Maybe it’s time to take our clothes off?


Leaving Oaxaca with it’s delicious food and grasshoppers, we continued our drive South. The landscape changes here, there are more mountains and less roads. So a 120 mile drive took 5 hours and Hyein slept for 4 of those hours.

Anyway, i digress. We stopped for the night in a Balneario, a natural swimming pool where people hang out.DSC01318The water is just right for the temperature outside. It will refresh and cool you down.

We got there early enough to enjoy the clear water and get out our snorkeling gear.

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Hyein practicing her diving skills, I think she is doing well.

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Taking a proper shower is hard when you are living out of your car. So you try to wash the best you can anywhere possible.

We asked the attendant and he said that we can use soap and shampoo if we do it at the outlet of the pool. Later, some local ladies came by and mentioned that we are not supposed to do it there. Ooops, i guess i need to learn Spanish 🙂

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We had a few hours of “free” time and Hyein decided to get a bit artistic with q-tips and color pencils. DSC01343

Okay, “Where is the U.S. of A. flag?”, you ask. She made it, but we lost it somewhere…..

 

Ever since we started we have been having issues with our Coleman 424 stove. It would get clogged once a week and would need to be cleaned. By the end of week 3 it started to became unbearable. I could take off the generator (the part that gets clogged), but the stupid spring was stuck inside. According to google, if you use some break cleaner you could get it out.

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A can of brake cleaner later and the spring is still inside. Hyein said that she has never seen me so mad in my life… i thought i handled the situation perfectly well!

Alright, screw the generator we will buy a new camping stove. 4 different stores later and no one has a camping stove. Decided to get out of this town and drive to our next spot.

The whole ordeal of trying to clean the stove and then looking for a new one, set us back a few hours. We left Tuxtla almost at 1pm, our latest start yet. Although we only had 120 miles to the next stop, the road was under construction so much that we only made it to San Cristobal de las Casas (about 20 miles away) in an hour and a half….ugh. No point trying to rush the driving, decided to spend the night here. Begged some lady in a cellphone store for wifi, so we could find a hotel with secure parking for our car. Checked in, parked and got out to the city.

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Obligatory cathedral photo!

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Marquesitas, a crepe made with waffle batter, rolled up and filled with your choice of filling. The vendor had a dozen, different flavors, but is there a better choice than Nutella? No, no there isn’t.

Hyein counting, how many she can buy with the cash she has.

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Is it ready, yet?

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Finally!

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At the marquesitas stall we met Fatima, who was kind enough to invite us to hang out with her later tonight. Since we don’t have cell service, we decided to meet in front of the cathedral at 8pm. Felt, like we were back in the 90’s.

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San Cristobal is cute little town with narrow streets, colorful houses, coffee shops and panaderias everywhere.

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Lots of colors and native women selling clothing and jewelry.

 

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The local market is teeming with colorful blankets, shirts, skirts, belts and textiles of all kinds.

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Mango vendor. In Mexico the mangoes are sold in a cup (or bag) with chile seasoning and plenty of lime juice. We got one, not the best. He put sugar and too much lime juice. It was super sweet and super sour at the same time….not the best.

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We got lucky, the city was hosting an art festival of the new generations. That means graffiti art, skateboarding and electronic music.

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Not bad, right?

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Our favorite piece out of 50 different ones.

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Deep house concert right in front of the cathedral. It was very interesting to see all these things unfold in the middle of 16th century town. I feel like in Mexico history and new generations can easily work together without clashing. It felt fun and natural.

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The cathedral was used as a screen for some cool videos to go along to the concert. That’s the cathedral in front of which we have to meet Fatima….shit there is a lot of people, I hope we don’t miss each other.

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Nope, we made it.  Fatima and Henrique, came out to have dinner and show us the town.

A special thank you to you guys for welcoming us and showing us a good time!

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More marquesitas after dinner for the ladies…

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… and mezcal for the boys!

Mezcal is having a revival in Mexico. Thanks to hipster, it went from a poor man’s drink to a very popular in only a few years. There are mezcal only bar’s from Mexico city to Guatemala border. We tried a few different ones. No more tequilla, mezcal is the shit!

We fell in love with San Cristobal de las Casas, it is small enough that you can digest it in a few days. Filled with delicious food and coffee. Awesome people. The streets are full of life and you are part of it. We were sad to leave it the next day.

The Guatemala border is only 150 miles away, but we didn’t feel like crossing it at night. So we found a strategically located camp spot in Lagos de Colon. Basically a local park with a bunch of lakes, streams and ancient ruins. Sounds perfect!

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At the camp spot. Kids are the first to come over and talk to you. We feel that it is easier to talk to kids, they are very curious about you. They don’t get annoyed if you dont understand them. And are not afraid to communicate in any way possible. In a foreign country kids are you allies.

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Remember that stupid stove? We are screwed without it. So i remembered that you could heat shock the generator to break apart the carbon build up and get the spring out. The kids directed me to the nearest fire….which in Mexico is only 50 feet from anywhere you are.

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IT WORKED!!! Got the spring out, cleaned it and the stove back to working. Hopefully, we can limp along until Honduras, where we should be receiving replacement generators. Thank you, Mom. From now on i’m putting a little bit of injector cleaner with each tank of gas. I really, really, really hope that this will solve the clogging issue. Time will tell.

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The lakes are not large is size, but quite deep – 10 meters in some places. A perfect place to jump off trees and have fun 🙂
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Water is not as clear as in Balneario, but still good enough to see the bottom at 20 feet.

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If you are ever in this part of the world, I recommend camping here for a day or two. This place is a playground, the camping is safe and quite. The lakes are warm and you can dive, swim or jump to your hearts desire. And the best part….this is Mexico, so no one will tell you what to do. Just enjoy yourself.

 

5 Comment

  1. Шубенцова Ирина Борисовна says:

    Дорогие Ваня и Хейн ! С интересом следую за вами. С нетерпением жду дальнейших описаний вашего путешествия. Бабушка.

  2. Rye-Guy says:

    Hey Lady and Lentleman,

    Your trip looks awesome. I like Ivan’s tarzan-belly photo. I was swooned in my under-garment region. Sorry to hear about the grill. Just remember, if you guys ever get iron-deficient, eat the soil. It’s what malnutritioned pregnant mom’s did in Africa! You can too! Wait what?

    Keep posting, it’s the only real semblance you’ll have to connecting to the outside world and your only thing to look back on years from now!

  3. Катя says:

    Очень крутые фотки. И классные узкие улочки, мне очень понравились. Как вам местная кухня?

    1. irazinkov@gmail.com says:

      Местная кухня просто супер! Любимые блюда: суп pozole, тлаюда(tlayuda), суп caldo de res, pollo con mole.

  4. Kenia says:

    Привет, очень интересно и уже хочется тоже поехать по вашим следам!
    Здорово, что вы все так подробно описываете, будто сама там побывала.
    Жду дальше, обнимаю и целую вас обоих, Женя.

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