Isla Mujeres, Mexico

It is April 29, 2009, and i have two more days. This will hopefully be my second to last blog, ill try to do one more after i get home. But if not, ill say now thank you all for reading and hopefully enjoying this, i know i have, but most of all thanks for keepin in contact throughout the trip. all of you, unless youre a creepster i dont really know thats been following this (sike you guys are cool too), kept my spirits up with your little messages here and there, and ive appreciated it the whole way through very much. and now back to business.

Since leaving the farm in belize ive come up the coast and into beautiful, disease-ridden mexico. My first stop was at Lake Bacalar, which had a white sand floor and turquoise water (both of those seem to be a theme for my mexican stops) and was b-a-utiful. maybe the best part of that place finding a 700 page book in the hostel, the third in a series id read the first two books in ages ago and loved. i couldnt believe it when i saw it lying there and i immediately sat down to read and remained there for the next few hours, and i guess really two days. nothin like a good book youve been wanting to read that lives up to all expectations. the unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of books you can find in hostels´ book exchanges are really crappy thrillers.

My next stop was at the king of all beaches, tulum. i had never even imagined sand could be as soft as this was. i did not know it was possible. I went to the nearby ruins one day. Not nearly as big as tikal, but its right on the coast rather than in the jungle, so a very different setting. in the end tho, to me, a ruin is a ruin, and unless youre really interested in the history of it all theres only so much you can get out of them. On a more exciting note i got to exercise! played some beach soccer for a good while, got winded really fast and often, and got sunburned. in one striking blow my desires to be as tan as ever upon return were dashed, maybe irreparably so. Before leaving there, i did one final dive, this time in cenotes. I hadnt actually ever been to a cenote before, so i wasnt sure exactly what to expect, but wowy zowy zoo it was unbelievable. the first one we went in was basically just like walking around in a cave, except instead of air theres water, and youre swiming instead of walking. but yeah we just swam around through the stalactites and stalagmites, and caverns and little passagesways, with flashlights since there was barely any natural light. The second dive however absolutely blew my mind. it had whats called a halocline, which is where there are at least two distinct levels in the water created by salt and fresh water. salt water, being more dense, lies at the bottom. at first when we got in, the only evidence of it was how bad the visibility got when we swam and stirred up the water. If you were behind someone all of a sudden the water would look really oily and swirly and looking through it was like having horrible eyesight, everything was just a hazy shape. but then youd pop out to the side or up or down and it was like putting on glasses, everything was in perfect focus again. so that was just kinda weird to see, but later on in the dive we got to a point where you could distinctly see the halocline, the separation, and i almost lost it haha. If you were in the saltwater, in the bottom half, and looked up, it looked like there were two surfaces, the first with the fresh water, the second with air. it was like an invisible ceiling or something. and then youd swim up and pass through it, which had the strange feeling of passing through a wall or some sort of barrier or something, and while you are in the very thin border everything gets out of focus for a second, and then you pop up into the upper half. and in the fresh water, looking up you have the surface to the air, and looking down its like having some invisible floor underneath which everything is just a little bit blurry. i was like a kid in a candy shop swimming up and down through it, i just couldnt believe it was real.

I left tulum later that day for cancun, where i made sure to spend absolutely no time before boating out to isla mujeres, where i am now. Just the idea of cancun-built specifically for tourism, tourists everywhere, the huge hotels, the fakeness of it- disgusts me a bit. its the same way with those islands the built in dubai. it just isnt natural, isnt good for the world. in the end its just lots of pollution, the destruction of a local town, and thousands of ignorant americans giving us a bad name to all other tourists from around the world. a while back i had one english girl tell me, and i quote, "all american girls are sluts." i was astonished shed say something like that, especially to me as an american. and so i said what the hell are you talking about? you understand in saying that that youre calling all of my friends back home sluts? and so she said okay, all sorority girls are sluts. now that was a little more understandable of a statement if your only experience with it is through hollywood, but still i said no thats ridiculous you have no idea what youre talking about. and then she said okay, all sorority girls in cancun are sluts. and that just made me depressed, A that anyone would be so stupid as to base their thoughts of all american girls on the few piss drunk ones the met in cancun, but also B that so many traveling people dont understand the impressions that they are responsible for wherever they go. Ive had a few europeans ive met along the way tell me, "ya know, youre a cool american." and at first you know it feels good, its a compliment. but then you think about it and its like, well, what, did you just expect me not to be since im american? and sadly thats really the way it is. i like to think im changing a few minds here and there.

