Amazing---hike above the clouds

Isaias,an incredible Mixe friend of me, riding above the clouds in Cerro Grande, Amazing time out in the wilderness, same time he had a severe tooth infection, but he made it another week and today the 8th of Feb. we had his tooth pulled, because he was getting ear and eye problems.


Jason and Ancelino, with Laidislou, Mardonio.. We hiked and rode horseback up hill 5 long insect and wood tick ridden bushwacking hours through some of the most beautiful forest until we reached the one and only coffee farmer in the area, this is his house, that is the gun that has fed him the last 30 years.. There are beautiful natural springs and waterfalls, and the view cannot be expressed in words.

left guatemala, back in the lush mtns. of oaxaca

wow,
Its been along time, anyway last week me and a friend Katie decided to bike 100 km from 9000 ft to sea level at a beach called Champerrico... We left at 6 am and it was coooold man, The first half hour was tough going up hill, but we got passed that bear and then it was all down hill from there. .We started in the pine forests area where vegetables are grown and descended into lush coffee and cattle country where it turns hot and steamy.. There were huge holes in parts of the road due to hurricane stan so we had some detour.. The scenery was incredible, except for Katies brakes were making some weird noises, so a little fooling around with the leatherman took care most of that problem, it was just the passing traffic which worried us, but thanks to God. All went well.. The last 40 km were flat hot and steamy, we were dripping and getting blisters on our hands but a couple of water and fresh pineapple brakes kept us going... We eventually made it 5 hrs later and rode into the market and it kind felt like a marathon because the people in the market were whistling and howling and we could see the beach straight ahead.. We met up with the other students from our school and goofed around on the HOT beach for the afternoon which was a nice break from the chilly town of Xela.

I am now writing this letter in the Jungle town of San Jose El Paraiso.. Monday after getting back I spent 2 days traveling to Mexico to go on a coffee expedition.. I thought it was a 4 day trip and found out it was 15 days and I was the driver and only gringo, we have 1 incredible indian guide and a computer guy who is entering our info. I have spent the last 4 days hiking with the indians through lush jungle, coffee farms and bushwacking, luckily I picked up a new machete and leather case and a new cowboy hat for the trip, which is coming in handy..
I am dead tired already walked over 25 km up hill in the mud, rain, cold, horrible weather. Nobody anywhere is working except us locos who have to visit 15 farms a day which are atleast 2 hr away from town up hill.. .We are making recomendations for the organic coffee and I am responsible for getting altitudes from everyone, which means we got to go to all the farms whic has never been done. .Anyways IM gonna go pass out, my feet are all tore up, bleeding sore and tired but we gonna GET ER DONE, 4 days done 11 to go.IM praying heavily for safety cause these muddy trails are little more than ant trails at best and the machete and mud boots are a mans best friend today, and of course the corn tortilla which is keepin everyone alive here-
i
If I makeer out in 1 piece I got some gooodie pics to show.

Volcano Santa Maria

Full Moon hike of Santa Maria, we left the base camp at midnight and hiked with the moonlight until we finally reached the top at about 6am, it was an incredible and was very difficult but thank God we all made it to the top and back again..... These are the photos of us before the sun came up and in the cloud forest area with some of our classmastes

Oaxaca church

Luis Enrique Y Gabino, amigos from the Casa Hogar, in oaxaca where I have worked over the last 6 years, there is now about 80 kids

backyard MN farm, forest, river,swamp==deer

minnesota

homestead MN pics

Xela

I just arrived to my spanish school and Jermiah just left, here is a picture from the market and in the surrounding hills where I walk in the afternoons and a picure of cool season vegetable fields.

Hitchhiking back from Hot Springs

These hot springs called Fuentes Georginas are incredible,They are located at 9000 ft in a cloud forest which is very humid and foggy most of the time.Ddue to Hurrican Stan, a landslide destroyed the springs but opened up a hotter vent so now that it is reconstructed it is about 102 F and is thermal water, we had no ride down the mountain so we hitched a ride down the mountain in a police pickup otherwise it would have been a long 2 hour walk.

top of san pedro

marv-jason after summiting the volcano in the cloudforest region

marv'jason at the volcanic steam baths

they built some small cement rooms over top volcanic steam vents which are like a steam sauna except for you have thermal-mineral rich vapor which does a body good.... It is about a 2 hour walk from Xela up in the pine woodlands at 9000ft

Marv / Jason hitchhiking back to San Pedro, Lake Atitlan on the back of a pickup carrying fresh cut coffee beans ..Sunrise over the volcano.. I got it from inside a bus, so it aint pretty, but is was a spectular sunrise above the lake and mountain

we are on the peak of San Pedro volcano looking across the mountain at 2 volcanoes in the clouds..

far left....Marv napping in the cloud forest after a hard hike with Lee from Switzerland

horse back ride in the woods

Guilia swinging on a real vine in the jungle

Group photo at the finca, jason getting his first haircut in 8 months by loriana, jeremiah in the dugout canoe in the rio dulce mangrove rives

Jeremiah in Tikal

feeding the coatis coke and bread

This is jason finally able to get the coatis to sip coke from his bottle...FUN!! This is in the Peten Rainforest at the ancient mayan ruins of Tikal.. The wildlife here and the abundance of birds and monkeys make it a paradise for me and most anyone else who admires the jungle..

new years in Ixobel

Jeremiah arrived in Guatemala city on the 28 where I picked him up and we went to rio dulce, a jungle river that connnects to a big lake and the carribbean, it is home to many sailers and rich guatemalans who have their weekend houses... We stayed and swam one day on the river and then went to Finca Ixobel, a beautiful 400 acre farm in the Peten jungle where they have horses, vegetables, and a big resort like feel....We took a full day horse back trip with some friends from seattle and Switzerland.. .it was such a blast galloping through the pine forests then slowing down through the bush and the mud which was everywhere in the amazingly lush place... We all had a blast except for the 100 or so ticks that were smaller than deer ticks and very difficult to remove, I am still suffering from the bites and some other poison ivy which got my legs and arms pretty good..But it was worth..
For New Years we had an awesome dinner of american meats and vegetables which I have been craving for a while now.. At night they had a big show of fireworks, dances,and some torch shows which made great fun for the new year...
They had a nice natural pool that they made which was great for swimming and frisbee especially in the hot sun of the tropics.... After New Years we went to Tikal and had a amazing time trying to sneek into the pyramids at 4am and go around the guards and around the crocodile pond then through the jungle and finally we made it. .There were like 4 guards which couldnt find us.. but then it came back to haunt us as we turned on our lights later and found a guard in the dark who busted us.. .we really wanted to see the sunrise and the awesome calls of the jungle so I paid him 12$ and he let us in without giving us much trouble at all. Later on in the day after taking lots of good pictures of these enormouse mayan ruins built in the sweltering jungle, we took a break to play and take pics of the always playful spider monkeys, and we also found some nice vines to cut and swing on just like in Tarzan.......very fun!!!! At the end I found some Coatis or wierd looking coon-like animals and fed them some bread... then i had a wild idea to see if I could get them to drink my coke out of my bottle... TO my amazement, the first one almost broke his teeth on th botttle but the others were drinking right out of the bottle which was sooo coollll.. then thers was about 30 of them around me and I had no food so we took offf...Welll so much has been happening I just cant write about it all so ADIOS:::until next time