Black Rock City, NV

Lots of Pictures...Not many words. I don't know how I would try to sum up my summer. After I got home from Panama, till now I haven't done anything I was planning on doing this summer. Had an intense time of it, just now quite what I was expecting. Went to more festivals than thought was possible, put on a little music fest of our own, helped build a temple, got less sleep than I have since college, and learned a lot about myself and the people around me. Just enjoy the pictures...





The Stargazer (our 'cute little temple')

San Blas, Panama

Trying to keep up with this blog this trip has been quite a challenge. How to tear myself from the beach to sit in front of a computer has proved to be hard feat. So now that I'm back in Tahoe, I can finish writing about the tail end of my trip up.

So...Got a couple of days surfing in while in San Juan del Sur. Waves were small, and I actually feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it...a little.

From there, I headed straight through Costa Rica ended up in Bocas, Panama only a couple hours before Collin and Cheri flew in. Perfect! Had a night of swilling wine and catching up before we met Nick and Mike (who owns the neighboring property where Nick has been hanging out for the last month) the next morning. We had a morning of shopping for supplies for the week (2 pineapples or 4?...4. 2 cases of beer or 3?...3, of course. Decisions, decisions). After that, we headed to Bastamentos. The property is about a 30-40 minute boat ride out to the far side of the island...completely secluded and insanely beautiful. The rest of the week consisted of hanging out, making amazing blended fresh fruit rum drinks, hiking to deserted beaches, cooking crazy meals and pretty much having an incredible time.

The day before we left, we visited Lily's beach. Walked the whole length reminiscing about great times and adventures that we have shared with her. She was there with us.

After a week of being on the island, Nick, Cheri and I flew to Panama City. Said goodbye to Cheri the next morning and Nick and I continued on to San Blas. San Blas is an archipelago of 350 island on the Caribbean side of Panama. It has been on the top of my travel list since I went to Panama the 1st time...needless to say, I was pretty excited to actually be going. We flew into El Ponvenir on this tiny plane that acted as a colectivo (shared taxi). The plane landed and took off at 3 different landing strips on tiny little island picking up and dropping off people and packages along the way before we made it to our destination. The 'town' of El Ponvenir had a air strip, one hotel, 5 locals and a few drunken sailors...all you need, right? After a couple of beers and a couple of hours we had hooked up with Captain Peter, and his girlfriend, Paola who owned a 54' sailboat and were willing to take us around. So, on a boat with nothing more to do than relax, swim, and visit beautiful island after beautiful island...guess I can deal. The water was insanely blue and the islands were of the of the picturesque kind, white sand and coconut palms. The local Kunas are really friendly and we had the luck of spending a morning with a family who invited us into their home and treated us to food and good conversation along with dressing me up to look like their long lost tall Amish cousin...just look at the picture...looking good.

After 4 days on the boat, we were all packed up and ready to catch our 6am plane out the next morning. While drinking with Peter and Paola on our 'last night' we thought we should check the date...What!... today is Thursday?...our flight's on Saturday...um...guess we have an extra day. So, on the boat for one more day. Until...at 4am when Nick got woken up by an attacking swarm of sand flies. The wind had died down and brought in a storm of sand flies like I have never seen. No skin was off limits to these guys...we tucked ourselves into our clothes and covered our heads with my sleep sheet and drank coffee...sleeping was not an option. After a few hours of that, it was decided we had to take refuge on the island and get a hotel for the last night.

We caught the plane the next morning back to Panama City and caught back up with Collin. Had a dirty night of dancing at a sweaty gay bar...got no sleep...and caught our plane the next morning.

The End...for now...

El Tunco, El Salvador

So the rest of my time in El Salvador was a whirlwind! Ended up meeting a guy from San Salvador, Juan Pablo, that took me under his wing. Insta-friend. Its amazing what a quick chat while renting a surf board can turn into. We went to a near by town kinda on a whim and had a local kid take us to a waterfall. So I´m thinking, OK, a waterfall...a little fall, maybe a pool that you can swim in. It was about a 1/2 hour hike down into the ravine where the falls were. They ended up being crazy! Multiple falls with a couple of pools that you could not only swim in, but you could cliff jump into. Super cool. Spent the whole afternoon there just relaxing and getting up the courage to jump off the cliffs (yeah, i´m a pollo).

