Home on the Highway - San Francisco to Ushuaia, Argetina in an 87 4Runner
04-03-2012, 04:40 PM
#182
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Redmond, OR
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wow! You two are living my dream. My sweety and I are getting hitched this summer and were planning to honeymoon in Costa Rica but I'm starting to think we may need to check out Belize as well. Awesome trip and great report. Thanks for sharing and happy travels.
04-03-2012, 08:10 PM
#183
Defrag........... that Mountain Vista shot is SPECTACULAR, ....as are ALL of your photos! This is an INCREDIBLY inspiring trip that will, NO DOUBT, cause at least a few people to follow in your footsteps and GET DOWN THERE! I'm truly in awe of your adventure as a couple(I would LOVE to share that kind of journey with whomever I wind up with!)... and your are doing a FANTASTIC job of, well, 'TELLING THE LIFE EXPERIENCE STORY' AS YOU GO!
GREAT! And once again, ...thanks to you and your lovely wife for sharing this with me!
GREAT! And once again, ...thanks to you and your lovely wife for sharing this with me!
04-07-2012, 09:34 AM
#184
Registered User
Thread Starter
It has been a while since we have done an update, We ended up spending the past 2 months in Guatemala soaking up the culture, slowing down our pace, and doing some much needed repairs to the truck. Life had been a bit hectic and I couldn’t muster up the energy to write a decent blog. We are now in Honduras, tucked somewhere up in the Pico Bonito National Park hiding from the craziness of Semana Santa (Holy Week). For the first time in a long time we find ourselves with nothing to do but listen to the crickets and frogs sing lullabies outside our truck. Perfect time to do some writing.
The border crossing from Belize into Guatemala was fairly uneventful. We went through the process of checking ourselves and the truck out of Belize. Got the truck fumigated, paid for new visas and a vehicle permit. All completed in our crappy spanish without the use of a tramidor (Tramidor: Dude who hangs around frontier borders helping/scamming confused gringos getting into the next country) thanks to our friends at <ahref="[img]http://www.liferemotely.com">LifeRemotely</url> who posted a great explanation of the process, fees, and buildings. We spent 10 minutes in the car studying up and hit the booths, about 30 minutes later we had everything we needed. We were officially and legally now in Guatemala.
We spent all our money at the border and had nothing left. Our tank was on fumes. (We waited to fill up till Guatemala, Belize gas was at $6/gal)
We assumed (stupidly) that there would be a gas station and ATM somewhere near the border on the Guatemalan side. Well there was an ATM but it was empty. No cash. We tried to ask if there was another “cajero” nearby but our spanish is so bad we received nothing but confused stares. Oh well… hopefully there will be one further up the road. We placed our faith in the 4Runners crappy gas gauge being off and headed further down the highway. We have our 5-gallon reserve tank in case we ran out.
The section of Guatemala we entered is named Peten. Unknown to us at the time, It is a very sparsely populated section of Northern Guatemala. We drove past miles and miles of clearcut farmland, rolling green hills, and a few small pueblos with no services. Our destination for the first day was the Mayan ruins of Tikal.
Eventually we arrived at Tikal, We never did pass an ATM or gas station for almost 60 miles. We tried to enter the park but they charge a ridiculously high price for entry ($~25US per person). We didn’t have enough dinero so we had no choice but to head out from Tikal to the next large town of Flores for some cash and gas.
Rolled into Flores sputtering, perfect timing, we found a nice gas station equipped with an ATM. Topped off our cash and our fuel tank. Headed back to Tikal.
We ran into our friends Paul/Susie again in Flores, they were also headed to Tikal. When we were both driving back to Tikal we passed our other friends Zack/Jill. Looks look we were all headed to the same place. We hit the entrance at the same time, just in time for Paul’s Trooper to start acting up. Not one to leave a man behind, we all set to diagnosing the problem in front of the Tikal park entrance.
Eventually we tracked down the problem to fuel. Figuring it was bad gas, we drained the tank and used my jerry can of U.S gas to refill it. While not running completely right it seemed to be doing better. By this point it was around 6PM and the park had closed. Having no place to go (We were planning to camp inside the park) We asked the guards if we could just camp in the parking lot in front of the park. No problem they said. So we did. Howler and spider monkeys crawling through the trees above, Us stinking like gas below. Luckily we had booze, all was well in the world.
Next morning we woke up early, Paul/Susie headed to town to further diagnose their issue. The rest of us headed into Tikal.
First sign we saw warned us of a “Coati Crossing”.. I guess we are in the jungle after all.
Tikal was like no other ruin we have visited thus far. The ruins are dispersed among deep jungle. You walk through 30 minutes of thick jungle canopy with monkeys howling overhead and then pop into a clearing with amazing ruins. It really gives you the feeling of discovering an ancient lost world.
Tikal is one of the largest sites of ancient pre-columbian Mayan civilizations. It was a hub for all surrounding Mayans civilizations, sort of a "capital" of the if you will. Estimations of population range from 10,000 to 90,000 inhabitants. Imagining a huge city of 90,000 milling around this place 2000 years ago is a surreal feeling.
Excavation of the ruins are still in progress, Check out this motorcycle powered cart they use to ferry equipment to the top of the temple.
