Granada Nicaragua

couple of funny stories to tell first. So we met these girls from England. Our friend ty thought it would be really funny if we played the game where we talked like them and they would talk like us. How ever they didn't find it so funny. We had a great time with them any ways. In the hostel there was a german, a french couple, a crazy guy from California, who swore that they rigged the election, and these Brit girls. We got on the topic of Nepolean Dynamite and how it reflected Utah and mormon culture. I ended up explaining to them what a bodaggit was. It was pretty funny trying to put it in less offensive terms. But I finally explained as a peice of poop. We all had a good laugh.Another funny thing happened today, we were walking down the street and a girl(we thought at first) said in English in a deep manly voice said" hello boys" and grabbed Paul in his special place. We then realized that it was a transvestite. Paul screamed and we laughed. That was the most action Paul had seen in two years.We went to the island of Ometepe, like I said in my last email. We stayed in this great hotel that was really nice with a fan. It only was $3 a night. We hired a guide that took us up an inactive volcano at 3 am. It was probably the hardest hike that any of us had ever done. It was through the rain forest. There were howler monkeys and spider monkeys every where. When we got to the base, our guide told us that we could buy water there. The restaurant had run out of bottles that they would reuse and fill with their own purified water. Ty didn't like the idea of "purified water from the restaurant" which was probably a good thing, and I didn't like the idea of not having very much.We hiked to another town and bought all of the bottled water that they had, a whopping four bottles. We then hiked up where Paul had bought some of the reused bottled water. We started at the base and it was incredibly hot and humid. Here is a tip, don't come to a rain forest during the rainy season, it is very muggy. It however got cooler as we hiked higher. After the first KM we were asking if we were half way there. It turned out that the hike was around 8 miles round trip. They greatest part was that our guide was in middle school so he hiked super fast because he had to get home to a school project. It ended up taking us six hours. They greatest part was that it was raining and incredibly muddy, we fell on our butts all the way down. On the way up, our guide also got lost! We had to hike around a bit to find our way. It was alright because it was worth it. When we got to the top, there was an awesome lake in the crater and the crater was full of jungle. Of course we had to go swimming. We then had to use a rope to get up the crater. It was a great adventure. They told us that last month there were an american and brit that refused to take a guide and fell off a cliff. They had the army search and two weeks later found their clothes and bones that had been picked by vultures.Right now we are in Granada a very colonial city in Nicaragua. Awesome place, it reminds me of Europe. We are going to Jimotepe tomorrow because they are in fiestas, which means bull fighting and bull runs. ty also leaves tomorrow by himself to Costa Rica and to the states. We are sending home souvenirs with him.Well have a good time and we will write next time from Honduras.

Jinotepe Nicaragua Rodeo

I forgot to write yesterday about our experience at church. Yes we went to church in Rivas Nicaragua. There was a missionary couple serving there that was from Spain and were living in Austrailia. They were on their fourth mission. They had been in Ecuador, Honduras, Chile and now Nicaragua. They had so much faith, it was great to talk to them. They ward house was full to capacity. They say that they have around 500 baptisms a month in their mission.Today, Tyler left for San Jose and Paul and I went to Jinotepe to see the festival of Santiago that was going on today. We met some spanish catholic missionaries and talked to them for a while. The people were dancing in the streets and they had a procession where they carried the saint statues for 12 hours through out the town. We also saw the missionaries again. We then met this guy who was living in Miami and visiting his family in Jimotepe. He told us about the town rodeo that started at 2. A couple other people, including the guy that sold us the ticket also said that it started at 2. We went in and waited around until 400 for it to start. They have a different concept of time. It was awesome to see them ride the bulls. The bulls weren't as big or as aggressive as in the states, but they were still mean. It was pretty funny because there were a lot of drunk guys in the ring taunting the bulls. Instead of rodeo clowns, it was town drunks that distracted the bulls. One guy got knocked out, and another guy had his shirt ripped off. We had a great time.Tomorrow we are going to Managua to take a bus to get to Honduras. Paul is obsessed with the Maya so we are going to take a side trip to see the ruins and then come back.Nicaragua is a different world. There is a lot of poverty here. All of the buses in Nicaragua are retired school buses from the states which makes traveling a little uncomfortable. We were also talking to a teacher that makes $68 a month. He has to go and work at another job in order to feed his family. The people here are pretty pessimistic about the situation. The country is beautiful and incredible, but I wouldn't recommend it to any one who has a family. Costa Rica is for everyone though.

