Since when is insect repellent exciting?

Apparently since now... I just got back from buying a few odds n' ends at the store:

• rain poncho (jungle green, thank you very much)
• 1oz insect repellent
  
• mini carabiners (since you can never have too many)
  

And I'm quite childishly pleased with these new additions because it means... [drum roll, please] ...that I'm hitting the road again in a couple days. Even though it's just a short trip, I'm in dire need of a change of scenery and perspective shift - and, thus, insect repellent apparently excites me as a symbol of the travel yet to come. :)

I also finally got off my lazy behind today and decided to just bite the bullet and book the flight from Guatemala City to Flores so I don't have to deal with overnight chicken buses to get up to El Peten on such a short trip. Assuming my arrival in GUA isn't delayed overmuch, I should be able to make it through customs and go straight to the boarding area for my domestic flight - with time to spare. I'm still working out lodging, but there's always a bed somewhere so I'm sure it'll be fine...

Reawakening - and fretting over chicken buses

Wow. It's been 7mo since my last post. How did that happen?

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of involving myself in more "meaningful" endeavors, as I wrote in my last entry. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I quickly got sucked back into the corporate drone mentality after I got back from Europe and haven't really allowed myself the opportunity to explore other aspects of my life, as a result. (Between work and school - which has included courses in Perl, PHP, shell scripting, XHTML and Javascript - I've just been predictably "busy". I did, however, manage short trips to Portland, OR and Austin, TX...so that's something...)

Now, however, I'm turning my mind again toward feeding my spirit, and again toward international travel - albeit in shorter, quinessentially American spurts. I have a 1wk trip to Guatemala coming up in early June and a 2wk trip to Peru in early October - both solo trips. I'm excited!

I plan to continue my theme of exploring religious sites and other "places of power" wherever I go; it's just who I am. Whether I'm an academic or just another cubicle drone, it's in my nature to explore the spiritual world from a variety of different angles and a variety of places. I hope that never changes...

As I prep for my trip to Guatemala, though, the dilemma of the moment is two-fold:

1. To ride the chicken bus or not to ride the chicken bus? I've read plenty of accounts from people who suggest it's NOT a good thing to ride tourist-class buses in Guatemala because you're basically painting a target on yourself saying "I have money" and that tourist-class buses frequently get stopped/robbed by guys with machine guns. On the flip side, in order to avoid the tourist-class bus, I'd have to take the chicken bus from Zona 1 in Guatemala City - and that seems to be uncertain in terms of safety, as well. (My guide book references robberies and even murders on board local chicken buses. The U.S. Dept of State paints a predictably sketchy picture, too.) To my own chagrin, I have to admit that the more I read, the more anxious I'm getting - but, at the same time, I think to myself "Well, there are whole travel books dedicated to Guatemala, whereas I only ever found a 1pg entry for Bosnia before I went there - and it turned out to be both safe and wonderful..." Not really sure what to think, though...
   
2. To go to Tikal, or not to go to Tikal? I fly in to GUA. Domestic flights from GUA to Flores are ~$100 each way - so very expensive for Guatemala. The only other real option seems to be taking two overnight chicken buses from GUA to Flores (~$15 each way) - one there, one back - and that doesn't exactly sound like fun. Hmm...

Depart: June 2nd (for Guatemala City)
Return: June 10th