Lanquin and El Retiro

Hello again, its 1 minute since my last post, but I am still writing about last week! Its fun to relive some memories.....

The place we arrived at was spread over a sloping field that went down to a river which i did not take a single photo of, so I hope you believe me that it existed....if not it's just a short hop to guatemala and 15 hours on a chiken bus to verify!

I was able to put up my tent and slept in it for the next few nights.... Super cheap too, although it did cost me a new shirt I never even got to wear! But such is life....I have heard many more stories of people 'losing' things like cameras while staying in dorms so one shirt in 3 months is ok....

The place held about 100 people in private rooms, dorms, and then some more in tents and hammocks..... They had a yummy but expensive kitchen and supper was served family style with about 70 people eating together...they were even quite vegan friendly as some American girls passed a month before and were the guinea pigs...so they didnt even flintch when I asked for my meal to be vegan...Here is Dinner... Lots of fun and then came lots of beer!

The next 2 night I found a couple other veggies like myself and folks that were happy eating just veggies and we did some cooking on my stove, another thing that I had yet to use....it took me 2 months to find fuel and then a while to need to use it as some hostals have kitchens.... One night we had a peanut sauce with a side of green beans and the next a curry with a cabbage salad! The food at the giant dinner was great but Q50 a meal whle cooking came out to about Q7 each... And I met an Israeli guy who also had been carrying around the same mount of gear as myself so I felt a little less insane.....

Here are a couple sites form the street in Lanquin....Dont know what that tree is but I want one in my yard..... (I guess I should hope for a yard before the tree though!)

There were a few great activities to do from El Retiro.... One being getting a ride up the river and floating back down in a tube! It was a long float and awesome.... The funny part was that to get there we all had to ride in the back of a pickup for 10 minutes in our bathing suits...not bad for me or the other guys but for all the girls in bikinis it was like they were paraded through a town where women usually swim with t-shirts on.... I would not be surprised if the truck driver calls ahead before he drives through town to alert his friends of the passing excitement!

The Highlight for me of Lanquin is by far this cave!

Our guide was an awesome guy who was very happy to share all his knowledge of the area! We had a tour where we went into the cave for about an hour, there is a Mayan altar inside and many cool rock formations....the inside is covered in black soot in many parts from hundreds of years of burning sacrifices....these days chickens are sacrificed and thats all I wanted to know about sacrifces! On the ceiling there were some baby bats!

Here are some more formations on the cave and a local residnet who is harmless but scary none the less....when I askled to hold him (her?) he ran up my arm and almost into my shirt, it was pretty freaky!!!

The absolute best part of the cave came at sunset, where about 100000 bats flew over our head! It was pretty freaky and very cool, you ould hear them and then someone would take a photo or turn on a light for a few seconds and all you can see is bats bats and bats!!!!

We sat at the entrance for a long time checking it out and then headed home! One of the coolest things ever!.....

Well now I am halfway caught up.....

tune in next week same bat time, same bat channel...

sneak preview....isolated jungle lake....cooking tomales, seeing people with handguns and much more!!!! oh yeah...and the runs!!!! hahahaha

Samuc Champay

Hello there! I feel like it has been a long time since I was able to post, so it probably has! I guess I will be more recapping for a while as the last week has been so incredible I cant recall everything nor do I have the time too....

When I left off I was in Antigua, one of the bigger cities in guatemala, and without much arm twisting I left...it would have been great to stay and see some more hockey but the bed bugs made the decision quite easy!!! To all you parents who tell your kids ''goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite'' to hell with you!!!! It is impossible to not let them bite!! there is nothing you can do...they are vicious insane creatures and run a close second to tics on the list of any plant animal or insect that I may actually hate....there are only 2 things on the list so it is a big deal! They bite far worse than mosquitoes and last much longer.... luckily I the rest of my roommates were super folks or I don't know what i would have done...in the dorm we were 4 norwegians and one canuck....all people who understand what cold is! so we got along just swell..... I left Antigua with a friend from Australia and we headed to a place called lanquin which is near samuc champay, a popular area of waterfall type stuff...I was told that id i went to El chiflon (which i had in mexico) I could skip this pplcae but boy am i happy i did not!

