Adventure to Belize

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I did NOT write my personal statement on the previous page! Thanks Erica

Now with that said... here we are in Mexico. Somehow we made it through the snow and the windy Mojave desert and the bus seems to be doing just fine. Last night we stayed in El Paso at a great RV park called the Mission. A run on the highway, a hot tub and a shower at last. How could I forget a bottle of vino and a rousing game of " Battle of the Sexes" which convinced us that Kyle may really be a woman. (I'm kiddding of course) And we know nothing about fishing, but anyway. Today we made it across the border with no real problems at all . well maybe a little confusion on our part. Sure would be easier if one of us actually spoke fluent Spanish but I think we'll get by. Its an adventure anyway. The border guard who boarded our bus just wanted to tell us that its prettier in the Yucatan than it is here. Our first missions here in Mexico were burritos and margaritas. We found food and Modelos and that was just as good. Erica learned that what our Spanish dictionary said meant " peas" actually means " pork intestines." oops. " Sin carne" is going to be an important part of our vocabulary although Mace reminds us constantly that the tortilla chips are, in fact, fried in animal fat. Tonight we are parked on the side of the highway at a rest stop. The bus is quickly becoming very lived in. Scout is behaving himself and seems to have settled in to traveling like a champ. And he seems happy to have no hair. Now we are just waiting for the warm weather to set in. First night in Mexico and I'm wearing jeans, socks, Chaco's, two shirts and a fleece. What's going on????

December 8

Well here we are driving deeper and deeper into Mexico. So far things have been going smoothly. Its nice to be on a bus full of people who are open to anything. I saw the true adventure spirit of this bus yesterday when we were blocked in at a protest at a toll booth. Rather than get upset , it was decided that we should grab some beer and food, go up to the roof and show our support for the local people. I'm not sure how much they appreciated it but they sure were interested in us .I think we might have even made it in the paper today. How fun. I am so happy to be in another country where people don't speak English and everything is just a little bit different. And we get to eat Mexican food all the time! What could be better than that? No more cheese for a while though, I think we overloaded yesterday. Still on a quest for margaritas. Didn't realize how hard they would be to find! The beer we've tried so far has been ok but its actually really tasty when you add lime. And I can't forget the drinkable yogurt. I think this bus is keeping Yoplait in business down here.

The terrain here is much more mountainous than I imagined. Its like driving through a dry, deserted Colorado and its just as beautiful. The bus is doing great and the weather is getting warmer. We all seem to be settling into life on the bus. Started Steinbeck's " The wayward bus" yesterday morning and finished it last night. (thanks Cale). Its about an unlikely group of people with distinct personalities who are stuck on a bus in California. We could probably write "The Wayward Bus continues" about this trip. Maybe we will.... Scout may be starting to appreciate his shave. We met a Chihuahua puppy yesterday at a rest stop and it looked like a little Scout. Erica has started calling him a "Chiwolfwolf." Well I think we are going to stop in a city today to update this page. I hope everyone who reads this is enjoying it. Keep the emails coming! Just because I'm on a bus driving to Belize for the next ?????, doesn't mean that I have forgotten my amigos and familia up there. The adventure continues...

December 11

Finding time to write in this journal just hasn't been a priority I guess. But I'm trying! This is the first time that I have attempted to keep a journal so for me, three entries in a week is good! I have been so absorbed in my books while we are driving and usually the computers are occupied by those playing "Heroes of Mike and Magic three" or something like that. We had our first real stop in Guanajuato. Cities in Mexico are so vibrantly colored, they seem so much more alive than US cities.. The people that we have encountered so far have been so friendly and helpful. I think that someday I would love to spend a few years here in Mexico absorbing the culture. Who knows? that may be sooner than later! At least a few of us are going to try to secure jobs in Belize so we can stay longer than a month. Don't worry Robin if that happens I will for sure come up to see my new niece/nephew!! I wouldn't miss that experience for anything!

So on with the journal. Lets see... we spent the day in Guanajuato following the advice of our 15 year old guide named Andreas. He took us to all the major tourist sights, the Mummies, the silver mine and who could stop there and not visit the house of Horrors? The tour was all in Spanish but I think that maybe it was the home of some influential woman who liked to torture men in the basement. Occasionally they would turn out all the lights and we would all scream. It was great. And I think that Andreas got a big commission for bringing us there. Its ok, he seemed like a good kid. We tried to convince him to come to Belize with us but he didn't seem interested.

