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Big Daddy Benny
My Dad has the amazing ability to blend in with the people of any country he visits. Well, my mission in Antigua was a complete success. I set up transportation and airport pickup for my father for Monday and reserved us a room in Antigua during Semana Santa. None of you realize how difficult that task was. Due to the size and popularity of the festival in Antigua, people are supposed to reserve rooms at least 3 or 4 months in advance. I spent all day going hotel to hotel getting the same answer...we're full! The word around town was that every establishment was booked for that week and the rooms were going for around $110 (American) per night. I was presently crashing at the same hostel (Posada Ruiz#2) I had stayed at when I first arrived in Guatemala, at a bargin price of 25Q ($3.25). This hostel is first come first serve, but I had a little talk with the owner and offered him 450Q($60) for 3 nights stay if he would hold me a double room for the festival, guess what, quetzals talk baby! The place isn't that great but you can't beat $60 for two people, for 3 nights during Semana Santa with no money up front. After my intense negotiating, I needed to replenish
My German Friends
Martina, Mareike, George, Me, Rosi, and Conny. my energy with some good ole Guatemalan comida. While looking for a meal to hit the spot, I ran into my old friend Mareike, the German girl I had met in San Pedro (see entry
Mí Semana Última en San Pedro if you don't remember). I sat and ate with Mareike and 3 other German girls she had met in her travels. Mareike had recently proposed to her boyfriend in Rio Dulce and she was glowing with excitement (Congrats girl!). He had to return back to England, but she would soon be reuniting with him in 5 weeks. I spent the rest of the day shopping and hanging out with the group. One of the girls (Conny) and her boyfriend are presently running a Posada (www.reggaepousada.com) on an island off the coast of Brazil. She gave me her contact information in case I was ever over that direction. That night we all met up for dinner and farewells, since three of the girls were headed off the next morning; all in different directions. In between locations, I ran into another person (Daniel) that I had met in San Pedro. Daniel had studied at the same Spanish school as me and is now helping young orphans
Pure Agony
You may not be able to tell by the picture, but the non-airconditioned bus we rode through the jungle in was quite humid. in Chimaltenango until January. We talked for a while about our experiences thus far, and I discussed with him some of my new ideas on future volunteer/mission work and he seemed quite interested. I'm sure I'll talk with him again (Good luck this year with the kids; it's really a great thing you are doing.). I caught up with the group at a local student hangout and everyone had to switch back from German to English for poor little me. I spent most of the night in discussion with Mareike about international development, the effects of trade agreements on smaller countries, and travel in Asia. I enjoyed seeing and talking with Mareike again. She is a very sweet person and I hope to stay in touch.
Thank God for nose hair! I awoke this morning to a buzz in my nose. I quickly blew out a fly that was still very alive, but not for long. I beat it until it's last breath! I realize now that I am no longer at the Rice's home and that I must go back to morning orifice checks for critters. Hey speaking of noses, Big Daddy Benny is up in Guate. I
picked my Dad up at the airport in a private shuttle and we made our way over to the local bus station, where we hopped a ride to the Rio Dulce. We traveled for 6 hours through the city, mountains, desert, and jungle in a very crowded and humid bus. My poor Dad had been on the go since 5 O’clock in the morning, but he was quite the trooper. We arrived at 9pm and one of the Rice’s friends (Karen Rhea) met us at the bus stop and got us settled into the town. Karen and her husband Mike, are local missionaries that run a health clinic and are in the process of building an orphanage. She took us to a nearby hotel (Bruno’s) on the river where she introduced us to the manager (Monica) and got us oriented with our surroundings. Bruno’s had a nice little set up which included a pool, water’s edge view, dock, and restaurant. Our room, which had a deck with hammocks and a great view, was much nicer than what I had been living in lately. After a good nights sleep, we signed up for a boat excursion which included a lake tour,
a ride up the Rio Dulce, and a visit in the town of Livingston, where the river meets the Caribbean. Making our way west towards the lake, we crossed under Central America’s largest bridge. The tour of Lago de Isabel was only of a small section of the lake, due to time constraints being that it is the largest lake in Guatemala. We did get to see El Castillo de San Felipe, which is an old Spanish fortress built in 1652 to keep pirates from looting the villages. We learned most of our information from an old Swedish lady in her 70’s (Eva) who read aloud from her Lonely Planet book to everyone on board. Eva was accompanied by her husband John. The two made the sweetest couple, with John complementing his wife’s sociable nature by just smiling quietly as he stared through his photo lens. My father and I spent a lot of our time talking with the couple and enjoying their youthful approach to life.
The boat ride up the Rio Dulce was spectacular! The river feeds into Lago de Isabel with the Caribbean as it's life source. We made our way through lush jungle scenery and
El Castillo de San Felipe
Spanish fortress built in 1652 to keep pirates from looting the villages. a gorge covered in vines and giant foliage. The air was filled with tropical birds, the shore line with flower lilies, on the banks were thatched roof huts, and in the depths swam manatees (walrus-like mammals) which are rarely seen. We made a stop off at a riverside hostel called
Finca Tatin whose thatched bungalow's were nestled into the jungle. Dad and I walked back a ways and marveled at the plant life all around us. The swamp-like ground was teaming with tiny crabs and gigantic toads. This would be a great hide away to come to if you just wanted to kick back in a hammock, relax, and get away from the busy world for a while.
When finally reaching the mouth of the river, we could see out into the Caribbean with Livingston along it's shore. The small ocean town of Livingston is much different than the rest of it's country. The locals are Black Guatemalans (Garfuna) that speak both Spanish and their traditional Garfuna language. The town is very layed back with a Jamaican-like vibe in the air. Just off the main strip of restaurants, bars, and tourist shops, are poor conditions similar to many of the
other small towns in the country. Several people had told me that they found the atmosphere here a little uncomfortable, but of course they weren't in the presence of someone as intimidating as my father. Just the tweak of his brow has made many a men flee. After three hours had past, we all met at the dock and made our way back to where we had started. After our tour had come to a close, we lounged about on Bruno's deck. For dinner, Dad and I enjoyed fried Mojarra, a native fish of these inland waters (Delicious!).
Well, that is two days down and 22 to go for Big Papa. I have decided to do separate entries for the Rio Dulce and Tikal, mainly because of the number of pictures. Tomorrow we head North to Flores and Tikal, where my father and I will lead a major archeological dig into a newly discovered section below one of the sacrificial temples of Tikal...yeah I'm kidding. It is great to hear from you all. I promise to reply to your e-mails in the near future (hopefully before I return), but know that I am reading them all and that they
are much appreciated. Write you later. We're out!
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