Leon

We took on the next day slowly with some amazing french toast and a small stroll around town. Leon is a very pretty city, one of the leftovers of the Spanish colonial era with big churches, narrow streets and colorful colonial-style buildings. It used to be Nicaragua's capital and was of great importance in the north of the country while having a strong rivalry with Granada in the south. We had heard of another hostel in town that was meant to be really nice and went to check it out with all our stuff. It was a short walk away but full unfortunately, so we headed out to yet another hostel that we had seen on our way and which had rooms from only 5$ a night. It turned out to be OK and it had a guest kitchen and a pool table which convinced us to stay there for the next nights.

That night there was a stage set up on the central plaza for a jazz festival that was touring through Central America and we headed out to watch it for a while. It was very nice, there were a lot of people watching the show and the vendors stayed open til late selling souvenirs and a lot of different food options ranging from hot dogs and pizza to traditional enpanadas and fried bananas stuffed with cheese.
A Dutch girl who we had met in the hostel told us about the beaches closest to Leon and said that she liked staying there a lot. We hadn't really planned to go there but found ourselves on the bus to Las Penitas, said beaches, the next day. The bus was really packed and I was as worried as never before for my board which was stuck between a row of seats, a fat Nicaraguan and two sacks of rice but it survived without being damaged too badly. It took some time for us to find a good hostel that we liked but after we found one we still had time to check out the area before it got dark. The beach wasn't as great and the surf was either small and mushy or breaking on to rocks but I still had a short session with the advantage that only one other guy was out there with me because of the crappy conditions. We shared a dorm with three French-Canadians who were the only thing that made our trip to the beaches worthwhile. Their names were Jonatan, Alex and Mia and they were great company, a lot of fun and of course, like all French-Canadians I had met on my travels so far, wacky and simply crazy (these ones in the best possible way!!!).

Packed in the back of the bus

Quiet time at the hostel

I didn't enjoy the beaches very much and convinced the others to go back to Leon the next day from where we could then go to other beaches that at least had good waves. Our friends were also leaving to Leon and said they would try to save us beds in the hostel they were staying at. The bus ride back was a lot better than the last. We had a lot of room and were even entertained by some grown men who started a fistfight in the back of the bus. Two guys kept going on against each other with a lot of yelling and punching and the most interesting thing was that one of them, the one who took most of the hits, actually was a cop who tried to put handcuffs on his opponent. I was just happy that no one drew a gun and started shooting.
Back in Leon the hostel the Canadians stayed in was full again so we went back to the place we stayed at before. We bought some stuff from the market and Bekki cooked up great food while we mixed ourselves a Piña Colada from scratch. It was really cool to make a drink like that out of a whole pineapple and a coconut and without just pouring things together out of different bottles. The drink turned out really well even though it didn't completely taste like a conventional Piña Colada but we had a lot of it. We had only used half of the ingredients which still gave us about 2 liters to drink and everything together had only cost about 4 Euro. If we had made all of it we would have had 4 liters and 1 Euro for 1 liter of great Piña Colada isn't too bad if you ask me...

After dinner we visited our friends at their hostel where we chatted and drank some more before we played a few rounds of pool until it was time for bed.

Our Honduras experience

Everything would have worked out perfectly if things had gone the way we had planned but unfortunately that isn't how Central America works. I should have known that already but for some reason we put too much trust into the people and the public transportation and planned to get to the El Salvador-Honduras border, across the southern tip of Honduras and into Nicaragua in one day. It seemed very doable, there were no long distances involved and we had the whole day for the trip but something seemed to be working against us that day.
We had to walk the first 2km towards El Cuco because there were no transportation matters where we were staying and the sun was already burning down which got us sweating a lot before we even reached the first bus. That bus then took us to San Miguel, the major town in the east of the country from where we hopped on another one that brought us a little bit closer to the border and then another one that eventually dropped us of about 500 meters before the border. They didn't stop at the border because they wanted us to take one of the bike driven carts for the last few meters to maximise the profit they could get out of all the travellers who pass by the border every day. As usual we ignored the very annoying drivers who yell at you from one meter away and don't really accept "no" for an answer and walked to and over the border.
The border official asked us where we were going and as we told him that we were only crossing through to go to Nicaragua the same day he explained to us in  a very broken Spanish English mix that we didn't need a stamp for that. A guy from Italy who we had met on the last bus told us the same thing and so we took off to find a collectivo that would bring us across the country to the next border that we had to cross. It is very easy to find the next bus in Central America because there are always a few people who come running up to you and yell in your face where they want to take you so we quickly found our bus which was waiting for more passengers before it would leave. We still had enough time but after waiting in the heat of the midday we got a little bit nervous because still the driver didn't want to leave. We wasted about two hours of our, that day very valuable time before we decided to take a combination of public buses because we were afraid that the guy wouldn't leave at all. Of course everything took longer than we were told and by the time we arrived in the town we had to switch buses in again it was starting to get dark. Fortunately we had joined up with Robin, a fellow traveller from France who spoke some Spanish and the four of us found a collectivo that brought us to the border in time to catch the last bus going from there. They told us though that, if they left now only with us in the car, they would charge us ten dollars per person. We agreed, we just wanted to get across that border, but after we paid they filled up the car with people anyway who only paid 3 dollars... To stressed out and tired to fight for the lost money we hurried to get to emigration which again was a little bit away from the bus stop. We got picked up by some of those bike-cart drivers who told us they only wanted a small tip and my nerves were such a mess that I didn't resist when they took our stuff and loaded it onto their carts. At emigration the woman seemed to have all the time in the world when she checked our passports and, after a while, found that our stamps were missing. We had to come inside where a fat, sweating and stinking officer sat who played the really nice and helpful guy and told us that we had to go back to the first border between El Salvador and his country to get the entry stamp. We tried to explain to him that we were told that we didn't need a stamp but he said we would only get in trouble with the people on the Nicaraguan side of the border if he wold let us pass like this. He let his words sink in for a while before he told us that we could pay a "fee" of 20$ each to him and then he would give us the stamp. It seemed to be a well working game that the people at those borders play with/for each other because there are a lot of travellers who only cross through the southern tip of Honduras and the rules are very simple: At the first border you refuse to give someone his stamp and at the second border you either let them pay or have him go back where they came from. Sounds fun to me...
Robin had helped us to translate what the guy was saying but then took off to catch the last bus going to Leon. We were alone at the border now with two options, either to spend the night in a very sketchy border town and to go back to El Salvador in the morning or to bribe this guy with a bunch of money to get across this border where no bus was running anymore. The only thing we wanted was to leave this country that had given us nothing more than bad surprises and we managed to talk the guy down to 10$ per head (also thanks to Bekki's almost perfected "Imakeyoufeelguiltybycryingmyeyesout" tactic), paid the money and finally got our stamp. The bike drivers were still waiting for us outside and brought us across the border and to the Nicaraguan immigration where I lost my last dollars to the entry fee and after that dropped us of at the bus stop where a collectivo was waiting. It looked very much as if a little "birdy" had told the driver that there were some tourists arriving late who needed to get to Leon. As soon as we got our stuff off the bikes a flood of Spanish that was mixed with only a few English words broke out around us. My brain needed some time to comprehend what everyone wanted, it didn't seem to work very well that day, but eventually someone who spoke a decent amount of English got through to me and explained that the bike drivers wanted 10$ each for their overtime services and the collectivo would cost 400 Cordoba per person which was almost 20$ to go to Leon. We told them that we wouldn't and couldn't pay that much money and with a combined effort of Bekki starting to cry again and me talking as much English back to them as they were talking Spanish we managed to get out of that situation paying a lot less than they wanted us to. After all they had only asked for a tip and as Robin told me the next day they had pulled the same shit on him. The collectivo only brought us to the closest town though because we didn't pay him enough but luckily we got the last seats on another one that took us to Leon. From the bus stop in Leon a taxi brought us to the closest hostel and finally we could sink into our beds after about 14 hours of buses, borders and "barbarians" isn't really the right word but I wanted something starting with a "b".
This day was one of the worst days of the whole trip and I hope that I'll never have to deal with stuff like that again but looking back it was also a day that taught us a lot and made us stronger and after all, apart from it being very exhausting for mind and body alike, the only thing we lost was money. It could have been worse! 

