Blogs from Todos Santos Cuchumatán, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

18.5. Die Fahrt nach Coban im Westen Guatemalas ist unspektakulär, das Spannendste ist die Überquerung eines Flusses mit der Fähre. Während der letzten Stunde geht es dann steil bergauf, die Frauen tragen plötzlich weite Röcke und unifarbene Oberteile aus Spitze. Wir werden am Stadtrand ausgeladen, wir sind die einzigen, die hier aussteigen wollen. Der Taxifahrer schmunzelt, als wir seinen Preis zum Hotel akzeptieren – uns erschien er mit knapp drei Franken durchaus angemessen. Nach einer kurzen Ruhepause machen wir uns auf den Weg zu einer Agentur, die, wie wir im Reiseführer gelesen haben, Aufenthalte bei Mayafamilien in der Umgebung vermittelt. Guatemalas Bevölkerung besteht zu 60% aus Mestizos (Nachkommen aus der Verbindung von spanischen Eroberern und Mayafrauen) und zu 40% aus Maya. Diese wurden lange Zeit stark unterdrückt und verfolgt und sind auch heute noch oft benachteil ... read more

I kept getting conflicting information regarding the departure time for the last afternoon bus. 2pm. 2:30pm. 3pm. Depending with whom I spoke, it would take either 1, 2 or 3 hours to get to my destination for the night. Different people also told me the bus was green. It’s blue. It’s yellow. Everyone seemed to be quite certain of his/her color and time choice, but it was becoming quite clear I was just going to have to figure it all out on my own. The important thing, at least, is that I knew where to wait for the transport. At least I hoped I did. Regardless of the color, the time and any other conflicting detail of said bus, by midmorning the following day I should be on my way to the border, sadly ... read more

Hola, Entry from Theresa: As Dave was enjoying his hike in the Altitudes of "way too high for Theresa to handle", I had some time to catch up on emails, watch TV, and read. Nebaj was a bit of a hole in that it rained every day, it was mucky and dirty, only about 10 C, and close to zero at night, and no place had any heat, or closed doors. I wore my thermal underwear and multiple layers all day and went to the only nice restaurant in town, on a daily basis. I was on first name basis with the waiters by the time Dave returned, 3 days later. Whilst checking emails, I had a time-line due to my hands freezing, so I lasted about 40 minutes. In the hotel room, the room was ... read more

I love the Mayans. Sometimes very shy and reserved, once you get them laughing and aware that you genuinely are interested in their culture, they warm immediately. They have been abused by nearly every outside people that have taken residence here. But they just keep going on, holding to their traditions. I saw young people in Todos Santos wearing the same thing that their parents and grandparents wear, which is a rare thing in this world. Even Hueheu, a bigger town, has a warm feel to it. Guatemalans are very genuine people, warm and friendly, more polite than Mexicans in general. Guatemala is also a very frustrating place in which to travel sometimes. The transportation is slow and not very convenient. But one can experience a lot on one bus ride (I don't really like the ... read more

And how do you like your chicken bus? Today was foggy enough for me to finally leave Huehuetenango for San Mateo Ixtatan, the mountain town in which I´ll be spending the next eleven months. All morning I prepared myself for this ascent. For breakfast I ate the best piece of dulce de leche cake, had my last double cappuccino and bought the two best bottles of alcohol I could find. Of course, best isn´t saying too much. Because they were out of Johnny Walker red (Julio had probably ordered the last bottle in Huehuetango) and I had to settle for ‘Black prince Whisky´, a flimsy looking bottle lauding its authentic Scottishness but with tiny print on the back admitting it was fabricated in Guatemala city. With the help of a few friendly Guatemalan men, I managed ... read more