Chiapas… a road trip.

I’m trying… I’m trying really hard to let go, to try to find a silver lining. I’m almost over it at this point, but still reserve the right to spew explicatives at some point along this post. We found ourselves outside of Chichen Itza with about a week to kill an nothing explicitly planned. We had originally intended to head West to either Huatulco or Puerto Angel, but I dropped the ball on the planning of this phase of the trip: I did not look into how we would actually get there. Turns out there are no direct flights or even indirect flights to get from Cancun to that part of the Pacific coast. Flights would have to stop-over in at least two different cities and they would cost us upwards of $1,300. We looked in to driving out there, but the roads are slow in this part of the country: a 23 hour trip driving flat out in one direction. Not exactly feasible. So we looked at a map, plotted a route and decided to kill at least a few days in the mountains before returning to catch our flight to the Caribbean. This seemed like a fantastic idea to me in particular, as I was sick of the oppressive heat of the Yucatan jungles. Some mountain exploring promised cooler temperatures and a change of pace from the tourist factory conditions of the Cancun area.

Our goal was to make it out to the the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, located high up in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas Mountains. It was going take us 3 days to get there, but at this point we were pretty used to driving around in Mexico. We started off by heading out to the coastal fishing town of Champoton (Google Map), 380 km west of Piste: a 5.5 hour trip. Champoton was a pretty refreshing change from Playa del Carmen in that there is absolutely no tourist infrastructure there. I think we saw a total of two hotels, neither one catering to either foreign or Mexican visitors. The town mostly follows a several kilometer stretch of rocky coastline where fishing boats return in the evening to fold up their nets and sell their catch along improvised little food stands on shore. There wasn’t much to see here, but the entire shoreline is set up as a very nice paseo where locals come to walk (and jog!) along, as the blistering sun retreats back into the Gulf of Mexico. This was the stuff of fantastic sunset photo opportunities… Not a bad start.

Next we continued on into the foothills, stopping at a shit-hole of a town called Palenque (Google Map), 300 km Southwest of Champoton: a 4 hour trip. Palenque was disappointing in so many ways. It’s a very tourist corrupted town, as it serves as a jumping off point for the nearby Mayan ruin of Palenque (for which the town was named). Food here was non-descript, service was comically atrocious, and just about everything was horribly over priced. We couldn’t help from feeling ripped off here (hint: foreshadowing), as numerous 2-for-1 drink specials failed to mention that the thimble sized drinks are billed at higher prices than some US nightclubs. Added to all this was an unbearable heat caused by too many people and a lack of any discernable breeze. We needed to get out of here and fast! The only redeemable aspect of this stop was a waterfall that we visited just outside of town called Misol-Ha: Very beautiful, and a nice pool where you can swim right under the falls.

We got out of town quickly the next day heading uphill to the town of San Cristobal (Google Map), 220 km Soutwest of Palenque: a 4.5 hour trip. This was Zapatista country, and you are reminded of this fact the entire drive up. To get anywhere around here you need to pass through heavily fortified military checkpoints, complete with armed soldiers and camouflaged pill boxes. These are not your typical Federales. Nominally the soldiers are here to curb the rampant drug smuggling coming up from South America, but one has to wonder if the 1994 armed uprising is still fresh in their minds (This is fascinating history, by the way). The roads here are quite windy and slow… “enhanced” by the numerous speed bumps (alternately called topes / vibradores) scattered through every town along the way. The locals here have a creative way to try and impose a “local tax” on people traveling through here. Every so often, a temporary road block is set up across the road consisting of a rope tied on one end to a tree and held taunt on the other… usually by a group of kids. If you actually stop, they will pester/demand that you buy whatever they are selling before letting you pass. Obviously the trick is to not stop, instead driving right through the rope… Accelerating and revving the engine actually improves results here. This game of chicken will usually end up with the road block getting dropped to the ground a split second before the rope gets ripped out of someone’s hands. We never actually hit the rope, but saw some being tied up and repaired at points, so I guess their timing is not always perfect.

San Cristobal itself is a pretty cool town… an old colonial settlement established high in the mountains at 7000 ft. There is some amazing scenery surrounding the town, great for hiking and such which we unfortunately did not have any time to do. We did however go to a nearby canyon called Sumidero, and took a boat tour along the river through towering rocks on either side. Very cool.

