sounds that touch the soul and sooth the mind. melodies that empower and inspire. without music, life would be a journey through a desert. these are my favourite records of 2011. fab

the cuban people were another good reason. the friendly and talkative citizens of cuba are known to be very refreshing. everyone has its own story and the points of view greatly vary. the ability to tell stories is another creation of the revolution. a local writer said that in cuba, everyone is a good narrator since they had over fifty years of storytelling. what else to do but to talk if you have so much time? to foreigners cuba has a mythical aura. obscured by rumors, one has a hard time to distinguish from what is true and what is not. the regime had to open the borders for mass tourism in the mid-nineties after the clash of the soviet union. ever since this moment cuba had a magical attraction to people from abroad. countless streams visit the country every year peaking in 2008 with over two million visitors. tourism has long become cubas main income domain, but for how long can the ‘old cuba’ be seen any longer? we went to make our own image and visited a country on the edge of a change. we had no idea what would expect us..

there are four major districts in cubas capital. ‘habana vieja’ – the old town, ‘centro habana’ with the highest population density, ‘vedado’ and ‘miramar’ which is a bit more expensive and off the center. during our time in guatemala we met two english girls of whom one of them has been living in havana for well over half a year. she gave us the address for our first ‘casa particular’. it was a recommendation, situated in the middle of havanas ghetto. for individual tourism, or lets say for people who want to discover the island, the casa particulars are the preferable choice of accommodation. these casas are not hotels in the wider sense but private houses in which the relative family rents from one to two rooms. the law restricts  leasing more than two rooms but to a few exceptions. each casa has to be registered in order to accommodate people. whilst quartering for your stay, one has to hand over his passport. the dates will then be noted in a book which is controlled by the state. this is to provide total control. not only about the renter but also about the visitor. the stay has to be paid with the devise currency, (pesos convertibles – cuc) hence every cuban who is able to rent a room automatically has a higher standard of living. this fact made way to an incredible amount of casas all over the island, both legal and illegal. our apartment in havana was very simple which, despite some few exceptions, generally is the case. situated in the middle of the dirty center, the location wasn’t ideal at all. but to live among cubans was an invaluable experience. central havana teems with life. in almost every street you can see people play all sort of games – from chess to the simple play with marble, women handling their laundry, couples fancying each other in front of their houses, men tinkering something on their cars. what we could witness was an incredible amount of imaginativeness. a view behind the caged windows gave us a glance at the simple living rooms. one or two chairs, a fan, some pictures and a television which was turned on almost 24/7, showing the same over and over again. the national stations don’t give you a big choice. cheap soaps and news that always tell the same: ‘the capitalist world is crashing but cuba will prevail.’ in the street you can smell food, dirt,  washing soap.. an unbelievable amount of smells is frequenting your nose. the damaged houses complete the picture. the daily walk through those very streets was fascinating in so many ways. it is only when you reach the core of the old town, when the city’s picture was changing. it is the historic center which accommodates most of the tourists and offers the activities. many of the nearby all inclusive resorts began to sell daytrips to havana some time ago. specifically to the old town and the region around the harbor with its many sights. you would get a rather good impression by only seeing the old part but this isn’t representative for the whole of cuba. in order to get a different picture you surely need more then one day and therefore the all inclusive tourists get nothing to see but the walls surrounding their hotel and the artificial face of havana. a reasonable part of the tourist income goes directly into the reconstruction program since cubans too recognized that a clean and attractive city not only boosts the tourists satisfaction but also acts as a magnet for more of them. good propaganda if you want so. even if practically all the shops, restaurants and touristic attractions are in the hand of the state, he tries to offer a very attractive and versatile program. the italian restaurant around the corner or the chinese on the first floor.

be it in the old town or in mirador, the city is packed with people and as a tourist you are logically marked. to count the times we were approached by locals wouldn’t make any sense. one step out of our house and we felt like flowers in their anthesis, placed in a valley ruled by bees. some want to sell something and some just want to talk. cubans happen to be very inquiring. our daily walks along the malecón were peppered with interesting conversations and annoying attempts to sell us some ‘real’ cigarettes. el malecón, the former gem of the city indeed offers a clean walkway but otherwise is meagerly and dull equipped. before the revolution it was the gathering place of the rich and game addicts of whom most of them were from the united states. havana was a place to be. a place to look and to be seen. today the malecón belongs to the children,  pedestrians and to the traffic. there were only a few restaurants at the malécon and they didn’t make the impression for a stay to be worthwhile. at certain times the traffic was just unbearable. we are no architects but we both agreed that this unique road along the sea had a lot of potential for improvements. the malecón, as he is now, definitely is a place of energy. a place for people to gather and chat. an authentic place. havana is the modern heart of cuba. modernity however is for large parts inexistent. the stagnation from over fifty years ‘revolution regime’ leaves viewable marks. but exactly that is the real deal about this very unique city. time travel without a time machine. diving into another world and challenging your standards. let go of yourself in a world without all the western technology, without the comfort. a world without publicity. a world of charity and brisk interest of your fellow women and men. a world that we simply don’t know. one doesn’t travel to cuba to delectate himself with capitalist achievements because obviously that is only possible in a very restricted way. all inclusive vacations in cuba? what a shame. if you speak with other tourists then it is the music, the people, the attitude towards life which lies in the air. the vibe of a city that never sleeps. it is the escape of an over technologized world and if it is only for a few days.

but with all the things noted above we should also ask the question about how the locals feel about all this because it is them who have to suffer under these circumstances every day. it is them who have nothing and it is also them who have to fight for the tourist devises. it is them who couldn’t live without a auxiliary income or the financial aid from exile cubans. it is a strange paradox. tourists want to visit havana (and cuba in general) in thousands, only to escape their daily life and spend their hard earned money. on the other side we have the locals of whom a lot of them want to leave the island desperately in seek of a better, easier life. it is not about the location they want to get away from because they love their city. it is the repressive regime that is emptying them one day after another, psychically and physically. this was slowly fading in more rural regions but nevertheless accompanied us all over the island. it was most present in the larger cities, the intellectual centers. our time in havana was our first interaction with cuba and its people. we look back on a very intense and interesting time. some say the publicity free cuba is a relaxation for the eyes. our eyes were overwhelmed after eight days havana. the countless impressions generated inner conflicts which would accompany us during the whole stay.

travelling in cuba – a real challenge for individual travelers on a budget and almost impossible for non-spanish speakers.

since tourism is the most important income and the main source of keeping fidel castro’s cuba existent (at the very edge though), cuba had to go through a change in many respects as a communist country in finding a reasonable compromise in keeping their ideology and simultaneously becoming a service orientated and competitive holiday destination in the carribean. cuba lost its financial backing from the soviet union and opened its doors to foreign tourism in the 1990s. whereas cuba was a popular tourist destination for united states citizens before the revolution in 1959, mainly due to the large number of casinos catering to gamblers put up by the american mafia with the cooperation of the corrupt batista government, the facilities and infrastructure for tourism have never really been renewed since then. you can find very high exclusive hotels and resorts at the main tourist spots such as varadero for instance, while in less popular tourist regions visitors are still able to rent rooms in many cuban homes, the already mentioned ‘casas particulares’. cuban tourism built up as well a bus system (via azul) only for tourists connecting the biggest cities and tourist destinations, with which we covered most of our distance on this very interesting and magnificent island, where history still defines the daily business and cuban life always and everywhere.

the best, most comfortable and efficient way to get around cuba is most likely by renting a car. but as renting a car is a rather expensive undertaking in cuba (75 cuc per day) and as well a very complicated one with the required documents and the whole reservation process, we agreed on travelling by bus.

the result were long waiting hours in the bus terminals, not correlating schedules, chaos, not knowing of having space in the next bus as it wasn’t possible to make seat reservations in advance (a electronical system doesn’t exist), delayed buses despite their slogan where the word ‘punctualidad’ even is written in big capitals, became no exceptional situations for us and made it very hard to plan in advance. we never knew what’s gonna happen next when we entered a via azul station. furthermore there is to mention that we were deeply disappointed from the via azul staff and employees in general, working in cuban tourism. they  were mostly willfully obstructive, not helpful and friendly – just arrogant. a circumstance on which we had to become familiarized with first and which wasn’t always easy for us to deal with especially at the beginning.

