Travel Fatique

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Im feeling more out of kilter and sad today - not sure if it is this place (which is raved about), just my mood, if I am PMSing or some combination of all the above. Tommorow morning am heading back down to Palenque - maybe to some different ruins Bomparak (sp?) as well and then to Villerhamosa for about a day to see some Olmec heads and from there I will decide whether I head up the coast to Vera Cruz and then inland or back down to Merida and the Yucatan. Transport is better from there cause I like seeing the countryside and most buses leaving from here are night buses.

Im not going to Guatemala for now - not sure why not, but at the moment it does not appeal. Maybe it is my mood, or maybe it is traveller fatique but there are moments I want to go home - if only I had one, and maybe that is what I long for. Maybe that is the difference between me and some of the others - especially those on the few week - one month holiday - they know what they are going back to and have a base from which to go. This is a feeling that over the past few journeys has hit me about this far into the trip - a longing for a home but I also like the stimulation of travel and the interaction with others. Hopefully I{ll cheer up in a day or so cause I do feel like a cloud is over my head and that I am attracting less than ideal circumstances - feel vibed out alot.

Last night after I wrote I ran into Dan? again who Ive met up with since Campeche - and ended up having dinner with him which was nice cause I had been feeling a bit isolated. Talking American politics.

Today I went on a very disappointing tour of two nearby villages - should have gone with another company cause Ive heard that some guides are absolutley wonderful telling you about contemporary society and religious traditions. Unfortunately our guide (we were a group of 3) was arrogant and tended to talk more about how poor many other tours were and how great he was (hopefully most of us know that the great dont do that) and he provided extremely superficial information and could not answer many questions or provide details. This is what I mean be not attracting good things.

The first village we went to was Zinacantan where tours visit local homes - mud floor and tv, all bed in one room with cooking out back and central courtyard where they had a loom and sold textiles (more shopping) The village is small and empty but was interesting to learn that it specializing in growing flowers and open greenhouses dot the land. We then went to San Juan Chamula where they hold a big market on Sundays and where there is a famous temple that was very interesting but I would have liked more info - it was briefly a catholic church but now functions for the local religions and healings - saints line the walls but have a different meaning than in traditional catholism (alot of mayan religion has been fused with christianity so while we recognize saints and others, the relations with them are different and they often also refer to Mayan dieties. There were no pews or seats in the church and the floor was covered in pine branches - here people come to have healing ceremoinies and several were in different areas with a multitude of candles, pop, and in one group a chicken in accordance with traditional beliefs and prayers and chanting. Was very interesting - could not take photos in that village.

An early day tommorow cause my bus is at 715 am.

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Comments

[stefano]

cheer up
hi alice, i get your blogs in my email box so i'm listening and i'm on the same wavelength as you right just grumpy about everything, but today seeing the longer sunlight hours really brightened things up as well as getting your cheer up email. Anyway, just know that i'm an email away and you could probably come back to canada or buy a van or something. he;; you can even write a book! how many women do what you do? I'm sufe there's a market for it, especialy since you write how you're feeling! that's teh juice, althuough i'm sorry that you're feeling down, just remember stefano loves you...