Flores, Guatemala

Not too much to report today, just that I have sucessfully crossed the border into Mexico. It was a long, but relatively painless experience. I went with a group, and it is amazing, I often feel like I am the only person who is traveling alone. For this reason, I am also always the person who gets shuffled into other buses to fill one extra space, or to make room for an entire party to travel together. Yesterday I was changed onto 4 different minibuses, until I was finally put back onto the one I was on originally. I don't know why, but it made sense to someone. The scariest thing was that I was separated from my bag, and assured that it would meet me at the border. At least I had all of my important documents with me. I suppose in a way it would have been liberating to lose all of my stuff. At least that was the way I was trying to look at it.

It is when I am traveling in a mixed group like that that i am reminded of how much English in the most universal language of travelers. In a group of twenty people, I was the sole person from the US, there were 2 Brits, 2 germans, 2 Dutch, about 10 French people, and everyone moved back and forth between speaking their mother tongue to their friends and English to everyone else. Even the guide gave all of the information in English. At the hostel where I am staying, there are also tons of Europeans and Israelis, and everyone is speaking English. I guess this is why I have avoided spending much time with other travelers so far. I haven't spoken much Spanish for a couple of days now.

Tomorrow I am going VERY early to Tikal, the biggest city of the ancient Maya world. That is the main reason that people come to Flores, where I am. After that I am heading south.

Ciao!