3M

Morelia, Monarch Butterflies, Mexico City

There are different degrees of bus travel in Mexico from the average local busses, long range ‘chicken busses’, Primera Plus (first class) and then there is Ejecutivo; the latter of which is only $10 more expensive than first class. Usually a direct, long distance service, the Ejecutivo has only 3 seats across the aisle that almost fully recline and a foot rest. It’s the closest we will ever get to business class in flight!! The Parhakhuni Line adds more of a touch with personal TV screens for on road entertainment (some movies even in English), power socket for laptops, internet, wireless service and the final touch was a hostess making us tea and coffee! 5.5 hours of travel for under $30 AUD!

The purpose of visiting Morelia was no more than a jumping off place to see the Monarch Butterflies; however the town in itself was a wonderful surprise in many ways; not being overly touristy was a bonus. The university has occupied many of the old buildings in Centro Historico providing a vibrant atmosphere, especially in the early mornings and evenings. Doric columns are prevalent in most of the buildings and the porticos around the centre (Zocalo) offer many places to hang out and watch the world go by!

Morelia is very much a Spanish town dating back to Nueva Espana in 1541, with a wonderful mix of colonial architecture with new buildings required to be built with the same soft pink stone of the older ones. This also means that there is no signage allowed for businesses which has removed the tacky street fronts of other towns. Of course it takes a little longer to find things!!

The cathedral took over a century to build and it is truly magnificent.

As in all town squares, people gather for various entertainment.

A very common feature of the many buildings throughout Mexico are the colourful murials inside or outside buildings depicting some aspect of life.

We hired a driver (we were the only tourists around!) to take us to the Monarch Butterflies, a 2 hour drive, feeling very at home in a Commodore and seeing many eucalypt trees along the way. How did they get there???? Some interesting towns to drive through and one in which a Mexican was driving his horse drawn buggy along the street with the cars; no-one paying him any special attention. Some of the fields were also being ploughed by horse; the agricultural areas seem a world apart from the city of course. A quirky find was the hillside that had large drainage pipes going in at angles, serving as a nice cool spot to house a car…… a different take on undercover parking.

The El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary was very quiet and we had our very own (Spanish speaking!) guide. Climbing 2000 feet to get to the trees (total altitude now being around 11,000 feet) was an effort for me going up (anemia not helping) and Peter, with his knees coming down – walking down backwards is easier on his knees! So between us, at least one could get up the mountain and the other down.

The Monarch butterflies are of nature’s phenomenal events. They number in their hundreds of millions with estimations from year to year being 200 to 500 MILLION. Flying from the Great Lakes region in August, they arrive in Central Mexico around November and breed there in late March. After the males have had their fill, they die, leaving the pregnant females to then fly north to Texas and Florida, lay their eggs in milkweed bushes, then they too, die. Eggs hatch, caterpillars feed on milkweed, make cocoons, emerge late May, fly off to the Great Lakes and mate, so the whole cycle begins again. It takes 3 to 5 generations to make the round trip from Canada to Mexico. A lot of miles to flutter!!

You could not see the trees for butterflies. The Mexican Government has now stopped land clearing in the area to try and preserve the habitats for the butterflies.

Lunch, consisting on black corn tortillas cooked over a fire was actually very enjoyable!

Mexico City is one of those places you need to see for yourself. It is one of the most amazing cities we have seen, not at all polluted as some of the Asian cities and certainly not as crowded. The French built metro is phenomenal and combined with an efficient bus system, the 105 million masses are moved around very efficiently, at low cost. For 25 cents per person per entry, we could go anywhere in the metro.

As there is an escalating situation of drug violence in Mexico, the government has moved to increase security around tourist areas. As there were 4 armed police on every street corner in the central area, and throughout the underground and anywhere a tourist might wander, there were no issues with regards to our safety. Locals warned us in the outer areas of pickpockets, but we saw no one that looked even remotely shady. We have also heard from many locals in different areas that it is an unwritten rule with the drug lords not to bring the violence into tourist areas due to the economic importance of them. This increase in violence is very sad for the majority of Mexican people who are wonderful, kind and generous folk.

