Lake Atitlan, Antigua, and Volcanoes

Hey peeps,

Right after I finished emailing you last, I took off my watch and left it at the internet place. It was not there when I realized it 15 minutes later. So I have been going crazy. We went and watched the sunset on the lake with three towering volcanoes over the lake.

The next day we went to the travel agency to wait for our tour. There was a guy around my age and a woman in her 50´s talking with the agent that spoke Spanish pretty well. We took bets that he was a RM and that she was someone he had met online and that she had a lot of cats because she had a purse in the shape of 5 cats. Turns out we were right except for meeting on line. He was working with an energy NGO in D.C. and she was an energy consultant from Texas and they had come to Guatemala on business. She was really an interesting lady that was a french moved to texas because of her husband, went to grad school there, got divorced, decided that she liked cats better than people and adopted 22 of them that make messes all over her house. She bought dog food and fed all of the stray dogs on our tour.

They came with us on our boat tour of Lago Atitlan and we had a great time. We went to village to village. Met some hippie guy and bought mom some more jewelry. And we also went with one of the locals to see their god Maximon who is a combination of a Mayan god, Judus, and a conquistador. We went in and he was a shor idol with a wooden face which legend had it that if you saw his real face you would die in 3 days. He was dressed in clothes from around the world and according to our guide spoke all 23 dialects in Mayan, English, French and Japanese. He said that he could translate for us what Maximon said if we wanted. Maximon´s home was decorated in plastic flags and melons. He also had a cigar in his wooden mouth and cigarrette offerings. I was really trying to hard to be respectful but just about lost it when our guide wanted us to talk to Maximon because of his appearance. He had a bed that he slept in at night on the roof and had a wife that lived in another home. The guide said that all of Guatemala´s presidents had come to ask permission of Maximon to be president and that people came to ask for a spouse or work from all over the country. When he asked us to speak I just said good bye because I didn´t feel comfortable talking to a small man idol with a wooden mask smoking a cigar.
from the boat ride were there also. We got to Antigua which is a pretty colonial town close to Guatemala City. We had some burritos. I stuck my foot in my mouth when I asked the woman(who came from a small town) if the burrito bowl had a tortilla in it. She said no and I said ¨I guess than it would have been a burrito
We decided after our boat tour to go to Antigua breaking our vow to not go on a bus for one whole day. Luckily our friends then if it did¨ She didnt understand my joke and I spent the next 5 minutes awkwardly trying to explain myself as Whitney and the woman in the restaurant laughed at us.

That night we went back to our hostal as some guys played the guitar and sang for a couple of hours while we were in our beds. One guy was good and the other guy was really terrible. I just dreaded him singing and realized it was an american guy. our room was pretty warm and I didn´t sleep great, but we got up at 530 to take our trip to the volcano Picaya. We went with a group of loud Uruaguayans and some germans and austrailians. It was pretty cool to hear the volcano exploding in the back ground. I put on a blind fold and tried to feel my way around the volcano rock field where lava had flowed 20 yrs before. It was wonderful. We got back and tried to sleep in the park and were told to get out by the police. We went to another park and laid down. We are just waiting for our awesome bus ride tonight of eight hours to Tikal.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER. And remember that cats are people too.

Going to Guatemala..an awesome mistake

This was kind of whirlwind of a trip and it has only been a couple of days. When we arrived in Cancun, we got a bus from the airport with two older couples from Minnesota that have been coming down to Cancun for the last 30 years on vacation. They come at the same time every year and have made friends with other geris that do the same thing. They were pretty funny because they were loud and obnoxious and tried to give us advise on how to get around cancun. We sort of took their advice and got the heck out of there. We went straight to the bus station and took an overnight bus to San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas ( this was supposed to be a 16 hour bus ride but turned into a 20 hour trip because of traffic and accidents. Needless to say, we were pretty burned out by the time we got to San Cristobal. San Cristobal is colonial Spanish city with cobblestone streets and old colorful buidings. It is also one of the cities where the Zapatistas marched. They were still very popular with the people and there were t shirts and other zapatista propoganda through out the town.

We ended up staying at a hostel where we were the only people there. The couple that owned the place was a guy named Ernesto and his wife. They were very proud of their house turned hostel. It was interesting because as soon as we got settled Ernesto said he had to go to the capital city Tuxla to pick up his son that escaped. It turns out that he is mentally ill and lives with them. They have no idea how he got to the capital city.

We went out and got tacos that night and went and explored the town. Ironically it was really cold and we were really lucky that we brought our jackets. We got back to the hostel and Ernesto answered the door in his tighty whities. He put some clothes on and then and told us that his son didn{t want to come home and wanted to stay in the shelter where he was at.

