before you judge me, consider the facts:
1. mexico has long been known for its sterling reputation of having some of the smoothest, straightest roads on the planet, and is currently undertaking a massive construction project to widen hundreds of kilometers of these roads (my fellow americans: a kilometer is a base-10 unit of measure used by practically every other country in the world - along with centigrade - and is simply 1000 meters. a meter is 100 centimeters or roughly 3feet, 3.5inches) thereby creating vehicular congestion in the very sections they aim to improve.
2. because of the practically air-cushioned quality of these roads, many people are tempted to drive at high speeds, and the most cost-effective way to slow them down is to install topes (speed bumps) every kilometer or so, and raised crosswalks so high that cars would require chains to ascend them if snow and ice visited this region.
3. an intermediate class bus not only means that there is no restroom on board, but also that you will be on a vehicle that serves as a school bus AND a city bus (making frequent stops for drop-off and pick-up, turning a 2-hour ride into a 4.5 hour tour), that the suspension will probably be completely shot, and that there will be an increased chance that your driver has intermediate operating skills (jerky shifting thru all 16 gears, constant and abrupt braking, and mashing the accelerator like a heavy metal drummer uses the foot pedal on a bass drum).
4. it is hot here below the tropic of cancer, i consume copious amounts of water every day, and usually have ample opportunity to burn that water up.
so... a half-hour into this ride (to chichen itza), im regretting not going at the terminal ($5 there, free on the bus - i thought). i see a sign that says "chichen itza 180". a lot of kilometers to travel with a full bladder. i had a 1.5 liter bottle ("liter" is another one of those pesky, unamerican-and-therefore-wrong units of measure; i refuse to transpose the r and e) of cold water that id had a few sips of, and i started to consider my options: go up and tell the bus driver that i need to make an emergency pee stop (embarassing); pee my pants (humiliating. and uncomfortable); find a few empty rows and pee onto a seat cushion (disgusting. tho the cushion would act as a giant diaper); consume almost 1.5 liters of water so i can pee in the bottle. yes, thats the one. but i can hold it a bit longer, maybe there will be a stop. nope. after about 10 more minutes i told myself id wait for the next sign for chichen itza to see what kind of progress we were making; maybe we were almost there. another 10 minutes, a bunch of roadway signs, none of which mentioned our destination, leading me to believe that we were still a long way off. with all of the abrupt stopping, jerky starting, back-and-forth swaying, and up-and-down jolting over topes my pee was sloshing around inside of me like a freshly-purchased goldfish in the bag of water that is supposed to somehow simulate its natural environment. i proceeded to chug all of the water within a couple of minutes - a daunting task even when one does not desperately need to urinate - then tried to look casual as i stood up, grabbed my pack, and changed seats for one farther back in the bus. only one guy behind me, about 3 rows back, all the way in the back row, and he looks like he might be sleeping. 4 rows between me and the people in front of me - perfect! but it got better... as soon as i had settled myself into an appropriate, leak-proof position, we stopped. to take on a couple of passengers. old man first, takes a seat near the front of the bus; middle-aged woman next, coming toward the back, but there are plenty of seats before she comes into range. no. . . the seat directly diagonal to me is undoubtedly the most comfortable of all of them. especially when you recline it all the way back so you are practically in my row. yes, thank you. i quietly got up and silently moved one row back, still too close for comfort, but. . . let it fly. i refilled the bottle quite nicely, as my bladder apparently has a capacity of 1.5 liters. only a few dribbles, but those were the drivers fault for trying to wait until the last minute to slow down before launching over a tope.
oh. . . and dont read this if you think peeing is gross.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
new friends
heres a special post for two new friends who wont shut up until i say something about them in the blog. haha, kidding. but seriously... they wont.
jenna ennis (aka jennis, aka frennis) - one of my best besties who is waaaaay up in nova scotia - hooked me up with her friend fernanda who lives here in cancun. i met "furry" (who is actually a LOT hairier than her nickname implies, believe it or not) and her friend dana (pronounced 'donna'; who pretended to be shy) for lunch.
