Our little adventure down here took a different kind of twist and we had a visit from our friend Erin. She lives in Albuquerque, which according to my nephew Jackson is pronounced "Albert Cookie". We spent a couple of days in Antigua shopping and looking at ruins and shopping and eating and then shopping some more. It was fun for David and I, not just to share a fun place with a friend, but also to have an excuse to live a little and spend a little more money than usual. We went to the fanciest restaurant in town, the kind with a chef instead of a cook, and had the most amazing meal. Mine was so fancy I couldn´t even pronounce it. For a 5-star meal, set inside the most gorgeous ruin of an old monastary, for three people we paid less than $100. We´d practically pay that for TGI Fridays back at home. In fact we enjoyed it so much we did it again at a different fancy restaurant a few days later. I am so spoiled.
We did a day trip up to Tikal to show her some toucans, lizards, crocodiles, howler monkeys and an agouti. Also there are some ruins there, which she also thought were pretty cool. Then we did a few days around Lake Atitlàn. We found a much nicer hotel in San Marcos than we stayed before, the Aaculaax, that along with a great lake view also included spiders, lizards and scorpions for our enjoyment. In Pana we fed bananas to some spider monkeys. It turns out they ignore you if you are skimpy and throw them a bit of banana, but if you throw the whole thing in the peel they love it! Actually saw a squirrel in San Marcos grab a banana out of a tree and kindly stopped in full view of the balcony to let us watch it eat it. There was also a cross-eyed dog that loved to play. Hmmm, was Erin´s trip all about animals, or it is just me?
We were also excited that she got to experience an earthquake, which was just a little rumble but lasted a good 15 seconds. Later that day we saw a volcano erupt in the distance, with a huge plume of smoke rising up into the sky. We didn't really notice the ash fall, but the hotel staff were complaining about all the extra dusting they were having to do that day. I'm not sure she enjoyed the large spider she found in her room, but it is always good to go home from the tropics with a good bug story. We even did some hard bargaining at the local market, and she found one of the items she bought at the airport for almost 200% more than she paid, so I guess we did pretty well.
We didn't get the chance to ride a chicken bus, but we told her all the stories of crazy driving and bad road conditions. So as we were leaving San Pedro in a shuttle bus, we come to a section of road where there has been a landslide and a huge boulder is blocking the road. Several guys were already there, and our driver and a few others got out to help, and they muscled it off the road over the other edge. Nothing like a little necessity to get some road work done!
Now our little vacation within a vacation is over, and it is time to get back to some travelling. Actually, to my astonishment our 90 day visa expires on Tuesday. Where does the time go? So after much consideration, we are heading to Belize tomorrow, taking a night bus back up to Flores (our third visit!) and then will jump on a local bus to and across the border. We haven't exactly decided what to do in Belize, as we are expecting some pretty hefty sticker shock. But I'm sure we will enjoy it.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Guatemalan dentistry
Thursday night I started to get a little tooth-ache. By the time we arrived in Antigua Saturday night, the tooth had stopped hurting but my face was starting to swell up. I figured that wasn´t a good sign. Of course Sunday nothing was open, so I took advantage of my nursing background and the prescription-free pharmacies here and started myself on some amoxicillin.
Choosing a dentist in a foreign country is a little nerve-wracking, but as it turns out a lot of Americans actually come to Guatemala specifically for dentistry services, a little dental tourism. Many of the dentists here have an American level of education, but the prices are about 1/10th of the cost. But rather than finding the cheapest option, I went with the most-recommended. The dentists even spoke english, which was a definite plus. They kept me on the amoxicillin (he didn´t seem remotely surprised that I had already started an antibiotic) just at a higher dosage. And they had me come back Wednesday to meet with the root canal specialist.
I asked a lot of questions, and the specialist was quite comforting. But as I lay back in the chair, he said "I think it will be better if we do this without anesthesia." Say what?! I was more than a little terrified, but by this point I trusted him. And he was right, I didn´t feel a thing, and it was over in maybe ten minutes. Just before he filled it he said "OK, now I am going to fill the canal with Clorox." ::sigh::
The root canal was finished with another visit (still no anesthesia used), and then I was back to see the regular dentist again. I had the option of getting a crown done, or of just having a permanent filling put in, which would last long enough for me to get back to the States before needing the crown. Since the crown would mean I'd have to stay here in Antigua another week or two, I opted for the filling. As much as I like Antigua, I am definitely ready to get moving again.
