Pacuare

Friday, June 29, 2007
11:24 PM

Yesterday was rather boring, so I won't waste any time writing too much about it. We did go to a sloth "rescue" center, which was little more that a lady who likes sloths and takes them in to care for them. The people are in no way veterinarians, but feel that they are making a difference in the sloths life. I believe the story actually is that there is an overpopulation of sloths and these people just happen to like them, so the ones that mother nature tried to get rid of through death, they take in and treat as pets. After seeing the entire setup, you would think the sloth, or "slowth" as they call it, is endangered. I'm pretty sure that it isn't. It is probably about as endangered as the North American squirrel.

Don't get me wrong, they had a very nice setup with very nice facilities and a nice canoe trip through the rain forest. It was all entertaining, but very much overpriced to go see someone's pet sloths. Having said they, the sloths were awesome. I think about $5US awesome, not $15US worth of awesome, though. Oh, and then I bought the most expensive can of diet coke I have every purchased at $2US (oh, and it was canned just up the street here in Costa Rica, not imported).

We did end up having a nice bonfire last night on the beach where we messed around taking cool pictures with a flashlight. Tyson and Myra definitely take the cake when it came to being creative with the light.

Enough about the sloths…On to the good stuff

The Pacuare river emerges from a spring deep in the mountains of Costa Rica. As it makes it's way to the sea, it passes through two deep, fast, and beautiful canyons. The entire way is lined by dense green, primary rain forest. It has been named in the top five rivers for rafting in the world by the main rafting association (whatever that is), and National Geographic named it as one of the 10 most beautiful rivers in the world. It was easy to see why the river owns both those titles.

Most of our group went on the tour, so we got our own private raft with our own guide. The river was full of class 3 and 4 rapids, and with all the rain they have been getting down here the last couple weeks, they were really strong class 3 and 4. We went the entire time without any real accidents, though on the ride up they scare you about all the things that could go wrong and how to get rescued in emergency situations (they tell you this right before you sign your life away on the little waiver they give you). At one point we were going over a huge wave in a class 4 rapid and one of my fellow rafters jacked my chin which put a lot of pressure on my TMJ (temperomandibular joint--sorry, I now know the name and feel I should show that bit of information off) and now I can't bit down all the way because it hurts. I don't think I caused any real damage other that some mild inflammation of the joint--which does hurt quite a bit, but the way.

I was really proud of haley on the river. She paddled hard the whole time and when we were done four hours later, she wanted to keep going for another couple hours (everyone else including me was quite tired at this point). She even fell out of the raft at one point, but then we were all standing up with our hands interlocked in a circle as we went down a class 2 rapid. It just so happened that the way our boat turned that we all kind of pushed her and Chris (from switzerland) into the water. Don't worry, though, I rescued her quite swiftly. I also "rescued" a couple other girls in our group and when you pull them in you are put into a rather compromising position with the said person laying on top of you. It could potentially be awkward. Oh, and just to have a little extra fun, we went down one of the class 3's backwards (on purpose--some other groups repeatedly did it on accident) and then we also did another class 3 while closing our eyes. Our river guide, Diego, was really good and recently went to the rafting world cup in Ecuador (I don't know if he placed in any category, but impressive nonetheless). It was all a blast.

Oh, and it did have a light rain the entire time which both kept us really cool and enriched the already saturated green lining the canyon walls. There were so many vistas of canyon wall with clouds rising from the rain forests floor. Then there were over a dozen waterfalls along the river, some falling from over a hundred feet up. We joked that if we were to die on the river that we not realize it because we were already in heaven (unless some of us end up in hell, then we might notice a change in scenery). The only part that bugged me about the trip was that I was unable to carry my camera with me on the journey because of all the water.

One a side note, Haley and I have been listening to these books by Vince Flynn about terrorism and the CIA. They are really intense and hearing all the different stories kind of put me in commando mode where I am constantly on the look out for people that could give us problems (especially after the recent muggings in the area here).

I feel this entry was just a jumbled mess, but I wanted to get some of my impressions down really quick before I forget some of it. If you ever find yourself in Costa Rica, I highly recommend the Pacuare river, you won't be disappointed. It might end up being the highlight of the trip, depending on how Bocas Del Toro goes (I remember it being incredible as well).

Bodyguard

Thursday, June 28, 2007
12:31 AM

Ah, Costa Rica. So we are getting back into the Central American spirit now. We had a 4 hour bus ride through the mountains and ended up in the little town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. We had previously heard about Puerto Viejo from our previous tour leader from last year. We had asked her if she had any advice on places to go and things to do and she said to avoid this place because it is getting dangerous. Then this morning right before we got on the bus to come here with our group our new leader, Myra, told us of her recent mugging. She was down here about a month ago and got robbed right outside our current hotel. Two teenagers came running up to her shooting off a handgun into the air and demanding all her money. She freely gave up all she had and went straight to the police who did nothing because the boys were minors. In the month since that time, there have been more muggings, including an entire group of travelers. While I don't think we will get mugged ourselves, I am sure to carry as little money as possible, enough to just get by.

