Goings on in Antigua

So while I've been writing about my excursions, I've also been up to a lot!

For example, a few weeks ago, I attended the Miss Antigua pageant with the Gilmore Girls and Nealy! It was crazy! It started at 7pm and it went till 3 or 4am! We left at 9pm, but everyone was screaming and cheering the entire time! Not only that, they all had whistles! I kid you not, my left ear was ringing for a day and half after the pageant.

We were the only gringos in the whole place! Most of the seats were filled so we were standing along the walls and a Guatemalan lady took pity on us and recruited us to cheer for her niece! She even gave us whistles.

The pageant seemed to consist solely of a never ending succession of dances. And not Guatemalan dances - there were belly dances, fan dances, salsa - pretty much everything!

Our girl won! She's the one in pink in the middle! We didn't stay long enough to see her crowned, but I ran into her in the street in Antigua a few days later and she told me she had won! Pretty cool!

I also ate shrimp ceviche that I purchased out of the back of a pickup truck! It was good - and I didn't get sick!

We've been visiting the carnival a decent amount. I finally had some elote loco, but it wasn't very good :(

My last day of classes was last Friday! I'm just relaxing and doing some travelling this week. This is a picture of me with my maestras! On the left in the green is Olga - she was my maestra for 10 weeks. Julia, on the right, was my maestra for my last week. Julia's also cheating in this picture ... she's standing on a step - she's not nearly that tall! Haha!

Let's see ... what else have I been up to ... Toured a jade factory. Took a tour of Antigua. Went to see the new Harry Potter movie in Guatemala City with Ellsworth and Ann-Marita. The Gilmores, Julianelles, and I had dinner at Kid's Restaurant. It's a charity in which kids cook and serve a meal and then all the money they earn is used to pay for their school. It was pretty cool - they were practicing their English with us and running around it little waiter outfits!

In about an hour, I'm heading to Semuc Champey. I wasn't going to go cause it's a pretty long trip, but several people told me it was their favorite place in Guatemala so I've got to do it! I'll let you know how it was!

Lago Atitlan

Last Saturday morning, Sioned and I set off for Lake Atitlan!

It was a great trip! After about two and a half hours in a van we arrived at Panajachel ... which is not great. It's just an okay city. As soon as we got of the van we were accosted by people trying to take us to hotels or boats or whatever. I really dislike being hustled. But we found our way to the dock and a took a ride across the lake to Santiago.

The lake is beautiful! It's ringed all the way round by verdant volcanoes and the shore is dotted with villages. One of these mountains is supposed to look like the face of an old Mayan dude. If you look at it from left to right, you can see his forehead, eye, nose, mouth, and ... well you know the parts of a face.

Oh, I also found a setting on my camera called color accent - pretty cool, right?

Supposedly there was some kind of festival going on in Santiago. When we arrived, there were lots of booths set up selling all the usual handicrafts. We didn't dally for long. After lunch we hopped back on a boat and went to San Pedro.

San Pedro is a nice little village. Very granola as Donna would say - lots of gringo hippies and lots of people selling weed. It's a neat village built on a hill with lots of really, really narrow winding roads. There's a huuuuge church at the top of the hill where we could hear people singing from time to time.

We got a room at Casa Elena - really nice place on the top floor with a fantastic view of the lake and a hammock on the patio! After dropping our stuff at the hotel, we wandered the city for awhile. Most of the people of San Pedro dress very traditionally - we even saw a few men in traditional dress. It's kinda like a kilt made out of the same material the women make their dresses out of.

Near the top of the hill, we found a place that made chocolate covered frozen bananas! Sioned had never tried one before so we had to go for it.

We chilled at the hotel for awhile enjoying the hammock and then headed out for tacos. They were quite tasty. After tacos it was hot tub time! There are a few places between the Panajachel and Santiago that take water from the nearby volcano and heat it in a series of black coiled pipes. Then they fill up a few small pools for us to chill in!

All day we kept encountering this lady who was trying to sell us banana bread. We decided to get some to take to the hot tubs, but we couldn't find her! We wandered for awhile until, about to give up hope, we rounded a corner and a woman materialize with a basket of chocolate cakes! It was like magic. We bought a couple slices and headed to the tubs.

