Xela Guatemala.... and beyond
Soooo... where do i start. last i updated i was leaving utila, honduras.
that was sad. i stood outside on the ferry with the caribian sea wet on my face, my tears mixing with the already sailty water. i have fallen in love with scuba diving... it´s like entering a world free of sound where everything is in slow motion and all you can hear is the soft hiss of your regulator. Utila was a cute quiet town where the locals and the gringos intermixed constantly. it was also nice not having to worrie about spanish.
tom and greg (medie students from UK) and i ended up travling together for the last 2 weeks. i said goodbye to them last night before i left for xela. my tear ducts are too tired to cry... but it´s nice knowing that no matter where i go or end up... no matter what dark scary hole i crawl down or end up beside.. i can always find my own. and eventualy, i´ll find my way back home.
So... the boys and i went, in one day from utila, honduras to guatemala city. suprizingly, i didn´t think that city was too much of a shithole. granted we only spent a night and we didn´t leave the hotel. when we arrived in Gcity we went straight to hotel colonial... i THINK that is where dear jack and elain spent a night.... maybe not but i thought of them the whole time. guatemala makes me miss dear jack alen. i can´t believe it´s been a year since his death. where ever you are jack, i can feel you watching over me while i am down here. thank you for your light.
the next day, the boys and i went to antigua VIA chicken bus (all the stories are true about those bus rides... they really do sell anything!!!!)and stayed at the hostel called The Back Cat. we met two other people (also from the UK) named Jem (boyfriend) and Clarisa (girlfriend). we ended up spening 3 days in antigua.
the first night, the boys, myself, jem, clarisa and two other random people went out to a salsa bar. then we went to an after party. then, at the after party we met 5 locals who were our age. 2 girls and 3 guys. straight away, we could all tell that these people were really cool, spoke perfect english, attending uni and were going to be our friends. they envited us back to there place for an after-after party... and lets just say that the night was the most fun i have had in a long time. no one went to be before 7am. the next morning tom cooked all 10 of us breakfast and we ate it, with massive glasses of water in our hands.
once we made it back to our hostel, we ate vid´s and took naps and generally... just had a hang over day.
after a good nights sleep... (well sort of... minuse the stupid drunken hostel room mate who ame in at 330am pissed off his nipples talking really freakin loud... wanted to kill him...) we climbed a volcaino.... a REAL volcaino... that had.... um.... (don´t tell my mother.. oh wait...) lava! honest to god, lava! real lava! i saw real HOT lava! i know this sounds stupid, but i didn´t think it would be THAT hot. it almost melted my sneakers. someone on my guide trip did it in FLIP FLOPS! they nearly melted their feet off.. but i was okay cause of my shoes. it was like nothing i had ever seen before.
by day 3, the boys and i were kinda of board by antigua. it was a cute little town, but had a lot of gringos and, frankly a lot of crime. it was one of those little towns that seemed all nice and safe on the outside, but you still had to be careful. (one of the hostels we were planing on staying at got robbed.... Hmmm glad we didn´t stay there!!!!!!)
on friday, the boys and i left antigua for san pedro, lake atitlan. we spent 4 hours in a cramped mini bus, poor greg has long legs and looked like a daddy long legs squished up in a thumble. we killed time by listening to music, watched the trees blurr pass and got stuck in stupid construction. suddenly we turned a corner and, in time with each other greg and i pulled out our earphones and gasped at the fiew.
the lake was amazing. i believe it was formed by volcainos and is still surrounded by volcainos. we did tight little switch backs towards the lake. the sun was glimmering on the surface, calm as glass. i´ve taken photos, but they don´t do enough. the next day the boys and i along with luise and marco (two more friends from the back cat we met up with on the cramped shuttle bus) all rented kayakes. it cost us 10 Q (just shy of 1$usd) for 2 hours. we went to the other side of the lake where there were some locals with kids. the kids were so excited that we had kayacks they wanted in them! few things are as sweet as 7 shiny faced, excited, children yattering away in spanish.... never in my life have i wished harder that i knew more spanish. the rest of the day was spent lazing aroud, getting ready for spanish school, listening to tom play the guitare, watching greg learn how to play the guitare and painting. that evening we ate at a cheap (and super fucking slllllow) resterount. on the way we bumped into Jem and Clarisa! hah! they joined us at the sllllow resterount and we all drank beers while i prenteded that i didn´t have to get up at 4am the next day... all too soon, my night had to end and i hugged the boys good bye. it´s weird... i really started to get attached to being with them. it´s odd being by myself.
my alarm went off at 4am this morning. i caught a chicken bus to xela at 4 45am and arrived by 7 30. by 8 30 someone from ICA had picked me up and i was at school by 9am. i am really tired right now. i only got 4 hours of sleep and it wasn´t very restful. travling alone always makes me a little nervouse... espically since i am out of pratice.
i have met my host family. they don´t speak any english.... or should i say, they know as much english as i know spanish... it makes conversations a little awakward. there is another woman who is staying with the same family. she is from CA and has been here for 2 weeks. her spanish is so much better than mine, but i hope i learn... i have to right?
okay, back to part 2 of my lession!!!! wish my luck!!!
that was sad. i stood outside on the ferry with the caribian sea wet on my face, my tears mixing with the already sailty water. i have fallen in love with scuba diving... it´s like entering a world free of sound where everything is in slow motion and all you can hear is the soft hiss of your regulator. Utila was a cute quiet town where the locals and the gringos intermixed constantly. it was also nice not having to worrie about spanish.
tom and greg (medie students from UK) and i ended up travling together for the last 2 weeks. i said goodbye to them last night before i left for xela. my tear ducts are too tired to cry... but it´s nice knowing that no matter where i go or end up... no matter what dark scary hole i crawl down or end up beside.. i can always find my own. and eventualy, i´ll find my way back home.