Three dentist visits, no novocaine, I was in and out in twenty to thirty minutes each time. Not bad. When I was paying the final bill ($137 all included), we glanced up at the TV, and they were playing a section from the Matt Harding dancing video that we participated in for the DC clip. It is really weird to be at the dentist in Guatemala and see yourself on TV.
Choosing a dentist in a foreign country is a little nerve-wracking, but as it turns out a lot of Americans actually come to Guatemala specifically for dentistry services, a little dental tourism. Many of the dentists here have an American level of education, but the prices are about 1/10th of the cost. But rather than finding the cheapest option, I went with the most-recommended. The dentists even spoke english, which was a definite plus. They kept me on the amoxicillin (he didn´t seem remotely surprised that I had already started an antibiotic) just at a higher dosage. And they had me come back Wednesday to meet with the root canal specialist.
I asked a lot of questions, and the specialist was quite comforting. But as I lay back in the chair, he said "I think it will be better if we do this without anesthesia." Say what?! I was more than a little terrified, but by this point I trusted him. And he was right, I didn´t feel a thing, and it was over in maybe ten minutes. Just before he filled it he said "OK, now I am going to fill the canal with Clorox." ::sigh::
The root canal was finished with another visit (still no anesthesia used), and then I was back to see the regular dentist again. I had the option of getting a crown done, or of just having a permanent filling put in, which would last long enough for me to get back to the States before needing the crown. Since the crown would mean I'd have to stay here in Antigua another week or two, I opted for the filling. As much as I like Antigua, I am definitely ready to get moving again.
Three dentist visits, no novocaine, I was in and out in twenty to thirty minutes each time. Not bad. When I was paying the final bill ($137 all included), we glanced up at the TV, and they were playing a section from the Matt Harding dancing video that we participated in for the DC clip. It is really weird to be at the dentist in Guatemala and see yourself on TV.
Friday, April 16, 2010
The angel from Guatemala City
We decided to pull ourselves away from the finca and head back to Antigua to do another week of language school. We walked our packs down to the main road and waited for a passing bus to stop. When it did, the handler jumped out and opened the luggage compartment underneath for us to put our bags in, and pointed for us to put them behind a burlap sack. As I heaved mine over it hit the sack, which began to move and chirp - the sack was full of live chickens! I jumped and the luggage guy laughed at me for almost squishing the chickens.
We had to change busses only once, and we arrived into Guatemala City about three, so still had plenty of time to find a cab over to a different bus station where we could get a chicken bus out to Antigua. Guat City has a few ritzy, nice areas, but in general is not thought of as a safe (or interesting) place for travelers. Just before our bus stopped, a girl sitting across from us leaned over and asked if we knew where we were going. We started talking, and she told us she lived close by where the Antigua busses went, and if we wanted she could take us. Since we weren´t sure of where we were or even which bus station to tell a cab driver to take us to, we readily agreed. She walked us over and we got on a local city bus, which travelers are always warned never to take, and that we never would have been able to figure out which bus to take even had we wanted to. Her name was Claudia, and she is getting ready to graduate with a masters in architecture. We rode the bus out quite a ways, with Claudia pointing out various landmarks for us. When we got off the bus we had to walk through a back alley, and I was thinking, OK, here is where the sweet angel girl turns out to be luring us to our doom. But no, on the other side of the alley was a huge shopping mall, and on the other side was a big bus stop. She waited with us and even helped explain to us some of the method to the madness of the chicken busses, how they are named and painted according to their routes. It won´t suprise anyone in my family to learn she is LDS.
So our Guatemala City angel got us through town and onto the right bus, saving us a ten dollar cab ride and giving us a far more interesting experience. It is experiences like this that make me love travelling. People are just awesome the whole world over. It isn´t easy to approach strangers, especially with a language barrier (though her english was better than my spanish), and we sure appreciated her going out of her way for us.
