Back to Mexico City

So I managed to get out of the Roatan, but it was very hard to leave. I've met some awsome people out there and they will be missed (like all of you guys anyway). I've spent two nights in La Ceiba not doing much. I got a nice hotel (for a change) and just enjoyed myself. I met this one guy who lived out there for two years now so we grabed a beer and he showed me around. I have a secret to share, and I'm sure many of you will wonder how. But well... I have no watch or alarm clock so I have really no sense of time. It poses some problems. For instance, this morning I was about to fly out of La Ceiba to Mexico City at 6am. I asked people at the hotel to wake me up at 3am and I went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night wondering. What time is it? I run down to the lobby and found a guy that was asleep and a watch that indicated 4:15. I run back upstairs got ready in 5 minutes and run down back to the street. It was empty and I needed a cab. There was one passing by and I managed to get in. I told the guy simply. Aeropuerto. Mucho Rapido. Por Favor (yes that's my spanish) :) He was going so fast I almost shit my pants but we made it.

Then once at the airport I was waiting for the coffee place to open when I've heard my name over the PA to show up at the gate. With a sandwich in one hand and coffee in the other I run through immigration, and was on a plane. I've met this Argentinian girl who was going with me all the way to San Salvador, and then we split up with me going to Mexico City and she was going to Costa Rica. Mexico City is very different then the rest of the country but I didn't do a tour yet. I'm waiting for Paivi, Eva, Victoria, and Yana to swing by in any time soon and then we will have some fun.

I have to say there is something that drives me crazy in Central America... mirrors. They are either not there or they are so low that when I stend in front of it I can see my lips and nothing above so I have to excercise in front of it. You might think it's nothing but try to be tall in here for a while and you'll know what I mean. The second thing(s) are keyboards which can drive me really crazy as well.

One more week and I'll be back in New York unless I die in here.

Getting to know the place

I'm still on the Roatan off the northern coast, but I'll be leaving in a day or two. I have a plane ticket from Le Ceiba to Mexico City on the 30th, and soon I'll reunite with a bunch of friends. I really can see myself living on this Island. You have a nice beach, roads are made of sand, and you have a lot of new people all the time. I pretty much know majority of restaurants in here, all the bars, and many people that work at these places. What is appealing to me in here is that you diving instractor might be French, then you go to the restaurant and the weitress is Dutch, and whereever you go you have this huge diversity. Village that I'm staying at is pretty small around 6000 people or fewer but it's really great.

I've also met in here Will from UK. They guy is 27 years old and he used to be a CPA in London working for Ernst & Young, and UBS. He's a really sharp guy, but he quit his job when he realized that "he doesn't give a fuck" about all this. Then he purchased a little bit of land in here and opened a store with scuba equipment and also works as a diving instructor. Life seems good, not to stressful, and you have nice people around you. What else do you need?

I had some problems in here for a while. First the ear infection, but after few days it was OK. Then I lost my ATM card or rather left it in the ATM machine. I tried to recover it but I wasn't able to. Then I had to cancel my first plane ticket to Mexico City since STA wasn't able to provide me with an eticket nor make it available for pickup at the airport. Finally, yeasterday I was in the water all day long practicing rescue scenarios, and looking for missing divers with much success. No problems. Once we were done, I went back to the water for a swim and after a minute or two I felt a burning on my wrist. I figured I got stinged or something, and apparently I was right. It was a sea wasp which is supposingly related to Portugese Man-O-War which can be deadly. I put some vinegar over it and now it looks fine.

Well, to wrap look at this article, and ask yourself if you can keep your cool equally well: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6289489.stm

Shark Tale

I am on Roatan for the last week which is part of Bay Islands just 50km of the coast. I did a lot of scuba diving, including night dive, and.. shark dive. The second was was amazing, and I have to admit that I was pretty nervous before we got into the water. The site with sharks is just off the marine park, and there are about 40 of them living together. Usually, divers are suppose to just stay against the wall, and watch the sharks, however our group was pretty small and composed of decent divers so we got to swim around with them.

When I got into the water I calmed down when I saw how peaceful they look, however you are always aware that they can bite. I took lots of pics and few movies, and most of the time I just couldn't keep track of all of them as they were coming at you from all the directions possible. Night dive was also very cool, we a bit freaky at first. You could only see where you pointed your lights and sometimes you can get really confused when you have no idea where's up or down or if you're going up or down.

I also started my Rescue Diver course but I got a bad ear infection half way through so now I have to eat medicine, out ear drops in, and eat pain killers all the time. It should go away in couple of days and then I'll be able to finish my course and do some more diving. Most likely I'll got to Utila from here which is an island next door, and fly back to Mexico City somewhere from here.

Hell on Earth

OK Guatemala City was one of the most appealing places I´ve ever seen so I left early morning. However, I´ve met there two Italians and one Argentinian guy who cut a deal with the Italian government that they are going to travel from Mexico to Argentina for a year, document it, and then Italian government is going to pay the for two years after that. Sounds nice. Among other things, they want to walk from Panama to Columbia through the forrest which is suppose to take three days.

