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2007-07-24T14:53:00.001-04:00

Machu Picchu

2007-04-15T19:24:00.000-04:00

Wow!

It was everything I hoped it would be. Simply amazing. Humbling. Got some great pictures, shot some black and white too. Sally...you would have loved it!

Spent the night in the town of Aquas Caliente and soaked in some natural thermal springs. Very nice way to finish the trip.

Here, back in Cusco I´ve changed hotels and have a nice room, hot shower and...AND...cable television. That is a real treat. Although I´m pretty sick of 24 right about now.

I´ll be leaving Cusco Tuesday morning on a flight to Lima, in lieu of a 20 hour bus ride. In Lima I think I´m going to splash out and get a room at the Marriott. On Wednesday I catch my flight home.

I am ready to come home. The street vendors here in Cusco are particularily aggressive and will stalk you down the block to look at their wares. I offer one or two polite, ¨no gracias¨ before I completely ignore them. I am sick of it. I am minding my own business and if they choose to continue to hound me, well, to bad for them.

Am excited to see everyone again!!! Love to you all.

Cusco...the final countdown

2007-04-09T13:24:00.000-04:00

I arrived last evening in Cusco, where I´ll spend my last week before heading home.
Cusco is magnificient. Gorgeous stone roads and footpaths. I´m staying at a hostel that requires lots o walking, up a pedestrian path and then a long staircase. It was recommended to me for it´s view of the Plaza del Armas, which is the center piece of the community. I was not disappointed.

Today I am walking around and seeing the various musuems and churches. I´m also going to book a one day tour into the Sacred Valley where I´ll see some local villages and Inca Ruins. I also need to book my train ticket to Aguas Calientes which is a village that serves as the launching site for Machu Picchu. I´ll probably stay a night or two in Aguas before heading back to Cusco. There are some kayaking tours available as well as river rafting. But it´s way, WAY chilly here...so I´m not sure about getting into a cold river.

I ended up staying in La Paz an extra 2 nights and hung out with my friends and skipping Lake Titicaca. They are a really cool group of people. One of the girls is the Spanish girl who was with me the day of the horrendous boarder crossing from Honduras into Nicaragua. The other folks are a really cool Australian girl and 3 guys from Switerland, two brothers and another guy. Except for the brothers, they´re all new friends and have been traveling together for a couple of months. I also ran into another guy I met while in Ecuador, he´s an older, retired guy. We had a really nice dinner one night too. Man, the gringo trail is full of old friends and aquaintences! I also ran into that woman I wrote about the other day who had her bag stolen off the bus I was on. Turns out, in addition to her medications, she had $2,300.00 US in travelers checks as well as 2 memory cards from previous trips to India and Thialand. OOF! She was bitter!!

Good Friday in La Paz was a quieter day than most, there was a procession of clergy with a glass casket of Jesus parading around.

I´m looking forward to returning home. I´ve had an amazing trip, a one of lifetime, for sure. But it will be nice to be home, I´m looking forward to seeing you all, everyone of you has been missed! Looking forward to driving my car, and yup..pizza ooh...sushi..that too. And....cleanliness. Mmmyeah cleanliness.

Okay, so this is where you guys can help make a smooth transition. Please keep your eyes and ears open for any apartments (but not apartment complexes..don´t like those) becoming available that are less than $1,000.00 monthly. I´m thinking the route 24 corridor, Bridgewater to Stoughton and the route 95 corridor, Wrentham to Dedham. Of course, good old Roslindale or West Roxbury are in the mix too.

Okay peeps... see yah soon! Love to everyone!

Return to La Paz

2007-04-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

I arrived this morning back in La Paz at 7:00 am after an overnight bus from the dusty, remote town of Uyuni. It was there that I departed for my tour of the Uyuni Salt Flats and beyond. During the bus ride south on my way to Uyuni, an American woman got her bag stolen off the bus. I felt really bad for her. Her mistake was that she put her bag in the overhead container. When we stopped briefly in a random village for a bathroom break, we all exited the bus and she left her bag unattended. Another passagener swiped it.

Petty theft is rampant here. It´s mostly crimes of opportunity. I met a guy in Quito, Ecuador a couple of months ago who had his camera stolen and went to the second hand market to buy a new one. Imagine his suprise when his very own camera was there (memory card and all). He bought it again. I would have opened a can of whoop ass.

My salt flat tour consisted of 5 other tourists, plus our driver, Phille. My travel companions were really cool, everyone had a nice time together. There was a couple from Switzerland, two nice girls from Denmark and a cool guy from Holland. We drove across the vast salt flats for hours. It was blinding, but very, very cool to see. Lunch was at on an island set in the middle of the flats. We hiked around ancient coral and cool cactuses before sitting down to some lunch that our driver prepared. He was a better driver than cook.

There were probably 15 other 4X4s full of tourists doing the same tour. In fact, I ran into some friends I met back in January on Little Corn Island in Nicaragua. It´s so fun when that happens. The day after I left the island, the told me they got mugged coming back from dinner, walking through the jungle. Looks like I left just in time...

Our hotel the first evening was constructed entirely of blocks of salt. It was trippy. The floor was salt gravel, like what the plows back home spread to melt the snow. There was a gorgeous full moon that evening. It was incredible over the salt flats. There was a tiny village nearby. I and the guy from Holland went in search of some cervesas. Although we didn´t find any cold ones, I got to see a chopped off llama head. Then as I turned the corner, the llama wool, which I tried to convince myself it was just sheered wool, not the skin and wool. Not so fast, Missy. As I entered the store, there on the floor, was the llama carcus. It was then that I dry heaved before beating it out of there.

The next morning we departed shortly after sunrise. We drove for hours and hours through the desert high plains. We were far enough south that we could see some snow capped mountains of Chile. We stopped at some more salt lakes, where oddly enough pink flamingos live happily. Our second night was in even a more basic accomodation of crappy beds and little heat. We still had a nice time.

We left before sunrise the next morning and stopped first at some geisers. In the darkness we saw and heard the raging steam before carrying onto a natural thermal pool. Everyone soaked in the bath, except me. I couldn´t face getting out, all wet, and into the frigid air. After driving again through more and more desert and seeing llamas and alpacas roaming (they are so cool to see). We actually saw some wild ostreges too. I´m sorry about my shitty spelling.

Anyway when we arrived back in Uyuni, before some of us caught the overnight bus to La Paz we went to a pizza place I had been to, before starting the salt flat tour. It´s owned by a guy from Amherst, Mass. He went to UMASS where he met his Bolivian wife. I had read about the restaurant last year while researching my trip. I was glad to be able to find it. We chatted a while about life back home. That was neat.

Tomorrow morning I´m booked on a bus heading northwest, back towards Peru. I will get off in the town of Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca http://www.peru-explorer.com/titicaca.htm. Lake Titicaca sits on the Peruvian, Bolivian border. There are some islands on the lake that I plan on seeing. I hope to stay the night on one in particular, the Isla del Sol. Apparently there are also some floating islands, made entirely of reeds that some indigenous people live on. Should be interesting.

That´s all for now folks. I ran into some other friends I´d spent a week or so traveling with, so I´ll see them tonight for a bit. After the Lago Titicaca, I´ll be venturing back, across the border into Peru where I´ll make my way to Cusco and Machu Picchu. Then...home sweet home!

Ciao for now! Love to everyone. Well...everyone who writes me, that is. You know who you are!

Potosi, Bolivia

2007-03-30T20:17:00.000-04:00

Here in south central Bolivia...high in the Andes. My South America leg seems to have a recurring Andes theme, no? Apparently the town I'm in one of the highest towns in the world. I´m staying in an old monestary. The walls didn't shake upon my arrival, so I think I'm good to go.

Today, I visited a working silver mine. Holy smokes. The working conditions are mid-evil!! The tour company gave us jump suits and helmuts (good thing) and flash lights. Our first stop was a store the miners visit daily before their shifts begin. They supply their own dynomite, and fuses. Some of them are lucky enough to have air compressed power drills, but those are the chosen few. We climbed and crawled around for two hours. Working in the mines is one of the more high paying jobs here, so people disregard the lung damage to put food on their tables. At one point I thought I was going to have a panic attack. We climbed some loose rubble and crawled into where they were drilling some newly discovered silver viens. I couldn´t see or breath (the high altitude didn´t help with the breathing) and thought I might pass out. Then I thought, how are they going to drag me out of here if I do, that thought did not help my situation. *WAIL* I quickly left my gift (we all brought small gifts to the workers. I brought alcohol...TGIF, baby) and shimmied back down where it wasn't as dusty and I could see a little better. Plus I could stand up, after I put my head between my knees. I can not imagine having to do that everyday. One of the guys, a lovely Irish chap, in my tour gave me coca leaves (and nooo...the leaves are nothing like the by-product) to help with the altitude. You stick a wad of them in your cheek, like chew. It tasted nasty, but I was desperate. I spit it out shortly thereafter, yuck. One of the girls in the tour, from Switerland, took about 3 steps into the mine at the start and turned around and waited outside for us. I think she had the right idea.

Tomorrow, I head out for a 7 hour bus ride to the town of Uyuni where I'll book a 4 day tour to the Uyuni salt flats. http://bolivia.gotolatin.com/eng/Attr/htm/Bolivia-SalarUyuni.asp
Everyone says it´s sureal when there is rain water on it. It reflects the sky like a mirror and is amazing. I´m not sure there will be connectivity there, so I might be 5 days or so before I post again.

This evening I watched a parade. I love parades. Not sure what it was about, but there was a band and lots of folks with banners and whatnot.

Love to everyone!

Bolivia

2007-03-28T15:19:00.000-04:00

Made it across the border with no problems and bussed it to the capital city of La Paz the same day. La Paz is HUGE. It's set high in the Andes and is well built up on the hillsides. There are beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance. It's a busy, busy city with lots of people watching to do. Spent a few hours at a market. Everywhere I´ve been, I keep expecting to find big thick wool sweaters, but what they have (which are quite nice) are thin alpaca and baby alpaca sweaters. I´ve been holding out on doing any real shopping, as the last thing I want is to haul more stuff around. I did some some Cape Cod baseball caps that made me wish I'd brought my camera along. A couple of weeks ago I saw a Filene´s Basement shopping bag. That was wierd too. Stuff that doesn´t sell back home gets shipped down here. They LOVE American clothes.

Everywhere I´ve been, without exception, there are shoe shine people. Some are old men, most are little kids...6 or 7 years old..covered in shoe polish. But here in Bolivia, the shoe shine guys are outright creepy. They were ski masks so all you can see is their eyes. My Lonely Planet travel book comments on it. They think it´s because the shoe shine guys are ashamed to be doing that kind of work. Which doesn´t make sense. Here, I think, most people are just grateful to be earning some money. Dunno.

