We are a compass, subltly spying our way through windows

From the twilight hour we spin and weave through the many worlds,
Making magic mending marvel with the threads of time travellers tales,
Cutting my way through the many blinks of existence, subtle knife in hand,
Searching through the many subtle throbbing threads,

For the window to bring me to your world,
Hoping the next circle spiral cut will open up to the desert dunes that I long for,
Flooded with fields of flowers full of yellow sun hues and purple majestic perfection,
While desert tortoises make sweet coitis (sp) while cougar skat litters the horizon,
Little ones learn of the luscious language,

Found from the quiet enveloping sweet balance of vida y muerte among the sleeping sea,
Long since left behind are the remenants of our ancestors,

Whom used to surf these ancient waters,
May they some day see the beauty of the blue to fill them again,

All the while evolution evolves onward,
So sitting among the howls of the coyotes there,

Hearing the calls of the monkeys here,

I sing my song by mama ocean,
Dreaming daylight delight of wrestling stomach fart glee,
Smiles perfect and full of hope, celebration, hope, and synchronistic dining,
Drinking of each others sweet nectar until we are drunk and filled to the brim,
Interlocking limbs, keeping the cold shut out by puzzle piece clothing zip up wills,
Frost kissing my face as I dream of endless nights,

Surrounded firefly friends buzzing & swirling,
We play the instruments of existence everything,

Destiny, Death, Desire, Delight, Delirium, Dream, and Destruction,
An orchestra of all the may bes that will always be,
Watching the gods and goddesses ebb and flow,
Suddenly swept up by the high tide, drifting out to sea,
My Journey takes me from jungle mountains to black sand seas,
Ever searching for the gift of flight that resides on my insides,
Meeting all these silly sweet suffering players, major and minor,
Chords in the song of journey, they bring about new memory music,
Seeing family in their eyes,
Some content meanwhile many still search,
Among them you will find me, as I yearn for the earth,
For familiarity filled with warm embraces, butterfly kisses, handholding haikus,
But what purpose still rests in the tomorrows not yet told,
Brother wind rustles the restlessness in my heart,
Peace is the piece of the pie I hunger for,
LOVE, unlike anything yet learned,
Unlike all the songs ever sung,
Unlike any story that has been told,
Unlike the most breathtaking sunset moonrise eclipse,
That is my gift, that is my quest, that is my burden,
These dreams have been plaguing my prophecy since first rememberances,
A cure has yet to be found or created, but hope will never leave mi corazon,
That fire burns with a fuel found in no earth or sky,

Born from the dark matter, the Dust, so we shake it,

Don´t be decieved for it´s not that which you know on long dirt trail rambles,
Nor is it the stowaways found in the creaks and crevices in hideaway households,
The kind so alive, always awake,
Found in the core of every thing that ever was and ever will be,
We must continue to seek the answers,
Endless, ever diligently we wander wonder on our way...

So I have been kinda busy recently...

Hey family and other feline friends! I have been running and diving for quite some time so I apologize for not filling in on the good stuff since the Lago Atitlan adventure. I am currently in Utila, which is part of the Bay Islands in Honduras. A small-medium sized island known for inexpensive Diving Schools and I have been sucked into the black hole of romanticized underwater salty skinned life. I discovered a love that I never dreamed possible especially since I never imagined myself to want to learn scuba diving until a friend back in Antigua, Dawn from Edinburough, Scotland told us all about how wonderful it is and inexpensive too. So that being over a month ago I had time to let that sit and multiply in its appeal until the three muskateers really considered it and after spending a few days in Copan Ruinas a town 10km from the Honduran/Guatemalan border. Where we were kind of stuck because of a friend, Aurelia who doesn't have a real bank in Switzerland and therefore had no way of getting in contact to find out why her card wasn't working and she also didn't want to spend the three dollars a minute to call the information line. Seeing the ruins of Copan was awesome although i was not feeling up to par and we went to the most amazing hot springs, Las Juagares Aqua Thermales, for Jamie's 24th Birthday. It was beautiful and remote and had a mystical quality where we thought we were transported to another time and place. Then we just were chillin' and waiting making a joke of the whole experience and always talking about how we can't wait to come back to Copan after we travel a bit more, but then we finally left.

