Guatemala and Beyond

Ending the Travels

2006-09-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

So in 7 hours my plane takes off, in 18 i´ll be back in England- by my count its been around 230 days since the plane from Heathrow went off in the other direction. I feel ready to return, but at the same time im aware of how much travelling has given me. Another traveller, a long time ago now, said that he felt whilst traveling out here you´re also travelling in other parts of the world through the other backpackers you meet. A few stereotypes have definitely been broken on this trip, and i´ve learnt many good lessons along the way. Solo travelling lends itself to introspection, you know that all the good and bad things that happen are pretty much down to you- you have to take responsibility for the things you do wrong, but also congratulate yourself on what you do well.
And if theres one thing i´ve learnt out here, its this- dont plan too much the course youre going to take. The future is an unpredictable place, we dont really know whats going to happen, be it tomorrow or a year from now. Therefore just follow what you feel you should do and what youre good at- opportunities will present themselves, often from areas that you hadnt even considered and you could never plan for.

Mexico City

2006-09-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Its been an interesting last couple of days in the Americas- i arrived in Mexico City at what could be a turning point in the history of this country, as the protests surrounding the recent elections continue. The Central square, a huge area 200 by 200m, is completely filled with tents inhabited by supporters of Obrador- he´s the candidate of the left who lost by half a precentage point. The protests s happening because he claims electoral fraud- international observers declared the election free and fair, but it definitely seems like there were some significant irregularities. For example, most of the people who actually set up the systems used to record votes were linked to the party of the right.
So, last night i was in the square when Obrador was speaking. It scared me slightly to be there- i found myself agreeing with much of what he says, but the mob atmosphere that pervaded the place was too strong. It seems to me that that isnt going to lead to anywhere good, when people are in a crowd emotions can be too easily swayed, they can be led to carry out actions that normally they would consider repugnant. Even if Obrador is all he appears to be it sets a bad precedent, the amount of anger that can be generated at occasions such as that is dangerous.

Mexico Way

2006-09-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well ive finally left Central America- yesterday i crossed over the Mexico-Guatemala border. It was a strange moment, really felt like things had changed. Maybe a premonition of how ill feel when i step onto that plane heading back to the UK. This area has given me a lot, ive seen so many incredibly beautiful things, met so many special people. And now its coming to an end, and my thoughts turn back to home (odd to say that, recently ive found myself calling the hostels ive been staying at home).
But there are still a few days left, and they promise to be interesting ones. Tomorrow ill get a bus up to Mexico City, which at present is full of angry lefties demanding a full recount of the recent election- theyve taken over the Central area, set up a tent camp in the biggest city square in the world. Everyone ive talked to says its nonviolent, that its no problem to be a tourist there- so, off i go.
PS. Theres also protests going on in Oaxaca, another city in Mexico. Its a bunch of teachers demanding better pay, smaller class sizes and all that- the way theyre going about it is by scrawling graffiti everywhere and setting fire to cars at night. I like the idea of a maths teacher throwing a molotov cocktail- just imagine Mr. Iwi doing it...

The Last 2 weeks

2006-08-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

Only a week or so left until my time in Central America comes to an end- i feel ready to come back now, though it did come as a bit of a shock to get an email about having to choose my courses at Cambridge.
But, you may well be asking what ive been doing for the last 2 weeks. Well the answer is very little, i took a week in Granada, a colonial city in Nicaragua, then travelled for a whole 30 minutes to get to Laguna de Apoyo, where i then spent another week doing nothing.
Well no, its not entirely true that i did nothing. I enhanced my appreciation of Flor de Caña, the best rum in the world, i swam in the 30 degree waters of the Crater Lake, i took an art lesson from a Nicaraguan artist in Granada, and in general i hung out with some cool people. Oh, i also found my second Dad as well- his names Tony and he has hair like me. Therefore...
At present though im heading back north- tonight i find myself in San Salvador, i figure i have 4 straight days of travel to get to Mexico City. The Worlds a big place, im gonna be covering lots of miles. My flight goes back on the 7th of September, i should be back in Bristol by midday. Be around that night, i dont care that i probably wont have slept for 30 hours, im going out. And so will you all as well.

Little Corn

2006-08-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well, that trip turned out to be slightly longer than planned. I´ve just come back from 8 days on Little Corn, a small island on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua- if i hadnt run out of money id still be there now. Its a beautiful, tiny island, no more than a kilometre long and ringed with white sand beaches- the interior full of coconut, mango and all other types of trees. The main road is a metre wide concrete track, but i spent most of my time walking barefoot along little dirt tracks through the jungle. I was staying in a Cabiña at Derrick´s place, an isolated spot on the far side of the island from the main village- this was one of the best hostels i´ve stayed in on this entire trip; the ground had been cleared and grass planted, nowhere was more than 50m from the sea and it had the best beach on the island to itself. I´ve spent a lot of hours lying in a hammock next to that beach in the past week, though at times i was forced to leave the grounds.

That wasnt so bad though, because generally when i left it was to go scuba diving. Little Corn also has some of the most interesting underwater life i´ve so far encountered- i did five dives on the island, 2 of them would be in my top 5 dives ever. On both there were some very cool swimthroughs, underwater tunnels or caves where the light creates interesting effects and lots of fish hideout. Better than this though were the creatures- on one dive i saw 7 different sharks, one of which was bigger than me by at least a foot. We also ran into eagle rays, beautiful crazy creatures which just glide along underwater, flapping their wings whilst their tail drags behind them.

I was pretty blissed out there, it was good to sit out at night and watch the sky- it was full moon whilst we were there so it was pretty light, but each night we´d build fires out of coconut husks in proper Ray Mears style. It was a good time, perhaps the closest i´ve come to paradise on this trip.

Back and Forth in Costa Rica

2006-08-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

I seem to be yoyoing quite a bit at the moment- a few days back i thought by now i'd be in Nicaragua, possibly diving on the Corn Islands, maybe just chilling in a hostel somewhere or other. Instead i find myself right back in the South-East of Costa Rica, in a place called Puerto Viejo in exactly the same hostel i was in about 10 days ago.

How did i get to this point? Well, after the Boa Constrictor incident i was meaning to leave Monteverde, possibly the very next morning. But then that night i met Jo and Aliky (wrong spelling), two English girls who turned out to be good friends with Alex. So, we spent a few hours chilling and chatting, then after that made the best nachoes in the world. Ever.

Also around were two friends from Utila, Tim and Lil, and two Canadian friends of theirs called Matt and Kea. It was a good night- we discovered that you could buy a litre and a half of red wine for $8, and i taught them a drinking game called Bishop's Bum (i'll teach you all when i get back as well. Its a fun one). The next day i thought i ws definitely going to Nicaragua, but then it turned i had to get the same bus as Tim, Lil, Matt and Kea to San Jose. By the time it got to my junction i'd decided that i was going with them. Good bus ride, also had one of my favourite moments on the trip when i was sitting in my seat, having my hair puffed up whilst eating Corn nuts and drinking red wine out of a plastic bottle with a sports cap (note to people at home: i havent had my hair cut since i left England, its got some serious volume now).

After that ride another couple of nights in San Jose, after which i thought i would definitely be going to Nicaragua. Except then Tim and Lil (by this point everyone else had left) persuaded me to go down to Puerto Viejo and lie on the beach for a while. Which i did, and will be doing today. But tomorrow Nicaragua. For sure.

