was very rare for this time. I had a bit of free time before meeting my group so I walked down to the observatory.
After leaving Chichén Itzá, we stopped to cool off at Cenote Ik Kil; it's only a couple of miles from Chichén and seems to be on a major tour route, so I wouldn't exactly say that it's a hidden gem, but I was grateful for the chance to swim and cliff jump. And even though it was fairly busy (as evidenced by the photo-bombing of my underwater selfie), Ik Kil is still very beautiful. I couldn't resist the chance to leap from the top of the steps into the clear, green water below.
I asked one of the staff to take a photo of my leaps, but this was the best one he got. He did take a video, which was quite cool, but the slow, Isla Mujeres internet connection won't be able to cope with the upload. Entrance to Ik Kil is 70 pesos (about £3). After a serviceable lunch nearby (another buffet, although the food was included this time), we switched to a smaller minibus for the onward journey to Cancún.
We went via the non-toll road so it took just over three hours — mainly because there are a lot of speed bumps along this route — and although the driver did drop me off at the ferry terminal for Isla Mujeres rather than at the bus station, I had to wait 40 minutes or so for him to drive halfway around the extensive Cancún hotel zone. By the time I got to my hotel, it was 9 pm, making it twelve hours door-to-door. A long day and a hot one, but compared to public transport, a) it was more convenient, b) I learnt a lot more about Chichén thanks to the guided tour and c) I got to visit a cenote. I would recommend Turitransmerida: the guides were fun and interesting and it was a good day. And don't let the heat and the crowds put you off Chichén Itzá — it's a beautiful and fascinating place and is well worth the detour.
Once I got to Mérida and began to understand the extreme heat of the Yucatán, I decided to take an organised excursion, which would take me to Chichén, give me a guided tour of the site, take me to a cenote (natural limestone sinkhole) for swimming, provide lunch and drop me off in Cancún. The price was 800 pesos (about £34) — around the same price as the two ADO journeys — plus admission charges. I would arrive in Cancún a bit later than I had hoped, but wouldn't need to get up super-early and wouldn't need to haul my small but increasingly heavy suitcase all over the Yucatán. Several companies offer essentially the same tour, but I went with Turitransmerida, who have an office in central Mérida.
I was pleased to find out that our group was quite small: I think there were 13 of us in total. It took about two hours to get to Chichén Itzá, and we stopped a few miles outside the nearest town, Piste, to stock up on cheap water and snacks. The Chichén Itzá folks obviously didn't get the 64 pesos memo, as the entrance fee is 220 pesos (about £10) for foreign visitors — still very reasonable. We arrived around 11.30 and the site seemed pretty busy to me, but by the time we left, some three hours later it was really heaving and there was a big queue, so seriously: go early!
Our group split into two — those who wanted the tour in Spanish and those who wanted it in English. I didn't realise until I had requested the English tour that it would just be one of the guides and me, but although my Spanish has improved a lot on this trip, I definitely got a lot more out of the English version — not least because it's pretty hard to concentrate when you're standing in the 36-degree midday sunshine. It also meant that I got to ask questions about things that interested me, such as the Mayan language, and the Mayans' mathematical, architectural and astronomical skills.
When you enter the site, after running the gauntlet of the, ah hem, tradition Mayan marketplace (i.e. stalls selling more souvenirs than you could ever, ever want), the first building you see is the Temple of Kukulkán, a 30-metre pyramid dedicated to the Maya serpent god Kukulkán. Indiana Jones might not like Chichén Itzá because there are serpent likenesses everywhere. The Temple is stunning to look at, but when you start to understand the geometry and the perfect numerological significances in, say, the number of steps or the number of platforms, it is even more impressive.
We stopped to look at a very of the engravings in more detail, including some jaguars (a power symbol for the Mayans), skulls and soldiers — even some female soldiers. Then we went into the court for the juego de pelota (the ball game), which is thought to be the biggest of its kind in Mesoamerica. The rules, of course, remain uncertain, but there are surprisingly small hoops and engravings of the ball on the walls. It is even unclear whether the winners or the losers had the honour of being sacrificed to the gods.
The next stop was to the Cenote Sagrado (sacred sinkhole), whose Mayan name gave Chichén Itzá its name (chi (mouth), chen (well), Itzá (the name of the Mayan tribe that settled there)). Although rather green, as a result of the limestone, the water is clear and clean, but the sacrificees were still given a thorough purification in the neighbouring cleansing room before meeting their destiny in the water below.
By this point, I was really, really hot and was seeking any scrap of shade that I could. So too were the big lizards that hang out at the site. My guide showed me an example of perfectly constructed arches that don't need a keystone, showing a sophisticated mathematical understanding and the concept of zero, which was very rare for this time. I had a bit of free time before meeting my group so I walked down to the observatory.
After leaving Chichén Itzá, we stopped to cool off at Cenote Ik Kil; it's only a couple of miles from Chichén and seems to be on a major tour route, so I wouldn't exactly say that it's a hidden gem, but I was grateful for the chance to swim and cliff jump. And even though it was fairly busy (as evidenced by the photo-bombing of my underwater selfie), Ik Kil is still very beautiful. I couldn't resist the chance to leap from the top of the steps into the clear, green water below.
I asked one of the staff to take a photo of my leaps, but this was the best one he got. He did take a video, which was quite cool, but the slow, Isla Mujeres internet connection won't be able to cope with the upload. Entrance to Ik Kil is 70 pesos (about £3). After a serviceable lunch nearby (another buffet, although the food was included this time), we switched to a smaller minibus for the onward journey to Cancún.
We went via the non-toll road so it took just over three hours — mainly because there are a lot of speed bumps along this route — and although the driver did drop me off at the ferry terminal for Isla Mujeres rather than at the bus station, I had to wait 40 minutes or so for him to drive halfway around the extensive Cancún hotel zone. By the time I got to my hotel, it was 9 pm, making it twelve hours door-to-door. A long day and a hot one, but compared to public transport, a) it was more convenient, b) I learnt a lot more about Chichén thanks to the guided tour and c) I got to visit a cenote. I would recommend Turitransmerida: the guides were fun and interesting and it was a good day. And don't let the heat and the crowds put you off Chichén Itzá — it's a beautiful and fascinating place and is well worth the detour.