photos at last

here is the nerdiest picture of myself i could possibly find. crossing the border is totally hot.

the next day, rana met me in antigua. so awesome!


she hates this picture but i completely disagree.



our second day in antigua, we climbed volcano pacaya, which is about an hour and a half out of antigua. we went up with a smallish group and a guide. once we made it up to the top, we were walking over lava. like picture yourself as a spaced out seven year old at the grocery store stepping on every other tile to avoid lava -- that´s sort of what it was like. the views were absolutely amazing and we played up there for about 40 minutes before the stars came out and we had to head back.



as i mention in the previous blog, we made grilled cheese with the heat from the lava! some other guys in our group boiled water for coffee



here´s our view of lake atitlan and the volcanoes from our room at the awful party hostel

and finally.. back in central america! we took a series of chicken buses through these breathtaking stretches of highway and small towns. stopped for lunch in santa cruz del quiche and for less than 2 dollars each, we each ate an entire fish, rice, some veggies, endless tortillas and some amazing soup. here, the bus let us out to transfer to another bus. it was completely silent and stunning. a pickup truck came about 15 minutes later and the driver said we could ride in the back, so we climbed in and went on the most amazing ride to nebaj, where we are now.


in the back of the truck on the way to nebaj


nebaj! this is a gorgeous little town in the mountains. the ixil maya live here and they have the most amazing clothes -- the women wear these pom-pom-like woven strings on their heads and extremely colorful shirts with shawls and skirts. it´s incredibly rude to photograph people here, but that is really what this place looks like so it´s hard to describe without photos. lonely planet tells us that this area suffered the most during the civil war, as the government routinely tortured and bombed and burned entire villages of indigenous people here. we are going on a hike tomorrow through many of these communities with a local guide connected to this social justice cooperative in nebaj. there is a spanish school here and some really interesting volunteer projects. perhaps i´ll be back..