The Darien Gap Dilemma

Okay, so, we found out that there`s no longer a ferry passing the Darien Gap! There used to be one, but the company that ran it went bankrupt due to lack of business. We read a whole bunch of accounts describing times that people have shipped their vehicles on cargo ships...but that didn`t seem like a possibility for us. It would be too expensive and take too long to organize - we wouldn`t make it to the Forum in Venezuela on time. We talked about selling the car and flying over...but that seemed difficult too, and besides, we like the car and want to drive home in it! So, the only thing we could think of was to store the car somewhere in Costa Rica while we travelled South America, and then pick it up again on the way back north.

We really had no idea how to go about this, but we thought Monteverde might be a good place to try, because they have quite a large English-speaking population, and its pretty remote, so we weren`t too afraid of theft being a problem. Our only idea was to call Jenn, an American woman living in Monteverde...we had met her the day before when she offered us a ride down the hill from the canopy tour (we`d stayed too long in the forest, missed the last bus down, and the sun was starting to go down). We were pretty nervous about calling; I`d only gotten her number from the hotel owner who happens to be friend of hers. But, Jenn and her partner must be the nicest people I`ve ever met, because as soon as they heard the story they offered to store the car for us, at only the cost of driving it down the mountain to a family member`s house...and Jenn even did the driving!

So, with the problem solved, we spent a few more days in Monteverde, then a few in San Jose (nothing special going on there, except that our hostel had a pool!), and then flew here to Caracas. We`re in the middle of the Social Forum now, and you`ll hear all out thoughts about that soon...

Catching Up

Okay, I`m tired of being so behind on our entries, and I want everyone to know what we`re doing NOW, so I`ve decided (unilaterally!) that I`m gonna just give the highlights, and we`ll have to fill in the stories later, or maybe even save them until we get back.

So, after Teotihuacan, we spent Christmas in Xalapa in a gorgeous, but empty house belonging to friends of Juan`s (they were away for the holidays). The three of us toasted the holiday with tequila and discussions of cultural relativism.

Then we moved on towards the Caribbean coast, in the direction of Vera Cruz. We didn`t want to stay near any resorts, so we ended up camping on a very hidden beach (Playa Escondida), right on the ocean. It was so amazing, totally isolated, beautiful landscape, swimming in the ocean. It`s been one of my favourite experiences, by far.

After that we went to Palenque for New Year`s. Juan had information about a friend of a friend living there...but it was just his first name and that he worked in an Italian restaurant. So, that info was pretty much useless, and the three of us instead decided to stay at a backpacker`s resort within walking distance from the Palenque ruins. The resort was crazy, full of new-age hippy kids, but still a resort all the same...just with a theme. It got a little overwhelming to be surrounded by so much stereotyped idealism; I wonder how many of those guests transfer the mantras they were spouting over to their usual lives. Still, the New Year`s party was one of the best I`ve been to in a while. We went to a field party that was theoretically a fundraiser for an eco-tourism project (see my thoughts about that in previous entries), but really it was just a rave in the middle of a farmer`s field. We got to see the sun rise on the morning of New Year`s Day, and then we crawled into the tent exhausted.

When we left Palenque we hurried for the border (Juan`s motorcycle permit had expired a few days previously), spent the night in an over-priced, boiling-hot room, then crossed the next day, thankfully with no trouble at all. We were headed for a hot springs hostel in Guatemala, but we hit quite a snag in Huehuetenango...though Juan got through on his bike, Bryan and I were stopped for hours by a peasant protest that was taking place. We tried everything to get around it, even going to a neighbouring town, only to arrive there just as they were blocking that highway as well - very effective! Finally, after about six hours of waiting, the crowd dispersed a bit, enough for some cars to squeeze through, and we were on our way again...but hopelessly behind. We actually did make it all the way to the hostel, only to find their gate locked and no way in. So, we spent the night elsewhere and caught up with Juan at the hostel in the morning (he was calmly drinking coffee beside the hot spring!).

While in Guatemala we were guests at a private natural reserve, and toured another, both through connections of Juan`s family...but those are stories that deserve the telling, so I won`t get into them now.

We said goodbye to Juan at the reserve in Atitlan (we needed to start moving much faster than he did), and went super-fast through Honduras and Nicaragua into Costa Rica...trying to get to Venezula for the World Social Forum. We passed through three confusing borders in three days, which was just about as much as I could handle. In Costa Rica we stayed in Monteverde, which is famous for it`s Cloud Forest Reserves (one of which was founded by a group of American Quakers after WWII). We got to go on a Canopy Tour - on zip lines through and above the forest! - and to do some great walks in the forest. But we hit one huge problem...