Six public buses and one pickup to a remote break... but was it worth it?

It was just after nine when we hit the road that should take us to Las Flores, a tiny town in the south eastern corner of El Salvador with another good wave. The only available shuttle was a private one that charged 110$ for the three of us so we tackled the little more than 150 km by public bus, a quest that turned out to be harder than we had thought. We had to take six different buses, each with a waiting period and new strange people and one pick-up truck and my new board didn't make things easier either. It was a very exhausting day and we spent solid eight hours on the road but the sight when we arrived rewarded us for all the trouble. Las Flores was basically a few houses and huts on a beautiful beach which was bordered by two rocky headlands on either side. The beach was quite big because of the low tide but there didn't seem to be a wave breaking at all. The place we decided to stay in was very basic but it was right at the beach, so close actually that the water reaches the lowest wall when the tide comes in. We definitely had the best spot in town to watch the ocean and hopefully soon the waves.
I had planned to get up early because some other surfers had told me that a strong offshore wind starts blowing at around 9 am but our last day had been long and I didn't make it until 7:30 am. After the quick spot check it was less than 5 minutes until I was in the water. I only had to put my shorts and my rash west on, wax my board and run the few meters down to the surf. The waves were a little bit messy and around 3-4 feet but the wave was very fast and a lot of fun. The take off was steep and very close to the rocks but the wave pushed you away as soon as you were riding and one had to be quick to keep up with the first section to get around it. The whole thing took me a while to understand what I had to do but once I had it the wave was great. If you picked the right ones it was possible to get rides over 200 meters which took you all the way to the beach. The water was a lot colder than in El Tunco and a lot browner but I saw an awful lot of stingrays swimming underneath the surface in the lineup and vultures circling the sky.
Bekki and I went for a short walk along the road and found 4 or 5 massive Mango trees that had dropped a lot of their sweet babes, ready to eat. Most of them were over ripe or already eaten by animals but we still found plenty that were good for us. We brought back a bag full which was breakfast and lunch for one day and went a second time the next day. That time we took enough for this day and the next and maybe even a few more... All in all we had more than 50 Mangoes that we ate in 3 days and which were the main part of our diet in Las Flores. The days we stayed there were dominated by surfing and relaxing, a nice walk along the beach at low tide to the nearest town and... Mangoes.
The waves even built up in size a little bit but stayed very choppy due to the strong winds. I had a great time in the surf though and even shared the waves with a really good guy who, I think, was sponsored by "animal" and was boasting airs and taking off on waves that I thought were clear close-outs. Yeah, I just checked and he is "animal" team rider and multiple English champ. No wonder he was better than me... http://www.animal.co.uk/fe/htm/index/index.asp
It was a really relaxed time we had, living right at the beach, literally only a jump away from the waves but my arms only lasted for 4-5 hours of surfing a day and there wasn't anything else to do really so it got a bit boring, especially for the other two. And so we left again after two days of pure surfing with the next destination being Leon in Nicaragua. To get there we had to take several buses and cross two borders so it would be another long, long travel day.

Munching on a Mango while waiting on bus no.2

We hitched a ride on a pickup for the last kilometer 

I had to improvise with my boardbag... The point and our hostel in the background

Mangoes

The babe and the board... haha, hot

Here you go, some of my surfing... It is more about fun than looking good!

Mr. Alan Stokes

And myself...

