Cuernavaca to Cancún and back - Spring, 2002
Monday, March 11, 2002 - Veracruz
We left the comfort of Cuernavaca at 10 am after a delicious breakfast of huevos rancheros à la Gloria. I drove four and a half hours through Cuautla, then Izucar de Matamoros, then Puebla on non-superhighways. We got lost briefly in Cuautla and in Puebla, but only two queries got us through both of them. Once we were comfortably on the Puebla-Veracruz highway, I handed over to Carol, who got us to Veracruz in a mere 2 hours. Her drive took us by Orizaba, the highest peak in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It also took us by Córdoba, one of Mexico's best sources for mountain grown coffee. They were selling it by the roadside, but we didn't stop.
We drove right to our Hotel Imperial, founded 1749, on the main square. This
is where they normally have the Danzón, but not on Mondays.
Instead they were busy making a Mexican telenovela, with
sexy young things performing under strong lights. We had supper at
the Gran Café de la Parroquia in the harbour. A huge
rueda (wheel or circle, hence, steak) of fish Veracruzano.
After enjoying Veracruzano style fish for years at various places,
this was so good, we may never be able to have it anywhere else
again. The fish was so fresh, with no hint of fish smell or taste,
just the great taste of the long grilled tomatoes with capers,
olives, bay leaves and the Mexican spice epazote.
Afterwards we had their lechera coffee. A large slug of espresso is placed in front of you in a clear glass, and you have to bang on your glass with your spoon to bring over a fellow with a large kettle of hot milk, who then tops you up. It is quite a tradition!
After a few more hours of browsing we went to bed and listened to the music on the square, in bed. We had 18 foot ceilings, a marble bathroom and a balcony onto the square. The music lasted most of the night, but we slept well nevertheless. I woke up at 1:30 and it was still going on. I woke next at 6:30 and it was quiet.
Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - the Olmecs
After a good breakfast at the hotel, huevos divorciados, sunny side up on warm tortillas, one egg with red sauce and the other with green, fresh orange juice and coffee, we set off at 10 am for Villa Hermosa. After I got us out of the city and to the fork in the highway, Carol drove us all the way to Villahermosa.
From Casamaloapan to Acayucan, we saw pineapples growing, acres and
acres of them beside the highway. What I never realized before is
that they grow on the ground like cabbages or blue agave cactus.
They are small and spaced more like cabbages than agave, and they
really are little stubby cactuses with a nice juicy fruit inside.
Carol said, well you didn't think they grew on trees did you? I
have to admit, I ate pineapple in Hawaii, where they grow, but
never saw them actually growing, so this is a first for me.
In Villahermosa, we went directly to the La Venta park. We took lots of pictures of the various Olmec heads and other stone carvings that had been saved from La Venta and placed here. Two meter high carved solid rock heads weighing tons! The Olmecs started out 1200 BC, the earliest known civilization here in Meso-America. The garden the Olmec heads are in, is truly a beautiful garden, well laid out in a real tropical rain forest setting and so that you wind around paths from carving to carving. Something no one should miss.
In addition to the heads and other carvings, the park also contained animals that the Olmecs lived with at the time, such as black jaguars, spider monkeys and crocodiles!
The rest of Villahermosa is not too interesting, does not live up to its name, but is undergoing change due to the oil money. They are developing the Gulf.
For more on the Olmec Park, please go to our La Venta page.
Wednesday, March13, 2002 - Mérida
We left Villahermosa at 10 am, again after a tasty breakfast and crossed
the Grijalva river three times, heading up to Frontera. From there
we crossed a long bridge to a sand bar in the Gulf. This took us to
Ciudad del Carmen and we stopped about 25 km past that at a beach
called Las Bahamitas - Little Bahamas - because we couldn't resist
the beautiful light green water of the Gulf. We stopped for a
while, took our sandals off and walked in the surf for about half
an hour. The water was very warm and the beach was covered in
shells, big whole ones that Carol collected and broken ones and
finely mashed ones. The sand was the same colour as the shells and
for a while I wondered if all sand was made of mashed up shells,
but, then on reflection, probably not. But this beach was.
We didn't go in swimming, but perhaps should have. Instead we went on for miles along this sand bar, crossing other bridges and it reminded me of the Keys in Florida, or Destin in the Florida panhandle or South Padre Island in Texas. With a little imagination, it could be Miami Beach, with tall hotels on the Gulf side and marinas on the sound side. All they need is a big airport and lots of investment.
Finally, we returned to the mainland and soon at Campeche City. Since it was only 3:30, we decided to continue on to Mérida, and ended up in the city center. Our hotel, the Gran Hotel in downtown Mérida was founded only in 1901 and had only 15 foot ceilings and 12 foot high doors. I guess this was to allow them to march their horses right into their rooms. Some of the Spanish were quite attached to their horses. However, did they take them up to the 3rd floor? I know horses can climb stairs and the landings on the wide staircases are big enough.