More pics and detailed write-up on the blog http://homeonthehighway.com
The border crossing from Belize into Guatemala was fairly uneventful. We went through the process of checking ourselves and the truck out of Belize. Got the truck fumigated, paid for new visas and a vehicle permit. All completed in our crappy spanish without the use of a tramidor (Tramidor: Dude who hangs around frontier borders helping/scamming confused gringos getting into the next country) thanks to our friends at <ahref="[img]http://www.liferemotely.com">LifeRemotely</url> who posted a great explanation of the process, fees, and buildings. We spent 10 minutes in the car studying up and hit the booths, about 30 minutes later we had everything we needed. We were officially and legally now in Guatemala.
We spent all our money at the border and had nothing left. Our tank was on fumes. (We waited to fill up till Guatemala, Belize gas was at $6/gal)
We assumed (stupidly) that there would be a gas station and ATM somewhere near the border on the Guatemalan side. Well there was an ATM but it was empty. No cash. We tried to ask if there was another “cajero” nearby but our spanish is so bad we received nothing but confused stares. Oh well… hopefully there will be one further up the road. We placed our faith in the 4Runners crappy gas gauge being off and headed further down the highway. We have our 5-gallon reserve tank in case we ran out.
The section of Guatemala we entered is named Peten. Unknown to us at the time, It is a very sparsely populated section of Northern Guatemala. We drove past miles and miles of clearcut farmland, rolling green hills, and a few small pueblos with no services. Our destination for the first day was the Mayan ruins of Tikal.
Eventually we arrived at Tikal, We never did pass an ATM or gas station for almost 60 miles. We tried to enter the park but they charge a ridiculously high price for entry ($~25US per person). We didn’t have enough dinero so we had no choice but to head out from Tikal to the next large town of Flores for some cash and gas.
Rolled into Flores sputtering, perfect timing, we found a nice gas station equipped with an ATM. Topped off our cash and our fuel tank. Headed back to Tikal.
We ran into our friends Paul/Susie again in Flores, they were also headed to Tikal. When we were both driving back to Tikal we passed our other friends Zack/Jill. Looks look we were all headed to the same place. We hit the entrance at the same time, just in time for Paul’s Trooper to start acting up. Not one to leave a man behind, we all set to diagnosing the problem in front of the Tikal park entrance.
Eventually we tracked down the problem to fuel. Figuring it was bad gas, we drained the tank and used my jerry can of U.S gas to refill it. While not running completely right it seemed to be doing better. By this point it was around 6PM and the park had closed. Having no place to go (We were planning to camp inside the park) We asked the guards if we could just camp in the parking lot in front of the park. No problem they said. So we did. Howler and spider monkeys crawling through the trees above, Us stinking like gas below. Luckily we had booze, all was well in the world.
Next morning we woke up early, Paul/Susie headed to town to further diagnose their issue. The rest of us headed into Tikal.
First sign we saw warned us of a “Coati Crossing”.. I guess we are in the jungle after all.
Tikal was like no other ruin we have visited thus far. The ruins are dispersed among deep jungle. You walk through 30 minutes of thick jungle canopy with monkeys howling overhead and then pop into a clearing with amazing ruins. It really gives you the feeling of discovering an ancient lost world.
Tikal is one of the largest sites of ancient pre-columbian Mayan civilizations. It was a hub for all surrounding Mayans civilizations, sort of a "capital" of the if you will. Estimations of population range from 10,000 to 90,000 inhabitants. Imagining a huge city of 90,000 milling around this place 2000 years ago is a surreal feeling.
Excavation of the ruins are still in progress, Check out this motorcycle powered cart they use to ferry equipment to the top of the temple.
More pics and detailed write-up on the blog http://homeonthehighway.com
04-07-2012, 09:37 AM
#186
Registered User
Thread Starter
hey bud, glad you like it. Belize is awesome, We really dig it there. English is the national languge, beautiful beaches, wonderful caves, and rivers
04-07-2012, 09:48 AM
#187
Registered User
Thread Starter
From Tikal we hit the road to San Pedro where we planned to take some spanish classes. Our friend Zach had given us some info on the highways down there. There appeared to be two roads that took you from Peten down deeper into Guatemala. One was supposedly a much more rough and tumble route while the other was a decently paved road. Zach in the AstroVan opted for the easy route. We of course choose the rough and tumble path.
Our road actually turned out to be pretty decently paved (We heard from Zach that he accidently chose the road of death and sent us on the good road, HAHA!). We drove through lots of little lakeside villages and saw some beautiful Guatemalan countryside.
Our first introduction to Tuk-Tuks (The official in-town transportation of Guatemala)
Eventually we arrived at a small town by the name of Sayaxche. Here the road dead-ended into a deep river. We queued up for the ferry crossing with a few other sleepy travelers.
The ferry (which our friend Karina’s dad later informed us is installed/ran by the Guatemalan oil company) is an odd design. It has 2 outboard boat motors both on the same side of the boat. They work in perfect harmony to fight the rivers current and bring the ferry to its proper mooring point on the opposite bank of the river.
We got a cursory check by the military while on the ferry. I think they just wanted to check out the truck. Eventually arriving safely to the other side. We pushed through the town and wound through towns of small highway-side villages.
Coming up over the top of a blind hill at 60MPH to find dogs, people, babies, fruit stands… It’s a good test of the brakes.
The road was long and winding through the mountains. We were planning to stop in Coban, Guatemala for the night. Unfortunately the drive took much longer than we had planned. We were stuck driving at night through crazy mountain roads, in the rain, in the fog, with crappy headlights, and millions of people milling about on the sides of the road. Not a good situation. We made it to Coban and found the first motel we could.
