Chiapas, Mexico

Well, I guess I need to write that South America is now off the table and we are only doing Central America....if that!

Bad attitudes were ruling the day yesterday.  John told me that this trip has not been that much fun for him so far- what with Mexican music blaring night and day because of the holidays, mexican traffic (enuff to make anyone's hair stand on end), the crazy street patterns (not to mention the narrowness of the streets), paying almost every night for camping (in Baja we pay by the month and most definitely cheaper), taking money out of our accounts almost every other day, and no surf to write home about.

Will we go to Guatemala, check out the beaches there, and then visit my SIL Gwyn and then beat it back to Baja??  Or will we keep going?  That is the serious question that we are pondering at the moment.  If we can't find a beach that we like and some serious surf, why should we go on?

Of course, it doesn't help that today I am fighting a head cold, painfully worked out thighs from the Palenque Pyramids, and cramps...  ugh.

We went to Palenque and we were really in the jungle.  We stayed at the Maya Bell, a trailer park that was inside the entrance of the Palenque National Park, and we were across the street from the museum.  The Palenque pyramids are really cool to look at, but also very steep on every step and in the middle of the jungle.  While we were at our trailer park, Teresa managed to see a howler monkey family group and we all watched them for a while.  Later when I was doing handwash (which never dried there due to the humidity and lack of breeze and sunshine), we listened to the howler monkey male chase another animal away with his roars and barking.  That was totally cool to listen to.

We are now in San Cristobal de la Casas, which was the town taken over by the Zapatistas in 1994 when they were fighting for their land rights.  Of course, now it is just a colonial town that tourists go to with way too skinny streets for our camper to navigate.

More on Jan. 5th or so when we are in Guatemala City visiting Gwyn.....

Happy New Year and Belated Merry Christmas or Happy Channukah!

Michoacan, La Ticla

Well now you find me in La Ticla, Michoacan, Mexico. We crossed on the ferry on the 4th of Dec. and stayed in a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis. On the 5thy, we pulled into Villa Celeste by the surf spot Celestinos., North of Mazatlan. We meant to stay more than one night but their high season is high prices (something that we didn´t see in June when we were there off season). US $30 a night is too rich for us. Noe and Estela are doing great, but we were on our way (can you guess there was no surf!)...Dec. 6th, we pulled into Tepic and spent the night at Marbella for 385 pesos a night. Ate at El Rey Salvage (the Savage King) and had their only item on the menu, meat in its juice. Well they also added beans and bacon. 2 sizes and all of us ate for 125 pesos. Anyways, doesn´t sound good, even though it was....

Dec, 7th found us trying to escape Tepic and cursing the darn road planners and their heritage, for 2 hours. Honestly, what with all the detours and street that go from one way to the opposite way, forcing you to take other streets with no signs to update you...we finally just got on the road North again to Mazatlan and then when we were well shut of Tepic, hung a u turn. You know you are in trouble when even the traffic cops cannot explain how to get out of town...

Dec., 8th we spent the night on a beautiful beach near an abandoned hotel, El tecuan. Dec. 9th we arrived in La Ticla. We are having a great time as the surf has been consistent, the camp is 80 pesos a night with wild donkeys walking on the river that is just outside our door. Internet is available at town, some groceries available also. We´ll need to drive into La Placita to get to an ATM, which is about a 15 min. drive. One of the neighbors is doing our laundry, but I am hand washing when I can.

The mix of foreignors here is amazing. Surfers from England, Scotland, Australia, BC Canada, all over the US come here. Some come for a week, leave for a month and then come back ehre for another week. Some come here for 4 mos. at a time every year. The majority of the kids from Mexico, are from Guadalajara. They don´t seem too friendly, but I keep trying to get them too talk to us, in English( they seem to prefer Eng) or Spanish.

That huge thing on my nose erupted, and passed. >Ugh. Good riddance. I have never been so self conscious in all my life. Who knew I could be so vain??

Its pretty hot and humid here. I would say that it has been in the mid to upper 80 s every day so far. Lucky for us we bought the combo Bull frog, sunblock and insect repellent. When we remember to put it on, it seems to work pretty well. Operative word there is remember. We only have a cold shower, but what with the heat, it feels pretty good to shower in mid day. That and the Dr. Braunners (peppermint) seems to cut the heat and the itch from the bug bites that get through...

That is all for now. I will probably blog again sometime around Christmas and from Oaxaca City. For now, Happy Virgin of Guadalupe Day!!!