morning

It is extremely beautiful here on Lago Atitlan...as I had expected.
I´ve let sarah sleep in, on this little upstairs area where we slept on cushions with no blankets...it can get pretty cold up here in the mountains.
Woke up to the most beautiful view of the lake and the mountains...I will take a photo.

Yesterday on the bus I decided to do some reading for my art history class as Sarah was sleeping...I re-read an article about traditional indigenous dress in guatemala that i ahd read in first year, and it was a completely different experience.
She was writing about a city called Chimanstenango...and I looked up from my reading to see that we were passing through Chimanstenago...
I really see the value in learning about other cultures while immersed in that culture.
Already Sarah has learned so much from being here in one day, its difficult not to.

Okay breakfast time!

hospedaje guatemalteco

well
guatemala, here we are, my sister and I!
so after a 13 hour journey from San Cristobal with lots of reading and a fun border crossing I arrived in Guatemala City at 8:30pm...and after hearing horror stories of the capital, was a little weary about getting a cab to my hotel.
It worked out in the end and I got a cheap cab ride with a nice taxista. My bed and breakfast near the airport was adorable, a nice older very catholic couple who gave me a ride to the airport at 5 am...
but her flight didnt get in till 6:30.
so i met this nice guatemalan couple who were waiting for the same flight
sarah´s luggage was stuck in atlanta...and the nice couple took us in their car to Pollo Campero to have breakfast cause we had to be back to the airport at 12 to find her bag.
had a great time with them and then went back to airport, got a taxi and went downtown...but no one was there due to the fact that they´re all at the beach for semana santa.
Long story short we hung out in deserted Guat city for a while and then met our same taxi man who brought us back to the airport, we found her bag and then he took us to Antigua and set us up with a bus to Panajachel, which was to leave at 4.
Hung out in antigua for 2 hours, its pretty much exactly like san cris and i felt at home, sarah loved it.
then we got the bus to pana and met a nice honeymooner couple, marissa and kyle, from San Francisco. Got to Pana at 6:45 or so to find out that we´ve missed the last boat to Santiago Atitlan, where the rest of my group is, where we have a reservation.
Knowing that its Semana Santa and theres no space anywhere, we think we´re screwed. We were offered private boats to Santiago for 300 quetzales, which is like $40 plus its dark and its aobut 30 mins accross the lake...and we didnt feel safe. Marissa and Kyle suggested that we go with them, saying that we could sleep in their room on the floor...what nice people, even though they´re on their luna de miel!
So we got in a boat to Santa Cruz with Kyle and Marissa...to see if there was space at their hotel - when we got off the boat 3 police officers accompanied us on the long walk on a slippery trail in the rain right beside Lago Atitlan. Got to this hotel and they´ve made space for us to sleep on the floor in the main room...and fed us dinner...and have been all around wonderful.
One of the guys who is working and staying here was living in victoria for a while - and sarah knows him from salt spring last summer where he was for the retreat...tiny tiny world it is.
All in all Sarah has had a very adventurous and eventful first day in latin america...and theres 7 more to come...
Tomorrow to the festivals in Santiago Atitlan!!!

tostadas, beans and salsa

well, we got back from our 12 day excursion throughout the Yucatan peninsula.


Details of each day in Marv's blog at www.lasom2.blogspot.com.
So basically in a nut shell that trip consisted of lots of learning, pyramid climbing, taking photos on top of pyramids, sweating, sunshine, swimming, beach, hotels, tostadas and tortillas, cans of beans and salsa, vegetable juice in a can, beer, assignments, reading, bus travel, shopping, marella's and karyn's birthdays, tequila, equinox at chichen itza...and generally an amazing time in the warmth and sunshine of the yucatan peninsula with lots of bonding time.
here's select photos from the trip and some from San Cristobal.

The photo in this post is of the castillo at chichen itza, pretty much one of the most if not the most famous classic maya building.

Being back in San Cristobal after those 12 days in other, warmer, less touristy places has changed the way that we all see San Cris, as much as we love it here, we are all sorta missing the warmth and sun, since the rainy season is upon us here in the highlands and its often cloudy and rainy and cold, oh well i still love mexico.

