good bye belize...hola guatemala!

i left the island today in the morning, and now i am in san ignacio, close to the guatemalean (do you write like this) border. unfortunately still i cant upload pictures...

i went snorkeling, it is the 2nd biggest reef in the world, after great barrier reef in australia (yes, in australia, not in austria!!) and it was really amazing...WOW! we saw many amazing animals, were snorkeling with sharks, in the most beautiful water...it was really good!!

my plan is to go tomorrow morning to some maya ruins in belize, and then head to guatemala! it is said to be a really nice country. where i will cross the border is far up in the north, close to the mexican border. and close to an important maya sight, called tikal. i am looking forward to that! in the last week this area was in the media because on a farm some 25 workers got slaughtered. must have been really bad. some drug plantation issue...should not be a problem for tourists though... and now there is  big military and police presence (thats what people told me who were just there) and so now its probably safer than before. should really not be a problem...but still its  a bit strange!

hope to find internet with the possibility to upload pictures soon...because it always makes it much more easy for you to ``understand`` what i experience!! hope everything is well,  sevi

belize, caye kaulker

i left mexico 3 days ago, and went south, to belize! its on the east coast, so its part of the caribean!!!

its really beautiful here, i am on an island, 40 minutes off the main land!

since the internet is very expensive here, i will wait to upload pictures until i get to the main land again!!

its funny, belize is surrounded by mexico and guatemala, but is totally different. the official language is english, the people are more africans than latinos, and raggae is more important than salsa! and there are quite a few tourists in the place where i am right now...a big difference to my last weeks!!

i will write more soon, with pictures! hope you are all doing well, have a good time, sevi

"agua azul" and san cristobal de las casas

waterfalls

even though the weather was bad it was beautiful

danger!

toilet in front of the jungle

my bag

what an island!!

my self...no one can say anymore that i am so pale!!

as mentioned, i went to agua azul...its a nice river with waterfalls, and said to have several different shapes af blue. but that day it was just brown because of too much rain in the night!

after some time the weather got better (the colour did not change, but more and more people came!) and i decidet to move on - to san cristobal de las casas. when i arrived at the main road again, where i wanted to take a collectivo, there was a lot of police. the reason was, that in san cristobal there was a demonstration of the zapatistas - mosteley indigenous people of the region of chiapas who fight (former with weapons, now peacefully) for revolution/ change in the government.  they became famous in the world, since they made a "revolution" in chiapas in hte beginning of the year 1994, by getting several cities under their control and freeing many prisoners. it did not last long though. on the way to san cristobal (5 hours) there was loads of police on the streets.
san cristobal is a colonial town as well, and is has many, many churches!

church opposite of where i lived

all small chlidren are carried like this (on the back)

part of the zapatista demonstration

their typical sign is a black ski mask (sturmhaube solls heissen!)

traditional clothes

black ski masks everywhere

but it was very peaceful

in the beginning it was really strange to see all these people with their face covered - and it felt a bit dangerous. but it lost all the danger when i saw the first women in the typical colourfull dresses, with the black mask, brestfeeding their babies!!

against calderon (president of mexico) "no more blood" " we are too tired of injustice, masacres,..."

"calderons fault" "no more blood"

typical women in chiapas, welling clothes and jewellery. you find them everywhere in mexico

also typical, cleaning shoes

clothes market

church...

...again - with something holly?!

on the way to sundays big market

at the market

you can buy clothes, flowers, food (alive chicken and turkeys)

and loads of great fruits!

 i also saw many "amazing " people, but could not take fotos of them, because they do not like it. they think, that taking a foto takes away some of their energy...and thats what they do not like!

