Life After Traveling

First month back - Thoughts and Reflections

2005-06-10T02:54:00.000-04:00

I can’t believe that I have been back in the United States for almost a month now. Time has really flown by and has taken about this long to get resituated back into things. I know that I mentioned that I was going to send out a follow up mail letting everyone know what is going on, so I apologize for the delay. Just know that I much needed some down time and to just “veg” for awhile, not having to think about anything. Please don’t feel that I have ignored any of you, because that isn’t the case. Here are some of my highlights from my trip:

Biggest Surprises: Finding out that all of Central America’s countries have everything that we have. “Used” toilet paper isn’t “that” bad. That I gained ten pounds (while most lost ten) and that I didn’t get sick once.

Most Fun: Getting certified to SCUBA dive for Christmas in Belize. Staying on a deserted island in Panama.

Biggest Take Away: People of every country, color, and economic class all have the same life dream: to be happy and free from pain. We are more alike than different. I don’t need to know where I am going in order to get there…this is true peace. I can go anywhere, live, meet people and survive. Kindness goes a long way and so does patience.

Biggest Pleasure: My homestay family. Wow, what an amazing thing to laugh, eat, and share some of your most intimate feelings in another language with people that you feel are like your real family.

Most Excited About: That I am able to speak Spanish a little better than when I started. Oh wait, I couldn’t speak at all before I left. J All the friends that I met from all around the world, making this planet feel all that much smaller.

Best All Around: Is that I changed and that is what this trip was about. This trip was everything that I wanted and more. I truly feel blessed that I was given the opportunity to do something like this. I now get to start over, rewrite the rules so-to-speak and do something that truly matters to me. I feel more at peace with myself and life than ever before and look forward to what the future has in store for me.

Life After C.A.: Currently I am living in Spokane, WA with my family. It has been so great to get reconnected and be here with them. I spent some time over in Seattle and will be there again next week. I am also thinking about spending a little time in NYC and Washington DC, however, I feel that for the moment “home” for me is going to be Spokane. I bought a car and got a cell phone, so I can be a little closer to this side of the world. I also have requested to volunteer with a variety of organizations here in Spokane to build a sense of community and give back a little more. I need to find a job at some point, but feel confident that the right thing will come along soon.

That pretty much sums it up to this point. I am just relaxing, having coffee and doing a lot of reading which has been awesome. I am feeling great, refreshed and excited to start my next chapter. I will keep you posted. God bless you all and thank you so much for everything. I wish you peace and happiness in all that you do.

Thanks,
Craig

Xela no más

2005-04-29T16:50:00.000-04:00

Hola,

Wow, the end of Xela is here. I can’t believe it! I remember when I first got here, scared and not sure what to think. Now it feels like home. I am truly going to miss my family (Doris/Mario) Celas Maya, and friends.

I flew from San José, CR to Guatemala City where Charlie met me. From there we spent a few days catching up and going to Café Barista (the best coffee in all of Guatemala) before heading up to Quetzeltenago.

I was a bit nervous driving up because so much had happened and I didn’t know what to expect. It is always different going back to places and I didn’t know what I would think. Plus Doris had moved into a different house, with a lot more bedrooms which meant more students. The current house has 8 bedrooms.

When I arrived to Doris’ house there was Lucy, Melissa, Sarah, Me, Deborah, and Jimmy. Then another Melissa, David and Sarah’s novio Don Juan de Marco came to stay with us. Right now there are nine of us including Doris and Mario which makes for a really fun time. It has been so great to get to know everyone better, especially Doris and Mario. Now that my Spanish is a bit better we have been able to communicate better.

School went really well for me. I was even surprised at how much more Spanish I knew than I thought I knew. I had a great teacher named Ligia for the entire time I was in school which is really great because they like you to change your teacher after two weeks. We finished up through all the Spanish tenses.

I kept a pretty low profile for this month, trying to make Spanish my priority. We went out of couple of times with friends for wine and cheese, studied over coffee, had a massage. I did go to Guatemala City one weekend for Charlie’s brother wedding which was really fun.

I got to rent a suit and get all dressed up, because they aren’t like the weddings in the States. Here it is a huge production where everyone is required to wear; for the men, suits and for the women, nightgowns. The women all get their hair done and nails…quite the production. There were about 1,200 people that attended, five different types of food (Italian, India, Japanese, Mexican and Greek), dessert table, all you can drink bar (my favorite), and a live band. We all had an amazing time and didn't go to bed until 6:30 am the following day.

The following two weeks were spent just enjoying Xela and Guatemala in general. Doris made a special good-bye dinner for everyone which was amazing. Super good food and tons of friends, in all there were: Me, Melissa, Melissa, Lucy, Sarah, Don Juan de Marco, Peter, Kevin, David, Charlie, Doris and Mario. Afterwards we played a game of Mimica which was a lot of fun. We all decided to go out afterwards and check out the street fair. They had live bands playing in the street, dancers and fireworks. It was very cool.

During my last week I shared it between Antigua and the City which was really nice. Kevin got to spend some of it with Charlie and I since he rode back with us, Charlie's grandma and her friend from Sweden. It was good to see some old friends, hang out in the park in Antigua and of course get coffee and Cafe Barista. Guatemala's only good coffee spot. I spent plenty of time hanging out there, reading and enjoying some great coffee.

Charlie through a birthday dinner at Tamarindos with some friends which was over the top. We ate and drank like kings and had a great time. I got one more amazing massage from David...absolutely incredible in Antigua and got to buy all my gifts for my family and friends.

That pretty much takes me right up to the end of my trip. I can't believe that it is finally over. What an amazing time, truly a dream come true and something that I will never forget. Thanks to everyone who supported me on this journey, cheered me on and gave me strength.

I love you all,
Craig

Panama

2005-04-24T16:53:00.000-04:00

Greetings,

Panama, what a great time I had there. On the horrific bus ride down there I met some great guys from Sweden: their names are Olle, Johan, and Patrik.

We got into the city’s bus station around 4 pm and grabbed a taxi. The taxi driver’s name was Antonio, which we would get to see a lot more of him in the times to come. He recommended us to stay at Hotel Latino, which ended up being a great place. For private rooms; with bath, free Internet, pool, and air conditioning was only $17 a night for two people. Great we were set!

We needed a break from the whole travelling bit, so we spent the following few days taking it easy. We went out to eat, saw movies, shopped (hey I needed more clothes, right?) and went to a few of the local night spots. The first one was called “Next” and we had a great time. There was a live band and a private section that we lied to get into.

The following few days were spent touring the city. Antonio and his friend took us on a driving tour of the city. We went to the Locks, the Old and New parts of town. We had a good laugh because their version of tourism was a bit different than what we thought it should be. Like the time they drove to a deserted road so that would could look at shipping crates on the ground.

The Swedes had some friends coming in and I was waiting for my new friend Ryan to come in. When they did, they left for the islands and Ryan and I stayed in the city for a few more days. We wanted to leave right away for the San Blas Islands, but there was no available spots on the plane.

We killed the time by going to see the Bahi and Hindu Temples, which were very cool. Also we explored Panama Antigua a bit more. And the trip wouldn’t be complete without going to “The Garage.” Oh good times!

Finally, we were off for the San Blas Islands. The San Blas Islands are off of Panama’s coast in the Caribbean. There are over 365 islands and most of them are private or deserted. We stayed a Robinson’s Island. Truly amazing. For $17 a day, you got three meals a day and a grass hut to sleep in.

