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!