The End

Well, the end is near my friends. I'm heading to the Yucatan Peninsula to spend the time remaining as a beach bum. Left San Cristobal and spent literally 24 hours almost uninterrupted on the bus. I've learned my lesson, should never have got that 2nd class overnight bus to save money. It was uncomfortable, hot, and filthy. Slept through my desired stop in Tulum, woke up in Cancun at the end of the line, grumbled and got back on a bus going the way I had just come. Fun times, thank god I'm now within 2 and a half hours of the airport. I never want to ride a bus again. Have been kind of leaving the camera locked up more often recently, having as I do a strong fear of getting it lost or stolen at the very end after going more than 4 months. So, maybe not as many end-of-the-trip pictures as I'd have liked but it was fun being there, believe me!

Tulum is a laid-back little town, basically a dusty mainroad lined with restaurants, tour outfits, souvenir shops, and accomadations. Found a nice little hostel with a DIY BBQ grill and free transport to the beach. The beach here is incredibly beautiful, uncrowded, and stunning views from the water of Mayan ruins on nearby cliffs overlooking the sea. In 10 years i will probably be as crowded and resort-filled as Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen but for now seems secluded and quiet.


Woke up this morning and faced an immediate existential crisis, wondering: Who am I? Where am I? Why am I looking at the back of a naked man who appears to be rubbing lotion onto his ass and thighs? Luckily I recovered fairly quickly, without too much difficulty coming up with: Azad Gaffaney Kamali, born 1981 in Seattle. A hostel in Mexico, I've been travelling. Because Europeans are just weird like that. Satisfied with these answers I rolled over and went back to sleep. So, after splitting a couple bottles of rum, a Mexican, a German, a Spaniard, and an American all walk into a bar clutching fistfuls of coupons for free tequila shots...that's it, if there's a punchline I've forgotten it.


Spent multiple days in a row lazing about with friends at the top-optional (giggity) beach sleeping under palm trees, playing soccer, watching kite-surfers and generally vacationing. Roused myself one morning and went on a little tour of some nearby Cenotes which are freshwater holes-in-the-ground connected to one another by underwater cave systems and featuring cool geological features. Me and two nice fellows from Norway and a pair of wonderful Swiss girls spent the morning riding bikes through the jungle and snorkeling in these awesome caves. Was really quite pretty and definitely nice to swim in cold, fresh water. Spent multiple nights at the hostel cooking up burgers, losing pesos at Texas no-hold-em and sipping beers to try and stay cool in the ungodly heat.








All good things must come to an end, and with only a couple days of trip left I headed to Playa del Carmen, just South of Cancun, for some last minute partying and celebrating of Mexican Independence! This place is crazy! It's full of high-end resorts, the beaches are jam-packed, numbers bolstered by the daily cruise ship disembarkations, every conceivable tourist orientated product is being sold everywhere, and there's bars and clubs on every street. Perfect! I'm no longer backpacking but am now officially vacationing for 2 days! The beachfront is lined with beds for gods' sake! Anywhere that boasts a giant Walmart is no longer off the beaten track. The Independence Day celebrations were wild, seemingly a nonstop street and beach party. Had traveled down to Playa with the Swiss girls and we all went out and had a great time. The beach is also very nice and spent two full days on it, playing beach volleyball and recovering from the celebrations. The mosquitoes seem to know they're running out of time to bite me and consequently are taking every opportunity to drink my obviously sweet blood while they still can.


Alas, it's over and after stocking up on duty free tequila I boarded my plane and headed back to native soil. Fairly uneventful trip except my Guatemalan made duffel bag loaded with presents broke open after I cleared customs and was trying to stuff it full of bottles and I had to tie it together with a rope. Go figure. Am so glad I went on this trip, it really was the experience of a lifetime and I think I'm addicted to traveling now as I already have vague ideas of going to SE Asia at the next available opportunity. Hope everyone enjoyed reading my blog and I can't wait to see everyone. Met so many great people on my travels and very much enjoyed their company. Thanks for the good times!

