Kediset

Hey everyone, Second day here... woke up early but not too early. I seem to have adapted to the major time change quite well :) Sleep was relatively uninterrupted. Connected with one of the volunteers, and made a new friend by accident. It all started when mom and I were looking at the games and mom pulled out the Monopoly. Oh hey... it's a Hong Kong version! In this version, the obvious difference are the property titles which would be, of course, names of places in Hong Kong. Instead of railroads, we had stations (seems to me they used subways for this instead of railroads as in the original version). Currency is somewhat different (10s instead of 1s, no 20s, etc). Not a whole lot of other differences with the game... Anywho, we were looking it ... read more

Huzzah! Home sweet San Cristobal :) But first... a recounting of the journey between point A (hotel), B (Palenque), and C (San Cristobal). We had to be up early to pack up and be ready to hop onto our transports the second they arrive. Breakfast was just like dinner last night... I had the misfortune of once again being among the first to be there, last to be served. I got dethroned from one of the best spots on the van because another classmate (I guess) decided for a change to have a back seat corner and she had reached the van before I did (obviously). It made the ride back a nightmare because I didn't want to be sleeping on either of them, but I did end up awkwardly sleeping on some of my ... read more

The lion sleeps toniiiiiight!... Ok, there's no lions around, but there are jaguars... dun dun duuuun! Didn't meet any today, much to my disappointment... the head tour guide today told us that one group he took through the jungle saw a few and high-tailed it. I would have taken 100 pictures, after fumbling with my camera for a bit out of excitement. One other thing, this is our last day in the jungle so no chance of me ever seeing one. -sigh- Anywho, today my group was the one who went hiking while the other group had their 'free day'. The hike wasn't as bad as I was thinking it might be, the path well shaded and not a whole lot of uphill climbing. We had two guides, one in front and one at the ... read more

Today is the first day here in the Lacandon Jungle, and first day that I've ever been to Mayan ruins. The one we went to today, as you can see, is the Yaxchilán ruins which are accessed by boat through the Usamacinta river which is situated between Mexico and Guatemala. The boats are long and skinny and have a cover so that we won't get sunburned along the way. The ride to the ruins was relatively uneventful, though it was mildly exciting to be between two countries. I didn't keep track of how long it took but it was quite a long ride, even with a motor. On arrival, we had to sign in and everything at the front desk, and then our coordinator told us to pair up with whoever and decide for ourselves ... read more

So... this is the last post for a while, as once I leave San Cristobal there won't be any internet access until we get back from the jungle. I am going to suffer major internet withdrawal... Started off the morning with a last day debrief where everyone had to say what was their biggest learning experience and why. Um... well... I didn't really know what to say because the 'biggest learning experiences' were things that everyone else learned so I didn't think I really had anything worth saying. Couldn't avoid answering it forever... so I just said people around San Cristobal are really nice and other stuff that could apply to any location. My bad... I never thought of it during the duration of the trip. I'd probably come up with something.. in about a year ... read more