The land of Eire

Well, after tonight, I've only got 3nts left in Ireland - then it's back home to the daily grind in San Diego. Thus far it's been great though; I just haven't wanted to pay for internet because charges for it are outrageous. Frankly, updating a blog while on the road isn't that important. As of today, however, I'm in a hostel that includes free internet - so I'm making use of it.

I started off my trip in Galway, then headed up to Belfast. Much like other cities that have made others (who haven't been) personally comfortable at the thought...I found that I fell in love with Belfast. It's rough; it's still got issues to resolve; it's got amazing Victorian architecture mixed with a lot of new development given that the city is revitalizing. Anyway, something about it just "resonated" with me...so I wound up staying 5nts. Best decision I've made on this trip. Galway was nice, but I'll ultimately forget it; Belfast I will remember.

More when I'm stateside again...

Wheels up in the a.m.

Tomorrow, I leave for Ireland! Much like when I went to Morocco, I've been too exhausted and bombarded by work to get excited...until about an hour ago... :) I got off early from work due to the holiday weekend, then found the "print your boarding pass" email waiting for me at home, and I've been pretty much elated ever since. I can't explain what it is about travel that makes me feel so alive, but this is the stuff that really turns me on - the exploration, the unknown, the raw possibility. It's all good.

I've got boarding passes through to Dublin, just nabbed a 5€ bus ticket from Dublin airport to Galway (allowing enough time to eat once I land), and have a hostel booked in Galway. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess what the next couple week have in store...


Depart: Sept 5 (for Dublin)
Return: Sept 20

Independence Day in San Francisco

Work certainly hasn't given me much free time, so I decided a little mini-break was in order. I've always wanted to spend some time in San Francisco (beyond the I-got-stuck-there-for-a-night-once-due-to-weather-and-put-up-at-a-Radisson-hotel-by-the-airline experience), so it seemed like a good idea once I found a cheap ticket. I stayed at a hostel downtown and basically just enjoyed not living in my cubicle.

I froze my butt off with a few hundred thousand other crazy people waiting for the fireworks display at Fisherman's Wharf. Even though the display was likely a bit smaller due to the recession, it was still really enjoyable; I haven't seen a good display like that in years. The only thing missing was some sort of patriotic big-band music. (I'm surprised how much an impact childhood celebrations - from when my dad was in the military - have left on me.)

Overall, though, the best part of the weekend was getting in to the Asian Art Museum for free. There was an extensive display of Hindu and Buddhist iconography spanning centuries and geographic regions. I felt like a kid in a candy store - given that my academic interests, once upon a time, focused so heavily on the development and diffusion of Buddhism and on religious iconography.

I found it interesting that I'd always presumed San Francisco would resonate deeply with me...and it, somehow, didn't. Don't get me wrong, I liked it just fine; it just wasn't everything people have hyped it up to be over the years. I still prefer Eugene or Portland for West Coast liberal vibe, and I prefer a variety of cities I've been to in other countries. Life's funny like that, though; you never really know how you'll react to a place...until you just go...

Sometimes childish dreams do come true

Since starting my new job, life has continued to change...

In addition to scrambling to learn a variety of new technologies and software development processes on the work front, I started actively house hunting. Given the decrease in mortgage rates and home prices, it seemed a logical time to get serious about buying my first house. (Now, those of you who know me in person know that I've had a long-standing dream to move back to Oregon and settle for good in the place where I've been happiest. Unfortunately, these rough economic times seem to have put a damper on that idea. Oregon always gets hit harder and longer during economic downturns - and reports I get from friends on the ground include words like "desolate" and "desperate" - i.e. words one might more typically associate with a hard environment like Detroit. Even the most stable of employers are getting hit hard, and people think this is going to take several years to recover from. As much as I love Oregon, I can't put myself in a holding pattern forever - waiting, hoping, wanting it to be the right time to go back.)

