ADMITTED

Alyece Says:

Hello Everyone! So we're a little overdue for a blog, but we have a legitimate excuse, I promise... oh, and due to the mature subject matter of the following entry, view discretion is advised ;)

We left you last in San Ignacio, where unfortunately, we also had to leave San Ignacio sooner than expected. The beauty of traveling in the low season is that adventure tours, which take you through rivers in the jungles and cave systems, are at the mercy of tropical storms and hurricanes. With our cave tour cancelled, Erin and I only spent one night in town, however this was enough time for Erin to get a small bug bite right below her bottom lip. Why am I mentioning this you ask? It's a little something I like to call foreshadowing... (insert scary musical tune here).

We headed for Belize City and hopped on a boat to a little paradise island off the coast of Belize called Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is small (you can walk around the island in about 20 minutes), very laid back, and is filled with friendly people. Everyone walks the white-sandy roads barefoot, and if you walk to quickly, you get stopped by the locals who want to know what the hurry is. It's the kind of place where the only internet cafe/library has a happy hour, or "sip and surf" as they prefer to call it.

(Erin says: Jade, this picture reminds me of a little place called Bandon, Oregon)

When we settled into our bungalow/cabin on the island, Erin's lip was becoming fairly swollen and sore, but could still be pulled off as an Angelina Jolie kind of sexy, so it was only logical to go to a bar on the beach that night for happy hour (a 7 hour time span), where we met our English friend Simon. All the seats at the bar and the tables were swings, which made for a more interesting night with the hurricane-force winds coming off the water that night.

(thought this was an impressive level of swelling at the time ha ha)

Over the next few days, Erin and I relaxed on the beach, swam, and got to know a lot of the local Rasta people (which doesn't take long in such a small community). But her lip continued to grow and the pain was getting worse. One local man, who made his utter despise for western medicine very clear during a drunken rant in the street, tried to fix Erin's lip with an Aloe Vera plant from his garden.

(On our way to pick up Aloe Vera, please excuse this drunken man's state)

Another Rasta man claimed all Erin's lip needed was "the saliva of a Belizian man..."

The pharmacist gave us a few different medications and pain-killers to try to help, but with no doctor on the island and despite local efforts, Erin's infected lip became an emergency situation on Saturday night. The pain was so unmanageable, even 2 double doses of pain meds, two doses of Valium, and topical freezing couldn't stop her from convulsing with pain. We hit a low point on this night. Erin and I sat up in bed trying to calm her body down and eventually all the narcotics in her body put her out and we were able to sleep for a little while.

First thing in the morning we jumped on a boat to Belize City to a small private hospital to see a real doctor. After the entire medical staff got a good look at Erin's lip, a man wearing blue jeans, airwalk sneakers, and a red t-shirt walked into the room and said "hi, I'm George, the surgeon..." I swear all he was missing was a beer in his hand. Without another word, George proceeded to take a scalpel to Erin's face and the nurses had to hold her down. Apparently medical practices in Belize are like the toilets in Australia: backwards. First they pin you down and cut incisions in your body, THEN they sedate you with a comforting needle in the ass so you don't feel the pain of blade piercing your skin... seems logical. Due to the seriousness of Erin's infection, George told us "you'll be staying with me for a few days." So on Sunday afternoon we checked into the luxury hotel of "Belize Medical Associates," where we probably had the nicest room we will encounter on this trip: satellite TV, couch, fridge, private bathroom, room service... but not exactly an ideal situation.

(Hey, at least the sheets are clean)

(we apologize for the explicitness of this picture, HOWEVER.... this wasn't even the worst day... We will spare you.)

Our week in the hospital was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. The first few days were extremely difficult as Erin struggled through the pain and even had to resort to writing instead of talking. George wanted to hit the infection rapidly with what he called a "machine gun" approach -- rapid and heavy doses of several different kinds of antibiotics (because he didn't know what it was and there was no time to wait 3 days for a test to find out) and a lot of pain killers. Erin's family and friends back in Canada encouraged us to come home and for a few days we actually had to discuss aborting our trip. We had nurses constantly coming in and out of the room running tests, injecting Erin with more drugs, and some just coming to look. But after a few days the antibiotics started taking effect and we could actually see improvement in her lip. The pain also became tolerable and the infection was under control. Erin started feeling much better and things were finally turning in our favour.