We warmed up from the cold rain in the sketchy hot water shower. If you are sleepy in the morning just give the shower-head a tap. I guarantee a 110V shock will snap you out of your stupor!
Hit the road the next morning. There was an easy looking highway that led down to San Pedro La Laguna and there was a much more exciting route that took us up into the Guatemalan highlands. We of course, took the more exciting route.
The asphalt quickly gave way to dirt road as we found ourselves climbing higher and higher into the mountains.
We passed this statue of a Quetzal bird midway up the mountain. The Quetzal is the official bird of Guatemala and also the name of their currency. It is an extremely rare and prized bird. It has magnificent long green/blue tail feathers. It is very rare and seldom seen in Guatemala. It lives in the cloud forests high in the mountains. Which just so happened to be where we were unexpectedly headed…
We pushed further and further up the dirt road. The clouds and fog grew thicker and thicker. Eventually we were driving through an actual cloud forest. Pretty amazing weather compared to the 85F and humid temps we experienced the same day at lower elevations.
More pics and detailed writeup on the blog. http://homeonthehighway.com
Our road actually turned out to be pretty decently paved (We heard from Zach that he accidently chose the road of death and sent us on the good road, HAHA!). We drove through lots of little lakeside villages and saw some beautiful Guatemalan countryside.
Our first introduction to Tuk-Tuks (The official in-town transportation of Guatemala)
Eventually we arrived at a small town by the name of Sayaxche. Here the road dead-ended into a deep river. We queued up for the ferry crossing with a few other sleepy travelers.
The ferry (which our friend Karina’s dad later informed us is installed/ran by the Guatemalan oil company) is an odd design. It has 2 outboard boat motors both on the same side of the boat. They work in perfect harmony to fight the rivers current and bring the ferry to its proper mooring point on the opposite bank of the river.
We got a cursory check by the military while on the ferry. I think they just wanted to check out the truck. Eventually arriving safely to the other side. We pushed through the town and wound through towns of small highway-side villages.
Coming up over the top of a blind hill at 60MPH to find dogs, people, babies, fruit stands… It’s a good test of the brakes.
The road was long and winding through the mountains. We were planning to stop in Coban, Guatemala for the night. Unfortunately the drive took much longer than we had planned. We were stuck driving at night through crazy mountain roads, in the rain, in the fog, with crappy headlights, and millions of people milling about on the sides of the road. Not a good situation. We made it to Coban and found the first motel we could.
We warmed up from the cold rain in the sketchy hot water shower. If you are sleepy in the morning just give the shower-head a tap. I guarantee a 110V shock will snap you out of your stupor!
Hit the road the next morning. There was an easy looking highway that led down to San Pedro La Laguna and there was a much more exciting route that took us up into the Guatemalan highlands. We of course, took the more exciting route.
The asphalt quickly gave way to dirt road as we found ourselves climbing higher and higher into the mountains.
We passed this statue of a Quetzal bird midway up the mountain. The Quetzal is the official bird of Guatemala and also the name of their currency. It is an extremely rare and prized bird. It has magnificent long green/blue tail feathers. It is very rare and seldom seen in Guatemala. It lives in the cloud forests high in the mountains. Which just so happened to be where we were unexpectedly headed…
We pushed further and further up the dirt road. The clouds and fog grew thicker and thicker. Eventually we were driving through an actual cloud forest. Pretty amazing weather compared to the 85F and humid temps we experienced the same day at lower elevations.
More pics and detailed writeup on the blog. http://homeonthehighway.com
04-07-2012, 09:57 AM
#188
Registered User
Thread Starter
San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala is an interesting and beautiful place. The town sits on the volcano ringed Lago Atitlan (Lake Atitlan) at the base of the (now dormant) San Pedro volcano. It is populated bythe indeginous <em>Tz'utuhil </em>Mayan people who still work the land growing mainly onions and coffee beans for export.
The town is made up of an odd mix of ancient Mayan culture, westernized Guatemala, and flat-out takeover by gringos. You can wake up in the morning and watch an 85-year old Mayan lady haul a 40LB load of onions on her head from her hand-planted farm near the lagoon, spend your afternoon sipping freshly grown/processed San Pedro coffee beans, and waste away the evening getting S-Faced with a 19-year backpacker from Idaho. All within 1/4 mile strip of lagoon-front land. We loved it for all of its faces but most importantly for the little piece of isolated paradise we found at the Corozan Maya Spanish school.
We originally came into town actually searching for different spanish school altogether. We drove up and down the 1-way streets searching and searching for this other school. It was in our guide book, they said it was good! Where is it!?
During our frustrating search, time and time again we would pass this same little school sign. Eventually we said screw it, let check this place out. We were glad we did. What we discovered was a great spanish school that had everything an overlander could want. Secure parking, internet, and hot showers. Throw in a $25/week cabin with in-room propane stove and we were heaven. Classes were $75/week for 1-1 spanish school, the cheapest I have found in my research and our teachers were all amazing.
From the second we sat down to talk with Marta, the schools owner/operator, she made us feel welcome and at home. She spoke strictly in slow simple spanish terms that even we could understand with our horrible spanish. What the hell!? Are we talking in spanish already? This place<em> is</em> good! We signed up for 1 week of class straight away. We ended up staying for 4.
