[travel blog] - just keep swimming... in kentucky!

well what can i say...
i'm in kentucky right now
on a work trip
about to spend my second nite
in the lil ol' town of owensboro
it's a quaint lil town
and i must say,
nothing at all like i expected
in fact,
i even learned from some locals
that they don't even really have a fried chicken specialty here
(tho they do have bah-bee-cue)
and that ol' colonel sanders
mighta jist come from the deep-ah south
and chose kin-tuck-ee because it sounded good
oh-ah sumthin
another illusion shattered
how sad.
anyways,
quite a few folks around here
have just a hint of that ol' suth-un drahl
and if you don't know it already
i just love the way it sounds!

so anyways,
on to the explanation
behind the title of the blog
only 3 days on the road
and i was feeling bloated already
so i started inquiring about a pool in owensboro
and heard that there was one at each of the ymca's here
the first one was a few minutes from my hotel
and off i went at 6pm
thinking to get a nice swim in before supper
however,
as friendly as the people were there
unfortunately
the pool was about the size of the king sized bed
in my suite at the hampton
luckily
when they realized "ah wuz lookin' fer a LAP pool"
they pointed me in the direction of the other ymca
and so off i went
and discovered huge modern well lit and fabulously clean facility
i was a bit early for the lane swim
as they had the whole pool booked for lessons until 7pm
so i wandered around for half an hour
and checked it out
very very nice
the pool was a five lane 25 yard pool
with fairly narrow lanes
(as one of my fingers found out
when i swam my first length of fly
and smacked it right good n' hard)
but quite empty too
once the lessons were over
and so off i went
the water a dark clear blue
(dark because this was the one room
which wasn't extremely well lit)
and the surface smooth and calm

walking into the pool
brought back A LOT of memories
i don't know if it was my imagination
but i had many of my first lessons
at a ymca back in sault ste. marie, ontario
and this pool looked SO similar
right down to the tiles
that for a moment
i could see in the kids taking lessons
an itty bitty kirby
trying hard as heck
to stay afloat...
very weird
anyways,
the highlight of my day
was this swim
for a variety of reasons
the people were SO friendly everywhere
and after i did my standard kirby warmup
(100m free continuous WITH flip turns... wow eh?
and 50m psuedo-breast)
and then a couple lengths of hypoxic stroke counts
one of the older guards came over to me -
he complimented me with that fine accent of his
telling me that i swam beautifully and so silently and smoothly
wow!
i don't get compliments like that from strangers often
and if i were standing on land
i'd prolly be rubbing the heel of my foot with my other foot
as it was,
i think i did that anyway
but it's kind of different when you're in the water
i must say,
i was speechless
yup
mumbled a shy thank you
as he reiterated his compliment in a couple of different ways
and i just stood there in the deep end
(there was a ledge)
and didn't know what else to say...
i mean what CAN you say other than "um, thank you"?
i guess one could blush
but i've never seen myself blush
so i don't think that's possible
anyways,
i continued to swim
in my usual way
slow gliding lengths underwater
with plenty of rest...err meditative states of intense focus
in between to catchmybreathREACH ENLIGHTENMENT
(YAH)
*blink*
when i noticed a man swimming in the lane beside me
he was quite a large man
and i smiled and nodded at him
we got to talking
and i found he was just learning to swim
and was having some problems
(like he didn't have goggles...
oh, and he didn't know how to swim very well)
i commented that goggles might make things easier
(as i had noticed that he was swimming
with his eyes closed and often times
when he tried to breathe
he was missing the air...
it happens you know)
a few lengths later
he borrowed a mask from his 12 year old step son
(mason)
and did MUCH better
i don't know
if it was the friendliness of the people
the compliment from the guard
or what
but i was in a totally relaxed and open mood
and chatted with him and his step son
in such an extroverted way
(moi! l'introvert extraordinaire!)
but i was totally not in "work-mode" or "performance-mode"
it was almost like it was natural or something
so i showed the kid some air rings
which is really cool when you see it the first time i guess
and had tons of fun
for the next hour
between the odd lap of whateverifeltlikeswimmingatthemoment
(usually to stay warm)
i'd hang out with the kid
and just play
and i was totally accepted
as a kid!
man,
it was SO much fun
making faces underwater
yelling messages
floating like you're dead
swimming like a bug
copycat
tag
see-who-can-get-the-dizziest
swim-like-an-armless-frog...

