My last day in El Remate was bittersweet. In my mind I was already running through all the events that would finalize my trip and the preparation I needed to do in order to leave at 6am the next morning. Over the past 2 weeks I had mapped out all the little gift shops with local artistry in town with what I wanted to buy off their shelves to bring home for family. I was also trying to be responsible in terms of how many Quetsales I had left to get me home. I was also hoping to walk down the dock one last time for my last dip in the lake.
Posts Tagged ‘guatemala’
Last day in El Remate and the Trip Home
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
Rio Dulce and Fireflies
Monday, June 29th, 2009This past weekend we spent 2 nights and three days in Rio Dulce. We traveled in a shuttle from El Remate and then a 4 hour bus ride, with an engine belt change on the way. After our arrival, we relaxed for a few minutes and enjoyed a mineral water with lime, my main drink here, and then took a boat over to the Tijax hotel where we ended up staying. We got to swim in a pool which was nice but definitely isn´t the lake in El Remate.
In the morning we took a long boat ride, about an hour and a half, which ended up being a tour in itself. Since it´s so hot and humid here right now, it was so nice to feel the wind from the boat going fast on the lake. The lake there is about 300 miles, which in my opinion should be renamed a sea it was so vast. The boat tour which was really our transportation, took us to Livingston where we spent a very quick 2 hours walking around, shopped a little and ate a quick lunch that was made for us by a woman named Maria. I had vegetable curry since she lived in India for a while and started a trend of some of the best food I´ve had since I´ve been in Guatemala. The food overall has been pretty darn great!
We then took a boat back and after relaxing and going in the pool decided to pay a boat driver to deliver us to Tortugal, a marina. Had we known about it first, we probably would have stayed there. We met the nice couple from Texas who has been managing the marina for about 2 years and got to know the marina dog, Jeffe. (pronounced with an “h”) he had the sweetest eyes and you could tell he was not only fed well by the managers but by the patrons as well. I had the yummiest fish dinner and finally one without the head and tail attached.
In the morning we decided to eat there again and have breakfast before we left. We then headed off on a very hot, very crowded bus on our return. When we got to Flores it was a bit stressful trying to figure out where to find a shuttle to get back to El Remate. After following our instincts and sitting in a van with about 12 others, we were both happy to back in our comfortable bungalows, to our familiar little town and the lake we both love to cool off in.
Last night it was about to rain so we conveniently decided to walk next door and again eat at Angelo´s. We had our usual Caprese salad con lechuga (with lettuce) and shared an eggplant parmesan. I seriously think it was the best one I´ve ever had. When I finally make it to Italy one day, I think I´m going to be in trouble. On the way, I noticed some blinking lights by the dock. The light to the dock had gone out and it was a good thing. There were fire flies! It was the first time I´ve ever seen them and I was so amazed I just sat and watched them for a while. I felt like a kid.
After sleeping in this morning, I went around town and bought a few gifts for family, and then a swim in the lake a few docks down. Each dock has its own personality and draws it´s own crowd. Today we met some girls here from South Dakota who are in a Spanish program at their University and are here traveling. We relaxed for a while and then went back to the bungalows to do some translating.
I worked on an exercise I am putting together for the teens to do tomorrow morning. I bought them each a pen, something cherished here, and printed them each a worksheet. I met a little girl today named Doria that heard about our meeting tomorrow and is going to be there. I have a feeling that I won´t need to be worried about no one showing up tomorrow, in fact there might be more than the 16 kids who came to the Biotopo with me the other day.
This afternoon for lunch I quenched my thirst with mineral water, lime and ate a salad with tuna, tomato, potatoes and eggs. For desert we had a nutella crepe with sliced bananas! As a vegetarian, there are lots of options and even in this small town, a lot of variety. Only a few more days here but lots of fun things planned. Not sure when I´ll be doing everything but on the agenda: working with the teens, lunch with a woman originally from Canada named Anne who helps with organizing the volunteer work here, planting a vegetable garden, more lake swims, one more Angelo meal for sure, reading more of the great book I´m reading called “The Wonder of Girls”, and some goodbye celebrations that hopefully won´t be the last.
Tikal and Primitive Life
Monday, June 22nd, 2009I´m actually becoming a morning person here due to the sun rising so early and the sound of the birds or chickens as my wake up alarm. Although yesterday I did set my alarm to make sure I was packed and ready. I was picked up by our friend Erwin here who owns a hostel named Sak Luk. He then took me to the beach in El Remate where the Triathlon Allison was participating in was starting. We cheered her on as they sounded the start and waited for her to make it back out of the water and on to her bike. Once on her bike, we caught up with her and rode along side her the whole way to Tikal which was about 20 miles.
