El mirador Trek part two

.Well, i have been abit slack on the blog thing of late, almost two months behind on stories, i guess time flys when your having fun!

 Well on Day two of the el mirador trek, and we had 8-9hours walking ahead of us to get from the el tintal campsite to el mirador. Most of the day was a blur of jungle, jungle and more jungle with a few sightings of monkeys, snakes and a large section of the track covered in giant ants that looked like they could all cover you and devour you in a few seconds. We finally reached el mirador just before nightfall and after two days in the hot sweaty jungle i got to have the best shower of my life, just a bucket of cold water rigged to a shower head, it was wonderfully refreshing!
On day three we had the whole day to explore the El Mirador ruins, a massive sprawling site, the largest of the preclassic mayan sites including  numerous pyramids and temples, and has the biggest pyramid in the mayan world. It felt really special to be able to view the site in its mostly unexcavated state, felt veery indiana jones style!

The top of la danta pyramid you could see for miles around, on clear days you can see the tops of the temples in tikal some 70kms away.

after exploring most of the site wehad a few hours to relax in the afternoon (well some of the boys took relax to mean go play soccer for a few hours, and buggered up all their feet), before heading up to the other tall pyramid El Tigre, to watch the sunset. Our wonderful guide eric, only young early 20s i think, is so incredibly knowledgeable about el Mirador, having grown up all around the ruins he is able to read the glyphs and is able to tell us about all of the structures that we see even the most obscure ones that on the surface look quite ordinary having not been excavated yet. As We reached the pyramid el tigre, it was a rickety staircase of sorts leading up to the top with a rope pulley thing to help you up the last section, being slightly terrified of heights it was pretty challenging getting up there and realising it would be dark when i had to get down again, after taking in the beautiful view for awhile, i decied to leave the rest of the group and find my way down and back to camp before it got dark.  It turned out to be abit of a silly decision mainly as it was fairly dark at this stage and im HOPELESS with directions and got abit lost.  After a bit of a panic in the jungle i managed to find my way back to the bottom of the pyramid, where luckily another girl was coming down early as well and we managed to find our way back to camp together.

We all settled down for the night for some much needed rest, only to be awoken at around 2 am by the loudest howler monkeys have heard so far, they were so close to the tents, and their roars kept me up for quite some time.  We set off on day 4 without much exitement, saying goodbye to a few of the crew who were doing the 6 day trek.  Day 4 was the long stretch back to el tintal campsite, which was largely unexciteing except that me and another guy were walking separetly from the rest of the group and were startled by a large black cat creature walking across the trail (black jaguar/puma/jaguarundi??).

 After a good sleep in a crowded cosy tent we set off on day 5 for the last stretch to carmelita, we arrived about 5 hours later and joined the rest of the group for a well deserved cerveza at the little town tienda. Feet were sore, body was extremely tired but the trek was one of the greatest weeks of my life :)

On the road to guatemala...and start of El Mirador trek

After a few big margarita infused jungle nights at El Panchan, Sarah and i were off to Flores Guatemala, our first border crossing experience! Which turned out to be pretty anticlimatic, after our boat ride from mexico, we arrived at the immigration station, filled out our forms and ended up up giving the immigration officers a lift to Flores in our bus.

Which began the next part of our trip planning the trek to El Mirador, the largest site of pre-classic maya!

Oh the trek, 120kms all up to get there and back, plus the walking around at the el mirador site, left us with some very sore feet! The first day we had to travel by bus from flores to a little town on the edge of the mayan biosphere called carmelita.  With all twelve of us trekkers in the bus, plus our guide and driver and all our gear/water, we seemed to have overloaded the bus, having three flat tyres on our way to carmelita. 

