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Other Shit

Why the hell is McDonalds and Burger King so good outside of the US? I went to McDonalds the other day (which I like to do in every country that I visit if possible just to compare) and I was served a piping hot burger and fries in about 10 seconds. The people who work there take their jobs so seriously and it is one of the cleanest restaurants in the city and even has a garden and internet access. When Anders from Norway wanted to go to Burger King last week in Flores Guatemala I did not object since I had been eating stewed chicken rice and beans for weeks. After being in the Jungle for a week or so with out a shower I was happy to find out that the ac was pumping and was able to clean up in the cleanest bathroom that I had seen in weeks. What´s the deal?

Back to San Ignacio and the Menonite´s for a second

The Menonite´s don´t own cars but check them out here doing what looks like a drug deal and jumping in the getaway car!

Antigua

This is a really beautiful Colonial City but I have run into a bit of bad luck and am ready to get the hell outta here. In the past three days I have figured out a way to get attacked by bed bugs, get a bad cold and have some sort of problem with my eye that requires drops of steroids into my eye. I was in the jungle for 2 weeks and barely got any bug bites then get here for this crap. Oh well. Yesterday I decided to push through all of the ailments and climb Volcan de Pacayawhich is an active volcano right outside of Guatemala City. Surprisingly it was a pretty tough climb but there were many people up there who probably shouldn´t have been. Like the 70 year old woman in my group. As we got close to the top, the wind picked up enough to throw me off balance a few times. Combine that with the volcanic rocks sliding out from under my feet and it made for a difficult climb. We got to the top just as the sun had set and unfortunatley there was no lava flowing but you could see the lava and fire right below our feet and feel the heat. You can bring food up there and cook it on the rocks. At one point I reached down to pick up a hot dog and heard a snapping sound and realized that I burnt a whole bunch of hair off of my beard and some off the top of my head. Now I may have to shave and get a haircut to even it out a little. We hiked back down in the dark which was a lot of fun.

Antigua

I am here for a week and staying with a local family while I take spanish classes. I have my own room and just unpacked for the first time in over a month. It´s pretty, pretty good. I get three meals a day and the room and also have a hot shower which is rare. It costs about $10 a day for the room and food. Attman, there is an extra bed for you if you want to join me. This town is very European and feels a lot like Sevilla.

Guatemala

I have been in Guatemala for a week. I don't have time to write too much but it has been lots of fun so far.
I started in the north east side of the country. Stayed in a town called El Remate which is a very quite place of a huge lake with perfect views of the sunset every day. It is next to Tikal which was a huge Mayan City that was the home to over 120,000 people around 1000 AD.
From there I travelled to Lanquin which is near Semuc Champey. I stayed at this place called El Retiro which is a hostel just outside of this very small town. There are a bunch of cabanas overlooking a river abd rolling hills with travellers from everywhere. They have a huge dinner every night and a bar that stays open pretty late. Its kind of like summer camp for adults. You go hiking and swimming all day and eat and drink all night. Pretty weird to stumble across a place like that in such small town.

In Antigua right now.

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