Project Finish and Onward

To those following or checking to see for new content I do apologize.  Not sure I fully thought this out or realized the communication commitment when I began it.  I'm back though! Over a month later, things have happened, I've been places, and met people.  Great travel description I know.  So I've been on the road for a few weeks now as you may well know and I spent a couple more weeks working on my construction project prior to leaving Costa Rica.  While I did not see the completion of the house I was told by the family only a week of work, maybe two, remained.  Frustrating that I wouldn't see it but I was leaving to meet up with Bryce, and given a chance to travel with my brother I'll take it.  Props to you hermano.

 In my time there we were able to pour the floor in the house.  You can see the standard rebar, and square tubes used for smoothing the floor.  The one difficult part to this process was moving the concrete.  Instead of the tube feed from a truck we loaded up wheelbarrows and poured them out individually.  Sometimes lifting the wheelbarrow through windows for easier access.  Super dirty, super fun.

As I mentioned before, I've been doing a lot of shoveling and wheelbarrow work these are the tools that were at my disposal.  Noticed the size difference between me and my shovels, as well as the location of the wheelbarrow handles.







After the floor was poured and solid we began on the ceiling and making the attic space. I wasn't involved with much of this, instead back to digging a 6" wide, 10" deep channel along the sides of the house for plumbing and leveling the ground in front of the house for the porch.  My last day was a sad but cheerful one.  As best as we could communicate we exchanged thanks and our best wishes.  I am excited to return and see the house in its final state.




With my last day on the project complete I had to plan my trip to meet up with Bryce in Antigua, Guatemala.  I chose to go by bus to see the countryside and make a couple of overnight stays in different cities. In short my bus ride was interesting and scenic, though I took relatively few pictures since it was poor quality shooting through glass from a moving bus.  There were three legs to my land trip which I will break down.

Leg #1: San Jose, Costa Rica to Managua, Nicaragua
Caught this bus on the highway in San Ramon around 8am and it was relatively uneventful until the border crossing between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I was bombarded by people wanting to exchange my Costa Rican currency into Nicaraguan currency.  Of course I said no.  Also the "baggage check" was hilarious, we were walked into a line and given a customs paper to report what we had and how many bags we were taking.  I had accidentally marked 2 bags but was carrying 3, the official took my paper with a glance at what I was carrying and directed me back to the bus.

One highlight of this trip was sitting next to a pleasant, elderly Honduran man who ate sun flower seeds the entire 9 hour trip but spit every shell on the floor.  He was great and gave me some insight to Nicaragua but I couldn't get over the shell spitting.  I had one uneasy moment after arriving in Managua which did end positively.

Leg #2: Managua, Nicaragua to San Salvador, El Salvador

Early morning taxi to the bus terminal at 5am.  I wanted to walk there as the terminal was less than 3 blocks away but the hotel owner and worker said they didn't want me to assuring me it was not safe yet.  So took the $1 taxi 2 minutes to the station.  Long story short, 12 hours by bus crossing from Nicaragua to Honduras, then Honduras to El Salvador then finally reaching my hotel in San Salvador.  Again scenic but no pictures.  I did meet a man from Nicaragua on his way to San Salvador for a business meeting who used to play basketball for Nicaragua.  He spoke English very well but could not write or read any due to the fact he had learned solely from watching American television and movies.  San Salvador is incredibly developed, in areas, at times were I able to block out the Spanish or self awareness that I was in Central America, I would easily feel that I was walking down a regular, well developed American suburb.

Leg #3: San Salvador, El Salvador to Guatemala City, Guatemala
Finally, last leg of taking buses for 3 days. It was a decent trip, only 6 hours and 1 border crossing.  Really nothing of note or interest occurred.  I did Sudoku puzzles most of the way, I probably completed around 150 puzzles over the 3 days of travel.  Once in Guate City I grabbed a shuttle to Antigua to meet up with Bryce.  So if I were a professional taxi driver and I was going to be charging people fees for rides I would take it upon myself to know the destinations that patrons ask to be driven to.  A guy had jumped into the shuttle and paid to be taken somewhere in the city.  We drove around for 30 minutes, stopped for directions 3 times and finally arrived to a place that appeared to be within 10 minutes of the bus terminal.  After that fiasco was over the shuttle finally headed off to Antigua. Hooray.

Arrival into Antigua was great.  Great to be done traveling, great to be in an actual travel destination, great to meet up with my brother.  Antigua is a wonderful city with old colonial style buildings, cobblestone roads, a multitude of shops selling Guatemalan/Mayan arts and crafts.  Not to mention a great view of a volcano towering over the city.  I was able to meet up with Bryce within 30 minutes of arriving and we spent the day walking the town and seeing different buildings.  I've included a few below, some of my favorites.

 Just one of the many colonial style churches prevalent among Antigua and the rest of Central America.  The details carved into the structures are amazing and look very time consuming.

 The fountain found in central park. Many people gathered here during the day, I managed to get past the people and take a clear shot.

 Another old church that has been closed off as an exhibit only with a small section in the back for prayers.  An earthquake shook the site and caused a pillar to collapse as well as other walls and structures in the area.

 Another church in Antigua.  I have to say that as a whole, the building style and structure, exterior and interior, of the churches in Central America have been a top interest of mine.

San Francisco Church, home to the resting place of Hermano Pedro or Peter of Saint Joseph.  He was the first recognized saint of Guatemala. 










As a whole Antigua was a great stop with a wonderful town feel and plenty to look at.  It somewhat felt at times like I was walking through art and history if that makes sense.  Very fun, and very glad I made it here.  To give people an idea, I was in Antigua about a month ago.  I still have a lot of catching up to do which I do plan to do.  I'm still doing well, feeling healthy and yet to get sick.  I miss my friends and family and I wish the best to everyone.  Talk with you all later.