When we finally made it, it was a few hours later then when should have been there to start the trek, and our guides were worried that we would be walking the dark.  Which ended up happening to me and three other guys, we had separated from the front group and had to make our way through the last hour of the trek in darkness with no guide to the first campsite El Tintal! I was fairly scared but luckily these guys didnt seem to mind and had it under control so all worked out fine, and we eventually got to El tintal and were ready for some much needed dinner and a seat by the fire :)

whahahhaka -> palenque

After a few days staying in Oaxaca and San Cristobal de las casas, Sarah and i left the desert-y towns and made our way to Palenque. Wow what a difference in the 5 hours it took to get to palenque, we left freezing high altitude to arrive into sweltering humidity amidst the jungle :) it was a great and welcome change although my backpack is alot heavier, as i have no need to wear all  my big jackets and boots.


We stayed in El Panchan, on the road just outside of the main palenque town on the way to the ruins, a cool little old world hippy place, we met some great travellers, lots of people from a "community" (really sounded like a cult, but they insisted it wasnt) and some that remind you of the extreme effects that 30 years of heavy drugs can have on your mind, especially crazy shaman of the forest dude.

The ruins themself, were a great change from the ones we had seen previously in stark desert environments, these were hidden among the trees in the jungle and felt like had stepped into the hidden worlds of indiana jones!

Mexico city metro

Ah stupid travellers!

The only thing i had been warned about while travelling in mexico city was to avoid taking the metro at peak times, its incredibly busy and best to stay away.  However Sarah and I found ourselves far away from our hostel, exhausted after a big day of walking and the only way to get home was metro at start of peak time. neither of us were prepared for the quick big squeeze onto the metro and got separted with me on the train and sarah stranded at the station.  Luckily about five mins before we got on the train we met a nice man Raymondo, who we were chatting to while waiting for the train,when we got to our stop, he offered to go back to find sarah as i didnt want to leave incase she was on the next few trains. soon after both arrived and we now have a little plan about what we do in that situation if it ever happens again :)


I FINALLY GOT TO CLIMB A PYRAMID! at Teotihuacan pyramid of the sun. I was so exicited on the way there i had completely forgotten about my terrible fear of heights, i only remembered when i had reached the first platform. Started hyperventillating, but managed to calm myself down, and then at each level i had to stop and take 10mins to calm down, reminding myself that this was a childhood dream and that i had to finish.  In what felt like hours but was quite quick really, i managed to get to the top, and so glad to get there it was a spectacular view.

                                          Sarah: are we really gonna climb that?

Just have to keep reminding myself, now is the time to start living fearlessly!

End of Guanajuato and beginnings of travels with Sarah

I'm a real mexican cowgirl!

or at least i went horseriding in the mexican desert, which looked like a backdrop to an old western movie.

Horseriding here felt abit different then back home, for one you have to wear proper cowboy boots, no riding helmet, just a hat and with different saddles, but it was fun and terrifying at the same time.  I was letting my horse get a drink from the trickling river when he started kicking his feet, then our guide starting to yell something at me in spanish...quickly translated by the other guys on the tour to mean if i dont get my horse out of the river he was gonna roll....was abit scared that i was gonna be trapped under the horse but i managed to get away.

After staying with the lovely Bre and Kent for 3 weeks, it was time to get out of my comfy guanajuato bubble and hike it back to mexico city to meet cousin Sarah. We spent 4 days in mexico city, on my prior trip i had put off doing a few things the first time i was here, so we could see them together, most important of which are the Museo national de anthropologia´and visiting Teotihuacan.

The museum of anthropology was amazingly huge and i think has re-ignited my passion for archaeology, with something like 27 exhibition halls im pretty sure we didnt get to see everything, especially because we got abit lost and started walking through on the wrong side of the museum.  We only realised at the end of going around when we saw the "introduction to anthropology" sign. Sigh!  After the museum we skipped across to chapultepec park and went to the zoo there where we got to see pandas. Unfortunately this zoo was abit rough around some edges, we went to see the safari side of the zoo and most of the animals exhibits looked like they weren´t there, and after looking closer at the exhibits there was only a little gap between us and the animals.  We spent the rest of the time there looking over our shoulders thinking that maybe the lion had escaped!.

