Back Home in Suffield

I spent all day traveling yesterday but made it home to Suffield at about 1:00am last night. I took a shuttle from my hotel to the airport. The conversation in the shuttle was amusing but frustrating, I just looked striaght ahead. "I can't beleive he was so mad we were five minutes late!" "It is so annoying, it isn't even a big deal." "And he yelled at us for not having our tickets, can you beleive that? So ridiculous." Come to find out that these were doctors on a medical mission. Just when I had recovered from listening to that for the hour fifteen trip (it morphed into how ridiculous the traffic was, how ridiculous the smog is, and how ridiculous the buses are), I got the airport. Everything was smooth.

While waiting in the airport, I saw two groups of people who were on ministry trips. One group of older people was wearing the bright yellow "Neuva vida en Jesus!" "New life in Jesus". and the second a high school group were proudly displaying their brown ministry trip shirts. It was all a bit overwhelming to me!

I picked up my dog and now I am preparing for school tomorrow!

Antigua in the Clouds

Yesterday was a different kind of day. I decided to walk to two of the neighboring towns around Antigua. I could have taken a bus, or a taxi, or a shuttle, but decided that a bit of excercise would do me good. I had planned to be on a volcano hike, so a suburb hike seemed appropriate. The walk was good, and actually fairly uneventful. It was nice to get out of "the big city" of Antigua and into some smaller places. Basically each town had a square (complete with both food and tourist type market), dominated by a church (in some disrepair) and then a bunch of little cafes and restaurants. I had some coffee, continued to read about Guatemala, and enjoyed the day.

It has been pretty cloudy in Antigua these past few days. While this is really good for the sunburn on my knees (from the boat ride in Pana), I haven't been able to see the volcanoes around the city very clearly. I was almost going to go on a short hike today, but it appears it would be into the clouds, I think I will pass.

I am planning on spending the rest of the day in Antigua, doing a little shopping, a little reading, and a lot of people watching.

I need to organize transportation to the airport for tomorrow. I should be landing around midnight!

Colonial Antigua

Yesterday, I left beautiful Lago de Atitlan and Panajachel to come to Antigua where I will finish my trip to Guatemala. The trip here and checking into the hostel were uneventful.

This is a very different place thenany of the othersthat I have been to so far. While Gautemala City was huge and a bit overwhelming, Flores was small and quaint, Xela was easy to navigate and beautiful, Pana was like a vacation destination, Antigua is a big working city with lots going on. It is much more manageable then Guatemala City and it is much more attractive. The center of the city is a Park (one city block size) filled with Jacanda trees and many others trees and flowers surrounded by some of the oldest buildings in Central America. It is pretty cool. Also just outside the city, several volcanoes make for a nice backdrop.

Many of the sights in the city are old chruches, most of which have not withstood the many earthquakes in the region. In fact most are only ruins and shells of their formal glory. It is impressive to see what people have built to honor God.

There was a saint canonized here in 2002, Hermano Pedro, and people are still praying for him to intercede. Not only that but they write letters, create artwork, send photos, have marble and bronze plaques inscribed thanking him for hisintercession and healing. It is remarkable the depth of the people's faith.

I was hoping to tackle another volcano here and take a hiking day trip up to any of the three surrounding the city, but unfortunately the trips are not running until the weekend. So I may wnader around looking at some more church ruins and I may spend the afternoon walking to the next town over to check it out. I was going to go on a hike!

I did spend some time with the Suffield group that is here. We had dinner and then I went to their Salsa dance class. It was nice. I will see them again tonight. They are volunteering for a children's home and shelter for a week.

Lago de Atitlan

What an amazing place this is! I spent the day touring the lake and several small towns around it. From Panajachel, I went to San Pedro, Santiago, and San Antonio for the day, taking several boats. It was the perfect day to spend on the lake, sunny, warm, with little wind. Things were good. Each town is a little different, each town has something special. What is amazing is that these are all towns built on of the slopes of two volcanoes with amazing views of scenery. No matter where you look you see something beautiful. From the fresh squeezed orange juice stands, to the Mayan women dressed in the traditional textiles, it was pretty cool.

Women spend hours making many brightly colored textiles...they are actually sitting at wooden looms or on their knees with a make-shift loom and weaving these brightly colored fabrics all day. They are embroidering them by hand, and they doing their best to sell them at a fair price. Of course you are supposed to bargain but it is hard when the prices are already at rock bottom. I haven't really bought anything yet.

Pana and San Pedro have a reputation for being hippie hangouts, and I have to say the reputation is well deserved. I hve been offered smoke, weed, pot, ganja, mary jane, and just plain marijuna since I have been here. In the streets, at the beach, pretty much everywhere people are trying to sell you some "good stuff". I guess if I were a stoner I would be psyched. I think I will stick to the orange juice stands.

