will update about the next 2 weeks soon

Welcome to my Home for the Next 2 Weeks

Upon arrival to the colorful colonial puebla of San Cristobol, we were greeted by the usual very friendly middlemen.  Alex was the one who won our business.  He offered a free taxi ride to the hostel he was promoting.  We should have understood why...it was a little too far out of the main zocolo area.  We decided to pay the taxi driver ourselves and go to the most popular hostel instead...Posada Mexicano.  I could have stayed elsewhere for $5 USD and planned to check that out for the next night, but the staff became fast friends so I continued to pay $8USD per night for the remainder of my stay.   It didn't matter that the free internet only worked sporadically.  There was hot water from 5-11 AM and PM in all 5 showers scattered on the premises.  We had 3 choices for our free breakfast which always included my favorite...atole!

No sooner had Helen and I selected our beds (each of the 11 beds in the girls dorm had different types of mattresses) were we swept away by Kimberly who was another Ozzie leaving that night and anxious to show us the good pizza and ice cream places.  Places that we went more than once during our stay.  Michuacana is the best place for paleta de aguas.  My favorite was mango y chimoy.  It had the right mix of sweet with a spicy kick.  Addicted!

What a cute little city.  Cobblestone streets.  Colorful buildings.  Great cafes, markets, plazas, theaters, live music, and shops.  One thing I noticed during this entire trip is how non-annoying the kids and women selling things on the street are.  You can just say No Gracias a few times and they will wander away.  What is most surprising is all the traffic.  It is such a walking town.  Why would you want a car?  They get so backed up on these small little one way streets and hardly move.  I ventured out on my own after a quick bite with the girls to find some of the spots Luis had told me about.  No such luck finding Casa di Gloria nor the craft store where they serve little indigeonous girls cookies and teach them English as a break from selling their crafts on the street.  But, a few days later I am successful in navigating the whole area and have found all of these places of interest.   This day was no different than any other day during the following week...I got caught in the rain around 3pm.  The locals all seem to know it is coming.  They start running for the best places of cover before it even starts.  They will remain in these spots for hours until it stops.  Don't they have places they need to be?  I laughed at the realization that I did not have the patience to wait it out and I am the one who really has nowhere to be.  No job.  No appointments.  I am just wandering around the city.  But, I can't stand and do nothing under an awning.  So, I continue down the middle of the street enjoying the downpour.  Unfortunately, this caused me to start sniffing and sneezing for the next few days.  From that point on, when I got caught in the afternoon rain I would find my way to any Altura coffee shop or internet cafe to kill time until it stopped.  My stop on the way home this evening was Tacoleta.  It appeared to be a fast food taco joint like you would find in the US.  Not my first choice, but it was raining. They turned out to have the best tacos and cafe mokas.  I later learned by observation that this was a hot spot with locals. You would find families and dates there on the weekend evenings. 

My first night ended around 10pm when I dozed off to the sounds of the 3 Israeli girls in the dorm chatting for hours in their language very loudly about their next destinations.  I had this same lulliby for the next 3 nights until they finally left.  

The girl's dorm is something to be studied.  There is a girl who leaves her phone on all night.  It is has a crazy loud ring.  She also has a persistent boyfriend who will continue ringing the phone until she answers.  Often she is inthe shower at 5:30AM when he starts calling.  The rest of us are grumbling while she is oblivious inher nice warm shower.  Then there are the baggie girls.  Everything must be kept in noisy little baggies.  Any feel the need to pack and repack their bags every morning for about an hour making these crinkly little noises.  They are trying to be quiet so they do it slowly.  This just prolongs the noise.  So few possessions, butt hey must feel the need to touch each and everyone of them on a daily basis.  Just get out and see the city!  Worst of all is when you are excited that a girl has finally gotten out of the bathroom.  You have been waiting forever and someone else closer to the bathroom suddenly jumps out of bed and races over to beat you there.  Drat!  That is another 15 minute wait or you have to run out into the cold to find another bathroom somewhere on the grounds.  Then there is the one girl who seems to nap or read in her bed all day.  But  what I really think she is doing is spying on all the other girls.  She is always staring when everyone else is getting dressed.  

But, my favorite personin the hostel is Walter.  He is the 72+ year old former taxi driver from San Francisco.  He has been staying in the hostel for 4 months.  I have been here the second longest with my 2 weeks. We both have seen a few rotations of people in and out of the place.  He spends most of his time on the bean bag chairs reading the Encyclopedia.  When I arrived he was on the letter S.  He was on V when I left.  He talked of moving onto Guatemala when he finished.  A few days after I left I got a message from Hyon letting me know that he was on Z when she was leaving.  I so enjoyed hanging outonthe bean bags and at breakfast with Walter.  A very smart and sarcastic man with a crazy beard and hair.  On my last night he bought me a farewell glass on wine.  Gonna miss him.  Rebecca from LA will be replacing me as she plan to be here 2 weeks.  She is in her 50s and comes here every few months.  when we first met and I told her I lived in Huntington Beach, she immediately blurted out that her F-buddy lived there!  LOL.  Then she said the reason why she comes here so often is to buy these dangly belts they make and sell for $2 here.  She is an exotic dancer and can sell them to her friends back at home for $20.  Okay.  Later on I learned from Hyon that Exotic dancer really was Aztec dancer.  I like my version better. 

Spirituality in SCdlC

One of my stops around town was El Puente Cultural Center www.elpuenteweb.com.  It is a hotel, spa, Spanish school, restaurant, and movie theater all in one on Real de Guadelupe.  They also have yoga and dance classes.  I picked up lots of flyers here to find out what is going on around town.  Frankie (dormmate who was celebrating her 29th b-day) and I had a nice dinner one night here. And on my last night in town, I came here to watch a good Frida Kahla documentary with Carlota (see below) and Hyon (dormmate and former architect from Seattle.)  Perfect because I was heading to Mexico City where I might have the opportunity to see her homes/museums. 

