South of 0

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere! For those that are curious, the water goes counter-clockwise.

Lori and I are currently in Quito, and tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos! Our trip from Guatemala to Quito was quite exciting. We were delayed in Miami for 4 hours as the plane had electrical issues which they were going to fix, and then the plane was going to be taken out of service, and then it was fixed, and then it wasn´t, and then it was out of service again. In the end we ended up switching to a new plane and they got us off the ground pronto with threats of the crew getting close to exceeding max allowable hours.

The plane was packed like a chicken bus. At first we thought that the Ecuadorians just didn´t trust checking their baggage when we saw the sheer size and number of carry-ons each individual had. (I got bashed in the head 4 times by one guy´s duffle bag) But standing at the bagage carousel after we got off the plane, it seems they just travel with everything they own. The plane must have been packed to the rafters in the luggage compartment. I don´t know how the plane got off the ground. Anyhow arrival in Quito was exciting as our bags had to be scanned about 10 times before we could leave the airport. We finally made it to our hostel at about 12:30 am. Upon entering our room wearily, imagine our surprise to find a drunken tourist lying in our bed. Management eventually got him out and the next morning we found new acommodations.

Quito is actually quite a charming city. It sits in a bit of a bowl in the Northern Andes. (we think) Streets are a mix of ashphalt and cobblestone and roll around at amazing angles. Some of the hills are like walking around San Francisco. One of the days we checked out an amazingly huge Bascillica built in 1926. I guess not an incredibly old structure as things go, but still astoundingly huge. We actually were allowed to climb to the tops of the spires! Its amazing to think just how little access we would have had to something similar in North America.

Today we visited the equator! It was somewhat anti-climactic, especially considering it took 3 hours to get there. We were also somewhat saddened to discover that the actual equator was maybe not quite where advertised. Though we´re not sure just how far off it was.

Thank you to all those who derived pleasure from my discomfort, for those who feel they need proof of some of the more unpleasant things that happen to us, here is a picture of what was in my juice the other morning.

Anyhow, we´re off to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow!

Adios Central America

Lori here. It’s about time I got to write something on OUR blog. I guess I have made it through the probationary period and have, at long last, been deemed “ready” to contribute something.

Before spending a week taking spanish in Antigua, we hiked up an active volcano that had erupted within the last 5 months. As you can see by the picture on the left, lava is still flowing. This place is a heck of a lot different then North America, where you wouldn't get this close to that lava. Our crazy guide actually took the tour to within 5 meters of that lava. We didn't have proper footwear so we didn't get up there. Which proved the correct decision when some of the other folks came down from the lava flows bleeding from falling.

We are wrapping up Guatemala and heading further south to Ecuador on Saturday. Our last few days were spent on Lake Atitlan, located a few hours west of Antigua. The trip there involved a harrowing road, motion sick passenger and demented driver. Once there, we said a silent prayer of thanks and headed out to see the sights. Sight #1 was a deeelightful river of sewage. Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Over the next few days we improved our impressions of Panajachel, despite the continuous swarm of children and old ladies hawking pretty much anything and the one guy who even sat down at our table while we were eating breakfast to babble ad nauseum about a horseback riding “aventura!!!!!!” I might have had a few choice words for him in English, but in Spanish, I was reduced to telling him we would think about it. He then leaned back, essentially put his feet up and said he would wait while we discussed it. I should have bought him a pancake or something.

We enjoyed a boat ride across the lake and a walk through some of the towns surrounding it. We even saw a snake!!!!! (flattened by a car, thank God). The rest of our time there involved a nature preserve complete with monkeys, decrepit swinging bridges and a butterfly sanctuary, and a failed walk to Santa Catalina, accessible only via a mysterious bridge, which we never found. Oh well.

Sad to say goodbye to Guatemala – we really enjoyed Antigua especially, and will miss the smoking volcanoes, blue skies, wonderful temperatures and tasty banana bread. We will not miss the incessant shoe-shiners, manic honkers or Dan vomiting in the town square.

Land of Ants

Greetings from Antigua, Guatemala!

After San Ignacio we enjoyed a bumpy but at least scenic and not cramped bus ride to Flores, Guatemala. The ride turned a little stressful when we were stopped by the police and made to exit. Lori had read that sometimes robbers pull scams like this so we were a little worried. But as it turns out we were ignored.

Flores was, sorry Brook, deadly dull. It seems Guatemala is less friendly then Belize, however this may be due to our Spanish weakness since Guatemala is largely Spanish speaking. After dodging about a million offers for boat rides (Flores is basically an island on a lake outside of Santa Elena) we set up our trip to Tikal, an overnight bus ride to Antigua and then just sat in the park all day.