we (fernanda and i) spent a lot of time talking about our dear friend jenna. mostly about how awesome and hilarious she is, and how amazing her dance moves are. i told her how we actually have a dance move in hawaii called 'the jenna', and demonstrated it for her. some of you know what im talking about. then we spent some time talking about other things. like how hilarious susan (jennas mom) is, and how crazy jenna and katie are when they are together. dana... i apologize. dont be jealous. furry loves you too. and i . . . kinda like you.
we had a lunch of mexican food (obviously), and i explained to them that i try to keep only the coolest friends, so i conducted a friend interview over lunch. what is a friend interview, you may ask? well basically the friend prospect tells me a story about themselves that sufficiently impresses me, so that i am WOWed into a state of admiration or respect that convinces me to keep them around. making me laugh out loud within the first 15 minutes of meeting you or being generally hilarious is a good way to avoid the interview altogether and jump straight to the friendship phase. fernanda didnt do so well with her story, but fortunately for her dana was there, so i gave her a bit more time to think while dana told her story. we watched pirates of the caribbean 17 (with spanish subtitles), had some paletas, watched a traditional mayan dance...
a great day with lotsa laughs, and some good conversations. so i say mahalo to you mis amigas nuevas, and mahalo jennis for the connect. ill see what i can do about getting up to nova scotia (aka, end of the universe) for your wedding in september...
dont walk in front of me, i may not follow.
dont walk behind me, i may not lead.
just walk beside me and be my friend.
-- Albert Camus
jenna ennis (aka jennis, aka frennis) - one of my best besties who is waaaaay up in nova scotia - hooked me up with her friend fernanda who lives here in cancun. i met "furry" (who is actually a LOT hairier than her nickname implies, believe it or not) and her friend dana (pronounced 'donna'; who pretended to be shy) for lunch.
we (fernanda and i) spent a lot of time talking about our dear friend jenna. mostly about how awesome and hilarious she is, and how amazing her dance moves are. i told her how we actually have a dance move in hawaii called 'the jenna', and demonstrated it for her. some of you know what im talking about. then we spent some time talking about other things. like how hilarious susan (jennas mom) is, and how crazy jenna and katie are when they are together. dana... i apologize. dont be jealous. furry loves you too. and i . . . kinda like you.
we had a lunch of mexican food (obviously), and i explained to them that i try to keep only the coolest friends, so i conducted a friend interview over lunch. what is a friend interview, you may ask? well basically the friend prospect tells me a story about themselves that sufficiently impresses me, so that i am WOWed into a state of admiration or respect that convinces me to keep them around. making me laugh out loud within the first 15 minutes of meeting you or being generally hilarious is a good way to avoid the interview altogether and jump straight to the friendship phase. fernanda didnt do so well with her story, but fortunately for her dana was there, so i gave her a bit more time to think while dana told her story. we watched pirates of the caribbean 17 (with spanish subtitles), had some paletas, watched a traditional mayan dance...
a great day with lotsa laughs, and some good conversations. so i say mahalo to you mis amigas nuevas, and mahalo jennis for the connect. ill see what i can do about getting up to nova scotia (aka, end of the universe) for your wedding in september...
dont walk in front of me, i may not follow.
dont walk behind me, i may not lead.
just walk beside me and be my friend.
-- Albert Camus
Saturday, May 21, 2011
sayulita to cancun
aloha amigos!
thank you for your patience and continued interest, blah blah, etc...
this is why i didnt want to start a blog... so much to attempt to document; what to leave in, what to leave out. leaving some people hanging for weeks on end (jennis); overwhelming others with an overdose of info (andi). ill probably go off on a few tangents here, so maybe dont bother reading if you dont have a few minutes to spare... ;)
when viewing my pictures, keep in mind that im not a photographer, and my camera was the 3rd or 4th cheapest on the shelf :) irregardless (thats for you jacob), neither my deft maneuvering with the english language nor my unparalleled ability to take amateur photographs of the same mountain from 6 different angles in an attempt to capture 'essence' can fully depict the realities - both beautiful and hideous - of mexico. especially traveling thru mexico as a pinche gringo on the solo tip. . .
