I am no longer in Central America...

I am now in Abu Dhabi...

you can track my tales at www.somewhereinthemiddleeast.blogspot.com

I am starting to get the questions now...

So here is the story.

I replied to a job offer in Abu Dhabi about a month ago. Got the acceptance letter while in Costa Rica ailing my broken rib.

I accepted the job in San Jose and bought a quick flight back to Canada to see my family for two weeks... so my great Mexican/Central American trip sadly came to an end... I will have to do the rest of Costa Rica and Panama someday.

Am now in Canada.

Successfully sneezed for the first time last week (couldn't inflate my lungs fully for the longest time)

Am now flying out to the UAE as of Tuesday. Yes, this tuesday. Have been puttering around Vancouver, smiling at people from work, buying medical insurance and seeing friends.

Will send out the new blog address once I've arrived.

After a very looooooooooooooooooong trip with two stop overs and about 14hours of flight... I've managed to find my way back to Canada.

The cold mountain air is killing me even though I'm being assured by everyone here that it's hot.

Was greeted two nights ago my sister and brother in law in K-town.... their new puppy Emma... and MY SISTER IS PREGNANT!!! I wonder if I'm allowed to write that. Next day made my way to the Armpit to unpack my latino clothing and start looking for my teacher sweaters... sigh...

Will be back in K-town this next week... will be in Van the week after... or so I think...

I just realized how tanned I am surrounded by all the white folk around me.

I need a haircut

Am loving San Jose!!!

Have had an unexpected turn of events in my life... will explain later... am cutting my vacation/volunteering/learning spanish year short and am flying back to K-town tomorow morning:

* CO 1485 - San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) to Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) on Tue., May. 15, 2007
* CO 1739 - Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) to Seattle, WA (SEA) on Tue., May. 15, 2007
* CO 8520 - Seattle, WA (SEA) to Kelowna, BC Canada (YLW) on Tue., May. 15, 2007

and will be in Van hopefully a week after that...

Wahoo... so after a couple of nights in Tamarindo and experiencing the wierdness of stepping from Latin America into a scene that looked much like V-town... I have landed in San Jose... loving it.

Had an "interesting" passport interaction involving about 7 police officers who couldnt seem to locate my costa rican stamp in my passport... they almost took me off the bus I was on. The guy kept looking at me saying "this is NOT good", leafing through my passport... the stamp was on the first page... i kept asking if I could show him... and he kept saying "this is NOT good" then passed it off to several other police officers who did the same. After several minutes, they finally found it... and I was allowed back on the bus.

I have BIG news... will be coming home sooner rather than later. Will explain more soon... and this is good news!

Remembering of course the cheapest meals available ever... this is the other thing im going to miss about nica.... namely bus driver chants

Masaya:



Managua:


Guatemala City:


Leon:

ok, where to begin????

people have asked about my bruised rib... so Ill try to explain... I was swimming in a crater lake in Nicaragua near Granada (which was incidently very good for my skin... maybe the sulfur???)

There was a dock about 10 metres from the beach with a ladder on it. I didn't use the ladder the day before but thought I would climb up it. There was a good layer of slime on one of the rungs so I thought I would take my chances and jump on it to hoist myself out of the water. I slipped but managed to get airborne long enough to impale myself onto the top part of the ladder....

(picture of lake and dock that i slipped on above)

suffice to say that was about a week ago and am still aching.

spent three days in San Juan del Sur in Nica which felt ueber-touristy... but was very beautiful...


and enjoyed a good gang of people...


oh and also bought a new hat to replace the old one:


then headed to Isla de Omotepe for 3 nights in the center of lake Nicaragua... the island is born of two volcanoes (one still active) and covered mostly with farms, horses, these funky birds that follow you around that have long tails... and like the sound of castanets....

1st night spent at Finca Magdelena (a farm) only to discover that the next day some guy from the World Bank showed up in a helicopter and had some sort of "meeting" there... kind of bizarre... slept on a tarp bed (not so good for my rib)

the next two nights went to a different finca and ended up sleeping on a bed made of wood for two nights... also not so good for my rib.

Yesterday on a whim with a friend headed to Costa Rica with the promise of sleeping on a matress... have found one... feeling better.

Was not so excited about Costa Rica because of the tourist reputation that it has but came along with a friend for the ride.

Am in Tamarindo now.

Shocking things I have found about Tamarindo:

1) There are no tamarinds in Tamarindo
- incidently , I couldn't find any lions in Leon either... (those pillars in front of people's houses that usually have lions.... they have rabbits in leon) , nor could i find grenadines in granada... but im not so sure they're related...

2) There are soooo many Canadians and strip malls here it feels like Whister.

