MEXICAN TRAVEL ADVICE: When going from town to town, it´s easy, fast and cheap to travel by ´combi´. These are cars or vans that carry 4 to 10 locals that go between towns. We usually pay 10 or 20 pesos for rides of 30 kms or more. This is a really good deal and easier then the bus and certainly easier then using a taxi.
We went to the town of Hecelchakan which has a great little Mayan museum. There are some wonderful figurines that were found in a nearby ruin. But the rest of the town wasn´t so great so we went to the next town, again by combi, which we are staying in tonight. It is called Calkini and it is a nice little town of probably about 7000 people or so. There is a town square and a beautiful church and government building.
Not a lot of eating options, but there is always a taqueria somewhere. We found a pretty good hotel, very clean and recently remodeled for 350 pesos per night. The TV actually had Star Wars, the first one, in Spanish!
Nearby is the town of Becal, which is famous for making the Mexican version of the Panama hat. As some of my friends know, I have a passion for fine Panama hats and wear them a lot. I have a couple of them from Equador and wanted to see the Mexican version and where it is made. So we took another combi (12 pesos) out to Becal and were immediately flagged by a local pedicab driver. In all these towns here the main mode of transport is the pedicab, where two people sit on a little seat while the driver is in back of you pedaling away. He said he would take us to the finest Panama maker in town, a Mr.Balbomaro, who has been weaving hats for decades. But first I told him we needed some lunch, so he took us to what was apparently the only restaurant in town. Was this a restaurant? Where you eat was in a family home...you walk through the living room and into the dining room, obviously the family´s dining room, and behind this was the kitchen. The choice was chicken or chile, so I chose chicken and this was basically a pot au feu, boiled chicken with veggies and a soup. Delicious!
From there our pedicab driver took us to Mr. Balbomaro´s house, but he was away looking for the plants that he makes his hats with. But his wife was there and she showed us around. So they weave their Panamas in caves, so it keeps the palm leaf fibers wet and supple. Mrs. took us down to the cave which was right below there house and gave us a demonstration on weaving and showed us the different size fibers, from a normal to a fino to a super fino.
A hat made out of normal, wider fiber takes a few days to make. The fino takes about a week and the super fino takes two weeks. They are quite beautiful hats, but they really aren´t finished. While they are blocked into shape the hat ribbons are not sewn onto the hat and there is no inner hat band for some reason. The fino costs 3500 pesos, about $300. So I didn´t get one.
This evening, toward sunset, Amy and I had a wonderful walk though the town of Calkini. Just walking along the back streets, the late afternoon light striking the multi colored homes, was quite lovely. Local folks were out talking to their neighbors and it was a great joy to see such real, rural Mexican life. Everyone passing would say buenas tardes and smile. People are so friendly here.
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