ah, it.s been so long since i updated that i can.t possibly remember all the things in detail that we have seen and done. this is maybe for the best...i.ll just give you all the highlights so far.

oaxaca was dry, desert, sun. color and parades. calm colorful colonial areas blurring into hectic markets. elotes. GAS DE OAXACA (a truck drives by fiona.s house daily, shouting this out along with a catchy tune). giant quesadillas filled with potatoes, quesillo (stringy cheese), and margaritas that, after one, cause blurring of vision. and a twelve-person band (raices) playing folk music on lute-like instruments, varying in age from 16 to 65, with this occasional intricate tap dance to the music. one of the best things i-ve seen so far, for sure. and a night of salsa dancing, mescal and margaritas and blurry embarrassing dance moves. on my part.

mazunte - winding terrifying van ride up and then down a mountain. and then the beach. blue ocean, orangey sand, huge crashing waves all night. cuccarachas in our palapa. a scorpion in our palapa. eating swimming eating swimming reading reading reading. warm pacific ocean. a boat ride, our guide harrassing turtles, pelicans carrying human babies off to sea... (well...) nights sitting out in skirts and tank tops under the stars, bad electronic music exploding from the hostel all the way down the beach nightly... ocean love.

san cristobal. 3000 m above sea level. freezing first class bus ride. freezing mountain town. cloudy day, for the first time since landing in mexico. chills. fresh baked bread and huevos rancheros, browsing book stores, a night of blurry wine drinking, 1.50 glasses of wine (dangerous). a boat ride down the canon de sumidero - crocodiles, pelicans, vultures, and one shy owl hidden in a cliff-side cave, and a boat-ride through a rain storm. cold, chills.

palenque, down the other side of the mountain into the jungle. hot, humid, our hotel room is a tree house. we have to climb a ladder to go up, and we have a rusty slide to come back down again. more cuccarachas. las ruinas... magical. huge huge stone structures coming right out of the jungle. the sound of howler monkeys all night last night, eerie and pretty damn magical. jungle sounds. thinking about summers spent camping, sounds that are not city sounds. keep thinking it will be summer when i get home, and then remembering...

SIGH.

this country is incredibly beautiful - the cities that pulsate and meander, the beaches, the jungle, the desert, the mountains. i.ve been to like 5 different ecosystems in the course of a few weeks. it-s pretty neat. it.s flown by though, can.t really believe i-ve been here for three weeks already. and school starts in three more!

and now, christmas eve, waiting for my turn to use skype to call the family.