There's so many Americans everywhere! It's disorienting! It's a bit difficult to remember that toilet paper actually gets flushed down the toilet, and that I don't have to negotiate and quote a lower price when buying things to avoid getting ripped off. I'm sure I'll adjust though. So, once again, good to be back and hope you enjoyed the description and pictures of my trip. -Azi

Viva, Mexico!

Made the border crossing into Mexico to be greeted by a military checkpoint where bored looking young men with machine guns lackadaisically rifled through our bags before waving us on. Arrived in the town of Palenque in the state of Chiapas and found accommodation in a little complex of cabins and hostels right outside the nearby ruins of the same name. My dorm room can only charitably be described as ¨basic¨ but a more honest assessment would be ¨a dark, dingy hole in the wall with basketball sized holes in the netting over the windows rendering them useless in keeping out mosquitoes. Palenque is extremely hot and humid to the point where my sheets felt continually damp and I was constantly covered in a sticky sheen of sweat. Met some nice fellow travelers though and we made our way to the large open air restaurant where seemingly all of the people in the little compound gathered. Had a delicious meal, listened to some great live salsa music and jealously watched as skilled Latin men whirled their companions around. In preparation for an uncomfortable night I partook in the traditional Mexican welcome of multiple tequila shots and was finally persuaded by the German girl who was sharing the dorm and dinner with me to give Salsa dancing a try, secure in the knowledge I´d probably never again see any of the people present. A fire show followed and afterwards we stumbled back to the room where I proceeded to drunkenly persuade, with the help of a stick, a large frog to hop his way on out of the room.

Awoke the next morning with a new collection of mosquito bites and headed to the ruins for some sightseeing. Thought I´d be underwhelmed after seeing Tikal but they were actually very pretty, white limestone buildings shining in the sun among the jungle. Wandered around for a few hours climbing ruins and sweating profusely and then proceeded to a nearby waterfall. It was very impressively massive but really what´s the point if you can´t jump off of it? Joking, that´d be a suicidal proposition as it had rained heavily the previous night (I know because I awoke from dreams of Chinese water torture to find a leak in the ceiling was located directly above my forehead) and the falling water was torrential. It hit the water at the bottom with such force that it apparently pulverized it into its component particles sending mist everywhere and soaking everything within range. There was a path that led behind the waterfall giving us a unique view of it and completing the job of drenching me completely.






Onwards to the falls and pools of Agua Azul where we spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between roasting in the hot sun and swimming in the freezing water. Very relaxing, ate a nice lunch of tamales and corn roasted in the husk and generally lazed about.




Spent another hot night in my primitive shack resolving at first light to make my escape to the town of San Cristobal de las Casas, reputedly mosquito free. Arrived yesterday, winding our way up out of the jungle into mountainous regions with proper pine forests and hillsides dotted by shaggy black goats. The town is another colonial marvel with cobbled streets, beautiful churches and garish,wildly colored shops and restaurants. Hands down my favorite colonial town so far with a great climate, awesome restaurants and clean streets. Found a great hostel with nightly bonfires (it gets seriously chilly at night, I need to buy a sweatshirt) , hot showers and comfortable beds. Such a relief.


Checked out the market today, it´s filled with the usual dizzying array of unidentifiable items, lots of people wandering around with dead unplucked chickens hanging from their hands by the feet and also pre-slaughtered ones with head, feet, body, and internal organs all neatly layed out. Haven´t taken any pictures yet as I need to buy a new memory card for the camera and besides the Maya, who are a large percentage of the areas inhabitants, are notoriously touchy about having their pictures taken. I´ll try to get some good ones though.

Going to hang out here for at least a few days, maybe longer, for some R&R, enjoy the lively nightlife and generally relax and enjoy myself. Also it´s time to start buying souvenirs to take back with me, so if you have any requests now´s the time. I thought a dead chicken or a live piglet would make a nice present for someone but would probably give me troubles at customs, so don´t ask for one. Sorry. Started to do some shopping today but ended up just buying things for myself and was quickly fatigued by the experience. I´ll try again tomorrow I think. I love the elaborate and ornate belt buckles that are popular down here, some the size of dinner plates, and had to purchase a giant silver and gold scorpion one for myself. Awesome! Anyway, gonna head back to the states in few weeks or so. I´ll be sad to leave but happy to go home. I think it´s about time and my bank account seems to be agreeing with me.






