Hola from Quetzaltenango (or Xela)!
We were lucky enough to take private transport from Coban, as it is an 8 hour drive through mountainous terrain to Xela. Arriving Sunday evening, we were welcomed warmly at the language school Casa Xelaju, and driven (!?) to our individual homestays. The farthest homestay is a 15 minute walk. (I am the lucky one who gets to walk through le Parque Central many times a day, where most of the city´s activity is centered around). I feel I must also mention that these families are fairly well off, and we are living very comfortably. We have hot water showers...inside... for example.
Xela is the second largest city in Guatemala, and with nearly 50 language schools in the downtown area, it is relatively touristy...and gringo-y. We have stumbled upon and sought out a great many hang-out spots where one can easily find tofu, fresh peanut butter, and vegan desserts.
We jumped right into Spanish classes on Monday morning: 8 am. The school is quite large and very beautiful. The staff is helpful and friendly, and the teachers are incredibly talented. We all feel that we have learned a great deal in the last week and a half. When classes become tedious, an inevitability when they continue until 1 pm, our teachers take us on trips around the city. We visit the nearby historical museum, purchase fruit, and go nuts over baked goods in the famous, ¨bake shop¨.
After our classes and lunches with families, we are generally quite busy with activities. Nick took än internship¨ with our friend Danny, making traditional jewelry on the stoop of a grocery store. Some of us took Merengue class, a cooking class, many interesting yoga classes, and an informational session on Popo Vu (the bible of the Maya). Hannah and I volunteered at TRAMA, an organization that supports women through the sale of traditional weavings and the teaching of weaving classes. Our job has been to hand out fliers and promote an upcoming benefit.
Our first Wednesday in Xela we enjoyed a huka, then went out to LaParanda to salsa dance the night away. Thursday is kareoke night at El Cuartito (a cafe that I am particularly fond of...it has a Berlin vibe, and great employees whom we have befriended). Nick, Rachel, and Amanda rocked the place with their many songs, and Amanda won a drink for her first place performance! Jessica was able to attend a jazz concert with her host mother on Friday night, and Rachel, Nick, Amanda and I went to a drum performance. At 6 am Saturday morning, the group (with the exception of Jessica, Rachel, and me), began an adventure to La Luna Chicobal. The spot is supposed to be incredibly sacred, and Mayan priests do many ceremonies there. Those that made the trip say it was a very steep hike up the mountain, then 573 steps (but who´s counting) down to the lake. Clouds rolled in and out, Nick cast ¨the rock¨, and they sat in meditation. It sounded wonderful. In the afternoon, we walked to the stadium for a Xela vs. Peten (the region of our past travels) soccer game. We all bought Xela jerseys, grabbed some good ol´ street meat, and entered the stadium at 5 pm. We then proceeded to sit on the concrete bleachers for over 5 more hours. We all had a blast. At the beginning of the game, fans lit so many fireworks that the residual smoke covered the field and they stopped play until it cleared. Xela won by 1 within the final ten minutes of play. Good time had by all. On Sunday we all gathered at Nick and Amanda´s apartment (located in the same building as our Spanish school and it has a nice little kitchen) to eat, watch a bootlegged copy of Slumdog Millionaire, and eat some more. Julia, our culinary angel, baked fruit pies from scratch. Jessica made fresh guacamole. We all consumed a ridiculous amount of food. Two of our local friends joined us: Danny from the steps, and Jacobo from El Cuartito. This Tuesday, Rudi (or homeboy), a new friend of Amanda´s, invited us all to hear his band practice in a hilariously tiny rooftop room. Him and his bandmate picked us (only the girls that night) up and drove us out. They played a range of songs from U2 to popular Spanish artists, and we sang along as best we could. Rudi´s favorite was titled, ¨fiesta privado¨, which seemed a perfect title for the night. Today, Wednesday, we feasted at Sabor de la India. We had planned to spend the afternoon at Fuentes Georginas, the ¨most beautiful hot springs in Guatemala¨, but took the wrong bus to an unknown location instead. On the trip home we lost Jessica (finding her shortly afterwards, luckily)...and Nick had missed all of the buses in the first place. We plan to take the correct bus to Fuentes on Friday. We meet at 6 am for the 3-day trek of 40 K Saturday morning. Thanks for checking in...and until next time...amor and adios!