i don't think i ever had that much fun
...even as a kid
:)

i met his sister
his mother (who later came on deck with a lil baby)
his step brother
and seeing them play
i suddenly thought of why
i love coaching so much
it's the fun of it, eh!

some of the games we played
would help him become a better swimmer
or rather find a softer balance in the water
and that was just plain neat
because it was all fun

i stayed at the pool
a bit longer than i'd intended
but by 8:45pm
i was famished
and hunger pangs
began to remind me
that it wouldn't be much more fun
if i kept ignoring him
(yeah,
my stomach was a "him" today)
(don't ask)
so i said goodbye
to my new friends
and he was asking his mom
if he could come back tomorrow
(as i'd said i'd be swimming the next couple nights)
and it was really neat
i'm finding
that
it's the little things in life
that are really spectacular sometimes
anyways,
now it's time for bed
as i've a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow
and i cannot help
but look forward
to a swim tomorrow
even if my new friends
do not show up
for who knows
what lil joys
tomorrow will bring?
:)

travel blog - to san pedro sula and home

so yeah,
this luxury bus
sarah and i went early
to grab good seats
(it was open seating)
and we got the front row of seats
which was nice
they were comfy, soft and reclined nicely
it was a direct service bus to san pedro sula
however, we learned that in honduras this means
it stops to pick up anyone and everyone along the "direct" route
which was a weird experience
after one dozes off
and wakes up to see people crammed in the aisle of the bus
:)
upon arriving at san pedro sula
we found a hotel a couple blocks away
got settled in a super musty room
(the girls got a really nice room)
after which sarah and i
headed out in search of food
and bus tickets for sarah, erin and mikayla's trip to managua
i would fly out with anita the next day
walking around the city centre of san pedro sula
was a bit disorienting
and we found an error in the lonely planet
the hard way
after walking a dozen or two blocks
and finding that the bus company
didn't have any buses to managua
later,
on an inspired hunch
i told sarah to ask our hotel manager dude
if he knew of any buses
because he really seemed to have things together
booking me a taxi for early next morning so fast
i couldn't believe it
(and it was reliable too!)
well he did
and later the bus situation was resolved
in between
we found that in san pedro sula
there aren't really any restaurants
at least not within the 20 block radius that we explored
(and macdonald's doesn't count!)
we finally settled for the oriental king
and had some interesting chinese food
i have to admit
the rice noodles were really good
even if i didn't have room to eat much of them
because the bowls of soup were gi-normous
we brought the leftovers back for the girls to eat
(which was about 98% of the plate)
so the food did not go to waste
we did a brief search for ice cream
later in the afternoon
and totally failed
tho we did go to a grocery store
and get some cookies and bus food
supper was a return to the oriental king
(simply because it was getting dark out
and there were NO other restaurants to be found in the area)
after a stop at super licuado
a licuado shop
that the lonely planet dude says are the best in honduras
and sad to say
it has NOTHING on the amazing stuff the licuado ladies made in san pedro
plus it was 3 times the price
so i guess if i ever return to central america
i'll have to visit san pedro (guatemala) again
because a great licuado is an enlightening experience you know

really.

the trio left the next morning by taxi to the bus station
that was 4am
i saw them off
and then caught a taxi at 5am to the airport
where taca promptly put us on the next flight to san jose (costa rica)
(taca = airline)
via san salvador (el salvador)
again
i have to say
things went fairly smoothly
tho the airport in san jose is the shittiest excuse of an airport i've ever been in
mainly because
in the waiting lounges the food is overpriced
$9USD for a burger king whopper
and we all know how important food is
to say it's overpriced is actually an understatement
when you think that for $9USD,
i could get a hotel room,
3 meals
and still have money left over for licuados
in just about any town
just to put things in perspective
luckily,
i had the foresight to buy a bag of chips
before we left copan ruinas
and that kept me alive for the 4 or 5 hours
so it was all good in the end

we had to get our boarding passes for air canada here
only there was no air canada counter or agent around
luckily,
after waiting for a couple hours
sporadically asking taca agents for help
(which consisted of them telling us to go to a gate and wait
and then go to a different gate and wait, etc.)
we finally found one who took our passports and tickets
and went out of the transit area to get our boarding passes for us
very helpful guy
too bad the printer broke before all the passes were printed out
so i got my 2
(san jose to toronto and toronto to edmonton)
but anita only got one
we boarded the air canada flight
which was quite smooth
(the taca flights had quite a bit of trouble
taking off and landing
in that they seemed to create magic turbulence
that had everyone gripping seat arms
and made the children and lil babies cry)
and very friendly
and very generous
-they gave me an extra main
yummy chicken and mashed potatoes!
god bless air canada!

