Merry Christmas! (again!)

Christmas was great here in San Pedro. It was a two day extravaganza involving big meals, relaxing, laughing, fireworks by the water and in the streets, and a cup that runneth over...

Andrea, Chris and I did stockings. If you look under Andrea's Christmas tree, you can see our three stockings on the right. In my stocking I got a package of gum, a mandarine orange, cough drops, used lipbalm, some ¨rubbish¨, a few starbursts, and a key chain. Not bad, huh?

I gave candybars, worrydolls, antibacterial wipes, little drink mixes, a few Sudoku puzzles, and I think that's it.

The three of us had a mimosa brunch at Alegre Pub with about 15 other people...many who we had already met. It was a great time, the food was good, the company was good.

After brunch I went for a siesta, and then Christmas dinner started back at Alegre at about 6:00. It was an enormous plate of food which I could hardly put a dent in, but the wine went down easy.

After dinner, we shot off fireworks. There was probably a crowd of 10 or 15. We went down by the lake and took turns shooting off little ones and ¨big¨ones. It was a good time.

Most of us headed back to Alegre for a couple more, and I ended up calling it an early night.

Today has been very, VERY, lazy...but it is the day after Christmas after all!

Merry Christmas!

I'm in San Pedro La Laguna again at Lake Atitlan and will be here for Christmas. The shuttle I was in was nearly hit by a chicken bus yesterday, so that was a little exciting and mostly scary!

I've made a few traveler-friends while I've been in Guatemala. Most of us have been traveling in and around Guatemala for the past few weeks, and it looks like we are all going to meet in San Pedro for Christmas...a place that everyone, including me, really seems to enjoy. Nick-the-Brit will be here and Andrea from Golden, Chris-the-Australian.

Anyway, I finally made it to Monterrico which was my original planned destination. I spent about a week there with an Australian travler, and we met up with two American guys in there mid-20s traveling that we shared a bungalow with on the beach.

There was a little living area and kitchenette and a fridge that we mostly used for coconuts and beer. And we had a little pool right outside the bungalow. There was a nice bar beachside that served food, and from there you could watch beach soccer (yep, in the sand!) and volleyball. I even saw a couple of whales way out in the ocean blow up water and flip their tales!

We got to know a couple of "amigas" who were ten and twelve - Erica and Selena. They were best friends and basically knew each other since birth. Their families owned restaurants, and they were always trying to usher us in to their restaurant. We ate at their restaurant several times, and my Spanish is at a level where I could chit-chat with them a little bit.

They were fascinated by Chris the Australian, who is blonde haired and blue eyed and who also has quite a bit of blonde forearm hair. Several times the girls sneaked a quick tug at his arm hair or neck hair and shyed away and laughed. They told me secrets "that were just for women." It was pretty amusing.

We set off fireworks with them one night as well. It attracted a crowd of kids, and we all had a great time. At Christmastime apparently, everyone here sets off fireworks...including us!

After the American guys moved on, we moved over to another hotel with an awesome pool, and I basically spent 4 or 5 days just relaxing by the pool, drinking beers, having a dip in the pool, another beer... There was also a tree pruned like a chicken. How bout that?!

There were some nice people staying there and one not so nice German lady that we liked to call Inga-bitch. Her name was Ingaborg. She was probably in her late 50s, early 60s and had definitely spent too much time in the sun. She seemed to hate us everyone and everything- music, conversation, smiling, laughing. What the hell is she doing on vacation?!

There was also Jon, a Brit, who was something like 6'4" and had a nice round hairy belly that he seemed quite comfortable with. He was always in his bright yellow swim shorts with this colorful cotton scarf around his neck, that served as his towel. He was a riot and loved to talk shit under his breath about people under the assumption that they couldn't understand English well or at all or at least not his heavily British-accented English.

Jon introduced us to a group of Canadians who had driven a caravan all the way down from Canada with a stop at Burning Man. They were probabaly in their early 50s. They were a lot of fun.

A group of about 10 of us went to the local cirus, which was fairly bizarre, but entertaining. 2 scrawny little monkeys had been chained up outside of the circus tent for a couple of days as advertisement for the circus. They were cute, but of course I felt sorry for them.

Anyway, I think we all checked out the circus for lack of any thing else to do. There were a couple of contortionists, a few skits with a lot of sexual undertones, a couple of dancers dressed in bikinis with beads draped around their waists, and there was an acrobat bar and rope that was never used, and the monkeys sat on the bleachers at watched the whole performance. Well, what do you expect for $3?

There are tons of guns in Guatemala and lots of problems with alcoholism. Everyday in Monterrico, you could spot several men carrying a guns in holsters on their hips and it was never uncommon to see a man passed out along the sidewalk with his buddies just sitting around him.

At one bar we liked to frequent, one night the bartender/owner's nephew was walking around with a laptop back slung across his chest all night. He was mixing drinks and serving beers and changing the music on his laptop which was blaring full blast. Finally, I asked him what was with the bag. He keeps his gun in there. Interesting. He hadn't carried a gun around the last few times we were in there. He explained that he didn't have any staff there that night, that he was alone, and that it was just a safety precaution...as if it were perfectly normal.

--The gun-wielding bartender.

I really had a great time in Monterrico...got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but I managed to decrease my whiteness a bit so I'm not quite so blinding.

