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Border jumpingCay Caulker to San Ignacio to El Remate, Guatemala, So we finished up the islands with an amazing day of snorkeling, the highlight was defiantly the feeding of the sting rays. It was scary and amazing, they were huge and had their stingers fully intact. although our guide swears they never use them. The stingrays are very used to the guides feeding them everyday, and unbeknown to us they recognize the guides by the rash guards that they wear..
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Working in Guatemala and in the US to Support Indigenous WomenThe history of Weaving A Real Peace, or WARP, is closely tied to Mayan Hands, an organization working with Guatemalan textile artisans. One of WARP’s founders, Deborah Chandler, is the in-country director. And Mary Joan Ferrara-Marsland, Mayan Hands’ US director of marketing and distribution, is a long-time WARP member, as is Brenda Rosenbaum, founder of Mayan Hands (MH). Both Deborah and Mary Joan have served as WARP board members. Those who attended WARP’s 2007 Annual Meeting in Guatemala visited several cooperatives and met weavers who work with MH.
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GuatemalaAntigua is as the lonely planet says the kind of Guatemalan city that would have come about had Scandinavians built it, tidy, nice parks, no stray dogs… Anyway it was a nice place full on Spanish schools and sun and plazas and ruins as they keep having earthquakes. We climbed an active volcano (Guatemala has many) this one was called Pacaya and with health and safety thrown to the wind we climbed up to the lava field in the crater where u can stand on or in lava that moves at a snails pace. Some cool photos later we descended in the dark. It was pretty special.
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Guatemala is Gorgeous!Tikal, Guatemala, is one of the largest and best-preserved Mayan ruins and is the site of the tallest temple they built. I'd been before to the ruins in Tulum and Chacchoben, both in Mexico, but they cannot even begin to compare to the splendor of Tikal. Climbing to the top of these pyramids was exhausting but the view from the top can never be put into words--especially standing atop Temple 4, the tallest known Mayan building in the world, and see the tops of other temples poking out of the surrounding rainforest.
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Guatemala repeats the anguish of adoptionsThe 24-year-old Guatemalan mother had given up her baby once. Now, months later, the infant daughter was back in her lap, smiling and playing with her mother's fingers. And Karen Donis had to make the decision all over again. The heart-wrenching process is part of a new Guatemalan government effort to ensure that mothers really wanted to give their babies up—and that children weren't bought or stolen to be adopted by American couples. Sitting on a plastic chair in a neon-lit room cuddling her 8-month-old daughter, Donis ached to keep the child. But she knows she could never give her the life she deserves..
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Stunning Waterfalls And CavesFor a change I decided to get up early and hitch from Coban to Lanquin (64 km) so that I would have a full day at Semuc Champey. First to stop was Pablo who offered me a ride in the back of his pickup to the small town of San Pedro Carcha (12 km). I spent 30 minutes looking round the town before hitching again, this time with a frail elderly chap, who dropped me off in his tiny village, which consisted of around 15 mud brick homes.
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A Great Place To StayFrom Lanquin I was to venture 3 hours south along highway CA-14 to the small town of San Jeronimo. This town is nestled in a valley of the Sierra de Chuacas mountain range, 13 kilometres from the La Cumbre Junction on highway CA-14. San Jeronemo is situated midway between Lanquin and Antigua so I decided to break the journey up here for a night as I was recommended a good place to stay..
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On to Atitlan and BeyondAfter a month of being stationary, the restless urge to hit the road stirred heavily in my body and mind. We said good bye to our friends and families, packed our belongings in the truck and left our temporary home, but not before picking up an additional traveler to toss in the back seat. Her name is Terra and she's from Wisconsin.
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