Back to school

Im still to be found on the shores of Lago Peten Itza. In Mayan it apparently means island (Peten) of black magic (It) water (za). Something like Island of the Black Magic People by the water. The local people in San Andres have heaps of great folklore about the area, lake spirits, witch doctors and a giant serpent which lives in the depths of the water.



After passing a few more days in Flores with a really special French chick, Marion, I am now in San Andres on the other side of the lake to do some Spanish language school and some volunteer projects. Marion I actually meet in Mazunte in Oaxaca over a month ago, only a very brief encounter. Because the banks ran out of currency due to some banks shuting down during the middle of a currency transition, there was no money in the ATMs and heaps of people, travelers included, were stuck cueing up out the front of the banks every morning trying to obtain funds, under the watchful eye of Guatemalteco jug heads with semi automatics. Those travelers with credit cards were cool because they could eat at expensive restuarants and hotels, but I was basically fucked until I was able to get some Western Union action from good old reliable mom (not old as in old!) Bascially I had no food to eat for two days and I was wondering the streets bleary-eyed sizing up the local street dogs (they have more meat than you would think at first glance) when Marion bumped into me and took me under her wings for a few days of credit-card induced decadence . We ended up having some fun and hope to catch with her later when I finish school. Its cool to meet some truely lovely and interesting travelers who arent spoilt brats with manicured dreads and sickening amounts of money but no imagination.



Im staying with a local Mayan family and its an interesting experience to take in different customs and senses of privacy, communication and family dynamics. Its noisy becuase the walls dont actually go all the way to the roof so even when your in your room you get very well aquainted with everyone in the house and what they´re doing at all hours. The school basically burnt down a few weeks ago but It doesnt really matter becuase they have another building and not many estudientes at the moment. It sucks for them though because they are cash strapped and dont have many resources, the fire was certainly the talk of the town. Its amazing how many evangelical churches there are in this tiny lakeside town. There is an evangelical TV channel as well which produces a constant stream of televised evangelical priests, and also some wonderful low budget soap operas which feature a wide variety of story lines where people with problematic lives convert to christianity, and miraculously evrything works itself out just fine and dandy (Often with big family hugs and everyone weeping and praising Jesus). All the characters who arent envangelicals are of course drug addicts, rapists and general thugs. Its so hilarious I try not to laugh to hard when I watch it (which is often) because the family im staying with are evangelicals as well. They are lovely though, quite friendly.



Ive had continual digestive upsets for weeks and got really sick again when I first arrived. Im back on a lovely chemical coctail of antibiotics and anti parasitic drugs becuase I might have become host to some of the friendly local parasites after swallowing the lake water while swimming: The lake is beautiful as long as you keep you mouth shut while swimming. And avoid the water snakes. It is nice though. Clear aquamarine water around the edges - looks very tropical when its sunny.



My main goal for the week is to basically avoid having to go to the local dentist for any reason whatsoever.

Take care you miraculous sponges.
x love x love x love
luke

Tikal (Rebel moon base)

Wet, bloodstained and no photos

I have to start by saying that im totally gutted today because I have discovered that my 1 GB memory card has a write error and I have lost all my photos from the last few weeks, including Chiapas and the Mayan ruins in Palenque, Bonampak and Yaxschilan. The digital revolution is not without its own pitfalls so the lesson I have learnt is to upload the photos to the net or to a USB drive more regularly if possible, but sometimes there aint no computers. Still, I am (relatively) healthy, happy and in FLORES, Guatamala - so I cant dwell on this small dissapointment. Im going to post a few stock photos so at least there are pretty pictures and you can see where I have been.