For supper, we found a nice sidewalk restaurant on the same square as the hotel, but not part of it. There we had some Fish Pibil, made with tamarind and achiote. That is often called Yucatecan style outside of the Yucatan.
Carol did a bit of shopping, for raw cottons and for local handicrafts. I asked about makeches and was shown wooden replicas of the old traditional live jewellery, however, later, in a quiet part of the main square, a street merchant showed me some of his live encrusted scarabs. They were sparsely jewelled, did not look good and Carol was shocked that anyone would buy them. Oh well, that was 35 years ago and they were all a big hit back home when I brought them.
Thursday, March 14, 2002 - Chichén Itzá
We left Mérida at about noon and made Chichén Itzá by
about 1:30. We checked in, in the hot lazy temperature of 35 C, at
another throwback to 35 years ago. The Piramid Hotel has ceiling
fans and slatted windows, a covered terrace acting as a dining
room, with outside ceiling fans and facing the tempting pool.
On the road to Chichén Itzá, I had to swerve half a lane to avoid a blue iguana crossing the road. After checking in and relaxing, we got up and went to the archeological sight for a 2:30 start. It seemed even more spectacular than I remembered it and Carol was awed. After 3 hours, we were bone weary, but had seen everything including the second cenote near the observatory, that most people miss. There were lots of Germans and Italians and French, as well as the Mexican school groups and North American tourists. Even overheard some young kids from Peterborough, Ontario discuss the relative merits of Western (University of Western Ontario) versus Queens (Queen's University in Kingston).
At the entrance/exit/museum there was a restaurant selling Itzá Pizza. We opted for a proper meal instead at our hotel - good, except that Carol's fish came smoothered with slices of ham.
For more on this archeological site, please go to our Chichén Itzá page.
Friday, March 15, 2002 - Cancún
At around 10 am we left Chichén Itzá and headed on our final stretch for this week. Carol drove us all the way to Cancún, where we did some last minute things such as shopping and visiting an internet shop before heading for our time share at the Mayan Palace in Punta Maroma, halfway between Cancún and Playa del Carmen. The Mayan Palace turns out to be about 45 km south of downtown Cancún, and Playa del Carmen is another 20 km further down the same four lane divided high quality straight and flat road.
March 16 - 21, 2001 - Riviera Maya
We enjoyed our stay in Riviera Maya area, as it is now called, immensely.
Playa del Carmen has turned into a quaint touristy village with
cobble stone streets with pedestrian only areas and boutique hotels
instead of the high rise monsters of the Cancún beach strip.
Very nice, very different from the small village of 22 years ago
when we were last here. The cruise ships stop here and all the
shops quote in US dollars as a result. The fresh seafood, mainly
grouper, is a treat and quite inexpensive.
Cancún hotel strip is as always, but the town on shore has become more sophisticated. We stopped at one large shopping center that seems to have Mexico City beat for a real US flavour. Also Costco, Sam's, Walmart, etc. We ate at an italian restaurant one night called Mama Roma, run by the Anderson chain - Carlos and Charlies - but the fresh fish (grouper again) and the steak were excellent with imaginative sauces.
We have had great weather throughout our trip, blue skies, sunshine and temps in the 30s C. Until that Thursday when we were having that Italian dinner in Cancún. There was a 15 minute cloudburst, which thoroughly cleaned our dusty car. When we came out of the restaurant it was again clear sky, full of stars. All week at Cancún we have had a steady onshore breeze to make us forget the 34 degree heat, but on Thursday it became offshore and we started seeing some heavy clouds.
Friday, March 22, 2002 - Campeche
We left, after a week, setting out at 10 am and reaching Chichén Itzá at noon and Mérida at 1:15. Then on to Campeche by 3:30, a little early to stop, but too late to carry on beyond. We encountered numerous heavy cloudbursts from Cancún to Mérida and again to Campeche. We stopped at a Gulf-side hotel, too modern, but with a great view out over the Gulf.
Campeche is known mainly for two things: it is a great shrimp fishing center and it is another Pemex facility. As we approached the city, we could tell it was an oil city by the refinery smell, which fortunately dissappeared when we got downtown. It is also a Spanish colonial city with the resulting interesting buildings. It is also, or was, a walled city, to protect it from the pirates of old. We walked the ramparts and checked out the old Mayan carvings collected in a museum and generally scoured the city center streets.
Then we thought we should sample the fresh shrimp for dinner. The shrimp were great but the accompanying sauces were poor. Next time we will try a different restaurant, or the shacks on the Gulf front.
After supper, we had walked by one of the old churches now called an ex-temple of Saint Joseph (ex-templo de San José) that now had one of its two steeples converted into a lighthouse. It certainly looked strange. Also they had their annual Feria del Pan, their bread fair, so we sampled some of their wares. I quite liked a raison and nut twisty thing almost like a danish with that custard filling.
