Wander Woman

Nearly Naked & Afraid: Our Dark & Sketchy Arrival to the Jungle Treehouse Village (DR)

alyssa730 — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 01:00:00 GMT

Another exciting adventure was upon me…a 5 day getaway in a secluded tree house village nestled in the jungle of the Dominican Republic?! Thank you Groupon! I couldn’t wait to get there and I was prepared to be a dirtbag for 5 days, embrace nature and enjoy every second of this glorified camping/once in a lifetime experience! I get on my flight at Newark airport, while Christina boards hers at JFK. Our flights were scheduled to arrive within 5 minutes of each other in Santo Domingo, DR and we decided we would just find each other at the airport, hop in our rental car, and head to the tree house together! Yeah, in a perfect world maybe…

I board my flight in Newark and get stuck waiting 2.5 hours at the gate because somehow our plane was too heavy and they needed people and luggage to volunteer to get off so we could lighten our load. At 11:30am (my original flight was supposed to leave at 8:50am) we FINALLY took off. I arrive at Santo Domingo airport with a plane full of Dominicans clapping, doing the sign of the cross and shouting WEPA that we landed safely (wtf was that all about anyway?) and cannot find a smidge of wifi signal anywhere. Where is Christina? Did she get here on time? Did she get my messages saying my flight was delayed or did she think to check the flight board? Did she pick up the rental car already? Is she currently deliberating with Dominican police officers and the US Embassy on my disappearance? I went outside and thank goodness I see her standing there in a sea of Dominicans frantically looking for me. We hug and run to the car, grateful to have found each other, but mostly ready and excited for our adventure! Thinking ahead, I printed out driving directions from Google maps before I left, so confidently, I took them out of my bag and we started driving in what we thought was the right direction…

We knew the trip would be about 2 hours and 40 minutes from the airport to our destination of Samana, DR. About 45 minutes into our trip, driving through a dilapidated city, we have a feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore... There were too many forks in the road that weren’t on our directions and there were barely any signs on the side of the road to help guide us. Basically, the Google directions made zero sense and we needed to find our way in the right direction NOW. I’ve seen the movie Taken, and I love you dad, but you ain’t got the ‘jump off a bridge onto a moving truck’ moves like Liam Neeson. So we tried to find a place where two white American girls from New York, driving a new, bright red Kia Soul could stop to ask for directions without getting killed…not so easy to find around those parts. Our Kia did not blend in to the other junker clunker cars that were driving around, and neither did our skin. Finally we find a nice looking pharmacy and I figure it was okay to stop there. Thank God I speak Spanish or else we probably would have been decapitated and roasted on a spit for a family to feast on that night. The security guard at the pharmacy made no sense telling me where to go, because he never even heard of the highway we needed to get on. When he started hitting on me and asking me if I was married, it was time to make my swift escape and ask someone else for directions. Next stop was at a nice looking gas station. We wanted to find a woman to ask, as to avoid the whole flirting situation again, but as if we were on an African safari, the workers crowded around our cars like monkeys. I thought one might have even climbed on the hood (just kidding—but they did all pop out of nowhere!) They were much more helpful and one of them spoke a little English. They told us to just keep driving and stay to the right, but once we started driving that didn’t really make much sense, because one more right would have us eventually driving into the ocean. We decided our safest bet was to turn around and go back to the airport since someone there had to speak English and be able to give us better directions.

We went back to the rental car place and at this point, I was almost in tears because it was now after 5pm and it would be getting dark before we got to our destination. The rental car guy gave us really specific directions that kind of made sense, but we were afraid we wouldn’t see what he was describing once we left. I had to actually “be the car” and role play the driving scenario. “Okay if I’m the car, and this tree is the bus station…what do we do?” We decided to rent a GPS just to be extra safe. Problem was, we couldn’t enter “1 Jungle Treehouse Lane” and it would say oh okay no problem turn left here! There was no actual address so it took them an extra half hour to program us to the closest destination. At this point, I’m panicking and yelling at them because we were burning precious daylight while they fiddled around and took their sweet ass time.

Back in the Kia we go, determined to get it right this time. We saw what looked like might be the correct turn, but it didn’t look like a real road so we decided to try to go straight. NOPE! WRONG AGAIN DUMMY! We were back on what I call the “Santo Domingo 500”-- an endless highway with no on or off exits for about 10 miles. Woohoo! I’m pretty sure this is our third lap around this track and we’ve had to pay the toll 3 times.... going to a different toll booth person each time as to not look like the complete idiots that we were….

We make our last lap and FINALLY get on the correct road!!! Two hours driving (okay, frantically speeding) down one straight road made us feel really good that we finally were going in the right direction. However, the guys with machetes walking on the side of the road and the cars approaching us full speed head on did NOT make us feel the same comfort. I drove through some pretty shady towns as darkness fell upon us. People, stray dogs, children, chickens, motorcycles with no lights, cars, potholes and speed bumps seemed to pop out at us at every turn! It was impossible to see anything driving on such a dark road with all of these obstacles, and as if it wasn’t hard enough, it started pouring rain. Christina looks over at me and says “we must have gotten to the next level in this video game, because it just got more difficult!”

After what seemed like days of driving, we reached Samana! It was a visibly nicer town and definitely looked super touristy with the people looking significantly less shady. Wait…our directions said nothing about these roundabouts! Which way do we go?! Not sure if we should continue to go even further into more darkness, we stop to ask for directions. A guy who claimed to be a tour guide and spoke terrible English offered to hop in our car and show us the way! Umm THANKS BUT NO THANKS AMIGO!

He told us to just keep going straight so we did and YAY! WE EVENTUALLY SEE THE SIGN! (Cue Ace of Base). We make a left and oh boy…it’s another long, dark, bumpy road. I was afraid the little Kia was going to bottom out or pop a tire on all the potholes and giant rocks and we would be stuck in the middle of this dark road that looked like the surface of the moon, with no way of getting help. More tiny cinder block huts lined the side of the road with people curiously peering at us, and as if we couldn’t get any more scared….a guy on a motorcycle shows up behind our car! ‘Please pass me, please pass me, just keep going, go around me and please disappear’ were the only thoughts in my head. BAM Level 3. No such luck (but at least it had stopped raining.) He held his position riding next to the car and I was too scared to look in his direction. Hold on…is that the sign for the tree house village!?! OMG we finally made it! We are here! We are safe! We are alive! But wait…the guy on the motorcycle just pulled up next to us. SHIT! Okay there is obviously no escaping him so let me ask him if he works here *rolls down the window a crack* Obviously he doesn’t speak English so I’m conversing with him in Spanish. He tells us that the tree house is about a 10 minute walk through the dark jungle path, but that if we just hop on the back of his motorcycle, he will give us a ride there! Oh thanks buddy, real convenient way to get killed. We politely thank him but turn down his oh-so-very-kind offer. But he is quite the persistent bandito! He takes Christina’s duffel bag from her and insists that he carries it for her. She lets him take it just to try to get him out of our hair (it was only full of clothes anyway), but he cuts in front of us with his bike and waves us to walk behind him. Oh. Okay. Sure. We will follow you through the dark path because I mean, at this point, what other choices do we have? Get back in the car and lock the doors and wait there like sitting ducks for him to pull out his machete or his gun and bust the doors open? Or get on the back of his bike and have him drive us to our doom? I rather go out with dignity at least giving myself a fighting (or running) chance. So, at this point I think we both wet our pants a little, but we reluctantly follow him along the path. He makes a left down a little hill and says “come this way, it’s much faster and easier to walk here.” Hmm, famous last words. Umm I don’t know, I think we prefer the way with the lights and the little signs with arrows that say “tree house” rather than the dark and sketchy path down the hill that leads to God knows where. But, since he has Christina’s bag and we didn’t want to piss him off, we followed him. We were following the same direction and could see the path lights above to our right, but when he sped ahead of us, cut the engine and the light on his bike, and we were left with only darkness around us, we had an intense moment of panic. Okay, I can’t see his light and can’t hear his motor anymore, which means he could be on foot. For all we know, he could be running back toward us, wielding his machete, ready to drag us to his hut. Completely panic-stricken and ready to cry and face our demise, Christina grabs my hand and we run like the wind back to the path. The adrenaline we had pumping through our veins turned the “10-minute walk” into a 30 second Usain Bolt Olympic sprint. We heard music, people laughing and we knew that we had finally arrived at the tree house. Sweating and out of breath, we almost collapsed onto the deck, kissed the ground and cried happy tears for arriving safely.