Teotihuacan

We left Mexico City with some relief, but more than a little reluctance. While we were way behind schedule, we felt there was so much more to do and see in el D.F. After only a few wrong turns, we stumbled onto the road out of the city.

Although we had a long drive ahead of us before our next stop in Xalapa (or Jalapa, depending on who you ask), we had resolved to stop and see the pyramids of Teotihuacan on our way (more or less on our way). It was nice for a change to have a native Spanish-speaker with us...though we lost our way just as often, Juan could ask and understand directions in half the time it would have taken us.

The pyramids at Teotihuacan are an experience that is hard to describe, but easy to remember - both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. The majestic structures vie for your attentionwith the hundreds of vendors selling gaudy memoribilia for prices so low, one cannot imagine they turn a profit. The pyramids themselves are incredible - so large that they appear even larger than the mountains which surround them.

Several thoughts raced through my mind on the long climb up the pyramids. How could a society capable of such an elaborate engineering project collapse and disintegrate only a few centuries later? The pyramids were built by a pre-Aztec society, which disappeared hundreds of years before the Spaniards invaded, slaughtering and enslaving the Aztecs and all the other indigenous societies of the area. Why would anyone abandon such a site?

One theory is that the Teotihuacans were destroyed by their own success. As their population grew, they overworked the soils surrounding the city, eroding the base of their own prosperity, eventually rendering the area uninhabitable.

The pyramids themselves are double-edged icons - where Juan saw the majesty and power of a pre-Columbian society, I saw only their exploitation and cruelty. The Teotihuacans had a rigid heirarchical society, ruled over by a parasitic priestly class and a king who claimed to be the very son of God himself. These freeloaders ruled over a vast underclass kept in a perpetual state of fear and poverty, enforced by a warrior caste (kind of reminds me of Plato's Republic). But how does one keep an entire society convinced that one is the living representative of God on earth? Well, clearly it helped to build awe-inspiring structures (using slave-labour, of course) and then sacrifice any trouble-makers on the tops of them. Call me a cynic, but I couldn't help seeing the pyramids as a living reminder of everything that's wrong with human civilization.

Whirlwind Mexico City

We were lucky getting into Mexico City, because we were able to contact Juan, a friend of Bryan's from university who was visiting his cousin (just one of his stops on a motorcycle trip from Thunder Bay, home to Colombia). Andrea and Rafael (Juan's cousin and her partner) were very friendly and hospitible - they let us stay with them even though they already had Juan as a houseguest, and twin babies on the way! Also, we were able to park safely in their neighbourhood, and avoid much driving in Mexico City, which suited me just fine!

Through Juan, we were able to see two sides of Mexico City. Andrea and Rafael live quite a high lifestyle, in a beautifully furnished condo kept by the bank Rafa works for, furniture included. The building is tall and super-skinny, with just one condo on each floor. The view of the city is unbelievable, although it would be even better if smog didn't obscure the mountains completely.

On the other hand, we were also able to meet Frida & Vaquero - and their imaginitive son Renato - friends of Juan's who make and sell jewellery in the Coyoacan market. The market they work in is a part of the informal economy in Mexico (basically anyone selling anything outside of a commercial business - and there are many, many people living this way), and as such the vendors are constantly struggling to have it remain unregulated and, by extension, to keep their already low incomes untaxed. Even though I'm generally a fan of a proportional taxation system, it was easy to see how becoming a part of the formally-taxed economy would make it hard for many people in Mexico to survive, when they're already living so frugally (fragilely?) as it is.

That day, we got a chance to visit Frida Kahlo's family home (now a museum), as it is in the same neighbourhood as the market. It was very beautiful and interesting, especially the kitchen which had lots of hand-painted tiles on the walls. The courtyard was amazing too, with lush plants, and large shells & pottery built right into the stucco of the house walls.

That night, we went to Frida & Vaquero's small apartment, drank some mescaline (alcohol made from the cactus plant) and went to a street party. During the week before Christmas, there are often neighbourhood parties to celebrate, and this one closed down the street so everyone could dance. When Renato got tired we went back and he was put to bed - then we all went out again for tacos. I was a little surprised that Renato was left alone (he's only 4 or 5), but things are very different there from Canada.

When we got back to the apartment Renato was, of course, sound asleep and totally safe. We slept that night on F & V's floor, then in the morning headed back to Andrea's condo.

Our second day in Mexico City, Bryan and I went to the Museum of Anthropology. We spent all afternoon there, even staying so late that we were unable to see Diego Rivera's murals in another building, as we had originally planned. Still, we only made it about one third of the way through the museum.