When Ryan and I first got to the island, there was only us and four other students from Yale (on spring break) on the island. Besides Ernesto the chef and island keeper. After the second day Ryan and I had the island to ourselves. Our days were filled with sun, relaxation and fun. I still can’t believe how incredible it was. I even ate a coconut right after it fell from the tree.

We laid out in the sun, went snorkelling, visited the other islands that hosted the Koona Tribe, played cards, read and just relaxed. There was no running water, electricity, or lights on the island. It was like camping in the Caribbean and so far away from everything. I will never forgot what an amazing feeling it was to have an entire island to yourself. It was so nice to relax, reflect and just be with no worries. This truly one of the highlights of my trip.

We had to leave after four days, getting up (or I should say not getting up) at 5:00 am. We over slept because the night before we had cockroaches crawling in our hair and crabs making clicking noises. Besides, sleeping in a hammock is pretty uncomfortable, so by the time we had to get up we overslept. Luckily, Ernesto woke us up.

It was really scary riding in a canoe-like boat in the pitch blackness, but we made it to the other “bigger” island that had the airport on it. We flew back to the Panama City, where we had a short layover before flying out to Bocas Del Toro another set of islands off of Panama’s coast in the Caribbean, only more north closer to Costa Rica.

On our first night we stayed on a little island off of Bocas del Toro because we didn’t want to stay in a real “touristy” place. The island, beach and hotels weren’t that nice so after the first night we headed back to the main island. We checked ourselves into Hotel Angela’s. It was a bit expensive, but we wanted to relax. This was before I realized how much money I had spent. Yikes, that was a depressing day.

Ryan and I went out to eat, went scuba diving, played games like “Who would you rather,” and hung out with the locals. The diving conditions weren’t that good and our dive guide was like 16 years old so we didn’t feel to comfortable. Probably one of the most fun things that we did was read the really cheesy books they had at the hotel.

One that will always be in our memories was called, “Why have the birds stopped singing.” A turbulent tale of a young girl named Paula that struggles with epilepsy while having a past life occurrence while her school trip to the Washington’s Coast takes a turn for the worst (dot, dot, dot)…

We left there in the rain and a taxi ride from hell. Stressed out that we were going to miss our bus, we made it all the way to San Jose, CR okay. I was flying out of San Jose to Guatemala City and Ryan was meeting his sister there. Ryan had a good time in San Jose and were sad when it was time to say good-bye. We had a great time and I am glad we became friends.

Uncle Sid

2005-04-24T16:20:00.000-04:00

Hola Amigos,

I wanted to write about my trip from Manuel Antonio to San José, CR. I have been meaning to, but I have forgotten until now.

I was leaving Manuel Antonio for the city to get ready to head to Panama. This was just before I got my backpack stolen in Juko’s house. It was a hot day and there was no air-conditioning in the bus. Luckily or not, I was at the very back of the bus. Typically you get more room and don’t have to be bothered with a lot of people coming and going.

Well on this particular day, there was an old man sitting next to me. I would guess him to be in his early sixties, white hair on the sides of his head and bald on top. He was wearing a brown Canada hot, white shirt that said Vancouver, Canada on it, brown shorts and tennis shoes. Nothing to unusual I thought, just a guy who wants everyone to think he is Canadian.

We started our conversation like any other. You know, the usual greetings of, “Where are you from? What are you doing here? How long have you been here?” Sid as it turns out has been coming to Costa Rica for the last 10 years. Luckily for Sid, he gets to spend about six months in each place, here and Canada. Although after talking to him, I am not so sure he was all that happy about it.

One of the conversations (which typically happens) lead to us talking about if anything “bad” happened to us. Sid mentioned that there was an American guy that he was talking to earlier that day, that lives near Quepos who had a Costa Rican guy living with him that was helping take care of the house and the gardens. Apparently this Tico ended up stealing from him and when the guy confronted him and kicked him out of the house the guy came back and beat up this American.

Sid said, “I wish I would have known about this sooner because I could have ‘taken’ care of the guy. You have to know how to ‘take care’ problems here. I know people.”

Well, I didn’t quite know what to think of Sid. Maybe he knows the police or belongs to some sort of “block watch” group that some of the neighborhoods have to help reduce crime in the area? I found out quickly enough.

Sid was well known in town to get condoms from, give advice, and even come to for help if you found yourself in jail. “One guy,” boasted Sid, “said that he would give me a ‘special’ favor if I gave him money to post bail. I thought about it.” Sid would go into detail about his run-ins with the young locals and how they have sex at young ages and what not.

This was Sid’s lighter side because then he went back into telling me about the troubled kids that he would pay to have taken care of. “You would be surprised at what $50 dollars will get you,” Sid proudly stated. “There was this one time I found a guy stealing from the family that I was staying with. You just don’t let people get away with that. So for $50 dollars I had this guy take a baseball bat to his head. Well needless to say, we didn’t see him anymore.”

Sid continued in this fashion. Talking about his life with great pride, making sure to state that you can’t let people take advantage of you or else. I never did figure our what the ‘else’ was, but I imagined it to be pretty bad. I mean why else would you go to all the trouble to “take care” of people. He told me about his backpacking through Europe, sky diving, and doing all the things you want to in order to stay “young.”

“Wow, what an adventurous life. Is there anything thing that you haven’t done that you really want to?” I asked innocently.

“Well, I haven’t killed anyone,” Sid said with a smile on his face that said he wasn’t kidding. After more questioning on my part, he assured me he wasn’t.

It was bound to happen

2005-03-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

Buenas Tardes!

I hope this email finds everyone happy and well. Just a quick update while I have a bit of time before heading off to Bocas del Toro, Panama to let you know what I have been up to lately.

After spending some much needed beach time in Manuel Antonio, CR I headed back to San José to organize my trip to Panama City. There aren't too many choices to head to Panama, my ticket was leaving SJ at 10:00 pm and arriving to PC at 4:00 pm the following day...more on that later.

After spending a bit of time in the city the following day, I was able to get everything done that I wanted to and even had time to buy two books for the bus ride. I said "Goodbye" to my friend Michael, had "Bagelman's" one more time and was off to Judko's home (where I have been staying while in San José). I needed to head back home to back my stuff for the trip. Upon arriving to the front of the house I immediately saw police cars and security officers.

A bit alarmed I walked up to the front door, which I noticed was completely smashed in (ironically it wasn't even locked, they could have just walked in) and not really sure what to expect. Apparently, while I was away someone had broken into Judko's home and then tried to break into the neighbor's house which triggered the alarm (hence the police). Flashing before my eyes were all my belongings: clothes, passport, camera, backpack, everything...gone.

Luckily for me the policemen spoke some English and I asked if I could come in to check if my stuff was still here. I ran upstairs to a small blue bag that I had bought in Guatemala to use for short trips (like trips to the beach) and noticed that everything that I really cared about was still there! Whew! From just looking at the bag, you would have not expected the things that were in there. It just looked like a gym bag with some clothes thrown on top, but buried beneath the mess was everything else.

However, I didn't walk away completely unscathed and neither did Judko. They stole his TV and stereo and stole my backpack. In it was all my shoes, some clothes and miscellaneous items. Not a huge loss, but the backpack was Curtis'. Sorry Curtis! (Erica aren't you glad that I decided to switch it out the last second!) Erica was kind enough to lend me her's, but I didn't like the feeling that something might happen to it...like getting stolen.

I called Judko and told him that the security guards were here and wanted to know if he wanted to talk to them. His response was, "Security guards! Get them out of my house before they steal something too!" Apparently the law enforcement team isn't like ours. The police stated that I could go down and make a statement and when I asked if that would do any good, they said "No." So at least they were honest.