The next four days in the hospital were a little more enjoyable, if you don't count the constant pumping of antibiotics into Erin's body and certain nurses poking her veins FIVE different times just to find a good spot for the IV (and for those keeping records, Erin had 7 different IV's in total and her veins are totally shot now). Confined to our nice little room, Erin and I watched way too many bad movies and classic 90's programming to pass the time. We even had Simon, our friend, come over from the island to visit. Surprisingly, the hospital food was good. We were really lucky to have such an amazing hospital staff as well. Because it was a very small private hospital, the staff to patient ratio was like 5 to 1 and all of the nurses were so friendly and accommodating. One nurse in particular stood out above the others, though. Sheila, a young, beautiful, and exceptional nurse, took extra care for Erin and I. Sheila only needed to puncture Erin's skin ONCE to find a good vein, she took the time to specially dilute Erin's meds to ease the pain, and she was very caring and always made sure we had everything we needed. Sheila was able to turn a sterile hospital environment into a friendly home for us. On Sheila's last day working with us things got a little emotional when she came in the room in tears to thank us for the card we made her... which got Erin going. This was the second stage of waterworks for Erin after her friend Alison had called earlier that day and put her little twins on the phone...

(Sheila giving Erin her 6th injection of the day...)

George the doctor also was extremely good to us. He came to check on Erin several times a day and went over and above what was expected of him to make sure Erin's infection healed and also to make sure everything was OK with the insurance company. He also provided some well needed comic relief. We really knew he was a special guy when he told us he would remain our doctor for the rest of our trip via e-mail and will look after us wherever we are.

(Erin and George)

( [almost] All better! last morning in the hospital)

Erin and I were discharged from the hospital this morning and her lip is almost completely back to normal (besides the little holes George left in her, but those are closing up as well). Her body is pretty run-down and sore from all the poking, prodding, and insane amount of narcotics that have been pumped through her veins over the past week, but we are both in good spirits. We are heading back to Caye Caulker to hide out and lay low for the next week as Erin takes the rest of meds orally, and for some serious relaxation and recuperation. We figured the island would be a good place to do that, plus we're only a boat ride away from George. It's only a matter of a few more days now before we're back on our travel track and updating the blog with adventures rather than hospital admittances.

Erin says:

Just wanted to say how extremely grateful I am to have so many amazing people at home caring about me. I can't even believe how many people called me and how many docs were looking over my pics and trying to help out. Not to mention the people here, who are crazy amazing and gave me over the top good treatment. I definitely don't feel like I deserve all of it, but I'm crazy grateful and super pumped to be free from the hospital and ready to adventure more....in a few days. thank you thank you thank you.

Sunrise in Tikal

As We Finally Leave The BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY OF GUATEMALA, We Leave you With:
ERIN and ALYECE'S 'TOP 10' of Guatemala:

1. A Scooter is a vehicle that frequently holds entire families of 4,5 or 6. (including babies).

2. Sinks are optional. We say this after working in a bar, where neither the bathroom nor the kitchen had a sink (and the cook had to go through somebody's house to use one.)

3. Both toilet paper AND toilet seats are optional. (Pretty much assuming this is true for all of Central America)

4. When they tell you to be ten minutes early for your bus, what they really mean is they will likely be an hour to two hours late, and there will likely be double the capacity of the bus on the bus (and you will likely end up with a large Guatemalan man sweating or sleeping on you).

5. Going for a run means being willing to have every person, scooter, vehicle and bus, honk, whistle, yell or laugh at you as if you're something they've never seen before.

6. Rules of the road - of any sort - don't apply anywhere in Guatemala. EXAMPLE: Where in Canada a large moving vehicle would slow down or stop for people or animals in the road, vehicles here step on the gas and hold down the horn.

