Adios Guatemala

It took 6 hours there are back but today I went to Guate, picked up my passport, got it stamped by immigration and am now all set to board my flight tomorrow. My hostel helped me hire a driver for the day for less than it cost to taxi or even shuttle bus. It was very nice having a driver for the day, even if it sounds a lot posher than it actually was. There was a lot of waiting involved, including a little nap in the lobby of the immigration building when the necessary staff member was discovered to be out for a two hour lunch break.

Anyway, I´m back in Antigua for my last night. I did a little shopping now that I know that I have enough money to last me. Í´m about to go for my very last dinner here too, how sad. I´m going to miss Guatemala, a lot, but I´m very ready to see friends and family again too. My shuttle to the airport is at 7:30 tomorrow morning, and I arrive in vancouver at 11:00 at night. I can´t wait to see you all!

(I´ll probably post a couple more blog entries after this. Mainly about Costa Rica. I don´t think I ever posted about my last day there. I also didn´t have a lot of free time in Costa Rica so couldn´t blog as much as I wanted. Now that I´ve written this blog, I realize it´s also a great way to remember my own trip in the future, as well as keeping in touch with friends now. So I´m going to fill in a few blanks from the trip and then... that´s that.)

Election Guatemala

Yesterday I was beaten up by a Guatemalan woman named Olga. Well actually I paid her for a massage but she kept me on my toes by sporadically thumping and slapping me. It wasn´t quite the tension reliever I was hoping for after the whole stolen passport thing but whatever. Yesterday kinda sucked actually. There wasn´t much to do so I browsed in a few shops and then went to watch a movie in the back section of one of the restaurants in town. I´d recommend The Prestige to anyone who hasn´t seen it yet, it was excellent. I headed back to my hotel early since yesterday was the presidential election in Guatemala and I wanted to be at my hotel just in case. I attempted to watch the election on tv but they really are very boring so I watched part of the stupid movie RV on tv. Not much happened last night when the election was over. A few firecrackers and honking in the streets. A siren went by but not much else. This morning I found out that no party had gained the majority so there are currently 2 parties who have won this round of elections and a second election will be held in november to determine the final winner. The 2 parties who´ve won this round are UNE (I think it´s a liberalish party) and Mano Duro, whose voting slogan translates to ¨vote with a strong hand¨ and then there is a picture of a clenched fist. Very right-wing, pro security. I´m sure the election in November will be interesting.

This morning I went to the Canadian embassy in Guatemala city and filled out the forms for my passport. I´ll have to go back tomorrow to pick up the passport and then get a stamp from immigration but the lady at the embassy said it should all be ready in time although it seemed like a lot of work for her. Right now, I´m going to go back to a store where a woman overcharged me and cause a rucus just because I´ve had a very frustrating few days and need to blow off a little steam. It would be nice to get my money back too. Then later, I´m not sure. I might take a nap. I´m exhausted.

Authentic Guatemala

Chisec is off the road for many travellers but I wanted to go there to see the Candeleria caves which are supposed to be very beautiful caves partially filled with water that you can tube down or just explore. So after spending the night in one of the 2 hotels in Chisec, I checked out of my room, stored my backpack at the hotel´s bag check and caught a public minibus to Chisec. It was a nice ride through some of the countryside but when I got to the Candeleria caves I wasn´t able to enter because the caves were completely underwater because of all the rain they had in the night. So that was a bust and I decided to go and visit the Lagunas Sepalau, 3 lakes which my guidebook says are beautiful tourquoise lakes surrounded by steep limestone walls. I waited for a mini bus back to Chisec by the side of the road but when I hailed it and the door opened, it was full of people already. There were people standing in the trunk of the van, kids were crammed in the aisles in front of seats and people were standing in the little hollow near the door. I was motioned to climb in and I wedged myself into a tiny little space near the door. The helper who takes money from people on the bus actually went and rode on the back bumper of the van! There are 15 seats in a minibus and I counted 33 people crammed in there. It was really fun and I couldn´t help smiling to myself that I was crammed into this little van like a circus car filled with clowns. When I got back to Chisec I wasn´t able to find a bus out to the lakes so I caught a tuk-tuk (miny taxi) up the very bumpy dirt road to the lake. When I arrived at the lake, the guide seemed very surprised to see me and I was the only person there. But the guide was nice enough and paddled me around in a little wooden canoe for a while. The lakes were pretty and peaceful. The water was a lovely tourquoise colour in which you could see the reflection of the surrounding steep vegetation. (I never saw any limestone walls that my guidebook mentioned though). I did see 4 tucans fly overhead though. The lake was okay but I kind of wish I hadn´t gone to Chisec, it wasn´t really worth a day in Guatemala.