Will spend a couple of nights here so that maybe my ailing rib will get better and maybe go get an x-ray....

... soon to come... the sounds of granada....

...am in San Juan del Sur at the beach... spent 3 days in a crater lake near Granada... then headed here...

..has been an eventful couple of days... bruised a rib in the lake... hurts to laugh now... also hurts to lie on my belly on a big flat board in the ocean.

grrrrr.......... after 6 months of travel in latin america have experienced my first outburst of incredibly infantile macho behavior....

was walking down the street in granada.... dude starts cycling by me... talking to me in English... doing the "hablas expanol?" thing... so i ignore it and he goes away...

am walking towards the lake in a more quiet part of town 5 minutes later... noticing that the ambient is getting a bit more "unsafe"? so i am holding close to my bag....

and then out of nowhere... the same guy from before comes cycling behind me... grabs the top of my head (hat and HAIR)... yanks away at my hair and steals my $1 Army and Navy hat....

and speeds off on his bike

cowardly...

sad...

have relocated my hair elastic... will look for a new hat in a couple of days

Hmmmm... relaxed...

Just paid a blind guy here in Granada $10 for an hour long massage... have been wondering around here for the last day or so... pretty town... will go to Masaya tomorow to look at the handycrafts.

Did a lot of museums and churches and stuff in the morning...

ok... so more wierd videos... have figured out to put youtube directly into my blog!!! this was a turtle in Leon that I thought was a statue and almost stepped on




and these are little boys who were playing soccer in the front park this morning

Have arrived in Granada... IT'S BEAUTIFUL HERE!!! I have the feeling it will be hard to leave. There are enough foreigners around here to make this place feel a lot like Antigua. A little earie... but quiet... relaxing... and enough volcanoes and hikes around along with volunteering stuff to keep me preoccupied for at least a week

Managed to get rid of ALL my Lempiras... I think I mentioned before that I was running around here in Nica with the equivalent of about $400 in Honduran currency... loooooooooooooong story... went to buy a camera on a Sunday... was told the visa machines don't work on sundays... that I would have to pay with cash!!!!

So I got out the big wad of dough... and then realized that I didnt have insurrance if I didnt use my credit card....

so there I was... in a shopping mall... standing inside radio shack... thinking to myself... what the heck do I do with all this money?

and for some odd reason... banks here dont change money from their neighboring countries... and I wasn't about to trade it all in to the local money changers who were offering me 75% of the worth...

BIG weight off my back... as long as no one mugs me now I'm set for well into Costa Rica!!!

Am in Leon for another HOT HOT day... note my sweatie shadow:


Went to the museum of Ruben Dario, and the museum for heroes and martyrs today... lots of poems... lots of murals...


lots of churches in this place.... apparently the centre of colonialism for central america. kinda feels like europe... only there´s reggaeton being played everywhere.

Woke up, was walking around the hostel this morning... and almost stepped one of the hostel pets.... a turtle... freaked the snot right out of me... i thought it was one of those bronzed statues at first...

All the men here are calling me flakita... you can hear sacedas everywhere in this country.

MUST FIND BEACH...

CAMERA!!! finally got the thing too work.. the little revolutionary town of Estelli had computers... but I nearly got electricuted by my camera the last time I tried to upload a photo...

I think I have bad camera karma...


Looks like the okanagan around here in Nica

Am in the coloneal town of Leon after a llllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooooong BUMPY bus ride... AND IT´s HOT... they say that today was supposed to be the hottest day in HOnduras... so hot that they canceled school.

Having wierd funny dry skin thing happening on my hands... malaria meds.... grrrr.

Oh incidently, the three little boys that tried to steal our ice cream two nights ago... returned last night... while we were drinking coffee with a friend from Xela... and stole my friends caramel toffee off the table... it was kind of a willing theft... but whatever...

ps this is the dirty waterfall we swam in yesterday... rained a lot the night before... am starting to fear the rainy season

and this is the duck that was in our hostel named pinche:
As you can see... Im excited to have a camera again... now if i could only find someone to change my Lempira´s for Cordoba´s with...

Second day in Esteli... eating lots of Nicaraguan food... ate half a tub of one litre ice cream... quite nice... chocolate and almonds... in Belize the company was Marco Polo, in Guatemala and Honduras it was Sarita... am moving on now to Eskimo...

was sitting with a friend eating the tub last night... three little boys came running up looking like they were going to steal our ice cream... the eight your old made eye contact with me... stopped dead in his tracks... and his two buddies stopped as well...

sometimes humanity is beautiful..

then the ice cream lady shewed them out of the store

its hard to know how to give money here. i didn´t get a chance to meet my sponsor child in honduras because they want 4 months notice so they can do a security check...

the boys didnt look like they were starving... they just wanted ice cream..