soooo, after leaving sayulita, i took a bus to puerto vallarta for $25 (all amounts in MXN unless otherwise noted, so... $2.15USD?). a half-hour ride brought me to the city center, where i booked a surprisingly nice hotel room for $420. they said it was a 2-night minimum, but i got chummy with the manager on duty, and he told reception to make an exception. yes!! cruised around pv on foot, took a coupla pics of the sunset, ate some pizza (id had enough mexican food for awhile). mexico seems to know 4 kinds of pizza: cheese, pepperoni, hawaiian, and - occasionally - a supreme-type pizza. for those of you familiar with antonios, i havent seen anything even closely resembling a mexicana pizza here (black bean, basmati rice, spicy chicken, cheddar cheese, sour cream). or an aztec chicken pizza. or any of the quesadilla or taco pizzas, etc... just sayin.
headed out to guadalajara in the morning. checked in with my couchsurfing hosts luis and melisa, who brought me out with their friends pedro, olga, and sesa (olga and sesa are having a baby in june; i think ive got them 78% convinced that shestin is a solidly ambiguous name for an unborn, gender-undeclared child. shestino or shestina if one wanted to be more gender-certain in this spanish-speaking arena). i tried mezcal for the first time, which is not unlike drinking smoke. checked out the city on my own the next day, took a few pics. its hilarious to me how many churches there are (reminds me of the RATM song 'vietnow' in which they ask, 'is all the world jails and churches?' the usa has all the jails, mexico has all the churches). seriously... the amount of time, money, and materials that go into building multiple homes in such close proximity for a god who is supposed to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient is ludicrous (that ones for you shawn b). is there really no better use of our time and talents than to be erecting these silly buildings for someone who doesnt even live here, and who would spend an eternity just trying to make an appearance in each home if s/he/it did? okay, back on track... saw too many gaudy churches (not just here - everywhere), but guadalajara is a beautiful city. also managed to get my pack repaired in a half hour for $50 pesos; and its sturdy - almost as good as new. pinche caballo.
on to ciudad de mexico, d.f. (distrito federal). met up with my couchsurfer friend carolina near viveros, and walked around the beautiful coyoacan area. had some delicious food and drink near viveros; i loooove garlic and its been so long since ive tasted it! muchas gracias caro for the connection! next day i checked in with erika, my couchsurf host here. she has a sweet place in the city near the zapata subway line. got to meet some of her cool friends ellie, aleksei, paula, umair; her bros ruben and jorge; her bf derek. woke up on cinco de mayo to a mexico city earthquake, the building swaying, erika coming into my room to tell me to come stand in the doorway; i stayed in bed. i went and checked out the pyramids at teotihuacan, the museum of anthropology, the bellas artes; tried to see the chapultepec castle, but got there too late, colon left-parenthesis. i somehow forgot that mexico city is one of the most heavily populated cities in the world...something like 18 million in the metropolitan area. i think all 18 million of them were on the subway that day. every station i went to i watched subway doors unable to close because people were literally jamming themselves into the cars. at first i thought, 'is it really necessary to be on THAT train? the next one is about 5 minutes away.' and i would wait for the next train, only to find that it was the same. or worse. and the next one. and the next one. unbelievable how so many people can be rushing in the same direction at once. it reminded me of nyc at rush hour, except that it was all day. everywhere i went. i kept wondering who was up on the streets, if everyone was down here. some really sweet art in some of these stations, tho. one of them has a planetarium-type feel to it with the zodiac painted on the ceiling and walls and lit by blacklight. i was an obstacle in the foot traffic for awhile, gazing up at the ceiling in child-like wonder. and steve stills of csny was right - when i saw the southern cross for the first time, i understood why i came this way...
from the d.f. i went to puebla to meet up with gabriel from camp and his friend maurilia. gabe and i cruised around puebla for a bit, saw some authentic poblano song and dance performances, a recreation of an aztec dance in the city center, rode on the crazy camiones that are like roller-coaster rides except way cheaper ($0.50 USD) and probably way more dangerous. went with maurilia (dos juntos) to the pyramids in cholula, another city of many churches, then went to meet up with gabe when he got out of work. had my first mexican 'crepe' which is nothing at all like a crepe, but delicious anyway. potatoes and chilis rolled in a thin dough and deep fried.
