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....

Good Times!

Well, so for it's been a lot of fun! This me and kent in front of the ruins at Tikal, Guatemala at sunset.

Right now we are in Placencia, Belize and headed to Livingston, Guatemala by boat tomorrow.

Happy Easter everyone!

Recap of the last few weeks!

Flew from Guadalajara to Cancun where I met Katie, along with Noll, Kat Hat, and Johnny. Stayed at the NH Krystal Hotel and it was a lot of fun. Although the hotel wouldn't let me stay in the same room with them, I was able to get my own room just down the hall with a ginormous bed! 4 days flew by, and soon I was back alone. I spent 4 more nights in Cancun where I finished my open water dive certification with Scuba Cancun Dive Shop. It was pretty exciting finally getting to dive in the ocean.

Went to Chichen Itza after that and saw the ruins for two nights.

Went south to Playa del Carmen and spent four days there completing my Advanced Open Water Certification with a Hungarian instructor, named Bali.

I took a boat out to Cozumel for two nights after Playa and met an Argentinian and Dutch woman who were great fun. For the most part though, Cozumel was not that great.

Came back to Playa and finished my Advanced Open Water Certification with a dive in a Cenote (kind of like a pit in the ground with underwater caves....very cool).

Next, I headed south to Tulum, Mexico. A little coastal town that is absolutely amazing. I rented a scooter and cruised up and down the coastal roads and into the natural reservation park. Very fun!

After Tulum, I headed for Belize. Not wasting anytime in Belize City, I was fortunate enough to catch the last boat to the island of Caye Caulker, pronounced "Key Callker". Met some Dive Masters on the boat who were going to stay at Tina's Backpakcer Hostel and ended up staying there as well....for 4 nights. I scuba dived with them and we did the Blue Hole (one of the top 5 must see's in the scuba world). We had to leave at 5:30 in the morning because it was a two hour boat ride. It was worth it though! Absolutely amazing. Not only were the formations amazing, we were right in the middle of 20 reef sharks! Crazy! We went down to 40 meters (the recreation diver limit). When you're down that deep, you begin to experience something called, Nitrogen Narcosis....more simply - a feeling that is most comparable to being drunk. So there I am 130 feet down in the ocean, swimming with 20 sharks....and I'm practically drunk. It was pretty amazing. What happens is the pressure causes your blood to produce more nitrogen than you need, thus causing the drunk-like feeling. The guides on the boat call the only true natural high you can experience.

Life on Caye Caulker moves pretty slow, so after diving I need something new to do. I decided to give Kite Surfing a try. Not only is it rediculously hard, it is super expensive. I spent 2 days trying my best, but after 7 hours and only getting one good ride (and $250 later) I was ready to call it quits.

So that brings me to the present....

Yesterday, I took the boat to Belize City at noon and hopped in a cab with some Canadians headed to the airport that I had met scuba diving. The $25 trip only cost me $5 due to their kindness. Our cab driver, Renny, was super nice and when he found out I was headed back to the island, he was adament that I let him take me back. At 3 pm my dads plane touched down and Renny and I stood outside in the scoldering heat waiting for him to pass through customs. Finally, he arrived. It was so good to see him. There he was, my father, holding one of my backpacks I told him to bring in Belize City! Pretty cool!

Let me tell you...Belize City is nothing to talk about, so I'm sure my dad was thinking what the hell am I doing here. And who could blame him. It's pretty poverty stricken...but I had other plans for us. We were out of the airport by 3:30 and I knew the boat for the island was leaving at 4 so we had to hurry. We ended up arriving about 3:55 just in time to catchthe boat. At 4, we were off.