We relocated our clothes and essentials to our basic but comfy cabin. Complete with hammock out front.
Eventually bringing the mattress from our truck into the cabin to supplement the school provided bed. (We sleep like kings in our truck, Why not bring it inside our new home?
The accommodations were basic. A bed, a 2-burner propane stove, a few outlets, and a bare lightbulb. But what more do you really need? That’s all we have in our truck and we love it. We quickly settled in to our new cabin and started calling it home.
We made dinner from some leftovers we had in the truck and started preparing for our first day of spanish school. We were excited and intimidated. We spent the rest of night listening to our Pimsleur Audio books and running through Rosetta Stone lessons knowing we were woefully unprepared.
Next day we started classes. Marta assigned us each our own native San Pedro Mayan teacher.
We walked down the path to our individual tranquil huts out by the lagoon and started our lessons.
First thing was a pop-quiz. Oh great! I didn’t study for this! They wanted to gauge our skill level in spanish to get an idea of where to start the lessons. Needless to say I didn’t make it past NOMBRE/FECHA (Name and Date) (I guessed at FECHA…)
Lauren did a bit better, she made it to the second page before getting the glassy eyed stare of confusion.
Our teachers made no scene or judgements, just evaluated our positions and started right into the lessons. Our teachers spoke very slow, very clear spanish. We started with learning basic verbs and eventually moved onto to tenses, pronouns,conjugations, etc etc. All kinds of stuff. For 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. We would practice in the huts.
Some days class would fly by, other days we would beg for mercy “Por favor maestra, Mi cabeza esta lleno!” Please teacher, My head is full!
It was a calm relaxing atmosphere. Even though learning a new language is a challenge, it was hard to be stressed out in this environment.
In the mornings before class we would lounge around studying, reading books, going on hikes, whatever we wanted to do. One of our favorite activities was exploring “El Mercado” The Market.
Here you can find pretty much anything the heart desires. All native, fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables are available for a fraction (literally less than 1/4 the cost in the U.S.) of the price. Lauren and I would load up our bags with fruits and veggies. Never spending more than $3-5 for more than we could possibly eat in a week.
More pics and details on the blog
The town is made up of an odd mix of ancient Mayan culture, westernized Guatemala, and flat-out takeover by gringos. You can wake up in the morning and watch an 85-year old Mayan lady haul a 40LB load of onions on her head from her hand-planted farm near the lagoon, spend your afternoon sipping freshly grown/processed San Pedro coffee beans, and waste away the evening getting S-Faced with a 19-year backpacker from Idaho. All within 1/4 mile strip of lagoon-front land. We loved it for all of its faces but most importantly for the little piece of isolated paradise we found at the Corozan Maya Spanish school.
We originally came into town actually searching for different spanish school altogether. We drove up and down the 1-way streets searching and searching for this other school. It was in our guide book, they said it was good! Where is it!?
During our frustrating search, time and time again we would pass this same little school sign. Eventually we said screw it, let check this place out. We were glad we did. What we discovered was a great spanish school that had everything an overlander could want. Secure parking, internet, and hot showers. Throw in a $25/week cabin with in-room propane stove and we were heaven. Classes were $75/week for 1-1 spanish school, the cheapest I have found in my research and our teachers were all amazing.
From the second we sat down to talk with Marta, the schools owner/operator, she made us feel welcome and at home. She spoke strictly in slow simple spanish terms that even we could understand with our horrible spanish. What the hell!? Are we talking in spanish already? This place<em> is</em> good! We signed up for 1 week of class straight away. We ended up staying for 4.
We relocated our clothes and essentials to our basic but comfy cabin. Complete with hammock out front.
Eventually bringing the mattress from our truck into the cabin to supplement the school provided bed. (We sleep like kings in our truck, Why not bring it inside our new home?
The accommodations were basic. A bed, a 2-burner propane stove, a few outlets, and a bare lightbulb. But what more do you really need? That’s all we have in our truck and we love it. We quickly settled in to our new cabin and started calling it home.
We made dinner from some leftovers we had in the truck and started preparing for our first day of spanish school. We were excited and intimidated. We spent the rest of night listening to our Pimsleur Audio books and running through Rosetta Stone lessons knowing we were woefully unprepared.
Next day we started classes. Marta assigned us each our own native San Pedro Mayan teacher.
We walked down the path to our individual tranquil huts out by the lagoon and started our lessons.
First thing was a pop-quiz. Oh great! I didn’t study for this! They wanted to gauge our skill level in spanish to get an idea of where to start the lessons. Needless to say I didn’t make it past NOMBRE/FECHA (Name and Date) (I guessed at FECHA…)
Lauren did a bit better, she made it to the second page before getting the glassy eyed stare of confusion.
Our teachers made no scene or judgements, just evaluated our positions and started right into the lessons. Our teachers spoke very slow, very clear spanish. We started with learning basic verbs and eventually moved onto to tenses, pronouns,conjugations, etc etc. All kinds of stuff. For 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. We would practice in the huts.
Some days class would fly by, other days we would beg for mercy “Por favor maestra, Mi cabeza esta lleno!” Please teacher, My head is full!
It was a calm relaxing atmosphere. Even though learning a new language is a challenge, it was hard to be stressed out in this environment.
In the mornings before class we would lounge around studying, reading books, going on hikes, whatever we wanted to do. One of our favorite activities was exploring “El Mercado” The Market.
