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Articles Tagged ‘México’

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In Which Sarah and Megan Watch Footage of a Placenta Being Burried

Thursday, October 26th, 2006

Megan Discusses the Morning
We just made it back to our hostel, hustling, as a gigantic rainstorm rolled in from the hills. Sarah has a sixth sense about these things — I wanted to press on.

Today was filled with activity. We started off at Museo Na Bolom, the former home of a couple of anthropologists who worked extensively with the Lacadonians from the 1950s til today. Trusting in our guidebook one more time (even though it has so often led us astray) we arrived at 11 for a tour only to find that the tour only happened at 4:30 or if you had 4 or more people. So, we wandered aimlessly for half an hour trying to decipher the exhibits, cursing Lonely Planet, until we spotted a charming restaurant located within the hacienda walls. For less than 5 American dollars, we got fruit, orange juice, coffee, homemade bread, and the best huevos I´ve had in México. We even spotted a hummingbird.

Sarah Discusses the Afternoon
Sated and content, we wandered further north, past the municipal market, towards the Museum of Mayan Medicine, which, if I do say so myself, was totally awesome. It was run by an NGO whose mission is the preserve and promote Mayan medicinal practices. The museum is a series of six life-size dioramas of different healing practices, and your last stop is a video about how Mayan women give birth, on their knees embraced by the father of the child. I didn´t understand a word of the video, but there was a lot to see just looking at the footage: labor, newborns covered in blood and goo, and a placenta. Good times. Anyway, I´d recommend this museum to anyone who´s in San Cristobal de las Casas, definitely a must see.

While we were there we ran into our first true American travellers (I´m not counting the young man who we met upon our arrival to San Cristobal who is in Mexico to play for a pro-basketball team in Guadalajara. He lived the first six years of his life in Nigeria and I think he´s a liar… I don´t think there is a pro-basketball team in Guadalajara, plus he was kind of short, but what do I know?) So, now we know where the American travellers go… to the coolest, most socially-responsible spots. Once again, we´re number one.

We´ve set up a transport from our hostel to Huehuetenango on Saturday morning. There we will meet our college friend Zil who´ll spend the Guatemala portion of the trip with us. In the words of Max Hodes, here´s to Good Friends and Friendship.

-Megan and then Sarah

P.S. Click here for our latest pictures

Posted in American Identity, Mexico, Photography, Times When Lonely Planet Has Led Us Astray, Travel | 3 Comments »

Lost Days

Wednesday, October 25th, 2006

San Cristóbal de las Casas is an impossibly beautiful colonial town tucked away in the mountains of Chiapas. Unfortunately, we didn´t get to see any of it today.

We did, however, have a rocking good time last night.

Yesterday started innocently enough. We wandered through the charming cobblestone streets, stumbled upon a municipal market where I was so tall that I kept hitting my head on the tarps that served as a ceiling, and did not buy anything from the indigenous children who would approach us with belts and friendship bracelets. The market was incredible. It went on for miles, twisting and turning and overflowing with oranges and squash and corn and fruit that I have never seen. It was exhausting and overwhelming, so we returned to our hostel and fell asleep.

That night, a fellow hostel-mate had a birthday party in the garden behind the hostel. For the first time, Sarah and I found a way to mingle with our fellow travelers. We met an effervescent couple from Norway, two women from the UK, a woman from New Zealand, a few Canadians, and a sweet French couple. We learned that I could pass for Canadian but Sarah has a ¨hard¨ American accent and couldn´t. We confirmed our suspicions that people would be more welcoming if we weren’t American, when the Québécois hippie literally turned and walked away when he heard where we were from. (He came back and we had a conversation about how crazy evil Bush is. Our work on the 2004 election gave us a little cred…) Then we downed a few too many tequilas and went with our new friends to Cafe Revolution where a nearly full brass band was accompanying a Spanish rapper. It was the best bar I´ve been to in a long time. Packed to the gills with Mexican fashionistas and travelers in quick-dry clothes. I even got into a short, choppy Spanish conversation with a woman in line for the bathroom. She kept saying ¨que chilo!¨ which I hope means ¨cool¨ and not ¨what a stupid American!¨ On the way, the effervescent Norwegian woman traumatized several small Mexican boys by forcing them to dance with her in the town square. It was a great night.

Today, not so great. We made it a pretty early night, thinking we´d be able to tough it out in the morning, but a combination of dehydration, poor nights sleep, and the tequila made this a wasted day. Well, there´s nothing but time.

-Megan

P.S. Click here for our latest pictures

Posted in American Identity, Health, Mexico, Photography, Travel | No Comments »