Panama

The past week has been crazy! Mel and I found Andreas, Gudrun (his girlfriend), Louie and Jasmine and then went to Panama and found Lane. Holy-jeez that is a lot of friends. We spent three nights in the Ngobe (natives of panama) village where Lane lives. He is officially the first of my friends to own a house outright, although the $400 price tag may have played a part. The seven of us spent time hiking, playing cards, telling tons of stories, and entertaining the Ngobes with our cameras at a Christmas dinner of pork stew. Highlights included, poisonous coral snakes, more scorpions, a mud slip-n-slide and lots of hammock time.

Andreas and Gudrun parted ways leaving the five of us on the Carribean beach of Bocas del Toro. Today we went kayak surfing and tomorrow we are going snorkeling. Life just does not get much better than this.

Happy new year to all! Go Beavs! And, check the MY PHOTOS link to the right for tons of pictures.

I really have a thing for these yellow churches. They are photogenic.

After 30 hours of driving and four border crossings, we have made it to San Jose, Costa Rica. It feels nice to be back here. Lou and Jaz get in later today and I have to find that fuzzy haired German friend of mine, he is also here somewhere.

Korea Update

The news from Korea regarding our payment is grim. The Korean labor Board has said that it can not get our funds for us so we have to sue if we want the money. Pretty much, there is no chance that we will get paid. Guess who is getting a job when he returns to the states?

On a traveling note, we are headed to Costa Rica tomorrow to meet up with Louie, Jasmine, Andreas, and Lane! How much fun will that be? I am so excited!

Quest for the Tree of Life

My dad was in a picture similar to this one 27 years ago.

My parents travelled to Guatemala the winter of 1979-1980, and since I was born in October of 1980 it comes as no surprise that I was conceived here. My mom thinks that it happened on Lago Atitlan and gave Melanie some photos taken near their camp. One is of my dad swimming in the lake and another is of my mom washing clothes. Both photos have distinct mountains in the background as clues. The other bit of information was that the conception occured under an avocado tree.

We set out in kayaks on this quest for the avocado tree from San Pedro because we believed it to be the closest town. The kayaks turned out to be very nice because the road is far from the beach in many places and separated by resort properties. What we planned on taking an hour or maybe two ended up taking 4. We paddled about 5 miles across the lake to a cove near Santiago Atitlan and I got a bad sunburn. The photos matched the mountains perfectly but we could not find the tree. I suppose it has changed a bit in 27 years. We settled on taking pictures of me in the same place as my dad 27 years ago. That was really cool. I wonder if the tree my placenta is buried under is still alive?

Public Transport in Guatemala

Chicken Busses

Guatemala has the best public transportation I have ever encountered. There is an individually owned fleet of retired American and Canadian school busses. When they are deemed unsafe for America's children they are sold to Guatemalans. Here, they proceed to give them sick paint jobs, roof racks, bumpin sound systems, chrome grills, Jesus stickers, naked women, disco balls, and other bling. The thing that often remains is the sticker that says, "Your children's safety is our business." Which is totally bogus because they drive like maniacs. It is really a twisted combination of Nascar and timber-sports. Nascar for obvious reasons and timber-sports because of the bus-boy, who can do a 20m. dash, climb a ten foot ladder, and throw 30 kilo bags like nobody in Albany. And, Yes!, there are chickens.

Two weeks later...

I love Guatemala and I don't know why. It is not the most beautiful or the most anything. Mel and I have been travelling around and having a splendid time. Kyle and Garrett we parted ways as they went on to Mexico. We headed to the secluded mountain town of Nebaj well off the gringo trail. It was a rewarding experience with good hiking and insight into non-touristy daily Guatemalan life. We hiked through the poorest neighborhood I have ever seen or imagined. The inhabitants were Mayan Refugees struggling to survive after decades of oppression and genocide.

Now we are at Lago Atitlan on the opposite end of the touristy spectrum. I soon begin the search for the avocado tree under which I was conceived...

Out of time, check my photos.

Tajulmulco

Garrett on the summit of Tajulmulco

Friday afternoon we finished Spanish lessons in Xela. At 5pm we planned to meet up with Garrett and Kyle Dickman to attend a pre-trip meeting for our weekend ascent of Tajulmulco (4,250m), Guatemala's highest peak. They stumbled in near the end of the meeting wondering, "What's the name of the volcano we are climbing?" It was great to see familiar faces and tell stories over some beers and dinner.

Saturday morning we got up at 4am for a day of riding chicken busses and hiking in cold, soupy fog. Our group of 32 could only go as fast as it's slowest member which led to half an hour of sitting around freezing for every 15 minutes of hiking. We chose to pass the time, in typical Dickman fashion, trying to determine who in our group was weirdest. This eventually let to closed ballot voting were we each listed our 5 top choices. Instantly upon reaching camp it began to rain and the evening culminated in undercooked, burnt pasta. Ummm. At least the conversation and card playing was good.

In the morning we awoke way too early for a clear morning of hiking. We made the summit about an hour before the sun and spent a bit of time shivering. The hike out proved to be wonderful!