The couple lazily lies but time flies

Wait, it's been only 3 weeks since New Year's and the last post here? In this time-twisted alternative reality we call traveling, it feels like 2 months have passed. Slow and lazy days are followed by eventful ones, usually leaving me without a grasp what day it is today. But I've talked about this before, let's rather go back to what happened after Christmas and until Merida.

Without a guide book, we just rely on the tips of fellow travelers about what places to see. In Tulum someone said, the ruins of Calakmul are a real hot spot, totally worth the isolated location and not crowded by tourists yet - but you need your own car because taxis are expensive. We ignored the last part of the advice and headed to the tiny village of Conhuas (60kms away from Calakmul) by public transport again.

We didn't find an ATM on the way and only a rather expensive cabana in Conhuas (40€/night), but the owner Mimi was very helpful and laughed at my strange approaches on the Spanish language. As many Mexicans before she was happy I even tried and also said how well I was speaking. Well... On a walking tour around the village we organized a taxi to Calakmul for the next morning at the top price of 60€, counted our cash and just had enough for buying some beer. Later we played frisbee with 11 year old Misael at the cabanas and had a small affordable dinner. Then Mimi told us about a Mecican couple going from here to the ruins by car the next morning, who would be willing to take us. Now aren't we lucky bastards?

The Calakmul ruins turned out to be as interesting and relatively empty as we were told, and also the statement "better have your own car" wasn't exaggerated as getting to the place means a 1,5 hrs drive through the jungle from the main road. We saw some monkeys up in the trees, different bigger and smaller birds and another tiny fox, enough to keep up our excitement and wander through the large area for over 4hrs. The experience was slightly spoiled because silly me forgot her ibuprofen and since sun and workouts aren't helping migraines, Maik had to climb the last temple by himself. When Maik and I returned to the parking lot to meet up with the Mexican couple, their car was gone. We realized they had said to leave at 12 (which sounds like "doze") and not 2 ("dos"). So much for my great Spanish skills... Now panic settled in. How do we get out of here? I swallowed down the urge to cry, argued a little with Maik about why he hadn't listened more carefully because he's better understanding numbers, until caving in, putting out our thumbs and leaving it to destiny. Surely after 10mins a car with 3 young Mexicans stopped and took us back to Conhuas, chatting along the way and having a good time. They suggested Champoton as a place worth a visit, so that's where Maik and I went next.

Now some summaries about the rather unexciting following days, can't drain my memory for details or even my own patience for endless reports of every little adventure.

Champoton: not worth a visit because nothing there, except a nice big market and many old VW Beetles making us wanna buy one and drive around Mexico with it.

Campeche: pretty with colourful houses and a waterfront, but no beach. Stayed in a good hostel with roof terrace and kitchen, but New Year's was rather quiet and we mostly entertained ourselves reading a lot, searching for book stores and eating yummy churros.

Edza: the ruins near Campeche were 

worth a look but the encounter with a guide called Elvis de Jesús, showing us where to find the colectivo back to town, was my real highlight.

Santa Elena: purely black and white experience for me, because we found a place to camp, which was in a beautiful green, jungle-like Inn with pool, but I also involuntarily donated my smartphone to the internet café...

Ok, this was bound to happen I believe. One of my New Year's resolutions was to spend more quality time with myself. So the new year came and took away my phone, or maybe I left it subconsciously to make it easier to focus on myself. Or probably I'm just stupid. When I noticed it was gone, I went back to the café but noone had seen it. Of course, there was panic. Then anger,

frust and sadness. I am disabled!! Cut off from the world, from my friends ... Also what will the new owner do with all the information on my phone? The last photo I took had been Maik's naked butt in the pool, and the explanation for this isn't helpful: it's a tradition and was gonna be a postcard to friends.

Well, about 30mins after my loss, I felt coming to terms with it, accepting the situation as unchangeable as bad weather. It must have been the level of relaxation you only get when traveling, because I bet if I'd lost my phone at home, a feeling of catastrophe would have me speaking about monsoons instead. Also because my ankle was almost back to normal, I reminded myself how lucky I was being healthy. So go and have fun with my f*cking phone, Santa Elena!

