San Diego

about that public transportation to find that train station...

it's not an easy task to navigate the city of LA on their version of MARTA.

but we made it to the train station alive. barely.

we witnessed two women have a physical brawl as we were getting off at the train station.

and then while waiting for our delayed train...i witnessed two more women (elderly women...) fighting in the bathroom.

LA you need to calm down. just woosahh.

but we finally boarded the train on the way to San Diego to see my friend Jenna. she was kind enough to let us crash at her place in Ocean Beach even though she and her boyfriend both had to be up super early, and we were getting in super late.

i owe her big time. like big time.

after a fairly uneventful train ride full of playing go fish, we took uber to Jenna's and crashed. and i mean crashed.

the next morning we woke up (i woke up because i am that obnoxious person up at some stupid hour) and went out in search of real food.

Jenna recommended Shade's and it did not disappoint. finally full of food (and maybe a mimosa) we trudged back to her apartment to get ready for the day.

one of MC and I's mutual friends from college also lives in SD and told us to come out to day drink with him.

being good southern girls that we are, we jumped in another uber and motored on over to the PB Shore Club. things progressed quickly as the beers are large and cold and the view is killer.

vaughn showed us a good time. to say the least....

his friends live in really terrible places with no view.

gina met up with us in SD and we went out in search of Jenna and her friends to see where the night took us.

just being our usual weird selves and eating the greatest ice cream ever. (sorry jenna that i got no pictures with you! epic fail on my part).

the night started so promising with ice cream and then whiskey got involved and things got silly fast. we drank like we were in college, danced like we were in college, and passed out like we are old. but we had an awesome time and made so many fun memories that we laughed about the next day while trying to pretend we weren't hungover.

we did stay in a baller hotel though.

MC went to breakfast with her family and Gina and I set out on what I like to call the shaky Sunday beach bike ride. we rented beach cruisers at the hotel and tried not die while remembering how to ride a bike. in traffic.

after that death defying exeperience we set out for lunch and ate at the University of San Diego campus. I clearly picked the wrong place to go to school.

once back in LA we hit up the Santa Monica Boardwalk to ride the ferris wheel. I love ferris wheels, so to say i was stoked is an understatement.

we wrapped up the night at a wine bar and a sketchy AirBnB rental. definitely worth it for how racists the iPhone is.

stay weird LA

MC and I are history majors and we thought that making the most of our California adventure meant going to the Price is Right.

Oh wait that has nothing to do with history. we decided to prove why we weren't geography majors and head to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon....

California...knows how to party...

when one of your best friends calls you and asks if you want to go to australia what is the logical answer?

yes. the answer is always yes. logical or illogical the answer is always yes.

the answer is always yes for me because i can't resist the opportunity to travel and or be peter pan for just a little bit longer.

because said best friend has her own best friend that offers you a buddy pass you for sure say yes.

when flying on delta there is only one way to get to australia. that is via LAX.

also when your best friend lives in boston you are forced to wait in the LAX airport for like a gazillion hours for them to get there. (that's an exaggeration on so many levels, but i did wait for her to get to LA for like 4 hours).

the other thing about flying delta is that there is one flight a day to australia. at 1030pm.

when you fly on a buddy pass you are at the mercy of the other passengers to not show up for their flight. needless to say our day one wait did not end in boarding a plane and heading to australia. which was not the end of the world.

we stayed at a stellar airport hotel and then played tourist the next day waiting to get to australia.

we took one of those bus tours of LA. and let me tell you. we learned so many facts about LA. the majority of which i think are probably ::definitely:: false. but it was a fun day and we saw a lot and now have a ton of inside jokes...

walking to breakfast. ya know next to the airport...

the canals we drove over in an E350 church van. :breaking the law, breaking the law:

venice beach.

hellllllllooo lover.

i have an amazing knack for finding the nearest ocean

chinese theatre

see that white blob back there on the mountain? yea that says HOLLYWOOD

now we were not lucky enough to make the flight the next day either. so we made the best of a bad situation and decided to meet up with one of MC's friends (have her play hookie on a friday) and then take the train down to San Diego to see one of my best friends ever.

i must say LA has some killer sunsets.

El Salvador

A day late. A dollar short. (ohk. ohk. 3 months and too many dollars to count short)

Here we go....

Guatemala has some beautiful beaches but I decided to travel a bit further south and see what El Salvador is all about.

