Miniwanca Our Camp

Camp Miniwanca is located near Muskegon, MI on Lake Michigan. It was founded in the early 1900s and is based on a philosophy of personal best through balanced living. Each day is divided into P-physical, M-mental, S-social, R-religious/reflective activities. Campers are encouraged to live the camp's motto: "my own self, at my very best, all the time". Although a big group of campers reside on the Miniwanca site for their entire time at camp, we were involved in the camp's Four-Trails pathway which takes older campers on the road/lake for large periods of time.

Staff training was crazy fun and endless... We arrived late May and our campers didn't arrive until late June so we pretty much had a month to learn all about safety protocols and "risk management" (Scott demonstrates in some pics below). Staff training is really more like big kid camp as we went on bike trips, kayak trips, played Ultimate frisbee, shared goals, and pretty much experienced camp life as an adult.

Scott's Trip: 24 days of kayaking in the Georgian Bay (Ontario, CA)Risk Management in Progress:

My trip included another instructor, Wade, and six 16-year-olds. We prepared for the trip at camp for one week which included learning kayak safety and touring skills as well as packing up our food and gear. Next, we drove to Killarney, Ontario and set out on the turbulent waters of the Georgian Bays. We took out in Snug Harbor, Ontario (a bit southeast of Killarney) 3 weeks later. Highlights of the trip include: a rattlesnake nest in the middle of our campsite, a hail storm in the middle of the campers 2-day solo, tons of naked tanning time, lots of fishing but no fish, campers week-long "Final" where they travel independently from the instructors the last week.

Rachel's Trip:s 28 days of bicycle touring the eastern of WI and western MI
Me and my co-leader, Christine (seen below), had two adventures back to back... The first 3 week session of camp included a 500-mile bike trip around Wisconsin with 12 energetic 15-year old girls. The theme here - bike breakdown after breakdown. Ultimately, this led to an amazing adventure of altering routes and camping in the yards of helpful strangers. During the second session, we cycled with a smaller group of 3 (unruly) boys and 3 girls around Michigan. Although the roads up here are crappy and many on the map do not exist, the lakes are astounding and mimic the waters of the clear, blue Caribbean. Our two and a half month experience at Miniwanca was a truly life-altering experience. This place attracts incredible people and has an amazing setting on Lake Michigan to boot. The friendships/bonds created here and the space to work on balance in life for an entire summer definitely shifted us into a mode for crazy wedding planning... more to come on that!

Que Rica Costa Rica

The guidebooks and fellow travelers had hyped Costa Rica as being a bit of an anomaly for Central America. Indeed, it was very different and the differences for the most part were very welcome: clean roads (not as much trash), a bus system w/ non-big-yellow-school-buses (some w/ air conditioning), grocery stores w/ fixed prices, and no pan-handlers and manipulators at every corner; pretty much that sense of desperation was gone. So it felt really good to be here, but naturally there was a price... and in Costa Rica that price is very literal EVERYTHING COSTS MORE... a bunch more. Well some of the hostels were pretty cheap but think of Eco-tourism and think $$$. Probably worth it if you plan on just going to C.R. but after visiting other Central American countries it seemed a bit outrageous. Anywho... here is brief description of our route and adventures.
Horse Dancers
First stop was the small mountain town of Tilaran, home of the high-stepping horse dancers. We lucked out as there was a big rodeo and horse parade the day we were in town. We watched the endless, disorganized procession with the rest of the town and then munched on some mangoes from a big tree in the park.

Cloud World
On to the cloud rainforests of Monteverde, home of the unique avian wonder the Quetzal and some pretty crazy zip-lines through the canopy forest. Monteverde is one of those places where young ecologists go studying for semesters... you really could stay here poking around in the forest forever, so much diversity, so many creepy crawly things. Rachel saw her first giant tarantula on a guided night hike and managed to spot the famous Quetzal on a guided day hike. The guides are probably worth it as their English was excellent, yet get ready to crack that wallet as nothing is cheap in the clouds.
Rental Car Mischief
We decided to make Costa Rica the last country in our adventure and thus wanted to go out in style... so in true American tourist fashion we got us a big ol' automobile and toured the rest of the country. Our primary objective was to find the perfect beach and thus we scoured both east and west coast beaches. After traversing the highway abyss through San Jose, we headed to Limon and then the beaches near Manzanillo on the Caribbean. The rental car paid off as we now had the means to pull off and explore any beautiful bit of coast or scenery (vs. watch it briefly from a bus window). We also decided to camp on abandoned roads as if we were in the States... and we felt pretty safe except for the wakeup call from a man carrying a machete outside our tent :)
We tried to snorkel on the Caribbean side but pretty much decided it was no Belize and thus we headed toward the Pacific Ocean. But first we thought we'd get engaged... Finally! And what better location than a natural hot-spring underneath the active volcano Arenal... very romantic... Scott scored some big points. But enough gushy stuff, the train kept rolling onward to Nicoya Peninsula where we abused our rental car on some real sketchy roads on our way to the Pacific. There really were no (minimal) paved roads between popular beaches. We pretty much took compass bearings and hoped for the best at crossroads. Alas, we were rewarded for getting lost as we had beach after beach all to ourselves. We did find the perfect beach... actually, miles of them! When we finally did make it to some of the big "surfer" guide book destinations, we felt they were pretty lame compared to our personal naked beaches. For those of you still with me, GO NOW, the bulldozers and developers are moving quick. Godspeed.
The Return Home
The journey ended Sunday, May 20th when Scott and Rachel flew home from the San Jose International Airport. The discussions regarding whether or not to continue on through Panama and South America were pretty intense. Scott's weird tuberculosis-like cough and travel fatigue tipped the scales and thus we decided to spend the summer leading trips and volunteering at Camp Miniwanca. One week of visiting with family before the summer camp training begins...

