Deeper in

I take back some of what I wrote about the houses in Mexico. Though the majority in San Christobal are painted stucco, there are plenty of not so attractive cement brick houses too. After my week of study in the center of San Christobal, I found this out over the weekend, while taking a horse trip to the small ¨indiginous village¨ 5k north of the center. I felt uncomfortably like a conquistador, my pronounced moustache and long hair likening me to a colional spaniard, riding a horse, foreign at one time to the ¨new world,¨ into the pueblo of indiginous. When I got there, things got even more pronounced. I was swarmed by 2 little girls who asked for cookies. When I gave them each one, they did not thank me, instead, asking for more. then in the center of the marketplace, home of many chachkas, another little girl persisted for more than 5 minutes trying to sell me a belt. Eventually I bought one, and I didn{t even try to bargain. $2 means little to me.

Then, on Sunday, I took the 14 hour trip to Palenque, an impressive mayan ruin. Unlike Macchu Picchu, 2 and a half months ago, Palenque was filled with carving and paintings. Most interesting is one carving, in a temple that was actually closed when I was there, that has a carving of, what some postulate, is a mayan god riding a spáce ship. Some even think that the Mayans disappeared because they were abducted by aliens, que horror!

I met up with Colin and Karla in Guadalajara yesterday. Today we rented a car and drove to Lake Chapala, is expat stronghold in the center of the country. We arrived and drank a tequila with a bunch of drunks who were telling us, in Spanglish, that we were in paradise. Slightly amusing, slightly sad.

Tomorrow, we may stay here of just go to Guantajuato. We{ll see how we feel.