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. I believe it. The bus ride through the city...where some of the roads aren´t even paved, makes Colombia Road look like Newbury Street. In La Paz there are tours offered to bike Bolivia's Death Road. Uhh...no thanks, I passed on that one. Mama didn´t raise no foo! I saw the History Channel documentary on the Death Road before I left and there is a reason it's called that. It's a single lane, dirt road, along the winding peaks of the Andes. There is NO room for error.

I met some people who while out in the sun, for 2-3 hours got some nasty second degree burns. They were all blisted up. People forget that even though it´s cool (because of the altitude) you really must where sun block. Ouch!

I did get nervous last night, on my way back to my hostel I ran smack into the middle of a political rally. Bush is coming (or already here..don´t know) to South America. I don´t even know if that´s what it was about. Regardless there were hundreds of people and many, many cops in riot gear. This gringa kept her head down and RAN back to my hostel. My knees were knocking for a bit thereafter.

Today I flew south to the city of Sucre. I'll be here a day or so before moving along.

Man, these computers are soooo slow. I certainly miss do my Comcast high speed internet, that´s for sure, not to mention my super cool boss and work peeps.

Well mi familia y mi amigos..gotta run. Hope all is well. Love to everyone.

Arequipa, Peru

2007-03-24T18:02:00.000-04:00

I´m here in Arequipa today, having returned from a two tour of the Canyon del Colca where I saw some condors flying this morning. We were way high up in the Andies, snow capped mountains and a volcano were in the scenery. Here you are served coca tea to help with the altitude. Llamas and alpacas abounded. We got to pet some alpaca(the Quechua Indians have them at their craft stands) the fur was amazingly soft. They tie red or pink bow onto their animals. Usually on their ears or necks. It's funny to see them grazing in the fields with little bows on them.

Arequipa is pretty cool. I met up with some friends again for a few days, but we´ve since gone our own ways. Visited a cloistered convent from the 1500´s a few days ago. A portion of it is still in use today. Traditionally, the second daughters born to wealthy, aristrocratic families would be sent, at the age of 12, to begin training to become a nun. There she would remain for life, cloistered away, like it or not.

Okay, so I´m getting down to crunch time now and I´m going to try to fit Bolivia in. I can probably dedicate 10 days to Bolivia while still allowing time to see Cusco and Machu Picchu back in Peru. And, I fly home from Lima, Peru. Tomorrow, I´ll head to the Peruvian town of Puno where I´ll stay one night. The next day I´ll bus it to the capital city of La Paz, Bolivia. From La Paz I´ll catch a flight to my next destination, which is looking like Sucre at this point. I´m getting excited about Bolivia. Everyone I talk to says it´s amazing.

There is an issue though, the Bolivian government is about to require US residents obtain a visa before entering the country. We require visas of Bolivian residents, so fair enough. The problem is no one in the Bolivian government can agree on a start date. The latest I´ve read is April 1st, which would be fine, because I´ll beat that date. They aren´t difficult to get, I´d need to go the the Bolvian consulate in Puno and complete the paperwork pay some money (probably $30-$50 US) and wait a few days. But if they change that date to sometime this week, I´m in trouble. I don´t have a few days to wait.

I flew over the Nazca lines earlier in the week. Very cool! They were smaller than I imagined.

Ciao for now!

Peru

2007-03-18T19:36:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Peru! Finally a computer that will open Blogger up, phew! I was having a heck of a time getting on.

Peru, along the coast is desert. Really dry desert...it´s actually giant sand dunes, which suprised me. South of the equator weather patterns orginate east travel west and the Andes trap all the percipitation. It´s jungle and amazon on the eastern side and desert on the western side. I´ve heard from more than one person this is the driest (but not the harshest) desert in the world.

The town I´m in now is called Ica, and its claim to fame are its sand buggy rides and sand boarding. This morning I went on a buggy tour and although I only went down the dunes sitting on my snow (sand) board, I did manage a spill that got me a round of applause at the bottom. I´ve got a pretty bad headache at the moment and am slightly scraped up. The sand was so hot that when it got in your shoes, you had to empty it out immediately.

Prior to Ica, I met some friends (one of whom is a girl from Spain that I met a few months ago in Honduras) in Lima. It was great to see her again and I traveled with them a few days. I´ll see them tomorrow in Nazca, I think. Cool group of people, 3 swiss guys, my Spanish amiga and another cool chick from Australia.

Lima was pretty cool, I really liked it there. I stayed here http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/hotels/lima/hostal_espana.html it´s a former private home from the 1600´s. Gorgeous art work on the walls and original architecture. There is a nice rooftop terrace that is home to two good size turtles and a cool cat. A number of people commented that the main plaza in Lima was cooler than Buckingham Palace. Now I haven´t been to London, so I can´t verify this information. I went on a tour into the catacombs of a church and saw many, many old bones. They were nicely sorted into bins. A bin of leg bones here....a bin of skulls there. One enterprising monk made a gruesome display of art with various bones. I snapped an illegal picture, so I can show you all when I get home next month.

I did see Pink Floyd, it was a really great show...the venue was outside, which is the best way (in my humble opinion) to see a show. Although they did cheap out on the laser, and Roger Waters could have stepped up to the plate and learned more Spanish than ¨gracias...muchas gracias¨. I went with a friend from Britian...who I had met back in Ecuador. I got a seat in her section...but mysteriously enough, my row (the last in my section) did not exist. No one put chairs out for it. Lucky for them I´m a champion seat mover, so it was a simple exercise of moving on up. The show got a little political. At one point there was a giant floating pig on ropes (think the size of the Macy´s Thanksgiving day parade floats). All the names of the evil world leaders were written on it. Bush, of course, was on the bum. Well, wouldn´t you know it, but they released the ropes and it sailed away. I´m still wondering where in the hell in Lima this giant pig landed and what havoc it caused.

Ohh oohhh! I met him...yes..that´s right...my doctor...my doctor without boarders!!! But, God damn it..he´s a married grandpa. Lovely gentleman. We were on the same bus that crossed the border from Ecuador as we both continued onto to Lima on the same flight, too. The boarder crossing by the way, was a nice simple road and bridge with a couple small buildings where you go to the windows to do your business. Also on the bus, I did get to chatting with a cool chick from Mexico..she´s living in Ecuador, owns a restaurant, and like me was heading to Lima for the Pink Floyd. Poor thing though, she got denied entry to Peru because as a Mexican citiizen a visa was required. I had a moment of panic hoping that I had my information correct and that I did not need one too. I´m not sure if she was able to get her visa in one day (doubtful) and if she ever made it to the concert . oof! Anyway back to the doctor. He is from New Brunswick, Canada and just a really nice guy. He´s here taking auxiliary classes on..you guessed it... tropical medicine.

I´ll be heading to the Nasca Lines tomorrow where I´ll take a flight over the lines. Then from there, in a few days, I´ll be continuing south to the city Arequipa. I´m going to take my first overnight bus. It´s a 10-12 hour bus ride, and from what I´m told the bus is way swanky with seats that recline all the way into small beds.

Take care...love to everyone. I hope you all are well.

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

2007-03-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Vilcabamba on Monday. This is known as the valley of longevity. I can see why. It´s just beautiful. Very peaceful and relaxing. I´m staying at a really great lodge. At the lodge, I had a massage and Reiki treatment yesterday for 105 minutes, costing only $25.00. Very cool! I´m going to get another one today.

On Tuesday (but in town) I got a 45 minute reflexology foot massage for $4.00 and then a pedicure for $3.00. Top Line Nails...eat your heart out. So what if the woman´s husband hung out with us while he trimmed his nose hair, I´m down with that.

I´ve met some really, really nice travelers here. Very friendly people. There isn´t a lot to do, which is nice. We´ve been watching movies and chowing pretty much every day. The owners are German and they cook some fine food. I have my own cabina, with private porch and hammock. Hammocks are pretty much my only criteria when selecting a room.

I just booked my flight to Lima, for Sunday evening. I depart from a Peruvian town called Piura. Flying internationally from Ecuador to Lima was going to cost $495.00, ouch! But, by taking a bus over the border to Piura (for 8 hours, which IS going to suck ass) I can then fly to Lima for $125.00. This flight avoids another 12 hour bus trip from Piura to Lima.

Pink Floyd is playing on Monday, the 12th in Lima. I tried to get an e-ticket but they don´t them, so once in Lima, I´ll buy one in person. A British girl I met on the Devil´s Nose train ride is going and has a ticket already. I ´m going to try to sit in her section. We both have reservations at the same hotel in Lima as well.

After Lima I´m excited to explore Peru. I´ve been in Ecuador 2 months now and I´m definitely ready to move on. I will head down to see the Nazca Lines here: http://www.exn.ca/mysticplaces/nazcalines.asp and then to a Colca Canyon, it´s larger than the Grand Canyon and hopefully I´ll see some Condors. http://www.llamatravel.com/peru_colca_canyon.cfm All of this before heading to Machu Picchu...which needs no introduction.

I´ve updated my Random Observations post, so feel free to revisit that.

Hope all is well with everyone. Love to you!

On the road again

2007-03-04T12:27:00.000-05:00

I spent the weekend in the colonial city of Cuenca, having flown down from Quito. We flew over a snow capped volcano and the pilot tipped the plane so we could see into the cone. It was very cool.

Cuenca is a neat city, I spent the day on Friday at a really cool museum which is built next to some ruins. The other night I was chatting with a very nice older man at the hostel bar. The bar and restaurant is very popular with locals. He grew up here, in Cuenca, but now lives in NYC. We met for lunch yesterday and then walked around a bit. It was nice to get a insiders view of the area.

I´m starting to price out flights to Peru. They´re pretty costly flying from Ecuador, so I may need to suck it up and take a bus across the border and then fly domestically. In the meantime I´m heading out this afternoon to a very cool mountain town called Vilcabamba (still in Ecuador). From what I´ve read and heard it´s a very low key place with beautiful mountain scenery. I picked up a brochure for this place: http://izhcayluma.com/ yeah, I´m down with some cheap massages. I won´t get there until probably tomorrow, as I´ll most likely stay the night in the town of Loja along the way..to break up the 7 hour bus trip.

Next week, in Lima there is a Pink Floyd concert. I´m going to try to time it so I´m there for that.

Ciao for now. Love to everyone.

Random Observations

2007-03-02T16:11:00.000-05:00

These are things I´ve noticed throughout my trip. They´re not specific to any area or country.

