Catching up.

The 17^th:

Started off by waking up at 5am and waiting to be picked up for 6:00am, but the pickup didn’t end up being until 6:30 or so, and we left a note saying goodbye to our family along with our keys and we were off to meet up with the other group, we left San Cristobal around 7:30am. We were off on our full day of travel to the jungle. After about 2 hours we stopped for breakfast at a gorgeous restaurant on a hilltop with a really amazing view (the whole ride had amazing scenery), we then continued on our way stopping for lunch at some point and seeing our first (and almost only) jungle related animal, there were two green parrots in the tree at the restaurant! After lunch we kept on our way and finally arrived to the “campsite” area where we were staying around 7:00pm. We went off to our cabins (mine was shared with 5 others, so 3 bunk beds) and we had a view of the river/lagoon thing at the bottom of a hill, two hammocks and some dock chairs. We were exhausted and hit the hay pretty quickly, not before some of us had a shower (we were lucky enough to have two public ones to use and two toilets) so the hot water was amazing after a 12 hour drive. Some people saw a scorpion in the washroom but I missed it, thank god. The temperature at night was better then expected I had a sheet and a light blanket on while I slept. Through the night I woke up to the distant sounds of howler monkeys, which I thoroughly enjoyed compared to the traffic I would hear in our family stays. Overall the first night was really good and I slept pretty well considering it was a fairly open concept cabin and I could see through the walls and had to sleep in a bug net!

The 18^th:

We got up for breakfast and then were on our way on the 1.5hour drive to the boat that would take us an hour on the river that separates Guatemala and Mexico to a place called Yaxchilan, a site of ruins. We spent some time hiking up to the ruins and exploring them, but it is something that is very short lived because you lose interest quite quickly. We were there for 3 hours, played some cards after we were finished exploring and then we went on the 1hr long boat ride back to where we left from. We then went to a place near the campsite that has a small waterfall and a lagoon/river we went swimming in. While we were there, it began to rain, and hard. (go figure, in the rainforest there is rain, even when its not the rainy season, aha.) Our power was out for the night so a couple hours were spent sitting in blackness on the deck of our cabin. We then decided to go to bed, where a problem arose. One bunkmate (who was sleeping above me) found a spider in her bed. Not some small spider, a big gross terrifying spider. So we went through an ordeal to get it out, tuck the bed net in, she decided to move beds (totally understandable) and then as I was checking mine I looked at the outside of the bug net and saw a spider twice the size with 3x the body size with a pregnant sack on its body. Which caused a huge panic and needless to say, it created a really paranoid group of people, which resulted in me waking up many times through the night with a flashlight looking at my bed and around it to make sure the net was tucked in and nothing was in bed with me. And that was my first non enjoyment moment of the jungle.

The 19^th:

We woke up for breakfast and got ready to go on our jungle hike, only half of the group was doing this and the other half was doing bonampek (that we would be doing the next day). We met the guide and drove 5 mins up the road to the entrance; and were on our way. The first 10 mins of the trail were easy, then it progressively got more demanding and difficult. After an hour or so we arrived at the waterfall that we would be swimming at once we were finished the hike, but we were moving on to look at more ruins first, and this is where the hiking got hard. Because of the ticks and such in the jungle, we were told to wear pants on our hike, which means it was even hotter then usual and more difficult to hike. I had a really rough time with the walk and even today my legs are sore. In my opinion the ruins weren’t even worth it however once it was over the swim was. We exfoliated with a clay that the mayans use on their skin and it was incredible. We all felt so good after, and I will upload pictures once I’m home. The swimming was amazing, the water is fabulous here. We hiked back and finally were finished (in total we did around 4 hours of hiking.) and then we went to eat lunch where I had amazing French fries.

On the 20^th:

It was our day to go to Bonampek (im sure thats spelt wrong) but it was to look at ruins (and if you’re wondering, yes I’m sick of them by now) We did however only want to spend an hour and a half there, so we went and looked around and then left to come back to go swimming in a beautiful area off of the campsite and we spent most of that time making underwater videos. Like I had said before the swimming here has been amazing, all the water is so clear and fresh feeling. After we swam we had the rest of the day to ourselves, most of which was spent sitting in the sun which was a nice break from all the stuff we’ve been doing to keep busy lately. So we relaxed all day and then spent our last night hanging out on the porch and going to bed fairly early, again.

