You would think that by heading south things get warmer right? That by leaving Canada and heading to Mexico you can efficiently say good-bye to ice and snow….well apparently not…we were caught in a hail storm yesterday…that’s right HAIL!!! And not a bunch of Hail Mary’s I’m taking about good smarties (or m&m) sized hunks of ice falling from the sky….just one more element to add to San Cristobel’s CRAZY weather system!

16 days in and we have encountered our first medical situation. Claire awoke yesterday with bites all over her arms and neck. At first we thought the that she just had really bad mosquitoes bites, but as the day went on they got worse. And then we found out that at 2, 100m up here there aren’t any mosquitoes….. after a quick trip to the doctor we confirmed that those mozie bites were in fact bed bugs! So much for sleeping bag liners!

Today was much nicer, aside from the complications of creepy crawlies. We took a tour to a nearby Canyon on the Rio Grand…a day in the boat to help relieve the heat of the day. The Canyon was rather brown as the rainy season is JUST beginning now but you could imagine what it would be like at peak season with lush green walls. The alligators were by far the highlight of the trip, and all for $16!


Returning from our cruise we hung out in the park and watch a celebration of a school that had the kids doing dances and singing in the park. We gave some children our Canadian toys and they LOVED them, Bracelet’s and bouncy balls to the local children selling crafts and it was a joy. It felt like such juxtaposition to see the children on stage in pretty outfits dancing to celebrate their school’s anniversary while other children were selling bracelets in traditional garb. We soon left and watched the sunset from the cathedral.

We will be sad to leave San Cristobal’s quiet charm but tomorrow we are off to Palenque in the Yucatan so we can feed our need to “go jungle”

Cheers

Simpson and Claire

p.s. We apologiose I know that we promised some photos but there have been complications and lack of time...we aren{t sure when we will get a chance next but we are working on it to fill in the previous gaps

P.P.S We met a guy who makes Bamboo bikes....pretty kewl!

Zipolite has been relaxing….sun, beach, beer and swimming (but only when it’s safe and the swimming is a bit more of a rolling in the waves than actual swimming. It has been quiet without the boys yet we are somehow coping. We met a guy named Byron who took us out snorkeling and out into the open Ocean to see the wildlife. We thought HEY THIS IS A GREAT IDEA…it wasn’t until we were out on the ocean in the little dingy, little did I realize just how uncomfortable I was…in fact Claire and I had the ´I am so scared that I am pretending to smile to see if it helps´ expression on our faces. But soon we were calmed as we got into the rhythm of the motions. Although it didn’t help that Byron would say… “See the birds, there is something over there….ooooh and it looks big…..maybe a whale, or possibly a shark” Needless to say this did not help me whatsoever with my great fear of sharks. We saw many turtles, some with birds just chillin on their backs as they cruised along…we caught fresh fish for lunch (which was delicious)…we saw spotted dolphins, and were hoping to swim with them, but when Byron jumped in there were Jellyfish EVERYWHERE, that and the fact that it was in the big wide open ocean. The scariest thing we saw was the sea-snake…did anyone else know about this? They are pure water creatures that are some of the most poisonous snakes in the world [shudders]. Aside from the dolphins our best sight was a 500 kilo Manta Ray…this thing was HUGE and it swum right under the boat revealing its white underbelly. The “wings” I guess you would say, would surface while its body was this black sheet rippling the water around it.

We finally found a quiet beach and jumped in. Claire would a see a small jelly fish and let out a yelp which would freak me out, thinking it was a shark, and all the while Izzy and Sonya would just laugh at us. We saw some great sea urchins but the water was cloudy and aside from that we only saw a few colorful fish ….but it was nice just to swim around a bit. We had the fish that Byron caught for lunch and then returned to Zipolite.

The next day we left zipolite, but not without an experience. While we were waiting for the collective (an open back truck that literally collects people on its route and only cost $1 each) we were hassled by the taxi drivers who wanted take us for a larger fee. The taxi cabs told us that they no longer came to our pick up at that point in the day, and when one came they sabotaged us by telling him to leave and not pick us up. Needless to say we were NOT impressed so what to do…ask a local woman….who directed us to a pick up spot to get back to Pochutla. Two boys followed us who were also waiting for the Collectivo. Finally our Collectivo came and we met an Irish Guy, John, who helped us pack up our bags, it was at this point that one of the boys snatched Izzy´s beautiful camera with all the best photos and took off running. Izzy turned around ask for the camera and quickly put 2 and 2 together.

