Tikal

After leaving Monterrico, we decided to go to Flores for a few days for the sole purpose of visiting the Tikal. People travel from all over the world to view the several thousand year old Mayan ruins. This is the largest of the ancient ruins, built entirely by hand in perfect geometrical and astrological proportions. After much painful deliberation, we decided to be adventurous and go for the sunrise tour. This required us getting up at 3:30 a.m. for the bus to pick us up around 4 a.m. For those of you who know me, you know I am not a morning person. Even more so without coffee. So this was a risk, especially for Reade, but in the spirit of adventure, we decided to embrace the early hours and go for it.

We spent a sleepy 45 minute pitch black bus ride into the heart of the jungle. Upon arrival, we were herded out of the bus and told that we had to hike quickly through the dark woods to the first temple that we were to climb in the hopes of getting up there before the sun did. So we brought out our trusty flashlight (we learned our lesson from hiking Pacaya) and proceeded toward our first temple.

The climb to the top of Temple IV was long and steep, especially at 5:30 in the morning. It was well worth it, though, as we sat atop this Mayan skyscraper awaiting the sun to rise. The sky began to slowly change colors behind immense ruins in the distance that we would later climb. The clouds slowly lifted and dispersed. The howler monkeys and toucans screeched their morning call and response, hinting at why the name Tikal is so fitting, translated "Place of Voices". And we all sat there, completely silent, drinking in the magnificence... the peacefulness that only comes when you're truly in communion with the beauty of nature. Never have I been so convinced that God is an artist of the highest caliber.














The rest of the day was split between walking through the cool of the jungle spying on the various species of animals and climbing different ruins. I discovered that my fear of heights is very, very real when a few times in a row, we raced to the top of these massive temples only to realize how very high we were and how far it was to the bottom. The steps were either really steep or very narrow, neither of which instills confidence as you try to slowly make your way back down to the stable ground, beckoning its welcome. I may be smiling in this picture, but I was gripped with fear (I mean, it was 10 stories tall). Reade was very patient in talking me back down, because I was about ready to set up camp with my back glued against the narrow wall until they could find a helicopter to come and rescue me.
Take a look at the rickety ladder to the right and you'll see why. In fact, this was only half of the ladder. Below are a couple of the other temples we saw.














It was an outstanding day. By the time that it started to get really hot and tourists began flooding the park, we had seen and climbed all that we wanted to and were content to take our leave. After all, by the time we got back to Flores around 1:30 p.m., we had already been up for ten hours. We were ready for dinner. Or at least a nap.

Monterrico

With two weeks of school under our belts, it was time for the beach. Call us wimps... but language school is intense and we needed a break. We went to the local travel agency and booked a 2.5 hour bus ride to Monterrico, a beach on the Pacific side of Guatemala. And guess what? It actually took only 2.5 hours to get there!!!






The lovely black sand beaches of Monterrico.






According to the locals, Monterrico was the nicest beach nearby. We planned to stay for 3 nights, but as soon we got there we began to reconsider. First of all, it's real hot there. There are also a lot of mosquitos... the beds at our hotel came with actual mosquito nets to sleep under. The beach is beautiful black sand, but was loaded with trash. It literally gets trashed after Semana Santa... thousands journey there. The water was really nice and warm, but dangerous to go in over the knees as riptides kill people every year. And there wasn't much of a town.

As we were driving in our "microbus" (a small van) to the beach, we met two really nice guys, both named Estuardo. They were just out of high school and headed to the beach for a night too.
As beach veterans, they took us under their wings and took us to the nicest hotel in Monterrico. The hotel had a bunch of old cheapo rooms, and some cinderblock structures with thatched roofs... I don't think you can actually call them huts, but they were billed as that. The Estuardos (we later named them Estuardo #1 and Estuardo #2) told us if we shared a two bedroom hut, it would save us all money, and allow us to stay in the bigger space. A hut comes with its own ocean water pool.

So, we shared a hut. Lisa and three guys. Our native friends were really nice. We got to converse for 24 hours in Spanish, which was very good practice. We enjoyed the American music they brought - Guatemalans love American music. And they enjoyed a ton of beer they brought, amazingly without getting wasted.

Not to say that Monterrico is a terrible beach, but as spoiled Americans, we just weren't quite used to this, and we thought that spending our time in a more beautiful (and maybe a little cooler) place would be a better option. So we left after one night, and started our 24 hour journey to Flores, Guatemala.