I'm looking forward to relaxing in San Pedro for several days with my friends and then I will be heading to Tikal.

I'll try to send more pictures soon.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving!

I don't know where the time goes. I thought I would have tons of time on my hands once I FINALLY left on my trip, that it would no longer be go-go-go for Mo, that I would be tanning (or burning) on a beach somewhere... but I guess I'm a person that goes-goes-goes and somehow I struggle to find time for Spanish homework, emailing, posting to my blog, etc. Maybe on this trip, I can learn to slow down, to do less and relax more. Hard to say. Too early to tell.

Today I'm feeling a little lonely, I'll be honest.

Several people I've met while I've been here and around Guatemala have asked me what it's like to travel alone, if I'm ever afraid, if I get lonely, etc.

What I usually say is that I haven't really been afraid and sometimes I get lonely, but not very often and sometimes it's okay to feel lonely anyway, but that usually I'm good at meeting people so it's not so, so often that I find myself alone.

On this trip when I'm feeling lonely or depressed, I really try to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand. I think, "Why I am feeling like this? What can I do to change how I'm feeling?" or "It's okay that I'm feeling like this, and it'll pass." Sometimes writing in my journal helps. Sometimes calling home to friends or family helps, but sometimes I can't because I don't feel like talking about how I'm feeling. And sometimes an extra dose of fish oil is all I need!

Today I took the fish oil, called my Grandma, and now this post is kind of like writing in my journal, but I'll spare you the real journal entry for today! What I thought I'd do is respond to some questions about my Thanksgiving and share with you an excerpt from my journal on Thanksgiving. (I'm feeling better already.)

Thanksgiving day, I had my usual Spanish lesson in the morning. Oliver and Becky stopped by in the early afternoon to retrieve some stuff they had left with me. We lounged around my room for a while chit-chatting, which I really enjoyed. Doug popped by quickly. Nancy popped in and out a few times. It was lazy and casual and felt like Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving dinner may have been the least traditional one I've ever had. I ate in a little Guatemalan restaurant in the back of a "tienda" (a little convenience store, but not like 7-11. Think way smaller, dingy-ier, no slurpees, etc.). I dragged Oli and Becky (who were recovering from food poisioning, bad water, who knows?) along with me to meet Nancy (my Canadian "mom") at the tienda restaurant with no sign or any indication of a restaurant. Nancy was there with an 80 year old gentlemen named David.

David has been living in Guatemala for the past 19 years or so working with the indiginous poor here in a village somewhere outside of Antigua. He was fascinating, hard of hearing, and thoroughly enjoyed his boxed red wine. I think he's married, but he's wife doesn't want to live in Guatemala with him.

There was no menu at this place, so when I was tried in my best Spanish to politely order something that didn't contain meat (or chicken for that matter!), David suggested I order the "caldron" or something like that. It was basically a vegetable soup - made with a chicken broth, I'm sure - but I ate all the rice, potatoes, and other vegetables out of it and pretended that one bite I had with something weird and rubbery in it wasn't a little piece of chicken, and I left most of the broth in the bowl for fear my stomach may not receive it lovingly.

It was a mellow Thanksgiving. Turns out David didn't know it was Thanksgiving until this week. Nancy is Canadian, so her Thanksgiving was in October. Oliver is German, so no Thanksgiving and recovering. And Becky, who is American, was recovering as well. So those two weren't all that jovial, and even so, Oli was kind enough to go back to the hostel twice to retrieve the boxed wine I had left. First to look for it outside of their room door where I told him I left it, and a second time to get it from the kitchen where I actually left it, which I remembered once he returned the first time and told me it wasn't there.

So although the evening and the food weren't exactly exciting, the company was great and in any case, I was thankful. From my journal:

"...in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I think I need to list and explain some things and people for which/whom I am thankful..it's really more people than things.

1. Doug - my first friend in Antigua who is sort of like my Simmel of Antigua.
2. Nancy - my "mother" who feeds me regularly, checks in with me daily...and likes to talk about men, Guatemala, yoga and the magic of Antigua, etc.
3. Victor - my Spanish teacher who is fascinating, knowlegeable on a very wide variety of subjects, and most importantly a firm believer in God and the miracles he has experienced. I could write a whole book on Victor's experiences with miracles.
4. Becky & Oliver - who have really been my best friends here. I care for them greatly and they for me. They have been a constant source of companionship & entertainment, and I will really miss then when we finally have to part ways. They have become like family to me.
5. I'm thankful for Nick-the-Brit and Nick-the-American who both individually and separately gave me insight on life and love and travel and relationships, from two very different perspectives...and very different than my own.
6. I'm thankful for my nice room (with the occasional big spider or cockroach) and the hot shower, which could never compare to the U.S., but I'm thankful nonetheless.
7. I'm thankful for the safe & uneventful travel I've experienced.
8. And last, but not at all least, I am thankful for my family and my friends who support what I'm doing, for those who check on me regularly as well as those who think of me often.

I am so very, very blessed."

So, although my shirt was on backwards most of the day today, at least I don't have my undies on inside out! I succeeded at feeling better and am looking forward to meeting up with Andrea from Golden, CO in a couple of hours!

As always, thank you so much for your emails and comments!

An Earthquake and an Active Volcano

A week ago yesterday there was a tremor in Guatemala. It originated by the west coast and the magnitude was 4.9. For those of us who don't know anything about earthquakes and tremors, anything with a magnitude less that 6 is considered a tremor.