after our time in havana we decided to travel west with via azul direction vinales and spend some days there. what a difference from hectic cuba. vinales, a small town in the pinar del rio province of cuba, unesco heritage and famous for its lush green hills, meadows and tabac fields. it took us three hours to get from the city into the amazing nature of vinales, while having travelled through a stunning countryside and always accompanied by hundreds of communist propaganda placards along the motorway, which we found yet very entertaining to look at. having arrived in vinales, dozens of locals squeezed against the opening bus door outside to be the first to offer their accommodation to the tourists. to find a casa particular has never been a problem for us on our journey through cuba, as there are plenty in and around the most important touristic cities. everywhere we went, cubans waited at the bus terminals for the packed via azul buses with their visit cards, pictures of their houses and families. nevertheless it was recommended to us, always to reserve the house in advance, as there are lot of cubans trying to rent their house illegally. families get controlled regularly if they are offering space to tourists unlawfully or not. if they do and get caught, they would have to bear very strict consequences ranging from high fines to jail and even the tourist may get penalized.

as renting casas is the most profitable business sector for cubans and those who have the license to make their house available for tourists, are logically more wealthy than other cubans. those people have access the the cuc, and that is where the government is dividing the rich from the poor people in this, lets call it ‘fake’ communist state, where everybody actually should have equivalent we thought. the gap between poor and rich has grown dramatically since cuba opened their doors to foreign tourism and established the cuc as official currency. the cuc, which is equivalent to the us dollar and invented to urge investments and money transfers from fled cubans (most of them settled down in cuba), back home to their relatives who stayed in cuba, is in our eyes the best sample of this sinking, communist ship, cuba.

but it was always a great experience to live with a cuban family for a couple of days and we only met very hospitable and open hearted people. due to this fact, we didn’t care anymore about the poor sanitary facilities, the missing fan or the uncomfortable beds. we enjoyed every single discussion with the families and learned many things about their lifes in cuba and so did they about ours. in vinales, we stayed two days with estrella, a very friendly woman and her son a bit outside of the small city’s center. vinales definitely is a must see for all cuba visitors. we rented bikes and drove through the stunning, green valleys, went up to the famous hotel ‘los jazmines’ with its fabulous view over the whole valley or just relaxed on the balcony of estrella’s little house. but you could without a problem stay much longer in vinales than we did, as there are many things and places to visit and explore. especially when you are interested in tabacco or horseback riding.

our next destination after vinales became trinidad, to where we went by taxi and not by bus this time. we didn’t want to risk anything and be stuck in havana as via azul scheduled a bigger stopover there  to change bus without having a guarantee for seats in the following one. trinidad reminded us very much of the cities we’ve already visited in mexico or guatemala from the architecture point of view. only that all the buildings and streets were moldering and in extreme need of rehabilitation. that’s the reason why we would never compare trinidad with antigua or guanajuato for instance. but there was without a doubt a lot of charme in this little spanish colonial city in central cuba. this time again, we were extremely lucky with our choice of the casa particular. we stayed in a rather big house, with a great backyard, pool table and very funny hosts.  not that family – like this time, as it has been in the past casas. we are really looking back on a fantastic time in trinidad, where we met interesting people, great musicians and enjoyed the cuban nightlife.

our travelling plan brought us further east to camagüey. a city we would better not have visited. the city, as well built by the spaniards in the 19th century just became a short hop on our way further east to santiago de cuba. to us, cmagüey wasn’t anything special. we recommend to skip it on your way to the eastern tip of cuba. but something absolutely worth writing about our time between trinidad and santiago de cuba is the change of vegetation we observed, the temperature increase which made it almost unbearable in some situations for us, the growing poverty, hundreds of people standing next to the motorways hitchhiking and last but not least the never ending and really annoying communist propaganda placards along the motorways, on houses, trees – just everywhere. and whereas we found them still entertaining at the beginning, they definitely started to bug us. we felt sorry for the cubans who get brainwashed everyday, everywhere by those placards with their ridiculous, kinky banners on it talking about the revolution, the bad western world or ‘yo trabojo, el trabaja, nosotros trabajamos, y tu? que tu haces?’ ‘morir por la patria es vivir’, ‘trabajar y luchar’ just to mention a few. and the more east we drove the worse it became – decadency was reaching its very top in this case.

it took us six hours from trinidad to camagüey and sixteen hours from camagüey to santiago the other day. two heavy days of travelling in cuba ended in santiago de cuba, where it all began fifty years ago. well not exactly in santiago de cuba but in the nearby sierra maestra started the great story of fidel castro’s succesful revolution, where he landed with his brother raul castro, ché cuevara, cienfuego and other revolutionarios on the yacht ‘granma’ coming from mexico to bring down the corrupt government led by batista in havana. we would have loved to visit the sierra maestra, with its fantastic nature and goergous carraterras on the coves of the carribean. but it was only accessible by car, so we couldn’t / didn’t want to go. there was a waiting list up to three days for renting cars, and the prices were much to high either way. so we agreed on staying in santiago de cuba. but we found out very quickly, that there’s nothing really worth staying for too long. santiago, cuba’s second largest city lacks of almost everything our hearts desired. despite maybe some museums, la casa de la musica and a nice church. it lacks of restaurants, cafés and parks where you could easily spend an afternoon. fortunately, we stayed at a fantastic casa particular with a great garden. but santiago itself, rather disappointing to us. the highlight was our trip to the close-by castle, where we enjoyed an incredible view over the city and the valleys to the carribean shore.

after santiago de cuba, we sallyed out for cuba’s first city – baracoa. a six hour bus ride through the the guantanamo province in extreme eastern cuba. columbus landed near baracoa on his first voyage to cuba and according to a legend, columbus put a cross called ‘cruz de la parra’ in the sands of what would later become baracoa harbor. the cross is exhibited in the church nowadays and a tourist attraction. despite its stunning environment with its palmy hills that surround this little city, the nearby national parks and the famous 575 m high table mountain ‘el yunque’ with its unique species of ferms and palms, baracoa is surprisingly still absolutely not touristic. Its remoteness far away from any other bigger city on the very eastern edge of cuba, make this place still to an insider’s tip. after the hurrican who swept over the northern coast of cuba last year, baracoa changed a lot. the reconstruction after this destructive storm has never been finished due to the shortage of money. the surrounding nature was without a doubt truly beautiful but baracoa itself is nothing special ‘anymore’. we planned to take some daytrips from baracoa and hit the close-by beaches which were said to be absolutely georgous. but there are things that happen on a journey you simply can’t forsee and which may mix up your whole plans in a very uncomfortable matter. problably the most common for travelers in foreign countries and one of which we have been spared from so far on our trails happened to chris – food intoxication. due to chris’ following, very painful stomach ache and dizziness including an overnight stay in the hospital of baracoa, our plans changed totally. chris needed some days to recover after the ‘baracoa hospital’ incident and thanks to the wonderful, young family we stayed at, who looked so cordially after chris the days afterwards.

the hospital experience showed us once again how poor this country really is and it definitely had an impact on our future trails in cuba. the facilities, hygiene and organization in the hospital were in catastrophic conditions and the very well educated doctors and nurses don’t do any good as long as they don’t have the appropriate working tools and conditions. once again we felt sorry for the cubans to live and work in such poor circumstances and realized as well for us, that if anything would happen to anyone of us, we would be absolutely lost here without having no connection to the ‘outside world’, no cells, no internet, just nothing because there is nothing in cuba. as all the via azul buses leaving baracoa back to santiago were sold out for an indefinite time and as we were fed up to deal with them, we decided to take a taxi directly to holguin. the guy who drove us was a friend of the family we stayed at and as he didn’t have an official taxi license, we always had to watch out for the police. fortunately he didn’t get controlled and we arrived in holguin in the late afternoon. holguin is one of the biggest citites in cuba with over 250’000 citizens and is situated approximately 500 km east of havana.

