WEEKS 4-5

WEEK 4 - Playa El Tunco, El Salvador
- we spend a week cold-recovering, relaxing, and enjoying El Tunco
- the days would typically play out something like this ... wake up mid-morning, hit a hammock at the hostel and do some reading (and/or possibly go to La Libertad to buy something essential), hit the beach and lie in the sun and play with the waves in the water, get afternoon drinks at a beach bar (usually big yummy micheladas), head back to the hostel around sunset, head out to Mopelia´s for dinner, head home and crash, ready to repeat the process all over again the next day
- the coolest thing about El Tunco is that the water was not cold, even though it was the Pacific ocean
- there were always surfers to watch ... some learning, others experienced
- Isaac rented a board for a day ... maybe not completely ¨successful¨, he definitely enjoyed himself
- we met a fun American couple ... Evan (or Eban) and Ally (or Holly) ... and wound up hanging out with them for a few days ... in particual dinners at Mopelia
- the food at Mopelia rarely disappointed ... every day there was a special ... usually quite tasty ... pasta, or beef and mashed potatoes, etc. ... they also had an oven for making pizzas ... which I quite enjoyed (Isaac wasn´t a pizza fan there) ... and the food was all fairly cheap
- Mopelia also made their own tobasco sauce ... yum! I wanted a t-shirt with their hot sauce logo on it, but they never arrived in time (they had just been ordered when we first showed up) ... Gil (the owner) was wishing the shirts would show up because I wore the same t-shirt to his place for seven straight days ... he claimed I was starting to smell :)
- we had heard that a yummy local food was ¨pupusas¨... so I was on a bit of a mission to find out what all the fuss was about ... one day in La Libertad, I made the mistake of trying a shrimp pupusa ... the tortilla was stuffed full of shrimps with shell, legs and tail on!!! Ick ... I forced myself to eat it all, crunching through all the nasty bits ... Isaac pulled all his shrimp out, leaving a rather bland tortilla lunch ... overall, we failed miserably at finding a good pupusa
- our last night there, El Salvador hosted a World Cup (soccer) qualifier against the U.S. ... apparently, El Salvador hasn´t won in like 16 years ... or maybe they haven´t even scored a goal against the U.S. in 16 years ... something crazy ... point being, the entire country shuts down for big games like this, even though they fully expect to lose ... they´d be super happy if they at least scored one goal ... well, on this night, El Salvador jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half! (you´d know whenever a goal was scored, because all of El Tunco could be heard cheering) ... we watched the second half with the locals at Papaya ... we were definitely pulling for the historic upset ... but the U.S. got two late goals to tie the game ... the locals seemed deflated ... but if you had asked them before the game began how they´d feel about a 2-2 tie, they would have been estatic! ... so hopefully they all wound up happy in retrospect
- we left El Tunco the next day, feeling refreshed, relaxed, and ready for the next leg
- EoW

WEEK 5 - San Salvador
- we spent a couple days in San Salvador ... we stayed in a very nice (yet rather inexpensive) hotel right downtown ... it even had a mini tv that I was able to use to watch UNC beat Oklahoma to make it into the Final Four
- both days, we walked up to the area of ¨Avenue de los Heroes¨, where we would cruise the mall ... kinda fun really ... and we discovered that San Salvador was the first place on our trip that we saw people dressing westernized, and current ... and for the first time, we noticed a lot of ATTRACTIVE locals!
- the mall has a cineplex, so we saw a movie each day ... first we saw Watchmen (interesting, but not what we expected ... also, way too much penis it in) ... then we saw Sex Drive (hilarious, but again, too much penis and other male genetalia in it)
- we also ate at the mall ... the first day we tried ¨Nash¨, which seemed to be a bit of a Pizza Hut knock off ... then the next night we did Pizza Hut for real! Sad, but true ... at least we got that urge out of our systems and with any luck that was the first and last time!
San Miguel
- semana santa was only a few days away, and we had quite a bit of distance to cover to get to our reservations ... so we then pretty much high tailed it to Nicaragua
- we caught a chicken bus towards the Honduras border, and overnighted in San Miguel
- my first impression of the town is that it was HOT
- we got a really nice hotel room (with a/c, etc.), and we went on an adventure walk, looking for a specific Chinese restaurant that the book highly recommended
- the restaurant was not where the book said it´d be, but we did eventually find it ... unfortunately, the food was also nowhere near as satisfying and the book implied it would be
- back at the hotel, I took a shower and flooded the bathroom floor ... the hotel manager and to come in and plunger out the shower drain, then mop up the bathroom for us ... lovely!
- we flicked through some cable tv before we finally called it quits on our last night in El Salvador
Choluteca
- from San Miguel, we caught a bus to the Honduras border ... or so we thought!! But first, we did see a movie ... this disaster of a ¨special effects¨¨thriller¨... where a snake starts off super small, then grows exponentially each time it eats something/someone ... it was called something like SuperSnake ... once again one of the worst movies I´ve ever seen ... it appears that movies on buses and worst movies ever are somewhat synonymous
- we get out of the bus (the guy tells us to get out) ... and we ask where the border is, and people start laughing at us! Crap! ... again, it´s stupid hot outside ... we walk around aimlessly for a bit, and we spot a couple buses a few blocks down a side street ... I pop my head into the first bus, and the driver is in there, eating lunch ... I ask him what bus we need to get to the Honduras border, and he says ¨this bus¨... nice ... so we hang out with him while he eats ... he´s very friendly and chatty (turns out he´s from Nicaragua) ... he even shares his fresh orange juice with us
- so eventually the bus gets going, and it turns out the border is like a 15 minute ride away
- we get out, and walk to the immigration office ... there are two officials there ... one for El Salvador, and another for Honduras ... they check our passports, we pay the entrance fee, and we´re walking over a bridge into Honduras, looking for our next bus
- next destination is Choluteca ... we get there in a couple of hours, and my first reaction was I was foolish to think San Miguel was HOT ... San Miguel was warm, Choluteca was HELL HOT!!
- we get dropped off at a bus terminal, and we catch a taxi to the hostel we´d pick out from the book ... the place wasn´t horrible, but it wasn´t a dream either ... at least it had a fan
- we walked around in the heat for a bit, but even an ice cream didn´t put a dent in the human melting syndrome
- Isaac was still battling his cold, and mixed with the intense heat, he simply went to bed for the rest of the day
- I had been wanting to get a real pupusa, to get that shrimp bad taste out of my mouth ... Isaac had decided his was pretty much done with any further pupusa experimenting ... so this was a perfect chance for me to venture out solo and see what I could find
- turns out our one night in Honduras is another one of those World Cup qualifier nights ... tonight, Honduras is playing host to heavily favoured Mexico (and once again the entire country stops to walk the game)
- luckily, after walking a few blocks, I find a bar/restaurante that is open, as they are showing the game ... and they have pupusas!
- I get two pork pupusas ... one with cheese, one without ... turns out, the cheese makes the pupusa heavenly ... no cheese is just so-so
- still, pupusas are redeemed in my book, and I enjoy my tasty and inexpensive dinner
- I wind up watching the majority of the soccer game in the reception area of our hostel ... they have a big flat screen showing the game, and a bunch of rocking chairs to lounge in
- there are a couple of locals already watching the game ... one of them (a guy who works at the hostel) is just living and dying with every whistle, every missed shot
- Honduras winds up scoring early, and when I head to bed, it´s late in the 2nd half, and they´re winning 3-0 (they wound up winning 3-1) ... so sounds of celebration and partying were heard on the streets, throughout the night
Leon
- we get a taxi back to the bus terminal area and we board a mini-bus for the Nicaragua border
- when we arrive at the border, locals have already hopped on top of the van, and are grabbing our bags!! NOT COOL!
- we fight to grab our bags back, and it´s evident that the locals desperately want us to ride on their bicycle taxis (a bicycle in the back, with two seats, an umbrella and a baggage compartment beneath the feet at the front)
- the problem is, they completely rubbed us the wrong way by just taking our bags without permission ... so now we´re pissed off and telling them to piss off
- in retrospect, it would have been a pleasure to pay them the $1 they were asking for a ride across the border
- instead, under insane heat, we lugged our bags roughly 3km, first to the immigration office (another entry fee and we were on our way), then over a long bridge, and then a bumpy dusty uphill trek to where we only hoped buses could be found
- to our pleasure, we found the buses, and the bus we wanted was there waiting for us
- to our chagrin, the other people from the mini-bus were already on board (having taken the bicycle taxis), looking cool and fresh ... while we boarded, looking like soaking wet death personified ... good times, good times
- the ride on the chicken bus was fairly uneventful ... and a couple of hours later, we arrived in Leon
- Leon has a colonial feel, similar to Antigua ... only Leon somehow feels more authentic, and less touristy
- we get off at the bus terminal, and we decide to walk it to the hostel we´ve picked out of the book
- the walk is only about 10 to 15 minutes, but if Choluteca is Satan´s anus (in terms of heat), then Leon is a blistered boil just a few inches away ... it is HOT HOT HOT
- we get to the hostel, and it´s full ... lovely
- we try another hostel a few blocks away ... Lazybones ... they have a room, but only for one night ... we grab it, lose the bags, and melt into the beds (I´m guessing I had a shower seconds after arriving)
- our daily ritual in Leon essentially went along these lines ... we´d start our day finding a new hostel (lugging our bags around in the morning heat), then we´d go to the smoothie place for fantastic fresh fruit beverages, then we´d follow the shadows (as much as possible) to the grocery store, where we´d stock up on water, then we´d return to whichever hostel was home for that day, to drink water and essentially try not to move otherwise
- at night, it´d cool down enough that we could venture out to get food and check out the town a bit ... the meals were along the lines of flattened (tenderized?) chicken pieces, covered in some kind of sauce, served with 3 or 4 different starches (fries, potato, rice, tostones) ... one place the food sucked, another place it was delicious ... so all hit and miss
- our last day, we wind up at the hostel Bigfoot ... where we run into people from the shuttle bus, and a woman we´d met in El Salvador ... and we meet Dora (Doro/Dorothy), from Germany ... only we think her name is likely Jess, because her shirt says, ¨Don´t mess with Jess¨(it actually says, ¨Don´t miss with Jess¨... shows you good our attention to detail has become)
- Dora is a cutie patootie and a sweetie mageety ... and Isaac chats her up a bit, telling her she should check out Crater´s Edge (where we´re heading the next day, for semana santa)
- meanwhile, I find a decent internet cafe, and I get a pretty good streaming feed of the Final Four (both semis) ... it´s awesome to see UConn go down, and it´s even better to see my Heels coast rather comfortably past ´Nova ... only the cafe is supposed to close at 9pm, and even though the guy let me stay until 9:30, the game still wasn´t finished ... so I leave thinking my team won, but I´m not officially sure until the next day
- night time sleeping depends greatly on whether or not you have a fan blowing air on you ... the first two nights, we had a private room, so sleeping wasn´t impossible ... the last night was in a dorm, and it was FINE until the last chick finally decided to go to sleep, and in so doing, she shamelessly turned the fan towards her bed, instantly turning mine into a water (sweat) bed ... once I woke up, there wasn´t much more sleep to be had
- 3 nights in Leon, I was more than ready for a change of scenery ... it was time to get our butts to Laguna de Apoyo for our semana santa reseverations
- EoW

