Tikal, Guatemala

The city of Copan, Honduras. Beautiful city with narrow, cobble-stone streets

Three hour bus ride from Copan to Rio Honda, above. Waited here for an hour for a bus to Flores, Guatemala - another 8 hours on bus, standing up for half of it. Long day.


Tikal ruins, an hour north of Flores. Wonderful day by myself, exploring the ruins for about five hours. So much to see.



The central plaza. On Temple II, looking toward Temple I


The stunning view from Temple IV. Sat up here for a long time and was rewarded with moments alone (lots of tourists in Tikal), with nothing but the sound of the jungle below. Tranquil.

Clawing my way up temple IV


Temple III


Sunset at a beach on San Miguel, a short boat ride from the Island of Flores, where I am currently staying at a wonderful hostel, Los Amigos.


This Brit goes by the name of `Fraggle.` When I asked him why, he mooned me. I laughed for a good five minutes at this.

Tomorrow I leave on a 6 day, 80 mile trek through the jungle to El Mirador. El Mirador is a city of ruins not yet excavated. I will visit the tallest pyramid built by the Mayans, and ruins still covered beneath layers of jungle. So, I will be out of touch for a bit. I will write a post on the other side of this journey. Hope all is well with everyone. Peace.

Copan Ruinas

Today (Thursday, 10/22), I visited the Mayan ruins of Copan. Copan is known as the cultural center of the Mayan civilizations during the Classical period (200-900 AD). It is believed that people have inhabited this area for well over 3000 years, and as early as 1200 BCE there is evidence of a booming trade industry of various crafts. Around 900 AD, the civilization mysteriously collapsed. It is believed among anthropologists that the reason for the collapse is something not so foreign to problems we face today. The region became so populated that the people could not produce enough food and goods in the immediate area and had to begin importing basic necessities. The area was completely deforested for maximum farming and residential purposes, which led to major erosion and flooding during the rain seasons. This decimated the area's ability to sustain agriculture. Skeletal remains show that people were dying at younger ages, hinting that there was a rampant spread of various diseases.
Whereas Tikal, Guatemala, is known for its towering temples, Copan is known for its intricate sculptures.
New growth sprouting from an ancient temple

From a high temple, looking down to the great plaza




The Heiroglyphic Stairway. This is the longest inscription of Mayan heiroglyphs ever discovered. It documents 400 years of one of Copan's strongest dynesties.

Sorry I can't get these pictures flipped at this moment. If I could, you would be able to read the heiroglyphs, right? Anyway, if you entered the Great Plaza from the East, this tablet is the first thing you would encounter. It reads, roughly: "You are now entering the great square of the people, the holy place, where Waxaklahun Ubaah K'awiil, legitimate successor to "Ruler 12" K'ahk' Uti' Ha' K'awiil and K'inich Yax K'uk Mo', founder of the dynasty, will perform acts of ritual to mark the passage of time which will ensure your lives and prosperity." A little bit cooler than a sign saying, "Vilkomen til Poulsbo."

SCUBA Rules

Green Moray eel in between the three coral heads


Daniel and Laura


Trumpet Fish

These are some of my favorite views from underwater - when you flip over to your back and look up, rays of sunlight coming through the water, silouettes of schools of fish passing by, and nothing but the sounds of your breathing and body.

Wreck dive. The wheel house of a huge cargo ship.

