Tuesday, April 28, 2009

last of the last


Nicole set adrift on a boat to memory bliss.


There are Mayan women in San Pedro La Laguna who walk around selling delicious, freshly baked cinnamon rolls, coconut bread, chocolate bread, and carrot bread to tourists, which include a high ratio of hippies.


Nicole's unofficial guard dog, Señor Zeke.



gatitos hermanos.



this music was so loud that I had to see what was happening. It was around 10am Monday morning and these compañeros were performing an interesting dance while under the influence of much alcohol.

omg our last week!

well after nearly 3 months we've made it almost full circle. our final stop was Lake Atitlan, near Quetzaltenango(or Xela) where we began our trip. this is kevin in front of our fancy hotel in San Pedro, one of several small towns on the lake.
This is the view from our room. pretty gorgeous.
taken inside the church of another small town on the lake named Santiago Atitlan. every single saint in there had its own tailor made outfit!
most days these mountains and volcanoes surrounding the lake were hidden by foggy clouds, but here's a bit of the famous view. we tried to kayak on 2 occasions and found we had a knack for going right as the wind picked up!
nicole's on a suspension bridge in the middle of the Panajachel (the biggest town on the lake) Nature Reserve. We actually saw spider monkeys in the wild! oh, wait a second.. they're surrounded by an electric fence.
don't let the label fool you. this Mayan liquor, aguardiente, is not as cute going down as the label suggests. i don't know how many of these bottles we brought home..kevin was obsessed!
well i finally found another volunteer project, if only for 1 week. this is the fence i helped build by lashing cornstalks to a makeshift wooden frame. i was told it's to keep dogs (and drunk guys) from bothering the spanish school's gardens and students.
here's the terrace of our other hotel on the lake. yes, also beautiful. i loved san pedro, it was so mellow and full of cheap, delicious food and accommodations. we still don't know why there were so many israelis here and nowhere else in our travels? a great place to end our amazing trip.

Friday, April 17, 2009

qoo-qoo for quetzals

i don`t think we mentioned going to a biotope for quetzals, guat`s national bird. i don`t know why it`s called a cloud forest, but we did see some gorgeous tropical foliage, a rad big snake, and a quetzal`s cousin. we`re told that the real thing is very illusive, and not to take it personally that we didn`t see one.

Here in San Pedro by the lake, Nicole is doing volunteer yard work at a school and saw a crazy blue and orange lizard today. Kevin is shopping for liquor, machetes, and cigars like a man. we cant` believe we`ll be home in mere kat days.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

whole lot o bloggering (C.A.) still in guatemala


the men with sticks disbanded and we finally made it to the ruins at Copan Ruinas. They were pretty cool.... for being all ruined. Nicole was in country bumpkin archeologist heaven, except it was very hot.






Ass-cending. hahaha lol j/k



we rode horses in Copan. kevin rode a lil guy, but he got him runnin good.




We saw some very rockin festivities in Coban, Guat. that is the almighty Semana Santa with processions and parties and flower, sawdust, and colored sand Jesus mandalas decorating the streets. I was like, ¨this is sooooo central american¨.


we stayed a couple of nights at a hotel in this little crap town that was miserably hot because we read that it had a courtyard boasting a collection of caged squirrels. at least we made 2 more animal friends



Nicole visited one of the streetside x-ray machines and found some startling news



so Kevin went deep into the river/cloud forest to find himself


Nicole and bamboo, together again.

Friday, April 3, 2009

monkeys, lizards, birds, dolphins, etc.


this lizard hung out in my nipple hair for a day or so without me knowing.



Kevin undercover in Suchitoto, el salvador


these parrots totally blew my cover in Copan Ruinas, Honduras.


more fun at the bird sanctuary. nicole´s so happy the parasites are gone! and the parrots took their place.

the museum is as close as we can get to the mayan ruins... a huge group of protesters armed w sticks have been blocking the entrance. we didn´t want to upset them.




kevin flying over monkey island. slowly.

adventures in upright life

suchitoto, el salvador. nicole was still ´with parasites´ but she tried to enjoy it.. there was a rad women´s rights celebration one night that i think the entire town came to.


on our way to the zoo/cave/local tourist attraction in esquipulas, guatemala.

monkey island, the highlight (aside from famous black jesus) of esquipulas.

and riding a tuk-tuk, on our way back, until.....


we got a flat tire. but the driver pushed the car over and had it changed in 2 minutes, no problema!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

san salvadoloreans


A game of spanish Scrabble(TM) that nicole and I played with my brother, Chris. It was great to get to hang out with Chris in El Salvador because he is the best and he knows so much about El Salvador. He was here to observe the elections and work with a group that helped the FMLN win.











These pictures were taken at the Museo de Arte Popular, a folk art museum. The scenes can represent anything from farmers working, mujeres making tortillas, important peace talks, to a sequence of a couple meeting, getting married, having sex, giving birth, and being a happy family, all contained in little egg-shaped ceramics.



Kevin is now almost completely free of amoebas! oh, and he got a haircut and a shave.



i got my first straight razor shave. this barber was incredible, like eduardo scissorhands. after he cut my hair and shaved my face he strapped a vibrating glove on and massaged my face, head and shoulders. i´m going to do this more often.

Friday, March 20, 2009

san salvadorrrrrr

Well by now we know we aren´t big city fans...but our pursuit of Chris, Kevin´s bro, led us to the crazy capital of san salvador. it really made us appreciate the small-town paradise of juayua. as soon as we got to our hotel, we learned that chris was staying right across the street! hahaha.

We´ve visited a couple of small but great museums; one full of the tiniest sculptures you´ve ever seen, and the other dedicated to civil war memoirs. Yesterday we ventured downtown and tried not to get mugged while weaving through the maze of street vendors, chicken buses and buildings. The noise alone was deafening, and we needed to get out fast. The lady at our hotel recommended bus #1 or 9, so what bus did we pick? #41a. Needless to say, we had a LONG complimentary tour and ended up who knows where-way outside of city limits-at dusk. Through sheer blessings, the driver found us a taxi and we got home safely.

Today I think we´ll stick with an organized tour and head to the beach with Chris´s group.

This is the interior of an evangelical church downtown. we´ve never seen a church quite like it-the exterior was a big dome, and it was gloomy inside with some creepy statues. but it was still nice to have a few minutes of refuge from the mayhem out on the streets.

this is our buddy pepito who lives at our hotel. he likes to bite ears and fingers, so visiting was risky. but he was just so cute...

here´s me and pepito. kevin thinks we look alike in this photo.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

dang. i mean Yay!

I think I'm almost totally over the Dengue Fever that I diagnosed myself with. I had all the more common and less severe symptoms; headache, muscle and joint aches, nausea, fatigue, plus Dengue Fever is the name of a band that I have enjoyed listening to for years,
http://www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic .

As for more wonderful and interesting news, the FMLN party in El Salvador won the presidential elections 2 days ago. The people here are very happy, here is another blog that will tell you more,
http://ofamerica.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/que-viva-el-fmln-el-salvadors-left-win-elections-ends-150-years-of-military-oligarch-rule/



As beautiful democracy was being delivered in ballot boxes, Kevin and Nicole swim in beautiful water. These pools were connected by tunnels which one is able to explore through, though it is kind of scary. Kevin followed a local boy into one and swam/walked about 400 feet to the exit on the other side of the hill.

post tunnel syndrome


Today we went on a hike and found a guerrilla leader....

and then a swamp monster.


Wherever you order food here, it comes with one of these.