Heaven & Hell

I have arrived in Hell. I have spend a day in Hell. Its still Hell.

During my glorious 5 hour bus ride I was able to watch the alpine forest of Chiapas slowly transform into a thick and gnarled rainforest. I dont know whats caused this sudden eloquence, but as long as its here I'm gonna take advantage of it. I stepped off the bus wearing my thick sweater and was hit right away with a repressive layer of humidity wrapped in an abominable heat which still hasnt left my side.


See, there are 2 Palenques. The first is an artificial town, erected recently to support the flow of tourists to the second Palenque, the impressive Mayan ruins. Of course, everyone comes to the fomer to go to the latter. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the fact that it was dark, or the fact that I'd just left the picturesque village of San Cristobal. Maybe it was all 3. But it is honestly the ugliest little town I have ever seen. Just existing in it makes you sweat. Walking down the street at night, sweat accumulating at my brows I searched for a hotel. Ugly ugly ugly. I found a hostel, yep, you guessed it, ugly. I took a shower, and halfway through drying off I wasnt sure if it was water or sweat I was drying. I went to look around the town. Ugly. The main square- ugly, artificial and dingy. I went straight to sleep.

This morning I set off for the second Palenque- arguably the most impressive Mayan ruins in Mexico. I'm not arguing. They were amazing. The heat was still there, I was swimming in my clothes, with the sun beating down on my head. I didn't care. There I met José from Monterrey and we set about exploring the ruins. I'll add photos when I get a chance to download them, but they had these great temples rising from the layered rainforest, and then you could take little side paths to unexcavated ruins which were left as they had been for thousands of years- enveloped in nature.

Walking back towards the bus stop we followed another side path and found a beautiful waterfall which created little pools of water that fed each other all the way downstream. So we decided to relax there for a while, our legs in the water, staring up at the green canopy above.

And now I'm back in Hell. My bus to Campeche leaves at midnight (oh joy) and I've got 7 hours to waste in this festering little town which doesnt even have a bench I can rest my sticky self on. Bla.

San Cristobal de las Casas

The first of many bus rides has taken me 12 hours into the Mexican mountains to the quaint little mountain village of San Cristobal de Las Casas. I arrived at 6 am, tired, twisted and sore. I picked up my backpack, which I'm convinced has doubled in weight since I loaded it in there the day before; and went in search of a cheap hotel. Luckily I found one relatively quickly, so I unbagged and began my exploration of the town.

Its much more rural that the other places I've visited in Mexico, yet it has an alpine feel to it. Its completely surrounded by mountains, the air crisp and the colors vibrant. I counted 8 churches in a 2km radius, each of different sizes and colors. It was sunday, so I sat in on a bit of mass at a small church. It was packed with indigenous people, the men on the right and the women to the left, divided by the long path to the altar, where small children drifted back and forth. Then I exited this church and a small marching band started playing to nobody in particular.

I wandered through the local market, which sold everything from superglue to small rabbits (50 Pesos). Here all the mayans from surrounding villages come to sell their 'productos artisanales', from woven skirts to woodcarvings, bookmarks and handbags. They're all still dressed in their bright traditional dresses, many with babies slung over their backs.

And so my relaxing day in San Cristobal finished, and today I take a 5 hour bus ride to the mayan ruins of Palenque.

Oaxaca

Oaxaca! Tenotchtitlan! Teoxacoco! I dont know what made these Mexicans come up with such weird names... the only reason I can think of is to laugh at white people who try to pronounce them. Jejejejeje. I made a great discovery today... I found the spanish question mark on my keyboard ¿¿?¿? I think upside down questions are just great. ¿SO be prepared for lots of them in these entries?

Anyways, Oaxaca... right... umm... oaxaca... yes... above is the dominican cathedral and some cactus thing that I've decided is agave which is what people make tequila out of. Below is a photo of something that I am (unfortunately) more certain about. It's fried grasshoppers. ¿We ordered a dish of mixed Oaxacan specialties, and this mountain of grasshoppers comes out with it. Well, we dont like food going to waste so we each had some and its... how do I put it... its very salty and crunchy. Actually, if I didnt know that it was grasshopper I would have probably liked it.
We also went to MonteAlban, theres a mexican marching band passing the internet cafe now, and in MonteAlban there are ruins of the zapotec people I believe... which is all high and mountainy. The town itself is nice enough... There were lots of banners from the local govt. resistance groups and on the last day there were trucks full of military going back and forth everywhere. I sat in on some demonstartion, just like the ones you read about. They played revolutionary songs, and some indian villagers came and brough letters from their villages about how the govt has mistreated them; such as giving the logging rights of one village to a paper mill who sawed down all their trees and gave them no compensation. I guess that from living in Vnam and Bahrain to me its a big step already that the govt lets them have these demonstrations. But apparently theres still a lot to be done...

