tapachula
• 11 comments •
Our plan after Oaxaca was to make our way to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. With the holiday season approaching, our options for transportation were limited. We ended up taking an overnight bus from Oaxaca to Tuxtla Gutiérrez. After arriving in Tuxtla, at 6am, we waited a few hours and then took another bus to Tapachula (a town on the Mexico/Guatemala border). We stayed at a place called Casa MexiCana in the Frida Kahlo room on the first night. Although it was comfortable, the heat combined with the small size was making us claustrophobic so we upgraded to a larger room the next night. The hotel had all kinds of odd knickknacks and cultural artifacts placed around the hallways.
After searching online about things to do, we found that the consensus seemed to be that the best thing about Tapachula was leaving it. The bus rides were getting longer and we were weary, so we needed to stay there to recharge. When we did venture out, we found it to be very humid.
Our time in Tapachula was mostly uneventful. Both of us were not adventurous enough to try the local food after our previous stomach issues. We found a Domino's and reluctantly paid about what it would cost in Canada to eat a mediocre pizza. On the way to Domino's we noticed another fast food restaurant that was packed with people. We ascertained that it was a fried chicken restaurant and thought that fried food might be a safe bet, so we joined the dinner crowd. Neither of us make a habit of eating fried chicken back home, but we can honestly say it was the best we've had. And cheap.
Although the parts of the city that we saw were rather drab and uninteresting, we did stumble upon this church and figured it was worthy of a photo:
We left Tapachula as quickly as we could and continued on to Guatemala...
11 comments
You two are living my fairy tale. So amazing, I'm so glad you're keeping us all updated and especially sharing your pictures. Everything I've seen so far is so beautiful. Hope you two are having fun. =]
ReplyDeleteThat whole food thing must be a pain. Dev and I are freaked out by food poisoning of any kind. Food is supposed to be one of the highlights of being in a different place. Kind of hard to immerse yourself in the culture when you can't eat what you'd like. I'm Italian, so it's all about mangia mangia mangia! Ha ha :)
ReplyDeleteHow are you guys feeling about Mexico so far? Are you planing on staying for a while?
I LOVE Pollo Campero. Did you know it's the most successful restaurant chain from Latin America. It started in Guatemala and has now moved all over Latin America, the US (they have three of them near me), and China.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that Tapachula isn't a great place to go. It's a huge border crossing and many people cross illegally there to get to the US from Guatemala and Honduras.
I think you will like that lake soooo much better. There are great hikes up volcanoes and the landscape is gorgeous!
oh all those great intense colors, and this frida kahlo room looks great.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you didn't have the best time there.. but at least you got out of there! And got some good chicken :)
ReplyDeletewow, i just came across your blog and i'm quite thrilled to see two lovebirds traveling and keeping a public journal for all of us to see! how very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteReading your previous post about taking the non-touristy bus to the very large tree made me laugh and made me think how much you two will grow together during this experience. When you're in a foreign country and nobody understands you but your significant other that's a very profound experience. I'm really enjoying reading about your travels! Hope you're having fun!
ReplyDeleteWell, you can't win em all can you? At least the chicken was good...
ReplyDeleteYou should be happy they spelled your names correctly on the tickets.
ReplyDeletemira a los muchos hombres en el restaurante! danng, musta been some good pollo.
ReplyDeletewow interesting to know about Tapachula. Thats a huge destination for us on our trip next year. ben and i will be living at the orphanage called mision mexico for a month. Ben is teaching a surf school and i am running a photography course.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can find that chicken place... do they sell vegie burgers too?
happy travels
xx