Highlights of Mexico (10): San Cristobal de las Casas
March 30th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 7 (Tuesday) was a much easier day since we were just in and around San Cristobal de las Casas and we did not leave the hotel until 9.10 am.
Located at 2,200 metres (7,200 feet), which gives the town a cooler feel, San Cristobal de las Casas was founded in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos, a Spaniard who was sent to punish the native inhabitants of the region after they revolted against the conquistadores. The cause of the indigenous Mayans was taken up by Father Bartolome de las Casas, after whom the city is now named. Today it has a population of almost 200,000.
Our guide Alberto started the day by taking us on a walking tour of the centre of the city. It was interesting to note that there was a fair amount of political graffiti protesting at the actions of the police and the authorities. When Roger said to Alberto “So the Zapatista spirit is still alive?” Alberto quickly replied “Very much”. We were taken to an open air market which had everything which we had seen before in Oaxaca plus indigenous women carrying live chickens around their necks and others with live chicks in baskets, all waiting to be sold fresh.
Next we viewed two churches: the Gothic Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman built in 1528 which was for the Spanish and down the hill in much plainer style the neo-classic Virgin of the Charity for the indigenous population. The first of these has a wonderful facade of filigree stucco in the style of vegetation and, since a restoration of the church has just been completed, it sparkled in the sunshine. Inside in one nave, a shaman uttered various incantations to alleviate the problems of two local worshippers – strange conjunction of religious beliefs.
Round the corner in the main square Plaza 31 de Marzo was the city’s Cathedral which was constructed in 1535. Everywhere we went there were little women with dark faces and colourful clothes representing different local villages who were trying to sell all sorts of wares to passing locals and tourists. Many young children were also trying to sell various items.
Alberto was ready to take us to visit two nearby villages of indigenous people where the local language is Tzotzil, but we suggested a coffee break first and stopped at a place called “Maya Vinic” (“Mayan Man”).
The prime visit was to a village called San Juan Chamula which means ‘the place where the water becomes dry’. Most of our time here was spent viewing the inside of the Church of San Juan Bautista. This proved to be the most astonishingly unusual Catholic Church that any of us had ever encountered.
There was a main altar but no side altars or naves and no benches or seats. Around 40 glass cases with statutes of various saints and versions of Mary lined the long walls, hundreds of glass vessels held lit candles, and pine needles on the floor delineated the most sacred areas which were covered with rows of tiny candles with groups of faithful. Each group of indigenous people had the requirements for their offering: some soft drink or alcohol, bits of fruit, a row of eggs and a live chicken (the end of the offering involved the snapping of the chicken’s neck).
If all this indigenous religious practice in a Roman Catholic Church, seems strange, then Alberto described the combination of shamanism and Christianity as “religious synchronicity”. We could not take photographs of the indigenous Mayans as they believe that the camera steals their souls (this might explain why Vee is so reluctant to have her photo taken) and we could not take photographs inside the church because the people believe that this steals the soul of God (how could an almighty God be so vulnerable?).
The other indigenous village that we visited was San Lorenzo Zinacantan which means ‘the place of bats’. The zincantans wear multi-coloured outfits with ribbons on their hats signifying how many children they have. Every few years, they change the dominant colour of their outfits and at the time of our visit it was purple.
Alberto took us to a little artesan factory calmed “Catalina y Juana” where five women create beautiful coloured textiles using traditional hand looms. We were invited into the back rooms where they live, especially the kitchen to see tortillas being cooked over a wood fire.
Our guide dropped us off at the main square back in San Cristobal de las Casas at 3.15 pm and the rest of the day was free time. Roger and Vee went for some lunch in a smart place called “Sensaciones” on the main square. Roger went local and ordered tortillas with pork, cheese and house salsa, while Vee had a veggie sandwich with eggplant, zucchini, sweet red peppers and manchego cheese.
