Closing in on Christmas!

I fly back on Thursday. I can't believe it. Sososososo homesick at this point. Mostly because Christmas is around the corner and everyone is facebooking about their damn trees and decorations and I am stuck in a cold hotel room. 

James has kept me updated on the house and lots has happened since I have been gone. There will be a mega post as soon as I get home with all the goings on. Jake finished our wood wall and James is already painting it. The sheet rock is done and the floor wood will be delivered. We have decided to go with radiant heat in the addition instead of radiators so installment of the floor and going ahead with the tile in the bathroom has been postponed a bit.

James sent me a preview of the wood wall in the pastry shop. 

So 3 days to go. Shooting 1 1/2 more days around San Cristóbal and then a 5 hour journey BACK to Palenque for 1 day of shooting by the ruins. Thursday morning - fly to Mexico City and on to Newark. Phew. The tree will be in place and supposedly the salmon will be graving. By 10pm on the 23rd I will be sitting on MY couch with a glögg in my hand enjoying a fire with my sweetie. 

So I left off at the end of hell week and mentioned San Juan de Chamula. It's a small town about 20 minutes from San Cristóbal and we have been told it's a must see. The main reason is the church in which the Tzotzils come to worship. It is a big open space with a marble floor covered in pine needles. The walls are lined with cases that hold mannequins of Catholic saints. The Tzotzils are deeply Catholic but there is a lot of ancient Mayan tradition sprinkled in. Families sit right on the floor and perform the ceremonies. They stick dozens and dozens of candles in varying sizes and colors right to the marble and then chant. We watched one man sway a bottle of Pepsi over the candles and then he poured a splash on the floor between the rows. After that he swayed a bag of eggs over the candles and then he rubbed his wife with the bag. According to Wikipedia the Pepsi is a substitute for cane sugar liquor. The family right next to them was using Coke. One woman sat with her 5 rows of candles and 2 children and a live chicken under her arm. Again, according to Wikipedia, that is a sign of some real trouble. Photography is strictly forbidden in Chamula so I have only mental images of this incredible place. 

The week that passed was a little easier. We shot mostly around our hotel and 2 days in friendly mountains. 

Friendly and beautiful...

The frost is lifting and the sun is coming over the mountain.

Tio is our assistant locations manager.

Sound department gets a ride...

...up a hill.

We had about 20 Tzotzil extras on Saturday. And the the rule of no photography went out the window. How can you not immortalize these gorgeous faces!?

The homeless country pooches had the time of their lives when we rolled in and gave them our catering left overs.

The hardest one so far not to pack in my suit case. Say hello to Daisy.

But my heart belongs to Paul. One of our principals. Didn't know so much joy could exist in one little body. 

When he starts squirming around this is all I can think of...

Speaking of catering... whoa's all I can say. They have fed us exceptionally well. Variation every day and tasty as all get out. My favorite dish is the Sopa Azteca, they served it twice and I could have eaten it every day.

Tortilla soup with crema and queso. Belly ache from eating toooooo much. Yum.

Marietta's and my emo band. In the collectivo from San Juan de Chamula.

I'm going to miss the colors here. I fully plan to incorporate them in to my house. The kitchen plan has drastically changed in the past 4 weeks... 

Next time I write I will be IN my house, stuffed with ham, prince sausage, gravlax, meatballs, herring and Jansson's temptation!

That concludes the Mexican portion of this blog. We now return to our regular programming.

Waterfalls and pyramids. Just another week in Chiapas.

On Monday our location was Agua Azul. I will let the pictures do the talking.

On Tuesday morning we showed up early at the pyramids. Hot humid and just gorgeous! These big ones are in close vicinity to the parking lot and we rolled our camera cart right in. The Mayans must have been in sick shape climbing these things all the time. 

Shooting schedule had to change because of harsh sunlight and in the jungle we went. And further in. And further in. Cursing and sweating and trekking treacherous steep stairs with heavy camera gear. Once in place after making some noise (I have to make a little noise every once in a while, about how if I knew what I was about to get myself into I wouldn't have gotten out of bed in the morning) But a little growling and a few bottles of water later I started looking around. Finding myself in a magical spot!

Stefania is my 2nd AC. She's like totally awesome!

Ivanhoe is our keygrip. Apparently Ivanhoe is a pretty extravagant name even in Spanish. Here he is dressed as a Mayan God. To give us luck? We can use every bit of luck we can get our hands on.

Because on Wednesday morning we woke up at 5am to insane rain. If you haven't seen Lost in La Mancha see it - it's a great documentary and it's the only way I can describe our potential situation, had we decided to shoot. 

OH! So there is a reason they call it the rain forest. Hm...

But Karen and Paul, our main characters are in Chiapas on a sunny vacation so it wouldn't make much sense to film in the rain. So here is our little crew huddled under pop up tents waiting for the downpour to stop.

It gave me some time to take some photos. This place is so magical and mystical anyway and with the mist and rain even more so.

Brave Japanese tourist puts his umbrella down TO GET THE SHOT!

The multicolored turista poncho cult is coming out of the darkness to see the pyramids.

We waited a few hours for the rain to stop and when it didn't we got in our vans and started our journey to San Cristóbal de Las Casas. We will have to come back at the end of the shoot to pick up some scenes by the ruins. 

But for now adios Palenque!

The regular route is the windy purple one and takes about 5 hours because of TOPES (speed bumps) and curves. But due to rain we had to take the red route which took about 6 or 7. There was much to see and no complaints. And once my pants dried it was even quite comfortable.

We started shooting on Thursday at the Museum of Amber. 

Sebastian our DP and Eva our director setting a frame.

On Friday we shot in the center of San Cristobal.

Grips. A very universal breed. James said it himself. All over the world grips are leaning against C stands looking bored. This is Manuel, Ivanhoe and "Oso" and they're great!

Emilio is our soundmixer.

OH street pup. How do I not take thee home with me?

Our Xolo superstar!

We have a 2 day weekend to roam around San Cristobal and shop and eat great food and learn about Zapatistas! And tonight we are all going to a show with one of the members from Mano Negra. On Monday we head to the Cañon De Sumidero to shoot. There's crocodiles there!