Puebla

pfffff, its been wayyy to long. have no idea where to begin...
Ok mhh i think puebla. Yeah ok puebla is really pretty! the girl in my hostel recommended to take the tourbus. That was a good idea, because its quite a big city. In the afternoon the weirdest thing happened. I was drinking a coffee, when a guy asked me if he could write me a poeme. After it i could choose if i gave him some money or not. So i let him do it. It was a pretty bizar poeme so i asked for explanation, and so i ended up talking to him for two hours. Then i joined him to the theatre where he was practising for a play. Too bad i couldnt understand a word because its looked quite interesting, about the conquest of Mexico by Cortes. At night i met some people from Marocco in the hostel. I went out with them to a real mexican bar. So that was quite the experience offcourse, being the only tourists there. The next day i went to Cholula with the bus. But i was so tired i didnt get off:-) I planned to dough, i wanted to see the ruines, but since i didnt have a clue where to get off, and the bus drove through the whole city so i could see all the nice churches and buildings, i decided to do another tour on the bus. At night i went to dinner with the people from Marocco. (ps. learned a lot about marrocan culture)

Oaxaca

Ok.. have to write a lot again. But actually thats a good sign. If i dont write a lot that means im meeting a lot of people here and i just dont find the time to write.
Arrived In Oaxaca at seven in the morning. After a nap i discovered the town a bit. Mhmmm its wasnt like Chiapa de corzu or san christobal. I didnt fell in love with it :-) U have a really nice park here in the middle of the town where there is a lot to do, and then u have some beautifull churches. But next to that i dont really like it. Its big, busy and a bit dirty. it suprised me, because people i met were always talking about Oaxaca in superlatives. At night i went to have dinner with three girls i met in the hostel. Susanah and Inta from Denmark and Katty form Germany.
Yesterday i did an excursion. We started with Tula, that a cute village where there is a really old tree (2000years old). Not the oldest in the world dough, there are threes of 3500 and 4000years too. (i know, guidetalk..). Then we went to see how they make the traditonal carpets. That was really interesting. And everything was explaned in English and Spanish. The guide kept making fun of me since i was the only one that didnt understand spanish. In the beginning he was like, ohh no espangol?? Well teach u today. And then with everything he said he was like, ok sarah how much procent did u understand?
After that we went to Mitla, which are ruines of an Aztek village. I really enjoyed that since it was with a guide. I visited Tulum and Palenque without a guide, which is way cheaper but it is nicer with a guide. But now i changed one of my books for one about mexico, so i can just read the information. Then it was time for lunch. Probably one of my favorit moments. Noo not because we can eat :-) (well yeah, everyone knows i love eating, so maybe a bit for that aswell...). But when it was time for lunch i allready met most of the people in the bus, and everyone was getting along. So at lunch everyone sat toghether and was talking. There were people from Germany, Argetinie, France, Mexico, Italy and Yeahhh Canada!! So put that toghether and u have some really interesting conversations. I especially got along with a nice couple from Canada, Nick and Yvonne. She is Mexican, they met each other in Mexico and now there living in Canada. Its weird because he was 42, she was 35 and still we bonded immediately. After lunch we visited Hierve el aqua and a Mezkal Factory. Mezkal is a typical Oaxaca drink and its almost the same as tequila. But its like champagne, only the drink produced in champagne can call itsself champagne. So only the drink in tequila can be called tequila and only the drink in oaxaca can be called mezkal. We tried some different kinds, but i didnt really like it. In the bus back, the canadian couple asked me if i wanted to join them for dinner. We went to a really nice restaurant. It looked like really expensive, and the menu was a lot different that what u normally get in the restaurants here. It was a bit more expensive than what u normally pay here, but it was so wurt it. And in the end, if u change it to euro... U had lamb chops for 12euro and tunafilet for 7euro. And the quality was like the better restaurants in belgium. Plus It was the first restaurant ive been were they had decent wine. So it was a good night :-) And now i have a place to stay in Toronto ive i ever go there.
Today im going to Monte Elban, which are also ruines and tonight im taking the bus to Puebla.
Ok i think that was it :-)

Paardje rijden

Yesterday i met some other people in the hostel. Two girls from England and two guys from Germany. We went to have a drink toghether in the evening. It was fun, but i didnt make it to late because i was going on a horsebackriding excursion today!

Its been a while since ive been on a horse, so i was a bit intimidated in the beginning. Surtenly because Mike en Eilien, a couple from Austria, are quite experienced and wanted to run once in a while. But after a while i got the hang of it again. And my horse was really really lazy so it didnt go to fast.

