Pan American Trip

Over a Year in Tucson

2011-06-11T19:50:00.003-06:00

Hey All,

If there is anyone still following our page :)
We have been in Tucson for over a year now and life is good! It is so tempting to just hit the road again, but we are having a great time here with family and making friends. I do think a lot about the people who we have met along our traveling way and I do miss them all dearly.

ciao for now. Kindra

The Last Leg!

2010-08-07T17:27:00.001-06:00

Well Hello All,

For those of you who do not know already, we are back in the U.S. , but first I will take you back a step.

Back in October we made one of two choices:

A. Stay in Guatemala for another month (thus working and saving money so we could return with some still in the bank) or

B. Drive down to Panama and back in a month and start selling our organs in order to make it home for the holidays.

We opted for choice B!

To start off with where we left in Hondurus…

On Monday, after the long weekend of hyped up elections, we crossed the border of Honduras into Nicaragua. We were amazed to see how different the fauna was in this part of Guatemala versus were we had been living in the mountains. So, we drove through the arid hillside of an almost high desert like landscape and wound our way back toward Xela, but not before stopping in Panajachel to do some last minute souvenir shopping.

We made sure to stop and get an ear of corn each just off the side of the road where there are about 10-15 stands spread out along the highway, just in case you passed the first 5 and then changed your mind and wanted some last minute. (We always ended up at the last stall because it would always take us a minute or two to decide). Not this time… we knew exactly where on the highway they were because we had driven it so many times before and we finally gave business to the ladies in the front. The corn isn’t the crunchiest or the sweetest, it is more similar to the corn you would feed to animals, but for some reason you just can’t wait to eat some more, especially once you squeeze fresh lime juice and salt on top! We made our way back into town just before sundown. Josh went back to the house we were living in and stayed with our roommates and we decided to go to the parking lot where our camper was being stored and slept there for the night.

The next morning was the big challenge (especially for just the two of us). We had to figure out a way to get the camper off of the ground and back onto the truck. Now normally the camper would be an 3 leg stands, but during a routine procedure of trying to get the camper back on the truck bed a few months before the legs got knocked off. So, it took us an entire day pilling bricks and rocks under the corners of the camper one by one and using a jack each time to raise it just a little more. There were defiantly a few rocky moments where we thought it might keel over… luckily for us it didn’t! The next few days we said goodbye to our friends, did some last minute shopping. My shopping list consisted of local dried chilies, textiles and Maya- Ik hotsauce.

So there we were: Josh, John, Kindra, Hippie and Wallace crammed yet again in The Colonel (the truck). Our goal was to make it back to the U.S. by Dec. 17^th.

We made it across the border into Mexico the same day we left Guatemala. It was any easy crossing and we opted this time not to get car insurance. They say it is mandatory, but at this point we were low on cash and in a hurry. We got a bit turned around at the border town. We headed out to find a place were we could park the camper and sleep. Some cops tried to lead us to an area they said we could sleep, but it looked a bit sketchy to us. We found a Pemex (gas station) instead that was off of the side of the main highway and crashed there.

In the morning we decided to take the coastal route as it would be cheaper and we wouldn’t have to worry about the mountainous roads that were more central. We didn’t realize that they were mainly one lane roads and speed humps almost the whole way. It took us a whole day to drive a distance that would have taken 3-4 hours on a highway. It was worth it though. It was starting to get dark and we found a turnoff that was in the direction of the ocean. We were not sure were it would lead us and this particular area was fairly deserted, so we had no one to ask if it was safe. Before long, about 5 minutes down the road, were some military guys that stopped us. This was either a good sign or a bad sign. When we stopped to talk to them they reassured us it was a safe place to camp and that they were only there to stop poachers from taking the turtle eggs. What a relief! Once we got to the end of the road we saw a few parking spots near the beach and some other locals enjoying the nice weather. We jumped out and stretched our legs and took a long walk down the beach to get a good look at the sun going down. Oh, and it was freeeeeee!

The next morning our intention was to get up early and hit the road, but of course a surprise to no one we got stuck in the sand. Just before this I had given one of the young local boys my boogie board because his older brothers had surf boards and he had nothing. With the little amount of space we had I figured it was a win/win situation. This worked out nicely because when they noticed we were stuck they were very happy to help dig us out. Thank goodness there were locals living near by. We had about 10 local guys pushing on the back of the truck to get us out. What a great site! We said our thanks you and hit the “not so great” road. My plan, as co-pilot- was to find the next toll road no matter what the cost and get us home. If we stayed on this route it would have taken us another two weeks to get back. We passed through Puerto Escondido, which is a very popular vacation spot and the roads widened for about 10 miles and then went back to normal. What a teaser. We didn’t want to go to Oaxaca because we read that the road from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca is very windy and dangerous. If you ever are in the region though, you have to try the cheese… Oaxaca cheese is amazing! Once we hit the main highway and toll road we knew we would make it to Mexico City within the next few hours. We got a bit turned around in Mexico City and it detoured us to all sorts of city streets that were ‘one way’ or too small for vehicles like ours. It was a stressful excursion, especially because it was getting dark and we were hungry. It got dark and we were still in the city driving around in traffic. Finally we hit a street that was loaded with food vendors and restaurants. We opted to stop and eat. The boys stayed in the truck while I ordered some food because we were parked in front of a driveway since there were no open spots on the street. Yum yum, hot and delicious Mexican food and cold sodas! We were in heaven. We made our way a bit out of town and found a place to sleep for the night.

We hit the toll roads, cha-ching cha-ching $$$. With less in our wallets and made our way north. We mainly slept at Penmex gas stations because they were easy to find, free and reasonably safe. We stopped by Guadalajra to visit our friends that we stayed with many months before when we first started the trip. We also met our friend Frankie, who John had worked with in Xela at the same café. We hadn’t seen her smiley face in a few months so it was great to see her again! It was great to hang out with our friends again (this is the family of Luis, who works for my dad). Now that we spoke more Spanish and understood more it was a much smoother visit. We were able to chit-chat without the glazed over eyes. We stayed the night and had some ice cream in town before we hit the hay. Getting all of us and then Frankie and her stuff into the camper was a challenge, but we did it. Frankie and I set up a little area in the back, behind the front seats, where we could interlock our legs and lean our back against the outside walls of the truck. Sometimes Wallace would squeeze in with us and Hippie would be at Josh’s feet in the front. We were packed like sardines and starting to smell like them too. We weren’t sure when our next shower would be and it was starting to get hot!

On the GPS I had seen a town near the beach that looked like a good overnight spot so headed that way and tried to get there before sundown. We drove around the small peninsula town looking for a spot, but all of the beach areas were covered with fishing boats We headed out of town worried we wouldn’t find anything before dark, but we saw a security guard and asked him if he knew of a place. We were in luck, he said it was safe to park right between the road and the water. It was an area about the size of a football field, mainly just dirt and some grass. As we pulled up toward the edge of the water we realized that the dirt was wet. We figured that the tide must come in at night and so we jumped back in the truck to move back about 40 meters back. Oh man…. not again! Yep that’s right folks we got stuck AGAIN! With the camper on the back and all that weight in it, we were quite sure it was going to just sink into the ground and we’d be there for good. The back wheels had evidently hit a soft spot in the dirt or “water pocket” and the back tires just kind of sank in the mud like quick sand. The locals started to notice that we were having trouble and all came around to check us out. They could see we were having trouble and without hesitation all started collecting pieces of wood and rocks to wedge under the tires. I’d say there were at least 15 adults and 10 kids around the truck. A few of the kids started poking the dirt near the truck and water just started pouring out of this whole one of the kids poked… I had to tell them to stop because we were worried that they would just make things worse than they already were. Just watching water come out of the ground like that was unreal. This whole area of dirt we were on top of was like being on a frozen pond with just a thin layer separating you from the water below. I was a bit peeved that the security guy hadn’t warned us about this. After about 30 mins and a lot of man power we got the truck out. Forget what negative people say about humanity… there are defiantly more people in this world that are good than they may think.

The next day we knew we just needed one more spot to find to sleep at and a Pemex station sounded fine to me, especially since we were heading toward a very uninhabited area. We passed through an area where we had heard it gets very windy, to the point where the recommend that you avoid parking in the area overnight because you may wake up with your car entirely sand blasted. Funny enough we saw some cars like that... okay maybe not so funny for them. We found a Pemex just as the sun was going down and we got to see a beautiful sunset at the top of some rocks just next to the station that had a Guadalupe statue at the top. It was very peaceful. I did notice though when we were back down at the gas station desperately trying to use their bathroom (which they had locked and didn’t have a key) that things were different. People were looking at us differently and treating us differently. We were officially in the “gringos who just come to Mexico to party” zone. Funny enough we did buy a beer with our last few pesos and Frankie and I enjoyed it despite the judgment. We didn’t sleep that well that night because unknown to us we were in the center of a “sex” parking lot. All night there were cars that would park really close to us or even behind us and sit there for about 30 minutes and then leave. There were probably 6 different cars that night. The next morning we braved the sight of the graveyard of used condoms surrounding where we parked… I guess we were admiring the sunset so much that we never thought to scan the ground when picking the spot.

Last day in Mexico, wow, it is really hard to believe. I was a bit worried that they would have to quarantine the dogs at the border, but to our luck it was one of the easiest border crossings. They scanned us over, asked a few questions and that was about it. We were back in the good ol’ US of A. One tip we would suggest (yes because it happened to us) is to get insurance put back on to your vehicle right away! You should be able to just make a quick phone call and then get the information printed out or faxed somewhere. We got in to Tucson that night and stayed the night at Alexis and Matt’s place. I stayed there and John, Frankie and Josh went to Colorado. And we are all continuing to live happily ever after!

Week 3: Coming back North

2009-11-29T19:36:00.016-07:00

Week 3: To Panama and Back

Hola friends and family, another week has past and we are still alive and well! After leaving the islands we drove that afternoon back towards Panama City. Just as we were leaving the old airport that now serves as a boat dock, John spotted a large jungle cat crossing the road, unfortunately there was not enough time to get out the camera and he was the only one who saw the animal, so you will have to take his word for it. The road away from the islands was rough and rocky and we had to deal with another flat tire, no big deal though. Beautiful scenery on this road, lots of jungle and amazing flora and fauna. We got a recommendation from one of the tour guides on the islands for a place to stay in town called Zuly’s Backpackers Hostel.

After driving around in the city semi-aimlessly for a few hours we parked close to where we thought the hostel might be. Josh and Kindra got out to walk over and check out prices and whether or not we could have the dogs. It was all good so we parked the truck, unloaded our things and checked in. This place was nice after the excursion we had just been on, shower, laundry, internet etc. The only unpleasant things were the hostess was kind of snooty. It was nice to have a break and have some clean dry clothes for the second half of the trip. I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but on our way to the islands we picked up a hitchhiker who was on a 2 year long bike trip from Argentina to Alaska! This fellow was on his way into Panama City for a bike part that had broken on his bike and we gave him a lift. Well as luck should have it the morning we were leaving the hostel in Panama City to get back on the highway north, who do we see but the very same guy on his way back north to his bike, we signaled to him to hop in the back and gave him ride (small world eh?).

As we drove up the highway we noticed a lot of police speed traps going through the little towns so we were pretty carful not to exceed the marked limits. At one specific crossing though a traffic cop, w/ no speed gun mind you, waved us over to the side of the road. When he came up to the truck window he told John he was speeding and that it was illegal to drive with someone in the back of the truck. Now remember we have been picking up hitchhikers all over Central America now for the last two weeks and even going through a few police check points with these people in the back and no one has said ANYTHING up until now and we definitely were not speeding. These guys were looking for a bribe and once again Josh really saved us. John and Josh were called into a small side office where they told them we would have to pay a $200 fine, after a bit of convincing it went down to $50 then down to whatever we thought was fair. Of course once again we felt $0 was the fairest and managed to get out of there by having our hitchhiking friend get out there and not paying a cent! This is just another example of the prejudice that all tourists have money and will pay to get out of sticky situations and another example of how if you can speak enough Spanish to talk to these guys, they will get frustrated and give up (stickn it to the man!). So after this bit of excitement we were ready to find a place to camp. A few hours down the road and we saw a sign for an Evangelical Camp and thought what the heck lets check it out. Turns out it was a beautiful piece of property run by some nice Swiss folks who used the land for summer camps and things of that nature during the high season.

They were super friendly and said we could camp for free, use their, showers, bathrooms, lake for swimming and covered camping area! What a find! We still had some daylight so we had an early dinner then set up camp, Josh and John slept in hammocks over the concrete floor. The next morning, still in Panama, we drove to a nice spot with a waterfall and a roofed area to set up the tents and hammocks. It has been nice to camp because it gives us the opportunity to be outside more and the dogs love it. Wallace and hippy are such great travelers and they love being able to run free after a long day of traveling cooped up in the truck.

The next day we drove towards the border and Costa Rica. Once we crossed into Costa Rica we drove a ways until finding a cool hostel/hotel with a communal kitchen and area with hammocks. Kindra was typing on the labtop at a table at the hostal and felt something on her leg... after swating it a few times she realized it was a giant stick bug. See picture to check out the size of this thing! Since Costa Rica is rather expensive we decided to high tail it, in and out in 2 days. On the way through we stopped at a bridge where you can see 30 to 50 large Crocodiles below, pretty cool.

That evening we found a free beach to camp on in a beautiful bay just outside of La Cruz. We would have stayed more days here but it is apparently one of the 7 windiest spots in the world! We met some guys who do kite surfing there one fellow who teaches lessons that is 60 years old!

Some border crossings have been easier and quicker than others and by this point we have pretty much gotten the system down, but there are always annoyances and little bumps that get in the way. For instance after Kindra and John waited in an hour long line to have our passports stamped to exit Costa Rica, the official made Josh wait in the line all over again because he didn’t wait with us the first time because he was watching the truck. In Costa Rica the most commonly use phrase is “pura vida”, but due to the cost of things, over tourism of the country, and general lameness (aside from the natural beauty) we feel saying “pura mierda” is a bit more fitting! And on top of it all Kindra got stung by a bee on her foot while waiting for John to do the truck paper work.

