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Published: October 22nd 2006
Greatings from the Old Colonial Capital of Guatemala: Antigua.
I have posted all my photos at the following link so I could easily upload and label them all. Copy and paste it directly into your browser:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=n1ics9r.bxkbm2q3&x=0&y=5e1eax
For those of you thinking I'm sitting on the beach drinking pina coladas all day...I'm not! I've actually been very busy and working hard. I know, I know I hear the little violins playing but I've been going to Spanish school Mon-Fri from 8-4:30. This is way too long! I would have gotten more out of it if I only went for a 1/2 day and spent the rest of the time studying and letting it sink it. It's been a frustrating experience with some good days and most bad, but it's just recently been rewarding now that I can actually have primitive conversations with locals and my host family. I think I've just been too hard on myself trying to have subjects mastered before moving onto the next, but evidently learning a new language doesn't work that way.
The house I live in is very comfortable and the family is nice. The mom works for some sort of NGO in Guatemala city and commutes by bus every day. They all speak english (except the maid) but they try to only speak spanish to me, which at first was miserable, but now it's fun and I can actually tell jokes!
Antigua is a charming town and the formal capital of Guatemala which was built in the 1500's when the Spanish colonized here. There are ruins on nearly every corner. I feel comfortable here during the day but it's rather dangerous at night and you should NEVER walk around after 10pm by yourself. From what I hear it's rather likely you will get robbed or worse. I hate having to worry about that but as long as you don't do anything stupid everything should be fine. Coming to Antigua was a great place to start (thanks Tim and Kimberley for the suggestion). It's a very tourist friendly town and a world renowned city for spanish schools. It been a sort of soft landing into Central America....however I'm ready for the real world. I feel like my spanish is good enough that I won't die of starvation, thirst, or lack of shelter. I'm heading to the beach tomorrow on the Pacific coast, a town called Montericco. I'm going to relax for a few days...maybe even with a few pina coladas and then check out a volunteer project for a few weeks. I can get a hotel room on the beach for about $8/day. I'll do that for a few days but then will try and get a homestay with a family in a remote fishing village. Those are about $50/week and that includes 3 meals a day...quite a deal!
My first weekend I flew up to the mayan ruins in Tikal and my second I got roped into climbing and camping in the crater of a volcano! Details below.
Tikal is deep in the jungle. 2000 years old with a population of probably 100,000 people during it's peak. This grand Mayan civilization collapsed around 900ad and wasn't 'discovered' again until 1848. There are several theories on the collapse of the empire but my favorite is that they raped the surrounding land so bad that it actually reduced the rain (it's in a rain forest) and they were no longer able to sustainably harvest food. Initially the people worshiped gods but later they starting worshiping their own people. So once they starting running out of food, the working class started to backlash against the so-called upper or 'godly class' (for lack of a better term) and it all went down hill from there. The ruins are only partially excavated. The jungle is so thick and completely grew over all the ruins that there are many, many buildings under the ground we walked on. For more info check out: http://www.tikalpark.com/
My second weekend my buddy Emmanuel talked me into climbing a 13,041ft volcano, Volcan Acatenango (One of 33 in this small country the size of Louisiana). I had been looking forward to a relaxing weeked, but that was quickly changed. This was one of the most gruelling hikes I've ever done. It took 7 hours for us to ascend. It was sooo hard, especially the last hour and a half where the ground is soft, your exhausted and the oxygen is at about 50%. The hike down was only 3 hours but nearly as hard. My legs were so sore for 4 days after, they felt like they did after I ran the San Francisco marathon that I wasn't well trained for! (as a side note, almost just as exhausting is hours of Salsa dancing with the Latin men!). Once we got to the top, we had to immediately take off our clothes! Mom, you ask why? Well it's freezing up top and your hot and sweating in your clothes. If you stand around for even a few minutes in your wet shorts and t-shirts you will never be able to warm back up. There is no modesty, just take them off and put on some dry wet clothes...and did they feel good. A few suprises, we actually slept in the crater on the top ...and....it was a live volcano. Ok, I didn't know that until I got to the top and saw some steam coming out a few vents. I quickly learned that this is indeed a live volcano, it's just taking a nap. The last big blow out was in the 70's, that's like lunch time in volcano speak. I was thinking to myself, uhhh I don't think my insurance covers this! It was so beautiful up there and overlooking a very active volcano which we could hear blowing smoke througout the night. We saw the sunset, made dinner and were in bed by 7pm...it's too cold to stay outside the tent. Besides a few incidents, such as a kidnapped dog by a bunch of drunk Guatemalan men with guns, this trip was incident free!
I went on a one day trip to Chichicastanengo where there is a weekly market where the Indigenous people come down the hills and sell all their beautiful handmade crafts. I also went to Lake Atitlan which is very beautiful and surrounded by volcanoes. I hope to make it back there for a few days. I'd like to rent a mountain bike and ride around the lake. It takes about 2 days.
Some facts:
Recent work by NGO agencies predict Guatamela is the next Africa in 10 years, as far as an aids epidemic. In just one month of random testing they found 2700 HIV positive people and an estimate that for each one diagnosed there are 27 people that don't know they have it.
There is an extremely high rate of pregnancy especially with the indigenaous Mayan woman. For example it is not uncommon for a 19 year old to have 5 kids and a 21 year old to have 7! There are many, many NGO groups here offering assitance and education. In fact a girl that is staying at my house is from Holland and traveling to one of the most dangerous parts of Guatemala City every day to work with kids that literally live in a trash dump. There teeth are falling out and they wear the same clothes everyday. Chris Kepley if your reading this I gave your children's book to the girl whose working there to teach the kids some english.
Crime here is outrageous. Guatemala city is one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America and Antigua is only 1 hour away with lots of tourists so it invites many criminals. Beside the fact that many Guatemaltecans are very poor another big reason for crime is that there is nearly no punishment. Hardly any crimes get investigating and if something actually goes as far as court it is really easy to just bribe a clerk to make a mistake on your paperwork so that it gets thrown out. Often the people will take justice into their own hands. Decapitations and hangings aren't just medieval, but happening today (I saw one in the paper last week). It's hard to believe that there is so much crime when I see armed (and I'm talking BIG guns) policemen and security guards everywhere. The problem is that this country is filled with corruption. Everyone is out for themselves. For example at the tiny, tiny bank I go to there are 3 armed guards, one outside the door (which is locked), one inside the door to let you in and one near the teller. Makes you feel like it's a safe bank....no! Some tricks of the trade I learned (second hand thankfully), don't give the teller odd amounts of money, like $267, because they can easily slip a $100 in their pocket and say that you didn't give them that much. Also at the ATM once your are done withdrawling cash the guard may stick his gun near you face and tell you the bank is closing now and leave immediatley, of course this is before you finish your transacation so he cleans out your account.
Transportation:
The family car, a motorcycle with the dad driving. 2 kids behind him, the pregnant mom holding an infant behind them. Other than that most people get around with the city buses, aka 'chicken bus'. These are old, beat up school buses that the U.S. donates. They really fix these things up: paint flames on the side, put disco balls and neon lights inside and the music is always blaring. The main problem is the drivers drive like maniacs. There are many accidents because the bus drivers are drunk!! Just last week a bus went over the cliff and 34 people died. In addition these buses spew smog like you wouldn't believe, get behind one of these and you might as well sign up for a lung transplant.
That's it for a little while. Not sure about connection at the beach, so will write again when I can.
Kathy
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Steve Gerken
non-member comment
You are having too much fun
Kathy, Your travel blog is great. Thanks for sharing. Be smart, be safe and write often. Hasta luego. Stve