sis amy says that the blog is screwing up about comments, saying there is only one when there are numerous. not sure what the deal is with that, but i will check and see if i can figure it out.

i think i said this but you can comment on any entry and i will receive a copy of the comment(i have them all automatically sent to my hotmail email account). so comment away! this means you, peaches. shiprock. at least give me a hint about when we met. number of years ago? or, where?

my trip to chiapas was great! getting there was obnoxious because, as usual, the bus system down here is jacked. i had to get to juchitan, next town over about 30 mins away, to buy my ticket to chiapas because the station in ixtepec does not sell tickets to chiapas, or really most places. it is a small office, so there are only like 20 destinations. they cannot even tell me, even though there is one computer system that links all the buses(well, three major service lines anyway), that there is space on a bus. stupid. so i had to get to juchitan first, and that bus did not leave until 11pm. but, i could not even buy that ticket until 10minutes b4 the bus leaves. this is ridiculous. some crazy rule they have that only applies to some destinations. it makes no sense they offer no valid explanation.
so luckily there was a spot on the bus to juch and i get there and go to buy my ticket (the bus to chiapas , which is a state by the way, leaves in 20 minutes). the lady takes my name down and then says i have to board the bus and pay at that time. this is not normal for long distance buses but i acquiesce. 7 minutes b4 the bus should leave i try to get through the waiting area, you must go past an armed (machine gun) guard. he laughs and tells me no one enters the bus area without a ticket. but the lady told me... this means nothing to him and he points to the long line at the ticket counter. sweet.

i get there to find the lady who would not sell me a ticket calling out names. what!? had i not arrived when i did, they would have sold all the tickets out and i would have been stuck in juchitan at midnight with my big backpack and nowhere to go.

crisis averted, i board the bus and try to get some sleep on my 10 hour bus ride through the mountains.

i end up in comitan at 10am and the day is gorgeous and sunny. i decide to find shelter in town and wait to go to the lakes on sunday. i find a casa de huesped(this is a cheap version of hotels which is actually a house with rooms rented out) and get a room. it is about 80 pesos a night with shared bathroom but there is hot water! comitan is in the mountains so this is essential.

i tour the town and go to museums for the afternoon. beautiful little mountain town that overlooks the valley, and 70 kilometers away, guatemala. i end up meeting and having a wild political conversation with a 70 year old guy who continually tells his wife he is not ready to go, we are sitting in the zocalo, town square, while lots of young people are performing traditional dancing in honor of the towns 400 year anniversary. hiswife is getting upset because we have been chatting for about an hour. i am loving it because older people speak slowly and generally have a better, read-more formal, spanish than the younger crowd. he finally gets pulled away and i head to my room to get ready for an early start.

i find my way down to the combi terminal(these are conversion vans that run all over chiapas taking people to the ruins, lakes, other towns, etc). as soon as i walk into the parking lot, essentially the station, 10 drivers approach me trying to sell me passage to various places. i say where i am going and my pack is lifted from my shoulder and tossed on top of one of the vans before i can ask about price, etc. a quick note about mexico. prices are not posted in most places. this means you either know or you bargain or they try to rip you off. i told him iwanted to go the lakes and that i wanted to spend the night. he never stops saying, yes, yes of course,whatever you want, b4 i finally tell him to stop what he is doing and tell me a price. he vacilates. depends on where exactly i want to go. no shit. i tell him i want a cheap place to stay. he avoids telling me a price again until i finally climb up on to the top of the van and start to untie the lashings holding my pack down. he has a pained look on his face when he finally tells me the price. 25 pesos. ok. decent actually.

when we arrive at the lakes he stops in the middle of the road and tells me the place on the right is cheap (there are 16 people jammed into the van) and i tell him, though i dont really know where i am, i want to go further. ten minutes later we have entered the national park of the lagunas de montebello, and we are nearing the border of guatemala. he stops again and points down the hill saying there is lodging.

as i walk down the hill a 12 year old runs up and asks me what i want- a boat ride, bed, food, beer, what what? i tell him i am looking to stay the night and he tells me no problem and directs me to a small square building. he shows me a room with two beds, dirty but overlooking a beautiful lake (lake tsizcao). the door has no doorknob. this is a problem. i set my bag down and walk next door to the restaurant where i am told the owner of the place resides. his wife comes out to talk to me, baby slung over her shoulder in the typical indigenous style down here (kind of wild actually. they take a sheet/shawl/blanket and sling it over a shoulder and tie it around the front. the baby sits or lies, depending on the size, in the space on the woman´s back. i wondered about smothering, i mean the kid could get its face flat against the mother´s back and not be able to breathe, but this is something that i guess doesnt happen as this is the traditional form of toting a tyke and has been around for over 400 hundred ormore years. anyway, with the kid in its perch, the woman do everything- cook, scrub the floor, wash clothes, this is by hand and against rocks normally, everything). she tells me her husband will be back shortly. meanwhile about 8 little kids, aged 3-14, have come up and are babbling about wanting me to give them money, buy a bracelet, give them money again, take a boat ride, etc.

finally the owner shows up, his name turns out to be william, and tells methe dirty room is 70pesos a night. i ask where the hotel is. he says there is a boat, and i use this word liberally, as they are really five tree trunks tied together about 30 feet long and looking straight out of the 17th century, that can take me across the lake. but, he says, the hotel is expensive, 125 pesos a night and his room has all i need and is only 60 pesos(yes, the price just went down). i tell him i want some security for my pack and a room with no door handle is not what i am looking for. but he has a restaurant, will cook me anything i want, make me coffee, anything and the room is only 50 pesos a night. i explain that the price is not the important part it is the room. he then tells me he will make me another room with doorknob and that at 40 pesos a night, i will find nowhere cheaper.

i accept and watch as he opens another door, clearly to his own room(which he shares with wife and 4 kids) and calls to his children. the three run up and start moving everything out. yes, he has given me his room. i feel bad at this point but can do nothing to disuade him. his wife appears behind me and asks me how i like my eggs and if i drink coffee. he assigns his oldest son to watch my bag as he takes me around the area and shows me the lake and his facilities. all eyes are on me as the only other tourists are mexicans and are very few. clearly, they are not spending the night!

i am startled by a cute, yet alarmingly dirty, little 4 year old girl, who takes me by the hand and calls me tío (unlce in spanish). tío, tío, can i have a peso(she speaks mostly an indigenous language but her older sis, 10, translates)? i give her a peso and both girls run off giggling. i return to find the wife has moved about five blankets, mattress(the cleaner of the three i see), and desk from one room to another. all this with the kid strapped to her back. they have completely relocated to accomodate me. this goes beyond customer service and ifeel more than a bit awkward, but she quickly tells me my coffee will be ready in two minutes as she hurries off to prepare it in the restaurant 30 feet away.

ok, i will get to the last 2.5 days of my trip next week. have a good weekend!