"I had nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion."

- Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Recent adventures have been pretty tame, involving watching movies, reruns of scrubs, and reading a lot. I went hiking for a week with my high school English teacher, Mr. Rabb, and had a great time. My legs still hurt though about five days later. I'll get some pics from him maybe to put up. Otherwise, I have a nephew now and he's pretty cool. His name is Carsten, he makes Pterodactyl noises and he needs his diaper changed frequently. I can't find the link to his baby-site right now or else I'd attach his photo. 

Otherwise, here is an old picture of me underwater while scuba-diving, and a hand-drawn self portrait.

As you can tell I'm bored.

He was late as a matter of principle, the principle being that promptness was the thief of time.

- in reference to Lord Henry in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. (By memory, not sure if it's exact).

Seems like an appropriate quote to describe my lack of promptness in updating my blog, though in truth my other pursuits probably meet the description of "thiefs of time" more than updating my blog. I digress...

I'm in Ohio, kickin it with my folks, until I get something lined up. Hoping to get back overseas soon, not sure of anything. Jon and I had a great trip down to Central America, though 3 months was long enough and we were both happy to finish up I think. Jon is now moved on to Ghana where he will teach high school Bible classes. Here are a few more photos from that trip.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."

- Einstein

So much to write about, but seeing as to how I'm getting started about midnight I guess I'll keep it short. Since the last time I posted:

we roasted marshmallows on an active volcano outside of Antigua, swam through caves and climbed/jumped down waterfalls in Semuc Champey, found Dr. Pepper in Flores, and climbed up the Mayan Ruins of Tekal (you might recognize the temple in the below picture as it featured in the 1st star wars movie) in Guatemala;

we drove all the way across Belize, kicked it for a night and half a day in Dangriga the biggest city in souther Belize (with all of 15,000 people), drove 3 British med-students down the road in our convertible, boated across some water to Placencia were we kicked it on the beach for a day, failed in an attempt to sell our car, failed in an attempt to get the car on a cargo boat bound for Honduras, then drove back across Belize into Guatemela and down into Honduras;

In Honduras we found an English speaking church in San Pedro Sura where we ran into my friend Joel Michels (who I mistakenly believed was working in Ecuador not Honduras), hung with him for a couple days and got to check out his work (with my former employer, who I hear we aren't supposed to name on blogs anymore?), saw Iron Man, ate at Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Wendy's and then moved on to the Copan Ruins. There we did a canopy tour (ziplines!!!! see Jon below), checked out the ruins and went to a bird Sanctuary.

Then we met up with my Taylor friend Jen Walsh in the capital, where her and her roommates have been hosting us. Saturday morning four of us took off for El Salvador, drove all the way to the capital (about 8 hours with the border crossing), and enjoyed the city (museum, botanical gardens, cathedral, pizza hut, etc...) before turning around and heading back the next day. At which point we ran into some trouble. 

It took us two hours to cross the border (by the way the term "Banana Republic" was coined for Honduras) and when we finally got through all the gas stations were closed for the night. We had been waiting to get back to Honduras to fill up because of better prices, so we were left with very little gas to make the trip home. So I burned as little gas as possible, coasting down hills and drafting off of cars in front (to cut down wind-resistance). After driving with the warning light on for an hour we finally coasted into a gas station that looked open. Only it wasn't, and the car wouldn't restart once it was off. Fortunately it turned out we were at the gas station closest to our destination and we parked the car and a five minute walk had us safe in bed. Note the pictures above. 

I guess that works for now. I'll write some more philosophical offering soon I think.

"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform."

- Twain

Well I haven't blogged in way too long, as we've been seeing and doing lots of great things down in Mexico and now Guatemala. I'll run through the highlights and give a few pics.

We left the beach and headed inland to Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city. Nice enough place, saw a museum and the city center. The real highlight was finding Levi Type 1 Jeans in the big market!!! My last pair (my favorite jeans ever) were in my car that was stolen 3 year ago, and then they discontinued the line. But they still have them in Mexico! So I'm the proud owner of two new pairs that are only slightly too large. Huzzah... Oh wait, we also saw Chivas the best Mexican football team beat Santos from Brazil in a big match. That might be the highlight. It was a huge (former world cup) stadium, so it wasn't even full, but one section of fans went nuts the entire night, non-stop chanting and jumping up and down in unison. Put American fans to shame. A tight match saw Chivas win 3-2 with a well-placed cross and deadly header early in the 2nd half.

We took off to a little city called Uruapan, and spent two nights there cause our brakes got a little funky and needed some work. Then we went out to a little village called Anghuan (?) and hiked a volcano that buried a couple small villages about 50 years ago. One of the pics is me in front of the only remains of a village, the steeple of the church. Among the toughest actual hiking I've done, but on the way down we could practically ski through some parts because of the loose gravel-like rocks.

From there we did the big city. The driving wasn't great, between one-way streets and others that were blocked off for protests, but otherwise the city was great. We saw some cool museums, and lots of murals by Diego Rivera, a very famous artist who liked to put a lot of anti-capitalist/pro-communist imagery in his work. Neat stuff. Also drank coffee at a cafe, rumored to have been frequented by Fidel and Che as they plotted the takeover of Cuba. Oh, and we got our car towed, not realizing we parked on a street that was night-time parking only, and the car was gone in the morning. Found a friendly English-speaker at our hotel and soon enough we had the car back, with our pockets just 50 bones lighter for it. 

