So…

Last night there were 5 of us on the porch of the hostel. I asked those who haven’t been robbed to lift up their hands. One hand rose. Friend from US was the only one, but he had been travelling the shortest time. Nobody really made a big deal about getting robbed. That kind of stuff just happens. Usually people loose only small amounts of money or valuables so it’s not that big of a deal. I’m going to ask you something: How much did you “loose” when you bought the new Ultra flat TV without edges to replace the perfectly good old TV? I know that statement is a low blow, but I don’t really care because the blow is meant to test if you can stand the tonality of this post.

First let’s start with Mexico. It’s a real Wild Wild West with beheadings and gang wars IF you happen to live next to the border with USA. Now why is north dangerous and rest of the country is just fine? You see North America buys all the drugs with big money. Greed leads to anger, angers leads to fighting, fighting leads to shooting, etc…The whole chain of events is made a lot easier with the guns that come from the Southern States of US. You need a rifle? No problem! You need a machine gun? NO PROBLEM! You really need some armor piercing bullets?! NO PROBLEMO! Good part of the problem up north are the gun laws of some lovely states in US. Automatic weapons are bought in US and then smuggled to Mexico. It doesn’t really help the problem that the drug laws in US are really tight and demand to get high on drugs is high. I can’t find a positive ending for this chapter. Change the damn gun and drug laws in US.

As we move down from the northern border of Mexico the problems start turning more into social and political challenges. No blood and violence there so it doesn’t really intrest anybody. I mean what’s the big deal about child labour, homeless people, corruption and military road blocks. Occasionally these things might ruin a perfectly good view. The again good views can be found all over Mexico.

Now we’re starting to get close to the border of Guatemala. Before going to Guatemala there is one more pain in the ass state. That is Chiapas. It’s probably the richest state of Mexico in natural resources. For some reason It is also the poorest when talking about locals and money left to the state. I’m not going to tell you about the history of the state too much. Other wise you would get bored and stop reading.

Long story short. In 1994 NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was too much for some of the indigenous people of Chiapas and they pulled out their guns. They call themselves the Zapatistas. Now Chipas is a police state within a police state. Make no mistake, Mexico is a police state in many ways and Chiapas is the epic center of all that. The country is kept in order with guns and threats. I’ve seen, heard and experiences stuff that I can’t write about because you would think I’ve gone crazy and Mexican government might think I’m trouble. Enough said. you might want to read some letters of sub commandante Marcos. He writes well.

Now of course the problems in the state of Chiapas didn’t start in 1994 but a lot earlier. United Fruit company, Conquistadors, money, greed, there is some key words to start untangling that mess. Nevertheless Chiapas is by far my favorite state in Mexico. It’s got awesome Maya ruins, waterfalls, great culture, zapatistas, military forces, good food, cheap accommodation, great people, mountains, jungle, YOU NAME IT!

It’s time to cross the border into Guatemala where around 150 people get lynched a year. This year the numbers were down a bit. Here is how it went down on some of the places I passed by:

A kids hair is shaved against his will. Father (a police officer) confronts the people with an uzi. The people torch him alive. Week after that happening we hiked to the city and everyone seemed a bit tense.

A man is arrested of a crime and put to a local police station. Locals aren’t happy and they go and get the person from jail and torch him alive. While their at it they burn 3 police pick-ups. Two days after the street looked normal to me.

A man does something bad and tries to get away with a car. He gets pulled over and is burned alive inside the car. The car looked black.

One of the main roads of the country is blocked by demonstration. School bus is used to block the road. Things get ugly and a driver gets shot to death. After waiting for 20 minutes in our bus we decide to walk through the road block. Things looked peaceful.

I didn’t know the real facts of those incidents and what really happened. I just know that someone got killed.

Guatemala City is supposed to be quite shitty place for tourists. That’s what I’ve heard at least. For once I believed what people where saying and decided not to get to know the city better. In Guatemala City bus drivers get shot because they don’t pay money to some criminal organizations. The killing rate is pretty much 1 driver per day.

