...somewhere in the americas...

2007-06-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

I am no longer in Central America...

I am now in Abu Dhabi...

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

2007-06-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-05-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-05-12T09:13:00.001-07:00

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:

2007-05-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

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....

2007-05-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

...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.

2007-05-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2007-04-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-04-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-04-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

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-

2007-04-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-04-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

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:)

2007-04-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-04-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-04-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

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:)

2007-04-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-04-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-04-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Im in Xela and it´s holy week!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/diannemareecook/FunVideos/photo#5049288355565912866

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!

2007-03-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2007-03-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-10T05:58:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2007-03-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ok... am now in Coban... ironically this is the word for police office box in Japan... dogs also appear on rooves hear like mexico:

It´s fffffreeezing and pouring here... have met some cool travel buddies...

went for a massage and temascal (mayan sweat house/sauna thingy)...

was excellent... on my way again tomorow.

Dad... the ugly turkey shots are for you... have ridden on several buses with foul... you are in my thoughts

They were hanging around a market... nicely tied together trying to keep warm

2007-03-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

So now I`m in Guatemala!!!!

Am liking the country a lot so far... I'm in Flores on a lake for the next couple of hours (was in Tikal yesterday to go into the jungle... look at more mayan ruins and listen to howler monkeys)

I think I am officially ruined out again... this time we got up at 4 am to take a bus ride to get in:
Caye Calker was amazingly relaxing and i am looking forward to being back near the Caribbean after I head west for a bit:)

After getting a little mini lesson about mangroves, sea grass and the ocean... I spent some time snorkeling with my camera around the mangroves on caye calker.. so just in case you dont know... this is a mangrove:

and these are the fish that hang out around the roots

2007-02-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

hiya:)

am about to hop onto a ferry. Tino and Ulrike left for Orange Walk yesterday... we left san ignacio, Tino's mom, sister, brother in law, and two kids yesterday..

spent a few hours in belmopan and then headed to the zoooooooooo. The zoo was wild... litterally

saw animals that i didn't know existed... ulrike and i got to hold a rattle snake... she ended up licking my armpit... wierd.

Am now in Belize City.. spent the morning walking around "downtown" and will head off to Caye Calker today for some snorkeling and beach time:)

2007-02-26T19:30:00.000-08:00

oooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Lets try that again...

I'M IN BELIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Land of the sugar cane (note picture above of sugar cane) and Marie Sharp`s hot sauce:

Landed in Orange Walk a couple of nights ago... had an interesting conversation with a homeless manHung out with Ulrike and Tino's extended family, learned to make tortillas by hand, went to a grade school and taught a class one morning... fun fun fun... talk about enthusiastic kids!!!!

Tino arrived from his Atole a few days later and then we headed out on an adventure! 1st we went to a "spa retreat" (promise that pictures will follow) went swimming and had juice...

then we went to a mayan ruin...

and landed later that evening in San Ignatio... have been hanging out... going to ruins... watching butterflys

and the interesting animals that are around... (note Ulrike feeding the toucan papaya at a local restaurant)

... tinos mom and sister have taught ulrike and i how to make corn tortillas and fry jack by hand...

have finally found a lonely planet for central america (i bought the fodders one... IT's TERRIBLE)

language here is mostly spanish, a little english, and more creole... i feel like im in New Brunswick!!!!

Mosquitos here are hungry... along with the "doctor fly"... the queen on the dollar bill here looks young and pretty... i think it's the portrait of her in 1980 before Belize became independant...

2007-02-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

IM IN BELI

2007-02-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... spent my first bus ride alone in Mexico talking to a Mexican grandmother and her 3month old granddaughter... arrived in Chetumal...

to discover yet another colonial town with yet another Carnival... stayed in a HUGE hostel... with absolutley no one in it.... headed to Mahahual the next day... the place is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

a little bizarre though... almost no restaurants... a few hotels... and all these cruise ships that come buy drop off their passengers and let them go snorkeling for the day... enjoying the warmth, the sun, and the sea:)

2007-02-17T20:15:00.000-08:00

Ok.. back in Cancun... yesterday was windy... a little bit rainy and time for CARNIVAL...
It was fun.... little 2 year old girl drinking beer followed us around dancing with us... a little bizarre.

