Mazatlan

Confident about the quality of Mexico´s buses, we took an overnight one from Uruapan to Mazatlan - just 13 hours! (Did I mention Mexico is pretty big?) OK if you can sleep, but we made the mistake of booking seats right at the front, just behind the driver. He was playing his Mazatlan music - called La Banda, it´s traditionally "tuba dominated and exuberantly-spirited" according to the guide book. Basically its full of saxaphones, trumpets and clarinets and a fair bit of um-pa, um-pa, um-pas. - not the little orange variety!
Not exactly music to go to sleep to, but as Sophie pointed out, whatever keeps the driver awake!

Despite this and a change of bus at 2am (we got our sleeping bags out at this point as the a/c was begining to freeze the bones) I actually slept more than I thought.

We awoke in Mazatlan, which is a port town/resort on the west coast, and set about getting some accomodation sorted. I left Sophie with the bags and went searching - we take it in turns. The cheaper places the guide suggested were all pretty rough, especially the one owned by a Mexican Rab C Nesbitt!

But on my trek I stumbled upon the Hotel del Rio, a very basic place (and a bit crawley), but vitally it has A/C.

Its very hot and humid here and there isn`t a great deal to see, but there are some nice beaches and we found a lovely restaurant called El Shrimp Bucket - tasty food served with a smile, and believe me that´s rare!

The seaside part of Mazatlan reminds me of expat Spain, only substitute Brits for Americans. Although we did overhear some Mancunians in a bar - well you can´t have everything!

A swim in the sea and a photo of the sunset and we`ll be on our way thank you. We`re making our way to Copper Canyon. Lets not muck around!

Hike to the volcano (Uruapan part 2)

As we discovered yesterday (by taking the wrong colectivo) the reason they use these large trucks to ferry people around in, is because not all of the roads are tarmac. And when its been chucking it down with rain all night, you need something heavy duty.

We set off early yesterday to have a crack at this volcano, seeing the San Juan ruins on the way. We arrived in Angahuan, (50 mins on bus from Uruapan) which is a lovely little village with a market by the square in the centre. It’s a 10K trek to the volcano, and fancying a bit of exercise we turned down several offers from guides with horses. I had a feeling they thought we were mad – one guide sarcastically said "hasta mañana" as we rejected his offers. But they have a very friendly way of hassling you. Its by no means the hard sell.

As we approached the lava field, a mile or so from town, there was only one path to take, which led us to the ruins. The old church was surrounded by 15ft of black lava rock that we climbed over to get a good look. It was strange knowing that beneath our feet there was an old town that had been buried only 60 odd years ago.

We pushed on, again taking the one path available through the lava field. The directions in our guidebook were extremely vague and there were no helpful signs. So when we came to a fork in the trail, we just had to go on instinct. The second sign (out of two we saw) had a scratched arrow on it which pointed the way to the volcano. We duly followed. It was a hard climb, and after a few hours the path suddenly ended leaving a few miles of lava field between us and the cone of the volcano. That put an end to our journey - the lava field contained many boulders. You`d have to climb rather than walk over it. We didn’t have time to turn back and find a different path for risk of being stranded in Angahuan. It was disappointing, but we really should have taken a guide. On the way back I scratched a little correction to that sign with my swiss army knife. Sounds petty, but I`d rather someone else didn`t make the mistake we did!

It was an enjoyable days walk though, and we did see some great views – the volcano appeared to still be active with white smoke/steam coming from it -just to add a little tension! We got a taxi back to Uruapan with a friendly Mexican who teaches English on the side. So we had a good chat and it worked out cheaper than the bus – bargain!

Despite the smog, I maintain my stiff upper lip! (Uruapan part 1)

We took the bus to Uruapan, 45 mins away from Patzcuaro, in order to go see the Volcano Paricutin. This volcano last erupted in 1943 burying San Juan, a nearby village, but has since died down. However, the church tower is apparently still visible, sticking up through the lava (the lava apparently stopped at the foot of the altar). Should provide a good photo opportunity!

