Juts some pictures... most of them are self explanitory
just pictures of the family i am now apart of here
and there one of the sun with a big circle around it.. it was way nicer in person... uit looked like a rainbow halo around the sun.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
some pictures
Juts some pictures... most of them are self explanitory
just pictures of the family i am now apart of here
and there one of the sun with a big circle around it.. it was way nicer in person... uit looked like a rainbow halo around the sun.
Friday, May 29, 2009
A little bit of everything
Since i got back from my trip to lago atitlan, i haven´t been up to too much... hanging around Xela and trying to bear down on some homework. although i did manage to gather a couple stories from this week.
Before i forget, there was a earthquake in Honduras the other night, which sent quite the shock through Guatemala... or so i hear. I managed to sleep right through it and the next morning I had no idea what my host family mom was talking about when she said everything was shaking and some things were falling off the shelves last night. Then she explained that she heard on the radio about the earthquake.. Although I´m not exactly a earthquake hunter, i wouldn´t have minded waking up just to have a little more of an idea of what everyone was tlaking about. There was a small one whcih i did feel a couple weeks ago.. but i was told that wasn´t much in comparison... picturing myself shaking while sleeping did make me chuckle a bit.
Something a little more intresting, i went to another soccer game last night. This was completly different then the one I went to earlier here. This was the quater finals and the stadium was packed. It has a capacity of around 13000 but most people told me they usually sell around 20000 tickets for a game like thsi.. guess we just squished in. But these fans blew me away once again.. It was just as fun to be part of the crowd as to watch the game. You get frisked before you go in, but these fnas manage to bring in tons of fireworks for the start of the game, we couldn´t even see the other side of the feild for a bit because of allthe smoke from the fireworks... which are set off during the game. We sat in one of the crazier fan zones known as*the curveof the devil* because the fans. I mean people brough enough instrum,ents for a full band and the chants were nonstop from half an hour before the game and half an hour after the game.,. onlys stopping at half time. The chants themselves, i could write a story on. After learning some more street slang since the last game i understood the chants a little better. I couldn´t imagine a single person saying something this profane at a sporting event in US or Canada, but these fans are just booming with them in unison. Men, woman, teenagers and even some younger ones are all yelling for their lives. Xela ended up winning 3-1, but scoriong the last two goals with ten minutes to go... the fans went nut, jumping onto and climbing the fence to sit on the top and wave their shirts around or shoot roman candles(fireworks) from their hands. Most of the arean has a fence with barb wire seperating the feild and the seats, but the fans cut off the barb wire hereso they could go ontop of teh fence. At the end of the game, the fans stayed to chant for a good half an hour and we watched the oposing team´s fans and Xela´s verbally tear eachother apart. They were seperated by a little gap and alot of fencing, as their not aloud to sit with the oposing teams fans, nor is alcohol allowed here.
Short story is that futball is crazy here, I got to see first hand a faked injuried(in which they will og as far as to get carried off by a strecher, then back five minuteslater) and they just make one big party out the game. I am also now a proud owner of a Xela jersey, which i hope will get tp use in th esemi and the final finals.
Don´t have much else planned for my near future. Ill probably hit the books real hard for another week then take off to travel when my friend Pat gets here, allaroudn Guatemala,. and maybe Belize and Honduras.. but who knows.
And for everyone dying to knwo how fat i´ve gotten on this trip, sorry to disapoint you, but i don´t think my meal portions would allow for it even if i made an effort. But for exercising, i have a little 12x18 foot cement courtyard with a couple chairs for dips and a skiping rope for equipement. So with a little food and skipping rope, hopefully ill be able to keep the fat off for now.
Before i forget, there was a earthquake in Honduras the other night, which sent quite the shock through Guatemala... or so i hear. I managed to sleep right through it and the next morning I had no idea what my host family mom was talking about when she said everything was shaking and some things were falling off the shelves last night. Then she explained that she heard on the radio about the earthquake.. Although I´m not exactly a earthquake hunter, i wouldn´t have minded waking up just to have a little more of an idea of what everyone was tlaking about. There was a small one whcih i did feel a couple weeks ago.. but i was told that wasn´t much in comparison... picturing myself shaking while sleeping did make me chuckle a bit.
