Finally made it to the beach!

San Cristobal de las Casas

I moved from Palenque to the classic travelers' town of San Cristobal de las Casas in central Chiapas.  It seemed nice, but very similar to Antigua, and the weather kind of reminded me of Xela (50 and drizzling).  I felt bad moving so fast, but I could only stand to stay there one night.  The pull of warm weather and the beach was just too strong.  I spent the next day slowly moving towards Puerto Angel on the Oaxaca coast.

The beach near Puerto Angel is split into 3 separate pieces.  Zipolite, San Augustinillo, and Mazunte.  Zipolite is the most famous, and enjoys a reputation as a nude beach and legendary hippie hangout.  Since I love to generalize, I'll just throw it out there now: I'm not a big fan of hippies.  Can't think of a hippie that I've ever liked.  About the closest I can think of is "The Dude" but a quick google search reveals that he isn't actually a hippie.

**Sidenote: At first glance, the website Dudeism.com appears to be awesome, and worth further study.  In case you're wondering about hippies and dudes, they sum it up here "Thus the Dude mandate is the same as Voltaire's, Samuel Johnson's, and Thoreau's: Tend to your own little garden and mend your neighbor's fence.  Hippies, on the other hand, think the entire world is a boundless garden, and then get disappointed when people shoot at them for trespassing."  Well said.**  

San Augustinillo

Anyway...I passed on Zipolite, and set up shop in the tiny, one-street town of San Augustinillo.  Speaking of hippies, not sure of the name of where I stayed, but instead of a door, there was just a giant dreamcatcher suspended above a gap in the wall between the street and the beach.  Tuto, the owner, was a clearly crazy bearded old wildman who carved driftwood in the common area with a chainsaw for a living.  There were three simple rooms (Lluvia - rain, Sol - sun, and Cielo - sky).  I chose Sol.  It wasn't much, but Tuto was really nice and didn't seem phased that I clearly couldn't understand a word of his spanish.  Everyday he would accost the fisherman as they brought their boats in around 11am, and would buy whatever they had caught that day.  He insisted that he make me ceviche for lunch, and I didn't complain about that one bit.  Can't beat fresh fish on the beach while watching the waves roll in.

Happy dogs playing on the beach...

Anyway, spent 3 days there doing nothing.  Read a lot of books, worked my ass off trying unsuccessfully to body surf in the particularly angry ocean, and sat and listened to Tuto ramble about who knows what.  I'm generally not much of a beach guy, but I can see how people could end up staying a lot longer than planned. The days go by pretty quickly when you just sit and watch the waves roll in.  

I finally left the beach and took the 6 hour van ride to Oaxaca city.  I was given a tip about buying some pills from the pharmacy that all the locals take for long bus rides.  Talk about a nice ride.  I passed out immediately and woke up in Oaxaca feeling great.  Hurray for medication!  Also, it only cost me $1.25 for 20 of these miracle pills.  Hurray for over the counter drugs!

The Arts Issue

Ok.  Most of you can stop reading right now.  I have an afternoon to kill in Tuxtla Gutierrez before catching an evening bus, and I'm going to attempt to bring some of my terrible culture into your lives.  Get ready.

So recently, I just finished a couple of books about expeditions into the Amazon and started working on Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed".  As I'm approaching a few days on the beach, I realized that I probably need some more light reading.  I love my science and travel books, but you can only read about population density and ancient farming techniques for so long.  As part of my spanish studies, I picked up a copy of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" in spanish (El Principito), hoping that a book aimed at children would be right about my comprehension level.  Unfortunately, it was way over my head.  If anyone at home hasn't read it, and happens to speak fluent spanish, boy do I have a book for you.  Also probably worth picking up in English if you have $5 and an afternoon to kill...

In that same vein, I finally started reading "The Alchemist".  I know, the hippy/traveler community would kick me out if they knew I hadn't already read it, so it's about time.  It's another book that could be knocked out in an afternoon, and I'm trying to pace myself.  I'm finding it strangely applicable to my life and current situation though, and it's hard to put down.