1. Change. No one, not vendors, not restaurants nor stores have change. The problem is compounded by the fact that the ATMs only give large bills ($20.00 is considered a large bill). There is always a stand off to see who`s going to produce the change first. I´m pretty good at holding out.

2. Fried food. If you order it, they will fry it. The Latin American diet is based heavily on fried food, not rice and beans, as I once thought.

3. Street food. Most guide books recommend against it. But I´ve found some delicious cheap eats from folks cooking and selling food in stalls on the streets. The best was the chicken lady on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. I along with some friends had our dinner there almost nightly. Often, for extra cash locals will buy a giant 3 liter of soda and sell it by the cup full. It appears to be a profitable business venture.

4. Keys in the door. If you leave your key in your hotel room door and go to bed, don´t be suprised to be awoken by a strange man in your room lecturing you in Spanish about leaving your key in the door. Oof!

5. Wolf calls. No, they don´t think you´re super cute. It´s a national sport and they do it to pass the day.

6. Busses. Vendors will board busses to sell their wares. They´ll stay on the bus for a stop or two before getting out. You can buy food (fried of course) ice cream, water, soda, belts and snake oil. You will almost certainly learn about the Lord Jesus Christ. If it will fit through the doors, they will transport it. One of my more memorable trips involved climbing over two kitchen cabinets in the isle of the bus to get to my seat. I´ve also seen mattresses folded in half and stuffed into the storage area below the bus. Bed frames fit nicely in the isle. Busses are NEVER too full. In particular the chicken busses. If you stop it, they will board. One recent trip I notice a woman with 3 geese secured in a large sack with their necks sticking out. Imagine my suprise at the end of the trip (5 hours) when they got them off the roof of the bus for her. They were alive and well. The roof of the bus will also do as a seat if you´re desperate to get somewhere.

7. Ceviche. Ceviche here is cooked, which mind you, I don´t think is necessarily a bad thing.

8. Athlete´s Foot. Who knew it would be so itchy?

9. Dogs. Most are strays, however there are some pets. The cutest thing is seeing them with homemade harnesses made out of twine. And of course, they are permitted on busses. Strays however are regularily kicked.

10. Service. If there is a good conversation to be had in the kitchen, most waitresses will let you starve before taking your order. There is simply no sense of urgency. Getting the check usually involves flagging someone down and then arm wrestling.

11. Drinks. Getting drinks to go is not a problem. They pour it into a little bag and send you off with a straw. How convienent!

12. Child labor laws. Simply do not exist.

13. My Backpack. I have come to loathe my backpack. It weighs more than I´d like to know, despite giving away as much as I can. I constantly am bruised on my upper arms. Sometimes I fantasize about it getting stolen.

14. Traffic lights and stop signs. These are treated more as suggestions than requirements. The most unique stop lights I saw was in Flores, Guatemala. It was a guy putting out orange cones on the road and then moving them off.

15. Coffee. Coffee in Latin America (with a few notable exceptions) is total schwag. Most of the times it´s instant coffee or Nescafe. It´s just wrong and broken. I once had hot milk served with a side of coffee syrup. Most of the good stuff is exported so what remains is slim to none. Milk, to go with the coffee is usually powered milk and water, heater. I´m becoming pretty good at skimming off the skin. EW!

16. Waiting in line. Most people don´t get the concept of waiting in line. They cut, push and shove with little regard for anyone in front of them.

17. Toilet paper. Last but not least, it pays to keep a roll in your bag, at all times. And it is NEVER put in the bowl and flushed. It goes in the trash barrell. I´ve finally gotten accustomed to it, and it´s not as foul as it sounds. Trash is emptied daily.

More observations...

18. Number of hotel rooms inexplicitly missing toilet seats: 2

19. Number of hotel rooms sporting exposed, sketchy wiring: 11

20. Sadness. There is nothing sadder than seeing a monkey chained to a tree.

21. Plants. It´s amazing to see so many gorgeous plants (that I have potted back home) just growing naturally in the wild.

Banos...again

2007-02-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

So, I´m back in Banos again, had to come see my latin cutie one more time before heading out. He´s really great, very sweet and doting, plus he digs me. I will indeed miss him.

We rented a car on Saturday and did some site seeing. It was really great to have a tour guide and to get off the beaten path. He showed the land he owns that he will be building a house on soon. It will have awesome mountain views. Yesterday we spent the day at some thermal pools here in town. Banos is famous for its thermal pools. It was great...hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms. Today he scored me a t.v. for my room, it´s rainy, so I´ve spent most of the day watching t.v. in English no less. That´s been a real treat!

My next destination will be Cuenca, Ecuador which is on the way to Peru. I´m trying to avoid the 7-8 hour bus ride south. So, I think I will head north to Quito (3 hours by bus) and then fly south to Cuenca. You have no idea how I´ve come to loathe the busses. I did fine in Central America, but I think that´s because it wasn´t as mountainous, so the roads were far straighter, plus most of the transportation I took in CA was extended mini vans, so I wasn´t stuck in he back of a long coach bus. I´ve been making it a point to befriend the bus drivers and sit up front with them whenever possible.

That´s all for now amigos. Hope all is well.

Montanita for Carnaval

2007-02-20T18:52:00.000-05:00

I arrived in the beach, surf town of Montanita last Tuesday. Town was ramping up for Carnaval then, and for the last 4 nights this place has rocked ALL night long.

The beaches were packed, PACKED with people. At night the 5 blocks or so that make up the dusty town of Montanita became a moving throng of people. Latin and techno music blared from out from all of the restaurants and bars. Street vendors from all over South America selling their jewerly clogged the sidewalks. Craziness. Fire dancers were out, saw some women in costumes and body paint that were very cool. It was like a mini mardi gras. The town ran out of hotel rooms. I was glad I got here when I did and got my room (which is very nice) but it went from $15 to $40 for the weekend.

The beach has awesome waves, but that is about the only thing worth mentioning. It´s located in a dry, barren dessert. There is nothing pretty to see either way, although the town is cool, almost Disney like, as restaurants and hotels, all bamboo, are stacked on on top of each other. Most have 2 or 3 floors.

Umbrellas on the beach can be had if you get out early enough. Although, many families made their own shade with 4 large sticks and a sheet, that was cool. Many, many people put up tents as well. It´s hot, really hot here. I won´t miss that.

I´ll be here another couple of days, before moving along. I´ll be heading to Peru eventually, in about 2 weeks or so.

Adios for now! Love to everyone.

Guayaquil, Ecuador

2007-02-13T09:39:00.000-05:00

I arrived a couple of days ago in Guayaquil, the country´s second largest city. Guayaguil is a modern and busy city situated on a river, near the south coast. I walked along their boardwalk yesterday, it was very, very pretty, but very hot and humid. I made a new friend for the walk, a guy from Chile. He is also traveling alone, but sleeping in bus stations or parks. He was a bit odd, at one point, he just dropped trow and took off his pants as we were walking (he had shorts underneath). It was quiet funny, as locals and tourists alike stoppped to watch and giggle. After that I thought it wise to make my escape. Taxi!

Before leaving Riobamba on the train ride to the Devil´s Nose the other day, I made more new friends. I was in an internet cafe and a local guy asked if he could practice his English with me. I was happy to help, and he asked if I could meet him later, with his wife so that she could practice English too. I met them later that day, along with their little boy. They drove me to a couple of stores, a rug store and a leather store to see if I wanted to buy anything (I´m sure there would have been a commission in it for them) ....uhm, no thanks...my backpack is heavy enough. Later we went for ice cream and they asked to meet up that evening to play chess. Seeing as my social calander was empty, I obliged. So, they met me at my hotel and we played chess in the dining room for a couple of hours. The guy was an ace, and won every game. It did get a little awkward at one point, they see Americans are wealthy beyond belief and asked me how much money my trip was costing.

The next morning I got on the roof of the train for the 5 hour train ride down to the Devil´s Nose. I rented a couple of cushions for $1.00 each. I sat next to a girl from England that I met when we bought out tickets the day before. She was very cool. The train ride was excellent. Very cold at the beginning. In fact we made a brief stop in a village and I bought a pair of gloves. My friends from the night before had given me a scarf, in thanks for me treating for ice cream, and I was very glad for it. The train decended through mountains and passed by rivers and villages. We had fun waving at locals and the more south we went, the hotter it became. At one point we were in a bit of a desert before the landscape become green again. At the end of the train ride, I was in a tank top and had rolled up the cuffs on my pants. The town we stopped in was very scenic. I then caught a 5 hour bus ride (uggh) here to Guayaquil. My hotel is very nice with bright, clean tiled rooms and hot showers.

I´m leavng this morning for beach town called Montanita. I think it´s about a 3-4 hour bus ride from here. It´s a surf, party town from what I´ve heard and read in the Lonely Planet guide book I have. But, there are hotels just north of the beach that are quieter, so that´s where I´ll stay...I must sleep!

That´s all for now folks, love to you all!

Riobamba, Ecuador

2007-02-09T18:32:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Riobamba yesterday after my second visit to Banos. My new friend (Darwin) played hookie and came along for the night. Was really great, but he´s gone back to Banos to work now. He works 7 nights a week for 12 hours each shift, and then...Monday through Friday he works at a tourist information booth for an additional 7 hours a day. He makes a whopping $300.00 a month and is very glad for it. Man oh man. We don´t know how good we have it.

At the hotel in Banos, there is a very, very sweet Senora who works the day shift. She and I were chatting the other day and she asked me where the US was. I got out a map of North and South America. She had never seen a world map before and was excited to learn where Ecuador was located. Most kids outside the cities are only educated until the age of 12, some even younger. Academic education is no benefit to you if you are working the fields or selling food on the street. Certainly however, in the cities education is more valued as incomes are higher. My spanish instructor in Quito (the capital) for example, is a student at the university.

The bus ride from Banos to Riobamba passed through newly re-opened road. In August ´06 there was a volcano eruption in Banos. They are still clearing the lava flows from the road with bulldozers. Was a sight to see. I´ll be here in Riobamba until Sunday, when I´ll depart for a train ride called the Devil´s Nose http://www.exploringecuador.com/en_ar_devilsnose.htm The scenery is supposed to be spectacular and the best seats are on the roof! hooHA!

While in Banos the other day, I went rafting and had a great time. Was pleased to see they had life jackets and helmuts, as well as a rescue kayak. There was only one boat, and as my Cape girls know, rafting with a large tour can slow things down. At home, each boat waits until all the other boats have competed each rapid, so the trip is a lot of stop and go. Here it was uninterupted fun. In Latin America, liability issues aren´t even on the radar. In fact after going through one of the rapids we stopped, but only to climb back up, on all fours through the river, over the rocks to body surfed down again.