Volcan Arenal

2006-07-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Northern Costa Rica is beautiful, rolling hills and mountains covered in cloud forest, small lakes and volcanoes dotting the landscape. One of the major attractions in this area is Arenal, an active volcano which you can observe from the town of La Fortuna. Or from one of the hotsprings which you find in the surrounding area- a few friends and i went to a particularly ridiculous one, called Baldi hotsprings. It was completely crazy, a maze of pools and grottoes constructed out of pretend stone. For added randomness there was a fake Mayan pyramid (never mind that the Mayan's never made it anywhere near Costa Rica), and a wet bar which sold me the most expensive drink i've bought in my entire time in Central America. We spent a few hours there, were lucky enough to actually see the volcano, and when it got dark we could see lava going down its side. Really awesome, totally worth the money.

After that we moved on to Monteverde, an ecological reserve where you can zipline, go on walks on bridges through the canopy, all the nice touristy stuff. Also, i got to hold a baby Boa Constrictor, which seems cool to me at least. Still, i'll be leaving tomorrow i think, moving on up to Nicaragua and some slightly more difficult travelling. Its gonna be fun.

Some Costa Rican stole my bag, and my Camera, and all my photos, and my journals (of 6 months), and my mp3 player, and my....

2006-07-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

I dont think i've ever had anything important stolen from me before. Maybe a pen at school, perhaps even a 5 pound note i left lying around... so arriving in La Fortuna a couple of days ago was a bit of a shock. During these travels i've put all the stuff that's really important to me in my small bag, always had that close to me- on the bus i put it over my head, letting one of the straps hanging down so i could check every so often to see if it was still there. But, when i was moving to get off i found that my bag had been replaced with an empty one. This annoys me- if someone took the trouble of bringing an empty bag on board they were clearly planning to do something like this, its not an opportunistic crime but rather something totally planned.

So, when i get back home i wont be able to show anyone the photos that i've taken over this trip, 6 months of my thoughts (in journal form) have disappeared, my logs of all my dives are gone- many of the things i would have used to remember my time abroad wont be coming back. So, its surprising that i'm not more pissed off than i am right now. Perhaps its that i got righteously drunk with some Belgium guys i met on the bus as soon as i discovered the bag was gone, or perhaps its that i've found these material things i've lost don't matter to me as much as i thought they did. I still have the emails of all the people i've met on this trip, with luck i'll be able to get photos of the various parts off them, and this blog is some semblance of a journal.

Which is not to say that i'm totally content. This happening has highlighted to me some things i need to work on about myself- perhaps i can summarise this by saying that i'm too happy to let things slide, too confident that things will just work out with minimal input from myself. There have been numerous times on this trip when i've left my bag in far less secure places than i did on that bus a couple of days ago, and each time that i just raised the possibility a little more that something like this would happen. Also the things in the bag- i could have backed up the photos, but i didnt because it didnt occur to me that something like this would happen. So, a lesson learnt there, and its probably good that i learnt it at this time.

Drake´s Bay, Volcan Baru and a Cap

2006-07-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Another entry, another country- since last time my travels have taken me on to Panama, after a couple more days in Costa Rica. We moved on from Corcovado to the other side of the Osa peninsula, to a remote area under the name of Drake´s Bay- a strip of sand bordered by hills and the jungle, but at least this one actually had a road leading to it. We had a couple of days there, spent scuba diving and making stuff out of seashells and driftwood (just wait until you see my windchime. I´ve got all creative), so that was cool.

After that, well at that point my friends and i separated- they´re now somewhere in Costa Rica and i´ve moved on down to Panama. My first solo travelling for 3 months, an odd feeling to finally leave all the people i got to know on Utila. But also a good feeling, to be able to choose my own direction and follow exactly what i want to do- its also not like its really solo travelling, with all the people you meet out here you make new friends quickly. But still, for one day i was all on my own, travelling down to the town of Boquete in Panama. This is right next to the only volcano in the country, the highest point of Panama- Volcan Baru. I climbed it with a couple of people from the hostel, a total climb of around a vertical mile and a distance of 17 miles up and back. I still hurt- possibly it wasnt the best idea to do something like this after not doing any real exercise for 4 months. At the summit you´re meant to be able to see both the Pacific and the Caribbean at the same time, but all we could see was 100m into the low-lying clouds. Still, there were compensations- at the top there was a guard station run by the Panamanian Policia Nacional (the closest Panama comes to an army), and the guards allowed us to take photos like the one here. Yes, that is an assault rifle i´m holding there,with a Panamanian Sergeant´s cap on my head. The cap´s now in mine, a little recuerdo of my time in the country. Tomorrow i´ll leave with a couple of friends, heading back on up to Costa Rica to explore the Caribbean coast. Puerto Viejo is the destination.

Photos soon- there really is one of me holding a big assault rifle. Honest

Corcovado

2006-07-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, ive returned from the jungle for one night- tomorrow we set out again, heading to another side of the Osa peninsula, a strip of land jutting off the south-east of Costa Rica. The last few days have been awesome, where i´ve just came from is one of the most beautiful places i´ve ever visited, possibly the most beautiful.
The property we were staying on was on the edge of Corcavado national park, which has been called the most biodiverse area on the planet- as we walked in Macaus flew overhead, and you could hear Howler monkeys in the distance. The nearest road was 3km away, you had to walk for half an hour along a black sand beach to reach the place, the waves of the pacific breaking on one side, on the other the jungle. The property itself was a strip of grass above the beach- its part owned by Josh´s Dad, and Josh himself worked there for a couple of years.
As to what we did there, well there was a lot of time spent in hammocks, just staring at the ocean. We explored the park a little, and on thelast night went hunting shrimp- our weapon a stick with 3 nails lashed onto the end, our flashlights out to try and see the reflection of the shrimps´ eyes. The only word for it is brutal- when a shrimp gets impaled on the nails it doesnt die instantly, rather it spends a while squirming around. Not so nice, but destroys a few illusions about food, makes me a little less of a hypocrite. And the shrimp tasted good, eaten whilst we watched the full moon light up the beach and the jungle. Tomorrow we head off to another corner of the Osa, i´ll be back in a few days.

From San Jose

2006-07-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

Utila has well and truly been left behind- at present im sitting in Costa Rica Backpackers in the middle of San Jose, the capital of the country. Its been a long, hard journey- 48 hours of long bus rides and staying in big, dirty cities- and theres still one more afternoon of travelling to go. But at the end of that we'll arrive in Corcavado national park, one of the most isolated parts of Costa Rica and also apparently one of the most beautiful. I'm travelling with Josh and Monika, a couple of friends from Utila. Josh lived in Costa Rica for 3 years, he's gonna show us a few things he discovered in his time here. Itll be a good few days.

Its Costa Rica time. Teeheehee

2006-07-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Finally left Utila- in Managua a present. Its not a nice town, seems to be full of run down buildings with gigantic malls occasionally showing up. But its only for one night, tomorrow we head to Costa Rica, to the Corcavada peninsula on the south eastern end. Perhaps there´ll be internet there, perhaps not- whatever, itll be a good time and i hope to get back in contact soon.

