Following my last note, I traveled for a week and a half from Flores, to El Remate and Poptun in the Peten (Northern Guatemala) to Coban in the central part and east to Lanquin, Cahabon, El Estor and Rio Dulce. After which, I returned to my recent Guatemalan home, San Pedro, for holidays with some friends and my last week and a half in the country.
El Remate is another sleepy town on Lake Peten on the opposite side from my previous home for a week San Andres. I stayed there for two nights and went canoeing in the lake for 4 hours the first day. During my canoe trip I came across an injured duck who was more the happy to let me pick him up and pose for some cool fotos with me. Tried to help him but he was pretty helpless. Then I put him back in the lake and a Guatemalan came by and scooped him up and took him home for dinner.
From my open-air bungalow in El Remate, I arose at 5am and headed to Tikal. The ruins at Tikal are awesome. I highly recommend them and am positive that this is the coolest thing I have seen in Guatemala. There are many building structures over a huge area of the jungle which include 3 pyramids of more the 40 mtrs in height and one of more than 60. The aforementioned, rise above the rainforest and after climbing several hundred steps to the top, provide a view I can´t really describe adequately. Also, I got to see my beloved monkeys swinging around in the trees. But unfortunately missed out on seeing a Tucan.
From El Remate and Tikal I headed to Poptun where I stayed at a place called Finca Ixabol which has a pretty interesting history complete with the Guatemalan army murdering one of the owners and possible CIA involvement. But now it is just an overpriced summer camp for grown ups. I was a little bit disappointed actually although I did have a lot of fun there. Food is served family style so it is a good place to meet people from all over the world.
At the Finca, I went on a caving trip that was really cool. A two hour hike in the jungle each way to and from the cave and then two hours in the cave or more appropriately in the river. The cave was formed by an underground river. We climbed and swam about 2 kilometers into the cave to reach a waterfall. At which point, we jumped off the rocks into total darkness. The sensation was similar to what it must feel like to jump into a black hole but in reality it was just a 6 or 7 meter jump.
On the way out of the cave we heard a loud shriek and all turned to see that this chick from England smashed her head on a stalagtite and had fallen back on her ¨bum and hand¨ and had blood pouring down here face. She was pretty tough. Didn´t even get too scared about the blood which was considerable. And of course, the guide didn´t have any first aid type stuff to help out. This is Guatemala. So we just did the appropriate thing and leisurely stopped for lunch and then did the 2 hr hike back.
From Poptun, I headed to Coban which is a town of about 20,000 people in central Guatemala. On a map it looks like it is about 3 hours away from Poptun at the most but do to the lack of roads in this part of Guate I had to do a big circular route to get there which took 9 hours.
While in Coban it came to my attention that the first game of the two game soccer championship of professional soccer in Guatemala was being played in the city. Half jokingly, I asked if there were any tickets left and was surprised to here the response, ¨of course¨. So I headed over to the ¨stadium¨ five minutes before the game and got a ticket for $4 US. The stadium did not have any seats, only needed to find a spot on the hills around the stadium. There were 15,000 people at the game in a city of only about 20,000. Coban, a huge underdog, won the game 3-0 against Muncipal from Guat City. And the place was roaring. Also, there were 2 fights in the game and three ejections.
I met up with 4 cool people in Coban that were heading to Lanquin. So the five of us joined up to see Semuc Champey another beautiful spot in Guatemala. It is also the location of a river that goes underground and above the river are huge natural baths for swimming. The site is squeezed in amongst the mountains of central Guatemala. It was really stunning. I climbed dangerously close to the underground river while two Guatemalan women flailed there arms and yelled words of discouragement at me. I talked to them a bit later, and it turns out one of there friends died in the exact spot I was screwing around in.
