Viaje en Alta Verapaz y Petén
What a wonderful week we had. Photographs by Sharon, Kelly and John ...

Saturday, Nov 19th

Sharon and I set out very early last , Nov 19th, for Flores Guatemala with our good friends Carol & Kelly. Geographically, Flores is a Venice-like island - on a lake and joined to the shore by a causeway. Filled with a ramshackle collection of tin roofed structures, it is so clearly unlike Venice by economic measures. As we approached to land we also saw many thatched-hut homes surrounding the lake among the dense foliage, in stark contrast with the U.S. landscapes that we'd left behind.

On arrival we met up with Billy Cruz, our driver who had his big van/bus waiting for us. We headed south on a five hour drive, arriving in the cloud-forest town of Cobàn in the department of Alta Verapaz just after 6pm. Arriving at the hotel the woman who owned the place feigned any knowledge of our reservation made by phone, but she hopped into the front of the bus with us to take to another hotel. Much of the ride over she had her face in her hands to express her regret of the situation: ¡Dios Mio! Thirty mins later we were dining in an outdoor courtyard at the Hostal D'Acuña, surrounded by plates of shrimp and various grilled vegetables, drinking glasses of a succulent Chilean wine.









Sunday, Nov 20th

Cobàn has the mistiest rain I've ever experienced. They call this weather chipi-chipi, and it barely gets you wet. Around 7:30am I hiked the 130 steps up to the church on the hill, along with a few families going up for their Sunday pilgrimage. For me it was just to enjoy the view of clouds hanging low in the hills that surround this fairly small city (from downtown you can see cows grazing on hillsides to the north and south). After breakfast at the Hotel La Posada, we decided to move into this hotel instead for night #2. Then we headed for Vivero Verapaz, an orchid farm just outside of town. Initially they small children who came to the gate said it was closed. We waited and discussed alternatives for the day with our taxi driver. Then another taxi drove up, with a couple of young Danish tourists - then another with two Guatemaltecos from the capital. As Carol said, we'd reached critical mass - someone came running up to open the gate. Which was very fortunate because it is a wonderful place to see. We were led through a giant home-made complex of greenhouses and hillside plantations with literally hundreds of varieties of orchids. By law these can't be exported, so there's not a lot of money in it for the Vivero, its more like a preserve. The guide, suitably named for his lifelong passion: Juan Flores, was very enthusiastic and spoke very clearly so that we could keep up with at least half of what he was saying, though he got pretty detailed at times.



















Monday, Nov 21st

The plan today was to tour the in-town coffee plantation known as Finca Santa Margarita (or, Dieseldorf's). The front office felt like a real plantation office, with workers sitting on benches probably waiting to get paid. They said it was too rainy to allow us to take the tour, which really was a bit ridiculous since it wasn't raining much, and it rains here almost every day. I don't think the four of us were worth it to them. So instead we got ourselves across town and onto a mini-bus to Lanquin. After 1hr on a paved road and 1/2 hr on a precariously steep rocky road, we reached our home for the next two nights "El Retiro". Several two room palapas on stilts dotted the hillside, with stone pathways connected them and the main lobby/restaurant/bar at the bottom of the hill right next to the fast-flowing Lanquin river. This is one of a few notable backpacker-havens in Guatemala, where you can be well fed (ie, stay healthy) and therefore feel like you could stay for a very long time. And several people do, working the lobby/bar in exchange for board there. It’s an incredibly beautiful spot, very tranquil. My only bit of an issue with the place was that they played music in the bar/lobby all day long. And a bit loud at night (the villagers could probably hear it). I recall when I was 20 that life needed a soundtrack, even in nature settings. For me now the flowing river and birds were plenty.

In the evening, I asked two Swiss travelers, Sandro and Beat, if the Swiss played Skat - a card game I'd learned on my first trip to Guatemala from two Germans I'd traveled with. They didn't know it, but they did play Jass. So, after dinner, we forced them to teach us this game. It turns out to be somewhat Skat-like in its complexity and many variations of scoring. Carol and Kelly really got into it and played until late the next night too. I expect them to seek out the Jass society of Austin back home.

















