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ryan & debbrial


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Us Discovering the Latin Americas
ryan & debbrial's Travel Blog

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http://blogabond.com/ryan_debb


We met through a mutual friend in college about 5 years ago. We were friends for about 4 years and dated for a year and half. We recently got married on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Now for the fun part... We decided not to do the typical buy a house and settling down, instead it was sell everything we own and follow our desire to travel. We are on our journey through Central and South America (backpacking, couch surfing, hostels, camping, whatever) for the next 3-4 years. While in Central and South America we plan on working at a variety volunteer camps, meeting fellow travelers, teaching English local people, surfing, enjoying the beautiful sceneries and environment, visiting some tourist sites and really engaging the culture that surrounds us.


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Shitty, Kitty, Shit

San Jose, Costa Rica


Last night we left Flip Flop in the van since we could not take her in the hostel with us (with food and water and cool temperatures). We checked on her several times before bed. She was so cute sleeping on the dashboard. In the morning she was still there sleeping. Oooohhhh. But wait, not so cute was her kitty shit all over both the front seats and one of the back seats. Well what did we expect. She had no were else to go. After a quick breakfast we went out and got some kitty supplies: fabric cleaner, paper towels, kitty litter and a throw-away cooking pan for her litter box. We already have cat food and bowls. Later in the day we bought a cute-like orange harness, red leash and Craig bought her / us a small cat bed with pillow as a last good-bye gift. Flip Flop is all set up. Now comes the hard part, potty training.

On the way to dropping off Craig and Erik at the airport Flip Flop started to cry mew. She was walking around the front of the van looking at me, looking at Ryan, looking at me and Ryan. Then she climbed up on Ryan’s lap, while he was driving, and started to dig at his crotch. Ooohh No she had to poop. I grabbed her while Craig quickly pulled the litter box from the back up front and I set her in it. More mewing. Scooping my fingers in the litter I tried to show her what to do but she wanted nothing to do with it. She just keep climbing out towards Ryan’s lap again. Still driving Ryan said, “Just put the litter box in my lap”. And I did with Flip Flop. And she did…shitty, kitty, shit. We were all cracking up. LOL. Her cute little kitten face was so concentrated. With a few scoops to cover it up she jumped off and was back to sleeping on the floor. LOL again!!




permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 14, 2009 from San Jose, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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Bad Luck vs. Good Luck

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica


Friday the 13th….Bad Luck or Good Luck?? We woke up this morning to pouring rain. It had been raining most of the night and will continue for 10 days according to the weather forecast. Our friends Emil, Henrik and Erik were suppose to ride bikes down to Panama today. Oh a little background on this. Like I mentioned before Puerto Viejo is a hippie, surfer town and most the tourist and locals ride around on beach cruisers. So Emil, Henrik and Erik got the good idea to buy some beach cruiser and ride the 30 km to the Panama boarder and then on to Panama City after hitting some islands off the coast of Panama for a week or so. Sooo anyways when we and they woke up today and saw the heavy rain we all were disappointed. Bad Luck 1 vs. Good Luck 0.

Our plan was to wake up, have breakfast, grab Flip Flop and Craig and head back to San Jose for his flight home. But because of the rain we could not find Flip Flop anywhere. We stuck around for 2 hours hoping she would show up but she didn’t. We were both bummed. Bad Luck 2 vs. Good Luck 0.

The other guys were staying at another hostel for the week. When we got there to pick up Craig Erik told us he was going to sell his bike and come with us to San Jose. When the bike idea got shot down because of the 10 day rain storm he booked a flight to South America. After we packed their stuff in the van Ryan said. “We can go back to Rocking J’s and look for Flip Flop one more time.” That’s what we did. Low and behold as things always go she had showed up just after we left. YEA!! I grabbed her and we were on the road. Bad Luck 2 vs. Good Luck 1.