From Lanquin, three of us tried to head to El Estor which is supposed to be ¨really hard to get to from Cahabon¨. But we were sure we could do it. 17 hours later, after sitting on the side of the road in Cahabon trying to find a ride on the dirt path that leads to El Estor, we caught a truck at 3am for the 4 hour trip. As a friend said, ¨ït was an experience.¨
In El Estor, I visited a 20 meter hot waterfall which reachs a very cold river passing below. The hot water comes from two natural springs a couple hundred meters from the site of the fall that the security guard was nice enough to show me while telling me stories about hot tourists chicks skinny dipping there.
From El Estor I headed to Rio Dulce and caught a bus back to San Pedro for the holidays. But first, I hit McDonalds for my first fastfood experience since leaving the States way back in October. Upon my arrival back in SP, I was thrilled to see that my friends had also returned and I would have some people to share the holidays with.
Christmas in San Pedro was pretty low key. I woke up to notice that a rash on my left leg had spread considerably and I have a bad case of poison ivy. My left leg is basically covered and I have some spots on my other leg, my arms, and my side. Really charming stuff.
One more week and I am off to Panama and Peru.
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
Friday, December 14, 2001
Caliente
After five days I am back to a town with Internet. After my last note, I left San Pedro at Lake Atitlan and got on an over-night bus to Flores in the Peten Region of Northern Guatemala. The Peten Region is the jungle area. Flores is the capital situated on an Island in Lake Peten Itza. And it is hot here. I mean really hot. F´n hot.
I spent about a day in Flores. It is a small, sleepy town. Very quiet and very clean. Not a lot to do there except get some good food and watch amazing sunrises and sunsets. The still lake is a perfect mirror of the sky producing vivid sunrises, day time images and sunsets. Its breathtaking.
From Flores I headed across the lake in a Lancha to San Andres where I spent the week living with a family and going to Eco-Escuela. And I am pleased to report I finally got a taste of the third world. Details include a wood burning stove, no phone, and no sink to be seen. The shower empties into the street by a PVC pipe. I mean this living situation was a new experience for me. My sink was a bucket I filled with water (there wasn´t a lot of shaving this week). If this was the first place I had lived I would have been very concerned about Guatemala. Also, i got my first taste of doing my own laundry by hand. And I suck at it. I hope to never do it again.
But I had a great time this week. My teacher was very cool. 23 year old dude that likes to play basketball (which is highly unusual here). We were gonna play but I had to rectify a problem with my shoes. My shoes stunk. I washed them 3 times and I think there are back from hell. I had no idea until the overnight bus. I am sure that I was the only one sleeping on that bus ride.
sidenote - Speaking of bus rides. The overnight bus was a breeze. I had heard some horror stories. The three stops for police to search the bus were the only times I woke up. And it was half empty, so my lanky ass could spread out and let the rest of em enjoy the true horror that was my shoes.
Back to San Andres - I went on a couple cool hikes in San Andres. The first was with the school. We went to a guys own private rainforest-farm type place. They are trying to reclaim some of the jungle areas that have been ruined by people trying to grow corn and other crops improperly. This man has 50 hectars where he is growing all kinds of food (corn, beans, papaya, bananas, okra, mandarins, pimiento, oranges, guavas, etc.) and also replanting the native trees to try and slowly grow back some rainforest. Although the trees will take hundreds of years to grow. Got some free fruit here and it was awesome.
The second hike caught me by surprise. My teacher (huber) told me he wanted to show me a cool archaelogical spot so I met him after class for a ¨walk¨. After 5 hours, I mentioned to him that this was a hike not a walk. But anyways, he showed me a really cool spot that I don´t think many people would know to go see (its not in the books). It is called Motul and has only just recently been cleaned up. They have cut back all the overgrowth but the buildings have not been excavated (they are covered by grass and moss and some trees grow directly on the pyramids and what not). It was awesome. About seven or eight building structures out in the middle of the forest. Marked only by a simple little sign. Nobody else was around. Also, we found some ceramic pieces and a little Mayan sculpture just chillin on the ground.