After I left the lake things got a little better, sort of. I had to wait by the side of the road for an hour for not a bus, but a pick-up truck before the guide came down and suggested I start walking 20 minutes up the road so at least I could buy a drink at a little store. Just after I started my walk a pick-up truck came by and they stopped to let me climb on. That´s right mom, I rode in the back of a pickup truck. Not just any truck though, a big truck with metal bars up the sides and a long bar running lengthwise down the truck for people to hang onto. I rode standing up, gripping these bars for the 9km down the bumpy dirt rode with a little boy and his grandmother. All the locals that we passed in the area pointed and laughed as I passed by or else the kids gave me dirty looks. The area I was in was very rural and poor. The people there spoke the indigenous languages and seemed to be fairly anti-white-people. One little kid shouted ¨tourismo¨ at me, which is my first experience of that kind. It was definetely authentic though and I got to see an area of Guatemala outside the tourist swath.

When I got back to Chisec I picked up my bag from the bag check and caught another public mini-bus into Coban, from where I planned to transfer to a bus to take me to Semuc Champey, a river with beatiful limestone falls. The bus I was on arrived at a traffic jam, pulled over and the nice driver told me to get off and join another van of tourists who were unloading their stuff from their van. I wasn´t too sure what was happening but I got off and the driver of the other van took my backpack and motioned me to follow him. I soon saw why the traffic jam was there. The rain from the hurricane had flooded the road and there was a stretch of about 200 meters of flooded road. I followed the driver and waded into the water which soon reached my waist. The rest of the people on the tourist bus waded in after with some hesistation. It was hilarious, a real adventure. Then we all climbed into the back of a huge truck, I don´t know what to call it but it was an industrial truck with a flatbed sort of. I rode in the back of the truck with the wind in my face for about 10 minutes having the time of my life. We reached another area of the road we needed to fiord and then we finally reached a van that was waiting to take us to Semuc Champey. We drove and arrived in Semuc Champey at night time. The delay in the road had cost us some time and we were driving in the dark which was freaky because you´re really not supposed to drive at night in Guatemala. All along the road were political signs for the upcoming election (which are spray painted all over the country) but these had been crossed out with competing parties symbols which is the only time I´ve seen that in Guatemala so far. We began to psych ourself out in the van before arrived in this tranquil little town where I was dropped off at my hotel. (If you´re thinking this is a long post... it was a really long day).

The hostel I chose to stay at was very cool. It had little cabins all over and a very open atmosphere with internet and a communal dinner and a bar all set up for travellers to meet and chat. It was also fitted out with eco-toilets so it had a bit of a hippie traveller vibe but I didn´t mind. Soon after I checked in though, I discovered that my travel pouch with my passport, credit card, bank card and some money was missing from my backpack. I figure it was taken from my backpack while it was in the hotel bag check because when I called my hotel they claimed that it was not left in my room. The other option is that it was taken while I was on one of my many buses, but I kept a very close eye on my bag during the trip, and was lucky enough to travel with some very nice drivers and I don´t think it happened on the bus.

