Semana Santa

Tuesday afternoon, Ryan and I departed Guatemala City for Puerto Barrios on Fuente Del Norte. This was an extremely long bus ride that took nearly 6 hours due to the bus driver’s love of the brake pedal. As soon as we exited the bus in Puerto Barrios, we were approached by a Guatemalan looking guy who said he was from Canada. He was looking for a place to stay the night as were we, and this guy had been here before so he directed us in the right direction. We found a hotel with rooms for Q50 per bed and then went to look for a restaurant. Using lonely planet, we found the cheapest restaurant with good food, and it was good!!! The carribbean style rice was delicious with coriander, beans, coconut, and other spices. After dinner we walked around the city looking for something to do and ended up walking back to the hotel and calling it a night. The city was fairly humid and very quiet. The streets were all gravel and dimly lit with the only lights coming from the holding areas where the cargo containers were sitting. The next morning we went to the port thinking about taking a boat to Livingston for the day but decided against it and went to find a ride to Santa Elena in Petén. We hoped on a mini bus to Rio Dulce for Q20, driving through what looked like semi rain forest surroundings and tons of pineapple stands on the side of the road. When we arrived in Rio Dulce it started to rain so we decided to have lunch by the river. After lunch we walked around the crowded main street for nearly an hour, waiting for another Fuente Del Norte bus heading to Santa Elena. We were forced to stand on the bus for an hour before two seats opened up and it was hot!!! This was a 5 hour bus ride through much drier land than the state of Izabal which held Rio Dulce. When we arrived in Santa Elena we found a mini bus heading to the island of Flores for a few quetzals. The mini bus was filled with hippies and frenchies on their way to Tikal, hahahha. The mini bus took us to a part of Flores that contained the economical hotels. We ended up staying in Alicia’s Guesthouse for a total of Q70 per night and it was very clean and the people very helpful. We bought a ticket to Tikal at 6am the next morning in order to beat the crowds. We were referred to the Mirador restaurant on top of the hill on Flores for dinner. It was excellent and cheap which is what we needed. We ended up coming back here three more times over the next few days. That night we walked around the small island stopping periodically at the three night clubs to check out the night life. The next morning we were on our way to Tikal with some Austrians that were staying in our hotel and some more Frenchies. When we arrived in Tikal Park it was nearly 9am and already hot as hell. Once we bought our tickets we decided to take the opposite route through the park than the one the crowd was taking. This route brought us to the most isolated pyramid in the park which took about 20 minutes to walk to. The path winded through dense forest before we approached our first Mayan site in Tikal, it was amazing. The next four hours were hot but extremely intriguing as we contemplated the historical events that took place throughout Tikal. Ryan thought it would be a good idea to skip breakfast and leave Tikal by noon. This was not a good idea! Luckily we ran into some vendors after a few hours trekking through the park. We left the park around 12:30 and were on our way back to Flores Island for the next few days. We spent Thursday and Friday lounging around the small island eating comida economica and taking an occasional dip in the lake. The pace of life on Flores Island was as laid back as it gets. Since no buses were running on Good Friday we waited until Saturday afternoon to catch a bus back to Guate. This bus driver was one of the most irritating people to ever walk the face of the earth. He enjoyed stopping as many times as possible and taking his time at each stop. We made it back to the city none the less although it took damn near 11 hours.

Volcan Agua

Sunday morning Ryan, Laura, Chati (Laura's friend), and I headed to Antigua to pick up our other Guatemalan friend Henry and his cousin David. Once in Antigua we found Henry and his cousin and started to Santa Maria de Jesus to find the trailhead to Volcan Agua. The road up to the base of the volcano was not in suitable conditions for the little VW we were driving so after a few close calls with rocks and loose dirt we decided to park the car on the side of the road and start our hike. While this was not the smartest thing to do leaving the car unattended in the middle of a dirt road, we didnt have many choices. So we headed up the road to find the trailhead which we had no idea of where it was. Henry thought it would be best to just start going up no matter what was in the way, this was a bad idea as you'll see later but it did help us find the trail after a while. So once on the trail we found out it was going to be a 5 hour hike up and another 2 or 3 down which was ok since it was only 10am. So we continued up the volcano and soon enough we were split up with Ryan and myself ahead of the group and Henry bushwacking it straight up the mountain. The volcano has something like 14 crosses that mark the path to the crater, so at the first one we were one man down with Henry god knows where. His cousin called him on the phone and found he was a few clicks ahead of us. So I started up the path looking for Henry and eventually veered off the trail to and found myself in a large field in the middle of the forest. Walking through this field I spotted Henry and joined him while the others made their way up to where we were at. Henry and I then decided to continue and make our own path straight up the volcano. Now at first this seemed like a good idea but soon enough we were crawling in thick brush and getting tangled up in vines. Not to mention it was fairly steep. Bad idea Henry!! So after about 30 or 45 min of this we made our way out and back to the trail covered with dirt and vines. After this is when I lost Henry and found that Ryan was quite a bit ahead. So i double timed it and about an hour later reached Ryan with his new found guatemalan friends. I was dead tired by this time only to find that we still had 2.5 more hours too go and it was getting damn chilly. The rest of the way up the volcano was very cloudy, freezing, and a bit painful I must say. Right as I reached the peak of the volcano my legs started cramping in both thighs and i collapsed. So I layed on the rocks for about 20 min and then started down since i didnt have a coat and I couldnt feel my hands from the cold. Oh, and we couldnt see jack from the summit because of the flippin fog!!! We ran into Henry about 100 meters down from the summit and he looked like hell. So the three of us ran most of the way down the mountain and got a call from the rest of the group that the car had been broken into, big suprise! Come to find out they didnt take anything and it was just a small window in the back that was punched out. We headed back to Antigua to eat some dinner and see the procession and then back to Guate.