Ecuador, at least in the cities, compared to Central America seems to be light years ahead. For example, they have trash barrells on most of the street corners and more importanly, people actually use them! I have also seen handicapped ramps for the sidewalks as well. There is trash removal and the trash trucks play music that our ice cream trucks play. It´s very funny. I´m told it´s because the residents don`t put their trash out (because of dogs) so they wait until they hear the music to do so.

It is carnaval season here and the kids are out in full force after school tossing water balloons at each other. It´s fun to watch. Innocent bystanders...too bad for you. The adults don´t seem to mind at all.

Okay amigos...I´m off to dinner. The restaurant in my hotel serves yummo chocolate and bananna crepes for dessert. I know where I´m going for dinner.

Hope all is well in the great white north. Love to you all!

Back from the Andes

2007-02-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

Spent the last few days up in the Andes Mountains. It was spectacular! My guidebook said the scenery is jaw dropping. It was correct. The elevation was over 10,000 feet and I was a little lightheaded from the altitude, but it wasn´t too bad. I guess some people get really sick from it.

Although brutal, the bus ride up was half the adventure. Dirt, one lane roads, that wind up and up for hours, on the edge of a nasty precipice. A few times I had to close my eyes. Certainly no guard rails exist and a couple of times the guy riding with the driver had to get out and inspect the road to see if we could continue. They all honk their horns going around corners, thank God for small things. Meeting another vehicle on the opposite side of the road most definitely presents a challenge. Getting back down to town today took extra long today as one of the roads was closed due to a landslide. Apparently they are quite frequent. I´ve never been so car sick as in Ecuador. Fortunately, most busses come fully prepared with bags. A good deal of the locals get sick too, so I don´t feel like such a loser.

I really wanted to snap pictures on the way, but I felt it would have been really disrectful to the locals, the Quetchwa Indians. My camera would most likely feed a family of them for a few months. The hills are a patchwork of green, they farm all over the mountains. Most live in shacks on the mountain side. I would say half of them are thatch huts while some have sheet metal roofs. Sheep, llamas, mules, and of course cows and horses dot the land. My first stop was Laguana Quilotoa, a crater lake in a dormant volcano. The water was a beautiful shade of green. It is a 4-5 hour hike around the rim and an hour down to the lake. Lucky for me I have a nice zoom and could see it all from where I sat.

Off in the distance I could see two more volcanoes, one was snow capped. It was quite cold and windy there, the local indiginous people all have very ruddy faces and cover up with scarves. The woman all dresses alike, it´s really neat. Thick knee high stockings, knee lenght skirts, bright red or teal capes and black thick, low heel dress shoes. Yes, dress shoes. These gals heard sheep and climb the mountains in these shoes. Both men and woman wear cool hats. I don´t know what they are called, but they look like something a British gentleman might wear. Some have feathers in them. It´s pretty neat.

The hotel I stayed at was pretty basic, and well, okay, it was a dump. Freezing cold with big giant dead bugs in the bathroom. I don´t know when the last time the sheets were washed. Lucky for me it was so cold I slept in my clothes. I spent most of the early evening at a new swanky hotel down the road that I couldn´t afford. But, they let me in and I bought a beer and got to read a current newspaper from Miami while sitting in front of the fireplace. Ah, bliss. Back at my place for dinner, they killed a chicken outside my room for dinner. I did NOT need to see that. Oof. I´d have been happy with rice and eggs. I shivered all night and split the next day.

The next day, while waiting for the bus, I was offered a ride in a collective. Collectivos are pick up trucks that act as local taxis. You just jump in the back. Now I don´t mind paying a few more dollars than they charge locals....it´s all good. But this ass to wanted $25.00. I might have paid him $10, but he wouldn´t go down that far. The bus fare was $1.50. Here in Ecuador, the currency is U.S. dollars. It´s a nice change from having to do quick math to figure out what you´re spending. Apparantly when the conversion took place a few years ago, many, many people lost their life savings. The initial exchange rate was sinful and there was civil war over it.

So, I traveled by bus to another village in the mountains and stayed at a way better place. $10.00 for a (warm) private room, private bath AND dinner and breakfast. I don´t know how these guys even made a profit. The food was great and the owners very, very accomodating. I stayed there two nights and probably would have stayed longer but there was no internet and I was worried you guys (okay, Queenie) would be freaking out and calling the national guard if I was MIA too long. There I met a really nice couple from Sweeden. They invited me horseback riding yesterday. Four hours for $12.00, with a guide. Wow! That was my third time ever on a horse. The other two times at Westfield were pretty treacherous, but maybe the third time is a charm. We were all horse newbies so we took it easy the first hour or so. We stopped and visited a cheese factory and bought a giant block of cheese. The horses were great, although they had a bad habbit of walking on the edge of the road..WTF?! I learned real fast how to make mine stay in the middle of the road.

We sat in a meadow surrounded by wildlflowers and enjoyed our cheese with our guide as the clouds blew in. Our guide showed us where the Incas had buried their gold. Plus there was a giant circular, swirly trench, probably 30 -40 long at the widest. He was trying to explain to us in Spanish that it was used as some form of a communication tool. So we weren´t sure if they at one time had been buildings on top of it. According to the guide they Incas could communicate with other tribes 50 -75 miles away. Definitely the explanation was lost in translation, but nevertheless it was cool to sit where the Incas sat. I´m sore and bruised today. My calfs kept getting pinched from the stirrups, but it was a really cool way to see the mountainside.

I´m heading back to the town of Banos tomorrow, gotta say hello again to a new friend. I LOVE Latin America!

Oh one last thing, in case you haven´t noticed, gentle readers my spelling is awful. The spell checks here are in Spanish and it only makes things worse. So, you´ll need to bare with me.

Jungle report

2007-01-27T11:34:00.000-05:00

Man oh man! Got out of the jungle a couple of days ago. After a 6 hour bus ride from Quito on mostly dirt roads and two puke bags later I arrived in the town of Tena, Ecuador, in the Amazon basin. Tena was the launching site for the jungle trek. I went with an American couple I met at the hostel back in Quito. They were really cool, from upstate NY. He is a rafting guide back home and she is a professional photographer. We were also joined by a Swiss woman we met the day we arrived in Tena. She just happened to be walking while we had lunch with our guide and stopped to ask for directions.

We began by getting fitted for knee high rubber wading boots, hiking boots would do you no good because of the many river crossings we did. And we were given big rain ponchos. Tis the rainforest after all. Although the boots were knee high, we still managed to flood them. On the first day we waked into the jungle for 45 minutes to the their lodge on the Napo river. On the way we stopped and saw petroglifts (ancient carvings in rocks) of monkeys. They were thousands of years old.

They said accomodations were rustic, and they weren´t kidding. Rustic is one thing, but my pillow smelled so moldy I couldn´t put my head down on it. The bed was a bunch of bamboo slats with a 2 inch foam mattress and a wool blanket. Oh well, we sucked it up. Fortunately, each bed had a mosquito net.

That evening our host family, a local indiginous tribe of Ketchwas (sp?) indians performed a ritual dance for us...it was their kids dressed up in grass skirts. They were cute. We then got blessing from a Shamin (Sally, I totally thought of you). Although he was making me nervous because his blessings were for fertility. Almost everywhere I´ve gone, folks here can NOT fathom that I do not have a husband or children. It´s simply something they do not comprehend. Even the Swiss woman, who is married but with no children raised eyebrows too.

After a light meal of rice and scrambled eggs we went off to bed. There was no electricity or running water, the toilets did flush...after you poured a bucket of water into it. The next morning, after cool face painting done by the Shamon with plant extracts and head dresses made out of palm leaves, we donned our rain ponchos and headed off into the jungle in the pouring rain. We hiked 4 hours, sometimes on a path, and other times bushwacking, litterally...our shamon guide cut paths with his machette. We saw iquanna eggs, they were small and white, not much larger than bird eggs. He was a great guide. We stopped often to be shown amazing plants and fruits, trees and animal traps (guinea pig is a delicacy here) and a snake trap too. Thankfully the traps were empty. He could cut bark from trees for us to smell or taste and explained the many medicinal purposes. We crossed the river multiple times until we arrived at our accomodations for the night. A cave! The cave wasn´t very deep, but wide. We slept on hammocks with mosquito nets. The roof of the mouth of the cave was covered... in spider nests....oh God, they made my skin crawl! I only saw one monster spider and shooed it away from my backpack...just in time. Note to self, always, always keep everything zipped up. We watched a flock of parrots squak at us at dusk. We stayed dry, but man oh man. I can confidently say, I´m all set with nature for a while. At one point while hiking in the rain I recalled a scene in that movie Private Benjamin, with Goldie Hawn. She´s marching outside in the rain, in the dark, crying. I tell yah what, the Holiday Inn never looked so good. Dinner was prepared over an open fire. They said they provided drinking water, but we were a little annoyed because it was river water with a little bit of bleach thrown in for good measure. The problem was that our water bottles smelled strongly of bleach. Not cool.

At the cave we met another guide, who was adorable. He is the son of the shamon and he was sweet on me...and truth be told, me him. The next day we hiked back to the lodge. On the way we stopped and fished a while...because of all the rain the river was running swiftly and we didn´t have much luck. Our guide was successful though. Back at the lodge we jumped in the river and enjoyed the rope swing. Later that afternoon we made bracelets out of local seeds and twine.

The next day we treked out of the jungle and after jumping in the back of a pick up we arrived on another river. We got into a motorized canoe, we figured it to be 30 feet long for a ride down the river. Because of the motor we didn´t really see any wild life. We did stop at an amazing animal refuge founded by a Swiss woman about 10 years ago. It´s for animals rescued from smugglers or otherwise injured that they are trying to reintroduce into nature. Monkeys roamed the park freely, we saw amazing birds and large cats. Just beautiful. Unfortunately due to all the moisture my freaking camera crapped out on me for most of the trek. It now seems to have come back to life.

After staying in Tena an extra day to hang out with my new friend, Nixon. I arrived yesterday in the town of Banos. Nixon was very sad to see me leave and wanted to come with me. But seeing as he doesn´t speak a lick of English and my Spanish, although improving isn´t steller, I said adios. There are volcanoes nearby and 3 bath houses with thermally heated water. I´ll make my way to soak in some mineral water later today. I really like it here in Banos. It´s surrounded by mountains the temp is cool and it´s misty and rainy. I have a neat room, with my own bath and a small private balconey. There is a fireplace in the lobby. Have found some great restuarants with book swaps. The book swaps have been my life line. I´m blazing through 2 -3 books a week. Last night I met up with the Swiss woman, from the jungle, and we had pad thai for dinner in a cool little restaurant. I went back there this morning for some cappucino. I´m having my very nasty laundry done now, with a washing machine and dryer no less. That´s a special treat. Most of the rural villagers do their laundry in the rivers and streams.