Nicaragua

Pineapple fields in Nicaragua

Nicaragua took on a different feel than other countries we had visited. After reading about the chain of 11 volcanoes lining the Pacific coast, the beautiful surfing beaches, and the largest lake in Central America, we were ready for some great experiences. The journey started a little rocky when we were forced to spend a night in the capital city of Managua - which is perhaps the scariest city we have visited since Belize City. We were told of the dangers and encouraged to take a cab 6 blocks to the ATM. This seemed ridiculous, but we heeded caution and took the prudent route. The taxis of course took advantage of this fear and overcharged to ensure our safety. This somewhat started to lay the groundwork for our experiences in Nicaragua. At this point in the trip, we needed a little pampering...

A much needed American meal at Pizza Hut
Scott getting a shave and facial

After the pleasantries of Managua, we headed to Granada which is a colonial city situated on Lake Nicaragua. Although the city was beautiful, the hotels were expensive, the market was incredibly stinky, and it was hot as hell. We noticed a different vibe in Nicaragua that perhaps is due to being the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere (after Haiti). Actually the vibe wasn´t really that different just perhaps a bit more concentrated... the vibe was desperation. Cab drivers, junk peddlers, store owners, were all a little too desperate for our gringo dollars. The cab drivers would lie about directions and schedules while street kids would haunt you with souvenir whistles. One restaurant so abused the description of the food that we couldn´t eat it and gave it to one of the old ladies on the street. So you pretty much had to watch your back. At this same time, our Spanish skills were really paying off as a means of ripoff insurance. By asking several people about schedules and directions we were able to meander our way through the country pretty easily.

One highlight of our trip was Isle de Ometepe, a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (huge freakin´ lake). We boarded a cargo ferry and tried not to barf (or fall off) on the stomach-churning journey. We hired an 18 year old kid to guide us up Volcan Concepcion, who kicked our butts running up the nearly vertical trail. Luckily, we could not hike to the summit because it has been active in previous years. Our aching quads and biceps were rewarded with an incredible view of Lake Nicaragua through the misty clouds. That's the one downfall of a cloud forest - you can't expect to have a clear view. We also saw an entire gang of howler monkeys and the elusive white-faced gringo monkeys (a smarter type of monkey than the typical gringo monkeys who climb the volcano).Our final desintation in Nicaragua was the Pacific Ocean. Supposedly, San Juan del Sur boasted one of the finest beaches (easy to get to) in the country. We realized our guidebook was sadly mistaken when we sat our fatigued, emotionally-depleted selves down on the beach for a view of boat after boat blocking the Pacific. Not exactly what we had in mind... This was a surf town full of bleach-blond surfer dudes and dudettes who "like totally caught a bitchin' wave" type of town. Perhaps we just weren't in the mood or were affected by the rising temperatures with a stuffy hotel room, but we needed the mountains of a different country for recovery. We headed for Costa Rica for some relief, although these kids in Nicaragua really lifted our spirits. The picture below is one of many throughout the trip where we play with local kids new to digital cameras. Rachel amused them for about a half-hour amid the deafining cry¨otra vez, otra vez¨ ... again ... again ...So we weren´t super impressed with Nicaragua as compared to Guatemala or Honduras. To be fair, we did meet some travelers who said they loved Nicaragua (though they hadn´t been to Guatemala) and we pretty much stuck to the gringo-circuit (which attracts the more aggressive turistivore types) but... when we crossed that border to Costa Rica... it felt like we had found the promised land!

