Blogs from Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 10

13.5. Die Fähre bringt uns nach Belize City, dort besteigen wir den Bus nach Belmopan, der Hauptstadt. Von der Landschaft sieht man nicht viel, da wiederum der Strasse entlang dichte Hecken wachsen. Ein gesprächiger Taxifahrer bringt uns zu unserer Unterkunft 10km ausserhalb des Ortes. Er erzählt uns, dass letzten August ein Hurrikan Stufe 1 (geringste Stärke) grosse Schäden angerichtet habe - geknickte Bäume und zerstörte Häuser zeugen noch davon. Im Jahr 1961 habe einer der Stufe 5 das Land derart zerstört, dass rund die Hälfte der Einwohner in die USA geflüchtet sei. Bei unserer Ankunft auf der Banana Bank Lodge herrscht dort Hochbetrieb: wir haben ausgerechnet den Tag der Feierlichkeiten zum 40-Jahr-Jubiläum erwischt. Diese beinhalten eine Western-Horse-Show durch die Angestellten – echte Cowboys! - und musikalische Unterhaltung durch einen Marimbaspieler (der auch Bach spielt,... read more

Puerto Quetzal 12th April Puerto Quetzal Another staging post for trips into the interior of Guatemala. The trips were long so we made do with a quiet ship, actually not so quiet as a lot of passengers thought the same. There was a small tourist area selling local products, Internet cafe and some bars.... read more

The border crossing was easy, we had to pay US 20$ to exit Belize, get a new stamp and enter the country. There, they told us the bus would be the same as a taxi to our first destination “La Isla de Flores”. We did not really want to believe it, but hey…there was really no other option. Accompanied by Autumn and her friend Kati we took the taxi, arrived at the hostel “Dosamigos” and organized our trip to “El Mirador”, which was highly recommended by our friend Kika. US 250$ is a lot of money, but it sounded worth the trip. While getting money from the ATM, someone offered the same trip for US 210$. While definitely a difference we had already booked the trip and were kind of stuck, but Antonia was able to ... read more

So I hadn’t heard until today that Star Wars has a connection to the Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala. But once I got to the top of the largest temple here, it was totally obvious. The tour guide today was named Manuel, and he sounded just like Ricardo Montalban. He didn’t look like Ricardo Montalban – a bit short, but with gray hair that was a little shaggy. He did make the tour entertaining and very informative, so when we parted ways back at my hotel, I gave him 50 Quetzaltes as a tip. This was the first tour on this trip where I got what I was expecting, as far as group and transportation. It wasn’t a large group, only 5 tourists and 2 tour guides. Three of us did the tour in English, ... read more

JADE: THE STONE OF METAMORPHOSIS by Dennis Cunningham Antigua, Guatemala Little birds flutter within the Cathedral de Santiago. Craning my neck, I can see them silhouetted against an electric blue sky. They descend through open domes that once soared, intact, above apse and transept. The birds land on the dusty tiles and hop about nervously, as if they are never comfortable, and would be quick to ascend again into the open sky at the first tiny tremble beneath their pennyweight feet. And they may have reason to be jumpy. Guatemala has the unenviable distinction of sitting above, not only a fault line, but also a fault zone, known as the Motagua and Chixoy-Polochic fault complex. The earth has history of shivering here. The birds seem to posses a Darwinian memory, and the Cath... read more