What's up Tangerineys! Thank you for clicking on this video. If you're a new
to our channel my name is Maddie, and I'm Jordan, and we are Tangerine Travels.
Today, we are going on a long time coming adventure and we're taking you with us.
Guys, what are you doing?
I'm confused.
Confused!
Guys, what are you doing?
This looks hard.
Fluffy tail wag.
I'm out.
Where are we? In the town of Mezcala.
We are going to Isla de Mezcala.
This was something that our patrons voted for. You guys wanted us to go
explore the old prison, the biggest island on Lake Chapala. Hopefully
the wind does not ruin this footage.
This has been a long time coming. Every time
we try to go it's either windy or something else is going on.
But we made it! We're here! Let's do this!
So we're walking out to the boat here on sandbags. [Laughter]
The lake is pretty flooded
right now, we've gotten a ton of rain lately!
Hang onto your hat!
We've been on the boat for about 20 minutes now?
Right? Something like that. And I think they have
to take it a little slower today because it's so windy.
We're here!
So we just arrived here and the water is so high that you can't even
walk up and read these signs that they have.
The lake is super full right now!
How cool is this root system here? This tree's like yellow and this is so wide!
It's probably 30, 35 feet wide.
So I am right now standing in front of a cave.
Where when this island was under attack, they would keep the women and children.
With a pretty big wall made out of rocks right in front of it so that they were
safer. And it sort of has this protection that goes down. So this is meant to
represent the women and children who have died. After a while, there was
disease that plagued the island and that killed a ton of people!
So we're gonna do our best to tell you some of the history,
and what was going on with this island
when it was under attack from the Spanish. Feel free to correct us in the
comments if we get anything wrong. But we have a guide here who knows this very
very well! And he's explaining things to us, like these rocks behind me. They're
volcanic rocks, and at one time when the Spanish cut off all resources to the
island for food and water, they were using these stones to filter the water.
And when it would go through, the minerals in the rock would purify it, and
they were able to drink it - They were able to drink it after that.
We climbed up the hill here and there's some old buildings around here. And right
now we're standing in the circle where they did ceremonies. The Native Americans
back in 1300, he said. This was a circle that they used where...
You sure you want to call them Native Americans?
We're in America! Jordan!
They're called indigenous here.
The indigenous Native Americans. [Laughter] They would use this circle,
They would cut themselves with stone from the land and then
collect the blood in a bowl for the god of rain. And then they would take this
bowl of blood and dump it into the lake as an offering. I think it sounds kind of
barbaric, but that's just what they did back in the 1300s I guess.
[Laughter] Meow. Meow.
[Cat meowing] Oh don't you, don't you put your scent on me!
Laska will be pissed!
[Laughter]
If you think these buildings don't look that old, it's because,
well, they were restored recently.
Some say it's lost some of its charm. I kind of like it, personally. So
you get to see what it may have looked like. We have a guide on this tour. You
can just take a boat and come yourself. And there are signs that tell you what
everything is. Like for example, right now we're standing in front of the chapel. It
looks like we can go upstairs, so if you don't hear from me.
Meow! There's three cats up
here. There's one. There's a whole bunch of cats up here. This is cat island, actually.
Mez-cat-la Island (Mezcala Island, cat pun) [Laughter]
We were just up at a restored building and this area is all
unrestored. I just said I like the restored stuff, but no, I think the
unrestored stuff might be cooler.
So where we're standing right now is the
Plaza de Armas. And this is where overhead, right there, is where the
Gunpowder was made. And these are where all the generals would sleep.
And stay while they were fighting the war. A long war waged here on this island and the
Spanish were fighting the indigenous people here,
and shooting cannonballs up to
the island. And here, in this rock, is where a five kilo cannonball hit.
Now over here is where a 20 kilo cannonball hit.
This guy is in in-cat-nito mode. (Incognito, cat pun)
You can't meow, you'll give yourself away!
You blend in. [Cat meowing] No you
can't meow. [Cat meowing]
So this right here is a pre-hispanic flagpole. Tangerine Travels,
Your source of false information!
Maddie: Oh my gosh! [Laughter]
Right now, I'm standing on a drawbridge. A
frigging drawbridge! I've literally never seen one in my life! Not in person at
least. And then there's a moat here that goes around the fort.
So we were just told that the prisoners on this island had - were given two ways
that they could choose to die. This one right here - It's very windy. This one
right here is one of them. Where they would take the slow death and then
basically be chained to this rock and dive thirst, or starvation, or both. The
other way was they could take a water bottle filled with poison and that might
have been the quick way, but I feel like that'd be the painful way as well. Who
knows. But either way, again, Jordan: How about neither!?
Very, very barbaric! Jose was also just
showing us that there are underground tunnels throughout the island because
they needed to move the gunpowder from one place to the next to use it, but they
couldn't have it above ground because with the cannonballs that they were
shooting, it could just be exploded and ruined. All go up in flames!
Yes.
Did you already say we're in the fortress?
Um, no. By the way, we're in the fortress! [Laughter]
So this is what it's like to be on a guard tower.
Do you have your musket out?
So we are right now standing on top of the new fortress, which was built in around 1890?
Yep. 1890. And then down below you have a bird's-eye view basically of the one,
that the old one, where all of the thousand people were living in 1810 when the war started.