Oxkutzkab: small Mayan town with huge market, nice hotel and pool again, bad pizza and no photos of a stunning cave with stalagmites used as drums because I forgot my camera (in the hotel room!!!). Highlight was the only real café being opened up in the morning just for us, so we had real coffee and a nice chat with the young owner. 

Mayapan: ruins on the way to Mérida, left our bags at the entrance and were the only people amongst ancient stones and countless lizards.

Mérida:

Maik and I are still in one piece, no major complaints healthwise and finally couchsurfing, which is of course fantastic and interesting, but above all nice to not be a customer. One reason I don't like staying in hotels and sometimes even hostels is that there are so many services I'd rather do myself, like cleaning up or making my bed. Personal space is something really important to me and while traveling I very often only have my bed to retrieve to when wanting some peace and quiet. So someone else coming into 'my' room and messing with my organized chaos intimidates and upsets me, especially when the rests of our pizza are thrown away...! Maybe caring so much about personal space is mostly infueled by my ego and therefor an issue to be worked on, but there are other things higher up on my to-do-list.

Like not being distracted by a phone! It was going well without one, apart from the times I stole Maik's or missed messaging with my friends. The goal to not get a new one until my birthday was slowly shrinking, despite finding creative alternatives to a phone's application like a stopwatch when doing fitness - just use a microwave!

Ok, this has already been a long post, so Merida highlights include: meeting interesting people in a hostel, going to Cenotes (water caves) with one of them, couchsurfing, going to salsa night with some other couchsurfers and buying incredibly cheap fruits and veggies at the market.

Buying a night bus ticket to Palenque (Chiapas) for January 14th was the end of Yucatan for Maik and me, and because I'm quite sure everyone else but us will be confused about where exactly we've been on the peninsula, I made a map!

Also I've reorganized our photos on my webpage and created 3 different albums for Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatan, so it doesn't take forever to load the pictures! 

Hope your eyes are enjoying the images now created in your minds as much as we love being in Mexico! After over a month here, we're well tanned, chilled out and soon to be broke. More stories will follow on our next Skype date!

Besos! :)

Calakmul

Conhuas

Santa Elena

Campeche

Ednza

Road to Santa Elena

Kabah

Grutas near Oxkutzkab

Coffee addicts and savior

Mayapan

Mérida

nachts sind die Tauben blind

These impressions of Mexico in general and from Christmas in details are for the most caring and loving person in my life, who has many skills but speaking English fluently isn't among them. Merry belated Christmas, mom!

Die Mexikaner! Endlich finden wir die Verkörperung des anderen Bruders von "nett", nämlich super freundlich. Das Lächeln vieler Leute hier scheint über Höflichkeit hinauszugehen, ohne dabei gekünstelt zu wirken - nimm das, USA! Vielleicht sind alle gut drauf, weil Weihnachten ist (war), weil ich ein Mädchen bin, oder weil die Sonne scheint. Oder es liegt gar am scharfen Essen, dass einem schon mal die Mundwinkel in die Höhe jagt?

Apropos Essen! Bisher bin ich zufrieden damit, außer es ist zu scharf oder es gibt Kaktus, denn der stachelt nicht, nein er schleimt! Glaubt es oder nicht, das mexikanische Bedürfnis zu würzen macht selbst vor Kaffee (café de olla) und Bier nicht halt. Richtig, es gibt salzig-würziges Bier (michelada), was im Gegensatz zu vielen Pilses und Lagern wenigstens Geschmack hat.
Als Kaffeefanatiker warte ich noch auf meinen Aha-Moment, da ich mich bisher viel zu oft mit löslichem Kram zufrieden geben müsste, welcher lediglich zu heiß-braunen Ersatzstoffen führte.

Woran ich mich immer noch nicht ganz gewöhnt habe, sind die Begrüßungsfloskeln "que tal?"/ "como estan?", also "wie geht's?", auf die man keine konkrete Antwort erwartet, genau wie in den USA oder Frankreich. Dennoch fühlt es sich komisch an, einfach nur das gleiche zurück zu fragen, und ich höre diese Stimme in meinem Hinterkopf, die sagt: "Antworte gefälligst, der Onkel hat dir eine Frage gestellt!"

