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!
Friday, April 10, 2009
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!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, March 23, 2009
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!
Monday, March 9, 2009
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!
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!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
