It's not all fun and games...

Guatemala thus far...

Antigua
Panachel
San Pedro
Panachel
Chichicastenango
Xela (Quetzaltenango)

After our cappucinos on saturday we caught a boat back to Panachel with Michal and Nir, where we waited on the street corner (also known as the main bus station) for a chicken bus to Chichi to see its famous Sunday market. We arrived Saturday afternoon and bought everything we wanted for half the price as we would have paid on Sunday when all the tourists arrived. Sunday we woke up at 5:30AM to watch the church steps being covered in flowers and the market being set up - it was unreal, the entire town turned into one very large market and you could buy everything from fresh shrimp to mayan masks to toothpaste. By 9 we were worn out from the crowds and constant pestering - NO, I do not want a doll. NO, I still do not want a doll. Still NO. And still, NO. No. No. No. Please NO. Go away. I am not going to buy that doll. Or that one. NO, I don't want a wallet either. I don't care what colour. No, really I don't. NO, I STILL DON'T WANT A DOLL.

They don't even leave you alone to eat a quiet lunch.

But got some great photos and it was cool to see it all come together and fun to barter for what few items I could still cram in the old sack.

Next stop - Xela. What an adventure! We got a deal on a minibus for the first half of the trip, only once slowing down a little to watch them pull a chicken bus out of a river. Then we hopped on a chicken bus with our bags tied on the roof for the second half. It was only supposed to be a couple hours, but well...it was a few minutes longer with the accident and then our driver getting arrested and all, and then waiting by the side of the road while a policeman stopped anything on wheels and loaded people in. We lucked out and ended up riding the rest of the way on some luxury bus with comfy seats and the whole bit.

So we are rethinking the whole chicken bus thing. It is the one time in your life where you hand your life over completely to some stranger, and well, maybe ours are a little to precious to be so carefree about. Maybe, if the bus-driver-training-course was a little more then watching a season of Dukes of Hazard it wouldn't be so bad...

Anyhow, now we are in Xela and we spent the morning wandering around in circles, but finally found Quetzaltrekkers and signed up for another volcano hike (no, we haven't had enough yet!) I have to see if this old body can still run up a mountain or not. So the plan is wednesday we hike up central america's most active volcano - through the jungle, swim in a pond, more jungle climbing, picnic, more jungle climbing in the tropical heat with heavy packs, get to camp, set up, then sit back and watch the lava flow (from a safe distance). Next day hike back down. Yeah, we paid good money for that. They made it sound fun, but typing it now, it just sounds like a lot of work with a good deal of jungles spiders mixed in. Maybe I should start staying home more and invest in discovery channel.

On second thought, no, call me crazy, but I live for this stuff!

photos

Update

good day! but aren´t they all?!

we are in san pedro. our luxury 7 dollar a night room looks right out over lake atilan. there is a sauna and our shower is pipin´hot (thankfully as it didn´t get any warmer! oh, and i did find a place to buy mittens, but merely out of principle I passed them up...only to regret it every evening since!)

by the way...i lied on the last entry...there were two bad things about antigua. in addition to the frostbite is the cobble roads. nice to look at, but geez - don´t get in a rickety little tuk tuk on those stone roads without a solid sports bra.

and thanks for the wishes - it was a great day! we had lots of fun - had breakfast in a garden, bartered with the quilt man, ate samosas and delicious curry, had an extra afternoon coffee, drank wine in the hammock overlooking the lake, and sean gave me a magic flute! if i was any more relaxed I would have fallen into a coma!

so older yes...wiser no. but then, at 13 I knew EVERYTHING, so how does one ever get wiser then that? every day that has gone by since i´ve learned that i know less and less. at this rate 10 more years and i´ll know nothing!

back to the interesting stuff - our last day in Antigua, the french guy asked us if we´d like to buy his crepe shack. I looked at sean...sean said how much?...after a while it was time for us to catch our bus (thankfully or I´d probably be folding crepes right now...and what do i know about crepes? I´m not french. ...But i do have some ukrainian blood kicking around in me - so i spent the 2 hour ride wondering how hard would it be to modify a crepe stand into a perogy stand...)

but then we arrived and I forgot all thoughts -this town - san pedro - is something else. it´s one of those places where you commonly hear the phrase ¨where else in the world?!¨ which coincedentally is my favorite phrase to overhear. it is the most laid back place I´ve ever been. for example, yesterday we stopped for a coffee and sat on the balcony of this cute little restuarant, when along comes this hippie and takes the table next to us. within 5 minutes he had ordered, told us about the trecherous 2 day hike he´d JUST finished, and he had his shoes and socks off to show us his soiled stinky feet. Then his pizza came and he ate it, sharing the crusts with a couple stray puppies who obviously didn´t mind his smelly feet, while his socks were laid over the edge of the reastauant´s balcony to dry, all the while telling us of the 2 years he spent in asia. (yes, he did wash his hands - this wasn´t meant to disgust you, just to show a glimpse at how laid back this place is. it´s like everyone here is at a cabin at the lake - every eating establishment is just like you grabbed a burger and are sitting on your own balcony after a hard day of waterskiing or hiking or resting.)