Tomorrow morning i am leaving for guatemala city. I'm gonna stay a night there and pick Sarah (my sister) up at the airport at 5am Thursday.
Then we're going up to Santiago Atitlan to meet the rest of my group for the semana santa festivities there and coming back here Sunday. I'm so excited to see her, its been 3 months already!!!

...

well, we leave tomorrow morning at 6 am, wow. and yet i want to go out for a bit tonight...i'm nuts!
tomorrow we will be at palenque, our 2nd maya site, so much learning to be had!
i probably wont wirte anything till we get back, not that ive written much lately
we ended up going to the beach two weeks ago, which was really great, except when i lost my new glasses in the dirty, sandy pacific ocean. that kinda ruined my day, but i forced myself to get over it in a few hours...lucky i had my contacts with me and another pair of glasses at home in San Cris. The beach was good otherwise, we went out saturday night to the "disco" which had a horrible sound system, but was a good random time. Then we ended up riding up and down the main street in the back of a pickup truck listening to 50 cent and blink 182, and we had a beach party, complete with fire and chelas (beers), but turns out that palm leaves arent very good firewood.
ok time to go finish packing!
ciao
heather

too much time has passed

well, we leave for our big 2 week trip on wednesday
then when we gwet back sarah is coming to visit and we're going to Guatemala to see the semana santa festivities in Santiago Atitlan, which is gonna be really amazing and I cannot wait.
life here is pretty sweet, I love every minute of it.
I'd really like to succcessfully make a useful post on here before I leave on Wednesday.

It's really weird to think of home in Canada right now.
It's been 2.5 months since I left Vancouver, and the year and a half that I spent living there is a blur in my memory because it all moved so quickly.
Toronto stands out in my mind more poignantly since that's where I was before here, and that's where my mom has been.
However, as of yesterday my mom has moved back to Vancouver Island, which is kinda surreal, not sure why.
Maria Luisa arrived here on Tuesday from Vancouver, and last Friday night she and my sister met up so that Maria could bring my camera cable. It was really weird for me to think of them seeing each other, so far away from here.
I find that I often get caught up in the everyday, and while I have been homesick once or twice, it really hasn't affected me all that much.
I love San Cristobal so much, that one night I spent in Comitan I was homesick for San Cristobal.
We might go to the beach today, or I might stay here and move into my new house, at this point I'm unsure. Obviously I still am no good at making decisions.

si uno come, que coman todos

Ahorita estoy escribiendo mi esayo para la clase de politicas, pero encontre a esa historia en uno de mis libros. El libro se llama "Si uno come, que coman todos" y es sobre una ONG que se llama DESMI y que trabaja para la economia solidaria.

This story/poem is about a little boy who is discovering life around him. One day I might translate it but it's so much work.

"Hubo una vez un nino de ojos muy tiernos y profundos, con un cuerpo y manos agiles, pies veloces, oido atento, buen olfato, que se encontro ante las cosas:

Vio que las plantas crecian,
Que los arboles eran mecidos por el viento,
Que la auraora era el principio de los dias,
Que el agua corria,
Que la lluvia fertilizab a los campos,
Que era verde el color de las hojas y que habia frutos,
Vio que la dureza de las piedras tenia utilidad,
Que los animales cazaban para comer,
Que otros ninos reian y jugaban con las cosas,
Que las cosas tenian un nombre.
Vio que la vida crecia, que los hombres vivian,
Juntandose y construyendo, generando las nuevas cosas y los nuevos hombres.

Hubo una vez un nino, de ojos tiernos y profundos, que comenzo a pensar y buscar una razon a todo lo que veia y percibia a traves de todos sus sentidos e invento las razones, imagino las causas, creo las explicanciones, sugirio el sentido de las cosas, construyo un modelo, una categoria que explicara parte de los sucesos, parte de los hallazgos que hacia con sus manos.

