If you like architecture, how about Mexico? I know it's not a small country by
any means, but you don't have to try and visit the whole place!
Advantages are excellent public transport (intercity buses come in any standard
up to superdeluxe, fully reclinig seats, bar service etc etc, drivers are sane
and on longer routes operate in rotations of 3 drivers; the only bummer is bad
roads, but coming from Australia I didn't find them uch worse than at home!),
delicious cheap food , and accomodation, great beer and very hospitable people.
Flights from NAm to Cancun are frequently dirt cheap, and it only takes a
couple
of hours to get out of that hell hole to somewhere nice like Merida!
There is a great variety in styles both ancient, a bit less ancient and modern.
I loved the Mayan sites in the Yucatan (Chichen Itza of course, but Uxmal is
fantastic and quite different), with Merida having some fine Spanish colonial
buildings (both secular and religious. Merida itself is a very congenial town
to
just wander around and take pictures, and has a quite creditable gallery of
modern art!
For another style altogether, move on up to Oaxaca in the central valleys, and
visit the Mixtec sites at Monte Alban and Mitla (Mitla in particular I found
interesting, with the Catholic church being built over the partly demolished
Mixtec temple. The market area in central Oaxaca is also photographically
interesting, and most of the centre of town is very well preserved, with all
new
work following in the same style as original buildings. The main museum in town
has some of the relics from one of the tombs at Monte Alban (there is a also a
replica of the entire tomb in the main museum in Mexico city). The museum
building itself is a converted 17th century convent, wonderul arched walkways
etc. There are many other beautiful old churches in town (in every town in
Mexico no doubt!)
If you only have 9 days, perhaps visit just these two places. You could easily
spend 9 days in the Yucatan if you wanted to be thorough and explore off the
beaten track. Car hire would help in this regard, but unfortunately I couldn't
as I'd been pickpocketed and lost my drivers' license on my first ride on the
metro in Mexico city (got to give them their due, the pickpocketing was very
smooth and professional, and I was pretty dumb keeping something like that in
my
wallet - mind you, I'd spent 22 of the preceding 36 hours awake on planes...)
If you have more time or are a speedy traveller, or just that way inclined
visit Mexico city as well, which has a nice collection of contemporary
architecture from skyscrapers and the University complex to private residences.
Don't forget the cathedral and government buildings surrounding the Zocalo. The
effects of the 1985 earthquake along with the natural subsidence of the marshy
ground make for some interesting building frontages - some of them will make
you
think your zuikos have gross sinusoidal distortion!! Many interesting art
galleries and museums too. There are also the obvious Aztec ruins of
Tenochtitlan (right behind the Zocalo) and Teotihuacan. Unfortunately these are
not as well preserved as many of the Mayan sites, or have suffered more from
misguided or botched restoration attempts.
In case you haven't guessed, I loved Mexico!
Dylan
--------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 21:11:38 -0300
From: Andrew Dacey <frugal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [OM] [OT] Trip suggestions
Hi folks,
No, this is not the usual, "what gear should I take on my trip?"
email. I've
pretty much have that sorted out (all of it!).
My "problem" is that I've got vacation time coming up the end of
August
(August 24 to September 3) and I'm trying to figure out where to go.
Because of my location (east coast of Canada) I've "narrowed" the
possibilities to somewhere within North America, South America, and Europe
(this is purely due to associated travel costs and the amount of time I have
available).
Because of the amount of time I have (11 days, minus 2 to allot for travel
time, leaves 9 days) I'm thinking a smaller country makes a lot of sense so
I can still get a decent depth of country.
Photo content: my main photo focus is architectural, I'd like to do some
landscape as well, don't tend to focus much on people pictures.
snip
Other concerns are that I won't be renting a car and I'll be trying to do
this on the cheap.
So then, where would you recommend I go?
- --
Andrew "Frugal" Dacey
frugal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.tildefrugal.net/
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