The Griswold’s (aka the Robinsons) Take on Guatemala!
We have just returned from 8 days visiting Carin in Guatemala. What an adventure!! She asked me to write about our trip so that she can post it on her blog. So I will start from the beginning...Day 1 We left Greensboro, NC on a Thursday to fly to Charlotte, and from there to Guatemala City. With the different time zones, it is 2 hours earlier in Guatemala. We arrived about 1:30 pm in the afternoon, and after going through customs and retrieving our luggage, we exited the airport to find Carin waiting outside for us. It was so good to see her, she looked great, and we have missed her so much. First we were so glad to see her, and secondly since we don’t speak the language and we are in a foreign country, it was nice to have her as an interpreter. All three of us, then went upstairs and went back into the airport, and checked our luggage for our next flight that left at 5:30pm. We headed up north to Tikal to tour the Mayan ruins. This flight was on Taca airlines, so to wait for our flight we headed to the only snack bar in the airport, and ate pizza, and John and Carin had a couple of Guatemalan beers. The airport was really nice. It is a new building and still under construction. The last time Carin had been in the airport, it was pretty dumpy and just a small building, but this is really large. It was different for me, when I went to the restroom at the airport, and there were two males in the restroom working on the ceiling tiles. Well at 5:30 pm we boarded our next flight and flew to Flores, Guatemala up in the north of Guatemala near the upper most portion of Belize. The flight took about 45 minutes, and when we got off the plane, it was hot and humid. We went into a one room terminal, and waited for our luggage. As we waited, several people were pulling out their insect repellent and putting it on, so we did the same. The conveyor belt with our luggage broke, so they just tossed the luggage through the front door. After retrieving our luggage, we were out the door, and looking for a taxi driver that Carin had reserved for our ride into the Tikal National park, which is where we were staying. The driver was holding up a sign with Carin’s name on it, and then we were off in a private van to Tikal. It was beginning to get dark as we set off, so we were not able to see a lot of the countryside. The road for the most part was a two lane asphalt road through a lot of villages. When you went through the village, they had speed bumps to make everyone slow down. There did not seem to be any speed or traffic laws. And you did need to go slow through the villages because, we came up on horses just standing in the middle of the road, Guatemalans walking up and down the road, dogs, hogs, etc. Finally arrived at the “Jungle Lodge” where we had reservations. We ate dinner in the lodge, and then decided to retire to our cottage, since the power would go off at 10:00 pm and it was now about 9 pm. The power stays off until 5:00 am, and then it is cut back off at 8:00 am. We had two beds with mosquito netting covering both of the beds. No air, a ceiling fan, but at 10:00 pm with the power we lost that also. Had a bathroom, told us we had hot water, but in the morning for showers, there was no hot water. At 10:00 pm when they cut the power off, they bring a kerosene lantern and put it on your porch so that if you had an emergency during the night, you would be able to see to get help. Not sure where you would find that help, but then at 5:00 am, they come to your cottage and retrieve the lanterns. Let me tell you with no power, in the jungle, it is DARK at night. So off to sleep we went, our first day in Guatemala.
