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Published: November 10th 2006
New photos are located at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=n1ics9r.24r1q477&x=0&y=-skyhoc
Not so many as last time, so you hopefully won't get bored.
I just returned to civilization after 2.5 weeks roughing it out on the coast. I first went to Montericco a small beach village that many tourists and Guatemaltecans (who can afford it) trek to every weekend. I got there on a dreary Sunday (we caught the tail end of a Hurricane in Mexican) and by Sunday evening the town was completely deserted. I think there was one other girl at my hotel. I got a cold as soon as I got there and even though the hotel was right on the beach the rooms where rather depressing...so I spent an (almost) miserable 3 days there until I got over my cold. My first day there I went to check out a local football game (soccer for you Americans) It was hilarious to see a pig on the field. It actually quickly got out of the way, but no such luck for 2 dogs that wandered out on the field. There are so many damn street dogs out here, it's rather annoying. One night I ate dinner at Johnny's, just another little nearby hotel on the beach, my dinner company, a one eyed cat! I went on a sunrise canal cruise. The little wooden boat was powered by a buff guy and a stick. On our dark walk to the canal (escorted by most of the street dogs) we came across a party...yes at 5am. Turns out it was someone’s birthday and about 50 people or so came with musical instruments to sing happy birthday.
Tuesday I took the bus (a bumpy, dirty, 30 minute ride) out near the even smaller village of Hawaii where the Turtle Reserve is (Parque Hawaii Tortugario). I absolutely fell in love with the place and decided to move in the next day. Turns out I missed the bus back so started to do the 2 hour walk...finally after nearly an hour and a half a pick up drove by and I hopped in. Ok so there were a few shirtless Guatemaltecan men with Machetes in the back with me, but hey it was a ride!
Parque Hawaii (I like to call it "the compound") is a Sea Turtle, Crocodile and Mangrove Conservation Project hosted by a Guatemalan NGO, http://www.arcasguatemala.com/arcas.htm. The main project there is saving the Turtles. 100% of the turtle’s eggs are taken every season. The locals sell them to dealers who take them to Guatemala City for local and international trade. They are evidently an aphrodisiac and eaten raw, yuck! If it wasn't for groups like this NGO the entire population will be extinct in a few years. During the egg laying season volunteers (along with the poachers called Parlameros) walk the beach at night trying to spot a turtle laying her eggs. The first one there gets them. Generally the Parlameros get there first since there are so much more of them, than us. You can then ask for a donation. By law they are supposed to give you 20% of the eggs but in actuality they only give about 12. We then give them a receipt for the donation. You can also buy the whole nest from them, about $20 if you have the money. As a side note, I unfortunately didn't have the money with me. I'm not sure if it made the papers up north but a major bank down here, Bancafé went bankrupt. It caused a lot of problems for many people. Besides the banks in Antigua being closed for another holiday, all the ATM's ran out of money, so I was barely skimming by on the money I had. The nearest bank was an all day trip. Up at 5am, walk to the next village, and take a fishing boat to a bus and then the bus to the city. I didn't bother, but made it back to Antigua with about $1.50 to spare! Ok back to the turtles. Once you get eggs you bury them in the hatchery that we keep locked. About 45 days later they hatch. Now is the peak time for hatchlings and we get about 500 that pop up a night. Our workday starts at about 4pm when we do 'nest excavations'. We head out to the hatchery and dig out nests that starting hatching about 4 days before (this gives any late bloomers time to catch up). We count to make sure we got all the old shells. There is almost always a few that didn't hatch and we have to find out why by opening the shell. Mostly they are just infertile, but sometimes they didn't completely form or are just dead...and sometimes they are really gross. By the time we are done with that we start to get some hatchlings popping up. We measure and weigh a statistical sample (it took all the strength I had to refrain from running a muliple regression analysis!) and send them off to the ocean. They only come up at night so the hatchery has to be checked every 2 hours or so to let them out, otherwise they get too tired crawling all over each other. After dinner we set the walking schedule. Everyone walks for about 3 hours. I liked the 3am shift since I got to see the sunrise. At first I was a bit nervous about walking on the beach at night, even though there is always 2 of us, I wasn't sure about the relationships with the Parlameros. It turns out that everyone is great. These are very small villages and everyone knows each other, so when you cross someone you stop to chat or at the very least say "buenas"....oh yeah it's so laid back out here that it's too much trouble to say Buenos Dias, so we all just say buenas. All in all it was a good experience to be involved in both a research project and the tactical work of saving the tutles. I however would prefer to be involved more on a strategic or policy level. Unfortunately in Guatemala, policy isn't the real problem here, it's enforcement. This seems to be for about all aspects if life here.
