Dervala is on the move again — she is now traveling in Mexico. This is a great travel journal.

'Palenque still has its hairy pilgrims...'--Ronald Wright

Of the hundreds of people I've met on this trip, almost without exception my favorites have been New Yorkers, or at least New Yorkish. It shows how provincial I am, I suppose.

Kelly and Amy adopted me in San Cristóbal. You wouldn't guess from Kelly's studenty demeanor that she's a senior public defender; three months in Guatemala has dissolved the stress of working with rapists and murderers every day back home. Amy, it turns out, is a Brooklyn Heights neighbor of mine. She advocates for immigrants and refugees, and we spent a happy evening complaining about John Ashcroft and the INS, and swapping notes on our favorite neighborhood spots.

'You go to Ferdinando's too? What about Frank's Lounge?'

After San Cristóbal we headed to Palenque together. The heat was a shock after the chill of the mountains, and I felt submerged in the thick air. We caught a taxi out of town, where foliage cover promised more bearable temperatures.
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