--Anjali, on behalf of our super group
Most of us will be out of contact through the end of next week because we will be enjoying a spiritual retreat on Lago Atitlan!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Three Week Anniversary up in the Clouds
This past week was spent in Chicacnab, an indigenous community high up in the cloud forests of Guatemala. We went there through an organization called Proyecto Ecologico Quetzal, a program that helps to provide sustainable work and incomes for families in the community. Our day of departure from Coban dawned with lots of fog and rain, and to get to Chicacnab we had to take two chicken buses and then hike up a mountain in the rubber boots that the organization had given us to combat the mud. We realized soon after arriving that it was considerably colder than we had anticipated, and most of us ended up putting on almost all of our clothes in order to stay warm. Although some of the men spoke Spanish, many of the people there only spoke their local Mayan language, so communication was sometimes interesting. Every day one or two guys were assigned to gringo duty, and spent the day with us, helping us with the projects that the organization and community had set up. We hacked up a ton of plants with machetes, in order to make room to plant trees- a type of tree that bears fruit specifically for the quetzals.
We stayed in a house built by a past Carpe Diem group, although unfortunately it had no heat source, so on the second day we decided that it would be a good idea to build a fire inside the house. The only problem was that the wood was fairly damp, and when we tried to really get the fire going in order to have some heat throughout the night, we ended up creating so much smoke that Nick ended up dragging the entire fire out of the house and we all evacuated for a little while until the smoke had calmed down. Also, after two of us had been stung, we realized that we had actually smoked out a wasps nest, and there were wasps all over the floor of the house. So we were back to being very cold, and stayed that way for pretty much the entire trip. Even though we had a bit of a language barrier the people were extremely kind and made sure that we were comfortable to the best of their abilities, and fed us so much food that Amanda had to tell them that we couldn't eat so much. The food was definitely more simple than what we've been eating, but it was all delicous and no one had problems with it. Besides planting trees, we spent one morning at the local school and played soccer with the kids on their field (first tie for team CAM) and leveled out an area of land to build a kitchen so that the next groups who come can have a real fire. One evening we went quetzal-watching, and we all decided that it was the best bird-watching we had ever experienced. In the evening they leave the edge of the forest to get food, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see them flying. But by far the best part of the trip was the last day, which was Anjali's birthday. We ended up having a party in our house, with three guys playing the marimba, which is like a giant xylophone that's native to Guatemala, and more and more people from the community kept showing up. At one point they took boards from the ceiling in order to make more benches for everybody. And just as we thought things were winding down, some women showed up with a giant pot of coffee. It was the perfect end to our stay there.
After our trek down the mountain, which was amazing because it wasn't foggy and we could see everything, we returned to Coban and then after lunch got on another bus which took us to a hostel near Semuc Champey, where we relaxed a little and enjoyed being warm again. We spent the next morning exploring the river/waterfalls/swimming holes in Semuc Champey, but in the afternoon spent some time resting up from all the travel, and various illnesses that some of us were experiencing. We returned to Coban in the evening and were all more than happy to take hot showers and crash in the comfortable beds at the hostel there. And in the morning, it was time to return to civilization start the next part of our journey- to Xelaju- the second largest city in Guatemala.