Here you can find pretty much anything the heart desires. All native, fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables are available for a fraction (literally less than 1/4 the cost in the U.S.) of the price. Lauren and I would load up our bags with fruits and veggies. Never spending more than $3-5 for more than we could possibly eat in a week.
More pics and details on the blog
04-07-2012, 10:42 PM
#189
Registered User
I was way stoked to see another update when I checked my email. Glad everything is going well with you. I'm glad you didn't run out of gas before the station. I just figured I'd point something out.
Your picture of Tikal:
And the rebel base on Yavin:
I know I'm a nerd.
Your picture of Tikal:
And the rebel base on Yavin:
I know I'm a nerd.
04-07-2012, 11:38 PM
#191
Contributing Member
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: COTKU,Ontario,Canada
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
esta mui bueno hombre... that school looks amazing... why not spend a month there?...
you think those dvd rosetta stone courses were'nt worth the cash? thinking of taking one... but I heard online you can also get Yale uni. and a few other school's courses online for free... just no uni credits for them...
you think those dvd rosetta stone courses were'nt worth the cash? thinking of taking one... but I heard online you can also get Yale uni. and a few other school's courses online for free... just no uni credits for them...
04-08-2012, 01:49 PM
#192
Registered User
Thread Starter
esta mui bueno hombre... that school looks amazing... why not spend a month there?...
you think those dvd rosetta stone courses were'nt worth the cash? thinking of taking one... but I heard online you can also get Yale uni. and a few other school's courses online for free... just no uni credits for them...
you think those dvd rosetta stone courses were'nt worth the cash? thinking of taking one... but I heard online you can also get Yale uni. and a few other school's courses online for free... just no uni credits for them...
It is a great program but you really gotta dedicate yourself to sit down and use it. We like the Pimsleur audio books since we can listen to them on the road.
But by far the spanish lessons in person were worlds better than either one. I would look into your local community college to see if they have actual spanish classes you can take.
04-08-2012, 01:50 PM
#193
Registered User
Thread Starter
been cranking out the blogposts lately, trying to use this downtime for good instead of just evil!
Our alarm started ringing at 4:30AM… I felt my body panic in confusion. WORK!?
Nope. Just hiking a volcano today… whew.. that was close. I realized it was the first time I have woken up to an alarm in almost 5 months (Not that I am trying to rub it in or anything…)
I stumble around in the pitch-black cabin fumbling for the light-switch. I find it and listen to the groans from the sisters. “5 more minutes?” Lauren asks. Nope! Not today, We gots to go.
Our destination for the day. The top of Volcan San Pedro on Lago Atitlan. It is the large volcano on the right-side of this pic. You can see the town of San Pedro down below it.
We load up the backpack with snacks/water, put on our hiking shoes and head up the road. The early morning darkness is chilly and foggy. There is Toyota pickup waiting for us, We load our gear inside and jump in the back. We get a good-grip onto the black steel coping lining the bed and hold on.
VAMOS!
Lauren and fellow overlander Jill from Anywhere that’s Wild.
We wind our way through the silent streets of San Pedro picking up a few more hikers then start heading up the mountain to the trail head.
Eventually arriving at the the still pitch-black trailhead we crank up our headlamps/flashlights and hit the trail.
I read it was advised to use a guide on this trail due to some robberies/attacks on tourists a few years ago. Nowadays they have improved security and there is nothing much to worry about. However, the entry-price to the park included a tour guide so we took one. Our guide was named Pedro, I would put Pedro around 75 years old or so. He had 1-tooth and a big *** machete. My kinda guy.
Were hiking along in the dark single-file up a tight trail. It looks like we are hiking through some sort of coffee farm but it is too dark to tell. I am thinking to myself, damn it is kinda spooky out here… good place for robbers…
I hear someone from the back of the line scream “OH ****!” then I hear the distinct sound of metal on metal machete/machete clanging together. ITS HAPPENING!?
I turn around to witness the carnage and see my fellow hikers looking down the side of a steep rocky hillside at a very confused Pedro splayed out on the bottom. Looks like our guide misstepped and fell down the hill. What I originally heard was not the Pedro battling evil banditos but actually the sound of his machete clanging against the rocks as he rolled head over heels down the hill.
We check over Pedro and find him surprisingly intact for a 75-year old man falling down a cliff. He quickly tires of our medical attention gains his composure and yells “VAMOS!”
Up we go.
As dawn breaks we make it to a small shelter with a nice look-out over the Lagoon and San Pedro lights below.
Sun coming up a bit, we can actually see the trail now.
The first 45-minutes were fairly easy going, we were crossing primarily sideways across the mountain. However once we started heading straight up the volcano I realized… I am outta shape. It has been a while since we had been on a real challenging hike and I was feeling it. Also, Carly, who just shipped in from sea-level Florida the day before, was not exactly prepared for this much climbing at 6000FT either. Pedro on the other-hand was a never-tiring billygoat and nipped our heels the entire time to climb faster. Not bad for a 75-year old man who just fell off a cliff…
At first he had patient words of encouragement to speed us up…
“Es bueno por tu corazon!” (It’s good for your heart!)“
La Vista is muy bonito” (The view is very nice)
Eventually degrading into…
“Listo?” (Ready?)
And finally a flat-out
“VAMOS!” (Let’s go!)
“OK Pedro… OK Pedro…” Carly exclaims between winded breaths as we climb further up the mountain.