Tomorrow I am heading to Antigua, it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Guatemala. It will have to work hard to beat Pana.

Fuji, Tajumulco...what's next? Everest?

Maybe not Everest, but perhaps Kilimanjaro!

I decided in Xela last Friday to do a two day hike up Tajumulco. It is the highest peak in Central America at 4222m. It is an inactive volcano last eruption was something like 100,000 years ago. The hike looked good day one up to base camp and then a minor peak for sunset, get up early in day two to hike to the summit for sunrise. Should be pretty cool.

The organization I used donates all their profits to three charitable organizations in Xela, helping kids get homes, school, and medical attention. The guides are all volunteers. Meet our guides: Tal (Isreali), he was in charge of the trip and was a pretty serious but fun, and very good guide. Becca (American), offcially out of the guiding business but they needed some one sshe jumped on for fun. Brent (Canadian), looked a bit like Heath Ledger and talked all about getting drunk and hoepfully getting laid. James (Canadian), new to the organization but earnest and nice.

As a hiking group we were pretty diverse: An 50ish Canadian pilot, a 50ish British MD who has worked on a cruise ship for four years, 5 Norwegian girls, a 12 year olf guatemalan girl who is part of one of this gruops charities, a couple of guys from Northampton, a couple who hae been volunteering in Guatemala and are going to work in a national park in Idaho, a American girl starting Oberlin in the fall, a goth-type Spanish guy named Oscar and me.

We organized our water, six liters (13 lbs), all of our warm clothes and we carried with us the tents, sleeping bags, sleeping rolls, food, and all the other gear we needed for the two day hike. Yes, the packs were heavy. I carried tent poles, pasta sauce, peanut butter, and soup packets for the group.

Here is how it went: Meet at 4:45am to take a pickup to the bus station (12 of us and our packs in the back of the truck), take one chicken bus for 2 hours or so, have breakfast, take another chicken bus an hour and half into the mountains, then climb. The ascent was from 3000m to 4000m on day one. They kept talking about altitude and that we were going to be experiencing some altitude sickness, perhaps. I thought how can it take us five hours to walk 1000m? That is 3000 feet, which is under a mile. No problem. This was an intense hike. I like to think of myself as a pretty fit individual, but this was a streuous hike. At times we are walking, at other times we are bouldering up the cliffs with our packs on. They gave us frequent rest breaks and they were needed. My thoughts were a bunch of these throughout the day: "Why do I like hiking?" "Why does anyone like hiking?" "I should have done some extra running before I left." "Just keep walking, Just keep walking" "I am not sure I can breathe" "Damn, I am getting sunburned" "Why do I like hiking?" "Is this worth it?" "and to think, I could have gone to the hot springs today and sat in the thermal baths instead." "why is hiking fun?" you can see how it was going for me.

So, why do I like hiking? The views along the way were amazing and our rest breaks were perfectly timed so that we could rest after particularly steep sections and also so we could see the surroundings. Pretty amazing. I felt a certain sense of accomplishment after having made it to the summit. Excercise in fresh air is always good for the soul, even if it doesn't always feel like it at the time. This was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. That said, my compettitive sense kicked in and I was always one of the top three hikers to make it to the rest breaks. I was on a mission.

We det up camp and of course are about to start our sunset hike to the secodary peak when the clouds roll in. Not worth the hike. Much like when Duc and I hiked Mt Fuji in Japan all night to see sunrise at the summit and it was cloudy. Shame. Of course, just after the dark, the clouds rolled out and we could see clearly the stars and the Milky Way.

We woke up at 4:00am the next day to see sunrise. The steepest and most difficult part of the climb was the last 222m, which we did in the dark. It was tough, but at least we did not have to carry our packs. I had four layers of clothes, two hats, and gloves, and it was still a bit chilly! We got to the summit to see a magnificent sunrise. You could see Mexico, almost to Belize and the amazing mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala. It was one of those moments that remind me how blessed I am to be able to walk, hike, climb, see, feel, and travel. Certainly not a moment I will forget.

Today, I took a shuttle to Panajachel, a small town on Lake Attitlan. This lake is surrounded by volcanoes and is beautiful.

