Reports from my time in Central America

11.03.2007

Yes, you guessed right! I am on the road again. After a bit more than two month in Europe I had decided that I need to explore more of the Latin culture. As weather conditions suggested, I decided for Central America. It is the dry season now. Well, there is still enough rain here, so it is not really ¨dry¨.

I arrived here in Costa Rica on March 1st. One day later than expected due to a 26 hour delay of my flight from Amsterdam to the North American continent. I will spend the first two and a half weeks with my sister and brother-in-law in Costa Rica before I move slowly northwards through Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize, having my flight back to Europe from Mexico at the end of April.

On the first day after my arrival, we decided to go to the east coast, to a small laid back village called Cahuita. A hot 4 hour bus ride from the capital San Jose, we arrived there, finding a lovely place to stay right on the beach. It was a wooden house, smelling slightly moldy (as most of the places do, due to the constantly humid weather conditions) but being about 15 meters away from the ocean. Hammocks everywhere invited to hang out lazily to take care of the jetlag.

Ocean seen from the hammock and lizard in the sun

One day, we went to the Cahuita National Park for snorkeling and a guided tour through the rain forest. I found the snorkeling great and was the last to be back on the boat although visibility was limited. There were quite some colorful fish to see and a few corals (a lot have been destroyed by a big storm a couple of years ago). First time I was in that kind of environment. Other people like my sister and brother-in-law did not find it so interesting. They have been doing a lot of diving before with greater visibility and more fish and corals and stuff. As I don’t have that kind of reference, I am still easy to impress.

Later on, we went to a nice white beach, having a picnic with pineapple. Some whiteface monkeys were hanging around there wanting to get some of the fruit. But they are not supposed to be fed, so they did not get any. One stole a piece out of my hand and I chased it around to get it back. But of course I cannot climb on trees so easily, so I did not get it. It was like playing with a cat.  Then we set off on a trail in the forest, discovering fauna and flora. We saw a second type of monkeys in the distance, the howler monkeys. Those relatively small animals make an impressive noise! An anteater was climbing up a tree; I did not know that they could climb trees.

Anteater climbing a tree

At one point, I had a package of peanuts out, as the picnic was not really filling. A nearby monkey thought it also a good idea to have some peanuts and decided to go for the package. Claws and teeth around my arm and fist, which was clenched around the peanuts. I could not let go of the peanuts - and actually did not want to - and the monkey did not want either. In the end I could shake it off and put the peanuts away (I won!) having scratches and bite marks on my hand. It was a bit swollen for a few days, but now I can almost use it normally again. Don’t worry, I have all the vaccines and there are no known diseases among the monkeys.

Curious monkey looking into our packs; looking so cure and then fighting for food…

The next day was planned to do a trip on horseback. The one hand ride (my ¨monkey hand¨ was not so useful at that time) went actually quite well for me. We went to a farm an hour away from where we set off on foot to a tiny lake with a waterfall in the middle of the jungle. A cozy place with cool water in the middle of greenery. It was only us and two iguanas, who were chasing one another. Very idyllic!

Waterfall in the forest; iguana

On the east coast a bit further north, only connected by water canals, you find Tortuguero, a small village turned by too much tourism into a strange mix of basic living and tourist trap. Their high season is when the turtles get on the beach to lay their eggs, which is not now. Still a lot of people come there wanting to see the national park close by. The best way to do seems to get on a kayak early in the morning at sunrise and be paddled through the labyrinth of canals by a good guide. Unfortunately, you might encounter other kayaks and worse still, some other boats making noise while using their motors. Still, we saw some interesting animals and in general it was a peaceful enough trip.

Sloth fell asleep close to water; our kayak guide in the morning

As you can reach Tortuguero only by boat or plane, you can also leave it only that way. We chose to take a boat ride up one river, which became almost too small to ship on (remember: dry season). At the end of it, there was a storage area and a few vehicles were waiting. Nothing else. A short while waiting and our driver arrived in a dilapidated Jeep. My sister was wondering, if this car could actually take us to our destination, the Volcano Arenal. Unfortunately, she was right and we had to change to a taxi. Well, not so bad in the end, as it was air conditioned.