WEEK 3

DAY 15 - Lanquin
- we decide that today would be a good day for some downtime ... catch up on some email (and we´re still trying to finalize the reservation for semana santa), do some reading ... and I´m dying to see the brackets for the NCAAs!
- first up, we request to change to a real room, and today they have space in a loft ... i.e. in the crawl space above a normal room ... it isn´t bad really ... big improvement of the day before ... the ladder is a bit of a pain to negociate though
- everyone at El Rituro is raving about this all day tour of Semuc Champey ... where you swim through caves holding a lit candle, and climb rope ladders, and jump off bridges, etc.
- you have to sign up a day in advance, so we sign up for tomorrow´s tour
- a bunch of chilling and relaxing (internet and reading) later, evening falls, and it´s time to head back to the restaurant for happy hour and dinner
- the dinner theme is ¨Guatemalan food¨... which includes chili relleno! However, the chicken doesn´t seem completely cooked ... and we´re not sure which food item is the culprit ... but neither Isaac nor I are feeling great after dinner
- Isaac actually takes off and heads to the loft right after dinner ... this may have been due more to the fact that he had two Quetzelmeteca drinks during happy hour than any food-related issues
- I hung out and changed for a little while, but the night didn´t have the same energy as the previous evening
- early to bed was probably a good idea anyway, since we had to leave fairly early for the tour the next day
- EoD

DAY 16 - Lanquin to Coban
- I wake up to the sound of pouring rain outside
- Isaac isn´t feeling well, so even if it wasn´t raining out, he probably wouldn´t be up to doing the tour anyway
- by the time we get up, the tour has either already left, or been cancelled
- faced by the prospect of another down day with a bunch of tourists, we weigh the pros of staying (could do the tour tomorrow, can stay for the big St. Patrick´s Day party and shephard´s pie dinner tonight) against the cons (nothing we really want to do at El Rituro today, don´t really want to stay two or more nights, not really keep on a big party with tourists after all), and we quickly decide to make today a travel day
- we check out and flag down a shuttle bus that assures us it is going to Coban
- unlike our other shuttle bus experiences in Guatemala (where the bus would consistently pack 45 people into a 20 seater vehicle), this one was fairly empty
- also, thanks to the rain, the roads weren´t kicking up dust
- HOWEVER ... our bus seemed to be having difficulty going uphill ... and eventually smoke started coming out of the hood!
- we probably got about half way to Coban before the bus pretty much broke down completely
- we got ¨rescued¨ by another shuttle bus ... cramming all 9 passengers into the 4 remaining ¨spaces¨in the mini-bus ... I had the money collector basically sitting in my lap, with a nice metal nub (where the seatbelt used to be) under my arse, with me sitting half on the edge of a seat, and half on a makeshift cushion/seat, pressed up against the edge of the sliding door. FUN!
- better still, the first bus made us pay entirely too much for getting us stranded in the middle of nowhere ... then we also had to pay the new bus ... and then it turned out they didn´t even take us to Coban!!!!
- turns out we got dropped off in some town called Carcha ... we had no idea if we were close to Coban, nor how to get there
- slowly but surely, we asked enough people the right questions, and we found another bus depot a few minutes away (over a bridge) ... all the buses here were headed to Coban
- the ride took like 15 minutes, so apparently we were pretty close after all
- Coban is a town most noted for being a jumping-off point to almost every other destination in Guatemala
- we saw a few tourists, but it was mostly all locals, so again, we were destined to like the town
- we got a dorm room at la Casa de Acuna ... two bunk beds, and both lower bunks were already taken ... more awkward stair climbing to get into bed!
- the hotel was very nice though ... good bathroom, shower with nice hot water, comfortable beds ... they even did a huge load of laundry for us for like $5 US
- the hotel restaurant was also highly recommended in the Lonely Planet, but we wanted cheap local food
- we headed out to explore ... a STEEPLY inclined street or two, and the roads flattened out at their parque centrale ... down the main street, we found many merchants and shops of interest
- we got some super-yummy mango (not green!) dusted with chili powered and lime juice ... then we got it again!
- then we hit a bakery and got a couple of treats ... too much sugar overall, but we managed
- then another shop had real yogurt, so we each got a cup (was runny, so it was more of a refreshing beverage) ... the coco-pina was quite tasty
- next we wandered a lot of the town, just looking for a simple cozy place to go in for a drink ... it was ridiculous how much effort it was taking to find such a place!
- as a last gasp, we almost went into a touristy restaurant ... but before we entered, we saw this tiny hole in the wall (literally), called Comedor Henrry´s
- we walked up a few steps, and checked out the place ... four small tables ... the one closest to the door was vacant ... we called to the back (where the kitchen is) and asked if they served beer ... they did, so we had found our spot!
- and it literally became our spot ... the people were nice, and the food was good and cheap
- we split a plate of huevos rancheros, served with beans and tortillas (and yummy hot sauce)
- later, when it got dark out, we headed back to the parque centrale, to see all the street meat vendors (aka churrascos) ... interestingly enough, each cart was serving exactly the same thing ... grilled steak (or sausage) with beans, onions and some lettuce maybe (with tortillas of course) ... we tried some steak .... tasty and cheap ... but a bit chewy
- it´s worth pointing out that my jacket came out in the evenings in Coban (for the first time this trip)
- it´s about this time that we run into ... yup, the German!!!
- by this point, we´re beyond full, so we luckily have an excuse to decline Andy´s offer to go out for a beer
- we do talk to him long enough to hear that he doesn´t much like Guatemala either ... figures!
- he also took a bus to Copan (Honduras) instead of Coban ... he realised his mistake at the border ... poetic justice maybe?
- so we head back to the hotel and get ready for bed
- enter Klaus and Deiter, the technotwins ... nah, they weren´t that bad, but our roommates were somewhat annoying
- the hotel plays music in the restaurant area (which is easily audible in the room) and the noise seems to last into the wee hours ... a mix of songs from musicals and near-hits from the 80´s ... we´re pretty sure we´ve fallen asleep before the music has stopped
- EoD