one of my favourite things about flying
is watching sunset or sunrise
from above the clouds
this sunset was particularly vivid
and i took a couple photos with my bro's digital camera
(he'd lent it to me for the backpacking part of the trip
what a nice guy)
and while photos never seem to capture
the true glory of the moment
they do give you a rough idea of what was really there

the approach to toronto
was quite neat
i noticed for the first time
the true difference between clouds and fog
with a low lying fog
it seemed like the city's lights were all blurry
this effect was patchy
depending on where the fog was
and gave the nightscape a surreal touch
after we landed,
the fog got thicker and thicker
and the thought crept into my mind
that if this kept up
i would be spending the night in toronto
and i was quite eager to get home
so this was not a good thing
after we landed
(at the temporary terminal)
we managed to make the first shuttle
and going through customs was a breeze
i love canada!
and i think all customs officers should be like ours
(sans firearms)
yup
mine was even smiling
how nice!

then we had to wait for our bags
which seemed promising
as the conveyor started moving
but after about 10 minutes
a voice announced that the fog was so thick
that the baggage handlers couldn't drive safely
and so we waited
meanwhile,
our chances of returning home
seemed to lessen by the minute
our layover wasn't all that long
only about an hour and a bit
and by the time our baggage came through
(which was in doubt)
we had less than 20 minutes
to get anita's boarding pass
and find the gate from which our plane was leaving
which ironically was leaving on time
we almost didn't make it
as we had to manually transfer our luggage
and normally that's supposed to be at the latest,
half an hour before departure
but the air canada people rushed us through
and we went running through the terminal to our gate...
which happened to be the farthest possible gate in the terminal
needless to say,
toronto's international airport
is DAMN big
tho the run was nice after sitting for so long
and i enjoyed the next flight just as much as the last
extra food again
and the landings were so smooth
it took a moment to realize we were on the ground already
quite a difference from the bouncing skidding landings by taca
and just so that everyone knows i'm being fair and impartial
the taca planes were actually newer than the air canada ones
(airbus 320s compared to the airbus 319s AC was flying)

arriving in edmonton to a blast of fresh cool air
was quite exhilirating
and felt perfect to me
as i'd been bitten by so many lil bug thingies
and bloodsucking mosquitos
that the crisp cool air
was like a signal that my torment was finally at an end
*melodrama*
:P
jackie was at the airport with her dad to pick us up
and the ride into town was nice

all in all,
the trip was perfect!
i had enjoyed every moment of it
...even when i was sick
(go figure,
i'm weird)
and when it came time to go home
i didn't feel like i wished i had more time to travel
and i didn't feel like i wished i had left earlier either
it was "just right"
:)
and it was all good!
and that ends this series of travel blogs
hope you enjoyed the reading, all
cheers, eh!

travel blog - copan ruinas

so off we went
bright and early
at 4am
to copan...
*sCrEEch*
what am i saying?
it was dark as heck
and with the lamplight shining off the cobblestones
we could have been spies waiting in the gloomy shadows
to conduct our nefarious deeds
or something
anyways,
they managed to cram
(literally)
11 of us plus a driver
into one of these mini-buses
and the brief stop at the bate's motel for breakfast along the way
wasn't long enough for one's buttocks to recover
ok,
it wasn't really called the bate's motel
it was called hotel letty
but with the combination of a horde of ants
INSIDE the bottle of maple syrup
(which we discovered after some quick detective work...
there being no ants on the table
nor any on the food
until AFTER one poured the syrup)
to the dead fly that appeared in sarah's "orange juice"
(...it wasn't orange juice
and we're still not quite sure what it really was
to loosely translate - the waitress said it was "orange juice by the gallon"
whatever the heck that means in spanish or english)
it seemed but a matter of time till we found
a dead something else somewhere...
anyways,
we arrived in copan ruinas
the town just outside the ruins
and while standing around trying to orientate ourselves
so as to be able to figure which direction we needed to go
in order to find this hostel listed in the lonely planet
(it was listed as having laundry facilities
but they neglected to mention that they didn't have toilet seats)
when lo and behold,
the blind man who sees all
realized we were standing across the street
from the gelemos hotel
cool eh?
they chose the hotel
("they" being the ones sorely in need of doing laundry
which they did do on that stone thingy
which i forget the name for in spanish)
i chose the restaurant
llama del bosque
because the lonely planet had said they had "anafre"
a bean and cheese fondue which was "especially tasty"
and holy cow!
they were RIGHT!
that was definitely the highlight of my day
anafre mixto - frijole, queso y chorizo
(beans, cheese and sausage)
in a clay bowl
atop a clay thingy with hot wood coals inside
and served with pickled carrots, onions and jalapenos
oh yeah,
there were also these large homemade tortilla chips
sticking up out of the mixto
as the whole tasty concoction bubbled happily away
and it stayed bubbling until the last bits were gone
veeRRRYyyy tasty!
one other thing of note
fire-fingers mikayla was able to lift the burning clay bowl
straight off the coal brazier stand
reminding me of caine in kung fu
*inno*