Besides flyers, I picked up what looked like a couple of interesting  little booklets.  One said it had little stories of San Cristobol and the other said on the cover that it was about the spiritual experiences of 3 women who came to San Cristobol.  Thought they might be good reading when I needed to rest on a bench in the zocolo midday.  I should have known they would be books put together by some religeous organization.  What I also didn't know was that they were going to get me hooked into reading them for 2 hours.  No, I have not been saved or converted.  But it was interesting to learn about this guy who's "job" was to hang out in culteral centers in San Cristobol looking for travellers who appear to be travelling to fill a void in their hearts with nice experiences rather than to get to know other cultures. He was a missionary to  agnostic or ethical aetheist gringo tourists in coffee shops! He ends up falling in love with one of his potential victims.  She is only in town for 3 weeks.  They are both off to other parts of the world to do volunteer work.  They keep in touch via email for 3 years.  Then meet back up in San Cristobol to live happily ever after runnng a school for poor indigineous children.  Did they see me coming or what?!  There were other interesting stories of the struggles the people of this community have had.  It talked of big companies coming in to donate money, but with alterior motives.  They have oil here.   It talked of people coming in who are similar to Michael Moore who feel they do important work by exposing the evils of mankind, but tend to enjoy it a little too much and become part of the problem.  They use this struggle against injustice as a excuse to be judgemental, intolerant, and hateful.  Interesting stuff.

Anyway, there are plenty of churches to stroll into here in town.  I am sure I checked them all out.  Santo Domingo is the big one where the tourist market is.  Templo de Santa Lucia looked like a pastel blue birthday cake. Templo San Francisco was probably my favorite.  And, not just because it was close to the chocolate shop that sold tequila filled chocolates or the 3 for 50 cent empanadas they sell next door.  Why is it that the churches here all have the plastic Jesus laying in a coffin with plastic flowers surrounding it?  I really want to feel something spiritual when I walk into these places, but it is hard when you are chuckling about the plastic statues all around.  I found myself saying to myself "Are you there God?" and then finishing the question with "It is me, Margaret."  Are teenage girls still reading that book?  These plastic Jesus' sure aren't helping me try to take religion seriously.

What Else Besides Churches?

There is a pedestrian street called the Andador that pretty much gets you close to all things of interest.  It cuts through the zocolo where you can hang out at all hours and find musicans.  You will also find Mercedes there every morning at 9AM.  She is twirling a rainbow umbrella.  She is hoping to grab you before  Alex and Raul do for the tour of San Juan Chamula.  Alex and Raul is really Cesar and you can meet him everyday at the big cross in front of the Cathedral at 9:30AM for the tour.  Which is best...you will find out later. 

At one end of the Andador you will find Santo Domingo which is not only a church and market, but also has the weaving cooperative Sna Jolobil.  They make very high quality items here.  At the other end of the Andador is the Del Carmen Arch.  Of course there is a church there , but it is also a cultural center.  There is a nice garden and artwork displayed.  I really liked the collages done by Raphael Baca.

The Kinoki was the place a visited the most.  I watched a movie almost every day there while I was sick the first week and trying to stay out of the rain.  They make the most interesting teas there.  The mint chocolate one actually tastes like mint chocolate; not too watered down.  The smoothies are thick and rich.  I brought them some ginger I purchased from the local's market to add to my mango smoothie which, I think, helped me get better pretty quickly.  I saw a couple of Zapatisa documentaries here.  This was a good way for me to learn a little about the issues of the local people here and the violence that occurred in the 90s with NAFTA.  When I learn of these horrible things that have happened in other countries while I have been alive, I always question why it was not a big deal on the news at home.  It was just sort of comforting to know that Helen (from Australia) was thinking the same thing.  I guess we aren't the only self-absorbed country.  I also saw a cute movie called Amor in Silencio about a Canadian man who "buys" a Mexican bride over the internet and ends up falling in love with her mother.   Let's hear it for the cougars!  Again, these Spanish subtitles are really good for developing my language skills.   Helen and I were really looking forward to seeing Vacaciones Permanentes there too for obvious reasons.  Don't do it!  Don't put it in your Blockbuster queque.  This was about the darkest and depressing movie ever.  I won't waste anymore explanation on it.  Just don't do it! The atmosphere is great at the Kinoki, though.  There are several small rooms that might fit 15 people where they show these movies.  They have different types of chair for your indivual comfort or you can lay on the mattresses and pillows up in the loft while you watch.  And if the movie you want isn't playing at the time you want, you can just come in before 4pm and have it played when you want for a little more than the $2.50 US they charge after 4pm.    There was live music and free wine here one night when they had a new artist's exhibit.  The previous exhibit was much more interesting.  You think you are just looking a nice little paintings all in the same color.  But, then you find out that the artist is a woman who uses her menstrual blood as the paint.  There were lots of nude photos of her with strategically places flowers.  This is one bold woman! 

Another place I visited was www.NaBolom.org  It is a long walk in a residential area before you find it.  It costs 35 pesos to walk around on your own or you  can go on the afternoon tour for a little more.  It is a museum and hotel where they have some great photos.  I also was able to chat with Antonio Ramirez who was setting up for his beautiful exhibit of Ambar stones.  There are stores everywhere here with these stones, but nothing like what he had on display. 

Another warning.  Do not get a pedicure in San Cristobol.  Or at least do not go searching for deals.  I scoped out the cheapest place in town.  $8 USD for a pedciure.  Now the lady who appeared to own the place was dressed very nice, had great hair and make up, her nails looked good so it should have been okay, right?  Well she started on my pedicure, but was also busy doing hair and make up for 3 girls getting ready for a quincinera.  She appeared to also be giving them a lesson in how to do nails as they were all working on each other.  Half way through my pedicure, she tells one of the 15 year olds to finish up on me.  Great!  this girl did not have a clue what she was doing.  She had to ask what to do next at each step along the way.  A typical 30 minute pedicure took 2 hours!  She had to keep redoing each toe about 4 times because she kept leaning her elbow onto the toes she just painted.  She used her finger to try to make the curve in the white polish of a French pedicure!  It was the most jacked up pedicure you have ever seen.  It ws total comedy.  You get what you pay for. 