I was a bit shaken up, but I packed the rest of my belongings in my inconspicuous blue bag and headed downtown to catch my bus. While taking a taxi, I reflected at how I have traveled 7 countries, rode on numerous chicken buses and were in situations less than desirable and never had any problems. Not one. Heck I haven't even been sick yet...no traveler's...well you know what. And here in this house that is secured with bars on all the windows, a 15 foot wall surrounding the backyard with spikes, and a security controlled garage door got broken into and my stuff stolen.

I know all too well how secure his house is because I locked myself out once before. Judko is in the United States and I was just planning on running to the store really quickly so the only thing that I had was a little money and the clothes that I was wearing. I ran out and shut the door behind me and it was locked. I am not sure how it got locked, but I had no credit cards, no phone numbers, no ID...nothing. And no way of getting a hold of anyone. I didn't know what to do I so tried climbing on top of the roof with a ladder, that didn't work. With no other way to get in, I just sat on the front steps waiting for the neighbor to show, but it was already 11:00 pm and I didn't know if he was even in town.

I was a little desperate for about 30 minutes, but everything worked out okay. The neighbor 'Migue'l came home (and spoke English, yah! Trying to explain who I was when he has never seen me and tell him that I need to get into Judko's house was a bit much for me.). He didn't have the key, so we tried a couple of other futile attempts at climbing through the backyard. Let me tell you that 15 feet walls, with fenced spikes all around, and a garden of thorns underneath isn't an easy chore. When it was all said and down, cuts, scrapes and all the backdoor was locked. Miguel was nice enough to let me stay at his house until the maid came later the next day! Thanks Miguel! So here I was in disbelief that they could get in and steal mine and Judko's things.

I arrived at the bus station and we left for Panama at 10 pm. I was a little confused at this because the border closes at 7:00 pm and doesn't open until 6:00 am. Well, it turns out that the road to the border is one of the windiest, twisted roads ever. If you could stomach the nausea for a bit to try to fall asleep, you were awoken by being thrown on the floor by the driver's erratic driving. We ended up getting to the border at 4:00 am and had to wait for two hours before it opened.

The air was hot and humid and the bus was turned off...no air conditioning! Failing to sleep, I got up at 5:30 am to get something to eat before I had to wait in line for the next 2 hours. The immigration window to leave CR is in a different spot than is the window to buy your tourist visa to enter Panama, which is in a different place than the immigration window to check into Panama. We then had to take all of our luggage off so the immigration security could check them and also check the bus. We left at 8:00 am four hours later at the border and didn't get into Panama until 4:00 pm. A very long 18 hours!

Panama comes with its' own adventures, but that is another email and for another time. Just know that I am having a great time here and no more troubles. Honestly I can't complain for I have had nothing but great fortune on this trip.

Muchas abrazos y besos,
Craig

Nicaragua and Costa Rica

2005-02-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

Greetings and Salutations to you all,

Well, it has been some time since I last wrote in here. Mostly because I have been on the go a lot and haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and write. I know, I know…no excuse.

Okay so where I left off…whew! This is going to take awhile. After the wedding Charlie and I headed off for El Salvador again. It was nice to spend some time there and we met up with Charlie’s friend Quique. Not sure if that is how it is spelt, but that is how is sounds phonetically. We went down to La Libertad, a small beach town about 45 mins away from San Salvador, had lunch and looked at a potential place for Charlie’s birthday party which is on March 28th.

The next morning we drove straight from San Salvador, through Honduras to Managua, Nicaragua’s capitol. I really enjoyed Managua and there was some great pieces of architecture there. Once I post the pictures to Ofoto I will send them out. I think that you will like them. From there we drove to Granada which is about 40 mins away. It is a small colonial town, next to Lake Nicaragua the world’s third largest lake.

I was really looking forward to staying there and studying Spanish. I had heard good things about Granada, but it was more run down than I had expected and not a lot of people there. I checked out a Spanish school there, which was okay (it was no Celas Maya), but I was going to give it a go anyways. The only thing that I didn’t like was the fact that there were only six students, all of which were over 50 except for one. Not really the place to meet new traveling buddies.

Since we were so close to Costa Rica, Charlie thought we should go down there to visit some of his friends for the weekend and then he would drive up and drop me off in Granada. Even though it wasn’t the best situation I thought that maybe it would be good for me to practice my Spanish without a lot of distractions. So we quickly left Granada and headed for San José.

The border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua was a nightmare. We ended up having to stay over three hours at the border while they kept asking for money to “speed up” the process. Apparently there is “extra” insurance that you need if you have a car and they need to “call” to get approval which can “take time.” Finally we were out of there, but didn’t arrive in San José until late.

Judko, Charlie’s friend let us stay with him which was very nice. We left the next day for Manuel Antonio a beach town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. It was beautiful there. One thing about CR is that it is the easiest place to travel around in. Upon arriving here I didn’t want to leave so Judko said that I could stay at his place, since he was leaving for the States. Wow! Thanks. I had thought about taking Spanish lessons here, but the price is about 5 times more expensive here than in Guatemala. No, my Spanish would have to wait. Charlie left back for Guatemala (alone)….sorry.

A bit of luck! Rachael one of my dear friends that I met in Guatemala was finishing up her work project in the mountains and had a couple of days to spend in San José. We quickly met up for coffee and to hangout. It was so good to see her! We decided to go white water rafting on the Paquaté, one of Costa Rica’s best rivers.

The river is located in the rain forest which is absolutely beautiful and has 3 and 4 class rapids. It was raining the day that we went, so the rapids were in full force. There were about 6 rafts all together and one of them tipped over completely and all the people went down the river. A bit scary, but it added to the excitement. Our raft got stuck on a rock and started to tip over, but we all leaned to that side to prevent it from flipping over. One of the girls in our raft did fall out though. They served us breakfast and lunch and pick us up downtown. All in all it was an amazing time.

I met a few more friends of Judko and Charlie’s which was really cool to have a group of people to hangout with. Michael, who just graduated from the university with an Industrial Engineer degree had some free time since he wasn’t working so we decided to go to Montezuma another small beach town on Costa Rica’s Pacific side.

It is nice to have someone who knows the area to help out with plans. We first spent the night in Puntareanas then the next day went to Montezuma. It was beautiful. There were these waterfalls that you could climb to and swim in these little pools. Amazing! We met two guys from Victoria, BC Rudy and Mark who are really cool. I decided to meet up with them later.

So after Michael and I returned to San José I packed my bags and headed back to Manuel Antonio for a few days. I met up with Rudy and Mark, but they are leaving today to climb some mountain (no thanks :-) ). I need to figure out how to get to Panama. It is a bit more trouble than I would like, plus I need to figure out when I am going back to Guatemala. I am planning on studying for one more month to better my Spanish speaking skills.

The plan right now is that I will leave Manuel Antonio tomorrow for San José, spend the weekend there then on Monday go to Panama’s consulate to pick up a tourist visa. Then spend a couple of weeks there, return to San José to fly back to Guatemala City. So we will see.

All is good here and enjoying myself. I hope all is well with everyone.
Craig

Here, there and back again

2005-01-24T02:37:00.000-05:00

Cheers,

This past month has been a little bit crazy, but fun. Since coming back from Mexico for New Years I spent a little while in Guatemala City which was a nice break from traveling. My days were filled with sleeping in, watching TV and eating good food.