Next we headed out to San Miguel de Allende. The city streets apparently could not accommodate a bus like Greg so we decided to bypass it and head to the hot springs. The pools were on a series of levels inside a tile and brick building. It was what I think of when I picture Roman bathes but everyone had on clothes. Erica, Jessica and I befriended a group of people from a town nearby who had studied in Wisconsin and spoke nearly perfect English. Between the four of them they had consumed twenty-four beers , a bottle of tequila and a bottle of rum. How they were still standing was beyond us! We spent most of the afternoon learning the intimate details of Mexican culture and how it differs from ours. For me, that's what traveling is all about. Meeting the people who call this place their home. We now have a place to stay in their town and Pancho promised that his grandmother would cook us dinner if we came by. I hope that we can take him up on that sometime soon! We also got our first taste of Mexican fast food, Pollo Feliz.( The happy chicken, what a great name) Ever had a barbequed onion? That would be the whole onion and you eat it like a piece of fruit. They warned us not to eat them around your boyfriend or girlfriend though. Overall they were quite entertaining and we enjoyed getting to know them.

What else? We camped at the hot springs and enjoyed a home cooked meal prepared by Ally. We figured that the elevation is about 6,000 feet or so and it has been pretty cold at night and in the morning. It will be nice to be in warm weather! I think that we are headed for Mexico City today. Apparently it is the most populated and most polluted city in the world. And its at 7300 feet. Can't wait! Maybe I should start smoking cigarettes today just so my lungs don't go into shock. For some reason I don't think that we'll be going f or our usual morning run there. I hear they have great markets with lots of shiny things and discos that stay open til 5 in the morning there though. Maybe we can talk James into it? Just kidding :)

Well the road is deteriorating and my inspiration is fading fast. and we're at a bathroom...

December 13

Warm weather at last! Our drive through Mexico City wasn't as bad as we expected. James safely maneuvered Greg through the crazy city, which was in fact polluted and populated. We couldn't get in touch with Marth's friend there so we opted not to stop. The drive out of the city was surprisingly beautiful. 17,000 ft volcanoes and mountain views that are comparable to those in Alaska. I didn't believe it either. Two of the volcanoes were venting and had black smoke periodically puffing out of them. One of my goals in life is to see a volcano erupt so I was more than fascinated by those two. I think I managed to get a few really good pictures on my regular camera. I 'll put these rolls of film in the bag with the rolls of film from Costa Rica last April, maybe someday I'll develop them!

After the mountain passes , we suddenly where in country as lush and jungly as I've seen. It reminds me a lot of the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. I heard the howler monkeys for the first time on this trip tonight I think that it scared Scout. It is so strange and yet comforting to have Scout along with me on this trip. That will make my decision to stay down here, rather than return to the US on the bus, much easier. We met a guy here at the "hippie camp" in Palenque who has been traveling for five years in 33 countries with his dog. He said he has never had any trouble doing it but his pup is quite a bit smaller than Scout. Someone last night asked me how much Scout would cost to buy. Erica answered something about him being our friend and not for sale. The way people react to Scout ranges from terrified to magnetically drawn to him. Some people just can't resist the urge to pet him.

Tonight we are camped at a "trayler" park near the ruins called Palenque. There seems to be a lot of young travelers here. I was inspired earlier to play the mandolin but the inspiration slipped away as my stomach started to churn again. So far, we seem to be doing ok as far as health goes. Erica apparently had a a bad reaction to her Chloroquine last night and a few others, including me, have had to request emergency bathroom breaks, but other than that , life on the bus is treating us good. The place is a pigsty right now, however. Serious cleaning is in order tomorrow.

But first a trip to town and a solar eclipse at the ruins. Right now I'm being interrupted by a guy who smells of margaritas and bug spray. oh wait that's just Mace. More later......

December 14 : The ruins of Palenque

We took turns shaving Mace's head...