Guanajuato, Mezcal and Bre!

After almost 3 years have finally made it to Guanajuato to visit my friend Bre! after coming here for a few months holidays she has ended up staying here for the better part of three years, and i can see why.  This town is beautiful, lots of winding, (hilly!) streets with beautiful brightly coloured houses and..... lots of partying!  I had been warned by previous visitors about this last part and that i had better build up my stamina to keep up with the people here and have been trying,  but between the strong and delicious tasting mezcal (like tequila) and cheap beers i've found it pretty difficult!

                                           Bar fusilado with all the different flavours of mezcal

Of course this town has alot more to offer then just bars, on my first full day here Kent (Bre's boyfriend) took us to the ex-hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera, this was originally a huge homestead built by the spanish, now with half the property split into a hotel and a museum.  This place is huge, with large sprawling gardens, each section of garden had a different theme, modeled on various countries, i'm told that back in the day it took over 200 people to keep the garden up and running.  The house even had its own private chapel with just 5 chairs reminding you that all this splendour was only for a family of five.

Next Stop....mexico's different "appreciation" of death, the Museo de Las Momias, which exhibits mummified remains of people dug up from the past 100 years or so. The first remains were dug up in the last part of the 1800's when space was running out in the cemetary and they needed to make more room.  When the bodies were exhumed they found that due to the mineral content of the soil and the extremely dry atmosphere that the remains had been preserved in a unique way (mummified).  Its abit of a shock realising that many of the remains here have living relatives and are only on display as they couldnt keep paying for there burial place after death.  There are various types of mummies here ranging from old men, pregant women, children, babies...coming from a different culture i found it quite confronting, especially with the children,  but I guess it does raise a pretty good question as to why i'm so comfortable looking at ancient mummies say from egypt (including baby and child mummies i have viewed) and not these ones.

...Arty...

Having wandered around i now see why this city is the city of museums they are at every turn! After leaving the palace national i stumbled across a museum seemingly hidden across the road. It seemed like a door going to nowhere with just a guard out the front waving me through.  still not nowing where to go i went upstairs in hope that i was going the right way and found the first floor with lots of beautiful sculptures, mostly of jaguars and abstract forms, was really struck me was each piece was allowed so much space,  havent seen a gallery so spread out allowing each form to have their own space and not on top of each so you can appreciate each on its own.

Downstairs i was a quite  shocking exhbition of death which seemed quite visceral.  I didnt any photos of this space as found it abit grotesque. The entrance had sculptured life like babies bodies at all stages of foetal develpment, most with huge graphic mishapen details or birth defects. This was quite confronting, along with that paintings of many distressed women, interesting to see once but i wont be hurrying back anytime soon.

Next stop the Museo Del Bellas Artes huge, white building with beautiful domes on top.  They had a selection of murals on each level, where i found the my  most favourite painting so far by Jorge gonzalez camarena "liberacion la humanoid se libera, it seemed to have elements of futurism & cubism, my two most favourite art movements & was so huge! I love that so much of the art i have seen here is focused on murals, taking up not just a little frame, but a whole wall.

Its just so Colourful!

The thing that is so striking being in mexico is just how colourful everything is! My hostel is right in the centre of town near the Zocalo or Plaza del la constitution with six storeys and has a wonderful rooftop terrace that overlooks mexico city.  Its so lovely looking out and seeing houses in the distance painted in different bold colours, really brightens the city. 

