After the bus adventure I am in Guatemala where my friend lives. I came to go to his wedding on Saturday November 19, 2011. I was named the official wedding photographer and took lots of pictures between the two ceremonies and the reception. Here are a few pictures.

I wish I would have known I would be the photographer so I could spruce up my camera and gear before coming. Oh how I wish I had all the goods I used to play with during my time at Bell Photography. I would have worked miracles!

The day before my friend got married by a lawyer. It was a small gathering and a neat thing to witness.
Cousins and the lawyer who married them.
Just about married

Here I am with his sister, brother, mother, bride, and him.

Somehow I ended up with the flowers and I tried to show the bride how I would look if I won Miss America. Turns out, they took a picture and didn´t even try to mimic my surprise face when it was their turn to pose.

We all worked hard to make the wedding cake. After midnight I just took pictures instead of helping. It turned out very nice. We stayed up until about 2:30 am putting the finishing touches on everything...or so I thought. The next day was full of work too and I actually worked so I didn't have the chance to take pictures.Chocolate covered pineapple at the reception.

On Saturday my friend was sealed for time and all eternity in the Guatemala City Temple. That was a pretty neat experience as well and I was glad to be a part of it.

There I am again with his sister, mother and two friends.

I was expecting the food to be the main event but turns out in this world, speeches and dancing are more important. You better believe I broke out my best moves and was sure no one took pictures to blackmail me later.

I am still alive and travelling

I have been travelling but have not managed to write for over a year. Maybe in my plan ot have more spare time in the coming months I can update this with all my travels.

I have been out of the country for 3 weeks now and I finally found a computer that accepts my memory card so I can put some pictures on here.

I wanted to travel by donkey but couldn´t find one. I ended up travelling by bus but I did find this horse later on that I thought about taking for a night out on the town. Not too many strong looking horses around here.

Let us start with border crossings. I flew into Liberia, Costa Rica and took a bus to the Nicaraguan border.

Hopped on another bus

and I spent the night in Managua.

I found a bus to the Honduran border in the early morning hours

The bus really was this full most of the trip. It would stop and people would get on and off but I was lucky to have gotten on at the beginning so I had a seat.

and this time took a bike taxi with my 24 hour friend, Ivan from Mexico.

I found the smallest seat possible in a what was something like a minivan but a little longer. If you have ever been in a minivan you know they fit 3 across. Well this van put 4 people in each row. I sort of felt bad for being larger than the tiny latinos sitting around me. I made it to Choluteca, Honduras about 11 am and first things first,

I found a hotel so I could quit hauling my bags around and take a nap. I forgot that cockroaches come free with a paid nights stay. I only saw them 2 days, but I think I killed 3 each day.

This is my friend Carmen and her son Angel. I spent quite a bit of time playing Wii and soccer with them. Carmen sells stuff in front of Angel´s school so I went a couple of days to hang out with her in the morning as she fed me breakfast.

Here my friend Gredis is in a coconut tree. He ended up cutting down 18 cocos and I learned how to chop them up with a machete. I then drank the juice and kept chopping until I cracked it open and ate the meat inside. Not my favorite food but I had to eat it since I wanted to chop it up.

I love Honduras. Especially this area where it is hot and the people are so kind. I spent a few days hanging out, walking the streets, helping people with random chores, visiting friends,

riding in the back of trucks(AKA Hitch Hiking), and playing a lot of soccer with whoever had a ball.

I went to Tegucigalpa for 3 days with my friend.

We went to a soccer game. (sorry, the battery on my camera died so I didn´t have many good pictures to choose from)

We went to the top of the mountian and took pictures of the city as well as the Picacho

and there is a zoo up there so we stopped by and found

a loose monkey. I think we were the only ones to see it running around. It was quite funny as the ones still in the cages yelled at him. I don´t speak monkey but I think they were cheering him onto freedom and hoping he´d bring something back for the rest of them.

After that I was on my way to the border with El Salvador.

This took a little more effort. There were no buses at the border so I had to take a 20 minute taxi ride to the next town where I found a bus to San Salvador. I ate 2 delicious pupusas for only 50 cents, spent the night playing the original Mario Brothers on Wii and woke up to catch the 5 am bus to Guatemala.

