On The Road

President Bush is visiting the Maya archaeological site of the ancient city of Iximche in Guatamala and the Maya want nothing to do with him. They have even gone on record as saying that they will send in the shamans with their spiritual scrub brushes to cleanse the site immediately after he leaves.

Mayan Indian leaders have vowed to “spiritually cleanse” an ancient site in Guatemala after U.S. President George W. Bush visits during his seven-day, five-nation tour of Latin America.

Mayan priests say they will purify the sacred archaeological site to rid it of any “bad spirits” after Bush is there.

“That a person like (Bush) with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked is going to walk in our sacred lands is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture,” Juan Tiney, director of a Mayan non-governmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, told The Associated Press.

Read the CNN article.

Photo is from another Maya site, Ek Balam.

For the few of you out there who haven’t heard, there are new US passport requirements for Americans traveling between the US, Mexico, Canada, and Bermuda. It used to be that travel between these countries was freely made with just a driver’s license as an identification card. Not so anymore. As of January 23, 2007 a US passport is required for US citizens to travel just about anywhere outside of the US, and to re-enter the country.

For those of you who are traveling soon, and live outside of a city with a passport office, expediting the application process is taking about five weeks and the normal process is taking about ten weeks.

Passport Processing Times Have Increased Due to High Volume. February-April is the busiest time of year for Passport Services, with Americans planning spring break and summer trips. The best advice is, “Apply Early!” Or even “now’” if you might be checking out deals on airfare or hotels outside the U.S.

I always keep my passport up to date and carrry it with me in my wallet. You never know when a girl’s going to fly!

More information can be found at Passport Home

Two years ago this week I was walking down a street in Valladolid, a town in the heart of the Yucatan peninsula in southern Mexico. Two years ago. My days, if I am not already out on the road discovering new places, new people, new things to eat and see and feel, are always filled with at least one memory of where I was on any given day in any given year.

Travel happens in an instant, it seems, but it takes a much longer time to process the journey. I traveled for almost three months that year. That journey, and every journey I’ve taken, has been not only about what I saw, but what I felt and how I was as a person in the moment while I was out on the road. The places I visit and the people I meet become a part of my existance. Travel is a process that changes me as a person. I always hope for the better.

Travel is the best therapy on the planet :)

Read my stories about the Yucatan.