Rio Dulce and Livingston

I find myself back in Antigua again, after alomst a month, but I also realize I have learned a lot since i was last here. Antigua is beautiful!

The garden of flowers in the Rio Dulce, beautiful place!

I'm on a boat! . . . Very serious

These girls insisted i take photos of them, and we all laughed about this one!

My time here is coming to a close, and as much as I am excited to see all of the people I love again, I am also very sad to leave this beautiful country.

As I predicted, it took me approximately 3 and a half weeks to get used to solo travelling, understand my needs and find the inner peace that it mandates. Every moment has been so beautiful and yet so fleeting, and I know when I return to the States, to reality, to work, these moments will evaporate into hazy dreams from times past.

What will I do differently next time? Throw away my Rough Guide and Lonely Planet, for one (or at least ONLY use it as a map of the next city I visit). I will probably avoid backpackers hostels, as their inhabitants tend to live in a parallel universe to the country they are travelling in, only "DOING" the sites, not necesarily experiencing the culture--don't get me wrong, this is a very harsh and broad generalization, and I apologize in advance for any offense taken--I feel i have definately travelled in this parallel universe for at least half of my time here, so I am speaking of myself as well! Next time I will try to set up a homestay or two, volunteer more, and have more time overall to take everything in and build friendships.

This has been a learning experience, as I hoped it would be, and I am so happy that so many people supported me and helped me make it happen. I have the traveller's bug, so this is just the beginning!

Tikal, El Mirador

El Garra del Jaguar (El Mirador)--face of a jaguar, to the left and right of the face are it´s claws (garras)
EL Dante from below (in El Mirador). The Largest Temple Complex in the world. 72 meters high with an extremely large base.
Me on El Tigre (second tallest pyramid in El Mirador) just before sunset. My camera ran out of batteries just after this photo. . .
Almost all of the crew after a long day of hiking. At La Muerta (on the outskirts of El Mirador)
Me boiling in the afternoon sun on top of Temple IV, the tallest temple in Tikal (64m high). Below is the Plaza of Tikal taken from an apposing temple.

I just got back from 6 days in the jungle. It was such an awesome experience, we hiked a total of about 150 kilometers through flat jungle (all the hills were not hills, but ruins that have been over taken by the jungle). El Mirador is a hige complex of ruins, an ancient city dating back to 300 BC and even earlier. The Mirador Basin consists of a network of cities, El Mirador being the biggest, including El Tintal amd Nakbe, where we stayed for the first, and fourth nights. I will spare you all the dry details, but it is an amazing place to see first hand, and again, the pictures just can´t do it justice!
Our guide, Angel, knew all the details of the jungle, including medicinal remedies for snake bites and malaria, as well as the history and intricasies of the ruins. He and the rest of the crew were a great pleasure to be around for 6 days (which says a lot!). More details later, I am done with computers right now!

Oh yeah--and the day before I went to Tikal. I can´t compare these two ruins, as one has been rebuilt and preserved, and the other is hardly touched by archaeologists. . .

Coban, Lanquin, Semuq Champey and now Flores

Too much has happened and I have seen too many beautiful things to express it all. A million words and photographs could not begin to describe Semuq Champey, but the photo of the waterfalls will have to do for now. We explored water caves by candlelight in the morning, climbed up behind the waterfall in the photo, and then jumped off the ledge to the right of the falls into a deep pool. . . You just have to go there to experience it, I can´t do it justice!

The church is in Coban, I just thought it was pretty. In Coban we went to an Orchid Farm called Vivero Verapaz and saw Guatemala´s national flower, the Monja Blanca, along with hundreds of other beautiful orchids.

Now I am in Flores, getting ready for my trek to El Mirador. I found a group and we will be leaving either tomorrow or the day after. I met them in Lanquin at an amazing hostel with a river, sauna, and tiki hut rooms. They were are group of three, now we are four and we are hoping to pick up a few more people before we leave. In that case you won´t hear from me for a week because the trek lasts 6 days, we will hike through the jungle for two days until we arrive at the ruins of El Mirador. As I understand it, we will stay there for a day to explore, and then take a shorter hike to the ruins of Nakbe. This is what I most wanted to do here in Guatemala, and it has fallen into place so easily, I am so excited!

Flores may be my favorite town so far in Guatemala, it is an island on the lake of Peten Itza and it is so beautiful and comfortable (aside from the heat)! We found a nice place to stay on the lake, with a spiral staircase up to a roof top balcony. The sunset was amazing last night, and all the streets are beautiful.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Cheers!

San Pedro La Laguna

Hello from San Pedro!

I have posted pictures on my flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/anneagain/?saved=1), so check that out to see what it looks like here. It is beautiful! This is my 4th or 5th and final day in San Pedro. I spent a good chunk of my time lounging on the hammock on the porch of my fourth floor room, taking in the view and watching the sunrise. I also did some kayaking on the lake, which subsequently turned me into a bright red lobster from the high altitude sun. It was worth every minute of it, as I was able to see San Marcos (another town), and spend a very relaxing four hours paddling around.
You can definately see the cyanobacteria from shore, and it is multiplying at a fairly rapid rate. Algae blooms are not huge, but are definately forming on the surface in some areas closer to shore. Today I am heading to Tzununa (on the lake) for an ecological festival. Rebecca and Andy are representing Long Way Home, and the other volunteers will be there too. Tomorrow we head out to Coban and then to Semuq Champey. I am excited for the change in scenery, even though this one has been so beautiful!

