We left Noah’s house for our road trip around California. We’re heading North East towards Joshua Tree National Park. So we packed up, Noah adding stuff in the car for us; a 40-pack of mineral water bottles, a couple blankets and pillows just in case we get stuck with no hotel, some V8 (I like the stuff even if Tamar doesn’t) and a giant jar of mixed nuts. We were on our way! Neighborhoods and houses started getting further apart, the scenery started getting a bit more hilly and drier. Neighborhoods became ranches, there was more agriculture, horse farms, then cows, then nothing. It got drier and drier as we drove east. Soon we were driving up into more hilly country and the twists and turns became more frequent. The temperature kept rising… We stopped for ... read more

That’s it, today we are leaving Mexico for good. We woke up really early, brushed up and packed our toothbrushes. The taxi arrived a few minutes early. We loaded up and were on our way. The taxi driver practiced his broken English on me and we had a chat about the differences between Israel and Mexico (I think it would be much easier to list the similarities – there are none!) We got to the airport with time to spare. The check-in was quick and efficient, we got our boarding passes and through security quickly, as there were few people there so early in the morning. What Mexican in his right mind would wake up early enough to be at the airport at 7AM?! We wandered the duty-free, used the rest rooms and got a large ... read more

Today we're leaving Chiapas. It was quite an adventure! Our flight is not till six in the evening, so we had the morning to spend. We wandered around town, went looking for the Mayan Medicine museum because it seemed interesting. We walked through some of the poorer parts of town in our search, through a local market full of stalls and small shops selling pretty much anything you can think of, all mixed together. Fruits and cell phones, clothes and furniture, piglets and CDs. My favorite, I think, was a carpenter shop that sold bed headboards, chairs and fresh bananas. Eventually we found the museum and ere a bit disappointed. Such a museum has such potential, but it's placed way away at the edge of town, it's dark and gloomy inside, not well kept and nothing ... read more

So, we're going back to San Cristobal today. We won't make the same mistake as yesterday and we'll have a good breakfast with lots of coffee, and make some stops on the way. especially since we didn't sleep well what with the festivities last night... We packed up the car, but went to El Caldero for breakfast before checking out. Filled with coffee & food we left the hotel and drove to the Chiflon waterfalls. The roads were surprisingly good, especially once we got out of town and we made it to the falls in less than an hour. We paid the entrance fee (once). I'm guessing that the whole 'pay entry twice' scam is typical of the area between Ocosingo and Palenque, and nowhere else. The Chiflon falls park is well organized, there's plenty of ... read more

We had a disappointing day today. We got up early and set out towards Palenque, with planned stops at Agua Azul cascades and Misol-Ha waterfall. Maybe, if we have time and we're not too tired, we'll go see the Mayan ruins of Palenque today. If not, then tomorrow. The drive started out fine, we drove out of town and on pretty good roads. The road eventually got narrower and had more twists & turns as we drove into the mountains. Every time we passed a tiny village or even a stall on the side of the road selling coke to truck drivers there were topes. We were soon driving through a mountain jungle, twisting and turning like spaghetti, slowing almost to a stop at every tope, and gritting our teeth at the ones we didn't see ... read more