Monday, June 30, 2008

San Cristobal

When I was a kid, my Gran used to call me Christobel. She had a nickname for all of us kids and I liked mine...it sounded so damn sweet, sweeter than I ever was as a child a think.

So I am taking it as no coincidence that we are in a small colonial town in Mexico called San Cristobal. Its in the mountains in the heart of Mayan territory, where ancient culture has mashed up with modernity to make a nice enough town, tourist ready as it may be. There is not alot to do in the town so today we took a trip out to a small village outside of the town called San Juan Chamula.

The only thing to do in Chamula is to go to the Church. There is a market place that sells plenty of good food, jewellery, tapestries etc but the church is the main attraction. I love churches. I love the buildings, the stained glass, the tortured statues of Jesus, the heavy carved wood and their sombre quiet atmosphere. Always thought the worst thing about them was filling them with people and a priest and a bunch of bullshit rhetoric known as religious sermons. But churches I love.

This one was probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Its facade was covered in flowers and streamers and it was painted with bright colours. After we bought a ticket to enter (!) we went inside to see it filled with table after table of candles, glowing the most beautiful ambient light. Its walls were fillled with statues of Saints and local people worshipped their god, speaking in a low chant to Whoever. I noticed that in addition to the candles that they burnt in worship, were bottles of soft drink like Coke and Fanta, and found out that they drink this during prayer to cleanse themselves of evil. That and the addition of tour groups walking amongst the worshippers spoiled an incredibly beautiful place for me and I got out. I actually then felt like a complete voyeaur (spelling, sorry G) and wanted to get out of the village as soon as possible.

One of the things about undertaking a trip like this is sometimes I find sightseeing one of the most underwhelming experiences. Everythings been seen, everythings been done and everyone has been there before you. So the only thing unique for me are experiences with people, wether they be other travellers, local people, the shopkeepers, the beggers, the children, the friends you make for life...the rest is commercialised shit and a reflection of how far embedded into capitalism our world really is. When we were in Bolivia on Isla de Sol on Lake Titicaca, one of the girls we were travelling with asked a little girl in gorgeous traditional dress if she could take her photo. The girl, all of about 3 years old said ¨Yes but you have to pay´. She knew that she had what someone else wanted and she had become a comodity, even at her young age, in a place so remote and spookily isolated.

All I know is that when I finish this trip the things I will cherish will be the moments with the people I have met and fallen in love with. There are thousands of them. They cant be captured in any way except in my memory.

PS. Although this is a semi depressing post, I am sitting in the cosiest cafe ever. There is the smell of freshly brewed coffee, a guy singing and playing the most beautiful guitar in the background, Nikki is next to me and we are going to Antigua tomorrow.

I am so happy right now! And I am thinking of you, hoping that wherever you are, you are too...

Dream Reading

We have been in Mexico for a few days now and my dreams have come back to me in full force. It seems that whenever we hit a new place my subconcious is out of control although on the surface I am calm, chilled, happy and almost without a worry in the world. And I know its boring to share dreams but its something I have done all my life and I have found some comfort in learning how to analyse them and make even the smallest amount of sense out of them.

In the dream I was in a house, on a cliff, overlooking an amazing beach. The walls were glass from floor to ceiling and I was standing there watching the huge waves breaking onto the shore. They were huge, really powerful waves, coming from nowhere, and then BOOM, smashing into the sound. I stood there, almost in a trance, watching and waiting until I saw it - a huge killer whale came from within a wave, surging upwards through the crest of the wave, then as the wave broke, it breached through the top and did a backwards dive into the ocean behind it. I was in disbelief that I saw it - and almost thought I had imagined it. Then it happened again and this time it was with more power than before. I was in the room with a faceless guy and I yelled for him to come check this out! He came over to the window and we waited until we saw the whale again. Some time passed and nothing else happened....we watched and waited....and nothing. Then someone ran from the beach up to the house and yelled out to us that a huge killer whale had beached itself on the sand and was dying and we had to come and help. I felt a huge sense of loss and panic for I knew the whale was going to die. And then I woke up.

According to dream analysis, water in dreams symbolises the emotions and the state of the water reflects the state of your emotions. So in the dream the ocean was calm and serene but with huge powerful waves that were almost scary in how strong they were. In the waves was this whale, a mystical and magical creature that to me represents something within my emotions that can immerge without warning, but that has the ability to sabotage itself within a moment. And the feeling that I had when the whale had beached itself was just sickening, like I knew it all along...

So there´s a little bit of self indulgent rambling for ya. I wrote this mainly to document the dream because it was freaky! Make of it what you will dear readers....

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hellllooooo Central America!

So we have been in Mexico for three days and so far so good!

We started off by reuniting with our good mate Nikki from Brighton, who we met first in Chile, then in Argentina and now in Mexico. Its great to be back together! Our introduction to Mexico was via Mexico City, a massive city which we barely saw. But we did meet 2 hot Dutchmen and managed to have some cold beers and good conversation with before we took off...

