Water Filters, Beanie babies and birthdays

The last week in Guatemala was jam packed...why is it that we always seem to run out of time for our projects?! We did finish everything successfully, but we could have easily filled up another month. At the beginning of the week we were checking back up on garden boxes that we had planted at the beginning of our month in Guatemala to see how the were growing and if the families were maintaing them. It was exciting to go back and visit the families and see the vegetables beginning to grow in the gardens. The squash, cucumber and bean plants had especially began to sprout; everything was still really small, but nonetheless it was nice to see that the gardens were growing. A few of the families had even expanded their gardens--making another tablón (raised bed) to plant some more of the seeds we had left with them. When we went back to visit we also brought the beanie babies to distribute to the kids. (For those of you who don’t know, I had kept all the beanie babies from my childhood, and finally decided it was time to part with them, and what better use than to give them to some of the kids we would be working with.) All the kids seemed to be really happy to receive them, so it made me really happy to give them new homes. In one of the communities, Brionne and I made the mistake to give a some to a few kids who saw us giving them to a family. Literally within like 90 seconds of giving those kids beanie babies we were BOMBARDED with people asking for beanie babies. It was absolutely ridiculous. We eventually had to tell Diego to drive away so we would have some for the other communities. It wasn’t a huge deal, because the whole point was to get rid of them, but it turned into a mad rush on beanie babies. It was amazing how quickly word spread that the gringos were handing out stuffed animals. Eventually, once we had met back up with Lorenzo and the other girls and more people showed up asking for toys, we had to make Lorenzo tell them no because none of us had the heart to do so.

On Monday and Tuesday afternoon we collaborated with the medical team from Berkeley to do some workshops related to health and hygiene in the afternoons. The first day we went to a school in a town called Buena Vista. Some of the med people did a workshop with adults; the rest of us split up into groups of three (1 spanish speaker, 2 non spanish speakers) and presented to the kids about teeth brushing, hand washing, hygiene in general and nutrition. It was a lot of fun, although a little crazy. The class I taught was little kids--I think they were around 6 and 7 years old. They knew a lot about teeth brushing already--3 times per day after all the meals and make sure you get all your teeth. Once we got to hand washing, though, it was very interesting. Everyone knew that you were supposed to wash your hands before breakfast, lunch and dinner. It took a while before anyone said anything about washing your hands after playing with animals, after playing outside, after touching trash...and nobody ever said that you should wash your hands after going to the bathroom, which I thought was really interesting. One little boy really impressed me though, I was going around to groups of kids and asking them about washing their hands--he informed that you should wash your hands after playing outside because there are microorganisms on your hands that can make you sick...a 7 year old kid! I was like, whoa, that’s a big word and lot of advanced information--needless to say I was very impressed.

The workshops on Tuesday were a little different. The first one was with older kids--like middle school age--but luckily there were few enough classrooms that I didn’t have to present, I got to tag along with Lorenzo and listen to his spiel. He spent most of the time talking about the proper technique for brushing teeth--and he emphasized that you should brush your teeth after eating because you don’t want to go to hang out with your boyfriend or girlfriend and then have them not want to kiss you because you have garlic breath or something. I thought it was really clever how he aimed his talk at the age group, and somehow managed to keep the engaged for most of the time (despite the fact that there was definitely a class clown and some kids who were totally apathetic). In the second school we were with younger kids again and there were more classrooms so I got to present again. This time though, the class was really small so that made it a lot easier. First we went over the food pyramid and I had each kid draw something from the pyramid (tortilla, bread, vegetable, fruit, milk, meat, sweet, etc) and then drew a big pyramid on the board and had them put their drawing where they though it should go on the pyramid. It was very interesting to see how it ended up. Then I explained how the pyramid should actually be (it’s a little hard because I can’t be like you should eat this x number of times per day, because they don’t have that kind of access to food, sadly). Then we sang some songs about brushing teeth and washing hands, and then we had to leave. I hope at least some of what we did sticks with them. Especially washing hands after going to the bathroom...