Just when we were getting ready to make our way back to Cancun, the unthinkable happened. Ana had gone downstairs to check us out of our hotel, and I was busy packing the remainder of our stuff. When she returned I could tell immediately that something was wrong: “Don’t panic… stay calm… stay calm. The car is gone.” Of course, this immediately set me in a state of panic. The entire car!!! I had figured that we might get some clothes stolen at some point… some money maybe… perhaps even the laptop. We had contingencies for all these things. But an entire car? Would we have to pay for it? We were technically insured through our Visa card, but who knows when it comes to actually collecting on a claim. I couldn’t believe it. We had parked directly in front of the hotel door. How could this happen?

We made it down to the police station (thank God Ana speaks Spanish) to check, and sure enough our car hadn’t been towed that night. The officer there told us that these things happened pretty often and that the car was probably on an Indian reservation by now (either that or Guatemala) because the police don’t have jurisdiction there. So no hope of recovering the car. Meanwhile our credit card had already been charged $9000 USD because the police had to inform the rental company to create a police report. So we were officially screwed. No hope of having the insurance deal with Thrifty Rentals directly. We would have to hope that the insurance panned out and reimbursed us for the (substantial) cost of the car. F’in Brutal. If this wasn’t bad enough we were now some 1200 km away from Cancun with no mode of transportation to catch our pre-paid, non-refundable, outbound flight. So in addition to the car we had to buy another $750 USD worth of airline tickets. Like I said… I’m still trying really hard to keep some perspective.

For those who are interested, here’s the rundown on car rental collisions and/or loss:

• In order to use your credit card insurance, you must decline the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Loss Damage Waiver (LDW). The rental agreement must also be paid with the credit card (Visa).
• In the event of a collision, there is usually a sizable deductable that comes out of you own pocket when using the CDW/LDW… something like $1000 USD.
• In the event of a total loss (or theft), you are responsible for paying 20% of the cost of the vehicle out of your own pocket! Yes, CDW/LDW is a horrible, horrible option to sign up for.
• In almost every country outside of the US, your credit card (at least ours) is the primary insurance carrier. In the US, it is the secondary insurer after your normal car insurance. Typically there is no deductible to pay for a claim, unlike normal car insurance and CDW/LDW.
• Seems too good to be true? There are a couple of large catches. First off, there is a lot of paperwork to take care of… all while on the road in a country where you might not speak the language. You need a police report, the original rental agreement (don’t leave this in the glove compartment!), a damage/loss report from the rental company, and a credit card statement showing the rental agreement and the car amount to be reimbursed. Secondly, as you might have guessed, you need to float the cost of the car while they sort things out. Who knows how long this might take. Your credit limit might not even be enough to cover this. Will they only pay some sort of equivalent blue-book value, or the price paid for the car (as the rental company will charge you)? We’re still waiting to find these things out.

Here’s hoping that this incredible bout of bad luck means that we will have hassle free travels from here on out. I’m pretty sure that we’ll get reimbursed for some amount… and I’m hoping that it’s the full sum. We’ll see. It’s probably not going to be that easy. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our travels through Chiapas:
http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/Chiapas

…there’s not a lot of pictures after the incident, but hopefully you all can forgive us for not being in the picture taking mood.

Tags: Chiapas,Mexico,San Cristobal,Palenque,Champoton,car,driving,theft,insurance

Yucatan

We set off from Playa del Carmen to see some Mayan ruins in the area… The most famous of which is Chichen Itza, nearby to where we were staying. We could have day-tripped it, but were reluctant to show up later in the day when it was hot and very crowded. Instead we opted to rent a car and stay overnight, seeing any other sites along the way.

First stop was Tulum: a Mayan city perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The story goes that Tulum was the first city seen by the Spanish as they explored the Yucatan mainland from Cuba. One explorer on the expedition was so impressed that he likened Tulum to the great Spanish city of Seville. I think that he might have been away at sea for too long…

 

Next stop Coba: one of the few remaining ruins in Mexico where one can actually climb the buildings. It was actually disappointing to discover that most of the buildings are closed off these days. The reason: An 80 year old woman from San Diego slipped and fell to her death in Chichen Itza in 2006… I have mixed feelings on this one. It’s horrible that someone died falling off the ruins, but it also sucks that one person’s misstep forever prevents others from fully experiencing the sites. Anyway Coba is nice in that it is not a fully cleared site… more like the temples of Ankor Wat in that the jungle still grows in and around buildings. Supposedly this is also the highest Mayan ruin, from which you can see El Castillo in Chichen Itza. I only saw Jungle :)

