Mexico

I´m in Mexico! You are only allowed to stay in Guatemala for 90 days on a tourist visa, and getting any other kind of visa is a pain, so most people do a Visa in Mexico run every 90 days (El Salvador, Nic, and Honduras don´t count because they are part of the Central American Federation - i think that´s what it´s called.) So, since I had to come to Mexico, and it´s Semana Santa, where everything is closed down anyway, i decided to make a week of it. Steve left Sunday morning (more about that in a bit) and I came to San Cristobal de las Casas, a very very cute town. This region used to be part of Guatemala, so many say that it isn´t really Mexico, but is more of a Guatemalan-Mexico mix. It feels very colonial, and is touristy, but at least most of the tourists are Mexican too. And, the tacos are nothing like what you would find in Guatemala, so in that sense it´s definitely Mexico. That

Since I can´t seem to load any pictures right now, I will just give a brief rundown and then show you all the cool places when I get back to Xela. I met up on Sunday with my housemate Marissa and her friend Claire, who got here a few days before. We spent yesterday wandering around town, rented some bikes, and doing lots of shopping at the local market. Today I went to a Canon and went on a boat all the way down and back, 84km! I had been told that I would see lots of Crocodiles, but only saw one baby one, so was a little sad about that. But, it was really beautiful regardless. Tomorrow I´m headed to some Mayan Ruins about 4 hours up north called Palenque. They will be my first ruins ever and I´m really looking forward to it. Then, I´m back to San Cristobal for a day, and sadly, then back to Xela.

In other news, for those of you who are curious, I will be attending Columbia in the fall. I have been accepted to both the MPA and MPH programs, and will start with the MPA at SIPA. I´m still getting used to the idea of living in NY, but increasingly getting excited about it. You can all start planning your visits now.
Adios and more blogs and lots of pictures when I get back into Guatemala.