Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 26
Sign: Sagittarius
City: Washington
State: Washington DC
Country: US
Signup Date: 11/4/2005
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Sunday, December 10, 2006
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Current mood:  content
I am in the midst of studying for finals, celebrated by birthday a little too much last night, and instead of studying I decided it is time to update the good ole blog.
Tom and I are living in DC and loving it! We are both teaching at a Special Ed School. I love my class. The kids all have a varation of Aspergers in my class along with other disorders in conjunction. I still miss the residents from NY and even the really intense aggressive behaviors from the group home, but these kids have their own share of violent outbursts. There are five kids in my class and all are so funny and quirky! I work mostly with one boy who thinks our charity project at school will result in us selling the toys we buy to the homeless kids so we can get "lots of money" haha and tried to compliment me by saying I was a "very very big teacher" (he's 8, and for him its a compliment to be told how big you are haha). I am teaching science to the kids which is fun. We just finished a unit on electricity and the kids built circuits and created their own flashlights! Next month I start sex ed . . . . One of the kids asked Tom if he felt luck to be married to "the most beautiful woamn ever!" hehe
Tom is working with the Autism program. He really loves it.
School is crazy busy. The classes aren't as hard or as specialized as I had hoped for, but the workload is still tough with the inflexibility of the hours at work. My classes are okay, but I'm not totally into the degree. I had really imagined my master's program to be really intellectually challenging and interesting . . . but not so much. I have met some awsome people though, so I'm glad to stay in the program. It's nice to be in an environment again where the people I am friends with are friends that I am to some degree intellectual with and the partying is secondary, rather than the friendship only being based on partying.
I will be graduating next December and am not sure what will happen. I might go to Iowa to do a Presidental campaign. Or, I might go work on the Harkin campaign (get a foot in since he is one of the only legislators that does any work towards protecting the mentally retarded).
Law school will start the Fall after the elections and I plan to go to law school part time and keep teaching. I figure, I can't make legislation if I don't know what needs to be changed.
Tom and I bought a condo in NE DC and it is super cute! We love it.
Life is good. It's hard always being so tired because of work and stuff and Tom and I don't get a lot of time together just to hang out (we're usually just in the same room studying) but we're really happy. It's fun to play house and cook together in our kitchen and plan meals (Thanksgiving was the best!).
It's somehwat daunting to think about the future though. There are so many opportunities coming up (teaching abroad offers, more volunteer projects we'd like to run, high stress campaign jobs, extra schooling) but its getting to the point where we have to pick and choose . . . 'cause eventually we want a kid . . . crazyiness . . . hahaha . . . and we can't take care of one if we're in school and working and saving Africa from disease . . . maybe two of the three . . . haha . . . and we can add the third once the kid's in kindergarden lol . . . but still!
Anyway- to some it all up: things are stressful but going our way. Yay work. Yay friends. Yay house. . . . and school's not so bad. :)
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Monday, September 25, 2006
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Into Africa
Published: Sunday, September 25th, 2005
By TY PHILLIPSBEE STAFF WRITER
Africa. It had seemed like such a neat idea when Saundra Dobbs and Tom Bishop first tossed it around in the spring of 2004. They would travel to Ghana and spend six weeks volunteering on a building project while experiencing some beautifully rugged country.
But that's the thing about adventure: The true meaning of rugged living doesn't take shape until you're committed. And, bouncing toward a hospital on the back of an old flatbed chicken truck, her body roiling with malaria, Saundra certainly found herself committed.
The truck powered toward the nearest town at about 25 mph. The driver weaved wildly to avoid holes in the muddy roads as rain soaked the passengers — dozens of chickens crammed into small cages and people crammed into the spaces between chickens. For much of the ride, Saundra closed her eyes, pulled her knees up against her chest and gripped the wooden side rails, trying to avoid throwing up again. Or worse.
Each time the truck hit a hole, the passengers bounced a few feet into the air and landed hard on the metal bed, bruising butts and knees; people groaned as mud repeatedly splattered the passenger area. The ride lasted 45 minutes and, for Saundra, it felt like a lifetime. However, when the truck dropped them off in the middle of the nearest city with a hospital, their journey was not yet complete. So they hailed a beat-up taxi whose driver could have used some lessons from the erratic chicken-truck driver.
Some of the taxi's windows were broken, and a door had to be held closed by hand. Passing through a rural stretch en route to the hospital, the taxi approached a herd of sheep standing in the dirt roadway. The driver honked several times and slowed some, but Tom sensed the driver did not intend to stop. That was bad news for two sheep that failed to leave the road in time; the animals disappeared and became lodged in the undercarriage. The driver yelled a little, got out and yanked the sheep from beneath the car, then got back inside. Tom sat in the front seat, a bit speechless, looking out the window at the motionless animals as the taxi sped away. All the while, Saundra sat in the back, trying to keep all her fluids inside — and that's about as nicely as that can be put.
When the taxi finally arrived at the hospital, Saundra stepped out, walked to the admitting desk and promptly collapsed. She awoke a little later sitting in a wheelchair draped in spider webs. Her IV stand was a 2-by-4 with a bent nail for a hook. She had been given many shots; one of them mistakenly was administered into her arm rather than her rear, causing the arm to swell immensely.
'I freaked out when I saw it,' she said. 'I started sobbing because I thought I was dying. It was so horrible.'
Life's most colorful stories often aren't much fun while they're happening. But Saundra, who graduated from Modesto High School in 2001, made a nice recovery. She and Tom, who also caught malaria last year during the couple's first trip to Ghana, both helped construct a concrete building in a small village that is being used to further women's rights causes in Africa.
For those who fear younger generations are in dire need of people of accountability and compassion, I present to you the Bishops:
Last month, the couple returned from a second stint in Africa, where they helped teach classes in AIDS and malaria awareness. They also bought 150 mosquito nets and distributed them to villagers.
In Ghana, a friend led them to a small village whose people share the nearest water source — essentially a muddy pond — with cows and parasites. The Bishops have embarked on a mission to change that, and they hope to have three fresh water wells in the village by next summer.
The couple currently are enjoying a four-week honeymoon in Costa Rica. They are spending their first two weeks volunteering in an orphanage and staying with a Costa Rican family. They will spend the remaining two weeks exploring the country and celebrating their marriage.
'We would have felt bad if we went somewhere that was mostly poor and had a lavish vacation,' Saundra said. 'At this point in our lives, it's not something we would have been comfortable with.
'Honestly, I can't give you a reason why we have done some of the (volunteering). It's all just kind of happened. I know it makes us feel good when we do it. It's also a way to see the world and meet different people. It helps them, and helps us. We might not be able to do those things when we have careers and kids, so we want to do as much of it as we can now.'
The couple, both 22, met in August 2001, shortly after they moved to New York City to attend Hofstra University. They spent a lot of time together during those first weeks, setting the stage for the night Saundra called Tom into her room to have the obligatory I-can't-have-a-boyfriend-at-this-point-in-my-life talk. Tom, who grew up in Sunnyvale, wasn't all that interested in having a girlfriend, either, but his analytical mind led him to point out flaws in her logic. A long discussion ensued.
'Somehow, by the end of the conversation, we had agreed to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Neither of us could figure out how we got there. We were just kind of like, 'Oh, well then. OK. So that's that.''
Two days later, the Twin Towers fell. From the top floor of a campus library, the couple watched the black smoke rising, signaling a new era. Not knowing anyone else in the city, the two leaned on each other during those first surreal days after 9-11.
'It definitely brought us closer together,' she said. 'Sept. 11 kept me from wanting to go out and party. It made it easy to stay home and hang out together.'
It also fostered the desire to bring good deeds into a world that has no shortage of bad ones. She volunteered as a crisis counselor for a suicide hot line, and they both spent time working in a group home for developmentally disabled people.
In 2003, while sitting in their home tossing around ideas of how to spend the summer, one of them threw out the idea of volunteering in Africa. Saundra got onto the computer and found the Sungsim Women's Association, a group based in Larabanga, Ghana, that aims to provide African girls and women greater access to school and training programs to help raise the status of women in their society. The association also focuses on informing community members about the AIDS virus to help prevent its spread.
During their first African tour, Tom and Saundra worked on a community building for SWA as well as two guest rooms that can be rented to help fund the organization. Outside of the malaria experience and several lesser calamities, the Bishops had such a good experience that they returned last summer to help teach the classes in AIDS and malaria awareness.
It was during that visit that a woman named Nana, who heads a women's group, guided the Bishops to a small village untouched by tourism or Western culture. It is a place of circular mud huts, straw roofs and meager corn fields managed by peasants. There is no electricity and no running water.
The Bishops wound up in a small hut. They sat on crude benches fashioned from wood chunks and met with some of the tribe's 1,500 people. Using Nana as an interpreter, the Bishops asked if there was anything they could do that might be helpful to their group, perhaps some type of malaria or AIDS project. An unexpected answer came back: We just want clean water.
'Here we were offering to bring them things like mosquito nets, and they're asking for water,' Tom said. 'We were like, 'OK, we need to back up about 10 steps here.'
'It's three miles to their nearest pond. Cows drink from it and there are worms swimming around. They have been taught to strain the water through this fabric to get the big pieces like rocks, dirt, bugs and hair. They couldn't boil it because wood and coal are scarce and costly. If you stepped in this water, you'd get parasites that would blister your skin. It's awful, and this is their drinking water.'
The couple, working with West Africans they have befriended, began doing research and discovered that Ghana's government will pay 95 percent of the costs associated with digging bore-holes for drinking water. That left the Bishops to come up with the remaining 5 percent, or about $750.
