We have just returned after spending a week on the decently remote Bijagos, the archipelago islands off the coast of Guinea Bissau. We were told by one of our hotels that we were the first Americans they'd seen since 1998. Much traditional village culture still exists there, as it has for hundreds of years...except with a few additions like plastic buckets and oversized American T-shirts under the grass skirts. But they live well there, with a tight community, strong tradition, village elders and chiefs, and lots of good spontaneous singing and drumming. We arrived by pirogue, which is k [View Full Entry]

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So we left Senegal last Thursday morning, right after I posted my last entry. I posted it that morning, though i had actually written it the day before, but the internet connection was down due to a storm. You can barely see through the rain sometimes during the storms it is so heavy, and that particular storm had a lot of lightening strikes and made me a bit more nervous than some of the others. Anyway, so we walked to the area east of town where you can get a car to Sao Domingo in Guinea Bissau. They are a bit [View Full Entry]

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I spent the last week becoming somewhat more accustomed to the lifestyle here …I am now in the south of senegal, arrived this morning in a fancy boat. I had a pillow last night, and the first warm water since i arrived, and it actually came out of a showerhead with decent water pressure. There was also an american toilet on the boat. Everything at the house i was staying at before i got on the boat was done with a bucket of cold water…but i was getting pretty good at doing my laundry and what not that way…two half buckets [View Full Entry]

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I just spent an hour typing a nice entry on this god foraken french keyboard; and when i went to save it it disappeared. So I will do my best to recap. I am living in an area outside dakar with a family in a village/suburb. The are here is mostly cement houses and roads are made all of sand. The only transportation is by foot and horse drawn cart; although mostly the carts are used for hauling sand for construction. The houses have a big cement walls and a gate; inside there is a courtyard area with a water spicket, [View Full Entry]

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I have arrived safely but thoroughly jet lagged in Istanbul. I lay awake most of last night, and then was suprised when I woke up at two in the afternoon. So I had to cut a few things from todays itinerary... I got off the plane yesterday morning at about ten am, got through customs without a problem, and soon discovered my debit card wouldn't work. I had called the bank at least three times before I left to make sure there would be no problem, but alas...so I attempted to call the bank from a pay phone, but for a [View Full Entry]

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Both of these places were interesting and beautiful. We were absolutely thrilled to get some excellent fresh veggies in Panajachel. I've never been so ecstatic about snow peas and broccoli. Pretty touristy, but still worth it. [View Full Entry]

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my teacher this week is also a psychologist and has a medical clinic and pharmacy in the downstairs of her house, so we went to visit yesterday...there were no patients to see, but we stayed a while to make tortillas. this afternoon we took a chickenbus to a neighboring town and then rode in the back of a pickup up the mountain into the cloud forest to soak in some natural hot springs. it was amazingly beautiful with the steam rising over the green, green, green. last weekend we went to visit some undeveloped mayan/olmec ruins down closer to the coast [View Full Entry]

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I have arrived without incident in Quetzaltenango up in the mountains if Guatemala. I am here with my friend Mia from the nurse midwifery program and Carrie, from the geriatric nurse program. We are here attending Casa Xelaju language school for two weeks before travelling during the third. With Casa Xelaju we do five hours a day of one-on-one instruction and they also provide us with a family homestay. The family I am staying with has 7, 10, and 13 year old boys, the parents and then four other students. Usually there are maximum of two students but the school is [View Full Entry]

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