We have a rough itinerary planned - a loop through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, following some recommendations from our Irish brothers Jim and Eoin. Its fucking hot and humid like you wouldnt believe - there is steam instead of air. We are getting curious looks from the locals but not in an intimidating way which is cool.

I managed to make a full recovery from my bout of tonsilitis and am back on the good food, lots of fruit and vegetarian burritos. Are these good for you? I dont care! Thing is I am back in the saddle and ready to throw myself into travelling again..think I just needed a break...

This is a boring post!

xxx

Sunday, June 22, 2008

The Return to Llama

I never realised how happy I would be to arrive in Lima. Up there as one of the more forgettable cities in South America, I didnt think I would be overjoyed to get back. But after 27 hours on the bus and getting ripped off 20 Sols by a dodgy cab driver, we arrived at the Red Psycho Llama to see half the people we met there the first time. It was great to see Jimmy from Manchester, Aviv from Israel and the super friendly local staff. Good times!!!

Long bus rides leave you frazzled and dazed. After that long in one spot you dont know if you are hungry, tired, restless, energetic, thirsty, relieved or angry. You are mostly stinky and dehydrated. On my bus trip I came up with a fresh top ten list. Just call me Christy Lettermen.

Top 10 things you actually did on a 24 bus ride

1. After putting off going to toilet for 5 hours, get the nerve to brave the rank banos, squat above the seat then fall off and head butt the door when the driver takes a corner
2. Watch incredible sunsets over magnificent Peruvian mountain ranges
3. At the border crossing, walk from Bolivia into Peru then check your passport, realise that Bolivia has stamped you as exiting in 2018 and have to walk back to get restamped
4. Plan the set list for your bands imagined reunion
5. Eat the rice around the wrinkly chicken in the free dinner
6. Jump for joy when you get the chance to get out at the servo for a leg stretch, then try to ask the guy next to you in Spanish where the bus is going and is it coming back to get us when the bus drives away
7. Get back on the bus and resolve to never get off again at servos
8. Eat an entire packet of Oreos and then feel like vomiting except the banos are so gross its not an option
9. Read the first four pages of 100 Years of Solitude again
10. Imagine yourself in Mexico in 24 hours

And thats the current sich my friends. I am tired and my body hurts but I am about to watch the football with my new old Llama crew and awake refreshed and ready to roll.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Top Ten Things to Do on a 24 Hour Bus Trip

in no particular order..

1. Make new playlists on your Ipods around Themes and Genres. ie. Love Jams, Hip Hop, Angry Music, Dance in your seat, Stay Awake so you dont miss the stop, Go to Sleep you are delerious
2. Try to write in your journal but it can end up as scribble depending on the road
3. Daydream about anything and everything
4. Breathe on the window and write si si si! in the condensation
5. Plait bits of your hair
6. Read the Lonely Planet again
7. Try to read "100 Years of Solitude" but decide you are too dumb
8. Write bad poetry, like really bad
9. Eat Lays or equivelent snack food
10. Try to sleep but unless youre riding cama you have no chance

Leaving La Paz

When I first arrived in La Paz I actually can say that I hated it. I called it "a wretched god forsaken hell hole". Now that we are leaving tomorrow, I am almost in love with the place. Thats an exageration but you know what I mean...

La Paz contains the rankest smells my nostrils have ever encountered. In one block, you can get whiff of piss, barbecued off meat, shoe polish, diesel, dog shit, ciggies and more piss. Near the bus station is especially wrong. A simple task like going to get a bus ticket leaves you dry reaching and covering your mouth with your sleeve. Truly foul.

Doesnt help that I have spent my time in the city being sick with tonsilitis. After three days of being delerious in my bunk, sweating the house down and listening to my Ipod not knowing if it was day or night, the Doc came to visit me and told me in a Spanglish that I had pustules on my tonsils. Yummy! So he gave me some drugs and I am almost completely fixed.

But when I eventually got out of bed and started talking to people in the hostel, I realised I was surrounded by other sick travellers. Most had stomach bugs from the food - the usual complaint of vomitting and diaroeah (how do you spell that word?!?!) One guy had an intestinal parasite that he caught in the jungle. Get this. The parasite lays eggs which get into food, you eat the food and the eggs get into your throat which gives you a sore throat. Then a couple of days later the lavae lodge in your lungs so you get a chest infection. And THEN, the little sucker is born in your stomach, eats all your food and gives you horrendous vomitting, diaraoahe (thats obviously wrong spelling) and stomach cramps. This poor guy had his little friend for over ten days!!! I am not joking!!!

Anyway, I have missed out on seeing Bolivia and I cant say that I would be back in a hurry. But today when I was cruising around the Witches Markets, I thought how much I really dig the place. The Witches Markets are especially cool. Its just one street with a lot of old ladies (witches?) selling weird stuff like dried llama foetuses, coca leaves, amulets, potions, candles and other stuff that we travellers would have no idea about. But if I lived here I would make friends with a witch and get her to teach me everything I know.