El Tunco

In the morning I went to look for a place where I could exchange the rest of my Guatemalan Quetzales into US Dollar which conveniently is the currency of El Salvador. I had quite a lot left because I had planned to spend at least two more days but of course my plans didn't go the way they were planned (they're plans after all) and now I was being sent from one end of the city center to the other with directions to a money changer which were all different from each other. My bags were heavy and it was very hot and I had to stop for a while to catch my breath when I finally found the office. I got almost 100 $ back though which made up for all the walking. I walked to the parque Bolivar from where the buses to La Libertad left but I had a hard time finding the right bus stop until a nice bus driver took me to the right place, it was marked only by a small sign saying "bus stop" and not which bus or where it went, and I finally boarded the bus out of the city.
About an hour later I arrived in La Libertad, the port of San Salvador which is a sleepy little town that seemed very boring except for its wave, Punta Roca, a world class right point break that is El Salvador's best wave. I didn't stay there however due to the expensive accommodations but moved on to a tiny village a few kilometers along the coast called El Tunco. There were a few breaks there too including one point that broke slower but still looked like fun and I found a cheap place, after another long walk, that had a kitchen and was only one house away from the beach. It was already 4 o'clock and I had a relaxing evening on the deck of my hostel with 'wave-view', an ice cold beer and good food.
I slept well but woke early. I was exited to see my visitors who would arrive around midday and didn't get anything done in the morning, constantly checking my watch but had a coffee and donut with my Internet and a smoothy before I caught the bus to La Libertad. I did some shopping and waited on the corner of the bus stop for a while until I saw them hop out one of the crowded buses in a moment of complete disorientation and helplessness. I quite enjoy those moments (not all of them) and I let them have theirs before I walked over to greet them. It is a strange sensation to meet people who you haven't seen for longer and who you were looking forward to meet. They suddenly appear and are there again and it doesn't take very long to get used to them being around again. I was very happy to have them with me, especially Bekki who had been my travel mate for such a long time.
We went back to our hostel where they overwhelmed me with HARIBO and Nutella before I showed them around and we went out to buy me a board. I had been eyeing one board in another hostel since I had arrived and I had been checking on it a few times during the day and I bought it right before someone else's nose. He literally stood the with the money when I walked out of the gate. It was a 6'2" performance fish, a good board for the smallish waves of El Sunzal, the break right outside our door. The board was in a really good condition and I think I shot a great deal with it, even though I had to buy a new leash as well. Now nothing kept me from going for a long surf until the sun went down and it got too dark to see the waves. We had a great self made meal, the first one I made myself since I left the US (with the exception of the quiche for Helga), and it was delicious. This beautiful day ended with beers and an early but great night with Bekki and Ansgar who, I realized once again, I was very glad to have with me.
El Tunco was great! I surfed in the mornings, we chilled during the days and when the weather cooled down at around 4.30 pm I went for another surf. We cooked our own delicious food, only bought coffee and smoothies,  enjoyed the warm water and relaxed in the shade for most of the day. Those were truly lazy days but it was hard to do anything else because it was so hot. Me made friends with a Canadian guy and a Norwegian girl who had been in El Tunco for a month and were surfing every day and used the time to catch up about what we had done while apart from each other.
It was a sad goodbye when we left El Tunco after only four days but we wanted to move on to see more and surf different waves.
It was strange to be with people again for longer than a few days and to plan food and destinations together and in some situations in the following weeks I realized how much I had actually enjoyed the time I had on my own. However I love having Bekki and Ansgar as my company and I will be on my own soon enough, I just didn't realize how much I valued my time as a single traveller.

New and old company

Let's just say that is me on that wave back there...

Out for a morning surf

Our hostel is the house in blue and this picture was taken right from the beach

Sunrise in El Salvador

More busing

Again I got to spend the whole day on a bus. This time it took me all the way from Flores, in the north of Guatemala, to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. It also was my longest bus trip so far but with my Argentinian friend Brenda's help I had found a public service that only charged me about half what the tourist places did and it was still pretty direct.
It was the 8th of March and Bekki and Ansgar had arrived in Costa Rica from where they would take a long distance bus to meet me in El Salvador to meet me that very day and I had been waiting for news about the refund of my ticket which I had to pick up in Guatemala City. On my last night in Flores I got the mail saying that I could even pick up the check in San Salvador which was great for me because I could travel straight through to where I wanted to go without a nerve racking and time consuming stop in Guatemala City.
So I took the direct bus and surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I had thought. It did get crowded and it was hot and a very long trip but the seats were more spacious than others I had frequently been on before and also nice and soft. There is not much to tell about the trip which was very uneventful and boring except once when we had to stop for a while because a big truck had tipped over but it was even more interesting for me how keen the people on my bus seemed to be to see if something bad had happened and I had this strange feeling that they were hoping to see blood... We stopped only once for 20 minutes and I was lucky that I didn't need to go to the bathroom. I also noticed that this was my first overland border crossing outside Europe which was kinda cool... Apart from that seriously nothing happened.
When I arrived in San Salvador I went looking for a place to stay near the bus station, got some money (after a panic minute where I had to realize that all the banks were closed and I had less than ten dollars left) and went to the market where I bought some food for Bekki and Ansgar because I figured that they would be hungry after a 18 hour bus ride. Back at the hotel I checked  the Internet and found a message from Bekki saying that they would take another day. I was too tired to be annoyed or disappointed and fortunately I could change rooms and get some money back, I had already paid for three, before I ate alone and went to bed. Lonely for two more nights before I would meet the two in La Libertad at the beach.
I was in Guatemala for just over two weeks, which was not even nearly enough time to see a few things properly, and I loved it for most of the time. The few days I didn't enjoy where mainly because of the long distances, or rather the dreadful infrastructure, and some other issues that didn't have to do with the country directly which is full of great places, history and culture and definitely worth a visit if you haven't been there yet.

Wonderful Tikal

My days in Guatemala were counted and I really didn't have much time, enough time. There are just too many things to see in this wonderful country and I didn't like the way how I had to rush through to see at least some.
I moved around on shuttles most of the time, usually I hate shuttles, because they are more expensive and you miss a lot of the essential experience of the country you travel in, but I wanted to get from one place to the other as fast as possible so I had no choice. This next transport I took went from Semuc to Flores, a small town on an island in Peten, the most northern province of the country from where I was going to visit the legendary Maya ruins of Tikal. The trip took about eight hours but I shared the bus with a lot of people I knew from the hostel and former shared shuttles which made the trip more fun, even though it was still very exhausting. I also met new people with whom I shared a dorm in Flores and who wanted to join me for my Tikal trip the next day.
I had to say goodbye to Thalida and Elisa that night, who were on their way to Belize and didn't have time for the ruins. The time we shared together was a lot of fun and I am very happy that I met them, they made my long shuttle rides feel a lot shorter than they were and good company in Semuc.
My new travel mates for the next days were Brenda from Argentina and Garrett from the US, both wonderful people who brought me back to buying my own food and preparing lunches and so on, which was a lot cheaper and also more fun.
We got up at 4 o'clock in the morning to get the first shuttle to the ruins so that we could enjoy them without the crowds but that seemed to be a common thing and our shuttle there was already full with people. It wasn't all too bad though because the park is huge and we roamed it all by ourselves without seeing very many people. The bus to the park took about an hour and the entrance fee was 150 Q (about 20$) which is very expensive for Guatemalan standards but it was an official ticket and definitely worth the money in the end.
It was quite cold in the morning and foggy and it only cleared up when we left the park in the afternoon but it was good that way because when the sun did come out it was almost unbearably hot. Unfortunately it concealed the views from the top of the big temples but you can't have everything, can you?
The park was amazing! We decided against hiring a guide and walked the trail the opposite way than most people do to avoid the crowds and save the best part, the central plaza for the end. The whole area is so incredibly big, I think it was something about 16 sq km, and there are temples and ruins everywhere, some uncovered but some also still underneath a big pile of jungle. The Maya seemed to have built a new set of temples every 20 years to celebrate the end of a ka'tun and leave the old ones where they were which meant that there were a lot of simple temple complexes with two medium sized pyramids facing east to west and two altars in the north and the south, all over the place.
Temple IV seemed very unspectacular at first before we looked up over the tree tops and found the tip of the temple high above us in the clouds. It is the highest building (I think it was 64m) in Tikal and the lower half is still covered with vegetation  but you can climb it and the views from the top are amazing, even on a cloudy day.