Well amigos...adios for now. I think I´ll stick around in Banos for a few days and enjoy the mountainous scenery for a while.

Adios...and love to everyone!

Heading to the jungle

2007-01-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

I´m heading into the jungle tomorrow morning. Signed up for a 5 day jungle tour. Will drop a note when I'm back in civilization. Adios

Quito, Ecuador

2007-01-16T09:02:00.000-05:00

I arrived here in Quito on Saturday, flying from Managua, Nicaragua via San Jose, Costa Rica.

Quito is gorgeous and quite large. It´s set in an Andean valley at approximatly 9,000 feet above sea level. Lots of hills to walk. It´s a very modern city with a great bus system that rivals the T. I´m staying at a super cool hostel with an amazing rooftop deck http://www.secretgardenquito.com/ the views of Quito are awesome.

I started more Spanish classes yesterday, and will continue all week with them. Ecuador recently had their presidential elections. Their new president was sworn in yesterday. There was much buzz around the city. Military, helicopters you name it. I tried to avoid the scene by going to see the Mitad del Mundo, the center of the earth. After bushwacking my way on their busses for over an hour, I finally arrived only to find a big polital event. It was mobbed, their were military and police with dogs everywhere. Some protesters, but nothing out of hand. It appeard the monument was closed to the pubic. That sucked!

While in Central America, when traveling with this Canadian guy, he mentioned going to visit foriegn prisoners in Quito. He said it was pretty cool and to go if I had the chance. Well, I went on Sunday with two women I met at the hostel. They had also heard about it. We visited a woman by the name of Zoe Savage. We got her name from other travelers. She´s and Irish woman, in her early 30s who is serving 8 years for drug smuggling. Claims she was set up, I found her to be genuine. She worked for the BBC as a reporter and she thinks the camera men switched her bags. When they paged her at the airport to ID her luggage the camera men split, never to be seen again.

Oddly enough the prison reminded me of dorm life. It was loud with much going on and rather festive. Cells are small, really small rooms. Maybe 8 x 8. Prisoners have to rent their rooms, all furniture and buy their food and toiletries. Prisoners cook their own food and use knives in the kitchen. Zoe shares a room with one other woman, but this week, two more woman were moving in. So they´re having to share the twin size beds with each other. There were over 200 kids in the prison, woman who are serving time either bring their kids with them, or have them there. It was a really interesting way to spend a few hours. Certainly not your average tourist attraction.

I think I´ll venture into the jungle and into the Amazon basin next week. The hostel will arrange a tour for me.

That´s all for now, folks. I love hearing from everyone, so keep the notes coming. Love to everyone.

On the road again

2007-01-13T06:09:00.000-05:00

Hola amigos. I´m on the road again. Left Little Corn Island yesterday afternoon. I was very sad to leave. It´s muy tranquillo there. To get back to the mainland, I had to take a 30 minute panga (small open air boat) over to Big Corn where I then caught an hour long flight back to Managua, the capital city. This morning I start my South American leg of my trek and fly to Quito, Ecuador.

I splashed out here in Managua and am at the Best Western. Everything I´ve read and heard from fellow travelers is that Managua is a dump and unsafe. The Best Western is across the road from the airport, so it was an easy choice. Besides, after 2 weeks of limited power, water and sleeping under a mosquito net, I treated myself. My room here has air conditioning, US T.V., screens on the windows, electricity 24/7 and...running water. Well, I wouldn´t call it hot water. But it is available when you turn the tap one. This computer I´m on is high speed. It´s amazing the difference between high speed vs. dial up or satellite. This is the first high speed I´ve been on since leaving home.

Anyway, I loved, LOVED Little Corn. I met a woman there who is living in a one room hut on the ocean, selling jewerly she makes herself from cocoanuts. It was really pretty stuff. I´m signing up for a jewerly making class when I get home. My Greek friend and I have said out goodbyes.

I´m planning on being in Quito at least a few days to attemptto avoid altitude sickness. I´ll lay low for a few days there and let my body adjust to the high altitude after being at sea level. I´m still on beach mode so it will indeed be a change of scenery for me.

Ciao for now. Love to everyone.

Little Corn Island....ah huh

2007-01-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

So, I can't seem to motivate beyond Little Corn. It's truely amazing here. There are no roads, and therefore no cars. Only paths through the jungle and one sidewalk through the village. My hut at Gracie's (where I'm staying) is a 10 minute walk through the jungle and then another 5 more minutes along the beach. It's pretty far removed from the village. It's dark here by 6:oo so I make it a point to be back at my place before sunset. The moon was full the other night, the moonrise was pretty cool.

Okay, so the other day, while sitting in the little computer hut, here, the gardener arrived with a 3 foot snake. He found in the garden, it's a boa. Everyone gathered around and checked it out before they let it go again. I was barefoot and that kind of bummed me out. Walking through the jungle the other day, I got chased by some pigs. They were kinda mean!

I'm enjoying my new Greek friend. 2007 is looking pretty good!

I'm only here for as long as my money lasts. There are no banks on Little Corn, or Big Corn for that fact. So, I've only got a few more days remaining. Just as well, Ecuador is calling me.

Adios amigos...this internet is $10 an hour here...that's another night's lodging for this kid!

Corn Islands, Nicaragua

2007-01-03T12:11:00.000-05:00

Feliz ano neuvo, amigos!

Am on Little Corn Island....Wow! This place is gorgeous. I'm staying in a bamboo hut on the beach. Gorgeous tourquoise waters abound. I'm on the windward side of the island, so it's breazy, which is nice. The place I'm at, Gracie's, is very cool. There are a bunch of huts that are painted funky rasta colors and she's got cool shells and coral hanging from everyone's patio. Hammocks abound. For $7 US I've been eating lobster and shrimp. My room is $10. Power comes on in the evening, usually between 5 - 10pm. Water is usually available in the day only, although New Years Eve I took a bucket shower. I was impressed with how well it worked.
Met some really cool people and celebrated New Years with them. We had dinner at a delicious Cuban restaurant and they brought champagne from the mainland.
I'm right now at a swanky hotel, just down the beach from my hut. I've been here a couple of times for drinks with my new friends. A Canadian couple I met here has to leave a couple of days early today. So they are giving me their room. It's all paid for, they can't get a refund and won't take any money from me. They said to "pay it forward". How cool is that?!
I think I'll stay here at least a few more days. I'm looking at flights now to Ecuador. I expect to book in the next week or so. I'll fly back to Managua and connect there for Quito, Ecuador. I flew out to Big Corn in order to avoid an overnight bus and a hellish (at least that's the word on the street) 4 hour ferry ride to Big Corn. Getting to Little Corn was a 40 minute very fun, bumpy ride from Big Corn.
Some friends left yesterday, but I'm now hanging out with a hottie Greek guy. Oh yeah...baby!
We walked most of the island yesterday and found some deserted beaches.
I think the local population is approximately 1,000 people. Everyone is quite friendly.
I've got to run now. This internet is via satellite...not sure how long my connection will last.
Having a ball...hope all is well at home. Love to everyone!

Feliz Navidad

2006-12-25T11:46:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Ohh I just found the exclamation point on this keyboard!!! Yay for me. Still on Ometepe http://www.nicatour.net/en/nicaragua/ometepe_galleria.cfm

After hearing that most of the coastal towns get booked up, due to both travelers and locals heading there, I decided to stay put. I had a great day yesterday, after calling home, which was awesome to talk to mi familia, I hung out with a cool couple from Canada. She is Polish, he Czech, we went to a lake side beach with a view of both volcanoes. We enjoyed some ron, Spanish for rum, and cokes while laying in the warm water. The sand was black, volcanic grit so I gave myself a nice body scrub.

We hitched back to our village in the back of three different pick ups. In between rides we were waiting in a village where we got to see the local children in a parade. It was really cool, the kids went door to door with poles decorated with streamers and balloons, almost like a may pole. They would sing and chant at each house and bang their poles. It was like the Spanish version of Christmas caroling.

Tonight there is a celebration at one of the churches, there are a few of us touristas going together. Should be cool to see.

The village I am in is way loud. There are stray street dogs outside the hotel gate that everynight bark and bark, then of course you have the roosters, not to mention the falling coconuts on the roof. Locals here love, love, LOVE firecrackers. Not fireworks mind you. That would at least be cool to look at. No, these just make noise....ALL night long they set them off. Plus sunrise is greated with booming music...gotta love that base. I can feel my fillings in my teeth rattle. After here, Im looking forward to some RnR.

The stray animals here are really an epidemic. These pitiful creatures are bare bones. Locals ignore them for the most part, or when necesary, give them a swift kick if they try to steal food. Bob Barker...come on down.

I think my i-Pod is crapping out on me, damn it! That sucks ass.

Thats it for now kids. Hope Santa was good to everyone. Love to you!

I'll be without internet access for a week..if not longer. I´ll drop a note when I return from the Corn Islands.

Isla de Ometepe, Lago Nicaragua

2006-12-20T18:44:00.000-05:00

Im here on the island of Ometepe on Lake Nicargua. The keyboard is not cooperating, so youll need to bare with me for this post.

The island is magnificient, it is lush and tropical and is formed from two dormant volcanos that jut out of the water. Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in Central America and the 10th largest lake in the world. It contains the only fresh water sharks in the world. I think they are bull sharks. Getting here involved a 4 hour ferry ride, the ferry was contining for another 8 hours -overnight. I saw a shooting star along the way. The ferry looked like a refugee boat, people put up hammocks or claimed some floor space in which to sleep on. I was glad to get off when I did. Ive been palling around with another French guy, sadly he is married, but funny as hell, so Im having a great time. He says he is my body guard. When we got off the boat all of the mini vans were full, so we climbed onto the roof for the 3 kilometer drive on a bumpy dirty road into town. He is biking Nicargua so his bike went on the roof too.

Yesterday I rented a bike on my own...mi French amigo offered to ride with me, but I told him I would only slow him down. I did 15 kilometers and found some cool natural pools and enjoyed the afternoon there. He biked 60 kilometer. Today, it hurts to sit down. This morning I hitched to the beach with a Swiss girl...it is very safe to hitch, you just get in the back of a pickup with everyone else. It is a fun way to meet the locals, they have fun with us and we them. Horses, pigs and countless chickens roam the dirt roads. I love seeing the pigs just out cruising around. Bannanas are grown here, the bannana leaves are giagantic, it is very pretty.