It was really nice and relaxing. Besides a group of four Germans (I think), we were the only people there. It was completely dark with a few candles for light and there was a really nice breeze. The setting was nice too - we were surrounded by exotic trees and plants and had a view of the lake!

After a few bites of cake, I set it on the side of the tub. Awhile later, I took another bite of cake ... and it bit me back! Our cakes were covered in ants! They were biting my face and hands! At first I was annoyed, but then Sioned pointed out, "I'd probably bite you too if you were eating my cousins." No idea how many ants I ate ...

The next morning we went for a dip in the lake near where the locals bathe and wash their clothes. The water was chilly but refreshing! After a great breakfast at Cafe La Puerta, we rented a couple of really sketchy kayaks and spent an hour cruising around the lake. The wind came up though ... it's really hard to kayak against the wind!

We headed back to Cafe La Puerta for lunch and then were on our merry way back to Antigua! Except there was a little hiccup in our return trip. We were half an hour down the road when our driver got a call saying that there was someone else who had just called the travel agency and wanted a ride ... So instead of telling this person "sorry, gonna have to catch the next shuttle," we turned around and drove back to pick them up!!! Added an hour to our trip. Ridiculous.

Epilogue

Decided to add some final thoughts about the motorcycle trip before moving on with the blog ...

Nealy is a great motorcycle passenger! Most people lean around corners or when they see an obstacle in the road - this latter habit is really dangerous, cause then the driver is not only dodging rocks or pothole or whatever, but also trying to compensate/steer against the passenger! Nealy didn't do any backseat driving! I could tell when she got scared though cause she would squeeze me with her knees - haha!

When she first arrived in Guatemala, she got a little scared when we were cruising through the neighborhood, but by the end of the trip, she had nerves of steel!

Everyone we talked to was very helpful. We stopped and asked lots of people for directions - people at gas stations, people we shared a refuge from the rain with, people just walking by the side of the highway! But it turns out that most people in Central America are not good at estimating distance or time. We would stop and ask directions to learn that we were only half an hour from our destination. Twenty minutes later, we'd stop and learn from someone that we're forty minutes away. Then we'd arrive in an hour. Haha! The only thing consistent about the time/distance estimations we received was that they were unreliable. Eventually we only asked which direction to go.

The signage was pretty unreliable too! Guatemala has okay signage - at major crossroads, there's usually a sign telling if there's a large city down the road. It was really tough to tell where we were at any given time. Fortunately there's an election going on and we could sometimes decipher where we were from the advertisements. In Honduras, there was usually a sign at the entrance to each town! Unfortunately, there were no other road signs. Which is why we missed the turn to the ruins. Although, on the way back from our detour there were a bunch of signs pointing to the ruins! Why would they only provide signage for southbound traffic?!

We also notice that the Hondurenos have a very strange accent - they were very difficult to understand. Which is when I realized that I'm learning Guatemalan Spanish. Guess that should've been obvious.

Some people have been wondering what was the scariest part of the trip. It was a little hairy driving the the mountains of Honduras in a cloud, and driving through Guatemala City at night in the rain with a chain that should've fallen off was a little alarming. But probably the most concerning thing was travelling with a pretty little blonde girl! Especially in the non-touristy towns. People would stare at us (and by us, I mean mostly Nealy) as we approached and then as we walked past, they turned to continue staring. We especially drew stares in Jutiapa. I really didn't want to have to stab a guy.

In Juayua, there was a group of old drunk guys that kept yelling "hello" at us. Living in Chicago taught me to ignore people. Nealy, on the other hand hasn't learned this skill from living in a large city. She responded to them! Likewise, when the occasional person would try to sell us something or hustle us, she'd say "que?" I had to keep reminding her to ignore them!

I wore jeans on this trip so I didn't burn the tops of my knees. But I did get a weird hand tan. Just from my wrists to the middle knuckle of my fingers.

Back to Antigua!

So everyone says you know you're getting good at Spanish when you start dreaming in Spanish. Hasn't happened for me yet, but according to Nealy I talk in my sleep in Spanish! Evidently I was yelling something in Spanish - she doesn't remember what it was. But I'm sure it didn't make sense - most people are unintelligible when they sleep talk in their native language!

