Last weekend was pretty epic.... My friend jessica and i rode about 90 miles from xela to the coastal town of tilapa and tilapita. It was a beautiful ride with probably a total of 10,000 feet of descending. We had got a late start though and had to ride the last 10 miles in the dark. I luckily had my headlamp with me and she had a small pen light... So we we could at least see and be seen. We got to tilapa chowed down some piscado and washed it down with some Gallo, guatemala's national beer. There happened to be a circus performing in town that night... I insisted that we had to go. It was one of the more bizarre things I've seen... And thankfully no animals were involved. The next morning we took a small boat for a 15 min ride to tilipita. There we spend the whole day lounging on the beach, swimming in the ocean and mingling with the locals (practicing our Spanish). The rooms in both tilapa and tilapita were both kind of gross... Cockroaches in both places. It was also extremely hot and humid... I was ready to head back to xela the next day. I decided to ride back, and Jessica took a chicken bus back. The ride back was HARD! Somewhere around 10,000 feet of climbing..... Continuous. I cracked pretty hard about 7 hours in and near the highest point of the climb, the town of Los Nubes. Which in Spanish means clouds. I think it is always cloudy and raining here. I didn't have much money left so I could only afford a couple of bananas and some bags of chips. I pressed onward only to make it about 5 miles from xela when it got dark. I was relieved to ride right into a herd of shuttle buses and coif one back to xela for about $0.50. that ride hurt me for the next few days.
By weds I felt recovered and woke up at 2am thurs to climb Santa Maria a 12,800 foot volcano that looms over xela. We started so early so hat we could see he sunrise from the top. We just made it with 5 minutes to spars and it was one of the most amazing sights I've ever witnessed. It wa also kind of strange to get to the top and see several cows also enjoying the view!
A couple days ago I made the decision to leave my school and begin my travels. I'm feeling comfortable enough with my Spanish now and I think he best thing for me now is to practice all that I've learned as much as I can.
I've got four more weeks to travel, learn Spanish and experience the world. My plan is to go to coban, semuc champey, Flores, Tikal, peurto barios, rio dulce. Hondurus, todos santos (for the day of the dead), lake atilon, and possibly try to fit in one more week of school. I'll try to keep updating as much as I can. Hasta luego!
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