Thanks for tuning in to the CAM blog,
Hasta luego,
Julia
We stayed in a house built by a past Carpe Diem group, although unfortunately it had no heat source, so on the second day we decided that it would be a good idea to build a fire inside the house. The only problem was that the wood was fairly damp, and when we tried to really get the fire going in order to have some heat throughout the night, we ended up creating so much smoke that Nick ended up dragging the entire fire out of the house and we all evacuated for a little while until the smoke had calmed down. Also, after two of us had been stung, we realized that we had actually smoked out a wasps nest, and there were wasps all over the floor of the house. So we were back to being very cold, and stayed that way for pretty much the entire trip. Even though we had a bit of a language barrier the people were extremely kind and made sure that we were comfortable to the best of their abilities, and fed us so much food that Amanda had to tell them that we couldn't eat so much. The food was definitely more simple than what we've been eating, but it was all delicous and no one had problems with it. Besides planting trees, we spent one morning at the local school and played soccer with the kids on their field (first tie for team CAM) and leveled out an area of land to build a kitchen so that the next groups who come can have a real fire. One evening we went quetzal-watching, and we all decided that it was the best bird-watching we had ever experienced. In the evening they leave the edge of the forest to get food, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see them flying. But by far the best part of the trip was the last day, which was Anjali's birthday. We ended up having a party in our house, with three guys playing the marimba, which is like a giant xylophone that's native to Guatemala, and more and more people from the community kept showing up. At one point they took boards from the ceiling in order to make more benches for everybody. And just as we thought things were winding down, some women showed up with a giant pot of coffee. It was the perfect end to our stay there.
After our trek down the mountain, which was amazing because it wasn't foggy and we could see everything, we returned to Coban and then after lunch got on another bus which took us to a hostel near Semuc Champey, where we relaxed a little and enjoyed being warm again. We spent the next morning exploring the river/waterfalls/swimming holes in Semuc Champey, but in the afternoon spent some time resting up from all the travel, and various illnesses that some of us were experiencing. We returned to Coban in the evening and were all more than happy to take hot showers and crash in the comfortable beds at the hostel there. And in the morning, it was time to return to civilization start the next part of our journey- to Xelaju- the second largest city in Guatemala.
Thanks for tuning in to the CAM blog,
Hasta luego,
Julia
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Back in Coban with electricity, internet, and all other trappings of civilization. To catch up a bit, we´re recapping San Andres.
Day one, we all started our homestays, and some hit off well, while the unlucky ones still got warm smiles and a greeting. Not much more happened after that, to my knowledge, and the day ended quietly.
Day two was our first day in language school, which we all enjoyed. In the morning, we had a group meeting to figure out what was going on for the week, aside from school. School was different for all of us during the week, since none of us are at exactly the same level of Spanish as another in the group, so day one class was more or less an assessment by the teachers of what we already knew.
Day three in San Andres. We started the day with a little community work at a local beach, affectionately known as ¨Gringo Beach.¨ We cleaned up a lot of trash, and did a little landscpaing to offset erosion, and finished off with digging a firepit. Though, that doesn´t really seem too necesary in retrospect, as there´s an old out of business restaurant hanging over the water with roof access. Most people build their fires up there. Class continued as it had the day before, and while everyone was fairly satisfied with how things were going, I understand that Rachel´s teacher put her through a lot of material she pointed out to already knowing. I also understand that this is the day that Julia started to make visits to a ¨curandera,¨ a local herbal healer. This day was also Nick´s birthday, celebrating number two in our line of four. We celebrated by having a great pizza dinner at a hilltop dinner, ate some spam (yes Ethan, we ATE the spam), gave Nick a toy motorcycle, and finished up by christening our new fire pit at Gringo Beach.
Day four. In the morning, we visited a zoo run by a foundation called ARCA, although I forget what that stands for. All the animals in the zoo were rescued from poachers. I was kind of sad, because a lot of them were babies at the time, and can never be released back into the wild. The animals included about a dozen spider monkies, some of whom reached out of the cage to offer a handshake, while others rattled the wire fencing and screamed at us; a baby leopard; and a variety of exotic birds, including parrots in various stages of molting, and an interesting larger black bird Edgar Allen Poe would have had a field day writing about. Once again, school as normal, but I think Jessica and another person went on little field trips with their teachers instead of having class in the classroom.
Day five. We spent the morning sweeping a forest path to help maintain a fire line and reduce the risk of forest fires in the area. When we were done, we chilled in the woods for a bit, and had our first encounter with howler monkies. We didn´t actually see them, but it would have been hard to not hear them; until we figured out what was making the noise, we thought we were in Jurassic Park. Class went as usual.