The plan was for me to head out to El Salvador and then stay in Honduras after that, in which Charlie and I would go together. Charlie needed to go to these cities for work and I would keep myself busy checking out the new sites. He was going to drop me off in Honduras and I was going to continue my journey south. It sort of happened, but with a few minor adjustments. It goes as follows:

Charlie and I left for San Salvador, El Salvador a week and a half ago. The drive from the City to the El Salvador/Guatemala border was beautiful. The day was clear and sunny and the landscape was different than the rest of Guatemala. That is one thing that I have really appreciated about Guatemala is that it is a very beautiful country with a ton of different geographical landscapes.

At the border in San Cristóbal it was pretty hectic and more people coming up to the car and trying to exchange money than in any other border I have been too. They were relentless and would put the faces to the car’s windows five to six at a time. Although getting into the country wasn’t a problem. The lady at Immigration did comment on my passport picture and my looks. With my broken Spanish I thought that she said that I looked very different and in my passport picture I looked very young. I was horrified, especially with my 27th birthday coming up I have already been depressed about getting and worse looking older. However, it turns out that she said my hair looked different, and still looked very young thanks to Charlie’s translation. Yah! I look young!

Within two hours we were in San Salvador. I instantly loved the city and knew from the drive in that I was going to like this place. The road was a newly paved, four lane with freshly painted lines and they use American dollars. No messy exchange rates in my head. As for San Salvador it is actually a very clean city that is big, but with a calmness about it I haven’t found before in Central America. It actually reminded me of Southern California, sort of San Diego-ish.

However, this is where the “backpacking” stops and the “packing” starts. We checked ourselves into the Hilton Hotel and it was great. And since Charlie is an executive member, we even got better service than normal. (Although don’t ask him about the room service fiascoes). It felt so good to be home again J We had room service, worked out at the gym, had spa treatments and massages and watch cable TV. During the day I would lie by the pool and read and at night we would eat at nice restaurants and go to fun bars.

This city is very cool and I am really surprised at how great it is. Plus the people are really friendly. We met up with Charlie’s friend Paulina who is this beautiful, eccentric girl for shopping and coffee my two favorite things. After words, we went home to eat and change before meeting up at a local bar/club with Paulina, her boyfriend and friends for drinks. Apparently he has an open tab at the place so he bought everyone’s drinks all night, needless to say we had fun. I have to admit that the best line that came out of that night was a quick conversation held by Paulina and I:

Paulina: I really like you Craig. You are so sweet.
ME: Ah, thanks I really like you too.
Paulina: No, I mean I really like you. Do you want to know why?
ME: Why?
Paulina: Because you like me.

Priceless! You can’t even make stuff up like that.

After two days of bliss, Charlie and I headed for San Miguel to stay the night there on our way to Honduras. I can tell you that San Salvador is different than the rest of the country which isn’t all that desirable so we didn’t do much in San Miguel. The next morning we were off to Tegucigalpa, Honduras’ capital and no matter how many times someone tells me how to say it I still can’t. Aside from some pretty natural landscape, there isn’t a whole lot in Honduras and the people are not as nice as in other parts of CA.

We countered this by checking ourselves into the Intercontinental Hotel, which was conveniently located next to a mall. Yah! More room service, cable TV and shopping! We only stayed one night there because we needed to get to San Pedro Sula. Again, not much to see on the way there and San Pedro Sula wasn’t that nice either although we did check into the Princess Hotel. Are you getting the picture? :-)

There was a little excitement in San Pedro Sula though. Charlie and I forgot our passports/ID’s/money in the safe at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tegucigalpa and were getting them shipped to us which were to arrive the next day for us to pick up. Well the night that we were in San Pedro we went out to dinner of all places Applebee’s (I am horrified that I just admitted that), but it was close to the hotel and we were tired. I can tell you that all Applebee’s look the same, sound the same and taste the same.

On our way back to the hotel we got stopped by the police. They do random car check points all over in Central America, but a lot in Honduras. They ask for your ID and proof of insurance to make sure you haven’t stolen the car and that you are protected. Well since we didn’t have our ID’s and after some lengthy discussions, they were going to take us to jail. The called over more policemen and Charlie got out of the car to talk to them. This is really horrible, but I was secretly excited that we might go to jail. Horrible I know, but it sounded like a fun adventure and I didn’t think that we would be there long (am I being ignorant?). However, Charlie paid the policeman 335 lempiras, which was in small bills so it looked like a lot of money, but in reality it was only a little over $15.00.

The following day we headed out to La Cieba and we stayed with Charlie’s cousin Mila. The plan was to go to the Bay Islands for a few days and then Charlie would go back to Guatemala and I would head to Nicaragua. However, it was raining the entire time that we were in La Cieba and we thought going to the islands would be a waste time. So instead we hung out with Mila, ate and saw a bit of the city.

We decided to head to Copan instead of staying in La Cieba. Which out of everything that I have seen in Honduras is the best. It is a beautiful, small colonial town with a lot of charm. There are ruins near by, but we didn’t have time to see them. I really did not mind because I was able to visit the ones in Tikkal, but will do it if I pass through Copan again. I hope that I do because it was really great. We did go through Esquipulas to visit this church that houses a Christ statue brought over in the 17th or 18th century by an archbishop that is buried there. Apparently it is well known that if you come before it, pray and make a wish it comes true. There were all these plaques from people that had miracles happen to them and their families. I’ll let you know if mine comes true.

Charlie needed to head back to Guatemala for his cousin’s wedding, but said that he needed to come back down again to work. So here I am, back in Guatemala City typing this blog. I feel like I have come full circle, despite having done so much. The plan is to leave again on Tuesday for El Salvador, then quickly pass through Honduras on route to Nicaragua. Charlie will finally drop me off in Granada, Nicaragua where I will stay and study more Spanish.

Could it be that there are more Hiltons, shopping and coffee in my near future? One never knows, but it will definitely be a stark contrast to the life I am eventually embarking on. I do know that I started with one bag and now have two to carry.

Happy trails,
Craig

PS: I have read some past blogs and I am a bit troubled by all of my errors. Although updateable, I don’t have time to go back and make corrections, so I will try to actually re-read what I write. In the meantime, please be kind and forgiving. I write these fast and typically in a setting with a lot of distractions. Thanks! :-)

Mexico with a Bang!

2005-01-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

Feliz Año!

After Christmas Charlie met up with Lisa and I in Belize City on route to Playa del Carmen. We decided to stay the night there and Charlie got us a room at the Princess Hotel (appropriate, no?) for a Christmas present. It was great. The hotel also had the city’s only movie theatre (we saw A Shark’s Tale, complete with pop, popcorn and peanut M&M’s), casino, pool and restaurant inside.

The movie got out around 5 pm and we ran into Charlie in the lobby which was a surprise because he was driving in from Guatemala City. We didn’t expect him until much later in the evening. It was then that we shared our experiences of the Belizean people which is definitely different than anywhere else in Latin America. The funniest was when Charlie pulled over to fill up his car with gas a woman came up to him and said, “Why are you driving a black car, White?” Where “white” in this case was Charlie.

After a great night rest we were off to Mexico which took us about two hours to get to the Mexico-Belize border passing through Chetumal. We pulled into Playa del Carmen around 4 pm after a pretty boring car ride. We were glad to be here and checked into Hostel Playa, where we lucked out and had a private room for the three of us costing $15 dollars a day per person. A welcomed change from the 24-bed room that we thought we had to stay in since we made our reservations at the last minute.

After checking in, we unpacked and decided to check out the town. It was a bit of culture shock for Lisa and I since we have been living in Guatemala for so long. Playa del Carmen felt more like the US than Mexico complete with TGI Friday’s, 3 Häagen Daiz, and designer clothing, jewelry and sunglass stores. The prices also took some adjusting since one meal could cost as much as a whole day in Guatemala.