The next morning we got up at 5 am to go on a tour of Palenque, Agua azul, and Misol Ha. We went with a group of old german women that complained about being picked up last for the rest of the day and mexican 20 year olds. We first went to Agua azul which is a series of bright blue waterfalls similar to havasupai but smaller and that extended for miles. We then went to Misol Ha which was a larger waterfall where I had been back in 2002 and was highly dispointed because the do not urinate here sign was taken down. But they had opened up a path so you could go behind the falls. We then went to Palenque which is spectacular. We got a guide who made it known that the mormons would tell you that the temple of the cross was because of Christ but that it was really about the sacred tree. Also that the royals would intermarry so that albinism and having six fingers was devine. We had a great time laughing at the american tourists with their white socks up their knees while wearing flip flops, blue flame t shirts with their sleeves cut off and their loud laughter. It made me proud to be an american in my skull belt buckle and tie dye shirt.

We got back on the bus and it was a total of 8 hours. We were pretty beat up after the day before and were thinking about what we were going to do. We decided to take another 8 hour bus ride and go to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The tour group was supposed to pick us up from the hostal but forgot about us until we called. We were waiting on the curb when Ernesto told us to come in and gave us bread and was making us oatmeal out of hospitality. Before the oatmeal was done our bus came and Ernesto told them they should wait while we ate. We explained that it was nice but we had to go and that there were many people waiting for us. So he brought out the oatmeal in a yogurt container and gave us a metal spoon and sent us on our way. He was really kind. We couldn{t finish the oatmeal as it made us naseated with the curves so we just held on to it.

We had an awesome ride and this journey was definitely worth it. Our bus ride through the guatemalan highlands was incredible with volcanoes and patchwork hills covered in different vegetation and clouds that would get stuck on the tops of the mountains. It was an incredible sight. When we got to Atitlan it was awesome. It is a crater lake surrounded by steep mountains and three volcanoes. We are going on a boat tour tomorrow and then off to antigua and back to cancun.

Never the less the horrible journey it has definitely been worth it. It just sucks that I only have a week.

Beaching it in Colombia

June 16th
Today we woke up and Scarlett was sick with a sore throat. She went and got medicine and then laid down in the hammock. She, however, was a trooper and we took a boat ride to a beach that you could only get to by boat. We had a good time in at the beach; such a good time that I didn’t put my second or third coat of sunblock on, so I am a little red. Sherrie and I went snorkeling for $10. This was my first time snorkeling and for anyone that hasn’t tried this before it is a strange sensation. First my nose was a little big for my mask so I got a little water in my mask and water up my nose. I also felt a little panicky as I had to breathe out of my mouth. However, I picked it up pretty quickly and was able to calmly swim. I thought it was amazing to see all of the brain, black, fan, white and tree coral. We also picked up sea anemones and there was this animal that looked like a flower and when you would try to touch it, it would suck into a tube. I would swim down the 10 or so feet every time to touch these animals to watch them suck their flower in. There were tons of different fish that would glow blue, yellow, black and white. It was a cool experience. The highlight of the trip was when we went to a huge coral in the shape of a moose antler. We then came back to the hostel and swam in the pool to get all of the salt water out of all of our crevices and noses. We got fresh blackberry juice and listened to the Rastafarian skinny black bar tender with dreadlocks sing to Motown, rap and Alanis Morissette while he made our drinks and while we waited for our food. He is the epitome of cool with his dreads and carefree attitude. (He might have smoked a little too much pot though because it takes either a real confident person or slightly high person of any gender to sing like that with Alanis. ) I laughed pretty hard as he wailed away with her high-pitched tones. Life is good and I hope to be less inhibited like the bar tender so that I can enjoy life the way I want. However I think that I am doing a pretty good job of enjoying life so far. I am pretty afraid of responsibility right now because doing whatever the heck I want feels pretty darn good.Peace out

Taganga aka "little Israel"

June 15

Today we grabbed a taxi. Our driver was named Franklin and he was really interested in what Utah was like and asked me to send him pictures of Utah. We also discussed the origens of regaton, Spanish rap with a latin twist. We then grabbed some empanadas and fruit juice and hopped on a bus. They played “Man on Fire” which is a film about kidnapping in Mexico with Denzel Washington and Marc Antony (J Lo’s Husband). We then got to Sa nta Marta and took a taxi to Taganga to our hostel Divaganga. We have a swimming pool, hammocks, and an awesome restaurant. Sherrie and I went to the beach while Scarlett hung out in the hostel because she wasn’t feeling well. This is an interesting town where many of the bars have signs in Spanish and in Hebrew. Lots of Israelis come to this town after serving their mandatory military service. So I fit right in. It isn’t the prettiest beach and it is more desert than tropical, but this place has a cool feel with laid back lifestyle. As you walk through the dirt streets there are houses with elaborate speaker systems in front of their small homes playing competing salsa and merengue songs at discotech volume while sitting around talking with friends and family. I am surprised that most people aren’t deaf here. I really like the afrocolombian culture here and they are incredibly kind. I am going to go listen to my lectures on my MP3 player on the hammock under the stars and by the swimming pool. I love Colombia

MUD VOLCANO!

