Estoy Lista

I just dropped Rising off after a good run. She gets her stitches out tonight and her scar is getting much better. Tulum was actually pretty disappointing because there was a storm that came in from Haiti so it was all windy and grey. I did make a good friend though, who came back to Merida with me. We were planning to get a car and take off asap and have spent the past couple of days running all over town and I have decided not to buy one here. There was one I liked but it was sold before I could snatch it. The rest in my price range seem to be crap and the good ones are all too much. So I am about to head to the airport and buy a ticket for tomorrow which I just found out is only like $45! Then in Puebla we can take more time and save a little to buy a better car. Anyway, long story short, I am so tired of being in the Yucatan and I can't wait to go! The food is pretty bad too, there is only one restaurant I can (afford to) eat in and it is impossible to buy good stuff to cook with. This definitely shows in the population, which is very, very large. Anyway, I am looking foward to cooking a lot wherever I go next.

Books books books

Well everything is quite up in the air right now. I have lots of ideas and most of them could very possibly happen but not all at once so I am pretty excited to see what comes next... In the meantime however, I am reading so much and it isa something I have been missing during school and crazy hectic California "can't talk I'm in a hurry" life. I am eating them up and it's better than candy. I just finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood which is a pretty intense almost sci fi-ish story about totalitarian religious rule. I read it in 2 days. I could barely keep my eyes open when I was done yesterday. Before that I was trying to read a a book of 2 stories by Yvonne Vera about 1970's Zimbabwe during the guerilla war but they were so horrifically depressing I couldn't finish the second one. I can't really recommend them, although her style of writing is very unique, poetic, and symbolic. Today I started an Elizabeth Peter's mystery, her Amelia Peabody is so cute. Well, tough and independant I should say... So it is just really nice to be able to do this as much as I want, whenever I want. I only have to take a break every once in a while so Memo knows he still exists. My list of read books is on the side of the blog, I would love suggestions of favorite books if anyone might be able to leave me some, although I am sort of a slave to what's left on the book exchange shelf in the hostels right now.

Am I really getting paid to do this?

Well I thought it would be nice to write a bit about my job since it is keeping me so busy... whoo, it's a bit windy I believe... but check out the "Playing outside" album to see photos of the cenotes.

