Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley

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[Bonus Wednesday post as I try to catch up to my current travels!]

This high mountain area north of Oaxaca Mexico is the most biodiverse arid region in North America. I drove up the steep hairpin turns through thick fog, seeing how the mountains block rainfall up here. Mexico’s first biologist, Helia Bravo Hollis explored the area for years, documenting many new species, especially cacti. Thanks to her efforts, the rare biodiversity was recognized and protected, with a park in her name now the best place to tour the cactus landscape.

The diverse density of plants is far greater than Saguaro, Organ Pipe or Pinacate. There are also ancient marine fossils, rare snakes, insects and bats. We saw signs of a fox, and there are other mammals that live in the dry isolated valley. Many medicinal plants have been studied here too.

But the UNESCO site is also important for the Pre-Colombian archaeological sites. The oldest irrigation systems in North America have been found here. And besides growing crops like maize, drying pools were built to gather salt for trading. Salt was a high value trading good for centuries, connecting this harsh region with distant population centers.

Campeche

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The pirates have surrounded the old port town on the Gulf of Mexico, although some of the walls and forts still stand. Hardly anyone lives or works in the pastel buildings of the historic quarter, making the heart of Campeche a ghost town. By pirates, of course, I mean corporate property owners and developers. Once upon a time, the walls were manned to spot approaching corsairs, but now you can’t even see the water from them.

I charged my vehicle at an upscale mall that’s between the Sea Gate and the gulf. There are also two big roads, a light rail station, and at least one big fancy hotel now cutting off the UNESCO world heritage site from the port it was designed to protect. Count me among the disappointed visitors who hoped to wander atmospheric alleys, buy nautical trinkets and have a mug of grog at a salty tavern, only to find a bustling small modern city using the colorful colonial center primarily for parking.

And yet, a short drive southwest of town, another part of the city defenses remains. Fort San Miguel remains intact on a hill with ramparts overlooking the water, and it has a fine small museum dedicated to the Mayan culture that thrived on the Yucatán peninsula many centuries before colonizers fought over stolen gold. At least there I spied children excited to cross the drawbridge, see the cannon and admire beautiful jade masks.

Driving to the Yucatán

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After driving down Baja and to Mexico City in the last two years, this time I drove from California to the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Highlights included seeing flamingos in Celestún above and jumping into Ik Kil cenote below, plus visiting many world heritage sites along the way. Look for my individual site reports and coming summaries, Pyramids of Mexico and Colonial Mexico.

Recent headlines and photos of several burning vehicles have inflamed fears of travel to Mexico. Many Americans have a bad attitude about Mexico, wrongly believing it is too dangerous to drive around, imagining bandaleros and corrupt police demanding bribes around every corner. Some Americans apparently enjoy horror stories about Mexico, while ignoring gun violence in the US. I have now driven to almost every state in Mexico without encountering any crime. I spoke with other foreigners who have been visiting Mexico annually for decades, and they also did not experience crime. This trip, I went through a couple of checkpoints and had my car searched once, exactly the same as in Texas.

Of course, there is serious crime and violence in Mexico. So are the statistics accurate or are the reports overblown? I had a long conversation with my Spanish teacher about some common stories. She thinks that in most cases American tourists are not worth the trouble for criminals, who prefer to prey on poor Mexicans whose cases might not be investigated as thoroughly. The corruption cases she heard about involved Americans who broke the law and were trying to evade responsibility by bribing police officers, which is obviously illegal. I’ve also heard this kind of story where Americans break traffic laws, especially driving under the influence of alcohol. Such behavior puts Mexican cops in a tough spot, where they don’t want to ruin someone’s vacation, but they have a job to do. So, be careful, avoid drugs, follow the law and in my experience, you will be fine.

If you’re driving from California, Tuscon is convenient for getting pesos and printing out car documents like your Mexican insurance policy. You need a hard copy of that, in case you have any trouble in a place without cell service. I found the small Santa Teresa border crossing very quick and easy for getting my TIP—temporary import permit to avoid paying taxes on my car at customs—, and I ended up recrossing the border at Laredo, in order to take advantage of Texas’ high speed highways. Laredo is a great place to get pesos and cross too, and there’s an interesting little history museum next to La Posada Hotel.

Since there is a 542 mile gap in the supercharger network between Veracruz and Campeche, I charged at my hotel overnight. That’s also necessary to get to Calakmul and Palenque and from Veracruz to Sierra Gorda, so I booked hotels with destination chargers, which are cheap and convenient for guests since slow charging is fine overnight.

