More Guatmala

A good friend of ours said one time that he could not live like we do with nothing to do all day. He is a psychiatric still practicing. So much for the soft science of psychiatry. We work everyday doing something and always have more than we can do. We have a motor out we are rebuilding. That going well now that our son hand delivered the ring to us from the US. . The ring we order and waited on so long came in broke. We are doing that on rain days but there is more to it than just building the motor. We need to paint everything inside the boat around the motor before it goes back in. We need to paint the outside of the boat so we do that on sunny days but down here you have very few sunny days this time of year and it’s hard to paint inside with it raining. Then we have the dreaded list. There is always a list of things we need to do but we are here and it’s so much fun just being here it’s hard to work some days. We try and not get in to our work so much we miss out on why we came here. Our son was here and we wanted to show him some of the great stuff here. Just maybe a mile away there is and old fort. It’s a small fort built it the 15^th century on the side of the river with a small hill behind it. I am not sure it’s a good idea to build a fort on the low side of a hill. If you are fighting your way to the fort. You would always have the high ground all the way to the fort. The history is the invaders always took the fort when a battle happen. Maybe they built it there because they had a chain across the river there to stop ships from going in to Lake Izabal and the river is narrow near the fort. Remember that there is a bar at the mouth of the river and the water is never much over 8 feet so how big of a ship could have come in here? Its good sailing in the lakes here but how did they get up the river at the gorge. The wall of the gorge go up some 300 feet and the river bends around a lot. How ever they came in and for what ever the reason it is a beautiful place there and the west side faces the lake is like what you would see at a fine resort. They have a molt there. I read some where that the reason of a molt at a fort is so you could not dig a tunnel under a wall with out it filling in with water. You can not dig a ditch here with out hitting rock so that is maybe why the grave yards here are on top of hills and people are buried above ground. Its hard to even dig a hold here so tunneling in wouldn’t work. The grave yards here are interesting. They build them out or cement and some are built just the size of a body but some are a lot bigger. The day of the dead here they go and paint the graves in bright colors. Take food and spend the day there. There’s a grave site at the fort with some of the graves recently painted.

Graveyard

View from Fort

The fort is a park and well run. If you go in by boat as we do. You can walk across the grounds to the gate and go out side into the little town of San Felipe. It’s small and a lot like most little town in Guatemala. Small houses just rooms really with chickens and lot of kids. There always trying to sell you something. The kid are the one you will have trouble telling no and getting them to go away. When we were building the Pamela Ann our little schooner we travel around on in Southport NC, we bought a small lot and had it paid for so we went to see about building a garage apartment to live in while we worked on the boat. They acted like we were asking to build a tree house. We were told no, Never. That we had to build a 1300 sq feet house or better. That I could not design it or build it with out a builders license. I said. It just the two of us. We don’t need 3 bed rooms and we defiantly don’t need a living room. We like it small. We lived in a 17 feet sail boat one hold summer one time. Now that was a little too small. I like some of these places people live in down here. They have character. This house they cook inside with out a chimney with wood and it for sure has character.

In fact this hold country has character. We plan on leaving before hurricane season starts this coming year and go on south. Maybe we can get out of here before people start saying we are becoming characters ourselves. When we are near our psychiatric friend. I always go over to his boat when I see him in the morning and tell him that. “I am worried.” What do I sound like? Then I ask him “if I sound normal.” He will says that normal is the setting on a washing machine. That it’s hard to identify who is normal or not sometimes and then he will say that if he had to decide if I am normal or. ”Not.” In your case he will say. It’s easy. That ship sailed a long time ago. I wonder what he means by that?

 

