Dear all
I know its only been about 2 weeks since my last post but SO much has happened, it feels like it was at least 2 months ago! I left Palenque and headed for Guatemala! The border crossing was fun as it was just one little building and as soon as we entered Guatemala you could see it was far poorer than Mexico. We had a police escort on our bus as well. For 3 days I stayed at the Lagos de Atitlan. I was with an Italian guy and a Belgian couple which was hilarious as we each spoke 3 languages yet did not have a common language!!!! The place was surrounded by 3 dormant volcanoes and the lake itself was a collapsed volcano crater. The second day me and a Dutch girl went to see one of their Gods Maximon. He is about 4 Ft high and carved of wood, he moves from house to house each year and people come and worship him and they bring him alcohol and cigarettes. Their are 2 people employed to look after him and they sit one on each side, one was tapping the ash from Maximons cigarette and one was replacing the old cigarette with the new. While we were there, a woman was saying a prayer in Mayan and it would have been very spiritual and religious had it not been for the smoking, whisky drinking God and the tinny Christmas music in the corner! It was very very surreal. The next day we village hopped in the local boats and went to loads of villages only accessible around the lake by boats, each village had only about 50 people, very peaceful.
After that I got a bus to Antigua and was disappointed to find that it was more of a gringo town than Panachel in Lagos de Atitlan. In Guatemala I noticed that you see a lot more traditional dress than Mexico but it is not as bright or colourful as Mexico and its more of a paisley pattern and not as flamboyant. I was in Antigua for 2 days and stayed in a great hostel. When I was there I met a guy called Jon who was going to El Salvador so we traveled together for a few days. While I was in Antigua I climbed a live volcano (Volcan Pacaya) and there was also live volcanoes exploding next to ours, very exciting and would have never been allowed in the UK. As you got close to the lava you could feel the heat coming up and you could see the lava below you!!
The next few days were totally hectic but a lot of fun as well. Jon and I caught a bus at 4am to Guatemala city and it isn't a nice place. Guatemala is a poor country and their capital really reflects that. Its much smaller than Mexico city of course but a lot poorer and not nice at all. I am so glad I had company! When we got to the border between Guatemala and El Salvador the money changers jumped on us which can be intimidating if you cant tell them to get lost in spanish! We were advised that the border control was as high tech as it gets for Central America. It was a tent. However I guess it was high tech compared to the Guatemala/Honduran border near the coast, which was a garden shed with Migration on a wooden sign outside it!
El Salvador was different to Guatemala and Mexico in that I didn't see any traditional dress. All the woman were wearing western dress and although it seemed just as poor, the people were friendlier and their spanish was much harder to understand. They didn't understand our spanish either which was odd as I can now make myself understood in Guatemala and Mexico.They use dollars which was great! I was dreading using my 4th currency in as many weeks! It gets so confusing when you cant even remember which country you are in!After 2 days in Santa Ana, El Salvador we caught no less than 6 chicken buses.....2 to the border of Guatemala (north of where we entered) then crossed into Guatemala again to get to Honduras. It was a very hectic day and 3 countries in one day is fun but very tiring. We arrived in Copan Ruinas and went to the ruins the next day which was good but its my 3rd set of ruins and I think it will be my last. I don't think I will be going to Tikal. Was kinda fun going to 3 countries in one day though and 3 new countries in one week!
After that Jon went to Utila (island off Honduras) and I left for the Rio Dulce. I changed my mind and decided to join him for a bit as I was a bit sick of going along and wasn't expected in Belize for another week or so. I had to go from Honduras back into Guatemala and then into Honduras again!! I think I have seen every border along that line!I also had to spend the night in a very dodgy town called Puerto Barrios which was not nice, it was a port town full of prostitutes and lorries loaded with oranges and bananas for Europe. Utila when I got there on the other hand was totally amazing. We spent a week just relaxing on the beach (or I did while Jon went diving). I'm sorry Suz but I didn't learn to dive while I was there and its apparently THE place to learn. I had a wonderful time on Utila, mainly due to Jon as he is a great guy to travel with. The people on Utila were so friendly, even if Caribbean English is so difficult to understand, its like taping yourself and slowing it down to quarter of its normal speed! For some reason as well I keep getting adopted by dogs! There was a dog that followed us around on Utila and we named him Sparky and the same thing happened to me here in Belize! The marine life on the island was amazing, I really hope my pictures will upload as I saw loads of things and the best bit was Jon was able to tell me what they all were as he is a diver!
After that I flew on a tiny 10 seater plane from Utila to Roatan to La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula to Belize. Belize city is not nice either but Belize is not like the rest of central America at all. It feels more like the states than anywhere else and the prices reflect that. Its expensive here and people are in cars rather than on foot or bikes or shared trucks as you have to have money to live here. Its nice though as I am staying with a friend John and I have a hot shower and cable tv and a laundry, pure luxury!!!! (I'm easily pleased these days!)
I feel like I have REALLY traveled in the past month. My spanish is pretty good now and I am enjoying my trip immensely. I have realized that if I want to get somewhere there is a way of getting there and their must be a bus to get there somehow no matter how hard it is, my lack of spanish doesn't get in the way as the people who run the buses know where you have to get on and off.Its good as well when it sinks in that although you are in a very foreign country they still have all the same stuff like soap and toilet roll and you can find anything you need!! (that might sound obvious to a lot of people but when you live for a week in a village made of mud huts you are amazed when the local shop sells duct tape)
In central america white people are called Gringos (even by other whites) and most people think it is just the word for tourist but it isnt.It dates back from America and Mexico and American soldiers in Mexico were shouted at 'green go!' as in 'green go home' as they were in green khaki. The word now isn't a term of abuse because I call myself a gringa (female gringo) and white people call each other gringos as well, that's how the word evolved. You can even get a meal called a gringa which is white meat and white cheese in a tortilla! Imagine if that was the other way round!!!There are towns here called gringo towns and I loved El Salvador as me and Jon were the only gringos in the whole place! I really like it when there are no other gringos or fast food chains.