I´m suppose to take the bus from Guatemala City to Livingstone, but when I got up early and went to the bus station hoping to catch an earlier bus, I found out that the only thing coming up was a bus to Puerto Barrios. I opted for that, and once I got out there I got on a minibus to the border with Honduras. The problem is that I didn´t have time to swing by the Immigration office so I never got an exit stamp, but they still let me into Honduras. Now I guess, I can´t go back to Guatemala until my passport expires. From the border I took a chicken bus to Omoa where I spent a night, and hey I´ve came across another Polish guy. It was nice to speak some Polish and drink beers.

I got up early morning today, and took few buses to La Ceiba which is a lunching base for boats to the Bay Islands. I´m going to get on a boat in about an hour and spend anywere from a week to two just scuba diving out there. The problem is that the internet on Roatan is over $10 per hour so I don´t think I´ll be using it much. I might go to Belize after that.

In reference to Hell these are buses in here really suck. They are so uncomfortable and stop every 50m to pick up people on the side of the road or drop them off. While in the neighbouring countries these are susually old US school buses in here it seems that Blue Birds rule. Well, I guess it´s fine for moderate distances but I don´t see myself on a bus like that for 8h or so, and there are not too many other options.

Volcan Payan & Guatemalan Central Bank

OK so yesterday I went on to climb the Volcano. You can do it either in the morning or in the evening. I didn´t know what to expect, but I figured it´s better to climb the volcano in the evening hoping for better views. At first it was an easy hike, but after an hour or two we passed a sign, that warns you of a dangerous fumes, and possibly flying rocks and lava. We kept on moving. Then as we got close to the top we ended up walking on the volcanic rock, that was really hot, and I waafraidid of three things: 1) Eruption, 2) That the rocks will crack under me, and 3) that my soles are going to melt. In addition, many of the rocks were really sharp, and you could see, lava flowing through the cracks, and hot places, where once you put something it waburningng. Then it was getting dark, and we were still at the top, to get out of the rocks, we had to walk for another 10min through the volcanic rock, and I really felt adrenaline kicking in. We left after 30min in this environment, and I was glad we did.

Now the funny thing about the cash in Guatemala. About 5 days ago or so, I´ve heard matravelersers complaining that there´s no cash in ATMs. It couldn´t believe as I was getting my money a day earlier, but then more and more people told the stories how they walked around the city, checking every ATM and there was nothing. Apparently, the government decided to renew money since they are falapartppart. However, instead of doing it over time, and replenishing the currency they went for extreme measures. Therefore, they took out of the economy majority of the bad notes, and after that decided to put the new ones on the streets. However, they run out of paper to print the new money. As people realized what´s going on they started holding on to even more cash increasing the demand even more. Now, it seems to be OK.

I got to Guatemala City today, and will spend one night before heading up north. I wanted to skip this city as it´s not to interesting but the buses to Rio Dolce go through Guatemala City anyway so I decided to make a quick stop.

Lago de Atitlan

The last four or five days were very relaxing, and I didn´t do much other then hang out on the hammock, read the book, party and some scuba diving. I was planning to stay only for a night or two but I ended up staying for five nights I think. We had this cross dressing party where you had to cross dress or you´re not getting any food. At first I had some objections, but it was fun at the end.

I also met the two canadians again, and we went for few drinks last night. Later on they went home and I ended up drinking with one German girl who was living here for the last 12 years, one Swedish guy, and 10 or so Guatemalans. After all the bars were colsed we just ended up sitting on the street and drinking beer.

I have to say that I really love Guatemala, and I would like to come back one day and stay for few months studyin Spanish. There are a lot of schools here. Another thing is poverty which is abundant in here. There is a huge difference between Mexico and Guatemala, security guards have either machine guyns or shotguns which they swing around not paying attention if they´re actually aiming at someone or not. Roads and driving is also really crazy here. Sometimes I just prefer not to look at the road as I am almost getting a heart attach when I do. Finally, majority of transportation is based on the so called Chicken buses which are old US school buses but pimped up a little bit with some flashy green or blue lights. They are dirty cheap as two hour ride can cost only about $1-2.

I´m in Antigua right now, and tomorrow I´m going to hike an active volcano, and see some lava for the first time in my life. It´s exciting, but I hope it´s not going to erupt when I´m close to the summit. I´ll be heading towards Honduras in few days.

Out of Mexico

San Cristobal de las Casas was really nice and easy-going. It was also the plance where I've actually seen backpackers for the first time since I got to Mexico. The town itself is pretty sleepy with a nice center where all the attractions and people are. I toured the city during the day, but I run into some problems as well. First of all I left my jacket somewhere and I couldn't remember where I had it last time. It was of a concern largely because that's the only long sleeve I have that keeps me worm in the evening. The second problem was more important as it was harder to fix. Since security is a concern in here I upload all of the pics into the net to have a backup in case my stuff gets stolen. I was in this one internet cafe, and first I had to copy the pics from my camera to the comuter. I did so, and started uploading them but the internet connection sucked and I canceled after few photos. Then I left, and 30 minutes later I realized that I also erased the pictures from my camera so I got a bit pissed off. I rushed back to the place, and happily they were still in a bin, but I couldn't copy them back into the camera nor could they burn me a CD. So I had to sit there for over two hours waiting for the pictures to find their way into the internet.