December 15

Hard to believe that Christmas is in 10 days! The only white we'll be seeing this year are the white sand beaches of Belize! We're on our way up to the Yucatan today. We spent the last two nights at the trayler park and hippie camp in Palenque. There are a lot of travelers there that I believe have been there for a long time. One called the "amigo rojo" has been there for about two years. Its a beautiful place. Last night we were first awoken by all the people who live there returning from a party extremely intoxicated, then by the chilling sound of the howler monkeys. I'm not sure what they were up to or how close they were, but they were going off about something.( the monkeys that is, not the intoxicated people). I was dreaming that we were camping near a large highway or something so when I woke up, I thought the howling was eighteen wheelers zooming by. Then I realized that we were in the middle of the jungle in Mexico. It took a few minutes to figure out what the noise was , then I woke everyone up to hear it. Our timing seems to be perfect on this trip, a meteor shower two nights ago and a solar eclipse yesterday. So cool. Its Alabama weather out here, hot and humid! Everything is wet and I suspect that nothing will be drying anytime soon. I was attacked repeatedly by ants in Palenque and scratching my ankles has top priority right now! Here we are at yet another toll booth. I'm not sure how the Mexican people can afford to drive here! Every road has a toll and it gets expensive! We had an internet stop earlier today. It is so nice to hear from people up there. I'm still not sure how long we'll be gone , it seems to change on a daily basis. My money situation is not too pretty right now. Hope I can find a job in Belize.

We spent a few hours cleaning and reorganizing our home on wheels. It looks like everything is falling now and its almost, but not quite, as bad as it was before. I hope the two people who are meeting us here know what they are getting into. I can't think of anything else to write. Calling the US is expensive ,I've found. On to the beach....

December 20 maybe?

So its been a while since I've written. I even missed a website update. Sorry. When a chance arises to get off the bus, we take it. Sitting here in the sweltering bus when the beach is there calling my name, it just doesn't happen. So since Palenque...

we headed off in an almost desperate search for the ocean. We found it in the form of the Gulf of Mexico. Ah the Gulf. I guess we were camped just directly South of the beaches in Alabama that I grew up on. Instead of being on the Redneck Riviera , we're on the Mayan Riviera. The first campsite on the coast has become infamously known as the "sketchy" campsite by the ladies who slept in the bus that night. A deserted road near a port, a city of palapas that looked abandoned for a reason and more trash than I've seen in one place in my life. Not to mention a barbed wire fenced that was facing toward us, trying to keep us in? I didn't get it. It seemed fine until Scout felt the instinctual need to roll around in something dead. Erica had to suggest of course that the something was once a human. Needless to say I wore rubber gloves when I bathed him. gross. We ate a great dinner of peanut and ginger rice and all went to our respective beds. I think it was around 11 or so when the first police car showed up. He was just curious about what someone was doing down that deserted road, but he made me a little uneasy when he promised to "keep an eye on us." Later we were awoken once again, this time by another cop who told us to lock the doors because we weren't safe. This time, the officer only saw Erica, Jessica , Marth and I so I'm sure that's why he was concerned. Later we heard music coming from the hills and it culminated in a couple of people walking by the bus an scaring the crap out of us. I was so thankful that the dogs jumped up and barked at them. I was very happy to be outta there the next morning. That's definitely by far the most uncomfortable and vulnerable that I've ever felt in any of my travels so far, including walking on deserted streets in San Jose, Costa Rica at two in the morning. But it gets better from here, I promise.

On to Merida.... we were treated to Domingo en Merida which is a celebration in the central plaza that takes place every Sunday night. There was dancing of all kinds, ( I really dug the Cuban music) and street vendors. The other ringtailed cats and I were approached by several representatives of various discos promising us free admission and free drinks all night long. As tempting as it was, ( you know that I like free drinks!) all the attention intimidated us a bit and after Jessica was approached by a guy whose intentions were downright scary, we decided not to go out.

The next day we were out of Merida and on our way to the Caribbean. We buzzed past the turn off to Cancun although I looked up from Another Roadside Attraction long enough to see the high rise hotels out on the peninsula. Next stop , Playa del Carmen. It was more of a tourist trap than I anticipated so we headed south to a beach that was somewhat more "tranquilo." That is where we camped for the last three nights. We spent the days sea kayaking , snorkeling, swimming, walking on the beach, and plotting how to sneak into the all-inclusive hotel next door Copacabana. Could we make the green bracelets out of paper? Could we ask someone who was leaving to hook us up? No luck for us, but I think that Mace and Clark did have a night of free drinks there. It was wonderful to be not in transit for three whole days. So relaxing, so good for a group of people who have been on a bus for 20 days!! Today we had a quick stop in Playa del Carmen for internet, banking ( a very sore subject with me) and BEER!!

Tonight we are camped at a nice beach between the Ruins of Tulum and the town that has the same name. Its beautiful here. Tomorrow Belize!! I've been warned a number of times that its very expensive. I hope its not too bad. Still not sure what my game plan for the future is but I think that I'd like to get some skiing in and maybe get a few classes in during the spring quarter. Unless of course I find that perfect situation in Belize, Guatemala or Mexico. You never know and I'm always open for suggestions. Time for dinner...

