Back in the USA

I must say, after four and half months in Central America, it is a little strange being back in the States. It was interesting stepping off the plane in Houston and being able to understand everything that was said around me. By the end of my time in Costa Rica I would say I felt ready to return to the U.S. and see family and friends again, but not ready to be smacked in the face with American consumerism and excess. I think readjusting to these distinctly American characteristics has been the most challenging part about be back in the country.

So far, however, I have actually had a fantastic time. My parents picked me up from the airport in Chicago Friday evening and after taking them back to the airport Saturday morning to visit Aaron in Philly, I met up with May Lin. She was playing in a volleyball tournament and so I watched that during the afternoon before Eddie and Stefan arrived from Minnesota. They had an extra ticket to go to the Gold Cup final (a North American soccer tournament) and so it worked out perfectly that they were coming to Chicago for the weekend.

Sunday afternoon Eddie, Stefan and I went to watch the US play Mexico at Soldier Field. It was great because the stadium was sold out (interestingly the ratio of Mexican to American fans was probably 6:1) and it was my first national team game. After a sluggish first half the action picked up in the second half on and off the field. The US scored two goals in the second half to pull out a 2-1 victory but we missed a ten minute chunk of time due to a brawl that erupted literally over top of our seats. We managed to get out of the way before fists started flying but it was an annoying distraction.

I hung out in Chicago Monday and took off for Iowa City to visit Claire and some other high school friends on Tuesday. Claire and DJ cooked a delicious meal and we ended up going out and doing a pub quiz with a few of my good friends from high school. Sadly we lost a tiebreaker and only got second. However, we did not let that dampen the evening and we all ended enjoying the night a little too much.

All in all, it's been a fantastic welcome back to the country and it will be disappointing when I have to start thinking about real things again like work...damn.

More Pictures

Antigua´s church at night
Holy shit that´s hot!

Spectacular sunset

Volcano Boarding, Really?

So as it turns out, I wasn´t able to meet up with Mike. He was busy with Peace Corps training and it just wasn´t in the cards. Somewhat downtrodden after not being able to see Mike, I hoisted up my backpack and headed to Nicaragua. It was a remarkably long and trying day (I think the count was two borders, two taxis and six buses and 12 hours), I arrived in Leon, Nicaragua. Arriving in the city, a cool colonial town that used to be the capital of the country, the hostel I went to was full. Fortunately for me however, there was another literally across the street and I crashed there.

I turned out really well because the hostel, BigFoot, offers a unique tour to a nearby black sand volcano. The tour runs a couple afternoons a week and takes people hiking up an active volcano and then boarding down before heading back. I was reluctant to sign up because it was $20, which is a lot on a travelers budget, but I´m glad I did because it was one of the most fun things I did on the trip.

About 15 other people, all roughly my age, set out hiking up the side of Cerro Negro with our boards in tow. It was a clear sunny afternoon and we had plenty of time to climb down into the crater and do some practice runs before heading down hill. With a 40 degree decline, I was a little intimidated peering down. But with only one shot, I told myself if I was going down, it would be in a blaze of glory. Our boards, more closely resembling crudely made toboggans, looked like veritable death machines and my confidence was only slightly bolstered by our prison uniformesque proctective jumpsuits and goggles.

I pushed off down the hill and the sensation was just like sledding, I guess minus the volcanic rocks whipping you in the face. Things were going smoothly until I neared the bottom, which was the steepest part before shallowing out, when I realized I was going way to fast. I was flying down (by all other accounts, I was the fastest on the day) and knew it was going to end badly. I hit a bump and went tumbling over the front of the sled, did two rolls and then popped up on my feet.

Another guy got it on video so hopefully I can get a copy of my wipe out, but I emerged from the wreckage relatively unscathed, only got a couple scratches. The next day I hoofed it to Coco and now I´m back safe and sound after my whirlwind trip. I am getting my things together and will be flying back to the good ol´U, S and A Friday morning.

Check out YouTube see some other videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnqcm1GOMsY

Tic Toc

Well, today officially marks the beginning of my final week in Central America. By this time next Friday I should be hugging my parents at the airport in Chicago and starting the symptoms of reverse culture shock. I must admit however, that I am looking forward to heading back to the U.S. I have definitely enjoyed Costa Rica and traveling but at the same time it will be very nice to see friends and family again.

Since Tikal, I took a remarkably uncomfortable overnight bus to Guatemala City and then on to a small touristy town of Panajachel. The town is situated on shore of crater lake of a collapsed volcano and the whole area is incredibly beautiful. I was there for just one night and then it was on to Antigua, cool colonial town in southern Guatemala. I stayed there for a couple days and met a really cool young German couple who were staying at my hostel.

I am currently in San Vicente, El Salvador, a small town right about in the center of the country trying to meet up with my friend Mike from Mac. He arrived in El Salvador last week to begin a two year stint with Peace Corps here and I am trying to hang out with him for a little bit. Unfortunately, I don´t know if I will be able to see him because he is busy with training sessions and we have been unable, as of yet, to communicate well. I have to be moseying back to Costa Rica soon and so I can´t hang aroud too long. Fingers crossed, hopefully it´ll work out.