Next, back into Nicaragua, all of us really enjoyed this country on the way down; cheap food, nice people, beautiful beaches, and clean accommodations. Our first night we stayed in quaint town called Granada and found our own little private room w/ a bathroom, shower, TV and air-conditioning (for and extra $10 a night we opted for without). Granada is a cute little town with cobblestone streets and a parque central that reminded us a little bit of Italy or France. The next day we spent lounging around in the fan aerated room until around noon. John went to the local market for some fresh cheese, fruits and veggies for the next couple of days. The markets in Nicaragua are very similar to those in Guatemala, lots of small maze like dirt alleyways where every type of fresh, dried, raw, cooked, smelly, beautiful and ugly thing can be bought or sold.

After leaving our room we drove to Apoyo Lake for the afternoon to swim and then camp that night. Apoyo is apparently a one of a kind lake in Nicaragua it’s very clean and full of minerals, people come from all over the country with different ailments to soak and rejuvenate themselves in it. We talked with the owner of the restaurant where we camped about the lake, he seemed very interested in the preservation and upkeep of the lake and surrounding area, it was refreshing to talk to an environmentally conscious local. At the lake we saw quit a few really nice hammocks hanging at the different restaurants and asked where we could buy them.

Just a little drive away in a little town called Masaya they specialize in the production of hand made cotton hammocks in all sizes. We stopped there and checked out the 20 or so hammock shops and bought a few at just under $10 a piece, now remember these are beautifully made hammocks that easily would go for at least $40 or $50 in the states. And before heading out a bit of fresh Nicaraguan street cheese and fresh tortillas for lunch.

Our last night in Nicaragua we went out on a limb and camped off a county road in a protected reserve. Just us, the sunset, mosquitoes, and a large heard of cattle sniffing around our tents all night…NICE. John and Josh were hearing some strange sounds from the front of the truck the day before and in the morning before leaving after and inspection of the front end noticed a rather essential bolt missing from the driver’s side leaf spring bushing. After jacking the truck up and resetting the bolt that had inched its way out of the leaf spring, we headed back into the closest large town to find a replacement. We had no problem finding the nut, and we were on our way to the Nicaraguan/Honduran boarder.

This was a stressful border crossing with grossly inefficient processes, down computer systems and on the Honduran side a fascist police check point where they confiscated Kindra’s bottle of pepper spray, even after we explained to them how it was important because it was forher safety and our only form of protection against thieves and animals alike. It was disappointing to have the police be unwilling to understand our position and consider our defenses a weapon, we surmised the crooked police just wanted the pepper spray and were on a power trip, we had to let it go. Kindra was teary eyed because it was the last thing her grandpa had civen her before he died, but the could care less. Plus she was getting eaten alive by the red fighter ants that we had parked right next to. Its so hard to avoid them... they are everywhere!!! We found a cheap hotel for the night and relaxed a bit by watching a movie on John’s laptop.

The next day we noticed a lot of police check points along the way and came to find out it was election week and apparently the extra security was for the possibility of an uprising. We have been in Honduras now for days, elections are over and have seen no such activity, just to put you all at ease.

We rolled into our next camping spot the next evening around dark at a place called Pulhapanzak, where there are some unexcavated ruins, possibly Mayan, and a 120ft. waterfall. Needless to say we all had some crazy dreams this night! The next day we wanted to check out the Caribbean side of the country, but after arriving we realized it was the middle of their rainy season and we had nothing but grey skies and heavy rain, to top it off the beaches in the town of Omoa were kind of crappy. Not to fear though we made the most of the detour and found a place that was selling super cheap Havaiana flip flops (Kindra’s favorite shoe of choice) and we all bought a few pairs.

With our new sandals we drove toward the northern part of Honduras and the Copan Mayan ruins site. We arrived in the little town of Copan Ruinas and found a really nice place to stay for the next three days before crossing back into Guatemala. John and Kindra visited the Ruins the next day, Josh had already been so he stayed behind with the dogs. Each of these sites is different from the next. We found that the most amazing part of the site was not the reconstructed pieces or the estelas (Mayan sculptures specific to this site), but the way the earth had taken over the deserted site, and the trees that grow up around and out of the temples and become part of the buildings. Don’t misunderstand us, the grandeur of these sites is amazing, but the nature really touched us. Also, imagining what it must have been like in it's day is impressive, but there is something very magical about the serenity and peacefulness of the overgrown earth that is now the master where man used to be. A really special once in a lifetime experience for sure. So, we are here in Copan Ruinas and will be heading towards the Guatemala boarder tomorrow. As we sit here on the roof of our hoster we can here the local supporters of the man who won the election, in addition to all the fireworks the are letting off. I guess some people are hapy with the results of the election.

Week three has been great and are looking forward to Guatemala again! Here we come. John, Kindra, Josh, Wallace, and Hippy signing off, love ya.

To the San Blas Islands in Panama

2009-11-19T19:25:00.015-07:00

Week 2: To Panama and back

Just outside of Leon we decided to do a day hike up a small volcano . After a short drive we came to the ranger's station where they had started a small reserve for the local reptiles, such as snakes and iguanas. For us the hike really was not that bad but we think it may have nearly killed Wallace. Kindra also managed to make it through the whole hike without dirtying her sandals until arriving back at the truck where she apparently scooped a bit of poo up with the tip of her Teva sandal. After the hike we headed out toward the beach to find a cheap or free place to camp. We drove not more than 45 minutes outside of town and just before dark found a stretch of beach near a little restaurant where we asked if we could set up camp for the night. The bar manager said we could camp there (for free no less) and so we set up just as the sun was setting.

(still sweating on the way down!) (group shot ont thevolcano)

(poop on my foot :() (Hippy is so happy!!!)

(Free camping...on the beach!)

The next morning we headed back towards town (Leon) for a few supplies and on the way picked up a couple of backpackers who needed a ride into Leon, on our way towards the Costa Rican border. We chowed down on some local yucca in a bag and some warm market cheese. We spent the next night in a small beach town in the south of Nicaragua called San Juan del Sur. In San Juan we began to see a significant change in the country and people. Some of you may already know but Costa Rica is heavily set up for tourism and San Juan is the border town where many people living in Costa Rica come to renew their visas (like Kindra used to do when she lived in Costa Rica). There are a lot of tourists in this town and more “white” people than any of had seen in months in one place. On top of this there were a ton of touristy type gift, souvenir, surf and clothing stores. (Kind of reminded us of Southern California or even Florida) Beautiful, nonetheless, but noticeably different. We found a place in town for the night that allowed dogs, unloaded our things out of the truck and went out for pizza, a walk on the beach, and ice cream. Kindra took full advantage of the internet and called her dad via Skype and they watched the Steelers (American football just in case you don't follow football) game together from afar.

(Hitch hiking ladies) (local cheese) (yucca wrapped in banana leave and served fresh in a plastic bag!)

(In front of our hostel in San Juan del Sur)

We saw some cool 'wind power' towers on the way to the Costa Rican border and arrived in the little town where Kindra lived (for 7 months) just after dark, called Playa Grande. Luckily she had still been in contact with one of her friends from when she lived there, Felix who was working at a local hotel/bar. Felix set us up with a nice couple who let us camp in there back yard that was more like a resort than a back yard. The next day we took the boat across the small river mouth to the little town of Tamarindo to do some sandal/cigar/sunglass shopping. Wow what a difference from any of the places we had seen totally set up for tourists, and even more like California, than California!!! Tons of gringos and gringas, surf boards, $$$$$$, you get the idea. Anywhoo, nice nonetheless. We all got some sun and enjoyed the beach. That evening we treated ourselves to dinner at a local restaurant, where we saw the largest insect I think any of us had ever seen. It looked like a grasshopper, but I think it may have been some kind of mutant locust or something of that nature. After dinner we drove into Tamarindo for some live music, from another acquaintance of Kindra's. He played some really great music, he is from Brazil so it had the ‘bossa nova’ style to it.

(smoking thier stogies on the beach) (mangrove trees) (Playa Grande at sunset, many memories for Kindra)

(crazy grasshoper bug) (mangroves) (bye bye sun)

(Kindra's friend Felix whom she hadn't seen for over 3 yrs)

The next day our plan was to head towards the city of San Jose to stay for the night, but when we got there the rooms were much more than we had planed on spending, so we decided to go towards the mountains. As night was falling we approached the location and made our way down a steep and treacherous road. To all of our disappointment, the front tire of the truck sustained a fatal puncture to the sidewall of the tire. An irreparable flat….damn! John knew he was going to have to change it, and just as he got out of the truck the rain began to fall. Long story short we were unable to do the tire change that evening because of a missing essential tool needed to remove the tire. Soooooo... all 5 bodies: Kindra, John, Josh, Wallace, and Hippy got as comfortable as they could in the cab of the truck and hunkered down for the night on the side of the mountain. The next morning Josh and John went out on a hunt for a 'good samaritan' that could help with the removal of the tire. After a little asking around and a breakfast of fresh mountain 'moras' (blackberries), coffee and toast we found what we needed and were off towards Panama.

(some locals helping fix the tire) (road we slept on because we had a flat) (hippie just waking up after being squished all night in the cab)

We had been encountering substantial amounts of rain in the afternoon and evenings the further south we would go and have been keeping the backpacks, with all of our clothing and such, in the back wrapped in big black trash bags. It’s a daily ritual to rewrap the bags in their respective plastic and then all of them in a tarp. After crossing into Panama in the evening, without much issues except a small bribe to one of the quarantine office officials, we found a place to stay in the small city of David around 30 minutes away form the border. This place was really a bit creepy no pictures but just imagine the hotel from the movie 'The Shining' and you will have a good idea what it was like.

We spent most of the next day driving, which if you haven’t the faintest idea of how we are traveling, I will describe for you. John always drives. Kindra and Josh switch off every other day between sitting in the front and the cab. If it is your day in the cab you know that by the end of the day your butt will be asleep and hurting. Basically we have brought with us a futon mattress that we have folded up and put in the cab for us to sit on. We stick our tents, camelbacks, etc in and around it and then try and get comfortable. Wallace normally rides at the feet of the person on the front and Hippy in the back with the unlucky rider of the day. It has been really hot and humid lately so cruising down the highway with the windows down is a nice refresher. When we get to the borders and have to sit in the car for a few hours.... well lets just say I am glad we only have a handful more to go! There have been quite a few checks along the highways where police will either wave you through or pull you over. Guess which we always get. Normally we just pull out our passports and car papers and they are typically happy with that. A least twice we will stop for bathroom breaks and the guys always have it much easier cause there definitely were a few times that Kindra mooned some passerbyers on accident (sorry no pics for this one!)

(John getting the border paperwork) (border crossings)

(John and Josh getting water from a gas station) (j & j covering up the bags from the rain)

We only have 4 weeks to get to Panama and back to Xela so we hit the road again heading south and then before dark looking for a place to camp. After asking around we met a nice man who said we could stay on his property for the evening, not far from a river. We set up our little rain shelter over the tents just in case it rained, but we were lucky and had a nice clear night. We had ourselves a nice fire and got some really cool photos with Josh’s camera.

The next morning we took a little walk to a small waterfall just on the other side of the ridge, from where we had camped, then headed out toward the Panama canal and the southern most point of our journey the San Blas Islands. The one lookout we stopped at to see the 'canal locks' in action was a little expensive so we opted to just hang out and enjoy the view of the observatory building. We are lame, yes we know, but understand that we want to have enough money to make it home without having to call our families for gas money!! On our way to the Islands it began to get dark and we again made the journey down the treacherous back country road in the evening. Half way down the road though we actually were able to see both oceans on either side of us, which was quite amazing. Our most frightening sight was the road to the beach; ending at what seemed to be an impassable and rather large deep jungle river. Now, John has only driven through one river before not more than 4 inches deep in Belize. At first we could not see the road on the other side, but after some inspection and spot light use (thanks for the spot light Charlie/dad!!) we saw the road on the other side. We had seen other smaller vehicles than the truck returning from the beach on this same road so we knew it could be done, but nevertheless it seemed really deep. Well, we went for it.... after a half hour or so debating on whether or not we were up for hand winching the truck out if it did not make it. The water was well above the wheels and a good bit over the bumper of the truck, which meant the river was at least 3 feet deep. No problem though we made it across with little more than some wet feet from the water coming in the bottoms of the doors (seriously)! Ok, as if this was not enough excitement for one evening upon arriving at the rangers’ station, we were greeted by armed guards who told us the park was closed after 4pm and a bit baffled as to how we had made it past an earlier check point that was inconvieniently unattended. They basically told us we could not camp on the beach where we were heading and would have to go somewhere else. They were nice enough to let us camp at their station until morning, where a guide would meet us and arrange to have a small boat take us out to one of the small islands. We originally had planned on camping on one of the islands but due to rain, and again the COST, we decided to just go out for the day. The San Blas islands are speckled all along the Atlantic coast of the south of Panama and a large population of indigenous live here. It was really amazing to see the small islands and the specific way of life these people have been living for thousands of years, probably the same, except for a few differences, like gas motors and the appearance of tourism. Yeppers, it was a rainy semi-miserable day on one of the most beautiful amazing places in the world. When we arrived at the island, which was smaller than a movie star’s piece of Beverly Hills property, the skies cleared long enough to do a 10 minute loop around the "if you were stranded on a deserted island..." island. We made the most of it and returned back to the truck later that afternoon. A bit of an anticlimactic, furthest point south of the journey kind of day, but hey we made it and we are safe.

(deserted on an island!)