So I freaked out because my flight was on Saturday and it was now Thursday night. I was also unable to make calls to the embassy or airport or to my credit card from the hostel so I was forced to do nothing. Everyone at the hostel was very nice and if I ever have a chance I will go back to that hostel because I imagine that under better circumstances I would have a very good time there. I calmed down after a little cry and hung out in my hammock and down at the bar listening to some travellers playing guitar before I turned in.

I left early the next morning to head to the Canadian embassy in Guatemala city without ever getting to see Semuc Champey which is a real shame. At a short break in the bus ride I was able to call the Canadian embassy and ask them to start the process of making up a new passport but the phone call was cut off and I couldn´t reach them again so I just had to board the bus. The bus ride was about 7 hours and when we got close to Guatemala city and it was nearing 4:00 ( I thought the embassy closed at 5) I asked to borrow someone´s cell phone to make the call. A few very helpful people lent me their phone and helped me track down the number for the embassy, which was impossible to find. When I finally got the right number I learned that the embassy had closed at 1:30 and wouldn´t be open on the weekend. My biggest regret of the whole ordeal is that I didn´t stay in Semuc Champey and see the damn river, oh well. So I skipped Guatemala city and headed to Antigua where I am now. I was able to reach my parents, credit card and to change my flight for a measly $21 to this coming Wednesday. More ordeal with the whole process followed today though. My wonderful parents wired me some money through Western Union. However, since my passport had been stolen I visited 3 out of 4 Western Union locations in Antigua that told me that without id they could not give me any money and I should go to a different bank. By the time I tried the fourth back I had bust into tears in one office and had tears running down my cheek as I waited in an enormous line in the street to get into a bank that closed at 1:00. Oh yeah, it was 12:30 and I´d already spent the rest of the morning waiting for ever in other banks. It was not a good moment. Thankfully, I explained to the woman at this bank what had happened and showed her a photocopy of my passport, and she processed the transaction with very little fuss.

I now have enough money to get me through the next few days, and maybe even book a tour or two. I´ve paid for my hotel in advance just in case and I am finally relaxed. Oh, and this afternoon I filed a police report, lol. First I went to the tourist police office where they were very nice and I filled out a form. They then drove me to the national police station where I told the police officer my story and he filled out the offical report. I told him that I thought that theft occured at my hotel in Chisec, but could have happend on the bus. From that he told me that he wanted to write that the theft had occured on the bus from Guatemala city to Antigua, which it definetely had not. I said no, it happened in Chisec and he wrote a report saying the theft occured on the bus from Chisec to Cabon (no mention of the hotel where it probably happened). The whole thing is just a formality really for the embassy and just in case my passport is turned in. But they say the police are corrupt in Guatemala, and I can definetely verify that they aren´t always truthful. He gave me a copy of the report and showed me the door and I had to find my way back to the main town though it wasn´t far. I prefer the tourist police.

So anyways, I am now staying in Antigua until my flight on Wednesday and will go to the embassy on Monday to apply for a new passport. Antigua is my favorite city in Guatemala so I´m really not too unhappy with the whole situation. It´s been stressful but I´ve managed and I´m staying in the really cute hotel with cable tv and breakfast included for $9 a night. Not too bad really. Anyways, later.

Into the mouth of a dragon

I'm a few days behind with posts about my trip so this one could be a long one...

On Tuesday I headed out from Lake Atitlan to catch a bus to Guatemala city and then from there, an overnight bus to the ruins of Tikal. The overnight bus was not as comfy as I was hoping. It was a bit like a flight, in that they served food (a sandwich with mayonnaise and a slice of meat) and played a movie (Pearl Harbour with Spanish subtitles but the English sound kept cutting out). The seats were seriously the least posturpedic seats imaginable. I woke up a lot to readjust and was really tired when the bus arrived in Flores the next morning. Waiting at the bus were shuttle buses to take tourists to Tikal so I hopped on one of those and had a more restful 2 hour nap. I finally arrived in Tikal after the 10 hour journey.