However, the place is very beautiful especially the beaches. The sand is like white powder it is so fine and the water turquoise blue. We spent most of our days there, getting up around 9 or 10 am, having breakfast and coffee, then off to the beach for at least four hours. It was perfect and just the thing to really get that sought after bronzed tan.

We treated ourselves to some great meals and drinks in the evenings. It was usually something like this: Finish the beach around 4 pm, come home for a nap getting up around 7 pm. We would take a shower and be ready around 9 pm for dinner. Then off to drinks until…? Since unlike Guatemala, Mexico doesn’t really stop serving drinks until the bars close well into the wee morning hours. One of our favorite spots was the bar on top of Hotel Deseo which is similar to Sky Bar in LA.

During the day we would do some shopping and look at all the various boutique shops. There are some great stuff to buy and see, especially with the locals calling out to you to come in and buy something from them. Most of the lines are in Spanish with things like “Hey why don’t you buy something for your girl” to “What are you looking for?” But a few were also in English and my favorite was when Lisa and I were walking down 5th Street, Playa del Carmen’s main street, this guy calls out to Lisa and says, “Hey, you look like “Push” Spice.” Ha ha… Being that there is no Push Spice, but Posh Spice is funny enough, but Lisa doesn’t look like Posh Spice, but Scary Spice which makes it even funnier.

Our schedule was a little thrown off because we lost a day. I guess that happens to people who don’t work J I didn’t know what day of the week it was or what the date was, but I thought that New Year’s Eve was on Saturday. This is a conversation by me and another girl in the hostel on Thursday:

EMMA: Tomorrow a bunch of us are getting together for lunch here to eat and have drinks. We thought it would be fun to get an early start and you should come.
ME: An early start for what?
EMMA: For New Year’s Eve.
ME: But New Year’s Eve isn’t until Saturday.
EMMA: No it’s tomorrow.
ME: How is that possible if today is the 29th of December?
EMMA: Today is the 30th.
ME: Oh….???

A good thing that she said something because we needed to get our plans locked down for the evening. We ended up staying at the hostel for the early part of the night, drinking and playing card games. We brought in the New Year with champagne, 12 grapes, laughter and friends. It was a perfect night and a great way to bring in the New Year.

Afterwards, we decided to go out dancing at Santanera one of the local club/bars. It is a really cool space with a big open bar at the top where Charlie decided to order a $200 bottle of Champagne. After which we went downstairs where the dance floor is and proceeded to drink and dance until around 5 am. It was then when Lisa and I decided that we needed a pizza break and grabbed something to eat. After we got back to the club we danced a bit more and then left returning back to the hostel around 7 in the morning.

Around 9 am I decided to go to the beach with some friends from the hostel and sleep/lay out in the sun while Lisa and Charlie slept. Later in the afternoon we caught another movie “The Incredibles” which was in Spanish, but since it was a cartoon it was pretty easy for me to understand most of it. We grabbed some food and went to bed pretty early. The next day we ate and got some coffee before driving to Belize City.

We stayed the night there at The Great House Inn (“an inn of distinction” so the sign boasted), a cute white cottage and ate dinner in the restaurant. The next morning we were off to Rio Dulce where we stayed the night at Mansion del Rio right on the river. The room included a boat tour of the river and a stop at “Castillo de San Felipe” a fort built by the Spaniards to protect the goods of import/exports coming in and out of the region by the pirates.

The following day we made our way back to Guatemala City and shared our last night with Lisa. Sad. She flew to Ecuador to finish her last part of her trip in South America before returning to the States. I have been staying at Charlie’s house, sleeping in and watching TV all day which has been wonderful. We have been going to dinner parties and will go to Antigua tomorrow for brunch with friends. After this weekend Charlie and I are driving to El Salvador for a few days and then off to Honduras. Charlie will leave me behind and I will be traveling alone from that point onward. I am a bit nervous, but excited to see some new countries.

All I want for Christmas this year is Belize...Please!

2004-12-28T18:12:00.000-05:00

Feliz Navivdad,

After Lisa, Paul and I got to Belize City we caught a ferry boat to Caye Caulker, an island 20 miles off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean. We were greeted with sun, palm trees, sand and people more than willing to take you to “one” of the best hotels/hostels on the island. Since we didn’t have any reservations, we decided to go along with one lady.

After about a 15 min walk, we came upon the Tropical Paradise Hotel a cute, clean place right on the water. However they were asking $70 Belizean dollars (which is about $35 US dollars) for three people and we thought we could do better. So after a few more minutes we came up a place for $45 Belizean a night for three which works about to $7.50 US dollars per person. Great, we’ll take it!

Sure the beds were broken and provided no support since all the springs were damaged. And yeah, the door to the bathroom was about three feet in length and provided no privacy and the fan was not securely fastened to the ceiling, with promises of fallen on top of us when we were sleeping. The shower had no hot water and trickled out with as much speed and the workers on the island and both the shower and bathroom sink drained out of a hole in the floor and onto the sand, but it was cheap!

Happy with our find and thinking we were savvy travelers we changed and decided to explore the island. However on our return we realized that the room was for 7 guests and not 3 since we found about 4 cockroaches in our bags and room. Trying not to freak out we all sealed our bags and tried to get a good night sleep. The next morning I reached in my bag to grab some clothes only to have a cockroach scurry up my arm. He also had his brother in there too!

After two days at the Roach Motel, we decided that there are more important things than cheap and checked into the Paradise Hotel. However, it was late and at the last moment and they only had one room which we needed to change the next morning. A little more expensive, but the second room had air conditioning. A rare and wonderful treat. The problem now is Paul is leaving which means that the room is too expensive for two people.

So again Lisa and I moved to yet another hotel. This one wasn’t as nice as the Paradise, but cheaper. Although this room had its’ own share of “amenities” namely the bathroom. The toilet upstairs was leaking….a lot. The bathroom ceiling was bulging under the weight of the water, which was running down the wall and dripping onto our toilet. And every time you used it you would get a sprayed by the dripping, slightly used water. And yes, this place had cockroaches too, but we decided to stay together as one big happy family.

The island itself was very nice. Slow paced and just the thing that you are looking for to relax. Our days were filled with getting up, eating, laying out in the sun and more eating. There were some good places to eat and some were really cheap, like $3 US for a complete meal. For breakfast we liked to go to Cindy’s boasting of organic coffee and great breakfast food.

It was here that I would get my peanut butter and toast and I also attempted at ordering an ice coffee that went something like this:

ME: Can I get an iced latte here?
WAITRESS: Sure, no problem.
CINDY (owner): Here you go, but I have never understood people ordering iced lattes because by the time it gets to the table, the ice is melted. (She had poured steamed milk over the ice cubes.)
ME: (after tasting the lukewarm nastiness) Uumm…I am sorry, but is there anyway I could get this made with cold milk instead?
CINDY: I am sorry, that is just the way we make it.
ME: I realize that, but could I just cold milk instead of steamed that way it won’t melt the ice?
CINDY: But we always use steam milk, that is why I have never understood people wanting iced lattes.
ME: I just don’t understand (shrugging my shoulders in disbelief).

I did end up getting some sort of blended cold coffee drink, but that was neither what I wanted nor was it good. From then on I realized that thinking outside the box a little bit was a harder stretch than me drinking hot lattes.

For my Christmas present for myself I decided to get certified to SCUBA dive. It was amazing. I hadn’t thought about getting done on this trip which is strange because this is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but then I saw signs for it and Paul just got it done in Honduras, so I decided to do it.

