Guatemala News and Articles
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Guatemala News | July 2008
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On the EDG with Pete in Guatemala
It's hard to believe I've let so much time go by before commenting on a long walk I took in a pouring, drenching rain with Mike Freiberg, Nikon's friendly and knowledgeable Birding Market Specialist; Derek Lovitch, author of the "Tools of the Trade" column over at Birding magazine; and Pete Dunne, director of the Cape May Bird Observatory and a regular columnist for Birder's World. It was June 6, a Friday, and we were at the beautiful Los Tarrales Reserve in Guatemala.
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Al can swim in the rapids!!!
Well, I guess it is now my turn to make an entry! There is so much to tell, but I will try not to give away too much, otherwise you all will never come see it for yourselves! So.... we have just spent the greatest past couple of days, I know I am going to say that every time we leave somewhere, but seriously, it just keeps getting better. We left San Pedro wednesday and headed to Coban, a small town 5 hours to the northwest of Guatemala city. We were really sad to leave San Pedro.
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Lago-Chicabel
I was collected at 6am, and by 6.10am I was rubbing my eyes with disbelief. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, surely one of the other five people on our tour was not wearing an Ipswich shirt? My eyes did not deceive me and to meet somebody born no more than 10 miles from home was a pleasant surprise whilst thousands of miles across the globe. Lago Chicabel is a location of profound sacred significance to the Maya and their descendents living in the vicinity. Our guide a Mayan shamen of 60 years of age effortless strode up the mountain animatedly sharing the significance of Chicabel with us as we walked.
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Week one in Guatemala
It's a simple home, but the location is tough to beat. I've got the sound of the Lanquin river about 6 feet below me and two feet behind. The view is of some undeveloped mountains and the loudest sounds, other than the river, are some sprinkles of rain on the tin roof and an amazing variety of bird calls. There is no internet at the house, so when I've finished writing this update, I'll put it on my thumb drive and hike the steep 10-15 minute walk to the village of Lanquin, Guatemala.
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Hot stuff at Volcano Pacaya
Having spent at first a very relaxing and then very frantic Monday in Antigua, we decided to book ourselves on a tour of Volcan Pacaya, about an hour away from town. We had heard a number of scary stories from our guide book and other travellers of muggings and worse occurring on Pacaya, including a very unfortunate Canadian tourist being struck by lightning a few years back! So it was with a certain amount of intrepidation that we signed up for an afternoon tour that would take us to the top of the volcano.
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Volcan de Pacaya- Guatemala
What a spectacular adventure! Didn´t know what to really expect when we climbed up the volcano, but it´s quite a sight to see. Actually I use the term climb loosely. When we arrived, we were "assaulted" by kids selling canes and men wanting us to ride their horses. Well, I read that you do need a cane to walk over the volcanic rock and the the idea of climbing 45 minutes plus up a steep hill didn´t appeal to me at the time (I AM getting old; OK, am old), so I hopped on a horse after purchasing a cane from the boy who wasn´t sticking one in my face.
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The last of Guatemala
Gosh so much has happened since we really posted a detailed blog but that is the nature of the beast in being constantly on the move and as you have seen if you follow this blog, we have covered a lot of distance this last while. Guatemala was truly beautiful and good to us even though we had only a few appointments there, we met some really good people and saw some truly beautiful country. Most impressive are the Mayan ruins of Tikal in the northern province of Peten.
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Mud, Bugs and Ruins: a 6-day Trek
Great trip! I did the 6-day circuit, including nights at four different ruins: Tintal, El Mirador, Nakbe, and La Florida. Day 1 was the roughest. After a 4-hour drive that shoud have taken 2-3 hours, starting at 5 am, we hiked on a trail still soaked from rain three days earlier. Heavy mule traffic, mostly carrying supplies for the El Mirador dig, had churned the mud to depths well beyond the height of any boots. What should have been a 4-5 hour hike took six hours, partly because the slowest hiker wore low cut boots.
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Lots of Lej
In the evenings Victor (24), a Mikel (32) and I work on our languages. They help me with K'iche' and I them with English. Their wives are keen and pick up a lot as they cook and care for the children behind us. They're also a big help when it comes to formal K'iche', being that they studied under al We'l too. The four of them work as teachers in local schools, though I am unsure if Talin is working at the moment.
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Tikal !