Obviously, volunteering in Africa and Costa Rica doesn't bring in a lot of money, so the couple had to get creative. At their wedding on Sept.11 at The Palms Cafe in Modesto, the couple — scheduled to begin a 27-month assignment in the Peace Corps starting in November — gave guests bookmarks that explained the funds for traditional party favors had been diverted to help pay for three fresh water wells in a West African village.
'We won't be able to go back to Africa until after the Peace Corps, unless we're stationed somewhere fairly close,' Tom said. 'But we're hoping to have everything in place by the end of the year. Then the government will set a contract date and begin drilling. We're hoping they have fresh water there by next summer.'
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Saturday, July 08, 2006
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Entry1 (July 8th):
We are having a great time here in Rwanda! The people are so nice and I am amazed at how modern Kigali looks. These last few days have been busy.There is a school group from NY that we met up with and we have meals with them and have tagged along on some of their adventures. The poor group all lost thier luggage!
We started volunteering at the orphanage and have been working with the 'teeney tiny babies' They are all so little. Many have been abandoned in trashcans and bushes and are sick. They are much more responsive than I had expected though. We spend the whole day cycling through the 30 or so babies feeling and changing andcleaning them. Tomorrow we will work with the toddlers and the next day we will be with the elderly people who live in the homeless shelter. The place is very industrial and no where near as nice as the place in Costa Rica. But they seem to be doing thier best.
Tomorrow we will go to the orphanage for the genocide survivors.
Last night the Jesuit Priest who is helping us took a group of us out to a night club.It wasfun but we were all so tired we had to ask him to bring us home.
On Tuesday we get to go on a safari and on the 19th we are going to see the gorillas!!
This place is so beautiful.It was even beautiful from the airport!
Entry 2 (July 13th):
We have been doing some pretty great things here! We have been volunteering at Mother Teresa's orphanage everyday in the mornings. We have worked with a few different groups. Tom like the tiny babies best. We're getting to know their personalities so that is fun. I was projectile vomitted on the smallest baby today . . . that was fun haha. We have also played with the 2 year olds. We did hookey pokey and polayed on the seesaw etc. There are probably 40 or so in that group. Yesterday we played with the HIV positive kids. There were about 8. They were so fun! All are on meds and are between 5 and 8. We did obstacle courses and played on the play ground. A few of th boys and I played "throw a ball over the swing set" it was a good time.
We also visited the orphanage for survivors of the genocide. Most are away at school but I was able to sit with a few of the survivors and talk about their school and things like that. They all seemed very interested in the fact that Tom and I are married. The rest ofd the kids come back from boarding school on the 21st so we will go back then to do some carft projects.
The school group that is here met with the genocide survivors group last night and we were invited. I was able to sit with three men who survived (one hid in the woods and lost all of his family, another lost everyone accept one brother). We did not talk much about what happened to them during the genocide, but we talked to them about how they live now and about how life is in the US. The survivors association is based out of teh university and they meet once a month but within the bigger organization there are "families" which meet once a week. Each family has a "mother" and "father" and the rest are brothers and sisters./ They get together for one dinner a week and discuss their problems etc. There are like 12 people to a family. We also learned that there is very little trama couseling available in rwanda and in April (when teh genocide started) many students become to upset and are forced to quit school. It is amazing to meet with these 20 somethings who witnessed such horror when they were only 13 or 14 who are in school and working toward a better future for Rwanda. They are still afraid it will happen again but are optimistic about teh future of Rwanda as a country.
One Monday we went to the Kigali Genocide Museum. We were there 3 hours and could have stayed longer. It was very well done. There was a great history of what lead to the genocide and video throughout that had interviews with survivors. They showed video of woulds of children who had been cut with machetes and of the tens of thousands of bodies massacred in each of the many churches where people went as a safe haven. But there was also a section on people who stood up and saved Tutsis and a look into the organization that are formingf to prevent genocide . . . yet it still is happening in Darfur and in a different way in the Congo . . .
Since Monday was so intense, we decided to take a break and go see some wildlife. We went on a safari in a park called Akegera and it was great! We saw giraffes and zebras and hippos and water buffalos and all types of birds. It was really amazing! We are going to track colobus monkeys on Saturday and on Weds we get to track gorillas!
Rwanda is a beautiful country. The people have been very friendly, the landscapes are breathtaking, and the infrastructure is very modern compared to Ghana. Tomorrow we are going to Kibuye, which is where Immaculee is from and we will get to see another part of the country. On the drive to Akegara we were able to see some of the more rural parts of the country with the mudhuts similar to Ghana. But, somehow, it still seemed more advanced than Ghana. Each village we saw had a well (though it is very likely there are plenty of villages without wells I am just not awarre of it). Some of teh cars here have the steering wheel on the opposit side of teh car than in the US . . but not all . . . so it makes for some funny driving.
Entry 3 (7-15-06):
The day before yesterday (after i was vomitted on) we went to the Natural History Museum in Kigali. It was a cute little museum and we had a local woman as our guide. After we looked at the stuffed zebras and the moon rock Nixon gave to Rwanda, we went out onto the balcony which had an amazing view. The women pointed out schools and churches and then pointed to building not far away and said "That is the prision. The killer of the genocide are there." Tom and I were surprised and noticed the bright pink prision uniforms and she said casually "|My family was killed in the genocide". She was so open about it and told us she had 5 siblings that were killed and only one nrother and her aunt survived. Apparently she had been taken in by a neighbor who had many children and she was able to pretend to be one of her children. She was pretty lucky in that she wasnt abused or threatened and did not have to hide in a bathroom or outhouse or in the woods like so many others. After talking to her for a bit we also found out she was paying her way to go to University and was studying law.
She asked where we were going next and we told her the market, so she had two friends take us on the minibus and show us the right place. It was very nice. Then we went to the art market and bought some incredible crafts. Rwanda is more expensive than Ghana but the crafts are equally as artistic. We had a nice time and took a minibus home after almost everyone at the market helped us to find the pick up point. We ended up being dropped off in a place we were unfamiliar with . . and again . . everyone we passed asked if we needed help and showed us how to get back to Centre Christus where we are staying. Then we went to a local restuarant nearby, where we think no white people ahve ever stepped foot into, and they were so friendly. They did not speak very much english but they went out of their way to make sure we liked our food. At teh end I gave teh waitress a small tip (unsual for out here) and she chased after me saying "you forgot your money!" We explained tipping as much as possible and she was so excited haha. It wasn't the amount of money, I think, just the gesture that she apprecaited.
Yesterday we took a day trip to Kibuye which is where Imaculee is from. It had teh highest concintartion of Tutsis (20in all of Rwanda and was also the place where the highest percentage was murdered (9 out of 10). We visited the church and stadium where Tutsis were told to take shelter (over 10,000 in each place) and then the people who told them to hide went and got the Hutus who threw grendages into the church and then took three hours to kill any survivors with machetes. A similar thing happened in the staduim. It was very surreal to be there. there church has been redone and is amazingly beautiful, with peaceful views and wonderful stain glass windows . . . it is unimaginable what happened here.
We walked all over Kibuye and found a special Friday-only market and |I bought some fabric to make a skirt. We also had a long lunch on Lake Kivu which borders Rwanda and Congo.
When we returned we went to a dance club with some of teh Jesuit priests and some of teh girls from the school group. There was a Cuban band and then a jazzi-rasta band. We danced and laughed and had a great time.
Today we worked with teh toddlers and played games and will go back to the m,arket later.
Tomorrow, early, we will go to Nygumwe National Park to track colobus monkeys. We will spend teh night and return to Kigali Monday aftenoon.
Entry 4 (7-17-06):
The monkeys were awsome! We took a four hour bus to the National Park yesterday and arrived in time to track colobus monkey's (a species Tom particularily likes). Our guide was great and told us all about the monkeys (did you know monkeys dont drink water? they get all of their liquid from fruit!) We found a troop of maybe 30 monkeys which had a moma monkey as its leader! Apparentl;y moma monkeys have better eyesight and can climb higher, so when they get kicked out of their troops they often move on and become leaders of colobus troops. We watched them jump and play and one even fell! Our guide said he had never seen that before. The branch just snapped!
We took the bus back and met some nice people aboard. One pregnant lady threw up a lot and I gave her some gum. Another guy was a doctor and pointed out land marks to me. Anotehr old lady kept making me a pillow from my sweatshirt everytime it fell haha.
Tonight Tom and I are having dinner with the four genocide survivors we met the other day. It will be nice.
Entry 5 (7-21-06):
Rwanda ia amazing! We are having a great time. Since I last wrote we have been very busy. We have been volunteering at the orphanage. We showed the 2 year olds (who all just sit crammed in a crib all day) Finding Nemo a few days ago and showed the 3-4 year olds the movie today. They were all amzed my the colors. Today the kids were really into teh movie then someone came around and started handing out candy and it all went to hell. The kids couldn't open the wrappers, kids were taking eachothers candy, and then three kids peed all over the floor so we ended the movie early haha. It was a good time though.
On Tuesday we went to dinner with the 4 guys from the genopcide survivors group. It was a nice time. We laughed and joked and talked a little about the genocide. They had all seen Hotel rwanda and thought that it was okay but not good enough because it did not show how bloody and terrible the genocide was. I told him if the movie was that bloody it would be too hard to watch. We discussed American customs and Rwandan life. We even discussed the violence currently taking place in the Congo and Sudan.
