http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/pandora/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from pandora en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:22:53 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:22:53 +0000 I am now back in New Mexico. I came back a little earlier than planned for several reasons Aug 4 rather than Aug 12. I am currently enduring the culture shock of being back in the United States.To summarize I had a fabulous time in Nicaragua. Sorry there weren't more postings while I was there but I was pretty busy and the internet isn't incredibly fast there so uploading pictures cou http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-80425.html I am now alone in Nica. Sort of. My classmates left early yesterday morning. One of my professors Ken and the founderownerdirector of Casa Xalteva is still here. In fact I walked around with him this morning. We met with one of his friends who is doing some grassroots organizing. She is organizing marches demanding public services.... They are demanding better water and electric mana http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-77786.html I have begun to learn some of the eccentricities sp of Nica spanish. Chele and Chela is the same as Gringo and Gringa. Instead of saying De Nada for your welcome people say A La Orden or Suya. Also these crazy Nicas drop ss. I am understanding more and more even if my ability to speak still sucks. ANYWAYJust got back from Esteli. We were in Ocotal and Condega yesterday which was pret http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-76553.html The internet is crap in Esteli. I have already wasted 18 minutes on a shitty connection. So this will be brief. Esteli is in the northern part of Nica. There were a lot of sandanistas here compared to Granada. Granada is more conservative in our terminology liberal in theirs its complicated. Esteli is poorer and definately not as hip. But it is very interesting. The streets are lined http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/blog-75779.html I forgot that the stuff I am taking for malaria makes you more sensitive to the sun and I am already pretty sensitive. So I am burnt We spent most of yesterday at Laguna del Apoyo which was amazing. There will be pictures to follow. We saw more monkeys but a different kind. And they were loud and scary. The water was pretty clear and salty. In contrast to the last few days today will http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-74887.html My compaera and I cant get into our housebecause we apparently are too dumb to figure out how to unlock the door. Just got back from Mombacho The cloud forest was so cool We did a walking tour some other members of the group did a canopy tour which I would also love to do but it was 30. It was all cloudy and foggy and a bit chillyer. The volcano is only at 4000 feet or so. The tou http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-74492.html I am here I dont have any pictures to post right now cause i left my camera in la casa pero todo es bien. Everything is great so far. Granada seems much safer than places I traveled in Honduras. It is a cute colonial town. Not too big either only 180000 people here. My day in a nutshell did a walking tour of the town down to Lago Nicaragua got in a truck and drove to a boat dock ar http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-74212.html Wow.I am back in Albuquerque New Mexico. I arrived back in the states one week ago today. And I got back to Albuquerque last Sunday. I'm still kind of in shock to be back. People had mentioned this to me... That there might be some culture shock upon returningI didn't really think about it or believe that it would occur. But it is.So I realized that I never fully explained what I was doin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Albuquerque/blog-15026.html Things I love about Copan1. The people are amazingly friendly and helpful. I cant believe how just absolutely sweet people have been to me. My host family especially. The mom cooks with soy milk for me and always is offering me cakes or sweets or pinol and asking me how I feel. There is a young woman who lives next door who has adopted me as her friend and always talks with me no matter how http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-13968.html Hey Everyone.Sooo I have ten more days in Honduras. I cant believe how fast it has gone by. I just have a few minutes for a quick update. Things are good. Spanish classes at Guacamaya have been good.. Met some girls who might be going to Tela the beach on Sunday. They have asked me if i want to accompany them... And I cant decide. Because I have already paid for staying at my house until http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-13327.html Last Friday on my way to my last class at the Copan Spanish School I stopped by the castle. It is this decrepid old building that kinda looks like a castle. Apparently it is the only piece of architecture that is considered colonial. But it is falling apart and not taken care of at all. Its pretty nasty. I wonder if there are some squatters living there...Last Sunday I ventured up to the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-12808.html Before I begin rambling about my life here in Copan I want to mention my family. While in Copan I have gotten an email that said my grandmother died one that said my other grandmother had a stroke and now one that says my cousins aggressive cancer has returned. This has all been pretty difficult to deal with through email. For those of you who do so it would be appreciated if you said a l http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-12462.html This past week has been intense. Last Friday we left for our trip to the coast. We drove to a tiny town if you can really call it that west of Tela called San Juan. We went to a desolate restaraunt on the beach. The beach was empty of people and absolutely beautiful. I have never seen such a beautiful beach. The water was crystal clear aqua blue calm waves and very warm. I had shrimp a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-11884.html After updating my travelblog last Sunday I went with mis compaeros Bob and Rosa to the hotel outside of Copan RuinasLa Posada Realand bought a coke and used their swimming pool Lotsa bugs. But it was a very nice looking hotel. And we got to swim It was awesome. We took a mototaxi to the hotel... 20 Lempiera each. After about 3 or 4 hours of swimming and lounging we left. We start http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-10988.html So I just had my lesson in SAVE OFTEN. Really do it. Cause now I dont have a lot of time remaining and it sucks.Anyway long story short. Yesterday our group went to a few nearby archaeological sites. El Puente and El Pariso. We met up with a group from Yale headed by Marcello Canuto and Ellen Bell from Kenyon College. They are digging at El Pariso but they met us at El Puente and we h http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-10770.html So Im sitting here in the Cyber Cafe and I just heard a car drive by blasting Sweet ChildO Mine. Kinda funny. I have seven minutes remaining so Ill be quick here.Im hot and sweaty. We worked with sculpture today in the ruinas. We had lunch with Tenoch somebody... A Mexican guy who works in conservation and restoration. I didnt understand a thing he said. But my profesora said he was the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-10494.html Ok. I paid for 15 more minutes. So Im gonna try to upload some more pics. Oh and I didnt get to finish typing whats going on. Umm the protest ended and everything is fine. There were helicoptors and officials from Tegucigalpa that came out to try to amend the situation. Today we worked out at the ruins and now I gotta go over to the museum cause we are making new signage for the displa http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-10371.html The last time I tried to use the internet it was really slow and expensive. But we have found an internet cafe that is cheap and fast. But I dont think I can upload pictures. So I will run through day by day real quick. I only have 13 minutes remainingSat arrived in San Pedro Sula. Customs took foreverlike two hours or something. Jennifer rented a van kinda thingie and we all jumped in http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-10369.html I am so allergic to this state. Everywhere I go I smell flowers or grass or something. I used to like that... Now I feel like I've been assaulted by nature. All I've been doing is sneezing and coughing.My flight leaves for Houston at 625 AM tomorrow. Then to San Pedro Sula Honduras at 920 AM. I'm not really excited yet. More like nervous. I hope I don't forget anything that is necessary. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/Raleigh/blog-10087.html Last week when Ben was still in Raleigh with me we were driving after dinner with my friend Lynda. We were near NC State University so I happened to mention the cows with windows. You see NC State has a good vet school and agricultural blah blah farming stuff. When I was a kid we would drive down one of the back roads near the fairgrounds by some property NC State owned and see the cows http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/Raleigh/blog-9935.html