Enchiladas verdes - Mexico 2005

Puebla
(Halloween)

Our long way home has begun. Actually, it began already yesterday when we left our beautiful beach hotel in Celestun, Yucatan. The new winter time woke us at 6 a.m. and after packing our stuff we indeed had to wait for the restaurants to open for breakfast. Interesting enough although it was still so ungodly early many people were already up and in the street.

After a delicous breakfast of Dutch waffles (which almost taste like German pancakes) we felt adventureous and took a road that was not on our map. Uuhhhh, very eerie. Well, not really. We just noticed the name of a town which we would pass anyway if we took the long way around Merida and decided to try the road. It was asphalt and everything and it so saved us about half an hour of driving to Merida and then out of the city again. So, the day already started very good.

By the way, if you are wondering what we did on Saturday, here´s the secret: We did absolutely nothing. We got out of bed, had breakfast, walked back to the hotel, spent some time on the beach or on our balcony, had dinner and went to bed. It was a perfect day. The walk on the beach was beautiful. There was just me, some pelicans and a couple of fishermen. I´ve never felt such comfortable silence. The water of the Gulf of Mexico was lovely and lukewarm. Just... perfect. Our dinner, too, was perfect. I had, if I spell it correctly now, "Camerones al coco". That´s shrimps in a coconut shell with mango and apple sauce.

Back to our way home. Even before we went to Mexico we had decided to drive back on Monday in order to have a few days in Mexico City. For some reason we started on Sunday already and managed to reach Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco in the late afternoon. It was so *great* t get the first little taste of our mountains again. I almost asked Silke to stop the car so that I could get down on my knees and kiss our first curva peligrosa and was even a double curve. Beautiful! So, we reached the capital of Tabasco in the afternoon and this time we only consulted Silke´s extraordinary travel guide once and checked into one of the best hotels in town, Best Western Maya Tabasco. Lot of money for uncomfortable beds - but "Star Wars IV The Empire strikes back" was on TV!

Today´s Halloween and when we got started after our rich breakfast buffet we did some very fast jedi driving and managed to reach Puebla, one hour south of Mexico City, in the early afternoon. We used the autopistas, which you have to pay for but at least you can go fast (well, Mexico fast) and we were so surprised when we passed Veracruz and soon got into the state of Puebla. We switched seats and I did the last 100 km of driving. However, our luck with the fast road left us for the last leg of this day trip because the road suddenly went up into the mountains and it was so very foggy up there. Silke slept on the passenger´s seat and I was so glad to have this big truck in front of me so that I could use it as a "beacon of light".

The city of Puebla is pretty and we walked around the historical district a bit this evening. We met another couple from Israel who had just started their trip and we gave them some advice where to stay in Oaxaca and San Cristobal de las Casas. Tomorrow and on Nov 2nd Mexico celebrates the Dia de Muertos, the Day of the Dead. It´s not like Halloween although we´ve seen many kids tonight in costumes and a "dead corpse" on the street - so very cool that we threw some money in his hat, uhm, skull. The Dia de Muertes is a celebration of the dead in Mexico. Places are decorated with skulls and flowers and around the Zocálo for example there are little "monuments", like altars, where people pay respect to the deceased loved ones. There are photos, candles but also food items like oranges and bread. Very differnt and very moving.

We are staying at the Hotel San Angel in the historical center of Puebla and will drive into Mexico City tomorrow and stay there for the last three days. We most certainly will give away our car first thing tomorrow because we both do NOT want another encounter with the police. However, taxis do fine in Mexico City and they´re dirt cheap. Our planes leaves Friday night (arriving home Saturday).

I don´t know if we´ll get the chance to get online again in the last few days. Possibly yes but maybe not. So, if this is my last message for now, I´d say "adios" for now and thanks for joining me on this extraordinary trip.