#119 - being back blues

i don't know what it is but i feel really off. coming back from a long and exciting vacation is just no fun. i wanted it to just keep going but had to come home. so sad. i wonder if this is common. i don't have to work till friday so i've been sitting in my jammies all day, not really motivated to do much. i've been eating spaghetti and ramen cause that's what i have around. going to the store just sounds like too much work, and i'd have to spend money too. man i'm weird now. my excuse for staying home is that i've been working on my trip pictures. it's on my flickr account so hopefully you can view it easily.

it was fun to go over them and remember each place, the beginning seems like so long ago! i'd say the coolest day was going to the Tikal ruins in the jungle, we saw monkeys and really old temples. each place is special in a different way but jungles are really cool!traveling to far away places just makes you appreciate everything you have at home even that much more. i will never take a toilet or hot shower for granted again. i was walking through the portland saturday market the other day, it's an artsy craft fair type market they have every weekend. it was weird to walk through looking at people's stalls and not be harassed! that sounds bad but everywhere we went they were trying to sell something, especially at the chichi market. it was a ton of fun but it's over-stimulating sometimes when people are yelling at you "what chu like?" and you have to push through people to get somewhere. a guy tried to sell me a pink hand mirror on a chicken bus! that was funny.

i can't say i enjoyed every minute of my trip but it was one of the coolest things i've ever done and i definitely need to do more traveling. i especially want to go to more spanish speaking countries and learn a little more spanish. i think my english has become worse though, if that's possible. i was writing spanish in my journal the whole time there and although it was hard i learned a lot of words that way.

back to reality i guess. i start work on friday (or before if someone calls in, which happens) and school next tuesday. i've got 40 hours of clinicals next month, then my parents come to visit (for the UH game). it's just one thing after another. i liked traveling, not really knowing what's gonna come up next and not really having a plan. there were places i wanted to go and hostels i wanted to stay at but we were flexible and altered our original plans a few times. it's good to be flexible and not let things bother you. hopefully i will make it out of my house tomorrow, since my pictures are done.

#118 - most expensive call ever

i´m not writing this on my travel blog because my mom would read it, be scared and then my dad would give me a lecture. so here it is.

we are in san pedro and i was done at the internet cafe, Q8 for an hour. pretty good deal when Q7=$1. next door was a telephone calling place so i thought, hey i´ll give my grandma on maui a call. the price was listed as USA Q1.50, good deal again. so i call her and we´re chatting and i´m enjoying the conversation but only have on me about Q45 so i stop at 15 minutes knowing that i still want to have some money left over. i go to pay and the girl say "ciento treinta y cinco" (Q135) which totally floors me because i expected something like Q25 or so. i said "QUE?!" and so she repeats then types it out on a calculator then this other guy comes over. i said this is wrong. i am not sure what i said in spanish and what in english but pretty much argued with them. then they showed me in their book that hawaii was not a part of the los estados unidos (USA) and that 808 is hawaii (duh). i said hawaii is a state of the USA and i´m from there. i´m american, blah blah blah. it says on the wall that it´s Q1.50, etc. i was so pissed and didn´t know what to do. i said all i have is Q45, do you want that? they said no, we need the whole amount. i´m like, where´s your boss? "guatemala city" that´s not going to help. they barely speak english and i barely speak spanish. i wanted to scream but i didn´t want to be arrested. finally they said go and return with the money más tardes (later).

so i go back and tell arna and of course i´m pissed and she gets pissed and eventually she goes to call her mom to see what to do. when she comes back she´s pissed and practically crying. it´s like hours later and she went back and started yelling at the girl saying it´s not right and some other things. she paid the Q135 and the girl said not to come back or she´d call the cops. so all night i thought they were after us. would they not let us out of the country for a bill a little less than $20? it´s not that it was too much money, i did have a little more in the hotel but it was the whole idea of it. i didn´t want to pay because they advertised it as Q1.50 and didn´t say shit about hawaii not being USA. i´m sick of people not knowing that hawaii is the 50th state!!!

at least my grandma was happy that i called.