June 14th, 2009

Later yesterday evening, I went back to a grocery store that also sold paintings. I ended up buying a copy of Botero’s Mona Lisa which is a depiction of Mona Lisa if she were about 50 pounds heavier. It is pretty funny and cost me $25. We then went for dinner and had steak with cheese on top and then to a café where I got a brownie with an ice cream scoop of dulce de leche on top. It was awesome. We then came back to the hostel and crashed.
We woke up this morning and we went on a tour to a small volcano that is filled with warm gray mud about 40 minutes outside of the city. We went swimming in the mud and got massages. It felt like walking in pudding, but we couldn’t feel the bottom or even sink. All we could do is skim along the top. The volcano was so full of people that it was hard to get around. We then went to wash off in the lake next to the volcano. Old women from the community would wash us down. We all got buck naked in the lake and they then washed out our swimming suits. I was a little shocked at first but it was a good thing because I had so much mud in my pockets in the swimsuit that I bought from the D.I. We then got back in the bus and then the bus driver backed into a car. We ended up spending about an hour waiting as they fixed the situation. We then ended up going to the beach and swam while they fixed a fish lunch for us. We came back and got cleaned up. We then went to a church up on a hill overlooking the city that took the place of where the Indians would worship a goat. Sherrie and Scarlett took a picture with the same sloth that Scarlett took a picture when she visited Cartagena a few years ago.
We then came back to see the inquisition museum and the gold museum which were both closed because it was Sunday. We then went to a fancy Italian restaurant, which had fantastic food and great atmosphere. We ate by candlelight, the two ladies and I, and they had wine and I had tap water. It was excellent and $10. We then went and had dessert in the town square on cobblestone streets surrounded by lanterns. Two guys played guitars and serenaded a couple by us and then a group of local kids were street performers did some typical Colombian and Afro Colombian dances for tips. The people who live in the north are descendents of slaves and had some great moves. We had a great time telling embarrassing stories and laughing. We then came back to the hostel and are watching movies. What a great day.

Love in the Time of Cholera, Cartagena, Colombia

June 12 and 13, 2009

We woke up this morning at 9am in San Gil. We had one more day than we expected in this sweet town because we decided not to take the long road to Cartagena by boat and decided to take a night bus. We first went to the touristic village of Barichara, which was a 40 minute bus ride. We got out and saw the village for about 10 minutes and realized that it was a waste of time because although it was pretty it looked too polished. Everybody told us it was worth going to, but we thought that Villa de Leyva was prettier. We went to the main church and decided to get back on the bus and go back to San Gil. We then got some lunch in a run-down restaurant and then took a taxi to reserve our tickets for our night bus ride to Cartagena. We then took the same taxi to a free water hole. It was a series of shallow waterfalls. The local kids were there because they just got out of school. I ended up talking to three 14-year-old boys who had a crush on Scarlett and Sherrie. One of them told Scarlett that she looked like a model. I just laughed. One of the kids was white and his mom had left him in Colombia so that he could be “Colombian” with his father’s parents. She was Spanish and living in Spain. He said that he was made fun of in school for being made of milk and he said he felt discriminated against. They then got our emails. I just laughed thinking that it is kind of creepy for them to have a 29-year-old pen pal; Scarlett ended up giving them a fake e-mail. We ended up walking the mile back to our hostel and passed by some more waterfalls. We showered and then went and got pizza and bought a tres leches dessert. There was a drunk guy at the pizza place that really wanted to talk to us and buy us beer. This has been the only person that has been annoying in Colombia. We then got on the bus. I sat by a kid going to Baranquilla (the birth place of Shakira) to go work in a store. I thought that it must be better money because it was great weather year round where we were and the coast was pretty hot. The girls then whipped out the tres leches dessert and we ate it on the bus. I ended up finishing it off and getting a stomach ache. They also cranked up the AC so everyone was mummified with blankets. I ended up putting my arms inside my shirt and jacket and wrapping my shirt around my head in order to prevent hypothermia. We watched a sweet movie about a illegal immigrant from LA-turned soccer star in England. And then we watched some sweet Colombian music videos. We then tried to sleep. I had to turn my body every 1 hour to keep my body from freezing. I ironically slept well. We finally got here in Cartagena at noon after the 14-hour ride. Cartagena is an amazing city where the book and movie “Love in the time of Cholera” takes place. We got a crazy taxi driver who talks a million miles an hour and doesn’t pronounce all of his consonants. We laughed most of the 20-minute taxi ride with him. We are staying right in the heart of the colonial district in Cartagena. Some of these buildings are hundreds of years old! We then took a walking tour through colonial streets where the girls bought some clothes and paintings.

