East Mexico

Leaving Mexico City, we discovered that tooting your car horn is not an offensive gesture so much as a form of expression that can be used at every opportunity. Thus, we managed to wind our way out, playing our new found horn instrument whenever we could. After driving for a day, we pulled up  in Veracruz, a town situated on the East coast that is home to the biggest port in Mexico. It really is a “Port Town”; tourists, prostitutes and sailors bustle about everywhere in a frenzied, colourful and humid rush. That said, I really liked it. The main zocolo was made by  the Spanish and the cathedral and the architecture surrounding it is so beautiful, all arches and towers and tiles. At night the whole place just comes alive; loads of tables and chairs fill the sidewalks, young kids weave in and out selling hand made braclets and belts, small little bands play for you at your table  and, because you are so near Central America, much of the music is Carribean, filled with wooden xylophones and dark skinned smiles. An old lady asked me to dance for her and I said I only would if she joined me, so she got up and span me round a few times laughing until she kissed me on both of my bright red cheeks and sat down. I got owned by one of the little girls selling braclets as well – I asked her which one she thought was best and bought it for her she was so cute. She looked at me like I was crazy or something, and I probably was – I never know if you are supposed to buy these things –does it mean their parents are less likely to send them to school? Or is it just supplementing the family income during summer holidays? I don´t know. Anyhow, the guys went on to some cheap bar and met a load of lads from Newcastle working at the port who bought them loads of drinks. Jon was lucky enough to receive several homosexual advances and Figgis was asked by a band of Mexican prostitutes if he might like to partake in a little “group activity”.The next day we hit the road again, traveling all day until we stayed the night in a little roadside motel set up purely for Mexican truck drivers. Many miles away from the tourist track the prices were really low, but the motel owners censored everything on our TV save extremely hard core porn (presumably for the catholic lorry drivers?) We´ve spent several nights in these motorway motels and I actually quite like them – in the dark with their smoking lorries lined up outside, headlights glaring and engines humming, it looks really atmospheric – sort of like the beginning of a gangster movie or something. After two months, I still haven´t got used to this waking up in a different place every day thing – when you are traveling like we are, every day is a complete surprise. Take yesterday, for example, we drove to this town called Palenque to see the Mayan ruins. It was absolutely incredible – the 1300 year old structures are set in a tropical jungle that is filled with ghekos, waterfalls, and trees so covered in vines it looks like they are wrapped in rope ladders. Other trees have vines hanging down at perpendicular angles, making them look like graceful old ladies covered in shalls (although Jon looked at them and simply saw climbing frames!). At the centre of this tropical forest you reach a kind of grassy plateau for tourists where you find the most incredible structures – huge pyramids made out of a stone that looks like granite. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids there are structures built on top of them; temples, grand houses etc. Not only that, but Jon and I were struck by the detail and precision that went in to the reliefs carved on to these buildings, and in to the tiny pieces of jewellery we found in the museum. You can literally climb all over these buildings and explore them, which takes ages because there are so many of them and the humid heat is almost unbearable – but its worth it – when you climb to the top you have fantastic views over the ruined town and the jungle stretching out for miles beyond. Felt a little twang when I thought about how much erosion the tourists must be causing to these things, but couldn´t help but have a go.Exhaughsted, all 5 of us climbed back in to our non air conditioned car and hit the road again. I can´t tell you how much driving we have done, it takes so little time to write “we drove all day” but it feels like so long when you are actually there. In total, we have traveled 3000 miles through Mexico – looking at the map makes you feel incredible! The car, Undead Red, has finally got Jon and I to where we wanted to go, which is where we are now – a town called Chetumal – which just borders Central America. We left Paul, Figgis and Laura yesterday and today Jon and I are about to get on a bus to Belize alone, beginning Part 3 of the holiday…