We got an early start on Thursday - we probably left Santa Rosa de Copan around 8am. The early start is key when you're motorcycling through Central America in the rainy season. We had a beautiful drive! The scenery was amazing.

We were headed to the ruins at Copan, a trip which should've taken us two or two and a half hours. Unfortunately we missed our turn and were well on our way to the Mosquito Coast before we corrected our course. When we drove through the town where we were supposed to turn west toward the ruins, there were no signs indicating where to turn or even the names of the roads so I missed the turn. My gut was telling me we were in the town where we needed to turn, but I ignored my instincts and kept on driving.

Soon after the town where we missed our turn, we came down out of the mountains and into the plains. The road was straight and flat and lined with cattle ranches. It was a really pleasant drive until we stopped, asked directions, and turned around to begin backtracking. All told, our little detour probably cost us two hours. This lost time would become fairly significant later.

Having found the right road, we made it to Copan Ruinas (the town half a kilometer from the ruins) about noon. We stopped at a Western Union to use their ATM and got directions to Comedor Mary from their shotgun toting security guard. Comedor Mary has good food! And, as you can see from this picture, they don't have a guy at the door patting people down.

Following lunch, we grabbed some cake at Cafe Welchez and then headed to the ruins. Almost as soon as we got to the ruins it started raining!

The ruins were nice! Not nearly as huge and impressive as Tikal, but nice. There were lots more intact carvings too.

Evidently the Mayans built temples on top of temples and at Copan, a few of the earlier temples are still in really good condition inside the newer temples. They're excavating them and there are two tunnels that you can go into and see the older temples underneath. Pretty cool, but they clearly weren't built with gringos in mind!

We got back on the road again with a Plan A and a Plan B. Originally, we had planned on staying in Zacapa Thursday night, but with our early start, we had a change of heart. Our new Plan A was to go all the way back to Antigua. The only reason we were going to stop in Zacapa was to break up the drive - not really anything we wanted to see there. If we pushed all the way through we'd have more time in Antigua with the Gilmores. Plan B was to stop in Zacapa if the going got rough.

The border crossing back into Guatemala went pretty smoothly. The only difficulty was the huge line of semis we had to maneuver through once again.

We stopped just shy of Zacapa for gas and the attendant told us that from where we were, it took a bus 4 hours to get to Guatemala City. He thought it would take us even longer on a motorcycle. But he didn't know that I drive that little 200cc Chinese wonder like it's a real motorcycle! It was (I think) about 5:15pm when we left the gas station.

As we sailed through Zacapa, we resolved to make it to Antigua! The road from Zacapa to Guatemala City is called something like the Atlantic Highway, I think. It's supposed to be a highway, but it goes through about a million little towns each full of speed bumps. And there was lots of semi traffic. It was slow going, but the speed bumps are actually pretty good places to pass people. Everyone's going slow and you can zip around them on the motorcycle!

Anyway, we eventually made it out of the villages and into the mountains. There was still lots of traffic, and by now it was dark. We were 70 kilometers from Guatemala City cruising along until suddenly, we heard a disturbingly loud noise and the bike lost power. The engine was running, but when I gassed it, nothing happened! I pulled to the shoulder (thankfully, there was a shoulder) and hopped off the bike.

I was afraid that the transmission had quit on me. I'd been pushing the little bike pretty hard through the mountains and I was sure that it had finally given up. I was laboring under this misconception when Nealy noticed that the chain had come off the gear on the rear wheel! It's a good thing she noticed too, cause I was about to hop back on and gas it again - which could've really damaged the chain. I was so glad it was just the chain! I managed to re-seat the chain, and after Nealy took her sweet time getting back on the motorcycle, we were back underway.

Not gonna lie, I was super nervous for the rest of the trip. I was afraid we were gonna throw the chain again - an especially unnerving prospect once we got into Guatemala City. Not the kinda place you wanna have pull over and make a repair after dark, in the rain (yes, it started raining again just as we made it to the outskirts of the city). Every bump we went over, I could hear the chain smacking against it's guards.

But she held! And we didn't get lost! I'd traveled through Guatemala City enough times that I was able to find the way this time! And, to top it all off, it only took us three hours to make it to the capital from Zacapa!