It was about 9 a.m. I was an hour into my Spanish lesson. It was the strangest sensation and hardly anyone seemed to notice. I thought maybe a HUGE truck was rattling over the cobblestone streets outside...but I've never really seen a semi (as we know them) in Antigua. My teacher kept talking. Finally, I had to interrupt. What the hell is going on?! (Okay, I don't know how to say that in Spanish, but that's what I wanted to say!)

It was a tremor. He said he thought he was feeling dizzy. I was too...that's because the earth beneath us was swaying back and forth! The building rattled a little bit. The light bulbs in my room have been a little temperamental ever since. And apparently the reason so many people didn't notice (again, for those of us who know nothing about earthquakes) is that if it's a little tremor and you're up walking around, you can't really feel it.

The last major earthquake in Antigua was in 1976, and people here lived in tents at the market for about two months following the earthquake because the houses were too unstable. Victor, my teacher, says that Antiguans appreciate small tremors because, he says, when there are long periods without a tremor people begin to worry that there will be another major earthquake.

Last weekend I was surprised and fortunate to have a visitor from Colorado. Chris's girlfriend's brother, Marcus (who I'd never met) was in Guatemala and he met up with me in Antigua after visiting Tikal. It was great to have a traveling companion, if only for a weekend, and we had a fantastic time together. We hiked one of the active volcanoes here with Becky and Oliver. I think all four of us probably thought from time to time, ¨Is this a good idea to climb an active volcano??¨

Well...there were a 100 other tourists doing it...and it was a guided tour...but if everyone else jumped into the fiery lava, would I?

Anyway, the volcano is called Pacaya. It's about an hour and half outside of Antigua via bumpy shuttle bus that seems to only have one speed - WAY TOO FAST - and moves quickly and recklessly through the windy and narrow roads that lead to the volcano. If you're proned to motion sickness (or recovering from a hangover), this will not be your ideal trip.

I don't think any of us realized how far away the volcano was, so we were relieved when we saw signs leading to Pacaya. The running joke when there was any confusion or delay was, ¨And now we get robbed.¨

There was a brief delay when we entered the national park. ¨And now we get robbed.¨

We made it through the entrance in our shuttle to the trailhead where we were met by a hoard of children selling sticks. They insisted these sticks were necessary. (Are they weapons or hiking aids?) In any case, we passed. ¨Es necesario! Es necesario!¨

Our guide was named Samuel, and he reminded me a little of Carlos from the Rover, both in appearance and demeanor. He was great. Cheerful, patient...he spoke Spanish clearly and slowly and would repeat himself if need be so that we understood. He showed us different plants along the way and told us about the volcano. I think the last erruption was in 1996. I can't remember for sure.

Anyway, it was quite an experience. We took the afternoon trip, so we arrived near the top right at sunset. There was one stream of lava flowing that begun flowing about two months ago. It was absolutely amazing. You could walk right up to it. It was awesome to seeing it glowing...and flowing and glowing. It was mesmerizing. AND VERY VERY HOT. I smelled burning rubber. I checked my shoes. Mine were fine, but I suspect someone returned with melted soles.

As I approached the molten lava, it seems like I crossed some kind of threshold into the heat. I cautiously felt the lava rocks beneath me. They really weren't that hot, but I guess the heat was radiating from below. I imagine closer to the molten lava the rocks were hot to the touch, but I didn't check. I have some awesome pictures to post whenever I get that figured out.

The other really cool part about the hike before reaching the top, we had to hike down an ENORMOUS incline that was basically a huge pile of lava dirt or teeny tiny lava rocks. It was so steep, you could only go fast. There was no going slowly and cautiously. Basically you had to run down it and dig in with your heels as you go, go, go! I can't express how fun it was. I felt like a little kid. Sheer joy just bubbled up and out from inside me and all I could do was laugh all the way down. It was so dirty because with every step you stirred up a giant dust cloud and I don't think my shoes will ever be the same, but it was so much fun!!

Oliver made the point that we crossed the barrier of trying to stay clean because now we were so dirty it didn't matter any more.

It was dark for our hike back. (And now we get robbed.) But we had the moonlight and a flashlight for every two of us, and we managed to make it back down without too many stumbles and only one major freak out over a gigantic spider that turned out to be a shadow.

For me it was a hard climb up. Hiking on loose volcanic rock isn't exactly easy. I huffed and puffed and struggled quite a bit with my asthma on the way up. Marcus and Oliver took turns hanging back with me (so I didn't robbed), and I really appreciated them doing that. It's a drag to be the slow one, but I'm so glad to have experienced hiking an active volcano and seeing molten lava in the dark and the belly laughter on the downhill run. It was definitely an experience like none other for me.

By the way, we didn't get robbed.

Welcome to Antigua!

If you haven't stumbled and fallen in the streets of Antigua, my teacher says, then you don't know Antigua.

In that case, I was introduced to Antigua yesterday evening. There I was walking along, trying to take in the sights of a new street, and SPLAT! There I was lying on the sidewalk. Oliver helped me up, and he and Becky and I assessed my wounds in the dark...I would live.

For the record, I only had one beer and the streets and sidewalks of Antigua are hazardous. And my I really did make a SPLAT as my forearm hit the pavement.