Twenty minutes out of Puerto Viejo the rain had stopped and we were making good time to San Jose with not much traffic. An hour on the road and we hit a GAINT pothole. The biggest yet. Oh Crap… our back left tire got a flat.

Luckily Ryan and planned for this when we bought the car; we had a spare tire and a jack. With a little “Mac Gyver” skills using rocks from the side of the road he changed the flat in no time. Bad Luck 3 vs. Good Luck 1.

Down the road we came across a Bridgestone tire store, bought a new tire (cause the old one had a bulge in it even after the hole was fixed) and continued on. Bad Luck 3 vs. Good Luck 2.

We arrived in San Jose with no other problems. Good Luck 3. Found a hostel and all decided with the way the day had gone we were just going relax at the hostel instead of going out for our last night together.

In the end the score was even Bad Luck 3 vs. Good Luck 3. So Friday the 13th Bad or Good Luck??… well I guess this time its unsettled.



permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 13, 2009 from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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Chill'n, Relaxing, Chill'n

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica


We arrived in Puerto Viejo (Caribbean side of Costa Rica) on Monday afternoon and have just been chill’n since. Ryan and I are staying at a really cool colorful, open-air hostel called Rocking J’s. And we are camping.
Yea finally using our tent, mattress pads (we bought in Honduras) and our silk sheets. The hostel has like 50 tents, 80 hammocks, 30 dorm beds and a few private rooms all different prices, but if you have your own tent it is cheapest.

The hostel looks like a giant tree House made of wood, corrugated aluminum, steel and tiles, tiles and more tiles. It is right on the beach so we can hear the waves crashing on shore when we fall asleep (when the drunk people aren’t up so late making noise) but it is not a very good swimming spot cause the reef is really close to shore. Puerto Viejo, the town, is pretty cool too with a hippie surfer, Caribbean style to it.

So like I said the last few days we have been just chill’n…..taken a couple swims on the beach near town, laid in hammocks reading, played on the internet, walking laps around town, watched movies on a projection screen outside on the internet café and rented beach cruiser bikes.


Craig, Ryan and I went for a bike ride yesterday to Punta Uva, a beach 6 km south of Puerto Viejo. Riding a bike on the rocky, pothole-filled dirt roads is just about as fun as driving Chiquimula, the van, down them. Anyways we got to Punta Uva pretty quickly and decided to ride our bikes on the beach to the end of the cove. This was NOT as easy as expected- trying to stay on the water packed sand while dodging the waves as they came on shore. I almost fell over like twice. This sandy beach ended at a junglely rock point and Ryan of course wanted to go climbing through the jungle. So we locked up our bikes and had our first “unknown exotic trek” through the jungle. Oooooooo. I am not going to lie I was a little scared but there ended up being a path that took us to the edge of the rock point over the sea; it was no big deal. After our “jungle trek” we took a dip in the sea then headed back to town. Now the funny part, at least I thought so. Half way back Craig hit a pothole and the chain on his bike started skipping. It sounded like it was off the track but it wasn’t. SO Ryan had to tow him all the way back using his bike lock chain. They were swerving potholes, rocks, cars, kids, dogs, etc. We finally made it back and that was our Big Adventure in Puerto Viejo.

OH YEAH…I ALMOST FORGOT….Ryan and I are adopting one of the Rocking J’s stray kittens. There are 3 here skinny and cute; we really warmed to one of them. We named her, “Flip Flop” and have been feeding and playing with her for the last week. We asked the hostel staff about the kittens and they said, “The owner is planning on getting rid of them (finding good homes) soon so they don’t continue to breed and hang around the hostel.” Perfect!! So tomorrow when we leave Puerto Viejo Flip Flop is coming with us. :)


permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 12, 2009 from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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Busy Day in the Cloud Forest

Monte Verde, Costa Rica


Yesterday we drove from La Fortuna to Monteverde, Coast Rica. Not a bad drive except it always seems to start pissing down rain right before we get to our destination making it harder to find where we are going. The drive took most of the day and the rain took the rest. On the other hand we made up for yesterday’s idleness today.

