Guatemala (3/4/03-3/13/03):
- Submitted by Scott McCollough and edited by Bob & Susan -
After a brief visit to Guatemala in 1989, we planned to return the following year for a more detailed look. It was not to be and twelve years passed before we found ourselves revisiting. Guatemala was in the midst of civil war in '89, there was a significant military presence as evidenced by a numerous checkpoints along the roads, soldiers in full camouflage regalia filtered through villages, and occasional artillery fire sounded in the distance. This presence has all but disappeared these days, to be replaced by armed guards with sawed off shotguns at banks and other businesses that deal with large sums of cash. It seems that armed robbery is of much higher concern and likelihood so much of the population is in the guard business. During our last stay in Antigua, we skipped hiking to the cross on the hill overlooking town and to the cemetery, as there had been reports of attacks on tourists at both places. These days, Antigua's "Tourist Police" accompany hikers to each location twice daily.
Rather than a cause for tourist alarm, Guatemala's recent teachers' strike was a relatively peaceful and short-lived protest. The major consternation seemed to be on the part of the US airlines that tried to convince us to stay at home. Continental cancelled our scheduled flight due to "civil unrest" but then flew us First Class the following morning. Upon our arrival strikers were still blocking the airport entrance so everyone was bused through an adjacent military base to a side street where all forms of local transportation awaited. Apparently the government has agreements with strikers that any protest must be of limited duration and be moved to a new location after a couple of days. We encountered teachers striking once again on the road to Lake Atitlan and our group was delayed by about 20 minutes. Not bad for an election year in a relatively poor country. There seemed to be less abject poverty in evidence with the exception of Guatemala City's more squalid areas. More English is spoken now, especially in the tourist haunts.
An uneventful mini van ride to Antigua brought us to our lodgings at Casa Florencia, a beautiful Colonial style hotel with locked gates and a small street front opening into a lovely courtyard with a fountain, luscious plants, beautiful tile and typical décor. We felt fortunate to have found this quaint, interesting place, as it was not in any of our guidebooks. Patricia, our English-speaking hostess, who spends part of each year in California, was a wealth of information and helped us feel secure in unfamiliar surroundings. One of the more unusual features of the Casa was that each room had its own secure lock box for valuables. It also had a clean fully equipped kitchen and dining area, which we utilized for a couple of breakfasts with the group. The bottomless pot of coffee that they supplied for hotel guests was a nice change from the ubiquitous instant that so many Latin American countries seem to favor.
Renewed by a good night's rest, we were off to reacquaint ourselves with Antigua and to begin making travel plans for our group. We found the city to be more cosmopolitan than before since so many foreigners use it as a base for immersion Spanish lessons and a travel base. Good restaurants are plentiful with real coffee, whole grain breads, vegetarian entrées, fruits & veggies that have been cleaned in purified water, and safe water and ice. High quality tourist goods are easily found. We were thrilled to enjoy warm days and cool, comfortable nights and could have easily left the long johns at home for this one.
Within a few days, we had set the group trip up with the help of Cesar Robles of Ruta Maya Tours. Paying for it was a bit of a challenge since we couldn't use either VISA or Travelers' Checks. Credit cards are not yet widely used in Guatemala and sometimes you must be willing to pay an extra 5-10% to use them. Banks treat travelers' checks as they would a third party check and can withhold funds from a merchant for up to 60 days. To complicate matters further, many of the banks either do not change travelers' checks, or change only certain types, or limit the amount per person per day or per trip to Guatemala. We digress. We were elated to see that they at least now have computers, so lines and multiple forms are not as rampant. It is still much more difficult and time consuming than conducting business in a US bank. Between the arrival of the first of the month and an upcoming 3-day weekend festival, some of the banks had lines that went down a block and around the corner. Fortunately, people changing money are allowed to cut the line and don't wait nearly as long as a resident cashing their paycheck. We found that it took from 15 - 30 minutes per bank to get a maximum of $500.00 in travelers checks cashed and our group was paying for services in the thousands. Quite a problem.
Several days before the start date for our group trip our friends started arriving. We passed out maps outlining our Antigua walking tour plans so that they could see other sites at their leisure without repeating. We also had to subdue the notorious shoppers in our group with a warning that our domestic flight from Tikal at the trip end might limit each of us to one checked bag of 45 pounds maximum and one carry on of normal size. Since we were planning a trip to the world-renowned Chichicastenango market on day three of group plans, shopping in Antigua was not a great way to start. As it was, we had to revise our group plans to include a stop at the trip end Guatemala City hotel on our way through town to Copan. Between shopping and the fact that one of the group had shown up with at least 60 pounds of excess gear prior to shopping, we had to off load some bags.