Day 2 This day started really early and scary. At 4:45 am, I heard a strange noise, over the snoring of John. I woke him up to ask him what the noise was. By that time Carin was also awake, and we had no idea what was going on outside. It sounded like Jurassic Park, and I am not kidding. We thought there were some prehistoric animals outside fighting to the death. This went on for about 30 minutes, and we had no idea what it was. We asked John to go outside and check on things, and he said he wasn’t going out of our room. When the sun came up and it got light outside the noise stopped and we felt a little more comfortable. We were to start our tour of the park and the Mayan ruins about 9:30 am, so we dressed and headed for the lodge for breakfast. We all had the Guatemala breakfast which consisted of eggs, cheese, fruit, refried beans and fried plantains. After breakfast, we learned that the wild noise we heard this morning was the “howling” monkeys. We then saw about 6-7 of them, asleep in the trees. We also saw pheasants and a sloth walking through the trees in front of the cottage. We then started on our walking tour of Tikal and the Mayan ruins. Our guide was Carlos and he spoke in Spanish and English. We had trouble understanding him in English. The tour was 4 hours long, and it was hot. There was a group of about 15-20 of us. The ruins were quite a sight to see, there is a lot of reconstruction still going on to unearth the pyramids and temples. Carin walked to the top of Temple II, and John and I rested at the bottom with something cold to drink. We continued on our tour and when we came to Temple IV, which is the tallest temple in Tikal, Carin and I walked up to the top. They had build steps to climb to the top, so that people were not climbing up the stone and eroding the rock. When we got to the top, you could see the other temples, and we were up above the trees. The weather was good, and it was clear so we had a very good view. After the last temple, we walked back through the jungle to the “Jungle Lodge” and there we had lunch before we left to go back to the airport. We left about 2 pm to get to Flores, which was an hour away to catch our 4pm flight back to Guatemala City. It started pouring down rain as we left Tikal, and about half way there, the van we were riding in had a flat tire. Our guides called trying to get another van, in the meantime, our guide flagged down another shuttle driving down the road, and we got in that van to make it to the airport. The problem with this shuttle was that it was a private shuttle, and they agreed to take us to the airport, but they also wanted to stop and shop in a small town on the way. Needless to say we were worried about making our flight. We arrived at the airport at 10 minutes to 4 and are running through this one room airport to check in and get our luggage on the plane. We did make the flight, none of us sat together, but we were just so glad to be on the plane. We got back to Guatemala City about 5:30 pm and we had another private shuttle waiting on us to take us to Antigua. Now we are driving through Guatemala City on a Friday evening in a lot of traffic. They make all the incoming traffic lanes into outgoing to get all the people out of the city. We arrived in Antigua about 6:30 pm and checked into our hotel. Posada de don Rodrigo. It was a lovely hotel on the main street of Antigua and when you walked through the reception area, there was a beautiful courtyard, with plants, a fountain, chairs to sit in and a band playing. Our room had 2 double beds, a fireplace, and a small courtyard filled with plants. No air conditioning in any of the hotels or restaurants. We hurried and changed for dinner and at 7:30 pm we were out the door for dinner and to meet Carin’s friends. We had dinner at Las Palmas, (great atmosphere and food) there were six of us. John, Carin, Holly, Cecilia, Mary Liz and myself. We had a good meal and then we headed for Monoloco (a bar that a lot of Americans hang out at). This is also where Carin goes to watch Carolina play basketball or football. We then met Olive, Brian, Kara and Michael. About 11 pm, John and I went back to the hotel for some much needed rest, and Carin stayed at the bar with friends until about 12:30 am. End of day 2!!