Something a little more intresting, i went to another soccer game last night. This was completly different then the one I went to earlier here. This was the quater finals and the stadium was packed. It has a capacity of around 13000 but most people told me they usually sell around 20000 tickets for a game like thsi.. guess we just squished in. But these fans blew me away once again.. It was just as fun to be part of the crowd as to watch the game. You get frisked before you go in, but these fnas manage to bring in tons of fireworks for the start of the game, we couldn´t even see the other side of the feild for a bit because of allthe smoke from the fireworks... which are set off during the game. We sat in one of the crazier fan zones known as*the curveof the devil* because the fans. I mean people brough enough instrum,ents for a full band and the chants were nonstop from half an hour before the game and half an hour after the game.,. onlys stopping at half time. The chants themselves, i could write a story on. After learning some more street slang since the last game i understood the chants a little better. I couldn´t imagine a single person saying something this profane at a sporting event in US or Canada, but these fans are just booming with them in unison. Men, woman, teenagers and even some younger ones are all yelling for their lives. Xela ended up winning 3-1, but scoriong the last two goals with ten minutes to go... the fans went nut, jumping onto and climbing the fence to sit on the top and wave their shirts around or shoot roman candles(fireworks) from their hands. Most of the arean has a fence with barb wire seperating the feild and the seats, but the fans cut off the barb wire hereso they could go ontop of teh fence. At the end of the game, the fans stayed to chant for a good half an hour and we watched the oposing team´s fans and Xela´s verbally tear eachother apart. They were seperated by a little gap and alot of fencing, as their not aloud to sit with the oposing teams fans, nor is alcohol allowed here.
Short story is that futball is crazy here, I got to see first hand a faked injuried(in which they will og as far as to get carried off by a strecher, then back five minuteslater) and they just make one big party out the game. I am also now a proud owner of a Xela jersey, which i hope will get tp use in th esemi and the final finals.
Don´t have much else planned for my near future. Ill probably hit the books real hard for another week then take off to travel when my friend Pat gets here, allaroudn Guatemala,. and maybe Belize and Honduras.. but who knows.
And for everyone dying to knwo how fat i´ve gotten on this trip, sorry to disapoint you, but i don´t think my meal portions would allow for it even if i made an effort. But for exercising, i have a little 12x18 foot cement courtyard with a couple chairs for dips and a skiping rope for equipement. So with a little food and skipping rope, hopefully ill be able to keep the fat off for now.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
i can get you that fo sho
Im back in Xela from lago Atitlan and here goes some of my free time for some stories.
I had some night classes on Friday because my teacher needed to go to a funeral during the day. We set out on foot to walk around the city to practice my conversational spanish and to find some place that could fixmy camera. We ended up taking a microbus ( a large van that holds around 20 people, but only has about 10 seats and serves the same purpose as city buses in canada) to the repair shop a good 5 minutes away. We had some time to kill while the guy was checking out the camera, and after walking around for a bit, we decided to sit at a small little bar on the street. One thing lead to another, and after talking like we´ve known eachother for years for an hour, we were a bottle of rum down and 15 minutes late to go check on my camera. Luckily the repairman was still there and he gave me a ¨specail price¨of around 60 dollars for the repair. He said i got a deal becasue we both know the guy who refered me to him, but im convince my deal was a rip off because he took me for a ¨stupid gringo¨ like every other white person here.
But i´ll live, so me and my teacher couldn´t find the micro bus stop, so we walked our way back and talked. I honestly felt like my spanish really improved that night becasue we didn´t say one word of english and we ahd a group conversation with some other people at that bar.
After we got back, he showed me a place for some cheap beers, so i grabbed some and headed out to the party for the people who are leaving the school this week. We had a meal, then hung out and consumed a couple bevys (beverages) for a while. Then we watched a celebration for the mayan new year, which was intresting, but got a little boring after a while as it was very repetitive and we weren´t exactly in the mood for a quiet celebration. After that we hung out for a while longer, then i headed off to bed.
I went to lago atitlan the next morning, where we took 3 chicken buses and a small boat to get there, but it was well worth it and i hope to return. It´s quite popular among hippes as there are many meditation and cleansing centers there with quite the atmospher. We walked aroudn teh small town of 3000 and then settled down for dinner as the daily rain storm came in. We ate at an italian restaurant where i polished off a whole large pizza to myslef to make up for the starving i´ve been doing.
A couple examples about my food intake. Last week, i only had a banana for breakfeast... and at that, i wasnñ´t even sure if it was a whole banana. It was in three pieces which looked like quaters of the banana, meaning someone else got a quater of ny banana. And for supper the one day, i had two mini-burgers..... so did the four year old girl...
the next morning, we got up early and i went for some pancakes, which are now my new favorite breakfeast.. its official. We then walked a little to a small place known as ¨the sacred rocks¨where we spent several hours swimming, hanging out, and jumping of big cliffs and rocks into the water. Note- I recieved a terrible farmers tan the day before from the boat ride, so i had to apply sunscreen to my burns and hoped for the rest of my body to burn into the same colour.. im still waiting on some results. After taking our time in the water we were on our way back on the boat. I then send bye to the couple from england who hung out wiht us quite a bit in the last couple weeks, their off to Belize now. Another little note, that my life went before my eyes twice on the chicken bus today, the first time we almost hit a truck then skidded to a halt before we went of a cliff. then next one we almost flew right through a construction site. Most of the passengers were most annoyed with the awful smell of rubber then the fact our driver was a moron.