Switching gears, I've noticed that when I'm traveling, I am a lot more aware of those moments where everything just seems to fall into place perfectly.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't have any real responsibilities, and my mind doesn't always have to be running in the background.  I'm not thinking of work, or what I'm going to be doing later, or even of friends & family.  I can just sit and take in everything that is going on, and enjoy it.  A few hours ago, I sat down to grab a snack, and from my seat, I had a perfect view of the crosswalk out in front of the comedor.  The angle was such that I had a perfect view of each person's face as they crossed the street for just a second, and I could just sit and imagine what they were doing and where they were going.  I had nowhere else to be, and nothing that I had to do but sit and watch the world go by.  Charles and Tom summed it up pretty well here.  Sorry to be a youtube linker, but I told you to stop reading at the beginning...

I'm not much of one for thinking about the past, and one of my favorite things about traveling is that I can be totally removed from anything that was going on at home.  I have no phone, no expectation of internet access, and I'm probably not going to run into anyone I know (except for bumping into a friend from high school in a 7/11 in Bangkok once).  I don't usually even have the desire to listen to the music that I enjoy at home.  Being in a new place with new sights, sounds, and smells is enough to keep me entertained.  Every once in a while though, I do feel the need to go revisit some things.  Not sure why, but these always bring me back to somewhere.
  - I'm not much of a dance fan.  Especially interpretive dance.  But here you go.
  - For some reason this one always grabs me.  Probably not appropriate for work.  Unless your work is ok with seeing Shia LaBeouf naked.
  - And just becase, another one of my favorites.

Oh, and to round things out, I finished the new season of Arrested Development last night.  I won't state my full thoughts here, but well...

Hola from Mexico

I spent my last evening in Sayaxche watching two local basketball teams battle it out in the central park.  They had nice uniforms and everything, but it's clear that no one takes basketball very seriously here.  The highlight for me was that the ref was wearing a completely over-the-top ridiculous Star Wars t-shirt.  In a franchise that spawns some stunningly dorky shirts, this one stood out.

The immigration office on the Guatemala side

I hopped the first bus north I could find in the morning with the hope of crossing the border into Mexico and making my way to the town of Palenque by early afternoon.  As I expected, it proved to be a long day of uncomfortable travel.  Google maps doesn't actually show there being a crossing, or even a road there, but the internet provided some extremely vague hint that maybe it could be done, and I was ready to get out of Guatemala and make my way north.

The bus was one of the more crowded that I had been on, and I finally got to live the dream of spending the four hour ride hanging out the door because we just couldn´t fit any more people.  I was hoping they'd ask for volunteers to ride on the roof, but unfortunately it never came to that.  Anyway, the border crossing was quick and painless, though I did discover that my watch had been taken off my pack on the bus ride.  Not a big loss, as it was a cheapo watch, but it's been quite inconvenient since never knowing what time it is.

On the mexican side, I started walking the 8 blocks through the empty streets of Frontera Corazal to the bus terminal where I could catch a ride to Palenque.  I knew that Mexico was going to be great when a cab driver stopped and offered to give me a lift to the bus station.  For free!  First nice thing anyone had done for me in three days.  I instantly felt better, and booked a very reasonably priced ticket on an air conditioned, new van headed to Palenque.  A big change from the beat up old VW bus type vans in Guatemala.  Each of the 4 riders was assigned their own seat (a big deal after one ride that crammed 32 people into a vehicle only slightly larger than a minivan) and the bus flew off down the well maintained road.  Yay Mexico!

Ruins of Palenque

Palenque was much nicer than I expected, though everywhere I checked described it as being kind of a dump.  I stopped at a roadside taco vendor, and the guy next to me randomly bought my meal for me (ok...only $1.75, but still!).  Yay Mexico again!  I visited the Palenque ruins, got there early, took a nice nap on top of a pyramid.  Probably the oldest place I've ever slept (700 AD).  I sure wished I had my camera here, as the jungle-backed ruins were just perfect in the morning sun. The best part about these, in my opinion, is that you can go pretty much any

where you want.  They don't seem to be concerned about people climbing all over everything, napping where ever they want, and generally exploring every nook and cranny.  My kind of place.  There's even more as yet uncovered ruins in the jungle behind, and I took the opportunity to go explore those as well.  Especially in the early morning, before the tour bus crowds arrived, it definitely felt like an Indiana Jones moment.

