French couchsurfer...

I was talking to my friend last night and she scolded me for not blogging about my "bizarre life." She's right. I need to be a little more regular.

About 2 months ago, I got an email from a French couchsurfer that was going to be in South Carolina for an extended stay. He asked if we could get together for drinks. I said sure, but I was directing a play and very busy (sheesh, I had no idea). Then after the play was over, I got the flu or something that is still lingering. So, on the last night before he left for Paris, he emailed me and said that he was cooking dinner for his host and a friend, and would I join them. I asked another couchsurfer that had actually spent some time with him to come along too.

So let me tell you about this guy. He is in his early 30s. Get what he does for a living??!!! He advertises on CraigsList to teach French and cooking. Some rich lady in Bennettsville, SC paid him to teach her French and cooking for 3 months. He cooked for us and words cannot describe it...but it's the kind of cooking that takes 3 hours just to make "a leetle sauce to put on your rice. Eets nuhsssing, really..." It was exquisite. We had whole pears poached in wine for dessert.

Say what you will about the French, and this guy was really French, they don't bathe like we do (I'm not so sure we have to to the extent that we do), they smoke...a lot, they have an attitude (although he did not really, and who cares when he can cook like that), but can they cook??!!! Oh, yes they can. Also, it was so lovely to sit and listen to a Frenchman speak again. At one point he and I were left at the table. We had a lovely chat and he got up to go smoke outside. He said, "my bad habeeet." I said , "Oh, your French..." He laughed and told me in Europe you can't smoke everywhere like you used to be able to. He said, "I like South Carolina. You can smoke anywhere." Sigh.....

The friend of his is also probably in her early 30s. Get what she does for a living?! She cooks on chartered yachts. She also imports and sells Swedish Gustavian antiques (oysterwhite.com). Sheesh...and her home is GORGEOUS! She is Canadian and came to SC to be close to the ocean and I-95 and to find a home that she could afford. So, she ended up in Benettsville. Weird. I felt so, un-South Carolinian. It was fabluous.

All for now. I'm catching up on laundry after the Thanksgiving trip. More later...really....

After Burn...

This is going to be difficult...Every time someone asks me about Burning Man and I try to tell them, I burst into tears. So here goes... It was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. It is truly how the world should work, as far as I am concerned. You have to go there in order to get it. I am a life long burner now.

It is:
art cars
men in dresses
leg warmers
"it's pretty!"
dust
dust
dust
community
dust
love
truth
the Temple
installations
boobs
healing camps
music
mankini attacks
astral hair washes
good new friends
dust
welcome home

Pre-Burn...

Well, the trip back to SC was uneventful, but when I got home, it made up for it. There were...um....issues with the condition of my house. One of the students that was going to go to Burning Man dropped out. Most of that student's travel expenses were non-refundable. I've been preoccupied just getting it all together. I have not been very excited about the trip...

HOWEVER, now that things are fairly settled, I'm getting a little more excited. There will be no internet or cell phone coverage on the playa when everyone gets there, but if you want to see the build of the man, go to www.burningman.com and hit the "building Black Rock city" link on the left. When I look at that, I get excited.

The preparations for this first trip have been really involved. I think next year will be easier because next year we will know how to ship, where to buy water, etc. etc. Thanks especially goes to my neighbors, Christopher and Jana, without whom I would be suicidal. It costs about $1000 a person to go to Burning Man, FYI, and that doesn't include the cost of actually bringing art to the playa.

We are journaling and video-documenting. There will be a big presentation later in the semester. And I promise to blog extensively when we return. We leave at 5:30am on Monday 8/31 and return 9/8 at 11:30 pm. I have to pick up the students at 4:15am. I don't know if it is even worth sleeping. (I hope I live through this...).

Think of me and my hot pink fishnets out on the playa.....

As an addendum.. Getting to Belize from Mexico

As I was preparing for this trip, it was impossible to find information from transportation companies about getting from Mexico to Belize. I had to search travel blogs. I wanted to add my experience because it can be done. I think bus companies go in and out of business in Mexico and Belize. Also, the taxi companies are constantly fighting the bus companies, so things change.

