Getting there...
In the meantime I have arrived at San Cristóbal de las Casas
in Chiapas, Mexico and I would like to tell you about my 53 hour journey. So we
started on Wednesday, August 14th, 2013. Tino and I flew off to Toronto. For a
few moments we thought Heathrow was under attack by the Daleks and the
Cybermen, but luckily the Doctor arrived on his motorbike and it all appeared
to be an illusion ;-)
 |
Tino actually managed to sleep a few hours on the plane
and on the other side of the Atlantic Kus was waiting for us! At the Canadian
Border Agency, I was asked to prove that I was leaving the country the next day
and, of course, could not find any of the paperwork. Result, my voice became
ultrasonic and I lost all capacity to speak English. Somehow I managed to
scrape through and got my entry approved. Once we dropped off our bags at
John's place, we went out for a stroll along Lake Ontario (unfortunately did
not have my camera with me, so you will need to count on Tino for posting some
pictures) and had an amazing dinner at a Tibetan restaurant. Never had such
amazing momo's! There was not much time to do anything else as we were really
tired and the next day I had to catch my flight to Cancun. In all fairness,
Tino was the stronger one at the airport. I cried my eyes out. Hope to be
together again soon Tino!!
 |
Arrived in Cancun where a tropical storm was taking place.
In fact, it was so humid that my glasses fogged up immediately... In all
fairness, didn't do much here, I just went to the hotel, had some food in the
hotel restaurant, used the pool and the Jacuzzi (even though there was a storm
going on, I couldn't care, I had a hotel with a pool and I did not know when I
would be able to use a pool again, so no storm was going to stop me!!), a quick
Skype session with Tino and fell asleep early in front of the television.
Off to the airport again the next morning as this time I
would be flying to Mexico City and soon after I would have my connecting flight
to Tuxtla Gutierrez. This was the part I feared a bit as I used a domestic
company and had the impression I did something wrong when I booked the tickets
and was afraid I would end up paying a lot of money to take all my stuff (as
usual, my luggage was so heavy that I'm sure that no Greek donkey would allow
it on its back). The result? I did make an error in the booking, but the
check-in lady was so lovely she changed things round without me even asking and
I ended up paying nothing! This would be unthinkable in Europe so I loved
Mexico already. Once I got on the plane, I noticed that half of the seats were
taken by some sports team called Atlante F.C. Never heard of them before so
made a mental note to check later if they were an important team. As it turned
out, Atlante F.C. is one of Mexico's premier teams! (made another mental note
to start following Mexican sports) A swift change of plane in Mexico City,
where the temperature was about 35°C, so I was happy to leave straight away!
(though would love to visit the city during my stay here!). My arrival in
Tuxtla Gutierrez did not make me feel any better; again 35°C... Once I passed
the military baggage control, a man was waving a sign with my name on it. This
was going very smoothly!
Last part of the trip: a 1 hour drive to San Cristóbal de
las Casas. It felt like driving through a movie scene. Chiapas is breathtaking
and it feels as if it hasn´t changed in decades! We drove through the jungle,
through small villages, past fields filled with coffee plants, all the way up
the mountain where the view only become more impressive. In the meantime, the
temperature dropped as we moved to 2,200 meters high. Finally, there it was:
San Cristóbal de las Casas. After a long, long journey I had arrived at my
destination and was ready for my jet lag to kick in.
Voor
diegenen die geen Engels verstaan, mijn excuses, maar heb geen tijd gehad om
het te vertalen...
