Theses are the words from my journal... I may change the way it is written on paper slightly, but I can assure you that the stories are exactly as they happened.
I learned at a young age to keep a journal when traveling, and this one is all about my very first backpacking adventure, on my own without adult supervision!
Unfortunately, there are almost no photos from this trip.. but hey we'll get creative, use midjourney and read it like a book!
I've wanted to tell my story forever, and the time has finally come to transfer these experiences onto the internet. And who knows, maybe you'll let me know whether these stories are worth making a book one day too.
I couldn't tell you what it's like today for 20 somethings to travel the way I did, if it's safer or more dangerous, but I can tell you that it shaped the rest of my life and traveling the world became a winter ritual for me and eventually for my family too!
These are the stories of my youth, stories I never want to forget. I hope you enjoy them, but most of all, I hope they inspire you.
January 16 2000
Today I woke up hungry again (it was a good sign). I took a good shower, and packed my bags so I'd be ready to go when the time came. Today we're supposed to see a woman Vero met yesterday. She is going to tell us about a bunch of places to see (and maybe give us an address or two) on the road we have planned.
Alright, so we couldn't find the woman Vero had met in town. So, after breakfast we headed to the closets Walmart to find Sandrine a sleeping bag. Then we went back to the hotel to relax a bit, got directions to get a bus to bring us to the main bus station. We barely made it to our 1:00pm bus.
The ride to Tlacotalpan took about 2 hours and went so much smoother our first trip out of Mexico City. Tlacotalpan is a beautiful colorful town. Crazy Spanish architecture with lots of blues, yellows and peach... it's a little fishing town with small streets where everyone's rolling around on bicycles.
After walking off the bus, into town, it was time to look for a hotel. We found two that were around 250 pesos a night. We decided to keep looking, I asked a local, he pointed to someone else and said to ask him, he'll know much better. To my surprise, Vero was already talking to him. After he told where the hotel was, he decided to show us where it was. He was a very nice older man, around his 50's who liked to joke around.
The hotel wasn't very far at all, we thanked the man very much for bringing us and we checked out the room. So, this explains kind of why this room the the three of us was only 60 pesos a night. The room was closed with a padlock, the paint on the ceiling and walls was chipping off a bunch. The bathroom is a room that is about 6 x 6 feet with a small sink, a toilet without a seat, and a shower that wets everything. Oh and there's no hot water! We agreed to take the room and unpacked a little.
We walked around town and found a restaurants with the nicest family. The husband made fun of Sandrine a little for not wanting to eat because she was sick (he was saying no eat, no gain wait for the beach and laughing!). I had shrimp a la Mexicana with rice and fed a little cat a shrimp (just a little one 'cause I was really hungry). Vero had fish and rice which was also very good.
After we walked around town some more admiring colors and arches on the buildings. We went back to the hotel only to go back out again. We sat down at a little café, had some drinks and more food as the night was falling and went back to the hotel.
There's an amazing view from the roof of our hotel. You can see all the roofs of the whole town made of red terracotta tiles. You can also see the two big white chapels. At night music plays out of one of them for a while. The people here seem very friendly and everyone smiles.
January 17 2000
I woke up a couple of times yesterday (I don't know why but I did), must have been from seeing a big spider laying her eggs on a window of the hotel. Anyway, in the morning we got some breakfast, bought a bus ticket to San Andres, took some pictures and walked around a bit. On the bus we saw the old man who had showed us the hotel we stayed at and some ladies from the more expensive hotel we visited, full of marble and extensive carpentry everywhere.
The ride to San Andres was a little scary, especially when we went through the mountain turns. I really thought we'd get into an accident the way this guy was driving. From San Andres we took another smaller bus to Catemaco where there's a lagoon (a lake, I don't know why they call it a lagoon!).
Where we got off the bus, we got a bunch of locals running up to us to tell us where to go, what to see and what hotel to go to, but all we wanted to do was walk off and go on our own.
The lagoon is this great big lake surrounded by green mountains. All along the way there were people set up selling souvenirs, food and rides into the jungle and to Monkey Island. Too much money for monkeys!!! The whole time, this little kid was following us without saying anything. His name was Juan and Sandrine bought him some candy, so he led us to the bus that would take us to the Eyipantla Waterfall.
On the way to the falls we passed lots of poor villages where people lived in the dirt and mud, in shanties made of wood and scrap pieces of metal for roofs. Chickens, pigs and horses or donkeys were all over the place. The road ended and there were more food and souvenirs for sale, this was a small indigenous community supported by the tourists coming to see the fall.
We paid our 5 pesos to go in and about ten steps down these stairs hugging the hillside, a great big waterfall came down from above and made an incredibly loud sound. At the very top, on either side, there were these huge trees standing there as if they were guarding something. At the bottom of the fall there more little shops.
Back at the top, before heading out towards Villahermosa, I had some delicious chicken which was served wrapped in a banana leaf. It was going to be a long ride... 6 or 7 hour ride!
In the next episode we head towards Chiapas!
My First Backpacking Trip:
Chapter 01: NYC to Mexico - Y2K
Chapter 02: NYC to Mexico - Cajun Wedding
Chapter 03: Everything is Lost
Chapter 04: Mexico City Finally!
Chapter 05: Robbery at Gun Point
Chapter 06: Sick but Safe in Veracruz
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