Oh, and I'm also not worried because we have a bodyguard, Roberto. He seems nice enough and did come in handy when a local rastafarian kept on trying to sell us some "good weed." Of course I think it would be better if the gun holster he has on his belt were to actually have a gun in it. No, I'm not kidding, the man has a gun holster with no gun. He does have a cell phone however, and I don't doubt that he is prepared to use it.

After arriving into town, Haley and I walked around with Crystal, an aspiring schoolteacher from Canada and Tyson, a twenty-something professional traveler. Tyson has spent the past year and a half traveling to Switzerland, parts of Europe, spent the past snowboarding season in Canada, probably a couple more places I can't think of and is now doing the entire central America thing. He plans on traveling for the next three years as well. I guess he just got tired of work one day in Australia as an electrical engineer and decided to head out on the road for some travels. Us Americans don't really even think of traveling like that. In fact, we don't do much traveling at all. I'm proud of Haley and I for stepping out of the box and getting away this time. We have a good group and I think we will have a lot of fun in Panama. Tomorrow we are gonna go see a sloth rescue farm and have a bonfire on the beach. Then the next day we are gonna do a little whitewater rafting down the "best" whitewater river in central America. Should be fun as long as our bodyguard continues to watch and protect us. (there is both sarcasm and truth in that last sentence).

Manchu-Wok at the MIA

Tuesday, June 26, 2007
11:52 PM

So, here we find ourselves once again in Central America. And here I find myself once again starting up "egberttravels.blogspot.com." Back on vacation. I'd like to say that this trip has gotten off to a good start, and to be honest it hasn't been THAT bad. However, our two hour layover in Miami quickly became a 5 hour layover and then turned into a 7.5 hour layover. We had planned on doing a little shopping in San Jose (Costa Rica--where we are right now), but seeing as we didn't get to the hotel until after 8:00pm local time, we just headed to the corner restaurant and ate a nice meal (arroz con pollo) for under $5US. The rest of our group was out to dinner and we have yet to meet them. We'll be up early tomorrow to get going to our next destination, so we'll miss out on San Jose all together.

About the title of this blog…In an effort to appease our growing anxiety about the layover, the nice people at American Airlines decided to give us each $10US to buy lunch. The dude at the counter told us to walk to this chinese place, which had the best food in the airport. We figured the plethora of time on our hands and an opportunity to eat some decent food would make the 15 minute hike worth it. Unfortunately, the food was everything but good. The sesame chicken was old and laced with catsup, the spring rolls were soggy in greese, the mushrooms in my mushroom chicken tasted like pool water and you get the picture. So, if you are ever stuck in the Miami International Airport, I would recommend that you go to a place other than the Manchu-Wok restaurant next to gate D35.

Just being down here in Costa Rica, I am remembering how much I love it down here. The weather is a very nice 65 degrees out (it's also midnight), and I don't think it gets much over 80 here in the city. I even love the smell of diesel fuel out on the crazy roads.

In other non-travel blog related news, we went wakeboarding yesterday for the first time. Poor Haley caught the front edge of her board her first time up and whacked that water with a brutal force. We were all surprised when she insisted to try it again. The next time she got right up and wakeboarded like a pro. Unfortunately, she is now experiencing what we imagine is whiplash from that first fall. Oh, and I got up too, but don't have any cool stories to share other than it was a blast.

On The Road Again Video

Central America Video part 2

Central America Video Part 3

Central America Part 1

The first part of our Central America Trip. So far I have finished through Costa Rica and halfway through Nicaragua. Lots more to come, just wanted to post this one now that I finished it. And yea, it only seemed fitting that I make the movie to our favorite song.

Recap

Man o'live. Right now I am on the plane, heading back to Atlanta, catching up on blogs. I can't believe that the trip is coming to a close. It has been an incredible month and I would advise everyone to do a similar trip sometime in their life. Visiting other people and other cultures has helped me to get some good perspective on my own world. The fact that there is this entire world out there, with hundreds of different cultures astounds me. At times we get so stuck in our routine of waking up early, going to the office, coming home watching TV, then repeating the routine the next day that we forget there is more out there. Things are about to get pretty crazy for Haley and I as we buy a new house, start medical school, and start looking for a job. I am glad that we were able to come on this trip.

This is where I give a special shout out to Haley. She is every bit as amazing as I always knew she was. She braved the foulest of bathrooms, climbed the most difficult of volcanoes, and faced some of her biggest fears. She did so without complaining, and I even think she had a little fun along the way. She is an incredible woman an I am grateful she chose me in life as a companion. We look forward to our next trip, whenever that may be.