The sidewalks are really narrow. It's awkward for two people to walk side by side. Many of the windows are like giant bay windows and hang over the sidewalk. Depending on how tall you are, the windows will either hit you in the head or your shoulder. Here, it seems to be more gentlemanly to take the inside and let your lady walk on the outside so she doesn't have to dodge the windows every few feet. The sidewalks are a mix of concrete and cobblestones, with no rhyme or reason to the mix, and they will suddenly drop of 2, 4, 6, 8 inches to give way to a driveway of sorts...I think that's what got me...or maybe it was a missing cobblestone or a missing utility access cover or a big hole. Who knows?

The worst part is that I tore a hole in my jeans (one of two pairs of pants I have here). Just ask Ryan O how I feel about tearing a hole in my jeans!

Okay on to more exciting things...

I'm taking 4 hours of Spanish a day (okay, I guess that's not more exciting). I switched teachers so now my teacher is Victor, and I will be here for almost another month learning Spanish. Victor is really fun and a great teacher. The time goes by quickly.

Some brief facts & figures (courtesy of Victor at my request) about Guatemala and Antigua, and then I promise to move on to something more exciting:

There are 13 million people in Guatemala. 5% of the population is considered rich, which translates into 80 families.

Of the remaining 95%, 20% are middle class, 25% are poor and 50% are living in extreme poverty.

56% of Guatemala's entire population is indigenous. 23 different groups make up the indigenous population.
5% of the entire population are Criollos (of Spanish descent). This is the same group as the 5% of the population that's rich.
The rest are ladino/mestizos, which means they have a mix of Mayan and Spanish blood.
And there is a small population of blacks that come mostly from the Carribbean.

Now about Antigua... There are 70,000 inhabitants in Antigua and the surrounding villages. Anitgua proper has about 22,000. During the high season (July - Sept), there could be approximately 5000 Spanish language students here.

Antigua proper covers 1 square km, so it is very easy to walk from one side of town to the other several times a day, if neccessary.

Now some fun stuff...

Yesterday afternoon, I tagged along for a field trip with Becky and Oliver and their teachers (Martin ¨Marteen¨ and Elvira ¨Elveera¨). They took us to a village outside of Antigua called San Andres Itzapa to show us a type of Pagan rituals performed by mixed descendents of the Maya.

We went by chicken bus which was an adventure all by itself. When I first arrived in Antigua, I asked a local about traveling by chicken bus to another location and he advised against it saying, ¨Well, it depends how much you like your life.¨ So, they can be dangerous not just because of the risk of robberies, but because tons of people cram into them, the drivers may sometimes be drunk, etc., etc. (Not to worry Mom & Dad...)

To give you an idea of how overcrowded they can be, on a bus where the maximum capacity is 48, you might have 65 people. For a maximum capacity of 54, expect 75. For 64, expect 90. I guess that's why I've been advised several times since I've been here to ¨pray a lot.¨

Okay, back to the Pagan ritual. There are basically 3 common saints here that the Catholic church doesn't recognize. The most famous being Maximon, who you can often see as a little statue (or maybe more like a voodoo doll) on display in bars and restaurants smoking a cigar. We went to see San Simon who I can only assume is related to Maximon. San Simon is kind of the Pagan saint of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. According to my teacher, he is the saint for homosexuals, prostitutes, criminals and for people who wish bad things on other people. But he also heals health problems.

We watched about 6 or 7 women (young and old) come to be blessed by the shaman (Victor says he's not a shaman, but a witch!). I'm sure men could and are blessed too, but here's what happens: The women come with bouquets of greenery and little bottles of holy water. The shaman takes the greenery and basically beats the women over the head with the greenery, beats it on her back, her chest, her stomach, her bottom, down her legs while saying some kind of blessing. (It's not at all sexual, by the way.) He then drinks a little from the bottle, and then SPRAYS her head and face with a fine spray of the water from his mouth. (Yes, he's basically spitting on her.) He does this twice, then he tears the greenery in half and tosses half of it aside, beats or rubs her some more with the greenery while blessing. Drinks a little more water and spits it towards San Simon, and I think that's about it.

The holy water, it turns out, is Guatemalan rum.

After watching this ceremony, we stood outside of the ¨church¨ and witnessed a continuation of the ceremony where the shaman smokes a cigar as big as a cucumber (called puro) and directs the smoke towards parts of the body that are ailing the recipient of the blessing.

Wow.

If I understand correctly, these saints and rituals developed after the Maya were freed from Spanish rule. During the Spanish rule, the Maya were forced into Catholicism. Once they were free to choose their own religion, they developed saints and ceremonies that were nothing like what Catholicism would approve of.

If anyone knows more about this, please feel free to correct me or add to my post by posting your comment. I can't always get all the facts straight!

Well it's almost 5 o'clock somewhere, so I'm going for a beer.

More to come on the active volcano I climbed and the earthquake, which was actually only a tremor.

Thank you all for your emails and for posting your comments!

Mi Casa

Today was my second day of Spanish lessons. For those of you who know Spanish, yesterday was spent learning "ser, estar y hay." Today we focused on regular verbs ending in "-ar."

My teacher's name is Sheny...short for something like Eugencia. She's a sweet woman in her mid-50s who lives just outside of Antigua on a small farm (from what I can gather in Spanish!). The lessons are one-on-one which is the standard here in Antigua, and I have lessons Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon.