There are a lot of cheap and free cultural activities you can participate in here if you just check out the flyers.  At the Sol de Media Noche Cafe Cultural they offer free bongo and djembe drum lessons.  The atmosphere there is very cool.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get there for the drumming.  Could of shown them what I learned on my Home Depot paint bucket in my African dance class!  The Backpacker and Posada Mexicano hostels both have free salsa dance lessons a few night a week.  I got roped into helping out one night at our hostel when the only participants were 2 guys.  I got passed between the instructor, Justin from Boston, and his friend from Sydney for an hour which stalled Helen and I from getting out early for dinner.  Why can't I be paid for this?  It isn't easy getting sweated on and stepped on in your flip flops.  These guys were very cool though.  They had met a last year while travelling in India and decided to meet up for this trip too.  They shared some great stories of their travels in India with me the next morning at breakfast. 

Museo de la Medicina Maya

The Maya Medicine Museum www.medicinamaya.org was tough to find, but worth it.  It took 2 days for me to eventually find it.  The first day I ended up getting lost down some deserted dirt road in the rain.  The nice thing is that is how I came upon the local's market where I could buy niches.  It is a long walk to find the museum outside the main tourist area, but not down a dirt road.  It cost 20 pesos to get in.  Luckily they give you a long handout to read in English because everything on display was in Spanish.  It was a very interesting read about how the healers use animals and plants and other interesting things for healing.  The black spider is used to reduce swollen testicles, just in case anyone out there has this issue.  Soda is used to get rid of evil spirits through belching.  The number of candles and colors of the candles will heal different things.  On a reading break I chatted with Roberto who was waiting for his wife to come out from seeing the healer.  They were originally from Mexico but living in Arizona and here for the mid-wives convention in town. She was having issues walking and wanted to get some help.   They met when they were both journalists living a very exciting life being arrested several times for covering political stories in Mexico.   Should I believe everything that people tell me while they are travelling?  Anyway, I was able to peak in while several people were getting healed.  The healer lighted skinny cnadles on the floor, put out an egg and a glass of Fanta on the floor in frontof the candles.  Then I watched as he whacked a man on the behind several times with a bundle of basil.  I'm not sure what he was curing, but it sure smelled good.  It is a pretty small museum, but the funny displays were worth the $2 US I paid.  They ae all plastic mannequin reinactments.  The best was the midwife birthing reinactment.  In the last room of the museum you can view a 12 minute video of a real midwifery birth.  Ironically, I decided I was not having kids after watching a similar movie when I was in my 11th grade Marriage & Family class.  So, why did I watch this one 3 times?!   So, I could get down all my notes to share with you!

The midwife stands behind the kneeling woman and the man is seated in front of his wife.  The midwife prays 3 times for no complications, waves a soft drink to combat enemies, waves a hen in front of the woman, serves woman tea or a raw egg to speed up the process, passes a machette by the stomach 3 times, and squeezes her belly. After the birth, the placenta is buried face up in the home if they want a girl next time or face down if they want a boy.  She cleans the baby a certain way so it won't have bad dreams.  An egg is used to counteract the jelousy of others which causes diseases.  A rooster is waved over the baby boys and a hen over baby girls.  The Mom is not allowed to eat avocados for 3 months while breastfeeding or the baby boy's penis will swell.   Interesting huh?

San Juan Chamula

So do you take the San Juan Chamula tour with the lady with the rainbow umbrella, with the little guy with glasses, or go it alone?  Cesar, the little guy with glasses, is the way to go.  Sure, you could get to Chamula on the collectivo for 10 pesos and then pay a few more pesos toget into the church but you are missing out on all that a local can share with you.  It is worth paying Cesar 150 pesos.  His grandfather is from Chamula so he knows lots of people as you are walking around.  He can speak their language.  We went on a great day.  Sunday is good because you can eat at the market.  I enjoyed a lunch of BBQ corn rolled in lime juice and pepper.  Reminded me of Kenya.  I also had a taco  for 3 pesos and a dulce (I think it was a candied fig) for 1 peso.  The other good things about the day I went was that they are celebrating St. John The Baptist day.  Every month they are celebrating something.  What does a celebration entail?  Leaders are selected to fudn the whoel thing.  It is a big honor to be a leader.  They save up for 17 years for this honor because what their role is is to pay for all the festivities.  They have to buy the flowers, fireworks, posh alcohol, pine needles to cover the floor, candles, chickens, soda, etc.  You can tell who the leaders are by the ribbons they weararound their necks.  Everyone else is wearing their daily traditinal wool skirts and vests.  Men get very drunk and light the sky rockets. They are considered men at age 16, but many of them start drinking at age 7. There is lots of music too.  We got to sit in a leader's home during a ceremony.

Going inside the church was  trip.  You can't take pictures in there or of the people anywhere really without their permission.  Many feel that photos take away part of your spirit.  The consider themseves Catholic, but the only similarities to regular Catholic rituals is the baptism ceremony.  There were several going on in the church this day.  Lots of little babies in white crying.  It was wall to wall people in there.  Everyone is in thick wool.  All the men are drunk and carrying bottles of posh.  I was so scard that I was going to accidentally knock one of them over onto the thousands of lighted candles that were all over the ground and a huge fire explosion would occur.

After our visit to Chamula, we went to another village called Zinacantan.  They are the more upscale village because they are not considered lazy and drunk.  they  don't wear wool either.  Their traditional outfits are more colorful.  In this village we visited a home wher the women were weaving and making tortillas.  While in Chamula everything we saw was real.  They would have been having these ceremonies if we were there or not.  It was obvious that these ladies did their little demonstrations jut for us.  I still liked it because they gave us free tortillas to eat with pumpkin dust on them.  They also let us take photos.  Sure they hoped we would by their weaved garments, but they were also happy when we just tipped them.

