tequila the right way, tortas, oaxacan meat market, perdido en escondido, matisland

The shuttle got us into San Cristobal de las Casas around 5pmish and we sussed out a hotel before heading out for food and drink.  Had a great torta cubana and then went out for just.one.drink as typical with Alby and I.  Since we were the only people at the bar (twas like a Tuesday night) we sat at the bar and chatted up the bartender for the night.  He's a "tequilero" as they say, aka a tequila lover, so he taught us all about different tequilas and mezcals.  Even showed us how they drink theirs, with a sip and then a sip of water or sangrita, which is kinda like a tomatoey/woerstchire/barbecuey marinade.  As the only customers, we ended up trying quit a few tequilas and got home a bit sloppy.  

San Cristobal is like a fancy Antigua pero without the gross amounts of white tourists...yes, it's touristy, but mostly from south america or europe.  So we took a night bus the following day to Oaxaca.  Sleeping pills gave us a bit of rest but sleeping on a moving bus/plane/watev is never very comfortable.  Got into Oaxaca in the morning and started putzing around town.  Honestly our experience revolved around the food and food markets there.  Had mole obvi, chilaquiles, etc.  Then we found a hallway off the main food market that was just meat.  All meat.  And grills.  Meat and grills.   Nough said.  

After a couple days gorging in Oaxaca we took a bus to Puerto Escondido.  Really nice beaches with great surf but too touristy for my liking.  Passed a couple days eating and lounging around the beaches before we hopped on a bus down to Mazunte.  Isolated, really tranquil spot.  Alby and I are sharing a crackden shack overlooking the ocean.  Lots of naughty time seafood for cheap.  Though in my opinion there's way too many hippies here.  Like naked yoga, family with two dads and a mom, more necklaces than all of the Claire's in the world, etc.  Going on a snorkeling/fishing trip tomorrow so hopefully that's fun.  Hopefully we have time to visit some of the other beaches as well.  

Then flying to Mexico City to meet up with Coreen and watch some lucha libre.  hasta prontito cabrones.  

aussie rules, demo gardens, cuando te vayas, mexico

Bout to leave Guatemala for Mexico manaña.  First lesson learned in Guatemala is don't make bets with Aussies.  They don't play games.  Looks like I'm the hook for now but asi es i guess.  Really haven't been doing anything to exciting hurr in Xela.  Mainly been running around tying up loose ends I left from last time and building a small demo aquaponic garden for Juan Pablo to take to presentations and such.  We actually built a really sweet setup, using a media-based grow bed, bell siphon and supplemental airlift pump.  Gah, my parents would be so proud of the engineer I've sorta but not really become.  

Finally ate ceviche from the back of a truck which was a pretty tasty midday treat.  Leavin la chinita will be tough but who knows where we might meet up next.  One things for sure tho - def need to come back to latin america an improve my spanish.  Alright that's it for now.  On to San Cristobal tomorrow.  Vaya con dios, brah.

jungle trance, sleeping in the trees, 18 hours, practica de lengua, fishies

Man were we ready to bounce outta LA.  Flew from LA to Mexico City and killed the 5 hour layover by drinking all afternoon.  Probs not the best idea.  Landed in Costa Rica at midnight hungover and then jumped over to the 24 hr Denny's by the airport to wait til our 5am bus to the border.

Was comatose on the ride over to Los Chiles, ate some breaky then took a boat down the river to the Nicaraguan border.  From there, hopped on another boat down the Rio San Juan and stopped in a nothing town, Sabalo, then transferred for another boat to go deeper into the jungle.

Arrived at our destination, El Castillo, and booked a place to stay.  Really in the thick of the jungle and only accessible by the irregular boats that pass by, the town was just what we were looking for.  Set up a tour with a local guide but since he wanted to spend New Year's Eve with his fam, we kicked it for a couple days in the town of about 75 peeps.

Woke up to a cayman in the river outside our room, toured the city, etc., then hopped aboard the sauce train.  Spent the Eve drinking El Caballito, to which we gave the nickame of horse tranquilizer.  Hung out with our guide's family for a bit which was awesome then spent the rest of the night at a jungle trance running around the dance floor.