Next off was Tela, a carribean beach town with lots of Negrofinos and my first sight of the other side of the ocean world, one in which I had never seen with my own eyes. It didn't look that different from the Pacific Ocean, but I was just glad to be by the ocean again and the entire time we were travelling from Antigua onward I was back in the world of Harry Potter and loving Hogwarts School and all the magic, mystery, and mayhem that goes with it. We loved the ocean and the day we arrived and crossed the down town street Renato's Circus went through the town. A caravan of 6 tigers, camels, llamas, zebras, clowns, elephants, horses, and acrobats paraded as if we were back in the day when our parents and grandparents got to witness this sort of wonder. We felt blessed and thrilled cause we were going to go to a circus, which we did and it was amazing and really upsetting. I say this mainly because of the animals that were in captivity and watching their wild spirits being trained and tamed was not cool and I wanted to leave at times. We stayed and watched it bringing along a young boy cause we had two for one tickets and he loved it and was clapping along with us the entire time. Besides the circus Tela was beach, food, beer and ice cream time and we enjoyed ourselves and felt great about the whole experience.

Next off was Utila, a early morning bus ride to a packed taxi with a sweet Chilean couple, to the Utila Princess fairy and by the afternoon we had arrived on the small charming island. Shauna was feeling sea sick and I was feeling excited, while Jamie was chillin' and down to go hunt us a diving school with Alton's and Utila Dive Center as the most highly recommended and the biggest and most established as well. So after an hour and a half of wandering and listening to the same shpeals we decided to go with Alton's along with a new friend Lucia from Los Angeles, originally from Beunos Aires. I had a wonderful cool dude like instructor, Art from Prescott, Arizona and I knew right away that I was gonna love scuba diving.

There is nothing I can think of to describe what it is like to float underwater, breathing borrowed air from a tank and learning how to establish your buoyancy is like flying through space except their is life. Soo much beauty of existence, for with out the ocean and it's complex web of life we humans would not exist. I feel that I have never fully appreciated the ocean even with living by the sea my entire small in the scheme of things 26 years of life. Now I love mama Ocean and riding on her in the boat on our way to the dive site or even just sitting on the dock and watching the sunset or sunrise or the calmness of the bay or the moonlight shining over the tranquil windy song sea. In a period of 10 days I went to never doing more than snorkeling and a few years in the pacific from being a kid and playing as well as a teenage boy who loved to go Kneeboarding with my friends. Now I am PADI Open Water Diver Certified along with my PADI Nitrox Cert. and NAUI Advanced Water Diver Certification. I am hungry for more and could see myself staying out here and learning Diver Rescue and then going for my Dive Master title so that I could teach people and get jobs in all the tropical places around the world as a diving teacher and having the ability to go diving nearly anywhere around the world. Luckily the universe was not giving me the all signs point to go for it and after my high of scuba has worn off a bit I have decided at this time to continue on with my journey with my friends and that i can always become a dive master some other time and that the money spent on travelling will be just as amazing as learning even more about the skills and adventures of underwater flight!!!

It has truly been a blessing for me to be on this life dream journey, living out my fantasy childhood legend of Indiana Jones exploring ancient civilizations while mixed in with the present modern day civilization all the while seeking the balance while riding the metaphysical magic carpet ride known as the life of El Boogie. This I have decided is my first chosen nickname, well at least in this incarnation instead of L-boogie it is El Boogie, which translates to The Boogie cause I love to get down and funky and rock the turntables occasionaly or at least beat box it up. With the blessings, prayers, and support of my family and friends I continue forward to the next great adventure full of the unknown and unplanned. We leave in two days to go White Water River Rafting, which I have never done as well and then off to Lago Viajo (sp) a lake that we can not swim in but apparently it is very beautiful and has some bomb fish. Then possibly the capital for a minute and may be my friends village from Santa Cruz that is small and beautiful. After that we are off to the untold beauty of Nicaragua and a bit cheaper as well I hear. Alright I know this is not a lot for a 3 week hiatus from writing, but I gotta go the ocean calls. Love ya all, mean it!!! Blessings to all of you and dream big and remember DO or DIVE.

