belize it or not they dont want us in dangriga no mo!

so belize.... its kind of crazy. Belize is a interesting cultural salad; originally latin, lots of africans migrated thanks to the brits, they are the ´indigenous people´of belize... i supose they exist and they are called garifuna, then more imigrants from asia, then, and i think this is most recent, imigrants from india, oh yeah and german menonites have been there for ages too, and they have rastafarian acents just like everyone else.... and there are some mayans and latin people too. Now I dont want you to think that Belize is not mostly english speaking dark skined caribs.... im just not sure about ´garifuna´we were told by lonley planet that the garifuna still drummed and dressed traditionaly, they were suposed to be in guatemala, honduras and definetly belize.... however tradition dress did not happen, and megan and i think that when they see us they stop drumming. The people in la moskitia were most likely garifuna... not that they would know it. but actually I´m getting ahead of myself. We started our journey in orange walk, we got of the bus and were imediatly flung into a parade for a mayoral canadate. They are very enthusiastic about their politics.... later we would hear the election time song... among my favorites. we checked into our shity ´concrete box with scorching hot water´as lonley planet called it and then ate some shitty chinese food. then we were sold the exact tour we were looking for off the street, slowly we realized that our tour guide was really into me but luckily I was able to evade him. We took the long boat ride down the river to the ruins, and they were pretty cool, but honestly I think im ruined out after tikal... oh shit i dint write about that yet... tikal was friken huge, and awesome, and really exspensive... anyways after the tour we returned to our hotel with the cute asian couple with the two fluffy dogs. and the next morning we left for dangriga. I knew dangriga would be cool because we listened to reggae the whole way on the chicken bus. we got there and we saw some more houses on stilts and some creole food that we had never heard of. I convinced megan that we should totally eat from the shack on the side of the road.. we at garnaches ( corn chips with cheses and coleslaw and katchup) and sorel juice, and a burito like no latin burito ive had. we asked our hostile about garifuna druming and val of vals hostel, said maybe on the weekend, which is also what the guy hitting on us at the bus station said. So we decided to go to placencia ( which of course we called placenta) to go to the beach, we did that for a day and intended on two days but stupidly let oursleves get so burned as a result of limeaide and good books as ample distraction, that really we couldnt handle another day at the beach. So after retreiveing our jelly from the ladys fridge in the morning after the invitation, ´sur gal go up da an get yo jellay, its no prob-lem´we headed back to dangriga... to go to the garifuna museum if nothing else.... and maybe even hear some druming. It was at the museum that we learned that the diferences between black people and garifuna would be sublte... and maybe we had been seeing them all along ( kind of like santa, if you beleive hes all around). we also learned about several migrations, punta dancing ( garifuna mating dance similar to a very reserved and subtle dropping it like its hot but shake), and making casava bread. After that I went to go shoot and got in trouble for taking a picture of a grocery store because the men sitting on the stoop thought i should pay them, and clearly i hated people in dangirga and was trying to get rich. After eating some more garnaches.. we set out to search for druming...we tried three times at various hours and all we found was empty bars and a truck full of guys who hit on us and slowly drove by us trying to talk to us as we were walking... awesome. We left the next morning for belize city. Before we left more people tried hitting on us, and when we did not respond they told us that you dont treat people like that and that if we hate black people so much than dont come to dangriga... I replied that it had nothing to do with their skin but that i just didnt feel like being hit on this early in the morning, and i reminded them that megan was dating black man. Then we were told that we arnt welcome in dangriga.. they said dont come back! and we said dont were thanks to you we wont! once in belize city, We checked into another shit hole hotel only to find that there was an 11pm curfew... even though we needed menonites to help us get into that hotel... we left and went acros the street to an even shitier hotel, struck a deal with the french canadian guy who ran it, and we were granted an exstended curfew... midnight, then we turn into a pumkin. We went to ´the club´only to find that there was a pricey cover and a ton of people waiting for the price to drop or th band to show... at around midnight... a garifuna band showed up... for a punta dance party.... obviously we stayed. We watched punta in action... and danced a bit, looking painfully white. I ended up non sexually dancing with a stoned guy with dreads who I could not understand at all. Megan ended up dancing with a guy who scared away all the cute guys to avoid the other guy with a fly fishing hat on and bad teeth... we had fun, felt white, were offered weed( and refused) , and free beers( and accepted them), and then left at 2am... to find a sleepy french canadian, and to hear a old man making gross noises through the thin walls. This morning we crossed back into guatemala and got advice on what buses to take to el salvador from a man and his family that are sneaking into guatemala without passports to they can eventually get to the us... aparently jesus told them to do it. We did find the bus and tomorow he start our decent to panama... next stop san salvador.. stay tuned.

