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Many people considered that our last one-month trip to Mexico and Cuba has been a hard-core one. Meaning that people think that it is such an impossible journey, that many people would think many many times before actually committing into it. But I suppose traveling is so much our passion that we're willing to take risks and plan such trip. If money is not an issue, we'd like to travel all over the world!

And why are we bringing our little one? Many (Indonesian) parents would think that toddler wouldn't be strong enough to endure such travel. But we want to experience the world as a family, and we're confident that we would be sensible enough to travel with considerations of our toddler's needs and wants. We hope that Noe would be bitten by the same travel bugs that bite us.


Indi+Noe against Carribean sunset in Havana, Cuba

So, some people have asked us, how do you manage to do such a major travel with a toddler. Our answer would be one word: planning.

Well, planning our trip is a separate article altogether. We've also been sharing our travel plan spreadsheet with several people, and they agree that it is so detailed that it looks like a "persiapan perang" battle plan, as you can see in our previous entry.

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The Basics for Traveling with Toddler

The first and foremost requirement to travel with toddler is simple, you have to know your toddler very very well, knowing his ability and limitations, so that you could incorporate your toddler's habits and life-cycle into the travel plan. How? Spend time with your child as much as possible, build trust between you and your child, and finally, test your child's limit by allowing him to be independent and learn from his own mistake.

Secondly, plan your trip in great detail including incorporating the toddler lifestyle into it. This includes timetable, detailed itinerary, and logistics. Having planned our trip in great details, we know that there are some limitations imposed by bringing our toddler. For example, we won't be able to go out to the night scenes. If we truly want to go to night scene, one of us would need to stay with the toddler to babysit as a compromise, for example, Indi would go to a dance club in Cuba while I watch over Noe. Also, we know that we have to constantly allocate time to buy snacks and tidbits for Noe. We would also simulate travel time by calculating distances in Google earth, so that we could allocate traveling time by car and allow rest stops so that Noe doesn't get bored in the car. In terms of logistics, we need to know what would be available or not in the destination. For example, we knew that antibiotics is difficult to get in Cuba, so we had to take our supply of children antibiotics, just in case.

Thirdly, take precautions to reduce risks. Travel insurance is a must, and we spend time comparing different schemes in order to get the cheapest but best option. Also, we talk about our plan to our pediatrician. She would then suggest us to take necessary vaccinations and prepare prescription medicine as our first aid kits. She would also brief us on first-aid basics and how to use the medicine. Lastly, we had planned to take first-aid course but didn't do it. We were lucky that we didn't have to do any first-aid measures during our trip.

Fourthly, during the trip itself, be flexible with the plan, constantly watching your toddler. During our trip to Cuba, we had to cancel our plan to go to the provinces because Noe had Roseola Infantum viral fever.


Traveling with toddler means traveling light, because you need to be prepared to carry the toddler anytime

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Some Tips for Traveling with Toddler

The following are travel tips that had greatly helped to ease our trip:

• Travel light and don't overpack. You need to be able to carry stuff AND chase/carry your toddler when needed.
• Ziplock bags, the sturdy type (freezer type), are useful for many things! Mainly they're used to organize items in the backpack. Quart size to bring leftover food and on-the-road snacks, to pack medicine and toiletries. Gallon size is used to compress clothings for easy packing (Tip: Sit on the filled ziplock and zip them! This makes it into a pseudo-vacuum bag. Use this cheap option rather than getting the expensive special vacuum plastic bags). But don't throw them away hastily. Reuse them as much as possible, and recycle when disposing them.
• Breastfeeding! For me this makes traveling with toddler really easy. No bottle feeding kit to lug around. It also helped Noe to recover from his viral infection faster.
• Wash your clothes during trip. This is how we get by with only bringing a few clothes.
• Make it into a habit to sleep with lights off at night. This has been our habit before our kids were born. And this has helped the kid's transition with the timezone better. There has been very little jetlag despite traveling halfway around the globe.
• Make the most of the surroundings to entertain the toddler without toys. We're also glad that Noe doesn't need much toys. We can amuse him (and he can amuse himself) with things that are available on the spot. For example, Noe would have real fun looking at airplane pictures in the seat pocket. Anyways, the airline would most likely be giving toddler toy kit also. So, we didn't bring too much toys. I think we only brought one Elmo doll, that's it.

Breastfeeding really make things become more convenient

The following are things we should've done or should've bring

• Toilet training (we truly are a failure in this aspect, even up to now. HELP!). This causes us to have to bring disposable diapers, and to buy disposable diapers in the destination. And we make the earth a dirtier place because of it :( Unhappy.
• First aid course. This can be handy not just for vacation. Should take this sooner or later
• Dog tag pendant necklace or anklet for Noe. Just in case if he goes missing (knock on wood), this would help. Even better, if we could put signal-emitting implants on Noe's body that can be tracked using GPS. Just in case, you know. Thank God we've managed our trip without having to put these things.

The following are godsend items that had really helped:

• Lightweight sturdy umbrella stroller. Lightweight is very important.
• Baby Bjorn baby-toddler carrier (for toddler under 12 kg) or a sling. Carrying my toddler using this had freed our hands to do other things.
• Ziplock bags, the sturdy type (freezer type). As mentioned above.
• Waterless hand cleaner solution like Purell
• Baby wet wipes. I know, this is not eco-friendly. But convenient nevertheless. Probably during the next trip we would change this with small lightweight microfiber towels.
• Pacsafe Waist Bag. Safe secure and provide additional space in the packing system.
• Pacsafe bag protector and steel wire security lock. Although people think that this is not useful, the pacsafe protector has provided us with the peace of mind. For example, we protected our bags by putting pacsafe on it and tying it onto solid column, while we spend time chasing Noe around the waiting room in Manila airport..

This is typical carry-on-bag situation on the airplane. The big backpacks are checked in. BTW Noe never had his own seat because he's under 2 year and we want the air tickets to be cheap. Another reason to travel light.

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What To Bring for the Toddler: Our List

What did we bring for our toddler for one month? We try to travel as light as possible. Sometimes we were tempted to bring more stuff than we need, but we kept reminding ourselves that we need to travel light. And if we actually need more stuff, we could try to buy the thing once we arrive in our destination. However, this is rarely the case. So far, what we have brought for the trip has been enough (note that we need to allocate time to wash clothes every other night).

The list is actually quite simple

Noe's Clothes

• 6 trousers
• 2 pajama pants
• 3 socks
• 2 shoes / sandal
• 6 shirts / tshirts
• 1 jacket
• 1 long sleeve shirt
• 1 hat

Noe's Toiletries

• 1 Kiddy toothbrush
• 1 Kiddy toothpaste
• 1 Kiddy bath liquid, also for his hair, the no-tear type
• 1 Waterless hand cleaner
• 1 Baby powder
• Baby wipes, buy one pack containing 80 pieces every 10 days (should think of a more eco friendly strategy)
• Disposable diapers, medium size, buy every 10 days (should've toilet trained him and use cloth diaper instead)

First aid kit for Noe

• Paracetamol
• Oralit
• Ibuprofen
• Malaria pills
• Children's amoxillin (antibiotics)
• Cough medicine
• Insect repellent
• Zambuk for itch and insect bites
• Vicks vaporub
• 3 Syringe to give medicine when needed

Others

• Sippy bottle for Noe's water
• Spoon, fork, knife, just in case
• 10 piece gallon ziplock
• 30 piece quart ziplock
• Ikea clip to secure food bags or plastic bags
• Flash light
• Book with static stickers, sticker book
• Small toys for Noe (as little as necessary): Elmo doll, a few metal toycar
• Our PDA phones with Sesame Street videos for Noe and also our laptop with some videos in the harddisk (rarely need to use these though, but just in case)
• Pacsafe waist bag and pacsafe bag protector

You can imagine that the above consists mostly of small items and all can fit into tiny backpack. We could do better by eliminating the disposables (diapers and baby wipes). Maybe next time.