Frantically, I started talking a mile a minute telling the first person in a staff shirt, “my-flight-was-delayed-and-then-we-got-lost-for-2-hours-and-we-were-followed-by-a-guy-on-a-motorcycle-in-the-dark-and-holy-shit-do-you-know-what-we-have-just-been-through?! Also, do you have some water?” I think I was speaking too quickly for the guy to understand, but he sat me down at the bar and then Rafael came to the rescue. He was the nicest, most welcoming guy (and manager) and he made us feel so calm and welcome and comfortable. He offered us a complimentary welcome rum drink, gave us water, and told us not to cry and that we were home and everything was going to be amazing from this moment forward. Our motorcycle bandito showed up right behind us carrying Christina’s duffel bag. He shook hands with one of the employees and handed her the bag with a look like “what the hell crazy lady, I was just trying to help!” Oops, sorry bandito, you were a good guy after all, but you didn’t have to be so freakin sketchy in the dark jungle at 9:30pm. Thanks for the bag tho, good lookin out! Someone joked later on… “damn, your trip to the tree house seemed like an episode of naked and afraid or something” and Christina said, “yeah. And we were almost actually naked, and afraid!” LOL

Leo the chef came over with two plates of food and I wanted to jump up and hug him. We were starving and this food tasted like heaven. This was the very crazy, very frightening, very dark start to our amazing time at the tree house village. The rest of our time there was spent on amazing adventures: ziplining, bike riding, hiking, horseback riding, exploring caves, swimming in waterfalls, cliff jumping, tanning on pristine private beaches, snorkeling, swimming, eating local food, and most of all laughing with our awesome new friends and tree house family!

Even with the very rough start, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything, and I think the scary beginning made us appreciate everything else that much more. As I said many times during this trip, “the risk is worth the reward.” And it totally was.

Saying goodbye to the children :(

alyssa730 — Thu, 3 Apr 2014 18:30:00 GMT

I feel like today is worth it's own short blog post. Today was my last day with the children at school because tomorrow there is a parents meeting and the kids will not be there. I bought a pinata and stuffed it with candy, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpeners, toothbrushes, toothpaste and some small coins. I also brought a really delicious looking cake-I knew the kids were going to love it! The teacher also brought some soda and tostadas with frijoles (refried beans spread on top of chips..typical Guatemalan snack). We had a short lesson in the beginning of the day and then went outside to do the pinata. The kids took turns giving it a whack and slowly all the goodies began to fall. After we went inside and had our snacks. I played some music from my phone because I knew the kids loved the song Darte Un Beso by Prince Royce...it's extremely popular here and they all sing it all the time. We took pictures and then the kids surprised me with hand made cards from every one of them (some cards even had some chocoalte inside!). Most of the cards were decorated so elaborately and it was so nice because I knew that their parents had to help them and seeing them put so much effort into making these cards look beautiful was really special to me. I took pictures with each one of the students and they all hugged me and told me they didn't want me to leave. At the end of the day, a little boy named Harol asked the teacher if he could stand in front of the class and say some things to me. So I held him in my arms and he hugged me for so long and said thank you for helping me, I hope you go on well, I don't want you to leave and I hope you come back soon. He told me that he loved me and he hugged me a lot with tears in his eyes. Another girl was visibly very sad and she said she was going to miss me and when we parted she hugged and kissed me for a long time. The part that really made me cry was when I had to part with a boy named Rodney. Rodney is a beautiful 17 year old boy with cerebral palsy. He doesn't talk, walk or move on his own, but I challenge you to find a time when he is not smiling or laughing. So today, when I kissed him on the head and said goodbye and that I was going to miss him, it shocked me to see his face turn to a frown. His lip pouted so far and his mom and I were laughing because we didn't think he could be so sad. Then as she picked him up to carry him in her sling as she always does, he started to sob. He was crying so hard and tears were streaming down his face I could not believe it. Seeing him cry obviously made me cry so we were both sobbing and then my teacher started to cry as well. Even though it was so sad to see this poor kid crying, it was such a special and precious moment to me. He could never express how he felt about me before but in that moment I knew that he felt a bond with me and loved me. My presence obviously made him happy every day and my absence has made him sad. It breaks my heart to have to leave these children because they are all so special and precious in their own ways, but it also makes me feel like I have made a huge difference in their lives. I don't think they will ever forget me and I most certainly will never forget them. Spending 6 weeks in their classroom was quite a long time and definitely enough time to make an impression on small children. I am so glad that I had this opportunity because my life was changed for the better and I think I can say that theirs was as well.

Some of the letters that students wrote to me roughly translated (the parents wrote it on behalf of their kids):

I am very grateful for the time you have spent in my class. Thank you for your time and may God bless you and I send you many blessings to your family and your career. I am very happy to have spent time with you and I take great memories of you. I hope you know that I appreciate you. Goodbye I wish you all of the worlds best.--Hector

Thank you for your patience and caring. We hope that God blesses you and that you visit and remember us always. I hope you go well. Best wishes. --Alex

That God blesses you and God sends blessings to your home and to your family. We wait for your return soon to visit us and hope that you never forget me. With care and hugs--Rodney

To my pretty teacher, best wishes, I love you. I wish you success on your journey. I want you to know that I admire and respect you. God bless you always--Julian

These children are so special, I will keep these notes with me forever and maybe one day I can return to see them in their success. This outpouring of love from Guatemala has got me feeling emotional and I will always remember the difference I have made <3

The final weekend...Semuc Champey!

alyssa730 — Thu, 3 Apr 2014 11:45:00 GMT

Even though I was sad about it being my last weekend in Guatemala and the affordable trips to beautiful places were coming to an end, I was very excited to be finally heading to the one place that I had been waiting to go to since I arrived 6 weeks ago...Semuc Champey! I had heard mystical stories of the natural pools, waterfalls, caves and overall beauty and fun that existed there and I was so pumped to get there!

