Oregon: a beer lover’s paradise August 8, 2011

07.23.11 Eugene

Eugene has to be the most blatantly hippie town we have ever been. It makes Santa Cruz and San Francisco seem like Provo, Utah. In other words: we loved it! As I mentioned before the entire city is teeming with greenery with beautiful little homes tucked between. Everywhere is walk-able, so after waking and walking to an astounding veggie breakfast at a hip little cafe with the best carrot-cake muffin I have ever consumed, we walked then to the cities Saturday farmers market.

The market was a big deal; lots of delicious local food and unique crafts. This was where the ultra-hippie-ness of Eugene became apparent as everyone congregated outside town hall for a big crusty drum circle. In the middle of the chaos was this ancient couple of old hippies.

I have determined that this is to be Jessica and I in fifty or so years, but I think we’d better start doing way more drugs! I guess I will just have to get used to Jessica having a beard too.

More proof that Eugene is one of the weirder cities on the planet is shown in the following two photos. Observe in photo number 1 how dirty and crusty the dancing hippies are.

In this next picture is apparently a church group playing instruments to the accompaniment of said crusty hippies.

This is why we loved Eugene. Only here can two so different groups come together in such peace and harmony. Retirees and hippies, hipsters and young families, driven college students and complete slackers: Eugene has something for everyone!

We loved exploring more of the farmers market, then headed to the “Taste of Eugene” event, where dozens of stalls served utterly delicious food and beer at particularly low prices for a food festival. Seriously, like $2 for chicken skewers, $1 for homemade corn bread, $3 for beer. Oregon is awesome.

The day of food, fun, friends and beer ended with cake, followed by resting our feet and chatting at Christina’s humble abode. Eugene is a cute city, but more exploration beckons, so onward and upward!

07.24.11 Eugene to Bend

Our first stop on our way to Bend was at Cougar hot springs. We parked along a massive reservoir and did the short hike to a series of five rock pools of steaming hot mineral water. In the pools sat a variety of people including a very loud, very large, and very drunk family of…what’s a polite way of saying it: “town-folk”? All of fourteen teeth between them clacking away made the scene a wee-tad uncomfortable, though thankfully the heat and liquor got the best of them and they picked up and left.

We were left then with a bunch of naked older dudes, soaking to the bone. Not too much better, but we’ll take it. The pools were enjoyable, a bit too hot for me, but Jessica apparently thrives in volatile environments. The surroundings did give the pools a sincere charm, but soon we decided to hit the road, still so much to see!

The road from the springs to Bend was curvaceous and beautiful. What we did not expect, however, was massive volcanic rocks sprawling as far as the eye could see. Deschutes national forest was unexpectedly awesome in this respect. Lava rocks with pockets of lush forest and surrounded by snow-capped mountains. One of the more surreal and beautiful bits of scenery we have witnessed yet! The drive was spectacular, with a few wonderful spots to stop along to way for particularly picturesque views.

Bend was a far cuter city than we’d imagined. Initially our only reason for stopping through was one of our favorite Breweries, the aptly named Deschutes. What we found was a tiny California surf town, though neither in California, nor in fact anywhere near the ocean. That didn’t stop the locals from participating in water sports as nearly half the town had taken their board, inner-tube, or any floating device they could get their hands on, to lazily float down the river under a stunning blue sky, and big, bright yellow sun

After we headed to the local hotspot, 10 Barrels, for more awesome beer, and some sincerely delicious pub food. The place was packed with clean-cut locals ranging from tattooed youngsters to golf-attired adults. Not a crusty, smelly hippie for as far as the eye can see. Truly the antithesis of Eugene, Bend felt more like San Diego or Orange county coast, though maybe without as much plastic surgery?

We headed north again towards Mt. Hood and Portland. The night was soon upon us however, so we drove through some picturesque farmland to Cove Palisades State Park where we set up tent in an RV vacation park just a bit off of a massive river carving through a huge gorge.

07.25.11 – Mt. Hood

We awoke, pack up and left, taking in one last view over the gorge.

Through the farms we went again then up north to Mt. Hood State Park. Driving through the trees and fog was beautiful. Jess prefers clear blue skys, but I think the fog gives the trees a unique and eerie atmosphere. We took a right turn on some scenic road, and we ended up at the historical base lodge of Mt. Hood. We had some great views of the mountain plus the forest below, and in the charming lodge we received valuable information for the next part of our exploration of Mt. Hood.

We swooped through the tall trees of Mt. Hood and to the gorge which carves the border between Washington and Oregon. The gorge sported some great hiking and cascading waterfalls which we spend a good few hours exploring, then back in the car to hit Portland.

We headed directly to Jay and Teresa’s place where for the first time we got to meet baby Callie, almost 1 year old now! She was as adorable as the tales told, and seeing Teresa again for the first time in a long while was a great treat. Jay however, with his busy work schedule would not be home for hours, so Jess and I cooked a big dinner for everyone and chatted with Teresa about the joys and not-so-joys of motherhood.

Jay finally came home, we kept him up a bit past bedtime catching up, then we all hit the sack.

07.26.11 – Portland

Breakfast at the Swedish restaurant Broder was flawless. The place was cute, hip, and the food delicious. Every little detail was considered in this place, from the hot milk served in glass measuring bottles, to the square eggs. Truly Portlandish.

It is our second time in Portland, we had to give another visit to the bookstore behemoth: Powell’s Books. Apparently an entire city block was not enough books as they have since added another section of the store across the street. The city center is great with towering buildings dotted with hip cafes, unique shops, weird art, parks, fountains, and the usual spotting of meth-heads. If Eugene belongs to the Hippies, Bend to outdoor enthusiasts, then Portland belongs to Hipsters…and meth-heads. All three are unique, all three have amazing beer, with no sales tax, and all three we love! Oregon is quickly becoming a place we could consider moving.>

Next stop was an unexpectedly delicious brewery called Hopworks. We had their sampling of 12 beers, with some great bread sticks and salad. Beer is fun, and if we lived in this town, the HUB brewery would be a common hangout for us.

We headed back to meet Teresa and Callie for a walk (or for some of us, a backpack ride) through Reed University. A very cute brick campus splattered with vines and trees. On the way back I found he feeding habits of the locals ducks to be hysterical. They just stuck their heads underwater, their butts sticking out, I don’t know if everyone else was as amused.

Back at the homestead Callie met a group of her friends, the neighborhood young-uns. They quickly became fast friends of me as well, likely because I humor them with their odd questions, and my silly retorts. Soon they decided to pile on top of me, this is something that seems to happen often in my life, I’m like the Pied Piper.

Jay came home early and Jess and I cooked dinner for them, some salad, chicken, and pasta leftovers from the night before. We all went over the the neighbors place where the kids were getting naked around chickens and a tiny pool. After hanging out past sunset, we let Jay and Teresa catch some much needed sleep and headed out to see more of Portland.

This is when the greatest beer of my life, the opus of beer making, the pinnacle of greatness graced itself upon our lips. Cascade Barrel Brewing, and its crew of magical beer wizards, poured us a sampling of four glorious beers. Each brewed using old time traditional methods, lovingly hand brewed, with top ingredients, and aged to perfection in a variety of oak barrel casks previously used to ferment liquors such as Cabanet Sauvignon and Whiskey. The Bourbonic Plague, or as beer enthusiasts such as ourselves may call it “perfection.” A very dark, sour porter brewed in bourbon and wine barrels, with hints of vanilla and cinnamon and aged 14 months with dates. Now don’t let the description fool you, it is anything but a sweet beer: full bodied, thick, and incredibly delicious!

