Travel E-mails

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2009-03-10T14:12:00.004-05:00

FYI - This is old. Get with the new at 26 Unlimited, my new blog on philosophy, psychology, social and political discourse, cosmology, living a better life, and mind expansion in general.

Canadian Goose; Going South.

2006-05-10T13:33:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Zac's Mass Mailing list!
>
>So many e-mail addresses that it would be impossible to keep
>EVERYONE up to date personally [this doesn't mean that you shouldn't
>reply ;)]
>
>If you havn't heard, I'm south bound. Headed to Guatemala as of Nov
>9th, staying there for who knows how long, then headed down through
>centeral america into south america [peru and wherever else]. Will
>be gone for over 4 months, total time is undetermined... may stop
>and work in the States [Dual Citizenship] or end up in BC at the end
>of all this.
>
>At this point I'm pretty well moved out, and will be living from my
>backpack from here on, trying to make some rounds to visit some
>family/surgate family etc... not much time to make the 'full' rounds
>though =/
>
>Anyhow, hope all is well with all of you -- don't forget to live
>while you can!
>
>Zac Ryan,
>Mail: Zac Ryan, 229 Edinburgh St, Peterborough, ON. k9h 3e4. -- I
>won't be getting this, but it will get sent to my mom in BC, who
>will get it to me someday..
>Phone [untill depart] - 705 768-3971
>E-mail: Just reply to this!
>
>P.S. There are a few people I don't have e-mail for.. Spread word
>that you got this if possible, and if someone who you think should
>have did not, have them e-mail me... also, if you got this by
>mistake, e-mail me.
>

Alive or not, I think I´m in heaven.

2006-05-10T13:13:00.002-05:00

Greetings everyone.

November 9th was the big departure, the trip was most interesting -- day 1 we bussed to detroit, got hasseled a LOT at the border (at 5:00 AM none the less), then at 9:00 we flew to Huston Texas, and transfered flights to Harlingen (more hassels and security checks, but no issues, I got checked 2 times, Murray - a friend who lives here half the year, got checked 4 times... good luck I guess!). From Harlingen, we bussed to Brownsville (a border town) and then got tickets to the southern tip of mexico... Strangley enough there was little english in brownsville, and almost none in mexico... Time to learn spanish FAST. We bused through mexico (about 36 hours, but MAN are their busses better than ours) then got a cab to the guatemala-mexico border... the cab dropped us off in front of a bunch of grinning locals - I thought This was it... gonna get mugged by a cab driver and a bunch of mexicans... but no - they just wanted to carry our luggage and give us bad prices on Quetsels (guatemalan money). We managed to get through the border without too much trouble, but we weregetting swarmed by people looking for handouts... so we jumped in a cab... we asked what it would cost to get to one town, seemed cheap, then asked what it would be to Panajachel - 95 Quetsels (15 dollars about) so we took it... only to later find out that our spanish had failed us, and it was not 95 but 950... over $100 canadian... so we haggled and managed to get him down to $650 to get to a town one bus away from here... the local busses are brutal, and the roads are plagued by speed bumps, so it was an interesting ride... but we made it! It´s incredible here - we´re in a town that is in a mountain valley and right on the lake. The weather is 20-25 C, or 70-80 F, and it´s been nothing but sun so far.

In total, the trip cost about $500 american including food, which isn´t bad for the distance traveled... though it was rough sleeping on busses and planes for 3.5 days straight.... and staying awake for constant layovers.

But here I am, it´s cheap to live here, I just stayed at an ´expensive hotel´ which was about $6 USD, but tonight I should be able to find a place at half that price.

Anyhow, enough computer, I need some more sunshine.

Cheers everyone!

Zac

Relaxing, Catching some sun, planning ahead

2006-05-10T13:13:00.001-05:00

Greetings all!

Well, Here is e-mail #2. After arriving here a lot has been going on, Panajachel is a beautiful place but very touristy. So Far I've; Climbed a 1.5 kilometer volcano (it is inactive, and yes - that is 1.5 km high, making my total altitude at the top about 10 000 feet, or 3 km).. I've learned SOME spanish, but have a ton to learn yet (and I'm considering going to school for it, pretty cheap here and it would fast track my education), I went to the market in Chichicostanengo -- one of the biggest in the area -- it was blocks and blocks of market, everything you can imagine -- hand made clothes, bags, purses, wallets, blankets, food of all sorts, electronics, knick knacks, axes, macheties and so on... We took the Chicken Busses (semi-converted school busses that are the cheapest town to town transportation) which got backed 3 to a seat plus people filling the isle, was almost impossible to get out before the final stop. I've been meeting travelers from all around and picking up the 'word on the street', as well as partying a little. Life is very different here -- For the locals, day to day is pretty static; you haul your goods to the market, try to sell, as much as possible for as much cash as possible, then haul half of your load home... There are a lot of vendors here, selling necklaces, clothes, blankets and all sorts of things.

In the end, it's been quite good so far, very laid back and enjoyable -- no rain, only one cloudy day, stays at about 20-25 degrees C, gets cooler in the nights... Currently I'm staying with Murray - an old friend of mine, he has a place looking over the lake and outside of town. I sleep on a cot under the stars on his porch.. wake up to an incredible view of two volcanoes on the lake, and in the evenings listen to blues and jazz and just relax and chat. Soon I'm headed to Antigua where I will consider spanish school, then I have to figure out Peru and the Inca Trail. The trail is a 4-5 day hike to Machu Picchu, and is closed in January, so I have to either fast track it down there for a december trip, or hold off until Febuary... either way I go in the rainy season - which is a bit of a shame.

Anyhow, that's me thusfar. I appreciate the replies, sorry I'm no good at getting back to them.. I have a whole lot of nothing to do, and e-mail unfortunatley does not fall into that categorie.

Cheers! Hope everyone is well... and for those of you who havn't been down south, I would strongly consider coming here sometime in your future. It's prime vacation territory, even if a little dangerous in parts.

Adios Amigos!

Zac

Son of a BEACH

2006-05-10T13:13:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!
I must begin by admitting that I feel a tad guilty in e-mailing you all from down here when so many of you are freezing in the cold.. but hell, at least you can get some comfort from knowing that I'm still alive... or at very least I would HOPE you would take some comfort in that... unless you're all savagely plotting my demise and sending hired assasins ahead of me to take me down in a samurai style fight to the END! But no, none of that.

Anyhow, I just made it to Monterico -- a tiny town on the pacific coast. It's almost uncomfortably hot here, but the ocean is nice, the cold showers aren't so cold, and the beaches are pretty sweet. It's all volcanic sand here, so the beaches are all black and get DAMN hot, though it's still awsome. I've been meeting all sorts of people from all over the world, partying, pushing formerly unpushed bounds of the human condition etc... oh, and reading Hunter S Thompson... mmmm...
Life is so incredibly different here, even reigon to reigon... in Panajachel you see 6 year old kids offering to shine shoes for about 50 cents canadian, people sell all sorts of goods on the streets, and you can hardly walk a block without running into a dozen 'good prices'. Moving to Antigua there were WAY less merchants, though there was one HUGE centeralized market that had everything from levis to possibly week old fish. Now here on the beaches, there is little selling of goods. Kids aren't coming up to me and offering my bracelets, shoeshines, or even asking for money... Every place I see in guatemala seems different.

Since my last e-mail I picked a good couple pounds worth of coffee, climbed a volcano [unless I mentioned that last time], chilled out with murray for some time, playing bachgammon and drinking coffee and rum daily... and then came here.

well, not much more to say... and I would just hate to bore you with day to day antics [speaking of which, a 50+ woman grabbed my ass last night], so on that note, I will wrap this one up. Next time I write will likley be in about a week from El Salvador... working my way along the coast down to Panema, finding a way to peru from there, walking the inca trail in January, then possibly headed to brazil in febuary, seeing as it sounds like that's party season over there...

All I can say is this, I just pray that I don't run out of cash while partying down there, because as it stands I'm looking at coming back late march/early april.. and if my funds take a dive I'll be running home like a 3 legged pig on fire into the dead of winter with no time to adjust and I will likley do something absolutley nuts like duct tape my while body with that itchy pink fiberglass and wear a sign saying "lost my sainity, please spare change", and THAT wouldnot be a pretty picture... wither that or we could work on making a new western union commercial, togeather!

Zac

FW: "Ever shoot a freshwater shark?"