The car broke down

The town La Fortuna is the place to start trips to the Volcano Arenal, a still active Volcano. Nobody is allowed close by, as some hot lava or rocks are spilled out regularly. You can hear those activities like a thunder in the distance. On an evening trip, you can see some of the lava coming out... when you are lucky and it is not cloudy. We were lucky and saw some of the red lava coming out... from a couple of safe kilometers of distance.

Lava coming out of the Volcano Arenal

Around the Volcano, we also went to a lava field, which has been spilled out in 1992. It is just rocks now, but left there in the landscape as an impressive highway. There, I discovered also another interesting thing, something I did not expect: orchids. We met a French group that was looking for orchids in Costa Rica and found  quite some of them. They gave me a brief introduction about how to recognize an orchid and showed me a few. Beautiful!

Orchids in the lava field

20.03.2007

After the visit of the Volcano Arenal, we took a Jeep - Boat - Jeep - transfer to Santa Elena in Monteverde. The Jeep was in fact a minibus on a very bumpy road and the boat trip was very wet. We had big rain and could not see much of the lake we crossed. Santa Elena had a fascinating climate. Drizzle rain came down on us but the ground was still so dry that the wind blew the sand and dust into our eyes. In that area, we went to a private park to see coati-mundis. The first one greeted us right at the entrance of the park. It was the only one that showed up that day for us but an agouti showed up instead of more coati-mundis. Both animals are part of the raccoon family (I was told, but it turns out that the agoutis are part of the guinea pig family) and quite cute looking.

Coati mundi and agouti

After having spent two days in this relatively cold mountain climate (wearing jeans and a pullover or light rain coat), we went to very hot Tamarindo at the west coast. According to the books you can see turtles there in the month of March, but the turtles don’t show up according to the books. Their egg laying time is at the beginning of the year, usually until mid February, so no turtle-time for us. Instead, we had some iguanas living in the patio of our hotel right at the beach. Tamarindo is a beach resort where I took a surfing lesson. For a first time, it was not so bad but I was more in the waves than on top of them.

Tamarindo beach

A public bus and a private transport brought us to the Rinconcito Lodge close to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park in the north of the country. There, I had one of the best days during the Costa Rica trip. From the lodge in a beautiful middle of nowhere we went off with horses to the entrance of the national park. The horses seemed to have a good time as they constantly tried to overtake one another... on a path that is roughly as wide as two horses. In the park, we could see mud pots and fumaroles and hot water sources. I found it amazing to see hot mud bubble like pea soup; it was a first for me. Halfway on the way back, we stopped our horses at a hot spring. This was in a completely natural setting in the forest. The hot water went into a cold water river and was collected in a small pool made of the local stones. No concrete at all, nothing man-made! We were the only ones in this environment and soaked for the best part of an hour.

Fumaroles and mud bubbling in Rincon de la Vieja National Park

Another long and hot bus ride brought us to Alajuela, close to the airport. The owner of the Cortez Azul Hotel was very helpful and pointed us to two activities. We went to see the Volcano Poas (you can see there are quite many volcanoes in Central America), which has on its top a crater lake and a few sulfurous fumaroles.

In that area, there is also the waterfall ¨Los Chorros¨. It is set in an enchanted environment and you can bath in the cool water right under the falling water.

Los Chorros waterfall

Unfortunately we chose a Sunday to get there when all the local families came to have their weekend BBQ. But still, it is a great place to be and just feel the time passing away with the water rushing down the fall.

Most of the visits or tours we did were organized with a guide. This is one of the things I did not like so much about Costa Rica. It is so difficult to get information about things to do that other tourists have not done before or that just the local people do. Everybody just wants to sell their tours. Even though I have seen great and amazing nature, I am a bit disappointed by Costa Rica as it also meant that I just went to see things and places. But I have to say I have no clue about how Costa Rican people are. And after all, discovering a bit of their culture was part of the things I came here for...

