Guatemala
A Little Bit of a Everything
ANTIGUA
A Journey to Remember
My introduction to Guatemala was Antigua. In one way, it was like stepping back in time. The streetlights were old and fit perfectly in this town with the morning fog. My Spanish was basically non existent the first few weeks. I remember my first day going to a coffee shop. When ordering my coffee I said, “cafe con coche”. Believing I said coffee with milk. All the staff had a smile on their faces, I did not realize I asked for a “coffee with car”. After they corrected me we joked and laughed about it together. It was a great accidental icebreaker. Well, I had no idea this would make me a regular known customer. Every day following, as soon as they would see me coming they would order a “cafe con coche” and my coffee would be waiting for me at the counter with a welcoming good morning.
Exploration
It was like a New World
Over time and learning from the locals I became very familiar with the rainforest. I had learned about most of the plants, insects and animal life. From killer bees swarming over my head, to venomous snakes under any tree branch to even spotting wild cats.
I even had a time encountering a crocodile that was apparently on his way to the next lagoon by travelling over the hills. A place I would have never expected to confront such a powerful reptile. The dangers of the rainforests are real. You have to be just as alert as the wildlife. It was not just learning what is around you, it taught you something new. A new way to walk, listen and look. When walking through the rainforest I cannot have my pant legs touch any plant life. The tips of the leafs are covered in thousands of baby tics. If I would just rub one leaf the tics would start crawling up my pants like they were changing the colour of my pants. I saw this happen.
The picture shows countless tics on the tip of a leaf.
Guatemala is filled with Scenery
Natures Hiding Spot.
During the time I lived in a small town in northern Guatemala I had come down with an awful fever. I thought that I might be able to work through it. I was wrong. By the third day I was bed ridden. Some neighbouring friends had become concerned. On the fifth day the fever had not let up at all. I was too sick to do anything but stay in bed. A local doctor came to check on me. He had come prepared with all kinds of supplies. He made sure I drank a lot of water whether I wanted to or not. Before leaving he had left me a shelf full of re-hydration formulas with instructions. I asked him how much does he want to be paid. He said nothing. The Guatemalan people have always shown me great generosity. After the doctor’s visit some neighbours came with teas and some food daily. The fever had lasted ten days. I did not know what I had but some said the doctor mentioned to them it could have been dengue fever. How this small town helped me. I was so grateful. I heard it was the neighbours that got together and called for the doctor to pay me a visit.
I decided to take a closer look into dengue fever as I did not want to go through that again. I learned that we can catch dengue fever from mosquito bites. There is no known vaccine or treatment for this fever. Well, I was not sure how I would proceed with this as living in the rainforest there were mosquitoes everywhere and at times in countless numbers. We called in some experts that checked our wells and surrounding areas for the dengue mosquito larva. This would help us know if there will be many more of these mosquitoes. As we did not find any larvae for the dengue mosquito we found this news relaxing as we did not have to worry in our area. As I travelled extensively in Guatemala I could have been bit anywhere. The rainforest is filled with countless insects and many of them are looking for blood to feast on. I found it wise to use insect repellent when any insect is in abundance and noticeably in force to feed. I also burned some mosquito coils at times. In any case, I found it to be a great idea to sleep under a mosquito net as this will prevent any insect from feeding on me at night.
The families in the town have always included me in anything happening in the town. Every holiday especially Christmas day the families would send their children to deliver dinner. I felt extremely welcome. Their generosity and sharing of what they had really demonstrated their caring and open hearts.
Guatemala is a hard place. The people there struggle every day with the basics. I have seen myself how many work very hard every day at any age. They are survivors. They are truly the definition of community as they support each other daily. There was an elderly man that was living alone in the town I lived in. At first I was wondering how does he manage with all the daily needs we require. Later I learned that the town brings him his meals and cleans up his place everyday.
The food is amazing. I would get my chicken from the town corner stores (tiendas). They were consistently absolutely delicious. The fruits are excellent from pineapples to bananas and abundantly available. I would pick my bananas straight from the tree. Finding fresh vegetables was an easy chore. Along the the streets in Guatemala I would see stands selling chicharróns. I always stopped to try them. These are fried pork rinds. I had to be careful though as these are mouth watering delicious. I can easily eat a pound without realizing it. A regular common homemade breakfast consists of eggs, rice, black beans and tortillas. A regular common homemade dinner would consist of rice, black beans, chicken and tortillas. There are also many restaurants if I felt like eating out or if I just had a craving for a cheese burger with fries.
I stayed in Petén. I really enjoyed the weather in this region. The summers were hot. I have seen my thermometer reach 48° Celsius plus humidity. They do have a rainy season in this forested region although it does rain many days in the afternoon for a couple of hours. The thunderstorms can be calm to severe. I have found myself trying to find shelter several times during a hail of lightning bolts and powerful wind. The winters are for me pretty mild. The temperature usually does not go below 15° Celsius during the day and can reach 8° Celsius at night.
Guatemala can be a troubled country at times. I have experienced several demonstrations which they call manifestacións. In my experience they are usually calm but always have the potential to elevate into something more aggressive.
Guatemala can be a troubled country at times. I have experienced several demonstrations which they call manifestacións. In my experience they are usually calm but always have the potential to elevate into something more aggressive. They can surely disrupt public travel which can leave me stranded somewhere. It is best not to travel during these manifestacións. I was always careful when travelling in Guatemala. I never travelled at night as at this time the streets can become a bad place to be. I always checked the Internet or with the local people to see if it is safe to travel.
I would also like to mention the memory of a friend, Peter Eltringham. I met Peter in Guatemala as we crossed paths. Peter was a writer. For over twenty years he wrote about Guatemala. In his time he was the author of the Mayan World and Rough Guides to Guatemala and Belize. Peter was a wealth of information and taught it well. He lived in England. Sometimes he would email me from England telling me what day he will be in Antigua. I would arrive in Antigua the same day as him. After a nice meal we would both start our journey into Petén. We had many extremely funny situations as Peter was a true writer. Peter had to climb into any thing, turn over every rock before he would write about it. Sometimes these things would not end as planned and we would end up laughing hilariously. He was a good person.
In the evenings and nights, I would enjoy listening to tourists. They would share their stories about the countries they lived in and how their lives were going. I learned quite a bit from them as there were so many different points of view from so many different people. I enjoyed this.
Staying in Guatemala was difficult at times, though this is outweighed by many great memories. There is a special place in my heart for Guatemala.
I would not recommend travelling to Guatemala unless you checked with your Governments Travel Advisories and Travel Agents as there are moments it is not the safest place to be.
Sunrise at Lake Atitlan
VINCE GRACE