Without any serious complications, everyone arrived in Antiqua by 9:00 AM on the first day of the trip. We met in the hotel lobby and Bob outlined our plans and talked about protocol (don't be an ugly American, keep political discussions quiet, etc.). By 10:00 AM we started our walking tour of the city with a visit to La Recoleccion Church and convent, a very interesting ruin of a church that was destroyed several times by earthquakes, the last time in 1773. Then we were off to the fabric museum and Royal Customs House. The museum displays the fashion trends of Guatemala throughout the ages and also houses a tremendous display of wares for sale - fabric, bed spreads, clothes, table cloths, etc., all in the vibrant colors that make Guatemalan fabrics famous and fun. The Royal Customs House, another ruin, had a beautiful flowered courtyard. Ravenous from walking, our group turned to La Patio for lunch. Rodolfo the English-speaking owner lives on site and shared with us his idyllic private courtyard with beautiful flowers including an unusual passion fruit blossom. The day was hot and muggy by this time and all appreciated the cool garden shade. Guatemala is rich with beautiful flowering trees and vines in lavender, pink, and red. Our hunger sated we went on to the town square to change some dollars to quetzals. Our next and final stop for the day was the La Merced Church, which houses the country's largest fountain. Though impressive in size, it was not running, and the water around it was full of green stuff. Perhaps it runs more during the rainy season. Most of the gang went on the cemetery tour, stopping on the way back at the market for breakfast supplies. After a brief rest we reconvened for dinner at a nearby restaurant and retired early.
An early start had us gathered at 7:00 AM for a continental breakfast in the kitchen of the hotel (fruit, yogurt, juice, bread, peanut butter and jelly). Our travel arrangements had been made in advance and Roberto, our extremely limited English-speaking driver was due with a 15-passenger Toyota van at 8:30 AM. He swiftly loaded our luggage on the roof, covered it with a tarp, and off we went. Cris, hoping to improve her Spanish, offered to take the front seat and help with translation. The drive to Panajachel through rural countryside of rolling hills with lots of farms and evidence of poverty was long but interesting. We arrived in Panajachel at 12:30 PM, checked into our hotel and ran for the boat, picking up snacks along the way. There was no time for a lengthy group lunch. The trip across Lake Atitlan was painfully slow and the air hazy with smoke (pre-planting burning was going on all over the country as we traveled). The volcanoes around the lake were impressive, but not very scenic due to the heavy haze. We walked around the tourist trap village of Santiago for a bit. It's small with market stalls climbing a steep hill. The location was beautiful; unfortunately, the village was filthy and very poor. We headed back across to our hotel about 4:30 PM. By comparison Panajachel is very tidy and clean with many open markets and shops. We walked to the waterfront and the Sunset Café for dinner. With great views of the lake, we celebrated Fred's birthday with pineapple pie and chocolate cake.
Thursdays and Sundays are market days at the world famous market of Chichicastenango, so we loaded up early the next day and headed out, arriving about 8:00 AM. The market is around the entire village, with the church in its center. We saw everything imaginable - stand after stand of colorful fabrics, a few tee-shirt shops, all types of food - beautiful produce, meat, dried fish, you name it. Locals were dressed in colorful huipiles, some were carrying tremendous loads of clothing, avocados, melons, etc to sell. Cola hawkers and others selling frozen bananas coated with chocolate and nuts added to street noise and bustle. Everyone seemed to have success with shopping, evidenced by the bursting-at-the-seams brightly colored Guatemalan bags that appeared in the van. Fred was admiring some fabric a girl had, and she followed him all the way back to the van. I'm not sure, but I think it is possible that they are now married, which could make Fred a bigamist and Cris very unhappy. Then back toward Antiqua, with a stop at the little visited ruins of Iximche, an interesting site with a good museum. Dinner at La Fonda was delightful and some ran to the market afterward for breakfast food. We stayed another night at the Casa Florencia.