So I booked a shuttle for 9 people and figured that we would maybe have a handful of other people on it with us since most shuttle vans hold about 14 people. How wrong I was. Practically the largest bus in existence showed up at our house and we threw our bags on top and piled in. We drove around Antigua for about 40 minutes picking up more and more people from their respective hotels. When we thought we were finally full, we kept stopping and seats were just poppin up out of nowhere like magic. I was half expecting the driver to start tying people to the luggage rack on top or for more seats to suspend from the roof of the van. There were 24 people total in our van, packed in like livestock in rows of 4 with no aisle to stretch your legs or escape in case of an emergency. The windows were at least large enough to climb out of if necessary but these were not the safety standards we are used to back in the States. However, I think that by now we are all pretty accustomed to the lack of Guatemalan safety precautions. Anyway, the bus ride was about 6-7 hours in the hot van and I´m pretty sure we could have collectively filled a kiddie pool with the amount of swamp ass and sweat that was happening in there. We stopped in a village named Lanquin and then hopped in the back of a pickup truck for the hour drive into the jungle where our hostel was located. Even though it was a bumpy ride, it was the perfect time of day and we had the most incredible view of the lush jungle around us...besides, we were all glad to be drying our swamp ass and getting some fresh air (and dust?) in our faces!

We arrived at the hostel, checked in and got ready for dinner. The hostel was beautiful.. it was overlooking the turquoise river, surrounded by trees and plants and all the dorms were hut-like which gave a very jungly feel. It was a bit primitive since there was only electricity from 6pm-10pm...if you wanted to charge a phone or camera or put on a light you had to do so between those hours and give your device to the front desk so they could plug it in to their powerstrips...because outlets are way overrated. Also, apparently the rooms aren´t built to keep out wildlife since we had a giant scorpion in our room on the first night. Oh, and by the way, there are also huge tarantulas all around the property and they come out of their hidey holes at nighttime so watch out for that too! Sweet! Needless to say we were a bit paranoid and made sure to check our beds and room before calling it a night. After dinner and some drinks, this good looking guy from Spain came over to our table and asked us if anyone wanted to dance Bachata and guess who´s hand flew up? Yeah, I mean its a no brainer that I wanted to dance with this sexy Spanish guy and since nobody else was volunteering I got right on up there. He said I was a good dancer and we talked and danced for a bit but then swapped me for a friend and gave me to this chubby Guatemalan guy. Womp. Whatever, it was still a ton of fun being able to showcase my skills of the extremely simple steps of Bachata with real hispanic people. However, after I sat down, I set my sights on my ideal dance partner. He was a skinny guatemalan guy with a ponytail and he wasn´t extremely attractive but man, his hips didn´t lie! He had a body, and woah he could move it! I knew that I had to have a go at dancing with him, but it just wasn´t in the cards...at least not yet.

So the next day we had a guided tour of Semuc Champey. We started with a sweaty, rigorous, steep ass 30 minute hike through the jungle to a viewpoint where we could see all of the natural pools. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. In the middle of a green jungle there is a series of turquoise and aqua pools and waterfalls. It was incredible! We hiked 30 minutes down the other side and ended up at the pools where we finally would be able to swim! Literally we were all dripping in sweat and couldn´t wait to hit the water! So our guide took us from one pool to the next and it started with some cliff jumping. Then we continued from one pool to the next swimming, diving, jumping, and sliding down and climbing up waterfalls. It was all fun and games until near the end. There was a small trickling waterfall in one of the pools and if you dunk under a rock, there was a type of small cave that you can walk through and then come on the other side near the waterfall. So I let some people go in and come out ahead of me so I knew it was safe and then went on in. The guide stayed in the cave to help everyone figure out how to swim out and it was so awesome/freaky because you only had enough room for your head to be above water and there was all this limestone above you and you had to hold your breath and swim for a couple seconds under the rock in order to emerge out on the other side. Obviously I enjoyed myself too much the first time around and if there is time to go again, Alyssa has got to try her luck twice! This time when I dipped my head under the rocks to take another breath before swimming out, the guide helped me grab my head so I didn´t hit it on the rocks, but then he also decided to plant a kiss right smack on my lips as well. WHAT A CREEP! I was horrified and didn´t want to start a fight in a small cave with limited oxygen so I quickly swam out. I guess my face was priceless when I popped up on the other side because my friends sitting there all started laughing and saying "haha you too?!" So apparently he kissed all the girls in there, but I was the only one that got it on the lips. Ugh why me!? Who does this slimy little guatemalan guy think he is, taking advantage of his position to sneak attack tourists with kisses in an enclosed cave? I was genuinely freaked out and so grossed out by this sleaze ball, so I stayed as far away from him as possible for the remainder of the tour back to the hostel. Thankfully, we returned soon after for lunch and that was the last we had to see of him as our guide. After lunch, the best part of the trip was going to happen and I was so excited!

Finally, the part I had been waiting for since arriving in Guatemala! Right across this shaky ass bridge from our hostel, was the Kan´Ba caves! Hey guys, I have a great idea!...let´s all get together and swim through a pitch black bat cave with only candle sticks for light!! Sounds legitimate to me! So yeah, that´s obviously what we did. The guide had a head lamp but only used it when he needed to, otherwise it was a group of maybe 12 people holding candle sticks. Upon entering the cave, we saw a couple bats and then started discussing the fact that if this was in the US or Australia or somewhere else actually legitimate, we would definitely have to sign a waiver and wear helmets or something. But like I said, we were all pretty accustomed to the shitty Guatemalan safety procedures so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best! Besides, I knew plenty of people who went in and came out alive, so this was obviously fine. Right? Well, one girl did go in and come out to find that after a couple days she started shitting worms. It was because she had swallowed some of the water in the caves that clearly contain bat shit parasites so safety tip #1...keep your mouth closed! Safety tip #2...wear shoes! Luckily, I had water shoes (yes Mom, I wore them even though I looked like a total dweeb. I didn´t care too much though since everyone in flip flops or heavy wet sneakers were pretty jealous of my handy dandy watershoes..you were right...sigh). So basically, we started walking and swimming through various depths of water in the dark, holding our candles above the water. We had to climb up and down sketchy ass ladders, climb up a small waterfall using a knotted rope, slide down waterfalls, climb over rocks, try not to kick rocks that you couldn´t see in the water, and do lots of other questionable things. We also went cliff jumping in the dark in the middle of the cave which was pretty sweet/probably really dangerous. The guide went first to show us where to jump and that it was "safe". So one by one he held our candles and helped us climb up the small cliff and BOOM, the echo of our splashes resonated in the cave. It was pretty cool and probably pretty dangerous but we were down for some adventure. The near last and definitely the sketchiest part of the whole thing was when we had to drop through a small hole barely big enough to fit our bodies with a bunch of water gushing through it. You couldn´t see through to the other side and basically we had to put our trust in the guide on this one. So here goes nothin! Handed my candle over to the guide, both feet extended in front of me in the stream of the gushing water, one hand on a rock, and one hand holding the guides hand. 1, 2, 3, time to let go! And splash! right into some deep water below. Yay we all made it through alive! However, there was one particular point where I was fearing a little bit for my safety. It was when we had to climb back down the same waterfall with the knotted rope that we came up. I grabbed onto the rope and started to spiderman it down. I made it safely through about a third of the way and then lost my footing. My foot slipped and I couldn´t see where I needed to put my foot since there were heaps of water gushing in my face, so as I fell, I swung to the side into some rocks and had no choice but to just hang there for a second until my instincts could tell me what to do. So adrenaline kicked in and suddenly I had this crazy super strength because I was able to slowly put one hand below the other on the rope and make my way down. I made it to a point where I figured if I let go I wouldn´t break my face and/or body, so I did and it was fine. Only two things were hurting me...my rope burned hands, and my dignity. I realized when I made it down safely that almost the entire group was hanging out in the pools on the other side watching and waiting for everyone to come down. Obviously they saw my ridiculous display of desperation, dangling from a rope, swinging into rocks, water gushing in my face and me in my one piece bathing suit and water shoes grabbing at straws for a way out of this mess. Sigh.