Cortez’s conquest of the Aztec Tenochtitlan City-State was interesting as the Aztecs built Tenochtitlan on an island surrounded by a great lake. Of course that city centre became the Centro Historico district of Mexico City, with the rest of the sprawling city built on a lake. Although well drained, there are many issues of sinking apparent. Makes you wonder how far under water we were zipping along in the underground. The Basilica of Guadalupe is sadly laying victim to Cotez’s poor choice of location!

Nearby Indian Chapel is suffering the same fate.

The Zacolo, central square, is the 3rd largest in the world behind Red Square and Tiananmen Square. The Cathedral in the Zacolo is the largest church in Latin America. A truly magnificent building with iconographic ceilings; it too is slowly sinking into the wet ground beneath.

The Aztecs built extensive canals (extending for over 180 km) where they grew their produce. Xochimilco, on the southern outskirts of Mexico City is one very small area that is left of this original canal development. Now very touristy, the Floating Gardens are a favourite place to take a family on Sundays; it provided some entertainment for us gliding along the canal listening to the Mariachi bands and watching the world go by.

Throughout Mexico, fresh cut flowers are widely available and purchased for very little cost.

To the north of the city lies Teotihuacan, whose civilization flourished in earlier BC. The sun and moon pyramids are not as grand as those in Egypt and were thankfully missed by Cortez as they look like hills from a distance. (Cortez had torn down other ancient stone edifices to build churches!).

The pyramids were originally painted yellow and red; the colours extracted from crushing a worm that grows on a cacti. Paint did not last for long and the mind boggles at how long the painting took!!

The sun pyramid has a remarkable alignment as on May 19 and July 25, the sun is directly over the pyramid at noon, and the main west façade faces the point at which the sun sets on these days.

At quite a steep climb at 2,200m absl, that would be Cheryl sitting having a rest!

Most of what stands today has been rebuilt and in 1971, a tunnel was found that leads to a cave under the centre of the pyramid, suggesting its former purpose. The understanding of astronomy, astrology and the big picture of the universe of earlier peoples just blows us away as it is indeed astronomical!!

Around Teotihuacan there are many places selling local obsidian and other quartz like mineral ‘artefacts’ . The vendors, anxious for a sale , were telling us they were almost free. The piece Peter liked, a jade funeral mask had a $3000 price tag!

An amazing artisan market (Centro de Artesanias La Cuididela) covering almost a whole block offered the best diversity of crafts from the Oaxaca region at the best prices we had seen.

Our favourite piece...

Sunday, being family day, the many parks are full of families and people selling their wares, and of course, where there are people, there is food. The Mexicans seem to eat throughout the day! Being attracted to a variety of music, we happened across a square full of people ballroom dancing! Sensational! With no boundaries of wealth or dress, people were out there purely to enjoy their dancing.

Across the street, in another park, there was salsa dancing, with lessons happening in the background. This young cool dude was wonderufl to watch.

Another building we stumbled upon held the display for Independencia y Revolucion, celebrating 200 years of their Independence from Spain, 1810-2010. The craftsmanship in displays was unique and amazing with a variety of media from clay, wax, straw, silks, embroidery and paintings. The expressions on the faces of the people and even the horses were fantastic.

The Anthropologica Museum, claiming to be the best in the world, would not be far from the truth, and anything less of a building would not do justice to the artifacts inside. Its successful capture of the complex history and diversity of Mexican Civilization is bought about through the regional organization of its displays. I finally got to see my Olmec Heads that were even more astounding than anticipated. That was my bit of excitement!!

An interesting feature of the Olmec Heads is their African facial features; in a time before known contact with African peoples. Perhaps there is much unknown about ancient civilizations!

Some of the archeological items displayed have only been discovered since 1940 and as late as 1975. The jade death mask of King Pakal from Palenque in the southern jungle near the Guatemalan border was just magnificent.

Outside the museum are the Voladores. Traditionally, a Totonac Rite in Veracruz (Mexican Gulf) and carried out once a year, 5 men in traditional dress rotate down a 30m high pole while one man at the top plays a Chirimia – small drum with flute attached. This ancient ceremony is thought to be a fertility rite; the men falling to the ground bringing sun and rain. Each man circles 13 times with a total of 52 revolutions, significantly tied to two pre Hispanic calendars. That in itself is amazing. Vertical Morris Dancing????? Peter was thinking about the Fair Maids of Perth doing this..which would defy description!!!