That night we went out for a wonderful dinner (followed by some not-so-wonderful coffee) with Juan, Andrea and Rafa. We found out that the largest coffee company in Mexico is Nescafe, so many places only serve instant coffee...no wonder we'd had so much trouble finding a good cup.

In the morning we said good-bye and took off with Juan in the back of our car...heading for Xalapa, to spend Christmas in his friends' house, and pick up his motorcycle from their garage at the same time.

It was nice to be travelling together...it gave us a third person to talk to!

Ecotourism; or, how to ruin a perfectly good park

On our way out of Guadalajara we decided to stop and camp for the night at a National Park a few hours east of the city. The park was represented by an enormous green blob on our map, so we thought there would be many kilometres of hiking trails to keep us occupied for the afternoon.

On arriving, we were suprised to find hundreds of cars in the parking lot, still, we thought there should be plenty of room for everybody. On entering the park we were taken aback - it was only about 5 hectares! There was a tiny lake - they called it a lake, but I`d call it a pond - with a narrow stretch of grass on either side of it, onto which were packed scores of picknicking families, dozens of ramshackle restaurants, and numerous souvenir shops. Bands of local children roamed the shore, forelornly attempting to sell generic, factory-made baubles which they presented as the products of `local artisans´. Troops of mariachis wandered by, playing songs for a few pesos. As for a quiet place to enjoy a bit of nature, it was nowhere to be found.

Inquiring as to the whereabouts of the advertised camping spaces, we were informed that they were on a small playing field inbetween the souvenir shops and the mariachis. We decided to move on and spend the night in a hotel.

The following day - still hankering for a bit of the ol` nature after our unsatisfying experience the day before - we decided to stop at the famed Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. These amazing creatures make an annual pilgrimage all the way from Canada to one specific region in Mexico, and back. Biologists spent decades searching for their winter sanctuary - in all the wrong countries - before finally "discovering" it a few decades ago. I say discovering sceptically because I`m fairly sure the discovery involved being told about the site by the local people, who`d probably known about it for centuries.

The monarch population had been dwindling for years, due to habitat destruction and certain genetically-modified crops which, modified to produce pesticides internally, unsuprisingly poison the butterflies who pollinate them. The monarchs have been making a surprise comeback, however, and we were both eager to see their winter sanctuary.

There were two locations listed in our guide book for viewing the butterflies, so we decided to pick the one described as "less-touristed", especially considering our experience the day before. But what we found was not exactly a tranquil mountain reserve...instead it turned out to be an eco-tourism disaster, in my opinion. Eco-tourism is one of the new buzz words in Latin America (and elsewhere, too, I`m sure), and theoretically it describes a situation which allows local people to make a living off of alternative tourism, instead of living by depleting the natural resources in the area. But in this case, the promise of its rewards seemed to be just a cruel hoax, with the local people continuing to live in tremendously poor conditions, and reduced to essentially begging tourists for their money, in return for the services they provide. These included young children (6 or 7) crowding around, pleading for the chance to "guard" our car for a few pesos; and dozens of men with horses offering a ride up the mountain...selling the chance to ride comfortably, while they literally ran ahead of or behind the horse the whole way. But it`s not the idea of selling services to tourists that bothered me (although these services seemed quite demeaning), it`s the urgency and insistency heard in the voices of the people selling them that seemed so wrong. Too many people selling the same thing to too few buyers has resulted in humiliating conditions all around.

The worst part is that the insistency expressed by the people is one of the factors that impedes the sale of a service, because - at least in my case - it becomes too overwhelming to be approached either over and over again, or simultaneously by numerous people, all trying to sell the same thing. I found myself refusing to entertain the idea of spending tourist money, simply because it was too hard to know where to spend it. If one person had tried to sell me a horse ride, I might have taken it (if he had not been set to run behind), for the mountain was in fact very steep...I could have used a horse! But with twenty people coming at me at once, I could only turn them all down. Especially coming from a culture where it has been very important for women to be respected when they say ´no´, I felt very awkward having groups of men all press closely around me at once to try to convince me to do something I didn`t want. At times I felt like yelling at them that I had already said `"No, thank you, I`d rather walk", and why the fuck wasn`t that enough of an answer?

But I know that it wasn`t enough because that answer means less food, or less clothing, or less of something for them and their families, so they need to keep begging and pleading and pushing until someone says `yes´. And that`s the real tragedy of eco-tourism, that it reduces all sides to participating in this awkward and humiliating trap.