The first day was just watching the videos and doing some reading. I met with my instructor Bert who was totally cool and just the person you want for this kind of experience: funny, patient, confident, competent and kind. The next day we went out to the Belize Reef for two dives to do my first series of water tests. This involved me preparing my gear, breathing underwater, taking my mask off under water, and a number of other things.

The following day we dived to 60ft which was incredible. The complete feeling of floating in space, not to mention that we saw a huge sea turtle. It basically just stopped and stared at me for awhile, trying to figure out what I was. It was something out of a movie or felt like I was in outer space and this was some alien looking at me. Words cannot describe it.

There were two guys with me that day who were getting their advanced diving certification which turned out to be a great thing for me. Not only did they have to do most of the things that I had to do they were going to do an extra third dive that was a navigational dive. Bert showed us how to use a compass and then we charted out a underwater course, something that I wouldn’t have had the option to do on just getting my open water certification.

However, it wasn’t until the next day that I really got another awesome opportunity, we dived to a 100ft. For an open water certification you can only go 60ft and you need to complete five dives. Since I got that extra third dive in the day before, I got my five dives in and because I was doing really well Bert trusted me to take me to a 100ft. It is at a 100ft that nitrogen narcosis starts in (a cause from having more nitrogen in the blood than the body can absorb leading to a “drunken state of being”) and we had to do some additional tests at that depth to see the effects on us. There wasn’t really anything that was noticeable to any of us. We got one more dive that was a multilevel dive meaning that we started at 80 ft, then 60 ft and lastly around 40 ft. I can honestly say that the whole experience was one of the coolest things that I have ever done in my life.

Over all the whole island was great. Lisa and I decided to check out another island called San Pedro on Christmas Day. This island is more touristy and even has ATM’s, dance clubs and a hospital. We didn’t like it as much as Caye Caulker which is quieter and more intimate. I missed my friends and family on Christmas Day which was the first time that I have ever missed it in the 27 years that I have been born. Plus, it didn’t really feel the same with 89 degree weather, sun, sand and palm trees, but it was a transition I greeted with SPF 15.

Flores and Tikal

2004-12-20T20:45:00.000-05:00

Greetings All!

Lisa and I left Guatemala City on Saturday morning to catch the luxury bus. It was actually really nice, double decker bus, with air conditioning that worked too well. Even despite the cold Burger King that was served and the tissue-like blankets the 8 hour trip went pretty fast.

We got into Flores around 6 pm and in about 10 mins we had our hotel, shuttle ticket to Tikal and bus ticket to Belize. The Mirador del Lago Hotel was pretty nice. Our first one was on the top level, only unit with a huge balcony over looking the lake and Flores. Beautiful!

Flores is a tiny island city that is pretty much quiet all year round according to a local that I asked. You could walk the entire island in about 3o mins. I am not sure if it was ever completly surrounded by water, but now there is a small road that connects it with the mainland.

The following day we got our shuttle to Tikal at 5 am in the morning. I know it was difficult for me. The bus was a little late, promising to have us watch the sunrise in Tikal, but we got there around 7:00 am instead. Once in Tikal it was a short 10 min ride through the Ancient Mayan Ruin Park.

The Mayan Park is one of the largest collection of ruins in the world and it was absolutely amazing. We first headed to the Gran Plaza which holds Temples I and II. It was incredible to see the temples, alters, and offering tables. You could totally see this Gran Plaza as a working/functioning "city center."

We lucked out and ran into Dave, Megan, and Paul. They left the day before us and we were worried that we wouldn't see Dave or Megan to say bye. Both of them are leaving for the States. We miss you already.

From the Gran Plaza we headed to Temple IV the highest of all the Temples. From there the view was beautiful. From all around you only could see the rain forest and the other Temples sticking through the trees. We also saw a lot of monkeys climbing and jumping from one tree to another.

After that we headed for the other Temples, six in all and the other collection of ruins. They are similar in appearance of the pyramids in Egypt. The only real difference is that the Mayan Temples have stairs that go all the way to the top of the temple. We had lunch, finished up the rest of the sights and headed home after about 7 hours of walking and climbing in the park. It was tiring, but well worth the trip. What a great experience.

We went back to Flores to stay the night and then head out to Belize City the next morning, again catching a 5 am shuttle. Only this time we had to change rooms because the first one was for three people and we are only two. Needless to say it wasn't as nice as the first one. It was on the second floor right next to the street so it was very noisy. When you used the bathroom sink, the water would drain from the bowl to the floor. Also, the toilet/sink emitted a foul smell...something like a gases sulferic smell. I guess we had our very own hot natural springs in our own room.

The next morning we met up with Paul and were picked up at 5:10 am in a shuttle that took us on a 1 min ride to the other side of the island. From there we waited until 6:00 am for the bus. Ha ha...they said the 5 am ride to Belize was the best, but they must have meant the 1 min shuttle ride.

It took us about five hours to get to Belize City and we jumped on the 12:30 pm boat to Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is an island off of Belize about 20 miles away. It is very beautiful here. More to come on this!

Hope all is well and love you all!
Craig

Up coming travel plans...

2004-12-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to write you all to let you know what I will be up to for this holiday season. This Friday is my last day in Antigua and school. Lisa, Dave and I will be heading to Guatemala City for the evening and then catching a "luxury" bus to Tikkal to see the ruins.

After that on the 20th of December Lisa and I will be going to Belize until the 23rd. We will then be heading to Tulum, Mexico for Christmas and then Playa del Carmen for the New Years. While I am in Mexico and Belize my phone will not work so I will not be able to call you or receive calls. :-(

I am not sure how often that I will be checking email during that time, so I wanted to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy New Year. I have been thinking about you all a lot during this time and hope you are all happy.

After January 2nd I may head back to Antigua to study more, but I am not sure. I still want to visit Monterico Beach in Guatemala (not to be confused with "brown-sacks" Champerico) and Guatemala is really close to El Salvador and Honduras so making trips down there would be easy. However, I am getting anxious to travel more and see more countries and the thought of staying in the same location seems a little boring.

I will keep you posted and I apologize for not keeping the blog as up to date as I would like.

Again, I love you all and wishing you all a wonderful holiday season.

Be good to yourselves,
Craig

Chi Chi

2004-12-13T19:20:00.000-05:00

Hello All,

Lisa, Sarah, Charlie and I went to Chi Chi over the weekend. Right at the moment I can't remember how to spell the city name correctly, but it is something like Chichicanstanago, but everyone calls it Chi Chi.

Chi Chi is mainly known for its' market. Every Sunday people come from all over the country to set up their little booth selling anything from pottery to bags, to hand-made crafts. And there are also the other people coming from all over the country to buy these things.

It is really popular with tourists who want to buy gifts for there friends and families at a really cheap prices. This wasn't me though :-) No gifts for anyone this year...ha ha. No I would love to bring things back, but as I am going to be traveling for six more months this is really possible.

I was really impressed with how many people there were and the selection of the crafts. It was amazing to see this massive market form before your eyes and the vanish again. The work that goes into carry these goods is impressive. Lisa and Sarah bought a lot of things and then we had lunch. It just so happened that a group from Celas Maya was there so we got to catch up with a lot of students that we haven't seen in a while.

All in all it was a great day trip.

Take care,
Craig

Rio Dulce and Livingston

2004-12-07T18:34:00.000-05:00

Hola Mi Amigos!

I just got back from Rio Dulce and Livingston this weekend with my friend Eric. It was great. I have decided that riding in his Range Rover is a little better than taking a chicken bus. Livingston is on Guatemala's Caribbean coast which is only about 20 miles of Caribbean coast since what is now Belize was taken from them.