Day 3 Antigua was at one time the capital of Guatemala, but volcanoes, hurricanes and mudslides wiped out the city several times, so the capital was moved to Guatemala City. Antigua is a tourist town and we did see a lot of Gringos. The streets are all cobblestones, which mean you need to watch where you walk. You really need comfortable walking shoes to walk around the city. There is a central park with a fountain, and trees and flowers and a lot of benches to sit on. Our hotel was about 2 blocks from the central park. The weather was nice, it got warm in the sun in the afternoon, but there was a cool breeze and just a few clouds. The city is surrounded by 3 different volcanoes and two are active and one is not. This morning we went to breakfast at a restaurant that was owned by an American. We sat outside in the courtyard and planned our day. As we headed out of the restaurant we walked to the City and Tourist Market. The Tourist Market is exactly what the name means, a market for the tourists. It had a fountain in the middle, and benches to sit on, and roses growing in the courtyard. The booths were clean, with tile floors, and everything looked of good quality. Then we headed to the City Market. This market had dirt floors, dogs running throughout, lots of noise and Guatemalan music, vendors selling everything, and I mean everything. This is the equivalent of grocery stores in the US. You can buy clothes, shoes, toys, meat, vegetables, and gifts. There are people all over cooking all kinds of foods, and selling them. The market is really crowded and you can have trouble just walking through the aisles. Carin wanted us to see the difference, and it did not take long to pick up on everything, so we exited very quickly. The thing that bothered me the most was a table I saw piled high with whole chickens for sale, and some kind of meat, that was literally “orange” looking. Of course there is no refrigeration and the food, chickens, meat, etc are just all sitting out with flies and everything. After we left the market we walked along the street in front of the market, and it was full of all kinds of demonstrations for all the candidates that are running for office this fall. Flags were flying, literature being handed out, and bands playing. We were told there are at least 33 different political parties. Trucks go up and down all the streets with loud speakers talking about their candidates and their political parties. We next went to a bar at the top of a building on one of the side streets of Antigua. We went up to the top where they have chairs and tables, and you can sit and look out over the entire city. We enjoyed this stop; we could see the streets, buildings, countryside, and volcanoes that surround the city. Eric, Carin’s site mate from Nahuala met us for lunch here and we sat in the sun visiting for a long time. After lunch, we visited the church San Francisco and walked some more through the city. As we walked back to our hotel, there was a festival going on in Antigua and there were booths set up all along the main street where we were staying. They had food, (a whole pig being cooked), bands, dancers, etc. After we got back to our hotel Carin and John took a brief siesta. I sat outside our room in the chairs in the garden and read. About 2 pm, we hired at taxi and went to visit Carin’s first host family when she moved to Guatemala. They live in La Libertad, and it is about 15 minutes northeast of Antigua. The Mother, daughter Delby and son Mario were there and were glad to see Carin. They have a framed picture of her on the bookcase in their living room/dining room. We visited with them, and exchanged gifts. It was nice to see where Carin lived for the first three months she was in Guatemala. The oldest daughter was in Antigua, so we called her and made plans to meet her in the central park before she headed home. We went to the park and sat and waited for her. Once she got there we went to a coffee shop and had fruit smoothies. Just about the time we got to the coffee shop, it started to rain. We visited for about 30 min, and then the rain let up and the girls left because they needed to get home before dark. When we returned to the hotel again, we changed clothes and headed out for dinner. Bedtime was early, about 9:30 pm, but in the morning we were heading to Nahuala.
Day 4 We were up early, had to catch a shuttle to Panajachel and then on to Nahuala. The van picked us up at 7:30 am, and then we had several more people to pick up before we headed out of town. There were 15 of us in the van, and we met some very nice people. Everyone on the van was going to stay in Panajachel; we were the only ones that were going on further. The trip was 3 hours through winding mountain roads, and John and I did not feel very good, felt like we had some motion sickness. When we arrived in Panajachel, we got out for a few minutes, and that helped us. Then we loaded back up, but at this time it was just the three of us. We headed to Chichicastenango to go to the market. The market is known for its massive size, especially on Thursday and Sunday. Of course this was a Sunday. We had some rain on the way. When we got there we went to the Hotel Santa Tomas for lunch. We sat in the patio, with music, and fountains, flowers and brightly colored parrots. Then we headed for the market and bought several gifts for the family back home. We then went to the church Iglesia Santo Tomas. Here on the steps leading into