happy new year! ¡feliz nuevo año!
i am finally able to get back to the blog site and make a real posting. to get a full update will probably take a week or more, but i am well and still in san cristobal de las casas. i leave tonight at 9, and i should get home around 4am before i go to work tomorrow. yippee. i have been travelling for over 17 days and my body is ready for a break.
i love this city! last night there was a peaceful occupation of the town by the ezln or the zapatistas to mark the 12 year anniversary when they occupied the city by force. no one carried weapons but there were over 10000 people with black ski masks and i was pretty intimidated. women, children, old men, the people from the fields and the rural areas turned out in force and sported their black ski masks (a kind of traditional uniform) and or red bandanas. even though there were kids, and women carrying children on their backs, there is something about that many people wearing ski masks that made me nervous. this is the most international city i have been to so far, so there were tons of hippies from all over the world who gathered to show their support. thus, the zapatistas had to push through tourists to get to the front where their leader, subcomandante marcos (also masked) spoke for about 15 minutes. i was told and read in the newspaper that he would arrive around 4pm. around 930 he spoke. that was pretty annoying having to wait almost six hours. the revolution waits for no one, but clearly, the people sometimes have to wait for the revolution. i met and have been hanging out with a really cool couple from australia and they have lots of pics of it all and our adventures over the last four days, but i have to wait until they get home in march and can send me the pics. they left for guatemala this morning so i have been exploring all day by myself.

the weather here is warm in the daytime and cold at night. perfect. the hostel where i am staying is pretty cool. there are only about 4 english speakers out of the 40 people staying there so it is interesting as we all try to comunicate in spanish. i like being around this many learners of the language and it is funny bc if we cannot explain ourselves in spanish,there is no fall back language. the hostel deal reminds me of boarding school. 6 people in one room, shared bathroom (at least there are separate stalls and not the ¨gang¨shower we had at woodberry) for all they guys. there is a common room with a tv and books and a kitchen. it is pretty fun because everyone is a traveler and we just tell stories about where we have been and want to go. there is a french family who got on my nerves bc the four kids needed some boundaries and rules and the parents were clearly not into giving them any. oh well, it could have been worse.

i cannot believe i am actually going home tonight. it seems like just the other day i was getting on a bus and going to acapulco to hang out with kristin. time to get back to reality i guess. i hope xmas and new years was great for everyone. i will write more this week about what i did for mine. i am pissed bc i am still sick, i think bc i keep changing climates, and i have to try to sleep on a bus. i chose it, though, so this is how it goes.

yay, the hokies did not choke!