Heading home

After a fabulous week or so in Belize and a wondeful 2 months traveling, it is time to go home.

I was going to fly out a little bit later but with this whole swine flu thing getting everyone pretty riled up i though i would leave asap. Yesterday I woke up in Placencia Belize at 5:45 in the morning ate some toast and since i couldn{t get a ride down town which is about a mile and half away i hopped on a bike with all my bags and rode off into the sunrise! I took a water taxi to a small town called Independence, Got a bus ( an old american school bus, which most of guatemala and belize use for the main transport) to Belize city wich was about 3 and half hours. At the belize city bus station i got to talking with this man. he was from guatemala but he was working illegally in the US for 2 years and he had just gotten deported. We catched until by bus came and he helped me find where i needed to go. I ended up giving him ten dollars ^to get home to livingston, Guatemala to his family and i hope thats what he actually used the money for he seemed like an honest guy. Anyway, back on another 3 and half hour school bus ride to the mexican border. The buses could not actually cross the border so I hopped off, payed my exit fee and walked right into mexico. The bordering town is called chetumal. not anything special as far as i could tell but i did not have alot of time to look around because i needed to make it to cancun by that night. I halied a cab and got a ride to the bus station. at first people were saying that there were no more buses to cancun that day, which would have been really bad because we were about 6 and half hours away and i needed to be at the airport the next morning at noon. BUT it just so happens that the last one was leaving only 30 minutes after i go in so i got some tacos and a coca cola and off i went AGAIN. This was a first class bus fortunetly i needed some thing a little more comfortable for the last long stretch. I got into Cancun at about 12:30...

Now after a good nights sleep and free breakfast from my hostal i just came down to probably the last internet cafe i will visit in a long time. Making sure the people are going to meet me at the airport was not a huge worry of mine but i thought it would be good to find out:) It is 10 now and at 11 i need to check out of my hostal, 11:30 get a shuttle top the airport and at 2:15 I fly home! I should be getting in to burlington, Vermont at 10:29 tonight and I so excited to go home!!

Watching movies, going to work, swimming in the rivers and lakes, seeing my friends, eating lots of food are all thing that i{ve been missing ttoooooo much. VT , cya soon!

Made it to Belize!

Adios Guatemala Hello Belize! I made it fine with a short but sweet boat ride across the ocean from puerto barrios, guatemala to punta gorda belize. Tahsa, her family, and some friends of theirs had come to meet me when i got out of immagration which was a relief! all 8 of us cramed into their rental SUV and headed to the the swimming holes right away! we went to super beautful rivers and had a nice picnic too! since there was so many of us tasha and i had to spend the night in the back of the car which was the most akward sleep of my life... but I mangaed to catch some solid Z's all the same. In the morning we ate breakfast and again all 8 of us loaded up and drove to a swimming hole! we stayed there for an hour of so.. basked in the sun and then we headed to Placencia.. there "home town" here in belize. We just arrived after a very cozy 2 and a half hour ride here and i'm very happy to be here! tasha and i have a whole bungalo to ourselfs, fully equipt with hot water and a mini kitchen! Now that we are all settled in i'm ready to being a brand new adventure here in the caribean!

Guatemala continued...

So after the nice time on the nice time on the lake danny and I began to head back to San Pedro. On the way I asked if we could stop somewhere so danny could teach me how to ride the motorcycle...
I got on started it up allright and off i went riding a motorcycle all by myself! i should have practiced braking a little bit, but i got so excited that i went right onto the main road... i was doin g ok but i tried to turn around in pretty much a pile of dirt so obvisouly me and the bike fell over... i was really embaressed not because i fell over but because when danny tried to start it back up it was having difficulties... I began to REALLY regret going out of the parking lot. But he called the rental place and they told him he had forgotten to flick a certain switch before starting it.. So I didn{t break the mororcyle after all!!

The next day we caught another early morning bus to the second biggest city in Guatemala. Xela is the nick name of the city and its a good thing because i don{t know how to pronouce or spell the real name.. something like.. Quezatelango..not sure..

Danny wanted to re vist this city because he had spend three weeks studying spanish here in the beginging of his trip. It was pretty mellow as far as citys go and it had really big markets where i splurged on tons of pirated DVDs!!! another 2 nights there and I was off by myself to guatemala city to pick up my friend Luna from the airport. Luna was comming to visit me for a week partly for a little vacatrion in the sun for her and partly for my birthday!