It was a lot of fun. Just we, our guide, four horses and nature. No other tourists, no people trying to sell us stuff, ... We went to some hotsprings. We could swim there, but we looked at our guide as off he was nuts. In this weather, swimming in a hotspring?? So he laughed and took us to the river to swim, which was much better!

In the afternoon i saw Matti and Maija again, and we went swimming in there swimmingpool, because they moved to a hotel. We went for dinner aswell and then it was time to say goodbye because they were taking off. So now everyone has left, and im the only one left in the hostel...

But luckilly im going tomorow aswell.

Baby on board

Yesterday i arrived in Puerto Escondido. After a 14hour drive on a bus, with a baby on board... yeah and we were driving in the mountains, and since kids ears are really sensitive, i dont have to tell u how difficult it was trying to sleep. i felt really sorry for its parents actually. Thank god for Chris his ipod, what prevented me of going totally nuts.
ok Now about puerto escondido. Well i think i fell with my bum in the butter, like we say it :-) Thanks to my roommates in San Christobal i found the cutest hostel right on the beach. So i fall asleap and wake up with the sound of the waves. the owners are really friendly but a little bit nuts.
I met two people from Finland, Maya and Matty, brother and sister. She is studying in Belgium. We went out for dinner yesterday and then to a monday-party in an other hostel. It was fun. Well i kinda ruined the images mexican have from belgium girls now, since ive said to quite a bit that we dont dance with other guys if we have a boyfriend. There were like, but its only dancing?? and i was like yeahh we rared conservative belgium people he. So so far canadians think we are boring because i refused to have shots, and now mexican people think the same because we dont dance :-) doing gooood. Ohh and everywhere u go here its happy hour, all night! So that was good, because we all needed some drinks before we had the guts to join the outgoing mexicans on the dancefloor.

Easter in San Christobal de Las Casas

I had a new roommate yesterday. A girl from Madrid, really nice. Talked some yesterday, had breakfast toghether, then went to the market. I took advantage of the situation of shopping with someone that knows spanish and could negociate for me. Bought some souvenirs, earrings, ... It was really funny, we had been talking for ages, and we really got along. I thought she was older then me but like 24 or something. It turns out she is 36, and she still hasnt settled down.
She going to Puerto Escondido to tonight but with the bus of ten oclock, so maybe ill see her again there. In the meanwhile im escaping from the town because it is soooo crowded because o Easter. Really people everywhere, there is a big parade. Kinda like "den oogsstoet" maar beetje groter dan. :-)

PS: the kids here are sooo cute!

Cascadas el Chiflon

So i asked the boss of my hostel if he could recommend me a nice trip in the neighbourhood, not too far because i have to drive 12hours tomorow. He said that the Cascadas el Chiflon are really beautifull, two hours away. So ok off i went. It was two hours in the main bus, but he forgot to mention that i had to take enother bus for an hour and then one of those little cars for half an hour. So i travelled 3.5hours going and back today to see an hour of waterfalls.. But as u can see on the picture it was wurth it. Waterfalls are also the favorite place to go on holiday for the mexicans i think. Because here and in Aque azul it was really crowded. While i was in the busstation i also asked for a ticket to Oaxaha tomorow. For once im not lucky (so far i was always lucky there is room for me in busses, hostels, ... because im travelling alone). The busses are full, so i decided to go to Puerto Escondido first, en do Oaxaha later. My roommate yesterday told me it is very beautifull there and much better then Veracruz.

clean clothes and jehovas witnesses :-)

Tonight i have clean clothes again! mhmm that will be nice. Clothes without mangospots on it :-) I paid 35 pesos for it, thats like 2euro. yeah its really cheap here. Ive been walking around with two notes of 500pesos for ever, because nobody wants to take them, if i tell u that that is aproximately 30euro, u now how cheap it is here e. This morning i went for a walk and i met two girls. They started to talk to me, suddenly about the bible, and then it hit me, they were jehovas witnesses. I know everyone thinks they are annoying, but i had never talked to one, so i thought it was quite interesting actually. We had a nice conversation, and she was really happy she was the first one to talk to me about it:-)
After a long long walk i finally found my hostel, its a really nice one, like i suspected. Now am discovering the town. But first i wanted to put my photos up! :-) because i finaly found a way to do it.

Me like Las Christobal de las Casas

Fell in love again, now with Las Christobal de las Casas. It is a big city but with the charmes of a small one.


















I think ill stay here for a while. Once ive seen the city i can do some tours aswell that start here. On the bus going there i met 6 nice french people. They sopposed to be with seven so they had booked a room for seven. So they asked me if i wanted to join them. So now i am in a really nice hotel for 178pesos.