One of the Voladores said to Peter that you need ‘grande cojones’ to do this! He looks like he does!

The more we see of Mexico, we discover the more there is to see. We have one more land tour to do in the south from Chiapas, once we cross the hazardous big T (Gulfo de Tehuantepec) and our clearance port for Mexico.

Onward and Downward

Didy has a fridge magnet that says “Do something that scares you every day”. I keep telling her that waking up scares me! Surfing through the narrow breakwater into Marina Ixtapa was one of those pucker factor moments. I was down below talking to the marina and heard the engine start to scream and looking out the companion way hatch was the concerned face of the ships master! A face seldom seen!! Of course the old surfie dude did a magnificent job and yes, Stolen Kiss surfs very well! Practice for the bar entrance in Bahia del Sol???? Whilst I do the driving in the marinas, there is never a question as to who takes the helm in potential tricky situations!!!

Peter looked for a flag at the entrance, but the pole was bare; we certainly saw it flying (yellow for caution) off the marina office on our arrival into our slip (as opposed to pen!). The marina entrance is only wide enough for one boat and predominately faces the swell direction, which was a mere 1m at best; a shallow spot inside the entrance kicks up a wave (this one not breaking). I guess we just picked the wrong moment as there was no surf on our approach. Sneaky little suckers….they do that!

The marina is a little pricey but we have batteries to sort out and land travel to do. With the added company of crocodiles, what a bargain! The crocodiles here are around 6 feet; small and somewhat perhaps more docile (they don’t seem to eat people here) than their Australian cousins.

Other marina companions make for interesting walks.

After much reading, internet research and emails to those who know about batteries, (http://www.batterystuff.com) Peter decided that they needed to be equalized (which we should be doing on a month to month basis) then desulphated. Apparently batteries that sit a while in a hot environment become sulphated. We have ordered a desulphator on line that we hope will arrive in Hautulco before we get there. Interesting thing is that Bill (our old cruising buddy for over 10,000 miles!) had this theory and he purchased a desulphator…..and we thought that there was not much to his theory!! Live and learn all the time.

Although we enjoyed anchored in the lagoon at Bahia de Navidad, our departure was somewhat timely as 25 knot winds whistled through the anchorage nearly every day, causing much dragging. Not fun!

Santiago Bay and Las Hadas in the Manzanillo district was a mere 25nm to the south east of Navidiad; an easy sail. Nordsail 1 had left a few days earlier and we caught up with John in Santiago Bay; long sandy beach and excellent protection! The great beaches were also the attraction of the Mexicans on holiday, whom have adopted the Latino approach to life…… inventing the concept of play and party! Although a somewhat noisy anchorage during the day, it was quiet at night.

The beach culture in Mexico is very much alive in many respects. Hole digging appears to be an extensive past time and many take serious shovels to the beach….the garden variety type! Imagine it would be a little dangerous jogging along the beach in the evening or early morning. Lucky we don’t jog!

Heavily armed navy men patrol the beach on foot, for what reason we did not ascertain.

One can also shop whilst having lunch, walking along the beach or sitting in a hole!

Just around the corner from Santiago Bay is Manzanillo

and the Las Hadas anchorage, which was a bit of a treat as although we were overshadowed by ‘’disneyesque” type developments, the walks around the hills on the cobbled streets provided good exercise and numerous opportunities to slip into resorts and have a discrete swim! On one of our walks we happened upon a Mexican gentleman of some 68 years old, not looking a day over 50. An Indian man whose tribe lived north in the desert, moved to Manzanillo when he was young, taught himself Spanish, then later English and does not want to move to any other country to learn another language! We all walked along chatting about life and the world that it is and agreed that Mexico indeed is a wonderful place, as are the people.

Las Hadas Marina (cheapest fuel on the Mexican coast with the worst fuel dock!) is very run down, with only Med moore type options in a small pond which has a good surge through it if there is any swell.

New Year was a quiet night on the beautiful Nordsail 1 (the first Nordsail motor yacht) with John and another single hander, Scott from At Last. We returned to Stolen Kiss before midnight to watch the amazing fireworks that surrounded us in the small anchorage and extended 4 miles across the bay to Manzanillo.