YOU can do it too!

Description:
We arranged a lunch to celebrate our dear friend Natasha's birthday. She's vegetarian, so we will cook something vegetarian for her. Keen in introducing the mexican food from our last trip, we modified the Mayan Grilled Chicken recipe into Grilled Tofu

Ingredients:
Grilled Tofu
2 firm tofu
4 cloves garlic
1 lemon / lime, squeeze the juice out
4 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs honey
half cup of water
mexican oregano, to taste
salt pepper, to taste

Mexican Risotto
Leftover marinade from the tofu
1 tbs butter
quarter cup milk
1/3 plate of cooked rice
parmesan cheese shredded, to taste
mexican oregano, to taste
salt pepper to taste

To serve
1 pack of flour tortilla, heated
1 jar of red salsa
1 bottle of mexican hot sauce
1 jar of guacamole (or mashed avocado mixed with guacamole mix)
1 jar of mexican pickles
1 small plate of cheese, parmesan, or feta cheese cubed

Directions:
Grilled Tofu
1. cut tofu to long strips with 1cm x 1cm dimension
2. mix garlic, lemon, soy sauce, honey, water, oregano, salt, pepper together
3. marinate the tofu strips into the seasoning mixture for at least one day, best for two days, in the fridge
4. grill the tofu strips on the pan or on flame

Mexican Risotto
1. Mix the leftover tofu marinate with butter on hot pan. Simmer until the most of the water evaporates and the liquid quantity in the pan is reduced
2. Mix in the milk and simmer for a few minutes more
3. Mix in the rice, oregano, salt and pepper
4. Mix in the parmesan cheese

Serve with the condiments and hot flour tortilla
1. Put tortilla on the plate
2. Lay down two strips of grilled tofu
3. Top it with salsa, guacamole, and risotto
4. You can also add the cheese and pickle
5. Roll up the tortilla and eat it using your hands.

For full article, click here



Last Minute Stroll around Playa

We woke up early to finalize our packing and then head out to the center of Playa del Carmen to buy some cheap breakfast from the stalls. We managed to see the last phase of the sunrise. Dang, I wished I had woken up earlier to catch the sunrise exactly when it began. But still it was a beautiful sunrise with rays penetrating the clouds giving a magical sensation.





We saw a Royal Caribbean Cruiseline at the deep end of the Playa del Carmen bay, and it seemed that the passengers are getting off using a small boat, rather than directly at the pier. This is because the sea depth at the Playa del Carmen port is too shallow to cater for cruise ship. Half an hour after that, we saw a group of tourists with stickers on their chest strolling down the fifth avenue. Yep, they're the cruiseline passengers. We saw a lot of Chinese cruiseline passengers who were traveling with their extended family members. It's apparent that China is doing well economically, because we saw Chinese tourists everywhere!

We bought tortilla con camarones with fresh salsa near the central park for 8 pesos each (about 1 SGD). It was totally delicious, albeit cold. Then I bought a glass of fresh orange juice, for only 5 peso! TOTALLY DELICIOUS! It is squeezed fresh from the oranges.



We saw tourism policemen riding all terrain vehicles.



Then we strolled towards the pier and saw the boat that ferries passengers to Cozumel. I wished that we stayed longer in order to visit Cozumel too.





Indi bought some Tshirt for souvenirs and gift.

We rushed back to the hotel and checked out. Then we had breakfast at the Carboncito restaurant. During breakfast, Noe passed motion, so I had to return to the room (luckily it wasn't locked yet) and clean him up.

To Airport

At exactly 9am, after I took note of the brand of the special tequila in the funny bottle with a shape of pistol, we drove to the Cancun airport.



During check-in we found out that our flight schedule has been changed, luckily for later timing. If it had been an earlier timing, we would've missed the flight. Our mistake, we should've checked the schedule the day before, reconfirming our flight.

Lesson Learned: Do reconfirm the flight a day before.

After check in, we had to report to immigration to get our visa form stamped.

Since we had to wait for about two hours before boarding, we decided to have a big early lunch. We were not sure that we would get food on board, and surely food wouldn't be easily found in Havana. I had a big hamburger, while Indi had a veggie burger, both served with fries. Alberto, the waiter, got us a small bowl of habanero salsa. For an overpriced airport food, it was quite good.

Since Noe was too excited about flying off in an airplane again, Indi had to take him to a park to let him run around in the open, while I was finishing my burger and delicious big flan (creme caramel). Noe got introduced to Sophia, a 3 year old Mexican girl who was really shy. Noe also broke the water bottle by throwing it around.

Flight to Havana

Then we went to the boarding area. The security check for Havana was really lenient. In the boarding area we saw a lot of really fat people, so big that they might just occupy two seats on the plane.



Then we boarded the airport bus and get into the click Mexicana flight to Havana! It was a very nice clear weather and during take-off we could see clearly the zona hotelera in Cancun, and the lagoon where Fernando took us on a boat trip. The color of the Caribbean sea was so beautiful, we could see the coral reef with its distinctive color.



Arrival in Cuba: The Adventure of Passing through the Immigration

After about twenty minutes flying above the sea, we began to sea a stretch of land that is Cuba. First we saw Maria la Gorda beach and Pinar del Rio province. We could see how pristine the Cuban landscape is. Too bad the weather was rather cloudy and the clouds masked the landscape. We landed in Havana after 45 minutes of flying.



We were surprised that they have the aero-tunnel (or whatever the name is, in Indonesian it is called Belalai Gajah (Elephant's Trunk), which is old but is quite well maintained.

Our first impression of Cuba is that there is no billboard that greeted us at the airport. Everything was just barren except for some public service advertisement. The lack of billboard became a break for our eyes.

Then we arrived at the immigration area that resembles the room with thousand doors in Alice in Wonderland. It looks like a dead end, except for the doors that has the same color as the wall.

There are many queues for foreigners visiting Cuba, with two dedicated counters for mothers with child and disabled people. There is one counter for diplomats and crews, while there is only one counter for Cuban nationals. I guess this means that Cubans do not or can not travel outside their home country.

We obediently lined up on the designated counter. As a group with a toddler, we lined up behind the child counter. However, when the officer called us to the front, Noe and I had to be separated from Indi, because the counter is only for the child and the mother. So Indi had to go to the adjacent counter. We noticed that on top of the counter there is a mirror in an inclined position. We guessed that it is for the purpose of seeing people who are shorter than the counter height, or people who trying to sneak into Cuba by crawling under the counter.

The immigration officer was quite friendly, and I spoke to her using my very broken Spanish. This is my first time listening to a conversation with strong Cuban accent, which I find is harder to understand compared to the Mexican or Spanish accent, because Cuban accent dilutes many consonant. For example, the final "s" in each word is not read, and "b" is strongly pronounced as "w", and many consonants are diluted to speak a word or sentence in a more flowing manner. Also, Cubans talk fast. Really fast. Anyway, after about ten minutes of Q&A and scanning of my passport, I was let in by the officer. Let me illustrate the scene in slow motion. The officer handed me the passport and press a button in her desk. A buzzer buzzed, which means the door to the Cuban world is unlocked, and I had to reach the door handle and open the door. But right after the door there are two XRay machines. This is the first time that I had to be scanned before entering a country. Our Targus bag which is full of electronic equipments attracted the officer attention, and we had to open the bag and showed her that it is a real laptop. Luckily she just wanted to see whether it is a real laptop or not. After this Xray scan, we were 90 percent in Cuba (We had to pass by customs before it became 100 percent). While waiting for the luggage we changed our Euro cash into Cuban pesos convertibles (which is tourist's currency). We were surprised that the rate for Canadian dollar is much better than euro. We should've brought Canadian dollar. Then we went to the "Nothing to Declare" lane and voila, we were in Cuba officially!