Day six. Our last full day in the homestays, and our last day in class at this language school. In the morning, we drove up the road to a farm outside of town, called La Finca Zacharias. It´s a non-profit farm in it´s beginning stages, and has long term goals of lumber production and providing needed jobs to the folks in town. For class, we all took a fieldtrip together into the next town and met a woman who runs an association of women who hold an interest in alternative remedies. They also make a range of herbal soaps, for which they have recently made a production contract with Sephora in a line called Mayan Mystique, though I understand that the line will not be on the shelves for a couple years.
Day seven, we made a day trip the fantastic Mayan ruins of Tikal, which are heartstoppingly beautiful. The views afforded from climbing up the steep monuments and temples is well worth the scary climb up. George Lucas thought so, too, the Ewok village was actually filmed in Tikal, and you can recognize one of the scenes from the top of a temple.
We made camp for the night at another set of ruins, where Patito was unfortunately lost, presumabely eaten by a jaguar. We later climbed up to the top of a ceremonial temple, and watched the sun set, before heading back to eat canned beans over a bonfire.
We pilled back to San Andres in the morning, to get the rest of our stuff, and begin our drive to Coban.
Tim for the CAM Carpe Diem Spring 2009 group.
Day one, we all started our homestays, and some hit off well, while the unlucky ones still got warm smiles and a greeting. Not much more happened after that, to my knowledge, and the day ended quietly.
Day two was our first day in language school, which we all enjoyed. In the morning, we had a group meeting to figure out what was going on for the week, aside from school. School was different for all of us during the week, since none of us are at exactly the same level of Spanish as another in the group, so day one class was more or less an assessment by the teachers of what we already knew.
Day three in San Andres. We started the day with a little community work at a local beach, affectionately known as ¨Gringo Beach.¨ We cleaned up a lot of trash, and did a little landscpaing to offset erosion, and finished off with digging a firepit. Though, that doesn´t really seem too necesary in retrospect, as there´s an old out of business restaurant hanging over the water with roof access. Most people build their fires up there. Class continued as it had the day before, and while everyone was fairly satisfied with how things were going, I understand that Rachel´s teacher put her through a lot of material she pointed out to already knowing. I also understand that this is the day that Julia started to make visits to a ¨curandera,¨ a local herbal healer. This day was also Nick´s birthday, celebrating number two in our line of four. We celebrated by having a great pizza dinner at a hilltop dinner, ate some spam (yes Ethan, we ATE the spam), gave Nick a toy motorcycle, and finished up by christening our new fire pit at Gringo Beach.
Day four. In the morning, we visited a zoo run by a foundation called ARCA, although I forget what that stands for. All the animals in the zoo were rescued from poachers. I was kind of sad, because a lot of them were babies at the time, and can never be released back into the wild. The animals included about a dozen spider monkies, some of whom reached out of the cage to offer a handshake, while others rattled the wire fencing and screamed at us; a baby leopard; and a variety of exotic birds, including parrots in various stages of molting, and an interesting larger black bird Edgar Allen Poe would have had a field day writing about. Once again, school as normal, but I think Jessica and another person went on little field trips with their teachers instead of having class in the classroom.
Day five. We spent the morning sweeping a forest path to help maintain a fire line and reduce the risk of forest fires in the area. When we were done, we chilled in the woods for a bit, and had our first encounter with howler monkies. We didn´t actually see them, but it would have been hard to not hear them; until we figured out what was making the noise, we thought we were in Jurassic Park. Class went as usual.
Day six. Our last full day in the homestays, and our last day in class at this language school. In the morning, we drove up the road to a farm outside of town, called La Finca Zacharias. It´s a non-profit farm in it´s beginning stages, and has long term goals of lumber production and providing needed jobs to the folks in town. For class, we all took a fieldtrip together into the next town and met a woman who runs an association of women who hold an interest in alternative remedies. They also make a range of herbal soaps, for which they have recently made a production contract with Sephora in a line called Mayan Mystique, though I understand that the line will not be on the shelves for a couple years.