(local woman raking the seashells on the beach)

(The ranger's station we camped in front of)

And the trip is not over yet! We are all in good spirits and the dogs are doing well. Sorry for the quick recap of these destinations, but it will leave something for us to tell stories about when we get home, can’t give it all away in the blog, the juicy little details are always the best! Love you all, keep an eye out for more to come…. John, Kindra, Josh, Wallace and Hippy

On the Road Again: Heading South

2009-11-07T21:46:00.015-07:00

November week 1, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (heading south)

Well hello again everyone. Starting up our portion of the trip in blogger style, we are on our way down to Panama from Xela. We hope to arrive in Panama in a week or so and hang for a while then head back to Guatemala. We figured it would be easier and safer to leave the camper in Xela and only bring the things we truly needed for the trip. We decided to do the trip tent and hostel/hotel style so no need for the bulky camper (better gas mileage too). Also our friend and roommate Josh and his dog “hippy” are traveling with us. It’s nice to have another person along for the trip and Josh speaks practically fluent Spanish so has been a great deal of help at the borders and in a few sticky situations. After packing all our things and making all the necessary arrangements for the trip, buying a few snacks and food for the road and Kindra almost getting her toe cut of by a careless machete carrying woman, we left Xela. Not to worry though… it was only a scratch.

On Sunday morning we headed to a small town a few hours away called Sumpango for the annual kite festival or “Day of the Dead celebration. People from this and other villages construct massive “kites” out of brightly colored tissue paper and bamboo that takes them months to complete. All the kites are truly works of art. Some are religious, some cultural, some environmental, but all beautiful and amazing. The larger 20 to 30 ft tall pieces are too big to actually fly, but there are some that are equally impressive in design (smaller of course) that with the assistance of 10 to 30 men actually get off the ground. The process is quite amazing, similar to a small kite, a long piece of rope is attached to the bottom of the kite and a long line of men (some women) run pulling the rope until it comes off the ground. Then depending on the skill of the “flyers”, weight and amount of wind that day the kite either remains in the air or crashes to the ground. We saw one of the larger pieces (about 10 to 15 ft tall) stay in the air for around 10 or 15 minutes!! After checking out all the kites and having lunch we headed out towards Guatemala City to stay the night at the parents of Josh’s friends place.

Josh’s good friend Byron’s parents were kind enough to let us stay on their beautiful property for the night and feed us two meals. It was a real treat to have such tranquil, clean….FREE place to stay, thanks so much for your hospitality Byron and Eva Marie!! In the morning we headed into Guatemala City to pick up the rest of our paper work for the truck, so as to be able to exit the country without issues. As with most things in Guatemala the process was slow and we had to wait a few hours before obtaining the paper work from the SAT office. After around 5pm we had everything, but it was dark and we decided to find a hostel in the city and leave early the next morning for the El Salvadorian border. The hostel we found was nice, cheap and allowed pets. The next morning we headed towards the border.

(Byron's parent's house) (byron and Eva

(Some cool graffiti in Guate City)

Now began the fun’nt (Leslie, Gaga, Tana, James and Jim will get this). Upon arriving at the border (and it’s the same at all of them) the truck is usually surrounded by a hoard of men with official looking badges that say you will need a guia, or guide, to successfully make it through the process because it’s sooooo confusing and difficult (for a small fee of course). Kindra and John learned early on this was not necessary and a scam for inexperienced travelers. Unless you speak absolutely no Spanish and don’t know how to make copies these guides are practically useless, aside from annoying the daylights out of you. Everything went well exiting Guatemala until the final step where they check our passports. Josh’s stamp and info were fine, but when the man went to input Kindra and John’s info into the computer something was not right. Apparently when we went to the city to have our visas renewed over a month before they gave us our stamps, but did not put the renewal info into the computer and it was showing we were almost 3 month late on our visas!! Not our fault at all, but a problem nonetheless and potentially a really big fine (which we could not afford) or going all the way back to the capital and having to spend a few days rectifying the problem or who knows what! Josh tried talking with the man to find out what our options were and he basically told Josh to see how much we would be willing to pay. We were livid! In no way was the mistake they made our fault. After talking more with him and explaining we couldn’t pay he eventually stamped our passports and let us move on.

So we’re out of Guatemala and on to the entry of El Salvador. Everything went smoothly here except for taking almost 4 hours to complete. Josh and Kindra had to wait for almost an hour for someone to get back from a dinner break before being able to pay a pet transport fee. This evening we drove another hour and a half toward the coast of El Salvador and found a place on the beach to stay. It was very nice, clean and beautiful with access to the beach. This part of the coast of El Salvador is beautiful with cliffs stretching along the coastline.

(1st day in El Salvador)

Wednesday, we headed out to our next destination, another spot on the coast, before leaving El Salvador and crossing into Honduras. The beach town we stayed in was called Cuco and the places we had to choose from were either really nice and really expensive or really crappy and not quite as expensive. So we chose the later. And let me tell ya, the only word to describe this place is GE-TOE. Bare bones, two “beds” if you could call them that, non flushing toilets, headless “shower” (pipe coming out of the wall with a spicket that barely let out a dribble of water)! Not complaining though it was a safe place to park the truck and they allowed dogs.

\(ghetto-fabulous-style)

Thursday, we drove towards the border of Honduras. We arrived in the mid afternoon and again spent the next four hours waiting patiently as we exited El Salvador and entered Honduras. After a long arduous process of making copies, getting passports stamped and having the dogs inspected we thought we were free. As we approached what seemed to be last check point of the border a uniformed dressed “official looking” man flagged us down and motioned us to pull over. After stopping the man asked for John’s driver’s license and pointed to his and Josh’s lack of seat belt use. He then proceeded to tell us we would have to pay a $50 US fine 33k away and then return with the receipt to get John’s drivers license back. We had been duped like this before and knew it was a scam. Luckily Josh was able to call “the crooked traffic official’s” bluff and expose him for what he was and was trying to do… extort tourist! The officer wanted to take the bribe on the sly because obviously he didn’t want to get caught extorting us, but instead Josh , along with a few other locals driving by, called him out. They were yelling out of their trucks “crooked cops” and “don’t let him bribe you!” He obviously felt he pressure the bunk official gave back the license and we didn’t have to pay a cent!!!! Hopefully this will be a lesson to some of the corrupt officials in Honduras, knowing they can’t get money from all the travelers passing through.

A bit about the landscape and what we have been seeing on the drive going south. El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua all have a very similar feel, beautiful jungle greenery, volcanoes rising up out of the earth 1,500 to 2,000ft, small villages, horse drawn carriages, fruit and vegetable stands on the sides of the road, fresh dairy farms that sell cheese and soft serve ice cream. Also since we left Xela everyday around 3pm or so there have been incredible tropical rains, harder than we have seen anywhere else, as of yet, on the trip. The people are very friendly if you are friendly to them and all the road side check points military and police are astonished when we present Wallace as a distraction. The little boy is a great conversation piece and immediately lightens the mood and break the ice of the stone face police and military officials.

We finished off Thursday afternoon by driving into a small town in Honduras, where we found again a nice, cheap, clean hotel room with a fan that allowed dogs and had a parqueo for the truck. We went out that evening… found a bit of street food then went back to the room and watched Year One on Johns laptop, funny movie by the way. We got up the next day and walked the dogs around the local market area, bought some fresh fruit and headed towards the boarder of Nicaragua. After making it through without much trouble and a lot of time, we made it to Leon, Nicaragua, a nice little town a lot like what Xela would be like with warm weather and nice paved streets. The Hostel we are now staying in is super chill and close to the market, we had a rainy day in today and just chilled out, walked around the market had lunch at a comedor, and wrote the blog, basically took it easy after the 3 days or so of border madness.

Month 3 and 4, Xela, Guatemala

2009-10-16T13:38:00.018-06:00

Months 3 & 4

Xela, Guatemala

(Roomates: Katie & Claudia) (Central Park) (J & K out to dinner, not common)

(Indigenous woman celebrating their saint) (view of city from hill)

(Wallace & Hippie, roommate's dog)

August and September have been good months. The weather here was beautiful. It was about 85 F everyday and comfortable at night. We got to experience the time of the year that is during the rainy season, but for about 3 weeks it stops raining; it is the most beautiful time of the year and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Kindra and her friend Katie would take the dogs hiking on Saturdays up to the top of Baul, which is a small mountain where there are bbq areas at the top and long slides for kids and adults. The slides are cement and it looks as though they poured it right down the side of the mountain… super fun! John had a “caught in a torrential downpour” experience, while on a hike with our roommate Josh and one of his friends. They decided to trek up towards Volcan Santa Maria, and ignore the impending signs of rain, and not take rain jackets. The journey up was fine but the three guys had to run down the mountain in cold rain and try to avoid the quickly growing river on the path. They made it home safe, cold and wet but safe.

(slides of fun!) (Heather, Kindra, and Claudia at the top of Baul) (half way point)

(dogs are digging in the trash)

John has been doing a lot of DJing (here the use the verb: pinchar, which means to pinch). He DJ’s at El Infinito on Thursday nights (which is great because Kindra works that night there too) and at El Cuartito every Wednesday night (where he works). Not only is it a fun pasttime for him to resurrect, but he also is getting paid! One party that John had a really great time DJing at was the “Fuentes Gorginas Party”. Fuentes Gorginas is a hot spring about an hour from Xela. Pedro, Kindra’s boss at the restaurant, organized the party and we all had our part in helping set up, work, enjoy good music and soak in the hot pools! It was one of those “only happens once a year” kind of parties and fortunately Kindra’s best friend Heather was here visiting and she was able to come too. Good fun! Once the month September hit many of the college students went back to their country to start school again. Business has been slow ever since. Kindra was working a lot because she had 3 jobs, but now she is only working a few days a week. No complaints from her!

(John Djing at El Cuartito) (Kindra's fellow coworkers) (making seiten, fake meat, with Carlos)

(hanging with the girls at El Infinito, Kindra's work) (Pedro, owner of Infinito, & Claudia)

Heather, Kindra’s best friend came in August to visit for a week and then travel a bit with her partner, Angel, who is from Guatemala. The live in L.A., California, but he has a lot of family that still lives here. We went to Guatemala City to pick Heather up, but since her flight was so early in the morning we wanted to get there a day early and spend the night. Angel’s cousin was nice enough to let some strangers stay at their house… we were very thankful to have met them and stay at their house. We also had planned to get our passports renewed at the immigration office. Luckily Carlos, Angel’s cousin, went with us to pick Heather up from the airport and helped us get all of the paperwork done. Wow, what a big help. I think we would have gotten lost just trying to get to the airport. On our way back from running around town, we stopped at a mall near by and met up with some of Kindra’s family. She has a cousin, Patricia, who lives in Guatemala and just my chance her mother was visiting her, whom Kindra had met several times at family reunions. We calculated that Patricia’s son would be Kindra’s 3^rd cousin. It was great to finally met them since we had spoken over the phone several times, but never got the chance to meet in person. Heather hung around town with Kindra for a week until Angel came into town. Once he was here we drove down to a coffee finca, Angel roasts and sells coffee in L.A. It was strange being out of town since it had been awhile, especially the weather change. It got a lot hotter and humid. Let’s just say we were happy to be back in the Xela weather by the end of the day.

(Out to dinner with Heather & Angel) (Andrea, Claudia, Heather, & Kindra at Fuentes Gorgina's Party) (Angel's family that we stayed with near Guate city)

(taking friends back to town in the back of the truck after the Fuentes Gorgina's party)(Kindra and a few others got their faces painted by their artist friend Javier) (Kindra reuniting with her family!)

(exploring the coffee finca)

The month of September is like one big celebration. All of the schools’ marching bands have been practicing to get their rhythms and steps just right for the big day, Sept. 14^th, Independence Day. But don’t think for a moment the party was just held on one day. Oh no, they took advantage of the whole month. There was at least one marching band a day that took up a whole street lane for about an hour forcing the local chicken buses to take an alternate route. You may be wondering if all of the other towns in Guatemala take Independence Day a seriously as the locals of Xela… well, not as much. Xela is actually the central celebration place for all of Central America. (It is independence for Central America, not just Guatemala). It’s kind of like Town Square in NYC on New Years Eve. On Sunday, the day before Independence Day, Xela hosted a 10K. Kindra has been running the track near where she teaches and thought it would be fun to take part. She and her friend got there just in time and joined the 200 or more people that also ran. John on the other hand, being the lame-o that he is did not take part in the race. But since then he has met a guy from the states who is training for the Xela ½ marathon, and is running more or less every day. It’s been great for him to find someone to run with, at a challenging pace, and with goals. Sept. 14^th was Independence Day for Central America and boy can they throw a party. It was hard to decide what to do since they had so many options; there were concerts near the large roundabout, the ‘midnight yell’ at the central park, and the various restaurants and discos with their Independence Day specials. Kindra decided to go out with three of her girlfriends and wander around Central Park eating glutinous amounts of street food and waiting for the fireworks. They had a blast! John unfortunately had to work that night, but after he got off he went to DJ at a club. Unfortunately half way through his set the electricity went out in half the town. How common this has become for us.

(Jenn & Kindra) (The theater all lite up for Independence Day) (Loving the street food)

(street vendors during Independence Night) (The four of us had a last that night)

(another round of street food) (at midnight, fireworks went off in Central Park)

Our caramels have been doing great around town. We sell them at 5 different places around town and each week they sell out. It is not making us a ton of money, but enough to keep us fed. We also have been experimenting with peanut brittle and a snickers/turtle-ish type chocolate. They are yummy and we sell them at a few places.

Our recent endeavor has been to use the front hallway of our house as a second hand clothing shop. We sell used clothes that we find at the “Pacas” market. Pacas pretty much means packs (of clothes in this case). Clothes are donated from the U.S. and shipped down in huge ‘packs’ and then sold at the market, for CHEAP. Tables and tables of clothes, shoes, and blankets are piled up like mountains. People either come to do their own personal clothes shopping or to take it to their stores and sell, like us! There are certain days that you can get the stuff cheaper than others. For example, on Tuesdays, there is a table that sells everything for .50 centavos, which is about 6 cents U.S.! Last month I got an Rei rain jacket for 1 dollar. Some of the stuff we can’t help but keep for ourselves. Business is pretty slow, but we have sold some stuff. We’re putting the money we make towards paying rent.

