Thursday, August 7, 2008

Jills Bday weekend aka la playa

It's been too long since we were at the beach to remember all the details but I'll try. Here goes it:

The few days before we left I ran around looking for things for Jill's 23rd bday, and bought a 25 shot firework, bottle of wine, candles, a ton of stuff from the store like a crown, magic wand, candy of course, glow earrings and necklace...and wrapping paper so I could wrap each gift individually so she'd have gifts the whole day. Oh and I made her a cake, which she picked out the flavors, chocolate with the icing that's the sprinkle stuff thats delicious. So we met around 2 on Friday to head out to the beach. All piled into a microbus, fun as usual, cake and all, to the terminal to catch the chicken bus that we would be riding for the next 3 hours. So, we get on the bus at the terminal and wait 2 hours and we're still not out of Xela, it is guatemala. So it was all peachy at first but then as we drove, more and more people got on the bus and the rule is 3 to a seat so I was on the inside and then Jacobo then the Guat next to him then like a million standing so when the bus turned it often felt like my ribs were going to crack. I have a pic of the bus from my seat, still not posted, sor. Every stop the bus makes, people from the town get on in the front of the bus and try to sell stuff like dried platanos, cold drinks, nuts, whatever, and go through the whole bus and exit the end of the bus. Sometimes there were so many people on the bus that people would try to get in in the back of the bus but it was full so they just hang on to the ladder or the door while the bus drives until somehow they find room inside the bus. Uh god, Jill was sitting in front of me and her window was down, and they keep food and whatever on top of the bus and when we the bus took off, fucking nasty dirty juice poured into her window and blew on to me. It smelled like ever living hell and that was the beginning of me being super dirty. As we got closer to the playa it got warmer and warmer and it was glorious to take off my sweater and put on my sunglasses. Closer to the coast is where the bananas are grown so there were fields of banana trees and some other plant beneath them that I still dont know what they are but they looked cool. When we got to Coatepeque to switch buses, we made a booze run and once we got onto the next bus we began to booze for the bday! It was dark by then, and we had another like 2 hours on the bus to the beach so we drank 3 beers in that time, not much but enough to feel a little buz, then we got to Tilapa and opened another. When we got to Tilapa we were informed that we had to take a boat to Tilapita and I made a joke that it would be this wooden boat without an engine and the guy would use a stick to take us to the island...when we got to the dock, there was a wooden boat with a guy, but it actually had a motor. SO we all piled in, Jill and I had a beer in hand, meanwhile the others probably thought we were alcoholics cause someone dropped a beer and Jill picked it up and started drinking out of the hole in the side of it (pic). Got to the island, to find the roads were still made of sand, and were the whole way to the casa. No need to describe the house as you will be able to see it is nothing. Funny cause the windows are screens but above the windows and below the roof there is nothing so you still get eaten by mosquitos...duh. So we got to the beach, the director Liz made a fire for dinner but by that time we were pretty drunk and they probably hated us, but we ate and they used my knife and whatever. There was this 10 year old, Victor, who lived at the hotel who hung out for a long time, that was the beginning of wondering what their parents were doing and if they ever knew where their kids were. I really dont want to write this blog right now. Too much. Ok, so we drank and drank, got into the ocean, I hit someone with my headlamp, and the headlamp broke and flew off into the ocean into oblivion...sorry Dad, I'll buy you the same one! Didn't get too far into the ocean that night cause we had heard the ocean was dangerous and had a serious undertow, which it did, cause just getting in knee deep it pulled you in pretty hard. After that we were so sandy and gross that we decided it would be a good idea to find the hotel pool, which we didn't know where the hotel even was cause they dont have lights there so we went in one general direction past our casa and ran straight into the pool! It was amazing! I went to bed earlier than the rest of the crew cause Ruchi pissed me off and Amy added to the fire, so that's that night. Opened up my sleep sack which was perfect and slept on my mat, also perfect! No mosquito bites that night, why I don't know. But the next night I did even though I had toxic amounts of bug spray on. So woke up, with great bangs, hot as hell and covered in sand still. I had bought balloons for Jills bday and Greg and I blew them up and I hung them around the room. Then I gave her one of her first presents. The sand was black! The hotel, haha, Jill had asked earlier if it might have water sports, such a joke. We had breakfast at the hotel but it wasnt like you got to order your food, they just had plates of beans, eggs, tortillas, platanos, and coffee out for us. Not to mention we were the only guests for probably 15 miles. So throughout the day we swam in the ocean and played in the waves, laid out a little, kept giving presents, set up the vball net in the pool and played a little, met 2 other travelers, one from the states but had a big english accent, the other from italy...whos spanish was awesome cause it was spanish with an italian accent so for some reason it was really easy to understand, got fresh coconuts and drank the milk, lazied around. Lunch was good, after lunch the cake which survived the journey on the bus and was delicious. Later that night we had dinner, once again no menu, but it was fresh seafood so it was alright. We made a bonfire at the beach and made smores afterwords with the whole group...and while they were doign that, I went and set off the fireworks! They kicked ass, like full on show for 25 shots. Didn't drink much that night and attempted to go to bed early but eventually realized we werent going to bed so we all got up and hung out in hammocks then came back to bed and had a giggle fit for like 30 minutes until Eric told us to shut the fuck up...haha. It was great but so hot we couldn't fall asleep and I couldn't breathe cause I sprayed so much bugspray on myself and my sleep sack. Next day got up early, breakfast again, showered in the nastiest shower ever, and we vamanosed. This whole time kids accumulated and hung around us until we were all really annoyed and worried they were going to steal everything. This one little girl claimed it was her birthday just so she could get jills crown and magic wand and after jill gave it to her Victor said she was a liar and it wasn't her birthday...so guatemalteco. Anyway, slept like hell that night so the bus ride home I was pretty much sleepy sitting up with my knees crunched into the seat in front of me. That's pretty much it for the weekend I think...maybe Ill remember more tomorrow, I'm super tired cause last night we were out till 3am and had to get up at 7 for breakfast and no nap and salsa class. I'll try to account my week tomorrow morning for you kids. Hope you found this entertaining, if not, sor. I'll post pics someday.

3 comments:

Dylan said...

What did Rucci and Amy do that pissed you off so much?

Anonymous said...

Dylan, is that what caught your attention the most out of all that?

I had gathered from the pictures you posted that the place was indeed what I would imagine a Guatemalan resort would look like.

So this director, Liz, lives in Guatemala all the time? Is she from there? Did she warn you at all what this place was going to be like?

I'm going to have a lot of editing to do to send this piece to my mom!

Love you - glad you made it back to Xela in one piece!

Anonymous said...

Black sand mixed with bug spray and hungover with not enough sleep - ugh.