An amazing scuba diving day :-)

I had arranged to go diving today. The weather was gorgeous... sunny and blue sky. It was a 30 min boat ride to the Laughingbird Cay, one of those islands we see in films... very small, few palm trees, soft sandy beach, green waters. It was a dream. Unfortunately I didn’t get my camera with me but Alys was kind enough to send me some of her photos.

  
  

Alys and Zach got married 4 years ago here and recently decided that they wanted to live here so they left Wisconsin behind. Their friend Steph also joined them. They all looked happy and relaxed and I am sure their chosen lifestyle had a lot to do with that. It was really great spending time with them today.

The diving was absolutely fantastic. It was my first warm water dive and I don’t think I can ever go back into the cold waters of the Pacific north-west. No way! Lots of different types of fish, colorful, big, small. But most importantly, it was warm and the visibility great.

While coming back from the island I did one of those typical Savas things... I was enjoying the boat ride and the blue/green waters it so much, I didn’t even think about the sun. I didn’t put my t-shirt on so I am now my back is completely red while the rest of my body is white (well, apart from my left arm, which is brown since it was exposed to the sun during all the days of driving :-) And of course no sun block so i am now suffering a bit :-(

But the diving was excellent and that’s what matters.

In the afternoon I stayed on the beach and read. Got some rest early in the evening and then a long dinner at one of the beach bars. I think I am going to hit the road again tomorrow. We’ll see.

A very very relaxing day, full of reading. The day was cloudy so I didn’t feel like jumping into the water. Instead, I walked on the beach for a while, then found a palm tree and read philosophy. It’s amazing how much Aristotle, Patlo, and the rest of the gang had figured about the world and how to reason/think about it.

The day moved like this... beach bar, reading, thinking, eating, back to the cabana. Read for a while in the hammock before falling asleep :-) Did some book editing and then out for beers and dinner while reading about space-time, 4-dimensional geometry, set theory, etc. :-) You know... light, holiday reading :-)

As you can tell, I have nothing exciting to report from today. Instead, here are some photos...

The inside of my cabana. I’ll get a picture of the outside tomorrow.

 

The beautiful and peaceful Plancencia.

 
 

This was my view from my palm tree.

 

No need for comment on this one :-)

Lesson of the day 1: What the sign in the photo above says.

Lesson of the day 2: “One must be able to say at all times – instead of points, straight lines, and planes – tables chairs, and beer mugs” (Hilbert)

Lesson of the day 3: Must learn more about mereology.

Lesson of the day 4: “Chance has become the primary notion, mechanics an expression of its quantitative laws, and the overwhelming evidence of causality with all its attributes in the realm of ordinary experience is satisfactorily explained by the statistical laws of large numbers.” (Born)

Travelled today. I settled my bill with John at the Trek Stop, said my goodbyes, and I was on the road again. I’ll miss that place. I had an excellent time there.

From San Ignacio, I picked up Lisa and Michelle, the two students who are on a tour of central America and on their way to Plancencia, my destination for today. They were part of the Tikal group the day before and I briefly saw them after my beer last night. As it turned out, we were all heading to Plancencia so I was more than happy to give them a lift.

The drive was uneventful but the landscape was beautiful throughout. The last 25 miles or so were a bit of pain since the road was not paved but Julio, the car, did absolutely fine. We were able to sustain speeds of around 50-60km/h so I felt comfortable taking Julio on that road. Unfortunately, the dust from the other cars got everywhere.

Plancencia seems to be very quiet this time of the year. According to the guide book is a yet-to-be-discovered tourist destination. You couldn’t tell that from the many hotels, cabanas, and few resorts that have already been established. It’s a beautiful town and seems very relaxed. We walked around for a bit to find accommodation. Lisa and Michelle found a budget-conscious room for the night; they are getting a boat to the Honduras tomorrow morning. I rented a gorgeous cabana, with its own veranda and hammock (photos tomorrow). This is the part of the trip where I relax. I plan to stay 4 nights here, reading and writing. Today was cloudy but if the sun comes out, I also plan to do some scuba diving around here.

I also managed to work on the book today.

BTW... since many of you have asked... No more bedbugs (or whatever type of bugs there were I picked up from Progresso). I got rid of them on day 7 and they haven’t reappeared. I’ve been very very careful since then.

Later in the evening Lisa, Michelle, and I went for drinks and beers. It was nice. In all, a relaxing day.

Today was “Tikal day”. The previous night I had arranged to join a group, an organized tour, for a day-long trip to Tikal in Guatemala. A number of reasons lead me to decide to leave Julio, the car, behind:

• I found out that for almost half the distance the road was pretty bad;
• there were entry/exit fees to pay at the border;
• there were usually long lines at the border.

The guys at “Eva’s” (I am not connected on the net to find the link) organized and took care of everything. I think that it might have been cheaper to do it on my own but when I saw the road conditions I was glad I didn’t.

After we crossed the borders into Guatemala on foot, we got into the two minivans that were to take us to Tikal. I was asked to sit in front by the driver. Loco was absolutely hilarious. A very nice, short Guatemalan guy who had a great laugh :-) He knew absolutely everyone on the road (all the track drivers, the other minivan drivers, the policemen)... everyone! He was very proud of his 1-year old minivan, a 2,500cc, 4 cylinder, diesel, turbo minivan with great suspension :-) He believed that he’d pay the bank in 5 years before owning it completely. I must admit, the minivan was mostly smooth even with his crazy driving on the dirt roads.

Loco told me many great things along the way. A great one was related to our discussion about his family. He has 8 children, the youngest being 8 years old. He told me about his house, how it’s raised above the ground to avoid flooding, and then he told me that until very recently they didn’t have electricity and, as a result, no TV. So, they didn’t have anything else to do with his wife :-)))))

That’s Loco in front of his minivan. The other two photographs below are just random but I like them.

  

Close to the site, we picked up Luis (if I remember his name correctly), our Tikal guide, local expert and of Maya origin. He turned out to be quite the character.