Went to some waterfalls today... walked a lllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnng way to get there... bought two books... one by the much celebrated nicaraguan author and poet, Ruben Dario (think i got that right)... will read on bus tomorow on my way to Leon...

think i am going to buy a cheap nicaraguan guitarre and start writing music again...

will send some pics... as soon as i can find a place to format my camera.

incidently, there is a pet duck in the hotel i am staying at

i have too much honduran money on me now... and the banks wont change it (looooooooooooonger story)... i think i have to go back to the border to change it...

everybody LOVES the american dollar here...

-sigh-

BIG NEWS!!!

I have a camera!!!!

Last night went out to a Don Quixote reading... apparently everywhere around the world yesterday Spanish speakers were reading excepts from it. We went in the middle of the day and kids were reading, went again at night and it was the Diplomat crowd... I was served Canada Dry... very surreal.

Today hiking in the forest... 'la Tigra'...

will probably leave tomorow as my volunteer contact and I haven't been able to get coordinated.

Second day in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras...

...or so I have been told.

feels like the twighlight zone.

im not 100% sure what exactly Honduran culture is at the moment

Last night I was in a red-neck bar for dinner and this Honduran guy played Shock to the Heart by Corry Hart and then serenaded people at tables... I wasn't sure if I was in the states or at another Mexican wedding... they served chicken wings and beer in a bucket... i ordered fish "con salsa" and ended up with fish and relish.... not bad... seriously...

Today I got up being blasted with christian contemporary music as it was sunday... and learned that i couldnt buy a camera on a sunday because although radio shack (yes RADIO SHACK!!!!) was open... visa machines dont work on sundays. The dude in the camera shop was very accomodating and sweet... assured me to come back tomorow... sigh..

Today went to a soccer match... there was lots of dancing, lots of jeering, and a handful of police.. it was like being back in europe except there was much more dancing... less red faces... and less police

... also included sponsorship from pizza hut, church's chicken, popeye's and get this... dunkin doughnuts... guess the 80's really paid off for Honduras? I keep looking around for Taco stands but can't find any...

museums and camera buying tomorow... jungle the day after

Ok... 6 days of Roatan, 4 days of diving.... 5 days of snorkeling... this is what i learned:

1) Malaria medication is nasty... already new this... experienced it first hand for the first time

2) wearing think fleece hiking pants and top in 30 degree weather will stop mosquitos from biting you at night... and will almost make them stop itching

3) if you see a gigantic eagle ray while you are snorkeling alone.... and there is noone around for a good km... and it starts circling around you several times.... it doesn't want to eat you.... it just wants to get a good look at you.... and stay away from the tail!

4) Roatan is overpriced... am looking forward to getting back to the mainland and paying normal honduran prices....

On to the mainland in an hour... la ceiba tonight and then going to tegu:)

Fourth day in Roatan.

Enjoying myself a lot. Went out on my second dive. Saw some funky stuff. I keep bumping into people that I've been traveling with for the last week or so... kinda nice. My German is getting lots of practice and my spanish... although this place feels a bit like a mini Cancun.

Have decided to start taking Maralia medication just because their are sooooooooo many bugs... so many in fact that I can't count them all.

Am now on the island of Roatan... place known for worlds cheapest diving and malaria laden mosquitos.

Last night as I was using the internet and outside there were a bunch of men organizing a rooster fight outside the internet place... today the internet is being run by a generator because there is no electricity.

My first night here I stayed at the cheapest place I could find... only to wake up in the middle of the night... being rained on... on the bottom of a bunk bed... on the second floor of a 6 story building... amazing... now the sun is shining... the visibility in the water has cleared... and im on my way to go diving

YAY!

Where to begin? Ummmmmm... ok... so there are no pictures today because I dont have a camera anymore...

majority of photos on disc....

have also lost a toenail... toenail left freely... divorced itself from the majority of my foot about an hour ago... didnt see it coming at all... he{ll move out as soon as I can locate my nail clippers.

Am now in Honduras in the beach town of Omoa... was in Rio Dulce and Livingston... loved Rio Dulce... little kid found a shark in fresh water (would have inserted picture here)... livingston spent time with local garifuna folk and eating local dishes.

bumped into some people that my parents know... kind of by accident... oh how the world is small...

Camera left me about 5 hours ago... two very scared young boys and a gun... us in the river downstream from a waterfall... left our swiss army knives... and bags...

went to the local police... got a free ride back to the waterfall... there were six of them... very kind... trampled up the river with big machine guns and boots on... very kind...

to comemorate, I{ve written a Haiku

Little men
Big Guns
In the water

Taxes are done.... yay! now if only I knew if I had insurance on my camera or not

Hope your camera is doing better than mine

On my way to a Bay Island tomorow... dont know which one... hopefully there will be less guns and friendly fish:)

Ok... where to begin... Xela has been absolutely WILD with activity... on Saturday morning we awoke to Sawdust laden streets... decorated for the procession to trample on...