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Highlights of Mexico (9): two aircraft, a boat, and a minibus
March 29th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 6 (Easter Monday) was a travelling day and it was an early start: alarm at 5 am and departure from the hotel at 6 am.
The day kicked off with two flights: one from Oaxaca north-west back to Mexico City (just 50 minutes) and then straight away one from Mexico City south-east to Tuxtla Gutierrez (only 60 minutes) – an odd replication of some of the journey but presumably Mexico City acts as a hub for flights in the south of the country. Both flights were with the local airline AeroMexico on locally-built aircraft (the Embraer 190 and 170 respectively).
We were now in a different state Chiapas where Tuxtla Gutierrez is the state capital. In 1994, the state was convulsed by an uprising of the local indigenous populations through a movement that became the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). This guerrilla movement was opposed to the then government’s neo-liberal economic policies as exemplified by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although the uprising was a military failure, it had important political consequences.
We were met by our local guide Alberto, the first of our guides with a sense of humour.
He immediately took us to a nearby jetty for a two-hour trip on the Grijalva River. We all donned bright orange life jackets and then boarded an open motor boat with around 30 passengers and a driver on a raised section at the rear. When we were zooming along, it was bumpy and windy; when we stopped to observe something, it was hot and humid; and much of the time, it was misty, but this rather added to the atmosphere.
The journey took us through the spectacular Sumidero Canyon which at the highest point is some 900 metres (3,000 feet) above the green water. When Diego de Mazariegos invaded the area in 1528, the local indigenous people the Chiapa threw themselves by the hundreds into the canyon rather than surrender to the Spanish invader.
Today the main feature of the canyon is a hydro-electric dam completed in 1981 and we sailed all the way to the dam before returning on the other side of the canyon. Along the way, we saw various interesting features such as the Cave Of The Colours with a statute of the Virgin Mary and The Christmas Tree with amazing moss-covered rock formations that looked just like branches of a festive tree. We even spotted some spider monkeys and sleeping crocodiles as well as various birds.
Back on land, we remained at the jetty to have a cooked lunch at a place called “Restaurante Rio Grande”. According to our official programme, at this point we should have headed straight to,our hotel, but Alberto surprised us with a visit to a nearby town called Chiapa de Corzo which “The Lonely Planet” guide to Mexico describes as – rightly we learned – “an overlooked jewel”. The main plaza is surrounded by artesan shops and dominated by a very large and immensely old ceiba tree called La Pochota and a brick fountain completed in 1852 in the Mudejar-Gothic style called La Pila. We also called into the largest local church, Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman, which was built by the Dominicans between 1554-1572.
After this pleasurable ‘extra’ we headed east and up into the highlands arriving at our destination of San Cristobal de las Casas at 6.45 pm. From our hotel this morning to our hotel this evening had been a journey of almost 13 hours.
Our accommodation was the Hotel Diego de Mazariegos, named after the founder of the city. Located in the centre of town, it consists of two colonial-style mansions with patios paved with stone slabs. Adobe walls, tile roofs, and typical Mexican decorations make for a traditional feel. But there is no air conditioning.
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Highlights of Mexico (8): Monte Alban and more Oaxaca
March 28th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 5 was Easter Sunday and we were woken up from about 6 am with very loud fireworks celebrating that the Lord had risen. Then the covers were taken off some of the birdcages in the courtyard and the dawn chorus started. Next church bells began to toll calling the faithful to mass. All in all, a lively start to the day in downtown Oaxaca City.
Breakfast was in the restaurant and the television had some news for us. Mexico’s federal police announced that they had just detained in Oaxaca state a man identified as one of the top money launderers for drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Our morning excursion – starting at 8.30 am – was to the ruins of Monte Alban where we spent three hours, mostly walking around the huge site, but finishing at a small museum and the cafe. It is located on a high plateau overlooking the city and approached by a long, winding, and steep road.
