So since the 17th was my birthday and we did fun things I get to blog about it. Michael is working on a post about where we are now so I wont talk so much about that.
I will start where I left off with my last post. We woke up early on Wednesday to arrive at the travel agency a bit before 9 for our tour to El Cañon del Sumidero. The drive out was about 45 minutes on a toll road which wound through truly beautiful mountain side landscape over looking the valley below where Tuxla Guittierz, the capital of Chiapas is located. We arrived a boat doc and climbed into a small speed boad with a group of loud Israeli's as well as our Argentinian friends, Naudia and Sandro. Sadly Michael was feeling poorly so I he did't not enjoy the trip as much as I did. Although even feeling badly he agreed that is was an incredibly majestic piece of nature. The canyon rises up over a kilometer and the river is even deeper (they told me how deep but numbers are hard for me in spanish, also they use meters here so I don't remember those well either). The river used to be un-navigable rapids but the built a damn further up stream that now allows boat passage. The walls of the canyon rise pretty much verically from the river bed below and are covered with rainforest like vegitation. We saw crocodiles and a host of birds. There was a grotto with colorful rocks and a virgin mary placed high up in a small natural niche. Probably the most fantastic part was at the end of the ride we saw a rock formation called the Árbol de Navidad or Christmas Tree, it was formed by thin trickels of water coming out of the rock wall depositing mineral loads on their way down creating great arching fronds of rock that make up with looks like the boughs of a giant pine tree since they are covered in moss and other green living plant life. At the top of the tree there is a wispy waterfall coming out. The rain whips the water and it falls like rain blowing in a flag like wave of small droplets on its way down.
We returned back down the river the way we came and climbed back in the van for a very brief stop in Chiapa de Corzo. It wasn't very exciting. The thing I keep being told about it is that is was one of the first settlements of the Spanish conquistadores in the area but they quickly found that it was hot and the native population less friendly than those further up in the cool mountian and moved their base of operations quickly to San Cristobal. We drove back up to San Cristobal and I chatted with our driver the whole way back.
Michael and I ate lunch together and bought Kinder Surprise eggs as birthday treat. For those of you unfamiliar with them they are hollow chocolate eggs with a plastic egg inside that contains a toy, most of which you have to put together. They are not legal in the US because they have tiny swallowable parts hidden inside food and for some reason the FDA feels this isn't safe. I got a strange little mushroom crayon and Michael got a magnifiing glass shaped like a wizard.
For dinner we went out with Nadia and Sandro. It was a lovely birthday dinner and I ordered a piece of cake and the waiter brought it with a candle and I was sung to in both Spanish and English. Sadly the cake was terrible. But that didn't matter in the least, as I was traveling with the man I love, with new friends, in a beautiful city. It was a wonderful birthday.
I have one other birthday related story. Thursday was our last day in San Cristobal. We went out in search of a piece of Amber Jewlery. Amber is pleantiful in Chiapas and they make lovely jewlery out of the fosilized tree sap that is over 25 million years old. We learned all about it in the Amber Museum. I searched and searched but wasn't really finding anything that grabbed me. Finally I decided on a pair of earings shapped like frogs with little amber drops on them. Then as we were leaving the store I saw this incredibly cool necklace. It had this really neat charm that was rectangular with a geod and a small amber drop, almost like a window looking out over the ocean and the setting sun. It was on a chain with amber and jade beads. I actually really liked the charm best but they wouldn't sell it. It was expensive so I decided I didn't need, or rather that I would think about it and maybe come back in the morning before we left if I still really wanted it. In the end I decided not to get it.