Tomorrow we get back into our backpacks and onto the bus for 24 hours to go to Lima. After one night of sleep and passionfruit pisco sours we will be in Mexico. To think we are already leaving South America after three months is hard to contemplate. But I have already decided to come back, with my goal being to get back to Argentina. I left my heart in Buenos Aires and need to go get it.

I am more homesick for BA than for Sydney, hands down. I miss everything about it. I miss drinking mate with Santi and Maxi, medialunas for breakfast, dulce de leche, Quilmes beer, San Telmo, Plaza de Mayor, football, the flag and just cruising around the city. I miss empanadas, old waiters in bow ties, the carteneros hard at work, the architecture, the kids, tango music, the list goes on and on...

So the next part of my journey will involve Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, hopefully the rest of Central America and a series of bus rides from hell to take me from the top of South America back to Buenos Aires. Things could change of course, but for now, thats the plan... and I really need to go back to study Spanish. I am getting better at Spanish all the time but feel like I am getting dumber and dumber by the day!!!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

On Hostel Life

One of the biggest influences in your life while travelling is hostel life. It can make you or break you. It can be better than home or your worst nightmare. It can have cold showers, stale bread for breakfast, rude staff and bed bugs. Or it can be so much fun you think you could live there.

Some of the incidents that have occured in hostels that remain most memorable for me are:

*Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to a guy vomitting in bed on the top bunk, like fully throwing up all over himself. So I put him in the recovery position and ran out to get some guys to help me sort him out. They dragged him out of bed, threw him in the shower then made him another bed and tucked him back in. Some people are too young to travel I swear. And most of these kids are funded by their parents!

*Shagging in a mixed dorm. Happened to us 3 nights in a row. People going at it with 10 other bodies in the room. Even after we screamed at them to get out they still went at it. Gross.

*Sleep walking, sleep talking...had a guy piss on my backpack in the middle of the night when he was sleepwalking. I was sound asleep and didnt know about it til the morning. Same with sleep talking in German. Creepy.

Thats pretty much the worst of it. Mind you we have had some amazing hostel experiences including:

*Organising Nikki´s birthday party on the rooftop of Hostel Estoril in Buenos Aires. A massive success!

*Pool party in Rio at 2am. It was boiling hot so we jumped in the pool and they opened the bar! Nice!

*Hot showers in La Paz. Unheard of!

By the way, I am currently in La Paz, Bolivia, and I have the flu which sucks. But i am hitting the vitamins and have found a health food cafe called 100% Natural which serves amazing food for about $1. So I am taking it easy until we get the hell out of here and get to Mexico.

Underlay underlay!!!!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Woohoo we are in Peru!

and its fucking FRIO (cold)!

We arrived in Cusco a couple of days ago which is the town closest to Macchu Pichu. Basically its an ancient little town infested by tourists all gearing up to go to Macchu Pichu, us included. We are staying in a hostel that is pretty cool to look at - its a 450 year old monestary and is now one of the most successful hostels in South America. It has a huge bar, all meals and its very own coke dealer who visits the bar every happy hour and sells cocaine to all the kids. I would love to know how many young gringos go home with a coke habit after using cocaine that sells for 2 US dollars a gram!!!! Jodie and I are complete nanas at this place but its probably a good thing to get some early nights before we do our 4 days jungle trek to Macchu Pichu this weekend. Si si si people, you hear right, I am going to haul my ass up a series of mountains to see this beautiful wonder of the world...wish me luck!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

There is an alien in my stomach...

but its ok as we are learning to live with each other. I remember when I arrived a girl I met who had been travelling for 9 months said "All my insides hurt". At the time I thought that was an awful admission but now I realise its just part of the journey. You eat so much shit food, food from cheap cafes, food from bus stations, food from street vendors and after a while food is nothing more than sustenance, with flavour, taste or goodness of no importance. Having said that I have eaten some AMAZING food but you only appreciate that when you have the alien doing somersaults in your guts then exploding out of your ass like an Olympic diver. Sorry but thats just how it is...

Another interesting thing about travelling is how generally I cant stand Australians on the road. I have met heaps of them and am friendly enough to them but overall I dont want to hang out with them, go out with them or be anywhere near them. While I consider myself to be a fairly proud Australian, I cringe when I hear their broad accents, their bad Spanish, their loud laughs or when I see their excessive drinking and their western arrogance. Behind every Australian traveller, me included, is a quiet smugness that we get to go home to clean air, drinkable water, a good job, a nice house, our mates and our family. While we love our adventures on the road, some of us are still wincing when we see poverty and hunger, we hurt when we see kids addicted to crack, when we see disabled people lying in their own shit in the street. We are comforted by the fact that people in OUR country dont have to live like that, that there are services for these poor souls and we are just better off...but whats the point of travelling the world if you just continue to think with that "for we are young and free" attitude? When a street kid in lapa sat next to me, moved closer and then put her head in my lap and fell asleep I didnt feel ok about being an Australian back packer, with my cheap beer in hand. I felt helpless, hopeless and disempowered. And no amount of money or freedom could change that. I let her sleep until a mad woman came up to me and screamed at me in Portuguese so we moved on....

The cogs are starting to turn again people...I think I will write more often...