Tikal is located in a national reserve. The jungle is absolutely gorgeous and, apparently, it’s the only reserve in Central America that was never logged. We made our way through the park slowly (there is a speed limit because of all the wild life). The tree in the last photograph here is the national tree of Guatemala.

  

Luis started the tour. The site is huge, by far the largest I’ve visited and, as I found out, the largest Maya site in the entire region. There is no single estimation about the Maya population of Tikal. Some archeologists say 150,000 while the locals estimate around 220,000. Impressive.

We didn’t take the usual paths around the site. Luis knew his way around well. He took us through the jungle so we could also see wild life on the way. As he said at the beginning, “this is not an archeological tour, it’s a nature tour.”

 
 

And, out of nowhere, we started seeing the amazing structures, while Luis kept saying stories along the way.

 
 
 

At some point we started climbing on some of the pyramids. You just never know what you are going to see from up there, or up there... A Japanese gentleman decided he wanted to have his photograph taken while wearing a wrestling mask :-) A girl from our group decided to join him :-)

  

Luis was saying really cool things... about religion, the influence it has had in politics, policy making, the problems it has caused, wars, etc. But at the same time, he was promoting his “Maya-inspired beliefs” around astrology. He was using the fact that Maya had advanced in mathematics and astronomy to justify his astrology-related beliefs.

The Maya civilization indeed achieved some amazing things. However, when I pointed to him that other civilizations were also great (e.g. Persians, Greeks, Egyptians), he made the suggestion that the Egyptians were in contact with the Maya and, in fact, it was they who were influenced by this great civilizations and, as a result, the Greeks and the rest :-) Well, I know that there are strong indications about the links between the civilizations in the Americas and the Egyptians, which are still being explored, but that was taking it too far :-)

We talked a lot about the philosophy of “living well, honor, love” with Luis. He liked the fact that I wear a stone around my neck with a smilie face and a tattoo to match it :-) In discussions with friends who are going through difficult times, I usually tell them that it’s a natural part of life and without the “down” times we couldn’t really appreciate, value, and enjoy the happy moments, when eventual those arrive. Life is like the ocean, with its ups and downs; the lower a wave goes, the higher it’ll bring us. An ocean that stands still is boring, at least to me. He effectively said the same thing but more eloquently, I think... “If you don’t experience the night, how do you know you like the day?”. Perhaps it’s not even his, who knows! I liked it.

 

This is for Jim :-) (For those who don’t know, this was a scene in StarWars IV)

 

And then we did some more climbing :-)

 

Before stopping for lunch after 4 hours of walking into the jungle, climbing to Maya ruins, and listening to Luis’ wonderful stories and philosophies. BTW... If you want to know about his belief system, here’s a source of web sites that he shared with us. The book he was carrying (astrology-related) will be published, apparently, next year. So he was sharing a secret with us. Disclaimer: I haven’t checked any of the web sites yet :-)

 

Back to Trek Stop. Dinner. A quick beer at San Ignacio. Decided where I am going tomorrow and I might even have company... two American students who are heading the same way and would like a lift.

A beautiful beautiful day!

Lesson of the day 1: Kill the TV in order to make babies :-)

Lesson of the day 2: You have to experience the night before you decide that you like the day.

Last night I slept for 11 hours. Hmmm... I think my body is telling me to take it easy or it’s just that the Trek Stop is the best place to relax and my body is taking the opportunity to make up for all the months of hard work :-) I am not complaining! No writing last night though so I am going to seriously make up for it today.

After a lazy morning and breakfast at the Trek Stop, I headed towards the various falls and treks in the rain forest. Well, soon I realized that the road was absolutely awful and I was consuming much more gas than I had assumed. The road was bad for Julio and I would have been left without gas had I continued. Half way there (45 mins or so of drive), I took the decision to return. I picked up a couple of hitchhikers on the way and came back to San Ignacio.

A soft drink and some reading at a local bar, then back to Eva’s for lunch and writing. Nothing special. Back to Trek Stop for more writing.

There I met Tineke who was doing her “homework” while watching TV :-) We chatted a bit and became good friends. She’s 8 years old (her birthday is on Nov 30) and she’s very very clever and sweet! I know she’s going to read this because she told me that she wanted to see herself on the Web. She also promised to send me an email. I am sorry Tineke I wrote my phone number where I should have written my name in your “friends contact list” . I am stupid :-)

Tinike wants to visit India, more than any other country in the world. I am sure that she will some day. She’s the best student in the class and has the highest grades in math. She has lots of friends and now I am one of them :-)

 

Tinike even made fun of my accent! :-) That was absolutely hilarious. She did comment that I don’t sound like the Americans she’s met.

Tinike, it was an absolute pleasure chatting with you. I am looking forward to your email :-)

Back to writing now!

After I posted the “day 7” entry, I went to my little cabin (see below) and tried to write for few hours but didn’t manage to. It’s soooo peaceful here. You can only hear the sounds of the jungle (and infrequently some annoying dogs... I have nothing against dogs... It’s just that they spoil the rest of the sounds :-) Well, the beers I had didn’t allow me to really concentrate. I must had been really tired. I slept for 10 hours.

 

In the morning, I headed towards Xunantunich, one of the local Maya sites. The ferry to cross the river was great :-) An American I picked up on the way back, even tried to help.

 
 

The site was beautiful, at the top of a hill. The view from the top of the pyramid, which was much easier to climb than others I visited, was fantastic. Since we are very very close the Guatemalan borders, there were army patrols even inside the site. Unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough to change lenses in order to take a photo when two solders emerged for a bit through the ruins.

  

After Xunantunich, I decided to head towards the Chechem Ha cave. The road was unbelievable difficult due the rain earlier in the month. A girl hitchhiked a ride. The road had opened for the tracks and workers going to the dam that is being built. Before that, the farmers over there had to walks 2 1/2 – 3 hours. Her name was Mealy Martinez. She was 22 years old and the youngest of 14 brothers and sisters. She has 35 nephews and nieces. Her older niece is 26, 4 years older than her :-) It was fun talking to her. I drove her all the way to her farm, about 10 mins beyond my turn.