learning, sunburns, scrabble and boys

so this past while has been a whirlwind of learning.
my paper is due in a few days and I've learned a lot since I began thinking about everything.
theres too much to write about. i have a lot of work to do on my paper.
i've been learning a lot about the political aspects of agriculture and resources.
its funny, i thought of it today, that my sister would always tell people that i was going to mexico to study organic agriculture...and i would correct her, saying that i'm studying "latin american studies", but so far everything that I've learned about is so relevant to what i want to do with my life. Today we had a presentation from Maria Elena about global resistance movements and food sovereignty...it was wonderful, she is such an amazing woman, and she is very nice and easy to talk to, I know that I'm going to learn a lot from her.
yesterday we went to carnaval in Chamula and I got sunburnt, but in the worst pattern ever.
my paper is technically due on friday, but we may have an extension till sunday. I'd like to get it done soonish because we may try to make it to the beach soon.
I was sorta dating this guy for like 9 days. His name's Adrian, but he left for good for Playa del Carmen on Sunday. He's a salsa instructor so I'm now a pro dancer, but dancing till 3 on a school night was a bad idea, so its kinda good that he left. He also worked at Mayambe, the thai/indian/arabic restaurant in town, which meant free samosas and salad rolls. I hope that I can still make that work now that he's gone. It was also kinda strange cause I had a date on valentine's day, which never happens... we went to a bar and played Scrabble, in Spanish. I didnt lose by that much, but I had a bit of help. Valentines day isnt as big here, but here its sponsered by coca cola, not Hallmark, but coke kinda sponsers everything. Then last weekend we went to el chiflon, which is a waterfall about 2 hours from here. That was pretty nice, went swimming and stuff. Then we played Scrabble, him in english, and me in spanish. I won that time.
My first weekend with Adrian we went to this big underground house party on Sunday night, all the cool stuff happens on school nights. There was a dj and a band in the patio of the house, it was all outdoor and there was a bonfire, cheap beer and veggie tacos with soy. the dj played some sweet dancing tunes and the band had a cello in it. the singer of the band sounds like he has a digeridoo in his throat and can make the craziest sounds ever. Everyone whos anyone was at the party, the town must have shut down. And, there was lots of weed (shhhh), but we've all vowed to stay away while we're here so we just breathed in deep.

Alright, this cafe is about to close, I should probably wrap this up. I promise to write more next week, when my research paper is all done. Hope all is well wherever you all are!

vamos a bailar

Salsa dancing till 4:30 am is really quite exhausting, which is why I attempted to sleep before I go out to do it again. We've only been here about 2 weeks, but we've already become regulars, since there's only a few clubs in town and the same people go all the time.
We went shopping today, I tried to buy pants, but apparently I'm too tall for this country. I did manage to find one pair that fit me, but I wasn't sure if purple flared cords fit into my wardrobe.
I'm really excited to get started on my research for my poli sci paper...real life research is way better than reading books or e-journals.
Well its almost 11:30, gotta get ready to go out. Our first week here we made the mistake of going to the club before 10:30...and we were the only ones dancing, I don't think last call exists in Mexico.