Woke up to pissing rain and a raging hangover the next day.  Hating life, Alby and I got in our canoe along with our fav Kiwi couple and the two guides.  We paddled down river and to quote Forrest Gump, it was raining so hard I didn't know if the rain was coming down or up.  We spent the next few days canoeing downriver, trekking through the jungle and fishing.  It was pretty much the perfect way for us to spend New Year's.  We had to catch what we ate, shared the river banks with crocs and slept in hammocks.  The first night was pretty tough actually.  Everything was simply soaked and I slept for just a few hours.  Restless all night, I knew it was about morning when the jungle started echoing with the calls of howler monkeys which pretty much sound like girls from Staten Island having an orgasm.

We slept on an island in the middle of the river the second night, and after splitting a sleeping pill, the two of us slept solidly for like 10 hours.

On the last day we had a midriver pickup where we paddled out to a passing boat and they brought us back up river to El Castillo.  Spent a few uneventful days heading up north through Granada and Leon and then bussed it back to Antigua.

From Antigua my feral friend went off to do Semuc Champey and Tikal and I spent a day in Guatemala City before coming back to Xela.  Got weird with some locals and checked out a really sweet permaculture project that takes kids off the streets.  Glad to be back, checked the garden, the fish are still alive and the garden's almost completely cycled so woohoo.

Twas actually reallllly nice being back by myself cuz it gave me the chance to start hanging out with my Guatemalan friends.  Started seeing one of my friends so that's been nice.  And they weren't kidding that dating improves your Spanish exponentially.

Chilling here for another 10 days or so then time to head north through Mexico.  hasta pronto.

glitter and glam, melting santas, back in asia, peacocking, return to the road

Jiminy, so it's been a bit over a month since our last chat.  I spose I've been up to a lot but also not much at all.  Came home right in time for Thanksgiving, weighed in at my pre-Guate weight (woohoo 3rd world diet!) and hung out with the family.  Read books, caught up on project work, watched sunsets, drove around with the windows down and the heat on.  The usual for PV one might say.  Honestly those couple weeks were pretty much a giant haze.  I mean.  Blur.  Giant blur.

Booked it back to SF for a couple weeks.  Man o man how I miss it up there.  Saw Bert, who's becoming more ROC everyday and other bros and broettes around town.  My feral friend Alby that I met in Vietnam came into town ahead of our trip down south so I had a buddy to putz around SF with.  Michelle (RBF not ex-gf) and I hosted our second annual date night and needless to say things got thuper weird.  Can't wait for next year!!!  Berlin edition!?!  Spent a couple days in the East Bay which included a site visit to our pilot in East Oakland.  Pretty sweet.  Also checked out the site where we'll be putting our community program "Guns to Gardens".  Stay tuned for that one.

We kicked it at Bam Bam's place in North Beach for a few days which was soooo money.  Sure NB is a bit douchey for my long-term tastes but its next door neighbor is Chinatown.  So we had some variation of Asian food at least twice a day.  Ya knah, trying to get my fix before heading south again.  Side note, he has f'ing heat lamps on his patio!!  Perfect for the meteor shower broheim.

Woke up hungover for Santacon, walked to Chinatown for some pho and then to our friend Jennica's to pregrame.  Threw some drinks back and then we dahnced around Polk as merry fat men for a bit.  Headed to Michelle's going away after that to keep da party moving and then hopped aboard the Bootie train surprise surprise.  I do have to say tho that my new sleeveless cookie monster sweatshirt was like a siren song on the dance floor.  I used it to meet this one chick by sneaking up behind her in line for the bano and whispering "do you want my cookies child?"

No I'm jk.  That would be really weird.  Like weird in a bad way, not a thuper cool way.  But I did meet an awesome  chick and spent the night tearing up the d flo with her.  In true mdm fashion, I took her to Mission Chinese the following week and then we ended at Dirty Thieves getting bizco over PBR whiskey specials.  You know, the further I creep out of this BPY cave the more I learn about what I'm looking for.  I feel like for the first time the proper head is doing not all, but at least most of the decision making.  So much so that I didn't even go for a dflo makeout that night.  She was really smart, mellow AND athletic.  Athletic body > skinny ano body in mi opinion.  Would be cool to get to kno her more but alas, this life of semi-solitude is what i've chosen to live for now.

