halloween

there is a mix of halloween and dia de los muertos here, but neither is too much fun when theres a bunch of rain. also, a lot is planned for the weekend, so were improvising here. i was advised not to go to the halloween rave tonight. i got myself a twix, m&ms, and a milky way for tonight. the whole hostel heard my disappointment when i reached in a saw the milky way, and not a snickers bar. i swear it was in the wrong box at the corner store. any other candy bars not being consumed because of dislike can be sent to chad broderick, 100 dotsam rd, reisterstown, md, 21136. looks like well stay in a hang out a bit tonight. drive thru is the movie playing in the cafe tonight. is it scary? found it on imdb, looks like a comedy..."Horror gets Super Sized when Horny The Clown, the demonic mascot of "Hella-Burger," starts slashing Orange County teenagers with his meat cleaver from Hell."

albrook mall and bus station

the main bus terminal in panama city is quite amazing. not only does it double as a mall, it has a movie theatre, bowling alley, and two bars. the place also has nautica, lacoste, and dairy queen, so its not all junk. i had a bunch of time to kill, so went and saw the movie premonitions, on my student id, and sat around for a bit watching the world series. talked for a bit with a panamanian baseball player. bus ride through the night was not bad, very few people, though the panama-costa rica border crossing was terrible once again. its because of the drugs we were smuggling. next four nights in san jose, then back to dc.

panama canal

pretty neat place. took a bus up to the miraflores locks, closest to the city, 15min bus ride, and has a nice visitors center. got there midday, went through the museum/vistor's center for a good bit. at first, only saw two small passenger vessels, the kind where you pay $125 for lunch and a short tour on the canal. museum had how was it built, how does it affect shipping/transport/panamanians... also had a new section explaining the expansion. very nice restaurant attached to the visitor's center, had a drink and watched some college football as the bigger ships made their way to the locks. they tend to come through around 3-5pm for some reason.

also took a long walk around the city in the morning. very interesting city with lots of new buildings going up. suppose to be the next costa rica, though san jose is not nearly as developed as this city.

panama

just like the van halen song. not quite. long trip from san jose, including a three hour stay at the border. no luck on running into jamal levy, anyone know where he is? bus ride all in all was not too bad. slept a bit, and served breakfast and lunch. got to watch white chicks as well - those wayans brothers sure can write a good film. had to wait five hours in san jose before the bus got moving, hung out with some people on the bus and were able to catch part of the world series. plans to see a bunch of the city over the next two days, very modern, obvious american influence. lots of casinos as well, 'chance games' was an option as a reason to enter the country, though i put tourism.

san juan del sur

the past two days have been spent at the pacific coast beach town of san juan del sur, nicaragua. i came down yesterday with 5 people i met in granada. one of my buddies rode down on our chicken bus with a chicken at his feet. town is quaint, a little more to do here than monterrico, big surfing town, attracting people from all over the world. electricity is shut off for half the day, so its a bit tough to work around, although the locals are well used to it. this morning we headed off to playa maderas, about 30 min in truck through rivers and jungle. beach is quite pretty, horseshoe shaped, and about 25 other surfers. had boards rented for the whole day, though only to the waves for about 2 hrs - quite fun. half took lessons, other half of us did what we could. spent this morning in a phone conversation with the bus station in rivas, trying to change my ticket so i dont have to go all the way back to managua to get to san jose, costa rica. we will see bright and early tomorrow morning how that conversation went - if i have an assigned seat or not. once im in san jose, ill make a decision to move onto panama or stay there for a bit. flight is out of costa rica end of next week. ive met a good sweets partner in charlie, and the ice cream + sprinkles is cheap enough here that we have slightly indulged ourselves.

granada

night three in granada, and all has been getting better over time. the first two days were more or less filled with rain, a continual problem, but the skies have parted and have made my time here more enjoyable. the town is very small and pretty, very colorful and people very nice. today i went on a 4.5hr kayak ride around 365 isletas in lake nicaragua. the weather may have been too nice, my skin not ready for all the sunshine - but nothing too bad. our guide, william, was very nice and energetic, it was good that he only spoke spanish, allowing me to practice. the rest of my time here has been spent watching movies, eating, drinking, reading, and sleeping. a lot of young people in the hostel which has been nice and different. i´ll finally get down to san juan del sur tomorrow with three other people, for two days in the sun - hopefully fishing and surfing.

urinating in the street

is quite popular here, on side streets and corners as well as in the middle of the market - punishable by a $7 fine is the police care. be careful when you walk around in sandals, or a four year old might hit you.