semuc champey ¿death trap?

so I am back in the land of free internets. I am in flores guatemala right now and I am proud to say that I survived the semuc champey tour... that was almost not true of everyone... more on that later. So semuc champey is a natural rock formation out of limestone that entails several pools of turqoise clear mountain water ontop of a natural bridge made of the rock formation that is above a raging river... quite a crazy phenomenon. The tour was maybe my favorite tour ever... and I conquored a few of my fears involving heights and ladders. the tour started with getting on a rope and wood swing that swumg you 6 or 7 meters above the water, and then you jump off of it. I did this after a bit of debating and i think i liked it? then after that we started caving. This is by far my favorite type of hiking. This meant that for 2 hours we swam slash hikled with candles throgh a cave... it was awesome! at one point there was an option to climb up another scary ladder on the rocks or climb up the waterfall with a rope with knots in it... i tried this after watching many others and almost made it but was too short to reach the last step and after dangling for a bit climed back down and used the ladder. Then we got to another spot where we could jump off into water.. of course we could not see how dèp the water was or how high the jump was but i did that too! all in all the cave was great. After the cave we floated down the river on tubes and then we were given the option of jumping off a bridge... i once again said no to this.... im not sure that, even if i was suicidal, i would ever jump off a bridge volentarily. after that I bought some home made mayan chocolate with cardamon from a girl on the street... and it was fantastic. then we went to semuc champey... i swam in the amazing pools and went close to the edge of the bridge where you can see the river rush underneath it while a very nervous employee watched megan and i. then I swam some more and then our guide aske who wanted to ´do´the waterfall... not quite knowing what this would entail and not wanting to pass it up if it were at all a possibility i went alon... just to see. turns out you cant see the jump unless you climb down a flimsy rope lader looped around a limestone rock... I managed to somehow do this. This meant i got to stand above the river and below th bridge... pretty awesome. I declined the first jump after hearing that is was scarier than the bridge... but when compared to going back up the later i decided i would do the second jump that was not high up but involeved swiming out of the curent or plumeting to your death. The first guy went and our guide told us the current was too strong and we would all have to go back up. All of us followed his instructions except for one girl and one guy .. our guide asked if they were good swimers and then let them go. The girl made it and all of us watched as the second guy missed his opertunity to get out 5 times while his girlfriend cried and sweared in israli... she had said that she shouldnt do it because she wants babys and they just got maried. He made it finally. all of us were a bit freaked and we left. Near death aside... it was a great day.

the next day we went to the bat cave... and found not batman but a sparkly bat cave that looked like fragle rock. I also learned that batshit is sticky and dark brown and helps with traction when hiking in drippy caves. Also flocks of bats are really cool to watch. Also i wish people had not over exagerated the slipery nature of this hike ... i regreted not bringing my real camera.

we are now in flores after a crazy shuttle involving seeing a valentines parade, being searched for fruit and riding with some smelly germans. Upon reaching our hostel and learning I have free internet i checked my email only to fing berny my novio on gmail and i tried my hand at gchating in spanish... very tricky. then after that megan and i went to the cheapest place in lonley planet... only to find that it was fancy... and with bad service... but it was fun to have a fancy romantic evening with my girlfriend... and we saw the israli couple.. they are still alive and together...