The other big highlight was swimming in the lake by a half built house. Some moron started building a house on the shore of the lake. Unfortunately for this guy, the lake goes up and down in a cycle of about 40 years and it was at the bottom of the cycle when he started building. Halfway through getting the house done it was underwater and remains so today. I swam out about 200 feet from shore and found the two wood posts marking the entrance. The first floor of the house is about three quarters submerged. The locals love laughing about this place.
Other interesting experiences included seeing a black scorpion chilling with me in the bathroom. Also, this morning I saw an iguana sunning outside my room. It was about 2 feet long. I was hoping to see a snake or tarantula but that will have to wait for later in the week I guess. The boas are well liked for controlling the rats and mice in houses. Oh and I saw an eclipse today over the lake which was also cool.
Oh and one last thing. I had a breathtaking view from my room which was situated on a hill facing back toward Flores on the otherside of the lake. The sunrise was on my left and sunset was on my right. It was unreal but hot, real hot. I mean hot.
Ok. I am off for El Remate, Tikal, hopefully rafting, caving, etc. No school this week.
I spent about a day in Flores. It is a small, sleepy town. Very quiet and very clean. Not a lot to do there except get some good food and watch amazing sunrises and sunsets. The still lake is a perfect mirror of the sky producing vivid sunrises, day time images and sunsets. Its breathtaking.
From Flores I headed across the lake in a Lancha to San Andres where I spent the week living with a family and going to Eco-Escuela. And I am pleased to report I finally got a taste of the third world. Details include a wood burning stove, no phone, and no sink to be seen. The shower empties into the street by a PVC pipe. I mean this living situation was a new experience for me. My sink was a bucket I filled with water (there wasn´t a lot of shaving this week). If this was the first place I had lived I would have been very concerned about Guatemala. Also, i got my first taste of doing my own laundry by hand. And I suck at it. I hope to never do it again.
But I had a great time this week. My teacher was very cool. 23 year old dude that likes to play basketball (which is highly unusual here). We were gonna play but I had to rectify a problem with my shoes. My shoes stunk. I washed them 3 times and I think there are back from hell. I had no idea until the overnight bus. I am sure that I was the only one sleeping on that bus ride.
sidenote - Speaking of bus rides. The overnight bus was a breeze. I had heard some horror stories. The three stops for police to search the bus were the only times I woke up. And it was half empty, so my lanky ass could spread out and let the rest of em enjoy the true horror that was my shoes.
Back to San Andres - I went on a couple cool hikes in San Andres. The first was with the school. We went to a guys own private rainforest-farm type place. They are trying to reclaim some of the jungle areas that have been ruined by people trying to grow corn and other crops improperly. This man has 50 hectars where he is growing all kinds of food (corn, beans, papaya, bananas, okra, mandarins, pimiento, oranges, guavas, etc.) and also replanting the native trees to try and slowly grow back some rainforest. Although the trees will take hundreds of years to grow. Got some free fruit here and it was awesome.
The second hike caught me by surprise. My teacher (huber) told me he wanted to show me a cool archaelogical spot so I met him after class for a ¨walk¨. After 5 hours, I mentioned to him that this was a hike not a walk. But anyways, he showed me a really cool spot that I don´t think many people would know to go see (its not in the books). It is called Motul and has only just recently been cleaned up. They have cut back all the overgrowth but the buildings have not been excavated (they are covered by grass and moss and some trees grow directly on the pyramids and what not). It was awesome. About seven or eight building structures out in the middle of the forest. Marked only by a simple little sign. Nobody else was around. Also, we found some ceramic pieces and a little Mayan sculpture just chillin on the ground.
The other big highlight was swimming in the lake by a half built house. Some moron started building a house on the shore of the lake. Unfortunately for this guy, the lake goes up and down in a cycle of about 40 years and it was at the bottom of the cycle when he started building. Halfway through getting the house done it was underwater and remains so today. I swam out about 200 feet from shore and found the two wood posts marking the entrance. The first floor of the house is about three quarters submerged. The locals love laughing about this place.