[Laughter] Say hi to the camera! [Laughter]
He's picking plums right now and has a shirt full of them!
Behind me we have
this building here. This was where originally the priests lived. And after
that, it became solitary confinement for people who had leprosy, to keep them away
from the population on the island. And after that, when this island turned into
a prisoner's hold, that's where they kept some prisoners. Again, in solitary
confinement, further promoting disease and terrible things. We're now coming
back downstairs in this newer fortress, and Jose was telling us that in the
kitchen of this place where they would cook food for everyone that was living
here, there's rumors or stories that there might be ghosts in here, and you
can find out by going inside the kitchen and taking a picture, so you might see
that with the flash on. So Maddie was about to do that, and our guide's like "You
have to close the door." You have to go in there and close the door so it's completely
Dark. I'm like nope, I'm out. [Laughter]
Sorry guys, no ghost photos today.
I feel like I'm in an Indiana Jones movie right now.
The petroglyph, this explains that they have weapons and everything.
(To fight) The Spaniards. This is one (a petroglyph)
We're inside the Indiana Jones movie right now. [Laughter]
This is the old prison and there's some petroglyphs in here.
Super interesting! Those were petroglyphs of war plans that they were making. But
this prison, he was telling us that they would keep the prisoners in spaces
approximately like this big by this big.
They would cram five prisoners in each
Sitting like in this position. And they would have to do all their business
inside that little space. It would flow out from these holes here, and
Then the guards would take buckets and put it in that hole that goes right out
to the lake. So yeah, sounds like a really rough life and really disgusting!
This isn't sketchy!
This is the original fortress.
Where the indigenous people lived.
No moat for protection.
Now we're getting to the bridge that leads over this giant moat going into
the prison. And it's pretty old and pretty weak, so we have to walk on the
center plank across the bridge. This moat is way deeper than the other one!
Right now, I'm standing in the prison. Right in this one room. It held 600
people. You see these rock piles here, these are actually the walls that have
fallen down, and they've just put them into piles.
One is of this prison was for Michoacán and Nayarit.
And then the other side was for Zacatecas and Jalisco.
I have such a great memory! But I just can't get over the fact that 600 people
were in each side of this prison. So 1,200 total. 1,200 total. And he was also telling
us that the roof on this prison is the only original roof that exists. On this island.
Tell you what, I'm pretty impressed by what they have here. How big this is. What
do you think? Yeah, so it is the biggest island on Lake Chapala, but I didn't
really think that it was gonna be this big and expansive! He was just asking, our
guide Jose was like "What do you think?" And I'm like well, for one I can't
believe while we've been walking he's found two obsidian Arrowhead fragments
just lying on the ground. Which makes me think like this is completely untouched.
Like no one really, not no one, but people really haven't come to find these
artifacts. Uh-huh. And he said he found a silver coin from the 1800s. I mean, that's just awesome! Yeah
that's super cool! There's so much history here. I just told you not to say
that in this video. "There's so much history!" [Laughter]
But to be able to find arrowheads, coins,
And different artifacts like that. I mean that's kind of cool because what is left
in this world that's undiscovered like that? So if you have the choice between
going to Scorpion Island or Isla de Mezcala,
where we are now, go to Mezcala!
Absolutely! Just don't even bother going to
scorpion island, no offense. I didn't think it was that great. Pretty dirty
there. We went there, we shot a video, but we never posted it. Just because it just
wasn't that cool. [Laughter] And you guys, that's kind of the thing with our Channel. We do stuff all
the time! We go on adventures, and if it's not cool, we're just not going to show
you about it because we don't want anyone else wasting their time or money,
Going to something that just like, meh. Or wasting 15 minutes watching a video of something
that's blah. That too. [Laughter] Found a plum! Plums!
You have plum on your chin. On your chinny-chin-chin. [Laughter] These are
really good! Like we said in the goat video, we've never had plums like this but
They're so sweet, and so delicious, and they grow everywhere on this island too!
We're going into the second floor of the church here.
Be careful!
Be careful! The steps are
pretty messed up in some places.
Holy!
Just when we thought we were done seeing everything on the island.
Oh my gosh! Don't try this at home folks.
Oh my good golly gosh!
What's that sound? Insects I think?
So what advice would you give someone who is considering taking this tour?
Coming to Mezcala. Wear good shoes, bug spray.
Bug spray for sure! There are some places with taller weeds, so maybe pants if you
can stand the heat. Mm-hmm.
To get into those back places in the old prison
where there's the petroglyphs and such.
Yeah. What else? Water bottle. Oh water
bottle. Definitely water. Umbrella if you want shade. Uh-huh. Hat. Yes.
Sunscreen, did you say that? No, I didn't. [Laughter]
And maybe a hair tie for the boat
because it's pretty windy. But that's just a preference if you have it.
We are here in the plaza in the town of Mezcala. Guess where we're going!
Guess what time it is! It's not 10 o'clock Jordan.
El centro of el centro!
Oh wow, it is super echoey in here! Oh my gosh, and it's breezy!
Hello! [Echoing "Hello"]
We wanted to give you a look at this beautiful
cathedral that's behind us with the two clock towers. Thank you for watching this
video today! If you liked, it give her a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel.
To see more adventures that we're having in Mexico. And I've been practicing this
one today.
GONG THAT BELL! [Laughter]
So you get notified the next time we put out a new video, and we'll see you there!