A narrow escape

What happened yesterday is hard to believe... Over the last few days I have been spending time with Charlene - a lovely girl I met here in Guatemala, at the Atitlan lake a few days ago and we instantly became two happy-go-lucky Canadian and Polish muckers....

Yesterday going from Chapmerico at the Pacific Ocean to Quetzaltenango in the mountains, the following event happened..

Chicken bus, a symbol of Guatemala. Super ordinary for the locals, an attraction for the foreigners. It used to be a school bus in America, now it is proudly prowling the roads of Guatemala. In one of them we were travelling through the mountains, and suddenly the driver stops. Whats going on? A car speeding on our lane and going to hit us as the driver shouts: 'Everyone to the back of the bus!'? A moose or other animal on the road, so maybe we are just waiting for it to cross the road? No... Armed guys robbing a car in front of us, armed in machetes, and rummaging through the car........... Everyone in the bus flinging themselves to the back of the bus and hiding themselves in the narrow spaces between the rows. Charlene did not understand what was going on, what I heard was ' Give me your money, give me all what you have got!!!' etc. We were the only tourists in the bus.. A thought crossing my mind: will they get on the bus?If they will, it will suck... Everyone trying to be as quiet as possible. My heart beating fast. All of the sudden the driver revs off. Quickly, as quickly as possible. It turned out the thieves had fled to the forest, they spared us. The bus instantly becomes noisy, people start talking, loud beat can be heard again in the speakers. Back to normal. The guy behind us says it happens often, they dont kill, its not as bad as in Mexico, they just rob you. All you have to do is to accept the loss. Otherwise it can be worse.. It took us more time than the rest of the bus crowd to cool down I think. Thanks God that nothing bad happened..

Semuc Champey

I wish someone had taught me how to swim properly when I was a kid. It would have been useful here, in a cave in Semuc Champey a few days ago... I mean swimming when you use only one hand and hold a candle in the other one.. Possibly for most of you it would be easy but I found it bloody difficult so that if Pamela had not stopped me before I wanted to leave the cave, I would not have completed that humid, dark and cold underground trip. What I learnt that day was that caves are definitely not my thing. Space is my thing. Nonetheless, that day in Semuc Champey which is Rudys favourite bit of Guatemala, had only one theme: water. The Cohoban river that forms beautiful Semuc Champey, a liquid paradise with turqoise water pools where you can swim, jump and do any other possible water antics you wish. From there to the place we stayed, we floated down the river with our bums tucked into massive inner tubes. It was raining a bit, the forest was still lively and the sun was almost set so the moment was just perfect... Then I recalled when I was younger back in Poland there was one of my dads CDs , it was Kitaro, a new age music, and I loved listening to one song from that CD.. I remember I would just close my eyes and imagine I am in a small canoe going down the river in a forest somewhere far away in a different world. It was my favourite meditation excercise when I wanted to disconnect. And now, here in Guatemala, fast forward to the present moment, I am doing it!!, doing what I was always dreaming about...:) One of the best moments of my time in Guate, together with a jump off the 10 m high bridge down to Cahabon river, to finish the day on a high note.

Next episode was Pams and Rudys house, the Guatemalan capital and the creme de la creme of the colonial world - Antigua, possibly one of the most charming towns Iv ever visited.
Hasta la proxima, hugs from Panajachel.

:)

The country of eternal spring

First 7 days in Guatemala have passed in the blink of an eye. Woooow, I have to say... :-0 Such an absorbing country it is. I couldnt update on the trip as there was either 1) no time to do it as the electricity in one of the hostels was working only until 10pm or 2) I was knackered and dozing off early after doing things I had never done in my life lol. But this week has showed how diverse Guatemala actually is. Going from one place to another (only a few hours trip) you can think you have crossed the border and ended up in a different country, not only because of the landscape and climate but also because of the people who live there ( Im talking about the Garifuna and soon Ill explain what I mean).

