riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (03/07/85)
The original question: >> A friend of mine and I are contemplating taking a vacation to Mexico this >> May. We'll have about two weeks and a reasonable but hardly lavish budget. >> We're still at the point where we're trying to decide where to go, and I >> wonder whether anyone on Usenet might have suggestions. >> >> Please note that we are NOT going to Mexico in order to rub elbows with >> other North American tourists or pretend that we're in Palm Springs: we like >> the idea of really seeing Mexico and being around Mexicans. We're looking >> for relatively untouristy places with natural beauty, good food, >> archeological sites, surviving folk arts and/or special character. Luxury >> seaside resorts are out of the question. >> >> We plan on traveling by available local transportation (i.e., we won't >> bring a car). We're just fussy enough that we prefer our hotels to have hot >> water at least a few hours a day and no bedbugs, but we'd walk a mile to >> avoid a Holiday Inn clone. One of us speaks Spanish. >> >> As an example of the kind of place we're looking for, I once spent a very >> enjoyable week in Oaxaca and its environs. True, there were some tourists >> around, but not so many that place was swamped. We may go back to Oaxaca, >> but we're also considering trying something new. Many thanks to all of those who answered: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I have a friend who used to run a Spanish language summer school in Guanajuato, Guanajuato (so nice they named it twice) and he loved the place. He hates winter and Texas summer but he liked the Guanajuato weather all year long because it's springlike (well, maybe like a Colorado late spring). It's in the mountains, well north of Mexico City, about the latitude of Guadalajara. I have another acquaintance who retired thanks to a bit of luck with stocks splitting and who admits to some civilized vices: a comfortable apartment, good food prepared for him, a bit too much Cognac, Cuban cigars, ... . He lives in Guanajuato and claims to have trouble spending $400 a month. From the pictures I've seen, it's an old world town with twisty streets and interesting architecture. It looks like it would be easily accessible via public transportation through Laredo, Monterrey, and San Luis Potosi. A word of caution from my friend: "Stay well away from the mummies." They might sound like they'd be of archeological interest, but they're quite recent and are the result of a barbaric practice of the keepers of the churchyards who exhume their guests when their descendents can no longer pay to keep them there. -- John Respess respess@ut-ngp.UUCP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My favorite place in Mexico as a kid was Guanajuato. It's an artist colony (NOT USA artists) near DF. It's (as I recall) stunningly beautiful, with an interesting street system (they run, mostly, under the city). Enjoy. -- Bob Knight unmvax!nmtvax!unm-cvax.knight - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I know what you mean about Americanized resorts. If you're really interested in archeological stuff and in mingling with the locals, I have an idea: Start at the Chicheniza and Toulum area on the Yucatan by flying into either Cancun or Cozumel. They are fascinating if you've never been there before - plus the surrounding area is very nice. If you're into SCUBA diving, or if you'd like to learn, Cozumel is a must. What you might do after hitting these spots is to either rent a car and drive, or take the bus or train (if you've ever spent much time on a Mexican bus or train you'll know why I suggest driving) down the coast to Belize. You see a lot of interesting parts of Mexico, and Belize is pretty nice, too. I don't know any city names, but in talking with some Mexicans, many tell me that their favorite vacation spots are in the state southeast of Oaxaca, near Guatemala - an area not normally visited by Americans. -- Rick Kiessig seismo!nsc!idi!kiessig - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I went to a place called Puerto something, (Rocky Point), 60 miles south of the border of Arizona. I was with a UCLA extension class studying tidepools. The area is great for that because it's at the uppermost part of the Gulf of California so there are lots of tides and loads of weird things under every rock. Read Steinbeck's "Voyage to the Sea of Cortez". There were some hotels around and lots of good shrimp and seafood. We slept on the beach and, the bad news, everybody got robbed at least once. UCLA forgot to mention that feature. There weren't any tourists until the Easter weekend when all the dune vehiclers arrived. -- Susan L. Gerhart gerhart%wang-inst.csnet - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - One of the things I wanted to do was to take the train from El Paso thru the mountains over to the west coast. Course, then again, maybe it was from Del Rio. Anyway, if you can get more information, I think you may find that very "enlightening." -- Lisa ihnp4!druny!lizard [Ah, yes, that's been on my list for years: the train trip through the "Can~ones de Cobre," Copper Canyon, is supposed to be one of the most spectacular in the world. If I find the details, I'll post them later.] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My parents just got back from a Mexican vacation, which they enjoyed very much. They stayed at a place called "Posada del Capitan LaFite". It was near Cancun, and didn't have a telephone (messages were telexed from someplace in Arizona, US number 800-538-6802). They spent their time doing a lot of nothing, visiting ruins, beaching, and generally relaxing. My parents aren't the types who go in for tourist stuff (they went backpacking on Isle Royale in Lake Superior for their 20th anniversary) so I think that their criteria are probably pretty close to yours. Oh, my dad has only a little Spanish, and even that's Castillian from high school 30 years ago. -- Ariel (my parents went to the Incan ruins and all I got was this lousy mummified heart) Shattan ..!tektronix!orca!ariels - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - But Prentiss, there are Mexican tourists. I know. They all take their vacations after Christmas, and they all go to Oaxaca :-) The Palenque ruins are really nice. They are small compared to some of the other buildings, but they are from the classic period and have many unique refinements. The city of Palenque wasn't of much interest, but maybe we didn't look hard enough. The Chiapas mountains were really spectacular. They are covered with a true rain forest. We road with a guy we met to some falls called Agua Azul. I think the drive was more scenic than the falls themselves. The trip from San Cristobal (I believe) to Palenque is supposed to be very beautiful. The part we drove (Palenque to Agua Azul) certainly was. It RAINS ALL THE TIME in Chiapas including Palenque. We had freak weather (so did Austin); It was cold and rainy rather than hot humid and rainy. We enjoyed Merida and the Yucatan in general when we went in 1979. The problem (with the Yucatan meeting your criteria) is that outside of Merida, there is no Mexican middle class. There are mostly tourists and Indians. I would suggest basing in Merida, but spending one night at the Mayaland Hotel in Chichen Itza. It's expensive, but all meals are included and the people there are very nice. There is not much to do in Chichen Itza but eat, swim in the pool, and explore the ruins. The same statements apply pretty much to Uxmal. The Mexican Caribbean is very beautiful, but Cancun is expensive and artificial. -- James Johnson ut-ngp!jjhnsn - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.") --- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle --- riddle@ut-sally.UUCP, riddle@ut-sally.ARPA, riddle%zotz@ut-sally