So a family emergency came up that I cant really elaborate on, but I am officially returning to Pennsylvania, and should arrive around 1230 tuesday night. Lets just say I have been in a bit of a frantic frensy trying to pack up, say goodbye to my friends and tica familia, and coordinate everything with my classes. It seems like evyerthing should be fine with my classes, all I really need to do is force myself to sit down and focus, and finish up my work. A lot is going through my mind right now though. I went out yesterday and saw a bunch of my Tico friends. There was a week long festival at UCR and it was the last night of activities, and the bars were packed. It took me ages to find Pablo, but once I found him I ended up catching up with a lot of friends, including esteban, paulo, alejandro, andres, and of course junior. Im making them all come out monday night for my last night, and hopefully my study abroad group too.
I love travelling, but moving some place for four months at a time can be hard, making so many friends, and starting to feel comfortable, and then its time to leave again. Im hoping that my friends from Costa Rica and Turkey visit me in Boston. I always tell them, my door is always open. I think Im ready to settle down in boston for a year or so now. Im looking forward so much to living with katie, and probably one other person. We are going to have a pimped out apartment.
I really should go back and finish packing, and swing out to the store to pick up one or two more things I want to bring home for family and friends. Its time to go home.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
another manuel antonio fantastic weekend
So I went to Manuel Antonio for another amazing weekend, but not before i spent thrusday night out with some of the study abroad kids. We went out in currdibat and had a a good time, had a few beers, you know, just a very chill night out. Friday I headed to manuel antonio to hang out with my boy alex. Upon arrival, as per usual, there was an interesting crowd of travelers at vista serena, and i hopped in on one of the most fantastic hostel dinners yet. it was red snapper, steak, and tuna, in a curry sauce and a wine sauce, vegetables in a curry sauce, and rice. AKA heaven for 3,000 colones.
Alex eventually showed up, and we ended up hanging out, catching up, and of course being up to no good. We snagged the dogs miga and chloe who are the coolest pups in the world. love them to death. They had the silliest haircuts though, i almost didnt recognize them when they were shaggy. Miga is about a year old, white, and and chloe is almost 8 years old and black- dark brown. They both had the hair on their bodies cut really short, with their faces fluffy, and their little tails. So adorable/hillarious.
Saturday I hung out on the beach, and ran into to girls i met the last time i was in manuel. I ended up chilling with them all day, and various other friends of theirs, and once in a while dropped in on my boy reggae stephen. it was a good day for meeting people, that night i was pretty tired, and ended up hanging out at the hostel with a few of the other guys i made friends with. Oddly enough, an older man named john stayed in the hostel for two nights. He was at least in his 60´s, had suffered a heart attack a few years before, and then was staying in a youth hostel. Yeah, he def. was a little crazy, but trying to be adventurous, he partook in some drinks with us, and i watched him try marijuana for the first time in his life. He was soo excited, and bearing his heart to all of us. It was funny, but also a little liberating to see an older man, get out there and try something new. I feel sure he was going through something back hom to suddenly be in costa rica studying spanish, staying at hostels for the first time and trying marijuana. I will say however, he ate all my muffins and acted like he didnt, and that was a tad upsetting for me, cause those were supposed to be my breakfast.
My friend Anthony told us a stumper of a riddle saturday night and now i offer it to you to see if you can figure it out. You must email me, facebook me, or talk to me in person if you want the answer, or think you know. vaneen.b@gmail.com
There is a room, which has no windows, one door, and one light in the room. No light eascapes from the room. You are on the outside of the room, and next to the door are three switches. One turns on the light. You may fiddle with the switches all you want, take as much time as you need, but once you open door, you must be able to tell me which switch turns on the light. Once the door is open you may not touch any of the switches.
Hint: the answer is not the first one, or the middle one, or the last one, but is rather more like an explanation of how you would figure it out.
good luck!
Let just say that kept us stumped for a good part of the night, but i will ssay in my defense, one part i missed, and thus was more confused then i should have been.
Sunday started out with rain, so i spent the first half of the day hanging out with a few people in the hostel, and johny, a tico staying at the hostel and an artisian selling his wares on the street taught me how to make some different kinds of bracelets. I made one for myself, and one for him to sell, and im planning on picking up that kind of string, and making many many more, and being an artisian bum in boston, maybe sit outside fenway park and sell my goods. It seems like a good option for my return to boston if finding a waitressing position fails. I could sell sarahs hats, and there are these cool hippie pants i saw in guatemala im pretty sure i could make. This could be my future were talking about ladies and gentlemen. Hmmmmmmm. It holds a certain rustic appeal, but for somereason i feel that it wont be making a very good use of my college education... but then again does waitressing really? if i do though, i will update you on where i decide to hang around a sell my hippie goods, and you can all come by and make me rich.
Anthony, Brandon and I headed back to the beach for some sun, swimming, and exploring. The sun was pretty brutal, so i used lots of suntan lotion, but was able to walk away with a pretty good tan. I finally want a tan, because i feel it would be very depressing to return to boston pale, but also, i just really like the sun. Living here is a dream, with some of the most beautiful beachs only a few hours away in almost any direction. I could live like this forever, and I now completely understand why my friend shelia was scared i would come down here and never comeback.
