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