And this lake...some poet said that it was the ´most beautiful lake in the world´ Really. Doubtful dude. more beautiful then the lakes in northern saskatchewan? or lake louise and the like? Or more beautiful then Fishing Lake? that´s a bold statement sir. i doubted he´d even seen Fishing Lake. Anyhow, we finally arrived and saw Lake Atilan for ourselves. It was breathtaking...the lake is surrounded by maya villages and volcanos and, I´ll have to hand it to him, definitely more beautiful then Fishing Lake!

well, I´ve exerted enough energy for one day - I´ve got a hammock to lay in.

Leaving Antigua

Well, we are packing up yet again. Tomorrow we will head to San Pedro and spend a few days sitting around the lake. We are sad to leave Antigua - it is a beautiful city - colonial style buildings; ruins grandly positioned between european-style cafes; colourful clothing of the mayas; scenic volcanoes and painted skys surrounding it...sigh...we have fallen in love with this city and are sad to leave it behind, but happy to know we will return...

I'm not going to write a lot simply because there are no words and I don't want to belittle it trying to fit it into an unjust vocabulary.

The only bad thing about it - it is freakin cold!! I ran out of socks! No kidding. Socks??? A week ago I had no idea why those pesky things were taking up space in my sack. Now I know. And wish I had brought more...and maybe a scarf. I bought two sweaters, and I spent 3 days frantically looking for mittens. That's another reason to leave - if we don't I may lose my nose and toes to frostbite. It goes down to +21.5 degrees on the worst days. Those days I stay cuddle inside my thick blankets fully clothed for as long as I can, just wishing the room would start on fire...

It's a tough life.

And more pictures

...pictures...

Pictures

They let us into Guatemala!

So now we are in Guatemala. We should be 2 days into our 6 day hike through the jungle near Tikal, but in Copan we decided to splurge for the first time on a trendy tourist minibus to get to Rio Hondo instead of using the local buses to cross the border. At 1pm our 12 noon bus showed up and we gave our tickets to the guy and hopped in. When we got to and finished the border formalities, the bus guy said we would be in Rio Hondo in 2 hours. An hour and a half into the ride we stopped for a bano break and asked the driver if this is where we got off. "Get off...where...here...WHERE...Rio Hondo...ummm...we pasted that an hour ago...ummmm...I am going to Antigua....ummm...sorry....ummm...sorry....ummm do you want to get off here....

Maybe he stayed out to late the night before. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it doesn't matter. We shrugged, found a new house in Antigua, and signed up for spanish lessons.

And it is about time for this one. Goodness, we have been travelling through spanish speaking countries for over 2 months, sometimes it is fine, sometimes we don't see another foreigner for days. If it wasn't for Sean's spanish I would still be somewhere lost in Nicaragua...I'll give you an example...

It was the first bus ride in Nicaragua. We hopped on a crowded, sweaty bus - crowded and sweaty like if you crawled into a potato sack (that was strategically placed in a pizza oven) with 5 strangers-who if they did they remember deodarant in the morning by now it has been long lost to the sun. Anyhow, we are in the potato sack driving along with the windows open wide to find a little relief from the heat and inside smells while all the cars around us are inking black smoke like a thousand octopus (octopus...octopie...octopuses) when a hand is thrust inches from my snout and some words are spoken. "No, sorry." I say, as I have become accustomed to saying when the gesture requesting my limited funds be given over to someone who perceives themselves as less fortunate. The hand remains. Again I say "no." More words and the hand has yet to vaporize. I'm not happy with the persistence so I turn around to the look at the little man to whom the hand belongs. Again "No" I say. He stares at me. I at him. The surrounding people stare at me. Then the realization hits me like a bus. This is the bus guy collecting fares. "Ummm...uhhh...lo siento...ummm...wait..uh, here" I hand over my money and I know from the eruption of laughter that he and the four other gentlemen squished in beside me all realized what went through my head. Oops. Good thing the guy had a sense of humor!!