Last day in Guatemala...

The town of Sayaxche

After getting out of Chisec, I tried to make one more stop in the town of Sayaxche, from where I could hopefully visit the ruins of Ceibal.  I arrived in town around noon, and wandered the streets for 3 hours looking for a hotel.  I finally found a little concrete block cell that I could have for $13 a night.  Way overpriced considering that this wasn't a high demand area, and all I got was rickety old fan, uncomfortable bed, and the sweatiest bathroom imaginable.  When I started to take things out of my bag, I found that my camera had been stolen.  Pretty sure it was the ayudante (the luggage guy on buses), as he saw me put it away just before getting on the bus.  Not totally bummed about the camera itself, but it's sad to lose all my pictures...

The next morning I started the search for a ride to Ceibal.  According to my book, I could catch a ride on any southbound vehicle and get off to walk 8km through the jungle to the ruins.  And again, every driver told me that he couldn't drop me off and that there was no way to get there.  Taxis wanted $25 for a one-way trip, and this would still leave me stranded when I finished.  Not gonna happen.  I returned to my hotel, defeated, and tried to ask if there was anywhere in town that I could rent a bike.  Nope, but maybe one of the construction workers renovating the place would rent their bike out to me.  Ah, now this is what I'm all about.  The kid didn't seem thrilled about the idea, and wasn't convinced that his bike would make it on the 30km round trip ride (half of which was down dirt roads), but the girl running the hotel convinced him to let me take it.

The internet tells me this is what I missed.  No big loss...

It was far too small, the brakes didn't work, and I had to stop to re-inflate the tires every 15 minutes, but somehow I made it down the highway and out onto the back roads.  Some of the rocky, downhill descents were a little frightening, as I had no brakes, but after a long hot ride, I made it to a fork in the road with no signage.  Probably due to wishful thinking, I took the downhill branch, which led me to a tiny river community, but no ruins.  I found out there that I should have taken the other fork, and now had to ride 2km back uphill in the heat of the day.  I finished the last of my water, and started the uphill slog.  It was getting pretty hot, and I was beginning to feel the heat.  After taking a few increasingly long rest breaks in the shade, I knew that I wasn't going to make it.  If there was no water at the ruins (and I had no idea), I'd be in trouble for the ride back, and I just couldn't risk it. 

I pedaled back slowly, just dreaming of the tienda that I had passed on the highway on the ride in.  During one rest break, an old cowboy caught up to me and sat down on a log to rest as well.  We had a brief conversation, and it ended when I tried to say that we could really use some horses (caballos) to make the trip easier.  He didn't say anything and gave me a confused look.  I may have said we needed onions (cebollas).  I always get those two confused...

I finally made it back to Sayaxche and the kid wanted $13 for 4 hours of bike rental.  It should have been $4, but I hadn't agreed on a price beforehand, and he wouldn't back down so I had to pay.  I scrapped any plans of continuing on in Guatemala.  Tikal can wait for another trip.  My string of bad luck was just too much, and I figured maybe Mexico would turn things around.

Onward!

On leaving Semuc Champey, Alice and Anna almost convinced me to stick with them and head to the coast, followed by Belize and then up into Mexico.  It would have been a great plan, and I could have found a real cheap flight out of Cancun.  Of course, instead of making the smart choice and following two beautiful girls to the beaches of Mexico, I made the Alex choice and hit the dusty road north towards uncertainty.  I guess my travelers' luck finally caught up with me, because I hit a string of 3 shitty towns in a row, where I'm pretty sure I was ripped off quite a few times, people were generally unhelpful, and accommodation was waaaay overpriced.

Army in Coban.  Protecting the market?