At night I hit the Cuban bar called La Revolucion. I got my beer, and right after I found myself talking to two Canadians named Heather and Scott. We had few beers, bot a bit drunk and went to the club where they played ska music to dance a bit. Girl was fascinating, but I can't get into details in here. I also met three guys from Chicago who were heading all the way to Costa Rica by car from the US. Therefore once I left the Canadians I went on with the three guys. I ended up going to sleep at 4:30am, and in an hour I had to get up for a bus to Palenque which is a site with Mayan ruins. It was painful, but I managed, and the trip was awsome. On the way we stoped by two waterfalls one bigger then the other. I've met two Italians and we ended up trekking around the ruins. It was great and hard to describe, so I took a bunch of pictures.

Overall, I had a great time in Mexico, and I really respect the people. I was ready that people will try to rip me off whenever possible as it happens all over Asia but I was wrong. Even when they knew I have no clue what's going on and paid more then I should they just have me that change back or said that I have them more then enough. People also seem to be working really hard, and doing things as best as they can putting their heart into it. I got some street food last night which costed not even a doller. I watched the guy making the food, and he was really into it. I got a better service then in a five star hotel. I remember when I was at the New Year's Eve party I taked to one guy about how people in the US see Mexicans. He said that there's a lot of discrimination, and a general feeling that Mexicans are inferior. I didn't find it to be true, and shame on everyone who things so!

Finally, I had to change my plans yet again, and I'm in Guatemala for the last few hours. It looks promising, and tomorrow I'm going to scuba dive so it will be excellent I'm sure. I will write more next time as it's already too much for one post. Oh by the way, I didn't go to Cuba becasue I was affraid of the consequences once back in the US :) I was about to buy the ticket, and then I asked the guy if I can get a visa on arrival. He wasn't sure so I decided to check it on the net. At the same time, I also checked if it's easy to hide trip to Cuba from the US, and it didn't seem so. Adios.

Happy New Asshole

I had a very nice New Year´s Eve but it was very different from what I´ve done before. Every year, I go out to the club or a bar and gat pretty drunk with my friends, but this year it was a Mexican way. Apparently, here you spend it with familyly at first and then later on at night to head out to meet up with your friends. And so we did. The family part started around 11pm and lasted a bit over three hours. I was a bit nervous at first but once I got there it was fine. We drunk some alcohol and ate. I´ve learned how to say happy new year in Spanish to survive midnight. However when I was saying it to my friend´s father I twisted anio into ano which changed the whole meaning from Happy New Year to Happy New Asshole :) There awkward silence for a bit but once they realized what happened everyone just had fun with it. Later on at night we met some friends and kept on drinking until 6am.

We also went to his nice town about an hour away from Queretaro, where we walked around and relaxed. Today, I got up early in the morning to catch a bus to Mexico City. Then I took a taxi to another bus terminal to jump on a bus to Chiapas which is a state all the way in the south bordering Guatemala. I´ll start with San Cristobal de Las Casas, but first I need to get there. My bus leaves in about 2h, and it will take about 14h.

Mexican House Party

I arrived in Monterrey around noon on December 28, and I'm suppose to head south to Queretaro to meet Yana, whom I've met in Korea. She was kind enough to give me all the directions, address, and phone number so that I could easily make it to her city. However, I was stupid enough to leave all this info at home, so I had to figure my way out. I tried to find the internet to access all this info but had no luck.

Therefore, I took a taxi from the airport to bus station, and was asking for busses to qutero or something like that as I didn't even remember the name of her city. At some point they wanted to send me to Acapulco, but finally I've recognized the name of the city on the destination list. I got on a bus around 3pm, and at midnight I was in Queretaro. I figured it would be easier to find a hotel then an internet in the middle of the night, so I asked around and ended up in this funny hotel where all the furniture were already build into the room, and just painted over.

Next morning I've managed to find internet connection, got the phone numbers and called Yana. We've met for a lunch since she was still at work, and then I went to wonder around until she got out of work. After that, we went to her place, relaxed, and then we headed to the bar and then to this Mexican house party. At first I was holding really well, considering the amount of alcohol I consumed, but then everyone at the party figured that it will be interesting to get me really drunk. In an instant, I was given huge shots of tequila, and it did the magic. I also drunk this funny drink which is made out of beer, spices, and I guess sugar. I tastes like kitchen spices used for cooking.

Yesterday, we went to the small city called San Miguel. It was very pretty, filled with churches, and historical sites. Also, Queretaro and the cities nearby played an important role in terms of fight for independence. Tonight we're going to celebrate New Year's Eve, and in a day or two I will head somewhere south. I should also add, that I changed my plans and I'm not going to go to South America since I realized how huge the distances are, and I would simply spend all this time on a bus. Therefore, I'll stay longer in Mexico, and then just hang out in Central America with a possible trip to Cuba.