We had to change busses only once, and we arrived into Guatemala City about three, so still had plenty of time to find a cab over to a different bus station where we could get a chicken bus out to Antigua. Guat City has a few ritzy, nice areas, but in general is not thought of as a safe (or interesting) place for travelers. Just before our bus stopped, a girl sitting across from us leaned over and asked if we knew where we were going. We started talking, and she told us she lived close by where the Antigua busses went, and if we wanted she could take us. Since we weren´t sure of where we were or even which bus station to tell a cab driver to take us to, we readily agreed. She walked us over and we got on a local city bus, which travelers are always warned never to take, and that we never would have been able to figure out which bus to take even had we wanted to. Her name was Claudia, and she is getting ready to graduate with a masters in architecture. We rode the bus out quite a ways, with Claudia pointing out various landmarks for us. When we got off the bus we had to walk through a back alley, and I was thinking, OK, here is where the sweet angel girl turns out to be luring us to our doom. But no, on the other side of the alley was a huge shopping mall, and on the other side was a big bus stop. She waited with us and even helped explain to us some of the method to the madness of the chicken busses, how they are named and painted according to their routes. It won´t suprise anyone in my family to learn she is LDS.
So our Guatemala City angel got us through town and onto the right bus, saving us a ten dollar cab ride and giving us a far more interesting experience. It is experiences like this that make me love travelling. People are just awesome the whole world over. It isn´t easy to approach strangers, especially with a language barrier (though her english was better than my spanish), and we sure appreciated her going out of her way for us.
Spiders, bugs, and the smell of freshly baked bread.
From Flores, we had about five different plans of where we wanted to go next, and kept changing our minds every five minutes. The only thing I like more than making plans is changing plans. The day we were going to leave, we arrived at the bus station an hour before the bus to Cobán was supposed to leave, only to find out that the bus line we were looking for was out of business, and the bus that took over the route had just left 15 minutes earlier. Thank you Lonely Planet. We weren´t prepared to wait another four hours for the next bus, so what else could we do but immediately hop on a bus going the opposite direction?
The bus dropped is off in a little town of Poptún, and we hopped in a tuk-tuk out to the Finca Ixobel. The finca is a working farm, but also a guest house. We had skipped staying here on our way to Flores because we´d heard it was booked solid over Easter week. Arriving just afterwards, things were very quiet. In fact our first night we stayed in an eight bed dorm but had the whole room to ourselves. The next night we moved to our own little bungalow, which was up on stilts and very rustic. Our cabin had no electricity, so we had to use candles at night, but then we´ve long been in the habit of going to bed not long after the sun goes down and getting up with the sunrise, so that wasn´t a big deal.
Finca Ixobel was basically a jungle lodge set on a farm instead of the jungle. But where the jungle so far has surprised us with the lack of creepy-crawlies, the farm gave up the goods from almost the moment we arrived. Our first treat was a nice big tarantula crawling across the lawn. As we looked around, we saw dozens of holes in the grass, with tarantulas just barely peeking out at us. Unlike the wolf spider we saw in Honduras though, these were not aggressive, and we surmised that these were a kind you could probably pick up, although we did not test our theory. Next we found a giant stick bug that was probably a foot and a half long, probably twice as big as what I´ve seen before. We found another bug that I can´t even describe, and I am dying that I can´t post the picture I took cause it is totally awesome and freaky. We also saw three different types of fireflies. One was gigantic, and instead of flashing would light up and then fly around for five or ten seconds. The first time I saw it I thought it was someone with a flashlight it was so bright. We saw ant lions and leaf-cutter ants and a huge praying mantis, not to mention several different kinds of lizards, some of them a couple of feet long (but not iguanas).
We also found some frogs, one big one that was covered in these giant disgusting ticks. Luckily it put us on the alert, because we both found ticks on us as well (albeit a different kind, much smaller). I love bugs, but ticks are just gross. We did manage one hike up a huge hill outside the finca, but after we found the ticks we stuck to more well-worn paths.
We met some great people, including a family from Ireland who had rented an RV and were driving from Florida down to Panama and back. They had two pre-teen girls who weren´t quite sure if they were having fun or not, though they did shyly admit to liking snorkelling in Belize and horseback riding there at the finca. Very cute.
The finca also had a working bakery and restaurant, so besides eating yummy cinnanon rolls for breakfast we also had fresh bread every night for dinner. We ended up staying five days, and the food was a big part of that. A happy belly is not something to mess with.
The bus dropped is off in a little town of Poptún, and we hopped in a tuk-tuk out to the Finca Ixobel. The finca is a working farm, but also a guest house. We had skipped staying here on our way to Flores because we´d heard it was booked solid over Easter week. Arriving just afterwards, things were very quiet. In fact our first night we stayed in an eight bed dorm but had the whole room to ourselves. The next night we moved to our own little bungalow, which was up on stilts and very rustic. Our cabin had no electricity, so we had to use candles at night, but then we´ve long been in the habit of going to bed not long after the sun goes down and getting up with the sunrise, so that wasn´t a big deal.
