Another fun overnight trip from San Cristobal landed me in Oaxaca almost 12 hours later. I couldn’t book a hotel online so my first agenda item was to find a place to stay. After about an hour I was able to find a hostel with my own room. I checked i, showered and headed down to check out the cathedrals in Oaxaca. Passing through the smaller streets I immediately noticed the graffiti art around the neighborhood. It was amazing compared to the tagging back home. The graffiti here actually had depth.

I kept walking the cobblestone streets and eventually found the two biggest cathedrals. One being the Santo Domingo was huge and impressive. I walked further down to the Zocola in search of food. Being in Oaxaca was like being in Mexican food heaven. I was looking for the mole and found it at the Mercado 20. I enjoyed every bit of it. I ate so much I was tired and had to go back to the hotel and take a nap. 3 hours later I was ready for the night life of Oaxaca. All I can say is hang out by the Zocola and you can people watch for hours. No cars, just lots of people. Being that it was the weekend there were kids, bands, families to entertain just about everyone. I decided to sit, eat a Tlayuda and just watch the crowd fluctuate. I walked around the square a bit more and then headed back to the hotel to sleep. Along the way I even stopped to try Chapulines (roasted grasshoppers). That was a trip.

I really didn’t have much planned for today as I wanted to relax a bit. The bus rides have taken a toll and I decided to stay an extra night in San Cristobal. I slept in til about 9 and headed out to check out the Artesanias in San Cristobal. Didn’t buy too much and decided to head outside of San Cristobal to check out the scenery. I tool a collectivo (shared taxi) out to San Juan Chamula which was a small town in the hills about 12km outside of the city. There wasn’t too much there. It was a small community with a rather large market. Being that it was the weekend there were lots of locals and tourists out and about. I met two people from San Jose (Dennis and Vivian) who accompanied me through he city. We went to the cathedral and witnessed a few chicken sacrifices. That was rather cool. Apparently if you snap the chickens head it isn’t an instantaneous death. Anyways that was the highlight of the day. We headed back to San Cristobal de Las Casas, ate the best pozole ever and then I was on a bus to Oaxaca.

The town of San Cristobal is predominantly Spanish colonial in architecture. The zopola area of San Cristobal was lined with narrow streets and cobblestone roads. It felt really good to stroll about the historic center of town. I stopped off at a few cathedrals and strolled through the Mercado. I saw a few live chickens for sale and that kind of threw me off guard. I must have spent a good 4 hours just meandering about downtown. I even went up to the hills that overlooked the city. That was quite a workout.

Dinner was spent with a few guys I met in the hostel. (Daniel, Efrain and Patrick) We went directly to the Revolution Cafe to listen to Reggae Mariachi music. The night was spent drinking Sol beer until we could no longer drink anymore. The stroll back to the hotel was crisp and refreshing being San Cristobal was high the hills.

Today was a big travelling day as the plan was an overnight bus ride to Palenque to check out the ruins and then a 5 hour bus ride to my hostel in San Cristobal de Las Casas. The overnighter to Palenque was pretty bad. The only seats available were right next to the bathroom so the stench of poop filled the air as someone opened the door. My neighbor, a lady from Poland thought it was worse than me. She moved as soon as a seat closer to the front was available.

We got to Palenque around 9 a.m. and I quickly grabbed a taxi to the ruins to start the day. The ruins were nothing short of amazing. I arrived early so there weren’t too many visitors there. I had all my luggage with me and was asked to check it at the entrance. I refused and was told I couldn’t enter until I did. 10 pesos was what it costs me and I was in. The place was amazing. Set in a lush jungle it was the main attraction of Chiapas state. I was in awe when I saw the first Temple de Inscripciones. That was only one of about 15 temples. I took as many photos as I could and walked around the entire complex. It felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. It was that cool. The weather got warmer and being in the jungle it was humid as hell.

