Viva Mexico! Love Is a Coconut!

Taking another peek today at my travel sketchbook! Today it's Mexico which I've visited twice. 

  

Both times were very special, with precious memories. In 1999 we were on the west coast at Puerto Vallarta, a famous hideaway for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Here in my drawing is the beautiful church with it's "crown" modelled on the diadem worn by Carlota of Mexico (it also features on the bottles of Corona beer!). Fascinating was scuba diving near the Islas Marietas, an island like a doughnut, you swim through what looks like a cave and end up on an inner beach (known as the Hidden Beach, sketch top left!) The funniest memories were those of "Baby Hermann", the green coconut husk here! Never was a coconut so loved. My daughter (9 at the time) found this coconut and named him Baby Hermann, he was snuggled, kissed, showered, rubbed with sunscreen, pushed around the pool on a lilo, had his own sunlounger and lovingly put to bed on a cushion every night. All the toys we brought with us were ignored and Hermann was bitterly squabbled over by my daughter and her wee friend ( other coconuts were no consolation!)!At the end of the holiday we opened him up to eat, but due to all the showers and sunscreen, he was inedible! 

On our second visit we were on the east coast and I took the chance to see Chichen Itza! Amazing, I was gobsmacked! The scale of the whole area, the pyramids, I was astounded. I had hoped to post my photos, but I can't get them to upload, however on the upper photo you can see my original sketch. The journey to Chichen Itza took hours and was a bit like a road movie, with huge Mexican trucks, military checkpoints and endless hours on the motorway. We popped into Valladolid, famous for it's Mexican embroidery, the women here looked so cool in their traditional fokelore dresses and long black plaits, especially in comparison to we sweaty, redfaced tourists. We also stopped at Ik Kil, a cenote (these are deep, round underground wells, connected by underground rivers), and swam in the turquoise waters, with long vines and colourful flowers (I have a great photo, but upload problems!). Unfortunately, this left us with 2 1/2 hours only at Chichen Itza. Our guide was Mayan, her face a perfect copy of those to be seen in the reliefs on the walls of the buildings there, she also managed to do a bit of revisionist history, presenting the Mayans as a really nice bunch who only sacrificed the occasional prisoner once every 59 years (a little bit of a contrast to the "place of the skulls" where representations of hundreds of skulls were to be seen, and the pointed sacrificial stones on which the prisoners leaned while their chests were opened and their hearts ripped out!). Good, after I while I drifted off wanting to sketch. I do find it tricky to decide how much time to sightsee and how much time to sketch, especially when it is a one off like this. All in all, I often prefer looking at my travel sketches rather than photos! 

 

Here we've got the face on the famous Mayan calendar, it caused a ruckus in 2012 because the Mayan calendar was supposed to end then, signalling the end of the world. Mmmmmmm we're all still here ........... !