So... I actually made an offer on a house I loved down here; however, I decided to withdraw the offer from a 3-way bidding war because, amongst other things, I wasn't comfortable with the 15min added commute each way. I also got scared. Pure and simple. (Even though prices have fallen in San Diego County, houses are still expensive and it's daunting to try to buy something as a single individual; it seriously means you're bound to working long hours at stressful jobs in order to get by.)

Since withdrawing my offer, I've decided to take some time "off" from house hunting in order to answer some personal questions that need answering before proceeding further. I've also got way too much happening at work to be able to devote adequate time to house hunting. In fact, given my workload, I decided I needed a "dangling carrot" - i.e. something to look forward to - in order to get through the next couple months. Me being me, I decided to book a trip...

September 2009: 2wks in Ireland

It's the Irish heritage odyssey I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl - even though I have no idea what part of Ireland my mother's mother's people hail from ;)

Faith

Until today, I honestly had no idea what my near term future held. I didn't know if I'd stay here in San Diego, if I'd follow my heart back to Oregon despite a precarious job market, or if I'd move to some comparatively unknown (to me) place like Austin or Durham or Nashville. Last night, I reached my frustration peak and actually did a runecast for the first time in years. I wasn't super enthused by the reading, but accepted it and went to sleep simply praying for things to work themselves out as they were meant to.

Today, however, I received a job offer. The offer may not be perfect (since things rarely are), but it's competitive - especially in this economy. So, it turns out I'll be staying in San Diego after all... I just had to have faith that, once I laid the groundwork, the Universe would sort itself out.

Goodbye: Job hunt
Hello: New Beginning, 2009!

Twists and turns

Life is full of twists and turns. I got back from my trip to Morocco late on Dec 7th and, despite being ridiculously jetlagged, went to work on time the next morning...only to discover that I no longer had a job. (~20% of my company was laid off while I was gone. Beautiful.) It's been difficult trying to digest this news because I genuinely liked the company I worked for; in fact, I'd actually talked about them with pride while I was gone. Go figure.

That said, being around comparative poverty in rural Morocco so recently definitely helped me to intellectually avoid the "woe-is-me" dynamic - because, let's get serious, I don't have it so bad. However, at this point, I have no idea what the future holds. I'm just trying to have faith that all will turn out well in the end...

I'm interviewing with a couple local companies and I've enrolled in a C++ refresher course to try to be productive during my unemployment. We shall see...

Rowdy bus drivers and hammams in Essaouira

After spending one more night in Marrakech, I left early the next morning, walked to the Supratours bus station (way out past the train station), and caught a bus to Essaouira - a coastal town highly recommended to me by a Moroccan friend/colleague I used to work with. On the bus ride, we got stopped at a checkpoint and our bus driver almost got arrested. There was a loud in-your-face argument, followed by several male passengers getting off the bus in order to try and restrain the bus driver. They pretty much started arresting the bus driver, but somehow, in the end things worked themselves out; the driver got back on the bus and we were on our way again.

It felt good to be back near the ocean and Essaouria was definitely a town with a relaxing, welcoming vibe; however, even there I was unable to go for walks without random guys latching on to me. I did meet one particularly nice young guy interested solely in practicing his English. We talked for a while by the sea wall, and I recall that he was very curious about how gays were perceived and treated in the U.S. Kinda strange subject for conversation with someone you've just met, but I guess you'll never know unless you ask questions, so it's all good.

In addition to wandering around town, walking on the beach, relaxing on the rooftop terrace of the hostel, and meeting some genuinely lovely people through the hostel, I went to a great hammam that was like half the price of places in Marrakech. I don't know if it was because I was there during low season or what, but I guarantee I would've gone almost daily during my time in Essaouira if I'd known how affordable it was. (It was also so warm/steamy that it really helped me start getting over my new cold. I'd gotten over the first cold from Marrakech; however, I picked up another one in Essaouira. I blame in on the fact that I live in San Diego; everywhere on my trip was much colder than anticipated.) Since I got there not terribly long before closing / transiting into the males-only hours, I got the basic hammam and the grommage (which, after you've bathed yourself, basically involves the hammam lady doing some super exfoliation to remove all the dead skin from your entire body and then rinsing you off and washing your hair). I've seriously never felt so clean; it was wonderful.