DAY 17 - Coban
- we get up and change rooms ... we get a 1 bunk private room ... Deiter and Klaus are gone, but any repeat is to be avoided at all costs
- we head back to our new hangout, Henrry´s
- we each get a lunch special ... one dish is creamed chicken with the usually beans and tortillas, the other is a pulled beef stew with the same beans and tortillas ... both are pretty tasty ... we also get side salads of cooked broccoli, tomatoes and onion ... very yummy
- after lunch, we return to the hotel
- Isaac chills out in the new room, while I head out for a bit
- I get some more yogurt, make a reservation for both of us on tomorrow´s bus to Antigua, and I hit the internet
- the computer is telling me it´s Thursday, even though I thought it was Wednesday
- I go looking for NCAA scores, and it turns out it IS Wednesday
- I start entering notes into this blog, and a couple hours later, I still haven´t even finished week 1 ... now my arse hurts, I´m tired of typing, and I´m counting down until it gets dark out so the Churrascos can return
- I head back to the hotel, and Isaac isn´t there ... there is a piece of paper left on the table ... it´s blank, but when I turn it over, it reads ¨gone to internet¨
- so I figure I´ve just missed Isaac, so I go right back to where I was ... and he isnt´there ... maybe he hasn´t shown up yet ... so I wait ... and wait ... and walk around a bit ... and wait some more ... now it´s dark, and the Churrascos are out ... still no Isaac ... hrm ... maybe he got lost ... I see the German eating some street meat (fairly confident he tried it because he saw us eating it the night before, and even more confident he hates it) ... I ask him if he has seen Isaac ... he hasn´t ... so I head back to the hotel and wait
- a while later, Isaac pops his head in ... turns out that was NOT a note after all (¨gone to the internet¨was from some previous town) ... he took the paper out to bring with him, and simply forget it when he left
- oddly enough, Isaac just got back from a completely different internet place ... after spending hours starting ... a blog! Funny how that happens.
- we head back out (again with jackets) and hit the Churrascos again ... this time we decide to also try a piece of sausage ... tasty, but should have been cooked longer
- it now feels LATE ... the town is quiet ... we wonder if our Henrry´s is still open ... it is!!
- so we have one last drink and bid the Comedor adieu
- EoD

DAY 18 - Coban to Antigua
- we get up, check out, and head to the hostel that sold us the bus tickets for Antigua
- Isaac ducks into the internet shop and is able to call Comcast and clear up this ridiculous $350 bill they had thrown at us for not returning their equipment (we HAD returned it)
- inside the hostel, we see the German sitting with a woman in the dining area ... it´s apparent he isn´t riding on the same bus as us, but he´s also in a direct path to the bathroom ... so looks like no pee right before we get on the bus for a 5 hour ride!
- we´re joined by 4 Canadians, waiting for the same bus ... I recognize at least one of them from El Rituro
- the bus arrives, and there are about 10 people already inside ... and I recognize at least 8 of them from El Rituro!! The big gringo tourist party that we had escaped only a couple days earlier had reared it´s vengeful head and pulled us back in!
- the bus ride was pretty decent really ... comfortable, not cramped ... BIG difference when it´s a tourist bus vs a local bus ... the roads were all paved too (no dust, no painful bumps) ... and the people are the bus were all pleasant (turns out the bus originates in El Rituro and just happens to stop in Coban to pick people up)
- the ride goes fairly smoothly ... a couple girls insist on a bathroom stop here and there, which most of us welcome ... we also stop at a cafeteria where most of them by some touristy food (we get a pretty good dose of how the way most of these people travel differs from our own style)
- then en route to Antigua, we pass through Guatemala City ... no idea how much of the city we covered, but it is HUGE and busy and everywhere you look, it´s an add for Pizza Hut or something similar ... we even saw a Taco Bell there!!
- we had already decided we were probably going to miss the big city, but this little taste was more than enough to confirm we weren´t really interested in spending any real time there
- not far from the city, we arrive in Antigua ... completely unlike the rest of Guatemala ... it boats a European feel ... lots of old churches and the like, but mostly unimpressive as they keep falling to Earthquakes ... the town is definitely catered to tourists, which a grid of streets and avenues all chock-a-block full of stores, restaurants, internet cafes and the like.
- the parque centrale is pretty, and it reminds me of Peru, both in appearance and size (with buildings of significance running the length of all four sides of the park).
- we walk to the Yellow House to try to get a room ... they only have one dorm left ... no good!
- this guy comes up to us and asks if we´d like to try out his hostel
- his name is David, and he is from Italy, but he´s lived in Central America for four years now
- we follow him for a couple of blocks and wind up at Viejo Danes ... it´s small and simple, but it´ll do the trick
- we get a small (cramped) room with 3 beds ... we´re told there is a girl that is supposed to return tomorrow, and if it´s alright with us, she´ll take the 3rd bed
- we dump off our belongings, and head out to see the town
- we´ve read about a bakery that sells warm banana bread around 2pm ... we´ve been CRAVING banana bread since Livingston, so that becomes our first stop
- they only sell full loaves ... so we get one, walk to the park, sit down, and proceed to eat way too much yummy bread (about half the loaf)
- we then do a walk-by on a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet for fantastic smelling local foods ... the food looks pretty good, but the smells aren´t overwhelming ... more importantly, the prices are jacked ... so we know we won´t be returning there for dinner
- we head back to the hotel and chill out for a bit
- we meet a nice Dutch couple that is likely travelling a very similar path as we are ... unfortunately, we never really saw them again after this initial conversation
- it´s gets dark, so we head out in search of some cheap local food
- the book says there is street meat about 1 block west of the parque centrale, so we head there ... and there´s no food going on at all
- we wander around aimlessly for a bit and the book is definitely nowhere near correct
- luckily, we run into David, and he directs us towards the market for the churrascos ... he also mentions that if we want authentic local food, there is a restaurant not far away where it´s all locals (and the food is good and cheap)
- we decide to try to find this restaurant ... first pass by, there is a door that opens into an apparent garage ... with SUV parked and everything!! ... so we figure this can´t possibly be the place
- we walk the rest of the block, and nothing else seems to even remotely ressemble a restaurant (not sure why the car in this place qualified it as the exception to that rule)
- I decided to poke my head in, and just see if there was anything past the car ... turns out there were about 5 small tables around an open courtyard, with a little kitchen at the back ... so we decided to give it a try!
- dinner was 2 choices ... pollo or heuvos ... same sauce for either, served with the standard sides of rice, beans and tortillas ... we get one of each and do our best to split the mains ... overall, the food is decent and cheap, but the hot sauce is disappointingly mild and there´s just nothing special going on
- we head back to the hotel (after taking a look at the churrascos ... they are different than Coban, with the addition of sandwiches (buns loaded with lettuce, tomato, etc.) ... might have to try that out tomorrow)
- we get back, and discover that the girl who was supposed to share the tiny room with us tomorrow night had already shown up!
- we get to the room and it´s empty ... but the addition of her bags makes it evident that there is not much room for anything other than the beds ... we play a little tetris to try to make it work, and we get ready for bed
- a while later, a girl enters our room ... her name is Seiko ... she´s from Japan, but she lives in Vancouver ... for the most part, she´s quiet and just keeps to herself
- trying to sleep, it´s hard to stop feeling cold, even with several blankets on at the same time ... whatever happened to the nights when we had to keep a fan running just to try to stay cool enough to sleep??
- similar to Coban, this hotel pumps out music until fairly late in the evening ... the music here is significantly better though
- EoD