tuk tuks and infections de mujares

yep as you may have guessed that is not a promissing title. I am writing you from a crapy vegetarian cafe, and i have just returned from the farmacia.... as you may or may not know in central america there are no rite aids or walgreens or really any place to buy any personal care products that are not behind a glass counter with an attendant. I thought it was bad last month when i had to exsplain that i needed papel hygenico para mi tiemo de mes... menos grande... para mas sange... whilst surounded by all of the customers in the only farmacia in puerto viejo... but boy was i wrong. Nothing compares to getting your very first infection de mujare and needing to mime itching to the lady behind the counter. At least i got a OH! entiendo... uno momento when i said hablar un poco espanol tengo un infeccion de hujare.... and then i got a worried wisper of en sus vajina? and i replied si.. with a frown... after a knowing smile was exchanged i received some crema and pastillas... this should be really fun to administer in the dorm. Luckily though i got a disquento... my medicina was only 15 dollars not 25... however thats still alot of quetzales I dont have. lets hope this shit works. in other unpleasant knews we made seasoned traveler mistake number one.... we trusted another backpackers opinion over the lonley planet bible. A fellow traveler recomended xela... she described it as more down to earth and with less touristy stuff and a hippy vibe. Translation... only a tiny bit less shitty than managua, my least favorite city ever, megan and i both hate it and we are now completly out of the way and need to take 5 busses to our next destination and we may not be able to do it in a day.... really this blows hardcore. not only are we here but our cabdriver who took us to the center of the city may have been brain dead.. we exsplained the location of the hosel in spanish showed him 2 maps and the written adress and finally stoped him and sed quiero nada mas! caminar es mejor!... basically no more id rather walk. we took the next cab and asked him if he kne of about 5 different hostels... we are staying at the one he knew of. Megan aptly decribed the dorm as looking like emergency shelter after a natural disaster. True story. At least yesterday was delightful. We went to lake atalan, specifically san pedro. We spent the day wandering and shooting. Unfourtunetly my favorite tanktop was stolen from the the clothes line... i questioned everyone.. its gone for good. However after getting to breifly photograph some mayan women bathing and washing their clothes in the river i almost didnt care. I have learned that lonley planet was right about taking pictures in guatemala... the myan women arnt dumb they charge you to shoot. As a result i havnt done much shooting but i played dumb and gave the group about a dollar. After wandering and getting woefully lost in san pedro, because their towns streets are layed out similar to a childs scribble, we headed back to our hostel to change into bathing suits. We had reserved a spot for 3 dollars a los thermales.... solar powered hot tubs... it was three dollars for unlimited time until midnight and it was fantastic. We had a lake view and our lady of guadelupe candels... really you couldnt ask for more. Unless you were asking for what we did before the thermales... went to buda bar for thai beef salad.. apple hookah and teqilla choclate coconut creme drinks.. after the hotub we became woefully lost again and took a tuk tuk back to the hotel. A tuk tuk for those of you who dont know is like a cross between a moped and a cab... there is a metal cab that goes around the moped.. and usually like the buses they say someting about jesus on them in big airbrushed letters.. i recomend them... ok thats all for now... back to the shity city of xela for some fun with hospedajes and crema de mujare

The polar opposite of the "easy" volcano hike

So we have learned in nicuraguia they lie about hiking and in guatemala they tell the truth. we went on another 'easy volcano hike' yesterday... and it was FANTASTIC! I had high hopes for the ease of the hike when they said it was only an hour and a half up, my hopes were lifted higher still when i saw our group a age range on 60-10 the youngest of which was threatening to puke on the way up and was crying when she got in the shuttle up to the start point of the hike. Lonley planet lied. There were no armed guards with us, and no need for them. The hike was perfectly delightful, aside from the barage of small children trying to sell us, or rather rent us 'schticks', megan and i did not partake, schticks are for wimps. Half way up the leasurly stroll wich was hard enough to get our heart beat up and breathing fast but not so hard that we wished it were over, the small childs parents rented her a horse... she couldnt hack it. They said she could ride for 2 dollars worth... it was hilarious. By the time her two dollars ran out we reached a clearing in the forest and saw hills of black pumice sand and piles of pumice... it looked like egypt meets starwars. team tigre as our guide called us pressed on until we reached a stream of tumbleing orange globules and rocks... we wanted to get all the way to the top but our guide didnt take us and pumice hiking is tricky. so instead we watched the lava and warmed ourselves with its heat. this hike was by far the best ever... great incentive.. easy but challenging... nice temperature.. great light.. and even pumice to slough off any hores shit in your boots you may have acrewed. awesome. worth the 15 bux. Today we are off to lake atalan.. to exsperience mayan culture,garafuna culture, weaving /beading classes, and maybe even yoga and hot showers! go guatemala... hopefully our shuttle suttles its but over here soon. Until my next post i'll be soaking in sun and hoping for free internets.....

oh! also antigua is great but its hookah bars close too early and its street sales people are super pushy! but they all look amazing in colorful mayan dress... hopefully the ones in atalan wont charge me to shoot them... because i cant afford it....

pickup trucks on rafts, 18 rabbit, and horchata oatmeal.