Before I left that morning, I was able to move my bag over to a condo I had rented for us on the beach and stocked the fridge with some beer. So, when we arrived....we arrived in style. After, a few beers in our nice air conditioned room, we headed to the Split (the northern tip of the island where everyone goes at sunset). There we watched the sunset with a few more beers and I had a couple rum punches. The sun was setting and it was great...but then something quite peculiar happened. Quite funny actually. A fight broke out on one of the boats docked. The American girls haning out on this rasta farian boat all jumped off as the two men (who looked identical to Bob Marley) swung at eachother. As one held the other over the ledge of his boat by the neck, a few others jumped in to split them up. Everyone thought it was over until, the owner of the boat grabbed his machete and chased after the guy (nearly two feet from where we were sitting). It was wild! This guy was pretty loaded and stumbing around. He came back after his failed attempt waving the machete around and screaming and just raising hell. Let me tell you...I was pretty fucking scared! haha! But through it all, my dad remained pretty calm. I was suprised. I mean, he's only been here for two hours and this is the first thing he sees! Jesus! After that we ate some dinner at a place called Habeneros and it was super good seafood. We were pretty drunk and were back to our condo about 9:30 and asleep about 9:35...haha! What a day!

So, today! Finally, I'm caught up (minus some details of some of the amazing people I've met along the way). After getting nearly 10 hours of sleep, we werer up about 7 am. We decided to rent a golf cart and have spent the majority of the morning cruising the island and exploring. We've tried to make are own path at times along the beach only to get yelled at by some of the locals. With fear of another machete incident, we've kept to the roads mostly now. haha! Gonna grab some lunch and just relax the rest of the day!

Here is our itenerary for the next two weeks:

April 5th = Flores, Guatemala
April 6th = Tikal, Guatemala
April 7th & 8th = San Ignacio, Belize
April 9th-11th = Placencia, Belize
April 12th = Punta Gorda, Belize
April 13th = Livingston, Guatemala
April 14th & 15th = Antigua, Guatemala
April 16th = Guatemala City, Guatemala
April 17th = My dad flies home

So, that is pretty much the plan. When I can I'll try to update from each place. We'll see though. In Belize, internet is $2 (American) for 18 minutes of internet. Yeah! I know! Crazy! Ok, for all of you that have from the beginning...wow...you must really love me! haha! Hope everyone is well and healthy! I love you all!

APOLOGY FOR THE LACK OF POSTS

I´M SORRY I HAVEN´T BEEN DOING A GOOD JOB KEEPING YOU ALL UPDATED. IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS I´LL HAVE A FULL RECAP OF THE LAST WEEK OR SO. CURRENTLY I´M IN PLAYA DEL CARMEN, FINISHING MY ADVANCED SCUBA DIVING TRAINING IN THE MORNING. HEADING TO COZUMEL TOMORROW AFTERNOON. I´LL POST FROM THERE! LOVE!

Newly Discovered Things!

Right now, the entire family is pretty much here and we just got done having an excellent meal. This morning I went to my tutor sessions, followed by my daily stop at Starbucks for a cup of tea. Last night was really fun. Viviana took me to a less busy side of town and handed me the keys and told me to drive. She has a tiny little car, they call it huevo (egg)...and it looks just like one. It´s a stickshift and those of you who have seen me drive one....it´s not exactly pretty. But I faced my fears and managed in the crazy jungle the mexicans call streets. haha!

Katie and I had a pretty deep conversation the other day about life and what we are doing and it really hasn´t esacped my thoughts. Today, I stumbled upon two programs that I am thinking about doing. The first is in Costa Rica, and it is a TEFL Certification course that starts April 30th and goes to May 23rd. Here es a couple links in case you want to check it out:

http://www.maximonivel.com/docs/TESOL-TEFLCertification.pdf
http://www.maximonivel.com/tefl/

The second program I stumbled on to is an internship / MBA program in London, with an emphasis in International Business. The application is do in a week, so I´m not sure if it is practical, but I think I´m going to try and get a application postmarked. At least so I can have the option. I´ve got some big decisions to make: Law School, this program, new city, Kansas City, etc. All while trying to maintain cohesiveness with the chica who resides on Fairview....I fear its going to be a challenge. Nonetheless....one i´m up for. The link for the MBA program is:

http://www.mountbatten.org/mipweb.nsf/pages/ld_about_us

I would love any input any of you have. Right now I´m still waiting to here back from UMKC School of Law, as well as University of South Carolina. I´m in at Creighton University and Florida Coastal School of Law. However, University of Denver did not give the nod. Too bad!

