Sumidero Canyon, Chiapas, Mexico, March 4, 2018

My tour started at 7 from Parque Central.  It was an hour and a half earlier than usual because they had a marathon starting at 7 and we had to get out of the city before the roads were blocked.

Real de Guadeloupe is pretty quiet at this time of the morning-

I met 2 couples in my shuttle from Regina.  One couple owns a condo in La Crucecita which is in the Hualtuco area.  We had a good day visiting Sumidero Canyon, 3 miradors and Chiapa de Corzo.  Our first stop was at the lancha dock close to Chiapa de Corzo.  They wash the life jackets in the filthy Grijalva River-

The Sumidero Canyon was formed at the same time as the Grand Canyon.  A crack started in the crust of the earth and erosion made this 1000 meter deep (in some places) spectacle.  The river is 13 km long-

The trees form a low to medium height deciduous rainforest with a few pine and oak growing here and there-

It is home to spider monkeys like this one.  Another monkey followed us along the bank and came really close, then pooped!  This one was a little nicer.  One of the people in the boat brought a banana for him/her.  He/She devoured it and did not try to poop on us-

I only saw a couple blue herons.  This one is sitting in a pile of garbage-

Tuxtla Gutierrez is the closest city and it's about 600,000 people.  It and the logging industry have caused serious pollution problems.  Close to 5000 tons of solid waste is removed from the Grijalva River every year.  The garbage builds up in the canyon because it's so narrow and the Chicoasien Dam also prevents it flowing downstream and becoming someone else's problem-

The Cave of Colors is truly colorful, thanks to magnesium, potassium and other minerals.  The Virgin of Guadalupe lives inside-

During the rainy season, there are a lot of waterfalls.  The best is the "Arbol de Navidad".  The 'branches' of the arbol are made by mineral deposits from the waterfall and in the dry season they are covered in moss-

The Chicoasen Dam and Reservoir are at the north end of the canyon-

When we reached the farthest north we could go, a lancha tied itself to us and sold beer, water, chips and pop-

About 35 people can fit in a lancha.  It's well designed because it can go really fast and we don't get wet from the spray.  It's also very stable-

We went to three different miradors, the last one being 1000 m high.  The views were great-

A working donkey-

Parasites are growing on trees.  They're pretty but dangerous to the health of the host-

Tuxtla Gutierrez fills the valley.  It's got a WalMart, Sam's Club and even a Liverpool.  We didn't have time to stop and shop-

In Chiapa de Corzo we stopped at the main square to see La Pila fountain.  It was built in 1562 in Moorish style.  It's made of bricks that form a diamond and is 52 meters in circumference and 12 meters high.  There are 8 arches and a cylindrical tower that was used as a watchtower-

Legends say the town was built around this gigantic La Pochota kapok tree.  They've built a special arched sidewalk so the roots have room to go underneath!

The square is lined with arched buildings-

where lots of dulces are sold-

as well as pozol.  It's a cold drink made from corn, cacao and cinnamon that was really good-

This mujer stands at the entrance to the town in traditional dress-

The corn has just been harvested.  It is all done manually-

The state of Chiapas-

I wanted to try pozole, which is a soup, at El Caldero, a restaurant famous for this.  When I got there, the place was packed but there was a man sitting at a booth by himself.  I asked if I could join him and he invited me to sit down.  He's from Avignon, France and it was a funny conversation because both of us talked in English, Spanish and French, sometimes in the same sentence.  He's an artist and here working with amber.  He tries to stay away from Avignon in the winter because it's so cold so he's spent a lot of time in different parts of Mexico.  He too ordered soup and the appetizers that came were so good.  It was all too spicy for him so I ate just about all of it.  There were frijoles, and then three different salsas with homemade nachos-

Pozole is soup, either red, white or green.  It comes with pork or chicken or both.  Red pozole, which I had also has salsa de chile but thank goodness it wasn't too hot.  I put the sliced radishes, minced onion and shredded cabbage in with the broth.  It wasn't my favorite, but I only like soup on cold winter days and it certainly is not that today-

After my early supper, I came back to the hostel and changed rooms because tonight there is supposed to be a big party across the street that won't stop until 5 in the morning.  Hopefully it will be quieter where I am now but I've set my alarm for 3:30 anyway.  The shuttle is supposed to come around 4 to pick me up to go to Palenque.  We won't be back until 10 tomorrow night.  Also, one of the men I met today from Regina said he counted close to 200 speed bumps in about 20 km.  That makes for really slow going.  I'm not looking forward to tomorrow!