THOUGHTS, REFLECTIONS, & FUTURE VISIONS

So we keep on trucking, a few more days with the couple crew before they go off on their farewell for now journey to Chichi tambien, then they splitsville in Antigua after Shauna gets some vaccinations so we can enter the south of the central, yo necessito tambien, pero possible en Honduras. Then we say sianara to Guatemala and head off to Honduras, where the Bay Islands call beckon us to go dive in her beautiful mama sea reefs for a certification or two of diving finesse. Exciting and scary for both Mega Shauna Bana and I, but a triumph when we complete our mission in the sea along with our new old partner friend from the Cruz, Jamie Marcus, a divine sister from another mister. Do some cloud forest hiking from the recommendation of Teacher Elliott Kuhn a most wonderful brother from anotha motha and check out Copan and many other wonders yet unwritten and untold.

The four new brothers on our travels as silly and stylish as we are got some awesome braggadocious chichi pants that ripped the first time I really wore them but this super sweet sista mayan lady here fixed them for me as well as some ripped jeans, everything seems to be ripping physically, metaphorically, emotionally where I then have to sew them back together or with the help of somoene else. As a whole though this has been a flight of freedom, with storms, lightning, thunder, beautiful rainbows, moonlight dances, treacherous hike muscle aches, stomach bandit castaways, beautiful high heat near passing out epiphanies where suddenly understanding Ki'iche in may haze connection with this world, seeing the flower of life behind eye lid flashes, feeling magic magnetism with international wanderers as we smile, beat box, freestyle, hookah, mango blunt the night away, chameleon clothing costume performer with my wardrobe in one moment consistenting solely of Guate made and colored garb, while the next I am back as a hard to miss american korean gringo who forgets that those with these slant eyed faces although similar to their mayan brothers and sisters don´t come along nearly as much as their white fair skinned family counterparts.

Although my dreams have been lacking or at least my memory retrieval system seems to be on the fritzzzz. Late night snacks, antiobiotic invasion body snatchers, and weird sleep patterns have been running amock in mi vida, but tonight will be a resurgence of dream time adventure. Tomorrow Nick and Shauna go to Chichicastenango for Central America´s Largest Open Market on Thursday´s and Sunday´s while I continue to study spanish, rest, and enjoy the enchanting sweet stirrings of this ancient meteorite lake that descends a 1000ft to underwater spring vents for more exploration. May be head to Santiago Atitlan for a visit to the villagers and these places spoken of by Maestro Michael Prechtl, but who knows what is left of this written wonder way of life that seemed to exist 30 years ago. I hear now it is influenced by the tourism virus of this sacred land, the center of the world, the center of the god´s home. Possibly learning how to ride a motorcycle to rent one for the day and see the entire volcanic village circuit, paying tribute along the way to the earth, wind, water, clouds, jaguars, fish, birds, bugs, and corn grind stones.

The poverty at times is utterly heartbreaking, but a sense of diligence and happiness is witnessed by these humbled eyes and they seem to be more content or more celebratory and good humored about existence then most people that I know back in the states. Being away from it for only a few weeks has effected me in the way of remembering that I don´t need very much to make myself content and fulfilled even though I am carrying a mini accrued library with me, but I am working on it, the letting go and giving away when the spirit speaks to me. I had my ipod stolen on a chicken bus from Antigua to Chichicastenango when I had been keeping it in my side bags´s front pocket, which obviously is not the best place for it. Then the bus broke down and after letting it go and accepting my karmic retribution of not keeping better security of my things especially in open places like markets, buses, cafes. So with the insistence of my friends I looked one more time and in the front seat near the bus driver´s seat was a small back pack with hardly anything in it that I passed up before so I looked and in it was right there along with someone´s ISIC (international student identification) card so although no one claimed it was there bag I learned an important lesson and have since then carried it on my front pocket.

I am super thankful for this journey and the priveledge to make the choice and take the financial responsibility of doing this on my own, although I am with friends along the way I believe it to be good that my intention to be alone and work on my warrior spirit so that I can trust the strength that resides in my heart vessel drum. I will be by the lake for the next week or so, may be a trip to Chocomil, which supposedly voted the most beautiful national park in all of Central America, with a return visit to cobblestone volcanoe kiss lined Antigua to get some necessary vaccinations for the other countries ahead and then off to Honduras with Shauna, our friend Jamie from Santa Cruz as well and then the hunt for a certification of Open water Diver.

