The trip so far

So it is time for another blog entry...I am on day ten of my current Central American adventure, tucked in an internet cafe in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. Tuxtla is the capital of the state of Chiapas and is where my friend Jessica lives and works as an english teacher. Here is a quick recap so far.
For the first 5 days I was with my friend Mckinley, and we took Mexico City and nearby Cuernavaca by storm seeing old Aztec canals, Diego Rivera murals, a lost Chinese tourist, a duck in the city square (second biggest in the world), and other exciting things too. Mckinley headed north after 5 days to begin a new life and job in Guadalajara working for a tequila company and I headed south to see Jessica and continue on my eventual route which is mostly south.
I have to say, I do love Chiapas and think it is by far my favorite part of Mexico. I think it is only normal that I like it because it reminds me a lot of Kentucky, which I also love. Chiapas is the poorest state, it is mostly agricultural and rural, and also has incredible biodiversity and a breathtaking landscape. Yesterday I visited San Cristobol which was the center of the Zapatista uprising and has become somewhat famous for that. A few days ago we went on a boat ride through a nearby canyon and I saw cacti growing on the side of a mountain and a crocodile and also the site of where in the 1500´s the entire indigenous tribe of the Chiapa (sp?) jumped off a 1000 meter mountain and committed suicide so as not to be slaves to the Spanish. Intense eh?
Today here in Tuxtla we went to the zoo....which I will say was awesome....it features only animals native to Chiapas and it is set up kind of like a controlled wild habitat, so animals that will not eat you are just running around...rodents of all sizes, many birds, all kinds...just running around your feet and flying around your head. Of course the jaguars and 6 feet long crocodiles are a little more separate. thank god.
Jessica teaches from 7-9 in the morning and from 5-9 at night. This means we can play all day and I have the evenings to myself for a few hours while she teaches. Each night I have gone to the central park and watched live marimba bands and people dancing...it has been nice.
I have also had some time to read and I am reading a book about India by Jhumpa Lahiri (pulitzer prize winner) and have read some really interesting articles in national geographics Jess has lying around....articles about the Jamestown colony and introduction of invasive species, about oil companies in the Niger Delta, and one in depth but very informative article about heart surgery.
So in other backpacking news, I made the decision to spend a chunk of my time volunteering in Guatemala. My friend Shane recommended to me a very interesting organization called Maya Pedal that uses bicycles to empower local people. Much of what they do is repairing old bikes to give people for transportation, but they also do a lot of innovative work with bicycle powered machines like bicycle powered blenders and clothes washers etcetera to meet the needs of the community. I think I will spend about 2 weeks there but as the theme of this trip has been....i am open to changing that plan. I will probably head out of Mexico in the nest 5 days or so....we´l l see.
Sorry I cant put pictures on the blog right now...internet cafes leave much to be desired when it comes to downloading digital photos. I have access to internet pretty regularly so drop me a line and let me know whats up......hasta luego....baby

Bree

ps....here is something funny. In Spanish, the word ¨governor¨ is ¨gubernador¨so when Jessicas english students try to say governor, they translate it in their heads as ¨governator¨. They will be talking seriously about politics, and refer to someone as the governator. Jess told them there is only one of those...ha. I think that is hilarious....i hope you do too.