Because I was in Mexico City, I took a plane on Aviacsa airline from Mexico City to Chetumal, Mexico. Aviacsa went out of business 4 days after my flight, but there are other airlines and nice ADO busses that can get you to Chetumal. Here is a website that lists cheap airlines: http://www.attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/latinamerica/#map. Chetumal is a very small town with a small airline. When I landed, I asked the taxi stand where I could get a bus to Belize City. I had read on the web: http://www.larpman.com/transportpages/buspages/busouth.html. Make sure you ask for an AIRCONDITIONED or EXPRESS bus and go to the main bus terminal (which I did not do). Otherwise, they will send you to the mercado where there will be a line of chicken busses (old school busses) and one will leave for Belize City every half an hour or so (see picture). The chicken bus cost me $6 us. I understand that if I had gone to the main terminal, there were about 3 air-conditioned, express busses a day that go to Belize City for $8 us. Sigh... The express will take between 2-3 hours. The chicken bus takes 5-6 because they stop at every driveway. Oh well, I got there and it was an adventure.

Once I got to Belize City, I stayed the night. I think if you took the morning express, you could make it further into Belize in one day. In Belize City, I took a plane on Tropic Air for $43 us to Dangriga. There is another airline, Maya Island Air, that is a little more expensive. You can fly out of the International airport (more expensive) or the municipal one. It may save you money to spend more on the flight if you have a connecting flight from the International as taxis to and from the 2 airports are about $25 us.

Once in Dangriga, go to the bus terminal and there is a chicken bus that runs at least twice every day between Hopkins (and other smaller towns) for about $5 us. The Hopkins bus leaves at 10 ish and 5pm ish for the 40 minute trip to Hopkins.

To get to Tobacco Caye, take the morning bus from Hopkins to Dangriga. Walk north to the Riverside Cafe and get a water taxi for about $35 bz (Belize dollars) to Tobacco Caye. They leave every so often depending on how many people are waiting. It's best to go in the morning because more people will be there (hence cheaper for you) and the weather will be much better (hence calmer seas).

Getting back to the US:
I went back by way of Cancun because I got a cheap AirTran flight to Atlanta. You can take express busses from Belize City to Cancun, but Maya Island Air had a brand new flight from Belize City to Cancun for $199 us. I had my fill of chicken busses. Then AirTran from Cancun to Atlanta was about $135. I think, if I'd chosen to take busses, I could have done it through ADO in about 2 days.

Hope this helps!

So my trip is over...

What a fabulous trip! I'm at a loss for adjectives...So, some random thoughts:

- Everyone should visit a third world country. It makes you either appreciate what you have or get rid of it. We are so decadent. It makes me realize that my trivial sh*t (material and mental) really isn't all that important.

- The people in Mexico and Belize were SO lovely. When I flew into Cancun and was assaulted by noisy, obnoxious, rude Americans, it made me ashamed.

- I'm going back, and to other countries in Central America...maybe Guatemala next summer? Because anyone can travel cheaply. You might have to take a chicken bus or two, but it's more of an adventure.

- Couchsurfing is absolutely the way to connect with other cultures and my own. The couple of unpleasant stays were far exceeded by the wonderful ones.

- People are inherently good. This trip restores my faith in humanity.

- Plastic (and Disney, but I digress) is evil. Because there is no reliable trash pickup in Belize, the trash on the beach is overwhelming. What can they do? No more plastic for me.

- Go to Kiva.org and help a third world entrepeneur. I am.

- EVERYONE should be bilingual. I am trying... Yo pracitco.

Stay tuned for the BURNINGMAN adventure on this blog!!!!

Tobacco Caye...

This was the view from the beach on Tobacco Caye.....beautiful!!!

Tobacco Caye is an island paradise that sits on top of one of the most beautiful reefs in the world. You know what they build up the sea wall with on Tobacco Caye? GORGEOUS conch shells. Because there are hundreds of them. I took another chicken bus at 6:45am to Dangriga, 40 minute trip, not so bad. Then I took a water taxi with a couple from Denmark on a 45 minute trip to the caye. The seas were pretty rough and it was a little scary. Thank the gods for ginger pills!

I stayed in a guesthouse, $30 us that included meals of fresh fish and coconut rice. I took a boat out to 3 snorkling locations on this beautiful reef and this is a partial list of what I saw: manta rays, sting rays, yellow rays, fan coral taller than me and purple, brain coral, sea cucumbers (I even held one - creepy), sea urchins, 5 barracuda (eek!), a spotted moray eel (also creepy), parrot fish, angel fish, conch, and a zillion neon colored tropical fish. And I totally fried my butt because I guess that is what stuck out of the water the highest... It was absolutely worth it. I wish Jacob had been there. He would have loved it. From the dock, I got to see glow worms and dolphins.