Guatemala Adventure

As I have said in all our blogs. We are not telling any one how to do anything. Just how we do are have done it. I have said. That we go where we want and do what we want down here in Central America and we have never seen any one have trouble down here but this week. We came too close to trouble. Our son flew in from the states and we were trying to let him see what we see here in Guatemala. We had to take the bus from Guatemala City to here in Fronteras and then we went on to Fronteras the first night for supper. Let him see the street life in a little town down here in a place like Fronteras Guatemala. Some of the towns down here are different but most of the little towns are just like Fronteras with a lot of street life. People selling stuff everywhere. Very little side walks with people and traffic coming at you all the time. It takes skill to get around and not get run over by little three wheel tuk tuks ,motorcycles or big 18 wheelers loaded with cattle. I don ‘t like the food in Guatemala but I wanted him to try local food down here so we went to a restaurant we eat in sometimes. What we had was okay. It’s never really good. Its was stewed pork cut really thin over rice with onion and tomatoes cooked in. Then covered with strips of bologna. As always tortita bread and salsa. The soft drinks were good served glass returnable bottles. The next day we just stayed at the boat taking it easy. We were all tired from the bus ride and taking in all we could in Guatemala City. That afternoon we went back to Fronteras shopping and were walking down a side street the gringos call, The Plastic Mall. It’s a street covered with old plastic and blue tarps. It’s where we buy chickens dressed just laying out on tables, No ice, No refrigerator. Get there to early in the morning and you may get one that they didn’t sell yesterday. Get there to late and you may get one that has just been laying there for a while. All of life I guess is just sometimes a mater of timing. We were walking down the street, it’s not very wide and is always busy. A parrot flew up and landed on the neck of may shirt trying to pull its self up on my shoulder with its beak. Our son thought it was trying to bit me. He reached for it and it jumped on his hand looking of his finger. A kid came running up and he handed it to him. Then the father came up and took the parrot saying Paco, burro. Now in Spanish not all words mean what you read in the dictionary. Manana dose not always mean tomorrow as I have said a lot before. It may mean it is just not happing today. Tranquillo is quit in the dictionary, but they say tranquillo here when things are going a little out of control. It means to them. “Take it easy.” Now Paco was maybe the parrots’ name but burro down here in Central America means if you use it as he was, “dumb ass” so what he was saying was. Paco you’re a dumb ass and I was laughing hard. Our son didn’t know why I was laughing. Where can you have a pet parrot wanting to ride on your shoulder and it not be uncommon. You see a lot of them here and we are starting to be more of a part of this community now. Understanding more of their culture. The next day we went to Morales a bigger town on a caltivo. That the little buses here we talk about a lot with the slogan of. “How many people can you get on a caltivo? It’s always at least one more.” This time it was just full. No one hanging out the side door or on top. We wanted to let him see a bigger town with more modern stores like where you can buy a tuk- tuk or a whole dressed hog. Maybe a pair of shoes big enough to fit me. I wear a 10-1/2. That a “very large” shoe here. There is a lot of women here under 5 feet. Way under. They have a great mecardo there. A mercado is a local market where local people sell and buy stuff. You never know what you can find but if they eat it or wear it are just have it. They probably bought it at a mercado. I wanted him to see what it’s like here. The larger the town the more you see successful women with their own motor bikes riding around in high heel shoes.

Lady bike rider

Maybe it helps there legs touch the ground when they ride their motor bikes here with them being so little. We decided to go to the hot water falls later in the week and when we went for the caltivo it was so full we decided to just catch the next one. When we walked back from the caltivo door 6 more people came to get in with 5 full grown turkeys. They packed them in. All the people and turkeys but they had to put one turkeys on top.

Some turkeys on top

The next bus was full as soon as it stopped and this time we did get on with one rider on top. There was just no where to get him inside or a place to hang on. We left but when we got almost there we were stopped by a lot of rocks blocking the road. The Indians were protesting something by rolling big rocks in the road. Remember we had one person on top. We just didn’t have room for one more in side the bus and it was hot so they let us out and when we stood up out side, they saw we were tourist so they came running to us saying no photo. I put my camera in my pocket but this didn’t stop them from screaming and getting in our faces saying something about us and Guatemala. They had sticks about 5 feet long sharpen on the ends and machetes. The leader keep sticking his stick in my face screaming. He stepped closer to me so I step closer to him and stared yelling at him to leave us along. The bus driver ran in and stared screaming at them. They backed up but keep screaming at us. Finally they went back to the rocks in the road.

Protesters

We had heard a “ lot” of people here that are prejudice against Indians say that if you stay here long enough. You will see. Now let me say. We have never had any one till now be any thing but good to us. Always helpful. We go where we want and eat what we want. When I was younger I had a few run in with unions. Driving trucks all over the US. Had my windshield knocked out with a big rock dropped from a over pass that went all the way in the sleeper. Had the pen pulled on a trailer but at the time of all that trouble I always checked and it paid off. I look at this about the same way. It’s just a few people with issues. If you want to come down here. Come on but remember, It’s real out here and remember we have been here in the Western Caribbean for 2 years and this was our first. We love seeing Central America. No one seams to know what they were protesting about. We found a caltivo going back to Fonteraa We didn’t want to wait to see how long they would block the road. We loaded up and we had a lot of people from France on the bus. They didn’t speak Spanish but made it clear they weren’t going to pay to go back if they didn’t make it to the Falls so the driver stopped and tried to put them off. By now I was over my little mad spell of having someone threaten me and I still don’t know why but thought it was funny to see French being thrown off the bus. “They paid.” We went back to the boat and now our son is back in Kansas hopefully with lots to tell. It’s a lot like Pam is always saying There is very few re-run days down here and we do love it.