Once we made it to the southwest side of the city, it was a short ride to Antigua where we picked up a Pollo Campero feast and made it back to the house safe and sound! We were also incredibly sore after about eight or nine hours on a dirt bike that probably wasn't intended for cross country tours :)

All-in-all a fantastic trip!

Tomorrow morning, I head to Lago Atitlan with Sioned, my Welsh friend, so you may not hear from me for a couple of days!

Honduras

I know it sounds unbelievable (and we were pretty surprised by this as well) but the landscape changes almost immediately after you cross the border!

Through breaks in the rain, we noticed that the red brick houses were replaced by wooden houses! The mountains are different too - they're much more abrupt and imposing. They shoot straight up and then back down again! The soil is rocky and there are lots of pine trees. The soil and vegetation actually reminded me of central Colorado a little bit ... except that it's greener and there were palm trees mixed in with the pines!

Amongst Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, Honduras takes the prize for sheer jaw-dropping natural beauty. Just unbelievably gorgeous! But we didn't really get to see much of the scenery our first day in Honduras.

The people are different too. They're taller, bigger, and fairer complected than Guatemalans and Salvadorenos. We even saw a few obese people - definitely not something you see in Guatemala or El Salvador.

There are cows everywhere and the men look like cowboys - they wear skinny jeans, boots, big belt buckles, and cowboy hats! Lots of them even carry guns! It wasn't uncommon to see one of these guys with a 9mm tucked into his belt.

Shortly after crossing the border, our journey took us up into the mountains - and into the clouds! We were literally driving through the clouds! Sounds kinda cool in theory, and for about the first 30 seconds it was pretty neat. But here's the thing about driving through clouds ... you can't see anything. At all.

Let me paint you a picture. We're driving through the mountains on Honduras on a 200cc dirtbike. Our only company on this carretera (highway/road) are semi trucks. We're in a cloud so we're soaking wet and my visibility is about 20 feet if I'm lucky. The only way I can tell if there's a curve coming up (and, indeed, which way the road is going to turn), and avoid careening off a cliff, is to watch the edge of the pavement in order to have a few seconds warning.

Added to this is the fact that Honduras has terrible roads! There are regularly stretches where the pavement abruptly turns into, not just a dirt road, but a field of massive potholes. We also ran across a few mud/rock slides, the occasional downed tree, and my personal favorite - the missing lane! That's exactly what it sounds like. There were a few places where the cliff had eroded to the point that the pavement had crumbled and fallen off the side of the mountain ... and half the lane was missing!

With the driving conditions so poor, we didn't make very good time. We had planned to go to Gracias, but after (I think) six hours on the road, we had to stop for the night in Santa Rosa de Copan, soaking wet and freezing cold. It's a town that is quite literally built on top of a mountain. After finding a hotel and hitting an ATM, we went to dinner!

At the restaurant, the guy at the door patted me down. He told me he was looking for guns! That took me back a bit. But dinner was good! The steaks (and really the beef in general) are great in Honduras!

I don't remember if we did anything after dinner ... seems like I did, but it's not coming to me ...

We had to be back to the hotel by 10pm because the old gentleman who tends the place closes it up for the night! He pulls down one of those metal, garage-door looking things and there's no getting in or out after that. This kinda made Nealy nervous. She was convinced that the hotel used to be a hospital (I helpfully suggested that perhaps it was a children's mental hospital) and she was a bit creeped out. Then, somehow she began to worry about zombies - but after we hastily threw together an evacuation plan she calmed down a bit and we got some sleep.

Oh! Our room was also interesting in that the only thing separating the toilet from the room was a shower curtain. Also, there was no toilet seat.

Pais numero tres

Slept pretty well - despite the drunk singing in the street outside our hotel. Then in the morning, we woke up to the sound of singing again, but this time the singer sounded sober - don't think it was the same guy.

On Tuesday night after dinner, Nealy and I had arranged for a guide to take us on a hike to some waterfalls the next morning. We wanted to get back and get in some good rain-free morning driving so set the tour for 7:30am. Unfortunately, El Salvador evidently runs on Guatemala time too because Douglas, our guide, didn't show up until 8:20. And that was only cause the girl at the front desk called him twice.