2006-05-10T13:12:00.000-05:00

Greets!
>
>The subject of this message is a quote from last night.... man that
>cracked me up... and it describes life down here perfectly. For
>those of you who don´t know this -- the only freshwater sharks in
>the WORLD exist in Nicaragua, I am accually on the lake that they
>live in. I ran into 3 guys who were motor-biking to south america,
>and they have been ´spear fishing´ while scuba diving in the
>ocean... that´s where the line came from. Exotic is the best way to
>describe this adventure.
>
>Anyhow, I am now chilling in Grenada, Nicaragua. I moved from
>Monterico to La Libertad, in El Salvador... met up with 3 guys who
>were driving a converted van to nicaragua and ended up jumping in.
>for the 3 days of driving on insanely terrible roads with lunatic
>local drivers, I had no seat belt (hi mom). I was chilling with an
>Aussie (who had joined the other 2 brothers in belize) in the back,
>which was a foamie bed on a large wooden box with out backpacks as
>out backrests.
>
>We moved through el Salvador, spending one night near the border,
>burned through honduras, and I jumped off at Masaya, 16k short of
>their destination that night. The next day I climbed an active
>volcano (hi again mom), then came here.
>
> The plan:
>
>Head to Costa Rica for Christmas and New Years, then fly straight to
>Lima, Peru. Hike the Inca Trail, see lake titicaca, then bus or
>train to Brazil for Carnival (knowing NO portreguese and some
>spanish). After that I will fly to Panema. From Panema I´m working
>my way along the carribian back to Guatemala, then to Belize, the
>yucatan peninsula, and then back ´home´.
>
>Anyhow, got much research and what not to do... so cheers!
>Zac

Felice Navidad from Costa Rica

2006-05-10T13:06:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Costa Rica... mmm... La Pura Vida. excuse any ramblings up and comming... hung over after 15 hours of drinking which inevitably ended in me having spent far too much money and being drunk upon waking... why am I telling you this (hi mom).

I already wrote this email once, but lost it due to bad clicking... doesn't that suck.. Only have 10 minutes before a surf lesson too, strapped for time.. danger!

Well, after Granada, I went to Island Ometepe, cool volcanic island with alot of native history which I have no time to get into. Met a bunch of people, saw a waterfall and a lot of monkies who liked pineapples, bought 10 fish (about 15 pounds) for $1.50 canadian.. then headed to San Juan Del Sur (why do I feel like I wrote an e-mail about this already..?) Chilled there for 2 days mostly in a hostel, made a ton of food with some isrealis and a kiwi that I met, then came here. Tamarindo. Tamagringo to some. Crazy times.. everyone here is in tourist mode, not backpacker mode... lots of rich kids come to party in a foreign country... lots of people have crazy stories too... prostitution is legal here and hookers don't act like hookers, so a lot of people seem to THINK they're just chatting with a normal girl, who offers to take them home... then asks for money.. yeah, lots of such stories... no such stories from myself though, I've just been chilling, partying and swimming... having a crazy-awsome time... and spending WAY too much money (Damn is it expencive here).

Anyhow, I have a surf lesson to get to..

So, Happy Christmas, Merry Honica, See you next year (well, some of you).

Zac

Zac, Zac, He's a panamaniac!

2006-05-10T13:06:00.001-05:00

Remember that old lego song "Zac, Zac, he´s a legomaniac"? Well I do. Half of my freaking childhood was tormented by that blasted commercial tune... Ever since that day I pleged to hunt down ANY legomaniac by the name of Zac, Zach, Zak, Zack, or any name with a similar sound... wait... no I didn´t, I´m just trying to make this e-mail interesting. Enough of that textual rampage; it´s enough that you have to endure the REAL stories, let alone rants on fictious events devised by a savage heat-crazed mind.

Moving right along, Here I am, in Panama. Panama City to be exact... and I´m stumped. I came here hoping to catch a quick and cheap flight to Peru, so that I could hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, then head through bolivia to Brazil... BUT I am really stuck on whether I can do this or not... First off, the hostel that I had reserved in Rio de Janerio tells me now that they mis-posted their prices for a few hours, which happened to be the hours that I made the booking, and now they are asking for $36 USD per night, and not $15... As it stands, I am down to about $4000 CDN, or roughly $3250 USD... The flight would cost me $450 for a return flight to Lima, Peru... meaning I have to bus about 4000 km to get to Rio, then 4000 back to get to my flight... all of this for Carnival, the biggest party in the world... Plus, in Peru, I would want to hike the Inca Trail, another $250... meaning between transportion and the trail, it would cost about $850-900 USD... If I do want to skip the whole winter (Which I REALLY do want to do), then I have to make it another 3 months... meaning I would have $2350 for 3 months to spend on: Carnival, bussing from panama to canada, food, drink, and accomidations..... I have a backup-fund waiting for me, but it´s intended for "getting started" in canada... So, there´s my predicament. I don´t know what to do... do I go just to peru? if so, why not just make that jump to Brazil, I´d be in the region... So, if I head to south america at all, I HAVE to hit carnival, that´s simply a matter of human deacency... But this is an action that I can hardly afford... unless I cut the vacation short, sleep on beaches and eat rice and beans, or find a job simply to sustain myself longer down here..... The OTHER alternative is: Skip South America entirely. Make this a Centeral-America only adventure... There is a LOT to do here, and already I´ve had to cut several destinations due to time/cash restraints of my projected agenda... If I stayed here I could hit all the spots that I want to, and REALLY explore centeral america... finish it off in a sence... Plus I would save that $900 for things like scuba diving, spanish classes, and white water rafting etc... That money would go a long way here...

Well, sorry for the blathering on about finances and uncertainty, but at present, I have to figure this shizzle out-- That´s why I´m in panama at this time.. to fly, but I don´t know if I am going to head south, and that descision is currently the biggest yet of my travels... I mean really, do I need to do 2 continents in 1 trip? Isn´t that a bit much? I meet people daily who have been traveling for months, even years... have been to europe, asia, and the americas in one jaunt... I don´t know how they can do it.. already I am beginning to miss friends and family.

Anyhow, that is my state as it stands... Undecided in a major point of descision... Each option has it´s ups and downs, and weighed against eachother, each is equally appealing... My real question is the question that lingers on EVERY other traveler´s mind at times like this.. "Will I get another chance" -- The uncertainty of whether this is your last oppertunity to make the trip.. You never know what might happen in life, I could go home and settle down, go to school, get married and have a kid... I could get hit by a truck tomorrow and be paralized for life... If there was certainty in life, such descisions as these would be taken in stride, but life is an uncertain thing, we can never know for sure what the future holds.. Making such descitions as these difficult. Carnival would ROCK to go to, and Peru would be incredible, I´ve heard nothing but good reviews... But I also love Centeral America, and if I have money on my mind all the time I´m down south, will I truly be able to enjoy it? Ín Rio, if I go, I will likley be locking my things up in a hostel or somewhere, carrying only a toothbrush, clothes, a hammock, and a disposable camera... sleeping on the beaches with nothing worth stealing to save a penny (or 3600 pennies per night to be exact (even more in canadian pennies)).

Whoa... how did this e-mail get so big? Damn you all for letting me write so long! I have thinking to do! Plans to plan! Drinks to Drink...uhh.... and so on.

Anyhow, Get back to me with your opinions. I´m sooooooo stuck on what to do that all I can do is keep on writing in hope that somehow I´ll write my way to an answer... which explains how long this e-mail is getting... growing by the letter... just watch it! Whoa! Bigger and bigger... ha ha ha ha ha! Suckers, all reading my ongoing rant on how long this rant is going on! Take THAT! Pow!

Damn, I REALLY need to stop this.

Zac

p.s. suckers.

The Descision

2006-05-10T13:06:00.000-05:00

Well, Last time I wrote (not long ago at all) I was debating a trip to carnival, south america and so on... I have... mostly... come to a conclusion. I booked a flight to Peru, return to Panama, for jan 19th and Feb 18th. I will not be going to Brazil.
The way I see it, what I will be spending on that trip is just disproportionate to the rest of my travels... Rio de Janerio during Carnival is a HUGE tourist party... and I try to think of myself as a Backpacker, an Adventurer, not a Tourist. I have decided to stick to peru, and stick to my origonal (and large enough as it is) budget. I got a FLOOD of e-mails replying to my last one.. so many that I´ve hardly been able to reply to a quarter of them! People who I have not accually corresponded with for over a year! People who have NEVER replied to my e-mails! I must say it was heart warming to see the variety of opinions and ammount of support I got. Thanks guys!

Some say "Stick out Centeral, see it all, do south another time", Others " Hit carnival AS HARD AS YOU CAN! Rock till the rock rolls!" and others yet "Screw Carnival, go to Peru"... In the end, the latter is my choice. I have looked into it, and I am sure that I can, through a travel agent, get a good deal on Carnival 2006 -- staying in a nice hotel and flying from the states... it would cost a little more than heading there from Peru, but it would be a VACATION, which I think Carnival in Rio is supposed to be... A Break from work and cold, not a break from the trail... Who knows, maybe I can convince a few buddies to join me and we´ll pair up with Dun-Dun-Ka and the whole damned city to the ground!! ... or maybe you could just ignore that last comment.