POLI 332 Research Paper Proposal

Research Question: How have free trade agreements, such as NAFTA, affected the food sovereignty of Chiapas?
My research question has evolved and changed a lot over the past five days. I knew from the start that I wanted to focus my research on food and agriculture, however over the course of a few days I had many experiences and met many new people that helped me to narrow down my topic.Wednesdays class and discussions about neoliberalism and free trade made me realize the politics of food, especially in a less developed country such as Mexico. After class, at La Casa del Pan, Marella and I ran into Robyn, a friend of a friend who is writing her undergraduate thesis on food sovereignty as a form of resistance for Dalhousie’s International Development program. I had never heard of food sovereignty before but Robyn got me interested in it and gave me some good sources of information contacts. Friday during class, we went back to TierrAdentro and met Peter Rosset and Maria Elena Martinez from the organization La Via Campesina. Peter has written a lot about food sovereignty and Maria Elena has just published a book on organic coffee production in Chiapas. I also found out that one of our neighbours is writing a thesis on coffee production for a university in Norway. Since this assignment is to be very much based on what we have learned from the people around us that we have met, I decided to research the effect that free trade has had on Chiapas’ food sovereignty, with a focus on coffee production.
When I began to look into agriculture in Chiapas, I found out that Chiapas is the biggest producer of organic coffee in Mexico and that Mexico produces the most organic coffee in the world, which made me think about coffee and free trade. People of all countries and cultures drink coffee, however, only a few parts of the world have the necessary climate for growing it. What affect has the North American Free Trade Agreement had on the food sovereignty of Chiapas? The concept of food sovereignty which was developed by the group La Via Campesina in 1996 argues that food and agriculture are about more than the trade of economic commodities. La Via Campesina explains food soverienty as the right of rural peoples to define their own food and agriculture, to regulate trade in order to achieve sustainable development and to determine their own level of self-reliance. Food sovereignty promotes trade policies that will help people to achieve safe, healthy and sustainable food production. Do the policies of NAFTA promote sustainable food production? Do they impede people from defining their food and agriculture?
I decided that coffee would be a good case study for this research since Chiapas produces such a large amount of coffee. I realized that a farmer in Chiapas, when deciding to grow coffee beans, is entering the global market by default, since the amount of coffee that Mexico produces is far more than the country itself could consume. Therefore, what would make a farmer in Chiapas decide to grow coffee instead of another crop? Does free trade have an effect on his/her decision? How does this affect food soveriegnty, as the right for people to define their agriculture? Has the amount of coffee production increased in Chiapas since 1994? Has organic coffee production increased as a result of NAFTA? How have free trade agreements affected the world price of coffee and thus the income of Chiapan coffee growers?
Perhaps free trade has decreased Chiapas’ food soveriegnty insofar as that it made export production easier and more profitable and thus forced people to revert to production for the world market (ie coffee) instead of producing for the local market. Another hypothesis is that since NAFTA, the farmers of Chiapas have become more aware about their food soverienty and their right to define their own agriculture, thus supporting resistance movements that emphasize these rights. Or perhaps free trade agreements have not influenced farmers’ actions or decisions at all and they have always been aware of their need to be self-reliant.
It is obvious that many questions exist surrounding this issue, and I also have many possible answers to these questions. To find answers to thsee questions I will look to other people’s research as conduct my own research first hand here in Chiapas. Through my connections with Maria Elena from La Via Campesina as well as my new neighbour, I hope that I will be able to talk to some coffee growers of Chiapas to get their perspectives on the issues of free trade and food soveriegnty.

los ninos

I really like what my friend Marella wrote the other day when we did that exercise in the plaza:

"There are many children here but there is a division. Some are in school uniforms attending institutions of learning, the others are selling handwoven belts and blankets, and cleaning shoes. Why do some have the ability to be children? To play and learn while others have acquired more struggle and maturity than me? I think inequality is more evident here or maybe I am less numb to it because of my intention here."

When we got back to class that day we found that many people had written about children and that it is something that we have all thought about. There really is almost a strategy to the work that these children do. They all seem to whine when they ask you to buy things, or when they ask for money for their tortilla. Matea, a fellow student, also pointed out that when we respond to the children’s whining, we ourselves also whine, saying things like “lo siento” and “son muy bonitos pero no gracias” in the same manner and tone as the children.
My first experience of this was in Cancun at the bus station. A little girl asked me for one peso, so I gave it to her. She went back to her mom and 3 sisters and then a few minutes later returned to ask me for my water. I ended up giving her my litre of water, knowing that it would quench her whole family’s thirst and that I could easily buy a new bottle for 6 pesos.
So last night I was sitting and eating at TierrAdentro when about 6 little Mayan children came up to me to try to sell me their bracelets and belts. I had a table to myself and had all of my work and things spread out on the table and a chair. Anyway, I had a bunch of bread, tortillas, rice and curried veggies left from my gigantic meal. I introduced myself to Elena, a very beautiful Mayan girl who’s probably about 10, and asked her if she would like some food.
Elena, her sister and about 5 little boys, the youngest probably being about 4 joined me for food. Three of the boys climbed up on the chair, on top of my books and stuff, to eat some bread, tortillas, rice and vegetables. I fed all of us on about 40 pesos.
Then, Jose, a boy of about 10 or 11 who walks around selling candy and cigarettes , came up to try to get me to buy some stuff. When I told him no, he tried harder and whined more. Then he told me that he was thirsty and that he wanted juice. So I told him to go order a juice and say that I’d pay for it. The waiter, already having seen me feed the village, came to make sure that I’d pay for it, and then Jose sat with me and we drank juice. He’s from Chamula, a town outside of San Cristobal and he comes into the city everyday with his brother to make money. He said that his dad is a carpenter in Chamula. I asked him if he eats a lot of candy and he said no, but I didn’t really believe him since he was chewing a huge wad of bubble gum. I told him I was from Canada and he asked me “tienes mucho dinero?” This was a really hard question because by North American standards, I don’t feel like I have a lot of money…but what do I say to Jose?
Elena and a bunch of the other girls sell their crafts in the market and one night last week when we were going out they tried to get us to buy their blankets. They used the voice and say "Compra, compra esa manta" and then we say no they started to joke with us. They threw the blankets on our shoulders and ran away, then it became a game of us throwing the blankets at each other and giggling. It was a really interesting experience to see these kids laughing and playing, as normal children should do.