On my last morning, I caught a super-early bus back to Marrakech and then shared a cab to the airport with an English gal I'd met in Essaouira. Eventually, I boarded the plane bound to Madrid...and wound up in Madrid during some "Times Square on New Year's Eve" type holiday. Everyone was out and about on the streets of the old city at all hours - and it was definitely a shock to see young Spanish couples making out on the subway after spending the last couple weeks in a Muslim country with decidedly different cultural norms. It was basically a stolen night in Madrid, full of huge crowds and tapas and beer. I got up before sunrise the next morning to take an hour-long walk through the city. There wasn't enough light to take pictures, but I did get a chance to see how beautiful Madrid is (since I'd never really thought about it before); I think I'd definitely like to return someday and see the city for real.

I drastically miscalculated how long it'd take me to get back to the airport on the metro...and then check in for an international flight, get through security, go down three escalators to take the train to the other terminal, go up three escalators, go through customs, and then finally find the gate. I seriously almost missed my flight to Chicago; I think there were 5min from when I boarded (as the second-to-last passenger) until "wheels up". I must've looked like a bad movie running through the airport...but at least I made it...

Sahara, Part 2

After riding camels into the desert at sunset, we arrived at our auberge, had some mint tea and a Berber style dinner (which consisted of a communal plate of some kind of tagine that we all just used bread and our hands to eat), then listened to some rather sad attempt at music next to a camp fire and looked at the stars. Even though we had to get up early for our sunrise camel trek back to Merzouga, I opted to go with a couple of camel guides and other people to climb a big dune for the view. That sounded like a good idea at the time, but maybe not so much in reality...

About halfway up the dune, I remembered that my knee is bad. I told the guides that I wasn't going to be able to make it and that I'd just go back to the camp since I could still see the campfire. Instead, the guide wanted to take me to another tent where some Berber friends were living. So, I wound up wandering through the darkness in the desert with this camel guide to a Berber camp. We hung out for a bit while they talked in Berber (which I can't understand for the life of me), then walked back through the darkness to our auberge... During the walk back, the guy seriously started to get fresh with me - esp. considering this is a Muslim country. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to be done about it given that I was out in the middle of the desert and could no longer see our campfire. Long story made short, all worked out well (I tried to keep him talking about Moroccan-Algerian border relations...in Spanish); however, there was definitely some creep-factor in my Sahara experience.

After our sunrise camel trek, we had breakfast back in Merzouga and then dropped off half of the group at the taxi depot in Rissani. (Some people opted to catch a grand taxi from Rissani to Fes instead of taking the tour roundtrip to Marrakech.) We then pretty much halled balls to get back to Marrakech before midnight... When we drove through the high desert approaching the mountains, we got into a pretty decent-sized sandstorm that had the minivan buffeting around a bit. Then, once we could really see the High Atlas mountains, I could tell we were in for trouble...

Considerable snow had fallen in the mountains since we'd passed through two nights before. I could see snow blowing off the ridgeline, and recalled that they'd had to shut down the pass for several days before we got through. As we started ascending into the mountain pass area, we got stopped at the last little town. The police were out and we were told that they had, indeed, shut down the pass due to snow and ice. We sat stuck in the van for a couple of hours while some brave/poor souls finally made their way down the mountain behind a snowplow. It was hit-and-miss as to whether the pass would reopen - and I honestly didn't expect it to. (People at my hostel in Marrakech who'd been on the last tour before they'd previously closed the pass got stuck in the mountains overnight; I figured we were in for the same.) As luck would have it, though, they reopened the pass to let us through for the last trip of the night. It was pretty treacherous - and was certainly more snow than my Californian ass has seen in many years. Not only were those of us on the tour snapping pictures in amazement, but so was our driver; he snapped away with his cell phone camera and couldn't believe it. Eventually, we did make it back to Marrakech - but it was one hell of an adventure.