Volcano Arenal

A lot has happened since we last emailed We went to Monteverde and did the canopy zip line tour which was amazing. 2hrs of zip lines with a tarzan swing and rappeling. Costa Rica keeps out doing itself. To waste some time we went back to the frog place and this cool butterfly garden.We then went to Malpais, a surfer bum town. It wasn't the greatest, the surf was rough and the crowd too. When we got to the hotel a couple of people were smoking pot and boozing. We decided to come to Tamarindo today, another 8hr jorney. The beach is calmer, but this is definitely a tourist trap. Tons of fancy hotels and even burger king (in a truck, we'll explain later). We are taking surf lessons tomorrow and staying a $5 place. We will be here for a couple of days.

Greetings from Costa Rica

Here is a little note to make you wish that you weren't married with children.Paul, Ty and I are living it up here in the CR. We went to a couple of colonial towns and then yesterday we went to Tortuguero National Park. Most people fly, but we are traveling on a budget and so we took two buses and a boat. The boat ride was like the jungle ride at Disneyland but for real. There are plants on top of plants there is so much life here. We saw crocs, spider, howler and other monkeys,tons of different tropical birds and iguanas.We took a picture of a crock for Seth just like he asked. We met a man named Walter who is a Costa Rican teacher in the bus station. We became quick friends and when we told him that we were going to Tortuguero and that we were looking to camp instead of staying at a hostel, he offered his land. Also because he was on vacation, decided to come with us. He was supposed to go to San Jose to deliver some documents for his computer class that he teaches to get paid, but he rearranged his whole schedule to be with us. We got to stay in his village on the river, and have a very different and more personal experience than most tourists. We went on a tour last night to see the sea turtles making their nests. They use red lights to not desturb the turtles. These turtles are endangered because people kill them and sell their meat on the black market. so people volunteer to protect them during thier egging season. It was an awesome experience, I guess it was like watching when the grandbrats were born but in turtle form. I am joking. We also went to a Canadian/ Costa Rican refuge on the river where a bunch of hippies and scientist live to study the birds and plants of the forest. and do drugs in their freetime. It was cool. I would love to live their. The Croc that we saw lived right next to the place where we stayed and we got close enough to touch him. We didn't though because we would have lost a limb. We set up our tents underneath a palm thatched hut and slept by the beach. It was great.We took a 4 buses for 12 hour trip today. It took so long becuase we went through the pueblos. Paul is in heaven making tons of friends along the way. By the way, he is adjusting pretty well from the mission. We went swimming last night with a bunch of girls in their underwear. * Rawl don't tell Rachel have offended them.We are in the town of La Fortuna now. La Fortuna is at the base of the Volvano Arenal, it is one of the most active volcanos in the world. Right now we can see the red glow from the lava. We met up with some Isrealis and are going to take a night tour tomorrow. We are also going to do a rope swing into a hot spring tomorrow. We will email in a couple of days are next report.By the way Ty did come in fine, and his bags came in a day later. Also, fam, Ty's dad said that our parents internet is down, so please tell them about this.