Then it was on to Oaxhaca, the capital of the Mexican modern art-scene, as well as their foreign tourist scene apparently. Real-happening place, with all sorts of performances happening in the main plaza. On Friday night me and Jon were walking back to our hostel and we found three different bands playing just off the main plaza, and kids were just grabbing a partner and going nuts dancing in the middle of the city. A little bit later I found myself back at one of the restaurants ringing the main plaza, and Mariachi bands were all around performing until late into the night (at least past 11:30 when I left). 

From there we headed towards Guatemala. We've spent two nights here in Antigua, which is the backpacker mecca of the country. I was a little sick the day we arrived, so we took yesterday easy, and today we are off to see an active volcano. Last night I watched most of the Jazz/Rockets playoff game, so I got a bit of a sports fix for now. Of course I'll probably go back to the same place to watch more tonight. 

love to all, hope everyone is well - aaron

(well pictures won't work right now for unknown reasons, so I'll put them up later I guess.)

Sombreros!!!!!!!!

San Blas

Mexico so far:

Guaymas - really just had to pull over and stay somewhere for the night, but ran into some people down from a church in Iowa. We were able to hang with them at church and then drive out to a rural little village with them where they helped conduct a service. Later they introduced us to the Mexican hot-dog: bacon wrapped with a whole litany of ingredients heaped on, and then handed over by the vendor as if he were handing off a precious gem. Very impressive, but not better than Tony Packo's just yet.

Mazatlan - beach city, ran into a poor dude from Colorado who lost his wallet, passport and all his money within his first couple of nights. Of course that ju

st goes to show why you shouldn't go out drinking Tequila and

 getting hammered in a strange city with all your valuables with you. Some nice things about Mazatlan, but it didn't strike our fancy too much.

San Blas - chill beach town where we've been for about 5 days now. We're staying at Stoner's Surf Camp in a tiny little Cabana up on stilts. We took a surfing lesson from a former p

ro who runs the place, and then went out for a second time today by ourselves. Note the sweet pics of us riding the waves. We've pretty much been swimming, throwing the frisbee, reading, writing all day down at Stoners, and then at night we head to town to eat at various taco or hotdog stands. We've also discovered a sweet 10cent arcade to play Contra, Streetfighter and other games at. Life is good in San Blas. 

In another couple of days we will move on, maybe down the coast, maybe inland to see some cities. 

Road Trip!!!!!!!

Well, me and high school friend Jon Fortune are officially on the road. We spent March working our way across the country, visiting friends and family along the way. We just got done with the grand canyon. We weren't able to camp in the canyon (didn't get our permit in time) so we did two good day hikes. Tough hiking when you aren't in shape, but amazing views, and good times. Of course we refused to pay $18 for a tent site, so we slept in our car for two nights. 

In other news, tomorrow we head into Mexico, and hope to have 2 full months there and Central America before making our way home. The '92 Lebaron is holding up like a champ, and we've made it through about 8 Spanish lessons on the ipod. We couldn't be more prepared. 

Above is a picture of the famous Pie Shop in DeValls Bluff, Arkansas. Below is evidence of our Grand Canyon trekking. Will try and update the blog weekly during the trip, but have to go for now.

"Thou Mayest"

 - East of Eden, John Steinbeck

This is my second attempt at writing tonight. The first involved an extended rant about holidays like Valentine's Day and how I dislike them. Then I got booted from a coffee shop that was closing. I walked around the city looking for a new coffee shop.  Downtown Seattle, couples of all shapes and sizes walking by hand-in-hand. I realized I don't begrudge them a thing. I watched a guy playing his guitar, hula-hoop in constant motion. Life is too good to complain my way through it. So best wishes for those couples who are enjoying the day, and I hope it provides them an opportunity to express their love for one another. This isn't my year. Chances are I'll be back in Sudan this time next year, so that probably won't be my year either. But that's ok by me. Tonight I'll steer away from narcissistic reflections on loneliness, and praise God for the cappuccino I'm drinking and the chance I've had to see a new city this week. 

Seattle: Drove out with my brother Adam. He is moving here, so we took his car and I fly back tomorrow. Love the city. Pike Place Market is sweet, energetic, street performers (though not enough really), great food stalls to choose from, and a general hippy/friendly sort of vibe. And I actually speak the right language to talk to people there. Went to a Sonics game and saw the Jazz blast them. It was cool though. Art Museum seemed good, but I don't know how to compare it to anything else. Had three panels from the "Gates of Paradise" originally from the Florence Cathedral. I think this is the only time they will ever be displayed outside of Florence and they were sweet. Maybe the highlight of the trip actually.

Also saw Denver a little bit while visiting our Aunt and Uncle on the way out. Good times with them, and we were able to see Pastor Scott, my old youth pastor, and probably the most influential person in me being a Christian. Denver seems cool too. Hard to imagine moving either there or Seattle and ever wanting to move back to Toledo. 

Life Update: Sudan was great, but for various reasons I left in December. In a few months I will either go to grad school or go back with Samaritan's Purse (in Sudan probably). Unless I get rejected by all the grad schools (possible, darn my 2.97 GPA) and SP doesn't want me back. Then I guess I'll go work at Jimmy John's for the rest of my life. There are worse ways to go :) In the meantime I'll see a few friends around the Midwest, and then in March, me and Jon Fortune are going south, then west, then south with the '92 Lebaron, into Latin America until the car dies. We just hope it doesn't die in Kentucky. 

Some people ask, "why are you doing that?" and I ask in all sincerity, "why wouldn't we??" How is it ever a bad decision to adventure through an entire continent or two if you have the chance? You all can work your 40 hour a week jobs and have families and responsibility. As for me, I'll be kickin it on the beach in Brazil. To each their own.

I'll write some deeper Sudan reflections later maybe. 

Or maybe not.