The Spanish school also offers accommodations, and I rented a room there for a week. If I like it, I'll probably stay there for the next month. My room is huge with two beds (if you want to come visit me), a desk, a bookshelf, a little wardrobe, and a bathroom (toilet paper and towels not included). There's a communual kitchen and dining area available too.

One interesting aspect of the shower...the water pressure affects the temperature. So you can either have lots of pressure & a cold shower OR a little pressure & a hot shower (which is also kind of cold because you aren't getting a nice strong stream of hot water on you). My teacher told me this is a problem throughout Guatemala. It's not unique to my shower. I guess your neighbor could turn on their water and the water flowing out of your shower head will stop or trickle off for a 30 seconds or a minute and then continue...happened to me today.

My room looks out onto a nice courtyard where many of the Spanish lessons are held. My lessons are on the terrace right outside my door.

I will post pictures soon, I promise!

There are a lot of interesting people staying there...some have been there off and on for years...like 8 years!

Nancy is one of those people. She's from Canada, probably in her 50s, and from what I understand basically lives in Antigua now teaching yoga and giving massages. Her boyfriend, Doug (American), has a sailboat in a nearby river/bay (not exactly the right term) that empties into the Caribbean, I think. In the summer, he spends most of his time on his boat.

Fred (probably also in his 50s) is my next door neighbor, an American who is involved in multiple volunteer projects here. In fact, if my Spanish improves quickly enough, in two weeks I might be able to volunteer reading Spanish books to kids in a nearby village. Many kids here aren't interested in reading because their parents don't read to them, their parents don't know how to read, their teachers haven't been educated on how to make reading fun, etc. On Sunday, the program director (I think) is coming to our guesthouse to meet with some of the other volunteers, and I've been invited to join them.

Some younger people I've hung out with are Becky (American) and her German boyfriend, Oliver. They are a fun couple, and it's nice to hear some German again. And there's Ana from Paris, who (if I understood correctly) has an Italian dad and French mom...something like that. She speaks French, Italian, some German and English and is now learning Spanish. She's moving to another guesthouse of sorts in Antigua, but we are planning to keep in contact to meet up for coffee and practice Spanish, etc.

These three invited me out with them on Tuesday night to watch the election results. Since all four of us don't have a common native language (or even a common language that we can speak semi-fluently), you might be able to imagine what our conversations sound like: a little English, un poco Español, ein bisschen Deutsch. At times the conversation moves slow and it can be exhausting to listen and communicate. But it's always entertaining!

What else...? How does drying off from your shower with a bandana sound?

I took my laundry to a "lavandería" yesterday with the impression that I would use their internet and wait for my laundry. Nope! It wouldn't be ready until today. Of course, I didn't realize until I was on my way back home that I wouldn't have any pjs, a hoodie, or a bath towel. I survived the cool night, and after my shower this morning, I patted somewhat dry with a bandana and dried my hair (somewhat) with my shorts!

I wonder what tomorrow has in store...?

Go Obama!

It's Election Day...even in Antigua! There is an "election results party" tonight at an American-owned bar here called Monoloco (crazy monkey).

I'm in Antigua, not the Antigua in the Caribbean but rather the one that is just southwest of Guatemala City.

My guidebook says, "In all the long, boring conversations about where the real Guatemala is, you can be certain that Antigua never came up."

But it's real enough for me, for now. Antigua has an international draw for people wanting to learn Spanish. There are literally hundreds of Spanish schools in Antigua and even more Spanish teachers since nearly all the schools provide one-on-one instruction.

Today, I'm visiting schools and hope to find one I like and get settled in here a little bit. I will probably stay about a month here in Antigua learning Spanish is the morning and doing some volunteer work a few afternoons a week.

I've been told that Antigua is a great jumping off point for other things to see and do in Guatemala.

So far, I haven't seen or done much since I've been in Guatemala (6 whole days!), but hell, I have a year, so what's the hurry?

I've been slowed down a couple of mornings thanks to nausea caused by my malaria pills. They are supposed to be taken on an empty stomach. The drug instructions say that some manufacturers state the pills may be taken with food if nausea occurs, but this may hinder absorption. I have a suspicion that puking up my stomach bile after ingestion in my private-down-the-hall bathroom might also hinder absorption. So I finally have that worked out. MUST TAKE WITH FOOD!

Aren't you glad I'm sharing all the details with you?

Hola from Guatemala City!

Well here I am...in Guatemala City in an internet cafe.

This city is OVERWHELMING! It's scary just to cross the street. There is tons of traffic, people, vendors, smog...I've probably already developed black lung in the one day I've been here.

You may be thinking, "Wait a minute! I thought she was going to be relaxing on the beach first."

So did I.

I discovered en route to Chicago where I changed planes for Guatemala that good ol' Lonely Planet was not entirely clear on how to get to Monterrico. There were several vague options to choose from and not many details on how to get there from the airport, for example which bus terminal to go to to find the bus company that goes there. At at 2:00 a.m. in Chicago O'Hare, I decided a change of plans was in order. Suddenly, a 3 or 4 hour bus ride (depending on which page of Lonely Planet I was looking at), and a ferry ride after being up for a full 24 hours no longer sounded so appealing.

So I took a taxi to a hotel in Guatemala City's Zona 1.