I have been sick too along the way for short bursts, but I got an amoeba infection and an intestinal infection, some unwelcome hitch hikers who wanted a free ride, but with the help of modern medicine that I begrudgingly took I am okay and today is my last day of medicine consumption, woo hoo. Nick´s birthday is tomorrow and he is turning 24, exciting with the marking of one week left with him before he returns to the states and then it is just Shauna and I unless we make some new travelling friend along the way besies of course Jamie in a few weeks or less.

Anyways prayers that all your journeys are awesome, beautiful and full of the greatness that I know resides in your spirit home. Thank you all for gracing me with your life, your friendship, being family, mucho mucho love, and sweet smile hug warmth. Keep sparkle shine searching...

Un besos,
Loren Mueller

Xela, the hike, Lago, PATIENCE

XELA (More to come)

We found a pretty cool language school after searching for a few hours and going through about 5 or 6 with most being blahzey, whatever. We finally ended up at Escuela Espanol de Juan Sisay, a language school cooperative that also did social justice community work and were placed into our host families, mine being perfect for me and exactly what I needed, which was a family, with a little miniature poodle and a mom that reminded me much of mine own except more outwardly friendly and hospitable, obviously a socially cultural difference. Making new freinds from Denmark, two guys and three girls (Casper, ?, Mari, Katarina, and Anna). Anna had an impact on me immediately and in her eyes I was drawn in like a bee to an amazing flower filled with delicious nectar and potent pollen. My spanish at this point was full of wrong rules and bad grammar, with only about a handful of verbs remembered accurately enough for me to confidently use them at least on a somewhat regular basis. It was perfect for me to get reacquainted with the second spoken language in the USA, but now I realize that this is one big america just different countries, cultures, and colors.

I was enjoying the challenge of studying espanol for a week and hanging with my new danish friends, my brotherhood laughing clan from France/Israel. Relearning the basics, feeling like I had a family again, a home even if I was only a guest for it was the first time since i left mi casa in Santa Barbara that I unpacked all my stuff and put it away or at least out to breathe the fresh polluted air of this beautiful cobblestone city.

Suddenly Shauna and Nick came sick too to Xela and they spoke of leaving soon to go travelling, specifically backpacking from Xela to Guatemala, a 3 hour bus ride. We walked over 60 kilometers and took two days instead of the three prescribed by the tour flyer and what most do, we were in fact the 4th or 5th group to complete the journey more quickly out of the 30 groups led by our guide, Carlos. I was hesistant to go on this trip after only week in spanish, but while reading The Alchemist, which speaks of watching and paying attention to the omens from the universe. So I took the finding out that Anna had a boyfriend, the decision of my friends to stay another day after I told Shauna and Nick to go with out me. When Anna and I arrived to a Jazz bar called Ohala they left me a message since they returned home and said that they wanted me to go with them and that they were going to go on Saturday and that was that and I knew my path was to leave and go on a jounrey across the mountains. So with an explosion of drunken sweet romance and possibility in my hand with a confused questioning young goddess and my desire to learn more spanish, but feeling the ancyness that comes every week or so for me when I haven´t left the town that I was in at the beginning of the week, I knew to go at least it felt right at the time.

I was feeling funkalicious and was at the point that I felt like seeking help outside of my GSE magic medicine that I apparently wasn´t taking enough of and also not spending the time to replace the bacteria that i kicked out of my stomach. Seeing a homeopathic doctor and being prescribed chemical antibiotics seemed pretty ironic and it effected my ability to recieve information and be present on top of my time adjusting to a new place. Needless to say it was good to put a concerted effort in the glory and struggle of learning, especially something as complex and integrative as a new language no matter how familiar and how much I have been hearing it for the past 6 weeks. Finished the Alchemist and remembering the importance of listening to our hearts and trusting their power especially to speak to us and be our friend and that which looks out for us even if we are not conscious of it. Seeing the beauty and the everywhere presence of the language of the soul of the world, it really is all around and is always speaking. Combined with reading Secrets of the talking Jaguar, which i started reading Atitlan the night I arrived here in San Pedro. How much overlapping beauty it speaks of the poetic ability of the Tzu´jil people to speak their sacred secret coded language and the more high you reach in the community the more complexity and regalness of language you gain.