Lauren, of course, climbs straight up the mountain like she's on a leisurely stroll through the park.
We climb through lots of forest, coffee farms, corn plantations…
More pics and the rest of the story on the blog. http://homeonthehighway.com
Our alarm started ringing at 4:30AM… I felt my body panic in confusion. WORK!?
Nope. Just hiking a volcano today… whew.. that was close. I realized it was the first time I have woken up to an alarm in almost 5 months (Not that I am trying to rub it in or anything…)
I stumble around in the pitch-black cabin fumbling for the light-switch. I find it and listen to the groans from the sisters. “5 more minutes?” Lauren asks. Nope! Not today, We gots to go.
Our destination for the day. The top of Volcan San Pedro on Lago Atitlan. It is the large volcano on the right-side of this pic. You can see the town of San Pedro down below it.
We load up the backpack with snacks/water, put on our hiking shoes and head up the road. The early morning darkness is chilly and foggy. There is Toyota pickup waiting for us, We load our gear inside and jump in the back. We get a good-grip onto the black steel coping lining the bed and hold on.
VAMOS!
Lauren and fellow overlander Jill from Anywhere that’s Wild.
We wind our way through the silent streets of San Pedro picking up a few more hikers then start heading up the mountain to the trail head.
Eventually arriving at the the still pitch-black trailhead we crank up our headlamps/flashlights and hit the trail.
I read it was advised to use a guide on this trail due to some robberies/attacks on tourists a few years ago. Nowadays they have improved security and there is nothing much to worry about. However, the entry-price to the park included a tour guide so we took one. Our guide was named Pedro, I would put Pedro around 75 years old or so. He had 1-tooth and a big *** machete. My kinda guy.
Were hiking along in the dark single-file up a tight trail. It looks like we are hiking through some sort of coffee farm but it is too dark to tell. I am thinking to myself, damn it is kinda spooky out here… good place for robbers…
I hear someone from the back of the line scream “OH ****!” then I hear the distinct sound of metal on metal machete/machete clanging together. ITS HAPPENING!?
I turn around to witness the carnage and see my fellow hikers looking down the side of a steep rocky hillside at a very confused Pedro splayed out on the bottom. Looks like our guide misstepped and fell down the hill. What I originally heard was not the Pedro battling evil banditos but actually the sound of his machete clanging against the rocks as he rolled head over heels down the hill.
We check over Pedro and find him surprisingly intact for a 75-year old man falling down a cliff. He quickly tires of our medical attention gains his composure and yells “VAMOS!”
Up we go.
As dawn breaks we make it to a small shelter with a nice look-out over the Lagoon and San Pedro lights below.
Sun coming up a bit, we can actually see the trail now.
The first 45-minutes were fairly easy going, we were crossing primarily sideways across the mountain. However once we started heading straight up the volcano I realized… I am outta shape. It has been a while since we had been on a real challenging hike and I was feeling it. Also, Carly, who just shipped in from sea-level Florida the day before, was not exactly prepared for this much climbing at 6000FT either. Pedro on the other-hand was a never-tiring billygoat and nipped our heels the entire time to climb faster. Not bad for a 75-year old man who just fell off a cliff…
At first he had patient words of encouragement to speed us up…
“Es bueno por tu corazon!” (It’s good for your heart!)“
La Vista is muy bonito” (The view is very nice)
Eventually degrading into…
“Listo?” (Ready?)
And finally a flat-out
“VAMOS!” (Let’s go!)
“OK Pedro… OK Pedro…” Carly exclaims between winded breaths as we climb further up the mountain.
Lauren, of course, climbs straight up the mountain like she's on a leisurely stroll through the park.
We climb through lots of forest, coffee farms, corn plantations…
More pics and the rest of the story on the blog. http://homeonthehighway.com
Last edited by defrag4; 04-08-2012 at 02:09 PM.
04-09-2012, 09:03 AM
#195
Registered User
Thread Starter
Carly spent the rest of the week hanging out with us and touring around San Pedro. One thing she wanted to do while in Guatemala was to visit some Mayan ruins. In a country where over 50% of the population is indigenous Mayan it would be sacrilege to not visit one of their ancient sites.
We got to googling and did tons of research searching for nearby ruins to check out but came up bupkis. During our search however, we did find the Iximché ruins just outside the town of Tecpan. I knew we passed Tecpan on the way to the airport in Guatemala City. We figured we could head out the night before Carly left, drive to Tecpan, wake up early, tour the ruins, and get Carly on a plane around noon. Sounds like a plan to me!
During our spanish class we told our teachers about our plans to drive to Tecpan that night.
“Oh, you picked a very special night to go to Iximche.”
“Por Que?”
“Tonight is the Mayan new year!, of course”
… Of course? Our teachers explained about the Mayan Haab calendar, the long count-calendar, Tzoltin, equinoxes etc etc. The Mayans expounded upon 5th century BC knowledge of time and came up with a system to track/predict important events long before they ever heard of a Roman/Julian/Gregorian calendar. It is actually a series of several different calendars combined into one all-encompassing date keeping system.Pretty cool and complicated stuff.
Apparently it was so complicated that there were only a few people in ancient times who could actually understand it. These calendar readers were important nobleman in the Mayan society and worked closely with the ruling class. Mayan rulers used the power of the calendar to assert dominance and power over their cities/countrymen. If the king can predict what day the sun will be blocked by the moon, he must be talking to the gods and we should do what he says.