As we pulled into Lanquin in the microbus locals would hop on the ladder on the side and give us flyers for tours to samuc champay.... the funniest part was that one of them spoke hebrew! and not just hello and goodbye! Israelis are everywhere... this last week has actually been the longest I have gone without meeting one of the 'chosen' people!

The first night we stayed in a hotel and then needed to Samuc Champay the next day, not taking the tour as we wanted to camp there. But sure enough the ride we got was with plenty of folks going on the tour so we joined them...(50% Israeli)... and it was a great idea! On our own we would have seen the waterfall part but not everything and boy was there more! We started by being told to et into just sandals and bathing suits and then we were each handed a candle that we were told would last for 2 hours, but we will only be one and a half....very reassuring. You may guess that we were heading into a cave but why the bathing suits you ask?? well because the cave is mostly a swimming experience! We were swimming in the dark holding a candle over our heads with one hand!! then you would climb up a ladder and walk for a bit before swimming again! After 45 minutes we got to the end and you could climb up the wall and jump 2m down into the water, but you can barely make pout the wall and we jumped into something the size of a well....very freaky!!! So lucky this was not in another country where you would be lucky to see a movie of the inside of the cave!!!

After that we had a 5 minute float down a river in a tube which seemed to be added just to make the trip longer and then it was off hiking.....

We climbed up to the main view point of the area and got the view you see on all the tourist pamphlets but it was much better in person!

Just breathtaking...and for once the guide did not rush us down! Then we climbed down and jumped in the pools....you can dive form one to the next...really great and water is nice and warm!!! The guide had us all go down to the last pool and then he tied a rope ladder to a rock....we were wondering why he had brought it and threw it over the falls....we climbed down and went into another cave where an underground river came out...all the pools are on top of the main river which is underground! Samuc Campay mean hidden river inthe local dialect! This is where the river begins to go underground.... It would be at the top left of the above pic....

The river is not the same pristine color as the pools but awesome none the less.....the next day we got to go swimming at the bottom of that last fall...the pic of the two heads is just over to the side of the part we climbed down.... That part was full on waterfall and slippery...

The night we arrived we put Augustus (my tent) by the river and some kids came by to talk...or so we thought, they wanted to sell us stuff or get some money.... I figured the best thing to do would be to hire them as security--- which we did and also ordered some tortillas for breakfast.... The next morning we found out that one of the boys was addicted to photography...he finished the battery on Emily's camera and then took a hundred more pohotos on mine...the funny part is that they were all perfect pictures!! it was incredible! He would make us pose or zoom in on a plant.... Here is a shot he set up of breakfast...

And herwe is the photographer....Joe cool!...and his siblings!

At night Emily and I engaged in a game of scrabble and it turns out we were both a little competitive.... good times....and it made it worth carrying it around for 2.5 months without using it!!!

Here are some cocoa beans drying on the side of the road and they are followed by a little burniung of the forest where corn will be planted....the problem though is that after a crop or two all the soil will erode and more land will need t be cleared....so adios forest.

Of course the other side of the coin is that there is no other room to grow anythign and these poeple are way out inthe middle of nowhere and need food to sustainthemsleves....(this is all guess work on my behalf, along with what i was able to hopefuylly translate correctly)

This part of the trip comes with a funny story..... We needed to catcha bus back to Lanquin and while we were waiting Emily went to go buy some water...I was going ot put on some music and a wild Trance song came on and I just could helo myself I had to do the Trance Dance! Sure enough I tirn around to face the road and there is a bus stopped with 50 Guatemmalan faces pressed to the window all staring at me googly eyed!! (I am upset that using this word now makes me think of a search engine) So anyways I smiled and walked up to the bus which was going the wrong way anyways and asked if we could go to Lanquin and they said yes.... I got on the bus to big smile and a cute old man who wasnted to shake my hand....