Anyway, we came back to LA for Christmas and more of the same general LA'ing about life.  Made it out to Silver Lake anoche to meet up with Jane & Co. and see Ninaaaaaa.  Nice seeing my favorite wee adventurer lolz.  Silver Lake was actually pretty cool, but yeaaaah.  Reaaaaallllly hipster.  Finished the night at LA institution Tommy's and night capped in only the truest LA fashion.  Cruising through downtown on the 110 blazed and listening to 90s rap.

Sir Alby and I fly down to Costa Rica tomorrow morning and gonna spend the night there.  Then taking the 530am bus to Los Chiles, Costa Rica and a boat up the river to El Castillo, Nicaragua.  Wanna spend bout a week losing ourselves in the jungle before heading back up to Guate and then through Mexico to the good ole USA.   And then kicking it in SE Asia til the Mongol Rally.  Get some.

Land before time, Canadian tuxedo, finished garden, stateside

What a whirlwind final two weeks in Guatemala.  Returned from Honduras to familiar faces, Guatemalan comfort food and my beloved bed.   Spent the week working on the aquaponic garden and putzing around.  Went out for Jenn’s bday, got knackered as they say in Australia and woke up with an appropriate hangover given the night we had. 

Rested up, ate some pizza that night and then went to bed early on Friday.   Awoke Saturday to tackle Santiaguito, the active volcano that lies behind Xela.  Nothing too too explosive but you can see eruptions throughout the day as the smoke columns up in Xela’s background. 

So anyway, we arrived at the start point around 730 – me, Jenn, Jeremy (rando other dude) and the guide, Marvin.  Marvin’s the same guide that took Bam Bam, Brian and I to Chicabal. 

So I then find out that we have to hike up and over Santa Maria, an inactive volcano, to reach the base of Santiaguito.  Getting to the top of the ridge we were climbing wasn’t bad at all (tho Bam Bam would have cried! jaja) and we got to the mirador (lookout) around 10am.  Took a nice break, ate a bit, watched Santi erupt a couple times, and then started on our descent towards the base of Santiaguito. 

At first, didn’t seem so bad.  But soon I realized that so few people hike this bastard mountain that there are no trails.  Instead, we worked our way down the volcano using natural runoff canals and animal trails.  As we were bushwhacking our way through the head-high vegetation, volcanic ash covering the forest kicked into the air, covering our everything.   And as one would expect, life for a plant living on a volcano is not so easy.  You don’t have very deep topsoil, good access to nutrition, water runs down the slopes at such a speed it’s almost impossible to drink and oh yeah, your neighbor spits ash on you all day.  I guess it’s kinda like living in plant Compton.  So as such, as plants do in such inhospitable climates, these plants have adopted my life sucks so F you too mentality.   The entire forest scratches, pricks, pokes and simply makes your life hell in general.  As if sweating your balls off wasn’t enough you have to crawl, duck and climb through a forest that’s giving you the middle finger. 

So after a couple hours through the forest we make it to an old lava flow and take that the rest of the way down, slipping, sliding and overall making your thighs burn like a Donna Summers workout video. 

Got to the bottom, ate lunch, then headed up.  Santiaguito’s a much younger volcano, like 50 years old (blew off of Santa Maria) so there’s no eroded lava that’s become dirt or sand.  Instead, we essentially bouldered our way to the top which actually, wasn’t that bad all said and then made camp.   The volcano’s comprised of 3 craters (think Hawaii if you’ve studied geology) and we camped on the one furthest from the active crater.  The mountain has an incredibly surreal feel to it.  Very little flora exists save for this vibrant green algae that covers everything and a few other F you plants.  And because it rains so much, the landscape is peppered with steam vents, making me feel quite like Little Foot looking for his tree star. 

