Volcano Pics...

Finally, I've been able to upload the volcano pics... enjoy!

Rest Stop # 1 of the day... believe me, I needed all of them. See... here I'm still upbeat and smiling, thinking this wasn't going to be a problem (Carlos, Tim, Kevin). If you ask me, there could be a few more reststops along the way.

Bob and Carolina enjoying a snack...

Now, I know we were quite hungry from the hike., but I still wasn't hungry enough to find Bob's bean sandwich appetizing, DISGUSTING...

Sunset with another volcano in the back... I love this pic... tree, clouds, and volcano in the back.

The following day, at the top of the crater... woohooo! I can't believe I made it. Isn't Carolina cute? She's standing on top of a rock.. hehehe.

Man, I was completely beat after the whole thing was over.... phew!!! I was coverd in so much dust and a bit tanned from the sun... I'm actually double tanned now: once from two weeks ago at IRTRA and now from this volcano hike.

As far as my first days at my new work, so far so good... though I have yet to receive my laptop from them and have to do some research for the best cell phone plan. But I love this thing about having flexibility with my schedule.

Later dudes,

CRCP

P.S. Won my bet with Estuardo regarding March Madness.... Free lunch at TGI Friday's for me!!! Jack Daniel's chicken is sounding pretty good.

I sailed the wild wild sea, climbed up a tall tall mountain... err, volcano!

Aloha from Honduras! What in the world am I doing here??? Well, as you may or may not know, I started my job with the Clinton Foundation (www.clintonfoundation.org) this week, in the HIV Initiative section, and I’m really psyched about it. I’ll be the Regional Advisor for Central America, which means I’ll be working with the Central American governments to support HIV/AIDS initiatives in the area. Therefore, I’ll be traveling to the region quite often… Guatemala and Honduras will the two main countries I’ll be focusing on at first (yes, I’ll be based in Guatemala). I got to meet some folks in Guate this week, as my boss came up to introduced to the people I’ll be working with, and we’re doing the same thing in Honduras right now. I’ll be back in Guate this Sunday… so far, so good.

This past weekend I did something I had not done in a very long time… I climbed a volcano!!! I had only climbed one other volcano in my lifetime, and that was in Hawaii… it that was more like a hike, as it didn’t take that long. Anyways, some friends were going up to Acatenango (the 3rd highest volcano in Guatemala…. I didn’t know this at the time I agreed to go up), and lemme tell you, I was still feeling the effect on Wednesday. We got to the volcano on Saturday around midday, with the idea to catch the sunset around 5:30 pm on the top of the volcano. The start was pretty rough, as the volcano was really steep and there wasn’t a paved path… it was only dirt, well, volcanic dirt, which means your feet would sink in a bit (like walking at the beach). After hiking up for about an hour and half, I was ready to call it quits, since I was told this was the easier part and had about 3 or 4 more hours to go… FUDGE!!! Anyways, out of Kevin, Bob, Tim, and Carolina... I was by far having the toughest time and slowed us down quite a bit. Long story short, we didn’t get to the top till about 6:00 PM (I swear I barely made it) and only got to see part of the sunset… Let me tell you, it’s the most challenging physical thing I’ve even done in my life (it could also be that I’m not a spring chicken anymore… sad to report that).

I think I was also having a tough time because we were carrying sleeping bags, as we were planning on spending the night on the volcano, underneath the stars. I had been told it was gonna be a bit cold, but never imagined how cold it got once the sun set down. I was seriously freezing, even though I was wearing two shirts, three long sleeve shirts, a vest, and a windbreaker!!! After eating and drinking a bit, we all got inside our sleeping bags around 8:30 PM (no one had brought a tent), and tried to get some shut eye. I think I originally slept for about 30 minutes or so (even though my feet were freezing), but then I woke up and could not go back to sleep. It was super cold, and I was turning around like a roasting chicken trying to find a comfortable sleeping position (by the way, we were all close together to try to get some body heat from each other, not sure if it worked or not). Around 12AM, I stuck my hand out of my sleeping bag to look for something, and to my surprise, my sleeping bag had a layer of ICE!!!! I am not kidding… that’s how cold it was. Basically, I got no sleep that night… and I was tired and hungry. I couldn’t believe I did this voluntarily… I was cursing my friends in my head for talking me into this.

In the morning, around 7 AM, we got up to catch some sunrays and warm up (Keving and Tim did get up early to catch the sunrise, the rest of us were too tired). Went up to the top of the volcano and enjoyed the amazing view of all the volcanoes, clouds, and overall terrain. It was an amazing view… so peaceful and relaxing. We stayed up there for about an hour or so, and after meeting a dog named Gussy (we originally thought the people were calling here something else), we decided to go back down and pack our stuff. My legs were a bit tired, but going down the volcano was quite a breeze…even though I was completely covered in dirt at the end of the day. Would I do it again? Maybe… If I can drive half of the trail in my car or get dropped off at the top of the volcano… I don’t think I have the energies to the whole thing again. There are other volcanoes which are not as tall and not as tiring, so I might to those in the future… Anyways, it was an amazing one time experience (I think).

I do have pics of the experience, but for some reason I can’t upload them now… so will post those later.

Hope everybody is doing well & keep enjoying March Madness… go Gators!!!

