Rio Dulce and Livingston

Waterfall at Finca Paraiso

Me and Thomas at the waterfall

This past week Thomas and I took a longer trip down to the coast.  Our first stop was in Rio Dulce (Sweet River) where we stayed in an amazing hotel named Hotel Kangaroo run by an Aussie man and his Mexican wife.  We had to take a 5 minute boat ride to arrive at the hotel built on stilts in a marshy area of the river.  Our room overlooked the water and 2 of the walls were almost completely made of mosquito screen.  We felt like we were in the jungle.  The next day got even better when we went to Finca Paraiso.  We took a small bus to a farm and then walked along a path in the woods until we found what we were looking for-the waterfall.  Although this waterfall might not be as beautiful
as some others you may have seen before, it is certainly the most unique.  Along the bottom of the waterfall is a cool, slower moving river.  The water that makes the waterfall originates from hot sulfur pools on the cliff above. The water the flows along until it falls off the cliff creating a hot waterfall that pours into the cool river.  It was incredible.  Thomas and I spent the whole day in the water-climbing up the cliff into the bathwater pools above, swimming behind the waterfall, and standing under the warm waterfall and letting it give us an aqua massage.  This was hands-down the best part of our whole trip!

View from Hotel Kangaroo

Room at Hotel Kangaroo 

Beach in Livingston

Crabs at the hotel in Livingston

           

The next day we took a long boat tour down the river to Livingston on the Caribbean coast.  The views from the boat tour were fantastic and we had the opportunity to see several unique natural features along the way.  When we arrived in Livingston it was like we stepped off the boat into another country.  The Livingston area is known for the Garifuna culture- think a mix of Jamaica and Latino culture.  The food there was also unlike anything we’ve had-soup made of coconut milk and seafood, which was surprisingly good especially considering I don’t like coconut.  Thomas and I found our hotel on the beach, which turned out to be a roughly constructed bungalow, but the sound of the ocean made up for the accommodations.  Unfortunately, though the culture had a Caribbean flavor, the beaches didn’t get the memo.  They were covered in both sea debris and trash-not something you’d want to spend any length of time on.  After one night in Livingston we decided to head back to Guatemala City and spend some time with friends before we leave on Monday.  I am unbelievably excited to go back to the USA and spend some time with my family tomorrow!!! 

Firsts…

Sorry I haven’t written in a while.  In the past couple of weeks Thomas and I went back to Lake Atitlan and visited the large artisan market in Chichicastenango.  There hasn’t been too much to report about those excursions.  After that, Thomas and I were busy planning a hybrid focus-group/information session for the parents in Paquip. 

Jill's Students

A group hug on the last day

One of the fathers weaving fabric used for traditional skirts

On the drive to Paquip
-we literally drove through the clouds almost every morning

The home of one of our families-the large stone square on the right is their stove

For those of you who don’t know, Thomas and I have been spending our week days in a small rural town outside of Tecpan.  Thomas has been spending his days visiting 5 different families on a regular basis and I have been teaching English, observing, and helping in the Kindergarten class (or the equivalent) in Paquip.  I also had the wonderful opportunity to accompany Thomas on many of his visits with the families (due to school being unexpectedly closed), and I got to know a couple of families fairly well.  All that I have learned and seen is too great to write in a blog, but the experiences I have had in this town will be sure to stay with me for the rest of my life. I will miss my students and the families I have come to know greatly.  

On a lighter note, I have decided to compile a list of firsts-things that I have seen or experienced while on this trip.  I hope you enjoy!

FIRST TIME…

1.     being serenaded by a taxi driver

2.     seeing a live hummingbird

3.     climbing through a cave

4.     climbing a volcano

5.     riding in a tuk-tuk (a 3 wheeled motorcycle that is covered with a heavy canvas to make a car)

6.     riding a running horse

7.     getting a back massage (no offense Thomas)

8.     a taxi driver has requested that we all pray together for protection from buses before beginning our journey… don’t worry we made it there and back safely

9.     witnessing a stray dog eating a diaper (most disgusting thing ever)

10. being offered directions with a straight face that include “you can turn left down this street but just go slowly for a little while because you'll be going against traffic for a few blocks since this street is one way.”

