What's Next? 54 Mexico 2012

Sat., Mar. 24, 2012 at 7:33 p.m.

I am back in San Cristobal for the next five days.  It was hailing just before I arrived and there is still ice everywhere and it is cold, just like Vancouver this time of year.  I had an uneventful busride from Palenque where the temperature is well up into the thirties.  What a contrast.  In Palenque this morning there must have been dozens of police armed with machine guns doing a road check.  Seeing the ruins there has been a lifelong dream of mine but there is no way I´m going back.  Too hot, too many armed police and it doesn´t feel safe.  I´m back at the same hotel and there was some confusion about finding me a suitable room since my previous is being used and I was hoping for something away from the street and away from reception.  We finally have something that will work.  The cab driver taking me here from the bus terminal was a dork, talking most of the time on his cell phone.  I didn´t say anything and I didn´t tip him.  I´m still feeling whoozy and am probably still recovering from my health issues last week.

Sun., Mar. 25, 2012 at 3:16 p.m.

I actually walked into a glass door today.  I was walking through the hotel restaurant on my way outside this afternoon following waiting out yet another hail and rainstorm.  They must have just washed the glass because it looked like it was open, so I have a nice and rather sore little bump above my left eye now.  One of the restaurant staff came outside to see how I was doing (the staff here at this hotel overall have been fantastic!)  I told him that when people are on vacation, even someone as perfect as me, half the brain goes dead and usually stays that way till we´re back at home.  It´s been otherwise a day of small events.  I did a couple of walks and sat inside a cafe until it seemed pretty clear that the rain was coming then I just beat the storm back to my hotel.  For a while I lay down in my room, then I sat outside in the sheltered outdoor patio to watch the rain and hail come thundering down on the patio.  There was also a lot of thunder.  Nature rules supreme in this part of the world and all you can do is accommodate her power. I also stopped inside a couple of churches.  They all have beautiful chandeliers hanging from the wooden ceilings and often soaring columns and gilt work on the altars but very little stain glass except in the one I visited this morning.  What also stood out about this place was the relative absence of religious statues or Jesus mannequins which tend to make a lot of Mexican churches look like creepy wax museums. All of Mexico is abuzz about the Pope´s visit.  It seems to be for many a positive distraction from the many troubles that plague this country.  Regardless of what I might think of the Vatican I am actually glad for them that they have this.  It is amazing in this state of Chiapas, one of the poorest in the country, how well the people do here with so little.

Monday, March 26, 2012, 6:32 PM

I am waiting out my last days here in San Cristobal, but mostly looking forward to returning home.  Things familiar beckon me and I can´t think of a better time to return to Vancouver than early April, when Spring is just picking up momentum.  I have mentioned several times that the main focus of this trip has been to work on my Spanish.  I feel that there has been some success here, though it is still not the same as living here, which for me (thank God!) is not an option.  The people here in this city as other Mexicans I have encountered are great.  Noisy, but kind.  Noisy, but cheerful.  Noisy, but fun.  I am looking forward to peace and quiet living again among grumpy, dull and self-centred Canadians, though I also know that I will miss this place, because it is my experience that one often does not appreciate where one has been till sometime after one has returned home. My other reason for taking a trip this long has been that of self-assessment and self-exploration.  I am entering into a new phase of life, my senior years, soon, and I want a better grasp, or a better knowledge of who I am, and of what kind of accumulated baggage I still carry and if I can shed some of it.  To do this effectively there is no substitute for travelling, alone, for a few weeks, and putting yourself in a foreign environment.  I feel this has been very successful and despite some of the bumps and grinds along the way I would do this again, though maybe for not quite so long. Travelling alone can be a bit of an endurance test.  There but for the consolations of social media go I.  It has been great being able to stay in touch with all of you by e-mail and some of your e-mails have been very uplifting and strengthening for me.  What I find interesting about travelling solo is the way it forces you to accept your environment on its own terms.  If you are travelling with your family, spouse, lover, or friend, you always have with you that protective buffer of familiarity.  If you´re from Canada as I am, for example, you and your fellow-visitors are bringing with you a little piece of Canada that will safely coddle and envelop you while you season and spice up your beloved Canadian familarity with a bit of exotic warmth. Travel alone for a while and that comfort is no longer there.  You are more vulnerable and you have to somehow learn how to make yourself at home in this strange and foreign place. My hotel is a mixed blessing, as hotels often are.  Principally what I don´t like about it is it is often very noisy and noise echos throughout.  It is a converted colonial house, a big one, and it is designed along the same plan as the other houses here in San Cristobal.  It is designed like a quadrangle surrounding a patio or garden, with galleries of rooms on each side. There is glass over part of the patio, creating a lovely tropical garden.  Upstairs the patio is open to the sky.  But this design, as I said causes noise to echo and the chamber maids start their work early at eight thirty and they do not work quietly since they are Mexicans and they love to chat and socialize while they work together which rules out sleeping in as an option.  The other downside is my room is always dark and cold.  I think I told all of you that it gets very cold here at night, often almost down to freezing.  Here you have all four seasons within the same twenty-four hours.  There is no heat in the rooms and the last couple of nights I have had to wear my Mexican hoodie to bed, although my bed is covered with a thick comforter and two blankets. The staff however are very kind and there is not a thing they will not do that is within their power to make your stay enjoyable.  I was particularly moved by the care and concern they showed me last week when I passed out from food poisoning and electolyte loss.  The restaurant is also very good, specializing in whole natural foods with a generous vegetarian selection on their menu so there we have one less thing for me to complain about. Today I visited the local chocolate museum.  Chocolate is a local industry since it is grown on local plantations here in Chiapas and some of the local cafes serve up delicious chocolate beverages.  Among other things today I learned that there are twenty -four species of Cacao trees, all originating here in the American Tropics, and that only one is generally cultivated for the production of chocolate though a couple of other species are used locally and produce an inferior grade of chocolate.  I also learned that the chocolate drink that was enjoyed by the Mayan and Aztec rulers as the food of the gods was actually taken unsweetened, and that Cortez and his buddies wouldn´t drink it because they found it bitter and suspected that it was poisoned.