FROM XELA TO THE FABLED LAGO DE ATITLAN, NOW THIS IS PARADISE

The jounrey was ohh soo intense, slightly insane and although I said good bye to every one except my housemates who I started my journey with I felt good about the freedom of newness and familiarity wrapped up into a package of lets go hike the mountains of the beautiful sacred mayan highlands. My muscles ached like no other since when I was in Track & Cross Country back in High School, which was a welcome rememberance. It is amazing what the body can handle and what we are capable of especially witnessing little mayan men and women carrying huge loads of wood from the mountains to their high haven villages. They schooled me for sure but then rocked me with their sweet smiles and their willingness to always greet one another, stopping to have a brief conversation with us occassionally. What people, hard working, simple, honoring their cultures, ancestors, and old ways of life with the occasional cell phone breaking the pure silence and wind song. After two intense days we arrived last night and are here now by an ancient beautiful awe inspiring lake and I feel strangely at home in this strange whisper dream land.

Lago Atitlan and ancient asteroid volaconoe 1000ft deep lake that is beautiful, expansive, peaceful, and occupied by the T´zu-jil mayan people. I am reading a book called The Secrets of the Talking Jaguar, written by Martin Prechtl about a man from New Mexico and a member of the Puebla Indians to his journey through mexico and Guatemala until he arrives in Lago Atitlan, in particular the ancient village of Santiago Atitlan. I have mirrored his journey in a lot of ways and I just finished last night, The Alchemist, by Pablo Coelho and am remembering my personal legend, learning to listen and speak the language of the soul of the world. Ohh how to live with out fear in our hearts, what a challenge, but what a triumph to know the power it is capable of and how magic magnets we be housed in these human bodies.

I am in love with this place, as we hiked out of a ghost town mayan village after being essentially in the back country for two days with the occasional mayan puebla it was a shock and our achy muscles and bones yearned to leave and climb the lip of the sacred lake to reach our final glorious destination. As we descended down the rim and caught our first view, I knew that I was where I was supposed to be and all that I had worked for on this journey could not prepare me for this place. I wouldn´t necessarily say that I was home, but that I have arrived to where I was exactly supposed to be, my heart sings with thankfulness and smiles to have the gumption to get here and play in the blue perfection waters. Yesterday, Shauna, Nick (24th Birthday woo hoo it was fun yesterday), and I rented kayak/canoe´s and went across the lake to the pseudo-hippy village of San Marcos known for it´s yoga healing meditation center, para gliding points, and 10 meter rock jumping cliffs. We had a beautiful day and then went to Zoola´s a Hebrew bomb joint where we ate some of the best food I have had yet, albeit middle eastern/european/new age creations. It was soo good and we spent 6 hours there, reading, eating, drinking wine, listening to amazing flute music, relearning playing dominoes, celebrating toasting to Nick and his wonderful life thus far, where I wrote the piece in the entry below, which inspired by life and this place and rememberances of a haven in the storm of tiempo, Time Traveller´s Tavern.

COME 1 & ALL, CENTRO AMERICA CARAVAN

Next stop was Chichicastenango the largest market in Central America where we tried to negotiate bien precio for these rooms with a view of roofs (failed as expected being the manager was an 80yr ladino who seemed unaffected by our presence especially if we took the room or did not. Before all that is this crazy story where we walked to the bus depot where literally a hundred or so buses were taking off, being parallel parked, running for minutes idly spending unnecessary petrol, and overall just resembling a beautiful foreign chaotic symphony with no real problems. After asking 6 or 7 different drivers and their conductors we found the bus for chehuatenango a town about half an hour away where we would transfer for a bus direct to chichi. When we got on our bus it was packed like sardines and the four of barely fit on, but they were sure we could make it so we hopped on while Dimitri and I were essentially hanging outside since the door never seemed to close. It was definetely the most packed I have ever been on a bus and I thought it was thrilling, hilarious, and amazing to be a part of this comical travelling adventure.