A Walk Around Antigua

Well, we made another friend whose name is Tom. He's a grandfather who lives in the same apartment building as we do, and he has kinda taken us under his wing to show us all around Antigua. He's a great tour guide... we saw some gorgeous places. What follows is a small selection of some of our favorite things we saw today.









A nice view of the city from the top of one of the hotels.











Another nice view... clearly the richer side of town.








This is an old ruin turned into a beautiful park. One of Lisa's favorites.







This is the courtyard of Hotel Aurora... our favorite hotel in town. It is so charming and tranquil. If our moms ever come to Antigua, this is where we want them to stay.








Our friend, neighbor, and guide, Tom.










This and the following pictures were taken in a lovely, quaint little garden cafe where we got to sip fresh pineapple juice while soaking in the beauty and the fresh breeze. These are not uncommon to see all over Antigua, making it one of the most charming towns I've ever seen.

Our Amigo, Luis

I always knew I liked 8 year olds. This fact was reaffirmed as Reade and I were sitting down to a nice meal at the only Irish Pub in Antigua. All types of merchants walk right off the streets, into restaurants hoping to peddle their treasures to unsuspecting tourists and this is allowed in all but the fanciest of establishments. A little Guatemalan boy, carrying a heavy basket on his head, approached us hoping to sell us some of his over-priced apples. After I bargained down to a remotely reasonable rate, we exchanged money for apples and began a conversation. In reality, we did not want the apples, as we will be leaving Antigua in a few days, but this was an adorable little boy and the idea of sending him away (while he was trying to actually earn money honestly instead of begging for it) was heartbreaking. He was very dirty and smelly, his clothes were ripped, and he was clearly from a poor family. In all likelihood, his family relies heavily on his apple selling as part of their livelihood.

We found out that his name is Luis, and that he is the oldest of four or five children. His family does not have enough money to send him even to public school, so he spends his days on the streets trying to help contribute to the family income. When Luis plunked down at our table with us and asked for a soda, it became clear that the last thing in reality that Luis really wants to do is sell apples. He wants to play and make friends like any other 8 year old boy. Reade took out his camera to capture our new little friend on film, and Luis was instantly mesmerized. Within minutes, he had learned to operate our digital camera and had set out to take a picture of everything and everyone in the restaurant and on the street. Turns out this kid has a very good eye with the camera. At one point, he ran out to the street and the waiter, Reade, and I all thought he was taking off with our camera. He had only very innocently left momentarily, however, to take a beautiful picture of the arch which he proudly displayed to us when we showed up to retrieve the camera. You can never be too careful, though... they're not all that innocent.

As it happens, this was fabulous Spanish practice for both of us because Luis was very forgiving as we attempted to speak with him using our newly learned verb conjugations. It helped that after we left the restaurant, we bought him an ice cream cone (I'm sure his mom loved that we were allowing him to have so much sugar at 8:30 in the evening). We told him how smart he was and that he should really think about school. We talked to him about anything he was willing to talk about, and then we took some more pictures before our battery died. I would have loved to bring him home with us, but the time inevitably came when we had to part ways. He ran off down the street with the basket of apples on his head, and as he turned into another store, he swiveled around, enthusiastically waved at us, and then disappeared. Below are a few pictures of our date with Luis. Unfortunately, the flash was not working, so they're a little blurred but you'll get the idea.








*As a sidenote, our little buddy found us in Central Park several days later and greeted us both with a big bear hug. When we told him that we were leaving, he refused to smile for a picture. We think he was mad at us, which was kind of heartbreaking. He's pretty darn cute.*

Spanish School and Adios

Spanish school started the day after Easter. We each got one-on-one tutors, total immersion. Lisa has had a good tutor that is really structured in her approach, just like she was with her kids at Rivendell. I had a teacher who wanted to talk about his life and his problems more than letting me practice speaking. I felt like a counselor. Story after story... about his ex-wife, his girlfriend, his side real estate business, the drug dealing owner of the school, and the school secretary. This secretary told the director we were an internet referral whom she found - bogus hogwash - so she could overcharge us by quite a bit and take the extra that we paid as a comission for doing nothing.

To add to it, when my teacher heard I was a "medico," I could see the dollar signs in his eyes. Suddenly, the conversation went to him telling me about other students that have given him things. When he learned about the frequent flyer miles that got us here, he asked if they could be given to others (i.e. to him).

This school had more drama than we bargained for. The whole week with my tutor was weird and awkward. Lisa was learning, and I was stuck feeling guilty about how much more we have than these people, and yet frustrated that I was paying to learn Spanish without much growth. I have since decided to tell everyone I'm a fireman, otherwise they falsely think we're rich.