The view from temple IV

It was incredible to walk through those grounds and see the huge temples and structures, some of which the Maya had built over 2000 years ago, and still be in the middle of the jungle, almost by yourself. We saw monkeys and bush turkeys, a capybara and hundreds of birds and for long periods of time we didn't see any other humans at all.
We saw the plaza of the seven temples, the lost world (the place with pyramids from a much earlier period, the pre-classic, around 700 BC), the big temple of the south and of course the main plaza with it the massive acropolis and the beautiful and world famous temple of the jaguar.
The main plaza is really beautiful and the views from the high temple are breathtaking. You can see other structures poke out of the surrounding canopy, the temple of the jaguar in its full glory and the plaza where in Tikal's prime more than 100 000 people gathered for celebrations.

Year of construction: 700 BC

Temple V

The temple of the jaguar and the north acropolis on the left

Temple of the jaguar

A picture of me 2000 years ago...

The north acropolis

Brenda, Garrett and I were reading our way through most of the information and I think a guide would have been helpful to understand more of the things we saw but we loved it to be on our own and roam the grounds how we wanted to. Our little group was in great harmony, sometimes slow, sometimes a bit faster we got around the whole park in about 8 hours and I am very happy, that I had those two with me that day. It was very special.
Tired but very happy we left the site at three with the shuttle. We stopped in Santa Elena, a town only separated from Flores by the lake, to get food and organize our next steps. Brenda was going west, Garrett east and I was heading south the following day. It was more than 12 hours after we had left, that we arrived back at our hostel, my legs aching and my head full of those beautiful images I was lucky enough to see.
I am very glad that I decided to come here after all and that I had this great day with those wonderful friends, even though that meant not getting much sleep and being on buses for more than 18 hours.

Semuc Champey

I decided to take a shuttle to my next destination because it was somewhere in the nowhere that is the center of Guatemala and even the shuttle took eight hours to get there not to speak of public buses with transfers and heaps of crazy people packed around me. Max helped me to find a 'cheap' company and it turned out to be a real advantage to speak Spanish, not only because you understand what everyone is talking about but also because it is a lot faster.
Of course the bus was late but that gave me enough time to wake up and prepare mentally for the tour. I was the first one to get on the bus and we picked up six other people, four of who were German, before we finally left Antigua. The ride was terribly long and the seats were very uncomfortable and didn't have any headrests which made it even worse but I enjoyed the company of my fellow travellers a lot and we tried to make the best out of it.
Everything in my body was hurting when we finally arrived in Lanquin, after over an hour on an offroad track without suspensions, at my hostel, the Zephyr Lodge. It was a beautiful place on top of a hill with a 360° view on the surrounding fields and mountains, an open air bar and common area and a very friendly vibe. I checked in together with Thalida and Elisa, two German girls from the bus with whom I got along well. The dorms were packed and there was hardly any space to put my bag but I didn't spend a lot of time in there anyways.
I was still not feeling very well and really exhausted from the long trip so I went to bed early and tried to sleep while the party outside was just getting started.
I had put my name down for the legendary "candle-cave" and Semuc Champey tour, however when I woke up the next day I was told that there were not enough people and that they wouldn't do it. I was very disappointed because that was why I had come here in the first place but Thalida and Elisa were doing a tour as well but with a travel agent from town and so I joined them because I didn't have enough time to wait one day. I didn't end up going with the two girls but I still had a great group and we had a lot of fun together.
We were picked up by a pick-up truck and driven down to Semuc Champey all cramped on the back. The drive was almost an hour long and I was happy to be there when we arrived at the entrance to the caves. Everyone changed into their swimmers and we followed our guide Carlos (he liked to call himself Santana) to a big swing over the river. I was the first to go because I was keen to do it, I had worked my way to the front with pushing and shoving, but I think that most people appreciated that someone was willing to test how safe the thing actually was.
It was safe. And great fun! The trick was to let go at the very last moment to get almost 5 meters into the air and then pray for a good landing. My second time I tried a back flip-sort-of-thing which went wrong and I only turned halfway and landed on my face but I wasn't the worst. People were hitting the surface in every thinkable way and some of them looked very painful.
After everyone was happy we went back to the "camp" where we got a small candle in our hand each and walked to the cave. We got a short introduction and were sent into the cave with lit candles and our guide at our tail. It was almost spooky at first but the deeper we entered the cave and the more we waded, climbed and swam, the better it got. Sometimes you had to put the candle between your teeth and climb up a narrow ladder underneath a small waterfall with the water pounding on your back or even the tallest of us lost the ground underneath their feet and had to swim, one armed, through the darkness. At the end we got to a place where we could jump off a narrow and slippery ledge into a whole that wasn't very wide at all before we turned around and went back the way we came from.
It was an incredible feeling to be in that cave without any other light than that of our candles and swim through pitch black water. I loved the tour and was very happy that I had decided to spend the money on it. And it wasn't quite over yet.
We tubed down the river for a while which was relaxing but not very exiting and got a little bit cold after a while before we crossed the river and had lunch. After the lunch break we entered the national park of Semuc Champey and hiked up to the view point "El Mirador" from where we could see the amazing limestone pools from high above. It was an incredible sensation to step out on to the platform and look down to see this natural wonder and I don't think that I can describe what I saw so I'll just leave that part to the pictures.

The pools from above

This is the river flowing in underneath the pools

I departed from the group a little and followed the path down to the pools where I saw, that the majority of the rivers water actually went through underneath the pools. It was a powerful rapid that would kill anyone who jumped or fell into it and stood in such a contrast to the tranquil pools that were lying there in quietness and a light peaceful turquoise. I walked further down to the top most pool where I undressed and dived into the beautiful clear water. The water cascaded down from pool to pool and you could jump and slide down little waterfalls into the next basin. We spent over an hour swimming, jumping and sliding and until the end I found it hard to believe this perfect beauty that was pure nature.
It wasn't warm at all though and we packed our stuff together and left when the first fingers and lips turned purple. On the way back I bought a piece of locally made chocolate which had a very interesting taste, not particularly good or bad, and huddled together with everyone else on the back of the pick-up truck that took us home.
I got off at another hostel where some people from my group were staying who had invited me to join them in their sauna. It was a tiny little room with a fire place outside that heated up quite well and it was right at the river which was nice to cool down in. I stayed there until I felt warm enough and walked back to my hostel to get some food where I met up with Elisa and Thalida again who had just come back from their trip as well. We had a lot of fun that night and met a lot of great people, I learned a new game, and had three lovely wood oven pizzas. To round of this almost perfect day one of the hostel staff, who had been a chef somewhere, came out of the kitchen with a tray of the best brownies I have ever tasted. It was like biting into pure soft and airy chocolate with big chunks of more chocolate in it. Amazing!
It had been a good day with a lot of fun with new and old friends, a lot of adventure and great food at the end of it. What could you possibly want more...