The hotel is okay...probably not the best deal for the money ($20 for a private room with bath and cable TV).

For my friends at James C. Karo Associates, there was also an "infestation" of roaches or beetles (2 bugs to be exact). I did not closely examine them to determine if they were cockroaches or beetles. To me, a "bug" is better than a "cockroach." I did consider sleeping with the lights on so they wouldn't come out at night and crawl in bed with me. We'll see what tonight has to offer. I am changing hotels, by the way. I scoped out a new one today, but I have a feeling the bugs may be unavoidable. But as my friends at James C. Karo Associates know, bugs I can handle. And just for the record, I am not fond of bugs in my room.

Last night for dinner I decided to eat at the hotel's cafe since I had slept most of the day and it was already dark. I ordered two chile rellenos. They were not crispy like the rellenos I've had in Colorado...probably because they were microwaved. The breading was soggy. This may have been a commerically made and frozen relleno, who knows. But much to my dismay, when I cut into it cheese did not come oozing out of it like I had expected. Oh no. It was some kind of meat. Major bummer. So I disected the small little chile from the meat and put in a tortilla with a tiny bit of salsa. I had two small corn tortillas with my chile creation and two with liquified black beans - maybe they were instant? And that was my first meal in Guatemala.

Today I sought out a vegetarian restaurant for lunch.

Tonight it's dinner again at the hotel, but I think I'll try the eggs and beans.

I've stayed pretty close to my hotel so far, but tomorrow maybe there will be more in store for me. There is a Day of the Dead celebration that I'd like to go to if I can find out more about it, like where it is exactly.

I think I'll be here one more day, then head to Antigua, then to Monterrico (my original destination).

It's nice to just take it easy, rest, people watch, watch CNN election stuff - go Obama! I figure I have plenty of time to see it all, so I'm letting myself relax at the hotel while I acclimate to this fast pace. The scene just outside my hotel makes Colfax and Marion seem like a nice suburban neighborhood.

I am happy to be here, and while it takes some self-coaxing and nerve to just jump out there alone into the chaos of "Guate," I know this is just the beginning and my confidence should grow the longer I am here.

Gotta get back to the hotel before dark now for eggs and beans for dinner!

B U T T E R F L I E S

It's Saturday. I leave on Wednesday.

I'm trying to get my apartment packed up today...every last morsel. I picking up a UHaul truck shortly to deliver my oh-too-many possessions to my sister tomorrow.

My family is having a little send off lunch tomorrow for me.

Monday, my mom and I are making a quick trip to Idaho Springs for a short get away.

Tuesday - anxiety.

Wednesday - adios!

The nervousness has begun. I think it started to set in last night or today for sure. Almost everything is in boxes or in my little backpack.

On Friday I got a dose of Guatemalan Spanish and oh how I failed! I tried to make a hotel reservation for my first couple of nights in Guatemala. Just getting a good phone connection was a challenge. Then the call didn't go through. Then the person who answered hung up on me. I didn't know if I had reached the hotel or a private residence.

When I finally got through, and was informed that I would have to speak Spanish, I gave it my best - un person, cuanto cuesta?, por favor, un dormitorio...and although I think this Guatemalan understood me, I could not understand him.

I couldn't understand the price. I didn't know how to say "October." And I knew I was unsuccessfull at making the reservation when the gentlemen never took my name...even though I asked if he needed it.

And when I hung up - reservation-less - I knew I was in deep shit. I am so screwed. And that's probably when the butterflies set in.

In any case, my boyfriend called the next and made the reservation for me. He struggled with it a little, but the gentlemen did ask for a name.

So needless to say, it's gonna be tricky.

Thank you again to all of you for your constant support and encouragement as I worked to pull this off. Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, ideas, contacts.

I will do my best to stay in touch and update my blog regularly.

"The trick is not to rid your stomach of butterflies, but to make them fly in formation."

Pacific Crest Outward Bound School, Book of Readings

A Departure...

I'm sure everyone has noticed that my departure date keeps moving back.  I'm leaving now in mid-October.

I am R E A D Y to go!

I have a couple of "events" that I am attending which have delayed my departure.

I decided several months ago to go to Alicia's wedding in Idaho, which is this weekend.  She asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I just didn't want to miss her wedding.  It was basically the difference of a month, so I decided to stay to go to her wedding.  I met Alicia in 7th grade and she has been one of my dearest friends ever since.

The second event is my grandma's back surgery.  You may recall that she had back surgery last October.  I stayed with her for about three weeks after her surgery to care for her during her recovery.  According to her doctors, she has reaped maximum benefit from the surgery she had in October.  She has decided to have a second surgery to further repair damage to her vertebrae.  She turned 79 on Saturday.

My grandma's surgery is September 2nd.  My mom will be there (Oklahoma) a few days before the surgery through September 17th.  I will get there September 14th and stay through the end of October.

I'll then be visiting my dad for about a week.  The coming home and (cross my fingers) leaving about a week later.

So that's the status.

I managed to save my targeted amount.  Yippee!

I need to buy a couple more pieces of clothing for my trip.  Other than packing my apartment and taking care of a few small banking items, I'm ready to go.

I go back and forth between anxiety and confidence.  But like the stylist who butchered my hair today said, "Isn't that what life is about...living your dream?"

A Strange Habit

Moving is, by far, one of the strangest things we humans do.

