Sharing positive, fun filled (and sometimes crazy) travel adventures.
I'll post up blogs from my various US and international travels as they occur.
I hope you enjoy the journey,
CraigO
I´m alive team, fear not. I have had a week of no internet access in the wilds... well, relative wilds, of El Retiro lodge in Lanquin. A beautiful area of central guatemala where there are caves to explore and rivers to tube. One cave is dry and muddy and is lit, so you can see the formations but you have to stop where there is a 20 foot cliff... naturally on our second expedition, Yif and myself tried to figure out a way beyond the cliff (as the caves extend for 50 KILOMETERS!!!!) underground... but it definitely requires repelling gear. A french team spent 2 1-2 months underground a few years ago to get that far... I bet they smelled great as the cave is very humid! Also saw a cave spider with legs and antennae about 8 inches across... hmmm.... The Descnet anyone?
The other cave is filled with water, and you have to swim and climb ropes and use candles (or a trusty not so waterproof headlamp) and there is even a spot where you can jump off the wall into a pool and swim UNDER the floor and emerge through a tiny little hole at everyones feet.... it’s actually pretty scary, as you have to go over 3 feet deep and squeeze through this hole... I hit my head a lot (I know Cadry, big suprise!) but made it out... Yif and I once again wanted to go further than the tour and the guide said we could when we were outiside, but in standard guide form backed out once you reach the terminus of the tour.... we went anyway, maybe another 300 meters and got in trouble... oh well, they watch their caves better than in laos.
On the way out of the cave we passed another tour and I saw two folks I had ran into on the shores of Lago Antitlian a week earlier... "oh hey Teresa, what´s up?¨ Kinda strange small world you travel in here.
Tubing down the river was a highlight, you just pay 2 bucks and get a tube and off you go.... it’s actually quite fast and you have to dodge trees and rocks. They suggest you get out at the lodge or the first brigdge.... but the float was nice, so we kept going... past the second bridge, a few minor rapids... and then we came around a corner... Yif said ¨"You´ve got some tree trouble up ahead". I saw the tree.... and then I heard the ROAR.... "We got more than that! Get out!" We paddled like mad as the river vanished into spray and rapids in front of us...
... we both made it to the side about 10 feet from the rapids start... whew! (that´s why they say get out at the first bridge...) We climbed up to the road and looked down.... it was a class 3 rapid I´d guess. If we´d happened through it on the left we would have been fine though it would have been wild... had we gone through on the right.... well, lets just say its a damn good thing we didn´t go on the right.
Also at El Retiro they had some family style food, which on Wednesday was bbq.... not texas style, but good, and some kick ass dancing. Made a lot of good friends (in the way people you see for 2 days are good friends). Yif, Ziv, Martina, Julia. It was fun. There were a number of israilis and on Friday for Yom Kippur they all gathered for a new years feast... there were 4 of us not israili, and 26 israilis... we sang songs, ate food, and rocked the Hotel California....
... oh, and got sick.
Yep friends, for the last 4 days I have been sick as shit. You know that thing they call the Runs? I´ve done 2 or 3 marathons by now.
WARNING... the following contains graphic descriptions of shit and vomit! :)
Yeah, well, yeah... sucks. I could barely walk, and enjoyed the eco-toilets at the lodge a great deal. Me and the bugs and the little frogs hung out. I tried to eat stuff and would immediately.... yes, withing 30 seconds shit it out... and then puke up the rest. After 12 hours it was only water, lots of water, bottom and top. Weeee..... I slept saturday... and thought I felt better sunday... NOPE... slept sunday.... drank some gingerale and water.... shit that out...
Then finally monday said, screw it, I`´m going to Flores (home of Tikal) because I hadn´t gone in 12 hours.... So I took a 10 hour bus ride and somehow made it to the island town (which is really pretty and tiny in the lake) and got a nice hostel with private bath and hot showers (with an actual hot water spicket which is different from the usualy electric heaters) and a fan, and it’s heaven, and I relaxed and slept for like 15 hours and now...
.... I still don´t feel well. The diahrrea cholonic is gone (mostly) but I think when you lose like 15 pounds in two weeks it has an effect. Wait, I´´ve discovered a new DIET! The Traveller-Diahhrea diet. Note, that when traveling I had lost 5 pounds alreay in two weeks, as its very active and the food isn´t as shitty as we have in America (okay, cadry, I also don´t eat fast food here!) But, throw the Runs on top of it and WOW... another 10 to 15 pounds in 4 days, that´s fucking incredible! I think everyone should do this! It’s so effective and so much fun! Sure, you don´t have any energy and basically sleep all the time and must stay within 20 feet of a toilet (preferable not a squat toilet... thank GOD I didn´t have to deal with those and this). It’s really amazing... I had no idea all that can come out of me....
So, there is my main tip... and the great thing is, you odn´t know how you get it? It wasn´t food, others ate food, the waters been clean. Another guy got it to but he and I had not hung out during the day we both got sick. So who knows.... Yeah, I´ve had the travelers runs...
Enjoy...
Hopefully Tikal Tomorrow... but its hot as crap and I don´t feel well still. I´ve got a handful of things I still MUST do while down here, and plenty of time, so go figure, I´ll take it easy and buy some souveniers. I´d read, but Children Of Dune is not processing with my current state of illness... Muad´Dib!
Oh yes, in addition to a fun filled day of scuba diving on the lake and walking all over San Pedro (not the one in california) for a bar called Buddha, I have heard the legend, the one and only TARZAN BOY.... TWICE!!!!! (once at the independence day celebration where they ended the night of raggaeton and trance with Eye of the Tiger, Tarzan Boy and Ghostbusters.... and once while eating today where they played.... Eye of the Tiger, tarzan boy and ghostbusters.... hmmm..... and I´am in a different town....)