Today:

We left the jungle, we packed up the last of our stuff and hopped into the bus and drove first to a place called Agua Azul (Blue water) and we went swimming, I don’t have pictures but everyone else will but if you google it, you can see where we were. Then we had lunch and were off to our next destination Misol-ha (that you can also look at google images and see where we swam.) we were only there for a short time and then we came to the hotel. Today wasn’t very eventful just travel and swimming but it was a nice mixture, not exhausting like all the other days we’ve gone through.

Tomorrow we’re going to the Palenque ruins, and then driving back to San Cristobal for the night, and the 23^rd is my travel day where we’re off bright and early to the airports. I will have internet tomorrow night so I will be able to update one more time before I’m home but until then, live long and prosper.

LOL

And they're off!

Today is our last day in our family stay in San Cristobal De Las Casas. And for what its worth, i'm thrilled to be leaving. I don't think i have fully described the conditions as i didn't want anyone to worry. Anyways, our family doesn't speak to us, they answer the odd question and ask if we're eating meals but thats about the extent of it. They leave the house at night around 10:30-11:30pm to go sleep at their place and don't return until between 6:30-7:00am. Our room is very close to the street so the noise is always extensive. The food has been chicken and rice just about every day since we got here and we've been ill since moving in. It seems to be very much a business transaction for them to have us stay here and they don't really want anything to do with us. So the homestay was a positive experience for everyone except us, which has been really unfortunate. So we're the only pair who is thrilled to be leaving, But everyone back home no need to worry, after seeing the doctor and now we'll be leaving the house things can only go up from here.


Tomorrow at 6am we depart to the Lacondon Jungle, the only rainforest left in North America. We will be staying in cabins with bunk beds, doing things like visiting ancient ruins, boating on the border of guatemala and mexico, hiking, swimming and of course, relaxing. We won't have internet there (obviously) so from tomorrow until the 20th or so, but i will keep track of what we do and post a blog once we come back to the hotel in Palenque on the night of the 21st. If i can't get internet there i will for sure have it on the 22nd, and then the morning of the 23rd we begin our full day of travel home! :D
I hope all is well with everyone and i can't wait to come back to canada! 

Oh i forgot to mention that today we were invited to a village in Chamula for a community lunch, it was really interesting and i will elaborate on it at home more. I am feeling better today and i was able to get my prescription filled so i will be taking that tonight again and hoping to be ALL BETTER in the morning for our 9 hour bus ride, blechk. 

love. <3  

Monday Monday

Monday we continued with our Natate projects, so up the stairs we went again to do some more digging. After it was quittin' time i went to pick up my laundry, came home to chat/email/shower and then in the afternoon we were going to meet at the treehouse for a de-brief. It was fairly productive for the most part and we got lots out of the way. Only 2 days until we leave for the jungle!! i'm so excited, it really is going to be an awesome adventure.

Today i am visiting the doctor to hopefully get something for my constant upset stomach, i will update on the result of that after. As a result of that i won't be going to my project today (oh darn) but hopefully will be attending the evaluations this afternoon. Tomorrow is our debrief of san cristobal and then thursday we meet at 6AM TO LEAVE FOR THE JUNGLE. (it's an 8 hour drive or more, blechk.)

Also an early heads up, i won't have internet in the jungle, (obviously) so from the night of the 16th-at least the 19th i won't be updating but i will write and then post them all when i get back to internet! :)

The last few days

Friday: We went with our Natate Groups again but we were helping to set up for an event, we were carring paintings to the most gorgeous hotel i've ever seen, and then arranging some flowers for an exhibit they were holding. All in all we didn't do much that day, we were off at 1 o'clock and then a little while later we toured the market and went to a bead store (i'm going to start making earrings) and then that was about it.

Saturday: We did a project with Natate as a whole group. We took two combis out of town to a village called Teopisca and then we took two open backed trucks up the mountain (most fun i've had the whole trip, by far.) of course i wanted to sit on the edge again, up to a property waaay up the mountain. The scenery was gorgeous, the land was nothing short of stunning and what they're doing there was amazing. They're basically a group of volunteers from all around the world (people come and go) and they live off the land, they have worm compost bins, a greenhouse, outdoor gardens, a dry toilet, and they made the house themselves. They sleep on cots inside of tents in the house, they use rain water as their water (accept they will bring jugs of drinking water up from time to time) and they for the most part only use their ingredients or local ingredients. The whole thing was amazing, after the tour and explanation of the place we were able to choose from 3 jobs to do. 1, make adobe bricks for the try toilet. 2, plant a garden. 3, build a chicken coop. I chose the adobe, with full awareness i would be covered in mud once i was done. The process consists of using the mud and mixing in pine needles and then putting in sand of the dried mud we were using to turn it into a thick clay. And how do we mix it? with our bare feet.