My Best Dive

2006-06-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Did a great dive last night, a really outstanding one. We went out about 7.30, darkness descending and the seas pretty heavy. The sky was covered in clouds so there was no light from the moon, and the large waves meant that visibility underwater was pretty low. This all meant that that underwater you were in almost total darkness, you could only see something if you shone your torch at it- the feeling of disorientation this created was incredible, floating in midwater really did feel like being in another world. Looking at the surface occasional flashes of lightning could be seen, the rainstorms over the mainland giving the sole source of natural light. At one point we turned all the torches off, started moving our arms around to stimulate the phosphorescent bacteria- after a couple of seconds hundreds of little spots of light started appearing and disappearing, set against total blackness. There was no sense of perspective, my feet werent on the bottom- it felt like i was floating in space, the lights stars. Total disorientation, exactly what im going for out here.

Where I'm at

2006-06-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

Still on Utila. Leaving has proved more difficult than anticipated. Tomorrow is go day though. Definitely tomorrow.

Divemaster = Me

2006-06-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

So its done, as of yesterday i am a Divemaster. Its been a good course, taught me a lot both about Scuba diving and how to deal with people, and its been great to get all those dives in the Caribbean. Its also been nice to spend these last couple of months on Utila, to settle down on this island for a while and give myself a break from travelling.
Saying that, i wont be sad to leave when i catch the ferry tomorrow morning- Utila is small, and the places im heading next are large, have much more to see. This is an island with 5 bars, only one of which -Tranquila- is really visited regularly. Ive probably been to that place about 50 times in the last 2 months, nearly as many times as ive been in the water. Itll be good to get back on the road, give myself a little more freedom and the opportunity to start exploring again- that also means that this blog will go back to being updated frequently, pretty pictures will start appearing once again. One more thing, it looks like my plane ticket has been changed- the flight back will probably be leaving Mexico City on the 5th of September, to give myself a couple more weeks out here. Seven months sounds like a long time, but one thing ive realised on this trip is you cant travel slowly enough, you need to be able to give yourself time to really get to know a place. So, itll be a little while longer before i see everyone in Bristol- i hope you all keep well, and remember i will see you again pretty soon. Alasdair

Diving

2006-05-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

Life on Utila seems destined to frustrate any attempt to update this blog frequently, theres too many things going on, not enough time to get proper entries down. But its been long enough that there does really need to be one, so lest focus in with this on the reason im here: to go Diving.

To somone whos never done it diving seems like just another activity, something equivalent to going for a trek, riding a bike and other such things. Its not until youre down there that you really appreciate how different it is, how much more it gives you. When youve got your Scuba gear on and youre underwater, youve put yourself into a completely different environment, opened up a whole new world to explore. Youre no longer confined to horizontal movement, but can also go up and down at will- or you can hang in midwater, neutrally buoyant and feeling like gravity is no longer a consideration. One of my favourite things to do is to descend by a sea wall, a piece of underwater topography which plunges almost vertically hundreds of meters down. If you do this headfirst, looking outwards all you can see is blue, a bright rich colour filling your vision, nothing else there and no sensations reaching you beyond the water flowing past and over you. Or there's looking up, seeing the waves moving over the surface and the bubbles rising. These are beautiful, reflecting the light in such a way that they take a silver colour, the larger ones shaped like upside down plates- if you sit above one of these and look at it you can see your reflection gradually getting larger, until eventually the bubble hits your mask and shatters.

These are great things to see, but it gets even better when you start to look at the underwater life. The coral makes strange shapes, little mounds rising up and falling back down to the sandy seafloor, fish hiding behind it and also swimming around in large groups. Ive seen some interesting creatures so far; turtles, rays, lobsters, but by far the most interesting are the squid. Theyre small animals, maybe 20cm long, but they look like nothing else on this world- their eyes are large, popped out of the sides of their head, and along the side of their body is a waving sheet of thin material they use to propel themselves with. Its a strange environment down there, a place i feel privileged to see.

Settling down for a time

2006-05-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

In the past few days ive gone past the halfway point of my travels- 3 and a half months gone, lots of things seen and done but many more yet to come. Its been pretty hectic, moving around most of the time and the people constantly changing- thats one of the reasons why Utila is proving to be cool place, somewhere to lay down roots and get comfortable.

One of the reasons why Utila is such a good place to be is that its an island, and as such has a completely different atmosphere to the mainland parts of Central America- its much more relaxed, the principal form of transport bike along the single main road. The islanders are an interesting people, a blending of Caribbean and Latino culture with an incredible accent; the only way to describe it is as "Pirate English," lots of gutteral growling and overextended vowels. Its always funny to walk past one of their domino games, to watch them slamming the pieces down on the table and snarling at each other. The island has other interesting inhabitants, for example the Physician who goes by the name of Dr. John- he walks around in board shorts and a rasta cap, with a good size beard and a pair of dark shades.

As to places on the island, well theres no better place to start than my dive shop, Altons. Its set out on the edge of town, a wooden dock going over the sea and the hotel set a little back- music plays most of the day, and lots of people just lie out in a hammock looking at the water. The sunset happens on the other side of the bay, and at night eagle rays and stingrays often swim underneath the dock. I lived there for the first week or so, but now ive moved into my own place up a little hill some distance out of town- 3 other peoplw working at Altons live there, it feels how id imagine student accomodation at uni would be. As to nightspots, well theres only 3 or 4 that i really frequent- 2 are bars set out over the water, pleasant places to hang out and chat with friends. My favourite place though is the Jade Seahorse, which is one of the best bars ive ever been to- its the product of 10 years work, a maze of Sculpture and crazy architectural details, Expect lots of photos of it (and other things described here) soon. Its gonna be nice to spend another 6 weeks in this place.

Into the Blue

2006-05-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since the last post- i can only apologise for the gap, but its been a really busy last week or so. My travels have now taken me to Utila, a small island off the North coast of Honduras with lots and lots of Dive schools- for the next 6 weeks or so ill be training to become a divemaster, the first professional level in Scuba Diving.

Over the last few days my time has been taken up doing the courses you need to begin the Divemaster course- the Emergency First Responder and the Rescue Diver. The Rescue Diver was especially interesting, a real contrast to the first levels of training you have to go through under the Scuba system, with a real increase in difficulty and challenge. When you start out Scuba diving its really pretty easy, all you have to be able to do is use the equipment and not get freaked out when you realise youre 20 metres down; when you start out Rescue Diver then you actually have to be able to do something. The course aims to model what would happen in a range of emergency situations, going from someone panicking on the surface to having to locate an unconscious diver somewhere underwater, then bring them back to the boat. My favourite situation though was the panicked out of air diver at about 20 metres down- in this case the instructor would swim frantically towards you, his mouthpiece out and his hands trying to tear yours out so he can get some air. You then have to react, jam your alternate air supply into their hands before he takes your source of air- by the end of your course you feel much more confident in your ability to handle things down deep.

Its been a fun time Scuba Diving here, its also been really nice to meet some people who i know will actually stay around for a time after the continual social changes of the last few weeks. Ive heard a few good stories from the longer serving divers, probably the best one so far is from a guy who´s been diving for over 20 years. The story goes that one time he was on a boat searching for Whale Sharks (a beautiful, harmless fish) , when the captain though he´d spotted one and told this guy to jump overboard to prepare to guide the customers . He proceeded to go over the side, turned around in the water, only to find himself face to face with a 30 foot Tiger Shark (definitely not a harmless fish). It swam languidly over, took a look at him, then dove on down to the deep blue. Lets just hope i never have to face that kind of thing myself. Tomorrow will see me moving into a house with a few other of the people working at Altons (my dive shop), for the rest of my time on the island i should be sleeping in this nice little house on the ourskirts of the main town- my room is called the ´princess suite,´i may tell you why in the next blog. Until then though, and expect a few photos up soon.

