Sunday, April 27, 2008
I'm home
I'm back in the states! I miss you all, come by, say hi, and see how I'm doing. I'll show you my pictures, let you sit in my hammock, and say something in Spanish for you.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Tikal, Fores, Lanquin, and bus rides
I´m going to skip the ¨I know I haven´t written in forever, sorry I was busy¨speech, and get to the stories.
two weeks ago, Paul, Nichole and Karen left fo their respective homes, and Nikki and Rhianna and I went to Tikal. we caught a bus at 7:00 to guatemala city, and a large coach bus at 9:00 from the city to Flores. the bus was fairly comfortable, and I watched toy story in spanish, and tried to sleep. there´s a pretty sweet picture of the sunrise that I took from the bus. Flores is a very small island town connected to Santa Elena by a bridge. traveling at night is obviously not my thing, because I managed to leave both my hat and my water bottle on the bus, and not realize until much later in the day. in contrast to mountanous, high-altitude Antigua, Flores and lake Peten Itza are incredibly hot, in a heavy, wet, jungley sort of way. we arrived in Flores at about 5:00 in the morning, and had time to explore until our afternoon bus to Tikal. we found the cafe cool beans, (frijols frios) where they have hammocks, liquados, and a rooster. we had breakfast there (great waffles, with fruit, and syrup, and limonada) and then walked around town. it took avout 15 minutes to make a complete circut of the town.
on the west side of Flores, there´s this restaurant called ville de chef. it´s owned by these two german brothers, who had a canoe for rent. paddling out to the middle of a deep, crystal clear lake, and jumping off the canoe was one of the best parts of the trip. the water was cool enough to be refreshing, and so deep that it looked green. this school of fish lives under the restaurant´s dock.
after our stay Tikal, we came back for dinner here, and stayed at a hostel with a rooftop hammock setup. there was a huge electrical storm that night, which turned into the first tropical downpour of our trip. I guess we were in the rainforest, and should have expected it, but there was SO much water.
Tikal is a shuttle bus away from Flores, and on the way we passed signs similar to the deer crossing warnings, except that these signs warned of jaguars, turkeys, something that looked like a giant possum, and snakes. apparently they have snakes here large enough to endanger your car.
that night, we raced through the jungle paths of Tikal to get to pyramid 4, which has the best view of the sunset, and is on the opposite side of the park from the hotel. as the sun went down, I saw what must have been over two hundred dragonflys zooming around the top of the pyramid. what´s odd is they guide said there is no water near Tikal, so I have no idea where they came from.
the pyramids are, in a word, large. the steps of the one pyramid we actually climbed in the mayan way were just as painful as I had heard. however, looking out over the rainforest from the top of those stone temples, I could understand why the mayans thought they could talk to the Gods from here. you are on the tallest point in a sea of green. north, towards mexico, I could see a smudge of a cliff or mountain ridge, but in every other direction there is only forest. the mounds of uncovered pyramds and temples vastly outumber the 6 grey-white stone peaks I could see from temple 4. Tikal as only been partially unearthed, and it´s hard to imagine the city the guide described. The forest I could see from the tops of the pyramids has replaced an entire city of stone. perhaps excepting some gardens, Tikal was a stone island, with paved roads, stone and wood housing, painted temples and palaces, and the jungle surrounding it.
our sunrise tour started at 4:30, and we saw 75% of the ruins, and all of the major temples and pyramids before 9:00. of course, by nine, we were exhausted, and it was about 40º celcius, which is a lot in farenheight. I saw spider monkeys, toucans, parrots, what I think were weaver bird nests, and a close relative of the quetzal. the ants make little highways through the jungle, and we found leaf cutter ants that you could actually hear chewing leaves. I wanted to go look for those ants that move around in a pack and eat everything they find, including animals, but they don´t live around there.
after Tikal, we went to Lanquin, where there are some amazing caves. the hotel we stayed at was by a river that you could float down, and also had some very nice hammocks (I love hammocks, I´m going to bring one home with me).
I feel like I´m running out of descriptive power, so I´ll just say the caves were very interesting, with lots of bats and a few big-ass spiders. the parts we went into were lit artifcially though, which was a bit of a shame. the unfortunate part was that while we were only 9 Km from Semuc Champey (only the most beautful part of guatemala, so they say) we arrived after the park closed, and had already bought our bus ticket home the next day, to get back for school and volunteering.
so this weekend, I believe we´re going to the coast, where there is great surf, and I´m going to try my hand with a board, maybe hang ten, ride the green tunnel, and try not to eat to many waves. the weekend after, I want to goback to Semuc Champey, (only a 7 hour bus ride) and see the caves and rivers there. by then, I figure I´ll be broke, and I´ll come home.
as for this week, I have absolutely nothing to do. tomorrow I´m going to pastores to buy a leather jacket, and then I think I´ll rent a motorcycle for the day, and ride around Antigua. other than that, I finally got some music, and started playing the uke. I´m staying in a cubicle on top of this sketchy hotel, for about $3.50 a night, and having a good time.