Finca Ixobel was basically a jungle lodge set on a farm instead of the jungle. But where the jungle so far has surprised us with the lack of creepy-crawlies, the farm gave up the goods from almost the moment we arrived. Our first treat was a nice big tarantula crawling across the lawn. As we looked around, we saw dozens of holes in the grass, with tarantulas just barely peeking out at us. Unlike the wolf spider we saw in Honduras though, these were not aggressive, and we surmised that these were a kind you could probably pick up, although we did not test our theory. Next we found a giant stick bug that was probably a foot and a half long, probably twice as big as what I´ve seen before. We found another bug that I can´t even describe, and I am dying that I can´t post the picture I took cause it is totally awesome and freaky. We also saw three different types of fireflies. One was gigantic, and instead of flashing would light up and then fly around for five or ten seconds. The first time I saw it I thought it was someone with a flashlight it was so bright. We saw ant lions and leaf-cutter ants and a huge praying mantis, not to mention several different kinds of lizards, some of them a couple of feet long (but not iguanas).
We also found some frogs, one big one that was covered in these giant disgusting ticks. Luckily it put us on the alert, because we both found ticks on us as well (albeit a different kind, much smaller). I love bugs, but ticks are just gross. We did manage one hike up a huge hill outside the finca, but after we found the ticks we stuck to more well-worn paths.
We met some great people, including a family from Ireland who had rented an RV and were driving from Florida down to Panama and back. They had two pre-teen girls who weren´t quite sure if they were having fun or not, though they did shyly admit to liking snorkelling in Belize and horseback riding there at the finca. Very cute.
The finca also had a working bakery and restaurant, so besides eating yummy cinnanon rolls for breakfast we also had fresh bread every night for dinner. We ended up staying five days, and the food was a big part of that. A happy belly is not something to mess with.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The perils of public computers
Ok, a little hold on the narrative for a little housecleaning. After some time where we didn´t have a good internet connection, I am trying to get caught up. However it seems we have picked up a virus on my camera memory cards, so for the time being I can´t upload any photos. Argh! I can still see the pictures via my camera, so I know they are all still there, but I can´t wade through the spanish operating system on the computer to figure out how to get to them. I´m optimistic I will after we get home, but I don´t really know for sure. We will start using a new card today, so hopefully more pics will be coming eventually.
Tikal
A lot of people had cautioned us that Flores wasn´t a "real" Guatemalan city, but we take everything people tell us with a grain of salt. We didn´t actually DO much on Flores except swim in the lake, but we really enjoyed it. We loved walking along the water in the evenings when everyone came out to enjoy the cool breeze off the lake. We were also there for the Santa Semana procession. The procession here isn´t as big as it is in some of the bigger cities, but the street murals made of colored sawdust and flowers and candles were still big and beautiful.
But we weren´t here to swim or to admire religious parades. We were here to make a big check off our list of Places To See Before We Die. And that place, of course, is Tikal.
You never know how it is going to go, when you visit a place you´ve been dreaming about going for years. Will it be what you expected? Will it live up to the hype? Hype is the biggest enemy of all, leading you to be disappointed with something amazing just because you were expecting more. Luckily for us, Tikal met and exceeded what we were hoping for. (I´m still not sure if we were more excited about seeing the temples or at the wildlife.)
Our hotel, the Jaguar Inn, was located just outside the main gates, and was a good base for an overnight visit. Most people to day trips to Tikal from Flores, but by staying overnight we got to visit the park in the evening when it is much less crowded. The wildlife was surprisingly active, and we saw a pair of spider monkeys and a new kind of toucan before we´d even left the grounds of the hotel, playing in the trees right outside of our bungalow.
The ruins themselves were, as expected, big and spectacular. We climbed sevearal of the temples for great views overlooking the tops of the trees in all directions. One of the temples is accessed by climbing a "staircase" that is really more of a ladder. I´m not terribly afraid of heights, but even so it was a pretty humbling experience for those that braved the ascent. (Heck, the descent was worse.) It was so hot, that even with a bottle of water at my side I must have gotten a little dehydrated and I started to get cramps in my legs from all the climbing. A nice rest in the shade with a tall drink of water fixed that though.
