OferTravelDiary

The voyage from Guatemala to Mexico to Cuba

2005-10-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in like 2 weeks.
Some people have started getting worried. Truth is, there was a reason to be worried - hurricane Wilma.
Just to keep things chronologically intact, I will continue from the last post, but I can cut your suspense by saying

that everything turned out alright...

So the last post ended with me planning to go to another Mayan ruin on my last day in Guatemala. With a bike.
So I did, and the journey was very hard, primarily because my bike looked like this:

So I got there witha little help from my friends (people with pick-ups).
Once I got there, I saw 2 ´park rangers´ sitting there workless. My talk with the pickup informed me that although the entrance is a killer 10$, the guides are free.
So I talked to the guy there and asked him to guide me. Since there were no other people there, it was one-on-one, and I might add that the guide talked pure Spanish, and although I can't promise I understood all of that he said, I got out of that tour witha feeling of linguistic accomplishment.

During my lat days in Guatemala I really got used to the lifestyle there - going to sleep at 21:00-22:00 and waking up with the sun at 05:00. My last morning was to be a special one. After the previous morning, where I woke up at 05:30 naturally, I decided to put an alarm up for 05:00 and to eat cereal on the shore of the big lake, watching the

sun rise. To my great surprise, I didn't see the sun rise since I was at the wrong side of the lake (can anyone guesswhich side that was?)
But the cereal was great anyway.

My flight to Cancun Mexico was late about 1 hour, and I was lucky to remember to stamp my passport on exiting the country. The border in Guatemala is practically non-existent, and also upon entering guatemala, I had to actively act so that my passport be stanped.

Landing in Cancun, I decided to go to Isla Mujeres, a small island just 16 miles from Cancun which is much more cheap and much more suited for travellers like me. Upon arriving, I met Elad, which would be my future Cuba partner for 9 days.

After 2 days in Isla, mainly getting ready for Cuba, I finally set wings with the infamous CUBANA airliner.
The flight was a special experience. It was a propellor plane (like a me'avrer) and when Elad and I got to our assigned seats, we dounf a pile of bags there. This was the check-in baggage. I knew this because I also saw my bag there inbetween. So they sat us down somewhere else. I thought we would have to stand up during the flight - much like an Egged bus.
So the plane took off. The dayelet came in with a magash with not other than candy! The cheap ones you through at bar-mitsvahs. This is Cubana.

We got to Cuba. Right after passing the immigration check, one army officer (segen) took my passport and told me to go with my bags to a security check. After waiting some 15 minutes, he called me in, started asking me eneral questions, and then took me to ´the table´. The table was where he opened my bag, every little part of it, and after taking everything out, asked me what were the perurim in the bottom of it. They were very dangerous sumsumim from s bagel I ate 2 weeks before...

That was how Cuba greeted me, but the experiences in Cuba are much much more...
I can tell you that in these 9 days, I experiences more.. stuff.. than in the whole trip altogether. Cuba is just crazy.
I will write more the next time, which maybe in Israel already...

Which brings me to the last part of this post: ----
After 5 months minus a week, I am finally coming back home.
You are all invited to a big party I am holding at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.

For those who will come there will be a ´hagrala´ of ok-quality Cuban Cigars.

More Party Info:
Sponsor: Continental Airlines flight no. 84N
Departure time: 30 OCT, from Newark (NYC), at 15:30
Arrival time : 31 OCT, at Tel Aviv , at 08:45

Cheers!

Pictures from the last post...

2005-10-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

I couldn't post pictures for some reason in the last post, so I owe you some color:

Just outside of Semuc Shampey, we found a man with a curious bag. After looking more closely, this is what we found...

This is fabulous Semuc Chanpey, a beautiful natural phenomenon:

This is Wendy, a San Salvadorian that worked at a kind of country club I stayed at. She's nice, and wants to come to Israel to study. In this stay at the club, I also met 2 Israelis that just finished biology, and they convinced me to re-think my decision since biologists are usually very poor...

Semuc Shampey and the biggest kombina ever...

2005-10-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

So it has been a long time since I've written and really, quite a lot has happened...

I left Antigua for Lanquin. The way was Antigua-Guatemala City by chicken bus, walk 7 blocks, another reg. bus to Coban, and a shuttle to Lanquin. It all went really smooth, and I got there without waiting at all between busses. Still, the whole way was like 8-9 hours...

