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The Split. Caye Caulker, Belize.

briefly...

I'm back in Cayo, sitting under a ceiling fan which is struggling to stir the heavy afternoon air. I arrived here yesterday, driving the last hour in the dark through air fragrant with orange blossom.  Today I have been slow and lazy like an iguana.  My group went out to see the famous caves I opted for lunch in town and a visit to the post office. 
I've been back in C.A. for almost two weeks and it has been a bit wild and wooly. I've been serenaded by Mariachis on the back roads of Palenque, dove in two new cenotes (hello rainbow cool-ness) and partied with 28 Finnish doctors.  No rest for the weary.
Probably my favorite discovery is a torta place in D.F. that has been making tortas since 1936! Carnitas y aguacate.  Hot damn.

quick and dirty guide: the central 7 and mexico

(B this entry is for you)

I'm thinking someone should pay me to be a travel adviser, or something to that end, but maybe I will get paid back in street phad thai and good karma for all this writing I am doing.

B asked about belize/honduras versus costa rica/nicaragua which I would say are two very worthy choices to choose between and led me to think about what all the countries are like in central. I'm planning on getting to writing mini-guides on those countries that I have not yet covered but I figure I'll start with a what we might call a country briefing. I'm starting North and moving South, try to keep up. Oh and these are my opinions, nothing more.

MÉXICO

Mexico has just about everything. Rich in culture, diverse in landscape, I can't really cover it all here. But my general feeling of méxico is, 'GUAU!' It is big, it has states, and the food in INCREDIBLE.

You could spend months or years exploring it: surfing, diving, mayan ruins, climbing volcanoes, visiting pueblitos, getting yourself lost in churches, meeting the indigenous people, swimming in lakes, exploring canyons. Chiapas is fantastic, the Yucatan (and associated states) is divine, and D.F. will blow your mind.

GUATEMALA

My soul lives in Guate. Highlands, black beans, incredible textiles, gorgeous colonial cities, TIKAL, and the warmest latinos on the block, what more can you ask for? Did I mention the coffee and chocolate?

BELIZE

For a cultural shmorgasborg, postcard beaches, and lush jungle Belize takes the cake. It is small, accessible, easy to get around, and full of friendly faces. Belize combines lots of outdoor activities with a carribean attitude, plus just about everyone speaks English. It isn't as cheap as other countries, but you can do it on a budget. Most people go for the diving, end up exploring a cave or two, and maybe some nice ruins. Don't miss the Marie Sharps.

HONDURAS

Considering the current political strife, Honduras might not be your first choice. Honduras is in a word: strange. The catrachos are different from the other Latins and the Bay Islands are a world unto themselves. Copán has lovely ruins (but is more Guatemala than Honduras), las Islas Bahia have some great diving (and it is CHEAP), I've heard other places are great, but I haven't seen much. Most people stick to the islands and head on to the next place. If you want to get off the beaten track and see something new it could be a glorious adventure, but I am not making any promises. Combined with Belize it could be a cool diving vacation (there are direct flights between Belize city and San Pedro Sula).

EL SAV

Can't comment too much. Heard the coast is a great place for surfing. Pupusas seem motivation enough to check it out, but then again most people don't travel just so they can try the local food.

NICARAGUA

Could the Nicas be any nicer? Seriously. My best best best friends all live in Nicaragua. Traffic is usually caused by cows. Nicaragua is considered the next big thing though the economic crisis may have slowed that for a bit. If you want to experience almost everything Central has to offer (islands, volcanoes, diving, surfing, jungles, colonial cities) you could stay in Nicaragua and see almost everything. Boasting two of the longest coast lines in the region, two colonial gems, and decent infrastructure, it combines the variety of Costa Rica with the wildness of the other countries.

COSTA RICA

Costa Rica has grown on me. The people are unique and possess a subtle culture that will crawl into you heart and find a home, just give it time. If you like wildlife, getting outdoors and varied landscapes you will be blown away by Costa Rica. Not as safe as some people will have you think, it is still welcoming and lovely. The tourist infrastructure makes doing things a breeze, but there are still relatively undeveloped pockets, they just require 4 wheel drive and a bit more patience. Make friends with the Ticos, they know the best places and love to have a good time. Throw Nicaragua in the mix and you have an interesting balance of two very different cultures, the opportunity to do more outdoor sports than you can imagine and a hundred possibilities for adventure.

