Cascadas el Shiflón

Today we have a little bit more sleep. Your bus is scheduled for 9 am, so we have time for a breakfast. Today I meat an austrian girl at breakfast. A very rare thing to happen. The breakfast is simple. Toasted bread with marmalade, bananas... They also serve tee and cereals.

Because the bus is not there yet, I ask the way for a shop to buy sun screen and make a run. No one speaks English, but I get along with just a few words. They also have a promotion, so I buy 2 sun screens 90+. So cheap. ;)

This time we are the last ones to enter the bus.

First stop is at the caves. Little children guide us in and tell us, what we should see on the walls pointing it out with a flesh light. ;) Very sweet indeed. ;)

As we take the bus the scene changes a lot again.

In about all the little villages now you can see shops on the streets.

There are people having a basketball match...

We make our next stop at 3 lakes with different color.

I really like the flowers that grow on those trees.

At the next lake I meet Japanese people who did life for 8 years in Singapore. The mother then moved to Mexico City and the daughter studies medicine in Hungary. I hoped I would meet them at the next stop to ask them more about Singapore, sadly that did not happen.

At the way home the girl sitting next to me did show me a lot of pics of chiapas and the trip we will do tomorrow, and told me many places I should visit in mexico.

Palenque - Pyramids

So today we have to get up at 5:30 for our tour to Palenque. Our bus driver is here on time. We are the first 2 people to get on board.

As we travel up the mountains the scenic view really changes. More and more trees. As we drive down the mountain it gets hotter and hotter.

After about 2 hours we take a breakfast stop.

The first real stop is Cascadas de Aqua Azul.
The color of the water is really nice. ;)

 

On the way I try this fruit I have never seen. Need to ask Tania for the name again.

At some places you can go swimming. Also little kids want to catch fish for 5 pesos. 

 Those kids play with the damages bank.

Next stop another waterfall. But before we go down we order our lunch.

Our 3rd stop will be Palenque.
Now it is really getting hotter and hotter...

In the bus I get to talk to a Mexican, who studies in Germany, and tells me a lot about the Maya and Palenque.

When you enter you see the first ruins on the right.

At the next ruins we can enter.

This one is really nice. 

In the center of the ruins is the biggest one.

 As we enter...

We go farther up the ruins...

And on top of the pyramid from the above picture is a really nice view.

As we want to explore the rest of the ruins we exit at the wrong side of the ruins. So we take a small bus 1.5 km to the correct exit, where we meet up with the other people from the tour.

The little boy tries to help his mother with putting all the hats together. He is very happy for every hat he manages to get down. ;)

On the way home we encounter many drunk people on the street. One gets almost hit by the bus... Kinda dangerous.

San Cristóbal de las Casas

Today we have to get up at 4 am.... My body says no, you still want to sleep, but our flight is not waiting for us. ;)
The taxi driver rings soon after the alarm wakes me up, or at least it seems like.
At the airport is a line for each flight. All the checked luggage is controlled by hand there. I should remember that for future flights here in Mexico. And again I have to leave something at the security check, this time it is the sun screen I forgot to put in my checked luggage.... Thats traveling.

Well anyhow, we take the flight to Chiapas. From there with the taxi to the city and then via bus to San Cristóbal de las Casas.

We are now at Rosscos Backpackers hostel. Seems to be a really nice hostel. And booking tours here is much cheaper then via the internet. Also he gives us a 50 peso discount, as Tania booked on the internet.

So next thing is having breakfast. Having the day start with  Quessadillas and Tacos is really great. ;)

Afterwards we make a walk through the town.

We start at the Templo y Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo. Right next to it is a market, where they sell all kinds of tourist gifts.

Then we make our way through a pedestrian zone.

To the Cathedral. Behind me is a ice skating place.

Then we walk up the stairs to another temple. The stairs are decorated with Mexican decoration.

Behind the temple is a climbing wall and I guess that firefighters are doing this as a team building exercise.

Next to it is also this small building, where Capoeristas gather and play.

Afterwards we go home to have a little rest. And we play pool.

This time we decide to not eat Mexican food. As I will eat the worst burger I did eat so far.

On my way home a grab a ear of corn. What is really strange to me is, that they first put lemon, then mayonnaise, then cheese and chilly sauce on top. Something I had to try.... but one is enough I guess...

Iguanas and back to Guadalajara

As we only have little time today, we drive to Malecón again, to have a look at the down at daylight.

So we walk along the river and come across this strange looking stairs.

The stairs leads to a Mexican school of traditional art. As it is behind me, if you look at the picture above.

What really stands out is, that Mexicans try to make money and work where ever they can. like this man selling peanuts.  

Next we get to a market where they sell all kinds of touristic gifts and Mexican art.

Alvaros cousin is looking for Iguanas.

So we are almost out of time to catch the bus. So up to the bus terminal. The bus ride is really long. But today is the first time I finish my Rubik Cube. I watch movies. Read farther on the book my brother gave me as Christmas present. And watch the land go buy. Mostly not so fast, as the traffic is very slow.

So we take a taxi to get to Alvaros place. Just enough time to eat, have a shower and pack my stuff, as Tania is on her way to pick me up. ;)

Puerto Vallarta - day at the beach

At the morning Alvaros uncle is waiting for us with fresh melons. The whole family is really really nice. So we eat melons while we are waiting for the girl who cleans the house to make breakfast. We have scrambled eggs with chilly sauce, beans, tortillas.

Strengthened with a great breakfast, we make our way to the beach. As we drive along the road we are looking for a good parking spot. As we found one, the guys there want to sell us coconuts, ice cream and sunshades. But we choose to take the 2 little trees down at the beach.

The waves are really great to do body surfing. The ground is very steep, so the waves build up very fast. Followed by sun bathing and walking the whole beach in both directions.

As we get very hungry we drive to a shop to eat pizza. We order a big Italiano and put Jalapeños on top. Because we are still hungry we order a hotdog and fill it with Jalapeños, onions and sauces.

At home we rest for a while. Later at night we make our way to Malecón, as Alvaros cousin wants to take us to a bar to eat. Sadly the bar is closed so we try our luck at an American Wings restaurant, where they play live music. But again no luck, all tables are taken.
So we drive to an other down and go to an American Wings restaurant there. Some beers are for halve price, or rather you get to double amount, having hot spicy wings and tasty wings, we make our night.

to Puerto Vallarta

Today we get up at 5 am to go to Puerto Vallarta. So We take the bus to the bus terminal. Because we would have needed to wait for an hour we choose a cheaper bus, which goes in 10 min. Later we figured out, that with this bus we did arrive later then with the other bus and that it is the worst one. Well, for me it was ok. Alvaros uncle pics us up.

As Alvaros aunt makes food we eat nuts. The we get fish, tortillas, beans, salad and wine.  Very delicious.

Afterwards Alvaro, his little cousin and me go to the beach. They have a key of the gate for the acces to a beach near by.

So we go swimming, as it is really nice. ;)

Later we ask some older Americans to watch over over our stuff, while we are walking till the sun goes down.

As we come back some are still waiting for us enjoying a bottle of beer.

Alvaros aunt picks us up again and we meet his older cousin, who just came back from Guadalajara.

So we 4 make our way to the town to eat some Arrieros on the street.

Afterwards we go to Malecón to walk along the street next to the beach. Along the street are bars and discos and nice status. It really has a nice flair. They tell me that at spring break it is stuffed with people. We go along the beach, till we reach the gay district, this is where we turn around to go to a bar with live music and have some coronas.

Billard

Todays schedule is relaxing. ;) We were playing Pool with Clark and Lazcano.