Activity #1. Bright and early ( not exaggerating since we had like 4 sky-lights in our room) we left the hostel at 6:30 AM for the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The ideal conditions for the cloud forest are: 1st dense, foggy clouds almost to the point of spookiness throughout the forest followed by 2nd clear open skies at the continental divide viewing point where you can see the Pacific and Caribbean sides of Costa Rica.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t quit the case for our hike. It was clear through the forest and cloudy at the continental divide. Too bad. The hike was pretty cool though. A few times we stood complete still and listened to the morning sounds of tropical forest waking up for the day.


Activity #2. Zip-line Canopy Tour with “Xtremo” tour company. Their canopy package consist of 13 zip-lines ranging from 50 meters to 1000 meters long and up to 200 meters high, a rappelling line, the Tarzan swing and the last and longest Superman zip-line. We all harnessed up and were ready to fly through the sky.

On most of the zip-lines we soared through and over the canopy trees. There were three zip-lines (including the Superman) that crossed the valley which had a view of green grass hills, small farm house and cows grazing. It was a spectacular sight. On the third zip-line one of the guides asked me if I wanted to do it upside down: feet in the air head down. YEAH of course!! So I sat backwards and he sat in front of me forwards. He pushed off and flipped me upside down. IT was SO COOL until all the blood started rushing to my head. Hahaha. The Superman zip-line was another cool one. The guides turned our harnesses around to our backs, tied up our legs and sent us flying across the valley on the 1000 meter line like “Superman”. Once again unanimously as a group we agreed the Tarzan swing was the best. We stood on top of a small platform while the guide attached our harness to the rope and pulley. Then it was bend your knees and he PUSHED you off. We free-fell for about 5 seconds then swung way out over the cliff into the canopy trees. Definitely the scariest ride but so much FUN!

Activity #3. Driving to San Jose. We got back to the hostel from zip-lining packed up the rest of our stuff and headed out of town. It was about a 3 hour drive to San Jose if the roads were good and the rain was light. In actually it took us closer to 4 hours cause the roads weren’t good (traffic) and the rain was heavy at times. Nevertheless we found a hostel in the city pretty easily. We chilled out for the night cause tomorrow it was another long day driving to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.

OH YEAH AND.......





permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 8, 2009 from Monte Verde, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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Happy Birthday Ryan!

Fortuna, Costa Rica


Happy Birthday!! Today is Ryan’s birthday. We started off the day by waking up early and making breakfast: eggs, bacon, rice and beans, a typical Central America breakfast. After we were done Henrik, Emil, Pierre (the Swedish) and Erik (Norwegian) sang Ryan “Happy Birthday” in Swedish and gave him birthday presents. A bottle of Jim Bean, four lighters, a cigar, a sling-shot (inside joke) and an air freshener for the van. Craig bought him a pair of board shorts, a bottle of rum and a key chain for the van. Very generous of all of them and Ryan is very thankful.

After breakfast we all got ready for our white water rafting tour. The bus picked us up at 8:30 AM with 5 other people on it. It was an hourish drive to the river with one stop at a souvenir shop surrounded by 200+ iguanas. Our tour guide on the bus is a local Costa Rican, Tico. He is also a professional kayak rafter whom traveled around the United States for 5 years competing. Back on the bus, before we got to the river, he told us all about this river “Toro Rio” or “Bull River” which was suppose to be class 3-4 rapids. When we got to the drop point on the river he suited up for his kayak while we met with three other rafting guides. A kayaker went ahead of our rafts to check out the rapids and give direction to the rafting guides.

