Random Musings

Pics and Videos

2012-01-30T22:41:00.002-06:00

I uploaded a few videos I have taken to youtube, and photos to my google+ account. They can be accessed by following these links:

http://www.youtube.com/user/lykostheos/videos

https://plus.google.com/108862544718165819898#photos/108862544718165819898/albums

Lucha Libre

2012-01-30T19:27:00.001-06:00

Last night I went to a Lucha Libre match (Mexican masked wrestling). It was corny and fake like WWF but far more entertaining and gymnastic. I think I learned pretty much every bad word in Spanish as the audience was hollering at all the wrestlers.

In a strange twist of fate it turns out I was 10 seats away from Will.i.am (it hurts me to write that name) of the Black Eyed Peas. Everyone seemed pretty excited about his presence but to be honest I originally thought it was Wesley Snipes until I looked it up on the internet this morning.

Mexico City

2012-01-29T11:51:00.000-06:00

Mexico City, like most paces in Mexico, is a strange paradox. It has some of the most beautiful buildings imaginable but also the polar opposite. We took a tour bus downtown which was really cool except for the smog which did a number on my virgin lungs. By the end of tour (which eventually got caught up in a minor traffic jam) our eyes were rasta red.

It's too bad that all the nice places are tourist traps as the prices are way higher and they are cluttered with knick knack dealers. Nevertheless that didn't stop me from getting some nice pics.

I prefer the older architecture but some of the newer buildings are cool as well.

And no picture tour would be complete without some police (who are everywhere). You have no idea how hard I tried to get a good picture of some machine gun police but always something screwed it up. The camera never seemed to want to take the best pictures or would wait until an inopportune moment. It's hard to take good pics from buses, but this one is interesting even without the machine guns:

It doesn't seem to matter if you are in the middle of the city or not -- someone has a rooster. I've lived on a farm for 29 years and never once been woken up by a rooster, but in Mexico City it can be expected. Here the rooster is far enough away that dogs usually wake me up first, but when we went to the suburbs to stay with Emma's sister Rosa the rooster was next door.

And from the roof of their house I took this picture of a guy out bailing:

Random Observations

2012-01-25T18:36:00.001-06:00

Public washrooms in Mexico are strange. Most of them are BYOTS (Bring Your Own Toilet Seat) because they don't have any! If you want toilet paper you have to get it before you go into the stall (not something a foreigner with food poisoning wants to learn the hard way). You also have to pay to use most of them (which makes one wonder why they aren't better).

The best part about Mexico is the great picture taking opportunities of bizarre scenes. How often do you get to see this:

Rural Mexico is super poor and there are a lot of shacks, but what I don't understand is the new trucks parked in front of many of them. The nicer buildings sport a lot of barbed wire and broken glass used to keep out unwanted guests.

And if you don't see people riding around in the backs of pickup trucks then you aren't in Mexico.

There are candy shops everywhere and someone trying to sell you candy or knick knacks no matter where you go. They even follow you onto the metro hollering out their sales pitches to sell trivial items like chewing gum or suckers. One of my favourite shops (not candy related) is this one:

To Mexico City

2012-01-25T18:20:00.002-06:00

The trip to Mexico City was challenging. It was a 12 hour voyage from hell. It started off pretty good when the army decided to check and see what we were hiding under the bus (allowing me to get a great photo of an army guy), but quickly went down hill from there.

The washroom on the bus was super foul. I don't think they use that blue liquid and every time someone openned the door it almost killed us. Then we stopped at Coatzacoalcos. We went in to use the bus station washroom (marginally better than the one on the bus) only to encounter the dirtiest foulest individual I've ever come across. Emma thinks he crapped his pants but I'm pretty sure he was rolling in it too. Emma got angry at me because I went into the washroom and didn't wait for her to get her money ready (there are a lot of pay washrooms in Mexico) leaving her with this dude (who was hanging around the washroom). To make matters worse it seems that the dude's sister and wife got on the bus and sat right behind us. It was almost unbearable between them and the people who kept unsealing the death toilet.