San Cristobal de Las Casas, March 3, 2018

I had a great sleep until 8!  When's the last time I did that?  Hope tonight is just as quiet.  I wasn't sure if I was going to extend my stay at Hub Hostel for another 2 nights so I wandered around and checked out a few other places.  It's really weird because most rooms do not have windows and if they do, they open to an inside hallway.  This makes for a stuffy sleep so I've decided just to stay where I am.  It's as cheap as anywhere, very central and I have a window that yes opens to a hall but the hall has a door that opens to the outside.  I saw this Nice wall art along the way-

The Catedral de San Cristobal in the Zócalo, which means 'main square' is being renovated since the recent earthquake-

It's huge but impossible to visit-

I stopped at La Viña de Bacco for a glass and was served a slice of bread with a great salsa on top.  I also spent an hour or so visiting with a young woman from Holland.  The bar serves wine from Mexico of course, but also Chile, Argentina and Spain.  The wine menu is extensive and one can order by the glass or by the bottle.  Tapas come for free as well as popcorn.  There are musicians playing in the street and people walking by.  It's a great way to spend an afternoon-

While sitting there, this little guy came along.  He's 5 and was out ALL ALONE selling little wooden bobble head animals for 25 pesos, or $1.70.  He said his parents were at home!  I bought one and gave him the rest of my Coke.  I probably shouldn't have bought it because it will encourage his parents to keep him out of school to make money but I thought it was Saturday and he's only 5 so......

I wanted to check out the Museo de la Medicina Maya but even though the website said it was open, it wasn't.  I had an interesting walk: through the mercado and I saw this interesting posada-

I stopped for some pollo asado and saw the tortilla maker.  This is cheating I think-

There's always someone whose only job is to collect the money and it's usually a man.  The women work very hard-

My supper cost $2.38 and for that I got an oven roasted white onion and hot spicy pepper as well as a fair bunch of roasted chicken, very spicy rice, super spicy hot sauce and 3 tortillas.  I don't usually like tortillas because they're so bland but these weren't bad.  Maybe it was because my mouth and tongue were on fire and I really couldn't taste anything-

After supper, I went to the ADO ticket office and booked all but one of my bus trips for the next 2 weeks.  How convenient is that?  I've looked on line and it would have been a nightmare trying to do it that way.  I also booked 2 day trips while I'm here: Palenque and tomorrow the Sumidero Canyon for a 2 hour lancha ride, then a visit to Chiapa de Corzo and later 3 mirador views.  Looking forward to it!

Quetzaltelango, Guatemala to San Cristobal Las Casas, Mexico, March 2, 2018

Well the day didn't start out so well.  My shuttle was supposed to pick me up around 8 am, and I knew we had to be at a gas station along the highway by 8:45 to meet the van coming from Antigua.  I was ready plenty early and waiting, waiting, waiting.  Finally at 8:20, I used the receptionist's phone and called a number that thank goodness I had been smart enough to ask for at the travel agency when I bought my ticket.  "Hector" said he would call me back.  He did, and I was told "paciencia, paciencia". At 10 to 9, a van picked me up and just the 2 of us raced to the gas station.  There were 2 vans, one appeared to be overflowing so luckily I got in the second one and got the front seat with the driver.  He drove like a maniac and the highway was not good.  There were many potholes so he drove a lot in the left lane and slithered like a snake, a very fast snake, left, right, left, right.  It was impossible to sleep because we were being flung from one side to the next for 4 hours.  Along the way-

Coffee is grown in the highlands and has been picked, dried and sorted-

The border was really simple.  There wasn't a line, you just pushed toward the counter and one man took a few passports at a time that were processed and then he handed them back.  I stood there 5 minutes max.  Outside about 50 people were milling around.  Some were heading to Guatemala in the 2 shuttles we had just arrived in and the other half were going to San Cristobal.  I asked where I was supposed to go and I got a funny look.  Finally my driver pointed to a man so I talked with him. He told me to get in the van that was going to Guatemala.  Wrong.  So I spoke with another man and he just shook his head.  Pretty soon, the people that had been in my shuttle were walking away with another man and he told me no.  By this time, I was really wondering what was going on but there was no way I was going to be left at the border!  There was a lot of conversation between the drivers and a lot of head shaking.  I heard numbers: 15, 17 but wasn't sure how many seats there were in the vans or what kinds of vehicles they even were.  Eventually a man said "Vamos" and away we went.  It turns out there was plenty of room yet he still wasn't very friendly to me.  