managua

took the bus south this morning across the border towards managua then onto leon, or so was the plan. once in managua, my atm cards stopped working (problem which has been fixed) and got stuck with a taxi driver who refused to let me take a night bus or sleep in the dangerous part of the city (the part suggested by all the tour books). i got stuck with a $35 hotel, though nice with cable tv allowing me to catch up on all sports and news (why do the people down here care about brittany spears so much?) the place did lack hot water,´because the water here is naturally warm´ says the manager. ran into an alaskan couple on the street, who were on my bus and ate dinner with them. turns out i was four blocks from my book´s suggested hotel. made plans to meet in the morning to go to granada, nixing leon because of the night´s stay in managua.

tegucigalpa

woke up early again and made my way down to honduras´s capital. the bus i took was nicer than any other i´ve taken before (including in the US and europe) - a company called hedman alas. drinks and snacks served aboard, as well as music like an airplane and fully reclining seats. security was a bit overboard though, taking digital photos of every passenger and searching every bag.

stayed in the central part of the city, instead of the crappier area near the bus stations - turned out to be quite nice. walked around town, which was quite bustling, like a third world newcastle upon tyne with a closed off area for pedestrians and plenty of shops. saw a homeless man with all his toes on his right foot freshly chopped off. went to the art museum in town to pass time, i wasw the only visitor, so had my personal security guard following me around. the hostel was quite bare, as nothing really of note in the tegucigalpa. some street kid came in and tried teaching us a card game, which 1. didnt make sense 2. he/she played for all three of us 3. taught in rapid street spanish we couldnt understand.

honduras is amor

according to one of the street signs. spent yesterday in antigua, running around doing some errands and clean up. got a certificate of completion from the school, and paid an arm and a leg for contact lens solution. we´ll say a bunch of people showed up to monoloco last night to say goodbye to me, it was good to catch up with a bunch of the people i had met over the last few weeks. woke up around 330am, after maybe a couple minutes of sleep, to take a shuttle bus down here. i had the hostel make me a vegetarian sandwich for the ride down. i got stuck next to the annoying canadian, playing the part of the annoying american, who wouldn´s stop talking about fishing in cuba. turns out i could have visited cuba if i wanted to - they have stopped stamping passports altogether and all you need is money to spend (they have moved back to the convertible peso) and a flight from canada/mexico/elsewhere.

walked around the ruins for about two hours today, you can take a look for yourself at www.copanruins.com. the main difference between copan ruinas and tikal is the intricate carvings here, as opposed to the sheer size of tikal. they have all kinds of loose stones laying throughout the grounds, i really wanted to pick one up and steal it, but couldn´t find one small enough. also, don´t think the honduran government would like me stealing 3000 yr old pieces of art. town is fairly quaint, the problem of drunks passed out in the street all afternoon is evidently a greater problem here than other towns i have visited. infrastructure here is slightly better, mountain roads have guardrails, nice touch. tomorrow i get to sleep in, a 5am bus to tegucigalpa, with a layover in san pedro sula. only one night in the capital then on to nicaragua.

chichicastenango

arrived in chichi with plans to spend the day. the market here is held every tuesday and sunday, and is world renown - made it into the 1001 things to do before you die book. streets were very crowded with men carrying corn around there head and chickens in baskets. if you show the slightest bit of interest in any item being sold on the street, the vendor will chase you down trying to bargain. a majority of the fresh fruit and vegetables are sold in the town gymnasium, basketball hoops and all. outdoors, the market is full of colorful textiles and clothing for all needs and desires. there is also a church off one side of the market where a lot of mayans pray in their own traditional way. left early afternoon in order to miss the mass exodus, and put my danish friend on a camioneta, for the first time, to guate. im slightly nervous as to whether he made it or not.

lago de atitlan

spent the night in santa cruz la laguna, which was very nice. large family syle buffet dinner, chicken, pasta, taboule, vegetables, and more. weather cleared up and had a great view of the surrounding area in star light. had a bed in a glorified tree house dorm room with no electricity. as i was going to bed, placed my hand down, and taken aback by a screaming cat that was sleeping in my bed. moved my hands around to makes sure he wasnt still there, then jumped into bed and there was a bulldog resting near the pillow the started after me. bigger shock, but my face was not attacked. left early the next morning to take a boat back to pana, and got a shuttle to the market in chichi for the day with a danish kid. spent the night in pana and ate an amazing uruguayan beef dish (beef, ham, bacon, mozarella, red pepper, and tomato) though paid for it throughout the night. much to my delight the bathroom did not have toilet paper, so i had to improvise. im clean, dont worry. laying low until tomorrow, when i take a 930am shuttle back to antigua as a stopover before honduras. pana is a very bohemian town, just as many local street vendors as lost hippies - selling jewelry and handmade clothing. plenty of drugs to be smoked for those wishing to take part. they advertise a beach here, but nothing appetizing. i have a nice private room in a hospedaje, two beds and desk for Q40 a night, about $6. this afternoon i have plans to walk up to a local nature center for the afternoon to ¨hang¨ out with some monkeys.

