if everything comes your way, you are in the wrong lane. -Unknown

I DROVE YESTERDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME.  (in Australia...not the first time ever..)

Describing word:  interesting.

The roads are all backwards, much like the roads in England.  The steering wheel is on the opposite side as well.  The car I drove yesterday is a manual.  You should know that I've driven a 5-speed twice in my lifetime--when I was 17 years old.  Driving on the wrong side of everything, in a 5-speed, proved to be quite the experience; without a doubt: interesting.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I guess practice will make perfect; or at least I won't suck at it forever.  

Here's a bit of an update on life in Australia so far:

1. The job that I had, I no longer have.  I decided to quit.  The cafe itself was alright and even the people working in it were alright.  I just felt like the owner was being a bit 'dodgy'  **aussie word for sketchy**
2. The coffee in Melbourne is delicious.  I have a new obsession with Chai Soy Lattes.  Never ever did I think to put honey in it;  this is a must for anyone who didn't know that the combination of honey and chai is heavenly. 
3. Living situation:  moving to a bigger place soon I hope.  
4. I also found two volunteer opportunities coming my way.  One with a museum and the other with a conservation group over on Ocean Road.  I think this will be a great way to get involved and make some friends.

And the job hunt continues.  

Peace and Love, 

Adriana 

Melbourne Day One

I attempted the city today. It started at 7 am. Dressed and ready to go by 8:15 am.

***side note... I had a job interview today... After applying to like 100 online job ads. It went well I think. I have a trial on Monday. I know absolutely nothing about being a barista. Should be a very interesting Monday.

I did a lot of walking after my interview. I went to Hardware Ln for a coffee and some breakfast. I stepped into a French cafe, where literally everyone spoke French. I wish I could speak French. I had a delicious cappuccino and a yummy crepe with spinach, tomatoes and cheese. Next I walked to to Melbourne Central Station. This is a mall something like the Eaton's center. At least I think it's comparable. I bought myself some tea, a couple awesome books on the inner city about hidden gems and holes in the walls and grabbed a chai latte. I really enjoyed myself. It was a nice day alone getting to know the city. Tomorrow I'll be checking out the Queen Victoria Market.

Peace and Love.

Heading Down Under

Hello, I’m typing this from somewhere over Utah?  Or Arizona?  I’m not sure, but it looks sandy down there.   This time tomorrow, I’ll be in Australia.  I packed up and I’m gone for the year--maybe forever?  I don’t know if things will work out over there.  I don’t know if I’ll be okay.  I’m leaving behind my family and friends to embark on something of my own.  I applied for a working visa to make some cash while I’m living there.  I spent last night packing for 4 seasons for at least the next 8 months.  Its funny that most of my life can fit in two suitcases.  This is going to be an interesting adventure.  I have a few plans for what I want to do, but at the same time, I don’t have a plan at all.  I decided two weeks ago I was jumping on a plane and giving it a shot.  How do I feel right now?  I’m nervous.  I’m excited.  I’m anxious.  I’m scared.  But then, I get really excited all the new possibilities.  

It was really hard leaving my best friends behind.  I honestly have a small group of people I see and hang out with all the time.  It’ll be weird being on my own for a bit, but if I learned anything in Belize, it’s the frequency at which you meet people.  Friends are waiting at every corner to be made.  

I’m going to really miss my family.  I wish we left on better terms.  I guess sometimes, you need space.  Hopefully time fixes all that needs to be fixed.   

I’m not sure what I’m doing with school right now.  I don’t know what I want from that anymore.  I know that I want to finish school, I just want to figure some things out.   Like, I want to help people.  I have a pretty good idea about how I want the next couple years of my scholarly life to go.  But, I’m young now, so why not make a few mistakes and take a few chances and enjoy whatever life’s gonna toss my way?

Maybe down under will be a good thing.  Maybe down under will be life changing.  

I’ll keep you posted.  What else can I do from here?  

Peace and Love <3

Canada

I wish I wrote more, but Canada has been work and no play.  If I play, I’m at the local bar or a rave for an after party or with my best friends eating sushi and spending money we shouldn’t be spending, and then I’m back at work.  

