Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

April 15, Bula! (The Fijian greeting - everyone is so warm and friendly here, and they live on "Fiji Time") Fiji has been absolutely wonderful. We've never seen any place so green with tropical jungles. The whole island is unspoiled lush land spotted with small villages. It has been so hot and humid that we are actually used to being sweaty sticky all the time. The locals are all very friendly, and it's pretty easy to get around (once you get the hang of it and are not lame tourists like we started out). So far we've stayed on the Coral Coast at the Beachhouse, in Levuka on the island of Ovalau, and now we.re back on the Coral Coast just outside of Sigatoka. We have seen incredible tidepools, canoed, swam in waterfall pools, hiked through the jungle, eaten coconut and papaya right off the tree, had a Fijian lunch in the home of a village family in Lovoni, and had a traditional kava ceremony (tastes yuk but is relaxing). It's pretty cheap here,too. So far we seem to be sticking to our budget, still hoping the money lasts all year. Hotel is from 10 to 20 dollars for both of us, and food is from 25 cents to 4 dollars a meal. Using the internet seems to be a bit expensive at 1.5 dollars for 10 minutes which can add up when on a backpacker's budget. The backpacker hotels have all been different and each has its own character. We're meeting a lot of other travelers (surprisingly few Americans), cooking our own food, and doing laundry by hand. The Fiji history is fascinating. The entire place was once a huge volcano that has since sunk and is now traced out by the tiny islands and large underwater coral reefs. Once known as the cannibal isles, the people are actually very friendly and would only eat those they defeated in war or shipwrecked men whom they thought were cursed by the gods. So far we're healthy and incredibly happy with no major mishaps other than Leslie leaving her towel at our first hotel. Oh, and we missed our flight to Aukland by a whole day. We're truly on Fiji Time. (more misc Fiji notes)

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

April 16, Culture shock going from primitive Fiji to the city of Aukland. Everywhere seems to be very backpacker friendly, including free tea and coffee and phone calls at the airport. Also definitely the adrenaline capital of the world. Tons of extreme sports - if you can call being bounced down a hill in a giant hamster ball a sport!

May 6, New Zealand has been so much fun! We traveled around in the van we bought and had a cozy time of it. We thought Steve's apartment was small for us to live in! Somehow we have managed to survive without killing each other. It is now a few days away from our flight so we are in Christchurch trying to sell the van. It is fall here, so it's getting cold. We got some rain, and have had very chilly nights. WE met some nice people along the way that we traveled with in the north island. The south island is beautiful. Everywhere we've driven in NZ there has been beautiful scenery, nice people, and sheep. We did some caving in Waitomo to see the glow worms. They decked us out in full wet suites for our hike/inner tube/swim through the underground caves with little blue start all over the ceiling (glow worms). We did a ropes course in Taupo where we had to climb a 45 foot telephone pole, stand on the top of it, and leap for a trapeze (we had a harness on, but it hardly made it less scary). Leslie went skydiving in Taupo and had an absolute blast! Falling out of the sky is highly recommended. Steve has done it before so he went swimming with the dolphins instead. Tons of dolphins and he got to pay with them. We even saw wild penguins and naturally spherical boulders. Then we both did Nevis - the highest bungy in NZ! Holy shit. It is 134 meters high. WE had to take a cable car out to the pod and jumped off the platform into the canyon. Wow! Then Steve went for a second jump off a bridge, did a fabulous back dive, and got dunked in the river below. We love it here, but now it's almost time to go. (more misc New Zealand notes)

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

May 21, Okay, this place is huge. Australia is as large as the US (48 states) and has only 50 percent more people than Los Angeles, so there are vast amounts of beautiful land with no people. Quite diverse too - from rainforests to desert outback; big cities to earth loving communes; and some of the most unique animal species in the world. It's been another whole new experience here in Australia. After spending some time in Melbourne where we met up with Alicia (whom we met in Amsterdam last December) and went to our first Aussie rules football game, we decided that we would hitchhike. Not just to save money, but to meet interesting people. And we have. 5 rides so far, one of which was 3 days! Traveling with Marlon we saw a lot of really cool stuff and had a great time. Spent one night in a town with population of 36 where we played darts and partied in the pub with most of the town. The local blokes were kind enough to buy drinks for the poor yank backpackers. Then we saw kangaroos and emus in the wild! Marlon took us to some beautiful spots with deserted beaches and rainforests, and even had us stay at the camp he was going to for a couple of nights. We were spoiled with 3 cooked meals a day and Tim Tam Slams (local cookie tradition). We painted a jetty rock in Nambucca where colorful lorikeets were everywhere, then went to Byron Bay where there are beaches with clear warm water, hippies, dolphins, and more rainforests. Now in Nimbin which is straight out of the 60's. Rainbows, hippies, cannibis, and alternative living (communes living off the land). We worked a few days at the permaculture center by planting onion, beet root, and celery seedlings in exchange for some food. (As we learned, Permaculture means design concepts for the creation and maintenance of human settlements which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.) (Steve's factoid)