CRCP

P.S. VCU did beat Duke... how many of you saw that coming!!! Sorry Gray and Fraggle Rocks...

Last Day at La Licorera...

So officially today (Monday 12th) was my at La Licorera… I was here for just over a year, which doesn’t sound as much, but it seemed like a long time. At first, I was quite frustrated here, but over time I grew to liking the company more and more. Ideally, this new job at the Clinton Foundation (www.clintonfoundation.org) would have arrived a couple of years later, since I was being offered a spot in the Marketing department and would’ve enjoyed exploring that world. But I’m extremely excited about this new chapter in my life and who knows when this exciting opportunity would have come knocking at my door. My first day at my new job will be Monday 19th, so I have a few days to relax…

Speaking of relaxing, over the weekend I went to Mazatenango, a state in Guatemala that’s extremely hot and has a cool amusement / water park called Xetulul and Xocomil respectively. I went there with a whole bunch of people, about 25 of us… I didn’t know all of them, but it sure was a blast (I got roasted like a chicken by the way, the sun was so freaking strong). Here’s the only pic I have so far, but will post more as I get them.

Here we are... I'm in the fourth row in the back!!! Man, did we get soaked here...

Anyways, President Bush was in town today… there were minor protests, but it seemed to be a positive visit overall in spite of some of the topics of conversation between President Bush and President Berger (immigration, trade, drug trafficking, poverty).

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger and American President Mr. Bush...

Besides that, hoping that the two CAA teams in the NCAA Tournament (ODU and VCU) do well, I have a bet with my friend Estuardo over who does better in the brackets (a lunch to Friday’s is at stake!). I have Florida winning the whole enchilada…

Later,
CRCP

P.S. Only 20 days till the start of the BASEBALLl regular season!!!
P.S. II - Has anybody seen "The Prestige" yet???????

The Prestige... U Gotta see it!!!

I saw last night one of the best films I've seen in a long time, "The Prestige" (Un Gran Truco in Spanish), is seriously an amazing movie with twists and turns, great special effects, great acting, an amazing storyline, jumps back and forth, and for you music fans has a cameo appearance by David Bowie. It's the kind of movie you want to watch again once it's over, I swear!!! If you haven't seen it yet, you gotta go rent it to your local video store or Netflix or whatever u use... Please do and let me know if you love it as much as I do.

Apparently every magic trick has three steps: First, there is the setup, or the "pledge," where the magician shows the audience something that appears ordinary but is probably not, making use of misdirection. Then there is the performance, or the "turn," where the magician makes the ordinary act extraordinary. Lastly, there is the "prestige," where the effect of the illusion is produced. There are "twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance and you see something shocking you've never seen before." Hence the title "The Prestige" ... (Nominated for 2 Oscars).




On other news, sad to report that the GMU Patriots lost on Monday night... hopefully they'll get invited to the NIT (I will be rooting for other CAA teams to make it to the NCAA, like ODU and Drexel). On other sad news, Arsenal tied today in the Champions League against PSV and is out of the tournament. Fudge!!!

Later,

CRCP

P.S. - Only two more days at La Licorera...

Early March & Pats early run...

This past week was quite a blast, with different activities going on. I had a basketball game on Monday again, which we won, but I have to admit my skill level seems to be going down. I’ve realized that I do need to practice shooting some hoops if I plan to be more of a scorer, since I’m currently missing many open looks. I did shoot around last night, we have a game tonight.

Wednesday we had close at work (end of the month), but some of my coworkers were going down to Antigua in the evening to visit some bars / restaurants and asked me to come down with them (work related). I had to first stop by work to finish a couple of things before heading down, were I enjoyed a three or four Toucher beers (so freaking good), some Gallo (Guatemalan beer), and some free jello shots. Since it was somewhat of an official work think, I didn’t pay for anything… woohoo! I was planning on leaving around 11PM, but didn’t leave till around 12:20 AM, after which I needed to stop by work and look at one final number so that I could call the GM and let him know what the FINAL sales number was.

Thursday I took it easy since I was so beat from Wed night (I had the worst headache in the morning), so just stayed home and watched Survivor. Friday night I headed down to Antigua to have a few drinks with my gringo friends… Long story short: beers, bar counters, dancing, some gymnastic moves (splits and plange?), and more beers. Visuals from the evening:

Bob and Lula... shortly thereafter, Bob did some gymnastic moves!

The crowd on the bar counter...

Yep, that's me on the bar counter... it's becoming a ritual at Monoloco.

A Carolina sighting... where have u been?!?!? She's been gone for so long, I accidentally called her Cristina... sorry!

Carolina and Bob...

The George Mason Patriots are on a tear and could possible make the NCAA tournament if they beat VCU tonight (7PM on ESPN) in the CAA championship game. They have won three straight games in three straight days (CAA tournament), so I’m concerned about their stamina tonight. I’ll be sure to be watching… another Cinderella run (this one starts earlier though).

I rented a couple of movies over this past week: Hollywood Land and The Illusionist. Though I really liked both movies, I highly recommend The Illusionist if you haven’t seen it already, Edward Norton plays a very cool character…

Later,
CRCP

P.S. - This should be my last week at La Licorera… oh, how will I miss the rum!!!