While here, Cesar told us of how his family would use Mayan medicine methods to heal themselves.  Then he asked for a volunteer to demonstrate.  I still had a bit of a cold and I had already been to the museum to see what I was in for.  Who wouldn't want to whacked on the behind with basil?!    So not only did I get whacked with basil, I got got rubbed down wth an egg, had my pulse taken, and water spit on me. My cold was gone the next day.  Coincidence?

Excitement hit when we entered the church in Zincantan, the more upscale village, mind you.  Drunk leaders inside gave our guide a hard time.  He wanted more money.  It was getting ugly.  We all coughed up a few pesos and got out of there! 

It was a good day with fun people along.  One couple in particular (she from Argentina and he from New Zealand) were along to learn about the tour as they are guides for Imaginative Traveller www.imtrav.com.   They are getting ready to lead a tour from Mexico City to Guatemala to Belize (the same route Luis and I had just taken.)  They have been all over the world learning about cities and then leading these tours for the last 8 years.  Pretty cool!

Volunteering with Tia Carlota

My sister-in-law's aunt lives here in town.  She is a Sister and started the AFI Archivo Fotografico Indigena Chiapas Photography Project www.chiapasphoto.org 16 years ago.  Her father was Mexican.  It started with a grant from the Ford Foundation which allowed her to provide cameras to 200 people from 10 different ethnic groups over the years.  These people were only taught how to use the cameras and then used their own creativity to document their lives.  Several books have been published with these photos.  This provides an income for the local people.  They have had exhibits around the world.  I met up with Tia Carlota on her birthday for a fabulous dinner at Madre Tiera.  Get the veggie lasagna!  I learned alot about the project that night and started working with them for the remainder of the week.

They had a few very cool projects they were working on with deadlines.  We met up at 9AM each day and sometimes didn't finish until 9PM.  One was a Culture Kit that they have sold to education departments in museums in the US.  The kit includes one of the photography books, an exhibit of several of the photos, a music CD, powerpoint presentation, faciliatator guide, and a collection of 30 objects used in their everyday lives.  These obejcts include traditional clothing, musical instruments, cooking items, etc.  It is a great way to enhance people's learning about the way of life here.  The other project is a primer book.  Ya know... A is for, B is for, etc.  It will be used by adults and children to learn the local language and Spanish language with the help of the photos.   

Working with them for the week was a nice experience. Each morning we would take the La Quinta collectivo for 4 pesos to the CIESAS research center where their office is located.  I was able to work alongside the local photographers, Emiliano and Juana right away, assembling kits.  Also worked with Ceclilia who is also on staff. Many of the photographers are from different ethnic groups and speak different languages.  The common language they have gottento learn to work together is Spanish.  They have even learned a little English.  So, I was able to practice my Spanish with them while they practiced English.  Carlota allowed my first day to be easy.  While I assembled, I was also able to leisurely look through their books and see their wonderful work.  Each day the work I was given was a little different.  Assembly, proofreading, editting, Powerpoint formatting, shopping for objects, going to drop things with Silvia the printer, binding, and giving lots of opinions.   We would all take a break together and share snacks around 12pm.  Then it was quitting time at 2pm.  Sorta.  We would leave the office and head to Carlota's cute little house.  She would make me the best vegetarian lunches in her solar oven.  Then we would continue on with our work there.  Always ending the day with tea and a few bites of a ginger cocoa bar.  Yum! 

We quit early on my last day and got to go visit Juana at the home she has rented to hold their photography workshops and have their weekly garage sale of donated items.  She signed my book by the photo she took of her mother weaving at home. 

Ready for a Job Already?

As I was making my way to the Kinoki one day, I happened upon a familiar sign...The Holiday Inn.  Decided to check it out.  Very nice hotel.  I noticed that they had a business center with internet.  So, I stopped my the front desk to ask about how well it works.  Maybe I could teach a few online courses for my previous employers from this location.  Unforntunately, he said that it wasn't very consistent but I was welcome to try it out.  It seemed to work pretty well to me.  I was able to to do skype with audio and video.  While I am here, why don't I getin a a little free blogging time.  He said it wasn't consistent.  Maybe I should go back every few days to check it out...and get a little more free blogging time.   That is how cheap I have become.  Not willing to pay 70 cents per hour elsewhere.  I have to find excuses to highjack free internet.  Well, the guy was right.  I wasn't very consistent.  Oh well.

I am an early riser.  I have been getting up when the chickens in the neighborhood get up and the gas truck comes by making its loud announcement for everyone to come out and buy from them....around 6am.  Breakfast doesn't start until 8AM.  So, I go down early and chat with the staff while the prepare it.  Jesus Nestor is the lead cook and bartender.  He is trying to practice his English so we became fast friends.  Laura helps him out and cleans the rooms.  We were more on a smile smile basis.  Alexi was one of the front desk guys and the engineer.  Everyone has 2 jobs here and work insane hours 7 days a week.  He spoke some English, but was more interested in givng me a hard time about my Spanish.  Gerado, the manager, was very friendly...maybe a little too much when he got some beers in him.  And, I never really figured out what Erica's deal was.  She showed up occasionally.  Said she had another job in marketing for Sol beer.  I think her family must own the place.  Anyway, they had a sign up that they were accepting applications for the front desk.  I teased that they should hire me because I wanted a discount on my room.  Then one day Jesus Nestor made me his apprentice.  He handed me a knife and a pineapple and showed me how to make the juice.  It would have been so much easier to just buy itin a carton and pour.  I had to cut the skin off, cut it into chunks, put it in a blender with water and sugar, then strain it forever.  Next task... crack 25 eggs into a skillet and stir and stir and stir and stir for 20 minutes.  It was a work out.  Erica must ahve been very impressed, because when I got home that night Jesus Nestor said that she wanted to know if I was serious about wanting a job application because they thought I was muy amable and wanted to offer me the job.  What?  How sweet.  But,  I was checking out the next morning.  Maybe later in the year if I come back.