PANAMA

My Panama experience is limited to Bocas Del Toro, and I dug that. Panama City is rumored to be quite and adventure, David and the highlands come highly recommended. Plus there is always the added temptation of trying to reach Colombia overland from here. Send me a postcard if you make it!

So there you go, brief, succinct, and obviously biased. Hope that gives you some insight.

Quick and dirty guide: the road from Cancun to Belize

An ex-passenger of mine requested some info on Central America for an upcoming trip. I have acquiesced, but figured rather than putting it in email form that the blog might be a better approach so that more people can benefit from all my hard typing. We're starting in the Yucatan because that is where Rich is starting, and that's what I felt like doing.

QUINTANA ROO

CANCUN
I am not a fan, the one thing I do dig is Gory Tacos not too far from the ADO station in Cancun on Andador Tulipanes No. 26 S.M. 22. So you can do that, eat a Torta and think of me. I like to stay a Kin Mayab for a couple reasons: they serve anchor butter with their square bread toast, the staff is friendly, and it is walking distance from the ADO station. The ADO is consequently probably the cheapest way to get to/from the airport unless you have two people, then walk outside the airport and grab a cab, should be between $25-30.

Far better in my opinion to escape Cancun and head to....

ISLA MUJERES
Mmm I dig it here, great food, nice people, awesome beach.
Take a cab from Cancun to Puerto Juarez, grab the every half hour ferry (70mxp) and you arrive in what might be one of my favorite beach towns. Tons and tons of hotels abound, I like Los Bucaneros (used to stay there for work) or right across the street is Ronaldi's pizza I am a pizza addict, I know. The hotel above Ronaldi's is nice, huge beds. Both are located on the boisterous and fun pedestrian street, tons of great restaurants etc. I am now a huge fan of beach front Minino's for their pescado entero (get it fried, but be prepared it comes with the head on). Breakfast at Cafecito is divine, they make a jam out of bananas coconut and pineapple, and even the New York Times says it is good. Also Manana makes nice brekkie and lunch, plus they have used books. My newest haunt (they have coffee and wifi) is Magagua or something like that. It is a cool open air cafe with comfy chairs and a fast connection, good for doing expense reports. A nice lady told me Cafe Mango is great, I've never made it there, but maybe you will.

To do: Take a trip out to Isla Contoy, or if it is the season head out on a whale shark trip. Both are worth every penny I promise.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN
Don't waste your time, you didn't come to Mexico to hang out with fat Americans sprawled on 100Mxp chaise chairs.

PUERTO MORELOS
If you dive, might be worth a trip down here, catch the ADO then a cab into town. A good base for cenote dives as well. Check out Dive In Puerto Morelos and eat at La Terraza, good food and a bit of an asian fix as well.

TULUM and CHICHEN ITZA
the two crowning glories of my Biggest Blow Outs of Mexico list. Don't fuck around, go to Uxmal or Tikal instead. Unless you like tourists, if you like tourists have a great time.

BELIZE/BELICE

getting to Belize from Mexico requires a bus to Chetumal, then you grab a bus to Belize city. Belize City is not worth a visit, so just grab a ferry to...

CAYE CAULKER
Oh man, welcome to a slice of paradise. Two words: CAKE MAN. So, find yourself a hotel, deposit luggage, put on bathing suit, grab some BZD and walk down to the split. Buy a belekin, start drinking and wait for the Cake Man to come. It is not an exact science but somewhere between 5 and 6 Bunz appears and he comes with cake. It is all excellent but my two favorites are: key lime pie cake and the macaroon brownie. It will change your life, this I will guarantee.

I dive with the attitude filled Frenchies and you absolutely have to do the Snorkeling Sail with Raggamuffin (you can miss out on the rum punch, it is lethal). Wear sunscreen. I like Gertrude at the Ocean Pearle, she is nice, keeps the place clean and there are hammocks.

when you finally tear yourself away from C.C. on your way to Guatemala you can visit...

SAN IGNACIO
Eat at Hanna's, order a lamb quesadilla it is HUGE. Then stroll down the street and sign up for either the A.T.M. or Crystal Cave with the lovely boys at Hun Chi'ik tours. Both are amazing sacred mayan caves and the tours are worth every penny. Both Benjamin and Rudy are incredible guides, tell them I say hi.

Stay out at Midas, the owners are sweet and the rooms are lovely, plus it is out of town. Walk over to Hodes and get your self some rice and beans. mmm.

going south from C.C. you can cruise downt the Hummingbird Highway to...