I went vegetarian.  That’s kind of exciting?  I’ve been meat free since May.  I do eat fish occasionally, but I’m going to cut that out soon too.  I did meet some cool people this summer too, overall, not a bad summer so far.  

Dangriga

I enrolled in this drumming class to learn more about local culture.  Belize is split into three kinds of people.  Well, four.  You have the British, the Spanish and Garifuna.  Then you have the msyticos.  Mystico's are a mix of everything.  I guess you also have the Maya.  Either way, theres a lot going on there.  This drumming class was specific to the Garifuna culture.  Our year end trip was to Dangriga.  A cultural town and center for Garifuna lifestyle.  

As a class we went to see dancing, singing and drumming; and then we made our own drum.  

I cannot Punta or Piranda for the life of me.  I am a white girl trapped in a white girls body…but I tried.  I really tried to dance.  Fail.  

The night was filled with dancing and drinking and classmates playing on the beach till early morning.  We went to a bar and met strangers who showed us around-–they also advised us not to be walking around alone at night.

The next day was spent building drums.  This was a difficult feat to overcome.  The main reason being, all of us were hungover.  The steps as I remember them: 

• tree stump needs to be hollowed up with a saw
• tree stump needs to be trimmed around the edges very carefully, exposing the softness. 
• Sand the shit of out the outside of the hollow stump
• Stain the stump.
• Pull fur off dead animal skin
• Comb it off with impossible tool to use
• Soak it in some kind of water
• Stretch leather over the stump
• Tie leather up 
• Braid string 

I’m pretty sure some of that is wrong…it was hard, and hot and I wasn’t paying attention.  Let alone couldn’t understand why they would give me a saw.  Like I know how to use one of those things…

Also…beware of sand flies.  Invisible little monsters that attack you and make you itchy for days.  

I have scars that will never leave me.  They truly leave a lasting impression.  My ankles will never be the same.

Peace and Love, 

Adriana

In case I die tonight...

To whom it may concern: 

I’ll admit I’ve been doing an awful job of updating my blog.  I’ve been too caught up in living the dream.  Tonight, I write from within the darkness of the bus.  I spent the last two weeks in El Salvador.  Tonight I fear for my life.  The rain is beating on the bus like hail.  Lightening lights up the sky in moments of flickers.  For a brief second, I can make out every shape, every rock, every car and every other face on the bus.  For a while I couldn’t see a foot in front or on either side of the bus.  Now, I’m watching rock slides plummet onto the road from the cliffs on either side as the bus swerves to avoid them.  I think my heart has stopped about 15 times.  Carlos is sitting beside me carefully watching ever move the driver makes.  I can see him looking at me, making sure I don’t panic. I’m terrified to continue this journey, but it doesn’t look like the driver is planning on stopping.  If I actually post this, I made it out alive.  

Yours truly,

Adriana

Somewhere outside of Guatemala City 

P.S. A rock just hit the side of the bus.  We’re still moving.  

El Salvador

There's so much I want to say about El Salvador.  I spent two weeks there.  The first day or so was in San Salvador.  Very interesting place.  It’s very different from Belize and Guatemala.  The people vary in colour and ethnicity.  It’s very multicultural.  There are shopping malls and franchises everywhere.  It’s weird.  Nice cars, billboards, massive nightclubs.  It was like being in a Spanish Toronto; without the buildings.  El Salvador is so prone to earthquakes, they don’t—can’t—have any tall buildings.  

Its also surrounded by Volcanoes.  Volcanoes everywhere.  Some are still active.  That makes the weather different too.  Its really hot, but still can get really cool at times.  

I climbed to the top of one volcano.  It was really pretty.  What a view.  If I had more time, I would have hiked down the crater too.  

The second portion of my time was spent at the beach.  The waves are really strong. El Salvador is actually one of the surf capitals of the world.  Anyways, we ended up staying at this resort with Carlos’ family.  They were all so wonderful.  It was really nice to be apart of a real family.  Like the Spanish Braidy Bunch.  There was good food, good wine and good company for a whole week.  The beach was dark sand.  I found sand dollars and spent most of my free time tanning by the pool and playing with the kids.  It was so lovely.  It felt like a vacation.  