We wandered around the backs of most temples looking for animals, and did cross several agoutis. At one point we cleared a corner and up ahead we saw the unmistakable profile of a coatamundi, which is sort of a cross between a racoon and a ferret, and has a ringed tail it sticks straight up in the air as it walks. We slowly started walking towards it to get a better look, when it turned and ran. We were surprised we could have scared it at that distance, but then we saw what it was really running from as a trio of tourists came around the corner running at it at full speed hooting and hollering. I can´t imagine what they were thinking, I mean is chasing an animal into the bushes really that much of a thrill? But they paid a price, as David and I proceeded to mock them for the rest of the afternoon. I am sure they would be devastated if they only knew.
The next morning we were back at 6am. By that point we had seen all of the main temples, but wandered around sort of looking at the more minor structures but really looking for more jungle creatures. We were rewarded when a group of about two dozen coatamundi´s walked by us. They are the most adorable little creatures, David was desperate to get one as a pet. They were rather tame and got surprisingly close to us, obviously hoping we would feed them. (We resisted the temptation, but it was hard, they were so darn cute! I even got a video of one of them sniffing at the camera, if only I had had a wide angle lens!)
Later on we were treated to the wild screams of the howler monkeys. Signs warn that if you get too close they will throw their poop at you, but we were spared that behavior. Still, pretty awesome to be standing in the jungle, a howler monkey screaming over your head, several spider monkeys jumping about the next tree over, and a group of coatis running around practically under your feet sniffing for dropped bits of cookie. And I haven´t even talked about the birds. (Three kinds of toucan, parrots, the wild oscillated turkey, and even the Woody Woodpecker woodpecker.)
Yes, Tikal was a success.
But we weren´t here to swim or to admire religious parades. We were here to make a big check off our list of Places To See Before We Die. And that place, of course, is Tikal.
You never know how it is going to go, when you visit a place you´ve been dreaming about going for years. Will it be what you expected? Will it live up to the hype? Hype is the biggest enemy of all, leading you to be disappointed with something amazing just because you were expecting more. Luckily for us, Tikal met and exceeded what we were hoping for. (I´m still not sure if we were more excited about seeing the temples or at the wildlife.)
Our hotel, the Jaguar Inn, was located just outside the main gates, and was a good base for an overnight visit. Most people to day trips to Tikal from Flores, but by staying overnight we got to visit the park in the evening when it is much less crowded. The wildlife was surprisingly active, and we saw a pair of spider monkeys and a new kind of toucan before we´d even left the grounds of the hotel, playing in the trees right outside of our bungalow.
The ruins themselves were, as expected, big and spectacular. We climbed sevearal of the temples for great views overlooking the tops of the trees in all directions. One of the temples is accessed by climbing a "staircase" that is really more of a ladder. I´m not terribly afraid of heights, but even so it was a pretty humbling experience for those that braved the ascent. (Heck, the descent was worse.) It was so hot, that even with a bottle of water at my side I must have gotten a little dehydrated and I started to get cramps in my legs from all the climbing. A nice rest in the shade with a tall drink of water fixed that though.
We wandered around the backs of most temples looking for animals, and did cross several agoutis. At one point we cleared a corner and up ahead we saw the unmistakable profile of a coatamundi, which is sort of a cross between a racoon and a ferret, and has a ringed tail it sticks straight up in the air as it walks. We slowly started walking towards it to get a better look, when it turned and ran. We were surprised we could have scared it at that distance, but then we saw what it was really running from as a trio of tourists came around the corner running at it at full speed hooting and hollering. I can´t imagine what they were thinking, I mean is chasing an animal into the bushes really that much of a thrill? But they paid a price, as David and I proceeded to mock them for the rest of the afternoon. I am sure they would be devastated if they only knew.
The next morning we were back at 6am. By that point we had seen all of the main temples, but wandered around sort of looking at the more minor structures but really looking for more jungle creatures. We were rewarded when a group of about two dozen coatamundi´s walked by us. They are the most adorable little creatures, David was desperate to get one as a pet. They were rather tame and got surprisingly close to us, obviously hoping we would feed them. (We resisted the temptation, but it was hard, they were so darn cute! I even got a video of one of them sniffing at the camera, if only I had had a wide angle lens!)