The Mosquitoes here suck! Ok, they bite. I made a huge mistake one of my first days. I had dinner duty (we alternate every night) and I thought I'd do much of the prep work during the day when the mosquitoes are asleep. It turns out they aren't asleep they are just hanging out in the kitchen! They are small little buggers and you never feel when they are biting you. I got about 100 bites and was miserable for a few days. On a positive note, I love Jungle juice with 98% deet from REI. Everyone else had a measly 20%-30% deet. From then on I rarely got more than 10 bites a day, everyone was so jealous. I'm taking malaria pills but Dengue fever is more common and there is nothing I can do about that. If I get a fever in 8 weeks or so it could be Dengue.
The compound is very rustic but we have all the modern conveniences, that is electricity and water. We have a well and a water pump and when those are working all is at peace. We burn our trash, we compost, we recycle and I (attempt to) do my own laundry. What a pain that is! We live like the locals, a completely vegetarian diet. Which I actually started to get used to and may stick with that. The local village has great fruits and vegetables and we have an endless supply of coconuts so I did some experimenting with those.
My first Friday night out there we got a call from some locals asking for all the women to come to a party. It was the last day of school and one of the local elementary schools was having a party. Turns out there were too many hombres and no one was dancing. So we headed over. Quite the school party. Of course they had lots of beer and a d.j. true to Latin American style, which means it's so damn loud that the speakers are blown out. I was dancing with one of the teachers who was getting too drunk and carried away and the next thing I know he's being chased across the dance floor (the outside basketball court) and down the street with 2 guys and their machetes. I love this place!
One the very nice young local guys that takes care of the grounds at the compound is making a run for the border. I guess getting to Mexico is not so bad but he's paying the equivalent of $6000 for a guide to get him to the U.S. I have no idea how he is able to pull together that much money. He's planning to go to Boston where his uncle lives. I don't think he's ever felt anything less than 70 degrees...he's going to freeze his ass off.
A friend of mine from Spain that I met in Antigua came to visit me at Hawaii. He's doing 6 months of volunteer work at an NGO in Guatemala City. The NGO's goal is to monitor the peace accords from the 35 year old civil war that ended 10 years ago. One of the main parts to the peace accords (my MBA friends will love this) is to build monuments! In any case it was really nice to have someone worldly and my age to talk to. Unfortunately many of my fellow travelers are kids and under 25. Granted I've met some great kids (and even some great adults) but for the most part they have pretty simple goals, get drunk and get laid! When I try to bring up such issues as leadership in Iran, the 2 new controversial eastern countries accepted into the EU or U.S. Midterm elections and people just give me a blank stare.
Ok, enough for now. I just came to Antigua to get a few things done, like laundry, go to the bank, and book travel to my next destination. Tomorrow I'm heading out to Coban for a few days. Unfortunately I have to go through Guatemala City and change buses to get there. I hate to have to do that. That place is so dangerous, plus I feel so vulnerable will ALL of my stuff with me. Its one thing to get mugged and all you have on you is equivalent to $20 but if they get everything that will suck. But of course I will be careful and try and stick with some other travelers going to the same place. Once in Coban, I will arrange travel to Grutas de Lanquin (where you can hike in the underwater rivers?!?) and Semuc Champey (which is supposedly one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala (blue water lagoons). It's getting close to the end of hurricane season so I plan to get to Rio Dulce near the Caribbean Coast to look for a yacht to crew on. I hope to do another week of Spanish classes there, 4 hours in the morning and spend the afternoons cruising the marinas and getting to know people.
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Curt
non-member comment
Amazing stories! I know I sure couldn't cut it.. Still think you would be great on Survivor. Perhaps when you return. All well here. Looks like China trip in January. Take care, be safe and I look forward to your next entry.