So I gt to Lanquin, and went straight to a recommended place, El Retiro. At the entrance, 3 Israelis told me it was full. These 3 Israelis were to be my future trip patners for the next 6 days :)

So we went to the other hotel, and on the way we talked. They were 2 newly weds (Shai and Sharon) doing a honeymoon in Guatemala (huh?) and a friend from Israel, Ori, 22 y/o.
They told me they rented a car (very are in Guatemala) so I told them I have a good road map.
They wanted to see it and we were all hungry, so we ate dinner together. So we all took the same hotel.
The next day we went to semuc Shampey, the most beautiful natural phenomenon in the whole of Guatemala.
When we came back, we ate together again. It was again nice, they told me they were planning on going to Rio Dulce, and so was I. At some point Sharon offered me to come with them. Indside I was like 'Yahhh!' but I told them I would think about it. Later that evening I told them I would come with them. This is the biggest kombina ever... 6 days in car AND saving money...
So it was like 6-7 hours instead of 4 to Rio Dulce, reason being it's a dit road build for 4wd, not pivate car. Still, it was more economical, safer and nicer.
We got to Rio Dulce, slept at I place I really didn't like - a money sucker for European and American tourists, typically 27+ y/o.
The next day we went to a place near Poptun called Finca Ixobel, which meand Isabel's Farm. It's like a country club basically. Relaxed atmosphere, day activities, good food, ping pong table, volley ball court and all that stuff. It was nice there. Gotta admit, not the kind of trip I was having but who doesn't enjoy that? Besides, I got some new ideas for when I'm older...

So everyne there was also older, 28 y/0 average. In the evening I met some nice Israeli couple who studied Biology in Ben Gurion and changed my career direction. I might go for engineering o computers combining a little biology...
Later that evening there was a party. It was kinda like a kibutz party, if you've ever been in one. At some point they put on some salsa, and I took Wendy to dance. She is a San Salvador girl who worked (actually volunteered) at the farm. Earlier, she showed us around the campus, telling us where everything was located. when we danced, she told me that when she was showing us around, she thought I was an Israeli tour guide that has been working in Guatemala for some years, and all that because of my Spanish. Pretty cool huh?

Anyway, The next day was left the farm for El Remate, the place I am in now.
Nobody comes to El Remate except to visit Tikal the next day. There is nothing to do here really. Tikal, on the other hand, is a handful. It is the biggest most impressive acheological site of the Maya culture. Very very good.
Tommorow, my last real day in Guatemala before I fly to Cancun (Mexico), I plan to go to another site. To get there cheapest, I will take a bike part of the way (11 km).

That's it for now friends...

Rosh Hashana and Beit Habad

2005-10-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Since the last time I've psted, quite a lot has happened...
Wait, I just realized I owe you a story of the Beit Habad erev had.
Very well...

So I took a shuttle (organized tourist minibus) to Guatemala City. It isn't like me to take shuttles, I usually go like guatemalans in chicken busses, bus this was an exception because too many people had warned me about Guatemala City... So the plan was to go to Guatemala city, and it so happened that the National Geographic Institute is 4 blocks from Beit Habad, so I could bye my maps, do the hag and return to Antigua with the return shuttle, all in the same day.
I told the tourist agency of my plan, and they said I could get there at 16:00, and the offices og the Institute close at 16:30. So I said ok.
The shuttle was 15 minutes late, and after dropping every passenger at a different location, we got to the institute at 16:50. The offices were of course closed by then, so I continued to Beit Habad. The wied expeiences from Beit habad I will tell in just a minute, I just want to close this part up. So because I was determined to buy those topo maps, I decided I would stay the night and go in the morning, losing my shuttle back and taking a bus instead. That's exactly what happened. When returning to Antigua, I went straight to the tourist office and complained. I was really nice and explained the situation, and instead of asking fr my money, Iasked her 'What can you do for me', which is way more tactful. So she said there's nothing to do because it's written on the ticket it's non-refundable. So I told her to call her boss. Unwillingly she did (she was a little afraid to confront him, although she did side by me). So her boss decided on giving me 25 out of the 38.5 Quetzales I paid. A little remark here - once you admit to a mistake, there's no reason not to return the full amount. So I tld her I want ALL my money back. I made her call him again. This time he agreed on giving me my full amount, but due to all this pressure, the lady I was talking to (18 years old) started crying. Anyway, for some reason the owners parents were sitting there with me, and at some point the girl said the parents don't want to to give any money back. I don't really understand what the parents have to do with this, until I saw the mother get out a little white napkin. (I have to tell you this - I have never heard of an incedence of a tourist agency returning money, not in Guatemala and not in Mexico. This is not the US). So in her napking she ahd cash, and she slowly pulled it one bill at a time, 'moshehet zman'. She pulled out 30 and have me, but after the owner had agreed on the full amount, I wasn't going agree to that. So she got out 35. No. So she got out 38. OK. So I let it go for 0.5 Quetzal.
This my friends, is some 20 shekels. Not a big amount, but I really wanted to see their reasction to a perfectly legitimate claim, and of course wanted to see justice being served (katarzis).
So this is just an example of how hard it is for these people to give up money, you had to see that ld granny. It was a sight.