At the farm where the cave was supposed to be I met William, the owner (apparently Mealy’s cousin). I was his 5th visit this month, so it’s not a popular tourist destination, most probably because of the road’s bad state. He asked for US$50, which is the price for two people but then we agreed on BZL$80 (US$40). At the end I gave him BLZ$100 anyway :-)

  

The way it works is that William takes visitors for a 3 hour hike. We climb the mountain and then get into the cave, which he discovered in 1989 while looking for leaves for his roof and not while looking for his cows, as my guide said. The entrance to the cave is located within the borders of his farm.

William is 36 years old and he already has 18 and 13 year old daughters. His life story has been sad but he doesn’t complain. He seems happy in his farm, taking care of his animals, working the land, and being very proud of the cave, which he says he visits even on his own. Recently, the cave was the subject of a documentary.

The cave itself goes 200m into the mountain and it’s deep. It has been kept in its original state so I don’t think it’s for the average tourist. No lightning (we had to carry flashlights), no pathways, no “you have to crawl” signs :-) Lots of Maya artifacts have been left behind by the archeologists while the most important ones were moved for safe-keeping.

At the very bottom of the cave, we turned off our flashlights and just stayed in complete darkness, with the bats flying around us. No source of light whatsoever so no matter how hard your eyes try, they cannot adjust. William shared an interesting thought of his then. He told me that that he once decided to stay in the cave, in complete darkness, for an entire night. A friend took his flashlight and promised to return the next day. I don’t know whether it’s a tourist story or he’s actually done it but he said that he came to the realization that our minds create an imaginary world with our eyes being the source of the truth. The two together can keep us sane. I liked the poetry of what he was saying and the passion in his voice, there in the complete darkness. So I decided not to spoil it by bringing up the fact that there are blind people in this world who are capable of living an ordinary life without the use of their eyes. Anyway... a moment there to remember.

He laughed with my attempts to take a photograph of the complete darkness. I switched my camera to manual and tried to take a photo of nothing. I know I can take a black photograph anytime I want but I wanted it to be from down there, from that moment because I’d know. Well, my camera failed me. I couldn’t set it up in the dark to take a photograph. I kept trying but I gave up at the end because it was embarrassing.

  
 

I sweated a lot due to the humidity in the jungle. That t-shirt is normally light-gray :-)

On the way back I picked up another hitchhiker, Jose Martinez (the same last name was just a coincidence). His life story completely different from that of Mealy’s; it is a very sad one. His father was killed at the Guatemalan borders, he had to support the entire family through the farm, he was involved in an accident with a drunken driver few days ago so his car was destroyed, etc. :-(

I returned to the Trek Stop exhausted. I tried to do some writing but Rebecca and Naa, two Americans who also stay at the Trek Stop, came to say “hi”. We arranged to go to San Ignacio for food and some drinks.

No sign of bugs this morning and throughout the day. My “attack” on them yesterday seems to have paid off. Let’s see tomorrow.

The heavy metal band across the street was playing into the early hours of the morning. As a result, I didn’t get much sleep :-) I was soooo tempted to go to the live performance but since I had a long drive planned for this morning, I stayed in my room. After I wrote yesterday’s blog entry, I had 3 beers at a local bar, where I also chatted with 3 crazy Canadians who drove all the way down to Chetumal from British Columbia and they too were on their way to Belize. Crazy but great! :-) Anyway... I didn’t feel like more drinking.

The day started by spending 1 1/2 at the border with Belize. All went well at the end, paid a couple of bandits, and I was on my way to Belize City for the night, as per my plan. No good maps and, typical me, I got lost again because I was paying too much attention to the landscape, trying to absorb every single image on the way rather than taking notice of the traffic signs for directions :-) You can tell from the road on which I ended up that I got out of the main one :-) I thought that as long as I kept going south, it’d be ok and, indeed, after 30 mins or so I got back on track. Yes, that’s me driving and taking photos at the same time. Bad I know but I was all along :-)

  

Julio, the car, keeps changing the plans for me. The driver’s window came loose again so it wouldn’t be safe to park it in Belize city. So I decided to head west and towards San Ignosio, close to the borders with Guatemala. I was looking for ecotourism locations (being respectful to nature, making sure that the money stays local, etc.) on the Internet and found “The Trek Stop”. I thought that few days at a relaxing location would be nice and would allow me to concentrate on more book-related writing, while still visiting all the nearby attractions.

When I arrived I realized that this place is even better up close. It’s gorgeous. I will indeed stay few days around here. I met one of the owners, John, with his partner, own 12.5% of the Trek Stop... American hippies who relocated here), very very cool guy. He even gave me tools so that I could raise Julio’s window. More photos of the Trek Stop tomorrow.

Time for a shower and go to explore the San Ignosio...

Food and beer at a bar-restaurant at the town center (or nearby). Then, I joined the locals to check out the elections that appeared to be taking place. As I found later at a local bar, it was the democrats electing their local representatives.

 

I stayed for beers and chatted with some local folks for a couple of hours. Sorry, no photos! On the way back, I came across a house that has already started celebrating Christmas :-) Just across the street from the same house, there was a sign for “mixer rental”. You know... just in case :-)

 

As you can tell, a slow day. I think it’s going to be like that for few days while I am concentrating on exploring the beautiful nature destinations around here. I am also planning to visit Tikal, which is not far.

Lesson for the day: Do I need to say it again? MAPS!!! Oh... and be aware of the bandits at the borders.

 

And here’s an idea of the distance I covered today (this is not at the same scale as yesterday’s post).

(this was supposed to be a boring driving day... little I knew :-)

After yesterday’s problems with Julio, the car, the night ended quiet with lots of book-related writing.

In the morning, the bedbugs were back :-( This time I took more drastic action. I threw away all clothes that might had been exposed to them. At the time, I couldn’t figure out why they hadn’t appeared the night before but reappeared this morning. Later in the day, when I had lots of time to think (read below), I came up with a hypothesis that I’ll need to investigate.