such as most bigger cities in cuba, holguin has its own airport for domestic flights only (of course) and a baseball stadium. another colonial style city with an interesting and very lively center. but one evening was absolutely sufficient for us to see what there was to see. we left our bags in the casa we lived (as we had to come back there to take the bus for varadero in the evening) and went to the close-by fisherman’s village of gibara. to get there our host mother of the casa, said that she knows someone who would give us a ride which was simultaneously the beginning of the next adventure. again in an illegal taxi with an ultimate nervous driver who risked a lot to bring us to gibara and back to holguin in the evening just for some extra money. due to a murder that took place in holguin the last night, the control and presence of police was extremely high on the streets that day. we always had to duck and hide, when we passed a police car and even had to take detours over hedge and ditch far away from the main road just not to end up in a police-check, which would have had very bad and uncomfortable consequences for the driver and as well for us. we kind of felt like being spies on the run from the cuban government in our little lada from the 70s. but it all came out well for us. our driver made some illegal extra money and the day in gibara was absolutely brilliant and worth the tense moments in the car.

it was in gibara when we met frank, a young, intelligent farmer who came to gibara in the morning to sell his vegetables. such as most cubans do, frank joined us while we were sitting on a bench and just started to chat with us out of the blue. first we thought, ‘and what does he want to sell??’ but very quickly it turned out to be not his intention. he only wanted to chat with us and we were very surprised and delighted by his excellent german language skills. he almost spoke without an accent and told us, that he learned it all by himself. we walked with him around gibara and he showed us all the great places of this beautiful small village. we learned so many things and stories about cuba from frank. one we will always remember is the story about his neighbour, a proud, conservative communist who would stick at nothing to keep the current system with fidel castro run forever. frank who is craving for a change told us that in his neighbour’s case it’s very easy to be a communist. she has got her daughter who fled to miami and who sends her every month some money. she has the latest flat screen televisions, clothes and furniture at home. she doesn’t know what it means to live at the existence minimum and work sixteen hours a day for a system, a revolution which took place fifty years ago and with which most of the young people in cuba don’t care two figs about anymore.

we agreed on covering a big distance direction west and take the night bus from holguin to varadero. the bus left around midnight and was coming from santiago de cuba. again we had some tense minutes in the via azul station, as we didn’t know if the arriving bus was full or not. fortunately it wasn’t and we could get on the bus. but if it would have been booked out, we simply couldn’t get to varadero that night, had to go back to the city (all the via azul station are outside of the city) and look for another casa, as ours from last night was already taken in by new tourists. looking for a place to sleep at midnight with all our bags – no thanks. only to give a good example: there were three grils from england who wanted to take the bus from camagüey to santiago de cuba and simply couldn’t as it was said to be booked out. the scene at the counter with the three desperate english girls trying to get more information about their alternative possibilities to get to santiago de cuba in the next days and the via azul employee who just pretended not to understand, just giving a fuck about them. we couldn’t believe our eyes and one of the english girls almost collapsed there. well, we had our tickets for this bus the girls wanted to get on too and by the time we left, the bus was half full without the girls on it who definitely got punked by the inability and disorganization of via azul.

our journey from holgiun to varadero in the extremely overcooled via azul bus, was twelve hours long and not really comfortable. sleeping was only possible if you took a sleeping pill or if you were drunk. we arrived in varadero around noon and planned to stay there for three nights before leaving to the airport josé marti in havana to take our flight back to mexico. varadero. famous for its first class holiday resorts, high exclusive hotel complexes, endless white sandy beaches, became our last destination in cuba. due to cuba’s proximity to the states, we think that varadero would most likely be mexico’s cancun of nowadays, if the revolution would never have taken place fifty years ago. because of our very limited budget at this time, we couldn’t afford to stay in one of the high deluxe hotels and finally checked-in in an all-inclusive cuban mid-class hotel, mostly occupied by wealthy cubans. the food and staff of the hotel were absolutely insufficient compared to european standards but nevertheless we look back on two great last days of our time in cuba. we can absolutely recommend varadero as a great holiday spot, but only really enjoyable while being in an upper-class hotel, as the middle-class hotels in cuba are made for cubans, which would never satisfy the expectation of a normal european all-inclusive hotel tourist.

cuba was our final destination. the place where our ways separated. we’ve been travelling together for over five months and cuba was a place where a lot of our interests lay. those who were with us through this blog know that the whole journey was relevantly influenced by this travel destination. cuba is a fascinating island and a equally interesting state. it was also a place where we learned an important lesson in the world of traveling. often we are getting seduced by places we only know from a fascinating viewpoint. we see pictures,  hear stories and we prepare ourselves with anticipation which doesn’t leave space for skepticism. we travel to places without being prepared properly and without knowing the counterparts. if we would do so, with the ability to evaluate for ourselves if the desired destination really is what we want, we would probably see a country from a total different point of view. it surely depends on where you want to go but for some regions you should also calculate the negative points. we jumped blindly into our adventure and were not always happy with our choice. at least a little preparation would have made a significant difference. there is one phrase that sums it up pretty well when it comes to travelling (and life in general?): not everything that shines is gold. when it comes to cuba, the travelogues give you a very embellished picture. whilst praising and singing hymns, a lot of these ‘european romantics’ overlook the pain and agony a lot of cubans have to go through every day. without their euros and dollars they wouldn’t endure one single week in this by them entitled ‘tropical paradise’. to us it is easy to go there on vacation and ignore the negative side. we are leaving after one week anyway. it is not our problem.  but for those who decide to have a glance behind the curtain, they will get to know a inconvenient truth (this actually counts for the bigger part of the latin american countries). it is not all salsa, music and happy life. the appearance is deceptive.

we are not political scientists, nor latinamerica adepts. all we do is write from our hearts. what would cuba be without its revolution, without fidel? how would the island look like today if there wasn’t the barbudos? what would che guevara say about his cuba if he wouldn’t have died in the bolivian jungle? imagine cuba without its revolution and picture how it would look like today. the craziest ideas may come to your head. but cuba was revolutionized and there is nothing else but to look at the facts. fifty years after the overtake it is definitely worthwhile to point out the positive points. so what positive did the revolution bring to cuba? compared to other latin american countries, cuba not only has the most capable doctors, the lowest children mortality rate but also the best educated population. the repressive regime also allowed it to be possible to have nightly walks in almost every city and to discover areas beyond the touristic sights. something you would have to fear for you life if it was in la paz or even buenos aires. everyone has a roof over his head, even if this ranges from very simple apartments to big houses. all those, amongst many more, are real accomplishments and not some phantasm of the propaganda apparatus. but there is a crucial question. what price do the citizens pay for all this? free speech is not possible. the opposition and alternative thinkers rot in prisons, were defeated or left the island. a doctor doesn’t earn more than a waiter and for both the pay doesn’t allow them to cover their base demands. if there wasn’t the financial aid from their families living abroad, thousands would be starving. damaged to no infrastructure in all sectors, destroyed streets, almost no public transports to move the masses. cuba is a country in which behind a mask of happiness lies deep despair. the future is uncertain. those who want or could change something are still being chased by the government. we felt that cuban consciousness is changing. in all the discussions we had we thought to feel that. the people want a change and it is only a question of time for it to happen. the future will show us if it will be another revolution that is taking down the regime or if it is expiring with the deaths of the last revolutionaries. one thing is for sure. the socialist cuba has become a house of cards and its basement is about to crumble. c&f

with more than 70 millions sold records worldwide and 8 uk number-one singles, oasis is one of the most succesful bands ever. their contribution to music in the last years was outstanding and their scandals legendary. the split up definitely is a big loss in many respects.

last summer oasis released their seventh and last studio album ‘dig out your soul’. with two million sold copies worldwide to date and the second highest chart entry in the us billboard charts since the release of ‘be here now’ in 1997, ‘dig out your soul’ as well is among their most successful ones.

in order to promote the album before the release in october 2008, oasis went to new york in september of the same year. sheet music and lyrics were given to several busking bands around the new york area. the songs ‘the turning’, ‘(get off your) high horse lady’, ‘bag it up’ and ‘the shock of the lightning’ were performed by the buskers on the streets of new york and in several subway stations.