Anyway, back to Beit Habad (the night before).
So me and 2 Israelis, a couple, were dopped at Beit Habad. There was a big black gate and a Guatemalan guard. At 1st the guard didn't let us in, although we were clearly Isaeli, but after we called in the habadnik we were let in. So the habadnik told us the real happening was at beit kneset, which is like 10 minutes walk. He was a skinny tall young (very stressed out by the upcoming hag) named Yankee (Yankale) from Booklyn NYC. He said we were late, so with his instructions we quickly waled there, and surpisingly there was no one there. The Guatemalan guard (there was one here also) told us there were a bunch of Israelis in a big story house across the street. Not knowing anything better and really curious at where everyone was (Yankee told us we were late) we walked to the other side. There we luckily saw 2 Israelis which told us there are a couple of people in apartment 6-01. We called the Interkum and got in. It was the 1st elevator I saw in Guatemala.
The door was open, we got in, and saw some 8-10 Israelis in an empty apartment. I knew about half of them from different parts of this trip, but eveyone seemed preoccupied, no explanations given. One was taking a shower, one was brushing his teeth, one was sitting ne a laundry machine making laundy and one wasa folding clean clothes. This is all very peculiar because I was expecting to be in beit kneset and instead found myself in an emply apartment with 10 other people I kinda knew, all doing different unrelated things and generally not very informative. Afte some interrogation I discovered that the Tfila was in some 30 minutes, that the apatment was of some Israeli who didn't use it and gave it away for the Hag for us to sleep in and that people were doing laundry because their clothes were dirty.
So we went to Tfila, it was pretty standard. Later, we went to a auchat had in Beit habadwhich was also nice. I really don't have anything else to tell. Everything else was really very normal.
I did get to know Yankee, the stressed-out Booklyn Jew a bit better. Apperantly, habadnikim have a very good life. Yankee for instance, is 22 y/o, and he's been 'mutsav' in Jeusalem, Rome and other euopean places and Hawaee. In Hawaee he was fo a year. He gets paid for the ticket, sleeps in hotels, gets a car and a phone cell. All that fo free, and what he needs to do is help the Rabbi pray. It's true.

So that's it for the Beit Habad Story.
Sorry there were not any pictures, but you can't take pictures on Rosh Hashana.

Colonialism is great...

2005-10-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

My dear readers (whom I don´t know any of them - a comment with your name will be appreciated), I am now in Antigua. Antigua is a colonial city. That means that when the Spanish came, and brought with them guns, diseases and well, Spanish, they also brought architecture. So this city, which used to be the country's capital, is very pretty because of that.
The reason it's not the capital anymore is that it suffered several earthquakes and the Spanish had enough of rebuilding it all over again every time...

Just a small anecdote(sp?) - in San Pedro, while living in my familia, I found a scorpion walking in my room. So I killed it. The second time I took a picture of it.

(The dead scorpion)

By the way, I understood how to upload pictures and integrate them into the text in my post. I think the last time I tried they had me find a host, and now they offer it themselves...

So I arrived in Antigua. Lots of Isrealis. I took 3 salsa lessions so far, and my last one is tomorrow. I am getting better, but as I go, I see I have much more to learn (it's a lot about body language, and speech-less communication). Tomorrow is my last day in Antigua, and during my stay here I have done the following:

Bought some stuff in the market. Somewhat learned how to bargain. Learned that bargaining takes a lot of energy and little mercy.

Took pictures (withour buying) of several stuff for my mom to see - she's into clothes and fashion.

I climbed an active volcano called Pakaya. Very special. I tried to take pictured at the top (where we saw laba) but due to extreme weather conditions, the pictured didn't turn out.

I visited the National Geographic Institute of Guatemala to buy some topographical maps.
I bought maps (1:50,000) of the treck I did from Nebaj, as a souveneer(sp?), which I with I had when I was in the treck itself.

I couldn't leave the place without taking one more picture...

The erev hag I did at Beit Habad in the capital - Guatemala City (AKA Guate).
The experiences from there are for the next post.

Ktiva Tova everyone!