Ironically, in addition to traditional Gnaoua music, the song that most ingrained itself into my memory of my Sahara trip (from sheer frequency of radio play) turned out to be Akon's "Right Now". ;-)

Sahara, Part 1

I left for a 2-day/3-nt tour to the desert at sunrise on Sunday morning. The group was about ~70% Spanish, so English wasn't the dominant language but it's all good. My travel buddy became a beautiful Spanish guy who was traveling with his friends as a "third wheel". There was some broken communication along the way (he spoke no real English, and my Spanish won't win any awards - esp. among Spaniards); however, I'm positive he offered to buy me for the price of a camel at some point along the way... ;-)

Back to the real story... We drove threw varied landscape that reminded me at times of New Mexico and, at times, Switzerland (not that I've been there). On our way out, we saw a lot of snow at high altitudes in the High Atlas Mtns; however, we made it through the switchback passes with no problem. After a little side trip to see Ait Benhaddou (the place where they filmed movies like Gladiator and The Mummy), we stopped for lunch in Ouarzazate and then continued on to the Dades Valley where we stayed the night at a little hotel at the base of a gorge, listened to some live Berber music and froze our butts off overnight. The next day, we drove to the Toudra Gorge, stopped off in a Touareg village (where I got hastled by a guy selling Berber carpets), and then continued on to the Sahara so that we arrived in time for a 2hr sunset camel ride to reach our auberge.

The Sahara is absolutely amazing. So peaceful, so beautiful. I saw more stars there than I've ever seen in my life - including a shooting star. I'm so glad I did this trip!

Did I mention I almost impaled myself on a rusty camel harness?? ...almost, but not quite. It ripped through the thigh of my heavy jeans but, thankfully, didn't get the skin.

A woman in Marrakech...

Marrakech is an "experience". In the Djemaa el-Fna, snake charmers, henna ladies, musicians, and basically everybody is out to make money off of tourists. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it actually becomes comical once you understand it - assuming you didn't get suckered. Likewise, wandering through the souks can be a minefield of aggressive touts, but it's good fun once you understand the way things work.

Even outside the souks, though, I find it tedious to be a woman here in Marrakech. I can't go anywhere without some random 20-to-30-something year old modern Moroccan man attaching himself to me like glue. In fact, I find it more tedious in Marrakech than in Italy - and that's saying something. Perhaps it'd be less tedious if my French was better, but it gets old trying to shake off some dude and not make things worse. I'm over it and ready to move on. C'est la vie. (The only thing I can think of is that, although some Moroccan women opt not to wear the hijab, my hair is really long and noticeable - on top of the fact that I'm obviously not Moroccan and, thus, attract attention. Who knows the real reason?)

Fortunately (I guess?), my time in Marrakech is coming to an end. I've booked a 2-nt/3-day tour to the Sahara (which almost didn't happen due to the weather in the High Atlas mountains that you have to cross on the way to the Sahara - i.e. snow/ice), then plan to crash one additional night in Marrakech before leaving for a few days in Essaouira to wrap up my holiday...hopefully in a bit warmer, more restful environment. It's been cold, here - and it'll be really cold in the desert!!

Sidebar: It also seems impossible to come to Morocco and not wind up getting high off second hand hash smoke. It's not "legal", but seems almost as pervasive as the fresh orange juice stands...

Bonjour au Marrakech!

Well, it's been an adventure thus far - but I don't think I really expected my first foray onto the African continent to be anything less. I flew San Diego to Chicago to Madrid to Marrakech - perhaps a 20hr+ journey during which I slept maybe 1.25 hours (and only then on the flight between Spain and Morocco).