Gary had warned me about his snoring, but it hadn't been a problem so far. Then last night I had to wallop him with a pillow to quiet him down. We hit the road for Guatemala City and Copan at 8:00 AM. We stopped at a funky place near the airport, made reservations for our return, left some luggage and battled through the noise and filth of Guatemala City (Guate). We dropped in elevation all day, so it grew hotter and hotter. Traffic got lighter as we distanced ourselves form the metro area. Trash reigns supreme here - people just throw it out their windows. We traveled through a rural area with many interesting farms, all very dry at this time of the year. We stopped in Rio Hondo for lunch and found a refreshment stand next to the river with some palm frond covered cabanas. Having not seen such a large group stop before, the girl at the stand panicked when we arrived and quickly shoved a phone in Bob's hand. Juan, the owner was on the other end and came down to help us out. He then told us of his life - born in Guatemala, moved to the US at three, and educated at Rutgers in the US, but left because of stress. His and his wife's families own a lot of land at Rio Hondo. Back on the road, we reached the Honduras border and were hounded by moneychangers as Roberto talked to immigration. Eventually they raised the gate and we moved into the no-man's zone where we sat for a short time before they dropped the rope and we finally moved into Honduras. We sat there for a bit more and then were on our way. Since we were only going to Copan, they never stamped our passports in and out of Guatemala, guess we were in both countries for a time. We continued on to the village of Copan Ruinas, found our Hotel (Bella Vista) above the town. The main entrance was closed, so we had to go up a nasty steep dirt hill in the minibus. While the hotel seemed nice from the outside, the rooms obviously needed a lot of work. Sort of like a Cuban prison cell - pealing green and beige paint. Everyone gathered for an excellent dinner at the Tunkil Bar, a nice open-air restaurant. The weather was hot! The town of Copan Ruinas was a clean, comfortable village and the people were friendly.
We gathered at 7:00 AM for breakfast in town at Vamos A Ver, a Dutch owned open-air restaurant with great home made bread and real coffee. Next we perused the town museum, which was interesting, although short on English translations. It featured lots of old photos, pottery, some stone sculptures, and skulls. Some of the teeth had been drilled out and jade inlayed. On to the actual ruins of Copan where an independent guide approached us as we emerged from the van, causing some concern for the park's official guides. Roberto and Bob worked it out, so we hired Saul, who turned out to be quite good - informative, interesting, and animated. He guided us through and told many tales, like why the Mayan culture declined (resource depletion, slave revolt, incest, drug addition). He shared interesting stories behind the procession of rulers - stelaes - acropolis, etc. After three hours or so in the ruins with Saul, we had lunch and went through the museum on our own. Then we individually wandered through the site taking photos, stopping at the entrance to make friends with a family of large colorful macaws. The weather was uncomfortably hot, but clouds kept it bearable. Back in town, we stopped to get beer, very important, and leave some laundry. When I returned to the van, a large watermelon had taken up residence on the seat next to Kay. As Roberto was driving up the dirt hill to the hotel, the tires spun, and the van started sliding down the hill, everyone bailed out, leaving Roberto alone in the van. We all claimed that we were simply lightening the load but . . . . At the hotel, we were on the balcony visiting, and Suzy kept coming out with watermelon problems. She wanted to soak it in Clorox water, so she mixed some up in a bucket and went to drop the watermelon into the water. The bucket was too small, the watermelon got stuck, and she needed Bob's help to pull it out. Next she took it into the shower, with a patio chair and a large piece of clean plastic tarp. Only could imagine what the maid would have thought had she seen a patio chair in the shower with a sheet of plastic full of Clorox water, housing a large watermelon. This ended up not being an issue since Bella Vista never tidied our rooms. Suzy spent so much time with the melon that she dubbed him Mr. Sandia and was reluctant to eat him the next day.
Another day and more miles to cover. We loaded up, drove down to breakfast in town, and were on the road by 8:30 AM. We were soon at the ruin site of Quirigua, with its massive stelae. Located in the middle of a large banana plantation, it consists of many large stelae and a nice acropolis. Along our route the scenery transformed from highland desert to lowland tropics. We enjoyed a picnic lunch (the sterilized Mr. Sandia was delicious) and continued to Rio Dulce, where we found our boat to Livingston waiting. We transferred our luggage and were off down the water to the coastal town of Livingston. The boat ride was tremendous - a beautiful canyon between the El Golfete and the Caribbean Sea. Our hotel was located on the shoreline, so we unloaded, checked in, and grabbed our palm frond and bamboo huts -complete with mosquito netting. Some of us walked into town and found not much here though we had an interesting character talk to us through town. We think he wanted us to buy him a beer. Back at the hotel we enjoyed the ocean breezes, while Gary and Wanda fought them in their rented canoe. It rained quite hard during the night and the heat and humidity rose early, which didn't stop Harold & Wanda from enjoying a last waltz in the restaurant before we left.