I thought they would go 100 meters up the road and turn around at the falls, but they ended up going for half an hour before turning around and that is where the last 2 pics were taken....where the ride did make its turn was a tiny village which could really be considered the middle of nowhere in a country where lots of roads seem to lead off into such places....And it was the first time I got a look like wow, a person with different skin!!! we could have been the first in the village or more likel the first in a very long time!

The bus took us back to Lanquin where we went ot a place called El Retiro....and that will be in the next post....

Volcanos and Queen's day!

After many attmepts I was able to pull myself away from San Pedro and head to Antigua, a larger city in Guatemala. The shuttle over here was comfortable and roomay as we weren't many people and each had out own seats! Once again someone thought I was Israeli, and I am starting to think it would just be easier to go along with it! Sababa! At home people sometimes tink I am greek or Italian but here its always Israeli.... and Israelis are all surprised I can speak Hebrew...so I tell then I grew up in the westbank...after they get over the shock I let them know I'm from Canada eh!

Happy Queen's day!! I met a girl from Holland on the shuttle who let me know it was Queens day...an excuse to wear orange and get drunk and be happy about the Queen of Holland.... we went to a party with lots of people wearing Orange, an abvious tradition for Queens day, but I did not see a single clog anywhere! (I was recognized by an Israeli who remembered me from my Hebrew reading performance at the seder!) I also learned my intuition was working as I was offered part of a friend's beer and for the first time in my life I half jokingly asked if there was anything else in it.... it turns out there was, and orange almost became only one of many colors I could have been seeing...This was the only time in as long as I could remember that I really wanted to smack someone...but since no harm was done and I am not wearing my skates (the only time I can really be violent) I let it slide....Antigua has a large market where I went crazy the other day! I got a new bag, a shirt, a sweater and sunglasses....Its about time I had a sweater with a hood! I have never travelled without a hoody and i figured i would get one here quick...well it took me 2 months! the fact that it hasn't been cold enough to need one may have influenced that!

There are lots of bootlegs around central america, in markets you can buy almost any movie, but they are all downloaded and burned to cd....nothing is official...I bought some Adidas sunglasses, but I am sure someone just added stickers and a tag to regular glasses, or I got the best deal on the planet! Aparently Scrubs sponsors the local pharmacy!!! I think you can use any image or product for your benefit around here!
The local McDonalds or (McDo (pronounced McDoe) for those in la belle province) has an eating area as sweet as the finest restaurant, this is only a part of the courtyard!

The main reason I came to Antigua, besides that I was sure I could see some playoff action (which I did) was to go to Pacaya volcano and check out the lifeblood of the planet! It was really neat.... First when you get out of the bus after a 1.5 hour ride there are tons of kids trying to sell you sticks for 5 Quetzales...less then a dollar.... these are to poke at the lava with... I somehw got an awesome stick that I thought would make a perfect walking companion for the duration of my travels....
Then we headed up the mountain, about half way.... Here the lava is not pouring out of the crater of the volcano but rather out of the ground on the side.... First we came to dry or hardened lava, which was brittle and easily breakable and often in really pretty patterns....

The lava was really flowng out of the ground and was unbearably hot! It felt kind of nice after walking up in a cool drizzle.... The ground we were walking on probably only got laid that morning or the day before.... Part of what we were walking on had cracks and you could see red hot lava just a few inches below you! It was pretty freaky.... and aparently no one gets hurt even though there is not a guardrail in site! Pretty cool.... So this is one way that lkand is made, lava comes out of the ground and hardens..... the earth is torn open and bleeding....its bolld is red too, but much thicker than ours...

Check out the flow! It moves more towards the end of the video!




I finally got some shots of the chicken buses! They are copletely repainted from their old school bus colors but the seats remain the same. There is a man called an adelante who is th ebad guy and ticket guy, he hangs out the door most of the time looking for people and is always crawling over the roof and going in and out the backdoor as often as the front... I think this is probably the wackiest job you can get in guatemala, haning off the back and roof of a bus flying down the highway!