-Sam
two weeks ago, Paul, Nichole and Karen left fo their respective homes, and Nikki and Rhianna and I went to Tikal. we caught a bus at 7:00 to guatemala city, and a large coach bus at 9:00 from the city to Flores. the bus was fairly comfortable, and I watched toy story in spanish, and tried to sleep. there´s a pretty sweet picture of the sunrise that I took from the bus. Flores is a very small island town connected to Santa Elena by a bridge. traveling at night is obviously not my thing, because I managed to leave both my hat and my water bottle on the bus, and not realize until much later in the day. in contrast to mountanous, high-altitude Antigua, Flores and lake Peten Itza are incredibly hot, in a heavy, wet, jungley sort of way. we arrived in Flores at about 5:00 in the morning, and had time to explore until our afternoon bus to Tikal. we found the cafe cool beans, (frijols frios) where they have hammocks, liquados, and a rooster. we had breakfast there (great waffles, with fruit, and syrup, and limonada) and then walked around town. it took avout 15 minutes to make a complete circut of the town.
on the west side of Flores, there´s this restaurant called ville de chef. it´s owned by these two german brothers, who had a canoe for rent. paddling out to the middle of a deep, crystal clear lake, and jumping off the canoe was one of the best parts of the trip. the water was cool enough to be refreshing, and so deep that it looked green. this school of fish lives under the restaurant´s dock.
after our stay Tikal, we came back for dinner here, and stayed at a hostel with a rooftop hammock setup. there was a huge electrical storm that night, which turned into the first tropical downpour of our trip. I guess we were in the rainforest, and should have expected it, but there was SO much water.
Tikal is a shuttle bus away from Flores, and on the way we passed signs similar to the deer crossing warnings, except that these signs warned of jaguars, turkeys, something that looked like a giant possum, and snakes. apparently they have snakes here large enough to endanger your car.
that night, we raced through the jungle paths of Tikal to get to pyramid 4, which has the best view of the sunset, and is on the opposite side of the park from the hotel. as the sun went down, I saw what must have been over two hundred dragonflys zooming around the top of the pyramid. what´s odd is they guide said there is no water near Tikal, so I have no idea where they came from.
the pyramids are, in a word, large. the steps of the one pyramid we actually climbed in the mayan way were just as painful as I had heard. however, looking out over the rainforest from the top of those stone temples, I could understand why the mayans thought they could talk to the Gods from here. you are on the tallest point in a sea of green. north, towards mexico, I could see a smudge of a cliff or mountain ridge, but in every other direction there is only forest. the mounds of uncovered pyramds and temples vastly outumber the 6 grey-white stone peaks I could see from temple 4. Tikal as only been partially unearthed, and it´s hard to imagine the city the guide described. The forest I could see from the tops of the pyramids has replaced an entire city of stone. perhaps excepting some gardens, Tikal was a stone island, with paved roads, stone and wood housing, painted temples and palaces, and the jungle surrounding it.
our sunrise tour started at 4:30, and we saw 75% of the ruins, and all of the major temples and pyramids before 9:00. of course, by nine, we were exhausted, and it was about 40º celcius, which is a lot in farenheight. I saw spider monkeys, toucans, parrots, what I think were weaver bird nests, and a close relative of the quetzal. the ants make little highways through the jungle, and we found leaf cutter ants that you could actually hear chewing leaves. I wanted to go look for those ants that move around in a pack and eat everything they find, including animals, but they don´t live around there.
after Tikal, we went to Lanquin, where there are some amazing caves. the hotel we stayed at was by a river that you could float down, and also had some very nice hammocks (I love hammocks, I´m going to bring one home with me).
I feel like I´m running out of descriptive power, so I´ll just say the caves were very interesting, with lots of bats and a few big-ass spiders. the parts we went into were lit artifcially though, which was a bit of a shame. the unfortunate part was that while we were only 9 Km from Semuc Champey (only the most beautful part of guatemala, so they say) we arrived after the park closed, and had already bought our bus ticket home the next day, to get back for school and volunteering.
so this weekend, I believe we´re going to the coast, where there is great surf, and I´m going to try my hand with a board, maybe hang ten, ride the green tunnel, and try not to eat to many waves. the weekend after, I want to goback to Semuc Champey, (only a 7 hour bus ride) and see the caves and rivers there. by then, I figure I´ll be broke, and I´ll come home.
as for this week, I have absolutely nothing to do. tomorrow I´m going to pastores to buy a leather jacket, and then I think I´ll rent a motorcycle for the day, and ride around Antigua. other than that, I finally got some music, and started playing the uke. I´m staying in a cubicle on top of this sketchy hotel, for about $3.50 a night, and having a good time.
