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Published: June 30th 2006
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Hello again everyone! It was good to hear from a lot of you after my last posting. As for the question some had of my health, well, I must say I feel great. The cold is slowly wearing off, but there is still an abnormal amount of mucus present. I also wanted to note that all of the detailed bits of information, such as people's names, prices, distances, etc., are mainly for my future benefit, so bare with me. With that said, let's continue.
After a week of living lake side, I finally decided to take on the volcano that looms over the town of San Pedro in order to capture a different view of my surroundings. Volcan San Pedro reaches to an elevation of 3,020m (meters not feet), for all of my American amigos that is roughly 9,900 ft.. The hike itself is 3,998m (2.3 miles) from the town center to the top of the volcano, and takes about three hours to reach the peak. Now, that does not sound far, but you must remember that the entire hike is straight up with an elevation change of about 2000 ft. In just the last year or so, the price
Our Fearless Guide Pedro
Note the Jelly hiking sandals he is sporting! to hike the volcano has jumped from around 32 Q (with a guide) to a set price of 100 Q (with or w/out a guide) for all tourists. This change was issued because of the heightened security placed on the trail of the volcano (I didn’t see it, but I’m sure it was there), due to past robberies by banditos. So, I hired a guide from Big Foot Excursions, which is located directly below my house. The hike kicked off at 6am with all parties bringing their own food and drink. The group included a Danish couple (Anders and Maria) and our fearless guide Pedro. Pedro was a 63 year old man that wielded a machete, wore jelly sandals and carried a sling shot w/ marbles to ward off any puma or leopards (not kidding). I thought about trying to market these jelly hiking sandals back in the states for expedition purposes and use Pedro as my spokes model, but then I came to my senses. This old man was a hiking machine. He wore me plum out trying to stay with him and he never even broke a sweat or got out of breath once. The hike was tough
but definitely worth every minute of it. The views from the top were breathtaking. We had a panoramic view of the lake, the towns, and the surrounding volcanoes right in front of us. The pictures attached can’t capture exactly what we were seeing, but they give you an idea. I joked with Pedro, asking him “where was all of the lava.” I think he thought I was serious as he replied “No Activo, No Activo!” The hike back down was quick but a little rough on the knees. The Danish couple was very nice and interesting to talk with. I had an in depth discussion with Maria about worldly events as we descended the volcano. I sure got an ear full of what she thought about George W. and our countries politics...love it!
That same day following the hike, I hand washed all of my clothes on the families stone wash board. I can't tell if I really cleaned the clothes or if I just simply scratched them all to bits on the stone. I think I will just let them soak next time. While I hung the clothes out to dry on the roof of the house, I
showed Juan (the Dad) some red bumps that had recently appeared on my arms and lower back. I thought maybe it was from a poisonous plant, but Juan believes that they are bug bites. The word for bug in Spanish is
el bicho, which is a well deserved name. Juan scurried over and pulled a lime from the tree in his backyard, cut it, and then proceeded to squeeze the juice onto my arms. I don't know if it worked but I sure did smell good.
Later that night, I ran into a couple of guys I met at the local gym (Yes, there is a gym in San Pedro). We watched a movie (Old School) at a local bar (D´Noz) that shows daily movies on a big screen, while you enjoy dinner and drinks. After the movie, we headed over to The Freedom Bar just down the road. One of the guys was from Australia and the other from Ireland (Ole Danny Boy). Danny met up with a girl he'd recently become acquainted with from Norway. It just so happened to be a girl (Oddveig - silent g) I had talked with at the Iguana Perdida party last
Almost Home
My Danish friends making their way back down through the field of coffee plants and advocado trees. Saturday. So we all hung out and listened to a live Latino Folk band play.
On Sundays, your homestay family does not provide meals, so I used this as a chance to try out some of the different restaurants in the town. For breakfast, I tried the yogurt, honey, and granola covered pancakes at Nick’s Place (Delicious!). The atmosphere there is very laid back and relaxing with a terrace that sits lakeside for an excellent view, cool breeze, and the company of little birds flying all around. I spotted Oddveig passing by, so I gave her a shout and she joined me for breakfast. Oddveig is a 21 year old who has been traveling solo in Central America for a while now, spending 3 months in Nicaragua studying Foreign Politics. She jotted down a little list of all of the places that I needed to visit in Nicaragua, which was great. As we talked, I noticed that she had the same red bumps on her arms as I did. She informed me that they were bed bugs and that I would have to thoroughly soak all of my clothes in soapy water and not sleep on that mattress anymore
(Great!!!). I guess I will just have to live with the “
bichos” for one more week and then go through full decontamination.
For Lunch, I headed over near the thermal pools to try out a restaurant called El Puesto. The atmosphere was great with reggae music, grass huts, a garden setting, with some of the tables standing just two feet from the ground. The food was decent, but the wait was way too long. After my meal, I headed back to the house where I ran into Oddveig again. We decided to meet for dinner and try out a restaurant called The White Buddha, which was said to have an excellent dinner. Back at the house, Juan and I watched a soccer match between Guatemala and the USA. We both cheered against each other, but in the end the U.S. was victorious 4 - 0 (Oh Yeah!).
Dinner with Oddveigat at the White Buddha was interesting. The food was the best I've had since being in Guatemala. The restaurant had various Thai and Indian curry dishes (I had the Thai Chicken Curry-Buenisimo!). Oddveig has traveled all over the world from Thailand to Egypt, and is quite knowledgeable. Her
political studies and extremely liberal views turned into quite a heated discussion. I knew that the world wasn't happy with the U.S. at the moment, but I never imagined that it was this bad. I guess everyone outside of the U.S. has forgotten about all of the good we do around the globe and that every move by one's government is not a true reflection of what each individual believes...whatever, I'm tired of talking politics with people...I'm steeing clear from here on out. Oddveig heads out of San Pedro tomorrow and then soon back to Norway to spend Easter with her family.
I guess I had better wrap this entry up, because I am falling behind on keeping my journals up to date. It is mainly because an Aussie just moved into the house that I am living in and he just turned 21 on Monday, his buddy moved in two doors down, and we just met a couple from Switzerland, a girl from Germany, and two Swedish girls (let me just pause and say Wow!). So, I will try to catch up on the next entry...Adios!
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Darren
non-member comment
Hola!
Jeremy- I thought you were suppost to be learning Spanish! Not fraternizing with all the gringos! Have fun... Darren