Sunday night I made my guacamole dip, which is pretty bomb actually. i think i have my recipe down. We backed cookies, and drank free alcohol that some travelers left because they had to return to the states. Monday morning i hopped a 930 bus back to san jose, and was of course late for my 1 oclock class. I had literally 2,000 colones in my wallet and not a single taxi would take me to ulatina for that, so i hualed ass through downtown with my backpack, until i walked far enough, that i could convince a taxi driver to take me. i used the puppy dog eyes, and said, Ulatina para 2,000 colones. Tengo classes ahora and solomente tengo 2 mil. It worked luckily and i eventually made it there, although i spent the rest of the day sleeping because i wasnt feeling well.
Today I had my spanish oral examination. i basically just talked about my experience in costa rica, things i did, things i liked, things i didnt liked. I just learned past tense, which is pretty tough for me, but i think im getting the hang of it. i hope so, i have my final exam for spanish on thursday, and im a bit nervous i wont lie. i also have a quiz tomorrow, and huge paper i need to get truckin on. It seems like there is soo much to do, but i only have around 3 weeks left. I havent even seen most of my tico friends for weeks, and there are still so many places i want to go. this means i must return. however, now i must go, because i have so much studying to do.
=)
Alex eventually showed up, and we ended up hanging out, catching up, and of course being up to no good. We snagged the dogs miga and chloe who are the coolest pups in the world. love them to death. They had the silliest haircuts though, i almost didnt recognize them when they were shaggy. Miga is about a year old, white, and and chloe is almost 8 years old and black- dark brown. They both had the hair on their bodies cut really short, with their faces fluffy, and their little tails. So adorable/hillarious.
Saturday I hung out on the beach, and ran into to girls i met the last time i was in manuel. I ended up chilling with them all day, and various other friends of theirs, and once in a while dropped in on my boy reggae stephen. it was a good day for meeting people, that night i was pretty tired, and ended up hanging out at the hostel with a few of the other guys i made friends with. Oddly enough, an older man named john stayed in the hostel for two nights. He was at least in his 60´s, had suffered a heart attack a few years before, and then was staying in a youth hostel. Yeah, he def. was a little crazy, but trying to be adventurous, he partook in some drinks with us, and i watched him try marijuana for the first time in his life. He was soo excited, and bearing his heart to all of us. It was funny, but also a little liberating to see an older man, get out there and try something new. I feel sure he was going through something back hom to suddenly be in costa rica studying spanish, staying at hostels for the first time and trying marijuana. I will say however, he ate all my muffins and acted like he didnt, and that was a tad upsetting for me, cause those were supposed to be my breakfast.
My friend Anthony told us a stumper of a riddle saturday night and now i offer it to you to see if you can figure it out. You must email me, facebook me, or talk to me in person if you want the answer, or think you know. vaneen.b@gmail.com
There is a room, which has no windows, one door, and one light in the room. No light eascapes from the room. You are on the outside of the room, and next to the door are three switches. One turns on the light. You may fiddle with the switches all you want, take as much time as you need, but once you open door, you must be able to tell me which switch turns on the light. Once the door is open you may not touch any of the switches.
Hint: the answer is not the first one, or the middle one, or the last one, but is rather more like an explanation of how you would figure it out.
good luck!
Let just say that kept us stumped for a good part of the night, but i will ssay in my defense, one part i missed, and thus was more confused then i should have been.
Sunday started out with rain, so i spent the first half of the day hanging out with a few people in the hostel, and johny, a tico staying at the hostel and an artisian selling his wares on the street taught me how to make some different kinds of bracelets. I made one for myself, and one for him to sell, and im planning on picking up that kind of string, and making many many more, and being an artisian bum in boston, maybe sit outside fenway park and sell my goods. It seems like a good option for my return to boston if finding a waitressing position fails. I could sell sarahs hats, and there are these cool hippie pants i saw in guatemala im pretty sure i could make. This could be my future were talking about ladies and gentlemen. Hmmmmmmm. It holds a certain rustic appeal, but for somereason i feel that it wont be making a very good use of my college education... but then again does waitressing really? if i do though, i will update you on where i decide to hang around a sell my hippie goods, and you can all come by and make me rich.
Anthony, Brandon and I headed back to the beach for some sun, swimming, and exploring. The sun was pretty brutal, so i used lots of suntan lotion, but was able to walk away with a pretty good tan. I finally want a tan, because i feel it would be very depressing to return to boston pale, but also, i just really like the sun. Living here is a dream, with some of the most beautiful beachs only a few hours away in almost any direction. I could live like this forever, and I now completely understand why my friend shelia was scared i would come down here and never comeback.
Sunday night I made my guacamole dip, which is pretty bomb actually. i think i have my recipe down. We backed cookies, and drank free alcohol that some travelers left because they had to return to the states. Monday morning i hopped a 930 bus back to san jose, and was of course late for my 1 oclock class. I had literally 2,000 colones in my wallet and not a single taxi would take me to ulatina for that, so i hualed ass through downtown with my backpack, until i walked far enough, that i could convince a taxi driver to take me. i used the puppy dog eyes, and said, Ulatina para 2,000 colones. Tengo classes ahora and solomente tengo 2 mil. It worked luckily and i eventually made it there, although i spent the rest of the day sleeping because i wasnt feeling well.