Wednesday and Thursday were spent installing water filters with families and following up with our women’s groups. Brionne and I were able to get the stories of some of the girls, which we will posting soon, if anyone is interested in reading them. The second meetings went well, although I don’t think we had the same group at any of them, so it was a little interesting to try and do a follow up type of thing, but we made it work. In terms of water filters, we were only able to get 15 because they were expensive, but we installed them in 4 different communities, so we’ll see how effective they are. Basically we would bring the water filter to the family, have them wash it the way they’re supposed to every 3 months, and then set it up with them. Then, they had a sign a contract saying they would maintain the filter, that they would allow Ami San Lucas to do follow up visits, that they would use it for their family consistently and that they would not sell it to other people. Then they had to pay 25 quetzales (US$3)...which is a whole days pay for a lot of families and therefore a good chunk of money. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to figure out a cheaper way to get more filters.

That was basically the end of our time. Friday I went up the mountain with Lorenzo using public transportation (slightly terrifying), to instal one last filter. Friday night I cooked pizza with my host family which was a lot of fun. They love pizza, but they had never known how to cook it before, so we were able to make 3 pizzas which were delicious. Then Saturday morning we returned to Guatemala City. And Sunday afternoon I headed for Chile!

A little bit of everything in photos

our transportation to work

all dressed up

baking cookies...first time ever using the oven!

sharing some lunch with a cow

sunrise over the lake

planting a huerto con una familia

my favorite grupo de mujeres...they were just plain awesome

Indian Nose, Cayaks and markets...oh my!

This last weekend was full of fun activities around the lake. On Saturday morning, I woke up at 3:30 am to go on the sunrise hike to Indian Nose (a mountain by the lake that looks like an indian’s face, with the highest point being the nose). My host dad is a tour guide, so he took a group of us up on the hike (apparently people aren’t capable of hiking up the mountain themselves...) We drove around and picked everyone up at their houses, so we ended up leaving San Pedro around 4 am. We had decided to hike up the back side (the shorter hike) since it was dark out and since we hike every day in the mountains (a 2 hour hike straight uphill at that altitude and that hour just didn’t sound particularly enticing). So, we drove up the mountain to Santa Clara, parked, got flashlights and headed out on the trail. A few places were a little scary since it was still fairly dark and the ground was wet and slippery, but overall, the hike wasn’t too bad...and most importantly we made it to the top in plenty of time to see the sunrise. It was really beautiful, watching the sun come up over the lake and sky turn from a deep blue to red to yellow-orange and then to daylight. It was definitely worth getting up that early to watch the sunrise. After the sun had been up for a little while we decided we were ready to hike back down the mountain. I think the hike down was actually scarier than the hike up because the spots that had been slippery on the way up were even worse on the way down because it was a lot easier to lose your footing. But anyways, we all made it down in one piece. We drove back down the mountain to San Pedro and dropped everyone off at their houses.

After I got home I learned how to cook Avena with my host mom, which is Guatemalan hot cereal. It’s made with water, oatmeal, milk, cinnamon and sugar and it is my favorite breakfast. It actually wasn’t that hard to make, although I haven’t made it on my own yet. It’s just really warm and yummy and you put bread and bananas in it after it’s cooked to make it even more delicious. After breakfast I got ready to go to Santiago with the other girls. The main attraction of Santiago is that it’s a market town, and although I didn’t plan to buy much (I had already bough too much the year before), it’s still fun to go and look around and see all the bright colors. The price for the boat over to Santiago, has gone up A LOT from what I remember it last year. I think it was only 15-20 quetzales last year, and this year they tried to charge us 40. I argued, or bargained, with the guy who was running it though and finally exasperated him enough that he agreed to give us the round trip for 35 each. I was still a little mad that we had to pay that much, but oh well, there’s not really any other way over to Santiago. So, we loaded up on the boat and went over to Santiago. The first thing I noticed when we got there was that the whole courtyard was underwater. Where there had been lakefront tiendas and a fountain and plaza last wear, there was only the tips of everything sticking out this year--apparently the lake had risen more than I realized. We got off and starting heading up the hill. Of course, now the market stretches all the way down to the dock, so it didn’t take us too long to hit the market. But also, things tend to be more expensive down near the dock. We spent a few hours wandering around and looking at everything--the time always goes by really fast. I ended up getting a few things--mostly presents for other people. I got little purses for the little girls who’s family I’m staying with for the first few days in Chile, I got a beaded belt (the traditional kind that they wear) for my host sister, and I got a leather belt with colorful stitching for me. However, when it came time for me to take the boat back (because I told my family I would be home for lunch at 2), we ran into a bit of a problem. They had only given us one ticket for the 4 of us, and they didn’t want to let 2 of us go on the boat now and 2 go on the next boat--stupid really since we had all payed for our tickets and thus SHOULD have had individual tickets, but didn’t think it would cause such an issue. I, once again, argued with the boat captain until he agreed to let 2 of us and 2 of us stay. (They tried to get us to pay again, but of course THAT wasn’t going to happen). The rest of the afternoon we just hung out in San Pedro--it’s always nice to have some down time after constantly going during the week.