Izzy and John Took off after them, a motorist turned around and followed them along with a taxi driver (a nice one not from the others that hassled us). Unfortunately Izzy and John returned empty handed, they caught one guy who claimed he was chasing after the other guy with the camera. We got into the collectivo and headed towards our bus station to catch a bus at 7pm….leaving a bad taste in our mouths we were thinking that Zipolite might be forever tainted. Claire and I tried to cheer up Izzy with Stories we had of cameras getting stolen but for some reason the cameras were always returned, this did not help matters. When we were halfway to Pochutla a taxi driver followed our collective and honked frantically “WAIT, STOP, CAMERA” We banged on the Collectivo´s glass and he pulled the car to a halt. Turns out that when we had given up the rest of the folks on the beach chased the guy for four kilometers until they caught him, the taxi had chased after us to let us know that they were holding him the police station and they had recovered the camera. Our faith in humanity and Zipolite was restored. The girls got into the taxi and Claire, John and I took the bags to the bus station. We were extremely lucky and now have one more recovered camera story.
Claire and I waited and the girls made to the bus in time, adrenaline rushing we loaded the bags got on the bus and faced a 12 hour night bus ride which was a bit harsh on the winding mountain road.

We arrived in San Cristobal yesterday at 6:30, it is at a much higher altitude and the mornings and evenings are really chilly! We called up a hostel that would pick us up from the station, when we called they were already standing outside the station. Sweet deal! The hostel has a nice family homey atmosphere will free internet and a cool lounge, it is only slightly skeevy with bedsheets that are so thin you can see through them, Claire and I are really glad to have our sleeping bag liners! Yesterday we wandered through the markets and all the beautiful handmade crafts. At night it gets crazy cold that we need toques and than during the day it warms up to sweltering temperatures that leave us in the shade chugging copious amounts of water. Not to mention that due to the pressure, when we opened our bottles sunscreens, conditioners they all exploded. The best was the sunscreen as we were on the side walk and the locals, including a collectivo had to pull over to laugh at us as they watched us deal with the mess of the sunscreen.

Today is a relaxing day, as San Cristobal is a nicer slower paced place. The quiet colonial town we have been looking for. Today we were hoping to hit up the indigenous market and explore more of the town, tonight we will be hitting up the live music and drumming in the park.

Cheers for now,

Simpson and Claire

P.S The Computer is better here so we hope to add images to our older posts later on this evening.

Hey Kids,

I want to apologise for not keeping up with the blog, I was having internal debate as to whether or not I should continue I wasn’t sure if people were reading and I felt as though those that seemed to be responding only had less than positive views. This is not directed at any one single person but a generalized group and this is not to offended, and I am truly sorry if I have but this is also in response to personal hurt of various comments from multiple people. Luckily someone gave me better insight and helped me to realize Spelling schmelling, There is a time and a place for that, and on the road telling stories in its rawest forms of adventure is not one of those times…so for those who are more interested in the spelling, then my apologies that my grammar and such may not always be correct and I am sorry, but hopefully the content will be more intriguing then the words.

As such we continue from Mexico City….and took a 6hr bus ride to Oaxaca (¨wha-hak-a¨). You would think that the landscape was wonderful and I’m sure it was but unfortunately we were in seats with the bus logo and missed it all! Anytime we wanted to see outside we had to lean into the aisle and look out the front window by the driver…..or we had to look through the tiny holes the logo had to offer which would quickly end in headache. When we recovered from that we were forced to watch horrid B rated 80´s films in Spanish. Well, at least the foreign language made it more interesting….but still…it was rough.

6 hours later we got off the bus in sunny Oaxaca. We met a German, William, who spoke Spanish and helped us get to our hostel. Our hostel was beautiful and quirky. There was a courtyard with green plants and hammocks that gave the place a wonderfully mellow atmosphere….that was until the water ran out, which was often, and the place seemed not quite as great but it did have that vibe that seemed to make it all ok. And low-and –behold we met our American friends…..JOHN AND KEVIN!!!! This aspect quickly increased our enjoyment of the city, as well as meeting up with our British girls (Sonya and Izzy, who are now indefinitely our travel buddies for the next couple months)