I took leave from my sister and her husband and have now left Costa Rica. A 10 hour bus ride brought me to Granada in Nicaragua. 3 of these 10 hours, we spent at the border, first queuing to get the stamp for leaving Costa Rica, then driving to the Nicaraguan authorities and another waiting for immigration stamp and luggage check. While we waited, hordes of ¨coyotes¨ with wads of money were around us wanting to exchange either US Dollars or Costa Rican Colones into Nicaraguan Cordobas.

At the border: waiting and exchanging money

I will now retreat with a book to a cozy hammock in the patio of this great hostel with swimming pool and think about what to do tomorrow. The few things I have seen from Granada as I carried my backpack through the town to the hostel were very welcoming and a friendly atmosphere greeted me here.

Market street in Granada; this could be my taxi (there are a lot of horse carriages in Granada)

30.03.2007

Granada is a nice but hot town. There are a few churches which you could visit, but I decided to spend my time there on the market and relaxing with a book in a hammock after all these days of travelling and visiting in Costa Rica. In the central park, I bought a necklace from an artisan named Louis. This is my first souvenir from Central America. The market in Granada is great. There are so many people around; everybody tries to sell something, shouting out the names of their goods to everyone without harassing anybody. Just busy sales people. I seem to be one of the few non Latinos in the market as I walk past chicken feet and some fruit I have never seen before.

Granada in the evening

After a few days I decided to get to Ometepe, an island in the big Nicaragua Lake. This island consists in fact of two volcanoes connected by an isthmus. I have decided to spend my time on a farm (Finca Magdalena) on the slope of the smaller of the two volcanoes. From Granada I take a bus. I get off in Rivas and locals first want to offer me a taxi. As they realise I want only a bus to the ferry, they run behind the minibus that is about to leave. They stop it for me and I get on immediately to the ferry.

The island Ometepe seen from the ferry; waiting for the bus on Ometepe in the middle of nowhere

On the island I get onto another bus, get off in the middle of nowhere. Just I and three locals are sitting on the street. We have a nice chat and they tell me about some cooperation works with Germany that exist on the island. A few community buildings have been erected in the past by German volunteers. Then my last bus of the day picks me up just to drop me off again in a small village named Balgüe. I carry my backpack in the heat up the volcano slope to the farm 1 km further uphill. All together, I had only half an hour waiting time for a transfer of 5 different transports. I realise that I am a lucky girl as other people tell me their buses didn’t show up or broke down. The travelling in the public transports is just great. I always meet some locals who want to have a chat and so I slowly get to know these friendly people.

The organic farm is a rustic place and exactly what I wanted. The first evening I was greeted by two tarantulas in the bathroom area. That night, I share my dorm with a German girl and her brother. She is living in Nicaragua and doing handicrafts. It turns out, that Louis, the one who sold me the necklace in Granada is one of her best friends. The world is small.

This island was a little paradise to me. Behind the farm, a trail starts uphill on the volcano. With Jo and Dave I take a hike up there. The first part is hot, although it is not yet 8 o’clock in the morning. The top of the volcano is completely clouded all mornings and some afternoons which leaves constant humidity in the upper part of the trail. So much in fact, that we start looking like pigs, the legs up to the knees covered in mud. But nature is fascinating. There are still a few clouds in the air and every single leaf is dripping with water. Enchanting.

At the crater lake on Ometepe; public transport in Nicaragua

After 3 hours of walking, we arrive at the rim of the crater and still can’t see anything because of the dense forest. We hike down into the crater and after 15 minutes the forest suddenly stops at the beach of a big crater lake. We can’t see the other side, as clouds still cover most of it. But suddenly a gust of wind sweeps the clouds away, letting the lake show off all its simple beauty. Apart from a few hummingbirds and frogs we seem to be the only ones in this little world.

On another day on the island, we went to an ¨Ojo de agua¨, which is basically a small half natural swimming pool. It was quite a few kilometres away and so we got a ride on a truck delivering goods to the local shops. It was quite bumpy but also fun standing on the truck having to hold on to what ever was there.