Cut bangs... came back to Cancun... went to see movie in spite of the cold weather.... ate all-you can eat shrimp and watched another CARNIVAL...

this one much bigger. Oscar heads back to DF tomorow... Im heading south to Chetumal to hang out a bit before heading to belize....

ciao for now

2007-02-15T20:18:00.000-08:00

Wow... so Im back in Mexico... Cancun felt like Disneyland for Tourists... spooky...

spent the morning in the Hostel talking with a 60 year old Italian... reminded me of the gradfather in Little Miss Sunshine...

and then walked from the town centre to the Hotel Zone (14 km?)... and ate overpriced lobster.

Now we`re in Isla de las mujeres..

went to a Turtle Farm today that works on saving turtle eggs, incubating them, letting them grow for 1-2 years and then releases them...SAW TWO ALBINO TURTLES!!! very interesting... saw a very wierd looking lobster (supposedly a prehistoric one)

then went snorkeling... there are iguanas everywhere... i never know when I take a picture of one if Im about to get bit... because they stay so still... was swarmed by a large school of fish that seemed to think i had food... luckily they were not the kind with teeth:)

I like the sand a lot here... i think it may be the nicest softest sand Ive ever seen in my life... give it a 9.5.... Cancun sand scores a 5 partly because its fake

On my way to Cozumel to do some more diving and then will head down to the Belizian border... looks like I might actually make it to central america after all:)

2007-02-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

Yikes... it's been a month already... my students have finished their final presentations and graduated... and I leave early EARLY EARLY monday morning for Cancun.

People have been asking me who I've been staying with for the last month so here's my house of happy people:

And my gang managed to squeeze in three birthdays and a housewarming all in the same night!!!

2007-02-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

Behold the mighty chipmunk!!!!

Went for a hike today in the snow... and the ICE

FLOWERS!!! COUNT 'EM... 30!!!

2007-02-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

Look... it's a picture of my folks.. they took me out for dinner:)

And this was the gang of "the almost alnighter eat-a-thon"

back to the snow and the cold

2007-01-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Celebrating my 10,957th day on earth!!!

Yup... that's right... I'm back from Latin America for all of a month to enjoy the rain and snow (ie I'm in Vancouver) and I'm... I'm turning the big 30...

-pause for shock... she can't be THAT old... she looks so young...-

So to commemorate my big day, I'm going to make an attempt to recreate the best meal of my life that happened about 10 years ago in Rochefort on the Coast of France.....

-pause for intrigue-

Which involved eating, drinking and talking for about 14 hours.....

- pause for remembering how I often have wacky ideas -

The plan is to meet up on Jan 26th (that's this friday) at about 7 pm and eat, drink and be merry until nine in the morning (Jan 27th... my actual birthday)....

- pause for thoughts of the best food you've ever eaten -

So I was thinking like a kind of Pot luck where people bring their favourite food and/or a bottle of wine and we bring out a different dish every hour of the night...

- pause for thinking about what you might bring....-

fondue? okonomiaki? spaetzle? fois gras? bibimbap? vindaloo? spotted dick? perogies? gyoza/zhaozhe? bangers and mash? pavlova? yakisoba? balut? calzone? bulgogie? chilaciles? balti?

- pause to realize that the list is endless and remember how I am a bad speller in every language... not just English -

So I don't want any presents... just your PRESENCE...

....and your food...

and to help me welcome my 30th year in at midnight.

Sooooo.... If you're coming, send me an email by Wed night and I'll send you the address.

2007-01-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

I'm back, I'm in Vancouver....

AND IT'S FREEZING!!!!