Today I had my spanish oral examination. i basically just talked about my experience in costa rica, things i did, things i liked, things i didnt liked. I just learned past tense, which is pretty tough for me, but i think im getting the hang of it. i hope so, i have my final exam for spanish on thursday, and im a bit nervous i wont lie. i also have a quiz tomorrow, and huge paper i need to get truckin on. It seems like there is soo much to do, but i only have around 3 weeks left. I havent even seen most of my tico friends for weeks, and there are still so many places i want to go. this means i must return. however, now i must go, because i have so much studying to do.
=)
Monday, April 13, 2009
How I made it back to Costa Rica
Alright, so from the get go, I can tell you my mother is not going to be very happy about this post, but I am posting about a day in the life of cheese, so I must tell. After my last post, I went on to find out about buses out of San Pedro and back to Guat city for my flight early the next morning. Well they were trying to overcharge me, and I decided that would just not do, so I figured I would hop a boat across the lake, and could get cheaper prices in the large city of Panachal. Oh little did I know, with my (what I thought was improving greatly) spanish, and the different accent, was that the lady was actually telling me the last bus left at 4 and arrived at the airport at 8 at night, not that the last bus was a 8. So I hung out for the day in San Pedro, basking in the sun, the beautiful hippie town, and my foresight to avoid the overpriced tourist agencies. Oh little did i know.
I arrived in Panachal around 10 after 5, and a nice guy on the boat with me showed me where to go. The tourist agencies on this side were just as overpriced, so I made my way to the other side of town where the chicken buses left from. That is where I discovered my grave mistake. The last collectivo left at 4, same as the last shuttle through a travel agency. The earliest bus the next day was at 6 am, but at the time I should have already boarded my flight. Uh oh. The kind man who informed me of this offered me a taxi ride for the low low price of 100 dollars, 200 dollars cheaper than I would be charged elsewhere he claimed. Oh but of course, because of my lack of credit/debit card, I had only borrowed a little more off of Dave that I thought I would need, and even then about double what I expected would be neccessary just in case.
There I was, trapped in Panachal, with just under 300 quetzales on me, low and behold about 35 US dollars give or take. There were no more buses or shuttles running to the city, I was about 3 hours away (depending on the vehicle) and had under 12 hours to figure out how to get there. First I wandered the small city freaking out, but trying to hold it together. I had no way of getting a hold of dave as he was on the other side of the lake, and I wasnt even sure if he was still in San Pedro. The internet cafes were closed because of Semana Santa, and I was well, trapped and doomed, and did not want to have to call my parents to bail me out unless I absolutely had to. So I started stopping large shuttles and buses that were driving through the main part of town and asking where they were going. They were privately run, so i thought maybe I could explain my problem, pay the money I had, and hop on some tour groups bus or van. One van said they would be back in a half hour as they drove past, so I settled myself on a corner to wait, and continued asking other shuttles. Two guys were on that same corner, artisians, selling their wares on a table and asked what was going on. I explained my difficulties, and they sympathized, ¨Una problema muy grande¨ They let me stash my bigpackers bag under the table, because it was pretty heavy and awkward to get through the crowd with. Did I mention that because of Semana Santa the people were out in droves, tables lined up and down the street selling traditional items, to homecrafted things, to manufactured tourist gimics you can find around the world. There were police whistling cars and people through, music and food. An religious processions farther down the street with colored sawdust on the streets, and fake jesuses being carried on platforms. If I hadnt been so stressed, I would have really enjoyed the atmostphere.
I was talking to a busdriver who was trying to help me out, and call up other drivers he knew to see if he could help me out of my situation, when the two guys from the table on the corner started hollaring ¨chica! muchacha! aqui! aqui!¨ They found me a car going to Guatemala city. To be honest I barely though twice, but rather saw a woman and a man, and a younger guy in the back seat with a reggae hat on, grabbed my bag, and hopped in the car. The wasnt really a lot of time because the police kept whistling and trying to keep the traffic moving. I had hopped in with a family, Jorge Senior, his wife Glenda, and their sun Jorge junior. They were extremely kind. Jorge Senior told me he was a dentist, and specifically an orthadontist, and was telling me this to make me feel safer. They were extremely kind. Jorge junior wants to go to med school eventually, and he spoke amazing english and hes only 15. Oh how much I was I could speak another language that well when I was his age. We stopped for hot chocolate, and Glenda gave me a pink, purple and blue bracelet which I have not taken off. Everytime I see it, it reminds me how kind they were. They dropped me off at the airport, made sure I was inside safely, and hugged me goodbye. I have their address, and they made me promise if I ever return to Guatemala, I will visit. I plan on keeping that promise.
Now I know how dangerous hitchhiking can be, but this isnt my first experience with it. Its more common in Latin America, and well, I hopped in with a family, a family who was probably thinking, if one of my children ever got stranded, I hope someone would do the same for them. I honestly felt safe the whole time. I spent the night sleeping on the airport floor, and made it back to Costa Rica safe and sound, where I spent my last two days of break vegging out and relaxing. Im really sad that I only have about a month left, spring break was kind of the crossing point, the beginning of the end of my journey abroad. Papers to write, a few last places to visit, and some last drinks with friends. I keep managing to make it through without serious bodily damage, so hopefully I can make it one more month right? Until next time....