"stop curruption in the police"

"freedom and pespect"

there was another fiesta...

 i heared muusic, and then always a person singing "guero, geuro" (geuro means blonde!) so i went there, and many people were there...i asked a lady what was going on, and she tole me "we are celebrating the blonde people...like you! blonde like you" since the people were giving away t-shirts and other presents, i asked her if it is an organisation or somethiong like this. she said no, they just like the blonde so much, so they have this fiesta! i could not really belive it, but thought it was quite funny! and while they were singing "guero, guero" i was walking there, blonde as i am, in the middle of hundreds if people with dark hair!!

the front of the shirt

and the back side...written "el guero es my gallo" the blonde is my turkey FREUND

loads of different beans

a hairy fruit, like leechee...just grows in this region of mexico

the first sign of MS that i saw in mexico

i expected to see much more like this in mexico - and in general i expected it to be much more dangerous. in merida, yucatan peninsula, its really tranquil, and also the regions of campeche and chiapas are relaxed and safe. so the picture i got at home through the media (another massacre in mexico...so and so many people killed in the drugwar) is totally wrong. for sure, in the north it is really dangerous, and many people warned me not to go more north...definately not more north than mexico city. but the picture i had from back at home was that the whole country is just dangerous, full of crime, drugs and murder. and thats not true. and as i said, in more then a month in mexico its the first graffity i saw in this dirrection!

another church!!!!

more like i thought mexico would be

once again colonial houses!

so now i am up to date again with the blog...and if you read this, you are up do date woth my life! hope you are all doing well, and thanks for writing many mails, its nice to be able to participate a bit in the life "back at home" as well!!

tomorrow, on sunday, i will get up early and go to the beach...what is your plan?!

hasta pronto, sevi

palenque and yaxchilan

from campeche i had a easy 5 hour busride to palenque. palenque is in the next state, more south west - its called chiapas. in chiapas there is more water (rain and rivers), and therefore its more green than yucatan (merida). and since it is a bit higher than the sea level, its more cold...which isboth really nice!
i found a good place to stay, and spent my time walking through the town. its quite nice, with lots of streetfood...but soon the rain forced me to go home again...i dont know when it was raining the last time "in my world"! (hmmm...probably in bangkok - one day i was washing all my clothes and let them on the rooftop during the night to dry...and then it was raining...and rain in a city like bangkok is really dirty...so it meant washing the clothes again in the morning...but thats a different story!)
the next day i left early to the ruins of palenque. and i really anjoyed it there! in the morning the weather was still bad, cloudy and raining a bit - which ment less people! it was really impressive there...
about 3 km2 of the old city are discovered, but thats only about a bit more than 10% of all ruins from palenque. the pyramids and temples had religious reasons, but some ewre tombs as well...and the most important rulers built the biggest things. palenque is famous for the glyphs found there...and being there is really nice...!!

many people like him are in teh cities...selling chewing gum, cigarettes, sweets...

what more to say...?!

the next day i wanted to go to bonompak and yaxchilan, about 3 hours by car from palenque. since a few years ago there were many robberies, the government dacidet that all tourist busses need to ride in a convoy...and that the tourists with cars should join the convoy as well. since i neither had a car, nor wanted to book a packeged tour, i had to find another way. i took a collectivo again, and it brought me safely close to bonompak. but from there it turned out to be difficult to actually get to bonompak - the 14 km would have cost 3 times the price i payed for the 3 hour drive before...and then i met some people who just returned, did not really like it and said that yaxchilan (my ruins for the next day!) was much better. so i skipped my plan, and took another collective to frontera corozal. (frontera = border...a river seperates mexico from guatemala...yes you are welcome to get some geography lesson as well!!)
in frontera corozal i stayed in a nice eco lodge, with many bungalows...but i was the only guest. the reason is that all tourists book the packeged tours...and they do not sleep there. really a pitty for the people!

on the way to frontera corozal

in my resort

the next day i went up really early, because i wanted to be one of the first at the ruins...its just nicer with less people!i went to the river, the border river, and from there you have to take a boat to the ruins - about 1 hour. but since no prople stayed in this village, no people were there to share the boat. and for myself it was too expensive. so i waited about 2 hours, until the first package tourists arrived - and shared a boat with them! so getting up early for...not no reason, because it was also beautiful at the river, but...!!
the ruins of yaxchilan are less restored than in palenque, but really nice asa well!

guatemala!!!

the view from mexico to guatemala

some tourists spotted something (an animal)

many trees are extremely colourful

in the evening i came back to palenque...and the next day i went to agua azul (blue water) - but when i came it was agua cafe (brown water), due to a lot of rain! but still it was very nice. you will see in the next post!

hasta luego, sevi