Hola Guatemala

My new adventure!

2011-09-23T16:00:00.001-07:00

Check out my new adventure - 121 Jordanian Nights!

Por Fin

2011-09-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

"Por fin" means "finally" in Spanish ...

I think maybe I waited to too long to post this last thing. I've only been out of Central America for ... a month and half? Maybe two? And it already seems like a long time ago!

I'm in Jordan now. I may blog about it - we'll see.

People asked me what I miss about Guatemala, so here are a few things:

I miss the friendliness of the people. Everyone I stopped to ask for directions was always very nice and willing to help.

I miss how easy it was to make someone's day. Tipping gas station attendants always got a huge smile. I also really enjoyed handing out candy to kids (which I was assured multiple times was not creepy). Towards the end of the trip I started handing out Cokes. That whole Coke and a smile thing really worked!

I'm finding that I miss Spanish too. I haven't really used it since I've been back, but I've found some ways to put it to use. Hopefully that'll help me not to lose too much.

I miss the Gilmores!

I also miss the friends I made at the school and while I was traveling around and staying in hostels. If any of you make it to the States, get ahold of me!

What else can I say? Central America is beautiful. Very glad I went. If you have a chance to go, you should definitely check it out.

I should probably write more, but I'm working through some wicked jetlag.

Thanks for reading :)

Last full day in Central America!

2011-08-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today was my last full day in Central America!

Will it be bitter-sweet to leave? Nope. I'm so ready to be home. Plus I'm in a bad mood - allow me to elucidate.

It all started about midnight last night. I came into the dorm and the A/C was unplugged - again. I plugged it back in and climbed up into my bunk. I was in the top bunk of the bed directly in front of the A/C unit. The girl below me was cold and after about half an hour, she grabs a twin mattress from who knows where and props in on its end in front of our bunk to block the A/C.

I was pretty miffed at first, but then I thought - maybe I can live with this if the room still gets cool. Nope! Our bunk is so close to the A/C, that the mattress shield isn't allowing the air to move and it's tricking the thermostat in the A/C unit into thinking it's already cold! So it switches to standby mode. Great.

I hop out of bed, throw on a t-shirt and go to the lobby to ask if I can move to a different room. I didn't want to freeze this chick out, but something had to be done. Unfortunately, there were no other beds available, so the guy working at the desk comes in and tells her she can't have the mattress there. She's obviously unhappy and I don't blame her too much ... but as I think about it I do blame her. If you don't like the cold, why would you come to the hostel that has A/C? There are plenty without! I chose this place because it has A/C! Argh ...

Anyway, I ask her if she wants to switch bunks. Clearly upset, she asks "do you think it will help?" I assured her that heat rises ... and besides, she wouldn't be directly in the path of the A/C up there. She climbed up, huffing. I returned to the desk and asked the guy if he could find a blanket for her, which he did.

I was kinda worked up by this point, so I didn't sleep very well. The good news is that chick isn't in the dorm anymore. Don't know where she is, but I'm not going to miss her :)

I only got about four or five hours of sleep, and when I woke up, it hurt to swallow - yeah, yeah I know. It's because of the A/C. But I gotta have it!

I got up and hopped in a cab to the train! There's a passenger train that runs alongside the canal from Panama City to Colon twice a day. It's only an hour long trip to Colon, but it was pretty fun. This may not be the last country I cross in a train - I'm talking to you, Simon.

Took a bus back to Panama City and found my way back to the hostel before heading to Mercado del Mariscos for lunch. This place is a fish market that has a restaurant inside. The whole place obviously smells overwhelmingly of fish - my first thought was "no way could Mom handle this." Hahaha! The food was pretty good. I had shrimp ceviche and calamari. Shortly after lunch I realized that these probably weren't the wisest choices in light of the fact that I'll be spending roughly seven hours on a planes tomorrow.

My stomach was making funny sounds earlier, but all seems well now ... fingers crossed!

Check out this fish vendor! I had to take a picture cause the name is pretty funny - "the white hope." Haha!

After wandering around the Via Espana for awhile, I headed to Albrook. The cabbies here always try to pick up multiple fares, so there was someone else to drop off before the mall. After a few minutes I began to suspect that we were driving through a ghetto. After dropping off the other passenger, the cabbie confirmed my suspicions. He told me the name of the neighborhood (can't remember now) and then said "muy peligroso" after which he made a gun with his hand and proceeded to make "pchew! pchew!" shooting noises. The good news is that was the closest we got to getting shot at and we made it to the mall!

Check out this shirt I found there! Pretty great right? Those of you who are familiar with my previous hair situations know that I used to rock this look - pick and all! I went in to buy one. The largest size they had was an XL, which would normally work. But this was a Central American XL! I couldn't even get my shoulders in it! Had the same problem in China ... had to shop for 3XLs there.

Also, as proof that this mall is ridiculously huge, I took a picture of this TCBY! Isn't that crazy?! I don't think I've seen a TCBY in the States since about 1997!

While in Albrook, I saw The Smurfs and Something Borrowed. Didn't expect too much from The Smurfs cause it's a kids' movie and it was in Spanish. Something Borrowed was suuuuper bad. I have low standards for chick flicks, but this still managed to disappoint! The acting was bad, all the jokes were telegraphed, the only character (John Krasinski's) who was entertaining and whose motivations were identifiable was onscreen for about seven minutes total ... Just a really terrible movie. Don't see it.

Anyway, I'm tired and I've just finished watching a terrible movie and I get hassled by a cab driver. He wants to charge me double for the cab ride to the hostel. And I let him cause I'm just over it now - constantly having people try to hustle me. But I'm still upset - mostly at myself - for being too lazy to talk him down.

Haha! Well, I can't let this downer be my last post, huh? If all goes as planned, I'll be in Chicago tomorrow night! I'll post something more uplifting then ... or maybe the day after :)

Quiet Day

2011-08-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

Had a fairly uneventful day today. It started with me sleeping in till 8:30am!

I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to sleep last night, cause when I got into the room someone had unplugged the A/C unit. I promptly plugged it back in, ready to do battle with anyone who dared try to unplug it again. Fortunately, no one did. I mean, I get why they unplugged it - I think I'm getting some kind of cold from the A/C. But if I have to choose between a cold and not sleeping, I'm plugging in the A/C every time.

Some of these hostels in Panama offer free breakfast. This amounts to a huge bowl of pancake batter set next to a few frying pans on the stove. The frying pans were awful, and after two failed attempts, I grabbed a granola bar out of my mochila (backpack).