after puebla, i had to decide between veracruz (north and beaches) and oaxaca city (south and pyramids) as a kinda halfway point on my way east to palenque. i chose oaxaca, and checked out the pyramids at monte alban. met 3 swiss girls (ingrid, lucile, celine) with whom i shared a conversation (in english, yes!) for about 20 minutes before i explored monte. cruised around the city the next day, ran into the swiss misses again, and we talked for a bit longer. a bum got aggressive and angry when they didnt want to trade his sandwich bag of junk and a phone charger for their cigarettes, so he snatched their lighter from the table and ran away. i thought it woulda been a fair trade - i never know when i might need a phone charger, some rubber bands, soda can tabs, pen caps, or even a flyer for a local night club. and if theres one thing i learned from japeth the goat in hoodwinked, its that i should be prepared. this lesson must be shared...
i continued on to palenque to meet up with federico and work on an organic farm there. found out that he wouldnt be there til friday (i arrived early wednesday morning), so i thought to myself, 'self, why not take a trip up to ciudad del carmen for some beach time?' great idea self. took a bus up to cdc, but arrived around sunset (slighly underestimated the amount of time it would take to travel 80 miles; bus left palenque at 11, got to cdc at 530?). found a brand-new-looking hotel with rooms for only $350 ($30US), so i checked in so i could drop my pack and take a look around the city. on the surface, everything was new and shiny. upon closer inspection, there was not only a healthy mold colony growing under both of the mattresses in the room (there is a fondness in this country for using massive concrete slabs as bed frames; sturdy, but you can never rearrange your furniture), but there were more mosquitos than a room-sized rainforest might have. i spent no less than an hour and a half trying to kill them all (mosquitos are the only living thing i can say i truly hate, and i definitely cant sleep peacefully in the same room as them) and failed. at about 9pm i gave up, took a quick shower (they jumped in with me, the pervs), cranked up the AC in the hopes that the cold would slow them down enough so i could murder them, and went out to find some dinner. two hours later, back at the room, the mosquitos didnt seem to be affected by the cold. i killed a few thousand more, then opted for stringing up my mosquito net from the light bulb (had to unscrew it a bit first) above the bed. made certain all the moldy parts of the bed were tucked away out of sight (just as the hotel staff did before i checked in, im sure), then laid down and watched nacho libre en espanol. ahhh, jack black. even tho i cant understand the words that are coming out of your mouth you make me laugh with your crazy antics. jack always reminds me of my friend sean berthiaume (as does chris parnell for some reason); except sean is much funnier. in fact, for those of you who dont know sean, if you ever need a laugh or a smile, just hop onto his facebook page at
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/seanymcsean
youre guaranteed to find something that will make you chuckle. also, try to find the revolusean tattoos in his photos; something like 11 or more people with variations of seans face tattooed on their bodies. amazing! if you want one, he will pay for it. just sayin... oh seany mcsean. anyway, checked out of there as soon as i woke up on thursday (after flipping up the mattresses to expose the dirty truth, in the hopes that maybe they would address it. doubt it) and realized my predicament: i now had a pack to carry around, so i couldnt really relax at the beach, and i had to be in palenque the next day, so it wouldnt make sense to check into a hostel or hotel. so i went back to palenque. there were probably other solutions that made more sense. palenque was good to me tho. the posada nacha'n ka'an hotel is right in the town center, rooms for $75 ($6.50US) with free breakfast and free internet. whaaat! yes please. went to check out the pyramids, which were obviously astounding. bought some 'linen' pants for $100 pesos ($8.60US) from a roadside vendor on my walk back. i wanted to get some dark-colored linen pants to swap out for my heavy and bulky jeans so id have some farm-working pants. i fortunately didnt get rid of my jeans, because the new 'linen' pants split completely down the seams the first time i put them on. lesson learned. got in touch with federico and found out that i had to take a colectivo to meet him in zapata, because we were going to be working in campeche, not palenque, so i bought a $25 peso ticket to zapata and rode like a sardine all the way there.