11. in a police station (no we didn’t get in trouble!  Unfortunately, Thomas was pick-pocketed in the Tecpan market, and we had to file a police report.  Hopefully this will be my last time in a police station).

Today we left Tecpan permanently for this trip.  We traveled back to where we started our journey, Antigua, whose beauty and climate I can appreciate even more having been in Paquip and Tecpan for so long.  Tomorrow we will be traveling to the capital and then spend a short vacation on the Caribbean coast before our flight home.  I’m very excited for this leg of our trip as it is sure to bring some new experiences, and it marks the beginning of the end of our time in Guatemala-I’m very excited to be back with my family in the States!

Semuc Champey

Our adventure started at about 7am on Saturday morning when Thomas’s friend from med school, Tyler, picked us up at our hotel.  He is also doing his research project here in Guatemala, and he rented a car for us to drive through Guatemala city to Lanquin where we would be staying the night before taking a shuttle to Semuc Champey.  The ride was definitely long and winding, but I definitely loved getting to drive through Guatemala City.  The capital looked very similar to an American city.  In fact there was an American company on every block downtown.  There were the expected companies like McDonald’s and Burger King, but there were also some unexpected ones like Payless Shoes and Chuck-E-Cheeses.  The drive from Guatemala City to Lanquin took about 5 hours, an hour of which consisted of crawling down a rocky road that was all down hill.  It took us an hour to travel 10 km!!  Although the ride was long, the last hour took us through jungle-like vegetation with the humidity to match. We didn’t see a single building until we arrived at our hotel.  The hotel consisted of several quaint rustic buildings whose wooden beams and cabin feel added to the whole experience of being in the middle of a forest.  Just down the road from our hotel were caves called Grutas de Lanquin.  After settling into our room, we walked down the road to check out the caves.  Thomas was like a kid in a candy store.  I have no idea how he moved so quickly through the slippery stone path in the cave.  I was at the back of our group slowly, cautiously walking along, feeling as though I would fall at every step.  The nice part was we were one of the only people in the caves; it was just us and a couple of local Guatemalans. Although I wasn’t quite as adventurous as Thomas, the caves were pretty incredible and I’m glad we got to see all the rock formations at the end of the day. 

 

The next morning we woke up early and had a quick breakfast at the hotel before taking a shuttle a half hour on another rocky road to Semuc Champey.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect at Semuc Champey.  Thomas wanted to surprise me so all I knew were there were some sort of pools to go swimming in.  When we arrived at the park, it seemed like we were the first people to go exploring there.  We climbed up about a half hour on a very rough path described as “difficult” to get to a look at the pools from above.  Although the climb was quite difficult, it was definitely worth it.  The view from above was spectacular!  It helped us appreciate the pools even more when we were on the ground.  On the climb down the mountain towards the pools one of the local workers took us on a path that allowed us to see where the river runs through the opening of a cave.  You could feel the spray of the water as it rushed into the opening of the cave where it would travel underground for about 300m and come out the other end in the form of several waterfalls.  The water that trickles alongside the river created a series of several clear blue pools that are perfect for swimming in.  The three of us spent the next couple of hours swimming in the pools before we had to hike out to the entrance to get out shuttle back to our hotel.  One of the coolest parts of Semuc Champey was the lack of tourists in the park.  For such a spectacular natural attraction, there were barely any people there.  It made us feel as though we were exploring a place never seen before.  Semuc Champey is definitely one of the hidden wonders of Guatemala.  I’m curious to see how it will change as more tourists come in future years.  

Lake Atitlan

The hotel porch where you can wade in the water

I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to visit this amazing landmark in Guatemala!  This unique lake was formed when the surrounding volcanoes erupted and the land below sunk down.  This newly formed low-land area then filled with rain water creating what is now know as Lake Atitlan.  There are several small towns that surround the lake, many of which are only easily accessible by boat.  Our hotel was located next to one of these small towns and was right on the water.  One of their porches was literally in the water, and you could wade in the lake water using the porch.  Our hotel room was up several long flights of stairs.  Because the hotel is built on a hill, there are layers of rooms separated by winding flights of stairs surrounded by a lush landscaping.  From our hotel room we couldn’t see the land underneath us and it looked like we were floating on the lake.  I tried to capture the view of the lake as the sun faded, but I’m afraid a camera just couldn’t do it justice.