Tikal is a large national park out in the jungle with all sorts of Mayan ruins. The day was absolutely amazing. I have the Rough guide to Guatemala as my guidebook and it has great historical information about the site and each of the ruins so it was like having my own tour guide while still being able to experience the site at my own pace. My own pace, coincendentally, was very fast because I need to meet a shuttle bus at 12:30pm in the parking lot so I could catch a bus out of Flores before the hurricane came close. Walking up to the site I saw a toucan (my very first of the trip) and what I think is a coati, an animal that kind of looks like an anteater. Walking up to the site, I climbed up the back of one of the ruins and found myself looking out over the entire central plaza. Four seperate buildings face inwards on the grand plaza, including 2 temples, the northern acropolis and the central acropolis. It's hard to describe without the photos but it was really incredible to be standing amongst mayan ruins and looking out at 2 great temples. Actually, now that I think of it, if you have ever seen the Mel Gibson movie, Apocalypto, you've seen the Tikal ruins because I believe he filmed it there.

I climed up the top of one of the temples and had some breakfast there. One of the many workers there renovating the site pointed me in the direction of some howler monkeys and I got to see a family hanging out in the trees, including a baby. They were quite close since the temple was high in the trees. Throughout the entire site you can hear the howler monkeys and wow do they give it a unique sound. They sound almost like machines so there is this strange buzzing noise in the forest.

I spent the next few hours exploring through the various different areas, including one called the Lost world. The Lost World buildings are the first structures that were built at Tikal and the least is known about them. They are very close together compared to the other and have a really tranquil feel to them. I also climbed to the top of Temple 4 (the largest in the park) and was treated to a view of the tree tops covered in mist with tops of the ruins sticking out above the trees.

By far the best ruin that I visited had the inspired name of Groupo G. As I was reading the sign in front of it, I heared 2 loud bangs behind me. I turned around to find an old man in a park guide shirt banging a walking stick on the ground to alert me to his presence. We talked a little about the hurricane coming and then he motioned me to take a look at the ruins. To enter these ruins, you enter through a tunnel (the only tunnel I saw in the whole park, the rest of the structures have doorways to small enclosures but nothing resembling a hallway to connect one room to the other). Then you enter into a central courtyard of grass and there are small rooms that open onto the courtyard in a rectangular structure. The feeling there was so tranquil as it was seperated from the other ruins in the park and there was just something about it. They were my favorite ruins of the park for that reason. After I exited the ruins, the same man was standing there and I told him that these ruins were my favorite. He squinted his eyes at me and asked me why, to which I answered that they had a very tranquil feel. He asked if I was a spiritual person and I said I was in a way but not in the religious sense. Then he told me that the ruins were once used as a monastery of sorts for Mayan rituals and meditation. He himself was a Mayan Shaman who performed Mayan rituals for locals and for visitors to the park who expressed an interest. The tunnel that I entered through represented the mouth of a dragon, and on the floor of the tunnel was a ridge that represented the spine of the dragon. 2 big paws of the dragon framed the entrance to the tunnel. It was so interesting to learn about. We talked a little more and then when saying good-bye, he gave me a hug and touched his hand to my face while giving me this look that felt like he sort of knew who I was, or at least approved of who I was. It sounds a bit odd retelling it now but it was really so amazing to be talking with this remarkable old man who performed Mayan rituals while in the presence of the very calm, and yes, spiritual ruins. It was definetely a highlight of the day for me.

I caught a shuttle bus to flores, and from Flores caught a shuttle to a little town called Chisec. But I've got a lot to say about Chisec so I'll write some more about it another day.

Tropical storm who?

Apparently there is a tropical storm in my area but I haven´t seen head or tail of it so far (is that the right expression?). At any rate, tonight I am headed up to the ruins of Tikal in the north of Costa rica and then tomorrow night I will head into the centre of Guatemala so I don´t think I´ll see much more of it than some rainy nights if anything. The storm has also recently downgraded so if anyone was worried, never fear, I am headed to the safest area anyways.

