We are now in the United States...

of MEXICO!

It is interesting that there is no good name for us. Americans doesnt do the trick as there are lots of Americans: North Americans, South Americans, Central Americans. So we tend to call ourselves whatever the locals call us, sometimes that is gringos (in South America that is all white people, but in Central America and Mexico it is specifically for people from USA). Sometimes it is estdounidenses, which seems to be the most common thing to call us, however, beings that we are now in the Estados Unidos de Mexico, or United States of Mexico, that also does not seem to specify very well. Oh, well, gringo it is!

We have gone from sheer relaxation to a sudden realization that our time is getting short and we have a lot of ground to cover, so here is what we have been up to.

We last posted from Hopkins, Belize. From there we went to Corozal, Belize. We intended only to stop over to break up our travels, but the threat of a tropical storm held us there for an extra night. The extra night gave us a chance to soak up a local party involving a Caribbean band. They were sponsored by Happy Cow Processed Cheese, the number 1 cheese in Belize. An enjoyable night and a nice way to say farewell to Belize, a country we expected to pass through casually, but ended up enjoying every minute of.

We then headed into Mahahual, Mexico. A beautiful Caribbean beach town that was completely destroyed in 2007 due to a hurricane. Tourism is their money maker, but since it was down season, we got to just relax with the locals who were taking it easy and our friend Danny and Adam got absolutely destroyed by two local females in a volleyball tournament. (Destroyed, as in did not score a single point)

From Mahahual we went to Tulum. Tulum is well known for its Mayan ruins. The most impressive part of the ruins is that it sits atop a cliff overlooking a beautiful white sand beach with bright blue water. The least impressive part of the ruins is that huge busses of people from big money resorts and cruise ships pile in, taking away from much of the mystique of being in such an interesting location (I expect that someone from the resort is blogging about having to see the ruins amongst bearded, smelly, ragged looking backpackers). While in Tulum, we snorkeled a bit more with no less than 20 sea turtles (it is great fun following them around since they are never in a hurry and could not care less that you are swimming with them) and snorkeled a cenote, which is an underground river system, essentially snorkeling a cave full of beautiful rock formations.

We then hopped a 17 hour bus to San Cristobal de las Casas. A beautiful colonial city with lots of character. It is located in Chiapas and in 1994 was held by the EZLN, better known as the Zapatistas. Political tensions still exist because the demands for more justice, equality and self-determination for local indigenous groups have not been met (nor does it appear that there are any intentions of meeting those demands).

We were also able to visit local indigenous communities that have been able to beautifully retain their traditions and who welcome those who would like to observe and learn about those traditions. We saw everything from the beautiful clothing that we have talked a lot about with almost all of the indigenous groups we have encountered to religious rituals mixing pieces of Catholicism with traditional Mayan beliefs (the church floor was covered in fresh pine needles and several families had brought chickens to be sacrificed in order to address a physical or spiritual ailment). We were able to get very informative explanations of these traditions and beliefs and we were fascinated by the way the local governing bodies, police forces and spiritual leaders operate in the villages.

On a landscape note, we traveled by boat through a large Canyon in which a river cuts through cliffs up to 1000 meters tall (that is 1 kilometer for those that are metrically challenged). Really amazing scenery, especially once you add the monkeys in the trees on the banks, the hundreds of crocodiles that live along the river and the many birds that fly around the steep cliffs.

On another note, Mexican food is awesome.

We mentioned our time is getting short. We will likely be back in NC in a little over a month. So start hoeing your gardens, get your cookingware ready, clear off your couch or extra bed and buy some extra NCSU football tickets. We cant wait to spend some quality time with our friends and family back in NC.