Barbelith Underground > Conversation > Dos Semanas en Mexico...

i was in chiapas at the end of a three month jaunt earlier this year. i basically did a big circle starting in cancun, (bares teeth and makes 'get thee hence, satan' motions with crossed fingers) travelling down into guatemala, heading up to oaxaca and then through chiapas back to cancun again.

my advice:

if youve only got two weeks, stick to mexico city, possibly oaxaca and chiapas. dont bother with trying to fit the yucatan in- as beautiful as the beaches are its way more 'touristy'* than chiapas; comparitively pricier and not as interesting (although i had a lot of time for merida as a city after the spring break atmosphere of much what i saw of the yucatan). moreover, a girl i travelled with had taken two weeks to get from DF to cancun and said that half of it was spent on night buses and the other half rushing around half-awake trying to 'fit everything in' in an LP best-of stylee.

by the time i got to san cristobal i was knackered and wanted to go home, so i'm not really the best person to ask about it- although, having said that, some of the best nights out i had were in a club round the corner from the main square, watching young mexicans leap around to mexska fusion bands/ doing the salsa/ dancing to 50 cent/ getting drunk and doing what young people do- if thats your bag. the canyon trip is pretty ace and can be done independently if you dont want to shell out for a guided tour, but my spanish really wasnt up to it. likewise with the tours to san juan chamula, the place where they do the crazyfascinating rituals with chickens and coca cola and stuff. oh, and take warm things with you- it can get really really chilly up in them thar mountains.

palenque is pretty fly- don't stay in palenque town if you can avoid it, there are some cabana-type places in the jungle on the road to the ruins which are, again, fairly touristy but you're sleeping in the jungle and can hear monkeys and stuff which i personally enjoyed seven shades out of. its not the best lost city in the jungle afaic, that would be tikal, which has that whole Rebel Base thing going on. but if you cant get to guatemala then palenque will suffice fairly adequately.

oaxaca is a fantastic city- i was there for christmas and it rocks bells. the cathedral is literally breathtaking, monte alban is fascinating in comparison to the mayan ruins, and i ate some of the best street food of my whole trip there- not including chapulines but they combine rather well with mezcal in the 'remind me why im ingesting this again' stakes.

i know nothing about mexico city but that everyone i met who went there absolutely adored it, very often contrary to expectations.

having said all of this, i did my trip very much from a backpackers, on-the-beaten-track perspective and im not ashamed of that per se- it was my first extended trip away on my own, my spanish sucked, and im a lone female traveller with all the added circumspection that entails. that said, i cannot emphasise how much i regret trying to get by on basic espanol- generally the mexicans fucking rock as a people and i could kick myself for tying my own hands when it came to communicating with them and reducing my own ability to strike out.

babble babble babble oh, have i mentioned how jealous i am. its a beautiful, beautiful part of the world and the minute i can afford to go back there i will.

* and i italicise touristy because im uncomfortable with its subtext as i often saw it of richer, more american, and substantially less culturally sensitive than i am- usually coming from people who were still spending the equivalent of the average mexican salary in a day or less and walking around in tanktops and shorts.