I stopped by the Habitat for Humanity office www.habitatmexico.org on my second day in town.  There is where I met Gerado, a nice young man from Mexico City who was doing an internship there.  He had spent several summers in San Diego and spoke very good English.  I hung around the office for about an hour with him and Francisco waiting for the boss to arrive.  Manuel was the only one who could tell me if they had any volunteer work for me over the next 2 weeks.  What I eventually learned was that because it was the rainy season, they were not building any homes at the time.  What they normally do is help you make arrangements to stay in a community where they are building several homes a few hours outside of the city for 1-2 weeks while you help them build.  Sounds great.  Maybe next time.  Ran into Gerado a few times while out on the town at the hot spot...Bar Revolucion. 

I also stopped by www.Natale.org and talked to them about volunteer opportunities.  Great people.  You can join up on different projects they have going every month.  They last from 2 weeks to 2 months.  For just a few hundred dollars you live either with a  family or in a camp with other volunteers in various remote villages.  You do things like design fun activities that help educate kids about sanitation in hopes that they will also get their parents interested.  They also have language courses.  I heard good things from those in the program. 

For those of you interested in other volunteer opportunites in SCdlC, there is one other organization I will mention here.  It is called Casa and they are located at 28 de Agosto #4B between the Anandor and Genreal Utvilla street in the green building.  I give you all this info because I was going to meet Eliza there becasue she had a n appointment to speak with them. I never got to the meeting because I was confused where it was located.  But, Eliza was very impressed with the work they do.  Eliza is a fellow couchsurfer who joined us in Palenque and is a dormmate here.  She is orriginally from Melbourne, but has been living in Peubla Mexico.  She has nearly a whole book tattooed on the side of her body with her life philosophy.  Just 23 years old, but I learned alot from her about the 5 languages of love, how to make 15 outfits out of one scarf, slavery of women in India, and that prostitution is legal in Austalia.  She plans to get into peace mediation.  I expect she will do well.

Stopping by El Canon del Sumidero on the way out

Luis gave me a little tip about leaving San Cristobol.  The Tuxtla airport is a little ways away and a taxi could cost up to 500 pesos to get there.  Sumidero Canyon is a great site.  If you take the tour which which costs between 150-200 pesos depending on where you buy it, they will drop you off at the airport before heading back or you can catch a taxi from Chiapa de Corzo which is a small town that you stop for lunch at after the 2 hour ride in a boat in the canyon.  The taxi ride from there is 200 pesos.  You get a tour and ride to the airport for less than a straight taxi to the airport!  So, I got my 150 peso tour ticket and did some research on flights.  There is a Mexicana office and Interjet kiosk in town.  The Interjet ticket to Toluca (just outside of Mexico City) was less than $80 USD.  This isn't much more than what the bus ticket is, so I decided to fly.  Luis had offered to show me around if I laid over there for a few days and I took him up on it.  Then Mexicana flew me home to LAX.  The way the times worked out it was going to be hard to fly from Mexico city to Tijuana to take the bus back to Santa Ana at a reasonable hour.  So, instead of roughing it like I did on the way here I was going to go out in style.  The annoying thing is that my VISA card got declined as I was trying to buy all these tickets.  They do this to me every time.  I tell them in advance what countries I will be in and on what dates.  But, their fraud department wants someone to talk to so they stop my credit card from working and ask me to call them.  Gee thanks.  Now I have to use my credit on skype!

Instant Replacement Travel Partners

It is surprising how many people are out there traveling the world on their own.  There were 3 women traveling individually on my shuttle out of Mexico.  All speak English!  Helen (a 26 year old teacher from Australia) became my fast friend for the next week.  She has been traveling for the last 5 months.  She was so out of place with the rest of us scroungy backpackers.  She was wearing cute little sandals with a flowery skirt and pulling a roller bag behind her over rocks and mud as we made our way from shuttle to boat to shuttle to jungle.  We were both hoping to get to El Panchan when the shuttle dropped us off in Palenque.  And, we were both hoping to spend 2 nights before heading to San Cristobol de las Casas.  Perfect!  We ended up being dorm mates in the next 2 hostels and dinner partners for the week.  She was excited because for the remainder of her year of travel she is going to be meeting up with family and friends in the US and Europe including her boyfriend of 5 years.  Had long talks about that and the differences in the in our education systems over over Chilean wine and cilantro soup one night. 

Border Crossing

Our shuttle ride was pretty cramped as we picked up locals along the road.  Near the border on the Guatemala side, a little kid came up to my window.  I thought he was going to try to sell me something or ask for a quetzale.  Instead, he handed me his little toy whistle as a gift.  How sweet is that?  At the border we had to pay $5 US to get out.  Then we got dropped off at a dock.  We jumped on a small boat that took us down the river a ways and then across to the Mexico border dock.  There we were told we would have to find a specific bank and pay 280 pesos before we try to leave the country via bus.  If we get to any border without having paid that, we will be sent back to find the specific bank.  Crazy!  This supposedly does not apply if you are leaving via airplane because it is included in the price of your ticket.  I hope this is true.  I will find out soon enough.  (It was true.)

Mushroom Jungle

Palenque looked like a dirty big city.  I didn`t like it at all.  We were just there long enough to find an ATM to get ourselves some pesos and find a  ride to the jungle of El Panchan.  It is just 4km away.  It costs $1 US if you take a collectivo.  We decided to splurge and share a taxi for $2 US each.  Then we went right for the cheapest hostel in the jungle...Rakshita.  It cost us $5 USD for our dorm room which was hot, had lots of bugs, but had a fan.  Most people sleep on platforms in hammocks here, but they miss out on the sound of nuts from the trees falling onto your tin roof all night like we got! We had 2 guy roommates.  One we never really saw other than shadows when he would show up in the middle of the night (probably to grab a condom out of his bag) and leave again until the next middle of the night pitstop.  During the day we kept trying to guess which guy in town was him.  Our other roommate was a very nice guy named Andy from London, but working in San Francisco in finance.  He was on his way to San Cristobol also.  The backpacker`s trail!

