The Itchy and Scratchy Show

I have just arrived in Xpujil (pronounced Shoo-pil, I think) and Julie is off scavenging for a hostel for us. She´s better at that than me. We have stopped here on our way from Chetumal to Campiche because there are five ruins surrounding the area. The best one, Calamak (sp?), is located deep in the jungle about 60 km from here, so I don´t know if we are going to get to it, but I kinda want to try because its supposed to be impressive.

Yesterday we went to Balakar, which is a little town with a big laguna and a fortress. Apparently the fortress was created to defend against pirates back in the day, but I dont know how the pirates were attacking them via a lake. Anyway, the lake was gorgeous: turqoise and blue water, quite warm, like bath water, and strangely shallow. I had to swim out pretty far to not be able to touch the ground. It was a cool spot because there were many Mexican families out for the day, just chilling at the lake. There was a big restaurant with a dock you could lay out on and dive off of and we just walked out and put our stuff down. They would bring you drinks but you didn´t have to order anything, we could have just sat and played all day and no one would have hassled us. In the U.S. there would be like a $20 minimum just to sit at the dock.

Last night we stumbled upon a "Japanese" restaurant in Chetumal (I didn´t actually see any Japanese people working there). I was skeptical and didnt want to get my hopes us but was the answer to our prayers. We ordered three dishes, which were all veggies, and ate it all. Broccoli never tasted so delicious. Then we went to a "karoke" bar to finish off the evening. There was no singing happening but there were music videos from the 1980´s playing. All I have to say is that Latin pop has always been amazing and Ricky Martin has always been really gay.

Chetumal was an interesting city because it was the most solidly middle-class place I have ever been in Mexico. It seems to be a hub of commerce, getting traffic from surrounding areas and Belize, and there were two vegetarian restaurants (not counting the Japanese place), although we only got to go to one. That was on our first night and it was run by some Christian lady who raised her head and hands and gave all the praise up to God when we said we liked her tvp. I think they were 7th Day Adventists. I noticed a distinct lack of ass kissing once we arrived there, it was clear we had left the super touristy area. People did not act like they were really happy to see us everywhere we went and did not automatically speak to us in English, which is obviously fine and good to get to practice more.

Today we took the bus away from the coast, a move which has caused us some anxiety. Going swimming everyday has been the main way we have been dealing with the heat and I think we are both scared to enter into the "ruins exploration" phase of the trip, as I have conceptualized the 2nd week. The bug bites only really bother us at night but ágain, I think thats because we spend most of our days in the water. When the situation gets intolerable for me, I have begun referring to it as the Itchy and Scratchy Show. It is fun to talk in those crazy Simpsons cat and mouse voices about how we could mutilate our legs to stop the pain.

I have finished my book, The Golden Compass, and the only books I could find in English to buy in Chetumal was the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Secret Garden or a Tale of Two Cities. I didn´t like Dickens in high school, but 2 Cities seemed like the best bet so I went with it. Its nice to know that when my brain is not tired from my job, my desire to read returns!