Buses and Xela

I was pleasantly surprised with how great Linea Dorada was! They pikced us up at precisely 9:00pm. Can you believe they had a food service. I received a homemade jamon y queso (ham and cheese, for the gringos) and a can of orange juice. I actually was able to get a few minutes of sleep before they put on the movie. While I am sure that movie was very funny, it was in Spanish at a volume that made it almost impossible to think. However, post moive the drive was comfortable. I arrived in Guatemala Cityat exactly 6:00am. All was according to plan. AFter I arrived in GC I decide that I would walk to the next bus station. There is this tricky thing in Guatemala it appears, every bus line has its own terminals (but they don't all go to the same palces) so connections can be a challenge. The new bus line was about 10 blocks east and 3 south. Well I got there and it was closed. It appeared although with no certianty that it was no longer running. Shame. I then got a grip on my pack hitched it up a bit and wandered off to find another station. It was found with just a little bit of trouble, but nonetheless I hopped a bus at 8:30 to Quatzeltenango or Xela. This bus ride on Trans Galgos, was not quite as pleasant. With the smog pouring in through the open windows we made our way out to the InterAmericana highway.

While my seat came off and I was fixing it, I noticed the bus moving like a ship as the driver accelerated through the major corners as the Inter Americana winds it way up into the mountains. But that was only the beginning. While this is a mojor highway through Central America in many places it is only one lane in each direction (think South Africa here). The major trouble is that this is a major thru way for everyone. The construction itself was fun to watcha s they shaved off cliffs to make place for new roadways. The traffic however was bad and the bus old and the driver aggressive. We were passing on the wrong side of the road, sneaking in between cars....overall a busy ride for the five hours. I did of course get off the bus filthy from smog and dust. I found my hotel to find out that I got the last bed in the palce...in a 20 person dorm. I will pretty much be sleeping on top of everyone...

I normally would have moved, however, I am taking a two day Volcano hike on the highest point in Central America it leaves at 4:45am, so I figured it was worth it. So we are trekking up to 4228 m tomorrow. We will be at the rim of the volcano for sunrise on Sunday morning. Should be amazing. Then we will make our descent and hed back to Xela.

If anyone would like anything specific from Guatemala, make some requests! There are wooden carvings the brightly colored cloths and clothes, etc. Let me know what you may be thinking.

Cash Shortage in Guatemala

I learned today that there is a cash shortage in Guatemala which is why not all of the ATMS work, even though they say they are working. In Flores, none of the ATMs work, in Santa Elena (the next town), they only work in the morning.

Sadly, that is not the cash shortage by which I am frustrated! When I woke up today I had plenty of money to get me through the next couple of days. I had been spending fairly carefully, saving where I could (remember the 14 bed hostel?), thinking about trying to balance the plane ticket. Today, I threw it all in the guter. I decided, for multiple reasons that I would take the bus back to Guatemala City. It made sense for a lot of reasons, time to bite the bullet, so to speak. I went to a travel agency anc bought my ticket. Unfortunately, it was with a less then reputable company, but I decided that I would go with it anyway, but first I would walk and check out the bus station. After about a 45 minute walk, I get to the station and i decide that this is not exactly the bus I would like to ride even they say it was "air conditioned and had a toilet". Oh yeah, and it arrives in a not good area of the city. Trying to decide what to do, I hear my mother´s voice in the back of my head, "Do you really think this is safe? Should you try something else? I am not sure this is a good idea?" So, yup you guessed it, I bought another ticket on a good bus line. So I am feeling good about the bus, but I have wasted the money for the other ticket (They won´t give me a refund), the money for the hotel tonight (I had already agreed to another night), and of course now I must jump on an 8 hour bus journey. Linea Dorada better be worth it! Now, I realize that the other bus line would have been fine, and I would have arrived with no trouble, and I probably wasted some money, but hey, a little piece of mind is good. At least this bus will pìck me up close to the hotel and I through a little bit in the economy.

After a brief layover in Guatemala City, I am off to Quetzaltenango (only four more hours on a bus), but the volcanoes are supposed to be worth it!

The Mayan Ruins at Tikal

This morning the alarm went off at 6:10. Why so early? Well I was planning to get up and take a shower and then go down stairs at the hostel I am staying to catch the shuttle bus I purchased to Tikal. All seemed to go as planned. I got up early, took my shower, and went downstairs to wait. Being a veteran of this type of "shuttle", I figured I need to be ready early for my 7:00am ride, as they often come a little early or a little late. 6:40. I am ready and waiting. 7:00. Still not here. 7:15. Still patient, things happen. 7:30. Grumpy, but trying to hide it. 7:40. Grrrrr. I talk witht he people at the hostel. They call. I guess San Juan Travels, cancelled the 7:00am shuttle, not enough people. No worries, they are coming at 8:00. Just enough time for a cup of coffee.

The next 30 minutes or so are spent picking up the others who are on the shuttle and off we go. We get to Tikal (an amazing place, really, in the middle of the second largest rainforest in the Americas), and one of men that the "shuttle" picked up along the side of the road (yes there were several) is actually a guide. For a little extra he will give us a four hour tour of the ruins. I had decided no, I wasn't really ready to deal with four hours of touring in a small group all in Spanish, but these two Canadians were going to go and try it so I asked Rueben (the tour guide) if he would do it partly in English. So I jump on the tour. There are 6 of us and while I am not always a big fan of tours, Rueben did a very nice job.