I met her at the airport at 10 at night and we took the first shuttle directly to Antigua. The next afternoon we went to hike the volcano that Antigua lies at the base off.. I can{t remeber the name of it somelike payamama or something. Actually we did not hike the volcano at all, luna and I were still feeling tired from the night before so we decided to rent horses! it was such an enjoyable ride up although our horses rarley went faster than walking pace. At the top of the volcanop was like being on a different planet and there was a thick mist covering everyting . When we saw the lava for the first time it was unreal! you could go as close to the lñava as you wanted (which would never fly in the states) but it was so hot that you could only get about 8 feet away with out being burned by the air. It was particularly cool because since we took horse up wer where pretty much the only ones at the top of the volcano for quite a bit of time and when the group tours cames up it completely changes the atmoshere and mysteriousness of the place...

The next day Another early start to chatch the bus to San Pedro. I loved iot so much that I had to show luna. We stayed only one night but It was such a blast. We went dancing at the only club in town and mets lots of cool people! AGAIN another early wake up to catch the suttle BACK to antigua so that we could get a shuttle to the beach where we were going to stay for the rest of the week. once we got to antigua we dropped our stuff off at the travel agaency place where our ahuttle left from and we had on hour to roam free... we got some fruit, picked up some sunscreen.. and began to head back with about 15 minutes to find our way back.... UNFORTUNETLY we could not. We were walking around practically in circles for 30 minutes untill we c}found where we were looking for, which was of course right under our noses the whole time. FORTUNETLY the shuttle had waited 40 minutes for us and we were able to hop right on and go!

The next day, sunday april 19th 2009, was my 20th birthday. We woke up and decided that we were going to go find a nice place to eat breakfast. But first we need to take out money from the ATM. UNFORTUNETLY the ONLY machine in town does not except mastercards. so we go backl to our hotel and and scrouge up all the change we had. FORTUNETLY we had enough to0 by 2 ice creams and some veggies at bread that we were going to stir fry at our hostal. UNFORTUNETLY, our hostal does not have a kitchen. So we figure our where the closest ATM is outside of town, in a town called Iztapa about 1 hour and 30 minutes away. FORTUNETLY there is man we was going right thorugh there at the same time we were leaving so he gave us a ride free of charge! We found the machine very easily and went back monterrico. When we got back into town i went to the internet cafe and i had to spend a couple of hours doing homework and taking test online. By then it was dinner time and we found the nicest resturant in town and we indulged! we went to bed early that night, no birthday party for me, not birthday song, or cake, but all in all everything worked out and it was not a complete disaster!

fore the next two days we just relaxed on the beach and in out hostle and dined out. It was a nice end to Luna trip to Guatemala. The next night we went back to antigua were we bumped into danny at the hostal we were staying at! we were so happy to see eachother and we all out for a "this is our last night dinner" (although everyting is usually you last night when you travel to a new place everyday). Today is april 22nd. When i woke up this morning at the hostel Luna was gone. she had taken a shuttle to the airport at 4 in the morning. and day had left to go to a differnt town in the mountains. I got on a bus straight to puerto Barrios which is a small town on the carribean side of guatemala. I am here now and I will get up tomorrow morning and get on a boat to Punta Gorda, Belize to meet up with tasha! I hope belize is as nice as they say!!

Antigua

 Antigua was a great place to be for semana santa. Lots of poeple in the street but not to caotic vibe. persesions where happening all day long thursday and friday. On saturday morning Danny and I took and early bus to a town about 3 hours away called Panajanchel. From the we took a boat across lake Atitlan to a small town called San pedro. We like San Pedro alot. Since Semana Santa was still going on there were allot of people there too. When we woke up the next day we rented a motorcycle and rode it along the shore of the lake ( on the roads) to the other side to another small town called San Marcos. We parked the bike and walked down to the docks and took a swim and bathed in the sun. 

GUAT!

I made it to Guatemala city with no difficulties! Danny was there to pick me up at the airport and we took a bus to Antigua. Today is my first day.  The holiday Semana Santa is happening this weekend so I'm pumped up to shoot some wild pic's in the super cue town!