The view from one of many hotel balconies 

Thomas and I horseback ridding

The next morning we took another boat (which you catch by standing on the dock and waving your arms when the boat is in sight) over to San Pedro la Laguna, a larger town across the lake.  Thomas and I decided to go horseback riding-something I have been dying to do since we arrived in Guatemala.   After negotiating a price with the tourism office, a man road up on a horse pulling another one behind him.  Unlike in the U.S. we did not receive instruction on how to ride the horses safely; luckily Thomas and I have ridden horses before.  The horses took off on their own and followed an apparently well-known path back to the stables where they are kept.  Our tour guide then saddled-up another horse for himself to ride and we began our adventure out of the city.  We got to ride on the horses part-way up one of the volcanoes.  The views were beautiful and the horses were so much fun.   However, the best part of the journey was on the way back when it started to rain.  I’m not sure if the horse was just anxious to get back to its stable, or if the rain somehow excited her, but my horse decided to take off trotting… and then galloping.  Some people might have been really scared at this point, but I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling.  You see, I have always had a secret desire feel what it was like to ride a horse when it was galloping.  So for me, this was a dream come true.  It was AMAZING!!!  (I would also like to note that our guide was not the least bit concerned that his horse took off running—in the U.S. the guide would have stopped the horse in a matter of seconds). This experience was so thrilling that the next day, when I couldn’t sit down because by butt was bruised so badly, I didn’t even complain (well, I barely complained). 

Our last day on the lake, we woke up early, had a delicious breakfast at the hotel, and rented a tandem sea kayak for the morning.  Thomas and I had a lot of fun paddling around the lake and catching the waves made by the boats passing by.  It was a nice way to spend time enjoying our surroundings before having to head back to Panajachel and go home.  We managed to spend some time in Panajachel walking around and purchased a few gifts for family before taking a shuttle back to Tecpan.  I really enjoyed getting to see the beauty created in part by the tourism around the lake.  It has been an interesting, but welcomed contrast to working in the small aldea (rural village) called Pakip where people are struggling to make a living… more on that later. 

Tecpan

On Saturday we left the tourist town of Antigua for the highland town of Tecpan (60,000 people).  As we left Antigua and began our ascent through the mountains, I could see the contrast almost immediately.  Unlike the brightly painted buildings with red adobe tiled roofs, the buildings and homes were small and made out of scrap tin.  The landscape changed from a bustling city to acres of farmland planted by hand.  About an hour later, we arrived in Tecpan at a hotel recommended to us by one of the interns at the clinic Thomas is partnering with.  I’m hoping that the branch of the hotel the intern stayed at is different from the one we entered because I’m fairly certain this hotel could double as a brothel.   The room we entered was poorly lit, darkly painted, and the two large beds were covered with dark pink silk comforters with fabric roses popping out of the center of a heart, not to mention the door to the room was about as strong as a door to a bedroom.  Needless to say, Thomas and I did not feel comfortable in this hotel and promptly began the search for a new hotel.  Luckily, there was a hotel that felt much more secure just down the road and as a bonus they did NOT have the brothel linens.  

After securing our belongings in out new hotel room, we decided to take a walk around the center of the town. Although the city still showed some signs of damage from the earthquakes, and the buildings lacked the rustic elegance of Antigua, Tecpan felt normal.  The people were not putting on a show for us, they were going about their daily lives. Children played tag on the side streets and the women in their traditional clothes walked in groups with their babies on their backs. Hardly anyone approached us to buy something from them; in fact, we were warmly greeted with a “buenas” by many people passing us by. I’m very excited to be staying here in Tecpan despite it being off the beaten path.

For those of you back home, I thought I would entertain you with some things I am still getting used to about Guatemala and Tecpan…

1. The large number of emaciated dogs roaming the streets-  It’s not so much the dogs that take getting used to, but the fact that none of the locals here seem to notice the dogs.
2. With the dogs comes having to watch where you step when you walk down the street.  Not only does there tend to be garbage you can step in but dog poop as well. 
3. The number of children.  It seems as though every women of child-bearing age has a baby- not a toddler, but a baby- majority of whom are carried on their backs.  There are also a lot of children roaming the streets at odd hours of the day.  The worst are the young shoe-shine boys that are way too young to be working the street.
4.  Women breast-feeding- I understand that the babies have to eat, but I’m used to women in the U.S. being slightly more discreet.
5. Cold Showers- well actually, our shower isn’t cold.  There is a water heater; but in order for the heater to effectively heat the water, almost no water can come out.  So it’s a choice: cold shower or hot shower with barely any water (I chose the latter).  