Looking back, my favorite place to visit is probably the place I would be least likely to visit: Nicaragua. The way you could wave at people who see less money in a year then I may see in a day, and their faces light up as they smile and wave back to you was an event I will not soon forget. The people were so humble on the island of Ometepe, yet so happy and content that I think we could all learn a thing or two from them. I am also left with the memory of our taxi drivers, whose taxis were more run-down than the worst of cars you would see in the states, who races each other along pot holed streets, banging on the radio to get it to work. Of course they had no AC, and when they had a flat tire, it was changed in a matter of minutes.

Other trip highlights for me were all the amazing activities we did up in Monteverde, Costa Rica. From riding ATV's around mountain corners, to zip lining across the continental divide high about the rain forest. That was an incredibly fun place. Then there were the lava flows in Antigua in which the pictures tell the story of how cool it can be to get mere feet from lava. I learned that next time I visit an active volcano to take an egg so I can fry it on the rocks we are standing on. Another highlight of the trip would have to be the ATM caves in Belize. To be able to get so intimate with so religious a site it just incredible to me. I definitely have to read up on the Maya and their culture.

Of course the beaches and snorkeling were also nice and amazing, but they just don't seem to compare to the cultural experiences our trip offered. Having said that, those days we spent bumming on the beach probably allowed us to keep our sanity as our minds and bodies readily welcomed the rest.

In recap, I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to travel with. In the short month we were together, we really became great friends. Haley and I are sad that we won't be able to call you guys up to hang out sometime, but if we are ever in your countries, you better believe that we will give you a call (and you had better look us up next time you are in Atlanta). We need to start planning the reunion tour to cross trans-Siberia, and Gemma had better start learning whatever languages they speak there. We will all have to keep up with each other through websites and emails.

I don't know what next summer will hold, but I hope it is half as fun as this trip was for Haley and I.

Day 32 - Saying Goodbye

Last day of vacation. We woke up early, ate breakfast with the gang and then had to wish everybody goodbye. While it didn't get too emotional when we left, Haley and I were both really sad to leave all our friends we had made on our journey. We went through so much together, it feels as though I should be able to call some of them up to hang out sometime. Unfortunately, that will probably never happen. However, you guys had better call us up the next time you are in the US, and we may be calling you the next time we come to Finland, Australia, Scotland, South Africa, or Puerto Rico (but not Norway).

We had our final bus ride to the airport and were glad we got there so early because the power had gone out and Delta was doing everything manually. Took us nearly the full three hours to get through to make our flight. We did have enough time to burn the last of our pesos in the airport before boarding our plane for the flight home.

Back to the real world.

Day 31 - Last Day In Paradise

After grabbing a nice buffet breakfast with the gang down on gringo street, Haley, Erin, and I headed down to the beach for some relaxing in the sun. We found some nice, soft beach beds with large umbrellas covering them to set our stuff down on and then we headed into the water. It was a little strange after coming out of the water as many people had joined the area around us. Many of them were topless European women. I guess that's how they do things over there.

We forgot our towel at the hotel, so we headed off to purchase a new one. We thought we would only be gone a couple minutes, but it turns out we had walked much farther down to the beach than we had thought. After a mile of walking, we found a nice little place and got our "Playa Del Carmen" towel. Haley also picked up a sarong and a couple waters. When we got back, we learned Erin had gotten kicked off our sun bed. So after finding her we headed back into the water to try to escape the heat. I have never sweated so much in my life. You wouldn't believe the areas of the body that are capable of sweat; the backs of elbows, shoulders, and even knuckles. I didn't used to think I was a sweater, but central America has changed that aspect of my self-image.

On the way home, we ate a little ice cream for lunch. Then for desert Haley let me stop by this shack that was serving chicken. I got half a chicken, a dozen tortillas, rice, and other toppings for about $3US. It was some of the best chicken I have ever eaten. I would eat it again for dinner if I could.

Later on in the day, Haley and I headed back to the beach for some more fun in the water. It was nice to play in the waves, just the two of us. We have really enjoyed our time with the group, but it has also been nice to have some freedom to spend time with each other. This has been a great trip and we are really gonna miss these times of freedom once the real world starts up again.

Tonight we celebrated Antonia's birthday, complete with a pinata, Mexican hats, and music. I couldn't afford the Sobrero, so I cut my facial hair such that only a small line of a mustache remained. Don't worry, I got pictures. The unfortunate thing about the party was that there were a bunch of other GAP groups there on our last night, so things were strange as we tried to celebrate our last night together, but then there were other people there, so it was just odd. Not a bad night, but not the greatest either. After the party, we did hang out a little at a bar on gringo street and then a few minutes sitting on the beach as a group. It was a good evening overall.

Day 30 - Uggggh!

Today was a really long travel day. We started at 6:30 in the morning and got to our final destination in Mexico at 7:30. Today was a very bad day for intestinal cramping. At one point, I got quite sweaty, felt horrible pains shooting everywhere in my body, turned quite pail, and started to shake as my body tried to get rid of all its contents all at once. Everybody in our group kept asking if I was alright. They (and I) thought I was going to die. The bad part was that it was just after the Belize border. We re-boarded the bus to ride to the Mexican border (a few minutes away). Though the street is quite large, all along the way there are large 18-wheel trucks parked, effectively making the large street one lane, one way. In the middle was a white van, where the driver had apparently parked the car and left. This was when I was going through my ordeal. Did I mention this was on a very hot chicken bus?

