San Pedro Highlights (other than banan bread)

Other highlights of San Pedro la Laguna include meeting up with tons of buddies from various other places of this trip including Tommy, Dan, Amy, Richard, the Swiss Girls, the Dutch Girls, Michiel, Nur, Moti, Tilly, Ed, and most randomly Rosie.

this is what we call wasting the day away at ZooLa, a mostly israeli hangout with great atmosphere and even better food:

Chillin with Sil(ly Man) who can alway be found freaking out and dancing like crazy at Freedom Bar:

Going on crazy Tuk Tuk rides with Tilly and Steve up and down steep ass hills one didnt think were possible to climb in what to me appears to be pretty much a tiny motorized Razor Scooter with a cover:
We also have seeing some awesome blues band that Dan jamed out with on his soprano sax...they were really, really, really good:
While at a bar dancing to some drum and bass and watching a little local dude paint a mural inside the bar recreating what appeared to be a cartoon Godzilla/Rampage/Power Ranger scene a crazy lone hiker with a full on beard and green hiking backpack rolls in and starts having a conversation with the painter before getting his groove on with all his equipment and his propoganda t-shirt. this was probably the funniest thing i´ve seen yet.

and finally...the market in Chichicastenago, one of the best in all of

central america

¿Pan...Pan de Banano, Pan de Chocolate, Pan De Coco?

Okay, so i know i keep on going off about banana bread, but as soon as I got of the boat at San Pedro La Laguna, on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, i was greeted by Juanita, the cutest little short mayan woman who was selling none other than Banana Bread! So immediately i pulled out 5 quetzals and got a loaf which was hearty and scrumptious but not the best.

Soon after and during the next week in this town filed with ex-pat hippies, cool bars and cheep food, i realized that there is a whole racket of banana, chocolate, and coconut bread sellers. they all look the same and they all hound you constantly. I havent gone 10 minutes without being asked if i wanted some kind of bread, even when im in a restaurant, bar, or hostel. I asked Juanita who was ¨Él Jefé¨ and she said that her sister and two others are the main cooks.

But the business runs like a mafia ring. If you dont sell enough or dont bring back enough money one´s salary gets cut by the lead Pimp of banana bread. Its a vicious trade.

street fair, real estate salesmen, and trance dance

After not being able to go to Semuc Chempey because of some floods, i decided to meet back up with Jenny and Angharod in Antigua. they werent digging the mild weather wich was a great relief for me so they left me to read in the beautiful Central Park of Antigua, probably the prettiest city i´ve seen so far in Central America--which makes up for the insane abundance of americans ´studying´ spanish.
in the process of reading Collapse (instead of Lolita, since a bunch of kids were running around, and i felt like it was somewhat creepy to read Lolita around kids) this House and Apartment salesman strikes up a conversation with me. and while his friendliness was somewhat creepy, it was great talking to someone in Spanish.
so we go off to a festival in the nearby town and he still is trying to sell me a house as a stare at bootleg CD salesman with the Rosie Odonell Jean Jacket!!!





...and somewhat creepy dude keeps on bumping into me telling me to stop by his office and check out his plans.
instead i went to a bar with a bunch of people whom i had initially met in Utila and wrecked the dance floor with my amazing trance dancing skills. i must give my electro dance skills credit to non other than Alex Toplansky who taught me some years ago to flip out when at lame ass clubs in Montreal.

the banana bread mission

So after aaron introduced me to the best banana bread in the world in Tortuguerro, Costa Rica...i have since been on the lookout for more amazing banana bread...Juanita here in San Pedro de Laguna in Guatemala greeted me with an offering of such bread--mistake was made, i didnt realize she had banana bread with chocolate...my fave!--but anyways, its pretty good, but so far the closest banana bread has come to that of the tortuguerro feast was not hat of Juanita or that used for the hikes in Tikal, but in Rio Dulce.
even this picture makes your mouth water...mmm so juicy and succulent, and went perfectly with a banana chocolate batido con leche (milk shake)

Copan vs. Tikal

Pretty much everyone i´ve met on my travels who have been to either the Tikal or Copan ruins have told me Tikal is better, if you go to it don´t bother with Copan. But what I learned from these cats is that they mostly lack any appreciation for decifering little differences in the ruins which show huge differences in the cultures and lives of these two city-states.
While Tikal seems to be one of the largest Mayan cities with towering temples and great views, all currently hidden in the jungle, and Copan was sold to some archeologists 150 years ago and is now a pretty park with sweet ruins of its own, Copan still holds this amazingness in the ways of its sculputre.

On 85- or so steps up a temple reads the history of the Copan city until the reign of 18 Rabbit. SICK!
And i thought the ball court was way cooler.

below is two pics from Copan...
the first is the depiction of the rain god...underneath is the ball court where essentially the most badass sport was played. apparently the winner was sacrificed...haha, fucking morons.


But then again walking around Tikal you can see that there are so many homes and temples covered in less than three inches of vegitation that have yet to be excavated making the experience pretty mind boggling. and i got some pretty sweet pictures in tikal and clibing those temples was scarry fun.

Sun Jam + Paradise = Heaven

greatest two days ever. i think any of the other 1,500 or 2,000 people on the little Key off the island of Utila would agree that although a rip off, Sun Jam was spectacular.
from noon to noon, 24 hours of techno, house, trance, whatever crappy repetitive electronica it is, blasted throughout this tiny island as all danced or looked like morons freaking out to the beat.
the clearest water with perfect reefs surrounded the island for a great refreshing dip to start off my afternoon followed by an endless night of jumping up and down along with flailing my arms erratically.
as an added bonus, all the street meat vendors from the down brought their ovens to the island.

oh yea, i almost forgot how i almost didnt make it to the festival. in order to get a boat ride for half the price (which ended up being free), i jumped on a boat with the hot dog vendor. about 8 of us squeezed on this tiny leaky boat and we all had to lean from side to side to prevent the boat from tipping due to the large wakes made by bigger and faster water cruisers. Luckily, we didnt capsize like happened to Ann-Marie, whom i've bumped into for the fifth time now on my trip.

Fire spinners, tons of lights, freaks, and great friends from all over the globe helped make the fest really memorable. Although it was supposed to go until noon, 9am saw the end of the festival, which in hindsigt was good because by 10:30 (while on the boat back to Utila) the downpour showed up again. At least it waited until Sun Jam ended. Good thing the after party continued at Coco Locos later that night with more trashy techno that i couldnt help but make cheesy dance moves to.

hopefully some pictures will eventually be found at http://www.sunjamutila.com/

The Los Zorros Sting Ray Attack

So Tina has this sweet place on the northern coast of nicaragua. About an hour walk from the northern tip of the coast.
I hopped on a bus with her and dennis and for three days we just hung out, had some Tonas and adjusted everyone's attitude.
It was a great tranquil break that i needed where i could just read, pee in a bodega, and go swimming...
until a Sting Ray flipped its tail through my foot!
so much pain, my whole leg was going numb. i've never had so much pain in my life. but luckily Tina la Gringa has an adopted Nica family that takes care of her and she takes care of them by teaching them english.

But shit, this Sting Ray really put my life into perspective. I know Steve Irwin was nailed in the chest, but i still thought to myself...what if i was to doe right now, in this tiny village at least 2 hours from the hearest hospital.
My hole take on life changed that afternoon as Arturo took a burning hot plantain to my foot and stopped my pain. A few cups of Flor De Cana also managed ot help a little as well.
i keep o nthining about what im going to do when i get back to the sates and am overwhelmed by options of jobs, careers, locations. i know in my life i can do it all, but i also know that it can end at any minute. So i guess i made the right descision to head to this awesome island in honduras and rave out for the next 24 hours.

For now, im glad i could give Tina and Dennis 20 gigs of music to make their night.