Guate Adventures

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In order to leave Placencia, Belize and head to Livingston, Guatemala, I had to take one bus and numerous boat rides. My travels on the water were mostly enjoyable but at some points, it was mildly wet and painful. It began to rain once I left Belize so at the speed we were going, the rain drops were smacking me in the face with some force. On top of that, I had my glasses on and could not see a thing. Besides the slight discomfort, the breeze was refreshing and the buzz of the boat was calming.

Once in Livingston, I was bombarded by numerous new sights and sounds. This small town was definitely unique. It seemed to be a perfect mix of guatemalan and belizean culture. Instead of just the punta and reggae beats of Belize blasting from all corners, latin rhythms found their place in the evening air. Also, it was my first experience of being completely surrounded by foreign tongues. I realized, at lightning speed, just how inept my spanish really was. Just inquiring about whether I could try on a hat I was interested in buying was a battle. It was interesting to notice that the town seemed to attract a lot of funky, bohemian tourists. I did not really stay long enough to find out why.

After arriving, my friend Nick and I went for dinner at a place called Tilingo Lingo. I had an amazing seafood soup that had a whole tilapia, a whole mini crab, mussels, and big prawns. It was a traditional garifuna dish. It looked as if a small ocean had found its home in my bowl. During dinner, Nick and I had an interesting conversation about how some people say that traveling changed their life. He explained how he was skeptical of people who say such things because he believed traveling to be just an experience. Nothing more, nothing less. You get what you get out of it and you don´t get what you don´t get out of it.

I thought about what he said and realized that other people describing their travels as life-changing had caused me to feel like my travels would only be success if my story was the same. I dragged myself through many frustrating moments before that conversation trying to figure out whether I was doing things ¨right¨ because I thought I had not really experienced any profound epiphanies. I think that for some people who cannot regard the experience of travel as simply just that, visiting foreign places becomes somewhat of a drug. I truly believe there are travel addicts out there much like cocaine addicts. With each trip, they look for a new high (ie. a personal epiphany) but eventually realize the edge gets duller each time and eventually, they are lost. Lost looking for something they could have found in their living room at home eating a bag of potato chips. That chat with my friend Nick put a new spin on the outlook for my trip. I thank him for refreshing my mind and alleviating the pressure I was putting on myself. I was caught up in trying to be the ¨best traveller¨ He got me back to the now. Nothing more, nothing less.

In the morning, I left Nick and Livingston for Rio Dulce. My trip there was a boat ride that I had heard so much about from other travelers. I am sure it would have been as fantastic as others had described if I could just understand what the heck my boat driver was saying. He was so excited to tell us about this and that but his fast spanish words were completely lost on me. I managed to enjoy seeing a nice hot spring right on the side of a river, a group of birds that made noises that sounded like croaks from frogs, and beautiful sights of mountains covered in jungle before I nodded off. I felt bad but the ride was longer than I expected, I could not understand a lick of what our guide was saying, and the power of our humming motor in putting me to sleep was an impossible opponent.

Once in Rio Dulce, I was whisked off to a gringo paradise built in the jungle. It was large wooden lodge-type facility that could only be accessed by private boat. It felt like one big treehouse and was absolutely beautiful and relaxing. One night there costed me about $5 US. It was absolutely rididulous. This place even had kayaks that the guests could use at their leisure to explore the river that the hostel was built over. Mind you, these kayaks were not the ones that are plentiful in Canada. Think of a mini canoe built for one person that was so shallow, you had to either sit or kneel in it or you would surely fall overboard. Soon after I landed there, I felt bad that I had escaped experiencing true guatemalan culture by allowing myself to stay at this paradise and not in the city. I tried to shake the feeling and enjoy myself but it was tough. I did end up meeting some nice travelers but the next day, I made my departure as soon as I got out of bed.

My next stop was Flores for the world-reknown mayan ruins of Tikal. At 3am in the morning, I got out of bed for the sunrise tour. In pitch darkness, I, along with 30 other early birds, sat atop Tower 4 of Tikal and awaited the sun to appear and for the jungle to awaken. For those Star War fans, Tower 4 was featured in George Lucas' famous film.