first poli sci class

yesterday was our first class, POLI 332.
Max, our prof, asked us to sit in the main plaza for 30 minutes and write a paragraph of what we saw and felt, to emphasize the importance of documenting this observations.
This is what I wrote:

I've been thinking a lot lately about power and priviledge, and how they affect life in San Cristobal. Sitting here in the plaza for five minutes, I've seen lots of different people from different social groups. As we came to the plaza 31 de marzo, we saw two large military vehicules driving down calle Guadalupe-Victoria. We wondered why they were here, downtown on Monday afternoon and then we supposed that maybe its just to remind everyone that they exist. This to me was such an open display of power, which is more present in Latin America than North America. An example of this is the armed police in the streets. The large guns that they carry may never be used and are probably not necessary, however they are a constant reminder of the military/police presence and power here in Mexico, maybe as a reminder to the citizens to oblige/behave. This brings me to the point of priviledge.
As foreigners, and like all of the backpackers and tourists that I see here in the plaza, we are able to observe the police presence without really feeling its reprocussions. As long as we play by the rules, we as outsiders will probably not see much of the military. For this I guess we have the power and priviledge as foreigners to come, observe and return home when we want.

So we got the sweet apartment! Tonight we went to talk to Senor Licenciado Amedor Gonzalez (our new landlord) aobut the possibility of taking the apartment March 1st for 2 months. So we talked to him and his cool with it. Tomorrow we are going to go back to sign a contract and to pay the rent to assure that March 1st it is ours!
But, in the meantime we are going to stay here with Alica and her mom in this wonderful apartment and pay part of the rent. Today I went with Alica and her mom to the big mercado to buy food. We bought beets, couliflower, green beans, black beans, potatoes, tomatoes, avocados, mamey, mandarins, plantains, onions, limes…what a wonderful place! Then we bought some jicama, coconut, ripe mango and green mango for a snack from a little old woman on the corner. Its been great to make food here all together, as we did last night and are doing right now. Tonight, being our first Friday, we’re going to go dancing with all of the other group members...should be interesting!

I wrote this last night but didn't publish it...

Well, we’ve almost settled ourselves in San Cristobal. I guess that tonight will be my third night in the magical town…the first night I stayed in a hostel but then for last night I moved to the amazing apartment of Alica and her mom, Sara. They are from Tepic, a town near Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific side of central Mexico, but Alica has been studying in Vancouver for a few years. Her mom decided to take time off and live in Chiapas for a few months to be with her daughter. So anyway, they found this great place right in the centre, one balcony overlooks the Plaza 31 de marzo, which is the main plaza, and the other balcony overlooks the main Cathedral. The building is beautfiul and colonial with very high ceilings and the balcony doors are of a very old dark wood. Anyway, this apartment has 2 bedrooms, each with 2 beds, theres 3 bathrooms (2 showers) a huge livingroom/diningroom, kitchen and big hall area, so its fin for four people. After not having much luck finding apartments here and with such a desire to get settled, Sara has offered that Andres and I set ourselves up here until we find a place. So far we’ve had 3 possiblities. The first was too far away, it was nice, with a nice balcony, but we just didn’t feel right about getting home from downtown. Anyway the landlord of that place is this big lawyer guy, and he has another house, he tells us. I was so happy to be with Andres during all this, because while I trust my Spanish, I’m not sure if I trust my polite Spanish…to say the proper things in a situation like this…I trust my dear Colombian friend Andres. So anyway this Licenciado starts talking all this good stuff about the other place that may become availble as of the first (today). From what he’d said, I’d told him that we’d for sure be interested in it. So he says, the people who are there now have been there for 4 years…and that he’s not sure when they’re leaving…he will find out tomorrow at 8 am, and could we come back in the morning? So we go this morning at 9 and in typical mexican fashion, he hadnt heard from the senores, how about we call him back at 5. So at 5 he tells us that these tenants want to stay for one more month! Ay que lastima, decimos. Anyway this place is perfect…I can’t describe it, and I don’t want to becausse it will make me want to live there even more and it may not work out. Maybe I’ll take a photo.

