A Boat Tour in the Mexican Caribbean

My family and I just spent a wonderful month in Mexico, and I have so many things to write about that I'm not sure where to start.  But for now, I'll just start with something easy - a relaxing and fun boat trip we went on on Saturday.

The trip started just out of Cancun, and took us around Isla Mujeres, a beautiful little island where Mexico's old Caribbean lifestyle can still be seen.

Here are some pictures.

This is the dock where the trip started.  We had breakfast in the larger hut at the back:

The twins, on board:

Getting ready to snorkel:

 The two older sons, watching me snorkel:

This is the view they had.  My oldest son claims he knows which one was me:

After snorkeling, with my lovely wife:

A typical hotel on Isla Mujeres:

A traditional wooden house on the island, in this case converted into a shop; this kind of simple wooden house was typical on the Mexican Caribbean before tourism took off.  Now everything is concrete.  I can imagine that these would stand up to a hurricane too well, but these little homes seem to have been around for a while:

Most homes have images of this sort:

The island's church; nothing "fancy" but the people's devotion and respect is truly beautiful:

 This is the beach where we spent the afternoon:

Some of the docks in the fishermen's district of the island; many of these local fisherman had their dock, home and a little restaurant all next to each other:

Although it's not very clear in this picture, this haphazard home is built of bamboo on a floating island. The island was made of old plastic bottles, covered with plastic and then soil on top:

Dinner at the beach club:

The view of the beach from the beach club:

My oldest son enjoying a dip in the pool:

Back on the boat, one of the crew members (the bartender) caught this barracuda:

This is one of the last pictures from the trip:

After my wife took this picture, the barracuda jumped and got the hook caught in the wrist of the man who caught it.  It was a very large and thick hook (2 1/2 inches or so).  Seeing the accident put her into shock; combined with low blood pressure and the motion of the boat, this was enough to put her out of commission for the next 24 hours!  She spent the night in the hospital.  Thankfully, she is much better now!

The fisherman downplayed the pain, and claimed that this kind of thing was normal for people who live at sea. I saw him as we got off the boat and he was smiling and waving.  I assume that he had removed the hook in a procedure similar to section 2 of this diagram:

In any case, that didn't help my wife very much.  But otherwise the trip was very enjoyable!

It's also worth noting that we were the only couple who brought our kids with us.  The other couples left their kids at home to enjoy a vacation alone.  While I understand that couples do need a break from the kids now and then, our trip was that much better simply because we brought them!  They loved it and so did we.

If You Decide to Go Missing in Latin America, Please Tell Your Family

Thinking about going missing in Latin America?  Please read these tips first.

If one young couple in Peru had followed them, they would've spared their family the pain of thinking they had been abducted or murdered.

Jamie and Garret - Adventurous (but inconsiderate) Young Couple

The Story of Two Young Adventurers
As the story goes, which fortunately has a happy ending, Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal of California were on a biking trip in Peru when their family suspected something horrible had happened to them.  Why?

They had been:

• updated their trip regularly on Facebook
• withdrawing money from a U.S. bank account
• making phone calls home

Suddenly, out of the blue, without forewarning or explanation, all of this stopped.  They had taken a several-week-long boat ride on the Amazon, where there was no internet, phone or bank machine, and not told anyone.  Their family and friends, for obvious reasons, noticed and were concerned.

Tip #1 We Live on the Internet
If you are the kind of person who uses FB every day, or withdraws money from your mom's bank account a couple of times a week (from foreign ATMs) please remember that the way we use technology now, in the minds of most people has a direct correspondence to how they perceive reality:

If you stop using your technological forms of rapid international communication, people will assume that something (bad) has happened to you.

And this is with good reason; people who live in and breath the web and such items don't stop using them unless something drastic happens.

Of course, there's always the chance that something good happened to you (such as discovering that there are real trees outside and that they are more beautiful than the pictures on FB or even this blog,) but people don't consider that a normal possibility.

This is not a modern phenomenon.  In the days before the wide-spread use of the internet (let's say when I was a child, back in the 80's) if you went to a bar for a beer every day, or called your sister every Thursday, people would've been just as worried if suddenly those habits broke off without warning.

Humans are concerned drastic and sudden change of other people's behaviour - again, usually with good reason.

Tip #2 Do Disconnect.
I sympathize entirely with this young couple.  I love to disconnect and - better yet - go places where you can't connect.  If it serves no other purpose, it at least gives you a fresh perspective to share when you re-connect.  But most of all it's a simple reminder that the online world is a part of (and imitation of) the real world, and not the other way around.  (More and more people are forgetting this.)

So, yes take a boat down an isolated part of the Amazon River (as this couple did) or go hiking in mountain villages where electricity is still state-of-the-art technology.  It's good for you.

Tip #3 But, for Goodness' Sake, Tell People
(I would say "For God's Sake" but God knows where  you are, so I wouldn't worry much about that side of it.  It's more for the sake of being good to people who love you.)