Eventually, the end of the caves were near and daylight was yet again upon us! The next thing was going to be a lazy river style tubing journey down the river, but my friends and I were too tired from the days events and too sketched out by the creepy kissy guide that we opted out of this part. I rinsed the bat shit cave water off in a soap-less and shampoo-less shower (I don't waste space in my backpack for heavy toiletries on weekend trips...I can be a dirtbag for a couple days, I won't die) and then we all got together for drinks and dinner at the hostel again. In the middle of the jungle, there are not many options for dining when your hostel is the only one within an hour drive, so you gotta go with whats close. We all hung out for a while, watching this extremely shit faced British couple dance like fools to annoying trance music and got a bunch of good laughs out of that. They were flopping around the dance floor, barely able to walk but they kept it going for almost an hour, doing weird moves and almost revealing body parts that nobody wanted to see. After a while of this, we got tired of the shitty music and annoying dancing so I requested that they put back the Latino music. Besides, I ran into Leo (aka hips dont lie) earlier in the night and he asked if I was going to dance tonight (he must have observed my sweet Bachata skills the night before haha) I said "yes! You and me can dance together?!" and he said of course! YES! MINI VICTORY! My dreams were beginning to be realized and I was so pumped about it! So shortly after I requested the crappy music to turn off, the Latino music started bumpin and I was ready to burn a hole in the dance floor with my spicy dance partner! He came up to me shortly after and we started dancing. I was right about him being a great dancer because he was an excellent leader so I was able to just swing around the dance floor with ease. We danced Merengue and Salsa for hours and we did all these crazy spins and twists! All of this hip and culo shakin was just TOO MUCH FUN! We even got compliments from some of my friends and the other hostel guests who were watching us. People asked me if I had any professional dancing lessons or experience..HAHA! (shout out to my mom and dad for always dancing with me and teaching me how to follow along with the moves during our hustle sessions! Thats where my "professional" experience comes from! thanks guys!). So it definitely was an awesome last night hanging out with friends and dancing with the spicy Rico Suave himself. I felt like a part of me was born and died all in one weekend. My dancing persona was born, lived a short but glorious life and then had to die because lets face it...when am I going to get the opportunity to dance Merengue, Salsa and Bachata with a local for hours like that?! Probably not for a while since white people just can't dance like that..so sad! haha After the lights went out, some more brief tarantula hunting was done, but I retired to bed before finding any. Thankfully, there was no more wildlife in our room either!

Next day it was up early for our ride back to Antigua. This time, the shuttle bus was smaller with less people, nicer people and more space to stretch out! Plus, the driver stopped for bathroom and snack breaks often and we still got home in really good time! He dropped us off in the central park of Antigua so we had to walk home. Not a problem, except that it was Sunday. And every Sunday during Lent there are processions around Antigua which means the streets are packed with people, vendors and parades. I felt like I was walking through Disneyworld on a busy day because spectators lined the streets waiting for the parades to pass, many people were dressed in purple robes and other costumes and vendors were selling food, balloons, toys, etc. I really wanted to see the alfombras...carpets layed out on the streets made of fruits, vegetables, flowers and other colorful things. They are usually really large and elaborate and we found a small one on the street, but it wasn't a great big beautiful one so I was kind of disappointed. Oh well, maybe next time.

So, my last weekend in Guatemala was officially over and I enjoyed it just as much as every other day in this beautiful country. Over the last 6 weeks, I got to visit so many amazing places and make unforgettable memories with so many amazing people. I am truly going to miss everything about this country, especially my new friends from all over the world and the children at school that I was blessed to have the opportunity to bond with, help, and love. I will never forget the places and things that I have seen, the people that I have met, and the things that I have learned and I will carry it all with me forever. Thank you Guatemala...until we meet again xoxo

Scary movies always begin happily....Lake Atitlan

alyssa730 — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:15:00 GMT

What to say about this weekend except...holy crap. The week started with some St. Patty's day fun and good news about acceptance into my Graduate program! :) Then it came to a close with some celebratory dancing on the bar at La Sala and a departure to San Pedro, Lake Atitlan on Saturday. As usual, I was in charge of booking the reservations for the weekend and that came with a decent amount of stress...I almost lost all hope that we would not have a hostel for the night since most places only booked for 2 nights. Just before settling for a shitty hostel, I tried my luck one last time at Hostel Fe (the best lakeside party hostel in San Pedro) and to my surprise, scored us rooms!!! *happy dance*

Most scary movies begin with a big group of 20-somethings smiling and laughing as they depart on an exciting adventure, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead...the start of our weekend was no different. We were excited to have arrived on this beautiful lake taking a boat across to the little village where we would be spending the night. A local walked us through the narrow pathways of San Pedro to our hostel, and he also told us that later on he could take us on a kayak tour to San Marcos where there is some cliff jumping. It sounded like some harmless, inexpensive fun but when we asked one of the hostel employees if that guy was legitimate, he told us that he was charging us too much and is probably a local drug addict trying to make money off tourists. He also said would have had one hell of a time kayaking across the lake because apparently winds pick up and it would have been a miserable journey. Thank goodness for the nice (and sexy) hostel guy because we settled for a Q10 boat shuttle to San Marcos and set off before the druggie guy could come back and pester us. Once in San Marcos, we asked around about how to get to the cliffs and this adorable 11 year old local boy who was selling chocolate volunteered to take us there. He was the cutest little thing and was so proud to be showing us around..we all took pictures with him and gave him tips/bought chocolate from him. When we were cliff jumping he stood at the top waving to us saying "amiga! amiga! hola!" Then he came and stood near the water and splashed some at me...it was adorable. Cliff jumping was so awesome...the platform was about 10 meters high and instead of taking my moms advice and letting someone else jump first, I stripped off my clothes, threw caution to the wind, ran off the platform past my friends who were paying no attention to me and I shouted "what are you all waiting for?!" I think they were all pondering the height of the fall and debating whether or not they wanted to go/who was gonna go first...I'm not too sure because I just flew right off without second guessing it and then pestered them to follow me in because woah that was fun! The rest of the day was nice...hanging out, drinking, jumping off the dock at the hostel, still not realizing that a scary movie was happening...Well, a friend did get a giant bruise when a stupid horse that couldn't steer smashed her leg into a parked truck while horseback riding, but we all just assumed that was some unforunate event. Little did we know....

