Central America

17 Feb
(Thursday)

I had to get up - at about 4 am to get to Arlanda in good time for the London plane (AY codeshare, actually BA) at 7.05. The first underground train is at 4.49 from Fruängen and I was in good time for this. However at Västertorp the announcement came 'we have a technical problem with the doors' and my heart nearly stopped. However the driver was able to open (or close) the doors within 5 minutes, so I came to Arlanda at around 6 am.

I was travelling as light as possible as usual, and didn't want to wear any warm clothes which I would then just have to carry around Central America. Luckily the temperature was around 3°C so I didn't need to freeze too much in my thin jacket and summer trousers. Arlanda was crowded at the check-in desks but OK. There had been some confusion as to which terminal we should check-in from, Finnair has terminal 2 and British Airways has terminal 5, but either was correct, and those of us who checked in at terminal 2 were bussed across.

BA served a good breakfast, and we arrived on time at Gatwick where we transferred from South to North terminal and checked in to Continental Airlines where we received boarding passes for the London - Houston, and Houston - Guatemala City legs.

We left Gatwick on time in a very comfortable Boeing 777, only two of every three seats was occupied, so there was plenty of room. There was a sophisticated entertainment equipment at every seat, position system, video, audio, games etc. Good food and plenty to drink, but still a little tired arriving at Houston. USA requires full immigration procedures even though transitting, so we filled in the green visa waiver form and customs form, stood in line and we were actually in the US of A. Why don't they have (or use) the transit lounge. A seat neighbour had a very tight connection to Costa Rica, and if she had to stand in line would never have made it.

Guatemala planes depart from the domestic terminal, which was somewhat chaotic, the flight was delayed for some reason concerning the crews inability to enter the USA and find their way to the right gate !! We left at about 20.00 instead of 19.10 and were in Guatemala City around 22.30. No problems at all there, a hypermodern terminal with fast immigration and customs formalities and Carmen met us and led us to our minibus. It was an interesting drive which introduced us to the reality of road safety in Central America. However we arrived safely at Casa de Santa Lucia around midnight and fell into bed.

18 Feb
(Friday)

Despite lack of sleep I woke around 6, and got up and walked down to the Parque Central of this colonial city. The early morning light and action were as always fascinating. I met Bror who recommended a place for breakfast (Café Condesa) so I went in and ate my first huevos rancheros, good Guatemalan coffee and fruit. Excellent, although not cheap at 24Q.

Returned to the hotel when Carmen was ready to lead the group out for breakfast and information. I wandered round the churches and streets for a while, Antigua is laid out on a grid and most of the houses are single story colonial style and the streets are narrow and cobbled. There are many churches and secular buildings from colonial times, some ruined like San Jeronimo, and some intact like the church of La Merced with its magnificent facade and shady garden. Later, at 11 am we met in the Parque Central for a walking tour, unfortunately Elizabeth Bell, the author of several books on Antigua was not available. But we visited the major sites, the ruined cathedral, the old University, the archaeological and historical museum as well as a jade factory.

By then it was more than time for a light lunch at Casa Donã Luisas, a very pleasant courtyard restaurant, well known among back-packers but even frequented by local families who wanted slightly westernized salads, hamburgers and ice-cream.

Later I visited the market which is situated on the western edge of town opposite our hotel, and having already burnt my scalp in the morning, bought a much-needed hat, bargaining from requested 35Q to 30Q for an American-style, made in Korea hat. The market was colourful with brightly painted buses from the adjacent bus station, clashing with the displays of fruit and vegetables, and the clothing of the indigenous Indian sales people, but rather muted compared to those of Asia. This market was entirely devoted to local people, tourist goods being sold on the streets in various locations closer to the Parque Central.

Dinner was at the well-known restaurant Calle Fondo where I tried the pepian, a local specialty being a spicy meat stew. The beer was good too, a dark tasty brew called Mozo became quickly my favourite, although many of the others preferred the lighter Gallo.

19 Feb
(Saturday)

Our hotel has a roof terrace from where there is an excellent view of the volcanoes surrounding Antigua. There are three major volcanoes, Agua, Acatenango and Fuego. Fuego is the most active, and puffs smoke into the atmosphere at about half-hourly intervals.