Other interesting experiences included seeing a black scorpion chilling with me in the bathroom. Also, this morning I saw an iguana sunning outside my room. It was about 2 feet long. I was hoping to see a snake or tarantula but that will have to wait for later in the week I guess. The boas are well liked for controlling the rats and mice in houses. Oh and I saw an eclipse today over the lake which was also cool.
Oh and one last thing. I had a breathtaking view from my room which was situated on a hill facing back toward Flores on the otherside of the lake. The sunrise was on my left and sunset was on my right. It was unreal but hot, real hot. I mean hot.
Ok. I am off for El Remate, Tikal, hopefully rafting, caving, etc. No school this week.
Wednesday, December 05, 2001
Palabra
The last week has been pretty uneventful really. I have been enjoying the weather, the swimming, the tanning, the sleeping and the food hear in San Pedro. It is really chill here. The restaurants are really cheap and the food is the best I have had in Guatemala. My teacher pretty much sucked last week, but other than that things have been awesome. And it seems like my teacher this week is very good.
This place is a very small town with a bunch of hippees. A bit too much english speaking going on for good spanish emersion. There are only two or three paved roads in the town. The other roads arent roads for automobiles, they are really just walking trails. Also, there is a pretty open drug culture here. All the hotel owners are dealers which seems to subsidize the hotel room prices (makes it cheap for me). Also, the cops are a real pain in the butt. I get searched pretty much once a day by the police here. They have been very thorough in searching my back pockets - yeah I have a great butt. They search all the gringos at will. Its really annoying but easier to just let them search then to cause a problem by telling them not too. I now have a strong appreciation for the racial profiling complaints that minorities have back home.
I have been hanging out mostly with Stefan, Jeanette and Jeremy. Stefan and Jeanette I know from Xela days. Jeremy is a dude from Minnesota. He has dreds and is pretty much a floater. But really cool and fun to hang out with here. I am enjoying meeting very different types of people. For example, Jeremy never went to college and instead went to live on the streets of Berkeley and Oakland after high school trying to eek out a living playing music. Obviously that didnt work out and he went back to Minnesota and was a waitor for a while. After Guatemala he is going to get his Dive Master's Certification and live on Utila for a while. Then he will return to live on the beach in San Diego.
Last thursday night there was a big party for the full moon. The full moon over the lake was amazing and the party was a lot of fun. To get to the party you had to take a boat over to a beach on the lake - a 20 minute ride. Nice opportunity to hear some good music. There was a very open presence of drugs at this party as there is throughout this pueblo. Also, there were some disgruntled partiers complaining that the acid dude took a bit of his product and dropped the sheet on the beach somewhere so no one was able to purchase any from him. Don't worry mom, I am sticking to the booze.
Over the weekend I was in Antigua for Mary Ann's going away party on Sunday afternoon/evening. It was awesome. She rented out an open air bar and there was a band from guate which was really good (the Chupacabras). There were about 150 people there. An interesting mix of extranjeros and Guatemaltecos. Also, many of the young girls from the school that Mary Ann teaches at were there. They are 10-14 year olds. RJ seemed to be very good friends with many of them and was working the dance floor.
Also, while in Antigua I got my plane tickets arranged for South America. I am flying into Lima on January 4th through Panama (where I will spend one night and see the Panama Canal - on the 3rd) and then I return to Guatemala via Chile on June 14th. The tentative plan is to spend a week in Peru at the start of the trip (hope to see Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca), live in La Paz for about 5 months working and then spend a week in Chile at the end of the trip. I am fired up to have this part of the trip arranged (tentatively).
Graff is claiming he may come down this weekend (although I think this is pretty unlikely) which would mean I would go to hang out in Antigua for a night or two this weekend. I have to stop by there regardless to pick up the plane tickets from the travel agent. Then I head off to the Peten Region in North-Eastern Guatemala. I will spend two or three weeks up there studying spanish and checking out the jungle. This area is a rain forest type of landscape; home to the Tikal Ruins, tons of wildlife, waterfalls, hot springs, and other natural wonders. I am going to buy a hammock so I can sleep outside in the open air of the jungle and wake up with the monkeys. Also, I hope to go rafting and try out caving for the first time.
