Central America

Well,
I think I might have partially figured out this journal post thing. To my extreme frustration and satisfaction.

I{m currently reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway and I must say he{s quite an interesting chap.

Spent 12 hours travelling 300 miles today, a testament to the fine transportation system here in Central America. But I did cross a border and it was a total pain in the ass and got to try some new beers and they{re no good, and I had hoped to get to Fortuna today, where you can see lava from this crazy active volcano, but no dice. I{m stuck in this town with awful internet, but maybe I can get a picture or two uploaded.

But dinner was good. Dos por uno pizza and it was good. My new thing is a glass of red wine with pizza. Very tasty. Pizza and wine doesn{t sound right, but Pizza y Vino sounds better, so say it like that unless you are ordering cuz they wont get it.

Anyway, I was rewarded for my hours of travel by a hot shower this evening, my first since such a long time ago that I dont remember and I think the one I might remember wasnt even that really hot anyway

Costa Rica is pretty nice.....looks at times like 1960{s USA a bit run down, and at times like Rural America. Which both get ya kinda feeling good.

But I got up at 4am to catch a bus today because these two girls had to catch the earliest bus and its always easier to travel in a group and right after we got on the bus and drove 2km which at about 10km an hour wasnt really RIGHT after but one of them realized she left her money belt in the hotel and they had to get off and the whole reason we got up early was because of them and they blew it. But at least it wasnt my money belt.

So life is good down here. The weather is almost perfect. You sweat in the sun, and its ncie in the shade and a breeze feels great and all that jazz.

Tomorrow I get to Fortuna and at night you sit in hot springs and watch lava spew from the volcano and i think i might like that....

Audios,

Ryan

Bus to La Cieba

01.7.19 3:06 pm Bus to La Cieba

Just wrapped up the final difficult part of our ChickbusJourney to La Cieba. Managed to get tix on the apparently seond class bus.

The bus no sooner left the crazy station before some religous guy stands up and asks if anyone follows the word of god...they raise hands, then start applausing for something, presumably for him to continue blithering. So he says hes gonna break out into prayer, and rips out of his ass this massively long prayer, with full on super oration skills, pastorizing as best he can. When he's done, and asks for support to continue, he pulls out visal aids and talks aboutdifferent kinds of people...those without eyes or something. Strangely enough, I recall trying to comprehend similar outbursts in the past, and wasnt really able to follow the whole thing. This time, I compreheneded everything, and I wasnt able to rune it out.

Well, I took care of that by putting on the ol' headphones.

ok, get this, he just wlaked past and tried to sell me a toothbrush. Now I get it, he didn't say someone with no eyes, but no teeth. He's somesort of modern day version of a cross between the old travelling salesman selling his cureall tonic, and the jonny appleseed of toothbrushes. He's sold quite a few also. What a great guy. Hard to believe someone can make a living selling toothbrushes on the bus.

So I alsmost got ran over by two different buses today. Typically, in a normal day in CA, I'll manage to avoid flattenment by one bus, but two, today, was a bit much.

But first I'll recount what happened today and what I learned. I've been travelling with Tobias - who crazilly is on the same one year quit the job travel thing. So we are both heading to Utlia, which sounds erielly like the mayan word for Good, Utz, as in Utzilla....or perhaps more like a character that godzilla would take on.

Now toothbrush man is selling calenderplanner things.

So we decided to leave today, and didn't feel like leaving on the 7am or 6am bus. Or even the 8am. We checked with our dude, and he said the bus to La Cieba left at 6, 7, ,8, and 9. Directo...? Si, directo.

So we walked out of the hotel and up to the seminice bus that was parked outside, and realized that wasn't out bus. It was some school trip bus or somethinig full of students. Our bus was the one behind it....decked out with the chickenbus requisite top luggage rack. Well, we knew another first class bus left at 2pm, and asked how long this one took to get to Cieba. Not to La Cieba. To La Entrada. Change to San Pedro Sula. Catch bus from SPS to La Cieba. Directo? Si.

Well, heres the lesson we learned. Directo does not mean DIRECT. It means that somehow, someway, it will get you directly there.

So how long to Entrada? Hour and a half. Anothr hour and a half to SPS. 3 hrs to Cieba from there....didn't seem much longer than the first class EXPRESS bus. Expreso is the key term here. Must remember not to use directo. Spanish has a few of these Superambiguous terms....