Tomorow im going to a youth hostel again, they sopposed to be really good here. So we went for a stroll in the town, and then had some dinner. It was nice, nice people, but since there french and ok i speak it a bit, but understanding youth slang french is quite different. There going out now, but i passed, since i allready spent more then usually on the room and dinner. I prefer then to have some fun tomorow night in the youth hostel with drinks we just buy in the store. Ahh and i saw Ernesto and Yesenia again! That was a coincidence, just on the street.

Tuxtla

Just got back from Tuxtla. Coming from Chiapa de Corzu, which is the smallest town ever, i was suprised to see that Tuxtla is a really big one. A richer one too.














I visited the cathedral de san marcos, parque jardin de la Marimba and provincia de los zoques.














i really liked the parque, so i sat down to read a bit, yeah a bit... its like everytime i go sit somewhere to read, someone thinks its really necessary to come sit with me and talk. Im kinda getting tired of it. Especially like ive said, they dont speak english and i dont speak spanish. Its like they just dont believe i dont understand them. Its getting to a point were im not that friendly anymore to the people here, and i dont like that side of me. But they just wont leave, they stay and talk. so i have to leave everytime with an excuse. but i dont want to go, because i like the spots i choose to sit down!
well hopefully it will be better in can christobal, since a lot of backpackers go there, the people there will be used of seeing foreigners. Because two days here, being almost the only one. The people (all of them. kids, men, women) stare at me like im form mars.

Cañon del Sumidero

This morning we took a boottrip to cañon del Sumidero. it was beautifull but really really cold on the boat.
After that Ernesto and Yesenia wanted to go to the zoo and the pyramids and were gonna stay there to camp. i preferred to stay in chiapa de corzo another day. Yesterday we didnt really have the time to explore the whole town, and i wanted a little brake aswell. Just relaxing, read a bit, because it is still a long time before i have to be in mexico city. Next to that one of my legs has been sore for two days, so it wanted some rest aswell.
Tomorow im gonna go to Tuxtla, that a little town not that far away from here, then to the waterfalls of el chorreadero, and then im off to san christobal de las casas, where ernesto and yesenia will be. I have there number, so ill call them and maybe i can spend some more days with them there. It least if it is not too cold, because we stopped there on our way to Chiapa, and it was freezing. Since i dont really have the right clothes for that with me(seeeee my canadian clothes would have been usefull here! :-)) i would go to Veracruz then, and maybe do San Christobal on my way back. a month later, maybe better weather then.

ps: nobody speaks english here, so that has lead to some funny "conversations" where i try everything, little bit spanish-bodylanguage-my book, ... luckilly im allready capable of asking the usual: for a room, bus, food, .. things like that. but they like to talk so much e. and if i say no hablo espagnol. they just dont bother, they keep talking.
AND being with ernesto and yesenia has really made it clear that they rip us so off! they buy a bracelet for 5pesos, me for 20. well its not that we can blame them e, life here is surtenly not expensive for us.

Palenque, Aqua Azul and Chiapa de Corzo

This is the downside of not having internet every where e, now i have to write loads!

Ok, 12hours in the bus.. didnt really sleep a lot, but it was ok. Arrived in Palenque at four in the morning. Dont wurry, didnt go wondering of to find a hostel. Just took a cab and asked him. So after a three hour sleep, i was ready to go to the ruins of palenque. In the bus going there i met a mexican guy and girl, and they asked if i wanted to join them. There were really nice, he spoke a little bit of english, she didnt. But we managed to have some communication. We had a lot of fun, especially with me falling all the time. After a while they started counting it. (in the end i won with 8 against 4 and 5). Palenque was amazing, to my opinion, nicer then Coba and Tulum. If its better then Chitzen Itza, i still have to find out, but i think so. Since me and Ernesto and Yesenia were getting along fine, they asked me if i wanted to join them camping. (there were bagpacking for a week) Since i didnt have any stuff to camp and i allready paid for my room in the hotel i was doubting, but they convinced me. I was really touched actually because it was Yesenia that was pushing me, although we dont understand each other at all.

So we got back to town, took my stuff and went to Aqua Azul, witch are waterfalls.

They were amazing! We put up the tent, went swimming, had some empanadas, and made a walk to the waterfalls. Sleeping was horrible, because we only had a blanket to sleep on, but it was ok for one night. I was actually godsmacked about the hospitality of these people. No problem sharing there thent, sleeping bag and food with me. That this trip was gonna be really basic i new, the luxury here is what i see outside and the people i meet.