So... the boys and i went, in one day from utila, honduras to guatemala city. suprizingly, i didn´t think that city was too much of a shithole. granted we only spent a night and we didn´t leave the hotel. when we arrived in Gcity we went straight to hotel colonial... i THINK that is where dear jack and elain spent a night.... maybe not but i thought of them the whole time. guatemala makes me miss dear jack alen. i can´t believe it´s been a year since his death. where ever you are jack, i can feel you watching over me while i am down here. thank you for your light.
the next day, the boys and i went to antigua VIA chicken bus (all the stories are true about those bus rides... they really do sell anything!!!!)and stayed at the hostel called The Back Cat. we met two other people (also from the UK) named Jem (boyfriend) and Clarisa (girlfriend). we ended up spening 3 days in antigua.
the first night, the boys, myself, jem, clarisa and two other random people went out to a salsa bar. then we went to an after party. then, at the after party we met 5 locals who were our age. 2 girls and 3 guys. straight away, we could all tell that these people were really cool, spoke perfect english, attending uni and were going to be our friends. they envited us back to there place for an after-after party... and lets just say that the night was the most fun i have had in a long time. no one went to be before 7am. the next morning tom cooked all 10 of us breakfast and we ate it, with massive glasses of water in our hands.
once we made it back to our hostel, we ate vid´s and took naps and generally... just had a hang over day.
after a good nights sleep... (well sort of... minuse the stupid drunken hostel room mate who ame in at 330am pissed off his nipples talking really freakin loud... wanted to kill him...) we climbed a volcaino.... a REAL volcaino... that had.... um.... (don´t tell my mother.. oh wait...) lava! honest to god, lava! real lava! i saw real HOT lava! i know this sounds stupid, but i didn´t think it would be THAT hot. it almost melted my sneakers. someone on my guide trip did it in FLIP FLOPS! they nearly melted their feet off.. but i was okay cause of my shoes. it was like nothing i had ever seen before.
by day 3, the boys and i were kinda of board by antigua. it was a cute little town, but had a lot of gringos and, frankly a lot of crime. it was one of those little towns that seemed all nice and safe on the outside, but you still had to be careful. (one of the hostels we were planing on staying at got robbed.... Hmmm glad we didn´t stay there!!!!!!)
on friday, the boys and i left antigua for san pedro, lake atitlan. we spent 4 hours in a cramped mini bus, poor greg has long legs and looked like a daddy long legs squished up in a thumble. we killed time by listening to music, watched the trees blurr pass and got stuck in stupid construction. suddenly we turned a corner and, in time with each other greg and i pulled out our earphones and gasped at the fiew.
the lake was amazing. i believe it was formed by volcainos and is still surrounded by volcainos. we did tight little switch backs towards the lake. the sun was glimmering on the surface, calm as glass. i´ve taken photos, but they don´t do enough. the next day the boys and i along with luise and marco (two more friends from the back cat we met up with on the cramped shuttle bus) all rented kayakes. it cost us 10 Q (just shy of 1$usd) for 2 hours. we went to the other side of the lake where there were some locals with kids. the kids were so excited that we had kayacks they wanted in them! few things are as sweet as 7 shiny faced, excited, children yattering away in spanish.... never in my life have i wished harder that i knew more spanish. the rest of the day was spent lazing aroud, getting ready for spanish school, listening to tom play the guitare, watching greg learn how to play the guitare and painting. that evening we ate at a cheap (and super fucking slllllow) resterount. on the way we bumped into Jem and Clarisa! hah! they joined us at the sllllow resterount and we all drank beers while i prenteded that i didn´t have to get up at 4am the next day... all too soon, my night had to end and i hugged the boys good bye. it´s weird... i really started to get attached to being with them. it´s odd being by myself.
my alarm went off at 4am this morning. i caught a chicken bus to xela at 4 45am and arrived by 7 30. by 8 30 someone from ICA had picked me up and i was at school by 9am. i am really tired right now. i only got 4 hours of sleep and it wasn´t very restful. travling alone always makes me a little nervouse... espically since i am out of pratice.
i have met my host family. they don´t speak any english.... or should i say, they know as much english as i know spanish... it makes conversations a little awakward. there is another woman who is staying with the same family. she is from CA and has been here for 2 weeks. her spanish is so much better than mine, but i hope i learn... i have to right?
okay, back to part 2 of my lession!!!! wish my luck!!!