So, we decided to switch schools this week, and so far our new school is much more impressive. Lisa's conversation level is really improving, and our vocabularies have grown by several hundred words already. We study outdoors in a garden which is green, lush, and filled with beautiful flowers. There are avocado trees providing shade and a quick snack. And as an added bonus, the bathrooms are clean, have soap and trashcans to dispose of the poopie paper...oh and our teachers are real good.

One final thing... we left the house and the retired couple we were living with. Suffice it to say that we wanted to try something new and have a place with our own bathroom for the first time in a few weeks, and get out of the nasty sheets we were sleeping in. And oh... the retired man was acting a little (maybe a lot) inapproriate around my wife when I was not around. So we told them adios, and are now in a small two level apartment building with other English speaking friends. It reminds us both of our college dorm days.. except there is a retired man, a guy having a midlife crisis, a nice missionary family, and a sweet landlady named Ester who only speaks Spanish. An interesting mix of people, but we're happy.

These were our nasty sheets. They were actually two sheets that had ripped apart but were sown together. On the left are two pretty major holes, and we suspected that it had been a while since they had last been washed. Good riddance!


The following pictures are of our new school where we get to learn every day. Included are pictures of our classrooms, the banana tree, and the avocado tree just outside our classroom. Definitely an improvement from our first school!

Volcan de Pacaya

When we dreamed about Central American adventures, this is a bit like what we had in mind. Pacaya is an active volcano, about a ninety minute drive from Antigua. We've been told that it's the most frequently visited and the easiest hike of all the volcanoes in Guatemala; a perfect activity for our first Saturday after classes. Blow off some steam and give our brains a rest, you know? We were told by the travel agency that the evening hike was the best to take, because the lava is easier to see at that time of the day. "Do we need a flashlight?" we ask. "No. Definitely not." We were also told to meet back at the travel agency no later than 1:45 so that the bus could leave by 2:00. So we hurry up to make sure we're on time, and proceed to be led from block to block looking for the bus. At one point, we were left on a street corner by ourselves for 15 minutes with no explanation of what was going on. Finally, we're led to Central Park where we join several other groups, still waiting for the bus which did not arrive until 2:30. Fine. That is not unexpected for Central America. We pile on the bus with a very interesting assortment of fellow hikers, many of whom had decided not to shower for at least a week prior. The odor on the bus was not pleasant.

After about 30 minutes of driving, the bus suddenly pulls over into a gas station. It appears that the engine has overheated, so the bus driver begins pouring water on the engine in an attempt to cool it off. Do they call for another bus? Of course not! They fixed the problem, or so they thought. So we all piled back onto the bus and resume our trip, now an hour behind schedule. The engine overheated two more times on the way there, and again several times on the way home. It became amusing after a while.

Once we arrived at the base of Pacaya, we were all very ready to stretch our legs and begin our fairly steep climb upward. There were men riding horses all around, calling themselves, "Taxis". In other words, if you were too much of a wimp to finish the hike, you could pay them money to let you ride their horse to the top. All well and good, except horses drop stuff... on the very same narrow path that we were hiking. Yuck. So the climb up was a little harder that we were expecting it to be, but great exercise and the views were incredible.

Once we finished the hike up the mountain part, we began the tedious trek over the porous (and sharp, I might add) volcanic rock. There was a good 45 minutes of climbing over that before we got close to the lava, but man, was it worth it. We got to see several little explosions up close, and a constant flow of lava slowly oozing out of the side of the volcano. People were roasting marshmallows over the steam vents, and our snack of cheese and crackers that we brought became one big lump of gooey food. By the time we finished exploring and taking pictures, it was getting dark. How were we going to get back over the rock and down the steep, sandy, rocky path without the flashlight our tour guide told us we would not need? This, it turns out, was a very good question.

We now know what it feels like to walk down a mountain blind. It was pitch black, and only one little flashlight 15 feet ahead of us gave us some inkling of where our next step should be. The moon was conveniently behind the clouds. People were slipping and falling left and right. And our guide (who makes this trek twice a day, seven days a week) was moving at lightning speed. Our poor shoes... sand all through them, and on the bottom? Horse droppings. Finally, we reached the bottom of the mountain, very proud of ourselves for finishing without breaking any bones, and more than ready for a shower. Climbing back on the bus was a necessary evil to reach the cleansing that was beckoning to us. And let's just say that the odor on the bus.. well, it was worse on the way back. Sweat and horse droppings. A day well spent.

