Thursday, February 13, 2003

We've been in the jungle for the past 5 days, it was amazing. We went to the jungle on Saturday, we got a truck to txuclula and then a boat up the river for 2 hours to Emiliano Zapata and then treked for two hours to camp by the Laguna Miramar, it was so beautiful. We arrived in darkness the last half hour of trekking was done by maglite, going back that way yesterday I wonder how we made it alive it was trecherous enough in daylight. Getting there was like a test of endurance, we even came accross some Zapatistas and had to pay protection money to them. All the craziness was worth it for the four days of perfect bliss by the lagun, it was like paradise on earth, we slept to the constant roar of the howler monkeys and by day explored the lagun by boat playing on the little volcanic rock formations and basking in the sunshine, I could have stayed there forever. We camped for 4 nights by the lagun, we were with a mexican guy called Alehandro (he was our guide) and a Basque guy called Eneko, both tanned fit and gorgeous, and they were like our supermen, they saved our lives about fifty times and built us bonfires, cooked for us and basically kept us entertained. One night we went crocodile hunting in one of the canoes, we saw one but it wasn´t a very good view just the red eye glowing against the maglite. I accidentally stood on a crocodile egg, I feel evil. I'm now really tanned and skinny after hanging around the lagun in my bikini for 4 days. Yesterday we got a Truck (one of those open topped ones) from Zapata to Ocesingo, it was bassically 9 hours through a dirt track in the jungle, like white water rafting without the water, mostly I was standing up cause it was more comfortable than sitting on the sacks of corn. We made great friends with all the Mexicans on the truck teaching them English while they tought us their local mayan language, an experience I´ll never forget. We stayed in Ocesingo last night 'cause we couldn´t face another bus after the truck, I missed the jungle and the sounds of the howler monkeys but it was nice to have a real bed and a shower to wash the thick layer of dirt that was on us. We´re going to Palenque today and will be there for a day or two then on to Tulum where we´ll probably stay untill the end.