Saturday, March 23 - Palenque, Chiapas
This morning, we left Campeche early, 9 am without breakfast and survived until
10:30 at Champoton, when hunger overtook me. We stopped just past
Champoton at a Gulf-side restaurant with two old fishing boats tied
up in front. It was a seafood restaurant, but they served breakfast
too, so I had a delicious shrimp omelette.
Then on southward. We made Escarcegas at noon, passing through a naval blockade, well a road check conducted by Navy personnel instead of Army. Different uniforms with anchors on their shoulders and some had what looked like Aussie hats. Very spiffy! Then we kept on to Palenque in Chiapas, suffering two more federal road stops. Today also we had several brief rainspells, usually only for 15 minutes or so. One noticeable climate thing was that the vegetation got more and more lush as we went inland and south. By the time we got to Palenque, clouds of mist were rising out of valleys of rainforest; very pretty.
We arrived at 2:30, got our hotel, the Chan Kah, then on to the archeological site. This time we lasted only two hours instead of three and saw only the western half of the site, but it was quite extensive and with climbing pyramids and climbing down and up several mountains following two streams around which the site is built, we were dead tired again and had to return to the car and to our hotel.
Although it was not raining at Palenque, the ground was very wet, so it must have rained before we got there. What makes Palenque so different from any of the other sites we have visited was the lush jungle surroundings. Some of the not yet restored buildings are overgrown with trees, bushes and moss. The other thing we missed was the almost total lack of carvings on the buildings, but I think they were weathered off by the vegetation, moss and slime, as there were a few protected carvings in sheltered places.
For more on this archeological site, please go to our Palenque page.
Palm Sunday, March 24 - Puebla
We had breakfast in Palenque at a coffee shop instead of a restaurant,
because we wanted the delicious lechera, two shots of real
espresso in a large glass topped up with about an equal amount of
hot milk. Good Chiapas mountain grown coffee, of course, ground
right in the shop and steamed in a large Italian Gaggia machine.
Palenque is located in the low altitude northern part of Chiapas,
but you can see the mountains of the highlands and the continental
divide leading to Ocosingo and San Cristobal de las Casas
immediately to the south.
We left at about 10 am and headed back toward the main highway to Villahermosa. After another Army check at the same place, we headed west. Soon, we started noticing Mexican Army traffic going east, many HumVees, some with heavy machine guns, manned and pointed carelessly at us. As we needed gas, we stopped at a Pemex station only to find about 30 Army trucks waiting to fill up. Fortunately, there were about 16 pumps and they were lining up at only 10 of them, so 6 were left for civilians and we drove right in by one of the free pumps. They were also using the washrooms, but were all young polite pleasant fellows and made sure they did not monopolize anything. Were they rushing to Chiapas for an Army show of force?
We stopped Villahermosa briefly at noon, for replenishment of our depleting cash at a bank machine and a little sustenance. Then on to the burning gas fields of Minantitlan by 2 pm, where, in fact, they are building gas fed electric generators to convert this currently wasted oil field byproduct into valuable electricity for the national grid.
We reached the Veracruz "split" in the toll road at about 4 pm and headed for Puebla, leaving the flat straight roads of the mainly sea level "east" for the twisty, hilly roads of the crossing of the continental divide. We reached Puebla at 6 and headed straight for the centro historico. We stayed at the Gilfer, where we had stayed before and went for a walk around the main square, the zócalo. It being Palm Sunday, Carol bought us some palm crosses at the main cathedral and then we went to the Fonda Santa Clara for a traditional Mole Poblano for me and a Chile Relleno de Queso for Carol. The latter is a Poblano chile, so we were very Poblano in Puebla. The food was very good.
When we retired to the room, we found the Academy Awards playing in Spanish on TV Azteca, and settled in for the show having missed only the Best Supporting Actress award. Rather too politically correct. Halle Berry was first speechless and then too brazenly militant. Oh well, I guess she will mature.
March 25, 2002 - México and Cuernavaca
The next morning, we breakfasted again at a coffee shop, again having lechera with our eggs, and then walked the pedestrian streets, doing a little window shopping. We finally left at 10:45 and reached Mexico City at noon, immediately frozen in the traffic. We planned to stop at a shop where we had ordered something as a special order a month and a half ago, hoping that it had finally arrived. It had been promised in 8-10 working days, but phone calls on the appointed day resulted in various "not yet" answers. This time, one clerk said it had arrived, but they had not unpacked it yet, then after some delay, another clerk said it was incomplete and could we come back in a few days. We looked suitably annoyed and explained we did not live in the city and could not pop in the next day. These two clerks had a 15 discussion with another clerk and what looked like a manager and they disappeared and came back a half hour later with our order, fully complete. They helped us bring the stuff to our car and we headed off at 2:30, encountering very little traffic this time, as it was the start of Holy Week and made Cuernavaca by 3:30 pm, excellent time!
Postscript
As a postscript, our total distance travelled was 4,120 kilometers (about 2,570 miles), with a driving time of 43 hours over 9 days and tolls of 2,064 pesos.
April, 2002.
