Off to San Marcos

Here is a pic of the lake and all the little towns...today we are weaving and then headed to SanMarcos for some yoga!

Santa Cruz,,,,they speak English!

Hi All!

Jess and I have taken a boat (el barco) accross the lake to the steep and beautiful town of Santa Cruz...we didnt know what to except, but we were totally stoked to find English speaking people, as they have been few and far between on this trip. I know my Birdneck friends saw me practicing with the Rosetta Stone, but trust me when I say that that was not enough! The Spanish lessons in Pana are going well, but too slow for two girls who dont even know the basics! We are going to continue Spanish lessons until we leave Pana, and thankfully Belize is English speaking...you don´t realize how hard it is to get by until all you have is a small dictionary and a smile!

So, Jess and I were contimplating posting a poll where everyone could take bets on who would get sick first and on what day it would happen....however, I (Christine) beat everyone to the punch by getting sick last night...yep, it was a tough night!! However, I feel great today, so hopefully the worst is over...we have been eating great food, despite the minor illness.

So tonight we are staying in this little hippy hotel...it is everything you would think of when I say Hippy...the people that work here are very chill, don´t where shoes, there is an island vibe, the rooms have no electricity, there are group BBQs, lots of hammocks, and awesome views! Tomorrow Jess and I are taking a 4 hour weaving class with the locals! We will have a finished product, but we don´t know what it is because we can´t understand the ladies...all we know is that it will be an experience!!!!

Sorry about the lack of pics, but the internet is rustic to say the least...we will post more when we can! Well that´´s all for now, we are off to a BBQ and party that is full of music and crossdressing?!? Those will be some great pics!

George, the best tour guide that Pana has to offer (for free, no less)

Here we are when George dropped us in the home of a student for our Spanish lesson...sorry, we want to post more pics, but the computer is not cooperating..weve been here for an hour and this is all we have to show for it...we´ll get better as the trip goes on.

Panajachel...alive and well!

Hola Amigos!
Greetings from Guatemala! We made it here after no sleep and a bumpy ride. On Wednesday, we met up in Orlando, where we annoyed Christine{s dad (sorry, this computer does not have an apostrophe key). He drove us to 2 Walmarts, 1 Bass Pro Shop, and 3 CVS pharmacies (so we could try to print off pics of our family, friends, and of course our dogs)..we finally got the hotel around 11pm and still had to pack for our flight at 5am...needless to say little sleep was had. Pair that with a 4 hour bumpy ride through the mountains and you can imagine how exhausted we were!
On the first real day here we toured a local school, ate a fabulous breakfast, got a tour from George (pana{s best tour guide and the principal of the school), took a 2 hour Spanish lesson (for $3), and are getting ready to end the night with a cold cervesa! These pics are what we have seen so far! Enjoy!

I should be cutting down on what I'm bringing,but....

Okay, I arrived in Florida with one backpack and now I have 3 to choose from...this is not the way that the packing should be going! I managed to get all of my stuff into the smallest backpack (the one that looks like a school pack) with extra room to spare. My dad was concerned about the lack of a waist strap, so then we considered the 60 liter pack. It has a waist strap, but it can't fit in the overhead bin...so we bought a 3rd pack and when I meet up with Jess we can figure out which pack to take...sheesh, if I am this indecisive about a backpack, imagine how long it will take me to figure any of the important life decisions (marriage, family, what to wear tomorrow, etc.)

Here it is...all of the stuff I will probably want to burn when I arrive home...aka...what I am packing on my trip. The only things I am missing are: a hoodie, a rain jacket, and hiking shoes. Otherwise, what you see is what you get. In all honesty, I think I did a pretty good job of packing light. I am maximizing space even more by taking all the medicines and toiletries out of their plastic packaging. I also decided to pack one time use products that can be thrown away once I am done with them. I am going to roll up all of the clothes and put them into airtight bags. Then I will decide which backpack to stuff all of this into. The light blue one on the right was my original pack. My dad did the research, found the best pack(of course) and then sent it to Va. Beach. Then Jess called and said that her pack was HALF the size of mine. She had consulted with her "outdoorsy" friends, and they said that the smaller the better. So once I roll up all this stuff, we'll see. I am kinda partial to the light blue one (It looks like one a "real" backpacker would use:)

TEsting 1,2,3...I am posting a short video from my camera in order to make sure that I can upload it correctly...I just arrived in Florida last night...so I feel like the trip is finally in full swing....it was hard to say goodbye to Larry, Mike, Mom, and especially Bella, but now my dad and I can get to his favorite part of the trip...the packing. Anyone who knows my dad knows that he lives for the packing part. I will post some pics later today when we lay out all the goods and see exactly what we are packing in this thing. On Wednesday we are meeting Jess in Orlando to help her get some shopping done. Then at 7:30am on Thursday, we are off to Guatemala!!