On weds we went to see the gorillas. It was incredible. It is sooo exensive to see then ($400!) but it was so worth it. Two of the jesuit preist and a girl from the school group that is here went with us. We left at 3:30am and arrived at 6am. Due to some quick reflexes we got to see teh particular group we wanted (which had 19 members!) We hiked fpr two hours in some pretty dense bamboo forests . . spoiing elephant and buffallo poo along the way . . . and then came upon the gorillas. the Silverback (the dominant male) was so big and strong and beautiful. We watched them eatting and playing and saw 5 or 6 babies. I took some great pictures.
After teh gorillas we went to a town called gesenyi and visted Lake Kivu again. It was nice but then one of teh preists decided he wanted to go to Congo for an hour to buy new tires. So he left us and we ate popcorn and drank Sprite until he Came back. then we started to drive home and got a flat tire! Then we had to get the tire fixed in case we lost another tire (the CDongo tires had not been purchased because they werent the right kind). Then right before we got home a motorbike taxi pulled in front of us and we almost crashed! It was an intense day! Haha but it was nice.
Yesterday was another busy day. We went to Butare where teh National Museum is and we learned all about non-genocide Rwandan history. We walked around town a little bit and then went an hour to a genocide memorial. I don't think i can even describe the memorial. It was the site of a school where 52,000 tutsi were taken to hide. Once they were there, they were locked into the classrooms for two weeks without food or water so they would be weak. Then the Hutus came and threw grenades into the windows and then opened the doors and systematically murdered everyone using clubs and machetes. It took four days. The bodies were buried in a mass grave and the site was later used bu the french when they came in to help stop the war (though they had been providing weaponds to Hutus prior and there are several times when they came to an area. said it was safe to come out, then left, and the people who left hiding were killed). Anyway- when teh french set up camp, they made a volleyball court and used lyme in the construction. The court was placed over teh mass grave (unknowlingly) and when the killers admitted their crimes and told the place of the bodies they were dug up and were white from the lyme. There were only 4 survivors and one of them was our guide.
The memorial itself was hard. Our guide told us what had happened through a translator and then took us to school rooms. In each room were twenty or so bodies. Each body looked like a deflated person, many still had skin and hair and clothes. They were covered in a white chalk and you could see bones that were clearly cut with machetes . . . . some skulls were sliced open and preserved brain could be seen. The rooms were dark and the smell was overpowering. There were maybe 12 rooms like this. The guide asked us to take pictures and show them to people at home. I took 4 photos . . . one of a small child curled into a ball. It was horrible.We had know there were bodies there, but we thought they would be skeletons . . . but they looked like people . . . . .
But everytime I am horrified by what I see, I look around and see how peaceful the country is now. They just started this years round of Gacaca courts which seem to really be helping the country heal. The major purpitrators and planners and being tried by the international criminal court but people who killed a few people are tried by Gacacas. They are in every region and have 18 judges and there must be 100 witnesses. They interview the suspected genocidier and then if they confess they must tell where the bodies are of the people they killed and then are assigned to labour intensive volunteer work. If they do not confess, then people in teh community bear witness for or against them and then the judges decide guilt or innocence. It is a slow process but seems to be working. We might go to a hearing tomorrow . . . we are not certain though.
We went to a pottery shop today which is based on fair trade principles and the pottery is made by the Twa people whic are pigmey people often ignored by the press etc
Entry 6 (7-22-06):
Today we went to visit an organization that helps child head of households. There are 80 houses with 400 or so people and they all have children as the oldest adult. All are survivors of teh genocide and teh most needy get help (HIV positive, handicapped, etc). Each person gets a scholarship through secondary school and health coverage. We were able to go to a home and talk to the people who lived there. It was pretty incredible. Some heads of household are only 15, while others are 20 or so but have never been to school (they only moved there in 2002 and even so the oldeat child can rarely go because schools are far and they need to care for their families). there are children running families all over Africa, but it is especially a problem here because of the genocide.
We went to the orphanage to say goodbye to the children today and donate some clothing. We had a really nice time. Some of teh children were being adopted today . . . so that was nice.
We leave for CA tomorrow at 2pm or time and it will take almost 36 hours to get home! We'll email when we arrive which will be 1pm of July 24th (as long as we make all of our connections!)
We really had a great time here. Rwanda was a perfect place to end our traveling. In the past 4 or 5 months we have visited 8 countries, volunteered in 4, and have learned a lot about the world. It has been a wonderful expereince but we are very excited to get home and start graduate school.
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Sunday, June 11, 2006
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Entry 1 (6-11-06):
Tom and I leave for our Egypt/Rwanda trip today . . . I am nervous but really excited. We have been reading all the state department annoucements, packing, and preparing mentally for another round of volunteering. It looks like we will be working with Sudanese refugees in Egypt and in an orphanage in Rwanda. It will be intense . . . but I also think a lot of fun.
For those of you that we saw this trip- it was great! For those we missed- see you next time!!
I am a bit nervous about the safety factor, but once I get to Egypt I am sure I will feel totally safe and at home. We have been monitoring the news and state department sites, so we feel pretty confident we aren't doing anything too crazy.
I have suddenly developed a fear of flying . . . so that sucks! But I think I will move past it . . . I don't really have a choice!
I love you all!!
Entry 2 (6-12-06):
The flights were uneventful . . . though I got all airplane scared and cried before getting on the second . . . oh well . . . at least I got on the planes!
We had a 10 hour lay-over in Amsterdam and went and walked around the town. It was nice. We went to the Van Gogh museum which has a special exhibit on Rembranht and Caravaggio. It was incredible!
At the Amsterdam airport, we met this nice girl who is egyptian and goes to college in upstate NY. She lives in the same suburb that we are in, el maaydi, and so she offered to have her dad negotiate a fair taxi fee, have the taxi driver follow them home, and then her brother drove us to the apartment complex . They were all soooooo nice! Apparently her dad worked for the UN forming environmental policy for 25 years! They've offered to put us in touch with volunteer opportunities and kind of take us under their wing. Yippeee
The apartment is beautiful!! It is very very large and beautifully decorated. You can see the Nile from the window . . . amazing.
Well, its 4am here and we're off to bed now.
Entry 3 (6-12-06) part 2
Okay so we had a very relaxed day. We slept most of it and then went to the grocery store. Everyone we met was so helpful! In this building, very few people speak English so its been tough to communicate. However, everyone seems to want to help us. At one point this morning I had 5 people crowded around me trying to help me translate a question. It was hilarious!
We went downstairs to ask the guard where a grocery store was and he had no idea what we were asking, so a passing woman told us of a place. Just as we were about the try to get there by taxi, another woman and her son (maybe 7) came downstairs and after talking to the guard smiled and offered to go with us to the store . .. she was going too. Neither she nor her son spoke english so there was a lot of smiling andhand gesturing.
Once at the store we were able to buy food (we bought about two weeks worth of food!) and half way through the lady came to us and indicated she was leaving but her son would stay with us. He stayed with us the rest of the time (insisting on pushing he cart) so we bought him an icecream. Tom and I decided we wanted to give her a gift so we tried to find out where he lived . . but no one could translate so finally someone downstairs pushed an intercom and a woman who spoke english told me to come to her room and she would translate for me. She was a beautiful pregnant woman who was living in the apartment with her husband who was from South Carolina (and talks like George Bush). They are only in the complex for 5 more days, but will be in the country for another month.
She helped me figure out that the mother actually lived very far away and that we should just give the gift to the boy and he would give it to her when he saw her. It was nice. They invited us over for dinner tomorrow so that will be fun,
They invited us out tonight wih two friends. We were tired but went down to the apartment anyway. The friend was nice, but a bit overbearing. He kept offering help for things we didn't need help for and wouldn't take no for an answer. He was very nice and friendly, but seemed to want to help us only to make him feel good, not really to help us. just a bit over the top. We ended up deciding not to go out and watched West Wing in the apartment instead. We will go there for dinner tomorrow with the friend but then will probably go our seperate ways.
But, again, he was nice . . . just did not quite mesh with us personality wise.
Tomorrow the plan is to pick our volunteer place and go to the embassy. We are hoping to meet up with the girl from the plane for some of that. We are really looking forward to getting to know her and her family better.
Entry 4 (6-17-06):
Well, it has been an interesting few days. We have been taking it very slow . . . jet-lag kicked our butts this time around. We did not make it to the embassy the day we had planned. Instead, we laid around the apartment all day. We went downstairs to the neighbors for a but and found out he is a Marine from South Carolina and she is Iraqi. They met because she worked as a translator while he was stationed in Iraq. It was interesting to talk to her. She says she felt more free and safe before the war but she, obviously, isn't opposed to the US being there because she worked for them and also met her husband there.