Tell people, post a message on FB, call your mother (big #1) and say - "Look, I'm going out on the river" (or into the mountains, etc.) "and I may not be in touch for a few weeks.  I should re-appear in [place name] in [x] to [x+1] weeks." Give a range of weeks so they're not scared when you fail to call home after 9:34 AM on day 16.

"Pay Phones" - an ancient form of communication, operated by coins

Yes, it's more adventurous just to get on the boat and go - it's leaving in 5 minutes, so you don't time to connect to the internet; but, really, you're taking years off your mother's life in worry.  There's another boat. Even if it's 2 days later, you can wait.  After all, isn't that the point of getting lost in rural Latin America? Time doesn't matter any more?

Tip #4 Do What You Promised
If the end the time limit you told people was 5 weeks, make sure you make contact within 5 weeks.

Yes, I know you just met the jungle tribeswoman that you're going to leave your girlfriend for and get married in an ancient ritual, but still ... first go to the nearest town with a phone and call your mother.  That way she can cry about it (joy of hearing from you, sadness of loosing her baby to a unknown woman from strange and foreign land, who will probably treat him cruelly) and pass the phone to your dad who can say mean things to you to bring back to your senses.

Trust me.  It's helpful.

Tip #5 Practice Disconnecting Ahead of Time
If you're going to isolated places where it's likely you'll be disconnected, practice doing it before it's necessary.  Try only posting FB updates once a week for a while.

I know the social media age demands daily updates, and even that is considered limited.  But again - why are you going to rural Latin America?

Sometimes it's nice to put it up as a whole story.  Sometimes it's  nice if reality trumps social media; you write only part of the story, because you just have so many other wonderful things to do.

This also helps people feel less shock when you disconnect for 4 weeks.  (But you still need to tell them ...)

Conclusion
Well, I guess that's everything.  Who knows if Garrett and Jamie will read this, and it might not be any use if they do.  Maybe they've learned their lesson, or maybe they've already decided not to go missing anymore.

But for the rest of you young, adventurous travellers who live on the internet at all other points of your life, please be sensitive to that fact when you escape for a short time.

(Oh, and I might ad tip #6: if you are passed puberty, try to convince your mother not to see you as her "baby" any more.  Besides the fact that it's not terribly manly, it will save her a bit of worrying if she sees you as a man instead of as a little boy.  It's a tough one.  For the record, I'm not saying this was the case with Garret or Jamie, but I just know so many examples.)

(And a final note, don't take anything in this blog post to be actual facts about Garret and Jamie. Besides the fact that I just quickly skimmed through two articles about them, I also wrote a good deal of the top of my head.  If you want to know about their story, please read the linked news story, or Google search their names.)

Old Trains are the Best Way to Enjoy Scenery - Even in Waterloo

I love travelling by train.  Modern trains are practical and relaxing.  Old trains are quaint and perhaps even "magical."

This last weekend, I drove my family (minus the baby twins) to St. Jacob's (about 15 minutes away from home,) and enjoyed a wonderful ride on the Waterloo Central Railway.  It is operated by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society; it is meant to be nostalgic, scenic and relaxing - and it certainly is all three.

The kids were absolutely delighted!

First, some pictures of the ride into Waterloo:

Arriving at the Waterloo station (on Erb, just west of King St.):

The station is directly next to Waterloo Park (the Eby Farm Lot), so we had a picnic and went to see the animals at the park's little zoo:

And the ride back to St. Jacob's:

The Conestoga River:

As you can see in the pictures above, the train we rode on was an old diesel.  The train service also owns an old steam locomotive, which they've fully restored and works 100% - I believe it's from the 1920's!  They only get this one out for special holidays.  I believe it will be running for the Victoria Day weekend, in which case, they run all the way to Elmira - about double the distance:
 

The workers pointed out that even if we didn't want to buy tickets again so soon (which cost more when they use the old steam engine), you can just show up to see and hear it in action! I think we'll take that option.  They are also in the process of restoring another steam engine:

The caboose one the train we were riding was also relatively modern.  The days they run the steam engine, they bring out a caboose to match:

The day was entirely worth it.  It really can be enjoyable to take an hour for a trip that would otherwise take 10 minutes!  The views of the countryside, the river, the market and Waterloo Park were all wonderful.  The only complaint from the photographer (my wife) was that the entire north end of Waterloo (about 10 minutes of the trip) was a long stretch of rectangular, white character-less buildings owned by Blackberry, with a bit of older industry thrown in.  But even for those parts, the kids were fascinated.

I have to say, I've found that trains are always the best way to enjoy scenery.  Something about them makes it easier.  Is it the larger windows?  The spaciousness inside?  The fact that they're on tracks (as opposed to the road) and not surrounded by traffic?  And - regardless of whether they're on the tracks because of nostalgia or economic factors that have prevented upgrade - old trains go slow and make this even better.

It was also nice because it's close to home, and - taking our time and relaxing - the entire outing was just 4 or 5 hours.  We weren't exhausted from driving in traffic to get somewhere, or rushing, or getting home late, etc.  It was ideal for the kids, and we just felt good.

The world - even when it's the world you grew up in and spent more than half your life in - looks different when seen from an old train.

