Great marketing

Can't help it.  Red Bull will always be in my blood.  Hence, seeing it on a helmet of a guy driving a scooter, on the streets of Mexico, with his scooter gang buddies beside him, makes me smile!  This, my friends, is marketing!

Friday is the day.

Bought the ticket.  Bit nervous.  Very excited.  Don't plan on using my computer there.  Internet is very expensive and rare.

So far I know:
-Heath care is free
-College, heck all education is free
-Maternity is a year long, daycare is free
-Cows are gov't controlled, beef is sold in only gov't stores/restaurants
-They used to eat grapefruit steaks during their economic crisis of the mid-90's
-No such thing as mortgages.  Can't sell your house for profit, only trade it for one equal in size to the one you already own
-Little tax exists
-Everyone uses gov't subsidized food stamps, believe it's weekly rations
-The cars are called 'yank tanks' all very old model cars

And that's just from reading a few pages in a guide book!  Going now to change dollars to euros for better exchange rate when I get there.  They're not fond on the USD, can't imagine why!

Wanted to know.....would you like to know anything about the country?

22-Degree halo

Believe it or not, I enjoy running on the beach.  (Anna, not joking, I LIKE it!)  It brings calm and peace to brutal exercise.  Also, a great way to explore lengths of beaches.  Today's run, especially good.

Saw something I've never seen before.  A rainbow-like ring around the sun.  A ring around the sun?  IS THE WORLD ENDING TODAY?  Sure isn't.  This is what it is:

A 22-degree halo occurs when the sky is filled with cirrus clouds which are between 3-5 miles up in the atmosphere.  Because the clouds are so high, they're cold.  And sometimes contain ice crystals.  Thus the 22 degree ring is because of the suns' refracted light through the hexagonal ice crystals.

Much more common than I expected, as it was a bit new to me at first, can happen over 100 days in a year!

The Panama Hats and jippi plants

A new friend Marcus introduced me to Panama Hats and the famous pueblo where they're made.  Had to go check it out for myself.

A two hour, 40 peso, bus ride landed me in Becal, Campeche Mexico.  From here I was swept away in a tourist 'triciclero' bike, heading towards the nearest caves where the Panama hats are produced.  Hand made from fibers of the jippi plant that have been heated, sulfured and sun dried for days, the weavers sit in caves 10 feet below ground to avoid humidity while the hat is in production.  In Becal, there are over 40 caves with working weavers.  And almost every family has someone weaving hats, they say over 70 percent of the town works the trade.

Meet the maker!

Jippi plant palms

Panama hats for Paul Bunyan

Although you can buy these original hats in Merida cheaper during market days, I bought one from the maker for more.  Hoping the money goes straight into their pockets.  Two days of work produced a hat for $300 pesos.   There are finer woven hats there for $1500 pesos, well over $100 USD.  These felt like silk.  All hats are bendable and roll-able, good for travel and 'sturdy for life' as the owner says!   Time will tell!

P.S.  Marcus is very passionate about the hand made shoes here in Mexico.  Check out all the photos/info on his blog about the Huarache's!

Playa del Carmen

Carribean waters.  Endless beach.  Book in hand.  

Adios!

Los Flamingos de Celestun!

The flamingos just chill here in Mexico!  All's good in their pink lives.  Guessing there were a couple hundred here today, not a bad thing to see in nature!

Back to the heat!

After a few weeks at 2,100 mtrs in San Cristobal, stepping off the bus this morning was like waking up in a desert after being in Alaska!

Please note:                      Feels like: 101

Hola Merida!

Oye!

Been to the bus stations to buy a ticket three times today.  When I finally found the bus I wanted, I had them reserve my spot.  I rushed back to the hostel with a few minutes to gather my things annnnndd I couldn't find the hostel owner.  He'd gone to buy bread.   Vive Mexico!

Bye bye bus attempt day 1.  Tomorrow, I'm scheduled for the bus.  We'll see if I make connections.  If so, my travel time will be somewhere around 18 hours with 14 hours of actual bus time.  Here I come Merida!

Ver mapa más grande
The joys of traveling.  Good thing I have all I have is time!!

Zapatistas in Oventik

Yesterday I sat in a room with 6 people, all wearing black ski masks.  I was intimidated at first, but found out quickly how lovely these indigenous people are. We asked questions to learn more about the Zapatista communities that are sprinkled around San Cristobal de las Casas and the world.  We were allowed 30 minutes of talking time in their office before they thanked us for coming.

We were allowed to walk around the head quarters and check out all the murals.  Fascinating!!!

San Cristobal in photos from the last few days

 Mexicans know how to celebrate anything and everything.  It's what makes their culture so think and strong!  The parade yesterday was a surprise to us, yet not to every Mexican, they came from everywhere to see musicians, dancers, princesses and floats.

 Zanicantan.  Yes there's a man hanging from this church.  At first I thought it was Bush.  But we asked.  It's Judah.

 San Juan Chamula.  A bustling market.  An unforgetable church experience where I watched a woman kill a chicken IN A CHURCH for sacrificial purposes.  Also, they use Coca-Cola to throw about the candles, as a spiritual cleansing. 

Churches.  Churches.  And more churches.

Homemade Pizza from an Italian....twist my arm.  

My favorite day of the year!

"Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive"

Hope you're enjoying the day and finding a few laughs!!!

And now to calm anyone's fears.  I will not be selling a kidney.  Wouldn't ever sell one--donate one to a family member, yes.  Even when asked if I would rather 'work in corporate America or sell my kidney?' I replied with Corporate America.  So please, have more trust, I may not conform to social norms sometimes, but my is still head upon my shoulders.

April Fool's History......read up and prepare for next year.

Does one need two kidneys?

Travelers talk,we have plenty of time to swap stories.  Just recently I met a man, who upon traveling in Mexico, encountered a few doctors that offered him $75,000 USD for his kidney.  Clean hospital room, full recovery and cash on-hand once he was finished. So he did it without thinking.  And since, it has got me thinking.

$75,000 for an organ where I already have two.  That's enough travel money for  5+ years.  And it's a sanitary/hospitable environment where the doctors have been professionally trained.  Did lots of research the last few weeks.  Talking to past patients about their experiences and recoveries and life thereafter.  All seems good.

Verbally committed this morning after another phone interview, tho haven't signed anything yet.  Told them about my Salmonella thingy, so we've put off an ideal surgery date for 7 weeks, to be sure my body is in tip top shape for whats to come.  I'm a little scared but mostly excited.  It's opening up the world to me for the next 5 years.  And heck, I have two kidneys