Up in the North Country!

Well, due to some dodgy circumstances and our proximity to the border, we decided to head north for security reasons. It was a bit of an upheaval, but really it went smoother than we thought. Of course everything happened in about 4 days time, the selling of some of our stuff, shipping of the rest and finishing up at work, but our neighbors helped us out and all was accomplished.

We took Lola with us of course, which proved to be a lot easier than we thought. Here I am taking her for a walk before we boarded our flight in Tapachula, we got a few strange looks as you can imagine. She went into the cargo hold and was riding around in circles on the baggage carousel when we arrived in Mexico City, looking a little freaked out I might add. Then it was under the bus for a three hour to Queretaro. All in all, se did really well, she could have been a lot worse.

So we are now located in the State of Guanajuato in central Mexico, in the towm of San Luis de la Paz. It is quite a bit bigger, about 60,000 people, than Acapetahua and much nicer. The people are friendly, the weather is cooler and the terrain and plant life sem-desert and dry. We are working with the newest Reserve in Mexico, La Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra Gorda de Guanajato, which is only one year old. Not to be confused with the Sierra Gorda Reserve on the Queretaro side, which is not as good as ours (what do you think of that Ben & Buffy, haha)

It is a great place and the staff are as nice and helpful as they come, plus they are local guys, so they really care about the reserve.

Jackie in our new office, notice she is not surronded by gas cans, bikes, or old tires...and there are enough chairs for both of us! The town is nice, with palzas and a large park used for exercising and making out.

Jackie out in the park, a place called Charco Azul. We are still exploring the park and the town, we will post more photos of all the cool places as we get them. Until next time. Jackie and Travis

Our best bro Joel!!!

Well it has been a little while and lots have happened. One great thing was the visit of our best mate Joel. It is always a great time when we get together and this trip was no different.

It started out in typical style when Joel's flight down to Chiapas was cancelled, actually I think they told him it never existed! So he had to wait 8 hours in the Mexico City airport while we waited in the Tapachula bus terminal. We decided to just head straight down to Guatemala that night and as our departure time neared and we still had not seen Joel, we began to get worried, luckily he showed just as we were starting to get harrassed by a crazy at the terminal and just before the bus left.

We rocked the overnight bus down to Guatemala City and were in Antigua for breakfast. We headed up to our favorite haunt, The Earth Lodge to hang out, eat, drink and be merry, which we did with ease. We got into some illegal mezcal, played with the donkey, ran a muck and met the biggest Canadian liar ever.(By the way, we don't believe a fucking word you said Jeff)

Here Jackie and Joel enjoy the view from the Earth Lodge

We did lots of swinging on this baby, often later in the evening when we really shouldn't have been, if you catch my drift. Good stuff.

We also made it up to San Cristobal, when we got back to Chiapas. As usual we got into plenty of good times there, like closing down the bar Los Amigos (a must visit in San Cristobal), Joel dancing with the surgeon, mariachi tunes, tequila boom-booms, digaridoo music in Mexico (Joel's favorite, haha) and the soon to be divorced Austrian who hooked us up, thanks bro. Not to mention the greatest sunset and beach fire ever at Barra Zacapulco.

Anyway, it was a great time and the good thing is we get to do it again soon in Cozumel. Just before Christmas if anyone is keen.

I leave you with a gratuitous butt scoot from Whitey, top dog!

Abrazos de Jackie and Travis

Union Juarez and the Pico de Loro

We finally got a chance to get out of the steam bath that is Acapetahua and headed up to the Sonusco range. This area is famous because it is where Starbucks and the other coffee conglomerates grow their coffee. The thing about coffee counrty is that it is higher in atlitude and there are tons of plants so it makes for somereally nice hiking.
Towering above the Sonusco range is Volcan Tacana and the Pico de Loro (the Parrots beak). We hiked up to the Pico de Loro (about 5 k from the road.

Enjoying the view and the sun at the top of the Pico de Loro

The Pico de Loro

Looking back toward Volcan Tacana

The villiage of Monteperla, we trekked through it on our way to the Pico de Loro. Just a valley over is the border between Mexico and Guatemala.

Volcan Tacana

Coffee on the tree not quite ready to be picked.