Now i´ve been thinking of what to do with my time left here. My spanish is improving rapidly but i would still like to take another week, or possible two to really solidify the language. After that I´d like to travel around and maybe spend a week volunteering.. Any suggestions anyone?¿?¿ maybe to different countries in central america like mexico, belize, honduras and el salvador. I would like to go to cuba before it changes too much, but im not sure if that will work into my plans, with the airplane tickets and what not. But if anyone could help me out wiht some ideas, i´ñd love to hear them.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Vacation from a Vacation
This is gonna be long if i try to include most of my little tri`p but here it goes.
We left on Friday and drove for a solid 10 hours until we got to a place called Coban in Northern Guatemala. I was pleasantly surprised when i got there, it looked somewhat like an old castles but the rooms were what really did it for me. A nice clean room, with towels, a hot shower and even a color TV! So as soon as i got there, ripped off my clothes and jumped in what i thought was a hot shower.... it was ice cold, they forgot to turn the water heater on for us, just my luck. But i finally got my hot shower the next morning, and it was well worth the wait. As nice as this hotel was, i had trouble sleeping, because whenever a chicken bus or a big truck would drive by the street out my window, my bed would actually shake, but the comfy matress made up for that.
The next day, we drove out to semuk champey, which involved around a hour and a half van ride through rough rooads at a very slow pace, then cramming 11 peoeple and their backpakcs into hte back of a small pickup for another half an hour of rougher terrain. We were welcomed on the way up by a small boy who deecided to flash us while lauhging hysterically. I found it quite funny.We arrived at a pretty sketchy hostel, which was pretty much as many beds as you could fit into a room, and walls with so many holes in them, the bugs just had free rein over the place.
This all proved to be worth it, as we were right next to a very warm river which we could swim and use the rope swing into. We took a small hour and a half hike up a mountain, which realistically couldve taken twenty minutes if everyone was in shape, but it had a beautiful view from the top. When we went down the other side, there are small pools of water formed by the river which we spent a couple hours in. It topped anything else i´ve seen in Guatemala and i could´çve stayed there for days, my favorite place so far. On the way back we spent a little bit jumping off a pretty tall bridge into the river, which was a blast.
That night we did some swimming then had supper and hung out wiht a couiple beers, but i held back because i wasn´t feeling to well.
The next morning, we went on a cave tour which was a phenominal experince. It took us around two hours to explore a km into the pitch black cave though water with nothing else then a small candle in our hands. It involved swimming, jumping off mini cliffs inside the cave and hiking up laders and climbing ropes. I kept on thinking while swimming through how this tour would absolutely never be allowed to happen in the western world, i could just see too many things going wrong.
After an hour of getting out of the caves a different way, we took a small hike up river and floated down the river on inner tubes to enjoy the hot day. By this time, I was really not feeling to well, i was having a little trouble walking but everything we were doing was too good to say no to. I just relaxed on the way down and by the time i got there i threw my tube aside and went and fell into my bed. I had a serious fever, my head was getting stuffy and i sould barely move. So we, more like the others, packed up, and we jumped back into the pickup for the ride back to our van. I just sprawled out in the back of the pickup and tried to get threw the ride. By the time we were at the van, I wasn´t doing to much better, and the driver wanted to take me to the Hospital. I said i could go when we got to the next city andthankked him. Let´s just say the eight hour drive was nowhere near pleasurable for me. I sat in the front seat with my head out the window ready to give last nights dinner to the ditch the whole ride. I didn´t eat all day, but by night I was feeling a little better and could walk around a bit. I´m guessing it was the salad i ate the night before that made me sick, beccasue most people stay away from lettuyce and cabage around here.
