Today we rode a bus for 9 hours, from Palenque to Merida. It was a spectacularly uneventful day, with the most exciting parts being the salsa dancing shuttle driver who drove us to the bus station at 7am, and the military checkpoints where they spot-checked “random” (aka racially profiled) people for ID and searched our bags. Other than that, it was a pretty boring ride, and I mostly watched the scenery change from jungle to coastal, listened to music, and dozed.
Since there wasn’t much of interest to report in this post, I think I”ll take the opportunity to share a few observations about Mexico thus far:
En espanol, por favor
Of the dozens of countries I’ve visited in my travels, I’d say Mexico is the one where you’re least likely to find anyone who speaks English. Not that I’d expect otherwise; it is a Spanish-speaking country. But English is so ubiquitous around the world that it’s hard to find anywhere where people don’t speak it … except here. Even most people in the tourism industry only speak Spanish. In some cases Spanish is their second language, after one of dozens of local indigenous languages. But despite being technically in North America, Mexico has not Americanized and adopted English as any kind of widespread second language.
My rudimentary, extremely limited Spanish has been getting a workout. Milton translates For us as needed, of course, and Carolina is also fluent, but in all other cases I’ve had to be fairly inventive. Sometimes throwing out the French word works, if it’s similar enough. But mostly I’ve just been smiling and saying “Si!” a lot.
Poverty
North America may be wealthy overall, but lots of Mexico sure isn’t. In Chiapas especially, but all over, really, the poverty is highly, disconcertingly apparent. From the women who come to town from the Mayan villages every day, babies in tow, to spend all day selling trinkets, to the children begging for change or food, it’s hard to see and it’s even harder to turn away from. Of course, there are lots of wealthy people in Mexico, too, and I’d say Mexican tourists outnumber foreigners at most of the places we’ve visited thus far by a factor of at least ten to one. But driving on long bus rides between cities, we pass lots of small towns and villages where the living conditions are extremely basic.
Taquerias
It may sound like a stereotype, but there really is a taqueria everywhere, no matter how small the village, town or strip. Tacos are the ultimate street food: Quick, easy, satisfyingly crunchy, and nicely portable. The best taquerias are those with long lineups, which means high turnover so the meat won’t have been sitting out in the sun all day. Definitely avoid those by the Oaxaca bus station. (See Friday’s entry for why.)
Speed Bumps
Mexicans sure love their speed bumps. They lay down thousands of them, on side streets, major arteries, highways, you name it. The road from San Cristobal to Palenque was particularly full of them, every few meters sometimes. As buses and vans need to slow down to negotiate them, street vendors often strategically place themselves there, hawking their goods.Of course, the drivers speed even more between bumps to make up lost time, so they might be a bit counterproductive.
More to come from the Yucatan soon!