After arriving in Marrakech, I found that the ATMs at the airport were completely out of money, so I had to change $USD to Dirhams in order to pay for a taxi to Djeema el-Fna so I could try to make my way to the hostel and have some general spending money until I could access an ATM. That was my first time actually having to make use of any "emergency money" while traveling, and I was glad to have it with me. After making it to Djeema el-Fna, I tried to use my ATM card at another ATM...which proceeded to not give me any money and, instead, kept my card. (That's a first! ...especially given that I alerted my bank about my travels prior to leaving.) Interestingly, the local guys who run the hostel weren't that concerned about it; they just told me to wait until the bank that owned the ATM opened in the morning, show my passport, and get my card back. I was skeptical, but it actually worked. (Don't think it would've in the U.S., that's for sure!) I was then able to change my PIN number online through the hostel internet - after trying to call my bank toll-free-international without success. There were a few more foobar moments as I tried to get cash after changing my PIN number (ATMs being down); however, I was ultimately able to get some cash and move on with life. Woo.

But, yeah, this is Africa - even if simply N. Africa - and I didn't expect it to be a trip without hiccups. Fortunately, 1) the Moroccans have been very friendly/helpful, and 2) a little bit a high school French is still lingering somewhere in the back of my mind to try to help in conversations where the other individual doesn't know English. For example:

Me: Bonjour. Parlez-vous un peu d'Anglais?
Them: No.
Me: Uh, OK. Le machine n'acceptez pas ma carte, mais je ne comprendre. Tout l'information est bonne...

(Hey, I never claimed to be able to spell in French... At this point, I'll take whatever works!)

"Wheels up!" in the a.m...

I leave for Morocco tomorrow morning and I'm, frankly, too exhausted to be excited. Hopefully that'll change somewhere over the Midwest...

I've worked 28hrs in the last two days, alone, and had to squeeze in an emergency trip to the dentist to deal with a toothache on a tooth that had a root canal back in 2002. (Somehow, an unseen root is apparently tangled in my sinuses - which have been finicky lately due to weather - and sinus congestion is triggering a major toothache.) At any rate, I've now got two 'scripts and a super-decongestant to take with me...and one of the 'scripts made me puke last night. Should be an "interesting" trip...

I'm really glad I decided on a longer-than-initially-intended stay in Marrakech. I think I'm going to need some time to just relax before moving about the country - even if it means I won't see as much of the country.

Depart: Nov 22nd (for Marrakech)
Return: Dec 7th

UPDATE (10:30PM): "Dude, I'm going to Spain - like outside of the airport!" This little gem popped out of my mouth earlier this evening as I looked at my flight itinerary. I've been so busy with work that I overlooked the fact that I have a 19hr layover in Madrid on my way home from Morocco. Who knew? ;-)

Linear is boring, anyway!

When last I blogged, I mused over the idea of life not always being an easy, linear path. My thoughts on the subject today: Linear is boring, anyway! I'll take the slower, more interesting, meandering path any day of the week.

The long and short of the story is that I found myself in the fortunate predicament of receiving multiple job offers and having the opportunity to choose a great job that's pretty much everything I wanted - bearing in mind that nothing is ever entirely perfect. I really couldn't be happier.

On reflection, I do tend to do things the hard way - on my own terms - but I also tend to land on my feet. I think a lot of people want to live life on their own terms; they're just fundamentally afraid of dealing with the consequences of doing so (i.e. they're more comfortable with the idea of what's easy and safe, than with the idea of what's precarious but "right" on a personal level). I guess my philosophy is simply that life is too short NOT to live it on your own terms. I'm a supreme advocate of preparing for worst case scenarios but, once done, I believe in bulldozing full-steam ahead and taking control of your personal power. Once you've harnessed your personal power, you've already won. IMO, "losing" is the impotence that comes from giving that personal power away to an external entity...

Not always an easy, linear path

In the interest of procrastination, I think I'll update this blog...