I have started to lead tours to the cenotes all by myself! I work with Raul and usually translate his Spanish for the tourists who need English, but he left last Friday to take a group of French couples on a tour throughout the Peninsula. This was kind of a problem for the agencies who vend our tours so he came to me and asked if I would continue to take tours while he is away. He said he has complete faith in me to do a good job and keep everybody safe and having fun. I said, I have only been doing this for a month or two, are you crazy?!?!?! Am I crazy?!?!?! AHHHHHHHHHH! So of course I said yes. Raul took me around town to meet all the people I would be working with and explaining the situation. I felt like I was somebody else and all I could do was smile and nod and I guess that was enough, because everyone was really nice and said no problem. And so since Sunday I have been on my own. I was so nervous on my first day. I recieved a message from the agency that I had two passengers and from which hotel to pick them up. I walked by so I wouldn't get lost in the morning and it was FANCY. Like $200 usd fancy. All I could think of was that I was going to blow it and the people would freak out and want to go home or not trust me to take care of them in the water. You know, all the usual jitters. I woke up extra early, around seven, so I wouldn't forget anything. Memo had gotten the equipment all ready the night before so I could go to bed early. I got dressed, didn't drink any coffee because I was already shaking, searched frantically for the paper with the directions, didn't find it, and headed to the car rental agency. I rented my first car ever, and drove for my first time ever in Mexico to the hotel. The receptionist called the room of the couple and then looked at me and said they had schedualed for tomorrow. I was kind of relieved and then sad beause I really wanted to go. I could swim in the cenotes everyday easily. I started to head back to the hostel and the tour agency called me to say they had two more people who wanted to go. I drove over to pick them up and they just happened to be a young couple who had just gotten married six weeks before. The woman was from Mexico City and the man from Chicago so I would be able to try in Spanish but fall back on English for the tricky stuff. We swung by to pick up Memo since we had extra space in the car. I started giving my speech about the number of cenotes in the Yucatan and how they were formed and I felt so silly at first until I realized they were really interested in hearing the information and I was supposed to be saying all this. They were so friendly and happy I relaxed a bit and was really enjoying their company. Our first stop is always in this pueblo named "Uman" where we walk through a Mayan market and I usually buy fruits and veggies to cook for dinner and the tourists buy spices to bring home. I surprised myself a little and remembered everything I was supposed to say about achiote, a seed that is made into a paste to bake with chicken or pork, you just add sour orange juice, wrap it in banana leaves, and put it under hot stones for several hours. Easy right? Yes, well, next we got back on the highway and sped (don't worry mom, not speeding sped) toward Cacao, the pueblo that has the first cenote we visit. There is a cute little old couple who keeps the key so everyday I stop at their hut and say hello, pay them a bit for passage and pick up the key. The old man got in the car to help with the gate. We passed through onto a narrow dirt road and started bouncing along through the flat green jungle vegetation, laughing as we all flopped around in the poor little rental car. We talked about all the cars and trucks we wished we were riding in at the moment and soon we arrive at Yaax Ha, pronounced Yash Haa. It looks like an opening in the ground with a homemade four step wooden ladder leading down. The water is pretty much hidden from above so the couple looked at me and asked "we are going down there?" Of course! And if you need to use the bathroom there is a thatched roof with one wall to your right where you can pee on the ground. It is so fun to bring folks out to the middle of nowhere and push their adventurous boundaries. I climbed down first to place the sunshade that reflects the light to brighten the cave and attach the rope we use to climb out. I felt very comfortable once I got down in the dark cavern because I knew just what to do and I knew the space would speak for itself and pull them in. I just had to get them in the water. It's a little intimidating at first because there are bats flying around above and the water is so clear and deep and there are little caves in the walls and dripping sounds echoing all around. I dove in and Memo tossed me the bag of snorkels and my fins. I set up our little spot on one side and watched as each of them hesitated for a minute and then jumped in. The water is magic I think, the moment your skin touches it, the fear evaporates and you can feel the energy it carries and begin to appreciate what you have entered. The cenotes are sacred still sacred to the Maya, there are candles in the walls from their ceremonies and they still use them as their source of drinking water. We swan around for a while, I dove down and showed them the stalactites with our nifty underwater flashlight. After that I wanted to give them some time to themselves, so Memo and I started practicing our diving. The couple really loved it and went all around with light looking in every crevace (sp?) and asking all sorts of questions. I didn't know all the answers but they didn't mind at all. It was nice to just have the two of them because I could let them decide how much time we spent in each place. We climbed out after a while and got in the car half soaked. I got nervous on the way to the second cenote because I didn't have my directions but I just tried to look like I knew what I was doing and all of a sudden I saw the turn off and finally took a breath. The second pueblo is in Abala, and has more dogs laying on the road than I have seen anywhere else in Mexico. We crawled through, avoiding the dogs and rolling over the giagantic, mounatainous speedbumps. Once past the town I found the practically hidden turnoff to get to Kankiriche, our second cenote. The name means "fruit of the yellow tree" in Maya. Another long bouncy trip through almost identical jungle and we arrived. Here, we first get out with the cameras to take photos and the bring them back to the car because the ladder leads right into the water. The light was perfect this day, a bright blue circle shot straight down to the bottom and lit up the whole cavern. Kankiriche is much bigger than Yaax Ha and has long, thick roots hanging down from the trees around the edges of the opening to drink the water. We swam around for a long time here, I practiced more diving and holding my breath longer and longer under water. I can now dive a bit more than 18 meters (54 feet) and hold my breath for about a minute and a half. Everyday it gets better and better. I am trying to eat really well and go to bed early so I can get stronger and stronger. I have been watching videos of free divers and I think I will be able to dive like them in a while. Meanwhile our cute couple played and cuddled on the little rock couch we usually stake out until they got so hungry they were ready to leave. Back in the car we all felt wet, warm, sleepy, content, and very hungry. I started back toward Merida and felt confident when I turned off into the pueblo Yaxcopoil. We drove all the way though and I didn't see the restaurant which is right on the side of the road and really impossible to miss. I started to worry in my tummy as I got back on the highway. We kept going and I kept not seeing the turnoff. Finally I pulled over when I had service and called the restaurant for help. They told me it was just a little ways ahead so within about five minutes we were there. Our meal begins with Sopa de Lima which is very similar to tortilla soup, but with a lot of lime in it. Next comes bean taquitos with tomato, avocado, and yummy pink, pickled onions on top. Memo and the couple shared a big bottle of beer (I was driving, remember) and it felt like we were just hanging out with friends. The American husband and I talked about what it's like to be here and be in a relationship with a Mexican and the Mexican wife and Memo talked about the opposite. Quite funny really. The main plate is Pollo Pibil, which is the chicken dish I described earlier. I have quesadlillas as I have been very vegetarian and even if I wasn't, I would not eat meat off the bone without my mom to cut it for me. Finally we ate a little plate of oranges and watermelon and I went to talk to the owners. They agreed with Raul that I could just sign for the number of tourists we have each day, so it was very simple. Now we were full, sleepy, and content and got back in the car to return to town. As we pulled up to their hotel, we exchanged emails with invitations to stay with each other should we be traveling anytime soon. Back at the hostel I collapsed on the bed and could not believe that I just done a whole tour all by myself. We took the equipment out to dry and then just layed around for a while before going to sleep early as I had another tour the next day...