Anyhow. A month in Peru.. might hit Bolivia, Chile, or Ecuador.. but Carnival is out of the way and out of the budget... and as a good friend once said "A party is just a good time with good people" (well.. all travelers are good friends after a few drinks... unfortunatley, I don´t know WHO said this- as I found the quote scribbled shoddily on a paper scrap in my bag a few weeks later.. I don´t even know in what country it was said!!!)

Well. That´s it for this e-mail... Why do they keep dragging on? Because I found an internet place for $ 0.50 per hour, which is a LOT cheaper than the $4.00 per hour charged in Costa Rica.
Rock on!
Zac

Mushrooms really grow in cow shit?

2006-05-10T13:05:00.001-05:00

Well.... How to begin. I mean, I could begin by writing my story... but I would rather simply begin by saying "Whoa"... maybe "Holy Shit" would be preferable.. well, that´s for you to decide... Choose your own e-mail. If you want "Whoa" flip to paragraph 7, if you prefer "Holy Shit" go to chapter 37. HA! What a notion! maybe for another day, but enough of that now.

So. Why the Whoa? The Holy Shit (Which by my best estimation could ONLY be a result of someone drinking some really bad holy water and getting a mean case of the runs)?

Let us begin our story in Panama City. After several nights of partying in the city with a number of people -- including a professional poker player who ended up getting a free room at a ***** hotel (that is 5, count´em 5 stars) to play poker at their casino... I decided that I was heading to Peru. I bought my ticket for the 18th of January with a return on the 17th of Febuary... I met a lot of people at the hostel, as is the case with every hostel... Two girls that I met (who formed a couple) spoke highly of an upcoming "Rainbow Festival". At first I was uninterested... but as they went on my interest grew... see, the Rainbow Family is a "family" of... well... people... who gather. Thus the Rainbow Gathering. It is founded on the principals that were so prevailant in the hippie culture of the 1960´s -- peace, love, unity. After some chatting, I decided that I would check this gathering out, see what it´s all about... So we all headed to Bocas del Toro for a couple nights before going to Boquete for the festival. We took an overnight bus (and missed the bus that we had pre-paid, getting screwed for $23.. it was all the fault of the damned bus driver who TOLD us that his bus was the right bus... taking us 2 hours and $4 out of out way. Dangit!) So... We got to Bocas... which had been experiencing 2 SOLID DAYS of HEAVY rain. Roads were flooded in this oceanside town.. the rain kept up and I ended up holed up in a hostel most of the time... in the end, I didn´t do much there, but it was nice to get some time to gather my thoughts, make a few journal entries, and read a little more Dostoevsky.

(this is turning into another long e-mail)

So.. After a few days there, I had had enough rain. I got on a boat to the mainland, then took a bus to David, then Boquete (towards the gathering)... Unfortunatley, this was the day that the sun finally came out in Bocas.. oh well. So. Boquete. In the hostel in Boquete I ran into 2 other travelers I´d met in the hostel in Panama City and chilled out with them and another guy they had met here. The next day we all went to the Rainbow Gathering... a Taxi Ride and a 2 hour hike through farmland and forests got us to the main gate. A "Welcome Home" sign was hung over the gate, and an umbrella with fresh grapefruit and drinking water was just on the other side.. at this point we saw people foraging around in the fields. We headed past the "Welcome Center" and past the "Great Circle" which was a massive fire pit in a field... then another 5 minutes got us to the kitchen and main camp. There we were-- on a riverside, in the jungle, in centeral panama. There were about 35 people there -- from all over.. some from europe, some from south america, some from north america... There were Gypsies, Clouns, artists, travelers, all sorts of people... it was unbelivable the way life was.. We ate 2 meals per day, usually oatmeal and fruit for breakfast (and coffee), and rice, beans, and a stew for dinner... though the menu changed depending on what food got found that day. Available to us were numerous orange trees, grapefruit trees, fresh spring (unfiltered, pure) drinking water, ginger, peas, bannas, plantanes... all growing about our site... There was a hotspring about a 7 minute walk out of camp.. a waterfall just further... the river just off our camp had cool water and some rapids... We had locals bringing us various fruits of the land -- mandrin oranges, sugar cane (which we are raw, or made sugar cane juice from), PVC piping to get cooking water to the camp.. papayas.. MAN O MAN! What a life!!! Can you imagine? TRULY living off the land... we ground out own flour, played music late into the night.. there was juggeling, fire spinning, belly dancing, crystal ball manipulating, henna tattos.... In the day we did work to keep going -- collecting firewood, digging compost holes and "toilets", collecting food... and best of all, heading to the cow pasture next to the welcome center, and picking mushrooms from the patties.. you heard me. Psychedelic mushrooms growing out of cow dung. We collected them in the day and made mushroom tea in the evening... every day a few people would go out in search of them...

Well, I could go on and on and on... but I won´t. It was a great time, quite an experience. People came and went... in the end I stayed 3 nights, sleeping in a hammock under a tarp in the woods... No one got sick, no one got stung by scorpions or bit by snakes (which was a definate concern) and all in all, it was quite memorable. I had trouble pulling myself away from it... but in the end, I have a plane to catch.

So, in the end, Here I am. In Boquete for another night, then off to Panama.. after that Peru. Who knows what adventures the future holds... Who knows what I will do when I get home... after this kind of an adventure, sleeping under a bridge doesn´t sound so bad... Hell, it could even be a great time! A little music, a little wine, cow patty shrooms, a few cans of beans and some rice. Damn! That´s where you´ll find me! HA HA! Is he kidding? Humm? You never know!

Well. That concludes THIS e-mail. Watch for the next issue of "Zac´s (occationally) weekly". The questions beg answers; Will he make it to Peru? Will he make it to the Inca Trail before it closes? Will he be robbed in Lima? Cuzco? Will he see the Nazca Lines? Lake Titicaca? Will he make his return flight, or end up in Colombia fighting against the government for liberty? Who knows?? All this and more in the next issue!

There you have it! VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

HOYA!
Zac

I think you've got an altitudinal issue

2006-05-10T13:05:00.000-05:00

Well. Not too long since the last e-mail I guess, but there's an upcoming adventure and who knows what might happen.

On the 18th I landed in Lima, Peru. I had the false impression that all of Peru would be a lot like Centeral America, which was quickly shattered when I realized that I was landing in a barren wasteland full of shantie towns and... well... sand. The west coast of Peru is mostly desert, hardly a plant grows through most of it, other than the few oasis's and mountain streams that provide for the cities and villages that dot the coast. In lima I headed to Miraflores-- kind of the rich district. I hit up some 'street meat' in the form of a pork sanwich... it was awsome. Spent the night there and the next morning took a bus to Nazca -- home to the Nazca Lines. I got settled into a hotel and took it easy... the next day I got a flight over the nazca lines -- quite impressive stuff, I can't even begin to speculate on it... all I can say is there were some BIG pictures and LONG lines in the desert. Crazy Nazca's must have spent a long time putting them togeather... I think the desert must have gotten to their heads, because it was only day 3 for me in the desert and it was already getting to me! So, that night I came here, to Cuzco. Cuzco is the origonal home of the Incas, and it's not far from Machu picchu. It's also not far from the clouds -- hitting an incredible 3.2 kilometers of altitude... Considering that I came in on an overnight 12 hour bus, then suffered a bad bout of altitude sickness, dehydration and insomnia, I'm not quite feeling par right now, which kind of concerns me considering I start the 4 day hike of the Inca Trail tomorrow morning, and it hits altitudes over 4km! But the trail is setup for tourists, and it's a slow hike of about 10 km per day. Day 4 is Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. For those of you who don't know of it, it was the last refuge of the incas when the spanish came. Tucked away on a mountain top, the spanish never found it, nor did anyone else until the mid 1900's. It has been restored and is an incredible place (so I've heard and seen in photos). After that I will return to Cuzco and rest for a bit... yes indeed. Then, who knows... I am considering heading to Lake Titicaca (the highest navicable lake in the world). Then heading to Bolivia and checking out the amazon for a few days, then back towards lima for my return flight to Panama City.

Back to Cuzco... Finally out of the desert, the mountains are quite beautiful. Cuzco is tucked away in a mountain valley and is full of sights and shops, plus it's in the middle of a ton of anthropological sights. I'm staying in a hostel that's uphill (you can't imagine how hard that small hill can be) but has a most rewarding view over the main Plaza del Armas and the rest of the city. Many people wear traditional clothing here. and the scene reminde me of Guatemala... lots of people hasseling you for every penny, steep prices for gringos, friendly folks in general, and very beautiful sights. I get offered cigarettes about 20 times per day by street vendors.. when will they learn that smoking at an altitude where oxygen is a precious thing is not a good idea? ESPECIALLY for NON-SMOKERS! I can just see myself hacking my lungs up trying to get precious O2 after a puff of a malbro or demaurier... hah!