Our bus stopped for dinner at some place I can't remember. We should have clued in when the pictures on the menu looked green that this wasn't a good place to eat. I had a hamburger which tasted okay but extended my food poisoning for another couple days. The ketchup (or catsup as it is called here) appeared to be something other than ketchup. They must have been adding something else to the container.

I was lucky to survive the remaining four or so hours to make it to Emma's family's house before my food poisoning kicked into third gear. I could hear the Street Fighter announcer saying "Food Poisoning, Round 3, Fight!"

Since leaving the resort and before arriving in Mexico City I had food poisoning 50% of the time. The last couple days I've been fortunate to eat the cooking of Emma's sister Marta and I think I'm getting better. Emma's mother wanted to take me to the doctor but I said I'd wait to see if I get better first.

Villahermosa

2012-01-25T18:04:00.002-06:00

On the bus trip from Campeche to Villahermosa our bus was stopped by the AFI (Agencia Federal de Investigación -- the Mexican FBI). The agent got on the bus and checked out some dude's ID and talked to him for a bit, then walked down the aisle taking a look at us all then left. An hour or so later we were stopped by the immigration police and the same thing happened.

In Villahermosa we stayed at the Best Western which seems to be a lame hotel no matter where you go. It was constructed very poorly (I meant to take some photos to torment Jeff but forgot). The sink was installed at a five degree angle off center, the laminate flooring had random gaps in it, and the walls were paper thin. The bar across the street kept us awake until 3AM.

This is where I received my second dose of food poisoning. The restaurant in the Best Western wasn't too bad but something made me sick. The waiters (and this is general for what I've seen in Mexico) were very good and took their jobs seriously -- all earning their tips. Villahermosa is in the state of Tabasco and you know I couldn't resist the temptation to ask the waiter if they had any Tabasco sauce (well Emma did the asking for me). I'm not sure he was amused with my request (as it turns out Tabasco sauce is made in the USA).

The first place we went was a museum we found accidentally (by walking towards the most beautiful building).

One thing about Mexico is that they like their tiles and this place was decorated with an abundance of different tile designs.

We went to La Venta which is kind of an archeological park and zoo. I got a million pictures of Olmec stone heads, and a few really good videos of ant eaters which were walking freely in the park. They were very friendly and would walk right up to you, but don't try to pet them as they will try to bite you.

Then we went to another zoo which had a bunch of domestic and African animals (Zebras, Elephant, Rhinos, Hippos, Giraffes etc). Unfortunately I didn't get many good photos of the main attractions. But I did get a pretty good video of some parrots which decided to bite my shoes.

It was very hot and humid in Villahermosa and we were going to have to wait two hours before we could leave on the bus -- so instead we got a taxi to drive us around for an hour and a half (read: air-conditioning). It only cost 180 pesos ($15) but I paid him 200 pesos because he probably burned most of his profit away in gas.

Campeche

2012-01-25T17:38:00.000-06:00

Campeche is a really cool city as it was a Spanish colonial city and still has a few sections of the original city walls.

When we arrived we tried going to a couple hotels near the bus depot but one was full and the others turned out to be hostels, so we went back to the bus station and risked another taxi's advice. The taxi took us to a pretty cool hotel but told us it would be 300 pesos when it was really 600 pesos. I'm not sure what the deal was -- I know the taxis get a cut for their recommendations as he hung around afterwards for his commission.

The next day we went on another tour. This one went to a cave and to more Mayan ruins: Edzna. I enjoyed this tour much more because we didn't have to go on a bus and there were only two other people with us: an old couple from Mexico city who were interesting and somewhat eccentric. The ruins were great and there weren't any knick knack dealers nor millions of other people -- only a couple other tourists and a handful of workers doing restoration.

The tour guide was great and described the local agriculture we saw on the way there as well as the cave and archeological site.

When we got back to our hotel we discovered that we were in the same hotel as the old couple. That was a funny coincidence but not the first. We went to a restaurant later on for supper and they somehow chose the same one. The old fellow saw us in the restaurant and came up and said it seemed like we were following each other.