Later on we were treated to the wild screams of the howler monkeys. Signs warn that if you get too close they will throw their poop at you, but we were spared that behavior. Still, pretty awesome to be standing in the jungle, a howler monkey screaming over your head, several spider monkeys jumping about the next tree over, and a group of coatis running around practically under your feet sniffing for dropped bits of cookie. And I haven´t even talked about the birds. (Three kinds of toucan, parrots, the wild oscillated turkey, and even the Woody Woodpecker woodpecker.)
Yes, Tikal was a success.
Monday, April 12, 2010
North to Tikal
[Note: Sorry I'm so far behind, I will get caught up soon, and will add some photos to this post as soon as I get to a better internet connection.]
We left Utila on the 6am ferry, took a cab to the bus station and hopped on a bus to San Pedro Sula. Three hours later we were on a colectivo to Puerto Cortez, where we transferred to a chicken bus going to Omoa, our destination for the night. We stayed at Roli´s Place, which is a nice little hotel run by a Swiss expat with a habit of posting lists of rules on every conceivable surface. None of the rules were particularly unusual (Don´t light candles, Don´t be loud at night, Don´t pick the fruit on my fruit trees), but the sheer number of them was a little intimidating.
Here is a little experiment. We visited an old fort. Sounds kind of boring, huh? Now try this. We visited an old fort used for fighting pirates. Just add pirates and suddenly everything gets more exciting. My biggest disorientation of the day though came that evening as we walked up to the beach, which faces the Caribbean Sea, and the sun was setting quite nicely out over the watery horizon. Suddenly my entire frame of reference was off, watching the sun set in the East. Or, obviously, what I thought was the East. It is so easy to forget that the Honduran coast is actually to the North, not the east, and I guess the bay we were on was particularly curvy towards the West. But it totally threw me for a moment, high school did not prepare me for the intricacies of Central American geography.
The next day we chicken bussed it to the Guatemalan border, where my mind was blown and neither the Honduran or the Guatemalan officials asked for a "border fee". First and last time, I am sure. Another shuttle and boat taxi later and we were in the little town of Livingston, which was memorable only for its very distinct Caribbean culture. We only stayed for breakfast, and then were on another boat up the river to the Finca Tatin, a secluded jungle lodge.
The lodge is up a small fork off the main river, sitting back in the jungle with a bunch of individual cabins of varying degrees of fanciness, but all with a rustic charm. The main hall was open to the elements on all sides, with a thick thatch roof. The thick wooden beams were strewn with hammocks, which we quickly got acquainted with. Nothing like a relaxing swing in a hammock listening to the sounds of the jungle. There was also a large dining hall, where everyone gathered to eat a communal family-style dinner every night. This was the best part, and we met and talked with many of the other travelers over simple but filling food. Out front there was always a group swimming off the dock. The water was just cool enough to be refreshing from the heat of the day, and the mix of fresh with the salt water provided an extra boost to your buoyancy so you could float around with ease.
The first day we took out a kayak and went paddling up the river, and through some of the mangrove thickets along the rivers edge. We also, for the first time, got sunburned. This could have sucked, except it gave us the excuse to stay at the lodge a few extra days while we "recovered".
We saw plenty of wildlife, a bunch of kinds of crabs, spiders, some cool grasshoppers. David ran across a six foot long snake on a pathway, and we saw what we think is called a paya, a rabbit-sized jungle rodent. (It was cute, more squirrel/rabbit than rat.) Somewhere along the way David had even learned to identify the call of the toucan, which sounds nothing like a bird and totally like a frog. I kept teasing him, but early one morning (we were almost always up with the sunrise) we spotted four toucans in the trees across the river from us, clearly making their weird frog call.
Easter Week is called Santa Semana here, and is when just about every local goes on vacation. This has the effect of pushing a lot of backpackers out of the cities and into the jungle lodges, so everything gets crowded for the week. The lodge was full while we were there, and though they found room for us we had to change rooms three times in the four nights we were there. Our first night was the best, a very fancy room with a private deck and fancy glass shower, all up on stilts. Though, surprisingly, bugs weren´t a problem for most (except a few girls who were bitten by a horsefly which caused a lot of swelling, poor things) all the beds were decked out with mosquito netting which was great for atmosphere. Our last room was in the dorms, and with eight beds with mosquito netting, the place looked like a malaria ward.
We are now in the town of Flores, which is a gorgeous tiny town on a small island in a lake up in northern Guatemala. Everything is brightly painted, and the roofs are all a rusty red. Though it cools down at night, it is pretty hot during the day, which makes swimming in the lake off a pier a highlight of the day for tourists and locals alike. Indeed, you have to watch out that you don´t get creamed by a pre-teen flinging himself off the dock and into the water. For the third time we have run into a guy from Seattle we met in Xela two months ago at our first school. We joke that he is our oldest friend in Central America.