So, we made it through the Mexican border and to the bus station, where I finally found a bathroom. I wouldn’t talk about it, but as a future medical student, I can appreciate the bodies violent efforts to get rid of what it no longer wants. I lost about 7.5 lbs in about 2 seconds. At this time I won't share with you how bad it was when I realized there was no toilet paper.

Much to Erin's pleasure, I finished reading Zorro, by Isabel Allende. She has been waiting in line to read the book as it has made it's rounds amongst our group. I highly recommend the book. It also helps the long bus rides much more enjoyable. After finishing the book, I got some good blogging in on the luxury Mexican bus. They really were luxury buses: Large Mercedes busses, decked out with TV's, lots of legroom, and AC (we actually got cold on the ride).

Playa looked interesting as we passed a Macdonald's, Office Depot, and Sam's Club on our way to the hotel. Tonight we had some awesome Mexican food. I could eat Mexican every meal for the rest of my life and die a very happy man (of course I would probably die earlier, but…). Mexico is going to be fun.

Day 29 - Swimming With Sharks (and big ones at that!)

We went out snorkeling on a sailboat today. We had three captains, all very rastafarian. They took us out to three different snorkeling spots in Belize's coral reef nature preserve. It has been protected for the past 25 years or so and as such has prospered. It is the second largest barrier reef in the world, second to Australia's. After our first stop, where those unfamiliar to snorkeling got to practice, we headed out to play with some sharks. As we were sailing along, we came to a spot in the water, where dozens of very large fish started swimming around the boat. A couple of the captains dove in the water at which time we realized the fish were sharks. They were each about 6 feet long, and looked a little intimidating. We had reached "Sharkray alley." It wasn't too hard to figure where the name came from. We all jumped in the water after the guides and got to swim with and hold large sharks and sting rays. The shark's skin was almost like sandpaper, which the stingrays was very fishlike and slimy. Apparently, the sharks were nurse sharks, completely harmless. Sting rays are also harmless, unless provoked or surprised.

Our last site was a large outlet between the channel that separates the island from the coral and the open ocean. I know that doesn't make any sense, but picture island - deeper water - coral - open ocean, in that order. The outlet goes through the coral from the deeper water to the open ocean. As we swam around an saw all kinds of fish, including a grouper the size of a small car, we found an underwater cave about 20-25 feet down. After I saw the guide swim through, I wanted to follow. I imagine that anywhere in the states would strictly forbid a snorkeler to do such a feat, but I really wanted to. I was surprised when our guide came up asking if anybody was going to go through. He didn't even finish asking the question before I started diving down. It was a little scary, as I had to equalize the pressure in my nose three times during the decent, and then be careful once I reached the bottom to make sure I had enough air to make it through and then back to the surface, but I made it (I made that sound scarier than it really was, but it definitely wasn't for the weaker swimmer). The cave was teaming with schools of fish who all scattered at the sight of me.

Between the different snorkeling sites, we had a lot of time to lay out on the sailboat deck, reapply sunscreen, and shoot the bull with fellow travel mates. It was a lot of fun, just chilling out in the sun and I am glad that we have all these beach days at the end of our trip. While the beach days and not my favorite of the trip, they are a much needed brake from all the hiking and bus-riding.

I almost forgot to mention one of the coolest things about the trip today. During the sailing, the captains would stop at certain sites, dive into the water and bring up some conch and lobster. I thought they were catching dinner for themselves, only to watch them cut up the catch and throw it in some lime juice to later serve us as ceviche. It was incredible to go straight from the water, into the ceviche salsa, into our mouths. Definitely some of the best ceviche I have ever had (and Haley loved it too).

Dinner was another amazing seafood meal. We had a seafood buffet which included lobster kabobs, grilled lobster in the shell, red snapper, barracuda, and some other food which I cannot remember at this time. It was all incredible and only cost us $13US each. After dinner, Haley and I took a couple of people out to a dark corner of the island to do a little stargazing. Some drugged up local kept telling us to not follow the light in the sky, but the light in our hearts that would never go out. He then took out his mini-mag lite which he used as an example of the light that would not go out in the wind. We all got a good laugh out of it. Poor guy. Then after looking at the stars for a while, we started talking about the galaxies and size of the universe, and other intelligent life. We decided that things were getting too deep, so we quickly turned the conversation to Nintendo, beeping out our favorite theme music.

