a few more photos

We arrived at Hijos de la Luna intending to stay for a week and wound up staying three. I wanted to stay longer, but we had to keep moving, so on a Monday morning after a delicious breakfast and some tears we were back on the road. It was difficult for me to say goodbye to so many wonderful people and all the charming (and mischeivous!) kids. Our time in Oaxaca was certainly one of the highlights of our trip, and it holds a very special place in my heart. Dona Coco, Don Pastor, Pato, America, Chema, Martin, Bere y Arturo...que maravillosos que son todos - un monton de gracias!

Our next big stop was San Cristobal de las Casas, and the journey to get here was HOT!! I mean sweating 24 hours a day hot. We had been thus far spoiled by the cooler temperatures of higher altitudes, but as we dropped all the way down to sea level our journey became a human pressure cooker. Our pores have gotta be squeaky clean at this point is all I'm saying - between the two of us we downed 10 liters of water a day and usually a juice and/or soda each. Our bandanas have now become sweat bands, adding even more to our evident aesthetic prowess, and it is a challenge to keep our sunglasses from fogging up all the time.

Other than HOT, we had a series of interesting times along the way. Here are some of my favorites...

Limes: Man it's hot. Let's make some limeade. We walk to the store. No limes. We buy water and walk to another store in search of citrusy treasure. Do you have limes? Ha! No! But come with me. A man, dressed only in huaraches and trousers leads us down the street. He opens a gate and ushers us into a lime orchard. Here! I'll give you a bag of limes! Go ahead, pick some yourselves too. Be careful - the trees have spines! The bag, far more than we know what to do with, fills to the brim, and then he adds a few more, for good measure, to my grocery bag from the other store. He smiles and says It's a gift. Thank you. For limes, for this memory in the dimming afternoon sun. We make delicious, tangy limeade in our 5 liter Ciel bottle and share it with the groundskeepers at the municipal palace. We'll be sleeping here in the open-air corridor tonight. The limes last us a week.

Sea: Without knowing it we took the long, mountainous way to Salina Cruz. After hoofing it up yet another prolonged uphill stint suddenly, beautifully the ocean appeared. I couldn't believe how much it made me smile! We wound our way down to sea level and followed the highway toward town. As we left the tollbooth one of the workers said, "It's only 13 more kilometers. You'll be there in about 10 minutes." We laughed as we rode away! On our way we came across a turnoff leading to a small community down by the water, so we took it in hopes of reaching the beach, which we did. It was unbelievable. We met Juan Carlos at a lonely intersection corner. He invited us into his palapa, a simple beach hut, to relax in the delicious shade and snack on freshly-caught fish. We chatted with his friends, shared our stash of fruit, and lounged Saturday-like in the hammock. The stretch of sand, a few kilometers long, was completely deserted. We walked down to the waves accompanied only by the arhythmical whrsh wirsh of the sea and the white intensity of the sun. I had to get in! I wound up soaked and sandy but perfectly delighted. It was an enchanting afternoon.

Mango yogurt: Oh maaaan! I looked over at Eric. He had a strange look on his face. What's wrong? Ooohhh. I see. He had lost most of his cup of mango yogurt to his shirt. The next day he dropped a good part of his flan on the ground at the park. He ate it anyway. "It was too precious."

WTF: As we were riding out of Salina Cruz I hear "Mrlee stouh! Stoo! I look in my mirror and see Eric with a very bizarre expression and his mouth hanging open. "Did you swallow a bee?!" "Hu uuh. Stouh!" "Stop?" "Uh huh!" We stop and I turn around to see Eric standing there, slightly panicked, with his jaw locked open! Luckily he was not stung and was able to quickly put his face right again. And the day went on.

Anyway, we finally arrived in San Cristobal to visit Eric's friend Fergie/Kim who is staying here with her sister Annie and her precocious niece Cora. We feared that we may not make it because of the killer ride up the mountain, but we prevailed! 2000 meters of elevation gain over 42 kilometers was no match for our stubborness (by the way, there was LITERALLY no downhill during the 46 kilometer ride until we reached the top of the mountain and had to drop into the valley where San Cristobal is located!). We feel pretty awesome about that ride which, also, brought us the first rain while riding here in Mexico. And now it feels like June in Seattle. Rainy and cloudy!

Video: Cutest thing ever: Adelo falling asleep while eating lunch. It happened every day!!

Photos: Eric with Belinda in our 'room'; saying goodbye; changing the 10th flat tire in 2 days; are those bullet holes above our bed?