The temples are tall, but what is so remarkable about them is that they are not completely excavated. So you see the part of the temple which has been studied and worked on by the Archeologists, and then you see what they may have looked like had they been left alone. It was truly amazing the way the rain forest just swallowed these massive structures to make them look like hills. The coolest thing is that they used some of these temples in Star Wars, Apocolypto, and Survivor Guatemala.

The ride back to Flores was equally as exciting. There were only 6 of us for our shuttle in these tiny minivans meant for 12 or so. I thought great a little bit of room. Not a chance. I should have known better. There were 15 or so of us in there. Some guys on the floor, others, on laps, and even a woman who got on only to realize 30 minutes later she was traveling in the wrong direction. Shame. We did drive through some villages where the chicken, turkeys, pigs, horses, and ponies were all running free, crossing the road at will (think South Africa). Oh yeah, I was chatting with these two doctors from Canada all day on my tour. We decided to have a beer on the top of the Temple of the Jaguar. Pretty cool. I watched the sunset over the lake in Flores. A nice way to end the day!

La Isla de Flores

So I flew to Flores this afternoon and all worked well. I got a cab to the airport with no trouble, the TACA flight was great. Much like the airport, it is The Most Modern Airline in the Americas. The flight was absolutely great though. No worries, it was 35 minutes. I decided to fly instead of taking the bus after some of my past harrowing journeys on a bus (Costa Rica, Morocco) and instead of the eight to ten hour journey (I am always nervous when they can not tell you how long the trip is), the flight was short. I got off the plane got a minibus taxi for $2.50 to my hotel. I looked at a single room (double bed, fan, TV, my own bathroom) for Q60 which is aout $7.50. I asked about a dorm, it was only Q25, about 3 bucks. I decided to take the 14 bed dorm to save money. As I was sitting organizing my stuff, I realized that I saved $4.50. Kind of stupid after paying $100 to fly here! Sometimes, I amaze mysef at how ridiculous I can be!

One of my favorite things about Guatemala City is that the streets were lined with Jacaranda trees. It made me pretty happy.

Tomorrow I head out to Tikal, an excavated and well known Mayan sight.

Guatemala City Protests Bush

It has been a pretty hectic day in Guatemala City. I arrived yesterday and the flight was easy. I got my bag right way, no worries. I headed off to the ATM to get myself some Quetzales so I could take a cab to the hotel. Shame. It wasn't taking my card. Ok, I figured I knew there must be mor then one ATM at the airport, and if not I had brought some cash to exchange as well. I continue through the airport (of course there is significant construction, hidden by the walls with signs saying "We are creating the most modern airport in Central America for your convenience"). There is not really an Arrivals Hall, as you move out through customs into some temporary structures. I keep walking (of course missing the one currency exchange desk), see the crowds of people and then find, that I have left the secure aprt of the airport to be outside on the street. Fine. I check with some cops to find out if there is an ATM or a cambio to change my money. They send me on a bit of a wild goose chase and I find myself back having walked half a mile at the exit of the airport where I started. I stand for a moment considering my options when another traveller, speaking in french, is trying to figure out how to change his money. I listen. No one is that helpful, so I walk back into the airport the wrong way. The most wonderful thing about not understanding a language is not really knowing what they are saying to you! People yelled, and I kept walking. I found what I needed and exchanged my cash.

I was able to hop in a cab right away. It is an old Hyundai Excel, not that much different then the one I drove in high school, except the doors only opened from the outside and I could see the street through the door as we were driving. The cabbie was telling me about all the protests due to Bush's arrival, while narrowly missing the curbs, the motorcycles, the buses, the pedestrians, the street stalls, and all the other cars.

The city seemed closed. Everything was eerily quiet with all the metal grates covering all the businesses all day. I decided to walk to where I though Bush would be meeting and check it out. Of course, you can't get in a two block radius of the city, security. So I wander a bit more and then I see the throngs of protesters running towards me. I decided to step back into a doorway of a shopping center and let them go by. No need to be in the middle of an anti-American mob! They run by and I decide to steer clear of that area of the city. I chilled at the hotel and then I found myself a couple of beers and decided to lay low.

This morning however, was a very different day. The sun was high in the sky and the weather is beautiful. I checked out the Parque Central, an old palace (where Bush spent his day) and then a cathedral. I bought a plane ticket to Flores/Santa Elena for this afternoon and I will be heading north to the Mayan ruins of Tikal tonight and for the next couple of days. I just need to get back to that airport!