Sunday we decided that we wanted to go kayaking on the lake (spelled “cayak” or “kayack” on the signs in San Pedro). We slept in til 8--oh how the sense of time changes in Guatemala--and then grabbed some breakfast at one of the cafes in town (we don’t eat with our families on Sundays). Of course, it took like an hour to get our food--service moves a very casual pace--so we didn’t end up getting out to the kayaks until about 10. We had decided that we wanted to kayak out to the beach that’s halfway in between San Pedro and Santiago--the kayak people told us it would be about 35 minutes each way. It ended up taking about 45 minutes of straight kayaking to get there because we were going agains the current and the wind picked up (of coursing blowing against us) for the last 10 minutes or so. But, we made it--and it was actually a lot of fun to kayak on the lake, although a little bit tiring. The beach was really nice, the water was luke warm and clear--we swam around for a while, enjoying the water (because you can’t really go swimming in San Pedro because the water at the shore is gross). Then, we decided to head back. It only took about 25 minutes to get back, I think because we were going with the current this time. We all went home, showered and met up again for lunch. I had some Pad Thai...which I had been craving and which tasted amazing until I found a bug in...gotta love how sanitary the kitchens are :) After that, I kinda decided I was done with it.

I had promised my family I would go to church with them that night, so I had to head home around 5:45 to get ready. I had been wearing a knee-length skirt...one that would have been appropriate for church in the states...but I decided I should double check with my host mom because I thought it might be a bit short for Guatemala. I asked her if the skirt was okay or if I should change pants, she said she thought it would be better if I changed to pants. I said okay, I’m going to go change, and then jokingly, too bad I don’t have skirts like you guys. She looked at me and was like, oh! you can borrow one of mine if you like. Of course I took her up on this offer--who knows when I’ll get the opportunity to dress in traditional attire again, and I’ve always wondered if it’s comfortable or not. She ran and grabbed the shirt, skirt and belt for me and then her and Juanita came into my room to help me get dressed (because of course I have no idea how to put them on, the do some fancy wrap thing with the skirt and belt to make it all stay on). They got me all suited up, however, and we headed for church. I have to say, it’s not the most comfortable thing--it’s not super uncomfortable but because you have to put the belt on pretty tight so that nothing falls down, it kind of squeezes your stomach a lot. I got lots of compliments on the outfit at church though, and also a lot of people staring (more than usual...because there are always people staring).

It was a great weekend spent around the lake...and nobody could believe it was our last weekend there!

Language barriers, and cookies :)

We continued working on the garden box project this week; on Sunday, however, the med team from Berkeley also arrived. This meant that Mark would be working with their group and I would be the main person in charge of our group (apart from Lorenzo of course). Before, when we had split into groups, it was always Mark with two or three people from Berkeley and then me and Lorenzo with another person or two. Now, however, it was me with someone else and two of the other girls going with Lorenzo (Andrea got sick and then had to leave early because she’s going to Korea!) In most of the communities, this wasn’t a problem--Lorenzo would take us to the family and then he would leave with the other girls to go plant a garden with another family. Everything would go fine, we’d teach them how to plant, go over the garden map and the brochure--and ta da...done. But, for some reason, in the community of the Paquip, they speak very little Spanish (in all the communities up in the mountains Quiche is the dominant language, but most people also know Spanish, or at least the kids are proficient in Spanish. In San Pedro, everyone speaks Tz’utujil--another native Mayan language--and Spanish), which made it hard to explain what we were doing. We managed to get by--I would explain and then the family would combine the Spanish they knew, we would use gestures, and drawings to help us, and everything worked out. But, it was a very interesting experience--before I had always been with Lorenzo who speaks Quiche, so if there was ever a problem he was able to translate and help me out--but this time we had to make it work with my Spanish (which isn’t perfect of course) and their Spanish (which also wasn’t perfect).