Anyhow now im on this island, and its pretty cool. more beach. I finally got robbed last night. haha well not really i just left my flip flops on the beach and when i went back someone had taken them. jokes a little bit on them since theyre almost worn through, but its still a pain not having them. I have the rest of today, and tomorrow, and then my flight leaves at 9 the next morning. And i think im ready for it. If i hadnt planned to go home now i think i could have continued on, but i did and im not, and im ready to stop bouncing around from place to place and to have my own room and bathroom and home cooked meals and good lord to see everyone again because ive missed you all so much. So ill probably be reminiscing on the plane, but ill be looking forward to landing back home once again very much.

And thats all folks.
love,
gus

and i think i found a great quote for this trip- "i wanna be just about as happy as i can be." thats what im talkin bout

Rancho Dolores

It has seriously been one exciting week living the farm life. before i get into the life changing experiences, ill describe the place and outline an average day. its huge. theres the main house, two guest huts, a perfect swimming hole, paths through the surrounding jungle, the food garden right out front, a couple orchards, and acres and acres of bamboo that they use for building. (some of us (not me)) wake up at 7ish to feed the chickens and horses. breakfast at 8 30 (when i get up). hang around and/or work until lunch around 1 30, hang around and/or work until dinner at 7. hang out till bedtime. Usually after dinner we're just sitting around talking since there isn't light for much else. all we have are just little oil lamps, which kinda makes you realize how altered life is in the city with lights on everywhere 24/7. no need to get up with the sun to make the most of the daylight. the food has been exceptional. All veggies and herbs and much of the fruit is fresh from the gardens. examples of past meals: pizza w/ fresh toppings, falafel and pita bread, fresh baked fish, quiches w/ fresh veggies, stir fry. and desserts: cinnamon rolls, rice pudding, meringues, papaya smoothie. the wife in the couple that runs the farm went to culinary school and a dutch volunteer is an amazing cook so we're in good hands haha. thus far i have contributed a coffeecake that everyone proclaimed the best ever (it was bomb), and a set of rolls that im gonna assume everyone liked due to the non-stop manner in which they were inhaled. so yeah all said we're eating ok. the work ive been doing has mostly been on a new palapa (thatch-roofed hut) that is being built, although i did some weeding one day. the main posts and roof were already in place when i got here, but we've put in an entire wood floor since and it looks great. in other news i haven't had a shower in 7 days. haha it isn't actually that bad, we wash up in the swimming hole (pictured below) every day, arguably much better than a shower. That sounds a little weird, its not like we're all going to bathe together. whatever.

I've also had to deal with a new devil of the insect family since arriving, the fire ant. they performed a full on infestation of my bag and clothing and anything edible forgotten about in the mix. normal ants would have been a nuisance to deal with, but these guys bite like nobody's business, boosting the rating up to royal pain in the ass. i have a new found respect for the name of my old soccer team that at the time we all saw as a good joke. who in their right mind would be scared of a fire ant right? WRONG.

and now for the stories for the ages:

#1. Gus Becomes a Man
I can proudly report that i have killed, plucked, gutted, and prepared a chicken. when i first got here, one of the volunteers, an irish guy (there are 4 volunteers - the dutch girl, irish guy, a californian guy, and me, and then the couple from florida that owns and runs it.), was talking about killing a chicken for dinner and how i should do it, that it was a great experience. i agreed with him on the experience front. although i hadn't ever killed anything outside of the insect family as far as i can remember, killing animals has been a huge source of food for as long as humans have existed, and it seems a little sheltered to have lived this long and never killed something for its meat, or even seen anything killed for its meat for that matter. so i did really want to do it, but it was thrust upon me so suddenly that i froze up and didn't commit for sure. so he ended up doing that one and i watched to see how. and then i got my chance a few days later. it wasn't quite as bad as i thought it'd be. you kinda just get into the mind set and let loose haha. their stupidity also eases the guilt of it. i won't go into any of the details since there may be some unsteady stomachs out there in reader-land, but if you want to know more you can ask in person and ill be happy to share. i will say that the one thing that really caught me off guard was how chickeny it smelled right after i killed it. that and the poop that came out when we cut it open. i never remembered any uncooked chicken ive been around smelling of much of anything though. i didn't really have any eye-opening revelations after it was all said and done, but i am glad i did it. its good to know what your food goes through before it ends up in the grocery store.

#2. Gus Fulfills One of Every Cool Kid's Childhood Dreams
Location: Belize Zoo. Time: 2:o0. Dominant Emotion: elation
I have been in the zoo for 2 hours and i've seen almost all of the exhibits. its a very good zoo, nothing like the horror images that come to mind with the mention of third world zoos. big cages, lots of natural habitat-its basically in the forest- and most of the animals that can be found in the region. the stand outs were the kinkajous, nocturnal otter-shaped mammals that live in the trees, a river otter that came right up the the fence, the crocs and watching them get fed, a huge beautiful jaguar, an ocelot, a giant stork with a huge three foot long beak that almost pecked me through the fence, and two ENORMOUS harpy's eagles. we're talkin like 5 ft tall w/ an 8 foot wingspan and 3 inch talons. this thing was intimidating. and it would just stare at me and squawk a lot. crazy. But thats just what was at the zoo, its not even the story! the real story is this: as i was wandering around, i all of a sudden hear a group of people, most distinctly a woman, shouting very loudly and excitedly. My first thought was its some dumb tourist who just saw something new and got really pumped about it. but then i figured maybe its actually something interesting, so i followed my ears back to the jaguar cage. as it turned out it was a few zoo trainers making all of this noise. when i realized who it was, i made the logical jump that i might get to see them go into the cage, which i was more than happy to get to see. so i start talking to them, and just as they're heading off to do exactly as i hoped, the woman in charge suddenly turns around and says to me, "ya know, you have short enough hair, and he doesn't know your smell...would you want to come in with us?" i responded, playing it cool as usual, "yeah, sure, of course! Will it eat me?" one trainer went and got the jaguar, named junior buddy, into a separate cage, and the 4 of us entered the main cage and then got into another very small one in the center of the main one and locked ourselves in. it was just 4 walls and a roof of very sturdy grating, with just enough space for us four and a small tub of jaguar treats. Once we're all inside, the woman shouts out, "okay Mr. B, we're ready!" And mr B pulls away the door of the third cage, and out comes Junior Buddy, 6 feet of pure jaguar. As it turns out, he was born in the zoo and therefore will never be released, so they are trying to train him. The woman calls him over, and over he comes, right up to the cage. He promptly starts nudging it with his face just like a cat would, and rubbing his body against the wire. the woman tells us, "Go on and pet him, he loves it!" and so there i am, petting this huge, unbelievably beautiful jaguar head, and then its back, and its fur is so soft, and I'm practically floating. And then all of a sudden it jumps up onto the roof of the cage we're in. Looking up at him makes him seem even more formidable, with the teeth and muscles on full display. But the woman, shouting her praise at him for doing an "alley-up," tells me to put my forehead up to the ceiling. I might have paused to consider what she was saying for a second, i don't really remember, but next thing i know my forehead is up to the wire and Junior Buddy is licking me for all he's worth with a tongue like the roughest sandpaper in existence. i just couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation, getting licked by a jaguar! It was during this that she explained the importance of short hair, that if its long enough to bite he could rip your scalp off. and looking up at his fangs as hes licking away, i could believe it. That was the climax of the experience, but we went on to get him to do somersaults (which we had to clap and praise him enthusiastically for) and i got to feed him one of his treats-a chicken foot. And thus ends story number two, of how i got a face-full of jaguar kisses. How damn cool is that?