After the meal we took a little tour on a tour-trolly (which had an unusual number of Russians on it) around the city. At about 75% of the way through the tour we saw the old couple at a street corner. We had a good laugh and waved to them -- it turns out they were lost and the old guy was asking us where the hotel was. Emma pointed him in some direction but we later discovered that we didn't really know where we were. Fortunately they managed to get back to the hotel.

Merida

2012-01-25T16:47:00.002-06:00

When we arrived in Merida the bus took us down a maze of tiny streets. When we got off the bus I was surprised to see a bus guy get out from under/inside the bus. I guess they have a sleeping compartment down there.

Merida was a rough looking city. It had the appearance of being really cool at one time but seemed rather run down when the bus pulled into it. There were police with machine guns in random places and a couple that appeared to be guarding the bus station.

I had a half-baked scheme that we could pay a taxi to drive us around and show us the city. We talked to the girl running the taxi ticket booth at the bus station and she said she'd ask a driver how much it would cost to do that. We waited five or ten minutes and then all of a sudden a taxi drives up like a bolt of lightning and stops in front of the ticket booth with a cloud of dust trailing behind.
Out of the taxi jumps the most stereotypical latino dude with aviator sun glasses. Right then Emma and I looked at each other and said "that's our taxi".

He was pretty cool and drove us to all the historic places and stopped so we could look around and take photos. We drove around for an hour and a half and then had him take us to an authentic Mayan restaurant. All in all it worked out good as the taxi fare only cost $25 (not bad for a private tour).

We decided to get the hell out of Merida before the sun went down and take our chances with our next destination: Campeche.

Another Hotel

2012-01-25T16:38:00.003-06:00

Our three days at the cheap hotel were up and they didn't seem to want to extend our stay at the cheap price (it was a three nights for two deal and we only wanted two more) so we walked across the street to the competitor. That hotel was cleaner, had a swimming pool, and didn't cost much more than the regular price of the cheaper one.

We were thinking of going to more ruins (Tulum) but decided to do our laundry instead. Not having any clean clothes in Cancun is no fun as it is a rather dirty city once you're on the wrong side of the hotel strip. We couldn't find any wash-it-yourself laundromats and had to go to four laundry services before finding one that would have our clothes washed that day.

The girl working there had a good chuckle at my request of bleaching all my clothes including the dark and coloured ones -- but they were pretty toxic from being locked up and damp in my suitcase.

Chichen Itza

2012-01-25T16:30:00.003-06:00

We took a tour to Chichen Itza (Mayan/Toltec city) with Emma's brother. The tour stopped at a cenote along the way. The ruins were pretty sweet but very commercialized. There were a million knick-knack dealers.

When we got back to the hotel that night I got my first experience of an authentic corner taco shack. The tacos were great but gave me food poisoning.

The New Hotel

2012-01-25T15:11:00.003-06:00

After our five nights in the deluxe hotel we decided to move to a cheaper hotel in the city so that we could go on some trips with Emma's brother. We had found a place close to a laundromat the day before and intended to stay there, however, the taxi taking us there had a better suggestion which was cheaper.

It was roughly $35/night which seemed like a great deal at the time. It was raining a lot and the street was like a river so we weren't in much of a position to do much further looking. The place turned out to be rather dirty upon closer inspection.

There wasn't much to do with it raining and without knowing where anything was, so I cleaned a few things and defrosted the fridge.

The Other Beach

2012-01-25T12:13:00.000-06:00

We went to meet up with Emma's brother Ignacio (who also came to Cancun) at the bus depot. He wanted to go to the beach and upon receiving some instructions from random people on the street we boarded a 'real' Mexican bus. This being a van with its original interior removed and benches placed around the sides and a few bars to hold on to (making it vaguely reminiscent of the other kind of real bus).

You have not been to Mexico until you've ridden in one of these. The door was semi-electric (I assumed from the bare wires twisted together just above them) but seemed to open/close on its own depending on the changes in velocity of the bus. How many people can fit in one of these? I lost count but I think we were close to 30 one time.