Those moments in silence and blackness were very powerful. I felt triumphant. I felt strong and ready. Looking out over that sleeping jungle at that place and time made me feel so special.

As the sun slowly emerged, the scenery changed every second from breath-taking to magnificent to un-imaginable. Once the birds started to chirp all around us, the growls of the howler monkeys could be heard. I was taken aback by the sounds of these animals. They were a bit frightening. Loud and monster-like, they sounded like dinosaurs. Our guide later explained that these animals were not the least bit dinosaur-like at all. They were actually quite small but the acoustics of Tikal produced echoes that magnified the calls of these animals. Once the sunrise was over, our group continued the day by exploring the rest of the massive mayan area.

After Tikal were my adventures at Semuc Champey. My day in the area started at 9am. Our first activity was riding two swings over a rushing river and dropping into the water. I did the first one. I would say the drop was about 20 feet. The second one was a bit too sketchy for me since our guide warned us not to drop out of the swing too late in order to avoid a large rock that poked out of the water.

Afterwards, we did the cave. I would say the cave trekking is, hands-down, the highlight of my trip so far. The experience was straight out the Goonies or Indiana Jones. I was swimming with a candle in one hand through pitch black, water-filled corridors in a deep cave. I climbed up a raging cave waterfall. I leapt from a tall perch at a height of 20 feet into a large water pool. I slid feet first into a mysterious hole filled with rushing water after telling my guide that I trusted him even though I had no clue as to what was waiting for me inside the abyss. The cave was absolutely exhilarating but I was glad to see sunlight again when it was all over.

After the cave was the bridge. Our next daredevil opportunity was to jump off a bridge that was about 3 storeys above the river. I am proud to say that I met the challenge....twice! I have to admit that when I was looking down at that water getting ready to let-r-rip, I was terribly intimidated. However, the people around just kept saying "Don´t think about. Just do it." The moment I accepted that advice was the same moment I left solid ground and entered freefall. I had an enormous inner celebration for my accomplishment. I could not wipe the smirk off my face. I am so excited to be able to share this success with you all.

Before I move on to the highlights of my next destination, I need to share something really wonderful. I saw and counted fireflies!!! At the hostel I stayed at to visit Semuc Champey, fireflies would play in the dark and I spent a significant chunk of my first evening spotting and counting fireflies with two other friends. It was a fantastic past-time. Thoroughly relaxing and fascinating. Some would blink constantly. Others would light for 5 seconds at a time. Very cool.

My next stop was Antigua, a beautiful colonial town which was surrounded by volcanoes. The steets were cobbled, the buildings were dressed in pastel colours, and many people were rich and seemed to be very european. It was like a part of Spain nestled within Guatemala. Very strange but very beautiful and comfortable for the tourist. Unlike other places in the country, many locals spoke some english because tourism was the heart of the city´s economy.

I stayed there for about a week and a half. I....

-wandered the streets without a map and got lost
-did a tour of the main Antigua attractions with an expert who wrote several books on the city. I learned a lot of history and facts about Guatemala, saw open tombs complete with a skeleton, and explored beautiful colonial architecture.
-hiked an active volcano nearby called Pacaya and got close enough to lava to hear it, feel its warm, and touch it if I was stupid enough
-studied spanish and lived with a homestay family for a week.

I enjoyed my stay in Antigua but it was a bit too unlike the rest of Guatemala for me and I did not feel my spanish was improving at the rate that was satisfactory to me. In a nutshell, too many gringos and too much english.

As a result, I am now in Xela or Quetzaltenango. It is the second largest city in Guatemala and it has two names, the first being its mayan name and the other, its spanish name. I will likely be here for about a month, studying spanish and volunteering.

For those who are anxious to see pictures, I will no longer be uploading photos to my blog. It is just a bit to freaking tedious. Instead, I will be posting them on another site. The link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/Abrelyn

Right now there are only pictures of my travels up to Caye Caulker. I will be working on getting this updated. I have taken a lot of pictures without realizing it. Since checking, I think I have snapped around 500. I think I am starting to enjoy it. What a surprise. I think my Dad and Dianna would be happy.

Till next time Canada.....

Abrelyn

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