View at the Lake <3

The third portion of my trip was spent at the lake.  The name of the Lake escapes me know,  but I do know that it’s a volcanic crater that filled in with water.  The depths of the crater are completely unknown.  I spent my days here jumping off the dock, playing with the kids and eating good food.  Most of my nights were spent with a glass of wine sitting on the dock watching the horizon fade into darkness. 

Oh one more thing to say about El Salvador, go with someone who speaks Spanish.  It’s very dangerous.  There are armed guards everywhere.  Houses are blocked in and protected.  Men with guns watch your cars while you dance in clubs.  There are twenty something deaths a day due to drug related and gang issues.   So be smart. 

Nightclubs: Awesome.  

Peace and Love <3

****I actually lost all the pictures from El Salvador :(

I watched beach soccer there too!! It was super cool.  

River Tubing at Parrot's Nest

Parrots Nest is like tree house lodging.  It's just outside of San Ignacio.  One of the professors from the local college runs and owns it.  He’s this awesome surf-like computer geek adventurer who looks like he should be living on the Gold Coast in a shack, laying in a hammock.  He picked us up as we were walking down the street and invited us to try water tubing by his place on the river.  

***We met him at Greedy's once upon a time ago.

Next thing you know, we have music blaring and we’re speeding down a dirt road and through a jungle path.  I was pleased to emerge in a clearing with little tree huts and a river in front of me.  Really cute little place.  It's even on Trip Advisor.  Tell all your friends. 

PARROT'S NEST

We blew up tubes and off we were.  The current actually carries you in a complete circle, so it was really relaxing and actually really cool.  The whole run takes about an hour.  

NO ONE TOLD ME THERE WERE FRIGGEN ALLIGATORS IN THE RIVER.  That changes everything…if I knew that..I would not have gone.   Just saying.  

Peace and Love. <3

Sweet Ting

Another little place that deserves special attention.  Sweet Ting is the only cupcake and cake place I came across in all my time in Belize.  It was delicious.  They had Red Velvet Cake…enough said. 

Yummmyyy <3

Check out the Sweet Ting website:

Sweet Ting

This is a must stop when visiting or travelling through San Ignacio

Peace and Love <3

Something NOT to tell my kids one day...

Drinking in Melchor with the family <3

You know that part in Hangover, where everyone wakes up naked, with strippers walking around, stolen babies, broken glasses, missing teeth and a tiger in the bathroom with no idea what the heck happened the night before…yea, that happens in real life.  I woke up in Guatemala.  

It started off innocently enough, everyone was getting together and sharing an elephant foot.  

SLANG BREAK DOWN:  Elephant foot = 60oz bottle of Rum

Next thing you know theres banging on my door, beers in my hand, hitchhiking to the border.  

Taxi anyone?

Next thing I know, I'm sitting in Melchor (border city to Belize in Guatemala) with friends and strangers.  A family of Belizeans.  I’m cracking open my first Budweiser in months.  I’m being invited to a wedding.  We’re all hugging. 

Next thing I know, I’m in a van cab with 15 other Guatemalan cowboys chugging beers and eating Doritos.  

Hello Flores.  Flores is an island in Guatemala connected by a bridge surrounded by a lake.  You bet the very first place I went to was Burger King.  I haven’t had shitty food since December.  Flores is a very pretty little place.  Everything is painted colourfully, and the roads are like Mayan bricks.  Little shops everywhere and children playing innocently in the streets and hidden corridors.  People speaking in Spanish, very little English to be heard.  The night continued to a local Guatemalan bar, where Spanish dancing was the only way to dance.  People were shaking it, twirling, and spinning in all sorts of directions.  I went to bed and woke up in Guatemala.

Such a tourist in Tikal

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of tacos.  Mer and Ricky brought home 30 tacos.  No way were we going to eat those.  We found a little breakfast place looking over the lake.  We ate eggs, beans and salsa for breakfast.  In the shuffle to get home, we decided to visit Tikal.  