live update: i just tried a fruit called nomi that smells and tastes exactly like very smelly cheese.

as of today i have ten days left and have been gone exactly half a year, 182.5 days. pretty incredible, its all gone by so fast. thinking back, it seems like ive done so much i just kinda get lost in the jumble of memories. My thoughts lately have been pretty dominated by the aspect of returning home. earlier in my trip my homecoming was like this big shining beacon, something i was super excited for and fantasized about a bit(huge party waiting for me, etc etc). Now that its actually about to happen its lost a bit of its glamour. You know how things you can't have always seem so much more exciting and you want them just because you cant have them. But I think im ready to go home. Its been a long trip and im ready to see all my friends again and get to immerse myself in the comforts of the house. my own room and bathroom and home cooked meals, although the latter isn't such an issue currently. But yeah, the timing is good. I've done a ton of amazing things, learned a lot, met crazy people, and i think im really ready to get back home.

And now its dinner time. But I'll see you all sooner than anyone can imagine.

gus

pics- rio dulce, san ignacio, caye caulker, belize bamboo farm

Sorry its been so long since i wrote ive been trapped on a tropical island with 7 dollar an hour internet

Im back and have no fear, me not writing for a week in no way equals my death in any way shape or form. internet was simply very expensive where i have been for the past week. and that would be the one and only Caye Caulker and i. loved. it. before i get to that though, i'll report on the one reason i spent any time in san ignacio earlier, which was for the band festival they held. it was awesome. if it hadn't been for the large sections of spanish speaking fans, the traditional garifuna group, and the general lack of skill, it could have been any huge marching band festival in the southern US. i realize that my view of these festivals may be skewed by the fact that my only experience with them is through the movie drumline, but still. and speaking of drumline, i think most of the performers must have seen it as well, because they totally stole moves from it. The first part of the competition was the full marching bands, and at least one group played i believe i can fly (also in the movie). The second part of the competition was just between the drum lines. and i guess i should correct myself here, because the drumming was actually all really good, it was just all the horn players that sounded like they were blowing chunks through their instruments. anyways during the drum line part NOT ONLY did one group pull out the archery move (in the movie), but there was a bit of taunting thrown in the mix (in the movie), as well as the whole point at the opponent with your sticks and then drop them on the ground in front of you (also in the movie). however you could tell these guys were amateurs because in the movie when the throw their sticks on the ground they all have extra pairs stashed away to keep playing with. these guys didn't get that far, and instead had to bend over (not easy with a drum strapped to you), pick the sticks up, and awkwardly walk away. But all in all it was a great experience. the crowd was very into it and all had umbrellas to block out the 103 degree heat.

and now to caye caulker. it is a tiny island. for all practical purposes you could get to anything you needed in ten minutes. i spent my time mostly relaxing, with some snorkeling, diving, sailing, tanning, volleyballing, and easter partying mixed in. The snorkel trip i took was on a big sailboat. we got to go to three places, one of which was shark and ray alley where we got to swim with nurse sharks (not dangerous) and sting rays (i guess potentially dangerous but no one seemed too concerned). cool! the sharks felt very sand papery and rough, and the rays like a complete opposite were very squishy and slimy. other things we saw: turtle, tarpon, houndfish, barracuda, needle fish, groupers, lobster (awesome). the houndfish and barracuda were in the same place and were everywhere which was really creepy because they weren't scared of you and just sat there staring and looking very torpedo-like, except with teeth. The dives i did were excellent as well. i got to see a couple huge green moray eels, another turtle, a mind-blowingly well-camouflaged rock fish (i was 5 feet away with someone pointing at it and still didn't see it until it moved), two sting rays, and best of all a group of 5 black and white spotted eagle rays all swimming together in formation. they just sort of effortlessly glide along, its amazing to watch. One of my roommates on of the days in the hostel i stayed at had gone sailing one day and was going on and on about it, and i realized I'd never done it and it might be fun to give it a shot. so i had an hour lesson in this tiny little boat that didn't look made for anything as big as a person. but it was actually a lot of fun, but a bit trickier than i expected. the way you had to control the sail and rudder at the same time reminded me of trying to play a drum set where you have to play different rhythms with each limb. ive never been too hot at the drum set...