Such perfection comes at a cost. None of the beers are available for sale outside of the tasting room itself. The Bourbonic Plague, emperor of beers, is only bottled in tiny batches, typically only available on draft in this establishment. This particular brewing process I suppose is too precious to squander on plebeians with bottles.

After our tasting, the place closed for the night, only our greatest luck allowed us to get there minutes before. With the shutting of the gates, so shut my dreams…I guess we will just have to move to Portland…

The next stop was an English pub, the Brass Horse, cute, eclectic, and serving more local beers par excellence. Still, my thoughts and taste-buds had been Plagued, Bourbonic Plagued! Okay enough, likely no one but me cares how awesome it was…but seriously it was awesome. Oregon has conquered our taste-buds with good food and great beer at remarkably reasonable prices for everything…did I mention we would consider moving here?

Well that’s all of Oregon. As always the full set of pics is at our Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets

And then: a grey whale in a river… July 31, 2011

07.21.11 - NW California to SW Oregon

We awoke early in Arcata to a haze of fog and began our journey north up the coast. Moonstone beach was as magnificent as the name sounds. It was impossible to tell where the fog ended and the white sand beach began.

We spent some time wandering around, checking out the tide pools, entranced by the eerie atmosphere created by the fog. Hours went by as we then cruised slowly up the coast stopping at every beach on the way. Eventually the fog cleared and we received some even more exquisite views.

Our first major stop for the day for some hiking was in Prairie Canyon State Park. We were promised by our Couchsurfer the night before that we would see Elk, and wouldn’t you know it, we got the royal treatment with no less than 15 elk cows and bucks along the beach. It was astounding getting close and snapping photos, taking in their full majesty. I didn’t even know we had elk in California!

The hike we then embarked on took us through a stunning canyon covered wall to wall in flowing ferns and wispy waterfalls. It was a great little hike.

We left the park particularly satisfied in all we’ve seen already today. As we drove we discussed the possibilities for camping tonight when we came to a bridge covered in people looking excitedly over the edge. At first we assumed people were merely excited about the view of the wide river, though it did not seem particularly astounding. I then spied a spout shoot out of the water, and reconsidered that theory. We parked and walked back to discover a grey whale and her baby had managed to swim upriver from the ocean outlet and was now swimming back and forth under the bridge. They may have come in at high tide and gotten caught in the river.

After plenty of time spent in awe of this creature, we got back in the car and soon hit the Oregon border. The evening ended viewing a gorgeous sunset behind a lighthouse on a hill near our campsite.

07.22.11 – Eugene Bound

The trip along the Oregon coast to Bend was more and more beauty. Along the way we turned off into an ultra-cute little port town named Bandon. We enjoyed some kitschy shops, crab sandwich and clam chowder, wandered the docks, grabbed some toffee and headed out.

We arrived in Eugene to our college friend Christina’s house in the afternoon. She rents a room in an amazing house with a huge garden in a neighborhood so choked by plants you feel you are still in the woods while walking the streets. For the evening we went with some of her friends to a bluegrass show with the aptly named “Water Tower Bucket Boys” who are really just four hipsters dressed in olde tyme clothes, playing olde tyme music. It was surprisingly fun, some good beer and dancing was enjoyed by all. The night ended with a long walk home late at night with the streets still bustling with bicyclists and tipsy party-goers.

More to come about Eugene and our journey to Bend, Portland, Seattle and beyond. It is a great trip thus far, sorry I am a tad behind in writing, there is simply so much to do!

As always the pictures we take can be found in our Flickr albums at:

http://flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets

Post 101: A new journey begins… July 24, 2011

Well, it’s been nearly a year since the last time I logged into WordPress to keep up the Central America blog. As it turns out, through years of travels, we have posted exactly 100 posts until now! It’s time again for our yearly adventure, this time perhaps less adventurous compared to our previous travels; I am sure to the relief of parents who will need not concern themselves over malaria, muggings, terrorist attacks, , snake bites, drowning, rabies, shark attack, leprosy, cerebral edemas, bubonic plague, and the wide variety of hazards we are usually susceptible to along our journeys. This time we have planned a month exploring swaths of western and mid-western United States with a hint of Canada! There may be some grizzlies and mountain lions to battle as well as those vicious Canadian hockey hooligans, but for the most part, it should be a pretty easy-going, fun-filled road trip. Let Dave & Jessica’s great adventure of 2011 BEGIN!

07.18.11 – Mendocino

Sakura desperately did not want us to go! We physically had to drag her out of the car back into the house as we prepared to leave. That last look she gave us was heart crushing, but she will be in the good hands of our close friend Andrea. It was an easy three hour ride up to Redwood Valley in Mendocino. I did manage to send Jessica driving 20 minutes in the wrong direction, but no big deal, I need to shake the rust off those famous navigation skills of mine.

We pulled into the Frey vineyards where our college friend Molly lives with her adorable son Osiris, her husband Daniel, and Daniels huge family! By huge I mean 1,000 acres of property filled with countless relatives, goats, cows, chickens, lambs, vegetables, orchards, and of course grape vines. Our stay consisted of hiking with the goats to pasture, chopping veggies, exploring the numerous nooks and crannies of the property, playing with Osiris, squeezing goat nipples, and hanging out with the unpaid farmhands (young WOOFers who stay for free on organic farms around the world in exchange for labor; like Couchsurfing, but dirtier).

One of our favorite parts of the experience was Lamby. Lamby is a lamb who thinks he is a dog. The moment he sees you his whole body wags and he comes leaping towards you like a cheerful puppy. When lamby is fed nightly via goat nipples (no other sheep to feed lamby) he enters a state of pure euphoria, and walks around like he is completely stoned out of his skull. Watching this is hysterical!

07.19.11 – Mendocino to Arcata

After a huge breakfast of omelettes made from last nights egg harvest and a fond farewell to our new and old friends we hit the road again. The trip up to Arcata was beautiful, the most eventful portion of the trip through the Avenue of Giants. We drove as slow as possible to fully take in the surrounding beauty and the majesty of the worlds tallest and some of the oldest trees, the tallest at 360ft+ and the oldest recorded tree at 2,200 years! We spent hours hiking through trails surrounded on all sides by these beautiful red sentinels, a truly serene experience.

The rest of our trip was easy, a bit of the Bossypants audiobook and some pretty scenery later and we were in the cute, sleepy town of Eureka and then into Arcata just north. We soon met up with our Couchsurfeing host Brittany. We all went together for some greasy dinner at a bar, then to a Brewery we are quite fond of in this area: Lost Coast Brewery. The sun went down as we walked and talked through the upscale wharf district of Eureka, then back home we went for some well deserved sleep.

07.20.11 – Arcata

Arcata is a cute, small town, nestled between huge redwood forests and a stunning coastline. It is most famous for the predominance of its Green Party politics, counterculture mentality, disc golf, marijuana, and Humboldt State University; all of which go pretty much hand in hand. We spent the day exploring its many nooks and crannies. The campus is very reminiscent of Santa Cruz (our Alma Matter in case you weren’t aware), although a more petite version. We spent a big chunk of the day hiking through its very impressive redwood park.