Sitting on deck in anticipation, we noticed a small harbour boat not far from us, naively thinking that it was there to make sure the local boats were out behaving themselves. Got a bit of a fright when we heard the first woosh, thump sound of a large fire work going off! We were lit up like a xmas tree!!!! Lucky the wind was blowing away from us! Peter was giving a running commentary of a torch light running to the back of the boat, then retreating forward very fast as the firework launched into oblivion. This was almost as entertaining as the fireworks themselves!! After half an hour we were cold and had sore necks!!

As the local bus stops right outside the Las Hadas Marina Resort, transport to the nearby towns, Walmart, Mega and other places that one might need to go, was so easy. Whilst we found very little attraction in Manzanillo, Santiago was a great little town to wander around.

On departing Las Hadas (should have stayed and helped John re-fuel) and expecting a nice following sea breeze, we ran into S/SE headwinds with the occasional swell that almost stopped the boat. There was a lot of tidal influence which further disturbed the sea, even though we were 10 miles off the coast. The winds were around 15-18 knots by late afternoon, but nothing like home. A big decision….do we keep bashing south or pull into a rolly anchorage??? Tacking around Punta Cazeba Negro (and two large whales) took us close to the anchorage, so on dusk we decided to pull in and see what happens. We managed a little rest, after stuffing the cupboards with anything to stop the rattling and Peter sitting under the table trying to work out how to stop it squeaking. In reality it was not that bad, but by midnight, when the wind swung to the NE, it was time to go.

On noises, the major one we have been trying to sort out is the octopus pump on the autopilot. Our final email from the manufacturers is that Peter’s installation is excellent (we are hoping his installation to be published soon in Cruising Helmsman) and most people are happy with the small amperage it draws!! Its location….aft cabin! Bugger! Can’t imagine the sound it will make with a big sea running behind us!

The whole world changes in 6 hours and like icebergs, whales disappear at night! We had the company of the Mexican Navy and ships out to sea from us, and the whales between us and the land. Easy peasy…

Lazaro Cardenas, a major port some 31 miles NW of Ixtapa offered a welcomed rest from the engine.

There is a small cove lined with mangroves just to starboard of the entrance. We found fairway buoy and the channel marks at night without too much bother (although our approach was not so savvy as we were too close in and found ourselves 3 miles out in 4m of water….sand bar extends a long way out!); we managed to time our entry and exit in between ships. Nice, flat calm, albeit a very dirty boat in the morning and none of the reported petrochemical smells. There are many pangas going in and out of the harbour, as it is a river mouth. We had one panga stop by just after we anchored wanting fuel and another, amazingly knocking on our hull at 0200 wanting the same. We would have given them some had we had any in our jerry jugs and found it more amusing than annoying that we would be woken at such a time. Reminded us of Indonesia…..

Another 200 miles further south at Ixtapa/Zihuatenjo, we have rounded yet another cape and are in the world of SW swells, gentle land and sea breezes and rolly anchorages. Of course less wind now equates to more motoring, which is what we mostly did sailing to Ixtapa.

Isle Grande, Ixtapa is another playground for the Mexican people. Jet skis and banana boats a plenty during the day with palapa lined beaches on the small island. However around 1700 hours, the punters all return to the mainland, leaving a quiet and peaceful anchorage until late morning the following day. We were there being entertained by the passing parade with two other yachts. A Dutch woman, older than us, rowed over on her way back from the beach. She is single handing around the world (3rd time) on her way back to the Netherlands. Her buddy boat…her husband who is doing the same on his boat!! She was waiting for him to arrive as his boat is smaller!!! She only turns the motor on when boat speed drops to 1.5 knots. They met some time ago single-handing, tried to sail together on the same boat……it worked better each having their own! We were gobsmacked!

Ixtapa is a welcomed break from all that is Mexican, with some great restaurants and a long sandy beach to play on; Peter can enjoy the surf every day.

We are still looking for Peter’s sandals but don’t feel so bad now as one of the cruiser’s we met told us of the $10,000 he hid in the engine compartment of a previous boat, only never to find it when he sold the boat! Some very lucky owner has this stash somewhere….if only he/she knows!!!!! Now that would be a find!!!!!!!!!

Land travel to Mexico City is on the agenda to look at some ancient pyramids and to visit Morelia to see the Monarch Butterflies. Bus travel in Mexico is fabulous and like no other!

In the meantime, I keep telling Peter he is dreaming!!