Ignorant and asking for it I had been keeping my Ipod in the front pocket of my shoulder bag, which needless to say is not very safe. So being as packed as we were and too comfortable with my sense of security turned my bag to my back and let my self become one with the sardine packaging. A minute or so later I felt someone either looking for something in their pocket or rummaging through my stuff, but it took a few moments to click and by the time I checked a young man was putting away something in his pocket or at least it appeared to be this way. Immediately I looked in my bag and found no Ipod, but panic struck as I announced to the brotherhood as well as the mainly non english speaking Guatemalan Mayans, "Where is my Ipod, who has it?!?" My friends asked if I was sure it was there before, but I had just checked it right before getting on the bus. No one fessed up and the guy I suspected said, "Yo tambien, muchos banditos, mi musica USB tambien. Autobuses es muy peligroso" So with a freaked out rage I accepted the fate and a learned an important lesson, but my friends would not have it. By the grace of the bus music gods the bus immediately fell apart. That is to say that the clutch decided to stop the ability of the bus to shift gears and as the gears kept grinding the driver pulled over for us to all find that the transmission had decided to split up. My friends told me to look one more time and I did, but did not think much would come of this and in a little back pack under the seat of the driver was my ipod and somebodys ISIC student id card. This happened to by right next to the probable thief who was at that moment sitting on the bus drivers seat looking at me with a bit of triste and empathy for my plight. Relieved to find it and thankful for the bus breaking down, we proceeded in a frenzy to get most of our money back minus 5 quetzales each and Jeremy said, "Come on let's go!" and like that jumped on the roof of the bus and started grabbing our stuff while we waved down another bus and left every single person at the bus. We were off again on our journey to another stop that would take us by the slowest shuttle ever experienced directly to Chichicastenango, whewwww! It was hilarious afterwards and we got the hotel mentioned earlier, went walking around and grabbed a bit of pastry pre insanity meandering. The market was mellow and we could feel the looming explosion, but were glad to be there the day before so that we could witness first hand the transformation for Domingo. We went to a super interesting Mayan K'iche Spanish Catholic service that happened to be on the night of communion and was very interesting, but the wooden xylophone band playing the gospels was by far the most entertaining, uplifting, and interesting part of the holy ceremony. We got some amazing street food, sort of like a quesedilla only sealed completely and filled with potatoes, topped with cabbage and salsa picante. Then we drank hot Chocolate con canela, Arroz, y leche. Super delicious and the family of a mother and 3 daughters proved to be very entertaining yet a learning experience nonetheless. I swear the woman of Guatemala all look much older than they really are, for example the oldest daughter whom I thought was in her early 20's was only 17 and since that point I have come to accept that many of the people I see are in fact much younger than they appear to be (sidenote).

Drinking was the next goal, but at a local bar, no turistos, so we asked and made some new friends with some interesting young folks, especially a young man whose family owned a textile company that was doing business with some businessmen from Turkey and the son helping us was dreaming of taking over the family business and expanding it to be more international. The local bar was just that, only locals and besides the two women with a group of about 10 men, it was all hombres and we all had a Gallo (The national beer of Guatemala) in the corner and then ready to return home we ran into the group of young american students outside of a little liquor store that had two overly friendly drunk men as their greeters, stalkers, and harassers. They invited us to their roof top gathering, so we bought more beers and continued to meet and greet more formally this fresh group of fellow travellers. The College Junior gang members are part of this awesome program where they travel around central america for 4 months teaching different communties what they know to contribute to their lives as well as learning from them. They were doing a language program in Xela and told us that it was a great place to learn spanish and that their school was awesome, plus I had a crush on one of the girls and thought that it was a sign for me to go learn spanish there instead of Lago Atitlan or Antigua.

