Blogs from Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 8

READ THE DOGS Certainly they are dirty filthy tangled but they lounge about on black cobbles their lids half mast somnolent opium eyes they wander between legs with no fear of the kick rarely a rib showing a man with a straw sombrero and garlic strung over his shoulder cradles a jaw in one hand while the other strokes the mottled skull teats hanging low and swaying from the scratching and another asleep between shotgun slung men in blue and even the pretty one with the yip is washed white and combed and in a day from sleeping under the cars is smeared and matted and waiting under my chair Camilo they are in the sun in the shade soundless save for the shepherd next door who in basso lazily barks in the middle of night ... read more

I got a bit ahead of myself in the last blog. We actually spent some time in Tikal after crossing the border into Guatemala and back into Belize. Commence Tikal… We (Cheryl, Chuck, and I - Leila) arrived to Tikal Wednesday, January 10, 2018 in the afternoon. It was nice to return and to drive the countryside of Guatemala once again. Guatemala is a very beautiful country with endless hills, valleys, greenery, fincas, lots of livestock, and farms. It had it’s own feeling, as have really all of the places we’ve visited. I am always reminded it is best to take the back roads and take your time getting to know the place, the people, the history and culture, and also the sites, the sounds, and smells. Introduce yourself, make new acquaintances, act with respect, courtesy, ... read more

Los Manos Green capers fall through his calloused fingers landing bouncing dancing atop thousands of the self same berries catching morning sunlight glistening precious smooth as polished dark jade and she her hands black carbon covered pack dull black charcoal into plastic bags stacking them in neat piles and over there he chops the brown husk covered yucca revealing the bright white moist flesh within his fingers encircling the knife mamita mamita medias medias una por dos their hands dive into the stew of socks some tiny some long some white some red camarones camarones libra por vente and they are beautiful translucent dried salmon colored shrimp he scoops them into the rough tray of his balancing scale that he levels above the wide straw basket his hands dusted in shrimp bits she picks the kernels ... read more

An early 5am wake up was required to catch out 6am bus to El Salvador. This was expected to take longer than the previous bus trip taking us around 12 hours to reach Santa Ana in the north of El Salvador. The bus became very full very quickly with many people standing, unable to find a seat. It wasn’t as nice as our previous bus and lacked working air conditioning, legroom or reclining chairs. Despite our previous luxurious experience in the bus, it was fine. After 11 hours of driving and stopping on the bus we arrived to the Guatemala -El Salvador border. The passengers queued up to get their exit stamps and later got entry stamps from El Salvador. Ben had told me about that despite there being an official stance suggesting there is no ... read more

The arrival to Guatemala was pleasant despite two days traveling, three flights and only 3 hours of sleep. I’ve always had a feeling of excitement being in Latin America as it feels like the beginning of an adventure. I met Ben at the airport, and we ventured towards our first port of call, Antigua, a small charming city just outside of Guatemala City and much less dangerous. We woke up at 7am, the following day and decided to visit a coffee plantation and ranch just two miles from Antigua. I had heard that Guatemala is well known for coffee and wanted to see how it was made, and to try it from the source. We walked there through Antigua and a small suburban town just outside called 3 Ángeles. The ranch was just outside, Finca Filadelfia. ... read more