I basically found myself out of a job at the end of August in conjunction with a corporate acquisition. As fate would have it, I then wound up re-injuring my knee and having to cancel my trip to Peru at the last minute. (That still makes me sad - but one day I will get to Peru. I promise.) I wish I could say that I have a good/funny explanation for how I re-injured myself, but I don't; the truth is rather pathetic and a sure sign that I'm getting older. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. (I wouldn't want news of something like my human frailty getting out, you know?)

Anyway, the knee injury also forced me to reevaluate my daydream of heading to SE Asia for a few months in my new-found unemployment. Physical limitations suck, but it's better to recognize them than to wind up in some remote location needing a med-evac or something of the like.

Allowing myself time to recover from the knee injury basically brought me into the holiday season, when hiring traditionally tapers off and people think about more important things like their families and their own vacations. I did, however, fly up to Oregon for third-round interviews with two companies--which meant I was also able to squeeze in a wonderful weekend visiting old friends and colleagues in Eugene. I got to visit the old Whiteaker neighborhood where I used to live, eat at Keystone, and take a nostalgic tour of the old college campus. End result: I felt younger and more optimistic than I have in years - and that's a good thing.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm staying positive. Life is about growth and evolution - and that's not always an easy, linear path. And that's okay. I'm a spiritual person and my motivators are not strictly financial. I would rather be "happy" than rich; I would rather be "fulfilled" than merely existing. And, yes, these are idealistic notions - but why not? It's not like this thing called life is a dress rehearsal. It's up to each of us to make our dreams come true; it's up to each of us to find our place in the world. No one else is going to do it for us; that's for darn sure!

In the meantime, I'm building skills by taking programming courses: C, JavaScript, AJAX, etc. Woo?

Also, I'm saddened to report that it appears Spirit Airlines has canceled their LAX-GUA route - so I'm not likely to (affordably) return to Guatemala any time soon. I'm glad I took advantage of it while I could!

Would you change?

On my way back from Guatemala, I spent a lot of time listening to music since I couldn't sleep. Over and over, I heard lyrics from Tracy Chapman's song "Change" taunting me, challenging me to think, to reassess:

If you knew that you would die today
If you saw the face of God and Love
Would you change?
Would you change?

....

If everything you think you know
Makes your life unbearable
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?

Recap: Guatemala

Well... I'm back from Guatemala. (Actually, I got back weeks ago - but then dealt with the Mayan version of Montezuma's Revenge for ~2wks and got busy with work, so I just haven't felt like posting.)

In a nutshell, Guatemala was great!

I got a friend to drive me up to LAX on her way to a Muay Thai fight, and then waited a LONG time for my 1am flight down to Guatemala City on Spirit Airlines. I think I was literally the only Caucasian person on the flight down; people definitely kept looking at me like "are you sure you're in the right place?" but no big deal. I landed in Guatemala City - which, I noted from the air, is a lot greener than expected - went through customs and got my passport stamped, worked my way through the international arrivals hallway, and then found myself dumped outside with the taxis which was not exactly where I wanted to be, since I had a domestic flight to Flores to catch. I explained my dilemma to a taxi driver and he pointed me to the main airport entrance, so I just walked through the parking lot and up a ramp and went back in that way. I made my flight to Flores with no problem; the airplane, however, was perhaps the smallest I've ever been on. :)

Once I got to Flores, I still had to figure out how to get to Tikal (which was ~1hr away). For one person alone, it could've cost as must as $40USD if you were stupid. I made friends w/a couple people and we split a minibus for $10USD/person - which was still expensive, but I didn't want to wait hours to find the only other transportation I'd heard about. Fortunately, the little bumfuck airport in Flores had a bank / ATM and I was able to get some Quetzales; I'd been unable to do so back in Guatemala City. (It was also fortunate I'd brought a "backup" ATM card with a VISA logo. My primary card has a MasterCard logo - and wasn't accepted in Flores.) Anyway, I make it to my little hotel in the jungle at Tikal - after driving through landscape with free range horses, having to stop for suckling pigs to cross the road, and going through an armed checkpoint into the park. I think they must've upgraded me since it was low season in the jungle (i.e. rainy season), because I got a whole three-bed bungalow w/ceiling fan, private bathroom, and covered porch w/a hammock to myself. It was cute and surprisingly bug-free, but the place only had electricity for a couple hours a day (10am-1pm, and 6-9pm) so you were still definitely in the jungle.