Once in Tikal, she put on her running shoes and began her run around the ruins. While she was doing her run, I was guided to the finish line by our friend Estella and her beautiful little girl Esmerelda, to wait for her. It was in the middle of the Central Plaza where Temple 1 and 2 are in Tikal. After climbing to the top of Temple 2, I got a true sense of the magestry of the Ancient Mayans and the beauty of the land where they lived and highly respected. After also climbing Temples 4 & 5 and hiking around Tikal park, I definitely got my taste of the jungle.
The variety of the trees and plants, let alone the insects and birds we saw were incredible. The sounds of the jungle are something I will never forget. I truly wish I had a video camera just to record the sounds. Those of the Howler monkeys which sound like a lion was so strong that we could hear their echo a few miles away. I did catch a glimpse of 2 but they were deep within a few trees and moved along before I could snap a photo.
After hours of walking through this historical place we then waited for a bus that would take us to a very remote and primitive town called Uaxactun. The only running water or electricity is from a generator. We stayed at a hostel that was owned by a friend of Erwin´s. We had to be careful where we walked and use our flashlights since there were toads hopping around. We were made a meal of black beans, tortillas, rice and scrambled eggs with onions and red pepper. This is the primary diet most remote and poor Guatemalans eat.
After being exhausted we all laid our heads down for attempted sleep. I think I did manage to catch a few hours but didn´t sleep too well due to the intense heat and humidity, the absolute blackness of the night and the sounds of the crickets and bugs buzzing against the screens above our head. Once the chickens and the roosters started welcoming the morning, we quickly gathered up our things and walked about 800 ft. to another ruin. We watched the sun make it´s way into the day and had a moment of silence while listening to the birds that Erwin said were saying hello to us.
We then caught the bus which was a very bumpy ride once again from Uaxactun, back through Tikal and ultimately back to El Remate. When back at my bungalow, I put my bathing suit on, grabbed a quick bite of the carrot cake I had bought the other day, grabbed an apple and headed down to the dock for a rest and a swim. The cool water was very soothing and today I noticed all the little fish that hung around even though I was amongst them.
After mingling with some local El Remate folks I headed back to my room and took a very needed nap. A shower followed and some relaxed conversation before Allison and I were picked up by Erwin who has been incredibly generous with being our guide, our taxi and our friend. We are now in Flores and Santa Elena for the afternoon. For the first time there was a heavy rain today and a few degrees of cooler temperatures until it burned off.
The rest of the afternoon will be shopping around, dinner somewhere here in Flores, going to the Maxi Supermercado to get some groceries, and back to El Remate. Tomorrow I will have a full morning meeting with the teens to hopefully get a closer look at some Howler monkeys and the possbility of some Spider monkey as well during our hike to Cerro Cahui Biotopo. After….could be another swim, more relaxation, or who knows…another venture out.
The more I´m here and the more I get to know the local people, the more I learn about the political corruption. Although the land is rich with resources, most people are poor. Similar to the US but more so, there is a big divide between the rich and the poor, the middle class is very small and the lines are grey. Overall, the beauty wins and is what I do my best to soak in everyday.
My first few days in El Remate
Saturday, June 20th, 2009Prior to arriving in El Remate, my journey consisted of waking up at 4am to head over to my sister´s to leave my car where a cab picked me. The cabbie was new at his job and started driving a cab after getting laid off from his IT consulting job. I coached him a little bit on how to use this new temporary job as an opportunity to meet new people where he came up with the idea of having business cards and resumes available to handout to potential employers, since you never know who you will meet.
My flight left at 8am and had the pleasure of meeting an English teacher and his wife from San Diego. They were traveling around Guatemala mostly without knowing where they were going to stay. I´m loving this idea of just rolling with it and seeing where things take you. When I arrived in San Salvador I had plenty of time to think about my journey ahead with a 6 hour layover. I had a subway sandwich and watched some kids play a wii that was in the middle of the airport. Brilliant marketing. I slept a little and finally stepped foot on the flight to Guatemala City. When I arrived the driver from Patricia´s Hotel picked me up and thankfully he spoke great English since I was really tired. I was so happy to lay down my head and just sleep.
I was then awoken at 5am to catch my flight to Flores where I was picked up by my friend Allison and her El Remate friend Erwin. They took me to the bank where I got some Quetzales for my entire visit. We also went to the supermarket which felt like a big Walmart to get some food. The drive to El Remate was so beautiful and so green. It´s very warm here and very humid of course being that it´s pretty much the jungle. We also stopped and got some fresh cut coconut and drank the juice right out of the shell. When I arrived at my bungalow and settled in, I came down to have snack of fresh cut coconut.