Ahorita (Literal xlation - right now. Actual xlation always varies but typically isn't En Este Momento)

Directo

Si (Literal translation, yes. Other meanings include: Fuck off. Bite me gringo. No. Example sentence: Do you have hot water? Si. )

No se (i don't know. Also means, leave me alone)

Buen precio. (Good price. Bad price more often)

I guess its the same anywhere, but its funny how you try so long and so hard to comprehend the language, then to find out the precious words you now understand don't mean what you learned they mean.

So we hopped on the bus, planning to get to Entrada, whereever that is, and then pop to SPS to Cieba. No problem, amigo.

We stopped at every little pissant town between Copan and Entrada. We stopped for every person standing on the side of the road. We stopped for every dog that barked. We even stopped for no reason a few times. Finally rolled into Entrada about 3 hours later. "SAN PEDRO???" Si. Directo? Si. Cuando? Ahorita. Tiempo para usar el bano? No, ahorita.

Go figure

To La Cieba

01.7.19 3:32 pm To La Cieba

So we were wisked onto the bus, which was a pretty nice old pulman with schoolbus bench seats. not too crowded, and true to form, we left en este momento.

Drove a lot faster, stopped a lot less, and arrived in SPS in 1:30 or so. Looked for the bus to Cieba. Not here, and he didn't know where. So we grabbed some grub, asked again, and were told two blocks that way, then two blocks that way.

Asked two different people. Same stuff. So we ventured off.

Amazingly, we didn't sweat a whole lot, and were only about a block away when we had to ask for directions. Twice of course, to verify, because half the time, the people look kinda puzzled, like they don't know, but can't just say No, so they say something. Directions are tough in CA, because you have to factor about 4 factors in.

1. Good chance they have no clue what they're talking about. Tobias asked a bank guard witih (presumably since I've read about them getting shot all the time) a loaded shotgun.

2. Comprehension. Directions are one of those things where things don't translate too well. Lots of slang. Like, "Yeah, it's over there by the Drivin' across the street from MickyD's. You can't miss it" Figure you don't know local slang, and it's a Drive In (Theater) and McDonalds, and you're expecting to hear "Two blocks that way, turn here, one block, etc."

3. No one knows street names. I guess that's like at home. Someone downtown Columbus asks where something is, its not often you'd know the street unless its one of the two biggies, in which case people don't usually ask for directions.

4. no street signs. So even if you have a map, no dice. And then, what counts as a block, because that might not really be a street, it could be a big alley, or something.

So we manage to get to the bus startion and buy tix. I decide to head to the Burger King we passed on the way over. Its 2:15 or so, and it dont leav till 3. So I get a whopper, fries and a coke and its my first American food in almost 3 weeks, so I think I did ok, and it was about time. As I get back, I am walked towards the terminal, and there's Toby, waving, saying "Lets go!!!" so I try and get inside, but at the same instant, a huge bus starts passing me and forces me against the wall where I'm almost squashed between the wall and the bus. Which pissed me off, becuase I almost got flattened, and also wasn't able to get inside to get my pack and grab this buswhich was leaving ahorita, early even. It ouldn't have hit me, because the wall of the building had a 2 foot jut, which it missed by 2 inches, and it would have had to take out the building before me. Take that!

Grab the pack, and hightail it to the bus, but this other bus starts moving. Backwards. As we're going behind it trying to get around it, we don't see it. Toby gets around the edge and heads for the bus and almost gets squished between it and another bus. I thought better, but still had to hide behind the corner of this other bus while it passed, while additional precious seconds tick away from whatever small amount of time we have to get on the other bus.

So we get on. Put bags below bus, and I start leisurely eating my BK. 2:35. We sat there for 40 minutes before leavving. Apparently, they announced the bus arrived, and in typical Latin America fashion, everyone dashes to the bus to make sure they get their seat. They're worried its first come first serve and don't quite get the whole Reserved Seat thing. So Toby heard it, and thought it meant the bus was leaving early and freaked. But no worries, we made it in plenty of time to get harrassed by the roving vendors seling bananas, candy, CHICLE-CHICLE-CHICLE. Or AguaAguaAguaAguaAguaAgua. I was waiting for a "COOOOOOLD BEEEEEEEER HEEEEEEEERE.....!" but no go.

Agua? Did I mention they're bags? Little bags of water. They sell em all over. The dudes carry little dishes full of these little bags of water. The bags look like the ones in the store in the fruit section that are full of some

Cieba Bus 3

í01.7.19 4:02 pm Cieba Bus 3

jelly stuff. What are those called and does anyone know what I'm talking about?

