Memoris: Backpacking Adventures

Chapter II

Boquete- A lively mountain town



After our reality check in David, we decided to head out into the Panama valleys. Our newly made friends from the Herrera Botanical Gardens, Chivi and Matt, had recommended this little piece of heaven and out we went to also meet our fellow gardening friend Ed. It is amazing how the landscape and climate of the earth changes within just a few hours. We were not able to escape traffic on our way to Boquete, since the elections of Panama’s new president were taking place that same weekend during our travels. There were huge cars Caravan demonstrations showing support for their preferred candidate, horns were going off, flags caressing the wind and cheerful human screams showing support for the first woman running for president! Our bus had no choice but to join the celebration for presidential support…for a moment, we even felt Panamanian! After enjoying some of the most challenging heat of the Osa Peninsula, the chilling breeze of Boquete, coldly rejuvenated us out of our sweat induced trance. For a moment in Boquete, we deeply missed our friends of the Gardens. There was no Gata , Stef or Nate to bring out the young spark out in us. The spark was now lit, and new friends to come would create new spaces for that energy to flourish!

Panama’s Wilderness

We found a nice family run posada, a place where our friend Ed was staying. It was nice to see a familiar face in a new country and a guide to show us around the village. Ed had been volunteering at an animal rescue shelter called Paradise Gardens, and it truly was a paradise for both, humans visiting and for the animals living there. The Gardens were designed like a Zen Garden and the animals had a great space for them to recuperate with caring caretakers. At the Gardens Keith was able to fulfill one of his biggest dreams: befriending monkeys…Yes, indeed! Keith and Ed were able to hang out with lovely monkeys that, apparently where gay, because none of them approached me! he,he,he… In fact, they were rubbing all over the boys Ed was even a little worried that they might get to “aroused” and spew on him! The little creatures that are so human-like were climbing all over their bodies, hugging them, smelling them and playing around, and I was simply the photographer spectator. I was quite jealous at first, because I wanted to be friends with them too, but I guess they didn’t feel the same way  Around the Boquete area we visited one of Panama’s National Park. We hiked around the cloud forrest, hoping to find a Quetzal bird in the Quetzal Trail, according to the park ranger , they like to be out early morning and during the sunset. However, we were convinced that since it was mating season, they would be out more than usual!! The park was filled with a variety of pleasant chants. The echo of the birds song penetrated the stillness of the forest. Rivers and cal lilies

Memoirs: Backpacking Adventures

Chapter I

Adios, Osa Peninsula! Panama Here We Come!

The second phase of our journey began in Panama. We would leave the bug behind “safely” locked up, to adventure into Panama and South America… backpacking. Crossing the Panamanian border was more of a hassle than we were ready for. Immigration asked us for a return ticket out of Panama in order for them to grant us an entry permit. To our advantage, I was able to bribe the officials with some luxurious Costa-Rican chocolate (some of the best we had ever had and organic too!) and after a couple of humanitarian brainwashing techniques, they stamped our passports and on our way we went! We felt we were back in the old ways of trading, when one was able to use their goods as a payment…it felt really good to know that chocolate was still considered (among some of us) a valuable treasure! We crossed the border at night and we were a little scared (since we all know that you never, ever cross a border at night, except of course if you are partying in Juarez!) but honestly, we had no choice because Paso Canoas was literally “a shit-hole.” Luckily, a tourist bus coming from Costa Rica was waiting for its passengers to clear up visas and such, and gave us a lift to David. It felt strange to be in a bus, especially knowing that we weren’t just going on a tour, and that from now on, we would depend on someone else’s wheels to carry us on into our destiny. Nevertheless, we were really excited to cross the Darien Gap into south America after having stayed in Costa Rica for much longer than we EVER imagined and of course, without having to pay a fortune for crossing our car (around 1,000 US!). We landed in David and headed to a hostel called The Purple House…the name its definitely honored by everything, and I mean everything being purple-except- thank God, the dog! After being in the Osa Peninsula for more than two months, secluded from electricity, the city, shopping malls, traffic or pollution, coming to David was a bit surreal. David, considered the largest city of its state, was a slap in the face to our hermit ways! Without a doubt, we took advantage of our newly discovered mini ‘hell’ to indulge the ‘little devil’ inside of us with some ….I hate to say it…Mickey-Ds. As terrible as this may sound, it is just human to say, it felt strangely familiar. It was as if we were just back into our shelter little ways of Consumerism America, we saw everybody pretending to be happy, surrounded by plastic meaningless crap, like if nothing was happening around them, and we, felt enslaved.