After crashing on my bed and falling asleep to monsoonal rain, I woke up near 4pm and decided to go for a wander in the park to see some Mayan temples and watch the sunset. I bought my entrance ticket (50Q) which was also good for the next day, since it was so late in the afternoon. I then went way out in search of Temple VI because I didn't want to be around other people. Walking through the jungle entirely by yourself as it gets closer to dark is definitely something; the jungle comes ALIVE with sound the darker it gets and the howler monkeys (which I wasn't convinced could even be monkeys based on the creepy sound they emit) were getting closer and closer. Alas, after all my sweating to get out to Temple VI, it wasn't really that impressive - d'oh! - and I decided to find my way out of the jungle before it got completely dark. [Later, I read in my guidebook that lone females have supposedly been raped out in that area – but guidebooks contain a lot of often unnecessary cautions, so who knows. It seemed fine to me.]

The next morning, I was up and in the park as soon as they opened at 6am. Unfortunately, it was the wrong time of year to watch the sunrise from atop a temple - as it was already up(ish) by the time the park opened. Still, there's really no one in the park at that hour and all the birds and monkeys and other critters are most active then. Plus, there are just no words for climbing a Mayan temple in the morning mist and having absolutely no other human around. Just me. Just that experience. I'll never forget it. I hiked through almost all of the ruins, which was definitely a task as it was murderously hot and humid by 6:30am. Eventually, I made it out of the ruins and just laid in my hammock for the rest of the day.

The next day, I intended to go back into the ruins again but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was pooped and just slept underneath the fan until I had to check out and take my little $5USD collectivo back to Flores. A collectivo is basically the same as a minibus/van, but one which they cram lots more people into. How many people can fit in a collectivo, you ask? Well, I can vouch for at least 18! We threw our luggage on the roof rack and were packed in like sardines. It let us out at the entrance to Isla Flores (the island of Flores) and I ate lunch with an Italian woman working in Panama before we shared a tuk-tuk back to my motel in Santa Elena and she continued on to the airport. I could've stayed on the island of Flores, but I had an early flight and wanted to be able to walk to the airport. Unfortunately, while the motel seemed okay initially, I wound up fending off giant cockroaches that started climbing the walls after dark. I half-dozed with every stinking light on, until I got up and left for the airport. Oh well. (But I swear - they had more bugs than their sister hotel in the middle of the jungle! And roaches really creep me out for some reason...)

My flight back to Guatemala City was only interesting in that the security people confiscated my nail clippers and rounded tweezers (because I was so obviously going to hijack the plane w/my tweezers!), in that I met an American GI (who's Guatemalan) who lied and told me my Spanish was really good, and in that our plane was a normal-sized jet liner. I didn't think an airplane that size could fit on the runway, but I guess it did. Hands down, though, it was the steepest/sharpest takeoff I can remember. Once back in Guatemala City, I decided to ask at the tourism info desk how to get to Antigua (since, frankly, Guatemala City looked a bit sketchy and I didn't want to take chances w/safety as a solo female traveler who's not fluent in the local language). The woman at the desk directed me to a shuttle/minibus service where I paid $10USD for the ~1hr ride to Antigua. The more we wove our way through Guatemala City, with its erratic drivers, bizarre streets and vehicles belching smoke at every turn, the more I realized paying for a shuttle was worth it.

Antigua, itself, is a charming old colonial town (that used to be the capital back in the 1700's) surrounded by three volcanoes. It's beautiful. Much to my amusement, it's also apparently popular on the hippie-wannabe backpacker circuit. I wonder, sometimes, what others think of "Americans" if that's all they see of us. As a rule, I have no problem w/either hippies or the wannabes (I mean, shit, I went to college in Eugene!), but I just don't enjoy people who's sole motivation to travel is only to go out and get pissed/stoned/whatever every night - and nothing else. But, I digress.