The rest of my morning basically amounted to watching South Park episodes online (again, thanks Matt and Trey for being pretty much the only show available outside the US!) and doing some reading while I did laundry. Fortunately, it was pouring for a good part of the morning so the heat was bearable.

After I finished my laundry, I hopped in a cab and headed to Casco Viejo. This section of town is pretty interesting. It's really old and it shows. probably twenty percent of the buildings are in ruins. The others are an odd and disorganized mix of touristy restaurants and hotels as well as housing for locals who seem to be fairly poor. This area seems to be in the process of being built up.

There are lots of neat churches and buildings here as well as an obelisk ... with a chicken on the top. Kat and Nati told me about this, but It was still pretty bizarre to see for myself.

I had lunch at Coca-Cola diner. The chicken fried rice was really good, but if you go there and order some, watch out for bones ... you're gonna get some bones. Anyone? Anyone? Okay, moving on.

After lunch, I finally had a Pitufo Sundae! Kinda looks a little bit like a smurf, right? With the little white hat thing sticking up? So here's the secret recipe - vanilla soft serve, plus blue M&M's, plus blue sauce. The blue sauce is eerily transparent. It looks and feels about the same consistency as watery toothpaste. But it actually tasted pretty good!

Next on my list of McDonalds ice cream treats to try is the current special flavor - Hershey's McFlurry. Looks like it has little bits of chocolate and possibly some caramel mixed in. Kinda wished they mixed things up like this in the States. I mean what do we get? A shamrock shake and an eggnog shake at their respective holidays? Not bad, but we can do better!

After desert I walked back to the hostel to pick up my Kindle and catch a cab to Albrook. I wandered the mall for a bit and then saw Captain America! It was good! Also really glad that Mike Morris advised via Facebook to stay after the credits! Thanks, man!

I'm probably getting a little too cocky for my own good, but I caught a mis-translation in the Captain America subtitles (the movie was in English)! They translated "borne" (like "carried") to "nacer," which is "to be born." Felt pretty good about catching that! Maybe if I write them a letter about it they'll offer me a job? :)

Unfortunately, the movie started at 5:35, which means that I got back to the hostel around 8pm. Only about an hour fifteen left before they turn on the A/C now!

After I finish posting this, I'll probably just watch bad movies in the living room. They have some kind of LaCie media hard drive loaded up with about 500 movies. Seems like every night, the same joker is working the remote and he has pretty bad taste in movies. Last night it was Quarantine. They just now finished watching Ninja Assassin - can't wait to see what's next.

Tomorrow morning I'm planning on taking a train ride! There's a train that runs along the canal between Panama City and Colon. It leaves at 7:15am and the trip takes an hour. Once I get to Colon, I'll hop on a bus and head right back to Panama City - Colon is supposed to be a really, really rough place. Most of what I've been hearing is "don't go there." That'll put me back in Panama City around 9:30am. All I have to do is find a way to keep cool for the rest of the day - I head back to the States Tuesday!

Panama Canal

2011-08-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

I spent most of today going through the Panama Canal!

I journey began an 6:30am-ish in the Pacific just outside of Panama City. We finished up around 5pm in the Atlantic! Pretty cool.

I'm glad I did it, but I was slightly surprised to discover that going through the Panama Canal is almost exactly like going through locks on the Mississippi River ... which I (along with Simon) did 37 times ... So the novelty of going through locks was completely lost on me - old news. But it was still cool to go through the Panama Canal. It's kind of big deal I guess - you know - in terms of world commerce and historic engineering feats.

Honestly though, the locks didn't even seem bigger than some of the locks on the Mississippi - I know for a fact that at a few locks on the Mississippi we raised or lowered significantly more than we did on the Canal. And the Panama Canal locks didn't seem wider (I just now did some google research and found out that many of the locks are the same width). And, just as I suspected, the Army Corp of Engineers had a hand in the Canal! Those guys are crazy.

It was really cool to see ocean liners going through the Canal - fully loaded they carry an insane amount of cargo. One of the liners we saw coming through was a car carrier called Indiana Highway. Evidently these car carriers have the capacity to hold 3,000 cars!

We even saw a cruise ship coming through!

These large ships are guided through by "mules." They're kind of like little locomotive engines (with electric motors) that run on tracks on either side of the canal. They tie off to the ships with ropes and ensure tat it stays in the middle of the canal. "Mules" is an interesting nickname because (unless Mom has woefully misinformed me) they used to use actual mules (or maybe horses?) to pull boats through some canal in southern Indiana. I'm guessing they used the same system in other canals as well, but I'm too sweaty to look it up right now.

So I was surprised to find that there were only about ten native English speakers on the tour and we were all Americans! I usually run into more Aussies and Brits than Americans. Most of the people on the tour were either Latino or German. There were lots and lots of Germans on the tour ... and in Panama in general I'm finding. Check out this German dude - slipped a little gin onto the boat to spice up his orange soda :)

Our trip ended in Colon, where buses picked us up and took us back to Panama City - only a one hour trip by bus. Turns out that Colon has the second largest free trade zone in the world - the largest is in Hong Kong.

I had the bus driver drop my off at Albrook which is Panama City's bus terminal ... which happens to be in front of the country's largest mall of the same name - I learned that from our boat's cook, Marie. She and I sat together on the bus on the ride home.

The mall is crazy massive - like really, really, really, ridiculously ... big (you thought I was going to say "good looking" didn't you?)

Anyway, I grabbed some dinner in one of the food courts. Taco Bell isn't as big a hit here as in Guatemala. There were people there, but McDonalds and KFC were far and away more popular. Still haven't had a Pitufo Sundae, but don't worry - I'll get to it!

So at my sketchy hostel, they don't turn on the A/C in the dorms until about 10pm. Therefore, my goal is to stay out of the hostel until 10pm. On one-and-a-half recommendations, I saw Quiero a Matar mi Jefe - in the States it's called Horrible Bosses. Couldn't help myself - I'm a big fan of Jason Bateman and Charlie Day.

So that's probably where I'll spend a lot of my day tomorrow and Monday. The only problem is I've seen most of the movies they're showing. The only ones I haven's seen are Captain America, Something Borrowed, and The Smurfs ... this could get ugly.

Quick Update

2011-08-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Panama City! Just got back from Boquete this evening.

Tomorrow I'm taking an all day tour of the Panama Canal. Should be good! If I can manage to think straight in this oppressive heat, I'll post some pictures!