First Taste of Cuban Culture: a Long Wait for Service

We reported to Havanatur reps to get our hotel vouchers. But then the car was broken and they had to get a replacement car, and it was unclear when the replacement would arrive. Nevertheless we patiently waited.



A janitor approached us and offered to exchange money with black market rate, but we politely refused this illegal proposition. In the airport shop, I saw the Havana Club Gran Reserva which is aged for 15 years, this is a must have!

Drive to Varadero

After two hours, we finally got the car. We were in a same car with a couple from Cayman Islands who were staying in Hotel Nacional, perhaps the most luxurious hotel in Cuba. During the drive to Varadero, our impression that Cuba is a country without a billboard is confirmed. But there are a lot of graffiti and billboards of government messages such as about the revolution, victory, and liberty. We saw a lot of pictures of Fidel, Che, and Marti on the roads.Too bad we had to drive at night, so we couldn't see much thing around the road. The road was totally dark, there was no street lighting and the houses were only dimly lit. The driver was very enthusiastic to show us around. Although he only speaks Spanish, we (try to) understand him. He showed us the Havana Club factory, and suddenly the air in the car smells like molasses.

Got a Huge Apartment Unit in Hotel Mar del Sur Varadero

We arrived in Varadero around 10pm. When we gave 10 CUC tip to the driver, he was totally elated. We thought that such amount of tip is quite reasonable, considering the long drive from Havana to Varadero, and also, with such a bad weather and in such a dark street. But for him, it was a lot of money. The average salary of people in Cuba is about 10 CUC, while the president's salary is just 40 CUC. So, we just gave him enough money to take a vacation for one month.We checked into our hotel, called Mar Del Sur. It was quite a big hotel complex with twenty four-storey blocks. The building was apparently really old, like, from the 60s, which is characterized by its concrete construction. Although the building's facade and physical appearance were not well maintained, the interior is amazingly clean. We got a whole apartment unit for ourselves, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, with kitchen and living room.

After putting our stuff in the room, we head back to the reception to ask for recommendation for a place for dinner. She recommended the restaurant La Casa de la Miel about 5 blocks from our hotel. So we decided to just walk to the place, although we're very tired. We were surprised that the street was totally different to Cancun and Playa del Carmen. There were very minimal street light, and only few restaurant open, and not many activities on the street. Perhaps because it's quite late at night. When we got to the restaurant it was about to close, but luckily they're still willing to serve us food. Indi and I got an overly salty spaghetti bolognaise while Yodhi got a very delicious roast chicken with generous amount of rice. For the drink Indi and Yodhi bought state-produced soda in cans, which tasted quite nice, like pepsi, while I bought mineral water. This is the first time we went to a country where we can't find Coca Cola! Even when I went to the himalaya, Coke was already there before me. But in Cuba, there's no Coke.We were quite satisfied with the service and the food was quite good too. We walked back to the hotel, took a shower, and had a good night sleep.

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Chill out by the Playa

We dropped our dirty clothes at lavanderia and had a simple breakfast at a cafe next to the hotel. It was not too bad since it was included in the hotel rate. While waiting for the laundry we took Noe to a playground and a square where Fifth Avenue began, which is located right by the beach. We bought some tortilla with chicken for a very cheap five pesos.

     

       

We then had a stroll around Playa Del Carmen's Fifth Avenue, which felt just like Kuta. Amazingly, we even found a shop called "Wayan", which sells Balinese goods such as carvings and handicraft for exorbitant price. Perhaps the shop is owned by Pak Wayan who emigrated to Mexico.

   

       

Right after laundry around noon we went to the beach and got Noe in the water. It has been 4 years since Rani wore her bikini in Hawaii. Perhaps it is a norm to wear one in Playa del Carmen since we hardly saw one piece. Some grandma went topless with droopy breast. Luckily Yodhi spotted a topless young woman to balance the scene.

The water was not cold at all. In fact, it was better to stay in the water since the wind was quite strong in late afternoon. Noe at first was a bit scared seeing so much water but later he felt comfortable hugging us in the water. Rani tried to introduce Noe to sand play. Although he was not interested to walk on sand he was curious to see the textures and how it can be easily molded and used to bury Rani's legs.

Yodhi went on a scuba trip for only US$45 as compared to the US$70 he was previously offered. After the dive he said the fishes (yes, many types of fish) were quite large as compared to what he'd seen in his last Malaysia diving trip.

Shopping for Cuba

Later in the evening we went to Wal-Mart! Yes, we had to do some shopping of supplies before we take off to Cuba the next day. We heard Cuban kids lack stationery stuff for school so we bought some crayons, pens and notepads to give away when we are in Cuba. Toilet papers were considered rare so we bought plenty of baby wipes, too.

We had dinner at El Jurado, a small restaurant near shopping center. The food was quite alright for the price we paid. Arrachera (Spiced flank steak), cheese and beans on an oval fried tortilla. Quite yummy for hungry folks like us.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw a souvenir shop that sells tequila in a bottle shaped like a gun. We really wanted to buy it, but too bad, we didn't have space in our luggage, and we just have to depend on our luck when we return to mexico in the next two weeks.

Latin music was playing across the street but we were too tired and too busy packing but Rani managed to run and get some Memey and Pineapple ice cream on sticks near the parking lot where we left the car for the evening.

Time to sleep now. We have to drive to Cancun airport bright and early tomorrow.

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Deadly Football Game of Ancient Maya

We woke up at 7.30 and rushed to Chichen Itza to beat the crowd that will come in Sunday. Then we had coffee in front of Chichen Itza main office.

First we went to the football court where the two teams compete to have one of the team sacrificed. The first ruin we saw was El Gran Juego de Pelota, the largest ballcourt in Mesoamerica. Archaeologist believed that the losing team were sacrificed (got their heads chopped off and offered to Gods). Imagine if the World Cup uses the same system. Zidane would not have just butt-headed the Italians! And Ronaldinho would have bitten the opponent's ears off to avoid losing. The acoustics of the football court is amazing. If you stand on each end of the court, you can hear other person's talking on the other end. And if you make sound inside the court, it will be echoed exactly seven times. There is significance of the number seven.

   

             

Afterwards we went to see a carving of eagle and jaguar eating human hearts. The place is called Platforma de las Aguilas y los Jaguares.

 

     

El Castillo: When a Clap produces Eagle's Squawk

What was fascinating was El Castillo, the largest and the tallest pyramid on the site, making it stand out as centerpoint in the lost civilization of Chichen Itza. On each side it has 91 steps and 1 main step at the top making it 364 + 1 = 365. Although the largest on site, this pyramid is still much smaller than the pyramid of the sun in Teotihuacan made by the Aztecs. Just like Teotihuacan, the entire city of Chichen Itza was built according to astronomical calculations. Very precise engineering allows the image of snake creeping up the steps on El Castillo during the summer solstice. When you stand about 50 meters away in line with the centerline and clap your hands, the 91 steps would reflect the sound to produce canon-like echos that sounded just like an eagle screeching from afar. Quite amazing!

     

               

Among other things on site, we were fascinated by they way they planned the city to accommodate the infrastructures as well as the collection of rainwater for consumption.

On East and West sides of the city were cenotes (massive well) that led to an underground river system. I heard the Yucatan peninsula has no river but an underground caves delivering water from the highlands to the lowlands. Some cenotes were as big as 50 meter in diameter and over 40 meter deep. In fact, there was one cenote called Ik Kil across from where we stay. Perhaps we should try it tomorrow.

 

       

Noe was too tired to complete the entire trail so we returned to the hotel after we have completed the structures full of massive round columns called Plaza de las Mil Columnas, which was believed to be the gathering place of the important individuals of the Mayan community.

   

               

Christmas in Mayan Mexican Village

We spent the rest of the afternoon with a siesta following Noe's sleepy head. Following the nap, we went for a swim at the limestone floored pool at the north side of the hotel Dolores Alba.