Our only hang up was that our hotel doorman was going home at 10 and since it was already 9:30 and the place was locked from the inside we had to negotiate for a half hour extension, which he so wonderfully agreed to. It was a breath of fresh air for me to be surrounded by americans, young albeit they were friendly and spoke the american dialect of english. But Heylal being the sweet one he was took one for the team and offered to go back and let us in later and Dimitri being the gentelmen that he is went back while Jeremy and I decided to stay behind to see what kind of adventure the night could bring. They returned 15minutes later to tell us that it took them that much time to wake him up since he has passed out before our previously agreed upon curfew. Like that we had to go home, but said we would see each other in the morning and retired. I dimwittingly out of water and it being well past the time any markets or pharmacies would still be open to purchase purified water decided to brush my teeth using sink water and following Heylals lead of using the sink to brush his teeth did the same. This though led to my state of being that followed me into Xela and led me ultimately to seeing the homeopathic doctor that gave me the antibiotics to kill the hitchhikers hiding in my stomach flora.

Market day we went and had breakfast at the market and negotiated a later check out time so we could shop to find all the unnecessary but desired things from this deal of deals always negotiating market of Chichi. I was feeling under the weather but was ready to go out. At the market I got an awesome pair of Guatemalan pants, funky, colorful and super comfortable even though they ripped monday morning, but then I got them fixed and the crazy thing is that the woman who fixed them knew right away that I bought them there because that was the first question she asked me. Now they are awesome and so long as I am more careful there should be no problem. I also got a super cool, but very heavy hammock there and may give it to Nick tomorrow for his birthday since I can always get another one and he has been talking about wanting to get one. At the market when I was just wandering, while my friends (at this point including our three lady england doctor friends from Antigua) were looking for desired souvenirs or clothes. I ran into my friend from Santa Cruz, Jamie Marcus, who is a mutual friend of one of my closest friends Erin Earl (currently in India studying yoga at an Ashram, gone for the next 6 months). The universe is hilarious in how synchronistic it can be so after lots of laughter, embracing, and I can't believe this is happening decided that since we were on similar time tables for wanting to continue south besides the fact that of course we should travel together, we would meet up in a few weeks and go to Honduras, specifically the Bay Islands. The rest of the day went smoothly and I by this point was feeling pretty sick again and when we arrived to Xela I was feeling super sick and my stomach was cramping like someone had beaten up my belly for the night and this was the left overs from my inside well being.

ANTIGUA, MAGMA MARVEL MOON

After two days we were ready and off to the cobblestone volcanoe wonderland of Antigua, famous for it´s beauty, markets, and language schools, but if was the first time in my travels of over a month by that I had seen soo many tourists. It really turned me off from wanting to stay there, but thankfully that is where I met my awesome new companions from Paris, France (Jeremy and Dimitri) two funny, caring young men with Tunisian roots and Jewish connections so I was part of a Jewish sometimes speaking Hebrew Convoy of men with awesome hair, curly/wavy and full of passion and a sense of humor that has been months since i had with others. I literally haven´t laughed that much in a year or so it was unbelievable. I am soo thankful for having great men come into my life that challenge the way I may at times may look at the male bodied race, even though there are of course huge differences especially culturally in the way that we come to be in our young adult lives.

The moment we got off the shuttle and were on the hunt for a hostel to stay in it rained on us for the first time on my entire trip, which was a blessing and a burden cause my companion Heylal was not satisfied with most of the places we saw until we found the Black Cat Hostel. This is where we comedians met and a slew of other interesting characters approached us here kind of like an international alien conference center. That night we settled and searched for good food, which synchronistically enough an Antiguan family highly recommended this little Korean joint, which was two blocks away from where we were staying and it was damn good. I got kind of drunk off of Soju, which is a korean hard alcohol that tastes pretty harsh kind of like vodka , but nonetheless I felt at home and was stoked on eating kimchi jaeyokbokkum (korean spicy pork) as well as being surrounded by korean youngsters probably studying spanish, but speaking Korean. We strolled around and ate some delicious street food that cost a fraction of the price and called it an early night.

The next morning I went hunting for books and hit up the two used bookstores in town, Rainbow Books Cafe and the other El Cofre occupied by a large french man delighted to drink expresso coffee because good coffee is pretty hard to find except in certain places and a french young woman working behind the counter to boot. I found one of my favorite books there, The History of Love for 50 quetzales, which is a deal considering I never really expected to find it in my travels unless it was new and overpriced of course. Besides that I picked up a book called Chariots of the Gods, an interesting anthropo/archaeological questioning research book about the possibility that we are descended from alien astronauts and some predictions of what the future will look like to us human beings with input and work done by leading brilliant inventors, thinkers, philosophers, scientists, and writers. Antigua was a beautiful city full of amazing cobblestone roads and special architecture that sent me back to old spanish colonial times minus the modern cars and strange garb most non indigenous folks were wearing. I would have loved to stay longer, but just wasn´t feeling the spanish language school dominance tourist magnetism.