Day seven, we made a day trip the fantastic Mayan ruins of Tikal, which are heartstoppingly beautiful. The views afforded from climbing up the steep monuments and temples is well worth the scary climb up. George Lucas thought so, too, the Ewok village was actually filmed in Tikal, and you can recognize one of the scenes from the top of a temple.
We made camp for the night at another set of ruins, where Patito was unfortunately lost, presumabely eaten by a jaguar. We later climbed up to the top of a ceremonial temple, and watched the sun set, before heading back to eat canned beans over a bonfire.
We pilled back to San Andres in the morning, to get the rest of our stuff, and begin our drive to Coban.
Tim for the CAM Carpe Diem Spring 2009 group.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sticks, Ducks, and Reggaeton
Hello from San Andres!
I am proud to introduce to you all the ninth member of our group: Patito the duck (pato being the Spanish word for duck). To recap, after we left Finca Ixobel we were assigned to our first homestay families. We were warmly welcomed into the community, and to ease the transition we stayed with another group member. We also ate our meals together as a group, which made for some interesting conversations ranging from enlightenment to condiments (and often including our various bowel movements). In the mornings we went to the school. Our mission was to help the second through fifth grades plant trees around the school yard. After the tree planting was done for the day we played with the kids at their endless recess block. Our energy levl was hardly a match for a school of 500 plus kids, but we learned names, played futbol, jumped rope, chased, played monster, and accepted flowers until lunch. After lunch we often went back to the laguna at the Finca for a swim or nap, made use of our familys´ cold outdoor showers (when the water was on), and helped the families cook dinner. We could also venture into Poptun with a quick tuk tuk ride to get on the internet or pick up various things at the market. One evening was dedicated to a sewing lesson conducted by Nick´s host mom, Esperanza. We went into Poptun to pick up some fabric, and then ended up mostly watching Esperanza sew a whole outfit with lightening speed on a non-electric sewing machine. Another afternoon part of the group ventured to a nearby cave that had us crawling on our stomachs and barely fitting through crevasses. Many group members have gotten the hang of making tortillas in the past week, and we all took part in a cookie baking extravaganza to give cookies to all our host families in thanks for being so generous. Luckily we have a few culinary experts among us.
The story of Patito begins with Rachel and Jessica´s homestay family, which had an orphaned duckling that Rachel immediately fell in love with. At school one day she jokingly mentioned how awesome it would be to adopt Patito and travel with him, which got Nick and Amanda talking. We had a group meeting and dreams turned into reality as the family wholeheartedly supported it. Next thing we know we´re in Poptun talking to people about how to best transport a duck and learning everything we can about their diet and habits. Rachel made up a traveling box and got his things (food and water) ready to go. We were sad to see the week come to an end as we all had bonded with our families and the community. We played one last game of futbol with the school teachers (pulling out the first win for team CAM and solidifying our new game plan), said our goodbyes, and set out on a bus to Flores and then a boat to San Andres. San Andres is right on a beautiful lake and we will have language classes and our second homestays here. The adventures of Patito have begun, and so far we have learned that traveling with a duck is hardly worthy of a doubletake in Guatemala. You will hear more from our group soon, thanks for tuning in.
Adios,
Hannah
on behalf of CAM 2009
I am proud to introduce to you all the ninth member of our group: Patito the duck (pato being the Spanish word for duck). To recap, after we left Finca Ixobel we were assigned to our first homestay families. We were warmly welcomed into the community, and to ease the transition we stayed with another group member. We also ate our meals together as a group, which made for some interesting conversations ranging from enlightenment to condiments (and often including our various bowel movements). In the mornings we went to the school. Our mission was to help the second through fifth grades plant trees around the school yard. After the tree planting was done for the day we played with the kids at their endless recess block. Our energy levl was hardly a match for a school of 500 plus kids, but we learned names, played futbol, jumped rope, chased, played monster, and accepted flowers until lunch. After lunch we often went back to the laguna at the Finca for a swim or nap, made use of our familys´ cold outdoor showers (when the water was on), and helped the families cook dinner. We could also venture into Poptun with a quick tuk tuk ride to get on the internet or pick up various things at the market. One evening was dedicated to a sewing lesson conducted by Nick´s host mom, Esperanza. We went into Poptun to pick up some fabric, and then ended up mostly watching Esperanza sew a whole outfit with lightening speed on a non-electric sewing machine. Another afternoon part of the group ventured to a nearby cave that had us crawling on our stomachs and barely fitting through crevasses. Many group members have gotten the hang of making tortillas in the past week, and we all took part in a cookie baking extravaganza to give cookies to all our host families in thanks for being so generous. Luckily we have a few culinary experts among us.
