Gee, two weeks gone and all I showed you of Mexico is a toilet. That's pretty poor isn't it. I tried to get started but sorting out hundreds of pictures...

Well, and I've just returned Sunday night from a weekend road trip to Montana (the US state south of the Alberta border) which by the way was my first real time ever in the US. (Apart from touching US soil at the airports of Seattle, Salt Lake City and Phoenix).

It was so funny: our first stop in Montana was a family restaurant in a small town called Shelby which basically provided a summary of all popular prejudices about America. The waitress was extremely obese, the food was crap, the people next table prayer loudly (before having it's crappy food) and the local newspaper hailed the army with the headline "Freedom is not free". Really, it was so stereotypical that we were pretty amused.

It was a world of it's own. Churches everywhere, mostly Baptist, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. Huge billboards with the ten Commandments in almost every village. Redneckistan at it's best.

But at least we made it into the country. I'm really glad to have a European passport. Giving my fingerprints, get that retina picture taken and fill out a form that I'm not a drug addict and did not commit any war crimes in WWII and stuff like that is a nuisance but still a formality. I wouldn't want to be from a Middle Eastern country though..

And I'm actually fairly pissed off about their restrictions. Your not allowed to bring any food like meat or fruit over the border. I'd sort of understand it if coming from the South where you could have all kinds of exotic pests and stuff - but from Canada? Are authorities afraid that visitors may bring samples of food that actually show US citizens that if they want to have good stuff they better buy it from abroad? That difference in taste between the great Alberta Beef Jerky (of which we of course had to get rid of before the border by quickly munching it up) and the US Beef Jerky (which we bought afterwards) was simply sad..

Oh, and to stop the rant positively: Montana was absolutely beauuuuutiful! That landscape.. First the endless plains, then blue mountains appearing at the horizon and then the drive through the Glacier National Park.. Awe-some.

Ok, I continue with a completely random note. This is a typical Mexican washroom. Well, not completely typical because it's at the airport and slightly nicer than the average Mexican washroom. But that's beside the point. The central element is the basket which can be found literally in every washroom. Women may be used to the sight of it, however, this is - of course - the men's ("Hombres" or "Caballeros"). The point is that all throughout the country the used toilet paper is not supposed to be flushed down the toilet but thrown into those baskets. Yummy! I should have taken a picture with one of the notices which explain that this has to be done because all the paper would clog the system. Seriously, this was maybe the one thing I absolutely couldn't get used to during all these two weeks. The power of habits. Such a small detail and yet, so hard to get used to. I had to concentrate very hard every single time in order not to forget it - and still if I didn't think about it that one decisive moment the paper always landed in the toilet.. (But nevertheless I fortunately never clogged a toilet. Success!)

Today a little introduction, just to give you a rough idea of our tour's route and protagonists:

We arrived in Mexico City (Tuesday 17), stayed there for a day (Wednesday) and then left for Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost province, where we spent the bulk of our trip (Thursday-Monday). Then we stayed in Huatulco at the beach (Tuesday-Thursday). From there we travelled to Guadalajara where we stayed the rest of the time (Friday-Sunday) and from where we flew back (Monday 30).

Actually we had also considered visiting a friend in Guernavaca and stay with friends of Jacaranda in the cities of Oaxaca and Morelia (all on the map) - but dropped these plans because time was simply too limited.

The European travellers: Kinga and I.


Mexican friends, hosts and guides 1:
My friend Jacaranda (left), who's from Mexico City, hosted us there, showed us for a day the city and travelled with us to and in Chiapas (Mexico's southernmost state) and further to Huatulco. Karla (right), a friend of Jacaranda and me is from Chiapas and travelled there with us.


Mexican friends, hosts and guides 2:
Alejandro (left), another friend from Edmonton, who hosted and showed us around in Guadalajara together with his family and his girlfriend Natalia (right).