The next day we went to the embassy and spoke with the consular. He was very friendly. I asked him about all of the places we planned to visit and asked if it was safe. He reminded us that anything can happen anywhere, but that in general these places are fine. I askedhim if he would take his family and he said he had recently taken his family to several of the locations already and he was planning to take them to the rest. He said he'd even been to the Sinai already (though we still plan to skip that). That made me feel a lot better. Now I jus have to figure out how to get to these places. Our book is outdated so the trains schedules etc will be off. I have emailed a travel agent who will hopefully be able to help us out. We also met up with Reem (the girl from the plane) and bought an arabic-english dictionary and got someinfo on volunteering. It's hard to find info! I've emailed a bunch of places and plan to call more tomorrow . . . so we'll see. I was suppdosed to geta massage from a friend of the people downstairs but the lady didn't come :(
Yesterday was fun. We went to the Egyptian Museum and saw so many things! We saw the items found in Tutencomons tomb, we saw a bunch of animal mummies which were neat to see (one dog still had fur!!!), and we saw Akhenaton stuff as well. Akhenaton tried to make Egyot monothestic back in the day and had all of these more realistic volumtious statues that had kind of an african feel. Again, everyone was very friendly today (though we did fight with the cab driver who was trying to rip us off). After the museum we went to Reem's for a bit and chatted with her family and then came home and ate dinner (mac and cheese .. . yummmy). Then we went out to a jazz club with Reem. It was a DJ and not really jazz .. . but a cool combo of techno and traditional egyptian music . . . the place was pretty empty because there was a huge soccer game but it was still fun. We came home by midnight (I didn't want to throw my sleep schedule off too much) and went to bed. This is two nights I slept through the night! Yippeee! When I arrived I was having trouble sleeping because of jet lag but now I appear to be able to sleep!..>..>
After that, Gamal took us to his home and his wife and her mother cooked us fish and this green bitter lettuce stuff, cucumber, hummuslike stuff, and pita bread. It was my first real expereince of being force-fed! They kept saying "oh, Saundra does not like this" but i did like it, I was just full haha! And kept trying to give me more and more food. it was fish so i was eatting slow so I didn't accidently swollow a bone and so they said "Saundra is eatting slow she muct not like it" haha it was funny. they were very nice and we got some information on a possible volunteer place working with women with breast cancer . . . we'll see if that pans out.
After dinner we went downstairs to meet another friend of Ehab's parents who were also very nice. The wife was a vet and her daughter was in school studying marketing. they served us sparlking pineapple juice which we had to force down . . . but was tasty . . . and then we went home. No we're planning out the itinery finally! I have been collcting safety information from people and now i feel confident that i can make a safe and fun and relatively comfortable itinerary .. yippeee!!! you know how I love planning . . . . that may be one of the reasons I have been so anxious . . . I haven't had a plan for this trip . . . so it will be fun to organize that!
Anyway- thats what i have for now. Tomorrow we will see more of Cairo and try to nail down a volunteer place and our tourist info (train schedules etc). The plan is to go to Alexandria the day after tomorrow for the day
Entry 5 (6-20-06):
We have been doing some nice touristing and what not here in Egypt. We have been a little lazy too . . . but I think that is over now!
Yesterday we went to Alexandria with Reem. It was a long day, but we pretty much saw everything we wanted to see.Tom and I left here over an hour before our train but the taxi driver got lost on his way to pick up Reem and we missed teh train by ten minutes. Kind tourists cops took us all over the station until we were able to change the tickets finally (for a small fee of course). Once we made the 2 hour train ride we visited the main tourist sites. We saw the Roman Amitheatre which had the ruins of an ancient house with beautifully mosaic-ed floors. We visited the catacombs which was this series of underground tombs that had some incredible carvings and decoration. We saw an object called Pompey's Pillar which was the only thing remaining a temple in Luxor. A guard letd us to some underground tunnels which went underneath the pillar and to some ancient underground libraries. After that we went to the "new library". this was a big controversial addition that reminded a bit of the style of the Clinton Library. It was built on the site of the ancient library which was where the Bible was supposed to have been translated to create the Septugiant. The library had some replicas of textiles from Tutamcomon, a museum, and beautiful architecture. We then tried to get inside of a famous fort, Fort Qaybay, but it was closed. So, we looked around outside, took a cab to get some traitional Egyptian doughy food, and waited at the train station for our train. We arrived home late and went to bed.
Today we finally were able to get ahold of the volunteer place. We went down there and met with one director . . . but they seem to have a problem with the fact that we aren't Christian and said we have to get the approval of the director or something . . . so we may not get to volunteer.
The center was very nice though. Sudanese refugees (many from Darfur) come to the grounds during the day and sit, go to the hospital clinic, or work on crafts. There is an organized sewing program where the goods are sold to help fund th project. On site is also a school for deaf Egyptians.
After the volunteer place we ran some errands and the went to visit the Citadel. It is a huge compound with 3 mosques and some museums origionally built by Salah Al-din who was a very successful Muslim crusades general who ruled Egypt for awhile. Muhammed Ali (not the boxer) later lived there and made many improvements on it. We were able to see a pretty neat military museum (though much of it was closed) and a police museum which was neat.
Overall, it was a really nice day. Tomorrow we will, hopefully, go volunteer and then do some more Cairo site seeing.
Entry 6 (6-22-06):
Yesterday we went to the volunteer place again. We had a meeting and it was basically determined that there wasn't any work for us. All of the schools have closed for summer and the main programs they have open are for the clinic (which were not qualified for) and ministry (which we'd rather eat nails than do). So we said our goodbyes and did some site seeing. We went to the Cairo Opera house which also had a neat impressionistic art exhibit. We also visited the Egyptian Modern Art museum which had some pretty interesting pieces. We even poked our heads into the Hilton Hotel which has a pool available to westerners . . . it was a little too decedent for our tastes
After touristing i recieved an email which said that the University was doing some work with Sudanese refugees and could use our help to help administer english placement exams. At first we almost didn't go .. . we were tired and frustrated by the whole process, but we finally decided to go. It was really fun.
Apparently, there is a phenmenon occuring here amoungst the Sudanese young adult men. They are apparently infatuated with American "gangsta rap" and culture. They dress like urban street kids in the US and listen to Tupac and Notoruis B.I.G Apparently, this innocent interest has actually become a problem because they have started forming gangs and stabbing eachother! There are apparently 4 gangs in Cairo- B.I.G, Outlaws, the Lost Boys, and B2K. (The first two are references to hard core rap (BIG for Notorius BIG and Outlaws being a group of Tupacs. . . the last is essentially a black boy-band so thats kind of funny . . . and "the Lost Boys" may be a reference to a rap group but most likely references the knickname given to Sudanese refugee men . . . theres a book by that title). So, the University is offering English classes as a way to occupy them but also try to resolve these issues before they get too far along, They invited members of all of the gangs and plan to do reseach while in the classrooms about why this phenomenon has taken place. It seems like a great project.
They want to make sure the courses are functional so we administed placement tests to ensure the levels were equal. We did one on one assessments (over 100 were done in total) which consisted of oral questions, counting, spelling, letter recognition, the alphabet, and a short reading comprehension questionaire. It was really interesting to meet the "boys" and participate in the exams. They all wanted to be in an english class so badly!
Unfortunetly, they don't need any more help with the project, so our work is finished. So no volunteering for us . . . we are sad but we tried our best (called churches and mosques and the schools . . . but everything is closed for summer!)
Today we went to "Islamic Cairo" and visited several mosques. I have pics posted if youre interested. It was a nice day and we met a lot of nice people. We might go on a boat ride tonight . . . . but maybe not.
Entry 6 (6-24-06):
Yesterday, we tried to visit some more mosques, but we were unsuccessful. We had not taken into account that is was Friday (Muslim equivalent to Sunday) and the mosques were filled with worshippers, and as a result, off limits to us. So, we went to Old Cairo instead. Old Cairo is the area where all of the Christian sites are. We visited a Coptic church which was interesting because it was boroque in style (very dark paint etc) but had a middle eastern flare to the design. It also has many paintings of Mary and she was brown in all of them . . . which is much more likely assuming she existed . . . but were used to European art which often depicts her as blond!
Today we went to the big outdoor market with Reem and her American friend Alex. Alex went to Luxor and Aswan two weeks ago and gave us some tips. We bought some souvenirs and gifts and haggled hard. We found it was much more difficult here than in other countries because of how I was treated. Men ignored me or talked to me like I was stupid . . . what was also odd is many store owners seemed to think I was Egyptian! When i was alone they would always start with Arabic first, and when i was with Tom they would ask if his wife was Egyptian. It was interesting.
We didnt do the fellucca last night as planned but will do one in Aswan instead. Right now we are exhausted! So were going to try to have an early night.
Tomorrow night we leave for Luxor. We will take an overnight train to Luxor and arrive at 5am or so Monday morning. We will check into our hotel, called Happy Land Hotel and spend the day sightseeing in Luxor. On Tuesday we will sightsee in Luxor and at 5pm take a train to Aswan. I don't know where we will stay in Aswan. On Weds we will either go to Abu Simbel to see some amazing ancient egytian sites or we will do a day trip from Aswan. One Thursday we will do whatever we didn't do the day before. On Friday we will site-see in Aswan itself (take a felucca ride etc) and take an overnight train back to Cairo .. . we will arrive at around 8am on Saturday morning.
Entry 7 (6-28-06):
We have been having an amazing time! We left Cairo on Sunday night and took an overnigh train to Luxor. On the train we met a girl who is putting our travels to shame (she just spent 3 months in the West Bank, Syria, Behruit, and is heading to Iraq!) We arrived in Luxor in time to start sightseeing and we went to Karnack Temple first.
Karnack Temple was amazing! It was huge and had statues that towered 50 feet in the air at least! There were reliefs and pillars and everything you think of when you think ancient Egypt (I must admit I hadn't even realized any of this really still existed!)
After Karnack we went to the Luxor Temple and a man acted as our guide. He showed us all different types of reliefs and pointde out which Gods were which. Then we went to the Luxor museum . . it wasn't as big as the Cairo Museum but was much prettier.
The next day we were supposed to go on a site-seeing tour but it got canceled, so we hired a taxi to drive us to some sites that are farther way. We saw Valley of Teh Kings which had all of the Pharoah's tombs!!! They were so well preserved and colorful and just absolutly breathtaking. We even went into King Tut's tomb! Wow
We also saw the Valley of Queens which had the wives (but wasnt nearly as impressive) a momunment to the only female Pharoah and these huge states of sitting people called the Colasus. I can't even describe how incredible everything was. It was so big and magestic and intricate and unbelievably large!