I arrived in Panachal around 10 after 5, and a nice guy on the boat with me showed me where to go. The tourist agencies on this side were just as overpriced, so I made my way to the other side of town where the chicken buses left from. That is where I discovered my grave mistake. The last collectivo left at 4, same as the last shuttle through a travel agency. The earliest bus the next day was at 6 am, but at the time I should have already boarded my flight. Uh oh. The kind man who informed me of this offered me a taxi ride for the low low price of 100 dollars, 200 dollars cheaper than I would be charged elsewhere he claimed. Oh but of course, because of my lack of credit/debit card, I had only borrowed a little more off of Dave that I thought I would need, and even then about double what I expected would be neccessary just in case.
There I was, trapped in Panachal, with just under 300 quetzales on me, low and behold about 35 US dollars give or take. There were no more buses or shuttles running to the city, I was about 3 hours away (depending on the vehicle) and had under 12 hours to figure out how to get there. First I wandered the small city freaking out, but trying to hold it together. I had no way of getting a hold of dave as he was on the other side of the lake, and I wasnt even sure if he was still in San Pedro. The internet cafes were closed because of Semana Santa, and I was well, trapped and doomed, and did not want to have to call my parents to bail me out unless I absolutely had to. So I started stopping large shuttles and buses that were driving through the main part of town and asking where they were going. They were privately run, so i thought maybe I could explain my problem, pay the money I had, and hop on some tour groups bus or van. One van said they would be back in a half hour as they drove past, so I settled myself on a corner to wait, and continued asking other shuttles. Two guys were on that same corner, artisians, selling their wares on a table and asked what was going on. I explained my difficulties, and they sympathized, ¨Una problema muy grande¨ They let me stash my bigpackers bag under the table, because it was pretty heavy and awkward to get through the crowd with. Did I mention that because of Semana Santa the people were out in droves, tables lined up and down the street selling traditional items, to homecrafted things, to manufactured tourist gimics you can find around the world. There were police whistling cars and people through, music and food. An religious processions farther down the street with colored sawdust on the streets, and fake jesuses being carried on platforms. If I hadnt been so stressed, I would have really enjoyed the atmostphere.
I was talking to a busdriver who was trying to help me out, and call up other drivers he knew to see if he could help me out of my situation, when the two guys from the table on the corner started hollaring ¨chica! muchacha! aqui! aqui!¨ They found me a car going to Guatemala city. To be honest I barely though twice, but rather saw a woman and a man, and a younger guy in the back seat with a reggae hat on, grabbed my bag, and hopped in the car. The wasnt really a lot of time because the police kept whistling and trying to keep the traffic moving. I had hopped in with a family, Jorge Senior, his wife Glenda, and their sun Jorge junior. They were extremely kind. Jorge Senior told me he was a dentist, and specifically an orthadontist, and was telling me this to make me feel safer. They were extremely kind. Jorge junior wants to go to med school eventually, and he spoke amazing english and hes only 15. Oh how much I was I could speak another language that well when I was his age. We stopped for hot chocolate, and Glenda gave me a pink, purple and blue bracelet which I have not taken off. Everytime I see it, it reminds me how kind they were. They dropped me off at the airport, made sure I was inside safely, and hugged me goodbye. I have their address, and they made me promise if I ever return to Guatemala, I will visit. I plan on keeping that promise.
Now I know how dangerous hitchhiking can be, but this isnt my first experience with it. Its more common in Latin America, and well, I hopped in with a family, a family who was probably thinking, if one of my children ever got stranded, I hope someone would do the same for them. I honestly felt safe the whole time. I spent the night sleeping on the airport floor, and made it back to Costa Rica safe and sound, where I spent my last two days of break vegging out and relaxing. Im really sad that I only have about a month left, spring break was kind of the crossing point, the beginning of the end of my journey abroad. Papers to write, a few last places to visit, and some last drinks with friends. I keep managing to make it through without serious bodily damage, so hopefully I can make it one more month right? Until next time....
Friday, April 10, 2009
Guatemala....
So recently all my plans for spring break fell through... tentative plans for montezuma and solid plans for nicargua were off in one simple day, through a few facebook messages. I had no idea what to do for spring break, all my other friends had plans, and I really didnt want to get stuck in san jose for an extended period of time. So I worked it out with my mom and got plane tickets to guatemala to visit pennsylvanian dave. Last minute decisions seem to work out for me. We have been on a whirlwind tour of the country, we spent our first night in guat city, meeting up at a hostel.. where i randomly met two americans studying abroad at UCR, the university right down the street from me in san jose. They also happen to be on the same return flight. We chilled out, and saturday morning tried to exchange my colones for quetzals. Lets just say there is not a single place in guatemala that will exchange costa rican colones. Be forwarned. The one place we finally found was of course in the sketchy part of the city, and ther were going to take about a 100 dollars cut. Eff that. Ended up borrowing from dave the whole week and we figured out a way to transfer money to his account. We then hopped on a 12 hour bus ride up to tikal in the northern highlands of the country. Through mountains, through desert, through farms, with people crammer in the aisles, random food vendors hopping on, and for the first two or three hours, the bus pulling off to the side because it thought it was breaking down. It was however well worth it, because Sunday was the most amazing day in guatemala.