Located just west of Oaxaca City, Monte Alban was the ancient capital of the Zapotecs and was later inhabited by the conquering Mixtecs. Archaeologists have divided the history of Monte Alban into five phases: Phase I – up to about 200 BC when the town grew to a population of about 10,000; Phase II – between 200 BC and 350 AD when the town became dominant in the region; Phase III – from about 350-700 when the city was at its peak with a population of between 25,000-35,000; Phase IV – between 700-950 when the city was abandoned and fell into ruins; and Phase V – between 950-1521 when there was minimal activity. Today it is a UN World Heritage site.
We were surprised at the extensive nature of the site and pleased that Jose had suggested we reached it early to avoid the worst of the crowds and the heat. At the heart of the excavations which started in 1931 is the Great Plaza which is over 300 metres (980 feet) long with a variable width averaging about 160 metres (520 feet). There are tall temples with wide stone staircases and various tombs and religious buildings plus a sunken patio and a ball court.
We were back at the hotel at 12.30 pm and the official programme for the rest of the day was “at leisure” – a chance to rest and recover in preparation for two flights and another Mexican state tomorrow. After a short sleep, Roger and Vee went out for a couple of hours to stroll around the nearby Zocalo area. First, just north of the Zocalo in the adjoining square of Alameda de Leon, we visited Oaxaca’s Cathedral. Construction of this version began in 1553 and (several earthquakes later) concluded in the 18th century.
Then, in Zocalo itself, we had a leisurely lunch in a restaurant called “El Portal del Marques” where we shared a club sandwich and each had a dessert (apple strudel for Vee and banana split for Roger). We sat on a covered terrace looking out over the square so that we could shelter from the bright sun and indulge in a favourite sport of people-watching: lots of very colourful clothes, lots of enormous stomachs, lots of babies and children, lots of hawkers and musicians, and policemen always walking round in threes.
Later, when it was nighttime, we returned to the Alameda and Zocalo squares and found an even more magical atmosphere. The squares and the restaurants were full of people and alive with noise. As well as the usual stalls and hawkers, there were all sorts of entertainers. A three-piece musical group had lots of locals dancing salsa with panache. A woman in mask and dress decorated with skulls offered children slips of paper from a special box. A crowd watched on a huge television screen a football match between Oaxaca and another Mexican team.
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Highlights of Mexico (7): Oaxaca
March 27th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Outside of Mexico City, the southern-most Mexican states are the poorest and those with the largest indigenous populations. We were now to visit three of these states: Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan. First off was Oaxaca, the birthplace of two famous figures from Mexican history: Benito Juarez, president for most of the years 1858-1872 (which came to be known as the Reform Period), and his former protege Porfirio Diaz, president for the incredibly lengthy period 1884-1911 (which provoked the Mexican Revolution).
So Day 4 (Easter Saturday) was an early start: alarm at 5.30 am, departure from hotel at 7.30 am, and drive to Mexico City’s airport. On the way, we had an unusually clear view of the two snow-topped volcanoes that overlook the city. One is extinct but the other was dormant for centuries before erupting back into life in 1994. Our flight from Mexico City to Oaxaca – in an Embraer 190 aircraft – was short at just 45 minutes.
Oaxaca – pronounced ‘we-hah-ke’ – comes from an Aztec name referring to a type of tree which grows locally. The state has the country’s largest Indian population with two-thirds of citizens coming from one of 16 ethic groups and speaking one of nine languages. The city of the same name is located about 300 miles south of Mexico City at an elevation of 1500 metres (5,000 feet). Once the centre of the Mixtec and Zapotec civilisations, today Oaxaca – a city of about 300,000 – is a mixture of pre-conquest, colonial and modern periods and is the state capital.
We were met at the airport by our local guide Jose who explained that our rooms would not be available until mid-afternoon, so that he would take us on a walking tour of the city before we went to our accommodation in the afternoon. This was not what we were expecting but we adjusted to the new situation.