Every time I move (which is often, by the way), I always find myself thinking how odd it is to pack up every single item I own into boxes that are really heavy and cumbersome, carry the suckers 0r find someone to carry them for me in addition to all my precious furniture (which consists of mostly items from my childhood) out to my car or borrowed vehicle and transport all of my belongings to a new, and hopefully improved, location where everything will have to be transported and unpacked. It's a strange habit.

I probably move more than the average person. Here's a brief look at my moves since I turned 18:

1. 12th & Harrison basement
   
2. 12th & Harrison main level
3. Montview & Rosemary
4. Norman, Oklahoma
5. back into mom's - bummer.
6. 14th & Emerson
7. Bayaud & Sherman
8. Lincoln & Virginia
9. Reinbek, Germany
10. 31st & Zuni
11. 13th & Gaylord
12. 12th & Lafayette
13. Colfax & Marion
    

So, that averages out to a move every year. Do I like to move??? Not really, but I guess it's just something I tolerate well. I think I've moved 22 times in my life. That averages out to about once ever one and one-third year.

Needless to say, I've begun packing up my apartment. I will be storing most of my stuff with my sister, who so generously offered to store whatever I needed in the basement of their yet-to-be-acquired home. I took her up on it. She and her husband have made an offer on a place near the Tech Center.

I've been purging more than packing...literally and physically (Crystal was in town).

I seriously examined my wardrobe, if you can call it that, and got rid of over 100 articles of clothing. Wow. Is that a lot of clothes? Maybe not. How many articles of clothing do you have?

How does someone like me who very rarely buys clothes have so many clothes to get rid of??? I guess by accepting every hand-me-down I was ever given!

I'm looking forward to lightening the load that I move every one and one-third year. I'm hoping to find other things to purge while I'm packing, but we'll see. I was, after all, born to a family of collectors and packrats.

I had a dream...

...that it was the night before my departure, and I hadn't made a hotel/hostel reservation! I was so mad at myself! I couldn't believe I had overlooked that very important detail!

Luckily, I still have 11-12 weeks to handle that!

I "mock-packed" my backpack last week. That was an interesting exercise. It weighed 20 lbs, which is 16% of my body weight. Backpacking experts advise that a person in good health should be able to carry 20% of his or her body weight. Those in intermediate health should be able to carry 25% of their body weight, and experienced and well conditioned backpackers (which I'm not!) can carry 35% of their body weight.

For me, this is how that would breakdown:
% of body weight=pack weight
20%=24 lbs.
25%=30 lbs.
35%=42 lbs.

So, how big is my pack? My pack is a 2500 cubic inch women's Kelty Redwing. Its empty weight is 3 lbs 1 oz.

Here's is a picture of it:

I'm not 100% convinced that it is big enough, but I am 100% convinced that it would behoove me to try to make it big enough, i.e. pack light!

When I was 20 I took a 3 month trip through Eastern Europe. I thought that trip with a $3000 budget was gonna be my trip around the world...oh how foolish I was, in more ways than one. I had a HUGE pack, probably about three times the size of this one. It probably weighed 50 lbs., but felt like 90 lbs.! It was like traveling with a whole other person, you know. When I would get on the train, I took up two seats - one for me and one for my pack. That drew lots of attention. I could hardly lift it, and there was absolutely no way I could put it in an overhead bin on a train or bus without help from someone. Not exactly the picture of self-sufficiency!

The only time the size of that pack came in handy in all of those three months was when I sat it in front of me on a park bench in Romania and slumped over it to sleep all day after I had forced myself to stay up all night when I found myself stranded in a train station. A bird shit on me that day too.

Immunizations

In the past two weeks, I received the following vaccines: Yellow Fever ($95); Japanese Encephalitis ($120 x 2 doses); Rabies ($200 x 3 doses); Measles, Mumps, Rubella booster ($60); oral Typhoid ($55), Hepatitis B ($45). That was the first visit. Ouch! In the pocketbook and the biceps. The second visit, exactly one week later, was the second Japanese Encephalitis shot, my second Hepatitis A vaccine ($40, had one previously in 2002), Menactra Meningococcal (Meningitis) ($130), second Rabies shot, one $20 administrative fee per visit, one-time $60 travel consultation fee to advise which vaccines to receive. PHEW! I have to go back for a few more on May 22.

Now I will be covered for life for some of the diseases and some for 20 years. Typhoid for 5.

I probably could have got by without a few of them, but the example my "travel adviser" gave me for rabies was this: If you get bit by a rabid animal and you are not vaccinated, you need to receive medical treatment within 24 hours. Depending where you are in the world when you get bit, the medical treatment you are able to seek out may or may not be able to provide you with the treatment and appropriate drugs necessary to treat rabies. If you are unable to receive the necessary treatment, death is very likely and if you survive you will probably have severe paralysis! Talk about scare tactics!

A NOTE ABOUT MY DEPARTURE DATE: You may have noticed that I pushed my departure date back once again. I am now planning to leave in the first week or two of September. More on that later.

How to Shit Your Way Around the World

This is the oh-so-enticing title of the book I'm reading. It is interesting, disgusting, and at times repulsive. I can only hope that I don't encounter some of the toilets (if you could call them that) and parasites described within.