2007-01-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Ok so I think I´m officially overly colonialized and "ruined out". From Palenche to Campeche... another abandonned colonial town on the ocean...

followed by Merida, another colonial town filled with italian immigrants managed to take in part of a funky festival that was happening... the traditional colour hear is white...

and there seems to be a budding artistic community.

Im telling you it's ART!

Oh yeah and then we ate taco's at the place where the pope was... im telling you HOLY TACOS!!!

Spent a day in Uxmal, a former Mayan capital... I have to say that I think this is the most impressive of the former Mayan cities... I thought Chichen Itsa would top this, but as the new government has changed the fact that you can´t climb to the top of any of the old temples Uxmal was cool. (And you thought the stairmaster or the Grouse Grind was bad.... HA!!)

From Merida we headed to ChichenItsa... looked at more ruins... learned that the new government as of Jan 1st allows Mexicans in for free. Went to the sound and light show the night before and watched the snake like phenomenon that happens at the side of the main pyramid during equinox and solstice.

From ChichenItsa... headed to the last ruin on my map... Tolum... another community flooded with Italians and thus expensive but good restaurants. Took the happy tourist pictures of the ruins by the sea, went swimming in the ocean... but in actuality I spent more time staring at the lizards hanging around the ruins.... the mexicans watching me trying to talk to them started joking that they were plastic.

And now I´m in Playa del Carmen... skipping Cancun until later... don´t know if I´m ready to listen to American and Canadian rich tourists yet... Playa has enough of them... it´s a little earie... yesterday poured... today is sunny... am off to enjoy my last day at the beach before heading back to the rain in Vancouver....

-sigh-

now if only I could find my teacher sweaters....

2007-01-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

San Cristobal de las Casas managed to warm up during the day... it was just FREEZING during the night. I managed to bring in the new year with lots of life Mexican pop and a gang of people.

Today we got up very early (6am) after going to bed at 3.... headed to the Mizol-Ha (big water fall), Agua Azul (cascading waterfalls) and the ruins of Palenche and managed to get dumped on in the rain... ended up steeling black garbage bags and cutting holes in them... ruins were fun and interesting... and very very WET!

Heading off tonight in a bus towards Campeche and Merida... looking forward to seeing some sun, some beach and a laundry mat.

Check out this dog that we saw at the top of a church the day before in San Cristobal... it's a little bizarre... he seemed to take a liking to the manger scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSbCu5CO65g

2006-12-29T08:28:00.000-08:00

I have to send out a special thank-you to the owner of the hotel that we stayed at in Zipolite (Posada Brisa Marina)... the place and the town were a total haven... THANK YOU SO MUCH DANIEL!!!

Ok... so after spending three VERY EXPENSIVE but pretty days in Bayas de Huatulco (took a six hour boat ride yesterday which felt much like a real estate cruise see above), we headed off last night on a 10 hour bus ride into the centre of Chiapas to San Cristobal de las Casas... It was a LLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG bus ride and for some reason all of the long distance buses in Mexico are FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZING!!!

Very pretty colonial town with lots of indigenous people... ENJOYING listening to other indigenous languages in the street....

arriving at the bus station in the morning to discover that we were 2,000 meters above sea level... and it was absolutely FREEZING. Will tour around here for a bit and then on to Palenche. Photos soon to follow... I promise... oh and happy belated bday mom.

The town itself is cool in terms of tourists unlike Acapulco and Puerto escondito... lots of human rights workers... lots of coop type folks... oh and lots of Zapatistas... and amber

2006-12-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

So people have been asking me if I am still in Cuernavaca.... the answer is no...