Coban/Semuc Champay

Saturday morning, Ryan and I headed to Copan with our Guatemalan friend Laura on the nice air conditioned bus (which was freezing and the driver maniacal.) The 4 hour bus ride to Coban seemed to take longer due to my motion sickness, but we arrived without anyone throwing up. Once in Coban we proceeded to pick up our rental car equiped with our own personal chaufuer (Samuel) compliments of Laura. Thanks! After getting our ride, we went to eat some lunch at a nice restaurante that was playing one of the best compilations of music I have ever heard. After lunch we went to buy some dulces tipicos downtown. Those coffee candies were out of this world!!! Our next stop was the main church in town located on top of a hill overlooking the entire city. We walked up the hill and looked around the church for a while and then headed to find a place to stay. We ended up going outside of Coban to some town i dont remember the name of and visiting one of Laura's friends (Rudy). We talked for the rest of the night en solo espanol which was quite difficult at times I must say, but it was a great time none the less. We also became well informed about the cardamon seed which Rudy is very knowledgable about. Did you know there are large amounts of cardamom in Guatemala? I didnt!! Anyway we saw Rudy's factory where they process the cardamom seeds and then ship them to companies. Rudy was kind enough to let us stay at his home for the night. The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and began the long, winding, bumpy journey to Semuc Champay with our driver Samuel. That guy loved speeding up and slowing down, I tell you what! I barely made it to Semuc with everything still in my stomach. Once there we stopped and had breakfast with what looked like a bunch of German gypsies and hippy gringos who hadnt showered in a week. After breakfast we entered Semuc Champay park and walked around taking pictures and gazing at the beautiful scenery. We also took a hike up to the mirador in the park for a birds eye view of the surrounding area, which was incredible. This concluded our time in Semuc and we headed back to Coban stopping at some caves where we tried to pass as Guatemalans but with no luck. 30 quetzales, wth!!! I look like a Juan Aguilera!! So we arrived back in Coban in time to catch the bus back to Guate.

Anti-Bush Protest

At about 130pm on Monday afternoon Ryan and myself decided to go down to the national palace in central Guatemala City and observe what we thought was going to be a peaceful protest. There were about 500 people gathered around the side of the street the national palace was on with a line of 20-30 police in riot gear blocking the road. In the distance the presidential motorcade could be seen with secret service agents in front of the main entrance. Snipers were visible on surrounding buildings as well. When we first arrived not much was going on, people just chanting anti-bush phrases and walking around, but that soon changed. Rocks and eggs were being thrown at the riot police with insecticide cans being used as torches. There was a pinata of president Bush depicted as a devil that was up on a stick being carried around. This pinata provided the fuel for an increase in activity soon enough. Music started being played, firecrackers started going off, and the beating of the pinata ensued. The pinata was eventually lit on fire and thrown at the police. It was at this point that a group of protesters decided to pick up a piece of a large metal fence and hurl it at the riot police. As soon as this happened, the first can of tear gas was dispersed. Thinking this was going to be the extent of the gas, i started walking away without much worry, bad idea!!!!!! As i was walking through the crowd, canisters of tear gas started going off left and right, hitting people and flying under my feet. At this point my eyes were tearing up and i was choking, plus if i didnt run i would have been trampled. So i sprinted down the street making my way through the gas and trying not to run into people, cars, and cans of gas. After a few blocks i thought i would be ok but this is when the effects of the gas really hit me, i couldnt breathe very well, my eyes and nose were watering and burning like crazy, and my throat was on fire. I stopped to catch my breathe but soon had to continue running another 5 or 6 blocks to get away from the smoke. By now i had lost Ryan and decided to walk a few blocks in the other direction and return to the crowd to find him. Luckily I found him back near the crowd. So we were reunited with swollen, watery eyes and ready the get the hell out of dodge. We decided to walk to the other side of the palace and try and get a view of the president as he left, which we did. It was then a long walk home with anti-bush remarks being yelled at us the whole way. hhahahah FUERA BUSH!!!!!!!!!!

mi estomago

my stomach is in bad shape!!