This morning seven of us took an optional tour in the Antigua area. The first port of call was a textile factory in a small village. First we saw some girls sitting at their looms, but fairly quickly we were shown to a showroom and invited to buy. Most of us did buy - quite a lot. The quality was good, the patterns and styles attractive, and the goods were cheap. We continued into the village itself where there were several other textile and handicraft shops. I took the chance to poke around the back lanes of what appeared to be a typical dusty and tranquil Guatemalan village. There was a church, a school, a clinic with a reasonable supply of drugs, some very small and basic food shops, and very few people out on the streets.

Next we drove through the fertile countryside to a macadamia nut plantation. We tasted the nuts and some chocolate covered nuts, some liqueur etc and were not surprisingly given the chance to buy.

Ciudad Viejo was the capital of Guatemala until 1541 when a mudslide from Volcano Agua devastated the town. The church depicted here was reputedly dug out of the mud later.

San Pedro Huertes was another interesting small community where we stopped to admire the sixteenth century church, as usual in this country with a mixture of interior decorations, some traditionally Christian and others just as traditionally Mayan in origin.

Our final stop was the Cross above Antigua, which provides a magnificent view of the city. Up here there have been attacks on tourists and there was a police presence, although there were plenty of visitors both Guatemalan and foreign.

At around 4pm we took our minibus to Panajachel. The scenery was magnificent, first the volcanoes aroud Antigua and after a stretch of the Carretera Interamericana from Chimaltenango to Los Encuentros, finally rolling hills stretching down to the Lake Atitlán where we arrived shortly before dusk. Again volcanoes surround the lake, the major ones are an Pedro, Atitlán and Tolimán.

We are staying in the Hotel Fonda del Sol near the bus stop and main crossroads in the newer part of town. After a quick shower we went out for a bite, walked down the main drag, Calle Santander, and after dinner continued down to the waters edge. Wonderful to sit in the warm tropical night and admire the stars.

20 Feb (Sunday)	Carmen wanted to leave about 8 am for Chichicastenango (better known as Chichi). However no-one had eaten breakfast by 7.30 so Bror and I jumped on our own bus then and arrived in Chichi at around 9 am after a pleasant enough ride on the chicken bus. I ate breakfast on the northern edge of the market, and around 11 am the others started to appear. Chichi has one of the largest markets in Guatemala, although there is a large tourist presence, and a number of the handcraft stalls sell a lot of their goods to tourists, there is very little tingle-tangle, and it is still obviously an occasion when peasants and their families travel in to sell their goods and buy the necessities of life. It is also a religious experience, the churches were open and processions were going back and forth between them, letting off fireworks, singing and praying. The market has been described often enough, let the pictures speak for themselves. In the afternoon I walked for a while in the old village of Panajachel, behind the tourist streets. There was a small market, church and several comidas. As evening fell it was pleasant to stroll down to the lake-side and enjoy a drink watching the sunset over Atitlán.
21 Feb (Monday)	Whole day boat trip on Lake Atitlán. We left arount 9 am and sailed first to San Pedro Laguna, reputedly the scene for hash using gringoes, and supposedly even cocaine and crack. We had an hour there, and wandered around, the village climbs up the steep lakeside and has a small market with school and football field about halfway up. There are very few tourist shops, but a number of cafés and bars near the beach. Near the top we saw (for the only time on the trip) what looked to be a food-line outside a building with the insignia of a religious organisation. Now we sailed for just a short hop down the western side of the lake to Santiago Atitlán which is the largest village around the lake after Panajachel, and probably the most interesting. The road from the landing stage leads past many shops selling textiles, handcrafts and hammocks. Further up is a very pleasant Parque Central, on one side of which is a 16th century church, perhaps most notable as the burial place of an Oklahoman priest, Father Stanley Rother, who served in the parish from 1968 to 1981, when he was assassinated by a paramilitary death squad. We only had an hour and a half here, and were starting to feel hungry, luckily we found an excellent small restaurant selling tacos, fruit salads and cold drinks. The final stop was back across the lake at San Antonio Palopá, a very small, and supposedly more traditional village, notable only for its white-washed church a fifteen minute walk up the mountain-side. ome of us felt that this stop could have been omitted; it was starting to get late. Carmen arranged a trip for Tuesday-Wednesday to San Miguel Totonicapan, home to museums and cultural activities including a "meet the artisans" program. Most of the group went but I preferred to see more of the lake. Afterwards I learned that the trip had been interesting, but cold. San Miguel is high in the hills.
22 Feb (Tuesday)	Sololá is only about 20 minutes by bus (up the mountain) from Panajachel and has a market on Tuesdays which I wanted to visit. It is almost entirely designed for the local Indian villagers who flock from the surrounding area to buy clothes and corn, shoes and hardware and to exchange gossip. I was there early, around 8 am and it was still cold; Sololá is a 2-300 metres above the lake, and the early visitors were eating tortillas and setting up their goods. To sit around and watch the Mayan farmers and their families enjoy their market day was more of an experience than visiting Chichicastenango, even if (or perhaps because) there was little for a foreign tourist to buy. Many of the men were wearing local costumes, as well as the women. Corn is a staple of the Guatemalans and much was on sale, as well as other agricultural produce, shoes, textiles and hardware. Meat and fish were not prominent, perhaps reflecting the local doet.
23 Feb (Wednesday)	I rented a bicycle and wanted to cycle to the next villages along the shore. The first village was Santa Catarina Palopá. I had expected a flat lakeside path but it was up into the mountains after leaving Panajachel, and then down into the village of Santa Catarina Palopá. And the gears on my bike were not very easy to change. But the trip was scenic, with wonderful views over the lake on a lightly trafficed road and Santa Catarina was worth the effort, not as visited as any of the villages on the boat circuit yesterday, I had a very enjoyable couple of hours poking around, mostly accompanied by this fourth grade little girl who succeeded in selling me two small purses for 10Q, as well as joining me for fruit and cola and some photos. Everyone gathered at the hotel at about 4 pm when we returned to Antigua where we stayed the night in preparation for the long trip to Belize tomorrow.