Los Dias de Los Muertos

I have been a very bad writer. I love to write once I get started, it's just the getting started part... But today I should be good because I slept for 12 hours last night! I did not go out for one minute. I kind of wish I had but I was so exhausted from the night before it just didn't happen. The whole hostal was partying all night last night, along with the rest of Oaxaca I believe. I am really glad to have been here for Los Muertos, the city completely transformed between Wednesday and today. We went out early this morning to see if any of the ofrendas (alters) were still up at the Soledad, but everything had already been cleaned up. ¡Que rapido! Yesterday we stopped in the Palacio de Gobierno to see a huge Frida Kahlo ofrenda made of flour mixed with colored water. It was pretty amazing. On Friday night a bunch of us went to the Casa de Cultural Oaxaqueño to see the Dance of the Dead. We started upstairs crammed in a little hallway as the Dead marched through to the atrium. I actually couldn't see a thing here, but the music was creepy and good so I got the idea. The whole crowd, must have been 150 mas o menos, rushed to the balcony surrounding the atrium and the dance began below with us looking down. There were five dancers in black with their faces painted. They spent a lot of time on the floor making interesting patterns and wiggeling like worms. But beautiful worms. It was contemporary dance which reminds of dancing at CCSF which I miss here. My body is so achy right now because I have not been stretching enough. I did find a dance school in Merida, so as soon as I get back I will go. There is also quite a bit of yoga in Mexico which is great. Back to Los Muertos... after the dance in the atrium we followed a masked and caped man down the stairs to watch a dead woman prancing through the hall to the fountain in the patio. She was tiny and had on a long, lacy black dress with long, wild, curly dark hair and walked like a queen. The patio was filled with the traditional magenta and gold flowers and candles in cut paper holders. She rose to the rim of the fountain and danced around it as the masked man spoke of death. The band began to play a happier tune and then all the attendants started pulling guests onto the paths to dance with them. Of course I went. It was so fun, everyone was so sweet and happy. They served hot chocolate and bread and we all put flowers in the water.

After the dance we returned to the hostal and left again with an even larger group of 12 or so. All travelers, Memo was the only Mexicano. There were many bottles of Mezcal being passed around as we walked to the Panteon San Miguel, a cemetery completely decked out for the celebration. There was a music stand out front so a few of the girls and I had to stop and dance for a while. The locals are always so mystified when we do this. As if they are not dancing all the time themselves! The cemetary was beautiful, mainly the walls surrounding it though, about 5 levels of tombs one on top of another with a candle in every alcove. Many of them had dates from the 1800's but are clearly well kept and repainted frequently. Some little boys in costum came around asking us for pesos but instead we danced with them. How fun to have a party in a graveyard! It is so different from what I know of visiting them in the US. It changes death to something natural and integrated rather than pushing it away as something we can avoid.