We were supposed to catch 1 5pm train to Aswan but it didn't come until 9pm. We arrived in Aswan late at night and after 5 minutes in a non airconditioned room switch to the cooler room. Its over 100 degress here (some say close to 120) and all the fan did was move the hot air around.
Today we went to the Nubian Museum and learned a lot about Nubian culture. We also learned that all of the monuments out here were moved when they build a big dam! They moved thousands of tons of rock monuments to higher ground! Isn't that crazy?
We are getting ready to go on a felucca tour (we never got around to it in cairo). It is supposed to be at its finest here. We will see thre islands and have a sunset dinner in A nubian village. It blows my mind that we will be in a boat on the Nile!
Entry 8 (6-30-06)
So what a wild few days it has been! We have been having an amazing time! THe day before yesterday we went on a felluca ride with two british girls we met and it was beautiful. We visited Elephantine Island which is home to two Nubian villages. We were able to walk around a see a local museum which featured stuffed animals and a traditional Nubian house.m Afterword the fellucca took us to see an island that was a giant botanical garden created by some tough general. Then we dropped off the girls and floated in the Nile for sunset. *sigh* What a great time.
Yesterday we decided to take a train to see some ruins in a town called Edfu. In Egypt travel is restricted for tourists and we ended up taking a tarin we werent supposed to! It was perfectly safe but when we arrived at the train station none of teh real taxis would take us because they were supposed to, so we had to pay a guy in a red car to take us. He took us on all of these back streets but we eventually got there. The site was amazing! The temple had a roof intact which was rare and all of the walls were just solid heiroglyphics and picture stories. It was great! Then we had to pay a guy to take us on a horse carriage back to teh tarin, but he stopped on a bridge andwe had to follow him down these steps and on back roads to the train. They wont even sell us tickets in advance! We had to buy them on the train. It was great.
Afterward we went to dinner with the British girls and two guys from LA and had some traditional Egytian fare.
Today, we took a 4am tour to a momunemt 4 hours away called Abu Simbel. Its 50 km from the Sufanese border and is amazing! You have to travel in this huge convoy with armed guards (there was an attack here in 1997 . . . . the attackers caught and given teh death penalty . . . but they still keep the percautions there). Once there we got to see the two sites. There were these amazingly large staues of Ramses II sitting at the entrance of the temple and great rooms with all sorts of carvings etc. Next to it was a Temple to Nefertari which was a little smaller but equally as impressive with standing figures of Ramses II wife.
This was one of teh temples that was moved because the Nile was flooding due to a new dam. After that we went to the dam (which wasnt all that impressive) but was esponsible for creating the largest mad-made lake in the world, Lake Nasser.
Then we visited Temple of Isis at Philae which was similar to the others but neat and we went to the granit quarry where all of teh granite for all of Egypts stuff was taken. It has the beginning of an obilisk qhich, had it been completed, would have been the single largest granite peice ever made . . . but it cracked so it just sits in the quarry now.
Now we are getting ready to take an overnight train back to Cairo.
Entry 9 (7-3-06):
So we leave for rwanda tomorrow (technically the day after as our flight is at 12:30am). I will send the flight schedules tomorrow. I wanted to let you all know about our last few adventures.
When we left Aswan we took an overnight train and shared a car with a Syrian-American and his two adorable kids. The daughter was 9 or 10 and the son was 7 or 8. They were talkative and hyper and pretty smart. So, it made for a pleasant train ride. I'd mentioned I wanted to see whirling dervishes (Sufi Muslims who spin in circles and dance to obtain a closeness with God) so we made a tentative date to meet for a show that night.
During the day we ran errands and relaxed until it was time to go to see the performance. It was great! They played several instruments and danced in colorful clothes which spun around like a little girls dress. It is so hard to explain but it was very entertaining. Afterward, we were joined by the family's Egyptian friend and she took us to a traditional Egyptian restuarant. Tom had pigeon and I ate a shrimp dish. It was tasty.
Yesterday we decied to explore some more of Cairo. We went to a mosque built by "The Crazy Caliph". He apparently used to punish dishonest merchants by sending his "heavily endowed black servant to teach them a lesson" . . . go figure what that means haha. It was similar in style to the mosque we visited in Paris. We also got to see the city walls which had some Nepolianic graffiti on it. In the evening we met up with two guys from LA we met in Aswan to go see a belly dance performance. The show was neat, but less artistic, and way more trashy than I had envisioned. I was glad we went though. Prior to the show, we had gone to the airlines to pay for our changed flight and we met a nice Egyptian girl who is one her way to NYC and Washington, DC for vacation and asked if we could recommend some sites. We made her a whole list and she seemed pretty happy. Afterward, we asked if she knew the best way to get to Saqqara (some pyramids) and she offered to take us!
So, today we got up early and met her and her cousin and we went to Saqqara. At Saqarra we saw a "step" pyramid which is just what it sounds like. Thjsi particular pyramid is the oldest building that exsts in the world! Its almost 5000 years old! We also saw some neat tombs and an area called the Philosopher's Circle which has crumbled statues of the famous philosophers (Plato, Homer, etc). Then we went to Dasur, which has the oldest regular pyramid and the fist attempt at a non-step pyramid. This resulted in a crooked pyramid because they realized the origional angle wouldn't work and changed it half way through construction. We finished the day off by visiting the Memphis museum which had some pretty cool giant statues.
Entry 10 (7-4-06):
We are leaving Egypt today . . . it went by so quickly! It started off a little rocky and lonely but we ended up loving what we saw in Egypt. Okay so here are my impressions:
Cairo is crazy! There are 18 million people living in one city plus every tourist who comes to Egypt has to spend some time here because of the Giza pyramids and the airport. There are traffic jams always (even at 4am!) and everyone drives like they are rushing their dying mother to the hospital. People weave in and out of cars (you'd get arrested in the US if you drove like the tamest drivers here). No one uses the lanes .. . even when the rare time emerges when there is no traffic. And the pedestrians! People just run across the streets, timing the jog so that each car barely misses them! There are no cross walks and most streets are one way on each side seperated by a concrete drivider . . . Tom and I always paid the extra money to have the tax driver make a u-turn and bring us to our place. When we travel we usually walk everywhere! But here . . . it just wasn't safe! No one would rob you or hurt you or commit terrorism against you . . . but a car might drive up on the sidewalk to pass another car and hit you! Maddness!
Egyptian people are very friendly . . . sometimes to a fault. Its really hard to be accepting of gifts etc as a westerner and to know how to show the proper appreciation. It is very easy to be considered rude when you are used to Western standards for politeness. ie In the US it polite to try to pay but here it is very offensive to try to pay if you are someone's guest etc
The pollution is awful . . . I coughed everyday I was here. In areas that are less oluted, it is so hot you still can't breath!
we spent the first two weeks in cairo and, as a result, I thought I didn't like Egypt much. But, after traveling around more of the country . . . I just realized that Cairo was a pretty overwhelming place to start . . . we've never really started a trip in a big city before.
Not knowing Arabic was a bigger problem than we expected but Tom got ahold of a computer program and has been learning the basics. We found that taxi drivers etc who spoke English often times also wanted to rip us off . . . while those who did not speak english did not rip us off . . . but maybe its just because we didn't understand. As a whole, Egyptian people were very friendly to us and always tried to help us out. We made some pretty cool friends out here in fact.
We were able to see some amazing sites! Wew saw Abu Simbel, the Spinx, the pyramids, and so much other really cool stuff! It was amazing.
Volunteering did not go as well as we had hoped. It was very difficult to get in contact with any program that was running (almost everything was on vacation because it was so hot). We had wanted to work with the Sudanese refugees so we contacted every organization out here. When we finally found one . . . we hated it! They were overly religious and while we have worked with Christian organizations before without a problem . . . whenever anyone at this place found out we weren't Christian they clucked their tongues and said "Well, we'll have to ask the program leader if that will be okay" . . . it was very disconcerting. So, we stopped working there because we did not like that they were subjecting the refugees (many of whom were Muslim) to such attitudes in order to recieve care.
We did get to do a little bit of work though. Apparently, there is a phenmenon occuring here amoungst the Sudanese young adult men. They are apparently infatuated with American "gangsta rap" and culture. They dress like urban street kids in the US and listen to Tupac and Notoruis B.I.G Apparently, this innocent interest has actually become a problem because they have started forming gangs and stabbing eachother! There are apparently 4 gangs in Cairo- B.I.G, Outlaws, the Lost Boys, and B2K. (The first two are references to hard core rap (BIG for Notorius BIG and Outlaws being a group of Tupacs. . . the last is essentially a black boy-band so thats kind of funny . . . and "the Lost Boys" may be a reference to a rap group but most likely references the knickname given to Sudanese refugee men . . . theres a book by that title). So, the University is offering English classes as a way to occupy them but also try to resolve these issues before they get too far along, They invited members of all of the gangs and plan to do reseach while in the classrooms about why this phenomenon has taken place. It seems like a great project.
They want to make sure the courses are functional so we administed placement tests to ensure the levels were equal. We did one on one assessments (over 100 in total) which consisted of oral questions, counting, spelling, letter recognition, the alphabet, and a short reading comprehension questionaire. It was really interesting to meet the "boys" and participate in the exams. They all wanted to be in an english class so badly!
Sadly that was a short lived project, but it was neat. Because we cut the volunteering short, we decided to leave Egypt a week early so we can spend some more time in CA. We leave for rwanda tomorrow and I am so excited!
Okay we have to go catch our plane! Miss you guys!
