Hotel Mision Xalapa Jalapa

... gorge. So buggy that I didn't hang around & luckily got a ride back up the hill first try. Had intended to get up for the 5.20am session today, but as I had slept badly the previous 3 nights, turned over & went back to sleep - will try again manaña! Got in my exercise with a walk to the viewpoint on the top of Cerro de los Serpientes - had some company in the form of a big black hairy dog from the Ashram called Aries - he pretty ...

I heard about couch surfing dot com so I decided to try it out. It's a bunch of people that are willing to let random people sleep on their couches. It's a pretty cool idea but it's a little sketchy at times and you never really know what you are going to get. Fortunately I ended up with some really cool people the first time so ...

... leise gedreht wird (v**steht ja eh kein**...) kommen wir auch so wied** zu uns**** Spanischuebung, auch wenn wir oft nur Teile v**stehen. Die Golfkueste ist voll** schoen** Strandhotels, ab** wir sehen keine Touristen. Soll nicht die Zeit dafu** sein, wird uns spaet** **kla**t. Papantla bietet viele Attraktionen, scheint ab** trotzdem weit abseits d** ueblichen Touristenwege zu liegen. Wir brauchen eine Weile, bis wir noch ein paar and**e Bleichgesicht** sehen. An d** kleinen ...

Written from Jalcomulco, Mexico: A phone call was just received directly from Jordan at 19:35 our time. Joel is awake and recognizes his brother as well as other friends and family. He has little memory of the incident but is making jokes and talking about kayaking. One lung continues to labour but the doctors plan to take him out of the ICU tomorrow. The family will be sending us further updates as they come along.

... securely in the hands of Canadian medical experts the WILD crew will be participating in a full Critical Incident Stress Debriefing before loading up and transferring to Huatulco for a final group paddle into the Pacific. Spirits amongst the group are currently as strong as possible under the circumstances.... everyone has passed their thoughts and energies along to Joel, Jordan and his family and are now prepared to move forward as a group for future adventures.

... in Xalapa."



Since then we have been staying in Jalcomulco trying to keep ourselves occupied. Yesterday we went on a hike to the spot where it happened with flowers and candles, and last night we went to the hospital to support Joel´s family before he flew back to Canada. We are currently getting ready to go to Huatulco and finish the trip.



Our thoughts are with Joel and his family."

Stef, Jim, Eric, Laura and myself set off for Chopilapa from Jalcomulco about 9.30, having sent our lunch and sleeping gear on ahead in the van to our rendezvous point in Buena Vista. Chopilapa is a small village within a few hours walk of here. It only got electricity four years ago and a road last year. The road does not go all the way into town, but stops the other side of the river. It does, however, now provide a valuable route into and out of town for medical ...

... thatr was in town and found out that there was going to be a bull fight on cinco de mayo, se thats obviously what we did for cinco de mayo. We arrived early bc we thought it would be difficult to get tickets, but found out later that there was no high demmand for tix. But nyway so we spent the day in Coatopec again, got some lunch, couple beers and a couple hours before the torro, we decided to go check ...

... greatly. Here is Pablo at the bottom of one of the steep hills. and here is a pic of this young girl probably around 10 or 12 that rode a low rider cruzer the whole way, man was she a trooper and she refused to quit, or walk her bike even after she took a spill coming into Xico it was really cool. The most exciting part of the trip came on a small trail through coffee plantations, I was second in line behind Raul ...

... them a bit... Though I tried to keep to my work schedule and not seem too integrated with this group for fear the Murrains might confuse me as a missionary (against PC protocol) and that I had tons of stuff to give away, it was really nice to be around English speakers. More than that, they were very nice and really made me feel like family. They invited me to eat dinner with them every night, though I only took them up a few times. I did spend most nights talking with them ...