HOPKINS
crazy, small, but I love it.

PLACENCIA
The caye you can walk to, small, mellow, beachy.

Before leaving Belize make sure to: eat and buy Marie Sharps hot sauce, eat rice and beans, check out a cave, go snorkeling or diving

classy lady with an iron stomach

One of the things that my passengers always assume about me is that I never get sick. Like my year and a half down here has been sufficient to arm me against any bacteria I might encounter. I am here to tell you that that is flat out not true. I really really really really wish it was true, because guiding and barfing suck.
Another thing pax love to do is ask leading questions like, "have you ever been so sick you couldn't lead a tour?" The moment a question like this falls from someone's lips I know I am in for it. Call it fate giving me a heads up, or whatever, but more often than not when someone asks about something like that it happens with in a couple weeks.
So it was really no surprise I ended up barfing 3 times on the way from San Ignacio (Cayo) to here (Caye Caulker). Good thing that even while barfing along the highway no one took it upon themselves to take a photo, nor did I shit my pants.
The shitty thing is I went out drinking the night prior to with a couple of the guides I work with in San Ignacio. So of course when I appeared the next day ready to barf my brains out everyone assumed it was the Belekin not evil bacteria causing the problem. Let me tell you all something right now, I have guided groups hung over many a time, and I am old enough to know when enough Belekin stout is enough.Plus, I spent the second half of the night drinking water, even when the crazy belizians insisted I kept drinking, so when I woke up the next day feeling especially blargah I was surprised. The thing about hangovers is they don't give you THE Revenge (as in motezuma's), at least no hang over I have ever had. And that was when I knew I was f***ed.
The thing about the squirt/barf combo is that often when you go to barf you shit your pants. I really have no problem with tossing my cookies in front of just about anyone, but shitting your pants is like a whole 'nother echelon of humiliation, and let's be honest, I humiliate myself enough as it is. So in that sort of situation (Mikee and Eva can back me up here) you just want to be left the hell alone in a bathroom, preferably a sound proof one, I instead had 7 people all waiting to get in a van to drive to Belize City and the boat out to Caye Caulker. Let's review: what I want = sound proof bathroom, what I get = 1.5 hours in a van, 45 minutes in a boat with 7 pax plus my driver.
So off we went, with Joe, who was playing fucking who knows what classic rap on his imitation ipod. Not far along the western highway, pretty close to the taiwanese/belezian ag research center I barfed up rice. Too make the whole experience better/funnier/more terrible a man appeared selling tamales, so my retching was combined with, "Tamales?" I'll give the man props for taking advantage of an obvious business opportunity (tourists stuck in a van) but last time I checked a barfing person is usually not much of a appetite inducer. Finally to top the whole thing off I got back in the car and said, "I am pretty sure I have rice stuck up my nose," and then snotted some right on to my hand. Classy, classy lady.
At this point I passed out, or maybe not at this point, actually I think I told stories about shitting my pants and how happy I was that this hadn't been one of those times, and then I passed out. I woke up right around the belize city grave yard to Kid Rock. Joe really needs to improve his musical selections. And by the time we had arrived to the ferry terminal, after being serenaded by Kid and Sheryl singing, "pictures," I was ready to puke and not ready to have a conversation.
Something else you should know, all belizian transport workers love tour leaders, whenever a troop of tourists appears these guys crowd around asking which one of us is the TL. In the case of being the TL who is hard trying not to barf on a passenger, you don't want to talk to some dude who knows the boat times. Especially when they give you belizian answers, "What time is the next boat?"
"Noon."
"What time is it now?"
"Enough time to relax and have a drink. You the tour leader?"
My answer was barfing on the street. No joke.
I then dry heaved for the next five minutes, and ran past about 500 cruise shippers over to the ATM before downing a gatorade and getting on the boat. Work never stops. The surprising thing is I didn't throw up on the boat, round 3 was after walking down the island, after laying down for 1/2 an hour, but before taking to my group to lunch. And after throwing up the third time I finally put up the white flag, sent the group on their own and passed the f out.

fotos

Mamma Trish y Pappa Elvis

Cenote outside of Valladolid

El bano de la reina, Palenque.

On the way to San Cris.