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Saturday, April 08, 2006
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Entry 1 (4-7-06):
Tom and I are well on our adventures. We have been traveling hard and are now relaxing in a beach town called Mazatlan. It is so beautiful here. We crossed into Mexico via Tijuana and spent a day enjoying the craziness there. When we walked across the border no one even looked at us . . . it was an unusual experience. Tijuana ended up being a great way to get our feet wet because it was so touristy. We left the next morning very very early (6am) and rode a 24 hour bus to a town called Chihuahua. Once there we took a 16 hour train through Copper Canyon. It was a beautiful canyon but infrstructure is bad so it is almost impossible to explore on foot. We got a few stops where we could snap pictures. After that we came here to this beautiful beach town.
Tomorrow morning we leave very early and will be heading to Guadalajuara. We plan to do some shopping and see a bunch of museums and then head to another beach before visiting our friend Natalia in her home town! So far the trip has been very smooth and uneventful. We are looking forward to it staying that way.
We both miss everyone very much. I am posting pictures when I can on this site if you want to check it out
Entry 2 (4-10-06):
Gadalajuara was great. It is my favorite city in Mexico thus far. I really enjoyed the people and overall atmosphere. We saw several huge markets and squares. We visited museuams and cathedrals and saw this huge mural depicting Mexican history. We stayed at a nice hostel and met a bunch of fun people. We tried to see a bull fight but it had been canceled for some reason so we went and saw Mexican wrestling instead. The wrestling was run for the first bit but it got boring . . but Im glad I got to experience it . . . its was essentially Pro-Wrestling with back-flips.
Today we arrived in Barro de Navidad. It is beautiful! We are going fishing tomorrow. Today we walked along the beach, ate mangos on sticks, and went to a bunch of little shops. It is a quiet little town that is very relaxing!
Entry 3: (4-11-06)
We woke up super early and went fishing today. Tom caught two fish and I almost caught one, but it got away :( We got them cooked at a local restuarant and they were tasty. One was the in tuna family and the other one was called a Sierra or something. The rest of teh day we laid on the beach and relaxed. Its been a nice day. We leave for San Miguel de Allende where a friend of mine lives so that will be nice to see Natalia.
Entry 4: (4-13-06)
I am in Mexico city now . . . If you are following along on the itinerey, we are a day ahead of schedule. Mexico City is sooooooo crowded! We went to San Miguel de Allende yesterday but Natalia had left town, so we did all of the site seeing we wanted to do and took off a day early. We are getting chores done here (ie laundry etc) and doing a little sightseeing today. Tomorrow we are going to climb a nearby pyramid! I am sunburned all over! Its no fun but hey- itll be a nice tan soon enough.
The metro here is crazy . . . everyone pushes and squishes! But it seems safe enough. All my books say Mexico City i very dangerous . . . but I feel cmpletely safe here . . .
We went and saw some ruins right in the middle of the city which were neat and two art museums. One museum was the worst museum ever . . . hahah . . . but at least we saw it. It was a Deigo Rivera art museum . . who I actually like quite a bit . . oh well. We tired to volunteer with the red cross today, but no one spoke english and our spanish vocab did not cover volunteering words too well . . . but we have a place lined up in Guatamala . . . so that will be fun!
Entry 5 (4-15-06):
Yesterday we went and saw ancient pyramids in Teotihuacan just outside of Mexico City. They were incredible! We took a tour (which we usually don't do) and it was totally worth it. They took us to this place called Lady of Guadalupe which had 4 churches and then we went to a shop that made obsidian (sp?) crafts which were so beautiful (and expensive!) we bought a replica of the Teotihuacan love Goddess . . . its pretty. We got to sample three types of tequila . . one was made from cactus and is white and can not be bottled because it can't be preserved . . . it was sooo tasty!
Today we bussed into Veracruz, which is a little maritime town on the east coast of mexico. We went to a Maritime museum and relaxed. Tomorrow we will see some more ruins and then head to Oaxaca on Monday.
More pics are posted!
Entry 6 (4-19-06):
Tom and I are in Oaxaca, Mexico right now . . . its in the
south. We ended up missing the ruins because we ate some bad fruit and ended up sick in bed for a few days. We started volunteering and it is a lot of fun. We are working in a shelter for poor families who are ill . . . many with
cancer. We work in the kitchen. It was fun and we were able to
interact a lot with the people. The place houses 120 people and feeds
people who want to eat (both that live there and don't). Its a pretty
neat organization.
We volunteer to help out at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and site see in between. We saw a really intricate church today (lots of gold). We ate breakfast with some of the people who work at the place today and in our broken spanish had some hilarious conversations. We discussed sanchos (men on the side), Africa, Islam, and this very offensive cartoon character that was just placed on a stamp here. It is this cartoon of a black man in the style of old racist comics and they refered to him with love as a 'negrito'. He eats fried chicken and wate melons and is so offensive it is mildly amusing. We told them the character would make people angry in the US and they couldn't understand why . . . haha . . . they said he was cute and everyone loved him.
Tomorrow we will go see some more ruins and volunteer at breakfast and dinner. I like it here and am really enjoying volunteering.
Entry 7 (4-20-06):
The ruins were beautiful. The thing that was neat about these ruins is that they have a 'ball court'. In other areas the ball court was used to determine who was sacrificed. They don't have proof that this was the case here, but it was neat to see.
When we volunteered for dinner tonight, I was able to talk with an indigenious family. They had 7 kids, the two youngest were deaf. They knew what we would call 'home sign language'. That is sign you make up at home, but the kids were able to write. I sat with them for maybe 30 minutes and was able to talk to them about their lives. It was nice.
Entry 8 (4-21-06):
Today we volunteered again and went to a large museum attached to the San Domingo church. There were a lot of really neat things in the museum, but the descriptions were in Spanish so we did not understand what everything was.
At the volunteer place, we had breakfast with the other workers again and I found a little throw away magezine that had an article about homosexuality. Tom and I tried to read it (though our ability to read spanish is worse that our ability to speak it) and we were only able to pick out certain phrases. We learned that if a man plays the piano people think he is gay and that there is some church in Mexico City that will marry gay people. We did not get much farther than that though. We talked about it a little with the other workers, but it was a pretty heavy subject to discuss with bad language skills. It was interesting to be exposed to that though . . . and the thing about playing the piano is hilarious.
Entry 9 (4-23-06):
Our last day at the volunteer place was fun. Everyone wanted to take pictures with us. I will upload them within the next few days.
We were not able to take the bus we wanted in the evening to Palenque, so we took a bus 2 hours later to San Cristobal de las casas. We arrived early this morning and checked into our hostel. This town is super cute. It has cobblestone streets, buildings of different colors, and just a nice feel. We took a trip to two indigenious villages (of Mayan descent) and we learned a lot. We learned all abut their religious practices and it was really interesting. Apparently, the Mayans used crosses of green and blue since pre hispanic times and they represent different traditional religious practices. When the Spanish came, they thought the local people could be easily converted to Catholism . . . but in these villages it did not work as well. They had a church but burned it down 100 years ago and a catholic bishop is only allowed in the new church once a month to do baptisms. We were there for the ceremony and it was really neat. They have a lot of depictions of saints but they associate the Saints with lesser Gods. The most important to them is John the Baptist who represents the Sun God.
While we were visiting the church we got to see some local rituals. Locals would light candles, break eggs, and then sacrifice a chicken by breaking its neck. There were maybe 15 of these ceremonies taking place throughout the church. It was exiciting to see.
We walked around the town of San Cristobal this evening and got to listen to live music. It was nice.
Tomorrow we travel to Palenque to see ancient ruins and the next day we are heading to the border into Guatamela.
I have really enjoyed Mexico . . . I would not mind speanding a lot more time here.
Entry 10 (4-26-06):
Palenque was breath taking. The land was very green which provided for an amazing backdrop to the ruins. They were in great shape and so large. The Mayan ruins were part of an entire community which included a palace, tombs, sacred grounds, a ball court, and various other buildings. We were able to explore the tunnels and even happened upon some bats . . .
The same day we went to the ruins we also visited two different waterfalls. The first waterfall was a basic one stream waterfall that had a cave behind it that we could explore. Inside the cave there wwere smaller waterfalls. It was very nice. The second waterfall was 500 different drops and was massive. We swam and wondered to the top. We ran out of Pesos because we were on our way out of the country and hadn't wanted to make a big exchange so we ate fruit and a milkshake for lunch. Haha.
Today we left early for Guatemala. We crossed the border via bus and boat. We did not have a stamp from entering Mexico and as it turns out were supposed to have purchased a tourist card for $25. The border patrol wouldn't let us out and said we had to go hback to Tijuana. We were able to convince our bus driver to talk to him and eventually it was agreed we would pay a "fee" of $20 each in order to cross the border. Craziness!
It is so hot here! We are in Flores which is a jumping off point for most of the attractions in the area . . . it is dusty and dry and almosty unbearably hot. Our hotel doesnt have hot water . . . but I can not imagine wanting it with this heat.
Tomorrow we will go to see the impressive ruins in Tikal which will take all day and the next day we will go to the Animal Rescue Center which is an island in the lake next to Flores.
Entry 11 (4-27-06):
We went to Tikal today and it was very nice. The ruins were not as impressive as Palenque (though they were apparently featured in Star Wars) but the nature was beautiful. We saw parrots, tucans, woodpeckers, turtles, a spider monkey, a coati (it looks like a badger with a long tail), and a bunch of beatiful birds and lizards we did not know the names of. We climbed the ruins (which were impressively tall) and got a great view of the top of the forest.
We visited the lake today as well and are relaxing before we start volunteering tomorrow. It is still so hot we cant breath and the food and winding roads are making me naseaus (I threw up on the bus . . eww!) But other than that, we are in suprisingly good health and are having a nice time.