You have to understand that none of these crimes are really dangerous to tourists. Usually “these people” kill each other. That’s an ugly way to put it but that is how it is. Tourists get robbed, not killed. Guatemala is definitely a country worth visiting. Awesome countryside and volcanos. Just remember the same universal rules that aplies to pretty much every country and city in the world you don’t know – don’t go out at night, especially if you are drunk or alone. Taxis are a nice invention, especially the official ones.

So now that we have covered briefly and superficially and totally unprofessionally the country of Guatemala and Mexico it’s time to move on. Next stop El Salvador. I’ve been here only for one week so I can’t tell that much. I’ve read that there is a lot of gang violence in this country. With the average of 10 murders a day, El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in the world. Hard to tell that while laying in a hammock and surfing on the beach…

So what is the reason for all this violence in El Salvador? Well, civil wars of the 30’s and 80’s and US sponsored military forces that pretty much killed and executed any person that looked indigenous, might be one answer. More resent problem is a gang called Mara Salvatrucha (M-18) which is considered to be the most dangerous gang in the Americas. It actually got started in US when Salvadoran refugees in L.A got beaten up by the Mexican gangs. US answer to these new gang violences was to export 20,000 of these illegal immigrants back to Central America. Well, it didn’t take long for these guys to start terrorizing their surroundings where ever they were shipped. Soon enough M-18 expanded to Colombia and Mexico, thanks to drug trafficking.

The Salvadoran government made a plan called Mano Duro (Operation Hard Hand) and when that didn’t work the next government came up with an even more cunning plan called Super Mano Duro (Operation Super Hard Hand). These days it means that the police can arrest anyone who wears certain type of clothes or has a tattoo. So after Guatemala, where police and military are shitting their pants (because of what they did at their own civil war) I’m back to a country with a police state. Nice. The positive thing of this chapter are the waves and friendly people that can be found all over El Salvador.

So there we were, 5 people telling robbing stories to each other. Someone told how a couple here was walking on the beach at night when men attacked them and raped the woman with a gun point. I guess we’ve gotten of easy. I got mucked by two guys in Mexico. One girl was robbed here at the beach just few days ago. One girl was robbed in a near by village while walking to an ATM at day time. One guy was robbed in Guatemala while climbing a volcano by a man with a machette. Next day he returned alone with his own machette and made it to the top without any problems. Now the guy from California looked a bit worried. The rest of us were just smiling.

Ps. The most dangerous thing while traveling is the traffic. If you get passed your fear of dying on a car accident you can pretty much travel where ever you feel like. I promise!

Adios!

I think that’s it from the WWOOFing for this time. I had lot’s of more videos of the place but those clips will have to wait for now.

I haven’t had really time to blog that much lately. Been quite busy with a project back in Finland and with my portfolio. More of that later. I assure both are worth checking. So don’t go anywhere.

My task was to walk around the forrest with a GPS device and make a map of the ranch. Some days I took care of the sheep and guarded the place. I also taught lady of the ranch to use some graphic design programs and helped the señor of the ranch to find some new caves from the Maya ruins that surrounded the ranch.

Shortly put the WWOOFing experience was one of the best experiences in Mexico. It sure beats a stick in the eye. Oh, I also got new friends of my hosts!

Here is one of the videos when I got lost and found some interesting stuff from the forrest.

To tell you the truth the whole forrest was full of old Maya ruins and caves and all kinds of structures that we figured would got something to do with observing starts. It’s a paradise for an archeologists.

More WWOOFing videos in the near future.

On the beach I talked to this guy who works as a ^^^^^^ and as a (side)business he sells drugs to people on the beach. Just earlier that day the police took him into custody and made an ultimatum: He either has to pay them 100 euros a month or stop dealing. He didn’t seem to be even thinking about finding a new second job.