in zapata i met up with fed, waited for another wwoofer, marion from france to arrive, hopped in the truck, and it wouldnt start. after an hour or so of trying, we decided to stay in zapata for the eve, and had a mechanic come repair some cables in the morning.
on to campeche in the dodge ram pickup. it was loaded down with bags of meal, dolomite, and phosphorus for making compost (along with soil, mulch, compost aged 2 years, molasses, manure, and water - a recipe he had learned in brasil), so it took about 4 hours to get to campeche, with the gratuitous stops at every state boder to be questioned by police. as it turns out, it wasnt an organic farm after all, but coast tropical - a branch of coast citrus (www.coasttropical.com) - an enormous mango plantation, and one of the largest exporters of mango to the us. spent a few days shoveling shit (literally), eating mangos for 3 or more meals a day (literally ;) and hanging around campeche.
after campeche we were to return to palenque to work on another farm in the community, but i opted to head to cancun instead, since it was much closer than palenque and therefore quicker and cheaper to get to, and since i had a commitment to another farm in quintana roo in 3 days anyway. arrived in cancun after midnite, checked into an eco-hotel (www.reycaribe.com) that was effing sweet despite the fact that the rates at the front desk were a bit higher than the quoted rates online. beautiful place, also with free breakfast and internet.
ill be hanging around in cancun for a coupla days, checking out chichen itza, wading in the water (since sayulita reminded me that my shoulder isnt quite ready for swimming yet), maybe ferrying over to isla mujeres if its cheap. ill try to get a scuba session in at cozumel. i was thinking of going and doing some organic farm work up in solferino, but ive changed my mind. ill let you know how it goes and stuff...
-- a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving
lao tzu
thank you for your patience and continued interest, blah blah, etc...
this is why i didnt want to start a blog... so much to attempt to document; what to leave in, what to leave out. leaving some people hanging for weeks on end (jennis); overwhelming others with an overdose of info (andi). ill probably go off on a few tangents here, so maybe dont bother reading if you dont have a few minutes to spare... ;)
when viewing my pictures, keep in mind that im not a photographer, and my camera was the 3rd or 4th cheapest on the shelf :) irregardless (thats for you jacob), neither my deft maneuvering with the english language nor my unparalleled ability to take amateur photographs of the same mountain from 6 different angles in an attempt to capture 'essence' can fully depict the realities - both beautiful and hideous - of mexico. especially traveling thru mexico as a pinche gringo on the solo tip. . .
soooo, after leaving sayulita, i took a bus to puerto vallarta for $25 (all amounts in MXN unless otherwise noted, so... $2.15USD?). a half-hour ride brought me to the city center, where i booked a surprisingly nice hotel room for $420. they said it was a 2-night minimum, but i got chummy with the manager on duty, and he told reception to make an exception. yes!! cruised around pv on foot, took a coupla pics of the sunset, ate some pizza (id had enough mexican food for awhile). mexico seems to know 4 kinds of pizza: cheese, pepperoni, hawaiian, and - occasionally - a supreme-type pizza. for those of you familiar with antonios, i havent seen anything even closely resembling a mexicana pizza here (black bean, basmati rice, spicy chicken, cheddar cheese, sour cream). or an aztec chicken pizza. or any of the quesadilla or taco pizzas, etc... just sayin.
headed out to guadalajara in the morning. checked in with my couchsurfing hosts luis and melisa, who brought me out with their friends pedro, olga, and sesa (olga and sesa are having a baby in june; i think ive got them 78% convinced that shestin is a solidly ambiguous name for an unborn, gender-undeclared child. shestino or shestina if one wanted to be more gender-certain in this spanish-speaking arena). i tried mezcal for the first time, which is not unlike drinking smoke. checked out the city on my own the next day, took a few pics. its hilarious to me how many churches there are (reminds me of the RATM song 'vietnow' in which they ask, 'is all the world jails and churches?' the usa has all the jails, mexico has all the churches). seriously... the amount of time, money, and materials that go into building multiple homes in such close proximity for a god who is supposed to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient is ludicrous (that ones for you shawn b). is there really no better use of our time and talents than to be erecting these silly buildings for someone who doesnt even live here, and who would spend an eternity just trying to make an appearance in each home if s/he/it did? okay, back on track... saw too many gaudy churches (not just here - everywhere), but guadalajara is a beautiful city. also managed to get my pack repaired in a half hour for $50 pesos; and its sturdy - almost as good as new. pinche caballo.