Palenque ruins

It was really interesting to experience what I call the skin hierachy in Mexico. There is a general rule that the whiter your skin is in Mexico the more social status you have. I was suprised when I first arrived by the television ads which almost invariably feature models with lighter coloured hair and skin, still with token latino features like the brown eyes but really looking very Spanish/European, and not anywhere near the vast majority of the Mexican population who buy the products advertised. I suppose its easyily argued that almost anywhere the faces and bodys we see on TV arent really realistic or representative of the majority (at least in perceived 'beauty'), but I really found this ridiculous and wondered why Mexican people didnt find this laughable or even offensive. But the power of these cultural and market forces is incredible. People really do asprire to look more like this, and you notice as you walk down the street as a whitey westerner, as least in cosmopolitan Mexico City, that you get a lot of lingering looks from both sexes! There are complex factors behind this I'm sure, including the legacy of colonialism which still exists as a power/status spectrum from the wealthy spanish/europeans -to the vast majority of mixed spanish/mexican- to the pure blooded indigenous groups which are generally the poorest and most socially disadvantaged. The power of advertising companies though to mould and manipulate peoples idea of what is beautiful still amazes me though! Its intersting because I actually find the indigenous peoples to be the most beautiful, especially the Highland Mayan communities around Chiapas. They are small stature but often have very beautiful faces, with incredibly striking facial features that are almost asiatic in appearance (Didnt the native peoples of America cross the land bridge fropm northern China and Siberia? Atfer failing anthropology at uni unfortunately my knowledge of human migrations is limited)



Yaxchilan

In San Cristobal I decided not to visit the local mayan villages in the area which are quite popular with travellers. The reason being is that the people apprantly dont like visiters coming, especially with cameras. There seems to be something uncomfortably voyouristic about walking around a small indigenous village and just looking at people sitting in front of their houses, or peeping your head through the church door to watch one of their church rituals (which I have been told are very interesting! They have some bizzare synchretic mixtures of tradition mayan religous belief with symbolic overtones of catholicism. Some sort of ceremony takes place in Chamula that involves chickens and that sacred amber nectar - Coca-Cola) Interestingly, in some mayan creation myths, the gods created and destroyed humans several times before they were happy with the result (the Maya of course!), so dont be suprised if these 'poor' Mayan villages look down on you as a kind of inferior missing link in the spiritual evolution of mankind. You can imagine how weird it would be if peoplr stopped and looked at you, taking photographs of you etc while you were at the supermarket doing your shopping or walking out to check your mailbox. I want to experience some culural immersion in the Mayan world but there must be a better way to do it.

The Mayan ruins of Palenque, Bonampak and Yaxchilan were quite impressive, I especially liked the Yaxchilan ruins because you really feel like your in a lost city as you scramble over mossy rocks and cut away the vines with your machete. Okay I didnt actually have a machete but it was slightly adventurous at least. You have to take a lancha (a small wooden boat) up stream along the Usumacinta river to get there, from the Mexico-Guatemala border crossing town Frontera Corozal. The ruins were surrounded by mist and it also started to rain, I slipped down the side of a Pyramid and got all cut up and fell on my ass (Jayde you would have laughed so hard! ... sweet revenge. Probably not the best idea to wear thongs everywhere but always rail against the tyranny of the shoe. So then I was walking around all soaking wet and covered in blood. This nice couple from Basque country in Spain took pity on me and ending shouting me to an expensive lunch with many beers, which was cool! Pity works well for the young cash strapped traveller ;)

I dont know how long attention spans are in these days of multi-media, multi-tasking ipod weilding gen y cats, so i'll leave it there for today and continue the story soon. I still have to tell about Joe Peacemaker, and the mysteries of the Mayan calender and the evolution of human consiousness.

Canyon del Sumidero

I was lucky enough to go on an awesome boat tour through the Canyon del Sumeidero in Chiapas. We descended about 2000 metres from San Cris and boarded the boat at the entrance to the canyon. The canyon was full of wildlife including crocodiles (possibly made of plastic), monkeys, vultures and a well disguised iguana. These crazy german guys kept screaming and pretending to see some amazing animal but then they would just laugh and give each other high fives. They were funny for about 5 minutes.


Near the far end of the canyon there is a natural rock formation that looks strangely like the facial profile (I though it looked like a native american indian). Even more amazingly, when you approach closer in the boat, you discover that there is a small waterfall actually coming out of the face! Its like the face is crying water into the canyon below. As it cascades down it forms amazing moss covered rock formations that look like some kind of crazy oversized fungi growing out of the canyon wall. Very Alice in Wonderland!



