WWOOFING in San Cristobal!

 For my last two weeks of the four month Latin American adventure, I met up with my boyfriend Jay and we headed back to San Cristobal to WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in exchange for room and board. Jay flew into Villahermosa, Tabasco because it was cheap and relatively convenient to San Cristobal. I arrived to Villa on the morning of June 8th and Jay came in late at night, so I hung out with our couchsurfing host Rosa all day. She was super nice and showed me around the city, had a delicious seafood lunch with her parents, bought her brother a birthday gift and ran other errands. We picked Jay up at the airport at night and it was so exciting to see him and so incredible that he was the only friend able to make it down to travel with me! Rosa and I treated him to some local treasures on the first night: Villahermosa's best horchata, fresh tropical fruit, plantain chips and the only real dark beers I'd ever seen in Mexico! It was quite the celebration, even though it was really hot in Rosa's apartment at night. We got up early the next morning and Rosa drove us to the bus station to catch a bus to Tuxtla Gutierrez, where we took a connection onto San Cristobal.

Jay's first night in Mexico, couchsurfing with Rosa in Villahermosa!

Once we finally arrived in San Cristobal around midday the following day, it was relieving to be back at about 6000 ft elevation because it was much cooler! We found La Casa del Pan, the restaurant with a dorm in the back, where we'd be staying. The dorm situation was a little awkward, but convenient to everything in town and about 45 minutes walk from the farm where we worked. That afternoon we met one farm-mate Cory from Minnesota, and the following day we met the rest of the crew of about 2-6 depending on the day, including people from Mexico, Spain and France.
For the next two weeks we enjoyed lots of sunshine and good weather while working at the farm in the morning. We mostly weeded, harvested produce for the Wednesday and Saturday markets, separated seeds from dried plants to give to other farmers and chatted in English and Spanish with our friends on the farm. The farm grew a variety of veggies and fruits to be sold at the market and used at the restaurant La Casa del Pan, including many types of greens, beets, tomatoes, strawberries, rhubarb, onions, etc.
In the afternoon we would walk back to La Casa del Pan for their big vegetarian lunch, and then relax or walk around town to visit markets and drink the most amazing hot chocolate ever! I showed Jay some of my favorite parts of the town that I'd seen in May, and the two weeks we spent in San Cristobal passed by very quickly and soon it was time to take the bus back towards Villahermosa. On our last night in San Cristobal, Jay, Cory and I went on a big shopping trip to the market together and cooked a stellar meal at her boyfriend Dan's apartment!

Big clouds coming out of the hills around San Cristobal

The rooftop garden above the restaurant where we stayed in San Cristobal

 

Last day on the farm with Cory

Goodbye dinner at Dan's apartment (chicken mole, pork with green chile, horchata, bread pudding...)

View of the town from Dan's deck

We said goodbye to San Cris the next day and took the bus to Palenque, and then rode out to El Pachan, a small group of hotels in the jungle just outside the entrance to Palenque National Park. We found a room for two nights and then went back into the town of Palenque to buy some supplies. The next day we took a van to the waterfalls of Misol Ha and Agua Azul, which I had been to before with my dad, but loved so much and was eager to go to again. The van had some other interesting travelers from England and Spain, and we all enjoyed swimming in the hot and humid jungle. That night we had dinner at a place in town where Jay loved the local food, especially because it included meat, which had been lacking at La Casa del Pan!

Misol Ha waterfall

On our last full day in Mexico, we visited the Palenque ruins, had lunch in the town of Palenque at a taco stand and then took a short bus ride back to Villahermosa. We met up with Rosa again, (she was The Best!) checked out some live music and an art gallery that was having a special event commemorating the city's birthday, and Rosa took us to a locally known food truck that had delicious typical food and lots of white plastic chairs! It was a very hot night, but not long, as we had to get up at about 4am to catch a taxi to the airport on June 26th and say "Adios Mexico"!

Last day at Palenque

You Betta BELIZE it!!

