December 16, 2003 San Cristobol de las Casas

Greets from Southern MExico.

Just got back from an amazing boat trip through a really famous canyon that I don´t rememebr the name of.

Apologies for spelling, etc, the keyboard here is quite poor

So the walls of this canyon are 2400 feet high, and we wewere in a speedboat crusing the entire 15 miles of this amazing place. The walls of the canyons are covered in nice greenery and as we went into and out of the light, the colors faded and came through, along with the reds from the stark sheer cliffs too.

If all this wasnt enough, we saw a whole bunch of crocodrillos, as they call their crocodiles. The first one wasn´t too big, only 15 feet long, and he wsa nice enough to open his mouth for what I hope was a pretty amazing picture. The next one was 25 feet lng and just huuuuge and scary and he was nice enoughto sit and do nothing to scare me while I took some pix of him. I would say that I was uncomfortably close to this huge thing.

Then the best part of the trip was the end. We wrapped up at this dam, which is 600ft tall, and probably would have been really amazing to look at but we were on the top of it in the lake, so I dont really know how tall it is, but it must be tall, eh? And then The guy tells us that the monument that is by the dam, a really huge scuplture of three guys back to backtoback is a monument dedicated to the engineers who built the dam. Well, thats the first dam monument to an engineer I´ve ever seen and made me feel pretty special.

After that we cruised back thru the canyon again, and there was annoying y oung mexican couple joking and kissing and flirting in the back of the boat right behind me and I was thankful for our American virtue of not having su ch embellishing `public displays of affectino. Ah well.

So spent a few days sitting in the Zocalo of Oaxaca before coming here to San Cristobol. Been staying in some pretty fun ýouth´hostels, and met quite a few foreigners. I am pretty surprised that there are so few americfans traveling here and lots of europeans and aussies. Kinda nice too, as I am on a bit of a vacation from Americ.

Speaking of Los Estados, I arrived here and was greeted by full front pàge pix of a funny looking ex'iraqi dictator. I guess its nice that they caught him, bu t my first thought was that it probably locked up the reelection of ol senor Bush who is disliked by me, and hated by just about any foreign person I have met.

Wow there is just an absolutely amazing market here in down. I Am trying to decide if I should buy $200 of stuff and take it back home and sell it. Purses and rugs and jewerly and just amazing vibrant cfolors. I certainly liked all the stuff.

Food here has been pretty good. I´ve been real happy with my spanish and have been eating lots of snacks on the street and trying little things. It is a totally different experience than my last Mexico trip or trips wh en iI was working for P&G and usually on expense and when not, had enough cash to enjoy the finer things. I enjoy how close I am to the culture, but am also seeing how many people feel about all the rich tourists running around....they have a bit of angst and are quite skilled at ripping people off. IT is a quite different feeling than I´ve had elsewhere, becaus, to me, it seems MExico is just too close to the UISA and somehow that makes the locals all the more angry. Usually people try to rip ya off, but its just good business, here, they seem a bit um, what do I mean, insulted perhaps. Things aren´t very cheap in MExico either, not that much less than back home, so unlike other place sI I hve been, we are not super rich compared to lots of locals traveling. If this made no sense, I apologize, it sa bit of a ramble.....çç


So what else? Decided to have a nice meal tonight and guess whos cooking? Moi! One of my friends wanted to make it a market day to practice her spanish, so while I hotrodded thru the canyon she got all the goodies for the meal and I thnk itll be pasta and chicken and salad with a little lime mexican flavor. I am pretty hungry and looking forward to it.

Spending another day here and then off to PLaya Del Carmen to meet up with my sis. Can´t wait to get there, sit on the beachg, relax!

Oh, heh, and if I hear Feliz Navidad again, and I am assuredly bound to hear it an additional infitude of times, I am going to kill someone!!!!!! Songs with english and spanish in them are of course more hip down here, and Feliz is kinda the prototypical Spanglish song of all time. Sigh!!!

Hope all´s well!!

Ryan

December 9, 2003 San Luis Potosi

Would ya believe I´m back in Mexico. Beginning a month long jaunt
through my old stomping grounds. Because, ya know, I used to work down
in Mexico.

And wow, has it changed. Or have I changed? Or both?

Well, lady luck was going my way yesterday. I caught the city bus to the
train station with scant seconds to spare. Had the light been green, I
would have missed it. Then I managed to catch the 10am bus from Austin
to the border. I didn´t even get there until 10.05, it was running late,
so I lucked out there, and then bought a night bus ticket to San Luis and
was the first person to buy a ticket. The thing was almost completely
empty. So much for my fears of not getting a bus seat!

So that all went really well. Nuevo Laredo isn´t to nice a town, but
here in San Luis its really beautiful. The architecture is fabulous with
little squares all over the place and tree lined boulevards, tons of
pedestrian streets, and clean. My only beef, and its kinda a big one, is
there are no outdoor, al fresco type cafes or bars or restaurants. The
weather sure calls for it. Sitting in these cafe´s is always one of my
favorite things to do.

So the altitude here is really high, 6000ft, and I´m feeling it. I´m a
bit sick....either from the night bus or getting ready, or the altitude.
I´m guessing a little of all, but a lot of the altitude. I feel terribly
dehydrated and can´t seem to drink enuf water ....something I recall from
my days working in the Plant, which was also pretty high.

So yeah, Mexico seems different. It seems, so far, so clean. And it
seems expensive. The prices in my book, circa 1999, are almost double.
I certainly remember it being less expensive, but I was also on the
company expense acct, and had a job, and hadn´t been to such places as
India and Africa where it really is cheap. I expected it to be more
expensive, so no big deal. The two towns I´m going to next are much less
expensive as they´re farther south.

Discovered a new dish today, a Poza, which is a kind of soup. It has
great flavor and its almost more like a mexican stew. Bit spicy, loaded
with flavor, and it was the perfect fit for the little cold I´m fighting
thru.

I really enjoyed walking aroudn today taking pix of all the churches and
arcades, they call San Luis the city of Portals, and would like to spend
a little more time here but it seems pretty boring. I haven´t spoken a
word of English since I arrived, haven´t seen a sole tourist, and while
sometimes a little solitude is nice, I´d prefer some company on my first
day out.

Ah, what else? Ah yes, hassle. I got pretty sick of some of the hassle
in India and Egypt. Goes with the territory. I had forgotten how laid
back Mexico is. In India, you can´t walk 5 steps without someone asking
you for a taxi, or begging, or trying to get you to buy something. When
I arrived at the bus station this morning, I walked past the taxi stand
and did not get a single ¨Taxi?¨which is one of the most amazing feelings
I´ve ever had. Not good, not bad, just kinda odd, like you expect to
hear it but don´t. So that´s nice. I guess gringos and Americans are
so common here that they don´t bother them. There are also posted prices
everywhere which is nice .... don´t ahve to haggle over everything....and
also have had some conversations with some locals that, while difficult
for me, have been rewarding. I really missed speaking the local language
in lots of other gountries I was in.

So trying to decide what to do next. I think I may leave for Oaxaca
tomorrow, but I want to visit a friend in Puebla for the big festival on
Friday. The two things dont´really go together so I have to figure out
how to handle that.


Other than that - it feels great to be back in Mexico. The freedom of
travel is flowing in my veins too and that feels good. And its pretty
warm, although I suspect I´ll be glad i packed my sleeping bag while
sleeping tonight! The altitude! Maybe its a hint....telling me to get
to the beach...hmm...??

Off to get some sleep and get healthy!!!