the church, there were several Mayan ceremonies being held. We did not see mass there on Sunday, but we read that the steps are where the monks make their ceremonious approach for the mass. We then traveled across the street to the grocery store, and we stocked up on some provisions for dinner and lunch tomorrow in Nahaula. We bought stuff to make spaghetti, and bread, and then we went back to our shuttle, which was waiting for us, and the trip to Nahuala. This took a couple of hours. The roads were under construction, but because it was Sunday, we were not stopped, because of the construction. The driver was a good driver, but boy do they take chances, and like I stated earlier, there do not seem to be ANY traffic laws. We had to go over two bridges that are being rebuilt, and are almost completed, because the last hurricane washed out the bridges leading into Nahuala. There are two entrances to the city, and the driver took us right to the door of where Carin lives. Carin lives above a family she rents from, and she has two rooms, and there are large. One room is her dining room, living room and kitchen. The other room is her bedroom, and she has two sets of drawers, and a twin bed, and then a twin cot in the room also. Carin has a small sink, outside of her rooms with running water, but of course, no hot water. Also on her landing is the family pila, where everyone washes their clothes and dishes. Carin also has a toilet, but it is outside of her room and when it is raining or cold, is not a lot of fun to go to. There are no lights in the toilet, so if she has to go after dark, she wears her head lamp. The weather in Nahuala was cooler than we had in Antigua, so we were wearing jackets and long sleeve shirts. After we arrived at Carin’s since I still was not feeling well, I headed to bed, and Carin and her Dad watched movies on the couch (mattress on the floor). It started raining shortly after we got to Carin’s and rained all afternoon and all night, ending in the morning. So since I wasn’t feeling well, and the weather was not very good, we just stayed in and rested all day. Carin made us spaghetti for supper and we ate by candlelight and then about 10 pm we headed to bed.
Day 5 The next morning, we were awake early and about 8 am, the sun came out, and things started to dry out. We had cheese sandwiches for breakfast, and then we set out on a walking tour of Nahuala. We walked down Main Street to the main square. There were people setting up to sell fruits and vegetables in the square. Right beside the square is the town’s main Catholic Church. We walked inside and they were having a service, and the church was full. They have a mass every morning, and a lot of people attend this before they go off to work or school. Speaking of the schools, the children that go to school only go for half a day. Half of them go in the morning, and then go home for lunch, and then the other half of the children attend school from about 1pm until 6pm. A lot of the school children wear school uniforms. In walking through the square, we saw the butcher shop, and I believe if I lived there I would become a vegetarian, and I am not real fond of vegetables, but I could not buy the meat. We then walked up to the Catholic Church offices and met one of the statesmen of the village, and saw the offices of the Catholic Church. We also saw the home of the nun that has become friends with Carin, but she was not there, she had gone back to the states for a visit. Our next stop was the radio station where Carin works. We met some of the people, and then they asked us to come back at 10 am to meet everyone. We headed back to Carin’s casa, and met the people that live below her, the little girl they have, and the young girl that babysits her during the day, while her parents do weavings to sell. The young girl that babysits is 15, a beautiful girl, and she does not attend school. We had gifts for the girls. The people that Carin rent from have a large loom at the bottom of the steps that lead to Carin’s room. They weave every day, and it is quite loud, and they play music as they weave. We then headed over to Eric’s place to visit. He has a nice place also, two rooms, shower and toilet down stairs. We met a woman that lives there and her little girl. We then left and went back to the radio station. When we got there, they had planned a celebration for us. We went upstairs to a main room, and we had coffee and rolls. (I still could not eat) They then had a formal presentation and the President of the radio station presented John and me with a gift. It is a big deal for them to give gifts. They gave me a shawl that the women of the village wear around their shoulders. They gave John a crocheted bag that the men use to carry their stuff in. Then we had our pictures made with all of them. We had also bought them gifts, pens and pencils, and I had made some beaded book marks that they could use in their bibles. After we exchanged gifts, we all sat around a conference table and they wanted to ask us some questions and to find out if we had any questions about their country and culture. Carin was our interpreter. Most of the questions that we had about their culture, Carin had been answering for us on the trip for the past few days. We did talk about the elections coming up in their country, and all the different political parties and candidates. We discussed the US and how we have a lot of candidates right now, but these will be down