#108 - preparations

in exactly six weeks from today i will be on the plane to cancun. i've been keeping busy reading up on places to eat, sleep and play. it's all i can think about, it's probably all i talk about. i feel sorry for the poor people who are my friends and have to listen to me talk about it. i wish i could bring all my friends along, that would be great. unfortunately i've only saved up enough for myself. i still have so much to do...travel insurance, shots, malaria pills, buy a few more things, talk to jose, get an extra camera battery, make copies of things, get traveler's checks, etc.

packing will be interesting. they say to lay out all the things you are planning on taking, cut that in half and take twice as much money! i am a horrible packer. i bring everything i think i may need. i am usually going somewhere that weight doesn't matter though. i will be lugging my pack all around, probably every other day, crammed on "chicken buses" worrying that i'll be robbed/ripped off. so i want to bring as little as possible.

so far i've come up with a rough itinerary:

• july 1 - leave portland, arrive in cancun at midnight get through customs, etc, get bags (this is essential, i hope the airline comes through for me), hang out and head to isla mujeres as early as possible on the 2nd
• july 2-4 - relax on the beaches of isla mujeres
• july 4-6 - head to merida, hang out with jose
• july 6-7 - ruins of chichen itza!
• july 8 - travel day to flores (guatemala), probably 15 hours on a bus or something ridiculous like that
• july 9-11 - lago de peten itza, el remate and tikal (more ruins!)
• july 11-13 - coban, lanquin, semuc champey
• july 13-16 - relax and enjoy the views on lago de atitlan, panajachel and san pedro la laguna
• july 16-19 - hang out in the city of quetzaltenango (xela), hike volcanoes
• july 19-21 - chichicastenango, visit the town and exciting market!
• july 21-24 - antigua - another city and more volcanoes
• july 25 - i leave :(

it's going to be a lot of bus rides and many different hostels but i want to make the most of this trip so i'm trying to hit the main places that interest me. of course there is a lot more i want to do and see (and eat) but i've only got 25 days. when i invent the teleporter, travel will be faster.

it will be nice to be in a country where i can get a whole meal for $3 and eat tacos everyday. i just love learning about new countries, cultures and people. i've been taking this spanish conversation class and i've got two more classes left. i don't think i'll be prepared. i still have no idea how to speak spanish. i've got a few important phrases down - "una cerveza por favor" and "donde esta el bano". what else do i need to know?! i am sure i will meet lots of people so i'll have lots of chances to practice my very very limited spanish. i can't wait!!

#92 - i've got tickets

i did it, i bought them today - round trip tickets to cancun in july! so here is the plan, leave on july 1 and return july 25. since it's a RT to cancun i will be spending probably a night or two there, separated by a nice trip by bus around yucatan mexico and guatemala. cancun is party central but i will mostly likely not dive into the party scene. i'll be there for cultural experiences, not shmoosing with other americans!

loose itinerary (as of this moment):

• arrive midnight july 2, find a way to bus terminal, wait around until there is a bus to merida
• spend a couple days in merida, see my friend jose
• valladolid and chitchen itza - mayan ruins: temples and pyramids
• isla mujeres, a caribbean island northeast of cancun where you go around on golf carts
• south to chetumal
• across border to guatemala - flores/tikal - more ruins, plus beautiful lake peten
• coban, trip to lanquin and semuc champney - a series of ponds and pools
• from there to lago de atitlan, a lake surrounded by volcanoes - different towns/villages around the lake - panajachel, santiago, san pedro, seeing some sunrises/sunsets on the lake
• chichicastenango for the sunday market - biggest market, locals with crafts, produce and food
• experience antigua - spanish colonial city, some volcanoes
• fly back to cancun to catch flight back to portland

so i've got about 23 days of travel. i'm taking a spanish conversation class but i doubt it'll do me any good. they'll probably be talking so fast i won't know what's going on! in addition to that, a lot of the guatemalan and yucatan population is mayan so they speak in one of twenty-plus mayan languages. many don't speak spanish, let alone english.

i have no idea how i'm gonna pull off all these bus trips and getting around. how am i going to see everything i want to in three weeks?! there are a ton of things i need but don't want to take too much. i gotta get some immunizations and anti-malarial pills. mosquito nets. traveler's checks. there are so many things to plan. planning is part of the fun! anticipation and excitement...but reading stories and looking at pictures are nothing compared to true experiences. i will definitely write a travel blog when i go. and take lots of pictures of course.

but i've got tickets. i am going!