Mexico dreaming!

Hello Steemers,

This time no drawing, I wanted to share with you briefly a trip I did last year with a friend through Mexico!!!
I absolutely loved the country for several reasons: the beauty of its various landscapes, the friendly people, the great food, and last but not least for sure, the amazing remnants left of its incredible past civilizations!

I am very found of history and I love to have a personal and close look to ancient constructions. Indeed the next trips I would like to undertake are Peru and Egypt... I am in the process of taking my motorcycle driving license as the thought of travelling to Egypt by bike really excites me hehehe.

Back to Mexico, I went there last year before quitting my job, somewhere in the late of April. An excellent choice it turned out to be as the country wasn't flooded by tourists yet and the temperature were very enjoyable.

We landed in Mexico city, and stayed there just a couple of days. Mainly to see its very rich museum, and to pay a visit to the nearby Pyramids of Teotihuacan.

I will not bomb you guys with endless pictures, just some key ones to give you the picture.

So the first day we had a walk through the National Museum of Anthropology, just mindboggling the amount of artifacts present there. It mainly covers the Mayan culture, of course, and it has in its exposition the famous Mayan Calendar in stone.
The museum does not limits only to the Mayan, but it offers a view from prehistoric artifacts found up to modern day art expressions of its people.
One of my favourites is this giant super psychedelic painting for some strange reason...

Actually calling it a painting is wrong, as this giant thing is a work of embroidery!!!

Next stop was Teotihuacan. If I am not mistaken these are the most ancient Pyramids found up til now in Mexico. The two big ones that is, the Pyramid of the Sun being the biggest and the Pyramid of the Moon. All the smaller constructions around them have been added by a next civilization.

In this picture we are looking at the Sun from the Moon :))

As mentioned, the food was really good, everywhere! Some perhaps underestimate the importance of finding good food, well, not we Italians I can tell you!! To us its a religion :)) Even better when you enjoy your food with live music ....

Leaving Mexico City and its polluted air behind us we flew to Tuxtla Gutierrez where we rented a car to proceed our journey immediately towards San Cristobal, a lovely small city up the Chiapas Mountains, the mountains of cocoa and coffee beans!

I should write the same text on my local dome here :))

While Tuxtla almost feels like a plane desert, climbing up the mountains you start seeing some slight vegetation. Early in the morning of the next day we started our trip towards the real aim of going up the Chiapas mountains, which are the hidden Mayan ruins of Palenque in the Jungle!

The trip was very long due mainly to home made speed bumps built by the locals everywhere, some of criminal heights ... They made countless victims as the amount of oil trails on the road prove!

Before reaching Palenque though, we stopped at the Agua Azul, very big and beautiful water falls.

At this height we have seen the vegetation and the landscape change several times already, from little vegetation in San Cristobal, to what looked to me like Alpine forests which at a certain point transformed slowly into thicker and thicker jungle. Simply one of the most beautiful rides I made until now in my life.

After a swim among the waterfalls with the night creeping on us, we proceeded to drive towards the Palenque national park, where we stayed in these little huts in the park itself in the middle of the jungle. To be surrounded by the sounds of animals instead of cars flashing by is, sadly, something I dont experience most of the times, but I do love it!

by the way, those giant black things on the windows are COCKROACHES!!!

Before the sun climbed out of his bed, we were ready to enter the archeological part of the park ,... We were very luck to have a misty morning, which gave the entire site an even more magical atmosphere!

Remember the cockroaches? ...I lied! They were simple leaves!! hehehehe

It really is useless to try to describe the feeling of walking around there... These giant green walls of jungle swallowing every up is truly soul soothing. The constructions with what is left of the art which decorated them are of pure genius ... like this depiction of the local medicine man ... actually an interesting inspiration for a future drawing

Leaving Palenque we travelled back to Tuxtla were we took the plane for the last part of our Mexican trip ... No, not Tijuana (that I will do on my next visit to Mexico) ... The plane landed in Cancun!

I have to say that when I landed I suddenly got something like a panic attack, to which I am not accustomed to... I had to rent a car as fast as I could and leave that hell on earth flying away like the feathered serpent Kukulakan! Cancun to me looked like the Caribbean equivalent of Rimini, a sort of giant Disneyland like city where Tourists are absolute KINGS and QUEENS. I understand the irony that I was and always will be a tourist as well when travelling, but yeah ... THAT is not my style of visiting a country!

While Tulum looks way better!!! Besides renting and driving the car around, we mostly stayed in AirB&Bs, which always is an excellent way to get to meet people beyond the place itself.

So, Tulum and the Cancun area,... Great stuff over there as well. Several Pyramids, the most famous being of course Chichen Itza. I was surprised to find out that half of the structure is in ruins, while the other half looks in perfect state!

the real Kukulkan...

The place is surrounded by Cenote s,which are sweet water pits very sacred and precious to the Mayan civilization...

and underground caves apparently connecting several sacred locations throughout tunnels kilometers long!!!

Tulum was a Mayan city on the shores of the Caribbean ... Being my first time at the Caribbean sea, I fell deeply in love with the color of the water ...

it made me feel a little like a lazy pirate as well hahahaha

Once the time arrived to return to Mexico City to prepare for the long flight back to Europe, we still had one day and one special trick up our sleeves ... in the City itself!

While we were on route to fulfill our last trick, an incredibly nice surprise awaited us in one of the metro stations: a full two wall giant graffiti-painting of CARICATURES of some of my most beloved music artists!!! People passing by were a little puzzled to see the absolute delight in my eyes and probably thought I was some kind of retard ... while I might be a little retarded, I was mainly in AWE!

The only one I would have left out is the Boss ... never understood what he is the Boss about, for sure not in music.

Anyway,... our last trick. ...want a hint? Here it is ...

Yes, you are right! Frida Kahlo s house!
They turned it in a very interesting museum about her and her art ... I didn't know she became friends with Trotsky who actually lived close to here and was eventually murdered there as well!!

If you ever want to visit her house though, you should book the tickets online,... as the cue was extremely long!!!

Well this is it then for my trip in Mexico, ... pfff in the end it became way longer than expected the same ;)

Ciao

Milo