May 30, Decided hitching was taking too long, so tomorrow we are renting a car for 3 days. Thanks Mom for faxing our drivers licenses - saved our butts! Our last day in Nimbin was Reconciliation Day in Australia to reccognize all the injustices done to the Aboroginies (like Americans did to the Indians). We had our face painted with the symbol of Mother Earth by an Aboriginal guy and we joined the march through town. Some Leslie travel notes - I love the lingo here, hate how ugly my feet have gotten, and would like some cuter clothes. Also, for anyone who was wondering how long it would take for us to want to kill each other, I would put the date at May 22. Things are back to normal now. :) (more misc Australia notes)

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

June 10, It is so great here in Bali, and cheap! We are so spoiled with dinner in restaurants, breakfast brought to us at our hotel (that has a private bath), and a fully body massage for four dollars! We hardly feel like backpackers. Leslie is about to go on a shopping frenzy with all the cool statues and things to buy. Spent two nights in Kuta and are now in Ubud. Already almost got lost in the rice paddies and we had to follow a local guy out after dark!

July 2, We both loved Indonesia. We did a lot in our 24 days, so this might be pretty long. Rice paddies, active volcanoes, and a perfect island paradise. Did tons of shopping in Ubud, Bali where they had lots of great wood carvings and other art, and also took a meditation class. There are temples everywhere and offerings are made twice a day and are hard not to step on. The women all work very hard and carry heavy things on their heads while the men play cards. We saw some traditional dances, and fed the monkeys in the monkey forest. The food is good and easy to get vegetarian. We are now addicted to banana pancakes and Fanta orange. Steve has taken on true Indonesia style and now wears a sarong. After Bali we went to Java to Borobodour (world's largest Buddhist temple). The cities are crowded and full of pollution! We had certainly left the world of the flush toilet. They are either squat or sit, and flush with a ladel of water poured in. No toilet paper, and you can only guess what the locals use instead! We bring in our own. The smaller busses are full sized vans and we have been on one with 25 people on it! They are literally hanging out the doors and even one guy no the roof! Also went to a zoo on Java and as the only white people there, we were also one of the attractions. Then back to Lovina, Bali - a lovely quiet beach town. Hung out w/ a local guy named Boby the whole time - went dancing, made a bonfire on the beach, and did the best snorkeling ever! Then on to Gili Meno off of Lombok which is truly a spec of paradise. Met some great friends (Katerine and Jake) who we hung out with the whole time and stayed in a 3 dollar bungalow near the beach. Not many tourists and the locals are so friendly! We ate w/ one family and the guys from the hotel had a little birthday party for me with a cake and everything! I don't know how anyone was able to make a cake since they seem to live in little shacks, but it was great. The electricity generators shut off at night and you have to use a lantern. We LOVED it!! Now we're in Malaysia and it is way more citified and a little more expensive than Indonesia. We managed about 35 dollars a day for the two of us in Indonesia! (more misc Indonesia notes)

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

July 11, We're enjoying Malaysia more now that we are on Borneo instead of the peninsula. Malaysia is much more advanced than Indonesia and not as friendly. One cool thing on the peninsula was the oldest forest in the world where we saw giant monitor lizards and leaches (on our ankles!). Saw wild orangutans the other day and they bit the leg of one of the other tourists! We'll never make it as journalists - we did not get a photo. No injuries, though. We have also had to keep our drug trafficing to a minimum (just a joke in case any govt officials are reading this!) since it holds a mandatory death sentence in Malaysia.

Aug 2, The jungles here are amazing. We've seen a lot of the national parks which have great hikes, huge caves, lots of monkeys & butterflies, and bizarre bugs! We also stayed in an Iban longhouse, and visited a couple of other longhouses. One of them still had skulls hanging from the headhunting days! We have met some really nice people and have become somewhat fond of the locally distilled rice wine - Tuak. We have seen a lot of logging here which is depressing, but you can't really blame the Malaysians when it's the other countries buying all the wood from them. We also celebrated Steve's bday in Mulu National Park with about a million bats.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list (s) of pics.