My first stop was back in Coban, where I figured on staying at the same comfy place I did on the way into Semuc for $6 a night with TV, WiFi, and a private bathroom.  Unfortunately, no one came to the door when I rang, so I was forced to try another selection from the book.  Casa D'Acuna was just down the hill, and was listed as "a near-legendary travelers' haunt".  Turns out that the building and restaurant were quite fancy (even had a doorman and white-suited waiters), but the 4 rooms they had were strangely placed right in the middle of the restaurant.  I could look out my two windows, and see people having a fancy lunch not 15 feet from my bed.  I can only assume that they could see me as well, and I'm quite sure I didn't improve the ambiance for them.

I headed out the next morning for the town of Chisec, which was small and dirty, but nearby the "stunning, jungle clad" Lagunas de Sepalau.  Supposedly three turquoise lakes ringed by jungle, perfect for swimming and relaxing.  Sounds like my kind of place, right?  Well I wasted the entire first day trying to figure out how to get to the lakes.  Everyone pointed me to a different place to wait for a bus.  The guys at the terminal said to wait on the corner, the owner of the corner store told me to wait on the highway, the drivers on the highway told me to go to the park, and the guys in the park said there was no bus.

Frustrated, the next morning I set out walking (it was only 12km), and of course, after I'd walked for about an hour, a pickup came by and I hopped in.  It dropped me off in the tiny town of Sepalau, and again, I just started walking.  As I walked down the road, I was joined by a guy named Santiago, who seemed dead-set on walking me to the lakes.  I was a little confused, and his spanish wasn't much better than mine, but we had a good, awkward, silent walk together for about 30 minutes.  When we finally arrived at the "entrance" to the lakes, I was surprised to see him pull out a set of keys and open up the gates.  Ooooohhh, why didn't he tell me he worked there!?  He pointed to a sign that said the price was $Q60 and then insisted on charging me $Q150.  I showed him the sign, confused, but he insisted.  I would have walked, but I'd spent so much time and energy to get here, I just gave in and paid ($19 instead of the $7.50 that I'm pretty sure it should have cost).

Guate's finest?

There are a lot of pictures on the internet that make these lakes look amazing, but this one, from the Guatemala tourism board (of all places) is the most accurate representation.  The first two lakes were just stagnant ponds, but good ol' Santiago tried to convince me that they were something special.  We even spent 20 minutes draining a kayak so that he could paddle me around the lake (small enough that I could throw a rock across it at it's widest point).  As we were hoisting this kayak up to drain out the water, I almost asked how much it would cost to skip the kayak tour, but Santiago seemed pretty set on it.

Anyway, after a quick 3 minute circumnavigation of the lake, I got out of the kayak and went to grab some water out of my backpack.  When I turned back around, Santiago was suddenly in his underwear staring at me.  I was at least a foot taller than him, and at least 30 years younger, so I figured I could hold my own if we were going to have an issue.  Luckily, he was just waiting to go for a swim.  Somewhat relieved, I joined him for a quick dip before moving on to the third and final lake.  The third lake turned out to be what is commonly referred to as a "field".  It was totally dry, and looked like it might have been dry for some time.  The surrounding jungle that was described in my guidebook had been completely replaced by farmland, and I told Santiago that we could call it a day.

Back in Sepalau, I waited for a bus for about 30 minutes, then figured I'd just start walking at catch one on the road.  Of course, no bus ever came, and I spent 3 hours walking back to town.  I rewarded myself with a strawberry cheesecake ice cream bar.  

The only positive memory I have from that day is a great churrasco dinner (a set plate of grilled meat, cabbage salad, refried beans, and tortillas for $2.50) in the park while a guy across the street played some panflutes.  I was almost tempted to buy one, but then I remembered this handy chart.

**Again...none of my pictures.  Thank you internet.**

Semuc Champey!

So behind Tikal, Semuc Champey might be Guatemala`s biggest attraction.  There's no denying that it's a beautiful bend in the river, and that the pools are pretty amazing, but like so many tourist attractions in the middle of nowhere, it's been turned into a bit of a circus.  The pools are visited on a full day tour, that also includes inner-tubing on the river, a rope swing, a 45 minute hike, a candlelit exploration of a river cave system, and a few hours of floating.  Maybe I'm just in a bad mood because I've had a string a bad luck the past few days, but here are my complaints about Semuc Champey:

First of all, the location can't be helped, because it is where it is, but being right on the tourist trail from Guatemala City to Tikal means that there are an inordinate number of partiers that come through the area who are mostly there to hang out at night, not see anything special by day.  It's exactly these kind of people that make me embarassed to be a traveler sometimes.