DAY 19 - Antigua
- big sleep (frequently interrupted by this nagging wet cough though)
- it´s uncomfortably cool outside
- my cough has digressed to mass amounts of phlegm, a sneeze and itchy eyes ... not good
- Isaac is still sleeping when I leave ... if he´s not under the weather, the plan is that he´ll climb Volcan Pacaya today (the ACTIVE volcano) ... my issues with breathing at the moment, along with my questionable knee are enough for me to avoid the hike ... not to mention the first hand stories we´ve heard of surviving when things go bad on that volcano (for example, Thomas and Shalini were there for a lava overflow that sent people screaming in all directions, with huge flaming boulders tumbling down directly at them) ... at the same time, today is day 2 of the NCAA tourney, and I know I can watch some live streaming if I find an internet place with a decent (read better than we´ve experienced so far) internet connection
- so I spend quite a long time at the internet cafe ... trying to watch basketball (but it buffers like every 3 seconds ... not exactly streaming). I see the Heels won easily without Lawson yesterday ... so that´s good ... hopefully they don´t need him much tomorrow, but LSU is a bit dangerous
- I spend most of my time adding entries to my blog ... while constantly flipping back to the basketball
- a few hours later, I´m shivering, and I have zero energy
- I head back towards the hotel, thinking I´ll check to see if Isaac went on the hike after all, and maybe I need to lie down
- the sun is out now, and it´s HOT ... weird how it was so cold earlier ... but I still have a chill ... so I try to stay in the sun as much as possible, hoping to warm up
- I get back to the hotel, and Seiko is hanging out in our room ... it seems that Isaac did get picked up for the tour, but the room also seems a bit too crowded for me to lie down at the moment ... plus the room isn´t in the sun at all, so I´m shivering again ... I head back out
- I head to the park and sit on a bench ... it´s mostly peaceful, but several boys who shine shoes keep asking to shine my SANDALS! When I decline, they invariably offer to sell me weed (it´s like Belize all over again, where we were offered weed at least 5 times a day)
- I head over to the market area and decide to give it a walk through
- it´s pretty big ... a long walk east-to-west, and then another long walk south-to-north ... but then it also opens up into a roofed middle area ... but for the most part, I´m just trying to stay in the sunlight
- I´m also getting hungry (feed a cold, right?), so I´m keeping my eye open for a potential meal ... lots of fruit is being sold ... much of it pre-sliced and ready to eat ... but I´m craving something hot ... I decide that once I´m done with the market, I will see if the churrascos are up and running yet
- deep in the market, I see a large gathering of locals, all watching a guy who is talking into a portable microphone and speaker
- turns out he´s doing a magic trick ... I watch for a few minutes to try to see what the trick is ... then I watch for several more minutes ... like 20 minutes later, he may have finally been getting to the finale, but it was just way too long and way too scattered ... so I headed out
- the churrascos weren´t in operation yet, so I wound up heading into Pollo Campero (in Guatemala, we´ve seen Pizza Hut, Dominos, Subway, MacDonald´s, Burger King and Taco Bell ... but we have NOT seen KFC ... only this Pollo Campero) ... I decide to give it a try ... I get a tropical spice chicken burger with fries and a drink ... the sandwich winds up being pretty tasty (and not breaded) ... and there hot sauce was pretty addictive ... overall, it was fast food, and a bit pricey ... but it was worth checking it out one time
- the sun starts to go down, and my chill just gets worse and worse
- I head back to the hotel, and Sieko or not, it´s time for me to lie down
- I spend the next several hours bundled up in bed, trying to get warm, with my nose all stuffed up and my cough getting much more frequent ... apparently I´m full on sick
- hours later, Isaac returns from his tour ... says it was great and that some guy from another group died of a heart attack ... that´s about all that registers before I go back to my futile attempts to rid myself of this insufferable chill
- Isaac asks how I´m feeling, and my throat has closed up so much that I can´t even speak
- the first half of the night consists of coughing up a storm, trying not to breathe on anyone (while trying to breathe at all), and listening to the hotel´s ¨special music¨
- the bits and pieces of sleep I get are filled with vivid and non-sensible dreams ... they keep repeating though, so I feel like I´m going crazy
- then magic happens ... I wake up absolutely drenched in sweat! The fever has broken, and suddenly I don´t have a chill anymore ... my breathing is also a lot easier, and the cough has been more or less surpressed!
- I´m able to sleep through the rest of the evening rather peacefully
- EoD

DAY 20 - Antigua
- we get up and check several travel places to find out how we get to El Salvador from Antigua
- we make a reservation for EARLY the next morning
- I feel a lot better than I did the day before, but I still don´t feel great
- Isaac checks out the market while I head back to the internet
- I try to watch the UNC game ... the streaming isn't all the great, but I'm able to see most of the second half (this is also when I accidentally wiped out my original week 2 blog)
- not much else happens for the day ... Isaac wants to try Pollo Campero, so we head back there for lunch ... it's not as "good" as it was the day before
- Seiko took off early in the morning, so we had the room to ourselves for our last night
- evening comes, and we realize we have quite a few quetzals left, and this is our last night in Guatemala ... so we decide to go spend some money
- first up, we hit a used book store ... we figure we're low on books as it is, so this is a great way to use up some of the cash ... after about an hour of browsing (and the shop wasn't that big), we settle on 3 chick-lit/romantic comedy style books
- next, we head to the market area to try the local street meat ... this is the first place we've seen big buns for some kind of sandwich with guacamole in it ... so we each get one ... turns out it's a chicken sandwich, and the chicken is pretty grisly ... we also see a couple chiles rellenos, so we get those too ... but again, not all that good ... at this point, we're slightly disappointed, but just done with food for the day
- we still have a bit of local currency left, so we hit a pharmacy, and Isaac gets some shampoo
- we head back to the hotel and try to get to sleep early, because we have to be up for a 4am departure the next day
- EoD