On Sunday, I wanted to leave the island but (surprise!) I was told there will be no public bus taking me to the ferry (I learned later on that this is not true...). Thus I stayed another day and had the occasion to swim in another Ojo de Agua closer by, playing balls with the local children and watching the monkeys in the trees, minding their own business.

Children bathing in the ¨Ojo de Agua¨; monkeys feeding on trees

Another surprise turned out in the form of another traveller, Tim, and his motorbike who wanted to get close to the ferry harbour that day but returned to the farm. He could not get through due to barricades on the streets. The local ferries have recently raised prices which makes it very difficult for the locals to transport their goods (a truck transport one way costs a weeks´ salary). So they wanted to raise attention in order to get an affordable ferry for their own purposes.

So we decided to team up and leave the farm early on Monday hoping that the barricades were gone or be able to get through. Thus, Tim strapped my backpack to his already loaded bike and I climbed onto the small space behind him. Then we left the farm before sunrise. For me, it was a great experience to sit on the back of his bike, having all the fresh air blowing around my nose and seeing the sun rise while driving along the beach road.

Then... we arrived at a barricade and the people would not let us through. I got off, discussed with the people and took pictures and even filmed the organiser with a little speech (5.1MB) about his cause which I promised to put on my webpage. Then the discussion turned to other subjects about their own life and a man invited me to take a picture of him and his bull. Finally, after having stayed at the barricade for an hour or more, they let us through. I still don’t know exactly why they let us through, but I think we have made some friends there. So we arrived at the harbour for breakfast time and caught the 9 o’clock ferry.

Waiting at the barrier (strike for ferry); man showing off his bull

I then took a couple of hot busses to arrive half a day too late to my language school at the Laguna de Apoyo, where I just have finished my last day of course. It is great there; I get up at 6, walk 30 metres to the warm crater lake and have a nice swim before breakfast. It is a nice and calm environment; we were sitting on the terrace having individual classes in the shade.

¨Classroom¨ at the language school; a praying mantis visiting in the kitchen

Guardabarranco (Motmot) Nicaragua’s national bird; Laguna de Apoyo seen from above

Male (left) and female (right) squirrels. The shade of grey vary in Central America between north and south

17.04.2007

During my week of language course I didn’t do much else than learning and my homework...and watching the environment around me. There were many wild animals close to the language school and they were easy to watch.

The local people I met there were nice. I had a discussion with a local carpenter who had been captain in the Sandinistas resistance and told me how he saw the recent political history. To my shame I realised that I did not know much at all about their history apart from a few ideas about corruption. He and a woman I met later on in a bus are two examples of people having a lot of hope in the current political leaders of Nicaragua. They believe that corruption has an end now and see with hope towards the future. I don’t know anything what is going on behind the scenes, but I can tell from this month in the country that for a tourist, it is a safe place to travel with friendly and helpful people all around.

Of course, there is so much more around than what I like to see. One thing is the relation between men and women. In the rural areas most of the young women have children, living with their parents. A lot of the young fathers don’t care much about their children and leave all care to the mothers. In certain industries, employers prefer women to men. The reason is simply that the men do not show up at work after pay day, since they are too drunk. I have seen some of them sleeping in the ditch next to the road in the morning hours.

After the week and the Laguna I wanted to go to Little Corn Island in the Caribbean Sea. But everybody suggested to wait after Easter as all the Nicas (as they call themselves) who have some money spend their vacation close to the water. So I spent the week leading up to Easter in Masaya, Leon and Esteli.

Masaya is a town with a reputation for handicrafts. We went to two different markets and there was indeed a lot, but also here, the tourism is slowly starting and although there are a lot of interesting things to see many places seemed to sell the same things. The same things by the way that you might find in Costa Rica, made by Nicas (cheaper) and carried over the border as there are more potential customers.