Secondly, everyone talks about what an amazing experience it is to each be given a candle and swim for a quarter mile in an underground river.  Yes, it sounds great in theory, and could be a really special thing.  Unfortunately, following in a line of 12 people for 45 minutes and then turning back is the exact same experience that everyone who goes to Semuc Champey has.  I'll bet that every guide takes all the candles at the end and dunks them in the river, plunging people into complete darkness for a minute (cue all the girls screaming) until he turns his headlight on and leads the way back to daylight.  Again, it is decently fun, but I can talk to anyone who has been to Semuc in the past 5 years and they´ll all have had the exact same experience.

I have more to say, but I'll save it.  Here are some pictures that I pirated from the internet.
It's probably even worth your time to do a google image search for "Semuc Champey".

In order to end on a positive note, I've found the following food items funny:
-Fanny brand sardines
-Bimbo brand bread
-FUD brand hotdogs (could there be a more aptly named product?)
-Nair brand tuna

Yeah! We're doing shots!

As I mentioned, I had tentative plans to meet up with some friends from Xela in Semuc Champey sometime around the 8th of June.  Prior to arrival in Guatemala, the entirety of my research had consisted of a 20 minute conversation with a guy named "Squirrel" about a place that had a french-sounding name that I just had to visit.  Turns out this was it.  I hopped off the bus in the main intersection in town and started walking, towards what I hoped was the Zephyr Lodge, a place highly recommended by my trusty guidebook.  As I walked down the driveway, I heard someone yell out "Fuck yeah!  We´re doing shots!".  Seemed a bit out of place, as I hadn´t heard any English since I left Xela about a week ago, and we were in the middle of the jungle.

Turns out that Zephyr was party central and no one told me.  It was filled with a bunch of shirtless 19 and 20 year olds blasting Macklemore on a tiny set of speakers and dancing around.  The girl at the front desk greeted me first in English, and told me that there was only one bed left and that they were expecting quite a party tonight.  I hung around in the common area checking email for about 30 minutes until I couldn´t stand it anymore.  I told the nice girl that I had to leave and found a cheapo, sweaty hotel in town for $5 a night.  I´m not here to have fun, damnit!

El Retiro hostel

Anyway, the next day I tried my luck at the hostel where Anna & Alice from Xela would be staying, and found a nice little loft room for about the same price.  Of course, as I was taking my bag to my "room", I saw my buddy Olaf (Hola HOlaf!) sitting down by the river. Turns out that he´d been here for a few days and was leaving in the morning.  Olaf is a Dutch computer programmer, who knows more about everything in the world than I do (in a very non-obnoxious way).  He might be the most socially well-adjusted computer programmer in existence, and it was great running into him.  We spend the afternoon sitting in hammocks and trying to come up with new words in English for me to teach him.  When he casually accused something I said of having a "pejorative connotation" I gave up.

Anyway, we spent the night having a somewhat quiet round of beers with the folks at the hostel and I finally started to feel a bit better about this place.  

**None of these pictures are mine**

More mountain wanderings

My day of getting lost in the mountains above Acul inspired me to spend 3 more days in Nebaj.  I wandered around, exploring the nearby unpronouncable towns of Xexocop, Chajul, Xix, and many others.  I spent a good amount of time walking and waving at folks.  I've been told that Nebaj is a popular base for tourists, but considering that I didn't see any other gringo, and that small children run out on the street to greet me, I can only assume that it's not as popular as the Nebaj tourist board would like to think.

I finally left after spending 4 days wandering around the mountains.  It was a beautiful area, and I hated to leave, but I´ve got to keep moving if I want to have any hope of making it to Mexico to fly home at a reasonable time.  Also I needed to give my aching feet a chance to recover.  I have to switch between my cheapo running shoes bought in Xela, my Chaco sandals, and my flip-flops.  They all hurt my feet in different ways, so I have to switch footwear every day.  After 4 days of walking, I really just needed to have a rest day.