24 Feb (Thursday)	We had ordered the bus for 4 am so that we could drive through Guatemala City before the rush hour. We were ready in time but it was 4.45 before the bus came. The traffic was not so bad and we made good time so we decided to stop off at Quirigua and visit our first Mayan archaeological site. Quirigua was a colony of Copan which we will see later in Honduras, and most of the stelae we saw here date from 800 or 900 AD. The site consists of a Great Plaza and to the south the remains of the Acropolois. Several very finely carved stelae are scattered around the plaza, the nine stelae in the plaza are the tallest in the Mayan world, and somewhat incongruously are covered with thatched roofs. This site was not large, but set in the forest and surrounded by banana trees it gave a very peaceful impression. We continued to Puerto Barrios from where, after clearing the Guatemalan customs and immigration we had a fast and bumpy boat to Belize, arrived safely in Punta Gorda although with a sore behind. Immigration was painless, although the facilities were not the most modern. We stayed at Hotel Pallavi a block from the waterfront in Punta Gorda. I went out for a first look around the town and saw the Main Square, some clapboard shops and houses, a cross between the American Deep South and Britain of 50 years ago. Drank an ice cold coca cola and immediately felt my stomach contract, I nearly passed out. Lay down in the hotel and slept immediately, this was my only illness during the trip. So I missed the only chance of a meal in a Belize restaurant (other than breakfast).
25 Feb (Friday)	Plenty of time to enjoy a Belizean breakfast, lime juice and chicken and johnny cakes, and to look around Punta Gorda before our bus at 11.30 to Laguna. The courts of law were interesting, with the British legal system - complete with wig and gown - transferred to the tropics. Laguna was a small Kekchi Indian village, at most 300 people, and consisted entirely of thatched houses, a school, a church, and one shop (where Arne and I lived). We drove around and each pair were dropped off at their familys house, afterwards we found out that the village was so small many of us were next door to each other. Our family consisted of Alfonso, the crippled shop-keeper, and his parents, Lorenzo (who we seldom saw, as he went to work at 3.30 every morning, and slept when he returned at some time in the afternoon) and Dolores. They had 11 children of whom most were at school or working in Punta Gorda or Belize City. Alfonso was the oldest at home, and then came Claria (12) , Vincente, Santiago, Candelaria and Manuel. I never did find out why everybody had Spanish names.
26 Feb (Saturday)	The morning was spent getting to know the family. Very early Claria woke up and prepared the tortillas for the family (and us). Although only 12 she was already expert and threw them on the griddle, and turned them and put them onto the pile of steaming tortillas like a master. Tortillas are delicious freshly grilled, but they quickly cool and become stale. The highlight of the day was a tour to the lagoon after lunch. Pedro took us through the jungle pointing out birds, animal tracks and termites nests until we reached the lake. We walked along the river bank, but no-one was very interested in swimming, although it was around 30°. On the surface of the lake was a flock of herons, and the scenery was idyllic.
27 Feb (Sunday)	We had expected to be staying in the village of San Pedro Columbia, right next to the ruins of Lubantuun, but when this was changed to Laguna, I was a little uneasy about whether we would be able to visit this ancient Mayan site. However after much discussion and a lot of negotiation we rented the local bus for a day trip to the ecological farm of Dem Dats Doin and to Lubantuun. The bus was roomy so we took with one child from each family, they were delighted to join us. The farm, Dem Dats Doin, is run by a couple now in their 60's who had tired of the USA about 20 years ago and wanted to try cultivation in the tropics. They planted a lot of non-native trees and plants, mostly for their own requirements. We wandered around tasting star-fruit, Malayan apples, grapefruit and many other exotic fruits. They had a comprehensive ecological system of agriculture, based on reuse of material. Then we moved on to Lubantuun, this is an extensive temple area on a high ridge, it is said to be possible to see the Caribbean about 30 km away. Lubantuun means "place of the fallen stones" and was apparently occupied only briefly from about 700 AD to 890 AD it is largely unvisited, but with a small and modern museum showing archaeolgical methods as well as objects from the locality. The site has no stelae and the site is essentially a single acropolis on a series of ridges, the most famous find from here is the "Crystal skull" discovered in 1926 and carved of pure rock crystal. The children were thrilled at seeing and running around the well-preserved temple areas, I think very few of them had been anywhere but their own village before.