Mamelas

I don't much feel like writing at the moment as I am soaking wet. I was scouring Oaxaca for a flexible needle (a blasphemous thing in Mexico) to help with my beading, when it started to pour. Actually at the moment it began I was eating a mamela, which is a fantastic regalo de Dios. It is a thick tortilla with beans, salsa and quesillo. You can have it with other stuff too so I added mushrooms (believe it.) and some green yummy thing. It. Was. So. Good. Anyway I didn't find what I was looking for.

On another note, I started my week of Spanih classes today. I like the school and my teacher and there is space to practice my handstands. I still need a wall... Today we learned the present sunbjunctive and I am so happy because it is exactly wha I have been needing for a while. I already used it in an email. And cheap too. I paid $80 for the whole week!

Susanna and I made sopa Azteca for the hostal on Saturday night. We went to the market and got everything except the chipotle peppers fresh. She even taught me how to fire roast peppers so I never have to use them from a can again. Let me tell you, this girl can cook! We set up my Ipod with some speakers and cooked to Michael Jackson with beer between us. By the time the soup was ready, everyone was standing around the kitchen drooling. We set out little bowls of avocado, lime, quesillo, and tortillas on the table which looked quite nice I think. We served 8 people, and they loved it!!! There was not even a slice of onion left in the pot when we were through, even though we almost doubled the recipe. For Mexicans to love two American girls Mexican cooking was pretty exciting. We celebrated with a salsa party in the kitchen that I hope continues every night I'm there. The hostal brothers are fantastic dancers and because of that I felt like I could dance really well. Eventually, Susanna brought out her hyphy (I don't even know how to spell that) and it turned into a dance party for the two of us because apparently not everyone appreciates the finer points of Oakland's contribution to hip hop. Oh well, it was the best day of my trip so far.

Sin Miedo

Whooooooooohoooooooo, we went rock climbing again for the third day! It was so fantastic! My whole body is screaming but it feels really good. We left at 9 am before you sweat just standing still and set up further up the trail than the other two days, four dogs speeding up and down between us, barking their excitement to be in the middle of nowhere. I really liked the new routes, they are more fun than yesterday when I didn't climb at all because I didn't feel in control of my body. I started once and came down after a couple of meters. I think I was still recovering from the first day. I climbed two good routes today. I am starting to trust the little pieces of rock that look to me like nothing at all but when you just dig in and push, they really hold you up. I also wore shoes that fit today which makes a big difference. They are special for climbing and fit your foot tightly and the soles sort of stick to the rock when you put your weight on them. Susanna belayed my first and she is great at guiding without making me nervous. I think I would have quit if I had been with anyone but her. There was one point when I had no faith in this little spot and she said, "I really want you to just try this one, I am holding you really well and if you do it you take a big step." So I did it, and she was totally right. After that I was willing to try much smaller points and move a lot faster. "It's like a dance with the rock," I kept hearing. Don't think, feel where you need to go and then go there all the way. There is no need to be afraid. It feels so good to tangibly let go of fear. I had these moments where I thought about coming down but realized I really wanted to get to the top, but couldn't do so without letting go and I just decided to do it and omg it is so free! My shoulders have been really strong (although now they need a big rest). After working hard for the past four years to be stable and strong I see that I made huge progress. I can pull myself up the face of cliff! Holy Shit! I am having a proud moment. Before I couldn't even lift a gallon of milk with my left hand. Thank you Rosemary and Lizz!!!

I love the challenge of climbing. Like climbing trees as a kid but magnified by thousands. It's also like being under water. It's difficult to be anywhere but where you are, and isn't that what we strive for everyday?

I am about to make Sopa Azteca for the hostal. It is nice to be back in the same place with people I know and new people I am glad to know. Oaxaca is such an amazing place. I love the vibe here. I love the people who come here. I even love the man who walks through town completley naked all day long.