I only lack 10 or so pages of ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ Most likely gonna finish that here in little bit. Going to Zopaparia (Shoe Store) with Viviana around 6 tonight. It´s my payment for the driving lessons yesterday. Haha! She wants some help picking some out. Not sure how much help I´ll be.

Although my time here in Guadalajara has been great, I´m super excited to head to Cancun on Saturday. I´ve been dreaming in Spanish and it will be nice to be with some English speakers. I´ve decided to wait until the 18th to do my Open Water Certification (the day everyone leaves Cancun). That way I don´t waste any time while Katie is there. So I´ll probably spend 2 extra days in Cancun, then head to Cozumel for a couple of days. Do some diving, and then off to Belize. I think my dad is going to try and come down sometime at the beginning of April. We´re plannig on renting a car and driving to Guatamala! Should be fun!

Sorry for the lack of pictures!

One Week To Go!

Hello all! So this is Maria! I thought it would be good to add a few pics of where I´m living. Finished the week with a visit to a bookstore with my tutor, as I´m about thirty pages away from finishing ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ I bought two books, ¨Angels and Demons,¨and ¨Audacity of Hope (Obam´s book).¨ I´m pretty excited for them. And they´re in compact form, so it will be easy to travel with. I brought with me ¨The Curious Case of Benjamin Bunton,¨but I was fooled by the publisher. The story itself is only 20 pages or so. It is just the highlighted story in the book of 15 or so stories written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was holding out to see the movie with Brad Pitt because I thought it was going to be a great book. Turns out, it´s no ¨Great Gatsby.¨ The idea of it is really neat, and I can see how turning it into a movie was perfect. Fitzgerald lacks any sort of detail to the setting and character developments. He jumps from the time Benjamin had 8 years to when he was 20 in a matter of sentences. Needless to say...I was disappointed. But on the upside, I´m going to go see the movie now!

A lot of the same routine went on all week. 9-11 tutor sessions with Cecha. 11:15-12:30ish reading at Starbucks. 2ish the kids come over and we eat lunch. Viviana gets home around 5 and we talk and play games until Wendy comes and get the kids. Glass of wine at night...maybe a beer. End with a movie or something on the tv and then off to bed.

Didn´t do anything last night (Friday). Stayed in and watched TV with Viviana. This morning I got up and went to the Gym. For 50 pesos, you can get a days pass. Not bad. The people there are really friendly. It´s the same gym I´ve gone to everytime I´ve been to Guatalajara...they call it BIKE House. They have spinning classes every day for 20 pesos. Can you believe that. That like less than $1.50. Barato (cheap)! Ne ways, it feels super good to start working out again. They use so much grease in their cooking, it was making me feel a little gross.

We had lunch just a little while ago and it was fish...a whole fish. Skin, head, eyes...all of it. To myt surprise, it was really good. We are sitting around talking right now and are about to go get Maria´s new dog...a dalmation. I´m super pumped. Everyone who is reading this probably knows how much I like dogs. I´ll try and get a picture up later!

Finally making use of my time!

A few days have passed since my last post and many things have happened! First of all, many of you will be happy to know that I will now be able to post pictures on my blog due to my purchase of a little device known as an SD card reader. Purchased at Wal-Mart for a mere $10, my failure to bring a long the CD that works with my camera is now replenished with this new device. However, my forgetfulness has led me to have a lack of pictures of the things I talk about. I promise this is about to change. For now, the newest picture additions to the Blog are my profile pic (replacing the one of Katie and I - hated to take Katie off, but this pic was better fitting...haha...Te Amo). The other photo is on the first post I did,¨Departure Day¨and the photo is of all of my things laid out on the floor to give you an idea of everything I have taken with me. It´s not much. In fact, I´ve been wearing the same pair of underwear for 4 days now...haha! It´s not that gross! haha! I have to spread my 7 pairs of underwear, 7 pairs of socks, and 7 T-shirts out so they last 3 weeks w/o washing....is that bad? Well, that´s what I´m doing regardless. And let me tell you...it´s not easy. It´s hot here and I´m sticky, but every morning I wake up cool and refreshed. Almost a clean feeling. Maria opens the windows at night and the temperature drops to a very comfortable 50 or 60 degrees...perfect for me, but a little cold for the Mexicans.