My 3 shirts that I have used in Mexico have now reached that point. It seems I have to go shopping. Luckily I’m in San Cristobal (2100 meters/6900feet) and for the first time in months I can walk on the streets in the afternoon without breaking in to a sweat. I love the climate of this city!

Luonnonmuokkaamien maauimaloiden syntyhistoria
65 miljoonaa vuotta sitten Mount Everestin kokoinen meteoriitti iskeytyi maahan reilun 70 000 kilometrin tuntivaihdilla, tuhoten 70% kaikesta elämästä. Samassa rytäkässä kuolivat myös dinosaurukset.

70-luvulla PEMEX, meksikolainen öljy-yhtiö tutki Yucatanin niemimaata öljyn toivossa. Yritys löysi merestä jälkiä kraaterista, joka oli yli 150km leveä ja 20 kilometriä syvä. Itse meteoriitti oli noin 10 kilometriä halkaisijaltaan ja painoi oli aika tarkalleen triljoona tonnia. Kyseessä oli siis isohko kivi, joka kopsahti maahan parikymmentä kertaa nopeammin kuin luoti.

Kyse ei ollut ihan vaatimattomasta yhteentörmäyksestä, koska sillä hetkellä kun kivi pulahti lämpimään mereen niin 10 kilometriä ylempänä kiven yläreuna paleli vielä pakkasessa.

Koko härdellin seurauksena maapallo koki suurimman tsunamin ja melkoisen tulimeren. Jumalaa pelkäävä kutsuisisi sitä takuulla tuomionpäiväksi ja määnpäälliseksi helvetiksi. Periaatteessa koko maapallo oli liekeissä iskun jäljiltä. Metsiköt syttyi tuleen, pelkästä kuumuudesta ja ympäri maapalloa lentelevistä laavapalloista. Tämä kaikki tapahtui siis muutamassa minuutissa.

Seuraavat kuusi kuukautta oli tuhkan takia niin pimeää, ettei kävellessä olisi nähnyt omaa kättään. Lämpötila tietysti tippui siinä samalla ja kun lämpötila pimeyden jälkeen vihdoin palasi auringon ilmestyessä suht normaaliksi, niin uudelleen itävät kasvit tuhoutuivat happosateiden toimesta. Safka oli siis enemmän tai vähemmän kiven alla.

Seuraavaksi tuli satoja vuosia kestävä ilmastonlämpeneminen kiitos kaiken hiilidioksidin, joka vapautui ilmakehään metoriitin ansiosta. Edessä oli noin 20:n asteen lisäys lämpömittariin satojen vuosien ajaksi.

Dinosaurukset kuoli tuossa rytäkässä, mutta saatiin sentään kauniit Cenotet. Toinen ihan positiivinen juttu näiden maauimaloiden jälkeen on tietysti se, että kun dinosaurukset oli pikagrillattu, niin pienet maan alla lymyilleet kaikkiruokaiset nisäkkäät pääsivät ruokailemaan ulkoilma buffettiin. Osat olivat vaihtuneet ja nyt nisäkkäät söivät suihinsa sen mitä heidän saalistajistaan oli jäljellä.

68 miljoonaa vuotta myöhemmin nisäkkäiden valtakaudelle ei näy loppua ja bileet tuntuvat olevan parhaimmillaan. Pöytä on katettu täyteen herkkuja, eikä ole huolta huomisesta. On aika pulahtaa viimeisen kerran viileään Cenoteen.

Merida is a nice city. It’s the capital of Yucatan state. To my liking, after returning from the ruins of Uxmal, it seemed terrible polluted. The streets are narrow and the little wind that helps you breath actually feels like you would be standing behind a exhaustion pipe of a big truck, it’s warm and feels dirty.

I took the afternoon bus to Piste, a village of 7000 people just next to the ruins of Chizen Itza. I ended up staying in a hotel right next to the main street. It’s called Poseidon what ever. After hard bargain I dropped the price from 250 pesos to 170 for one night. It’s still much for my budget but a double bed room with a shower is a nice change.