I rather sporatically decided to leave just before Christmas... spent two days in Acapulco (tour Eifel... scummy hotel near the clavadistas but nice view of the ocean)... my biggest culture shock in Mexico is the fact that there doesn't seem to be any real coffee around here... I am now fully equipped with a bialetti cafetera and three plastic spoons

three days in surf mecca Puerto Escondido (Chez Ines... amazing hotel... pool... the works and cheap)... spent lots of time watching fishermen fish for shrimp and oysters holding their breath for up to 10 minutes... i think I want to become a fisherman...

have spent the last three days in Zipotle... small beach village inhabited by Mexicans and Italians... enjoying the sun and the fact that everyone left the state of Oaxaca because of the riots... lots of vacancy... am considering buying property here... and the food ROCKS!!!! Leave it to the Italians!!! Eating lots of guacamole, prawns, and Cajeta. One day we managed to encounter this tiny tiny shrimp that had been living in my beach bag... itsy itsy bitsy.

Promise to add pictures as soon as I can find some electricity.

Will be here for xmas (tomorow)... and will head to Palenche and San Christobal for New Years:)

For those who don't know already.... I plan to head back to Van starting Jan 11th to work for a month before returning to volunteer.... anybody know of places to stay let me know...

Ciao for now:)

2006-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend and yesterday I went to Taxco, town famous for silversmiths and looked at way too much jewelry and little kids eating bugs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sewjE9E4VbQ

Jumiles (the bugs in the video) are supposed to be a delicacy (you eat them while they're still alive). And yes, we paid the kid 50 cents to eat one (it's 50 cents for a bag of living jumiles).

Yesterday was the holiday for the Virgin of Guadalupe. I went to church and watched lots of little kids dressed up and saw lots of images of the virgin... if you don't know the story, google it. I went to the church where the virgin is (it's in mexico city) a month ago... didn't feel like going because it would be reallllllllllllllly crowded.

This last week was fun with my friend Lisa from Van (in the US)... but she's gone home now... and am starting to get itchy feet.

2006-12-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

So I'm starting to get complaints that I haven't written in my blog for a while.... so where to begin?

The last three weeks have been a lot of fun because there was a girl at my school from Munich and we spent a lot of time hanging out (see pic above of Claudia, Jan, and Cathy)... going to local museums and hanging out around town.

Two weekends ago I headed to Tepoztlan a small village famous for UFO sitings, and wierd energy.... complete with church and empty convent... hiked to the top of the mountain with Oscar... no sign of UFOs... just possums that made funny noises and ate garbage (click on youtube link):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufQSwpm0uU8

The next day I headed to Iguala with my family... ate possole and beef tongue...

This last friday was the official inaugeration of the new president... so I ran away to Acapulco and spent 4 days basking in the sun with Oscar and family. Our hotel had an amazing view, three pools and one with a waterfall that you could jump off of!!!!

Hung out around town, playing in the water and watched the clavadistas:

Note picture of me with clavadista (above). This is a four minute link of me watching the clavadistas (if you scroll to the end of the clip you can watch them jump):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq9IIo7zsP8

Was hard to leave the beach. At the moment I'm back at school.... puttering with my irregular verbs. There is a new girl at the school my age with two kids.... plans to go out dancing soon!!!!

2006-11-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hola:)

This last weekend I headed up to Mexico city and ended up at a Lucha Libre match... very interesting... a little bizarre... lots of people screaming... Louis, Anna, Paul and I sat slightly dumbfounded. The woman in this picture sat/stood in front of us screaming at the luchadores and making out with her boyfriend for the entire evening... ahhh wrestling in Mexico.

Monday was a big event as it was the day that commemorates the Mexican Revolution. I went into town with my family and watched the parade... and we headed around town and watched the other things happening for the holiday.

Some people asked about the Nagasaki paintings in the church in Cuernavaca... so here's part of it. I believe they were done in the 1500s.

The same day I wandered into a dance shop, bought some castanets and found about all the flamenco freaks in town... there are tonnes!!! The next day wasn't a holiday but all of the kids in town (literally thousands) from every school marched down my street (including the two kids from my house). Every class had a different theme, some danced, some marched, some sang.... it was quite the event... I couldn't see all of it though as I had to run to school.