Übrigens habe ich meine erste Begegnung mit den Uniformierten auch schon hinter mir. Und wer jetzt denkt, typisch Lia, große Klappe aber kein Blick für Staatsgewalt mit Schusswaffen, dann sind die Erwartungen übers Ziel hinausgeschossen. Denn musste ich den Polizisten noch nicht mal selbst bestechen! Aber von vorn: Lauren und ich waren abends nach unser Ankunft am Busbahnhof von Cancun vom Uber-Fahrer (Taxi) zu seinem Wagen geleitet und dort hinein verfrachtet worden, wobei eine Horde Polizisten um sein Auto stand und, weil er sie ignorierte,  laut rufend an die Scheibe klopfte. Es ist dunkel und wir sind eindeutig Touristen, da können schon mal Menschen und Moneten verschwinden, aber wir wollen doch zu unserem Airbnb mit Pool... Lauren und ich tauschen einen besorgten Blick der Kategorie "ob der Fahrer wohl ein gesuchter Verbrecher ist?" aus, da aber noch niemand seinen Revolver gezogen hat, bleiben wir sitzen. Schließlich gibt der Fahrer nach, macht die Tür auf und ein Polizist setzt sich auf den Beifahrersitz. Wir fahren in eine dunkle Gasse und ich denke: "das ist aber nicht die Richtung zum Pool", während Lauren neben mir vermutlich schon innerlich Abschied von der Welt nimmt. Dann wechselt etwas Geld den Besitzer, der Beschenkte verlässt den Wagen und wir sind 20min später am Pool. Tja, da hatte der Uber-Fahrer wohl Falsch geparkt als er uns abholen war, immerhin hat der nette Polizist die Sache gleich gelöst.

Achso, Weihnachten! Natürlich wollen alle wissen, was wir da gemacht haben. Maik und ich, so am Chillen an der Lagune, mächtig hübsch da mit türkis-blauem Wasser, Sonne, Palmen und Zelt mit Matratzen (#wasserdicht), in Bacalar, wo es nicht viele Läden gibt, also gab's auch keine Geschenke. Und kein aufwendiges Festmahl. Naja, ich habe am 24. meine Tage bekommen, dafür haben wir uns ein Zelt gekauft, ein Sieb zum Kaffee-selber-machen und Bier, aber die 1,2l Flasche. Bäm! Die Mexikaner feiern Weihnachten übrigens rein, so dass die ganze Nacht zum 1. Feiertag übelst laut Musik lief von den Nachbarn des Zeltplatzes. Überhaupt scheinen die meisten hier gegenüber intensiver Beschallung, auch in Klamottenläden oder Restaurants zB, völlig gleichgültig zu sein. 

Coolerweise liefen uns am Vorweihnachtsabend Shay und Atara aus Israel in der Campingküche über den Weg, so dass ich trotz meiner niedrigen Laufstärke (Knöchel-Mega-Aua, Verstauchung?) und anderen Defiziten einen tollen Tag im Kayak und beim gemeinsamen Abendessen hatten. Wieder mal haben wir Fremde getroffen und schon am nächsten Tag fühlt es sich an als ob man mit Freunden Urlaub macht. 

Leider waren wir am 1. Feiertag schon wieder unter uns, also Maik, die Migräne und ich. Erst am Abend kam besinnliche Stimmung auf, als wir draußen bei Kerzenschein und Lichterketten zu Abend aßen, Schweinewürfeln und Rommé spielten und ganz mit unserem untypischen Weihnachten im Einklang waren. Der Kitsch-Höhepunkt dann bei der Vorstellung, wie all unsere Freunde und Verwandten mit am Tisch sitzen, gemeinsames Lachen, gemeinsames Trinken, oh selig sei die lebhafte Erinnerung.

Nachts dann Sterne schauen am Wasser, die Romantik des Augenblicks ungetrübt, selbst von Gesprächsthemen wie: Können Vögel eigentlich im Dunklen gut sehen? Sind nachts die Tauben blind?

Es gibt noch viel zu entdecken, doch die restlichen (vergangenen und zukünftigen) Abenteuer haben auch noch Zeit bis nächstes Jahr. In diesem Sinne, viele Grüße aus der Vergangenheit und frohes Neues!