Obviously Jenn and I had the ritual why the F did we just do that joint then we hiked down our crater then up the next one to watch the sassy broad erupt.  And erupt it did.  Epic views, lava flows, smoke and ash galore. 

Hiked moreeee, back to our camp, ate dinner and passed out.  Woke up early the next am, did some high yoga as I watched a few massive eruptions and then did the same hike but in reverse.  I’ll spare you the details. 

Spent the last week tying loose ends, running around, etc.  I guess it’s only apt to finish Central America like I started it – with an absolutely awesome Aussie girl, still with my clothes on.  I met Amy in the back of a pickup riding through the mountains of Honduras.  We got to talking and found out we have pretty much the same degree.  She asked if she could help me with el jardin en Xela and I said why not, thinking she’d never come.   Well jiminy xmas, she showed up.  She helped me a TON in finishing the garden and then we all went out on Friday night.  Drank too much again, dahnced a storm, said no to too many hookers and obvi ended the night eating street food at 4am. 

Not gonna lie, the garden gives me a hard on.  So proud of it, what it means for the project and having so many people in my life that were/are keen on helping out.   So then presented the garden and our One School One Garden project at a community event organized by El Infinito…en espanol.  Nervous?  Yes.  But after a couple early hiccups I regained my probably unmerited cocky sense of public speaking and everything was super mel.  Hopped on a bus to Guatemala City, spent the night, then took the am flight to Dallas.   Still didn’t fully realize where I was going.  Then I noticed the two old, white codgers in front of me purell’ing their seats, arm rests, head rests, the walls next to the seats, everything.  Oh right, going stateside.  Turns out they were missionaries.   How do I know that you might ask?  Because they were reading a “how to lead the Sudanese away from Islam during conflict” book.  Can I just say something?  I think being a missionary is one of the most retarded, futile, imperialistic, oppressive, ignorant things to do with your life. 

The dude had his arm chopped off by rebels, his family was slaughtered, cattle stolen and he has no food to eat.  Let’s take care of those issues before we start trying to “steer” him from the “backward” religion of Islam.  I hope you drown in your Purell. 

So back to my point.   Home in the States.   Yeah, sure it feels a bit weird but man I am glad to be back surrounded by Asian foods.  Ciao.  

gringo-san, first blow, no los comas, i'm a poor bitch, true romance, ruinas, jungle hot springs, fresh 90

Dang.  Just got back from a whirlwind trip through El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.  And apologies in advance but this one's gonna be long.

Left Xela on the 22nd and spent the night in gringoed-out Antigua for some sushi and douchey cocktails.  Next morning we putzed around the city before hopping on a bus to Guate to book the trip for San Salvador the following day.  Got a hold of Kristen (thank Jesus) who lives in the capital and she offered us her place to crash for the night.  She was coming back from the lake so we had some time to kill.  Naturally, we headed to the mall.  The malls in Guate are not typical of Guatemalan life.  For starters, there's a rollercoaster inside.  We sat down for some quite frankly unreal Korean food (cooked by a verifiable Korean lady...is that correct English?  Donno.  I swear I'm forgetting it.)  Then to kill more time, what did we do?  Yeah.  Went to Chuck E. Cheese's and dicked around for an hour or so.  Oh to be young and innocent again.

Got the text from Kristen and headed to her place in the hills.  OMG.  It's nicer than every place I've ever lived in combined.  Like real luxury.  Crashed there and then woke up early for the bus to San Salvador.  Aside from the Tica Bus employees being ginormous cunts, the trip went smoothly.  Made it to San Salvador where I felt the most scared I've been in all of Central America.  Also found it weird that they use the USD there.  Got the hell out of dodge ASAP and took a bus to El Tunco, probably the most gringo place in all of El Salvador.  I mean they have a gluten-free organic granola and smoothie bar.

Spent a couple days chilling on the beach.  The town sleeps pretty early but luckily our tequila lady stayed up to serve us shots from her house, ensuring we kept the party going.  After 1.5 days we got the itch and bounced.  Took a handful of buses to a small nothing town, Utatlan.  Got off the bus starving so naturally headed to Wendy's.  Every one of the approximately 50 people stopped eating, turned around and stared at us.  I suppose 4 dirty white people with backpacks was a bit of a shock.  Nice to feel like an alien again.