In the park we came across many wondrous things including a 9-hole disc golf course. Like regular golf, the premise is to get one object from point A to a resting place at point B. Unlike golf it is played with various sized discs, is thrown into a chain net with a holding cage, you don’t have to wear goofy clothes, and it is free! The course was very pretty, filled with natural hazards like blackberry bushes, and poison oak as opposed to sand traps and waterways. We would have loved to play, but had no equipment. We then came across this one particularly inebriated gentlemen complaining that he was having trouble finding where each hole began.

We then went and explored more Humboldt campus. Pretty, though we wish it weren’t summer, it would be much more entertaining to see the students moving about the campus. After a quick lunch of leftover noodles we drove out to the Mad River Brewing Company a couple small cities over in blue lakes. The tasting platter was great, particularly the refreshing Pale Ale, and the Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout!

Then we headed back to the coast to Trinidad where we walked along some glorious beaches and appreciated the terrific weather, sunny, but with a constant cool breeze; perfect!

Back to one more brewery for a sampler. The Six Rivers Brewery had some fruity beers which we actually quite enjoyed, unusual for us beer snobs. They also had a nice wheat and porter. Yum.

Then to town for some grocery shopping. We made our host some of our world famous Quesodillas and Pico de Gallo, chatted for a bit and went to sleep.

Well that’s the first blog for the month. Hope you enjoyed it. As always we upload only our best pictures to our Flickr site. I will often post pictures before writing the blog. Here is the site in case you forgot:

http://www.flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets

Another World Wonder August 19, 2010

07.14.10

We arrived in Merida a little after 5am, and thankfully the owner of the hostel we wished to stay was awake, but no rooms available until nine. So we finished our slumber on the couches in the common room. We woke up, checked in, and ate some breakfast at a fancier Mexican version of Denny’s.

Merida is another very impressive city with large stone cathedrals and Yucatan state municipal buildings flanking a large plaza in the center. The heat and mosquitoes aren’t very welcome from the previous weeks of cool, bug-free climates, but its worth it.

I spoke at length with a patient fellow at the information office using my broken Spanish, which is more of an English/Spanish blend with the occasional German word when my brain confuses which foreign language I am speaking. He suggested a series of less visited Cenotes for us to go to just outside of town. The journey to these underground rivers was almost as fun as the Cenotes themselves.

We first had to walk across the city to the bus station and get tickets for the tiny town of Cozuma. Once let out at Cozuma a couple of guys on mototaxis greeted us, and for the extortionate price of 50 pesos ($4) he drove us two kilometers to the staging area.

Staging area? You may be asking. A small collection of thatch huts stood in the middle of nothing else where horses grazed in the fields and a handful of local tourists waited for their turn. For the next part of the journey we rode what are called Caballitos; small carriages pulled along two foot tracks by very skinny horses. Jessica and I fit in with two Mexican sisters and two adorable kids that I made faces at the entire journey.

The Caballito ride through the jungle felt a lot like Big Thunder Road at Disneyland as the horse strained slowly up tiny hills to gallop their way down; our iron caboose clicking and clanking rapidly down the tracks as me and the five year old boy screamed loudly. Being only one track, we had to get out and lift the car off to let others pass. An experience I doubt exists many other places on the planet, videos to be posted soon.

For the next three hours we partook on a beautiful Cenote adventure via horse-pulled train, descending into three different massive caverns filled with crystal clear, blue waters. What with all the mosquitoes, massive horse-flies, and muggy heat; the cool water was delicious, and the empty caves very peaceful.

On the return journey we were hit by a rather large lightning filled storm making the adventure just that much more epic. However, I did lose my shirt on the journey; by far the most upsetting thing that has happened on this trip yet.

When we arrived back at the staging area, transportation back to Merida was a bit difficult to come by, so we huddled under a straw hut with the large family and some British friends we made. As we waited for our ride to arrive, we were entertained by an irate male horse trying to mount a feisty mare and the owner trying to control him.

The ride back was much easier as the Mexican family got a van directly to Merida. We had a bad meal at a restaurant that actually made us miss Mexican food back in California, then we went to bed.

07.15.10

By 6am we were on a nearly empty hour long bus towards the ruins of Uxmal. We arrived forty minutes before it opened, and grabbed breakfast at the hotel nearby. Being the first people to set foot inside the ruins just as it opened was unbelievable. For an hour we had the place all to ourselves, with no kids running around yelling, and no one to get in our pictures. Just awesome.

We wandered the grounds for over an hour playing with the birds and iguanas, and taking in all the glory of Uxmal ruins.

Later in Merida we visited the governors palace and were in awe of the murals painted by Fernando Castro Pacheco who impressively captures the struggles of the Mayan people for the last few hundred years.

We topped off our day with some internet use, a nap, and in the evening watching some local music and colorful dancing at a street festival.

07.16.10

We slept in and were soon on a bus to Valladolid, only a little over two hours away. Our book said that a good, clean, and most importantly cheap hostel was run by somewhat of a local legend; Antonio Aguillar, the self-proclaimed “King of Baseball.” Our first stop in the city was knocking on his door to be greeted by a very elderly man in a rolling chair wearing nothing but a tight pair of white undies; a picture may have been too much to ask for; so you’ll have to use your imagination. His humble abode was decorated with baseball memorabilia, as he was once a champion baseball player in the Yucatan (didn’t even know they played baseball here). He gave us keys and directions to our room a few blocks down, where we dropped off our bags and hit the town.

A running theme so far on this trip is cute, colonial towns, this is not an exception. After some delicious lunch of chicken, avocado, and salsas, we headed for the cenote in the middle of the town. It weas a bit of a dissapointment after the incredible trip two days ago, but worth a quick dip. The rest of the day was spent being very lazy; purchasing some tequila, hanging out in the room, and ending the night with a terribly LONG dinner at a fancy hotel we were told would be delicious. Even compared to the far cheaper food at the food bazaar today, the meal we had was disappointing and took forever to come to our table, but the setting was nice.

We strolled by moonlight then off to dreamland.

07.17.10

So here we are again at the butt crack of dawn on a bus towards another set of ruins. These however are not just any old ruins, they mark Jessica and my third of seven wonders of the modern world. First the Coliseum of Rome, then the Taj Mahal of India, and now the ancient Mayan CHICHEN ITZA!!!

Again we were the first ones to the front gates, no other tourists willing to wake up so early to see the world wonder without other humans to bump elbows with. Three minutes past opening time we stood staring at the people behind the ticket booth. Every second ticking by in wait for them to finish getting ready for the day, until finally they stamped our tickets and let us through!

It ended up being a lot smaller than we expected it to be…

While most certainly strikingly beautiful, the great pyramid of Chichen Itza and the surrounding complexes ended up being a bit of a disappointment to be called a world wonder. The Great Wall of China and the Pyramids at Giza sure, but this was so tiny in comparison! Especially when compared to the unbelievably magnificent ruins of Angkor in Cambodia, which through some completely idiotic or bureaucratic nonsense is not on the list of world wonders! For shame world wonder board members, for shame!

There were even other ruins on this trip that were more impressive, and with much deeper historical significance; Tikal for instance, but here we are, and we are her to enjoy, so enjoy we did; for a number of hours.

By the time we were ready to leave, the flood gates had opened. Hundreds upon hundreds of people stacked in fancy buses straight from Cancun began trickling in. Tourists who bravely left their resorts for a true adventure being packed together with other white people.

