Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Cañón del Sumidero

Over an hour away from San Cristobal lies a very well known tourist attraction: some nice canyon in which you take a boat ride to enjoy seeing the water, some birds and an occasional crocodile. One great thing about a crocodile here is that the Spani word is cocodrilo, which I personally like a lot :)
One cocodrilo lazing in the sun
The trip itself is quite nice but not too exciting. Perhaps I've been to too many boat rides and many of them had a much nicer background. Allowing swimming in the river to cool down from the heat and cleaning the huge loads of trash from the river bank could definitely have raised the bar here. Amazing that something designated as a national park (or whatever the term is - they charge money for entrance) is so horribly dirty with trash that has obviously been there for a long while.
Not much current in the river but the life jackets make it look adventurous



One Frognector appreciating the view

One pelican who couldn't care less

Monday, February 24, 2014

San Cristobal de Las Casa, Chiapas, Mexico

Feel good to be back on the road. Chiapas seems to emerge as my favorite state in Mexico. San Cristobal de Las Casas is very colorful, relaxed and has lotsa different faces with less European genes in them than other parts in Mexico. Only downside was the weather is so much colder than on the coast due to the elevation. Next time I'll come here at summer.
Mangoes

Shampoo and Conditioner

Much colder than before

God's light enters the church

Breastfeeding in public is quite common in SanCris

Quite a good falafel, considering we're far from the middle east

Gotta keep in shape, now that I don't have the ocean so near

Many pro women rights graffiti around.

Not many vegan-friendly items in the bakery but these were good

Random Hebrew eatery expressions all over the sun

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Goodbye Mazunte

Today I'm leaving Mazunte after 3 months of staying here. It's been the place I've stayed longest during the last years and, truth be said, it's not because it has been one of my favorites, but because I was tired of traveling and wanted a good rest near a nice beach.
A visitor to the family house


While detail-wise it seemed like it could have been the perfect place (beautiful beach, chilled vibe, good combination of tourism and long term denizens, music shows and parties almost every night), different places interact differently with different people at different times. While the mosquitoes, the flies, the uncleanliness of the family house where I lived in and the lack of proper Internet are all things that I could manage well, the fact I haven't met enough people with whom I felt I could communicate on a deeper level was more disappointing. The parties have mostly had Cumbia music, which I've come to extremely dislike after being brainwashed with it over n over here. Gutting different fish and shark catch on the beach and throwing their smelly content back into the water didn't make me feel better swimming in them, neither as a vegan or a person with a functioning sense of smell. Add some water cuts, Internet cuts, toxic smoke from burning trash and you'll see this piece of paradise won't be the first place to which I'll go back to. It's definitely not a bad place, just wasn't a very good one for me.
Selfie became one of the top words of 2013...
Now let's go for the good things as without them I'd have left long ago. I've hosted different people, both friends and CouchSurfers I've just met, some of whom I was extremely happy to have around. I went to swim nearly everyday and believe it did good to my general health even though there were some things to counter-balance that good :) I played a lot of guitar on the beach. I did manage to push forward on Colnect and January 2014 has shown a considerable surge in traffic. I did feel well having my own place and preparing my own food mostly.
Colnect is kicking STRONG!


That's it, now a short tour of Mexico and then towards London.
Me, taken by Judy



Caguama might mean a turtle, but it's more importantly a large beer bottle (between 940ml and 1200ml most often)

Eating and playing guitar with friends

Smugness does occur

So do partial haircuts



Funky shape of airloom tomatoes

Jaw harp I got in Cambodia

Water bottle truck selling filtered water. Scams apparantly abound with these as well, most often trying to replace a plastic bottle in good condition to a crappy one. The bottle's deposit is 50 peso whereas the water itself 11-13 peso so guess where the money's at :)

Pochutla hospital is NOT recommended. This chart shows alleged maximum waiting times for patients who ask for medical attention. We've waiting nearly 3 hours and got a friendly but not very professional assistance.

To those unfamiliar with the spiritual side of "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the OTHER side" - here's one who has reached nirvana



Mazunte can surely make anyone go bananas!

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Sunrise, Moonrise, Sunset, Mazunte

Here are some beautiful pictures from Mazunte. They haven't been edited, aside from cropping. Mind the location of the sun at sunrise on consecutive days. Really easy to see how it moved. The moon rise today has been amazingly beautiful. The pictures are just a fragment.

Mazunte Sunrise Feb14

Mazunte Moonrise Feb14

Mazunte Surise Feb13

Mazunte Sunrise Feb12

Punta Comete Sunset

B&W Punta Comete Sunset

Mazunte Moonrise Feb12