August 22, We love Thailand. The Thais sure know how to have fun! Briefly, here's what we've done so far...First we spent a week on an almost deserted beautiful tropical island. We were the only tourists there for the first 2 days, then about 10 more people arrived to share the island with us. Great snorkeling, and we swam through a cave to a hidden beach! Then stayed in a floating hotel room on the River Khwae. Saw the bridge, saw the movie, and learned a lot about the POWs from WW2 and what they went through. Also did an elephant ride through the forest and saw some beautiful waterfalls and caves. This is a really fun place! They have floating restaurants and discos that cruise up and down the river with really bad karaoke blasting away everyone along the river. Now we are in Bangkok livin' it up. We are spoiling oursleves here for not a lot of money.

Sept 9, We decided against Laos at the last minute after reading the travel adviosories stating that a group is rumored to be targeting tourists right in the area we were going to visit in the south, and that visiting Laos in general might put your life at risk. So we are happily in Northern Thailand and are going on a 3 day hill tribe trek tomorrow.

Sept 15, The hill tribe trek was incredible! We had a really fun group, the hike was beautiful, and visiting the tribes was like being in a museum display. The Akha tribe women wear headdresses with large silver beads and a silver board on the back of their head. They never take them off even to was their hair, and as part of their wedding ceremony the women have animal dung put on their head to symbolize how miserable their life will be from then on. We also got a great massage from the women for only $1.25. The next day we hiked and rode elephants for an hour or two to the Dara Ang village where we spent that night - we even got to sit on the elephant's head and drive. We happened to be there on the night of a once yearly celebration where they stay up all night dancing, singing about when they came over from Burma 18 years ago, and playing music. They welcomed us to be a part of it and we had a wonderful time. Then the next day after more hiking, we took a bamboo raft down the river and then back to Chang Mai. We all went out to dinner that night after throughly enjoying a hot shower. Next day we pampered ourselves with a massage from the blind masseurs and a manicure and pedicure for Leslie. We also went to one of the local Wats (temples) and chatted with a monk for a couple of hours. Today Steve is taking a Thai cooking course. Yum!

Sept 30, We finished our massage course in Chang Mai and returned to Bangkok to pick up Taylor (Steve's daughter) at the airport! We had a fun week with her and were sad when it was time for her to return to California with her mom and stepdad. She was a great little traveller and had no problem being in a very different country. First we went to the Bangkok zoo where they let you get really close to the animals. Then we went to Kanchanaburi where we rode and elephant in the river and played with the baby elephants. Also went to the waterfall and buddha cave. Then took a taxi, bus, train, and boat to get to Koh Tao for some beach time. The water was great and it was the first time Taylor liked going in the ocean. I don't blame her, the oceans in California leave a lot to be desired. Then back to Bangkok where she flew back to the US and we flew to Nepal.

Some pics from the digital camera!

Sept 2, A very interesting time. We liked Cambodia so much our first few days, and left hating everything about it and wanting to get out as fast as we could. It is a very beautiful country with wonderful small villages with water buffalo, cows, pigs, dogs, half naked little kids running about, etc. The roads are almost all dirt and full of potholes which makes every trip an adventure. We saw the temples at Angkor Wat which were truly amazing. So many people speak English there, too, and US dollars are the preferred currency which makes the prices higher than they should be. Some of the little kids we talked to spoke many different languages! Then on to Phnom Penh. There's a bar there called Heart of Darkness which sums up the country pretty well. We saw the prison and killing field where many of the 2 million people murdered by the Khmer Rouge were held, tortured, and then burried. It was so sad. We mentioned to a guy at the tourist office how nice the poeple seemed in Siem Reap, and he said they may seem nice, but they would kill their brother. There is so much corruption, scams, etc. there we weren't sure we would even make it out of the country.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

October 2, Nepal so far has a great feel to it and the weather is really nice. Can't wait to get out and about and see more of the country. Everyone here is super nice and they speak a lot of English which makes it easy.

Oct 28, Nepal (Never Ending Peace And Love) is the first country we've been to that does not have a McDonalds! The culture is the nicest and most interesting so far. We have had a blast and Shadan came to visit us which was wonderful! We made the mistake of going on a couple of package tours which we knew better than do a package, but were lazy. The trekking package was good, but other than that we just ended up spending more money than we should have, and did not get to do exactly what we wanted.

