Given the prospect of a 12 hour overnight journey to San Cristobel I opted for a quiet day and didn’t join the various expeditions to the ruins of Monte Alban. The itinerary includes lots more ruins! Another good breakfast, I set too with updating the blog before spending a happy hour on the terrace sunbathing with only the potted geraniums for company. At 11.30 I ventured into one of the showers to find that not only did it produce a goodly stream of water but that some of it was hot as well! Finally hair washing and shaving were accomplished. It was a strange experience doing all this in a gloomy cell measuring about 3 metres by 1 and which contained a loo as well. If it weren’t for the problem of keeping the paper dry it would be possible to multitask!
By midday I was out and about and visited the cathedral which was bedecked with massive floral decorations of stargazer lilies. This was to celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary.
Elsewhere preparations were in swing for celebrating la dia de los Muertes – the day of the dead.
This is an important public holiday following Halloween in Mexico. Skulls and skeletons are a common image here and the roots lie deep in Aztec culture rather than Christianity. A bit like Christmas, really!
A little bit of business on the market and I was ready for lunch, which was taken at a café on the Zocalo. As soon as I sat down the traders and beggars arrived and before long ‘pan pipe’ man arrived as well though I doubt this had anything to do with my presence. He started up with Wimawey before moving onto the Beatles selection and finishing with something I didn’t recognise but may have been more vernacular.
Back at the hotel the combination of heat and the decorative waterfall had stimulated the mosquitos into action and I have the bites to prove it. Managed to make a successful Skype call to Chris who got a scan of the terrace to add interest to the call. Nice to know the technology actually works. Meanwhile I spotted a tiny humming bird on the terrace but it had vanished by the time I got the camera ready. We set off to Mauricio’s special restaurant where the food was excellent but conversation was somewhat hindered by a car race through and around the streets of the town. Given the level of Risk Awaredness in the UK it was strange to see narrow streets with cars racing through accompanied by the wailing sirens of the police escorts!
Finally we loaded up for the long walk to the bus station which proved to be amazingly busy; many of the Mexican long route buses run overnight.
We left on time but the continual winding back and forth as we climbed up into the mountains made me give up on the Kindle. Around midnight we came to a dead stop which lasted for nearly three hours. Various ambulances, breakdown trucks and others went up the hill past us but very little came down. Eventually we got going to find a huge truck being hoisted by the heavy equipment. It must have rolled over but given the low speeds caused by the nature of the road it is impossible to speculate why it happened. So, our 8am arrival became an 11am arrival and decidedly weary, we made the longish walk to the Hotel San Martin, which proved to be the best we’ve stayed in so far in terms of amenity.
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