tequila the right way, tortas, oaxacan meat market, perdido en escondido, matisland

The shuttle got us into San Cristobal de las Casas around 5pmish and we sussed out a hotel before heading out for food and drink.  Had a great torta cubana and then went out for just.one.drink as typical with Alby and I.  Since we were the only people at the bar (twas like a Tuesday night) we sat at the bar and chatted up the bartender for the night.  He's a "tequilero" as they say, aka a tequila lover, so he taught us all about different tequilas and mezcals.  Even showed us how they drink theirs, with a sip and then a sip of water or sangrita, which is kinda like a tomatoey/woerstchire/barbecuey marinade.  As the only customers, we ended up trying quit a few tequilas and got home a bit sloppy.  

San Cristobal is like a fancy Antigua pero without the gross amounts of white tourists...yes, it's touristy, but mostly from south america or europe.  So we took a night bus the following day to Oaxaca.  Sleeping pills gave us a bit of rest but sleeping on a moving bus/plane/watev is never very comfortable.  Got into Oaxaca in the morning and started putzing around town.  Honestly our experience revolved around the food and food markets there.  Had mole obvi, chilaquiles, etc.  Then we found a hallway off the main food market that was just meat.  All meat.  And grills.  Meat and grills.   Nough said.  

After a couple days gorging in Oaxaca we took a bus to Puerto Escondido.  Really nice beaches with great surf but too touristy for my liking.  Passed a couple days eating and lounging around the beaches before we hopped on a bus down to Mazunte.  Isolated, really tranquil spot.  Alby and I are sharing a crackden shack overlooking the ocean.  Lots of naughty time seafood for cheap.  Though in my opinion there's way too many hippies here.  Like naked yoga, family with two dads and a mom, more necklaces than all of the Claire's in the world, etc.  Going on a snorkeling/fishing trip tomorrow so hopefully that's fun.  Hopefully we have time to visit some of the other beaches as well.  

Then flying to Mexico City to meet up with Coreen and watch some lucha libre.  hasta prontito cabrones.  

aussie rules, demo gardens, cuando te vayas, mexico

Bout to leave Guatemala for Mexico manaña.  First lesson learned in Guatemala is don't make bets with Aussies.  They don't play games.  Looks like I'm the hook for now but asi es i guess.  Really haven't been doing anything to exciting hurr in Xela.  Mainly been running around tying up loose ends I left from last time and building a small demo aquaponic garden for Juan Pablo to take to presentations and such.  We actually built a really sweet setup, using a media-based grow bed, bell siphon and supplemental airlift pump.  Gah, my parents would be so proud of the engineer I've sorta but not really become.  

Finally ate ceviche from the back of a truck which was a pretty tasty midday treat.  Leavin la chinita will be tough but who knows where we might meet up next.  One things for sure tho - def need to come back to latin america an improve my spanish.  Alright that's it for now.  On to San Cristobal tomorrow.  Vaya con dios, brah.

jungle trance, sleeping in the trees, 18 hours, practica de lengua, fishies

Man were we ready to bounce outta LA.  Flew from LA to Mexico City and killed the 5 hour layover by drinking all afternoon.  Probs not the best idea.  Landed in Costa Rica at midnight hungover and then jumped over to the 24 hr Denny's by the airport to wait til our 5am bus to the border.

Was comatose on the ride over to Los Chiles, ate some breaky then took a boat down the river to the Nicaraguan border.  From there, hopped on another boat down the Rio San Juan and stopped in a nothing town, Sabalo, then transferred for another boat to go deeper into the jungle.

Arrived at our destination, El Castillo, and booked a place to stay.  Really in the thick of the jungle and only accessible by the irregular boats that pass by, the town was just what we were looking for.  Set up a tour with a local guide but since he wanted to spend New Year's Eve with his fam, we kicked it for a couple days in the town of about 75 peeps.

Woke up to a cayman in the river outside our room, toured the city, etc., then hopped aboard the sauce train.  Spent the Eve drinking El Caballito, to which we gave the nickame of horse tranquilizer.  Hung out with our guide's family for a bit which was awesome then spent the rest of the night at a jungle trance running around the dance floor.

Woke up to pissing rain and a raging hangover the next day.  Hating life, Alby and I got in our canoe along with our fav Kiwi couple and the two guides.  We paddled down river and to quote Forrest Gump, it was raining so hard I didn't know if the rain was coming down or up.  We spent the next few days canoeing downriver, trekking through the jungle and fishing.  It was pretty much the perfect way for us to spend New Year's.  We had to catch what we ate, shared the river banks with crocs and slept in hammocks.  The first night was pretty tough actually.  Everything was simply soaked and I slept for just a few hours.  Restless all night, I knew it was about morning when the jungle started echoing with the calls of howler monkeys which pretty much sound like girls from Staten Island having an orgasm.

We slept on an island in the middle of the river the second night, and after splitting a sleeping pill, the two of us slept solidly for like 10 hours.

On the last day we had a midriver pickup where we paddled out to a passing boat and they brought us back up river to El Castillo.  Spent a few uneventful days heading up north through Granada and Leon and then bussed it back to Antigua.

From Antigua my feral friend went off to do Semuc Champey and Tikal and I spent a day in Guatemala City before coming back to Xela.  Got weird with some locals and checked out a really sweet permaculture project that takes kids off the streets.  Glad to be back, checked the garden, the fish are still alive and the garden's almost completely cycled so woohoo.

Twas actually reallllly nice being back by myself cuz it gave me the chance to start hanging out with my Guatemalan friends.  Started seeing one of my friends so that's been nice.  And they weren't kidding that dating improves your Spanish exponentially.

Chilling here for another 10 days or so then time to head north through Mexico.  hasta pronto.