Anyway the beach we went to was a real horror show. The whole area was run down looking, with random street dogs looking for scraps, and sketchy dudes eying us real closely. The beach was fishy with hints of burning plastic and there was what appeared to be burned grass along it (although Emma said it was sea weed washed ashore). The water was dirty looking. There were a number of nearly vacant beach side tent restaurants equipped with broken patio chairs and serviced by people who were probably pushed aside by the big hotels. We walked along this beach and some fast talking fisherman sold us two starfishes for Emma.

The Towels

2012-01-25T11:56:00.003-06:00

Our first exposition into the city of Cancun was when Emma's recently dyed hair managed to dye two of the white hotel towels with a bunch of interesting black designs. The hotel charges $20 per ruined towel (and I had read reviews which confirmed that they were anal about this), so we devised a number of cunning plans to mitigate this outcome. These included swapping them with others in the maid's cart, or going to the front desk and pretending that the hotel was to blame and asking for new ones (I thought it would be funny to ignore the giant black splotches and complain about a small yellow one that was there from the start).

In the end we went and bought some bleach and rubber gloves and by spending $6 on supplies and bus fares managed to save ourselves $34.

The hotel was on the hotel strip which is a 20-30 min bus ride from the city. The difference between the city and the hotel is remarkable. Actually there is an amazing contrast even between the beach side and street side of the hotel. On the beach side there is a fresh ocean breeze which is neither too hot nor too cold, but the street side is humid, hot, and smells of cars and city.

El Rey

2012-01-25T11:45:00.000-06:00

El Rey is a tiny set of ruins within the hotel strip. It's not as exciting as the bigger ruins but you're allowed to climb on them (or maybe the guy who was supposed to stop us wasn't doing his job). It rained a lot the day before we went so it was unbearably hot, humid, and wet everywhere.

The whole place is covered in lizards who sun themselves on the ruins. You have to look very carefully because they camouflage in so well. Emma was in a constant state of fear.

The Flight

2012-01-25T11:40:00.001-06:00

My flight to Cancun was scheduled to depart at 6:45 in the morning on Jan 9th, which would have been rather awkward if not for the improbable fortune of my aunt and uncle accidentally ending up on the same flight as myself (making eating, sleeping, and travel accommodations infinitely simpler). Many thanks to my aunt and uncle for their accommodations, and to Jeff for driving me into Winnipeg.

The flight was rather choppy for the whole duration. The woman beside me was either puking or very close to it, and the woman across from us was close to freaking out. When coming down through the clouds the plane suddenly dropped like a rock and then recommenced flight which provided a nice roller coaster scare to those who were already on the edges of their seats. I saw many hands instinctively grab the seats in front of them. The pilot earned a round of applause for successfully landing the plane on the ground.

Cancun airport is huge and we were herded through the labyrinth of immigration and custom lines to receive the indifferent stamps of approval from the generally dissatisfied workers. This was when I lost my aunt and uncle (who ended up in a longer/slower line).

After this I had to make my way to the domestic terminal to meet up with Emma (who would be arriving an hour later than myself). I had to ask a number of people to get there -- and passed a million departure doors wondering where the arrival section was. Some taxi guy was hassling me to go with him so I used him for directions to get to the arrival section.

I sat in arrivals for an hour and watched planes land (on the overhead information screen) but didn't see anyone coming in. This seemed suspicious so I started walking around. Some car rental guy was trying to rent a car to me so I listened to his speech but told him I'd have to wait for Emma before I could agree to any great deals. I probed him for information as to why I hadn't seen anyone arrive and he said because they normally go outside and get taxis without going to the arrival section. Nevertheless he directed me to the right place to wait and watch for Emma.

The hotel was considerably better than the negative reviews implied, although not without its faults. The food was good, the staff polite, nothing got stolen, and I was generally satisfied with my stay. For $150/night you get three buffet meals a day, snack bar, all the booze you can drink, and a nice beach and ocean to swim in (pretty good considering you can pay the same price in Canada for the room only).

The ocean is amazingly salty and the water burns if you swallow it or get it down your nose.