Rio Dulce 2.24

Josh and I are up early to a beautiful sunny day. Our plan is to get to the hot spring waterfalls that we had heard about so we go to the bar and get some breakfast and then take a boat into town. Town is pretty busy and we have some trouble finding the bus but after a bit we find it and head out of town. The road turns to dirt and there is massive construction on the road going on so we have to maneuver around tractors and heavy equipment. About 30 minutes later we arrive at a little resteraunt in the middle of nowhere and take a path through the jungle. There is a school along the river and a bunch of the kids see us and start running towards us. They all look very poor and are asking for money, I had a feeling if we gave them money the entire school would be all over us so we declined and kept walking.
Get to the end of the path and there is an amazing 30 foot waterfall flowing into a pool with steam coming off the water.

I dident know stuff like this really existed, we climb down the rocks and jump in. The water below the falls is comfortably warm but when you get near the flowing water its almost scolding hot. We tried to swim underneath the waterfall but the hotness of the water was to much to bear. I swim around for a bit until I get bit on the back by a fish. It dident hurt so much as it surprised me and flinched my whole body really hard and tweaked my injured shoulder badly. I heard 2 pops and a grind and then the pain set in. Great I think I had just re-stretched my torn ligaments and reverced a lot of the healing that had taken place in the last month or so.
We decided to go back into town so I could get some pain meds and get a sling because the weight of my arm was causing a lot of pain. We stopped at the restraunt on the way out to get some food and all the road construction workers were there eating as well.

Sit down and everyone is looking at us all crazy. All the girls who worked there were grabbing their friends and peeking through the door at us and laughing and smiling constantly. Not sure what was going on there but we felt a little weird. They only served one meal so we got some soup and ground beef and ate in complete awkwardness as they tried to take pictures of us and continued to laugh.

I had to break this awkwardness so I told one of them to come over and take a picture with me and she seemed very excited. Afterwards we catch the van into town and pick up literally every person on the side of the road. At one point there were 23 people inside of this little van made for 8. People were on the roof and hanging out the doors onto the side and sitting on laps, it was quite funny but I guess this is normal around here. Josh and I cruise around town and find a pharmacy and I get a sling and some random pain meds and then find a carnival down by the river and check it out for a bit. It started to get really windy so we called for our boat back to the swamp hotel and get a ride back for the night.

San Pedro to Rio Dulce 4.23

Josh and I leave San Pedro by shuttle around 9am expecting an 8 hour journey to Rio Dulce which is near the carribean coast of Guatemala near Belize. The first shuttle to Guatemala City took 5 hours and then the bus from there to Rio Dulce took 7 hours so in total we were on the bus for 12 hours which was quite a trip. We did not even really know if we were on the right bus as the sign on the bus said Flores which is near Mexico and no one really gave us a strait answer.
We finally arrive around 10pm and are dropped off in town near a discotech with a lot of stuff going on around us. A guy comes up to us with a flyer from a hostel in the swamps that you have to take a boat to. He says its very nice and there are a lot of young people there. Ok sold. He leads us to the water and radio’s a boat to come pick us up. Hop on the boat and take off full speed into pitch darkness. The driver is using a flash light to see where he is going but it really isn’t doing anything. Josh and I are looking at each other like what the hell are we doing right now. This guy could easily be taking us into the middle of the lake to rob and kill us, isn’t this how a horror movie started?
After about 5 minutes we are approaching the edge of the lake which is covered in thick jungle. The boat is still doing full speed and we are rapidly approaching the end. I honestly thought the driver did not see the shore and we were about to crash. Then out of nowhere a small channel appears in between the trees and brush and we are now racing through a small canal about 8 feet wide ducking under hanging vines and dodging logs in the water. I see a light in the distance and we pull up to a dock next to the hotel which is on stilts in the middle of the swamp. There are a bunch of people hanging out at the bar and we walk up and get a room from the bartender. Our room is a second story cabin on the water with a woven palm leaf roof, no walls and two beds with misquito nets, very cool.

Antigua to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala 4.19

Everyone wakes up at 6am and packs up to meet the shuttle to take us to Lake Atitlan. Katrina and Synee have to get a plane back to Norway that night so they stay at the hostel and we take off to the lake. The terrain changed quite drastically to what looked a lot like Northern California with pine trees and a very dry mountain terrain.
Get into Panachel around 10am and cruise around the towns market and go for a swim in the lake before getting on a water taxi over to San Pedro. The wind had picked up a lot and the water was very choppy. The ride over was literally like taking a shower. Every time the bow hit the waves the whole inside of the boat would get soaked, it was quite funny. I met a guy on the boat who was taking Spanish classes on San Pedro and he showed us to a cheap nice hotel by the dock. $2 for a nice clean room with a view of the lake, nice!

We walk around and check out the town, this place is set up very strange. There is a small

pathway that winds around the town like a maze.

We come out by the lake and I hear someone call my name. Its Josh from the night before. I guess his friends had pulled some shady shit on him that morning so he just packed up and bailed on them without saying anything hoping to find me in San Pedro.

The next few days consisted of chilling at the lake and just cruising around town checking out all the places. One night me and josh went back to our hotel to hang out around midnight and were playing some music on my ipod speakers. Out of nowhere about 8 people show up at the door thinking there was a party going on. Well there is now and we invite them all in.

Guatemala Border to Xela

It was late afternoon by the time we were done with the border crossing, but we were told it was just over an hour to Xela. I decided we could make it.

It's pretty amazing how different Guatemala fells than Mexico. as soon as we crossed the border we started up a grade through very lush green mountains. After we made it up the small hill, the road opened up and straightened out a little, which is where the crazy driving started. If you've ever driven in Mexico, you will agree that it is a bit less civilized than in the US and you have to stay on your toes.