After a brief morning rain, our guides and Cris talked us into leaving a couple of hours early, so we could make a slow ride up the Rio Dulce. We saw lots of different birds along the way including pelicans, herons, gulls, anhingas, and cormorants. At the Biotopo Chocon, we took a short steamy hike around the jungle followed by a picnic lunch on the dock. Back on the water, Gary and Wanda salivated over the big sail boats docked along the river. We paused at some hot springs, but didn't get into the water and motored on up to our next hotel the Hacienda Tijax. The rooms were quaint but clean little huts with wooden walkways over a mangrove swamp connecting everything to everything else. Surprisingly the bugs were non-existant (saved by the dry season). Tijax offers a lot of activities and had a big pool where most of the group spent a steamy afternoon.
It rained off and on all night and was quite humid when we got up. We packed quickly and Orlando, the boatman, shuttled us across the river to our van. We ate breakfast at the Rio Bravo Restaurant in Rio Dulce, with nice views of the water. When Roberto had to return to the restaurant, for a parking voucher, Jim and Harold went to buy film at a store next to the restaurant. They got a 5 pack of film for 175 Quetzales, and spent the next hour discussing who owed what - and how to divide the odd roll, which proved to be quite entertaining for the rest of us. Rio Dulce turned out to be very native, not touristy at all. The terrain in this area is hilly. At a police checkpoint Roberto was requested to pay a bribe, but since he was traveling with friends they eventually let us through. While he was being rousted Bob got us all out of the van to crowd around and take pictures, which seemed an effective way to convince them to give up and wave us on. Slightly further along we were stopped at an agricultural inspection station and had to eat our three oranges to avoid transferring the infamous med fly. Interesting, that throughout the country the wood they use for fence posts takes root and grows - and some of the resulting trees are very pretty, with pink flowers. We crested a pine-covered hillside only to find ourselves stopping at the Finca Ixobel, a nice ranch that is open to tourists, and seems to attract the backpacker crowd. We walked around for a short while to see the monkey cage, parrots, as well as livestock and garden. Most everyone had burgers, well, except Kelly, and they were exceptional. Those who ordered the raspberry milkshakes claimed they were phenomenal. At the beginning of the trip, Roberto didn't speak much English, so he and Cris had been learning language from each other all along the way. We all got a kick out of his first joke on this ride. We passed a fancy looking ranch with an ornate gate with cows gathered all around it. When Cris asked about it- he replied "Vaca" ciones. Get it? After a quick stop in Santa Elena to change money, we proceeded over the causeway to the island of Flores. A couple of seemingly aimless loops on the very narrow streets eventually left us in front of our hotel. For never having been there before Roberto did a great job getting us there. We independently wandered on foot around the nice, clean, open, inviting town and met later at La Luna for dinner. The food was excellent and they even followed it up with a complimentary round of rum. Kelly good-naturedly survived extensive harassment about ordering beached camel (béchamel sauce). People seemed friendly in Flores and there are boats coming and going at all times of day to the lakeside communities.
Gary snored a lot last night and got walloped twice. Our air conditioning wasn't working right and the room became very smoky from some burning fields. Needless to say, I was a little sleepy when we gathered at 6:30 AM and headed for Tikal. Suzy had breakfast bread and sweet rolls for us in the van and we had coffee and tea when we got to the park at 7:30 AM. We quickly found an English-speaking guide named Hector who showed us around the ruins for almost four hours. He was very knowledgeable about the plant life and what is good to cure various ills. He brought us in the back side of the ruins and we reached the highest temple that has wooden stairs to make it easier for tourists to reach the top. What a beautiful view! We could see the other temples from there and our enthusiasm surged. The ruins have been taken over by the jungle but most of the major ones have been partially uncovered, and somewhat restored. We continued on to the Great Plaza, which was absolutely stunning. At some ruins it was possible to see older temples under the newer ones. I saw a number of spider monkeys, some with young ones, coatimundies, iridescent green wild turkeys (Peten turkeys called Pavo Real), a variety of birds, and a fox. Some of us visited the museum and were impressed with the pottery and the then and now photos. With evening rapidly approaching, we returned to Flores. Cris had to go to the bathroom real bad, but there wasn't a safe place to stop, so using an empty water bottle and Gary's knife we made her a port-a-potty in the back of the van. We never figured out if Roberto knew what was going on and Cris sure hopes not. We returned to La Luna for dinner, gave Roberto a gratuity, and some of us raced back to the hotel for a well-deserved night's rest.