That's right...you better BELIZE it...my mom returned to travel with me for the second time this trip! I didn't think that it would work out, but she is an amazingly persistent woman with lots of time off work, so it did! And Belize turned out to be an excellent place for us to reunite!
On May 31st, we met up in San Ignacio, which was about two hours west of Belize City and only ten miles from the Guatemala border.  We actually stayed a little ways out of town in the Parrots Nest Jungle Lodge, which was near the town of Bullet Tree Falls. My mom got in after her long travel day with just enough time to do some catching up and we ate dinner at the lodge with other guests there.
San Ignacio was the big attraction in the area, so we spent our first morning exploring their well-known Saturday market, traveled outside of the city two small Mayan sights, Xunintunich and Cahal Pech, and ate lots of tasty local food! That afternoon we tubed down the river by Parrot Nest with two sisters from Canada, Hilda and Diana, and they convinced us to sign up for the ATM tour the next day. So that evening we took a taxi back into town and had an amazing dinner plus signed up for the trip.  When we got back to the lodge, we found out that four other people had been talked into signing up by Hilda and Diana as well!

Eating local Belizean food at Hannah's Place

View from the top of Xunintunich

The ATM tour was rewarding and worth it because it was just so incredibly unique. My mom also really enjoyed it, even though she had to be talked into it by quite a few people! It's the only place I have heard of where there have been Mayan sacrifice ruins (human bones and lots of broken pots) found in a cave, and what they call the "missing link" to Mayan archeology. Cameras weren't allowed inside and we had to do some swimming anyways, but the guide sent us some photos afterwards.

Entrance to the ATM cave and a scull found inside

The following day we rode from San Ignacio to Hopkins with an amazing Belizean named Tosh, as well as her husband and grandkids. Along the way we all stopped and enjoyed a cave and the blue hole cenote. Tosh's grandkids and her stories added so much more to the journey and it was also really neat to visit their extended family in a Mennonite community along the way. We arrived in quiet little Hopkins in the afternoon and met Trish at Tipple Tree Beya, where we stayed on a gorgeous Caribbean beach. That afternoon I swam in the Caribbean for the first time and we rode bikes around the town. We also met Cailtin, an Evergreen State College grad who has been living in Hopkins for over ten years and runs a top notch bakery, where spent a lot of money!

Swimming with Tosh's grandkids in the Blue Hole

The view from our porch at Tipple Tree Beya in Hopkins

Caitlin's Bakery (a fellow Evergreen grad that I found in a town of 1500 people!)

 
 

Biking in Hopkins

We set up a boating trip to go out to Tobacco Caye the next day, which my mom heard looked similar to Gilligan's Island, a tv show that she used to watch as a kid. Once we got there, we saw that it was tiny but had a few cute hotels and better snorkeling because it was out on the reef. We spent the day there while our boat captain Luckie and his wife and baby daughter went out fishing. They brought us back to Hopkins in the afternoon, passing many other cayes and tiny islands of mangrove trees along the way. At night we tried more Garifuna food that we'd never had before and it was so good!
The following morning, we caught a crowded local bus to Dangriga, and then got very lucky and spotted the bus to Belize City, even though it was not where it was supposed to be! My mom was worried about taking public transportation all way to Belize City, but we made it in time to catch the midday boat to Caye Caulker with no sweat!

On Tobacco Caye: conch shells and the family that took us out on their boat for the day

Once on Caye caulker, we knew we would see a very different side of Belize that we hadn't seen previously. There was a lot more infrastructure and activity on the island, but it was also a gorgeous location with easy access to the reef. On the second day we were there, we took a motor boat out to the reef and snorkeled in three excellent places. One spot had great coral and plants, another had an impressive amount of fish and finally we were able to snorkel with sharks and sting rays! That was definitely a highlight of the time we spent in Belize! In the afternoons and evenings, we continued to enjoy the reggae beats and relaxed vibes of the Carribean culture. On our last afternoon there we also rented a kayak and explored the other side of the island. And we enjoyed delicious seafood (and one more meet-up with Hilda and Diana!) on our last night in Belize. The next morning (June 7) we each took separate boats off of the island. My mom went back to Belize City and got to the airport to head back to Seattle, and I was off to Chetumal on the Yucatan peninsula.

Restaurant in Caye Caulker

Swimming with Sting Rays!

Caye Caulker sunset

Our last night, and we got to see Diana and Hilda again!