after whiling away the rest of the afternoon
getting bitten by mosquitos
and eating ice cream
we decided to have soup for supper
i love soup!
we all love soup!
had some nice tomato soup
nothing spectacular
but nice and home made
rather than the powder mix stuff commonly found here

the next morning
we headed off to the site of the ruins
at around 8am or a bit before
a short 1.5km walk brought us to the site of the ruins
and we spent the morning and part of the afternoon
walking around the ruin site
being the first to sign the guestbook into the park
(i beat erin by 2 steps)
and amongst the only people there that early
we entered the tunnels
(at $12USD... when the main entrance fee was only $10USD)
3 of us with tickets, 2 without
and "they" didn't even know we were there
until we were in
at one point
i hopped a low barrier
(the other doors were barred shut down there)
and explored a little
and found a dark tunnel
with a light at the far end of it
shining white light
*ahhhh* (angel sounds)
i almost made it too
when i heard erin whisper-shout
(sort of like whispering VERY loudly in a panic)
that the man was coming back
and i half crawled back through the darkness
so i wouldn't hit my head
(i'd been crawling in the first place
looking for holes in the ground
which are very hard to see in the dark)
so i never really made it to the light
but it was a neat experience nevertheless

copan ruinas is tiny compared to tikal
and was a bit of a denouement to the trip
but we made up for that
by sitting at different sites
and listening to other tour guides lead their groups through
and learning about the site that way
it's not that we were too cheap to get our own guide
we just wanted to um.. umm...
hear ALL the versions of.. of...
bleh

at about noon-ish
we were all getting hungry
and all i could think of was
"anafre"
so return we did
and went straight from the ruins
to the llama del bosque
where we sat outdoors
(and were harassed by a scary cat)
each ordered an anafre
(5 pots on the table with glowing coals...
you should have seen it)
3 orders of guacamole
and a round of juices and licuado-type drinks
life was good
and the anafre was just as amazing the second time around
which is really saying something

something about travelling for a few weeks
without any major rest stops
is tiring...
go figure eh?
with that excuse in mind
i spent the rest of the afternoon
reading in my room
and taking the odd nap here and there
while the fan blew constantly over my body
to keep the mosquitos away
it was quite pleasurable
and then it was time for supper
where we found in the lonely planet
a place called carnitas nia lola
listed for it's tasty wood-fired roasted chicken
which was so jammed packed full of people
the food had to be good
and it was
and there was a lot of it
they even had anafre
which they gave us a complimentary sample of
but it wasn't hot and bubbly like the other place
and so there was no comparison
tho i must say
it was neat seeing one of the waitresses
carry an anafre on her head
as she limped up the stairs to the second floor
she also carried glass bottle of coke
when her hands were full
quite amazing
the wood fire grill thingy
was really neat
with a large hand bellows on a string
that they used to fan the coals
you could taste the "wood" in the chicken
and it was REALLY good

now
you may think
that all we did
was eat food on this trip
especially during these last couple of days
just remember
that this account
is from a kirby-point-of-view
and thus is wholly and completely
an unbiased account of what everyone else was really interested in
*nod self*
yeah... that's it
;)
hehehe
we left copan the next morning
on a luxury bus to san pedro sula
at least it started off that way...
more in the next blog :)

