Blogs from Central America Caribbean - page 2169

my teacher this week is also a psychologist and has a medical clinic and pharmacy in the downstairs of her house, so we went to visit yesterday...there were no patients to see, but we stayed a while to make tortillas. this afternoon we took a chickenbus to a neighboring town and then rode in the back of a pickup up the mountain into the cloud forest to soak in some natural hot springs. it was amazingly beautiful with the steam rising over the green, green, green. last weekend we went to visit some undeveloped mayan/olmec ruins down closer to the coast called takalik abaj or abaj takalik depending on who you ask...they were featured in may 2004 national geographic if it happens to be laying around. they were pretty neat although the national geographic makes them ... read more

I have arrived without incident in Quetzaltenango up in the mountains if Guatemala. I am here with my friend Mia from the nurse midwifery program and Carrie, from the geriatric nurse program. We are here attending Casa Xelaju language school for two weeks before travelling during the third. With Casa Xelaju we do five hours a day of one-on-one instruction and they also provide us with a family homestay. The family I am staying with has 7, 10, and 13 year old boys, the parents and then four other students. Usually there are maximum of two students but the school is currently accomodating a large group of high school students from minnesota and thus, there are three very teenage fifteen years old girls here as well. in all there are ten of us in this smallish ... read more

Howdy All - we went to costa rica planning on spending a ton of time on the beaches only to find LOTS of sewage and waste flowing into every place we went. We were fine with all the rain but between the horrible air pollution and nasty beaches were made a last ditch effort and headed for the mountains. It was awesome!!! We headed to towards Parque Nacional Chirripó, Costa Rica's highest point (3820). We took one of the big read busses that spit out of San Jose negotiating the close dirty streets like a drunkard. We swayed back and forth for hours and finally got dropped off, I think, in San Isidro de El General. Not a good place to be at night - I was offered the services of a prostitute within 2 minutes. ... read more

On my continuous walks in and around Copan, there have been very few surprises.  Yet I came upon one monday in a place that is called a "recreation area" for locals and tourists.  While Copan itself is very nice, this few acres on the outskirts of town is magnificent.  It is called the "Camina Maya"  and it is a combination bar, restaurant, discoteque (is this the only place left in the world that calls a dance club a "discoteque"?), swimming pool and garden.  One is able to just come in and sit and enjoy without paying anything.  The location makes it more breezy and cooler than the rest of town.  One can swim all day for thirty lempiras (a little more than a dollar and a half).  That's not what really interests me, though.  Cuba Libres ... read more

hola! mi amigos!  Just arrived in Honduras for my Spanish immersion school.  Flew into San Pedro Sula airport, which is much smaller than Houston Intercontinental that I left from.  Only one terminal and two or three places for planes to load and unload.  Was on the plane with a college baseball team from Indiana that will be touring Honduras, playing in different towns.  Flight was uneventful but one bonus was the spectacular islands off the coast.  I was worth the trip just for the view.  Since I speak very little Spanish I was somewhat intimidated when I arrived at the airport in San Pedro Sula.  Yet I was able (somehow...I'm not really sure) to purchase a bus ticket to the downtown bus terminal.  Anybody travelling in Honduras should use Hedman Alas bus service.  Nice clean busses ... read more