crowman

The property manager for Justin's parents condo invited the 4 of us to head out and explore the Espiritos Santos Islands off of La Paz. The trip was not cheap, costing about $50 USD. However, it was a lot of fun. Heading over, we attracted the attention of a pod of dolphins, which then proceeded to swim along side the boat and playfully jump right next to us. I enjoyed being right next to (6ft away) the airborne mammals. Exploring some caves by boat were also on the itinerary. As we pulled out of the caves, we saw some 'flying rays' and went out to explore. These were really cool. I had no idea that rays could launch themselves out of the water like that. I had always envisioned 'flying' rays to be swimming along at ... read more

Oh, never in my travels has a day started so normally and ended with so many 'memorable moments'. Quick run down and then the story. 1. Protests / Riots in Western Guatemala block the roads 2. Justin decides to check out one of the protests, and our bus takes off leaving him there 3. Our bags get stolen 4. I realize that Justin left his passport on the bus, thereby limiting my options to go tho the airport without him 5. I wait at the border crossing hoping that Justin can make it in time 6. Justin shows up, we have 45 minutes to cross the border and get to the airport before our flight leaves 7. We get to the airport with 15 minutes before takeoff, but...our airline is grounded. Justin and I left our ... read more

After leaving Guata, our night consisted of bar hopping in Antigua. The family that hosted us after the Expeditors office freak out lives in San Lucas, which is about 15 minutes from Antigua. Mom, Dad, Pamela, Tatiana and their sister live in a very gracious town home (gated community). The Dad usually works as a architect, but with the slowdown of the economy, he is focusing on helping his wife run her catering business. It was great to chat with the family over breakfast (we sat around the table for about two hours). In the afternoon, we drove out to a lookout point over Antigua, checked into our hostel, and then ate dinner at Vino & Queso. Vino is a restaurant with nice ambiance and shit service. Our waiter brought out two of the 3 drinks ... read more

It was a few hour bus ride from San Salvador to Guata (as the locals call it). Toby had recommended we take one of the express buses, and we went with a company that had departures every hour and a half. He had mentioned that the other buses 'Take forever'. For Toby to take the more expensive option, the cheaper one must be really bad. I had heard that Guata was not he safest city in the region, so I booked us into a more expensive lodging option, $18 for the room @ the Hotel Colonial . It had nice ambiance, with nice hard wood floors in our room, and the room had decent amount of square footage as well. With free WIFI and free water, coffee and cookies, I thought it was a good deal. ... read more

On Toby's day off, we took a trip over to the twin volcanoes of Santa Ana . Since his work (ANADES) was taking some supplies over that part of the country, we were able to get a ride to the feeder road. Justin and I rode in the bed of the pickup, which was really nice. When it is summer, riding in the back is better than in the cab with A/C. We caught the bus that goes to the foot of the mountain, and then shortly thereafter some contractors gave us a lift in the bed of a large truck, followed by locals who put the tailgate of their pickup down and gave us a ride up the mountain to the gate of the park. Admission was $1. We walked around for a bit, and ... read more