Max

Only two days after I had left La Antigua my cousin Lennart told me that my good friend Max was there at the moment, volunteering and traveling through Central America. What a surprise... He had been there for a while and I was there too but had no idea that he was there. We even were in the same town at the same time but didn't meet. I contacted him and we agreed to meet in Antigua on Thursday which was also on my way to the north of the country.
Before that I went back to Helga and the kids who I was missing a lot and who had asked whether I wanted to come back for another day or two. I took the boat back in the afternoon and surprised the kids (Helga hadn't told them that I was coming back) when they came back from school. It was nice to see them again and we played around, walked the dog and went out and had an ice cream together. The next day we had to say goodbye again but it was a happy goodbye. I had lunch with Juan and Olga and took off around noon to get to Antigua.
I got a ride from a nice Guatemalan lady, Mary, who had been visiting a German friend at the lake who hooked us up, which I was very thankful for because it spared me from a 3 hour ride on a chicken bus. She dropped me off at the parque central the meeting point Max and I had agreed on at 5pm but I had a look for a hostel first to get rid of my bags. I ended up staying in the same place I had stayed before, even though I didn't really like the place due to the staff that didn't seem to like me very much either (I think because I didn't drink and buy them drinks...), because they had breakfast included and it was a very good breakfast...
30 minutes later I walked back to the park but failed to find Max. He was a bit late himself and when he came to the park, he found me (funny enough) listening to a wind ensemble that was playing nearby. Max and I who had been playing together in a similar ensemble for about 4 years met, in Guatemala, in a park full of people in that spot... Life certainly is comical.
It was great to catch up with Max. He was living with a local woman and had taken a month of intense Spanish lessons which made him a good Spanish speaker to my untrained ears (he said he was still really bad), he was teaching stuff like English and maths in a local Mayan school and when he had enough time he went for weekend trips to cool places in Guatemala. His stay was coming to its end and he was done with his teaching job so he had a lot of time and he was going to Cuba for a week after the weekend. We went to his place where he ate before we went over to a German friend from Hamburg, Kati, who was doing a similar thing there. We drunk cheap rum(2.60Euro), talked about Germany and I listened to them go on about all those foreigners (mainly Germans) coming to Antigua and making it impossible to learn decent Spanish. Later at night we went to a Salsa bar in town that had live music and was packed with people. It was good fun and I was quite buzzed, for the first time in Central America, when we were kicked out by the security when they closed at 1 o'clock. Max took me back to my hostel where I fell into my very uncomfortable bed for a long and (seemingly) never ending roller coaster ride...
The next morning was hell! I woke up feeling sick and I spent most of the following 5 hours running between my bed and the toilet. I don't know if it was the alcohol (diarrhea rum how Max called it) or because of a bug that I had caught because I hadn't been very careful about what I ate but what I know is that I don't want to experience something like that again. I won't go into all the details (even though I know that some of you are waiting for exactly that... :)) but it was bad!
The whole thing was accompanied by a nasty headache and wobbly knees but I couldn't let Max down when he came for the third or fourth time that day to pick me up. We went for a slow walk and the air and the movement did me good because I felt so much better, that we could even go to the market where the smells, good, bad and neutral alike are very strong.
I somehow made it through the rest of the day feeling better and better as time went. We bought a movie and watched it with Kati (ironically it was about being sick) and had a quiet night. I hung out with Max for one more day and we had a great time. He is such a cool person to hang out with and it was so much fun that I met him so far away from home and he could show me around his Antigua for a few days. He is one of those friends to me that I don't hang out with very often but when we do, we have the best time and get along really well. I hope that I can see him more often when I get back to Germany because he is a very good friend!

Jaibalito

I didn't really like Panajachel as a town, it was loud, dusty and smelly and I hoped that I would find some peace in one of the smaller towns around the lake. I picked out two that looked quiet and went with the cheaper option, the "Posada Jaibalito" which was owned by a German guy who baked his own bread. Very curious about the last I boarded a boat from one of the docks at around noon which took me to Jaibalito. As I stood on the pier where the boat had dropped me off and the sound of it's motor disappeared towards San Pedro La Laguna it seemed to be completely quiet for a second. I breathed cleaner air, I had as much time I wanted and I felt good! For the first time back on the road it felt like I had found what I was looking for, not because I didn't like the earlier stages but because for the first time I could really kick back, relax and see what the day would bring for me.
The "Posada Jaibalito" is a small hostel not far away from the lake with a few shared rooms, hammocks in a nice chilled atmosphere. The trees give a lot of shade which makes the place seem colder than others which is nice during the day but can get a bit chilly in the evenings. I checked in and had a late breakfast (traditional Guatemalan with eggs, rice, beans and cheese) that came with a slice of good looking bread. The bread really was amazing, probably the best I had tasted in months, even though it was simple without too much trara.
I did nothing for a while before I wrote a bit on my blog and continued to do nothing. Isn't life wonderful? Rune, my Norwegian room mate showed up sometime in the afternoon, he was a very interesting guy, and we had a nice conversation, dinner and a beer together.
I woke up early the next day to do Yoga and meditate, Rune did that every day, but I had a hard time getting up so I only joined him for the meditation. We chose a spot right at the lake that had amazing views and he told me what to do. I don't know if I did it right or if what I did deserves to be called meditating but to focus the mind and try to forget about everything that is around you was a nice way to start into the day. My attempt was interrupted by a young dog jumping on my back, playfully trying to bite my head but Rune also had to leave and it was a lot harder to do by myself.
I went for a hike to the next town, Santa Cruz La Laguna, and beyond until the trail stopped halfway up a headland and left me no choice but to turn around. The trail wound along the edge of the lake passing beautiful properties and revealing scenic views of the lake and its surroundings.

Since I have no photographs that I took myself to show you I will try to draw you a mental picture of what I saw: standing on a hill, maybe 30 meters above the water the lake spread out underneath me, gleaming and glittering in the sunlight. It is big enough that I have to turn my head to see from one end to the other and still some corners and pockets are hidden behind headlands and hills. Three volcano peaks (actually it is only two, the "Atitlan" and the "Toliman" which has two peaks)line up perfectly across from me in a straight line looking almost the same and a smaller uprising closer to the lake, the "Cerro de Oro" that looks exactly like the "snake that swallowed an elephant" from the story "The Little Prince". Further to the right another volcano rises close to the shore, its shape forming a perfect triangle, at its foot the village of San Pedro la Laguna which shares its name with the mountain. All around the lake it is easy to spot the small villages and cities, white dots on the line that separates lake and highland and where there is no village the surrounding hills come down to meet the lake. It is a clear day, only a few clods crib the perfectly blue sky but close to the water a refreshing wind blows without which it would be too hot for a hike. It is a majestic view from where I stand, simple beauty in its pure form and I almost feel something like sadness that I can't share this moment with someone else.
The rest of my day went by like the last one had ended, with good food and company and loud 'gospel' music from one of the six different churches in town. I really enjoyed the quiet time that I had in Jaibalito where I discovered just a tiny bit more of myself and found the peace that I needed to fully recover from the trip here and settle back in into the backpacking life.