So the learning experience was pretty amazing, the people we've met through Natate has been really fabulous and i'm really glad we got to do this day, it has been my favourite so far.

Today is a free day and after having to walk down the mountain instead of take trucks, my legs are killing me thanks to my Reetone shoes, so i plan on being lazy for lots of the day. We do however have to go out for meals but until then i may blog and read and sit around.

4 days until we leave san cristobal and go to the jungle, 10 days until i leave for home! :D

5 million

My uncle posted a blog asking the question, "What would you do if you had $5 million? And I don’t mean “what do you want; as in, what would you buy”, what I mean is: what do you desire to do—that you aren’t doing now—that you would be doing if you had $5 million? And if you can answer this question, then ask yourself: is this all that’s holding me back from doing what I desire most? Is the fear of not having enough money the one thing that is keeping me from doing what I desire?" 

Which got me to thinking, often i would answer this question with traveling, helping family, buying a house, etc. but within that, i would really like to have work be an optional thing in my life. Not to have to go to work everyday, but to be able to find something i love to do and do it, without worry of money, without settling for a job that i'm unhappy with. To be able to stay home, be a mom, make my jewelry, focus on more photography, be able to appreciate the time i've got on my hands each day, instead of it flying by because i'm distracted with unhappiness. So what would i do if i had 5 million dollars? i would buy a house with rooms for a library, josh's editing suite and somewhere to make my jewelry, and keep the rest aside for whenever we need it. 


I don't want to live life saying "i wish i did that when i was younger." I want to cross everything off my bucket list.


I highly recommend reading his blog.
http://ejlister.blogspot.com/

Yesterday i took a sick day, which was definitely a good thing to be able to take the time and rest and process and everything. So there wasn't anything to fill in on, this morning however i woke up and we are starting a volunteer project with an organization called Natate, we split into 3 groups and i'm with the group working on gardening and then eventually building a small shelter. Today we were digging to plant raspberry bushes and to put in posts for a fence for them to grow on. We will be doing this tomorrow as well, and Monday and Tuesday. The catch? The project is on the extremely large and excessive stairs i had posted earlier...So we have to climb these each day!

We only work from 9am-1pm so after that its free time. Saturday we will be doing a project all together for just the one day. We leave for the jungle in one week, and leave for home in 13 days!

Oh and a little tidbit of information, people keep their dogs on their roof, to prevent roof jumping, also, where else are they going to put them?

Down Slope.

We're on our 15th day in mexico, 14th in San Cristobal.
This is the point in the trip where we're supposed to hit the down slope, and i'm hitting it hard.  The noise, the exhaust smell, the frustration with our family, the constant stomach aches and bathroom trips, the body aches, the heat, the cold, the food, the language barrier, just about everything is hitting me hard that i'm not happy with here. I don't mean to make the whole trip sound awful but its just everytime i have a good day, i have 3 bad ones. This trip is an amazing opportunity yadda yadda yadda, i miss my bed, our food, my apartment, josh, my slippers, my shower, EVERYTHING.Now there are things i can do to get out of this slope, and if my stomach keeps this up, i'm going to resort to staying home and trying to get better tomorrow and missing a day.

I also am frustrated because i need a change of scenery, we've been in this city for 2 weeks and i'm finished here, time to move onto somewhere else. Lets hope the stomach aches stop by then though.

Anyways, so today we went to Freeba, a Human Rights organization that is very well known around the world, we got some awesome information from them on the history of Chiapas and the Zapatistas. We had a break for lunch and i went to the market to buy some gifts for people back home and then we were meeting again at 5 for a different task. We met and went to meet an organization, Natate, who does partnerships for jobs with habitat for humanity and other organizations like that for volunteer opportunities. We're working with them for 5 days before we go to the jungle, and i'll update more on that when i have the details but for now i'm going to head to bed and hope i feel better.

miss you all. <3