Then next day, he drove me and a couple of other friends from where I was staying back to San Salvador. Got my bus ticket for the next morning (5am!) and then went to visit the near by volcano...again thinking...volcano, nice view, whatever...again so much cooler than I expected. The crater was huge and the view was amazing. After that, he took me back to his family´s vacation home (complete with a live in caretaker...what?) that was on the side of the volcano with a great view of the city from the balcony. We went wandering around the coffee plantation that is part of the property and got back inside just in time for one of the crazy torrential rain storms that he had been talking about (and I didn´t believe in). Hung out chatting there till I had to catch my bus the next morning. Super time...great company...what more can I ask for?

So I spent a night in Managua with a friend of Lily and I´s from the Spanish school. Went out for a couple of drinks and the next morning I got to see the hospital where he is volunteering for the next 6 months. He is going to make it down to San Juan for the weekend so we can all hang out some more and so I don´t have to feel so bad that I only spent one night in Managua.

And finally, got back to San Juan del Sur today (where Lily and I did our Spanish classes)...totally the same, but totally different. They are great here though...totally feel at home.

That is what I´ve been up to...keeping busy...loving it!

Caye Caulker, Belize

Where did I leave off? Oh, yeah. Picked up Kim at the airport with no glitches. Stayed the night in El Remate, a small one street town about 35 miles closer to Tikal than Flores (where people normally stay to get to Tikal). The next morning we got a 4am shuttle to the park entrance for the sunrise...all we got was haze. What can you do? Not to worry, Tikal was amazing. In the middle of the jungle surrounded by wildlife. You can get up on the different pyramids and see above the tree tops. Saw some toucans and spider monkeys along with a host of other crazy stuff. Walked all over the park...climbed everything that we could...took a bunch of pictures (loved having Kim around).

After Tikal we headed back into Belize to San Ignacio. It is right over the border and more in the mountains of Belize. We walked to some Mayan ruins (Cahal Pech) that were right out of town and started talking to a guide there that gave us a 3 hour tour. He was a talker..a tour usually lasts about an hour. Gave us tons of antidotes and info on Mayan culture... had us meditating...showed us a tree that could make women virgins again...a bunch of very obscure stuff. We ended up going out for a beer with him (too entertaining to say ´no´ to). He brought us out to a bar near his house in the country, where we met up with some of his friends. One of which had a horse that, of course, I needed to ride...at night...through the trees...running. This horse wanted to go! Not your typical trail horse in the states. So fun!

The next morning we were on a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. The cave itself is about 3 miles long with a river running though it. You enter the cave by swimming in a deep pool and continue swimming and walking the rest of the way. Beautiful formations. The cool thing about this cave is that the Mayans used it for rituals and sacrifices. So after about 1 1/2 miles, we turned away from the river into this huge side tunnel and saw tons of pottery and 5 sacrificed bodies. Those Mayans loved their sacrifices. Our guide even took us back into a small room (not on the tour) that had the remains of a baby surrounded by intense stalactites and stalagmites. Beautiful and creepy all at the same time.

After the cave tour, they left us on the side of the road to catch a bus to Hopkins, a Garifuna village on the coast. There is one bus a day to the village, so needless to say at 6:45 on a Sunday night we had to get a cab from a near by town to get there. But all works out for the best...ended up getting a super cool taxi driver that hooked us up with a couple of locals when we got into town (Dre and Alex). They took us to find a hotel and then out to Karaoke that night. Country Karaoke...John Denver, Kenny Loggins. What??? Before it really got swinging though, the boys ended up losing 2 darts...one out the window and one in the sand floor (don´t play darts around here much I guess)...it was time to skate!

The next morning Dre picked us up with another couple of friends and brought us bikes for us to use. Jumped on the bikes (felt like burning man all over again...we biked everywhere everyday) and headed down to set up our diving for the next day. As Kim was trying on her wet suit to get things set up for the next day, she started jumping around and freaking out...oops, there was a scorpion in her wet suit...it stung her 3 times! Luckily, the scorpions here aren´t too bad...leg went numb, couldn´t feel her tongue, but not life threatening..Just hurts like crazy. Kim´s a trooper. After that fiasco, jumped back on the bikes, went to the other end of town, played some beach volleyball, went for a swim. So great to have tour guides dragging us to all the ´hot spots´ around the village. Kim and I just kept wondering where the catch would be. No catch. Just really cool guys with nothing to do (there is really nothing to do in Hopkin...but it was by far the best place we visited).

