interview with juan

Interview Part Two:

Its time to meet the other half of this dynamic duo, Jon (aka Juan) Lee.
Jon is not just our trip photographer but also has many fascinating thoughts and ideas. Lets see what he has to say.


1) Jon, I´ve noticed you take a lot of naps. I´m wondering if you can explain the importance of this, maybe tell us what kinds of special powers this gives you.
naps are definitely an important part of my daily regiment -namely for the purpose of averting the displeasures of everyday life!

2) You´ve been known to befriend dogs and name them things like Steely Dan or Wesley Snipes. Can you talk about your canine connection. How do you come up with those names?
yes, i have made a number of long lasting and meaningful relationships with dogs in the past. they like me because i keep sausages in my pockets. and they usually whisper their names to me late in the evening.

actually, i remember wesley snipes sleeping under me and having that tax evading look to him. that´s where he got his name.

3) We all know your a bit of a food conniseur. Central America and food. What have you got to say?
i like to compare central american food with thanksgiving. blend it all up and it still tastes the same!

4) What would you rather ride, a horse or a packed Guatemalan shuttle van?
i fear horses. next question.

5) How has Henry Chinaski changed your life?
i know you know, but for the reader i will try to explain. this man has influenced the way we speak. for example, when inquiring about going for a drink, we say, ¨chinaski?¨

6) Can you explain to our readers the t-shirt rotation program?
wear it till it stinks no longer. the life cycle of shirt goes from clean to stinky and back to clean again. it´s a phenomena i can´t explain.

7) What would the world be like without hats?
a puffy hair populous of baseball haters.

8) Name three songs you never want to hear again.
anything by bob marley, summer of 69´ by brian adams, and save a horse ride a cowboy by big and rich.

9) Leo Tolstoy or Leo Dicaprio?
i really enjoy being swept away to 19th century rural russia, but dicaprio stole my heart in growing pains the television series. im going dicaprio because i´v known him a bit longer.

10) What have you learned about religious celebrations in your time down here?
that´s easy. one word: fireworks.

Parting words en español?
no hablar a las personas no te gusta.

pork

spent a few days on the coast. it was really hot and i saw a pig on the beach.
________________________________

a few days back on one particularly hot day, colin and myself went out for some strawberry milkshakes. after a long discussion with the shop owner, we were offered a place to stay in the back for 25$ (15 nights). we accepted and now we´re hanging out for 2 weeks.

¨i am impartial to this happening.¨

mathieu roy

i would like to introduce everyone to mathieu roy. we met in jasper, alberta during the summer of 07´ and till this day remains a good friend of mine. for the last half year or so he´s been living in san jose, costa rica with his girlfriend gabriella. he works as a tour guide and for the next month he will be showing some french people around the country.

for me, it is my top priority to meet up with this man, as he is the world´s friendliest asshole.

mucho amo mi amigo,
see you soon.
- juan

cut short

holy shit. its 2009.

omg 2009. who cares?
we spent our new years eve in a posh area of San Salvador, El Salvador.
there was a huge mall and an overabundance of burger kings...we decided to live large and get a private room with a tv! holla.

on the last night of 2008, we didnt really know what to do. i got a bottle of smirnoff for 5 dollars.
our back up plan was to go to some bar down the street..which we did but of course it was closed.
so we drunkingly wandered around for a long time and everything was closed....i guess we were in the wrong area?
eventually we found an establishment that was open. it was BOOMING.
there were almost 15 people in there!..also by the tiime we arrived new years had already passed without our knowledge. but whatever, they had cold cervezas.
there was also maybe..i dont know, 2 womyn in there?
so of course we had a little dance party...all four of us, in a empty bar with a little audience.
luckily i got the good looking girl as my dance partner...she was a good dancer.
Jon had to take one for the team and dance with the less attractive female, and she wasnt a very good dancer (and she had missing teeth).
thats about all i remember.
celebrated new years day with terrible fast food and saw the new kenau reeves movie! wow.

we just arrived in Managua, Nicaragua today. so far it sucks ( not nicaragua, just managua)...i think its just cause were in a kinda sketchy neighbourhood....

