Explore Pulau Komodo Island National Park

It's time to explore and visit Indonesia by explore indonesia. In this chance i will give short article about explore Komodo Island national park.

Komodo National Park located between two islands that is Pulau Sumbawa and Pulau Flores. That Pulau Komodo is the biggest island in this national park besides Pulau Padar and Pulau Rinca with total wide area 1917 Km2 .

Komodo National Park is already became national park in 1980 and permanently protect by government of Indonesia. This National Park first decrarated to protect the most unique dragon species Komodo Dragon or Varanus Komodoensis. This Komodo Dragon first discovered by JKH Van Steyn in 1911. Now Komodo population are about 4000 that spead to all over islands.

This Location is very unique and you can enjoy like memories to the dinosaurus period because Komodo species has be here since thousands year ago. So you must try to visit this island and explore the Indonesia.

by ramadhani

Leaving MayaPedal

   Well my time at MayaPedal is complete now. I spent a total of 4 weeks here and had an excellent time just slowing life down and enjoying the local culture. I just finished my bicipicadora yesterday and it seems to be working pretty nicely. I am already going through withdrawls about leaving this amazing workshop that has treated me so well.

   My original plan was to head straight over and hike the Pacaya Volcano right outside of Antigua, but it seems to have erupted yesterday, covering Guatemala City in inches of ash, leveling some small villages, and killing a few people as well. So I guess that plan's out. My next plan is to head towards the jungle. I may try and catch a boat south from Livingston, on the Carribean side, or I may just travel along the Carribean coast, wildlife watching and communing with nature. It's been raining a lot lately so hopefully that will let up a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.
   I started a mailing list called Alexs Blog Notification. If you want to get email updates whenever I post to my blog you can join this mailing list. That way you don't have to check randomly since I don't update it much. Go to this address to sign up:

http://groups.google.com/group/alexs-blog-notifications
(You can also just email me and I will add you to the list if this mailing list is confusing.)
Since I didn't have much to write this week I decided to add a little story about a controversial local religious figure I have been learning about. I dont usually write stories, but I tried to make it interesting, and it is all true... Hasta luego...


Maximón

   San Andrés Itzapa is a small town not unlike many other small Guatemalan Highland towns, but there is one thing here that cannot be found anywhere else, and that is Maximón.
   Maximón (Mah-shee-mohn) is an ancient Mayan god of the underworld said to represent male sexual power. While most other towns have stopped worshipping him, or turned him into a tourist ploy, here in San Andrés Itzapa he is hardly forgotten. It is said that Maximón first appeared many centuries ago not far from here. Legend has it that while the Mayan farmers were out dilligently tilling their fields, Maximon would be visiting their homes merrily plowing their wives.
   His original name was Mam (kaqchiquel for Great Grandfather) but when the conquistadors came they changed it to San Simón and dressed him up like Wyatt Earp so they could continue worshipping him in secret. Now he is known familiarly as Maximón. As opposed to mundane prayers (as Jesus prefers) or cookies and milk (as Santa prefers), Maximón has a taste for cheap liquor and cigarettes, and he receives enough to keep his head spinning all year.
   Last Sunday I paid a visit to the Church of San Simón to see what it was all about. From the outside it looks like any other mid-sized church, but inside it has a sleezy atmosphere usually only found in the finest institutionalized churches. There is a long line of expectant worshippers on the left side that leads to the seated statue of Maximón, complete with a flashing neon 'Bienvenidos' bar sign above his head. The aisles are consumed by tables with various colored candles representing the patrons desires (Red = Love, Black = Death, Blue = Marriage Counseling) and burning cigarettes. While waiting for their moment at the altar the churchgoers prepare themselves accordingly, sucking down cigarettes and chugging pints of booze like the holy ghost was a prize at the bottom of the bottle. I also saw one man being showered by alcohol from his friends mouth, while another acquaintance beat him with a plant frond.
   While the church may sound like a big party of bubbly devotees, and it may be the closest thing to a bar in town, it is most definitely not taken lightly here. Animal sacrifices take place on a regular basis on the main altar and if the church is wronged, it may even take justice into it's own tobacco stained hands. Around two years ago a man was caught stealing a loud-speaker from the church and while fleeing the ensuing mob he actually ran to the police station for protection. The angry (and most likely inebriated) mass accumulated outside saying they wanted to lynch him for stealing the holy Pioneer 3-way. The cops tried to turn them away but the posse persisted, setting fire to the police station and recapturing the unfortunate thief. They dragged him to the center of the town square and proceeded to lynch him in plain sight. Needless to say, the church is now free to blast mariachi music to it's devotees without fear.
   All these things are not immediately apparent when looking at the smiling faces in San Andrés Itzapa, but rest assured they still reside in it's thinned out blood, giving new meaning to the phrase 'communicating with spirits.'

MayaPedaling in Place

I did not realize it had been three weeks since I posted anything. I will try to bring the blog up to speed here.

I left off at Lago Atitlan, where I spent a week visiting the different little villages around the lake. After a day in Panajachel, which is nice but really has nothing unique besides a nice location, I went over to San Marcos. San Marcos is a small hippie village with winding paths that reminded me of the Oregon Country Fair at first glance. I spent a few days here swimming in the crystal clear water and hopelessly trying to catch the ratty little fish that meander about, but then got tired of hearing about magnetic healing and yoga every day, so I went over to San Pedro, a slightly larger town with a larger local population. San Pedro was beautiful and laid back, but the ATMs there were not quite as nice, so I had to live on about $5 a day, which turned out to be kind of fun. I found a pretty awesome hike up one of the volcanic ridges called the Nariz del Indio (Indian Nose) as well.

During my time at Lago Atítlan I had been asking around about San Andrés Itzapa, where I was to do my volunteer work for a month, but couldn´t find a single person who had heard of it despite the fact that it is only about 20 miles away from the lake. This actually increased my excitement because perhaps I would finally be able to leave the tourist track, as nearly every other tourist I have met so far has lied about doing. Finally I found out how to get there from various bus drivers and headed up the hill. As it turns out San Andrés Itzapa is a small community in the hills above the lake (out of view unfortunately) with absolutely no tourism besides the other workers at MayaPedal and one other guy who filters water.

Working at MayaPedal has been a nice change from the constant traveling. I get pretty much unlimited freedom to play around with all sorts of machinery like welders, angle grinders, drill presses, and power saws, so the days go quickly. So far I have been redesigning and reconstructing a bicipicadora, which is a bike powered compost mulcher. This has been teaching me all sorts of new spanish words, such as flywheel (volante), pedal (pedal) and cable (cable).

The accommodations at MayaPedal are slightly below my standards. There are some filthy mattress´ on the floor and a few barely functioning appliances. One cool thing though is that almost every piece of furniture is built from old bike parts. There is not much to do here after work, so I spend a lot of time reading and cooking. Luckily Antigua is close by, so on the weekends I can bike over and spend the night without inhaling mold and listening to dogs barking from rooftops.

I am really enjoying being immersed in the Guatemalan culture. And although this line may be cliché, the people here are unbelievably friendly. For example, I went to the post office the other day to send some letters and as I was leaving the guy behind the counter yelled at me to come back. It turns out you can´t send a letter without sharing a few cups of homemade alcohol with the employees, so I happily abided. I enjoyed the stuff so much I made a batch when I got home, and it just finished fermenting today. It is called Fresco de Súchiles, and made from pineapple, jocotes, corn, and a bunch of spices. I made a lot of it so I think tomorrow we will be having a Fiesta de Súchiles as well.

My plan is to remain here for another two weeks, then head back to the tourist route to catch some more sights.

Adios.