Last night I headed into town with Claudia from school and we wandered around town, watched a funky native dance with lots of incense, and then some local artists from around down got up and started singing "traditional Mexican music".

We ended up watching this very interesting lady dance... I'm too lazy to work with Vlog but it's on youtube.com. Just click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CUN1i_B9YU and it should pop up.. the video is sideways... I promise to put the next video up properly. Claudia and I were discussing how this woman couldn't possible exist anywhere in Canada or Germany.

2006-11-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

Ok... where to begin...? This was my week of birthdays and long trips to beautiful places...

The girl in my family turned 11 on wednesday... so we had a BIG little girl party with panata... note the boy in my family beating the snot out of the pinata after all the girls have all the candy and have run away. Fun times...

The next couple of nights I was out with friends... I'm still amazed by the amount of people who will talk to me in my broken Spanish... lot's of fun... beautiful vistas and amazing food. Oh... and dogs on the roofs.

This weekend I headed to the town of Puebla and Cholula with Paul and Luis, famous for the world largest pyramid (in base and width... not height)... in actuality there are three pyramids that are build on top of each other and then grown over with grass half destroyed and topped by a church when the conquistadors came through. From the outside it looks like a hill... on the inside it's wild... legend has it that when you go to the very centre of the pyramid and clap your hands, you can see flashes of light... trippy.

I learned that grasshoppers are synonymous with the god of death... the word for grasshopper is chapuline... and hence the name of many cities... chapultapec... am trying to get my mouth around all the indigenous names... so we saw lots of grasshopper paintings... and lots of grasshoppers.... to eat.

Note the bag in Paul's hand.. Yummy with salsa and lime...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... I managed to get down a few including this one:

This was followed by a fun evening in Mexico City... in a pub and former convent... with another lesson in Tequila (shame on you Choji, Marie and Joel for working!) The next day Paul, Luis, Oscar, Anna and I headed to Queretaro... funky colonial city with lots of monuments.

Today is my Mama's birthday... so Im off to buy flowers...

2006-11-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

This weekend was my weekend of amazing dinners and fiestas. I went out on friday night with the people who own the school I am going to... the two Canadian ladies I was with and I allowed the man of the house to order for us.... we didn´t venture to ask what we were eating until after we were done.... as it turned out the meal consisted of...

... a rare mushroom in a pastry shell

... different types of salsa

And, get ready for this....

... tacos with testicles in guacamole (tasted like chicken)

I went to a birthday party on saturday and met some cool people and am doing fun stuff in the evenings. Yesterday, the Japanese guy that lives in my homestay and I went to the cathedral in town. It´s really interesting because a Mexican painted the Nagasaki crucifiction (in Japan) on the walls of the cathedral in the 1500´s.

Oh yeah, and I met up on Sunday with Paul from the summer in Vancouver and had an AMAZING DINNER. This is Paul saying hi to everyone in Vancouver...

We also got a tour last week of a very funky looking church... very ¨Gaudiesque¨. For those who know me well... know that I love Gaudi architecture...

ok... that´s it... ciao for now

2006-11-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween:)

The end of my week at school has just ended. I'm having a great time!!! Dia de los muertes was fascinating both at home and and school. At school we went to the homes of some local indigenous families who had family members who had died in the last year. We brought candles, waited in line with thousands of other Mexicans to come into the home, give away the candle, view the "ofrenda" (see above) and recieve bread, tamales, and hot tea with tequila. It was an amazing experience. We started at 8pm and ended at 12am.

Here the mariachis are playing in front of one of the houses of the dead:

The next day we ended up at the graveyard... another big, bright colourful celebration:

My cold is getting better... and life with my family is great. I went out for coffee and dessert with my mama and a girl who lives in the house who's fast becoming a sister last night. It's great!!! I didn't think homestay would be enjoyable!!!

I seem to have forgotten that I have an aptitude for language in the last 4 years. In any case, I'm making lots of mistakes but people understand me and Mexico is friendly enough that they really try to understand what Im saying.