mucho tiempo con nada hacer

i'v had a lot of time to myself in these parts. days filled with eating, reading, surfing/swimming, eating, napping, interneting and repeating. i'v learned how to sew and code html in the last few days, so here's the fruit of my labour. be bedazzled by the new look of our blog!

tomorrow we will try our luck at celebrating new years in san salvidor (capital city), homicide capital of the world (15-24 years of age). lucky for me, im turning 25. that's too bad for colin. not to worry brenda, we will be staying in the poshest district of them all, boulevard de los heroes. there will be malls and muchas fresas (wealthy latino girls).

interview with colin

colin and i aren't just two pretty faces, you know; we have really neat personalities too! it is now time to meet the creators through a series of interview questions conducted by juan (me), and answered by mr. blacoe.


interview below..










1. why do you like the middle east so much?

Well Juan, firstly the food. I'm a bit of a falafel addict..hummus too...chick peas in general
And I've also been turning into a bit of history nerd in the last year...and they've got quite a large history n those parts.
Finally, the west versus east conflict (however misconstrued it is), is sure to be one of the main driving forces in contemporary world politics and conservative propaganda.

2. if you could only eat food of one colour, which would it be?

Wow, thats even harder than the last question......I would prolly go with green...its ALL about the green.

3. what should american football really be called?

Who really cares? Football sucks...we all know that, right?

4. who killed the electric car?

I forget how that movie ends.....the vietcong?...right?

5. who's got the best haircut of all time?

Probably a tie between your drivers license picture and Nick Rivera's helmet circa 1999

6. best run country of 2008?

I dont know man!..they're all terrible....I like what the greeks are doing with themselves right now!

7. first thing that comes to mind:

1997 - high school, skateboarding, so cal punk rock
guatamala > tortillas, garbage, mountains, coffee
'gasolina' (the song) > me dancing to shitty music in latin america
mexico > hot as fuck, good food, better buses than Canadia
alcatraz > didnt nick cage escape from there?,....i saw it!

8. where are you in 2 days, 2 months, 2 years

chillin in latin america or playing music and smoking dank in Toronto

9. fourth last and first ever book read?

First ever book read? who can remember that?....I remember reading a book when i was really young called 'the rookie', about a baseball player...
fourth last?...um.....i know it was by Pramoedenya Toer


10. who can conjure more wizardry power:
christian slater or john travolta?

This is obvious! Travolta!..hes a scientologist...that means he has all of science on his side!
However...scientists usually dont believe in wizardy...they want things like 'proof' and 'evidence'
sooo. im gonna have to go with slater...im pretty sure all his power is in his eyebrows

otra dia en el peligroso

colin almost got spearheaded by a testy free range bull today.

blame it on the cities

uninspired note on the last 4 days -

travel time >>>
lanquin to coban. coban to guatamala city.
observations >>>
GC is ugly. our hotel creepy. infinite exhaust and markets. colin unintentionally ate eggs and beans 4 meals in a row. i ate a salad at burger king. popped our heads in a mall for xmas-sakes - bad!

travel >>>
cross boarder to san salvadore, el salvadore - ZZzzZZzzz
observations >>>
easy boarder crossing. ripped off on exchange. man with shotgun guarding our hotel. mass food for 2$. cheap beers. prostitution offers. fireworks from 12 till 1am.

travel >>>
SS to la libertad (back to the pacific coast - *la mar)
observations >>>
hot. unusual skatepark. football fight. helped push a truck.

travel >>>
LL to sunzal beach.
observations >>>
finally, a place to rest our heads. great hostel, surf and food. we suck at surfing.