El Panchan is sooooooooo cool!  You are in a total jungle like setting.  There are about 5 hostels all in close walking distance to each other and a few restaurants.  The restaurants both have great evening enterainment including musicians using primitive instruments that sound like animal noises, African dancers (at least I recognized some of the moves from that class I took last year), and the unicycle fire twirler.  The Lonely Planet says that many people come here for a day and end up spending weeks.  This must be the situation with many of the dreadlocked hippie looking entertainers.  It is either that or they are just hallucinating and can not find their way out.  I was told by several people that they were offered shrooms while here.  Don Muchos was packed every night with people coming from outside the jungle area for the atmosphere.  Plus the food was good and cheap. 

Helen and I booked the transportation to Palenque Ruins, Agua Azul, and Misol Ha for the next day.  It will be a long day 8am-6:30pm (7am to us since we did not realize the time had changed when we crossed the border and the guide had to come find us to say they were waiting for us) and we kinda like this place so we decide not to take the option of transportation from there to San Cristobol.  Plus it is well known that you should avoid the evening bus between Palenque and San Cristobol because the highway supposedly has bandits.  The transport to these 3 places cost 130 pesos.  Now, you could walk to Palenque or pay 10 pesos for the collectivo if you wanted, but the cost for transportion if you went to 1,  2, or 3 of these places was all the same.     Then you must pay 48 pesos to enter the ruins and 15 to enter each waterfall.  And then, if you are no longer travelling with someone who is just as stingy and anti-tour as you...you will end up paying 100 pesos each for an English speaking guide at the ruins.  Helen and Eliza (the other Ozzie girl we picked up to join us here and in San Cristobol) wanted the guide and I went along with it.  I was able to say I told you so later.  The place is very well marked so you don`t need anyone to tell you things like Gilberto told us...things that always started off with the phrases ``quite possibly,```` perhaps,````it could have been,``and ``maybe.``  Then they wanted to tip him!  The ruins were nice.  Much more structured than Tikal.  Plaques to read and pathways to follow.  The museum was well done with a very cool tomb exhibit.    The waterfall on the walk from the ruins to the museam was nice.  Eliza and I got hungry and unfortunatley realized that the food was a long hike back uphill.  We started it in the heat and then got picked up by a passing van.  Crap!  She wants to pay the driver.  I thought people who pick up hitchhikers do so out of the kindness of their hearts.  Won`t we be taking away that feeling if we give them money?  Am I trying to justify being cheap?  I gotta ditch these girls or I am going to go broke!

Next stop was Misol Ha.  They gave us 30 minutes here.  This is why you don`t buy the tour!  It was a nice waterfall worth jumping into.  My 2 Ozzie friends did just that, but I decided to use my limited time to hike behind the waterfall so I could feel the mist from inside of it.  I have been needing a facial!

Agua Azul was  let down.  Simultaneously, Helen and I both said that this place felt like Disneyland.  The rocks were so smooth they looked fake.  There were toursist shops lined up the full path to the top of the waterfall.  What a turn off.  Eliza was busy shopping, so Helen and I decided to go looking for the best spot to jump in.  There were signs everywhere in poor English saying it was dangerous to swim.  Eventually we found a sign that said something different.  It warned us that we were entering at our own risk because there had been assaults on tourists in this area.  We sniffed and looked around and soon learned what the issue might be.  We smelled weed and found 3 guys at the rivers edge.  One with his pants down.  We hope it was because he had just peed.  We decided to risk it and go in.  This seemed to be the best spot as it had a little island in the middle of the river and a tarzan swing rope.  We jumped into the cold water just as it started to rain.  Pouring rain!  It was gloreous!  Then we started to vaguely recall that there might be a safety issue with being in water when there is lightening.  We were willing to risk being assaulted by the weed smoking pantsless man, but not willing to be electrocuted at this sorry waterfall.  It was fun while it lasted.

The ride home made us all a little quesy.  Took a quick rest and had some 7up before eating the most humonous spegetti dinner at Don Muchos.  Watched a little entertainment before retreating to the room before the shroom people started getting crazy.

Got up early to make the walk to the road to catch a collectivo to Palenque`s bus station to buy our ticket to San Cristobol.  I sling my backpack on and Helen rolls her suitcase over the muddy rocks.  Soon a van comes by and we flag it down to ask where it is going. We were hoping to just get a ride to the bus station.  Imagine our surprise when the Mexican driver said San Cristobol!  We asked if they had room for us.  The driver looks to the back and consults with the passengers who we learn all are French tourists.  According to the driver, they think Helen is French and I am Mexican.  We are flattered that they think we are their compadres, but tell them the truth.  I am Canadian and... just kidding.  We ask how much and they say GRATIS!  What?!  We start to throw our bags in and then they mention that they are stopping at the waterfalls on the way there.  They won`t be getting to SC until the evening.  We decide that time is money.  We can afford the $8US bus to get there at a reasonable hour.  Oh well! 

Another quesy ride, but this bus has got comfy seats and air conditioning!  In 4.5 hours we are in colorful San Cirstobol de las Casas.

ok, sleeping in a tent on the beach sounds great and all but give it a few drunken nights and hot mornings and that will end quick. i don't think that it would have been so bad if i wouldn't have been so hung over every morning. i know that this is obviously my fault but come on...we are in Mexico, the alcohol is to cheap not to drink in excess.