Tikal photos

Temple I

Spider monkey... mid swing

Not dirt on my chin, just a man-beard

Central Plaza
(on either side of the plaza, there are temples equally as tall as the one in the distance)

Not a bad seat

Let´s forget Belize, but Guatemala is sweet

Since my last post, I have sucessfully made it through Belize and am now in northern Guatemala. I say ´successfully´rather loosely, however, as I ran into some snags and barely made it with my bags and in one piece. After taking the fairy from Guatemala, I rode a delapidated school bus for seven hours before arriving at Belize City. Getting off the bus, I realized I had forgotten my small bag under my seat with my camera and other pricey things. I realized it quickly and grabbed a taxi and told him to take me where the bus ends up. Our only chance was to catch it a gas station and fortunately it was there, so I got everything back.

Mostly a stressful experience, I stayed in Belize City (which offers very little other than grungy buildings and hustlers) for two nights. I did manage to make it to Caye Caulker for an afternoon which is absolutely gorgeous. It´s an island in the Caribbean and it is just like you see on TV or in magazines... aqua green waters, palm trees and a coral reef. I should have gone there right away, but I messed up my planning.

The interesting thing about Belize is that it has an incredibly diverse population relative to it´s size and is a mix of English, Spanish, Indigenous and African decent. Still part of the British Commonwealth, Belizeans speak English, but most commonly speak a type of Creole derived from English and African languages.

Transferring buses heading to Guatemala, I put my big backpack in the rear of a bus and then went to the bathroom quickly. When I got out, I saw my bus driving away so I chased after it waving my arms and yelling. It was a couple blocks ahead of me but fortunately they saw me and I, once again, managed to make it through unscathed.

I am glad to report that Guatemala has been much more tranquil and enjoyable. I stayed the last couple nights at sweet little hotel that overlooks a beautiful lake in the northern part of the country. The town is tiny, but is near the Mayan ruins of Tikal, which I must say, where perhaps some of the most impressive things I´ve ever seen. There are a series of six temples, which are massive and tower over a tropical dry forest, and all kind of other buildings. You wander around for hours just feeling the immensity of these buildings, some of which have been around for more than 2000 years, and you just feel wonderment. There were also lot´s of monkeys swinging in the trees and birds flitting through the air. Pretty awesome.

It was a fantastic respite from the chaos of Belize and now I´m on my way to Antigua, Guatemala to climb a volcano and hang out for a couple days. Then it´s on to El Salvador, hopefully to meet up with my friend Mike Melamed (from Mac) where he is just starting Peace Corps. That´s all, hasta luego.

Guatemala & Fotos

Yup, that´s a real live Scarlet Macaw
Copán

Mayan god of wind

Of course one of my favorites, the Mayan ball court

I got up early and crossed into Guatemala this morning. It was blisteringly hot on the bus but mercifully the seats weren´t too small for my gringo legs and I surprisingly had two seats to myself for most of the trip. I am now in Puerto Barrio, a bustling and grungy little port town on the Caribbean coast. As I got off the bus I was greated by a man with a Caribbean English accent who introduced himself as ´Uncle Willy,´and he works helping ´you guys out with things.´ He actually helped me find a decently priced room (for a small fee, of course) but I declined his help in procuring other things which I assume would be prostitutes or drugs. I am on a ferry tomorrow to Belize and as promised, some pictures.

So far, so good

Alright, so I coming at you live from the tiny little tourist town of Copán Ruinas, which is situated at the extreme western side of Honduras. The community is completely dependent on the tourists who come here to see the nearby ruins, only about 1 km away. It is quite well developed and ´cute´you could say relative to the rest of the country this is the first real destination on my journey so far.

I got here yesterday evening, after about nine hours in transit, and went to the Mayan ruins of Copán today. I will post some pictures as soon as I can, but they do not do the site justice. Nestled in a valley, the ruins appear out of the forest including, large pyramids, a ball stadium, intricately carved pillars and a hyroglyphic stairway for which the site is most well known. Copán was the southern most city state of the Maya empire and reached the height of its prominence between 400 - 700AD. I spent the whole morning just wandering around looking at all these magnificantly crafted monuments and wondering what the city was like 1400 years ago.

Brief Recap:

I took off from Coco Wednesday morning and travelled northward almost all the way through Nicaragua. I breezed through Managua, as quickly as possible because it is big, noisy and somewhat dangerous. I thought I was going to die several times on a taxi ride between bus stations but managed it alright. I got an odd sensation being in Nicaragua. It´s not hard to imagine given the poverty, political unrest and civil war but there is a strange sense of sadness in the country. The people are proud, but have lived a hard life.

Continuing on, I crossed into Honduras on Thursday morning and worked my way to Tegucigalpa, the capital, where I spent Friday as well. I stayed it a cheap hotel near one of the craziest markets I have ever seen. For blocks and blocks, stalls and vendors sell about everything you can imagine. People and buses clog the streets and you have weave your way through to cross into the downtown/historical part of the city. I walked around the city all day Friday which was highlighted by going up to a park on a hill that sticks out of the middle of the city. It had a great view of the city and it was relatively serene compared to the chaotic city below.

From here I´m planning on crossing the border into Guatemala tomorrow and going north to the Caribbean coast. From there it´s a ferry to Belize and then back into Guatemala to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal.

That´s it for now, I´ll put some photots up as soon as I can. Adios.