Wrapping up Peru

Huanchaco was allot of  fun! I was really nice to be on the beach and relax. we were there for about 5 days and 4 nights. There is not to much to say about it because we actually didn't do that much. Our typical day there consisted of waking up late, going to the beach, reading, finding seashells and sticks, going to the market, cooking, and small fires on the beach in the nights. That pretty much wraps it up. I don't know if I'll ever go back but I will hold fond memories for little Huanchaco.

When we left for Lima Maija stayed in Trujillo because she wanted to head north up to Ecuador. Our goodbyes were short and sweet, and after the worst 9 hour bus ride ever we arrived in Lima at about 6 a.m. Friday morning. This time, tom and wilder an

d decided to indulge in some tourist attractions that are offered here in Lima so, we 

went to the zoo. Although zoo's are pretty sad allot of the time, it was really interesting so

 see the animal

s. All  120 different animal species there we all native to Peru! (so i heard i don't actually know if thats entirely true..)

Last night wilder and tom left for the states. I'm here in Lima by myself for one day and then  I will be fly out tomorrow morning (the 8th of april). I flying Guatemala and hopefully staying there for a couple weeks and after that a few more weeks of travel in Central America! (Honduras, Belize, Southern mexico).

To Be continued...

big city: LIMA

We stayed in Lima for two nights after Huanachina. We didn't get to explore the city to much. however, we were about to get to the beach couple times and walk around the neighborhood we were staying at in mirasflores ( a safer neighbor outside the center of Lima). On Friday night we celebrated Wilders birthday . Maija and I splurged on a yummy chocolate cake for him! On Saturday we hung out at the beach all day and by got on the bus but to Trujillo (a coastal town in the north about 8 hours away from Lima). From Trujillo We got a quick taxi to Haunchaco, which is a small surf town where we will be staying for the rest of our time in Peru ( April 8th I fly out of Lima to Guatemala). I was also SO delighted to find out that my body had been attacked my sand fleas while I was in the dunes in Huanachina and am growing itchier everyday!!

Huanachina

when  Maija and I got bak to Cusco she found out that she only had $ 100 left in here bank account. As a consiquence she was not able to to take the the  2 weeks of spanish classes she was anticipapateing to attend  cusco. Instead she got the money back from the school and  we decided that we were going to go meet the boys, (wilder and tom) in a small town call huanachina near the city of Ica in the north west of Cusco. It was a 15 hour bus ride over night to Ica through nuasiating twists and turns between the mountains. When we finally got to Huanachina we checked into the first hostal we could find. there was a pool, hot showers, and many travelers about the same age as us but there was a little bit of a wierd vibe going on... when we hooked up with the boys later on in the day they told us that there travel book had said that our hostel was known for  their scamy staff and young women often get hit on and taken advantage of so we check out asap and moved into a calm rustic hostal around the corner with wilder and tom. in the evening we hiked up the sand dunes and atempted to sand board but we ended up sitting on the board and riding it back down into town. The next day we went back to Ica hopped on the first the first bus to lima...

One Week End

Last weekend I decided to go and visit wilder and tom in the small towm of Ollantetambo, where they had been living for the past week. After school on Friday I collected all the information I needed to get to the bus station, how long it would take, how much it would cost from my teacher and my host family. I packed my bags and all i needed to do was call the boys and tell them that i was comming...
I got to the bus station and at soon as I stepped through the gateway, a man from the station ran up to me and said Ollantetambo?? Ollantetambo?? i said yes, and asked him when the bus was going to leave he said (in spanish) RIGHT NOW! And he hearded me onto the bus. It was a beatiful 2 hour ride through the country but I had never had time to call the boys and tell them I was comming so I was just hoping that they were still there and that I could find them!
As soon as I go off the bus I went to buy a phone card and went to the nearest public phone. Just as I was about to dail I saw both of them walking though the center of town! perfect timing!!
They said I was lucky to have seen them because they had just got back from an all day hike. They also told me they had plans to leave for machu piccu the next day early in the monring. So my plans quickly turned into going to machu piccu the next morning.

We stayed in their hostel over night and cooked for the first time since I´ve been here. We made a delicious stir fry for all of us for about 7 dollars!