I lost my memory card... and then found it

2005-09-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Remember the last post? I told you I wrote it all down in my family´s computer (just like I´m doing now) and just copied it down... Well, I was in a hurry to get to class and forgot my camera memory card at the internet cafe. O)nly after 2 days, when getting the camera to take a picture of my Guatemalan family, I discovered it was gone. I rushed to the internet cafe but it was closed. Luckily, my guat family told me there was another internet cafe which is by the same ownber and it´s still open. I rushed there, the whole time thinking how foolish it was to leave the card there. When I got there, guy there called the owner´s home number and he told him the card was found. So yah... I´m lucky.

The day before yesturday I had a salsa date - a girl named April with whom I planned to take a private Salsa lession. Unfortunately, she called in sick that day so I ended up not taking one.So the next day, my last day here, to make sure nothing of the sort happened, I made plans with April and also Jill, ´cause I figured one of them would probably cancel...Apperantly none of them did, and I had two hours of lessions yesturday (really cheap by the way - 35NIS for both hours) and I really know how to dance know. I need a little more practice ofcource, but I got down several spins and twilrs, and I don´t need a teacher to practice those...
Yesturday was also my last day at the school. I´ve learned a lot. I told him that I want the last 2 days to be more grammar and less practice, and that´s what we did. He taught me so much grammer, I really coudn´t take it in. I that in the following days/weeks things will sink in. He told me that in the 5 years he´s been teaching Spanish, he´s never taught a student so much grammer in so little time. That´s something...

Another and last thing... remember the luggage story with Continental Airlines... how they lost it for 5 days, and returned it all broken? Well they gave me a puny discount certificate of 100$. As if that´s not enough, I can only use it to order tickets through their phone number or Continental.com. The only ticket I really need is Mexico-New York. Now, the sad thing is that the ticket at their web site costs 404$ and at a regular travelocity.com 284$. That means that after using the discount, I still pay more than normal "street" price. When I called them on the phone, they told me that I could order through the phone also, for 462$. Arrhhhhh. They could do nothing else. Now, as a costumer of Continental, I feel even more mocked at and even abused. Not only did they discomfort me in 5 days of questioning whether I will ever see belongings again, they also completely ruined my luggage, and instead of sending it themselves to the camp I was in, like they said they would, they had someone from camp pick it up from the airport. Since the person who picked it up didn´t file a complaint as that moment, they can´t take account for the broken luggage (as if I could do it accuse them). And the 5 days - since I didn´t buy anything in those days (I really coudn´t - we were in camp) they coudn´t reedeem me for any reciepts, and once the luggage came, it was ¨too late¨ to buy anything and get the money back for it. So what they did is give me a 100$ ¨goodwill¨certificate as they called it. So what I discover now is that my ¨goodwill¨certificate is just a big joke... Fuck them all...

Anyway, now I´m leaving this place (San Pedro) for Antigua, which is right near Guatemala City (capital) and actually used to by the capital. It´s a colonial city, and they say it´s amazingly beautiful.

Travelling alone is really OK

2005-09-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

I found out a new trick to save money. The family I´m staying at has a computer, but it´s not connected to the internet. What I´m doing is writing everything offline, and also choosing the pictures I will show you guys, and then the online part takes that much less.
So today was my almost last day at Spanish school. I really enjoyed learnig and I think I did a pretty good job at it. By the end of the study I will know the common tenses for future, past and present.
Hopefully, when I come hope I will become a ´hamordim´addict and thus practice my Spanish to perfection...

Just so you know, I´ve figured out how travelling alone works. It took me one lonely night, but now I´ve got it all down. Just to you know.
Yesturday night I fell in love. I fell in love with salsa. I was at a salsa club. I saw some people dance and boy, do they know how, and it´s so much fun. I also know some, but although I´m not sleek and elegant, I still spin and twirl (her). One of the 2 people that impressed me most are the local salsa teacher and an Israeli about 30 years of age that learned to dance for half a year in Tel Aviv, a short while before he arrived in Central America. If he could do it, so can I.
Just a few interesting current facts:* With me in my guatamalan family is staying a Seattle Firefighter. He´s big and nice and we exchanged his badge for my army pin.* Malasian is a simple language with no tenses. There is no past or future in Malay, just present, and one just describes the time. Like: Last year I study in Rome.
That´s all folks!
So these are the pictures...

2005-09-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Pericon river, 3rd day of Nebaj treck.

2005-09-27T12:56:00.001-07:00

Nebak-Todos Santos. This is the team.

