I made it! San Cristobal de Las Casas

Over 15 hours in the bus but I have arrived to San Cristobal de las Casas. To tell you the truth, Im surpurised I got out of Mexico City on the metro, to the bus station and onto the right vechicle. Right now my glasses have one functioning lens and yesterday I lost my travel partner so sometimes I feel a bit blind but I guess that´s kind of alegorical for this whole gotta have faith and jumping into the independent traveler bit.


This town reminds me a lot of Antigua. When I left the bus station I started to walk up the main street past vendors with their atole, arroz con leche y tamales (hard to resist) but then I found a place that gives me breakfast and a bed for 6 bucls a night. Can´t beat that!

I am hoping to have a working camera so I cn document this leg of the trip Unfortunately there were so many beautiful shots in DF but without batteries, well, let´`s just say I´ll be stealing Bill´s fotos off facebook...

Soon I´ll update you all with the adventures in the capital etc, but for now I just wanted to let you know that I am alive and its possible to live off rolls and peanut butter. I also talked to the bus driver and he gave me the diorect route for gUATE! ORALES

Toi emocionada! Me voy para Mexico!

Estoy contenta. After finally finishing the last day at our construction site this week (we dug foundation and laid some block for a family of 3) we went to the beach which is named, Playa Baghdad- no joke but I have no idea why it has this name either. The skies opened up in Reynosa after lunch and it POURED. Instead of the beach day being ruined, everyone ran around in the patio bathing suite clad and splashing around in the buckets of rain. We've been out of water for a few days. With a group of 40 taking showers and minimal water pressure coming from the street, our tanks have taken awhile to refill and I didn't have enough water to get the soap off me yesterday. Thus when the lluvia vino, I grabbed my shampoo and soap to aprovechar of such an opportunity.

Upon arrival to the beach we blocked up and jumped in the water which was warm but refreshing nonetheless. Dan-o the hermit crabs were bountiful, I think you would've had a good time. Vendors passed selling elote (corn on the cob with your choice of chile, cheese and mayo toppings), tamarind, sweets and the group's favorite: churros! Me, I scarfed down some oysters fresh off the cart, a little chile y limon, yummie!

So as my time with Puentes is wrapping up it feels like other opportunities and experiences are finally coming together. After much debate I have finally made a decision (declares the girl who doesn't know what kind of cereal to have in the morning!): I'm going to be studying abroad in Cochabamba Bolivia this fall on the School for International Training's Culture and Development program. Past students I've talked to say the academic directors are amazing and they only have positive things to say about their semesters. Apparently one of them offers Tai-Chi classes at 6:30 in the morning and then cooks everyone breakfast (sounds like fun to me!).

It was a bit stressful completing paperwork, especially when the office copier started acting up, but it seems that flights and itineries are finally falling into place. As our last group departs tomorrow morning I will be hopping on a bus (air-conditioned with loud blurry movies, a bathroom and even a snack!) for the 13 hour ride to Mexico City (DF). My house-mate Bill will be coming with me for the first part of the trip which will be helpful considering he has previously navigated the metro system there. Luckily I leave at 5pm giving me ample siesta time and at waking hour I should arrive at my destination. I'm excited to see Frida and Diego's Casa Azul and check out the anthropology museum.

After a couple days of adventure I will hopefully venture south to Oaxaca to try some grasshoppers/chapulines, check out the market, watch some dance and then push on to San Cristobal de Las Casas en Chiapas. Eventually I should make it into Guatemala to visit with friends and meet up with mi padre and the APC Mission team in San Lucas Toliman. (I'm considering retiring my construction days for a little medical/dental clinic r & r).

Don't mess with Texas!

Last week was the first week of the summer without a group so things were tranquil, I slept a lot, finished The Omnivore's Dilemma (por fin!) and ate a lot of beans, lentils and other slow cooking legumes. I took a road trip with Bill and ventured back into Texas passing through San Antonio and on towards Austin. What a cool city! I've knocked Texas in the past for being all open space, having poor lighting on the highways and not much to do in between but Austin is a really cool city (sta bien padre!).

Street art on the main drag
(some of the funkiest murals and airbrushed facades I've been privy to...)