Semana Santa

2006-04-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

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...

Journey to the Caribbean

2006-04-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is going to be the first in a series of very long posts, the last 10 days or so were kind of heavy, with little time to sit down at a computer and write up an entry. Good times though, and lets start, well, at the start.

The first destination was Finca Paraiso, a waterfall heated by hot-springs which plunges into a cool river, so you can have the sensation of standing up to your knees in cold water whilst water as hot as if it came from a shower falls down on you. It was very beautiful there, the waterfall set down in a river valley with trees lining the edges and animal life everywhere- below you can see a couple of photos of this beautiful butterfly which fluttered around us for a time.

After the Finca we moved on to Rio Dulce, a small town at the head of the river which gives it its name- this was one part of Guatemala id really been looking forward to, a place one of my teachers at Spanish school had said was the prettiest in all Guatemala. The scenery here is stunning, and the people are rich- yachts fluttering American flags go past continuously, large summerhouse line the edges of the waters. We spent one night in the town, and then moved on down the river in a fast boat. This was a two hour stretch of just incredible beauty- the river is wide, maybe 400m or so, and lined with small ridges and masses of mangroves. Birds fly everywhere, graceful things whose flight takes them barely feet from the water and whose speed was about the same as the boat we were in- at times we would find ourselves level with a bird in full flight, looking across at it throwing its wings backwards and forwards. Then there were the people who live on the river, fishermen whose houses are on stilts and whose sole method of transport is dugout canoe- it felt a little intrusive to be going past them at 50 km/hour whilst they sat in their small boats and threw nets into the water. It was a picturesque scene though, and all too soon it was over- the river ended, and the Caribbean began.

Our journey ended in Livingston, an outpost of Black Caribbean society stuck on the edge of Guatemala. It felt refreshing to walk down its streets, to see the signs for "Rice and Beans" and the people strolling about on their daily routine- someone i was with with said it seemed like some kind of Hollywood stereotype, the Hoochy Mammas walking round in their pink dresses and so on. Whatever, i enjoyed spending some time in this stereotype. We had fun on the nights there, exploring some of the bars around the town- theres a particular kind of music peculiar to ths part of the world called Punta, really fast percussion driven stuff with some strange instruments. They use Conches, skin drums and Turtle shells- perhaps not so good for the environment, but it leads to a unique sound. We had to leave after out second night there though, to return to begin working at a bar on the Rio Dulce over Semana Santa, the biggest party in Guatemala.

El Retiro

2006-04-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

My time at Finca Ixobel ended about a week ago, and it was such a good time that i decided to move directly to a place exactly like it- the replacement was called El Retiro, a backpacker hostel amidst the mountains of central Guatemala. The scenery surrounding it was absolutely incredible; there was no flat, rather the hills rose up high then fell straight back down, their sides covered in greenery and the sky a deep blue overhead. The hostel itself is full of very fun people, and most of those who actually work there never planned to but rather found themselves unable to leave- it’s a very chilled out atmosphere, as an example when I asked what date it was the following conversation took place:
“Yeah, what date is it- do you know man?”
“No, is it April?”
“It could be, we should find out I guess.”

The days were spent exploring the landscape which towered over us, the caves which went deep into the limestone and the rivers which sped down the valleys. The most interesting day was a visit to Semuc Champey, which- and i know this sounds over the top- could well be the most beautiful place ive ever visited. The peculiarities of limestone erosion have created a set of waterfalls, shallow pools and thundering rapids in the middle of a deep valley covered in cloud forest. The most spectacular part is a natural bridge, the river rushing underneath in a mass of spray and sound into a dark passage which runs for several hundred meters.

The other truly spectacular experience was a visit to the Grutas de Lanquin, a cave complex which extends for hundreds of kilometres- the walls of this rose 10s of metres upwards, covered in stalactites and strange shapes. The Mayans considered caves like these gates to the underworld, and its easy to understand that when youre standing in the half-light provided by the few lamps they hang along the main route- we found a sacrificial altar about 10 minutes in, a round circle of blackened stones in one of the largest chambers. That was very impressive, but it was magnified even further by an event that happened as darkness set in outside- the exodus of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of bats. They live within the cave, and at dusk they set out to hunt- first they come in ones or twos, but gradually the numbers increase until the air is filled with the animals. The photo here shows how many- they kept on going like this for the 20 minutes we were sitting there, the space filled with the high pitched squeaks they were projecting.

If we werent visiting sights like these the days were spent lazing around; playing Haki-Sak or swimming in the water, meeting travellers from across the world. One person said to me that going through this country you also find yourself visiting other countries from whence a new friend has come, as they tell you details of their homes and what they do.

At nights the socialising would continue, the bar getting filled up with the residents of the hostel. The photos below show some scenes from the nights, a few of the people ive met here. For some reason no matter how long the evening carried on id find myself awake at 7 in the morning, which im sure will sooner or late lead to total nervous collapse- for now everything seems to be holding together though.

Unfortunately it became necessary to leave after 4 days there, a result of the tab system they run for everything, and a realisation that i could find myself sucked in for weeks. This morning a few people from the hostel and i travelled down to El Estor, a town on Lago Izabal. The journey was beautiful, the road weaving through the mountains and eventually reaching the broad river valley of eastern Guatemala- the photo here shows that valley. The lake is beautiful, a mass of clear water bordered by more beautful mountains, sailboats and lanchas cutting across it on their journeys from town to town. It already seems likely that itll compare favourably to El Retiro.

Tikal, my Birthday and Necessary Relaxation

2006-04-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

This entry should finally bring the blog up to date, which will be nice as it hurts my head to think about what happened two weeks to a month ago- instead this entry goes from about the 20th of March through to the present moment.

If you go down a couple of entries youll find me very happy to have finished my back-country trip, happy to get back to places where people speak English and its easy to make friends. Flores was the first place of this kind, but its also very touristy and a little overly commercial, so the next morning i moved on to El Remate, a small town on the far side of the lake (Lago de Peten Itza, a very large body of beautifully clear, cold water) from Flores. For the next few days absolutely nothing was accomplished- the daylight was spent lazing in the sun, writing a little bit of diary and so on, the nights socialising with friends met on the road. Its necessary to relax like this from time to time- travelling is a tiring activity; the uncomfortable busses take it out of you, and theres the feeling you should always be doing something as youre in such a special place. After a month or so of this your body caves in, and at this pont its necessary to find somewhere like El Remate. The people i met there were refreshing; a Spanish guy, a group of American girls- out here it seems easy to make friends, people who travel seem to share a certain mindset which allows for easy communication.

So those were a pleasant few days, and they led up to my Birthday on the 25th- i chose to spend this at Tikal, one of the greatest of all the Mayan ruins. The city is gigantic, spread over 20 square kilometres and estimated to have had a population of around 100,000 at its height. Temples are scattered throughout the site, great pyramids of stone rising up to heights of over 60m, their roofs looking over the forest canopy, the view from one interrupted only by the other pyramids. Looking up at them they reminded me of mountains, and like mountains they made me feel small. Its incredible to put yourself in the place of the Kings and Priests of this city, to consider how they must have thought. These buildings were amongst the largest ever constructed in this region, as great as anything anyone in this part of the world had ever seen- for the rulers of Tikal there must have been a feeling of almost unlimited power, to not be bound by normal laws.

