Day 5: One short day in Tuxtla...

Everything seems to be going by so fast, and there's so much to do, it's hard to think that I was just in Tuxtla yesterday! But what a day it was! After an overnight bus ride, we dropped off our bags and hopped in a taxi to head to Canyon del Sumidero. My first taxi ride. And I just realized I didn't get any pictures of it... 

I've never been in a taxi before but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't like them even if I was in the USA. Ask any of my brothers and they'll say I'm awful to drive with because I always yell in horror when they drive. I just think cars in general are scary I guess. Back to the story... 

We get in this taxi and tell the driver where to go. Then the adventure began. It wasn't too bad... until we hit some "traffic". I don't actually know what was really going on but all I saw was a mess of cars everywhere. Those white lines people usually follow were more like guidelines to this driver. I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't say anything or yelp. We weaved through all of the cars though and got to the Canyon. Whew!

We had to hop on a boat to get to the park in the canyon. The boat ride along the way was very pretty...

Honestly though, I have a little harder of a time finding beauty in the mountains. These ones were better because I felt like we were in a Jungle and there was so much green all around us, but its definatly not the ocean. However, these towering cliffs reminded me of a friend of mine who would absolutely love to climb them. 

So I guess I can find the beauty in that. All the things that remind me of the people close to my heart. 

SIDE NOTE: I remember now why I didn't take a whole lot of pictures that day! My camera was running low on battery and I wanted to make sure I didn't run out. So most of my friends have tons more pictures that will be uploaded to facebook. :)

We got to the park and decided to do everything in it. First we went on this little zipline over the water. Only 30 meters. No biggy. It was quite a rush though! 

Next we found the animals! There was a snake...

And a monkey...

This is the "don't bite me" stare-down.

Lots of parrots...

And even a tucan! But I didn't get to hold it... 

After making more animal friends (there's been lots of that going on lately), we hiked up to what we were really excited to do. The big Zipline. 700 meters of amazing views and heart-pounding adventure!

That's me all ready to go! :D

Ready? Set? ... VAMOS!

I loved it all! Definatly worth it!

This is my favorite shot. It almost seems like a fairy tale or a movie. Did I really see that with my own eyes? Funny how pictures don't really do a scene justice. It was a breathtaking site to see. I think everyone should have one of those moments... no, multiple moments like that in their lifetime. 

One last zipline before we had to get onto the boat and back to the city. We were a little worried we would miss our bus to our next destination. However, after running for a taxi and telling him where we needed to be and at what time, we were on our way back and he was definatly in a hurry. I think I was more worried about missing the bus than this taxi's driving this time so the ride seemed relatively shorter. 

We made our bus (thank heavens!) and made our way to San Cristobal de las Casas. Woo! It wasn't a very long trip and when we got to the city, we found our hostel easily enough. It feels like a Hispanic house but with a little Mediterranean flare. It's nice. And by nice I mean, it's got hot showers! I know that's not really roughing it, but seriously, if you have a chance to take a hot shower, you always take it. It's even a little colder here than in Puerto Escondido, so it's even more appreciated. 

And that was the end of the day. A crazy day, but a good day. 

 

SHORT STORY: In Mexico, there are lots of bugs. Strange bugs. The kind of bugs I see in cartoons, but now they've come to life. If you know me, I am not a huge fan. Especially spiders. I'm the kind of girl who will demand the nearest boy to kill it with fire at first site of a spider. 

While on one of the zipline platform towers, I noticed that beauty to the side, crawling up one of the posts. I froze and said, "what..... is..... that?"

My friend Kaylie made my day when she immediatly responded with a quote from a well loved movie.

"It's the 'spee-ider'! One bite from arachnis deathucus and..." 

At this point we were all laughing and I quickly climbed down away from the spider. Deathucus or not, I was not going to stick around to find out. 

And that was my loco dia en Mexico! Just another day where I love my life like crazy!