The story of Patito begins with Rachel and Jessica´s homestay family, which had an orphaned duckling that Rachel immediately fell in love with. At school one day she jokingly mentioned how awesome it would be to adopt Patito and travel with him, which got Nick and Amanda talking. We had a group meeting and dreams turned into reality as the family wholeheartedly supported it. Next thing we know we´re in Poptun talking to people about how to best transport a duck and learning everything we can about their diet and habits. Rachel made up a traveling box and got his things (food and water) ready to go. We were sad to see the week come to an end as we all had bonded with our families and the community. We played one last game of futbol with the school teachers (pulling out the first win for team CAM and solidifying our new game plan), said our goodbyes, and set out on a bus to Flores and then a boat to San Andres. San Andres is right on a beautiful lake and we will have language classes and our second homestays here. The adventures of Patito have begun, and so far we have learned that traveling with a duck is hardly worthy of a doubletake in Guatemala. You will hear more from our group soon, thanks for tuning in.
Adios,
Hannah
on behalf of CAM 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Here and having a blast!
Hello friend and family and welcome to our blog!
It all began in the San Francisco airport. One by one we found our way to the TACA counter of the international terminal where Nick and Amanda (our incredible, fearless leaders) told us to meet. Once we'd all arrived we said goodbye to Ethan and a few parents who came for the send off, and made our way to the gate to begin our journey to Finca Ixobel, in Poptun, Guatemala. After a long flight from SFO to San Salvador and a quick hop to Guatamala City, we got in a van for a six hour ride for our first stop. It actually turned out to be a good thing that we had such a long ride because Tim had been waiting for the right time for us to play two truths and a lie since the group first got together in the airport. The ride gave us our first glimpse at Guatamala, as we cruised thorugh. We finally got to Finca Ixobel in the dark and just in time for dinner. The food here is amazing, it's almost a shame to get so spoiled at the beginning of our trip.
The next day the real excitement began. First we were able to fully appreciate the beauty and magnificance of this place we are staying at. There are the most vibrant colors surrounding us in our first warm home away from home. After some group building activities which ranged from sharing our fears and expectation to trying to guess (while blindfolded), which of our peers could make an absurdly accurate pigeon noise, we set off to conquer what is known as "the pyramid" on the land here. The pyramid is a mountain that has a trail going more or less striaght up with some rocks and trees to grab on to periodically. It might also be worth mentioning that the mountains here are more or less Hershey's kisses shaped scattered throughout the land. So we took off and made our way to the top, everyone intact and thrilled to find such a remarkable view of the land. As we started to go back Nick mentioned a small trail he noticed going down the opposite side of the mountain and we agreed to try it. Well, by the time the trail ended we had slid down far too much loose dirt to even consider going back up, so we kept on going. I think we were all proud of ourselves for that trek. We finally found the path again and made a smooth return.