During one of our many stops on the bus, we encountered these three very dirty and poor kids and their pet goats. Reade gave them each one quetzal (about 13 cents to us) which absolutely made their day.






Our "taxis".









This was the view from about two thirds up the mountain. We still had more mountain to go, and then all of those lava fields up the volcano.









We were just beginning the lava field at this point. We still had a long way to go.













We would be right next to all of that flowing lava in less than thirty minutes.




This is our view from the lava fields at sunset. The three volcanoes in the background surround Antigua. The big one in front is Volcan de Agua, the far left is Fuego (also active), and in the middle is Acatenango, thought it is hard to see.





You can see the steady lava flow just behind us.

Semana Santa - Holy Week

Muslims go to Mecca and Guatemalans go to Antigua. It's Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Antigua and this town has swelled from 50,000 to 200,000 people. Basically it's a BIG PARTY mixed with reverence.

The most important day, interestingly enough, is Good Friday, not Easter Sunday. The crucifiction of Jesus is heavily emphasized and less so, the resurrection. There are enormous processions through the streets of people all dressed in purple carrying huge "andas" - floats that resemble huge tombs decorated to celebrate Jesus' death. It takes sometimes 100 of these men carrying them. The floats emerge from a cloud of incense so thick that one night it seemed the whole town was on fire. The processions last for days. People in them walk over the intricate and beautiful alfombras (carpets), a symbol of reverence, like rolling out the red carpet for Jesus. Locals and visitors spend hours making the alfombras out of colored sawdust, flowers and fruits. Apparently they cost like $10,000 Quetzales each, or $1,300 - a lot of money here!

We were sad to miss celebrating Easter with family, but it is nice to be with our friends, Andrea and Luke Wallenbeck. They didn't make any alfombras, but they did roll out the red carpet for us! They've been here several months, and the transition to a new life of sorts is certainly easier with good friends who know their way around and are familiar with the language, culture, and traditions. We were lucky to have Ryan and Emily in Belize, too, but once Andrea and Luke leave, we're on our own!


This is a very typical anda. The men in purple are carrying it on their shoulders amongst crowds of people.


The andas at nighttime were particularly beautiful.


This is one of the most beautiful alfombras that we saw. Making one seems to be a labor of love; an offering of sorts.


There was so much incense that it was like walking through a cloud.


Lisa with our friend, Andrea, at Central Park during Semana Santa.

Alas! Atingua, Guatemala

After 24 hours of bus rides to travel what would be a 4 hour trip in the U.S., we're finally in Antigua, Guatemala. We are starting to feel a little bit settled, in that we got to unpack and sleep in this morning. We tried to find hotels or hostels that had availability when we got into town yesterday morning, but had no luck since what appears to be all of Guatemala is here to celebrate Easter. So we were lucky to find a language school that was actually open, and we signed up for our first week of classes.

The best part is that they have families that host their students, and the family that we're staying with was willing to host us immediately, even though we don't start classes until Monday. They're this sweet older couple, and they speak literally no English. So we've been speaking a lot of Spanish. They regularly host language students, so there are a few other people staying with them from Denmark. Antigua really is a mixing bowl of cultures since it's the nicest and most touristy part of Guatemala. Being here is a pretty good deal: $150 per person a week gets us a room, 3 meals per day, and 20 hours of Spanish classes a week. We're excited to jump right in to this new city and culture.







Welcome to Antigua!












This is the backdrop of our city on clear days. On the left is Volcan de Fuego (still active), and the two peaks on the right belong to Voldan de Acatenango. Just gorgeous.






This is an archway on a typical street in Antigua. We could really get used to this.

Culture Shock 101

Let's just say that things aren't always what you would expect... Yeah, we were ready for differences in life but we weren't totally sure what to anticipate.

So here's a list of surprises we have encountered in Central America (not including the toilet surprise). We're in a whole other world. Our entries will almost never be this long, but there are so many things that we're absorbing right off the bat. Hopefully you'll find this interesting, or at least be entertained by it. We are certainly entertained by most of it, even though some experiences we could have done without.

1. Dog Days
The dogs are most definitely not the cuddly housepets that they are in America. Most of them wander the streets at all hours, hoping to find a morsel of food to sustain their scrawny, mangy bodies. They are dirty and sick, and many of them have serious infections that cause their bodies to either shrink or grow in abnormal ways. It is more obvious on the females, if you catch our drift, although the males are pretty nasty too. Be careful or they will brush up against you. One of the dogs we saw was a female who was so skinny her ribs stuck out, and her backside looked like elephant's skin with open sores all over it. She actually looked like a hyena. (See the picture to the right.) We've never seen anything like it. People certainly do not pet them, and often hiss or throw things at them to keep them as far away as possible. These sick dogs are the lepers of the current Central American culture we have seen so far.

