So far...so shitty

So far, this experience has shown me how I never would have traveled again if I'd let this be my first 'travel' experience.

Flight was fine, but upon arrival  - shitshow.  We get on a bus to our resort with a family of 21-francophone assholes, who think its funny to interrupt our guide by doing things like sing 'who let the dogs out', and who clearly know that they are more important than the rest of us, which they prove by actually pushing me out of the way at the reception desk so they can check in first.  Awesome. 

We check in, then are told to wait for the bellboy.  So we wait...and wait...and wait.  Finally he comes, looks at our room number, and moves on to another group.  Um, hello?? I'm losing my fuckign mind at this point - all I want is to check in to my room.  One guy then takes our bags one way, while another guy smiles at us and goes another....ugh.  We eventually get to our room, wait a half hour for our bags to join us, I wash my face and relax and head for a drink.  The ONE bar that is open has no cups.  Oh yes I'm serious.  I ask for a bottle of water, something, ANYTHING I can drink.  Nope! Sorry lady!  So, three hours after I arrive, they can't make me a drink.  LIVID. 

Eventually, we got some drinks.  Try to relax.  But relaxing isn't really possible when you're in a place full of kids screaming WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and falling all over themselves. 

Oh, and there's no internet access.  I hadn't anticipated this, based on the readily available wifi in Belize, so I haven't fully planned out where I want to go while here. 

Oh, last thing to bitch about - there is actually only ONE place open on the resort right now.  And the only food they have is crappy ham sandwiches, and they have no bottles of water.  They said the water should be in our room, but there isn't.  And the wind is blowing our window so badly it feels like the room is shaking.  So I'm hoping, tomorrow when we wake up in the sun, and can prepare to have food and water in the room, things will be better.  I hope.  I hope I hope I hope.  

Two days until Cuba!

Its weird to realize how quickly the urge to travel can fade away once you're back in the regular grind.  I don't even have a regular job, but just being back in Ottawa, back to the usual, is enough to have made me think a few times, do I really want to fuck off to Australia for two months?  Is that something I can do?

But then I look at the photos Sarah has posted, of things I wasn't there to see, and I know that YES, I have to go.  It's so easy to just stay, and do the normal - but what fucking fun is that?  It's odd too, because anyone here who knows me knows that I'm a very solitary person.  But the idea of being alone for two months - it's a little terrifying, and a little exhilarating.  I hate to admit that in some way I wish I had someone to share it with me.  I hate that because I am single by choice, but there is a part of me that wishes I wouldn't be trekking all over a foreign country alone. Hahaha maybe I'll try and sneak She-Ra into my bag, he's my soulmate anyway so he should be my travel partner :P

I'm off to Varadero, Cuba, in two days, with my sister Tracey, and it's going to be a blast.  But it's weird, I'm packing and am able to bring whatever the hell I want, because we're staying in one place the whole time - so I don't have to shove everything into one backpack.  It'll be very different from my last trip, and from my next trip, but it should still be great.  I definitely want to head to Havana for at least a day, if not more, and I'm going to take advantage of all of the crazy little activities they have.  This will likely be the only time I ever do an all-inclusive resort thing, so look out bartenders, PARTY TIME is on it's way!

El Remate and Tikal, Guatemala

Well I've been back in Ottawa four days now, and I've been putting off writing about the last few days of my trip because it just makes me sad I'm not still in Guatemala!

I left off when we were on our way to the border.  Crossing was easy, even though the Guatemalan border made us pay 20quetzels each to get in (NOT required, and they wouldn't provide a receipt, but when they have your passport in their hands, what choice do you have, especially when it's only like 4bux Canadian?).  Caught a collectivo minibus to take us to El Remate, which was a little bumpy but only cost us 25quetzels each.  It was hilarious to see how many people they can jam into a minivan, we had 21 in there (including children).  Goes to show how ludicrously stringent so many North American safety standards are.