Anyhow... that concludes this mass message. I have an idea brewing and perhaps will have it sorted out for next e-mail.. Sure to be interesting.

Anyhow, Best to all!

Zac

Machu Picchu, Inca Trail and Lake Titicaca

2006-05-10T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well Well Well...

This is attempt 3 -- Count it! 3! at this e-mail! That means that twice I have lost the e-mail, the first time, I lost half an hour's worth of typing! and the second time about 7 minutes... Damned PC's! Crash crash crash.. that's all they're good for!

Well, Here it goes. I imagine that a lot of the heart will be left out of this e-mail, as it's already been poured into the last 2, and there's only so much heart to go around!

So, my last e-mail found me in Cuzco, Peru -- about to head off on the 4 day hike of the Inca Trail. That night I found myself eating a traditional sacred sort of meal, Cuy. What Cuy is I will leave up to google to answer for those of you who are so inquisitive. The next day I headed off. On the bus I briefly met all of the group. We were a group of 8 Argentenian students, 2 Aussie travelers, and another Argentenian couple... and me. That makes 13. Lucky 13. After a long dirt-road bus ride beside the winding river that would follow us for much of the way to Machu Picchu, we finally ended up at the end of the line. Km 82 as it's called. We stopped and had lunch and Coca tea... then headed to the registration booth. Once we were good to go, we crossed the river and so our journey began. Day 1 was about a 4 hour hike, gaining about 500 meters of altitude putting us around 3200 meters (and chewing a lot of coca leaves to keep out energy up). We saw 3 pre-incan ruin sites which were quie impressive, though 2 were seen from afar, being on the other side of the river. Eventually we got to our camp site -- about 3 minutes from the river, and with a spectacular view of the Andes mountain range and some glacial caps. Day 2 we awoke at 6:00 AM to Coca tea being served to our tents. We packed, ate, drank more tea, then headed off. Day 2 climbs from that 3300 M camp site to the "First pass" also known as "dead woman's pass". Why the name? well, it's 4200 meters altitude... they say that Altitude sickness usually kicks in at around 2500 meters. Lots of hufing and puffing as we passed the myriad of small streams that dot the mountain side and eventually stopped for lunch. Being at that altitude and climbing higher is really quite a feat... It's thoroughly exausting and you lose your breath very quickly. Luckily those blesses Coca leaves give you that boost of energy and keep you going. It's amazing how strong the Porters are -- They are the ones who carry most of the camp stuff. I was carrying about 25-30 lb in my bag, and the porters were carrying all the kitchen wares, tents, tarps, propane tanks (yes, propane tanks, the big BBQ ones strapped to their backs with strips of cloth) etc.... I tried many times along the trip to keep up with a porter... the best I could do was about 7 minutes. They just keep on going -- always getting to the camp site and setting up camp plus preparing tea for when you arrive. Our group had 9 porters, 1 chef, and 2 guides... making us a REAL total of 25 people, though only 13 were 'travelers'.. or 'paying'... So, After lunch on Day 2 it started to rain. Oh Joy! Rain on the hardest day of the trail! It continued to rain for the last 400 m climb, and most of the way back down. The last 100 m was almost unbearable... it was so utterly exausting to do so much as take one step... blisters were aching, lungs burning, muscles about to give out, head pounding... But in the end, we all made it. The last one up was one of the Australians who, for some reason, had a 30 kg pack (66 lb). Unfortunatley there was no view from the top, as we had ascended into cloud cover, which was often the case on this trip. After this climb we had another 3-4 km of trails to descend in order to get to our camp site (at 3600 m). The mountainside was riddled with waterfalls and rivers, evergreens and grass... the view was incredible as we parted from the cloud cover. Once again -- that spectacular mountain view of ice caps and peaks as far as the eye can see... rivers, trees, valleys.. clouds consumuing mountains slowly... We got to camp and the rain stopped. Enough of my stuff was wet to be a little miserable, and on top of that there were the blisters on each foot, and the hand that held my walking stick... My shirt was soaked in sweat from the poor ventilation of my pack on my back and the immence exertion that had made up the better part of that day. I slept well that night, eveyone did. We had covered about 9 km of uphill trails and 3 km of downhill all at high altitude. Day 3 was another 6:00 AM coca tea in the tent day. We put on what dry clothes we had, wet boots, and got some breakfast. Heading off around 7:00 for the "Second Pass" which is about 3850 m (but only about a 250 m climb) and we got to tour some ruins overlooking our campsite. We got to the top of the Second Pass and were rewarded with a spectacular view on either side.. You can really see how the forest thicks out at lower altitude, and up higher there is little more than small bushes and cold winds. On day 3 we also climbed the 3rd pass... so lots of climbing and descending, but much easier than day 2. The trails were just spectacular. The whole way it was like storybook scenery.. just incredibly beautiful. We also got to see about 5 ruin sites through out the day. We hiked through jungle, over mountains, through ruins, always overlooking valleys, mountains and clouds and waterfalls, small lakes etc. I remember when we saw a cloud making its way towards us... so slowly consuming the scenery, climbing up the valley and blocking the view until finally it made it to us -- spectacular seeing a cloud work its way to you over about 20 minutes, like a wave in slow motion.. Day 3 ended at a big camp site -- this is where the 2 day trail spends their night aswell, so a lot of people, a bar, a restraunt, and some small shops. Also some imcredible ruins about 5 minutes away. Knowing that this was out last night togeather, we had a few drinks. Drinking at high altitude is.. well... efficient. A few beers is like a 12-pack. We sang songs, chatted, danced to salsa music, and got to bed later than we should have. Day 4 was a 3:45 AM wakeup call. After a hurried breakfast we headed to the entry gate (about 15 minutes hiking in the dark) and waited for it to open at 5:30. We were the first group in, and rushed as fast as we could for the last few kilometers to see the sunrise at the sungate. Unfortunatley this several Km was mostly uphill, and by the time we crawled up the last steps to the sungate, there was still a thick layer of cloud, blocking the view of Machu Picchu and the sunrise. Regardless, we took a quick break here, and decided to just rush on. We climbed down past some more ruins and to the hill-top with "funeral rock" (where sacrifices were made) and finally got the view of the Lost City of the Incas. A spectacular view that everyone has been waiting for for ages... and that we had all worked so hard to get to. Everyone ached all over -- legs, sholders, backs, blisters, feet.... but we had made it. We had a break here than began the final descent to Machu Picchu. After a 1-2 hour tour with the Aussies (the spanish-speakers tour was with the other guide) we split up and egan exploring. I happened to... borrow.. a bottle of water from the water temple (and I have no idea what to do with it now... make coffee?) and wandered through the ruins for about 4 hours... finding lost trails into the untraveled paths... heading into the unrestored ruins and seeing the site as it was found.. taking an undisturbed nap here. Exploring caves into the mountain, and climbing up and down to see all the various sites... An unbelieveable place... Words cannot describe. All in all, the Incas were just brilliant! making ascending terraces up mountains for crops and decoration, perfectly fitting stone walls without mortar, diverting streams and waterfalls to fountains flowing through the heart of their cities... picking the obscure mountain tops to make their cities...

All in all the hike was incredible and VERY rewarding. I think I took over 100 photos. Constant breath taking views, ruins, rivers, mountains... Hiking through 45 km of exausting trails... Machu Picchu.. Just an unbelieveable time. Absolutley spectacular.

So, after Machu Picchu, I headed back to Cuzco, and slept a good 12 hours. The next day was spent relaxing, reading, chilling out, and drinking a tad in the evening... (mmm.. free drinks at almost every club makes for a good reason to pub crawl -- getting drunk for free!). the next day I came here, Puno -- on Lake Titicaca. I have been taking it easy here, trying to figure out where to go next, and finally I decided to head to Bolivia, as it is on the other side of the lake. Titicaca is at about 4000 m, and is the largest lake over 2000 m altitude. It's festial time here, 'Candlemass' -- music (drum and flute) and traditional attire... Tomorrow I head for Bolivia where I will see if I can catch a cheap flight into the amazon basin, catch a couple boats to the peruvian side, and then get back to cuzco and to Lima for my flight back to Panama.

So, There you have it... E-mail number 3 a SUCCESS! Take that you blasted, mischevious gods of technology! *knocking on wood*

Anyhow, my fingers are freaking freezing! not used to the 'cold' (gets towards 0 here at night...)

So, Until next time I guess. Who knows what stories will be to tell then.

Machu Picchu, Inca Trail and Lake Titicaca

2006-05-10T12:59:00.001-05:00

PART...Y? because you can't get away from it!

2006-05-10T12:59:00.000-05:00

So, Welcome to another e-mail par le Zac. Please remember to fasten your seatbelts during take off and return your seats to the upright position. Refreshments will be served at 0700 hours. Enjoy the flight!