So, after 6 hours of rough dirt roads, I ended up in the town of Coban, where I spent a nice night in a private room with my own bathroom and cable TV for $7 a night!  I may or may not have watched 30 minutes of the Spice Girls Movie.  I´m not a coffee person, but apparently the Verapaz region of Guatemala is a big coffee producer, so I started the next morning off with a cup of the local stuff.  Not bad, but it still tastes like coffee.  I won´t go into a whole big thing, but the origins of coffee still confuse me.  Not sure who came up with the stuff, but it´s amazing that their thought process went something like this, "Ok.  So we'll take these random beans, dry 'em out and roast them, grind them up, and then filter hot water through them."  That's a lot of steps to go through only to come up with an end product that really tastes terrible...

Anyway, I had tentative plans to meet friends in Semuc Champey (Guatemala's big tourist attraction behind Tikal) in the next day or so, so I pushed eastward.  More to come.

**Unfortunately, my camera was stolen on a bus ride, and since I'm about a week behind in my updates, I don't have any pictures.  I'll try to steal some from my buddy Scott.  He's a much better photographer than I, and has already been most of these places.**

In the mountains

After returning to Xela for one last night, I headed back out to the mountins first thing Monday morning.  I wasn't sure where I'd end up for the night, but a series of easy and comfortable bus rides led me to the mountain town of Nebaj.  It seemed like a good base to explore the nearby mountains and various indigenous villages.  I found a book about hiking in the Nebaj area (apparently it's a thing) though it was all in spanish.  I shelled out the $5, and picked up a copy, intent on practicing my spanish while trying to translate the thing.  Didn't really work out so well for me.

The town of Acul from above

As always, I looked for some key words that I knew, and kind of constructed the sentences around those words.  Unfortunately, I didn't really put the necessary time into translating, and I think things like "The road splits here.  To the left is a maze of trails that don't go anywhere, and to the right is the path you want" would get translated as, "The road splits here.  Take the first left and then the next right."  This resulted in what I thought would be a 5km walk to the nearby town of Acul turning into an all day expedition through surprisingly jungly mountains, culminating in me finding myself standing on top of a mountain looking straight down on Acul 2,500 feet below me.

Hurray Jungle Hiking!

Though I did spend most of the day lost, I finally got to break in my new shoes on a real, muddy, jungle hike so I didn't feel like such a dork wearing brand new looking sneakers.  It was also cool to come around a bend in the trail and see Mayan ritual sites all over the place.  Most still had active fires burning from that morning's ceremony.  I felt kind of weird taking pictures, even though I was the only one there.  Sorry.

Anyway, I wound my way down to Acul through farmer's fields that probably didn't see a lot of tourists.  All the children seemed fascinated by me, which was kind of nice, as at least I had people to ask directions of.  I made it to Acul and started walking back to Nebaj just as the afternoon rains set in.  I ducked into a nearby farmhouse, and it just so happened that they were one of the only artisanal cheese makers in all of Guatemala.  I waited out the rain for a few hours with the help of some delicious quesadillas and home made lemonade.  Once the rain finally died down, I started the 2 mile walk back to Nebaj.  This time on the right roads and trails.

My life in a bag

I´m sure that none of my 4 consistent readers are very interested (hi mom!), but I took a picture of all my stuff and now I´m posting it.  In case anyone does want to know, here are the contents of my little carry on bag that is now my life.  Bringing a carryon sized bag has been fantastic for hopping on crowded buses, walking that extra 5 miles into town when I inevitably get off at the wrong bus stop, and packing up quickly when it´s time to head out.  My 4 shirts, two pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of underwear, 2 pairs of socks, a pair of long pants, and a lightweight jacket are all the clothes I need for extended travel, and in fact I find that I´m really only wearing 3 of the shirts, one pair of shorts, and two pairs of underwear.  I generally wash a load of laundry in the sink or shower every other day, and I think I still smell ok.  Hurray for cheap laundry detergent in reasonable quantities!