December 24

Christmas eve in the jungle. It really does not seem like Christmas at all here. Well, except for the empty stockings we've all hung on our cubbies and the Christmas decorations on a tropical looking tree. We are here at Cave's Branch jungle and adventure lodge or something like that. It is beautiful! I awoke Christmas eve morning to the sound of rain falling on my tent. Then the rain fell harder and harder and soon was oozing up through the floor. I felt my feet getting wet and realized that my thermarest was merely an island in the sea that my tent had become. Scout was soaking wet and had that miserable look he gets sometimes, especially when it rains. I've never met a dog who hated the rain as much as Scout. Guess that rules out moving to Portland? Anyway...since the last entry...that little town near Tulum turned out to almost be the death of me. We heard some music playing somewhere near the bus so we went on a mission to dance. Had a good time, drank some margaritas blah blah blah. Woke up the next morning sicker than I ever had been from alcohol before. When I was still sick 12 hours later, I began to suspect that there was more to it than drinking too much, which I didn't think that I had done anyway. Four days later and I'm still recovering. Don't know what happened but it sure did a number on me. So the border crossing into Belize is an absolute blur of people talking to me, walking around the immigration building , trying to figure out the dog situation and throwing up. Not a good day, and they charged me $50 US to bring Scout into the country. ouch. We went to some place near some restaurant in some town and camped in the bus. I didn't move. The next day we decided to go to a "wildlife refuge" called Crooked tree. It wasn't much like the wildlife refuges in the US, that's for sure. It was more like a little town that you had to pay $8 Belizean dollars to drive into. The trails were roads but the people were friendly and entertaining. I think if we had time and money to take a boat tour into the heart of the park, it would have been a different experience. We then hit a grocery story just outside of Belize city. The contrast between groceries in Mexico and Belize was startling. It was like we had just stepped back into the US but things were a little more expensive. Nearly everything in the store was imported from the US. And everyone seems to speak English here too. That makes it easier for us. The people in Belize have been very friendly to us so far. Maybe I will stick around for a while.

Ok back to Christmas Eve in the jungle. It was pouring rain so Erica and I decided that it was a perfect day for a hike in the jungle. We headed to Blue hole national park, not to be confused with the "blue hole" on lighthouse reef or the "great blue hole" in the Yucatan. The adventure started at the visitors center with Israel, the Belize Audubon Society employee, who thought it would be nice if we stole some grapefruit from the nearby plantation and took them on our hike. He was right, they were delicious. Then we headed off on a jungle trail to a cave called St. Herman's. Israel had given us a two for one deal on flashlights so we were set. I learned real quick that I was not meant to be a spelunker. We hadn't gone more than 50 yards into that dark abyss when I started to sweat. No need for all the details , its just not for me. Back outside the trail had turned from a little mucky to one big slippery staircase which I fell down repeatedly. It was rainy and humid and we were already wet so what's a little mud? Israel got a kick out of it then offered us jobs working at the park. He told Erica that he would pay her $100 a day but he'd pay me $200 because I'm taller. He was quite a guy. Anyway the whole point is that its Christmas Eve and we're in a jungle in Belize.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas everyone!! What a beautiful day . We woke up this morning to the sun shining bright in the jungle.. We spent the morning at Cave's Branch then headed off in search of the elusive Sharon in Hopkins. We were told to go to the bar in town and eventually she would show up there or someone would know where she was. It took a while but she found us late in the afternoon. We spent the day emailing, talking on the phone, swimming and lying on the beach. I finally finished Another Roadside Attraction, an interesting book that I really enjoyed. Some people spent the day recovering from a Christmas Eve of debauchery. Some people even had new hickeys on their necks...Jessica? The cooking began and later in the evening we feasted on barbeque turkey, dressing, potatoes and corn, cornbread and, for us vegetarians, soya turkey.It was nothing compared to the Tofurky but it was edible. Some of the local kids took the job of entertaining us while dinner was being prepared. They sang and danced and told us ghost stories. They were fascinated by the digital cameras and headlamps. Of course , I would have loved to have been in Oregon today with my family ( I miss you guys so much!) but being here on the Carribean with the bus dwellers was a great experience. Now I'm off to sleep to the lullaby of reggae music coming from the bar next door.