Panama

2011-08-02T18:23:00.001-07:00

Made it!

Panama is really unique!

The city itself is pretty big with lots and lots of skyscrapers and highways and even street signs!

I'm staying in Casco Viejo (or Casco Antiguo) which is the old part of town. I spent a little time tonight wandering the streets. There were lots of people out tonight! Casco Viejo reminds me of a run down Caribbean version of New Orleans. It's very hot - which makes sense cause it's right on the Pacific. I'm thinking that tomorrow I may head north into the mountains and then return here a few days before I fly out. We'll see.

As I wandered around tonight, I came across a McDonalds. Whenever I'm in a foreign country I like to peek in and see what, if anything, is different about the menu. They have a Pitufo sundae! Pitufo means Smurf! It's a promotion for the new movie. The movie looks bad, but I think I'll try the sundae :)

For some reason, I'm unable to sign into my blogger account ... Evidently the internet here in Panama city uses US IP address? My computer thinks I'm back in the States - I can even get on Hulu. But blogger is saying "hey, you don't usually sign in from this location - answer these security questions." I have, of course, forgotten the answers to all these questions. So I'm reduced to emailing posts to the blog until I get this straightened.

Good news! I can log in again! As you can see, I've added pictures. Also, I'm definitely heading to Boquete tomorrow. I'll probably spend two days to get there and back and then a day just chilling. The bus ride is eight or nine hours, but I need to kill some time, and I don't really want to stay in the capital the whole week. I spoke with an Australian couple tonight, and they confirmed my suspicions - Panama City is mostly just a big, expensive western city.

Adios, Guatemala!

2011-08-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yo estoy en la aeropuerto del Ciudad Guatemala esperando por mi vuelo a Panama!

Hace diez minutos me despedi a los Gilmores. Yo soy un poco triste. Esta verano fue maravilloso y a mi me encanto compartiendo este tiempo con Donna and los chicos. Yo voy a extrañar ellos!

Gracias por todo, Gilmores! Yo espero que nosotros vamos a reunirse de nuevo pronto!

Rather than translate this, I'll let those of you who don't habla español copy and paste it into Google Translate - it's incredibly good.

So now I'm off to Panama! I'm going to be there for about six days. Not really sure what all I'll do in Panama for six days, but I'm sure I'll figure out something. Unfortunately, Panama is pretty expensive - especially Panama City. They use US currency and while it's not as expensive as the States, it's certainly much more expensive than other Central American countries.

Maybe this is good for me though - take baby steps back to US prices.

I'll let you know what my story is tomorrow!

Semuc Champey

2011-08-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

I made it to Semuc Champey, thus completing my list of must-visit places in Guatemala!

I wasn't going to go, but then Ann-Marita and Kira said it was their favorite place that they visited here, so I had to make it happen.

There's a shuttle that leaves Antigua at 2pm for Semuc Champey, but when I arranged for it to pick me up, they said it wouldn't arrive in Antigua until 4pm because the of the teachers' strike. Evidently the government hasn't been paying school teachers or something so they were demonstrating in the streets all over the country. Before I left the travel agency, they said the shuttle would arrive between 4:30 and 5, so I was planning on 6pm. Then, at 4:30 I get a phone call saying that the shuttle will leave Antigua at 9pm!

I was skeptical it would arrive at all, but it did!

Our driver drove like a madman and we arrived at our destination at 3am.

The next morning a group of us hiked up to the main event. It was incredibly beautiful! There were waterfalls everywhere! They spilled into tiered pools of vivid blue water. We swam around for a bit then climbed the path up the mountain to mirador for a view of the whole park.

After returning to the hostel, we grabbed some inner tubes and headed to the river to do some tubing! But first, we jumped off this bridge ... This has to be the highest thing I've ever jumped off of. I'm guessing it was 30 or 40 feet high. Really scary. Not everyone jumped, but I figured I had to - it's practice for the little adventure Dodrill and I are going to have! Mark your calendar man - we're gonna do it August 10th!

The tubing was disappointingly short - like 10 minutes long - but still fun.

After tubing, we headed to my favorite part - the caves! We walked/swam through about 1.5 kilometers (if I remember correctly) of pitch black caves carrying candles! We had to climb a few waterfalls and there was one point where a few of us jumped off a 20 foot ledge into a pool below! Pretty scary jumping off something in the dark.

On the way to the caves, Jemma (she's Irish) commented - "what a beautiful plant, what is it?" It took me a sec to figure out what she was talking about ... I looked around for awhile, but the only plant I saw was corn! Haha! The Dutch dude (I couldn't pronounce his name so I won't even try to spell it) and I couldn't stop laughing! Muy chistoso (very funny).

Now I'm back in Antigua, sin motocicleta! Matt drove my little motorcycle back home with him. It was a bittersweet parting. She was a good little bike. Hope she treats you well, Matt!

Today is Ellsworth's birthday! Feliz cumpleanos, Ellie! We celebrated on Saturday with a pinata! It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, Joe made a mask out of the pinata's head and chased the kids around. Grace got a turn too.

It's also our last day in Guatemala! I was supposed to fly out on the 5th, but the Julianelles left yesterday and the Gilmores leave tomorrow, so rather than sticking around Antigua all by my lonesome, I changed my flight and I leave tomorrow a few hours after the Gilmores.

Now I'm going to be spending a week in Panama. Not really sure what I'll do, but it should be interesting!

Goings on in Antigua

2011-07-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

So while I've been writing about my excursions, I've also been up to a lot!

For example, a few weeks ago, I attended the Miss Antigua pageant with the Gilmore Girls and Nealy! It was crazy! It started at 7pm and it went till 3 or 4am! We left at 9pm, but everyone was screaming and cheering the entire time! Not only that, they all had whistles! I kid you not, my left ear was ringing for a day and half after the pageant.

We were the only gringos in the whole place! Most of the seats were filled so we were standing along the walls and a Guatemalan lady took pity on us and recruited us to cheer for her niece! She even gave us whistles.

The pageant seemed to consist solely of a never ending succession of dances. And not Guatemalan dances - there were belly dances, fan dances, salsa - pretty much everything!

Our girl won! She's the one in pink in the middle! We didn't stay long enough to see her crowned, but I ran into her in the street in Antigua a few days later and she told me she had won! Pretty cool!

I also ate shrimp ceviche that I purchased out of the back of a pickup truck! It was good - and I didn't get sick!

