guatemala 2009 video is here!!!! check it out.

just finished this yesterday. this one was a tough one to make. i seemed like i took more video than pictures on this trip. so editing 45 minutes of rough video, to 3 and half minutes took some time. i wanted to add more, so i might make another one. hope you all like it.

good ol' guatemala. this place was really cool, except for a few incidents. camera equipment getting stolen, and oh yeah getting a gun pointed at us during a hold up for our stupid cell phones, yeah the cell phones we didn't have on us. rick took one for the team and gave up his wallet with a drivers licence, amex card, and twenty bucks. so thanks rick for saving us. i hope that guy that pointed that gun at us has shot himself in the leg, hit an artery and couldn't get to the hospital. other than that it was great driving all over the country in a sweet minivan. thanks for driving stan. since the last post we went to a market in chichi and they had everything and anything one would want to purchase. i found a lovely machette. it is great. then we headed to tikal to the mayan ruins. it was cool to hike up them. watched the sunset from atop temple 4. it was great. i am was so thankful to be back in the states. i need a trip like this every couple years to realize how lucky we are to live where we do. but don't think i will make it back to guatemala. to many other places to visit. so.....i will try to update this again soon. cheers

still in pana...

hello. well we are still here in pana. took a boat ride to indian village called santiago. then to another small lake town. this place reminds me of a central american lake como. it is hot here. we played soccer with some local kids for about an hour this afternoon. it was four gringos against what started out to be 9 or so 6-8 year olds, then word got out in a matter of minutes, that 9 or so turned into about 20 little kids playing agianst us. it was so much fun. now just waiting to go to dinner and then do some shopping. tomorrow we leave here and head to chici to where there is a huge market. we will do that for a couple hours and then back to guatemala city. play some bingo and blackjack, then off to tikal on friday morning. the weather has been great, hopefully stays that way. sorry tom that you haven{t been able to golf yet. enjoy the rain!!! not sure when i will get to this again. so adios for now.

pana....something

well we are now at lake atilian in a place called pana. we spent a most enjoyable time at the beach yesterday for my birthday. dont have pics up yet, but it was 90 degrees and clear blue skies. our rooms were right on the beach. took a morning swim before we left. had bananas foster for my birthday cake. rick nielson tried to find a pinata for me to break, but couldnt find on. (the keyboards here are different so if my punctuation is wrong forgive me). i have taken so many pictures it will take forever to go through. the car rides around the country have been great. it is great to just look out and enjoy the scenery. the people here are really nice, except for our first day when the camera stuff got stolen. so a couple of volcanos fuming. those things are massive! for dinner tonight i had the best filet, bacon on it, it was great. and all for 12 bucks! we will go there tomorrow for dinner. lots planned for the next day or so, going on a lake tour to some villages of the native indians. i am sure lots of pics. well i am going to go back to the hotel and read my book, and just relax. i am picking up more and more spanish phrases. i am getting the rosetta stone when i get home and going to learn spanish. hopefully come back to central or south america and be able to get around fine. good night.

what a busy few days....

well made it here safely. long day of travel. mexico city airport sucks. got hasseled by policia. but made it to guatemala city. when we got here we just headed out to see the city. played bingo at a casino, got good at my spanish numbers as the night went on. blackjack tables were here but the limits were a bit high. anyhow got to antigua, the former capital of guatemala, started out crappy. one of our friends got 4000, yes four grand in camera equiptment stolen right from under us in a burger king. we didn´t even see them take it. so that dampered the mood. we have all been a bit on edge. we head to the beach in the morning. we rented cars and they drive like crazies here but we just go with the flow. but looking forward to the beach, my birthday is tomorrow, so i will be spending it on a beach here. it will be great. have taken tons of pics. hopefully get some up here soon. it is nice and warm here, love it. hope all is well with you guys. until next time...