Tikal is unexplainable in words.  It is actually one of the larger Mayan complexes in existence.  Sky high temples dedicated to worshipping the gods and to symbolize their strength and power stood tall in front of me.  This was a phenomenal feat of construction in front of me.  This was the Maya.  This is was what they stood for.  Their power, their strength, their beliefs, their livelihood, everything in front of me.  Unbelievably cool.  

Click Here: 

Tikal

****Just so you know, it's much cheaper to travel to Tikal without a tour.  However, if you're scared, a tour is defiantly easier.  Just know that you will get ripped off and prepare for awful tour guides who barely speak English. 

TIKAL IS A MUST SEE.

Peace and Love!!!

San Pedro

The Cancun of Belize.  San Pedro is one giant party and one hell of a good time.  I WISH I HAD A CAMERA!  Unfortunately, I’m an idiot and left my charger at home so I had to rely on other peoples pictures.  Anyways, not the point.  

San Pedro isn’t to far off from Caye Caulker.  It sits about 30 minutes further.  Its much bigger and has a faster pace.  There are clubs and bars and outdoor patios everywhere.  We met up with a friend of a friend, and let me tell you was he awesome!  We ended up getting so drunk at this bar with an LA-er.  We danced and sang.  We bet  on chickens at the Chicken Drop. 

The Chicken Drop 

• Pick a number on the giant board of numbers painted on the floor.  
• Place a bet. 
• Pick up chicken.  Shake chicken semi-violently
• Drop chicken on board
• Hope that chicken shits on your chosen number. 

Yup, that’s the chicken drop.  We went to a club in the shape of a jaguars mouth.  It was deceivingly big.  Inside were levels and lights and lasers and phenomenal music.  I was very impressed.  After all,  I do love a good show.  

We went back to Rose’s (the place we were staying at) and I lunged part of my body off the balcony to projectile vomit off the balcony.  Oppps.   Too much fun in San Pedro.  

^^^^That would have been an epic picture.  

We met a couple somewhere from the USA.  We spent the next whole day smoking the local herb with them and drinking beer in the rain.  

Going back to San Iggy was bittersweet.   I guess we’ll always have San Pedro. 

Actun Tunichil Muknal

Sitting up in Handprint Cave

This was hands down my favourite part of my entire trip.  This was a completely unreal and amazing experience.  I felt things that were beyond my imagination.  Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM for short) was incredible. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got on that bus at 8 am that Friday morning.  I had heard ATM was beautiful.  I had heard that it was a spiritual experience.  I heard that it was the one cave you had to see before you left Belize.  I was more than pleased to learn that I was going to get a personal tour with an archaeologist who actually spent a great deal of time in the cave.  Sherry Gibbs was my favourite professor at Galen University as well; so hanging out with her for the day was awesome.  I was even more pleased with how good the price was; after all, being a tourist in Cayo means I’m always getting ripped off.  

We hiked to Handprint Cave first, and that was really cool.  It’s hard to imagine a giant skull looking out over the jungle. But that’s exactly what it looks like if you had the means to cut down all the overgrowth that covers it now.   I thought the painted hands littering the cave walls were even more interesting.  It really left an interesting mark on that specific ceremonial center.  Mrs. Gibbs talked about so many different functions that may have gone on in that cave.  She showed us where pots were found and she discussed how looters were still trying to carve the hand prints off.  

We then made our way to ATM.  A deep body of cave water joins the cave entrance.  I would imagine this to be an underwater river.  It was deep. Way deeper than I thought it was going to be.  NOT FUN TRYING TO KEEP MY HEAD ABOVE WATER.  I was terrified that my tattoo would get infected with bat poop or whatever else I could contract from that water. The rest of the cave took forever to get through. It was dark and calmly eerie.  Shadows danced off the cave walls from our little flashlights.  It was incredible to imagine the Maya making a similar journey with torches.  It was incredible to imagine seeing the same things someone from a thousand years ago may have seen.  It wasn’t until we reached the final stretch of the cave, heading towards the crystal maiden, when I suddenly felt wrong for being in there. 

