Blogs from Central America Caribbean - page 2072

We crossed the border into Guatemala without incident and were faced with our first collectivo ride to the village of El Remate on Lake Peten Itza. Collectivos are cheap alternatives to buses used by the locals, basically a mini van crammed full of at least 20 people or more where often the doors are left open for maximum capacity. The lake was stunningly surrounded by jungle covered mountains with white horses grazing by the lake's edge giving the place a magical feel. Accomodation is dotted around the lake with the place we had decided to stay being a 2km walk with backpacks in the midday sun. The walk was well worth it though, with the hostel providing one of the nicest dormitories you would ever want to see. Attic style thatched cabanas with a large hole ... read more

wow. all the buildings are pink here. it looks like the energizer bunny threw up everywhere!! We set sail on thursday for Puerto Rico and the journey begins. I started my malaria pills and already the vivid dreams have begun. If you've ever had a dream that seemed so real, multiply it times 100. I've never been afraid to sleep before. Mostly there just dreams filled with anxiety and nausea...hmmm. I wonder why. Could I be a little excited/ nervous? No, not Liz :) Funny enough, i had met a girl named Kerry from Doylestown before I left and we ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. Life is weird and unpredictable. Everything is buzzing with excitement as our ship is sitting in port.. it's not exactly lacking in size, either! Boarding the ... read more

iiBuenos Dias familia, amigas y amigos!! Well, I finally got here and have had a week and a half to look around and see what's up. Saw some service sites, went up north to an all-inclusive resort, didn't get a sunburn. Also, made friends with Creighton kids, they all seem nice, and they all like me a lot. Missing the family and SLU community quite a bit. I keep thinking of things to say to you guys, or jokes only y'all would laugh at, and nope, some don't go over that well down here, particularly the crude jokes. Creighton girls don't think those are funny. I've got almost everything in line except for a loan that's supposed to come in from SLU, and I don't remember too much Spanish, so that kind of sucks. I expect ... read more

We started bright and early again today. 5:45 breakfast was served, egg and bacon ommelette with coffee and juice that they call orange but can't be real orange juice. Julie delivered the devotion and we all listened from the front porch. We were in the bus and on the road by 7:00. The drive was long and long. Paved roads into the mountains for a ways and then it turned into a smooth dirt road that carried us high into the mountains and accross frighteningly scary skinny patches of roadway. The smoothness soon went away and the road turned into a constant bouncy, swaying, nausiating ride. The views were breath taking and well worth the rough rode. We bounced around holding on for dear life for about two hours through no mans land occasionaly passing a ... read more

Hola Amigos, Na 2 dagen in Leon (een mooie stad, niet toeristisch in noord Nicaragua), zijn we naar Estelí gegaan, een bergstadje met een politiek bewogen verleden (evenals Leon overigens), waar een van horen zeggen goede Spaanse school is. We hebben besloten hier nog een week Spaans te doen alvorens Enrico teruggaat naar Antigua en ik zuidwaards ga. Het stadje zelf valt tegen, maar de eerste les vandaag was goed en ik begin langzaam wat meer vertrouwen in mijn Spaans (spreken) te krijgen. Echter het accent van de mensen hier (en de woorden die ze gebruiken) zijn zo verschillend in vergelijking met Guatemala, dat het verstaan mijn momenteel vrij veel moeite kost.... maar goed, un dia... (one day) Het schooltje is erg klein (3 andere studenten, niet direct mijn type mensen). Mijn familie is aardig (hoewel ... read more