Before Ometepe I spent a couple of days at a cool lodge on another lake, Lago Apoyo. It is a lake in the crater of a dormant volcano. I did some kayaking and there was a dock on the water that was nice to lay out on. I spent my days lounging in a hammock and my evenings star gazing. It is amazing to see the sky without light polution. Their water pump was broken, so you could only flush and shower after 6, when they hooked into a neighbors pump for the dinner hour. It was not really a problem, this is life in a 3rd world country.

I stayed a night in Granada, a few nights ago.... it is a cool colonial city and walked the busy, noisy, smelly market. I love people watching.

Still not sure what I am doing for the holiday, I may join the Swiss girl and a couple of German guys and head to the Corn Islands in the Caribbean.

Thats all for now, folks. If I do head there, I may be incognito for a week or so, not sure what is out there for connectivity.

Happy holidays, love to you all....

Leon, Nicaragua

2006-12-14T10:41:00.000-05:00

Hola amigos! I´m in the city of Leon, Nicaragua...staying here at this hostel http://www.bigfootadventure.com/index.html I´ve signed up for the volcano boarding tour this afternoon. We hike up to the top of a dormant (here´s hoping) volcano and board down!

Yesterday with some new friends we took a chicken bus to a really cool beach. Played in the BIG surf. Was awesome. A helicoper buzzed the beach and landed. Not sure what they were doing, but it was a site to see. Man, now that I´m in a lower elevation, it´s H.O.T. hot. I´m keeping the sunscreen on, that´s for sure.

Oh boy, let me tell you about the journey and boarder crossing from Honduras. I left Honduras with a couple of people, the Canadian guy I wrote about the other day and a new girl from Spain. She´s traveling alone for a year. Her boyfriend is joing her for Christmas and she´s invited me to hang with them. I´m not sure what I´ll do. I don´t want to intrude and anyway they´ll be in Costa Rica. I´m pretty sure I´m skipping Costa Rica. She´s been our translator and it´s awesome. There was a Honduran cross-dresser who sat across from me on the bus. He had a dainty purse and shoes (well as dainty as a guy wearing womens´ shoes gets) delicate jewlery and his hair was in a purdy clip. Hey man...whatever floats yer boat. I´ll salute your freak flag! The poor bastard was puking the whole ride. As a fellow puker, my heart went out to him. I gave him my water and a baby wipe to clean his tear stained face. Poor thing....

So, the bus is approaching the boarder now.. It´s a dusty, shitty area. We stop and before we know it we are swarmed and I mean SWARMED by locals at least 15 -20 guys. They are trying to get us to ride in their pettycabs the 100 feet to the immigration window. Before we even got off the bus they were on the roof getting our backpacks...not to steal them, but to put them on their own pettycabs to ensure we go with them. It was awful!! I got into a tug of war for my bag. They started to try to grab us to stear us to their pettycabs. Don´t touch me, amigos! Hands off! Then they start fighting amoungst themselves. The three of us were HORRIFIED, the poor Spanish girl wouldn´t let me go. All I can say, is THANK GOD I was with other people. I can´t imagine navigating that clusterfuck alone. Money changers got into the mix too and stalked us as well. The saddest part is that all they´re trying to do is feed their families. I´m told that the other boarder crossing aren´t like that, thank God. After we caught our breath we then had to take a pettycab the mile or so after over a bridge into Nicaragua. That pettycab driver, when mi Spanish amiga asked what his rate was, told us, just a tip. So when we get to our distination we tipped him, $2.00 US. Well that wasn´t enough for him, so he refused it. He hung outside the bus trying to shame us into more money. Chump. Dude, you shoulda set your price up front, we we asked you, not once, but twice. When the bus started up, he changed his tune and accepted our money.

With Christmas coming the city is gearing up. Lots of holiday decorations going up. I´m not sure if it´s part of Christmas, or if it´s everyday, but the locals parade around a life sized giant amazon sized doll. It´s creepy. We were walking around and looking at the cathedrial the other night, a Mass was going on and some guys were just outside the door lighting off bottlerockets. No one batted an eye.

I´m starting to price flights to South America, I´ll probably head down early to mid January. So if anyone is coming down.... speak now, or forever hold your peace.

I´m heading to Grenada tomorrow and will be in touch soon. Miss you all!

Tegulcigalpa, Honduras

2006-12-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

Still in the capital city. Hanging with a couple of new friends. A guy from Canada and a guy from France. This morning we took a chicken bus out to see another pueblo, Valley of the Angels. It was mostly cheesy tourist shops, but the ride out was very pretty. Besides nothing gets the blood pumping like an older beater school bus passing another beater school bus on a curve. We had a snack at what at first appeared to be a small restaurant, but upon closer inspection it was the living room of a private house, with a few extra tables put out.
I´m told that Honduras means land of the waves. It refers to the mountains and there are lots of them. Not giant mountains, mind you...but many, many small ones.
Walking to the bus the this morning we passed the American embassey. The line outside the door was very, very long. People were waiting to just schedule an interview to possibly apply for a work visa. On the way back, I saw two men get off a chicken bus. The older of the two men was crippled and getting a piggy back ride from the younger man. Jesus! There for the grace of God.... Folks, say thanks today for being blessed to have born where we were.
My new amigos and I found a supermarcado. My eyes misted at the immense selection. I bought real, hard, cheese...and crackers...Carrs Water Crackers!!! And soap, I found my Dove soap and baby wipes....clean is a relative term here in Latin America. I´m a very happy girl today. We feasted on cheese and crackers for lunch. I bought a bottle of nice Chilean merlot and I made the French guy talk to us with his accent so I could swoon.
Tomorrow we´ll make the border crossing together into Nicaragua. The hostel I´m staying at is run by an America ex-pat and his Honduran wife. Nice folks. Water is a very limited resouce here in Tegus (Tegulcigulpa) I took a very brief freezing cold shower this morning. I supose not heating the water is one way to cut down on long showers. We were laughing today saying that a hot bath will be one of the first things we have when we get back.
That's it for now...love to you all.

La Ceiba, Honduras

2006-12-08T20:07:00.000-05:00

Yay! Pictures. A nice English bloke showed me how to upload some photos. I´ve got tons more, but I thought I´d start small. I´m back on the main land, although gorgeous, the Bay Islands were outrageously expensive. While still on Roatan, with another new friend, a girl from NYC, I went to a cool full moon party a couple of nights ago. A good time was had by all.
Stayed at a lodge last night right on a river with cool mountains surounding it. The drive up was amazing. Honduras is a very mountainous country. Jungles and mountains. It´s like eye candy. It rained, heavily, last night and getting up this morning and seeing the very swollen river running over it´s banks was a site to see. Today I´m back in civilization and will be bussing it tomorrow morning to the capital city. I had hoped to leave today for the capital, but some of the roads have washed out due to the rain. I may stay the night there tomorrow, not sure. But from there I´ll be making my way to Pacific coast of Nicaragua.
I´m think I´m going to fly from Nicaragua direclty to Ecuador, I´m hearing pretty amazing things about Peru and Boliva. I´ve been to Costa Rica twice, so it won´t be a hardship to miss it. I´m already feeling like my time off is flying by. Anyway, I´ll need to know pronto if anyone is coming for a visit.
The people in Honduras aren´t as friendly as the Guatemalans. They´re not unfriendly, just not as outgoing. I loved Guatemala. The population there is very indiginous, and welcoming whereas here in Honduras, it´s much less varied.
To my dismay I´ve seen a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Payless Shoes and Duncan Donuts! What´s up with that? Although I shouldn´t complain, ´cause this gringa just had her pizza delivered. It came on a motorcycle.
Ciao for now! Thanks for all your notes.

Roatan

2006-12-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Ahh, beautiful. I'm on the island of Roatan off the Honduran coast. I took a 1.5 hour ferry to get here. Pulling into the dock there are two ship wrecks.
Staying the the the West End area, I splurged in my hotel and went ocean front. It's nice going to sleep listening to the waves crash on the shore. The village is very quaint. One dirt/sand road that is riddled with potholes. It was being graded last night by a big ole tracker.
I hung out with some friends for a couple of days, I had met them back in Guatemala. They were moving on, but I'm not ready to leave yet.
The beach I'm on is a small cove. There is a nice long beach a short water taxi ride away.
I did that yesterday and will probably do so again, this morning. The sand is white and soft. Yay! I was snorkling the other day with Kath from Beverly. A school (pod?) of dolphins swam right by. It was awesome, if not a little startling, out of no where they appear and they're pretty big.
Gotta run.

Honduras

2006-11-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

Hola mi amigos! I´m now in the sea side village of Omoa, Honduras. I side tracked here a couple of days ago on route to Roatan.
Crossing the border from Guatemala was painless. The border crossing consisted of some orange cones in the road and what amounted to a road side shack with windows. First I went to the exit Guat window and then to the enter Hondorus window, paid some fees...just a few dollars worth and we were on our way. I was a little bummed, as they didn´t stamp my passport with a Honduran stamp. There is an agreement between Guat, Honorus and Nicaragua where one stamp gets you admittance to all 3 countries. I have 90 days in total to visit all 3.
Before crossing the border, we had a 6 hour bus ride that departed Antigua, Guat at 4am. Ugg. I was still traveling with Kath from Beverly and we stayed the night in Copan, Honduras. The next day we went our separate ways. We plan to meet up again on Roatan.
I had another 6 hour journey to the coast after Copan, which consisted of 4 different busses. There were road side stops made, twice we were boarded by Honduran police and they checked bags for what I assumed to be weapon and drugs. Along with the villagers who sell food at different stops a very loud preacher got on and boomed on until the next stop about the Lord Jesus Christ. Good times.
Here in Omoa, I´ve met some new friends. A couple of girls from British Columbia, in Canada. They´re a blast. My first night I had dinner alone and the restaurant guy offered to take me the next day to a waterfall. Not wanting to go alone, I recruited the Canadians. They were all to happy to go. So, we went to the restaurant for breakfast. The guy (Francisco) closed up his restaurant for the day, had a buddy join us and off we went. The hike was pretty cool, about 2 hours up through the river to get there. I only fell once, on the way back. And I had wrapped my camera in my towel before putting in my bag. Phew! The waterfall was awesome. There was a swimming hole that we all cooled off in and enjoyed for a while.
One thing that is everywhere in Latin America is trash. The littering that goes on is more than appalling. People chuck stuff out of windows on busses, or if they´re just walking around they just drop it wherever. The beach here is littered with stuff that has washed up on shore. It was a little discouraging. So, the waterfall, not suprisingly had a bunch of litter too. Our neuvo amigos brought bags with them to clean up the area. Right on!
After our hike, we bought some fresh fruit and had a great late lunch. Last evening consisted of going back to the restaurant and kicking back.
It took me a while to find this internet cafe. My hostel has free bikes, so I have been riding around looking for the internet. I had flashbacks of camping in Bar Harbour and Jay will be glad to know in his honor I hummed the Wizard of Oz theme.
There are some other folks who arrived yesterday. I think tonight we´re all going to cook dinner together at the hostel's kitchen. Even though it's a hostel, I have my own room. It's 140 Lempira, roughly 8 US.
Today I´m off to find a good beach. There is a beach right here but I´m told if you walk 5 minutes in either direction there are nicer beaches to be had.
I´m thinking tomorrow of heading to Ceiba in order to catch a ferry to Roatan. I think a couple of the new people (that I´m having dinner with) are going that way too. It´s always nice to have company when negotiating the bus systems.
That´s it for now. I hope all is well at home with everyone. Love to you all!

