Here’s 3,000 kilometers in Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche states, from my August trip: Peter at the wheel; Huichol Musical on the soundtrack.
Some notes:
00:05–Hi, sheep!
00:16–Yes, that’s a tuk-tuk! They’re all in the mountain villages where pedal-power triciclo taxis are too tough to manage.
00:22–Downtown Tapachula, with the “uno x uno” (‘one by one’=four-way stop) traffic sign.
00:36–Puente Chiapas, the huge long bridge across the huge wide river/dammed-up-lake between Chiapas and Tabasco. You can’t see it, but the back of the truck in front of us is filled with those rebar rocking chairs I love.
00:52–Villahermosa’s cathedral is unfinished–those spires are the most impressive part. Also love old Bug/new Bug in the same street.
01:04–Those are banana trees hiding behind the hedges. Acres upon acres of banana plantations, in Tabasco.
01:11–Don’t assume Mexico is all humid and hot. It was chilly in the mountains, even in August, and there was lots of fog.
01:17–That sign says “Slow down in the rain.” We didn’t take any chances.
01:40–I only took this clip because Peter seemed to be driving so fast. But through the miracle of video compression, we seem to be speeding along crazily in pretty much every clip.
02:03–I doubt Nissan tested the truck gate to hold the weight of four men….
Great soundtrack.
Oye! Those rebar and plastic lanyard rockers (and chairs) are among tropical America’s greatest secrets. !Super cómodo!
Right, Mark? We were standing on the street in Palenque, and Peter said, “Is that really a mariachi version of ‘I Want You to Want Me’?” It was blaring out of a clothing store. We stood and listened and then walked about 10 feet…and heard this version, blaring out of a CD shop! We really thought we were hallucinating for a second.
Conner, I tried to document as many variations of those chairs as I could find. But I didn’t capture the loveseat with this complex offset lanyard treatment, alas. There’s exactly one hip hotel I know of in Mexico that uses them as furniture–you’d think hipster-design people would be jumping all over them…