I finished walking about 3 hours later and headed back to El Centro to eat and catch my bus to San Cristobal de Las Casas. The trip from Palenque to San Cristobal was horrible. Windy roads, rain and sitting in the aisle almost made me throw up. Finally I arrived, grabbed something to eat and knocked out at the Hostel de Las Palomas. It was a tiring Christmas day.

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m still in Cancun. My initial plan was to leave Cancun as soon as I could. Unfortunately there’s plenty of stuff to do in the Yucatan Peninsula and leaving is pretty hard. My bus leaves for Palenque at 7:30 p.m. so I still have a whole day to explore Cancun. I decided to check out the beaches of Isla Mujeres. A quick 20 min ferry from Puerto Juarez was all it took to get there. I walked to Playa Norte and just relaxed there for a bit. The weather was warm, the water was cool, it couldn’t have been better.

The town itself was a pleasant stroll to a more relaxed environment as compared to the Hotel Zone of Cancun. After a few hours of relaxing I wanted to go back and buy a Christmas gift for Victoria, the child whose house I was residing at. I found a Wal-Mart and finally made it back to the hotel around 6 after getting lost a few times on the bus. The routes really aren’t defined at all. I had to ask a bunch of locals. Anyways I was out of Cancun by 8 and on a 12 hour bus rid to my next destination, Palenque where the ruins are guaranteed to fascinate anyone.

Today was spent on a tour of Chichen Itza. I wasn’t planning on taking a tour but some cute girl talked me into it. She was German and she spoke Spanish which was odd. I ended up leaving the tour group once I got to the site. It was a long 3 hour bus trip. I wasn’t really impressed by the site. The ruin was amazing to look at but the surroundings left much to be desired. There were too many vendors and tons of tourists. Every attempt I made to take a picture someone just had to walk in front of me. It was kind of annoying. My pictures were overcast at first and then an hour later the sky broke through for amazing shots. I seriously could have stayed there all day taking pictures of the one ruin they call “El Castillo”. Maybe not all day because it was hot and humid.

After Chichen Itza we went to a “cenote” which is Spanish for sinkhole. It was pretty cool but I just decided to people watch as there were too many kids in and around the cenote. Dinner was awesome. We stopped off and had Mexican buffet which consisted of food such as rice, fried fish, tostadas and chicken. I made the mistake of putting too much habanero salsa on my tostada and had to wash it down with a few Coronas. While we ate a few of the locals danced around us. It was entertaining however I was hoping they’d drop the glass they had on their heads. No such luck. They were well trained.

The ride back to Cancun was a great 3 hour nap. Tomorrow I’ll check out some of Cancun’s beaches.

The long flight took a toll on me last day/night. What was suppose to be a 6 hour flight turned into a 30 hour ordeal. I guess I get what I pay for. Regardless $300 to fly to Cancun from San Luis Obispo was a great deal. I don’t mind a 12 hour layover in Phoenix and then an 8 hour stop in Dallas. The weather here in Cancun is humid. Not quite summer humid but for December it’s enough to make your shirt stick to your back. The hotel I’m staying at is simple and friendly. It’s a home turned into guest hotel. The owners Irma and Hilda were extremely pleasant.

Today was spent travelling to Tulum and Playa del Carmen. Tulum is a Mayan ruin built right next to the beach. A 2 hour bus trip away it was a nice start to my trip. The rain and overcast dampened my photography mood a little bit but the turquoise waters made up for that. The place wasn’t very big so an hour was all it took to explore the compound.

Next stop was Playa del Carmen. Upon arriving there I noticed throngs of people heading toward the beach. I wouldn’t say it was the nicest beach I’ve ever seen but it was well layed out with long stretches of shops and hotels. Obviously there is a lot of money in the area. Lots of Europeans and Americans getting tan on the beach. I took my shoes off an waded in the water for a bit. It was nice and warm. I didn’t spend too much time there. I just walked up the beach for a bit, grabbed some ice cream and back to Cancun for the night.