Villa De Leyva and San Gil Colombia

June 10 2009

Today we woke up in a beautiful hacienda in colonial Villa De Leyva. It was on a hill overlooking the beautiful military barracks, which made it very safe for us to walk around. This morning, we ate huevos pericos, which are scambled eggs with tomatoes and onions, and hot chocolate, rolls, and fresh squeezed orange juice. We then met up with up with Raul, an older gentleman who retired from his computer technician job to become a tourist/horse guide. We took a romantic horse ride that went first through the cobblestone streets of Villa de Leyva to the pozos azules, which were blue pools in the middle of the desert. We went swimming in the cool, bright, blue water. I was excited because I could still do a back flip. The owner of the pools - who usually charges $2 for the entrance and for swimming - after talking to the ladies, decided to let us swim for free. He said that he has never had any problems living there except that he has made enemies of his neighbors because they were jealous of his land. And one day they fired their guns on his land. He said that he lived alone and was happy to talk to us. We then climbed back on our horses. Sherrie was the most experienced, so she got a black stallion named “god of the wind,” which was jealous whenever Caramelo, Scarlett’s horse, would pass. So Scarlett and Sherrie were constantly riding close together. And one time it wasn’t just the horses that got frustrated; Scarlett pushed Sherrie out of the way even though it wouldn’t make the horse move out of the way. Our next stop was El Fossil, a museum built around a huge fossil of a dinosaur. We took a tour. We then hopped back on the horse and went to an ancient indigenous phallic garden and observatory of the stars. The Spanish missionaries called it “Little Hell” because of the enormous sculptures of penises. The indigenous thought that when there was no shadow from the sun that the sun had come down to fertilize the ground and it was time to plant. We then rode off to a mud house styled after Gaudi type architecture. We then went to lunch and had steak and salad for $3. We then took off and went to the beautiful colonial city of San Gil, which is warmer than the cool southern part of Colombia. It is a city with extremely steep streets and colonial buildings. We found when we got here that the place where we had reservations only had a room for one person, so we moved down the street. We are staying in a hostel dorm with 3 other people in our room. Luckily nobody snores. We are also happy with the place where we are at because it is quieter than the original place. Although there are no drinking games here.We woke up this morning and went to the hostel where we had our reservations and we made our plans for the day. We went to a 75 meter (200 feet) high water fall where the girls went swimming and I rappelled down the face of the waterfall. It had rained the night before so there was tons of water running over me. Luckily the rope was 13mm and doubled so I could let go and stay in one place and not fall. We met a nice couple from New Zealand who were traveling for 9 months. She is an artist and he is a writer and wanted to see South America before they had kids. They were great and went with me to rappel. It was her first experience and it was quite the experience. Paul would be proud that I went first. When we got down, the girls were a photo shoot and a French couple passed by that had horrible Ghana body odor that you could smell from 20 feet away and outside. Sherrie threw up in her mouth. We then headed back to our taxi.We hurried back so that we could go paragliding. We didn’t have any lunch, so we picked up some potato chips and juice. We headed up to the mountains through tobacco farms to a peak overlooking farms and a huge canyon. We went tandem with the guides. The ladies went first and had a great time. Sherrie did some twirls and down spiraling and Scarlett got motion sickness. I sat and talked with another Colombian tourist that was waiting his turn about the political situation in Colombia. And we laughed about different things. When it was my turn, I tied my camera to my arm. I lifted my feet up too early and the guy who I was tandem with, Cristian, laughed. It was really cool being up miles up in the air and being able to see the patchwork landscape of the farmlands below and the canyons and mountains. I went for twirls and recorded it on my camera. One time I forgot to record so my guide took me up to go again. I also got motion sickness on the way down and was praying not to vomit on the people below as we started to descend. The girls said that I was as gray as a gray ghost when I came down. I kind of regret not vomiting on everyone below because that would have been pretty darn funny. We then came back to the hostel and ended up talking to an Australian couple who went on the Ciudad Perdida and told stories about how the guides would take you to the cocaine fields to see how it is processed as it is in guerrilla country. Because the guerrilla make money off the tourists they protect them but if the tour guides don’t pay them their cut, they shoot the guides. We also talked to a couple from New Jersey who were starting med school in the fall. It has been a great couple of days and now we are going to party as we have one more day in San Gil.