day 1 - Ayacucho

After a winding bus ride up many many meters, I have arrived. The 9 hour bus ride was surprisingly comfortable...and very cool because I had a seat in the first row of a double decker, so I had a great view. Slightly scary at times as well, as the drivers are well...bus drivers. It seems like we pretty much just drove through the country side and passed the occasional pueblo...which is called something else in Peru. Aldade maybe? Already I´ve learned that my Guatemalan spanish is useless here. At least for the food...everything is different! I´ve learned that salsa picante is salsa aji...avocados are something very very different... cafe comes in two parts and you put it together depending on how strong you like it...and everything else will come with time.

I´m suprised at how much it´s like Antigua. I guess it makes sense since they are both colonial cities. Ayacuhco has smoother streets, is a bit dustier, at a higher altitude, less touristy, and not as colorful. But the central parks of the two cities are amazingly similiar with all the sidewalks bordering the park made of arches.

So tomorrow I´ll go find the FINCA Peru office and see when I can get started. I´m really excited about starting to work again. Spanish studying has been great, but I need something with a little more depth to keep me interested.

Right now I think it´s time for the second nap of the day. Adios!

Lima is...

...well, Lima is not like Antigua. It´s kinda dirty, but it´s got a cool ´lived in´ feel, which gets lost in Antigua´s bohemian ¨aora¨ (i have no idea how to spell that...) I got in this afternoon and navigated my way to one of the bus stations. All the bus companies have their own terminals and they don´t have schedules at the airport or anything convenient like that - Speaking spanish definetely came in handy today. After spending the day here, I´m wondering how I traveled around so many other countries without speaking the language. Definitely no english around these parts. It´s fun to be able to speak to the locals and somehow sketchy men don´t seem as sketchy once they see that you can speak their language. but and i´m definetely ready to ramp up my conversation skills. I´m sure I sound like a real @-hole most of the time. It took me a while to realize that instead of saying ´can i pay you now?´ I had been saying ´can i poke you now´. people figured it out, but still...those are the kind of mistakes that, since i´m traveling alone, i´d rather not continue making.

Tonight I´ll be snoozing on a night bus. Hopefully they´ll play a jean claude van dam movie...if Peru´s anything like Guatemala, my chances are pretty good they will. More from Ayacucho later this week. Hasta luego.

Roatan Pics

I was really bad about taking pictures in Roatan, so I don´t have that many...but here´s a couple to give you the feel of the place. They just don´t do it justice though!

Antigua Character

Here´s a picture of me with one of my favorite Antigua characters...The French midget chef who works in the cafe down the street from me.

Mishaps in Roatan

My savy travel skills have really been put to the test this weekend. My Korean friend, Miok, and I traveled to Roatan, but we had to stay a night in La Ceiba, Honduras because our bus got in after the last ferry. So I went to withdraw money and left my ATM visa card in the machine. I realized this within the hour, but of course it was no where to be found. Thank goodness for I always have 2 cards on me...

After that mishap we proceed to Roatan the next day and pass the weekend lounging on beautiful beaches, and realizing how good life can be in the Carribean.

On our way back we needed to spend one more day in La Ceiba...the armpit of the bay islands. But we were recommended a great hotel and it all feels very comfortable. 5am we hop in a taxi and at 5:05 we hope out. but i forgot my purse. damndamndamndandmadnandma. i dragged my sorry self back to the hotel as i ponder how to get out of this damned country without a passport, while my friend is comfortably on her way to Antigua. All my smart rules about different types of money to carry don´t work so well when they´re all in your purse and it´s lost.

But the hotel I was staying at was great. The little man who works in the hotel lobby, miraculously enough, remembered the number of the taxi. I now have a new rule and I advise you all to use it...When traveling in taxis, always remember the number of the taxi. This is my new montra. However, just the number of the taxi isn´t enough to actually DO anything. 3 people from the hotel and myself went to the main taxi office to find out the name and number of the taxi driver. but one phone call to the driver wasn´t enough to convince him to give my backpack back. he argued his point, that if something is left in his taxi then it´s his. I see where´s he´s coming from, but just didn´t agree with the sentiment. So the wonderful chica from the hotel had to get quite upfront with him, explaining that we knew all of his information and if he didn´t bring the backpack back we´d call the police and they´d come find it. I´m pretty sure this invoked a laugh as the thought of the police actually doing something was funny even to me. (we´d been calling them all morning, but they just weren´t answering) However, once I explained that there was no money in the backpack and that you needed a code to use my credit card...but that´d i could pay him once he brought it to me...he suddenly had a change of heart and decided to return my ´maleta´ to me in one piece.

Funnily enough, i couldn´t give him any money when he arrived...i had lost my visa, my mastercard wasn´t working because i use it just for purchases and i don´t even know the pin, and all my cash was with my friend who was comfortably sleeping in a bus on her way to Antigua. The man was angry. He yelled, he flailed his arms...and I hid behind the large security man from the hotel and pretended I couldn´t speak spanish. (not that big of a lie really)

So I had my bag back, but still no money...What was i to do without cash in Honduras? I pondered this as I ate a combo meal at wendy´s thanks to my trusty credit card. When you´re down and out it´s nice to know you can still get a frosty.

My fast food infusion reminded me of my secret travelers check stashed away! only after I had spent a good 4 hours waiting in different lines at different banks to no avail..but nonetheless, i regained confidence in my savy travelingness. So i was able to tip the hotel, leave some for the scary man so he doesn´t harass the hotel staff tomorrow, and travel safely back to antigua.

So all in all things have ended well. For the part of my family that worries...remember that despite all my misfortunes this weekend, things ended up just fine and I will now be more careful than ever when traveling around.

I leave for Peru on Tuesday and until then I will be just enjoying my last days in Antigua. Out for now...

ps- i know I should spell check this as i may be the worlds worst speller, but I just can´t figure out how to get the spell check language to english.

More Pictures

Here we have my friend Michelle and I with the Guatemalan ambassodor to Portugal. Interesting man...he likes his Tequila as well.

Also there´s a view of Antigua from this small hike up a little bit out of town...and another view from the rooftop restaurant across the street from my house.

antigua continues...

I haven´t written much lately...sorry about that. Things have been great here though. Since Lake Atilan I´ve just stayed around the Antigua area and concentrated on studying spanish. I´m packing up now as I head out to Roatan tomorrow. I´m going with my Korean friend who doesn´t speak english, so it will be great practice for my spanish! I´ll still have a few more days in aAntigua when i get back, but I´ll have to find a place to stay as my month is up at my luxurious house. I wish I had more time in Antigua as I feel like I´m just getting used the place and really enjoying the company of the people from all over the globe I´ve met here. I´ll add some pictures since I have no outrageous adventures to write about...it´s a gorgeous place. More to come when I return from Roatan mid next week. I also doubt that I´ll be checking email on Roatan as it´s pretty expensive...so don´t worry if you don´t hear anything from me till next wednesday or so (mom:-)).