to normally 2-3 candidates by next August before our elections. We had a nice visit, and then they had to get back to work, so we left. Across the street from the radio station is an internet café, and we went in there and looked around. Eric was there helping them, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to Carin’s casa for lunch. Lunch was tuna fish sandwiches, with tuna that I had brought her from the states. We then proceeded to visit the host family that she had lived with for 3 months when she first moved to Nahaula. The family has a grandmother, Maria, and she takes care of the cooking and the house during the day, while her son and daughter in law are at work. They have two children, who attend school in the morning. The daughter in law teaches in the school in the morning, and then they all come home for lunch. The dad also came home while we were there. He works in another town, and comes home for lunch, and then rides his motorcycle back to his job, until 6 or 7 pm in the evening. We exchanged some gifts again, and they gave me a weaving that they had done. We got to see their home and the large wood burning stove upstairs in the kitchen that they prepare their meals on. The grandmother sometimes sleeps on a cot upstairs next to the stove. She was such a sweet women, she hugged and kissed me many times. She is probably only about 4 ½ feet tall. She kept saying “God bless America, God bless Guatemala,” Everywhere we went people wanted to fix us a meal and visit with them, they were so friendly. We then packed our duffel bags and walked about a block down to the main street to wait for our private shuttle to pick us up to take us to Panajachel, and then onto Santiago on the lake. The driver had never been to Nahaula, so he had trouble finding us. For the first time since we arrived in Guatemala, we had an incident that we did not feel comfortable with. Carin had walked to the main square to look for our driver, and left us waiting on the main street. After she walked off, about 5 drunks approached us; I mean if we were not suspicious looking characters. Two old gringos, with their luggage standing there, and we don’t speak the language. Anyway, they surrounded us, and kept grabbing on to John to shake hands with him, and pat him on the shoulder. I am sure that they didn’t mean any harm, but we were uncomfortable. We walked off and they followed, and then we moved further up the street. They were falling over drunk, and had trouble standing, and kept falling over in the street. Another private shuttle came down the street, and they tried to get in and the driver pushed them out and locked the doors and drove off. About that time Carin and our private shuttle pulled up and we got in and headed out of Nahuala. We then had a 2 hour ride to Panajachel. Once there we caught a boat shuttle on the lake to Santiago. We crossed the lake called Lake Atitlan. It was about a 45 minute boat ride, and we were sitting right up in the front. There were about 20 people on board. The weather was cloudy, cool and overcast. They go pretty fast, and water is spraying everywhere. I put on my glasses to keep the water from getting in my eyes. I did not see any life preservers in sight, and everyone knows I am not too fond of water. When we arrived in Santiago, we caught a Tuk-Tuk, a moped with a seat in the back for passengers. As we sped though the city, with no street names, it began to pour down rain, the three of us in the back seat. We arrived at our destination for the night, the Posada de Santiago, an American run hotel. This was on the outskirts of Santiago, and it offers stone cottages. It was formally a coffee farm. We checked in at the main lodge and then walked up a cobblestone path to our cottage. It was really nice; we had two queen beds, and a day bed, a fireplace, and a bathroom with a shower. After we rested for awhile, we headed back to the lodge, in the pouring rain, and ate dinner at the lodge. The food was good, (I only had soup), and after dinner we sat in the lodge and visited with some other guests while Carin checked her email. Then we headed back to our cottage. John started a fire in the fireplace, which I put out, by pushing the wood too far back in the fireplace. We retired to bed watching old reruns of Friends and Grey’s Anatomy.
Day 6 We had planned on taking it easy this day, and just sitting around the pool and doing nothing. We had breakfast delivered down at the pool and lake. The pool and lake are across the street from the lodge and cottages. The land is terraced down to the lake, and the pool overlooks the lake. There is a thatched shelter with chairs and tables, a Jacuzzi, sauna, and pool. Carin and John took a canoe out on the lake, and I sat in a lounge chair by the pool and watched them. They were only gone about 30 minutes. There was a woman down by the lake washing her clothes, and lots of fisherman. The pool water was cold, and the pool and Jacuzzi are filled from water from the lake. Around lunch time we went up to the lodge for lunch, and then John took a siesta, while Carin and I headed back to the pool. Carin sat around the pool and I sat in the shade reading. We all got way too much sun that day, and ended up sunburned. After John’s nap, he joined us again at the pool, and that is how we spent the day. Dinner was back at the lodge, and bed watching reruns again. Carin doesn’t get to see much television in English, so she enjoys watching any television.