That night, we were all drinking and having a good time at our hostel bar...I retired to my bed around 130 because the bar closed and I couldn't be bothered walking to the other bar or to the "after party" which turned out to be a bonfire in the woods somewhere...sketchyyyy. However, my friends did and I was awoken at 3am by pounding on the door, my friend crying, and a mans voice. My first thought was HOLY SHIT, some creepy guy followed my friend home and she needs to get inside NOW. Turns out, it was a police officer and my crying friend...reaction remains HOLY SHIT. What had happened was, she was walking home and started being chased by a pack of stray dogs...they bit her in various places and once they stopped following her, she was lost and didn't know how to get home. Then, she offered a man money to help her find her way home, but instead he took it and ran. Thankfully, a police officer (the non-corrupt kind..because lord help us all if he was corrupt) found her and took her home. She had bite marks/bruises on her leg and another bite with broken skin on her buttcheek. It was probably the scariest moment because she was crying so hysterically that it took me a while to get the whole story. The hostel manager (yet again, the sexy one) was really kind and gave her some medicine to put on it, offered her a joint and/or valium to calm down (PS San Pedro is like, the pothead capital of Lake Atitlan and lets face it, the valium is just because its available over the counter in Guatemala)...She accepted no drugs and we all went to bed shortly after.

The next day, we all woke up, had some breakfast and hung out on the deck of the hostel. Myself and a few other friends rented some kayaks and went out for a paddle. We found these houses that had been partially flooded and we were able to kayak through them. It was hilarious because two of my friends are these super tall Dutch guys and watching them duck through the houses, legs up to their chest, talking and cursing in Dutch while they attempted to maneuver their kayak was priceless. Later that day, a couple friends decided they wanted to stay an extra night and after a little pondering I said, screw it why not? We are having fun here, its beautiful, last night was kinda scary, lets try to redeem ourselves and play it safer tonight by hanging at the hostel bar. So, some friends departed back to the main land for the shuttle and we stayed behind. A few hours later, the next tragedy occured. I checked my phone and saw that I had a message from one of my friends who was supposed to be heading back home. She said that our other friend had been in a paragliding accident and she was at the hospital. HOLY SHIT #2. The message included that she was doing alright but she had a bad landing and had some back/neck pain and was getting x-rays. She said that they had met these really nice english speaking people who were helping them out, letting them use their phone and finding them a place to stay for the night. Thank god for the kindness of strangers, because lord only knows what could have happened if they were left to their own devices. We couldn't get a boat over to them because it was too late so we had to stay the night in San Pedro and meet up with them the next day. Despite the horror that happened, we knew they were together in a hotel and doing well, so we were able to carry on with our night a little less worried. The night was a lot of fun watching my friends drunkenly say/do stupid things and even though I was still having fun, I felt better being fairly sober so I could make sure no more tragedies happened....we had enough for one weekend!

Meeting up with our friends the next day was a wonderful reunion of happiness because everyone was alive and well and we were all ready to go back home to Antigua! Definitely an adventure to say the least, and definitely glad to be home!

This coming weekend is my last weekend in Guatemala and I am getting extremely sad about it...I am planning one last weekend getaway and it is something I have wanted to do since arriving so I cannot wait to finally get there! The waterfalls, caving and tubing adventures of Semuc Champay commence on Friday! :) Stay tuned!

Monterrico weekend! Oh..and I taught a whole class in Spanish?!

alyssa730 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 10:50:00 GMT

So this week and weekend was another classic week in Guatemala. Most of the week was the typical Antigua life. I have 2 tandem language partners now. One Guatemalan girl at 9am and a Venezuelan girl at 10am. It's really great because we meet up for an hour every day and talk half the time in English and half in Spanish. It is so nice to have native speakers to practice talking with and both girls are super nice! The Venezuelan girl actually took me to go get my haircut at this really nice salon where she usually goes. She complimented my hair and I told her thank you, but I really need a haircut. So she offered to take me the next day and it was so nice! I got a really nice haircut in a fancy salon for only $10USD!!! So cheap around here..score!

So the teacher at my placement asked me on Monday if I wanted to teach the class on Friday since the teachers were going to be busy organizing a donation of supplies all day. Obviously I agreed in a heartbeat! I was so excited to have the class to myself and to be able to do a fun activity with them! I was also a bit nervous considering nobody at the school speaks a lick of English. I was going to have to teach the whole day in Spanish, but it was a challenge I was ready to take on! I bought enough supplies to make sensory gel bags...I found it on Pinterest a while ago and have been wanting to make them...You fill a Ziploc bag with hair gel and glitter and then seal it up tight. The kids can then put it on the table and use their finger to "write" in the gel. The kids at my school have been practicing pre-writing skills like drawing horizontal, vertical, slanted and curved lines. So first, I read them a story that had a lot of illustrations with lines and then we made the bags and practiced drawing our lines and shapes. The kids had a great time and surprisingly were very well behaved for the activity! I was also very proud of myself for being able to explain and carry out the entire activity in Spanish! :) Fortunately, my friend and roommate was helping out in my class that day as well, so having him there to help with the activity was extremely helpful..Thanks Mike!

So after a successful day in school feeling very proud of myself, we hit the town on Friday night. It was our roommate Emily's last night so we went out to the bars with our old and new housemates. We hopped around to 3 different bars, had some drinks, played some darts, danced on some bars..you know, all the fun stuff! ;) haha Saturday morning it was up early and off to Monterrico for the weekend! :)

Our shuttle picked us up at 8am and began our 2.5 hour journey to the coast! We checked into our hostel which was actually very clean and nice. Then we all grabbed some lunch and hit the beach! 12 of us went in all, but 6 people went back home Saturday afternoon and 6 of us stayed behind to spend the night and return on Sunday. When we first arrived, some guy talked us into paying Q50 (about $6) to go on a tour of the canal the following morning. Despite the fact that we knew we wanted to go out and party that night, we somehow agreed to meet him at 5:15am the next morning for the tour. We crossed our fingers that we wouldn't be too hungover for the morning! That night was good...we walked around to find the cheapest dinner possible and ended up finding burritos, burgers and beer for about Q40 ($5ish) each. WIN. Then we headed out to search for bebidas. We bought beer from the market and walked along the beach, which was really nice at night since the moon was so bright. Then we hit a small chill bar for "happy hour" which, in Monterrico, lasts until about 11pm since they party until 6am. Gin and tonic for $1?!?! YES PLEASE! It was getting later and some friends wanted to go to a club to dance. We found a place crawling with locals shaking their culos to salsa and merengue which was awesome and authentic for about 5 minutes. Some guy grabbed me and wanted to dance. At first, I was like cool! I get to salsa with a local! How authentic! And then I saw that he had a gold tooth and was like ok let's rethink this...I walked away to go to the bar and he popped up there about 5 minutes later wanting to talk with our group of friends. Problem was, he spoke 0 English and tried talking to my Dutch friends in Spanish. He was just creepy overall and was very persistent with our group of friends. A little later when we all went back to the dance floor to give it another go, he popped up again, this time, wanting to dance with my friend Morgan. Thanfully, there were 3 guys with us who grabbed us away to dance and saved us from this weirdo. After a while, I felt uncomfortable with his persistence and 4 of us decided to leave. It would have been a great night if it wasn't for this loser because everyone else at the bar seemed very normal and chill. I was pissed, but it was definitely safer to go home. A local who spoke English and grew up in California was sort of our protector for the weekend (even though we nicknamed him the Los Angeles gangster since he looked like he was straight out of the hood). He was safe though, and he walked the 4 of us out of the bar to make sure the other guy didn't follow. Once it was safe we headed for home, leaving our two friends Natalie and Miles behind. We figured they were going to hop around to the other beach bars and head home in a couple hours. We got home at 1am and went to sleep shortly after. In the morning, when my alarm rang at 4:45 for our tour, I looked over at Natalie’s bed. To my dismay, she was not there...Hmm, maybe she crashed in the guys room for some reason. I walked in their room to wake up the other guys for the tour and holy shit they were not there either. Engage panic mode. I violently shook Johan and Rouke awake and explained to them that Miles and Natalie had not come home for the night so the only logical explanation was that they had been drugged, taken and sold into human trafficking. Obviously. All jokes aside, I was very panicked that it was 5am and they had not returned. I knew that the bars stay open until 6am, but I know the two of them and didn't think they would have stayed out for that long. I immediately thought of the creepy guy at the bar and knew that anything could have happened to my friends. We went outside the hotel and there was only the hotel guard sitting outside. I realized that Miles had his cell phone so I tried calling a couple times. He answered on the second try and after me yelling at him he said they had been sitting on the beach, lost track of time and in their drunkenness, fell asleep. When they returned 5 minutes later, I hugged them because I was glad they were alive, but then immediately gave them a motherly like speech telling them that they are stupid and we are in Central America, anything could have happened and I was genuinely mad at them for worrying us so much. They were still drunk, so I think they understood most of my motherly-like rambling, but they apologized multiple times and then stumbled back to the rooms to sleep.