The canyon walls are over a kilometre high at one stage. Very inspiring place.

Returning soon...

Update soon! have been in the jungle and no computers. Am too tired now to update but just in case you were worried I AM alive and kicking and will be back soon with rambling tales of magic and heroism, and some happy snaps.

love, luke
x

Chiapas

Im currently in San Cristobal de las Casas, a cool and cloudy colonial town nestled up in the central highlands of Chiapas. I will be launching out on some expeditions from here before moving on to the Mayan ruins of Palenque - where the ¨maya magic¨ grows free and the faux hippies frollick with their perfectly groomed dreadlocks.



Roof of our Hostel in San Cris

The Highs and the lows: Part II

I awoke at 8:47 am on Boxing Day, I remember looking at my watch and wondering why I felt so quesy in my stomach. The sound of my Italian neighbours in the next Bungalow jabbering away in their usual spirited manner started to irritate me alot, like when you have a bad hangover and everything is piercing into your brain. Did I metion that there are heaps of italians here? They are everywhere! They are lovely but when they get together they are so loud and rambunctious sometimes you just want them to shut up. (Still I would like to learn some basic Italian and join in the fun).

I racked my brain trying to remember what I had eaten yesterday....no seafood whatsoever....but..pasta with cream sauce...oh dear, that cant be good...and didn´t I accidently swallow some water in the shower yesterday? Oh dear......not good...

Within about 60 minutes I had a fever and was collapsed out on the bed sweating profusely. I was feeling very afraid because ther was no-one around who could speak English and there is no hospital for ages around. I was wondering if maybe I had Malaria because I had been mauled by bastard mosquitos that week. My friend got Malaria in South America and collapsed the exact same way. I felt so nauseous I just wanted to die. It was unpleasant. The Italians were all outside screaming and singing Italian folk songs or something and I just wanted them to S H U T U P but I was too sick to get up. Then finally it began. I suddenly jumped out of bed for my little bucket and let rip. It was almost comical - I couldnt have made a vomiting sound that loud or gross had I tried jockingly. Complete silence. The Italians didnty have any songs left now. That shut them up. I wonder what they thought was happening in that bungalow? Anyway they must have run away because I had a few hours of blissfull silence to lie on the bed and rest. I self administered some antibiotics (my good friend Noroxin, dont leave home without it kids)
Started to feel much better after 48 hours. Takes a long time for the digestive system to return to is former strength, but I passed through Moctezumas revenge relatively unscathed. I also got to see what bile looks like which was interesting.

Not the most pleasant note to end my sweet Pacific dreams, but it was almost needed to bring my head down out of the cloudss. I probably would have stayed there forever living on the beach and selling homemade chocolate cake to tourists to get by.

The Highs and the lows...

I spent about a 9 days all up in the beautiful little beachside town of Mazunte. Not actually a whole lot to report in terms of events - the daily routine was something like;
-swimming at the beach in the early morning
- breakfast on the beach - fresh coconuts, fruit salad, crepes with banana and chocolate
- read book during hot part of day
- afternoon swim until sunset
- hang out on beach with people, have dinner and drink some pina coladas, watch the stars.


Ben had to go back to Canada about half way through the time in Masunte. On Christmas day I went out on a boat to do some snorkeling and fishing but we ended up seeing dolphins about 2 kilometres off the coast. We circled and played with them for about 15 minutes (or they played with us rather) Hanging off the prow of the boat I could see them really close up and almost reach down and touch them which was amazing. One of them made eye contact with me for a while, im pretty sure! It was really special. I feel a deep connection with these beautiful and intelligent beings.
We also dived overboard and swam with a turtle for a while which was amazing too.
One day I found myself feeling such a sense of lightness and contentment, I cant really describe it. I´ve been inspired by Ben to take up Chi Kung and have settled on some ideas for what I would like to do over the next few years. I felt on a super natural high! Then a cream sauce would change everything...

photo splontage