Santa Cruz

2006-11-25T09:49:00.000-05:00

Still here in Santa Cruz, had an awesome Thanksgiving feast. There was about 60 people here, guests and a bunch of US expats who live around the area. A good time was had by all. This is the place that I´m at: http://www.laiguanaperdida.com/ After sunset, and that´s before 6:00pm here, the only electricity is in the restaurant. I´m loving my flashlight, plus they give you candles, and that makes it really pretty.

I´m going to head out, probably tomorrow and make my way to Copan Hondorus and then onwards to the beach on Roatan. Sweet!

My home stay was really cool. I loved my family, they were awesome. It sounds like I scored a good one too. The mom..Tina, was a great cook. It was really nice to get 3 home cooked meals a day. And we only ate beans and rice once. Lots of eggs, vegis and chicken. The kids were a ball, I spent one afternoon taking pictures of them with my digital camera, they loved being able to see themselves. I got a hot shower, which was a treat. Most of my showers have been cold, but occasionally (like at my homestay) there is a retro-fitted water heater. It looks like a large shower head. The cold water runs through it and is heated before coming down. The key is to not consider the electricity and water that is loosely connected above you. And, for God sakes, don´t touch nothin´.

I left a bunch of advil and other meds for them. Medications are expensive down here. I wish I had brought more to leave her with, she was so happy. I also traded some of my clothes and my boots with a local indian for a blanket. My bag was WAY too heavy. I left the blanket for my host family. It´s pretty freakin´cold here at this elevation at night.

My instructor was okay. Just okay. My Scottish housemate also had him, in the afternoons. I had a morning class with him. She has taught English before and she said he was a crappy teacher. I was glad that it wasn´t only me who thought that. He was pretty disinterested and didn´t have a lot of patience. He was more interested in working on his English than my Spanish. And, being the slacker I am, I was more than happy to chat.

There isn´t gameboy or nintendo for the kids to play with down here. It´s very refreshing. They play outside with each other, usually kicking a ball around, and are really happy. Yesterday I saw some kids fishing off a dock. Their equipment was not a rod and reel, but a handfull of fishing line with only a hook. And they were thrilled with it.

Adios for now! Thanks for your notes the other day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving todos! What´s everyone doing for the day?

I´ve been invited over to another pueblo, Santa Cruz which is across Lake Atitlan. The new friend I made, back in the first week (Kath..from Beverly) is there. Her lodge is hosting a big holiday dinner, so after my Spanish class, I´m catching a boat over. My housemate, from Scotland, is also coming joining us.

It´s funny there is a definite travel circut...the gringo trail. You see the same people you´ve already met. It´s nice to see a familiar face.

Before I go, I´d like to send a big shout out to JuJu. Take care of yourself and rest up!! Miss you, sorry I can´t be there to help out. For those of you who have just joined us, JuJu (my sister Jen) is recovering from surgery. :(

San Pedro on Lake Atitlan

2006-11-20T15:33:00.000-05:00

I arrived here in San Pedro yesterday morning, after taking a 2 hour tourismo van ride from Antigua. The bus drops you off in the town of Panajachel, where I walked about a 1/4 a mile to the dock. From there I took a 1/2 boat ride to the town of San Pedro. Lake Atitlan is huge and stunning, and is surrounded by volcanos.

The town itself is one steep hill. It puts my days in San Francisco to shame. There are a few cobble stone roads, and a great deal of dirt foot paths. Trying to find my spanish school, at first I thought I was lost in some dirty alley, but alas...that maze of paths is their road. Every corner I turned found a new hotel or funky restaurant with hammocks.

I started my Spanish class today. I did some research on line and it got good reviews. http://www.cooperativeschoolsanpedro.com/ The view from school is breathtaking. I'm going four hours a day, one on one instruction. My muestro is named Chino, and I think we'll do well together. I've also started my home stay this afternoon. It's a family with 3 really cute and funny little kids. It was suggested to bring the kids presents, I bought wooden tops from home for that. Their parents are my age and don't speak English, but are friendly nonetheless. I have my own room and will have all my meals with them. Lunch today was tasty spagetti with chicken and vegetables. Their house is cinderblock with a dirt courtyard. All the rooms are next to each other, picture a strip motel if you will. Meals are cooked on an open fire. Their sink is outside in the center of the courtyard. There is another student who started today with them too. She's from Scotland. She's very friendly and pretty cool.

San Pedro is by far the cheapest town I've been to. Last night's hotel...very nice with tile floors and a great view of the lake was $5.00 US. My Spanish school, including 4 hours of daily instruction, a home stay which includes all meals is $120.00 US, total! WOW! I've been paying on average $10 -15 US a night for hotels. Meals are little more, but still very affordable.

San Pedro is a mix of Guatemalans, Mayans and some Gringos that are still living the sixties. I used to the sixtes were super cool, but now....not so much. Seriously. These dudes bring 'burn out' to a WHOLE new level. One of them tried to talk to me yesterday. I felt like I was having a conversation with Bob Dylan.

Every village has and idiot, San Pedro's is now afraid of me. This is a good thing. He haunted me for over an hour yesterday. It began at the dock, upon arrival. Now, I know these guys will probably get a couple of bucks if they steer me to a friend's business. I get that, and appreciate that. But this guy was RELENTLESS. He had hotels for me, horses for me, kayaks for me, canoes for me, drugs for me. He asked over and over and over again. He didn't get the meaning of, "no gracias". I finally snapped and shouted at him. He now hides from me when he sees me. I felt bad, and God forgive me, I think he's kinda slow, but I had enough. I have never been hasled like that before.

I'll stay here through Friday before heading out. Not sure If I'll see anymore of Guatemala, or if I'm ready to head to Hondorus. The Bay Islands are calling my name..... http://www.roatanonline.com/moreroatan/roatan_beaches.htm

Adios amigos. Oh and I think I was able to disable the sign in, so you can now post without having to register.

On the mend

2006-11-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Still here in Antigua, ready to move on, but there is a music festival on Saturday, that sounds great http://jamtigua.com/home3.htm. So, I´ll go to that with my new friend (a woman from Onset...man...small world). She´s kind of obnoxious to the locals, and a little to clingy with me, so I´ll be ready to split by Sunday, when I´ll catch a bus to Lake Atitilan: http://travelsinparadise.com/guatemala/atitlan/index.html where I´ll finally start Spanish school.

We went to the outdoor market yesterday. It´s so neat to see the Mayan woman with the babies wrapped in a shawl slung over their backs. It works really well for them.

On the way out we passed the dump. It was awful...there were people climbing the piles of crap looking for food. There doesn´t appear to be much middle class here. It´s the haves and the haves not. Everywhere I´ve been there is a visable police presence. They carry big ass sub machine guns and some of them look all of 15. Note to self, behave.

Saw some Nigerian men, they were in their traditional African dress. I imagine you don´t often see a Nigerian tribal dress in Guatemala. They were here for some kind of conference. One of them had scars on his face that as an infant his parents put there. It looked like whiskers.

There are tons of Americans and Canadians here. I was chatting with some older men yesterday who had sailed down to the coast from Prince Edward Island. It´s been a nice break to hear English. I forgot to mention the amount of Isrealis that I´ve come across. Not so much here in Antigua, but up north, I think I heard more Hebrew than Spanish.

The weather is beautiful, sunny and clear...cool in the mornings and evenings. Not a trace of humidity.

Oh and if you´re super cool, you have your teeth framed in gold with little stars on them. Sexxxy!

Ramon Noodles

2006-11-16T17:33:00.000-05:00

Nirvana

That is all.

Oh what a night

2006-11-15T18:39:00.000-05:00

Turns out my stomach bug was an intestinal infection, it landed me overnight in the hostpital. After being up all night long sicker than I think I´ve ever been, I waited for sunrise and headed to the hospital. Four IV bags of fluids and some new meds and I´m a free girl again. That sucked ass!
But, they took very good care of me. The doctor even brought his grand-daughter in to meet me. I´ve got a prescription for Cipro which I´ve already filled. Heading back to my hotel room for some more RnR. Bye for now.

Antigua, Guatemala

2006-11-13T19:36:00.000-05:00

Ah, back in civilization. After a very long drive we arrived in this lovely colonial town. The streets are coblestone and there is much shopping to be had. Every town here centers around a park, Antigua´s is especially pretty.

I've got a bit of a bug, but went to the pharmacy this morning for some meds. Pharmacists here are far more involved with paitent care than back home. If I'm not feeling better in a couple of days, I'll make my way to a doctor. For now, I´m working on keeping fluids in and getting good rest.

Stayed last night at the Black Cat, but moved to a new place, today. Dunno the name of it. The Black Cat was a hostel, there were 4 bunks (8 beds) in my room. Uggh, not my scene. My new room is private, quiet and the best part, I have my very own bathroom.....with flushing toilet. Bliss!!

Heading back to bed, but wanted to touch base with everyone. All is well here.

I'm able to pick up e-mails, so if you don't want to register to post here, send along an e-mail.

El Remiro

2006-11-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

Still at the El Remiro lodge, after only intending to stay 2 nights, tonight makes 5 nights. This place is kickin!! It´s set in the highlands with amazing mountain views, on a freakin´serious river. We were laughing yesterday that tubing on it, is like power tubing. What is probably a 2 mile float that at home it would take you an hour or so, takes all of 10 minutes here.