Hast luego!

2006-10-31T12:36:00.000-08:00

So after experiencing the fun and exciting cites of Mexico City, I headed south to Cuernavaca in time for Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead). The city is alive and buzzing. I bought two chocolate skulls for the kids in my family yesterday. The colour orange is everywhere, lots of chocolates and bread. I'm headed to the graveyard tomorow on a field trip... i dont think I'm allowed to take pictures though...

This was my hostel gang for the last couple of days in Mexico City:

I am now in Cuernava... living with a BIG Mexican family and taking Spanish lessons. At the moment I have perfected the phrase "estoy inferma".... i have a really nasty cold.

I took this original picture in Mexico city thinking about how much Nat (i think it was nat) loves "Lucha Libre" only to arrive in Cuernavaca on Sunday and discover that my housemate from Tokyo is living in Mexico so that he can become a professional mexican wrestler!!!!

Oh... how the world is small. My Frespanol has now changed to Jespanol (Japan + Spanish). I am trying not to speak too much in Japanese because Ryota's muscles are much bigger than mine.

School is good... homestay is good...teachers are nice.... now if only I could get rid of my headache and nasty cold...

2006-10-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Ok... so since my last post... I've done many fun things... my Frespañol seems to be getting a bit better and am meeting lots of funky international people...

This is the view from my room in Mexico City:

And believe it or not... this is one of the doors in the parliament building:

Today I went and climbed pyramids in my sandles:

And ate a reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly BIG LUNCH:

And yes... that IS scooby doo on the TV behind us... apparently scooby speaks español.... WHO KNEW?

And learned how to make paper/needle/thread/clothing/alcohol from cacti... from a family that had 21 brothers and sisters!!!! YIKES...

Ciao for now:) Hope you can see the pictures if not i promise to fix them soon....

2006-10-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hola!!!

Yup Im finally here. So for people who´ve been wondering what I`ve been up to for the last week.....

I went back to Kelowna and hung out with my sis and her family and continued playing with my website...

Then my friend Alwyn graciously drove me to the airport in the middle of the day:

I got onto the plane to seatle... i asked for a glass of wine AND I GOT ID`D!!!

So consequently I was very happy.

I landed in Los Angelas and my ex-roomie Gillian DROVE A WHOLE HOUR TO MEET ME!!! and we had dindin at 11pm.. (note gillian with cake)

After not sleeping on the plane... I got myself off the plane and found the metro at 6am and made my way to the youth hostel... slept for 2 hours... met a girl who's lived in Mexico for 5 years and works with indigenous people here and we ended up at a protest:
After that, the fact that I hadnt slept in about a day or eaten anything for about 14 hours caught up to me and I went to bed at 3pm and woke up at 9am. I think that's a record for me....

So that's it for now... am going out to have some fun!!!

ciao for now

2006-10-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

HAPPY Tales of late.....

1) I FINALLY BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET!!!! AM LEAVING ON TUESDAY FROM K-TOWN!!!!!!

2) BOOKED IN AT MEXICO CITY FOR THE FIRST 4 NIGHTS :)

3) BOOKED IN AT MY LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN CUERNAVACA WITH A HOST FAMILY (we'll see what that's like...)

other tales of late:

1) On monday, october 16th, I mourned the loss of my toe-nail.... it was a small ceremony, he was hard working, a true sportsman and will be missed by the other nine members. Particularly while I'm traveling and someone accidently steps on my foot... ouch!

2) Have spent some time visiting some old high school friends and their houses/children. Has been good remembering where I'm from and edifying..

2006-10-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Whew!!!! I've spent the last couple of days packing and repacking... I'm exhausted. Other than hang out with my parents and their B&B guests, (some people from Aggasis and a Japanese/Chinese gang from Vancouver) I haven't seen anyone else... I'm tempted to head off sooner at the moment rather than later as there are flights leaving to Mexico city for only $325 US.