We’re looking forward to the trip to the Volcano tomorrow. It is a days worth of walking either by foot, with a guide or on a horse. The crater should be amazing to see, as I’m sure will be the sight of me on a horse, if we get one!

The town of Uruapan isn’t all that pleasant. It is clogged with traffic and fumes, - not a pretty place to look at. In Patzcuaro there were colectivos, which are small mini vans that act as a cross between a taxi and a bus. Superb value at only 5 pesos a ride (25p) you didn’t need to use a taxi. They have the same system here, however they use huge, loud snorting beasts, that throw out plumes of black smoke. And there are so many of them. Surely, replace them with the small minivans and pollution problem solved!

This afternoon we escaped `the beasts` and had a quick walk around the national park, which is just on the edge of the town. This has to be Uruapan’s one redeeming feature. Bring on the volcano!

The ´Unfortunate´ Monumento a Morelos

There is a very large lake which starts on the outskirts of Patzcuaro, and a 40 min boat ride took us to a small island called Janitzio. The boat trip came with entertainment, in the form of a Mexican band and there were great views in the form of mountains – plus the odd eel swimming by.

As we approached the island, the boat slowed to take in a synchronised boat show from some local fisherman with their butterfly fishing nets (below) - and very impressive it was too. The island is famous for these fishermen and the "pescado blanco" they catch. This is a small white fish that they put in stew, but we had some deep fried, before we left!

On the island there are tourist shops and restaurants that line a steep path up to a large monument that our guide book called ‘unfortunate’. Although the island itself was a little spoilt with tacky shops, the one redeeming feature was this 40-meter statue of José María Morelos, a great hero of Mexico's independence. OK, I’ve seen better looking monuments (The Angel of the North?!) but this one had impressive murals inside and steps which took you all the way to the top for some fantastic views of the lake and surrounding mountains (top picture). It was well worth seeing. At least our 2009 Footprint guidebook has accurate restaurant and hotel listings… oh no, wait. It doesn’t.

Journey to Patzcuaro

Buenos tardes de Patzcuaro!

I`ve just spent ten minutes trying to work out how to type the @ sign. It shares a key with Q and in order to get it, I ended up having to ask the Internet headmistress here at the town library. She wasn`t so impressed by my keyboard skills. You press the ALT key followed by the number 6, then 4 - in that order or it won`t work. Simple, hey? Don`t know what all the fuss was about! As you can guess, there is no wireless to be had so its internet cafe time.

We arrived here yesterday after getting a bus from Mexico City to Morelia, followed by another to Patzcuaro. I had geared myself up for the first leg, a 5 hour journey and came fully prepared with three freshly downloaded episodes of Hugh Laurie, playing that well known American doctor. Hardly acting like a serious traveller, I know. But we`re lugging this laptop around, so why not?! Anyway, after successfully negotiating the Metro with 200 odd litres of backpack between us, we arrived at the terminal and boarded the bus. We had first class tickets but I wasn`t prepared for just how nice this bus was. The seats were leather and fully reclining, which meant you could actually go to sleep if you wanted. They were pretty much first class airline seats -not that I know much about first class airline seats! The bus was air conditioned of course and they provided us with a packed lunch, which was very nice of them. And critically they had toilets, both ladies and gents, that were odour free. So, hats off to Mexico´s bus system!

The bus from Morelia to Patzcuaro was more interesting however, as we had stepped down to second class. The first bus didnt show and the second certainly wasn`t odour free! But this was only supposed to be an hour journey, so suck it up, I thought. (Not literally!)

About ten minutes into the ride, we stopped at a bus stop and as the driver pulled in, another bus pulled in front and side-swiped our bus taking the wing mirror off. I knew this had to happen at some point with all this crazy driving. A wing mirror on a bus here is about as essential as having at least four wheels. But this wasn`t going to stop our bus driver. Once we got going again, we made regular pit stops at garages where our driver would run out and ask if he could buy a wing mirror -or any mirror- I assumed he must have some masking tape or something. Sadly, they were all out of stock, so we continued on with no wing mirror and a prayer! Thankfully the journey only cost us $1.50 each (pounds, im not searching for the sterling sign!)