The staff is here is awesome. A couple of Canadians, and a guy from Holland. Very cool people. The girl I´m hanging with had seriously considered staying on and working here.

Some of the Americans I had been palling around with did move on, but I´m still with Kath, from Beverly. She and I are taking a 7 hour bus tomorrow to the town of Antigua. This will put us back in civilization.

The other night we went off site for a change of scenery for dinner. On the way home we passed a trail of ants with leaves on their back. I had only seen that on the discovery channel before. There is also some kind of plant here, they call it the moving plant. When you touch it´s leaves it closes up. It´s neat. A small scorpion was found in my room by the previous guests. They killed it, and I´m hoping it´s mama isn´t looking for it.

One thing I got a chuckle out of is that some people are pretty okay with stomping bugs or getting out a big can of raid. You´re not a sissy to bum out about bugs. Phew!

Got a bit of a stomach bug today, but I picked up a soda at the tienda a little bit ago. I´m hoping I´m on the mend.

There at two distinct groups of locals in Guatemala. They are the Guatemalans and Mayans. Apparently many of the Mayans don´t even speak spanish, they have their own local indian dialects. The Mayan woman are fascinating to watch. They all where these very pretty earth tone colored skirts and their tops look like croched (sp?) ponchos. Most carry their babies in a blanket over their backs. I think they are as curious about me as I am of them.

Okay, a storm is coming, I´m getting off line before we lose power. I plan on staying the first night tomorrow at the Black Cat in Antigua. Adios for now!

Semuc Champey - WOW

2006-11-09T09:26:00.000-05:00

I´m in central Guatemala at the moment staying a lodge called El Remiro. I´m still traveling with my neuvo amigos, three Americans, a guy and girl from Beverly, and a flight attendant from San Francisco. Their spanish is far better than mine, so I´m sticking with these guys like white on rice!

We´ve been here two nights, having arrived after a 2 day journey to get here, which involved 4 buses and a river crossing on a boat. First, we arrived in Coban, where we had arranged in advance for the driver to continue on to the town of Lanquin where this place is. Upon arrival in Coban he changed his story and wanted to charge us more to continue the 2 hour drive. At that point it was dark and rainy and I was all too happy to tell him to pound sand. He put my driving to shame. So, we stayed the night and shared hostel room with 2 bunk beds.

The next morning we began our 2 hour drive to the lodge, El Remiro. The busses we´ve been taking are mostly extra long mini vans, that in the US might seat 10-12. However, here, I counted at one point 20 people. They just jam them in, with someone riding shotgun sitting out the window. At one point we picked up a Mayan woman with a live chicken stuffed in her basket.

This place is unbelievable. It´s on a river surrounded by very green mountains created out of limestone. There is cattle roaming the hills across the river. My private room is pretty cool, it´s a bit of a walk to the eco-friendly restrooms with cold showers. I´ll spare you the details of an eco friendly toilet.

We went tubing down the river the day we arrived. Man! It was a crazy ride....pretty strong river to say the least. Floating down the river and just soaking in the pristine view was very cool. Not a human is sight. I almost overshot the rope you need to grab to get out. This wasn´t the Saco, that´s for sure!!

Yesterday we went caving on the way to Semuc Champey. Words can´t describe it. After first walking along the river and jumping off a swing into the river, we hiked up the side of a waterfall. There we were all handed candles. The cave has a river running through it, so the entire 2 hours we were in the river, walking...or when too deep, swimming. It was absolutely magical with all the candle light. We climbed ladders and ropes (watch your head!) and made our way to an underground waterfall. Man oh man! Back home, without helmuts and life jackets this trip would be beyond illegal.

After the cave, we began a 1.2 kilometer hike...1.2 kilometers you say...peshaw...that´s nothing. NOT. It took us (well me, anyway) and hour and a half to make the vertical climb. I quickly ended up a the end of the line, which was fine with me. At the top, el mirador (the view) was indeed worth the hike. We looked down upon the aqua-green pools of Semuc Champey. Gorgeous. After hiking down to the pools, I was shown where the raging river runs underneath the limestone forming a natural bridge. Conversely, the pools are gentle waters where you can dive, float or just play.

Last night I was bone weary and counted up the bruises on my legs. ouch! I´m a little sore today, but it´s a good sore.

Staff here is very friendly, mostly European. There are always great tunes playing it´s kinda sureal to to in the jungle listening to cool music. It´s amazing to meet people on this trip. I feel very vanilla in my world experiences. Just listening to people talk about where they´ve been and what they´ve done makes me feel like a church mouse.

We´re staying here one more day to chill out. Yay! Tomorrow we will make the trek back to Guat city and then to Antigua.

Bye for now!

Finca Ixobel

2006-11-05T13:39:00.000-05:00

Sunday 11/5 or 11/6? Dunno.

Arrived yesterday at Finca Ixobel, just south of the town of Potun. After getting off the bus, I jumped in the back of a tut tut (these funky 3 wheeled little vehicles) They look like what the Flinstone´s drove. I think they´re very common in Asia. Anyway, went down a winding bumpy road for a few minutes until I arrived. We cruised through some of the neighborhoods and I tell yah, the poverty is abysmal. Shacks put together with sheet metal on dirt floors. But you know what? Everyone is smiling, kids playing in yards seem very happy. It´s very family oriented here. Mums and dads have their kids around them all the time.

Something I will never tire of seeing is watching 3-4 family members all piled onto a scooter. The kids sit squished between the parents on the bike. It brings a new meaning to the word family vehicle. Grandmas will sit side saddle and young women in heals just cruise around. Helmuts? No such thing. Saw a guy cutting his grass...with a machetti.

So, back to Finca Ixobel. They had lots of lodging options. I chose my own private tree house. It´s awesome! My bed has a mosquito net and my little sitting area has a hammock. No electricity, they do provide a couple of candles. Bathrooms are just up the path. Gotta check under the seat for spiders. BIG ones! oof!

I was hoping to go inner tubing here, but they require a minimum of 5 ppl. I'm doing my best to rally the other guests, but it´s rained everyday and believe it or not, it´s a little cool. The rain isn´t a big deal. You just go about your business (reading on a hammock) and eventually it stops for a bit. November is the end of the rainy season. It makes for some lush greenery, that´s for sure.

This place is set up on the honor system. You eat and drink whatever you want and just write it down on your page in the book. I´ve met a young couple from Beverly, and one of the employees here is from NY state. Americans are definitely the minority visitors, though. Tons of Europeans.

I´ve heard about a super cool place to go next. Everyone I´ve talked to about it said it´s not to be missed. Caves and pools of aquamarine water that empty into one another. A woman I sat next to on the bus yesterday said it was the highlight of Guatemala for her. I´ll probably head there in a day or two. I don't have my guide book in front of me, but I think it´s called Sumac Champey.

A couple more Americans checked in today. They now live in Guatemala. One of them is a yoga instructor, I took a class this afternoon, she was a great instructor.

Tikal

2006-11-03T18:16:00.000-05:00

Let's see.....oh, I forgot to mention the hummingbirds yesterday. When I ate my lunch I watched a family of them drinking from the feeder. It reminded me of my mum, she loved hummingbirds. There a lots of kids flying kites around here, it's very neat to see.

This morning, I got up to catch a 5:30am shuttle to Tikal. There was a guide on the bus and I joined his tour with two German girls. Very insightful. Tikal is quite large, and there are many structures still undiscovered. The maya built it approximately 1,800 years ago and it was only discovered in the mid 1800's. The jungle had litterally engulfed it when the Maya mysteriously vanished a few hundred years ago. Most of the temples look just large hills, but if you unearth them, viola.

Saw lot of monkeys and birds. Gotta watch where you step, and look up!

Oh, and when it rains it is slippery as all hell. It rained today. The area is built on lime stone (at least I think that's what he said) Climbing down was terrifying. I did baby steps. And opted out of climbing the last one. Mama didn't raise no fool.

The coolest thing though, here, horses and chickens just roam the street. The driver just slows and beeps. It's all good.

El Remate. La casa de Don David

2006-11-02T17:52:00.000-05:00

Caught a shuttle to the village of El Remate, it was about a half an hour ride from Flores. The web site doesn't do the place justice, it's spectacular. I have my very own hammock outside my room. And of course, I've already napped on it. It's around 80 degrees and raining off and on, very tropical.

Heading out tomorrow morning around 5:00am to see the ruins at Tikal. Will stay here at Casa de Don David (davEED) probably tomorrow night, too. The ruins where Survivor Guatemala was taped is about an hour from here. They offer tours of it. I think I'll pass.

Met a German couple yesterday, the girl was covered in bug bites. uh oh.

The key boards are different. To get the @ sign, you need to hit ALT 64.

Gentle readers, that's all for now.

Day 2, Flores, Guatemala

2006-11-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

Arrived safe and sound in Flores, Guatemala.

Guatemalans have been very friendly. On my flight from Miami to Guat City I sat next to a very nice man. He gave me his cell phone number should I have any questions or need suggestions.

I met a Belgium couple and a local on my flight to Flores, the local guy runs a car rental place and drove us all to the hotel. I ended up staying at the same place as the Belgiums and joined them for dinner. Got a good nights sleep, although after the flights my cold has kicked into overdrive.

Flores is a small, neat town in a lake. Cobblestone (or a variation there of) streets. Sidewalks with gaping holes in them. ohh no. Note to self, watch where you're going!

Will do some more exploring, may get a cheaper hotel room tonight now that I have my bearings. Bye for now!

This is it

2006-10-30T08:13:00.000-05:00

And so it begins....

Move out of apartment - check
Put my life supplies in a back pack - check (oof it's heavy)
Say goodbye to creepy neighbor - check

Before I begin with all the fun, I Just wanted to say to all of you how special you all are to me. The last couple of weeks of going away lunches, dinners and get togethers (thanks Buff!) has meant a lot to me. I feel very loved and blessed by you all!

First stop...Guatemala http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/central_america/Guatemala/guatemala.htm. I land in Guat City on Tuesday 10/31. Later that afternoon I catch a domestic flight to Flores, Guatemala in the north of the country, in the Peten region.

I'll stay in Flores probably two nights before heading the village of El Remate. I think it's about an hour bus ride from Flores. http://www.lacasadedondavid.com/ It's fairly well known amoung back packers, so I'm hoping to meet some cool people and get some tips on what to see and where I can find those doctors without borders.

I'll base my trip to Tikal ruins: http://www.enjoyguatemala.com/ruins.htm from La Casa de Don David.

After seeing Tikal, I plan on heading to this super cool place: http://www.fincaixobel.com/ tubing, caving and hiking. How cool is that? It's like camp for grownups!