el dia de la madre So, guess how they celebrate mother's day here? By WAKING THEIR MOTHERS UP AT 4 IN THE MORNING with 1) an obnoxious mariachi band in the street outside the house 2) firecrackers in the courtyard and 3) a guy in a truck with a loudspeaker who shouts, from 4am on, "FELIIIIIIIIIIZ DIIIIIIIIIIAAAAA!!!!!!!" Also, more firecrackers. At 4am, in my sick, very very weak state, I totally thought that the counter-revolution had come and Montt was back in power and that angry armed men were coming to drag us out of our beds and into the street. It was just like that time that I was camping in the woods hippie-style at the hippie-college and the pubs came to wake my ass up at 3am by way of driving their SUV into the deepest part of the forest right up to my tent in a total sting operation and I was so deeply asleep and confused that I thought for a moment that it had to be a UFO. Except worse. By the time I got into the nice, cold, dribbly shower this morning, I had just started relaxing again when the loving children in mi familia set off a few more firecrackers so close to the bathroom that the windows shook. What kind of fucked up tradition is this? Who does that to celebrate their MOTHERS? Sweet jebus, it's worse than China!!

Anyway, Xela's been fun and all, but I think with the combination of brutal food poisoning and the firecracker routine, it is past time to hit the road. Belize? Flores? Tikal? The Lake? We shall see.  ¶ 10:03 AM