… I’ll add more as I think of them.  

Thomas’s Thoughts on Iximche

So I volunteered to post something on the ruins at Iximche since I seemed to the find the history a bit more engaging than Jill. And now that I am going back to the top of this post to write this quick intro, I apparently wrote way too much for my “audience” but I believe someone out there will appreciate it. And if not, at least I’ll be able to remember the highlights of what our wonderful guide Marvin taught us. Marvin is the “adopted” son of my Emphasis project mentor (who I have even more respect for after chatting with Marvin), grew up fascinated by the ruins and reading history books there nearly every day, played semi-pro soccer for a few years, and is now a 29 year old who is about to finish up his archeology thesis while working at a call center in the evenings. He will be the first male Kaqchikel archeologist on top of being a well-accomplished athlete who now competes internationally in running and triathlons. Marvin lives in Guatemala City and made the trip out to Tecpan to personally teach us about the ruins where he has spent a good chunk of his life exploring. Needless to say, we were very fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and genuinely personable individual teach us about the ruins at Iximche. It’s because of Marvin that I am so excited to introduce you to the Kaqchikel Mayan history. His enthusiasm for his own indigenous roots and its rich history is truly contagious. Without him, Iximche would have just been another set of ruins.

Though Tecpan is little known to tourists in Guatemala, some do happen to find their way to the underemphasized (though historically very significant) ruins at Iximche just a couple kilometers from Tecpan. When the Spanish explorers lead by Pedro Alvarado descended from Mexico into Central America in 1524, they found their way to the Kaqchikel Mayan capital now referred to as Iximche—though not the true name of the capital. Translated into English, Iximche means “corn tree” and refers to a tree thought to have been of particular value to the Kaqchikel Mayans during seasons of drought when corn did not grow well. During these tough times, the Mayans would grind up the dried beans from these trees to make flour for their tortillas.

When the Spanish arrived, the Kaqchikel Mayans embraced the Spaniards for their white skin and horses. At first, the Kaqchikel Mayans thought that the never-before-seen horses were just oversized deer. Therefore, to this day the word for horse and deer is the same in the Kaqchikel language. Upon arrival into the capital surrounded by a canyon on three sides, Pedro Alvarado formed a strategic alliance with the Kaqchikel Mayans against their rivals, the Quiche Mayans from whom they had separated about 50 years prior. As we all expect, the alliance between the Spaniards and the Kaqchikel Mayans would be short lived as Pedro Alvarado formed alliances against other Mayan ethnicities against the Kaqchikel kingdom. The relationship between the two nations became increasingly tense as Pedro Alvarado demanded that the Kaqchikel provide him gold after seeing the gold crowns and necklaces that the royalty wore. Interestingly enough, Guatemala does not have easily accessible gold and it is believed that the limited gold found in the Mayan ruins were imported from South America.

When the Spaniards arrived to Iximche, they founded Tecpan, which was the first capital of Guatemala. However, in that period all of Central America was called Guatemala and therefore this easily overlooked town is actually the first capital of Central America. To add a little more detail, the name Guatemala is based on an Aztec word Quauhtemallan, meaning forest land. The use of this name originated at Iximche. Adding to the relationship between the Mayans from Central America and the Aztecs from Mexico is the fact that their drawings are incredibly similar. As a result, many archeologists believe that Central Americans come from Mexico.

We were very fortunate to have Marvin show us around the ruins as he told us things that even the locals so easily overlook when studying the ruins. Most surprising, Marvin refuted the idea that is so often taught in grade school (and even college) that the losers of the ball games were sacrificed. Marvin noted that this idea emerged from the well-known Mexican ruins in Chichen Itza due to the proximity between a ball court and a sacrificial area. However, the proximity does not exist in other Mayan ruins. Additionally, Marvin and his mentors have realized that those who played the ball game were very well respected individuals within the Mayan culture. Instead of being a game of life or death, the Mayan ball game is now believed to be a religious event since it would not make any sense to kill such respected and socially beneficial participants.