Diving the next day was fun. The only dive place in town is part of this all-inclusive resort type of place...they were dumbfounded that we were actually staying in the village. I mean, people can actually stay in town?

Took a huge walk out to ´1st point´the next day with the same guys. Cut us down some coconuts for us to drink from (us dumb Americans brought water). Ended up at the ¨rastaman´s place¨...this guys house down the beach about and hour walk. Didn´t even know that we had a destination until we got there. Another chill afternoon with more cool people.

Had to say goodbye the next morning. So sad...we wanted to take one of the kids (Stanley) back with us in our suitcase...he would almost fit. So sad. 16 years old, hasn´t been in school for the last 4 years (you have to pay for school in Belize, so no money, no school), lives with random extended family and just a month ago got to see 2 guys get killed in Belize City (where he normally lives) that his cousin (17) was walking down the street with...hard life.

From there we headed to Caye Caulker. Biked around the island one day...you are on this dirt trail that turns into the airport runway. Just watch out for the planes. Had beers at the ´split´(where the island is cut in 2) for sunset and a mellow night. And finally, the next day, we got to do Kim´s crowning dive....The Blue Hole. You go down to 130 feet in this kinda crazy crater that is 430 feet deep. At 130, there are stalactites/mites and we were lucky enough to see some reef sharks. Cool dive. Nice and deep. Didn´t get narced out really though...kinda was looking forward to it. Nitrogen Narcosis is kinda like feeling drunk under water (it only happens when you get to around 100´+).

Our last day on the caye, we kayaked around on a double kayak...grabbed a couple of beers and floated in the water. Realized neither of us can just relax while paddling...every time we picked up the oars, we thought we were in a race. Hurry up, and chill. Floated the whole afternoon...even made it over to a bar on the other end of the island.

Kim left yesterday morning. I headed straight to El Salvador. A full day and night on a bus through Guatemala. But made it with no glitches except in San Salvador...It took me a good hour to locate the bus to take me La Libertad. It doesn´t leave from a terminal and it tends to change its route every couple of months so none of the locals could tell me where I could catch it. And, oh yeah, I couldn´t say the name of the town correctly for some reason, so it took about 3 times each time I asked for directions for them to figure out where I wanted to go. Love foreign languages.

But am relaxing on the beach after getting tossed all morning in the waves...crummy day of surfing for me...guess I have to try again tomorrow. Life is rough.

Flores, Guatemala

How to start this post...

So lily and I had an amazing time in San Juan del Sur...learning Spanish, surfing and beaching it up. Met some super cool people and and had a few fun late nights squished in between our studies (no, we really did study...a lot). It seems like so long ago already.

So I just got back down here from my time back in the States. I'm very glad that I went back. Couldn't have imagined missing the celebration for Lily. It was everything that she would have wanted.

My dad ended up coming down with me on the first part of my second journey. We flew into Belize City, got out of there the next morning (that was plenty of time) and headed to Caye Caulker. We did a day of snorkeling where we got to swim with nurse sharks and rays. Really cool. I just can't believe the first time for me to see a shark in the water I was just snorkeling. They cheat though and feed them to bring them around...sounds a bit ridiculous, but no incidents so far! Can't wait to dive it all. But everything was shallow enough and I don't feel that I missed much be only being at the surface.

The next day we jumped on a boat tour from Caye Caulker to Placencia. 3 days 2 nights. Super fun. We had a bunch of snorkeling stops, did a little fishing, and a bunch of drinking (come on, I was with my dad). Unfortunately, my dad had a run in with a conch shell. He put a nice sized puncture in the bottom of his foot, then ground it into the sand. We tried to get out all of the sand, but it still got totally infected. So he was hobbling around for the rest of the trip. Not that happy of a camper. But the crew (and me) got a kick out of his under his breath bitching and moaning. And after a we got to Plecencia, we got a house call from the doctor and got it fixed up proper.

Did I mention that we camped both nights? The first night on Rendezvous Caye which was about the size of a house and totally deserted. Had a campfire and the crew (Jerry, Germain and Kevin) cooked up the fish they caught that day. It was so dark out there, the stars were amazing. And the second night on Tobacco Caye which had a couple of places to stay and 3 bars. That night we had a little drum circle and a bunch more rum punch. Great trip. Totally relaxing and I didn't even get sea sick (thank god for calm waters!).