Thankfully, the next morning, i felt good enough to walk, and decided to Go to Tikal wiht the others. We hired a guide this time, and taught us alot about the people, culture and the civil war that just recently ended in 1996. His father is actually one of the leading guatemalan archeologists in Tikal and has made some big discoveries lately. After some history, wildlife watching, we went searching for Tarantualas, which are alot easier then i thought to find. We found a couple small ones, and a large one, which are, according to the guide, nonpoisinous, but can leave a nasty mark. We also saw spider and howler monkeys, crocodiles, a bunch of birds and some other intresting animals. Tikal ruins were overwhelmingly big. For reference, in pure Volume of size, they are larger then the biggest pyrimides in Egypt. We got to walk up them(quite high) and learn about all the history and the way the mayan civilization functioned. An odd fact, is that the winning teams coach in their ball game is sacraficed to the god´s after his game.... something random for you. They just started excavating the sites in 2004 and if they don´t keep them clean, nature can cover the larger ruins in as little as 10-15 years.
Upon reaching the hotel, we went for a swim in the pool, and the lake, which was so warm, almost hot, and i was feeeling a little better. We walked around then headed out for supper and enjoyed it by the beach, the first time i´ve had pasta since i got here. We spent the night hangnig out and walking around.
The next day we had a solid day of driving again, with a small stop in Rio Dulce, where we swam in the river and had some lunch. By this time i was feeling healthy again and could enjoy myself once again.
We spent our last night in Antigua, which is a very touristy and expensive city in the south west. I was considering spending some time down there for spanish lessons but im glad i saw it, because i much prefer it in Xela. That is more of a tourist city, where xela is more of a backpacker/spanish studnet community. We hung out at an Irish Pub that night then went to bed for another early morning.
We did a large amount of driving, which is now why i have a nice sunburn on my left arm...while the right one is still in good shape. I mustve forgot alot of little deatails while writing about this long trip, but maybe ill edit it later. Although i did manage to end up wiht a broken camera half way through the trip, so im notsure about that situation, maybe buy a new one or try to fixit. Id like to study spanish for another two weeks then maybe volunteer or whatnot. Im also expecting a friend who might be coming down sometime in june for the last part of my trip.
Trhats it for now
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A Hot Shower
The things i would do right now for a hot/warm/ even lukewarm shower right now would probably land me in Jail. There´s many things about roughing it that i don´t mind, but i´ve seriously considered the possibility of cutting down to one or two showers each week. It´s almost like my daily workout, jump in the freezing cold shower for a good two minutes, and shiver furiously for mintutes after. I´ll try and get some other subjects now...
I left off before i went to the soccer game on saturday. We went out to a bar for pizza and drinks before the game, then took a ten minutes walk or so the Xela Stadium. They gave us facemasks with out tickets to wear becasue of the swine flu, but because it was raining very hard (just like it does every say here) their weren´t as many fans present. The Xela soccer team is know to have to craziest fans in the league.. they show up every game, all dressed up to the max, bringing drums,trumpets,fireworks and sing/chant all game long with no breaks. The soccer game was more amusing then i expected and Xela won 1-0, scoring their goal with ten minutes left, driving the fans crazy as Xela was the underdog going into the game.
I didn´t stay up too late that night because of the hike I was planning on going on the next morning. A group of 6 of us took a micro bus to the chicken bus terminal, which is also a small market, the dirtiest place i´ve yet to see in my travels. The chicken bus ride took a little more then an hour and was very good considering what there usually like. Imagine a retired north americain bus with 6 grown men, a couple children, and some unidentified objets on one row (two benchs) of seats. This supposedly wasn´t even crowded... on the way back we asked to ride back on the top of the bus but it´s not allowed in guatemala, only in mexico.
The hike itself was very nice, taking around two and a half-three hours, with an absolutely beautiful lagoon at the top.
I uploaded one or two pictures on my facebook for those who´d like to see it, i made a open album for everyone to see my pictures from Guatemala, i´ll try to post a link at the bottom of this post.
The lagoon was crystal clear when we arrived, allowing us a perfect view of it, i was very impressed.... top 5 most beautiful places i´ve seen in my life. I posted 2 pictures in the album, 1 of me when we got therre, and 1 twenty minutes later, where the fog was so heavy, you could barely see a meter in front of you. The clouds came in so quickly that we actually sat and watched them rush in. The lagoon is in the crater of a volcano, making the hike even more interesting.
We got rained on a bit on the way down, but this sprinkle was not bad at all considering how it is usually pouring at this time.. i´ve learned to expect rain everyday, my umbrella is with me nearly all the time.
I got back and decided to treat myself and eat a small restaurant when i got back. After that I did a good two hours of homework. The spanish classes are something I havenñt tlaked about alot on here, but they have been great so far. Each day when i find myself tlaking to a vendor or some other locale, i notice the improvements in my spanish each day. The school itself it much more intense then i had predicted... well i really didn´t even think about the span¡sh that much before i got here, but it´s five constant hours of 1 on 1 intruction.. not like school where you dooze off or start daydreaming.
