Snow, you say?

Noting with surprise the pictures on the BBC website today, I thought it would appropriate to share the details of my first "Mexican holiday" in the depths of Chiapan winter that filled the gap between the end of my TEFL training and the start of the teaching semester.

All three of the freshly qualified teachers, myself, Martin and Laura, took a trip to Boca De Cielo, the closest peice of coastline to Chiapa de Corzo, roughly four hours away. The main beach of said town forms one of the extremities of a 40km long, narrow island that lies a few hundred metres off the mainland. The rest of the island is covered with coconut trees and palm leaf roofed cabanas, a tranqial getaway that was apparently enjoyed in a low season lull; in Semana Santa in April, the place is mobbed by Mexican tourists. On the mainland that we arrived from by way of a short boatride, the land rises up into a mountain range that sits hazy in the distance, seemingly a world away.


Winding our way down through the mountains from Chiapa de Corzo, I saw the same range for the first time through the window of the collectivo crested by a sheet of cloud that sat like a blanket, stretching for miles along its length. A short walk along the beach yielded a wonderful range of houses and camping plots perched on the edge of the other side of the spit, steadily being advanced upon by the eroding tidal current, a product of the unfortunately short sighted act by locals of destroying the mangroves to improve access and generate more beach front. In the mornings and evenings between games of beach football with local children and body surfing the waves, we gorged ourselves on fresh seafood, and afterwards lay under the stars in the warm night breezes.

The trip for this long weekend marks my first excursion from CDC since I arrived; it´s been 4 weeks of incredible pace, change and excitement since I walked out of that UK departure gate. Sitting on the buses as I moved progressively closer to the coast brought back nostalgic pangs of exotic trips gone by and I felt a strong desire to keep moving, further South and deeper into Latin America; I´ve been walking the same few blocks for the last months, wrapped up in the rigours of teacher training and the incessent festivities of January and it´s not been until this point, where my horizons have broadened and allowed me the opportunity to reflect, that I´ve realised how insular and focussed the last month has been. It´s going to be a great catalyst for my desire to use my spare time to travel, and keep opening doors to new adventures.

Boca de Cielo

3rd February 2009