That was truly an impressive day then, but the next i felt the need to move on again- after one final night in Flores my path carried on down to Finca Ixobel, a working farm/Gringo hide-out in the south of Peten. Ive just left there after 5 days, again not very productive days in terms of culture, but lots of fun thanks to the people who were around. There were plenty of activites to do; cave-treks, horse-riding and so on, and at night there were always a few people around to have a drink with . It was a good time there, and its possible that in the future (not this trip but one in a few years) ill return to work there for a few months.
PS. Who is bristlecity- your comments intrigue me.

The Trek from Nebaj to Todos Santos

2006-03-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

Just to clarify, this entry dates from before the one below. So, the time-space continuum hasnt been altered, neither is there a tardis in my possession- its just that it seemed easier to split the last two weeks up into bite-sized chunks.

This particular chunk tells the tale of the journey between two villages in the highlands; the first Nebaj in the Ixil triangle, the second Todos Santos in the altiplano. This was a four day trek, up and down mountains, along river valleys and across plateaus. The scenery was just incredible, a mixture of forested mountain sides, grassy valley bottoms and at one point a rocky landscape unlike anywhere else ive ever seen.

Most of the days didnt last more than 8 hours, generally pretty easy stuff but with the occasional 900m of vertical ascent. We were the only hikers in that area, which was easy to understand considering the difficulties of getting there- there was an extremely uncomfortable 3 hour bus ride, where i had to spend the entire time standing up. There was one seat rail i could use as support, but unfortunately a Guatemalan had got the idea of resting his head on it- what ensued was a lengthy battle between head and ass. Neither side won, and there wasnt any no-man´s land. But the journey was over soon enough, and after a night in Nebaj we started the trek.

The mountains we were walking through werent volcanic, instead they were similar to the scenery back home, though at a much greater height. The first day (shown in the first picture) was taken up by walking into the moutains. Bizarrely we had lunch at a cheese farm, not something i was expecting to find in Guatemala- it really did look out of place actually, with lots of expensive equipment around and the house looking like something you might find in the Swiss Alps. After our time there we carried on up into a high mountain valley, to a little village linked to the outside world only by two dirt tracks- there was a little house set aside for Hikers there, and a Mayan steam-bath to sweat away the dirt and dust of the day. We went to bed early, but not before watching the moon for a time; this night it was very bright, and surrounding it was a huge ring of light, perfectly circular and clearly visible. A strange thing to see- have a look in the picture to see how it appeared to us.

The day after that was hard, starting off with that 900m ascent and arriving on this strange high plateau. It was covered with rocks, little villages set in the small clearings but everywhere else trees and these rocks sprouting out of the ground- it must be Karst scenery or something of the kind, but its the first anyone of us had seen anything like it. Theres a few pictures below from that day, to try and give you an idea how it looked.

The day finished at another small village, and we tried to get to bed early- it was difficult though, as this was Friday night and it was time for the village Evangelical service. That was, bar nothing and without exaggeration, the worst singing ive ever heard- the preacher had some awful backing track, and using that as a base he would go off into hysterical fits of worship. His voice would rise up higher than it was ever meant to go, the sound equipment producing mountains of reverb and the only effect being of some overpowering presence- possibly what they were going for in the first place.

That was what ear-plugs were designed for though, and the next morning we rose early- after lots of climbing wed reached another plateau, of which little can be said except that it was very dry and that the sky was incredibly blue. Apparently the higher you go the bluer the sky gets, and wed got up to over 3000m by this point- the strength of the colour was almost overpowering, it didnt look like the sky that i usually sit under. We walked below that for a time, but this day was a short one so by 3 we were sitting by the side of a road, waiting for a bus to convey us to the bottom of a big mountain. There was the usual complement of Guatemalan drunks by the side of the road, downing Gallos and Aguardiente. The cheapest alcohol you can get out here cost about 15p for a 125ml bottle, and ive read that the people here dont have the gene that lets them effectively break down the drug; for this reason they were staggering across the road, sleeping on the verge and generally making fools of themselves.

We were glad to get away from them, and we rode a bus to the foot of El Torre, the highest non-volcanic point in Central America. The next morning we walked to the top of it, only a 400m climb but a summit of over 3800m- from the summit you can see a line of Volcanoes marching East to West, the photos below show a few views. We were very lucky, as while we were sitting there one of the volcanoes erupted and we could see the cloud of dust flying up into the atmosphere.

After some time up there we started our 1300m descent down to the town of Todos Santos; the scenery here was again spectacular, with great cliffs hundreds of meters high, spires of rock lancing up out of the ground and the path winding in between it all. We made it to the bottom after about 3 hours, took a short rest by the river-everything was perfect here, until a dog came along. First it sniffed at my bag, and then before anyone could do anything it raised its leg and took aim- fortunately it missed, buts its left me with a deep mistrust of the damn curs. Anyway, after that we carried on down to Todos Santos proper; this is a very traditional town, the people all wearing a traditional dress and speaking their own language, Mam. I couldnt get any photos of them as they really dont like it- the idea that taking a photo affects the soul of a person took root here, and a few years ago a Japanese tourist was beaten to death when he took a photo of a little kid, and the child started crying. So, instead i just took some time after the trek to chill out in the town- i met some interesting people there and watched my very first moonrise. Ill leave you with a thought one of the people there imparted to me: "They say that money is the root of all evil. No, thought is the root of all evil."

The Journey from Todos Santos to Flores

2006-03-22T15:20:00.000-08:00

The next entry or 2 are going to be in a chronologically backwards order, and this first one starts off on the 15th of March in Todos Santos, ending up on the 22nd of March in Flores. The travelling over this period was varied, beginning in the high mountain valleys of the Sierra de las Cuchumatanes and ending up in the tropical flatland of Peten, the Northern jungle state.

This was my first real excursion off the beaten path in Guatemala, the people along the way couldnt understand what i was doing in their town, and i saw no other travellers for the 5 days from Todos Santos to a road-crossing called Cruce del Pato. The travelling itself was hard, a succession of cramped Chicken-Busses and Pickups along the worst roads of any of the trip so far. They were built along the side of mountains, drops off the side of 100m or more common and the roads themselves littered with gigantic stones. The most awful/interesting experience was the bus from San Mateo Ixtatan to Barillas- a 2 hour period with the bus packed as full as it could possibly be, 3 people on every seat (these busses are designed for American school children) and the aisle completely filled with luggage and people's feet. At the start 3 people were hanging out of the open door, holding onto the handrails and standing on the lowest step as the bus was actually moving. The other journeys after that were paradise in comparison, though they still took hours to go barely a hundred kilometres- the slowest was the pickup ride from Barillas, but the scenery from that was amazing. We started in the low tropical hills, ended up on the verdant plains of the Ixcan, which barring the deep jungle is the most isolated part of Guatemala. The scenery was incredible, the plain stretching off into the distant, small streams criss-crossing it and with occasional towering, 30-40m trees above.