2005-09-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

A really interesting man we stayed at in Nebaj (former NSA worker for US gov.)

2005-09-27T12:55:00.002-07:00

A waterfall near Nebaj.

2005-09-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

A classic Guatemalan market-bus station.

2005-09-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

A typical bus in Guatemala, notoriously called �chicken bus�.

2005-09-27T12:54:00.002-07:00

Hila and I, having finished our 1st treck.

2005-09-27T12:54:00.001-07:00

Lake Atitlan. Beautiful.

2005-09-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

On the treck to Atitlan. That is a small waterfall.

2005-09-27T12:53:00.002-07:00

There are a lot of these corn fields in Guatemala.

2005-09-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

Wow3 (I have to write somehting for this to be posted)

2005-09-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

Wow2

2005-09-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Guatemala is just full of these corn fields.

2005-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Wow2

2005-09-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

Me and Efrat in another previos treck from Xela to Atitlan (seems like the pictures are going from present to past) .

2005-09-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Another view from our Nebak treck.

2005-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hila, Efrat and I in San Cristobal.

2005-09-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

Some guy we found on the trail... I crack myself up...

2005-09-27T12:43:00.001-07:00

Part of my treck from Nebaj to Todos Santos. It wasn't such a coudy day...

2005-09-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

A scenic Canyon in Mexico, near the capital of Chiapas department. Very beautiful. I took a boat ride of about 2 hours all throughout this canyon.

2005-09-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

A market in near a church called Chamulla, also near San Cristobal.

2005-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

A dorms room in a hostel in San Cristobal de las Cases, Mexico

Travelling Solo

2005-09-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

So I finished the 3 day treck. It was fabulous.
I went with 2 madasnikim, one shaldagnik and his girlfriend from matkal. And I showed them how modiim kicks ass. No, really, I had good stamina all-throughout the treck, except for the 2nd moning, when my stomache was making sounds and giving me a hard (well, actually soft) time.

So the treck was fabulous. For your general knowledge, there are a lot of people from western countries volunteering in Guatemala. It's the new way to travel. So one of these groups has set a "trecker friendly area" in one of the districts of Guatemala called Quiche. What that basically means is that there's a leaflet with some maps of the area and also some names of people in the small villages offering food and sleep for treckers. So we spent the 1st night in the district of Quiche , at Diego's house in Xoxocom, which is the next village right after Xoxoxcab. Diego had a family of 9 and they all lived in the same big room, a common thing in the villages of Guatemala. His 7 kids shared 3 beds, and Diego had a seperate house for incoming travellers. This seperate house had 4 amazingly comfortable beds. He told me travellers come once a week, and I don't understand how they could sleep like that when they have a whole empty house, 6 days of the week.

So at Diego we ate well. It was a real Guatemalan meal with corn tortillas, beans (called frijole) and rice. Yummy. I ate a lot, possibly too much, because the next morning my stomache was.. well... upset.

During the next day, we left the district of Quiche to the bordering district of Huehuetenango. There, since no trecking project has taken place, the locals were really not accustomed to seeing white poeple (called gringos). In every village we entered, all the locals stood out of their houses, looking at us. Imagine a whole village full of people, every family getting out of her house, just standing outside, looking. Stopping whatever they're doing (usually farming or chopping wood) and just damn looking. Some of them were really afraid. The women usually wouldn't talk to us or answer our innocent questions (i.e where is [village name]).

So we got to Rio el Pericon, the village we planned on sleeping in. There was no hotel or anything like that. We asked to stay in the school (it's usually the thing to do since schools hadçve no use at night). When we saw the school (a small single room) I asked of someone would be willing to host us in his home, for cash. I was the Spanish speaking person in the group. So someone came and told us he has a house which belonged to his son who is currently in the US (like some 10-20% of all Guatemalans). We thought we'd get a house with everything in it, but apperently all we got was an empty room with wodden boards to sleep in. Luckily, the person gave us some blankets. So that was the 2nd and last night of the treck. Unforgetable.

The 3rd day was our last day. After a long climb and walk up the Pericon valley, we got to a town, San Nicolas) from which we hitchhiked with a truck (3 in the front, 2 in the back) to Todos Santos. After a night in Todos, I continued solo to San Pedro La Laguna for Spanish school.

So now I'm in San Pedro. 1st time on the trip being solo. The school here offers a week of 6 hours daily (5 days) and a 7 day stay with a family (3 meals daily) for 117US$.
That's 2.5$ per hour with a private teacher. Cheap. Very cheap.
So my Spanish is getting better. I hope I will be fluent in both past and future tenses by the end of the trip.

