Garbage

10:30 AM Wedensday, February 21, 2007.

10:30 PM Wednesday February 21, 2007.

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So close to home,,,

Well, we finally crossed the border into Mexico. And what an episode! First of all, we got to the border, but the border crossing guy didn´t have any entry cards. So we went on without. Through a couple check points where luckily the men with the big guns peeked in our bags, but never asked to see our passports. Then we arrived in Palenque and got some guy to drive us to god-knows-where. Finally we found a legitimate immigration office and they stamped us, but couldn´t take the money for the entry cards for whatever reason...so we still haven´t paid our way in, but on the outside, we look like we are legal enough.......if not, well, I´m sure I´ll get one phone call from prision...

First stop in Mexico - Palenque - and it was smoldering! You couldn´t turn your head without sweat dripping off your chin. But the food - WOW, every shop is a grandma cooking for you like you were the favorite of her 46 grandchildren! Delicious!

Now the reason we went to Palenque was to see the ruins, and they were unbelievable! We thought we had seen it all in Tikal, but nothing compared to this ancient city! Massive structures in a gorgeous jungle setting. To tell the truth, I don´t understand how these places become known - if I found one, I wouldn´t be running off to share the great discovery with some foreign archeologists. No, no, I´d just move into the palace and rule over all the giant iguanas that live in my kingdom!!! Hmmm...what else was around Palenque? Waterfalls, lots and lots of waterfalls.

After Palenque, we caught a night bus to Cancun. In the morning, when our bus landed, we hopped in a cab and saw what we could of Cancun through the window on the way to the ferry. Looked nice enough. Like Calgary with a blazing sun. But to touristy for us to spend our last few precious days - we thought the nearby Isla Mujeres would be more for us. But when we got off the ferry and took one look around we knew we were sadly mistaken. We appeared to be still in Cancun. I looked at Sean to see what he thought, but he had vanished in the sea of self-proclaimed-canadians all carrying american passports in their back pockets, beach bags slung over their shoulders, and cheesy tourist souveniers in their hands. When I found him again, we found a decent enough spot to make a vital phone call and from there rewrote the end of our journey.

So today, instead of broken-glass on the beaches and crowded streets of the Isla, we are living in one of those Corona commercials. You know the one with the couple sunning on the white sand beach watching the water, when the only other person on the island walks by - a smokin-hot blonde in a red string bikini - and the guy peeks over to check her out and the girl squirts him with the lime from her corona. Well, yes, that´s where we are now. Except no one has walked by yet...

And this is where we´ll stay until we have to make that last ride to the airport. Be home soon. ....well...provided they let us out. If not, maybe we´ll stay here and open a perogy stand...

Here's What's Buzzin' Up These Days...

Hey! OK, last time we talked we were waiting to climb Volcano Santiagito...sadly though, the trip was cancelled on account of highly toxic gases pouring out the top - that is one angry volcano.

So we had to get creative and think of other things to do, this is some of what we came up with:

-Blew Glass.
No kidding, we visited a glass factory and they let us blow glass! Man, you should have seen them admiring my work!! It was as though in all their years at the factory they had never witnessed a glass so perfectly blown! As they admired my work, proudly turning it over and over in their hands, I knew I'd finally found my calling! I was trying to think of how I should respond when they inevitably begged me to stay and work there. 'Hmmm...how much is my expertise worth? Where should I insist my office be located? I think I'd like a corner office facing southwest, actually a little more west then straight southwest...and my title, what should my card read...' CRASH!!!! 'What? What the?!...' Yeah, ok, that crash that echoed through the factory and disrupted my thoughts was the sound of my work of art finding the bottom of the trash can. ...guess I'll keep looking...

-Visited Churchs.
Every town has a church at the center and every one is old. One is the oldest. The others are just old. Catholic churchs are the ones of choice here. And let me say, they are all beautiful structures, but one of them stands out quite a bit from the rest. See the catholics never let the Mayas decorate the churchs until one day in the early 1900's. And dude, they jumped at the chance! They bought paints and carved animals and now it is the craziest, brightest yellow church you could ever imagine! We noticed that they never got to decorate another one...

-Hot Springs.
Mmmmm...

-Met an Amazing Local Family
David, Suzy, and Sean's new nephew - little Jose - who took us to the coast for a couple days where we wandered through ruins and went to the beach.

-Went to the Beach.
And ate a ton of seafood and didn't wear mittens!

-Spent 20 Hours on Bumpy Buses with Broken Seats.

-Swam at Semuc Champey.
That place is it's own fairytale! It is a valley filled with natural swimming pools of clear green-blue water that are fed from the mountains which then become waterfalls that feed the river that flows underneath the pools. Yeah it's a mouthful. Sorry.

-Crept through a Creepy Cave.
We explored the first few kilometers of a giant cave that links with a chain of caves 68 km long. It was complete with stalagmites and tites and various other formations, crabs and spiders crawling underfoot and bats buzzing overhead, a creepy maya sacrifical alter, and a ghost and a skeleton hidden in their respective dark corners.

-Moved to a Tree House.
We are now in Rio Dulce, living in a tree house where the only way in is by boat (which doesn't seem to go back out again). It is not easy living here - you have to swim out twenty feet to the floating dock to lay in the sun if you don't fancy lying on the dock, and the stairs to our house are pretty steep. And to top it off, it's a good two minute walk to get to the kayaks. Yes, it is a lot to contend with, but don't worry to much, we are finding ways to manage.

Well, I guess I'll stop there because I don't want to bore you. Sure I could go on, but I don't think you'd be to excited to read about things like our cribbage tournament (which I won if you were wondering!! ...well, actually I didn't, but as I'm the only one with read-write access to this thing, I can really say whatever I want can't I!)