travel blog - antigua

the bus ride to antigua
was pleasant
leaving at noon
which means we had a relaxing morning
filled with some minor last minute purchases
(and quick haggling)
we arrived there in the afternoon
and after hopping out of the mini-bus
we had a bit of a hike with our packs on
after the hotel i found in the lonely planet was booked solid
so off to hotel cristal we went
a place mikayla had stayed at a couple years before
it was a nice lil place
tho freaking noisy during the evening and early morning
as our rooms were right above one of the main streets into town
and in case you've ever wondered
converted school buses, trucks and even mini-cabs
make a HECK of a lot of noise on cobbled stone streets
antigua is a quaint town filled with tourists
prices reflect the touristy nature of the town
i went off in search of tickets to copan with sarah
but gave in to the second agent we visited
when i realized
i was having a difficult time standing
due to this naseous feeling in my tummy
it was prolly the 3x10Q tacos i had the night before
either that
or the 5 different types of sauces i loaded the tacos down with
in any event,
i prolly could have saved us $2USD each
if i were in better shape
but what the heck,
we went for a cool drink (rose de jamaica) in a cafe
that sarah had visited before
it had a beautiful indoor courtyard
and being totally rational
i figured a chocolate brownie
with vanilla ice cream
and crushed macadamia nuts on top
would go nicely along with the hibiscus juice
and fix the tummy problem...
i have to admit
it was a combination of
the name "the butler's revenge"
the description in the menu
and the walk into the cafe where
numerous tempting desserts were artfully displayed along the way
sad to say,
it didn't really fix the tummy problem
but it sure tasted good going down
after a brief walk around the central square and past one of the cathedrals
(la mercred, i think)
we returned to the hotel
where i remained for the rest of the evening
while the others went out for supper
i guess the butler had his revenge
the following morning,
erin, sarah and i went out in search for the best coffee in town
or rather, sarah did
and erin and i tagged along
we were really looking for soup...
ahh, how i love soup! *tm
*wink*
the coffee was found
and according to sarah it was very very good
and the soup was also found
and heck, who knew potatoes and leek could taste so good?!

the rest of the day
erin, sarah and i wandered around through some ruined areas
we found a convent which had a hefty entrance fee of 30Q
which was halved if you were a student
good thing i'm a student
*inno*
i guess most of it had been destroyed by earthquakes in the past
which makes it a really neat tourist attraction
especially because there were no tourists really
except for us
we then wandered off to a church
(iglesia de san francisco)
which we'd seen the spires of from the convent ruin
walked around inside
and found a possible hidden secret tunnel
behind some massive triptychs
which we couldn't get into
because the possible doorway to this was bricked up
and then visited the "ruined" part beside it
which cost only 3Q
and was quite a bit more extensive than it looked from the outside
we also found a little library with ancient bibles and hymn books
tucked away up high in the sky
in an airy wooden raftered room attached to the main church building
a neat little discovery
with some really neat (and huge!) books
and very cool architecture
even if most of it was in ruins
after this exploration
which was punctuated with many rests
in shady archways
or beneath some old tree
sarah decided to try to fly a kite
in front of a church
we later all agreed
that it prolly would have worked much better
from on TOP of the church
where we kind of were
after climbing part of the ruined portion
(that would be by the little library)
but with a valliant effort
she did manage to get the kite airborne for
a generous number of seconds
in the sporadic winds swirling around in front of the church
we then sauntered back for another bowl of soup
and free internet
which the restaurant had given us coupons to
and this time i tried the spinach and coconut
which, while good, was not as good as the potato and leek
but still very nice
according to erin however,
sarah makes a killer potato and leek soup
which puts even the one at the rainbow cafe to shame -
this will obviously require some extensive testing
to confirm this to the world at large
which i will gladly sacrifice my time and tummy to
when they return
...if i beg hard enough :P
winding our way back through town
we visited la merced
and then went off in search of our other 2 companions
we found them at the hotel
and decided to all meet up a bit later for supper
at the cafe flor
"which makes a decent stab at asian cuisine"
according to the lonely planet
and which the ladies had ate at the night before
i must say,
the decor was neat
the ambience was nice
the cook was thai
and a stab was all he had
when it came to cooking thai food
that being said,
the food was still tasty
just not like any thai or chinese food i'd ever seen
:)
and that was antigua
oh yeah,
there were a few visits to some stores
in search of yogurt, clothes and jade
the jade shops were kind of neat
tho i don't know
if i really believe
that lilac jade exists
and i must say
the black jade just looked like a shiny black rock
in any case
shiny stones ARE neat
and i'm sure those that buy them
are very happy with their shiny-ness
yeah

did i mention
that our bus to copan
was to pick us up at 4am the next day?
if not,
that was the reason
why we all pretty much hit the sack
early
:)