US v. Honduras

13 hour bus ride from Managua to San Pedro Sula. Once in San Pedro Sula, I found plenty of people at the hostel going to the game, which was a huge relief.
We got to the game four hours before it began, which was a good thing because it took us three hours to get through the gate. I got pick-pocketed by a little kid in one of the huge crowds of people - everyone was pressed up against each other and you couldn´t feel a thing. At the time, it was a huge dissapointment; but the game turned out to be such an amazing experience, I hardly remember being robbed when reflecting on the game.
Once inside, a group of Hondurans slid around and made room for us in their section, which was just to the side of mid-field, about 30 rows up. Incredible seats. The two guys I went to the game with, Brian and J.D. (which, honest to god, stands for James Dean, his actual name), were the only gringos in sight. There was so much energy and noise inside the stadium, it was incredible. The Honduran national anthem is sung A cappella. A person starts the song from the field, then turns off the mic and the crowd takes over. The entire stadium belted the national anthem with so much pride, the stadium was pulsing with music. It was beautiful.
The Hondurans were so gracious to us throughout the game. The U.S. won 3-2. After the game, one of the Hondurans next to us gave J.D. his Honduran flag. Everyone congratulated us. I cared about the game and rooted for the U.S., but the game meant so much more to the Hondurans. We ended up feeling a little bad about the victory. Honduras has not made the world cup since 1982. However, that guilt was washed away two nights ago when Honduras qualified by the U.S. tying Costa Rica in the final minute of the game.
Anyway, the game was a beautiful experience. Now I am on Utila in the Bay Islands. Yesterday I became a certified open water diver, after four days of classes and dives. Tomorrow I start courses to get my advanced diver certification. SCUBA diving is amazing. Breathing underwater and being weightless are amazing feelings. I love the water so much, and being able to breathe and explore the underwater world is just too much fun. One of the dives I do for the advanced course is underwater photography, so hopefully I get some good pictures for the blog. Sorry for not posting more recently, the SCUBA course and Utila have been keeping me pretty busy. Too much fun.

Ometepe

From Boquete Panama, Mike, Brandon and I headed to Playa Las Lajas, Panama, for several relaxing days on the beach. We then spent 14 hours on buses to San Jose, Costa Rica, so that Mike could catch his flight home. The next day, Brandon and I had another long day of travel, heading to Ometepe, Nicaragua.

Volcano Concepcion, Ometepe. Brandon and I climbed to the rim of the volcano on our last full day on Ometepe.

On the ferry to Ometepe. My first Nicaraguan sunset in about a month. Steve, Kris, and Skyler - naturally, I thought of you guys.

Alexis Bonoff is currently working for the Islas Hermanas organization on Ometepe, and acted as our gracious host and guide during our stay. We dragged her out to some of the more touristy locales - ojo de agua and Charco Verde - and had a great time. It was great to see such a familiar face in a far away land.

Alexis took us to a project that houses and rehabilitates street kids from Nicaragua. She worked at this project during a previous stay on Ometepe, and will be spending considerable time there during her current three month stay. Below, Brandon impresses the boys with his harlem globetrotter skills.

Brandon and I climbed volcano concepcion. Basically, a 6-mile climb up a rock ladder. To the left is a picture of me just 45 minutes into the hike, already soaked in sweat. It was a long, sweaty hike.Brandon taking a break. Brandon took more and more of these the closer we got to the top. His legs were cramping up and his body giving out. But, he made it just fine and deservedly felt all the more accomplished for it.At the summit, sitting on the rim of the crater. It was cloudy and windy...but every several minutes there would be a break in the clouds in one direction, and you would all of a sudden be faced with a spectacular view of volcano Madera just to the south, or the lake and the mainland off in the distance, then you would see a giant cloud racing up the side of the volcano and within seconds it would take you over. Beautiful. During the climb down the clouds cleared and we were greeted with some great vistas. Here you see the isthmus of Ometepe and Volcano Madera.

THE PLAN - My plan has been to head to the Bay Islands of Honduras for a week of scuba diving, despite the detiorating political situation there. All of the travelers I have spoken with say that the border and the capital city is where all the problems are, and that it is not much trouble traveling the rest of the country. I will take an international bus so that I do not have to walk the border, nor will I have to exit the bus as we pass through the capital, on my way to San Pedro Sula. On Saturday, the US soccer team plays Honduras in an important World Cup Qualifier game in San Pedro Sula. I am now planning to push back my departure to the Bay Islands, so that I can attend the game. This will either be with one of the most fun, or stupidest things I ever do.

Baru

Near the bottom of the volcano. Higher up it was not grazed land like this, but wild jungle.

Several days ago I hiked up the volcano Baru to the highest point in Panama. I went with a guy we met in Boquete the day before, Ben. We left at 5.30 in the morning and were on the trail at 6.15. The hike was 15 km up, reaching an elevation of 3475 meters. So the hike was a total of 19.8 miles, which made for a long day. We were back in town at 4.30 pm, with sore knees and new blisters. It was a great hike. On a clear day you can see from the caribbean to the pacific. We had a nice view of the valleys below and a lot of clouds. Still, it was very peaceful on the summit and it was nice to sit back for over an hour and soak in the beauty.

La cima de volcan baru