After my double bacon cheeseburger (sorry doc, but i swear i've otherwise been keeping an eye on the cholesterol) we tried to catch a cab to a beach town but the dude said it'd cost $50!!  No gracias hombre.  So we hopped on the last bus outta town only to find out that there were no more buses from our transit point that night.  Which I suppose made sense since it's generally pretty ill-advised to be on the road once the sun goes down.

Well turd.  So we went alllll the way to San Miguel, the second largest city in El Salvador.  We spent the night in a $16/night hotel/motel that is typically frequented by hookers and drug dealers.  Well at least as evidenced by the other clientele.  Needless to say we didn't leave the room that night.

Awoke at sunrise and bussed it to El Cuco, a town of about 200 people on the beach.  Had a nice typical bfast of beans, fried eggs and queso with a side of oh yeah, shrimp the size of my hand.  Then started sussing out a place to stay.  The first "hotel" looked like a Thai crack den.  No lights, the shower was just a tap in the corner of the room, etc.  No thanks mano, I gave up crack a long time ago.  I want better accommodations.

So I talked to the lovely restaurant owner about other options and she directed us to La Tortuga, down the beach about 5km.  And what a beach.  Sweeping 210 degree views of the ocean, endless black sand and only local artesanal fishermen to share the beach with.  A 45 min walk down the beach and we were in complete solitude.  Found La Tortuga and were greeted by fresh coconuts.  Holy testicle Tuesday the place was nice.  Like an actual resort in the middle of nowhere.  Hammocks galore, pool, awesome cafe, turtle nesting beds and a live tank with newly hatched turtles.  Tom, the owner, is an eccentric, no, completely insane ex-pat from New York.  He even has a local show, "Viajeros de El Salvador" which we had some guest appearances on planting turtle eggs and releasing baby Leatherbacks.  He speaks "Spanish" during the show which kept me laughing the entire time.  Not only does he have a overly stereotypical gringo accent, but it's just piss poor!  Literally he was saying stuff like "We he freedom turtles and he we make happiness from sand and sun because I to be foreigner."  Oh right, and his "girlfriend" is 40 years younger and doesn't speak English.  True love my friends.  

Lounged for a bit in the morning and then hitchhiked back into down with la nena and bought cana rica, like a more smooth version of vodka made with sugar cane.  And no, the locals insisted it was not rum but vodka.  A fifth runs for $3 so we partied hardy that night.  Being the hairy-chested epitome of a man that I am, made a bonfire and we took the party to the beach...god the sky was just full of stars.

Now in Central America many people poach turtle eggs, selling them to local markets and orange juice vendors.  A lot of people actually Rocky it and crack raw eggs into their OJ in the morning.  And yes, like in most developing countries people believe that odd foods make them more virile.  So obvi I started striking convos with the poachers patrolling the beach in search of nesting turtles and offered to buy all their eggs if/when they found any.  Continued partying til God knows when and then put la chica to bed when she passed out (as usual).  Then Randy burst into the room needing money.  A poacher had just shown up with 126 eggs!  These bad boys are destined for the ocean, not some cholo's OJ I thought.  Bought em all.  Brought the eggs back to the room and started getting ready for bed.  Then the security guard knocked on the door.  Oh God.  What now.  Opened la puerta.  Another poacher had just shown up.  Well why not.  Bought his lot too.

Woke up hungover the next am with ~200 turtle eggs next to the bed.  Now I've woken up after a crazy night partying next to some pretty interesting creatures but turtle eggs were a first.  Planted the eggs, went on a lovely EDM-fueled run to the estuary then hitched a ride to town for more booze and seafood in a shack on the beach.

