Rocky Roads and Rain

Us at the random Israel restaurant on Day 1.

Day 3! A success of course.... Katie again, guest blogging. :)

This morning we got up (somewhat early) around 8, made breakfast and checked out of our little hostel. The kitchen of our little hostel was cute and doubled as the kitchen for a family that lived behind the hostel... Last night, after inquiring as to what she was making the Mom gave us a taste of what she was cooking.... The concotion consisted of chopped Tiliapia, onions, tomatoes, lemon juice, soda water, sugar and salt. We were wary because of the raw fish but eaten with bread the mixture was not bad! (Still not sick so far either. Haha).

Barber and I on our Canope tour.

So we departed this morning and headed for the National Park near the Volcano. For a $10 entrance fee we got a 2 hour 3 mile hike around the jungle and volcano. At one point we saw some wild lemurs (? no idea what they were other than not monkey's....) Haha. We left the park pretty sweaty and gross and headed for the town of Santa Elena... I think we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way though... After a nice paved road for about an hour we got to a road that was made up of cobblestone, rock, mud, and gravel. I don't happen to be the most comfortable driving on this sort of terrain but the locals seemed to not mind at all and continously passed me at seemingly high speeds throughout the day. :)

Us facing the volcano with our backs to the lake during our hike.

Despite a few minor detours including a caterpillar (piece of machinery blocking traffic across a bridge for ten minutes), a wrong turn and a dog that wouldn't move out of my way, we made it to Santa Elena safely. We checked into a neat hostel that was highly recommended by our guide book and got a private room with bath for $25 dollars. Nice!

One funny story I forgot to mention previously.... Two nights ago Barber and I woke up really thirsty. I'm talking, dry mouth just need some water thirsty. Well unfortunatley, due to bad planning on our part we were without water. Bad deal. We debated about whether or not it would be safe to drink the tap water, consulted the guide book and could not decide on anything certain. And being that it's 2 am at the time walking to a "super" (grocery store) is out of the question.... So we resort to the next best thing we have. A semi frozen bottle of Coke Zero that we had put in our tiny regrigerator. Haha. We sucked down what we could and were ok until morning. Moral= Always have enough water to last you through the night!!

Thus I digress.... Tonight we bought a pineapple for a $1.25 and a mexican avacodo both which turned out to be dissapointing. :( Fortunately our hostel sells tacos for about a dollar! We plan on enjoying the town tonight and heading South to the beach tomorrow. We'll see what happens...

Katie Came to Costa Rica

Hello All! I'll be guest blogging today on John´s blog... haha.

Yesterday, the 21st, I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at 5:30 a.m. in the morning! Fortunately Barber was there to meet me! We took a (semi shady) cab ride back to the hostel he had staid in the previous night.... The cab didn´'t have a meter but ended up only charging about $8. The hostel was a really nice single apartment that Barber had got on a discount because of a lack of other rooms.

Soon after arriving a man with a nice little kia SUV 4 by 4 pulled up to rent us a car... First of all I've never experienced a car rental agency BRINGING you the car... and second, allowing you to drop it off at your location of choice. haha. None the less... both happened and we rented the car for a cheep $246 a week plus insurance! When driving in Costa Rica (which I did all of due to being a stick shift) one should look out for... a) one lane bridges b) pedastrians and c) stray dogs... all of which are in abundance. haha.

We arrived safely in La fortuna after a lovely lunch at an Israel restaurant in the resort ¨Lands of Love...¨ Go figure! After much searching for a reasonable ¨single¨ room for the first night we stumbled upon a nice little cabin for $35 a night... including ac and tv!

Today we canoped across the jungle with a really good company that we highly recommend called Los Canyones. After a few (local) rum and cokes and pasta with tamales, corn, chicken, and garlic we are happily settled in our second hostel... for which we paid $20. Yay.

More with pictures as soon as we can add them!

Made it to the lake!