We headed off to Tikal bright and early and wandered around the mayan ruins. It was in the jungle with huge trees springing up everywhere, spider monkeys, howler moneys, birds, lizards, spiders, and tons of other wildlife in the midst. There were five large pyramids or temples and we were able to climb three of them for spectacular views, and there were several other smaller pyramids, but still immense in size. Temple 4 had an awesome view of the other temples poking through the forest, and temple 5, was the scariest pyramid i have ever climbed. granted tikal had the first pyramids i have played on, this was one frightening climb... but well worth it. The larger pyramids had stairs built for safety and to protect the ruins, but for some reason, temple 5s staircase was more of a verticle ladder going somewhere around 180 to 190 feet in the air. Did I mention to anyone what a klutz I am? oh yeah... my heart was pumping, when dave and i got to the top we were both hugging the wall, but it had an amazing view of the jaguar temple and some of the other ruins showing through the forest. It was breathtaking. So was going back down. But I made it, no slips, no falling (for once) and we moved on to further exploration.
We made a few friends along the way, including two crazy brits who had found the best view in the ruins, climbing up to a random spot right by the central plaza where you could see basically everything large and everything close by that was all cleared out. Luckily there were cool guys, because when we got the last microbus back were literally crammed on top of them. Lets just say we were friends real quick.
We spent the night eating some of the best vegetarian food I have had. It just happened that our hostel had the only vegetarian restuarant in north guatemala, and the food was bomb. Hung out with a couple of different people we met that night at the hostel, very chill, very fun night, lots of random stories and the normal crazy happenings when a bunch of travellers hang out who have never met before. Good stuff.
We hopped on a micro bus down to semuc champey next, which I really had no idea where we were going. dave said it was cool, and i was down for whatever. We were going down windy dirt and rock roads through the mountains, had to switch to a pick up truck which we rode guatemalan style in the back in the baking sun, picked up a few other travellers (kids from spain, poland, germany.. random assortment) and the chuttle dropped us off at the hostel that the shuttle driver just happened to own. There was a sweet bridge to jump off of which was about 40 or 35 feet high and the hostel was right on the river so you could go swimming right there. The hostel had the scam set-up. Not only did we get dropped off there,, but if you didnt eat there you were charged more for a room, so they basically forced you into eating there, but luckily the food was wicked good, and it was a good chance to meet the other kids staying in the hostel. Oh and they put everything on a tab, and if you didnt have enough money you could pay them when they return you back to town because they would take you right to an ATM. Can you say scam? It was good though, and at least they werent scamming expensive things. We threw back a few beers, I joined the hombres de españa and jumped off the bridge at night, and eventually called it a night. We got up nice and early for a tour, which dave ended up bailing on because he spent a few too many quetzals on beers the night before. My new friend Karen, the girl from Germany, and the three spanish guys, along with our guatemalan guide went tubing down the river, which waas wicked chill and pretty (although you had to be careful not to run into rocks). He then took us hiking through the park, we went up to a pretty look out of the river and all the natural pools, which was actually a decent hike, showed us around a little and then took us to the cave.
There wer other caves but this one was under the waterfall so in order to get there you had to swim to a rock, and from the rock you dived off and swam as hard as you could across the river before the river would sweep you into the rocks. It looked and sounds scarier than it ended up being. Well it was a little sketch, but we all made it across. Then you climbed up the rocks next to the waterfall, and crossed over the waterfall into the cave. Note that everything was a little chilly and very wet because it had been lightly raining that day and was cloudy all day. Carlos then took us into the cave which didnt go that far back, and were all very confused as to where were supposed to go, and I was wicked nervous about slipping and falling into the rapidly flowing river down below. Next thing you know he points to a hole in the cave wall and says we are going down there. Karen and I were like youre joking. But nope, we climbed down an almost sheer face to the lower part of the cave, were there was a spot you could sit and look into the cave, see the river below you, and watch all the bats flocking around. It was pretty much awesome. To return you climbed back up the sheer face into the upper part of the cave, crossed to the other side of the waterfall, walked or climbed down half the waterfall, scootched over it again to a good spot to jump, and jumped into the river, where once again you had to swim very quickly to the rock on the other side in order to not get swept away. This description does nothing for how spectacular this place was. Afterwards, Dave and i quick went back to the hostel, packed up our stuff, and hopped on the back of another truck back to the town crossroads, hopped in a microbus heading to cobon where we chilled for the night. It was rainy and cold, and to be honest were both pretty beat from all the travelling and the full days of activities, so after a drunken man would not leave us alone we just crashed out.
The next day we started taking a series of buses, a to get to chichicastenango, a very cool traditional town that has an awesome market on thursdays. We ended up just buying a bottle of cheap guatemalan rum and hanging out on the roof playing cards because the town doesnt have much of a nightlife, but we woke up wicked early and spent the next morning exploring the market, spending too much money on very cool traditional handmade items. Everything was actually pretty cheap... but too much money when youre travelling on a budget. We made friends with a 13 year old guatemalan boy who showed us some of the mayan ritual sites, where to get stuff the cheapest, and was the sweetest kid. I was really proud of my spanish and how much we were able to communicate with him. We took him out to breakfast as a thank you, but i wish i could have done more. He had 4 brothers and sisters, his dad was passed away, so he helped out and worked after school. Good kid though, he wasnt begging, just sweet and hardworking. I wont lie, I def. bought a few extra things from him and his family, but i think it was well worth it. plus i love the belt his mom made... wearing it right now in fact.
