Pausing Here and There

There’s something a bit surreal about flying for four hours, winding up somewhere totally different and then logging on to the same blog and checking the same email account. I know that that’s the internet, but it still is kind of a mind twist.

So I’ve made it safely. The flight was uneventful until we landed. Our descent afforded views of the volcanic landscape…dormant dragons some of whom let out little puffs every once and a while to let us know they’re still there. The clouds were pretty, all around the volcanoes, letting them poke their noses through.

Good things happened when I arrived:
1) I was waved through customs even though I have a one way ticket.
2) My bag was there.

I wasn’t able to find the tourist shuttle to Antigua, so I ended up splurging on a taxi…hopefully the last splurge of the trip! Miguel, the taxi driver, and I fumbled along in a semblance of a conversation…my choppy broken random non-existent Spanish, and his better English. I found a nice hotel and promptly went to sleep as soon as the kind propertier showed me to the room. I have not one, but three beds for some reason, although he assured me I’d be sleeping alone. Another highlight was the “swan” towel lying on the bed. It was too cute I took a picture.

I’ve spent the rest of my day walking around aimlessly looking completely the tourist I am, reading a novel in the beautiful central park, eating chille reyellenos and really delicious tortillas alone, and now, this. I’m psyched that I’ll be seeing Sarah and Megan earlier than expected (Saturday in Huehuetenango), because already I’m a bit lonely. I can’t wait to start Spanish in Xela…perhaps then I’ll feel more confident.

All my love to all of you out there.

I’m down to the last 13 hours! After packing and repacking my bag 80,000 times today, I think I am done. I’ve probably brought way too much, but c’est la vie. I will donate and dispose and trade as I go. In the final cut, the yoga mat was ditched. But, due to some last minute internet reading, I am very pleased with my decision to bring a sleeping bag. Apparently temps in Xela in the winter months (elevation 7,500 ft) can get down to freezing and houses have no heating system…so, warmth (my best friend) is coming in the form of mama’s 1970’s down sleeping bag. And it’s orange, so you can’t go wrong there. Also ditched were a few more of those pesky t-shirts.

I can’t quite tell if I’m nervous, excited, terrified, or what. I was delighted to find out though through more internet research today that there is a little community called yogahouse in Xela where there are 10 bedrooms for rent, a communal kitchen, and free daily yoga classes for residents. I think this may be a solution to living with a host family, which I wasn’t looking forward to. I’m eager to check it out.

First on the itinerary however is Antigua, and from there Todos Santos, a small mountain village famous for its celebration of All Saint’s Day. I’ll meet Megan and Sarah there and hopefullly study at a language school (though about half of the town’s population only speaks Mam, a Mayan language). After a week there it’s off to Xela, and then…

Wish me luck later tonight/tomorrow morning!

I think I have finally accumulated all the little odds and ends neccessary (I hope!) for my travels, or should I say travails: the wind proof fleece on sale at REI and a borrowed down sleeping bag (to defend against my fear of the cold), deet laden bug spray (to defend against my fear of bugs), and a stack of cheap paperbacks (to defend against my fear of boredom). I’ve decided to also bring a yoga mat so that I can practice while travelling, though I might end up regretting this decision, who knows.

Today’s task was to somehow fit all of these items, plus clothes, toiletries, etc… into one backpack and a daypack. Though I have enjoyed rolling my t-shirts into tight little coils, shoving them in gallon baggies, and compressing all the air out vacuum-seal style, I’m reluctant to actually put everything in the bag. It seems horribly overwhelming and scary. What if I am never able to fit it all in there again? I keep telling myself that there are disposables. The 5 New Yorkers and 8 paperbacks–brought to fend off solitary boredom and useful for trade, the Luna and Cliff protein bars Lynni recommended, and the 18 raggedy t-shirts (all the t-shirts I own that were probably another 3 months from goodwill) are probably all overkill. Still, I can’t seem to give them up! It feels like a bad reality tv show.

What will make the final cut and win a 7 month tour of Central America? Stay tuned to find out!

I arrived in Las Rageous on Wednesday night after a pleasant and non descript flight. I was greeted by warm weather and the warm smile of my darling friend Lynnaeous. The next morning, after pausing for coffee and food (apples, a slimfast that was never drunk, whiskey, and almonds) we set off for a Utahian/Utopian adventure. It was certainly the pleasuredome we expected it to be (and I think that’s why it was…we had no real plans for how it was to turn out…it just did.)

The adventure began in Zion National Park. Before we even began hiking, Lynni’s enthusiasm for the steep hike requiring the use of chains to pull one’s self up made me nervous. However, Angel’s Landing proved to be delicious. I overcame my fear of heights and of hiking in general and with the help of a few puffs of albuterol I was wheezing up the mountain with great ease. At the top we met a couple from Florida who warned us not to sleep in Bryce as it was 27 degrees out at night.

With that in mind, we decided to skip Bryce the next day and head to Moab instead to go to Arches National Park. Before we departed, however, we did a hike to Hidden Canyon. We were all alone on the trail as it was early in the morning. The trail eventually takes you to a gorgeous hidden canyon where there are pools of water and the rock has been washed smooth by years of weather erosion. We continued on on the “not” trail, climbing over rocks and enjoying the trees before turning around and hopping in Lynni’s car, Nikki.

We zoomed on 15, to 70. It was gorgeous. We passed towns with funny names: Browse, Sulfurdale, Beaver. Lynni fell asleep at one point. At another there were many signs telling us that there were no services for 100 miles. Luckily we had enough gas. Unluckily, I drank too much water and as I’m renowned to do, had to pee really really bad. Luckily, there was a scenic overlook. I meandered off the beaten path and went while enjoying the most beautiful view ever. Someday I’m going to get that picture blown up and I’ll hang it in my bathroom…the next time I have a bathroom.