We woke up at 5am for the sunrise tour this morning at Tikal. The shuttle was a little late but it was light at 515 when we walked out to catch it and the sun was surprisingly high at 6am when we neared the outskirts of the park. While waiting, we had a nice chat with a fellow staying here at don david who lives in Santa Fe but comes to Portland twice a year to tango. He went to Tikal yesterday and has been all over the world. He said Tikal was better than other mayan sites, machu pichu, and ruins he´s seen in Ecuador and Peru. as if we needed more to convince us this is a special place!
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Venezuela to supply Guatemala with oil (AP)
MARACAIBO, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that he is expanding his Venezuela’s Petrocaribe oil-supply pact to include Guatemala. Through Petrocaribe, oil-rich Venezuela provides nations with oil under preferential terms, including long-term loans and the option of paying for at least some of the costs with services or goods such as rice, bananas and sugar. “It is an obligation to help the weakest” countries, Chavez said in a televised address.
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Exploring Lago de Atitlan. Panajachel, Guatemala.
We arrived in Panajachel and were immediately mesmerized by the stunning scenery. Situated on the picture perfect Lago de Atitlan, we thought the best way to explore would be on foot. We took off on a 4 kilometerwalk, only to later find ourselves on a private boat with complete strangers that we now call our friends. The day began with us walking at a very brisk pace towards a neighboring town. We chose to walk mostly in part we, actually mostly I, was to cheap to pay fifty cents and use public transportation. But it turned out to be a nice walk. We were able to see Guatemalans and their lifestyle along the way, as well as catching some magnicfificant views.
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Guatemala Student Trip: Back in Guatemala City
We had an amazing weekend in one of the most beautiful areas of the world. We traveled to a small town called Panajachel and then on to Santiago. Santiago is on Lake Atitlan and is surrounded by four large dormant volacanos that are covered in green vegetation. On Saturday, students delivered food baskets to struggling families near the Baptist church. It was amazing to see the strong faith of the women in the church who guided us home to home delivering the baskets.
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Antigua
Got the news that the brake linings had arrived in Edinburgh. We decided in the end to hire a car for a week, we got it yesterday but just did some shopping. Today though we drove to the old capital of Antigua, it is mentioned in all the guidebooks as a must see destination and it quite deserves it. The main square is bordered by the Cathedral, the Captain Generals Palace and the old town hall.
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An active volcano
Where the mexicans would queue up before entering the bus, these local indios here in Guatamala make a mad rush for the bus doors pushing each other out of the way and fighting over a free seat the moment the bus enters the bus depot. Not just the men but even the women their babies hanging on a sling on their backs. I saw one little brown indio baby head nearly being squashed between the iron door post and mummy`s back.
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The finca visit
Sunday began at 5:45 am, the school were taking us to visit a traditional Guatemalan Finca (Sustainable farming community.) One of the reasons that CBA is such a welcoming language school is that on this trip, we were accompanied by many of our teachers and for virtually all of us, it was our first trip to a finca, giving an air of excitement to the chat on the bus. After at least two and half hours on the bus, we reached our destination. On arrival we set out on a hike around the Finca community. After 20 minutes, our hike brought us to a river, and the bridge was nowhere to be seen. Our guide, a healthy looking man of indiscriminate age (35-70) whipped off his shoes and without a moments thought waded into the river. Evidently we were expected to follow, and so we did. Rob´s `photos do the scene more justice than my words...........
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Antigua
0utside of the gringo bar we are in, I can see the red glow coming out of the crater of Volcan Fuego. It`s a magnificient scene and one I can hardly get enough of. All around me I can hear, once again, fucked-up spanish spoken by the many americanos that, like in Panajachel, have come to this part of the world to study El Castellano. Antigua is actually the old capital of Guatamala and has weathered several earthquakes, floods and fires, but like they say, it gets a licking but keeps on ticking..
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Wait, So We Actually Speak Spanish?
I had my first Spanish lesson today, and it went great except for the fact that my professor gave me a ten thousand word dictionary and told me to have it memorized by tomorrow…ya….I’m on it. My classroom is pretty amazing. Classroom being a little hut with no walls, but a semi roof that over looks Lago de Atitlan. When I’m not paying attention (which is about 99% of the time), I’m dreaming of being behind a boat slicing the water either on a water ski (notice that’s singular…real men only solemn) or on a wake board (honestly, never figured out how to use one of those, but the mentioning of a “wake board” puts me in with the cool people).
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