Okay! On to what has happened in the last few days! Sunday was SUPER lazy and I didn´t even leave the house...haha! Ok, Monday. One of the first days I was here, Maria took me to a language school to talk to some people about two weeks worth of classes, but their prices were a little high. Like, $380.00 DOLLARS for the two weeks...not really what I was looking for. Well, the family, as nice as they are, started thinking and knew of a cousin who taught English classes and called her up. Her name was Gabby and she couldn´t give me private lessons, but her friend Checha (Kay-cha) could. For 100 pesos an hour I agreed to take private lessons every morning with Cecha from 9-11 except for Thursdays (she has to teach an English class on Thursdays). She lives in a nice part of town by the Manerva Fountain, a short drive of 15 minutes from Marias house.

Monday morning Maria took me to her apartment and we had an excellent session. Checha is a very short, 28 year old woman who is married to a cool husband that is in a band and teaches music. I can´t remember his name. They live in a very modern apartment that looks straight out of the 70´s. Again, I apologize I don´t have pictures - took my camera today with intentions and forgot about it...haha! Are sessions are very informal and we basically just talk and then a gramatical question will come up and will move our conversation to that. We work on vocabulary a lot, as much of my studies thus far have skipt this part. She is very kind and is very fun to work with. After we´re done she gives me a ride to Starbuck´s, just down the street, where I sit and read for a while by myself. This Starbucks in particular has an upstairs that is covered with a roof, but is open for air to move freely throughout. It´s a very relaxing place.

Today, I spent over an hour a top reading ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ Once again, YOU have to read this book. I literally had tears in my eyes at one point and was imbarassed that people might see...haha! It´s a very moving story! After that I decided to return to Costco to purchase Viviana a carton of ciggerates, as she refused to let me buy my own items last night at Walmart (two bottles of wine, some deoderant, small jar of instant coffee, and some shaving cream). I thought I would be able to walk and set out on my journey. I really had no idea where it was,l but headed in the direction I thought it was. After about 30 minutes, I hailed a cab and for $2 he took me the rest of the way. I probably would have been another hour. I did enjoy the excerices though.

Next to Costco was a Walmart and a mall, so I decided to go have a look. I stopped in Walmart first, hoping they would have the microphone that I had seen last night, but failed to buy, realizing now that it was worth the $7. However, this Walmart didn´t have the headset. I walked around the mall nearby (a very nice mall, with stores like Diesel, Guess, etc). For me though....not anything I was interested in. I left and hailed another cab, and worked out in Spanish where I needed to go...The other Walmart I said. The cab driver smirked and said that there were several in Guadalajara, so I said the closest street I knew to Maria´s house and we were on our way - not before negotiating a price of course. We reasoned and I got a ride for about $5. My conversation with the cab driver was very good. He could understand my spanish and I could his as well. He was very interested in what I was doing and the 10 minute ride seemed only seconds. I purchased the mic and a new set of headphones...but not before I waited in line at Walmart for nearly 15 minutes. Seriously! It was very annoying! And this Walmart in particular makes you check your bag before entering so I was anxious to get back to my stuff.

I hailed my third cab for the day and it was a very fat man drinking some juice out of a plastic bag with a straw (very popular down here - rather than small cups). I knew I was pretty close to the house, but it would have taken me a half hour to do. I was willing to drop 20 pesos, which is a little over a dollar right now with the exchange rate. We negotiated for a minute and the driver´s offer was 40 pesos. I immediately said, that is was rediculous and that I could walk to my house and said 20 pesos. The driver said he´ll put it on the meter and see what price comes up. I knew this was a risk, because somehow (I don´t know exactly how they work) the drivers can manipulate the price, but I got in anyway. He said something to me in mumbled Spanish, but I was unable to understand him. When I said, I´m sorry I don´t understand, he just grunted and turned the radio up. I was pissed. I counted out all the change in my pocket, mostly consisting of what we call pennies, and at the exact point the meter said 20 pesos I told him to pull over. Four blocks from Marias, I got out, gave the fat bastard his 20 pesos, and began to walk proudly. haha!