I decided that today’s destination would be Chutamal with a stop halfway to see the ruins around Xpujit. After a couple of hours of driving, I reached Chicanna, the first of a group of sites in the southern part of the Yucatan peninsula. I was all alone! It was fantastic. I had the entire site to myself. However, my excitement was quickly gone. Could this be the reason that no one was around? The site itself was nice but as I started walking through the jungle, a storm of mosquitoes launched a coordinated attack. I am not lying, that’s how it felt. Yes, typical Savas... no mosquito propellant. I had to wear my long-sleeved top and hood :-)

  
  

BTW... in case you were wondering, the Maya were NOT helped by aliens, as the sign outside Chicanna proclaims :-) Here’s a zoomed in part of the photo of that sign :-)

I quickly went through the site and then drove only few minutes away to Becan, the capital of this group of Maya cities, known as Rio Bec sites. As I parked I was offered protection for my car by many kids. I guess they get corrupt at an early age in this area (read below). I agreed to pay upon my return and only after I made sure that nothing had happened to the car. With my own personal security on guard, I felt safe to go into the site :-)

  
  

It was an absolute joy. I think I enjoyed Becan the best from all the sites I’ve visited this week. Not because the structures were more magnificent than the others. They were great but that wasn’t the reason I enjoyed them more. There were only 2-3 more people walking around the 6 sq. mile site. That in combination with the fact that we were allowed to climb the pyramid made the experience unforgettable. I think I spent more than an hour at the top of the pyramid, above the trees of the jungle alone, and way above the clouds of mosquitoes :-). The view was excellent but, most importantly, the sounds of the jungle, the peaceful landscape ,and the vibe were captivating. I tried to absorb everything, with no one around to distract me. BTW... the panorama below represents a 270 degree view.

 

At times, I tried to empty my mind, but I mostly did lots of thinking up there. Amongst the many topics I covered was the bedbugs situation (I still don’t know if they are bedbugs but they are definitely bugs, very annoying ones!). Well, the difference between the two nights they appeared and the one in between when they were nowhere to be found was the use of the laptop on the bed. Could it be that, like the ants on day 3, bugs from that bad hotel in Progresso found rescue into my laptop? Could it be that whenever I worked on my laptop in the evenings, they had been re-emerging for some food, which happened to be my blood? I’ll check the theory tonight.

It was already mid-afternoon when I decided that it was time to go. I paid my dues to one of the kids, 10 pesos. He had this very characteristic expression of someone who wanted to convey his sympathy for taking advantage of me and for doing something wrong but, still, was doing it anyway :-) Little I knew that I was just about to see that expression again.

Left the site and started driving towards Xpujit, only few mins away. At the entrance of this little town, another police block (of the many I had gone through). This time around, though, no smiles. They stopped me while letting all the locals go by. In front of me, a German couple who turned out to have exactly the same problem as what I was about to have.

Apparently the car doesn’t have license papers. The car rental company doesn’t keep the license papers in the car. The policeman knew that so after my driving license he asked for the car’s paperwork. I didn’t have them. He said that it was a big problem and he asked me to pay 600 pesos. I called the car rental company who explained to them that, if they wanted the paperwork, the company could have them faxed immediately. The car rental guy told me that the policeman would go look for the fax number. Well, the policeman was not interested in looking for a fax number. Instead, he went to get the big boss.

And here it was... that face expression again :-) I wonder whether this guy was related to the kid from the site. I stayed calm but I was boiling inside. I knew what they were really after. The night I arrived I was warned about this situation by the guy who gave me the keys to the car. They wanted money. It’s really difficult for me to do something like this since I feel like I am sponsoring this type of behavior for the future. It’s not right! But then again, the travel guide did say that I could end up in jail if I didn’t comply. So I negotiated and brought the price down to 100 pesos. I paid up and was on my way. The German couple in front of me also paid.

Throughout my journey so far, I didn’t broke a single traffic rule but that’s how things go I guess. I called the rental car company to let them know that everything was ok and that I was on my way again. The guy on the line tried to be apologetic about the Mexican policemen and then made this excellent comment: “We have so many beautiful beaches, why do you want to go to these places?” :-))) I laughed. I told him that it wasn’t his fault of course and that I was really enjoying the entire thing :-)

I stopped for lunch. Again, I let the lady of the restaurant pick what I was going to eat. It was delicious (or I am just very hungry) apart from the fries, which I eat anyway though :-)

Next, the drive to Chutamal was uneventful. As one of my travel guides said, Chutamal itself is uninteresting. After I arrived, I found a hotel (the most expensive to-date but with HOT WATER... hurray :-), cleaned up and went out. I was walking around, ate, drunk beer, etc. for around 3 hours. Nothing really special to report. I went to many different pharmacies trying to go on the attack on the bedbug situations. We’ll see.

Well, the arrival to Chetumal also marks the end of the first stage of my trip. The sunset reminded me that I was finally in the Caribbean. I can’t wait to the next stage... Belize.

I haven’t planned what I am going to do in Belize (as if I had planned anything else until today :-) I was originally thinking of doing the same, traveling around at random and enjoying the sea. While emerged in my thoughts at the top of the pyramid in Becan, I had another idea about what might be good to do in Belize. I am going to look it up tonight and see if I can pull it off. I’ll report back after things happen :-) Wish me luck tomorrow.

Lesson of the day: Avoid the police in Mexico!

 

Since I am at the end of the first stage of the trip, here’s a map of the ground I covered at very high level. I’ve been keeping track of all my stops and exact route (well, apart from when I got lost :-), so I can create a more detailed route at some point.

This 3 times faster than the previous known record.

For those who don’t know, Jim Gray et al established a series of tests, including the 1TB sort, in order to give database vendors a playground for honest comparisons. The results are maintained online. Here are the two related papers:

• “A Measure of Transaction Processing”. Note how it’s signed as “anon et al”. If I remember well, Jim didn’t want for the paper to be associated with a particular vendor. I could be wrong.
• “A Measure of Transaction Processing 20 Years Later”.