We stop every so often to pick up some more vendor dudes. Toby goes, hey, do they sell Pepsi Light down here? And I'm thinkin', no way, Pepsi light, like pepsi free, and look over and realize he means the color cuz the pepsi is in the 16oz plastic bottle, but its lighter than the other pepsi bottles. I stick my head out the window and he sees me and says PepsiLimon? Ah. Pepsi Limon I tell toby. He asks if we have pepsilimon in the states, and I say, no, they don't have pepsilimon here. The bottle has little lemon wedges floating in it....homebrewed pepsi limon.

I'd call it Mexican ingenuity except I ain't in Mexico.

So we're 3 hours from Cieba, ETA 6pm. Total travel time, 9 hours. Total bus time, 7.5 hours. Not much longer than the DirectoExpresso we wanted, but the layover in San pedro sula kinda hurt the time thing, cuz the bus stations here are not centralized. Every damn company has their own station. Damn inefficient. And like I said before, this station in particular was pretty dangerous.

Next up, finding a hotel in Cieba. Acually, I'm hoping to hear someone say UTILA!?!? at the bus statiun.....Which would mean they could get me to Utila tonight and I don't have to get a cab to where the hotels are, find a room, pay, unpack, go eat dionner, find a bar with beer, try not to get lostk, go to sleep, wake up early, pack, take a cab to the boat dock, and go to Utila. There are planes that fly all the time, but I'm thinking 6pm may be a little late.

Best of all, I got to ride my first slew of chickenbusses today, see how nice they work, and saved at least 100 lempiras....100L to Cieba instead of 200. Its only about $7 saved, but as toby says, over the course of a year, that adds up. Good point. I need to start thinking that way. And soon....

Are you Chickenbus? Buk-buk-buk!

- Ryan

Grenada Can1

í01.7.31 3:01 pm Grenada Can1

Just wrapped up one of the highlights of the trip: My first canopy tour.

I had this picture in my head of what a canopy tour would be. Up in the trees. I figured walkways and I heard people talking about platforms where I assumed you'd check out animals and have a guide to show you the wildlife and nature.

Anyway, it sounded quite dandy to me.

So when I talked to these Irish people, and they said they were going today, I decided that this thing was for me. I was abit off on the price, off meaning not happy about, it being thirty dollars and I think I've spent a tad too much time with the Irish and de Brits cuz I'm picking up there speech, and instead of saying Awesome they say, of all things, Mental, which means pretty cool so we woke up early and headed off to the Mombacho volcano for our canopy tour. Tour sounds so leisurely.

So we grab the chickenbus to Mombacho, which cost about $.25, then hiked up the mountain for 2 kms then were told, the canopy people aren't here. You can wait for them. Well, the girls (The irish guy had to leave this morning, so he didn't end up coming) told me they'd made reservations, but as they hadn't paid anything, you never know with these things if they'll show or not. And they finally do. Late of course cuz its almost a game to see who can be the most late. And we're thrown in the back of a pickuptruck that has a bunch of ropes and harnesses.

So it turns out Canopy tours are really some crazyass downhill mountain ride kinda ecotourism adrenaline thing.

Which was quite different than I expected. And pleasantly so.

So we get to the beginning, and they strap on our harnesses. One around the waist, then tighen up around your upper legs, so ya can't get out. Same kindda thing as when you rockclimb, for those that have done that.

Then we're given tthis thing which looks like a pulley. And a bunch of carabiners, and a strap, and we go over to this cable thats just off the gorund. Metal cable, kinda like you'd see holding TV towers up. 3/16" wound metal, likely. They said it can support 6000 pounds and I'd believe it. The irish girls, being quite funny as they are, joked that it might not be strong enough for them.

And the guy says this is the test area where you learn how to do this. And the guy shows us and I figure we'd all get a chance but I was wrong cuz he said after that that we were ready to go and lets do the first one and don't worry, its not the fastest one, its the second fastest.

And maybe I should stop and tell ya that when we got to the Canopy "Base" you look up and see the wire, and it goes from One Huge Tree to another Huge Tree. At least a hundred feet off the ground. Distance, between trees, about 300-350 feet. And quite a bit of drop=speed=ya start thinking this whole tthing is a bit crazy and then a girl asks if anyone has ever fallen off.

They said no, but you know someone has. Somewhere, right? But anyway, maybe noone has, but after watching the guide dudes do some crafty tricks and stuff, I'd bet money that people have gotten hurt doing this stuff, and its probably the daredevils and I bet sometime that whatever its called, shooting between the trees maybe, will be an X-Games event cuz it'd be pretty cool.

