Here's my somewhat random reading list for this trip, influenced mostly by whatever happened to be available in English language bookstores and book exchanges.
1)19th Wife - David Ebershoff
2)The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
3)Ordinary Heroes - Scott Turow
4)A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
5)Leaving Tabasco - Carmen Boullosa
6)Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story - Paul Monette
7)Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
8)Packinghouse Daughter - Cheri Register
9)The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
10)The Razor's Edge - W. Somerset Maugham
11)What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt
12)The Commoner - John Burnham Schwartz
13)In America - Susan Sontag
14)The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
Monday, July 19, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Flora and Fauna of the Yucatán!
I've spent a lot of time getting up close to the flora and fauna of the Yucatán lately -- mostly mosquitos. I don't think I've ever had more mosquito bites in my life. I'm not apprehensive at all about smearing toxic repellent all over my body anymore. Anyway, the bottle says that substantial blindness caused by repellent in the eyes is only temporary, so I'm good.
I'm primarily an expert on mosquitos these days, but I've had some opportunities to see some pretty cool animals lately as well. Check out the flamingos!
I saw the flamingos in Río Lagartos, a small fishing village a few hours from Cancún. The flamingo tour was definitely cool, but the town was nearly empty so I took off the next day for Isla Holbox.
Holbox is a little paradise, as long as you can manage the mosquitos. I saw an amazing sunset the first night I arrived, then joined a few others for a midnight swim to experience the magical phosphorescent plankton. So cool! Someone who had done more research than I can probably explain, but my understanding is that the millions of little plankton reflect moonlight when they get stirred up. I felt like a ribbon dancer (and a giddy six-year-old) making waves in the ocean and watching sparkly light follow, or standing up to watch glitter roll down my body.
Ha. Just kidding! Someone else says it's bioluminescence, or some other equally long word, and is some kind of plankton defense mechanism. I really have no idea... it's just night time sea sparkles to me.
The wildlife tour of the Yucatán continues tomorrow with my whale shark tour! So excited to swim with fish the size of a bus.
Back in the states on Thursday!
I'm primarily an expert on mosquitos these days, but I've had some opportunities to see some pretty cool animals lately as well. Check out the flamingos!
I saw the flamingos in Río Lagartos, a small fishing village a few hours from Cancún. The flamingo tour was definitely cool, but the town was nearly empty so I took off the next day for Isla Holbox.
Holbox is a little paradise, as long as you can manage the mosquitos. I saw an amazing sunset the first night I arrived, then joined a few others for a midnight swim to experience the magical phosphorescent plankton. So cool! Someone who had done more research than I can probably explain, but my understanding is that the millions of little plankton reflect moonlight when they get stirred up. I felt like a ribbon dancer (and a giddy six-year-old) making waves in the ocean and watching sparkly light follow, or standing up to watch glitter roll down my body.Ha. Just kidding! Someone else says it's bioluminescence, or some other equally long word, and is some kind of plankton defense mechanism. I really have no idea... it's just night time sea sparkles to me.
The wildlife tour of the Yucatán continues tomorrow with my whale shark tour! So excited to swim with fish the size of a bus.
Back in the states on Thursday!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Itinerary
Just to catch up a bit -- from Chiapas (San Cristobal de las Casas and Palenque), I crossed over the border into Guatemala to visit Tikal outside of Flores, then linger for a few days by the river in Lanquin. From Guatemala I went up to Tulum in Mexico, crossing briefly through Belize and spending the night in Chetumal. The beaches in Tulum were too windy to enjoy (sand in eyes and nose... no good), so Ive spent the last couple of nights in Isla Mujeres outside of Cancun.
Three more weeks of wandering...
Three more weeks of wandering...
Travel buddies
My reading and writing time has definitely dropped off over the last few weeks, and I blame all the great people Ive met on the road for that.
(Once again, I cant find the apostrophe...)
I feel like Im at summer camp again, bonding very quickly with strangers and spending only a short period of time together before we go our separate ways. This time, though, were all grown up and get to create our own adventures. Instead of archery or arts and crafts, we haggle with taxi drivers on our way to Mayan ruins, swim in caves by candlelight, and float down Guatemalan rivers on innertubes. So far theres been no marshmallow toasting, but plenty of communal dinners cobbled together from fresh ingredients from local markets. We still do nature walks, and this time they feature monkeys, toucans, and tarantulas.
Traveling with people Ive met along the way has taught me a lot about other parts of the world, too. I now count Israelis, Brits, Germans, Swiss, Belgians, Mexicans, Irish, Danes, Canadians, Aussies, Italians, Dutch, and Norwegians among my friends, and hope I can meet up with some of them again somewhere else in the world. (Thanks, facebook).
(Once again, I cant find the apostrophe...)
I feel like Im at summer camp again, bonding very quickly with strangers and spending only a short period of time together before we go our separate ways. This time, though, were all grown up and get to create our own adventures. Instead of archery or arts and crafts, we haggle with taxi drivers on our way to Mayan ruins, swim in caves by candlelight, and float down Guatemalan rivers on innertubes. So far theres been no marshmallow toasting, but plenty of communal dinners cobbled together from fresh ingredients from local markets. We still do nature walks, and this time they feature monkeys, toucans, and tarantulas.
Traveling with people Ive met along the way has taught me a lot about other parts of the world, too. I now count Israelis, Brits, Germans, Swiss, Belgians, Mexicans, Irish, Danes, Canadians, Aussies, Italians, Dutch, and Norwegians among my friends, and hope I can meet up with some of them again somewhere else in the world. (Thanks, facebook).
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Alive and happy
Hi friends. So sorry for neglecting this blog. I've found a couple of good groups of people to travel with lately, which means significantly less time in internet cafes. I'll try to post a bit more of an update tomorrow before I take a week long trip into the land of barely functioning internet, but in the meantime, I'd like to let you all know I'm okay.
Hurricane Alex is well north of where I am in Isla Mujeres at this point, and I'm far from the recent earthquake in Oaxaca. We're getting a little bit of wind and rough weather from the storm, but definitely no danger.
Three weeks left!
Hurricane Alex is well north of where I am in Isla Mujeres at this point, and I'm far from the recent earthquake in Oaxaca. We're getting a little bit of wind and rough weather from the storm, but definitely no danger.
Three weeks left!
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