Marij in a crowded bus; Outer wall of Masaya market

Leon is a nice town (capital of one of the regions) and with a Dutch girl Marij, we stayed for a couple of days. We went to a volcano, the Cerro Negro and walked up and into the crater, which was steaming just a bit on its edges. The Volcano is very black, as its name suggests and its slopes are mostly small rocks and coarse sand. Crawling out of the steep crater we came on all four as each two steps we slowly glided back down one step in the running sand. Back at the top, we prepared ourselves to a session of volcano boarding which consisted of putting on some overalls and sitting on a self made wooden board. Lift the feet up and down we went. Reminded me on the Villarrica trip in Chile where we went down gliding on snow.

On top of the Cerro Negro; Volcano Boarding down the Cerro Negro

Leon, Central Park

Another visit took us to ¨Leon Viejo¨. This is the original Leon which was completely covered by ash after a volcano eruption a couple of hundred years ago and they started undigging the remains about 40 years ago. Right now, there is still a lot buried, but finances do not allow any more excavations. The site in itself was not so interesting, but the way to get there and away. As it was on the Easter weekend that we visited Leon Viejo, it was not clear how many busses will go and when. We caught a bus from Leon Viejo which had only 10 or 15 people on board. As we came from the countryside and reached the main street connecting Leon to Managua, the driver told us to get off. He didn’t think it was worth going on with only so few customers. We thus waited for an hour for a bus that would take us on as all other busses that passed were overpacked with people. I think I always met the most interesting people on bus rides and surely we made the acquaintance of a woman and her 13 year old child who could tell us a bit about the school system. The boy was interested in learning english but the public school does not provide sufficient tuition and the family can not afford the 70 US Dollar / month for private school.

I then went on to Esteli, capital of another region in Nicaragua. It was not really a great success for me. Easter in Nicaragua means religious ceremonies, but otherwise life stands a bit still. I could not get a tour organised to a nearby natural reserve and thus just went to a waterfall where the locals go for swimming. It is a nice place although there is not so much water. People told me that there is less water every year. This is something that has also been observed in the Laguna de Apoyo which loses about 30cm every year.

Dry Nicaraguan Landscape seen from the bus; Panamerican Highway at Esteli

Finally, Easter was over and I met Marij again at the Managua Airport to fly to the Corn Islands in the Caribbean Sea. There are two islands and we spent most of the time on Little Corn (maybe 2km * 500m in size) in a little very basic cabin at a white sand beach. It is how you would expect a nice Caribbean island, white beaches, palm trees, no other traffic than bicycles (we did not see any if the drug traffic that is supposed to happen there), some nice dive sites and unfortunately a lot of mosquitoes.

Grace, the owner of the cabin place welcomed us with a great smile and a big hug. She really makes the place live and it was fun to talk to her. A lot of people speak a mix of english, spanish and some local dialect which makes it sometimes difficult to understand them. Life on the island was easy and I spent it between our cabin, the hammock on the beach and the water. I was more under water than swimming as I had decided to get my open water diver certificate. It is amazing how much life there is under water. We saw a few nurse sharks, a sting ray (I was impressed by the length of its sting compared to the size of the rest of the body), barracudas and loads of other small and big, sometimes very colourful fish. The most impressive sight for me was on a dive site called ¨the caves¨. In an underwater cave there were thousands of small slim fish standing still in the water. From one side in the cave a ray of sunlight shone in, being reflected their multitude of tiny bodies in the water. Every now and then all the fish moved from one side to another, all nearly at the same time making their movement a great performance of light and reflection.

Grace, making pineapple juice; Graces’ Place at the beach

Beach on Little Corn Island; Sunrise at Graces Breach

Walk on the Island; Shells on the beach; Big crab coming out at night

In the evenings, the greatest challenge was to walk between the village and our cabin (which was on the other side of the island) to go out for food or a drink. As electricity was rare, you had to carry your own torch light to stay on the path and not to step on all the crabs that came out at night walking along the path as well. There were a few giant individuals with a body size of about 20cm (without legs). For sure, we did not want to step on those !!

28.04.2007

I am still in Central America, having changed my plans and flight, I will come back to Europe only on 19.5.