DAY 21 - Antigua to Playa El Tunco
- after a few short hours of sleep, we get up at 3:30am (thanks to Isaac´s iPod alarm that is not loud, and only lasts for 10 seconds ... but thankfully, I hear it and wake up)
- we head out of the hotel, and a minibus picks us up right at 4am
- we´re the first 2 on the bus, but we wind up making several stops throughout Antigua, and by the time we are officially heading towards Guatemala City, the mini bus is full ... the same as all the other minibuses we´ve been on, only instead of 20 to 25 tiny locals crammed into the bus, we have exactly 9 tourists ... and it´s a tight fit (I once again get Colorado ... this time, she´s so big, so actually needs help getting out of her seat ... and she´s having body heat and breathing issues ... awesome)
- the roads are quiet and the ride isn´t too long ... it´s dark and no one is talking, so overall, it´s a fairly painless experience
- after about 30 minutes, we arrive at the airport in GC, where five of the tourists got off the bus
- the airport wasn´t huge, but it wasn´t tiny either ... and it looked fairly nice and modern
- about 10 minutes later, we drove through a much less modern part of town, where many people were mulling around, getting ready to set up their market stands (even though it´s still dark outside) ... only, we weren´t driving through that area, it just happened to be the same spot as our $5 cheaper bus station (TICA bus being the other option))
- we pull into the station, and it´s a total dump... fumes everywhere ... the bathroom was straight-up scary ... someone is grabbing our bags and throwing them on a bigger bus, someone else beckoning us to a counter to get our names passport numbers) ... the mini bus takes off with the last two tourists (heading to TICA bus, I presume) ... we experience a couple of ¨where are our tickets¨sketch moments, but next thing you know, we´re on a perfectly comfortable bus (this was $5 supposedly because it didn´t have a/c and tv ... but it had both) ... and it never even filled up - just us and a few locals
- so we head for El Salvador at 6am, and it´s just a nice ride ... we´re both in and out of sleep the entire time, and as the sun comes up, it hits the windows hard ... but the bus was equipped with fairly efficent curtains, and the a/c made it fairly comfortable
- we arrive at the border to El Salvador, and the bus stops at immigration, and we figure we need to get off and talk to an officer ... but no one is saying anything, and only some people ahead of us actually got off the bus
- I head out anyway, with Isaac a couple minutes behind
- I immediately get circled by all these men, all talking to me a mile a minute ... some of them with huge wads of cash in their hand (so obviously trying to offer to exchange any remaining quetzals we might have - El Salvador´s official currency is USD)
- but the non-cash guys kept saying something about you need to go this way, and you need a passport ... it was all very confusing (and no one else from the bus offering any help or stepping in) ... eventually I pull out my passport to shut them up ¨stop saying I need my passport, I have it right here¨ ... well that was a huge mistake, because one guy immediately grabs it and takes it from me!!!! NOT GOOD!! I grab back at it, and I´m freaking at the thought that he may just bolt ... instead we each hold on to the passport and he leads me to a part of a wall with a ledge, and he pulls out some piece of paper and a pen
- the whole thing seems beyond sketch, but more importantly, I can see a queue inside the immigration office (and none of these people have any appearance of representing immigration - and yet the officials inside don´t seem bothered that these guys are pestering tourists outside)
- whatever he´s doing ... MAYBE he´s actually trying to do me a favour ... I see a better alternative just a few feet away ... so I swipe the passport, head straight into the office, and ignore the various spanglish-esque insults being hurled at me
- I get in the office and join the queue ... I look out wondering where Isaac is, and if he´s getting the same treatment ... he enters the office a minute later, and he says he saw enough of what I went through to avoid them altogether, so no issues there
- 5 minutes later, we´re at the front of the queue and we get our stamp to leave Guatemala ... simple as that
- back on the bus, and we cross over to El Salvador ... no stamp here (sucks not getting a stamp), no getting off the bus ... an official comes on the bus, looks at our passports, nods his head, and away we go
- the bus showed two movies ... the first movie was god-awful made-for-television flick (with a bunch of really famour actors, but dubbed), where three guys kidnap a baby for ransom, and they wind up getting hit with a variety of ¨Home Alone¨-esque disasters ... funny for a minute, but not what I would call watchable
- the second movie was WAY more entertaining ... where a bunch of prisoners get dropped off on an island and it´s a PPV tv show that shows all the prisoners trying to kill each other to be the last one standing (one of them being the wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, so you know the movie is crap, but still way better than the first one)
- naturally, we arrive at the bus station in San Salvador about 20 minutes into the ¨good¨ movie
- we get off the bus, and we're in a rather nice terminal for King Quality (infinitely better than the terminal we first boarded in GC)
- we head upstairs and talk to a ticket agent, and we get enough information to get our bearings, and we decide to walk towards parque central to try to catch a bus to the beach
- naturally, it's the hottest time of the day, and carrying our packs, the heat feels like death incarnate
- after asking this person and that person, we eventually find ourselves on some random street, in front of a food/drink stand ... apparently, this is THE bus stop to get to the beach (although there is no sign that it's a bus stop at all)
- as we're waiting for the 102 bus (San Salvador constantly has a gazillion buses going by in all directions), about three 22L buses go by ... eventually, the woman running the food stand tells us that the 22L will get us to the beach too ... doh!
- we get on the next one, and it eventually gets packed (typical chicken bus) ... I wind up having to sit with my bag on top of me (even though there really isn't enough room to breathe like that) ... at least the ride only costs like $0.60
- it's around this time that it really hits home that El Salvador's official currency is the US dollar ... kind of strange
- the bus takes us on a decent tour of the southwestern parts of the city, and we eventually hit the southern highway to La Libertad
- we arrive at La Libertad, and the ocean is within view ... always a good feeling
- the town is a bit of chaos, but the bus driver points us to the 80 bus, just down the street a bit ... telling us that will get us to the beach town we want
- little did we know there are two 80 buses ... one that runs northwest (the one we wanted), and one that runs southeast (the one we didn't want) ... and they naturally stack on the same street, one after the other (alternating)
- so obviously, we took the wrong bus
- fortunately we pieced together our mistake before we'd completely left town ... they let us exit before we had to pay, and we were more careful getting on the next 80 bus
- this bus ride only cost $0.25, and about 20 minutes later, the bus stopped for us, letting us off at an intersection to a road that boasted many signs for Playa El Tunco
- bags back on our shoulders, heat still trying to cripple and maim, we walked a surprisingly long road to get to where the hotels were
- we finally arrived at a couple that were recommended in the Lonely Planet ... unfortunately, they were both full ... it never occurred to us the whole beach might be full
- we keep walking until the road turns towards the ocean ... there we found Papaya, and were quite relieved to be informed they had a room available
- Papaya turned out to be a really great place to stay ... an open kitchen, a couple of shady areas to hang out, with hammocks, internet (if you could ever get your turn on the computer) ... and the room was decent ... pretty good beds, a fan, and a private bathroom ... and the price was on the low-end for the entire town ... the only real negatives were that the sinks were all outside the rooms, and the water often stopped running for hours at a time
- we get settled in and then we go to check out the beach
- dry black sand under the sun all day = HOT ... I can't imagine that walking on coals is much worse really ... but as long as you're wearing sandals, your feet don't burn
- the moist black sand was actually very comfortable, and fine for lying on
- the ocean itself was very inviting ... not cold at all, and not dirty ... the waves were constant, but rarey "big" ... about four sets of waves out is where all the surfers would gather ... but El Tunco is known more as a play to learn to surf (as opposed to a place when you can catch really big waves)
- we jump in the ocean, dive through a few waves, and life is just suddenly GOOD
- as the sun started to set, we hit a beach restaurant and got a huge michelada ... refreshing, yummy and cheap
- we then headed out to look for food ... we walked back up the main road for a bit, and then we discovered Mopelia ... our new "home"for dinner
- we sat at the bar and ordered drinks ... we met Miguel, the bartender ... then we ordered cheeseburgers (that were soooo good) ... we eventually met the owner, Gil - he'd come from Belgium a few years ago ... he's now married to a local woman (Mopelia's cook), and they have an adorable little boy
- a few drinks later, we did the short walk back to our room, and went to bed pretty happy ... minus the fact that my cold was still on the mend ... and Isaac's cold was really just beginning
- EoD
- EoW

WEEK 2

so I was watching UNC play LSU, and at the same time, I went to post my week2 write-up to the blog site ... only, in my ever-skilled attempt at multi-tasking, I magically managed to LOSE MY ENTIRE BLOG ... several days later, I´m going to give it another go

DAY 8 - Hopkins
- I get up around 9am, needing to pee, and cursing the existance of Bitters
- Thomas and Shalini are out and about, and they fill me in on Dorothy´s version of my adventures last night
- I tell them to avoid bitters at all costs, and then go back to bed
- a little while later, there is a bang on our door ... apparently it´s now 1:30pm, and T&S are about to get picked up for the next part of their trip - going to a farm stay not too far off from Hopkins
- we get up and say goodbye ... and a few more details are sorted out with our misadventures
- at one point, Dorothy asks us what´s on the menu tonight ... i.e. the cockroach the first night, and the lawn crashing last night ... what´s next!!
- we promise not much will happen tonight ... the entire day consists of a bit of time at the beach, followed by a meal at the Octopus Garden (this time it´s stewed beef with rice&beans for both of us) ... and we´re crashed out again before that evening´s drumming session has ended
- EoD

DAY 9 - Hopkins
- finally feeling fully recovered from the bitter bitters experience, we decide it´s time for a real beach day
- so for the first time on the trip, we lie in the sun during the high noon heat
- now, Isaac and I used the SAME SPF30, so I´m not entirely sure what went wrong ... but a couple hours later, I´m starting to feel a little bit ¨done like dinner ¨... and Isaac seems perfectly fine
- confident that I have acquired a ¨bit¨of a sunburn, I´m ready to spend the rest of the day in the shade
- we return to our lunchtime stomping grounds, the Octopus Garden
- by now, we´ve built enough of a rapport with the cook that I boldly ask her for extra stewed beef sauce poured directly onto my pile of rice&beans (turns out beef was our favourite of the meats, so we both went for that repeat)
- in talking with the cook, we learn that she used to run the Riverside Cafe in Dangriga ... and a lightbulb clicks! ... we had checked out that Cafe, because it was highly recommended by everyone ... but we didn´t get the right vibe there, so we never stayed to try the food ... turns out we were just saving up for the real thing EVERY DAY in Hopkins!
- lunch over, we headed back to Lebeha to chill in the shade, and get some more read on
- shortly after we´ve settled in, Larooney drops by to say hi ... saying he was thinking of us yesterday, when he got up at SEVEN AM to go to Placencia for the day!! Either that dude is immune to bitters, or he is just plain nuts (probably both) ... he had a pretty good laugh remembering that night ... including how I apparently begged him ¨no more bitters!¨... figures
- he asks us if we want soy burgers for dinner tonight ... we´d just eaten, and weren´t even sure if we´d want dinner at all tonight ... but it was a hard offer to pass up ... especially when he said he´d hook us up and make it extra good ... so we agreed to order the meal package again, and he´d deliver it later that evening, when he came to watch the drumming
- turns out we´d just gone through a long weekend in Belize ... and now that everyone was back at work, things were might quieter, especially at night
- as such, there wasn´t any drumming ... which was a bit disappointing
- eventually, Larooney shows up with the food ... the soy burgers were extra big, and just as tasty as before ... we had already decided this was our last night in Hopkins (off to Placencia next), so we enjoyed the food as a great last meal here
- once the night was all wrapped up, and we´d gotten ready for bed, I lay down on my back for the first time since being out in the sun ... and it was apparently I´d more than just slightly burned myself - DOH!
- EoD