The owner of the hotel also owns a bar cross the street. He invited me for a beer. We shared a 1 liter bottle and then an other one when he insisted.

I know normally I should tell the nice side of things but I will do an exception just for you my dear blog readers. This man was a troubled soul. He was 76 years old according to his own words. He has lived his whole life in Piste and among other things is a herb healer. He read my hand by squeezing it. The result was that I was thinking of my family all the time. I wanted to thank him for reminding me for that important thing but decided to just nod as a sign of accepting his skills.

The man started talking to an other person briefly. We were sitting outside the bar and across the street I saw a woman climb in to a truck. She decided to enter from the drivers side and squeeze herself over the driver slowly teasing the man. From the other side entered an other woman and a man. When everyone was inside the truck took off.

The chat between me and the owner continued. Topics were heavy ones; death of his child, prostitutes, her ex and current wife, religion and beer.

“God is great”, he repeated every now and then. God was so big that after the swine flue calmed down He brought back the tourists. These tourists give work for majority of this city since Piste is located just 1 km from the famous Maya ruins of Chitzen Itza. The ruins are one of the new seven wonders of the world. Those wonders were selected on the Internet by voting some years back. The new 7 wonders of the world… I guess global tourism needed some extra promotion for the new millennium.

This story isn’t pretty. The old man was nice but I can’t say the same about of the way he sees the world. After having his first child according to him the sex wasn’t the same with his wife. Demonstrating with his hands he pointed out how the “stuff” downstairs was loose after giving birth. So it was natural that he searched for some other ladies to just give him pleasure.

Some young men showed up the second time to the bar with their bikes. During the first visit the other one of them placed his bike carefully against the pavement. This time he tried to place is there gently but his hand eye coordination was gone and his eyes looked empty. Finally the bike just crashed on the street.

The old man continued his stories. “The god is great and all over the place!” He told how he was a 100% 100% 100% precent Mayan. There was something in the way he said it that made me doubt it. The fact that his skin was a bit pale also made me wonder about his true ancestors. My imagination took off and made a story where her mother cheated her husband with a white man and that is how he was born. Back in real life the man used to work for the big hotels of the village as a musician. That explains the drinking problem I thought… He was drunk when I met him and even more drunk now.

The other one of the young men had left again and now he came back all covered in mud. Most probably he had fallen with his bike. This time he just tossed his bike to the ground. His eyes looked really drugged. He wasn’t the only one looking like on drugs. Every second young person that passed by looked to be on drugs. These were poor men so my guess was that they were sniffing glue or something close by. I’ve seen that happen among the road workers in Guadalajara.

The stories of the old man, that I first found interesting, now started to disgust me. He told me about his second wife who comes and goes to Merida every week. Apparently she has a man there and it’s no secret. His got 4 daughters. One of them tried to be in charge of the bar but it didn’t work out.

While telling his stories this old man was looking at young women passing by us. One was his old friend. He asked me if I would like to have her for the night. It would just cost me 200 pesos (10 euros). I told I just wanted to sleep tonight. “Just sleep!” he laughed and let it go. The women said to him that I wouldn’t be interested of her. “I was more into Gringas (white girls).” I tried to explain that that is not the case, but decided to let it go after starting my sentence.

As I’m writing this the old man entered the hotel with some woman. I’m sure he is thinking: “God is great and everywhere”.

After finishing the beers I told the man I would pay the other one and went in to pay. “40 pesos”, said the lady. A man in the corner told her: “cover him 50″. I gave her 100 and got back 50. I said this wasn’t what she said to me but it didn’t help. To them I was just money in the same way women were meat to this old man. I went to my room and blocked the door with a table. During our conversation he had mentioned too many times that the hotel is a really safe place to sleep. Good night, Piste.

More about the ruins of Chichen Itza from Wikipedia.