On my first full day in Antigua, I stumbled on a once-a-year Catholic procession just as it was starting. I couldn't get a lot of info about the procession; however, I understood that it was related to the body of Christ. There was also something about how everyone goes to church on Sunday, but nine Sunday's were special - but I didn't really understand that because the procession happened on a Thursday. (D'oh! - rudimentary language skills from compulsory elementary school Spanish decades ago in NM!) Aside from that, I really just spent my time in Antigua relaxing. I shopped a bit, ate a bit, watched people in the park, visited the old ruined buildings in the city, got invited to Mass, etc, etc It was great and relaxing :) If I hadn't gotten royally sunburned during the religious procession (drat that closer-to-the-equator sun!), I would've gone on a volcano trek to Pacaya - but I knew better than to climb a volcano and roast myself on lava rocks at that point.

I then got a shuttle/minibus from the hostel back to the airport in Guatemala City ($8USD), caught my flight but only slept maybe 30min out of 5.5hrs, landed at LAX and took forever to get through customs (where I, curiously, got a US stamp in my passport - WTF?), met a Guatemalan guy who offered for me to go home and crash at his place in Van Nuys after he learned I'd also come back from Guatemala (a non-sketchy offer more in keeping w/the notion of Guatemalan hospitality - though I still declined), caught the Flyaway shuttle from LAX to Union Station sometime after 1am, got to Union Station around 2am and actually found an Amtrak employee so I was able to buy a ticket down to Oceanside on a bus that left at ~3am, arrived at the OSD transit station at ~5am and called my mom to come pick me up. Oy. I was tired, but it was nice watching the sun come up in Oceanside. Each time I go away and come back, I realize how blessed I am to live where I do. It's beautiful, here.

That said, if I can find another amazing fare to Guatemala City on Spirit, I'll definitely go again... (However, I may very well travel with a small amount of Cipro in case I run into travel-stomach-funk issues again. That was no fun!)

Corpus Christi en Antigua

Okay, I lied. I´m logging in again - luxury of a hostel w/free internet and mid-afternoon thunderstorms. :)

By the time I finally dragged myself out this morning - after a tasty but curious omlette at the hostel - I stumbled into a fascinating religious procession just as it was about to start. It was something about the Body of Christ and happens only once a year. It was a mixture of priests, the devout, Catholic school kids, interested and faithful from all around, and military police. There were fire crackers (not the "ooh, pretty" fireworks one might usually think of, but simply fire crackers that made noise and smoked), a marching band reminiscent of a New Orleans funeral, flowers laid in the street, confetti thrown from the church, etc, etc. All in all, it was great - the kind of random thing that´s right up my alley when travelling.

Aside from that, just random walking about town, looking in on churches and ruins, and being invited in to Mass. (Seems like I may be going to Mass more these days than some Catholics I know... Odd.)

Live: from Antigua

Signing in briefly from Antigua, Guatemala - to let folks know I´m still alive.

What I´ve seen of Guatemala so far is a mixture of the expected and unexpected. Yes, there armed guards all over the place; yes, there is poverty; yes, you hear stories or encounter other travelers who have been robbed (usually while doing something dumb); yes, Mayan ruins are breathtaking; yes, the jungle is extraordinarily hot and humid during the rainy season. However, the people are largely warm and lovely - which means they´re willing to work with my awful Spanish (a largely disused holdover from my early childhood in New Mexico).

I´ll sign on again from home with more of a proper travel log... For now, I just want to enjoy the most of my few remaining days here. I have no agenda, no real concerns of touristic goals - and it feels wonderful. I just want to wander around, people watch and eat local food. :)

Random tidbit: Even if I didn´t know a little Spanish, "You have really beautiful hair" comes across pretty much the same in any language... (This, coming from one of the employees where I was staying in Tikal.)

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