Honduras Highlights

Continuamos... The journey from Guatemala to Honduras was fast and easy as our first destination lay just across the border. The ruins at Copan did not boast the impressive pyramids and temples we climbed in Mexico and Guatemala, but it is famous for unique stone carvings called "stelae" with hieroglyphics depicting Mayan life. We quickly found a lovely 7$ a night hotel room and were off to the ruins. The ruins in Copan were very tranquil and proved to be a nice grand finale of the Mayan tour. We had the place to ourselves, partly because it is off the beaten track and partly because it costs 15$ a head to enter. . All in all: pretty cool, a little pricey, and a bit ho-hum after Tikal. While in Copan Ruinas, we were tempted to pay for an afternoon horseback tour into the local mountains but then couldn't find the sketchy looking guy who offered us 3 hrs. for 20$. This turned out to be a blessing as later a fellow Canadian traveler told us that his guide was drunk and he was robbed by 2 teenagers holding a loaded pistol. We are grateful for our Central American karma thus far... After a little culture, we wanted to have some more fun in the Carribbean. We took a 10 hour ride on a sticky bus to the Bay Islands. The ride took us through the green, lush mountainous interior of Honduras with intermittent forest-clearing fires and road-side trash. The land is beautiful here and several regions have been preserved as National Parks and Reserves. Rather than visit a park or two (which posed logistic challenges), we decided on the islands famous for the cheapest scuba diving in the WORLD - 20$ per dive! We had to decide on either Utila: backpacker mecca, smaller, cheaper, fewer beaches; or Roatan: bigger, more expensive, more night life, better beaches. We chose Utila and our Lonely Planet Bible, Central America on a Shoestring, was right on... smaller, cheaper, and smellier as the local trash dump was right behind our hotel (and everywhere else for that matter). But alas, we quickly focused on our real destination, the coral reefs under the surface, and decided to spend the week on a small caye off of Utila.

This island, called Jewel Caye, was even more developed than the mainland with all the buildings overextending the island in every direction. There wasn't a grain of sandy beach and every space was covered by concrete, decks, or trash. But at least it put us right on the coral (mere steps from our hotel room) which facilitated daily snorkeling and diving jaunts. I can pretty much describe it as a 3-D hike on an alien planet. The coral landscape is truly breathtaking and the octopus, squid, turtles, rays, and zillions of fish made the overcrowded terrestrial world worth it. Once again, we tourists were at odds w/ the local fishing community and so we tried to stay away from the cheap lobster and fish dishes.
The highlight of the week was our final dive where we were joined by 2 marine biologists from the Whale Shark Research Center. A whale shark had been sighted off the island the day before and they were in search for some pictures and to observe behavior. Their eyes were acutely trained to search for "boils" in the sea caused by a tuna feeding frenzy on minnows which were feeding on plankton. During this time of year, whale sharks feed on tuna and a boil nearly always indicates the presence of a whale shark. It was pure excitement when a boil was spotted on our way to the first dive site. As the boat pulled right up to a huge dark shadow in the water, we were instructed to glide into the water as gently as possible. When we ducked our snorkels underwater, we saw a 30 foot male whale shark!! We knew this was a tremendous event because even the biologists were beaming. And all of this before we even dove for the day... This picture was taken by one of the marine biologists. Although I´m not sure this is the same day, this is what it looked like: After a quick stop at the capital, Tegucigalpa, we pretty much kept trucking to Nicaragua.

San Pedro & Lago de Floaters

Hola Amigos, next on the big trip was more Espanol. San Pedro boasted the cheapest school & lodging in the world... and they were right. One week of school (20 hrs. with private instruction) cost around 53$ and one week of camping in our tree house with a view of the lake was 14$. San Pedro is situated on Lago de Atitlan surrounded by mountains and 3 massive volcanoes. The small town is a mixture of hippie gringos who have opened restaurants/hotels and authentic locals still wearing the traditional clothing of Guatemala. We chose Casa Rosario to study for 3 weeks because the school is a lush garden on the lake and it is run by Vicente, the community saint who is deeply involved in community projects (including personally giving $ to families ensuring their kids go to school rather then work). Our payments for school largely contribute to this which makes the experience that much sweeter...

Our school Casa Rosario (the cabana is where individual classes were held)