Well, I bought my ticket and am flying to Phoenix on Thursday, September 17th to visit AZ friends. Should be fun. So this will probably be one of the last Central America blog updates. Hope you enjoyed them. Still hanging out in San Cristobal, it´s nice to stay in one place awhile, especially such a nice place.

Met a cool Canadian guy named Bud. Too bad we aren´t going in the same direction as we both agreed it would be fun to travel together solely to be able to introduce ourselves as "Azi and Bud." Maybe next time. He´s works on oil rigs, a.k.a. a ¨Roughneck¨ and is an all around fun and decent guy. Had a good time drinking around the fire and checking out salsa bars with him and a couple Australian girls, Jess and Geet. Also met the first American I´d seen in quite some time, a van driving missionary named Chris of an apparently crazy Evangelical variety. He managed to drop the words, ¨The Lord Jesus Christ¨ with that particular intonation of the proselytizer early in our conversation. When I politely and conversationally mentioned I´d run across a few other evangelicals in my travels he somewhat ominously commented that he, ¨hoped they were teaching the right kind of evangelicalism.¨ Yeahhhhhh. He seemed like a fairly decent guy despite all of that but the Aussie girls took a strong and immediate disliking to him and we didn´t spend too much time hanging out with him. He did have a particularly annoying habit of answering any interrogative with, ¨Wherever the Lord leads me/guides me/decides,¨ or some such variation. Thus, ¨So where are you headed next? Got any plans for the day? What are you having for dinner? etc.?¨ all elicited this response. On leaving he asked if he could have my email address to send me Christian spam. I smiled sweetly and said, "of course!¨ while swiftly wracking my brain for an appropriate email address of some acquaintance. So, if I know your email address don´t be too shocked to be receiving missives on saving your eternal soul.

Spent an afternoon taking a boat tour of a nearby canyon with Bud and Geet. It was enjoyable though not spectacular, but certainly a nice way to spend the afternoon. Saw some crocs sunning on the shore, presumably the ones that escaped from the children´s park in Livingston, Guatemala and made their way North on the Underwater Railroad to freedom in Mexico.




Headed out for some sightseeing, shopping, and picture-taking today but the expedition was cut short by the weather. After ascending a hill to a picturesque church and some good aerial views of the city it began to pour torrentially and I was forced to seek shelter and refuge in the church vestibule. I know, I know, that just has to be ironic or something. In thanks I gave some pesos to the donation box to have the church´s electrical system rewired. After waiting for a half-hour in a pew the rain abated somewhat and I made a mad dash for it. It´s amazing how quickly the previously packed main streets had cleared out, leaving behind happily enthusiastic umbrella and rain-slicker salespeople free rein. I inquired about the price of an umbrella to a local kid and he quoted me the equivalent of 10$ for what had to be a 2$ umbrella. I decided to continue hurrying back to the hostel in the rain; cheeky bastard! The town has an ingenious gravitationally based drainage system whereby all the water simply runs downhill in huge rivers through the streets. The few manholes I did come across seemed to actually be contributing to the problem by shooting water upwards. Oh well, will have to try again tomorrow. Tonight features a match between Costa Rica and Mexico which should be exciting, no less due to the 2x1 beer specials apparently mandatory in all bars across town.




Mexico won and I got some, thankfully dry, dry souvenir shopping done the next day even though it was exhausting. Getting everything together today in preparation for a long bus journey to Tulum tomorrow. Going to hang out, read my book, and check out a local subtitled film on the Zapatista movement tonight. Getting close to the end of the trip, it´s been a blast and It´ll be nice to finish out with a week on the beach. Will try to do a last ¨goodbye¨ update before I fly home. -Azi