The next morning we ventured to Monte Alban Ruins, The Zapotec people, With Sonya, Izzy and William. The place was bigger than we had expected…it held between 20,000 and 30,000 people. They literally cut off the top of a mountain and built their city. We stood at the sacrificial podium and looked out over the ruins, a sight so incredible that surely the people never saw this beauty until they were sacrificed. And what an honour it was to help your people by being sacrificed. The stairs were not meant for little people with their spacing and we’re talking about people littler than Claire (for those that may not know Claire is exactly 5 foot, and a great measuring tool!), For those more interested feel free to look up info on these ruins as our camera’s batteries ran out and sometimes our photos don’t always pick up the true awe of these places. Poor William, the sun soon took over us 4 women and we became silly and loopy….and William is VERY German, and about 6´3. But a quick 3 hrs later we were back down the mountain into Oaxaca…which we didn’t realize until them was a huge city and stretch far and wide….not as big as Mexico city, but still enormous and smoggy. Upon returning down we met up with John and Kevin and ran around trying to find beer…we were intending on climbing a lookout point but complications arose with the girls hostel. So we brought the party to them.
Once we caught up they won us over with intentions of leave the next night for the beach…..ah the beach, get away from the smog, an ocean to swim in when over heated, a beer in hand….needless to say it didn´t take much to tempt us to the idea….unfortunately the boys had left money in Mexico City where they were headed the next night on their way to return home….or so they thought

The next day was spent homeless, we were allowed to keep our bags at the hostel but not much else. We made a wicked breakfast with all of our left over food and were astonished that we both out-ate the boys by quite a bit….but then we began our lazing day of wandering. The four of us picked up beer and Mezcal (a type of tequila specifically from Oaxaca and a drink we shall thank for swaying decision making). Once we were set we picked up the girls and hiked to the top of a lookout point. On the way up John and Claire had a small race up that ended in John´s collapse and the beginning to our sway to bring them to the beach. At the top we watched the sun set, you were able to actually watch the sun physically sink into the mountains and watch the last of the lingering light sway and fade into slow darkness. After this and much drinking the boys (mostly John) were convinced to cancel their plans for Mexico city, throw away their tickets and instead join us at the beach.

After a hectic run around trying to pick up our packs, and convince a couple to give us their tickets for John and Kevin we were all safely on the bus. At which point John had started to sober up and was quite surprised to find himself heading in the wrong direction. SIRENS, SHE DEVILS he yelled for about two hours!

We were supposed to arrive in Zipolite at around 7 in the morning, unfortunately at about 4 am a Corona truck flipped on the narrow mountain road that we were traveling on and we were delayed in the hot, oppressive Mexican sun for six hours, with no food or water. At this point John and Kevin were not convinced that this had been a good idea. After our intense bus ride arriving in Zipolite was like a dream. A fresh sea breeze and a beach that went on for miles. While everyone else searched for accommodation John reunited with the Pacific ocean after 11 years and Claire finally shut up about a place to swim.

It was at this point that John realized the brilliance of our plan and that the whole excursion was worth it. Our title of SIREN was put on the shelf, for the moment. John will undoubtedly shout similar insults when we convince him to come to Nicaragua…. RIGHT JOHN?!?!?!

The boys have finally left for Mexico City, headed towards home. Things are quieter and not quite the same without them, but we cannot really complain with the surroundings we are in. Our time right now is split between swimming, sleeping, and lounging in hammocks, it is a tough life but somebody’s got to do it.

After a frustrating hour on the internet trying to load photos, Claire got frustrated and gave up. We will try again later, but if you are super keen on seeing our smiling faces we have some photos up on facebook.

All for now Claire and Simpson

We awoke Early yesterday morning to prepare for a breakfast date with a contact from Claire´s high school. Monsay is a Mexican mother who´s son, Pedro, is currently in grade 9 at Rosseau Lake College....currently in grade 9 you think...but didn´t Claire graduated 4 years ago? Yes she did... and did she ever meet Pedro....no....so how did we get this contact.....we'll we're still thinking this one over ourselves but regardless it was one of the best decisions we made in contacting her. We officially have a Latin American Mother that we are keeping in contact with our travels along the way, which also has significantly increased both our, and our parents, comfort levels.

Monsay took us out to a restaurant that we would never allow ourselves to eat at (based on budgeting reasons)...the fruit was delicious and the food was amazing, and incredibly filling! We were then invited to a family Lunch....a family lunch, how could we pass up such an offer than to be apart of something so wonderful. So to pass time...and walk off breakfast we were given a tour of Mexico.

DID YOU KNOW MEXICO CITY IS SINKING?.....DID YOU KNOW MEXICO CITY WAS ONCE AN ISLAND? yeah neither did we but once you're told you start to realize how may building in the downtown core are on weird angles. They are sinking a meter a year....INCREDIBLE!!!!