Every morning we would buy banana bread on the steets for breakfast (50 cents), eat cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and splurge on typical gringo food for dinner. Dinner was the big social event in San Pedro for extranjeros (foreigners) because all the restaurants lured you in w/ free big screen movies. We've never watched so many movies in three weeks... But it was the nightly gathering where we would meet our friends and it gave you something to talk about in Spanish class - as talking everyday for 4 hrs. can drag w/o new material. Here's a picture of our new buds from school:After a few weeks we began to feel like the veterans of Casa Rosario and were charged w/ educating the newbies about the ins & outs of gringo-hippie-lake-world. I'm approaching this entry w/ a bit of a stream of conscious approach... and now I realize you might have a few questions. Tree House? Well initially we wanted to just camp next to the lake as we have all our gear and we want to justify hauling it around. However, each study area in the school consists of a tin roofed open air cabin and some of them have 2 floors. We layed out our air mattresses and felt like we were living amid a nature preserve. Birds and insects would wake us up each morning and we even had a guest scorpion:) But really we enjoyed it and were able to host many students into our abode during rain showers or snack breaks. Another curious issue: "lago w/ floaters". This was the issue of much debate among the students... but alas paranoia got the best of us and we kept the swimming to a minimum. The issue is this - there is no such thing as centralized community plumbing in most of Central America (there are few trash dumps as well). Each house is responsible for their waste management strategy and unfortunately this usually means the biggest lake in Guatemala is kinda like the biggest toilet in Guatemala. Our best buddy Vicente assured us the water is safe and that the lake has a "self-cleaning" mechanism (either settling it out or washing it on shore), regardless the problem is exacerbated after rain storms... as all the sewage from the villagers further up the hill flows down to the lake. We did recieve eye witness reports from our best gringo buddy of genuine floaters making their way to the lake. Sad but true. In addition to the lake being the community septic tank, the locals also use it as their washing machine and bathtub. This place is truly amazing and if you want to visit it while it's still (mostly) pristine, go soon!
During our 3 week stay at San Pedro, we were lucky enough to witness the big Semana Santa celebration. This Easter holiday consists of 5 days of celebration by carrying Jesus, Mary, and the cross on 3 separate floats through the streets for hours on end. The highlight event was the creation of "alfombras" or carpets made with fruit, flowers, pine needles, and colored sawdust. At midnight, locals from the Catholic church begin creating these elaborate carpets into the wee hours of the morning, only to be demolished with the marching parade early the next day. It was an amazing spectacle to witness...

We are now moving on to Honduras for some more Mayan ruins, diving in the Bay Islands, and hours of chicken buses...

Spanish, Volcanos, & Antibiotics in Antigua

All travelers in Guatemala spend at least a few days in Antigua because it is a town famous for brightly painted colonial buildings, gringo eateries, and Spanish schools, although our favorite find was the $2 gargantuan banana split. The ancient roads are cobblestone, the buildings old, and streets full of gringos...
We spent 2 weeks studying and living in a student boarding house which gave us a home base to make some friends. All spanish schools have similar design with one-on-one tutoring for 20 hours per week. The class is mainly unstructured without quality textbooks and is taught by young teachers lacking much experience. Most of the day is spent chatting about life and culture and the differences between the USA and Guatemala. My teacher was only 19 and was married until the second week of class when an American student became interested in a date; her spouse was then reduced to a mere boyfriend. It is a rare opportunity when a Guatemalan has a chance to leave the country for a better life, so many of the other teachers were encouraging her to "go for it". She was still thinking about it when I left...
Antigua holds the largest Semana Santa (Easter) celebration in Latin America, so preparations were in full force. The churches displayed offerings of flowers, fruits, and candles, most buildings were decorated with purple streamers, and a parade marched through the streets every Sunday night. When Scott and I heard the word "parade", we were thinking bands and candy... But, the parades for Semana Santa consist of hundreds of men dressed in satin purple robes followed by the single float of Jesus held by 40 men marching at the slowest pace possible through the streets. Not very exciting for us to watch, but the locals seemed very passionate and excited about the arrival of Easter.
Antigua is surrounded by 3 volcanoes, including 2 active ones. One of the big tourist events is to climb Volcan Pacaya to see the flowing lava rivers and steam vents. We decided to make the trek for my 32nd birthday. After a huffer through the forest, the view opened up to a land of dried lava fields that has doubled within the last 2 years. We climbed over sharp lava rocks following the painted white trail, feeling the heat and steam the closer we came to the glowing red lava. Once again, Guatemala did not disappoint us with that fine line of safety. Our guide proceeded to hike below the flowing lava and encouraged the group to approach for that killer picture. Okay, so I had to join too even though this picture doesn´t quite show how much my heart was pounding...
South of the US border, you do not drink the water unless treated or bottled. This is difficult to avoid when eating uncooked fruits and vegetables in restaurants, brushing your teeth, and when purified water cannot be found. But, down here diarrhea is a traveler´s rite of passage. As our second week commenced, Scott began to develop some serious stomach problems and was out for 4 days. So, for my birthday he gave me a bottle of poop to be examined for parasites by the local medical clinic. Luckily, bacteria were the culprit so the savior was a bottle of Cipro antibiotics I brought from the states. For those leaving the country for southern lands... don´t leave home without it! After recovering, we decided to travel to Lake Atitlan to study Spanish for another couple of weeks. More to come...