On The Road Again!

Hello! Currently writing from an internet cafe in San Cristóbal de Casas in Chiapas, Mexico!

Last saturday was my last day in Mérida. It was predicted to be 111 degrees so my friend/classmate Erica and I decided to head to the beach. We went up to Progreso, the "local" beach which is about an hour north of town. We splurged for some actual beach chairs which were rented out by a bar on the beach and proceeded to spend the next few hours luxuriating in the sun with margaritas and swimming in the ocean when it got too hot. It was an awesome day (except for the wicked sunburn). Went out for drinks that night and said goodbye to all my newfound friends!

Sunday was a 2-hour busride to Campeche. I called for a taxi at 10:30 am and the person asked when my bus was. I said "11:30". She said "It´s 11:30 now." Shit. Stupid daylight savings time. Then she started trying to explain something about my ticket and I just wanted her to send a taxi and I couldn´t understand what she was saying and I knew I could switch the ticket when I got there but she wouldn´t send it and I kept asking her to slow down and she kept talking fast and finally she gave in and sent the taxi. Not an auspicious start to the trip. But I got there and was able to get another bus (had to pay more money of course) and was finally on the road.

I was only in Campeche for one night, and it was a sunday night at the beginning of Holy Week which is basically two weeks of spring break where there is no school and everyone goes on holiday. In otherwords, the town was totally dead... a wonderful change from hectic Mérida. It´s a pretty colonial town with all the buildings painted bright pastel colors. Erica and Karen (my former housemate from when I first got to Mérida) nicknamed it "Candyland" which suited it perfectly!

Monday was a 5 hour bus ride to Palenque. Because of the holiday I had a hard time finding a place to stay and ended up in town at a hotel right on the main square (as opposed to the hotels out near the ruins). The guidebook did not have many nice things to say about the town of Palenque and I completely agree. Tiny, very noisy, lots of construction, most of the restaurants and shops were on the extreme end of touristy. boo.

BUT... the ruins of Palenque were absolutely awesome. Like Chitzén Itza but in the jungle, and you can climb up onto some of them so you can get a view of the ruins, the area and the valley bellow. Just when I thought it couldn´t get any better, there were waterfalls. Beautiful cascading waterfalls hidden in the jungle! I love waterfalls. I heart Palenque. Totally awesome day. Went to dinner that night at the place my guidebook said was "deservedly the most popular place in town". It was packed and I ended up sharing a table with an older guy from LA (late 50s), his Guatemalan girlfriend/new fiance (he proposed that day on top of one of the pyramids) and her brother. It was a big awkward at first but we managed! She is bi-lingual, LA guy doesn´t speak spanish and her brother doesn´t speak english. Conversation was a bit wierd but after they had a few tequilas and I had a couple of beers everything was fine! I practiced my spanish with the brother and he gave me some tips on San Cristóbal and then said if I come back to Chiapas email him if I need info or help. Yay!

Next day was a 6 hour busride to San Cristóbal. By the time I got to my hotel (and after climbing 80 steps up the hill to my room with my massive pack and camera bag) I was tanked. It had been a busy few days (few weeks actually) and I was ready to stop for a while, but there were things to be done. After a quick nap I headed into town to book my ticket for Oaxaca (12 hour busride - looking forward to that one) and figure out what kind of tourist mischief I could get up to while here. I decided on a boat ride down the Sumidero Canyon which by all accounts was supposed to be amazing. So once I booked that I was ready to relax so I grabbed a chair at the cafe in the middle of the zocalo (main square) and pulled out my book and finally stopped moving!

As I sat there I finally started feeling like I was actually on vacation. The first 6 weeks here were all about school and work and even though it wasn´t full time it was still everyday so I never seemed to just stop and chill out. Except maybe for that margarita day on the beach. There was some serious chilling out that day. But I digress. I have a tendency to always be thinking about the next thing I need to be doing, whether it´s studying or working or making sure I remember to send that email or whatever. I´d like to say I´m going to slow down and enjoy the ride but I´ve promised myself that many times and still I just keep moving. I will try again, however, now that I´m back on the road and not working. Still need to be studying though... hrmph. See what I mean?

ANYWAY, went on the canyon ride this morning. It was pretty cool (we saw spider monkeys! from a distance, but still, how cool is that!). It was kind of like a very miniature grand canyon without as many cool colors.

Now I´ve got 2 days here in San Crisóbal. I decided not to do another tourist run in the hopes of getting some down time. Lots of little cafes here that are perfect for whiling away the afternoon with a book. Lots of markets and artisan stuff as well. If anyone is interested in amber jewelry let me know, this is amber jewelry heaven.

okay! that´s the latest! kind of a long one today, lots to catch up on though! I´m off to find a cafe and do a little bit of nothing.

thanks for reading if you´ve made it this far!