Day7 Breakfast in the lodge, and then we hired a private boat shuttle back to Panajachel. So at 9:30 am we headed back across Lake Atitlan. Weather was better this crossing, and the sun was coming through the clouds. When we arrived in Panajachel, we took a Tuk-Tuk back to the travel agency to book a shuttle back to Antigua. The shuttle would leave at 12:00 noon, so we had a couple of hours to walk through the city. We left our luggage at the travel agency, and headed to the market, and then we walked back down to the dock on the lake. We headed back to Antigua again through the mountains. The tourist ride between the two cities is about 3 hours and almost 2 hours of the trip is through the winding mountains. We did not get motion sickness this trip, but we snacked the whole way there. I had read in the tourist book, that this route is where a lot of robberies take place, and I can believe it. It is pretty isolated, and we only saw 4-5 vans and cars the entire first two hours. The countryside is beautiful. As we got closer to Antigua we went through more cities and traffic and left safer. We arrived at our hotel, Posada Del Santa Domingo. It was originally a convent, and also still houses a museum. This was probably the nicest hotel we stayed at, but they were all very nice. We also had a fireplace in this room. It was warmer in Antigua, and with no air or fans, it got pretty warm in our room. After we checked in, we headed back to the shops to finish up our shopping since we were leaving tomorrow. We went to an Irish Pub and had a beer and appetizer, and walked the streets again. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost sunset, so we did a quick tour of the museum and ruins of the convent, the chapel and crypts. The hotel offers coffee and cookies every day, so we took our coffee and snack up to the top of the terrace, and what did we see, but Volcano Fuego erupting. I was fascinated by it, and had to call David and Brian, back in the states to tell them all about it. The volcano erupts about every 5 years, and you could see the smoke, and the red lava shooting up in the air, and coming down a small part of the mountain at the top. The darker it got, the better you could see it. The locals did not pay much attention to it, but the tourists did. It erupted for about 5 hours, and then after that all you could see was smoke. The volcano was about 20 miles from us. After watching the volcano, we headed out for our last dinner in Guatemala. One of Carin’s buddies, Jim-Bob joined us and we had a nice dinner. We then headed to Monoloco for our last drink, and then home to bed.
Day 8 The hotel we stayed in had a large garden tub, and Carin does not get to take baths very often, so her Dad cleaned the tub and filled it up so that Carin could have a soaking tub bath before she had to head back to Nahuala. After packing up, we headed to the Central park and had breakfast at a restaurant with a courtyard. The food was good. We then walked around, and at 11:00 am, caught a taxi for our hour ride back to Guatemala City to catch our flight home. When we arrived at the airport, Carin came in with us, to check on her flight home in October, and we checked in. It took us awhile, since John’s name appears on a “No fly list”. We said our last tearful goodbyes and headed to our terminal to catch our plane. Of course first we had to pay a tax to get out of the country. This was the second time in a week, we had to pay a tax to fly, and it didn’t make any difference whether it was in or out of the country. Our flight was to leave at 2:25 pm, but it was late, because there is only one flight out per airline, and they always overbook the flight. Our flight got in to Greensboro about midnight.
What a wonderful experience and trip. We take so much for granted in this country, and yet the people of Guatemala may not have what we have, but they were such a gracious and friendly group of people. They also are so enthusiastic about learning about us and our culture. We will be back,
Adios
Carinita’s Madre and Padre
posted by Carin Robinson @ 9:00 AM