Douglas was a really nice guy. He lead us through a coffee plantation and on to a series of waterfalls. The first one was enormous - we only saw it from the top, but it was scary high - easily a couple hundred feet. The rest were relatively short. They have a pretty neat system, actually. They've built a series of walls along the side of the mountain just beneath all of these waterfalls. This creates a series of pools which each of which flow along the side of the mountain into the next pool through a series of tunnels, until finally, they cascade down the side of the mountain in a 200 meter waterfall whose power is harnessed to generate energy hydroelectrically.

We actually swam through one of the tunnels! Evidently Nealy doesn't do well with long dark tunnels full of swift flowing water and little breathing room. I had to call her a chicken to get her to do it - I know it was a low blow, but it had to be done! At first I didn't know why the guide went with us - to the untrained eye it looked like the tunnel simply started in one pool and ended in the next. However, it turns out that in order to end up in the second pool you have to take a right where the tunnel branches ... otherwise you head down the tube to the 200 meter drop ... so ... yeah.

After a swim in one of the pools (which were very clean and refreshing) we headed back to town. On the way back through the coffee farm, Douglas showed us a tree called a Pimienta Gorda. The leaves had an incredible and unique smell! I really liked it, but it made Nealy a bit light headed. Douglas said the locals use it to help them get over colds and stomach problems.

Back at the hotel, we picked up our laundry (we had to pay $6 to have it dried after driving through the rain!) and headed to Comedor Karlita for breakfast. Good stuff! And, as is my wont, I gave the proprietor's little girl a sucker. I've been passing them out to kids here in Central America. Evidently that's not incredibly creepy in this part of the world ...

As soon as we got on the motorcycle it started to sprinkle. Ridiculous. But eventually we drove out of it ... then back into it ... then out of it again ... then into it again ...

Our path to Honduras took us through Santa Ana, and once again we got turned around - because there were no signs! Haha! After asking three people for directions, we were finally back on the road again.

The fastest route to Honduras from our location in El Salvador was to go back to Guatemala first. The El Slavador/Guatemala border crossing went smoothly after we maneuvered our way through the long line of waiting semi trucks.

The Guatemala/Honduras border crossing was a bit more of a hassle. It was raining pretty good and the semis were packed in so tight that it took a little doing to get around them. At the border were the usual money changers, but also some guys trying to help us with paperwork for tips. I'm always wary of these deals cause I've had some unfavorable experiences at border crossings with scammers. We got through immigration pretty easily - although they did want to see a bunch of paperwork for my motorcycle (the first and only time this came up). But about 20 meters past the border there was a national police checkpoint. The officer stopped us and asked us where we were coming from. I misunderstood and told him our destination - Gracias Lempira. He repeated his question and I told him we had come from Guatemala ... seemed kind of like a no-brainer since we were at the Guatemala/Honduras border crossing, but I played along. Then he asked if we had family in Gracias ... Once again, I'm not sure what it was about two gringos that made him think we might have family ... well, anywhere in Honduras, but I played along again and said "no."

Then the officer proceeded to give us a thorough looking over! Haha! After an uncomfortable silence during which he scrutinized us, he let us pass! Hahaha! I couldn't believe it! Was he considering having us turn around and head back to Guatemala? For the love ...

Our encounter with Officer Friendly and the pouring rain gave us a less than favorable first impression of the country. But we soon came around!

This post is getting long, so I'll tell you about the rest of day three later!

Juayua

Day two of our trip started late - again.

I've grown accustomed to waking up at 6am everyday. Crazy, right? I've never consistently woken up this early in my life! Getting up early isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. But on Tuesday, we both independently decided to sleep in a bit. It was raining in the morning - which is kind of rare - and neither of us relished the idea of starting a trip in the rain, so we snoozed for awhile. Also, there were geckos in our room that were chirping during the night.

After the rain let up, we grabbed breakfast at a little restaurant that Nealy had spotted the night before. It was delicious and really cheap. Beans make a really solid, long-lasting breakfast, and almost every Guatemalan breakfast includes beans. So with some beans and eggs under our belts, we set off for the El Salvador border!

The rain held off for awhile and the views were fantastic!

It started to rain shortly before we arrived at the border. The crossing from Guatemala into El Salvador would be the easiest of the trip. No wait, no hassle, no kilometer long line of semi-trucks to maneuver through. Very easy and pleasant.