Arenal

Hello Family,As you probably have guessed, this is our travel journal so we are emailing you everything and somethings maybe should have been left unsaid.Anyways, we had an awesome time in La Fortuna. IN the morning we went looking for a rope swing that went into the river called El Salto. It was free and we are poor so we thought that it would be a good option. We ended up walking about 5 miles up hill to a waterfall that we had to pay for. We decided to pay the $6 and see the falls. IT was definitely worth it. They were about 60 feet tall and we went swimming underneath them and in pools near by. We then talked to some of the locals and found were El Salto was. It was one of the best parts of the trip so far. There was a rope swing that would let you swing out and drop from about 25 feet in the air. The water was warm and we were next to some more water falls that were about 15 feet high. We could dive off into the falls. IT was great. One of the locals goes there every day.We got back from the falls and went on a Volcano Arenal tour. It was $20 but also worth it. They first took us on a jugle tour with tour guides that were biology students and knew a lot about the animals. We saw spider monkeys, howler monkeys, toucans, the works. During the tour we could hear the volcano exploding in the background. They then took us to see the volcano. We could see the lava glowing from the view point. They said that a couple of years ago there were guides and tourist killed because they were too close. Now they take the tourists to a safer spot. After the tour they took us to a hotspring resort with 11 different temp pools and two wet bars. This place made Cristal Hot Springs look like a toilet. We got in for free but other people pay $20 for entrance. It was probably the fanciest place I have ever been. We got pina colatas (non alcoholic of course) and sat in the pools. The best part is that it began to rain. This made the pools steam. In the pools there were islands of banana plants and other tropical plants. It was incredible.Today we took a bus to lake Arenal. We then took a boat across the lake. It would be the perfect lake for waterskiing. I think one day I would like to make millions by taking people skiing. We then took a microbus (VW bus) to Monteverde where we are now. It is a small town in the rainforest very cool. We went to a frog-a-terium. We saw 20 different species including the poison dart frogs. They were in large aquariums and the guide brought a flashlight so that we could see them. (It gets dark at 6pm here and this is when all of the animals become active) He also knew all of the calls and they would answer back.We tried looking for churches every where we have gone. We havent seen any churches or missionaries yet. We have asked the locals and they say that there aren{t any close. We will make it next week.We are safe, healthy, and happy and tomorrow are going to do the zip line canopy tour. Our friends from Israel said it was the greatest thing they have ever done.Well it is time to go and as they say here in Costa Rica PURA VIDA!!!!Scott Paul and Ty

Guatemala

Hello everyone,I am in Guatemala today and we are going to see the ruins of Tikal tomorrow. It was an adventure to say the least. It is the Virgen of Guadalupe`s Birthday today so there wer tons of parades and torch runners in the street. We also in routre went to some pyramids that are very unknown. The role sheet said there were only 3 people who visited them the day before. The are in the jungle and still had clear paintings on the wall. It was great being the only ones there. It looks like a part out of the jungle book. We also to get to Guatemala had to take a bus to the river which fords the border and take a 30 minute boat ride to get to another port. We then had to take a 3 hour bus ride to get to the city. It is a lot poorer than Mexico here but it is incredibly beautiful. The city has a stake center and dirt streets but is right next to the river. It is quite an adventure. We meet people who have been travelling for six months and have been all over the world. Travelers are pretty different people. I just wonder how they can do it. It also looks like we are going to be here for three days because of problems with the bus schedule