Ok, so right now i´m sitting in a cafe on a lake that is really really pretty. the weather has turned bad and i just woke up from a 2 hour nap. somehow, my alarm clock fast forwarded this morning and i actually woke up a couple of minutes after 7. the shuttle came about 710...i was literally running after it. then, as i am putting my things inside he tells me (in spanish) that there was a landslide last night and the road is blocked...but we might be able to get through. i thought for a second (and i felt much better) and decided to take the risk. it worked out fine, until we got to a dropoff point about halfway where they leave you to get on another shuttle. In other circumstances (those being the ones where I wouldn´t have chucked out $15 for a ride) the shuttle would not have waited there with me. But this one did because it was private. We waited for an hour and half because the other shuttle got caught in another landslide (or at least the traffic from another landslide). Finally, I was on the shuttle heading to the lake and what do i realize i left behind on the other shuttle....my water bottle...i was pissed! think i´m gonna head to monterrico, guatemala in the morning. it´s a nice little town on the coast right before El Salvador. it will be a good place to stay. i´ll try and keep little updates like theses going....especially now that i´m back to really being on my own. not a whole lot else to do, but write and read. i´m actually really enjoying it! oh and i feel much better today! The cold is subsiding!

Recap on two amazing weeks in Quetzaltenango

Well, it´s been a good while since i´ve updated the blog, so i thought it was about time do so. As I´m writing this, I am still presently located in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. I have a cold and I feel like shit....no no, I don´t have Swine Flu....or at least I don´t think I do. I think it is just a head cold, so don´t worry my friends. However, it has kept me on bedrest for the majority of the past two days. I´m beginning to feel better though. Tomorrow, given that I feel up to the move, I´m shipping out for a two day stay at Lake Atzilan....a short two hour ride from here.

The past two weeks have been so much fun! I studied one on one every morning from 8:00 to 1:00 with my wonderful tudor, Theresa. Then in the afternoons, I helped out teaching English to some of the local elementary school students. The school I attended is called PLQE, short for a longer name known as Proyecto Linguistico Quetzaltenango de Espanol. It is a very liberal school founded after two young men were killed in Guatemala over 20 years ago. Throughout the weeks we had several conferences discussing different aspects of Guatemala´s history and where it is at today. A lot had to do with human rights and the fight for equality. It was super interesting. Everyone who studied here was very intelectual. It was overwhelming at times. My spanish definitely took a couple of leaps from where it has been, and I´m at a point now where i feel very confident and comfortable.

Every morning Theresa and I sat in this exact spot and conducted our little class...very informal, yet very effective. There was unlimited coffee, tea, and bread to eat. It was nice. We had a great time.

I developed friendships with several people in the school, but one of the oddest and most memorable/enjoyable was with Jim Silk, a 61 year old Yale Law Professor....ironically enough. The picture below is of Jim and I, on top of the Santa Maria Volcano, after a 5 hour hike to the top. Everyone else had already been at the summit for an hour, but Jim and I paced along at our own speed. The way up, we talked the whole way and stopped every couple of minutes because the 12,000 ft elevation was making us quite winded. But we finally made it! It was a neat accomplishment. After that, we spent several afternoons and evenings chatting and a real unique friendship developed between the two of us. He definitely mentored me a little bit about the upcoming years i´m going to face at law school....gave me advice on what to do and not to do...and has even offered to help me out in any way he can. I mentioned I might decide to transer to UF after my first year and he said a letter with the Yale Law School logo at the top wouldn´t hurt...how cool is that!

I´m only a little more than two weeks away from meeting Katie in Cost Rica and I couln´t be more excited. Tomorrow, I have to leave all the friends I´ve made and hit the solo road again. I´m excited though for the next adventure!

Back on my own...

Well, my dad has returned to The States and I´m back to the solo road. Man! We had soo much fun together! So, after Tikal and Belize, we took a boat over to Livingston, Guatemala and escaped the exit fee that Belize normally charges if you leave by land (nice little hint if you are planning on going to Belize). After about a week we finally figured out the best method to travel. When we arrived at a new place, we would locate a bar for my dad to sit and relax (have a beer) while I went out and found a hotel...haha! It worked great! Our place in Livingston was great...like a resort. By far the best place we had stayed. One night we saw a sign for Lobster that night advertised at Q150, or about $18.00. We thought what a steal so we ate at the hotel restraunt that night. Come to find out that it was Q150 per side of the lobster.....and we each had a whole lobster. You do the math. When we saw the bill was Q800 we were a little shocked. But since it tasted so good (and we were a little lit by then) we let it slide. haha!

We took another boat up the river (Rio Dulce) to the town Rio Dulce. There we had a couple of options, but decided to head on to Antigua, Guatemala. With 30 minutes between when we arrived in Rio Dulce and when the bus departed, I decided it was a good idea to order a pizza. Not a good idea. With only minutes to spare, I stuffed the last piece in my mouth and ran to the bus station, where my dad was waiting (nearly panicking). But we made it in time, and it´s a good thing we ate bacause it was a 5 hour bus ride and we only stopped once.