The Journey

Hello friends, well I have to bring up to date the official place of where we are in our Journey. When we started up with the blog, the blog was written on pretty often, then keeping up with it. When we left Costa Rica in April, time flew very quickly and as was moving very fast. We have now crossed Panama into Colombia, Venezuela and now we are in Brazil. I will keep posting the journal writings, memories, picture narrations that have become now part of the trip. It seems now that Costa Rica closed the face of southbound nomadic in the VW- to become the backpacking southbound nomads! A second part of the trip began with only backpacks as our turtle shell...the Turtle (the nickname of VW bugs in Argentina)was now "locked-up" in a safe customs parking lot for 90 dlls a month...now it has been 2 months since we crossed the Panama Canal, the Darien Gap (the Pan-American Highway "missing link"), into the South-America Continent, the equator line, the Amazons River! And of course, having to speak Portuguese is just surreal, especially when you think you can speak it, and understand it and in reality I am just speaking Spanish-or- Portu~nol, with the "Portuguese" accent Soraya and I use to play with as a joke *``* So i guess to pretend and play to have accents do help on the long Run!!!
We are now enjoying of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Salvador is considered the 3rd biggest city of Brazil! We are now lucky to be enjoying of San Joao Festival, there is a million of people out in the streets but we are lucky to have a hotel with good sound proof walls! We have been here for a week. The CONFELE conference took place last week and the presentations went well. We had an excellent turn out, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy the stencil work and the proposals for a new, creative, innovative, and ecological teaching practices!

Monteverde y El Caribe

Despues de haber trabajado tan duro en los Jardines, decidimos tomarnos un descanso y conocer un poco mas de Costa Rica. Asi que nos aventuramos con nuestros amigos de los Jardines, Nate y Gata y nos fuimos hacia las monta~nas de la Costa Rica, Monteverde. Y lugar precioso entre los montes. Nos alejamos de lo tropical para menternos en el Bosque, donde el clima estavo increiblemente rico y fresco. Nos fuimos a caminatas por el Bosque y descubriendo cascadas en el parque Hidden Valley y volcanes. Ahi disfrutamos de unas noches increibles con nuestros amigos, para despues segir el viaje rumbo a el Caribe Costa Ricense, Puerto Viejo.

Our home in the Gardens of the Osa Peninsula

Having Landed on this amazing place was an idea that is born out of the need to hang out in Costa Rica after being robbed of our passports and the paperwork of the car. We needed to get straight before being able to cross or move around legally through out the rest of our trip. The idea of volunteering somewhere proves to be an excellent plan and we begin to ¨job hunt¨the craigslitst market. I have used this website a couple of times and for some reason i just had the instinct to connect. The opportunities were a few, but the Herrera Gardens welcoming was greatly friendly. We were pretty excited we would be hanging out and helping out in a reserve in Pt. Jimenez at Costa Rica´s Osa Peninsula! In Costa Rica there is a big market for volunteering, and many organizations even call it an internship so you end up paying money, while working for free. Going to the Osa was the perfect gift because we didn't have to pay to volunteer and the experience was life changing. The Herrera Botanical Gardens had around 15km of forrested trails, and 5km of garden trails and the wildlife and nature was so rich it was easy to get lost in it for almost 2months. Costa Rica tropical heat can be deadly. No... really they have one of the highest rates in skin cancer, and can dehydrate easily...you constantly were loosing water and all day drinking water, the fruits tasted like heaven to the body. The working in the gardens had many different patterns. One day we would rake trails, others we would create new trails, then some you would work really heavily like digging holes or closing trenches. Watering the plants was pretty painful as well, since one would have to carry the buckets of water and refill. Planting new babies into the earth, was a bonding experience with Mother Earth. In the botanical gardens we sang to the rhythm of the heat and beat of the insect world. Many nights filled our gardens with Costa Rican agua ardiente or rum making life in the Osa spicy!

Underground Costa Rica

After being delighted by the horse-shoe bay, framed by picturesque cliffs of San Juan del Sur, the movie like sunsets and sumptuous fabulous sand beaches of Bahia Majagual and Playa Madera in Nicaragua. We would also have to say goodbye and hasta pronto the to most of the members a of the new beach camping community as we all parted on different adventures. And after making new friends, drenched in a freedom storm, we ventured out to cross Nicaragua’s border to welcome Costa Rica, a two-faced paradise trapped by the foreign investment that provides ecological preserves and a seedy underbelly.