We left Utila on the 6am ferry, took a cab to the bus station and hopped on a bus to San Pedro Sula. Three hours later we were on a colectivo to Puerto Cortez, where we transferred to a chicken bus going to Omoa, our destination for the night. We stayed at Roli´s Place, which is a nice little hotel run by a Swiss expat with a habit of posting lists of rules on every conceivable surface. None of the rules were particularly unusual (Don´t light candles, Don´t be loud at night, Don´t pick the fruit on my fruit trees), but the sheer number of them was a little intimidating.
Here is a little experiment. We visited an old fort. Sounds kind of boring, huh? Now try this. We visited an old fort used for fighting pirates. Just add pirates and suddenly everything gets more exciting. My biggest disorientation of the day though came that evening as we walked up to the beach, which faces the Caribbean Sea, and the sun was setting quite nicely out over the watery horizon. Suddenly my entire frame of reference was off, watching the sun set in the East. Or, obviously, what I thought was the East. It is so easy to forget that the Honduran coast is actually to the North, not the east, and I guess the bay we were on was particularly curvy towards the West. But it totally threw me for a moment, high school did not prepare me for the intricacies of Central American geography.
The next day we chicken bussed it to the Guatemalan border, where my mind was blown and neither the Honduran or the Guatemalan officials asked for a "border fee". First and last time, I am sure. Another shuttle and boat taxi later and we were in the little town of Livingston, which was memorable only for its very distinct Caribbean culture. We only stayed for breakfast, and then were on another boat up the river to the Finca Tatin, a secluded jungle lodge.
The lodge is up a small fork off the main river, sitting back in the jungle with a bunch of individual cabins of varying degrees of fanciness, but all with a rustic charm. The main hall was open to the elements on all sides, with a thick thatch roof. The thick wooden beams were strewn with hammocks, which we quickly got acquainted with. Nothing like a relaxing swing in a hammock listening to the sounds of the jungle. There was also a large dining hall, where everyone gathered to eat a communal family-style dinner every night. This was the best part, and we met and talked with many of the other travelers over simple but filling food. Out front there was always a group swimming off the dock. The water was just cool enough to be refreshing from the heat of the day, and the mix of fresh with the salt water provided an extra boost to your buoyancy so you could float around with ease.
The first day we took out a kayak and went paddling up the river, and through some of the mangrove thickets along the rivers edge. We also, for the first time, got sunburned. This could have sucked, except it gave us the excuse to stay at the lodge a few extra days while we "recovered".
We saw plenty of wildlife, a bunch of kinds of crabs, spiders, some cool grasshoppers. David ran across a six foot long snake on a pathway, and we saw what we think is called a paya, a rabbit-sized jungle rodent. (It was cute, more squirrel/rabbit than rat.) Somewhere along the way David had even learned to identify the call of the toucan, which sounds nothing like a bird and totally like a frog. I kept teasing him, but early one morning (we were almost always up with the sunrise) we spotted four toucans in the trees across the river from us, clearly making their weird frog call.
Easter Week is called Santa Semana here, and is when just about every local goes on vacation. This has the effect of pushing a lot of backpackers out of the cities and into the jungle lodges, so everything gets crowded for the week. The lodge was full while we were there, and though they found room for us we had to change rooms three times in the four nights we were there. Our first night was the best, a very fancy room with a private deck and fancy glass shower, all up on stilts. Though, surprisingly, bugs weren´t a problem for most (except a few girls who were bitten by a horsefly which caused a lot of swelling, poor things) all the beds were decked out with mosquito netting which was great for atmosphere. Our last room was in the dorms, and with eight beds with mosquito netting, the place looked like a malaria ward.
We are now in the town of Flores, which is a gorgeous tiny town on a small island in a lake up in northern Guatemala. Everything is brightly painted, and the roofs are all a rusty red. Though it cools down at night, it is pretty hot during the day, which makes swimming in the lake off a pier a highlight of the day for tourists and locals alike. Indeed, you have to watch out that you don´t get creamed by a pre-teen flinging himself off the dock and into the water. For the third time we have run into a guy from Seattle we met in Xela two months ago at our first school. We joke that he is our oldest friend in Central America.
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