Then when we got to our cabaña in Pureto Arista I walked in and there was a bag from the Jewelery store. I said to Michael "look someone was here that went to the same store as us and forgot their bag" I picked it us starting to think how I was going to just look to see what it was then take it to José who hopefully would be able to contact the last person who was there and give it back to them. It didn't even cross my mind that it might be for me. I opened it and it was my necklace! I have no idea how Michael got back to the store. We left at 8 and the store was closing at 9, we were at dinner until almost 10. It didn't open until 9 and he was with me the whole morning. He says it was magic. The only thing I can think of is that he went back to the store under the pretext of going to the restroom at dinner. If he did that he must have ran really fast because he was not gone so long and it was pretty far away. However he did it, he won lots of good husband points. I was genuinely surprised and it was very sweet. I am not sure if I will keep the necklace as it is or have it made into two pieces one with the beads and get a silver chain or collar for the charm or keep it as it is. Let me know if you have an opinion either way. Here is a picture of a surprised and happy me:
I will start where I left off with my last post. We woke up early on Wednesday to arrive at the travel agency a bit before 9 for our tour to El Cañon del Sumidero. The drive out was about 45 minutes on a toll road which wound through truly beautiful mountain side landscape over looking the valley below where Tuxla Guittierz, the capital of Chiapas is located. We arrived a boat doc and climbed into a small speed boad with a group of loud Israeli's as well as our Argentinian friends, Naudia and Sandro. Sadly Michael was feeling poorly so I he did't not enjoy the trip as much as I did. Although even feeling badly he agreed that is was an incredibly majestic piece of nature. The canyon rises up over a kilometer and the river is even deeper (they told me how deep but numbers are hard for me in spanish, also they use meters here so I don't remember those well either). The river used to be un-navigable rapids but the built a damn further up stream that now allows boat passage. The walls of the canyon rise pretty much verically from the river bed below and are covered with rainforest like vegitation. We saw crocodiles and a host of birds. There was a grotto with colorful rocks and a virgin mary placed high up in a small natural niche. Probably the most fantastic part was at the end of the ride we saw a rock formation called the Árbol de Navidad or Christmas Tree, it was formed by thin trickels of water coming out of the rock wall depositing mineral loads on their way down creating great arching fronds of rock that make up with looks like the boughs of a giant pine tree since they are covered in moss and other green living plant life. At the top of the tree there is a wispy waterfall coming out. The rain whips the water and it falls like rain blowing in a flag like wave of small droplets on its way down.
We returned back down the river the way we came and climbed back in the van for a very brief stop in Chiapa de Corzo. It wasn't very exciting. The thing I keep being told about it is that is was one of the first settlements of the Spanish conquistadores in the area but they quickly found that it was hot and the native population less friendly than those further up in the cool mountian and moved their base of operations quickly to San Cristobal. We drove back up to San Cristobal and I chatted with our driver the whole way back.
Michael and I ate lunch together and bought Kinder Surprise eggs as birthday treat. For those of you unfamiliar with them they are hollow chocolate eggs with a plastic egg inside that contains a toy, most of which you have to put together. They are not legal in the US because they have tiny swallowable parts hidden inside food and for some reason the FDA feels this isn't safe. I got a strange little mushroom crayon and Michael got a magnifiing glass shaped like a wizard.
For dinner we went out with Nadia and Sandro. It was a lovely birthday dinner and I ordered a piece of cake and the waiter brought it with a candle and I was sung to in both Spanish and English. Sadly the cake was terrible. But that didn't matter in the least, as I was traveling with the man I love, with new friends, in a beautiful city. It was a wonderful birthday.
I have one other birthday related story. Thursday was our last day in San Cristobal. We went out in search of a piece of Amber Jewlery. Amber is pleantiful in Chiapas and they make lovely jewlery out of the fosilized tree sap that is over 25 million years old. We learned all about it in the Amber Museum. I searched and searched but wasn't really finding anything that grabbed me. Finally I decided on a pair of earings shapped like frogs with little amber drops on them. Then as we were leaving the store I saw this incredibly cool necklace. It had this really neat charm that was rectangular with a geod and a small amber drop, almost like a window looking out over the ocean and the setting sun. It was on a chain with amber and jade beads. I actually really liked the charm best but they wouldn't sell it. It was expensive so I decided I didn't need, or rather that I would think about it and maybe come back in the morning before we left if I still really wanted it. In the end I decided not to get it.
Then when we got to our cabaña in Pureto Arista I walked in and there was a bag from the Jewelery store. I said to Michael "look someone was here that went to the same store as us and forgot their bag" I picked it us starting to think how I was going to just look to see what it was then take it to José who hopefully would be able to contact the last person who was there and give it back to them. It didn't even cross my mind that it might be for me. I opened it and it was my necklace! I have no idea how Michael got back to the store. We left at 8 and the store was closing at 9, we were at dinner until almost 10. It didn't open until 9 and he was with me the whole morning. He says it was magic. The only thing I can think of is that he went back to the store under the pretext of going to the restroom at dinner. If he did that he must have ran really fast because he was not gone so long and it was pretty far away. However he did it, he won lots of good husband points. I was genuinely surprised and it was very sweet. I am not sure if I will keep the necklace as it is or have it made into two pieces one with the beads and get a silver chain or collar for the charm or keep it as it is. Let me know if you have an opinion either way. Here is a picture of a surprised and happy me:
4 comments:
I definitely think it needs a silver chain, it is to much with the beads and the charm, it is beautiful though. Separate it would have a different feel, more modern, you can always get a second chain and wear it which ever way your heart fancies.
How fun, I love magic, I agree two pieces for double fun! Enjoy
hummmm.... i say that you should follow elana's directions because she has better fashion taste than me. either way, it will be special and remind you of everything.
Hey girls
Maura, where and when is the big event, need to mark my busy social calendar :) Each time I see the necklace it grows more lovely, the charm is amazing, good taste Mike!
Post a Comment