So anyway, he says, who wants to go first, and I jump right up, and they take my little pulley thing, and strap it to my waist, right below my bellybutton, and then take this other strap, perhaps called the Backupstrap, maybe better called the OhShitIHopeIDon'tNeedToUseThisStrap, and snap it to my waist, and strap it to the cable. Then they strap the pulley thing to the cable. Ya put one hand on the strap right under the pulley. So you're kinda hanging on this wire, from your waist, lying in a reclined position. Your other hand goes BEHIND the pulley. Not in front cuz it could get sucked in. Behind. And you wear gloves with big leather pads, so as not to singe the skin on your hands. Funny that we use dead cow skin to protect our skin and that their skin is that much tougher than ours.

Grenada Canopy 2

01.7.31 3:25 pm Grenada Canopy 2


So ya kinda hold the wire with your other hand. Draping your hand over the top of it like you would hold on to the bar above your head in the subway.

Your hand is your brake. Slow ya down. Ya know. Just pull down, and it'll slow ya. Crazy. After watching the guide go ahead of us, I thought it was Real Crazy. Loony. Mental.

So I go first, right? I'm all locked and loaded and holding the thing with my one hand and holding the cable with my other hand and I'm off and zoomin' like mad. And hit the brakes. And slow down pretty nice. And glide right into Domingo's hands down on the other side.

So I'm unstrapped, then clipped to the wire fence on the platform and get to watch everyone else scream down the wire towards me.

I guess its kinda like that ride at the waterparks where you have the wire, and some sort of trapeze contraption that you hold on to and jump and scream down the wire, and at the last second it stops and you fall down into the pool below and its a gas gas gas cuz you're JJF (Jumpin' Jack Flash). Only difference here is, the thing isn't idiot proof. Its more like Idiot Eliminator, cuz if you don't brake you smash into a tree, and there is a guy there to catch ya if ya don't slow down, and I don't think it'd kill ya cuz it does taper off at the end, but ya could wreck yourself up a tad.

And no mom, we didn't wear helmets and in retrospect cuz I just thought of it, it might have been a good idea.


Was that the name of a movie with Whoopie Goldberg?

Anyway.

So it was pretty damn cool. Then when we've all arrived, he says, "Who wants to do Superman" and I am all about that, so he straps in first, and then he starts strapping me in front of him. But this time, the little pully thing is on my back. And then I'm told to hold onto the wire with my hands, and he grabs my legs and puts them around his waist. Then he says to let go of the wire, which of course you don't want to do because you can't see the wire, and can't touch the wire, and can't see if you're strapped in or not and so I let go and I'm hanging there, dangling like the proverbial thread with some crazy jungle guy (he wasn't so crazy, really, but a nice guy, Marcos) holding my legs. And he letts go. And I'm just screaming down this wire. And my arms are out in front of me like I'm flying. Superman. Describes it perfectly. Wild. Youcan't imagine just flying over the jungle at three hundred miles an hour. Bugs hitting you in the face.

And this guy is no slouch. Like, first time down the wire for me, I'm all about braking. Speed=danger=death=letsgoslow, right, but not this time, cuz guess who's at the helm. Tarzan. Lord of the Canopy tour, crazy man. And he knows how to stop. And he knows how to scare the shit outta ya, and he about did, and I loved it. So while I would started braking, oh, about two feet after we left the platform, he's Full On Speed, the Whole Way Down, and finally he lets go of my legs and flips me around and throws on the brakes.

Grenada Canopy Tour 3

2’01.7.31 3:44 pm Grenada Canopy Tour 3

So I've just superman'd. Amazing.

