Archive for March, 2016
Highlights of Mexico (11): from San Cristobal de las Casas to Palenque
March 31st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Day 8 (Wednesday) was essentially another travelling day so it was an early start again: alarm at 5 am and departure from the hotel at 6.15 am with a packed breakfast. We were journeying from San Cristobal de las Casas north to Palenque in our minibus along a single lane road – a trip of […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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