Semana Santa

Semana Santa is about as big as fiestas come in Guatemala, a week of holiday for almost all Guatemalans, a time for them to have some fun- unfortunately this presented some problems to me; it becomes difficult to find somewhere to stay in this week, room prices go up and transport becomes very difficult. So, what could the solution be ? Well, it came from an unexpected quarter- i was talking to some bartenders at a hostel where some friends and it were staying, telling them about my worries for Semana Santa- in response they offered us all a job at the bar. Good things happen to those who chat.

So, on the Monday we started work at the bar- it was a side-business of Hotel Backpackers, a budget travellers stronghold on the edge of Rio Dulce town. The clientele wasnt as you´d expect though, the people who frequented the bar were generally Guatemalan, which made the time there a little bit more exciting- these people love to drink, and they love to dance. Dancing they can do well, but drinking is a little bit more of a problem for them. They stayed mellow enough though; the bar at Hotel Backpackers was one of the nicer places in town, right on the waters edge with this beautiful (at night) bridge arcing overhead.

It was a good place to work for a week, the other volunteers (we didnt get paid for this job, just received board and lodging) nice to be around and some interesting things happening. It seems that working in a bar at party time guarantees that - two events particularly stick in my mind. The first was the episode with the Dorada Ice boat; Dorada Ice is a bad beer that people are currently trying to promote in Guatemala- the people doing this in Rio Dulce evidently decided that the best way to do this would be to rent out a huge catamaran, put 3 nice-looking girls on board and then send it sailing down the river. My friends and I got invited on one of these trips, an hour long ride with soem really strange moments- i particularly liked it when the Dorada Ice song came on(Doraada Iiiiice, doo-duh-duh-doo-duh) and the 3 girls started a choreographed dance in the middle of the boat.

That was the first strange event then, the second was when we crashed a party the owner of Pepsi was having on his boat. The boat had pulled up outside the bar about 10 or so the 3rd night we were working, the Pepsi logo painted on the back and 6 or so people having a quiet time inside- it took us some time to pluck up the courage, but after an hour or so we managed it and found ourselves on board. The thing was, i didnt have a clue whose boat we were sitting on- i spent my time talking to one of the people travelling with Pepsi-Man, asking him about university in Costa Rica and all the normal questions when you first meet someone. Meanwhile one of my friends was being told things like, "We own Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador. We dont care about Costa Rica though, its too small." We only spent a half hour or so on the boat, after that it was time to leave these rich people to their own business, go back to the bar where we belonged.

Yeah, it was a fun Semana Santa- it lasted 6 nights in total, and by the last night i was glad it was over. I moved on from Rio Dulce on the Monday, travelling across to Honduras and a town called Copan Ruinas, a nice tranquil place to relax for a time. In a few days i may be starting my diving course, or my travels may take me into the deep jungle of Eastern Honduras, a region called Mosquitia.

PS. Everyone reading this should also check out my friend Tyler´s blog- its under the link called Canadian Craziness. This is what Guatemala does to some people...