SO I am curently in a magical hostel called yellow house. It has free internt, free purified water, a kitchen, and free breakfast... including but not limited to horchata oatmeal....que rico! This place also has brightly colored adobe walls and a roof garden with twinkly lights at night. We are in antigua guetemala... it is fantastic. It is like granada, only more bustling and filled with women and children dressed in brightly colored myan fabrics... shooting will happen soon. It also hasa volcano... now I know i said I would not be hiking any more volcanos... but this one is only a hour and a half... and you can see lava... in fact you can roast marshmellows on it. .....fantastic. Before guetemala.. we were in honduras. Most recently we were in copan, we saw some really inpressive ruins and stellas of mayan kings including 18 rabit. We also met the first group of backpackers that were enjoyable to hang out with. We decided to stay a few days ... not because there was a ton to do... but we have gone to two countries and 6 places in a week in a half maybe two weeks and our wallets and backs were a bit weary. The journey we took before the one to copan was straight out of apocalypse now. We were going to la moskitia... a enormous region with...possibly ingigenous people who live in houses on stilts, and a region with no roads. The lonly planet book told us catch a but to this town and take the pickup to moskitia then take the ferry. This is what actually happened... We arived at the bust station to find a man with no pants on in our bus.... I explained to the cab driver that he picked us up 15 min too early and he was going to let us wait in his cab for free for 15 minutes because there was "un hombre sin casa y sin pantalones en mi autobus!"... later we were escoreted by a lagre black man to our bus... he said "tranquillo" and the man who early had no pants ... had put on pants and was now selling us tickets. The bus took tice as long because the driver kept stopping to talk to his friends. When we arioved in the town, we got a cab to where we were to get the 'pickup' when the cab door opened we were surrounded by a swarm of pickup drivers calling us mamisita, mi amour, and come with me i has good price.We went with the least pushy one.... this was both a good and bad choice. Bad because he waited 2 hours to leave and did all of his personal errands along the way... but good becuase we met some missionaries who live near the place we were going and set up up witha good boat driver and place to stay.... howver all of that was hours and hours away. When the pickup finally started going there were tons of luggage on it and a few people in the back three of us in the cab.. and a baby, and the driver and his friends... i thought the bumpy roads were bad at first but that was nothing, soon we drove through rivers, then we got to a ptch only accesibly by beach... that meant driving on an angle.. half in the water and half in sand. then we got past the beach to larger rivers that we crossed by.... wait for it.... putting the entire truck on a wooden raft floated by buckets... we would all get in get on the raft and 12 year onld would pull us across with a rope... sometimes aided by a motor. After doing that for 3 times we drove an hour more and arrived at the "ferry" the "ferry" was a oversized dugout canoe... with a motor. the missionaries told us there was a big drug traficing problem here... but our driver was good. We had wanted to get to the village at 3 and had lonly planet been right we would of.. but we got into the boat as the sun set... and 5 hours later... after being scared shitless that we would be kidnaped... we arived. Our boat driver woke up xy and she gaveus a impecably clean room, with a impressive bugnet and told us she didnt want us to get malaria. It rained most of the next day but that didnt stop us from having a great time meeting people and taking pictures... we would have stayed longer than a day... but it was really just houses... no resturants, no pulperias, no electricity... so aside from shooting and going to bed at 7pm... there wasnt much. While the trip hurt my but and mad me 120 dollars more poor... it is an exsperience i will never forget.

two second update

well actually 3 and a half minutes... thats all the internet i have left... um were in honduras.. copan ruins were awesome... we went to la moskitia ... which involved a 4 hour bus, a 6 hour ride through the ocean and bumpy roads and over rafts in the pickup truck and then a 4 hour ride in a oversized dug out canoe... more on this when i get to our next hostel which must have FREE INTERNET..... um we are going somewhere in guatemala tomorow... maybe antigua... hasta lluego