Today was awesome. We all woke up to the sound of rain pouring down on the roof, but knew that we had a long day of hiking and caving ahead of us, and got ready to go regardless. As we set out on the two hour hike to get to the cave we all tip-toed around mud puddles and particularly went looking footings. One by one we misjudged a step or slipped and found ourselves ankle or more deep in mud. Within about thirty minutes of our departure, we had all given up on the idea of being clean or dry and we just went for it. The hike was great, even in the rain. When we reached the cave, we took a moment to rest before journeying on despite the fear, cold, and discomfort some of us felt. It couldn't have been more that ten feet into the cave that you had to swim for the first time. The cave was beautiful, but it was easy to get caught up in your next step and forget to look around. When we reached the waterfall where you could jump off into a deep area some of us were certain we were going to do it, some not sure, and some certain that they weren't going to do it. I am so proud to say that every one of us managed to build up the courage to jump from the waterfall and I am certain that nobody regrets it. I am so thankful and proud to have this group.
After we got out fill and a few of us made the terrifying decision to swim through a tunnel in the cave into another cave, we swam crawled and climbed our way back to the opening. We saw amazing sunshine peeking in through the end of the tunnel and were all relieved to reach the end. When we got out we hurried to get dry and warm, but more importantly to eat our lunches. Then we started our trek home. The path was slightly less muddy, but none of us cared in the slightest about getting muddy or wet at that point. It was a one step at a time mission to get back. Some of us sought the shower while other kept going to eventually reach the little laguna at the Finca. Everyone was very tired by the time we made it back. All in all, it was an amazing experience.
With dinner and a few hours of rest we met up to talk as a group and Amanda let each of us pick a card that depicted a Mayan god that we would try to draw connections to. After each of us picked and card and drew connections we had two left. We flipped the first one for Ethan, the Sun God. We found this appropriate because like the Mayans valued the sun god for making everything possible, we value Ethan for making everything possible for us. Thanks Ethan, we love you. Then we decided to flip the last card for Nannette and Amy, the Hero Twins. The Hero Twins were a major player in the creation story and are known for outwitting problems. It was a trip
Yesterday was Jessica's birthday and despite being very sore, we went on a two hour horseback ride through mountains and countryside. It was beautiful, but OUCH. It was awesome. In the afternoon we had our first scavenger hunt in town. The mission: a roll and toilet paper and a gift for the host families that we are going to today. I think we all had a good time and Nick finally got some street meat (tacos). We had a super delicious cake for Jessica's birthday.
Hasta pronto,
Raquel
It all began in the San Francisco airport. One by one we found our way to the TACA counter of the international terminal where Nick and Amanda (our incredible, fearless leaders) told us to meet. Once we'd all arrived we said goodbye to Ethan and a few parents who came for the send off, and made our way to the gate to begin our journey to Finca Ixobel, in Poptun, Guatemala. After a long flight from SFO to San Salvador and a quick hop to Guatamala City, we got in a van for a six hour ride for our first stop. It actually turned out to be a good thing that we had such a long ride because Tim had been waiting for the right time for us to play two truths and a lie since the group first got together in the airport. The ride gave us our first glimpse at Guatamala, as we cruised thorugh. We finally got to Finca Ixobel in the dark and just in time for dinner. The food here is amazing, it's almost a shame to get so spoiled at the beginning of our trip.
The next day the real excitement began. First we were able to fully appreciate the beauty and magnificance of this place we are staying at. There are the most vibrant colors surrounding us in our first warm home away from home. After some group building activities which ranged from sharing our fears and expectation to trying to guess (while blindfolded), which of our peers could make an absurdly accurate pigeon noise, we set off to conquer what is known as "the pyramid" on the land here. The pyramid is a mountain that has a trail going more or less striaght up with some rocks and trees to grab on to periodically. It might also be worth mentioning that the mountains here are more or less Hershey's kisses shaped scattered throughout the land. So we took off and made our way to the top, everyone intact and thrilled to find such a remarkable view of the land. As we started to go back Nick mentioned a small trail he noticed going down the opposite side of the mountain and we agreed to try it. Well, by the time the trail ended we had slid down far too much loose dirt to even consider going back up, so we kept on going. I think we were all proud of ourselves for that trek. We finally found the path again and made a smooth return.