a 18 minute black and white documentary with the title ‘dig out your soul in the streets’ was created. throughout the documentary appear different, very talented street musicians coming from all parts of new york. every single one having a variety of different ethnic, musical and creative background. liam, gem and andy (noel didn’t participate) were all there and blown away by the buskers’ talent, this unique affection to music and their attitude towards life. the new york buskers live for the music because thats all they have. they don’t care about money making. as long as they can play music, they’re free and independent. songs like ‘(get off your) high horse lady’ are performed by some buskers in a way, which makes oasis look quite old sometimes. a fact which even liam (!) agreed on somehow. the whole documentary definitely is a must see for all the people who are keen to quality music. a documentary packed with lots of great stories of interesting people. buskers you pass by in the streets or in the subway stations, sometimes not even recognizing them and only seldom leaving some spare cents for them, are put in the spotlight this time.

the documentary won the ‘innovation award’ at this year’s uk music video awards and that’s when I heard of it for the first time. ‘dig out your soul’ which is anyway one of my favourite oasis albums (solid rock, classic rock ‘n’ roll) since ‘what’s the story morning glory’, is put in a light with this documentary which points out for the last time the talent the band oasis always had and the many more opportunities they would have had, if liam and noel would have gone along better together. the split up is really sad. oasis definitely has grown and made a great step forward in their musical development with the release of ‘dig out your soul’ last year. the more deplorable is that they did not in persons. leaving with the documentary ‘dig out your soul in the streets’ definitely is a graceful way to say goodbye and remain in the memories of all the people who grew up with their music.

I was walking along and this chair came flying past me, and another, and another, and I thought, man, is this gonna be a good night. – liam gallagher

fab

higher, there’s no need to come down
arising through the other ground, c&f

the night already set in over antigua when we arrived there. on our last meters in the taxi through the tiny cobblestoned streets of antigua to our guestfamily’s house, we could already recognize some of antigua’s beauty with its houses of pastel facades under terracotta roofs. a crazy day of traveling finally ended in our guestfamily’s house and it was a great feeling we had at this moment. simply knowing of not having to travel again at least for the next three weeks, as we decided to stay here for a longer time of period and learn spanish.

antigua is famous for its thriving sapnish schools with students from all over the world (but mostly from the states). we stayed with a very lovely guestfamily which has been offering space in her house for students for many years. the main season for the spanish schools in antigua is from june to august and we shared the house with other students too. that was where we got to meet billy from the states and the two emmas, one coming from the states too and the other one from sweden. we all went to different schools in antigua, which shows how big the offer and competition with over 70 schools (!) really is. antigua is packed with students from june to august. the price and quality of teaching varies greatly from one school to another. we decided to go to ‘la sevilla antigua’ language school for three weeks, which we consider today as the ideal choice. just within this time we made a satisfying progress and felt comfortable and secure to chat with locals afterwards. we both took private lessons and built up a nice relationship with our teachers. antigua definitely is the perfect place to learn spanish in offering students the ideal environment for successful studies. it’s streets, houses, parks and uncountable cosy little cafés might give you the impression of what guatemala might look like today if the scandinavians would have taken it over five hundred years ago. a place where traffic is diverted, rubbish collected and no stray dogs wander around. a fantasyland, definitely not representative for the rest of guatemala. its gorgoeus setting, surrounded by three beautiful volcanoes and the unique atmosphere made it a very special, magical place to us. we went to school in the morning, went home for lunch, bagel barn or another cosy café place in the afternoon, dinner and party at „café no sé“ later at night.

after two weeks we decided to move out of our guestfamily’s house and join liam in his appartement, which was located right in the centre of antigua. liam. open-minded, sceptic and rational at the same time. only to mention a few characteristics of this great personality. having been able to meet him in our lifes was enriching in so many respects. we met him in school and became good friends, while sharing many great discussions and adventures together.

as we were a bit tired of traveling and exploring new sites from our very intensive first months in mexico, we just enjoyed hanging around in antigua and decided not to go on any trips the first two weeks. so it wasn’t before the weekend of mid-june when we started to look around and compare the hundreds of offers for volcano trails around antigua. we said to ourselves that if we climb one, then only the highest and it must be a whole weekend trip. there was actually only one agency that offered such an adventure. o.x. excursions.

high altitude climbs became manageable challenges over the past decades. countless advancements in terms of equipment made it possible to climb almost every summit there is. dangerous routes which have long been forgotten came back to life. many women and men paid their addiction to height with their lives but there were always others ready to follow in their footsteps. be it extreme hiking, climbing or winter sports of all sorts. adrenaline often demands its tribute. for many it is a risk to take. there are several volcanoes in guatemala who give those who want to challenge them some options. surely it isn’t extreme hiking but for inexperienced trekkers who would like to give it a try it is more than enough. on one sunny weekend we followed the call of the mountain and decided to climb on of the highest summits in the whole of central america. acatenango. with more than 4000m this sleeping volcano offers a more than incredible view in all four cardinal points. to the north one can see the volcano ‘fuego’ who is still spitting lava. the clearly hearable soaring gives you a slight idea of what is slumbering in this giant mountain. to the east, lago de atitlan and the him surrounding hills. far south another volcano which can be visited as well. he is called ‘pacaya’ and is one of those rare volcanoes where you can get a very close look at the lava. but be aware! a too close look might get you rid of your eyebrows. to the west, the unending view gives you a glance at the pacific ocean and beyond. the two day hike was a big challenge. even though we would call ourselves rather fit we were totally exhausted after the trip. we went in a group of ten people of whom two were armed police officers and one guide. the acatenango trail counted as pretty safe since there hasn’t been an incident for more than two years. guatemalas ruthless crime made it necessary for the local police to protect tourism on various occasions. be it in antigua itself where in order to visit a nearby viewpoint one ‘has to’ demand a police escort or as mentioned above, the volcano trails. ‘crime lies behind every corner’. we were able to climb acatenango without any major problems. only one month after our climb however, there have been two incidents. a sexual assault and a robbery where both police officers lost their lives. our memories lie with them and their families. due to these attacks the trail has been closed. the whole story made our trek even more special then it already was. reading these horrible news made us think back of this wonderful hike. always steep and constantly changing its geology. colors of nature, intensed by the sun which was now and then gazing through the misty sky. the whole region became almost image like – painted. the challenge never seemed to cease. even after we built up our base for the night at around 3900m we still had to climb the last bit. the human body has to work hard. the ‘inhumane’ conditions make you once again realize how small you really are. like an ant on a tree you try to climb something so mighty and at last you eventually succeed. created billions of years ago, nature is almighty and we are only a microscopic fragment on the timeline. we climbed the top twice. once in the evening to see the sunset and in the morning to witness rays of light bouncing of acatenango and throwing a huge shadow into the valley among us. indescribable points in time. the rewarding hours on top of acatenango were worth any pain we suffered during and after our trek. the mind-boggling views will always stay in our shell. moments for a human’s individual eternity. life lasting memories of a nature born giant – acatenango.

after this impressive and unforgettable weekend we wanted to stay another week in antigua and not leave before the upcoming weekend for guatemala city and the rest of the country. we actually never planned to visit the capital of guatemala, as it was said to be very dirty and dangerous. but we wanted to make our own picture of it, because if there’s something we definitely learned on our trails, that personal tastes vary. another reason why we went in the end was because of daniela’s invitation. daniela who we met through liam, invited us to stay with her family for the weekend. daniela’s family who moved to guatemala city a couple of years ago because of the father’s job, lived outside of the city’s centre in a protected, very affluent neighbourhood. life’s extremely dangerous in gautemala and we heard stories from daniela and her family, which made this place absolutely not worth staying any longer for us. guatemala’s street crime, including armed robbery has increased in recent years.