There is also the butterfly, which didn't look as cool, and looks even a tad erotic cuz your spreadeagled over the guy, but then there is the monkey, El Mono, which was wildness. And I think Marco liked me, or thought I was crazy or maybe I am, or who knows cuz when he did it to me and this time I didnt go first with it, and this time ya strap in, but he turns ya so your facing ahead and I'm eating here and its got french fries which aren't too bad but man, the Ketchup is just awful, like it is everywhere in Central America including Mexico which was one of the things I hated because for some reason in Mexico, french fries were considered Gourmet Shit. At some posh restaurant, order up the filet mignon, or simply Filete as they call it, cuz you are on expense, P&G's expense and it kinda cracks me up because I am still kinda on P&G's expense and my trip will still cost less than a Buisness Trip To Asia would for the company, poor poor P&G, and you get your filet mignon cooked termino medio, medium, cuz maybe you don't know how to say medium rare, and I don't know cuz I never ordered it that way, perhaps medio raro, cuz I have ordered rare before at this one Argentenian Rest. in Puebla, Chimichurri, which has some of the best meat I've ever had, and out it comes with French Fries. Like they're on the same Gourmet Level as Filet Mignon. And it wouldn't be so bad, except they never cook the damn things enough, and they're always soggy, and even worse, sometimes, you can tell they cook the fries in the same oil as the tortilla chips and your fries have that nasty tortilla chip taste, which is just a bit offish, as the funny irish girls would say, and they also about fell out of their chairs when I said I've got it in my fanny pack, cuz fanny means quite a different thing Over There than it does in the USA, which cracks me up to no end cuz apparently over there you might keep a tampon in your fanny sometimes, during that time of the month if you are a woman, and would certainly not think of keeping your camera in it, and thats all ya can say cuz the Irish are quite silly. So my fries here were actually Not Too Bad, but the ketchup ruined it. I think Heinz ketchup has to go on the Top Ten List of things that the USA has got figured out. CocaCola. Capitalism. Awful music that everyone likes.

Grenada Canopy 4

01.7.31 4:06 pm Grenada Canopy 4

So anyway, back to the Canopy tour, wihch sounds all tranquil like you are seeing a museum but are actually thrown down a moutain on a wire.

And I can't believe what I just saw....the couple behing me just left the cafe and this little kid selling Chicle walks up and sips down the rest of his drink.

And I can't really be too shocked cuz its certainlyu better than the people I see down here rummaging through the trash for a scrap of food, and I must admit a few times when serving table I thought about taking a bite out of someone's leftover food, but never did, cuz there is something socially wrong about doing it, but really, is it that bad of a thing to do, and its only shocking because I've never seen it before, although Grandpa Newman told me in France after the war, people would follow him around when he smoked, and when they'd throw their butts on the ground, they'd run up and grab it and smoke the rest of it, or collect the tobacco until they could smoke it, and sometimes they'd even not smoke the whole thing to help these cats out.

So I'm strapped onto the wire, facing forwards, and he grabs my leg, and Flips Me Over, so instead of being headup, I'm headdown. Upside down. Gonna cruise down this one that way. Loco. Super crazy. Awfully Mental.

And because Marcos likes me, or thinks I'm nuts or whatever, he does a little bouncybouncy, where he jerks the wire up and down in a wavelike fashion so we're bouncin' and the first bounce about puts my face right into a thing of leaves, and I'm screaming down this jungle, upsidedown, starting into where I would fall if the 6000 pound strong wire were to snap, which I know wouldn't because I'm an engineer who has figured out all sorts of wire stuff so support crap and I know they're pretty tough and wouldn't break from a little wimp like myself cruising around on it, and all.

Had ten such jumps and they were all pretty enjoyable. After a bit, oyu get kinda good at it, and can actually pivot as your flying, and take a gander at the countryside. We were up on the side of a mountain, in a tropical rain forest, whcih, frankly, isn't Something I See Everyday (SISED), but would like to.

Camera Copan

01.7.18 5:45 pm Camera Copan

I am a mechanical genius. This phrase comes from when my ol' P&G pal Sean Pratt, known as a chemical engineer, managed to plug something in, or something equaly simple, and made some computer thing work. I don't quite remember the whole story anymore. Anyway, we dubbed Sean a Mechanical Geeeeenius for his fortitde.

So I went to Copan today - the ruins. Ya see, there is the town of Copan, Santa Rosa de Copan to be exact, then there the actual ruins....Copan...and then just to make everything totally confusing, they put a town by the ruins, called Copan Ruinas, which means Copan Ruins. The town of. Not to be confused with the actual Copan RUins. Or something.

So I went to Copan, and put together a group tto split the $20 guide fee. Got to the first thing, and pulled out my trusty digital camera. Olympus. Good stuff...and I know cuz I've had a film camera of theirs that took all the abuse only I can dish out. Well, I aimed, hit the button and waited for the telltale BeepBEEP that tells ya it took a picture, and also eireely sounds like some of the crickets down here in cCentral America...so much that sometimes I think my camera is beeping at me or someone elses phone it ringing. Very digital sounding crickets. It's quite confusing. Not to be confused with the quite confusing game of cricket.

