Jungle-Idyll in Majahua

A dusty village street, the heat of noon, chickens running away, shaggy dogs lying lazily in the sun, pigs of all sizes passing by. The children of Majahua waving at us, shouting "Hola, hola, hola!". A wildly romantic village with a tiny school painted in many colours. We are getting out of some donkeys' ways and torturing our bikes over bumps and deep gullies in which water is plashing after people washed their clothes with it. This is the adventureous path that we are to take every day now, it is our way back to civilisation!
Behind the village, there's nothing but a dusty, bumpy path and rampant undergrowth. Through a shaky gate we step on American emigrant Karolyn's organic ranch.

The house is still just a bit more than bare brickwork - no electricity, no toilet, but water from a well and a storage room with a gas operated refridgerator: our home for nine days, until the small cheap holiday apartment owned by friends of ours will be free for us. With hesitation and uncertainty we build our tents and have no idea that a very special time is about to begin. This jungle-like exotic place is soon to cast a spell on us. On the one hand our waiting time passes very quickly because there are plenty of exotic animals around. Each day we discover new amazing creatures (see "more pictures"). On the other hand, it's all very exciting. The Mexican construction workers and the gardener leave us alone completely. Karolyn drops in now and then to see if everything is fine, but most of the time we are on our own. So we have the opportunity to think things through thoroughly: how to proceed with our tour of the world, and what our future should be like. This picturesque place in the middle of wilderness is a great inspiration for us. We are having one marvellous idea after the other.

And finally, for a change, we both are busy with something completely different from our cycle tour: Markus helps Karolyn install her solar power unit, and I work in the shop of the Eden Hotel four evenings a week, selling Mexican craftwork. Thus, at the end of the nine days we are quite a bit richter not only in new ideas but also in Pesos. We can now relax and move into the holiday apartment, where unusual luxury is awaiting us: a home of our own with everything we have been missing for many months. A huge bed, a wardrobe, a shower! A toilet! A kitchen! And all that just for ourselves! From the balcony, we look through trees on the sea nearby. Something black is rubbing around our legs saying "miew". A cuddly pet is included in the price. Two wonderful weeks of "normal" life are ahead of us.
_{Created in an internet cafe in Zihuataneju, Mexico, in April 2004} ______________________________________________________