No Itinerary

Day 84

Today we crossed the border from Guatemala into Mexico by foot, without the aid of a nice bus company who do the paperwork for you. Its amazing how much more confident we both feel. Trying to embark on such a thing 2 months ago would probably have caused a heart attack!

Staying the night in Tapachula, a small town close to the border and tomorrow we begin to make our way towards Oaxaca to meet Helen.

Day 83

After leaving Lago de Atitlan we travelled on to Quetzaltenango, or ´Xela´as it is known locally, from where we would make our connection to Mexico. Our most memorable day in this city involved a visit to the local museum. The guidebook had noted that it contained some ´curiosities´and that it was an eclectic mismash of local history, but we were not quite prepared for what we saw.

The first few rooms were certainly eclectic, but certainly not alarming. The sports room for example included a range of football trophies from 1989 to 1991 and not much else, apart from a large section devoted to a local guy who held the world record for the longest run using a skipping rope - he completed the LA marathon. Then followed a bizarre collection of not quite antique typewriters, computers, computer servers and photocopiers all of which had been lovingly donated to the museum.

The natural history section was where things started to get strange. Along with the usual collection of samples of leaves, trees and natural products derived from the earth they had started to document some of the worlds more recent artifical offerings. Hence a large section with different brands of cigarettes pinned to the wall in cellophane bags, a multitude of examples of what can be made from plastic (mainly different coloured hairgrips and small useless plastic toys), and many other things which we can no longer remember.

Then came the killer room. Literally. A full room of stuffed animals of all varieties. Many were fairly typical of the things you see, like stuffed birds, small rodents, larger mammals, and some reptiles. However these were the things which really made our stomachs turn (or just scared the hell out of us):

1. El diablill0 del mar - This was a freakish sea living creature which looked pretty much like the devil, and had fully constructed feet, hands, a tail, eyes and horns. We have since tried to look this up on the internet but can find really nothing about it, apart from a small reference in Harry Potter. It truly was terrifying, so please if anyone knows anything…..

2. Carnero de ocho extremides - This translates as the animal with 8 extremities. Which is what it was. A stuffed thing which looked something like a cross between a rat and a dog, clearly a siamese twin of the animal world. According to the blurb it lived for only 5 minutes, and when it died it exhaled from its nose a yellow liquid in the form of a cloud of smoke. Nice - glad they decided to preserve this

3. The Fetus section - a series of jars containing large fetuses including parrots, mice, dogs, cows and last of all, human.

As we left a large group of school children were queuing up to enter. Poor things, I really hope they didnt have nightmares.

Day 76

As we arrived at Lago de Atitlan we were told again, by about the 8th person, that we really must not miss the cross dressing party at La Iguana Perdida (the Lost Iguana). We had been told they had an entire dressing up room, and given how much we both love fancy dress this seemed an opportunity not to be missed. Imagine our disappointment then when we explored the dressing up room to find many, many outrageous outfits for the guys (sequinned gowns, miniskirts, posh frocks, the lot) and zilch for the girls.

Despite this I think we managed to pull off some good outfits, Jo inparticular who managed to create a Friar Tuck outfit from a black smock, a black scarf (niftily transformed into a balding wig) and a skipping rope (which became the tie for the smock and the crucifix). I dressed in something resembling the local male indigenous clothing and a painted moustache, although this meant I felt remarkably embarred when I saw any indigenous people (basically the entire village population).

Suffice to say the party was lots of fun. As usual the boys thoroughly relished the opportunity to put on a dress for a while and particularly enjoyed having a ´Friar´to confess their sins too!

Day 75

Since leaving Tikal we have been traveling though the Guatemalan highlands. The lands are beautiful, full of indigenous life and tradition, and rarely traveled by tourists. Before leaving I hadn’t really thought we were intrepid, but after yesterday when we undertook the most grueling trip so far squeezed in the back of minivans and pickups I rethought this!

A word about Guatemalan transport while we are on the subject. Never before have we realized quite how many people you can actually fit into a minivan. While there may be 12 seats, this actually means room for at least 20 people, with at least 2 on the roof, a couple hanging on the sides and the rest crammed into the seats that remain.