Here's a quick recap of what we've been up to. First we went to Royal Bardia Natl' Park in West Nepal where we went on awesome jungle treks. With our guides we tracked wild tigers, rhinos, and elephants. Didn't see any, but saw tons of footprints and other signs that they had been there recently. Really exhilirating! Also visited the local Tharu village during the country's biggest festival. They let us have some of their food and moonshine and we watched their traditional dance, etc. Then went to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Then up into the mountains to Tansen, a beautiful little town with cobbled streets. Checked email from there (barely) and found out that our friend Shadan was landing in Kathmandu that morning! We immediately hopped on a bus to a major town of Pokhara where he could meet us and since it was festival time, the bus was so crowded that we had to ride on top in the luggage rack with about 40 other people and two goats (who were on death row due to the festival :-(. A little squished and very dusty, but the view was fantastic and it was probably a bit more comfortable than being crammed inside. Drove along the river, through valleys, and had views of green mountains while on a small bumpy dirt road on the side of a cliff.

Met up with Shadan in Pokhara and went on a bitchin' 6 day trek with our guide Tek and porter Em. The path is well established in parts and is also used by locals to carry very heavy loads (of I don't know what) on their backs with straps on their foreheads. We also had to make way for heards of big horned sheep and trains of donkeys with big bells on them. Hiking for 6 hours every day was tiring, and we weren't even carrying a large pack. Again, totally beautiful. Great views, small villages, etc. Then the guys went rafting which was fun, but not as good as expected, and Leslie went to Royal Chitwan Park, also not as good as expected but she saw a wild Rhino. Then back to Kathmandu for a morning mountain plane ride (courtesy of Shadan - thanks again!) by Mt. Everest. The mountain range is so enormous, it's just breathtaking. We have seen the highest point on the earth!

Sad to see Shadan leave, so we tried to cheer ourselves up by renting a motorcycle for 5 days and driving to the Tibetan border. Stayed in some small towns along the way, and even showered with the locals in Tatopani where the hot spring is the only shower in town. Really cool cycling through god's country, braking for cows, goats, chickens, or whatever else happens to be in the road. Now we're back in Kathmandu again and it's time for another festival. There are candles lit all over the streets at night, and people dancing, singing, and keeping us awake by lighting firecrackers. We partook in the dancing on the street last night and look forward to more festival tonight.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

Nov 23, We were in 4 countries in 24 hours and a quick stop in Zanzibar in order to get to Tanzania, but we made it. Much more modern than the Asian countries, and much more expensive. The only real noteworthy thing we did with our week there was go on an awesome two day safari near the Serengeti. We went to Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarengeri Natl Park which were both beautiful. We saw (up close) tons of animals including zebra, giraffe, leopard, elephant, lions!, baboons, waterbuck, hyena, hippo, etc. etc. It's amazing how close you can get to the animals (in a truck) without them being afraid. What a great experience!

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

Nov 23, We didn't even know it was Thanksgiving today until just now. Whoops! We've been enjoying Zimbabwe much more than Tanzania. Greener and more laid back aiside from the farms being taken over and other political problems. We've been saving money here by not doing too many touristy things. We went to a lion park where we stayed in a big tent and got to play with big lions and feed the little cubs. Wow! Then we stayed with a rural family for 4 days and got to experience true African culture. We cooked over a fire they built in the middle of the kitchen floor and visited the local school. Now we're taking the night train to Victoria Falls to take in the sights like a true tourist.

Dec 3, Victoria Falls was a horribly touristy overpriced town with lots of people trying to take money fom you, but the falls themselves were breathtaking. Tons of water, tropical birds, rainforest, rainbows, etc. Then we walked along a path where we saw elephants, mongooses, and an hippo. Took the local cargo ferry up Lake Kariba for 3 days where we had to sleep on the hard benches on deck and eat cold spaghetti out of a can. Stopped at local fishing villages, saw wild elephants and hippos, and had to watch out for lions and crocodiles while on shore. We were walking to a restaraunt at night in the dark and heard rustling in the bushes. A truck came by and gave us a lift and their headlights revealed 2 HUGE hippos with a baby right on the side of the road! Lucky for us that the truck came because hippos kill more humans than any other animal in Africa. We arrived back in Harare at our fav backpacker's lodge just in time for the owner's engagement party, so today we recover and relax.

