Day Six – Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

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Hooooo Weeeee….. Welcome to the tropics! Opened the balcony door this morning to 85 degrees and 100% humidity at 0700…. OPPRESSIVE… We ain’t in Pollock Pines anymore, Toto. Today we are off to tour a working coffee plantation and visit the original capitol of Central America, Colonial Antigua. As Steve lived in numerous parts of Asia for three years while serving in the Air Force back in the early 70’s, the culture shock was not nearly as great as it was for Carol when we hit the bricks. Dozens of people selling everything mobbed us the minute we hit dry land. We pushed through the street hawkers and got on our bus (we HATE touring this way, but little choice is left to us here) and headed out through lush sugar cane fields toward 12,000 foot volcanoes and the Filadelfia Coffee Plantation, located at a pleasant 6,500’ where cooler air prevailed. We learned a tremendous amount about organic coffee production, and realized just how difficult it is to produce a pound of coffee, with the labor mostly done by hand here. It is little wonder many of these people are trying to get to America, as the abject poverty in Guatemala is more than somewhat depressing. One sees the tons of money put into churches and other monuments, when at the same time there are mounds of garbage by the roadside and five-year-old children shining shoes in the central plaza of the large cities here for $1. Our tour guide spent 30 minutes telling us about the corrupt politicians who pocket all of the money and leave the people destitute – So there is a future for term-limited American politicians in Guatemala!! Just one example is the cost of fuel here in a third-world country. Fuel here prior to the initiation of the Iraq war was $2 per gallon. Today, it is $5 per gallon. Consequently, there are tons of motor bikes clogging the streets here, and the pollution is hard to describe. When we arrived in La Antigua, we thought we had arrived in downtown Los Angeles at rush hour on a hot summer day. The other side of the coin is the natural beauty of this country. The lush greenery and flowers are amazing, and if you spend some time to sit down and practice your Spanish with the locals here, they are extremely friendly and very open. We made it back to the S.S. Scurvy at 1730, and we left the harbor at 1800, and are now headed for San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. We will be hiking volcano craters tomorrow!

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