   

We went to have dinner downtown, and we saw Santa Claus riding an old Volkswagen getting gifts from the toy shop and went out to deliver the gifts to the houses. His car was blaring loud Mexican pop songs. We met a French family who were staying in the same hotel with me, and also a French game developer and his pharmacist wife who are working in San Diego.

From the dinner place, we walked towards the town square to look for a church. We don't celebrate Christmas but were curious to know how Mexicans observe the evening before 25th. In the sleepy town of Piste, located about 6km from where we stayed, we managed to see a congregation at the local catholic church in the town centre, or zocalo. The church was simple and seemed to have been built in the 1980s. They were singing "donna donna donna"  or something and Noe was busy playing with three Mayan boys named Xavier, Tony and Chucho who were fascinated by Yodhi's 3CCD cam. There was a very old church just a stone throw away but it was completely empty and a bit run down, standing as a memorial or some sort. We did not stay too long and decided to return to hotel around 10pm.

     

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Off to Yucatan

We woke up in the morning, packed our bag, checked out, and off to Chichen Itza. We first said our goodbye and thank you to Porfirio and went off to Wal Mart to buy some stuff. Noe's sterilizer water bottle went missing and I guessed we just needed to survive without it.

Noe slept along the way to Chichen Itza. The expressway is smooth and pleasant to drive on, but there were not many cars, perhaps because we drove off in the morning. On the sides of the expressway were just subtropical forests and swamp. We saw many black eagles flying low to gain leverage from the hot air above the expressways. We even saw a group of eagle eating a carcass of a rabbit on top of the expressway. I guessed that's why the Maya uses a lot of eagle symbolism in their murals and ceremonies.

We then paid the toll fee at the Yucatan / Quintana Roo border, which is rather expensive, about 20 USD. Trailer with 7 axles would have to pay 100 USD!

   

Off the expressway, the road became smaller and we had to drive more carefully. Finally at about noon, we arrived at hotel Dolores Alba, which is located near Ik Kil Cenote and Chichen Itza. The hotel was simple but pleasant, with bungalow style rooms painted in pink. It is just a simple one-storey building. There were two swimming pools with natural limestone as their floors. They even have a trampoline and hammocks!

   

The room is a bit old, but clean and comfortable, with a window opening towards the forest. There is warm water in the bathroom, too.

The Most Delicious Lunch in Mexico

After settling in with our stuff unpacked, we drove off to Piste, a village near Chichen Itza site and our hotel, to find lunch. After driving around the village, we finally settled for Pollo Asado (Grilled Chicken) in Los Pajaros Cantina, that smelled very nice from the road. But the lady (her name is Berta) said that it's not ready yet, and we had to wait for half an hour. So we took a stroll along the village, bought some fresh melon and watermelon juices for only 5 pesos each.  It was a very small, laid back village, and there were not many people on the street. Most of the people there were of Mayan heritage. We observed that Mayans in general are short, and they have a short neck and a narrow forehead, but they look similar to Southeast Asians (or rather, Southeast Asians look like Mayans). They even speak Mayan in their daily lives among themselves. They are also quite poor, which was puzzling to us since they live right next to a major tourist site attracting international visitors.

     

Then we returned to Los Pajaros and the chicken was ready! It was served with some lettuce, tomato, salsa, tortilla, rice and the best of all: Barbequed whole onion. It was the best Pollo Asado we found in Mexico! During lunch, Berta's daughter helped to serve the food, and she was very diligent.

   

After lunch, we asked Berta for the recipe. It was very simple. Just make a paste from garlic, salt, oregano, and pimiento, then mix in lemon juice. Immerse the chicken into the marinade, making sure everything is well-covered, for fifteen minutes only. Then off to the grill, and cooked until it's done, perhaps half an hour, but the fire shouldn't  be too close to the chicken.

Touring the Expensive Hotels in Chichen Itza

 

It was raining in mid-afternoon so we decided to see what was in Zona Hotelera near Chichen Itza ruins. We saw Club Med resort that looked sub-standard (as compared to the one in Bali). However, we were impressed with the Hacienda Maya that was built from an old Spanish colonial real estate with lush garden. Each bungalow costs 190 USD per night! Hotel Mayaland just nearby the east entrance of the ruins was also interesting with a combination of thatched roofs and solid brick structures.

           

Indi and Noe tried the pool near the lobby. They made friends with two American kids of Northern Indian heritage living in Seattle. Ek Balam was where they came from the day before and after Chichen Itza they went to Merida the next morning. It was a good idea to have Noe swim since it made him hungry and eat more of the Mayan grilled chicken and rice we bought from Berta. His pants were dropping after having eaten less than he normally would in Singapore.

 

Chichen Itza Light and Sound Show

 

Light and sound show started on time at 7pm on the grounds of Chichen Itza. Perhaps there were less than 500 people in the audience across the lawn but then it started to rain before we could catch the first half. Yodhi managed to stay in the rain with his digital video cam while we waited at the lobby avoiding rain. Indi did not want Noe to get sick on this trip. The last part of the show was quite nice it had Spanish narration on speakers in-sync with various lights projecting onto the facades of the ruins.

After the show Indi and Yodhi went to buy take-out salbutes, panuchos and fajita de polla in Piste while Rani waited in hotel with Noe who was fast asleep. It was a good dinner to close the day.

21 December: Eating Armadillo and Flying off to Cancun

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To Zocalo

We woke up really early to make up for the lost evening of the day before. We took the metro (underground train) to go to Zocalo at 8 am in the morning. We got to see the morning rush. How I like walking in the city in the morning! People were still sleepy in the metro train, and cleaners are cleaning the city facilities. Then suddenly we heard music in the metro train, it was a lady selling mp3 CD in the train and have a tiny CD player to preview the content of the CD. The price was only 10 pesos. How entrepreneurial!

We got to Zocalo at 9 am exactly and the bells of the cathedral rang with its rich tones. Noe was chasing the birds while Indi is taking photos of the political demonstration and of the biggest flag we've ever seen.

       

From Zocalo we walked to the south towards Pino Suarez. The street was really calm and sort of deserted and the ambulantes (street peddlers) had just started to set up their stalls. We were amazed to see many policemen along the street, so we asked one policeman whether there is a special event happening. He said that nothing special is happening, they were only guarding the ambulantes area to prevent crimes such as pickpockets and all. By 9.45 the roads are full by ambulantes.

How interesting to see that even though there were street peddlers everywhere, the streets stayed relatively clean. By clean, I meant that there is no smelly wet garbage surrounded by flies. Even though the street peddlers were chaotic, they were all conscious to keep the city clean by not throwing stuff on the street (or perhaps, it's just in the morning).

     

We walked towards Pino Suarez and saw a neighbourhood in Centro Historico that is dedicated in selling stationery and fabrics.

At 9.50 we arrived at Restaurante Chon where we'd like to have lunch, but it was still closed. After talking to Tirso, a staff in the restaurant, we decided to come back later. We then walked to a small square near the restaurant and had a coffee. Indi had a Capuchino while I had Americano.

We saw the shops selling paper decorations near the Cafe.

Museum of Mexico City

   

We then walked to the Museo de La Ciudad. After paying for the ticket, we saw this exciting painting exhibition and video art exhibition of the Mexican brand Boing / Pascual beating American brands like Mickey Mouse and Coca Cola.

Then we walked to the permanent exhibition where they exhibit the history of mexico city, including the daily lives of the old Tenochtitlan. The exhibition was very artistically made, and the video was nice too.

Then Indi bought some postcard from the museum's shop, while I bought an old magazine of 1952 featuring the communist Russia.

Chon Restaurant, serving Amerindian Cuisine such as Armadillo Stew

 

We walked to the Chon restaurant, very hungry. We wanted to order something but everything was so expensive! So we ended only buying one dish: Armadillo served with mango sauce.