So the minibus dropped us off downtown around noon. It was hot (33C/91F) and two of the five in the group had their hats in the locked suitcases on the way to the hotel. Fortunately we immediately came across a covered market of local artesian products and Vee was one of those to buy a new hat.
The city of Oaxaca was a revelation: narrow cobbled streets lined with low-built shops, hotels, cafes and restaurants with walls in beautiful pastel colours such as pink and blue and green. It reminded Roger and Vee of several other wonderful Latin American towns of colonial heritage such as Antigua in Guatemala and Trinidad in Cuba. What was different though – and explained by the timing of our visit – was the frequent use of purple sashes or bunting which marked the sorrow of Christ’s crucifixion.
The first real destination of the walking tour was the large Church of Santo Domingo de Guzman. This was built mainly between 1570 and 1608 as part of the city’s Dominican monastery and it is named after the founder of the Dominican order. The exterior is quite plain but the interior is sumptuous in its colour and glitter.
The next destination was just next door to the church: the State Museum of Oaxaca which only opened in 1998. The greatest treasure was the Mixtec hoard from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban (the site we were visiting next day). The exhibits included objects in gold, silver, jade, coral, amber, pearl and even a skull covered in turquoise.
It was time for lunch and Jose took us to a restaurant serving traditional Oaxacan food called “Azucena Zapoteca”. We sat in a pretty little courtyard and noted the guidance on the menu: “Please be patient with your order, our products are cooked at the moment”. We all went for traditional Oaxacan dishes: Vee had chicken, red mole and rice, while Roger had pork and potatoes stewed in a sauce of beans and chillies.
After lunch, we strolled down to the main square which, like that in Mexico City, is properly called Plaza de la Constitucion but known to everyone as Zocalo. The square is traffic-free and surrounded by trees and arcades. At this time, it was full of families with young children enjoying the Easter weekend with lots of vendors of balloons, bubble guns, and various toys. We wandered through various markets, some open and two large ones covered. The covered markets had grouped sections for every kind of product: breads, meat, fish, chillies, herbs, vegetables, alcohol, hats, dresses, bags, belts, toys …. There was even a stall selling various types of fried grasshoppers.
It was around 4 pm when we arrived at our accommodation. Although located in the downtown area in a busy street, it could not have been more different than our hotel in Mexico City. Hotel Parador San Miguel is a beautiful, colonial-style building which only has 23 rooms that are spread over three floors and around a central courtyard. In the courtyard, a set of ornate cages house exotic birds who sing a variety of distinctive songs. In our room we found two pages of detailed instructions on what to do in the event of an earthquake.
As lunch had been quite filling, Roger and Vee chose to have a light dinner of salad and dessert in the restaurant called “El Andariego” attached to the hotel. When Roger paid by credit card, the waiter could only obtain a signal for the authorisation machine by leaning out of a window.
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Highlights of Mexico (6): Teotihuacan
March 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
There is virtually nothing to be seen these days of the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan because the Spanish invaders destroyed the city and then built a new metropolis on top of it which is present-day Mexico City. But fortunately one does not have to travel far to see the site of another great pre-Hispanic city and it was to this site that we went on Day 3 (Good Friday) of our holiday.
Teotihuacan, located 40 kms (25 miles) north-east of Mexico City, was the largest known pre-Columbian city in the Americas. Nobody knows who built or inhabited it. It is believed that occupation began about 500 BC and that the population eventually reached a peak currently estimated at around 175,000, making it the largest city in the world at that time. The name of the site is the one given to the ruins by the Aztecs and it means ‘the place of origin or creation’. Following its modern-day excavation, it is commonly called ‘the city of the gods’.
It was only after 100 BC that the building of the pyramids began and the magnificent pyramids and palaces once covered 31 sq kms (12 square miles). Only around 7% of the site has been excavated so far, so much remains to be discovered. The city was abandoned in about 700 AD, probably because of climatic changes, but the fate of its civilisation remains unclear.