Graveyard, Chiapas

once dias

I had eleven days off. It was strange to have all that time of freedom. I didn´t consider what I wanted to do that much. One thing was obvious, a visit to Hopkins, to Kisment, to my home, was in order. Hopkins was a discovery back in January, when my ferocious crew of she-goddesses and I had departed Guatemala in search of a new year adventure. We found ourselves first in Placencia, oft accidentally named Placentia, but soon bused our way north into fate, into Kismet.
Tricia, the owner of Kismet says that some people are meant to be there and others are not. Lacey and I found it after two hours of walking the dirt roads of Hopkins, as if we were drawn there by an add suffering magnet, or the beautifully hand painted signs.
Walking up the sandy track to Kismet for the first time, I remarked to Lacy how much it reminded me of Pt. Reyes, a place near both of our hometowns. It ended up being a foretelling comment, as Trish the owner turned out to have lived near by in Bolinas for a number of years.
Kismet is probably not for everybody. I have seen others reactions to the place, one has to have a certain love for disorder and chaos to feel at home there. One has to have a certain love for life to love Kismet. It is a place that thrives on humanity, authenticity, homemade bread and love. And when you love Kismet, it vortexes you, it sucks you in. Even when you have left it, it feels as if it has held on to a part of you.
Part of the beauty of Hopkins, and Kismet, is the people that populate it. Elvis, Trish, Dave, the CD man, the chickens, the laughing children, floating coconuts, the straggling travelers, the staring tourists. It all seems to come together in some sort of symphony, the lone sounds ugly by themselves somehow weave themselves into a delightful tune. Elvis and Trish though, are my favorites, my mom and dad.
Often while traveling I find myself feeling raw, opened up and thirsty for home. Only one place has made me feel that I am home, that same feeling of slight annoyance yet total dedication to a place and its people. Kismet is that sole location. Even after months in Guatemala, days passed in Antigua, nights slept in the same hotel bed, have never rendered that feeling. Only Kismet has that honor and duty to me. Why that place?
The wind, the sea being at your doorstep, the kitchen table where I can sit and draw and read and eat bread with mango jam, Trish making me nachos in the afternoon, book shelves of books, outside showers, dogs that lick your feet. How can one not feel at home? How can one not feel compelled to sweep the floor of sand, to wash the dishes?
I often wonder if all this time south of the border has made me soft. I suppose it has, but I think that that is a good thing. I think that maybe that is what we need more of up north. I think all this romance and love for people in places that Latin America stirs up could benefit us all.
With that I leave you.

ciao mèxico, belize briefly, hola guate

The last days have flown by, I feel like I was just diving in cenotes in Mèxico, and now I am all the way in Guatemala again. The last week has been all about water, snorkeling, diving, canoeing. I`ve been loving it.
Things are going to have to be a random mix of stories and run on sentences... deal with it...
random free diving, chasing parrot fish who did not seem pleased, laughing when they pooped (they poop sand, really!), racing on to the boat from cozumel in my bathing suit and not caring, though i did freeze to death in the air con (air con on a boat, why???)
cenote diving at dos ojos, silvery fish, fossils, haunting blue light, halocline induced blindness, bats, scaring snorkelers, and being complimented on my efficient breathing.
my final ado bus ride, playa to chetumal, rolling into belize full on, hot, dusty, sweaty, throwing the crew on to the water taxi and getting to Caye Caulker in time for the cake man.
snorkeling adventure in hol chan, sharks, rays, turtles that bite ankles, playing in scuba bubbles, scaring scuba divers, diving through a cave, coconut ice cream, loosing my sarong (booo!!!) and being late for the second time that day.
big evening rally at Rasta Pasta, one barrel shots for the crew, laughing too hard to take a shot, hiding below a belizian house with malcolm in a failed attempt to scare everyone on the way to ocean side, causing a dancing ruckus with kilt clad ali, telling my life story to an englishman, and falling asleep to ocean breezes.
midday roll to san ignacio, with a full on nap to belmopan (i think my pax were impressed by my sleeping skills), late afternoon arrival to the jungle. hanna´s burrito quesadillas (i don`t criticize what they name the food, it`s that good) and a failed attempt at playing scrabble.
canoeing on the makal with feliz, swimming in the falls, considering a new career in canoeing.
ok, enough already, i am sure none of it makes sense anyways. pace.

cold front fun in belice, bitch!

ciao guate!

the cold front coming in

the family

Just a bit of pixelated love from my new year´s mission to country six. An adventure full of fish, bitters, and banana leaves.