         

By the time we finished lunch, it was quite late. So we had to rush back home, and didn't have the chance to go to Garibaldi Square. But we bought souvenirs, musical instruments, and traditional Mexican clothes for Noe, all for a bargain!

When we got back to the house, Carlos apologized to us that he couldn't picked us up at Centro because he had to return his car and almost got arrested for driving in the forbidden car driving day.

Off to Cancun

At the end we went to the airport by taxi. It was really jammed that it took us more than one hour. We saw a chase done by the Mexican policemen with their big car.

We checked in and did all the formality to get into the plane, then we entered the departure area, where we had dinner.

Before take off and during taxi, I saw airplanes for the police force. There were like 3 of them, all jetplanes about the size of a Fokker 100. If I'm not wrong the title in the jetplanes are Policia Federal Mexicana.

We arrived in Cancun at 8pm and got our white rented chevy. Noe refused to sit in the baby car seat. After getting lost around cancun, we finally found the hotel that is located in the dodgy neighborhood. Nevertheless, it was a clean and relatively new hotel. The walk-in price of the hotel is more than twice of the price that is booked on line.

Then we took a shower and slept while watching latin VH1 Channel.

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22 December: Cancun

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Disappointed with Cancun

We woke up early and rush to write the entries for the travelog. Then, Indi, me and Noe went to drive around Cancun, to Zona Hotelera, because we wanted to see the beach.

In Zona Hotelera, it was clear that everything is measured in US dollar. We wanted to have breakfast but had to delay it a bit to avoid paying so much, instead we just eat later at the city where the locals eat.

We were surprised that the beach was all located behind rows of hotels and buildings along avenue Kukulcan, and we couldn't see the beach at all, except for a small corner, where we saw that the beach was really blue and beautiful.

Therefore, after driving a bit far, we stopped at hotel Barcelo and pretended to be a guest of the hotel. In the past, this method has been successful. We tried to enter Four Season's hotel in Hualalai in Big Island Hawaii and nobody noticed.

This time, we were wrong! The security guard immediately noticed it, because all guests are wearing a rubber bracelet on their wrists. It was totally a discriminatory policy based on wrist bracelet! We just told to the security guard that we just arrived and will check in soon. Then we went down near to the beach. When we head back to the lobby, the hotel staff chased us by saying "Sir, what is your last name? We tried to find you at the airport yesterday, your booking with us is confirmed", pretending that we're hotel guest. I am sure that this is just one way to send us off their hotel without creating conflict, so we just run away as soon as possible.

We then head back to the hotel. Our impression is that, WE HATE CANCUN! By law the beaches in mexico are public places, but we are unable to access them without first accessing hotels, which are totally exclusive and private. We then called Porfirio, a Mexican friend who stayed with Keluarga Hindro 15 years ago, to ask about beach access. And he confirmed that few decades ago, the sites in Cancun are sold by the government for exclusive resort, and thus the access to the beach is limited.

We then continued to drive to Puerto Juarez, to the port where the boat leaves to Isla Mujeres, and we had a breakfast in a taco/torta sandwich there. For only 50 pesos, we had one sandwich, two chorizo tacos, and one huuuuge glass (like one liter) of orange juice. Then we bought copy from OXXO.

We rushed back to the hotel and uploaded photos to flickr. In the hotel, we met Neil, a British traveler who has been in Indonesia traveling from Sumatra to Sulawesi and learned bahasa Indonesia. Neil also agreed with us that Cancun is disappointing, he will head off to Tulum then to Cuba.

Thus, we decided to stay in Playa del Carmen longer rather than having to return to Cancun on the last day in Yucatan Peninsula. Luckily, there is room available in Playa del Carmen, and also we could cancel our Cancun hotel booking without incurring any charge.

Meeting Pillo

  We then went to Porfirio house at the northern side of Central cancun, a non touristy area. He was really nostalgic about his stay in Indonesia and really talked a lot about it! He was such a nice and exciting guy. He looked like Borat.

 

He told us that his mother side is originally from Lebanon, but they are forbidden to use Arabic name, hence needed to change their name to Gonzalez.

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We were introduced to Maribel, a lady who helps Porfirio clean the house. When Porfirio, Indi, and Yodhi went out to buy lunch, I chatted with Maribel. She told me that she is a Maya, and she speaks Maya at home. Her last name is Kam-Xi. I became interested to learn some Mayan language.

 

Porfirio worked from home to help a Cancun tourism website, while taking care of his bedridden mum. He was such a dedicated and loving son. During lunch, he carried his 80-year old mum to the dining table and helped her with the lunch. Occasionally he called her mi amore, which is pretty romantic. We were really touched with his love to his mother.

A Boat Ride around Cancun Lagoon and Sea

We had a very long chat with Porfirio that we didn't realize that it is almost sunset. Then he told us that his brother had asked us to come for a boat ride around the lagoon and the ocean. Of course we couldn't resist such a tempting offer. We're driving off to a marina in Zona Hotelera and met Fernando with his boat, named Fragata, which means Albatross. It was a small boat, just like a car, with 350 horse power, V8 engine, Pennsylvania made, with leather seat and many spots to store your glass of drinks. There is even toilet! Fernando served us with cervezas "Sol", with peanuts, chicarron crackers, and olives.

      

Fernando uses the boat twice a week to go out into the sea with the family to do snorkeling and waterski. He only goes out as far as Isla Mujeres. Using his boat, he needed 8 hours to get to Havana with twice refill.

Fernando drove us along bank of the Kukulcan road, and exiting towards the sea from under the bridge. Then we had a long trip along the Zona Hotelera. We saw that the hotels were nearly full, and we saw some beach parties too.

Then he went back to the lagoon and drove us in a high speed around the mangrove swamp, which looked just like a labyrinth. It was an adrenaline rush. Suddenly the labyrinth opened up into a vast sea in the lagoon, with views of lights along the Zona Hotelera.

     

Dinner at Emara: Yucatecan Food

 

We continued to have dinner at Emara restaurant, which serves traditional Yucatan cuisine, together with Fernando family: Fernando Sr, Maria Luisa, Fernando Ali Jr, and Gabriela. During dinner Fernando told us that he managed to track his family name in Lebanon, which is ben Abbas. He tried to revive the Lebanese origin in his family, that is why he named Fernando Jr Ali.

For the drink we ordered sweet rice milk with a taste of cinnamon (I forgot the name). We ordered:

• Panuchos fried tortilla filled with red beans and topped with chicken, onion, and avocado.
• Salbutes soft tortilla topped with chicken, onion, and avocado
• Tamal Colado  spicy tamal topped with chicken and salsa, served in banana leaf.
• Vaporcito fried spicy tamal filled with meat, served in banana leaf.

     

We ate them all with habanero salsa, which is the hottest chili in the world. It was totally delicious, even though the portion is small, it was really filling.

Tamal and Vaporcito tasted exactly like Arem arem in Yogya. We are sure "arem arem" were made with Spanish colonial influence!

For dessert, we ordered Arroz con Leche, which is basically rice pudding with cinnamon (just like its Arabic counterpart), and Queso Napolitana (which is just like flan, but with more eggs).

We then went back home and sleep.

18 December: Queretaro

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Going to the Market, Mexican Style

We woke up really late near afternoon because we were all really tired after a long day of going to Guanajuato and the city Christmas fair. Carlos's mom cooked us a big breakfast consisting tortilla with onion scrambled egg, red bean, eaten with dried chili salsa sauce and sour cream. A truly Mexican Desayuno (breakfast)!

After shower, we accompanied Carlos mom to shop for food material for later party. We thought she was going to go to supermarket, but we were so wrong. She took us to a Mexican traditional market. The market is just like Indonesian wet market: dusty and the sellers are just scattered around with their stalls or vans. Some people just sell things directly from the back of their vans or trucks. The only thing that differs from Indonesian market is that this Mexican market is clean. I mean, I did not see piles of smelly wet garbage with flies around. The only things that scattered around were just desert dust and newspaper wrappings.