------------------------------------
* "he always thought of the sea as 'la mar' which is what people call her in spanish when they love her. sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman."
- Hemingway

nana nana nana nana batcaves!

lanquin, guatemala.

so were chilin in a small town called lanquin at a great hostel called el retiro
great buffet dinners and a dope river right beside..all the rooms are made with wood and thatch leaf roofs
one close by attraction is the grutas de lanquin (caves)
we checked that shit a few days ago and....damnn!
these caves are huge..you can walk back for maybe like half a kilometer..
plus there are many small sections that you could squeeze into...we chose not to do this because the ground is covered in a consistent layer of guana (bat shit)...and me and jon are not real men,,so we dont take rrisks like that.
and shit...holy stalagmites in there!.....they are like the size of a small building
at close to sunset we walked out to the entrance to watch the exodus of the bats.
this was amazing/terrifying
there is a constant stream of bats (tons of them) flying out for maybe like 30 mins.
and they are flying extremely close...if you try to look staright at the stream, it appears there about to hit you in the face but they always seem to turn at the last second...also, they are so fast that its almost impossible to photograph them.
so there was a group of israeli kids just hanging out there like it was nothing...and there was me and jon crouched on the ground with our hands over our heads yelping like little schoolgirls..
bats are mothafucking scary! have you seen pictures of these things? they look bloodthirsty!
anyways...we didnt get eaten...just exhilirated....
so we bought a litre of liquor for 5 dollars to cool down...yep.

we cant post pictures up right now cause the ineternet is too slow in these parts


ps. props to thomas berry for all his blog comments!

danger to the east

recently found out that "bufete popular" is not a popular buffet. it does however have something to do with law..
-----------------------------------
did some hiking in the highlands (nebaj). a two hour hike took us to an extemely small town well known for being the worst hit by the military in the civil war. lots of sad faces round here. nights were cold and wet / the elevation was high enough that clouds engulfed the town. 5am morning wake ups by church bells and explosives, sometimes lasting up to 30 min. minimal tourists / our presense in the streets attracted more looks and laughs than usual. and, we ate 7 meals at precisely one restaurant.
-----------------------------------
spent the majority of the day taking shuttle vans east (the alternative to busses but not the better of the two). the 2nd of 3 had over 30 people in and on it, which beats our current record of 22. not an inch of space could be called my own. even my lungs were at half capacity. more, we spent half an hour riding the roof with the baggage. funandscary. this was probably the only time in my life i was preparing for the most painless exit route (m.p.e.r). to make matters a bit more exciting, like our last chicken bus excursion, the roads were... a-hem, eccentric? bumps, curves, cliffs and massive rock/land slides in frequent intervals. danger man. i didnt blink once.

at any rate,
arrived at "the famous" el retiro lodge in lanquin tonight. we were welcomed with a well deserved hearty buffet.. we will probably spend some time here.

buses, mountains, hangovers

hi there.
today Jon and I left the tourist stained cobblestones of Antigua and decided to head up in the mountains. this required roughly five different buses. all of which were fairly sketchy.
guatemala is very mountanous...so your constantly driving up and down these mountains...this usually occurs with zig zag roads/switchbacks...whatever you wanna call them.
to preapre for this journey we drank a bottle of the cheapest rum we could find in antigua. neither of us remember what happened that night...only that we bought chips at some point.
so here we are riding these suspension-less buses which are sending us flying off our seats every few minutes or so...zig zagging back and forth, feeling like the bus should probably tip over at any point, with drivers who seem to enjoy passing others cars on dangerous blind corners....extremely hungover.....

but the views were nice.

also we managed to fit 22 people into our mini van at one point. thats a personal best in my experience!

lava!

we gone done a volcano tour a few days back. it was really special to see lava. so warm and inviting. what made the tour even more special were the hyper-cautious elderly americans that joined us. one woman inparticular was on a lot of uppers and pounding back 3 liters of grape soda. she ultimately did not make the summit.

the shuttle to the volcano was an adventure in itself. we had to pull over due to white smoke and someone yelling ´fire!´ the americanos almost killed each other to get out the door. colin and i sat there quietly.. after much argument, 50 onlookers and the fire departments arrival, everyone piled back into the van.

i have photos but the internet is hurting in these parts.