The next day I had made friends with my dormmates Dimitri and Jeremy so we saw the largest fountain in an old monastery/church that was sort of impressive but algae green and pretty dirty. What do you expect for a 5 quetzal entrance fee? We ate at Rainbow Cafe and just talked about education, our lives, love, and what kind of adventure we had already experienced. It was a great and a breath of fresh air to have new friends and gain some insight to the way americans and their culture are viewed as well as the universality of love and lust. I began to feel stomach sick probably cause my desire to eat vegetables would overtake my sense of stomach safety and although the specal Grapefruit Seed Extract helped at times it ultimately wasn´t enough to keep me from invasion victory. Even though this happened I got an amazing shawl scarf that day from a woman who had ten stacks of 60-80 deep shawls, scarves, and fabrics. She didn´t make all of them, I mean how could anyone possibly produce that much amazing work, it would take an entire lifetime and she was 40 yrs young may be. Although the days were warm the nights were freakin´cold and you defintely were rocking pants and a jacket, with extra layers not being such a bad idea.

The most amazing adventure experience was climbing the active volcano of Pacaya. It was about a two hour journey from our hostel there and then we had to climb for an hour and a half, but with marshmallows, beer, and some snacks we were ready to ascend the fiery peaks. Bombarded by kids that wanted to sell us ¨Good stick, good price, muy necessario, 5 quetzales!!!¨some bought these hand crafted sticks while many of us did not and the one I wanted was taken by a funny Australlian, Nixon. Once we got near the upper peak of Pacaya and came upon the volcanic piqueño rocks, metallic, hole-y, and dark magenta red we began the last grueling ascension. You could see a beautiful river of orange lava slowly making it´s way down the mountain from the top crater opening, slow, unforgiving, beautiful, and freaking hot! Even standing 20 feet from the magma you could feel the heat and with every few inches you could feel the intensity magnify to the point where if you were close enough after a second or two it felt like your body, face, or hands were on fire. Whewwww. What a sight to behold the living blood of the earth, her mouth breathing out smoke and reminding all of us that this sacred sphere of water and land is ohh so alive and has a pulsing heart beat of pure molten magnetic iron. I was speechless and breathless, but soo grateful for the opportunity to see this sight and with cloud ceiling dancers and an eventual sunset it was one of my most beautiful moments thus far. A beer, pineapple, some chips, and some chocolate aren´t bad to have up there as well. We feasted, rested, took pictures and did the childish fascintions with seeing what and how things would burn melt as well as how close you could get with out melting yourself. Our guide Juan Carlos was super sweet and would give breaks for our ragtag group of volcano thrill seekers, but once we were at the volcanoe he became a protective parent and didn´t want us to go to high especially since mini erruptions were known to happen and one should never really trust an active volcano. We were the first group to head back since the cloud cover blocked any real sunset and as the children reclaimed the sticks left and not burned in the furnace of mama Pacaya we headed back.

On the ride back I next to three newly fresh Manchester England Woman Doctors, some of the sweetest people I have met on my journey. We talked about our love of tomatoes once they knew about my job at Happy Boy and the amazing to die for Heirloom Tomatoes that are grown there. My stomach began to cramp, churn, and kick me from the inside out and I was feeling under the weather with a quickness. I started to have a fever the moment we arrived and proceeded to opt out of any evening festivities to try and sleep off whatever war was happening in my internal country landscape. I wanted to throw up diarrhea at the same time, but my mind was just not having it (thankfully) so I with the chill fever familiarity that one recognizes when they have the onset of a stomach flu, I passed out. I broke the sweat thankfully in the middle of the night and slept until morning with the next day feeling like a new lease on life and this was also Saturday where the boys and I were to go to Chichicastenango to see the city before the market craziness ensued the next day. The adventure there was unbelievable and is another story in itself so I will have to save it for next time for it has been too long on la computadora.