We hopped on a chicken bus to panachal next where we got right on a boat to san pedro on lake atitlan. We ran into daves friends meadow and kyle right away, and a few other kids we had met in our travels. Its a very hippy town, lots of foreigners just hanging out, good live music, great places to eat, with the guatemalan town mixed in, but more traditional the further you get from the coast of the lake. We really just ended up hanging out, but it was awesome here. We got burritos from the best burrito place with meadows friend lindsey. i was about 3 dollars for two large burritos, and it was the best food i think ive had in guatemala. SO DAMN GOOD. We walked up to the upper parts of town and watched a procession for semana santa which had this crazy smelling incense going, lots of people in traditional costume, and then groups of guatemalans would carry these large and heavy looking wooden structures with crosses, and jesus statues on them. It was very cool. We checked out the buddah bar which had live blues music, and another small latin dance bar, where omg, these kids could dance.
So todays my last day in Guatemala and we were going to head to antigua because its where semana santa is supposed be the largest, but dave isnt feeling to well, so we decided to hang out in san pedro. Its a pretty sweet town however, and I think Im just going to catch a direct shuttle to the airport and hangout over night till my flight. I have a 640 flight in the morning, so hopefully it wont be too bad. I know one other guy doing the same, so im figuring theres worse things to do, and its nice to relax my last day. Im actually going to go buy my ticket for that shuttle right now. Update again when i return to costa rica!
We headed off to Tikal bright and early and wandered around the mayan ruins. It was in the jungle with huge trees springing up everywhere, spider monkeys, howler moneys, birds, lizards, spiders, and tons of other wildlife in the midst. There were five large pyramids or temples and we were able to climb three of them for spectacular views, and there were several other smaller pyramids, but still immense in size. Temple 4 had an awesome view of the other temples poking through the forest, and temple 5, was the scariest pyramid i have ever climbed. granted tikal had the first pyramids i have played on, this was one frightening climb... but well worth it. The larger pyramids had stairs built for safety and to protect the ruins, but for some reason, temple 5s staircase was more of a verticle ladder going somewhere around 180 to 190 feet in the air. Did I mention to anyone what a klutz I am? oh yeah... my heart was pumping, when dave and i got to the top we were both hugging the wall, but it had an amazing view of the jaguar temple and some of the other ruins showing through the forest. It was breathtaking. So was going back down. But I made it, no slips, no falling (for once) and we moved on to further exploration.
We made a few friends along the way, including two crazy brits who had found the best view in the ruins, climbing up to a random spot right by the central plaza where you could see basically everything large and everything close by that was all cleared out. Luckily there were cool guys, because when we got the last microbus back were literally crammed on top of them. Lets just say we were friends real quick.
We spent the night eating some of the best vegetarian food I have had. It just happened that our hostel had the only vegetarian restuarant in north guatemala, and the food was bomb. Hung out with a couple of different people we met that night at the hostel, very chill, very fun night, lots of random stories and the normal crazy happenings when a bunch of travellers hang out who have never met before. Good stuff.
We hopped on a micro bus down to semuc champey next, which I really had no idea where we were going. dave said it was cool, and i was down for whatever. We were going down windy dirt and rock roads through the mountains, had to switch to a pick up truck which we rode guatemalan style in the back in the baking sun, picked up a few other travellers (kids from spain, poland, germany.. random assortment) and the chuttle dropped us off at the hostel that the shuttle driver just happened to own. There was a sweet bridge to jump off of which was about 40 or 35 feet high and the hostel was right on the river so you could go swimming right there. The hostel had the scam set-up. Not only did we get dropped off there,, but if you didnt eat there you were charged more for a room, so they basically forced you into eating there, but luckily the food was wicked good, and it was a good chance to meet the other kids staying in the hostel. Oh and they put everything on a tab, and if you didnt have enough money you could pay them when they return you back to town because they would take you right to an ATM. Can you say scam? It was good though, and at least they werent scamming expensive things. We threw back a few beers, I joined the hombres de españa and jumped off the bridge at night, and eventually called it a night. We got up nice and early for a tour, which dave ended up bailing on because he spent a few too many quetzals on beers the night before. My new friend Karen, the girl from Germany, and the three spanish guys, along with our guatemalan guide went tubing down the river, which waas wicked chill and pretty (although you had to be careful not to run into rocks). He then took us hiking through the park, we went up to a pretty look out of the river and all the natural pools, which was actually a decent hike, showed us around a little and then took us to the cave.