I arrived home to Maria, who was happy to see me. I felt bad arriving 2 hours later than I said i would, but she didn´t seem to mind. The grandkids, Miguelito and Wendy, were (and still are) here. I fiddled with my new mic, which turns out to be a piece of junk (I put it back in the packaging and am going to take it back later today or tomorrow). Viviana comes home on her break from the bank and eats a late lunch (they don´t really eat dinner). At 3:30, we all ate and talked about the day. They were very interested in the things I learned at my lesson and where I was all day. About 10 minutes ago, just before she went back to work, Viviana went into here room and noticed the carton of ciggerates waiting for her on her bed. She let out a woot and was very excited! It made me feel good. I did say that it was not something I support, but I wanted to get her something she liked, and I knew they were somewhat of a luxuary item to her as much of her paycheck goes back to Maria to help with things.

My plan for tonight is to play a game of the Spanish version of Guess Who with Miguelito and then read for a while. Maybe study a little bit of the vocab Checha and I worked on today. Around 8 I´m gonna watch a movie with a glass of wine (which by the way I broke last night - I set my blue glass on the sofa not thinking and forgot about it and when I got up, it fell and broke). Heading for bed early...about 10 or so. We´ll se how that works out!

City Tour

Many of us that have traveled know about thus two decker buses that give tours around the city...well, today i rode one with Viviana. It was awesome! Haha! And it was her idea. She said she has always wanted to do it, but her friends would never go with her. For those of us that live in Liberty, it´s like wanting to go see the historic Jesse James Bank or something like that. I know much of the city, but I was dying to get out of the house.

Everyone woke around 11 and Maria prepared breakfast/lunch. I had juevos rancheros (a tortilla with a fried egg and salsa that you eat like a taco)...very good! We boarded the bus around 12:00 and headed out on the tour. An elder couple joined us for the trip...haha. Just us four. We made a loop of the city and arrived downtown, where the bus stopped. It was a stopping point for the whole fleet of buses the company had and people could depart and reboard whenever they pleased all day as the buses left from downtown every half hour. We walked to the large market downtown (Mercado Libertad) and strolled through the isles, passing trinket upon trinket. Glass bottles here, shot glasses there, sombreros, wood boxes, leather items, wallets...pretty much anything you can think of. The isles were cramped with people out and about to enjoy there day off. For the most part, it was all things I´ve seen before, and for Viviana also. After about a half hour we made our way through the maze to get out.

We exited from a different side of the building I had never been in, and when we were outside I was confused where we were. In front of us stood a large plaze with the entrance to a museum to the left of us. Of course, being on the adventure we were on decided to enter. It was a very large, old stone building with many courtyards and side entrances where the exhibits were at. We strolled though, looking at all the art when I spotted one tiny piece in particular. When I was in Barcelona, Spain, I visited the Pablo Picasso Museum and saw much of his work. Well, to my amazement, I pinpointed this painting to be a picasso and turned out to be correct. I kind of think of myself as a art conoseur now...not that I can spell it. Haha. Ok...not really obviously, but I was semi-proud of myself.

After the museum, we walked out to some music playing at a nearby outdorr resturaunt, and stopped for some micheladas (beer, tomato juice, salt, and lime)...so good and refreshing. Did I mention that the sun was scorching today. Heard 2 feet of snow fell in Liberty...what luck! Viviana and I had a great conversation at the table and at times I couldn´t believe the rate at which my spanish was coming out of my mouth. It definitely surprised how much I was improving. And using new words as well!

We slurpped two micheladas a piece and decided thats all we should have so we could walk back to the bus. We were in the middle of the plaza (large courtyard-like area with no streets), but I told Viviana it was okay, and i yelled for a taxi. She laughed histerically. Mexicans really like simple jokes like this. Very easy crowd! haha!

