Back in Belize

So... Its been a while. I'll try to catch you all up without making this excruciatingly long. We left off with us in Flores where we hung out for about 4 days during the celebration of easter which is quite the to do in Guatemala. A major national holiday. from there we had planed to split up, Ahnna going further into Guatemala and myself going down to Utila Honduras to get my dive master training. We were going to split up after we saw Semuc Champey but the drive there was so gorgeous and i got so frustrated with not knowing Spanish that i decided it was more important to learn more about the local language first. Another factor in my decision was some advice that my sister gave me. She pointed out that the major expense when you are traveling is the actual traveling from place to place. staying in one place is relatively cheap, going back and forth is a waste of money, so i decided that i should see Guatemala while i was in Guatemala instead of going to Honduras and then having to come back if i wanted to see it. I fell in love with Guatemala as we passed into the mountain country in the middle. Going from east to west the mountains start small and jagged like the Olympics, and just as green. with white limestone cliffs showing through the jungle in places, and red clay dirt the color of rust and blood. as you get farther west it starts to be reminiscent of the cascades and then the rockies with their more savanna like feel.

Semuc Champey (spelling?) was amazing. A roaring river flows into a cave under a natural limestone bridge. The tributaries that would join with the river there collects into beautiful clear swimming pools. there is a tree that comes out about 40 feet over the water that you can jump off of if you manage to shimmy up it, which i did not. and a 20 foot cliff right next to the tree which i did jump off of. we also went swimming in a cave while we were there. it was cold and dark and incredibly fun.

From Semuc Champey we went to Antigua which is a gorgeous town with old style buildings and cobblestone streets in the shadow of an active volcano. We had a salsa lesson our first day there which was really fun for us. Usually we get frustrated with each other mostly because i get frustrated with myself and Ahnna is usually so much better that she ends up trying to lead. but since we both suck at salsa we were on an even footing and could laugh with each other at our errors instead of getting annoyed. We relaxed and enjoyed wandering around and shopping at the huge local market. I had always heard how cheap Guatemala is... i didn't find it so. I do a decent job bartering, but still you couldn't get many crafts for less than 75 Quetzales (10 dollars). I managed to buy a cool little switchblade for 50Q and a pair of sunglasses i really liked for 25Q. we were in Antigua for 3 days. We were going to go to the volcano but the bus forgot to stop and pick us up from our hotel. we decided it wasn't meant to be, got a refund and took off the next day for the gorgeous Lake Atitlan.

We arrived in a city called Panahachel and took a boat across the lake (which reminds me of Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula) to a little town called San Pedro. San Pedro is a beautiful little Hippy community with a lot of Israeli Tourists. We probably wouldn't have noticed them if we hadn't arrived with a wonderful Israeli couple who pointed them all out to us. There is a great place to eat called Zoo la which in Hebrew means, A place to rest. you can stay in a dorm at a hostel for as little as 25Q a night, thats maybe 3 dollars. There are regular poker games at a El Barrio, and a great dance club called club Freedom, if you like Techno music and fire dancing.

We stayed in San Pedro for a week. We did an immersion Spanish course at the San Pedro Spanish school. for 150 dollars a week you get 4 hours a day of 1 on 1 Spanish instruction/practice with a local teacher under cool little cabanas, out in the grass overlooking the lake. it was a great setting to study in. Also included in that 150 dollars is a room with a local host family that will help you practice speaking Spanish and who feed you 3 meals a day. Like i said, it was a great way to learn and i learned more in that week than in a year of Spanish school during high school. However, after about 3 days of 4 hours a day studying Spanish, we were both feeling how tired we are of school having just graduated last spring. so we decided to make it just one week of classes. On Friday we decided to celebrate being done with school again and went to Zoo la for dinner. Ahnna went to get our Israeli friends from their room around the corner and was gone for quite a bit longer than i thought seemed right. As it turns out she got bit by a dog on the walk over to our friends place. She was walking by a house when an automatic light came on and startled her, she noticed there was a dog standing right near her, she walked by and as soon as she turned away from the dog it lounged at her hamstring. It only grazed her with it very front teeth, but it broke the skin a little and really scared her. i comforted her and our friends Dimitri and Leeron sterilized the wound with iodine. We checked with our host family and they said there was no medical facilities open until Monday and that we would have better luck in Antigua. So we hung out for the weekend, and on Sunday we caught a bus to the huge market at Chichicastenango (spelling?). it was a great experience and we spent way too much money but we got a great patchwork quilt, a wooden mask, a wooden flute, and various other presents. we also got a great big bag to put all our new junk into. we got back to San Pedro and left the next day for Antigua again

we arrived in Antigua on Monday at 12:30 and caught a volcano tour at 2pm. We were glad that we missed it the first time because when we went a new flow had just started that morning and was going strong when we were there. I got to roast a marshmallow over red hot lava. definately one of the coolest experiences of my life. The next day we called the US Embasy and found out where we could get Ahnna a rabies vaccine... we also found out that if you contract rabies, there is no cure and it is fatal. Ahnna was less than thrilled with this news. It also turns out that the vaccine for rabies is a 5 shot process over a 28 days. It was a very stressful experience for us both, mostly for ahnna obviously, but trying to communicate with the doctor who only spoke Spanish was quite fun. we eventually found a couple girls staying at our hotel who had just graduated medical school in Germany and spoke decent Spanish. they came and interpreted for us. we decided to take the vaccine with us and they supplied the syringes. Ahnna woke up with her first ever panic attack that night and didn't manage to slow her heart rate until we turned on the TV and i held her for a bit while we watched the funniest thing i could find on the tube, i don't even remember what it was.

The next day Ahnna decided she wanted to go home, and who can blame her. We had gotten the 4 other vials of vaccine the day before which needs to be kept refrigerated, so we bought a thermos to keep them in with ice. we took a first class bus for 35 us dollars from Antigua to Flores that night. it was a 12 hour trip. we arrived and went back to Los Amigos. It was a very hot day. we did nothing all day but sleep and read. i started and finished a great 400 page book entitled 'Anansi Boys' written by Neil Gaiman. The next day we did a bit of shopping and then caught a colectivo (mini bus) to the boarder of Belize. We crossed the boarder back into Belize and caught a taxi to San Ignacio. we got out of the taxi at Eva's restaurant and who is standing there but Jim from the Barton creek outpost. he says to us, "and thats how that works". I don't know about Ahnna but i felt immediately at home and calm again.

Ahnna has had no subsequent panic attacks and reports feeling much calmer and better now. we are headed out to Barton creek now and i may be able to talk her into staying down here. I still want to head down to Honduras, but the Guatemala trip broke me, so i have to wait for Stewy to come through with the 5000 dollars he has promised me for the trailer. I'll write again the next time we come into town. As always, we miss all of you, and love to hear your comments on our adventures.