There wer other caves but this one was under the waterfall so in order to get there you had to swim to a rock, and from the rock you dived off and swam as hard as you could across the river before the river would sweep you into the rocks. It looked and sounds scarier than it ended up being. Well it was a little sketch, but we all made it across. Then you climbed up the rocks next to the waterfall, and crossed over the waterfall into the cave. Note that everything was a little chilly and very wet because it had been lightly raining that day and was cloudy all day. Carlos then took us into the cave which didnt go that far back, and were all very confused as to where were supposed to go, and I was wicked nervous about slipping and falling into the rapidly flowing river down below. Next thing you know he points to a hole in the cave wall and says we are going down there. Karen and I were like youre joking. But nope, we climbed down an almost sheer face to the lower part of the cave, were there was a spot you could sit and look into the cave, see the river below you, and watch all the bats flocking around. It was pretty much awesome. To return you climbed back up the sheer face into the upper part of the cave, crossed to the other side of the waterfall, walked or climbed down half the waterfall, scootched over it again to a good spot to jump, and jumped into the river, where once again you had to swim very quickly to the rock on the other side in order to not get swept away. This description does nothing for how spectacular this place was. Afterwards, Dave and i quick went back to the hostel, packed up our stuff, and hopped on the back of another truck back to the town crossroads, hopped in a microbus heading to cobon where we chilled for the night. It was rainy and cold, and to be honest were both pretty beat from all the travelling and the full days of activities, so after a drunken man would not leave us alone we just crashed out.
The next day we started taking a series of buses, a to get to chichicastenango, a very cool traditional town that has an awesome market on thursdays. We ended up just buying a bottle of cheap guatemalan rum and hanging out on the roof playing cards because the town doesnt have much of a nightlife, but we woke up wicked early and spent the next morning exploring the market, spending too much money on very cool traditional handmade items. Everything was actually pretty cheap... but too much money when youre travelling on a budget. We made friends with a 13 year old guatemalan boy who showed us some of the mayan ritual sites, where to get stuff the cheapest, and was the sweetest kid. I was really proud of my spanish and how much we were able to communicate with him. We took him out to breakfast as a thank you, but i wish i could have done more. He had 4 brothers and sisters, his dad was passed away, so he helped out and worked after school. Good kid though, he wasnt begging, just sweet and hardworking. I wont lie, I def. bought a few extra things from him and his family, but i think it was well worth it. plus i love the belt his mom made... wearing it right now in fact.
We hopped on a chicken bus to panachal next where we got right on a boat to san pedro on lake atitlan. We ran into daves friends meadow and kyle right away, and a few other kids we had met in our travels. Its a very hippy town, lots of foreigners just hanging out, good live music, great places to eat, with the guatemalan town mixed in, but more traditional the further you get from the coast of the lake. We really just ended up hanging out, but it was awesome here. We got burritos from the best burrito place with meadows friend lindsey. i was about 3 dollars for two large burritos, and it was the best food i think ive had in guatemala. SO DAMN GOOD. We walked up to the upper parts of town and watched a procession for semana santa which had this crazy smelling incense going, lots of people in traditional costume, and then groups of guatemalans would carry these large and heavy looking wooden structures with crosses, and jesus statues on them. It was very cool. We checked out the buddah bar which had live blues music, and another small latin dance bar, where omg, these kids could dance.
So todays my last day in Guatemala and we were going to head to antigua because its where semana santa is supposed be the largest, but dave isnt feeling to well, so we decided to hang out in san pedro. Its a pretty sweet town however, and I think Im just going to catch a direct shuttle to the airport and hangout over night till my flight. I have a 640 flight in the morning, so hopefully it wont be too bad. I know one other guy doing the same, so im figuring theres worse things to do, and its nice to relax my last day. Im actually going to go buy my ticket for that shuttle right now. Update again when i return to costa rica!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Field Trip Weekend
So this past weekend was absolutely fantastic. Everyone should be extremely jealous because usually school field trips kind of blow, but this one def. rocked my socks off. We started off by going to Earth University which is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It is an international school which has 400 students from around the world, only 100 students per class. Everyone takes the same courses, and they do a lot of field work on the organic farm, research, and in there third year they go out in the field and work with rural farmers implementing different techniques to help improve their farm, increase income, and the farmers in turn teach the students while in the field. We were shown around the university by rosta david who later that night gave me a natural tattoo. he climbed his way up the tree like a money.... which was this wicked skinny tree and grabbed three fruits for me... but then i sadly forgot to grab them from him before we left earth university.
we also got a tour of the banana planation they had there, which is currently 70 percent organic, and they are working on making it more. Also exciting information was that all theyre exported product goes to whole foods and whole foods only!! ive eaten their bananas before! and will again. They showed us the process they used with the banana leaves and how they are trying to reuse everything and making banana paper. it was fascinating.
That night we had an awesome cultural show where students from the university from all over latin america played traditional music, showed us dances, and wore the traditional wear from their countries. a lot of fun, and they were really good. after that i went out to the bar with a few of the students, but the really awesome part was when the davids (rosta david and switzerland david) and francesco (suck at spelling names) took me to the river at night. it was pitch black.. couldnt see a thing walking down the path, and then you had to walk down a hill slash steps to the actual river. im surprised i didnt wipe out considering my normal klutziness. it was awesome though... i ended up swimming in my clothes because i didnt have a bathing suit on, but you could see the stars peaking through the treetops. there was a rope swing which i wanted to do, but it was so dark i figured id kill myself so i wisely withheld. it was def. a high point of the weekend.
The next day we woke at 5 in the morning to go work on a farm. Kaitlyn and I were put on composting, where we were shown around by the head guy carlos, who only spoke spanish... so lets just say i really got to practice my listening skills. We learned a lot though, and then did some shoveling of compost into bags for the fields with a two students from panama. We shoveled and talked with the boys, and later got a tour of the farm. Carlos took us to the buffolo and I got to pet a buffolo! They are huge, but they had theyre horns cut off for safety, but its insane to have seen the enormatity and intensity of such a large animal up close. We learned about some small scale agro systems for subsistence farming, which i took a particular interest in the mandela system and the biointensive system. I def. want to look more into it at some later point.