Yesterday was monday, and i wasn´t feeling to well, so after my classes ( 8-1) i went back to my hostel and sleep/read most of the day to try to feel a little better. I think it worked|| this morniung i felt muich much better. I was convinced that i might have got food poisoing or something similar becasue all the different food Içve been eating. Half the time Im not even sure what im eating when the family feeds it to my, but i usually donçt mind iut...... The only person i can honestly say that would enjoy this food would be my brother Vince.
Im going to move back in wiht the host family again becasue on friday im taking a 6 day trip all over guatemala, seeing Tikal, going to the caves, hot pools and ab bunch of other places. Im really excited to go and use my spanish some more.
Today me and some others took an optional two hour class on slangs/swears in local spanish. To say the least, i now would have no problem initiating a confrontation on the street.
Later on, there´s a movie on child labour and abuse in central america that i think i´ll go to...
I feel like I just wrote a novel, my fingers are hurting....
thats it for now
link for pictrures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110385&id=513794304#/photo.php?pid=2624642&id=513794304
i hope it works
I left off before i went to the soccer game on saturday. We went out to a bar for pizza and drinks before the game, then took a ten minutes walk or so the Xela Stadium. They gave us facemasks with out tickets to wear becasue of the swine flu, but because it was raining very hard (just like it does every say here) their weren´t as many fans present. The Xela soccer team is know to have to craziest fans in the league.. they show up every game, all dressed up to the max, bringing drums,trumpets,fireworks and sing/chant all game long with no breaks. The soccer game was more amusing then i expected and Xela won 1-0, scoring their goal with ten minutes left, driving the fans crazy as Xela was the underdog going into the game.
I didn´t stay up too late that night because of the hike I was planning on going on the next morning. A group of 6 of us took a micro bus to the chicken bus terminal, which is also a small market, the dirtiest place i´ve yet to see in my travels. The chicken bus ride took a little more then an hour and was very good considering what there usually like. Imagine a retired north americain bus with 6 grown men, a couple children, and some unidentified objets on one row (two benchs) of seats. This supposedly wasn´t even crowded... on the way back we asked to ride back on the top of the bus but it´s not allowed in guatemala, only in mexico.
The hike itself was very nice, taking around two and a half-three hours, with an absolutely beautiful lagoon at the top.
I uploaded one or two pictures on my facebook for those who´d like to see it, i made a open album for everyone to see my pictures from Guatemala, i´ll try to post a link at the bottom of this post.
The lagoon was crystal clear when we arrived, allowing us a perfect view of it, i was very impressed.... top 5 most beautiful places i´ve seen in my life. I posted 2 pictures in the album, 1 of me when we got therre, and 1 twenty minutes later, where the fog was so heavy, you could barely see a meter in front of you. The clouds came in so quickly that we actually sat and watched them rush in. The lagoon is in the crater of a volcano, making the hike even more interesting.
We got rained on a bit on the way down, but this sprinkle was not bad at all considering how it is usually pouring at this time.. i´ve learned to expect rain everyday, my umbrella is with me nearly all the time.
I got back and decided to treat myself and eat a small restaurant when i got back. After that I did a good two hours of homework. The spanish classes are something I havenñt tlaked about alot on here, but they have been great so far. Each day when i find myself tlaking to a vendor or some other locale, i notice the improvements in my spanish each day. The school itself it much more intense then i had predicted... well i really didn´t even think about the span¡sh that much before i got here, but it´s five constant hours of 1 on 1 intruction.. not like school where you dooze off or start daydreaming.
Yesterday was monday, and i wasn´t feeling to well, so after my classes ( 8-1) i went back to my hostel and sleep/read most of the day to try to feel a little better. I think it worked|| this morniung i felt muich much better. I was convinced that i might have got food poisoing or something similar becasue all the different food Içve been eating. Half the time Im not even sure what im eating when the family feeds it to my, but i usually donçt mind iut...... The only person i can honestly say that would enjoy this food would be my brother Vince.
Im going to move back in wiht the host family again becasue on friday im taking a 6 day trip all over guatemala, seeing Tikal, going to the caves, hot pools and ab bunch of other places. Im really excited to go and use my spanish some more.
Today me and some others took an optional two hour class on slangs/swears in local spanish. To say the least, i now would have no problem initiating a confrontation on the street.
Later on, there´s a movie on child labour and abuse in central america that i think i´ll go to...
