Yucatan Peninsular, Mexico

Leaving Chiapa de Corzo, we headed north along a lovely, twisty, deserted mountain road and we ended up at Villahermosa where we stayed for a few nights.

Heading further north, we met the Carribean sea again. It looked so blue and enticing we had to stop for a swim!

Further along the coast we stayed in a small town called Champoton.

Since we arrived in Mexico we have seen literally hundreds of old VW Beetles!

At Ticul we stumbled across a Mayan procession, where most people were in tuc tuc's and some of the kids were carrying models of them!

We visited another Mayan ruin at Uxmal. It was very impressive and a mix of what we have seen at Tikal and Copan.

There were Iguanas everywhere!

A beautiful view across the jungle canopy.

A great pic in the museum showing all the workers that worked on the restoration of the site.

Maps

We are now on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, having travelled about 36,000 km. Below is a map of our route through Guatamala.

Into Chiapas, Mexico

We had another quick and easy border crossing into Mexico at La Mesilla. We seem to have entered a land of plenty with so much 'stuff' for sale everwhere! The big Day of the Dead festival is coming up soon so there are lots of skeletons appearing!

San Cristobal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas, is an interesting highland town surrounded by traditional villages of the Maya Tzotzil and Tzeltal. There were plenty of shoeshines on the square, some as young as 10 or possibly younger.

We had a very interesting visit to nearby villages San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan, learning about their different religions, dress, languages, law and order. In Chamula, they mainly govern and police themselves and recently lynched (killed) their mayor for withholding funds!

We stayed at Chiapa de Corzo, a short twisty ride away, where we took a boat ride into the Sumidero Canyon. At the far end there was even a small boat selling beer and crisps! However, we shared the river with loads of plastic bottles washed down from nearby towns!

Our room had probably the most uncomfortable mattress of the trip and the town one of the noisiest, with fireworks and firecrackers going off all evening and well into the night! There was also a lot of drum practice, presumably for the Day of the Dead celebrations at the beginning of November.

Dogs of Guatamala

There were lots of friendly, well fed dogs in Guatamala, including some on leads with their owners, which is a sign that they are well looked after. We read an article in a magazine about how to look after your dog - even explaining not to leave them alone all day. But, sadly, as always, there are loads of thin strays too:-(

This is El Chapo below, a Bassett Hound cross and his mural, at a bar in Lanquin.

These 2 below are playing, not fighting!

His tongue was partly black; he was a Chow cross.

Ooops, a brush cat has sneaked in!