-Sam
Thursday, April 10, 2008
visualize it
so in my second post, I may have got you all excited about the fact that I could post pictures. you may have imagined seeing a few select images of this beautiful country every week, along with my blog posts. well, it´s a huge pain to upload an individual picture, and then link it into the blog, in conjunction with actually writting the blog, which, you may have noticed, isn´t one of my more regular activities.
but, it turns out that google gives you a whole lot of free space to upload photos, and I took advantage of that. so for all you folks who haven´t been able to peruse my facebook albums, this is where you want to go.
there´s no information as of yet, but you can see all my pictures in chronological order, from the immense pyramids to the immense spider I found in my room. enjoy.
also, Tikal was crazy, and I´ll write more about it later. maybe tomorrow.
-Sam
but, it turns out that google gives you a whole lot of free space to upload photos, and I took advantage of that. so for all you folks who haven´t been able to peruse my facebook albums, this is where you want to go.
there´s no information as of yet, but you can see all my pictures in chronological order, from the immense pyramids to the immense spider I found in my room. enjoy.
also, Tikal was crazy, and I´ll write more about it later. maybe tomorrow.
-Sam
Friday, March 28, 2008
I´m going to pretend that I make different posts for organization purposes, and not because I keep forgeting to say stuff.
a typical day at school.
--the early weeks--
for the first 1.5 hours, I generally just had a conversation with mi maestro, se llama Marvin. then there´s a half-hour break, and another two hours of class before lunch. I generally drink tea constantly untill lunch, when I switch to agua, if it´s hot out. after the break and after lunch is actual lesson time. Marvin picks a tense from ¨la biblia de español¨, and we´ll do excercizes with that. I started with past tenses, went on to progressives, perfects, and now I´m working wth commands. however, the verb tenses and excercizes are generally just a catalyst for conversation about whatever topic we happen to come across.
--the recent weeks--
I´ve gotten to know the other teachers pretty well, through poker and being friends with their students. I cen tell and understand jokes in spanish, and I´ve started making witty comments off stuff other people say, which I think is awesome. I think I´m approaching information overload, because we´ve been playing more games (pictionary, scrabble, basta (like scatergories) and such) and not concentrating on actual lesson-style learning. for instance, this afternoon, paul and I, along with our teachers, went off to Eric (the son of santiago, who runs the school office)´s room, listened to music, played poker and told dirty jokes, sort of during class time.
one I feel it´s appropriate to share is...
Hay un avion, volando a guatemala, con un italiano, un norteamericano, y un mexicano. Arriba del mar caribe, el motor empiece a fallar. El piloto dice ¨necesitamos dejar mucho peso, si tiene algo que no necesita, por favor dejelo del avion.¨ El italiano tiene un pizza grande, y dice ¨Yo tengo muchas en mi pais, no necesito¨, y lanza la pizza pel avion.
El norteamericano piensa, y toma el mexicano, diciendo ¨Yo tengo muchos en mi país¨ y lanza el mexicano del avion.
if you can´t read spanish, go find someone who can. it´s funny.
anyhoo that´s what my days are like now. I´m signed up for three more days of school next week, in the morning, and then thursday we´re climbing acatenango, which is a really big volcano overlooking Antugia. it´s not active, but it´s wicked close to Fuego, which is active, and blows off a plume of smoke every week or so. then friday we leave for Tikal, and after that, I´m not sure. volunteer work in Antigua at the local hospital, or in Flores, with jungle animals, up by Tikal.
-Sam
--the early weeks--
for the first 1.5 hours, I generally just had a conversation with mi maestro, se llama Marvin. then there´s a half-hour break, and another two hours of class before lunch. I generally drink tea constantly untill lunch, when I switch to agua, if it´s hot out. after the break and after lunch is actual lesson time. Marvin picks a tense from ¨la biblia de español¨, and we´ll do excercizes with that. I started with past tenses, went on to progressives, perfects, and now I´m working wth commands. however, the verb tenses and excercizes are generally just a catalyst for conversation about whatever topic we happen to come across.
--the recent weeks--
I´ve gotten to know the other teachers pretty well, through poker and being friends with their students. I cen tell and understand jokes in spanish, and I´ve started making witty comments off stuff other people say, which I think is awesome. I think I´m approaching information overload, because we´ve been playing more games (pictionary, scrabble, basta (like scatergories) and such) and not concentrating on actual lesson-style learning. for instance, this afternoon, paul and I, along with our teachers, went off to Eric (the son of santiago, who runs the school office)´s room, listened to music, played poker and told dirty jokes, sort of during class time.
one I feel it´s appropriate to share is...
Hay un avion, volando a guatemala, con un italiano, un norteamericano, y un mexicano. Arriba del mar caribe, el motor empiece a fallar. El piloto dice ¨necesitamos dejar mucho peso, si tiene algo que no necesita, por favor dejelo del avion.¨ El italiano tiene un pizza grande, y dice ¨Yo tengo muchas en mi pais, no necesito¨, y lanza la pizza pel avion.