DAY 10 - Hopkins to Punta Gorda
- we get up and pack up and say our goodbyes
- bye the time we leave, it´s close to noon and it is HOT out
- I can feel the burn on my back, especially with my backpack on
- we have a fairly lengthy walk (with no shade in sight) to the town centre, where there´s a little open-aired (but thankfully roofed) hut for people to sit and wait ... for buses and/or whatever
- there is no bus to Placencia that goes into Hopkins ... it has to be caught from the highway (4 miles from town) ... so we´re told to just hitch a ride to the highway
- the roads are pretty much empty ... next to no traffic ... and there are like 5 other people (all locals) also trying to get to the highway
- I´d guess at least an hour goes by, futilely trying to flag someone down to give us a lift ... and then a school bus shows up and saves the day
- we get dropped off at the highway, and there´s another bus stop to hide from the sun ... only it´s smaller, and much smellier ... and on the wrong side of the highway
- it´s just Isaac and myself there at first, but then a couple of other guys show up, having been dropped off by a northbound bus ... they are both heading into Hopkins, and after we explain to one of them that his best bet is to try to hitch into town, they both catch rides without any real difficulty
- we spend at least half an hour scanning the northern horizon, for any sign of a beloved James bus ... Dorothy has told us one of two buses will arrive ... the first takes you straight to Placencia, but it uses a lot of windy and broken up back roads ... the second bus goes to Punta Gorda, but travels a straight line on the main highway ... and you can get off at Independence and take a quick and cheap water taxi from there to Placencia ... her opinion is that the latter bus is the one we should be hoping for
- a bus appears, and we dart across the highway with our bags, flagging it down ... turns out it is the Punta Gorda (all the locals call it PG) bus
- we get on, and it´s not too crowded, so we each get our own row
- by the time the guy comes to get our money, we´ve both decided that we aren´t that keen on Placencia, and we´re kinda ready to get to the next big leg of our tripa ... so we pay for a ride all the way to Punta Gorda!
- the ride is nice and comfortable, and mostly effortless ... except ... Colorado rears it´s ugly head!!! And talk about ugly ... this Colorado looked like he was kicked out of ZZ Top for having the hair on his head and beard TOO long, as well as the tobacco stains on his teech being too wide, dark, and disgusting ... I´ll do my stomach and my nose a favour and not attempt to describe his body odour
- so Colorado sees that we speak English, and I guess he´s dying to chat ... typically, I´m closer to him, so I´m his lucky target/victim ... at first, it wasn´t too bad, because he was on the opposite side of the bus ... but he eventually moves over to the same side, and now my life is once again hell in a hot seat
- Isaac winds up changing sides of the bus a bit later (likely on the premise of getting away from the sun), and I´m too happy to follow suit ... between this move and my monosyllabic grunts to most of his questions and comments, Colorado seems to get the message, and the rest of the ride is uneventful, if not entirely pleasant
- we arrive in PG, and by the time I´ve hoisted my bag on my burnt shoulders, Isaac is already around the corner, chatting to some older tourist guy
- I catch up to them, and I meet Andy from Germany ... seems like a nice guy, and he´s leading us to where he´s staying, saying that some of the hotels are already full
- goal #1 is to get as far away from Colorado as possible, so off we go ... we pass the town centre (with the big clock tower that apparently doesn´t work), and wind up checking in to a hotel that´s above Brad´s Hardware Store (the hotel may not have an official name ... or it might be called ¨The Upstairs Lounge¨)
- the room works ... we have two fans (one of them does require connecting the ends of two uncovered wires - but we manage), the beds are fairly comfortable, the bathroom is pretty big ... cold water shower is about the only negative really
- we drop off our bags and head out to see the town ... it takes about 30 minutes to do a decent up and down of it
- not long after we start walking, we run into King - a local artist who specializes in using natural resources for his art ... he seems like a cool guy ... if his studio was closer, I would have gone to check it out ... but it was always just a bit out of our way ... a few days later, I met a guy who not only knows King, but it wearing a ring that King gave to him for free ... made simply by carving a nut into the right shape - it was a pretty decent looking ring
- we finish our walk down the near the water ... PG seems like an alright town, but there´s no beach at all ... just a dock here and there ... including the customs dock, which is where we figure we´ll need to go to get to Guatemala
- back by the hotel, we hit a little food shop for a drink and a snack ... we get 6 super tasty fish panades .... while we´re eating them, Andy shows up and joins us
- Andy is carrying his Lonely Planet with him, and he mentions a restaurant that he´s thinking about trying
- we counter that there´s a restaurant we´ve walked by that we want to check out ... it´s a seafood restaurant that the Lonely Planet claims it has the best fried chicken in Belize
- Andy says that sounds good and would we wind if he joined us
- we think this sounds like a grand idea, so we take off for Emery´s Restaurant
- we get there and wind up having what might be the best meal of the trip!
- I get the fried chicken (with white rice and stewed beans), and Isaac gets the garlic shrimp (same sides) ... we´re able to share our meals without any difficultly ... both dishes were SO good, and they seemed to go together amazingly well
- so we´re having this great meal, BUT ... it´s being marred by the transformation of our dinner companion ... as the evening has progressed, he has slowly gone from Andy the nice tourist to simply ¨the German¨. The German is one of those strange mysteries that seems to hate everything about everything that isn´t German, and yet he isn´t in Germany ...
- we´ve really enjoyed Belize ... the people, the food, the music, the beach ... just had a really good time ... ¨me, not so much .... I don´t enjoy this place ... these people steal my camera ... this food is not good ... why would you put rice and beans together - it makes no sense ... this beer is not good ... beer in Germany is much better ... these beaches are too dirty ... not nice ... this music is not good ... this constant drumming ... never changes tune ... just always the same drumming ... I don't like this negro music¨!
- needless to say, we were pretty floored with the German´s reaction ... it seemed that every single thing we enjoyed in Belize was something he hated ... which really made me wonder WHY on earth he was there in the first place
- we call it a night and head back to the hotel ... wouldn´t you know it, Colorado has the room across from us!!! Typical. Luckily, he seems preoccupied with the huge bottle of alcohol that he´s almost emptied
- we get ready for bed, and have a laugh doing some terrible German impressions
- EoD