We've been visiting the carnival a decent amount. I finally had some elote loco, but it wasn't very good :(

My last day of classes was last Friday! I'm just relaxing and doing some travelling this week. This is a picture of me with my maestras! On the left in the green is Olga - she was my maestra for 10 weeks. Julia, on the right, was my maestra for my last week. Julia's also cheating in this picture ... she's standing on a step - she's not nearly that tall! Haha!

Let's see ... what else have I been up to ... Toured a jade factory. Took a tour of Antigua. Went to see the new Harry Potter movie in Guatemala City with Ellsworth and Ann-Marita. The Gilmores, Julianelles, and I had dinner at Kid's Restaurant. It's a charity in which kids cook and serve a meal and then all the money they earn is used to pay for their school. It was pretty cool - they were practicing their English with us and running around it little waiter outfits!

In about an hour, I'm heading to Semuc Champey. I wasn't going to go cause it's a pretty long trip, but several people told me it was their favorite place in Guatemala so I've got to do it! I'll let you know how it was!

Lago Atitlan

2011-07-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday morning, Sioned and I set off for Lake Atitlan!

It was a great trip! After about two and a half hours in a van we arrived at Panajachel ... which is not great. It's just an okay city. As soon as we got of the van we were accosted by people trying to take us to hotels or boats or whatever. I really dislike being hustled. But we found our way to the dock and a took a ride across the lake to Santiago.

The lake is beautiful! It's ringed all the way round by verdant volcanoes and the shore is dotted with villages. One of these mountains is supposed to look like the face of an old Mayan dude. If you look at it from left to right, you can see his forehead, eye, nose, mouth, and ... well you know the parts of a face.

Oh, I also found a setting on my camera called color accent - pretty cool, right?

Supposedly there was some kind of festival going on in Santiago. When we arrived, there were lots of booths set up selling all the usual handicrafts. We didn't dally for long. After lunch we hopped back on a boat and went to San Pedro.

San Pedro is a nice little village. Very granola as Donna would say - lots of gringo hippies and lots of people selling weed. It's a neat village built on a hill with lots of really, really narrow winding roads. There's a huuuuge church at the top of the hill where we could hear people singing from time to time.

We got a room at Casa Elena - really nice place on the top floor with a fantastic view of the lake and a hammock on the patio! After dropping our stuff at the hotel, we wandered the city for awhile. Most of the people of San Pedro dress very traditionally - we even saw a few men in traditional dress. It's kinda like a kilt made out of the same material the women make their dresses out of.

Near the top of the hill, we found a place that made chocolate covered frozen bananas! Sioned had never tried one before so we had to go for it.

We chilled at the hotel for awhile enjoying the hammock and then headed out for tacos. They were quite tasty. After tacos it was hot tub time! There are a few places between the Panajachel and Santiago that take water from the nearby volcano and heat it in a series of black coiled pipes. Then they fill up a few small pools for us to chill in!

All day we kept encountering this lady who was trying to sell us banana bread. We decided to get some to take to the hot tubs, but we couldn't find her! We wandered for awhile until, about to give up hope, we rounded a corner and a woman materialize with a basket of chocolate cakes! It was like magic. We bought a couple slices and headed to the tubs.

It was really nice and relaxing. Besides a group of four Germans (I think), we were the only people there. It was completely dark with a few candles for light and there was a really nice breeze. The setting was nice too - we were surrounded by exotic trees and plants and had a view of the lake!

After a few bites of cake, I set it on the side of the tub. Awhile later, I took another bite of cake ... and it bit me back! Our cakes were covered in ants! They were biting my face and hands! At first I was annoyed, but then Sioned pointed out, "I'd probably bite you too if you were eating my cousins." No idea how many ants I ate ...

The next morning we went for a dip in the lake near where the locals bathe and wash their clothes. The water was chilly but refreshing! After a great breakfast at Cafe La Puerta, we rented a couple of really sketchy kayaks and spent an hour cruising around the lake. The wind came up though ... it's really hard to kayak against the wind!

We headed back to Cafe La Puerta for lunch and then were on our merry way back to Antigua! Except there was a little hiccup in our return trip. We were half an hour down the road when our driver got a call saying that there was someone else who had just called the travel agency and wanted a ride ... So instead of telling this person "sorry, gonna have to catch the next shuttle," we turned around and drove back to pick them up!!! Added an hour to our trip. Ridiculous.

Epilogue

2011-07-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

Decided to add some final thoughts about the motorcycle trip before moving on with the blog ...

Nealy is a great motorcycle passenger! Most people lean around corners or when they see an obstacle in the road - this latter habit is really dangerous, cause then the driver is not only dodging rocks or pothole or whatever, but also trying to compensate/steer against the passenger! Nealy didn't do any backseat driving! I could tell when she got scared though cause she would squeeze me with her knees - haha!

When she first arrived in Guatemala, she got a little scared when we were cruising through the neighborhood, but by the end of the trip, she had nerves of steel!

Everyone we talked to was very helpful. We stopped and asked lots of people for directions - people at gas stations, people we shared a refuge from the rain with, people just walking by the side of the highway! But it turns out that most people in Central America are not good at estimating distance or time. We would stop and ask directions to learn that we were only half an hour from our destination. Twenty minutes later, we'd stop and learn from someone that we're forty minutes away. Then we'd arrive in an hour. Haha! The only thing consistent about the time/distance estimations we received was that they were unreliable. Eventually we only asked which direction to go.

The signage was pretty unreliable too! Guatemala has okay signage - at major crossroads, there's usually a sign telling if there's a large city down the road. It was really tough to tell where we were at any given time. Fortunately there's an election going on and we could sometimes decipher where we were from the advertisements. In Honduras, there was usually a sign at the entrance to each town! Unfortunately, there were no other road signs. Which is why we missed the turn to the ruins. Although, on the way back from our detour there were a bunch of signs pointing to the ruins! Why would they only provide signage for southbound traffic?!

We also notice that the Hondurenos have a very strange accent - they were very difficult to understand. Which is when I realized that I'm learning Guatemalan Spanish. Guess that should've been obvious.

Some people have been wondering what was the scariest part of the trip. It was a little hairy driving the the mountains of Honduras in a cloud, and driving through Guatemala City at night in the rain with a chain that should've fallen off was a little alarming. But probably the most concerning thing was travelling with a pretty little blonde girl! Especially in the non-touristy towns. People would stare at us (and by us, I mean mostly Nealy) as we approached and then as we walked past, they turned to continue staring. We especially drew stares in Jutiapa. I really didn't want to have to stab a guy.

