(Tuesday) There was a special request for a final blog... Tuesday brought another 5 A.M. wake up for Amy and I. (One would think that with all the early mornings, I would start to get use to them. However with each one I only got grumpier and grumpier! As much as I try, I don't think I'll ever be a morning person). Our next adventure led us south to the Central Pacific for the pristine villiage of Manuel Antonio. In order to not waste an entire day traveling we decided to take the shuttle plane service, Sansa, to our next destination: [View Full Entry]

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Sunday morning finally brought a respectable wake up time. A delicate and fresh breakfast awaited us in the villa restaurant. Noel, the local tour guide, picked us up for our ten hour excursion to Buena Vista (tourist trap) in the heart of Guanacaste. The first stretch of the tour consisted of a vigorous trot on horseback with an eighteen year old cowboy professional, Oscar. As we headed to the rainforest, I quickly learned that my horse had a mind of it's own and preferred leadership rather than following Oscar's instructions. This led to shrills of "Ay Senor" as I tried to [View Full Entry]

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Pura Vida! Friday was another extremely early morning- 5 A.M to be exact. Luckly for me Liz's generous cousin didn't need too much persuading to drive me to the airport. I'm grateful for his kindness; the thought of using public transportation in El Salvador alone is terrifying. The pit in my stomach disappeared after he volunteered. I arrived at the airport at 6 A.M. Quickly, I checked my bag and headed through security and immigration. Lucky for me, it was essential for my pack to be searched. There they found a small cosmetic scissor, my inhaler, and epipen; all forbidden items. [View Full Entry]

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Monday, Liz provided Jason and me with a tour of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador. After our go round, we quickly came back to pack up necessities (summer reads, Ipod, and sunscreen) for the beach. I was extremely eager to spend the day relaxing. I swear I could hear a hammock on the beach calling my name. Our days here in El Salvador have been so jammed with activities, that a tranquil afternoon by the ocean was much needed by our trio. Luckily, for us Liz’s mother volunteered her friend to drive us. (If it weren’t for her kindness (and [View Full Entry]

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Saturday Finally, Saturday was the day to get a late start. Caesar, our tour guide, picked us up for a ‘ruins and volcanoes’ tour. He was a very knowledgeable and friendly local who was very helpful in describing each site. First stop, we visited the Pompeii-style Mayan ruins of ‘Joya de Ceren’, which was buried under lava and ash after a volcanic eruption in 595 A.D. We continued our trek towards Cerro Verde about an hour away (uphill, both ways, winding roads). This road trip made me queasy and brought back nightmares of my trip to Pai. On the way up, [View Full Entry]

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Another early day… (5 a.m. to be exact) For some reason our trip to Guatemala was scheduled the day after our arrival to El Salvador. I think Liz likes pretending she’s a drill sergeant. During the course of the first 36 hours of our trip, Jason and I departed Tampa, caught a connecting flight in Atlanta, flew to San Salvador, rode a bus 4 ½ hours to Guatemala City, and rode an additional hour to Antigua; five locations and three countries in a day and a half…not too bad. We boarded a double-decker shuttle bus that put U.S. travel to shame. [View Full Entry]

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My Tia made a special request for more photos. I'm taking advantage of the speedy Internet during the first half of my trip. So Enjoy! Love, Christina P.S. Bella your soup is much better! [View Full Entry]

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After two hours of sleep, a four A.M. wake-up call, and an almost near death experience with a sub division gate, my cousin Jason and I boarded the plane to Atlanta. We endured the misery of listening to a baby scream bloody murder for the duration of the flight. Even the tunes of Michael Jackson could not muffle the obnoxious antics of that child. Our flight to El Salvador was delayed for two hours due to mechanical problems. Finally, after eleven total hours of travel we arrived in San Salvador. We were greeted by a tall Salvadoran chick and her posse [View Full Entry]

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So here it is my last blog and to tell you the truth I am extremely excited about that. As you all can see, I am not the most eloquent writer. Writing does not come naturally, I fumble with words and I never seem to really paint the picture of what I am feeling and seeing. I am thrilled that I don't have to publish another blog until next summer. By that time, I hope to have graduated from Ms. Bonanno's (Columbia graduate) School of Lucy Calkins, with a degree in Writers Workshop! My third graders and I will learn together. [View Full Entry]

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Hey Doll- Did you pick up on the symbolism of the Title? I did that one for you! My goal for this trip was to experience everything Thailand had to offer and I find that as this trip is coming to an end I feel like I have been completely successful in accomplishing just that! From elephant trekking, moped riding, tribal villiage visits, swimming in turquoise ocean water, riding in a tuk tuk (and all the various forms of transportation for that matter- some completely unexpected and tremendously dangerous,) going to temples and palaces, bargaining at street markets, watching beautiful sunset [View Full Entry]

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