I feel like I just wrote a novel, my fingers are hurting....
thats it for now
link for pictrures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110385&id=513794304#/photo.php?pid=2624642&id=513794304
i hope it works
Saturday, May 9, 2009
High Class Living
Alright im back a little ealier then expected
I was suppose to be sleeping right now because i was planning on talking a fullmoon hike Santa Maria last night from 12 to around 4 this morning, wait around for the sunrise and be back in town for 10thismornin. But the rain was so bad last night the bus wouldn´t take us up to where the hike started. The company that we went through also wasn´t going to give us most of our money back but after a brief conversation and one of the guys that we were hiking had a stern conversation with the owner, we ended up getting all our money back.... 100 questzals, which is only around twelve dollars.
So yesterday morning i walked around Xela for a couple of hours.. check out some bookstores, markets and make some ´purchases´. I had a breif scare when I found out my debit card wasn´t working at any of the machines and I was almost out of money. I ran around town trying all the machines to no avail. Finally I got back and a girl that´s going to the same school suggested one last one and it worked!!
Anyways i had a nice long lesson last night then everyone at the school had a little graduation party for those who are leaving the school, which just entails a small speach then everyone hangs out and brings a couple bevys(beverages). Most people went out to the bar after but my and the others who were planning on goign on the hike tried to get some rest before we were hopefully going hiking.
So this morning I woke to what i honestely thought was bombs being dropped all over the city. Sorry to dissapoint you, but this was not the case. The little bottle of contact solution i had was wobbeling all over the place it was so loud. The school right next to my families house has band practice on saturday mornings, as do all the schools in Xela. So I decided to get up and enjoyed eggs and frijoles for breakfeast, as i did last night for supper as well. This monring i moved to a hostel a little further from the school, but with many backpackers staying there. After getting all my stuff moved over, i hurried to the school, where I meet up with some others and we went for a hike up to Los Vahos, a small mountain that overlooks Xela with natural hot springs at the top.
We refrained from the hot tubs, as their level of cleanliness would disgust most people back home, as would the garbage all over this city/country. Ill post some pictures later if i can figure it out.
Although i have not been hit by a car yet, im not getting my hopes too high, as walking along the practically inexistant sidewalks is quite dangerous. Tonight a bunch of us are meeting up for some drinks then going to a soccer game... I´m hoping for some really intense fans, but not sure what to expect... although i was told not to wear certain colors.
Tomorrow, if I can wake up early enough, i´m planning on catching a chicken bus ( those who´ve been to central america should be familar with the term... try looking it up on google for somepictures... itç´s an old school bus with as much people/stuff/animals crammed into it as possible with a sick paintjob) to hike a Volcana which has a lake in it´s crater ( David, i don´t wanna hear it haha) then hike down after spending some time there.
Now a little bit about the rain, because it is the rainy season here. I haven´t been ghere too long, but içve found out that rain is something you should plan for, and expect. This rain doesn´t hold back, huge rainstorms with lots of thunder, but nothiung a good umbrella and a good rainjacket(which i need) can´t fix.
Other then that, everythings been pretty cheap with quite nice people.. the only thing is nightime is still quite dangerous, but as long as your in a semi large group, your usually ok.
Thatçs about it for now, if you have any questions, let me know.
PS I got a big bag of ms vickees chips when i left canada, and although they have a real large dent in them, they are NOT finished yet... if anyone knows how much i like chips, they should realize how much of a feat that is... If thats notwill power, then i don´t know what is.
Kevin
I was suppose to be sleeping right now because i was planning on talking a fullmoon hike Santa Maria last night from 12 to around 4 this morning, wait around for the sunrise and be back in town for 10thismornin. But the rain was so bad last night the bus wouldn´t take us up to where the hike started. The company that we went through also wasn´t going to give us most of our money back but after a brief conversation and one of the guys that we were hiking had a stern conversation with the owner, we ended up getting all our money back.... 100 questzals, which is only around twelve dollars.
So yesterday morning i walked around Xela for a couple of hours.. check out some bookstores, markets and make some ´purchases´. I had a breif scare when I found out my debit card wasn´t working at any of the machines and I was almost out of money. I ran around town trying all the machines to no avail. Finally I got back and a girl that´s going to the same school suggested one last one and it worked!!
Anyways i had a nice long lesson last night then everyone at the school had a little graduation party for those who are leaving the school, which just entails a small speach then everyone hangs out and brings a couple bevys(beverages). Most people went out to the bar after but my and the others who were planning on goign on the hike tried to get some rest before we were hopefully going hiking.