Arrived in El Remate around lunchtime, and I've never seen such a beautiful landscape.  Beautiful lake, gorgeous sun, mountains in the background, it was fucking heaven.  Found a rustic place to stay, with free internet and clean beds, that also could set up our shuttle van to Tikal in the morning: total for accomodations AND the shuttle?  400 quetzels.  Thats about 50bux.  Total for all three of us.  AMAZING!!!!

Unfortunately the food was NOT so amazing.  Went to a pretty nice looking place and ordered fajitas, took two bites of the chicken and had to go barf.  Awesome.  Also got scratched by the nail that held the door closed.  Go me!  This, combined with the roosters who woke me up at 3am and wouldn't shut up, caused me to be barfing on the side of the road when the shuttle came to take us to Tikal at 5:30 the next morning.  Not a good start to the day!  Luckily though, after we finally found the restaurant on Tikal National Park and ate a good breakfast, my health improved and we spend the day climbing Mayan temples up to 187 feet in the air.  SO INCREDIBLE.  While hiking through the rainforest we saw howler monkies, spider monkies, woodpeckers, these weird turkeys that look like peacocks, and something that looks like a ferret crossed with a raccoon.  I can't even begin to describe how amazing this entire day was.  It was funny to see how scared of heights Sarah can be, we climbed Temple V and she couldn't move off of the wall, this one even made Robin nervous and he'd been climbing all over everything with me all day.  Didnt' faze me, I sat with my feet dangling off the edge, looking around and soaking up every second of it.

My last evening with Sarah and Robin was spent drinking many beers on the porch outside of our room, chatting with the various travellers staying at the same place as us.  It's pretty cool the mix of people we met.  One couple in their 30s, she was Quebec and him from Scotland, who met while traveling twelve years ago, and still have the bug so badly they just went to Tikal with their 3-year-old daughter, and their 6-month old son.  A young couple from Oregan who felt that everyone in Guatemala should be nicer to them, because they're tourists and clearly the people who live there would have nothing without the money tourists bring in.  Hahahaha WHAT!  Such righteous little kids, vegans too of course, who took off pretty quickly after Sarah and I both laughed and said we went back to meat-eating after ten years of veganism because we'd both stopped giving a fuck.  Also met an interesting Brazilian guy who'd gotten a motorcycle in Vancouver and traveled the world on his bike all the way to Guatemala.  He seemed pretty cool, and very clearly was interested in me, he was clearly disappointed when we said we were tired and drunk and heading to bed.  Sorry dude, not interested!

The next day I caught a collectivo at 8am and headed back to Belize.  Driving through Guatemala, I swear my heart was actually breaking, realizing I was leaving.  It was so goddamn gorgeous.  Two days there - NOT ENOUGH!  I wish I was with Sarah and Robin still, they're in Flores right now, soaking up the beauty.  Goddamn.

Oh well.  I'm back here, and my kitties are currently in my bed, without me, so I think I'll go snuggle them, and when I wake up I should start making plans for what I'm going to do while in Cuba next month!

CAMMAN Australia!

Got my ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) approved today, which means I can visit Australia for up to three months.  Debating on whether or not I want to apply for an actual visa or not.  If I do, I can stay for up to two years, and get a job while there.  If I just keep the ETA, I can only visit, and have three months max.  NOT getting a visa is probably better, because then I have to come back.  But is that really better? HMMM!!!!!  Three months should be enough... right?  GAH! What if I never want to leave???

Planning planning planning

Picked up a copy of 'Australia on a Budget' today, so I can start planning my trip.  I'm going to have to keep looking for flights every week and hope for a deal, it's SO fucking expensive to fly there!  The shitty part is, I've been thinking of buying a one-way ticket so I can return whenever the hell I want, but a one-way runs around $1200-1400, and a return can be found for only about $300 more so it would be a HUGE waste of money to have to buy them separately.  BALLS!!!!

One good thing is I could work whle there if I got my visa, so I'm thinking of applying for that this week.  It likely wouldn't come in before I want to leave though, and if I got it, I know I'd run the risk of just not coming back for the two-year duration of the visa, and if I was gone that long I know my She-Ra would either die of a broken heart, or murder my roommates while they slept.