Here's something I would especially like to avoid:

"Cleansing oneself after defecation, throughout South Asia, involves...water...brought to the latrine site in a pottery, metal or plastic vessel, called a bodna that has a spout, much like the spout of a teapot, and holds two to three liters of water. The use of this vessel is restricted to this one purpose. The...cleaning of the anal region occurs immediately after defecation. Water is poured from the bodna into a cupped left hand and then swiftly carried to the anal region. This process involves some skill and is taught to small children at an early age. After [the left hand is] rubbed with soil...the individual pours water from the bodna onto the left hand for rinsing."

Dr. Bilqis Hoque, et al., Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1995)

No thank you!

Goodbye, Neon.

<----What my car probably looked like at one time.

Ah...the end of an era. My longest relationship so far is over. 11 great years of service over in an instant. A brief little warning - a tiny illuminated image of an old-fashioned oil can shining ever so brightly on the dark console, just below it evidence of 177,000+ miles that I hoped would keep on going for another couple of years. But no, it's now a money pit.

We've had road trips, quick trips, stressfully crossed the border in Tiajuana, been to Crested Butte in blizzard conditions, had a run-in with a deer on the way to Oklahoma, almost hit three deers on the way to Telluride, had a couple of fender benders, flat tires, never snow tires!, lost hubcaps, had the gas tank ripped open in the middle of Kansas, had the window broken on the very first day we were united, were almost ripped apart after a few years one day in the parking lot of my 14th Street apartment, were ripped apart overnight just over a year in the Highlands but reunited three days later missing contents and an ignition switch, we recently hauled the 3 largest men on earth plus 2 more men from LoDo to SoBo, camped out in Puerta Penasca, have been without a radio for 5 years or more, new side-view mirrors thanks to the deer and Aunt Diane & Uncle Wes, new-used radiator fan thanks to Dad and an Okie junkyard, ah the list goes on...

Thank you so much Grandma for co-signing the loan for me when I was 19. Thank you so much Mom for secretly giving Grandma money for one payment in case I missed a payment. Thank you Mom, Dad, Grandma for helping me make my payments (and keep my credit good!) when I couldn't.

I got $225 for it and it's bound for the scrapyard for recycling.

Probably a blessing in disguise. Now I don't have to decide whether to sell it or store it for my trip, but I'll be hoofin' it between now and then!

Goodbye, Neon.

6 months to go! (I hope)

Well, with my tentative departure set for July - that gives me 6 months to go! I have a lot to do in the next 6 months. (Check out my to do list at the bottom of the page. Let me know if I'm forgetting anything!)

Today I signed up for "travel registration" online with the U.S. State Department. Basically this will allow me to register with the U.S. embassy in each country I visit without having to actually visit the embassy's office. I provide details on my itinerary and travel plans. The embassy will alert me if there are any emergencies. The embassy will also email travel advisories pertaining to my itinerary. See....? Safety first!

I have been researching volunteer work in Belize to start off my trip with. I thought it would be nice to have a "destination" when I first start my trip where someone is expecting me. I hope this will also provide an opportunity to ask questions and get tips for further travel in the region. If you know of any good organizations operating in Central American, please let me know.

I hope to have all of my money saved by July. I need to save $7000 more. This will give me a $55 a day budget. Can one see the world on $55 a day??? We will soon find out. In some countries $55 won't cut it. In others, I would really have to live it up to spend that much. The idea is that I won't spend $55 a day in those countries and use that money when I arrive in more expensive locations.

What if I don't have all of my money saved by July? Well then I will wait. I want to be prepared mentally, physically, and financially. I'm not too impatient about this. I've already waited nearly 2.5 years. I can probably stand another few months. But if I can't.... I will probably go with what I have and charge the rest at the tail end of my trip. I do plan to have a little money saved to come back to so I can get an apartment fairly quickly. Another incentive for a July departure: I want to make it back in time for the "Great Wilson Lake Escape" which will probably be in July of 2009!

I hope you enjoy my blog...Please email me with any comments or questions or concerns!

0% prepared

I had lunch with an Indian friend of mine from work earlier this week. He said I'm "0% prepared" for my trip. He wanted to know if I had contact numbers written down, if I knew which cities I wanted to visit in each country, if I knew what I wanted to see in every city, did I have visas, etc., etc.

He suggested getting a notebook or binder and making a table of contents listing each country, then city. Within the notebook start gathering information by country. Figure out what I want to see in each country so I don't forget anything. I agreed. Wouldn't it be awful if I left India and forgot to see the Taj Mahal?

I've been so focused on just saving, saving, saving that I haven't really done much planning. I have a rough itinerary laid out but I haven't throughly checked into visas and vaccinations...

I picked up a second job again after about 4 months off from the two-job gig. I'm working in an upscale restaurant a couple of doors down from the bar I was working at. I'm hoping that I can keep focused and only have to work two jobs for about 4 more months. That would be sometime in April. I should have enough money saved by then. I'll probably quit or cut back on hours there and still keep my day job. I'd like to save a few thousand dollars extra to have when I return. I'll probably quit all jobs about three weeks or a month before I leave so I have time to mentally and physically prepare for my departure.

This weekend I am going to get my passport photos taken and send of my application for renewal.
Publish Post

my first blog

Last night Bike Mike filled me in on the amazing world of Google and helped me cross one item of my "to do before I take my trip list." I needed to figure out how I was going to keep my friends and family included in my trip and a way to let them in on my whereabouts. So this blog will do just that.