Saturday, December 24, 2011

Sudden decision ....

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Palenque
From Yachxilan I went to Palenque, another Maya side. The second day in the morning I had a feeling that .... it was time to go back home...
I went to Internet cafe and looked for flight ticket home. I found one cheap option from Cancun to Brussele by JetAirFly in 48h. Cancun is located only 12h bus ride from Palenque. I thought a bit about this and not telling anyone about my plans I bought it and in the evening I was already in the night bus.
I did not plan to come back already but this was an impulse. I had a feeling that it is time for me to come back, so I did it.

Hitchhiking to Maya ruins.

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Yaxchilan
From Commitan I decided to hitchhike in direction to Tonina, Maya ruins. And indeed it was an impressive Maya ruins. But my next destination was more challenging to reach - remote Maya ruins called Yaxchilan. I had two possible ways to get there. One I had to go back to Commitan and travel around on the main road or try to go on a side road. It was impossible for me to predict how often there would be a mean of transport on this side road, but it means .... adventure :)

100% Mexican party in Commitan

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Francisco and his
Mexico famous drink.
Do you remember incredible Karolka, who I met in Brasilia during carnival? She has a good friend in Mexico, Francisco ala El Nuca. I contacted him through CouchSurfing platform and I got invitation for birthday party in Commitan!!! Since I was in San Cristobal De Las Casas I managed to hitchhike to Commitnan in two hours.

My most exotic food!!!

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My most exotic dish.
During my trip I ate many exotic dishes, but the most exotic one... was the one that I preprepared myself in Mexico. It started very innocently. I wanted to cook scramble eggs, so I went to the market. On one of the stands I found... cactus. I got know from the lady that was selling it how to cook it.


MEXICO, here I am!!!!

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Mariachis
In the morning I walked up in San Pedro de Lagoon and initially I wanted to stay longer in Guatemala.... but in the evening I got to Mexico! South Mexico was said to be relatively safe, so I started to hitchhike. I managed to get to lifts at the back of the truck and I felt completely free, completely independent, completely merged with the wind.

Chicken Bus

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Beautiful chicken buses.
There is great mean of transport in Central America - Chicken Bus. It is an old American School bus which is beautifully painted and decorated. On some of them there are even silver sculptures attached. But inside.... they did not exchange seats... For most of the people it is completely fine since they are short, but I am very tall so initially I had some problems where to squeeze my legs. With time I got used to this small inconvenience. Usually in this bus there was interesting atmosphere. Loud music, packed people, interesting conversations, some small animals.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Trip to Santa Clara Mirador

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Chapi at the view point.
San Pedro de Lagoon is one of the city located close to the lake Lake Atitlan beneath the volcano. Together with Lidka, Chapi and Joner we decided to climb to the view points. It was an easy climb, but the challenge was to avoid the check point where one has to buy entrance ticket to..... this mountain. First of all we were not sure if they have right to charge for this trip, secondly, my Artesanías were on much lower daily budget than I was, so it was crucial point for them.

Market photo session.

CSC_1734One day together with Lidka we went for a photo session on a local market in San Pedro. We walked around and 90% of people were very happy that we want to take a photo of them. I like a lot few of those shots.

Artesanía

CSC_1735I promised you once to write a little bit more about Artesanías. Artesanías are people that travel and sell art that they make. They usually finance they travel and life through what they can sell. They never know if they manage to sell anything that particular days. Artesanías are usually a very interesting people. Those people are usually free of many daily worries. They love temporariness. They love the moments. I would say that they are hippies of Latin America.

They also know how and where to party!!!

School parade

CSC_0999During my very interesting stay in Jalpatagua I witness the school parade in this city. There was a school anniversary and dressed up children walked around the city. It was very interesting event. Some of them were dressed up like a beauty queens, some of them dressed up in the huge bags....