we came to the decision, after hard consideration, to find somewhere with a bed and shower. we had some friends staying at a resort down the street called the sonoran sun. we didn't really think that we would want to spend that kinda of money but we though that we should just check it out. well like most everything else it was surprisingly cheap. we split a 2 bedroom condo with an ocean view with 2 other people and it only cost us 180 dollars for 2 nights. it was the best feeling after 3 nights not having a good shower to take a real shower. this place is seriously nice,  probably one of the nicest places i have ever stayed. it is just like having a condo on the beach. everything you want is at you fingertips. i don't know if it is because i had just spent the last few days living out of a tent but this place is was beautiful! after we cleaned up and relaxed a bit we headed out into town

 i had been seeing these contraptions flying around the beach for the last few days. it is like a hand glider with a seat and an engine attached. these guys are a bit nuts... they take this thing straight up in the air and then cut the engine and let it fall until the wheels hit the water. i didn't know about anyone else but i had to try it. so we follow one of these gliders until we see where they are landing. we find our way to this dirt field and there sits a guy in a lawn chair drinking a beer. i walk up to him with a bit of hesitation and ask how much. he replied 40 bucks for 30 min... well ok then. so i climb into this man made motorized hand glider and we are off. we took off on a road with cars driving in front and behind us. it was a bit bumpie at first but it eventually got very smooth and it was an amazing view. we flew up and down the coast, flying with birds and diving into the water. it was so amazing, the best 40 bucks i spent in a long time!

after we were done there we went down to were they rented jet ski's. we had got a free hour of jet ski riding while we where in town by listing to a presentation on a time share. it was kinda hard to find where they rented them from because we couldn't go to just anyone. we had to find the specific company that we had the voucher for. we eventually found them and used our free hour on the jet ski. It was really fun. We made asses out of ourselves by nathan showing off for big boat and us ending up getting thrown off in the water. The entire boat clapped, I was laughing so hard I had a hard time getting back up on the jet ski.

By this time is was already about 4ish, so we made it back to the resort to hang in the room and at the pool for the rest of the day. Today was an amazing day!

the day started off ok. it was hot in the tent once the sun came up and i was a little hung over. it was nice waking up to the sound of the ocean though. we really didn't do much, just hang out on the beach most of day. it was a really good and relaxing day! i didn't realize how strong the sun is, coming from az i am use to the sun being strong. i didn't think that it would make that much of a difference only 120 miles or so south... however it did!!  around 3ish we called it quits and went looking for food and shade. we ended up at a place in town called tequila jacks. it was really good food! we had a pretty big party but it was still cheap.

 the town is a lot like what I had pictured a Mexican town to be. it is a bit run down, it looks like they start things and then stop and never get back to finish. i was a little nervous at first because the federalis carry very big guns around with them all the time, but i got use to it eventually. the town has a lot of little shops along the streets selling almost anything you can want. the people here work very hard and they have a lot of talent. i watched a lady braid a girls entire head of hair in under 5 min. they also walk up and down the beach, fully dressed, carrying a ridiculous amount of stuff. it is amazing how much dedication they have! we found a street that is a sea food market. they have the best shrimp tacos i have ever had and they cook them in little huts right on the street. the fish are so fresh you can watch them fishing behind the shops and then cook them right on the street. they are a bit pushy but you can always just walk away. i have always heard not to drink the water and to stay away from anything that has been around water at all but i didn't listen and nothing bad happend. i don't know if that is an old wise tale or what but i didn't have any problems with ice tea or ice in general at all. i never drank just water becasue i always had water bottles so maybe that is what will make you sick. i am really not sure.

we ended the night off with a bang. literally... since fireworks are legal down here we didn't hesitate in buying some and setting them off on the beach. it was a lot of fun and kinda challenging because you never know how fast the fuse is going to burn. it adds an entire new element to setting off fireworks. no one got hurt and we all got a good show.

today is our last day in mexico and i am a little sad. i wish we could just pack up and keep heading south. i am not looking foward to going home and back to the same old monotony. but for now that is what we have to do. so we slept in again, i found myself laying in bed putting off the inevitable. however i did eventually have to get up and pack for the ride home. check out was at one and we pushed it as long as possible. after check out we were not quite ready to go so we decided to go to what had now become our favorite restaraunt for a final shrimp taco. like normal it was amazing but it ended to soon. we stayed around for a while to take a few pics of the ocean before heading back to the desert.

this was an amazing trip and i can not wait to come back!

We stayed at the Mayan Sea Garden for almost a week. It was well rated and was really very nice.. Check in was easy. We got the obligatory bracelets so we could roam freely within the motel and grounds. We decided to go to a talk for the time shares for the Mayan Palace... It is an amazing place. But, at $24,000 .... yikes... even down to $15,000. (But that's another story~and review... I have pictures) The rooms cost about $97.00 per night and a mini-suite is $122. The room we had was above the restaurant roof. At the roof level. But we could also see the ocean, kids pool and the beach.... I wanted to get higher and David was anxious to get a bigger bed than a double.... He is 6'6 so a double is not a good fit for him. The first morning I woke up and found a man outside the window painting the roof..... 5 feet from the window.... although he didn't seem to be looking at anything other than the roof. then.... two men in ties joined him and talked. David walked on down to see about getting the room changed. We got another room: identical but on the third floor. Much better! The view was good from there too! The pool was very casual ... one end was quiet and the other was the kiddy pool.... shrieking happiness..... There was a bar built into the pool and we got our afternoon drinks there..... it's so fun to swim up and order a drink! Beyond the pool was the beach... it was really a nice one.... with palapas.... and they brought drinks out when you wanted there. The bottom floor consisted of many alcoves and places to sit and talk. The lobby had actual painted walls instead of wall paper. There were always fresh flowers. The one thing they did not have was a computer area. Their single computer was on the counter of the check-in desk and was a touch screen computer... it killed my back to type but it was the only one available. That is a mistake in this day and age. People were standing in line for it. The second thing that we felt was a problem was the washing area. It was open 24 hours a day but the attendent who sold the washer and dryer tokens was only there until just before 5. We were pretty unhappy to miss her two days in a row. There was an open drawer with soap and it was available to take to your room so we washed our clothes and hung them to dry. The next day David finally caught the girl and bought a dryer token.... geez.... they are not even available at the front desk. There was a travel agent who was intermittantly at his station but was very helpful when he was there. We got our city tour, Canopy tour and Rhythems of the night dinner show tickets there. Every morning we met Linda and Ray for breakfast at the little restaurant by the pool. For a small place they had quite a varied menu. I switched around on the menu and David ordered the same thing every day. The waiters were fast, efficient and very cheery! The prices were not cheap but they were reasonable. When we needed a taxi they were quickly summomed. Although it was a bit remote we did not feel isolated. We could walk to other business' nearby. We felt that the atmosphere was cozy and very family oriented. We saw families carrying bag of groceries for their kitchenette rooms. The pool was full of happy families on vacation.... All in all .... This is a great place and I would recommend it .... When we go back we do plan to stay there!