Having crossed into El Salvador, we noticed changes immediately! The houses, the people, even the landscape seemed to change subtly. We were surprised to see that most of the houses in El Salvador were made of red brick - not the cinder blocks covered with plaster that're the staple of Guatemalan homes. The people of El Salvador are fairer complected than the people of Guatemala - they must have less Mayan heritage ...

Not too long after entering El Salvador, we made it to Santa Ana. It's a pretty decent sized city, and, of course, we got lost. Central America really has issues with road signage. We stopped in central park to get our bearings and soon were back on the road to Juayua (pronounced "why-ooh-ah") and once again, it began to rain. The rain let up long enough for us to stop at a scenic overlook and interrupt a couple who was making out to ask directions.

Nealy thought I looked like a Lego person with my helmet on so she had me strike the Lego pose :)

We were on the right road, and soon we turned off the highway onto the small windy mountain road to Juayua! And then it started to really pour. We were both completely soaked almost instantly! There were lots of buses that were powering through the rain - pretty impressive considering the road conditions. We even saw one truck that had run off the road! Several mudslides and small over-road streams later, we made it to Juayua.

Juayua is a great little town! Very pretty and friendly. And for the most part, cheap! Our first stop was at the local grocery store to use the ATM. It was weird to get US dollars! The whole country uses US currency - pretty interesting. Anyway, we cruised around a bit and ended up at a restaurant called RR. We ordered some steaks, which were ok, but the the salads that came with them were fantastic! Also, their bathroom was awesome. They realized they weren't going to use the tub, so they got creative!

Our meal was pretty expensive. Actually, throughout the entire trip we seemed to manage to find the most expensive restaurants, so we learned not to always go with our first choice.

After our late lunch, we cruised around looking for a hotel that a Lonely Planet guide had given good reviews. We couldn't find it, but we did find a street vendor cooking some kind of delicious coconut corn bread between banana leaves. She and her daughter had no idea where the hotel was, but eventually, a couple ladies came by to get some coconut bread and one of them was able to tell us how to get there!

The hotel/hostel was nice, if a bit expensive. Plus, I was able to park the moto in a nearby hostel!

Nealy and I wandered the town for awhile. It's a fun little town - wouldn't have minded spending a couple days there! For dinner, we found a pupuseria. We ordered 3 or 4 pupusas and a couple drinks and our total was only $3.80! The pupusas were fantastic.

Que triste

So Nealy heads back to the US tomorrow. Que triste (how sad). But, there's a food festival in Antigua tomorrow! I think that'll help me overcome the separation anxiety :)

Before breakfast, we drove up to Santo Domingo's restaurant on the mountain. It was incredible! The landscaping is extensive and really beautiful and there are great views of Antigua!

She and I spent the day shopping! Haggling with the vendadoras (sales women) is good Spanish practice. Not gonna lie though, it's pretty exhausting after awhile. I'm kinda looking forward to the fact that when I walk into a store in the States the price is set. Way simpler :)

Kara's also leaving tomorrow, so we had a little going away night out. Our first stop was ... I forget the name now - "Someone's" Tacos. Can't remember the name of the guy. It was literally a hole in the wall - the door isn't so much a door as a hole that's been knocked in a wall facing the street. There's not even a sign indicating that it's a restaurant. I'll have to take a picture to show you.

According to a doctor at Kara's clinic, they have the best tacos in Antigua. So, we go in, sit down, and the proprietor approaches. He doesn't ask us what kind of tacos we want, only how many! Hahaha! We each ordered two of what turned out to be potato and pork tacos. Though to be honest, I don't really think there was actually any pork in them. But they were pretty tasty and incredibly cheap!

Afterwards, we climbed to the terrace of Cafe Sky for dessert! I think mine was the best - I ordered tiramisu. Although Kara had some kind of a chocolate licuado with ice cream that was pretty fantastic. Nealy and Ann-Marita had some brownies that weren't too impressive.

There was a band in the park too! It was pretty interesting. A keyboard and drum combo. The crowd wasn't into it so we didn't stay long. Also, check out this huge cockroach!

Now I have four hours to sleep until I have to get up and catch the shuttle to Guatemala City with Nealy tomorrow morning! I'll tell you more about our tour of El Salvador and Honduras later!