in mexico

watch out for "la chica fresita" - she´s busting out of her package!

crossing the river, from guatemala into mexico. into a heavy air, loud bugs jungle town. at first glance, there´s nothing but a street leading away from the river, the express route from tikal to palenque. taxis and minibusses speed out of town. i stayed a night and luckily discovered that there were actually people living here, with their own main street, wisely removed from the tourist pipeline.

down around here it´s all about the waterfalls. everyone wants to take you to a waterfall, and with good reason. it´s hot and they´re beautiful. this upside-down boy was our guide through the jungle to this one.
we visited another waterfall, another day. me and a brasilian woman and an older mexican woman, all in her sweet ride. (a 1996 vw "bocho"!!) oh man i was dying to get behind the wheel. "are you sure you´re not tired and would prefer to ride in back...or maybe you just want a break so you can talk to valeria...?" i thought she´d never tire on the 4 hour round trip through gorgeous chiapas countryside. finally, after getting gas from this kind gentleman with a disproportionally strong right arm, i got my chance.

it was sweet.
the ruins at palenque would make the raddest city park of all time. instead, here´s a picture of one of the rulers, leaning to his right to counsel with his fellow elites and their supernatural allies. (not shown)