Bye CR

Alright, so I did end up having plans for Friday night and Saturday. I went to a bar with Sagie, James, and two brothers we call the JPs. It was pretty busy there. They seemed to have a Captain Morgan promotion going on because there was a guy dressed as a pirate going around. We got our picture taken with him and then I was lucky enough to be picked up and tossed into the air. Thankfully I got a hat for my embarrassment.

We were out pretty late, so we just ended up crashing at James' because we could walk there. Saturday we were going to go to the market, but we didn't have time. There was a soccer game on at noon, so we met up with some girls from TEFL (teach English as a foreign language) and went to a bar.

My ride was scheduled to pick me up at 3:30, so we were out until about 2:50. It was a little close. Especially because when we walked out of the bar there suddenly were no taxis. Luckily there was a bus and I got back to my house around 3. I was already all packed, but just wanted to charge my phone and facetime Chuck. at 3:10 my ride showed up. It was a nice taxi owned by someone at Maximo. The ride took quite a bit of time, but I finally made it to the airport.

I had to pay a departure tax of $28, which I thought was totally insane. After that, I ended up waiting in line about an hour to check in. Dear Taca: get yourself together and shorten your friggen lines. However, it was my lucky day. My flight was full, so I was upgraded to first class! I breezed through security and made it into the terminal.

At this point I was starving. I'd had some bread for breakfast and a couple bites of nachos at the bar. I wandered around looking at the food, but the airport is surprisingly small. Everywhere had sandwiches for about $9. Even a burger at Burger King was $8. So I ended up getting a premade, gross sandwich for $9. I paid with colones and got my change back in US and it was a bad exchange rate. 10,000c is about 20USD but my change came out to $9.

I had to wait in line to sit down at the gate because they wanted to manually look through the luggage. I went through and sat down and waited. I felt like there were a lot security personnel around, but I didn't think much of it. We still hadn't boarded by the time the plane was supposed to leave. Then there was an announcement that we were switching gates.

On the walk down, I passed another little food stand. Of course, this one had sandwiches for $6 and they looked better than what I had had. I sat and waited at the new gait with the many security guards. Finally, we could board. With my first class status I was one of the first few people on board. On the jetway, everyone had to go through a pat down. Quite intense. I found my seat in row 1 and enjoyed the extra space and the pillow and blanket.

So Taca always gives food, but I got a snack and a meal in 1st class. I started with my beverage (in a nice glass) and a little ceramic bowl of mixed nuts and raisins.

The flight attendant then took my order for dinner; chicken and pasta or a beef dish. I figured pasta would be safer. I received a beautiful tray of food. Real silverware, cloth napkin, warm bread, my entree, and a chocolate strawberry dessert with a freshly sliced strawberry. I think everyone should fly first class.

Even though we had taken off late, the flight was shorter than expected. About 2.5 hours after take off we were in Miami and I was finally able to see Chuck after 6 weeks. I fell asleep on the drive home and woke up as we pulled into the apartment complex. I went inside, hugged the cats, and went to bed.

It's bittersweet to be home. I've been gone a long time and missed it here, but there is so much more out there for me to see.

Mom and Dad, thank you for funding my trip and putting up with my lack of phone calls. I hope my blog kept you entertained.

Mr Peaches looks oh so happy to see me.

24 Hours

I will be on my way to the airport in about 24 hours.  I can't believe it is time for my trip to end.

Last couple days at my placement have been bandaging people, mostly feet. Luckily we didn't do blood pressures for the past 3 days or so. That was getting old. Today there was a celebration for a saint, so there was an alter set up in the courtyard and a mass with a priest, singers, and all sorts of stuff. They even had fireworks, but they were more about the noise than the lights. Some were so loud that I jumped every time. I don't really understand why they would do that when celebrating a saint.

The entrance. Hogar Carlos Maria.

One of the dorm rooms. Most residents sleep in dorms, but some have private rooms. My understanding was those that don't get along well with others get a private.

Me and Augusto, one of my lunch buddies. The others declined pictures unfortunately.

View from Carlos Maria.

This is a squirrel who gets bread everyday from one of the residents. The guy sticks the bread in the fence right next to him and the squirrel comes up, grabs it, and runs off. I was pretty shocked how close he got.

Katie, nurse Karin, and I. Karin was awesome. She let us do stuff on our own, chatted with us, and joked around.

The little clinic room. This is where we would do bandaging.

Same dorm as pictured earlier, but the other side.

One of the dining rooms.

Me and one of the residents. I never really knew him, but  he really wanted a picture, so of course I obliged.

The church on the grounds. It is nice on the outside, but even more beautiful on the inside.

The grounds near the front of the complex. Just a little sitting area.

Tuesday night I went out with a group to a bar on the strip near the university. I ordered some ginormous drink, I don't know what it was called, but it was pretty good. Sweet but sour at the same time. About 2/3 through it started to get too sweet, so I switched with someone. We stayed there for awhile and then walked over to Jazz Cafe. We hung out for a bit and then around 12 the place was pretty much empty. We went back to the first bar, but that was pretty empty as well. We decided to call it a night so I got home a little early around 12:30.

Wednesday I decided I needed to buy a shirt, so I went to the mall in the afternoon. I wandered around for quite a while looking at the little boutique shops with overpriced clothing and poor selection. Can't I just get a plain T? I finally found a Pague Menos (pay less) and was super excited. The prices were excellent, but it was such a strange assortment of clothing. Nothing was simple, or even close to, and it was really shoddily made.

I had gone through (all?) 3 floors at this time and started working my way back down. There were several T shirt stands which I hadn't really wanted to look at, but since I was having no luck I took a peek. Prices weren't bad, under $10 for a tshirt. I saw some I liked and asked to see one in a small. She only had XL. I asked to see another. That one also was only really big. So I asked what she had in small. Apparently, she had none. I don't understand.

At this point I was really frustrated but continued around the mall. I finally found an awesome tshirt store! Simply tshirts, and a few tank tops. It was called Happy Hill and unfortunately they don't have a website. Anyways, I browsed their tshirts and finally chose a green one with "peace" and other relaxing words/images. I decided to celebrate with some ice cream and had TCBY. It was disappointing. Cheapie vanilla fro yo with previously frozen raspberries and mediocre chocolate chips. And it was expensive.

That night was ladies night, once again. So I went in a large group and we stayed there for several hours. It's free vodka for ladies, and somehow they managed to run out that night. It was sorta funny. Afterwards we went out for pizza. It was a small little place but they had GIANT slices. I swear, each slice was 1/4 of a pizza. It was pretty dang good too. I got home late and zonked out.

Not too much happened on Thursday. I walked back to Maximo from my placement. It only took about 40 minutes and it was nice out. I then ended up listening to everyone talk about their weekend plans and how much fun they're going to have. Lame. However, on my way home I stopped at Pops, an ice cream chain. I got a scoop of brownie and one of mint. It was yummy.

Today was the mass at my placement and after I got back to Maximo I walked to the mall for a shirt for Chuck. I chose one (can't say what) and then ended up getting Pops again. Chocolate mint and chocolate chip. I am on a roll!

So Maximo is pretty quiet; I think a lot of people are already gone for the weekend. I have class in about 40 minutes so I'll just chill until then. I have no plans for tonight, and none for tomorrow either. Once again, I'm going out with a bang.

And just because I have it, here is a picture of a random flower.

Manuel Antonio

What a crazy weekend. We left for Manuel Antonio around 2p. The drive itself was insane. I paid $30 (roundtrip) and it turned out to be 13 of us crammed into a shuttle van. Luckily it had AC. So, the first problem was when we came upon a toll booth. They're like the ones in the US, very clearly marked as open, closed, fast pass, etc. We went into the fast pass one, and of course the driver didn't have a fast pass. So we went backwards to get into another lane. Instead of going to the right, the driver went one lane to the left, into oncoming traffic. All of us in back were like "uummm..." and then finally the guy backed up again and got to the right side of the street.


Our next situation was when we stopped for a bathroom break. The guy pulled over to the side of the road. Apparently there was a giant ditch there that all the people in front could see, but somehow the driver still almost drove us into it. Wonderful.


Our final exciting moment of the drive was when we arrived in Quepos, the town just next to Manuel Antonio. We managed to get lost. I swear this guy had never driven the route before and had no clue what he was doing. He asked for directions and we turned around to find our turn. We finally found it and got dropped off at our hostel, Backpackers.


It was surprisingly nice. Many of us were in a giant dorm room with 18 beds. It was clean, had breakfast, sitting areas, pool, and hot showers all for $12 a night. Here is a picture of the dorm which I hijacked from Backpacker's website. It's taken from close to the door and there is another bunk to the left, 2 bunks hidden in the back right, and then the wall with the "window" on the right is the bathroom.

So Friday night we went out to eat at a pizza place. It was our whole shuttle van group which was lots of fun. Service was pretty horrible, but we were having a blast. We finally finished and headed back to our hostel to go out. I was going to go out to a club, but decided to hang around the hostel with friends. We wanted some beer so we went to the market to get some. It was about 10:02. The store closed at 10. We ended up going to a bar and paying double for a 6 pack. $2 per can. Not a good deal.


We went to the hostel and played an intense game of Uno. We weren't able to finish because it hit 11:00 which was quiet time. Several of us ended up going to the club anyways, Republik, over in Quepos. It was a 3 thousand cover, about $6, but we got a drink ticket which was ok. The place wasn't very busy so we didn't stay long. The music was quite loud and some of the locals were a bit sketch. Not to mention the strongest drinks I have ever  had.


We finally went back to our hostel and got to bed around 1 or so. Being the prompt person I am, I woke up bright and early at 6 and laid in bed until others started waking up. We all had some pancakes for breakfast and prepped to go to the beach.


We took the bus to the national park which seemed to be at the other side of town. The road wound up and then down a large hill. We got off at the end and I was able to see the public beach. It was beautiful. Nice and sandy and there were large rock formations way out in the water. (btw, I did not bring my phone for fear of damage, so I will have to hijack pictures from others). We walked towards the park and of course there was a long row of stands selling dresses, towels, and other trinkets.


We made it to the park and paid our $10 entrance fee. The walk through the park towards the beach and the paths was lengthy and we ended up breaking into small groups. Mine walked on some of the paths and we came across a sloth way up in the trees. We watched him eat for awhile, but he was slow and rather boring. We continued on and came to a lookout point. We were able to see out into the ocean and it was beautiful. Better yet was a small stop just before the lookout which had a view of the coast to the South with cliffs zigzagging in and out of the water.


We backtracked and took another trail. We ended up at a small, secluded beach. But first, we had to cross a stream. First off, there was some sort of palm tree with spikes all over it. One of the girls grabbed the tree and stuck herself. There were several rocks and a narrow log to cross on. I managed to make it, but once on the other side I wanted off the log ASAP so I just jumped for it. I landed in some nice squishy mud, burying half of my right shoe. The beach was nice and we stayed for a short while and then went back.


We went to the main beach and went in the water. It felt great, especially after all the humid hiking. The only problem was there were giant rocks on the bottom. I tried to stand on them, but the waves would push and pull me and I couldn't stay. I ended up slamming my toe into one of them, but it was ok. Later, the other 3 went in again and what I thought was a timed dive was actually all 3 of them tripping over the same giant rock at the same time. It was ridiculous.


Finally, what we had all been waiting for happened. We saw monkeys! There was a group of about 5 capuchins that were playing near the beach. We watched for awhile and took pictures. They were adorable. One was just chilling on a branch while the others ran around. A raccoon type creature had stolen someone's chips earlier, so the monkeys had shown up to eat them.


We then returned to the small beach and this time when I crossed the river I got my other shoe covered 3/4 in mud. Excellent. We watched the crabs on the beach and chased around some that were super speedy.


Here are some beach pictures I've permanently borrowed.

Went back to the hostel, showered, and headed out to a taco place to eat. This was a little Mexican restaurant in Costa Rica and the owner was American. Quite a combination. I had some steak tacos and chips and salsa which were pretty good.


That night started with cheap rum and cheap pineapple juice. Not a good combination. Everyone was busy playing different games, Uno, dominoes, cards, and it was a lot of fun. Later we went out to a local bar (actually the one that had ripped us off on take away beer the other night) and hung out there for awhile. Afterwards, back at the hostel a group of us went down to the pool and chatted. I finally went to bed around 3a.


Here are some pictures from the weekend.


Kelsy, nursing student from OK.

This fine chap is James. He is absolutely nuts.

A view of the pool at Backpacker's standing up on the deck near the dorms.

Lana, another Minnesotan.

Dean, me and Nathan.

Sagui, my housemate, and I.

Me and Nathan.

Me and Brittany.

I didn't do much on Sunday, just hung around at the pool. I left Manuel Antonio around 4 and luckily had a different driver. I made it home in one piece and promptly showered and went to bed.


Skipping back to last week, I believe I mentioned the cupcake place. Here are a couple pictures from then. And my cupcake milkshake!

And onto last night, Monday night, I went to the Jazz Cafe for reggae night. It was excellent. There were only two bands, but the music went on for several hours. Each band had about 10 people; it was crazy. So, I'm not a person who dances, in fact, I pretty much never dance. But I loved the music and was almost tempted to get out on the dance floor. I never did, but at least I branched out and thought it.

The last two days at my placement have been pretty much the same. Blood pressures, insulin, feeding lunch. And bingo today! My lunch guys are pretty cool. I help Rafael eat. He's the one who likes to talk about the weather and COSTA RICA! I also sit with Augusto who likes to laugh at how tall Katie is, and Ernesto who told me yesterday that he goes to the bars for beer. I'm hoping to get some pictures later this week.


Right now I'm in shock that I'm heading home in just a few days. Before my trip I thought 6 weeks was going to be so long and I even thought that I might end up canceling it. But now, I wish I had more time. I've had such a great experience, have met amazing people, and just don't want it to end. I feel like I'm going to have a hard time moving past this summer, but I'm so glad to have done what I've done.

Ladies Night

I definitely forgot to post this last week, so here it is now.


First off, phones are not so cheap here! It's like $40 to buy one, and about $10/d to rent. I guess I'm not getting one.


Last night, I decided to go out to a club for ladies night. It was quite interesting. I wasn't sure if I was going to go because I've been going to bed around 9:30, and this started at that time, which was just so late for me. I decided if my housemate Sagie wanted to go, then I would too so I at least wouldn't have to go alone. So, we went to go take a bus and stood at the stop for at least 15 minutes. We finally decided to just take a taxi. It was about $4 for a 10-15 minute ride. Cost of things is ridiculous here. We met everyone at Maximo and then walked to the club. That was about a 15 minute walk.


First, the club Nova actually carded everyone. Drinking age here is 18, so that's not a problem for most people. So after showing my ID, I had a pat down (which was apparently quite intense for the guys), walked 10 feet, paid my 2k cover, about $4, and got a ticket, and then walked 3 feet to hand over my ticket and get my  hand stamped. It was ridiculous. With the hand stamp, I got my plastic cup. Ladies drank free 9-11. Only bottom shelf vodka of course.


So I was hanging out with Kelsey, Dean, Brittany, and Sagie. and enjoying my free cosmo/screwdriver combo. Apparently "surprise me" means 1/2 way between two drinks. Anyway, I finally finished drink #1 as others polished off their third. Yes, I was the butt of many jokes last night. At least my liver will be (more) healthy.


The music was ridiculously loud and the club was full of North Americans. It was definitely not my scene, but I managed to stay until around 1. I haven't stayed up that late for a long time. It's always amusing to watch people at the end of the night. Some are quite tipsy, others drowsy, and then someone always seems to be crying and miserable. It may be worth it to go out more often simply to watch people.


I finally went to bed around 1:30 and woke up this morning at 6:30. Luckily, someone was in the shower and I hit snooze. A couple times. I groggily got ready and went down for breakfast. Instead of rice and beans and bread, we just had bread and mashed avocado as a spread. It was adequate for me though.


At my placement today, I gave an insulin injection. Katie gave an IM injection in the butt. It was good times. I told her I claim the next one. We then watched an orchestra from Los Angeles play. They were high schoolers, but were pretty good. We finished the day with a few blood pressures and feeding our same lunch buddies. "Mucha lluvia," "Costa Rica," "hace mucho calor."


I didn't go out anymore in San Jose after that, but my days were pretty similar with placement in the morning, hanging out in the afternoon, class, and heading home.

Last of the Guatemalans

So here are my last few photos from Guatemala.

First, the cool restaurant that I ate at with amigos on Thursday night, and then returned to on Saturday.

And some pictures from the market on Saturday. I rather enjoy this first one.

And now back to Costa Rica. I went to a cupcake shop today and had a cupcake milkshake. Yes, that's a milkshake with an entire cupcake shoved into it. It was rather awesome. I also decided to book the $30 bus to Manuel Antonio for the weekend. I could have gone for $12, but I was unsure about the public Coca Cola bus.

So it's national park and beaches this weekend and staying at a hostel with about 20 others from Maximo. It sounds fun. Many simply want to drink, but some want to hike a little and go rafting, so I'm down with that. I leave at 2 from Maximo and get to the beach around 7, or possibly earlier.

Here is a picture of my room, followed by me basking in the afternoon weather.

Today with the elderly was fun. Katie and I went around taking blood pressures. What was even more fun was testing the cuffs at Maximo before hand. One of them was missing a piece (but we didn't know) and we spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to wrap it around an arm. We finally discovered the missing piece and realized how stupid we were.

So after the BPs we helped feed lunch. I had the same guy who talked about the rain, the heat, and COSTA RICA all while spitting on me. It was awesome.

I'm now waiting for my class and am debating about buying a really cheap phone here or not. I'll let you know

En Costa Rica

So first, a little joke. I had pasta for dinner last night. For real. It was good though. It was a different kind of pasta, but I think it was still wheat. It was mixed with some meat and vegetables. It was pretty good.

For breakfast this morning, I had awesome rice and beans, or gallo pinto. I like rice and beans. We also had AMAZING French bread from the bakery down the road. I think I will need to hit up the panaderia and hope they have some rolls. 

I took the bus to Maximo with my host brother Josue and it was so slow! There was horrible traffic and people would walk past us, then we'd pass them, and repeat. We finally made it and I was about 10 minutes late. Oh well. The ride cost 215 Colones, which is about 40 cents.

At orientation I learned that they STRONGLY frown upon medical volunteers taking days off. After 2 days off, they will drop you from the program. This doesn't apply to other volunteer positions. So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend. I was anticipating taking a 3 day weekend, but now I don't know.

To add to that, I had some trouble communicating with the tour guy at Maximo. Plus, everything was so expensive! It was over $300 for a 2d/1n trip. I think I might have to do it cheap. Take a bus, stay in a hostel, and maybe go without a guide. Some people are talking about going to Manuel Antonio which is a beautiful beach on the Pacific side. I had heard wonderful things about a different location, the Osa peninsula and I really wanted to go there, but it's about an 8 hour bus ride and I don't think I have time for that. Too cheap to pay for the domestic flights. So I might do Manuel Antonio. We'll have to see.

I go to my placement tomorrow morning. I'm sad I couldn't have gone today. Some people are at a huge children's hospital, which sounds amazing. I believe I will be working with the elderly, so I'm not sure how applicable that will be to hands on skills, but I like old people. As long as they're not driving. I go to Maximo tomorrow at 8:30 and will be taken to the placement with a pre-med student Katie.

I've met quite a few people already. I'm taking down their names in my phone to help me remember. I'm doing pretty well so far. I met Lana who I'd talked to some on Facebook. I've also met another nursing student Kelsey and an EMT Nathan. They're all pretty cool. It's crazy to think I would have never met these people if I wasn't doing this trip.

I had Spanish class at 4, so I sat around Maximo to pass the time. It's a beautiful building. Apparently it's only a few months old (or was recently renovated) and it is very modern and quite spacious. In fact, there was an extremely large orientation group, about 25 people. I thought Peru was the largest, but this is quite the competition. So I sat around and chatted. Then out of the blue, it started downpouring. There were rivers in the street. At this time, Nathan and I decided we would try to go to the pizza place just across the road, so we ran for it. Luckily I had my rain jacket. Of course, the pizza place is closed on Mondays. So we stood under the awning for a little bit and I had a wonderful photo taken of me decked out in my rain gear standing in the rain. I'll post that up when I can.

So it stopped raining and several of us went out to another pizza place we had seen on our tour. Of course, we couldn't find it so we settled for a hamburger place. It was pretty good. I got a cheeseburger for like, 700Q which is just a little over a dollar.

Spanish class was fun. There were only 3 of us, 2 new, so it was amusing. I've asked if there is a medical vocab list, but I'm actually not sure if I would need that in my placement. It's good to know anyways.

Kelsey, Nathan, and I were thinking about going to a bar tonight, but we're still unsure about the bus system. My bus ride looks pretty straight forward. I travel along 1 (or 2) roads for a bit and then make a right turn at a giant supermarket and go a little further. To get home I keep an eye out for the Taco Bell little shopping center and get off just after that. I'm on my own tomorrow so I hope it goes well.

I feel so excited to be here. I wish I could travel all the time. My passport expires in about 6 years, so I need to fill it more before then.

Welcome to Costa Rica

It's Sunday evening, almost time for dinner, and I am enjoying my wifi in bed.


Saturday I made it to the market and bought a bag, a hoodie, and a baby hat for a friend. I'll get to pictures of those eventually. All three of those cost me less than $20. It's amazing. I did travel from vendor to vendor for awhile trying to compare prices, designs, and general product selection. It's a bit overwhelming. They all say "good price" or "buen precio." I ended up buying from 3 different venders.


It started pouring while I was shopping and luckily the artesans market had a roof. I returned to my hostel to drop my stuff off and went to Maximo for the wifi. I had several hours to kill until the Maximo party with free food. I talked to Chuck, browsed the internet, and waited. Finally the food was ready so I grabbed some and went to be antisocial in the corner. I had tortillas, refried beans, a chicken dish, and a very spicy onion/jalapeno/carrot dish. It was pretty good.


It was about 8p and I went back to my hostel to chill. I had a roommate who was reading. I found some books and started reading. Never really spoke with my roomie, but he went to bed quite early and I fell asleep shortly after. 


The mattress was very uncomfortable. I felt like I was sleeping on the floor. I didn't sleep too well and heard my roommate get up early, maybe even around 4. I had my alarm set for 7, but I was awake by about 6 and just laid in bed. I got up with my alarm and gathered my things to leave. When I had booked my room, I was asked to pay but I requested to pay when I checked in. It was someone different who checked me in and I think they had thought I had already paid. I could have probably gotten away without paying, but it seemed to be a family run place and I wasn't going to rip them off. So I paid the entire 30Q, about $4 and left.


I went to Maximo to brush my teeth and use the bathroom (remember sketchy hostel bathroom). They were supposed to open at 8 but were late. I was starting to worry my bus to the airport would be early and I would be without my luggage which was locked away. Luckily Maximo opened and I was able to use the wifi for awhile before getting my luggage and waiting for my ride.


On the way to the airport, I talked with a guy from Norway, or was it Finland? I can't remember. He was a really cool dude and was backpacking through Central America. He was well traveled and had been to Peru, multiple countries in Central America, and much of Europe. He talked about how he was on his second gap year, that's how much he enjoyed it. When he graduated from high school, he went to a "school" for a year to sort of learn about philosophy and life lessons. This is what many young adults in his country do. The government is all for it and they help to fund it. It sounded awesome. 


I finally reached the Guatemalan airport and went to wait in line at Taca to check in. The line was moderately long and shouldn't have been too bad. But for some reason they only had 2 or 3 check in agents and I wanted a full hour. Yes, an hour. What sucked even more was that the line was double the length by the time I got to the front. I wonder if they all made their flights.


Security was a breeze luckily. I had my liquids in a bag, and one bottle was actually bigger than it should have been. Security asked if I had liquids, I said yes, they glanced at the bag real quick and said OK. Sorta funny. Another amusing bit was that after the metal detector, everyone gets a pat down. I didn't realize it until the woman was like, come back here! I had been wondering why the metal detectors were seperately labeled "men" and "women." 


I had some Quetzales left so I bought a piece of banana pound cake. It was pretty good. I was able to exchange the rest of my Q to $ at that place so I was happy.


Flight was a little less than 1.5 hours and flew by. We landed in Costa Rica and I met up with the people from Maximo. There were 6 other new volunteers there as well. We piled into the van and the guy who had met us with the sign (not the driver) asked for a tip. At first I wasn't sure if he was serious, because I had never come across that in Peru or Guatemala. But he was, so I forked over some money.


We drove for awhile through San Jose. Maximo and the houses are on the opposite side of town as the airport. We got our folders with our information (mine was semi-lost and we had to go to the driver's house to get it) and then we were dropped off at our houses. No one else in the van was staying with me, but I wasn't concerned because I knew there would be other volunteers there to hang out with.


I was wrong.


It's just me right now. I think someone else is coming tomorrow. But I think this house only fits 2 volunteers in 1 room. I'll have to wait and see.


It is a nice house. Two floors, nice kitchen, and a funky bathroom. I need to take pictures of the bathroom because one of the walls is angled and it's the wall with the mirror and it's kinda trippy.


My host mom Tere doesn't speak much English, but we can communicate decently. Her son Josue is pretty good at English. He showed me around the house, took me to an ATM down the street, and he's taking me to Maximo tomorrow. At least I'm not completely alone.


So that's my excitement for today. Oh, the ATM was fun. 5,000 Colones is about $10. So to pull out about $200 I took out 100,000 Colones. I hope my math was right. It's a little confusing with such high numbers. I bought a good size bottle of San Pellegrino for 2K. But that's actually, wait, it is a little pricey. But I needed change for the bus tomorrow.


Alright, that should cover it. I'm waiting for dinner and then I will promptly fall asleep. I don't know why I'm always tired.

Last day of Guatemala

First, I put all my pictures in the post before this one. If it didn't quite seem complete, it is now.


It's finally Saturday, my last full day here. This morning I moved out of my house and into my hostel. I'm the only one there. It's a little bit weird. I'll have to see how it goes. Here is my update from last night.


So it's my last night in my house and I'm all alone. T went to El Salvador, Thomas to Tikal, and Billy and John went out for dinner. I'm going out with a bang, huh?

But yesterday was lots of fun. We were dividing a kennel into two at the rescue and built a wall out of wood pallets. It started to rain which made it much more fun. We left shortly after and walked in the rain to our bus. We got on and everyone else was completely dry! Same with our second bus. I don't know if Guatemalans have really absorbent hair and clothes or what, but it was weird. Especially because some seemed to be giving us glares for being wet.

After arriving in Antigua, I was walking towards my house and T frantically ran past me. She was quite late. I had a lunch of vegetables and went out to find a hostel and a ride to the airport.

I ran into T again, so we went searching together. I found a place with a 10USD shuttle for Sunday, which I booked today. We also found a couple hostels. The first had a big sign saying free shots for guys dressed up as girls. That one was 65Q or about 8 US. The next was actually a travel agency and while it didn't have breakfast, or free
shots for crossdressers, it was 30Q, or about 4 US, so I booked it. The rooms weren't packed with beds, but the bathroom was a bit sketchy. It's only 1 block from Maximo so i can just run there to pee.

After my Spanish lesson we met up with Michelle and a guy named Max. We went out to dinner at a place called Rainbow Cafe. It was very chill with great wall and ceiling art and live music. I had a quesadilla with  grilled onions and peppers. It was quite good. We then started wandering around looking for the crepe place. We finally
found it and I ordered a crepe with nutella, strawberries, and bananas. It was sooo good! Max headed home and T and I took Michelle to find a tuk tuk for her to get home.

We couldn't find one so we started heading to our place because they hang out over there. Suddenly someone called out "hey chicas!" my reaction was to ignore and keep walking, but it turned out we were at Max's house. We talked a bit with him and his roomies and finally went home. I was exhausted and promptly fell asleep.

Today I went to my placement and hung a door on a make shift fence. It took 3 of us several hours to remove 3 ft of fence and get the door on. Tools and supplies are limited and the wire cutters were almost worthless.

I went home and said goodbye to T and Michelle as they left for El Salvador. 3 days on a beach with surf lessons. I'm so jealous.

I didn't know what to do before dinner so I headed to the market. On the way I ran into Tito, Marta's brother in law. He also works for Guinness travel, the travel company at Maximo. He walked around the market with me and pointed out some reasonably priced venders. He's trying to learn English and I'm trying to learn Spanish, so the
conversation was rather interesting.

We went back home and I had dinner all alone. Fried plantains, meat patties, and refried beans.

Switching back to Saturday, I'm planning on going to the market today. I want to buy a couple things and depending how that goes I may or may not need to hit up one more ATM.


Yesterday I was finally able to take some photos of Animal Aware, so here they are. What cuties. I'm going to miss them.

Me and one of the wiggly little puppies. This guy was such trouble. He kept trying to eat my pants.

Geriatricos! I loved those seniors. They were too cute. This guy (don't know M/F, so will call guy) was a riot, always wanted to rub against me or the wall.

This boo boo has cataracts in both eyes. I'm not sure if s/he can see at all. This picture is before the cleaning, so the crate is sparkling now. All that dirt came off.

This guy looked so funny. I have no clue if s/he's part Chinese Crested or has a skin/hair problem, but s/he was pretty silly looking. S/he could really use a good brushing, but it's so hard with longer fur like that.

This is a younger dog who smacked me in the face. I literally had a paw print of mud over my eye.

Here's Michelle with her favorite dog. This guy doesn't like other dogs, so he's in a kennel by himself.

This gal (I think) had the funniest ears. She looks part corgi. She was a real sweetheart.

We called this guy Hyena. He has that hyena look to him and was a bit of a brat to the other dogs.

The rooster. Unfortunately I never asked his name.

This guy lives in the volunteer house with another cat. They are both such trouble! The people who sleep here complained of being woken up constantly, especially from this one.

And the other volunteer house cat. This one liked to sit on our shoulders.

Cute little sucker. She was watching us build the door right  next to her kennel. She poses nicely, doesn't she?

This is a new guy in the clinic. I didn't get a very good picture of him. He's a puppy who is part chow and has a nice light brown brindle coat.

These boogers were too funny. They have mange but they don't know which, so I didn't hang out with them much for fear of spreading. They were a total riot though, and their crate would shake when they got all excited to see people.

This beauty is Tuscany. She was in the clinic when I first arrived. She was there because she was new, but also because she had a machete put through her feet. You can see it a little in the picture. She is an absolutely gorgeous harlequin Great Dane with a sweet personality. She was moved to this outside enclosure with other dogs and I couldn't convince her to come out of the house. I wish I had gotten a better picture of her.

This is a chocolate lab in the same run as Tuscany. Such a sweetie.

This girl was one of my favorites. She was in a run all by herself because she wasn't too good with other dogs. I went in and visited her and she loved to jump up on me and give me kisses. Luckily one of the clinic dogs moved in with her and they keep each other company. She is so sweet, but I had the misfortune of walking her once and she pulled, really strongly, the entire time.

This is Rex, the clinic dog that moved in with the rottie. He was hi by a car and has crooked hips. His face is absolutely ridiculous with his underbite and he was a sweetums as well.

And another of my rottie girl.

This one was trouble too. She (I think) wanted to jump up to kiss everyone in the face and she loved to chew on things. We went in there a few times with the hose and brooms to clean and refill water. All she wanted was to chew on the brooms and hose. Real cute pup, but what trouble!

Here's a picture of the clinic. It's in the back of the property and houses about 20 animals at a time.

The property was located in some nice woody area. Here is an example of what it looked like off the path.

Some more cute booboos. I just want to take them all home!

This lab was also an absolute sweetheart. We were dividing her kennel into two, and sadly that was the first time I had met her. She's sweet, laid back, and likes to roll in the dirt. Plus she likes to chew wood. She stole our wood pieces a few times and we had to try to get them back.

The wall in the volunteer house where people wrote their names. There are people from the US, Canada, England, Holland, Australia, and more on there. I didn't put my name there since I didn't stay there, but I would love to go back. It was a really awesome experience.

Antigua has some great culture in town. There are old church ruins throughout. I've taken pictures of a few, so here they are.

My plans for today are to go to the market for some shopping and then return to Maximo for their international party. It's to celebrate the TEFL graduates and there is an open bar, but more importantly, there is also free food. I'm excited.