So Kevin, you were right, it is coming back, and it’s HUGE!!!!!!
Fear not team, I am alive and well in the town of San Marcos on the shores of Lake Atitlan in the highlands of Guatemala. And no, the flowing lava didn’t{t cause the children to run, that was something else entirely.
So, 5 days into the trip, I have already had some great adventures. From being the only (and I mean ONLY) tourist in Guatemala City downtown to traveling on a boat on the lake, to meeting some very cool people, and a surprising number of American{s. I guess this is where they go ´to travel as opposed to SE Asia.
Anyway, After an afternoon in Guatemala City, I took a shuttle the 45 minutes (read that it took 2 1-2 hours because of traffic... just like Los Angeles, wooooo!) and ended up in Antigua, the old Spanish capital of all of central America. The town still has cobblestone streets, a central square (which includes a fountain surrounded by four cement women who have water shooting out of their breasts... hmmm... kinda different), and is surrounded by three volcanoes (though in all honesty there is only one that is obviously a volcano). There are a lot of gringo{s here as it is a hub of Spanish classes in the area.
The next day I decided to go on a day trip to climb VOLCAN PACAYA... another 2 1-2 hour drive, but this time in a pimped out 70{s party van with shag carpet on the walls! Met a great bunch of folks, and made some friends. You don{t hike anywhere alone in Guatemala, as it isn{t a very safe country. One of my new friends Kate had been robbed and mugged the night before in Antigua, so we are all on guard. Thus, you have a guide on any hike and there are the Touristica Policia who keep you safe... in theory, but crime apparently is much less now than it was in the past.
We climbed up through cloud forest, where it began to rain and we actually entered a thick cloud when we reached some lava which had been cooled for a month or so... (so thom, it was just like Hawaii, misty, cloudy and lots of lava rock...) but, then the skies cleared and there before us stood MOUNT DOOM!
Okay, so it’s not mount doom, but it looked exactly like it with this sprawling lava field and surrounding us, thousands of feet below was the plains around the volcano. it was awesome. we went out on the cooled lava, it breaking beneath our feet like glass, and getting hotter and hotter until we found it.... flowing lava... A LOT of flowing lava. Being mostly dumb Americans and a dude from Holland we made sure to get really close to it and take photos with it like 6 feet away. it was hot as hell, sorta like the fires of the netherworld had joined us on earth. It was really hard to breath it was so warm, and I got a suntan on my legs from the heat. But it was AWESOME to see it flowing...and HEAR it flowing...
INCREDIBLE...
danced and ate in Antigua and then, on Thursday... low and behold... RUNNING CHILDREN!!!! thousands of them. all blowing whistles and carrying torches... hmm, doesn’t{t seem to safe. But turns out that for Guatemalan independence day (which is actually friday) all the kids travel to towns and light the torch with the freedom flame and run it back to their town or village. It represents the spread of the news from Antigua, Guatemala 185 years ago when it was the capital of all of central America. There are kids from Honduras, el Salvador and beyond...
the festival went all day and was a lot of fun. I hung out with Quinn, victor and the others I had met the day before here and there. Danced to some salsa in the town square and went to a club that though Raggaeton music was all there was. Still a good time.
Friday I got out of Antigua and headed to Lago Atitlan with Kate (no team, no RBR here, just friends). We checked into this crazy ass mediation center called Las Pyrimida´s... where yes, every building is the shape of a pyramid. (or so they say, mine was actually a hexagon... hmmm). We went down to the water for a swim, and as we were out in the water a Guatemalan teenage boy STOLE OUR SHIT!!!! yes indeed, I had a $9 pair of sandals and my sarong from Ko Phangan stolen... and they took Kates shorts and key to her room... which has a laptop in it! So we charged back to the pyramids, and proceeded to get lost on the mazelike trails and jungle paths that surround this loony town.
Turns out he didn’t{t come back, but the super SUPER mellow guy in charge of the pyramids acted like we were some weird folks for having anything stolen. I can’t do my impression of him here, but it is pretty amusing if I do say so myself.
So, I’ve been robbed, Kates been mugged and robbed... ah yes, VIVA GUATAMALA!!!!
But in all honesty it{s been pretty cool. Most of the people are nice, but there is a definite caution that has to be maintained at all times. we met up with a group of teachers and ate and joined the festivities in town square... which is really a basketball court... where they had music blasting and about 8 kids dancing. the rest stood on the sides like a high school dance. so anyone says that all Latin folks dance is lying to you, they havne{t been to san marcos. We danced. to some raggaeton... oh yeah!... and trance, ¨which was very fun and some of the same music I heard at the full moon partay last year in thailand.
All in all I{m in the groove of traveling, it{s time to do laundry and go scuba diving tomorrow. Hope you are all well and let me know what you are up to.
after 2 aborted landing attempts, one where we were maybe... MAYBE 50 feet off the deck, and then everything became covered in clouds.... and a side trip to San Salvador (yep... el Salvador) for fuel, we landed at 11 45 pm after 16 hours of travel.... hmmm... I thought central America was closer than that. :)
(these crazy keyboards take some getting used to)
Other than that, nothing to report, going to explore Guatemala city this afternoon then off to Antigua for some more adventure. I met a mother on the plane who said she got stuck there 3 years ago and is now married with her little baby.... so heavy, maybe I'll get stuck there... (not that I really want to...but then again, I haven{t gone!)
}
take care,
keep in touch
Craigo
NOTE: These emails have tons of spelling and grammatical errors. They are (mostly) due to the strange keyboard used in Central America (well, strange to me, not to people who live there). I just left them in because it reminded me of that.
