first day went from L.A. to tucson AZ where i stayed at my the house of my friends greg and his familyhttp://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4433/yo011pb6.jpg next day went south across border at nogales, eventually encountering the immigration-aduana http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5030/yo014yl3.jpg where a six month visa can be obtained for 30 dollars and a six month vehice permit will set you back 39 dollars heading south on mexico´s toll roads, there were frequent toll booths http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/5158/yo018fx1.jpg where tolls so far have [View Full Entry]

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Lake Atitlan and San Marcos Hannh and I got away for the weekend. It took about 2 hours to get to the lake. What a beautiful place! When I got into my room ($6/night with a shared bath; the most expensive place is around $40/night), I noticed the light didn´t work. When I looked at the ceiling light, there was no light bulb. So, down to the desk I went to ask for a light bulb. Keep in mind that very few people here speak English, and, of course, neither did the woman at the desk. I told her there was [View Full Entry]

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So I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the drug use, ex-pats, evangelists, and hippies in San Pedro. We had heard of the reputation San Pedro had for drug use and ex-pats before we came here, but we still came because class was only $60 a week and the city as famed for its beauty. We have not been let down. Class is only $60 a week and the city is beautiful. Our first day we were enjoying the view from our balcony when a girl walked by and asked me if I wanted to smoke a joint [View Full Entry]

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So after class today Anne, Laura, and I went to lunch. We ate very close to the place we had breakfast, which is close to the place we had dinner the day before, lunch, breakfast, and dinner two days ago. Yes there are many restaurants which sit out on Lago de Atitlan and offer a great view of the water and the surrounding mountains. And believe it or not, friends, I started to get the urge to play—climb a mountain, kayak across the lake, go for a swim, or go for a bike ride. Well, I am still suffering from problems [View Full Entry]

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Hola Amigos, So my first day of class in San Pedro proved to be interesting. I met my teacher (Elmer) and we headed to our shack. After talking for awhile he asked me, “quires caminar?” I said “Si” and we went for a walk. We headed through the gardens. The school is outside and is in the center of a giant garden divided into many parts. Each section of the garden is owned and maintained by a different person or family. We climbed a small hill and Elmer explained that the hill we were standing on used to be an island [View Full Entry]

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So my plan of staying in Xela for two weeks before traveling was thwarted by my friend Laura and my new friend Anne. They had the idea that we should go study at a school in San Pedro. For those of you who are not familiar with San Pedro, let me describe it for you. San Pedro, as Anne put it, is an oxy moron. It is a small town of about 10,000 which sits in the mountains on the edge of Lake Atitlan. I believe Lake Atitlan is the largest lake in Guatemala, and the beauty of the mountains rising [View Full Entry]

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We found another one of Guatemalas not so secret treasures, Lago Atitlan. As we arrived in our minívan we came over the hill to look down upon a large beautiful lake surrounded by volcanoes and much vegetation. Panajachel is the largest town around the lake and this is where we were dropped off. Although this was nice enough we had read about another place called San Marcos, a town on the other side of the lake where we had decided to base ourselves. We soon discovered there were 3 prices on boats around here and because we were neither locals nor [View Full Entry]

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After spending every hour of every day with the other volunteers here we end up being almost like a family. So when some of the longer term ones leave its a bit tough, not only because we end up doing more work until new volunteers come, but because we really miss them around the house. This month six of those special people have left us, Miguel & Lara the couple from Madrid, their good friend Pilar, Ana, another Madrider, Maria from Andalucia, and one of the longest term volunteers, Quique from Galicia. The three Madrileños left because their time was up [View Full Entry]

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The weather wasn´t that good that day in atitlan but I had a pretty good time although the pics don´t look too good...oh. well! [View Full Entry]

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After a month of being stationary, the restless urge to hit the road stirred heavily in my body and mind. We said good bye to our friends and families, packed our belongings in the truck and left our temporary home, but not before picking up an additional traveler to toss in the back seat. Her name is Terra and she's from Wisconsin. She asked if she could tag along with us for a few weeks, hitching a ride to Nicaragua. We were surprised that even after we told her that we sleep in the dirt and rarely shower that she was [View Full Entry]

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