Well then, I last left off in Cuzco... or was it Puno? Well, I had just finished the Inca Trail. The night before that last e-mail I had quite a Peruvian experience. I had arrived mid day in Puno, on Lake Titicaca -- after settling in I headed downtown and met a random peruvian in the street who invited me out for a drink.. We went into a bar and ordered some kind of warm grog and met up with some of his friends. From there the group of us made our way through alleys and streets to a random unmarked bar, where we bought liters of rum and bottles of coke for $7 and jammed... Guitar, singing, percussion on the table.. All the drinks were mixed in a pitcher, and we had one glass between us -- once you finished it, you passed it on. We were up till the wee hours of the morning just chatting, singing, drinking, and mingling with other people in the bar... Quite an experience and I consider it to be one of the most memorable of the trip thus far.. (Editor's note -- it turns out that the last e-mail must have been from Puno, where the aforementioned story took place)

I stayed in Puno for a few days, as it was the Virgine de Candelaria festival and I was told that Sunday was to be quite a festival. As it turns out, that very sunday happened to entail a solid 10 hours of parades throughout the center of town. The heartbeat of massive base drums accompanied by dozens of banboo flutes, the traditional ponchos and numerous costumes, the age old dances... all in all it was a great day... Little did I know that these festivities would unrelentlessly follow me. After Puno I headed to Copacabana -- in Bolivia, southern lake Titicaca. It just so happens that in Copacabana there are also massive celebrations of the Virgine de Candelaria, which started really going the monday that I arrived. Parades throughout town, but this time the outfits differed -- men in buisness suits, or in puffy armed costumes with strange devil-man masks... Trumpets played to the drums as opposed to so many flutes (though the songs were largely the same). The dances, though similar, also differed. The biggest difference though was the drinking. In Puno no one was really drinking much, but in Copacabana every block had at least 4 beer-booths -- old ladies selling liters of beer and locals chatting it up while consuming them. I managed to pull myself away from the festivities for a day and see the Island of the Sun and Island of the Moon -- Ancient ruins on Lake Titicaca.

After a bit of Fiesta in Copacabana I headed to La Paz -- the highest capital city in the world (3600 M... I havn't been below 2000 M in weeks!). While in La Paz, and knowing Carnival was up and coming, I checked around to see where 'the place to be' was (other than Rio). As it turns out Bolivia has quite a massive fiestival as well; in Oruro (Damned hard to pronounce properly). I found a bed online-- sharing a room with an israeli and a brit -- at $15 USD per night... damned expensive when you're used to paying about $2.50, but that's Carnival... Friday, Saterday and Sunday were spent there, and I must say it was one hell of a time. Saterday consisted of 20 hours of parades! Sunday of about 18 hrs. The parades went through nearly the whole town, with baseball-field style benches on either side of the streets, vendors selling just about everything you might need (including "Alcohol Potable"... 96%). Regardless of the fact that there wasn't much rain until Sunday night, the constant barage of spray-can foam, water ballons, water guns, and buckets of water was enough to keep you wet all day. Rain-Ponchos were an absolute necessity, especially sitting in the bleachers, as there were often 'wars' between the two sides of the street. Amoung all of this was, once again, lots of those good'ol festive songs that I now nearly know by heart, lots of colorful and traditional costumes, lots of drinking, and lots of dancing. Dancing at 4:00 AM in the streets, beer in hand, chatting with locals who have suddenly become best friends, constantly asking "where are you from?" and "do you like Bolivia?" -- sometimes the same two questions at least 10 times from the same person... But such is the joy of being a drunk in the company of drunks!

After a few long days of fried chicken and beer, dancing and water fights, I came back to La Paz, and it is from here that I write you. Today and tomorrow are the big festivities here, so it seems that ever since leaving Cuzco I have been in the middle of a Fiesta. After tomorrow I head to northern Bolivia, into the Amazon Basin for a 4 day tour. After that it's making haste to Lima and back to Panama.

Quite a detour South America has been.. There is so much to do, so many places to see... I wish I could stay longer... But in the end, this trip was intended as a Centeral America adventure, and South America is just a detour.

Well, I apoligise if any of this e-mail seems disjointed -- I have been holding multiple conversations online while writting it, and so my stream of though is not as uninterupted as usual, though I am sure that no one noticed :p

Well, that concludes this e-mail. Likley the next will be coming to you from Lima or Panama. Until then!

Zacharias.

The long journey north begins

2006-05-10T12:58:00.001-05:00

Greetings and Salutations friends and family!

I have made it back to Panama City, flew in on the 17th from Lima Peru, after a 30 hour bus ride from La Paz (one of the three busses being a 16 hour trip, with no bathroom, which has been titled "the stinkiest bus on earth" - mmmmmm). Flying out of Lima market my journey North. After three months of making my way south, traveling through so many countries and so many cities; innumerable experiences of innumerable kinds. Now it is coming towards a close. I figure I have about 2 months left, getting back to canada late april. Still a long time ahead of me indeed, but it seems like a lot of it will be travel -- I don't even want to think about how many kilometers I have to cover! and all on ground! Good times all in all. Busses are easy now, such a common thing for me (though I am getting sick of them at the same time, namley transfering) Reading, sleeping, listening to music, watching the scenery roll by, or simply thinking to myself on this or that.

My trip to South America was great -- full of good times and spectacular sites. The mystic nature of the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, the questions posed of the Nazca Lines, the festivals throughout Bolivia and Peru, and the trip to Rurrenabaque (Amazon Basin).

That last trip -- the Pampas Tour -- Great adventure. We set off from Lima, flying into town. I hadn't a clue that nearly the entire flight was going to be the group I would be spending my next few days with (though admittedly the plane was quite small). I had met an Irish fellow by the name of Mick at my hostel, and knew that he was on the tour aswell, but the rest of the crew remained unknown to me. We landed in a field (Bolivia's Airports- 16 paved runways, 1049 unpaved runways - from CIA World Factbook). The first night we spend in the town, chilling out in hammocks and drinking beer. The next morning we were of into the the wild -- a 3 hour ATV ride on some of the worst roads I've seen, then lunch and a 3 hour trip to camp in a simple, long, wooden boat with no roof to keep the rain off, and no padding on the seats. The next 2 days were spend touring the flooded river (wet season floods the area up towards the tree tops). We say monkies of all sorts, Tucans, Macaws, Parrots, and a huge variety of other birds. We saw Aligators (one of which was a resident of the camp site, he usually sat outside the kitchen and every meal you passed within a foot or two of him, luckuly we were on an elevated platform over the water). One of the most remarkable things on this trip was the Dolphin population. Dolphins in the middle of the mainland! Who would have guessed! and best of all -- we SWAM with them! I was swimming in murky waters that allowed no light further than a couple inches down -- knowing that aligators populate these waters. Dolphins surfaced within a few feew of us, splashing at us with their tails and popping up all over the place! Incredible experience.

So, after the Tour finished, and the second 3 hour boat and ATV trips were finished (and after huge down pours that had soaked us along that trip) we got back to town to discover that appearently dirt runways don't work to well for landing on when they're wet (maybe paving more than 1.7% of the freaking runways would help!). We were delayed that night.. the next day it rained in La Paz and no planes were landing there either... finally on the next day at 3:00 PM we got out. The next morning marked the beginning of the 30 hour bus ride to Lima, where I relaxed for a night (and smoked some Nakhla -- mmmmm Nakhla! Tobacco at it's finest). Then the next afternoon I flew here, Panama City.

So, here I have been -- sending a package of unneeded goods back north, getting laundry done (oh god how I needed that) and meeting up with my pal Jared and his family (resulting in a bad hangover and little sleep... Sal-Sal-Sa... Sal-Sal-Sa.)

So, that's the update. Next I head to the East coast of Panama, and cross over to Costa Rica, then up through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico (seeing all the ruins I skipped on the way) and finally, up through the states to "home" (whatever that is)

Hope this finds all of you either thawing or catching some sun.

Just think of me when that damned old toaster burns your morning toast because the pop-up thingy is broken. And if you have a new toaster... shame on you!

Zac

Rain, Burns, Rasta Country, and the journey forward.