It was a real contrast to what i found in the Cuchumatanes- the trees up there are small evergreens, the land jumps up and down in ridges and valleys and it is cold at night. The picture to the left is the edge of San Mateo Ixtatan, seen as i was beginning a walk up to the ridge overlooking the Mexican plateau- it was a really great walk, with blue skies, a peaceful road and at the end a great vista opening out. In the picture its a little blurry, but sitting up there i could just make out vague shapes below- maybe a lagoon, a small town? I like it when the weather limits your area of vision- on one of the bus rides there was very thick fog, and through small gaps in it a mountain on the other side of the valley was visible. There were little shacks on the side, lots of greenery and the top was not visible- for me it was easy to imagine that it rose miles overhead, some kind of Himalayan peak hidden in the middle of Guatemala. Sometimes its better to not have a definite idea of things, it gives the mind more to work on. Despite all the sights up there i could only stay in San Mateo Ixtatan for one night, it just felt too odd to be in a traditional Mayan town, and at night the packs of wild dogs concerned me slightly. So, after the terrible 2 hour busride i described earlier, i ended up in Barillas.

Barillas is an odd town, a fairly developed place with a full selection of Banks, pharmacies and so on, but all the roads leading out of it completely terrible. There really wasnt too muchto do there- after an hour or so wandering around the town it felt like id seen everything (including a full brass band practicing for the town fiesta), so my path took me back to the hotel. This was a fairly horrible place, looking like some kind of jailblock with the rooms just having a bed, a small frosted glass window and a solid metal door. The hotel did have one compensating factor though- a high tower where it was possible to just sit and look out over the city, i spent a lot of time there eating mango and writing my diary.

But that was all there really was to do, so the next day saw me getting the pickup ride to Playa Grande- this was probably the place i felt the most out there and away from everything, a town with all dirt roads, dirty buildings and a small market. Its sole reason for existence is to supply the outlying towns of the Ixcan, and also to allow the locals to get horribly drunk. I didnt feel happy there, i mean i may be viewing home through rose-tinted glasses, but i cant remember ever seeing anyone staggering drunk at 9 in the morning. That was a common sight in Playa Grande. So the town wasnt nice, but nearby was a lovely place by the name of Laguna Lachua, a crater lake surrounded by tropical forest with crystal clear water. You had to walk for 4 kilometers from the road, but upon arrival it was stunning- 10s of butterflies rose up from the waters edge, whole schools of fish swum around and the noises of the forest were almost all that could be heard. A pity that i was nearly collapsing from exhaustion when i reached there- after the days of trekking and travelling my body was crying out for a rest, it wasnt entirely capable of appreciating where i was.

Still, the next day i decided to move on, to make the final part of my backcountry trip and get to Flores, the island city in the North of Peten. This was a hard final day, lots of packed minibusses and pickups, but at 5 or so i finally arrived. Flores was a real contrast to the Playa Grande, Barillas and the rest- its set on a small island, only about 300m diameter and filled with colonial buildings. At night, slightly after sunset, migratory birds begin to fly over the lake- solitary ones or small groups sail through the air only a few feet from where youre sitting. A really magical sight. As to where is stayed, well it was a good hotel with the luxury of a terrace filled with hammocks up top, a real contrast to the places where id stayed the last few nights. The other real contrast were the people to talk to- you dont appreciate being able to speak in your own language until youve not been able to for 5 days; speaking in Spanish just gets so tiring, and also frustating when youre unable to express complex thoughts due to lack of vocab. So that was a nice night of socialising, rounded off by some Americans from Washington playing guitar and singing songs from their hometown late into the night- it felt like some kind of reward for the distance id travelled.

Into and Out of the Mountains

2006-03-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well, a lot of time has gone by since i last saw an internet cafe, nearly two weeks by my count. That time was well spent though; the first 6 days were trekking, going through mountain valleys and up high plateaus, sleeping in traditional highland villages at night. After that it became a question of some real back-country travelling, taking camionettas and pick-ups from pueblo to pueblo along some truly awful dirt roads- for 5 days i didnt see a single other traveller, or speak anything other than Spanish. An interesting experience for sure, but at times i did wish id just taken the easy and more comfortable option. The internet connection im using here though is really slow and really expensive, so you can expect some much more expansive entries in the next few days when i find somewhere better- i just felt i needed to post something up here in the meantime.

Into the Wild

2006-03-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

There may not be any more entries for a little while, as from tomorrow ill be starting a 6 day trek through one of the Guatemalan mountain ranges- it seems doubtful that therell be many internet cafes aong the way, so youll have to go without updates for a time. The pause in the blog may continue after the trek finishes as well, as at present my plans are to go even deeper into the mountains, to travel through areas where Spanish is a second language for most people. If nothing new appears here after a month, then its probably best to assume ive assimilated into Guatemalan highland culture- in that case i expect at least one of you to come and try and find me. "Dr. Churchard, i presume?" and all that...

CARNIVAL!

2006-03-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Huehuetenango has been a good town to stay in; only 4 or 5 other gringoes in a town of 50,000 people, the atmosphere friendly and perfect for learning Spanish. The photo to the left shows the group of people from the school, the photo to the right the beautiful central square of the town.

Now, as im sure all of you know, Tuesday past was the last day before lent- the time for some release before the 40 days of abstinence leading up to Easter. Guatemalans take a slightly different attitude to this than we do in Britain; whilst we´re making pancakes they´re preparing fo the big fiesta- Carnival!

In Guatemala there arent many parades like you´d see in Brazil, rather the day is spent smashing Cascarrones (Egg shells filled with confetti) over peoples heads and throwing flour and water at anyone you can see. Everyone joins in with the celebrations; Cascarrones were shattered on my head by people ranging from a 4 year old girl to a 70 year old Grandfather, and the Parque Central of Huehuetenango was completely white by the end of the day. Feels very liberating to be able to go up to a complete stranger and dunk a pound of flour over their head, a kind of reprisal of the things that id do as a kid (though its good it only happens once a year; curly hair doesnt let go of flour or confetti very easily, sparkly things are still falling out a couple of days later).

On the night of Carnival my host family invited me along to a fiesta- this went on until 12 and, after a few prayers at the beginning, flour was flying around for at least 3 hours. Being the only person there with curly hair and blue eyes was a bad thing, at least once a huddle of Guatemaltecos ambushed me with a cloud of flour- a good experience of real Guatemalan culture though, and the photo below is a group of people from the party.

Visiting Beautiful Places

2006-02-28T14:44:00.002-08:00

This entry is being written from a town called Huehuetenango, a small place of about 50,000 people which receives very few visitors, a good place to practice lots of Spanish and immerse myself in the culture. A real contrast to the area ive just come from, Lago DAtitlan; this is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, a magnet for travellers in the Central American region. Its set in a dormant volcanic crater about 12km long and 4 km wide, three other volcanoes overshadowing the lake on one side and steep cliffs continuing all the rest of the way round. Small, picturesque villages are dotted along the edge of the water- originally these were simple Mayan villages, now many have changed into tourist towns with the economy geared towards tourist money.

The character of the towns reminds me of some parts of Thailand, especially the beach towns in the south of that country; vendors line the streets and shout at you as you walk past, trying to persuade you to buy something from them- theres a sense that all you should be doing is buying things, and to many of the locals thats all youre good for. Its a shame because it mars the beauty of the surroundings, also reduces the chance of any meaningful cultural interchange between tourists and the local people- after a couple of days you grow accustomed to saying No Gracias whenever someone approaches you. Doesnt feel a very nice thing to be encouraging, but the paradox is that its an almost inevitable consequence of travelling in an area where you are viewed as vastly rich; these less developed areas are often the most interesting to visit, but in so doing you encourage the local people to up their earnings through the creation of a tourist industry- exactly what youre trying to avoid. A difficult problem, one that i dont have an answer to. Instead im going to avoid it, travel on into those parts that most people havent reached yet. In Thailand we travelled to Koh Phi Phi, the island where The Beach was filmed- as we approached a French man looked on with disbelief, compared the concrete buildings he saw in front of him with what hed experienced when he visited 20 years ago. Maybe ill be the same in a few years if i return to this area.

