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Zip-a-dee-doo-da

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

Megan’s birthday was spent on the shores of Lago de Apoyo, a crater lake near Granada. We spent the weekend at a lake-side hostel swinging in hammocks, reading, floating in tubes, kayaking, and jumping off docks again and again and again. We stargazed and marveled at the rising of the moon over the crater. We made delicious fruit salads and smoked fine cigars. All in all, a good way to celebrate 25 years.

Today we flew through the air attached to cables and carabineers and ropes. Needless to say, it was slightly less relaxing, but equally as fun.

After following the bumpiest road I have ever been on in my entire life for about an hour, we reached the coffee finca above which our “canopy tour” (basically a ropes course) was to be held. This road is was definitely intense enough to warrant some blog attention. It was as if someone had haphazardly strewn boulders across a rocky beach and then decided to dig trenches between said boulders and then out of spite or malice decided to call his creation a road. It was that bad. It was so bad that it was kind of like another ride that we got to go on before and after our main event. So really, we got more for our money.

The course itself was fab. It was just the two of us — I think because we were supposed to do it yesterday but they forgot us, so they felt like they owed it to us to squeeze us in today even if no one else was signed up. We donned super stylish equipment and dragged ourselves up into the trees where we proceeded to slide on zip lines from one tree platform to another attached to pulleys for about an hour. About halfway through we began discussing how we weren’t scared at all and that even people who harbor a fear of heights would probably be okay since the guides make sure that you are, at all times, attached to a rope or cable. Directly after bragging to each other about our bravery, our guide non-chalantly said “hey look, there’s a gigantic spider!” Oh how we spoke too soon. He wasn’t joking; it was, without a doubt, a gigantic spider. Luckily, we were able to quickly zip away. The course ended with a 60 foot rappel, which you can choose to do kind of like a free fall. I told them I wanted to free fall it and then proceeded to scream bloody murder when I fell. Who knew that free falling out of a tree would be so scary?

-Sarah (with help from Megan who is now a year older)

P.S. In unrelated, but even more fantastic news Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story, the latest film by Bill Kavanagh (fabulous father and documentarian) will be airing on prime time in New York on channel Thirteen/WNET February 2 at 9 PM. Right after NOW with David Brancaccio. Remote controls at the ready, my friends.

Posted in Nicaragua, Scary Bugs, Travel | 1 Comment »

Spiders and Scorpions

Sunday, December 17th, 2006

Lago Atitlan is beautiful. Sarah´s pictures do not do it justice. The volcanoes are imposing towers of green overlooking the clearest water I have had the privilege to swim in. We spent a wonderful weekend eating at different restaurants around town, sipping Chilean wine while watching the sunset, and sleeping in a room with an impossible view (and the best shower and bed combo we´ve encountered in Guatemala). Paradise.

However, all the beauty and relaxation comes at a price.

I was warned about the first hidden cost of Lago beauty, and was therefore somewhat prepared. The spiders were weirdly flat creatures, so they sometimes seemed to blend into the wall. This made coming across them that much more frightening. Also, they stand still for days on end, until, for some unknown reason, they disappear. WHERE DO THEY GO? They´re absence is much more frightening than their presence, since one never knows where they might be lurking.

We had prepped for the spider eventuality, however, and Sarah was even brave enough to shoo a particularly large flat one out of our window last night. Bravo, Sarah, bravo.

This morning, for some reason, neither of us were prepared to face down the beast. A HUGE spider was waiting for us on our chair when we returned from the shower. Sarah said “oh look, it´s a spider.” I screamed. Then I looked at it and saw that it had 6 legs. What kind of spider has 6 legs? A fucking tough spider, that´s what kind. It had obviously survived several previous human attacks and had been left bitter and hungry for human blood.

We had to get Zil to come shoo it out the door for us. She is so tough. In the process, it lost ANOTHER leg. The severed leg is still on the door stop to the room, slowly decomposing.

We were both still coming down from our spider adrenaline rush while trying to pack our bags. Sarah was shaking out our clothes, God bless her. She approached the infamous chair, upon which our quick-dry towels were draped. She reached for the towel. She screamed. I screamed louder. She ran to the bed clutching her right hand. “Something stung me,” she cried.

I decided to be tough. “It was a bee,” I said. “I know because I heard it buzzing.”

A little white lie in a crisis never hurt anyone.

We took a few deep breaths huddled together on the bed. Everything was fine. I got Sarah some sting relief and started packing. I was now in charge of the quick-dry towels. I gingerly threw the top towel to the floor. Then I stomped on it. A lot. Nothing was crushed. I moved to the bottom towel and threw it to the ground. Before I could stomp on it,

A HUGE BLACK SCORPION WITH TWO PINCHERS SCURRIED BEHIND THE TRASH CAN.

I was done being tough. We both lost it. In fact, we lost it so hard core that two Mayan women who worked for the hotel came running to our door to see what was the matter. In the back of my head, I was thinking that if the scorpion had been dangerous, it´s sting would have hurt more. But that was far, far in the back of my head. The front of my head was inconsolable. Thankfully, the Mayan women were much calmer. They assured us that the scorpions on the lake were not dangerous and that the sting would hurt for only about 1/2 an hour. I was so glad we spoke Spanish in that moment. Sarah was quite fluent as well, repeating the phrase: “In the U.S. they’re really dangerous, really.” We were both trying to find an excuse for the fact that we were screaming like children. Then they scoured the room for the beast, matter of factly looking in every nook and cranny. They never found it. WHERE ON EARTH DO THEY GO!?

One of the women brought Sarah some alcohol (to help soothe the sting) and some sugar to eat (we’re not really sure why). The rest of the packing was done very carefully. I did a lot more shaking and a lot more stomping.

Anyway, to make a long story short (too late for that, eh?), we survived. We’re in Antigua, where man-eating spiders and scorpions would not dare rear their heads.

-Megan (with help from Sarah, who shooed a spider and was stung by a scorpion. What a gal.)

Posted in Guatemala, Health, Scary Bugs, Travel | 17 Comments »