While I was very confused with the whole explanation (It’s hard enough explaining concepts of time in english, now try it in a language you can barely understand!) I managed to glean that tonight,March 21st, was an important night. Our teachers said the ruins will be open all night with shamans and elders performing rituals, blessings, and celebrating the new Mayan year. We were in for something special. Excited with the news we ran back to Carly. We packed her stuff and hit the road around 5PM for Tecpan.
The drive to Tecpan was uneventful. I was kind of hoping to see droves of natively dressed Mayans making a pilgrimage to the ruins. We drove through the sleepy town around 9PM and headed towards the ruins to check them out.
We arrived at the Iximche ruins.. A construction crew was busy building a stage for some reason, but no signs of any ceremonies. We wandered past the construction workers and into the actual ruins. No one was out checking any tickets or anything at this time of night. We ambled down the pathway until we realized we were actually walking on-top of Mayan ruins. It was so dark we couldn’t tell until we noticed the mud/brick walls and carved steps. Cool stuff, out here on our own ambling around ruins in the middle of the night.
There was no moon that night, It was pitch-black outside. Not sure if that happens every Mayan New Year or just a coincidence… With the accuracy of the Mayan calendars I am leaning towards it not being an accident.
We kept seeing small groups of people walking off into the woods. We asked a group if they were headed to the “ceremonias”, They said yes so we followed them down the random path.
As we walked the path we heard soft chanting steadily growing louder and louder. We pushed through some trees to a clearing to find this scene awaiting us…
Mildly intimidated we slowly worked our way into the circle. We were the only non-Mayans there. It was pretty obvious we were tourists but we did our best to be respectful and remain out of the way. The Mayans did not seem to mind us and were friendly. We were discreetly snapping photos under our shirts, eventually realizing that the other Mayans there were taking pictures of the whole process. Clearly this was a rare occasion and an experience for some of them as well.
The shamans were building the ceremonial circle when we first arrived. On top of a giant round stone platform they laid out an intricate circle design on the ground with sugar. Then layer by layer they started filling and building up the circle with various offerings. Cinnamon, honey, sugar, rice, maiz, avocados, coins, incense, candles, Quetzelteca!, beer, you name it. All things they were thankful for in the previous year. The entire time the shamans are chanting various prayers. This is all taking place in Mayan dialects so we have no idea what they were saying. The building of the circle was a beautiful and meticulous process.
After the circle was completed one of the elder shamans got up and gave a speech in Mayan and then translated it into spanish. I believe the jist was that it is important for the Mayan people to preserve their culture, teach it to the children, and educate others about it. He described things they were blessed with and things they had to look forward to in the coming year. He thanked everyone for coming to the ceremony and then got down from the platform.
The shaman headed back to the ceremonial circle and began to light the candles in the circle. Meticulously lighting each candle in a specific order North, South, East and West. Once all the ceremonial candles were lit he said another prayer and lit some small pieces of wood in the circle which set the entire thing ablaze in a huge fire.
Once the fire was going, he spoke with the other elders and said something in Mayan to the crowd. The entire crowd dropped to their knees all facing to the North and began chanting and praying. Not ones to be left standing around like a bunch of bozos we followed suit.
After praying and chanting for about 5 minutes in the North direction. Everyone leaned over and kissed the ground. And turned to the South. This process continued until we had prayed in all directions North, South, East, and West. Emotions were high, lots of people crying and whispering prayers. A very devout moment. We were privelged to be attending and witnessing such an event.
Eventually the prayers ended and the band struck up again, playing lively traditional music with flutes, drums, and marimbas. A few Guatemalan men and women danced what looked a helluva lot like an irish jig around the flames of the fire for a while. Everyone was pouring beer and quetzecal into the flames, as well as having a nip or two themselves. The men were smoking MASSIVE cigars. They were huge, as big around as a papertowel roll. The ladies were trying their best to light up cigarettes. (It was obvious none of them ever smoked as I watched them struggle with matches and trying to figure out how to light the cigarette, One lady set 1/2 the damn cigarette on fire in her hands and then started puffing on it!)
As the fire would die down someone would emerge with what I believe was sugar? and dump it all over the fire to bring the flames back. Eventually more wood was brought out to keep the party going.
So… Lauren, Carly, and I are standing around having a good ol’ time watching these Mayan’s party it up. Excitedly discussing our new once in a lifetime experience when all of the sudden we hear. SQWWAKK! The distinctive sound of a chicken. Uh oh…. Looks like the parties just getting started!
More pictures, VIDEOS, and the rest of the story at http://homeonthehighway.com
We got to googling and did tons of research searching for nearby ruins to check out but came up bupkis. During our search however, we did find the Iximché ruins just outside the town of Tecpan. I knew we passed Tecpan on the way to the airport in Guatemala City. We figured we could head out the night before Carly left, drive to Tecpan, wake up early, tour the ruins, and get Carly on a plane around noon. Sounds like a plan to me!
During our spanish class we told our teachers about our plans to drive to Tecpan that night.
“Oh, you picked a very special night to go to Iximche.”
“Por Que?”
“Tonight is the Mayan new year!, of course”
… Of course? Our teachers explained about the Mayan Haab calendar, the long count-calendar, Tzoltin, equinoxes etc etc. The Mayans expounded upon 5th century BC knowledge of time and came up with a system to track/predict important events long before they ever heard of a Roman/Julian/Gregorian calendar. It is actually a series of several different calendars combined into one all-encompassing date keeping system.Pretty cool and complicated stuff.