We started partying with the other group staying at La Tortuga, a group of Aussie surfer bums traveling the world.  They were having a coke-alicious bender that was gonna climax with a visit to the whorehouse in San Miguel (yes, doble sentido).  So I thought to myself, que putas no, I've done worse so why not try it (blow not whores).  Hopped onboard the party train and we all had quite a time partying in the living room/bungalow at La Tortuga.  Honestly though, that'll probably be the last time I do it.  Glad I tried it, but kinda feels like child's play compared to my old days.

So we partied til the sunrise, which I mean just look at the pictures.  Simply ridic.  And as anytime that you're coming down from an upper kids, always make sure you have a substantial amount of weed close by.  So smoked a couple of fatties with the bros as the sun crept out of the ocean.  Promptly passed out after and then got out of bed at 3pm.

Couple of days of later headed to Nicaragua.  Rode about an hour through the hills to the dead port town of La Union, walked out on the tidal flats and then caught a 4 hour boat ride over to Potosi, Nicaragua.  Immigration has to handle about 10 people daily so naturally the guy's a huge dickhead.  It took him a bit over an hour to handle our "paperwork" but after a ton of attitude from him we finally got through.  I mean WTF bro, you really have an issue with the fact that we don't know the name of Guatemala's airport?  Eat a dick dude.

Arrived in Leon and spent a few days wandering around town, cooking good food, etc.  While the kiddies went out volcano boarding, took Ailsa out for round two.  A farewell if you will.  Now again, kids, when a man (much like myself) takes a girl out in a developing country he will often ask around for the most luxurious, expensive restaurant and then apologize to the girl saying "oh sorry, this is the best I could do in a place like this, etc.".  Yeah, no.  I might not have hair on my chest but at least I act like I do.  Took out la nena on a street food crawl around Leon.  First stop - atole stand.  Typically it's a corn/rice based drink but this was more of a sweet pudding with brown sugar.  Second stop - tiny hole in the wall where we shared a plate of ground beef slow-cooked with onions and baby corn with a side of red beans.  Kinda had a nice creole feeling to it.  Then we kept wandering and eventually found ourselves in a giant market.  Walked up to a food stand and offered a custom plate of everything that looked good.  Meat torta, sautéed ground pork, spicy shredded pork slaw.  Money.  And then finished the crawl with a piece of cheesecake and a scratchie lotto ticket.

Went out that night to celebrate our last night together and Hallllloweeen.  Dressed up as mummy's because well, we're poor and on the road.  So we just wrapped ourselves in toilet paper.  Partied, danced, etc. then passed out around 2am.

530am alarm.  Kill me.  Woke up wasted.  Said goodbye to Ailsa and Randypants and then got on a bus for Honduras with Jenn.  Was pretty worried because my CA-4 visa had already expired but frankly too hungover and tired to care.  I was eating uncooked ramen noodles as I waited for the bus for godsakes.

Got to the border, got some food, the carne asada I'm pretty sure was horse jerky (sorry I gave you that plate Jenn!) and then got across the border no prob.  Thank Jesus (hay-zeus).  Got to Tegucigalpa, la capital, and asked for a bus to the remote area of Gracias.  Found out we would have to fly from Tegu so said f that and continued on to San Pedro Sula, the lovely murder capital of the world.  Spent a quick night in the hotel and took the bus for Copan the next day.  Saw the Mayan ruins (Tikal's better), rode in a Tuk-Tuk and took it easy.   Wasn't really planning on drinking but since it's a tiny town with not a whole lot to do, we spent the afternoon on the sauce.  Struck up a convo with a guy over street food who said I HAD to go to this local German brewery.  The only naturally-brewed beer in Central America.  So found it and met the owner, an awesome German dude that married a local chick 15 years ago.  He does in fact follow Bavarian brew law.  Best beer I've had in lemme count, oh right, 6 months, since I've been in CA.

The next day we took a horseback ride through the mountains around Copan which turned out to be quite fun though I felt bad for the poor bastard that had to carry me up those slopes.  Made it up to a lookout point in this tiny town of people living on nothing.  They swarmed us so Jenn threw a few bills their way.  Came back to town and had some lunch.  A small boy tried to sell us these little corn husk dolls they have everywhere.  No, sorry.  Then I watched as he walked up to a local family (rich one) eating lunch.  The fat patriarch didn't even have the decency to say no thanks.  In fact the whole family treated the kid like he was some dog.  Especially odd was seeing how the family's kid, around the same age, acted like the boy was subhuman.  The dad was such a prick I wanted to slice off his fat stomach and fry it in front of him.  But then again I'm not Jeffrey Dahmer so I didn't think about it tooo much.