More Mexico Stories

just wanted to email you and tell you about the latest adventures that Ihave been having. Just to let you know that my emails are my journal for mytime so I hope you enjoy this. This email is going to be a long oneOur friends Deppe, Isaac, Tyler and Chris�s sister katy came over thanksgivingWe picked them up at 11 at night in mexico city (not a good idea to fly in tomexico city at 11at night) but everything was great. they were 45 minutes late, from there wehad a taxi drive us to the hostel where we had reserved to stay the night. Itwas 10 bucks a piece, and an alright place. We had to split up, so katy deppeIke and Chris stayed in a room andTy and I went to a different room. This place is right in the middle ofdowntown mexico city has an awesome view from the roof where they have a freebreakfast. We talked for a long time and decided to go to sleep, but once wewere in bed, we just kept talking. we had to get up early because we weregoing to see these pyrimids just outside of mexico city andwe had to be back in cuernavaca at about 5 in the afternoon, so we left early,rode the metro(subway) for while and got on a bus to the pyrimids. We climbedthe highest one a hung out there for a while, but then we had to jet. It aquite a sight up there though, and my friends had fun time making fun of mebecause I talk to the vendors forever abouttheir pruducts, negotiates prices and everything and makes these poor peoplethink that they have a sale and then I realize that I don�t need the product.They get angry at me. we laughed about it for a while. we rode the bus backto Cuernavacawhere Chris and I had a closing the cemester ceremony where I had to speak.Everyone came and acutally Chris and I sang and danced a song in front ofeveryone with some other classmates. We had learned it in order to learnpronunciation and they asked us to sing it for everyone. I played theharmonica and this other dude played the Jew�s harp and we sang andchoreographed a dance. It was pretty smooth. that night, we just hung out atour house with all our roomates, who were really cool to everyone. we all justsat in the kitchen and told stories for a few hours and laughed out heads off.Our friends told them stories about us and they told them stories about us andjust made fun of us for a while. we were all pretty tired so we the crashed,everyone slept in our room, we got a bunch of extramattresses and stuff and set it all up. it wasn�t too bad at all. Chris and Ihad a tough final the next day that we got up early to study for. everyoneelse slept in and hung out at our house at the pool and stuff. It wasthanksgiving so we went to a lunch and all got these great mexican hawaiinsandwhiches. Our house had planned a party for that night, so we barbecued andwatched everyone get drunk before we went out to the club. Before the clubthough we took the fellas and katy to a Mexican pro-wrestling match!! It isthe funniest thing in the whole world. It is so white trash, it only costs 4bucks to get in, and it is so funny. they are all these old fat men that dontknow how to wrestle at all, they just kind of run around pretend to hit eachother. it is so great. they sell these killer masks there for 5 bucks andeveryone bought one. We laughed pretty hard at them all for a few hours. Itwas the best 4 bucks I have ever spent. after that we met everyone at thedance club where we got jiggy with it for a little while, katy and i sangkaraoke "How sweet it is" by James Taylor and then deppe sang "ice ice baby".After a few hours of serious dancing, we wenthome where we watched our drunk roomates throw up. It was quite the show forthese Utah boys and girls. Deppe even wanted to record it, we wouldn�t let himthough. on friday morning, we left for this city called taxco about 2 hoursfrom here. It is such abeautiful colonial city, where we did some silver shopping, some taco eating,and sight-seeing. This little boy had this plastic crate that he was ridingdown this cobblestone hill on, so I jumped on with him and rode down a fewtimes. It was so fun. We stayed at this little piece of crap hotel where Chrisand I slept on the floor, our view was gorgeous though. wesat out on this balcony for a few hours and talked and I pushed Chris off thisplastic chair because he was making fun of me and the plastic chairshattered. I haven�t laughed like that for a long time. The next morning wewere off to acapulco to the beach where the fellas payed for a sweet hotelroom and once again, Chris and I slept on the floor. We did some beachin, somefake tatooin, some hair-braiden(katy), sun bathin, and some eatin. In thenight, it was deppe�s b-day, so we went to dinner at hooters, which is not thebest food or anything for that matter but it was fun, all the waitresses madedeppe stand on atable and dance and fed him ice cream. it was great. later we went to see thecliff diver show which was really cool!!! at that point we were so tired so wewent back to the hotel and slept. we didn�t get up until about 11 the next dayand then we just went to lunch, all you can eat tacos, deppe and isaac justabout exploded. We hung out at the beach for the rest of the afternoon,. Thenwe came home that night and shipped them out the next morning. It was so muchfun and I loved seeing my sister and the fellas. We had some great times. momsent my cookies and the guys brought plenty of mountain dew. I now have acredit card, which is trouble. I have already made a few purchases, and willuse it to go onour end of the semester tripI cut and pasted the last part from an email from Chris to save time this iswhy it might sound weird.AnywaysLast week we got a bunch of school supplies that our friends brought down fromthe non profit organization that I work with. The bags were very heavy filledwith