did you ever think about when you outta here?

So I'm almost out of San Cristobal. tonight is my going away party, and I catch a bus out of town to Mexico city, where I'll be until my flight back to San Francisco. I'm getting all loaded up with presents for you all, so be ready! things are fine. it's kinda hard to believe that i'm leaving, but everything is coming together. i'm definitely gonna miss my friends here, but I feel ready to be going back. that doesn't mean that I'm not going to have real intense culture shock tho. I'm definitely gonna need to find some good spanish speaking friends and good mexican food when I get back...

In other news, I have applied to be the Alumni Coordinator for the Peace House Board of Directors. I'm the only one who's applied, but the motion regarding my acceptance hasn't officially passed yet, so I'm still waiting for the word. For now, I'm officially unofficial. I'll also be interviewing soon for a summer job leading a group of highschool kids on a three week trip to El Salvador to study poverty, migration and the effects of the countries civil war in the 1980s. Should be a cool opportunity, and we'll see how the interview goes.

My friend Avi has a real cool professional digital camera, and I've been making him take pictures of me. He's my personal photographer. He's also got some really cool fotos from all the crazy Zapatista action that's been happening here since the 1st of the month (their launching a national tour to expand their campaign, the Otra Campaña, for a new kind of politics - no parties, originating from the bottom and to the left), as well as this cool trip that we took to the jungle after christmas. We went to Bonampak and Yaxchilan, two Mayan ruin sites. The later is super cool, located in the middle of the jungle on the banks of the Usumacinta river, which is the border between Mexico and Guatemala. You arrive after a 1 hour boat ride down the river. We got there in the morning and saw tucans and spider monkies swinging through the trees. There are also howler monkies there too, and the surreal sounds of thier shouting was an aural backdrop for the visit of the ruins. To get in you walk through the Laberinth, which is a dark, maze-like building full of bats and big spiders. A group of us walked thru illuminating our way with a weak penlight, checking out the bats and spiders and visiting the dead ends of the building. It's definitely one of the coolest ruins I've seen. It's a big site, and it's crazy to imagine how impressive they must've looked in their day. The run high up this hill at the river bank, and would've been cleared of trees (the jungle has swallowed it over the centuries), and the buildings painted green with mineral and plant dies. Crazy.

From there we caught a ride with Brian, a Canadian born in Scotland who worked illegally in LA for 18 years as a contractor. Funny, huh? An undocumented Canadian worker, who, of course, hired undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans to work construction with him. He's traveling down to South America in an extended cab pickup, and we all drove to Las Nubes, this really cool waterfall site, and had a nice few days there. The cool thing about Las Nubes is, well, everything... Well, aside from the expensive restaurant and the upscale cabañas and guest houses they're building there. The water is clear turquoise blue, and mineral rich. As it flows over the rocks and trees, a coral-like deposit forms on them, and it builds up over the years. As a result, there are all these holes and under ground channels that the water swirls down to come out at the bottom of the series of falls. It's really cool. Out of other holes and tunnels, the air and pressure created by all the water going underground comes out, either in bubbling pools or in vents that shoot gusts of moist air out. We spent a lot of time swimming and walking around on the water falls.

After going over 2 falls, the water rushes through a tall, narrow canyon. It's not very long, but the water comes rushing out all white and foamy at the other end, crashing over huge rocks and spreading out over a large series of smaller falls and pools. It's really breath taking. We hiked down to this area one afternoon, and stayed till it got dark. That meant tromping thru the jungle in the dark to get back to our hammocks. We had flashlights, but it was still annoying cuz I stuck my foot into a mudpit - the whole trail was really muddy, this thick, sticky glue mud. So I had to walk the rest of the way back with mud caked on my left foot, which made it slide all around in my sandal, and was rather annoying.

I'll get fotos of the adventure up as soon as Avi gets them on the computer. I'll have lots to share with all you all in SF and NY state as I make the rounds in the next 2 months. So you'll be seeing them soon. If you want more information on the Zapatista's Otra Campaña and all the cool things going on here right now, here are some good sites to check: Chiapas Indymedia (should have english translations of articles), the Peace House website, and Narco News.

There you go. You got the links. Inform yourself.

Peace out and see you all soon!

And feliz año!!!!

PS: If anyone can name the artista and album that the lyric I quoted in the title comes from, I'll buy hir a beer.