2006-05-10T12:58:00.000-05:00

Heya folks!
Wel-Wel-Welcome back to Zac's sparratic digest.
This issue includes:
Bocas del raining.
The little sunburn that could
Tangent on misfortune
Land of the Rasta man...?
So, my last writing caught me in Panama City, this one is catching me in San Jose, Costa Rica. I've been through Bocas del Toro, Puerto Viejo, and then down here...
Upon arriving in Bocas del Toro, I found for a second time that rain was abundant and that sun was a rare luxury. They tell me that it isn't supposed to rain much in Bocas, but last time I was there it rained the whole 3 days and washed out roads.. this time I arrived in the morning and was told it hadn't rained in about a week -- lucky me! The second day I was in Bocas I caught the fortune of some sunshine while out on a cheap tour doing snorkeling, lounging on beaches and dolphin watching... this is where things turned wrong. [As much as you have all read these wonderful fairytales where everything works out in the and and I am still alive (enough) to write you, but I've cut out a lot of the nasty details...] So, the ONE FREAKING DAY OF SUN that I get, I am out snorkeling. I figure that considering ALL the time I've been on the road, I've only suffered a minor burn once, I was cool not to worry too much about sun screen.... Snorkeling for hours, boating from place to place... I started to feel like I was getting burned so I slapped on some protection (sun block that is) and continued on.
The Next Day: I wake up to pain. Burning, singing pain. I knew the nigth before I was burned, but not this bad... I was slathering 4+ coats of Aloe Very gel onto my poor lobster-colored skin... putting on a T-shirt became a great challenge, and I had to resort to a dirty button up as a non-button up was too hard to put on and take off. I had planned on leaving the next day... This sunburn brutalized me... it hurt to do ANYTHING, to move! I got damned good at sitting still and watching TV, I couldn't make it to the bars... I was stuck at the hostel with savage burns to tend to. THREE DAYS passed under this condition... Three sleepless nights of heat and pain... then finally it broke - I was able to wear a shirt, and more importantly, my backpack (the thought had sent chills down my spine before).
[Let us go on a tangent... on the note of less favorable events, I've been foamed bad from spray can foam, in my eyes and mouth and what not... I've had more freaking sand flea bites than I will EVER count -- and they ich for DAYS AND DAYS... mosquitos aren't too bad, but they bite too, then you have sunburns, I had a beer thrown at me out of a taxi in Lima, I've been stung by something that made my whole finger go numb, I've had bed bugs, stayed in cockroach and ant infested hostels, suffered dehydration numerous times, been on STINKY STINKY busses, gotten really drunk and fallen down and hurt my bum, had a bunch of small cuts and what not, swallowed mouthful after mouthful of sea water and had tons in my eyes, had the runs for days at a time, sometimes hitting the can every other hour... well, that's enough for this tangent]
now, where were we?... leaving Bocas, right.
So, then I headed across the border to Costa Rica -- they asked for a ticked proving that I was LEAVING Costa Rica, I lied, saying I had an e-ticked and no print off, but he didn't buy it... I was forced to buy a bus ticket that allowed me to go to Limon (in Costa Rica) or Back to Bocas, even though I had said I was going to Nicaragua... somehow a ticket that can work on either side of the border, and is NOT in the right direction for me, is proof that I am leaving.... good show!. Then to Puerto viejo -- cool carribean coast town, full of Rasta Man vibration. Lots of Marley and roots reggae, dreadlocks and Jamaican-inspired english... the Jamaican flag draped all over, it's colors in most of the jewelery and hats. Lots of pot and hash all over "to get closer to Jah" [one of my favorite quotes here -- "The cops can't do nothing about the cookie man, because the cookie man is with Jah" -- said by the cookie man as cops drove past]. The hostel I was in was super chill... the owner accually PROMOTED smoking pot on the grounds! Every night was full of jamming on the beach and bonfires [and beer.. and Guarro]..
After a few days still sitting on the sunburn, taking it easy, I left Puerto Viejo and came here, to San Jose. (it is notable that I am shedding a layer of skin after that burn like some man-lobster-snake might). From here I head to Nicaragua, then Honduras.
Just a small side note, I've taken to eating in -- rice and beans with most meals, veggie stir fries, and oatmeal for breakie... sooo cheap to live this way (luckily). I can almost manage a budget of $10 per day (without busses)
Anyhow, that's it. it's over. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. No more e-mail. Frankly, it ended back there, I don't know WHY you're still reading this.. well, if you're so intrigued, just hopeing that I'll give you a little tidbit more of what's going, then you're about to suffer dissapointment...right...about...
Zac
p.s.NOW!

Hot Diggidy-Dawg! Another steak on the babie hun, we gots comp'ny! YEE-HA!!

2006-05-10T12:57:00.001-05:00

Well y'all are mighty welcome to another grand'ol e-mail from your favorite 'bandito' Zacharias. Now y'all listen close ya hear, cause if ya don't, I'll cut your ears off and feed them to savage dogs in the desert! YEE-HA!

sorry about that, just had to get it out.

So, what's up with me you ask? where am I? where have I been? am I still alive (duh)?

One at a time! PLEASE! I can only get so much out at once!

has he lost his mind? has he? HA! you be the judge!

Damn you for judging me!!!

so, back to the e-mail.

I am writing this from Copan Ruinas -- which is just outside of the Ruins of Copan conveinantly.. about a kilometer from a major archelogical site (mayans) which I go to see tomorrow... then off to Lake Atitlan again.

Damn have I covered a lot of distance... from San Jose I went to Grenada, Nicaragua (again) and chilled out with some cool americans... a 60 year old german who didn't speak a word of english tried to hook me up with another german girl moving in the same direction, and I drank a LOT of that good'ol Flor de Cana -- best rum I've found yet, and cheap!!!

So... after a couple nights in Grenada, I headed to Managua (Nica's Capital) and then off to Tegucigalpa (Honduras Capital). I stayed a couple nights at the 'Tobacco Road Inn' because the owner was a cool-nut case and I had a big bottle of mmm-good 10 year old Glenmorangie single malt and some cheap cheap cheap cigars from Nica (roughly 7 cents a piece... and pretty nice for the price, crudely hand rolled though), and the owner and I drank scotch and brandy a lot. I also ran into a cute German girl who I had met in Panama City and in Bocas del Toro before going to Peru.

From there it was off to Tela, a nice little beach town on the carribean side of Honduras, where I chilled out, stayed in a REALLY cheap hotel (it was like $1.50 per night) and spent some good beach time, eating fresh coconuts on the beach after knocking them down with a stick... mmmm coconut.

From Tela it was to Utila -- a Bay Island, famous for Diving. I was delayed by a slow bus and a taxi driver who took a detour to drop someone else off and had to JUMP onto the ferrie to get to the island, with my backpack on... fun times... didn't end up paying though (ha! try to leave without me!). On Utila I got PADI open water certified -- and did a total of 6 dives seeing all sorts of crazy tropical fishes and corals and things of the likes... AND... I saw the famous WHALE SHARK!!!!! Why is it called that? because it's the biggest shark there is!!! we saw two of them... had to find them, boat up to them, jump in with snorkels, and see them as they swam away... I even grabbed onto one's fin and rode it for awhile!!! Freakin AWSOME!!!

so, after that I came here, Copan.... just got in.

Unfortunatley I have little time to finish this e-mail (I almost wrote fishnish)... so it is being cut short.

Well. I am headed to Panajachel next, and Semana Santa is up and coming, 20th to the 27th, which should be an interesting festival.... we'll see what adventures it brings!

Whalesharks!!!!