(Rose, sitting on a mountain of clothes) (yeah, street vegetarian food!) (Kindra picking through the pile of clothes)

(John, working our paca store in the front hallway of our house)

Both John and Kindra have improved immensely in their Spanish understanding and speaking abilities, Kindra more so than John but for the amount of time they have been learning and practicing, equally impressive and accomplished. Kindra is studying with a teacher a couple days a week and also doing a one on one language exchange. John is not taking any classes, but is learning a lot of slang from the people at his work.

ciao ciao kindra and john

Xela month 2 and 3

2009-08-12T20:03:00.001-06:00

Xela, June/July

Greetings all, well we have been in Guatemala now for a little over two months and are starting to get settled in. As you read in our last post we have found a nice place to rent, both have jobs and are studying Spanish. We’ve had a few changes to our work situations, some additional sources of income have come our way and we are beginning to make some friends and social connections. First off we both are working at least 5 days a week not making much money but a little goes a long way here in Guatemala and its better to think of in terms of how many tortillas we can buy than what it equals in dollars. With the money we make, we are able to pay our rent, buy groceries and have a little left over for personal stuff!... So technically we are not spending our saved money. The job John applied for at the bakery fell through because the place actually is going out of business. In the mean time he was able to find work at a little café/bar waiting tables called El Cuartito (the little room). After John’s computer crashed a few weeks ago we were advised to take it to a café/bar where some computer savvy fellows worked. After talking with the Guy’s at El Infinito about the computer they said they could help, but before we left Kindra inquired as to whether or not they were looking for any help, they said they were and she started working the following week. Both places (El Cuartitio and El Infinito) are nice laid back places to hangout and work. Kindra is also teaching English 5 days a week in the mornings to some local Guatemalan adults. She is also teaching English to elementary age children once a week in the afternoons and if these things weren’t enough she is also finding time to give Thai massage. We are still making and selling our caramels around town, actually to 4 different places! Some at El Cuartitio, some at El Infinito, a little book shop in town and a Spanish school where one of our roommates works! The caramels are a big hit we have to make 2 batches of around 60 caramels a week to keep up with the demand for the home made sweets! Kindra has also been testing the caramel in a variety of other facets, for example caramel cookies, and caramel covered apples. She is still working on perfecting both but has been able to sell the cookies and apples at our local supporting establishments.

After around 3 weeks without a hot shower at our new place we finally got the landlord to come and fix it so…hazzzzaa we are livin' the good life, a hot shower with the water pressure of a weak spray bottle (but hey we’re not complaining). We have a 4 burner stove but no oven, which is kind of a bummer, John is missing making cookies and vegan baked goods L but no worries, there are plenty of good bakeries here in Xela that sell a plethora of carbolishous sugary deliciousness . We have a microwave and toaster, as well as a blender and a small fridge. The fresh produce here is great and we have no problem living on fresh fruits and veggies for cheap! We have also been able to find some items were not able to find in Mexico and Belize like fresh ground peanut butter, dense dark bread (mostly just lame white bimbo and wonder loaves here) and Donuts to rival Dunken donuts. All of which are made at a little bakery run by a family of Mennonites living in Xela. It’s only open 2 times a week so we try to ration our supplies as best we can. The weather here is mild and very tolerable, when we first arrived it was raining every afternoon consistently for about a whole month and now we have only been getting rain once or twice a week…usually in the afternoon. The mornings are chilly and it usually does not get above 75 or 80 during the day especially with clouds in the sky.

We are both study Spanish, Kindra is taking private lessons 2 times a week and John is practicing with the Rosetta stone and will probably start doing a language exchange sometime this week. The café where Kindra is working is owned and run by two guys’ who are Dj’s here in Xela. John got to talking to them about Dj’ing and they invited John to Dj at an upcoming party they are throwing and at their cafe. Although it’s a different kind of Dj’ing than John is used to(they use all digital Mp3 files, along with a computer program and digital interface that allows the Dj to control the Mp3 with an actual turntable and “time coded” record) its still fun for him and a nice past time/ hobby to resurrect! When he has time John started running again is still practicing Bikrim and Ashtanga yoga. We make a big pressure cooker full of fresh beans once a week and usually eat them with the hand made white, yellow or blue corn tortillas that are sold around the corner from the house at 3 or 4 different little tortillarias. We also went to a nice little pot luck dinner at Kindra’s Spanish teacher’s house, and had a chance to make some friends and eat some good food. On a bit of a negative not both of us have experienced a little bit of Gringo/a prejudice. On her way to work one morning Kindra was kicked by a street person seemingly unprovoked, and the other day at the café where John works he was harassed for a good 25 to 30 minutes by a drunken Chilean dude who was convinced that all people from the US should be extinguished. We have felt more than welcomed and treated kindly since we have been here and still do but these things will happen, and it pales in comparison to the prejudice that minority’s face in the US. We feel blessed to have been so welcomed and well treated thus far! We have been going on hikes around Xela and the surrounding mountains and riding our bikes to the local markets and grocery stores. Heather, Kindra’s best friend from LA is coming to visit in a few weeks and we could not be more excited to have a guest with us….which leads us to our invite to any of our friends and family who want to come and see a beautiful country and stay in a cool little town with us, bring it on, you are more than welcome and we have plenty of room and a bed for you! But get a hold of us via email before and we will instruct you on the proper procedure for bringing items to us that are unavailable here, hehe just kidding. Nothing too exciting just living at the moment, we are happy and healthy and miss you all, talk to you soon, peace and love...pictures soon to come

Kindra, John, and WallaceJ

2009-07-21T13:16:00.003-06:00

Xela, Guatemala

Hi all, well after a week or so of John’s computer crashing its back in action and we’re here to give you and update on the last few weeks. We have decided that since we are now stationed in Xela for the next few months we will only be updating the blog with a weekly summary rather than a daily play by play. We will be sure to highlight any major events or exciting adventures that occur while we are here.
After leaving San Pedro we headed towards the town of Quetzaltenango, or the original Xelaju, Xela (pronounced SHEALAHU or SHEALA). Our traveling companions were able to contact a nice young man living with his family in the city, once again through couch surfing. We had originally planned on making our own contact in Xela but when we arrived all together at Fernando’s house, he and his family insisted they had plenty of room for all of us and a safe place for us to park the truck. It was a very generous offer and we accepted.

The house was split into to two, two level houses connected via the shared garage. One side was occupied by Fernando, and his parents and the other side by his grandparents and Aunt Freda who was visiting from Canada. During this week we did some exploring of Xela and a few of the surrounding towns. Fernando took us for a hike up a nearby inactive volcano called Chicoban, where at the top the crater of the volcano is now a lake around which Mayan locals still perform ceremonies and sacrifices. While there we learned that aside from Spanish, some of the Mayans living here still speak the languages Citchkee and Mam. On this day we were unable to see much of the lake due to the thick fog that collects around the top of the volcano.

The climate in Xela is notably different than anywhere we have been thus far, because of the altitude; it is chilly at night and rains almost every afternoon for a few hours. Sometimes it comes down so quickly, and in great quantities there are flash floods. Sometimes the water flows under the doors into the homes w/out notice. All of the houses we have seen here in town are constructed of brick and concrete w/ tile or concrete floors. Another day trip we took was to a nearby natural hot spring called Fuentes Georgians.

Fernando’s Aunt Freda took us; we spent the day first visiting a small to see the idol San Sebastian. This was quite odd, when we arrived in the town where the idol was being “housed” we walked down a series of small alleyways until reaching a small room where at least 50 to 100 people were waiting in line to make offerings and pray to the mannequin representing the alleged prophet. What was odd about the whole thing was the offerings themselves, the typical items to bring to the idol are small bottles of the local distilled alcohol and cigarettes! The people actually pour the liquor on the idol and light the cigarettes and putt them in his “mouth”. It was a rather eerie scene with overtones of religion gone bad and a hint of witch craft. Needless to say we didn’t spend much time hanging around and headed to the hot springs. It was a very nice setting up in the mountains and the pools were very hot. Since arriving in Xela we have been browsing through the local classifieds looking for help wanted adds, and were able to find a couple of places looking for workers. While staying with Fernando, we went and checked in w/ a bakery that is need of a baker in the mornings. John interviewed for the job and even though the day manager speaks no English and John’s Spanish is slim to none he received a call back two day’s later that he got the job! It doesn’t start until the end of the month so we still had some time to look for temporary jobs. We spent the rest of the week at Fernando’s place, looking for places to live during the day and going out a few nights for coffee. This would be the last place we would stay together w/ our caravan companions, Aviv and Itai. They decided to head back north and towards the Honduran boarder on Friday and we all said goodbye. They are wonderful people and great traveling companions, we hope we will be able to visit them some day in Israel and that they can come and see us in the States, thanks for everything you two, safe travels, you are in our thoughts and prayers!! After staying Fernando’s house for a week we thought it would be good to move on and not over stay our welcome. We did some more couch surfing and a nice fellow named Edy invited us to come and stay w/ him on the other side of town.

During this week we were able to find a good place to park the truck for the month and pay a flat rate. It’s a gated lot, which has an attendant there 24 hours a day and we even get a key to the gate in case we need to get into the truck on a day they are closed or in the evening.

Edy is also a Spanish teacher during the day and offered to give Kindra and John private lessons. So while we stayed at his house we also did some Spanish study in evenings. During this week we were still looking for a place to share or a room to rent so we could have our own place. Our acquaintance from San Pedro, Josh got a hold of us and invited us over for dinner one night, while there he offered a room in his house that would be available if we were interested. The room is actually two rooms connected to each other with one of the walls being all windows facing out into an open air, courtyard.

We were interested and Josh said we could move in a week. We spent the rest of the week at Edy’s place studying Spanish, doing yoga and making a few trips into town for groceries and produce. We moved most of the stuff that we needed out the truck, piece by piece and are now pretty much all moved in to the house. We have 2 roommates, Josh and Claudia…well 4 actually because Josh has a dog, named hippy and Claudia has a cat named Prince. We are one big happy familia, John, Kindra, Josh, Claudia, Hippy, Prince, and Wallito!

John found a temporary position at a nearby coffee shop waiting tables and doing dishes and Kindra the same at a different Café, both just a 5 min walk away from the house. Also to supplement our income at our jobs Kindra has been working hard to sell our caramels around town. She has done a great job of making some nice containers to put the candy in so we can leave them at a few different businesses. Kindra has also been brushing up on her Thai Massage and hopes to start advertising and doing sessions out of the Café where she is serving called En Finito. En Finito is a sweet little café restaurant that is run by two Dj’s. John is working in the evening at a little coffee shop/bar called El Cuartito. They have live music most nights of the week and the crowd is quite eclectic with a mix of locals and visiting tourist/out of town visitors. We are both getting along well and really like it here in Xela. We will post again soon with more pictures of our work places and the surrounding areas here in Xela. Love you all and miss ya,
Peace,
Kindra and John

Loving Xela!

2009-07-19T17:34:00.003-06:00

Introduction to Quazaltanango

(or Xelaju as the local Mayans call it)

June 15^th-21^st

Day 86-90, Mon.-Fri.: Xela, Fernando’s house

We left from San Pedro early in the morning to try and avoid the many vendors that set up stands near or in the street. I guess we didn’t leave early enough. Some of the turns were so tight and sharp that the locals were having to momentarily move their produce baskets off of the road. I am sure they are use to it with the big buses the come in and out of these tiny streets… the only difference is is that the bus drivers know the good detours to get through town! The Colonel chugged along up the steep and winding road out of the volcanic valley. We turned on our walkie talkies and had Avivguide us on the corners. They were such sharp and narrow turns that if another vehicle was coming the other direction we’d be toast. Of course we could just take very wide turns, but we found out on our way down the hill the day before that the truck is so big that we would have to reverse every time we did that. So, about every 100 ft or so Aviv would say ‘car’ or ‘clear’ over the walkie talkies. A few times they sounded alike because of the static and we would just go back and forth: “c*&r”… “what was that, clear?”… “yep clear, over!”… “thanks got it, over”. Kindra’s grandpa would be proud! After a few breaks up the hill (because we kept overheating) we finally made it over the top and got on the highway toward Quezaltanango. It was only a few hours away so we got there pretty quick. For some reason I thought Xela was a small town, which made me very confused when I navigated us to a city. It is by no means near the size of Guatemala City or even what most of us would consider a city, but I was shocked to see so many stores, cars and smog. I even asked someone where Xela was because I thought we got lost and they looked at me kind of funny because we were in Xela. He pointed me to the center of town thinking that is what I meant. We stopped at an Esso gas station and Itah and Aviv called their couch surfing contact, Fernando. We figured he would know a good place for us to camp around town. We followed him to his place in Zone 3 (yeah it is big enough that it has zones!) and he invited us all in. He introduced us to his mother and aunt Frida (who was visiting from Canada) and they fed us some warm soup and tortillas. Not only did he feed us, but he invited John and I to stay at their house on top of Itah and Aviv. Wow how nice of them! Fernando’s grandparents lived in the attached house and they had 3 spare bedrooms that we were welcome too. Later we discovered Fernando’s girlfriend was staying a few nights there as well, in the grandparent’s house that is! Most of the youth here typically live at home until they get married. We still had some daylight left so Fernando took us on a small tour of Xela.We went to a look point and were able to see the whole city… my goodness I figured I would never be able to navigate through town, especially because most streets are only one way. Afterwards we went to the local outdoor produce market and got some fresh fruits and veggies. Aviv and Itah cooked some delicious food for the whole family and guests too (about 11 of us altogether); what a delight! We found a safe place to park the truck for a few nights and went back to the house with full bellies and peace of mind.