The tomatoes in Mexico are really beautiful, with vibrant red and sour-sweet. Also, I have never seen onion so big! BTW, 'tomates' in Mexican is the young green tomato, while 'jitomate' is the red ripe ones. We saw stalls selling nopal: cactus plants that are eaten as vegetable.

 

The other interesting thing about Mexican market is that it is a drive thru market. Carlos mom just drove around and stopped right in front the stalls that she wanted to buy things from. Nevermind other cars or trucks waiting behind. Really! I tried to inform her that there are truck behind her car waiting to pass, but then the fruit seller told me to just let the truck wait. This is another culture of latin American driving: you stop wherever you want (even in the middle of the road or at the intersections) and the other guys just have to wait for you.

After the market, Carlos mom went to a special shop that sells all kinds of cleaner, hygiene, and detergent products. This small shop is very environmentally friendly. The products that they are selling are organic and biodegradable. Also, people don't buy the products with packaging, instead, they brought refillable bottles. So, there is no packaging waste. This is how business should be done!

Visit to Queretaro

We went home to put the groceries and then took the car to drive to Queretaro. Queretaro is an industrial town about one-hour-drive from Celaya where Carlos's sister lives with her two (adopted) children. On the way to Queretaro we stopped by carneria (butcher) to buy meat for lunch: A packaged of marinated Arracherra, a very tender meat from the ribs of a cow.

There are a lot of gated communities in Queretaro, and Ana Luisa (Carlos’s Sister) lives in one of it, in order to provide a safe and secure environment to raise her kids. We were greeted by the two boys: Sebastian and Jorge Luis who were playing at the front yard and were decorating it with Christmas ornaments.

While carlos mom was preparing lunch, we sat at the sofa drinking cold Sangria which a mix of red wine and Coca Cola, with a color just like blood. We chatted about many things, including how Jorge Luis fell on the floor and badly bruised his head and this caused Ana Luisa to be accused for child abuse! The authorities asked Jorge Luis repeatedly to confirm the facts that it was not abuse. This is because child abuse is quite rampant in the area, and as standard procedure, any injured child that enters emergency room pre-supposedly are abused. Luckily Ana Luisa escaped jail examination because Jorge Luis managed to present the truth of the accident.

She continued to say that recently there has been a very bad case of child abuse. A father hit a three months old baby causing twenty-four head fracture, just because the baby cries inconsolably. Crazy, because it is perfectly normal that babies cry! At the end the baby dies and the father went into mental institution.

For lunch, we ate grilled arracherra with corn tortilla and pickled jalapeno and sprinkled with dried chili salsa. It was totally delicious!

We then drove back to Celaya, where Noe and me took a siesta, while Indi and Yodhi went to visit Mexican friends who were student exchange in the 90s.

 

Hector Marquez Dinner

At 10pm, the dinner began. Hector is indeed a good cook! He made grilled arracherra, stir-fried potato with green chili and onion, and red bean cooked with really hot chili pepper. All of those are served with corn and wheat tortilla.

We had a long chat about many things. One interesting thing that we talked was about exchange student. It turned out that one Indonesian student in Celaya did not take a bath for two months when staying at Carlos's mom's house.  He was really smelly and greasy all over! Carlos mom was so afraid that this one is Indonesian culture, so she called Carlos and asked him to take a bath at least one a day. Little did she know that Indi's family loves to take a bath, even three times a day, and typical Indonesian people takes a bath two times a day. Many things are tried to make the Indonesian student take a bath, but nothing works. Hector also told us that this student even went to Acapulco fully dressed in leather jacket, because he didn't want to have darker skin due to the sunshine. That must have been really hot and sweaty inside the leather, and still, he did not take a shower. He was so smelly that his smell would linger in the corridor while he passed by. At the end, Carlos mom can't take it anymore and ask Rotary club to relocate the student to other host parents.

 

Hector also told us that the French students rarely took a shower too (although not as bad as the Indonesian student), and they do not shave their armpit as well (they were girls).

Hector also showed the photo of the photo of his late brother that has a ghostly reflection.

Indi showed the video of his youtube masterpiece.

At the end we were having a very nice capucino ice cream cake

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19 December: Mexico City

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Back to Mexico City

We woke up a bit late due to the late night party, and packed up to drive down to Mexico City (Ciudad de Mexico). During breakfast I confirmed with Carlos mom about the story of the Indonesian student who did not take a bath. She confirmed it, and wondered why he behaved like that. I theorized that perhaps the student has a special religious belief that requires him to not take a bath for a long time. She doubted it, and argued that most likely he is rebelling against his rough father. 

We took off to Mexico city at 1030 in the morning, and it was quite a smooth drive for two hours. But at the Satellite Town, the traffic jam began (although we think that the jam was not really bad, at least the traffic still moved). We were in the jam for another 90 minutes before arriving at Emmanuel's home to take a rest a bit.

Taking Metro, and a Stroll around Zona Rosa

Then we took the Metro to go for a lunch at Zona Rosa. The metro was very cheap, only two pesos to go to everywhere.

 

We got off at the Insurgentes station and walked towards the Angel de la Independencia.

We took a lunch in a tiny Mexican restaurant. I had milanesa (a thinly cut steak fried in breaded batter) with salad and red bean, served with free flowing corn tortilla. Everything came with a soup that was really delicious. The drink was free flowing guava juice, and all for only 40 pesos per head! The tortilla was freshly made in front of us using a very interesting machine.

 

We walked along the Reforma boulevard towards the Angel monument, and along the boulevard there are Nacimientos, which are the diorama of birth of jesus. Nobody vandalized it.

 

Indi saw pedagang asongan along the boulevard.

The workers were banging the concrete.

We got to the Angel monument and a person asked us to stay to watch the Nacimiento show for children.

 

Noe took photo with the policemen at the angel monument.

 

Off to Dinner at Hector Jimenez's House

Carlos picked us up at the monument and we drove off to buy cerveza and desert for dinner. Carlos bought a special black modelo cerveza that is only released during Christmas.

On the way we saw an accident where an old lady was hit by a bus and died.

We then look for the pasteleria (cake shop) near hectorâ's house but couldn't find it. After several run around we finally found it.

 

The cake shop was really big and just like factory. The smell was really delicious.

At around 7.30 we arrived at Hector Jimenez house. He decorated the house himself, painted the walls so beautifully that it looked just like wall paper.

 

We chatted about Nacho Libre (again!) and also about everything that went inside our heads while drinking Noche Bueno and munching on olives with pita bread.

Noe was cranky and wanted to sleep so Rani put Noe to bed first.

Then we had Salad with blue cheese, really delicious, and pasta with aubergine.

 

 

We then watched DVD Nacho Libre's bonus sections and discuss the technicalities of the movie.

 

At around 11pm we went home.

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20 December: Teotihuacan

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Drive to Teotihuacan

We had to wake up early to drive to Teotihuacan.

Carlos bought a tortilla with arrachera and cheese for breakfast, it was really delicious.

On the way out of mexico we saw the recently built (about two years old) metro bus network that looks just like busway in Jakarta. They were just like in Curitiba and Jakarta, using the innermost lane (the fast lane).  I have never seen the ones in Curitiba, but the ones in Mexico city was quite nicely designed. The station was built adjacent to the pedestrian crossing so there is no need to build overhead bridge to go to the stations.

 

Along the way to Teotihuacan we saw the lower class housing that looks a bit dusty and messy, but nevertheless still quite clean. The thing about Mexico city, I never really saw wet disgusting garbage pile and people seemed to be very conscious not to litter, not because of the harsh law but more of the sense of belonging of the city.

The ticket to the ruins was quite expensive: 45 pesos, and video cameras had to pay 30 pesos. But this is correct policy I think, if the money realy goes to preservation of the  monument.

