acapulco es muy gay

we finally made friends of the same religion. we found a beach full of homos! yippee! our new amigos - eduardo, gargamel, daniel & alfonso - are going to take us dancing at an antro (gay club) in the Pink Zone of Mexico City.

EDIT: more pictures

tres gringas

tres gringas
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

ok. phoenix left us in mazunte and now we are in acapulco, mainly to see the clavadistas (cliff divers) and maybe have a few more days on the beach. lucky us its spring break! we´ve only run into one asshole so far, thank god. our plans have completely changed: we are now heading down into the yucatan before we fly home from cancun. tomorrow or the next day we plan to go to cuernavaca, then to ixtapan de la sal to visit lindsey´s friend pablo. we hope to visit merida, some cenotes, and some more beaches on the yucatan peninsula before we catch our flight on March 15.

a few overdue, and not-very-exciting pictures from antigua and lake atitlán

proof...

phoenix
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

playa mazunte

playa mazunte
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

this is where we´ve been for the past 5 days. it was heaven for a little while. after the hellish boarder crossing and a 12 hour bus ride we found ourselves some cheap cabañas and then went swimming. some of the waves kicked our asses, but a good pummeling was kind of what we needed. we took yet another guided tour and saw sea turtles. i saw the flipper of a whale, but he split before our tour guide could find him. we drank mezcal with scorpions in it and ate super fresh sea food. our last night here we splurged on a fancy cabaña where we got our own bathroom (the shower was actually separate from the toilet), balcony with a view, hammock and a gigantic bed with mosquito net. it was fabulous, considering we spent the next night in a bus station in puerto escondido (bad bus planning on our part). more pictures from mazunte

on to Mexico

sorry for the lack of pictures, we have been on the move and have not had much time to sit down and upload them. we left León on wednesday and went to Lake Atitlán to find Phoenix (a friend from home). we spent only a few days at the lake, checking out San Pedro, San Marcos and Panajachel before we all decided we wanted to go to the beach in Mexico. we left the lake to spend one last night in Xela, where we finally found the gay bar (oh, excuse me, the open-minded bar) and danced with some guatemaltecan gay boys. they were a little reserved at first, but lindsey and phoenix had them bumpin and grindin in no time. we left Xela at 9 this morning and finally crossed the mexican border just before 3 pm, right before it closed. it was a hot, sweaty and confusing day. i don't quite know how to explain what all happened, but it all started with bad information in the lonely planet guidebook about the border crossing at Tecun Uman. The short version: after a long ride in a chicken bus from Xela we got hijacked by kids in pedi-cabs in the town of Tecun Uman, then helped out by a money-changer, walked a mile between the Guatemalen and Mexican immigration offices, got picked up by two nice guys in a semi who put us on the right mini-bus for Tapachula, where we were finally able to buy tickets on a first class bus to take us to the beach. hopefully we will relax then and i will be able to post some pictures and tell today's story more completely. if you want to know the more complete story, leave me a comment by clicking on the Comments link at the bottom of this entry.

regresamos a Guatemala

the bus ride almost destroyed me, or rather, my back. two days on the bus and i couldn´t stand up straight or walk properly by the time we reached Guatemala City. instead of the 3 hour bouncy ride in an old school bus to Panajachel, we took the 1 hour bouncy ride to Antigua. there I immediately got into the first bed we found, sent Lindsey out for pain meds (you can go into any pharmacy and get what you need here) and laid on my back for 24 hours. it sucked. i am feeling better now and we are going to explore Antigua for a few days before going up to the lake. it is lovely here, with cobblestone streets, colorful colonial architecture and volcanoes surrounding the city. pictures coming soon.

adios nica

we leave at 6 am tomorrow for guatemala. we´ll be on the ticabus for 11 hours, then spending the night in San Salvador and ride it for another 6 hours on sunday. we hope to end up on Lake Atitlan in Panajachel, where we will immediately get drunk and pass out for 2 days.

me and tera

me and tera
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

we are back in Managua trying to figure out how to get to Guatemala. our choices are few and unappealing: an 11 hour bus ride to San Salvador, El Salvador, spend the night and 5 hours to Guatemala City; an 8 hour bus ride to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, spend the night and 6 hours to Guatemala City. i just want to go back to the beach and lie in a hammock for about 2 weeks.

león and las peñitas

student martyrs
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

we went to león, a liberal college town where the sandinista revolution is proudly remembered and the FSLN are still supported. murals are everywhere commemorating important events and people. from there we went to the small town of las peñitas on the pacific coast where we spent two heavenly days sleeping in hammocks and looking for shells on the beach. click here to see more murals in león and pictures from paradise.

tubin' on laguna de apopyo

small world

i am hanging out with Tera in nicaragua right now! it is strange and wonderful. she is living in Managua and working for an organization that uses the massive popularity of tele-novelas here to create social change. we are in Granada getting ready to go to Laguna de Apoyo, a reportedly crystal clear lake in the crater of a volcano.

salto waterfall

salto
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

salto waterfall, a long walk up a windy dirt road just 1 km out of estelí. it is beautiful and deep and lovely for swimming.

miraflor nature preserve

parasite in the tree
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

on Tuesday we went to Miraflor, a nature preserve near Estelí. it is also a conglomerate of agricultural coopertives, people live and farm there, mostly growing coffee. we stayed with a local family and toured a small part of the preserve with a guide who knew a lot about everything. he only spoke spanish, so I understood about 50-75% of what he said, but still learned a lot about the organisms in this area. miraflor has a lot of orchids, all of which grow as parasites on the trees. one of the cooperative´s projects it to teach young folks about the orchids and grow them sustainably for income. all crops and animals on the preserve are raised organically and in a sustainable manner. some other things we saw during our tour include the sangrito and matapalo trees, sanpopo ant colonies, and bromeliads. the sangrito tree is medicinal and when it is punctured it bleeds red sap that looks like human blood. when the sap is rubbed on skin it turns into a white paste that is good for cuts and insect bites. the matapalo tree eats other trees. when a seed germinates on another tree, it strangles and consumes that tree, creating a hollow space perfect for climbing. sanpopo ants are giant leaf cutter colonies, that eat the leaves and flowers of citrus trees. they create their own trails through the forest and large ant mounds. the farmers combat by blowing up their nests, which are full of an explosive gas created by the ants themselves (worse than a leigh riibe fart baby). bromeliads hang off many of the trees, but are not parasitic. they can grow up to a meter in 24 hours and are used to supplement the cattle feed, strengthen clay houses, and make soft beds. click lindsey's head to see more pictures from this amazing place.

still in estelí

mural in estelí
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

we like estelí a lot. there is a lovely cafe called La Casita with a cactus garden and really good and fresh yuppie food. and we made friends with one of the birds living in our hotel, poquita burrita. tonight we are going to watch El León, La Bruja y El Ropero (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) dubbed in spanish at the cute little theatre. click the mural to meet poquita burrita.