Anyways we all suited up; 3 rafts in total and headed out. Ryan, Craig, me and other guy were in one raft while the other 4 guys were in another. Within 20 minutes we could tell our guide was the best of the three. He liked doing tricks like 180 spins around boulders, surfing the back currents, hitting all the big rapids and 360s. Half way through the white water rafting we took a break for fresh pineapple, watermelon and oranges. The pineapple is by far my favorite. Two and half hours on the river and we finally came to the end of our rafting trip. Unanimously….Tons of FUN!! After a hot lunch and cold beers, provided by the tour, we were all excited, exhausted, really wet, happy and fat. We got back to the hostel and relaxed for a while before drinking more beers, Whiskey and coke and going out to a bar to continue celebrating Ryan‘s birthday. At the end of the night Ryan said “This has been one of the best Birthdays, Who would have thought!”.



permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 6, 2009 from Fortuna, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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Unexpecting the Expected

Arenal, Costa Rica


A majority of our day was spent at the Nicaragua and Costa Rica boarder in Peña Blanca. We all expected this boarder to be the most organized and easiest since Costa Rica is a very popular tourist destination. BUT it was not. We got to the board around 11:00 AM coming from San Juan del Sur so a kinda busy time in the morning. After a little confusion we figured out the van needed to be 1st checked for drugs by the Nicaraguan boarder patrol (which we all didn’t understand since we are leaving their country and why would they care…but of course we didn’t have any drugs so whatever) and 2nd each one of us had to do the normal immigration stuff: get a stamp out of the country. Ryan and Erik went to get the van searched, which took an hour, while the rest of us went to immigration, 20 minutes. First round of waiting. After Ryan and Erik got their stamps out of Nicaragua we were on to the Costa Rica boarder. This should be easier, faster, more organized. Ummm. Unfortunately we got there just as a tour bus arrived but luckily we got in front of most of them. Waiting in line again. Another 30 minutes…all stamped…cool we’re done. Not! Just when we thought we were on our way out of the board and on to Costa Rica there was one more stop. A patrol guy asked us for our permit to drive the car in Costa Rica like Nicaragua. Mind you Ryan asked the guy at immigration into Costa Rica if he needed a permit and that guy said “No“. U-turn back to the boarder. A little more confusion and we found the sort-of office (people working out of a tour bus) where we get the car permit. Just as we got there 1:00 PM (siesta time) the computer system “went down”. Yeah right. They said they were going to wait an hour plus before trying them again or doing the paperwork manually. Yeah siesta time. Waiting, waiting, waiting…. Needless to say we didn’t get out of the boarder till 3:00 PM, five hours later.

It was 180 km from the boarder to La Fortuna our next destination. Not even a quarter of the way there it started to rain. Then about half way it started to down pour. By this time it was dark and we could barely see the pot holes in the road. BOOM! We hit a pothole that almost ate the right front tire and the wind shield wipers stopped working. Immediately we pulled over; Ryan fixed the wiper (this means he hit the dashboard and stirring wheel till they switched back on) and off we went again. Finally after much effort at trying hard to get to La Fortuna tonight we all decided, just outside of Arenal, it would be better to stop at the next hotel to spend the night. The hotel we stopped at ended up being a great little hotel / restaurant run by a local farm family. Right behind the restaurant was the family’s house, barn and land. The couple was really hospitable. We talked with the father while his wife fixed us up some local dinner. He told us all about the area, Costa Rica and promised to let us milk his cows in the morning. Which we did.






permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 4, 2009 from Arenal, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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Back to the Beach

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua


The last few days have been pretty chill. We have not done much but travel and relax. Sunday we left Granada still with Craig, the 3 Swedish (Emil, Henrik, Pierre) and the Norwegian (Erik). We drove about an hour south to a town called San Jorge where we got a people and car ferry to Isla Omepete, the largest island on the Nicaraguan lake. The island is made up of two volcanoes one larger one smaller. We stay at a very tranquil hostel in the jungle on the smaller volcano side.


Monday we climbed a hot and very humid 3 km hike up to the San Ramon waterfall. It didn’t seem far a first but we were all sweating and exhausted by the time we got to the top. The water was sooooo cool and refreshing.