We spent Saturday afternoon touring local farms nearby, and got to see a chocolate farm!! chocolate in its original form is weird btw. We then separated into groups of 2 or 3 and each spent the night and the next morning with a different rural farm. My friend Monroe and I were put on a farm that wasnt really a farm anymore. He recieved money from the government to protect the water resources on his land because he had two large rivers that combined into one. He did however have a cat, a dog, a pig, 4 cows, three birds which talked, and wait, heres the kicker... a baby jaguar. He rescued it at the end of 2006 so it was a little over 2 years old. It was by far the coolest thing i saw the whole weekend. I was entranced i wont lie, because i have never been able to get so close to a wild cat. Her name was Condesa, and she was in a cage, and no i did not hold or pet her... I like my arms and hands thank you very much. They have permission to take care of her, but will soon have to give her to another organization because as she gets bigger she will need much more room to run and roam. Dont worry people... i took a video.
We spent our morning helping out on the farm. he had a porch which was rotting and needed to be replaced so monroe and i got our stress out by literally just destroying the porch bit by bit. Hard labor... but i could def. handle it. Afterwards, we drank one of those wonderfully freshly squeezed juices and then hiked through his property... and when i say hiked i mean it... through primary forest past trees over 200 years old.. past a rotting tree that is the home of a huge boa constrictor.. over 5 feet i believe from how he described but i wasnt actually trying to see it up close in person.. and through the scrub. He was often using his machetti to forge a path for us.. and then we got to this beautiful river.. water so clean you could drink it. we were playing in some rapids he literally had to pull us through cause the current was so strong it could have easily swept us into the rocks. We hung out there for a few hours until we had to make our way back to the house and get picked up for our return to san jose.
we also got a tour of the banana planation they had there, which is currently 70 percent organic, and they are working on making it more. Also exciting information was that all theyre exported product goes to whole foods and whole foods only!! ive eaten their bananas before! and will again. They showed us the process they used with the banana leaves and how they are trying to reuse everything and making banana paper. it was fascinating.
That night we had an awesome cultural show where students from the university from all over latin america played traditional music, showed us dances, and wore the traditional wear from their countries. a lot of fun, and they were really good. after that i went out to the bar with a few of the students, but the really awesome part was when the davids (rosta david and switzerland david) and francesco (suck at spelling names) took me to the river at night. it was pitch black.. couldnt see a thing walking down the path, and then you had to walk down a hill slash steps to the actual river. im surprised i didnt wipe out considering my normal klutziness. it was awesome though... i ended up swimming in my clothes because i didnt have a bathing suit on, but you could see the stars peaking through the treetops. there was a rope swing which i wanted to do, but it was so dark i figured id kill myself so i wisely withheld. it was def. a high point of the weekend.
The next day we woke at 5 in the morning to go work on a farm. Kaitlyn and I were put on composting, where we were shown around by the head guy carlos, who only spoke spanish... so lets just say i really got to practice my listening skills. We learned a lot though, and then did some shoveling of compost into bags for the fields with a two students from panama. We shoveled and talked with the boys, and later got a tour of the farm. Carlos took us to the buffolo and I got to pet a buffolo! They are huge, but they had theyre horns cut off for safety, but its insane to have seen the enormatity and intensity of such a large animal up close. We learned about some small scale agro systems for subsistence farming, which i took a particular interest in the mandela system and the biointensive system. I def. want to look more into it at some later point.
We spent Saturday afternoon touring local farms nearby, and got to see a chocolate farm!! chocolate in its original form is weird btw. We then separated into groups of 2 or 3 and each spent the night and the next morning with a different rural farm. My friend Monroe and I were put on a farm that wasnt really a farm anymore. He recieved money from the government to protect the water resources on his land because he had two large rivers that combined into one. He did however have a cat, a dog, a pig, 4 cows, three birds which talked, and wait, heres the kicker... a baby jaguar. He rescued it at the end of 2006 so it was a little over 2 years old. It was by far the coolest thing i saw the whole weekend. I was entranced i wont lie, because i have never been able to get so close to a wild cat. Her name was Condesa, and she was in a cage, and no i did not hold or pet her... I like my arms and hands thank you very much. They have permission to take care of her, but will soon have to give her to another organization because as she gets bigger she will need much more room to run and roam. Dont worry people... i took a video.
We spent our morning helping out on the farm. he had a porch which was rotting and needed to be replaced so monroe and i got our stress out by literally just destroying the porch bit by bit. Hard labor... but i could def. handle it. Afterwards, we drank one of those wonderfully freshly squeezed juices and then hiked through his property... and when i say hiked i mean it... through primary forest past trees over 200 years old.. past a rotting tree that is the home of a huge boa constrictor.. over 5 feet i believe from how he described but i wasnt actually trying to see it up close in person.. and through the scrub. He was often using his machetti to forge a path for us.. and then we got to this beautiful river.. water so clean you could drink it. we were playing in some rapids he literally had to pull us through cause the current was so strong it could have easily swept us into the rocks. We hung out there for a few hours until we had to make our way back to the house and get picked up for our return to san jose.
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