Tuesday, Nov 22nd

Today would be adventure day. At 9am, a 45min ride further down the rocky road brought us to Semuc Champey. It is locally known, and rightfully so, as the 8th wonder of the world. The mighty Rio Cahabón gushes beneath a gigantic limestone bridge, on top of which, waters gently cascade down into variously sized turquoise pools of tranquility. Lush green canyon walls rose up a few hundred feet on either side. Top phrase heard on arrival: "This is paradise!” We spent a couple of hrs here, but could have spent days, swimming in the pools, sitting under waterfalls, soaking it all in.

Before we got to swimming outdoors however, we did a couple of side trips. First was a 2hr hike/climb/wade/swim through the K'anba caves. This was spectacular. Sharon was extremely brave with all the scaling of rocks and ladders inside these caves, lit only by the candles held by the 10 others who went through with us (and the spelunker's lights Sharon and I brought along to wear though we kept these off most of the time as the candle-light was nicer). The ceiling height and width of the chambers ranged from 10 to 30ft. At the end of the cave, we each had the option to climb up a rock and jump off into a deep pool (this is many hundreds of meters deep inside the cave). Only the guide and 4 other people were willing to try. I don't really like jumping into the water from high places even outdoors. Now that we'd been in there for an hour we were getting quite comfortable moving around in the cave, and getting back to the entrance was a breeze. Except at the very end the guide took us on an alternate route. Here, you had to go down, through a passage about 3ft in diameter, with a waterfall gushing through it. Sharon was in front of me, and for a few moments as her body and head were flushed down this passage, I went a bit numb. She was very brave on this trip. When I got down there it was completely different than I thought, you grabbed onto two holds and lowered yourself down with your arms rather than using your feet much at all. The cave trip was great - I'd do it again, but much more I'd love to have another day to swim in those travertine pools on the river.













Wednesday, Nov 23rd

Today Billy would be back to pick us up. We all hung out in the morning and he arrived, pretty much as expected, around noon (he'd left Flores at 5:30am). This time he brought a Mitsubishi L2800 dual cab 4wd pickup. From here we took the back route - the 50km / 3hr drive to the town of Sebol was sparsely populated and stunningly beautiful. Coffee and corn on the steep hillsides, bananas down in the valleys. We picnic'd in Sebol, where several rivers meet and form waterfalls before flowing north into the Rio Passion. Sharon and Carol, on there way to a restroom (a tree), were approached by three young men carrying shining machetes. They men were wondering if they were missionaries. Not a lot of tourists make it out this way. Nobody I'd spoken of had considered the route. But because we'd hired a driver we could do it. And one day they'll pave the road and things just won't be the same.

We got to La Casa de Don David in the town of El Remate, just past Flores, around 8pm - about 6 hrs of driving plus breaks, and the stop for the barge to take us across the Rio Passion at Sayaxche. Billy was an excellent driver. I bet he slept VERY well that night.









Thursday, Nov 24th

Carol and Kelly had been up later than us the night before (playing Jass), so they slept in, while Sharon and I hopped a 5:30am shuttle to Tikal. This was my 3rd trip to these ruins, and getting re-acquainted with them and reoriented in this huge park was great fun. We sat on one of the smaller temples in the Gran Plaza (again, Sharon was very brave to climb up) and read about the history of the place while eating our breakfast. I was glad for Sharon that we then heard roars in the distance. She thought they were jaguars, as does everyone who hears a howler-monkey for the first time. We sat and listened and stared at each other in amazement. This signaled in a terrific day of exploring in the jungle among these towering ancient ruins.