We had heard about the staggering beauty of its land, and as we touched Costa Rica, it was obvious the difference between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. As we drove trough the Central Valley we didn’t spot any farm land or communities along the road, like the rest of Central America. It was clear how much Western influence and money was present in such a Paradise. Never less through out our trip, we have managed (for the most part) to avoid the expensive and tourist zones, by “keeping it real” living our lives in the present and not being in a rush to see everything the guide books tell us to go do. Even though Jaco is one of the “sleaziest” towns we have ever been, we surrounded our selves with soulful moments and magical experiences. Our Russian born friends (Annya and Slava) were two fairies that the Universe had sent our way for the re-birth of our child-selves. Both were full of life and lived life to the 80/20 % philosophy…80 good/20 bad! Annya a Circus du Soleil performer, yogi, and clown injected passion for the street performing as we discussed different clown techniques for allowing the self to flourish, as well as body movements that freed the soul of the body from the always rigid mind. We played gymnastics and yoga in the fancy pool of the condo, liberated our Goddess intimacies to the light of the moon and ate Chocolate as an emblem of our newly formed tribe.
The universe could only be blamed for the creation of one of the most perfect combination of sisterhood. Slava, was the mother of fire, the moon of the sun and the true representation of a Goddess. Canadian or Russian, Slava could move to any rhythm played, she became our dancing partner, teacher, sister and at our times my mother. She played the guitar so purely, that the Russian strokes hummed to Flamenco fire…she truly was gifted in the language of adventure, and poetry was her diary. She represented youthfulness and looked like a teen-ager at her 40-some years of life…she was the mirror to a famous Sir Richard Steel proverb “that man never grows old who keeps a child in his heart.” Having meet two of my greatest inspirations- right as I was beginning to feel a bit nervous to hit my 30’s , I laughed at the idea of aging! I learned that it is not a body growing old that takes with it our child-self , it is an empty heart and a sorrowful mind that slays our inner child! Keep on living my friends!

Costa Rica - San Jose and Jaco

We fully expected to breeze through costa rica in a couple of weeks. We heard repeatedly about how expensive and Americanized the country was and didn't want any part of it. We crossed the border with out incident and made our way to the first place to stay - Liberia. The rumors we heard were true and the cheapest hotel was well over 30 dollars per night. We found a rather unorthodox solution and managed to get the owner of a parking lot to let us put up our tent for a reasonable price. We decided we should try to stay free as much as we could while in costa rica and set out to find an internet connection. A few messages sent out on the Couch Surfing network yielded fast results and we were on our way to stay with Edward in San Jose.

We were received with open arms, a nearly perfect American accent and a garage for the bug. We went out for food and drinks and hit it off well. The next night he through a party and I did my best to follow the conversations in Spanish. I was doing what I thought was pretty well but my stomach and my head had other plans for me. A few beers went quickly to my head and I soon felt very nauseous. I laid down hoping it would pass but soon found myself praying to the porcelain gods.

Our third night proved a tragic one. One of the room mates brother's was staying the night at the house because a group of them was headed to a large out door concert in the morning. we gave up our space in the garage and left the car on the street. We awoke early the next morning to discover the car had been broken into. I ran to the car in disbelief. The door was still open resting against the curb and clothes were hanging out of the door onto the street. They'd stolen our drum, maracas, clarinet, passports, paper work for the car, our bag of winter clothes, Pao's backpack and a lot of her clothes including a brand new pair of Levi's she's bought just the day before. We were both very upset but it wasn't long before we began to see it as a lesson from the universe to simplify and trust our instincts. Pao replaced her passport the next day and I filed for mine. Soured on San Jose we headed to Jaco to meet with our new friends Slava, Anya, Rolland and Ryan.

We arrived to what felt immediately like home. We passed the days lazily by the pool and cooking meals for each other. There was a certain balance to the six of us. We made quick friends of a shop owner named Caliche who free shared his wine and the space out side of his shop for fire dance. Anya a gymnast and member of a circus in Toronto found a group of Silks performers she could practice with and showed off her skills twisting up and down the long red silks hung from the trees. The stay in Jaco was exactly the relaxing time we needed after our time roughing it on the beach and the trauma of San Jose. The high light of the experience was a night of group massage. Pao, Anya, Rolland and I took turns being the center of a three person massage. The event turned out to be quite an endurance trial but we were all glad we finished and the energy was shared equally with everyone. Eventual came the time for our hosts to return to the winter colds of canada and for us to continue our adventures as a duo once again. We returned to San Jose just long enough to get my passport and then made our way to the wilds of Costa Rica's Osa Penninsula and our new home in the Herrera Gardens.