We chatted with a really great couple from Oregon as we waited for our bus, and became fast friends on the way back to Valladolid. Back in town we all grabbed some lunch at the food bazaar, and chatted for a couple hours to then part ways and go back to our room for a shower and a nap.

Great minds truly do think alike as we picked a really nice looking place with live music for dinner and lo and behold, our new friends coincidently sitting down with some beers. The rest of the night involved lively conversation, lime soup, a dish wish FAR too much cheese, a good number of beers, and finally me on the toilet, popping a pepto, not happy about eating the cheese dish.

07.18.10

Again on the bus towards our final destination; Isla Mujeres. We had to disembark in Cancun, but not the “little America” part of Cancun, rather the actual city which was formed solely as a place to live for the workers who built and run the resort area.

A short taxi to Puerto Juarez, the dock where we loaded on a large boat to Isla Mujeres, the Island of Women. It is named for the stone statues of female gods found littering the shores by the Spanish.

Having spent a thousand bucks under our budget for this trip, we decided to splurge a bit on a nice room on this more resorty island. We picked a place online called Na Balam with rooms ranging around $50 a night; huge for us!

After a walk across the island and arrival at our hotel, we learned the website we checked prices was WAY wrong. More like $120 per room. The concierge recognized our concern and managed to drop the price down to $90, which after looking at their beautiful standard room, we agreed to.

Soon our friends Patrick and Jenni had arrived from Cancun; here on their honeymoon, and we toured the island in a rented golf cart, while our room was prepared.

It was great catching up with them after a long time, and much more fun than if we’d actually gone to their wedding! Our wedding gift was a massive bottle of blanco tequilla which we wasted no time getting in to. The island tour was made even more enjoyable.

We got back to the hotel and got a devastating piece of news. Our room had some issues, and no more cheaper rooms were available; so we were forced to settle with a free upgrade to the Luxury Suite complete with an infinity bath on the deck looking out over the flawless blue ocean; such a difficult life…

You can guess how we spent the rest of the day. Lots more drinking, lots of bathing; even bringing beers and tequila out a few hundred feet into the knee deep ocean and having an awesome time.

Jenni and Patrick didn’t want to return to their Cancun resort, so they checked into the room next to ours and the debauchery continued into the night.

07.19.10

Jess and I woke up to a complementary yoga class under a thatch roof with rain trickling all around. It should have been perfectly relaxing yoga, but the mosquitoes singled me out, making it impossible to soak into my sevasana.

The rest of the day was spent doing entirely nothing, and it was absolutely incredible. Tequila, sand, water, and sunburns is the only way I can describe it. The absolutely perfect way to end our unbelievable, yet hectic month of travel.

We said goodbye to Patrick and Jenni as they went back to their all-inclusive honeymoon resort in Cancun, and finished the day with a nice sunset and shrimp dinner surrounded by a fun, drunk, Mexican family!

07.20.10

Time to say goodbye to Central America… We checked out, had a tasty breakfast, hit the boat back to mainland and a taxi to the airport. A long layover in Atlanta, Georgia, and back into Oakland.

No muggings, no Dengue, Malaria or food poisoning, no fights, no stress; just a perfect one month journey through Central America and beautiful passport stamps from three new countries! Only a couple hundred more stamps to go before we collect them all!

Why is jesus wearing a skirt? July 22, 2010

Good question, but the answer remains an unsolved mystery…

Just thought I’d throw that in there, we thought it was one of the funnier things the whole trip; up there with the amateur taxidermy wing of the museum in Xela.

07.10.10

We splurged for a more comfortable tourist van for the ten hour trip from Xela back into Mexico to San Cristobal de las Casas. There were only two eventful occasions the whole ride; the first was a money changer at the border who carried a fancy gold decorated gun in a brown leather side holster, wore a massive cowboy hat, manly black handlebar mustache, and a tangled mess of gold necklaces around his neck. I only describe him because I want to portray his awesomeness without the use of a picture which we were terrified to take.

The second interesting event was when we boarded the next van over the border in Mexico. A large Mexican man with dark glasses held in his hands a black plastic bag. At some point he brought out the contents of the bag, being 10 multi-colored toy plastic balls. At that moment the very strong smell of marijuana hit my nostrils; great, riding with a drug smuggler, how fun! Making himself even more suspicious he clutched the balls suspiciously to his chest as he napped the majority of the ride. The oddest part about this man is that Jessica remembered him crossing the border without using a passport, only a slip of paper that the Guatemalan guard stamped; really odd.

Anyway, I just thought those were fun border stories, always crazy things happening at border towns, like when Jessica almost got us kicked out of Cambodia mouthing off to a corrupt guard…good times.

We arrived in the absolutely gorgeous city of San Cristobal in the late afternoon and checked in at a brand new hostel requested by a Couchsurfer who was unable to host us. Hostel de la Iguana was new, clean, friendly and best of all, cheap!

The streets of the city are gorgeous with plenty of alleys dedicated solely to pedestrian traffic flanked by fancy bars and restaurants. As we walked up the cobblestone street to the large yellow cathedral perched in the distance up a hill, we were amazed by the affluence of the locals and the beauty of the town. Like Antigua it felt much more similar to a European town.

Up at the cathedral a newly turned 15 year old girl was receiving her quincierra as loud music filled the streets below and bottle rockets exploded loudly overhead every few minutes for a small parade celebrating the Santa Guadalupe. We sat and enjoyed as I got fleas from two irresistible street dogs.

On the way back down we grabbed a quick bite of Lebanese food and headed to the center of the town. Night life in Central America is unlike anywhere else we have been in the world. Every city includes a beautiful central park or plaza, and each night it is packed with a good chunk of the city enjoying each others company. At the nearby cathedral a troupe dressed in traditional Mayan costume performed dances and rituals to entertained onlookers.

On no particular special occasion aside from being Saturday, the city was filled with a music and color, making San Cristobal an instant favorite city for both of us.

We ended the night with tequila and cervesas with a large group of local Couchsurfers at our hostel.

07.11.10

Often when we come to a new city, we come at the request of others and just leave ourselves no expectations. We were told by some Italian travelers to go on the Sumidero Canyon boat tour, so at 8am we loaded into a bus and headed out to a massive dock where literally hundreds of mostly Mexican tourists were strapping on bright orange vests and loading into masses of speed boats. Seemed a little Disneyland for us, but no backing out now.

The trip turned out to be fantastic, even though we understood very little of what the driver said. The massive canyon lay inside of a national park, sanctuary to a number of birds, monkeys, and other critters. The canyon itself however was probably the most stunning part.

We went an hour and a half into the canyon spying some beautiful birds, stunning geographic features, and plummeting waterfalls.

The way back was a real treat as our guide played crocodile hunter, and we got to see four large crocodiles in their natural habitat; extra exciting since we have only seen them at wildlife parks until now.

After unloading we hopped in the van again and headed to a very cute town, Chiapa de Corzo for lunch. The most beautiful feature of this town is its vividly colored central cathedral which we climbed to the top of.

Walking by an entire grill covered in dead chickens got our mouths watering. So we sat down to one of the better meals we have had the entire trip for some flawlessly spiced pollo!

We got back to the hostel, took a quick siesta and hit the streets again for more beautiful shots of the city and all its sights.

The city is simply perfect for just wandering around, clean, beautiful, safe, and so many nooks to explore. One of our favorite activities was just taking pictures of doors; call us easy to entertain, but there are some pretty cool doors.