Apparently it was so complicated that there were only a few people in ancient times who could actually understand it. These calendar readers were important nobleman in the Mayan society and worked closely with the ruling class. Mayan rulers used the power of the calendar to assert dominance and power over their cities/countrymen. If the king can predict what day the sun will be blocked by the moon, he must be talking to the gods and we should do what he says.
While I was very confused with the whole explanation (It’s hard enough explaining concepts of time in english, now try it in a language you can barely understand!) I managed to glean that tonight,March 21st, was an important night. Our teachers said the ruins will be open all night with shamans and elders performing rituals, blessings, and celebrating the new Mayan year. We were in for something special. Excited with the news we ran back to Carly. We packed her stuff and hit the road around 5PM for Tecpan.
The drive to Tecpan was uneventful. I was kind of hoping to see droves of natively dressed Mayans making a pilgrimage to the ruins. We drove through the sleepy town around 9PM and headed towards the ruins to check them out.
We arrived at the Iximche ruins.. A construction crew was busy building a stage for some reason, but no signs of any ceremonies. We wandered past the construction workers and into the actual ruins. No one was out checking any tickets or anything at this time of night. We ambled down the pathway until we realized we were actually walking on-top of Mayan ruins. It was so dark we couldn’t tell until we noticed the mud/brick walls and carved steps. Cool stuff, out here on our own ambling around ruins in the middle of the night.
There was no moon that night, It was pitch-black outside. Not sure if that happens every Mayan New Year or just a coincidence… With the accuracy of the Mayan calendars I am leaning towards it not being an accident.
We kept seeing small groups of people walking off into the woods. We asked a group if they were headed to the “ceremonias”, They said yes so we followed them down the random path.
As we walked the path we heard soft chanting steadily growing louder and louder. We pushed through some trees to a clearing to find this scene awaiting us…
Mildly intimidated we slowly worked our way into the circle. We were the only non-Mayans there. It was pretty obvious we were tourists but we did our best to be respectful and remain out of the way. The Mayans did not seem to mind us and were friendly. We were discreetly snapping photos under our shirts, eventually realizing that the other Mayans there were taking pictures of the whole process. Clearly this was a rare occasion and an experience for some of them as well.
The shamans were building the ceremonial circle when we first arrived. On top of a giant round stone platform they laid out an intricate circle design on the ground with sugar. Then layer by layer they started filling and building up the circle with various offerings. Cinnamon, honey, sugar, rice, maiz, avocados, coins, incense, candles, Quetzelteca!, beer, you name it. All things they were thankful for in the previous year. The entire time the shamans are chanting various prayers. This is all taking place in Mayan dialects so we have no idea what they were saying. The building of the circle was a beautiful and meticulous process.
After the circle was completed one of the elder shamans got up and gave a speech in Mayan and then translated it into spanish. I believe the jist was that it is important for the Mayan people to preserve their culture, teach it to the children, and educate others about it. He described things they were blessed with and things they had to look forward to in the coming year. He thanked everyone for coming to the ceremony and then got down from the platform.
The shaman headed back to the ceremonial circle and began to light the candles in the circle. Meticulously lighting each candle in a specific order North, South, East and West. Once all the ceremonial candles were lit he said another prayer and lit some small pieces of wood in the circle which set the entire thing ablaze in a huge fire.
Once the fire was going, he spoke with the other elders and said something in Mayan to the crowd. The entire crowd dropped to their knees all facing to the North and began chanting and praying. Not ones to be left standing around like a bunch of bozos we followed suit.
After praying and chanting for about 5 minutes in the North direction. Everyone leaned over and kissed the ground. And turned to the South. This process continued until we had prayed in all directions North, South, East, and West. Emotions were high, lots of people crying and whispering prayers. A very devout moment. We were privelged to be attending and witnessing such an event.
Eventually the prayers ended and the band struck up again, playing lively traditional music with flutes, drums, and marimbas. A few Guatemalan men and women danced what looked a helluva lot like an irish jig around the flames of the fire for a while. Everyone was pouring beer and quetzecal into the flames, as well as having a nip or two themselves. The men were smoking MASSIVE cigars. They were huge, as big around as a papertowel roll. The ladies were trying their best to light up cigarettes. (It was obvious none of them ever smoked as I watched them struggle with matches and trying to figure out how to light the cigarette, One lady set 1/2 the damn cigarette on fire in her hands and then started puffing on it!)
As the fire would die down someone would emerge with what I believe was sugar? and dump it all over the fire to bring the flames back. Eventually more wood was brought out to keep the party going.
So… Lauren, Carly, and I are standing around having a good ol’ time watching these Mayan’s party it up. Excitedly discussing our new once in a lifetime experience when all of the sudden we hear. SQWWAKK! The distinctive sound of a chicken. Uh oh…. Looks like the parties just getting started!
More pictures, VIDEOS, and the rest of the story at http://homeonthehighway.com
04-09-2012, 09:06 AM
#196
Registered User
Thread Starter
Oh and we just hit 500 "Likes" on facebook! Lets keep it rollin, If you havent Liked us, Do us a favor and spread the word. http://facebook.com/homeonthehighway
04-09-2012, 03:19 PM
#199
Registered User