Tonight is another Habs game, obviously I hope they win, but If they lose I wont be tempted to stay inthe city to see the next game! Soon I am off to El Salvador, and then maybe Nicuragua before going diving in Honduras.... I iss the carribean!

Cheers!

mike


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Up and Down again, a trail by me

San Pedro....where Jesus is the Lord! Tons of buildings either have this or other similar saying...you can only be saved by jesus...Jesus is the one who brings change..... This is the side of a school.


¨What a wonderfull new smell you've discovered¨... Han Solo once said this and it would apply perfectly to this pile of what I believe are part of the coffee plant! The long black thing comes from a building where something is done to the beans and this is produced...as you walk in the town you see fields with large dark plastic tarps with coffee bens drying on them. But this pile and some others like it emit an odor so foul and intimidating to one's olfactory system that nostrils pack their bags and go on vacation, some never to be smelled from again.


The day I arrived at San Pedro we were ontop of something called the nose....when seen from the town it looks like the nose of a giant head in the mountains. From there we saw San Pedro Volcano and made plans to climb it... It became evident after a week that it would never happen...Well, never happened....Charlie of Massachusets (if you can spell it better ill be impressed) came to me one day as I was perched resting in my hammock and he said: Mike, let us go forth as we discussed and climb to the very summit of that volcano yonder. And he continued: We shall not begin our descent at first light, but rather we will begin halfway between the setting and rising of the sun so that we can be atop the volcano for the rising of that which brings life to the planet. And I said unto Charlie: That plan is a good plan. (after a little nudging)
And so it came to pass that the very next evening we lay to rest before the sun and awoke to depart at the early hour of 2 in the morning.

The climb was all in the dark and lots of fun! We were joined by Chen, who harlie has been travelling with and Near, an Israeli we met by the lake. Our guide was Cheo (pronounced Chay-o) who is working at the campground where I'm staying.... It took us a while to walk up to the trailhead, and then a while longer to get up the mountain. Charlie and I ran ahead to catch the sunrise and made it with minutes to spare! The lake looked incredible and the mountains in the distance were all surrounded by clouds with their heads poking out to taste the day.

Geology Interlude

The area the lake occupies used to be a giant holding tank for lava. When this erupted and emptied there was a giant hollow in the ground, we're talking a couple hundred meters deep and you can see how wide from some of these pics and from the post when I first arrived.... So this empty chamber collapsed and two main rivers and Im sure tons of streams filled up the hole, making the lake. This happened about 140 000 years ago. If you say that the earth is not so old, there is an interesting video caled ¨the young age of the earth¨ which tries to show 'scientifically' how the earth is roughly 7000 yrs old... Although it contradicted 3 years of university studies, I found it amusing! One can reverse engineer anything to make it seem to have happened in a certain way... Back to the lake... So once this lake was formed there was still lava that wanted to get out of the ground (not lying at the bottom of the lake but under the lake bed or beside it) , and this created San Pedro volcano, the oldest currently around the lake. From what I understand, as lava kept pouring out it solidified, slowly building up into a mountain... When it stopped, lava still needed to come out and made 2 more volcanos, the last one still active!

On saturday night there was party at an ecological reserve that lasted past sunrise! The music was in the main building, and you could follow a condle lit path uphill for a few minutes and come to asmall fire with some benches and drums and happy people. The area is sacred to the mayans and it was interestign to be there.... It is also the site of the longest zipline in central america, form one mountian to another across a chasm.... and was supposed ot be included with the ticket but due to some miscommunication it never happend.... But the music was good, some one had made very good friends with a dentist as they brought a tank of N2O... lots of people seem to have found this FUNNNNNYYYY! Come morning there was a very colorful sunrise and a good view of San Pedro volcano..... (the one the other pictures are from)



Coming back form the party was another exciting adventure! It was an hour drive almost all uphill through insane swithcbacks with hairpin turns...so naturally the only way to come back down is in the back of a pickup truck! But to make it more interesting the truck was first loaded with the whole soundsystem forem the party. In the piuc of the other truck (the one our driver thought it bes to pass) you can see how there are bars to hold onto....most of the trucks have these as it is a common form of transportation.... the fact that our balance was high sitting on meter tall pseakers added to the fun....to top it off we had beer...although it was sometimes sketchy to let go of the railing with one hand to grab the beer with the other.... nothing like flying down a mountain in the back of a truck and drinking at 8am after a night of dancing!