2 nights ago I had a very emotional experience. For the 1st time in my life, I felt alone. No friends. Ever since I remember myself, everywhere I've been, I've always had friends. It just worked that way. In this town, I knew no one. Since I had no one to go with, I went to a local bar which shows a free movie each night. The movie was "The people vs. Larry Flint". After the movie ended, it still felt too early to call it a night. I suddently realized I had no one to go with. So I started wandering around town. For like an hour at least. All the time thinking of situations for meeting new people. I mean - how the hell does this work? You just walk into a pub, sit on the bar and start talking? Is it like in movies, where you see someone sitting by herself, and you ask if you can join? Do you just randomly go and talk to people, style "I like your shirt \ Do you know what time they close here.. etc"?
So I felt kind of bummed-out. Walking by myself, hearing group laughter in the distance. I felt homeless. After an hour or more of walking, I decided to do what I see people do in the movies. I walked into a pub, sat on the bar and ordered a beer. So now I'm supposed to just spark something up? I didn't feel like talking to the bartender, it feels kinda fake, although she did seem somewhat bored. So I sat there, drinking by beer. To the left of me were 2 couples. 3 of them Israelis and one Brit. I heard what they talked about but didn't feel like butting in. At some point I asked a random general question, "Do you know any good places to Salsa in town? How long have you been here?". After seeing this isn't going anywhere, I took myself and left. I guess you just have to be more patient. When you go out alone, you never know how your noght is going to be, so you better take into account that you might find yourself... by yourself.

Today is sunday. The schools don't work, so I took the day to practice some of what I've learned. I bought a newspaper and started reading it, looking up the words I don't know and writing them down in my notebook. After some time 2 guys came, from Chile. I talked to them for a while, and every Spanish question I had they were happy to answer. I really enjoyed that linguistic experience.

So that's all for now folks. Sorry there are no pictures. For some reason, every time I bring my camera I don't feel like posting.

Goodbye Hila, hello Avnet

2005-09-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.I haven't updated you, but me and Hila have found a new companion, Efrat. Together we crossed the border to Guatemala. This happened last Saturday.Our 1st stop in Guatemala was the 2nd largest city in Guat named Quetsaltenango (AKA it's mayan name, Xela). On our way there we had an interesting experience. There was a protest and some road blocks and burning tires (sounds familiar...) and our bus couldn't pass.We ofcource didn't understand shit of what was happening, but luckily we met a person on the way that explained some of the things to us. With him, we walked about 20 minutes, crossing the road-blocks, and then found another bus to take us to our destination - Xela.On arrival to Xela, we immediately signed up for an organized trek of 2.5 days to San Piedro on Lake Atitlan. The trek was magnificent and really fun. We had an option to stay there, but since we didn't get to see Xela yet, we came back after the trek.
When we came back, we saw the Guatamalan celebrations for their Independance. Really special but not as exciting as in Israel. They don't have 'raal baenayim'.
Right now I am in nebaj. http://www.nebaj.com/AboutNebaj.htmI left Quetzaltenango (AKA Xela) today, and with it left the 2 girls I was travelling with - Hila (For the past 3 weeks) and Efrat (For the past week).I left them and went with 2 other Israelis - Avnet and Amit, both madasnikim in the army and both post-camp. I'm going with them and an Israeli couple to a 3 day trek in the area of Nebaj (we will arrive at Todos Santos after the 3 days.)
So a big people-change has been made, and I'm expecting a hard, dirty and adventurous trek. Not including the 1st night, the towns we will be sleeping in don't have hotels, restaurants and sometimes no stores at all. What we plan to do is to ask to sleep on their floors or in the nearest community building (i.e a school). This is a common thing to do among uncommon travelers. This is a really off-the-beaten track one, and I hope I won't have too many surprises...
The 2 guys I'm with are really nice, and the humour is good (so far) which is very important. They are madasnikim, which means they might try to run up the mountains, but I discovered I'm in good shape (amazing after these 3 years, but true).
After these 3 trek days (which actually starts on sunday), I plan to go to back to San Piedro (on Lake Atitlan) and stay there for a week learning Spanish. I will stay at a local family and eat their home-cooked food. Yeahh...
That's it for this update. Ohh, bu the way, some of the soldiers here are walking around with a Galil. Kol Hakavod Leta'as.

