Advertisement
Published: January 13th 2008
I've already mentioned in the blog just prior that our friends and neighbors the Gellerts, plus Steve's godson Carlos, came to visit. I'm going to outline our time together with them, and form a sort of "Top Things to Do in Guatemala if You're Visiting for a Short Time" list for people considering a trip down here. Because of the number of pictures I’m including, I’m going to break down each item on the list into a separate blog entry. Here is the list, to be detailed in my next few entries:
• Antigua
• Lake Atitlan
• Pacaya Volcano
• Tikal
I'll start with a look at some pictures from a little walk around town with the Gellerts and Carlos. We spent the first day of their visit just walking around (and me trying out my new Christmas camera!) seeing the sights of Antigua. They enjoyed the nice warm weather (coming from the crappy weather of Seattle and Boston) and the sights around town.
During our walk we noticed that Fuego decided to have a little eruption. Fuego had been pretty active all week preceding their visit, and the shots I took were pretty typical the volcano
Gellerts in front a a calmed Fuego
and Acatenango volcanos. Taken from the roof of La Pasada de Don Rodrigoblowing off a little steam.
I'm also including some shots I took of 2 major modes of transportation here: the Chicken Bus and the Tuk-Tuk.
First, a word on Chicken Buses. The way to say "chicken bus" in Spanish is..."cheeken bus," which makes it easy to remember. These are old American schoolbuses whose piston rings are so shot they could never pass US air regulations. (After my first 10 minutes here I became incredibly grateful to the US EPA) They are then purchased for a song by some entreprenurial Guatemalan who then tricks them out with chrome and girly mudflaps, and then charges 1Q for a ride across town, or a few more Qs to Guatemala City. Hanging out the open front door of the bus is a professional yeller, who calls out the name of the destination, "Guatemala" (for Guatemala City) or "Guate" for short. They like to do this starting at about 6am, so when we were living at our old house we heard the frequent sounds of compression brakes and "Guate, Guate, Guate!" ushering in the morning. The bus drivers are madmen who love to scare the living daylights out of pedestrians by barrelling through
A continued tradition...
...sharing Christmas dinner with the Gellerts, and Carlos too. town at top speed (belching out thick black clouds of smoke) and seeing us scatter about to avoid getting hit. Ha ha! To keep things interesting, they are also often drunk.
The other form of transport is the Tuk Tuk, which many people might know from Thailand or India. Given the condition of the tuk-tuks in Antigua, I think these ones come to Guatemala AFTER they have been given a thorough thrashing in their home countries. Tuk Tuks are basically three-wheeled scooters mounted (without ANY form of suspension) on lawnmower engines. They are within the last moments of their useful lifespans, which means they will enjoy many years of service here, being held together by duct tape and spit. Place them atop the charming cobblestones of Antigua and you have a ride that will either make you carsick or rid you of all sorts of tight muscle problems. For those of us here without a car, they are a godsend as they are cheap and ubiquitous. Since our new home (since December) is a 25-minute walk from our grocery store, they have saved our skins many a time by helping schlepp home the groceries.
Some tuk-tuks owners like
Kids in their Christmas crowns
as we opened our gifts on Christmas day to trick out their rides by creating curvey fiberglass roofs (with spoilers on top) and the occasional cushion in the back. One day a particularly tricked-out one rode by and Lucas said, "hey, he wants to go on the TV show "Pimp my Tuk-Tuk!"
Advertisement
Tot: 0.2s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 20; qc: 45; dbt: 0.1417s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