We gathered at 8:00 AM to say goodbye to Roberto, whose English had vastly improved over the time spent with us, then headed for a lake view breakfast at a nice hotel, Hotel Casona de la Isla. While four of our group went shopping, the rest of us took a taxi to the caves, Grutas Actun-can. The operator, who was raised in LA and served in the US army, spoke good English and said if we didn't return in 45 minutes, he would come for us. We lasted about 30 minutes in the dark. It was OK but would have been better if we had strong torches rather than low output LED reading headlamps. We again stopped to change money at a Santa Elena bank before beginning the hot, sunny walk back to Flores. The locals were washing clothes and bathing near the Flores causeway. We met up with the shoppers for lunch. Cris and Kelly bought sculpted wood rats (pisotes) they claimed were coatimundies. Somehow, Gary brought up pheromones, but it came out fairy gnomes, and this was before the Gallo (the cheap local beer) started flowing. We returned to the Casona de la Isla for lunch and fought over the 4 square feet of shade. It was beautiful and relaxing watching the boats coming and going - some dugout canoes, wood powerboats, and the school children paddling across the water. One boy spent 15 minutes splashing water out of his canoe with his paddle. Back at the hotel, we loaded up and headed for the airport, said our goodbyes to Bob and Suzy, boarded the plane on time, and headed for Guate. Thirty-five minutes later, we landed to find Roberto awaiting us. We claimed our luggage and he took us the 2 blocks to our hotel (Hotel Aeropuerto Guest House), and again, we said goodbye to this good new friend. Checking in there was some confusion and in the process someone took off with Jim's fanny pack containing his passport. Three locals had followed us into the hotel (surrounded by a fence and locked gates). The owner was busy arguing with a couple about the luggage storage fee and the girl at the desk thought the three locals were with us. We let our guard down and they just walked out with Jim's bag. After calling the US Embassy, the hotel owner, Jim, Cris and Fred went to the police station to file a report. The police were reluctant, but Cris finally convinced them to do it. So after a bit, when the only typewriter became available, it was moved into another "office" and the report completed. Back at the hotel, we arranged for pizza and chicken dinners.
It rained off and on all night. Kelly was the first to leave that morning. Jim, Fred and Cris accompanied her to the airport hoping to get a cab to the embassy from there. About 10:00 AM the rest of us went to the history and archeology museum. Jim, Fred and Cris were already there, having breezed through the embassy, thanks to Cris's rapidly improving Spanish. The embassy was closed, but she talked the guard into getting them in, so Jim now had the necessary paperwork to get home. The museum was interesting, with a nice progression of the Mayan culture and many nice artifacts. It is definitely worth seeing, but has no English translations. From there we went to the artisans' mall, to a restaurant next to it for lunch, to the modern art museum and to the zoo. After seeing the African animals, we found the Central American animals, which we really enjoyed. The rain hit and we took cover until it tapered off. Then some of us took a cab back while the others walked. The next day was departure day for the rest of us. I was the first to leave, making it home with no problems.
After accompanying the notorious nine to the Santa Elena airport for their late afternoon flight to Guate, Bob and Suzy found the good-byes difficult as usual. The walk back to our lakeside Flores hotel was more than a little sticky and we were looking forward to some time in cooler climes. Our new room had great views of the lake from three sides, one of them a small balcony. We spent another day in Flores shopping, resting, surfing the net, watching CNN in air conditioned comfort and bidding adieu to our favorite restaurants, La Luna and La Casona, before boarding a first class double-decker bus destined for Guate. The return trip was uneventful, although it was fun to check out many of the places we had been as we cruised along 25 feet above the road (we had the front seats).
The archaeological museum was a fine place to spend our last day in the country. We missed it on our previous trip when we found it closed on a Monday after riding the chicken buses down from Antigua. We were delighted that it was open on Sundays; though unfortunately the jade exhibit was not open. The numerous stelae and extensive pottery collections captivated us and we left realizing that there are still many Mayan ruin sites in Guatemala that we have yet to see.