2005-09-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

A new friend I met. I forgot to get his name. If anyone can find his name for me (he's very popular in Mexico) I would be very grateful (and impressed)

Late update number 2

2005-09-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

So the beach of Mazunte is very much in the far far corner and then a left turn. We took a bus to a nearby town and from there took a 'tender'. We were sitting in the back with as many mexicans as you can fit in there. One of them was Jorje, a 22 year old Mexican full of youth and vitality. We started talking, with as much Spanish as we had, and at some point we found ourselves talking about mushrooms, and not the kind you put on a pizza. This was a sign of things to come. (By the way, in the same place some years ago, these magic mushrooms were had by the famous Beatles). We later found out a lot of people on the beach (I would say about 2/3 were druf consumers to some point. So we found our friend Lior and stayed at the backpackers hostel, also called the Carlos 'Einstein' hostel. The hostel was very cheap, but offered very little. Showers with satly cold water, toilet paper for 2 shekels a roll, a tiny bed with no pillow or blanket. But it was enough and we were content. I really enjoyed my time in Mazunte, but after 2 days I really felt it was time to leave.

From Mazunte we took a bus to Juchitan, a not-so-interesting central town through which a lot of busses pass. The enxt bus we were to take was a night bus (8 hours ride) and after 3 days of showering with salt water, we felt like a real hostel. Realizing Juchitan is not the place to be, we went back a bit to a town called Tehuantepec (how do I remember these names?) This was a very special town. It used to be run by women, until the men took over. When we were there it still seemed the women were more dominant than in other places. It was from this town that Frida Kahlo, the famous Mexican painter, got inspired and bought her traditional Mexican attire.

After an awful night at a cheap hostel (it was hot and sticky, and it was apperantly a place where couples go for quick loving...) we went back to Juchitan to spend the day. Our next stop was San Cristobal. I immediately fell in love with San Cristobal. So beautiful and it has everything. At last we found some Israelis, who turned out to be here in numbers. Too much Israelis actually.
We went to see a very special Church called Chamula and also a Canyon. About these Attractions I'll write next time.

Late update number 1

2005-09-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, the truth is that this blog has suffered from intense neglection, so I have no choice but to update it on all that's been happening...
I arrived in Mexico City at the airport. There, I was to meet my Mexican friend-of-a-friend Citlali and my Israeli blind-date-travel-companion Hila. Hila arrived in the airport an hour before me and was already having small conversation with Citlali (in English) by the time I arrived. It is needless to say that almost all Mexicans speak Spanish, and almost none of them English. So we went with Citlali to her house.
A bit about Citlali: She is 25, had a Veterinarian degree, loves animals and it is very nice. She lives with her sister, Ima and her Ima´s boyfriend (her mom is divorced).We arrived late and on the 1st night we went with a friend of her, Monica, into the old city, called Cayocan, and ate some tacos. Just so you know, all mexicans eat tacos, all the time. I was a bit stressed by what has been told me about not drinking the local water, so I figured that it would be more healthy not to wash my hands before eating since the local microbes might get me.Hila was on a really tough jet-lag but I was really ok.
The next day we hung out with her and Monica and went to see the Frida Kahlo house and museum (A famous mexican artist, also a recommended movie).We saw the Mex University and we generally talked all day about things (In English).The next day we went to a place called Teotihuacan, which is a very famous ancient city, used to be the center of Mexico, at around 400 A.D.It had amazingly large pyramids and lots of buildings and it's very very impressive.