We arrived in Antigua around 8 pm...not a great time to arrive in a city anywhere, let alone one in Guatemala. I had read my guide book earlier that day and had an idea of where we might stay. Luckily there was a landmark (an arch that went across a street). I told the driver to take us there. It just so happened one of the best hotels in the city sat just below the arch. What luck! By this time we were ready for a beer. Although the town was quite dead (due to the celebration of Semana Santa the previous week), we found a really nice little place. It had kind of an italian feel and was great. We past the next few days in Antigua looking at the shops and enjoying the cobblestone streets and European atmosphere.

On the second to last day I persuaded my dad that a volcano tour was a good idea. Having climbed a volcano before, he wasn´t too interested but decided to come along since I told him how many good things I had heard from other travelers. We were picked up at 6 am, and had about an hour and half journey up into the mountains. They dropped us off in a poor community where we were met by out guide. At the time tons of young children were trying to get us to buy walking sticks and rent their horses. A few in the group decided to get a walking stick, but my dad and I decided to pass. No one got a horse. We were about 2 minutes into the hike, (which turned out to be the most difficult terrain) and I turn around and see my dad renting a horse...haha! At the time, of course I made fun of him. haha! But by midway throught the hike, I think a lot of people would have paid him to trade places. It was a difficult hike. Afterwards I was glad he got the horse. Even I was struggling towards the end. At the top though, the horses couldn´t pass. We had to climb the volcanic rock (which is super sharp) to get to the opening where the lava flowed. We were literally 2 feet from the lava. Very cool! But my shoes didn´t think so. The soles actually melted a little. The trek through the volcanic rock was no easy treck. Loose rock and no real path made it difficult and dangerous. A girl in our group lost her footing and cut her arm open pretty bad. Let´s just say my dad was bad when we got back to the part when he could get back on his horse for the ride down. I was proud of him!

We stayed in the Howard Johnson for our last night in Guatemala City. While my dad showered, I thought I ´d head down to the restraunt and get us a couple of beers while we got ready before dinner. I explained (in perfect spanish) that we would be coming for dinner and i wanted to start a tab and get a couple of beers. The guy couldn´t have been friendlier, but informed me that they didn´t serve alcohol there. WHAT! Turns out, it was a cafe and the nearest bar/restraunt was a 15 minute walk. Guatemala City is the most dangerous city in Guatemala and not a place you want to walk around. We decided to take a taxi to the Westin to have drinks. It was SUPER nice. I had my headband on and didn´t fit in at all. I didn´t mind though and threw down 3 vodka tonics. I knew it was going to be my last time to have a good drink for a month or so. Naturally, I took advantage of the opportunity. We decided not to eat in the Westin, and walked down the street a ways and found a nice little restraunt. We caught a cab home and thus ended our journey. I saw my dad off at 5:30 am the next morning (the hotel provided a free shuttle to the airport). At 5:31 am, I was back alone. Let me tell you, it´s a little odd to have someone with you at one minute and then the next, be in a country all by yourself. Luckily, I had gone through it already when Katie left Cancun, so I knew what to expect and handled it fine. I went back to sleep for another 2 hours and then passed some time in front of the television until 1 pm (checkout time). The hotel was nice enough to give me a ride to the bus station at 2 and at 2:30 I was on a bus headed towards Quetzaltenango, or Xela, pronounced Shay-la. I spent Friday and Saturday in a neat hostel and met two very interesting people. One from Hawaii and the other from California. On Sunday, I enrolled in a language school for a week. I work on my spanish and teach english while living with a family. I´m currently living with a very nice woman who is pregnant and has two young kids running wild around the house. The husband is out of town this week, and the blind grandfather lives upstairs....let´s just say....it´s an experience. But I´m loving it! Quite different from Guadalajara.

I´ll update you with the details about my time this week later...but things are great! I am healthy (other that several bug bites) and the family doesn´t mind if I have a glass of red wine while I read my current book, The Partner by John Grisham. It´s a story about a lawyer who steals 90 million dollars from his lawfirm and runs off to South America. I thought it was appropiate since I´ve decided to go to law school this fall. Whoa! Surprise! Yep, I accepted my scholarship and am attending Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Fl. I start August 10th....