So no telltale beep. Check camera and it has some ERROR D12. Of couse I didn't bring my other camera. And of course my digital camera is broke 3 weeks into my 52 week trip. 6% is better than no percent. Well, being the UsedToShittySoftwareFromMicrosoft kinda guy that I am, I did the ol' turn it off turn it on thing (which needs a word to desribe it because its too long to say and definately too long to type. I'm actually developing a list of terms which need words. The other one I'm working on is something to describe the foaming action of a poured beer...and how the head rises rapidly, and magically before it rises over the edge of the glass, it stops. Anyway) and when I turn itt back on, it does the same damn thing. Well, having had a shiotty computer at P&G for 3 years, there was sometimes a SuperResetTechnique that called for removing the battery, unpluigging it, saying the P&G mantra ("I will do that which is most illogical especailly if we did itt before and it didnt work"), crossing your fingers, and then turning it on, and heading to the cafeteria for fifteen minutes while the thing rebooted. Well I did that, sans mantra and cafeteria, and no go. I noticed in the past the lens would boogie back and forth when ya turned the camera on. Schnazzy I thought. My camera dances better than I. On this occassion, no schnazzy tango dnce, just some weird raspy gear grind noise. Like CLICKCLICKCLICK real fast like. Ha! What was I doing using the newfangled technology fixes (turnoffon and Sujperdepowerprayandreset) when I could do the old Hitthefuckerafewtimesandit'llfixit. If I may digress and post story by my sister recounting her experience with this tried and true technique:

5/12/99

On a side note, I just dropped my keyboard in a serious way. So then,
it wouldn't type anything. So being the sister of an engineer that I
am, I dropped it again really hard and low an behold, it works
beautifully now. And I haven't even taken any engineering courses :)

-- Makenzie Newman
(Reproduced without any sort of permission or express written (or otherwise) consent. Sorry Kenz)

Well, I tried this technique not once, not twice, but about every 15 minutes for the 8 hours I was at Copan and the fact that I did it so often tells ya it either:

A -Fixed it
B -Fixed it for a little while and then it broke again'
C -Didn't fix it
D -I was pissed.

So, no, it didn't fix it, and yes I was pissed as hell.

Camera Copan Ruinas 2

01.7.18 6:55 pm Camera Copan Ruinas 2

So I completed my tour of Copan, which was, um, nice. The heat and sun really exhausted me. It wasn't as cool as Copan or Palenque or even Tenothecucan or Monte Alban or the other Mayan sites. It just didn't do a good job of creating a feeling of Being inside a mayan ruin. Partcialy too small. Lots of the famous stuff was stuck in the museurm, and then everthing had unsightly wire keeping you off of it. I'm certain the amount cash available to make it pretty isn't much, so I shouldn't complain.

But it ain't Tee-kal.

Finished my suare in Copan about 3pm, then it was BankTime. The huge fees of the ruins sucked up my ramining fundage. First bank I went to, at 3pm, closed. Second one, scored Lemiras, at a scant over 15 per dollar. Then, as I hadn't eaten all day but had walked about eveywhere in the hot sun and drank about 2 liters of water, I decided to get some food. Took my trusty Charmin (TM) Swiss Army Knife. Purpose: Disect Olympus D100 Digital Camera. I musta looked like a SuperFreakazoidGringo in this little comedor place, munchin' on a chicken burrito and tryign to use my straight edged eyeglass screwdriver that craftically screws into the center of theSwiss Army Knife Corkscrew in the most James Bondish of fashion when not in use, to open up little tiny phillips head screws on the camera. In the end after almost strippin the screws and the skin off my forefinger and thumb from holding too tightly, I managed to get it open, which was quite a pain, and then got to check out the non-boogie-lensation. Tried to fix by various methods. I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I managed to disinduce whatever caused the original failure and then the camera lens did the bump-and-grind and I did my own little victory bump and grind, and now she's back in action. Little hold the gear while it opened and give it the yank to reindex it on the right notch action. I think that's what was wrong...it slipped a notch and couldn't focus right or something.

Anyway, I'm a mechanical geniius. And merciully spared from having to figure out what to do about the camea, since I absolutely love having a digital camera for photos. Next goal, which I plan to do in La Cieba, is to upload or burn or something all the pictures. She's gettin' a tad full. I think if I can't do a image burn, I may also need to some photodeletion.

Anyway, Makenzie, I guess sometimes the ol; Engineering degree does come in handy....just ask Sean, the Original Mechanical Genius.