San Juan Del Sur

After leaving Isla Omatepe we planned to head to the Costa Rican border and pass quickly through Costa Rica to Panama and South America. But it seemed that no matter how fast we intended to travel the guiding hand of the universe seemed determined to slow us down. A random impulsive right turn landed us in the beach front community of San Juan Del Sur. Despite its obvious tourist demeanor it had a charm we found attractive. Soon day dreams of opening a massage studio there filled our heads. We found a cheap hotel and worked a deal in exchange for staying three nights. There we meet an energetic and charismatic young man named Kyle. We joined him for what had for him become a nightly performance on the beach. We played guitars and sang songs well into the night surrounded by local beach bums and passing tourists. Kyle told us there was an open mic the next night at a fantastic bar/restaurant called Coquitas.

The house band opened the night and set the bar very high. After a few performers lowered the bar for us we got up and sang three songs - Oh Yoko, Redemption Song and Maybe Not by Cat Power. The crowd reacted well and it was quite the confidence boost.

After growing tired of the town and its seemingly non stop party - the nights filled with music and crowds well past 2 am - we headed to the remote beach of Madera. The long beautiful beach was seperated in two by giant rock out croppings full of tide pools and adventures. We made our way to the very end of the beach and the shade of one of the only trees right on the beach. Our first night was spent alone eating tuna fish sandwiches and spinning fire in hopes of attracting like minded souls. Unfortunately our only visitor came in the night to still my fire bag and my nunchucks. Sad as I was at the loss our solitude was not long lived as a seemingly magical gathering of beautiful souls began and my heart was filled with joy. Musicians, Fire performers and free spirits soon engulfed us. Our numbers swelled at night as people from the near by hotel were drawn to our fire and song. On the third day Miguel a traveling fire juggler showed up to my amazement and relief with my nun chucks. I grabbed them from him and screeched with joy feeling their weight spin around my hands once again. We were joined by Americans, French, Russians, Canadians, Nicaraguans, a Swede and a Norwegian and our international community thrived. The two Russian born sisters Slava and Anya inspired late night ocean skinny dipping and sunrise yoga, respectively. The young French traveler Victor played gypsy style jazz to which Pao and Slava took turns singing to in Spanish and Russian. The hilarious Canadian Scott drunkenly screamed Irish folk songs at the sea. We took turns going into town for suplies and cooked on an open fire. We ate little and played endlessly.

After a week the winds seemed determined to disrupt our peace, season our food with sand and turn our tents in to kites and the community slowly broke up. But the party was to continue in Costa Rica at the invitation from Slava and Anya to join them at their parents Condo in Jaco. So a few more days of recovery back in San Juan and on our way we went.

SouthWest Nicaragua

We continued down the Interamericana Hwy to Southwestern Nicaragua, an isthmus of land, only 20km wide at one point, is all that separates Lago de Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America), from the Pacific Coast. We landed on the town of San Jorge, a hub that serves as a cross over to Isla de Ometepe; with nothing much happening on this town, we decided to Ferry ourselves across the Island, also called (in Nahuatl) “Between two Hills” to Moyogalpa, the larger of the Islands two main villages. The island was formed by two twin volcanoes, whose lava flows created an isthmus between them. A mysterious place that sits in the middle of “nothing,” with a charming roughness and a simple one road that goes around the Island one can easily miss the natural beauty of this “ecology jewel”, if looking for an up-beat party scene. Even though, it is a major tourist spot for both local and foreigners, there wasn’t much of either, we were pretty surprised by how undeveloped Mayogalpa was. It was pretty funny that every 30 minutes electricity would go out, the first night we were there, we had to eat dinner to candle light.
Isla Ometepe, is great for hiking and swimming, though we couldn’t do any swimming because the waters of the Island were pretty agitated, and we were a little disturbed by a news report we had watched over the TV, ironically, as we traveled on the Ferry. According to the report, the government of Nicaragua, had just received millions of dollars to launch a major project to develop sewage treating plants, frazzled by the reality that a majority of Managua’s (Nicaragua’s capital and largest city) sewage systems were being dumped on the Lake. Nevertheless, it would have been impossible to swim, due to the destruction of beaches around the Lake, palapas were submerged with water and places of access to the beaches were not allowed. According to some of the locals, the water conditions had been overflowing its beaches for months. We felt, that it really wasn’t our “destiny” to spend more than a couple of days in the Island, due to the fact that every time we tried to get anywhere we were faced with stressful situations we couldn’t avoid. Like, waiting hours to catch one of the rugged buses to get anywhere, if you were lucky or a ride (buses stopped running around 5), or had no access to money due to continuous electricity “apagones.” Then, after hiking up rocky and rough roads towards the Volcan Concepcion (not reaching its top!), walking along farms on volcanic soil, and after hours of exploration heading towards Playa Santa Domingo (to come back to the main road to find out that the last bus had broken down with nowhere to go, but to wait in the middle of the road, and being finally picked up a British volunteer doctor that drove us for most of the way back…thank God!) we decided to continue our journey down to our next destination….Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast!