28 Feb (Monday)	A long days travelling today. We left Laguna by the early morning (6:30 am) bus to Punta Gorda connecting with the 9 am boat back to Puerto Barrios. Our minibus met us at Puerto Barrios and we travelled through Guatemala stopping briefly at Chiquimula to stretch our legs and grab a bite. It appeared to be an interesting and more typical Guatemalan town Antigua and Panajachel. The road deteriorated towards the border and we arrived at the Guatemala - Honduras border around 16.00. Again no problems at the border, it took about an hour to clear both borders. Money changers were very much in evidence offering a reasonable rate, the Honduras immigration office had a shelf of huge tomes behind the counter with dates on the spine 1997-1998 were clear and distinct, 1990-1991 were dirty and almost illegible, and those from the eighties appeared to be disintegrating rapidly. The Honduran roads were no better than the Guatemalan in the border areas, so we arrived in Copan Ruinas around 18.00. If we had been using the local buses in Guatemala it would no doubt have taken 2-3 hours longer, we might even have had to overnight at the border. Copan Ruinas is a tiny village, but is used to tourists because of its proximity to Copan, so there are plenty of hotels and restaurants. The hotel in Copan Ruinas, the Paty, appears cosy and comfortable, and we enjoyed a good meal with plenty of tortillas, beans and meat at one of the most popular of the many restaurants. The price level in Honduras seems similar to that of Guatemala, and the quality of the food too. At the border we heard rumours of a strike by workers at Copan.
29 Feb (Tuesday)	Rumours true, the Indian workers are striking to protest that a promise to improve their conditions is not being honoured. They work long hours, 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, for very low wages. We went to the gates and talked to some of the striking workers and discovered that they were provised higher wages and improvements in working conditions 18 months ago, but nothing has happened. So no Copan today, so walked with Arne to Los Sapos. This is a small Maya site on the opposite side of the valley to the main city of Copan. It was not very much to see but a pleasant walk through tomato fields, along the river, and then up into the hills. Some of the group hired horses and also rode in the same direction. Half the group continued to Tela today, I stayed and took it easy in the afternoon. Copan Ruinas is an interesting village of narrow streets with a beautiful location in the hills, apart from the ruins the area is agricultural growing tobacco and tomatoes. The Parque central is unfortunately being recreated and at the moment is not particularly tranquil.
1 March (Wednesday)	Hooray, strike over. The remaining archaeological fans made an early start and arrived at the entrance to the ruins shortly after opening time. We engaged a guide and spent two hours absorbing the atmosphere of the place and hearing about its history and architecture. Copan is of course very impressive and the most interesting feature are, in my opinion the Ball Court, the altar where blood sacrifices were made, and the Hieroglyphic Stairway. Historically Copan was a city state on the southern fringes of the Mayan empire but was cut off from all other cities (except Quirigua). The area may have been inhabited as early as 1000 BC, but Copan emerged as a power in the 6th century AD and enjoyed a golden era until about 750 AD when it began to decline, probably due to lack of food resources. At 12.30 pm we took a (chartered) bus to Tela via San Pedro Sula and saw the scenery change from hills and valleys down to the plains, and finally through endless banana plantations to the palm-tree edged coastal strip. We stay at the Hotel Tela, a comfortable, if somewhat run-down building in the centre of town, a block from the sea and a block from the Parque Central. We dined at the Luces del Norte, a friendly, laid-back place, and I enjoyed a huge sopa de caracol with plenty of seafood and unsurprisingly a lot of coconut.