Google managed to sort 1TB in 68secs using their MapReduce infrastructure on 1,000 machines. Then, they attempted to sort 1PB of data on 4,000 machines. It’s interesting how when sorting 1PB of data one hits the hard disk failure rates.

Interesting stuff. I am looking forward to the paper.

I think I slept for 11 hours. The combination of bugs the night before (I think I only slept for 3 hours or so), an exhausting day 4, and a nice bed resulted in a lot of sleep. Didn’t manage to write as much as I wanted though :-(

The “bedbug” problem from yesterday did not reappear. I either managed to clean everything up at an early stage or it was a local problem. Probably the latter and most likely they weren’t bedbugs but local blood-drinking insects. Anyway... I am glad that there is no problem.

No breakfast today. Hit the road after a quick shower and a very short walk around Campache’s central plaza. I just wanted to see it during the day as well. I bought some cookies and started driving south. As the day before, the destination was Xpujil (one of these days I will start posting a map of my trip as well). Rather than taking the shortest path, I decided to drive down the coast. It proved to be an inspired decision even though it ultimately meant that I am still not in Xpujil :-)

The scenic route down the west coast of the Yucatan peninsula is gorgeous; highly recommended if you ever around the neighborhood. I drove towards Haltuchen and then Champoton. Just before I arrived at Champoton, I stopped for around 90mins at the Cocteleria “El Amigo Mario”. I saw it as I was driving by and I just had to have lunch there. I stayed, planned my drive for the rest of the day (I knew that it was going to be mainly driving today) and also wrote my day 4 entry. I ate a beautiful seafood salad with nachos. It was absolutely delicious.

  

The sea was very inviting but didn’t dare to go swimming. It was a bit cloudy at times and also it’s totally out of season. Also, I am waiting until I go to the east side and Belize for all the swimming.

The town of Champoton was beautiful. I wish I could have planned it as a stop over. Unfortunately, I really needed to make progress today.

 

After I passed Champoton, I thought of confirming my whereabouts and the next stop. Where’s the map? All this talk the previous days about a good map and I’ve now lost it? I drive back (only 5 mins) to the Cocteleria; Mario had saved it for me. Phew! :-)

Rather than doing the sensible thing and heading south, I decided to continue on the coast and towards Sabancuy, south-west. The drive was still beautiful but wayyyy a longer detour than I should have done. I love driving, especially with the windows down. It allows me to feel the air, smell the outside, perhaps quickly hear a sound or two. Well, at some point, as I was closing the driver’s window (there were some tracks producing too much dust), I heard an unsettling noise coming out of the inside of the door. Unfortunately, the window stopped working. I stopped immediately to check it out and took the opportunity for some photos (below).

 
 

Well, not only the electronic window didn’t work anymore but it was now possible to open/close the window by just pushing it. Very very unsafe for leaving the car anywhere. I didn’t have cell phone reception so I couldn’t get advice immediately from the car rental people. They had told me to call them as soon as trouble arose. I was prepared to travel back to another nearby city, if a replacement car was a possibility.

Since it wasn’t really a major problem, I continued my drive towards Escarcega, a really ugly city of 150,000 people apparently (so it said on a traffic sign in the entrance). I called the car rental people who told me that a replacement car was not a possibility since the only have offices in the north :-( They asked me to try and repair the fault and keep the receipt. After many attempts at locating the appropriate repair shop through the help of many very very helpful locals, I ended up at “Crisostomo” :-) I met Crisostomo himself who talked with the car rental guys over my phone. BTW... Given the number of times I had to call, my roaming charges would be astronomical :-(

  

Crisostomo decided that his apprentices could fix the problem, instead of sending me to someone more skilled. It was obvious that the problem was not electrical but mechanical (we could all hear the strange sounds coming out from the inside of the door). Nevertheless, they started disassembling the interior of the driver’s door. It was an amusing spectacle, since it was obvious that they hadn’t done this before. At the end, we all saw what had happened. A plastic component that holds the window to the mechanical system had broken.

They secured the window so that it doesn’t slide but, unfortunately, I can’t open/close it :-( I’ll see if I can change cars at Chetumal, when I reach there. I’ll ask the rental people. It’s really half the experience driving without the driver’s window down :-( My cute car is permanently wounded :-(

The window-related adventure meant that I “lost” 2 hours at Escarcega. I didn’t want to drive during the night, so I decided to stay there. It’s such an uninteresting city. I guess it’s next to a highway with lots of tracks stopping (can you spot the “Burger King” sign?). There is nothing to explore here. I get a recommendation for a hotel, which doesn’t look nice but, ironically, ends up being the most expensive so far :-( The restaurant I go to is great, though. I ask the waitress to pick a dish for me, which I really enjoyed.

 

Back to the hotel and plenty of time to write tonight.

The day started very early. I couldn’t sleep all night because of blood-thirsty bugs. Originally I thought it was mosquitoes. Even though I was trying to ignore them, their bites kept waking me up. Then, at around 6am it occurred to me... what if these were not mosquito bites, especially since I could feel some at areas of my body which were covered. I woke up for good and started looking. True enough, there were little insects, very very small, that were attached to the body having a go at my blood.

A very worrying thought came to mind... bedbugs. If they were indeed bedbugs, I was in deep trouble. I would probably have to throw away my entire backpack and its contents before I return to the US. I love that backpack, it has taken me to many many places around the world.

I could have never believed in my life that an army-related experience would have come useful at some point. (For those who don’t know, I was drafted for a year. In Greece, military service is compulsory. I was mostly cleaning toilets, doing dishes, writing documents, etc. No actual military training whatsoever.). Back then, we had a bedbug problem so I knew how they looked; these were not bedbugs. In the army, the way to deal with such a situation was to take all the bed frames outside and disinfect them, thoroughly wash all bed covers, all clothes too.