I also seem to accumulate books like crazy when I travel, so I now have a pretty significant stack in addition to my kindle.  In fact, when I finish up writing this, I´m headed back to the hammock to get in another few good hours of reading.

Awesome purchases that I´ve made include:
-The butterfly wallet - super small and lightweight.
-Exoffico underwear.  Great for hiking and travel.  Dries quick and seems to stay somewhat fresh on ...ahem...longer stretches between washing.
-A $20 pair of running shoes that I bought in Xela.  My most successful shopping experience in Guatemala!


The more astute among you may be asking, "But wait, I see three pairs of underwear and four shirts in the picture.  What are you wearing during this business?".  Let´s just say that things are now quite uncomfortable with my dorm mates...

Weekend warriors

Ok.  I finally have something exciting to share.  I didn´t waste any time after school let out, and I headed up into the mountains on Friday afternoon with my new buddy Beau (yup, he´s from Georgia).  We hopped a chicken bus to the happening town of Huehuetenango despite warnings from everyone at the school and Beau´s medical program he´s working with.  This would be Beau´s first ride on a chicken bus (a re-painted US school bus that is the standard mode of transportation around here), and he was excited to see what it had to offer.  After watching some great music videos (one guy was a dead-ringer for a latin Rick Astley), the driver switched it up and put in a movie.  As the opening credits rolled, we watched anxiously to see what we´d be treated to on this ride.  Finally, after the suspense had built, the title flashed across the screen: Snakes on a Plane!  Could this day get any better?

Huehue turned out to be a great little town, and we had a blast running around trying all sorts of new foods.  We bought some ice cream cones and went to the park to watch a bunch of kids breakdancing.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  I couldn´t believe my luck when Beau suggested an 8:30 bedtime.  Talk about a great travel partner!

Bustling streets of Todos Santos.  Check out the sweet clothes!

Anyway, we arose early the next morning to catch another 2 hour bus to the tiny mountain town of Todos Santos Cuchumante.  The bus ride itself was one stunning view after the next.  I was wedged in between an old Mayan woman and a tiny old cowboy, so I wasn´t able to pull out the camera, but it was amazing!  You´ll just have to imagine.  Our tentative plan was to spend a few hours in Todos Santos, and then walk for five hours across the mountains to reach the even smaller town of San Juan Atitan.  After a great breakfast (carne asada for bfast!?  Oh yeah!) overlooking the market in town, we set off up the road to start climbing the mountains.

Beau and our new friend.

Beau had done a little research back in Xela on the trip, looking for some kind of map or route desription.  All he found was a report from two folks who had tried the hike, got lost when the fog rolled in, and then had to spend the night huddled together for warmth in the mountains.  That was all the encouragement we needed to begin climing haphazardly along old dirt roads and trails to the highest point we could see.  Of course, we ran into an old man and his horse walking along the same road, and though he didn´t speak much Spanish (Mayan culture is strong up here, and most people speak one of many indigenous languages), we gathered that he was heading to the same place we were.  At least we were on the right track...

Got to be one of the dorkier pictures of me

We continued on up over hills, down through forested river valleys, past tiny farmhouses, finally stopping for lunch at a pleasant clearing near a small stream.  Our friend with the horse caught up with us and we shared some bread and snacks with him before moving on.  Finally, we crested a hill to see views of the town of San Juan.  Another hour or so took us into town where we were able to hitch a ride down to the PanAmerican highway just before it started to pour rain.  The road down was fantastically steep and winding, and I thought our old cowboy driver might have a heart attack on the way down.  We made it in one piece, and of course, only had to wait about 3 minutes before catching another ride back into Huehue.

When we finally rolled back into Huehue that evening, we checked into a nice little hotel and sat down to recap the day´s events.  Who should walk around the corner, but our buddy Shawn who we´d met at school in Xela the week before.  He and his girlfriend were staying next door!  We hung around with them for the evening, and hopefully I´ve made a new hiking contact in North Carolina.  Appalacian Trail, here I come!