So now I'm back in Hopkins by myself in the guesthouse and generally by myself on the beach. Today was a little stormy, but it cleared up so I had to sit in the sun and drink more rum...dammit. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I guess I'll have to read this Dean Koontz book I found and drink more rum and orange juice.

On Wed, I get on the bus at 6:45am to ride to Dangriga. From there I take a 15 minute plane ride to Belize City and from there I take a 45 minute plane ride to Cancun. I'll stay with a couchsurfer in Cancun for one night, then to Atlanta. I'll stay with a couchsurfer for one night in Atlanta and then to Branson on the 17th. I'll probably post one more time at the end of the trip for some final thoughts.

I guess I'm ready to get back to MO, but I really hate to go now that it's at the end. More later...more rum....

Belize....

This was the view from my guesthouse room in Belize.

Well, I have no regular access to the internet here in Belize so this may be the last post until I get back to Mexico or the US. No pictures either, sorry, because it is absolutely, Corona commercial beautiful!

My trip -

I flew from Mexico City to Chetumal. In Mexico City, it was 70 degrees F. When I landed at the very small airport in Chetumal, it was 90. Mexico City's airport is huge and very strange. You wait in a hall (a big one without chairs) (I got there 2 hours early) for them to "announce" your flight and gate of departure. It sounds just like a fast food speaker. Then, you go through security to get to a hall with chairs. I could have gone through and found out my gate on the screens in the big hall WITH the chairs. So I flew Aviacsa. Mexican airlines are MUCH nicer than American ones. They feed you lunch. They are very clean. You get mints. They are somewhat bilingual.

Let me back up and say I spent a delightful, wonderful, incredibly entertaining time with my couchsurfer host Saul and his friend, Luiz. I really laughed the entire time I was with them. They practiced their English and I my Spanish (kind of). They showed me such wonderful parts of the city that I would not have experienced elsewhere. Most all my couchsurfing experiences have been really great, but this one took the prize. I hope I have made lasting friends with them.

So, I landed in Chetumal, where I asked in Spanish (and I did a damn fine job, thank you) where I could get a bus to Belize City (which in normal time is only 2 and one half hours). So they told me to go to the mercado and ask for a bus...eek. I did, and found a row of...ready...school busses painted in bright colors. My mother is going to shit when she sees the pictures. 4 and one half hours, 300 sweaty Belezians, 2 borders crossings later, I arrived. Yes, it was a $6 chicken bus. You get off the bus at the Mexico border (which is not the Belize border) and pay $10. Then get back on. THEN you get off the bus with your luggage and go through customs at the Belize border, where they ask you all the "why are you here" questions and stamp your passport. We stopped at EVERY hole on the way. I stayed in a very scary place in Belize City. However, they had cable, air cond. and the owner, a Taiwanese woman (single mom with a 15 yr old son, weird), bought me a Belize beer and we sat and gossiped and laughed for a couple of hours. She told me, "you no go on right bus! You ask for air condition bus! You ask next time! Only $8!" Really?! Well, I loooked for an airconditioned one and didn't see any. Sigh... Now I can say I have traveled on a "chicken bus."

This morning I got on a VERY SMALL plane (pilot and 6 people) and flew to Dangriga. Great pictures of the coast of Belize. Then I bought a cab to take me 30 min to Hopkins. THAT was totally worth it as I have had enough chicken busses for one trip! My cabana here is wonderful. Honestly, I was sitting in a chair, drinking pineapple juice and rum, looking at an honest to god Corona commercial view of the Carribean. It's tough, but someone has to do it. Then I had to get up and go lay in a hammock and read Neil Gaimen short stories and fall asleep. Then I had to go to a restaurant (that is really someone's house) and eat a whole (head and all) fried snapper with beans and rice, and plantains, and watch Michael Jackson's memorial on TV with 6 other Belizans in the restaurant all commenting on the shebang. Then I had to come here and whine to you people about how rough it is to be me right now! :-) The Belize people are incredibly friendly and it is very safe because it is such a small town.

I will stay here tonight and 2 more nights. Then I plan to go to Tobacco Caye for 2 nights or maybe 3, to snorkle and drink rum and look at the Carribean. I'll come back to Hopkins for 2 or 3 days. I plan to catch a bus to Dangriga (30 min, a chicken bus, means 1 hour). Maya Island Air JUST added a flight from Belize City to Cancun, where I'll stay with one more couch surfer. Then to Atlanta, then to Branson.

So you may not hear from me much because I'm paying for my time while drinking a Belize beer. And let me say, from a non beer drinker, it is VERY good. It is so hard to be me.... More later.