To complement the sacred serenity of the Mayan ruins, we finished our tour with observing some Guatemalan motorcycle drag racing that finished at the park entrance. Of course, no Latin American sporting event would be authentic without tall models wearing excessively tight yellow pants and a bikini top. In actuality, watching the drag race was more of a chance to kill the time since the drag race closed down the street and prevented us from catching a microbus ride home. During the moments we didn’t worry about the drag racers having to break quickly before potentially crashing into a line of cars trying to leave the park, we patiently supplemented the time chatting about strategies Marvin could use to someday attract more tourism to Tecpan to bolster the local economy by getting tourists to spend more time in the Tecpan area rather than quickly passing through Iximche en route to Antigua or Panajachel (hippie-town Guatemala). We finished the day having a long conversation at a restaurant, which was a great chance to learn about his own personal history as an indigenous student trying to move up the unstable Guatemalan social ladder and his experiences growing up during the Guatemalan civil war.

Enough said. Hope I didn’t bore you too much with all the history. If so, I don’t blame you. I’ve never been much of a history buff either except in unique cases such as this.

Antigua

A lot has happened in the past few days.  I’ve decided to write one blog, but I will break it up by day.

The public basins

Convent at La Merced 

Wednesday: Thomas and I decided to take a walking tour around Antigua following the travel book we brought with us.  It was a great way to see the highlights of the town.  My favorite part of the day was seeing the public basins where women still come to wash their clothing on occasion.  Near these public basins, there were several street vendors grilling food and selling tacos.  We decided to buy a light lunch from one of the vendors.  We got a chicken leg/thigh, tortillas, salsa, and guacamole for about $2.60!  We also had the opportunity to see a funeral procession, which was quite interesting.  There must have been at least 200 people all wearing some shade of black following the pall-bearers carrying the casket, and at the back of the procession there was a 12-piece band playing music.

Thursday: Thomas and I had plans to go shopping in two smaller towns just outside of Antigua.  The first town, San Felipe, is supposed to be known for its jade, silver, and ceramics.  When we arrived in San Felipe, there was a small market set up outside the church in the center of town.  Much to our dismay, the place was practically deserted except for some people selling food and some t-shirts—apparently market day is the only day they sell their crafts.  We quickly decided to leave and come back to the town on Saturday, their market day.  The next town on our stop was Pastores, a town our guide-book claimed is known for its leather work.  We took our next mode of transportation, a tuk-tuk (a smaller 3-wheeled taxi), to this small town that really consisted of about 2 blocks lined with boot-shops.  Once again, we were sadly disappointed because we were not interested in boots, despite their beautiful craftsmanship, but were looking for other products.  After walking the length of the town looking for a taxi or tuk-tuk to take us back to Antigua, we decided to take the local bus, which was our only alternative to walking.  Needless to say, Thursday’s shopping excursion was rather disappointing, but on the positive side, we got to experience almost all modes of ground-transportation in a matter of a few hours!

Jill and Thomas on the volcano

View of Volcan Pacaya 

Friday:  Today was an amazing day!  Thomas and I woke up early to catch a 6am shuttle (arranged though a travel agency) to Volcán Pacaya, a still active volcano near Antigua.  The shuttle drove up a bumpy, winding road for about 1 hour until we arrived at the base of the volcano.  When we stepped out of the shuttle, we were surrounded with children selling walking sticks for 5 quetzals. Despite the children claiming they “were necessary” for the hike, we decided not to purchase any, although many in our group did.  Then, we proceeded on our steep hike up the volcano.  Thomas and I started out at the back and we noticed a large group of people riding or leading horses behind us.  When I turned around to get a better look at the horses, one of the locals asked me “taxi natural?” (natural taxi).  Apparently it is pretty common for out-of-shape foreigners to start the trek and then pay to ride a horse the rest of the way up the volcano.  After a little over an hour of hiking up hill, we reached our stopping point.  Although there was no lava, our tour-guide showed us areas where you could feel the warmth coming up from under the ground.  We were even able to roast marshmallows in one of the holes!  The morning was really fun, but Thomas and I were quite tired by the end of the trip.  We decided to have a nice dinner in one of the restaurants in Antigua to celebrate our last night before traveling to Tecpan tomorrow.  

"Taxi Natural"