 

We got up early to go see Chichen Itza: a great move as we were the only ones there for a while. It’s a big site, quite different from Coba in that all of the jungle is cleared so that the main buildings can be seen clearly. It’s good and bad in that it makes it easy to see the ruins but also makes it easy to support large volumes of tourists. The main building, the one recognizable in all the pictures, is called El Casitillo and it is quite a site to behold. It’s amazing how well the building has been restored… though as Ana says, “who knows what it’s really supposed to look like… they’re just making it all up as they go.” I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re just making it all up, but she does have a point. In any case the thing that I didn’t realize going in is that Chichen Itza is actually a very large site… much more than just El Castillo. One remarkable structure is a great ball court: the largest one in all the Mayan ruins. The goal of the game was to hit a ball through a loop with one’s hip… but the sheer size of the court made it unlikely that only the hip was used. The way that the walls are constructed make the court an excellent sound amplifier as well. It’s easy to hear a conversation more than a 100 yards away. Cool.

Here are some pictures to peruse at your leisure: http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/YucatanPeninsula

Tags: Tulum,Coba,Chichen Itza,Mexico,Yucatan,Mayan

Playa del Carmen

Spent almost a week on the beach out here in the Mexican Riviera and it was good… and Hot. Real Hot. We definitely expected as much, but anticipation and realization are two birds of totally different feathers. Heat + Humidity is not my strong suit. Ana, on the other hand, was totally in her element. She might bust her winter parka out for 60 deg F weather, but won’t sweat a single bead in 90 deg, 90% humidity heat. Unbelievable.

Luckily for me, we had air conditioning in the room so sleeping at night wasn’t a problem. Our days went something like this:

1. wake up
2. eat some tacos
3. head to beach
4. hurry back to air conditioning, nap
5. eat some tacos
6. hurry back to air conditioning, sleep

… at least, that is, until I caught some sort of bug and was wrecked for two days. I started off feeling achy with a slight fever, at which point I thought, “great, $%&! flu in Mexico. I’m so screwed.” Lucky for me I neither had a) severe symptoms or b) a flight out of town the next morning (possibly more troublesome)… because that would have made my world trip complete, getting quarantined for flu-like symptoms in some 3rd world country. Anyway, the only bad thing I experienced was some stomach cramps and frequent trips to the bathroom (Sean, if you’re reading this don’t think of it as a bus… think of it more like a Ferry). Could have been something I ate… maybe the agua frescas? Nah, they were too delicious.

We did do some productive stuff while we were here… namely some SCUBA diving. The water was simply fantastic, and the reefs were some of the best I’ve ever visited. I think the water temperature was about 80 degrees(!) meaning we couldn’t wear a wet-suit even if we wanted to. Reminded me of diving back home in Hawaii, but even warmer! We did two 2-tank dives: one along the reef at Playa del Carmen, and one off-shore from Cozumel. The dive at Playa del Carmen was fun as we saw a bunch of turtles just hanging out and eating. Normally, when I see these guys in Hawaii, they’re really shy and swim away quickly… but these turtles didn’t seem to mind us at all: just hung around minding their own business. Diving at Playa is a bit tricky as every dive is a “drift dive”, meaning the ocean currents will push you hundreds of meters from the boat. This took some getting used to, especially since this was the first diving that Ana and I have done since we were in Tahiti 5 years ago. No problems though, as we reacquainted ourselves pretty quickly. Two days (and many trips to the toilet) later we headed off to Cozumel to dive at a spot called “Columbia” which was simply awesome. Delicate coral formations, underwater caves, schools of fish, a wall dropping off at least 100 ft… heck, we even found some huge lobsters that looked ready for dinner. We didn’t get any pictures, as we don’t have a underwater camera housing, but we did meet up with a trio from Chicago who did have one. They promised to email us some photos, so hopefully I can post them in the near future.

For those of you not named Mag-Deuce, and who aren’t exactly sure where we are, Playa del Carmen is a stretch of beach just south of Cancun on the Mexican Riviera (Caribbean). You can see a map of it by Clicking Here. Cozumel is an island just off shore from Playa and is a renowned dive spot. We were pretty excited to sneak a dive in there.