Tikal was amazing. We set ourselves up for the night there and spent two days exploring the ruins. Walking from ruin to ruin through the jungle is amazing, think Jurassic Park. We have so many pictures from there that its hard to just post one up, but I'll settle with this view of one of the more amazing temples from atop one of the other temples in the Grand Plaza.

The Jungle really came alive in the late afternoon. Crickets, Toucans, crazy turkey birds, Monkeys in the canopy bombing us with fruit. All Amazing. We spent part of our time just sitting below one of the pyramids listening and watching.

One of the coolest things I think we saw was a line of cutter ants. They were making their way through the grass and across a path from one tree to another. They had cut a little highway through the grass and all. It seems, for the most part, they drive on the right side of the road as the laden ants work leaves back to the hill and unladen head back to gather more.

We stayed overnight as aparently the howler monkeys are something amazing to hear. However, after one hoot, all we really heard the rest of the night was the sounds of the fist sized grass hoppers bouncing off the windows. (All the insects in the jungle seem to grow a little bigger then they ought to - see spider) The power only ran until 10 pm unfortunately which meant the fan shut off. I don't think I've ever been more hot in my life. (sorry Adrienne, we never found Ricardo or did a night tour)

We spent the next day exploring the ruins some more and kind of taking it easy. It was at this point that I came to the conclusion that Guatemala must mean 'land of ants'. This country seems to have more ants than we have names for numbers. Big ants, little ants, red ants...you get the picture. (no need for me to go Dr. Seuss) If you sit down anywhere, you're going to get ants on you.

Anyhow, we made it back to Flores for our overnighter to Antigua via bus. Except for my sitting in gum all night, it was a pretty uneventful ride.

Antigua is a pretty Gringo-ized and quite beautiful town. Despite that fact, however, prices aren't actually as high as one might expect for a serious tourist town. We've managed to find some very pleasant accomodations that include things like free cable, free internet and an amazing free breakfast.


The streets are all cobblestone and the building fronts are quite an array of bright colours. The major center is a park where you don't necessarily want to spend too much time unless you don't mind being hounded for a shoe shine or knick knacks. However, it is a must see.

We plan to spend the next week here and do some spanish lessons as well as enjoying some of the other free activities offered by one of the ~75 spanish schools offered here.

Today we hiked up to a cross on a hill overlooking the town. Tomorrow we're going to join in on a group hiking up an active volcano thats right beside the town site.

I'd say the best part of Antigua however is that as its elevation is a little higher, the temperature has come down, and thus the sleeping has become more pleasant...and the bugs have shrunk. Thankfully for Guatemala's rep, the ant rumor can be laid to rest in this town.

Destination: San Ignacio

We are now inland in San Ignacio. Tomorrow we make our way to Guatemala and intend to stop in Tikal along the way. The ride to San Ignacio comprised what could possibly be the worst experience of my life.

Destination: San Ignacio
Departure point: Belize City
Transportation: Yellow School Bus (not yellow) and 40 miles of decent 1 lane road followed by 30 miles of dirt road.
Length: 3.5 hrs

2 hours of the ride involved having all our junk on our laps as there was only standing room available. I got to become intimately familiar with several individuals who kept stepping on my feet and had a delightful odor that comprised a mixture of BO, garbage, moth balls, and $#!7.

San Ignacio is not too bad a place though. There are several Mayan ruins in the area and yesterday we went up and checked out Cahal Pech. Today we were going to make our way to Xunantunich, however the river is flooded and we can't get to the site. Most things are closed today and we didn't plan for anything besides those ruins so we're sort of puttering about town.

Anyhow, we're working on sending heat North.

Un-belizeable

We left Edmonton and Calgary very cold and arrived in Dallas. Lori loves this picture of me as a cowgirl.....

We left Dallas the next day for Belize City, land of the single short runway. The pilot did an admirable job of not killing us. Belize City is not the most desireable of places to hang around. So we got the heck out and went to Caye Ambergris.

It is quite tropical and beautiful and we're having a great time. No bugs yet! Tomorrow we're going to do some snorkeling and see the manatees and sea-horses.

Belize is freakin expensive.

The view from our hotel's balcony (below) is not too shabby!
Yesterday we had a 10 minute downpour. It was quite fantastic. Thankfully it didn't turn into the hurricane Lori hoped it would....

I'm having troubles spelling and reading this spanish computer. So, we're off into the rain that just started up again.

Stay dry!