My Guatemalan family

Helga, the mother of the CS family had given me directions to their house and I found it after some looking, in a slightly nicer area, near the market. She had stayed home to welcome me and showed me to my room and around the house which surprisingly reminded me a lot of a German row home. Helga was trying to get some work done and I lay down for a nice siesta before the kids came home from school. Juan Miguel, the boy and the middle child, and I got of to a very good start playing Hacky Sack and talking about football. The two girls, Maria-Sarah and Olga, were a bit more quiet but very sweet once I got to know them a bit better. All of them were growing up speaking three languages, Spanish, German and English and were learning the Mayan language at school. Helga is a real power woman who manages her work as a psychologist and English teacher and is involved in community work next to being a great mom to her three kids, her two cats and her big dog.
I played a lot outside with the kids, teaching them how to hack the sack or just kicking football around. They invited me to share their meals, which is not at all to be taken for granted and I was involved in their family life right from the start. I walked the dog Lobo with Helga who was a very pleasant conversational partner, helped the kids clean the dishes after a meal and looked after them when Helga was at work. It was a great experience and I am really glad, that I met this wonderful family that reminded me a bit of my own a few years ago.
I went for a first swim in the lake which was refreshing but not as nice as I had thought because the water was quite polluted and I had to was it of under a shower back home. My bank gave me a headache and didn't let me withdraw money from my German card which was very annoying because the Australian bank charges me a lot more and I don't even know, what the problem was and I still haven't solved it...
I walked around town a lot, having a look at all the different vendors and bars that are far too many for the number of tourists passing through because the prime time of Panajachel is long over. It is almost sad to see all those colorful and nice looking places go down, seizing away with the tourism and the numbers of tourists in this area.
I made a veggie quiche on Saturday night and once again I was surprised by the low prices for produce in this country. I bought 3 big carrots, 2 zucchinis, spinach, 2 red peppers and a head of broccoli for about 1.50$ at the local market and each of them tasted better than the ones you buy in the supermarket! Helga had invited another German friend over to play some Skat which made me very happy because I hadn't played in a long time and it was one of my favorite games back in Germany. Unfortunately I had a bad day and lost to both of them by at least a hundred points...
On Sunday morning I joined Helga on a walk to Santa Catarina, a village about 4 km away. It was a nice little walk on the road along the lake offering great views onto the lake and it's surrounding volcanoes and villages. The highlight of the trip was a house on a cliff right above the lake that had a balcony extending out over the lake with a breathtaking view. We stood there for a while and I realized that this was when I actually fell in love with the lake. I had read a lot about it and that people had called it "heaven" and "one of the most beautiful places in the world" but I hadn't quite seen the beauty for myself. I have been to a few truly beautiful places and this was nice but not quite in the same league. Standing on top of that cliff overlooking the lake and it's surroundings everything changed for me. It was beautiful and majestic and it was only now that I could comprehend what the people I quoted before had meant.
We had very nice breakfast, delicious french toast made by Olga and my first coffee since I left the US, and a relaxing Sunday. In the later afternoon we visited a friend's dog and I went for another swim in the lake with Juan and when it got dark we played hide and seek outside.
I left them on Monday, one day later than I had planned, and I was sad to leave this beautiful family already because they had been so kind to me and offered me a wonderful time. Even the kids attempt to adopt me as an older brother didn't work (we were unsure about the legal issues) and so I had to say goodbye already but I was invited back whenever I was around in the area and I might even see them some time in Germany. Hopefully!

First steps

After a long and well earned sleep in a comfortable bed I had breakfast with Ancer and Katalina, packed my stuff together and followed Ancer a few blocks down the road to the next bus stop. He invited me to come back to his place when I was back in Guatemala City to pick up my check and showed me to the right bus.

I took one of the famous so called "chicken buses", old US school buses, that were very colorfully painted and decorated and by far the cheapest way to get around Central America. But the low price has a reason: Those buses get filled up until there is literally no space left at all and you have to share your seat with at least three other people and the drivers go nuts on the narrow and bendy roads. Most of the luggage gets  thrown on top of the roof where it sits during the hell ride without being tied down or secured at all. It definitely isn't something for the faint hearted or for someone who doesn't like to come close to other people (you are cuddling with strangers all the time) or expects some comfort but it is authentic, a real experience and quite amusing once you get over the being sat on.
The first bus I took wasn't even very full and the one hour ride to La Antigua Guatemala cost me just over 1$. I got off somewhere where I thought that it was Antigua (I was lucky that it actually was Antigua because there were no signs, it just felt right to get off) and started walking in the direction of the "Parque Central". I checked in at the "El gato negro" hostel close to the town center where I shared a dorm with a Norwegian and an American. I had been walking around with my backpacks for quite a bit  and that makes really hungry so I went to the market to get some fresh fruit. I scored 5 medium sized Mangoes for about 60 cents and feasted over them back at the hostel. The belly full with delicious and healthy fruits it was time for a siesta before I took off for a walk through town. Antigua was the old Spanish capital of Guatemala and it's beautiful houses and churches line the narrow streets and are overlooked by two majestic volcanoes in the south. The town is laid out in a logical grid system (like every planned city) with straight roads but it wasn't logical to me and every corner looked exactly the same to me and the fact that I couldn't find any street names made it very hard for me to to find my way around without loosing my orientation.
The Norwegian guy, Torbjorn and Nic, a girl from New Zealand joined me for dinner at a place that sold yummy mediteranian style like food. It felt good to be together with other travelers again, to share stories and give advice to one another. On our way back we stopped at a local bar for a Mojito from a nice English bar tender and heard a story from a guy who had been robbed that day, trying to climb one of the volcanoes on his own.
I had decided to leave the next day because, even though Anligua was pretty, I was looking for something different. A family from Panajachel on the shores of lake Atitlan had replied to my open couch request and invited me to stay with them for a couple of nights. The mother was from Germany and looking for someone who would speak German with her kids. I had been wanting to speak some German for quite a while (I felt that it was slipping my mind a little) so I accepted the invite gladly.
After a huge breakfast with Nic and Torblorn the latter joined me for the bus ride to the lake. We had to take a combination of different chicken buses and I was glad to have someone with me after all the stories and articles about robberies and kidnapping on public buses that people had sent me... We had to transfer three times and this time the buses were packed with locals but we made it in about three hours. Unfortunately I didn't look after my bag well enough and had my camera stolen out of the pocket. I only noticed it too late and I was really bummed about it. The camera had still been quite new and I had fallen in love with it, especially with the underwater mode. That explains the lack of pictures in this and the coming blog entries but I'll try to get some of other travelers  and the internet.