Good thing was this bus went all the way to Guatemala City so I didn´t have to find another bus after crossing the border. Bad news is, it dropped me off in a pretty bad part of town. In fact, my friend came to pick me up and said he didn´t know where to find me because the bus station I came to was so dangerous he didn´t go there. I found it to be exciting and to my knowledge I still have all the things I started with.

Content may not be appropriate for all ages, parental discretion advised.

So I am cashing in on my $299 flight deal to Cancun by doing the following things...

#1. Taking Public Transportation

I felt smart this time since I found a bus from the airport to the b

us station ($4) because last time I thought I was getting a good deal when a man robbed me blind and charged me $43 for the same ride. I had recently traveled to Costa Rica and got the exchange rates confused so I thought it was a good deal at the time.

#2. Walking

I am staying in this sweet place called Hostel Kankun, not only is it a hostel but they spelled Cancun with two K's, usually I'd avoid places like this, but I'm a budget traveler and all I need is a bed. $12/night is a steal, a nice double bed, large fridge, and a bunk bed to hang my clothes on the sweat can dry. I thought this place was close to the bus station and it is, but I honestly walked around for 2 hours when I got into town before I could find it. No one knew where it was and the huge banner I was looking for was actually hiding behind some bushes so I passed by it 3 times at least without seeing it.

#3. Cultural

I love this little park in downtown Cancun. If you ever come and stay in the hotel zone, where most normal Americans stay, you must come here on a weekend. They have everything going on here, great food including a bag of churros for <$2, variety of entertainment for adults and kids (basically powerwheels are overtaking half the plaza with kids driving and parents chasing, it is very interesting to watch), shopping and a safe atmosphere to hang with Mexicans. I put these pictures on just to see if the amount of clicks I received on my blog were due in part to the preview picture on my sister's blog.

I happened to make it to the public square during the 2nd Annual Mr. Cancun Pageant.

Then the Miss Cancun bodybuilding pageant took place, there were only 5 of them and none of them were as buff as bubba joe...however, I've never seen her in a swimsuit so I might be wrong.

The final act I stayed for was these two men who did all sorts of tricks, this one was my favorite, the touchless balancing act since I've always liked to walk around with things on my head to show off my great balance. Maybe they'll need a backup one day?

CANCUN from Bay Area $299

Many dates to choose from, I just booked from a Saturday to a Thursday for $299 from San Jose. Pretty great place to see, Chichen Itza, beaches, Tulum, etc...

Days 3-6 Island Style

Top 10 things I learned about myself while on this trip in no specific order are...

#1. I like to take pictures and go into pure tourist mode while at the same time trying to look cool and keep people guessing if I'm on vacation or am I an undercover spy just trying to look like a tourist.

#2. I realized I don't need to do my hair each morning when it becomes what it is right now...some type of weave thing.

#3. I love Snow Cones, shaved ice, Slurpee's, otter pops, or anything else that is cold.

#4. I don't like sand in places, whether I know I have those places or not. But I do like putting it on others.

#5. Long car rides with real adults opens me up to various questions about girls, dating advice and free pick-up lines to try to use.

#6. I love waves, they are so entertaining and relaxing to watch, not touch, just watch. I love it when they crash into the rocks, forgive me for being sentimental, but no two waves are alike, and I like to guess what type of wave will be coming next.

#7. I like walking, hiking, public transportation as long as I can get cleaned up somewhere (like wash my hands).

#8. Renting kids is a great easy alternative to having to support a wife and my own flock of little birds.

#9. Like most singles, I do enjoy sunsets and long walks on the beach, just as long as there is a paved path and I don't have to get sand anywhere.

#10. I have no culture. I don't beat drums, dance around half naked in public or on canoes, wear leaves of any kind, or dance with fire. At least not to the knowledge of any of you reading this.

Day 2, much better

Who knew a short drive could get you out of the craziness of Honolulu and into relaxing vacation mode. My day started early, I woke up before any of my other cell mates, I set off to hike Diamond Head Crater. I thought I was in Asia a few times but enjoyed it. It wasn't as great as I was expecting but here are some pictures, you can be the judge. I also found what I want to be doing with my life when I retire. I took the rowdy city bus again, only missed it a few times but met some nice folks at the bus stop. Then found my way to the real Hawaii. Pretty good day.