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Greetings everyone! This will be our last entry from guatemala as we head for peru on monday for the next leg of our adventure!

Its been an exciting couple days! We officially graduated language school earlier today... amanda defintely knows her stuff, and seeing as the only spanish i knew came from eddie guerrerro ( God rest his steroid infested soul)... i did ok! If ya didnt believe me about the height differences here, take a look at the pic of amanda with her teacher... the wnba should be calling anyday now... if anyone asks amanda is 6 foot four!

yesterday we had quite the afternoon... where we are in guatemala is quite high to say the least ( geographically of course!)... surrounding Antigua is a numer of volcanoes... yesterday we had the opportunity to actually climb one!
Now amanda did this last year, and said it was defintely worth another visit... so we climbed aboard a bus with our new Canadian friend Jordan ( who works in ottawa, but will be the first one to tell you that saskatchewan is her home!) and drove a couple hours to the foot of the volcano...

Now I am by no means the epitome of physical fitness, but climbing a volcano is hard... they look pretty much like what we Canadians would think they look like... theyre frickin steep! Now lets just say that some of the people who decided to try and climb this baby (4 kms up!) were not in uhhhh peak physical condition... for a sumo wrestler! they walked for about ten minutes then decided to hop on the local "taxi"... three malnourished boney little horses named Crab, Rambo and i forget the other ones name... these poor horses! And the uhhh large folk still didnt make it anywhere near the top! Now the question you should be asking yourself at this point is " Why would you pay money to go and do something extremely physically strenuous when you know 100% for sure that you will have zero chance of doing it?" Good question...

Anyways, it was about 2 hours and a bit straight up though woods first and then up the side of the volcano itself... very cool and windy at the top... but man was it worth it...

did i mention that this is an active volcano? I think i just heard my mom fall off her chair and call the canadian embassy! Im ok mom! dont worry!

Every few seconds the volcano would spew out volcanic rock straight into the air... very cool ... unfortunately it meant that we couldnt get any closer than a hundred feet or so... but the views from the top were spectacular... check the photos to see just how spectacular... we could see other volcanoes, above the clouds that were more than 3 hours away!

The trip down was among the best parts... imagine your first time skiing ... well thats kinda the feeling as you descend at an angle of oh 70 degrees (still ok mom!) and slalom on volcanic rock... never in my life have my socks been more dirty (theyre clean now too mom!)
We then got to watch the sun go down over a pretty sweet horizon (again see photos!)... All in all a great experience...

This weekend... well amanda and jordan are going to go salsa dancing tonight... me? ill be the guy sitting in the corner nursing a cold one acknowledging my limitations as a dancer! There is a huge parade to celebrate the first sunday of the easter season on sunday... besides that we are gonna sample some good guatemalan coffee and prepare for the next step in oru voyage!

take care everyone and we wish you well! keep the comments coming!

p.s. Amanda here...The last couple entries I have been the techie doing the pics and Jeff has been the whitty one writing (like you didn{t get that already). Just have to give you the update with Jeffs facial hair....it is GONE!!!! YAYAYAYA! But for those of you who liked it not to worry he will be growing more in Peru.
Hope all is well back home, and everyone near Ottawa survived the Earthquake..there is role reversal for ya, we go to Guatemala and there is an Earthquake in Canada!

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Photos

Amanda and Carmen
Two weeks of Spanish school completed!

Jeff and Juan Paublo
The Boys...hombres!!

Almost at the top of Pacaya
If you look to the far left you can see the ground below...we are up in the clouds!

The top of Pacaya
We could not stay long at the top because this is a active volcano, spewing bits of lava here and there.

Skiing down the volcano
It is skiing without skis or snow, but I did have a stick!

Torros
To get to the volcano we had to get past these guys first.

Comments

[Connie]

Hello from PERTH
HI Amanda and Jeff,I enjoyed seeing your pictures of the volcanoes. Yes, you certainly have grown taller since leaving Perth! Connie Fennell

[Dee]

Great to hear from you wonderful couple!
I'm so enjoying your journey - a proverbial vicarious journey (certainly not my favourite but with you two definately worth every smile from your great collective writings. Yes, wasn't Pacaya the most wonderful experience? I too loved it to death. Also have to say a BIG congratulations for your joint Spanish diplomas with the short-people and a special congratulations to Jeff on that excellent facial hair. LOVE IT!!! So, the only other question is that I thought that you guys were going to teach BEFORE going to Peru? Did I miss something or did I just have another passing 'senior moment'??!! Sending you both my warmest hugs and love and friendship and keep these wonderful adventures coming and coming and coming. Dee

[al]

Hola !!
Hey Gringos, Great pics - church in Antigua,Earth Lodge,volcano climbing - looks like you guys are having a great time. Amanda - I never realised how tall you actually are! Jeff - the facial hair?? Also, I am interested to Know how the Guatemalins pronounce your name. On another topic, tonight {Sat.} we get to watch another round of "The Battle of Ontario", I wonder who will win ? As we approach the trade deadline I have to wonder who the Leafs will unload as they stumble towards not making the playoffs - John Ferguson Jr. ?, Bryan McAbe ?, Matts Sundin with his new Olympic gold medal ? Anyway enough gloating, the Sens haven't been looking that great without Hasek, they barely beat the Penguins [4-3] and Emery looked shaky in that one, although they came back and spanked the Caps 7-1 the next night. I kind of hoped that the Sens would go after Cujo who is rumoured to be on the block since the Coyotes don't seem to be making a run, but it looks like Edmonton is going to get him. Rumour has it that Ottawa is going after Oli Jokinen from Florida, Jaques Martin wants Vermette and Volchenkov. Ottawa gets to play most of their games this month against teams who won't make the playoffs. Anyway - enough about hockey, sorry about that Amanda. You guys must be excited about the new and exciting adventures awaiting you in Peru!! and we are excited to hear all about them via your excellent journal. All is well [pretty much the same as always] around Perth, although someone did rob the Bank of Nova Scotia on Thurs.{your local news update]. Much Love

[Donna Peters]

What I dont know doesnt hurt me
Your Dad could never have climbed this,with his fear of heights. He asks if you were singing "Climb Every Mountain". You never have been easy on your socks.How was the rest of your clothing when you were up there?

[Melissa]

Hey
All I can say is that I am so glad that you got rid of the beard and feel sorry for Amanda that she has to see you grow another one! hahaha. Have fun! PS AMAZING pictures!!