7. During the months of September and October you are likely to hear more Hebrew than Spanish.

8. That no matter how small a village there is still about one tienda (corner store) to every 2 people: and on and in each tienda (and everywhere for that matter) the cell phone brand "TIGO" (usually with the slogan "CON TIGO" meaning "WITH YOU" has plastered itself over absolutely everything in bright blue paint and white writing) We're pretty sure you could read it off the rooftops from an airplane.

9. Drinks are served after food. At pretty much ever restaurant it is likely you will already be finished your meal and have to kindly remind your waiter that you would like your drink.

10. THE Abundance of LUSH LUSH VEGETATION and Plethora of COLORS.

Alyece Says:

Que Pasa?!
So with our final two days in Antigua (we promise this time) Erin and I settled into a cute little hotel in town; I mean, it was no "El Chillout," but there is something to be said for the presence of toilet paper in the bathrooms, so it sufficed. When we went for a dinner on Saturday, Erin finally had her chocolate birthday cake - she's worm free I'm pleased to report.

Our friends Miles and James, who we vegged out with at the lake, came back to Antigua early to join us for a last hurrah before we all parted ways. Erin, Miles, and I visited the local McDonald's, which appeared fairly standard at first, until we ventured into the back to see the outdoor patio and found one of the prettiest courtyards in Antigua, equipped with gardens, cobblestone pathways, brickwork, and Ronald
McDonald; apparently Canada is cheaping out on the fast-food scene.In the evening, the four of us hit up one of the local bars, La Sala, where another friend of ours from school, Meghan from Kentucky, works as a bartender. Almost all of the people from our spanish school ended up there as well... and it became a real school reunion when our spanish professors showed up! From what I was told the next day, we had a really fun night, and lots of ridiculous dancing ensued.(we were unaware that James was snapping photos of us dancing from his barstool).

(Alyece on the rooftop at the beautiful CAFE SKY)

The next day we took it easy and hung out with Miles, who graciously let us stay our final night at his uncle's insanely beautiful house in downtown Antigua. I actually thought it was hotel when I first walked in... Anyway, the kingsize guest bed made it extremely difficult to wake up at 3:00am for our bus out of Antigua.

We headed for Flores, which is in the north of Guatemala. Flores is a pretty and small town that is set in the middle of a lake and accessible to the mainland by a bridge. We had a waterfront hotel room with a balcony that looked over the lake, which I'm sure we would have enjoyed more if we didn't go to bed at 7:00pm that night... did I just say that outloud? Anyway, we felt it was justified when our alarm went off at 2:00am so we could attempt to make our bus shuttle to Tikal for the "sunrise" tour of some of the Mayan ruins. I don't mean to re-open the wound, but when we arrived we were greeted with torrential downpour, whichadded an element of excitement to the already pitch dark hike through the jungle to get to the temples, and I think we reached the climax of our morning as we sat in bright yellow garbage bags trying to see 10 meters in front of us through the fog and clouds... let alone the gorgeous sunrise display. But we are not bitter about it or anything... especially after paying double the price we were originally told... after not having that extra money on us when the bus arrived in the morning... and having to get our driver to
drive around town at 3am with a full shuttle looking for an ATM machine for the Canadian girls who didn't have enough money. Haha! Our day did get better though :)

The weather cleared up for our guided tour of the ruins...

and although we learned a lot about the Mayan culture and construction of the ruins, we might have learned more had our guide, "Caesar," who when upon the realization that Erin and I were Canadian, spent the duration of the tour telling us about his long lost Canadian love who he met 7 years ago and has been looking for her since. He asked us to help him find her, so now Erin and I are on the search for "Michelle" from Canada who's French-Canadian... and has a cat. What a character. Anyway, the ruins were pretty cool to see and climb on, and we got to see some interesting animals like howler monkeys, colourful birds, and some raccoon/anteater animal that I can't remember the name of now.We went for a romantic water-side dinner that evening and we may or may not have crashed at 7:00pm again...This morning Erin and I arose early yet again to catch a bus out of Flores. After staying in Guatemala, accidentally, for a month and half now, we finally crossed the Belize border where we stopped for 6 hours under the suspicion of possession of narcotics, thoroughly interrogated, and searched. Just kidding, we were easily waved through and it turns out Canada is one of the few countries that doesn't have to pay extra money for visa's etc. so it went smoothly. We arrived in a city called San Ignacio todayand we have signed up for a crazy jungle/cave adventure tour which may or may not happen tomorrow depending on the weather and water levels... but we'll let you know what happens in our next blog :)

Hasta Luego!