What Are Your Favourite Places in the World? One of Mine is in Valladolid …

One my favourite places that I've been too is probably fairly unremarkable.  There are no stores, cafes, art, music or anything else.  What makes it appealing to me is the fact that it's a quiet plaza in a colonial residential neighbourhood in an unknown town.  There is a view of an old monastery.

Recently a co-worker who visited there recently sent me some pictures of this very place:

 I remember sitting on the benches there, eating lunch with my oldest son when we visited for New Years 2012, and relaxing in the shade another time before than.  I always forget to bring my camera. Good thing other people don't!

This is the view of the monastery:

I believe it still functions as a monastery.  They have daily Mass in the chapel at least.  When the bells ring out breaking the quiet which generally permeates the calm community, it is simply beautiful.

The place is beautiful; the pleasure is so simple.

For more pictures and of my last visit to Valladolid, see Valladolid, A Mayan Colonial Town.  For a great description of a very different side of Valladolid, see A Visit to Valladolid, Colonial Yucatán: Parte Uno. (Besides this quiet corner of beauty, the writer captures the essence of what I like about Valladolid.)

Valladolid, A Mayan Colonial Town

The Main Church in Valladolid

I spent this New Years in the town of Valladolid, about 2.5 hours inland from here, not far from the ruins of Chichen Itza.  The town is a classic old colonial Mexican town, with beautiful sites to see like old churches and convents.  The town square is also very picturesque.

While central Mexico has a much larger number of charming towns to visit, Valladolid is unique in the fact that it's not only colonial but also Mayan - not Mayan as in having dancers wearing large bird and animal masks and pretending to carry out long dead rituals for American tourists, but Mayan as in Mayan people actually live there.  While Yucatec Spanish (distinct from "normal" Mexican Spanish from the central area) is the most common language, you can also hear Mayan spoken in the streets and homes if you walk around a little.  It's rather un-romantic and quite contrary to the image of "Mayans" given for tourists as some sort of ancient mystics, since these are just common people living in run down colonial homes (small, one-story buildings with ornate facades that haven't been kept up in years - at least out side of the central tourist area), half-built concrete homes or even huts built out of wooden poles. I like both sides of Valladolid.

A older home, in the residential part of town

There's a restaurant in town that serves traditional food for the area, and is located right next to a "cenote" which is a large, natural pool of water at the entrance to the underground cave and water network.  It's beautiful because you can have a view of the cave and water while you eat, and then go for a dip in the water - it's very refreshing.

I also like going to Valladolid because there I can get hand-made sandals with car-tire soles for about $12.  People sell them right out of their workshops, which look similar to the old home pictured in this post.  They last me about 2 years - a good bit longer than most footwear.

This was my second trip to Valladolid, and I plan to go back. It's a nice, relaxing place to visit.

A picturesque colonial street in the town centre

My 2 sons and I walking down into the cenote (baby in my arms)

A view over the water of the cenote

Baby and wife

Our son playing in the pool at the hotel

Travel Safely in … Mexico City?

My closest brush with crime in Mexico City was one day when I was coming out of the subway, and I saw a guy who was very well dressed in the trendiest clothes listening to his iPod, wearing sunglasses that were probably worth more than the suit I was wearing and the laptop I was carrying put together.  Within about 5 seconds someone had approached him from the front, and someone else from behind, and stripped him of every last item of value he was carrying.

 

I had been carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit, but I guess these thieves know what they’re doing; although I was dressed for a business-type job, they could tell I really didn’t have items that would be worth anything to them.

 

For a place that has a reputation for being unsafe, I’d say it’s pretty impressive that during 2 years, this was my closest brush was crime – especially considering I lived in some not-so-nice neighbourhoods.

 

While I definitely been lucky, and had some excellent “guides” (my wife, friends, etc.), I think it’s also safe to say that a good way to avoid robbery in Mexico City is not to carry things worth steeling.  Dress in regular clothes and leave the valuables at home.

 

With that rule of thumb in mind, I think that it’s also safe to say that it’s no more dangerous to be in Mexico City than in just about any other large city.  People get nervous simply because of the city’s size; there are definitely places best avoided, and a common sense is needed, I would say this is even more true in cities like Detroit.  According to Wikipedia, Mexico City isn’t as safe as “highly developed western European cities such as Frankfurt or Barcelona but is safer then cities such as Moscow or Washington DC.”

 

Lonely Planet listed Mexico City as one of its “Top 8 places to (safely) visit in Mexico now,” saying:

 

“There really is no more fascinating city in the world than Mexico’s misunderstood capital. With a population of over 21 million (and a crime rate about a third of Washington, DC’s), Mexico City had a serious scrub-up for its bi-centennial, and now some places like mariachi-filled Plaza Garibaldi are considered (like Times Square in New York) safe enough to be a ‘Disney version’ of its former gritty self.”

 

Mexico City has many beautiful places to visit, and my advice to travellers is definitely worth going; travellers need to use common sense (as anywhere else) but can go there with confidence that they will be fairly safe.