hike cancelled

heavy rains cancelled my hike yesterday, probably for the better. we would have had to cross a river neck deep, and the trail could have been wiped out. so went out to dinner with some guys from the hostel last night, and took some buses to lake atitlan for the weekend. navigating the roads was quite difficult, a few mudslides put the country´s bulldozers into action. weather cleared up today, though. aldous huxley once called the lake his favorite place in the world, but this is coming from a guy who asked to be fed lsd intravenously on his deathbed. a belgian couple on the bus suggested a neat little place called la iguana perdida in santa cruz (15min boat ride from panahachel, the largest town on the lake). probably gonna make it to chichicastenango tomorrow, for the famous sunday market.

camionetas

took an interesting ride to xela today, via the infamous camioneta - chicken bus. 45min ride to chimaltenango, 2.5hr to cuatro caminos, 15min to xela, 10min shuttle to parque central. should have been only 2 buses, but its half of the adventure. well, more like a 3hr school bus ride down emory rd. im thinking a rainy three day hike through the highlands, and will be lucky to get a good view of atitlan monday morning.

last day of classes

unfortunately no party or alkies meeting (or joint meeting), but glad to be over with classes none the less. have to pack my bags and have plans to head to quetzaltenango/xelaju/xela tomorrow to start a three day hike through the highlands, ending in lake atitlan. im stoked to finally get out of antigua, although the time has been fun, some of the gringos tend to drag the others down.

went to see 300 last night in the movie theatre (or theater? - discuss) and ate that top notch brownie sundae. walked through my house´s courtyard in the dark, and stepped in shit. i think the housekeeper cleaned them this morning, so i´m happy about that.

malaria

looks like i am good, but you americans are f´d - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7033203.stm.

johnny, fooled you good with my photoshop skills and the lava - i learned from the best.

tikal

got back from tikal, city of mayan ruins, early this morning. left on friday with four friends for long trip up to the north, about 60 miles from both belize and mexico. shuttle to guatemala city was about an hour late, pushing our departure to tikal back 2 hours to 10pm. i switched seats with someone so that they could sit next to their friend, which turned into one of the worst decisions ever. the bus, first class with bathroom and aircon, was supposed to be more comfortable and safer, according to my teacher. to my delight, not only did my seat not recline, but i also had a family of five sit in the seat next to me. my night was spent fighting a five year old who kept falling asleep on my lap, and a seven year old, who kept falling asleep on my shoulder. got to flores, well call it the venice of guatemala, around 630am and ate. then off to tikal. i was in charge of our return ticket from the ruins, but it flew out the window. so i had to argue for about 10 minutes with the driver, who produced a legible copy on the back of a food receipt. the five of us hired a guide to tourus through the ruins, which is over 1000 sq km. most of our time was spent climbing the main temples and exploring the main plaza, but our guide was knowledgable enough to be worth it. the whole morning we could hear howler and spider monkeys yelling, as well as looking for birds and spiders and snakes (only 5 ou of the 17 are poisonous, so dont worry our guide said, we can make a quick antivenom out of this plant, no wait its this plant). we got back to flores with 5 hours to waste, spent on eating, playing cards, and other mischief. the ride back to antigua was nicer, bus less crowded, and slightly more enjoyable, although it has made me question some of the future bus rides i have planned. ate at mcdonalds for breakfast, because i deserved it, yet disappointed at no bacon eg and cheese sandwich. then slept.

carlos pena

i almost forgot - carlos pena, from guatemala, won latin american idol. the town, state, and country are going crazy. we watched the final last friday in the bar, and once the winner was announced, everyone started shouting ´guate.´ people have written his victory everywhere, and people are asking for his haircut in the salons (though pati says that he is feo).

el partido de futbol

teachers versus students today after 2 hours of class. we played in the town´s stadium, which was quite fun. the students were plagued by a lack of skill and lack of players, but we pushed through and beat the teachers by a goal. it was very tiring. i had one nice goal, while raef scored most of the goals from the front line.