Guatemala Bjorn

on program for today....warding of sickness and moving.

i'm too tired to post much now, but i'll have you know nate and i went on a walk through the jungle the other day. great fun. beautiful views, scared children....there were 3 or 4 towns we went in where we were the first white people ever. some kids cried, some ran others were just curious. EVERYONE stared. got some great video clips. here are some pics.

I almost died today. A chicken bus came around a corner so fast, it was fishtailing. It straightened out about 7 feet before it hit my bus. Someone needs to explain to these people that you are supposed to drive busses different than you would a sports car.

We went to Semuc Champey the other weekend. Semuc Champey is a beautiful river. Part of it is diverted into a huge waterfall that goes underground.



The other half becomes some beautiful waterfalls and pools which are perfect for swimming. (that's elliot)


And Diving. (that's nate)


And just staring at.

Unfortunately, as nice as these pictures are, I look at them and say "That is NOT what I saw." They just don't give justice to the beauty of the place.

Day 2 in Semuc Champey.....
We went in a huge cave. You alternate between walking, swimming and wading in a huge cave, as you explore for 2 hours (we shoulda done the 4 hour tour) holding candles and trying not to get them wet.

At one point we had to climb a rope up a waterfall. Going up, Elliot (who had had major doubts about his climbing abilities) suddenly slipped and went under the waterfall more than he would desire. I spent a good 5 seconds worrying as I searched for him beneath the waterfall (I later realized that directly below the waterfall was stone....Not water.....If you fall you crack your head open.....And there is no hospital for miles.) So, I thought elliot had fallen and died, but eventually his head popped through the top of the waterfall. I had no problems going up....But going down, I also slipped, and was left hanging onto the rope with one hand, unable to see or breathe do to the waterfall I was under. It took me a few seconds to find the rope with my other hand...But eventually I did. That was a scary few seconds though. It was a major tragedy that I could not bring my camera inside this cave. It was every bit as beautiful in there as it was outside in the pools.

Elliot also left yesterday. Sad to see him go. Swell guy. Incompetent packer.
Elliot packing (3:30AM)
"Ok, I think I'm ready to go!"
Bjorn: "Passport."
Elliot: Don't worry, its right....uh.....uhhh...Right.....Oh ....hmmm....Maybe in this bag...(unpacks entire bag)....No...Not there....Maybe this one (unpacks entire oversized suitcase)....AHHH! Here it is, I guess I put it inside this book at the bottom of my suitcase.

I have never seen such and elusive passport before.

Adventure1
I stayed in the worst hotel of my life last night. Some of its glorious qualities included:
-Large spaces in the floorboards, through which you could see the people staying below you (a very fat and naked Guatemalan man).
-Toilet without seats.
-Toilet without seats with large chunks of the toilet bowl missing.
-Toilet without seats, with large chunks of the toilet bowl missing, and with chunks of another breed floating in them because the water does not work.
-No Toilet paper (and the hotel manager will not give it out because he only has one, and it is his last roll and he wants to ´save´ it.)
-Loose wires hanging out of the wall.
-The manager living in a different room than his gigantic cd player, and thus being forced to pump the chest throbbing crappy spanish pop through the whole hotel so that he can hear it (or more likely be deafened by it) in his room on the other side of the hotel.
-Excllent service: I told the manager I needed a key, turned around for a second, and then when I turned around again, found he had left the building

Adventure 2
Elliot and I tried to teach poker to a guy we later concluded was schitzophrenic. He spoke good english but we thought at first that his inability to understand the game was due to an inability to understand our english....resulting in Elliot explaining the game in some every entertaining Spainglish. The man then got very suspicious and asked why Elliot spoke such poor english.

Adventure 3
Waking up: over the last 5 days we have woken up to:
-The schitzophrenic guy waking us up telling us he had found a secret message from God (it was one of Nate´s guitar printouts.)
-Howler monkeys roaring.
-Our freaking stupid hotel manager´s deafening music.

*Although I make light of the situation, I should note that Nate and I talked with the schitzophrenic guy for over an hour, and it was a really really sad thing. The poor guy is really tortured, and it is something I could not wish on anyone.

sometimes pictures speak louder than words.

.
flores....obviously not my picture.



see the face above us? see it?!?.....no...we aren't doing ymca. it just looks that way.

I came down here with an open mind. I wanted to thnk guatemalanas thought different, not better or worse. This has all changed...I really think they must change some of the ways that they think. The most crucial example of this is the ability to anticipate. They don´t see things coming untill it happens. NONE of the stores stock change. You should see the shock on their faces when you don´t have exact change. They have to go running to their neighbors asking for change...all the time. And this happens A LOT. You would think that after running out of change 3 or 4 times a day they would take some measure to fix it....
Read the following real life conversations which are excellent examples of conversations and events that happen down here:

Bjorn: Hey man, we want to play basketball, do you know anyone who has one?
Guatemalan Eric: As a matter of fact, I have one. I´ll go get it and we´ll play together.
(he leaves and returns in a few minutes with his basketball...we start walking to the basketball court)
Eric: Where are we going?
Bjorn:to the basketball court.
Eric:Well, it´s closed.
This i don´t understand...he KNEW it was closed, but did not bother to think of that untill after he had fetched the ball and brought it back....but wait...it gets worse....
After much discussion, we concluded that there was another court that was open....
Bjorn:ok. sweet, let´s go.
Eric: oh wait. I have to go home and put my shoes on before I can play.
I just cannot fathom why he did not think of doing this while he was AT his house getting the basketball.

Conversation2.
Bjorn: Hey, I would like to go to the airport and pick up my friend. How much will that cost?
Travel Agent:It is 5 bucks each way , 5 bucks for your ride there there, 5 bucks back, and 5 bucks for your friend. a total of 15.
Bjorn:hmmm...that´s a bit pricey, what if I just have him come back with you guys?
Travel Agent. 20 bucks.
I just can´t follow their pricing rules at all.