We next climbed up a ton of concrete stairs to a cathedral on a hill on the opposite side of the city from the one yesterday. On the top we witnessed the following; firemen training on a rock wall, a cop exercising in full uniform on a public elliptical machine, and a Caucasian couple who must have been on ecstasy dry-humping in the park; never a dull moment. We also got a bag of the most delicious churros we have ever had, which are smaller and crispier than back home, and a bag of popcorn, which Mexicans always cover with hot sauce. The view of the city below was pretty great as well

We enjoyed some local coffee at a cafe with live music, then had a tasty dinner followed by a night of unwinding to some movies at the hostels media room.

07.12.10

In the morning we had some time to kill before our bus so we headed to a museum built by a German couple whose life work was documenting traditional Mayan culture. They have both passed away, but their photography and conservation efforts remain.

Our three hour bus ride to Palenque was uneventful and we were soon checked into a tiny little oasis in the thick of the jungle called El Pachan. El Pachan is a picturesque little community of hostels and restaurants connected by dirt paths and completely enveloped in the jungle canopy; very Robinson Crusoe (to quote our guidebook).

We met up with our Israeli acquaintance from Lake Atitlan and his two Scottish friends, who now live on an island in Honduras because…well why not? We chatted over beers and a surprisingly incredible pizza and salad, odd enough to find Italian food so delicious in Mexico, let alone the middle of the jungle.

We then slept to the buzzing of cicadas and other assorted jungle sounds.

07.13.10

The Mayan ruins of Palenque were a six minute collectivo ride from our jungle hideout. Even though we arrived early, we still didn’t manage to beat the throngs of tourists flooding the stone structures like ants. We managed to sneak past the main attractions and catch some beautiful shots of jungle consumed ruins without humans crawling on them.

The Palenque ruins are particularly magnificent in both size and detail. In the center lies a large palace complex surrounded by tombs, religious and civic buildings. The dense jungle makes the place even more picturesque.

After a thorough wandering we headed towards the exit to be greeted by some beautiful flowing waters along the way. The museum at the end was particularly impressive, containing a number of very well preserved artifacts and a stunning tomb of Lord Pacal, all displayed using particularly attractive methods and lighting.

We now had a lot of time to kill until our evening nine hour night bus ride. We went into the city to explore for a bit, but found little to do. We killed time reading, chatting with other travelers, and meeting with yet another Israeli acquaintance and his Austrian friends to more good food and beer.

The most exciting point of time killing was watching a stream of farmer ants carry their massive load of cut leaves on their backs. This may sound boring, but it is one of the only species that farms and cultivates its own food by letting plants decompose in the burrow and consuming the fungus that grows. Seriously fascinating.

Our bus ride north was mostly easy except the police and military waking us up on three occasions to check for drugs and other contraband. The military even marched everyone outside, groggy eyed, to check bags and the bus innards. Slightly annoying, and seemingly completely useless since they checked no one’s baggage under the bus; obviously just a show they put on to pretend they are doing something to curb the drug trafficking problems.

As always, check out the Flickr pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets

The lake, the market, and the dud July 20, 2010

07.06.10

A few hours of curvacious roads eventually led us to the tucked away town of San Marcos along beautiful Lake Atitlan. We arrived with John and Ameris, an American couple we’d met in Antigua. The search for a hotel was easy as there were few options to begin with.

A super chill Canadian dude and an incredibly friendly local run the hostal Paco Real, currently under renovations after the previous owner’s son trashed the place by turning it into drug and party pad for him and his friends. Thankfully “under renovation” means a great deal on beautiful new rooms!

Our tum tum’s a grumblin’ he suggested a place run by American ex-pats called Ganesh. The place is exactly as it sounds; hippie as all hell, but damn do they make a killer BLT.

During the dry season, the large lake is a crystal clear, baby blue, surrounded by volcanoes, some active, with tiny cities of local Mayan people tucked away in the valleys. Now, in the rainy season, all is true except the “crystal clear” and “baby blue,” now, more of a choppy, dark blue, but still gorgeous!

Each town has its own distinct flavor, and the primary mode of transport are boats that circle the whole lake, picking up locals and tourists alike. With the water, and the surrounding hills as barriers, each town has the feel of beings its own island.

San Marcos “island” is considered the most chilled-out, so we decided to see what it felt like on the party “island;” San Pedro.

A good deal more concrete than our humble town, San Pedro still has that laid back island feel. We wandered a bit to check things out; found a nice high church to climb for a view of the city and eventually headed back.

We explored our town a bit more, getting to see the locals in bright colors after a church ceremony that left the stone building smelling like delicious sage and spiced incense.

We later learned to loathe these church ceremonies as they were followed by hymns blasted over loudspeakers reminiscent of a 6 year old suffering from laryngitis performing karaoke through a machine with beats as complex as an old 8-bit Nintendo game. Never have we disliked religion more than right now…

The night ended with the four of us relaxing (suffering) in the roasting heat of the hostels Mayan sweat lodge (stone oven). Seriously, it is a big half sphere, made of stone, with a fire placed under with the intention of cooking humans. All the shaman sweat lodge stuff has to be made up just to cook white people. Jessica and the others loved it and to a certain temperature it feels kind of good, but man that shit gets HOT!

I left as my skin began to roast, and my lungs turned to goo, while Jessica could only comment that it didn’t quite get hot enough. She never gets ill, she can withstand extreme temperatures, and she actually laughs when seriously injured…sometimes I swear Jessica is a cyborg.

07.07.10

Somehow I was the only one who woke up in the middle of the night to the earthquake. An event even more commonplace here than even California.

In the morning our American friends left to attend to some work needing done and Jess and I decided to explore all the towns around the lake.

First up was San Juan, the “artsy island.” Beautiful murals decorated the city walls depicting modern events and Mayan tradition, as well as this one depicting a mudslide that killed a bunch of people.

A number of womans weaving collectives dot the town where Jessica bought a couple gorgeous, hand woven, naturally dyed scarves; as always to regret later not buying more!

At one of the shops they sold locally grown, handmade, fancy wrapped bars of chocolate for a buck. Mayan chocolate is unlike anything I have eaten before. There is slightly more bitterness without the overwhelming sweet, yet not as strong as a dark European or American chocolate. This one in particular was made with cardamom. If they wouldn’t melt so damn fast I would take home a thousand (and also be a thousand dollars poorer, and a thousand pounds fatter).

We rode the boat to the other side of the lake, enjoying the little villages it stopped off along the way to load and unload people and goods. The locals of each town have their own unique way of dress, wearing beautifully colorful clothing.

Enjoying the lovely cool weather and phenomenal scenery we eventually found our way to the more developed town of Panajachel. This town was filled with more resorts than the others, and is where locals from all the towns sold their goods along the street, half genuine, half made in china.

We wandered and made a couple small purchases, then sat and drank the best cup of coffee I have ever tasted. The coffee was so good we asked the cafe owner what brand it was. Don Maco, and we convinced them to sell us some of their bags since the only real place to get it is in Guatemala city!

We took the equally gorgeous ride back home, then headed to Ganesh’s to eat some astounding chili prepared by two English ex-patriots. We made quick friends with two great Israeli guys, chatted about travel and went to bed.

07.08.10

Bags strapped to our backs we boarded the first boat of the day to Panajachel to catch a bus to Chichicastenango. The early morning ride was spectacular with calm waters and each town draped in mist.