we only went to guatemala city for an afternoon, which was far enough for us. there are definitely places in the world where individual human tastes are not divided and so we came to the same conclusion which most people share with us. guatemala city is absolutely not beautiful, just utterly forgettable. nothing more. the extremes that categorize the whole country are in plain view here. there is open street crime (armed) by day, everywhere people shouting and spitting around, chicken busses and other absolutely environment harmful buses cruising through the dirty streets, while belching out black, stinky fumes next to people sitting (some lying) on the pavement trying to sell old t-shirts, caps or faked watches. but we had a fantastic weekend with danielas family in their beautiful mansion. thanks to their great kindness and amazing hospitality. we agreed on returning to antigua once again and to stay there for three more nights at the brand new hostel from o.x. excursions, the agency we took the acatenango trip with the weekend before. it was really good to be back in antigua after the weekend in guatemala city. only two hours by car seperate these two so different and controversial cities. both cities as controversial as the whole country itself. but antigua, defintely a place we would go back to anytime.

three hours away by car up north in the highlands is the famous lago de atitlan – our next destination after antigua. we already heard so many things about this lake. actually only good things. some even said, the volcano ringed lago de atitlan is the nicest lake in the whole world. we arrived in panajachel early in the morning and walked directly down to the harbour where the boat left for san pedro, which is located just on the other side of the lake.

without a doubt lago de atitlan is a nice lake with the volcanoes surrounding him, but for the two of us, far away from being extraordinary, freaking beautiful and definitely not the most beautiful lake in the world. maybe it’s because we’re both swiss and spoilt with many beautiful lakes back home. it was just hard for us to bring up such a big fascination as others do for this place. we actually were a bit disappointed. we have the impression that the lake, which is surrounded by volcanoes and small villages doesn’t deal well with its popularity. the villages of san pedro and panajachel are nothing special. but if you are into african drum music, hammock swinging or if you just love the fact of only having to walk around the next corner to get drugs ranging from cannabis to opium – san pedro might be the ideal place for you.

from panajachel we wanted to go to xela and then go further to huehuetenango through the western highlands of guatemala. one of guatemala’s most touristic routes due to its stunning scenery. but because of heavy rainfalls six months ago (!), the street from huehuetenango to coban was still closed since there has been a landslide which destroyed the streets. so one of the most touristic routes through guatemala and a very important street connection linking the west with the east of the country was impassable. they haven’t managed to fix it in six months and so we had to change our route. we took another bus leaving directly from panajachel to lanquin the next day. ten hours in a packed bus – only a short hop for us. the landscape which we’ve been driving through was absolutely stunning and made us forget of how uncomfortable the drive actually was. having arrived in lanquin, a little village two hours east of of coban in central guatemala we first had to find a place to stay for the night which was quite a difficult undertaking to our utter astonishment. all the nice hostels seemed to be booked out and we had to stay in a rather dumpy one. lanquin is one of the most touristic places of guatemala due to its caves and because of its proximity to semuc champey, where you can visit the beautiful limestone bridge and stepped series of pools of cool, flowing river water which are great for swimming. we really enjoyed semuc champey, wheareas lanquin was a bit disappointing. from coban, which is not such an attraction in itself, but an excellent jump off point, we left very early in the morning for rio dulce with a short stopover in el rancho.

rio dulce sees its most tourist traffic from yachties – the us coast guard says this is the safest place on the western carribean for boats during the hurrican season, became a very special place for us. we found a fantastic hostel just next to the river. the perfect place for a longer stopover on our way up through guatemala. we rented kayaks, swam in the river, played pool and were even able to watch the wimbledon finals, after not having watched any tv for months by then. before continuing our trails to flores and tikal, we also went to livingston, a little village right at the carribean largely populated by so called garifunas – south american indigenous and african descents.

our last destination in guatemala was flores from where we went on our long awaited daytrip to the towering, spectacular pyramides of tikal early in the morning. visiting this magical site was a great experience. tikal without a doubt ranks among our top three mayan sites we’ve visited so far on our journey. tikal is deep in the jungle and when you climb the side temples rising to great heights, you got this amazing view over the whole site and the jungle. its vegetation, the peaceful air and animal noises all contribute to an experience not offered by any other mayan site. you can’t miss tikal while visiting guatemala. after flores and tikal, we made us on our way to cross the border to belize the next day.

the whole trip from flores over the border to belize occured without any problems. the border – crossing was well organized and the doubts we had about it first were absolutely unjustified. we didn’t have to pay any fees to enter the country. after five hours we arrived in belize city. belize. probably nowhere in central america is the recognition of having crossed a border and being in another country as big, as when you have arrived in belize. with the currency from quetzales to belize dollar, changed as well the language from spanish to english. belize just bumps and grinds to a whole different groove from the rest of central america. everybody here knows the words to even the most obscure bob marley songs and almost everybody got a tupac t-shirt at home in their cupboard. belizes’ long association with the uk has left some legacies. perhaps because of this and the language thing, the country is more closely aligned with the usa than with other central america countries. creoles – descendants of the african slaves, who speak a very unique, special dialect of english make up the country’s largest ethnic group. we only made good experiences in meeting belizians. they are totally laid back, always friendly, helpful and happy it seems. we decided to travel through belize on our way up to cancun and it definitely was a good choice.

after having arrived in belize city, we directly went to caye caulker, which was just a short hop. caye caulker, a tiny little island, where you could easily make a tour around in less than five minutes by foot, is still the backpacker’s faourite place. we found a good and relatively cheap hostel there to stay for the night and hopped furhter north to the next island called san pedro. san pedro by far much more developped than caye caulker, a famous touristic holiday spot for affluent people mostly coming from the united states, made it very hard for us to find a cheap place to stay. due to this fact, we decided after having found a less beautiful hostel a bit outside of the town, to leave san pedro the next day by boat for mexico. but we couldn’t leave belize without having snorkled there for at least once. so before leaving in the afternoon, we went on a fantastic snorkel tour in the morning. no wonder why belize is one of the most exciting spots to snorkel and dive of course (the blue hole) in the whole world. it took us two hours by boat from san pedro to corozal, from where we crossed the mexican border. after being away for almost two months in guatemala and belize, we found ourselves back again in mexico.

there are quite a few ‘emerging’ countries. one can find them on four continents. guatemala certainly is among them. we don’t like to think of guatemala as a ‘third world’ country since we don’t believe that there is such a thing as the ‘third world’. there is only one world and social disorder is a beatable opponent if we grab the problem at its deepest roots. guatemala was an incredibly interesting country. 13 million people share a green space slightly larger than england. a land and people which has been exploited ever since the white man came around. poisoned by corporate interests, the once ruling ‘indigenas’ now sell handicraft and live in small communities pulled back on the countryside. a nature worshipping ideology was replaced by today’s acquisitiveness. fight for survival and the demand of materialistic goods made people lose sight of what is really important in life (it is the same everywhere isn’t it?). crimes like those on acatenango are poisonous and consign deep in people’s minds. two percent of guatemalas population posses ninety percent of the country’s richness. ninety-eight percent remain uneducated and will never develop a critical view if it stays that way. just until there is another revolution. central-south america is the motherland of all revolutions. guatemala’s corrupt government doesn’t change nor does it want to change. great ideals aren’t existing anymore and those who are there are being silenced. just like the young guatemalan lawyer who was shot during our stay. after his death a video appeared in which he said that he would be dead already if this video was released. he also said that the people in charge of his murder would be the current president and his first secretary. apparently they wanted him to do something which he denied. he paid the highest of all prices. the country is on the rise and standards are getting better. ‘secured’ individual traveling is only possible for some years. as long as ‘stupidity’ sits behind the governments desk, this slow ascend won’t gain on speed. for example: there was a nationwide law that all motorcycle drivers must wear a jacket with a control number and a big sticker on their helmet indicating the same number. aside of the obligatory sticker and the jacket, it was then forbidden to carry another driver on the back whilst driving in major cities. this law was settled to prevent drive by shootings from motorcycles. a lot of people in guatemala don’t have a choice but to drive a motorbike since they can’t afford anything else. the ‘jacket-sticker set’ was a pricy investment for them. so when the government had to choose the color, they decided it to be yellow. weeks after most had purchased the jacket and the sticker, the government said that the color of the jacket has to be changed since yellow is the color of the national police force. they decided it to be red. some weeks after this first change they had to rethink their choice for another time because red was the fire workers color. at last they decided the jacket to be black which then was kept. many people lost a lot of money. people who already live on a minimum. all this happened because of the inability to communicate properly. our time in guatemala was rewarding and eye-opening. obviously there are a lot of things to criticize. the balance between what we have seen and what we have been through just doesn’t seem right. we don’t want to be unfair. we want to give our honest opinion. positive experiences such as the nature and human interactions seem to become painfully small in a forest full of injustice. would we recommend guatemala as a travel destination? definitely yes! it has a lot to offer. only to mention the cultural shock which gets you back on the ground if you’re from a country such as switzerland. guatemala is on the rise. lets hope it stays that way so that many future visitors may come in the ‘gusto’ of its many offerings.