Lot's of interesting info on the farm situation. The owner's dad had squatters on his farm but says they are reasonably friendly and they chat it up occasionally. Not quite as violent as the news makes it out to be, but surely a lot of political problems here.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

Dec 21, We really liked Egypt a lot. Finally some nice people that weren't trying to scam us at every turn. It had its share of those too, but not everyone. We landed in Luxor unexpectedly due to bad weather in Cairo, and Egypt Air (the most incompetent airline in the world) finally let us stay there after waiting for 8 hours in the airport. Saw some tombs with some great colorful hyroglyphics and paintings, and then went to Aswan for a Nile cruise on a small sailboat called a Felucca. Really great time. It's not quite all sand dunes like we pictured, but there are a lot of rocky dunes, guys in long pyjamma shirts, and people riding donkeys in the city. Went to Dahab on the Red Sea and braved the cold water our final day there to do some snorkelling. Amazing huge fish and colorful coral. A touristy, but good chill out place. Then to dirty Cairo. Garbage everywhere and tons of pollution. Yuk. Stayed there just long enough to go to the Museum where we saw lots of artifacts, King Tuts treasures, etc. and learned absolutely nothing since there are no explantions on anything, and to the pyramids. We rode camels and spent the entire day checking out the pyramids and sphynx. Really amazing, and also no explanations about anything. Then we snuck into the adjoining graveyard at night to watch the sound and light show. Good way to finish Egypt.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

Dec 21, Brrrr is it cold here! We are all of a sudden dropped into a civilized modern culture where bus prices are fixed, and people wear stylish clothes. I think Steve is happy to see all the girls in tight pants instead of big sheets and scarves. We're in a nice quarter in Athens with cobbled streets and the Acropolis near by. We saw so many ancient things in Egypt that we're taking a small break before setting out to see some of the sites here.

Jan 8, We finally saw some of the ancients sites. Nice, but still cold. We have had some great Greek food and some great sweets! Spent a lot of time at the internet cafe in Athens and the guy who works there is now Steve's buddy. Sometimes a little trying when we want to get something done quickly without having to socialize. We decided to motivate and see a little more of Greece, so we took a ferry to the island of Lesvos (sometimes spelled Lesbos). We boarded the crusie ship-sized boat and because of bad weather we spent two nights on the boat without ever leaving port! After spending the first night on the floor, we were able to snag a sofa which became our home for a while. Then the island was nice and quaint, but not much to do during the off season. Nice hotel, little bands going up the cobbled streets playing local music, and temporary pets for the day (strays). We were there for New Year's which was totally rained out, so no fireworks or anything. But still fun. Heck, rain or no rain, we're on a Greek island! :) Back to Athens to our freezing hotel that we like with nice staff, and now trying to decide the best way to get somewhere warmer.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

Feb 8, Costa Rica is so incredibly beautiful. Leslie�s Mom and stepdad came to visit and we all hung out on the beach for a week and had a great time. Then Steve ran with the bulls in a bull ring and took surfing lessons. Both were succesfull. Then off to the rain forest. We went to MonteVerde intending to stay for a few days and ended up staying a week and a half. The cloud forest is so lush, the wildlife is great (we love the leaf cutter ants), and there is so much to do here. What a wonderful country. The whole country is preserved. You can�t even cut down a tree on your own property without getting permission from the govt. Then we went to Volcan Arenal and actually saw red lava rocks rolling down the face of the volcano! Also went to a beautiful waterfall but those colorful little frogs are still eluding us. Now we�re off to Nicaragua for some Spanish lessons (hopefully) and some more adventures. Leslie�s high school spanish has been getting us by barely, and Steve is already learning how to habla espanol like a local. It�s very civilized here, so we�re almost looking forward to more of a third world country.

Some pics from the digital camera or view the entire list of pics.

Mar 10, Just finished with our 3 weeks of spanish language classes in San Juan del Sur on the southern Pacific coast of Nicaragua. I wouldn't say we're literate or anything, but we can get by. We stayed with a really wonderful family in the little town and had a few outings on our weekends off. It was really strange to be stuck to responsibilites during the week! But we managed to find some good studying spots - like Ricardo's bar on the beach. I think we each gained at least 10 pounds with all the fattening food our homestay mom gave us! Our nicknames became gordo and gordita. We spent some time in Granada which was a nice colonial town but tons of insects on the lake, and Leslie had a fun shopping outing in Masaya with Leana (our adopted mom). The island of Omotepe was wonderful, too. It is the worlds largest island in a freshwater lake, and after volcanic activity cut it off from the Pacific, sharks and swordfish adapted to freshwater and now live in the lake. We did a 7 hour hike to see a crater lake on top of the volcano and a few petroglyphs. Ugh. Now we're in Leon where there is cheaper internet, some food besides gallo pinto, and a real movie theater! Lots to catch up on while we're here.

