There are a lot of black people

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The next full day in Antigua, the ninth of september, was presidential election day, the day to which the whole country has been nuilding up to for the whole time I´ve been here. I wont keep you in suspense, UNE (whose leader is Colom, a centre left candidate who is running for the third time and who features on my UNE t-shirt won with a kiss - have I told that story before) and Partido Patriotica (led by a former General who Colom claims will return Guatemala to a military dictatorship) each got through to the next round which will be in November. No candidate got 50%!o(MISSING)f the vote so there has to be this other election. For the latest BBC news update see here.

The election disrupted my day somewhat. I came across four ´centro de election´s and two were in tourist attractions, one I hadn´t been to but was supposed to be well worth a visit. There was also a children´s polling station with a a big queue of parents who had brought their children to voe. I guess it was to instill the necesity of voting at an early age, perhaps we should be doing this in the UK.

Antigua went from being a place I really didn´t like all that much to a place I love. It is a wonderful mix of old and new. There are good eateries, espresso machines and wheelchair friendly pavements alongisde incredible ruins, old cobbled streets and colonial trimmings in every building. Similarly, most of the people walked around in clkean, new and fashionable western clothes but there were a sizeable contingent of women in traditional dress - long skirts and loose tops, homemade with incredible patters. The root of my opinion change is that I was now rather happy. In fact I was more than happy because I was happy to be happy again. I think I got the thing I sometimes get after I´ve been ill until I am back at full strength. I had another long sleep, ten hours or more and caught up with some family and friends on skype and MSN leaving me feeling pretty good.

The night before, I was still pretty miserable though. I had tacos for dinner again. I had looked in at Pollo Campero, the main fast food chain in Guatemala but it looked rather expensive while I queued and then when I was asked to sir for waiter service to eat in, I looked at the menu and the prices went up again so I left.

I went to Greg´s Bagel Barn for lunch but he wasn´t there. I had a good bagel and two cups of coffee, yes coffee! Whether because of or depite of the antibiotics I am now 100%! (MISSING) I read East of Eden some more, it really does have some great insight to human nature.

I am getting bored of writing and there is lot for you to read so I´ll just say that I went to the church of San Francisco, it was cool. I then spent a lot of time in the market. There was a t-shirt saying ´tu madre´which I thought would be perfect for Louisa who says ´y´mum´all the time but I didn´t think she would ever wear it. After the market I looked in at McDonalds out of curiosity. They had a double BigMac and for a minute I was tempted. Instead I had a burger at Cafe 2000 watching ´Running Scared´on a cinema sized projection. I had a good chat with a Canadian dude when it was over and stayed for the latest Tarantino movie. They were both fucked up. The place was busy, perhaps because it was a dry weekend due to the elections.

I got a couple of buses to Rio Dulce the next morning. You may remember that I have already been there. The bus broke down but the driver and bus boy got it fixed in about 20 minutes. I was tired and spent much of the time sleeping, although I made a few more pathetic attempts to learn some more Spanish phrases. I am going to Belize where they speak English and home after that so I think I will give up on the Spanish now. At one point I put my hand in my pocket and realised I hadn´t returned my key.

My destination was Livingston on the Gulf of Honduras, the Carribean coast, accessible only by boat. The hour and a half lancha ride was bumpy but man was it fun. The tide was coming in I guess and at times we jumped from the peak of one wave to the top of the next, coming crashing down. There are some advantages to losing weight, the little flab on my stomach is gone and my jeans are now low slung and look a little better than they did. But the main disadvantage is having a bony bum. I felt it on the boat but I have also felt it everytime I sit on something hard, a wooden chair for example. I look forward to putting on extra padding and stopping having a sore bottom. At other times the water was entirely calm and quite beautiful. I had Kingston Town in my head the whole way and more than once I had to remind myself that I was not going to Jamaica. There are a lot of black people here though.

In the hostal I had my first beer since the Quetzal place. It was so good that I had another three or four. I ate my chicken chow mein and watched a film I think, it can´t have been very good or I´d remember. I had a few puffs on a couple of spliffs as well but it didn´t seem to do much, it never does really, except the time when I ate it in India. I went to bed at about ten. It was half 11 by the time I´d showered and read my book for a bit the next morning, I had no idea it was so late in the day. I´d missed breakfast so I promptly went out for lunch with a fellow neozealando traveller, god knows what his name was. I wanted Tapado the local speciality, a coconut milk based fish and plaintain soup. In mine there were two whole crabs, a whole fish of some kind and a couple of shrimp. It took ages to eat, being very fiddly but I got through the whole thing and the garlic bread and salad with an amazing home made dressing tha it came with. It filled me up for the rest of the day. The Mexican Limonada was fantastic as well and on the way back I picked up a fresh coconut from a stall and drank the milk. It was a coconut milk overload.

Feeling lazy, I headed back to the hostel and watched Hot Fuzz. We went back to the same place for dinner with two others although I didn´t eat anything. I was full and my stomach was a bit funny for an hour or so. Instead I grabbed a double dipped chocobanano. Oh yeah. That means banana, dark chocolate, nuts, white chocolate. I watched the Simpsons Movie (again!) and then lost 20Q in poker whilst watching Borat. The others then watched yet another film after that. I preferred to listen to all the frogs that were making loads of noise on the swampy part of the garden in the rain. I saw one this morning but couldn´t see any last night even with a torch. There must have been loads. I could hear the crickets too when the frogs shut up. There are loads of crabs who live in little holes all around the grounds and under the buildings, waving there one large pincer in the air. There are a few big blue ones that hide themselves away as well.

Well that is an extremely comprehensive update of what I´ve been doing. I am heading back on Tuesday the 18th so have less than a week left. On Friday I will sail to Belize and head to Caye Caulker for a couple of days of snorkelling and suchlike before travelling back to Cancun and heading home. My next update may well be from Frimley.

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Comments

[Rob's mum and dad]

Thanks for keeping up the blog
Thanks for keeping up the blog - we've enjoyed reading it, especially after the teamamerica one ended! Hope you have a pleasant journey home and good luck with your new job.

[Ed of the Americas]

Thank you
No problem at all Mr and Mrs Cowen, I have enjoyed writing it, I am glad you have enjoyed reading it. Journey home will be detailed over the next few days, it was fine thanks. Sorry if you read the postcard I sent Rob.