Garbage

10:30 AM Wedensday, February 21, 2007.

10:30 PM Wednesday February 21, 2007.

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So close to home,,,

Well, we finally crossed the border into Mexico. And what an episode! First of all, we got to the border, but the border crossing guy didn´t have any entry cards. So we went on without. Through a couple check points where luckily the men with the big guns peeked in our bags, but never asked to see our passports. Then we arrived in Palenque and got some guy to drive us to god-knows-where. Finally we found a legitimate immigration office and they stamped us, but couldn´t take the money for the entry cards for whatever reason...so we still haven´t paid our way in, but on the outside, we look like we are legal enough.......if not, well, I´m sure I´ll get one phone call from prision...

First stop in Mexico - Palenque - and it was smoldering! You couldn´t turn your head without sweat dripping off your chin. But the food - WOW, every shop is a grandma cooking for you like you were the favorite of her 46 grandchildren! Delicious!

Now the reason we went to Palenque was to see the ruins, and they were unbelievable! We thought we had seen it all in Tikal, but nothing compared to this ancient city! Massive structures in a gorgeous jungle setting. To tell the truth, I don´t understand how these places become known - if I found one, I wouldn´t be running off to share the great discovery with some foreign archeologists. No, no, I´d just move into the palace and rule over all the giant iguanas that live in my kingdom!!! Hmmm...what else was around Palenque? Waterfalls, lots and lots of waterfalls.

After Palenque, we caught a night bus to Cancun. In the morning, when our bus landed, we hopped in a cab and saw what we could of Cancun through the window on the way to the ferry. Looked nice enough. Like Calgary with a blazing sun. But to touristy for us to spend our last few precious days - we thought the nearby Isla Mujeres would be more for us. But when we got off the ferry and took one look around we knew we were sadly mistaken. We appeared to be still in Cancun. I looked at Sean to see what he thought, but he had vanished in the sea of self-proclaimed-canadians all carrying american passports in their back pockets, beach bags slung over their shoulders, and cheesy tourist souveniers in their hands. When I found him again, we found a decent enough spot to make a vital phone call and from there rewrote the end of our journey.

So today, instead of broken-glass on the beaches and crowded streets of the Isla, we are living in one of those Corona commercials. You know the one with the couple sunning on the white sand beach watching the water, when the only other person on the island walks by - a smokin-hot blonde in a red string bikini - and the guy peeks over to check her out and the girl squirts him with the lime from her corona. Well, yes, that´s where we are now. Except no one has walked by yet...

And this is where we´ll stay until we have to make that last ride to the airport. Be home soon. ....well...provided they let us out. If not, maybe we´ll stay here and open a perogy stand...

Here's What's Buzzin' Up These Days...

Hey! OK, last time we talked we were waiting to climb Volcano Santiagito...sadly though, the trip was cancelled on account of highly toxic gases pouring out the top - that is one angry volcano.

So we had to get creative and think of other things to do, this is some of what we came up with:

-Blew Glass.
No kidding, we visited a glass factory and they let us blow glass! Man, you should have seen them admiring my work!! It was as though in all their years at the factory they had never witnessed a glass so perfectly blown! As they admired my work, proudly turning it over and over in their hands, I knew I'd finally found my calling! I was trying to think of how I should respond when they inevitably begged me to stay and work there. 'Hmmm...how much is my expertise worth? Where should I insist my office be located? I think I'd like a corner office facing southwest, actually a little more west then straight southwest...and my title, what should my card read...' CRASH!!!! 'What? What the?!...' Yeah, ok, that crash that echoed through the factory and disrupted my thoughts was the sound of my work of art finding the bottom of the trash can. ...guess I'll keep looking...

-Visited Churchs.
Every town has a church at the center and every one is old. One is the oldest. The others are just old. Catholic churchs are the ones of choice here. And let me say, they are all beautiful structures, but one of them stands out quite a bit from the rest. See the catholics never let the Mayas decorate the churchs until one day in the early 1900's. And dude, they jumped at the chance! They bought paints and carved animals and now it is the craziest, brightest yellow church you could ever imagine! We noticed that they never got to decorate another one...

-Hot Springs.
Mmmmm...

-Met an Amazing Local Family
David, Suzy, and Sean's new nephew - little Jose - who took us to the coast for a couple days where we wandered through ruins and went to the beach.

-Went to the Beach.
And ate a ton of seafood and didn't wear mittens!

-Spent 20 Hours on Bumpy Buses with Broken Seats.

-Swam at Semuc Champey.
That place is it's own fairytale! It is a valley filled with natural swimming pools of clear green-blue water that are fed from the mountains which then become waterfalls that feed the river that flows underneath the pools. Yeah it's a mouthful. Sorry.

-Crept through a Creepy Cave.
We explored the first few kilometers of a giant cave that links with a chain of caves 68 km long. It was complete with stalagmites and tites and various other formations, crabs and spiders crawling underfoot and bats buzzing overhead, a creepy maya sacrifical alter, and a ghost and a skeleton hidden in their respective dark corners.

-Moved to a Tree House.
We are now in Rio Dulce, living in a tree house where the only way in is by boat (which doesn't seem to go back out again). It is not easy living here - you have to swim out twenty feet to the floating dock to lay in the sun if you don't fancy lying on the dock, and the stairs to our house are pretty steep. And to top it off, it's a good two minute walk to get to the kayaks. Yes, it is a lot to contend with, but don't worry to much, we are finding ways to manage.

Well, I guess I'll stop there because I don't want to bore you. Sure I could go on, but I don't think you'd be to excited to read about things like our cribbage tournament (which I won if you were wondering!! ...well, actually I didn't, but as I'm the only one with read-write access to this thing, I can really say whatever I want can't I!)

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!

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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.