Mucho tiempo since the last update. I will let the pictures do most of the talking later but for now here's the scoop!
Chacahua--
After leaving Zihuatanejo, Kari and I travelled further down the coast to Oaxaca and went to this place called Chacahua. It was one of those places that took a little more effort to get to (bus-collectivo-boat-collectivo), but it was totally worth it. Really great beach, cute place, lots of wild life etc. The one thing about Chacahua that Kari and I didn't get the memo about was that it was a place for COUPLES!! There were a few other people single people there, but the vast majority of the people were on a romantic trip together. I will admit, there was a beautiful sunset. Oh, and the scariest bathroom I encountered on the entire trip. Very, very scary. Probably would have been better to go behind a tree.
Puerto Escondido--
Surfer's Paradise, a place we had heard so much about. It was pretty fun, lots of other travelers around, and crazy waves. We were going to try surfing but we were too lazy. Playing in the waves was strenuous enough for us. We were both feeling a bit under the weather as well, so the place wasn't as magical as it could have been.
Oaxaca--
We headed inland towards Oaxaca City (we had spent enough time working on our tans) and this was the last place Kari and I were together since she had to go home. We had been to Oaxaca City a few years ago, but it was at the end of a trip around the south of Mexico and we were very cranky and did not appreciate it much. The city was quite different this time since there's a teacher's strike going on and the town square is full of striking teachers, and most of the streets around the centre are blocked off. It was still a really good experience though, Kari and I had some intense conversations with different people about their perspectives on the whole situation, about Mexican politics, etc (more later on this since Kari and I had the weirdest conversation ever with this random jewelery making guy and a really enlightening conversation with a pottery store owner).
The crappy thing that happened in Oaxaca was that I got ROBBED! I had never been robbed---after a year living in Mexico, backpacking through Central America, Europe etc. so I was kind of pissed. Although in retrospect it wasn't THAT bad because I only lost about $40 and my student ID cards (which were expired). It was more the fact that I was robbed and that my bag was cut! I really liked that bag! And the little coin purse that was stolen was a gift, I miss that more than the money. I can't complain too much though, I know people who had it much worse. MUCH worse.
After a few days in Oaxaca Kari had to head back to Vallarta to catch her flight. I stayed for another day and went to a festival called the
Guelaguetza which showcases a lot of traditional Oaxacan dancing. The 'official' Guelaguetza was cancelled this year, but I went to one in a small town near Oaxaca. It was definitely an experience, got dropped off in the middle of nowhere and was wondering about whether I had been completely insane to try and see this show and ended up making friends with random Mexicans and going out to karaoke with them afterwards.
Oh, and I ate a grasshopper--typical Oaxacan snack.
San Cristobal de las Casas--
The main reason I went to San Cristobal was because I thought I could get to Tikal easily from there, which turned out to be wrong. It is a really cute city though, so I ended up just staying there for a few days (also was recuperating from a cough so felt like taking it easy). San Cristobal is the perfect place to do nothing. I am good at that.
Palenque--
Turns out it's really easy to get to Tikal from Palenque...so I went there! I had possibly the most stressful time of my entire trip in Palenque. I was out of cash so I decided to wait until Palenque to take money out. For some unknown reason, my Canadian debit card doesn't work in some ATMs in Mexico. This is usually ok because there are always like 5 banks around. In Palenque I went to 2 banks and then asked about whether or not there were other banks around. Well, turns out that the ATMs at 2 of them were out of order (I had to run around town a few times before realizing this) and there was one other bank machine but it belonged to the same bank that I hadn't been able to take out money from. And no one takes credit cards in Palenque. This was very stressful and I had all these completely unrealistic scenarios about how I would be stuck in Palenque forever (and starving since I honestly had only about $2 left) all because I couldn't withdraw money. Oh, and I was really excited because I realized I had $40 Canadian so I asked someone where I could change it. And I got the response "You can't change Canadian dollars anywhere in Palenque. Only Euros and American dollars". Bastards. Anyway, I ended up trying the other ATM of the bank that didn't work at first, and it worked! So basically, I freaked out because of nothing and I realized that I should never wait until the last minute to take money out.
Tikal--
Why was I so intent on going to Tikal? Because last time I went to Guatemala we skipped it and I didn't know when I would have the chance to go back. Plus, Tikal is the big daddy of Mayan ruins...who wouldn't want to see that?
From Palenque you can book a van-boat-bus deal to Tikal. Leaves bright and early at 6am. I met some really nice Norwegian girls on the van and ended up hanging out with them and staying with them while in Guatemala. Kind of a long trip and really, really dusty. Flores, (the town near Tikal) ended up being nicer than I expected and we were lucky enough to get the "penthouse" hotel room with a nice view. So posh!
The main topic of conversation amongst us and other travellers in Flores/Tikal was the tour operator, San Juan Travel. Basically, they have a monopoly on Tikal tourism. They operated the last end of the transport from the Mexican border town to Flores, and they organize tours to Tikal. So, the last leg of our journey consisted of a sales pitch for San Juan Travel. If you want to go to Tikal early to see the sunrise, they are almost your only option. They also organize the transport from Flores to Tikal. You can't get away from them. Anyway, we decided to wake up at 3:30am to go on the tour to see the sunrise. Afterwards they were supposed to take us around the ruins as well. Unfortunately it was cloudy, so we didn't really see the sun rising over the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal, and they didn't really give us a tour. This was after advertising repeatedly about how the tour guide at Tikal would explain every details about the 5 temples (we got there and realized there were actually 6 temples). But, it turned out to be a fun day anyway as the Norwegian girls and a few others and I just did our own tour by reading Lonely Planet (it is good for something once in a while). And we saw spider monkeys. Everything is better when there are monkeys around.
Veracruz--
I had the longest day of travel on my trip after Tikal. I basically went from Guatemala to the Gulf Coast of Mexico, the city of Veracruz. But it wasn't THAT bad since there were a few good (although depressing) movies showing on the bus. Million Dollar Baby and Hotel Rwanda. Not exactly happy movies. But, I did once see the movie Glitter (with Mariah Carey) twice in 2 days on the bus in Mexico so I wasn't complaining.
I only stayed in Veracruz one day because it was really humid and kind of a touristy port town...although there was cheap seafood there so I still didn't mind it THAT much.
Xalapa--
Xalapa is the capital of the state of Veracruz and also the home of the jalapeño pepper. Fun fact! I stayed in a nice hostel where I met up with a bunch of people. We checked out a nice waterfall one day (I hiked, it was intense) and then just went around the city the next day. They have a really nice anthropological museum. Yes, I went to a museum, and it was even kind of interesting!They also have ridiculously cheap seafood in Xalapa. I was in heaven.
DF--
Now I am in Mexico City with Erick, one of my roommates from Ostrava, Czech Republic. He lives here, and is nice enough to let me stay with his family. His mom is trying to make me fat by feeding me lots and lots of Mexican food, but it tastes so good I can't complain! On Friday when I got here Erick showed me a true Mexican night out which (of course) consisted of mucha cerveza, meeting random people, stopping at a taco stand, going to an afterparty, and getting home around 7:30am wondering what you did all night. I'm here for a few more days until I fly home on Friday. It's been nice to reminisce with Erick about all the good times we had in the Czech Republic and talk about how much we loooove pivo.
That's the update for now! Pictures later.