However, you need to confirm with your hotel in advance that they both have a charger on site and that it is currently working. I arrived at my hotel in Palenque, which advertises “electric car charging on site”, but they laughed at me when I asked to use the car charger. So I had to spend a couple hours at the local Nissan dealer slow-charging for $11. After that, I checked with the rest of my hotels and changed my itinerary when I found two other hotels without working chargers. In another case, a third party charging site at an important stop for me went offline sometime after I departed the US, another unpleasant surprise for me. Off the supercharger network, you need to double-check and have a backup plan, with adapters and third party apps to find alternate charging. But if I can drive to the Yucatan and back, it can’t be that difficult.

Tlacotalpan

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Locals proudly call themselves Los Jarochos, which refers to the cowboys, the music and dance style in this farming & ranching area south of Veracruz city. I passed several sugar cane wagon trains while driving along the river, each one overloaded bumping along over more cane littering the road. Fortunately, I arrived Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend, so the Papantla Fliers below were performing along with lots of festivities, interesting cocktails including shrimp, lots of vendors and folks setting up for more music on stages in the square.

While the volodores or fliers are UN recognized as intangible world heritage, the historic river port town center is designated a world heritage site for the Spanish colonial architecture with colorful arched colonnades lining the narrow old streets, some only wide enough for horses—which I saw several—and pedestrians. I had seafood in a riverside restaurant named for the locals, and they also served a strangely delicious soursop cocktail, which I enjoyed while watching the small boats go by and families spending time together. This is why I love travel.

Our Crazy Climate

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May is mental health awareness month, so let’s take a moment to consider how the climate crisis is driving us crazy.

Direct immediate impact

Carbon pollution causes more frequent and severe disasters, diseases and heat related deaths. The mental stress of evacuation and losing a home to a wildfire or flood is severe and far worse when lives are lost. Even small changes in our climate can cause diseases to spread into new zones, which causes fear and again lives. Especially among children, elderly, poor and outdoor workers, heat waves kill. Each life lost cascades into communities, causing depression, grief, guilt, isolation, regret and trauma.

Long term impact

The gradual and cumulative loss of our environment diminishes our quality of life. Our global temperature rise is manmade, ongoing, uncontrolled, and unprecedented since we evolved from apes. The coral reefs I dove in my youth are mostly dead now, and with them much of the abundance, beauty and diversity of marine life is disappearing or gone forever. Billions of humans rely on fish in our diet, now threatened by the climate crisis America chooses to ignore. Snowpack loss takes away both our winter recreation and breaks downstream ecosystems. More drought kills more crops and cattle. Excess heat endangers our forests and restricts our time outdoors.

Most Americans are anxious about our future, especially as our past inaction means that our climate will continue to worsen for the rest of our lives. So far this year, I’ve described how our climate crisis is driving mass migration, worsening public health, flooding cities, and increasingly costing our economy. And I’ve got seven more months to discuss other effects.

Band-aid Solutions

17% of Americans are taking prescription medication for their mental health. That’s roughly equivalent to the population of New England, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. While treating anxiety and depression with drugs helps individuals, medication doesn’t solve the climate crisis.

The political party currently in charge actively suppresses climate education and science and has withdrawn from international climate commitments and cooperation. Neither confusing the public intentionally, denying the threat, enriching those who contribute to it, nor lying about the self-evident truth does anything to solve the climate crisis.

Real Solutions

Do something. Instead of being confused by misinformation, inaction, or just taking drugs, consciously choose to change your carbon footprint. You can’t save life on earth by yourself, but you can eat more locally grown vegetables, take fewer carbon-burning trips and buy locally produced goods and services. You may not own a media monster, but you can talk about the crazy weather with people you meet. You may not be a billionaire ballroom donor, but you can vote. All you must do is make an effort.

Ultimately, all we have is each other. If we communicate more, have more empathy, and try to understand each other better, then together we are all stronger. Individually, we may not have much, so we must make do with what we have. While one deranged man may believe that he alone can solve our problems, that’s wrong. When most of us understand and want to do something, then we can cooperate and get something really done. We the People have the real power. You should use yours to do good.

Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda

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Californians will be familiar with Father Junípero Serra, who built the mission above in Jalpan as well as four others nearby in the mid 1700s, before moving on to California after the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain. The military had ‘pacified’ most of the tribes, to make the roads safe to extract silver dug by enslaved natives. The tribes in this remote mountainous region were relatively cooperative and the fusion of cultures is reflected in the art on the facade.

Serra took St Francis of Assisi’s simple life of charity and poverty and enhanced it with productivity and abuse. Serra brought ‘civilization’ here, replacing native beliefs, burning villages and increasing yields. He flagellated himself regularly and publicly, and he volunteered to lead the Spanish Inquisition in the area, accusing a dark-skinned local woman of witchcraft, of flying around caves at night and of worshipping goat-like demons. The missions are beautiful though. Despite protests, Serra became a saint in 2015.

