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Old 09-14-2005, 02:55 PM   #1
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Right, its my last day in central America so i thought i should tell you whats been going on for the last couple of weeks.

After Flores and the Tikal Ruins we went to Acapulco in the south of Guatemala for one night. Its a very touristy place, but it was cool. Went out and partied with a few Aussies and Poms that we found, it was pretty damn fun.

After that we went to a little town called San Pedro on the banks of the massive lake Atitlan. We were only supposed to stay for 2 nights but i ended up staying for 8, it was such a cool place. I parted company with my travel companions of the last month or so while i was in San Pedro, they were on their way to Panama and had to keep moving on, it was kinda sad actually, but then i met some crazy Aussies so it was all ok.

San Pedro was the cheapest place i have been to so far, my accomodation in the hostel cost me $2USD a night, a big pizza from a restaurant was $2.50, a rum and coke was 50c, it was great!!! Needless to say, a lot of rum and coke was consumed during this week.

I signed up for a week of Spanish school while i was there, but only ended up making it to 3 lessons because there were just too many cool parties going on every night. I did learn quite a lot in the three lessons i did manage to attend though, so it was worth it.

I had some real travelling moments in San Pedro. The first night i went out with the Aussie people i met, we were out at the pub having a great time, then when the pub closed we realised our group had grown from 5 to 30 so we thought it would be a cool idea to keep partying. While we were trying to decide where to go someone presented the idea of going down to some rock on the lake. Well, that was the best idea we had all heard in our lives, so we went off, longnecks in hand, to find this rock. Eventually we found the track down to the rock, it was a nightmare to get down to, we suffered numerous casualties along the way, but we all made it in one piece. So, i thought i was safe and sound, went to get up onto the rock and fell in an ingeniously hidden hole in the ground up to armpits, the hole must have been put there by our rival party group - "the crazy ravers"....party warfare was alive and well this night. No injury was suffered, except i ripped my favorite billabong t-shirt....the crazy ravers won this round, their impeding comedown the next morning was a comforting thought. A great time was had by all. 30 people that hadnt known each other at all just 5 hrs ago, now best mates sitting on some rock on the lakes edge, it was excellent.

Then, the next night there was about 10 of us from the "rock crew" that were out at another pub. Similar precedings to the previous night occurred, and once again our group grew to a good 20 - 30 people. There was a bonfire at the pub and some really good bongo drum players and some excellent fire twirlers, it was awsome! After the show we all went down and sat around the fire and started talking to the locals. Then, out of nowhere the cops came in, and all the locals were saying we had to keep real quit and smuggled us out the back door. Apparently all the bars in San Pedro have to close at one and its a very bad thing ifa bar is caught open after 1....it was 1:10am by my watch, talk about strict. Anyways, so there we were, around 30 - 40 of us, on some little path batween the corn fields with no idea what to do. Then whispers of "the rock" started circulating and one of the local bongo drum boys asked me if i could please take them to the rock!! I was amased, somehow everyone knew about the rock, even the locals, and wanted me to take them there. So, i of course agreed and started walking through the maze of corn field paths, not having an idea where i was, but presenting the cool demeanar of a born leader.

Along the way some dude said he had to go and do something and that we had to wait for him. So, as we stood waiting, one of the bongo guys got out his drum and started playing away, followed by the other bongo boy. And it just so happened that the singer of the french rock rap band that had played the previous night was present, so he started free styling to the bongo music. Then, of course, a local beat boxer came out of nowhere and started making all the crazy noises and beats that beat boxers are renown for. These guys played on like this for a good 15 minutes, it was awsome, it was a really special moment.

After that, some other guy took over navigation to the rock, got lost, got attacked by a crazy drug addict, everone lost interest and we went back home. But, it was all worth it for those 15 minutes of the locals performing their completely unrehearsed music for us, it was the best. We did end up going back to the rock that night, but only with about 10 people, it was still cool, but nothing on the first night.

And thats my story, it was awsome!

Yeah, so thats pretty much what my 8 days in San Pedro consisted of - partying and having a good time with new people, it was great.

After that i went back to Acapulco for 2 nights to hike up the active volcano. The hike was crazy. The first half was ok, but the second half was consisted of us scrambling up the loose dirt and rocks of the side of the volcano for 1.5 hrs. You would never get away with setting up a tour like that in Australia, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, gotta love them Guatemalans.

Getting to the top of the volcano made it all worth while though, it was amasing. We could actually see the lava spitting out, we were only 20m away from where it was coming out of. All the dirt at our feet was steaming, it looked like another world up there. And funily enough, it was quite warm.

The hike down was even more crazy than the walk up because this time we had to scramble down all the loose dirt and rocks, we pretty much skiid (sp?) all the way down, it was insane.....definately worth it!!

And now i am in San Salvador in El Salvador. Im not reall doing much here, i just came to get my ticket re-issued and catch my flight to Lima, Peru tomorrow. The girls are quite good looking here, they seem to get better and better the further south i go.

Central America has been an absolutely amasing place to travel, much better than Europe in my opinion, and i advise you all to come here.

Better get going, i have been on the net for way too long.
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Old 09-14-2005, 04:12 PM   #2
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Soooooooooo jealous!!!
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Old 09-15-2005, 01:02 AM   #3
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way cool!
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Old 09-15-2005, 01:29 AM   #4
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meeting french rock stars and allyour trip is sounding better and better im sure your never going to forget these memories!
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Old 09-15-2005, 04:01 AM   #5
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Hey LFB,

If you're still in San Salvador (not the nicest place in E.S., by the way), see if you can check out Puerto Del Diablo -- it's just a tiny bit out of town by local bus. Basically, it's a couple huge rocks that you climb up for a view of the countryside.

It's where this pic was taken...

Sounds like you're having an awesome time. The volanco sounds too cool. Keep us updated, my friend!

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