Easter wasn't as exciting as i was hoping it would be. mostly it was a lot of belizians from the mainland getting drunk. but we had some quality karaoke and a huge party on the beach under an enormous tent-covering.

Great things about the island: turquoise water, terrific sunsets, pelicans, volleyball every night, awesome bakery, fresh juice stands.

great thing about my hostel: tv!! i got to watch my first basketball games of the season, a good share of family guy, and a movie or two. madagascar is awesome. i like to move it move it!

bad things about my hostel: general uncleanliness. bed bugs. mosquitoes. mice in the kitchen. except when i saw the mice i immediately thought of the movie ratatouille and then felt sorry for them and didnt scare them away. maybe they were just collecting ingredients for a meal they were about to cook or something.

anyhow now ive got to go catch a bus. im going out into the jungle again to an eco/sustainable living farm thing. the new zealanders i was traveling with a bit back loved it and suggested it so i thought id check it out. the food is supposed to kick ass. i have a feeling there wont be internet out there, so ill write again in a few days.

and speaking of a few days ill be home in 17.

holy.

guacamole.

gus

San Ignacio, Belize!

Hello, not hola, from belize! all of these months of spanish put to waste by this little haven of english. most of the people here cant speak a word of spanish! seems kinda weird. It's definitely a different country here though. All the other ones, there were slight changes but really they were all more or less the same. When i crossed the border, i actually forgot i could speak english and was talking to the cab driver in spanish. so of course the language is an obvious change. but then i got on the bus, and instead of the normal latin music, what comes on but how you gonna act like that by tyrese, followed by a cd full of other slow jams from back home. it had been a looong time since id heard any of that outside of my ipod. Clothing-wise its much more like home here, with all the guys dressing according to hip-hop culture with baggy everything etc. The currency here is also called the dollar as well which gets me nice and confused consistently. But before you get to thinking its really like home, the similarities pretty much end there. when not talking to tourists, the locals speak creol, which is caribbean english and amazingly hard to understand. and if this first town is any indicator the cities are much more similar to the central american set up than ours. aaaand its blazing hot, hitting the likes of 98 the past few days. i went out kayaking today and my genes decided to stand up for themselves, allowing me to get sun burned and thereby proving i am in fact still white. I've been in this town for about 3 days now. i didn't plan on it, but theres gonna be a big music festival tomorrow that i decided would be fun to check out. i met a tourguide last night who, when i mentioned that i wanted to try iguana before leaving, agreed to take me iguana hunting today. unfortunately he flaked, reinforcing my previously placed stereotype of never trusting tour guides, but man wouldn't that have made for a good story?! wish it had worked out...well i guess thats all i can think of. not too much has really happened since i last wrote. as ive passed the one month mark im starting to think about home even more than usual and i cant waaaaiiiit to see everyone and everything again. ive been asked a couple times what the first thing im gonna do when i get home is, outside of seeing friends and family. its a tough one but i think ive settled on taking the dog for a walk and seeing the neighborhood again. good old cosmo always there to help out when i need him. righto, hope youre all good and well!