Well, Dratalie (Natalie's drunk nickname) was in no capacity to come on the canal tour, so it was just myself, Johan and Rouke. It was all fun and games until we got to the boat and had to sit two by two. They got on first and sat together, and since we were missing Natalie I sat behind them on my own. The boat was full so some little Guatemalan guy wearing a cowboy hat sat next to me. Sad face. However, despite the random person next to me and the old fat Guatemalan woman who was asking stupid questions and tipping the boat behind us, it was a great tour. To clarify my mean girl-esque comment, we were in a row-boat like situation and she was sinking her side of the boat down. I was in front of her on the opposite side and I had to sit all the way on the edge of the boat to attempt to even out the weight distribution. Also, she asked the guide if you can take the turtles out of the canal to sell them. ???? And then, she asked if you can cut down the mangroves to use to build your house. NO lady you cannot. You cannot just destroy a natural preserve habitat to make a buck and save on money to build your hut-home. So shut up and stop asking dumb questions. Anyway, it was a really nice tour. The guide was pushing the boat gondola style with a giant stick and it was really cool to see the mangroves. We saw tons of pretty birds, some weird fish with 4 eyes and watched the sunrise. It was definitely worth $6 to wake up in a beautiful place and take a relaxing morning ride through a canal.

After breakfast overlooking the ocean at our hostel, we hit the beach! The undertow was not nearly as strong as the day before, so Rouke and I braved it out into the water past the breaks. It was so nice because the day before we had to stay by the shore with the sandy water crashing on us since it was too strong, but it was much better to be a bit farther out swimming around and ducking under the waves. I got a much deserved margarita after all that swimming, and also got a non-deserved sunburn. I reapplied sunscreen multiple times, but it must just be something about the black sand that turns my white girl skin into a lobsta. My whole body got a killer tan (like darker than I have ever been! yay!) except that my back and boobs are a little extra crispy. But its cool, I got aloe!

All in all, it was a beautiful weekend in Monterrico! I realized while I was on the beach contemplating my life, that I only have 3 weeks left here :( I am halfway through with my trip and the thought of going back to my life at home made me want to cry a little bit. Going back to work and CT just seems so blah. I am already mentally planning my next trip abroad...I'm thinking Iceland. However, I still have 3 weeks here and cannot wait to continue my adventures in Guatemala! Stay tuned...next weekend it's Lanquin and Semuc Champay...aka waterfalls, caves, and lagoons! Bring it! :)

Quiet weekend in Antigua

alyssa730 — Sun, 9 Mar 2014 17:38:00 GMT

So this week was fairly uneventful but some notable things happened for sure...My week at placement was pretty great. On Tuesday there was a "fiesta de Carnival" (kind of like Fat Tuesday) at school and the children all dressed up in costumes and brought "pica pica" aka bags of colorful confetti with them to school. We all danced and celebrated in the courtyard of school and then had a pica pica fight...the children and teachers attacked each other with the confetti and it was so much fun! Its traditional to put the confetti on each others heads, so of course the kids were rubbing the confetti into my hair...a couple of the teachers dumped it down my shirt and vigorously rubbed it into my scalp so needless to say that was a lot of fun to remove later on in the shower. On Wednesday, we went to church for an Ash Wednesday mass with the school and some of the kids from my class came. It's always so special seeing one particular student because at the end of mass, he was walking out with his dad and spotted me standing on the side...the biggest smile lit up his face and he ran toward me and wrapped his arms around my legs. He can't say words, but the happy noises he makes and his wonderful smile truly brightens my life.Friday night some people from my house decided to go to a cafe because they were craving some poutine. It was not as good as the Canadian poutine but it was still nice to be out with everyone. To our surprise, on the walk back home there was a free jazz concert going on in the park. We all stopped to listen, but only myself and my house mate Mike were actually enjoying it so everyone else left and we stayed to enjoy the live music a little longer. The stage was set up in front of these beautiful ruins of an old church and they set up some wonderful lighting against the church backdrop so it was a really beautiful place to sit and enjoy some great jazz. After the concert, we were walking home and noticed something supe eerie up ahead....

There was creepy music playing and a procession of people walking toward a church with tall candle sticks and crosses. For a moment we were really creeped out because it looked like we were witnessing some KKK guatemala style ritual, but as we got closer we realized it had something to do with lent. It was dark and there were candles everywhere...a bunch of men in suits were carrying a large decorated statue of Jesus kneeling down...I found it quite hilarious that there were about 3 men walking behind the statue pushing a generator that fueled the lights on the statue. It was hysterical because over the speakers of the creepy music all you heard was this loud buzzing generator. The lights went out a few times and the men had to pull start it back up again. We watched this procession approach the church for a few moments and then a priest started talking but we still were a bit creeped out so we headed for home.