In the morning we got on a bus to St. maria the bus ride took about 5 hours including an hour wait at a little pull away off the road where something with our engine broke.. nobody really knew what happened..luckily there was food.
When we go to St. Maria we hopped directly into a taxi headed for st.Theresa were we planned on drivng to this hydro electrical plant and walk along the train track all the way to Aguas Callientes( the town right beling machu piccu). Another man on our bus to St. Maria was doing the same thing so he came with us in our taxi. His name was... well none of us could understand his name but we called him jaime emongst ourselves, he was from brazil and was doing something with a video camera in machu piccu, again we did really understand allot of what he said, he had a inersting brazilian accent.

The taxi ride was another 2 and a half hours through the mountains and when we go to the hydro electrical plant there was a bunch of places to eat all along the beging on the rail road tracks.


The walk was one of the most amazing thing for me about our trip, it was pretty much jungle terrain and the river on one side of us, beautiful trees, waterfalls, flowers and birds! At about an hour into our walk it began to rain, and then down pour! We found a little shack thing where we were going to stay until the rain stopped but it didn´t stop and some one had pooped right near where we were standing so we didn´t stay there to long. None of us had brought rain jackets and we all we completely soaked! We used the huge leaves from the banana trees to cover our head and back packs but nothing seem to stop us for becoming one with the rain...
Another 2 hours walking in the rain and we finally go to Aguas Callinetes. At around 5 or 6 p.m. making our whole day a 10 hour excursion. my feet just began to be a little sore just as we stepped onto the pavement of our final destination.
We found a hostel to stay at for the night but when I went to take a shower, there was no hot water! When I was done with my freezing cold shower I had no towel! I ended up using my sheet from my bed to dry my self off with and when I was done drying off, I had nothing dry to put on!!SUCH A DISASTER! Since wilder was the ¨Dryest¨ one of us he went out for some food and beverageS and we stayed in our hotel playing cards and eating take out all night. In the morning although he hung up our clothes to dry, they had not dryed. We put on out still soaking wet clothers and head miserablly for the bus station. We got on the bus for machu piccu without any breakfast, luckily I had a peice of soggy bread from the morning before to much on...

We went up, up, UP the winding road to machu piccu and when we finally arrived there was definetally a site to be seen. It was about 9 in the morning and there was allot of people there but still just enough so that I could take pictures with out tons of people in the shot!The first thing we did was hike up to mount. Wayanpiccu because we knew that they only let 400 people up a day. The hike was the hardest hike EVER ! probabaly the biggest most steep mountain I have ever climbed int my life! with 30 percent less oxegen than I´m used to I had to stop and breathe ever three minutes. But, of course the top was ever so worth it!
Machu piccu was beautiful and incredible to have visited but my favorite part of the trip still remains to be the walk on the railroad tracks. And surprisingly, the horriible hike up wayanpiccu!
We took the bus back to Aguas calientes and payed a little more money for the train back to Ollantetembo. we were so tried from the hike that morning and from all the walking the day before. the train took 2 hours. after one more night at the hostel in Ollantetambo it was back to cusco and back to school!

Escuela

This week I started Spanish lessons at AMIGOS Spanish School in cusco. It´s almost everything I hoped for except that there are not other student my age...
I enrolled in a group session but the one other student (in my ¨group¨) never showed up, so it´s just me.

My teacher is great though, her name is Claudia and she is very laid back and funny. like me.
I´m learning allot with her becasue one on one is super intense but all in all i´m getting what I came for.

One cool thing about the school is that it is a non- profit organization, and all the money that I pay, and other student who pay for spanish lessons, goes to help teach peruvian kids from the projects in cusco to learn English. Mid class we break and the spanish students and the eniglish students intermingle with eachother and help eachother practice the language we are learning... half the time speaking english to eachother and half speaking spanish.

Since Ít was just me learning spanish today, ALL the kids were surrounding me. Most of them didn´t know english very well yet so it was mostly an all spanish conversation but some older kids were getting there.

It´s a little bit tough not having other student at the school because it´s hard to meet people except for in the bars and out dancing. We shall see....

The City

The Country

last week I explored the city. This weekend I got to explore the country! On sunday wilder, tom and I went horse back riding in the mountains! We stopped at differnet historical locations such as, el templo de la luna (temple of the moon) and saxe wumon (sounds allot like sexy women but it is a HUGE inca made stone wall)and walked around the country side... probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen...