Big Island

Mario and I have spent the past 10 days exploring the Big Island. This is my second time around the island. But the first time was more planned and I stayed in the public camping places, which required permits. Since Mario and I didn't plan much we played it by ear and went slow. Very nice! We would hunt out a nice spot and then hang out until evening and then set up our casinha! Our little house spots were much nicer than the dirty public parks were were open to everyone to use. We started in Kona. Mario has friends there and we organized our things and they so kindly lent us a beautiful 4wd Toyota. We took good care of her and she took good care of us. Then we went clockwise around the island. 2 nights in Palolu-- we climbed up and down that big cliff to our camp site everyday for more supplied (water!). Hiking to the top of the neighboring ridges. Eating liliquoi and little guava. One night in Waipio valley-- camping on the burial site. Bathing in the Lepto water fall. Crossing the unpredictable river. Climbing the ridge. One night in the middle before Hilo: sneaky camping on the outlook. Wine and cheese during the sunset. Next day Takaka falls. Then to stay with Mike in Puna Valley for three nights. Volcano at night. Boys surfing. Mike's interpretive dance of Pele. Snorkling in the reefs. Volcano Natl Park. Sulfur fumes. Rainbows. Punalu'u camping. Dirty public park. Black sand beach. Then back to Kona.

Tired of camping on top of little pine cones, Mario was delighted to find a patch of soft grass.  

Waterfall where we were apparently invisible to all other tourists - we were ignored for over an hour by all the tourist groups!  

Meeting up with crazy Mike from UF. And our very cool truck- our fast pass for being locals.  

We were such locals, in fact, that we accidentally made a BBQ on top of an ancient burial site (see Mario arranging the grave stones to balance our grill), and the passing tourists just assumed that we knew what we were doing.

 On the lava

Cooking out on the lava. Mike also convinced us to cross all of the "danger" barriers to explore the freshly hardened lava. All of the smoke coming out of the cracks convinced us it was a bad sign.  

 Mario surfing. 

 Active volcano.

 Black sand beach. 

Canoe mooring holes.  

Green sand beach

Oahu, Hawai'i

Here I am again. In beautiful Oahu. Downstairs in Michael's place where I can watch the sun rise over the Honolulu sky line. I had a hell of a time finishing the semester but I am glad to say that I did everything that I needed to do! And not a bad job at it at all. What a wonderful feeling to feel free again! And happy too-- knowing that I am doing everything to the best of my ability. So I have an exciting next 5 weeks, and rest of the summer. You will be seeing me alot again. May 1: the Big Island, May 10: Kuaui, May 25: Oahu. I am visiting the University, visiting friends, and taking a field course. You will see me on the beach, snorkling, hiking and having a fabulous time. And remembering what it is to be free again.

Belize

One of the most astonishing facts about Belize, is that it s hardly inhabited with about 350,000 people, of whom the most distinguishable are the Mayans, Garifunas, and plenty of Guatemala immigrants. Its a beautiful country full of forests, wildlife and beaches.

My first stop was Cayo where I went to meet up with a friend's cousin- Tim- who has been living there for 4 years. He's staying in a great house overlooking the beautiful forest around Cayo (San Ignacio). Lovely mornings on the porch with REAL coffee and lots of birds. One day we all went to the Pineridge Forest for swimming and exploring. Our rented Trooper broke down that same night and we ended up walking the last two blocks to his car-- Belizean style, I was told. BTW Tim's car is a story in itself bc it well represents life in Belize: He drove it into an unexpected river that flooded a bridge-- they had to drag it out of the river but the electronics have been shot since then. Someone threw a huge stone thru the window and he now uses this stone to set up the plastic needed to cover the window to keep the rain out. Then, just before I showed up, Tim banged on the dash to fix a rattle problem and punched a big hole in it.

Then I went to Dangriga for 3-4 nights. Now, this is considered the center of the Garifuna culture and Punta Rock. The Garifuna are an ethnic mix of Caribbean and African and are lovely people. They speak like they are reciting poetry-- a beautiful version of English that would be interpreted as highly descriptive street slang in the US. At first glance Dangriga's not the nicest looking town (the hotel owner was surprised to hear that we would be staying a second night). But the Garifuna are so charming and there were so many things going on, we just had to stay. Ahright mon! There was a cultural show with music and dancing one night. Great music! I LOVE the music! Imagine a town where you can walk down the streets in the evening and find that every house listens to good music-- Carribean, Latin, reggae, African, Garifuna beats. Que bonito! You should see these women dance. Their hips (read: ass) move as an altogether independent body and they risk some moves that border on vulgar-- a woman jumped up on stage to dance and stopped several times dramatically to flex her crotch muscles for the crowd. Throughout all of this, there was this multiple day dugu (spiritual healing) ceremony going on at a spiritual center (made of bamboo and thatch), which we attended intermittently. I joined in some of the dancing, which is accompanied by 3 big hand drums and lovely singing. The last day that we attended began with greeting the fisherman at the beach, who were bringing in seafood for the ceremony. It was a bit of a rough town (Lots of crackheads; we got robbed at gun point on the street one night, can you believe?) but it was completely exotic and interesting to me.

Spirit center in Dangriga.

Dangriga at sunset.

I headed to Placencia with the chief objective of staying out of trouble for the last few days of my trip. My first day there, I met a couple of girls (India and Italy) who invited me to share a room with them. They had a full out efficiency with a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom, and big veranda on the second floor of a wooden building (30$/night for the whole place!). It was perfect! Beaches were lovely, place was chill, sun was hot, and the water was clear. A perfect ending to over 3 months of travel in Latin America.

Quechi Mayan boys selling crafts made by their families.

Itza Mayans

I am on the other side of the lake (close to Flores in Northern Guatemala) in a little pueblo called San Jose. It is a very old town of several hundred years-- fully Itza Mayan. I´m staying with a family who is very (very) basic. I have my own little room enclosed in plastic and concrete with a tin roof. I eat carbs and carbs and more carbs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our toilet is a couple of holes in the ground (but fairly clean). And the mother of the house cooks on a fire-- yesterday I made tortillas! She´s got two ducks and 1 pig and I spend some time everyday watching them roam around and eat stuff (I like the ducks). I live at the top of the hill-- almost next to the Spanish school. The school is outside in a big garden overlooking the lake and we look at the wildlife that come to the garden everyday during my class. I am the only student at the school, so everything is one-on-one. The teacher is so-so, I tell her what and how I want to learn. She´s great for conversational practice but terrible with explaining grammar. I get my own private guide everyday-- and he is a really fabulous guide and speaks like he is reading out of book! Today we are going to another Mayan ruin for my own archaelogical and ecological tour. Yesterday I had a tour around this town of 3000 people. Tomorrow we are going to a cave. Some of the houses are still traditional with mud walls and thatch roof (photo).

Here´s the two main reasons why I am here: 1. The lake is stunningly blue and clear and completely beautiful. I make a point of swimming and spending time there everyday. The weather is good almost everyday-- too hot actually. 2. There is alot of use of plants here. They make soap and shampoo, weave and dye cloth, make plant based jewelry, collect and eat local plants, and use medicinal plants. I am also one of only 4 foreigners in this whole town-- I have only talked the Japanese volunteer who can only speak Spanish. I am Spanish speaking all day and it gets pretty tiring (no hablo Ingles nunca). BUT, I´ve learned tons already in 2 days. I´ll spend about a week here and then move on to Belize.

My room.

cuevas de Semuc Champey

First of all, Semuc Champey has these amazing freshwater pools that are captured within limestone formations-- formed from sediment in the water rushing out of the mountain caves that are further up river. Think crystal blue, clear, fresh, waterfalls, lots of green vegetation, and big! Big enough to swim about in about 6 different pools.

Now, the cuevas. Ordinarily, I am not crazy about tours but this one was not to be missed and not possible without a guide. It started off with a giant leap from a swing into the brown rushing river. Next, I borrowed some shoes for the cave (no havaianas unfortunately) and was given a lit candle-- every other person-- and there were about 15 of us. And we entered the cave in water chest deep among the stalactites/mites. Then, swimming with one hand, scrambling up rocks, more swimming in the dark, climbing up a rope into the face of a rushing waterfall from the depths of the cavern, yet more swimming (the longest was about 30 meters in distance- with shoes on and one hand, this is not easy), 3 meter drop into a pool of water, more scrambling and climbing and swimming. When we got to the end, the guide told us to blow out our candles. I made a comment about what a nightmare it would be if there wasn´t a way to light them up again. One guy refused to blow out his candle and swam around the corner to give us some darkness. Good thing! bc later we learned that the guide´s lighter didn´t work! Can you imagine?? Trying to get back thru that cave (about an hour ´walk´) in the pitch black dark?! One the way back, he had us squeeze thru a tiny little hole of rushing water. When we finally emerged into the light-- with tiny wet candle stubs-- we climbed up to the top of the mountain to look down on the waterfalls and pools of the Semuc Champey. Then tubed down the river back to our guesthouse. All I can say is: Intense. You could never do this in the U.S.

Jason (Portland, OR) and Quechi Mayans

Our first day at Semuc Champey-- I voted that we hang out by the river and wash off the dusty feeling of traveling on dirt roads all day. I began making a painting of the river and the yellow bridge and slowly we started to gather a crowd of Mayan children and young men-- all men (where are the women??). More and more people all around me, until I couldn't see the sun. After that, we knew all the kids in the area. We saw them everywhere. They would shout at us from inside building and various places-- always remembering us.

coffee

So, I had a great day today. Mostly because I have crossed the intimidating boundary of comprehension!! We did a coffee tour (in Spanish) and a little tour of an orchid farm (in Spanish) and cruised around freely visiting a couple of pueblos (towns) and chatting with various people (in Spanish). Woo-hoo! I can finally communicate!

I recorded some info about growing coffee in Guatemala. Guatemala is one highest producers of coffee in the world. Brazil is first. Here´s the synopsis of growing coffee at a little farm called Finca Santa Margantan (photos later) (PS- this account is subject to future revision):

The farm was founded in 1888 by a German man.

Young plants are grown under cover for warmth and protection in organic material from seed. After a year, they are transferred into plastic bags and into the ground. The second and third year there are fruit but it is a low grade (used for low grade coffee). The fourth year is high quality. Fruit is picked with it is a red or yellow color (depending on the variety of coffee). Workers are paid 50 cincuentas per pound (about 5 cents US) of coffee that they pick. Coffee is picked 5 times a year. Each plant produces about 5 pounds of coffee per year. After the fruit is picked it is soaked in hot water and then run thru a machine to remove the pulp (skin) from the seed. The pulp is later used for organic material that is used on the farm. The seeds are washed in water and then sucked thru a pipe and deposited in a long trough to separate seeds that float and sink. The water is running and the seeds that float are pushed out the end of the trough and collected-- these are the lower grade called ´nata´. The sinkers are called ´pergamino´ and are the high quality. Both varieties are laid out in the sun for about 2 days (?) on the concrete and turned over to dry properly. Then the seeds are stored in a dry shed in canvas sacks that allow ventilation for about 6 months. The skin is removed from the pergamino and the ´oro´seeds that separated by hand so that the best quality seeds are separated from bad seeds (seeds with more or less than 2 parts in one fruit, malformed seeds, etc). There are at least three types of quality: 1 gourmet, and 2 types of Americanos). Then the seeds are roasted in a machine at 200 celsius for 25 pounds for 20 min. Roasted coffee is called ´tostado´. More time is needed for darked roasts, ex. expresso. Then, it is ground depending on the type of coffee needed, ex. expresso is more fine. Ground coffee is called ´molido´). Here at the farm, mostly processed coffee is sold-- in Guatemala. Some coffee is exported and some of that is in the raw (unroasted) form.

There are about 6 main places in Guatemala for growing coffee. They each grow different varieties which are selected based on their body, acidity and flavor and these vary depending on the altitude, temperature, and soil of the location.

We saw a few varieties of coffee at the farm. Robusta is a lower quality and Arabica is higher. Arabica requires more shade. All of the coffee at the farm need a medium amount of both sun and shade. So, there are tall trees growing in the plantation with their branches cut off. There is also some sugarcane, guava, chili, all spice, avocado, cardamon, some kind of edible palm (papa...?), beans and banana.

micro buses

I''m up in North Guatemala-- on my way to the tropical forests of Central America. We ve been taking the micro buses. Really enjoy them. The front is the best. Where you can get the best view of the drivers making daring passes around semis on the curvy mountain roads. Little bit of squishing in the seats, but no where near the shady ´chicken buses´ which aren´t called chicken buses for nothing. Did I tell you that I got puked on by a poor car sick boy who was standing in the aisle? Kum (in Thai)-- what goes around comes around-- I once puked on a mountain bus in Laos. And made a terrible mess. But not on anyone.

I've been on this embroidery kick...It all started when I wanted to buy something with a quetzal embroidered on it-- but they were all ugly and expensive. I told Kari: I can do better than this. So, I bought some thread and I've been making little animals for my friends. Here's one-- my favorite-- a marmaset.