Guatemala is a whole new experiance. The lanes are just a little wider, and that gives everyone just enough room to be passing each other everywhere, all the time. Pretty soon passing on the right shoulder was commonplace and a couple times I found myself on teh left sholder passing a car that was passing a truck in our lane.

About the time we left CA-2 and started heading up into the highlands towards Xela, it started to get dark and cold. I actually had to zip the sleeves back on my jacket for the first time in quite a while.

Once we got to Xela, we checked into Casa Argentina, A huge hostel with offstreet parking for around $6 each. After a quick shower we went out to see what this place had to offer.

The full name of the city is Quetzaltenango, but I can't pronounce that, and everyone calls it Xela (shell-ah) both the locals and travelers alike. Xela is a large colonial city, and one of the largest citys in Guatemala. It is full of colonial archetecture, which I think I enjoy because there isn't a whole lot of it where I'm from in California.

It was our first night in Guatemala, and I was excited to try some Guatemalan street food. Shane wasn't feeling the street food, and convinced me to eat at McDonalds, he was very content. I don't even like McDonalds back home.

Not alot seemed to be going on around the plaza, but we saw lights in the distance and decided to check it out. As we got closer we started to hear the music.

It turns out there was a very big concert going on in the stadium, and had a huge street fair around it. We got some beers and walked around all the crazyness that was going on near the stadium.

Copan to Antigua, Guatemala

The combination of 1 hour of sleep, and the shuttle bus being extremely full made for a pretty brutal trip to Antigua. At one point the bus would not start so we had to push start it, not a good sign. The ride was uneventful besides that. Arrive in Antigua and am instantly reminded of Granada, Nicaragua from my last trip. The buildings are all very colorful and there are lots of old churches and delapatated old structures as well as cobble stone streets. Wander around for a bit until we find a good hostel and check in. Antigua was the old capital of Guatemala which was replaced by Guatemala City. There is a lot of history and things to see here.
The next day was my 25th birthday and we took a horse drawn carriage ride around the city and toured some of the buildings and sights. I wanted to get some champagne for the ride but am glad I didn't as the bumpy cobble stone streets would of made that idea end in disaster. The Scottish girls showed up that night so we had the whole crew back together again and we all went out to a really nice steak house for my birthday dinner. It was by far the best meal Ive had since I was back in the US and was a nice change from rice and beans.
Next night was Katrina’s birthday so everyone went out to MocoLoco (Crazy Monkey) and got some extremely over sized nacho’s and to many jager bombs. I met a guy from Canada named Josh on the way to the restaurant and invited him to join us. He had been traveling Jamaica and Cuba for the last 2 months with some friends from back home and was extremely fed up with them. I asked if he wanted to meet me at Lake Atitlan the next day and then travel up Belize and into Mexico. He seemed very interested but I did not really really expect him to ditch his group.

Roatan to Copan Ruins, Honduras

After many days “ok we are leaving tomorrow” (broke rule #1) I left with the Norwegian’s and Jeff and Shane while Zev stayed on the island because he had a pretty swank situation with a hot Guatemalan girl and was planning to meet back up with me in Belize in a week or 2. We all left at 5am to catch the ferry to the mainland and then get a bus to the Copan Ruins while Shane and Jeff would get their motorcycle’s and meet us there.
The first bus was extremely hot, sticky and cramped but then the 2nd bus for the last 3 hours was cool. We arrived in Copan around 4pm and checked into a very nice hostel, probably the nicest of the trip and it was only 5 dollars. The next day Jeff and Shane left for the Yukatan Peninsula and me and the girls went to check out the Mayan Ruins. I had never seen ruins like these before so it was a new experience for me. The structures were huge and you could get a feel of what it was like to live there a long long time ago. It was amazing how well preserved the ruins were after so many years. There were also tunnels dug under the ruins.
It was extremely hot this day so afterwards we found a pool and chilled there for most of the day. It was just us for the first hour and then a whole family of about 20 Honduras showed up and broke the tranquility. Every one of them was in the pool with all their clothes on and they looked at us like we were weirdos because we were in bathing suits. Not sure if it’s for sun protection or its considered rude or indecent to swim with no shirt or a bikini.We went out that night to “The red frog” cantina and sampled some very strange shots. One was Tequilla and hotsauce and ranch sauce which I was not expecting so it was quite a shock.

We all played beer pong and had a good time kind of forgetting we had to get up at 5am the next morning to get the bus to Antigua Guatemala. Lets just say that morning was not fun.

Keep It Classy Roatan

After Utila we decided that we needed to go back to Roatan and spend some more time there. Its hard to put into words but there is something about the place that sucks you in. Maybe it was the white sand beaches, the blue water, the reef, night life or our new friend Sunny who owned the local cantina and showed us some crazy nights and let me stay at his condo with AC and plasma TV for the rest of the trip. Either way we had way to much fun. The rules of Roatan are simple.

1. Never say im leaving tomorrow.
2. Never say im never drinking again.
3. Never say I love you.

Jeff, Shane and the group of Scottish girls who we met in Puerto Escondido, MX met us on Roatan and stayed the week there. Between us, the Norwegian Girls, The Scottish Girls and the Swedish girls we pretty much took over the entire hostel and had quite the crew. My planned few day stay on Roatan had turned into 3 weeks before I knew it. Sunny's mom was in town and happened to be a acupuncturist and offered to do a session on my shoulder for free. The needles hurt extremely bad when they were pushed into the damaged tissue but afterwards my shoulder felt alot better.

Beanie Man did a concert on the island that was a ton of fun. We were here for Holy Week and on Easter weekend the islands population grew 50x with people from all over Central America flooding the island for the celebrations. There is really to much funny stuff that happened so ill just let the pictures do the talking....