We spent the first five hours in guatemala on the highway in a minibus I have learned that the rules of the road here are different. I haven't pinned them all down, but I know for sure - a solid line does not mean 'don't pass' as in Canada - it merely means they ran out of dots. A double solid line means only that they must have had excess paint. There are mountains here. We drive around avalanches that are still dusty without slowing down and pass people on curves so blind you can't see the end of your own nose. But we are still here. Though rethinking the bright idea of buying an el comino...

A rainy day update...

Well hello again. They say there are three lies common in Utila:
1) this is my last beer
2) I am leaving tomorrow
3) I love you

the last did not apply to me, but I did have plenty of problems with the first two. But, I am excited to report, that while I still struggle with the first (I have resigned to the belief that that one will plague me all my remaining years no matter where I go...), we did manage to get our butts off the island!! Do not mock me, it was a feat that took great strength!

We are currently residing in Copan, Honduras. We got lucky and caught a ride almost the entire way here with the people who were in my diving course...once again managing to avoid hours on sweaty chicken buses!

Copan is famous for the ruins left behind from the Mayas, so the first thing we did here was walk over to see them. INCREDIBLE! But the sight left my little mind with a ton of questions -

- where did they find all the stones to build these extravagant temples and pyramids and casas?
- who the heck had that much patience to build and carve these elaborate structures of stone with stone tools?
- how did people shorter then me (yes it is true! their beds would have had me half on the floor!!! sorry, it just made me happy to know there were people I could beat in a basketball match at one time inhabiting the earth) anyhow - how did they climb those steep stairs?

I could go on with the millions of questions I have and the fascination it aroused, but suffice to say I was impressed beyond my impressiveness at the construction of the Calgary Tower. It is an archeologists haven, a photographers paradise, and one of the most peaceful places on earth.

Today we woke up to rain. Plenty of it, and so for the fourth time in over two months, I am wearing long pants before 8 pm. And I am using this entry as an excuse to stay dry awhile as well as share my take on this town. The first night the bugs here attacked me something terrible - I could get ointment for measles from any legitimate doctor if I was so inclined just by showing him/her my left leg! But aside from that this place is great. The people here treat us like we were all close friends in a past life. The hilly cobblestone streets are at times trecherous, but very pretty. The food is both yummy and cheap. And there is a great restaurant called Twisted Tanya´s...sigh...of all the homes I have had these past few weeks, Copan ranks one of my favorites!

We will spend another night or two here and enjoy the hotsprings or waterfall or bird park or the Copan river on a horse´s back, if the rain lets up, before we cross another border into the much anticipated country of Guatemala!

So that is it for now. Except for a thank you for the comments and emails! I can´t figure out how to reply to comments on this thing and the spanish instructions are not yet in my realm of comprehension (if they even are instructions - they could be a recipe for tortillas for all I know!) so I may not have responded, but I do appreciate them just the same!

Happy New Year!

I haven't updated for awhile as lately I've been spending more time under water then above it. It's fun to be a fish - frolicking in the coral, doing somersaults in the sea – but it took awhile for my ears to warm up to the idea – actually I’m still partially deaf in my right ear. So even with my head above water, I hear like I’m still down there!

The Bay Islands are beautiful – it’s easy to see how so many people get lost here – it’s hot, safe, very friendly, with great diving and lots of great food and drinks - but you are hard pressed to find a local Honduran. Utila is a street with one intersection where all directions are situated from – “…from the intersection it is four buildings down on your left…” The street is lined with dive shops and BBQ joints and refreshment spots, and not much else to speak of. There is no sidewalk so you walk on the narrow street avoiding motorcycles, bikes, quads, trucks, dogs, cats, and card games. The other day there was a loose donkey stubbornly standing in the street. Traffic was at a standstill. It was madness!! Actually, I didn’t see it, but it was big news in the dive shop when we returned. There was a donkey and at least two motorbikes waiting for it to be captured and removed. It was the biggest story to hit town since…well…perhaps ever!

The island life sure did suit us well – we’ve wasted a lot of time relaxing and expended a lot of energy walking to the water and back – it feels like we are on vacation! We haven’t sat in a chicken bus or ate cheese and potato chip sandwiches in over two weeks now! But, sigh… all good things must end. Now that I have my open water certification, Sean and I will do one last dive together tomorrow. And then we are finally going to return to mainland Honduras on January 6th and head to Copan to spend some time trekking through the ancient ruins. Maybe we’ll learn a thing or two...