Catching up at Palenque... (B's reflections)

Hey All, we´ve been travelling pretty heavy lately, hence the lack of info... Today we just arrived at Palenque (google it!) its one of the largest mayan ruins anywhere... Its massive, and the carvings and tombs, temples and towers all leave quite the impression. Chris and I got off of the beaten track and explored some yet to be uncovered homes. It was sweet, imagine thick jungle encroaching upon the crumbling remains of 1 to 2 story homes... We even got into a few hallways in these old buildings, and, despite the fist sized spiders and strange jungle mold (alright, maybe because of), our exploration was a blast! We emerged with some sweet stone glyphs we found ontop of a unrestored house (and although I would prefer you to think of me as a looter, in reality they are the discarded imitations that locals hawk to tourists...)

Tomorrow we cross into Guatemala near to Flores, and there we hope to start up to two weeks of intense language study. Im mad stoked, although more than suficient for a tourist, my spanish is hardly traveller quality. Thats something that Ive been thinking about quite a bit down here: the difference between a traveller and a tourist, if there is one. For some reason, I find myself naturally prejudiced against the other gringos down here, even though I am more than aware that they are simply looking for a little adventure, just like us! It seems that the feeling is mutual, and that a bit of a cold haze has fallen amoungst all of our parties, the locals see us a white conglomerate to exploit, the gringos see locals as parisitic, and gringos treat each other as though thier mutual pressence diminishes the experince of being here. Its all a little ridiculous, but its still difficult to keep outside of this cycle.
Besides that, everything is holding up well; our diets (although bland) sustain us, our car (though very rattly) still moves, and our spirits (though tested at times) remain high.
I cant express how deeply reality has settled in, how long it will be till we can chill at our homes, hang with friends, or walk somewhere without feeling like an outsider. I do miss home, but I am also really excited about continuing our journey. Its strange to think Ill face an entire year of school after this...

Thanks for all of your comments and facebook posts, Chris and I have a pretty good time working through them (and laghfing retroactively during our countless hours on the road...). Feeling pretty hungry right now, so I think ill go cook up some frijoles...
Hasta luego,
B

Oh, and the punctuation errors, although nonintentional, are inevitable. I cant seem to find an apostrophe or quotation marks anywhere on this keyboard. Also spellcheck is out of commision, and for those of you who know me well, thats kindof a big deal...