Our bodies jerked left and right along the twisting road towards Chichi. Finally we arrived feeling like we’d just been through and automatic meat tenderizer. A short walk up the street and we got to our cute hostel Posado Belen in a small room overlooking the city.

Our hotel has two views of completely different parts of the city on either side. On one side the city looks very reminiscent of a typical Indian mountain town; big concrete slab buildings of all different sizes mashed together haphazardly.

On the other side is a beautiful country town with quaint little homes along a lush green hill.

Odd.

Chichi is known for its massive Thursday and Sunday markets where locals meet from all the surrounding countryside to exchange goods and congregate for both Mayan spiritualist and catholic ceremonies. In recent years it has become two distinct markets, one for the locals, and one for the tourists; we came for both.

The first stop was the main Catholic church which marks the center of the markets where locals pray to their middle eastern, Jewish deity (who manages to always look white anyway) using more customary Mayan traditions.

The entirety of the day was spent wandering the markets, sampling local foods (delicious grilled corn, guacamole fritatas, and local chocolate drinks), buying some neat souvenirs, and taking pictures of all the craziness!

07.09.10

The city was small enough to see in a day. So we strapped on those bags again and headed very early to an arbitrary corner along the main road to catch a bus to our new destination of Quetzaltenango (Xela).

Yesterdays minivan was bad enough on all the curves, but today we got thrown into one of the ultra cheap steel coffins the locals speed around in. By the end of the ride, the only thing cushioning our bruises in this behemoth bus were the masses of people stacked on top of us. We didn’t even have room to move and take a picture so just use your imagination.

Picture – Imagination

We arrived at the bus terminal choking on black diesel gas, and quickly grabbed a taxi to high tail it to the city center. Our Couchsurfing host Phil was not expecting us so early, and we weren’t expecting to stay in a cramped, messy room behind his cafe. We’ve stayed in worse, but not usually while couchsurfing! (So often in our travels has the free choice been 10x nicer than the cheap choice!).

Phil seemed nice enough as we chatted about Couchsurfing and travel over some breakfast from their Cafe cooked by his Guatemalan girlfriend Edith. Afterwards we walked to the nearby cemetery to talk some more and wander the eerie pathways.

Phil left and Jessica and I crept through the crumbling crypts snapping shots of the final testaments to buried corpses.

After the graveyard we headed to the city center where we found that there is much less to do in town than we thought. The hot springs we were so excited about had been washed away in the last tropical storm, and the mornings were often too foggy to hike to a vista point and see the active volcano poop ash. So we booked tickets to our next destination early, and headed out to explore the town for the day.

The city center is beautiful, and the people are very friendly. It is very much a town where the people have a sense of community.

Next stop was one of the more odd museums we have seen since the National Museum in the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos. The first series of rooms in Xela’s museum were dedicated to some old war we still can’t figure out. It also contained a bunch of old machines from the 1900′s.

The second section of the museum however is where things turned truly odd. One massive room was dedicated to descriptions and practical uses of a variety of chemicals and minerals, but the next room blew our minds.

The room was seemingly dedicated to the practice of amateur taxidermy and animal fetuses in jars. It was a massive room, and the most prominent fetuses were those containing multiple heads (pig and cow) and multiple arms (goat). A massive cage dominates the center filled with two huge stuffed toys of lions, and in the corner are completely fake stuffed sea creatures that look strikingly like something that would exist on Pandora from Avatar! Probably for good reason, pictures were not allowed, but that didn’t stop us from snapping a few as the ancient guard slept over his desk.

After bizzaro land we wandered around the local market area; always a fun place to get to know what locals are really like, and snap some excellent shots.

The rest of the day was uneventful aside from a ton of rain, a pretty decent traditional Guatemalan meal at a fancy restaurant, and some beers while chatting with Phil at the hostel he works at.

Central America, or central europe? July 15, 2010

07.04.10

We had a few more hours to kill in Coban so we set out exploring. The city proved itself to be even more so a culinary paradise when we stepped into an old colonial palace turned Hotel Posado. It was like a Spanish duke’s dream villa with a lush courtyard and cute, colorful nick knacks and antiques filling the halls. As I said, the breakfast was incredible; gourmet huevos rancheros and tipico comida (which is the very common breakfast here; black bean paste, fried eggs, plantains, cheese, tortillas, and salsa, Mmm). Until this moment I didn’t even like coffee!

Lucky for us, today is market day, so we spend the rest of the morning exploring the street markets and taking pictures of colorful locals with their colorful goods.

Due to low tourist season, the six hour bus ride to Antigua was just the two of us and a very friendly bus driver who spoke not a word of English. It made for some seriously terrific Spanish practice trying to discus the world with him.

We had to pass through Guatemala city on the way there which was a bit scary even though we were perfectly safe. All we have heard were horror stories about Guate; not of tourists getting killed, but local gangs extorting the public bus companies to pay them, and randomly killing bus drivers when they didn’t. Just in the last couple years over 300 drivers have been killed this way; not the safest job.

It doesn’t stop them from having pride in their jobs and decorating their busses with wild colors and decals.

As we drove in, Antigua was not at all like we were expecting. It was as if being teleported directly into Spain. Massive stone cathedrals, black iron, marble, and multi colored colonial homes lined the cobblestoned alleyways. We arrived to our couchsurfing hosts home and were greeted by Lainies terrific 6th grade son Miro. The house was a gorgeous hacienda smelling of delicious old wood; among the cutest places we have ever stayed.

And I don’t know why the following picture does not have us with our hosts in it; that was a dumb picture not to take!

We hung out with Miro a bit until we received a very friendly greeting from Lainie. Both got fed up with life in the USA and are traveling the world together, picking new places to live and experience each year. After chatting a bit, Jess and I headed out to the town for exploration before the rain started to fall (inevitable every afternoon).

Our first stop was an old colonial brick and stone cathedral, Iglesia San Francisco, almost completely destroyed by a tremendous earthquake that shattered the city in the early 1700′s (followed by many more earth shattering quakes each century; you’d think they’d stop building with brick and stone…but no). Sometimes great things look even greater when they’ve been obliterated and consumed by nature.

We walked to the city center, noting how incredibly bourgeois the entire place is. International restaurants, pafes, marble fountains, fancy palaces, and horse-drawn carriages clopping down the streets. Not at all what we had expected to experience in Guatemala.

On the other side of town we picked up some ultra cheap, local street food from the much less bourgeois market place. Then we wandered its tiny alleys taking pictures and buying ingredients to make guacamole for later.

The fried Iguana however, we avoided.

We returned to Lainies a bit wet from the heavy rain and pretty quick thereafter headed out to party at a coop. Most of the people we met were living in the city studying Spanish (a very common thing in this city) others were living here working, or volunteering on one project or the other. It was a very informal independence day celebration, but since most of the people were from the USA, and the Guatemalan fixation of setting off fireworks at random times every single day, I guess it sort of counts.

We headed back to Lainies with most of the group and a few others, where Jessica and I prepared a killer guacamole, far cheaper to do here since you can get about six avocados for a dollar! Much of the night was spent conversing and singing to a couple playing the guitar; felt a little hippie kumbayah, but it was a good crowd and a lot of fun!

07.05.10

Early morning we hiked up the base of one volcano to get a terrific view of the city and the many surrounding volcanoes. It was all made even more spectacular with Volcan Fuego shooting bursts of ash every 10 minutes.