El norteamericano piensa, y toma el mexicano, diciendo ¨Yo tengo muchos en mi país¨ y lanza el mexicano del avion.
if you can´t read spanish, go find someone who can. it´s funny.
anyhoo that´s what my days are like now. I´m signed up for three more days of school next week, in the morning, and then thursday we´re climbing acatenango, which is a really big volcano overlooking Antugia. it´s not active, but it´s wicked close to Fuego, which is active, and blows off a plume of smoke every week or so. then friday we leave for Tikal, and after that, I´m not sure. volunteer work in Antigua at the local hospital, or in Flores, with jungle animals, up by Tikal.
-Sam
nectar of the gods
also, and I cannot believe I haven´t mentioned this before, tea = life. the school has hot water and as many teabags and you want (all basic black tea, but that´s what I like), so if I need a break from class, it´s off to the tea table. there are some 4 cup mornings, some five cup mornings, and on the days when it´s still a little chilly in the shade in the afternoon, I can go through about 9 cups of tea. sometimes I switch it up with coffee, but the coffee they have isn´t the good stuff, so it´s generally tea. tea tea tea. yay!
-Sam
-Sam
what I should have done
I figure that rather than attempting to recount my past week and a half in betweer Spanish and Salsa, and getting only a few sentances, I should have just waited, or maybe explained why I haven´t really been writing.
the morning after St. Patrick´s day, tired as I was from all that really exhausting studying I had been doing, while I was preparing my second cup of tea, I found myself next to a girl I thought I had seen the night before, as I was walking past the Irish pub, on my way home from a museum to go study spanish like a good student.
anyhoo, I was mistaken, and she had just arrived at the school, oh that´s nice, where are you from, the states, and you? australia, and so forth. the bell sounds, end of conversation. during the morning break, I saw this guy sitting there, drinking coffee, and it starts again. your first week here? yeah, where´re you from? australia. aha.
and thus I met Paul, Nikki, Rhianna, Nichole and Paul´s Mom, Caren, and they are totally to blame for my lack of communication.
my average day for the past week has been school, during the break, paul and I have been playing poer with a few of the teachers, more school, lunch, school, free salsa lessons, which turned into Paul Nichole Nikki Rhianna and I taking a few hours of real class, dinner, and once paul and nichole have gone off, me hanging out with Nikki and Rhianna.
this meant less time sitting at a computer. also, although the school´s computers are free, there are lots of people who want to use them, and I can´t usually sit down and write a novel of a blog. and if I´m going to pay for internet, I want to use the whole hour I´m paying for, and I haven´t had time to find a cafe and sit down for a long time. or maybe I´ve just wanted to do other things.
this weekend I have a few objectives.
1) to move out of the house I´ve been staying in, to a hostel near the city center.
I love La Familia Garcia, and their food, but te house is a 7 block walk from the school, at least 10 from central park, and a lot of neat stuff to do is on the other side of the park. the hostel is cheaper than staying with them, and a lot cheaper than staying at the school, and they give me breakfast.
2) plan a trip to Tikal.
I´m going to Tikal next weekend with the girls, and we´re stopping at Cobán to visit the caves at Lanquin and the waterfalls at Semuc Champey on the way back. we got that far in the logistics of the trip when they left with Paul, Caren and Nichole to visit the Highlands for the weekend. so without any distractions, I have time to figure out bus schedules. woot!
3) send back all the shit I brought down here that I do not need.
I have twice as much clothing as I need, and a lot of other stuff that I either don´t use, or can´t be bothered to carry around the country. I wish I had a slightly smaller backpack. I´m going to the DHL store right after this.
4) communicate with the rest of the world.
hey! I´ve done that. good work mate!
so now you all know what´s on my mind, what I´ve been up to (in general) and where I´m going. now I´m off to edit my last post, maybe add some specifics, and cut out anything I´ve already said here.
see you over there
-Sam
the morning after St. Patrick´s day, tired as I was from all that really exhausting studying I had been doing, while I was preparing my second cup of tea, I found myself next to a girl I thought I had seen the night before, as I was walking past the Irish pub, on my way home from a museum to go study spanish like a good student.
anyhoo, I was mistaken, and she had just arrived at the school, oh that´s nice, where are you from, the states, and you? australia, and so forth. the bell sounds, end of conversation. during the morning break, I saw this guy sitting there, drinking coffee, and it starts again. your first week here? yeah, where´re you from? australia. aha.
and thus I met Paul, Nikki, Rhianna, Nichole and Paul´s Mom, Caren, and they are totally to blame for my lack of communication.
my average day for the past week has been school, during the break, paul and I have been playing poer with a few of the teachers, more school, lunch, school, free salsa lessons, which turned into Paul Nichole Nikki Rhianna and I taking a few hours of real class, dinner, and once paul and nichole have gone off, me hanging out with Nikki and Rhianna.
this meant less time sitting at a computer. also, although the school´s computers are free, there are lots of people who want to use them, and I can´t usually sit down and write a novel of a blog. and if I´m going to pay for internet, I want to use the whole hour I´m paying for, and I haven´t had time to find a cafe and sit down for a long time. or maybe I´ve just wanted to do other things.
this weekend I have a few objectives.
1) to move out of the house I´ve been staying in, to a hostel near the city center.