On Saturday morning, about 6 of us decided we wanted to check out this place called the Earth Lodge. It was a 20 minute shuttle ride up into the mountains of Antigua so we hopped on and made our ascent. The road was only passable for so long, so we had to hike down a path to the lodge. We found ourselves on a beautiful piece of property on the edge of a mountain overlooking Antigua and the volcanoes. It was a very hippy lodge with hammocks, picnic tables and a cool area to just hang out to get some food and drinks. We ordered vegetarian lunches (I got a roasted eggplant sandwich with pesto and avocado..yum!) and enjoyed the relaxation of the day. Some people went for a hike, some went in the sauna, and I just relaxed in a hammock with my book and a beer, trying to forget about the fact that my phone broke on me earlier that day. We chatted with some cool people from all over the world, played some guitar, and just enjoyed the day in an oasis of relaxation. Oh, and I also got a killer sunburn since the hazy sun had me fooled. Regardless, it was a wonderful thing to occupy a lazy Saturday! After dinner back at home, some of us girls went to get some amazing crepes in town. I got one with nutella, strawberries and bananas and oh my god it was delicious! The best I've ever had! haha

Sunday was spent relaxing and roaming around Antigua. I got my phone situation settled...even though I had to pay more money in addition to the SIM card plan I bought for my iphone...the card wasn't transferable so I had to purchase a new smartphone (crappy droid) as well as a new sim card and data plan. So the first card was pretty much a waste of money since I only was able to use it for about a week, but this time around nothing better break and things will be fine for the next four weeks. The camera on my new phone really sucks though so my pictures will be of minimal quality. Thank goodness for traveling with friends with cameras and tags on facebook!! haha I visited briefly the chocolate museum where we learned a little bit about how chocolate is made, tasted some amazing chocolate and will probably go back to take a class and actually make my own chocolate. I also bought a couple souveniers at the market as well as a pair of handmade sandals with awesome mayan colors...I'm excited to wear them, but I want to save them for America because the cobblestone streets here will surely ruin them fast.

Anyway, sorry for boring you all with this uneventful post, but it's an update! Next weekend we are heading to the beach in Monterrico, Guatemala, so stay tuned for some more adventures! :)

Weekend Adventure in El Salvador

alyssa730 — Mon, 3 Mar 2014 18:34:00 GMT

So this weekend a bunch of my house mates were planning a trip across the border to El Salvador and obviously I wanted in! The original plan was to head straight to the beach, but one friend wanted to venture in a different direction to a national park he heard about. The park supposedly had really pretty viewpoints and some cool waterfalls you could jump off, so I definitely was up for the adventure! Eleven of us set off in a shuttle from Antigua and shortly after we crossed the border into El Salvador, we asked to stop at a town called Cara Sucia, which literally translates to Dirty Face. So 7 of us hopped off the shuttle in Cara Sucia in hopes to find a different bus to transport us to the national park. The bus literally drove away as soon as we pulled up, so instead we found a "pickup"...aka a pickup truck taxi where you pay the driver to haul you around in the bed of his truck. Knowing that this is a typical and farily safe means of transportation in these countries, we agreed on a price and the 7 of us hopped on in! We had to drive up this long bumpy dirt road on a hill for about 45 minutes in order to reach the park. We saw so many impoverished homes and people, but each one of them greeted us with a smile and a wave. The El Salvadorian people are so friendly!! At the National Park, we bought tickets for entrance and a guide to take us to some waterfalls. We told him we wanted to see the waterfall where you can jump off into the water, but this must have gotten lost in translation because after a rigorous 1.5 hour hike with our heavy backpacks stuffed to the gills for the weekend, we came to a small swimming hole with the smallest cascade of water that looked like a kiddy pool waterslide. I think we were all happy to have finally reached some cool water where we could swim, because we all embraced the water and had fun! On the 1.5 hike back up, I had a flashback to my miserable hike up the Alps in Italy and my fatass almost died because it was so steep and my lungs were failing me haha This hike probably qualifies as the second most miserable hike of my life...it was so challenging but I'm glad I did it! Thankfully the sweetest girl offered to switch backpacks with me half way up because mine was so much heavier and it was killing me. I was so grateful for her! We finally made it to the truck again and hopped back in for a 1 hour turned 3 hour adventure to our next destination. On the way down the mountain, a local family hopped in the back of the truck with us. I was so excited because I was enjoying our authentic adventure and I literally said "oh shit! This is authentic as fuck!" It was cool to not feel like such a tourist and do things the same way the locals do. As we were driving along, it got dark and we had some doubts as to whether or not the driver knew where to take us. During our long ride, the 7 of us had some really amazing deep conversations about life, travel, love, etc and it was so wonderful to talk to other people from all over the world and hear everyones stories. Something amazing happens when you travel in that you meet people who have no previous knowledge or judgements about who you are and can offer their stories and experiences without bias. It was truly a beautiful moment.

We were looking for a place called Juayua..a small mountain town where a food festival would be happening. Eventually we arrived at our adorable hostel and went out for some pupusas! Pupusas are a typical dish of El Salvador and are basically tortillas stuffed with beans, cheese, meat, etc. They are delicious and 7 of us had 3-4 pupusas each with 1-2 beers each..all for a total of $23!!! Dinner was so authentic because we ate local food and drank local beer. Things in El Salvador are super cheap...and delicious..my kind of place!

The next day we woke up early and had a beautiful breakfast at our hostel in the garden. Then we went on an early morning hike where we were promised more waterfalls! They actually held up to the standard this time and the hike wasnt as difficult so we were happy! There were a series of 5 falls and we were able to swim and hang out. We noticed a dark cave to the side and asked the guide if it was safe to walk through. Obviously this trip already wasn't enough adventure or danger for us. So with the flashlight app on my waterproof phone, and another camera we headed into the cave single file! About 40 meters later we saw some light and came out at the next waterfall. Some of us decided it would be a good idea to try to walk against the current and go back out the way we came...it was real challenging because the current got so strong and we were using our arms on the ceiling to push ourselves back. We made it out alive and it was so fun and worth the risk!

The food festival was next...after checkout at the hostel, we walked down the street where they set up tents with typical El Salvadorian food from all over the country. We got huge plates of food for only $5 and got to experience the culture first hand. We also met a German girl who was traveling alone to the beach as well and so we invited her to come along with us. As we were walking to the chicken bus, we saw a man standing outside with a giant snake. We each paid him a dollar and got to hold the snake and take pictures with it...it was a huge python and I was so scared but it was so awesome to do it and conquer my fear! The ride to El Tunco beach was going to be a shitty one because we had to take local chicken buses....Chicken buses are US school buses that have been painted to use as cheap, sweaty, overcrowded public transportation. The first bus ride was an hour long and a man was standing at the front of the bus with his bible delivering a sermon. I had a realization though, because even though I was sitting on a bus with too many other people sweating and feeling uncomfortable, the man was talking about money not being able to buy hapiness. I realized that even though the locals don't have many luxuries that I take for granted, they are happier than most people. They have their family and their religion and are content with their life. It made me appreciate my life a lot more and it was really great to listen to this sermon and be able to understand it. I want to go to a church service here one Sunday because I feel like it will be an amazing experience.

So we got to a bus station in a different part of the country where we thought we only had an hour to kill before our connector bus. It turned out that we were given the wrong time, and had to wait 3 hours in a hot and sweaty bus station in what turned out to be an area of El Salvador with the highest gang activity. AWESOME! We were pumped to be the only tourists at a local bus station with locals and gangs nearby...sarcasm. Anyway, we sweat it out playing cards, journaling and buying water and finally got on our bus. It was going to be another 3 hours on the sweaty overcrowded chicken bus. YAY! I ended up sitting next to 4 different men, 2 of which who were talking to me helping me improve my spanish. It was cool to chat with locals and see what they were all about. Both men who I spoke to told me they dreamed of a life in the US...I felt privileged and almost guilty for being american but it was a realization for me to realize how lucky I truly am.