-------------------------------

just outside of antigua,
spent a few days up in the mountains at a cottage like getaway called the earth lodge. got some hiking in and witnessed some serious local culture. not much else to be said here. they had some alright dogs and avacados.

san pedro

dec 8 - witnessed a wacky religious procession in san pedro la laguna a few nights ago. people crowded the centro to catch a glimpse of the shrine they call maria. her heavy float-like carcus was carried by 20 elderly women who slowly made their way around the streets. the most entertaining aspect of this procession was not maria herself, but the firework display leading her on. every 10 feet she would settle and the ´pyro-technicians´ (kids) would unroll carpets of fire-crackers. they must have lit millions of them because the sound didnt stop.
after 20 minutes of loud and smoke and earplugging, things got a little tiresome.. good thing it was a 3 hour ceremony! and in the not so far distance, la policia and others were setting off mortors into the powerlines.. smart.

and that´s when the bull came out.. just strapped with dynamite, a man dressed like a bull ran through the crowd. his explosives would occasionally fall off near our position and we would do our best to protect our eyeballs.

the highlight was when they busted out the big mortors that misfired. i only caught the after-sights, but a man got blown into a store by a faulty fireball. he came out ok but his sombrero was all chard up.
(a few shitty pictures to come)
_______________________________________________________________

finished with school for now and bounced over to antigua, an old colonial style town surrounded by active volcanoes. feels really good to take control of my diet again. no more tortillas.

garbage in guatemala

guatemala has some garbage problems.
environmental consciousness here is not too high, so its quite common for people to throw wrappers and bags on the ground after using them...not to mention the´pristine´lake we are on has quite a bit of disgustingness floating around in it.

yesterday i saw an old man picking up garbage on his on accord..and i thought, its nice to see someone doing something.
right after i pointed his actions out to jon..the garbage he was picking up of the concrete street..he proceeded to throw on top of the coffee plants growing in someones lawn.

:)

layn´ low

layn´low for the time being. both got our own families. school mon to fri, 8 to 12. a few friends from puerto escondido made an appearance on the island. no toilet seats. been eating nothing but tortillas for the most part. mmm suffered the most agonizing 20 hours of my life yesturday. 12pm to 8am i was incapacitated with cold sweats.

jl

working class heroes

7am- we meet up with antonio and 4 other students for a hike into the mountains. we piled into a large flatbed truck with 30 other labourors (and a dog - shakey jim), all of which were wielding machetes. the 20 minute drive took us uphill to an extensive network of cornfields, coffee and avacado plantations. periodic stops were made to allow men and boys of all ages to disembark.

our hike took us into the peripheral of a diciduous forest. we stopped at a religious shrine..and if what i understood from antonio s spanish explination is correct, a certain sect of people from the area gather twice a year, drink, and sacrifice some animals. whoa.

murrrrrrrder.

after guatemala we´re headin to el salvador
i just found out its the leader in murder for ppl between the ages of 15 and 24

on a personal accomplishment note
after el sal....i´ll have been to the top 4 murder countries in the world

check the link
send us a gun if you can




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7750054.stm

YOUTH MURDER RATES PER 100,000
1. El Salvador: 92.3

2. Colombia: 73.4

3. Venezuela: 64.2

4. Guatemala: 55.4

5. Brazil: 51.6

15. South Africa: 16.6

70. Greece: 0.5

76. Japan: 0.3

Source: Ritla, Instituto Sangari

mike bell

internet cafe´s are more common around these parts than honda civics in etobicoke.

more people make use of them.

letter to family

as much as i am joking, this is no joke; i am renting a guatamalan family here in san pedro.
i just moved in today. im living, eating, breathing spanish with descendents of the ancient mayan civilization.
i am really out of my element right now, but my spanish is sky rocketing. beyond the family stay, im doing 4 hours of class per day for 5 days a week. this whole program cost 120$ USD per week, probably the cheapest in the world.

the house is very minimalistic and rustic. its a bit worrysome at first but after the lunch maria (mom) made for us, my nerves settled down a bit. its a family of 4: father, mother, 14 yearold brother and 2 year old sister (and a young girl the hire as slave kinda?¿). they all call me Juan. yikes. in the family s spare time they sew backpacks (mochillas) for Jansport. what the hell, right?

if you want to see some pictures and read some commentary of my trip so far, visit.. www.jonandcolin.blogspot.com
it starts from the bottem and works its way up (so my newest postings will be at the top).

i have a really cool picture to send all of you, but i forgot my chord, so i will send it later.

take care.
i still love you all. this new family of mine is only for the experience.

- Juan