Rawleee, NC Ya'll

This may be the last post on this blog, I make no promises. I have been kicking around the idea of starting a new one however. Any thoughts on that? I'll be buying a new computer very soon! Andrea and I are well, enjoying our squeaky clean lives here in Raleigh and settling in.
We've got a nice apartment, good jobs, and we're starting to get to know people little by little. I've been landscaping (no surprise) with a cool little landscaping crew. Its hot as hell here and generally worse than DC in August...blah. Andrea is working for the catering branch of the NC Museum of Art and preparing for teaching this August. She was just offered a job at a killer public charter school here called Exploris Middle School, she'll be teaching 6th grade! Thank God for social networking...that seems to be how things work down here for good housing, work, etc.

Well until next time take care, you probably know other ways of getting in touch with us! If we start a new blog I'll post it here as a link. Much love, Luke

Today I've made available some photo's from our time in Guate. Please feel free to click over to imagestation.com and check them out. I broke them up into three separate files, companeros (friends), experiences, and details (which are like close ups and sort of arty).

So go to imagestation.com then do a member search for lukewallenbeck. Click on me (shown in a hammock) and continue on to the photo files.

Sadly we lost the photographs from our first 3 months or so due to a memory chip f&*% up. Also many times we went to places to dangerous to bring anything valuable like a camera. Thirdly indigenous people perceive photography from strangers as rude so we rarely photographed people, and when we did we asked first. The last disclaimer here is that we are notorious for forgetting to bring our camera places and take pictures.

If you have great pictures you'd like to pass on to us please do, I can add them to our collection.

Enjoy, Luke

Update long overdue...

Hello friends,

Andrea and I have been very busy since we left Guatemala April 12th. Everything went reasonably well and it was quite a shock to arrive in Charlotte, NC for our short layover. Immediately we were faced with angry customs officials, and ushered into the land of the giants. We were all of a sudden average people, in height, language, looks, and culture, etc. On the other hand, hot water from bathroom faucets and clean drinking fountains were welcome comforts.

Since arriving we have visited with many friends and family starting in Washington DC. An amazingly comfortable apartment kept us rested and warm (frickin freezing outside), and housed my parents while they visited. If you ever need a furnished apartment right near Union Station we know the best option, thanks John and Andy! It was great seeing my sisters and parents and wandering around our old neighborhood, speaking Spanish even!

Since then we've gone to Lancaster City, Pa - Fredricksburg, VA - Philadelphia, PA - Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY - Rochester, NY - and now we are in Syracuse, NY with Andrea's family. Whffeew, the fun never stops.

I have confirmed my intention to attend NC State beginning July 2nd and we plan to visit Raleigh this week for a look around. We hope to line up an apartment there by June 1st if not sooner. So now you have people to visit in NC, we'll be a short drive from the Mtns and ocean!

Of course this is the cliff's notes version of our last month or so, but we saw lots of good friends, ate some of my favorite foods (Viola's Subs), drank really good beer, and caught up with family.

Check in again soon as we are putting the finishing touches on our best Guatemala photos. We be including a link to another site which should allow a better viewing experience.

I hope your all well, we miss you guys from Guate, and can't wait to plan our return.
Abrazos a todos, Luke

Utila Island, Honduras
April 12 - 17

What turned out to be the last major destination of our trip was the smallest of Honduras' Bay Islands, Utila. You may be able to picture this Caribe island if you can imagine what the entire Caribbean was like 60 years ago before "club meds" and cruise ships took over. We arrived by ferry into the one small harbor, and found our way to the one main street. The majority of the buildings we found here are ramshakle wooden things up on stilts. In recent years Utila has become famous for its incredibly cheap scuba diving courses and thriving corral reefs. We had an amazing time soaking up the natural beauty and intriguing local culture.

If you have time definitely check out the bizarre history of the Bay Islanders. Utilians are primarily descendants of English and Spanish pirates. They speak a rhythmic English creole almost impossible to understand. Yet most people speak Creole, Spanish, and often English. As you can imagine the pace of life here was ultimate chill. Shirts and shoes were optional, and even road construction, beer delivery, and cycling was done in flip flops. Most things close at lunch, and or between 2 - 6 pm, which drove us crazy a few times. We ate Baleada's, the Honduran typical food, at least twice a day, although one night splurged on fresh grilled tuna and maji maji.

Nearly everyday we swam in the warm clear waters close to shore, and 3 times snorkeled around the reefs. We could literally jump in or swim to the reef in a matter of seconds! We even did a night snorkel with a small group off of Corral View point. Being novice reef ecologists I won't bore you with our findings other than to say it was full of life, day and night. We were definitely bit with scuba fever and almost took the three day license course. Theres just so much under water, who knew!