In Juayua, there was a group of old drunk guys that kept yelling "hello" at us. Living in Chicago taught me to ignore people. Nealy, on the other hand hasn't learned this skill from living in a large city. She responded to them! Likewise, when the occasional person would try to sell us something or hustle us, she'd say "que?" I had to keep reminding her to ignore them!

I wore jeans on this trip so I didn't burn the tops of my knees. But I did get a weird hand tan. Just from my wrists to the middle knuckle of my fingers.

Back to Antigua!

2011-07-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

So everyone says you know you're getting good at Spanish when you start dreaming in Spanish. Hasn't happened for me yet, but according to Nealy I talk in my sleep in Spanish! Evidently I was yelling something in Spanish - she doesn't remember what it was. But I'm sure it didn't make sense - most people are unintelligible when they sleep talk in their native language!

We got an early start on Thursday - we probably left Santa Rosa de Copan around 8am. The early start is key when you're motorcycling through Central America in the rainy season. We had a beautiful drive! The scenery was amazing.

We were headed to the ruins at Copan, a trip which should've taken us two or two and a half hours. Unfortunately we missed our turn and were well on our way to the Mosquito Coast before we corrected our course. When we drove through the town where we were supposed to turn west toward the ruins, there were no signs indicating where to turn or even the names of the roads so I missed the turn. My gut was telling me we were in the town where we needed to turn, but I ignored my instincts and kept on driving.

Soon after the town where we missed our turn, we came down out of the mountains and into the plains. The road was straight and flat and lined with cattle ranches. It was a really pleasant drive until we stopped, asked directions, and turned around to begin backtracking. All told, our little detour probably cost us two hours. This lost time would become fairly significant later.

Having found the right road, we made it to Copan Ruinas (the town half a kilometer from the ruins) about noon. We stopped at a Western Union to use their ATM and got directions to Comedor Mary from their shotgun toting security guard. Comedor Mary has good food! And, as you can see from this picture, they don't have a guy at the door patting people down.

Following lunch, we grabbed some cake at Cafe Welchez and then headed to the ruins. Almost as soon as we got to the ruins it started raining!

The ruins were nice! Not nearly as huge and impressive as Tikal, but nice. There were lots more intact carvings too.

Evidently the Mayans built temples on top of temples and at Copan, a few of the earlier temples are still in really good condition inside the newer temples. They're excavating them and there are two tunnels that you can go into and see the older temples underneath. Pretty cool, but they clearly weren't built with gringos in mind!

We got back on the road again with a Plan A and a Plan B. Originally, we had planned on staying in Zacapa Thursday night, but with our early start, we had a change of heart. Our new Plan A was to go all the way back to Antigua. The only reason we were going to stop in Zacapa was to break up the drive - not really anything we wanted to see there. If we pushed all the way through we'd have more time in Antigua with the Gilmores. Plan B was to stop in Zacapa if the going got rough.

The border crossing back into Guatemala went pretty smoothly. The only difficulty was the huge line of semis we had to maneuver through once again.

We stopped just shy of Zacapa for gas and the attendant told us that from where we were, it took a bus 4 hours to get to Guatemala City. He thought it would take us even longer on a motorcycle. But he didn't know that I drive that little 200cc Chinese wonder like it's a real motorcycle! It was (I think) about 5:15pm when we left the gas station.

As we sailed through Zacapa, we resolved to make it to Antigua! The road from Zacapa to Guatemala City is called something like the Atlantic Highway, I think. It's supposed to be a highway, but it goes through about a million little towns each full of speed bumps. And there was lots of semi traffic. It was slow going, but the speed bumps are actually pretty good places to pass people. Everyone's going slow and you can zip around them on the motorcycle!

Anyway, we eventually made it out of the villages and into the mountains. There was still lots of traffic, and by now it was dark. We were 70 kilometers from Guatemala City cruising along until suddenly, we heard a disturbingly loud noise and the bike lost power. The engine was running, but when I gassed it, nothing happened! I pulled to the shoulder (thankfully, there was a shoulder) and hopped off the bike.

I was afraid that the transmission had quit on me. I'd been pushing the little bike pretty hard through the mountains and I was sure that it had finally given up. I was laboring under this misconception when Nealy noticed that the chain had come off the gear on the rear wheel! It's a good thing she noticed too, cause I was about to hop back on and gas it again - which could've really damaged the chain. I was so glad it was just the chain! I managed to re-seat the chain, and after Nealy took her sweet time getting back on the motorcycle, we were back underway.

Not gonna lie, I was super nervous for the rest of the trip. I was afraid we were gonna throw the chain again - an especially unnerving prospect once we got into Guatemala City. Not the kinda place you wanna have pull over and make a repair after dark, in the rain (yes, it started raining again just as we made it to the outskirts of the city). Every bump we went over, I could hear the chain smacking against it's guards.

But she held! And we didn't get lost! I'd traveled through Guatemala City enough times that I was able to find the way this time! And, to top it all off, it only took us three hours to make it to the capital from Zacapa!

Once we made it to the southwest side of the city, it was a short ride to Antigua where we picked up a Pollo Campero feast and made it back to the house safe and sound! We were also incredibly sore after about eight or nine hours on a dirt bike that probably wasn't intended for cross country tours :)

All-in-all a fantastic trip!

Tomorrow morning, I head to Lago Atitlan with Sioned, my Welsh friend, so you may not hear from me for a couple of days!

Honduras

2011-07-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

I know it sounds unbelievable (and we were pretty surprised by this as well) but the landscape changes almost immediately after you cross the border!

Through breaks in the rain, we noticed that the red brick houses were replaced by wooden houses! The mountains are different too - they're much more abrupt and imposing. They shoot straight up and then back down again! The soil is rocky and there are lots of pine trees. The soil and vegetation actually reminded me of central Colorado a little bit ... except that it's greener and there were palm trees mixed in with the pines!

Amongst Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, Honduras takes the prize for sheer jaw-dropping natural beauty. Just unbelievably gorgeous! But we didn't really get to see much of the scenery our first day in Honduras.

The people are different too. They're taller, bigger, and fairer complected than Guatemalans and Salvadorenos. We even saw a few obese people - definitely not something you see in Guatemala or El Salvador.

There are cows everywhere and the men look like cowboys - they wear skinny jeans, boots, big belt buckles, and cowboy hats! Lots of them even carry guns! It wasn't uncommon to see one of these guys with a 9mm tucked into his belt.