Day 28 - Calicabuttah Lobster

Today was a nice easy travel day to Caye Caulker (that's pronounced Key Kawker). We had to wait on the side of the road by Trek Stop and wait for a bus to come by. Imagine all 13 of us suckers waiting in the hot Caribbean sun on the side of a busy road with all our luggage in a huge pile waiting for our bus to come. It was miserable, but also really cool looking back. Our bus ride was on a Belize chicken bus. Much different than Guatemala, it is unheard of to put three people to a seat, even if there is room. There is a strict two person limit, mandated by culture rather than bus regulations. It was fun riding along, watching the Caribbean colors on the houses, the people riding their bikes everywhere, and laundry hanging on clothes lines.

Once we got to Belize city, I got a little relief in the air-conned bank, but it was cut short as the BU started to cry out my name. I barely made it, and the relief was short lived. I don't know what's worse; constipation or the BU? Anyway, we got a little rest before heading out on our speed boat to get to Caye Caulker. With three 200hp motors on the back, we made it to Caulker in just under an hour. The Caribbean is very clear and blue. The pictures don't do it justice.

The island is smaller than Roatan, and I already like it better. Everything seems more accessible, as our hotel is right off the main pier and everything we need is within a five minute walk. Everybody here says the word man (or "mawn," as they pronounce it) after every sentence they speak. After a couple hours, we were all imitating the island accent (and doing a poor job at that).

Haley and I decided at the last minute to rent a two person kayak for an hour and see the sunset. We set off from main street (which is on the beach), traveled through a little channel that divides the island in two (created by hurricane Mitch a couple years ago) and paddled around a nature preserve while watching the sunset. There were starfish all around us, a giant Egret (or Crane?), lots of flying fish all around us, and beautiful skies as we made our short journey. I took a couple sub-par pictures which don't do the adventure justice.

After kayaking, we headed to Jolly Rogers for some incredible lobster on the grill. I should mention that Haley also had the lobster and if asked she may even admit to liking it. We also had some Ceviche for lunch, which was incredible. Haley may become a seafood lover after all (as long as it is fresh).

We also saw some topless Europeans on the beach, which was a new thing for us. You don't see that too much in the states.

Day 27 - Into The Underworld

I won't say that today was the best day of the trip, because I haven't dropped a twosie in a couple of days and have been suffering some painful abdominal cramping. However, my excretion problems aside, today was incredible.

Last night we all decided that we would fork out the $75US each and go to the ATM (Achtun Tenochlin Mechlam) caves. John and Judy (owners of Trek Stop) and Gemma had been talking up the caves as one of the best things to go do in Central America. So, going against my better judgement that was telling me to stay home and find ways to go number two, Haley and I went on the trip (more like journey). It started with a 6:30am wake up time, a two hour busride, and an hour hike through the jungle to reach the entrance to the caves.

We had two guides, Eduardo and Jose (I can't remember Jose's real name). Gemma said they were the best, and they didn't disappoint. They were both descendents of the Maya, as we would learn, and both gave us excellent background on the caves. We learned that National Geographic and the Discovery Channel had both filmed documentaries on this particular cave and numerous archeologists are still studying the cave today.

So at this point, I was trying to figure out what was so cool about these caves. I have been caving before, and while stalactites are cool and all, I wouldn't give them all the hype we had been receiving. No sooner had we reached the entrance to the cave then I realized why it was such a cool place. Before I get into details, I should further explain the trip to get there. We had to cross through two different rivers in our van before we headed out on foot. After parking the car, we had to cross two different rivers a grand total of three times through dense Central American jungle. The water was crystal clear and cool, which provided much needed relief from the relentless heat.

Okay, so we finally reach the entrance to the cave. There is this large hole in the river that we all dive into with all our clothes on and swim around in for a few minutes before devouring our sack lunches that we had drug through the rain forest. Then we were off to enter the cave.

The entrance to the cave was more or less a continuation of the large hole we had just been swimming in, so we literally had to swim a good distance into the cave before we were on solid ground. The solid ground did not last long as we plunged in and out of rapids in complete darkness except for our meager helmet lights. Our guide, Eduardo, did an excellent job of explaining different aspects of the cave and the Mayan culture, of which the caves played an important role. Apparently, the caves were very holy places for the Mayan peoples, who viewed them as a passageway into the underworld. They believe that the living must first pass through the underworld on their way to heaven.

In Mayan times, the only people who were permitted to enter the caves were the holy people, or Shamans, as our guide called them. As an entrance to the underworld, the caves were a place of sacrificial offerings. After hiking for a good hour through the caves, we climbed a steep rocky ledge, took off our shoes, and then set out on foot. As we walked along the path, gradually climbing higher up into the cave, we saw literally hundreds and hundreds of ceramic pottery littering the cave. Many of the pots had been calcified by the gentle trickle of running mineral water throughout the cave. Others had been brilliantly preserved as the cave remains a constant cool temperature and climate at all times. As we walked along the path, we literally had to watch where we stepped because our path was lined with pottery that was put there thousands of years ago by what is a now extinct culture. While it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life, I felt as though I was intruding on something holy, and the risk of ruining an artifact almost seemed not worth the price.

