After staying in some grungy places along the way I decided to use my hotel points in Tuxla Gutierraz as there was a Marriott that had parking. Even without points the cost of the hotel was only $40 and had an incredible pool.
The pool was SACK
I only stayed 2 nights in Tuxla but to be honest that was most than enough to see everything I would have wanted to see. Really the only thing worth seeing around Tuxla is Canon del Sumidero. I wasn’t especially excited to see it as I knew nothing about it and only went there as I had nothing to do during the day. But I was so incredibly surprised. I liked it more than the grand canyon as it is absolutely full of life. Totally green with birds and animals all over the place.
Canon del Sumidero
There are 2 ways to see it. you can drive to the top which takes about 40 minutes from the center of Tuxla or you can take a boat through the canyon. I cannot speak for the boat tour, but driving to the top gave me amazing views. But I would have loved to have seen it from the boat as well.
Happy Boi
After seeing Canon I went to a bar near the hotel for some much needed Mezcal as I could see the guava farms thinning out as I rode East and knew eventually there would be no Mezcal to be had.
After dragging my feet for a long time and staying in Oaxaca way longer than I had initially intended I finally started the drive out of Oaxaca Towards Chiapas, the last state in Mexico that I would visit on my tour of Latin America. My last night in Oaxaca I took my first ever dance class to try to learn a little bit of salsa and I actually really had a good time at the class. The salsa part went way over my head but the bachata class was pretty easy and I felt like I was pretty good at it, at least for a gringo.
But in the morning I put my riding boots on and headed South! It was time to cross one more state and then cross the border. The second I started riding it started sprinkling and I rode in and out of rain ever since. Rainy season for me started in 1 day. I knew it was coming but I still hate it. I don’t have good rain gear and I’m worried about my stuff which is packed in very questionably waterproof bags. When it rains I shove my phone in a plastic bag and let every inch of my body get soaked and I squint as hard as I can as the baseball sized drops smack my eyeballs.
Once the rain started to pick up hard in a matter of minutes I could feel the cold bite me all the way to the bone. I stopped on the side of the road at some small restaurant shack where they brought me out a big cup of chocolate and it felt as if I was pouring my own soul back into my body.
And Just Like That, Rainy Season Began
I finished the day in a tiny village called Sancristobal(Not San Cristobal de Las Casas). I rolled into town and everyone was staring at me. It is not a place foreigners ever go.
I rolled up to this building and asked a guy outside if it was a place I could stay and he said yes. It was like a little convention center. I asked him how much and he said 300 pesos. That’s about as cheap as it gets for your own place here and it ended up being perfect. Because of all the rain I was able to work on the motorcycle under the roof of the place. I installed the USB port so I can charge my phone and put in a new air filter, but it is much different than the old one, I hope it works out alright. It’s more like a big sponge instead of the harder old one, but it should work..
Getting some much needed work done on Donnkey
I went to go eat something and it cost me 100 pesos for a big plate of beef with a fresh coconut. It was quite a nice meal and then I went back to my room to edit some old videos. I’m still so behind on editing Mexico videos. Oh well.
Today I jumped on the moto to head down to San Martin Tilcajete. I REALLY love the albrije art that they make around Oaxaca and San Martin is known as the birthplace with the best shops. My plan was to drive the 40 mins south to walk around the various shops and look at the art.
Once I arrived I walked around as the absolute only tourist there. Very few shops had opened up even by 11am. Clearly the only tourists that go there go there with van groups and I’m assuming it always happens at a predetermined time. Because I just king of bumbled around letting myself into shops as the artists stared up at me from their work
My favorite shop was a place called Taller David Hernandez. They showed me the process of how they made them and they were so well done. After seeing it none of the other places looked nearly as good. At the taller they were working on an octopus for some lady in San Francisco and it was absolutely amazing. He said the piece would cost about $10,000 which seemed like not a terrible price for how much work gets put into it. You can see the work in progress. The dark blue is just the primer and the stripe on one of the tentacles is the more intricate pattern that will eventually cover the entire octopus.
Octopus in Progress
The process consists of them getting the wood which is a specific tree, cutting it into shape of an animal, letting it dry for 10 months, and filling the cracks that form with chips of wood. They then soak it in gasoline and then prime it and begin painting. Watching the girls do the painting was amazing. I don’t know how its possible that they painted so finely. It really made me want to do some drawing again.
When I got back I headed to the market to get some overdue things done. I bought an extra pair of pants as my other ones ripped this morning cleeeeear down the crotch, and I hired a guy to change out my phone battery for 100 pesos. He did a great job and I went to eat some lunch and some mangos from my favorite mango lady while he did it. The “Manila” mangos here are sooo good especially with the spicy salt that mango lady puts on it.