Panajachel

I arrived in Panajachel by Chicken Bus two days ago. It is a beautiful small town on Lake Atitlan with a large crowd of extranjeros and tourists. It is always a little difficult arriving in a new place by myself, that is what I am coming to realize. Serindipitously I asked a woman if she spoke english, and if she new what I could do in the town, turns out she owns a small place and her husband plays bass in a band that would be playing there that night. I ended up dancing the night away with a small, roudy group of 50+ year olds. . . ok, well for the most part I watched as they danced the night away, but they were a fun, welcoming group I was happy to meet them!

Checked out the Reserva Natural Yesterday, it was beautiful! Hiked around, checked out the butterfly farm, and took all kinds of photos. There were a series of very unnerving suspension bridges that led up to a waterfall that brought out my fear of heights! Saw a monkey, some orchids, beautiful flowers, it was great!

Heading to San Pedro by boat ASAP, so more to come.

Thanksgiving and such

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I went back to San Juan Comalapa to celebrate thanksgiving with friends, and we had a slamming party. There were about 12 people at Long Way Home volunteering and working, from South Africa, Colorado, Massachusettes and Oregon. On top of that they had invited all the men who are working on the school construction, their neighbor, Fidelia (seen dancing in the photo with Rebecca), and a beautiful family of about 8 who work closly with Long Way Home. We had quite delishious spread of grub (all vegetarian), which none of the locals really cared for (very possibly because it was vegetarian), we listened to great music and danced after. All in all it was a great way to celbrate the day and share a little bit of our tradition with the wonderful people in Comalapa.

The day after Fidelia prepared a Tamascal for a few of us. Women in Comalapa sometimes give birht in these hot houses, and they bathe in them regularly. I guess you could say it is a very small sauna, and a very relaxing way to get clean. Long before we arrived Fidelia made a fire on which she heated a large bucket of water in the tamascal which heated up the small space nicely. We were provided with a few buckets of cold water that we mixed with the hot to make it bearable on our skin and then scooped it onto our bodies. We weren´t sure exactly what it was going to be like, or what we were supposed to do--at one point Fidelia chided us, saying we were extrajeros and of course didn´t know anything. We sat in the tamascal for two hours and half way through Fidelia came in and scrubbed our backs for us. It was a wonderful experience, definately very memorable!

I hope veryone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! I miss you all!

Volcan de Pacaya

Yesterday I went on a guided hike up the active Pacaya Volcano. It was extremely foggy, especially at the top, so there were not many views, but the lava was awesome! As the sun went down the fog refelcted the brilliant red of the lava.
The hike was steep and fairly difficult, there were little boys offereing taxi rides at every steep corner--horse back rides, that is. As we got closer to the volcanic activity the rocks below our feet grew hotter and hotter--my chakos survived, but with all the scree, I don´t reccommend wearing sandals at all! I ended up walking barefoot and exfoliating my feet a little too much!
I was such a beautiful expereince!

Antigua

Yesterday Rebecca and I took a journey to Antigua, about an hour and a half trip from Comalapa, by way of two chicken buses. We found a nice little place to stay for cheap, with kitchen and a pretty view of el volcan, and

then we explored the city and all the shops.

Rebecca left this morning, and so begins my solo journey. I found a nice hostel where I will hopefully meet more people--so far the only girl in the dorm is sick and getting tested for malaria and dengue today. I took a bed in the next room over. . .

I went in search for a cafe that claims to serve mate, but instead found a nice little coffee shop and sat and talked to the guys working there for a good hour or two. I now have a list about two pages long of musica latina that I will have to look into at some point!

Anyway, I miss you all. Hopefully I will find so great adventure to go on from Antigua, maybe hike a volcano or check out a macadamia nut or coffee farm . . .

last few days

Saturday there was a group of teenage volunteers who came from a school in Guatemala City to work on the construction of the school. THe prject for the day was to fill in the cracks of the tire wall with cobb to make the surface even. They brought pine needles that they added to a mixture of mud and water to create cobb. They had to mix it all together by stomping on the big pile of mud, and once it was ready we were able to throw the mud on the wall (literally). It was a great service project--muddy, dirty, and fun!

I was requested to paint Che on one of the Pilas (wash station) in the park (the guy who started Long Way Home has a little obsesson with him). Hopefully he likes it, my version is a little skinny and looks a little too much like Ross from Friends-- so we´ll see!

Otherwise, these are photos of the other volunteers-Rafael throwing mud, McKenzie and Whitney after the work day, and Rebecca and Andy in a little yard outside their room.

Work Day

Yesterday was a ¨pour day.¨ We poured cement for 3 or 4 hours. Hard Work!

Flickr Pics

Here´s a link to my flickr account. There are more pictures there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anneagain/

Some Photos para ustedes

This is a street in the town of Comalapa . . . somewhere. The city grid (if you could say there is one) is so confusing. I am hoping I will figure it out eventually.

Next is the view outside of the kitchen/my room.

Last but not least, a photo of the conrete roofing of school complex that has been erected in the last year or two. they are all made out of tires, cement, and dirt. Pretty sweet construction meathods!

arrived

Hey all,

I have made it to sunny Comalapa, it is a beautiful town in the highlands (around 7,000 ft) surrounded by beautiful lush green hills.

It is so great to see Rebecca and Andy, as well as see all the unique construction projects that have gone up at Long Way Home. There are three other volunteers at the Parque, so I look forward to getting to know them as well.

Sorry I bailed out without calling a few of you (Claire, Deacon, Jenny...) things got a little crazy in the last week before I left!

I miss you all!

Photos to come latter...

The First Post

Welcome to my blog about the things I do. Going to Guatemala in three weeks, very excited, but I have nothing to tell until then. All advice and ideas of places to go are certainly welcome!