The last post was before I was off to see Tikal, the best known Mayan ruins in El Peten, north of the country. We got there by a funny vehicle called Tuk Tuk that looks like this http://photos.igougo.com/images/p164602-Flores-tuk_tuk.jpg
and then in a mini bus through the jungle. I remember the torrential rain and the fact that the driver was rarely using the brakes. A quick look to the left and I found something to console myself..: in Spanish it said 'God bless this bus and all its passengers'... :) After passing through several small hamlets at a supersonic speed we got to Tikal, a 16 square km complex of ruins. A quick decision without no ones denial - and our hammocks and mosquito nets were ready. Ill never forget that night, falling asleep and listening to the sounds of the rainforest...
One of the rangers told us that over the last 20 years 60% of the forest in El Peten area has been chopped down because of its valuable wood.. There are also runways for the planes hidden in the jungle so that the mafia can drop drug parcels that come from Colombia. Sad but true.
As for Tikal, a view from the top of the temple IV where you can see all the rainforest in front of you with other ruins sticking out of it is marvellous. The forest is pulsating with life, and my eyes have never witnessed so intensive green colour and probably will never do again..
Tikal was an important stop on the way, and Id like to go back there one day, but with more knowledge about the Maya culture, so that I can imagine their life how it really was back in the day.
After Tikal there was a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong bus ride to Rio Dulce, where we slept and the following day we continued to Puerto Barrios from where we took a motorboat to Livingston on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala. It is a place accessible only by boat and it makes it even more special. The Garifuna community who inhabit the island-like town over the years have maintained their cultural independence there and even though I knew I was in Guatemala, it felt like a typical Caribbean island, with black community speaking creole (but they also speak Spanish and English), living in a slower, much more relaxed way. Unlike other black Caribbeans, the Garifuna do not come from Africa but, according to themselves, from Venezuela. Now the Garifuna communities can be found, apart from Guatemala, in Belize and Honduras.
Ironically:), the hostel we found looked like a typical Moroccan palace. Later we were told it used to belong to a Muslim person who used to live there.
Garifuna are proud of their creole food, and the thing that everyone should try while in Livingston is 'tapado' - a seafood soup with coconut and plantain (similar but bigger than our banana). It is exactly the kind of food I love. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:) We will try to cook in in England one day, if we cook it well and 'with love' it might work..:)
On the same day, walking around the town we stopped in a tiny shop for a beer ( in Guatemala so far Iv tried two - Gallo and Brahva and both of them are sound). While we were sitting on a bench and watching the Garifunas daily activities, a small boy appeared and told us he would draw us. Soon after that, before he finished his work, the woman from the shop changed the tune and started playing some 'punta', the music of the Garifuna, from her sound system. Its a extremely quick Caribbean dance in which I dont really excel.... :D But Juan Diego that 9 year old boy took Pamela and started dancing with her on a sidewalk. A few seconds later there were 4 of us dancing together on a little street party:)

Livingston has not got good beaches itself. They are very narrow and a bit dirty to be fair. If you want to see a real postcardlike beach, you have to go to Playa Blanca just before the Belizean border. The only way to get there - a motorboat again:) We decided to spend the whole next day there and do nothing more than lying on the beach, resting and also jumping from the waterfall to a crystal clear water in Siete Altares near the Playa Blanca.

We said goodbye to that lovely little town with the beat of the Garifuna drum and with a taste of Cocoloco in the mouth. People here have so little but they seem to be much happier than me and you..

EN GUATEMALA YA!!!

Quite a few things have happened since I wrote the last bit here. First news , YES, I AM FINALLY IN GUATEMALA!!!!!! :) its been quite a long and not quite a bum friendly trip from Chetumal in Mexico through Belize to northern part of Guatemala, and precisely Flores in El Peten region. Its here where the proper rainforest starts. Its 8am but I can already feel the heat and the humidity, my legs are all marked by mosquito bites but anyway, its great:)
Yesterday Pamela finally came from Guatemala City and she is gonna travel with Rudy and me for the next 10 days. I feel extremely happy about that, as she is like a volcano of energy. We really had a good time last nite, walking around Flores and eating tostadas and drinking Guatemalan beer called Gallo beer. But let me tell you some more about the stay in Chetumal in Mexico and also the short episode in Belize.
The time in Mexico couldnt be better, as Mike, a friend of Alvin, the guy who was our Couch Surfing host, had Volkswagen Beatle, year 1998, quite battered but still running smoothly on empty Mexican motorways, doing easily 140km/h. There was 6 of us in the car at times, but even travelling 5 inside felt like sardines squeezed in a tin... Even though Chetumal is not a place where many tourist stay with an intention to visit its few attractions, the guys took us in their funky little car to some really cool places on the coast. I even drove El Bocho (volkswagen beatle) !!! These cars had been produced here till 2004 and its easy to find stunning ones at a very low price, the only thing is that its bloody expensive to ship them overseas... Sigh....
Another thing that I have already mentioned in the previous post is lime, that the Mexican add to virtually everything. But What I tried a few days ago was really odd. Its called La Michelada, and its a lager with loads of salt, lime juice, worcester sauce (known here as salsa inglesa) and some other spicy ingredients all mixed together and drunk as if it was some kind of a soup! Salty beer, hmmmm... :) I think I can resort to Asda lager instead ....:) But the food here is lush. Along the motorway people sell you fresh pinepples, oranges, and lots more, but from time to time there you can find a little trailer with a few chairs and a table where you can eat tamales (my favourites), which are banana leaves stuffed with meat, rice etc, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, tacos, which here are little maize pancakes with the topping of your choice, tortas, tortillas, etc:)
Bad news: Im scatter brained even here, no change about that, and I already lost my Guatemala Guide:(

