Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog

Friday, May 18, 2007

Mexico Trip - May

Just got back from my third trip to Mexico in the past four months. This time, we went south to Oaxaca as well as returning to some familiar territory. Here's story of the trip:

Mmmmm, pickup truck chicken .... rush hour in the "DF".

We met in Mexico City (where we visited in February) and had dinner at Cluny's because we like the white wine sangria. We spent the next day strolling around Mexico City, including a trip to the Palacio Federal to see the Diego Rivera murals and the skinny kitties. You know what's so special about the skinny kitties?

They're skinny.

The city's art museum was once the main train station.

I love Mexico City, but my favourite thing is the Guantanamo Bay-style children's maze that exposes the poor imagination of the over-zealous Republican politician who announced that he would 'double Guantanamo'. Why expand Guantanamo when you can just make it more complicated? It needs a better name, too. How about The Jack Bauer Memorial Non-torture Centre for Information Retrieval at Guantanamo Bay?

Next, we took the bus south to Oaxaca.

(above, left) We were confronted on the street by some roughneck (right) Oaxaca's zocalo is the best we've seen. Its controversial 2005 reconstruction was one of the issues (the government spent money on beautification instead of much-needed infrastructure) that sparked the protests that started in 2006.

In Oaxaca, we stayed in a cheap little hotel (with turtles and a bird named Lorenzo) in the middle of town. On our second day there, we went on a crazy tour with a local guide who took us to the ruins at Mitla, Yagul, Mescal tasting, puppy petting and to see how traditional Zapotec weaving was done using natural dyes. His mom also fed us lunch. There was also a blockade because of a land dispute ... so we also did some walking.

Because we like to climb, a few days later ...

Monte Alban

If there's one thing we like, it's bald dogs, climbing and ruins. We took a bus to the top of the Monte Alban and as soon as we arrived, some guy at the gate said that it was going to start raining in half an hour. One minute later, it started to rain. Ha ha! Off by 29 minutes, buddy!

We hid out in the museum while it thundered and once things calmed down, we went back out.

Ruin sites are even better in the rain.

Later, on Mother's Day, we were sitting by a square and I was having coffee and talking to my Mom on the phone and a woman -- who was clearly high -- came and took my coffee. And I said to my mom, "Some woman just took my coffee." The woman walked back and forth in front of us, enjoying the coffee and when she was done, she handed the cup back to me and said, "It was very flavourful."

After a week in Oaxaca, we took the bus back to Mexico City and then an overnight bus to Uruapan.

On the bus to Mexico City, one of the movies was Herbie: Fully Loaded ... I'm still confused by the opening of that movie. When it starts, Herbie is in a junk yard run by HITLER! And Hitler is determined to destroy Herbie but is thwarted by miscellaneous hijinks. I thought Hitler LOVED Herbie! Anyhow, besides being a crap movie, Herbie had three things I hate in it: Herbie (as kid, I couldn't stand both Herbie and Benji), the guy who plays the 'Mac' on the PC vs. Mac commercials and Linsay Lohan. A day after the trip, MAXIM magazine declared Lindsay Lohan the 'Hottest Woman'. Lindsay Lohan. Who was the Hottest Man? Andy Dick?

... where was I?

One of our favourite adventures from our first trip was the hike up the Paracutin volcano, but it was a full day hike and by the time we got to the church it was getting dark and we were beat, so we went back for another look.

There's a Space:1999 episode where fun, sudsy bubbles cover everything and turn into rock; that's what I imagine happened here.

To give you a sense of scale, I made two old ladies climb over the rock and pose by the structure.

(above, right) We were there for a light stroll, so we didn't hike the additional 10km to the volcano across the lava field.

We were inside the cave and then this guy (above, left) appeared and started blabbering on in Spanish about miracles and god. And he just kept going on and on and I was starting to get a little uncomfortable (I couldn't understand a word) and Amber was being very polite and told me afterwards what he said. Yeah, it sure is a miracle if you build a church in the middle of a region that's completely covered with volcanos. Who coulda' seen that one coming?

I should point out that I'd just finished reading The God Delusion, so I wasn't falling for any of that "god" nonsense. I didn't enjoy the Delusion as much as I hoped; I was hoping it would be really good to make up for the fact that it inspired this guy. Somebody please make it stop!

Amber heading down into the ruins.

(above, left) It was in Uruapan where I really got to gear down and relax. Unfortunately, I only learned of the amazing avacado popsicle (above, right) the day before I left.

On the last day we toured Uruapan, including a visit to the local national park (above).

I had an afternoon flight, so I took the overnight bus again back to Mexico City (right) where I caught my flight home.

Mexico City was suffocating under a layer of its famous smog ... which really stunk and made me appreciate the good weather we had when we visited in February. The foul air was so thick ... my head started to fog up, I started to get dizzy and then this popped into my head.

Yaarrrghhh!

But I wasn't beat. I remained calm, focused and managed to replace that hackneyed zefrank copycat with thoughts of something a little less offensive ...

Phew! Dodged another one.