Bus travel - a window to a different world

We'd flown from Mexico City to Villahermosa and from Villahermosa we'd caught a bus to Palenque. That was about a two hour trip.
From Palenque we have an enormous amount of travel ahead of us, all by bus. This is mostly by choice as we want to see the country. The trip from Palenque to San Cristobal is 5 hours. (the trip from Palenque to Puerto Escondido 13 hours) I'm glad we chose bus, we get to see so much. The roads are windey and narrow. We'd been warned about this and were armed with travel sickness pills but didn't need them on this trip. Just as well as I'm still suffering with diaoreah and it would be hardly fair to be on a bus with it coming from both ends. As it is, in consultation with Nurse Nina, I'm managing my condition. Keeping up the electrolytes and bottled water, and bland foods. But most importantly trying to time any eating I do so I'm not affected during bus trips!!!! For obvious reasons. Using the toilets on coaches is not pleasant at the best of times. But when you are traveling on windey roads it's almost impossible. The first time I used one I nearly got thrown right back out the door which I hadn't closed properly - with my pants around my knees. And the little cubicles are sooo hot. Ughh, don't want to think about it.
I have a window seat and although I have my iPad equipped with kindle and this blog app to keep me entertained I choose my iPod and hit the seat's recline button. After a busy time in Palenque it's lovely to just sit and chill. I'd invested in a decent set of headphones for the trip and so with my 'quiet times' playlist and amazing scenery I am well entertained and happy.
Along the road we catch glimpses of Mexican life away from the city. I have many photos of the little homes etc I took from the bus but can't share them online yet. Their homes are tiny and basic, and many of them very close to the road so we can see the children, the dogs, the chickens, the pigs, their washing, their woodpiles - their lives. There are restaurants all along the road too. I've mentioned them before, they are like little shelter sheds, often with a thatched roof, with plastic tables and chairs and open cooking, sometimes a fire, sometimes gas. I wonder how much business they do as we also see many such places abandoned. Also there are stores. But what really stands out is the prolific Coca Cola signage. Plastered on every available wall visible to the oncoming traffic. And they are the old school coke signs, that famous red and white lettering, like at kings cross. They seem such a contradiction to their surrounds but also a blatant reminder that there is no way these people aren't touched by the corporations of the western world. That is also bought home to us when we spy the occasional satellite dish propped alongside one the homes.




Usually further back from the road, we sometimes catch a glimpse of a church. The churches are incredibly well cared for. often they are painted in bright colours, they always look pretty and loved. Also, along the side of the road we see tiny little shrines. These are about the size of an old non-flatscreen tv. This is a natural comparison to make as I've noticed back home how as everyone replaces their old school teles for the new sleek flat screened ones they just ditch their old tvs on the nature strip outside their homes. You drive through the suburbs and there's dead tv's all over the place. Our own little shrines to our passed gods. These little Mexican shrines though, like the churches, are brightly colored and well cared for, often decorated with plants and flowers.









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