all the best, c&f

one day we must go,
one night we will descend into the region of mystery, c&f

out of the darkness, fretted sometimes in its sleeping, jets of sparks in fountains of blue come leaping to sight, revealing a secret, numberless secrets keeping. – d. h. lawrence

c&f

great cold distance

as central europeans, heading north mostly stands as a synonym for cold weather, snow and gray days. in the eve of of our journey we started to read about mexico, its long, turbulent history, habits and lands. even though it is a huge country, we designed our mexicostay as complete as possible. inculuding the vast emptiness of the north. everyone has its own connection to these lands. be it cowboys and indians, railway robberies or of course its marking landscapes. being in these desertlike lands really makes come alive this whole spirit. still marked by the greed of men – deserted mines, leathershoes and cowboyhats – there isn’t much left of the once called ‘great west’. still remaining however are the landscapes on which lonely cowboys rode towards sunset. we think of it as a place where childhoodmemories come alive. when we left puerto vallarta, we wanted to get an impression for ourselves. our first aim was the so called ‘baja california’. it took us approximately fourty hours of constant travelling to get to la paz, the capital of the state of baja california. first there was a busdrive from puerto vallarta to los mochis. the overnight drive was almost constantly escorted by a policecar. for the first time we kind of felt how big the problems really are in mexico. perhaps we should mention that the highway we were driving on was one of the main drugsmuggling routes to the states. along the highway you could see it progressingly getting poorer. people sitting in front of their selfbuilt houses deep into the night, decayed streets, cars from another time, half finished buildings.. already on this drive we had the feeling that there couldn’t be too much of cultural attractions. from los mochis we had to take a bus to topolabampo (that is where the ferry leaves for the baja). los mochis nor topolabampo made a very safe impression. people stared at us as if we were from another planet. it became obvious that there aren’t many tourists loosing their way to these cities. it was more like getting in and then, as fast as possible, getting out again. to be fair we would have to add that even there, all the people we have interacted with were always very helpful and friendly. the ferryride was actually nothing special. it was night, you couldn’t see anything, the cabines were totally overcooled and a delay of four hours weren’t easy to take. aside of the general public buses in the cities, the public transports are all overclimatised. while outisde the quicksilver is climbing up to thirty seven degrees, the buses, ferries and traines have a temperature from about fiveteen degrees. this constant diversity later resulted in a long lasting cold.

la paz was the total opposite from its brother cities across the sea of cortez. after a long and uncomfortable trip, not having eaten properly for the whole time, we were happy to arrive there. our plan for the baja was to rent a car and to check out the southern part. driving south – stunned by the surrounding nature – to our right the undending waters of the pacific ocean, to our left the vast emptiness of the ‘bajan desert’. the beaches looked very tempting but unfourtenately none of them was accessable. we decided to make our overnight stays in cabos san lucas. after driving miles through a deserted area you suddenly end up in a rather large city. as several times before, the outskirts of the city looked pretty poor but closing in to the center, the place became more and more touristic and developed. there is a lot you can do in the baja. you can dive and surf (the baja california is famous for its diving and surfspots), see whalesharks (february and march) and tons of other sea animals, or you can simply chill out on one of its marvelous beaches. the mexican tourist departement obviously saw that chance and the given fact that the united states are only a riprap away and invested alot of money in the years after 2000 to develop the whole place into one, massive touristic paradise. even though they are still working on this massive project, the intentions are clear. due to some misscalculations with the ferrys timetable, we had to stay two more nights in la paz and after being there for more than four days we had to revise our first impressions. having a glance behind the malecón (malecón stands for the seaside street wehre mostly all the restaurants and hotels are located) made us once more realize how doublesided these places are. in the end we were more than happy to head back to the mainland.

this time the ferry left before nightfall and we got to see a beautiful sunset. rewarded by the sun, back on the mainland our next target was the famous train through the ‘barranca del cobre’ (copper canyon). the train left before daylight, so normally you’d be supposed to see the sunrise. when we arrived at the trainstation we could witness what it meant to wait for a train in mexico. we took the second class train and aside from a few other tourists we were the only foreigners. the trainstaion was packed and the cue went through the whole hall, without a seeable system of course. we haven’t slept nor eaten for hours and after spending hours in line we lost our last pesos for the trainticket. sixteen hours by train without a snack or a drink were ahead of us and we both agreed that none of us has mastered the art of travel yet. it wasn’t that bad though. we wanted to stop in creel anyway. creel, a small countrystyled copper-village was fourteen hours away. it’s supposed to be the ideal stop on your way through the canyon – with alot of backpackers and some decent hostels. you can do daily trips from there, see local villages, mines or even waterfalls. the gentle drive thorugh the rough canyon was nice but not as expected. the supposingly once waterfilled canyon was dried out. what was left of a once great river was a small ditch. the landscape stayed more or less the same aside of the first miles thorugh the lowlands. the canyon itself however was impressing. huge, high..almost grand canyon like at some places. final stop was chihuahua from where we would continue our trails to monterrey and later guanajuato. in chihuahua and monterrey we only had minor stops to have a look at the city. none of the places were really mind boggeling. in monterry however, we gave our journey some structure by booking flights to merida (oaxaca – mexico city – merida) and cuba (cancun – cuba). full of enthusiasm and anticipation we were ready for the upcoming twelve hour busdrive to guanajuato.

connecting the dots

in guanajuato, our very own conquest began. we had multiple colonial towns ahead of us. guanajuato was just the first one. embedded in a small valley, old-guanajuatos colorful appereance was more than beautiful. our hostel, ‘el casa de dante’ lay uphill and gave us a first view over the 16th century town. just to get this wonderful view was worth climbing up the long stairway. guanajuatos countless alleys and stairways were more than a labyrinth than a well constructed grid of streets. walking these very streets, charming, colorful and calm was a great change to all we have seen in the preceding weeks. even though it’s a rather small town, there’s a lot to do. having said that only to walk through was worth the visit. the city was full of people. mexican holidays and the easter weekend made it a very tempting weekend trip.

the towns underground streetsystem (in the times of the spanish there was a river running through) was constantly clogged by traffic. the town itself is largely carfree and the calm squares and plazas give one a slight impression of a time without modern vehicles. we almost forgot that on this weekend, the ‘good friday’ ceremonies took place. catholism has been a constant attendant on our way through mexico. both of us, born and raised ‘atheist’, having our own imgaination about universe, were stunned by the non existing limits of believing. friday night there was a parade running through the city, hitting every major church in town (and there are a lot of churches in guanajuato!). on good friday, believers all over the planet bear tribute to jesus who was crucified on that day. the way people were follwing the parade, concentrated, strained or even whining, gave us a view in how big catholism still is. scary moments. religion, one of the greatest breaks in human evolution at its peak. the beautiful town of guanajuato gave us an idea of what awaited us in the follwing colonial towns, such as st-miguel de allende, which was our next destination. located in the south east of guanajuato it was only an hour away. famous for its laidback character and the many foreigners who found their new home here, st-miguel de allende was wonderfully located on a small mountainside, majestically watching over the rio de la lara. built in the 16th century, its oustide was similar to guanajuato. other than being more developed and clean, it was more expensive than anything we have visited before. fancy restaurants, bars and old colonial style houses with edenlike courtyard gardens were omnipresent. one could easily spend ‘some time’ in st-miguel without even registring that time is effectively passing. we felt very comfortable there but were also aware about the above mentioned fact, and of course about our purse.