We’ve also started doing interviews with the families about their water (consumption, source, how safe it is, etc). Some people in the medical group who are more focused on public health brought the surveys down, so we’ve been helping them out and interviewing the families we work with about their water. We ask things like where does your water come from (ie do you have your own sink, is there a public tap, do you use the rain, is there a river); is it safe to drink the water straight from the tap or do you have to do something first (ie boil or filter if they have one); does the water have any smell or color when it comes out of the tap; do you store the water anywhere, and if so do you cover it when it’s not in use; how often do you clean the receptacle where you store your water; is there ever a problem with insects; where does the dirty water go; and then also looking at what the houses are made out of and the kitchens. It has been interesting to do the surveys--although again, Lorenzo a lot of times ends up having to translate for me, because even in the towns where they speak fairly good Spanish, a lot of times the older people don’t speak it as well as the youth so Lorenzo has to help me out (or maybe my Spanish is just terrible so they can’t understand what I’m asking ;P).

As it turns out, most people have a private tap now--they used to have public ones, but now almost every house has their own. Occasionally, if relatives live close together they’ll only have one for the extended family. What varies really widely is what the collect it in--some families just have a tap that the put a plastic bucket under to collect water, others have sinks (not like a sink like you would think of in the US, but a different kind). Some people keep water in the sink (they’re really deep and there’s a compartment for storing water) others have metal or plastic barrels, others don’t save water at all because they say they always have water. Almost everyone believes that they have to boil the water before drinking it, only a few families said they drink straight from the tap and that the water is safe (and they were all from the same community, interestingly enough). Most people say there are some problems with flies and mosquitos during the rainy season, but that most of the time it’s not too bad.

Where the dirty water goes really varies a lot as well. In some places there is a pipe that takes it away from the house and dumps it in the street or somewhere else. Other places it just runs away from the sink into wherever. Another thing we have been asking about is bathrooms; most bathrooms up in the mountains are pit toilets--but they vary widely (something I have been noticing), from literally a pit in the ground to a toilet that is set on top of a pit. I think it’s kind of interesting. Also, we ask about the trash (because there is always trash all over the ground and the concept of trash cans doesn’t seem to exist anywhere, not even in San Pedro where I think there’s a trash collection service). Most people use the organic material for fertilizer and burn everything else (plastic, nylon, etc); I think they also just throw a lot on the ground because it’s always all over the place, but nobody will actually admit to that.

Anyways, the surveys have been really interesting. The degree to which people are open about things and how awkward I feel asking them the questions also varies a lot. Some people are really great and answer the questions as best they can, other people mumble one word answers. But, overall, everyone is great--especially because some of the questions I think may seem a little intrusive.

Life with my host family is also going great. I really, really enjoy spending time with my host sister. She’s really cool and a lot of fun to talk to--really mature I think for her age (although the maturity spectrum is different here, seeing as most people get married around 17 and have families by about 19). We always have a lot of fun together. I always have very interesting talks with my host dad during lunch and dinner...ranging on everything from sex ed to how my parents punished me when I got in trouble when I was younger (this was after Juanita got in trouble for something) to what I thought about the government providing subsidies for farmers. It’s always interesting to hear his point of view--and then to try and give a general response for the United States, because opinions are so varied. My host mom is really sweet, she always makes sure I get enough food (I think I’ve gained about 10 pounds already) and asks how my day went and helps me out with anything I need. My brother is funny--he’s always full of energy and saying silly things. His favorite thing to ask me, even when we’re not eating (because it has become a joke) is “te gusta la comida?” (do you like the food?), and if he’s ever quiet, my host mom will say “el disco ya no funcionó” (the disk is broken) and then he will go “que?” and then start talking again.

We all made cookies together last night which was a lot of fun. My mom had never used an oven before, so it was a bit of an adventure. It was a lot of fun though. We all mixed them and put them on the pan to cook and stuck them in the oven. Then afterwards we ate most of them...I think we all had a stomach ache afterwards, but it was totally worth it because it was so much fun.