The ceramic pots were carried into the cave full of offerings. Often these was crops from their fields that they offered to the different gods. At other times, they sacrificed humans. This was often done to ask the gods for fertility or to plead with the gods to end a particularly severe draught. Just as many of the pots had been preserved by the calcium and mineral deposits in the cave, so too are many skeletal remains found in the cave. There were two different skulls we saw where the sacrificial victim was bludgeoned to death in the side of the head, and another nearly completely intact skeleton where a young girl was sacrificed by tearing her beating heart out of her chest in offering to the gods. It was so strange to get to close and personal to these people who died so many years ago. Again, it felt almost as though we shouldn't have been there.

It was an awesome and humbling experience at the same time, being able to see such an authentic site. We almost felt as archeologists must feel when they come across such a site.

In other news, I ended up taking some laxative that Nikki had on hand. Combined with way too many prunes and a diet coke, I paid a visit to Dr. BU tonight. Usually, it is not a good thing when you have to visit the good doctor, but tonight my friend, it was a welcomed event.

We also played a wicked game of "What If," which the group seems to be quite addicted to now. Haley and I are glad that we were able to introduce this game to the group. We also played a game called "I've Never," which totally ended up being about sex. It is supposed to be a drinking game where someone mentions something they have never done. If you have done it you have to take a drink. We substituted it with putting your hand on your head. Haley and I know our group much better now, after playing that game.

Day 26 - Speaking English

Today has been a great day. We had a simple travel day into Belize, where things are a little nicer and the people speak English. So what do I do as soon as we come into the country? Order a burrito in Spanish. Oops!

Our van drive today was only about three hours, so as soon as we settled into our eco-resort (called "Trek Stop") we ate lunch and headed out on the local river for an afternoon of tubing. They say it has been raining here for the past twelve days straight, so the water was really high. We were given the usual disclaimers, and instructed what to do in case we get dragged under the rapids. A couple of people were really scared of the rapids, but after our reassurances of how easy it was going to be they decided to join us. The rapids were much higher than usual which meant much better ride than usual, but instead of lasting 2.5 hours, it only lasted less than one hour.

During that hour we saw at least a dozen huge iguanas along the side of the river as well as a plethora of birds along the shores and in the trees. That is the way to enjoy the rain forest, in an inner tube floating down a river. Of course we didn't get pictures, but the memories will remain. I don't know if Haley and I will be able to return to Helen to go tubing after realizing tubing's full potential through Belizian rain forest.

Trek Stop, the place we are lodging at is incredible. It is set up as an environmentally friendly eco-resort, where you poo into a large hole, you shower in rain water that has been saved up in large basins, and you refill your existing water bottles instead of buying new plastic ones. The people who own it are also really cool. They remind me of my old D.O.D. teachers in Panama; free, laid back spirits who go out of their way to make you comfortable. They most remind me of Mrs. and Mr. Petersen. Mrs. Petersen was my calculus teacher in Panama and her husband taught biology at PCC (Panama Canal College). They had met in the peace core and by the time I had met them, they were older but just as cool and laid back as they had ever been. They had an infectious love for learning and inspired me in many ways, including my decision to study medicine.

John and Judy (the owners) also have an infectious love of learning that is apparent in their hands on eco-museum for children and adults alike. They are older, John with a thick beard, t-shirt, long pants, and rubber boots. He always has a pipe in his mouth. Judy has double pony-tailed hair, thick glasses, and a kind smile. It is just nice how accommodating they are.

Tonight we are going to eat an early dinner and fight off the jungle bugs as we try to go to bed early in preparation for our caving trip tomorrow. Apparently there is this cool river that flows through a large cave system. We will follow the river down until we reach a large room where the Mayan performed ceremonies including human sacrifice. They say there are Mayan bones laying around the room that we will be able to observe.

Day 25 - The Empire Strikes Back

After a 6:00am wake up time followed by an hour van ride, we arrived at one of the most amazing places I have ever been in my life. As soon as we entered the Mayan Ruins of Tikal, we knew we were in a different world. As we walked into the site, towering pillars of stone poked through the jungle canopy. As we reached the first small pyramid, the trees were alive with spider monkeys swinging on vines over our heads. They were everywhere!

I understand why Tikal gets all the hype we heard before coming on the trip. The site is huge, with many different building from many different generations of the Maya. The most amazing thing to me is all the mystery surrounding this ancient civilization. From their ball games, where the loser was sacrificed, to their gods, to the cause of their demise, there is much we have yet to learn about them. Unfortunately, massive looting from different sites has caused us to lose much of this information. Then there is that small fact that over 80% of Tikal still remains under large trees and mounds of dirt. Over thousands of years, the unrelenting jungle has completely overtaken Tikal and many other sites. We walked by mound after mound, which looked little more than a hill. I don't know how gigantic trees can grow on top of pyramids that are over 75 meters in the air, but when Tikal was discovered 50 years ago, the jungle had completely taken over.

