¨"I want to marry with you right now¨"

Hi everyone! So I am actually blogging before kelly, what do you think about that? We have now been through the south of Guatamala and El Salvador since our last blog and are currently in Nicaragua. Where to begin... well Antigua, Guatemala although beautiful, was too touristy for my taste and so I convinced Kelly to leave a little early and go down to the beach for a night before we went to El Salvador. I was told it was extremely easy to get to the coast of El Salvador from this beach we were headed to so it only made sense. Not so easy! The public transportation in Central America is an old yellow school bus that is painted over in various colors and called a chicken bus and they literally fill them as though they are chicken coops. Anyway, when we got to the beach in Guatemala we learned that there were no direct shuttles and we would need to take these chicken buses to get to where we wanted in El Salvador. What an experience! 8 hours, 3 chicken buses and a crazy lady (who helped kelly and i out a lot but then later was strangely insistent that we come and stay at her house in El Salvador) later, we arrived in a city in where we were told we had two more bus switches left and we would be arriving after dark to our final location. That was enough! Kelly talked to a taxi driver and we got driven to El Tunco, (the beach) directly. The following four days were amazing!!! Our accomodations on this beautiful black sanded beach were perfect and the people became family instantly. And the surf! yes it´s true Ilisa took surf lessons and got up a couple times although for seconds but she still got up and intends to try again in Costa Rica. Our journey continues to Leon, Nicaragua. We arrived there on Thursday (not on the chicken bus), and on Friday woke up at 3:45 in the morning to what else, go hike up an active volcano, (the youngest active volcano in central america, Cerro Negro- black hill). This was not my favorite hike because the conditions are not very comfortable. We walked steadily up hill in pure sand for about 2 hours to get to the base of the volcano and then once there, headed up on the rocky path with wind so strong it was actually blowing me over. The craziest part was coming down the mountain. We literally ran down the side of the mountain, digging our heels into the gravel do keep ourselves from not falling over. The tour was nice because it was kelly and I and 3 guides, one from Israel and one from Nicaragua, so the conversations were very interesting. I really enjoy talking to the locals that are around my age in every country because not only is it interesting to hear the way they speak about their country but it is interesting to hear how they speak about other countries and there feelings about Mexicans (which is not so good here in Nicaragua but in El Salvador and Guatamala the guys were way more open minded). Its funny because whenever I speak in spanish people know I learned in Mexico based on the slang I can´t help but use. As of right now, Kelly and I arrived in Granada, Nicaragua. It is the oldest city in Central America and around the center it is very beautiful. We already met some cool people to socialize with and found people who want to marry us. We have decided that we have never met such shameless men in our lives. Walking down the street, the noises and profanities that our yelled out at us without hesitation is unbelievable but its getting old. I almost hurt a nica kid yesterday and Kelly told an old man in Guatamala to " callate" ( shut up). To our defense, when you are traveling around with a million bags in 95 degree weather, searching for your next destination, the cat calling or even more the grunting, doesn´t help. Well, I guess I will end here and let Kelly put her two cents in. Until next time......

Besos y Abrazos!!
Ilisa

Buenas Dias, This is the lastest I have slept in four weeks, 9 am which i know for some of you is late but for me is still early. There have been a couple days where i have woken up before sunrise. The last couple of weeks have been quite relaxing, long days and early nights. Once again there have been some crazy travel experiences thrown in the bag but now its just part of the routine. We´ve given up on gringo transportaion and been traveling the local routes more frequentely which has been way more interesting. Luckily, Ilisa´s Spanish is muy bien so when we´ve encontered any kind of trouble its been easy to problem solve. As Ilisa said, we spent four days in El Tunco, El Salvador by far one of my favorite spots so far. Its definitely the type of place where i could stay for a month or so. Most of the people at La Guitarra were staying for months and were there for the second time. The El Salvadorians were so welcoming and friendly as well, more so then Guatemalans and Nicaraguans. Furhtermore, I attempted to surf and by the third day was kind of getting the hang of it but i need to spend some more time in Costa focusing on it, I hope your down Brooke! Surfers just make it look so easy and then you quickly realize its not and that there are rip tides and all kinds of crazy obstacles. Now we are in Nicaragua, we started in Leon in Northern Nicaragua and we were there for a couple of days. We Hiked Cerro Negro (the black hill) which i thought was awesome and we pretty much skiied down it. Leon had some character and the whole place was covered in intricate murials and graffiti art. Now we are in Granada and tomorrow we will be headed to Lago Apoyo for two days more of R & R, es una vida duro.
Nos Vemos Pronto,
Kelly