I’ve been in Mexico for 9 days now, and my Spanish has both returned to its previous state and gone past the point where I was when I was in Costa Rica last, its so exciting. I am in love with Mexico and the Spanish language…but I didn’t need to come here to know that.

San Cristobal de las Casas

Here I am, in La Casa del Pan, about to eat delicious guacamole, una ensalada y un licuado de pina. I love San Cristobal already! Wow, this is the best meal that I’ve had in weeks.
San Cristobal is everything that I’d imagined and more. It will be even better once we find outselves una casita to live in. I am eating organic lettuce, in Mexico, wonderful.

So I met this guy, Cameron, on the bus. He's from Bellingham, Washington, just finished a grad degree in International/Economic Development in San Fran. We had too much in common, we talked from about 9pm till 2am. Then slept till about 5, and then on and off till 8:30 when we arrived here. Almost 14 hours on the bus, which makes it 18 with my ride the other day from Cancun.
He’s been in Central America since August, spent time in every country from Panama to Mexico and volunteered in Nicaragua with an NGO that works with schools for 3 months.
It was really nice to have someone to talk and relate to on such a long journey, and the fact that we had so much in common was amazing.

Climbing up to San Cristobal in the bus at sunrise this morning was awesome. We're at 2100 m above sea level here...which means it can be really cold in the morning and at night, but today felt like real mexican sunshine to me.

Merida and camping

Recipe for Camping in Yucatan:

- 8 Mexican guys
- 2 Mexican girls
- 1 Costa Rican girl
- 1 Ecuadorian girl
- 1 Canadian girl
- 2 camionetas (SUVs) and 1 truck
- 3 casas de campana (tents)
- 104 cans of Mexican beer (for the caballeros)
- a 40 of vodka and 4 L of OJ (for the damas)
- 2 kg of hotdogs
- 2 famiy sized loaves of Bimbo bread
- 20L of purified water
- 4 L of Coca
- 2 iPods wuth musica ‘rock’, reggaeton and banda

Take all of the people and put them in the super super mercado Soriana to buy beer and food (in that order). Take half an hour deciding how many and what type of beer and how much and what type of vodka. Take another hour deciding on food, snacks, resfrescos, breakfast…Collect money from all 14 people to pay for everything…grand total $700, pesos that is…about $75. Drive about 30 munites to arrive at the cenote. Open a beer and turn up the stereos hooked up to iPods and blast Pitbull and Daddy Yankee. Set up the tents, drink some more. Build a fire, drink a little more. Drink, eat, dance, sing, drink, sing, drink, sing, sing, sing, drink, drink, drink...fall asleep. Wake up early in the morning to make the climb down the rickety ladder to bathe in the cenote. Pack everything up and drive back to the city.

I had a really great time camping with Rafael and his friends…lots of good conversation and lots of Mana amd Sublime singalongs. The cenote was really cool, it was exciting to finally swim in once after having learned about them for so long! Many of the people that we were with are studying tourism, like Rafael. However the Costa Rican and Ecuadorian girls are on exhange in Merida studying human ecology…I got long with them very well. I even managed to discuss Mexican politics with some people, in preparation for my poli sci class…but I’m still confused.

I ended up having a great time staying at Raf's. I had lunch with Rafa’s family and I was able to understand and participate in the conversation, which is always nice, I could even understand el abuelo who had no teeth... sometimes.