Livingston is about 4 1/2 hours from Antigua and you cannot reach it by car. You need to travel to Puerto Barrios (which is one of the dirtiest places on Earth) and catch a ferry boat to Livingston. It is amazing to see that the concept of littering or other environmental issues don't exist in other countries. Granted these people have bigger problems, but it is funny to see someone finish eating a bag of chips and throw the bag away in the ocean when they are done.

We got to Livingston Friday night and checked into the Rosado Hotel which is a cute little place on the water. Rio Dulce is one of the main rivers in Guatemala and it empties into the Caribbean Ocean. It is really quite beautiful.

That night and all the next day it rained which sort of sucked. Mainly because my eyes were glazed over in excitement of the thought of hanging out on the Caribbean sun and sand, so I only brought short sleeve shirts and shorts. Not really the warmest of clothing. On Saturday we hung out in the city of Livingston.

I am not sure if you can call it a city for it is really, really small. It has a lot of Garifuna influence which is really similar to what we would think of as "Jamaican." I didn't really care for this city too much, although Lisa loved it. I think that my expectations were a little high though.

The following day was great. The sun was out and everything was beautiful. Eric and I took a boat up Rio Dulce...What an experience. At the mouth of the river you go into this canyon with steep sides. The amazing thing about it is that the sides are completely covered in trees and other vegetation. It reminded me of "Lord of the Rings" when they are traveling down the river. Is that sad?

We were going to this finca (a big farm) that is only accessible by boat. It was so amazing to experience this. After about traveling up the river for about 25 minutes we cut across to a section partitioned off by trees and such. Then we went through this dense area of trees, which I thought was the shore, up this little tiny river that was no more than 6ft wide.

After about another 20 minutes of traveling through this little river that had trees growing all around us and Iguanas running about we arrived at the finca. There are about 20 people that live there year round to take care of it and the cattle. The farm is about 600 acres, built in roads, bridges and houses. Really amazing.

The next day we left and I wished we had one more day. There is a beach called "Playa Blanca" that I wished I would have visited. I don't think that it is worth to go back, but I am glad that I had the chance to experience it.

Antigua

2004-11-24T16:16:00.000-05:00

This place is amazing. I came here last week just for the weekend and loved it so much that I moved here on Thursday. I was suprised to find out that saying goodbye is harder than having your friends leave.

Doris, my mother in Xela cried for four days straight and it was very sad. It was hard to say goodbye to the familiar old ways of Xela and to my friends at Celas Maya. Which I can now appreciate as a great school since the one that I am at is not so good.

But there is greatness here....at least for awhile. Antigua is this magically colonial town with beautiful buildings and streets. This place is nothing like anything else in Guatemala. Besides that, they have great coffee here. And even better I can get my plain bagel toasted with peanut butter and jam on the side. Yah! Oh yeah, People Magazine (not necessary for your trip to be a success).

Sorry for the delay in writing. With traveling so much I don't have a lot of time plus I lost over 200 pictures from my camera. Gone. All those weeks I was promising to show you pictures and was why I had hesitated in writing are all now gone. I was sick.

Like I said earlier, my school sucks and going to change next week. I only started on Monday and I have already switched my teacher. I think I have a couple of schools lined up, so hopefully one of them works out. I have met a ton of people here and the weather has been perfect. Almost too hot to be in the sun directly :-)

I truly think that my opinions of this wonderful country are changing everyday.

Champers (a.k.a. brown sacks)

2004-11-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Ha ha...I can only laugh at our experience. Once again, we had another great time together (Rachel, Megan, Lisa, Andy, Andy, David and I). I am so glad that I met them all and look forward to how are friendship grows.

We ended up taking chicken buses down to Champerico is about 3 1/2 hours away from Xela. This was the first time that I exerienced a chicken bus like a chicken bus should be experienced. Just to give you all some reference these buses are what we all rode on in grade school where "children" sat two to a seat. Here there is three or four people to a seat with people standing in the aisles.

Champerico is right on the Pacific Ocean with black sand and the beach is beautiful with dangerous waves. One of the guys that we know in another group almost drowned. There are several currents happening at the same time, so it can be very dangerous.

The city...well, not a city I am not sure what to call it. Is run down and delapitated. In the guide books they say that it is a horrible place. Ha ha... We had lunch right when we got there. I was informed to try the shrimp being that it is so fresh. I was so horried that when my meal came out I couldn't even eat it. It was actual whole shimp complete with eyes, feet, heads and tails boiled in some sort of watery tomatoe paste served with cold french fries. All prepared in a box that looked more like a closet for garbage than a kitchen.

After lunch we enjoyed the beach with the numerous pigs that were eating garbage. But not to be out done by brown sacks...the most interesting site of all. After swimming a bit we went to our hotel, showered, changed and off for dinner which was okay. We had some rum and beers afterwards to play several games of cards. Long live the President!

The night was sweltering and humid and there was an attempt of going to the "night club" which was more basketball court with music than a discotec but most of us were too tired to dance and fight off the potentially dangerous men that were staring. No we apted for mosquitoes instead and muggy air in out rooms.

Next morning we swam, ate a bit and were off home in a chicken bus meant for 20 people with about 60-80 people. A perfect ending for a perfect trip!

Day of the Dead

2004-11-01T19:20:00.000-05:00

What am amazing experience! I have heard about the Latin cultures celebrating the death of their loved ones in the cemetery, but it is quite different to actually experience it in real life.

There was a group of us that went to Sumpongo (misspelled) for the kite festival. Upon our arrival we walked through the cemetery where they have bright colors on all the tombstones. There were a ton of people decorating the graves with flowers, kids running around with kites, some were burning things. While others were eating and having a picnic with their families.

After going through the cemetery we walked up this hill to a field where the kite festival was being held. It was amazing. There were kites up to 30 meters around (and no Lisa, they don't fly). Most of them had elaborate colors depicting social scenes prominent at this time in the country. There was a ton of people and a lot of celebration.

We then took a short right to San Antonio (I don't think this is the right name now?) where there was another festival going on. This one was better than the first because the kite festival was actually being held in the cemetery. It was amazing. Just think of a fair going on in a cemetery. There was so much joy and celebration for life and death.

I had to stand there to absorb it all in. Watching the children play, people eating and laughing, kites flying you couldn't help but take a different stance on death. Originally the kites were used to scare off evil spirits, but now it is more for celebration. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to share this experience with the Guatemalans here!

Halloween Day

2004-10-31T19:08:00.000-05:00

Not much going on today. Tired from the hike, but there is a huge parade going on at Parque de Central. Apparently it has nothing to do with Halloween or Day of the Dead, but some religious ceremony. I couldn't quite get the full details, but the parade was pretty impressive.

They blocked off the streets around the Park and in the streets they would lay square blocks of sawdust. They would then spend most of the day painting the sawdust into elaborate pictures with what I am assuming religious pictures and meanings.

When they finished up, the parade started which consisted of a lot of people from the Catholic church in their robes carrying incense, flags and other religious pieces. The end of the parade was a group of men carrying this huge platform with Mary on it. It looked quite heavy and there were about 30 or more men trying to carry it on their shoulders. It looked very painful, but beautiful at the same time.

They would carry Mary over the pictures stepping on them and once they crossed there were people to scrape them up and throw the sawdust away. There was nothing left of the paintings and the parade ended in the church. Again, pictures will help out here, so my goal is to get them published. A very beautiful ceremony steeped in years of tradition. I feel very grateful for being able to share it with them this year.

Tajumulco volcano

2004-10-30T18:49:00.000-04:00

Today was a fun but exhausting day. One of the activities that the school put together is to climb Tajumulco volcano about two hours away from Xela. The summit of Tajumulco is the highest point in Central America and is 4220 m high (over 12,000 ft).