Our guide, Eulogio (or Lojo, as he asked us to call him) was great. He was probably in his 50's and was very knowledgeable about the ruins and Mayan people in general. He was also very polite, as every time he saw us on the verge of doing something foolish would tell us: "I advise you, my friends, that you may want to be careful as you do that." At one point Brent challenged me to race to the top of one of the ruins. Unfortunately, Brent is very youthful and really wanted a challenge. I usually would have turned it down, but for some reason I caved. As we climbed the giant stone monument as fast as we could, I was thinking how dumb and dangerous it was; large vertical steps with no handrail. It was only later that I learned an American woman had died there only a few months ago when she fell down the stairs. (PS, I won by about a quarter of a step).

I should mention that while I really enjoyed Tikal, I felt pretty sick. Between chest congestion, a runny nose, and being unable to go number two, it was kind of hard to battle all the walking in the blazing sun. However, in such an amazing place, you kind of forget how bad you feel and become absorbed in Mayan legend.

Unfortunately, last night we all signed up to make tamales with another GAP group today after we returned from Tikal. I wouldn't have gone, except that we had already paid for the activity. After returning from Tikal, we had a small lunch and our group headed out on a boat to cross the lake to a small village, where our tamale mentor, Donia Gloria, was going to teach us the art of the tamale. Her house was meager and her kitchen wretched by US standards. There were pigs in the yard, wandering in and out of the outdoor kitchen. There were mangy dogs and chickens and small flies everywhere. As soon as we arrived, we got a sampling of some of the tamales Donia Gloria had already made. They were delicious. She then showed us how to put the tamales together, and we all had a go at it. Later we would learn that we are not very good at making tamales, as they all tasted horrible. But we had fun visiting her home, seeing how they live, and seeing the local tamale maker do her thing.

We had a great dinner tonight at Captain Tortugas, overlooking the lake as the sun set. The food was good, though it took over an hour and half before we all had our dinners. This gave us plenty of time to get to know each other a little better. We learned that there were other fans of the OC on the trip and collectively decided that nobody was going to miss Marissa after her untimely death by Volchuck. The topic turned to people we were not very fond of and I began the stories of Elder White on my mission. People always laugh at those stories of the Ex-Lax rice crispie treats, the habanero tasting, and the great water fight. Those were good times and I hate to say that the poor boy deserved all the mean pranks we played on him.

I also got the chance to talk to mom and dad. Apparently they decided last minute to take a week off and head out to Utah for family reunions. Now that they are empty nesters, they don't have all us kids to strap them down. They sounded as though they are in good spirits and enjoying themselves on vacation.

Day 24 - We Are Almost Done :-(

Today was a pretty laid back travel day. We were able to wake up late and catch the boat that took us to our van around 9:00. Luckily, we didn't have too long of a ride. We reached the small island of Flores around noon. It is from here that we will take a van tomorrow to go to the ruins at Tikal.

Flores is a cool little island on some 42 mile long lake in Guatemala. It is a really small island and every square inch is covered with some type of concrete, be it sidewalk, street, hotel, or restaurant. It doesn't feel too crowded, as I imagine this is the off season. After lunch, we dropped off our laundry and headed to a nice corner of the hotel to just relax and get caught up on blogging. Shannon, Amy, and Erin joined us and it was really nice doing nothing for once. At one point, Antonia came down to tell us about the construction workers up on the roof who were smoking pot, while singing along to "Eye Of The Tiger," which was blasting on their radios. I love central America.

Relaxing is both a good and bad thing. It gave me time to think about the real world. After reading my sister Maria's blog about yardwork, I got very unexcited about our vacation ending. Oh well, you can't live in paradise forever.

Day 23 - What If?

Today was a good day. I think we are all getting to that point in the trip where we are still really enjoying ourselves, but we are tired and don't need to overly exert ourselves every chance we get. We decided to lay fairly low and head out on a boat ride to visit some hot waterfalls. We first set out from our flooded dock at Tijax (pronounced Tee-hash) around 9:00. We rode past "bird island" on our little boat and got to see thousands of white and black birds crowd on some small island in the middle of the river (or lake?). We then went by some impressi9ve looking fortress the locals had built hundreds of years beforehand to ward off the invading Indians and Spaniards.

Once we arrive at the "finca," or farm, we wait around for a half hour for the tractor to come by that was going to take us to the waterfalls. Gemma had been to them before and assured us that they were worth going to, as the waterfalls were really warm and the pool below was nice and cold. So the tractor, old and worn down, pulled us behind in a cart that was even older and more worn down. The ride was bumpy and we all got to know each other a little better as we constantly flailed all over each other.

