Magnificent Mexico

This is a blog about all my worldly travels and destinations around the globe to visit. The photo at the top is of my shoes in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range which is in the western region of Mexico, at this point i was between 3000 m and 3300 m high.The name Sierra Madre means "Mother Range" as it is the biggest and highest in Mexico, the whole range extends some 1500 km starting at southeast Arizona and ending at Guanajuato, (which is a state in the central highlands of Mexico). Here the range joins with the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Eje Volcanico Transversal (Transverse Volcanic Axis) of central Mexico, this range is home to the Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests, noted for their high biodiversity and large number of endemic species. Of course i also visited a lot of the Mayan site's such as Chichen itza, Teotihuacan, Yaxchilan, Tikal and a few others, the one that really stood out to me thou was Yaxchilan (which is only a small Mayan site). The journey to get there alone was a adventure in it's self, i had to make my way to Palenque (which is probably the most well know Mayan site for it's location and fascinating history plus art) from here i took a light plane (first one ever - it was fantastic to see some of this beautiful country from a aerial view) and landed in Agua Azul on the Rio Usumasinta and then from there i took a very small boat with 5 other people along the river to arrive at Yaxchilan.

The excavation site it's self was barely visible at all from the river's edge due to it is for the most part covered by the thick vegetation of the rain forest that surrounds it, the site runs along the river for about a distance of 2km and about the same in depth inland across a few terraced hills. It has been commented on as being one of the most fascinating archaeological sites in Mexico, and is easy to see why when you are actually there (the photo on the above right was taken at the site, it is called a steles and has carvings on both sides which is very unusual). The site it's self is a small village and i would guess it had about the population of no more than a few hundred people, it's not like most of the Mayan sites in Mexico with huge temples. This site was more humble in it's appearance of buildings and monuments yet still highly decorative with carvings of many different natures plus extremely complex, over all it is a very impressive village and gives off the feeling of a closely knit community, it's a world unto it's own and a reminder of the past civilizations that came before us.

The climate has two different kinds of seasons in Mexico, the dry season (from late November to early June) which is also when you get the most tourists, and the rainy season (from June to November), where torrential though brief rainfalls happen that mainly take place in the afternoons. Within Mexico City the weather is dry and mild, obviously this is the capital and just like most capitals around the world it has it's beauty and danger, the biggest danger there is to your health due to the pollution and crime being the second due to the current economical climate as unemployment is high. However saying that the sheer natural beauty of this wonderful country makes a trip to Mexico more than worth while, the population of Mexico City is about 9 million where the estimated population of the entire country is around 100 million. The most common spoken language in Mexico is Spanish (because of the conquistadors), the indigenous language is only spoken by a very small percentage of Mexicans now. There is plenty to see and do in this amazing country and if you get the chance to go take it without a moments hesitation, you will never regret it neither forget magnificent Mexico.