We left yesterday in a private van and checked into what supposedly was a hotel in San Marcos. I can't remember the name, but there were chains locking the front door, no mirrors, toilet paper, or waste baskets (to put the "used toilet" paper in) in the bathrooms and most of the water wasn't running. The beds were uncomfortable with bed bugs and a lot of light coming in from the streets. We all had a good laugh, but not the kind of night that you want to have before a huge climb.

The next morning we got up at 4:00 am (nothing should be happening at that time in the morning), put on our clothes and traveled another half hour to hour to the volcano. We had three guides Martin and Carlos from the school and Carlos' brother Tony plus 13 students. Two Andy's, David, Bill, Merrilee, Lisa, Rachel, Lee, two Megan's, Lindsey, Stephen and I.

The hike up was amazing. I took some great pictures and I will hopefully be able to put some up. There are some great shots of the scenery which changes drastically from one part of the volcano to the next. It was one of the hardest hikes that I have been on, mostly due to the elevation. Towards the top most of us were suffering from "high altitude sickness" which is basically nausea and dizziness. Scary when you are climbing up a mountain straight up with the cliff behind you.

It took us 3 1/2 hours to climb up and about the same to come down. We took a lot of breaks and had lunch at the summit. Glad that I had a chance to experience this, but extremely tired.

Saying Goodbye

2004-10-23T16:01:00.000-04:00

Today is beautiful out. This is the end of the rainy season here in Xela and the days have been sunny. It does get really cold here though and I am looking forward to some hot, sunny beach weather.

Today is a little sad for me because both Sally and Jenn left today. Celas Maya has a graduation party for everyone that completes a week or more worth of schooling so I went to that and we all went out afterwards to Coco Loco (fitting name huh) and Hectis.

We all had a great time and I now realize that meeting people and saying goodbye are going to have to be a part of my time here in Xela. John and David are leaving next weekend and that will be even harder. They are going to go to Tikal which I totally want/will go to and I am thinking about going with them. The only problem with that is I will have to take a week off of school and I am not sure if now is the best time. We will see.

Take care!

Lake Atitlan

2004-10-17T14:47:00.000-04:00

Words can't describe how beautiful this place was. There is this huge lake, that is heated by the volcanoes near certain shores and completed surrounded by huge mountains or volcanoes. A very beautiful place.

The five of us (John, David, Sally, Jenn and I) left last Friday on a "chicken bus" for Panajachel a city on Lake Atitlan. The bus ride was quite an experience in and of it's self with people getting on and off, people coming on to sell us stuff. We had our own fun and brought a couple of bottles or rum with us to drink during the 4+ hour bus ride.

Upon arrival in Panajachel, we found a place to sleep and went out to dinner, then out that night. Jenn and I went off on our own to find food and ended up at this pizza shop. There were about six guys there drinking and they asked us to join them. We ended up staying there for about 3 hours, even though the place was closed. We all drank, laughed and listened to American music. It was an amazing experience of connecting with people from another place that I won't forget.

The next morning we had breakfast and walked about Panajachel. It is a very beautiful little town, clean and friendly. We took a private boat tour that took us to Santa Catarina, San Antonio (somewhere between these two towns is where we went swimming in water so hot that it felt like it could burn you), and then Santiago. I have never quite seen poverty like this before, especially in San Antonio. A lot of people there were living in mud houses and had very poor living conditions.

We stayed the night in Santiago, but didn't get to see much because of a rain storm that came in that lasted all day and into the night. We ended up eating at "Posada de Santiago" where we were staying, playing games and trying to get a good night's sleep.

The next time I go there I plan on doing the San Pedro/San Marcos trip which I hear is supposed to be amazing.

Hope all is well!

My New Family, Friends and School

2004-10-15T13:57:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends and Family!

I first want to start off by saying "thank you" to everyone who has been so supportive. Both before I left and now since I have been gone with the kind emails. Your thoughts and support mean a lot to me.

Okay, so a quick update and a few answers to some of your questions. Like I stated earlier my home stay is with a mother (Doris) and her son (Mario). Doris will turn 46 this November 3rd and Mario is 24. Doris has two older children, one son (not sure where he is at or what he is doing) and one daughter Andrea who is teaching Spanish in San Pedro, a city on Lake Atitlan. Doris is divorced and I am not sure what her ex-husband is doing now.

Currently I live with two other housemates John and David. They are from England and are 28 years old. Both have decided to travel for about a year and a half starting in the States and then going around the world. John and David are also studying Spanish at Celas Maya and we are having a great time. There is also one other guy Richard living at the house, who is about 37, and teaching computer applications to a private school for younger Guatemalan childern.

A typical day for me here in Xela: I get up at 7:00 am (and you all know how I like to get up early), take a shower, have breakfast with the family and then off to school. School starts at 8:00 am and goes until 1:00 pm with a break at 11. My current teacher Karol is 29 and recently graduated from college. She is amazing, doesn't speak much English and assigns me a ton of homework.

At 1:00 pm we all walk home which is about 3 minutes away and have lunch again with the whole family. There is an older lady Liz in her 50's that joins us everyday for lunch. Her and her husband moved down here about a year ago and are doing missionary work. Lunch in Xela is by far the biggest meal.

After lunch is usually followed by a nap, some activity (gym, walk, computer lab) and then homework. Dinner is at 7:00 pm consisting of two eggs and some bread. Other times it can be black beans and fried plaintains. Dinner is not my favorite at all and we have all learned to buy extra snacks and keep them in our rooms. Sometimes we will go out or just stay at home. I am constantly tired due to the constant noise here I am not getting much sleep. Plus the total immersion program has my mind racing with Spanish words.

My family here is absolutely amazing. They are kind, patient, fun and lovable. I feel totally at home here and they are a big part of why I am enjoying myself so much. They constantly tell me to say hello to you all, so "Hello" from Doris and Mario. Generally the people here in Guatemala have been great. They have suffered a lot, appreciate life, and have big hearts.

The school is also amazing. They are organized, efficent, and helpful. Great teachers and a ton of students. Currently 32 students and we all get our own teacher. It has also been a great way to meet a lot of people from all over the world.

Jenn and Sally (new friends from school) both around 27 from Calgary, Canada, John, David and I or going to Lake Atitlan this weekend. I am really looking forward to it.

Xela is a quaint town, filled with old buildings and people bustling about their day. I find the city cute with a ton of things to do and all the things that I could want in the States. I have even been to the English speaking movie theatre, done yoga, and bought protien powder at GNC for the gym, and a variety of other things. :-)

Yeah I am going to like it here!

Arrived Safe and Sound

2004-10-13T17:18:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Just wanted to drop you all a quick note to let you know that I arrived in Xela, Guatemala safe and sound. Everything so far is surpassing my expectations. The people have been very patient and friendly.

I got picked up from the airport by Gustavo and stayed with him and his family. Rachel, his wife made me an excellent dinner, then took a "warm" shower and then off to bed. The next day I almost missed my bus, but made it just as the bus was driving away. Four hours later I made it to Xela.

Upon arrival, I checked into the school and they called my host family. I am staying with Doris and her son Mario. Both very nice people. Their home is better than I had imagined and there are two other students there from England (Jon and David) who are also studying at the school.

Today I had my first full day of class and I loved it very much. I got all my books, pens, and paper and had five hours of one on one instruction which I can tell is going to be really beneficial. All in all everything is going great and I am so excited to be here. I think that this trip is going to be amazing.

Send my best to all,
Craig