Potatoes for my head, plain for my stomach, gatorade for rehydration

When we returned from our trip, it was back to the gardens as usual. We have been going up to 5 communities in the mountains, and they’re all starting to blur together because they’re all in the same general area and most of them have really similar names--Paquip, Pasaquim, Panyebar, Palestina and Montecristo. So, it’s hard to keep track of what community we’re in on what day--and sometimes we go to more than one community in a day.

The garden project continues to go really well--we generally visit between 5 to 7 families per day and plant a garden with them at their home. Ami San Lucas decided it would be best to do it this way because they had tried to make communal medicinal gardens before, but nobody took responsibility for them and they didn’t last long (because no one was tending them). Thus, we are planting the gardens with individual families because then we when we go to check on them, we know who is responsible for the gardens and who has been maintaining theirs so we can decide where to take the project next year (ie continue with families, or try a new method).

Basically, we go around the day before we’re going to plant the gardens with a family and ask them if they would be interested in a garden and then instruct them to get a plot of land ready for us--2 meters by 1 meter of earth that is raised in some sort of garden bed and protected by a fence or something if they have animals (like chickens) wandering around. Somehow Lorenzo, the person we work with from Ami San Lucas who is awesome (and VERY helpful because he is trilingual in Spanish, Quiche and Tz’utujil...which I will get back to later), knows his way around all the communities. I know that he has been working in them for a while, but even so the way he navigates around is quite impressive. (For those who haven’t been to rural communities in Latin America, there are not streets and house numbers and all that stuff like in the US, basically people just build there houses wherever and they’re not on any sort of grid, just small dirt paths going every direction and occasionally a cluster of houses, sometimes about a 15 minute walk between them, so, when someone can navigate around, it seems quite impressive to me. Of course, for all I know, we could be going in circles, so really they don’t know their way around...just kidding, I think.)

Anyways, when we show up in the morning we go around to the different houses that we talked to the morning before (we usually split into two groups). We explain the garden and why we are interested in planting it (I’m getting good at that spiel)...basically we say we want to plant a garden with your family that’s small and easy to maintain, but in which you can plant a lot of different kinds of vegetables. Our hope is that with this garden the children can get the nutrients the need to grow up healthy. (All the families have kids, most have kids under 5 years old). Then we divide the garden bed the made into little squares and explain the that in each little square a different vegetable will be planted (with some repeats because we only have 11 vegetables). Then, we plant cilantro around the outside of the box because it acts as a natural insect repellant and they can also use it in the food. Then, with the help of the family, we plant the vegetables--cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, onion, beans, beets, radishes (which is the favorite vegetable of everyone), cucumber, and squash (plus the cilantro around the outside). Depending on the size of the vegetable, you can plant a different number in each square (for example broccoli is one per square, carrots are nine per square). As we’re planting the garden we make a “map” saying which vegetables are where and how many are in each square. At then end, we give the family the garden map, the seeds and a brochure about garden boxes. We explain that we are leaving them with the seeds so that when the first harvest comes then can plant the garden again--but in the same garden-box method. Or, they can also make another garden box so that they have more vegetables. We have been able to go back to a few families, and the gardens are starting to sprout a little bit already!

So, all in all, the project is going really well :) So, of course, I was having a great time in Guatemala, excited for the weekend and doing something fun, and I had to get sick. I started feeling a little funny Friday evening but figured I was just tired. I went to bed early, then woke up about 1 am and felt super nauseous--a very strange feeling for me. And, well, it didn’t go away so you can guess what happened next. Luckily, I only threw up a couple times, then I was able to go back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning I felt awful though. I went upstairs for breakfast--we were supposed to have corn flakes, but I told me host sister I couldn’t eat that because I had been sick and my stomach was still feeling really weird, so she sent my host brother to buy me some plain french bread. I had that for breakfast, then came back down to my room and slept until lunch. For lunch they made chicken soup, so I was able to just have the broth. Then I slept some more. When my host mom came home she brought me some tea and asked what I wanted for dinner. I told her something plain, like rice or pasta with nothing on it. She also told me a remedy they use in Guatemala is putting potatoes on your forehead because it’s supposed to help with the chills. So, she cute up some potatoes and a tshirt and tied the potatoes to my forehead--at that point I was willing to try almost anything because I still felt a bit queasy, it felt like someone had hit me over the head with a bat (but I couldn’t take advil for fear that it would come back up) and I had the chills and essentially just felt like....well, you know, really terrible. Somehow, I think the potatoes actually helped, or I just started to get better. My big excursion in between lunch and dinner was to go the tienda that’s about 15 paces from my house and buy some gatorade to help rehydrate. I had plain past for dinner and went back to bed--I think I slept for basically 36 hours, but it paid off because Sunday I was able to get out of bed. In the morning I still felt pretty bad, but at lunch time I was able to go out and get some food (because we don’t eat with our host families on Sunday, my family was nice enough to give me bread and coffee this Sunday since I was sick). After lunch time I started feeling better, I think eating real food again was really exciting. By Sunday evening I felt like I could work the next day, but I still went to bed really early. I have to say, I hate being sick, and when you’re not in your own bed, it’s even worse. Hopefully I’ll stay well now!