on to ciudad de mexico, d.f. (distrito federal). met up with my couchsurfer friend carolina near viveros, and walked around the beautiful coyoacan area. had some delicious food and drink near viveros; i loooove garlic and its been so long since ive tasted it! muchas gracias caro for the connection! next day i checked in with erika, my couchsurf host here. she has a sweet place in the city near the zapata subway line. got to meet some of her cool friends ellie, aleksei, paula, umair; her bros ruben and jorge; her bf derek. woke up on cinco de mayo to a mexico city earthquake, the building swaying, erika coming into my room to tell me to come stand in the doorway; i stayed in bed. i went and checked out the pyramids at teotihuacan, the museum of anthropology, the bellas artes; tried to see the chapultepec castle, but got there too late, colon left-parenthesis. i somehow forgot that mexico city is one of the most heavily populated cities in the world...something like 18 million in the metropolitan area. i think all 18 million of them were on the subway that day. every station i went to i watched subway doors unable to close because people were literally jamming themselves into the cars. at first i thought, 'is it really necessary to be on THAT train? the next one is about 5 minutes away.' and i would wait for the next train, only to find that it was the same. or worse. and the next one. and the next one. unbelievable how so many people can be rushing in the same direction at once. it reminded me of nyc at rush hour, except that it was all day. everywhere i went. i kept wondering who was up on the streets, if everyone was down here. some really sweet art in some of these stations, tho. one of them has a planetarium-type feel to it with the zodiac painted on the ceiling and walls and lit by blacklight. i was an obstacle in the foot traffic for awhile, gazing up at the ceiling in child-like wonder. and steve stills of csny was right - when i saw the southern cross for the first time, i understood why i came this way...
from the d.f. i went to puebla to meet up with gabriel from camp and his friend maurilia. gabe and i cruised around puebla for a bit, saw some authentic poblano song and dance performances, a recreation of an aztec dance in the city center, rode on the crazy camiones that are like roller-coaster rides except way cheaper ($0.50 USD) and probably way more dangerous. went with maurilia (dos juntos) to the pyramids in cholula, another city of many churches, then went to meet up with gabe when he got out of work. had my first mexican 'crepe' which is nothing at all like a crepe, but delicious anyway. potatoes and chilis rolled in a thin dough and deep fried.
after puebla, i had to decide between veracruz (north and beaches) and oaxaca city (south and pyramids) as a kinda halfway point on my way east to palenque. i chose oaxaca, and checked out the pyramids at monte alban. met 3 swiss girls (ingrid, lucile, celine) with whom i shared a conversation (in english, yes!) for about 20 minutes before i explored monte. cruised around the city the next day, ran into the swiss misses again, and we talked for a bit longer. a bum got aggressive and angry when they didnt want to trade his sandwich bag of junk and a phone charger for their cigarettes, so he snatched their lighter from the table and ran away. i thought it woulda been a fair trade - i never know when i might need a phone charger, some rubber bands, soda can tabs, pen caps, or even a flyer for a local night club. and if theres one thing i learned from japeth the goat in hoodwinked, its that i should be prepared. this lesson must be shared...