Nicaragua: Exploring its colonial cities

Nicaragua: Exploring its colonial cities
The border crossing experience in central America is buzzing and rumbling to the sounds of cargo trucks importing and exporting goods, and the nerve racking eagerness of voices trying to make the dollars of the day. Their presence was felt as they presented themselves as your guide, handling all your troubles in their hands. Luckily, a firm “Gracias, I have experience” was enough to keep them as just observers . After having crossed Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras, with 100% of truck drivers help , whom we waited hours with to get through customs, we had it down! The Amatillo Aduana and the Nicaraguan border were not too difficult-your usual exit-entrance fees, licenses, insurance, circulation card, passports and visas. As we waited for custom officials in the car to come and search, a young independent-entrepreneur came up to us and asked if he could play the guitar and pose for a picture for a dollar! It was a good welcoming going away party starter… We arrived at Leon, a neatly kept town, with archaic colonial architecture. It was heart-warming to enjoy of good comida corrida at the downtown market in company of a Sunday afternoon local crowd. Nicaragua’s charm began to unfold delicately as its pastures and fields merged with the magical presence of Lake Nicaragua and its Pueblos Blanco’s. As we made our way South, the presence of Volcan Masaya was almost unavoidable from the Panamarican Highway. We made a stop at Masaya, a lovely town with a friendly plazita, and a Artisan Market reminiscent of an old fortified castle. We took a small detour to the highlands of Nicaragua and headed to the Pueblos Blancos’, small communities of natives that offer their local arts, textiles and jewelry. Once again, we felt the strong presence of the native ancestry, the same energy we had felt in Mexico and Guatemala. The Laguna de Apoyo, was a volcanic crater, that served as a tourist hot spot to one of the Pueblos Blancos’. One could enjoy the view of volcanic happenings, while being serenaded by guitars, or go horse-back riding around the Crater. The next stop was Granada, a major city in Nicaragua, with special tourist zones, chic walkways and cafes, horse-carriages, and clean and well planned Boulevards; atmosphere in which one could be easily fooled, into disregarding and missing out the real experience of a tremendously poor city, the second poorest in Central America. As one stepped outside of the “attractive areas” the city was bustling with hundreds of store shacks, selling every kind of China-manufactured luxuries, pirated music tracks and movies. Overwhelmed by the noise, we headed to Ometepe Island.

Entre el Cielo y La Tierra

Nos llenamos de fuerza y determinacion pa' seguir la travestia rumbo al sur. Despues de haber saboreado la vida en Mexico y Guatemala estabamos llenos de esperanza para de nuevo tocar tierras lejanas. Recorreriamos 3 paises para luego darnos cuenta que nuestras gran pasiones se darian mediante vehiculos magicos para recorrer mundos. En guatemala empezamos a desarrolar nuestra conexion con los elementos de la vida. Entre volcanes sentimos como la vida realmente si estaba a nuestro favor y el fuego ardiente alumbraba nuestro andar. En guatemala dejariamos nuestro comfort para de nuevo emprender hacia la aventura. Re-cargados de nuevas vibras y con una limpia espiritual recorreriamos centro america. En el salvador, recorrimos su costa. Es uno de esos paises en el cual no sentimos su presencia. Honduras, nos trato un poco mal y fuimos detenidos por la policia mas de ocho veces en un camino de 135 km...fue bastante triste....en fin yo llore 2 veces. La corrupcion en este pais, la presencia estadounidense y la probreza , afectan el equilibrio que Honduras se merece. Despavilados salimos hullendo de Honduras y con melancolia por Guatemala, tocamos la tierra Nica.

Guatemala : The Lake: Part II

From Coban we headed into the Capital City of Guatemala. arriving in the capital was a bit like a home coming. Our very good friend Kelly Nichols is living and working in the Capital and as is typical of her hospitality her home was very graciously presented as our home. It was a wonderful family reunion and our time was spent lounging and cooking. The first week several adventures were planned but aborted because Pao was pretty sick. We did however do quite a lot of exploring around one of the most chaotic, hectic and poorly planned cities I've known. The Multileveled central market took up a whole city block and had everything from Comida Corrida to Vegetables to an entire hallway of Leather goods.

Thanksgiving came and we made tracks to a beautiful beach house in El Salvador for the weekend. A group of 10 shared the house and made it a home. We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with beers, shrimp and beautiful views. Kelly, Pao and I spun fire around the swimming with brilliantly bright stars above. The weekend ended with an amazing reggae party a failed attempt to find an after party followed by a long walk home in the dark - and with out shoes for our friend Chris.