One cannot be too safe. I went straight to the shower for a looong time. I then started washing all the clothes that might have been exposed. One never knows, bedbugs in Mexico may look different from those in Greece :-) If this had indeed been a bedbug problem, I would have blamed the hotel in Progresso, the one with the ants, and not the one I was currently in. (As it turns out, I now – when I am writing this entry – know that it was a false alarm and all is good... more in tomorrow’s entry).

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, I get into Julio and navigate my way outside of Merida. The back seat of Julio is full of clothes drying up :-)

I am now equipped with confidence that the newly acquired maps will safely take me to my new destinations. Indeed, my planned route holds no surprises until I reach Muna. There is something going on (don’t know... could be construction or some celebration). The police have completely blocked access to the road and everyone is diverted. I ask the kind policeman about how to get to Uxmal now. He laughs (which means I get worried) and gives me complicated directions. Even if I spoke Spanish, I could have never remembered them.

I trust my intuition a lot (I go through life like that... sometimes it’s not good). I see a minivan in front of me and I say to myself that he was probably facing the same problem but he seemed to know his way around. Even if my intuition was wrong, I would have just had to ask again somewhere in the narrow and complicated streets of Muna. He’s fast through the narrow streets but I manage to keep up with him up to a point. Then I lose him (I didn’t want to violate traffic rules, like he did). I was fortunate, though, to have a reached a point that put me back on track. I confirmed with another policeman I was indeed heading the right direction and I was on my way (it seems that we ended up at the other say of the blocked road :-).

I arrive at Uxmal. It’s a gorgeous Maya site. I must have easily spent 3 or more hours walking around. BTW... don’t you just love those signs with the Maya pyramids? They are all over the Yucatan peninsula.

It turns out that the iguana I saw the other day is not an uncommon encounter in this area :-) There were LOTS of them in Uxmal.

  
  
  

In Uxmal, we were allowed to climb one of the pyramids, the “Great Pyramid”. The highest structure of the site was the Magician’s Pyramid, which looks really beautiful, as you can see in the first and second photos above. I stayed for a long time at the time of the Great Pyramid, admiring the view and also thinking about lots of different stuff. Here’s a panoramic view from the corner of the Great Pyramid

Something in the landscape didn’t look right. It made me think about politics and religion. Here’s a zoomed part of another photo from the top of the pyramid. Can you notice a yellow structure at the left? That’s not Maya. That’s a Mission building, the entrance to which I noticed on the way to the ruins. I was surprised to see that it had become part of the beautiful landscape after I climbed at the top of the pyramid. For those who are interested in my rant, you can find it at the end of the post.

While in Uxmal, I tried my luck going into the jungle. Apparently there was a structure far away for which there was no cleared and well-marked path. I followed what seemed to be like a candidate path but after 20mins or so, it was too difficult to continue while making sure I could find my way back.

After the wonderful time in Uxmal, I headed south, taking the side roads. Now equipped with a good map, I was confident doing so :-) In fact, at some point I stopped at an intersection to confirm the turn I needed to take and an Argentinean couple stopped at my side to ask for directions :-) I was more than glad to help, of course. I saw them again at Kabah, the beginning of the Puuc Route (a road connecting a series of Maya cities), where we chatted for a while.

  

After Kabah, I thought of heading south again to find a small town for a break and perhaps stay for the night. My target was Hopelchen. The drive was absolutely beautiful. I could tell that the landscape was changing. The colors, the smells, the atmosphere are the reasons I love road trips. Endless miles of road, all to myself for most of the time.

  

And then, I reached the end of the Yucatan state and went through the Campeche state’s gate, literally :-)

More road ahead, leaving the Yucatan state behind for good. The landscape is definitely different now.

  

I finally reached Hopelchen. It was around 4.30pm and nothing was moving. Of course, sensible people don’t drive around like me, they go for a siesta :-) Cute little town but not the type where I would end up spending the night. I found a small “restaurant” (they didn’t have any options but they were very cute trying to serve me the only thing available) and got some lunch while reading. Do you see that small bowl of green stuff next to the fajitas? I thought it was a type of spread. Little I knew that they were stomach-hole-opening peppers. They were wayyyy too spicy, especially given that I spread them all around my first fajita :-( Serves me right for not trying first.

 

Since I didn’t fancy staying at Hopelchen, I decided to head west. That presented a change of plans again since I was really planning to continue south and then cut inland towards Xpujil before reaching Chetumal and heading towards Belize. Well, I am glad I changed the route once more. New destination was the seaside city of Campeche (the capital of the state I guess... I need to check it out).

I found a wonderful hotel through one of my guides. Another beautiful hotel, the type that makes me stay more than one nights. It reminded me that hotel somewhere in Cuba when Jon MacLaren and I stayed an extra night just because we loved the building, even though it didn’t have any running water throughout the two days of our stay, despite the assurances we were getting from the great guys who worked there (we actually bought them pizza and beers but we still didn’t get water :-). The rooms were huge at that hotel.

The photo of the room in Campeche looks a bit distorted, an artifact of multiple-photo stitching

 

After I settled, I went for a walk and some night photography.

   
 

There was a local festival going on at the central plaza. It was magnificent.

   

I took a break from the festivities for a walk and some food and then back to the central plaza. Most of the people had gone. The night was gorgeous, the vibe absolutely ideal, and I was sitting at the plaza, under the stars listening to Mexican ballads. A memorable end to the day.

 

Lesson of the day: Check for ants AND bedbugs.

<rant>

That building is totally out of place. It was established there because the Spanish wanted to convert the Maya people (more than 25,000 in the area) to Christianity. The reason I took this photograph was because I wanted to rant about the repetition of history when it comes to imperialism. I guess things never change.

What’s it with humans and their eagerness to impose their own values and belief systems to others? They appear as if they have this internal certainty about the correctness of their beliefs and they are more than eager to impose them to others. Or is it just an excuse, a way to control people by converting them to the one belief system that they are in charge of? I suspect the truth is somewhere in between. I once saw a great sticker at the back of a car: “If you don’t agree, we’ll bring democracy to your country” (or something like that :-)

Don’t get me wrong. I am all in favor of fighting for equal opportunities amongst people, for their education, for their medical care, for lack of oppression, for human rights, etc. But it has to be done for the right reasons and not because of the hidden agendas involving coffee beans or oil.