Mar 21, Just spent a quick week in Honduras and went to some beautiful islands off the Carribean coast. Time to catch a bus. Will write more later!

April 4, Finally a cheap place to catch up on internet here in Guatemala. We really like Honduras what we saw of it which was mostly some really small islands (cays) off the Carribean coast. Water like a swimming pool! We stayed in a little stick shack with a sand floor on an island with nothing but about 25 other little stick shacks for the fishing families, and a few palm trees. The gal who cooked for us was really sweet but was 15 years old with a baby and a 23 year old husband! Anyway, after a few days with no fresh water or toilet, we treated ourselves to a couple of nights at the dive resort on one of the bigger islands. Wow - we had food other than beans and rice! What a treat. A great deal for anyone who dives for a nice vacation from the states. We caught a ride on a crappy little fishing boat back to the mainland which broke in the middle of the incoming storm. You should see how they work on the engine! All you really need is a hammer. We finally made it without any waves filling the boat or anyone getting too seasick. Crossed the border along the coast amidst some beautiful scenery, and headed into Guatemala.

April 4, It's almost over. For now. We've decided to return by the end of this month. We also decided to skip Belize since it is a bit expensive, and there is so much cool stuff to see in Guatemala.

Livingston was a nice laid back little town on the coast. Leslie was a bit sick so it was a good place to stay in bed and relax for a while. Spent a little time at the beach and saw some movies at the bar. We love their public laundry facilities! It's like a big pool or gigantic sink where everyone comes and washes things by hand. Then we took a nice boat ride down the Rio Dulce to the town of the same name where we went to the most awesome spot. It is a hot thermal waterfall that spills into a wonderful cool swimming hole with fish and clear water. There are even little caves there, too. Then we went to what felt just like summer camp at Finca Ixobal. They had all sorts of activities including horseback riding, and underground river caving. Boy were we sore! And we had our fist encounter with tics along the hikes there. Sigh. We're still finding them in some really interesting spots! Then on to the Mayan ruins of Tikal in a jungle filled with green parrots, howler monkeys, and many unidentifiable sounds. We loved it. One of the temples there was in one of the Star Wars movies, but I can't remember the scene.

April 9, We've spent way to long in smoggy Guatemala City, but we're here at the right time of year to see some great celebrations! Huelga de los Dolores is a big wild parade put on by the college students protesting just about anything and everything. They all wear what look like colored KKK hoods but it is a very fun day! We were dragged into the festivities many times (our gringo skin made it impossible to hide) to dance with transvestites, jump rope, get painted with lipstick, etc. Then the processions for Semana Santa are really interesting too. They make colorful designs on the street with colored sawdust, then the procession marches right over it. The men carry a Jesus float the size of a semi truck on their shoulders and they strain with every step while the band plays a sort of death march. Now we're on to Antigua and some other cool places.

April 23, The last couple of weeks have been great. A nice way to end this trip. We were lucky to get a hotel up through Thursday night in Antigua for Semana Santa where the processions and alfombras (the �carpets� they make on the street with colored sawdust and flowers) are incredible! A bit touristy, but worth seeing for sure. Leslie got a bit of some horrible intestinal thing. Thank goodness you don�t need a prescription to get antibiotics from the pharmacy, so things are fine now.
Then on to Lake Atitlan for a little locals spring break in Panajachel, then a lot of relaxing in a little village on the lake. Took a boat, 4 buses, and a pick up truck to get to some wonderful hotsprings set at the base of lush green cliffs in the mountains. Well worth the trip!
Took a very fast bus around hairpin turns to get to Chichicastenango where we visited a local place of worship and sacrifices. The shaman was preforming a ceremony for a couple for their harvest and they offered food, candles, and whiskey. Then the shaman did a nice ceremony for Steve and I. We even got showered with flower petals! There was a bit of a language barier so we�re not sure if we�re married, will have good luck, or are going to have a prosperous corn harvest! Sunday was market day, so we shopped a bit then crowded on the same fast bus this time going down the hill very fast around the hairpin turns and we were stuck sitting for 3 hours with one cheek on the seat and one off, trying not to slide into the aisle at every turn. Made it to Guate City and are staying with our friend Thomas and his family until we fly home tomorrow. It�s still impossible to imagine working or having immediate responisiblities again. But we�ve had a taste of it today since Steve is helping Thomas install a certificate on his computer.