I love La Familia Garcia, and their food, but te house is a 7 block walk from the school, at least 10 from central park, and a lot of neat stuff to do is on the other side of the park. the hostel is cheaper than staying with them, and a lot cheaper than staying at the school, and they give me breakfast.
2) plan a trip to Tikal.
I´m going to Tikal next weekend with the girls, and we´re stopping at Cobán to visit the caves at Lanquin and the waterfalls at Semuc Champey on the way back. we got that far in the logistics of the trip when they left with Paul, Caren and Nichole to visit the Highlands for the weekend. so without any distractions, I have time to figure out bus schedules. woot!
3) send back all the shit I brought down here that I do not need.
I have twice as much clothing as I need, and a lot of other stuff that I either don´t use, or can´t be bothered to carry around the country. I wish I had a slightly smaller backpack. I´m going to the DHL store right after this.
4) communicate with the rest of the world.
hey! I´ve done that. good work mate!
so now you all know what´s on my mind, what I´ve been up to (in general) and where I´m going. now I´m off to edit my last post, maybe add some specifics, and cut out anything I´ve already said here.
see you over there
-Sam
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I am a lousy blogger, but I'm having fun. except for when I went to monterico.
so it's been a while. I haven't died, or been dragged into the jungle by crack dealers. I have been hanging out with a group of Australians, which has taken up most of my free time.
I went to Monterico last weekend, which was a lot of trouble. the bus ride wasn't bad, but the shuttle I took to Hawaii (the little town outside of Monterico where the reserva natural is located dropped me off on the wrong side of Hawaii. this wasn't so bad, I had a nice 15 minute walk on the beach (which is black sand and very nice when it's not crowded with every person in guatemala who isn't in Antigua for holy week). then I met these construction workers, and I was going to ask them exactly where ARCAS was, when the truck they had got stuck in the sand, so I helped them move it out. these five guys spoke mostly indigenous languages, and we'd get the truck up onto some boards, but as soon as it left them, it would sink back in.
to be continued, I signed up for a few Salsa classes with the Aussies, and I have to go.
I've got a break from class, so I'll continue.
so after I helped the guys with their truck, I continued on to the ARCAS reserve. it was friday, and it was hot. no clouds, and as soon as you left the beach, no breeze. I talked with a guy at the reseve, saw some alligators and iguanas, and realized that there wasn't even enough work for the 4 volunteers who were already there, until july when turtle season starts.
so I decided to head back.
of course, it being holy week, the bus driver who had dropped me off wasn't holding to his schedule, so I started walking, not on the beach, where I might have had a breeze, but on the road, in hopes of meeting the bus.
I imagine hell is very similar to the stretch of road between Hawaii and Monterico. the road is only slightly more firm that the beach, and the sun was making a concerted effort to kill me. the one store I encountered had warm cola and cold beer -no water- and I elected for the cheap cold bottle. condensation is a wonderful thing, and I had a few drops of water, and a cold object to press to my face for a few minutes. unfortunately, I realized that walking down the road with a stick and a beer bottle lowered my chances of getting a ride from any passing car, so I ditched it.
after I had walked more than halfway to Monterico, I was picked up by a truck full of a family returning from a beach. the cab was packed, there were sick or seven people in the bed, and one guy on the roof, waving his towel like a lasso. it was the best car ride ever.
I tried really hard to put all of this in perspective, and not let it color my oppinion of monterico and the ARCAS reserve, but I think I failed. when I got back to the hostel*, I emptied the sand out of my shoes, took a picture of the coating of dust on my legs and drank a bottle of orange juice, and bottle of fruit punch and the rest of the water I had in my bottle. then I crashed in my hammock for about three hours.
I suppose it was the three bottles of liquid that woke me up, and I stumbled down the stairs to the bathroom. then I set out to find dinner. as I was sitting in the plastic chair of the restaurant I had chosen, I suddenly became aware of about 15 mosquitoes circling my table. I booked it to the local mercado, and bought a bottle of deet or off or something. whichever one comes in bright orange and works. back at my table, I ordered a plate of shrimp and a hamburger. I must have been pretty tired, because I had eaten about 5 of the shrimp (whole, in their shells) before the waitress said that I was supposed to remove the head. I finished the shrimp, and saved the hamburger for breakfast.
sleeping in a Hammock is one of the most pleasant things in the world -- if you can get up after about an hour and stretch. I had to commit to a decent 6 hour period, from 9 to about 3 am, when the roosters went off, which woke up the dogs, which set off the three large geese living under my second story window. after a few hours, I was uncomfortable to wake up quite frequently, which wasn´t so bad, because I found that a reapplication of bug spray was necessary.
anyhoo, the next morning I ate my burger in the black sands, watching the pacifc ocean with about 2000 other people, and went swimming. the water was an excellent temperature, the surf was decent, and I returned from the beach with pounds of coarse black sand in my pockets. I prefer to keep that memory, and the one of me, in the hammock that afternoon, waiting for a bus and for my shorts to dry, drinking out of a coconut and listening to the beach boys, in the front, and stick everything else behind those two. unless I need to break out a story of true trial and tragedy.
meeting my new mates for easter lunch at a french cafe was a great way to end that weekend.
