Back to school!

We´ve been in Guatemala for a week now and the time is really flying by! We are taking spanish classes at the Cooperative School, and loving it! It´s very frustrating to be in a culture when you can´t really communicate with people, or ask questions, or have conversations. So, it´s a relief to start working on our Spanish skills. After just a week we´re already seeing an improvement!

My teacher however, is under the impression that I come from a very weird family! She was asking about my parents and what they do. I told her that my dad does lots of fighting, and that he enjoys gangs and that he is going to shoot a lion and eat it! She thinks we are muy extraño! Perhaps once I learn more words, I will explain what I meant. I´m having trouble keeping all my vocabulary straight, and make a LOT of mistakes! But we are getting better! And tomorrow, we are going to move in with local families, so that should definitely help us with our speaking.

Everyday this week, we´ve had classes for three hours in the morning and then spend our afternoons hanging out with other travellers we´ve met and just relaxing around town. It rains consistently every afternooon/evening, and the last few days it´s been raining even more. So, we don´t do a whole lot after we´re done with our class! This morning though, the teachers at our spanish school played soccer against the teachers at another spanish school. We met up with a few of our friends from the school, and then hopped in the back of a pickup with our team to get to the game. Although it was really rainy, the game was so much fun! There´s a nice new turf stadium in San Juan, another city on the lake, and the game was played there. Unfortunately, our team did not win :( Today, only the male teachers and students got to play, but next week, the female teachers and students get to play, so maybe we can redeem ourselves then!

Still Safe

Tropical Storm Matthew has made landfall in Guatemala, but it is north of where we are staying. It´s a little rainy here, but all else is well.

First Day of School!

Julia and I had our first day of Spanish classes yesterday, and have been studying hard.

Goodbye Mexico, Hello Guatemala!

We have successfully arrived in Guatemala! On Friday, we took a shuttle from San Cristobal de las Casas to Panajachel, Guatemala. It took about 10 hours, but was an absolutely gorgeous drive.

The border crossing was run in a pretty loosy-goosey manner. The bus we were in just dropped us off on the Mexican side, where we had our passports stamped to leave the country in one office. Then we went to a different office and had them stamped by the Guatemalan authorities to enter (and paid the non-official entrance fee for Americans only!), and then we just got into a van that drove us into Guatemala. At the actual border, there was only one guy kind of guarding the road, and one of those drawbridge arm things (like at a parking garage). But, people were just walking back and forth and there really didn´t seem to be any order to it. Pretty interesting experience!

And now, we are in San Pedro, at Lake Atitlan, where we plan to stay for the next 4 weeks or so. We have signed up to take language classes, and start tomorrow!

San Cristobal de las Casas

The last five days we were in the mountain city of San Cristobal de las Casas. The city is absolutely beautiful, cobblestone streets, old churches, Mayan markets and all surrounded by mountains. While we had planned to do some day trips and other activities in the San Cristobal area, we loved the city so much that we never got around to doing them! Our days were spent wandering around the city, sitting at outdoor cafes drinking coffee, reading, people watching, enjoying the weather and the scenery. During the day the weather would be absolutely perfect- sunny, warm (but not hot) and breezy. Then every evening it would start to rain around 6 or 7 for a few hours, and then mostly clear up again. We were loving it!

Thursday was the 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence Day! As Thursday approached, the city became COVERED in Mexican flags. As it turns out, the Mexican government sent flags to every address, so that people could properly celebrate. On Wednesday night, the town square was packed with people. There was a stage set up with live music, and tons of food stands. At 11 the Mayor came out and did the traditional cheer of ¨Viva Mexico! Viva Hidalgo!¨ followed by a bunch of other ¨Vivas¨that I didn´t understand. This was followed by an exciting fireworks display that had us wishing we were a bit further away!

The military performing some kind of ceremony in front of the Governor´s mansion.

Tara enjoying a churro and anxiously awaiting the arrival of some al pastor tacos!

The Governor´s mansion on the town square, looking festive!

Merida!

So, last week we spent some time in Merida, Mexico. Originally we had only planned on staying in Merida for a night or two, but our plans changed when we met a wonderful woman named Elizabeth in Tulum. Elizabeth invited us to come stay with her for part of our time in Merida, and it was great! She was a wonderful hostess and has the most adorable dogs! She is our Momma Merida :) It really is hard to get a good idea of what a city is like without an insiders view; we felt lucky to see the REAL Merida.

It´s hard to keep your tongue in your mouth when you don´t have teeth, huh?

We spent the first few days in Merida seeing the usual tourist sights. Beautiful old churches, the Governor´s Palace, the Main Plaza, museums. We then decided to spend our last day doing some exploring in a different part of town...

After successfully hailing a cab in a zone of Merida where it appeared there were none, we tumbled out in front of the bus station. Using a mixture of Spanish, hand gestures, shrugs and exaggerated facial expressions we were able to secure two tickets to Palenque on an overnight bus.

Next stop after the bus station, was the market. This was not a tourist desination, but a local market where the people go to buy EVERYTHING. Hundreds and hundreds of stalls inside a warehouse and in open-air. Selling things such as pastries, produce of everykind (many unidentifiable), leather goods, shoes, clothing, tattoos, a multitude of raw meat products, pets (puppies, ducks, bunnies guinea pigs, birds, roosters, etc.), grains, dog food, and snacks.

While we had tried to get an early start on the day to avoid the heat, by 10:30 we were soaked in sweat and longing for air conditioning. The smells of live poultry, cigarette smoke, srange meats, sewage, and mothballs in the stagnate air was overwhelming. And so we sought refuge in an air conditioned store outside the market that sold Quincinera dresses. These dresses were extremely elaborate! All different colors of blues, greens, pinks, and purples. Layer upon layer of tulle, sequins, sparkles, and embroidery, and each with a matching crown and wings. Even Barbie would think it was over the top!