2 March (Thursday)	The reason for travelling to Tela was not so much the town, but for the excursions that could be made from Tela to the nature reserves of Honduras north coast. Todays excursion was to the Parque Nacional Marino Punta Sal, and we started off from the centre of town in two boats. After a short trip along the canal came to the open sea and roared off westwards towards Punta Sal, on the way we spotted some dolphins and continued to the wetlands and lagoons of Punta Sal itself. We saw plenty of sea-birds but little else.
3 March (Friday)	Todays excursion was eastwards to Refugio de Vida Silvestre Punto Izopo. This was a fascinating chance to glide silently through the mangrove swamps and lagoons in a two man canoe. We saw and heard monkeys, crocodiles, birds and butterflies but the most interesting was the sensation of being one with the jungle. Although Tela is noted as being in the centre of the Garifuna belt, we encountered very little of their culture, however lunch today was taken in a Garifuna fishing village near Punta Izopo. It was certainly a laid-back meal, we had time to take a longer swim before the food arrived. The town itself has a good deal of charm, the shops were friendly, the building style reminded of the USA. Tela was the headquarters of the United Fruit Companys banana industry and the railway the company built to transport the fruit is still there, although rusty and unused since the industry HQ moved away to La Lima in 1965. The Parque Central is a good place to while away an hour people watching, I enjoyed having my shoes shined while overseeing the evening rush hour.
4 March (Saturday)	Another early start when our bus picked us up to transfer to the modern and efficient airport of San Pedro Sula for our flight to San Jose via San Salvador. The first leg was interesting as I had an excellent view of the rugged Honduran mountains and then the apparently much softer Salvadoran plains sloping gently into the Pacific. We flew unexpectedly way out over the Pacific before turning back to land at San Salvador. We had an hour before planes and could do some shopping. San Salvadors airport is also hyper-modern and appears extremely efficient. Kerstin bought a camera (her old one had problems) and then we boarded the flight for San José. I didn't see so much of the scenery this time as my seat mate was a Tica from Canada with a chequered history, if I understood correctly, she was very proud of her country and was sorry to be only on a very short trip. Arrival at San José more or less on time, and I got my bag and was through customs in no time. Bror was through quickly too, we discovered that the airport bank was closed (4pm on Saturday) but we found an ATM and succeeded in getting some Colones. However returning to the arrivals hall it appeared that some of our group had not yet received their luggage. After around an hour it appeared that seven bags were missing, and Carmen organized the complaint to the airline and we took a mini-bus to the hotel, The Nuevo Central, not far from the Central Market which is not in the best part of town. However the rooms were reasonably comfortable, and I was eager to begin to explore the only large city we would visit on our trip. Carmen wanted to check times and buy tickets for the Monteverde bus and the international bus to David, Panama. I thought she might like my company (for security !) so volunteered to accompany her and Paloma. We took a taxi, there are plenty of them, and they are metered, 190 Colones at flag fall and then fixed increments, so most rides in the city are about 500 Colones. We went first to the International Bus Terminal, and found that buying 16 tickets for the following Wednesday was not possible, we had to improvise a little and reserved seats for the Thursday instead. There was a lot of form-filling and passport-showing, but eventually we got a piece of paper entitling us to collect a ticket at the departure time. Next we continued to the Monteverde Bus Station - located in a very secluded and dark neighbourhood. No-one was there to sell us a ticket, but said we should return in the morning and there would not be any problem. Now we were getting hungry, so we returned to the hotel and collected the group, some people wanted to change money and this was not too easy on a Saturday evening, the Casino was helpful and finally we could eat. Avenida Central in San José has been pedestrianised, and we found a pleasant restaurant on the pavement there.

Central America (17 February 2000 - 20 March 2000)