We returned to Guatemala and after a few days and an important car repair we made our way back to the border to fix our visas. What was to be a one day adventure turned into three when a problem with the right rear wheel presented its self. Unfortunately we couldn't find a mechanic or the proper parts to do a proper fix and had to make do with a temporary solution. Skeptically we made our way to Lake Atitlan - a collapsed volcano that is now home to the most beautiful and pristine waters I've known. We fell in love instantly and spent the next three weeks soaking in the sun, water, food and people. We found community with ease and made friends for life. We spent a majority of our time in a wonderful ex patriot community called San Marco La Laguna. A disproportionate number of massage therapist, healers of all kinds, yoga teachers, sweat lodges and organic food made for an irresistible energy.

Our first week there we stayed at a wonderful Hostle/massage boutique/restaurant called La Paz. Just next door we found our local hang out Rico Tenango owned by Rick a man I am happy to call a friend. We read books, practiced yoga, took poi lessons and swam in the lake - and jumped into it from 30 foot cliffs.

We returned to the city for a dentist appointment and then right back to San Marco. This time around we were giving the option to camp on a beautiful piece of land next to the cliffs with a beautiful view of the whole lake and the towering cloud cloaked volcanoes. We bathed in the water every day waking early in the morning to the healing rays of first sun light. We had two very meaningful and healing acupuncture treatments from a very powerful and inspiring woman named Michelle. We shared experiences with past life remembrances and talked about how to access them more completely and pull forward useful knowledge from those lives.

We stayed through new years and partied like crazy people. We did a fire show with Claudia's poi teacher and our friend Jorge. A traveling performance/volunteer group from San Francisco was in town a few of their dancers performed as well. A group of fantastic drummers kept the party going until midnight and then it was the DJ's turn. It was a hell of a party and a great experience.

The next morning we took it slow- Pao barely able to eat and for some reason just before dark in our typical crazy fashion we packed up the tent and decided it was time to move on. We drove the steep mountain hills away from the lake in the dark making it to the capital just before midnight. We stayed long enough to welcome Kelly home from her christmas vacation to the States and finally get the problem with our wheel fixed.

Even though we could have stayed forever it was long past time to move on. Good bye Guatemala we love you.

Guatemala : Illegal Crossing: Part I

Our very extended trip through Guatemala started with a bit of a snag. The inside of the drum on the right rear wheel gave up 5 hours from am ATM in any direction leaving us dead in our tracks. Fortunately we were less than 10 miles from a large pueblo and a mechanic and part were easily located and the problem fixed. So, with a full tank and an empty wallet we headed towards Comitan - the nearest ATM.

The next morning we crossed through to Guatemala via the very tiny and very uncontrolled boarder of Gracias A Dios and accidentally entered Guatemala illegally. We picked up a kind man not far from the border and made our way towards civilization. Not intending to we ended up in Huehuetenago high in the mountain highlands. Over the next couple of days we made our way to Coban over the worst roads we've seen so far. From there we visited two natural wonders Laguna Lachua and Semuc Champey. Lachua is a beautiful perfectly round very large laguna in the middle of a very protected and isolated national park. So isolated in fact that we had to hike in 4km with all of our food and water for 3 days. The park is so protected that we had to leave musical instruments with the reception on the main road. The care taker was a wonderful old man named Carlos who was very kind and had a bright energy to him. The director of the park was a man my age named Luis. We spent all night talking to him and his friend Adrian and made some good friends. We returned to Coban and had the wonderful fortune of reconnecting with our friend Morton from Denmark - who we had met in Chiapas Mexico. We set out the next day on a whirlwind one day expedition to Semuc Champey. We woke up early hit the bus station and were on the road by 9. We got to the main city got off our bus and boarded a small truck with a rails around the side that the tourists call chicken buses. We drove very slowly up a mountain and it dropped us right in front of the park. We paid our entrance fee and walked the path to the most beautiful set of water falls and wading pools I've ever seen. We played in the water for a few hours then made our way back along the path and across the bridge from the park. We found a lovely attraction named Las Marias Caverns and decided to check it out. for 65 Quetzales we were given a candle and lead through a large cave all the while swimming with one hand and holding the candle in the other. We made our way over water falls and through little cracks in the rock and found ourselves at the very back of the cave. And impromptu mud bath ensued from which our guide got quite a laugh. But wait the story gets better. Freshly exfoliated and returned to the light we made our way back down the road on foot as our ride was not there as promised. We walked to a small hotel that was in fact owned by the man who owned the caves and we got a history lesson on how he came to own the caves and that by great fortune only a week after he bought it a group of German spelunkers showed up and asked him where they could find caves. We all took a shot of tequila and then caught a right home with his workers who had been unloading the truck. Despite there kindness and fairness with the price we missed the last bus back to Coban. So, we had dinner had some beers and waited. But wait long we did not. We stopped the first large empty truck that came by heading our direction and negotiated a price of 10 q per person. In our eagerness we were loaded up and on the way before we realized we were in the back of a cattle truck and the floor and walls were covered in cow crap. But our spirits could not be dampened. We made a game out of it danced, shouted and had a blast the whole way home.