So this morning I woke to what i honestely thought was bombs being dropped all over the city. Sorry to dissapoint you, but this was not the case. The little bottle of contact solution i had was wobbeling all over the place it was so loud. The school right next to my families house has band practice on saturday mornings, as do all the schools in Xela. So I decided to get up and enjoyed eggs and frijoles for breakfeast, as i did last night for supper as well. This monring i moved to a hostel a little further from the school, but with many backpackers staying there. After getting all my stuff moved over, i hurried to the school, where I meet up with some others and we went for a hike up to Los Vahos, a small mountain that overlooks Xela with natural hot springs at the top.
We refrained from the hot tubs, as their level of cleanliness would disgust most people back home, as would the garbage all over this city/country. Ill post some pictures later if i can figure it out.
Although i have not been hit by a car yet, im not getting my hopes too high, as walking along the practically inexistant sidewalks is quite dangerous. Tonight a bunch of us are meeting up for some drinks then going to a soccer game... I´m hoping for some really intense fans, but not sure what to expect... although i was told not to wear certain colors.
Tomorrow, if I can wake up early enough, i´m planning on catching a chicken bus ( those who´ve been to central america should be familar with the term... try looking it up on google for somepictures... itç´s an old school bus with as much people/stuff/animals crammed into it as possible with a sick paintjob) to hike a Volcana which has a lake in it´s crater ( David, i don´t wanna hear it haha) then hike down after spending some time there.
Now a little bit about the rain, because it is the rainy season here. I haven´t been ghere too long, but içve found out that rain is something you should plan for, and expect. This rain doesn´t hold back, huge rainstorms with lots of thunder, but nothiung a good umbrella and a good rainjacket(which i need) can´t fix.
Other then that, everythings been pretty cheap with quite nice people.. the only thing is nightime is still quite dangerous, but as long as your in a semi large group, your usually ok.
Thatçs about it for now, if you have any questions, let me know.
PS I got a big bag of ms vickees chips when i left canada, and although they have a real large dent in them, they are NOT finished yet... if anyone knows how much i like chips, they should realize how much of a feat that is... If thats notwill power, then i don´t know what is.
Kevin
Thursday, May 7, 2009
First Entry
Hey everyone,
I´ve finally got a little time to spare so i figured i´d sit down and let you know what I´ve been doing so far. This typing might be a little off as this keyboard is all over the place and in spanish.
The plane trip was pretty good, i didnçt see any sign of concern for Swine flu until i got to Guatemala where they passed out panflets and made us fill out questionaires on our current help. Many of the security guards were wearing those masks.
I got to the Airport and it wasn´t too busy, and after a good time minutes of waiting-serching i found those who were there to pick me up. They brought me to their bed and breakfeast where i had a quick bite, tried to read, then passed out. I was suppose to leave the next morning around 730 to cathc the 4 hour bus to Xela, but i´m not sure if it was because i slept in, or my driver didm becasue we had to wait until aroundf 10 to catch the second bus. So that morning i had some time to walk around and see a small part of Guatemala city. The bed and breakfeast was in a gated community with guards armed with shotguns at the entrances. This place still looked a little sketchy to me, as alll buildinigngs were surrounbded by fences and razor wire. I later learned that almost everywhere you go, everything is caged, fenced, and covered by barb wire.
The bus station i got off at was a little rough, as most of the hustlers and such hang out around bus terminals in Guatemela city, so i didn´t wander to far, and the terminal, like almost every other semi-respectable buisness, had a guard with a shotgun standing watch. The busride was around 4 hours and i barely slept for any of it. It always had somehting to see out the window and kept me occupied. It took us a little more then an hour to get our of the ´city´, which looks like you see in some of the movies, where you could almost jump roof to roof across the city on the tin roofs.
I got to Xela and everything went fine, got a cab to the school adn then meet up with my host family. Wow, was i surprised when i got there. I´ve had a decent amount of travelling with some pretty iffy places, but this may have been the poorest. Not exactely dirty, but very very very basic. There is a large metal door for the entrance like everyhouse, then a kitchen and 2 rooms. The kitchen is not much larger then my walk in closet and consists of a small table, three chairs, some shelves for the little cooking tools, and a camping like propane stove. She also runs a very small store out of the front door selling not much more then paper, gum, and pencils. My room is across the courtyard, which is more like a ten by ten concreate square for hanging clothes, then up an extremely small staircase, which i can barely get up. The room itself is much nicer then what the family has. I have a small table with a chair, a little bookcase and rods with some hangers. I don´t know how that´s exactely suppose to work b-c the pole is inches away from the wall, but i`´ll make due. The bathroom is quite simple as well, wiht a small sink, toilet, and a shower with a heater that´s attached to the shower head (similar to what´s in most of central america). Lets say that the heater doesn´t do much. The family doesn´t have to worry about me taking long showers, because the water is so damn cold, i can only take it for around 2 minutes. I think i´m goign to start waiting till itçs really hot out to shower, so i can try and use it to cool me down.