And here comes a really interesting part, at least for me when it happened which is bus trip through Belize. We decided to skip visiting the Cayes (diving paradise) and inland Belizean attractions as I was told that later in Guatemala we will find similar stuff (Guatemalan Garifuna people who live in livingston on Guatemalan Caribbean coast) and that Belize is expensive and not really a tourist friendly place. We only got off a bus in Belize City which is actually more important than the capital Belmopan, and there were some other tourists who wanted to get on the bus and go with us to Guatemala. However, in Belize it is not possible as the law says that you cant catch a bus which comes from abroad and only passes through Belize, if you want to leave Belize you have to catch a Belizean means of transport! There was a guy walking around and not letting the tourist get on the bus we were travelling in.
Belize to me looked like Jamaica, even though I have never been there. Reggae around, folks with dreadlocks, all the population is of Black Carribean descent, it was so different than Mexico and now Guatemala. Travelling through the countryside I had a feeling there was no bigger towns (even in Belize City most of the houses were wooden and very shoddy). Sugar cane and maize crops around, with a characteristic scent, a few houses from time to time, narrow tarmac road, and what surprised me, even though I did not see that, but Rudy told me its commonplace in Belize, that people tend to bury their relatives in their gardens outside their houses. I would like to come back here some day, because even though most of mexicans and Guatemalans say its not worthy, to me it looks quite interesting (perhaps because it is so exotic).
What made me laugh was the Queen on Belizean banktones (Belize used to be British) who here looks about 20 years younger!!! I would not say she was fit, but maybe they could do the same in the UK...:)
Now Guatemala, the place which I have come to get to know, and the highlight of the trip. I think Pamela is done with her make up, Rudy is waiting for me, so I better finish now as we are setting off to see Tikal, the most important of the Mayan ruins in the jungle of El Peten. I feel great to be here.

See you soon.

:)

The heats made me so lazy.. :)

Im writing this from Chetumal - a small, not really interesting town on the frontier with Belize, where everyone has to stop over on their way to Guatemala. We are staying at Albion's, a very friendly Mexican guy who already showed us where the best tacos in the town are and introduced us to his friends who made me drink beer together with squeezed lime juice and salt (like tequilla)!!! It was actually not very tasty but they say it makes you feel fresh next day.. I have not been able to access the internet since I arrived in Cancun hence I owe you a short story about how it has been. Cancun did not appeal to me much - it was constructed for tourists in 1960s apparently and the town is divided into La Zona Hotelera where all tourists stay ( and possibly they never leave that area to explore some more) and the town where the Mexicans live. We just took a bus there to see this 'phenomenon' but we came back quick. Isla Mujeres was the other story. Located just a few minutes boat ride from Cancun, it is not crowded with European or American tourusts and it has a nice, very relaxed vibe. And, on top of that, we snorkelled and IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST EXPERIENCES OM MY ENTIRE LIFE..:) Definitely.
What really strikes me is the heat and it actually makes me feel very slow and lazy, so our pace is very relaxed.
The next post will be longer as I have to go now, hasta pronto compañeros!

Ready to go

...Im sure Im gonna end up buying some things when I get there as even my underwear is too wet to take it with me :) Packing up, especially for a month, bearing in mind rainy period, tropical diseases like malaria, climate differences (from 10 degrees in mountainous areas and 30 degrees on the Guatemalan coast) turns out to be quite a big challenge. But the feeling is great, the feeling of leaving everything behind and setting off to a new place where I can forget about absolutely everything about my life here and try new things. Id like this journey to be meaningful to me, to bring about a kind of a change in my thinking and the way Iv lived my life so far. I believe it will make my life richer and fuller.

Tomorrow Im landing in Mexico, with 30 days of adventure in hand. Vamos!!!

The Mayan Route - La Ruta Maya 2010. Mexico, Guatemala, Belize. Ready, steady, go!!!

I can remember I have always wanted to save my travel memories but I have been too lazy to actually keep a record of them. But the power of the written memories is enormous and something once written will stay with us forever. For that reason I have decided to start a travel blog. Let it be a place for my alter ego, whose mission is to learn about the world as much as I can throughout my life. I do it for myself and for my friends, too. I hope you will enjoy popping in here sometimes to check what's new.. In three weeks I am setting off to Central America..

Until now I have only been dreaming about it but finally I will be able to LIVE my dream. I am going to a place where I have always wanted to go, and thanks to some lucky and positive life's confluences I am going to meet two fabulous persons there, the two 'Chapines' (Guatemalans) who are going to travel with me - Pamela and Rudy! The plan apart from the fact that it exists, is not very precised. The concrete jungle of Cancun (and fleeing from there asap lol), along the Riviera Maya down to Belize, Guatemala which is the highight of it all and finally the province of Chiapas in the southern Mexico (known for Zapatistas, great people and breathtaking landscapes). Nothing more is planned, apart from having fun and dancing as much reggeaton as possible:)