Cancun to Merida

As soon as I walked off the plane the heat and humidity hit my dry, Toronto winter skin like a wave. The heat really didn’t help my situation though. That airport might as well be in the States, all American travellers, Mexican service workers and even the signs are in English first with the Spanish secondary as in the US. So I hurried to get my two large, heavy bags and get out of there but as soon as I left the baggage area I was bombarded with people trying to get me to take their bus, taxi, hotel, vacation package etc. My LP said that there’s a cheap bus into the city…if you can find it. So this nice guy spoke Spanish to me and helped me to find the cheap bus. When I walked up to the platform and saw locals I knew I was in the right place and paid my 35 pesos. The bus ride was great, as I’ve heard Mexican buses are. By the time I got off at the bus terminal in the city, I was hungry and desperately wanted to shower and sleep. So, I thought I’d find a hostel. I made it almost to the hostel walking with my bags and then gave up, thinking I’d gone the wrong way. So I hopped in a cab and was taken the last 2 blocks or something. So I got out of the cab, onto this potholed cracked street that was wet and muddy (the crazy whiteish mud that’s eveywhere on the peninsula, I think its limestone?). Anyway, my stupid holey soles cause me to slip and there I am fallen, lying in a muddy potholed road. The cabby watched and waited till I got up before he drove off, which was nice. However, getting up was no easy task…50 lbs on my back and about 40 on my front, in a skirt I felt like a beached wale as I rolled and put in all my muscles to right myself and get to my feet. So, I’m covered in this mud and my knee is scraped…by this point I’m ready to go home. Checked into the hostel, 100 pesos, met Laura a 23 year old Christian missionary from Texas and Freddy, a 30 year old Peruvian guy who’s on a trip around the world. Discussion at dinner was intriguing…we talked about veganism, ethics, environmentalism, religion, Christianity, the difference between Canadians and Americans and even a bit of politics, all of this in both Spanish and English, with me working as translator for the other two who understand about 50% of what the other says. Then Freddy and I went in search of a market to buy some frutas and we walked through a few real Cancun neighbourhoods, complete with garbage piles, shacks and random dogs in the street. All in all Cancun was good, I even made it to the beach for about half an hour Wednesday afternoon. The ocean itself is absolutely beautiful, with warm bright blue water and the whitest sand that I’ve ever seen. However, the constructions on the beach and the whole Zona Hotelera was not as I had expected…I pictured it to be just like in all the tourist propaganda, clean, new etc, however it seems that that only exists within the walls of the hotel compounds.
I decided that after that night of no sleep, I had to leave Cancun. So I took a first class bus to Merida. We had to stop at a military checkpoint, which wasn't as bad as it sounds. The soldiers are so young though, with machine guns and big black boots. I met two nice Norwegian girls on the bus, which was wonderful since I hadn't yet worked out where to sleep. So we shared a taxi to Nomadas hostel. So far Merida is wonderful, much better than Cancun.

no sleep

so apparently my bed was transported to the dance floor of some sort of discoteca, but this music didn´t seem to begin until about 3am...good thing I went to bed early.
I really do need sleep however, the fact that I was awoken by car alarms and dance music at 3:30 makes me feel like its not very possible to get much sleep. I think this means that I should go to Merida tomorrow, where it is a bit quieter, i hope. Well breakfast is in 3.5 hours, I doubt that I will sleep before then. Tomorrow I will take a trip to the beach, maybe swim in the ocean for one minute, walk around the city a bit and then leave for Merida I believe.
well, i´ve used this time while no one is on the free internet to learn about the candidates for the ams election (ubc student society) and I almost feel ready to cast my webvote.
Goodnight!

airport vol 2 y cancun

ya estoy en cancun!
It is so humid here that the pages fo my lonely planet and my notebook have waves in them now.
there´s a tiny lizard on the window in front of me, i´ve decided to stay at a hostel tonight, because i´m absolutely exhausted from last night in the airport and then I will head to Merida tomorrow, I think?
The Cancun airport was an experience...i´m too tired to write about it now...but i will.
espero que todos esten bien

airport vol 1

This is something that I wrote on Dec 16 and haven't posted yet...

Sitting at the Vancouver International Airport, Domestic Departures, Gate B22. Length of time I’ve been sitting here: 4 hours and counting. A lady just screamed at an airline employee: “We been here five hours and all you give us is shit food. This is worse than food bank.”
All it took was that one woman, to first say this to her friend and then repeat it out loud to the staff, to which her friend agreed. Then, of course with mob mentality, other people began to chime in. People complained about everything. And when the staff told them that they were doing their best and that they are frustrated too, people said “but you’re getting paid to be here”, as if money if the motivator for all things in life. People paid money for this flight, after all. And, in the end, they will be on a plane, right? They’ll get their vouchers and they’ll write their angry email and make the angry phone calls because they spent their whole day in an airport and time is money after all. Well it seems that many people on my flight think that their time is very expensive, since there was a big stink…and the RCMP had to come and talk to this one dude who was particularly irate, starting a fight with one of the airline women, who really had done nothing wrong…some people just have anger issues.
This relates back to economics class. My flight to toronto has an accounting cost of $245, what I paid with my VISA for the ticket, however, the economic cost of my flight is the $245 plus the oppotrunity cost of my time, what I could have been doing had I not been sitting in this uncomfortable waiting room. How much is my time worth?

