finca de raton fink

last of the last

2009-04-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

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.

qoo-qoo for quetzals

2009-04-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2009-04-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

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.

monkeys, lizards, birds, dolphins, etc.

2009-04-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

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!

san salvadoloreans

2009-03-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

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.

san salvadorrrrrr

2009-03-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

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.

dang. i mean Yay!

2009-03-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

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.

el salvablog

2009-03-15T08:04:00.001-07:00

we are in el salvador, just in time for the presidential election. we didn't take any pictures of the first town we stayed in, Ahuachapan, but here is our hotel room, with hella trippy mural (look at the bottom of the page for another variation), in Juayua (sounds like what-you-want).

Papusas. they are everywhere here. kevin has been feeling under the weather with constant nauseau for about a week.

more poached fotos

2009-03-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

looking muy tonto
nicole @ pollo campero
i wish i took this picture of a backyard wrestling match

finca de wtf

2009-03-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

we didn´t last too long on the wwoof farm...i had heard they´re pretty hit and miss and we definitely classify this one as a ´miss.´ pretty rough around the edges, but it was beautiful, and here are a few pics.
ostriches are very cute and big in person. there was 1 male and a harem of 5-6 ladies. whenever we got close he would drop and do this mating dance that i think also means get the hell away from my girls.

this is the little house we stayed in with 3 other volunteers. electricity yes, but no shower head or hot water. i think i was the first person to clean the toilet this year.
one of several amazing sunsets with volcanoes agua, fuerte, and pacaya on the horizon.
another friendly perro, charlie, who had gone missing 3 months earlier and reappeared the day we got there.

a very precious hummingbird i found on the ground. we did our best to care for him, might have given him an overdose of sugar water...in the end he didn´t make it. i said a prayer.

blogdonavitch

2009-03-06T19:07:00.000-08:00

eating sushi and drinking grapette in antigua

our hotel room in antigua. i watched a lot of tv and improved my spanish

2009-03-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Kevin on the street in immaculate Antigua.

Some of the gorgeous ruins in Antigua (they´ve had 5? devastating earthquakes over the years)

In the mangroves of Monterrico, Nicole glares at Kevin for taking this picture.

alright stop, it´s WWOOFer time

2009-03-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yay we made it to the horse and ostrich farm! it´s very.... we´re not sure. currently we´re awaiting the return of Eleazar, the guy who runs the place. According to the 2 other volunteers here, he´s a rich 50-something alcoholic who doesn´t know much about either horses or ostriches. Will write more as our life here unfolds...

Last week we were spoiled rotten by Kevin´s dad in Antigua, Guatemala´s signature sheshefufu city. Then, a couple days ago my beach campaign came to fruition as Kevin finally caved and we trekked down to Monterrico. It was great to be near the ocean despite the 3 buses each way, mosquitoes, black sand (=VERY HOT), and swim-at-your-own-risk waves. Our hotel pool was luxurious, but the best part was the surrounding nature reserve. We had a boat tour among the mangroves, gorgeous birds, and 4eyed fish that jump around on the water´s surface.

2 mas para los peeps

2009-03-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

gettin' ruined. hahaha j/k swak
this lil guy was so soft and furry and was lickin our fingers and so i petted him on the head and then our guides told me not to because he will bite my finger off

experiblogamental

2009-03-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

I just had this great idea right now that i am going to start poaching other travelers photos from these computers that i use and post them here. i hope others do the same with my photos. sometimes it takes a very long time to upload the photos and so i look at the other pictures stored on the computer and here are 2 that stood out:

pics from nicoles camera

2009-03-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

nicole doesn't like to blog, but i think its great and her camera had all these great pictures on it
Nicole doing morning sretches

Kevin vs. volcano

post tres del dia

2009-02-26T16:20:00.001-08:00

lil recuerdos. i love the hand painted souvenirs that i have found here.

guatemalan wart hogs, or puerco faces, as I like to call them.

this lil monkey was trying to snatch my bling. (note my lack of bling)

another shot of that gorge i talk about below. This gorge went right through the middle of the school and church.

y mas photografias #2 doble

2009-02-26T15:56:00.001-08:00

Takilik Abaj. a fun name to say. Mayan/Olmec ruins. it was hot here and we were tired and understood maybe 30-40% of what our guide said in Spanish, but it was muy interesante y tranquilo and they had a small zoo.

this little pond located near the Guatemalan Pompeii. muy muy tranquilo.

the gorge where the lava flowed through the middle of this town and now there are two janky suspension bridges to cross over.

