A New Adventure

I departed Flores after two wonderful nights spent swimming and drinking beer on the lake. I then traveled to a ranch in the middle of nowhere called Finca Ixabel. It was fairly cheap with good food, but the atmosphere was very lame, so after reading a book one day, and stuffing myself at the buffet dinner (isn´t it funny how small portions become when you leave the U.S.! That was the first time I had been full since leaving.) I decided to head for Coban, and then Semuc Champey. As I was about to leave the ranch I started chatting with an Israeli named Nir who was going to try to take some back roads straight to Semuc Champey. His plan seemed sound enough and so ten minutes later we were on the road together. This is were the adventure truly begins. We really were on a path less traveled and pushing my spanish to its limits I learned that very few backpackers ever travel where we were. I had an absolute blast on some of the buses, passing around photos of my family, Natalie, and Jager. Natalie was quite a hit with the Guatemalan men, who wanted to know when we would be getting married, and if she was in Guatemala as well. The Guatemalans on one bus that we were on were not nearly as friendly as the rest, so we were anxious to get off that bus. It was interesting going from being so welcomed, to literally having backs turned to you when you asked questions. I do not know if I unintentionally offended anyone, but like I said we were clearly tolerated, not welcomed on that bus. Well after all our hard work we missed the bus to Lanquin (which is just outside Semuc Champey) and ended up in Coban anyway. Around five in the afternoon the rain started, and it has not stopped. For those of you in Seattle imagine the hardest downpour you have ever been in, and then just extend it for 19 hours (and counting). Half the town is flooded, we can´t get to Lanquin, and our hotel is flooded with about eight inches of water on the ground floor. We were counting our blessings (we are on the second floor) until around eight this morning when the roof could finally no longer take the assault and began admitting steady trickles of water into the room. After moving beds around to try to avoid the rain we ended up sharing one double size bed for a couple of hours before fleeing the hotel in full rain gear in hopes of finding an internet connection. Of course this really meant finding a section of town that still had power. In order to do this we waded through streets filled with up to 8 inches of water and sewage, as the sewers are now overflowing in our district. Having made it I can tell this lovely story and kind of laugh about it, as it is in the past. However now that I have reached the end of this entry it means I now have to go live it again as I wade back into the muck and try to figure out how the hell to get out of here! Adios amigos (and if you are having a bad day just remember you are probably not wading through sewage and if you are... well I guess do it like me, with a smile on your face and the spirit of adventure in your heart).

Ummm I can´t understand anyone...

So apparently, unbeknown to me, they speak a different language in Guatemala. Someone told me it is called Spanish and apparently to communicate you need to learn it. I have been getting by by making weird guttural noises and hand gestures. Usually after a few minutes whoever I´m talking to just realizes that I am completely hopeless and takes pity on me. I spent yesterday in Tikal and had a wonderful time. I´m in Flores and enjoying life on the road. The first three days were pretty awful, I was missing home, completely isolated (don´t ever get stuck in Chetumal, worst town ever), and just plain miserable. As I was reaching Flores the bus suddenly pulled over and the driver shouted ´Tikal, Tikal´. I was exhausted but for some reason I just was compelled to get off the bus, grab my pack, and hop in a van headed to Tikal. Apparently my bold move empowered three other travelers to make the same split second decision, and once we hit Tikal the four of us sat back had a cold beer and suddenly life was good again. Since then I have relaxed, recharged, and am as happy as anyone with a lot of time and no worries could be. In other words I am REALLY FUCKING HAPPY (sorry grandma and Bonderman folks, but you´ll have to get used to the language. I will try to put up disclaimers when I start talking about my bowel movements.)!! Well hopefully I can post pics of Tikal soon, but now I need to go decide what I am doing for the weekend. I really want to go to Semuc Champey but it will be expensive and crowded over the weekend, so I might go to Poptun, though I´m not sure what I would do there. Hasta luego (I think that means something in this ¨Spanish¨ I keep hearing about).

Awaiting Departure

Well I figured I should post something before I took off. I am leaving Seattle in three days, flying into Cancun and then busing to Guatemala from there. Can you believe I got a $78.00 ticket to Cancun (thanks Kathy)! I'm all packed and ready to go, getting really anxious. Over the past few days my mood about traveling could easily be graphed as a sinusoidal ftn. I'm excited, nervous, curious, and really anxious to find out what it's going to be like to be on my own for the next 8-12 months. Saying goodbye to my friends was pretty hard, and I know that I am going to feel really lonely as I adjust to a life where I can't just pick up my cellphone and talk to people. With all that said, I have never been more excited about anything in my entire life! I have many preconceptions about what the first few days are going to be like, but I won't be surprised if it is absolutely nothing like what I am expecting. Well that's all for now...