But, in the end we’ll all get to Toronto, some of us will arrive with higher blood pressure and more stress. And I bet that everytime that they tell this strory (and they’ll tell it a lot, to a lot of people, on account of the holidays coming up) they will conitnue to become enraged and they will never fly harmony airways again.

So, they decided to give us taxi and food vouchers. I thought that maybe I’d take a taxi downtown (why not, its free) to go say one last goodbye to the hostel, since I had a few hours to kill.
I went to the taxi area and the guy who gets paid to get people taxis got me a taxi.
I got in the cab, asked the cabby if he’d accept my voucher and he became irate because the voucher wasn’t for his cab company and that I should have mentioned that to the guy who got me the cab. Oh my it was too stressful and kinda pointless to waste harmony’s money and gas on the cab ride so I said eff that … I won’t go anywhere, this place is hilarious, maybe I can learn something from all of the random people who are here in the airport.

Two of my favourite things to do are people watch and evesdrop, and the two go hand in hand, so that’s what I’ve been doing. And surprisingly I’ve had a good time.
Right now I’m sitting at the Medallist, a restaurant, waiting to order some food, a Meditarranean Chicken Salad (hold the chicken, hold the feta) and some fries and there’s a woman at the table close by who appeared to be talking to herself as she eats her burger and fries, but then I realized that I guess she’s got one of those bluetooth thingys and shes gossiping with a friend. However, she could just be crazy, I mean this is the airport. The best part of this conversation though, is the fact that she’s making the correct facial expressions as she tells these stories of whats going on in her life. Its as if her friend is here with her sharing this moment, technology is wonderful isnt it? She’s even drinking a glass of wine! It’s a virutal Saturday night with the girls!

So I thought this should be fine, I’ve got my laptop, I can just waste time on the internet…but apparently “nothing is free at the airport” and wireless costs $8 an hour, that’s insane. But, oh well I don’t need the internet.

I tried to watch Napolean Dynamite, cause I have it on my computer, but I got bored, its difficult to watch a funny movie alone in a room full of people, you feel like you can’t laugh out loud cause only you can hear the joke. I find that this same thing happens when I’m listening to music and I want to sing along, but im in the library, on the bus or in an airport waiting room and only I can hear my music. These things are more fun with other people.

So, you may be wondering, why didn’t I make some friends? I did, I made friends with Natalie, the cutest 4 year old ever. She and a couple of the other little girls were playing tag. It really made me admire the ability that children have to make new friends. I talked to a bunch of people, but I find, as often in these situations that the conversations tend to be centred around complaints. Everyone tells their story of why these circumstances suck for them (my story is that I was Ms. Stressy Rushy Pants all day trying to leave my house on time, get all my stuff packed and get my room cleaned up…and then turns out I had no reason to rush). While its nice to connect with people because of a common shitty situation…there’s not much to it and I had more fun with the little girls. Natalie can do the splits.

So now I’m back at gate B22, my new home. I’m so excited to get on the plane and actually get my journey started…theres been so much anticipation all day, the illusioin that I’m actually leaving, when I havent even left Vancouver yet, and its been 10 hours since I left my house.

I sorta feel like Tom Hanks, you know in The Terminal, except that I don’t actually have any problems, my country is still in tact and my family is all safe…but my flight was delayed so that sucks I guess. This airport has everything though…doctors, spa, shopping, a chapel. I wanted to go to a service at the chapel but they didn’t have one Saturday night. Some people have made good friends today though. Its nice to see people who don’t know each other hanging out and sharing stories.

I’m so excited to take a cab home from the airport, I never do that stuff, and then I am going to sleep aaaaaalllllll day tomorrow, I need it.

Well the plane is in the gate, almost time to go. Soon I will be in a nice warm bed in Toronto.