Forget the Travel Guide.....What's For Dinner?

Erin Says:

I was awoken at 6am with the smell of fresh baked multi-grain bread and Alyece's scratchy morning voice signing "Feliz Cumpleanos" to me. She neglected to read the candle package (which in English stated the candles were re-lighting). Needless to say, after trying to blow them out multiple times and put them out with our hands, Alyece had to make an emergency run to the bathroom to soak them in the sink. I appreciated her rational for multi-grain bread and peanut butter (which are both very hard to come by here) instead of a chocolate birthday cake, being that it would be a cruel joke to get me a birthday cake that I had to watch everyone else eat and couldn't stomach.

Luckily for me, the parasites seemed dead and I was hungry just in time for my birthday dinner. Alyece took me to the beautiful Cafe Sky, where I scarfed down a whole plate of veggie pasta and NO VOMITING. What a birthday present!

But I think the best part of my b-day was Alyece taking me to Santo Domingo. Jose and Alyece had gone a few weeks ago, but I am certain our date was much more romantic! Santo Domingo is a massive hotel, museum, church and ancient ruin sight all in one beautiful location. All the stone ruins are covered in vines and lit up with little white lights. There are fountains, paths, flowers, statues etc everywhere. The hotel itself is insane - staff dressed to the nines at every corner greeting you and hall after hall lined with hundreds of candles which illuminated all the artwork. Being here felt like being in a different country all together, unlike anywhere we've seen, totally removed from reality. It's basically the most expensive place possible to eat or stay in Antigua and it definitely made for one hell of a romantic evening. After drinking their lime flavoured water out of champagne glasses and stealing the free apples from them, it was time to go back to the homely bliss of El Chillout for a small birthday party.

Funny thing is, when we asked Tops (the stoner bar/hostel manager) if it was ok if we had some people over for a small gathering, he repeatedly said to us "I'm in real trouble here, you are helping me so much, I have to pay my bills, I really need the money...bring as many people as you can to the bar". We were only going to have about 6 or 7 people...but felt like we needed to try and find a party after the pleadings of Tops. When we got home I realized Alyece had decorated our room with balloons and signs and it all felt very festive. When our friends did show up, we decided we had never seen grown men get more excited over a bag of balloons before. Interestingly enough I ended up with very swollen eyes, coughing and sneezing and hacking after I had been touching the latex on the balloons - very typical of me. The party stayed lo-key and we ended up at the bar with a few friends a little later, but all in all and amazing birthday party, solely because of Alyece.

Erin and Alyece say:

On Tuesday we figured it was time for us to leave Antigua as we awoke to Tops arguing with the hotel manager about the power bill... minutes later we were packing our bags in the dark. We hoped a bus to Lago de Atitlan to join a few of our friends we met in Spanish school (James from Scotland and Miles (or Brandy) from Virginia). Lago de Atitlan is a big lake in Guatemala with many small towns and villages surrounding it that you access by boating from the main town Panajachel. We were dropped off at a dock with boats leaving in different directions and all we knew was half the name of what we thought was a hostel or hotel (we weren't even sure) that James, in inebriation, had explained to Alyece the night before.