From Devils and Angels

It was my first day of traveling again after almost 2 months when bad luck hit me with what seemed to be all its might.
After only two and a half hours of sleep my alarm went of and I had to force myself to get out of bed even though my whole body was fighting that move. I showered and packed the last of my belongings into my bags before I woke up Dani and Michael who had agreed to take me to the airport. The drive there was horrible because my body was still protesting the fact that I had gotten up and I felt sick but my mind was exited and a bit anxious about the coming day and everything that was lying ahead of me.
Saying goodbye to Dani was very sad. During my month long stay we had built up a nice dynamic, almost like brother and sister, and we had really gotten used to each other being around.
I waited in line for a while and when it was my turn the lady at the front desk told me that I needed a ticket out of the country before they would let me board the plain and that I only had half an hour to get it before they closed the check in. Still tired, shocked and very annoyed I went to look for Internet but my search was unsuccessful and I returned to the ticketing counter where I bought an expensive (350$) but fully refundable ticket from Guatemala City to San Salvador.
A little bit more relaxed I boarded my flight and was surprised by pancakes and Yogurt for breakfast which lifted my spirits and made at least the hunger go away that I could try to sleep a bit.
After four hours I arrived in San Salvador where I waited for my connecting flight to Guatemala City. There was something wrong with the wheels of the plane and the stopover was more than an hour longer than it was supposed to but the flight itself was very short. We popped up through the clouds for only a very short time before the nose of the plane pointed downwards again and we touched down in Guatemala City.
I wanted to get the money for my ticket back as soon as possible and went looking for a TACA office (the airline I flew with). I only found the check in counters and the woman working there told me that I had to go to one of the TACA centers in the city to refund my ticket. She wrote down the locations and I had to take a completely overpriced taxi for the extremely short way to get there.
At TACA the next blow wasn't far. They didn't have any money and said that it would take at least two weeks to get everything processed and that I would have to come back then to pick up a cheque. There was nothing they could do about it and it was getting close to sunset so I had a look for a wifi hot spot to check the net for a cheap place to stay. I had hared and read a lot of warnings not to travel at night and especially not around the capital and to be honest with you I was getting a bit nervous and anxious with the night closing in and without a place to stay. The CS host who had already accepted me didn't get back to me about his address so I looked for hostels near the airport from where I could easily take a shuttle to Antigua the next day.
Checking my e-mail I then stumbled upon the invite of another CSer from Guatemala City who had contacted me while I was on the plane.
This is when things turned around and my usual luck kicked in that I had missed so badly...

I wrote down his number and went back to the TACA office where I asked to use their phone. After a brief chat with the CSer who still wanted to host me, I asked the woman who had brought me the phone and who's name was Ana Lucia, if she could talk to him to get the address because his directions were very confusing to me. She wrote it down and told me that a taxi would cost about 15$ and that if I wanted to save the money I could wait until the office closed (in two hours) and get a ride with her. I couldn't believe that she had just offered to take me, a complete stranger, in her car and drive me there and happy that things started to work out  I sat down and waited.
At about eight o'clock we left with another college in the back, whom Ana was giving a lift as well. The two of them gave me a little city tour through zone 1, the historic part of the city, with the cathedral and the huge presidents palace which now is a museum and that everyone calls "the avocado" due to its greenish color.
We dropped of her college and went through the drive in of a fast food restaurant (I hadn't eaten since 6 o'clock in the morning) where Ana insisted to buy me a burrito and a drink. I was baffled by the friendliness of this angel and offered her gas money and to invite her to the food but she said that she was just happy to help and that my destination was on her way back home. I left her with only her e-mail and the promise that she would always have a place to stay if she ever came to Germany which felt like a weak thank you for all she had done for me.
My host, Ancer, was a really cool guy with good English, a nice apartment and a beautiful Swedish girlfriend. After a refreshing shower we had a nice chat until 11 o'clock when I fell into bed and slept like a stone until Ancer woke me up in the morning. Unfortunately he was very busy and couldn't host me another night because I had a good time with him and he seemed to be a good guy.
Looking back that day was just one of those travel days that I already wrote about in an earlier post. It started off horribly and at times I thought that it couldn't come much worse but at the end of the day I was safe and snuggled up under a warm blanket with new friends. It really couldn't have been too bad...
I also realized once again that day, that a lot of problems come from the systems, the rules and the guidelines that our society has established but not from the people. Most people are really nice and even if they stand in your way sometimes it mostly is because they have to and not because they want.

One lucky man

On Monday I finished most of the preparations for my trip, went by Kenny's place to say goodbye to his parents and met up with a bunch of people for a farewell dinner in the evening. I was surprised and very happy to see how many had showed up and I felt so lucky and privileged to be surrounded by all those awesome people. Almost everyone from the LB area came. Dani, Kenny, Brenna, Lauren, Chris, Lindsay, Mike, Tom, Michael, Ivy, Mike, Leo, Eli, Shawn, Brianne, Bridget, Johnny and his partner were there to say goodbye and it made me very proud that I could call all these wonderful people my friends.
With a smaller group we went back to Dani's place, where I could have a beer too... and we had a partly sentimental but beautiful evening together. I also went to say goodbye to Della, Dani's mum, Joei, Kara and the dogs (Kaley wasn't there) who had taken really good care of me during my time here and had lovingly integrated me into the family.
It was not easy to say goodbye to every single friend in SoCal but I am sure that it won't be very long until I see them again.

Dave's Music Club

I have to apologize once again for not being up to date after such a long time doing not much but I am working on it. To prevent this from happening again I will skip the next two entries so that I can continue from where I am now. I will then try to stay up to date and eventually finish off the last posts about my time in the US which are already in the making but not quite done yet.
I also want to use this little post in between to promote the blog my brother Till created. It is a great platform for people who love music, music clips and the art of the written word to talk and share their thoughts. If you are into stuff like that I strongly recommend to take a good look. I love it!
http://davesmusicclub.wordpress.com/

Yosemite

Has it already been two months?