Zac

Not returning to Canada. Moving to the U.S.A

2006-05-10T12:57:00.000-05:00

APRIL FOOLS!!!!How the HELL did April 1st come about? Honestly? Early travel plans had meat home around now, but here I find myself in Panajachel, Guatemala.So, What have I been up to? What am I doing? when will I be back in Canada?Well, my last e-mail was written... from.... memory, don't fail me now!Copan Ruins! AHA!So, I spend a day wandering those AWSOME ruins -- climbing up and down,around and around, hiking off the trail to see 'mounds' of unescavated mayanstructures, wandering the main courtyard.... One thing about Copan is thatthe entrance fee is $10, and to get into the Caves is another $12 -- thecaves being a mere few hundred meters, I figured "screw that"... but I foundmyself at a cave entrance with the door unlocked... I decided to make a stopin... unfortunatley I was stopped by a worker within a few moments, andasked for my caves ticked. I produced my Entrance ticket, playing the dumbtourist, and he told me, as I knew, that this was not for the caves, andthat I would have to go back to the entrance and pay another $12. I sighed,and mentioned that that was a lot of money for the caves... and what do youknow? He just HAPPENED to have an extra ticket on hand! and I could buy itat HALF price!!! Well... Half price... that's nice and all, but how about$5? Deal. So, I got into the caves, AND got a guided tour from this guy! TheCaves go under the main elevated courtyard and through the OLD courtyard --they built the courtyard over a previous courtyard, so you get to seeunderground temples and wander musty ancient caves. REALLY freakin cool. Thefirst cave is window'd off, as tourists have done some damage to the ancientruins in the past, but was cool to see none the less. The second cave ispart of an extensive network running several kilometers under the currentcourtyard with multiple exits into the city. Now, only about 400m is open tothe public, BUT, when your tour ends and all the caves are being preparedfor a GRAND OPENING of some 2 km in 2 years... AND the workers are on lunchand have left all the gates unlocked.... hehe... you get to explore areasthat will not be seen by the public for years... unfortunatley a flashlightwas quite necessary and I only got to peek in so far. Anyhow, All in all,Copan was INCREDIBLE. I look forward to seeing the next ruins on the list,Tikal.So, After Copan I headed into Guatemala, through Guatemala City, and intoAntigua. I was kicked off a bus when some confusion arose over whether I hadpaid, and while arguing I produced a recipt showing that I had in fact paid(lucky me that they gave recipts) and the driver collected my bag from thetop of the mini-bus that it had somehow made it's way to (even though I wastelling the guy that I DID NOT want to go with them, and was still arguingwith the bus driver, hoping to not have him drive off on me.) After AntiguaI headed to Panajachel and chilled with Murray for a few days, drinking rumand playing bachgammon to the wee hours of the night, and working on thecoffee that I picked months ago.Then came the grand Semana Santa -- Holy Week before Easter. I had made areservation in Antigua to stay at "Tortillas y Mas" -- an unregisteredhotel, and headed there Thursday afternoon.In Antigua I got to see the Guatemalan way of celebrating Easter, and astrange one it is. They make these big beautiful carpets in the middle ofthe road -- colored sawdust, flower pedals, sand, fruits, offerings etc.These are all incredibly well designed, with all sorts of colors, paterns,symbols and what not, and most are about 10x18 feet. Then they have hugeprocessions -- 30-50 people carrying HUGE mohagany floats of Jesus and theVirgin Mary, all depicting different events of the bible, and allprogressing to the crucifiction... in front of these progressions are abouta hundred 'Roman Soldiers' and thousands of purple-robed locals clearing apath for the progression, and spinning the incense burners that tend to comeout in religous events -- filling the air with a thick and sweet incensethat sometimes obstructs all vision. These progressions trample the carpetsmade earlier and leave them a muddled rainbow of colors, after which theyare rebuilt promptly to be destroyed by the next progression. Thousands andThousands of people swarmed to Antigua, many sleeping in parks, churches,trucks, and alleys. Parks bustled with food vendors and the streetsresonated with the ding-a-ling of ice cream carts.A good time, but nothing at ALL like Carnival in Bolivia. This was a muchmore somber time, few drank, things closed up earlier in the evening, andthere was little festivity. Two days of this was enough for me.From Antigua I came back to Panajachel for a night, then went to Santa Cruz-- to the Iguana Perdida, where I have JUST returned from. I took myAdvanced Scuba Diving course there, and chilled out a lot, as it is a rockinhostel with no electricity. Lake Atitlan was nothing like the ocean-- thoughthere were some cool rock formations, TONS of crabs, a few fish (there usedto be over 15 kinds of tropical freshwater fish here, then some americanstatesman decided that sports fishing would be fun here... now we have bass,pickrel, and 2 others in the lake.... mmm sport fishing, who needs tropicalfish anyhow?) and some hot mud.Well, that brings us up to date. Where to next? Tikal, as mentioned earlier,then I will run a savage burn through Belize (more for the passport stampsthan anything else.... mmm.... precious stamps....) and up to the YucatanPeninsula. I figure I will be getting to Canada early May, and I may make astop in B.C. before going' home' to Ontario (That good 'ol saying, "Home iswhere the Storage is")So, there we have it. Still Alive, Still kickin, and making my waynorth-ish... Dreading reentry to "The Norm", "Cable Television", and "work"Hope all is well with all who get this (and those of you who don't... HA!)
Zac

Penohra Says "Dont jump out window, without birds and duct tape"

2006-05-10T12:56:00.000-05:00

Greetings, and welcome to the April 14th edition of Zac's travel e-mail.We left off in Panajachel, Guatemala, and now we meet again in Tulum,Mexico.So, what have I been up to? After a bit longer in Pana, I caught a ride toRio Dulce, which is on it's way to Tikal. After spending a couple nights inan awsome hostel in the jungle called Casa Perico (where I met a ton ofpeople and had a great time) I headed to Flores, which is a jump point toTikal. I met up with some Quebecois that I had met before in Rio Dulce andon Lake Atitlan and played some B-ball, then went back to the hostel LosAmigos and met a bunch of people and chilled for the evening. The next day Islacked, taking it easy, and ended up heading off for Tikal at 3:00 PM,which meant that my ticket would be valid for that day and the next day. Onmy way out of the hostel I ran into a Dutch girl who I had met in Sta. Cruz,on Atitlan, and she decided to hop on the bandwagon and join me, as she hadJUST arrived in town. We hopped on the bus and off we were, chatting for anhour and a bit on the bus. Then we got to Tikal and had to set up camp –hammocks in the back yard of the Jaguar Inn. We setup a guide for the nextday which would allow us to see the sunrise from a pyramid, as the park isclosed to non-groups until 6:00 AM. After that we headed off to catch thesunset in the ruins, and we were told that Temple 4 was the best spot... Weheaded into the jungle, and Tikal really is IN THE JUNGLE, and made out wayto the centeral plaza.. We chatted on our way and saw a monkey and somebirds... when all of the sudden she gasped and stopped. I stopped and lookedahead... nothing but a clearing... then I looked UP.... JESUS! My eyeswidened as I realized that there was a MASSIVE temple ahead of me! ENORMOUS.Towering above us and the jungle. We looked at each other each with a stupidgrin on our faces and rushed forward, coming into the plaza. Amazing... HUGEtemples, altars.. in the middle of the jungle.. I cannot describe howincredible it was, only that for me it beat Machu Picchu and Copan. Each hasit's highlites, but Tikal is just awsome. We watched the sunset, which was astrange one, considering the sun dropped into a layer of haze and so youcould stare straight at it without hurting your eyes for a good 20 minutesas it set... really an impressive sunset, especially considering it was fromthe top of a mayan temple looking over a seemingly endless jungle. The otherend of the temple overlooked the rest of tikal, though trees prevented youfrom seeing much other than a few temple tops.... This made it so that youwere constantly walking off jungle trails and hit by the sudden scene oftemples or pyramids. The next day we arose at 4:20 am to catch the sunset,which was unfortunately much like machu picchu as the thick fog prevented usfrom seeing the sun.... After that our guide took us through the jungletrails “like jaguars” (one of his fav. Phrases) and did a several-hour tourafter which we ate then reentered the ruins. After a tad more explorationJudith, the dutch girl, headed back to Flores and I chilled out for a fewmore hours, exploring deep into the less explored regions and not seeing asingle person for 2 hours, though spotting 5 monkies in that time.So, Tikal was great! After it, I headed back to Flores, back to Los Amigos,and met Judith there. Went to bed early that night as I was beat, butsomehow she stayed up to 2:00 AM (making 5 near sleepless nights for her)talking to the owners. The next day we headed to Belize – San Ignacio orCayo. We split on a room there to save some cash and took it easy, chattinginto the night then passing out. The next day we slowly made our way out oftown, I got cauer town and sleeping through my bus, meaning that I basicallyhad to stay there or get to tulum at 1:30 AM. I stayed in a hole in thewall. $3 for a bed. No more. No bedsheets, no pillows, no toilet seats, nodoors on the toilet stalls. Fun.And now I am here, Tulum. A near-beach town with some ruins. And slowly Imake my way home...I am now through Centeral America, strange that... things really arewrapping up. I am DAMNED near broke and have a lot of distance to cover, sothings should be fun. What to do when I return? Take it easy for a bit thenmove to Toronto, find a job fast and PRAY I get a nice big tax return fromlast year, work off debts and think about school. Who knows what will happennext in the life of Zac, though I can say that Asia is calling my name...Just say it... Asia.... Asia.... Asia.... mmmm.And that's it for now. Cheers. Keep out of trouble. By that I mean don'tSWIM in the water, but you can dip your feet in. Oh... and as for TacoBell... HA! South of Border my ass.Zacght up talking to a Belizian who was moving to St. Johns Nfld to study..(just a note, in Belize they speak Creole, English and Spanish... Englishbeing the official language, and Creole being... well.... sort-of english,though unintelligible to me. Also there is a large african-americanpopulation). We headed to Belize City, where she caught a boat to CayeCaulker and where I stayed the night after saying goodbye. That was a wildnight involving a bottle of rum in a lonely hotel room which I will not getinto.After that I woke up late for check-out and hung over. I decided I had toget out. I hopped a bus to Corozal, near the mexico-belize border, then,getting off that bus, hopped on another in a snap descision to completleyleave the country behind... Belize costs much more than I can afford at themoment. So here I am in Mexico. I ended up passing out in the bus terminalin the mexico border town and sleeping through my bus, meaning that Ibasically had to stay there or get to tulum at 1:30 AM. I stayed in a holein the wall. $3 for a bed. No more. No bedsheets, no pillows, no toiletseats, no doors on the toilet stalls. Fun.And now I am here, Tulum. A near-beach town with some ruins. And slowly Imake my way home...I am now through Centeral America, strange that... things really arewrapping up. I am DAMNED near broke and have a lot of distance to cover, sothings should be fun. What to do when I return? Take it easy for a bit thenmove to Toronto, find a job fast and PRAY I get a nice big tax return fromlast year, work off debts and think about school. Who knows what will happennext in the life of Zac, though I can say that Asia is calling my name...Just say it... Asia.... Asia.... Asia.... mmmm.And that's it for now. Cheers. Keep out of trouble. By that I mean don'tSWIM in the water, but you can dip your feet in. Oh... and as for TacoBell... HA! South of Border my ass.Your journalist on the fringes of reality and surreality,
Zac

Canadian Goose; Returning North.