The Mexican Revolution was unkind to such churches, but due to the rugged terrain, these five were more forgotten than destroyed. Rediscovered in the 1980s, in 2003 UNESCO recognized their facades as among the best examples of Spanish colonial baroque architecture, making these a world heritage site. Much of the region has been preserved by national park and preserves, with Sierra Gorda also being a UNESCO biosphere. There are waterfalls, beautiful rivers, and many places to hike. I drove up the steep dry mountains on one side and along a green river valley on another. But I missed the descent through jungle towards the coast.

All the publicity has made the center of Jalpan—where the first mission above is—quite crowded and touristy, but the other missions are in more traditional, smaller communities nearby. This is a fascinating area to explore, with miles of winding mountain roads, scenic views and more.

Wixarika Route

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Collette Lilly photographed* this musician decades ago after moving to Mexico in the 1960s with her husband John and while living with the Huichol people for 17 years. She curated an amazing exhibit at the Zacatecan Museum which displays the art, crafts, religious objects, rituals and spiritual journey of these fascinating people.

Every year Huichol shamans and some families walk from their tropical mountain homeland near the Pacific, stopping on sacred hilltops, gathering peyote, until they reach their sacred Huiricuta land above the Tropic of Cancer hundreds of miles away, and then they walk back. The ancient journey of their ancestors takes months, and last year UNESCO recognized 20 sites along the route as a world heritage site, helping the Huichol people to protect their land and culture.

I visited the museum and the easiest site in Zacatecas city, taking the teleférico to Cerro de La Bufa. From there you can see another hilltop site at the south of the city. Zacatecas is in the middle of the route, and the colorful Huichol artwork can be seen in the local artisan shops in this delightful world heritage city center.

I also visited Real de Catorce, a remote mining town accessed by a ridiculously long cobblestone road and long narrow tunnel, which marks the northeastern end of the journey. The route passes through town on its way up to Cerro el Quemado in the sacred Huiricuta area, best reached by guided horseback trips easily arranged in the town square. Real de Catorce is only one long day’s drive from Laredo, Texas.

* My photo at top is an edited section of Colette Lilly’s exhibit photo. Several photographers have their photos on exhibit, including her late husband John Lilly, who also invented the isolation tank and wrote the book Altered States.

Zacatecas

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I’ve looked at Zacatecas from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow I can’t believe this beautiful historic city doesn’t have more foreign tourists. I know the US State Department has the whole state of Zacatecas as ‘do not travel’, but the city of Zacatecas is safe, as even the State Department acknowledges—if you fly. Well, I don’t fly, so I drove the short toll highway from neighboring Aguascalientes without any trouble, and I passed a tour bus from Mexico City. Plenty of Mexican tourists were enjoying the world class art museums, the UNESCO world heritage designated historic center and more.

I think the city is at least on par with Guanajuato, with similar features including a silver mine tour, a teleférico (much better than a funicular), historic places, and lots of museums. Perhaps due to silver wealth, both cities had battles for both Independence and Revolution, with Zacatecas’ hill above being the site of Pancho Villa’s decisive victory.

But, especially due to the lack of foreign tourists, walking around feels much more like travel was decades ago, with that immersion into a centuries old Spanish style neighborhood with local culture but without distractions. I enjoyed the low price hotel with a fabulous location, inexpensive delicious local food, and uncrowded galleries and shops with reasonably priced handmade local crafts. At Eden Mine, they even provided a personal English speaking guide for no extra cost (Alan got a decent tip though). In the photo above on the far left you can see the teleférico from where I took the photo below looking back down at where I took the photo above.

Zacatecas is my favorite city to visit in Mexico. Here are my road trips to Baja and to Mexico City.

National Parks to Visit in May

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See January, February, March, and April. May is a great month to visit many parks, especially river and forest parks that are full of life in spring. I recommend Congaree, Cuyahoga Valley, New River Gorge, Olympic and Yosemite.

Congaree is a great place to kayak, so high water may allow you to roam more. But May is also when the fireflies all blink together. Recreation.gov holds a lottery in early April for evening passes during the week long synchronous firefly event mid May.

Cuyahoga Valley is popular in May as the Brandywine Falls are awash and the trails are surrounded by spring greenery. I like biking there, and the tourist trains run a full schedule in May also taking bikes.

New River Gorge may be best in May as the wildflowers are out on the trails, the temperature is just right, and the river runs fast for rafting.