Turista. Anyone who's been to Mexico or south knows what this is. Kelly got it first, in the late afternoon. I went out later for a licuado (a banana/pineapple smoothie) - though made with purified water, I knew right away this was going to make me sick. It hit me around midnight, after I slept about two hrs. I passed out on the floor before I got from the bathroom back into bed - next thing I saw was Sharon's face above me.





















Friday, Nov 25th

Slept somewhat and took it easy food-wise in the morning. Kelly was still feeling pretty bad. The night before he'd been calling out to Carol in delirium - "Bury me in Texas!” In the early afternoon I trudged all around town and found a doctor who gave me a slow/drawn-out examination and prescribed just a couple of tetracycline pills. I gave a Q50 donation, and he silently slipped in the two additional pills I'd asked for. These seemed to help both of us right away. Sharon, Carol and I went back to Tikal for an afternoon visit, to be there as the sun went down, which offered a great many more birds than we'd seen in the early visit the day before. We saw spider monkeys swinging from the trees and a strange black peacock sized bird with a bright yellow beak walking through underbrush.

For dinner I felt a change of scenery was in order, and we went to a suggested place, Las Orquideas (the orchids), an Italian restaurant about 10mins walk along the lakefront road. This was perhaps the finest Italian meal I'd ever had, certainly in the most unlikely of places. It was cooked so carefully and lovingly by one person - the sister in law of Angelo, the Guatemalan-Italian owner who was away in Italy. She worked in an open kitchen within in the open-air palapa hut. After we’d finished our various bowls and plates of pastas, we strolled back in the dark beneath an incredible star-filled sky, very happy at the end of our final full day in country.









Saturday, Nov 26th

Sadly, time to depart. We walked through El Remate and Flores, and then hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks - Vespa chariots with a roof - to the airport. Hasta la proxima, Guate!




  posted by John : 7:33 AM

 
Corporate buyout
EchoStar Gets Town to Change Name to Its Ticker: DISH

  posted by John : 5:53 AM

 
Upcoming films
Albert Brooks looks for comedy in the Muslim world
Steven Soderbergh takes on Che - the T-shirt guy

  posted by John : 10:36 AM

 
80s music
I'm somewhat pulled to go see The English Beat here this Friday. But I won't. We're taking a trip way early the next morning. And my taste has really shifted alot since those days. Which is quite something, since they were my ab-fave at one time. No doubt it would be cool tho. Guess I'm not into the pop-ska rhythm as much as I used to be.

Bought the first two Elvis Costello CDs recently (extended versions). Now, like then, its the more moody and stirring songs that I appreciate - like Alison or Hand in Hand. While some songs I used to love - like (I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea - don't quite grab me as much as they used to. I think its that I don't get as much from the lyrics (eg, 'no place here for the mini-skirt waddle / capital punishment she's last year's model / they call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie'). Comprehending the lyrics used to not matter so much. Often, having any idea what was actually being said didn't matter. What did matter was that both the lyrics and music resonated with me, but I'd say it was more about the sonic qualities of the singing. The English Beat's songs are in this category ('take me to a restaurant that's got glass tables you can watch yourself while you are eating').

No I'm not just becoming a curmudgeon... that happened many years ago.

On the other hand, when Glen Tilbrook (former Squeeze frontman) comes to town, I'm first in line. Have seen him twice here at a smallish club and it was wonderful. Squeeze (Difford/Tilbrook) songs are about the lyrics - they're STORIES, not just interesting sounds ('shes not a picture above somebody's fire / she sits in a towel with her purple hairdryer / she meets me at Picadilly'). Same with XTC and early Talking Heads, as well as all the fathoms of Dylan-inspired artists that I still listen to - their music will endure for me.

  posted by John : 9:51 AM

 
Horrible prize
Yesterday early evening when Sharon arrived home, Victor was prancing around the car as usual as she drove up to the house. Then he wasn't there to greet her as she opened the car door - he'd taken off somewhere. She called him and he came running back, carrying what she thought was a stick. He ran up the back stairs with it, not unlike how we had trained him to bring that paper back when we used to subscribe. Then Sharon could see what it really was: a part of a deer's leg, the hoof to the first joint, fairly cleanly separated. She got him to drop it (he was ready to bring it inside), and let him know this wasn't a good thing to do.