I am hear to tell you it was one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

I went to Tunco beach and it did not disappoint.

The journey from Antigua to Tunco took bloody forever, involved walking across a border, and playing chicken with semis, but once you get to the winding road that overlooks the ocean, you quickly forget about all that.

First mission in El Salvador - food.

After getting in the van at 8am and not arriving until almost 3pm I was bordering on murder hungry.

I made some friends on the bus and we set out for the beach and beers.

This is what we were greeted with.

And the view from the restaurant.

One of the greatest parts about being in El Salvador was that the US dollar is the currency they use. No need to convert anything. But the real greatest part is that everything there costs under $10.

The night got super blurry quickly as beer started flowing, drinking games began, and flip cup started. I will say that I play a mean flip cup and I managed to win single handedly. ::golf clap::

Sunday morning started bright and early with a smoothie (necessary - I don't know who I think I am fooling when I play flip cup, I KNOW it always ends in a hangover) and a breakfast burrito. Nothing like juevos y aguacate to soothe all those ails.

And then the rest of the day was spent at the beach. Frolicking in the ocean, running into rocks in the ocean, and generally being a dirtbag beachbum.

My. Perfect. Day.

It was the best way to spend my last weekend in Guatemala.

Bottom line: get your butt to El Salvador.

On the drive back, I saw a couple driving a BMW motorcycle and all I could think was that it would be amazing to get a bike in Guatemala and just drive south. How cool would that be?

Tikal

On my journey throughout Guatemala (and my head) I knew I wanted to take in a little bit more history than Antigua had to offer. Don't get me wrong, Antigua is rich in history, but I wanted to see ruins and artifacts and true Mayan culture.

What is a girl to do when she is on the search for that? Book a trip with the local travel agency to visit Tikal. I got a deal for the bus fare there and back, shuttle to and from Guatemala City, Hotel, and price of admission.

A quick Google search will tell you that Tikal is rich in history while offering some incredible sites.

The city of Tikal is centered in a rainforest in the middle of Guatemala. Some of the ruins in Tikal date back to the 4th century BC.

But let's reverse to getting to Tikal from Antigua. I got a deal for the bus fare there and back, shuttle to and from Guatemala City, hotel, and price of admission. You have two options (well three if you drive): take the bus or take a flight. I chose the bus.

The bus station is in the middle of Guatemala City and I got dropped off at 7 pm for a 10 pm overnight bus to arrive in Flores at about 6 in the morning.  Mind you I was dropped off alone in the middle of a city where they say to not be alone. That was intimidating for sure. Everything was fine and I ended up meeting a girl from New York (who grew up in Japan) and a girl from Switzerland. It was nice to have people who spoke English be on the same bus as me.

Now this bus. It is a luxury coach as they describe it. Which means you have assigned seats and the seats have plenty of legroom, but you are still on a bus for 8 hours. The seats recline but again, you are on a bus for 8 hours. And then there is the other issue. It's bloody freezing in that bus. Like put on all the clothes you own and then put on about 87 more layers freezing.

At promptly 6 in the morning we were dropped off in the city of Flores. Not at a bus station, just a curve in the road. All very strange to me. But I had learned when in Guatemala you just go with the flow. If you don't you are in for a world of hurt.

After some sharp words to the hotel manager, I had a room and a nap and was on the mission of my life for some breakfast. Now Flores is a city surrounded by a lake. It is absolutely gorgeous. This was my breakfast view.

Flores is a beautiful city. But rather boring. Like really boring.

After a 0400 wake up call for a 0430 bus ride out to Tikal, I was more than ready to get this history lesson started.

Our guide was knowledgeable and greatly charismatic. He called all of us his family which is always fun. He spoke beautiful English, but there is an option to have a Spanish guide. I think it's great that they offer both and you can talk to your guide in Spanish and practice a bit. And let's be honest, practice is what I need more of all the time (with most aspects of my life).

Into a rainforest we went. A beautiful rainforest with smatterings of old Mayan temples throughout.

I'll let the pictures do the talking because there is a lot of history which I presume in this New Year of 2015 you all can do.

eye bags courtesy of that 0400 wake up call.

self timer for the win.

i'll leave you with this though. Tikal means the city of sounds and when you stand in the city center you can clap and it echos throughout. But not only does the city echo, you can hear birds chirping throughout, monkeys howling, and you can almost hear the vegetation growing.

absolutely visit Tikal and take in what was once and honestly still is a very majestic city.