Shortly after crossing the border, our journey took us up into the mountains - and into the clouds! We were literally driving through the clouds! Sounds kinda cool in theory, and for about the first 30 seconds it was pretty neat. But here's the thing about driving through clouds ... you can't see anything. At all.

Let me paint you a picture. We're driving through the mountains on Honduras on a 200cc dirtbike. Our only company on this carretera (highway/road) are semi trucks. We're in a cloud so we're soaking wet and my visibility is about 20 feet if I'm lucky. The only way I can tell if there's a curve coming up (and, indeed, which way the road is going to turn), and avoid careening off a cliff, is to watch the edge of the pavement in order to have a few seconds warning.

Added to this is the fact that Honduras has terrible roads! There are regularly stretches where the pavement abruptly turns into, not just a dirt road, but a field of massive potholes. We also ran across a few mud/rock slides, the occasional downed tree, and my personal favorite - the missing lane! That's exactly what it sounds like. There were a few places where the cliff had eroded to the point that the pavement had crumbled and fallen off the side of the mountain ... and half the lane was missing!

With the driving conditions so poor, we didn't make very good time. We had planned to go to Gracias, but after (I think) six hours on the road, we had to stop for the night in Santa Rosa de Copan, soaking wet and freezing cold. It's a town that is quite literally built on top of a mountain. After finding a hotel and hitting an ATM, we went to dinner!

At the restaurant, the guy at the door patted me down. He told me he was looking for guns! That took me back a bit. But dinner was good! The steaks (and really the beef in general) are great in Honduras!

I don't remember if we did anything after dinner ... seems like I did, but it's not coming to me ...

We had to be back to the hotel by 10pm because the old gentleman who tends the place closes it up for the night! He pulls down one of those metal, garage-door looking things and there's no getting in or out after that. This kinda made Nealy nervous. She was convinced that the hotel used to be a hospital (I helpfully suggested that perhaps it was a children's mental hospital) and she was a bit creeped out. Then, somehow she began to worry about zombies - but after we hastily threw together an evacuation plan she calmed down a bit and we got some sleep.

Oh! Our room was also interesting in that the only thing separating the toilet from the room was a shower curtain. Also, there was no toilet seat.

Pais numero tres

2011-07-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Slept pretty well - despite the drunk singing in the street outside our hotel. Then in the morning, we woke up to the sound of singing again, but this time the singer sounded sober - don't think it was the same guy.

On Tuesday night after dinner, Nealy and I had arranged for a guide to take us on a hike to some waterfalls the next morning. We wanted to get back and get in some good rain-free morning driving so set the tour for 7:30am. Unfortunately, El Salvador evidently runs on Guatemala time too because Douglas, our guide, didn't show up until 8:20. And that was only cause the girl at the front desk called him twice.

Douglas was a really nice guy. He lead us through a coffee plantation and on to a series of waterfalls. The first one was enormous - we only saw it from the top, but it was scary high - easily a couple hundred feet. The rest were relatively short. They have a pretty neat system, actually. They've built a series of walls along the side of the mountain just beneath all of these waterfalls. This creates a series of pools which each of which flow along the side of the mountain into the next pool through a series of tunnels, until finally, they cascade down the side of the mountain in a 200 meter waterfall whose power is harnessed to generate energy hydroelectrically.

We actually swam through one of the tunnels! Evidently Nealy doesn't do well with long dark tunnels full of swift flowing water and little breathing room. I had to call her a chicken to get her to do it - I know it was a low blow, but it had to be done! At first I didn't know why the guide went with us - to the untrained eye it looked like the tunnel simply started in one pool and ended in the next. However, it turns out that in order to end up in the second pool you have to take a right where the tunnel branches ... otherwise you head down the tube to the 200 meter drop ... so ... yeah.

After a swim in one of the pools (which were very clean and refreshing) we headed back to town. On the way back through the coffee farm, Douglas showed us a tree called a Pimienta Gorda. The leaves had an incredible and unique smell! I really liked it, but it made Nealy a bit light headed. Douglas said the locals use it to help them get over colds and stomach problems.

Back at the hotel, we picked up our laundry (we had to pay $6 to have it dried after driving through the rain!) and headed to Comedor Karlita for breakfast. Good stuff! And, as is my wont, I gave the proprietor's little girl a sucker. I've been passing them out to kids here in Central America. Evidently that's not incredibly creepy in this part of the world ...

As soon as we got on the motorcycle it started to sprinkle. Ridiculous. But eventually we drove out of it ... then back into it ... then out of it again ... then into it again ...

Our path to Honduras took us through Santa Ana, and once again we got turned around - because there were no signs! Haha! After asking three people for directions, we were finally back on the road again.

The fastest route to Honduras from our location in El Salvador was to go back to Guatemala first. The El Slavador/Guatemala border crossing went smoothly after we maneuvered our way through the long line of waiting semi trucks.

The Guatemala/Honduras border crossing was a bit more of a hassle. It was raining pretty good and the semis were packed in so tight that it took a little doing to get around them. At the border were the usual money changers, but also some guys trying to help us with paperwork for tips. I'm always wary of these deals cause I've had some unfavorable experiences at border crossings with scammers. We got through immigration pretty easily - although they did want to see a bunch of paperwork for my motorcycle (the first and only time this came up). But about 20 meters past the border there was a national police checkpoint. The officer stopped us and asked us where we were coming from. I misunderstood and told him our destination - Gracias Lempira. He repeated his question and I told him we had come from Guatemala ... seemed kind of like a no-brainer since we were at the Guatemala/Honduras border crossing, but I played along. Then he asked if we had family in Gracias ... Once again, I'm not sure what it was about two gringos that made him think we might have family ... well, anywhere in Honduras, but I played along again and said "no."

Then the officer proceeded to give us a thorough looking over! Haha! After an uncomfortable silence during which he scrutinized us, he let us pass! Hahaha! I couldn't believe it! Was he considering having us turn around and head back to Guatemala? For the love ...

Our encounter with Officer Friendly and the pouring rain gave us a less than favorable first impression of the country. But we soon came around!

This post is getting long, so I'll tell you about the rest of day three later!

Juayua

2011-07-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

Day two of our trip started late - again.

I've grown accustomed to waking up at 6am everyday. Crazy, right? I've never consistently woken up this early in my life! Getting up early isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. But on Tuesday, we both independently decided to sleep in a bit. It was raining in the morning - which is kind of rare - and neither of us relished the idea of starting a trip in the rain, so we snoozed for awhile. Also, there were geckos in our room that were chirping during the night.

