Sorry I've been missing for the last few days. Everyone in Mexico seems to use WEP wireless encryption and a misconfiguration in my computer was preventing me from using it. I Finally got it sorted out. We're in Oaxaca now.

Tuc-tuc

Typical tuc-tuc

OK, so I left off the part about the tuc-tuc on the last entry. Once we got to Antigua I left Alaine near the bus terminal with our luggage while I made a quick look around that area where we thought there were a lot of inexpensive hotels. I tried a couple of places; one was full and the other was kind of dark and deary. A lot of them just seemed to be locked up and no bell to ring. I went back to Alaine and we decided to take a tuc-tuc to to where our guide book showed 2 backpacker places right across from each other. A tuc-tuc is a little three-wheeled taxi that has a bench seat for two people behind the driver. We looked at both and chose Yellow House.

By the time we settled in it was already dark. We hadn't eaten much all day so we went out looking for dinner. Finally we settled on a little burrito shop that had graffiti all over the walls and a sign that said ask permission before writing on the wall. Alaine had a giant burrito and I had some enchiladas that were made with flour tortillas. It was all good though. We got to talking to a Canadian actor, Stephen Dimopoulos, there who was interesting. He was in the first Rambo movie. We hung out with him for a while and drank Gallo until the place closed at 9, then headed back to the hotel and crashed.

Ruinas

The next day (Sunday the 24th) we slept until about 8:30 and then had a nice breakfast included with the room. Scrambled eggs, bread, and some fresh fruit.

After that we hung out on the terrace on the second floor where I was able to access somebody's wireless and work on the blog. Around 10 or 11 we went out and looked around the town. Alaine's back was hurting her and muscle relaxants had worked before so we stopped in a pharmacy and got some and also some sleeping pills for the overnight buses. You can get just about every drug over the counter in Guatemala. We went to the ruins of a church that came down in the big earthquake of 1773. When we walked in we heard beautiful singing. It sounded like a choir, but when we got close we saw it was a middle-aged gringo couple. When they finished I told them how beautiful it was and they said they were just trying out the acoustics.

Purple Parade

There was some kind of event happening in town having to do with lent. There were guys in purple robes wandering all over town. We finally asked someone and they said that every Sunday during lent the men from each of the surrounding towns would come and do this. We didn't actually see anything other than hundreds of men walking down the street.

We went back to the hotel and drank beer and played Skip-Bo, then bed.

The Market

Next day (Monday 25th) we went to the market of artesanía and did some haggling. We bought a painting from a young guy who said he was the artist and that we wouldn't see anything like it anywhere else. We went around the corner and saw the same kind of stuff. It's still beautiful.

Expenses:

	Since last entry	Total
Transportation	$0	$155
Food	$42	$114
Lodging	$32	$112
Beer (and other spirits)	$26	$87
Activities	$1	$7
Souvenirs/Gifts	$105	$160
Misc.	$63	$77
Total	$269	$712