However, we picked a boat and headed to Santa Cruz. Luckily, when we walked up the dock we could see Miles and James lazily sitting on the patio on La Iguana Perdida. This hostel was waterfront, super laid back and had crazy good buffet style dinners (at which Alyece way over-ate as per usual). We were warmly welcomed our first night with a big party of travelers from all over and most of the staff members. And you know it's been a good night when all the guys and girls end up trading clothing during drinking games. However, I feel like this scenario always ends way worse for the men. (Note: James' later photo) It only got better when the staff brought out paint and we all ended up covered, including the hostel dog, who had his hair shaved into a Mohawk and painted in multi-color - which we unfortunately have to report is still there. The funniest part of the night is when everyone was sitting chilling out and someone put on the song "Everybody Dance Now". Spontaneously everyone in the whole room, stood up, rocked out and dance the duration of the song and then silently all sat back down and continued their conversations and drinking games. I can't even say I felt bad for Alyece when she was forced to wear my sweater (under which I normally wear shirts) and told everyone she wondered why I had only paid for HALF of a sweater. We ended the night with a little sing along of the beautiful guitar stylings of Miles and crazy good voice of James accompanied by the beautiful Alyece. (but just her voice...right Miles?)

Now, after going to bed peacefully we were awoken every 15 to 20 minutes by the huge crashing sound of avocados, lemons and other various tropical fruit, dropping on the aluminum roof of our cabin and rolling down the staircase. It was pretty comical that every single time we seemed just as frightened as the time before when we thought there was a bomb going off.

Either way, after a sporadic sleep we spent the morning Kayaking and swimming in the lake and relaxed in the afternoon in their cozy den to watch a movie. It was about half way into the DVD when we were bombarded with a group of older Americans (who had come from neighboring hotels for the TV) telling us 'we absolutely had to turn it off for the ever important presidential debate'. While Alyece opted out, I found it more comical to watch the Americans' reaction to the debate than watching John McCain calling Obama "that one". After eating way too much again, we all called it an early night and went to our bomb shack for some sleep.

The next day we made the painful 20 minute trek up a 90 degree slope into the tiny village of Santa Cruz. The town was just up the mountain and we went to watch the gang join in a futbol game with the locals. As Miles told us, we instantly fell in love with the tiny town and it's very friendly people and insanely adorable children. For the duration of the game James was injured, as per usual. (Note the already broken finger and stitches in the knee) Miles was having a hard time, with no shoes and bleeding taped up feet which our friend Dalton stepped on a few times. The boys had to watch out for the tiny Mayan girl wandering around the court aimlessly and nearly getting smoked by the soccer ball. (I guess she left that for me, when Miles point blank kicked me right in the face with the ball.)

After the soccer game we went down for another swim, followed by a bitter cold shower (for one of us) and a competitive game of Scrabble. Later in the evening, our friend Saul came to visit just in time for a game of pool and yet again, and amazing dinner (in which Alyece out-ate everyone as per usual). We cracked back into the drinking games and again, clothes were exchanged and embarrassing stories were told.

(Picture of James noted above)

(James seemed less than impressed when Saul - and not one of the girls - was chosen for his lap dance. If his face was not blocked by an overly-excited Saul you could see the sheer terror on it.)

In the morning, as the boys boated away, it took very little convincing to decided what our next travel move was. Bags packed, for Antigua on the way to Tikal, we heard the staff mention the all you can eat curry for dinner that night, and we were checked back in within two minutes, to our "cleaned" room, with the same orange juice stained sheets on the bed (can't even say we were surprised). We were really glad we didn't end up leaving because the day turned out to be gorgeous and I really wished I had my camera as we went swimming with a group of 5-7 year old Guatemalan boys off the dock. This was followed by a nice sunbathing session.

Early in the morning we headed back to Antigua (being that it's the only option on the road through to Tikal). We discussed the extremely long good-bye we are giving this place, but it turns out it's the central hub of transport and there's really no way around it. When the boys got our email that we were staying for the night, they changed their travel plans, left the lake and are currently on the shuttle back here to join us. We are just that impressionable. ha ha ha.

That's it for now, Alyece and I are off to walk through Santo Domingo and score some more free apples.

Alyece Says: Barry I saw this today when I was walking through Panajachel and I thought of you. Just so you know there's always a job for you if you plan to move to the lake in Guatemala ;)

Bye For Now xxx