The trail to this point is well traveled by tourists, yet three police officers protect it with shotguns in hand due to past muggings. Another reminder that even though this country may seem so peaceful and beautiful, there is a serious dark side. We are smart when we travel, but we’ve heard of others have be too naïve and had a lot of problems.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around, taking tons of pictures of the gorgeous city.

We met a couple again from last night, John and Ameris, and got lost around town with them. Later we met for some truly spectacular coffee, lunch, and chocolate in town.

For dinner we all met at Lainies where Jess and I cooked a massive stir-fry with chicken, rice, pineapple, onions, garlic, tomato, eggplant, green beans, mushrooms….pretty much everything delicious and fresh looking at the market. Dinner was followed by much chatting and a bit of wine.

Antigua was a pretty spectacular city, it is easy to see why so many gringos get stuck here, but there are so many new things to explore. So, we spent our last night in Lainie and Miro’s terrific hacienda.

And as always: Flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets

Paradiso July 9, 2010

07.01.10

First off; HAPPY CANADA DAY! A fact that would have been totally unknown to us without the three Canadians of the group singing the national anthem when it hit midnight last night. Crammed in a tiny collectivo we took the long eight hour journey to Lanquin.

My numb legs about to fall off as we finally exited in the cute, cool mountain town. From there we stood in the back of a pick up truck holding onto metal bars welded in for the 30 minute ride to Semuc Champey. The surrounding scenery is more alpine than imagined for central America; in other words, gorgeous!

We pulled into El Portal; our eco-lodge home for the next couple nights. An eco-lodge is essentially a place that tries to keep a low environmental impact; meaning pretty spartan, but remarkably beautiful!

We shared a room in an open loft overlooking the river with our Canadian friends Shayne and Shandra. Before the sun set, we took a dip in the cool brown river and the most adorable little girl sold us homemade chocolate from the cocoa trees that grow here. The chocolate is a bit bitter and crunchy, but it grew on us, plus how could we say no to her?

Dinner was delicious and for the first time this whole trip we slept underneath blankets, without even needing a fan! Ah, sweet Guatemalan paradiso.

07.02.10

A delicious breakfast of eggs and panqueque’s (I let you guess what those are) and we entered the state park of Semuc Champey. After a twenty minute hike we were met with this!

An absolutely gorgeous sight of crystalline blue pools formed by the river diverting to an underground cave. Only the trickling water from the surrounding hills filling the pools.

The hike back down was met with some insane looking creatures, particularly this guy.

We hit bottom and spent the next couple hours diving off the tiny waterfalls from pool to pool. Sitting still in the water, dozens of tiny fish would charge in to peck pieces of our peeling skin off; don’t spas charge for treatments like this?

Hundreds of yellow butterflies flapped overhead as we floated on smooth, cool waters staring up at the bright blue sky; life doesn’t get much better!

Eventually hunger set in, but not before going to check out the most amazing part of the Semuc Champey phenomenon. As I mentioned before, the torrent of brown water upriver diverts into a cave, but what that really means is that the pools we have been relaxing in are literally just a stone bridge over a huge flowing river.

After lunch one of the hostel workers took a break from his job to float with us on inner tubes down the muddy river; rough life! The scenery was gorgeous, we saw toucans, lizards, and tons of other little beasties through the forest.

On the way back we took turns leaping from the 30ft high bridge; exciting.

We hung out the rest of the day around the hostel, going back to the pools for a bit as well. Then in the evening, being Shayne’s birthday, we finished off a bottle of rum between the four of us. Perhaps a bit too much…

07.03.10

After breakfast with lots of water, and some relaxing by the river to cure my hangover, we headed across the river to the Lanquin caves.

Each of us four were given a candle and rugged man speaking little English took us into the wet, black hole. The flickering flames set the mood of the beautiful brown, slimy, stalactite ridden walls and ceiling. The adventure was managing to keep your candle lit while swimming through pitch black water, and dodging low overhangs while going deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Ladders pieced together by wet rope and strong plastic pipes helped you climb over tight spots, and literally up underground waterfalls. At the very end, our guide motioned a spot where you could climb up fifteen feet and leap into a black abyss. Me, complete with hangover, was the only one who mustered the courage for this terrifying venture.

Candle smoke filled our nostrils and our hearts beat a couple pumps quicker as we journeyed back to the light of day. Obviously a camera would have been utterly destroyed, so we will have to remember the epic journey solely with our brains.

We said goodbye to the canucks and headed back on a pickup truck to Lanquin where we caught a bus for the four hour ride back to the large city of Coban. It started getting dark, so we spent a little more for a nicer hotel than usual, conveniently in the city center and dropped off our bags.

The next goal was to fill our bellies. Around the corner was a nice hole-in-the-wall 3 for 10 tacos (that’s three tacos for ten quetazles, or $1.25). Perhaps it was only the Jalepeno based hot sauce, but the tacos were so delicious, it nearly brought a tear to my eyes. Seriously, I know I speak in hyperboles, but even Jessica will agree these were probably the greatest tacos we have ever consumed. Incredibly spiced meats, homemade tortillas, pickled veggies for topping, and a killer hot sauce!

Out on the street we tried even more local goodies, guacamole empanadas, and other unnameable street foods. Coban may not have much else to offer other than being a stopover city, but holy crap is the street food incredible!

As always, more pics on our Flickr site!

Lobsterfest gets cancelled! July 1, 2010

06.24.10

Cute baby howler monkey still fresh in our minds we packed up our things and headed to the bus terminal. We said our farewell to Orange Walk and boarded the “chicken bus,” so called because it is cheap, crowded, and people bring chickens on it, towards Belize City. Many had commented on the “dangers” of Belize city, but it felt no more so than many cities we have traveled. In any case we were only passing through to get to the boat terminal (with a quick pit stop for some BBQ chicken!)

Soon we were on a boat crammed with people and bags heading to two different islands off the Belize coast; San Pedro and Caye Caulker. A pleasant ride headed us right for the Caye where we unloaded, found a nice, cheap hostel, Loraine’s, with our own bungalow on stilts and fan for $18 per night, and set our bags down.

Already the island mood sets in; without a worry in the world we wander through town. Picturesque is a start to describing this place, but it is far more than that. Local Creole Rastafarai mingle with American ex-patriots, Hispanics, tourists, and the cutest, friendliest street dogs anywhere. Everyone rides around on bikes or golf carts through the sandy “streets.”

At the other end of the island is the only true beach area, where a hurricane in the 60′s split the island in two. The beach, complete with underwater stools and benches (not intentional), and a Rastafarian bar blasting reggae, is aptly named “the split.” We hung out with a couple beers watching all the different people mingle and relax under the sun.

We booked a snorkel tour for tomorrow through Ragamuffin tours run by an Australian lady and her Belizian husband, then wandered around town for a place to eat. After a lobster burger and our first time trying grilled conch, we headed to bed. The night was filled with exceedingly long, loud booms of thunder, preceded by massive flashes of lightning .

06.25.10

Pastries for breakfast, then loaded onto a sailboat with the name Ragga Lady with two dreadlocked Rastas and a bunch of American travelers. The day was not ideal for snorkeling, with gray clouds in the sky, and a drizzle of rain, but the forecast is worse for the next two days, and with our great luck, the sun will come out for us. Well it did later, and it was gorgeous.

