Advertisement
Published: November 24th 2006
Yet another early morning awaited us as we arose in the middle of the night to catch a shuttle that brought us up through the Peten region in Guatemala to a river that seperates the Chiapas in Mexico from Guatemala. It was a nice, but chilly boat ride, then another bus ride to Pelenque from the opposite bank. Had a bit of a sketchy time when we found our passports couldn't get stamped at the border because they were 'out of forms', and we were stopped at an immigration checkpoint on our way to the passport office in Pelenque. Luckily, the police bought our story, but not that of the three Mexicans who were with us who we promptly left behind with the border police and carried onwards.
We had a pretty late night the first night in Peleqnue with an American girl from our dorm, so the ruins were a bit foggy in the morning, but nevertheless interesting. We then dragged ourselves to a huge waterfall, then to another that was slightly smaller but swimable.
After my first full night of sleep in about 10 days, we caught a bus to San Cristobal, which so far has been my favorite place I've seen in Central America. It's the home of the failed six hour long Zapatista revolution, and still holds a spirit of a proud independence. It's a fairly large city, but beautiful. The only shocking part was getting off the air conditioned bus in my shorts and t-shirt, only to step in to about 0 degrees. Absolutely freezing, compounded by the fact I've gotten used to 30 degree days. Good thing I mailed home my fleece when I left Costa Rica!
Today we spent the day exploring the town, and the markets. It's surprising that the Chiapas are probably the cheapest place I've visited, including Nicaragua, which is far poorer. Tonight we're off to see a reggae band tonight before heading back to Guatemala tommorow (the cold can only be withstood for so long). I guess this is preparing me for flying back to Toronto, which will probably go from about 30 degrees to -20 degrees. Great!
Ian
Advertisement
Tot: 0.057s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.038s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dad of Bulary
non-member comment
Zapatistas
You are not giving the Zapatistsa their due credit - their glorious revolutiuon lasted 7 hours not six. Get you facts right if you are purporting to comment on the grand sweeps and milestones of world history. Make sure you're not "fleeced" down there - no matter how cold!