little south, having touched queretaro there was a monster awaiting us: mexico city. with its 25 million inhabitants, mexico city is the most populated city in the western hemisphere. gigantic, dangerous, polluted, passionate, alive or even cosmopolitan are only a few words former visitors would describe ‘el ciudad de mexico’. the aztec myth says that its people should live where an eagle devours a serpent on a cactus (can visually be seen on the mexican flag). in 1325 a.d ‘tenochtitlan’ was founded. enbedded in a huge valley and surrounded by hills, the aztecs build their city on a system of islands. the whole sea was later dried out by the spanish in order to get more space. at its hight of power, ‘tenochtitlan’ was the epicenter of the aztec empire. practicly everything that once was, was destroyed during the spanish conquest. the gathered remains can be found in the anthropological museum of mexico city. the zocalo (the central plaza) gives a perfect insight on mexico citys history and with it on the history of mexico itself. here you can find the remains of an aztec pyramid, a colonial cathedral and a much younger gouvernment building. a testament of the citys bloody history towards the present. due to its many historic buildings, mexico city is also called ‘the city of palaces’. both of us have read and heard several things about the city and both of us have been to larger cities but we weren’t really sure if we were ready for that one. nontheless, we were totally excited to get there. specially (let’s call it) ‘the myth’ of it being a cosmopolitan city was very flattering. dominated by its spanish stlye buildings, the central downtown area surely resembled an european like city, but aside of that the only things we could count cosmopolitan were international represented boutiques, carsellers and foodchains. we both found it very hard to get the citys vibe. the sheer bigness of the city, its pollution and seemingly infinite number of people gave us a hard time to aclimatise. the city offers everything one could demand. there are no limitations. beating as the mexican heart, it gives a very good picture of what mexico really is about. we certainly enjoyed our time in the capital but even after six days we would declare it (for ourselves) as a ‘very special place’. we could walk one street and feel totally comfortable, cross it and feel the opposite. because of its crime problems there are many places you shouldn’t go to. even around the central area there are spots to mind. that fact really disturbed us. true, in every larger city there are regions you should avoid going to as a tourist, but around the city’s center? to us mexico city covered the whole span of emotions. we loved and hated it. it certainly wasn’t cosmopolitan to us, but a place with its very own charme and character. we wouldn’t want to life in this contradicionary city. either you love it or you hate it – everyone should decide for him/herself, we couldn’t. an ideal daytrip from mexico city are the incredible ruins of ‘teotihuacan’. being at such a mystical place really makes you wanna go back in time. the dimensions of the pyramides were unbelievable. the whole archeological site was huge. we were told that the discovery of the site is only partly done and that there is still a lot to do. translated ‘theothiuacan’ means: ‘where men became gods’. wandering this place makes you realize where the translation came from. even though that what’s left of the once flurishing city (+10000 inhabitants) are only rocks, it lets you guess what was once standing here. as a place of religion, commerce and politics, ‘theothiuacan’ was the heart of the pre-hispanic time.

leaving the mexico city area through a mountaineous highway we were heading towards cuernavaca which lies in the south of mexico d.f. throughout the busride the air got constantly better, the landscape greener and our morals higher. cuernavaca is also known for its eternal summer. it’s warm all year long and its climatic circumstances gave birth to some of the most beautiful gardens in whole mexico. ‘hernan cortezs’ (meixcos first spanish conqueror) palace is right in the center of town. it’s understanable that he decided his residence to be in cuernavaca. the climate, the setting and the fact of it being so close to the political center (mexico city) make it even today the prime location for mexico’s elites weekendresidences and homes. we enjoyed cuernavaca as a very laid back place. after a rather busy week in the big city, it was the ideal counterpart. the coffeeshops, squares, markets and fruitstands (!) slighty indicated what was to come further south. colonial town after colonial town, sight after sight we were connecting the dots. we made our way to oaxaca city, a place where we would finish a first part of our mexico trip. back in monterrey we booked a flight from oaxaca to the peninsula of yucatan (oaxaca – mexico city – merida). despite of it being another colonial town, it was the first place we really could see the presence of the indian cultures as well. around oaxaca city there are dozens of indian towns and communities which you can visit on a daytrip. right at the transition to the jungle, oaxaca city still lies in a desertlike valley. we would possibly describe oaxaca city as ‘just another colonial town’ but if there is one thing we learned about mexican cities, then that they all have their very own charme and identity. we really liked it as a place where mexican and indian culutre meets. it was also the place where we first read about the ‘swine flu’. in a tiny bookstore we bought a mexican newspaper of whoms first five pages were all about the flu. when we were in mexico city we already saw some people wearing masks but we thought it to be ‘normal’ in such a huge, polluted city. proven wrong by the mexican news we read all the five pages and were slightly concerned. in the days to come the panic among the public rose. the majority was wearing protection masks. protective producuts such as antibacterial soaps and masks were totally sold out. public places such as ruins, plazas, schools, supermarkets and restaurants all closed (restaurants only in mexico city). even in mexico’s rather remote surfers paradise – puerto escondido – which was part of a longer trip to the west coast, couldn’t stand against the medias shitstorm of bad news. its local supermarket was packed with people wearing masks. in order to get to puerto escondido you have the option between an eight hour ‘drive’ directly through the mountains or a twelve hour drive over a slightly less curvy road. we decided to take the shorter way. eight hours for only 200 miles in a packed minivan! at this point we think that we don’t have to mention how comfortable this drive was.. the view of the mexican west coast however was more than rewarding. beautiful beaches, high tide waves and more or less thirty degrees – the perfect place to celebrate chris’ 23 birthday. leaving paradise we made us on our way back to oaxaca city. this time with the twelve hour nightbus.

in the pursuit of leisure

despite the daily news concerning the ‘swine flu’ which got worse and worse during the last week and peaked at the end of april, we tried to get the best out the this rather uncomfortable situation and continue our journey the best way we could. and we surely did. these day9the government strongly recommended to avoid travelling arotnd mexico and postbone or cancel any flights to or over mexico city. so there we were. back in oaxaca, ready take our booked flight over mexico city to merida and then these unexpected, bad news. should we take the flight or not? there was a lot of talking and we even asked ourselves to leave mexico and head north to the states/canada or already down to south america. it was in the hostel ‘la villada inn’, where we met tom from england and the australian couple, craig and alex. they were more or less in the same situation as we were. stuck in oaxaca surrounded by pretty unfortunate news, which definitely might have affected our future travels in a negative way. but tom thought about renting a car, drive to cancun and then fly up to the states. craig and alex just didn’t want to travel by bus and as tom head east, as far away as possible from mexico city. and they knew that we wanted to travel to yucatan as well and so they asked us, if we would like to join them and drive all together to cancun. it definitely sounded like a plan to us, but the decision wasn’t that easy make, as we had those rather expensive flight tickets and not being sure of getting a refund for them if we won’t take the flight. but after talking, we decided to join them and cancelled our flights. it was already next day, when we hit the road and started the 3000 kilometers long road trip to cancun. the concerns we had at the beginning as we didn’t know them very well proved to be wrong. the whole trip was a great succes and a fantastic adventure for all of us. definitely a highlight so far. the landscapes we’ve been driving through were just stunning. the road which took us out of oaxaca led us through a jungle up on a mountain and then down again.

we got in touch with a totally different scenery, we haven’t experienced before in mexico. the jungle. you can drive five hours by car and get from the jungle to the carribean or pacific coast, then another five hours and you are in the highest canyons or in the widest deserts. that’s mexico. its diversity makes it so fascinating to us. and it’s big. no, it’s huge. something we came to realize once again on our journey, as we always needed more time than initially planned. but that was just fine like this. we always stayed in good and cheap hostels on our way and so it was not before the evening of day two, when we caught sight of the coast of the gulf of mexico for the first time. from then on the roads along the coasts were straight and pretty easy to drive. it didn’t take us long to get to campeche, where we stayed for saturday night. campeche is a beautiful, small, colonial style city with a stunning cathedral on the gulf of mexico. but it’s empty streets and the lack of colorful markets reminded us of the ‘swine flu’ again. people still avoided any kind of public life, what campeche made look like a small ghost town. all touristic spots such as ruins and temples, even public beaches were still closed, football games, concerts, theatres cancelled. whole mexico seemed to be shut down. but we went on after one night in campeche and headed merida and rio lagartos. in rio lagartos, we went on a boat trip to see yucatan’s wildlife with its diverse species of birds, flamingos and crocodiles before going further to cancun the next day to bring back our car (one day later than planned). arriving in cancun was actually like entering a different world, compared to what we have seen the last two months in mexico. cancun. overdeveloped, inauthentic, quiet expensive and the town itself rather ugly. it’s easy not to like cancun. built for mass tourism in the 1970s, cancun doesn’t lack for white sand beaches on the blissering turquoise carribean.