over 500 toothbrushes, 200 toothpaste, thousands of pens, over 200coloring books and a hundred crayons sets. It was heavy carrying them throughout our trip with them but it was worth it. We also received a $100 to buyschool books for the kids. We went to buy books and when we went to thestores the people were so impressed that they donated extra. There were somany that we only ended up spending $50 and giving $50 to the town mayor tobuy new text books for the Junior High. We also had a clothing drive atschool. There were two garbage bags of clothes. Because we sent most of ourluggage home with our friends, I didn�t have an alarm clock and tried to usemy watch to wake me up which usually does. Except that we had been partyingthe nights before, so instead of waking up at 6, we woke up at 7:30 when wewere supposed to be there. Nevertheless we didn�t get there until 930. Theyhad already left us when we got to the office, so the organization lent us aVW bug to drive to the community. It was a blast and the people were soexcited. The women of the community each took an article of clothing that wasdistributed by one of the ladies. No one chose, and they saved clothes for thefamilies that weren�t there. They didn�t want anyone to be hurt or left out.Also, because they didn�t want to be selfish the took the assignations anddidn�t choose. It was very interesting. I took soil samples that I will beanalyzing in the states to find plants that better suit the community. I alsomet with a girl from Belgium and a Mexican guy that are interested in helpingout with this project. They are going to inspect the irrigation system in thecommunity and we are going to help fix it in May. She is also going tofundraise in Belgium with the boy scouts to get supplies for the project. Wewere planning on going to Puebla to sleep in the streets that day and see thetown, but because we were worn out, and I was sick and still am with a cold,missed our bus and got a ride to Cuernavaca, we never got to see puebla. Wehad problems all year long. So we thought it was destiny. We are going to seeit in May anyways when we bring down the volunteers so everything is good. Ihope everyone got those pictures that I sent you. Anyways we spent Friday athome and saying good by to members and our friends.Because finals are over, we left for our huge vacation on Sat. after our finalwe left for Oaxaca. We thought any ways, because I left my passport back inour house and had to spend 9 bucks on a taxi to get it. We almost lost thebus that we had to take. We slept on the bus that night for the 8 hours ofthe ride, to save time and money. It isn�t very comfortable but it is do able.We explored the city that day. Chris and I are traveling with two girls fromCanada that lived in our house. Any ways, we went to some ruins on top of ahill that the Aztecs had completely leveled to build the city. It was veryimpressive. We then took a bus to see the largest biomass on the worldsupposedly. It was a huge cyprus tree that is estimated to be over 3000 yearsold. I thought Dad would appreciate it. We also saw an old church built inthe 1500 which had a family tree of the Saint in it. It was a good example ofgeneology so I took a picture of it.That night we hopped on a bus going to San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas.Chiapas is the state were the famous Zapatistas are and the most poor state inMexico. We got there and we saw some cool caves that were like those inTimpanogas. There were some huge cement slides and tons of school kids onthem. Chris and I had a good time playing with them and slid down on a log.It was a lot of fun. We also saw the city which was very colonial. I alsobought a cool leather suitcase because my back pack broke. We also saw themissionaries. That night we stayed in a hostal for $3.50 a night. The nextday, Chris and I went on a boat ride down a huge and very green canyon without the girls because they didn�t want too. We saw crocodiles, tons of hugewhite cranes, ducks and other birds. You could even hear howler monkeys in thetrees like the ones at Hoogle Zoo. We also had incredible shrimp and octopuscocktails. There was a huge cliff which is over a kilometer high were 15000indians jumped to their death instead of becoming slaves for the Spanish. Icould only think about how Mom and Dad need to come to Chiapas while I havebeen here. It is very montaneous and very indigenous. They have a lot oftourism because of the environmental factors. That night we took a bus toPalenque, another part of Chiapas, and slept over at a hotel that cost only $5a person.This morning we went to the huge ruins in Palenque, which is the rainiestcity in Mexico. The ruins are in a jungle and are incredible. They are hugeand they haven�t excavated the majority of them. The emperor who lived therehad a clubbed foot and deformed head because his parents were brother andsister. They had sewer systems and fake arches which are more efficient thenroman arches because if the middle fell out of arch, the sides collapse toform a new arch. They have withstanded thousands of years of earthquakeswhich proves their importance. We then went to these incredible waterfalls inthe jungle called Misol Ha and Agua azul. We went swimming in them and had agreat time. We separated from the girls and are going to Guatamala tomorrowto see Tical and some other ruins on the border. And then we are off toCancun.This is the experience of a life time for me and I hope that one day Mom andDad especially can at least see Chiapas. I am spending a lot of money, whichis good for a cheap person like me, because I am living life to its fullest. Ihope everything is good at home. I love you and will see you in a week.ScottPS mom and dad thanks for getting my housing situation covered