</rant>

Another great day, different from yesterday.

I woke up feeling that I needed more sleep. The hotel experience was not good, even though the lady-owner was very sweet, telling me how much she liked Greece and that she wanted to visit one day. Well, I think she did anyway, given the state of my Spanish :-) (just joking... we “talked” about the islands and how beautiful it’s there)

I got into the car and stopped at the Internet cafe I visited the night before. I wanted to send a couple of book-related messages that were sitting in my outbox but, most importantly, to post my “day 2” entry. Unfortunately, it hadn’t opened yet. I thought of trying to see if their wireless was still on (I felt bad trying to “steal airwaves” but I thought I wouldn’t have another opportunity for few days... I didn’t know at the time that the plans were going to change again :-)

As I opened my laptop, I encountered THE surprise of the day: ants coming out of the keyboard. I was writing the night before (that Web book) but quickly felt tired so I put my laptop inside its bag, on the floor, and left it charging. Little I knew that there were ants in the room and that they were the laptop-loving kind, curious, and hungry for binary data. I remembered the origins of the term “bug” from the “computer history” session in my “computer architecture” class as an undergraduate.

I do hope that no ants were harmed and, more importantly, no remaining ants (if any) will be harmed/fried in there, converting in the process my laptop to a heavy brick. So far the laptop seems to behave ok.

After leaving most of the ants behind in Progresso, I headed towards Dzibilchatum and the ruins there. It was a short drive and the stop was totally worth it. Again, lots of photos. The ruins were only recently discovered and so it’s not a very popular site but it’s a very rewarding one. They have paths that go around the area. I arrived very early there so I was virtually alone at the site. The entire site spans many sq. kms. There are different kinds of birds and plants in the area so the walks around the site are a combination of archeology- and ecology-experiencing. I must have spent 2-3 hours walking around there. The small lagoon at the site was absolutely magnificent. I wish I could swim in it. It goes 40m deep! Also, the environment, the sounds, the atmosphere, the vegetation reminded me of the Mediterranean and a Greek archeological site in particular... a very warm feeling.

 
 

At the end of my hiking around the Dzibilchatum ruins, I visited the museum; a small but nice one. One of things that stayed with me was a paragraph talking about the arrival of the Spanish and how it was connected to the abundance of natural resources in Mesoamerica. However, the exploitation of those resources never benefited the Indian natives :-( Not a surprise given the history but always a sad reminder of the negative impact invaders/imperialists have on native populations.

While in Dzibilchatum, the skies opened. The showers were refreshing but I didn’t want to explore another site under the rain. While driving Julio (my car now has a name... will explain another day) towards Merida, where I was going to buy maps and briefly visit the city, I thought of changing my plans and instead of going to Uxmal today, stay there for the night.

So, I arrived at the city and drove towards the city center. Oh man! Traffic! Not as bad as 520 (Seattle-Redmond) but, nevertheless, traffic! I drove around a bit in case I could find a hotel I liked and, indeed, I spotted one with its own parking, not far from the city center. I checked my two travel guides and they both had it listed and recommended for a budget hotel. “Hotel Dolores Alba” is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous (well, apart from the new wing, the one with the swimming pool... I don’t know what they were thinking there). If I ever come back to Merida, I’ll definitely stay here again.

As a result of the change of plans, there was no significant driving today, which was nice. Instead, I walked all around the city. I tried to get lost in the streets and neighborhoods, like I always do when I visit a big city. Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to get lost in this grid system of roads :-) You can tell how the city was developed without cars in mind... narrow streets, narrow pavements, and very very narrow corners. I had a good lunch break and continued walking.

(Apologies for the contrast-related problem in the cathedral panorama... I left the camera to automatic so I didn’t make sure that the contrast was consistent throughout all the pre-stitched parts.)

 
 

Later in the afternoon I arrived at what seemed like an interesting building with lots of people in it. I talked with a guy outside and he told me that it was a university building and that an ecology-related conference was taking place. He started explaining the concept of a conference... “every year these scientists gather together” :-))) I went inside and I was absolutely amazed by this wonderful, for a university, building. It’s funny how, no matter where on the planet I am, I find that a university environment has something very familiar, very comforting to offer me. I love it. BTW... the conference was the “Congreso Mexicano De Ecologia 2008”.

On the way back from the university building, I run across the local theatre (Merida is the cultural capital of the Yucatan peninsula and the administration center of the area). I thought of checking out what was on, in case there was something interesting. I long wanted to experience Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana so I was very excited to see a poster of it. Unfortunately, it was for Nov 24th, which is too late for me. Hopefully I’ll be scuba diving then.

I continued walking around and went back to the hotel for some rest and some book-related email. In the evening, I tried to absorb more of the city’s vibe. I sat at the plaza observing people, ate some nachos with chilies (I am sure I am going to regret this), and found my way at a remote grill place where I ate some tasty takos. Yes, I was also doing some reading, which reminds me... the main reasons for this trip.

There various reasons I am on this trip alone:

• It was a very last minute thing. This trip marks my transition from Microsoft Research to Live Search.
• I always wanted to explore the Maya civilization.
• I needed some time alone and away to concentrate on writing my part of the Web book (with Jim and Ian).
• I wanted to do some reading on “knowledge representation”. The book in the photo is Sowa’s “Knowledge Representation: Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations”, which is absolutely fantastic. I am going through it again since it’s going to be very relevant to my new responsibility in Live Search.
• I wanted to combine all the above with some fun and time to think (about personal life and the universe :-)

Lesson of the day: Check the hotel room for ants before leaving the laptop bug on the floor.

After a wonderful first evening in Valladolid, I returned to the hotel, taking some photos on the way (this is a view of my hotel’s interior).