-Sam
*I didn´t make a reservation for the night in monterico (which was a bad decicion) and so I my first experience of the town was walking from hotel to hotel, and finding them all full. the hostel I found was nice and cheap though.
I went to Monterico last weekend, which was a lot of trouble. the bus ride wasn't bad, but the shuttle I took to Hawaii (the little town outside of Monterico where the reserva natural is located dropped me off on the wrong side of Hawaii. this wasn't so bad, I had a nice 15 minute walk on the beach (which is black sand and very nice when it's not crowded with every person in guatemala who isn't in Antigua for holy week). then I met these construction workers, and I was going to ask them exactly where ARCAS was, when the truck they had got stuck in the sand, so I helped them move it out. these five guys spoke mostly indigenous languages, and we'd get the truck up onto some boards, but as soon as it left them, it would sink back in.
to be continued, I signed up for a few Salsa classes with the Aussies, and I have to go.
I've got a break from class, so I'll continue.
so after I helped the guys with their truck, I continued on to the ARCAS reserve. it was friday, and it was hot. no clouds, and as soon as you left the beach, no breeze. I talked with a guy at the reseve, saw some alligators and iguanas, and realized that there wasn't even enough work for the 4 volunteers who were already there, until july when turtle season starts.
so I decided to head back.
of course, it being holy week, the bus driver who had dropped me off wasn't holding to his schedule, so I started walking, not on the beach, where I might have had a breeze, but on the road, in hopes of meeting the bus.
I imagine hell is very similar to the stretch of road between Hawaii and Monterico. the road is only slightly more firm that the beach, and the sun was making a concerted effort to kill me. the one store I encountered had warm cola and cold beer -no water- and I elected for the cheap cold bottle. condensation is a wonderful thing, and I had a few drops of water, and a cold object to press to my face for a few minutes. unfortunately, I realized that walking down the road with a stick and a beer bottle lowered my chances of getting a ride from any passing car, so I ditched it.
after I had walked more than halfway to Monterico, I was picked up by a truck full of a family returning from a beach. the cab was packed, there were sick or seven people in the bed, and one guy on the roof, waving his towel like a lasso. it was the best car ride ever.
I tried really hard to put all of this in perspective, and not let it color my oppinion of monterico and the ARCAS reserve, but I think I failed. when I got back to the hostel*, I emptied the sand out of my shoes, took a picture of the coating of dust on my legs and drank a bottle of orange juice, and bottle of fruit punch and the rest of the water I had in my bottle. then I crashed in my hammock for about three hours.
I suppose it was the three bottles of liquid that woke me up, and I stumbled down the stairs to the bathroom. then I set out to find dinner. as I was sitting in the plastic chair of the restaurant I had chosen, I suddenly became aware of about 15 mosquitoes circling my table. I booked it to the local mercado, and bought a bottle of deet or off or something. whichever one comes in bright orange and works. back at my table, I ordered a plate of shrimp and a hamburger. I must have been pretty tired, because I had eaten about 5 of the shrimp (whole, in their shells) before the waitress said that I was supposed to remove the head. I finished the shrimp, and saved the hamburger for breakfast.
sleeping in a Hammock is one of the most pleasant things in the world -- if you can get up after about an hour and stretch. I had to commit to a decent 6 hour period, from 9 to about 3 am, when the roosters went off, which woke up the dogs, which set off the three large geese living under my second story window. after a few hours, I was uncomfortable to wake up quite frequently, which wasn´t so bad, because I found that a reapplication of bug spray was necessary.
anyhoo, the next morning I ate my burger in the black sands, watching the pacifc ocean with about 2000 other people, and went swimming. the water was an excellent temperature, the surf was decent, and I returned from the beach with pounds of coarse black sand in my pockets. I prefer to keep that memory, and the one of me, in the hammock that afternoon, waiting for a bus and for my shorts to dry, drinking out of a coconut and listening to the beach boys, in the front, and stick everything else behind those two. unless I need to break out a story of true trial and tragedy.
meeting my new mates for easter lunch at a french cafe was a great way to end that weekend.
-Sam
*I didn´t make a reservation for the night in monterico (which was a bad decicion) and so I my first experience of the town was walking from hotel to hotel, and finding them all full. the hostel I found was nice and cheap though.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
in case you hadn´t heard, gymnasts are awesome
I went to the gym in Guatemala city, and it was awesome. Coky (half of the head coach) Luisa (his girlfriend, the other half), and Bob (a gymnast from minnesota who started out doing what I´m doing, and 2 and a half years later is coaching at Olimpika) are great. I spent the night in Guatemala city and had an amazing time with them. I have a rip, a sore body and chalk under my fingernails, and I need a nap.