After our hike we headed back to the ferry. We were about 5 km from the main road from the smaller volcano side of the island to the bigger volcano side of the island and on our last big hill WHEN... the van ran out of GAS. NOoooo.

We were on a time schedule to catch the ferry back to the main land in less than 2 hours. So a couple of the guys started walking to the gas station. Luckily a local guy who lives close by gave them a ride to the gas station and back. Within a half hour we were ready to go again. Thankfully cause none of us wanted to stay on the island another night. On to San Juan del Sur, a popular surfer / backpacker town in south Nicaragua.

Today, Tuesday, we finally made it to the beach!! Ryan was so happy to pull his surf board out of the bag and hit the water. Unfortunately the waves were not that big. He did get a few good rides though. We hung out on the beach most the day and I worked on my very past due tan for being in Central America for a month now.


By mid-afternoon we all were pretty crispy from the hot sun and salt water combo. The rest of the evening we chilled out and recovered from the sun. Tomorrow it is on to Costa Rica already and all the guys just announced they like us so much they are coming with us. Lots more fun and good company!!!


permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 3, 2009 from San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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The race to Granada

Granada, Nicaragua


The ride from Leon to Granada was fine. We only got stopped once by the police. And before he got done checking our paperwork he opened the van side door looked in the back and saw the 3 big Swedish guys. He quickly closed the door didn’t even finish looking at our paperwork and let us go. Haha. In most towns in Central America Saturday is market day; Granada was no different. When we got in town about noon all the streets in the center were full of fruit and vegetable, clothes, nick-nacks stales and people. One wrong turn on a one-way street and we were driving right down the center of the market. It was such as tight squeeze for the van but we inched our way through. A couple more turns and we were at the hostel.

Just as we pulled up so did another couple from Leon, whom were staying at our same hostel. Before we left we jokingly said we would race them to Granada since they were taking Chicken Buses and leaving at the same time as us. Low and behold here they came running up the street as we were getting out of the van. The guy (of the couple) ran up to the hostel door, smacked it and claimed his win. Ooohhhh. We were all laughing.
After we checked in we found out there was another 8 people from the hostels in Leon here in Granada. Since we had such a big group we planned to all go out drinking that night, half way to celebrate Halloween and half just cause.

  • **(Some orphan kids from a local shelter. The lady who owned the hostel (originally from Holland) explained that the shelter takes the kids in when the families don’t want to or can’t care for the kids. The shelter offers Spanish course to foreigners to raise money and is looking for volunteers to come teach English to the kids. Ryan and I are thinking to come back here to volunteer instead of Hogar in Honduras since there is still turmoil in Honduras and we still have not heard back from that orphanage. Will keep you posted.)



  • permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on October 31, 2009 from Granada, Nicaragua
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    Volcano Boarding

    Leon, Nicaragua


    In Leon we stayed at the Big Foot hostel which is known for offering Volcano Boarding, of course we signed up. On the tour there were 18 people. We loaded into two Toyota pickup trucks with padded bench seats in the beds and headed out for a 45 minute drive to Cerro Negro (Black Hill) Volcano. The road to the volcano was dirt, surprise surprise, so by the time we got to the volcano we were all covered in dirt and dust. Gross! The trucks drove to the base of the volcano then it was an hour hike up the side of the volcano. We took a couple rest stops to catch a breath and because we had a hung over guy who got sick a few time. Yuck. On our hike up the volcano we stopped at some sulfur pits which the guide lead us close to then immediately turned around. We all took our quick pictures and turned back too before getting poisoned. At the top of the volcano the guide lead us to the volcano’s crater for some more pictures before heading to the boarding area.

    So before I go on I will explain Volcano Boarding really quick. It should be called “Volcano Sledding” instead of “Volcano Boarding” since you actually sit on a wood plank board with a hard acrylic strip on the back. Anyways we got to the top of Cerro Negro put on our orange and blue jump suits and goggles.