San Ignacio, Belize

We left Caye Caulker the morning of December 10, 2010.  This became the day I knew things had changed and I'd never want to stop seeing more.

Waking up that day was a BITCH.  I'd fallen into our room around 3:30am, a smile on my face and my tights full of sand, and was woken up around 7:30am by the alarm clock going off - we had to catch the 10am water taxi if we wanted to get moving that day, and we couldn't leave the island without hitting up the cat sanctuary!  Unfortunately that part was a little disappointing.  As all three of us are Crazy Cat Ladies (well, Ashley is crazy about ALL animals, it's Sarah and I who are obsessed with les mews), this was part of the attraction of the island.  The place stunk like cat piss and most of the kitties were kept indoors.  Not great.  Oh well!

Although earlier in the week, I'd made the decision to leave the island early, and join Sarah and Robin for San Ignacio, when the morning to leave came I felt like maybe I'd made the wrong decision - could I leave this island paradise?  What the FUCK was I thinking?  

Am I ever glad we did though.  The whole ride out to San Ignacio (about two and a half hours), I just stared out the window and soaked up every second.  We were no longer in a tropical heaven, we were now heading into real life.  And I loved it.  San Ignacio is a pretty small little town (about 20,000 people), and there isn't much that sticks out about it to be honest, except that it was all beautiful, and once I got off the bus with my backpack on I knew I had to keep going.  Our first day there we trekked up the hill to check out Cahal Pech, the 'Little Ruins'. It's nothing compared to what we saw in the following days, but as our first Mayan artifact experience it was pretty incredible.  It's what made me start to think I couldn't fly home in two days, without tagging along with Sarah and Robin when they headed to Guatemala.

So I knew I had to continue, but I could see Ashley was dying to get home.  I know she had an amazing time on the island, but the hiking around in the sun, and staying in places with communal bathrooms, wasn't really her thing.  As I mentioned in my first post, it's weird to see that someone you share so much with can differ from you in these big ways.  But to each his own!  We'll have to stick to hot beaches and blended drinks from now on when we travel together - mmmmm daquiris.

Anyway!  The Cahal Pech trek was Saturday, December 11, and that evening while having drinks at Greedys, we met E, a dude from Seattle who was on a two-week trip, and it turns out he'd just arrived there from Caye Caulker as well.  He was there for a couple of days before heading to Guatemala for Tikal.  Tikal, Tikal Tikal.  Not being one for Mayan history, I'd never even heard of this before the trip.  I first heard about it from J, (of the drunken sandy beach adventure), who'd gone there before Caye Caulker.  I remembered him saying that watching the sun rise there was fucking amazing.  The night we arrived in San Ignacio, a travelling couple were saying it was the best part of their trip.  And SArah and Robin were going there once Ashley and I left on Monday.  And now I'd met another person going there! FUCK!  Soooooo, a bottle of Caribbean rum later, I pulled out my cell phone (I don't even want to think about how much that call cost), and called my airline.  A $215 change fee later, I had changed my ticket from Monday the 13th to Friday the 17th.  FUCK YES!!!!

That night I had a bit of a panic attack, thinking what the fuck had I done??!!!  Extending my trip meant I had to send Ashley home by herself, then travel back from Guatemala to Belize by myself, and either spend the night there alone (NOT a good idea, not a safe city), or decide on another place to stay by myself.  Having never travelled alone before, and realizing these weren't the safest areas, I kinda freaked out.  Once I woke up though the panic was gone and I was so fucking excited.  

Our second day in San Ignacio, Sarah, Robin and I caught a bus to San Jose Succotz to see the Xunantunich ruins.  This place blew my fucking mind.  We climbed to the top of El Castillo, about 130 feet in the air, with a gorgeous sky behind us and a beautiful landscape surrounding us.  Sarah discovered she was kinda scared of heights and kept getting mad at Robin and I for wanting to climb all over everything and sit near the edge, hahah.  