 too often on vacations we don't give ourself any time to relax. so that is what we set out to do today. we slept in until around 10 and made our way down to breakfast. we had these amazing omelette's and mimosas that where made in front of us by chefs . we made our way out to the pool a little while later and spent most of the day down there. we met a couple down at the pool whom we hit it off with very quickly. they are from just down the street from where we live, small world! we ended up getting together with them for dinner in town and partying with them at the hotel all night. we had a blast!

today was like the last few days, spent mostly on the beach. we had planned on staying out of the sun but that is hard when you are living on the beach. so we kept the sun block on and relaxed on the beach.

yesterday we bought tickets for a booze cruise while we where in town. a booze cruise is a 3 story boat that sets off around 5ish and takes you and 200 or so of you best friends into the middle of the ocean. they provide all the alchole you can drink and let you jump off and slide down the side of the boat in the middle of the ocean. it is like a crazy club but on a boat and all the alchole is free. the consept blew my mind! i don't know how no one dies on these things but we made it the entire 3 hours with out any casualties.

on the booze cruise we met some really cool people. we ended up hanging out at a bar in town with them all night.

once we found the camp ground that our friends where camping at we set up camp and threw out some towels to soake up the sun. the water is clean and clear, and the sand is soft. i still can't believe that i have lived in Arizona for so long and never been down here. we where camping right on the beach with the waves right out side our tent. i am still in shock at how beautiful it is. day one ended with a few beers around the camp fire with a few good friends.

will write and post more photos soon

I did it again.  I bypassed immigration.  I have done this in several countries and I really don't know how it happens.  I didn't realize it until after spending 6 hours in the airport hanging out with Luis who met me there.  When we went to check in for our flight to Guatemala, I was told I did not have the right papers.  So, we had to go through the back areas of the airport to get it straightened out.  Thank goodness Luis could translate for me or else I probably would have been crying in frustration after being sent back there 3 times in 2 hours  because I was illegal and could not get on the plane.  I think it was all because no one gave me paperwork in TJ.  Eventually they let me on but not without having to give up a handful of batteries that they thought I might use to make an explosive on the plane.

Bus Ride to TJ

Angel dropped me off at the bus station about 2 hours early.  This gave me plenty of time to have some real Mexican food (as I have grown to know it) before going to  Mexico.  ;) Seriously, the BRC buritto at the bus station was surprisingly good.  I also had plenty of time to delete the 1300 photos stored in my camera from my last trip and drain the battery on my camera while I was at it.  Good start to a trip!  I still had time to kill so I got really anal.  I started getting nit picky about my address book in my phone.  Had to put everyones last name in.  Had to put in their email address too.  Move their call numbers from the work number section.  Hey... why not add home addresses and company name?  Is this the way that people without jobs spend their time?!  As an aside...I thought it was pretty funny that every time I typed IHG in to the company name for someone I used to work with, my blackberry wouldn't recognize it and instead type UHG.   Hmmmm....always looking for a sign that I made the right decision to quit to travel.

It wouldnt be a bus ride without somethng interesting happening.  The lights go out.  It is pitch black on the bus.  And, I can hear kissy kissy noises.  Ewwwwwwww!  A few minutes later the guy in front of me accidentally slams his seat all the way back and almost into my lap.  He turns around and says something something moleste something something.  If I didnt have an idea what that word meant in Spanish I might have run off the bus especially without knowing where those kissy noises were coming from!

Two and A Half Hours in TJ

Stop in Caborca

This Hotel was such a great find! It had everything: Located on the BEST part of the beach, rooms had Kitchenettes, purified water cooler, marble floors, nicely decorated, helpful staff.....and there's even a webcam broadcasting the beach all over the world! We had fun saying "Hello" to our friends back home! {I had sent the link to all my buddies and at the appointed time everyone logged on and could see me enjoying the sun and the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico!} I reccommend getting a cooler at one of the megastores {yes, they have Walmart and also a Mexican MegaStore}. So...stock up on drinks, lunch meat....whatever ....and you can just relax on the beach. Chairs, cushions and towels are supplied by the hotel. And you are just steps away from your hotel room. Or....if you prefer, you can have the nearby restuarant on the beach serve you food or drinks. But, the best part of staying at this hotel is that you have the CHOICE!! You can either Bring your own cooler/food/drinks or order like I said, from the nearby restaurant. Many other hotels located on Playa want you to order from their Restaurant, rather than bringing a cooler. I took one look at the website and the way the hotel looked....I loved how it was set up. All rooms have private balconies with hammock and a little table and chair! It was just sooooo adorable! L-O-V-E-D it!

My trip to Cancun in 2002 represent more than just a country I visited, it represent my first paid-by myself trip, and that in it self is an accomplishment.  Adding to that, this was my first and only Spring Break and the first time I felt free away from home, in order word my initiation passage.

As a true tourist I did more than the average spring breaker in Cancun, I visited the Tulum Ruins and learned about Maya culture. I also visited a small island called Islas Las Mujeres where in the day time you can relax, eat great food and do different water sports activity.  But in the night time it because a party island where you can see the most outrageous behaviors. 

Xelha, is like sanctuary of fresh water where you can spend day snorkeling with the fishes in the natural water. You can also have the chance of the taking a bath with the dolphins and relaxing a sunny afternoon under the shadow of two palm tree while feeling the breeze in you newly found Hammock.

Well the party, is another story, they have a drink called La Cucaracha (cock roach), which they light with fire before you start drinking. Well all I have to say you only need two of those and you are all set for the night. 

Well Cancun Mexico my first and until them the most magnificent trip I have ever made, until in 2006 I went to Argentina. But that will come later.

Heidy