We make every effort to try regional dishes and local food when we are in a new place so we couldn't pass up the Parrillada. A gut busting, heart stopping plate of sizzling meat served on its very own grill. Plus all of the sides, tortillas, beans, chees, sour cream, salsa and jalapenos. We know there are a few of you out there that would appreciate a fine dish such as this one.

I could still see and breathe at this point.

She took me down the Parrillada. She took me down. But worth all of the pain.

Look at his pretty lady!

Hey guys and gals, well I guess it has been awhile since we've posted anything, no doubt ya'll have forgot all about us. Sorry, but the truth is we've not done too much exciting stuff lately, unless you consider sweating and working on the computer exciting, some might, we don't.

It is the ainy season now and so we get our share of torential downpours, just about every afternoon, which cools things off for the evening, but then jacks up the humidity the next day, good and bad I guess.

We are off to Queretaro next week, it will be good to see all the other volunteers and get out of here for a while, we should have some good time to report about then.

Anyway, we did have one great thing happen. One afternoon we heard a small cry from outside our door just as the rains were starting and we opened it to find a little kitty looking scared, lost and hungry. So Jackie went out and collected the little girl from under the neighbors truck and we brought her in, after some adjustment period, which entailed us tempting her with tuna fish, she warmed up to us and by that night she was sleeping between us in the bed, and she hasn't stopped since.

Lola is her name and she is one cool cat. Ok, hope all is well with everyone and let us here from ya'll, it can get lonely down here.

Until then,

Trav and Jackie

Antigua, Guatemala and the Earth Lodge

We stopped by Antigua on our way home from Honduras. Its a beautiful colonial city full of shopping and delicious international food.

a muy sexy fountain in the square
Church

another church

The Arch, one of the few original buildings left standing after the big earthquake

Some are still falling apart. Cuidado!

colorful street in downtown

Hanging out at the Earth Lodge. The Earth Lodge is a small lodge about 20 minutes outside of Antigua in a small villiage. It has 6 cabins, a dorm, 2 treehouses a sauna, movie room and dinner hall. its built over an avacado far and overlooks Antigua.

Looking over Antigua

The view from the treehouse.

of course we stayed in the treehouse!!

San Juan, Honduras

San Juan is a tiny pueblo near Gracias. To get to San Juan we had to find a specific guest house in Gracias and talk to a certain lady wh showed us a book that explained what to do and where to stay in San Juan. From there we had to catch a series of collectivos and find another lady in San Juan to arrange a place to stay and a guide. But its all part of the adventure right?

One of the places we visited in San Juan was a local family that hand made bricks for houses. An average Hondurean house takes 5000 bricks. Each one made by hand.

First you have to break up the clay

the you have to put the clay in the mold (4 at a time)

you let them dry in the sun

After they are cooked for 10 hours in an oven the yare ready to be made into a house. they use handmade tools to transport them also.

We got a rare opportunity to take a horseback ride to the Enchanted Canyon

We took a dip here, this was no hot spring water, this was COLD!!! But refreshing on the hot day!

Standing over the enchanted canyon

The Enchanted Canyon

we hiked into tha canyon to eat lunch. and washed off in the water fall.

Gracias, Honduras

Gracias is a small mountaint town in the Center of Honduras. The people here were very friendly. We came up here to cool off from the oppressive coastal heat. We did some hiking and ate meals on the street corner with the locals, what can i say it was the best food in town.

Looking down on Gracias

We headed out to some hotsprings outside of town. It was about an hour walk but the super friendly local people insisted on giving us rides bother there and back. we didn't know that the day we went was a national holiday and everyone was off. So EVERYONE was at the hot springs.

Some crazy looking grasshoppers

Tela, Honduras

Where old meets new.

Yes we like seeing Travis but this picture is actually taken to capture the horse and cart in the background
These are Oropendula. They are these incredible birds. The are reddish with gold tails. They nest in colonies, in these hanging nests and they only nest in one type of tree. The make the most bizarre sounds, series of pops, hums and sonar type sounds. crazy!

We visited a botanical garden while in Tela and spent hours in the flowers watching the hummingbirds, unfortunately they were too fast to get a photo.

we found ourselves a nice swimming hole and had a cheeky dip. this water was totally clear and full of these tiny fish that followed us around and nibbled at our skin.