Teotihuacan, an Aztec Legacy

Carlos told us that in reality there are three parts of the city with the major axis is east west, but due to political pressure of the president who uncovered the relic, the main axis was made north south towards the moon pyramid.

The craftsmanship was incredible, and the city was really greatly designed for a pre- common era.

It was a long walk from the Ciudadela (citadel) to the pyramid of the sun.

We can still see the original mural in some part, with the original painting (pink).

We put Noe in baby bjorn and climbed 280 steps up the pyramid of the sun. Indi was very tired after carrying noe up to the peak.

 

The sight from the  top was amazing.

 

On the way down, Noe was carried using a reversed baby bjorn by yodhi. It is more difficult to go down rather than going up.

We then walked around the avenue of the dead while Indi and Yodhi climb up the moon pyramid.

 

I breastfed by the pyramid and also at the houses of the city.

We then walked to the palace of Quetzalpapalotl.

They have amazing drainage system

There are three dimensional columns.

Back in Mexico City

It was traffic jam when we got to mexico city.

Carlos needed to go to the bank and he just stopped right in front of the entrance where stop is prohibited.

We then had a lunch in a place that we forgot the name.We had a huge portion of salad which were served really beautifully.

My salad was served with arrachera (my favorite) and palmito (an asparagus like vegetable that tasted like heaven).Yodhi's salad was with fajitas. Carlos salad was tuna.

Noe was playing with the metal box car.

After that we went home, take a shower and dozed off, even though it was just 7pm.

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V is for Vendetta Breakfast

We woke up quite early since Noe had woken up before us. Then Indi took a little walk around the house while I downloaded pictures into the laptop and wrote in the travelog. Later, when everybody's up, I made a Eggy-in-the-basket breakfast (based on the V is for Vendetta movie).

 

To Guanajuato

Later in the morning, we all (including Carlos' mum) drove to Guanajuato. Indi and Ibu Tuti had been there more than ten years ago and they were very fascinated about it. That made me really curious about what so special about this town.

Along the highway to Guanajuato we saw a lot of Strawberry and Cream sellers (Fresas con Crema), it really made me drooll! The weather was quite cold that day even though the sun was really bright. From the highway we could see the statue of Jesus on the peak of the hill near Guanajuato.

 

After about 90 minutes of driving, we were greeted by a great sight of the colourful houses built on the slope of the hills. This is the edge of Guanajuato, a town that was built many centuries ago and is on UNESCO World Heritage list.

 

On the bottom of the hills, there were many tunnels that used to be utilized for mining, and now they are used as roads. It is really fascinating to see how the different road network layers to one another as tunnels, roads, and pedestrian pathways.

We decided to park in a cave-like parking building built inside a mining grotto at the center of Guanajuato town. Carlos asked when would parking space be available, and the guy at the gate said that we had to wait for a couple of minutes. In a classic latino driver manner, Carlos and several other drivers just wait in front of the gate to the carpark, sort of blocking the way. But nevermind, in a classic latino road manner, people just wait or honk a bit.

It was incredible with such a loco way of driving, which is full of power struggle and excuses, the traffic in the latino cities never gets truly chaotic. It seems that there is an invisible hand that gets traffic going. The horrible traffic condition in Mexico, as Carlos said, is nothing compared to Jakarta.  

From the semi-underground road near the parking space, we took a staircase through a small corridor that opened up into a small square in front of the market, what a nice surprise! We were greeted by the sights of pedestrian priority roads and colorful street peddlers.

Lunch in the Market

Since we were really hungry after the long drive, we went to a small stall in the market for lunch. The atmosphere was ideal for family meal and the setting just like Warung Tegal. Just replace the coke bottle with teh botol bottles and you have a warung tegal.

 

Lunch began with a serving of rice consomme. Noe really loves this tasty soup with rice and he eats almost half a bowl by himself.

Then came our main course with warm corn tortilla.

Indi ordered enchilada with green salsa (verde). Rani got chicarron with red beans, which came as a big surprise because the serving was really look like Sambal Krecek from Yogyakarta. And true enough it also tasted like sambal krecek, because the chicarron is basically made from fried skin and red bean. We even assume that Sambel Krecek must have originated from Spanish chicarron.

We all got Agua the Jamaica (sweet iced hibiscus tea) for drink.

The waitress in the stall was very curious about us and trying to make sense how far is Singapore and Indonesia. She can't imagine how far it is to fly for 30 hours, and she was fascinated by our effort to speak Spanish.

After lunch, we continued to walk along the street. We saw many kinds of roadside sellers, from handicraft, hand-made fabrics / ponchos, boiled nuts (called what?) and dessert cakes (flan, etc).

Then we entered the indoor market.  Noe saw a motorcycle ride and he begged us to ride it. We sing along rather than inserting coins to make the ride works because we don't want Noe to be addicted to such rides.

I then took a look of the things that are sold near the door, small jars of what looks like jams. The seller gave me a tiny spoon to taste. It was a delicious vanilla dulce de leche, home made! But I decided not to buy it now, perhaps later.

Indi was looking for a traditional coin case made from leather but couldn't find it.

We continued to walk around the indoor market and really captivated by the variety of shops. Yodhi found a great T-shirt shop that sold things with Spanish swearwords and slangs (like, churros - Mexican donuts - for marijuana). We saw mugs shaped like women's breast and men’s genital, with holes at the appropriate place plugged with rubber plug. The shops also sells antique mayan calendar, but we didn’t buy it because it’s a bit heavy. There are also a lot of Christian statues. To our surprise, the quality of the handicraft souvenir was quite good, even better than handicraft souvenirs in Indonesia. The ones in Guanajuato were neatly handpainted and of consistent craftsmanship.

I became trigger happy and took photos of the activity at the lower level of the indoor market, which sold foodstuff and daily needs. The upper level of the market is mostly for handicraft souvenirs.

 

Walk around Guanajuato

After the market we continued to walk along the street, where I handed the camera over to Indi and he became really trigger happy.

 

We saw a funny looking dog that looks like a crumpled fleece blanket.

 

Then we went to HSBC ATM to get money from our Singapore account and it was quite a breeze. They charged 7 pesos for transaction fee, though.

We went to the Teatro but it was closed for the day. Too bad! In front of the teatro there is a street peddler that sells icecream sprinkled with chili pepper. I really wanted to try it, but since the queue was too long we decided to pass on for this time.

Luckily a few hundred meters later, nearby the Diego Rivera birthplace museum, we found another ice cream parlor that sells similar thing which is called "Raspas and Frutas".

I ordered a small cup of Lemon-Chamoy sorbet sprinkled with chili pepper. Chamoy is a kind of chili pepper which is rather sour sweet, hence it is used as refreshing drinks or dessert. Yodhi and Carlos ordered a small cup of Tamarind-Lemon sorbet sprinkled with chili pepper. Both Yodhi and I agreed that the sorbet tasted like rujak sauce or Nano-nano. Manis Asem Asin Pedes.

 

We think, we would make a big profit if we open an Indonesian rujak parlor in Mexico.

Then we got to University of Guanajuato which is famous for its arts program,  attracting international students from Europe and alike. The main university hall is tucked in the old town with a grand staircase meeting with the narrow street alley. It was a really unique sight. We took a family photo in the grand staircase.

 

We continued to walk and passed by the old embassy of Prussia building (which is called Austria today) that closed in 1867. It is now a bar. It is amazing to find an embassy of a country that does not exist anymore, but the building is preserved including its past usage. In Singapore, they don't really appreciate old structures like they do here.

Then we arrived at this cute park with a fountain and a gazebo, with al fresco dining at the periphery of the park. Line of trees gives a really cozy atmosphere shading the dining areas and the walkway. We took videos of the Mariachis and Bandas performing inside the alfresco dining areas. It is really a vibrant place with a lot of spontaneous activities.