Campeche

I was in Campeche for two nights and one day. I went with Jan from Nomadas Hostal in Merida. We had a good time getting there but it was not the most interesting city and it rained for a good part of the day. It is right on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico so it was nice to see the water. I did go to the Mayan archiological museum which had some cool stuff that I took photos of. I will post them soon, I just don't have my camera. I also visited the tiny botanical garden and took tons of pictures of flowers. Patrick, I think I inherited this from you! I just don't know what to do with them...

The next morning I got on the bus with a couple of folks we'd met at the Monkey Hostal and headed for Palenque because there is only one direct bus to Oaxaca each week from Campeche and it wasn't for six more days. The ride is about six hours, not so bad.

Flashback #1

Ah, the hammock, thinnest couch in the world, bed that never touches the floor, cozy cuddle sack, swing for kids large and small, book-reading assistant, perfect cloud watching positioner, and not insignificantly, dealer of trauma of the long lasting degree.

Hammock Phobia: a condition in which a person is totally terrified of hammocks, although they may still partake in the activity of hammocking. This fear may be of rational, irrational, or unearthly origins.

When I lay in hammock, I am endlessly torn between ultimate relaxation and an intense urge to put a mattress or at least my shoes under where my ass would crack against the floor should one end or the other come unattached. I see and feel over and over the possiblilties and try to angle myself in order to minimize damage should such a thing occur. One day, I think it was the day before yesterday, it all came back to me...

I am 11 or 12. At the fifth week Camp Gold session at The Lair of Bear. I am wearing hideous super short black shorts. One of the families ( I think the one who always had the Mai Thai party) in the big tents near the stage has set up one of those big, white, cotten, fat-string hammocks with the wooden bars at each end to keep it spread out. It is screwed into two trees with big eye screws. There are 3 or 4 of us on the hammock, but two of them are pretty little so we are more like two adults. Somebody is pushing us, we swing big but it doesn't feel too big. We are having fun. All of a sudden I am flying through the air and I land on tree stump that has been recently broken off so that the edges are raw and sticking straight up. The wind is knocked out of me, which gives me a pause before I feel the cuts and splinters on my back. Somebody's mother comes running over and mothers me over to the doctor's hut. I am obviously fine because I walk there, but she makes me go anyway. Good I guess.

One of the eye screws pulled out of the tree. I feel like that could happen again at any moment. But now that I have remembered why, I can assess the quality of suspension and try to relax without images of splintering tree stumps, shattered tailbones, cracked elbows, or bruises of magnanamous proportions. It could still happen, yes, but I could also get hit by a bus when I step out of this internet icebox cafe. Maybe I should just stay in here... they do have free coffee. And candy bars. And endless house music.

Diving and what I found underwater

I didn't realize we were going to another cenote, I was mostly thinking about food. But we arrived at a second one and filed out to pee behind a hut, then climb down a little ladder to the slipperiest mud I have ever slid upon and surfed our way to the water. There was one shaft of light tunneling from the ceiling through the water. It was impressive. We couldn't see much else until Raul brought one of those shiny windshield protectors and set it up to reflect into the cavern. Wow! I thought I didn't want to swim again (I was so hungry...) but within a minute or too I was jumping off the edge and totally absorbed. We took turns diving under with the flashlight to see what was under the ledges. I saw a white line running along a low wall and asked Raul what it was. He said it was the linea de la vida, the line of life, used by scuba divers to find their way out if it's dark or they are having trouble. He dove down to touch it and told me it was seven meters deep (21 ft.) He started to teach me how to dive deep. You have to blow your ears at certain depths and then return to the surface slowly and relaxed. When he put his hand above his head, he would just float up. So I put my face under, took increasingly deep breaths and dove under. I swan down to the line and then turned up and waited to start rising. I panicked at being so far down and shot up to the top. Raul told me that was bad and could be dangerous. I could tell he was right because I was really dizzy. I had to try it again so I started my breathing and dove down again, this time touching the line and reminding myself to relax and bouyancy would do the rest. I put one hand up and expected to rise. I didn't feel it so I put up the other one. I was being calm and patient, trying to just trust physics, but I wasn't going up, I was sinking further down! I looked up to find Raul and his hand was just above my head, I grabbed on and he pulled me slowly to the top. I was so surprised. I asked him what happened and he said "I looked down and there you were going away." He explained that differences in body composition can alter bouyancy and that I have negative floatation. So basically it is because I am buff! Hahaha. This is apparently great for scuba diving, but not so helpful for surfacing. After that he started to tell me about his ecotourism company and how he needs another person to work for him. And so opens another opportunity...