People keep writing in asking about how the actual marathon was....

So here it is, the summary of my opus:

1) I didn't achieve my big goal of 3:30... I meandered in... body still in tact at 3:40.

2) This was the first race I've ever run with an I-pod and I was hoping that it would speed up my tempo.

3) Too bad I accidently recorded some Enya the night before... oh wells...it was a harmonious race instead.

4) The last song that rang in my ears as I approached the finish line was "It's the end of the world as we know it" by Great Big Sea... seemed appropriate

So I've sent a picture. This is me at a good moment... probably near the beginning of the race... notice I am smiling, happy... it almost looks like I'm skipping. Notice the girl that I am running next to also seems happy... out for a morning jog even!

Note: I won't be sending pictures of me at the end of the race as I drag myself across the finish line... nerves twitching, body shaking, leg muscles slowly digesting themselves or the ungraceful part where I try to lunge myself ahead of the others barely crawling accross the finish line!

2006-10-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Feet!!!! My post-marathon toes and toe-nails are all still in-tact;)

2006-10-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Fun times in Slammin' Arm.

I arrived last night at my parents (note the view from the B&B) and am beginning to do the final pack before leaving for the big trip. In the mean time, I'm puttering attempting to come up with names for my business website offering courses in interpreting/translating/cross cultural communication for businesses, universities and governments. Feel free to email me with names or let me know what you think of the following: (feel free to post on the blog:)

Cultureaxis.com
Cultureleague.com
Culturebloc.com
Xculture.com (taken)
Culture?.com
Xculturalsolutions.com
Xculturezone.com

Names that have to do with the Greek god of translation/messenging: Mercury/hermes

Culturemercury.com
Hermeslingua.com
Xculturalmessenger.com
Xculturalmessaging.com
Xlingua.com
Xentialskills.com

Xculturaltraining

2006-10-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!/ MARATHON #10

So I'm still in K-town. Yesterday was an epic event:

1) I ran 42.2 km marking my 10th marathon

2) I placed 8th in my category

3) My toenail began to fall off

4) Went to the spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

5) I marked my first thanksgiving with my sister Michelle and her ever-growing family. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of 13 people....

Michelle (sis),

Brent (little brother in-law),

Nan (grandmother in-law),

Sharon (aunt in-law),

Amber (new niece),

Jordon (new nephew),

Brandon (Amber and Jordon's bro),

Hyun-ji (faux-niece),

Alwyn (friend),

Rob (Alwyn's bro),

Kristen (Rob's wife),

Issy (their baby),

Paul (Mich's friend)....

Folks in the picture waiting at the finish line are Kafka (the happy dog who doesn't look like a bug), Rob (brother of Alwyn), Alwyn (colleague and friend), yours truly, little brother Brent, Amber (new niece), Kristen (sis in-law of Alwyn), and baby Issy.

Today, my muscles are sore, the sun is shining and I seem to have aquired a HUGE appetite.

Viva la Tylenol

2006-10-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot... this was my final day with my group at work from Weifang City. I had a total blast teaching these people. I've never had a group of more cheery, dynamic, critically thinking civil servants. Notice me in the bottom right hand corner of the picture kind of melting into my chair. It was a blast!!!

2006-10-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

So yes... after 4 years of babbling about moving on... spreading my wings blah blah blah.... I've finally done it.

Or at least I've managed to get all my junk.... (ok maybe not quite)... MOST of my junk out of my flat in Van. Promising to come and pick up the REMAINDER at some later date (Sorry to the ex-roomies).

Note the picture of Choji in front of the cake = my going away party. Very fun, thank you all.

So for thanksgiving, I'm in K-town prepping for my 10th and possible final marathon. Hanging with the BIG fam damily and some of OTHER People's family... good times.

Someone told me women marathon runners are supposed to peak in their thirties.

I think they lied.

In any case, this is my last chance to fulfill my goal of a 3:30 marathon before I'm 30. (We'll see what happens.)