The next day (Tuesday) Fernando had some time to take us on a hike to a lake formed in the creator of a volcano. It is a very sacred place to the Mayans where they have ceremonies and do sacrifices (chickens and the such). There was a lot of fog and we could barely see the lake… it had a sort of “Blare Witch” ambiance to it, but without the eeriness. On the shore of the lake through the fog you could make out dried flowers protruding out of the water and overturned candles that were left by the Mayans from their last ceremony. It was a muddy hike on the way up and no less on the way down. Wallace had a great time being let free and running around… until he discovered that sheep like to head butt you if you get too close. It was our turn to make dinner so we whipped up some sopa de fideo and bought some fresh bread. Dinner in Guatemala here is not very big (their lunch is the biggest meal) so we didn’t need to fix very much food. Fernando’s grandparents are so old and cute, the grandpa kept showing us all of his little tools and trinkets that people have given him over the years. And oh how they adored Wallace!

On Wednesday Fernando had some schoolwork to do so his aunt Frida took us out for the day. First we went to the town… where they worship the ……. Kindrea had reas about him in one of her books, but had no idea that this is who we where going to see, why you might ask… well every year he is moved to a different house in the town so unless you know where he is or you ask someone you may never find him. Well, Frida did all of the asking and we found the house that he was at. Since it was father’s day in Guatemala there where many locals visiting him and paying honor to him. We squeezed through the narrow pathway to the house and knew where it was because of all of the people outside the door and the live band playing in the house next door. We drew a lot of attention with Wallace there in addition to us being gringos. We stood on our tippy toes to get a peak of him (John was taller than everyone there so he didn’t have too). We decided that he reminded us of Michael Jackson and it was a bit creepy. Frida said that the town’s women are also known for their witchcraft. We then went to the hot springs, which were wonderful. It reminded us a bit of being back in Colorado where the take a natural environment and build pools, stairs and sitting areas out of stone and wood. A bit manicured, but still enjoyable. It was very hot so we couldn’t stay in for very long. There were some locals who where in too long and one of them fainted. We were very hungry on the way backed and stopped in for some Chinese food… huge plates of food for very cheap! Today it was Father’s Day here in Guatemala and we ate cake and drank tea and coffee to celebrate.

Thur: We have been making a pros and cons list of where we intend to stay for a length of time… basically it has been a toss up between Panajachel and Xela. Since we have only been doing fun stuff since we have been in Xela we decided to walk around town and do some exploring. We wanted to find a bakery called Bab’s House because Kindra had found an ad online mentioning something about a job. We found the place and aquired within. The guy working there currently, Matt, said that he will be leaving in August and that his position should be opening up. We got a hold of Anne Marie, the owner, and we set up a time to meet for the next day. There was also a room opening up behind the bakery that we thought of possibly renting out. Hmmm all the posibilites and so close to eachother! We decided to go to the big outdoor market to get some veggies for dinner. We decided that even though Xela looks so big, it is actually very easy to walk everywhere. John made some delicious pasta for dinner and we ended our night feeling pretty good about wanting to stay in Xela.

Friday: Today our travel buddies, Itah and Aviv, packed up their things and kept on trekking. We said our goodbyes… to The Itahs! We couldn’t stay long because we had to meet with Anne Marie at the bakery to talk about the position. She basically told John that the position was his if Chaioto, the Guatemalan supervisor, agreed as well. So we set up a time to meet with her too. The only thing we thought might be a problem is that she speaks no English and John is still learning Spanish. We shall see! We met with another couch surfer, Edy, in the central park and planned on staying at his place the next night.

Sat. & Sund, Day 91 &92 So, on just about every street corner there are these flat metal rods that are formed around the corner of the sidewalk. I guess cars hit the corners and the sidewalk crumbles, so they put them there to either deter people from getting to close or so the sidewalk stays in one piece. Either way John happened to make direct contact with one of the little buggers and got a flat; this time it wasn’t reparable. We put the spare on (okay, John did) and we said our goodbyes and gratitude to Fernando’s family. Before going over to Edys we stopped by the big Hiper Paiz (owned by Walmart) to try and get a few items that we haven’t been able to find, such as: peanut butter, Maya-ik (hot sauce), cheese (not from the outdoor market!), etc… It was getting late by the time we arrived at Edy’s and we weren’t sure where we would be parking the truck because as we have heard it just isn’t smart parking on the street. Later that night after we ate dinner at our friend Josh’s place we found a parking lot behind the bar called Kings and Queens. They typically don’t have people park there over night, but she was very accommodating. She even gave us the key to the lock because she wanted to sleep in and said for us just to hide the key the next morning. We stayed out pretty late… listening to live music and dancing!

Sunday: Spanish, Spanish, Spanish! Our day was pretty much studying and relaxing at Edy’s. Funny thing, we invited Fernando over to Edy’s place and Fernando recognized it because it used to be his mother’s cousin’s place. Well, not used to be… it still was, but now his nephew lives there. So Fernando and Edy are cousins and they had never even met each other! Crazy!

ciao ciao

Week Twelve, Guatemalan Mountains

2009-07-04T12:46:00.004-06:00

Week 12

Guatemala’s Highlands

June 8^th- 14^th, 2009

Day 79-81, Mon-Wed: Antigua, Guatemala

In the morning we (the caravan) headed out early on our way to Antigua. The drive was a long one and we would have to pass through Guatemala City. We weren’t able to find GPS city maps for Guatemala, so before getting too far down the road we all stopped at an internet café to research some alternate routes around the city. We found a few maps and some cryptic directions that Kindra had to actually reverse because we were coming from the opposite direction that they were written in. The Colonel led the way with John at the wheel and Kindra navigating for him (this is the standard travel procedure up to this point). Things were going great as we headed up through the mountains on a nice paved road until we came upon a long line of stand still traffic. There was a “demonstration” going on up ahead at a crucial junction in the highway and the thousand or so protesters had completely blocked traffic. This is quite common here in Central American and Mexico, but we had never experienced it before. The wait lasted about 3 hours or so until some law enforcement with their riot gear showed up to separate and clear the way for traffic. These are the things that you just cannot plan for on trips like this one. Our next setback came about 45 min. later when we again came upon a long line of hardly moving traffic. A hillside had collapsed up ahead and the traffic was being poorly directed through the one lane of passage on the dirt covered road. Finally we made it to Guatemala City and braced ourselves for the unknown! Thankfully Kindra took the directions she had found online and magically reversed them, taking us through the city with grace and ease!!!! The trip actually went amazingly smooth (aside from the traffic/demonstration hold ups) and the whole group made it through Guatemala city and into Antigua with just enough daylight to find a hostel and safe places to park the vehicles for the night. The name of the hostel we stayed at was called the Ummagumma, and the guarded parking “fortress” was right around the corner. The hostel was very nice… especially for letting us have Wallace. We would recommend it to anyone traveling to or through Antigua. They have private rooms, bathrooms in some w/showers, a communal kitchen, laundry, TV, and free Wifi…NICE. Aviv and Itai cooked dinner in their room that night for us and we all enjoyed our own beds after a long semi stressful day of travel.

Antigua is a charming old city w/ cobble stone roads and old historic church ruins around every corner. John woke up early to get the truck out of the parking lot before 8 (they charge by the hour after that). Then he and Wallace walked down to the market store for some coffee and to buy breakfast items. So up to this point internet had been really scarce and to have a good, free, wireless connecition was a bit of a treat. We spent the day doing stuff online, in the upper open air rooftop area of the hostel. Later in the afternoon we went to the town center and to the market. While doing some produce shoping we had lunch at a little comedor (eatery) in the back of the market. Most open air markets have these little places to eat where you can get a simple traditional meal for less than or the same as what you would pay to cook for yourself. Itai and John had pollo con cebollas y aroz (chicken with onion and rice) and the girls had a vegetarian dish. It was very simple and super delicious. While checking out the town and meeting up with our couch surfing connection Mauricio in the courtyard, John spotted a young Guatemalan boy heading his way with flyers. He looked a lot like the little tour guide from Lanquin and Samuc. John thought, ‘geez all these little Guatemalans sure look the alike’… he looked just like Crisanto! Remember we are now 4 hours away from where we first met this little guy (only 11 years old) and never expected to see him again, but it was him and we had a happy little reunion, Kindra even exchanged our cell # with him!! ! We met Mauricio and after chatting awhile, we decided to follow him back to his place to stay for the night. His place was about 15 minutes outside of the city in a very nice gated community where he had a room and bed for us to stay. He was kind to cook dinner for us (his roommate and roommate’s girlfriend were there as well) and we all relaxed and chated before they all went into the city for the evening, leaving the house to us.

On Wednesday we decided to book a tour up to the local active volcano (Pacaya) that left in the afternoon out of Antigua. We all packed a snack and had lunch before leaving. The tour bus left in the afternoon and was an hour and half bus ride up to the site where we had to hike another hour and a half before reaching the lava flow. We had heard from other people that it was hot enough to actually roast marshmallows at the top. We had no idea what we were in for though. After the bus ride up the mountain we were greeted by 30 or so young local children offering walking sticks for the hike up the volcano. They approached and ran along side the van yelling… “Stick for you, stick for you!?” Amusing and a little sad at the same time; we didn’t buy a stick. Our tour guide (not Crisanto) led us up the misty side of the volcano through the dense forest. We passed by locals gathering and carrying wood down the mountain for their heating and cooking stoves. Some young boys offered “taxi” services on their horses for those unable to make the climb. Our whole crew was more than able and made the hike with no problems. Nearly there we could see smoke and steam coming out of the top of the crater! The site we were going to was just below this and when we arrive we were amazed to see a thick 2 to 3 meter wide flow of molten lava streaming out of and down the hillside. We took out our marshmallows and with our 6 foot long roasting sticks proceeded to feast on our sugary puffs of earth roasted goodness… yum! A few silly English types brought a pan and some eggs with the hopes of frying them up. Unfortunately, they broke most of them on the way up the mountain and realized they had forgotten a spatula and their pan had no handle… silly English kaaaniggets!!! The hike down was much quicker and when we reached the bottom all the little children who were originally selling the stick were now screaming… “Stick for me, stick for me?!!” they wanted their sticks back to sell to the next group of tourists. Some of the little buggers actually tore the sticks right out of the hiker’s hands!!!

Getting back into Antigua we had planed to stay at Mauricio’s that evening, but were unable to make plans with him and had to stay in the Antigua. The parking lot just around the corner from the hostel said we could camp for one night for the cost of parking 50q (around 4 dollars US). So we lucked out with a safe place to camp and park…nice.

Day 82-84, Thur-Sat: Panajachel, Guatemala

Thursday The Itais (Itah and Aviv) and the Stinkarellas (Kindra and John’s nick name from Itai) met early in front of the Ummagumma hostel. Before leaving John did a little shopping at the near by Super store. We were on our way to Lake Atlilan… destination: Panajachel. Some have said that Lake Atitlan is the most beautiful place in the world. Of course any definite like that is left solely to an individual’s perspective and personal experience…although it is pretty darn magnificent! The lake is amazing and said to be the crater of an ancient volcano. It’s surrounded by three other volcanoes and several other small cities whose lights can be seen across the lake at night. Coming into town we had to descend a mountain and to get into the crater of the lake. The road into Panajachel was lined with waterfalls and beautiful views of the town and lake. Arriving in a small unfamiliar town is always a chore, especially in the truck. The streets here in Guatemala are very small and there a lot of one ways. Kindra had made some connections with couch surfers in Panajachel, while in Antigua, and being the studious little one that she is, got us hooked up with a super cool guy named Chocolate Bob. We split with the caravan after getting into town because The Itais had a couch surfing place of their own, but we stayed in touch via cell phone, (that’s right we caved and purchased a sim-card for our international phone) texting, and walki talkies. After talking to and getting directions from Bob on the phone we headed up to his house on a hillside just outside of town which overlooked the lake. His house keeper/assistant was waiting for us at the end of the driveway to guide us in to his gated parking area. Obispo (the assistants name) then led us down a steep cobblestone path to “La casa de Bob”. As we walked though the entryway we were convinced that we had just been invited to stay on one of the sweetest spots on Lake Atitlan. Bobs house has the most wonderful view of the lake and has a charm all to itself. Bob is an artist who has been living in Guatemala on and off for the last 25 years or so, making his way as an entrepreneur. He at one point had his own chocolate making business as well as glass bead making operation. He currently is getting ready to get back into the chocolate making scene. After a nice chat and “get to know” John, Kindra and Wallace got settled in and unpacked a few things from the camper. That night John, Kindra and Bob all had a curry dinner together.

Friday: After taking more than a week off from daily yoga, John and Itai decided to get together early for some practice. Itai picked John up at Bob’s house and they went down to the bank of the lake for a 2 hour session. Afterwards the whole group drove up the road to check out the Sololá market, which had a reputation for being quite impressive. It was really something, maybe not the most enjoyable but wow, what a place. From the outside it looked very similar to many other markets we had been to, but upon entering the mass of fruit stand and vendors we could barley navigate through all the barely 5ft tall Mayans. It became a chore and task just to manage our way through the people pushing and shoving each other to keep the flow of traffic moving. Having little Wallace with us did not help either and at one point John had to put Wallace up on his shoulder to keep him from getting trampled on. You think we get funny looks when Wallace is on the ground on a leash… you should see the looks we get when he’s up on our shoulders!!! Supposedly this was a market known for pick pocketing, a local Mayan even warned us as we passed her fruit stand. We made it out of the massive crowd of people though. We bought some fruit and sat in the shade to eat it; fresh mangos, bananas, strawberries, pineapple and papaya. Everywhere we go people are amazed and thoroughly amused by Wallace. Most people down here have never seen a dog like him, especially the children. They seem to gravitate and crowd around the little guy. Wallace is a good sport though and will do his little trick routine, as long as we have some treats for him. After the market we headed back towards Panajachel for another comidora style lunch. Again it was very simple, delicious, and cheap… the best combo for a budget-eer’s meal. When we got back to el casa de Bob, we headed out to do a little tour of the town and Bob’s shop and kitchen. Bob introduced us to his little workshop and shared with us his experience in glass bead and jewelry making over the last decade living in Guatemala. He then took us to a local coffee shop where we had a nice cup of afternoon java and picked up some delicious looking sweets for dessert. Sushi was on the menu for dinner, veggie for Kindra and for Bob and John some smoked salmon and cooked halibut. It was yummy! We savored our first sushi of the trip and cleaned our plates. We relaxed out on the porch after dinner and chatted about traveling though Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and future plans.

