...and spent last night in a barn. -my traveling companion craig, who does his best at emulating che guevara. his account is not entirely inaccurate- wandering the lancandonian jungle was quite an adventure. and san cristobal de las casas is definitely somewhat of an oasis, 7000ft. high above the jungle, in the gorgeous state of chiapas. we had to spend the first night here in a shed-like room and it was very very cold even with blankets, but we found a much warmer hostel the next night. after the intense heat and gritty streets of merida it is a refreshing change to be nestled among a ring of lush green mountains, taking horseback rides to nearby villages and taking in all of the natural beauty that chiapas has to offer. but i¥ll back up to the last time i wrote... from the beach. i jetted as soon as my sister got on the airport shuttle, back to merida. merida was a great town with tons of cultural activities, every single night in the city¥s center... and i did meet some wonderful people who live there so may pass back through to visit. plus there was an abundance of photographic material for me there, in the hand-lettering on store fronts, politically charged graffiti, and amazingly worn paint and decrepit architecture of certain areas. craig and i met up at the nest- a fantastic hostel in merida. he turned out to be a great traveling companion, and fluent in spanish as a bonus. sunday evening we got on a bus bound for the ®jungle-shrouded® ruins of palenque, arriving there at 430 in the morning. the ruins at palenque were mind-blowing. many of the carvings are incredibly well-preserved/restored, and the jungle had just eaten up other parts of what was once a decent sized city. we had a couple of interesting encounters on the road- ran into a poisonous snake right outside the ruins- and watched its death by force of the locals before it hurt anyone. the next day we discovered some waterfalls right off the side of the road so we took a dip. ahh. the mayans in this area are beautiful, with broad faces and huge inky eyes- they are also very kind, for the most part. the town of palenque does not have much to offer though, so after we took in the ruins and a bunch of beer and live music at our campsite, we got on a bus to climb the windy road up the mountains. arrived at san cristobal just in time to watch the US vs. mexico soccer game on tv, while enjoying a simple and delicious meal. mexico beat us, naturally.
i also saw the movie pecker the other night, it was such a sweet surprise to see baltimore from all the way down here.
next i am headed further south. i miss you all and love hearing from you. it has been a beautiful journey so far, thanks for letting me share it with you.