A few more photos from Guatemala...

Here are a few more photos we thought were nice and a few pics of us for the parental units to see...

Jackie getting ready for the craziness of the 'chicken bus'. We had no chickens inside on our trip, but we did have plenty of fruits and vegetables and who knows what all strapped to the roof.

Jackie, always making new friends

Soccer is huge, it's true...this field was way up the mountain at the natural saunas...and the kids were pretty damn good too even though there ball, if you could call it that, needed some work

I just liked this road...

Me pondering the day and remembering the steam, or maybe just thinking about tacos...

Jackie enjoying the walk down the mountain, and probably thinking about tacos too...

This area was a big agricultural producer, everything from carrots and cabbage, lettuce and cilantro, to flowers of every color...made for a great day out.

A Whirlwind Weekend in Guatemala

We had a 3 day weekend so we decided to make a quick trip down to Quetzaltenango (the locals call it 'Xela') Guatemala. Or at least what we thought would be a quick trip, 14 hours and 7 busses, a sketchy border crossing and packed market later we re-evaluated. But it was totally worth it. Quetzaltenango was a cool city and Wow Guatemala is a fun, beautiful place with more colors then we have ever seen.

Quetzaltenango from above the city. We hiked up this hill above the city for the amaziong views and at the top were some natural saunas. Guatemalan hillsides

Coffee plantation

And the 'chicken busses'... these are the same Blue Bird busses that you rode in Elementary school only now they are painted about every color possible and fitted out with lots of chrome. We were heading back to the Mexicna border in one when it ran our of gas. A public bus ran out of gas. So we waited until a truck came along and the driver could siphon gas out of the truck and put it in the bus. Only in Central America. Anyway the busses are very cool.

Part of the crazy market.

The hillside above Quetzaltenango.
That cow thought he could hide but there is no foolin' Travis...

You can come too!!!

So its been a while since we have updated this blog. We have been busy busy people. Our friend Ethan showed up for a visit so we took him to as many places as we could squeeze into 3 weeks. We are resourceful people so that was alot!

San Christobal de Las Cases - always great for the photos!

This picture is so uniquely Mexican. The beautiful, ornate church in the background and the beat-up VW bug in the front. Smoking the Hookah at the hostel in San Christy
found this guy INSIDE our house. He was escorted out very quickly.

Enjoying cuba libres on the beach at Barra Zacapulco

Liberating turtles under the cover of darkness Tasty, tasty Sol - ruining Ethan with handmade tortillas and giant plates of shrimp

I voted to leave him there but he escaped

Trav and Ethan rockin out as usual... Trav looking goofy with big hair
See all the fun we had?? You can come visit too!!

Has it really been a year?!

Well, it has been one year since we were officially married (we had 6 years practice before that) and alot of kick ass stuff has happened in that time. Different climate, different country, different language, different everything, except we are still rockin' together better than ever! I wonder what the next year will bring?, whatever it is we're up for it!

Top: 1 year on, Barra Zacapulco, MX

Bottom: Wedding Day, Blue Muscle Cabin, AK

Puerto Arista and Campamento Tortugera

Well, this last weekend saw us heading north up the coast a couple of hours to the town of Puerto Arista, Chiapas with a couple of friends. Our destination was the tortugera or turtle sanctuary there. We really didn't know what to expect, but we were in for an adventure. The The months of September, October and November is when the Olive Ridley turtles, or in spanish the Golfina sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. These beauties are about a meter to a meter and a half long and weigh about 60-80 pounds. They lay about 85 to 110 eggs in a small hole or nest they dig in the sand with their back flippers.

We cruised the beach with our friend Victor looking for their tracks up the beach. We counldn't mess with them while they dug this nest, but once they begin to actually lay the eggs they go into a bit of a trance and we were able to touch and measure them. Once done, we would take them off the nest, no small feet due to the fact that once you pick them up they begin to flap those big ol' flippers everywhere, and collect the eggs to be taken back to the tortugera and re-buried in a safe enclosure. The Tortugera keeps data on location, nests, amount of eggs and physical characteristics of the turtles and nests.

They have a huge poaching problem for the eggs (which are considered aphrodiasics - even through research shows that 1 turtle egg has the same cholestrol of 5 chicken eggs) , and we found several nests which had been robbed while we were out collecting. Also, while the turtles are in their egg-laying trance they are succeptible to maurading dogs and can be injured as we saw when we had to help patch one girl up on Sunday morning who had a rather large hole torn in her shoulder. Pinche Perros! She was able to be mended and released that day.

On Saturday we were able to help release the baby turtle that had hatched in the tortugera the night before. Hundreds of little baby turtles heading out to sea for the first time. It was incredibly nerve-wracking watching them descend down the beach and get swept up by the waves. They are just tiny, baby turtles and the waves are so big! In the water you could see their tiny heads poking up.

What an amazing expereince, some might even say magical.

releasing baby turtles

"be free - go to your home!"

5 beauties on the beach

oh and the sunset was pretty good too...

they are soo tiny and the waves are so big!

laying eggs

You can pet them while they are in the trance




Collecting eggs

Oh and there is an awsome beach there also

beach handstands

Our campsite in front of the Tortugero

Travis - Defender of Turtle Babies

Barra Zacapulco

We found a gem of a place. A stretch of endless beach sandwiched between a river and the Pacific ocean, seemingly undiscovered by the rest of the world. Barra Zacapulco is just a hop, skip and a jump from our front door. Actually it a collective ride and a lancha trip but its all the same in southern Mexico.

To ge to Barra Zacapulco take a lancha through the mangroves and down the river. this is barra Zacapulco from the river side.

The beach
Barra Zacapulco has cabanas, places to camp and spots just to sling a hammock for the night. There is one restaurant that serves fresh seafood, beers and handmade tortillas for cheap!

Where are YOU at????

Palmarcito, Chiapas

We went to Palmarcito to explore the mangroves, examine the shrimping industry there and look at the tourism potential. It was a beautiful day for a lancha trip and I thought you all would like some pictures ....

Them main dock in Palmarcito. Trav got pinched by a crab while noodlin' for some pupo - a local fish...

Cormorants taking to flight
Shrimp trap and a garza (stork)

Mangroves- the roots keep the main trunk out of the water. Provide lots of habitat for baby fish and shrimp. And tons of crabs.