Fuentes Georginas. amazing hot springs. this pool was very hot

photographias

2009-02-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

free zoo in Zela. The monkeys do their best to draw the crowds.

the cemetery in Xela. my teacher at school told me it can be dangerous to go here so we didn´t mess around.

the real reason why Nicole got sick: skunky candy bars

pobre Nicole

street food...

2009-02-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

*****announcing nicole´s full recovery from explosive sickness #1*******
(details lovingly withheld for your benefit)
lesson learned: never eat corn from guatemalan streetcarts.

although in their defense, most street food is safe and delicious. we like:

pupusas- thick cheesy tortillas with salad on top, $0.60
helado-amazing sorbet in handmade cone with dolop of jam on top, must eat every day, $0.40
garnachos-baby tortillas with meat/salad on top, $0.25 each
tortillas/tamalitos- sold hot by the mayan woman who made them, $0.10 each
amazing fruit- fat slices of sandia/watermelon are nicole´s fave, $0.15
(i forget the spanish name)-fried plantain stuffed with black beans, $0.60

2009-02-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

I´m on blog patrol tonight because Nicole is recovering from a cute lil stomach bug that she got today but is recovering nicely. We just finished 2 weeks of spanish classes. I learned that smoking in spanish translates to tuxedo and pepian de chompipe is a delicious authentic dinner with turkey. i also learned that there are many "false friends" in spanish and lots of irregularities. verbs mostly. we went to another little town today, this one called Chile Verde, and Nicole gave another nice talk on nutrition, but puked halfway through, and i had the kids draw and then played soccer with them.

Thanks to everyone who wrote me happy birthday messages. I had a great birthday and got my face pushed into a cake and got hit with an egg filled with confetti.

this is our friend Tony who sometimes goes with us to do activities with the school. we do a lot of activities with the school.

Nicole in the streets of Zunil where we visited St. Maximon; an idle that is a mix of Mayan and Catholic beliefs and who switches locations every year and people dress him up in crazy outfits like full snow ski suits and feed him beer, which he pees into a bowl, and give him cigars. it cost about 75 cents to take a picture of him, but i didn´t feel right about doing that.

I´m taller than Mayan children. ¿Who knew?

xela´s surrounding villages..and dog

2009-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

today we went to a little pueblo named Cajabal, about 40 min from Xela. nicole gave a presentation to the mayan women on nutrition and kevin did art with kids. there were farm animals everywhere and the sweetest people ever.

ninos

ninos coloring in nicole and kevins drawings

kevin studies the faces he sees on the bathroom floor while he sits on the toilet. and then photographs them.

camilo, the lamb/dog we live with. he just got a perm.

nicole modeling the local cortes (mayan women wrap it around their waist for a skirt.) we saw a weaving demo in salcaja, another nearby town.

2 weaving looms took up the entire room, and the wallpaper was our fave.

day 2. guatemala city,or guate.

great guat pics

2009-02-12T15:57:00.000-08:00

this church was built in like 1542 or something. its walls are like 2ft thick. a guy running a shop across the street had to come to unlock it for us and after we went to his house to try this super sweet liquor the town is famous for. it was awful.

this is our bathroom. for now. we like it. its private and better than all the other bathrooms put together. the bedet works great!

kevin bought the painting above for about 2.5 us dollars. its small but it came with a stand and he love it

look i´m in quetzaltenango.this is the central park where i come to sit in the warm but brief sun most days after surviving 4hrs of 1 on 1 spanish class.

blog bath

2009-02-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

nicole and i(kevin) are in guatemala for three months starting last wednesday (the 4th of feb). this is our blog. i´m trying to import some photos to put on here