After 8 hours of the most uncomfortable travel we arrived in Santa Cruz del Quiché. We genuinely think we are the only tourists here, and as a consequence get stared at lots. Strangely (or maybe not, I don´t know) most people address us as Señor. Maybe this is because we are a bit taller than the average woman (and man) and are wearing western clothes. We have tried dressing in some of the local clothing, but this just makes people stare more.

Tomorrow we head to Lago de Atitlan where we hope to find some more travelers, celebrate our half way point (Day 77) and spend a relaxing few days before we cross the border to Mexico. Excitingly when we reach Mexico, we will be 3 as Helen (Shaw) will be joining us for about 4 weeks. As much as we love each other we are very glad to have some new company for a while!

Day 69

After leaving Antigua we embarked on a series of long voyages to visit the northern parts of Guatemala, including the Rio Dulce and Tikal, one of the major ancient Mayan cities, set deep in the jungle. Both places were spectacular, Rio Dulce because we rented a beautiful private riverside cabin, for about $12 a night. The best place we have stayed so far, by a longshot, despite the numerous mosquito bites we received.

Tikal was more awesome, particularly watching the sunset and sunrise atop magnificent ancient temples. On the downside, for the same price as our wonderful jungle cabin we had the privilege of sleeping in a tent with nothing between us and the hard ground. Also we had a resident monkey who liked nothing better than to aim his wee at our tent from the tree tops.

Day 64

Against all odds we managed to find accommodation in Antigua, during Semanta Santa. Antigua is one of the places where Semanta Santa (Easter week) is celebrated most fervently in Central America. There are numerous processions each day, usually involving an huge effigy of Christ and the Virgin Mary paraded through the streets. The effigy itself is carried by up to 50 people for a block and by about 1000 people through the course of the day. The streets are filled with incense and the procession route is paved with alfombras (carpets) made from either flowers or coloured sawdust in intricate patterns. In addition each church in Antigua (we counted over eight) had a new velacion (ornate depiction of Christ) each day. Its really quite full on, and a million miles away from Easter eggs and Easter bunnies! Alarmingly some American kids had to have the story of Easter explained to them as they had no real concept of what Easter meant beyond Easter eggs and started crying at the sight of Jesus on the cross. What has the world come to?

Day 62

Today we climbed an active volcano, and saw lots of lava and exciting stuff. This however was not the most eventful part of the day. On our way home in our tour minibus we were involved in a 7 car pileup. Our driver unfortunately was the cause of the accident and it transpired later his driving license had expired. Oh dear, he’s in big trouble.

We are fine - the only damage being that Jo was rudely awakened from her nap. Oh and a slightly sore head for an hour or two.

Day 54

After a few days in Granada we decided we would try to make it to Antigua, Guatemala for Semanta Santa. The most straightforward, and reasonably cheap way, was to take a Tica Bus from Granada, all the way to Guatemala City. This took 1 day and a half, including an overnight stop in San Salvador (El Salvador) and involved crossing 3 land borders.

There is not much to say about the journey apart from that it was long, at times confusing as you cross the border or are all sheparded out the bus by yet another set of police (sometimes with sniffer dogs) who want to check your passport about three times.

The night we arrived in San Salvador it had just got dark and we had been told the area by the bus terminal was not too safe. None the less we needed to find a room and some food for the nightso we ventured out with a few other travellers we had met on the bus. We found a local hotel which was cheap, but the worst place we have stayed in to date including some resident cockroaches and the strangest ensuite arrangement I have ever seen (it was actually possible to shower while sitting on the toilet!). We then went out for food and actually had a decent meal in the local market.

The area however was completely chaotic and very intimidating and we all felt rather nervous in the street. Our fears were realised when, heading back to our hotel, we met two other people from the bus who said they had just heard gun shots and suggested we get back to the hotel super fast. So, safe in the security of our cell like room we listened to the sound of police helicopters all night, then to be woken in the morning by the resident cockerel that didnt seem to realise it was meant to wait until it got light to start making noise.

We have since met other people who tell us San Salvador is a very nice place. But its not somewhere we want to return for a while!.

Day 52

We were told several times by the locals, when you go to Ometepe, make sure you take the ferry, as the smaller boats are less safe and the sea is very choppy. Having arrived at the ferry terminal very pleased with ourselves as our improved competence in Spanish meant we travelled with the locals in the cheapest ride possible.