    We got our pep talk which included: sit on the back of the board, keep the handle vertical, tap your heels on both sides of the board to keep straight, lean back and don’t put your hands down (natural reaction). Ryan was first to volunteer and had to pick a partner to race down the hill. Naturally he picked the hung over guy. Off they went!!! Ryan pushed off first he’s in the lead. Then hung over came right on his tale. And bomb over Ryan went, caught an edge. Ouch. Hung over took the lead and gaining speed. Ryan’s back up on his board and to another good start but then again caught an edge! Ryan back on the board but couldn’t catch up to hung over. Must be those loose nerves?? Too bad. Anyways, a few people later Craig and I went down the hill. We both made it down with only a few falls, a couple scraped limbs and lots of volcanic rock in our jump suits.

    I got top speed of us three at 40 kmph. BUT out of the 18 people in the group a girl won at 69 kmph and a really bad abrasion on her leg and arms to show.

    When everyone was down from the volcano we packed up and headed back to Leon; again getting covered in dirt and dust. Race #2 who can get to the showers first!! From this trip we made a lot of friends at our hostel and the one across the street. We all hung out that night and by the end of the night we recruited 3 Swedish guys and 1 Norwegian guy to ride in the van with us to Granada the next morning.


    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on October 30, 2009 from Leon, Nicaragua
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    B and lots of BS

    Leon, Nicaragua


    300 Km to Leon in Nicaragua, our next destination. We made it to the El Salvador / Nicaragua boarder pretty quickly on the good paved roads. The boarder crossing was another easy process: check our passports, log the information and pay a couple bucks. We had heard from other travelers that the main roads in Honduras has a lot of police stops. Since we were mostly on mountain dirt roads before we had not encountered any of these yet. BUT not even 2 minutes out of the boarder crossing we hit our first one. Two Honduras transit police whistled and pulled us over. One guy came up to the vehicle with a kinda bad attitude and said he was going to write us a ticket for not wearing our seat belts. Mind you we read and heard prior that there are no road rules in Honduras. Anyways after looking at all our paper work to make sure the van was legit he was still adamant about giving us a ticket for something. We ended up paying him $20 to let us go. Another 10 minutes down the road we came to our second police road block check point. This time the police checked our vehicle paper work and passports again and asked if we had a “triangle”. Triangle? What? He was talking about the reflective triangle thing you carry in the car if you brake down on the side of the road. No we don’t have one. So again we paid him $20 not to write us a ticket and let us move along. Another 10 km we came to our third police check point. The cop asked us for our paperwork and the triangle again. This time we were not going to paid. We told them we didn’t have a triangle nor any money since the first two police stops took it all. Round and round and on we go (without paying this time). 15 Km another police check point. Paperwork, Triangle? No and no money! On we go. By this time we have figured out the drill. The more they rambled Spanish to us the more we rambled English to them saying, “We don’t speak ANY Spanish, we don’t understand them and we don’t have any money”. Subsequently, in the 200 km from the El Salvador / Honduras boarder to the Honduras / Nicaragua boarder we hit 13 police blocks in total. Each time the same thing. We went through the Nicaragua boarder fairly easily besides waiting an hour for a vehicle permit. The people in the boarder offices work as slow as snails. Ok last stretch till Leon. Everything was going great. Great roads, great scenery, and great time. BUT… 5 km out of Leon we hit a Nicaragua police check point. This time the police said he was going to write us a ticket because Ryan was driving with is shirt off. Yeah, yeah we know what you want. “We don’t speak Spanish and we have no money!!” Surprisingly this guy was not budging as quickly but eventually we BS our way out of it. So this is where the B and lots of BS comes from: 300 Km, 14 police road blocks, 2 we paid ($40 total) and that’s an 85%. Not too bad!!



    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on October 29, 2009 from Leon, Nicaragua
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