So I am up in Flores right now. Kim is flying in to meet me and head up to Tikal (Dad opted out for the leg of the trip...considering he can hardly walk, it was a good choice). Than plan on getting back to Belize. Can't wait to see the Mayan ruins of Tikal standing up this time...last time I was there, I was so stomach sick, I was puking and curled up in a ball watching my friend climb up all over everything. Feeling great today-but don't want to jinx it!

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Been a while since my last post...so I´m going to try to catch up.

Roatán was beautiful. Nice island feel, and the people were really friendly. We met 2 guys from the states (Spencer and Brian) that we pretty much hung out with the whole time. They invited us over for mojitos(Spencer makes a hell of a drink!) and a few mojitos (and a couple of monkey lalas) later and we pretty much didn't part ways until we all left. Dive buddies, drinking buddies. We had a great time. We went on 3 dives...Amazing coral. Got to see a hawksbill turtle and a green moray eel along with the plethora of other fish that were swarming around us. The last dive we did (Texas) was a deep drift dive on the side of a wall. The current was so strong...we drifted about 2 miles during the dive! Probably one of the best I've ever done.


So...off the island and quickly jumped buses to Granada, Nicaragua. Every hotel was totally booked full! There is a Poetry Festival going on all week that we had no idea about. We were able to finally find a room after asking at bunches of hotels and many of the front desks calling many more. The festival included poets from around the world but everything we got to hear was in Spanish (even a poet from Germany was speaking Spanish). Needless to say, I couldn't understand any of it. So sad. But that is why Lils and I headed to San Juan del Sur...Spanish 101.


So now we are in San Juan. Got here 2 days ago. Start 2 weeks of Spanish tomorrow. We are staying in a house owned by the school instead of doing the home stay option. Gives us a bit more freedom. Everyone there is really friendly and I am really excited to start classes.


Had a surf lesson today. Amazing!! I had so much fun! Our teacher was totally helpful and hot (which also helps, right?). Both of us got up and rode a few waves. I can definitely see why people get hooked. I feel like the first time I went skiing. Now I just have to learn how to catch waves on my own without somebody there telling me when to paddle and what waves to catch.


Off the the beach and a beer!

Roatan, Honduras

Where to begin?...We have been taking it easy for the past couple of days. Lily got food poisoning and was laid up for a day and some. She is still a bit weak, but improving.

After Copan, we made the journey to La Ceiba and crashed there for a night at pretty much the most unfriendly hostel I´ve ever stayed in. I´m sure a lot of you have already heard that Lily got her camera stolen there. So sad, and in the begining of her trip to. Needless to say, we didn´t stay in La Ceiba for too long. But we did meet this really great Mexican guy that took us around the city. Wasn´t much to see, but we saw it all.

The next day we headed to Roatán. A bit different than I was expecting...not in a bad way though. The island itself is pretty big, but the area where most of the independent travelers (ie. not part of an all inclusive resort) stay is pretty chill with one dirt road heading down the beach with a bunch of little resturants and bars dotting the area. Have yet to dive, but that will happen tomorrow morning. Can´t wait!!!

Copan, Honduras

Finally got out of the cold!!!...and we left Chris with a lot of shoveling! It finally starts really snowing when I left. But no complaints here!

Honduras. We flew into San Pedro Sula and stayed just long enough to get out of there. Right now we are in Copan, a cute colonial town that is relaxed and a great step away from the big city. We came for the ruins...that took all of 2 hours to tour. I think we both expected a bit more. But They were still worth the trip and definitely nice to walk through. The weather is great and we got a horseback ride in this morning. And not one of those butt to butt trail rides that you have in the states. This one had plenty of running around and included the sweetest Spanish speaking guide (needless to say, we got about 1/2 of what he said...thank god for hand signals!). Its nice to be in green mountains in the middle of our winter.

We have pretty much tried all the different beers (you have to figure out which is the best, right?) and Lily is exploring the extensive vegetarian cuisine in Central America...pretty much just rice and beans....well, that is, until we get to the ocean and the seafood eating begins!!! Lily is really trying to make some friends around here too...she is set on asking for waiters' bodies (cuerpo) instead of the check (quenta).

The beach is our next stop...and some diving!