Today was awesome. We all woke up to the sound of rain pouring down on the roof, but knew that we had a long day of hiking and caving ahead of us, and got ready to go regardless. As we set out on the two hour hike to get to the cave we all tip-toed around mud puddles and particularly went looking footings. One by one we misjudged a step or slipped and found ourselves ankle or more deep in mud. Within about thirty minutes of our departure, we had all given up on the idea of being clean or dry and we just went for it. The hike was great, even in the rain. When we reached the cave, we took a moment to rest before journeying on despite the fear, cold, and discomfort some of us felt. It couldn't have been more that ten feet into the cave that you had to swim for the first time. The cave was beautiful, but it was easy to get caught up in your next step and forget to look around. When we reached the waterfall where you could jump off into a deep area some of us were certain we were going to do it, some not sure, and some certain that they weren't going to do it. I am so proud to say that every one of us managed to build up the courage to jump from the waterfall and I am certain that nobody regrets it. I am so thankful and proud to have this group.
After we got out fill and a few of us made the terrifying decision to swim through a tunnel in the cave into another cave, we swam crawled and climbed our way back to the opening. We saw amazing sunshine peeking in through the end of the tunnel and were all relieved to reach the end. When we got out we hurried to get dry and warm, but more importantly to eat our lunches. Then we started our trek home. The path was slightly less muddy, but none of us cared in the slightest about getting muddy or wet at that point. It was a one step at a time mission to get back. Some of us sought the shower while other kept going to eventually reach the little laguna at the Finca. Everyone was very tired by the time we made it back. All in all, it was an amazing experience.
With dinner and a few hours of rest we met up to talk as a group and Amanda let each of us pick a card that depicted a Mayan god that we would try to draw connections to. After each of us picked and card and drew connections we had two left. We flipped the first one for Ethan, the Sun God. We found this appropriate because like the Mayans valued the sun god for making everything possible, we value Ethan for making everything possible for us. Thanks Ethan, we love you. Then we decided to flip the last card for Nannette and Amy, the Hero Twins. The Hero Twins were a major player in the creation story and are known for outwitting problems. It was a trip
Yesterday was Jessica's birthday and despite being very sore, we went on a two hour horseback ride through mountains and countryside. It was beautiful, but OUCH. It was awesome. In the afternoon we had our first scavenger hunt in town. The mission: a roll and toilet paper and a gift for the host families that we are going to today. I think we all had a good time and Nick finally got some street meat (tacos). We had a super delicious cake for Jessica's birthday.
Hasta pronto,
Raquel
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Hasta Luego!!!
It's official! The Central America group is together, and Nick and Amanda have confirmed that all are accounted for! Sit down and hold on, because our next stop is Guatemala!
From here on out, the group will be sending all of you love and updates from this blog site, so check back and follow them through their travels. (You might want to give them a good 24-36 hours, though. Long travel times and jet lag can turn minutes to hours!)
From Carpe Diem HQ, this is Amy and Nannette saying Buenas noches!
From here on out, the group will be sending all of you love and updates from this blog site, so check back and follow them through their travels. (You might want to give them a good 24-36 hours, though. Long travel times and jet lag can turn minutes to hours!)
From Carpe Diem HQ, this is Amy and Nannette saying Buenas noches!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
pre-launch
Saludos amigos,
The countdown is on, and we (Nick & Amanda) are brimming over with excitement for the upcoming adventure. The itinerary has been fine-tuned and is chalk full of opportunities to learn, serve and explore... with the eight of us experiencing all of this together, we will deepen into Central America in a way unique to any other method of travel.
Over the next three months, a weekly update of this blog will serve as a bulletin for all of our friends and family to share in our journey. Spread the word and enjoy the ride!
Hasta la proxima,
Nick & Amanda
The countdown is on, and we (Nick & Amanda) are brimming over with excitement for the upcoming adventure. The itinerary has been fine-tuned and is chalk full of opportunities to learn, serve and explore... with the eight of us experiencing all of this together, we will deepen into Central America in a way unique to any other method of travel.
Over the next three months, a weekly update of this blog will serve as a bulletin for all of our friends and family to share in our journey. Spread the word and enjoy the ride!
Hasta la proxima,
Nick & Amanda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)