Yucatán — time among the Maya

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Bryan Keith

An overnight bus ride from Zihuatanejo to Mexico City and another overnight ride to Mérida.  From there I started pedalling again.  Jack arrived in Mérida a little after I did on a plane to Cancún and a bus from there.  He brought a bicycle.  Since my Long Haul Trucker is overwintering in Antalya, I spent a good portion of the next two days organizing a bicycle for this trip.

At the third shop we visited I bought a bike, front rack, and lights.  They put it all together for me, and I was on my way.  Back at Irving’s house (another couchsurfing host), I could quickly see that the rear rack needed to be back further so I could fit bags without my feet hitting them — a typical problem and one reason why the Long Haul Trucker has extra long chainstays.

The following day we found Milton who spent years working in the US and now manages a small welding shop in Mérida.  Once the workers finished lunch, they got on it and hacked together a fix that’s still working for me.

We could have spent another day exploring Mérida, but Jack’s coming back, and I was anxious to leave.  I hadn’t been bike touring since I finished up in Bayburt in October.  Mérida had some interesting colonial buildings, but after Mexico City, Puebla, Morelia, and Zacatecas, I was ready for some villages and nature.

DSCN3595 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Posted in Bicycle touring, Mexico | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Casa Escondida at Troncones

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Bryan Keith

The big pull across the Atlantic was to spend some time with my family in Troncones, a fishing-cum-surfing village a bit NW of Zihuatanejo.   Kevin, Elise, Jasper, and Zoë also made a long trip — from Nome.  My parents, Megan, and Elise’s parents pulled it off with a single flight from Los Angeles.

DSCN3187 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Posted in Mexico, Traveling | Tagged | 6 Comments

More World Heritage Sites — Morelia and Zacatecas

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Somehow in just a few weeks in Mexico, without even realizing it until after the fact, I’ve visited seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I’ve already written about five of them: the historic centers of both Mexico City and Puebla, the Monarch Butterfly Reserve, Teotihuacán and Xochimilco. The two latest were the historic centers of both Morelia and Zacatecas.

Wendy and I hadn’t actually planned on visiting Morelia. We had decided to spend Christmas in Querétaro. Before leaving Zitácuaro, I asked about buses to Querétaro. Yes, tomorrow morning at 11. Then I double-checked, “are you sure there’s a bus tomorrow? It’s the 24th!” Yes, yes. Trying not to be annoying, I triple-checked. “You realize it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. Will the bus to Querétaro run?” Of course.

Sure enough, in the morning there were no buses to Querétaro. It was Christmas Eve after all. There was, however, a bus leaving shortly for Morelia so we made the last minute decision to spend Christmas there. I had been to Morelia before and remembered really liking it so I was excited to go back. Wouldn’t it be great to see a couple of the museums that I missed during my first visit to Michoacán’s capital?

I’m sure it would, but that’s not, of course, how things work on a holiday. All museums were closed, but masses were held almost continuously at the cathedral. Wendy and I caught the Christmas Eve posada. Disappointed that no music was involved (and hoping for some during the service), Wendy convinced me to stay another hour for the Catholic mass. Her subtle last-minute technique vaguely reminded me of Ann getting me to stay for a Friday (?) Hanukkah service at a synagogue in Havana a few years ago. I occupied my monkey mind just as I did in Havana — listening intently to the priest’s story — and was happy they didn’t pull any Hebrew (or Latin or Arabic) on me.

DSCN3008 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Teotihuacán and Xochimilco

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Bryan Keith

December 21, 2012.  The world didn’t end.  I was surprised how much talk there was about this date in Turkey before I left.  On the streets of Antalya I heard multiple people discussing the Mayan prophecy.  “Do you know where the Mayans are from?”, I asked.  India?  China?  “Mexico,” I said and told people that’s where I was going for the solstice.  Meksika?  Won’t it be hot… and dangerous?

The latter refers to the frequent newspaper articles about the drug violence, the former because many Turks think Mexico is hot and steamy year round.  I find it fascinating to hear people’s stereotypes of other countries.  I remember meeting an Australian, a Hollywood fan, who couldn’t believe I was from the US and had never witnessed a gun battle in the streets at home.

Teotihuacán is the collection of pyramids, including the world’s third largest, a little to the NE of Mexico City.  Certainly not Mayan but seemed like a good place to be for the end of the world.  However, instead of cult ceremonies and dance circles of mystics, the only unusual thing at Teotihuacán that day was that the museums were closed so the staff could better handle the expected increase in visitors.

DSCN2652 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Monarch Butterfly Day!!! by Wendy

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Bryan Keith

This is an e-mail that Wendy wrote just after spending the day with the butterflies, a couple days before Christmas.  I’ll only add that the “small city” is Zitácuaro, Michoacán’s third largest city. The reserve area we visited is called Cerro Pelón. Our trout lunch was in Macheros. I added the photos too.  Bryan

Hola from a small city somewhere in Mexico!

We saw the monarch butterflies today and I could come home right now a happy girl!  It was everything I dreamed it would be!

DSCN2885 by bryandkeith on flickr

We chose to go to the least touristy of the five butterfly reserve areas: partly because it was the newest and had the best preserved habitat (no logging), and partly because… who likes crowds?  When we arrived at 8am after an hour of minivans and taxis, nobody was there.  No tourists, no employees, and NO ANNOYING SOUVENIR SELLERS!  In Spanish, the sign said it was open 9am – 6pm.  The same sign, translated in English, said 8am – 4pm.  It also said we must hire a guide.  Since there was nobody to pay, we started hiking up the trail – alone.

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Posted in Mexico, Traveling | Tagged , , | 2 Comments