The rest of my day involved, a swim in the lake where I will be spending a lot of time cooling off and swimming, a siesta and then an incredible welcome dinner for me and a reunion dinner for Allison with the women she helped planting vegetable gardens. There were more than 40 women there with their kids and they picked fresh flowers that were placed in jars on the table and we dined with new friends. When going back to the bungalow before crawling into bed, we took a night swim and chatted with Argelio who takes care of the grounds at the hotel.
I´m of course getting lots of practice at Spanish and it´s humbling in regards to how to communicate with these beautiful local people. We all want to learn just the same. I spent yesterday walking around town seeing all the gardens Allison planted 2 months ago with the two groups of women she worked with, and how much they´ve grown. Who knew that cucumbers grew so fast! There are beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, sweet peppers, etc.
Last night, Allison and I had a caprese salad at an Italian restaurant which is right next door to my bungalow. The owner and chef who makes fresh homemade pastas and pizzas is direct from Italy. We had some wine and dessert of cooked pears, ice cream and chocolate sauce. I should also note that I am definitely having my fair share of homemade tortillas, probably too much!
In the evening we were then picked up by Erwin and had a fun time at a hotel owned by Estella and her husband Amilcar. We were entertained with singing, a strumming guitar and some tequila! It was a fun surprise to recognize some of the songs from Buena Vista Social Club. In conversation it came out that although Estella is originally from Guatemala, before marrying Amilcar she lived in LA for 10 years just along mid Wilshire. Also along or the concert were some other travelers from the states and a volunteer from Australia, whom I´ll be working with doing arts and crafts with the local kids.
Today I was very nervous to meet with some teens but overall it went well and thank god I had Allison there to help out with translations and ideas to get them talking. They were pretty shy at first. They asked me a few questions about myself and the rest of the time I taught them English. We also got to talk about what their dreams are for future professions. Looks like we´ll have some really great lawyers, doctors, teachers, a judge, a car mechanic and a secretary contributing themselves in the future. They were ages 12-20.
As I was sitting here at this internet cafe, a man who moved here from the US and opened up a bakery came in with a basket full of fresh baked breads and muffins. He sold us some carrot cake and banana bread. I´m already digging in the bag, where the loaf is still hot and it´s so yummy! I need to save some room since I´ll be having lunch somewhere in town. After we will have a swim in the lake and tonight a nice rest before I support Allison in the El Remate triathlon tomorrow. In the morning I´ll be traveling with Erwin to Tikal where I´ll be spending the day getting familiar with the cherished ancient Mayan pyramids and ruins.
It´s incredible coming to a place where the US media talks so negatively about it, instilling a lot of fear. I´m sure there has to be some good reason for all of it, and maybe it´s not for everyone. The hardest thing for me is seeing the random dogs walking around town that are mostly scavengers with most of their bones clearly visible.
It´s also interesting to see the random horses, pigs and chickens just going where they choose. Thankfully I´ve come and am having a different experience than one that would be feared. Don´t get me wrong, I´ve run into some unwelcome friends such as very big spiders and roaches, but if that´s the worst of it, so be it.
I´ll be back in a few days…
Preparation for El Remate, Guatemala trip
Monday, June 15th, 2009It’s about 36 hours until I leave for the airport. My bag is partially packed and I have a few more errands to run tomorrow. Getting cash out, possibly buying a new camera since the one I have doesn’t take very good pictures, more dog food for Georgie (my Portuguese water dog who I am going to miss terribly) and tying up some other loose ends. It’s almolst surreal that I will be going since I just bought my ticket under 2 weeks ago. Since following my instinct to go on this trip, everything is happening so easily, it’s almost unbelievable! I got the cheap airfare I wanted. I fly from LAX through San Salvador, and then will be stopping in Guatemala city for a night before flying out the next morning for Flores where El Remate is.
I was worried about finding a hotel but my friend Allyson who left on Thursday, who I am meeting there stayed at a great bed and breakfast called Patricia’s Hotel. www.patriciashotel.com
She emailed me their website and after taking a quick peek I was sold, especially since it’s only $14 a night and that includes transportation to and from the airport. I sent them an email and within 2 minutes, no exageration, I had a confirmed reservation! From Guatemala city I then have a quick flight to Flores. Some fun agenda items once I get there….supporting Allyson in the El Remate triathlon, celebrating with local Mayans in Tikal for the Summer Solstace, working with local women helping them build and plant vegetable gardens, and working with some 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. I also got an email today from Allyson that she is going to keep me busy…the day I arrive I will be meeting an Australian volunteer who is doing arts and crafts with some kids and that night I will be having a home cooked meal made by some local woman. Yum!
When I arrive at the Flores airport I will be picked up by Allyson and a local friend she met while she was down there a few months ago….as I said, it’s all happening so easily, it’s just meant to be. This could also very well possibly be a future destination for one of our summer or winter teen retreats so I guess I will be doing some “research” there as well. Now to finish packing….