When we arrived at the bus, we had two options, 1) head home, or 2) take the bus to Talaquipaqui, a small little town 15 minutes away. Of course, I said lets go to Talaquipaqui...we´ve already paid for it. So we did. I really enjoy the small pueblo (town) feel. The people are friendly and life moves at a very comfortable speed...a speed I enjoy often. Haha! We popped in and out of shops, but still saw similar items. We saw a stand for lighters and began to look at them as Viviana is a smoker. We picked up a couple and awwed in their flames, until I decided to pick one up that looked like a pistol. I jokenly aimed it at Viviana and pulled the trigger, and rather than a flame, a bolt of electrictiy shot down through my arm and I dropped the lighter. Viviana was sent into a sudden hysteria of laughter and could barely contain herself. Not at realizing what had happened, continued with a look of worry on my face. Then remembering a similar thing from back home, i realized it was one of those things you use to pull pranks on your friends. It was pretty funny because I had no idea.

We continued on and at one point I asked Viviana if these people made any money because everyone sells the same stuff, but she assured me they did. After succeeding in my efforts not to buy anything we got back on the bus; this time on top because the sun was going down and it was beginning to cool off. The ride back to Guadalajara was fun and Viviana quized me on the various words she had taught throughout the day. We arrived in downtown at the bus dropoff point and exited once again because the driver said he was going to park there for twenty minutes. When we got off, we noticed a large group of people gathered near a stage. We walked over just in time to see the start of a free jazz concert. The sun was just barely over the horizon and the lights under the crevices of the buildings began to turn on. It was very beautiful. There was also a demonstration going on to show your pride for Guadalajara. People were handing out markers and paper and had you write a few words of appreciation for the city. Naturally, Viviana made me do it (throughout the day she made me order and ask questions to the vendors so I could practice). I wrote ¨Te Amo Guadalajara¨(I love you Guadalajara) and signed it John El Peluquero (John the Barber). She got a kick out of that and they took our picture and posted it, with my note on a giant banner they were displaying.

After that it was about 8:30 and Viviana had several missed calls from Maria. We grabbed a Taxi and headed home. We arrived to a waiting meal and had a great time discussing our day with Maria over it. Viviana had plans and took off for the night and for the passed hour or so, Maria and I have been talking. A great conversation to end the day about life, and the things that are important. At one point she began to cry and almost had me into them. She has a giant heart and I can´t believe how much she loves me sometimes...its crazy. But I have a lot of love for her and her family as well. It really is great to be back here!

Putting my Costco Membership to use!

I managed to make it out of bed a little earlier this morning...10am. Nothing to be proud of. But better than my noon rise the first day. The weather is extremely hot down here and I think my body is having trouble adjusting. I´ve been having reoccuring headaches that don´t seem to pass and I know it is from the heat. We´re talking around 90 degrees. Not to mention, I haven´t had a cup of coffee since my arrival. Come to think of it, this probably has some weight to the reason my head hurts. None the less, life as a mexican is very slow. I spent most of the day reading my book, ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ I highly recommend it to all of you. I know Katie wants it after I´m done, but I´m sure she´ll be done with it in a matter of a few days, so whoever would like it, let her know.

At about noon, Maria grabbed her keys and yelled, ¨vamos john,¨and we were out the door. I had mentioned to her yesterday that I wanted to take her to Costco and buy some food and supplies while I was here. Really, I just wanted to take her shopping so she could get some essentials that she needed. She loved the place. We literally had to go through every single isle. At first it was difficult for her to pick out things and put them in the basket, but after 10 or so isles I had her speaking up about what she needed...toilet paper, soap, salt, meat, noodles, peppers, eggs, and milk. We would talk about what was a good price and what was rediculously expensive. It was a lot of fun. She would look at the price of apples, oranges, and limes and roll her eyes to the sky because it was so expensive. I put a few things in the cart for myself like two bottles of wine and a case of beer. They are real into flavored water drinks down here and at every meal we have some sort of powder added to the water to make a sweet, refreshing drink. With this in mind, I put a huge tub of gatorade concentrate into the cart. Oh, the whole time we shopped, little Wendy (her son´s daughter) was with us in the cart. The total came out to be around 1,900 pesos, which turns out to be about $135 dollars. It was about what I had budgeted for the trip...maybe thirty dollars over or so. But it was worth it! I´m staying here for free, and they treat me like one of their own family members. I felt like I was robbing them if they didn´t let me help contribute in some way. $135 for two weeks...not bad.

