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Guatemala: Strolling through Antigua

During my last trip to my dear homeland, I decided to just rest and enjoy my family's company. But as usual, we all went to Antigua Guatemala to take a stroll.

Located about a half-hour away from Guatemala City, Antigua is a popular spot for the locals and scores of Gringos everywhere. Not to mention, all the Guatemalan girls who go to Antigua to get their own Gringos. Cultures building bridges at its best really.

At night, several bars in the area can entertain those who want to drink all the Gallo they can.

During the day, the city's old, colonial architecture, its bright colors and overall liveliness is worth checking out.

Nicaragua: Playa Coco

Perhaps my favorite story to tell about my time in Nicaragua is set on this beach, Play Coco, located in the southern tip of Nicaragua, a few miles from the border with Costa Rica.

Located just far enough from San Juan del Sur, Playa Coco is a beautiful place, quiet and remains somewhat untouched by the development that swept Nicaragua's more pristine beaches.

But now the story:

Erika and I were walking to a the beach one afternoon when we heard a piglet squealing for its life. We ran to the scene, and there we saw the little pig sheltering underneath its owner's legs, while a huge hound dog accosted him. Behind the dog was a woman chasing the dog with stick, trying to get the pesky pooch away from the frightened piggy.

The woman's name was Maria. She was in her early 20s and married to Bill, a 60-year-old man who owned the house where Erika and I were staying for a few days. She came from an impoverished family of ten in a town about an hour from the beach. Bill and Maria had a kid.

Bill used to be in the oil business in Mexico until he decided to retire in Nicaragua. There, he started a Real Estate business and manages land around the beach.

One of his clients is Illinois Congressman Jerry Weller, who has announced that he will not seek reelection after being pegged with accusations of corruption, especially involving land he owns in Nicaragua. Weller, apparently, did not disclose land deals he made in Nicaragua, a violation of rules congressmen have to follow.

Weller is married to Zury Rios, the daughter of Rios Montt, a former Guatemalan dictator blamed for the deaths of more than 200,000 people during the 1980s.

And the piglet was owned by a turtle poacher who was camping on the beach, waiting for the next arrival of sea turtles at the nearby nature reserve to steal eggs.

A tired, female turtle heads back to the ocean after burying her eggs.

A female turtle struggles to bury her eggs in the sand, while a scavenger bird looks on.

A fisherman looks for a cell phone signal.

Playa Coco, dawn

Costa Rica: Starbucks and Coffee

I wrapped up my time in Costa Rica by doing a story on Starbucks' influence on the country's coffee industry. Erika shot, while I did the reporting.

We got to see the coffee production process all the way from the fields to the tasting.

From getting lost in fog-shrouded mountains to climbing steep hills in the Terrazu valley to look where indigenous Panamanians work, it was an experience I won't soon forget.

Perhaps something that did not come across the article as clearly as I hoped is that the Seattle company's success is due, in large part, to Costa Rica's progressive labor policies.

Here's the article, though. The best part are the pictures.

Panama: Las Lajas Beach

For one day, 15 Kilometers of solitude, friendly people and wild horses.

Cosa Rica: Costa Ricans approve CAFTA

A crowd of young people, some from the University of Costa Rica, burn a banner in support of CAFTA outside the Legislative Assembly.

In a bit of a surprise ending, Costa Ricans approved the Central American Free Trade agreement Sunday.

More than 1.5 million Costa Ricans headed to the polls, as almost 60 percent of the eligible voters showed up, according to figures by the Supreme Elections Tribunal.

As of Monday night, with 59.16 percent of all the polls counted, the Si vote had 51.61 percent while the No vote had 48.39 percent.

Polls leading to the referendum had the No vote up by 8 points. Early Sunday, the leader of the No movement even declared that he expected to win by at least 10 percent.

Sunday's vote was the culmination of more than four years of a debate that has consumed this nation of 4 million.

A voting box in Puriscal, a town about an hour away from San Jose. All voting booths were set up in schools around the country.

The mood most of Sunday was almost festive as people from each side took to the streets to show their support for their respective campaigns. People were dressed in Si or No shirts. Some stuck stickers or tied flags around them. Cars were equally decorated, and many drivers honked to show their support. Music played in many of the voting locations, and the Si supporters even held a concert.

By night, though, as the results showed the No vote losing, a small crowd of young people began protesting raucously.

Outside the No headquarters, tension ran high as some angry and frustrated supporters yelled at singers on a stage to call fraud.

A small mob of students, some covering their faces with bandannas, tried to block traffic. One man broke the glass covering an advertisement from the Supreme Elections Tribunal.

A Si booth welcomed voters to the school in the indigenous reserve of Quitirrisi. The vote leaned to the approval of CAFTA in this small village with 679 eligible voters.

A man walks on the road leading to the school in Quitirrisi.

The Ninta Cabezas Gonzalez school. Around one quarter of Quitirrisi's eligible voters were expected to show.

A woman, her child, and an observer of the No campaign walk up to the school where the voting was set up in Quitirrisi. The man said the Si led here because they gave away gifts.

Around 50 students gathered outside the Legislative Assembly building to protest, burning and yelling anti-CAFTA chants.

Costa Rica: A Carmiol, Por San Pedro, Outlet Mall, UCR, 155 Colones

Things I love about taking the bus in Costa Rica:

-The impromptu bus routes drivers take if there is too much traffic, or a road block.
-The music, sometimes blasting, through the speakers. Cuuuumbia!
-Drivers stopping the bus and getting off to either, get a soda, coffee, and/or change.
-Drivers stopping in the middle of the street, peeking out the window to say hi to friends.
-Bus routes here have the definition of a flexible schedule.
-Young men getting up for old ladies.
-Young men sitting, on purpose, next to young ladies.
-The random street artist serenading in the bus for change.
-These change-compartment thingies made of sponge to hold the fare.
-The constant hard-brakes during rush hour.
-In packed buses, there isn't too much air flow, so the front windshield always gets fogged up. Good thing the driver has handy newspaper to clean it.
-Stickers of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Saprissas, the reigning soccer champ team.

A blind, college student getting some extra cash.

On the way to work. These things are loud.

Marc, my roommate, pensive.
By the way, those rail lines are where drug dealers hang out.