meandering across Mexico...

streetscene San Cristobal de Las Casas

crossing the border back into Mexico 5 more hours to go!

colonial courtyards 

and the ubiquitous Iglesia!

The 6 hour bus trip takes 10.

Delays for road works and waiting to cross the border from Guatemala into Mexico don’t help and the ‘door to door’ service I have paid for does not eventuate and we are all unceremoniously dropped off at the main square. Luckily I meet 2 girls on the bus who show me the way to my hotel. 

It doesn’t make much sense, but as soon as we crossed the border into Mexico it felt different. Perhaps it was the absence of chicken buses, or better roads, or less pollution, but I knew I was in another country.

San Cristobal de Las Casas is not what I expected. A bit like Antigua, it is buzzing with people spilling out onto the cobblestone streets from the bars, shops and restaurants that line its colonial streets. I check in to my hotel (www.casavieja.co) and set out to explore, but it is dark already and I am hungry. I find an organic restaurant (casa del pan) and really enjoy a vegetable soup and guacamole before heading back to my room to read and watch some TV in Spanish.

It feels very different being alone again, without my Xela mates, but life’s like that, constantly changing and it doesn’t pay to hang on to things as I well know.  

San Cristobal looks and feels much better the next day. I go for a walk, have a typical Mexican breakfast, explore the old centre and markets and find a fabulous place to hang out in with good coffee, food, music and wifi. (Kinoki www.forokinoki.blogspot.com)

There’s a lot to see near San Cristobal; the nearby villages of San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan and the Sumidero Canyon, but I decide not to go on any tours and just take it easy as I am going on an overnight bus for about 13 hours to Oaxaca!   

I’m nearly 6 months into “my mid life gap year”. There are days when I find myself “fast forwarding” and trying to find a way to keep travelling at the end of the year. Other days I feel a year will be enough and I will want some stability for a while. All I know for sure is that this travelling thing is addictive, and if money was no object and I could occasionally pop in to see family and friends and do it in style, I would just keep doing it.

The more I see of the world, the more positive and hopeful I become. There are so many young people who are getting a “real” education by stepping out of their comfort and reality and are contributing and learning. These will be our future leaders and parents. For all of the world’s problems, there are people striving to come up with solutions, for all the negativity, there are so many more stories of inspiration.

Everywhere people are curious and seeing similarity rather than difference. I met 2 young American psychology graduates on the bus yesterday. They were brimming with enthusiasm and early relationship love and were eager to not only have a career, but to enjoy life. They were keen to have fun, be healthy and find work that was meaningful and would make a difference. They were emotionally mature, conscious of the potential impact that their upbringing and past experience could have on their relationship. The young woman openly discussed a problem she had noticed she was having in her relationship with food. We did a mindfulness exercise together with chocolate and shared resources. The young man talked about his work as a “dating” coach for men and his concern that it might be perpetuating gender issues. I was so impressed by their insight and awareness and the 10 hour bus trip just flew. For a moment I wished I was 20 again and just starting out on my life, but then I was so glad I wasn’t. There is a time for everything…and that time for me has passed.

Hasta luego

Mon x