These two days of walking and climbing all day in the sun were making me so fucking excited to do the same in Tikal!  Monday morning Ashley said goodbye to Sarah and Robin, and she and I bussed back to Belize City so she could catch her plane.  We stopped in to pee at the water taxi office and ran into J and his friend T.  As I've mentioned before, that water taxi office is fucking popular!  Only once was I in there and didn't run into someone I know, and since I only knew about five people there in total (including the three I was travelling with), it's pretty random!  Anyway, got Ashley on her place and, after cabbing back to the water taxi (and once again running into J & T), I hopped on a bus back to San Ignacio.  Well actually it was San Jose Succotz, we'd decided we'd done all we could in San Ignacio so Sarah and Robin had moved up a little closer to the Guatemalan border and I met up with them there.  Found them at a totally beautiful spot called the Trek Stop, with individual cabins and a butterfly exhibit.  Didn't have time for the butterflies, but it was a very pretty, relaxed spot.  Definitely a perfect spot for traveling hippies, but for one night we enjoyed ourselves.  

In the morning, we threw on our packs and walked up to Benque, Belize, and then some dude with Jesus stickers all over his truck offered us a ride and he brought us up to the Guatemalan border.  That's it for my Belizean adventure, next stop: Guatemala!

Back in Ottawa

As I sit here, I think I've realized the thing that made me fall so in love with my travels:  the quietness, the overall peace.  Not that it was all peace and quiet of course, the people who got mad at us drunkenly careening through the road in Caye Caulker can attest to that, but it's an overall feeling of calmness.  I've been back about three hours now, and all I want to do tonight is quietly relax, write about my trip, and snuggle my kitties.  Unfortunately at the moment I feel like my head is going to explode because all I can hear is the music and voices coming from downstairs.  Don't get me wrong, I adore my roommate Sarah and her boyfriend Paul, but the last thing I want to hear on my first night back is loud drunken noise.  I want to readjust.  UGH!   It is Saturday night though, and there are a lot of parties tonight, so of course they're not doing anything wrong, but I've been wanting to write about my trip for about an hour now and can't get my mind to focus.

So many things stood out to me on my way back to Ottawa today (notice I don't use the word 'home', because Ottawa is not, and has not ever been, my 'home', I have yet to find that).  Walking down the aisle on the greyhound bus, I noticed that at least two people in every row were using some kind of electronic device: an ipod, a laptop, a gaming system, a phone.  Where I've been, not one person was using anything, except occasionally a cell phone would ring, and a quick phone conversation would happen.  What struck me as weird today was not that people could go without, but that being without seemed normal - so THAT seemed weird.  Shouldn't life in Ottawa be normal to me, and the opposite be weird?  Why does being somewhere else so easily seem to be where I belong?

Getting home has been a bit of a pain in the ass.  Was subjected to my first thorough searching at the airport in Belize City (no body cavities at least).  When they opened the door to the gate where my plane was leaving from, a person walked right up to me, grabbed me by the arm and said 'You're on this flight?' and when I confirmed, I was marched outside, firmly held by the arm, and brought outside where I had to take off my hoodie and shoes, and have my bags opened and searched completely.  All in front of everyone who was getting onto my plane, and all of the employees of the airport.  Awesome.  Good thing I am a smart traveller and had no contraband on me!

Fly into Montreal last night, got to hang with Dusty which was awesome as we haven't spent time together in ages.  Took a cab to the Fattal lofts, and when there was no answer at Dustys I walked over to Deathhouse, Manik's place, and found himn ia pile of punks hitting the beer bongs and partying St Henri style.  So, I started my day yesterday doing yoga on a roof during a Caribbean sunrise, and ended it slamming back shots in a dirty punk house in Montreal.  Best of both worlds?  I think so!

Funny thing: when I stepped off the bus in Ottawa today, the very first billboard I say was advertising trips to Cuba - where I just happen to be going in less than three weeks! hahaha awesome!