All in all, i have no complaints about my housing, some suggestions maybe, but I´m fine with whats here. I´m considering moving to a hostel for next week as some people i´ve been tlakign to recomendf that for the first week or so then to go immerse yourslef in the language with teh family. When i arrived yesterday me and my hostess could not communicate at all. But last night, we held a semi-ddecent conversation at supper..... i think.
Today i woke up quite early and had cornflakes with HOT milk... which is alot better then i thought. I then went to get a haircut and shave, which costs me 20 quetzles, around three dollars. This is the first time i got a straight blade shave, and was quite amused and impressed with it. The haircut it half decent, more then i expexted.
There´s not much time left, so that´s it for now. Hopefully i´ll have some spare time in the nexy couple days.
And if anyone knows how to add pictures to this thing, I wouldn´t mind some help
I´ve finally got a little time to spare so i figured i´d sit down and let you know what I´ve been doing so far. This typing might be a little off as this keyboard is all over the place and in spanish.
The plane trip was pretty good, i didnçt see any sign of concern for Swine flu until i got to Guatemala where they passed out panflets and made us fill out questionaires on our current help. Many of the security guards were wearing those masks.
I got to the Airport and it wasn´t too busy, and after a good time minutes of waiting-serching i found those who were there to pick me up. They brought me to their bed and breakfeast where i had a quick bite, tried to read, then passed out. I was suppose to leave the next morning around 730 to cathc the 4 hour bus to Xela, but i´m not sure if it was because i slept in, or my driver didm becasue we had to wait until aroundf 10 to catch the second bus. So that morning i had some time to walk around and see a small part of Guatemala city. The bed and breakfeast was in a gated community with guards armed with shotguns at the entrances. This place still looked a little sketchy to me, as alll buildinigngs were surrounbded by fences and razor wire. I later learned that almost everywhere you go, everything is caged, fenced, and covered by barb wire.
The bus station i got off at was a little rough, as most of the hustlers and such hang out around bus terminals in Guatemela city, so i didn´t wander to far, and the terminal, like almost every other semi-respectable buisness, had a guard with a shotgun standing watch. The busride was around 4 hours and i barely slept for any of it. It always had somehting to see out the window and kept me occupied. It took us a little more then an hour to get our of the ´city´, which looks like you see in some of the movies, where you could almost jump roof to roof across the city on the tin roofs.
I got to Xela and everything went fine, got a cab to the school adn then meet up with my host family. Wow, was i surprised when i got there. I´ve had a decent amount of travelling with some pretty iffy places, but this may have been the poorest. Not exactely dirty, but very very very basic. There is a large metal door for the entrance like everyhouse, then a kitchen and 2 rooms. The kitchen is not much larger then my walk in closet and consists of a small table, three chairs, some shelves for the little cooking tools, and a camping like propane stove. She also runs a very small store out of the front door selling not much more then paper, gum, and pencils. My room is across the courtyard, which is more like a ten by ten concreate square for hanging clothes, then up an extremely small staircase, which i can barely get up. The room itself is much nicer then what the family has. I have a small table with a chair, a little bookcase and rods with some hangers. I don´t know how that´s exactely suppose to work b-c the pole is inches away from the wall, but i`´ll make due. The bathroom is quite simple as well, wiht a small sink, toilet, and a shower with a heater that´s attached to the shower head (similar to what´s in most of central america). Lets say that the heater doesn´t do much. The family doesn´t have to worry about me taking long showers, because the water is so damn cold, i can only take it for around 2 minutes. I think i´m goign to start waiting till itçs really hot out to shower, so i can try and use it to cool me down.
All in all, i have no complaints about my housing, some suggestions maybe, but I´m fine with whats here. I´m considering moving to a hostel for next week as some people i´ve been tlakign to recomendf that for the first week or so then to go immerse yourslef in the language with teh family. When i arrived yesterday me and my hostess could not communicate at all. But last night, we held a semi-ddecent conversation at supper..... i think.
Today i woke up quite early and had cornflakes with HOT milk... which is alot better then i thought. I then went to get a haircut and shave, which costs me 20 quetzles, around three dollars. This is the first time i got a straight blade shave, and was quite amused and impressed with it. The haircut it half decent, more then i expexted.
There´s not much time left, so that´s it for now. Hopefully i´ll have some spare time in the nexy couple days.
And if anyone knows how to add pictures to this thing, I wouldn´t mind some help
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)