love
gus

Rio Dulce

I left San Pedro back to Antigua, which i wished i'd stayed longer at when i was there the first time. So this was my redemption. The first thing i did when i got there was go to maybe the one restaurant that I'd rather go to than any other here. i was kicking myself over missing it my first way through. what do they serve you ask? bagels, bagels, and more bagels. haaalleluja. and i didnt even mention the locks! my taste buds were in the clouds let me tell ya. the next day i visited the very busy market in town gift shopping, and aside from making some solid purchases i also got some valuable bargaining experience in. They all expect you to haggle when you're looking at anything, which was new to me. some of them even took it a step further, which i had to help myself from laughing at. when id ask about the price, before i could even have the chance to argue the starting amount, they would say 'its a good price just for you 80 quetzales okay 75.' it was like they were bartering with themselves!

Contrary to the rest of central america that i have thus far experienced, all throughout Guatemala there are little shuttle vans that take you directly to practically anywhere in the country you want. On the surface this is very appealing-fast, convenient, fairly cheap, and you dont worry about anything getting stolen, its just you and a bunch of other tourists. HOWEVER under the surface they are terrible little things. they can be unbelievably crowded, make me carsick like the dickens, and the drivers are obnoxious. So when i left antigua, i decided it was back to the chickenbusses for me. The first one i caught from antigua to guatemala city went flawlessly. the next bus going to rio dulce when i arrived was 20 bucks and fancy. or there was a 6 dollar old one going a half hour later. you all know which one i took. and man did it start well. not only was it full of locals and with a little too little leg room, but we even got a guy on board trying to sell shampoo to us. he had a whole shpeal and everything about how he wasn't here to annoy us or be a bother, he just wanted to share his wonderful shampoo with the masses. from there on things got interesting, good or bad depending on how you look at it. Either way, about an hour and a half into the trip, water and steam started rocketing out of the dashboard. Everyone reacted surprisingly nonchalantly. The bus driver kept driving, someone got up and went to work trying to fix it, and no one dove out the windows, which was maybe the logical course of action. In any case they couldn't fix it and we had to pull over to wait for the next bus to pick us up. And it was there, in the blazing heat leaning against the side of the bus on the shoulder of the highway, that i realized the main reason why i dislike the shuttles so much. they're just too damn easy! theres no adventure in getting door to door service in smooth-running vans with no crazy locals, no doubt that everything will go according to plan. thats not what i want, i'm traveling dammit! Anyways so eventually the next bus came, full, and we all stood for the next few hours until seats opened up for us. a solid day of travel that i will remember forever all thanks to the chicken busses.

here in rio dulce im at a hostel where a friend i made earlier this trip is working now. it was nice seeing a familiar face. The town here is right at the end of the river where it empties into a lake. Yesterday i took a kayak out exploring and before i left my bud was like make sure you get around the corner to take a look at the lake, its huge! i was thinking yeah whatever, ive seen plenty of big lakes its probably nothing special. but wow. when i turned that corner, it was like looking at the ocean. i literally couldnt see the other shore of the lake. granted lake nicaragua is over ten times bigger, but it has mountains around it and you can always see the other side. this was a very strange feeling to me. There is also a castle here where the spanish would fight pirates who used to sail up the river. it was a little hard to imagine.

And one more to add to the highlight reel: today i went to a hot spring waterfall. over 20 ft tall and like an extraordinarily hot shower in the coolest places. It emptied into a cold river that flowed underneath, and you could actually swim under/ behind the falls into little caves that were like natural saunas. saweet.

in two days its april and i have exactly one month left.
yoikes.

gus

pics

leeeets see these would be a creepy bug on the bed next to mine, rachel the new zealander out the window of our bus to antigua, the hostel at semuc champey, pictures from pacaya - lava, marchmallows, etc - 3 locals boating home on lake atitlan, indians nose (look at it sideways), view from behind a cross of san juan at lake atitlan, view over the lake, some fabulous chicken busses, and two nice, high class restaurants in antigua