Here are some photos of our stay:

http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/PlayadelCarmen

Tags: Mexico,Playa del Carmen,Cancun,Cozumel,diving,scuba,swine flu,tacos

North Carolina

Spent about a week in the greater Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. We had originally planned on staying just the weekend (visiting Bob and Steph), but ultimately stayed a week to resupply and book lodging for our upcoming stops. We hit all the big sights: Target, DSW, Barnes & Nobles, WalMart ;) …rolling into WalMart in particular is always an otherworldly experience. Everything is so cheap there. I think I spent 10 bucks for some dry-fit golf shirts, which is crazy. I don’t know how anyone can compete with these guys. Someday the Chinese will stop buying T-bills from the US Government and Armageddon will hit as no one can afford clothing. Until then, WalMart’s a great option for travel gear. By the way, I highly recommend golf gear for dress casual travel clothing: Washes easily, dries quickly, and wrinkle free.

Bob and I go back about 10 years to the time when we were house mates living in Santa Clara. It had been a while since we saw him and Steph, so we were long overdue for a visit. Steph is currently about 9 months pregnant so it was really great seeing the whole family before life got too crazy with the new baby. This was the first time that Ana has met little Cate, and I hadn’t seen her since she was a few months old. Cate is super adorable: she smiles alot and asks lots of questions. Bob has already started indoctrinating her in the ways of engineering… which is pretty funny for Q and A sessions.

Steph: “ How many sides in a triangle?”

Cate: “Three!”

Steph: “and what are the pointy parts called?”

Cate: “Vertices!!!”

I do have to give a shout out to Bob for a temporary revival of the tradition: “Sunday we eat like kings”. Pork spare ribs… barbeque chicken… fresh okra, corn, and green beans… Man, what a spread! Also another shout out to Patrick Shultz for hanging out with us all weekend and keeping me from falling too far over the edge Saturday night. Patrick, Sunday morning was a slow start but it could have been much worse!

Here are some pictures of our stay in North Carolina: http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/ChapelHill

Tags: North Carolina,Barbeque,WalMart

New York

Arrived back in the USA in style this time. Though it was a bit of a hectic journey, we ultimately got bumped up to business class for our first flight on our RTW ticket. What happened was we missed our flight. Really, it (mostly) wasn’t my fault this time! First we were a little late getting to the airport from Madrid, and then the attendant sent us to the wrong check-in line. This caused us to almost miss our connecting flight from Madrid and meant that we could not check our bags through to New York. Sprinkle in a late take off and sitting on the tarmac for 40 min (they forgot to drive the stairs to the plane!)… Next thing you know, we’re running through London Heathrow with our bags only to just miss our flight by 5 minutes. Doh! Lesson learned here: Don’t try to cut your international flights too close, as they close the check-in 1 hour before departure. Luckily there were other flights that day, and a really nice group of British Airways agents hooked us up with a free upgrade. Sweet.

Our actual time in New York was pretty cool. Some people have asked us what we were doing here, since were were supposed to be on a trip around the world. Well, we kind of had to fly through some portion of the states to make our way down to Mexico… plus it gave us an opportunity to visit friends on the east coast and settle any remaining issues at home like endorsing checks and getting stuff shipped to us.

My roommate from college (Sean Donato) came up from Washington DC to hang out with us… quite gracious of him! Sun-D (Sean) had lived in the city for a few years while he doing his master’s work at Columbia, so he knew his way around town. We mostly did a lot of walking around and sightseeing, and hit some really cool bars that we never would have found on our own. One of the places we went to for dinner was called “peek”… which I didn’t get until I went to use the bathroom. The little inside joke here is that the bathroom is enclosed on three sides by floor to ceiling one-way mirrors. When you’re doing your business you can see everyone in the restaurant, and hopefully no one can see you! Another place didn’t even have a name, just a sake bottle painted on the side of the entrance. You had to climb below a building to get in, but once inside you seemed to enter a different world… something looking like pre-WWII Japan. It was pretty sick. The 3 page densely packed sake menu was a bit overwhelming, but the drinks were great and the atmosphere could not be beat.

We also took a side trip upstate to a town called Beacon, New York. Another friend of ours (Dawn Camner) had recently moved back here from the San Francisco Bay Area, and we wanted to see her beloved house on the Hudson River :) Beacon was a great little town that allowed us to relax after so many days of bouncing around big cities. We could have gotten out and done stuff, but were really content just to relax and cook our own meal for a change (sorry for the smokey house Dawn :( ).

Some pictures of New York: http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/NewYork

Tags: Flight,New York,Beacon