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On Monday, we said sad goodbyes to Peter and Irene, who have to start heading back to America and have less time than we do. So we probably won't see them again - until maybe next year! The rest of the day was spent in general cleaning up.
On Tuesday we took time out to have a rest. Travelling is a 24 hour job, no evenings off and no weekends!! So if you want time off, you have to make it happen.
On Wednesday, we walked the 2 miles into town carrying 13 kilos (29 lb) of dirty washing and handed it in to a laundry. After lunch at one of the restaurants, we wandered around the quaint town. We looked at the cathedral and various other buildings and even saw some knitted dolls in the form of the Zapatistas!! Afterwards we took a look at the food market. It's like a rabbit warren and sometimes the fish smells and other smells are overwhelming!! It is also spread over a large area and you could spend hours wandering around among all the hustle and bustle and probably get lost!
We picked up some supplies from a supermarket and then went to the café museum where you can learn about the history of organic coffee in the area whilst tasting it for yourself. We collected our washing and walked back to work on the computer for the rest of the evening.
On Thursday, Helen did some hand washing - items we didn't wand to hand in to the laundry and did some more work on the computer as we are getting too far behind with our website. There's just too much to see in Mexico!!
On Friday, we went through the usual cleaning ritual before leaving a campground and then went for showers. After shopping and stopping for petrol we headed south along a mountain road and then headed east to the Lagos de Montebello.
This is an area right on the border with Guatemala in the temperate forest which is dotted with 59 small lakes of varied colours. The area is very peaceful, picturesque and refreshing. It's in a National Park ($1) and then there is an entrance fee for several lakes ($0.50).
By the time we got to the entrance to the park it was 5pm. So we headed for Laguna Bosque Azul where camping was listed in our Lonely Planet. We wanted to check it out to see if it was somewhere for Winnie. On the way we drove passed several lakes with turquoise water, but the camping area was only suitable for tents.
So we went back to the entrance and took the other road to the east and turned off at a village called Tziscao. This road was gravel and then we ended up going down a steep downhill section and eventually managed to find the campground. We spoke to the owner and then parked up right next to Lake Tziscao for two nights. It only cost $5 per night and we had the use of a toilet and cold shower. Superb!
We were the only people there so we had the whole place to ourselves. We saw women doing their washing in the lake and later went outside to see a natural light show - lightening flashes in the distance. It didn't rain though.
On Saturday, we went for a 6 mile walk around Lake Tziscao where we saw kids having a real mud bath, and then to International Lake. The border between Mexico and Guatemala goes right through the middle of the lake. So we walked over the border and around the lake, back to Mexico!! Fortunately, no one stopped us as we didn't want to go through any kind of border formalities!
On the way back to the campground, we made the mistake of trying to follow a path that went through a forest of tall ferns. They towered above us and the path got narrower and narrower and the ferns got thicker and denser. We were both only wearing shorts and the edges of the fronds were razor sharp! So we had to turn back - and ended up getting cuts all over our knees, ankles and big toes!!
As it turned out, we didn't have far to go and we would have made it through. But, of course, we didn't know that at the time! At least we got to see a live football match - Mexico versus Guatemala (men from the local villages, not the international players!!). We watched and cheered for about 40 minutes - latest score Mexico 2 - Guatemala 5 which was 20 minutes before full time.
On Sunday, we went for a 4 hour walk (8 miles) up to Lake Pojoj a then up to the Five lakes. The area is really scenic and we stopped to watch people being taken out onto the lakes on rafts made of planks of wood strung together.
We were accompanied by a police officer on the short walk from the lake to the main road, and he radioed ahead so that, after we walked the 0.5 mile along the main road, we were met at the entrance road leading to the Five Lakes. Apparently, they do this for the tourists. (Once we returned to San Cristobal afterwards, we found out that tourists were being warned not to go to the Lagunas as it wasn't safe!!)
We had no idea that there were any problems. We certainly never encountered anything but really nice, helpful people!! This included the man who accompanied us along the 40 minute walk passed the Five Lakes. He even acted as guide and showed us where to climb up on the bank to see some of the lakes - we would have missed it on our own.
We climbed up to the lookout point above Lake Canada and sat having lunch whilst enjoying the view. We were really glad we had decided to walk to these lakes as we would not have been able to drive along the gravel road with Winnie.
It had been a wonderful walk but it was also very hot. So when we got back we sat in Winnie's shade and then we used our solar shower in the bathroom for a hot shower. We certainly can't understand why the tourist office is warning people not to come here - perhaps the Mexicans want to keep it for themselves! And we wouldn't blame them either!