We ate at Mellow Mushroom Pizza place where I was exposed to some of the first vegetarian and even vegan options in awhile! I had an excellent tempeh sandwich and then was able to browse the local university bookstore, wander through the college strip (the area is called Guadelupe but here it's pronounced Guade-loop) of ethnic restaurants and vintage clothing stores (KT you'd have so much fun here they have a Buffalo's Closet Exchange).

Guadelupe herself...

I also walked into this amazing place, Toy Joy, a store that could keep you occupied for hours. I wanted to take pictures inside but I figure the owners would look at me a little funny... Anywho, they had globes, Mexican paper flags, star lanterns, chains of Barbie dolls, beaded curtains and My Little Ponies hanging from the ceiling. There were little plastic boxes where you could find every toy of every size imaginable: mood rings, plastic bugs, Chinese finger traps- the place could keep one occupied for hours! Best of all I was able to reunite with Caitlin Shuuue who I hadn't seen in a LONG time. We explored the Texas Capitol building, sought out air conditioning and were able to catch up for a couple hours.

Ms. Shue and I before we both start our long drives home...

On the way home I discovered it is not a good idea to fall asleep and get comfortable if you are going to be driving the second-leg of the trip. But what'd know, the 7-11 has little creamer cup sized 'shots' of caffeine that are supposedly equivalent to a full cup so I was wide awake, although I couldn't see the lanes very well (at least when we got to Reynosa this didn't matter much, you form your own lane and defend it or else).

It was good to get a break and be able to energize before our groupote came. I'm not very good at this keeping up with the whole blog/updating kind of thing, so more details to follow later.

Vamos a la playa

So we just got back from Tampico (beachy coastal town) on Saturday. The group was dropped off at the airport and we made good time despite torrential rains and landed back in Reynosa at about 1pm. Unfortunately it rained most of the week and the job basically consisted of tying rebarb (not too much fun for a young high school youth group) but we did manage to still have a good time and go swimming in the Gulf. The first day was overcast but for the second beach visit the one present lifeguard had set out the black flags (of death I assume?) and then packed it up himself. The beaches are pretty neat (no rules, no fines for walking on the dunes, people ride 4WD and even pull their cars up onto the beach, but the food and drinking can make it pretty dirty and so you have to be careful that you're not tromping on broken beer bottles, etc).

The towns of Tampico and Ciudad Madero are heavy tied into the oil industry (nationalized here in Mexico in 1938 by Lazara Cardenas). People seemed fairly well off in some parts of the town... Oil is shipped in from other areas of the country and people also take rotations (12 days at sea, 12 days back at home) working in the ever dangerous oil refineries. Apparently though they have good benefits, some workers receive up to 32 vacation days a year and retirement packages are generous.

The railroad also passes through Tampico since it's a port town and cargo is transported to other areas within the country or even up to Brownsville Texas. There's also a tiny airport with four gates, I found that comical.

Seafood is of course the specialty so I thought I'd feature the soup we had on the way to town. After one group member declared her vegetarian needs I decided to cement my decision (k si es posible ser vegetariana aun en Mexico, jaja) and good news Cassie, I'm back on the wagon, no more frijoles charros for me! It was really interesting talking with the women in the kitchen and the perceptions of vegetarianism that are present here. Most people are astonished or believe I have some disease saying "Oh, I'm so sorry you can't eat meat! or Are you okay???". It's been difficult to explain that its a personal decision that is not the equivalent to a diet or some type of health restriction but a lifestyle choice or alternative made for ethical reasons... Quien sabe...

This week I also got to spend some more bonding time with Lupe and his son Jonathan (our resident bricklayer, although not much bricklaying got done this week, we just poured some columns...). Again I'm quite surprised by his openness with me. This is the guy that has crossed many people over the Rio Bravo (some for $150 some for free) and swears that in 15 minutes he can have them chowing down in Whataburger (a faster cross than vehicles waiting in bridge traffic). He explained to me how he used to pack car tires with coke and other drugs. Basically the drug materials are wrapped in plastic and lots of duct tape and packed in tires with rags that have been dipped in bleach and other potent chemicals to disguise any detection. If my figures are correct it was about 100 kilos per car and a $100 per job. A quicker way to gain profit that a 5-6 day work week in construction earning $150 for your time...