Olympic for me is all about the rainforest. Go early, wear good hiking boots, a thermal layer and rain gear, but try to visit Hoh Rainforest and hike the Hall of Mosses when it’s wet and green. Visiting the rainforest is a unique national park experience, unlike mountain hikes or beaches. The park is beautiful during the summer, but it gets very crowded at Hoh beginning Memorial Day weekend.

Yosemite’s waterfalls all flow strong in May, and Bridalveil, Sentinel and Yosemite Falls are spectacular at peak snowmelt. Wildflowers bloom on the valley trails, the temperature is pleasant during the day, and it’s not as crowded as summer. Glacier Point viewpoint usually opens to vehicles in May, earlier now that there’s less snow.

You may notice that my recommendations on when to visit are often a little earlier than common advice, and that’s usually to avoid crowds, to take advantage of planning and because the climate is changing. Planning ahead is particularly important for saving time and money, as a simple campground reservation made six months in advance can put you in the best possible location at the best time for $30. Summer used to be the best time to visit most national parks, but many parks are now too crowded and too hot in July and August. But stay tuned, because I’ve got more national parks recommendations coming on the first Friday of each month.

Paquimé, Casas Grandes

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This UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mexico is a large complex of Native American buildings dating back over 1,000 years. Set on ancient trading routes, these Casas Grandes (large houses)—or Paquimé in the native language—thrived for centuries in the Chihuahuan Desert, trading goods between communities like Casa Grande, Chaco and Mesa Verde, in what is now the US, with Tenochtitlán and the Yucatán in Mexico. Culturally the natives here are considered Mogollon, like those who built the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

Paquimé is built on the ‘Chaco Meridian’, the same north-south longitude line with the great kivas—holy sites—of Chaco and Aztec Ruins in New Mexico. Why build cultural centers on the same longitude beyond line of sight? That’s a good question. Also, how?

Latitude lines (west to east) are relatively easy to calculate by measuring the angle of the apex of the sun or the North Star against a calendar. But calculating longitude to this degree of accuracy (~108.95º West) requires a time piece. Line of sight techniques might explain Chaco and Aztec being built on the same meridian, but not Paquimé, which is 400 miles away over rough terrain. So, like the Ancient Greeks, the ancient Native American original builders here must have been able to calculate time to within a minute or so. Perhaps, like the Greeks, they used a water clock—which works like a large, stationary hourglass—, as the natives here were extremely sophisticated users of irrigation systems, as well as calendars and geometry. That would explain how.

If you sat outside your home all night to watch the stars on the same day every year, the stars would rise and fall at the same time each year. You could even tell stories about Gods or great people moving through the heavens, like the Ancient Greeks did about constellations. And if you knew the day’s story well, you would be able to name which constellation would rise first. But if you tried telling the same stories on the same day but in a different town or state, the timing would be different. Only if you are on the same longitudinal north-south line does the timing stay the same and keep your narrative aligned with the movement of the stars. If the ancient people told such stories about the stars, that would explain why they built these kivas on the Chaco meridian.

Some Americans wrongly view Native Americans as separate tribes that were always at war with each other and didn’t build anything. I think it goes back to the US War on Native America, where the military used ‘divide and conquer’ as a tactic and spread misleading and demeaning descriptions of Native American culture. I was told by a docent at Hopewell Culture quite confidently that there was no evidence that parrots were traded as far north as Ohio despite obvious signs they were. And I was repeatedly told in the Midwest that natives never built any permanent structures, even nearby the native pit dwellings used by early settlers or near giant ancient mounds of a native city larger than London at the time.

Paquimé offers proof that parrots and macaws were traded from the jungles of southern Mexico to people in the north, as the birds could not survive the desert and were kept in pens and bred here. Bird shaped sculptures & mounds, elaborate feather designs, parrot & macaw bones, and aviaries have been found here. Despite being burned, Paquimé rebuilt and thrived, demonstrating that peaceful trading was the norm. A complex system of dykes, irrigation canals and cisterns were built here to sustain folks in the harsh dry climate.

This is a fascinating and important site that can easily be visited by Americans on an overnight trip. The excellent on site museum has information in English on every exhibit, as do the signs throughout the site. Fees were waived on the day I visited, and I found an atmospheric hotel with a good breakfast just a few minutes from the entrance. Without a single delay, I crossed and got my TIP at Santa Teresa, charged once and returned by Tornillo the next day. (There’s also an Evergo charger at the Sueco intersection, but you need the app and an adapter). The town of Casas Grandes is quite safe and quaint, and everyone I met was friendly and welcoming.

Here are previous my road trips to Baja and to Mexico City.