day 14 In San Andres

We have left Poptun and moved to our second homestays in San Andres. The scenery has changed from dirt roads and rural housing, to near 90 degree paved streets and a lovely veiw of lake Peten Itza. Here is the follow up of our last remaining days in Poptun:

Our ditch digging was put to a hault after a query between a few local residences, whose homes were being flooded due to our efforts, and the school´s directora, who continually thought the project was a good idea and that we where doing a mediocre job of it. We switched our game plan to teaching english at the school and found it a much more helpful and involving activity. During the recesses all of the children found themselves drawn to play with us, give us flowers, and literally climb all over us. There was a day when about a third of our group was stricken with what we think was food poisoning, but it was only a day or two of extra trips to the bathroom and skipping meals. For the majority of our stay, we had grown fond of and used to taking day trips into the town of Poptun to get ice cream and then hiking back to the Finca to swim in the Lagoon before dinner. The morning of our departure from Poptun we where seen off by a small 6 year boy named Wilbur who we had grown fond of and who had particularly grown fond of Katie.

San Andres was met a few days ago by 11 smiles as we looked upon a gorgeuos lake and a beautiful little town on a hill. Here is where we started our 1 on 1 spanish lessons at Echo Escuela, which has given mixed results in furthering our knowledge of the launguage. We are still getting to know our new homestay families and have been finding many activities to do such as watching night basketball, cooking at Sophies homestay house, having movie night at Jessa´s, and visiting a animal reserve across the lake. Megan´s Homestay dad, Cush, transported us in his boat to the animal reserve and to the town of Flores while serenadeing us with his harmonica, lovely singing voice, and air trumpet. At the animal reserve we fed monkeys and were challenged to fights by the endangered birds. At Flores we saw other Gringos for the first time as well as got in some time to purchase peanut butter and other necesities. Swimming in the lake has been a nice way to kill the heat that has been taking its toll on us ever since we first arrived in town. We have another week and a half to look forward to in San Andres, with lots of exciting events to look forward to, such as: Visiting the Myan ruins of Tikal, going for nature hikes, boat rides, music on the beach, more spanish lessons, and what ever else there is to be done while traveling through Guatemala.

There will be more blogs written while in our stay in San Andres and this is Dan saying Adios.

Poptun, Day 3

One week in and the whole Central America is having lots of fun, even with the seven hour van rides, blazing sun, pouring rain, giant tarantulas, and occaisionally dubious bathroom conditions.

We spent the first few days holed up at the lovely Finca Ixobel, where we stayed in cabins and went caving, whitewater tubing, hiking, and horseback riding, as well as lounging by the pond and partying it up (sin alcohol) at the bar with our US Army buddies, and a dredlocked Israeli. The caving was pretty extreme, and had us crawling on our stomaches through some tight fits at some points. All but Dan and Tod went tubing down the river, which was quite relaxing, despite the occaisional rapid and the two fairly brutal sunburns. The section of the river after lunch was a little bit rougher, so only four of us decided to continue, and as we were getting into our rafts, the guide told us not to worry about the bad smell at the pullout point, as it was just from the (non-tubing-related) dead body that had been pulled from the river the day before. Thankfully, no harm befell us as we were equipped with lifejackets as well as helmets.

The next day some of the group rode some difficult horses while myself, Tod, Jessa, and Dan of the infinite nicknames climbed El Piramide, a formidable looking pyramid shaped mountain. The way up was tough, but gravity did most of the work on the way down, with Jessa practicing her bounce.

On Sunday we left the Finca early in the morning for the town of Poptun, a ten minute or so walk away, to meet our host families for the week and to see the activities set up for Guatemalan Independence Day. After a few hours of small town Guatemala, we were already ready for a break, and headed back to Finca for a nice refreshing dip in the pond, and a nice nap in the hammocks, something which we have made a daily habit of. More or less everyone is happy with their host families, although many bemoan the fact that it is very hard to communicate with them.

We started our community project of digging a ditch today, hopefully all goes well with that as the week progresses (photo to hopefully be placed below sometime in the future).

Until next time, when someone else updates the blog, this is Amit, on behalf of the Central America group.

Notes from the Airport Lounge

Well, it's official, they're together and ready! The group leaders just gave me a call and they have their full group - yes, everyone is there! In about three hours they'll be airborne and embarking on a journey of three-months and a thousand experiences.

I'm sure over the next few months you'll have photos of all kinds, calls of many emotions (and hopefully at least two languages!), and growth in more angles than you could imagine. May this be the beginning of a truly momentous and transformative semester!

Yours in spirit and adventure,
Ethan

CAM Countdown!

Hola! Toya and Tod here, with the inaugural edition of CAM update. The day of departure is almost upon us, and we hope all of you are as excited as we are about our upcoming journey. We're looking forward to meeting all of you in the Bay Area next week, so get your bags packed, your absentee ballots requested, and your domestic itineraries filed with Carpe Diem.
Other than that, get ready for an amazing adventure!