Tonight, we are going to go over to Viviana´s (Maria´s daughter) cousins house to talk about the idea of classes next week. I have so much time during the day, and I´d like to work on my spanish while I have time. We went to a school yesterday and it was really nice and i´d like to study there for two weeks, but the price is a littl expensive...$380. Not sure if it is worth it. But it would get me out of the house and into a new part of the city which would be fun. The school is right in the middle of downtown. I don`t know. We´ll see how the meeting with their cousin goes tonight. She would charge me what would come out to be $7 or $8 an hour. Which is by far cheaper, but I don´t know if I´d like it better in an actual school.´ We´ll see!

Oh, and I´m sorry I don´t have any pictures at this point. The computer I use won´t recognize my camera cord, so I can´t get them on here. I´m going to see if I can download something from Cannon to help.

Departure Day

After a fun last night with Katie, Andy, Park, and Caleb down in Westport, Katie and I managed to squeeze in 3 or so hours of sleep before the alarms started ringing at 4:20 in the morning. Man was it early. And anyone who has ever laid down in Katie´s bed knows it is a difficult place to leave....probably the most comfortable bed I´ve ever laid in. Plus, this would be the last time I get to sleep in it at the house on Fairview. And the last time I´d get to sleep with Katie for a while. So, you can imagine I wasn´t too excited. But I was about to embark on my adventure and I felt ready. Ready, but nervous. Luckily, Katie had whipped me into shape the day before and my bags were packed and everything was right next to the door ready to go. We were out the door just after 4:30 and to the airport a little before 5:00. However, I didn´t manage to make it into the airport until about 5:15. Goodbye was very difficult and tears were exchanged pretty heavily. Not an easy thing to do, to turn from the person you love and walk away, leaving her behind. But I mustered up enough courage, with hopeful thoughts that I´ll be seeing her in a little over two weeks. The hard part is yet to come.

I had a two hour lay-over in Phoenix and I spent my time in a little restaurant where I had a breakfast quesadilla and coffee for $15.00 including tip. At 12:45 I boarded my plane to Guadalajara. The flight was full of mexicans and a few Americans. All in all, the plane was only half full and I had the entire row to myself. I started reading a new book that was recommended to me by one of the spanish teachers at Liberty Middle School. It is called ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ It is absolutely amazing!

When I arrived at the airport in Guadalajara, I had no problems with customs, nor exchanging my $20 for pesos. By the way the exchange rate here is unbelievable. The American Economy is suffering, but the dollar is very valuable down here right now. My $20 was able to get me 270 pesos, when in the past i could it was about 10 pesos to the dollar. I had budgeted the $20 for the taxi, but I managed to negotiate the trip for 220 pesos. For the most part the trip was quiet and I didn´t bring myself to really speak until halfway through the trip. Spanish came easily to me even though my full year of not speaking. I was impressed how naturally it felt. Being back in Guadalajara felt great. Almost like a return home. Everything was still familiar and it was easy to navigate the driver to Maria´s house. When we arrived, Maria headed outside to greet me. I didn´t know it yet, but she had been waiting since 6 am. There was some sort of miscommunication when I spoke with her the day before. But it was of no importance and she was so happy I was there. We embraced and she showed me into the house. She put me in the same room I´ve stayed in the other two times I´ve been. It was so clean and the two twin beds had ben pushed into one giant bed. A great place to stay...and for free!

We spent the next few hours talking about my family and hers. Soon the questions turned to more of a political toon and then to religion and then to life and love. We always have the most interesting conversations. I can´t imagine what they would be like if we could do them in English.

That night, her daugter, Viviana, came home from work and we watched The Ring 2. So scary! Her and Maria made fun of me because I kept getting scared. I can´t help it. Anybody who has watched a scary movie with me knows I am kind of a puss. Haha!