Chiapas

The last stop before leaving Mexico was the state of Chiapas. As we crossed the Pacific coast of Oaxaca one could not stop to admire the beauty of the mountainous tropical beauty that inhabited the land. As we drove through the mountains, it was impossible to ignore the cuts in the rock made by the road, as my nauseated body ached with sympathy . Monsoon Season had ended and the damage made by the storms was visible by the conditions the road was in. There were collapsed bridges, half missing roads from mountains slides, huge holes in the ground, half paved roads. As we drove, we felt thankful of the Volkswagen's speed capacity, it was a cruiser car and not a race car, we were safe. As we got further to the south of Chiapas, nature became a tropical pine forest; In San Critstobal de las Casas, we were surrounded by the Cerro Huitepec, home of many of the Zapatista's villages of the region. Nestled and hiding into the long road in between the mountains of the Huitepec, one could find small Mayan crop villages and farms that keep the economy moving in the highlands of Chiapas. Within the city life of San Cristobal's downtown permeated a clash of economy systems that was so obvious that one couldn't avoid and ignore the truth and reality of an indigenous population in a globalized world. I wanted to be part of the community and the culture, there was a side of me that was ready to leave all of my ideas of privilege behind and find wisdom in helping others; for me it would be working with street vendor children. I was privileged to be able to collaborate with a group of two amazing Spanish artists, Carlos and Dario, both taking me under their wing and treating me like family. We had puppet making workshops with the street children and the expression in their faces had a glow that radiated happiness. For me, a wonderful and priceless experience.

Driving the “TANK”: Space Ship Road Tripping

It was an uncomfortable first day. It didn’t matter which way I positioned myself, it was quite clear that the seats of my VW bug would not adjust to my desired ass cushioning. After a few hours of driving from, El Paso to Austin, I moved and positioned myself many times I must have moved every couple of minutes for hours. I remembered my ass being completely numbed for the next day. On our way to Mexico I used a blanket as a cushion; I folded it a couple of times and found it to be actually quite relaxing. However, this time I had to deal with what you can call an ass temazcal or simply sweaty ass… I didn’t mind the sweaty ass as much compared to the stiff ass.

After crossing into Mexico, the comfort of my derriere mattered less and less. There was a whole new world, and my attention soon was focused on the lively streets of Mexico. As the hours passed, the Bug became very comforting, in fact, it was clear that it was our new home. I soon felt the feeling of having complete control of the path we chose to take. We weren’t bound to any bus schedules or routes. In fact, our biggest enemy was the road conditions - full of holes, gigantic missing pieces of pavement, and unpredictable “topes” (Mexico’s un-regulated makeshift speed bumps). Veracruz has the scariest highways, but the drive was worth it… Driving right next to the ocean the whole way was priceless...

On our journey, we discovered little beaches just off the road, and many times miles down dirt roads - the drives took us down precarious offside roads that pumped a rush of blood to my heart. The exploration of sparsely inhabited majestic beaches led us to “palapas” of fisherman selling the days catch and sinking feelings as we realized we were stuck in the sand in the heat of the day with no water. Our attempts to free our selves were useless and sobering as looking around and saw only a few humble palapas in the distance and none with cars. To our credit and our sanity we stayed calm, walked towards the nearest homes and befriended a farmer, Carlos. We quenched our thirst with his fresh water melons He offered his home and anything he had. We talked about life, simple life, far away from any civilized grounds or globalization traps. He must have been around 60, and had the body of a man who knew every single muscle from his body. His hands had ridges that looked like rivers and a firm grip from his hand and one could feel the earth pulsating on his hands. As we were parting ways and talking about possible ways of getting our car out of the sand, a tractor met us as we reached the road. The driver was bringing workers home and we were saved! A man by the name of Mariano, a papaya farmer, who had worked many years in the States gladly, helped us un-bury the VW.

From this moment on, I realized that we were taken care of. That a great force was protecting our path, and that in this fervent and magical earth we just needed to trust in one another-that there is good people everywhere and good things are happening all the time. We had crossed the whole state of Veracruz and now it was time to vow to the great Pacific Ocean… Oaxaca we reached….