i continued on to palenque to meet up with federico and work on an organic farm there. found out that he wouldnt be there til friday (i arrived early wednesday morning), so i thought to myself, 'self, why not take a trip up to ciudad del carmen for some beach time?' great idea self. took a bus up to cdc, but arrived around sunset (slighly underestimated the amount of time it would take to travel 80 miles; bus left palenque at 11, got to cdc at 530?). found a brand-new-looking hotel with rooms for only $350 ($30US), so i checked in so i could drop my pack and take a look around the city. on the surface, everything was new and shiny. upon closer inspection, there was not only a healthy mold colony growing under both of the mattresses in the room (there is a fondness in this country for using massive concrete slabs as bed frames; sturdy, but you can never rearrange your furniture), but there were more mosquitos than a room-sized rainforest might have. i spent no less than an hour and a half trying to kill them all (mosquitos are the only living thing i can say i truly hate, and i definitely cant sleep peacefully in the same room as them) and failed. at about 9pm i gave up, took a quick shower (they jumped in with me, the pervs), cranked up the AC in the hopes that the cold would slow them down enough so i could murder them, and went out to find some dinner. two hours later, back at the room, the mosquitos didnt seem to be affected by the cold. i killed a few thousand more, then opted for stringing up my mosquito net from the light bulb (had to unscrew it a bit first) above the bed. made certain all the moldy parts of the bed were tucked away out of sight (just as the hotel staff did before i checked in, im sure), then laid down and watched nacho libre en espanol. ahhh, jack black. even tho i cant understand the words that are coming out of your mouth you make me laugh with your crazy antics. jack always reminds me of my friend sean berthiaume (as does chris parnell for some reason); except sean is much funnier. in fact, for those of you who dont know sean, if you ever need a laugh or a smile, just hop onto his facebook page at
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/seanymcsean
youre guaranteed to find something that will make you chuckle. also, try to find the revolusean tattoos in his photos; something like 11 or more people with variations of seans face tattooed on their bodies. amazing! if you want one, he will pay for it. just sayin... oh seany mcsean. anyway, checked out of there as soon as i woke up on thursday (after flipping up the mattresses to expose the dirty truth, in the hopes that maybe they would address it. doubt it) and realized my predicament: i now had a pack to carry around, so i couldnt really relax at the beach, and i had to be in palenque the next day, so it wouldnt make sense to check into a hostel or hotel. so i went back to palenque. there were probably other solutions that made more sense. palenque was good to me tho. the posada nacha'n ka'an hotel is right in the town center, rooms for $75 ($6.50US) with free breakfast and free internet. whaaat! yes please. went to check out the pyramids, which were obviously astounding. bought some 'linen' pants for $100 pesos ($8.60US) from a roadside vendor on my walk back. i wanted to get some dark-colored linen pants to swap out for my heavy and bulky jeans so id have some farm-working pants. i fortunately didnt get rid of my jeans, because the new 'linen' pants split completely down the seams the first time i put them on. lesson learned. got in touch with federico and found out that i had to take a colectivo to meet him in zapata, because we were going to be working in campeche, not palenque, so i bought a $25 peso ticket to zapata and rode like a sardine all the way there.
in zapata i met up with fed, waited for another wwoofer, marion from france to arrive, hopped in the truck, and it wouldnt start. after an hour or so of trying, we decided to stay in zapata for the eve, and had a mechanic come repair some cables in the morning.
on to campeche in the dodge ram pickup. it was loaded down with bags of meal, dolomite, and phosphorus for making compost (along with soil, mulch, compost aged 2 years, molasses, manure, and water - a recipe he had learned in brasil), so it took about 4 hours to get to campeche, with the gratuitous stops at every state boder to be questioned by police. as it turns out, it wasnt an organic farm after all, but coast tropical - a branch of coast citrus (www.coasttropical.com) - an enormous mango plantation, and one of the largest exporters of mango to the us. spent a few days shoveling shit (literally), eating mangos for 3 or more meals a day (literally ;) and hanging around campeche.
after campeche we were to return to palenque to work on another farm in the community, but i opted to head to cancun instead, since it was much closer than palenque and therefore quicker and cheaper to get to, and since i had a commitment to another farm in quintana roo in 3 days anyway. arrived in cancun after midnite, checked into an eco-hotel (www.reycaribe.com) that was effing sweet despite the fact that the rates at the front desk were a bit higher than the quoted rates online. beautiful place, also with free breakfast and internet.
ill be hanging around in cancun for a coupla days, checking out chichen itza, wading in the water (since sayulita reminded me that my shoulder isnt quite ready for swimming yet), maybe ferrying over to isla mujeres if its cheap. ill try to get a scuba session in at cozumel. i was thinking of going and doing some organic farm work up in solferino, but ive changed my mind. ill let you know how it goes and stuff...
-- a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving
lao tzu
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