From Nicaragua, I went to Guatemala. It was an 18 hour bus ride with overnight stop in El Salvador. The bus went through a small part of southern Honduras and all the way through the length of El Salvador until reaching Guatemala City. The transfer on each of the borders was fairly easy. Not many people and just a few dollars to pay. But I did not get any stamp in my passport. These four countries have a common agreement and I will only have my entry stamp from Nicaragua and get my exit stamp leaving Guatemala towards Mexico.

The first town in Guatemala I visited was Antigua. Nice old town with quite some ancient buildings and cobblestone roads. It was a pretty sight and from there on clear days you can see a few volcanoes surrounding the valley in which Antigua lies. When I arrived, it was cloudy. Great !!! Finally some cooler weather for a few days after the heat in Nicaragua. Of course, Antigua lying at approx. 1500m altitude helps the temperatures.

Guatemalan woman weaving fabrics in Antigua; see the volcano Agua from Antigua

About 1.5 hours away from Antigua lays the volcano Pacaya. It is an active volcano and a guide brings you up into a recent lava field. From there you are fairly close to red hot lava, you can get as close to it as you want, usually 10 or 15 metres before you think it definitely is too hot. Walking in the lava field is quite an experience (lava film (1.5MB)). The ground is still warm in places, because of underground volcanic activities. The rocks sit loosely on each other, so make sure nothing is tumbling down with you. The lava is very sharp, so pay attention not to touch, even with hands. I felt hot air coming out of the ground in between the lava rocks I walked on. Somewhere it smelled molten rubber and a guy had the sole of his shoes steaming; he stood on a very hot rock...

It is great to get so close to real lava. The Pacaya is a very stable volcano without surprises.

Lava on the Volcano Pacaya

Going up the Pacaya was not much of a walk (only 1.5 hours) and I longed for some physical activity. So I got a small group together and with a guide we went up another volcano called Agua. The hike starts at about 2600m altitude in the community of Santa Maria and when we arrived at the top ( 3766m) we were greeted by an empty crater lake, the ugliest church I have ever seen, lots of garbage lying around and a forest of TV and cell phone antennas. But we knew we should not expect much, it was just for the exercise and that aim was definitely reached. When we were back at the hostel I was tired but felt really good !

On top of the Volcano Agua: Antennas and dry crater with church

Active volcano Fuego seen from the Agua

Now what? I was in Antigua and thinking which way to go. So I opted for east, crossing the border to northern Honduras and visiting the Maya site at Copán Ruinas. The pyramids and columns and other constructions on the archaeological site were greeting us almost empty. After the Easter week, all tourism has died down quite a bit and there were just a few visitors around. They also have some Macaw (big red parrots) living on the site and flying over our heads. We wandered around the site for a while, sitting on the pyramid and watching some ongoing excavation works.

Copán Ruinas: ruins and macaw

One morning, I got a guide and a horse to explore the countryside around. Charlos was a very nice person, telling me about his family and the people in the village (he was a good gossip) and surroundings. He showed me some bell pepper plantations and a nearby village as we went uphill to see the landscape unfold below us.

In and around the town Copán Ruinas: My guide Charlos, bell pepper plantation, street to the village

Back in Guatemala, my next stop was Chichicastenango. This town is famous for its market where all the people from the surrounding villages come twice a week to sell their goods. I arrived in the morning, leaving my backpack in a tiny hotel just off the market and dove into the crowd. The market was full of people, mostly guatemaltecs but also some tourists. They had so many interesting things for sale, mostly woven fabrics for decoration and clothing, wooden masks and food. It was a great sight to see all these colourful things displayed. I wandered around getting lost in the crowd and found myself in front of a church where someone was swinging a bucket full of incense; the smoke was heavy in the air. The St Thomas church is half Mayan and half catholic. As I went in, it was decorated as a simple catholic church would be. But the main corridor leading up to the altar had some low wooden structures with candles and rose petals. These were Maya altars and I could see some shamen doing their works of prayer. It was a special day in the Mayan calendar. Each altar had a special dedication (children, matrimony, wealth, work etc). The Maya religion has 300 shamen, 150 of them are women, the other half men. The air was full of all the fragrances from the incense and the flowers, and the calmness in the church with all these people in it and the market just outside was amazing. I can see how people come in here for their prayers and meditations.