After the rain let up, we grabbed breakfast at a little restaurant that Nealy had spotted the night before. It was delicious and really cheap. Beans make a really solid, long-lasting breakfast, and almost every Guatemalan breakfast includes beans. So with some beans and eggs under our belts, we set off for the El Salvador border!

The rain held off for awhile and the views were fantastic!

It started to rain shortly before we arrived at the border. The crossing from Guatemala into El Salvador would be the easiest of the trip. No wait, no hassle, no kilometer long line of semi-trucks to maneuver through. Very easy and pleasant.

Having crossed into El Salvador, we noticed changes immediately! The houses, the people, even the landscape seemed to change subtly. We were surprised to see that most of the houses in El Salvador were made of red brick - not the cinder blocks covered with plaster that're the staple of Guatemalan homes. The people of El Salvador are fairer complected than the people of Guatemala - they must have less Mayan heritage ...

Not too long after entering El Salvador, we made it to Santa Ana. It's a pretty decent sized city, and, of course, we got lost. Central America really has issues with road signage. We stopped in central park to get our bearings and soon were back on the road to Juayua (pronounced "why-ooh-ah") and once again, it began to rain. The rain let up long enough for us to stop at a scenic overlook and interrupt a couple who was making out to ask directions.

Nealy thought I looked like a Lego person with my helmet on so she had me strike the Lego pose :)

We were on the right road, and soon we turned off the highway onto the small windy mountain road to Juayua! And then it started to really pour. We were both completely soaked almost instantly! There were lots of buses that were powering through the rain - pretty impressive considering the road conditions. We even saw one truck that had run off the road! Several mudslides and small over-road streams later, we made it to Juayua.

Juayua is a great little town! Very pretty and friendly. And for the most part, cheap! Our first stop was at the local grocery store to use the ATM. It was weird to get US dollars! The whole country uses US currency - pretty interesting. Anyway, we cruised around a bit and ended up at a restaurant called RR. We ordered some steaks, which were ok, but the the salads that came with them were fantastic! Also, their bathroom was awesome. They realized they weren't going to use the tub, so they got creative!

Our meal was pretty expensive. Actually, throughout the entire trip we seemed to manage to find the most expensive restaurants, so we learned not to always go with our first choice.

After our late lunch, we cruised around looking for a hotel that a Lonely Planet guide had given good reviews. We couldn't find it, but we did find a street vendor cooking some kind of delicious coconut corn bread between banana leaves. She and her daughter had no idea where the hotel was, but eventually, a couple ladies came by to get some coconut bread and one of them was able to tell us how to get there!

The hotel/hostel was nice, if a bit expensive. Plus, I was able to park the moto in a nearby hostel!

Nealy and I wandered the town for awhile. It's a fun little town - wouldn't have minded spending a couple days there! For dinner, we found a pupuseria. We ordered 3 or 4 pupusas and a couple drinks and our total was only $3.80! The pupusas were fantastic.

Que triste

2011-07-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

So Nealy heads back to the US tomorrow. Que triste (how sad). But, there's a food festival in Antigua tomorrow! I think that'll help me overcome the separation anxiety :)

Before breakfast, we drove up to Santo Domingo's restaurant on the mountain. It was incredible! The landscaping is extensive and really beautiful and there are great views of Antigua!

She and I spent the day shopping! Haggling with the vendadoras (sales women) is good Spanish practice. Not gonna lie though, it's pretty exhausting after awhile. I'm kinda looking forward to the fact that when I walk into a store in the States the price is set. Way simpler :)

Kara's also leaving tomorrow, so we had a little going away night out. Our first stop was ... I forget the name now - "Someone's" Tacos. Can't remember the name of the guy. It was literally a hole in the wall - the door isn't so much a door as a hole that's been knocked in a wall facing the street. There's not even a sign indicating that it's a restaurant. I'll have to take a picture to show you.

According to a doctor at Kara's clinic, they have the best tacos in Antigua. So, we go in, sit down, and the proprietor approaches. He doesn't ask us what kind of tacos we want, only how many! Hahaha! We each ordered two of what turned out to be potato and pork tacos. Though to be honest, I don't really think there was actually any pork in them. But they were pretty tasty and incredibly cheap!

Afterwards, we climbed to the terrace of Cafe Sky for dessert! I think mine was the best - I ordered tiramisu. Although Kara had some kind of a chocolate licuado with ice cream that was pretty fantastic. Nealy and Ann-Marita had some brownies that weren't too impressive.

There was a band in the park too! It was pretty interesting. A keyboard and drum combo. The crowd wasn't into it so we didn't stay long. Also, check out this huge cockroach!

Now I have four hours to sleep until I have to get up and catch the shuttle to Guatemala City with Nealy tomorrow morning! I'll tell you more about our tour of El Salvador and Honduras later!

Vamos a El Salvador!

2011-07-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

Our journey began on Monday ... crazy to think that we embarked only a few days ago!

Anyway, we got a late start on Monday. We left around noon, but the weather looked decent - it hadn't started raining yet. Once we got to Guatemala City, however, it started raining! Little did we know this would be a theme for our trip.

It soon became apparent that we were lost. I knew we were lost, but I didn't know how to get us back to where we needed to be, so we pulled off at a McDonald's. We came in and ordered some fries to help warm us and to help ease our consciences about loitering there.

I pulled out my map of Guatemala City and asked one of the McDonald's employees where we were. He said he didn't know. But fortunately, Mario Cifuentes came to our rescue! He's from Escuintla and he's living in Guatemala City while he studies dentistry in university. Super nice guy, and his English is really good. He showed us where we were and the way out of Guatemala City.

Mario gave me his email address, so I'm going to try to find him on facebook.

I toyed with the idea of turning back to Antigua and restarting the journey on Tuesday, but by the time Mario had finished giving us directions and we had finished our fries, the rain had all but let up so we headed out again!

The drive was beautiful!

Maybe four hours after we made it out of Guatemala City, we made it to Jutiapa. It was dark, and after cruising through town and not finding any open hotels, we stopped by the fancy hotel by the highway. It was $40 a night! I asked if there were any other hotels in town that were cheaper. The one the receptionist sent us to ... well we never saw it. It was part way up a pretty big hill and when we asked the guard at the gate how much a room was, it turned out to be more expensive!