SMG

The crowd and smog of Mexico City are gone and now we're in San Miguel de Allende, a huge change from the capital. Its an über typical little Mexican town, complete with mariachis and... umm... other mexican things. Like bright paint and old beetles.

We were lucky enough to stuble upon the San Miguel short film festival while we were there, so we did a lot of that too, and then the usual lazing about on our rooftop terrace drinking frozen margaritas. (I'll freeze you, notifIfreezeyourfist!)

Mexico City

I've arrived!

After a grueling 25 hour flight I've finally arrived in Mexico. The plane ride was great... Etihad has these modern new planes with larger cabins, all kinds of different colored 'Mood' lights, and a nifty video on demand system where you can chose to watch what you want when you want.

Of course my built-in TV was the only one on the plane that didn’t work so I had the choice of staring at 14 hours of static or sleeping. I decided to do both and after about 2 minutes of static I was sound alseep. Then the 3 year old sitting next to me decided that this was a good time to start screaming, and went on for about 20 min until his grandmother decided to give him some coffee (?) which only made him scream louder. Hmm. Anyways, apart from that was a smooth flight.

Mexico City sort of reminds me of a mixture of places. Its not really distinctive by itself, but it has more of a standard developing look... a bit like Manila or Bangkok, except with hints of Hanoi too cuz of all the colonial buildings in the old town.


We did the touristy things such as the Zocalo, Anthropological museum, Wal-Mart. The most depressing Wal-Mart on earth... The fact that it was raining most of the time probably didn’t help much.

I've gotta say that the best thing about Mexico City is the food.. the amazing food...the mole and burritos and frijoles and guacamole and tortillas Mmm...

About Leaving.

The time has come… that time that I’ve been yearning for since January… the time to leave Bahrain. But I’ve realized that the more time I’ve spent here the less I’m in a hurry to leave. Which can either mean that I’m really starting to like the place or that I’m just going crazy. I think it’s a bit of both.

I’ve had a great time here in Bahrain, and most of it was because of the people. I don’t think I’ve ever made so many friends in such a short time, so thank you all for an amazing 6 months. You know who you are.

So its time to end this part of my life and start another… one more 6 month period of uncertainty and adventure, which I’ve been planning and looking forward to for more than two years now. In August I start my backpacking trip through Latin America with Charles, Sao Mai and hopefully Nadja. Tomorrow I land in Mexico City to spend 2 weeks traveling around with my family… and then the real journey begins. I’ll meet Charles in Cancun on August 4th and the plan is to somehow get to Rio De Janero by December.

Check back here to see how it goes…

Life as a Paper Clip

paper clips., originally uploaded by jessi..

I've decided I'm gonna die of this cold.

Its too bad, cuz I was starting to like this life thing. Oh well, at least if I play my karma cards right, i'll be able to come back in my next life as a paper clip.

Though now I'm not sure that I want to, after finding out that these poor defenseless creatures are being systematically abused.

SAVE THE PAPER CLIPS!

Time

dust thou art, originally uploaded by t-squared.

Here, do yourself a favor and learn about time. Cuz I can't be bothered to.

What is time? by H2G2


I want a 500 word summary on my desk, by tomorrow morning.

Watch out G.I. Joe

bar nun (for slogrl), originally uploaded by Rakka.

Believe it or not, they actually sell these nun action figures in toy stores. I've never seen the soap though... but hey, if the nun endorses it, then it must be good stuff.

We got your back

Tired of asking your mom to shave youre back before a big date?

Not to worry! We've got the perfect solution for you. Its the Razorba!

Not available in stores. Sold direct from the inventor to you.

Watch it in use here and if you manage to keep down your lunch, you get a FREE smoking monkey!

Makes a great & unique gift!

Aah... I wish I was making this up.

FREE Smoking Monkey

Lionel Hutz. Unfaithful Ex-husband, Presumed drug dealer, But most importantly, a truly visionary lawyer. Smoking monkey, originally uploaded by ukslim.


Definitely one of my favorite simpsons characters. Ever. A genius of a man.

God bless his soul, and his smoking monkey.

Hutz: Now Marge, you've come to the right place. By hiring me as your lawyer, you also get this smoking monkey. [sniff] Better cut down there, Smokey! [laughs]
Marge: Mr. Hutz!
Hutz: [excited] Look - he's taking another puff!
Marge: Mr. Hutz! This was all a misunderstanding; I didn't mean to take anything. [Lionel disappointedly drops the smoking monkey in a drawer full of identical critters]
Hutz: Now don't you worry, Mrs. Simpson, I - uh-oh. We've drawn Judge Snyder.
Marge: Is that bad?

Hutz: Well, he's kind of had it in for me, since I accidently ran over his dog. Actually, replace `accidently' with `repeatedly', and replace `dog' with `son'.