Having arrived in Patzcuaro, we took turns to check out hotel prices while the other guarded the bags. There are some really luxurious hotels here, all done in the colonial style of building. However, on a budget we must be frugal. Frugal is the word we tell ourselves everyday. So, we found what appeared to be an acceptable hotel for 250 pesos (12 pounds) per night for a room. On the outside it looked fine. But unfortunately, the inside was a little less than fine. And that`s me being very kind. The first thing I thought was, has the rat checked out of this room, or is he staying another night? Actually, I was fully prepared to be brave about it, but it wasn´t secure, there was no window and it just wasn´t cheap enough for that.

So, time becoming an issue, we checked into the Hotel Refugio del Angel which was twice the price but ten times as nice! Here was a seriously nice room, with double height ceiling, walk in shower and HUGE bed. Its been a long day, we´ll treat ourselves for one night.

But frugal being the word, today we found a 250 pesos hotel that is perfectly reasonable, and where I´m sure rats aren´t welcome!

Patzcuaro is a charming little town with many picturesque plazas surrounded by brown and white colonial buildings. The locals smile and are very happy to talk to you - and they even stop their cars if you want to cross the road.

What is your favourite colour?

First of all, thank you Emilio for being my first follower... and maybe my last. I feel the pressure building on this blog writing malarkey! But no, this is just my diary and who cares if I put it on facebook.

Today (actually Saturday, I'm behind) we went to see the pyramids which are just an hour away by bus. To throw in a fact, they are the third largest pyramids in the world and belong to the ancient city of Teotihuacan. (I'd like my readers to be informed, but awake!)

One thing we hadn't expected was to be a target for groups of Mexican school kids. There were hundreds of them and they had split up into groups to target any tourist they could find to practice some English- by way of an interview. As annoying as it sounds, I actually really enjoyed the chance to show that I could speak the odd sentence of Spanish. And in terms of getting to grips with a foreign language, we were very much on a par, if not better than some of these kids. Impressive hey! No? Well it made me feel good anyway.

So, in-between the ten or so interviews, we climbed up to the top of the pyramid of the moon and found great views of the ancient city and also the odd person meditating - it is apparently a place of great energy. Still suffering from the thin air, I could have done with some of that, but I couldn't have got in 'the zone' with all the crowds swarming over the summit!

Hola Mexico City!

OK, so I'd better get on with this blog then!

Despite suffering from a 17 hour flight, being given the run around by Continental Airlines* and the thin atmosphere - we're at 7,349 ft above sea level, no less - I've thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of days here. I must add that I'm the only one of the two of us finding a lack of oxygen in the air hard going.

*see Sophie's blog http://vivalatinamerica.wordpress.com

The city has a very happy-go-lucky feel to it and the 19 million Mexicans that live in the greater metropolis all seem to get along just fine! There seems to be just about enough room for all of them - and the cars they drive. Its certainly a different style of driving they have here. I'm used to London driving, but this is something else. There must be an unwritten law that says that there should be no space between each car, no matter what speed you're traveling at. Breaking distances aren't welcome!

But we'll let them off as, after all, they use old style VW Beetles for taxis and the Fed Police drive around in mean looking Dodge Chargers. I'll try get a photo of one if I can be brave enough! I'll have to get onto Boris about getting some for our Met. They just look the business and must make a criminal think twice. Probably not great MPG though.

The streets are vibrant but not buzzing with the multiculturalism I had expected. We really stand out here and as a consequence get stared at a lot.

The city appears to have been designed very well and the roads are quite wide - the picture at the top is just a side street where we're staying. So hats off to the Spaniards. They must have known this was to become the third largest agglomeration in the world!

Lets go see some pyramids ....