On Saturday morning John tried to write as much of the previous week’s blog while Kindra packed the truck and camper, with anticipation of perhaps heading towards San Pedro that afternoon. John then helped Bob do some much needed re arranging and shelf building in his kitchen. Then the three went into town to make a batch of caramels, but when we arrived at Bob’s kitchen we were missing some utensils for cooking the caramels correctly, so we all headed back up to the house and made the sweets at Bob’s house in the newly “renovated” kitchen. We hung around Bob’s place that evening and had leftovers for dinner and transferred about 100 or so DVD’s and a bunch of music from Bob’s massive collection. We decided to stay another night in Panajachel with Bob and head towards San Pedro the next morning.

Day 85, Sun: San Pedro, Guatemala

We decided to meet up at Bob’s place around 10am to leave for San Pedro, but not before Bob made some of the best coffee with a machineta (the small percolator looking devices that goes right on the stove; John now wants and is currently looking to purchase one). The drive down into San Pedro was again like Panajachel: breathtaking! We could see the entire town from the steep descent and went miles down into the crater of the lake. After some tight maneuvers around the thin city streets we found the one of the docks in the town where ferries from across the lake bring people on day trips and workers into town. After walking into the town center on a little trail that runs behind town, we returned to the truck and inquired as to whether or not it was safe to sleep in the truck, parked by the dock. The tienda owner across the street said it was safe and we were reassured by a couple of travelers in a 70’s VW van that had camped there the previous evenings. John went for a walk up into town to search for tortillas. With no tortillarias in sight he decided to ask a girl and her grandmother where he could find one. The girl explained she sold tortillas and promptly asked how many he wanted then ran up the hill and returned with a bag of fresh tortillas (how do they do that?) We didn’t have much of a plan for San Pedro and we’re a little disappointed in the town over all. We were sad to see a major distinction between the ‘tourist’ center and the real town where the locals lived. Also, the amount of incapacitated and completely drunken men on and in the gutters was a bit disturbing. Alcohol apparently is a new substance to the natives and there ability to metabolize and process the toxin is slim to none… so a very small amount can turn a totally sober man/woman into blistering fall down drunk (especially with the moonshine that they make here. Anyway it was an experience and not all our stops will be pleasant ones. We were however able to meet a fellow living in Xela, our next destination, who offered to let us stay at his place if we needed to. Kindra and John made dinner in the camper this night while the local kids played football and chased each other after dark. It’s comforting to see and hear the children playing and laughing at night.

Our second week in Guatemala comes to an end. The time seems to be going faster than we can write our blogs. We hope to decide on a place to stay for awhile, now that we have reached Xela. Love you all, Peace

John, Kindra n nuestros pobrecito, wallito

Computer problems!

2009-06-23T12:30:00.002-06:00

We are in Xela, Guatemala and will be here for the next few months. We rented a room and we think John just got a job at a bakery. We are having problems with the computer, so we will post a blog as soon as we can. ciao ciao kindra and john

Week Eleven, Watch Out Guatemala!

2009-06-15T17:56:00.019-06:00

Week 11

Look Out Guatemala, Here We Come!

June 1^st-7th

(a.The road least taken!) (b.The highest pyramid at Tikal)

Day 71, Mon: San Ignacio, Belize

On Monday morning John, Itai, Marcus and Kindra did the morning yoga. After that we went into town to do internet, and have a little pizza. Kindra went to the market for a few needed items while John worked on posting the blog for last week. The internet connections in Belize are few and far between and it was difficult to get a good consistent connection. We spent the majority of the day in town, then later that afternoon Kindra did some laundry and John tried to prepare for the border crossing into Guatemala. Our new friends, Aviv and Itai, were making hummus that night for dinner so we were excited to have one of our favorite dishes, prepared by folks who know it well! John was able to gain a little bit of insight into what we could expect the following day and it seemed that crossing into Guatemala would be pretty straight forward. We were also feeling a lot more confident with our new caravan. Aviv and Itai’s hummus was amazing they did the most wonderful job presentation, 4 or 5 different types of hummus and Theo made a delicious homemade pita to go with the meal. We all ate like kings and for dessert Kindra made a fruit salad fit for the Gods! We all relaxed that evening and went to bed early in preparation for the next day’s travel to Tikal, in Guatemala.

(a.Tree top room at Parrot Nest) (b.Dinning area at Parrot Nest)

Day 72, Tues: Tikal, Guatemala

Again on Tuesday morning, John, Itai, Marcus and 4 travelers from New York City all practiced yoga together. The practice has becoming a ritual around the Parrot Nest and the folks from New York inquired the evening before about seeing us and if they could join. Kindra prepared the camper and the truck while John led his first group, over 3 people, in a Bikram session of yoga. After the Yoga and a small breakfast, we all took some group photos and gave hugs to our wonderful hosts Marcus and Theo. Our stay in Belize wouldn’t have been as enjoyable had it not been for these two wonderful people and we are ever grateful for their kindness and hospitality… (the free tour to the Rio on Pools, Rio Frio Cave and Big Rock x2, opening your home to us, coffee in the morning, the list goes on and on) we love you guys! We will see you on our way back north, if not sooner. Heading out of Bullet Tree and San Ignacio we stopped at the market and then drove toward the Belize/Guatemalan border, only 30 minutes away. A quick stop at the exit office of the Belizean border, some money exchange, and we were on to the fumigation stop in Guatemala. It was more of a misting than anything and we were not sure that the spray would have killed even the smallest of pests living in, on or around the truck and camper. All in all, the rest of the border was simple and after a quick inspection of the truck and a vehicle permit we were done in less than an hour. Wallace was our biggest concern especially with his purple hinny… we were afraid the border crossing animal control people would be suspicious. No problem though and with all our paperwork they barley even looked at him. It was only a couple hours to Tikal and we were hoping to see the ruins that day, but were disappointed to find out that no dogs were allowed past the gate entrance to the park, where we heard there was cheap camping. We went back into the closest town where we had seen some camping areas and found a nice place to stay for the evening, El Paraiso. We walked into town to do a little internet and bought their first Guatemalan tortillas! Hooray! The little shop was a house down a small street with 4 young ladies pressing balls of freshly mashed maize into patties with their hands and cooking the dough on a large fire heated plate. Unlike the tortillarias in Mexico where the make them mainly by machine. The young girls handed John the hottest bag of 30 tortillas ever (too hot even for the local starving dog to eat) for 2.50q (around 30 cents). For dinner that night we made a fajita grill with beans, tofu and the tortillas. After dinner John and Itai got some good travel info from some other Israelis staying at the campground. There was a neighbor boy who took interest in Wallace and came around the fence to pet him. Once he got closer we could see that he had Downs Syndrome. He stayed and played with Wallace for at least 3 hours. The Isreali folks we were talking to earlier had said that was the first time the saw him smile all week. In the end the kids older sister had to drag him away crying… he was grabbing onto trees the whole way home. It was so sweet to see how Wallace had brightened his day. Our first night in Guatemala was very nice and good vibes were all around.

(a.Pac Man John) (b.El Paraiso, near Tikal)

Day 73, Wed: Santa Elena, Guatemala

On Wednesday we got up around 5am and headed to Tikal. We left little Wallace with the owners of the campground. We had asked them the night before if they would mind watching him for the morning and they were happy to do so. Tikal is a truly amazing site; we were both amazed at the size of some of the larger temples, John especially as it was his first large Mayan ruins site (about 3 times the size of Palenque). A couple of incredible things about these Mayan sites is how they constructed the larger structures. After doing some reading we realized that each temple is actually a temple built on a temple built on a temple and in their hay day they were painted with brilliant shades of white or red, depending on the temple. We spent the morning exploring the massive sight, climbing up several of the towering structures that gave us the most beautiful views of the surrounding northern Guatemalan jungles. It was a bit pricey to get into the park, but on this day we were graced by some other bonus items. Along the way we saw at least 2 or 3 large groups of howler and spider monkeys moving in the trees above us, a nice bonus. Then just before exiting we spotted another wild creature called a tepasquin (or something like that) it looks kind of like a raccoon and an anteater. We were so close to it and it wasn’t even scared of us. It was a nice day to explore the park and after we headed south towards Flores. We arrived in Flores around 3 pm and we found a nice camp spot just out of town in Santa Elena (thanks to our ‘99 days to panama’ book and the GPS). Flores is a cute little town on an island on the lake, very charming and nice scenery, but hard to drive there because the roads are small and torn up due to repairs. We decided to split from Itai and Aviv till later that night when we would meet in town for dinner. From the camp sight we took a small tuk tuk taxi into town so as not to do any unnecessary driving. After meeting up with our friends we found a nice little place to have dinner… they even let Wallace in with us. This would only be our 2^nd time eating out. After dinner we stopped and had some ice cream before getting a taxi home to the truck and camper. We agreed to meet the next morning to get an early start to Coban and Lanquin, where we got a tip about some amazing pools called Samuc Champey.

Day 74, Thurs: Grutas de Languin, Guatemala

Thursday we headed out towards Lanquin… little did we know how poor the road we would travel on would be. A 4 hour drive turned into an 8 hour journey (flashbacks of the Baja). A side from the 10 to 15 mph speeds for more than 6 hours and the flat tire around dusk, the trip was a joy. Seriously, we were able to see some of the most magnificent views and vistas of the trip thus far. We were able to see a part of Guatemala that most people never get to see because we have our own vehicle and our choice of the northern driving route. As we passed slowly through the mountain towns between Flores and Coban (on a road that was in the process of becoming a highway) local villagers would come out of there small village houses to stare, smile, laugh, wave, holler and yell out “GRINGOS!” at us. It was quite and experience and from a cultural stand point, awakening. We wondered how many non-Guatemalans these people had seen, much less a small caravan of white people and a pug dog! It was a bit of a hectic drive and we pulled into the Lanquin cave campground just after dark, happy to see the overnight guards there as we were not sure of the camping situation in the country.

( Flat tire on a bad road!)

Day 75 & 76, Fri & Sat.: Samuc Champey, Guatemala

On Friday morning John woke early to fix (for good) the flat tire that went flat again during the night. After a nice breakfast we had the local tour guide, an 11 year old Guatemalan boy named Chrisanto, take us though the Gruta de Lanquin. It was very cool for John’s first enclosed caving experience. There were a lot of huge stalactites and stalagmites in the shape of different animals along with some mall limestone crystal formations. Walking though the cave only took about an hour, and after a dip in the frigid waters of the river and a little lunch we packed up and headed towards Coban and Samuc Champey. The drive was only about 15-20 miles away although again we had to travel on some pretty “unfinished” roads, so it took us a couple of hours! We pulled into the small camping area before dark and Itai gave us a little lesson on the history and current events of Israel… very informative and helpful for both of us since they would mention certain things that we couldn’t understand without knowing a bit of their background. I should mention that since beginning our Guatemalan journey with our new friends we have been taking turns cooking dinner for each other and on this evening it was our turn to cook. We made a red curry that would have melted the face off of even the most seasoned spicy food eater….whoops! John overdid it on the curry paste for sure. Our dinner guest’s didn’t complain and we all had clear sinuses afterwards. That night after having our first 4 person dinner party in the camper we watched the movie Slum Dog Millionaire together. It’s pretty cool to be miles away from civilization and still be able to watch a movie with friends…. ahhhh the comfort of the camper never ceases to amaze us!

(Crisanto, our 11 yr old tour guide) (Just after a tour through the cave)

The next morning we took our time getting ourselves together. We packed lunch and headed down to the pools for a hike and a swim. Before hiking down to the pools we ran into our little tour guide friend from Lanquin, Chrisanto, and he offered again his guide services and we thankfully accepted. Although we probably did not need a guide, it was nice to have a little companion with us and he was fun to be around. The hike around the falls was really something and again we saw a few howler monkeys. It was a very steep climb that took about a half hour. The viewpoint on the hillside of Samuc Champey was breathtaking and John had never seen anything quite so impressive. From above on the mountain side looking down on the pools they look like a terrace of crystal clear blue green pools with mineral rock formations in the middle and on the sides, like little islands and peninsulas. Getting closer to the pools we could see that the river actually runs through a cave beneath the pools and the pools are formed by the small amount of water from the same river that trickles over the ground above the cave. Down stream we could see the mouth of the cave where the powerful river gushes out of the hillside and the calm clear pools above. It’s an incredible place… one of the wonders of the world for sure (at least for us)! We swam, ate lunch, and returned to the camp spot to check on Wallace, who was not allowed in the park so we left him in the camper. When we returned we played a few rounds of the “dice” game (thanks Tana) with some local boys who were thrilled to have some attention paid to them. Itai and John headed back down to the pools for a second dip and on the way back ran into Kindra. So we (John and Kindra) finished off the day with yet another swim in the pools.

(Can you find the butterfly? It's yellow)

Day 78, Sun: Coban, Guatemala

We intended on driving all the way to Antigua, but making it out of the canyon area took us the better part of the day. We stopped in town again to do a bit of internet, have breakfast, and buy a few items at the local outdoor street market. On our way south to Coban, while driving, John spotted our friends Grace and Rance from the Baja. They’re not that hard to miss in their bright teal blue 70’s VW van with surfboards on the roof and 3 dogs in the back. We stopped to have a little reunion on the side of the street. They were heading the opposite direction towards Tikal (where we had already been), but we got some good tips on a nice little park outside of Coban where we could camp for the night. As we drove through Coban we realized there was no way we would make it to Antigua this day and we decided to check out the park. It turned out to be a sweet little spot right on the outskirts of the city. We parked the vehicles in a playground area where some local families were celebrating various occasions (a birthday and maybe a wedding reception). The local kids were smacking the piñata and diving for the candy. We all had some lunch in the pick nick area then set up our hammocks and took long siestas. There is usually some light rain in the morning to afternoon that occurs in this region all year long that the locals call “chipichipi”, which we were awaked by as we were fast asleep in the hammock. We thoroughly enjoyed the drops of cool mountain afternoon rain… what a nice way to wake up.