DAY 11 - Punta Gorda to Livingston
- there's a knock on our door at 8:30 or so ... it's the German
- he tells us that he's researched the boat information for getting to Guatemala, and the way to do it is to go to Puerto Barrios at 10:30
- we opt for our original plan of going to Livingston (for the exact same price) at 2pm ... this also helps us avoid the German (or so we think)
- we get up and hit an internet cafe for a while ... then we check out and head to the customs office (which is right by where we catch the boat)
- we have to wait for the customs officials to eat lunch before they eventually take our passports and our departure fees, we get our passports stamped and we head off to the dock to wait for the boat
- not long after, about 10 of us are headed towards Guatemala on this little passenger speed boat
- the ride wasn't bad at all, but there were several BIG bumps, where we were all somewhat airborne ... followed by rather hard landings
- about an hour later, we were pulling into Livingston ... hard to believe we'd changed countries, as most of the people walking around were Garifuna ... the town felt much more touristy than PG, and the air was quite a bit more humid / tropical feeling
- we got off the boat, got our bags, and hiked up a rather steep road for a few hundred feet ... then on the side of the street, looking like any other building, was the tiny immigration office for entering Guatemala
- the paperwork was pretty straight forward, so in just a few minutes, we were walking through town, trying to navigate our way to the hotel we'd picked out of the Lonely Planet
- a couple minutes later, wouldn't you know it, we run into the German!! Apparently, his brainstorm was to pay twice as much as we did, and first travel from PG to Puerto Barrios, then catch a second boat from Puerto Barrios to Livingston ... brilliant
- luckily, we have our bags, and we have to go find our hotel, so we don't talk for long
- a few minutes later, we met Charlie (rather he came up to us and forced us to meet him) ... an older Garifuna guy who spoke so-so English
- Charlie asks us where we're heading, offering us help ... we tell him we don't need any help, and he says, "This is my town, I'll take you there ... I'm not doing anything else anyway ... I don't want any money" ... something like that ... so not that we had any choice really, but we agree to let Charlie lead us to our hotel - the Hotel Garifuna
- a couple minutes later we get there, and Charlie starts talking to the lady who runs the place ... and then he hangs around to make sure we're happy with our room ... it didn't take long at all to get a bad feeling about Charlie
- Charlie was asking us what we were planning to do tonight, suggesting we come to this club to see live music ... we said we'd consider it, but for the time being, we wanted to get settled into our hotel room ... and magically, Charlie left us alone
- the room was alright ... so-so beds, a decent fan, a cold-water shower, and a toilet that didn't flush very well ... the lady running the place was really nice though
- so we get settled, and then head out for a walk ... we're in a new country!
- we walk up towards the "beach" at the northern end of town ... there's the water, but no sand or anything that would suggest anyone would ever go there to swim and lay in the sun ... it didn't take long at all before the road hooked back through to the part of town we'd already seen
- the sun starts to set, and we decide to check out "happy hour" (apparently most of the bars and restaurants in Livingston do a happy hour) ... this is when we make the unfortunate mistake of walking down a street where Charlie is able to spot us
- at this point, Charlie seems a bit intoxicated ... or a bit MORE intoxicated than the first time we met him
- Charlie immediately joins us and again we insist we know where we're going, and again Charlie insists on taking us there, because this is his town (we know we're in trouble, but we have no idea how to avoid it)
- we'd mentioned earlier that we were wanting to try tapado for dinner - a dish that Livingston is supposed to be reknown for ... so Charlie takes us to this local dive of a restaurant and arranges with the cook for us to return in an hour or so to get tapado
- we walk to a couple of places, but their happy hours aren't good at all ... more importantly, the Charlie situation is just making life in general uncomfortable
- we finally pop into a bar and sit down, and Isaac and I each get a beer ... naturally, Charlie grabs a chair from a nearby table, sits down with us and orders and mini-flask of hard alcohol
- Charlie doesn't seem to have any money, so this earlier claim that he doesn't want any money from us is becoming less and less convincing
- we finish our beers and it's about time to head back to the place for the tapado dinner
- Isaac goes up to the front of the bar, and pays for the 2 beers ... trying to avoid the whole Charlie situation ... I get up and join him, and we head to the restaurant ... but it's only seconds later that Charlie is again by our side (we have no idea if he's paid for his drink or not)
- at the restaurant, Charlie again pulls up an extra chair to sit with us ... at this point, he's drunk enough to be slurring his words, and he seems to be in and out of consciousness
- the tapado was pretty impressive ... a huge bowl of seafood broth ... with an entire crab, an entire fish, some squid, and a lot of shrimp ... it probably would have been very enjoyable, if not for our uninvited companion
- at one point, Charlie says he's hungry and asks if we'll buy him some rice and beans ... at another point, he asks us if we paid for his drink at the last place (so he obviously did not pay) ... eventually, the cook brings out some extra broth with a crab in it and freebies it to Charlie ... we also agree to give him a bit of money at the end of the night, and that seems to ease the air enough for us to finish dinner
- we leave the restaurant and head back for the hotel ... again Charlie is talking about the live music ... he's also talking about going home first (he claims to live deep in the jungle) ... and he's also trying to sell us on the idea of going on a walking tour of the jungle tomorrow ... yikes yikes and more yikes!
- magically, we're able to get away with just giving Charlie like 10 quetzals, which is less than $1 ... so overall, the damage wasn't too bad ... BUT ... we might have enjoyed Livingston a whole lot more if Charlie hadn't tainted our experience ... given the day we'd just survived, we didn't plan to stay in Livingston much longer
- EoD

DAY 12 - Livingston to Rio Dulce
- we get up early and decide to buy some food before checking out of the hotel
- we track down a bakery that was recommended in the Lonely Planet ... turns out it's right beside (almost right in front of) the immigration office ... we buy some coconut bread (basically just normal buns, with no coconut flavour at all), a couple pieces of pineapple pie (not great, but pretty good - worth trying one time), and a piece of banana bread (SO GOOD - too bad they only had one piece left)
- we also bought some super cheap bags of cut-up fruit from a street vendor ... some watermelon that looked yummy, but had ZERO taste, and some green mango that was just nasty (why oh why is this so popular with the locals??) ... just dry and bitter
- we check out, but the boat to Rio Dulce isn't for a few hours ... so we wind up hanging out at this restaurant that had a single computer offering free internet to whichever patron was lucky enough to snag it before everyone else
- eventually, we each get a quick turn on the pc, and I'm able to catch up a bit on all the NCAA conference tournament action
- we see the German walking around now and again, but we're able to avoid him for the most part
- I also notice many tourists walking around, being led but one local or another (making us feel less moronic for not being able to lose Charlie ... this just seems to be how Livingston is)
- time comes for us to catch our boat, so we head back down to the docks
- we get on another small passenger boat, and brace ourselves for another hour-long ride
- the scenery this time was totally different though ... instead of just open ocean water, we started down a narrow river, with massive walls of green on either side ... it felt straight out of a movie where a boat is going down a river in the middle of the jungle ... pretty nice
- eventually, the river opened up and got very wide, but there was always something to see on either side, so the ride went by very quickly
- as we docked, the boat driver asks us where we planned to stay ... we mentioned the hostel we'd picked from the Lonely Planet, and it turns out the driver needed to call them on his cell phone, so they could come pick us up!
- about 5 or 10 minutes later, another boat pulls up, and we find out that's our ride to the hostel ... casa perico
- a 5 minute boat ride later, we're ducking swampy tree limbs as the driver navigates us to the dock of casa perico
- the hostel is run by Swiss people, and all the rooms and interconnected by raised wooden walkways ... I said the place had a very "Swiss Family Robinson" feel ... but nobody ever seemed to get the joke
- the air was super humid, and we were surround by greenery ... add in the animal sounds, and there was a distinct feeling of being in the middle of a jungle
- our room was decent, with a couple of large beds with mosquito nets ... the communal bathrooms were good, and Isaac was quite happy to get a shower with hot water
- by the time we were all settled in, it was already evening
- given the fact that we seemed to be in a jungle, coupled with the red welts Isaac was already sporting (especially on his ankles), there was some concern about mosquitoes ... so out came the shoes, socks, pants, long sleeved top and the deet ... we headed to the bar/restaurant
- we got beers and met Vinnie and Hanna, a couple who live in Guelph ... although Hanna is originally from Poland
- we had really good conversations with them, over several beers ... and eventually dinner (I had a fairly decent spaghetti, Isaac had a fish sandwich with fries)
- Vinnie and Hanna had been travelling north, so they had just come from most of the places we were planning to visit next on our trip ... which was helpful, in that they were able to recommend a couple of places ... in particular, they recommended a place in Nicaragua for semana santa (Easter week), which was perfect timing, as people had been telling us we needed to book for Easter week as soon as possible (if we wanted to get anything decent)
- hours later, everyone had consumed (more than) enough beers, so we called it a night and went to bed
- EoD

