After a short stop in Ciudad de México we wanted to experience something more authentic again. We decided for Chiapas and it's pearl - San Cristóbal de las Casas. By the way Chiapas is the southernmost state in Mexico and considered as the poorest.
But San Cristóbal doesn't show the poverty. We experienced it as a very cozy little town.
I have to mention Mexican market places. In many ways, Mexico reminded us on Asia. In the last months of traveling around Australia and USA, we missed local markets a lot. Here we discovered them again.
But here they look more organized. Even if the floor is messy. The potatoes are stacked together like Maya's pyramids.
We choose San Cristóbal for our base point for visiting Maya's ruins in Palenque. Everybody knows Chichen Itza. A bit less know this is just one of many ruins in that area.
I would recommend Palenque because it is much less crowded than more famous relative. It's even possible to take a photo completely without Chinese tourists on it :) But the best part is that you can climb on most of the ruins.
Only when you try to climb, you realize how steep they really are :)
Interesting thing in traveling is that every traveler gets his own idea about the country. Ten people can follow the same route, but each will meet different people, experience different things and create different opinions. If I combine an actual example with some joke, I can say that Ziva's perception was: "Wow, everything is so huge here!" And mine: "Everything is so small, everything is too low..."
I was surprised how many VW bugs are still present on the Mexican roads. But the next most common thing on the roads, just after the bugs, are accidents. Photo below right is taken in Ciudad de Mexico, but broken cars, flipped over trucks, burning trucks, once even a car flying in the air and landing on the roof... we saw on daily basis.
The most important thing in Mexico is food. With this I mean Tacos (in process of preparation on photo below left) and nothing for a long time. After that, Enchiladas (below right) and Quesadillas. Again nothing for a long time. Then everything else, including cactea and corn in milion ways. We were told that they encountered an invasion of burgers and other American fast food years ago. But Tacos repelled all the attacks and kept the superiority over their land :)
I have to mention also Guacamole, spread from avocado (below left) and Tamal (below right.) Tamal is a sort of a Polenta, filled with meat or vegetables and cooked in banana or corn leaf. In my case it's also sprinkled with onion and a minimum amount of maximum spicy sauce. Tamal and most of the Mexican cuisine origins from Maya's civilization.
It was time to say goodbye to Mexico, but we're not leaving Maya's land yet. Next on the list is Guatemala.
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