Gringas con actitud

Getting Ilisa to write a blog is harder then getting a Mexican man to commit to one woman. So we are going to play a game, we will take turns writting sentences. (I) Traveling down to the south of mexico was amazing, i had my Bicho (the boy) and kel and then the beautiful beaches of Oaxaca, once again there wasn't really much i could ask for. (K) Mazunte was one of the coolest beaches ive ever been to, even with Carlos the crazy hostel owner and getting locked out of my room and spending the night with two random European people who welcomed me into their room. (I) From the beach we headed to San Cristobal which much like Guanajuato is a colonial city with beautiful colored buildings and markets that stretched for miles. We spent 3 nights there with a day trip to agua azul and palenque (im sure kel has more to comment on that trip). (K) I guess I will be the voice of reason in this blog, no seriously its all been amazing (Vale la pena) but next to my trip to Siam Reap from Bangkok the trip to Palenque was the worst bus ride Ive ever been on. We spent ten hours on the shuttle with one of the grumpest drivers Ive ever meet, there were speed bumps ever half mile and on top of that it rained (it rained a total of three time while i was in mexico (7 weeks)) we were totally unprepared and were soaking wet for the 5 hour ride back to San Cristobal. (I) The next morning Kel and I left Mexico (very sad) and headed on another great ride to Panajachel to then take a fabulous launch boat to a pueblo on the side of Lake Atitlan (SP?). We arrived to the town right after sunset to discover that the power had gone out in the entire lugar (place). A strange woman escorted us to the hostel we were planning on staying at but sure enough there were no rooms available. (K) At least when we finally found a room, we were greeted by a delicious meal in a gorgeous sitting room where i mananaged to fall down a flight of wooden stairs in front of everyone staying in the hostel. We spent our days here detoxing, yoga swimming, cliff jumping, wandering aimlessly and sleeping. (I) Today we said good bye to that tranquility and arrived this afternoon in Antigua after a lovely shuttle ride that included an older woman vomitting half the car ride. (K) So now we`re here and the best part is, we haven`t killed each other yet! So until next time, there should only be about tres mil no gracias`uttered from our mouths between now and then.
los mandamos un monton de besos! * Ilisa y Kelly ( we send you all a mountain of kisses)

Poco a Poco

Buenas Tardes, So I figured i would check in and say hello again. I have four days left in Guanajuato, unfortunately my fun has finally caught up with me and I´m sick. Oh well, Ive been resting because my next adventure begins on Saturday. My host family has really been urging me to go to the doctor, they think Im crazy because Ive been eating garlic and taking vitamins. They are convinced that I´m sick because i walk around the house barefoot but they clean the floor everyday. What can i say i dont like wearing shoes in the house. Anyway, my spanish hasn´t gotten much better and I wish I had more time to take classes but I´ve decided, I´m going to return to Guanajuato before i head back to the States, Im not ready to put an end to my love affair with Guanajuato. Hopefully, I will be blogging more often during the two months when Im mobile. The weirdest thing happened today. I was walking back to my house for lunch, chatting with Ilisa. I turned onto my street which a car was blocking and suddenley bam. I hit my head on a metal water meter box. I didn´t think much of it and started to laugh, I lifted my hand to my head and i was gushing blood. It was a ton of blood but i didn´t get a bump or anything and it was the tinest cut, head injuries are bizzare. I´m going to turn the blog over to Ilisa so she can inform you of her passionate week at the beach.
Nos Vemos,
Kelly


