Adventures with Paco

Spanish conquered aztecs and took over mexico. That’s why there’s barely any evidence of the aztecs left - but more of the mayans and those who went before. Spanish wanted to show aztecs who was in charge so simply built their cathedrals and institutions on top of the aztec structures.

Whole city - like venice - is sinking...

Because the mazatlan (nomadic tribe - name means navel of the moon and is where mexico gets its name) believed that when they saw an eagle standing on a cactus eating a snake - they would settle there. Unfortunately when they saw it - it was in the middle of a lake - so they basically built the city on a lake.

Whilst for catholics snakes are a sign of the devil, for aztecs they are something positive - a sign of creation and enlightenment. Aztecs were very clean people. Lots of baths and sweeping of streets! They also used to describe being drunk like turning into a monkey!

Mexicans prefer to associate with aztecs over spanish - it’s cooler - although looking more spanish is associated with higher class and can even affect job chances.

Ohio, New Mexico and a bunch of other states in the US used to be part of mexico also.

Minimum wage is $5 a day. Really low although current left wing premier has doubled it in just two years since he came to power.

Mexico has 3rd biggest square in the world - behind tiannoman and red square.

Also has more free trade deals than anywhere in world!

With cheap labour, colonial links to Europe and ease of export - their an attractive option for foreign investment (their biggest export is now cars not mexican ones though - they just assemble them!)

Tequila is also a huge export. 51% of it must be from the place Tequila - rest can be anything - hence the hangover! Mexicans prefer Mezcal which is purer. It can come from any agave plant - some harder to get hold of than others.

With no tourists for tours due to covid, our guide pako is hoping to start his own brand \240called changamuranga (monkey).

To Oaxaca!

Or rather ‘wahaca’. Took us a while to work that one out! Through miles and miles of spiky cactus covered hills. The food capital of mexico that became rich in the 19th century from the red dye - cochineal. Oaxaca come from an aztec word meaning the nose of the squash.

Oaxaca wandering

Mezcal and dirty burgers

Tried to visit many things all closed due to covid but we DID find a cactus to have lunch next to and a mezcal fabricale. Mezcal comes from agave plants. The ‘pina’ is the bulb at the bottom of the plant. When fully grown it can weigh hundreds of kilos. They’re all extracted by hand. The fibres are crushed and the juices fermented and distilled twice to make the drink. They often add worms to the barrel to add to the flavour. The fibres are useful for bags and belts.

Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante in the eve. Regrettable burger 🤣

The mole bet

Mole means ‘sauce’ or ‘crushed’. It’s not a small furry animal.

Erica’s San Cristobel tour

A person only dies when they’re forgotten- that’s why they celebrate with colourful skulls.

The amber you get in mexico is different i anywhere else in the world. The more impurities you can see in it the better and if you shine light through it it glows. Only amber from mexico does this

It’s said that it keeps evil spirits from children and protects the energy field of an adult.

Chiapas has the most natural resources yet it’s the poorest state. They produce 30% of the energy for the country by hydroelectric.

In Chiapas people also drink more coke than anywhere in the world. Over 2l per person. Partly because it’s cheaper than water.

When a baby is born in a Mayan community- they sprinkle sand outside the door. What ever animal walks through it over night - that is the child’s spirit animal. Everyone’s wants a jaguar as it’s the strongest.

Look up the Zapatista movement and the treaty of san andreas and watch 1994 on netflix.

Coffee with Madeleine

For three generations Madeleines family have farmed coffee beans and processed them from their little coffee shop ‘Cafe Yaxichlan’ on the edge of San Cristobel. We had a day looking round their plantation and learning about coffee - but also made stops at some indigenous Mayan villages in the way.

Mayans had the cross before the Spanish came with catholicism. But theirs has nothing to do with the crucifixion. The vertical stem means the sun rays and the horizontal represents the snake (some have bobbles on - also representing the milky way). They must always be dressed with leaves and palms. They’re replaced on the Day of the Dead (nov 1st each year). They worship lots of gods though they agreed to have one main one when the spanish came. They believe in the afterlife where you are basically reborn and learn from the mistakes you made on life - through 9 stages representing the 9 months of pregnancy.

The outfits worn by the Mayan community are made from black sheep wool that the Spaniards introduced. Politician and religious leaders will wear either silver or gold coins round their necks respectively.

Mayan children often go to secondary school in the towns. Their is racism and discrimination although intermarriage does happen and is ok.

The beans are planted in lines hence why at this stage they call them ‘Little soldiers’. The next stage they grow into baby plants - referred to as ‘Butterflies’

Takes 3 years for a coffee plant to grow so they plant maize and squash in amongst to harvest in the meantime. They also plant citrus plants in between to flavour the coffee (through the root system) and banana trees that they can pull the coffee plant branches down and tie onto so they can pick the beans. It’s all done by hand - picked in three sections - nov, dec and jan.

They try and use all bits of coffee bean. So make cascarano- a tea made from the shells. They are also trying mixing coffee, the beans and the shell with pox (a spirit made from either sugar cane or maize cane).

Corona Canyon

Plus american crocodile. Would have learnt more if we’d learnt Spanish. Beers after and our new friend the infamous Edgar - were highly entertaining.

Green parakeets and hominid hands

Sima De La Cotorras is a huge sink hole - 140m deep and 160m in diameter formed 8million years ago after the river beneath eroded away the rock until eventually the ceiling of the cave collapsed.

Early hominids (possibly of the ‘Zoque’ culture?) did cave art - presumably \240before this happened - as now you can only get to it by abseiling down the vertical walls.

There are over a hundred different bird species making the sink hole their home - amongst them - green parakeets.

Our guide Valentine first descended into the chasm ages 11. He studied to be an engineer but returned as he missed climbing too much. And we only made it there down the 12km bumpy track thanks to the heroic efforts of Vincent and his tremendous off-roading skills in a tuktuk!!