Ziplining video

I'm not sure how great the quality is, but here is a video of one of the longest ziplines :)

A few photos

The hieroglyphic staircase in Copán
Arrival in Honduras
Our first grupo de mujeres
One of our first garden boxes
The presidential election is coming up in September, so political parties have painted their sign on...literally...everything (rocks, light posts, stores...)

One of our first days in San Pedro

Three countries in four days

We decided to take our big trip at the beginning of the second week in hopes that we might be able to pick up our water filters along the way. We had contacted some organizations in Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. So far, we had only heard back from Nicaragua, and they were quite a bit cheaper than Guatemala, but also fairly far away. Unfortunately, we didn’t hear back from Honduras or El Salvador, so we ended up having to get filters in Guatemala anyways. We did eventually hear back from Honduras, and their filters were about the same as Guatemala--so it wasn’t so bad that we didn’t hear back from them. Our trip was a lot of fun. We decided to go to Copán this year because there had been some problems up in the Tikal area with the drug traffickers from Mexico coming down into Guatemala. The first day, Saturday, we just drove across the country--literally. We left San Pedro at 6 in the morning and took a boat over to Pana. There, we met Samuel, our driver. We all loaded up in the car and hit the road for Rio Dulce. Sometime around 11:30 (I’m not exactly sure what happened because I was sleeping), we broke down in Guatemala City. Something smelled like it was burning and then something started smoking--never a good sign. We had broken down right behind another truck that had run out of gas; of course, this caused a huge traffic jam because there are not shoulders on the road in Guatemala so we were stalled out in one of the lanes of a two lane freeway. At one point, another car that was trying to pass us broke down right next to us, blocking both of the lanes so nobody could get by. Luckily, it was a little car, so we all got together and pushed it up the road (of course we were stalled out on a hill). Eventually, the traffic police came and asked Samuel what had happened. He explained to them and they helped direct traffic around us. When a big semi truck was about to go around us, the traffic police stopped them and asked them to pull us up the hill (just a random truck that was driving by). Sometime during all this, the truck that had run out of gas got more gas and drove off; we got tied to the back of the semi-truck with a rope they had and they pulled us up the road to a place where we were out of the way (one of the guys who was driving the semi was shirtless and decided to pose on the back of the truck for us while they were towing us...it was SO FUNNY). We got up the hill, said thank you them and then decided we would hail taxis (in the middle of the freeway, no less) to take us up to McDonalds..the closest place we could go. We hung out there for about an hour to wait for our new driver (because generally when the engine is smoking it’s not just a quick fix).

We all got some lunch...of course only the best quality from McDonalds. Brionne, who’s a vegetarian, tried to order a grilled cheese. It took 5 minutes and 5 people working at McDonalds and me to translate what she wanted...I guess grilled cheese isn’t something they often have ordered. But, eventually, very confusedly, the confirmed that she wanted just bread with cheese, nothing else, and she got her grilled cheese. We continued on our way to Rio Dulce that night and made it, surprisingly, before dark. That night we just hung out near our hotel and grabbed some dinner down by the river. The next day, everyone except me went on a boat ride down the river to Livingston. I decided that since I’d gone last year, I wasn’t going to go again this year. It’s a lot of fun and a really pretty ride, but I decided I would save the money and do the canopy tour instead, because I didn’t want to pay for both.