2. Cold, But Clean
Just because a hotel says they have hot water, it does not mean that they ACTUALLY do have hot water. Either that or they take great liberties with the word: "hot". In other words, in some cases, "hot" = 70 degrees here.

3. What's The Rush?
Time here is given in very loose approximate generalizations. For example, we were told that a bus ride along the bumpy and mostly unpaved road from Belize City to Flores, Guatemala would take four hours. Let's just say that at the four hour mark, we had just passed through customs on the border and had another three hours to go. Almost double the predicted amount of time. Needless to say, this was not our favorite part of the trip.

4. Gone Without A Trace
So we're in the Middle of Nowhere, Guatemala on a pothole filled dirt road and our bus driver suddenly pulls over, puts the bus in park, and gets off. After 5 minutes, we start to wonder where he is, so the passengers get out.... but no bus driver to be found. He's vaporized, gone without a trace. Didn't tell anybody - even the native passengers - anything. We look around and notice the muffler is half gone. (See picture to the right.) We are reassured by all the people that stop to help and even get out - you'd never find that in the U.S. About 10 minutes later the driver is driven up in a car with the other 1/2 of the muffler in tow. I guess he'll weld it back on later... in the U.S. we'd have just trashed it.

5. To Sue Or Not To Sue
We left our clothes at the laudromat with very specific instructions of how to wash them. There are very few self-serve laudromats. When we returned to pick up our clothes, the lady informed us a pen had apparently fallen into the dryer and some clothes were damaged. Some... maybe she meant sum... sum of $300 damaged. Our only clothes are now tainted by blue speckles. Oh well, this is Central America.

6. Please Do Not Feed The Animals...
But feel free to touch them. We walked out of our hotel room in Belize one morning to find a leashed monkey sitting on a bench.
As soon as it saw our friend Emily, the little monkey (who you can see in the picture) reached out its extraordinarily long arms, stood on its extraordinarily long legs, and wrapped its extraordinarily long tail around her unsuspecting waist. After many laughs and pictures, we were finally able to pry Emily's new monkey friend away. The next day, we went snorkling out by the Barrier Reef off the coast of Belize in a spot called Shark Ray Alley. It is aptly named this, as nurse sharks and sting rays abound. Scary? Apparently these animals are very gentle unless provoked. To prove the point, our guide came up from the ocean floor with a giant sting ray in his arms, which he held until we could all give it a little touch. I tell you, Steve Irwin would have been impressed.

7. Beware The Water
We always knew that you shouldn't drink tap water in Central America, but what we didn't relize is that you shouldn't even use it to brush your teeth. After we discovered this fact and were really careful about not getting water in our mouths when we showered, the curiously ill feeling in Lisa's stomach magically disappeared. Nasty.

8. Follow The Locals
The best food is almost always found at little stands or holes in the walls where the locals congregate. Central American food and drink is surprisingly good, and very cheap. Our favorite place to eat in Belize was at a sweet El Salvadorian family's stand. The cook: Maria Estella. She's a genius with food. And we never paid more than $10 there for very filling meals.

9. Count Your Blessings
We are very, very spoiled in the U.S. Almost all of the houses we saw driving through Belize and Guatemala were run down little one or two room shacks. Electicty... maybe. AC... 99% without.
And that's just the beginning. They live very simply and really have not known any differently. As much as we love the comforts of home, there is great appeal in living simply. The picture shows a very common house for what we've seen so far of Central America.

10. You Can Always Surprise Yourself
Though many people in Central America at least speak a little bit of English, the easiest way to communicate with locals is in Spanish. We have surprised ourselves with how much we are able to speak, but are also very humbly aware of how much learning we have left. We really want to absorb the culture, and mastering the language as much as we can will help us do that. We're really excited about that part.

11. Big Hair
Since Central America is very humid, girls, beware: your hair can become 4 times the size that you know it to be. Bandanas have become one of Lisa's greatest friends.

12. Where's The Java?
Sadly, I have found only one coffee shop in all of Central America thus far that sells even halfway decent coffee. Ironically, a lot of the best coffee in the States comes from Guatemala. Go figure.

Okay, we won't bore you anymore, but with the good and the bad, we would not trade this experience for anything and are looking forward to all the lessons we have to learn ahead of us.