It rained al night, so in the morning we had to wait untill the tent was dry. Then we took off to Chiapa de Corzu, a town i fell in love with. A really mexican town, were all the people live on the street and where there is musica everywhere. We looked for a hostel and then went for a walk.

There is a lot going on in this town. There was music in the park, in our hostel. We bought some vodka and it was really funny how we reacted on it. Yesenia started to cry for her boyfriend, Ernesto started to talk and talk and talk till i had a headache, and i just laughed with the situation:-)

Wiiiii, im leaving in an hour and 45minutes. Its a 12hour drive to Palenque. Hope ill be able to sleep on the bus. Thought of getting online for the last time before i go because i dunno when ill have internet again. So dont be worried if u dont here from me for a couple of days. ive been doing really good so far e, putting up a message every day.

Umhh what to tell.. ahh yesterday i had a really nice evening. didnt make it to the bar to meet up with the australiens. Stayed at the hostel with the people there. way cheaper too! there was people from germany, argentinie, canada, england, finland, .. it was really interesting, talking to them.

ok, byebye!

Cozumel.

Im in Cozumel!

Well its not that great here. Im in town now, and it just sooo touristic. Really u now u are in a place where lots of americans come, if they have a roltrap-moving stares :-) in there mc donalds. The other side is soposed to be good, but u have to rent a scooter or car to get there.
the youth hostel im in is good.

not as good as the other one, but i cant complain. AND everyone talks to each other. im starting to get used to it. like every time u see someone start a conversation.
So i decided not to stay here. Going back to playa tomorow to get the bus to Palenque. im kinda fed up with this touristic stuff. Ready to go explore real mexico. Ill do the diving when i get back. that way i now how much money i have left. rather dont do too big payments allready.
ok im off, having a beer with some australiens. made the mistake of telling them belgium is a beer country and that we can handle quite some. now they think i can...... :-)

patience my dear

I think, when tis trip is over, ill have learned to be really really patience. i wake up here at six every morning. So around 6h35 i went to look for breakfast. When im in cozumel, ill buy some food to put in the refridgerator, since im gonna stay there for a while. But for know i just go somewhere for breakfast, its like 5euro for a really nice buffet. So they open at seven, but here offcourse that is 7h25.
And now im waiting till it is a decent hour to call Jon, thats a friend of a friend of my cousin, thats gonna keep my luggage. He went out yesterday, so asked me to call him not to early. En then im finally ready to start my trip! as u can see im a bit bored waiting thats why im boring u with useless information :-)

Getting better...

Today was a good day, i enjoyed it! checked in in a youth hostel. i think a really nice one. hope there all like that, because that is what i will stay in now. it was 140pesos, thats like 9dollars. I made a budget today and i think ill make it till the 16th of june, and still have some money left (without using my saving account offcourse).

So Tulum today, was amasing. Learned some spanish on the bus. Than tried to get in for free, didnt work. :-) Ok, visiting Tulum with a guide is better, but also more expensive... now i just read the information boards, and tried to listen to the guids i passed. I was nice and much more cheaper. the beach there was unbelievable. I just walked through it, in the beginning, and i lost my flipflop, the waves were that strong. i met a nice couple of americans that took a picture.

i actually really like to be alone here, and do my own thing, and when i want i meet people. and now being in youth housed in maybe even meet girls, because for a change, they are friendly!!

BIG NEWS!

I quite my job. I was sick of it. To tell it short. I dont like working in Mexico, prefer working in Belgium and then come here to travel and spend my saved money. So that is what im gonna do now. Today i did lots and lots of walking, my feet are killing me. i was looking for a tourist office to ask for a storagehouse or something to leave my luggage. The mexicans sent me everywhere, at the end i luckily found something. its quite expensive dough so im gonna try to put it with a friend of my cousin that lives here. So possible ill have to stay here another day, than i would go to tulum tomorow. If not ill go to Cozumel, thats an island 30minutes away from here, very good to dive. im gonna do an open water dive course there. that will give me a certificate, what means i can dive all over the world. After that im gonna go to San Cristobal de las Casas and Oaxaca. From there on ill see what the next step will be. My returning ticket is on the 16june, so ill probably come back home then. So Nelsie, ill have plenty of time then to save up money again to travel with u!
Yesterday was my first night out. It was fun, but super expensive. i pay the same amount for a good meal as for two beers. Well im glad ive been out here once, but its not really neccesairy for me. I prefer to go have a drink, and an early sleep.

PS: In August Chris is propably coming to Belgium! So have lots to look forward too!
PS: Starting to really miss u...