All the Santos

And let's end the Mexican trip in Todos Santos, a dusty town straight out of a western - cactus, vultures, cow skulls, all the cliches - and populated by American expats. The town itself is pretty horrible,  but it's a hop, skip and jump from a massive, massive empty beach and a lagoon where ospreys hang out, eyeballing mullet. 

Time for one more experience before we leave? Oh, go on then, let's release turtle hatchlings into the Pacific sunset. I thought it was going to be unpleasantly touristy, turns out it was ace. Turns out baby turtles are cute enough that even someone as jaded as me can't help but be won over. 

So here's a question to end with. Is Mexican food actually not as spicy as its reputation? Nothing has been that spicy, so far. Is it just that I don't look Mexican, so have the toned down, bland tourist version of all the foods? 

Baja California

I'm in La Paz. Apparently that's Spanish for The Paz. To clarify, that's La Paz, BCS, Mexico, rather than Bolivia. 

So yeah, Baja California. That's where you go to see wildlife, right? I got a boat trip yesterday, I passed the kind of wildlife people go crazy for in most places: frigate birds; blue-footed boobies; noone even noticed. Never seen a boat load of people more non-plussed about dolphins. Everyone likes dolphins. It's like they had bigger fish to spy... 

So swimming with whale sharks. That's kinda weird. They are very big. And I'm not great at this seeing business, plus the water was generally a bit murky, so the whole experience was grey and grey and FISH. Still, whale sharks, box ticked. 

Spent today up in the highlands, Sierra de Lagunas, trying to find more wildlife. Found a whole heap of kestrels, turkey vultures, a ranch and some views. Well cowboy. 

So what have I eaten:

Cactus - specifically paddle cactus. It tastes of green and goes well with a steak. 

Corn-flavoured ice cream - I was sceptical about this (the corn juice I had in China has put me off any maize flavoured, well, thing), but this was good. Tasted like popcorn (the dirty kind) which is kinda strange as popcorn doesn't contain the corn that Mexicans know as corn. 

Fish tacos - so these are a La Paz thing. Again I was sceptical, but they are a straight translation of fishfinger sandwiches, and who doesn't like that? 

One last thing, for anyone who actually uses this blog for useful travel advice (first piece of advice, don't use this blog for travel advice) La Paz is the first place I've seen communal play equipment for wheelchair users. That's pretty cool, right?

Land and Freedom

I have got my Mexico on over the last couple of days. Eating tamale. Drinking mezcal. Pointing at eagles. Ticking cliche after traveller cliche off the list. Bring it.

So Teotihuacan, that's one of those names that I've always found a bit intimidating. Generally I have referred to the ruins as "the ones with the long name beginning with T" and people know what I mean, or at least nod politely. Turns out it's pronounced T.O.T. wackan, or at least it is to my insensitive English ears.  Keep it phonetic. 

Ready for some learning? They're not Aztec ruins. They predate the Aztecs by most of a millennia. Also they aren't Mayan, the population was cosmopolitan, apparently. A mish mash of different cultures all living together and building pyramids. And those pyramids are big. The so-called Pyramid of the Sun (which is apparently more likely to be rain-themed) is the third largest pyramid in the world. 

What else? I went to Cuernavaca to see the 500 year old castlechurch. Turns out if you are invading with religion, you need your buildings to be hardcore. None of that baroque altarpiece nonsense, just thick walls and crenellations. They have recently given it a do-over with agate windows and an Ikea pulpit. Funkiest church I've been in, in a while. 

And Taxco. A picture-postcard knot of cobbled streets leading to another massive church. All the streets are stuffed with silversmiths, all of whom lure you in with free mezcal, which seems like a foolproof, if slightly sneaky, sales technique. 

Back inside the mountain walls of CDMX and there are still boxes to tick: lucha libre. Turns out it's a real thing (well a real fake thing) and people go crazy for it. The matches we saw were mainly trio wrestling, with best of three bouts, which meant I had little to no idea what was going on for the most part. It was pretty spectacular, lots of colour, lots of leaping and more mini-estrellas than I was expecting. I'd finish with a luche libre chant, but the only thing I could really make out was "cervecas" and I'm not certain that that's a bona fide chant...

The Place of the Navel of the Moon

I'm in Mexico. Specifically Mexico City, the so-called place of the navel of the moon where it all began, where after 200 years of wandering they saw the eagle with a snake on a cactus. I can't remember exactly who they are, but they definitely saw the eagle snake. 

So I like Mexico City. I know I've only been here 24 hours so have barely scratched the surface,  but so far, so enjoyable. 

I was expecting two things: 

1. The size of the place would be intimidating. 

2. There would be crimes happening everywhere.  

And so far I have been disappointed on both counts. The historic centre seems conveniently walkable and, even at night, the streets (in the admittedly gentrified areas I've explored) seem as safe as anywhere. 

There appears to be a whole heap of wonky history all crammed into the centre and, as Dia del Muertes has just been and gone, it is all covered in skeletons and marigolds. The flowers not the gloves. 

So yeah, CDMX gets a thumbs up from me.