The Agony and the Ecstasy

I will begin with the ecstasy first.  Mike helped me figure out why it is so difficult to upload pictures to both this blog and FB - because they were too big, too many pixels or something like that.  Anyway, that is all changed now, and here are some pictures of my trip to through three Mexican states.

This is a picture of the Gulf of Mexico.  We took it in a place called Coatzacoalcos.  The picture that follows is of the apartment buildings located along the beachfront.  It was not the most conventionally pretty Mexican town, as it is mainly a large oil processing place, but I liked how they decorated the otherwise industrial looking building.

These are some of the tropical birds we saw in the zoo where the Olmec heads were also located.  

   

Here is an example of the Olmec heads.  The amazing thing is that these things are huge - and these ancient people had to drag them for over 100 kilometers from where they were quarried to where they were eventually found.

This is a coatamundi.  As I said before, their sheer numbers and the way they quarreled among themselves made me nervous.

The pictures that follow are all of the Mayan ruins at Palenque, in Chiapas.  Again, it was breathtaking to imagine what it must have been like when it was fully populated.

 After we left Palenque, we drove through the state of Chiapas, passing the most spectacular waterfall I have ever seen.  I have seen Yosemite only in the summer, when it is not very full, and the only time I saw Multnomah falls was in late winter when it was mostly frozen.  This was amazing.  It was called Agua Azul and that was an appropriate name because the water was truly blue.

The area we drove through was very rural.  It is not everyday that you have to stop on the highway because of cattle being driven down the road.

We stayed in a true jungle while we were in the Palenque area and this is what it looked like right outside of our hotel.

And here is the prettiest lizard we have ever seen.  He was hesitant to pose for us, but did so anyway.  I ma not afraid of lizards the way I am of snakes.  Which is good, because there are a lot of them around here.

We also sent to some more Mayan ruins known as Tonino.  While the entire area was smaller than Palenque, these were equally impressive as they were very tall.  They are a lot less visited, because they are harder to get to and there are no really comfortable places to stay in the immediate area.

And one more thing - the entire area of Chiapas seems to be mostly populated by indigenous people, especially in the countryside.  They wear traditional dress, and are very suspicious of outsiders, although they are not hesitant to hustle what tourists that come through.  We did not take any pictures of the people as we were made aware before we left that they don't like that.  The area has been the site of very recent political problems, and we saw these signs all over the plavce pretty much every time we drove through a small settlement.  We took this picture when no one was around.

As you can see, the picrtures are of Emiliano Zapata, Che Guevarra, and an unknown soldier.  The little villages had signs indicating this was Zapatista territory.  Now that I have been here, I have to learn more about  it.

We also went to the town on San Cristobal de las Casas, which is regarded as the cultural capital of Chiapas.  It was beautiful, with narrow cobbled streets and colonial architecture.  The sidewalks were paved with travertine.  Amber mined in Chiapas, and Mike bought me two incredibly gorgeous necklaces - one is a huge pendent with visible bugs in it (which makes it more valuable) and one with enormous amber beads, again with bugs and what looks to be an egg sack.  We had no idea Chiapas was an amber center and were delighted to discover that, because I love amber more than diamonds.  They also specialize in coffee (we bought a big bag directly from the roaster) and cacao, so of course chocolate was purchased as well. 

I am sad in a lot of ways to think we are leaving Mexico as I feel I have barely scratched the surface.  Of course, there is no reason I can't come back.  And I really think I have to.  It is hard to imagine finding any place I have felt as welcome as I have here. 

Now for the agony - the part for the frig did arrive,  but after Mike put it in, we realized that part was not the problem.  Our frig is dead as the proverbial doornail.  We are going to have to replace the whole thing - which is money I really didn't want to have to cough up.  And of course we are not in an area where we can just get the equipment and have it installed.  We will likely have to fly to San Diego, carry it back in our luggage (luckily it will only weigh about 60 pounds total and will be divided into a couple of different boxes that will fit in our suitcases) and then get it installed.  Hopefully Mike can do the work himself, and we have found a guy down here who thinks he can help if we get the unit.  It just sucks because it means we will be delayed in setting off for El Salvador, and will miss a lot of the rally activities.  I don't really care that much about missing a bunch of parties, but I get really down when things start breaking.  And of course nothing that goes on a boat is cheap - in fact, BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand.  And if we do end up having to go back to the US to get the stuff, we likely won't be able to take the extended trip back we had planned on taking in August.  Sometimes it seems like it is just one thing after another - I don't like to whine and complain, especially when I have it so easy.  After all, I don't have to work, live in paradise, etc. etc., but it does wear on me to constantly spending big sums of money.  Oh well - I am not really expecting any sympathy!

I hope to be better about posting pictures now that Mike figured out how I can do it without taking 30 minutes to download (or upload, I really don't know the difference) each one!

"So I wish you first a sense of theatre; only those who love illusion and know it will go far."  W.H. Auden