The main highlights were the octopus, squid, phosphorescence, moray eel, puffer, and flounder that we saw. Not to mention the scores of vibrant fish and corral too numerous to recount. On land we loved chasing the blue crabs and iguanas that line the roads and paths there. Plan your trip soon as of course over-fishing and over-development are ruining both the corral reefs and the islands unique forests.

my heartfelt ode, although not Neruda


Ode to my Sunglasses

Oh wondrous form!
Forty pesos of rhinestoned glory;
White rose of Chiapas.
What honored fabrica lovingly tattooed "hecho" on your ample arm?

Guardian of iris and pupil
Deflector of UV
Veil of Obscurity
Biolab goggles
Pick-up riding, mosquito splattered windshield
Unscratched, unbent, unfashionable
Perfect companion
Frosting on my cake
My temple's adornment

When I slipped you on
(tenderly over nose, cheeks, ears and brow)
Shimmering in the sunlight
My inner Latina sa-wa-ayed
her bronzed hips in the rhythm of a sultry tune

Oh! but I let you go!
I underestimated the current of the river!
In an instant
(like an arrow through my heart)
You were snatched from my crown
Swept from my grasping fingers
And sank
Beneath the aquamarine ripples.
Gone.

Yesterday I was Ready For Anything
Now I am simply Blinded Traveler,
Squinting.

Hey peoples, we are on the road traveling right now and can´t wait to tell you our stories and show you our pictures! We left March 14th and will return to Antigua the first week of April. Our first stop was Semuc Champey, then Flores & El Remate, Peten. We saw Tikal and Lago de Yaxhá and arrived in Rio Dulce last night. We plan to stay at Denny´s Beach while we are here. After exploring a few days in this area of Guatemala we will likely head to Utila, Hondurus to take in the beauty of the worlds 2nd largest barrier reef located here on Hondurus´north shore. We will see how much time and money we have left at that point and God only knows what tomarrows adventures will bring. We have had the best of times and a few- wow i´m on the brink of hating this place for ever- times! But we are learning, this traveling on the cheap takes some specific skills and little by little we are figuring it out.

By the way I got into the NC State grad program for landscape architecture, Wahoo! I knew I wasn´t a complete value-less slug! My self-esteem took a few hits being rejected from UBC, UW, and Berkeley! Only waiting to hear from two more, but for now I´m enjoying this victory.

Adios, te vaya bien. (mom that means ¨goodbye, and go well¨)

A La Gran Puta...

Here's a little story that outlines a very common experience for travelers and citizens of "developing" countries. Not that it doesn't happen in "developed" countries, but it happens here all the time. So a couple of us have been wanting to hike the nearly 14,000 ft. volcano Acatenengo for some time. We did our research, made a plan, and met this morning at 5 am near the "bus terminal" to catch a bus/taxi to the town La Soledad, where the trail head begins. It seemed wise to allow some extra time on both ends, public transport is unpredictable and we wanted to be up and back before dark at around 6pm. La Soledad is only about 15 minutes away by car, but hey ya never know.

I will list our morning in bullet points to speed up the story telling process. Like the show "24" right!

- 5:05 am, met Pete and Allison in the COLD dark near the market.
- 5:30 walk up to Central Park to look for taxi's after finding no buses to Duñas.
- 6 am Scrap public transport plan altogether and go get Allison's car "Fidel."
- 6:20 am parking attendant wakes up from our yelling and banging on the outside gate.
- 6:30 am leave Antigua, (as old Fidel needs time to warm up), pass through San Miguel Dueñas, and find our way blocked by two Tractor Trailers on an up hill dirt road less than 5 minutes from La Soledad.
- 6:40 am Pete and I go see whats the problem, being manly men and all. Basically the trucks are full of coffee cherries and the lead truck is unable to get traction up the hill. The good news is that the second truck is the only one blocking our way. The one that isn't stuck, so the driver says oh no problem I can move over for you.
- 7am now we are a line of 5 cars, as the other buses and cars have since turned around, the 2nd driver never moved the truck, and the first truck decides to give it another go, this time being towed with about a 1" thick metal chain! Yikes...dangerous.
- 7:25 am Dumb ass, pee for a brain, truck drivers decide to let all the traffic pass after more than 45 minutes waiting... lots of cursing at that point unfit for the children that read this.
- 7:30 we "arrive" and find that La Soledad seems to be a coffee farm, the road became a footpath, and we are unsure what to do with the car. A few people confirm its possible to hike Acatenengo from that point but its much "easier" to go a different route. Running out of time and in a weakened mental state we choose to follow their advice.
- 8:15 am finds us on another endless dirt road climbing and climbing. Fidel starts smoking a little bit, and we decide its time to reevaluate our situation. We believe the easier way was most likely an actual road that leads nearly all the way up the freakin mountain, typical. So defeated and without enough time to attempt the summit anyway, we head back to Antigua.
- 9 am finds us sitting down in a nice restaurant awaiting hot tipica breakfast and coffee. The sort of food that really, really, tastes good after a tough hike.

Damn you Acatenengo. You alluded us this time, but we've lived in Guate long enough to shake off these mind-blowingly stupid set backs, and will return with a vengeance!