My first little wanderings around the city followed no path, i prefer to walk and see where i end up, keeping close watch on where i've come from so i dont get too lost! First stop was the cathedral metropolitan, which i right next to my hostel the obvious first stop.  Beautiful towering almost gothic architecture (i'm told its baroque) its the oldest cathedral in mexico.  Although i don't really consider myself religious, cant help but feeel a deep sense of serenity in this building, even though it was quite hot outside, immediately inside it felt so cool and calming, i ended up staying to listen to one of the services.  Never really had anyting to do with catholicism but walking past all the altars and chapels inside, each dedicated to their own saints and different customs for eac chapel, i would love for someone involved in the church to be able to explain all these different customs, just for curiosity sake, not because im thinking of converting!

After the cathedral next stop the Palace National, locatd on the other side of the plaza del la constitution. Such a big building and have to go through many security check to get into the building (i got my water bottle taken off me again! I have to buy a new one everyday as nowhere lets you take it in with you!). Such a huge building the mains section has been transformed into a interactive museum style walkthrough. I was really impressed with this set up, i think many australian museums|historic centres could really benefit from how well this was organised.  One the second level are the famed diego riviera murals, which even thouh i had seem in booksbefore i had no idea just how HUGE they were, and wrapped around the whole of the building!

Speaking no spanish i was very apprehensive about going to a restaurant and having to order food, luckily on my first night here met a lovely swedish girl who had already been here 6months, so she took me out and showed me some of the nicer and cheaper places a little further away from the hostel.  Yummy yummy mexican food, after trying to navigate the menu i decided on 'Sopa de papa y poro' to start with arroz 'Tinga del pollo', yummy potato soup to begin  and a mains meal of small chicken pieces with bean and rice, so delicious im gonna have to come back! If only i could remember how to find it!

In Transit

Ah made it....was alittle bit bumpy but now i'm here.

I finally understand why so many people hate going through customs, i've never had any issues before going through LAX, and was always quite smug with myself having never had a problem trip!.  Before any of you think the worst i wasn't pulled up for doing anything bad, it was just a really long waiting game, over an hour and a half just to get through passport control (being fingerinted & photographed) and then another hours wait to through customs for a very weary traveller, this was a little bit too much to take. Having to clear these obtsacles then had to immediately check into my next flight & had to go through a similar process of bodyscanning, grumpy customs officers ending up in th smallest part of  LAX airport with only a handfll of shops & no internet connection and 3 hours to kill. 

I must have been the most suspicious person in this terminal in an effort to keep myself awake, i decided to go in each of the cafes (burger joints) and drink coffee.  Then as it was a really small terminal kept walking from one end of the terminal to the other pausing for a few mins to sit down at new chair each time. I was so paranoid that after having to go through all those customs/security checks that now i would be pulled up by security for suspicious behaviour!

Arriving in mexico city was just wonderful, the flight got in at 730pm just as the sun was setting & was showed a great view of the whole of mexico city lit up like fairyland (family do you remember fairyland, on the way to the kwinana house?).  Getting my taxi from the airport i was ripped off twice only picking up on one of them.  Here at the airport you buy your taxi ticket inside  from certain authorised companys, you never just hail one on the street.  I had been to one of the counters and got my ticket & when checking my change realised the guy had tried to trick me by handing me a 10peso coin instead of the 100 peso that was my change, i questioned him and he immediately gave me the change plus a cheeky smile that said "i do this all the time & not everyone picks up on it".

The taxi driver had no clue about where i wanted to go, i had all the directions written down, plus a wonderful mexican friend had given me a page long instructions on how to find my hostel, neither of these things helped, and we headed off not knowing if i was going in the right direction! On the way taking me past a very seedy red light district, fueling my fear that i was gonna end up in the middle of nowhere, however as he was driving down the street next to metroplitan cathedral i managed to spot my hostel from the car & had him pull over.

As soon as he saw the hostel, he smiled & said "ah Si!" he knew it all along!

Only 16 sleeps...

Only 16 sleeps and the nerves are setting in...

I dont know why i always get this way before i travel, so nervous about whether i have made the right choice and getting on a plane!

I thought some fears would get abit less as i get older but the more i fly the greater anxiety i feel about being on a plane!