Today I am exploring some villages around Lake Atitlan. When I arrived here yesterday in Panajachel, I got the brilliant idea to go to the same hotel as some people that I met on the shuttle bus coming here. It´s this amazing hotel accessible only on foot or by boat. Cool right? Well I waited for ever for the public boat to run, but the drivers were telling me that they had to wait until there were nine people and for an hour it was only me. So eventually I gave in and hired a private boat for about $15. I arrived at the dock of the hotel, which is built into the cliff and has an amazing view of the lake, and then the public boat pulled in right behind me. I was pretty choaked. Oh well, if that´s the only time I´m ripped off in Guatemala it won´t be so bad. The hotel was really nice and I had this little cabing all by itself with a great view although I had to walk 10 minutes to get to a bathroom. It felt really odd being in a place like that while I´m in Guatemala. I felt kind of phony being somewhere so luxurious. That feeling only increased after I visited the nearby village which has no roads, only walking paths and was filled with houses made of corrugated iron. Children and dogs, cats and chickens were everywhere and all asking for a quetzal ($). I only spent about 10 minutes there before heading back to the hotel. I had planned to find dinner in the town but that wasn´t really an option so I had dinner at the hotel. The hotel set up this great long table where all the guests ate together so I had a nice chat with an irish couple, a german seafarer (his word, not mine) and some obnoxious Americans who were bemoaning the fact that other people thought all Americans were obnoxious.

After a lovely sleep I headed back into Pana by boat at 6:30 and booked a bus ride to Tikal before hopping on a boat to a small village near the lake. I took a tour to see Santa Maximon, a Maya figure that the locals come to with prayers and to cure illness. They locals give Maximon money, liquor and cigars, as well as light candles in hopes of gaining his help. He is a bit of an evil saint although my guide was having none of that and insisted that he was only good and helping cure many physical deformations and illness. There were women there from a town very far away who had come to give a sacrifice to Maximon. They light a bunch of eggs on fire in a special Mayan ceremony which was neat to see although I felt really out of place in the dim smoky house where he was kept.

After that I visited the church (nothing compared to Antigua´s), the local market and a tiny, uninteresting weaving museum. Many Catholic churches here have figurines, similar to a nativity scene, dressed in real clothes and encased in glass cases. It seems a bit like paying tribute to mannequins but to each his own.

I then headed to another town around the lake where I am now, called San Pedro. San Pedro has a reputation for being very bohemian and there are a lot of tourists dressed in very flowy clothes here. I rented a kayak for an hour to tour around the lake for a bit and then headed here to check email.

I´m catching a bus to Tikal at 4:00 and will spend tomorrow exploring the ruins so I probably won´t be in touch. The following day I will be in a little down called Chisec to explore some great caves they have there. I´m off to catch my boat. Adios.

I am alarm clock

Yesterday I woke myself up at 5:05 (that´s right, I have no alarm clock) and caught small tour to volcan pacaya at 6:00. We hiked right up a neighbouring mountain for a great view of the volcanoe and then down to walk up to a small cone of the volcanoe which had lava seeping out it. This is going to be a short post so I´ll be brief but it was really, really hot. We hiked up to get a great view of the lava and you could see heat waves like no other. I felt like I was in an oven. Our guide dropped his empty water bottle into one of the cracks where we were walking to demonstrate and it melted and burst into flames right away. We stayed less than 10 minutes in the really hot part before leaving for cooler areas which was good because my breathing was a little funky with the sulphur in the air. So, I hiked up an active volcanoe.

Today I am near Lago Atitlan. A beautiful lake ringed with 3 volcanoes. I am headed to a small little town away from the main tourist town but first I am planning to walk through a nature reserve and maybe rent a kayak for a few hours before I head to the hotel. I am almost out of time on my internet and I´ve got a lot to cram in today, including planning how I can most efficiently see all of the cool but spread out things to see and do in guatemala. So, mom, dad, I hope your flight was alright and you have had a nice sleep in your own bed. I am safe and happy so don´t worry.

antigua, guatemala

Today I arrived in Guatemala. I lucked out and unknowingly got a flight in first class to Guatemala by purchasing a last minute ticket on Expedia. I was so surprised when I found out where my seat was! First class is really something, even on the tiny airline I was flying with. They served my juice and warm nuts before the plane took off and then we had a nice little lunch on the hour and a half flight. It was cold, spiced potatoes *yum*, with a warm bun served with cream cheese and smoked salmon. I have got to fly first class more often.