Las Cenotes

Oh my I love cenotes. And snorkeling. Thursday morning at nine, eight of us at Nomadas Hostal got together at the front and headed out to visit some of the underground caves filled with water and stalactites and stalagmites. Not of course, before I ran all over central Merida looking for a bank that wasn't out of order and frantically took a taxi back and was totally late and totally relieved that I was't left behind. For 300 pesos, $30 usd, we took a van to a little market in a Mayan pueblo and wandered through chiles and verduras and raw carne hanging in the heat for those who dare to eat it. After that we drove way out into the middle of nowhere and stopped at a clearing with a big hole surrounded by some trees and a ladder reaching way down. We each received our freshly sterilized snorkel and mask and climbed down until we were close enough to jump into the gray blue water. It was filled with minerals and tiny catfish cuties and felt so clean and untreated. There were remnents of candles from Mayan ceremonies along the walls, this is a sacred place for them. It is easy to see why. I snorkeled my first snorkel in here, and learned how to dive while our guide was showing us how deep and far the cave goes underwater and all the otherwordly stalactites hanging low with black abyss behind them. I spent a lot of time just staring down, floating on top of the water. The colors and the feel of the water just pulled me in and everything else went away. When our heads were above water we learned about the history of the cenotes. There is no water on the surface of the Yucatan peninsula. No rivers, no lakes, nothing to provide fresh water for crops or drinking. Except the cenotes. So they have been very special to the people of the Yucatan for thousands of years.

*I have to meet someone now, so I will have to continue my long description a bit later...

Merida

So here I am in Merida in the Yucatan. It does not feel like October here at all. Last night I stayed in a hostel that had really cool three story bunks and ladders that were probably 15 or 20 ft. high! That was about all the place had going for it though, so this morning I looked at the one I had orginally planned to stay at and moved my stuff there. It is really nice and even though it is off season, there are enough people there that I don't feel like I'm in solitary confinement. They have a great kitchen where I made pasta with garlic, tomatoes, and quesillo this afternoon. I think I paid about $3 for everything and I have plenty extra for another meal. It is so much cheaper to cook than eat out and I think I eat better too.

My spanish is already coming back. I had a long conversation this morning with a guy who is from here but spanish is his second language too, his first is Maya. I would really like to spend a week at a language school to learn some new tenses, but that may have to wait because I think most of the schools are in northwest and central Mexico.

Tomorrow I am going snorkeling in one of las cenotes a little ways from Merida. They are part of a system of underground caves running throughout the Yucatan. I am really excited, the photos I have seen are unbelievable!

Los Angeles

Well, I am in LA. I don't really like it here, although I am constantly laughing at everyone's ridiculous outfits and cars... There are so many designer babies too. I have to hang here until after this weekend because I am taking my TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certification class then. It's okay though because Nick is here and we're going to hang out a lot. Otherwise I would go crazy. My plan as of this afternoon is to fly to Merida in the Yucatan next week, hurricanes permitting. Then I will visit some important sights there and hopeful snorkel or scuba dive. After that I head to Puebla to meet up with my friend Memo. From there, we'll see...

First

I just wanted to make a first entry to get this blog off the ground. I am sitting in my Katie cave at Don and Patrick's, just thinking a little about how much I have been enjoying all the time I have been spending with my family and friends. It makes me really happy to have so many awesome people in my life. It will be really hard sometimes to not be able to see them. BUT, I still think this is exactly what I want to do. And I am really hoping a few of you guys will turn up during my travels. I am so amazed at how much positive reaction and support I have gotten regarding this adventure. Thanks! I probably would have done it anyway, but I feel really good going with blessings.

Lastly, Jujubes are not a very fun candy to eat. My teeth feel gross.