Our destination Hol Chan is a protected reef with a multitude of very unique fishies, but first we would hop in the water to swim with two very friendly manatees!!! Our guide Kevin dove to the bottom and got one manatee to do spirals around him, pretty awesome. The snorkeling in the area was terrific, some truly stunning fish; lionfish, puffers, and a tiny dark blue one that looked like it was spotted with galaxies. Why we don’t have an underwater camera by now? Good question.

Next stop was Shark alley, where within seconds of anchoring, a multitude of harmless nurse sharks, large yellowtails, and sting rays, swam right up to the boat looking for grub. We hopped right in for a closer look. Kevin dove down and grabbed under the front of a massive stingray to pull it up for everyone to touch; it seemed perfectly content with this.

The third spot, Hol Chan, was terrific. Right when we got into the water Kevin had a massive Morey Eel putting its mouth up to his hands as it swam through his fingers. We always thought they were terribly dangerous… Eagle rays, eels, brain coral, and tons of colorful fish swam under us. The great barrier reef in Australia may have been more diverse, but some very unique species excited us here as well.

The sailing back was complete with hand made ceviche (raw shrimp “cooked” only using lime juice), fish sandwiches, fresh fruit, and 2 gallons of particularly strong rum punch. Complete with two full body sunburns, our $80 (for both) journey was worth every penny.

I may have not mentioned it yet, but starting today is an annual event on the islands called Lobsterfest, where tourists and locals flood to the islands to celebrate the beginning of lobster season by eating tons of lobster. We dreamed of fresh grilled lobster as we basted our burns with Aloe Vera, when as luck should have it, the rain started pouring down.

The poor girls in the Lobsterfest beauty pageant got dumped on by a short burst of a storm, after which we headed to Joe Habanero’s for some pina coladas and a lobster po’ boy. There we met a massive group of British military just back from six months serving in Afghanistan. One member of the group not snorting habanero sauce in his nose chatted with us about some truly extraordinary aspects of the war; how the Afghans hire Russian and E. European military specialists to fight with them, how sophisticated the military is with the little equipment they have, and some harrowing near death stories.

After that, sleep to more rain.

06.26.10

Today is the first real day of Lobsterfest. Our goals; to sleep in then explore the island while eating delicious lobsters prepared at the fest. We started to have a bad feeling when, as we walked to town in very strong wind, people were nailing big wooden planks across their windows. We came across a guy from Pensylvania from the tour yesterday who terrified us with news of an incoming tropical storm, and the government issuing an emergency disaster warning… That was mingled with the local rastas saying ‘don’ be runnin, jes a bit a’ rain.”

Lobsterfest had officially been canceled, and the chance of not being able to leave the island tomorrow made us buy tickets to take the last boat to mainland at 3pm. We relaxed to a lobster themed breakfast while watching developments of the massive incoming storm on the news. Then packed our bags at the bungalow and headed back into town to use internet awhile in a bar where everyone was watching the US vs. Ghana futbol game.

Black clouds on the horizen we boarded our boat and were soon unloading under a torrent of rain in Belize City. The bus station was packed with locals carrying all their belongings to head inland to escape. Complete with bright blinking lights atop the busses, scratchy radio broadcasts on the storm, and crowds of people with frightened energy, it felt like escaping a battlefield.

Flooding rivers to both sides of the road, our bus brought us deeper inland. The trip was mostly uneventful as we chatted with our Canadian friends. Aside from a few scary flooded road crossings, we made it safe and sound to the higher grounds of San Ignacio within two hours. There we found a great hostel, grabbed some crappy Chinese food, and went to bed.

In the end, the tropical storm was, as the Rastas preditcted “jes a bit o’ rain.”

Mennonites and Sugar Cane June 28, 2010

06.22.10

After another free breakfast we checked out of Weary Traveler Hostel and hopped on the express bus to Chetumal and then another to the Mexican/Belize border where four sad Americans were left behind because one forgot his exit forms received on arrival. Jessica and I reminisced about when we learned that lesson the hard way after Jess glued her Singapore exit form in her journal; the Mexicans however, were not as forgiving as the Singaporeans, poor guy. After some beautifully done stamps in our passport (it sounds silly, but so many customs officials are such sloppy stampers) we arrived in the oddly named city Orange Walk.

From our guide book we were excited for a few unexpected aspects of this new country: 1. English is the main language. 2. They are still under the queen, meaning yet another country with her majesty’s pasty white face on the currency (why not one of those cute corgies on currency?). 3. Fifty years ago a very large group similar to the Amish of German/Dutch descent called the Mennonites migrated down to Mexico where they were kicked out into Belize (now they are all marrying cousins and sisters, farming like crazy, reading a whole lotta bible, and speaking a butchered German dialect). Things got weirder when we discovered the English here is a Jamaican sounding creole dialect, and the only restaurants in this new tiny city were Chinese restaurants opened by recent floods of Taiwanese immigrants.

A guy with massive veins on his nose gave us a free ride from the bus station to our hostel. “Lamani River Resort” is more like a chill Rasta bar and restaurant with some rooms the family rents out in the back. For 30 bucks a night ($60 Belize; exchange rate is always 2x more than US dollar) our room is pretty great; well, it has running water, a fan, and a clean toilet at least, but the ambiance is awesome.

We got to exploring the town, the most memorable moment was getting my hair cut by an awesome Creole guy for $5 while watching a group of local Caucasian Mennonites. Always dressed like they stepped out of a time machine from the 1800′s here they sat outside their pickup truck eating local Chinese food (cheaters); Belize is weird.

We finished up the night with grilled lobster tail and shrimp fajitas with pineapple juice and rum at our hostel.

06.23.10

Woke up at the butt crack of eight o’clock to have an excellent quesadilla breakfast and hop on a boat down the gorgeous jungle river. The journey down the river was great as we picked up other tourists for the trip, but the first truly awesome part was when our guide pulled the boat to the shore and two cheeky wild spider monkeys joined us for some mango slices.

The hour plus ride was full of lizards, crocodiles, butterflies, parrots, Mennonite farms, rum and sugar plantations, endless green jungle, and crystal clear reflection of the baby blue sky off the river.

We unloaded at the Lamanai ruins where we were treated with the rest of the group to a truly delicious lunch of chicken, rice, potato salad, and ice cold soda. The ruin tour was awesome, though with only four significant ruins nestled along an easy hike through the sweet smelling jungle. The most stunning being the tallest temple complete in its natural decaying form; the view from the top was also exquisite.

As we approached the final temple I was a bit dismayed by some very loud, and very scratchy sounding recorded sound effects. The temple was called the leopard temple, so I assumed the sounds were supposed to be Leopard roars. As we got closer, the noises were in fact coming from two opposing families of howler monkeys in the trees above. Nothing short of the word “demonic” can describe the vicious sounds that came from these animals. I snapped a video to record the sounds, but managed to delete it later like an idiot! So here is a picture of the Leopard temple.

From there the ride back was awesome again. When we got back to the city we walked around and got some local rum to try, then hung out with some creole tug boat runners who tow 500 tonnes of sugar up and down the river to the Belize city port each trip. Their tug boat and barges took us back like 60 years and looked awesome along the jungle.

Now as I was sitting here typing this blog, the son of our hostel owner came in with a baby howler monkey! The last hour we spent playing with this adorable pup as it howled and whined until we let it on top of our heads where it felt like its mother’s back. Couldn’t be any cuter; a great end to Orange Walk.

More photos of Orange Walk:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157624397092396/