Simplemente estoy dormiendo

Time has been shuffling along in San Cristobal. Lucha Libre (a couple of weeks ago now) was pretty awesome for the first hour or so - after the hour and a half of waiting in the stands - but three hours of luchas was a little too much for me. It was a cold night, and the show was in the open-air Plaza de Toros. There were midget wrestlers, cross-dressers, insane clowns, fake blood, and muchas malas parablas (bad words). Christmas Eve was an all-night bonfire in the street. First with family, then with friends. All around town kids were throwing fireworks under passing cars and shooting rockets into the sky. Much beer and much tequila. The night ended with salsa dancing in the loungeroom until 8am. I spent New Years Eve with some other students. There were fireworks in town and then we went to a salsa club, where I drank while the others danced. I was in bed by two and thus had a traditionally disappointing night. On New Years Day I ate a bad felafel kebab and came down with the worst food poisoning I´ve ever experienced. After a few messy uncomfortable days I finally went to a doctor and got sorted with some antibiotics so I´m recovering now... but hating the fact that I can´t drink alcohol and still have to stay away from spicy food for a while (easier said than done in Mexico). Last Sunday I went on a day trip to Palenque, the ancient Mayan ruins in the jungle of Chiapas. The shuttle bus was at my door to pick me up at 6.30am but I had slept through my alarm because salsa music had been thumping through the house until four in the morning (and it appears to be against local custom to make a noise complaint). The driver was extremely pissed off when I eventually made it to the van and he made me apologise to everyone who had been waiting for me. There was a lot of driving, and stops at some beautiful cascades in Agua Azul and Misol-Ha. The road was winding, which made for a spewy ride for the guy sitting next to me in the flashy hippie pants (God knows why so many tourists in Mexico feel the need to dress like they´re not leaving the house, or worse, like they´re more native than the natives... San Cristobal is crawling with these annoying new-age types). We spent two sweaty hours at the ruins, an amazing complex of temples. Our guide spoke Spanish but I could understand most of what he was saying thankfully. On Monday, while still in the midst of food poisoning, I was invited to a BBQ lunch with a local family. It started innocently enough with steak and chorizo, but then there was heart, liver, and finally, a great big bull´s testicle, cut in half and served up with a smile. I ate it of course. Very salty, very chewy. The old Haitian guy I was dining beside was a big fan of testicles and has been chuckling about the episode all week. Most of my time in recent weeks has been blissfully unexciting... eating and drinking and studying and listening to music. Family celebrations and impromptu fiestas at home. My Spanish is far from fluent and I still feel lost most of the time, but it´s a good life.