After lunch took a ride out into the jungle to soak in some hot springs.  OMG, we were in the middle of the jungle, like really.  A couple dozen pools including a steam bath, waterfall back massage and all natural mud spa/bath.  So nice and soooo worth it.  Came back from the hot springs and saw the same kid peddling dolls on the way to dinner.  Started talking to him.  It was 7pm and he hadn't eaten that day.  He lives 2 miles away and walks to town to sell the dolls while his parents work in the park selling other crafts.  His 7 brothers and sisters do the same.  So I invited him to dinner.  He's 8 years old but looks more like 5 or 6.  Kept feeding him until he said no mas porfa.  You know, it does wear on you when you're dicking around on perpetual vacation and you meet people like that.

Woke up at 530am yesterday, took a bus to the border.  Got a fresh 90 days on my passport (woohoo!) and then bussed back to Xela.  Had some chicharrones and other assorted treats along the way but all in all uneventful.  Back home and back to work for the last two weeks in Guatemala.

Made plans for the next 6 or so months of my life so wanted to give an update.  Gonna be SF in for a few weeks in December (rollllllnrave!!) then driving down through Mexico with Alby (yes, the nutter from Oz I was with in Vietnam).  Then traveling back up through Mexico with Alby, kicking it in LA for a couple weeks then doing SE Asia with la nena before flying to London to meet Alby for the Mongol Rally.  After that, solo dios sabe.  Nos vemos pronto amigos.

young blood, craters, el lago, end of BPY?, move yo feet don't stop dahncing

Bam Bam's quick trip was quite the whirlwind.  Besides rattling his cage and welcoming him to daily life in Guatemala, we did quite a bit in just a few days.  Hiked Chicabal, an extinct volcano that now hosts a crater lake and some pretty money views.  It's now used for a myriad of Mayan rituals, which was an added bonus seeing the altars around the lake.  The SF duo thought the hike was killer but I'd say it was about 10% as difficult as Tajulmolco...sorry friends haha.

Partied our faces off, owned the dahnce floor as per usual on Wednesday then headed to Lago Atitlan on Friday.  Finally made it there and wow how awesome.  The lake's surrounded by a handful of extinct volcanoes with views galore.  The chicken bus creeps in over the mountain tops and you wind down into town, the meanwhile having your mind blown by the views.  Did some eating, drinking and kayaking then came back to Xela on Friday.

Came back on Friday just in time to start boozing again.  On the way to dinner I called an audible and took the ladies to a local cantina.  AKA a kinda restaurant/bar in the back of a typical tienda.  So a few plastic tables, loud music, wasted Guatemalans and cheap booze and food.  I'm not sure who enjoyed it more.  Us or the wasted locals shocked to def that three white people would come in and drink there.  Went to dinner then obvi out to da club.  In some wasted stream of thought I asked my friend Ailsa out to dinner.  I've been thinking for a while that the time's come to ease my way out of BPY.  I mean don't get me wrong, it's been undoubtedly one of the best times of my life.  Just I feel that two years of BPY'ing has refreshed me and granted me new perspectives on life, love and relationships after the two cunts I dated back-to-back before.  So as my teacher says, it's time for the next step.

Anyway, la chica's a pretty interesting dichotomy of a party-loving princess and an ICU nurse that wants to work in disaster relief.  Yeah, my kinda person.  So we went out to Thai, yes Thai, and it turned out to be phenomenal.  Went out with the other homies again that night, back to class after a few hours of sleep then back out on the town last night.  I'd like to say I'll be taking a break from the sauce but I don't see that happening.  Leaving for El Salvador this afternoon.  Likely will fit in Nicaragua and Honduras but vamos a ver doggies.  Que Dios les bendiga.