Awful attempt at a picture in ATM

ATM is a beautiful, scared cave.  I understand why the Belize Tourism Board has opened it for business, it’s a wonder of the world and it really is something extraordinary.  However, it’s damaging and ruining a beautiful thing.  It’s really sad to see broken pots and broken sacrifices.  People just get so careless and its saddening.  Its disrespectful.  Its like walking into a Catholic Church and teepee-ing the main cross and then taking a shit on the alter.  That’s exactly what people are doing, coming in there and making a mockery of ancient Mayan beliefs.  Its deeper than religion, there's this feeling of intense body, soul and earth uniting, it just felt wrong to be there.  You leave with a sense of enlightenment and understanding, yet, you feel so bad about trespassing.

I hope they close it down soon.  But, I'm thankful I was able to experience something like that.

Famous in Belize

A friend of mine in Belize, named Gaby, designs clothes.  She’s an amateur with little experience, but very talented.  As far as I know, she’s never really had any formal training, so it's even more impressive.  She’s currently trying to make herself a name and break through in the fashion world.  One night, we were out at Greedy's Pizzeria and she asked me to be in a fashion shoot.  I said yes; Merry Ann, my beloved roommate was also asked to be one of the models, along with several other Belizieans.  Thanks to my parasites, I looked fabulous for it--minus my pale complexion.  

We had a fitting the night before the big day.  On the second day, we were up and about by 8 am.  We were in make-up for the majority of the morning and then the photo shoot started.  First was formal wear, I had a blue, green maxi dress.  The San Ignacio Hotel provided us with some food–not like I could eat, I wanted to vomit thanks to my little friends.  

The second half of the day was more fun because we went to Mahogany Hall.  We were dressed in fun clothes and everyone was getting silly.  

I’m now on a website and a magazine. 

Not going to lie though, the modeling life isn’t for me.  It was exhausting and honestly, I’d hate to wake up and do that every morning.  I also like food far too much to be skinny for a living. 

Check Addiction! out on facebook:

Addiction

At least I can say, I was a professional model for a day.  I am famous in Belize.  

Peace and Love!!!

Parasites

I, Adriana, caught a parasite in Belize.  I fully blame myself for being dumb enough to try and drink local tap water.  I deserve a parasite.  

THIS WAS AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE!!!!! 

Hands down the worst feeling in the world.  I spent all of Valentine’s Day with my arms hugging the toilet.  I couldn’t move.  I couldn’t breathe and most importantly, I couldn’t eat.  Thankfully, someone, was kind enough to bring my poop to the local clinic the next morning, only for them to diagnosis me with parasites.  

I was bed ridden for about a week.  On the bright side, I lost like ten pounds.  JUST IN TIME FOR MY MODELLING DEBUT.  

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker is an island (or a Caye) off the coast of Belize.  It takes about an hour to get there by water taxi.  On this particular trip, all of the exchange students decided to make a weekend trip out of it.  The sun was shining, the sky was clear blue, the sea was coloured deep shades of turqouis and everyone was in a phenomenal mood.  We sat on top of the boat taking it all in.  All I could think was: this can't be real life.  Imagine being this close to something so beautufl all the time.   Once we got to Caye Caulker we began hunting for a place to stay, everywhere was pricey except for one tiny place that was hidden between the streets; it was tiny little wooden shacks right on the sand.  It was about 15 dollars a night.  I wish I could remember the name.  It escapes me now.

We went to this place on the beach for a delicious lobster dinner.  It’s run by a big big man who grills fish as you walk by.  Later we found ourselves sitting in hammocks and drinking rum till early in the morning.  

We took a walk around the tiny caye, the roads all made of sand, the only vehicles permitted are golf carts.  You can see the Caribbean on all sides of you at all times.  

It was tranquil and beautiful.  

SIDE NOTE:  Do not get a tattoo in the Caribbean...it limits what you can do.  I missed out on swimming with the sting rays and the sharks because I couldn't get the tat wet!!!

Another reason to go back.

Peace and Love <3