Monday, March 10, 2008
with adjectives
well, I'm finally taking the time to sit down and write a decent entry.
starting my second week is much easier than the first. my head still feels like a sieve trying to hold a waterfall, but it's getting better. today I learned the past progressive passive tense (or something like that). it's different from the active tense (the dog bit the boy) and is instead (the by was bitten by the dog). basically, if you want to take a simple sentence and make it MORE complicated (something I'm just oh so keen on) you use the passive progressive whatever.
However, I love the fact that I now occasionally spout out entire phrases in spanish without even thinking. I try to remember conversations I've had, and can't remember which language we were speaking.
this weekend I climbed the active volcano Pacaya, which is about an hour from Antigua by bus. our tour of 8 people reached the village where you start the ascent at about 4:00, and by 5:00 we had reached a river of dried lava from 2006, which was about 50 meters wide. a short climb over lord-of-the-rings-esque terrain brought us to the edge of a cliff overlooking a field of black lava. climbing down and walking across the field was amazing. there were twisted pillars and floes and rocks in all sorts of crazy shapes, and we could see the red river ahead of us. as I got closer I could feel the heat through my shoes, and could see crevasses in the dried lava that still glowed.
the river moved fairly quickly, and our guide used a shovel to pull out a bit of lava, which was then used to light cigarettes for the three French guys on the tour. (unfortunately they had also stereotypically not showered in several days, which made the bus ride lots of fun, but they were backpacking across Guatemala, so I guess that's fair.)
the lava was, big surprise, very, very hot. I tried to take some from the river with a stick, but couldn't get close enough for enough time to scoop some up. also the stick caught fire as soon as it touched the lava. I got the feeling that if I were in America, there would be a guardrail and three lawyers between me and the river of lava, but that's the reason I came here.
after we climbed back up from the field and were sitting on the cliff, I made a sandwich from some bread, cheese and an avocado I bought in Antigua. the cheese had sort of melted in the heat, which made it messy and delicious. I maintain that it was and will be the most delicious sandwich in the world.
I'm on my own for meals on the weekends, and saturday I had some bread from the panederia near my house before class, and bought sandwichmakings and some pizza before the climb.
Sunday I had more bread and some pineapple for breakfast, which was a mistake. from now on I'll only eat fruit that I peel myself. after watching some of the parades sunday afternoon (there are soooo many people in antigua when they go by that you can't walk on certain streets. and there are supposed to be twice as many in the next two weeks!!!) I had a bagel for lunch. I managed to save money on dinner by beginning to feel the effects of the local bacteria now growing in my gut. I now know the location of several bathrooms between central park and my house.
however, thanks to sweet sweet antibiotics and drugs, I am feeling fine. I figure next time I want to eat street food I'll order a couple of shots to go with it, and try to kill the buggers on the way down.
I'm not sure what I'll be up to this week, but I think I might make a trip to Monterrico (pacific coast) next weekend. they have black sand beaches from the volcanoes, and supposedly you can surf there.
I bought a local cell phone sunday, which seems to work well, and I tried to call Coky, the gym coach down here, but I got his machine. I'm going to try again this afternoon. I have practically no extra time, but being away from the gym is a pain. I realized I hadn't been upside down in over a week, and did a handstand yesterday. it felt good.
right now I have to go collect my laundry at the lavanderia (I should have brought more socks, one pair isn't good for more than a day. maybe I'll buy some at the market) and see what movies are playing at the cafe 2000. I saw fight club a few nights ago, and it was awesome.
-Sam
starting my second week is much easier than the first. my head still feels like a sieve trying to hold a waterfall, but it's getting better. today I learned the past progressive passive tense (or something like that). it's different from the active tense (the dog bit the boy) and is instead (the by was bitten by the dog). basically, if you want to take a simple sentence and make it MORE complicated (something I'm just oh so keen on) you use the passive progressive whatever.
However, I love the fact that I now occasionally spout out entire phrases in spanish without even thinking. I try to remember conversations I've had, and can't remember which language we were speaking.
this weekend I climbed the active volcano Pacaya, which is about an hour from Antigua by bus. our tour of 8 people reached the village where you start the ascent at about 4:00, and by 5:00 we had reached a river of dried lava from 2006, which was about 50 meters wide. a short climb over lord-of-the-rings-esque terrain brought us to the edge of a cliff overlooking a field of black lava. climbing down and walking across the field was amazing. there were twisted pillars and floes and rocks in all sorts of crazy shapes, and we could see the red river ahead of us. as I got closer I could feel the heat through my shoes, and could see crevasses in the dried lava that still glowed.
the river moved fairly quickly, and our guide used a shovel to pull out a bit of lava, which was then used to light cigarettes for the three French guys on the tour. (unfortunately they had also stereotypically not showered in several days, which made the bus ride lots of fun, but they were backpacking across Guatemala, so I guess that's fair.)
the lava was, big surprise, very, very hot. I tried to take some from the river with a stick, but couldn't get close enough for enough time to scoop some up. also the stick caught fire as soon as it touched the lava. I got the feeling that if I were in America, there would be a guardrail and three lawyers between me and the river of lava, but that's the reason I came here.
after we climbed back up from the field and were sitting on the cliff, I made a sandwich from some bread, cheese and an avocado I bought in Antigua. the cheese had sort of melted in the heat, which made it messy and delicious. I maintain that it was and will be the most delicious sandwich in the world.