The most imposing structure on the site is the Pyramid of the Sun which was completed around 300 AD. This is the third largest pyramid in the world (after the two at Giza in Egypt), stretching 210 metres (690 feet) on each side and standing 67 metres (220 feet) high. Just as Vee was wondering whether to climb the pyramid, she felt her legs collapse and had to be taken by medical staff to a first aid tent. It was probably a combination of several poor nights sleep and the high altitude of the location but, after sitting and resting, she was fine. Roger climbed the 231 steep steeps in less than 15 minutes.
We next walked the so-called Avenue of The Dead. The original excavators gave the route this name because they assumed that the mounds lining the road were burial sites, but no tombs have ever been found there. At the end of the avenue is the other great structure of the site: the Pyramid of the Moon which is 140 metres (460 feet) on each side and 47 metres (154 feet) high.
After looking at some domestic living quarters, the final structure that we viewed is called the Citadel but again the name is misleading. The original excavators thought it was a military fort but current thinking is that it was a religious building and possibly might contain a royal tomb.
After about three and a half hours at Teotihuacan, we went to a nearby restaurant called ” Gran Teocallin” where we were treated to a brief display of Aztec dancing in full feathered gear before we had a buffet lunch.
Once we were back in Mexico City, we had one more visit: the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe which is a national symbol for the deeply Catholic Mexicans. The story goes that, 15 years after the arrival of the Spanish and Catholicism, an indigenous Mexican boy saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in the form of a beautiful lady in a blue mantel trimmed with gold. He only persuaded the authorities of the truth of his vision when he collected roses in a cloak and these flowers formed the image of the Virgin Mary.
In fact, the present site is three churches : a chapel on a hill where before the Spanish Conquest there was a temple, a large basilica built between 1695-1709, and a new circular church completed in 1976 which can accommodate up to 10,000 worshippers.
In the old basilica, we saw a queue of the Good Friday faithful lining up to kiss the wound on the lower ribs of Jesus on a near-lifesize crucifix. In the new church, a moving walkway carried visitors past what looked like a relatively modern and very detailed painting of the Virgin Mary which is claimed to be the original impression from that indigenous boy. Apparently miracles do sometimes happen – after all, Roger and Vee have been married for 34 years.
We were back at our hotel at 4.20 pm. This evening, Vee joined Roger for dinner out. We found a nearby Argentinean restaurant called oddly “Blah Blah” where Vee had chicken with ham & cheese, while Roger had a mixed grill with chicken, beef & Argentinean sausage.
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Highlights of Mexico (5): Mexico City
March 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 2 (Maundy Thursday) was devoted to time in Mexico City.
The present site of Mexico City was developed by the Aztecs in 1325 when it was known as Tenochtitlan before being destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors of Hernan Cortés in 1521. The Spanish built a new capital which the United States briefly occupied at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. The city suffered a devastating earthquake in 1985.
Today Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. The city proper has a population of around 9M (similar to London) but Greater Mexico City has a population of around 23M. The city is the economic powerhouse of the nation and almost a third of Mexico’s industrial output is concentrated in the metropolitan and surrounding areas.
Mexico City is situated in a plateau 2,240 metres (7,350 feet) above sea level and is surrounded by volcanic mountains and, as effectively a large bowl with an atmospheric cover, the city is prone to serious pollution. In 1992, the UN declared it the most polluted metropolis in the world. Since then, massive improvements have been achieved. Nevertheless, a week before our arrival, the city had its first air pollution alert in 11 years as smog was trapped in the valley and an emergency alert was in force for four days.
We spent all morning – over five hours – at the National Anthropology Museum as effectively the scene-setter for the rest of our trip which will involve visits to several ancient sites. We drove through the business district – lots of modern tall office blocks – to the nearby museum which is located in Chapultepec Park, one of the great urban parks of the world. The museum was opened in 1964 and is designed around a courtyard to replicate the style of Mesoamerican structures. It houses one of the finest anthropological and archeological collections on earth, so our guide Luis could only give us an overall of the major pre-Hispanic cultures with a particularly focus on the Aztec and Mayan civilisations.