This trip is so fast paced though, that we are getting exhausted! We may slow down a little and skip costa rica and panama since we have seen all of costa rica already . . . we are still deciding though . . . it wouldn{t end the trip sooner, just have us spend a little more time in Nicaragua. Decisions descisions . . .
Entry 12: (5-3-06)
We just finished our volunteer project here and it was nice. We
volunteered at a rehibiliation center for endangered animals (we had a
jaguar!). It was neat. Tom and I fed and cleaned teh cage of several
different types of birds. There was a toucan who was very friendly (so
friendly he could not be released into the wild again), macaws,
parrots, ducks, these dumb do-do looking birds that would walk into
the trees, and these mean hawk like things that would attack my hair
when I tried to change the water.
The center had monkeys, tigrillos, a lor of birds, deer, different
types of small furry animals that i only know the name of in spanish,
and the jaguar.
We also got to help with some of the facility maintence. We raked a
million leaves from a camping area, cleared pathes, machetted a
clearing so we could see the cages better so poachers didnt steal the
animals, and we cleaned the visitors center.
Entry 13: (5-5-06)
We traveled to Rio Dulce and were able to stay in a dirty, but nice little town on Lago de Izabel. If was a beatiful lake with green trees on the coast and occasionally throughout the water. We arrived after a harrowing day of being ripped of in Flores . . . only out $20 but its the principle!
Yesterday we went to a beautiful waterfall. It was created from a hot sulphur stream that poured over the waterfall into a cooler base. It created steam and made the water very warm. We swam and explored some caves (there were some pretty cool bats) then we took a boat ride down the Rio Dulce to Livingston.
On the boat ride we saw an old Spanish fort, an manatee sanctuary (but no manatees), an area filled with water lillies, another hot stream, and some amazing cliffs. It was a beautiful ride. At the beginning. we were on the front on the boat and I thought my insides were going to bounce out of me! But once we moved to teh back it was better. When we got to Livingston we just wandered around and went to bed early.
Today we arrived in Guatemal city and visited the National Palace which was kind of cool because it was built by a dicator whose first and last name both had 5 letters, so everything was in fives . . five stories, five trees, 175 windows, etc . . . oh vanity. Other than that we walked around a lot and deteremined this is just pretty much a dirty, big city.
Tomorrow Tom's brother arrives so we will take him to climb a valcano in the next town over! Fun times!
Entry 13 (5-6-06)
We woke up early and met Stephen at the airport in Guatemala City. The
airline lost the poor guys luggage but he was wise enough to pack
essentials in his carry on. He filed all the appropriate paperwork and
we all rode a bus back to the hotel tom and I stayed at, ran some
errands, and then headed to the bus to leave for Antigua to climb the
volcano.
On the way to the bus we ended up in a kind of rough neighborhood and
as we were walking I thought I felt someone tug on my backpack
(beggars do that sometimes to try to get you to give them money) I
pulled hard against it before realizing the man had actually grabbed
the small purse around my neck. My tug along with his mighty pull
snapped the purse strap and he ran across the street and disappeared
before I could even call out to Tom and Stephen (who were walking just
ahead of me). I have a mark on my neck (i will post a picture of it
eventually) from where the purse was broken but other than that I am
fine. I am not even scared or anything . . . just pissed off.
The man got away with my inhaler, some travelers cheques, my credit
card, and my cell phone. Luckily he didnt get my license, atm card,
cash, or passport (we distribute everything over many different
pockets so that everything doesnt get taken if we do get robbed). So,
all in all, it could have been way worse.
I went straight to the police station (not in hopes of getting stuff
back, but to make a report for insurance reasons) but they were
completely unhelpful so I cried and they told me if I came back on
Monday they could make a report. I was SOOOOOO pissed. We decided we
were better off cutting our loses and just getting out of the town . .
. so we got a taxi to the bus station and took the bus to Antigua . .
. but we missed the volcano tour. Antigua is very safe and terribly
cute . . . with lots and lots of what they call tourist police . . .
which are meant to specifically protect us tourist types . . . so we
decided to stay an extra day and do the volcano tomorrow. We will stay
the night and just make our trip in Copan in a more compact way the
following day.
I know this will make some of you worry, but please do not. This could
have happened in SF or NY or in some parts of Modesto even! I got
purse snatched and that is that. No one got hurt, nothing irreplacable
was taken (though I was quite fond of that purse!), and now we will
always take taxis when walking to bus stations in big cities.
Anyway this was also meant to let you know that I do not have my cell
phone so calls or texts will only go to my assailant (asshole) though
hopefully the phone will be disconnected by the time you get this.
But, I will check email and respond as quickly as I can. We also have
local phone cards for emergencies. But most importantly everything is
fine (but I am sooo mad!!!)
Entry 14 (5-7-06)
So today was amazing (much better than yesterday!) We went to climb Volcano Pasaya and it was amazing. The hike was tough but we had an (armed) guide. It was an hour and a half up the mountain and we got to see three different vista points. All had amazing views of the lava rivers which were flowing so fast! We were able to cimb down to an area that was a mass of cooled lava and explore a little. We stayed close to the guide, who tested the rocks to make sure there was not lava beneath them! It smelled very strongly of sulphur but was amazing . . . it was almost other worldly.
After the tour we came back to Antigua and determined that Stephen´s luggage is in fact lost for the duration on the trip . . . but he packed a lot of stuff in his carryon so he will be fine.
We went to a bunch of craft shops and saw some more sites in Antigua. It was a very nice day. Tomorrow we will leave at 4am for Hondorus and see the ruins at Copan (and hot springs hopefully!)
Entry 15 (5-10-06):
After the volcano adventures, we traveled to Copan, Hondorus. We
arrived in time to visit the ruins (which were similar to other ruins
we have seen but they have heiroglyphics!). Tom's sandal broke right
before entering the park and some industrous Hondoran men with
machettes and rope fixed it. About 10 minutes later the other shoe
broke . . . so Tom and I alternated between being barefoot and wearing
my bright yellow flip flops with the fluffy flower decoration.
After the ruins we caught a tour to some hot springs. They were not as
neat as the ones in Cosat Rica, but they were cool. There were two
pools and you could play in the river that fed the pools. It was a
long, hot ride to them and we thought wed have to make it on
horseback. I was soooo relieved when they showed up with a beat up
turismo van. In the evening we ate a delicious dinner of Hondoran food
and drank maragitas that the waitress brough balanced on her head. We
did some window shopping and went to bed early.
The next morning (yesterday) we got up very early and caught a bus to
San Pedro Sula where we had to connect with another bus to La Ceiba in
order to catch a ferry to Utila. As it turned out, the bus station was
in the part of town the book warned never to go into day or night. So,
we all hudled in a corner of the station with our stuff for the hour
(though we spared Stephen the worry but not telling him our location).
Tom bought us these meat taco things which I had one bite of and
hated, Tom ate one, and Stephen ate two. We left the station unscathed
and continued our adventure.
The second bus was uncomfortable but uneventful. We were able to catch
the ferry and then the bus station lunch caught up to the boys . . .
Stephen getting hit the hardest. the combination of seasickness and
..>..>food poisioning made the hour long ride seem like three. But, when
were arrivd on the island it was so beautiful we soon forgot our
illness (though it was way easier for me as I was not very sick). We
had been disappointed that we had not decided to stay longer to get
certified to scuba dive (its the cheapest and one of the best places
in the world). But when we got here we learned that there is a one day
¨discover dive¨package that you can do. Basically you just breath and
an instructor does the rest in order to test out diving to see if you
like it. We decided it was worth the 70 dollars and spent the
afternoon checking out the various shops. We found one we loved and
they had us fill out the paperwork . . . and then we got the medical
release forms . . .¨do you have asthma?¨the paper asked me . . . ¨why
yes, I do¨ ¨¨have you ever had a collapsed lung?¨it asked Stepehen .
. ¨why yes he had¨. . . so we were sent to the doctor to get medical
clearance.
We arrived at the doctor the next morning (today) an hour before they
opened (an hour and a half as it turned out because the doctor was
late) and it took 2 hours to get seen. As it stood, Stephen was
getting sicker so he was able to get treated by the doc. The doctor
was an American expat with a shaggy bread, long hair, a loud hawaiian
shirt, a rasta hat, and no shoes. The doctor laughed at us for
thinking Stephen might be able to dive and after a few tests it was
determined that my asthma disqualified me . . .sigh . . so we went on
a snorkling tour with an organization that does conservation with the
elusive whale shark.
The snorkling was amazing . . . but me, Tom, and Stephen hurled the
entire three hours! But Stephen was the biggest trooper and was able
to overcome his fear of snorkling and we all enjoyed the trip despite
the vomit.
Now we are going to lick our wounds and will leave the island
tomorrow. Internet is becoming more sparse but I will email when I
can.
Entry 16 (5-17-06):
After the "hurling" experience in Utila, Hondorus me, Tom, and Stephen caught an early boat to a bus which took us to another bus in the capital (which seemed rather beign compared to Guatemala City . . . but maybe the taxi driver was taking us through the ncie neighborhoods). Because of the purse snatching we had decided to stay in a small town outside of Tegus known for its art market. By the time we got there it was closed. It was a cute town and we wandered around and were able to relax for the evening. Unfortunately, the craft market did not open by the time we had to leave the next morning.
The next morning we caught a bus to the capital and then a bus to the border. This was our first border crossing without a guided tour so we were a little nervous but it was okay. Stephen got a bit flustered by these two children who latched onto us (mostly to get a tip) but they did rather artfully take us through the complicated border crossing. Later in the trip, we ran into three chaps from the UK who had tried to do the crossing at night and should have died . . . but in daylight we were in no such danger.