The procession went on for several days... men and boys in purple.. reminded me of that Zhang Yi Mo movie ¨Hero¨. Little girls dressed in white and women in their traditional garb

On Saturday night, the big JC had his ride pimped... check out the black light...

Next morning we woke up to go to the spa in a town called Zunil... came accross another funky procession...

Got to the baths... very nice hot sulphery water...

Later we went back to Zunil and watched a reinactment of the crucifiction... after it was over... the actor was still on the cross and the little kids from town got up and started wailing fruit and rocks at him... a bit too realistic for me

If you look real close... Jesus is wearing Tevas. Walked down the mountain that day... next day we went to another bath called Aguas Amargas... very nice...

Bought a phone today... will head off again tomorow!

Bizzare traveling story #2

Yesterday I was walking through the market... and out of nowhere two little girls with ages of about 6 and 7 came out of nowhere grabbed onto my legs and kept asking me questions... they wanted to walk around the city with me... very cute and amiable... guatemalans around were stairing and giggling to themselves as they clung onto my thighs and walked around the market... my one question that I kept asking them "where is your mom?" "dont you think you should ask her first?"... the locals found this even funnier... after a little while we bumped into their 20 year old cousin... and i was off.

(…) (…)

Im in Xela and it´s holy week!!!

Before I left the girls taught us how to make tortillas...

All of my pictures are now up on Google... if I forgot to send it to you, email me or post a message on my blog and I´ll send you the link!

It´s coffee season!!!

So after 3 weeks of puttering around the dusty hic town of San Pedro, I´m lamenting the fact that I have to leave the school that I´ve been volunteering at:

http://www.ninosdellago.org/

my family, friends and teachers, and the school.

This week was full of salsa, stories of torture victims in Guatemala during the 80´s... and coming up saturday, a mascarade ball for April fools day. Last week I had my mayan sign told... I am a seed who needs to play music.. went kayaking to San Marcus


and went to the beach with my Spanish teacher and gang:)

This next week Im heading off to Xela (aka Quetzatenango) for a day before moving on to Antigua for Semana Santa and then up to Rio Dulce and Livingston and then into Honduras.

Ok, have been in San Pedro for 2 weeks now staying with my family (above... lotsa little girls).

Last weekend hiked up one of the extinct volcanoes in the town called ´the indian nose´(looks like a nose see below)..

This is the view from the top


the next day went to the market in chichicastenango and bought a hamock.

this week I´ve been really busy... spanish classes in the morning, volunteer teaching with a local project called ´niños del lago´in the afternoon. i may stay one more week and then up to the ocean again.

my teacher this week has been fascinating... guatemalan politics are a bit crazy at the moment... they are trying to privatise the public school system!!!!

ok... have just experienced my first wierd virus in latin america... puss oozing out of my eyes for 2 days, crazy amounts of dizzyness for 5 days, cold, cough, fever, shakes... wild

have been in San Pedro on Lago Atitlan for a week now at a language school, living with a Mayan homestay family, practicing my Spanish and Tsutu´xil. My teacher here has turned out to be a linguist and interculturalist like me, so we´ve had lots to talk about.

Next week Im volunteering with the school that Im at now that my cold has subsided. Am enjoying the down and family that I´m staying with.

Am still in Atigua.. went out and listened to the main singer from Buena Vista Social Club... for $4... the guy was amazing.. he must be about 80.
This town is full of funky churches that have crumbles several times due to earthquakes... lots of volcanoes nearbye...

Check out this dog...

Last night I hiked up a volcanoe and watched tourists get stupidly close to it.
Oh... and they seem to oddly wheelchair friendly here:

Will tour around the city for the rest of today and then on to Lago Atitlan!!!

Yeah... Snott Gorila gel!!! Just what every latino guy needs!!!


Just spent the last three days in Lanquin... in a very funky hostel... lots of fun... check out the worlds largest jenga game:


went swimming/speluknking in caves... here are the pictures as promised

yes... this is us swimming with candles:


and yes.. there is a candle on my head... the guide made me wear it

and it was COLD

watched some bats in other caves... went to semuc champey and swam in really clear water
and encountered... CHOCOATE!!!!


am now in Antigua... guatemalan town famous for tourists...

and volcanoes... must buy flipflops(broke in semuc)... must buy gauze... experienced very big ugly gash on my leg in the caves.

must fix visa problem