It’s is noticeable that the Mesoamerican civilisations developed at similar times to those of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus and China and for the same reason – that there was suitable climatic conditions to sustain the growth of staple foods. This is why some historians have referred to these civilisations as being located in the “lucky latitudes”. In the case of the Mesoamerican cultures, the staple crop was maize.
Perhaps the most famous and impressive artefact in the museum is the huge Aztec stone of the sun. This was carved in 1479 but not found – near the cathedral in Mexico City’s main square – until 1790. It is almost 12 feet in diameter and weighs around 24 tons Some people have mistakingly called it a calendar but it is actually a sacrificial altar called a ‘temalocatl’. It is often called the calendar stone or the stone of the five eras because it has at its centre the sun surrounding by four squares representing previous flawed creations of our world. The sun is the fifth creation which is our current world.
After a buffet lunch at the museum, we spent the afternoon in and around Mexico City’s main square. We drove there through the historic centre of the city which has many statues and monuments commemorating heroes from Mexican history. The proper name for the square is Plaza de la Constitucion but locals call it Zocalo or ‘base’ because, in the 19th century, plans for a major monument to the constitution went no further than the pedestal. Indeed the term ‘zocalo’ has come to mean ‘main square’ throughout Mexico.
This one in Mexico City is among the larger squares in the world, measuring 220 metres (720 feet) from north to south and 240 metres (790 feet) from east to west. It is built on the site of the centre of pre-Hispanic Tenochtitlan. On the north side is the Metropolitan Cathedral (close to where the Aztec temples and pyramids were located); on the east side, the Presidential Palace (where Montezema’s palace was located); on the south side, city government offices; and, on the south side, hotels and shops. We all felt we knew this square because we had all seen the latest James Bond film “Spectre” which features the Zocalo in a brilliant opening segment. In fact, years ago, I set part of one of my short stories in the square.
The highlight of the afternoon was a visit to the Presidential Palace to see the frescoes of Diego Rivera (1886-1957). If you have seen the wonderful film “Frida” about Rivera’s wife Frida Kahlo, you will have seen scenes of Rivera creating these huge and detailed representations of Mexican history from the pre-Aztec period to the 20th century and depicting an eclectic range of characters all the way from Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés to German philosopher Karl Marx.
As it was Maundy Thursday, there a raucous ringing of bells from the Metropolitan Cathedral to announce the holding of 5 pm mass. This is one of the largest and oldest cathedrals in Latin America with construction starting in 1525 but extending over three centuries which explains the mixture of styles. When we went inside, we observed the start of the mass which was an impressive audiovisual experience with around 200 robed officiants parading to the gold-embellished altar with candles and incense plus a very loud organ playing and the whole performance shown on a set of large television screens with multiple camera positions plus panning and zooming shots.
We were back at our hotel at 6 pm after a full day of nine and a half hours during which the jet lag had continued to work its wonders.
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Highlights of Mexico (4): outward bound
March 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 1 (Wednesday) of our trip was wholly a travelling day. Flying with British Airways on a Boeing 747-4000, at 1.15 pm we departed from London’s Heathrow Airport where security was obviously tight following the previous day’s murderous terrorist attacks on the international airport and metro station in Brussels. On the journey, Roger read a book titled “Mexico: What Everyone Needs To Know” (Roderic Ai Camp), while Vee watched three movies: “The Danish Girl”, “Spectre” and “Bridge Of Spies”.
Our route was directly across the North Atlantic, then down the east side of Canada and the United States, and finally over the Gulf of Mexico. It was a long flight of just over 11 hours, but there is currently a six-hour time difference between London and our destination of Mexico City, so we arrived at 6.20 pm local time.