the next day we left Mexico City toward a city 2 hours from there called Puebla. Finally we were really on our own, without Citlali, who made us both feel like children on a field trip. We went on the bus to puebla - and we were finally on our own. We took a 'primera' class bus, which costs more money, but is much much better. Later we found out that primera is really more than what we need, and we would manage with the other class, 'segunda', which is much more similiar to Egged busses in Israel.
So we got to Puabla. The atmosphere is much different. Mexico city is a polluted over populated mega city, while Puebla is a much smaller, comfy little colonial town. What I mean by colonial, is that it's whole architecture and city planning is organized in old Spanish Europian style. I like it.
The hostel Hila and I stayed in was very cheap, and very very beautiful. The most beautiful room I've stayed in so far... I think is was called Veyyress or something...
So we hung out in Puebla for a day. We say some mueseums and galleries, and the city itself, and the market, and bla bla bla. later I realised that every city here had quite the same things, so now I only look for the more special things. After a day in Puebla we went to a different town called Oaxaca. Oaxaca I liked very much. We got there in the evening and stayed for 4 nights. This time we went to a real youth hostel - Magic Hostel. I guess we wanted some action (meeting other european tourists I mean). There we met Lior, which is a 19 year old Israeli, not went to the army for his diabetes (sukeret). We all hung out together. One day - seeing the city.
Another day - doing an amazing bike trip in the area of the surrounding villages. Amazing. We got to some really off-the-beaten-trail places. We got to see the countryside, ate at some cool mexican mother's little taco restaurant, and in the villege Tule saw the biggest tree in the world (not tallest, biggest biomass). At the end of that day, we went to eat McDonald's, which is a real experience of itself. the Mcdonald's experience will be told another time.
The 3rd day Lior went on the the beaches of the Pacific and Hila and I stayed for another day.
We went on a day-hike in San Fillipe Del Agua, which is a suburb of Oaxaca. It was a trail on the side of a river, it it's easy to find your way and not get lost. It's a park reserve, with 2 old fat guards at the entrance. We signed in our names in the registration book, hoping that if we went lost, they would look for us. Luckily it didn't come to that. Just before we went, the mexican guard said something and it took me and hila about 7-8 times to understand. He said that the dogs (ohh, 2 dogs were also there) would be our giyas (guides in Spanish). We didn't really understand completely what he means, but apperantly, the whole 3.5 hour hike, that dogs were walking with us. Truely amazing guides.
The next day we went to a small beach town called Mazunte. It's near Pachutla it any one of you wants to find it on the map. About that experience I'll talk about some other time.
Lets see. I just covered 7 days in one entry. I'll make up for lost post stories in no time.
By the way, if any one of you is wondering why I'm getting into the small details like town names and such, the reason is because I recently decided that as much as this blog is to update my reader friends, it's also a real personal diary and a 'emtsaii' for me to remember my trip. Also, some of the minor details like town names and hostels are included for Michael Hermon, whom I know will smile when realizing his name is in my blog. Megalomaniac. Michael - when you travel to Central America, this blog could perhaps be of some assistance.

Hasta Luego!

So I've moved my blog to a new home...

2005-09-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

I think this home is much better.
I've struggled with israblog for a long time, and even almost pay them for some of the features (but in the end I was too lazy to complete the payment) for 10% of what I get here at google. Ofcourse I haven't really read their legal agreement I electronically signed, which probably enables them to do some sorts of scanning and ads in the future on my blog, and maybe this blog will eventually stop being free, but it feels like a refreshing start.
Plus, it has a complete html section, which I probably won't have time of patience to play with on my trip, but it's 'nice to have'.

Anyway, I am in a city called San Cristobal. It is very prpular among travelers and especially Israelis. I have seen one Israeli throughout all this trip so far (almost 2 weeks) and just here I've seen at least 20, and I know another 20 I haven't seen are staying at my hostel. By the way, I'm really satisfied with the hotstel I'm in. It's 40 pesos (20 shekel) per night and you get free slow internet (which I am not using right now because it is too slow, but is good to check if you have email) and also breakfast included. I hope there's nothing they're not telling me.

I haven't updated the blog at israblog for a while now, perhaps because it is so irritating (actually, I could think of better reasons, one of which was being on a beach with nothing but sun and sand). I don't feel like filling you guys up right now, I think I'll write about the present and fill in the missing parts later.

So I'm in this really beautiful town called San Cristobal de Las Casas. Recently I've realised that knowing the Spanish language, which is the only way to communicate with the local population, is one of the most important things, and it greatly improves the quality of your travel. So I've started to take Spanish more seriously and all-throughout the day I look up words I encounter using Hila's mini-dictionary.
Hila and I are probably going to split up. The official reason is that I want to take my time in San Cristobal. So far I like this city and I am in an atmosphere of not doing too much. Reading books, looking around, learning and talking Spanish, exploring the market (shuk) and cooking my own food in the hostel. Basically filling up the day with little things. That's what I feel like doing now. I might even stay here for a week, which is a lot for one city, especially since so far I haven't been in one place more than 2-3 nights.
Back to Hila - the unofficial reason is that when I'm with her I'm less with other people and talking less Spanish, both of which I really enjoy. It sounds like I could try more, but it just works that way. When you travel alone (So I've been told) you meet 20 times as many people as when you're travelling with someone. Also, there is a slight incompatibility between me and Hila in regards to the way we feel about travelling. This point is harder to explain, and is maybe less important than the others, so I'll leave it at that.
In general, I feel obligated to be with her since we came together to Mexico and she's a girl, so I'm a bit excited about being on my own for some time. It is by no means easier or more comfortable, but it's much more interesting and adventurous. I also have this romantic idea in my head of a lone traveler, I think a lot of people could 'lehizdahot' with that.

So I will need to but myself a new mini-dictionary...