Mexico was instantly different:  we drove 3 hours on an excellent highway.  Homes are cement and painted nicely.  It is obviously a much richer country-

There are modern gas stations like I'm used to in the bigger centers but this is how you buy gas in the small towns-

Many small towns seem to have something they're 'famous" for.  This one makes wooden toys-

The harvest is complete because there are many corn fields with nothing left but dead stalks-

 This village doesn't look so well off-

When we bought our shuttle tickets, we'd all been told it was door to door service.  Well, not with this asshole.  He pulled over in Parque Central, told us to take our garbage with us and stood beside the van while we unloaded it.  Luckily for me, my hostel was only 3 blocks away so the walk was okay.  My first room was just off the lobby, so noisy and it didn't have a window that opened.  When I came back from supper, which was a bife chorizo in an Argentinian Parilla, my bathroom floor was wet.  The sink was leaking so I asked for a new room and ended up upstairs with a king sized bed!

Supper was okay but unfortunately there was way too much marbelling in my steak - ooo, gobs of fat!  I had to send it back to be cooked a bit more because here, apparently rare means rare.  A man who had been on my shuttle to the border came in and sat down by himself so I invited him to eat with me.  He was happy to see me because everyone knew I had been left behind at the border while the others moved into Mexico.  He said he'd asked the driver what was happening as apparently I'd been forgotten this morning by my company.  It was lucky I called because 'Hector' was able to make arrangements with another shuttle company to take me.  No one wanted to because they think they won't get paid and they are probably right!  Anyway, my new friend is from Costa Rica but living in Antigua, carving Jade.  Every 90 days he has to leave Guatemala for Costa Rica, Belize or Mexico.  Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua work together as one and tourists can only stay for 90 days.  Then they have to go to an embassy to get a visa extension or leave for 48 hours.  Even though he has a family in Costa Rica, it's too expensive to go there every 3 months.  He said that a cauliflower costs $6 US and one avocado is $2 US.  He is working on his citizenship papers and then his wife and 2 kids will automatically be Guatemalans too.  It's only 3 years ago that he discovered he had a talent for carving.  Before that, he had a fumigating business.  He was wearing this $4000 US necklace that he's sold and delivering tomorrow-

A large head he sculpted sold for $40,000 US and a 10 inch ballerina sold for $8000.  He has a workshop in Antigua where he teaches carving 3 days/week and the other 2 days he does his own carving.  Since discovering he's an artist, he's carved 283 objects and no two are alike.  He can't believe this talent he's so recently discovered.

I checked out a few tour agencies to get prices for my adventures in this part of Mexico.  I'm looking forward to exploring San Cristobal Las Casas tomorrow.   

Xela, Guatemala, March 1, 2018

I was up at 5 to catch my shuttle to Quetzaltelango which was supposed to come between 5:30 and 6.  Around 5:15, I thought I better get completely ready to go because if the buzzer rings, it's a minute walk to get out of the house and to the street and I didn't want the shuttle leaving without me.  Thank goodness I did because at 5:25 the buzzer went!  I have never heard of a shuttle being early but I was ready so it was okay.  I sat beside a man from Singapore who was in Antigua with his son who now lives in San Miguel, Mexico.  He is a mechanical engineer and worked on the rigs in Saudi Arabia for a long time.  He went back to Singapore to look after his mother after his father died.  He wants to sell his apartment in Singapore and buy an organic farm somewhere in Mexico.  We had a good visit for a few hours.  I had to change vehicles along the way and got to Quetzaltelango by 8:30.  That was a nice surprise because the travel agency said it was a 5 hour trip.  I checked into my hotel and went wandering to Parque Central, the market for a chile rellenos which was so hot it made tears stream down my cheeks, and around by where I lived while studying here.  I decided I wasn't going to knock to say hello because my "madre" and I hadn't become that good of friends but when I got to the corner, there she was, coming home from the market.  She recognized me and we had a little chat.  She has gained at least 50 pounds since I stayed with her 14 months ago!  

Magdelena came to my hotel at 5:30 and we went to a restaurant that she chose.  I told her to pick a place she has always wanted to go because it was my treat.  We went to Cardinalli Italian Restaurant  and had a great visit-

and the best meal I've had on this trip: camarones in a garlic cream sauce-

After, she caught a collectivo home and I came back to my gigantic room which sleeps 5!  It's huge.  

I'm really glad I made the effort to come here!

Looking forward to catching an 8 am shuttle to San Cristobal Las Casas, Mexico.