At the airport, the combination of jet lag and the city’s high altitude made us feel a bit wobbly – but that might just be old age. Then, when we saw that the official processing our immigration was called Jesus, we thought maybe we had died and gone to Heaven. We quickly came down to earth as we observed more evident security than at Heathrow: soldiers in threes with heavy machine guns.
We soon met our local guide Luis and our companions for the next two weeks. When we booked our holiday, the Cox & Kings brochure said that the group would be up to 26 but, in fact, it is a mere five – the smallest we have ever known. Besides us, there is only another couple John and Phyllis and a singleton Susan. Indeed it is so small a group that we will not have a guide with us throughout the holiday but only in each individual location.
We took a public limousine to our accommodation in Mexico City, the Hotel Galeria Plaza which is a large (434 rooms), modern hotel centrally located in the heart of the city’s financial district.
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Highlights of Mexico (3): Mexico today
March 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Mexico is a large country with a large population. Geographically it covers over two million square kilometres (over 760,000 square miles) which makes it the 13th biggest nation on the globe. It has an estimated population of over 120M which makes it the 11th most populated country on earth. The country has three time zones.
Officially the country is called the United Mexican States and it is a federation of 32 states (one of which is the capital Mexico City). Economically the country has the 15th largest gross domestic product in the world but, among OECD nations, it is second only to Chile in having the highest degree of economic disparity between the extremely rich and the extremely poor.
Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perceptions Index lists Mexico, at 95th, as the most crooked of all countries in the OECD. The current president is reformist Enrique Peña Nieto – a return to power by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after 12 years out of office – but he has been involved in his own scandals.
Infamously Mexico is best known outside the country for its war on drugs. This has left over 60,000 dead and perhaps another 20,000 missing over the last decade. The drug cartels have as many as 100,000 members. However, most of the narco violence takes place in the northern states and our holiday is in the most southern states.
Sadly kidnapping is endemic in Mexico and no longer just affects the rich. The true scale of this crime is unknown since most kidnappings are not reported because of the collusion or involvement of present or former police personnel. But they say that tourists are rarely the subject of kidnappings.
Oh, there’s now the Zika virus …
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Highlights of Mexico (2): Mexican history
March 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilisations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. While researchers do not agree which Mesoamerican culture first domesticated the cacao tree which gave us the wonders of chocolate, the use of the fermented bean in a drink seems to have arisen in what we now call Mexico.
Between 1519-1521, Hernan Cortés overthrew the mighty Aztec empire of Montezuma in Mexico. Already weakened by the ravages of the new disease of smallpox (itself brought over by Spanish emigrants), the Aztecs thought that the conquistadors were gods returning to fulfil an ancient prophecy and that Cortés had ‘secret weapons’ in the form of horses, dogs and gunpowder. To this day, when visitors to Latin America suffer upset stomachs, it is said to be ‘Montezuma’s revenge’.
Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colony’s Mexican War of Independence. Subsequently the Mexican–American War (1846–48) led to the forced loss of just over half its entire territory to the United States which was kind enough to pay a mere $15M for it. The history of the country is one of endless turbulence and many wars – including one with the delightful name the Pastry War (a conflict with France in 1838-1839).
Modern Mexico dates from the overthrow of the dictatorship in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country’s current political system. For 71 years (1929-2000), the country was ruled by the same semi-authoritarian political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
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Highlights of Mexico (1): introduction
March 21st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The Americas – the longest of all the continents, stretching from almost the North Pole to almost the South Pole. We have visited many countries in the different sections of the continent: the United States and Canada in North America, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala in Central America, and Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru in South America.
But there is a big gap labelled Mexico and this is the destination for our latest holiday. The trip is with Cox & Kings and will last two weeks. Family members will be staying at our house while we are away.
High up on my bucket list is a dynamic wish: for as long as I have the health and wealth, to have visited as many countries as my age. This year, I will be 68 and Mexico will be the 69th nation that I’ve visited [full list here].
I’ll be blogging regularly so please follow our travels.
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