However, we promptly found we had missed the ferry by 20 mins and the next one was not till 4 hours later. As such we decided in our wisdom to ignore the warnings and take a small boat.A local guy told us to sit on the top of the boat and look to the horizon as we would be less seasick. We dismissed that idea as soon as we saw the boat as there was nothing to prevent you actually falling into the sea from the top of the boat! Instead we opted to sit on the lower deck with everyone else.

There were very few tourists on board the boat, and those that were promptly turned green as soon as they sat down. The next hour was the longest of our trip so far, with what felt like 5 foot waves crashing over the side of the boat and the crew frantically pumping water back out the boat again!!

However, we arrived in one piece and the trip was worth it. Ometepe (meaning two points) is a stunning island formed from two volcanoes, one of which is still active. We took a bus to Charco Verde, an area of outstanding natural beauty, where we swam almost alone on the lake shore and enjoyed the simple life for a couple of days.

Since we were on the island for the weekend, and we had been told that public transport was nearly non existent on Sundays we decided a bike ride would be the best way to see the island. We set of on our bikes early Sunday morning, and within 10 minutes were starting to feel the strain as of course, an island formed from two volcanoes tends to be rather hilly! Having walked up several hills we forced ourselves to continue, and eventually hit a downhill patch. This part of the ride was lovely as the only other road traffic were other people on bikes, horses, cows and the occasional motorbike. Of course, we didnt really consider the ride back up and after watching a local baseball game we turned off down a dirt road to visit a beach.

Once we arrived we were absolutely exhausted and it was the middle of the day, with the sun beating down. After a quick swim we contemplated how on earth we were going to get back home as it was more than a 3 hour cycle ride back, including climbing the enormous hill we had sped down. We established pretty quickly that a taxi was out of the question as it was far too expensive so we agreed to cycle back to the main road and try to hitch a lift back.

As I got on my bike everything seemed much harder and in particular the bumps in the road were becoming increasingly painful. A couple of minutes later someone pointed out that in fact I had a puncture and my entire back wheel was flat. No wonder it hurt!
Hoping we would encounter someone driving back up the road we started walking, but of course no one came to save us in our hour of need. An hour later we were back on the main road waiting for someone to drive by who might be able to help us. Of course, being sunday afternoon on a very quiet island where most people dont drive cars there was not much traffic, and those who did drive by all seemed to be heading to the beach we had just come from. Finally, when we were about ready to accept we would have to walk back, a miracle happened and a bus appeared round the corner. They took our bikes on top of the bus and dropped us off at the end of our road. The best thing was when the guy who had rented us the bikes heard the story he refunded part of our money and the cost of the bus fare. So things worked out ok in the end.

We spent our final day on the island visiting the very small main town, seeing the museum and nursing our sore body parts. And needless to say, when we left the island for Granada, we took the ferry!

Day 49

It has just occurred to us that we are almost one third of the way through the trip. This neatly coincides with the conclusion of our week long Spanish course (very arduous, especially when you have got used to not doing very much at all in life!). Jo and I are both now much more confident in our español, and our vocabulary has expanded beyond “dos más cerveza, por favor!”.

We have been studying in San Juan del Sur, a small beach town in Nicaragua, just the other side of the border from Costa Rica. It is a lovely place, currently devoid of the mass tourism which seems to plague parts of Costa Rica. Unfortunately however, it seems this is not too far away. Hotel construction is taking place everywhere, and there is an alarming number of Americans who seem to be settling or at least investing here on a daily basis. A photo of the place 10 years ago in our school is near unrecognizable.

We are staying with a local family at the moment, which has been immensely interesting, although I think I can speak for both of us to say we have had enough beans and rice for a while. I have been most surprised to find a totally different conception of house here. Given the year round hot climate most houses are centered around an internal courtyard, with semi covered living rooms. The houses are huge, with many generations living under one roof.

As part of our Spanish classes we have also done a number of cultural activities, including learning how to make a number of Nicaraguan dishes. If there ever is a worldvision song contest Jo and I will whip up some of our new numbers, including gallo pinto (also known as rice and beans, but mixed together). We also narrowly avoided what would have been some cringe worthy Salsa lessons with our teacher., particularly since they wanted us to try some of the more traditional Salsa costume (i.e. not very much at all!).

Tomorrow we leave San Juan to visit a volcanic island called Isla de Ometepe in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua. Apparently the volcano is active. Fortunately Jo is now a much stronger swimmer so if it erupts we should be OK.