Orphans, Marimba and the Cemetary

2006-02-21T12:27:00.000-08:00

My time in Xela is coming to an end, after 3 weeks of studying at Casa Xelaju my travels will be continuing; the first destination is Lago DAtitlan to meet up with parents, after that ill be going deeper into the mountains to a town called Huehuetenango which sees very few tourists. This city has been fun though, theres been lots of cool people to meet and some really good experiences over the past 2 or 3 weeks.

Amongst the best experiences was visiting an orphanage one sunny afternoon, something that i really wasnt expecting to do and something i really didnt expect to enjoy- volunteering was never an activity that really called out to me in England, never really something that even drew my attention. The kids were fantastic though, really happy to see people and really fun to play with; most of them arent orphans in the strictest sense of the word, rather children who for various reasons arent looked after by their families. Sometimes there are just too many babies for a family to feed, so one is put in an orphanage; sometimes a widow remarries and the new husband refuses to look after the children she already has, though neither of those explanations fits the girl with me in the picture. She was found playing on the streets and taken in by the orphanage, no-one knows what her real name or age is, the only real information is that shes the child of alcoholics. Shes been christened Karla, and probably due to her parentage shes deaf; another student is hoping to enrol her in a specialist school, whch is really great as shes quick to learn (shes begun to pick up some sign language through just watching people). There were over 50 other children at the orphanage, ill probably be returning tomorrow to visit them one last time, to reprise one of the best things ive done this trip.

After spending those 2 or 3 hours with the children we returned back to town, had a cup of coffee in the Guatemalan equivalent of Caffe Gusto, and then moved on to the Teatro Municipal for a Marimba concert. For those of you who dont know, Marimba is the music created on instruments ressembling huge wooden xylophones- at the concert there were 2, each about 10 feet long and requiring 4 people. It was quite a funny performance last night, all the players wearing suits that would be more appropriate to bank managers, all moving as one in what looked like a synchronised version of the robot dance.The music was interesting for a little while, but after the first 75 minutes my brain just couldnt take any more marimba; the instruments and the sound they produced just seemed too light to really hold my attention for a long space of time. Definitely a preferable experience to being in Kokolokos though, the most popular club in Xela and probably the worst place ive ever visited. Its interior decoration is how i imagine a club was in the seventies; a fish tank just sitting in a corner, one of the ugly concrete pillars replaced by a treetrunk and a metal pole plonked down on one edge of the dancefloor. This is all augmented by the random wires hanging out of the ceiling, and the crowning touch is the strobe light they keep on continuously- this guarantees that if youre not feeling sick when you enter, by the time youre going out youll be having an epileptic fit.

Not my favourite place in the world then, not even my favourite place in Xela- no, my favourite place in Xela would be the cemetary. Thatll probably sound a bit morbid if youre reading this in England, but you must understand the difference between graveyards here and graveyards back home. The tendency to extravagance that all Central-Americans have finds its way into death as well as life, the cemetary not full of simple little crosses but rather gigantic mausoleums housing whole families. Looking down on it feels like looking down on any other town or city; most of the buildings shades of grey but some livened up with colour, and all crowding round each other in an echo of the crush of the real city. One way to tell the diference is to look at the roofs of the mausoleums, every single one has a cross on top- the other way to tell the difference is to listen; youll hear virtually nothing. Its by far and away the most tranquil part of Xela, with no cars, grass on the ground and trees to hide you from the heat of the Sun. Guatemalans use it for the same purpose; wandering through youll see couples strolling around, boys playing football, and occasionally a procession of people dressed in black. A reminder of the sadness it contains as well then, but even that is diminished when you hear of the Guatemalan custom for when a loved one dies; the funeral is very solemn, but a week after the family decamp to the cemetary and have a fiesta in memory of the person. Seems the right way to do it, at least to me.

Some History

2006-02-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

Guatemala is one of the poorest countries on the planet, with a division of wealth that leaves around 78% of the people in poverty. This imbalance is largely due to the Spanish conquest; the poorest people today the descendants of those dispossesed by the conquistadores in the 1500s. Ever since there has been tension in the region, with any attempts by the indigenos to assert themselves crushed with excessive force; the most recent example of this is the war from 1960-1996. At the end of this 200,000 were acknowledged dead, many more were listed as disappeared (this in a country which even now has no more than 14 million people). This war started when a CIA backed coup overthrew a legitimately elected government that had begun to try to change the social situation of the country; the US read this as a communist threat and intervened by implanting a right wing dictator. Small numbers of guerillas began to oppose the government following this, and the governments response for the next 30 years was to terrorise the local population; death squads killed many activists, unionists and so on in the cities- in the countryside entire villages were destroyed. As one of the Presidents of this country said, "If it is necessary to turn the country to a cemetary in order to pacify it, i will not hesitate to do so." You get anecdotal evidence of this if you talk with the local people; a Guatemalteco I was talking with recently recounted how five of his friends disappeared, the editor of a paper he was working for was found shot one morning.

Very ugly, and the situation hasnt improved that much since the peace accords were signed. Military violence has declined to be replaced by the Maras, criminal gangs who draw their members from criminals deported by America (a couple of days ago there were 14 reported murders in one morning). Some trials have been conducted of those who committed the massacres, but the majority of the murderers remain free men, protected by the unrepresentative government. The Maya of the highlands can technically vote, but due to centuries of oppression and many broken promises, many people choose not to. This leads to situations of quite black humour; the current President of the country swept to power on a popular wave of support (the photo shows his partys logo), triggered by boasting of murdering two men in the early 80s (his tagline: "a man who defends his life will defend the life of his people"). In Britain we generally send people like that to jail, out here they make them President.

2300m

2006-02-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so the last entry was a while ago, what do you take me for- a writing machine? Ive been sick ok, but now im better, ready to update you all on whats going on down here up in the mountains.

Well, a couple of entries ago i mentioned that my next destination was Quetzaltenango, a cold grey city a little like Sheffield. Its certainly not the best place in the world; arriving at 1 on a Sunday afternoon the streets were almost deserted, dust blowing around and the buildings lacking the pastel colours of Antigua. Most of the buildings are instead grey, crowding in on each other along the narrow streets. The parque central, the main meeting place of the city, is a little different- strange to say, it reminds me of some kind of European Plaza. Its lined on 4 sides by large important looking buildings with some ornate touches, and the square itself has lots of Greek style pillars and little gardens; the kind ofplace that could work in Antigua, but not in a city where you can see your breath in front of you in the morning. The city also has some comedy organisation going on- probably the best example of this is the attempt by the council to upgrade the water system. They outsourced the work to a Japanese company, except they forgot to actually give any conditions to the company. The result is that streets get dug up at random intervals, and every so often a part of the city goes without water for 3 or 4 days; pretty impressive for the second most important city in the country.