So, we returned to the fancy hotel and got a room with air conditioning! They had a gated parking lot too! So we headed into town to find dinner. Next to the central park, we stopped at a place with a patio and it turned out to be crazy expensive! We decided just to get a couple of limonadas (basically frozen lemonade) and find another place.

Most of the restaurants were closed but we found a sandwich place that was still open. We ordered up a few sandwiches ... and as you can see it was mostly condiments! I think Nealy's ham sandwich had one piece of ham and so much mayonnaise, ketchup, and sandwich spread that it was a sauce sandwich with ham! The sandwiches weren't very good - but the bread was excellent!

Hey we're back!

2011-07-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

We made it back to Antigua about 9:30!

W probably spent about 9 hours on the motorcycle today and we're both very sore and beat. But we're back and we're dry for time in awhile!

Busy relaxing now, so I'll have to tell you all about it later!

Honduras

2011-07-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

We're in Honduras!

We stayed in Juayua, El Salvador last night - really cool little town. I'll tell you all about it later!

After braving mean border guards and frigid mountain air, we find ourselves in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras tonight!

We just finished dinner and now we're at the internet cafe across from our hotel. I'm enjoying the best rum raisin ice cream of my life and Nealy is struggling to keep her eyes open :)

Tomorrow, the plan is to head to the Copan ruins and then back into Guatemala!

I'll keep you posted as I'm able!

Jutiapa

2011-07-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

We stayed the night in Jutiapa last night. Not really much here, but the scenery on the way was fantastic!

Now we're headed to El Salvador! Not all of our maps seem to be in agreement, so we're not certain exactly where we'll be entering the country, but once we find out the name of whichever border town we're in, we're golden!

I'll provide further updates if we have internet access!

Trip!

2011-07-11T12:35:00.001-07:00

Nealy and I are about to embark on a trip! Should be exciting!

I'll tell you all about it in a few days!

Shopping!

2011-07-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

Check out the view from our terrace in the morning! Beautiful.

Kara and I spent some time honing our bargaining skills in the artisan market the other day. It's exhausting to haggle with these shopkeepers all the time. I think we got ripped off on a painting, but we did pretty well on some wallets!

It's pretty serious business - it really did take the better part of an afternoon to find a shop that had the right wallets and was also willing to deal. Some people weren't having it - they wouldn't budge - while others would drop their price before we even asked!

If you're looking for some in the Antigua artisan market, talk to me or Kara and we'll give you some pointers.

Halfway to the market, we wandered into what we think was the end of the Miss Antigua pageant! There were photographers from the newspapers La Prensa and Nuestro Diario. Pretty sure we weren't supposed to be there.

We got soaked on the way there, and then just minutes after we arrived, the rain stopped. The rain has hosed me soooo many times! If I try to wait it out, it goes on for hours! If I decide to tramp through, it stops as soon as I get to my destination. Ridiculous.

We also stopped by San Francisco. It's the largest church in Antigua and it's really beautiful. Nearby there was some kind of little festival going on. Not really sure what was going on, but it was pretty entertaining! My favorite part was that the entire band was in the back of a pickup!

I was pretty surprised to see a small market in the parking lot of San Francisco. They also had a tomb of some saint inside, but we decided not to go check it out since it sounded like there was a mass in progress.

So here are two of my goofy cousins showing off a a fruit bowl they put together ... Haha! Dre and Ellsworth - those two are trouble!

Nealy and I visited Helados Exoticos tonight! She was equally impressed! So good.

She made it!

2011-07-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

Nealy's here! She made it! Unfortunately, I don't have any photographic proof cause I misplaced my camera and didn't find it until after she went to bed.

But don't worry - there'll be plenty of pictures soon enough.

When I met her at the airport, she said, "I'm so glad you're here! As I was on the plane, looking over our emails, I realized we never talked about how I would get to Antigua!"

Haha! Despite our lack of communication, I picked her up at the airport on time! Our shuttle made record time back to Antigua - only took us about 45 minutes! Paulino, our driver, was a really nice guy with no front teeth and a heavy foot. Nealy was getting a little nervous as we zipped through traffic, but I'm pretty used to it now :)

We visited with the Gilmores and Julianelles for a bit before heading into town to grab an empanada dinner with Kara. The empanadas were great! There was a house dressing for dipping them in that really put them over the top.

Got some good pictures and videos from my adventures earlier today, but I'm pretty tired so I'll save them for another time!

Only one more sleep!

2011-07-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

As one of my little brothers or sisters used to say, "there's only one more sleep till" Nealy gets here!

Pretty exciting! Going to pick her up from Guatemala City tomorrow night!

I have more good news - I passed my test today! Adios Grado C! I'm taking next week off since Nealy's visiting, so I've got a little break before I start Grado D. Grado C was tough - it covered the past imperfect, future imperfect, and conditional tenses. There were also a bunch of prepositions and gerunds. Past imperfect is really tough - it's difficult for me to discern when to use past imperfect instead of just regular past tense.

Last night, instead of studying a much as I probably should've, I went out with Kara and Ann-Marita and got ice cream! We finally made it Helados Exoticos! It was fantastic! Officially my favorite ice cream place in Antigua, and you know me - I'm a bit of a connoisseur. They have some pretty crazy flavors. I tried two different types, one of which was called "doble secreto." It turned out to be exactly like that fruit and jello salad that your grandmother makes! You know the one - lots of pineapple, tangerine, a little bit of coconut, and cool whip.

The "pastel zanahoria" (carrot cake) flavor was surprisingly delicious! And the "choco x5" flavor was pretty much like eating a brownie!

We ate our helado (ice cream) in the park and it started raining so the girls shared an umbrella. My favorite thing about this picture is the random Guatemalan couple making out in next to them! Haha! The park is a pretty popular make out spot.

Tonight we found ourselves at La Pena de Sol Latino again. Jake and Grace love the band there! They danced for awhile with a friend they made earlier today at lunch! Pretty cute.

Audrey (whom I think I will start calling "Dre" ... we'll see if it sticks) and I went for a cruise tonight. We stopped by the carnival - there were more food booths this time, but still no elote loco ... I'm going to keep checking back until I find some! Taylor and I had some outside of a theater in Mexico City a few years ago and I'm looking forward to having some more!

There was also a concert near the back of the market! We checked it out for a little bit - not half bad! The band members were doing this funny little dance! I wish I had my camera with me! I'm hoping to catch another concert so I can show you guys this dance ... I think you're gonna like it.