Only three weeks til Xmas now. I am probably going to return to San Pedro to spend Xmas and New Years before leaving for America de Sur. Hope that know one expects any presents. Its really expensive to send stuff from here and I am broke. But if you want to send me stuff feel free to send stuff to:
Flaco Gringo sin Pelo, Casa Elena, San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala
The kid at the hotel that deals drugs will most likely steal anything that comes.
This place is a very small town with a bunch of hippees. A bit too much english speaking going on for good spanish emersion. There are only two or three paved roads in the town. The other roads arent roads for automobiles, they are really just walking trails. Also, there is a pretty open drug culture here. All the hotel owners are dealers which seems to subsidize the hotel room prices (makes it cheap for me). Also, the cops are a real pain in the butt. I get searched pretty much once a day by the police here. They have been very thorough in searching my back pockets - yeah I have a great butt. They search all the gringos at will. Its really annoying but easier to just let them search then to cause a problem by telling them not too. I now have a strong appreciation for the racial profiling complaints that minorities have back home.
I have been hanging out mostly with Stefan, Jeanette and Jeremy. Stefan and Jeanette I know from Xela days. Jeremy is a dude from Minnesota. He has dreds and is pretty much a floater. But really cool and fun to hang out with here. I am enjoying meeting very different types of people. For example, Jeremy never went to college and instead went to live on the streets of Berkeley and Oakland after high school trying to eek out a living playing music. Obviously that didnt work out and he went back to Minnesota and was a waitor for a while. After Guatemala he is going to get his Dive Master's Certification and live on Utila for a while. Then he will return to live on the beach in San Diego.
Last thursday night there was a big party for the full moon. The full moon over the lake was amazing and the party was a lot of fun. To get to the party you had to take a boat over to a beach on the lake - a 20 minute ride. Nice opportunity to hear some good music. There was a very open presence of drugs at this party as there is throughout this pueblo. Also, there were some disgruntled partiers complaining that the acid dude took a bit of his product and dropped the sheet on the beach somewhere so no one was able to purchase any from him. Don't worry mom, I am sticking to the booze.
Over the weekend I was in Antigua for Mary Ann's going away party on Sunday afternoon/evening. It was awesome. She rented out an open air bar and there was a band from guate which was really good (the Chupacabras). There were about 150 people there. An interesting mix of extranjeros and Guatemaltecos. Also, many of the young girls from the school that Mary Ann teaches at were there. They are 10-14 year olds. RJ seemed to be very good friends with many of them and was working the dance floor.
Also, while in Antigua I got my plane tickets arranged for South America. I am flying into Lima on January 4th through Panama (where I will spend one night and see the Panama Canal - on the 3rd) and then I return to Guatemala via Chile on June 14th. The tentative plan is to spend a week in Peru at the start of the trip (hope to see Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca), live in La Paz for about 5 months working and then spend a week in Chile at the end of the trip. I am fired up to have this part of the trip arranged (tentatively).
Graff is claiming he may come down this weekend (although I think this is pretty unlikely) which would mean I would go to hang out in Antigua for a night or two this weekend. I have to stop by there regardless to pick up the plane tickets from the travel agent. Then I head off to the Peten Region in North-Eastern Guatemala. I will spend two or three weeks up there studying spanish and checking out the jungle. This area is a rain forest type of landscape; home to the Tikal Ruins, tons of wildlife, waterfalls, hot springs, and other natural wonders. I am going to buy a hammock so I can sleep outside in the open air of the jungle and wake up with the monkeys. Also, I hope to go rafting and try out caving for the first time.
Only three weeks til Xmas now. I am probably going to return to San Pedro to spend Xmas and New Years before leaving for America de Sur. Hope that know one expects any presents. Its really expensive to send stuff from here and I am broke. But if you want to send me stuff feel free to send stuff to:
Flaco Gringo sin Pelo, Casa Elena, San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala
The kid at the hotel that deals drugs will most likely steal anything that comes.
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