The people here are nice though; the family the school have placed me with are really friendly, and with only one student in the house im interacting with thema lot more than i did with the family in Antigua. They seem to exhibit the characteristics typical of Central Americans; a real openess to complete strangers, and quite a fiery side which they dont always try to restrain. A couple of days ago the mother was chasing her kid around the house, trying to force him to do his homework by repeatedly spanking him with a belt. Funny people to be around, but i think im going to have to be leaving soon all the same; the next destination, which ill travel to around the end of next week, will be San Marcos la Laguna. Theres a meditation centre in this small village, a place where they charge something like $10 a day for courses they run. Expect this blog to become enlightened soon...

Pictures and People

2006-02-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

The photo to the left is from a hill overlooking Antigua, taken on a hot Saturday afternoon where we had nothing to do but lie around. Opening out below us is the city of Antigua, laid out in grid fashion, the number of squares corresponding exactly to a chessboard. The mountain in the background is Volcan de Agua, nearly 4000m high and visible from virtually anywhere in the city.

A whole group of us here, sitting at the top of Volcan Pacaya. We climbed this about 36 hours after i arrived, so if you look at my face you can probably see just a little bit of jetlag. The people in the phot are, left-right, Bonny, Eliot, Daniel, Erik and myself.

Well, if you're going to the Cantina you might as well get photographic proof. The other image is Eliot saying goodbye to Gaelle .

These are only a few of the pictures ive got of this place, but i thought these ones were especially good at showing what kind of place, and what kind of people you meet out here. Maybe i havent got the full spectrum represented here though; for instance i havent got a photo of an American guy i played a game of Haki-Sak with, a guy who'd come out here with $300 and no return plane ticket. If you start talking to people out here, more often than not youll get stories like that- definitely one of the things that makes travelling so fun.

Antiguan Weekend

2006-01-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

Learning Spanish out here in Antigua you get into a strange rhythm, or at least a rhythm that i thought had ended when i left 118247- with spanish school its still working monday-friday, with the weekend the time to relax and have some fun. Bearing that thought in mind we made our way to La Sala, a little club in the town centre, at about 9 on the friday night. Now you dont really expect to hear covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival in Antigua, for some reason when i think Guatemala blues rock doesnt quite fit in.

No, when i think Guatemala i think Cantinas- tiny little bars whose only purpose is to supply cheap rum to drunk Guatemaltecos. We made an excursion to one on the saturday night, a sort of fact-finding expedition to discover what really goes on in there (We´d wandered past a few times and just seen a dark hole, with a faint odour of rum leaking out). Walking in was reminiscent of ´An American Werewolf in London,´ the 4 or 5 guys there all going quiet, turning round to stare at the gringoes invading their territory. We spent a little time there, bought a few drinks for ourselves and the Guatemaltecos, but pretty soon we decided it was time to get out. Maybe it was the guy slumped in the corner with a dog lying on him, maybe it was the the very unsteady Guatemalteco mistaking Eliot for a woman, but we just decided it didnt feel quite right to be in there. It seems to feel right for quite a few people in this country though, seems to be one of the symptoms of the problems this country encounters, an indication of the poverty that affects so many people in this part of the world. Its not just alcohol though; during my lesson today my teacher was talking about the problems of drug addiction amongst the young- Guatemala is dead on one of the main routes that drugs take to the US, so theres plenty of opportunity for people in deprived areas to become addicted. Not very pleasant, and probably one of the main reasons why you´ll see plenty of guards with big guns when you wander the Antiguan streets. With Antigua so close to Guatemala City (pop. 3,000,000) this may be something of a skewed impression though; apparently less populated parts of the country, with fewer rich Guatemaltecos and Gringoes, experience much less crime. I´ll be able to verify that soon- this next weekend i´m chicken-bussing to Quetzaltenango, a city up in the mountains that the rough guide describes as ´like a dour, northern English industrial town.´ We´ll have to see how it compares to Sheffield...

Salsa and beyond

2006-01-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

INSTRUCTIONS: Beat 1: Move your left foot forward. Beat 2: lift up your right foot. Beat 3: move your left foot back. Beat 4: Pause. Beat 5 : right foot back. Beat 6: lift left foot up. Beat 7: Right foot forward. Beat 8: Pause. Repeat until covered in sweat and falling over due to physical exhaustion.

Follow the instructions above and you´ll be dancing the basic salsa step, add in a few twirls and sidesteps and youll be looking pretty . JUST REMEMBER: do not try to learn how to dance salsa on the dancefloor after a beer or three, the steps are much harder than they really should be. I may have made that mistake last saturday, but i started to rectify it yesterday with some lessons organised by my spanish school. You kinda feel the need to learn after a few days in this city, any time you step into a place with dancing you find people just seeming to flow around the dancefloor. You then see the gringoes nervously gathered around the edge, nervously looking on as the Guatemaltecos going absolutely crazy. Last night was especially good- a live cuban band playing their own compositions, mixed in with tunes by Buena Vista Social Club. Fun to listen to, better to dance to once youve worked out the rhythm ( and to those back in Bristol, a hell of a lot better then Ramshackle).

Hello from Antigua

2006-01-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

Any of you who saw me in the days before my departure might have foubd me just a little nervous about travelling out here- well i can safely say now there was no need for any worry. The flight was fine, the overnight stay in Mexico City safe (i managed to avoid sleeping on the floor of the airport) and the connection from Mexico easy. Only problem was that my bag didn't quite make it- at present its probably in Mexico City, and Central Americans seem to consider it improper to do anything quickly.

Doesn't matter though- everything essential was on my person, and it hasn't obstructed my enjoyment of my time here. Antigua is lovely, houaes all pastel colours, the boundaries of the town set by towering volcanoes. Its not good for my Spanish though- the family i'm lodging with have 3 other students, all of whom speak English and all of whom like to talk. You find gringoes wherever you walk in this town- there are probably more tourists than Guatemalans living up here. It seems that there are a lot of Western influences on this country- we went from the airport to Antigua by way of Office World, looking out of the car window on that trip i saw an advert for Sudoku. Interesting though to then walk into a bank and find a guard with a shotgun in the corner, or to see pill-boxes at the corner of the airport. Some people seem to get a little paranoid about the dangers here though. Walking down the street yesterday a firecracker went off- a woman walking in front of me dived for cover, looking frantically around to see where the 'gunshot' had come from. There are dangers here though, one of which i climbed yesterday with some friends from Probigua. One of the volcanoes near Antigua is called Pacaya- at the top of it you find these sulphurous vents, every time you breathe in feels like you've taken in acid. A really great experience, and i'm enjoying myself a lot here. Anyway, hope you're all well, and i'll post again soon.

Goodbyes

2006-01-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

My last full day in Bristol for 7 months is nearly over then- tomorrow at 12:40 the flight to Mexico City departs, 34 hours after it leaves the tarmac at Heathrow another flight will set me down in Guatemala City. Odd that its so easy to travel so far from everything you know, difficult to really adjust right now to the plans i've made for myself. I've said my goodbyes to most people- the others should know that it isn't anything beyond a lack of time that's prevented me saying goodbye personally. The only thing is, I can't really remember at any point ever really telling people exactly what i'm doing with mysel. So, the basic itinerary is a journey through the Cental American, Mayan, strip of land. My start-point is Antigua in Guatemala, learning at a Spanish school in that town for a couple of months. After that the itnerary is completely mutable, at one point i will make my way to Utila in Honduras and Scuba Dive, but beyond that i can go anywhere i want. For uncensored reportage of the areas i do make my way to, this blog is the place to come. Wishing you all the best, Alasdair.