We had hoped to get a bus to Leon from the border but as it turned out no buses traveled to Leon from the border. So, we had to take a bus bound for the capital, Managua, and get off at a town called Esteli. Esteli is the town college kids come to study spanish in Nicargaua, however, unlike its Guatemalan counterparter, Antigua, it is ugly and dirty . . . though did feature some lovely anti-american wall murals. Though a bit nervous by this, we soon learned that Nicaraguans, for the most part, clearly seperate the travesties the US governmant has commited against them from the random American backpackers they meet in their town. One man would shout "God bloess America" every time we passed.
The bus to Esteli was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. The bus driver was running late due to some accident (the only reason we even caught it) and had 5 friends riding with him. His friend shouted "mas rapido" (go faster) as we rounded shear cliff drop off curves and cheered as he laid on the horn and passed blindly on the wrong way of the road. After about 15 minutes we almost got off the bus. But, the towns we were pasisng were not listed in our book and we feared may be more dangerous then this crazy man's bus. However, just after we frantically tried to decide if we should make a run for it, he calmed down, his friends went to the back of the bus, and we spent the next 45 minutes tense and unhappy, but no longer in fear for our lives.
After getting dinner (which you could almost call pizza) we retired to the hotel and awoke early the next morning to go to Leon. Leon was amazing. It had a fiery spirit and murals everywhere. There was a park filled with statues and busts of poets and it was just pretty. It was poor, but filled with life. We went to a great museum with artwork and scultures. We also went to this art center that featured a powerful painting of Reagan sitting on the back of a bleeding indigenious woman, holding a rifle, and grinning. We only spent the morning there because we had to get to Managua so Stephen could catch his flight, but we would have liked to stay longer.
We made it to Managua and the airport with no issues (expect Stephen frantically exiting the shuttle out the back door, screaming my name, and chasing after me in fear the shuttle would leave me behind) and Tom and I were soon on our way to Granada.
Granda was much prettier than Leon (it is the conservative counterpart) and was pleasant and safe. It has a pretty park and we visited a art center and a local artist took us to his workshop and showed us peices of his work. The next day we went on a tour of a museum featuring ancient statues and scenes depicting ancient games with lots of nudity.
We left that afternoon for Isla de Ometepe. We took a few buses and a ferry and met some lovely people from the UK who we hung out with for the duration of our stay on the island. The island has two volcano at each end (one active and one with a crater lake at the top) and was formed by volcanic lava. It was spectacular. Farmers grow bananas and other fruit and were all very friendly to us. On one walk, we happened upon a farmer who excitedly told us about his farm . . but his spanish was too fast so we could only smile and nod and pretend to understand most of it. We stayed on a finca that was completely selfsastaining. It had solar energy, grew its own food, raised its own chickens etc. The rooms were frilld with bugs, but it made for a bounding expereince withour newfournd friends.
The next morning we were able to see petroglyphs which are rock carving done by ancient people, walked along Lago de Nicaragua (the largerst fresh water lake in Central America and home to bullsharks!!!!), and just enjoy the beautry of the place. We decided to spend the night in town though, to avoid the bugs and in order to catch an early boat off of the island. We stayed in a hotel which was essentially a tin shack, ate the best pizza I have ever had, and had some beers and great conversation. In the middle of the night we were all awaked by a HUGE storm with thunder and lighting and such. In our nice metal lighting rod, we put on our boots and stood in the the middle of the shed hoping not to get electricuted by the lightening storm.
Surviving the storm, we left the next morning (yesterday) for Costa Rica. Since we spent a month here in September, we decided to skip the touristing there. We were able to bus into San Jose (a big city we spent a lot of time in last time and feel very safe in) and wandered around looking at craft shops. We even caught Mission Impossible 3 at a local theatre.
This morning we woke up early and took a bus to the border of Panama, then a taxi to a boat, and a boat to Boccas del Torro. It is cute here . . . very much the carribean towns we have seen along the way. We are going to play and snorkel and maybe see a cave tomorrow.
Entry 17 (5-18-06):
Last night we went to dinner at a simple restuarant near the beach and had such an amazing time! We were the only customers for most of the night and were greeted enthusiastically by our waiter/chef. We were tempted by a special which no longer existed and were preparing to leave. But after I tasted my amazing pineapple juice we decided to wait a moment. The waiter/chef brought us two appetizers on the house and so we decided to stay. We just had a lovely time. The waiter/chef saw me sratching at sandflies (which love my legs) and brought be bug spray and told me "remember, you are in paradise". When the food came it was the most incredible seafood I have ever had. I had a mixed plate with shrimp, calamari, tuna, conch, and various other treats and Tom had a fish steak of something we had never heard of.
Today we went on a snorkling tour with this cute little old man. He worked at his family owned company and had to compete with the bigger tour groups. We got a great vibe from him and were glad we picked his tour. We saw dolphins jumping in the sea and snorkled in two different island locations. We also got to visit this beautiful beach that looked like the beach Johnny Depp and Keira Knightly were ship wrecked on in Pirates of the Carribean. It has been a really great day.
Tomorrow we leave for Boquette.
Entry 18 (5-20-06):
So the last few days have been relaxing and relatively uneventful. We took several buses and a boat yesterday from Bocas and arrived without any trouble in Boquete. It is a small town amist some amazing forests and a volcano. Apparently, you can stand on the mountian nearby and see the Pacific and Atlantic ocean at the same time (the trail is to muddy to do it now though).
There are a lot of gringos here . . . it appears to be the new cool place to retire (and I can see why). Property here is cheap but increasing rapidly and the community seems really friendly. Everyone has been super helpful to us and that has been nice. We had to take two boats to get here because the first one kept sputtering and had to turn back. It appears that sputtering was a gas leak all over mine and tom´s backpacks. We hadnt noticed it at first (we switched hotel rooms twice thinking it was the room) before investigating our bags. A little old lady passing by got us a wash tub and soap to clean our bags. But, the gas was soaked so much that we ended up taking it to a laundry mat. Upon closer inspection we also realized our container of bug spray had sprayed all over another pack so everything had to be washed.
Today we got up early and hiked in the nearby woods. We had hoped to see quezals (a bird tom has been searching for since coast rica) but saw some cool lizards and such instead.
We will be leaving tomorrow for Parque National de Omar and will not have email for 2 or 3 days. We will be hiking into the park and staying with an indigenious family who will take us on tours and feed us while we stay. We are looking forward to it.
For now, we are just going to wander around town and enjoy the friendly people. We leave for NY on June 25th and while we are having an amazing time, we are ready to come back to the US for a bit.
Entry 19 (5-22-06)
Tom and I are in Panama City now! It is the last place on our itinerey. We got here a night early but have the next few days pretty jam packed. We are going to the woods, the canal, and a zoo tomorrow!
The last two days have been really great. We left Boquete at 5am yesterday and had an amazing streak of luck which had us take the 5 different buses in a perfect timeline . . . we would get off of one bus just in time to hop on the next bus as it departed. The origional plan had been to travel to a town just barely outside of the national parque we were visited (Barigon if anyone is keeping track), meet up at the house of the Navas family, and have the Navas family guide us on a two our hike into the woods to a small indigenious village where we would dig in and stay within the small community and hike during the day. As it turned out, once we got to the Navas´ home, they told us it is a two day minimuim in the park. We only had one day, so we decided to accept their offer to stay with them and have them guide us through the woods the next day (today). All of this sounds rather sketchy but I assure you it was vetted for safety by our book . . . and you should have met these people . . so welcoming!
It was about 3pm when we arrived and none of the Navas´ spoke English. There were 12 people in the home, a grandfather and grandmother, two husband and wife combos (kids and spouses of the grandparents) and then 6 kids! Everyone was super friendly and patient with our spanish. They had two hammocks on the front porch and we sat in them while the grandfather relaxed on a chair and pointed out the random wildlife (humming birds, butterflies, toucans, etc).
Today we woke up early and went with one of the fathers into a pretty difficult section of woods. It was muddy and he had to use his machette to clear brush. It was awsome! I fell like 8 times and we were filthy by the time it was over . . . but we really felt like we got to experience the woods. After the exhausting hike, we walked the hour back to the Navas house, ate an amazing lunch, and caught two back to back shuttles and finally a bus to Panama City. We are staying at a lovely hotel with a tv and internet! Whoo-hoo!..>..>
Entry 20 (5-24-06)
Today is our last day in Panama. Yesterday we had an excellent day. We went to the Panama Canal and it was incredible! We watched on ship pass through a series of locks. It enteres an area and is locked in with gates, then the water level is either raised or lowered depending on the location, in a step and is lifted or lowered to the next level by the water level. It was so simple, yet so complicated. There was a great museum attached to the canal and great veiwing locations.
Afterward we went to a botanical garden and a zoo and were able to see two Harpy eagles! They are one of the biggest eagles and they eat slothes and monkeys! They were beautiful.
It was a really fun day.
Today we wandered around Panama City. We went to a few markets, an art museum, and an area called Mi Pueblitos which had displays on different parts of Panamanian life. The art museum was great because I got to see a painting by my favorite Latin American artist.
We are just going to relax for the rest of the evening and enjoy our last night here.
It is very odd that this is our last day in Latin America. We had an amzing time! It is crazier to realize we still have two more months of traveling!
We are both tanner, a little fatter, and much happier than when we started this trip. Its been an incredible adventure! We would have liked to have volunteered in more places, and would have liked to have had more time in each country, but we saw everything we wanted to and had a really great time doing it.
See you in NY!
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