I arrived at the airport in Guatemala city and got through their non existant customs check then exited to the frenzy of taxis and shuttles and people asking if you need a hotel. I latched on to a girl from my flight who spoke Spanish and had already managed to find a taxi driver to Antigua and we split the cab ride there. The ride through Guatemala city was surreal. The city is plastered with election posters because an election is coming up next week. There were people standing on the side of the highway and waving flags for what appears to be the right wing party. *sorry for not using hyphens or brackets but this computer won't do that for me*. Everyone seems to be in a real hurry and there are people and cars all over the place, a bit like what I imagine China to be like. The hour drive to Antigua was smoggy but interesting. I can immediately say that I like Guatemala more than Costa Rica. It's something immediate, like a gut reaction to the scenery, the pace of life, and the climate. It's nice and cool here with beautiful rolling hills everywhere.

Getting into Antigua was a jaw dropper. It's the most beautiful city I've ever seen. It's all colonial style with pastel painted building all flush to cobble stone streets. There are ruined colonial buildings and churches everywhere you look. There are also tourist police everywhere you look and the town feels very safe. Even safer than Atenas because the people here are at least 10% tourists, and people here make their living off tourists so it's in their best interests to make sure that people enjoy themselves here. I've taken a few photos so far and booked a 7 hour hike up a volcano tommorow *hoorah*. I've got a bunch more to do before it gets dark so I'd better go.

Oh, when I got here, I checked into my hotel just before this immense thunder pounded through the sky and let out torrential rains. More than Costa Rica, which I thought I'd never see. After 20 minutes it let up and the street were flowing with muddy water. They seriously looked like mini rapids. Anyway, everyone, I'm ok and safe here in Guatemala. It looks like it's going to be a very good trip although I'm having trouble adjusting to a new conversion rate of $1 equals about 7 or 8 quetzals. Anyways, I'll write again soon!

Orphanage Donation

Well I´ve got 3 more days left working at the orphanage. I really can´t believe that it´s gone by so fast. There have been highs and lows over the month for sure but right now, if I didn´t have grad school applications due very shortly after I get back, I would extend my stay here for another month. I don´t know what I´m gonna do when I have to leave those kids. I really hope that they are used to having old volunteers leave and new ones come in because I really don´t want it to be upsetting for anyone but me when I leave.

This morning I went shopping for some things for the orphanage. I spent $80 American on colouring books for everyone, a bunch of childrens books in Spanish, packs of diapers, wipes, shampoo and baby creams. The rest of the money ($290) I am giving to the orphanage this afternoon and asking that it be spent towards diapers (which believe me, make life a lot easier for the Tia´s and free up a lot of time for them to spend with the kids) and towards the purchase of a new high chair which they have been saving up for. I mentioned before that I was going to buy new clothes for the kids but after speaking with one of the Tia´s I reconsidered. The kids all have a bunch of sets of clothes already and I´ve never heard any of them complain that their clothes are old. Actually last week, everyone got a new set of pajamas anyways.

I hope that everyone who sent some money for the orphanage will be happy with that. The money is mainly going towards neccessities, and the kids don´t lack in toys to play with. Also, I fully trust the orphanage staff so no worries about the money being spent inappropriately. It´s a private orphanage run by the woman whom I´m giving the money to and she is a real fierce protector of those kids.