Then the mystery. Just the day before, Sharon had described to me how she'd clocked a deer running in a field parallel to her car at 30mph. And that deer didn't seem to be in hurry. We were left to wonder - did Victor actually catch a deer? We noticed that the gate was left open. The UPS guy who came earlier in the day must have double-punched the button so it didn't shut. As I picked the limb up in a shopping bag I felt that the tissue was still soft. So it had certainly died that day. Or could there now be a 3-footed deer running around, after tangling with Victor? Or was there a freshly killed carcass lying on our property or nearby from which our dog had wrestled his prize? And if so, who did the killing? This seemed like a bad dream more than like reality.

We had to leave right away as we were already late to meet friends for dinner. It was also dark out, so we decided we'd search the property in the morning. Today: nothing to be found. It is the height of deer hunting season around here. We have concluded that Victor did not so ably track and kill a mature deer, but instead found one that perhaps had not been killed at first by a hunter's shot. We'll watch the sky for vultures, and keep that gate closed. We'll also be keeping Victor in around twilight, since that's seemed to be the time, before his dinner, when he's gotten into unpleasant situations.

If on the other hand he has been able to take down an adult deer himself on our property, that would leave us to either have to get a 6-foot fence all around the place. Or get him trained to not chase things. Of the two, a fence seems like the only plausible option. Still, I can't imagine he could do it.

  posted by John : 8:41 AM

 
E-know
The list of things I don't know is incredibly vast, and definitely growing. One thing that sat on that list for a decade was that Brian Eno created that familiar Windows 95 startup sound. Nourished by this web-surfing-discovered trivia, I think I'll call it a night.

  posted by John : 10:35 PM

 
DECT: A new wireless phone standard
Article found on deviceforge.com.

I like this gadgety stuff. Now with VOIP phone service becoming more popular, the next step will be a change in the phone-set itself: Voice over Wi-Fi. And Skype phones are interesting. Could have an older PC in the closet running as a media jukebox, and to serve a Skype connection for ultra-cheap phone service. I used Skype last year when I was working with guys from India on a project, so we could talk for free. Pretty neat.

  posted by John : 9:46 AM

 
Texas speaks
Today, three quarters of Texan voters elected to add an ammendment to the state constituion to ban gay marriage. That's on top of the law already in place to do the same thing. While certain this would get voted in, I wouldn't have expected a number quite that high. I wonder if the fundamentalist mormon polygamists moving in to Eldorado, TX had any effect -- if alot of people are afraid that permitting other than man/woman marriages would open the door to one-man/many-women marriages ? Or more likely its a reflection that church congregations continue to be mobilized.

Updated 2005/11/11 : 60% of voters in Travis county were against adding this ban to the constitution. The slogan, Keep Austin Weird, is holding true with respect to the rest of the state.

  posted by John : 7:08 PM

 
It feels good to be back home
Apart from a few jaunts to Home Depot to fuel the many home projects I'm dabbling in, I've been mostly here at the homestead. I enjoyed all the travelling of the last few months immensely. And now its refreshing to feel like my feet are back on the ground. Last weekend I went out to see/hear some music, with Arnie - the every-Sunday Gospel Brunch at Taco Express, and a couple of acoustic acts playing on the front lawn of an old house ($5 cover). Music is still the heart of what draws me to living here in particular. The first day back and I heard Jimmie Dale Gilmore doing a live show on KUT. Never heard anything close to that on the radio while we were away. On Wed. we'll be going to see a flick at my fave theater, the Alamo - which I see has another spectacle coming up: LOTR TRILOGY with THE HOBBIT FEAST. This 12hr+ event is already sold out. Gotta love this place.


  posted by John : 11:59 PM