2011 in retrospect

Another year has past and like every year it seemed so short but still so many things happened. My 2011 was packed with experiences, new and old friends and a lot of very happy moments. When I think all the way back, the year didn't start that glorious. Me and Mathis had to work at New Years until two o'clock and couldn't drink because we had to drive until the end. It got better very soon though, I finished my community service, organized my trip and moved back home for a few weeks before taking off into the wild wide world. I really enjoyed those weeks before I left because I spent a lot of time with my family and my very good friends in Germany who I knew I would miss a lot while I was gone. I was also very exited to reunite with Rebekka who I hadn't seen in nine months and to go back to Australia and my family and friends on the other side of the world. Australia offered me an awesome time and reinforced my love for that country and its people once again.
Then Indonesia and Malaysia. What a difference to what I knew before on every level. It was the first time for me on the Asian continent and the first time in a third world country and it was an intense but very beautiful and rewarding experience that formed and strengthened me a lot as a person and taught me many valuable lessons. And it is such a beautiful place with its seemingly infinitive possibilities and breathtaking landscapes. The travel experience we made there was very different to Australia and we didn't meet as many locals but we found a few very good friends in other travelers.  I will have to go back there some time to continue what we have started and see what we missed.
Fiji was only a short stopover and when we left it was as if we had visited Eden and were sent back to earth after ten days. I have never seen water that clear, sand that white and people that friendly and simply happy. I regret a bit that I didn't go for a surf while I was there but that I didn't go only gives me a reason to go back again.
And California, bitter sweet California. I've been here for two months and my time here was amazing. The people I've met, the things I've seen, the lessons I've learned and the waves I've surfed were all incredible and each individually a journey and a reward by themselves and I feel so lucky that I could experience it the way I did but there is still something to the place that keeps me from loving it unconditionally. I cant quite figure out what it is but I know that the positive experiences I made are a lot stronger and will last a lot longer and the friends I made here are real friends and of the kind that you have to look for very carefully.

All in all 2011 was a great year for me and the pure life smiled at me with so many different faces, work, leisure, wealth, poverty, friendship, love, new life and death being only a few of them.
If this is how my life is going to be for the next year, I can't wait; I am ready for it.

Christmas and the end of 2011!!!

The drive back to LA was long but the guys who took me down there were nice and talked a lot so it wasn't all too boring. Another guy who shared the ride as well was some sort of public lawyer and he had a lot of cool stories to tell about all the past murder trials he had worked at. We had dinner at "In-n-out", a fast food chain exclusive to CA and the number one thing almost everyone in the state is most proud of, and I must say it was probably the best fast food burger I've ever tasted. The ride share ended in Santa Monica but luckily Dani was working there through the month of December and could meet me at the drop off point and take me back to her place.
The cold weather in SF and especially the uninsulated basement of the Randolph mansion had affected my my health a little and back in Long Beach i could feel a nasty cold creeping into my body. I ignored the signs and met Dani in Santa Monica the next day where we went to an art show that was organized by one of her friends who owns a studio there. The art was amazing  (check it out at http://www.curiobyafn.com/ if you like) and afterwards we met Greg, with whom we went sailing a few weeks ago and who was celebrating his move to SF.
Still sick I went for my first surf in SoCal, after the trip north, with Lindsay, a good friend and fellow student of Dani which turned out to be a bad idea, not because of Lindsay or the surf, but because it tied  me to the bed for the next couple of days.
I rode Dani's bike to Kenny's place which was a nice ride along a canal for about 10 miles. It was good to catch up on everything with my American bro. I helped him and Brianne set up the pinball machine which they had been restoring and we just chilled at his place for the day and played pinball. Lauren came by and gave me a ride back to her place from where we walked to Dani's, who was having a few friends over and we spent the evening eating curry and drinking Jägermeister. It was going towards Christmas and I was invited to to join Lauren and her friends for the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. We lit the Menorah, ate Latkes and played Catan before we visited other friends who were celebrating with a lot more people and a lot more great food.
Then Christmas arrived. My Christmas eve day was one of the best days of my life but I'm having a really hard time to put in words what made it so great. I woke up on December 24th, had a nice breakfast and walked to a coffee shop that had WiFi, where I skyped with my family while they where unwrapping presents. It was nice to see them doing what we had been doing for years and it didn't even seem very far away. After that I skyped with Bekki who had also had a nice Christmas eve with her family. It was a beautiful day outside and really warm and I decided to go for a surf. Dani was working and had the car which meant that I had to get down to the beach another way. I didn't bother to think about how I would do it, I just grabbed my stuff, my board and walked out of the front door with a big smile on my face. At the big road I tried to hitchhike but no one wanted me so I decided to take the bus. What I only noticed after I had gotten onto the bus was that I didn't have the right change on me but the nice driver let me ride for free. I had to change buses and decided to give hitching another try. After only a short while a car pulled over to give me a ride. During the process of figuring out how to fit my board into their small car I found out that one of the two people also was a traveler from Germany.He and the American girl were on their way to San Diego and we talked and exchanged stories and they drove me all the way to the beach. I surfed for a few hours in nice, small waves and still nothing could wipe that big fat smile of my face that hadn't left since I woke up in the morning. I played a game of Volleyball with a Catholic church group who I had met on the beach before until it was dark and Dani came to pick me up. We took a little d-tour on the way back to buy Dani a surfboard (her Christmas present to herself) and ate dinner at her Mom's place while watching a real American Christmas classic: "This beautiful life". I felt better than I had felt in a long time and each time I tell someone about this day I realize that nothing very special had happened. It was just a good day!
Christmas. It was the first time for me that I didn't celebrate it at home with my family and friends and I had been awaiting it with both, interest and uncertainty. It turned out to be lovely and I am very happy that I could make that experience and that I found such great people, a home away from home, who let me into their lives and spend this day with them.
I had breakfast with Dani's family and we all unwrapped presents, I got a belt (I really needed one), a small and light flashlight and a super cool Fossil watch, exactly the model I wanted. Then Dani and I took her board out the first time and that was basically what we did for the next five days. The surf was amazing and Dani was done with work for the year which meant that we could stay in the water for hours and didn't have to worry about the time at all.
On the 29th we drove to Shaver Lake which was about 5 hours north in the sierras to meet some of Dani's friends from the program in which she had studied abroad in Costa Rica and celebrate the new year with them. We picked up Sarah in Ventura and had a fun drive up there with a lot of stories and laughter. We went snowboarding with Jenny and Patty, who owned the cabin we were staying at,  which was a lot of fun even in the fake snow and I ended the day with a injury that I can still feel sometimes, almost two months later, and met the others when we came back to the cabin.We were 11 people and had a great and memorable (not so much for all of us, haha) New Years eve. I'm very glad that Dani took me because we had such a good time and her friends are all really great (Sarah even has BFF qualities).