I'm on my own for meals on the weekends, and saturday I had some bread from the panederia near my house before class, and bought sandwichmakings and some pizza before the climb.
Sunday I had more bread and some pineapple for breakfast, which was a mistake. from now on I'll only eat fruit that I peel myself. after watching some of the parades sunday afternoon (there are soooo many people in antigua when they go by that you can't walk on certain streets. and there are supposed to be twice as many in the next two weeks!!!) I had a bagel for lunch. I managed to save money on dinner by beginning to feel the effects of the local bacteria now growing in my gut. I now know the location of several bathrooms between central park and my house.
however, thanks to sweet sweet antibiotics and drugs, I am feeling fine. I figure next time I want to eat street food I'll order a couple of shots to go with it, and try to kill the buggers on the way down.
I'm not sure what I'll be up to this week, but I think I might make a trip to Monterrico (pacific coast) next weekend. they have black sand beaches from the volcanoes, and supposedly you can surf there.
I bought a local cell phone sunday, which seems to work well, and I tried to call Coky, the gym coach down here, but I got his machine. I'm going to try again this afternoon. I have practically no extra time, but being away from the gym is a pain. I realized I hadn't been upside down in over a week, and did a handstand yesterday. it felt good.
right now I have to go collect my laundry at the lavanderia (I should have brought more socks, one pair isn't good for more than a day. maybe I'll buy some at the market) and see what movies are playing at the cafe 2000. I saw fight club a few nights ago, and it was awesome.
-Sam
Regrets
I regret buying pinapple from the street vendor. I regret it a lot.
on another note, I haven´t been able to post pictures on the blog yet, but if you check out my facebook, you can see them there.
on another note, I haven´t been able to post pictures on the blog yet, but if you check out my facebook, you can see them there.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
La Clase de Profesora Burk
Profesora Burk,
I heard that you were going to show this blog today, so Hola! Guatemala tiene mucho calor, mas que connecticut ahora. si Raquel es en la clase, "hola Raquel", y yo espero que mi hermana estudia bien.
ahora necesito ir a la autobus para una de cafe.
-Sam
p.s. Erica, ask mom about mailing that book, ok?
the school address is
5a Avenida Sur 34
Antigua Guatemala
si esta muy caro, comprare un libro aqui.
I heard that you were going to show this blog today, so Hola! Guatemala tiene mucho calor, mas que connecticut ahora. si Raquel es en la clase, "hola Raquel", y yo espero que mi hermana estudia bien.
ahora necesito ir a la autobus para una
-Sam
p.s. Erica, ask mom about mailing that book, ok?
the school address is
5a Avenida Sur 34
Antigua Guatemala
si esta muy caro, comprare un libro aqui.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Arrival
The plane landed in guatemala city to applause from many of the passengers. Ivan, my seatmate, said ¨these are guatemalan people.¨ Guatemala City is on a sort of plateau, with valleys filled with jungle that take huge slices out of the city.
Driving is a little terrifing, just from the passenger seat. it seems like everyone is trying to stay in one lane as little as possible. it felt like when I move from lane to lane, to stay in the fastest one, only everyone is doing it at the same time, so the lane is only fast for a few seconds, at which point you switch to the next one.
However, I made it to Antigua, and the house where I stay. since then I have eaten, slept and learned spanish.
this is my frst expidition into the city, my objective being el parque central. I believe it is only a few blocks from this cafe. if I am right, I will buy agua pura and a snack, and go home to sleep. supposedly learning a language uses 9 times more brainpower than the average person uses daily, and it must be true, because so far all I want to do is sleep.
I can´t say I miss you all yet, there´s too much distraction, but I´m sure it will come. for now, it would be awesome if you were here.
hasta luego
-Sam
Driving is a little terrifing, just from the passenger seat. it seems like everyone is trying to stay in one lane as little as possible. it felt like when I move from lane to lane, to stay in the fastest one, only everyone is doing it at the same time, so the lane is only fast for a few seconds, at which point you switch to the next one.
However, I made it to Antigua, and the house where I stay. since then I have eaten, slept and learned spanish.
this is my frst expidition into the city, my objective being el parque central. I believe it is only a few blocks from this cafe. if I am right, I will buy agua pura and a snack, and go home to sleep. supposedly learning a language uses 9 times more brainpower than the average person uses daily, and it must be true, because so far all I want to do is sleep.
I can´t say I miss you all yet, there´s too much distraction, but I´m sure it will come. for now, it would be awesome if you were here.
hasta luego
-Sam
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Houston, we have pictures
hey! I can post pictures! This is the rare Guatemalan devil chicken - iEl Pollo Diablo! Expect even more exciting and graphic imagery once I get down there!
-Sam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)