This part of town was like a weird Frankenstein of Chinatown, Harlem, and Times Square. It smelled like fish, there were strange liquids flowing in the street and everywhere we looked people were aggressively hawking some kind of merchandise.

Palenque

Chiapas is visually stunning! Julia and I were treated to wonderful views as we traveled over winding mountain roads from Palenque to San Cristobal. Every hillside was a patchwork of greens and the peaks were all draped in gauzy clouds.

We first arrived in the state of Chiapas early on the morning of the 10th, after taking a 9 hour night bus from Merida It was 7 am when we were dropped off in Palenque town, and got a cab out to the village of el Panchan. Everyone we had met (as well as our trusty lonely planet guidebook) had recommended staying out there in one of the jungle bungalows. After checking in I treated Julia to a birthday breakfas´ and we headed back to the bungalow for a quick nap. The long bus ride had really tired us out and we wanted lots of energy for exploring the ruins. The moment we lay down, every monkey in the jungle decided to have a screaming contest. It was a little hard to fall asleep, but the jungle ambiance was still better than the soundtrack of Harlem.

When we woke, we set out towards the ruins. They are set inside a national park, and were spectacular. Almost all of the ruins were open for exploration and climbing. We started out bravely climbing into dark, mossy tunnels and exploring buildings. Then as we climbed into a particularly small tunnel, a bat flew up towards our faces and we both screamed and ran for the exit. So much for bravery.


Very few people were in the park and Julia I were often the only people climbing a temple or in a passageway. The lack of crowds made for a much more peaceful experience and gave us time to really explore as well as to sit and admire the beautiful architecture and lush jungle. The ruins at Palenque were some of the best preserved that we have seen. The sculptures and glyphs were clear and many still had traces of the bright colors they were once painted with.

After a long day of hiking and climbing, we headed back to our bungalow and celebrated Julia´s 25th birthday in style.


I sang happy birthday to Julia as she enjoyed her cake and then we returned to the bungalow for a real treat of showers with hot water! The howler monkeys decided it was time to wake everyone up at about 4 am, and a few hours later we caught the bus to San Cristobal de las Casas.

Life at the Convent

As I sit here and type this, I am trying to recover from a pretty significant hangover. Tara and I actually motivated ourselves to go out last night (which was a big thing, since we've been going to bed at the old-lady time of 9pm recently!). We hadn't planned on going out drinking, we actually had an appointment with a Mayan shaman to get new souls at 6:00, but when we went to meet him, he suggested going to our hotel and so we quickly removed ourselves from that situation! However, being semi-drunk from our pre-new soul elixir (an anis and honey flavored 'wine' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xtabent%C3%BAn_(liqueur) ) we decided to explore the bar scene of Merida.

The first place we went to seemed like a T.G.I.Fridays of Mexico. However, for 110 pesos (about 9 dollars) we got two pitchers of beer and an order of wings! We followed that with a another bar near the town square, and then made our way to a local salsa bar. We were definitely intimidated by the place, but with our liquid courage, felt GREAT going in! And once inside, it was like we were celebrities! We had no less than 5 different waiters and the door man attending to us (ie making sure we had copious amounts of tequila)! I showed off my salsa skills (of which I have none) and Tara showed off her Spanish skills (of which she has some). We closed out the bar and then went back to our hotel for an early morning swim.

Yes, you read that right, we are staying at a HOTEL with a POOL! And there's AIR CONDITIONING! After a week in Tulum living at a hostel that reminded me of my days at summer camp, we decided to splurge a bit. We met a woman in Tulum who is an English teacher in Merida, and one of her students is dating the owner of a hotel, which she recommended to us (how many degrees of separation is that???). Anyways, the hotel is absolutely beautiful! And more spacious than our apartments back in New York! The hotel is actually housed in what used to be a 16th century convent, and is still attached to the church, Iglesia Santa Lucia. http://www.luzenyucatan.com/

Merida is an absolutely wonderful city. It's large, close to a million people, but feels like a small town. We spent yesterday hanging out in the town square, walking around the craft market and eating street food. People here are soooo friendly! Walking down the street, we were stopped by a man who insisted we go to the University to see the photo exhibition. He accompanied us there, and gave us all kinds of information about the school, the city, the culture. And it seemed that everywhere we went, people wanted to talk to us to tell us about the region, to find out what we were doing, and if we were enjoying our time here. We met another man as we were walking down the street who gave us advice on how to avoid being ripped off at the market, and how to tell if different things were authentic. We ran into him later, and he showed us the way to a Mayan market that had a beautiful gallery of Mayan statues and jewelry. We had our own personal tour or the gallery along with a lesson on the Mayan culture and a taste testing of Xtabentun.

We had only planned on staying in Merida for a night, but based on our experience so far, our stay will be extended a bit.

Activities and Mischief

The last few days have been full of activities. These include (in no particular order):
Walking on the beach, laying in the sand, swimming in the waves, climbing cliffs, climbing up Mayan ruins, climbing down Mayan ruins, throwing coconuts, kicking coconuts, throwing sticks, bike riding, bike racing, active drowning, passive drowning, eating tacos, pirating ships, drinking beer, butchering the Spanish language, sweating, playing with machetes, making new friends, playing with kittens, playing with dogs, singing Total Eclipse of the Heart (they love it here), making guacamole, hanging out in the air conditioned grocery store, and breaking the rules.

When my brain recovers from this heat induced dementia, and I recover some mastery of the English language I will provide a more detailed account. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few.