we already heard many stories about cancun in advance and it was definitely unexpected that this famous spring break party place became quiet a special spot on our journey. but first we went on isla mujeres for a couple days. a twelve km long island – a long time backpacker base – is still saving grace for cancun’s overdeveloped beachfronts and high-end resorts for many people. we stayed there in a very nice hostel right on the beach. the hostel, where many young backpackers from around the world come in and out, was the ideal place for us to relax and just get away from any road tripping, city hopping or endless busrides. isla mujeres was also the place, where we all went separate ways again. tom travelled down to belize, craig and alex headed south as well to chiapas. our next stop should have been cuba, but unfortunately the cuban boarders were still closed for tourists coming from mexico due to the flu. so there we were again. in cancun. the place where we actually never wanted to stay for too long, reviewing our future travel plans, which got mixed-up once again, lots of thinking, talking, just trying to figure out the best route for the both of us. after having agreed on taking the flight to cuba on a later date, somewhen in august, we decided as well to stay some more days in cancun. we got to know cancun, which is world famous for its crazy parties at a time of low season. due to this fact and the recent events which took place in mexico, cancun at this time has probably never been that calm since its foundation.but we both knew, that we can’t leave cancun without having partied there for once at least. so we did. twice. and it was definitely worth it. it seemed to us, as if all the bad news concerning the flu, the economic situation from the last weeks have never reached cancun. in the end we never felt like being stuck in cancun because of the closed boarders to cuba. we wanted to continue our trails and head south to the island of cozumel. there we only stayed for two nights. we rented an old vw bug and drove around the island, with several stops at the island’s world famous reefs for snorkeling.

after a one hour busdrive we arrived in tulum and there we couldn’t believe to meet craig and alex again. eleven days have passed when we said goodbye to them on isla mujeres. meeting them again in tulum was really pleasant and we decided to have diner together and this time certainly for the last time, as they had to fly back to australia pretty soon and headed up north again. tulum, a small town and mexico’s most visited maya site atop surf splashed carribean cliffs was absolutely stunning. probably the most impressive mayan site because of its amazing location. we lived there in so called cabanas right on the beach. after three days in tulum and the upcoming twelve hour busride to palenque in the state of chiapas ended our time in yucatan on the carribean coast of mexico. a time full of enriching experiences and meetings, unexpected situations and decision-making. in the pursuit of leisure through mexico’s fascinating and versatile environment.

miles end

mexico’s southernmost (and poorest) state is a wonderland of ruins, jungles, waterfalls and mountains. after our overnight bus drive to palenque, we really had the feeling of having left behind mexico. everything was different, the air, the landscapes, the weather – everything just far more ‘central america’ than ‘mexico’. from the busterminal, we took a taxi which drove us to our hostel. it was early in the morning and once again, we had a long busride behind us. but surprisingly, we didn’t feel tired at all. all we wanted is to go directly to the amazing ruins of palenque. visiting these very touristic places is always best early in the morning. so we got our tickets right at the time when they opened the gates and what we were up to see was just stunning and we were blown away. after a walk through the jungle we arrived at the old main maya plaza right in the jungle which was surrounded by these beautiful and well kept pyramides and temples. over 8000 mayas lived here once. and then this amazing view… it definitely was a magical place. architectural wonders built over 1500 years ago. and so many ruins are still buried somewhere in the jungle and not yet discovered. in palenque, we also went on a trip to the waterfalls of misol-ha and agua azul. generally there’s a lot you can do in palenque and it is the starting point for many adventures. lots of jungle tours are offered to tourists and you can even go on a two days trip to guatemala, where you cross the boarder by boat. after two days in palenque, we continued our trip by bus through this most traditional state, where the difference between poor and rich is as big as nowhere in mexico. everywhere are women trying to sell bananas or other fruits right on the streets. these people don’t have a lot and we sometimes asked ourselves how they can survive here in the jungle. all these impressions we gained in palenque and especially on our way to san cristobal, of poor people living in the worst circumstances you can imagine, didn’t make us wonder why there has been a revolution a couple of years ago. it was in january 1994, when the left wing peasant group of the ejercito zapatista de liberation national (ezln), who fought for the indegionous right in mexico’s poorest state splashed onto international news. they protested the first day of the nafta contracts by storming and briefly occupying san cristobal de las casas. most wore handmade uniforms and all wore masks – a people who had been invisible and hunted by centuries, suddendly found their identity by hiding it. the zapatistas quickly made an impact, but all the proposed deals have never been realized or just declined by the mexican government. the whole zapatista movement, became very bad for mexico’s reputation worldwide but showed clarity in how big the problems in this country really are. mexico’s governement has sent its army to chiapas in order to fight and eliminate the zapatistas. the always masked zapatista founder – the pipe smoking subcomandante marcos – has been an unusual leader. different to che guevara and fidel castro, he succeeded in integrating into the indigenous life. the zapatistas never intended to overthrow the governement and honestly, they would never have had the slightest chance against the much more powerful mexican army, it’s special troops and just against the whole corrupt system, the mexican governement is built on. in recent years, the governement seems content to ignore the movement, and the tactic has been more effective than the paramilitary raids of the mid nineties that led to the acteal massacre, where forty three were killed. the movement has faded from international press and some locals in san cristobal even murmur how some zapatista leaders have defected taking grant money to build big homes. having arrived in san cristobal de las casas, the presence of the zapatistas was still in the air and their traces visible everywhere – on the walls, in restaurants, people wearing zapatista shirts or shops selling souvenirs. san cristobal is set in the cool broad jovel valley. it is a spanish colonial wonder with low lying haciendas fit snug on tight sidewalks and cobbled streets. but everything else about the area is richly embedded in the world of the modern maya. we enjoyed our stay in san cristobal very much. very good food (many french, italian and argentinian restaurants) and small cosy cafes in every corner, with great coffees from chiapas. we stayed four nights in san cristobal and went on two day trips. one to the kilometer – high canyon del sumidero by boat and another one to two old maya villages. san cristobal de las casas, the small and historic village in the most beautiful state of mexico, became our last destination and the very place where our miles ended in mexico.

built on great civilisations ruins, formed by revolutions and gouverned by corruption. mexico is everthing else but not what the ancient definition says (aside of the geographic match) : nahuatl – bellybutton of the world. to us, the bellybutton stands as a symbol of life, the beginning of something beautiful. mexico is contradicionary. the past and the present lay side by side and the people don’t seem to be sure where they want to live. holding on to a worn out beliefsystem but embrassing todays modernity, proud of their beautiful lands but simultaniously exploiting it, a majoirity of its people having indigenous roots but not caring about their cultural heritage.. the diversities are incredible.

mexico’s bloody history didn’t make place for the nowdays generations to live in dignity. education is low, poverty and corruption are still big factors for todays situation. it seems as if mexico never really had the chance to built up a desirable system in which everyone has at least a small place to be. in the search for a national identity there has been a transition over the past few years that shows improvement and gives space for hope. our whole stay has been a progress in getting to know mexico. with well over two months we spent quite some time there and had the feeling that during that time we got to know it better and better. we have seen both, the sunny and the dark side. once you get beneath the first layer you really get a slight idea how it all cooperates and where the breaks are. we had a wonderfultime in mexicom were stunned by its nature, flattered by its very generous and kind people and irritated by its bloody past. mexico definitely became a special place for us. a place full of surprises, adventures, meeting people and unforfilled excpectations (not in a negative way tho). we might come back in an unknown future..

hasta la vista mexico,

chris & fab