Chichicastenango: St Thomas church and another one opposite it

Towards the end of the market, I was the only gringo (foreigner) in the market. I started buying some things (prices were also more interesting after the tour busses had left). This was a big mistake as my backpack was almost full. I left a few other things, but it still is big. Compared to my travel in south America I have packed very badly to start with. Too many things, as I seem to need only the summer clothes.

Market in Chichicastenango

In the evening when I went out for dinner in Chichi (a lot of places have so long names that they just call them by their first syllables), the market was still busy with people packing up their last things, hauling them on vehicles or cleaning the ground. I had a great dinner in a fancy restaurant for 7 Euro and even got a piece of meat with mushroom sauce. Mushrooms are difficult to get here and a pound of them has the same value as 10 broccolis. And I got some nice red wine from Chile. The next morning I wanted to get some breakfast, I was looking for something sweet, but all the places were still closed. So I went into the middle of the market place, which was much calmer than yesterday and got me a piece of grilled meat with rice and the bean sauce (typical for Guatemala).

The next morning in front of the St Thomas church; my breakfast place

Three bumpy bus rides and a boat ride later, I arrived in San Pedro de la Laguna, at the Lake Atitlan. On the boat I had decided that I wanted to live in a family and not in a hostel for a change and walked into the nearest language school. Yes, they could organise a home stay, even without me taking classes. So here I am now, staying with a nice Guatemalan family for a few days. And you know what? We had rain yesterday !! Whoopie !!

18.05.2007

I spent 3 days in the family and it was quite interesting. There, modern times met with traditional habits. The women in the family all were wearing the traditional clothing of colourful woven fabric. Interesting for me, this has nothing to do with the Maya religion, as they were protestant and went to church on Sundays. With me and the students they spoke Spanish but otherwise they preferred to speak the Mayan language. In the kitchen, there was a gas oven standing next to a traditional place for cooking on fire wood. The microwave oven stood in the other corner.

My host mother Paulina and her daughter

Somewhere in the centre of Guatemala lies Coban, a town apparently founded by Germans, but I could not see much evidence of that. Still, it had a nice and slightly cooler atmosphere and I found a book fair in the middle of the town when I arrived. Great !! As I had finished my first book in Spanish (being very proud about it !), I wanted to get another one since a while but did not find any. In Central America, people are not reading as much as in Europe and books are relatively expensive. Also, in Coban I bumped into a few groups of people I had met earlier on in Nicaragua and Guatemala. That was nice. It was my lucky day!

Around Semuc Champey

Another 2.5 hours bus ride from Coban, and I arrived in Semuc Champey, an enchanted place in the middle of nowhere. Here, nature has created an interesting piece of art. A river vanishes in a small cascade into the ground just to reappear out of the rock a couple of hundred metres downstream. On top of the hidden part of the river one finds a couple of limestone formations containing natural pools of refreshing turquoise water inviting to stay for the day. 

Semuc Champey, the pools seen from above

Semuc Champey: the river

Close by was also the cave K´An Ba. This cave was not displaying many spectacular rock formations, but the way we accessed made it special. Our equipment was very simple: a candle, hiking sandals and a swimsuit. That was all. Have you ever tried to swim in a cave with a candle in your hand? It takes time and you need to be careful about the candle but it works. So we partly swam and partly climbed over rocks in the cave, stopping at an underground beach before returning to the entrance. It was about half time for the candles. The caves go into the rock another 8km, but that would take a whole day and a bit more equipment.

Then I got ready for northern Guatemala. On the way up north, I saw a lot of forests burning. In fact as the rainy season is close, the farmers start their yearly slash and burn to prepare the fields. The smoke is in the air and it is just normal.... 

