I'm pretty exhausted after a 13-hour bus drive, but I've entered another country: Guatemala! Lots of Mayan people (bigger than me, but pretty tiny), lots of color, and lots of new sites and smells. Here's how far we've come in the past year:

Friends in Mexico

I've been traveling by collectivo (bus) with Celeste to play games in an after school program, and here's a picture of me with Ana and Samantha. They speak Spanish at home, and our time together is spent practicing English. I was play-acting a camping trip, so they learned the words "sleeping bag," "pillow," "toothbrush," "toothpaste," "hairbrush," etc. Like 11-year old girls everywhere, they are silly and sweet, and they are very good friends to each other.

Until later, (Hasta luego!)

Ransom

I made a new friend! Ransom is his name. Nope, I'm not being held FOR ransom -- I'm being held BY Ransom!

Ransom lives with his people, Pam & Rod, here in La Paz BCS, Mexico. (That's Baja California South.) He keeps company with the wild birds and geckos, as well as his "indoor" family. The indoor crowd includes Feather, a cat whose really almost as friendly as a dog. More about Feather in future posts.

I met Ransom and clan when my friends, George and Celeste, went to visit his people. Since they are all friends, we should get to hang out quite a bit in the next few weeks. "Dude," I said, "I hope I'm not under-dressed."

"No problem, Percy," he kindly replied. "I know sailors always wear shorts. In fact, you're kind of highbrow for a sailor. Look at you in your button down shirt! Most sailors I see are wearing t-shirts."

"With or without holes?" I had to ask. The definition of "dressing up" for most of us long-distance cruising sailors is to put on the clothing without holes. Ransom's got his priorities right, though. He doesn't care what I'm wearing, as long as I've brought along a smile!