We were disappointed when we finally reached the waterfalls, as the recent rain had caused the river to ride and become quite muddy. Ready for a challenge, I started to climb the rocks on the opposite side of the falls (the side we hiked into) to find a good entrance point. Luckily, a local worker warned us of the dangers and probably saved me from doing something foolish. We showed us men (Andrew, Brent and I) how to safely enter the river (which involved diving blindly into the muddy water, against all our better judgment). We did so, swam against a strong current and finally reached the other side. We then hiked up a steep hill to get to the river that fed the waterfalls (the hot river). Once up there, we realized that it would not be as nice as we planned because the river smelled of rotten sulfur and was too small to do anything other than wade barefoot. So, we made our way back down. Some of the more adventuresome women in the group, decided that they wanted to give it a try. Shannon and Hanna did an exceptional job of fighting the current and were able to share in our disappointment with the sulfur water.

On the way back, a bird pooped on Haley's shoulder and Shannon's face. While Haley's was only on her shirt compared to Shannon, she was not able to wash it out and now has another nice souvenir in the form of a nice skid mark.

After getting back to the hotel, we all just shriveled like prunes the rest of the afternoon in the hotel pool. Because of the compromising shower/jungle situation at Tijax, we all counted this as our shower, figuring the chlorine would kill off most of the bacteria.

That night at dinner, after a small mishap when ordering our food (they thought Haley had ordered two servings of tomato soup (yeah, we didn't get it either)) we played celebrity "who am I" and another intense game of "what if?" Both were a lot of fun as I was branded as a transvestite and Haley was accused of being in the adult entertainment industry in what ended up being the best game of "what if?" we have yet played.

Day 22 - Welcome To The Jungle

Traveling from Antigua to Rio Dulce today took us about 8 hours, which included a two hour stop at some Mayan ruins. Luckily, we were able to get a private van (actually, I don't even think there are chicken busses that run in this part of the country) with air conditioning, which really cut out on the heat. On the ride, I was able to read a good chunk of Isabel Allende's Zorro and watch a couple episodes of "The Office" on Haley's ipod ("The Fight," "The Fire," and "The Client"). With all that entertainment, I actually found the travel day to be quite enjoyable.

The Mayan ruins (Quirigua) we stopped at were pretty cool, though they were a little bit smaller than Copan and what will be Tikal. It was nice to not be overwhelmed by courtyard after courtyard of unbelievably large ruins. These were modest in size, but the attraction these offered was the preservation of the carvings. Apparently the limestone in this region (or is it sandstone?) was much harder than that at many other Mayan sites. As a result, there is very little wear and tear on the large statues that remain. The largest statue in the Mayan world is located here, and is a towering 35 meters (or was it feet?) and was quite impressive.

After hearing all the stories about Rio Dulce, we were all expecting the worse: Scorpions, being located miles from anywhere, horrible mozzies, and all the other expectations one would have when thinking of the jungle. This was definitely not the case. As we crossed a large bridge into Rio Dulce, Gemma (our tour leader) pointed to a place just off the shore, showing us where we would be staying. We thought we were going to be way out in the middle of nowhere, but it ended up being less than a 100 meter boat trip from a major Guatemalan town. It would end up that the bugs were quite normal and the place was quite enjoyable. Our hotel/lodge was called Tijax and because of the horrible flooding they had been experiencing over the past week was almost completely under water. All the huts are one stilts, and some did not make it. Luckily ours was spared, but we had to cross a narrow plank with all our bags (I had to carry two as a result of our shopping spree in Antigua). It was all quite exciting now that I didn't drop anything.

The best thing about our new lodgings in the swimming pool. It is a nice, clean pool, complete with two jetted tubs and plenty of room for our entire group. As soon as we dropped our bags and went over the next day's activities, we all jumped in. Shannon, Erin, Andrew, Nikki, Haley, and I all tried to form the letters G.A.P. in the water (the name of our tour group) in hopes they will feature the picture in the next GAP newsletter and give us a discount on our next trip. I was pretty impressed with how clearly we were able to make those water-words, but we'll have to stand by on whether or not the picture will ever be published.

One last cool thing about today. At dinner, Amy told us about this cool trick she picked up to find spiders. You take a flashlight, point it straight out from your forehead to correspond to your line of sight. Make sure the flashlight is on spotlight mode and shine the light on the ground (or in the trees, or anywhere you think you may find spiders). As you scan the area, you will undoubtedly see little sparkly lights shining back at you. As you follow these lights, you will find more spiders than you ever knew existed in your backyard, or the jungle for that matter. I thought Amy was fully of it at first, but when I gave it a go, she was right. It is really cool, I encourage you to try it out.

Side Note

It is now after 11:00pm on what I think is July 21st. I am sitting high up on a balcony in our hotel in Flores Guatemala. I have been spending the past couple hours chatting with you all online while updating my blogs (I am still a couple days away from being totally caught up, but I'm getting there). There are still lots of cars in the streets as well as a father and his sons playing soccer down below in the street. The air is clean and the people are happy. The Constipation has left and the BU has seemed to return, and I think I am coming down with a nasty cold. I am being eaten alive by mosquitos (or mossies as our friends on the other side of the atlantic call them). I couldn't be happier. Good night!