Especially in the north, there are a lot of Mayan sites, one of them the famous Tikal. Early before sunrise, we arrived on the site and on top of one of the temples; we were waiting for the sun to get up. The temple is about 70m high and the landscape is flat so we could see a long way above the tops of the forest and listen to all its wildlife starting the day. It was a very tranquil moment sitting there above the world. 

Tikal: seen from above

Tikal: Pyramid, peanut head bug , toucan in a tree

The site of Tikal is quite vast and the temples and other buildings are quite nicely restored and you can get onto the different buildings. For how long? Certain parts of the site are already closed for visits as they have suffered too much damage by the tourists.

Close to the Mexican boarder lies another Maya site which is still being excavated and not yet well known. El Mirador. It is believed to be bigger than the Tikal site, but most of it is still hidden by the forest. The only way to get there (apart from helicopter) is to walk there. The forest does not really look like a jungle. It is a rainforest waiting desperately for the rainy season to start. There a dry leaves on the ground and those on the trees were hanging down sadly. The good thing about it is the absence (or almost) of mosquitoes and a dry path which otherwise can be ankle-deep mud. In the evenings, we could take a bath with some brown but cool water from one of the few rain water pools that are still there. A bucket full was what each of us got.

We were awarded with hard nights on a few blankets in the tents, simple camping food, lots of nature around us and of course the imagination of how this place might have been about 200 years ago. Most of the structures are still hidden by the trees that claimed the site after the Mayans left it and to my untrained eye it was sometimes difficult to see certain hints about ruins in the neighbourhood.

In five days, we walked about 100km to get to the site and back and it was heaven to take a real shower again !

El Mirardor hike: the forest trail; All you need for a bath after a hike; scorpion in the toilet hut

In the evening

El Mirardor: Excavation sites

El Mirardor: excavations before and after restoration

 It was time for me to move on further north, as I had only one week of my time here left. So I went to San Ignacio in Belize. It is such a small country (less than 300 000 inhabitants). Two day tours took me to Actun Tunichil Muchnal (ATM) and the Mountain pine ridge.

The mountain pine ridge looks almost like Canada: pine trees and rivers, you would expect a bear to come out and fish anytime. The occasional tropical plant ¨disturbs¨ this image. After a visit to the Rio Frio Cave, the highlight of that day was Big Rock, a waterfall with a natural swimming pool underneath.  As we arrived and got ready for swimming, we saw a snake coming across the water. It was a yellow jaw snake (bothrops asper), venomous and thus not in the good books of out guide. He took a stick and killed the snake with it. Usually, this snake is night active and lives in the forest; no idea, why it was there in the water in broad daylight. According to our guide, this was the first time in twenty years that he has seen one in this place. Well, we still had a great time bathing in this place afterwards, even though we were looking around a bit suspiciously.

Rio Frio Cave; Big Rock; Yellow Jaw snake

The ATM visit was really spectacular. after a 40 minute hike, we needed our swim gear again to get into a cave. This time, it was with a helmet and a proper lamp installed on it, still we needed to swim in the river passing through the cave. After the first wet part, we arrived in a part with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, glittering in the light of out lamps. The ancient Mayan believed that a god lived in this cave and used it as a worshipping place. Further into the cave, we were allowed only on socks, the reason soon becoming clear. We were walking in the midst of ancient Maya remains, undisturbed for many, many centuries. They have been discovered only about 30 years ago or so, I was told. Old artefacts, pots and also human remains (as sacrifices in bad times to appease the gods) sit there as they have been abandoned so long ago.

Actun Tunichil Muchnal: entrance, and inside the cave

After that journey into the past, I found myself back in the modern world. A bad choice for my last destination in Mexico, only an hour from the airport brought me to Playa del Carmen, a beach resort that attracts loads of tourists. My prime reason for coming here was to go diving and that was a nice thing to do. In the under water world I was greeted by turtles, a bit more than a metre in length sitting on the bottom of the ocean and nibbling happily on sponges and other food. They did not seem to mind all the divers that came along regularly. So, in the end it was not too bad as a farewell place for my trip.