Puerto Chiapas, Mexico This evidently, is our last stop in Mexico. We booked our first shore excursion today in Puerto Chiapas it was a 4 hour tour to see some Mayan Ruins. It was very hot and humid again, I was a sweaty mess before we even got on the bus. There were others who were sweatier than I though...one guys lower half of his shirt was soaked in the first five minutes. This is a holiday weekend here when everyone goes to the graveyards and brings gifts and offerings to their dead relatives...so the traffic was crazy. Our bus driver kept taking alternate routes through back streets to avoid the congestion, this was the best part for us. We went through ordinary everyday Mexico, it was eye-opening. This is a poor country, no two ways about it...there is such a gap between the poor and the rich here. The poor live in literal shanty shacks, while nearby there are beautiful modern homes surrounded by high concrete walls topped with razor wire and security cameras. I dont like it, but there is little we can do about it. The ruins were cool, unlike archeological sites in the USA , here we were able to climb up and on the actual pyramid-ish shaped rock structures and touch the ancient stones carved with symbols and figures. Things here are so primitive....these cool ancient carved stones are out in the open under rinky-dink tin shelters surrounded with rusty chicken wire. There are army dudes everywhere with assault rifles, standing about in town, riding in the back of trucks on the highways, in boats that escort us into each harbor, surrounding banks, and today we saw two guarding a truck unloading beer! We toured a museum, an old church, and city hall also today. The streets were full because of the holiday, our guide told us that teachers here have been on strike for two months so lots of kids out and about on week days. The harbor we docked in today had two big tuna seiners tied nearby, I wanted to walk over there but time didnt allow. I saw two guys paddling what I would describe as a plywood canoe this morning, their paddles were sticks with curved plastic pieces cut out of a 5 gallon bucket screwed to the end. They paddled out of the harbor and into the open ocean and pulled a gillnet that was anchored there. Something funny happened on our bus tour today. There was a couple sitting in front of us that were complaining about the poor air conditioning on the bus. When we finally reached our first stop in town, the man went and griped to our guide who promptly hailed him a cab and sent them off back to the ship....the funny part? The cabs here dont have air conditioning! Hope they enjoyed their 20 minute ride back. People have been friendly and polite for the most part...but there are 1500 Americans on board, so we have seen some decidedly rude behavior. One old guy was yelling at one of the crew in the buffet dining room who was trying to clean his table. Weve seen some demanding passengers ordering the crew around. Some butt into lines, today I had a lady just sidestep right in front of me...I had to hold Kathy back, she was ready to pull her jersey over her head and start whaling on her. But....having a good time! Next stop Monday in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:21:08 +0000