So Saturday morning, when they all left at 7, I got to sleep in :) It was nice, I slept pretty late, til about 9:30, then got up, took a cold shower (because it’s really hot and humid in Rio Dulce), packed up my things, found our van driver (Jorge) and dropped my stuff in the car. Then I grabbed my book and headed on down to the restaurant on the river. I spent the whole morning just reading and hanging out. It was nice to actually relax and not have to do anything. Right before everyone got back, I found some old alumni from Cal who were also vacationing down in Guatemala. I talked with them for a little while until everyone got back from the boat ride. After that, we hit the road for Copán. Of course, we got going later than we meant to and didn’t hit Honduras until dusk...breaking the golden rule of traveling in Central America...NEVER TRAVEL AT NIGHT!!!

Luckily, because we were at the border, there’s always tons of security around and even though they assured us it would be safe to drive to Copán because there were police all along the way, Mark insisted that someone accompany us just to be on the safe side (and of course we would provide them with compensation). We ended up hanging out at the border for like 45 because some of the people were going home so they said they would just drive with us and make sure we were safe. Crossing the border wasn’t too bad. You just have to pay a little bit to get out of Guatemala and a little to get into Honduras and then show your passports at both places. We saw a couple of really big toads while we were waiting, but we crossed the road to look at them they hopped away quickly. Anyways, we drove into the city of Copán and found a place to stay for the night. The city is really cute, it reminds me of an old colonial city--it has a little plaza in the middle and cobblestone streets. We wandered down by the plaza for dinner and found a nice little restaurant. I got papusas which were delicious and a cerveza made in Honduras, to compare with the Guatemalan ones--it was pretty good. After dinner we all went back to our rooms and went to sleep because we had to get up early the next day to get to the ruins. The next morning we just ate in the cafe at our hotel. I got a baleada--a Honduran speciality which is essentially a flour tortilla with beans and cheese and sour cream and hot sauce...really, really yummy.

Once again, we got on the road later than we meant to because we all to go to the ATM to get out Limperas, because all we had were Quetzales. Luckily, the ruins were only about 10 minutes from our hotel so we still got there right as they were opening. The whole area the ruins are in is a lot smaller than Tikal and the ruins are nearly as grandiose, but they have a lot more intricate detail. There are a lot of statues and detailed carvings in the pyramids themselves...and there was one structure that said it was a steam bath! We spent the whole morning wandering around the ruins (and of course climbing all the ones we were allowed to). They had everything from royal residences to a hieroglyphic staircase that supposedly told the story of Copán was started to a ball court. It was cool--and I enjoyed seeing all the various carvings they had (some looked, really, really, strange). Once we had finished with the main plaza and the residences, we went out a “nature trail” which is supposedly where the common folk lived, except they haven't really excavated it yet. So mostly what you can see is a bunch of mounds where the houses used to be, with a few things excavated, and then they have put up some signs talking about how their daily lives were. After the ruins we went over to the canopy tour. It was a little hard to find because it’s in the middle of nowhere and we had to ask like 4 people for directions, but eventually we found it. It was AWESOME...some of the ziplines were over 1 kilometer long...it feels like you’re flying through the air forever. And on a few of them you go over these huge canyons, which is a little scary, but really cool to see all the trees down below. I think everyone enjoyed it.

After that, we all loaded up into the car again and headed for El Salvador. We wanted to hiking in Parque Nacional Montecristo up to a point in the mountains where Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador come together, but after we got to El Salvador, we realized it would be a whole day excursion. We debated whether we should blow off work for another day and go, but ultimately decided against it. So, we just ended up hanging out in the little town of Metápan, El Salvador for the night. The hotel was really expensive--$20--but the food was cheap (oh yeah, they use the dollar in El Salvador, which was weird). We went to a little taco restaurant across the street from our hotel and got really yummy tacos. I also accidentally ordered a sandwich...my brain wasn’t functioning and I thought I was ordering a tostada (like fried tortilla with stuff) but I ordered a torta (sandwich)...but it turned out to be really good. Then, we just hung out and wandered around the rest of the night. We tried to find a club or something to go to, but there wasn’t much going on. The next morning we hit the road again for San Pedro.

The whole trip was a lot of fun and I’m glad we got to go. It was cool to see Copán and compare it to Tikal and to go on a different canopy tour. I’m bummed we didn’t get to go hiking, but hopefully I’ll be able to come back sometime :)

Now...the pictures I’ve been promising...