Wake and Roast

It is a very unfamiliar sensation to wake up and not be rushed to be able to enjoy of a cup, a good cup of coffee; especially when drinking coffee might also involve driving, teaching a class or having Folger's cafeteria coffee several days a week. While in Coatepec our experiences involving coffee drinking have rapidly changed. Not only are we drinking freshly roasted coffee, but we are as well enjoying of a calm and relaxing atmosphere while feeling we have been taken back to colonial times. Now, we gladly wake and roast, while the church cathedral bells welcomes our newly refined bohemian spirit...a spirit that was only allowed to flourish on the weekends... Me encanta el cafe Veracruzano!

Xalapa

We've been in Xalapa for three days and are loving every minute. The architecture is amazing and very reminiscent of Europe. Its so European I keep waking up thinking I'm in France instead of Mexico.

We walked all day yesterday discovering the hidden alley's and picking fresh lemons by majestic ponds. The city is full of art and music. We encountered a troop of jugglers honing there skills in the Plaza De Juarez and a trio of Capoira dancers lounging next to a breath taking man made water fall.

I'm excited how fast I'm picking up spanish. All the words I've learned before are coalesing into a functional language set. Most of what I've learned is only functional though. I find myself frustrated with my ability to reach out to people I would like to meet. I keep reminding myself that it will only take a little time and I've only been in mexico less than a week. I'm sure with in a month I'll be getting along well.

Before we got to Xalapa we spent a very interesting and wet night on a secluded beach between Tampico and Xalapa. We parked next to a family's coconut trees and camped on the beach. We played in the ocean and danced in the sand. Our tent did a good job of keeping out the relentless rain and a crab whose home we'd convered by accident. Fortunately for the crab in rained and we moved the bags responsible for his discomfort in to our tent. Pao had a rough night with a head ache so bad she had to throw-up. I massaged her head and tried to relieve her pain but there was little I could do. We tried to wait out the rain but eventually had to pack up and return to our car with our soaked everything. Nothing dries in this humidity so unfortunately we are stuck with a bag full of very wet very stinky clothes and towells. Those we can wash - as for a tent that will be a special challenge to defunk. Maybe we can set it up in a car wash.

Today we are checking out of our wonderful hotel - with the largest bed I've ever seen - and heading to Coatepec. I think we will stay in Veracuz for a while. It seems safe from the Hurricanes and it is amazingly beautiful.

XALAPA, VERACRUZ

It was an extreme adventure getting here. As we were leaving the US, endless amount of rain began to fall. It rained for days non-stop. And the weather tells us that it will continue for a few weeks. We were seeking a high level plain city, in hopes to avoid mass flooding-we achieved that. Xalapa is a beautiful tropical-like booming city surrounded by a sub-tropical mountainous forest. The aroma of fresh ground coffee covers the air, while the noise of its people melodiously sing to the beat of the city. The music of the marimba rhythm echoes downtown streets, as alleyways covered with jewelers adorn the cobblestone streets.

La Playa Miramar y La ciudad de Tampico

Tampico

We´re in tampico and safe. The hurricanes are sending a lot of rain this way. Looks like it will be the same story any where we go along the coast. Our next stop is Jalapa but they are getting it a lot worse than Tampico. We´re cautious of getting caught in a flood and not sure if we should risk moving on as where we are seems safe and we´re enjoying ourselves anyway. Send us prayers, patience and wisdom.

The journey begins.

We left Austin two days ago. We spent the first night in San Antonio with Pao's friend Kasey. Most of our time was spent entertaining Kasey's 2 year old niece Serenity and defending our feet from puppy bites.

Last night we spent the night on South Padre Island. We slept on the beach and awoke to the sun rising over the gulf of Mexico. The water is warm, the sand littered with shells and the insects a bit aggressive. A tent pole broke while we were putting away the tent. it shouldn't have been a big deal but I was frustrated and couldn't understand how it happened.

Today is the day - Mexico, here we come. Good-bye convenience and the illusion of safety. Hello adventure and the unknown. Hello life I embrace you!

I need a mantra to help me keep my fears in check.

Brake out of your cacoon

A breeze of punk rock captivated the essence of the presence of so many rebellious spirits. Long haired dreams carried on an endless ocean of maturity, as they eradicate painful memories surrounding the system. Longing for authority to give them back what belongs to them, they stand, they wait, creating a symbiotic dance, as powerful as their porcupine hair. They wear the photograph of life, and in it you can see the rejection of mainstream anything while their anti-authority ideologies move to the rhythm of attitude...

In Austin we remembered the dynamic experience of idealism, in where punk was another symbol of the transitions happening in life. OH!! Punk ROck! We got stepped on and pushed around...