My lingering fears about Mexico being, well, what Americans are meant to fear about Mexico have still come to naught. People in Chiapas are exceedingly nice. The highway along the border with Guatemala is completely paved and not even traveled by slow- or crazy-fast-moving trucks. Anyone looking for off-the-map adventure down here I guess should be looking to bunk down in an EZLN camp…and I’m not planning to put those details in the guidebook.

I really don’t have any brilliant adventures or insights to share. This trip is going so smoothly in part because B is with me. When your mother’s along for the ride, it makes you pick the safe option more often than not. When I’m by myself, I end up getting into disastrous adventures because I think, “I’ll just do this one last thing before dark…” or “I’ll just save another ten bucks…” or “I’ll just order one more dish, to really test out this restaurant…”

Still, today was not record levels of comfort. I subsisted on nothing but two pieces of toast and a handful of macadamia nuts roasted with chile (OMG–yum! Buy them at the little stand by the entrance to the Tonina ruins–they same little stand that has a propane-fueled espresso machine). And a Coke.

We’re in Frontera Corazal, just having taken a boat up the river to the ruins of Yaxchilan–an amazing ride on the water, then ruins that are straight out of a movie set. I even saw a little bit of a monkey in a tree on the way back. That was on the Guatemala side of the river. Clearly, Guatemala is much cooler.

Tomorrow, back up the road to Bonampak, where now you can rent bicycles to ride up to the site, rather than taking a special combi ride. If I were alone, of course I’d do the bike, and get all sweaty and sunburned and dehydrated. But I’m with B, and I suppose we’ll take the combi instead of riding several miles in the jungle heat. We’ll have another lovely day. Oh, alas.

OK, one observation: People pronounce Google here like it’s a Spanish word. That is, Goog-LAY. Hee hee.

Uh, gotta go. A toad is lurking about a foot from my desk, and won’t stop staring at me. Maybe he’s one of those poisonous ones I’ve heard so much about…