 

On the way to the cafe where we would have our afternoon coffee, a seller tried to sell a traditional wool hand-woven fabric. Initially he offered it at 800 pesos but we refused to buy at such a big price. We bargained at 200 pesos. But of course he refused to accept the price. So we just whisked him away if he couldn't accept our offer and continued to sit at the cafe. He then continually come to our table in the cafe to offer the fabric, constantly reducing the price a bit, but we persisted at 200 pesos. After 90 minutes of continual visit to our table, he finally agreed to 200 pesos, which Carlos think is a good price for that size and quality. We gladly settle the transaction and got a huge hand-woven fabric for quite a bargain. Actually we were not disturbed by this guy at all because he was quite a smooth talker and pleasant even when facing a persistent costumer like us.

 

Also, in front of the cafe where we had our coffee, there is this street performer who joked with the people around the park. He would even ask passers by to kiss him on the lips! Too bad much of the jokes were in Spanish, so we couldn't really understand it. His gestures, however, were universally recognized.

We continued to walk, and passed by the cathedral, and then saw this shops that sells toys. They happen to have Mimin mask. Since I really love Mimin (a Mexican comic character), we decided to buy it at 100 pesos.

 

Rare Opportunity to get into State Government Building

We then passed by the building for the state government of Guanajuato. Carlos managed to negotiate with the security guard to let us see the building including the meeting rooms. The interior turned out to be really beautiful, with murals, tile mosaics, stained glass, skylights, and paintings of the great Guanajuato statesmen such as Benito Juarez, and the state symbol such as the eagle. Even though the building was old but it is really well maintained and sensitively preserved.

 

Upon exiting the building, we saw a planter box made from old mining vehicle.

 

Alleyway of Kisses

Finally, we got into the Callejon del Beso, which means an alleyway of kiss. Legend told us that there were lovers living in opposite homes. They used to get together across the balcony of the homes. One day, the father of the girl who disapproved their relationship saw the couple kissing across the balcony (the girl was from a fine rich family and the boy was a poor miner). The father got a gun and shot both of them. Since then the alley is known as the alleyway of kiss, and tourists would kiss in this area to make their love eternal.

After that we returned to the parking area and get into the car.

To return to Celaya, Carlos took a countryside road with great scenery of vast desert landscape, right on time for sunset. We took photos of the sunset against the landscape backdrop and we were just awed by the vastness of the scenery. Little did we know at that time, that Carlos was actually lost: he didn’t know the way to return to Celaya.

Christmas Fair in Celaya

When we arrived in Celaya, Hector (Carlos' brother) and Luis (his friend) had been waiting for us, and offered to take us to the Feria (fair) which happens only once a year between 15 December until mid January. After taking a break for a while, we decided to go to the Feria.

Even though it was really cold we were still really excited with this new experience. There were a lot of food sellers, from grilled corn, to churros, to fried stuff, and sweet breads, antojitos, tortillas, pozole, etc. There are a lot of cotton candy varieties. There are games and rides, such as the mechanical rodeo, ferris wheel, and the kind. There is the bear show with girls in bikini (poor girls, it was a really cold night). There is circus! There is carpet seller with blasting speaker!

We decided to have dinner at a restaurant at the center of the Feria. We had grilled steak and fried chorizo sausage with tortilla. The jukebox in the restaurant blasted latino pop to the pleasure of the fusbal player.

After dinner we went to the indoor exhibition, but we were not really impressed with the products, ranging from wrestling memorabilia to Chinese ornaments to real estate to natural honey. One exhibit even sells coffin! Nevertheless, it was quite an experience.

One exhibit sells all kinds of fruits and for the first time we saw a kind of Mexican rujak consisting cucumber and boiled pigs skin, served with salsa sauce.

For full entry, click here

Morning in Mexico City

Indi took Noe on a stroll around the hood looking for Louis Barragan's home studio but could not find it. I was mostly sleepy all morning due to jetlag.

     

Hector Jimenez's Venture

At about 11:30am Carlos came back and Indi answered the door. Guess who was at the door? It was Hector Jimenez from the movie Nacho Libre.

 

He co-starred with Jack Black and played the El Skeleton character. Yodhi's jaw dropped and he could not believe his eyes. When Indi greeted him he simply said, "Hola, Hector! I know who you are! You don't have to tell me! I am a great fan of Nacho Libre!"

It took Hector exactly 10 years working in theatrical scenes before finally getting his first American featured film. Being a rookie in Hollywood scene, Hector is very down to earth. Immediately, Yodhi and Indi bombarded him with him profound questions. Hector happily shared his story about getting a contract to star with Jack Black. He said he was not doing much when a call from a Hollywood agency struck his telephone wire. A day before, we saw his 20-minute short film produced and directed by his roommate Omar Ynigo so tha's all I knew about Hector. I have not seen Nacho Libre myself but I believe Hector was a very gentle and modest person and would love to see the film on the original DVD soon. Hector just finished a film called the Epic Story to be released soon and will audition in Hollywood for a film with Kevin Spacey next week. We hope he gets the job!

 

Carlos has been good friend with Hector for years, ever since Hector moved to Mexico City from Tijuana following a theatre company. We are scheduled to shoot a clip of Hector doing a Luchador wrestling move on Yodhi next Tuesday. It would be fun!

ASEAN Bazaar

At lunch time, we took Hector to an ASEAN bazaar in Teatro Angela Peralta where food and handicrafts from Indonesia and some ASEAN countries are offered.

It was quite fun to see Mexican folks doing Minang and Balinese dances on stage. And the gamelan troupe also consisted of Mexican too. There were taiko drummers, too.

Noe was very confident on stage. During the speech by the Indonesian ambassador, Noe got into the Gamelan area and started to play the Gamelan. We had to pick him up to avoid making big noise during the speech.

     

The bazaar gave use the opportunity to meet up with the Indonesian community in Mexico. Most of them are students in Mexico and the Embassy community. The children of the embassy staff were really excited to see Hector and they asked to take photograph with him. Those children are studying in Mexican school and their Spanish was really good. We got introduced to Fitra, an anthropology student from Yogya who is married with a Mexican who studied Indonesian. Then we met Gaffar and Wida, staff from the embassy in Peru and Mexico. We also got to meet Raka, one of the faithful readers of our blog who works as software coder in Mexico and studied in ITB from 1996-2001. We also got to meet Pablo, a famous theologist from Mexico, who according to Carlos had written numerous books on world religions.  

Of course we came to the bazaar to eat Indonesian food, which Carlos really missed. We bought Sate Ayam with Nasi Goreng which Noe really was enthusiastic about. We also ate papaya salad and air Bandung. The Indonesian food material had to be imported from Houston.

After the Bazaar we get back to the house to get our stuff, then we drove Hector back to his house, then continued to drive to Celaya.

     

The traffic in the city got really bad because it was the first day of the holiday season, and everybody was going back to their hometown. It was just like Lebaran Mudik season.

Off to Celaya

We arrived in Celaya at around 7pm, and went to Latitia's house to pick Carlos's brother and friend, Hector and Luis. However, they were all busy decorating and painting the house for Christmas, so we decided to just meet up the next day.

Then we arrived at Carlos' mother, Maria Luisa Peralta, house in Celaya. It is a really nice cozy house with a lot of decoration from Indonesia, including the pillow cases that Indi's mom gave to Maria Luisa in 1994. The wall of the house was thick made of brick and mortar with rustic finish. Carlos showed us his childhood treasures and other artworks. There was also a copy of a painting depicting how Maria Luisa is the 14th descendants of Montezuma, the Aztec emperor!

We then had dinner of creamy pasta which Carlos mum cooked. She told us about Adit, an Indonesian exchange student who spent one year in Celaya, who couldn't speak any Spanish at all. After one year, Adit became very fluent. Similarly with Carlos, who cannot speak English and Indonesian when he came to Indonesia 15 years ago, he became very fluent just in one month.