(Itah and Aviv pitched their tent in the playground)

Our first week in Guatemala has been great! It’s so nice to have our little caravan. We feel a lot safer going with some other people and pooling our resources. Besides that they are such nice company and we all get along great together! Much love for our friends and family… we always have you on our minds! Thanks for all of the love and support.

peace and love

John and Kindra

Week Ten, Island Fun and Waterfalls

2009-06-01T15:31:00.008-06:00

Week 10

Belize

May 25^th – May 31^st

(John and Wallace on the dock @C.C)

Day 64, Mon.: ‘Parrot Nest’ Bullet Tree, San Ignacio, Belize

It is holiday in Belize and we decided it would be best if we didn’t try and travel to the islands until Tuesday. We hung around ‘Parrot Nest’ (the place we have been camping at… wonderful place!) practiced a bit of yoga, did our laundry, swam in the river, and did some journaling and blogging. One of the dogs here at the Parrot Nest recently had a litter of 10 puppies so Wallace enjoyed frolicking with the little guys. The better part of the day was mostly spent relaxing, later in the day Kindra got out all her jewelry making supplies and worked with Theo’s daughter and little friend making necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Of course as everyone watches the process they ask her if she can make something for them. Jasmina, one of the girls staying at the ‘Parrot Nest’, really liked one of Kindra's necklaces and purchased it from her. Our new friend Skip was also interested in some of the turquoise pieces Kindra had in her stock and commissioned her to make him a necklace. It turned out beautifully and is testament to her “on the spot” jewelry making skills. That night we made a batch of ‘sopa de fideo’ for everyone, it was a big hit and everyone really liked it (Thanks for the recipe Chuck/Dad!).

Day 65 & 66, Tues. & Wed: Caye (pronounced ‘key’) Caulker

On Tuesday we packed up to go to Caye Caulker (a small island off the coast of Belize) for the next couple of days. Skip was nice enough to give us a ride all the way into Belize City, so we were able to leave the truck and camper at Parrots Nest…Sweet! Before leaving San Ignacio we stopped at the local French bakery and picked up some breakfast pastries, cinnamon buns, cheese croissants, and a loaf of sourdough bread for the trip. It was about and hour and a half drive from San Ignacio into Belize City, where Skip dropped us off right at the ferry station and we said our goodbyes as he would be returning to the states for a month before retuning to Belize to live permanently. (Thanks again for everything Skip, we’ll miss ya). The next ferry out to Caye Caulker left at noon so that gave John an hour to buy some local produce on the street (mame fruit, an avocado, and some other small local fruit), while Kindra and Wallace sat in the nicely air conditioned water ferry station. We boarded the boat… our second water journey of the trip. The ferry from the city to island was about 45 min long and very beautiful. Heading out towards the island we passed off-shore mangroves and reefs along the way. When we got to the Caye, we were greeted by a slew of men offering places to stay and golf cart taxis, all of which we turned down. We had a couple of places recommended to us to stay but had to investigate whether or not they would allow us to stay with Wallace. The first hostel we stopped at called Tina’s Backpackers hostel turned our little travel companion down and we headed down the road to another spot called Bella’s. The girl at Bella’s initially said they did not allow pets but after a little convincing that Wallace was a well behaved boy and we were responsible pet owners, she agreed to let us stay. Bella’s had a communal kitchen, with a fridge, cable TV and 2 shared bathrooms and showers. Another bonus of this hostel was free access to two canoes that we could paddle around the island and then snorkel anywhere our hearts desired. After we got settled we strapped the little boy’s life preserver on and paddled down to the split of the island where we did some snorkeling/swimming. Caye Caulker used to be one island until a hurricane split it in half, on the northern part of the island, where now a host of marine life lives and there is some good snorkeling. We found a spot on the edge of a cement structure to tie up the canoe. The structure was only about 10 feet tall and it looked as though it was some sort of wall or walkway before the hurricane came through and knocked out parts of it. Not only did it make for a great place for people to bath on, but it was also an artificial reef for a bunch of the fish. We were just out in front of a touristy bar where there are benches in the water for people to sit on. One of the local Garifunas (African population) was putting dead fish in his mouth and letting the birds swoop down and grab it. He offered for other people to come down and do the same, but they just held it in their hand. After being around fresh water for the last few weeks it was a bit of a shock to get a mouthful of the super salty ocean water. We both agreed that so far we prefer the tropical lagoons and rivers of Belize and Mexico to the salty ocean. After paddling the canoe back to Bellas, we walked down to the local grocery store to buy some supplies for dinner, lunch and breakfast for the next morning. We used the communal kitchen to cook up some dinner, relaxed and watched a movie on…..that’s right cable TV; it was a nice treat as we have not seen any TV in months.

(disembarking the Caye Caulker Ferry)

(Our cabana @ Bella's on C.C)

(paddling around to the split on Caye Caulker free canoeing!)

The next morning we took Wallace out for a walk into the small town center and John got a cup of coffee at a little restaurant. We walked down the beach and through a small nature preserve, where some replanting of native plants and flora was taking place. After the walk John bought some fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon, orange, and papaya) from a local woman who had it all cut up and ready to eat for breakfast. We spent the afternoon taking turns watching Wallace, snorkeling, napping and swimming. The water on the Caye is crystal clear, and both of us were able to see lots of tropical fish, star fish, sting rays and we kept our eyes out for the reef sharks that live by the split… no luck though… although maybe that’s a good thing! Even though they don’t hurt you it still freaks us out. Wallace enjoyed hanging out in the shade all day. We had a simple little lunch of bread from the French bakery, cheese and the local brand ‘Marie Sharps’ corn chips and habanera hot sauce. We seem to eat hot sauce these day’s like salsa. After coming back from the beach that afternoon we both showered and relaxed a bit before going to the store again for some supplies for dinner. We only brought a small amount of cash so we had to go with Mac n Cheese! We cooked dinner again at the hostel and watched a movie on TV. As we are on such a budget, “going out” in the evening is not really an option for us and we were content to just relax and chill at the hostel. Kindra made friends with some girls who had been traveling in Guatemala prior to Belize, and they all exchanged stories about traveling, dogs and bug bites. We both got more bug bites on the island than anywhere else on the trip so far. That night we had a bit of an interesting experience. In the middle of the night around 2am we were awakened by a strange shifting and movement of the Cabana we were staying in. Now normally this would have been cause for some real concern, but the night before we were awakened by a similar movement that we determined to be the couple in the room next to us “getting it on”. So we just thought it was a repeat of the first night and went back to sleep. Well, when we woke up the next morning the girls Kindra had been talking to the night before asked us if we felt the “earth move” last night? I said I had but I was sure it was the couple in the room next to us. We came to find out that it actually was a large earthquake on the mainland, hardest hitting in Honduras. Apparently the tremor was rather strong on the mainland of Belize as well. When we returned back to the Parrot Nest, Theo told us her whole house swayed for closed to 60 seconds!!! There is a crack on their ceiling that they don’t remember seeing there before.

(the split @ Caye Caulker)

(the view from the beach @ "the split" on C.C)

(John eating his new favorite fruit, mamae)

(Kindra w/ the local chips Marie Sharps)

(nice underwater shot @ the split C.C)

(Wallace likes the hammocks here too!)

(the sunset behind Bellas on Caye Caulker)

Day 67-70, Thur.- Sun: Bullet Tree, San Ignacio, Belize

We packed up on Thursday morning and caught the 10am ferry off the island back to Belize City. It was a hot day and when we arrived back on the mainland we promptly caught a taxi to the bus station and made it just in time to hop on the bus to San Ignacio. We boarded the bus and tried to relax during the ‘stop and go’ ride back to the Parrot Nest. The bus ride was anything but direct, as we stopped along the way to pick up and drop off other passengers and at one point picked up a whole load of students at the end of their school day on their way home. When we arrived back in San Ignacio, a friendly cabby took us by the produce market where we picked up some groceries on our way back to Bullet Tree (the small town where the Parrot Nest is located). It was nice to have the afternoon and daylight to get organized and rinsed off all the salt that still remained on us from the island, in the river (Even though we took showers on the island, the water that we showered with was even slightly salty so you never really felt clean). Some other guests had arrived at the ‘Nest’ while we were away and we sat and chatted with them before cooking dinner.

(our home for the last 2 weeks, oh so nice!)

Friday we went into town in the morning, after doing some Bikram Yoga and a little swim in the river. We found a local Pizza restaurant that had free wifi internet and we ordered pizza (Our first time eating out since we have been on the trip). The food was great and after a half an hour or so of getting the wireless connection up and running, we managed to post the blog, respond to some emails, and do some couch surfing for Guatemala. While Kindra worked on the online stuff, John ran into a nice couple from Israel, Itai and Aviv, who are doing almost the same trip as us! The guy struck up a conversation with John about the truck and they got to talking, as it turned out they too were couch surfers and were looking for our contact Marcus and needed directions to the Parrot Nest! Among other similarities they too had stayed a couple of nights at Barton Creek Outpost (we were there a week ago) and they had also spent a night at ‘The Bosque” (Eco-community) in Mexico, just days before us. We got to talking and decided we would all caravan into Guatemala in the next couple of days. Before leaving town John walked up to the market for some fresh produce. That evening, Itai and Aviv made some delicious pasta sauce and we boiled some pasta noodles, grilled up some zucchini and garlic bread and all had dinner together.

( our new friends Itai and Aviv on our tubing excursion)

The next morning we did our morning Yoga together and went for a swim in the river. We (Itai, Aviv, Kindra and John) all went into town for the Saturday morning market where we all bought some produce, fresh peanut butter, and papoosas for lunch. We also filled our propane tank and stopped off for water before heading back to the Nest. This took most of the morning and afternoon so when we returned Kindra worked on drilling some holes in local seeds we have found here on the property, and John cleaned, organized and did some repairs on the camper. We all got our bathing suits on and decided to do a little tubing down the river… how relaxing and refreshing! The river flows at just the right speed; you get the maximum amount of tube time with a minimum amount of walking to get back to the house. That night Itai and Aviv cooked us all dinner. They made a delicious fresh vegetable/ginger stir-fry and rice, how nice to have someone cook for us 2 times in one day. We were happy to do the dishes as a trade off!!!

Sunday morning we (Marcus, Itai, John and Kindra) had ourselves a small Yoga class at 7:30. We did a Bikram series together and then swam in the river (again!). After some time lapsed photography of hair cutting on Itai and Marcus (Itai has a really nice camera that he did it with) Marcus, John, Kindra, Itai, Aviv, Theo, Chleo and Wallace all headed out to ‘Big Rock’ falls for lunch and swimming. Since it was a tight squeeze with everyone in Itai and Aviv’s 4 Runner, Marcus and John stood outside the car on the running rails and held on to the roof rack the rest of the way to the falls. Once again the falls were beautiful and we were happy to get to experience them a second time (with us being the only ones there). On our way back we stopped at the popular ‘soy’ ice cream shop that is only open 4 days a week for a few hours in the late afternoon. It was delicious! Kindra got orange and vanilla (like a creamcicle) and John got chocolate and vanilla soft serve. Yum!!! We got back to around 6 pm, and started to cook dinner in the camper for the CS’rs (Couch Surfers) as Theo’s kitchen was in use for her 8 other guests staying in rooms. And boy does it gets hot in the camper when you cook! After dinner, Marcus put up the “movie sheet screen” and we watched Monsters vs. Aliens, very funny!

All together the last couple of weeks here in Belize at Barton Creek and the Parrot Nest have been awesome. We have been so blessed to be invited to stay here and both feel so lucky to again be surrounded by such giving, peaceful, and loving people. It’s another example of our how our encounters with truly amazing people have enriched and made our trip so special. We look forward to traveling into Guatemala with our new friends, and waving a fond farewell to all of the friends we have made in Belize.

(some morning yoga all together...Breath!)

(on the way to the falls riding on the sides of the truck, natural AC baby)

(Theo and Chloe on the way home from the falls w/our little boy, he loves everyone)

(Aviv, John, Kindra, Chloe and Theo @ big rock falls)

peace and love,

Kindra, John and our confident little swimming pug (life jacket included) Wallace.

Week Nine, Hello Belize

2009-05-29T12:12:00.004-06:00

Week 9

Goodbye Mexico, Hello Belize

May 18^th- 24th

Day 57-59, Mon-Wed.: Bacalar, Mexico

On Monday we went into the town of Bacalar and were able to do some internet, specifically to contact the Belizean Agriculture Department. We had forgotten that we needed to apply for a pet application to take Wallace into Belize, so we called them and requested one (hoping that it wouldn’t take too long). She told us that we just had to fill out the application in an email she would send us and wait for it to be returned to us in the next few days (It only took 2 days!). John walked around town and did some light shopping while Kindra did some internet in the central town square where the internet access was free. After asking around town for other camping in the area we realized we had already found the best spot in town! We decided to stay there for the rest of our time in Mexico while waiting for Wallace’s application. The rainy season is starting here in Central America and we had been experiencing torrential downpours in the evenings. We’ve been really blessed to have the camper during these midnight storms, its stayed dry and we only have a couple small, fixable leaks. John found that the best way to stay “dry” and fix last minute leaks while the rain was coming down was in the nude. No wet clothes and a shower all-in-one!