Its great to be living right on the lake, so when we got back (safely) I hopped in to relax and swim about.... I have my tent pitched at an up and cming place that is still being built....A guy form Hungary who grew up in Quebec is building giant teepees and he and his wife are taking care of things. There are only a few people there and it is the sweetest spot in town... I opted for my tent over a teepee....which I only regretted for a few minutes when I had my very first infestations of ants! Good times..... Here is the cutest girl in Guatemala.... the third helper in the teepee project...with her mom....

Living in and around San Pedro

Happy Pesach!

I am finally back in my tent living right on the lake! I have been bouncing around hostels and staying in interesting places, but I am always happiest in a tent. The place where I am now is still under construction, they are putting up TeePees for people to stay in. The kitchen and bathrooms are working so I have what I need.

For the holiday of Passover I attended the traditional meal at an Israeli restaurant... there were very few of us non Israelis there, two of us bringing friends who had never been to a seder before (Hi Gretchen!), to share the experience.

Of course I was the first person who had to read the haggadah (book) and I struggled through a huge paragraph! It was fun... the place was like a giant tent you would expect to find desert wanderers living in... long and not wide with low tables all around the outside...and no walls... Talk about reclining, we were all on the floor leaning on cushions! No one outreclined us this year!

The lack of one big table was a little unfortunate, as everyone was in little groups.... Pages were read, Questions were asked, (4 of which I was sure I had heard sometime before), Songs were sung (some with more enthusiasm then others) some with tunes I knew and some knew ones, and we had all the trimmings. The food was delish, and I have had enough matzah for another year!

San Pedro is one town on the lake and I visited another, San Marco for a couple days. I had a cute little cabin near some friends. The cabin was less crooked in reality....

The place also had a temascal... a kind of sweat lodge, a small room with a backwards woodburning stove, so you feed the fire from outside and oor wateron the part that is iside for the steam.... and a working chimney... something the last one was missing. To get in (entrado) you crawl through a litlle munchkin door and are immediately reminded of the great jedi master Yoda and his home on Degobah (if you dont know what I am talking about run to your local blockbuster and ask for movies by George the Wise)

The hole town is a center for yoga, meditation, aromatherapy and other interesting self growth heal the planet, hug a tree nuke the whales type stuff. I went to one yoga class in a giant pyramid and had lots of yummy food. I found a bookstore with tons of english books, many of wich interesting, but i have more than I can read already....

Here's the tipical view from most restaurants around the lake! This one also had a garden to grow some of their own food... Sidewalks here are something else! This one just has a gap in it 30cm wide and the same deep! Good to see it in the day before walking there at night!

After that town it was back to San Pedro (15 minutes on a boat that rollecoaster enthusiasts would have sold their souls for...or maybe just a foot...it wasnt that bad) for the above-mentioned binge into Judaism...followed by an early morning kayak ride on the lake as the sun said Buenos Dias..... and a dip... Its nice to get into the lake before people start coming to wash their clothes in it... there are many quite contradictory theories as the the cleanlines of the lake.... the one thing I have not yet heard is a story of some giant creature that lives in it and eats fishermen.... but my ears are open....

Here are some daytime photos of the Israeli restaurant... theyhave a good menu and an interesting concept... The place smells a little like Otto's jacket, but it is San Pedro! They also have curious signs! The girl in the picture is Chen who helped me remeber lots of Hebrew on the hike here...

Last night the Canadiens swamped the Bruins! Yipee! No way to see or even hear the game... cjad.com wasn't working for me here! But a phone call to Mr. Lester filled me in to the good news! There is a chance to get the next round though, as the owner of a british pub (I had chips yesterday) said he knows a guy who can play with the cable given the right amount of time! (and maybe quetzals...guatemalan money)


Go habs Go!