At Moab we cursed ourselves for not being able to find a campsite and we drove around for ages looking for one. The park rangers at Moab had given us a sheet recommending campsites and one that was listed was called “Negro Bill’s Canyon.” We were interested in learning more but it was very hidden and so we drove up and down the Colorado River looking for it for about an hour. When we finally did, it would have been perfect, except it was all full. So, we settled at this generic RV site on the highway. At least it had amenities (showers, hot tubs), which we made full use of.

That evening we went for a lovely stroll to Windows Arches, saw the sun set, and tried to avoid the other tourists. Dinner was unremarkable except for the speed at which we ate: 17 minutes all in all (the beginning of our speedy meals).

The next day we did our first really long hike: Devil’s Garden. It was a 10 mile loop that took us to 8 different arches. We kept running into a nice fellow who we later learned was named Aaron. We climbed up tree stumps like a ladder, visited “the dark angel,” which we christened “the lone phallus” because it was all alone off to the side and because…

That night we hiked to Delicate Arch which is prominent on the Utah license plate. We enjoyed the light and the La Sal mountain range gleaming behind it.

Park 3 was Canyonlands, not too far off from Arches. On an isolated hike, just past the prairie-esque miles of the start of the hike, an infamous conversation occurred at a resting point. Zil: “I think I hear someone on the trail.” Lynni: “Who?” Zil, standing up,: “It’s not someone, it’s rams.” Indeed, there were 3 rams (male big horned sheep) standing there, watching us in the Star Wars-esque landscape (you know the part where they’re in the desert and it’s all white and wind swept). We ran, the rams stayed and all we could talk about for the rest of the hike, despite the gorgeous canyon views below, were the rams.

Onwards, we drove to Capitol Reef. What is most startling about Utah’s national parks is their diversity. Capitol Reef is part of a water pocket fold (I don’t know exactly what this means) but basically it is full of holes scooped out by water freezing and expanding and has striated colors (red purple white green orange). It is incredible. We hiked up to Cassidy’s Arch (after that unsavory character Butch Cassidy perhaps?). The views were insane. There was a rock formation called “Fern’s Nipple.” We were happy that finally someone in the Utah National Park’s Service was being honest. We were again alone on the trail and again, on the way back down we had another ram encounter, making the ram total of the day 6. Lynni also saw three snakes. She shrieked at every one.

We slept that night in Capitol Reef, had dinner at a cute little patio restaurant in Torrey (the town 11 miles away) and enjoyed a deep sleep. The next morning we did a short little hike that included shimmying through a canyon so narrow you had to go sideways.
Machines, we went onward to Bryce. Highway 12 is gorgeous. Everyone told us so. They were right. It was filled with pine trees and amongst the pines, thousands of birch trees–those tall, straight white-barked creatures whose leaves turn gold in the fall. They were beautiful, shining, flapping their leaves like children waving pennies.

Bryce Canyon was crowded, the ranger was not very pleasant, but she gave us excellent advice: go counter clockwise. We did an 8 mile loop called the Fairyland loop and if we had gone clockwise it would have been uphill for much more. We still dropped and gained a fair amount of elevation, had amazing views of the hoodoos (more earth pillars) and were threatened with rain. Around mile 41 of our five day extravanganza we were starting to get tired. We spent some time looking upside down and that gave us energy to go on. We finished in a spectacular 3.5 hours. As the Montessori teacher I work for always says, and as Lynni and I said throughout the entire trip, “Good job!”

From there it was home. I drove us back to lost wages and we encountered Hatch, Utah as well as two rainbows, one on top of the other.

If Central America is 1/10 as beautiful, I will be thrilled.

See my pictures: http://www1.snapfish.com/photolibrary/t_=7988811

I’ve been on the move more in the last five months of my life, then I ever have before and I’m excited to keep going, casting my roots wide and enjoying the people I meet along the way. It was inevitable that I leave Phoenix, AZ, my residence for the last two years. I enjoyed teaching there and learning and soaking up the sun, but it was time for a change.

Two months or so ago I sold all my stuff and trucked the remnants across the country in my little car to Chicago. Once in the midwest, I took off almost immediately for a two week stint in Cameroon, Africa where I visited my brother who was studying there. Back in the U.S. again, I drove north to Minneapolis where I lived for the summer, died too many times of heat exhuastion, helped a friend’s son with his multiplication facts, swam a lot at the delightful Hidden Beach, and mostly worked on finishing my Montessori training. (I am now officially an AMI Montessori teacher). Woot. (courtesy of SarahandMegan)

Now I’m in the stages of getting excited for another upcoming adventure…I’m living with the rents, saving money, working as a tutor and reconnecting with old high school pals until October 26 when I will adjourn once more, this time flying to Guatemala City. From there it’s a trip to Antigua, then on to Xela, and then, to uncertainty. The ultimate goals are three-fold: Learn (and become fluent in) Spanish, travel so that I might learn a bunch more about this giant world we live in and create everyday, and get better at participating in it in a wholly positive and happy way. As my yoga teacher Kat often told me in Phoenix: Be the change you wish to see in the world. I hope I’m doing that now, but I have a lot more to learn and am ready for some radical change.

A big maker-of-plans, this is a good life challenge for me. I’m excited and terrified to let go of some of my more type A sensibilities and let the winds lead me where they may. Perhaps I’ll make it to South America, perhaps I’ll go to Mexico, perhaps I’ll stay put in Guatemala. Who knows. At any rate, this is as good a place as any to track the adventuresomeness of it all.