2006-05-10T12:43:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!

I write you now from an internet cafe in Veracruz, Mexico. I am in the midsts of a massive layover that runs from 8:00 AM today to 5:00 PM, after which I take another overnight bus (as last night was spent) to Matamoros - a border town. One night there... then IT happens.... I...."Cross Over". Break on through to the other side... Return to the "First World".

My last message was from Tulum... Much has happened since then to get me here -- waiting for a bus that takes me that much closer to "home" and expecting somehow to do the next 3 days of bussing plus 1 day rest with the $540 (That's Pesos, or about $52 USD) that is tucked in my wallet -- That's pretty much what we're down to. No bottles of Tequila coming home mates, sorry.

So, In Tulum I checked out the Ruins, not particularly impressive structures but DAMN was this ever the mayan vacation spot -- overlooking the aqua-marine (well... I am guessing aqua-marine because BOTH of those imply water and if that's not the right color then DAMN the man who decided to make color names to damned abstract!) Carribean sea... The Atlantic Ocean. BRILLIANT white sand beaches like I have never seen before - with sand that's cool and powdery, soft and smooth... Sand that almost seems to melt it's so smooth, but also sand that likes to blow around a lot from ocean breezes and get in your eyes, as well as make "Sand Drifts" that form walls around Cabinas etc. Needless to say I spent more time on the beaches than I did in the ruins, wearing my newly cut-off cords because I left my shorts which I had bought in El Salvador in Guatemala... I even spent a night on the beach in Tulum, sleeping in a hammock and chilling with some Quebecois and an american and drinking DIRT CHEAP "Caña" alcohol -- too cheap to be called rum.

After Tulum was Valladolid - a comfy colonial town outside of Chitchen Itza -- a big ruin site for tourists from Cancun.... Valladolid was cool, I headed there with the American and we met some people, and relaxed for the most part, then headed to the Ruins... Chitchen Itza -- we got there at about 2:30 PM due to extreme lazyness, and started our exploring... a cool site with SOME neat things, but not all it's cracked up to be... and the light show at night... well... it sucks. I mean, REALLY sucks.

(Detour) -- While in Tulum I hitch-hiked for pretty much the first time. I had done chicken busses and pickup-trucks, but never accually thumbed it in all this time... figured it wasn't the safest way to travel. I got picked up by some italians and then a bunch of locals packed into a Garbage truck headed to the beach to do a garbage run... Mmmm fun, nothing like riding the back of a garbage truck to the beach. Since then I hitched another time leaving Chitchen Itza -- where we almost got stranded due to a lack of Taxis after that damned light show.... which sucked in case you'd forgotten. (end detour)

So, After Chitchen Itza, Palenque was next on the list -- a 2 part bus ride -- part 1 to Merida, then a layover, then part 2 to Palenque. We set off in the afternoon from Valladolid to Merida, and upon arriving poped by "The Nest" -- a cool hostel in a grubby and uninteresting city. The Manager - JT from New York - entranced us with words like "Wail Woad" and "Wowwy" and "Wite!", and phrases like "I wike to wide the weading wailwoad" (okay, that was made up, but R's and L's often found themselves as W's if you hadn't figured it out.. so go back on those phrases with your newfound Secred Decoder password!) We decided to put off Palenque for another day and chill at this hostel, which was VERY cool, and was offering a tour to the Cenotes the next day -- Cenotes being underground freshwater pockets and streams... we did this tour for $10 US, which included transportation (about 1.5 hrs there and back) and a ride on the Wailwoad Twack that passed these three Cenotes. DAMN was that fun -- there were 5 of us there in total, and later on it was the same 5 who found themselves on a bus to Palenque, and then in Pan Chan chilling out togeather, but we´ll get to that later. SO, the Cenotes ROCKED... we had them to ourselves!!! One was a 40 ft drop from the entrance to the water, which we jumped into.... that's a long fall and a sore ass once you hit water. We swam around in the Cenotes -- Crystal Clear and full of Stalagmites and Stalagmites, bats and beams of sunlight in the roof... These were really damned cool underground caverns, HUGE and rooved (roofed?)... Nothing like hearing your splash echo for a few seconds... Well, enough on Cenotes, we had best be moving on, we have much to cover.

So, After the Cenotes we parted ways with our newfound Fwiend and headed to Palenque on the overnight bus. We arrived in Palenque and immediatley piled into a cab to Pan Chan -- a little jungle-village type place outside of the town Palenque, and closer to the ruins. The ruins rocked... Very different than any other ruins I have seen so far -- Crazy designs on roofes (Didn't we already run into the plural roof question?), wider than normal corridors underground, cool new inscriptions... Palenque reminded me of an Incan town later colonized by the Spanish more than a Mayan town abandonned 1200 years ago... It was incredibly ornate and a pleasure to explore -- in my opinion, much cooler than Chitchen Itza (let the tourists keep it)! After exploring the ruins, the 5 of us (David, Davin, Amber, Nellie, and Myself) ran into another guy who some people knew from Tulum, Jon. And the 5 were 6. Jon showed us a cave under a waterfall halfway back to Pan Chan, and we chilled out, cooling off in the waterfall (as palenque is FREAKING HOT) and explored the cave, which turned to be really wet (about knee deep with water constantly dripping on you from above) Full of Stalagmites and tites, as well as bats, and a few horse shoe crabs that were at first mistaken for stingray's seeing as we had only a small light in a big dark wet cave.

So, we chilled out in Pan Chan for awhile -- which is also well known for growing exotic jungle fungi which we were offered by random people hopping out of bushes or biking by (including 10 year old kids) and took it easy. Pan Chan is basically a few buisnesses operating in a small village like envirnonment -- 3 different sets of Camping and Cabanas, a restraunt, 2 bars, an internet cafe, swimming pool etc... All out in the middle of the jungle and really spread out so that you had a good few minute walk to get anywhere from your cabana. In the night there was drumming and firespinning at the restraunt and DAMN was it cool. The Fire spinners were mostly travelers who had been wandering through, seen the show, and joined in for free food and accomidations. Some nights there were as many as 6 people, others sported 2... One guy and one girl were UNBELIEVEABLE -- spinning Poi (ball and chain kind of thing). Their skill was incredible - spinning with such east and doing some incredible things that brought them lots of applause. The Staff spinners were good, with a few new moves to me, but I have seen better (heya Kalor).

So, after a few days, the group split up and we left. Our next place was San Cristobol -- about 5 hours east from Palenque. Amber and I hopped a bus after a day at the ruins and got there at night, checked into a hostel that we had heard of, the Mayambe, and began what turned into a week of doing little to nothing. We chilled in town for that week, I got a sinus infection for about 2 days, then Amber got pretty damned sick for 3 days (luckily I have a stomache of IRON). Aside from that we chilled out, cruised town a little, but spent 90% of our time at the hostel -- chilling out with a crowd of travelers who has also been entrapped by the ultra-chill enbvironment.. Rentimg movies, eating in, chatting for hours and hours and hours about all sorts of things, meting people from all over (as usual), and just taking it east in general. Unfortunatley, there's not much to SAY about what happened, as not much did, though that week was one of the better weeks in my travels, which makes a good end to things. One note is that the hostel has a capacity of about 18 people, and it was always full, and rarely of an even number of men to women, women usually dominating, which was fine by me.

So, last night we went out to a nice restraunt, about 7 of us. We chilled, ate, chatted etc... Then I said my goodbyes and left on the 10:00 PM bus. I awoke this morning to Vera Cruz (DAMN am I ever getting good at sleeping on busses).

So, that seems to just about sum up the time since the last e-mail.

And here I am, the end of my journey. Another detour to visit my brother in the states, then home... No more hostels, no more backpackers, no more rivers tours, jungle or exotic plants and animals... No more passport stamps (Oh how I´ll miss the passport stamps!). Back home. Back to Work. Back to "life" as they call it.

One hell of an adventure is coming to an end here. But who knows what is to come? Where to next? What will unfold in the next chapter of Zac? Well, that is an answer that only Dog knows.

Zac