In the center of Mexico City there are some Aztec Ruins, these ruins were found by means of electrical maintenance, they were trying to dig down deeper but hit something hard and couldn't understand why...to they dug and discovered the ruins under the city....now the funny thing is that there are more ruins under the cathedral...however they can't take it down so they won't be uncovered until either the cathedral burns down or by some other means the cathedral is taken out. but there are some excavations that have glass look abouts where you can peer down and see skulls. We learned much about the Aztecs and some of their sacrificial methods and tools....they cut out your heart with a dull sharpened stone and this is an honour to sacrifice yourself for your people so that there can be rain or whatever is needed. Outside towards the main square are traditional Aztec dancers. From there we did a 180 and entered the Massive cathedral.

The Cathedral itself is pretty intense, it is the most important temple Latin America...and the Pope loves it (all of them), it is # 1, until it burns down then there is a 2nd in line that becomes numero uno and so on and so fourth. Inside is all gold and Jade, there are gold offerings which is respected and never stolen or touched by others. Jesus himself is a bit more intense down here and much more graphic that what we are used to back home. It is beautiful and the Organ is breathtakingly massive and beautiful. From there we ventured to the second cathedral in line....this one had a different striking appeal...we made it into a restricted area, a part of the cathedral that is only open Saturdays from 12 until 2 and only 100 people are allowed in during that time period in day. The back part was the Jesuits, The Priests has their own place where they ate and slept and have beautiful paintings that are some of the most treasured items in Mexico. The Jesuits were kicked out of Mexico and were unable to pack up all their things so they rolled up all the painting and hid them under the floors so that they could retrieve them when they were able to return...but they were forgotten over time and when the floors were being done they discovered these historical paintings.....apparently a Japanese guys wanted to buy one for about 6 million and was shot down, and this is only funded by donations alone so you have some perspective as to how important these paintings are.

after that we headed to Lunch to meet the family, neither one of us could imagine trying to consume any more food even with all the walking. We met entered this amazing dinning place where weddings receptions are held and were introduced to Spain dishes. AMAZING, the food was delicious. Although we couldn't always understand what the family was saying to one another the connection between them was wonderful and a bond I feel lacks in our culture. We were immediately accepted with open arms and kisses, even from the wee ones. A warm embrace to being apart of their family, even if only for one meal, it it moments like these that we know are what our trip is about and will stick with us longer than any museum. After lunch we said our good byes.

We quickly toured the museum of anthropology in the last hour that it was open and then walked home passing by a public photo exhibit of Quebec, weird. Upon returning to the hostel we hooked up with Izzy and Sonya (The British Girls) and went for dinner after which they headed out to Oaxaca (pronounced "Wha-hak-a") where we will meet up with them in a couple of days.

Easing back into the couches at the end of the day from our long days trek the guys at the hostel introduced us to the hostels Saturday tradition. You must finish a bottle of Tequila, with the same people that started it before the night is done...."It's TRADITIONS" So the 2 Canadians, The 3 Americans, and the two Mexicans cheersed to a night they will never remember

.....HA HA HA HA ARE YOU KIDDING ME, Claire and I gave up heavy drinking to help fund this trip we can't drink 1.7 litres of Tequila.....but we did end up drinking half a bottle of tequila and some peanut alcohol instead!

Today we are hoping to Meet up with Lucia who we were unable to contact yesterday, a high school Friend of Simpson's. Then we are planning to book it out of the city and head to Oaxaca to celebrate Cinco de Mayo tomorrow and meet up with Sonya and Izzy! It should be good fun! pictures will be up soon on this entry and on Facebook....well that's the plan!

Take it easy
Cheers,
Claire and Simpson

P.S Claire and I were commenting on how this city is not as polluted as we were expecting and told, the sky has been blue (at times)...until someone told us that we are surrounded by volcanoes, and you can only see them a couple times a year when the pollution is cleared out...yikes!

Hey ya'll

Day 2 in Mexico city, and so far so good. The people here are AMAZING and we are having a good go of things.

Our hostel is pretty centrally located with lots of interesting international folks who all follow the travelers code and are super friendly and we have hooked up with some English girls to explore the city.

This morning we had a comical transaction when we tried to buy a SIM card for our phone. Our spanish teacher would not have been proud, but we were succesful in the end and we officialy have a cell, if anyone wants to send us a text message or feels like paying an outragous fee for a quick call our number is 044 55 3046 5541

Tonight we are heading out for some drinks with a few local guys who studied at the University of Victoria. I have to say how conviient it is to buy beer with your veggies in the supermarket.

well there are other folks waiting to use the net, but closing note is that we are having a great time so far and when you are reading this and wishing you were here you should COME!!

cheers

claire and simpson