DAY 13 - Rio Dulce to El Estor
- we get up, pack up and check out, and the boat guy drops us off in Rio Dulce
- we hit an internet cafe, with the primary objective of making a reservation for semana santa
- we even try a few international phone calls to Nicaragua to try to book something
- it winds up taking several days for everything to be confirmed, but most of the leg-work is done at this time (and we wind up getting the place that Vinnie and Hanna recommended)
- we then head out into the street, to find the intersection where we can catch a mini-bus to El Estor
- for the first time, we actually get a taste of the city of Rio Dulce ... the main street is just packed with people selling wares, market style
- we see a lot of the standard foods we've been seeing everywhere, but then I spot something different, and I ask the lady what it is ... "chiles rellenos" she replies ... "dos, por favor, " I say instantly ... they were YUM ... and cheap ... unfortunately, they've been incredibly hard to find ever since
- we get our food in a bag, and we round the corner of the street, and there's a mini-bus there that seems to just be waiting for us (it has exactly 2 spots left, and it's heading where we want to go)
- we hop in, and I get to sit half on a seat and half on a cushion that's been sized perfectly to fill the space between the seats and the sliding van door
- we take the bus just over half the way to El Estor, stopping at Finca El Paraiso .... Vinnie and Hanna had mentioned that there was a waterfall here that they just loved ... and it sounded pretty cool, so we decided to check it out
- an entrance fee and a 10 minute walk later, we came to the waterfall, and there were many people swimming and splashing about, and just having a good time
- what makes this waterfall so neat is that the water that comes down from the top is HOT ... and the water in the basin is cool ... so the overall effect is pretty crazy ... you can stand in the waterfall and get a hot shower ... you can swim in the pool to cool off ... and you can manouver behind the waterfall (under some stalactite formations) and get a literal sauna / steam room effect!
- once we'd had our fun with the waterfall, we headed back to the rocks where we'd left our bags and clothes ... one thing I noticed on the way out of the water was that little fish kept nipping at my back!! In hindsight, I think my sunburn was finally starting to peel, and the fish were biting at the skin ... whatever the reason, it wasn't a fun feeling at all
- we walked back to the road, and flagged down another mini-bus towards El Estor
- the bus we got was already full, but they still made room for us ... this time, I got to sit with my tailbone nicely positioned on a metal knob that obviously used to be a seat belt buckle ... ouch
- we arrive in El Estor, and it quickly becomes apparent that we're the only tourists around ... which is a bit of a welcome feeling really
- we head to a hotel that is right beside the parque central, and try to find someone to give us a room
- the only people we find are these two kids ... Bernard (maybe 10 years old) and his sister Ashley (probably about 5) ... really cute and friendly kids (not a word of English) ... but it soon becomes apparent that their parents are not around, and Bernard is in charge of the hotel!
- a few failed attempts with our inept Spanish, and we finally secure a room ... it has a fan and a tv (a tiny tv above the fan) and two single beds ... the bathroom door doesn't close, and the shower is cold water ... and the beds have ANTS on them ... oops
- we've already paid and we didn't see much choice in the way of hotels anyway ... so we brush off the ants, move the beds away from the walls, and figure we can make do with the room
- the kids are playing a soccer-esque game with a ball, that includes dangerously climbing up to the second floor of all the surrounding buildings, most of them in a state of partial construction ... they also really loved to slide down the railing for the stairs of the hotel ... they included us in their games, and we quickly became friends
- night came, and we headed out looking for dinner
- we walked up and down the main streets, and poked our head into every restaurant (all three) that we came across ... nothing looked even remotely appealing (not even the street meat)
- in a last ditch effort, we tried the dark, quiet, opposite side of parque central ... there was one building with lights on, and it seems to have an establishment up on the second floor ... here we found a nice restaurant, with nice people running the place ... we wound up getting huge plates of pasta (fettucini in cream sauce with shrimp for me, and fettucini in a red wine sauce and mixed seafood for Isaac) ... we had been hoping for some authentic Guatemalan food, but we were able to enjoy our meals all the same
- we food coma stumbled our way back to the hotel, and checked out some Guatemalan tv (which consisted mostly of bad music videos and American movies, often in English)
- once we'd had enough channel flipping, we called it a night
- EoD

DAY 14 - El Estor to Lanquin
- I wake up to see Bernard staring into our window ... he asks where "ee zak" is, and I tell him he's still sleeping ... he laughs and runs away ... I think we might be the only people staying at the hotel
- we get up and head out, saying goodbye to Bernard ... Ashley is nowhere to be found
- at the parque central, we catch the bus to Lanquin (so we think ... the bus only goes as far as Cahabon)
- the bus isn't too crowded, which is nice ... but the ride is bumpy, windy, and DUSTY ... so much dust drifts into the bus that our clothes are covered (and so starts a cough in my chest that turns into days and days of illness, probably for both of us)
- the bus ride was highlighted by a couple of locals ... one of them was sleeping with his arm dangling out the window ... which would eventually get nailed by some branches hanging out from the side of the hill beside us ... this would cause pain and wake him up and he'd bring his arm back into the bus ... but a few minutes later, he'd be asleep with his arm out the window again! ... then there was another local who was sleeping with his head right by the window, and he mouth GAPING open ... and we'd get a huge dust cloud coming in through the window, and the dust would go right into his mouth! It'd wake him up, but just like the other guy, a few minutes later he'd be sleeping with his mouth wide open again!
- eventually, we arrive in Cahabon, and we're told we have to get off, and catch the bus across the street (at least they were nice enough to tell us where to go)
- this bus is a little smaller and a little more full (it fills and unfills at various stops throughout the journey)
- this ride is highlighted by two things ... the first is this local who might not even speak Spanish (he keeps saying he speaks Guatalateca), but he's fascinated with our phrase book, and wants to know how to say some words in English ... trying to get him to sound out "good" was next to impossible ... but when he left, he gave a fairly convincing "bye"
- the second "hightlight" of this bus ride was all the workers who got on the bus at the end of their day in the field ... all carrying their machetes!! ... most were wrapped in paper, but not all ... the most memorable being a guy sitting one seat in front of me, and sliding his machete under his legs ... I then looked down at my foot-in-sandal, and saw the blade UNDER MY SHOE!! Scary ... the blade looked sharp too ... when he got up to go, I moved my foot away, then saw the blade come UP where my toe was ... I shudder to think what could have happened
- the bus driver asks us where we're staying in Lanquin ... we tell him "El Retiro" ... a place recommended by Thomas and Shalini
- turns out El Retiro comes up a few minutes before the town of Lanquin ... so we get dropped off at the top of a hill, and we walk down a cobblestone path to reception ... we were the only tourists on the bus, but there are quite a few tourists in line ahead of us at reception
- by the time it's our turn, we ask for a room, and the woman says they only have hammocks left ... i.e. not only are we sleeping in hammocks, but we'll be sleeping basically outdoors!! Lovely ... at least it only costs us $5 total
- as we walk to our hammocks, we get our first real look at El Retiro ... the place is a backpacker mecca ... rooms sprawled out in every direction down a huge hill, all connected by the cobblestone walkways ... with the river at the bottom of the hill, and a big restaurant/bar, even a do-it-yourself sauna!
- we get our hammocks (at least we packed quasi sleeping bags), set up as best we can, and head for the showers ... the hot water showers are fantastic, especially after a day of being covered in dust
- after the showers, it's back to mosquito-prevention evening wear, and we hit the bar/restaurant for happy hour
- at happy hour, we get introduced to a local alcohol called quetzelteca ... it doesn't taste TOO bad, but it's evil stuff ... we're pretty sure it's the cause of some agony over the next couple of days
- not long after, people start flooding in for the dinner event ... basically, you sign up earlier in the day ... either meat or vegetarian ... then they put the food out buffet style
- it's Sunday, so the meat option is "Sunday roast" ... but it's actually fried chicken with various local vegetables, and some boiled broccoli ... about the only thing that feels like actual "Sunday roast" are the roasted potatoes ... but overall, the meal is pretty yummy and enjoyable
- the night progresses and happy hour reintroduces itself ... we meet a lot of nice people from all over the world (but a lot of them seem to hail from the pacific northwest) and talk until the restaurant shuts down ... meaning it's time to hit the hammocks
- the hammock experience wasn't brutal ... at least there weren't any mosquitoes as far as we know ... but it was COLD, and not much sleep was possible (and it wasn't entirely the fault of the quetzelteca)
- NOTE: (we later hear a story of a guy who stayed in one of those hammocks, and he was bit in the face by some huge tarantula type spider and had to go to the hospital ... NOT COOL!!)
- EoD
- EoW