1) Hiking: the bad ass way (moonlight, sunrises, and early morning light) 2) San Salvador: La Capital 1) Hiking: the bad ass way. The Thursday before I left guatemala i went on a midnight hike to climb Volcan Tajamulco, the highest point in Central America at 4220 m (13,845 feet). The key here is Midnight Full Moon hike, which means starting at 12 midnight and hiking by moon light to see sunrise from the peak. We left Xela at 10 pm and started the hike at 12:30 am Friday morning. Our goal was to make it to the summit (of central [View Full Entry]

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Heres my last update from Guatemala. Im in el salvador now, but will tell of that next time: 1) Last weekend in Guatemala: Carnivals, Big dinners, and Soccer Games 2) Kids Day 1) Last weekend in Guatemala: Carnivals, Big Dinners, and Soccer Games Carnivals: A few quick notes here. First, I went on upside down amusement rides that cost $1.25. My first week here included independance day (most cenral american countries celebrate it on the same day). And Xela, my town, is the hub of the celebrations for much of guatemala, so naturally the carnival was in town. And, having worked [View Full Entry]

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For travel journal click here: To view a photo in a larger size please click on it. [View Full Entry]

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A friend e-mailed to let me know that she wasn't automatically receiving my blog updates and would have to start checking manually. Nancy, I don't know if that was a subtle hint, but suffice it to say there wasn't a technical problem... Antigua Antigua is a beautiful and historical city in Guatemala. The streets are cobbled and the sidewalks run along the walls of the homes and businesses. It is amazing to see what lies beyond the walls in the city. Historically, a house would have been an entire square block, but these have since been divided into numerous homes and [View Full Entry]

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Alright peeps....sorry I´ve been none existant but internet access has been limited. So I left belize and went back into guatemala. Did my second border crossing..this one by foot. Took a bus to the Belizean Border...did the imigracion business, walked across a bridge and did the guatemalan imigracion business and then hoped on a shuttle to Las Flores. I ended up being the only person on the shuttle so I sat up front with the driver and practiced my spanish for a good 1.5 hours straight. He was a nice guy at first then he got a little creppy when he [View Full Entry]

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Die Sprachschule ist erstamlas vorbei. War echt ziemlich cool&lehrreich. Am vorletzten Tag in Xela, letzter Sprachschultag, haben wir Graduacion gehabt und haben zu diesen Anlass mit Lukas, einem Schweizer der auch in der Schule war, Kasnocken & Milchreis gemacht. Echt fein!!!!! Am Freitag haben wir dann zum Abschluss nochmals fuer unsere Familie gekocht....Schnitzel mit Petersil-Erdaepfel und Reis. Hab die Augen zugemacht beim Essen und mich gefuehlt wie Daheim.....traumhaftes Gaumenerlebnis ein Schnitzel in Guatemala. Am Abend sind wir dann mit unseren Schulkollegen nochmals weggegangen. Abe [View Full Entry]

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My New Best Friend; or The Sexuality of Loneliness; or Mom & Dad; or Sarita; or Salsa Rosa; or Adventures in San Pedro; or Volcán Santa María and the Mirador So, I have seven ideas for blogs; above are the titles. Some of them, such as “Adventures in San Pedro” “Salsa Rosa” or “Volcán Santa María and the Mirador” would mostly recount activities and events. “The Sexuality of Loneliness,” which will probably never get written, would mostly recount they ways in which I see intercultural relationships manifesting themselves and the consequences of [View Full Entry]

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Tourist hassle From Lanquin I went to a small town Flores. This was the first time I took one of the tourist shuttles. So the busride was less interesting but surely much faster. After six or seven hours we reached the destination. But just before the busdriver stopped at an ATM nearby and said the ATM’s at Flores didn’t work. Kind of strange, especially when I saw later that the ATM’s did work. The guy that stepped in the bus said he was from the same company and wanted to drop us at a hostel and most people followed him. Of [View Full Entry]

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So I took myself off towards the north west of Guatemela to a town called Quetzaltenango - mercifully abbreviated to Xela (pron. Shayla) by the locals - to learn spanish. It´s the second largest town here with a paltry population of 125,000 compared to the 7 million in Guatemala city! I loved Xela; it´s relaxed, not very touristy, has a strong student population and alot of music. The english speakers who go there to learn spanish tend to stay for longer in central America and be on more of a budget than in Antigua. It was kind of comforting to be [View Full Entry]

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We had wanted to meet up with our friends in Belize when we got wind that they were going to be in the Cayes, but unfortunately their plans put them in Placentia instead which would have been another 5 hours past Belize City for us, and would make for some miserable travel with only 1 or 2 days of seeing our friends. So we opted to do our own thing and go down to Rio Dulce instead, which is small town on the river of the same name, and was only 4-5 hour bus ride from Santa Elena. Once there, we [View Full Entry]

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