A little over 3 hours later, we arrived in El Tunco around 6pm!!! Finally!!! It was such a relief to get off the bus and air out my swamp ass that had been developing from my heavy backpack on my lap. LOL We dropped our things off at our hostel, found our friends who had arrived the previous day, and ran straight for the sea! I couldn't wait to dip into the Pacific for the first time! Unfortunately it was getting late and every rock and its mother was washing up on the beach. It was a painful walk into the water to try to swim and I got tossed around and scratched up a little bit. I was hoping we could find a better place tomorrow or else I was not going to try surfing and hitting my head on these crazy rocks! After a dip in the pool and a rinse off kind of shower, we all split up and got some dinner. I went with 3 other girls to a restaurant on the water and ate the most delicious grilled fish salad. Then, we started drinking $1 beers back at the hostel and went out for the night. Our huge group ended up getting split into several smaller groups and it was so hot anywhere we went. We found a couple bars where we had some drinks and danced a little. It is a surfer town and so many people that I thought were women from the back turned out to be long haired surfer dudes haha After a while I went back to the hostel, stopped for some pupusas on the street, and hung out in a hammock before bed. Oh! I also found $20 on the ground at the bar so that was like winning the El Salvadorian lottery! hahaha

The next day, we went to a beautiful oceanside place for breakfast, and then hit the beach! It was so hot on the beach so I spent most of the day in the water. I was skeptical to try surfing because the waves looked really intense, but after a couple hours the waves died down and I felt safe to give it a try. A friend gave me a quick tutorial and came into the water with me. It was SO FUN!! I really loved it and I want to keep trying it! I wiped out almost every time but there were a couple times where I was able to stand up for aobut 5 seconds which was so cool! I was very proud of myself! After a bangin burrito for lunch and some more pool and hammock chillin, 6 of us hopped on the shuttle and headed for Antigua. The rest of the crew stayed behind to enjoy another day at the beach, but I didn't want to take off another day from my volunteer placement....responsiblitiy kicked in and I had to come home. I will definitely be going back to El Salavdor again in the next 5 weeks because it was the coolest, most authentic, eye opening, challenging, and amazing experience ever!!

PS as soon as I got home and ate dinner, I took the most glorious proper shower of my life. Soap, shampoo, hot water, conditioner! The dreads that formed in my dirty, non brushed, seawater, chlorine, sanded hair finally came out with some conditioner and the sand and sweat was off my body for good! I have definitely learned that you can't be too picky about hygenie if you want to have a good time traveling. You have to rough it up and be a dirtbag for a weekend to get the full "authentic" experience HAHA until next time, El Salvador!

First Impressions

alyssa730 — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 09:31:00 GMT

This country is beautiful!! The weather has been amazing so far and the landscape of Antigua is breathtaking! When I first arrived, I was taken here to Maximo Nivel to check in, and then brought to my "homestay"...I was under the impression that I would be living with a family, but I am actually living on a sort of private compound with about 15 other volunteers. There is a beautiful courtyard in the center, several rooms that hold up to 4 people each, a living area with a couple couches and a TV, a huge table where we all eat meals together and a rooftop patio where we can all hang out. There are two really wonderful Guatemalan women that cook our meals for us and a nice Guatemalan man who is our night guard. The other volunteers were all very nice and welcoming to me on my first day. It is always awkward being the newbie, but it's only my second full day and I already feel comfortable. We all watch out for each other and get along really well. Most of the other volunteers are from Australia, some from the US and some from Canada. Whenever I come to Maximo to use the internet or hang out, I end up meeting at least 1 new person everyday. Everyone is really awesome!

Orientation was yesterday and we were given some basic tips and then a tour around Antigua...the city is small and its a pretty simple grid, so I'm sure I'll get used to it in no time--I'm pretty good with directions and haven't gotten lost yet so that's a good sign! My volunteer placement is within walking distance from my home which is awesome! Some people have to take a bus an hour each way everyday to get to their placements so I am really fortunate that I can walk to mine. A member from Maximo showed me and another girl how to get there on our first day and it was the most awesome 3 hours! I cannot wait to go back there everyday! The place is a school during the daytime hours and from 2-5pm which are the hours I work, it turns into a special ed school where 160 students with varying levels of disabilities attend school. The classroom I was helping in yesterday had 2 students using wheelchairs and 8 others with mild disabilties. I will be working as a teachers assistant or paraprofessional in a sense. The teacher will plan everything and I will help facilitate the lessons and interact with the children...ALL in Spanish by the way! The teachers, students and principal speak 0 English so it will be the greatest immersion practice for me! The kids had gym class first thing and it was really fun to play jump rope and hula hoop with the kids. They all took to me right away and were hugging me and wanting me to play with them. They never tried pretzels before, so during snack when I took out my pretzels they all wanted to try it. Of course I shared! The sweetest thing was that most of the kids shared pieces of their snack with me too! One little boy handed me a piece of his sweet roll, and another girl gave me a cookie. These kids are so sweet and loving and I already know this is going to be the most rewarding thing I've ever done! Probably the best part of the day was an interaction with one of the boys in the wheelchair. He is nonverbal but has an incredible smile. I told him when I first met him that I loved his smile and then later on when he wasn't smiling, I asked "donde esta tu sonrisa?! Me gusta mucho tu sonrisa!"...where is your smile?! I really like your smile!" and he gave me the biggest smile and giggle and it was the most beautiful thing. I cannot wait to work at this school everyday and help make a difference with these children...even though, I have a feeling that they are going to change my life more than I will change theirs!

So yesterday evening back at home, all the volunteers ate dinner together as usual...The food has been really good so far! We have had quite a variety of dishes and I have enjoyed all of them! After dinner we all relaxed and talked as usual and then me and a few others decided to try our luck at basketball on the court across the street. The court was occupied so we ended up watching some Guatemalan news until around 930 when we decided to go out for a drink and some pizza. A group of about 15 of us walked down the street to a dark hipster bar where we got beers for $2.50 and unfortunately, the kitchen was closed so no pizza for us! It was my first time going out and even though we only stayed out for about an hour it was fun to go with a large group and socialize. We met some other people from other hostels so they tagged along and it just feels like everyone here is a big happy family. We are all traveling independently looking for new friends and experiences so its so awesome!

So my typical days will probably be breakfast at 7am, wander around town and come to Maximo to use the internet, lunch at 12, work from 130-5, maximo again for some internet, and then dinner at 6 and then bed or a couple drinks out. This weekend a lot of people from the house are going to El Salvador to hit the beach and try some surfing...One of the girls in the house is an avid surfer so she has been teaching everyone for free! So I am probably going to tag along and catch some rays and relax! Can't wait to see what the rest of the week holds!

Still hasn't hit me....

alyssa730 — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 10:50:00 GMT

So I'm leaving for Guatemala tomorrow morning and I still can't accept it! haha first of all, packing has been a hot mess and I still have to finish that. It's also my wonderful mothers birthday today so at least I can relax and spend some time with her. I still have friends to say bye to so I probably won't be getting any sleep tonight. That will make for a better flight at least. Zzzzzzzz

I'm not nervous at the moment I'm more anxious as to what lies ahead of me!!! I literally know nothing about where I'm living and where I will be working so it's going to be quite the adventure when I arrive in the country! I hope to meet a lot of new friends and I'm sure this experience is going be unlike any other! :) let's see how well I can keep up with this journal....

Photos: Italy/Croatia

alyssa730 — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 13:30:00 GMT

Pics from my first trip abroad-Summer 2013