 

I worked on that Web book for a while. I couldn’t sleep... the travel, still on Pacific Standard Time I guess, the unfamiliar sounds. Then, at 12.30am, a rooster starts! The thought that his internal clock must be all messed up, given the time, was quickly replaced by memories of Petinos (my family’s village in Greece where I grew up). Not only because “Petinos” means rooster in Greek but because of the daily sounds while I was growing up. Ah! memories. I slept really well! It’s sooo nice to be away from Seattle for a while :-)

Day 2 started with a walk around Valladolid and breakfast (at the restaurant in the photo). I discovered the town’s central plaza, part of Valladolid’s historic centre.

 

I then hit the road with a specific plan in mind, which didn’t really work out exactly as it was drawn during breakfast... :-( good lesson for the next few days)

First stop was the Chichen Itza ruins. Spectacular! My first exposure to the Maya civilization left me fascinated. I think I took wayyy too many photos of the site during the many hours I walked around. BTW... the iguana is real. I have lots of photos of it as it climbs the ruins.

  
  

Next planned stop was Izamal. The Convento de San Antonio was really nice. I actually spent 20-30 mins in there with those who were praying. Those who know me are aware that I don’t believe in any religion but I respect those who do and they know why they do. It was great just spending few mins in silence trying not to think (my big problem is that I always keep my mind occupied).

  

From here, the problems start. The reason I headed towards Izamal was because I wanted to visit the local ruins. It was then I realized that my map was not detailed at all. It was missing LOTS of roads. Result? Didn’t find the ruins and lost lots of time. At the end, I decided to head towards my final destination for the day, Progresso. There, I was going to see some more ruins (they were supposed to be different given the change in landscape... from the thick vegetation of Chichen Itza to the seafront, sandy landscape of the area) and then stay for the night. Well, it didn’t work out either. I got completely lost on the way (again, thanks to the really bad map that came with one of my travel guide books). I am not complaining though. I absolutely loved it. Lots of small villages on the way. I was stopping and taking photographs, enjoying the drive. It was amazing! I “talked” with lots of people on the way and even got directions (even though my Spanish are as good as my Russian... i.e. I don’t speak). I was rewarded to some beautiful scenery and, at the end, a breathtaking sunset.

  

During my drive today and the many villages I visited, I saw the small, basic houses many in which many locals live. Then, as I arrived at the north coast of the Yucatan peninsula, I was surprised by the MANY luxury villas that exist there. The divide too wide and obvious. Very sad! I do hope the locals get an opportunity to enjoy their beautiful country and it’s not just us foreigners who come and build huge villas right by the sea.

Finally, I arrived at Progresso. It’s already dark so I can’t see if this is a beautiful town or not. Tomorrow. I find a cheap hotel and go immediately for dinner. I order a local dish and taste their local beer while planning tomorrow’s trip. Then, a walk around the town (the town hall at night is pictured below). A great end to the day. Then, back to the hotel for an hour’s blog (this) and book writing before crashing to bed!

 

Today’s lesson: Buy a better map.

As you can probably imagine, this blog will be full of travel-related entries for the next couple of weeks. I may still post the odd technology-related one though. You’ve been warned :-)

Arrived in Cancun around 6.30pm and got my rental Fiat. I’ve already had my first “adventure” (due to my stupidity really). I had read in my travel book that gas stations are not common on highways but I had no idea. I followed the advice of the person from whom I rented the car and got the 180d highway from Cancun to Valladolid but had totally forgotten about the gas station situation. 150km later, I arrived at a gas station with the car running on fumes. It was an extremely close call. The highway had no exits at all from Cancun all the way to Valladolid. Phew!

In Valladolid and after having fed my little Fiat (which is still to be named), I drove around (it was already around 7.30pm) and found this very cute, neighborhood hotel called “Santa Lucia”. It’s extremely basic (no expectations really for $25/night) but I really liked how it looked from the outside. I am now sitting at Coffee Koffee for the first and last meal of the day... burritos. The lovely lady here offered me the coffee shop’s password for their wireless :-) Oh... and electricity has just gone around the entire plaza.

  

I love it here already. I am far from the tourist/resort areas and I plan to stay away (thanks to Frank’s suggestions). Mexicans are lovely!

Jay has some good feedback on our “How to GET a Cup of Coffee” article. Thanks Jay! We are monitoring the Web for any feedback that we can use for our upcoming book on the same topic.

We encourage everyone to either blog their thoughts on Web-based application integration or just contact us directly.

Just booked my flight for a 2 1/2 week trip to explore the Maya civilization. I am flying to Cancun (no, I am not going to stay to any of the holiday resorts). I am going to immediately hit the road and travel around the Yucatán peninsula. The rough plan includes Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. I am going to be staying/camping at the various reserves (or in the car :-) and, depending on the weather, I am hoping for some good diving as well. Should be fun!

If you have any specific suggestions, do let me know :-)

It’s been fascinating to watch the entire world paying attention to the election results of one country; a testament to the global role of the US today. I don’t really believe in political labels (“left”, “right”, “socialist”, “communist”, etc.) but I am very sympathetic to social policies, education, research, peace, democracy, and the power of the people. I don’t believe in the power of one nation over others nor in the language of war. I do hope that the world will find its way towards global collaboration, redistribution of wealth, environmental awareness, peace!

There seems to be an element of hope in the US. I honestly wish that we are going to see a huge change going forward compared to the last 8 years. The country, the world, the young generation needs it*. We all need change from time to time. I do hope that the new president will bring this change. History will tell; change won’t happen overnight.

If I am still around during the next election, I’ll definitely voice my opinion through my vote. Had I been eligible to vote today, I would have voted for Obama. I hope that the next 5 years won’t make me change my mind :-)

 

* It’s interesting to listen to the analysis of how the young generation (18-29 years old) has been the catalyst in this election by going to vote. The net generation has really pulled it off. Also, they’ve done so by fighting within the system rather than outside of it. Well done to them! They are the real hope of the world!

Just bought my 10-day pass for Whistler :-) Can’t wait to hit the slopes again.