The tough part about seeing the butterflies is that they only fly when it is sunny. It was sunny when we set out, but after the two hour trek up the mountain, thick clouds had rolled in, obscuring any sign of the sun. So by the time we got to the butterflies, they were resting, literally hanging around in the trees. Thousands and thousands on every branch, weighing the branches down until they hung towards the ground instead of reaching for the sky. It was quite amazing, but it would have been nice to see them fly...

Guadalajara

The drive from Zacatecas to Guadalajara was the most beautiful we`d yet made. The road ascended and ascended until it crested the top of the mountain, then curled and wound it`s way around and down, with each new turn exposing haunting new vistas of sun-drenched mountains and shadowed valleys.

Unfortunately, one side-effect of the curvaceous roads was slow traffic. With only one lane in each direction, slow-moving trucks gather herds of other vehicles behind them. The local drivers fearlessly attempt high-speed passes around 90-degree blind curves, sometimes even forcing oncoming traffic onto the shoulder of the road. (This is something I don`t think I`ll ever learn how to do.) So, although it was only a 300km drive, by the time we got to Guadalajara, it was well past dark.

I have a friend, Todd (a fellow tree-planter), who lives in Guadalajara, and who kindly offered to let us stay in his apartment even though he was on vacation somewhere in Africa. Todd is nothing if not thorough, so we had excellent directions but still managed to get ourselves lost - and being lost while I´m driving in a strange city always turns me into a maniac, so that was not a terribly fun experience...especially for Bryan. Eventually we arrived, only to discover that the phone number of the person who was to let us in had misprinted and was unreadable. With no way to re-check the email containing the phone number, we grudgingly headed off to find a hotel.

After getting lost again - again, not fun for Bryan - we finally found a hotel, only to get lost AGAIN trying to find parking - you can imagine how much fun the whole trip was by this time! Needless to say, it was a stressful night.

In the morning we finally managed to contact the right person, and get into Todd´s apartment. It was nice to have a whole apartment to ourselves instead of a dirty hotel room, for a change. And having a kitchen for a few days was great (as most of you know I love to cook). We stayed three more days in Guadalajara relaxing and exploring the town. We visited the historic cathedral, lavishly ornamented with gold, of course. El palacio federal, an historic government building was notable for two huge, dramatic murals decorating it´s arched ceilings. One of them, called "The Negative Forces", depicted Nazi-fascists, soviet-communists, and the church, all violently cramming their respective ideologies down the throats of a suffering populous. The other mural, called "The Political Circle", depicted a mob of radical peasants and indigenous peoples forcing a scared-looking politician to enact reforms in the wake of the 2nd Mexican revolution. I had fun imagining the looks on the faces of the politicians who commissioned the work when they saw the finished product.

After a few days in Guadalajara we were ready to head for Mexico City, known locally as el D.F.

Sorry our blog is quite a bit out of date. We are actually in Guatemala right now, but we are trying to get caught up.

The drive from Monterrey to Zacatecas was beautiful and sad. The landscape alternated between sandy mountains, covered by grass and scrub, and lonely deserts, inhabited only by giant cactuses (cacti?). The desert towns were some of the dreariest I have seen. On first approaching them, they have the look of an ancient ruin, long abandoned, until one gets close enough to notice that there are people dwelling in the crumbling structures, and clotheslines strung between them.

Driving into Zacatecas was quite a stunning sight, however. The city is nestled inbetween two small mountains, with the downtown in the valley and the residential sections clinging to the sides of the hills, jutting out at seemingly impossible angles. A colonial-era town, the old section is a warren of narrow one-way stone streets, many of which suddenly turn into stairs when the incline gets too steep. We found our map to be entirely useless, and after an hour or so of driving in circles we parked the car and set off on foot to find the hostel. Unfortunately, by the time we found the hostel we couldn´t remember how to get back to the car. One of the hostel owners was kind enough to wander through the city with us until we found it, and guide us back to the hostel.

The hostel in Zacatecas is one of the nicest I have ever seen. It is an old four-story building, with a rooftop patio with an incredible view of the city. There is a pleasant reading room overlooking the lobby, with a serve-yourself beer fridge which works only on the honour system. The place was filled with travellers, most of them from the UK. It was strange after so much time without seeing any other english speakers to suddenly be surrounded by them.

We spent a couple of days in Zacatecas exploring the town and checking out the nightlife. We took a cable-car accross from one of the hills to the other, which afforded a spectacular view of the city. On top of one of the hills is an old fort from the 2nd Mexican revolution, which has been converted into a museum, as well as a giant rock outcropping you can climb in order to dangle over the city.

After a few days in beautiful Zacatecas, we reluctantly set out for Guadalajara...