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Published: January 5th 2008
How to start... This is going to be an interesting phenomenon, knowing how to begin these blog entries, it seems that so much happens every moment that its hard to think of where to begin. Vanessa and I have both been talking about how when we start writing we could go on forever... maybe I´ll get more efficient in the future. Ww are in Flores, and have been here for a couple of days now. The bus ride up here was quite the experience, 12 hours on a bus that picked and dropped people off continuosly. I was sitting beside this awesome girl and her baby christopher, she kept giving me little things, a chip, or a napkin to wipe my hands... we mostly communicated with smiles and gestures. The language barrier is pretty frustrating, theres so much that I want to ask everyone, but the basics are all ive got right now. The bus was a good example of how things are different here, the space boundaries are not the same. I was thinking about the air conditioned greyhounds of home that are generally quiet, and boring. Here the buss was a whirr of life, people getting on and off, yelling to eachother, someone leaning over you becuase theres not enough room, a salesman climbing on the bus and doing a half an hour pitch in a loud boisterous voice about some mysterious essential orange oil, the bus driver BLARING a mix of spanish pop, salsa, reggaeton, and latin hip hop for the entire ride. I feel like Im more reminded here that other people take up space, that everyone is living life simultaneoulsy with me... its not as easy to climb into your head and foget about everyone else when youve got somebodys head a few inches from yours and loud music ringing in your ears. The bus ride was also neat because the lanscape literally changed before our eyes. We started out in the mountainous hills that surround Guatemala city, and made our way through dryer flatter lands. At one point I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in the jungle. Drastic hills and lush vegetation everywhere. Roadside towns and shacks were all along the roadside provding snap shot images of people in their lives... yes it got uncomfortable and by the end my bum was about to fall off, but I can tell bus rides are going to provide some time for reflection and really noticing things.
We arrived in Flores and ended up finding ourselves a decent but simple place to stay, we met some other travellers and ended up wandering around with them late into the night. Unlike Guatemala city, Flores is super touristy, so theres lots of people who speak english which is good and bad I guess. The town is amazingly quaint with cobblestone roads that slope upwards and square buildings of all different colors. Unfortunately everything is a lot more expensive here, but thats the price you pay for having more things available to you. Chrissy and I managed to get lost our first night which is pretty hard in this town. Its a little island, and you can literally walk around it in 15 minutes. However we forgot the name of our hostel and found ourselves roaming the streets with no clue how to get "home". To make a long story short we ended up just asking someone in a restaurant... the owner walked us around town until we found the hostel, again the hospitality of people here is amazing me. The cab driver I told you all about in my last entry came to see us off at the bus the next morning, and people keep helping me out in little ways. Its really inspiring me to be as giving as I can as Ive already received so much kindness. The next we headed into Santa Elena which is the bigger city that is right near Flores to go to the bank... overwhelming is a word that doesnt so this place justice. Its dirty and you inhale mysterious fumes constantly, the traffic is crazy and crossing the street is a serious ordeal. Guards pepper the streets standing upright with guns against there legs, and ads of all different colors catch your eyes haphazardly. Definitely not my favorite place, by the time we left my lungs hurt and I felt like I needed to sleep for a long time. Last night, and tonight were staying in a different hostel called Los Amigos which is really the place to be for travellers... its a little piece of backpacker heaven. You walk in and are drawn immedeately to this courtyard filled with tons of amazing plants, banana trees. Hammocks and cabanas are everywhere and people are lounging around looking like theyve been there forever even though most of them have been there fo a day or two. The whole plave has been built by hand so tree house like additions are pretty common. Jironimo, one of the starters of the hostel let us climb onto his roof which gave us a panoramic view of the lake and all of Flores and Santa Elena. It was beautiful. The girls have taken to calling me "lama" as at the beginning of the trip I was sayin "como se llama" with an L instead of making it silent.
Jironimo is a super interesting dude and told me a lot about the Peten region. The Peten is really crazy because its a mix of so many different people. Many people fled up here during the war, so to find someone indigenous to this area is really rare. People arent as friendly because everyone is from somewhere else, so people are often on there guard. Theres a lot of corruption due to drug trafficking and cattle ranching. Certain people have a lot of money, and instead of sharing it, they buy fancy cars and a lot of land, clearing the forest for cattle and more money. Government has a totally different implication as no one really takes them seriously. During the civil war there was a huge genocide against the maya people who were basically pawns in a civil war between guerillas and the government. Guerillas would approach a maya village and say you have to defens us and hide us... they didnt really have much of a choice, then the government would come and accuse the maya of harbouring guerillas and force them to choose a side. Many innocent people were forced into the middle of the conflict which has resulted in thousands of deaths... so you can see why people dont really rely on the government for much, which explains a heightened importance of family and community. Idealism doesnt really exist and if they do theyre usually killed before they have much of a chance to do anything.
Last night at Los Amigos was wonderful... met a great group of travellers and we jammed all night... guitars, kazoo, flute, maracas, drums, and singing. Its nice to have the intial barriers of meeting and bonding people sort of removed, its a lot easier just to find common ground with someone and have a good time when you know that youre both out of your lives... it open people up. We all slept in hammocks last night which was cool but slightly uncomfortable and pretty cold. Its winter here right now, which feels like our early summer, so its a good trasition, but definitely not the sweltering heat that I was expecting.
The dynamics between the four of us our good, were just learning our all of our space boundaries and that having alone time and time with other people is super important... its tough sometimes, but the amount of support ive felt from zoe, chris, and vana is unbelieveable... I feel so grateful. I know this has been a long entry but I might not have the chance to go on the internet fo a while as were heading off to spanish school tomorrow which is in a town called San Andres (also on the lake). Im excited to get more of a grasp of espagnol, it will be a totally different experience once that happens. So much love to everyone, you are with me always.
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Yeva
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oh man....I just got back to van today, and read both of your entries......I want MORE!!! i'm envious....i want to still be traveling too. it sounds fantastic. claire...god, you know what, no comment is going to do justice to how excited i am for you and your current and upcoming adventures. dude, you are going to freaking rock it! keep safe. love ya - yeva ps. your plane letter was awesome. the dude sitting next to me read it and thought it was great too. the picture of the dead virgin/bunny was a truly memorable piece of art.