Ahhhh really thats all i can say because i am just bursting with excitement and emotion over the past 11 days that i just spent at the beach with 3 of my best friends. Last friday i packed my bags with the hope of at least spending 5 days at the beach because we were going to my friend Rojo´s sister´s wedding in Ixtapa. This is mexico, no one really plans anything so i had no idea what to expect. What i did know was we had a house that a friend lent us somewhere in Ixtapa and this wedding we were going to was also somewhere in ixtapa. We got to our destination at 230 in the morning and had the wedding the following day at 6. The wedding was basically the wedding of my dreams, sunset ceremony in the sand followed by martini filled reception, followed by a delicious meal and a first dance lit up by fireworks. Our desert included african drummers and dancers as well as fire dancers to light up the night. We danced til 7 in the morning when the groom and his men ended up in the pool. That was just the beginning but i could blabble on about every detail of my trip as i have it enscribed perfectly in my head but Im not going to. I will tell you in short that we fled one day from ixtapà found a random inlet for a beach which was actually a boat that took us to the beach where we spent the night camped out with fellow travelers we came across. JUST AMAZING!!! later we went back to the house in ixtapa spent another day by the pool and then packed our bags for the final adventure. Two hours in the car and we pull up to a house on the beach. Rojo says we´re here lets set up the tents. We´re here? im thinking, there is noone here, no lights, just beach, where are the other campers. (by the way this is about midnight that we get there). Anyway, I wake up the next morning when i think the sun was telling me it was 7 30 (didnt wear a watch the whole trip) and saw white and blue.... soft white pure sand and swift blue ocean. We spent the next and last three days here where our biggest decision was what type of shrimp we were going to order. The days consisted of breakfast, napping in the hammock, swimming in the ocean, sunset walks on the beach, dinner and falling asleep by the bonfire. Do i really need to say more???Now back in Guanajuato I am taking care of last minute business and taking care of final details for the next great adventure in the following week. I hope anticipate the following blog will come with just as much enthusiasm as kelly and I begin our journey down south.

¿Que onda, guey?

I think I´m due for a blog but you will have to excuse my english because attempting to learn spanish has made it difficult to spell correctely. The last week and a half has been really amazing. I´ve done some hiking and exploring and i can´t get enough of the electric colors. I moved in with a Mexican family and although it was a bit overwhelming at first, I´m loving it. My Señora is great, she´s been so welcoming and everytime I eat she sits with me and I get to practice my spanish. I´ve been learning so much everyday and even though its difficult to sort through everything, my spanish is kind of coming along. Last night I learned how to meow in spanish, ñeaow.
Hasta Luego,
Kelly

The Beginning:Kelly´s arrival en Guanajuato

Hi everyone! Thanks to kelly I will now actually be updating people on my travels through this blog. These last 4 months have been amazing in Guanajuato. I have now finished up all my credits to graduate amd have actually been working as abartender in a mescal bar here in Guanajuato. I have made soo many new friends here from all over the world; Canada, Holland, Germany and now I am living with 2 chicas from Norway which is very cool. I have also continued to build even stronger relationships with my Mexican friends and truly feel as though I have a second family here. Anyway as we all know I am not so much a typer so I shall pass the computer to kelly- Miss and love everyone soo much and look for our updates!
A million besos!!!
Ilisa

Hello everyone, I´ve arrived safely in Guanajuato and other then one minor set back everything went smoothly ( I showed up at the wrong airport when I was leaving DC and had to travel an hour to Baltimore to get on the right flight, luckily I made it.) Guanajuato is an amazing little town with alot of personality and all of Ilisa´s friends have been very welcoming. My Spanish isn´t quite as good as I thought it was but i took my first spanish class today and hopefully i wont sound like as much of an idiot in the upcoming weeks. I´ve been staying at Ilisa´s house which is a typical mexican casa, its really cute and unique. Her and I have been sharing a room and we were recently joined by our new scorpion friend who we refer to as La senora, she sings us to sleep every night. Hopefully, next week i will be moving into Ilisa´s old homestay. Its a pretty sweet deal, its seventeen dollors a night including three meals a day, she cleans your room everyday and does your laundry. It will be more of a cultural experience as well, i will be forced to speak spanish and its scorpion free. Until next time, Kelly.