After doing some minor tune ups on my bike, John rode into town the next day to buy groceries and do more internet. Bacalar is a nice little town with a friendly feel. We originally had thought we would stay in Chetumal but really fell in love with the little campground and lagoon. Kindra stayed behind to hand wash some of our laundry. We had the camp to ourselves except for one other couple tent camping next to us. The spot where we were camping was a little piece of property that was owned by a family, and maintained by a couple of sweet older ladies. John had a close call with a falling coconut just about hitting him over the head as he came out of the camper that afternoon. And his first experience cutting open a fresh coco with the “multi-tool shovel” that Dan and he had bought at the gun and knife show in Tucson. We relaxed most of the rest of the day did a little swimming laid in the hammock and repeated. We were mostly waiting for Wallace’s paperwork to cross legitimately into Belize with him.

(picking coconut)

Again John rode his bike into town to check on a few things online and to replenish our water. We have been more careful here on the mainland about drinking filtered hose water, and have been buying the bottled variety instead. The bottles are extremely cheap and it’s just a lot safer than taking the chance even with our filter in the camper. We also haven’t had much luck finding hoses with sufficient water pressure to use the filter anyway. We received word from the office in Belize processing the paper work for Wallace that we would be good to cross the border on Thursday. That afternoon we did some snorkeling in the lagoon, Wallace watched from shore. We made a fresh batch of caramels to take into Belize, as our last batch from the Baja was getting a little stale. We hung the hammock that evening and did some reading and watched the sunset together. We made dinner that night with the remainder of our fresh veggies as we wouldn’t be able to bring across the border.

Day 60, Thur.: Barton Creek, Cayo District, Belize

Thursday was along day. We packed the truck and camper in the morning and headed towards Chetumal to find a larger grocery store for some dry food staples, and things we weren’t sure we would be able to find anywhere except Mexico. We had been joking that just as we are getting used to the food in the country we leave, but we were sure to stock up on the essentials. Lots of cookies, pastries, real butter and hot sauce, because obviously you all know we are the perfect models of health and healthy eating, yeah right. After driving around town we found a Mega Bodega and loaded up. We have been trying to find an air filter for the Dodge for about 2 weeks now and they are seemingly impossible to find. We stopped at a diesel specialty store in Chetumal and after waiting for 15 minutes for service then another 10 for them to look for the filter we ware turned down again. We headed towards the Belizean border and the first stop was the exit out of Mexico. After being approached by 2 different “helpful” young men offering to speed up our exit process (whose services we thankfully turned down) we had our passports stamped, and paid our exit fees. The next stop was the Banjercito where we canceled our vehicle permit for Mexico. It was any easy transition, not a lot of traffic or confusion. So our first journey down though Mexico was a complete success! We would like to take the opportunity to have you all now breath a sigh of relief knowing we are out of the much feared, dangerous and dreaded land of violence and swine flu… alive and healthy!!!

Next stop Belize 100 more meters down the road… our first order of business was vehicle insurance that we bought as soon as we crossed the river into the country. This was something you have to do before anything or you cannot drive n the country. Our first impression of Belize was: informal, unorganized, and multi-cultured as we were flagged down by a man, not in uniform, pointing to us to park and buy insurance. We reluctantly did so, and after entering the office I realized it was a legitimate establishment (the only one in town) and purchased 2 weeks worth of vehicle insurance for the truck. Next we checked ourselves, the truck and Wallace in at the customs office. After a brief inspection of ‘Little Boy’ (Wallace) and the contents our truck and camper, we had the truck fumigated and we were street legal for Belize. The whole processes, including leaving Mexico, only took a few hours. We stopped to get some local produce and had some lunch at a small park on the ocean. Since Belize is so small we decided to head straight for some free camping that we were given directions to just outside of San Ignacio (just near the Guatemalan border in the west). The northern part of Belize is similar to the Baja, dry and more arid than the further south which is more tropical and jungle-ish. They speak a form of English here called Creole or Kreol, and use the standard measurement system so all the road signs were back to a familiar language and demarcation. The sun quickly set and we were in the dark for the last part of the drive. The road into Barton Creek Outpost was awful and long. We had no idea we would be crossing any water (which we had to do) luckily it was more of a shallow broad stream than a river. The first of this type of thing we have encountered it was a little unnerving in the dark of night, but not a big deal. Getting closer to our destination we saw some head lamps come out of the forest towards us. We were a little freaked out to see 2 young girls and a boy all dressed in Mennonite (similar to Amish) clothing staring at us as we drove by… can you say ‘Twilight Zone’ or ‘Children of the Corn’ MUCH? The volunteers at the Barton Creek Outpost warmly welcomed us and we posted up camp for the night.

(Wallace'a purple butt!) (the stream we crossed at night that looked much deeper in the dark!) (gotta love hitchhiking)

Day 61, Fri: San Ignacio, Belize

It was a beautiful sight in the morning; Barton Creek Outpost sits on a beautiful piece of jungle property on a river surrounded by trees and tropical flora and fauna. In our haste to arrive the day before we didn’t have time to re-stock our produce and we were out of much needed propane so we headed out towards the town of San Ignacio. Just before leaving our ‘little boy’ had his first unpleasant experience of the trip. There were two large Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs on the property that did not have a chance to properly meet Wallace the night before. When they “met” the next morning they charged Wallace and gave him a souvenir he will never forget, they literally ripped the little guy a new one! We stayed calm and cleaned the little guy up and headed into town for some vet advice. Little did we know that the medicine spray he gave us would dye his little butt purple! On our way back from Barton Creek we picked up a backpacker also heading out of the back country area who had been camping on the Mennonite land for a few days. We had a nice chat in the truck and he gave us some info on the people who are apparently responsible for a major part of the agriculture here in Belize. There are over 40 families of Mennonites in the area. After groceries, and some medicine for Wallace we filled the propane tank with butane (what they use in Belize) and followed our couch surfing host’s directions to the Parrot Nest. (If you aren’t already signed up on couchsurfing you should, it is a great way to meet people and help out travelers in your area or if you are on the road and need a place to stay!) The Parrots Nest is a hotel for travelers in Belize that is set up like a hostel with a communal dinning area, bathrooms and 4 or 5 cabanas all sitting on a small peninsula of a river that flows out of Guatemala. We were greeted by some of the workers who said Marcus (our contact) would be back later. We put up the camper and later that day met the owners Theo, Marcus and there kids Chloe and Katia and their 3 dogs and 10 puppies. There were also a handful of other guests staying at the “nest” that we were able to mingle with and later do some day trips, have dinner and, watch movies with.

(Katia and Jasmine) (Marcus and Skip) (Papusas...all gone!!!)

Day 62, Sat.: San Ignacio, Belize

On Saturday we went into town to the Saturday market, a ‘Belizean’ Tiangues (the outdoor markets in Mexico). Our new friend Skip was generous enough to take us and two of the girls staying at the Nest all in his vehicle. We ate some local food called papoosa and drank fresh ice cold watermelon juice (Kindra’s favorite). Skip bought some shrimp for dinner that night. After a brief tour of the town we headed back to the Parrots Nest for a swim in the river. The water temperature is amazing here and the current is just right for relaxing and cooling off. Kindra busted out her jewelry making stuff after the swimming and had the girls make some jewelry for themselves. We seemed to have really found a great spot, and some great people. Her research and our new membership to Couch Surfing has really paid off!! We were treated to dinner that night and the seven of us ate all together outside on the large back porch of their house.

(one of the Mennonite women) (John & Marcus in the cave) (Big Rock Waterfall) (Rio Frio Cave)

Day 63, Sun: San Ignacio, Belize

Sunday was awesome… with some amazing sightseeing and adventure! Marcus and Skip took us on a tour of a few of the local natural “gems”. The first place we drove to was Rio On Falls, a series of small waterfalls that flow into separate pools leading down a mountainside that creates a sort of natural water park. Wallace was in heaven and we all got a nice waterfall massage. Next we went to the Rio Frio cave, a massive cave that cuts under a huge mountain with ceilings hundreds of feet above your head, stalactites and stalagmites that hang down, and a crystal clear river that runs through at the base. It was truly amazing and a breath taking place. The last of three spots was Big Rock (falls) where we did some sweet cliff jumping, swimming, and playing around in an awesome waterfall. When the rain started to fall we decided to head out but still got caught in the downpour. Good thing too because the steep climb back to the top was mighty muddy and the more it rained the worse it got. On our way home we stopped at a jungle Cantina where Kindra sampled some of the local distilleries; Caye-luea (Kahlua), coconut rum, Be-lize (Baileys) cream and 100% blue agave mescal from the Tequila region of Mexico. The bar owner and his friends fried up some homemade cheese stuffed spicy peppers, fresh from his garden, and they were delicious! John enjoyed watching the guys polish off ¾ of a bottle of Tequila… and he drove home the rest of the way!! We made curry for anyone who was hungry and we watched the movie “Twilight” with two girls staying here (Alex and Yasmina, super sweet) and Skip (super awesome).

Ciao for now… love John and Kindra

P.S. Our plan for next week is to leave our truck here and get a lift into Belize City where we will take a boat to one of the islands (Caye Caulker). We will be there a few days snorkeling our butts off!

Week Eight, Quintana Roo, Mexico

2009-05-18T12:17:00.006-06:00

Week 8

Quintana Roo, Mexico

May 11^th-17^th, 2009

(View from where we camped in Catemaco)

Day 50, Mon.: Catemaco, Mexico

The drive to Catemaco was amazing; it was apparent that we had finally entered a tropical zone. Mango trees were everywhere and the humidity was kicking! We were both awestruck by the rolling hills, the most beautiful deep green forest, views of the jungle and mountain farms. Kindra and I both agreed it was some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip thus far. We stayed in a small lake town called Catemaco where we camped one night next to a small restaurant with a grassy lot for campers. Catemaco was a little higher in elevation and gave us a break from the humidity of the beach.

(John's b-day at the ruins in Palanque)

D 51-54, Tues-Fri: Palenque, Mexico

We woke the next morning to the sound of a thousand birds screeching and calling in the huge tree above us. I took Wallace for a nice morning walk on the malecon (boardwalk) and we packed up and headed out. Although it we were next to a lake it wasn’t as tranquil as we had thought. We decided to head out towards Villahermosa… when we discovered that the place to stay that was recommended in our travel book was a spooky parking lot at a fairground! We decided to drive the extra 100 plus miles to Palenque where we encountered our first Mayan ruins of the trip. Again the drive was full of wonderful jungle scenery and extreme sticky humidity; love that AC in the truck (although we only use it 5 percent of the time… when Wallace looks like he is going to pass out from so much panting)! We are scared to think that it is only May, what will June be like?!!!! We arrived late afternoon in Palenque and found a nice camping spot called Mayabell’s Campground that was snuggled back in the jungle and surrounded by palms, huge jungle and ginormous trees. We passed out early as the drive from Catemaco to Palenque was one of the longest days we’ve had.

(Mayabelles campground)

So this next part is really cool, we had read in our travel books that this place was special and some interesting things usually happen at night time. I was woken out of a dead sleep to the eeriest most exotic sound I had ever heard. Around 1am, I woke Kindra up (she had her earplugs in) to hear these sounds I thought for sure to be Aliens coming to take us away or the Mayan gods calling out to us for our sacrifice. I seriously have never heard anything even close to these sounds; it was like a cross between a huge mountain cat screaming, a dog howling and an alien spaceship landing, in stereo, coming out of a rotary speaker, all around us, going on for at least an hour. We had read about the howler monkeys at night in this area, but had no idea it would sound like this….what a way to start my Birthday!!!! The next day Kindra and I hiked up to the Ruins, walked all around and took pictures of the amazing structures, temples, tombs and residences. Palenque is said to be some of the most impressive of the Mayan ruins in Mexico and we were glad to have caught them, even if we did sweat more than either of us ever have in our lives! After coming back to the camp that afternoon, we went into town to get water and Kindra surprised me with some b-day pastries from the market yummy… ‘fatties must eat’ on their birthday!!! Then again later that afternoon we heard the monkeys up in the trees and were actually able to catch a glimpse of a baby and one of the larger males, moving from tree to tree. This was my first experience seeing monkeys in the wild and on my birthday to boot! There was live music every night at the Mayabell campground in Palenque, Kindra and I mostly enjoyed the music from the camper. The nights in the jungle were extremely hot and humid but thanks to our new fan we managed to stay ventilated. Because we would be crossing into Belize soon I decided to try and re-head my Asiko drum with the goat skins from Ramon in Guadalajara. The skins had a lot of small holes all throughout them and I was unable to use the one I soaked. The other two I gave to one of the worker/volunteers at the camp ground because he said he had been looking for some and wanted to make a drum. It would have been too much of a hassle to try and bring the skins into Belize.

Day 55 & 56, Sat. & Sun: Bacalar, Mexico

We left Palenque around 10am that day and headed towards Chetumal. It was a 300 mile drive, but it went surprisingly fast. It was so worth the trip; we arrived around 7pm and happened to find the most amazing camping spot we have seen yet!! While searching for a place in one of our Mexican camping books, we stopped to ask a local a good place to camp. He directed us to an unmarked lot on the “lagoon of seven colors”. We pulled in and were amazed at the small grassy lot, surrounded by palms and covered in grass. The lagoon was fresh crystal clear, refreshing, blue water. The sun was beginning to set and there was an amazing cooling breeze coming off the water. The two of us enjoyed the rest of the daylight and the tranquility of our jewel of a camping spot!! Sunday is a crowded day for any beautiful spot in Mexico. All the locals seem to know where all the good public swimming holes are. The beach/campground was buzzing with Sunday picnickers and day-trippers. Kindra and I busted our snorkel gear out and took Wallace out for his first boogie board ride while we checked out the underwater life. There are 2 large shade structures on a small peninsula where people hung their hammocks and had lunch. It was a lazy day for all of us and a great way to end the week! Sorry for the delay on the last 2 weeks of bogging it has been difficult finding internet. Also, we have read that the internet in Belize is few and far between and supper expensive when you find it. We will most likely post when we get into Guatemala.

(Clear warm fresh water!!! Oh yeah!)

Ciao and love Kindra and John