Well, I have about a hundred things to do to wrap up my time here, including taking about 100 photos of the town and the kids and my family which I don´t know why I put off till the last week. I have bought a photo album to give to Gina because she mentioned that she wanted to buy a photo album one day for the photos of all the volunteers who stay with her family. So I need to take some good photos of all of us so I can get a few developed for her album before I leave on Saturday morning. I am also hammering out the last details for the next week which I will be spending travelling around Guatemala. So I am really excited, busy and sad all at the same time. Ciaou.

Monteverde

This weekend I am in Monteverde, a tiny little mountain town with great nature reserves and about all things eco that you could possibly think of. Yesterday I caught the 6:30 bus out of San Jose and took the 4.5 hour bus ride up here. I checked into Pension Santa Elena which is a recommended budget hotel by Lonely planet but really only because it has a communal vibe and the best tourist info in town. Last night I stayed in the dorm, which was fine (and $5 a night) and today I upgraded to a single room...with a private bathroom! I have not had a private bathroom with a hot (yes hot, not warm, not cold) shower the entire time I have been in Costa Rica. It´s a serious luxury for me right now.

The day I arrived, I browsed some of the local craft stores and coffee shops, and visited the Serpentarium. The serpentarium is what it sounds like... it has snakes. I took a tour in Spanish (which was helpful because the guide pointed out the snakes even if I couldn´t understand what he was saying). There are some pretty cool snakes in Costa Rica and they´re kind of fascinating in their own cold, shiny way. I even held one at the end of the tour.

Today I took an early guided tour at Santa Elena nature reserve at 7:30. I was in a group with 3 other nice, smart girls about my age, one of whom I had met on the bus last weekend, go figure. The forest is really lush, and the foliage is so dense. It also has that fresh, crisp feeling that belongs in a forest and everything was dripping wet because it is, after all, the cloud forest and it´s always wet even when it´s not raining. During the tour, I stopped to take a picture and got a bit seperated from the group when a Pecary (a small wild boar) walked right out on the path and started to scratch his head on my leg. It was wild, and only later did I find out when the Pecary found the rest of the group, that they also like to bite the things that they rub their head up against... No harm, no foul I guess. We didn´t see much other wildlife except for birds, but the guide had lots of interesting things to say about the plants and their various uses so it was a great 3 hour hike.

After the hike I headed down the road to Selvatura to take a canopy tour. A canopy tour is where they stick you in a harness, attach you to cables that run through the tree tops and you zip through the forest with only a gloved hand to slow yourself down. It was a really amazing experience. There were 16 different stretches of cable that we got to do including a tarzan swing. To go on the tarzan swing you climb up this huge platform, get attached to a rope which is tied up in a tree and they open a gate and push you out. You free fall for a second or two and then swing back and forth through the trees like, well, Tarzan. I got to go twice because I agreed to jump off the platform backwards the second time. Very exhilerating once you feel the rope catch you. After the canopy tour I visited the hummingbird garden, which is just a bunch of hummingbird feeders and I could have got in free if I´d just done a little snooping. I got some amazing photos there, you can just walk right up to the feeders and they buzz all around you. Very cool.

I got tired of waiting for the shuttle bus to come pick me up so I started to walk back into town (it´s about 7km). I was planning to flag down a shuttle when they drove by but none came. I got about 3km before I managed to flag down a taxi just before the rain started. Now I´m back at the hostel and about to join a communal dinner which has been organized. It sounds like a bunch of people are going to the supermarket and then going to cook in the hostel kitchen. It sounds cheap so I´m in.
Also, I´m reading an extremely good book. If you ever get a chance, pick up "a very long engagement". It´s an extremely horrific, yet moving story about seperated lovers during world war II.

I head out of Monteverde at 6:30 tomorrow morning and will head straight to the orphanage when I get back. I can´t believe it´s my last week there. I´m gonna miss those kids so much. I´m making a poster with a bunch of spanish phrases and their english conversions to help future non-spanish speaking volunteers. I wish I could take one of the kids home with me instead but I guess that I´ll always have a chance to come back in the future. Anyways, enjoy the rest of your weekends!