Kites

Traveling around on our boat we are limited to what we can see. A lot of what is happing in the world is no where near water and we are limited too with what we can do because of our money. We have so very little. But sometimes we do find ways to go see stuff. This week we went to the Kite Festival. It’s part of the Day of the Dead Festival in Central America. We went to Antigua in the high lands. Then on to Santiago. We always try in our blog to tell how we do things not “never” how to do it so this is how we did this. They had some people getting up a trip here one price and they would take care of every thing. We don’t know if we went cheaper but we do know were in control of where we went and how long we stayed because we decided to just go by ourselves. We had some friends that were already going so we had them helping us and they were a great help. We have a friend here at the marina that speaks good Spanish so we had him go with us to the bus station to get our bus tickets. Our friends that were going helped us find a place to stay and a shuttle to the town where the kites were to be flown. We paid for the bus tickets here in Fronteras and went to the bank here and paid for our rooms by deposit to their. account. Now the biggest part of the trip was taking care of. How to get there and where to stay. As I have said in our blog before I don’t worry about security as much as when we first came to Central America. I think most of the crimes here are crimes of opportunity. Don’t flaunt your money and don’t leave things where people can steal them. With our bus tickets in hand we were there on time to catch the bus . The buses down here, not the chicken buses but a modern bus will have air condition and will always be straight drive. Some of the drivers change gears like a teenager learning to drive but some you would never know that the buses down here are always straight drive. They will pat you down as you get on to see if you have maybe a gun and will want to look in your bag if you carry one on the bus. You will have an a signed seat. Most buses have a glass wall and door between you and the driver. They all have a rest room but you will have to go to the door and knock to get the conductor to come and open the restroom door. The conductor is someone that takes care of the passengers. They stop a lot at ever little town or village but we are here to see Guatemala so we don’t mind as much as some gringos. The eastern part of Guatemala is green and wet but the interior is more like a desert. If you go from here in the Rio to Guatemala City you go though a valley where they grow a lot for the markets north. Lots of packing sheds. Remember people here like to live in little villages. There is very few houses built out all by themselves. As you ride along you can see little villages on the side of the hills where it looks like there is no roads. I am sure there is some way to get there. They always look so peaceful. You will see cowboys and cows. You will see people living very simple lives like maybe someone riding a bicycle with fire wood tied high on the back of the bike. There is very little air condition here so people set a lot where ever they can to be out of the sun. On porches and under trees, at stores that have lean-to roofs and benches. There is always things for sale on the side of the road or any where you stop and I buy what ever I want and eat what ever they have for sale. I did get sick in Mexico but the doctor said it was ceviche they made with barracuda. If it’s food the price is mostly fixed but if it a shirt or some awful looking thing you would just love to have, remember you can buy it for a lot less that what they start off with. When you get near Guatemala city you will be in the mountains and you may have trouble getting around rocks slides on the roads. Something that is common there. As you get near the city you will see a lot of chicken buses. They ‘re old school busses from the states with chrome ever where and wild paint jobs. They will have large luggage racks on top. They’re cheap and stand up to there names. If you have a few bucks and want to ride with your chickens or what ever. They will squeeze you in some way. Remember that most people down here are very helpful. If you are trying to get on a bus with a live pig in a sack and having a hard time someone will jump off and help you. As you come in to the city you will come through the low rent district. The houses or maybe they’re called something else because they are just places to live. They are one or two rooms built on top of each other . They are little alleys between them and they cover most of the hills as you come in to the city. There just rooms built out of concrete stacked on top of each other several stories high with a door or a window here or there. Maybe a clothes line with clothes drying. There are always dogs, chickens and kids. Most people get around on motor bikes all under 200 cc. Again they look peaceful but busy. In the city it can run from poor to rich. Guatemala City is a modern city. There is a Wal-Mart and a lot of stores famous in the states there but like Wal-Mart down here, they are different. Wal-Mart doesn’t sell good steak or Earl Grey tea but Burger King is just like the US. If you haven’t had a real burger in years. To us going to Burger King is like going to a fine restaurant. From Guatemala City we took a shuttle to Antigua and our room. Antigua is not like most towns here and is definitely not like any little villages in Guatemala. It looks like what I think Spain would look like all the streets where we were are cobble stone hand laid. All the stores are in building with side walks. There are old churches and building that are beautiful ever where. Our room was small but clean and cost about $20 per night with a private bath and hot water. Remember most drinks down here are just cool and this was the first place we have been with what we call hot water. You will learn to be happy with just warm either way here. The next morning we caught a shuttle to Santiago to the festival They dropped us off there and this to is a beautiful old town with thousands of people everywhere coming in to see the kites. Ever where you look someone had something to sell. We made our way on up the hill to the top, it’s a long way from the road coming in to town to the top and a place with bleacher where the kites were but most people didn’t go near the bleachers they stayed out with the kites. There made right there out of bamboo and paper finely decorated. Glued together with flour paste. All of this is low-tech but really beautiful. When they fly them they fly them right there in the crowd. If they don’t make it up and come crashing down people are running to get out of the way. Screaming and laughing. It’s crazy but we did it too. We wanted to get up close and when a bamboo and paper kite is coming at you out of control it is crazy but more fun that old people like us are really up to. The biggest we saw flown were about 14 feet across. If a out of control kite that big hits you “it will get your attention.” They were a lot bigger kites there but we never saw them fly. Maybe it was to windy or maybe they never fly the really big one. I never saw ropes anywhere big enough to hold them. The really big ones were maybe 45 feet across. The bamboo were maybe 4 to 5 inch across the bottom and flying them would take more than a few people holding to a ropes. Remember there is very few people trying to control your live down here. Very little law so you could just go where you wanted. Remember there is just no way to sue anyone here so if you hurt your self here they will say you were being stupid for falling in a hole after dark they dug in the side walk. You needed to watch where you were walking. Some how we like being free to take care of our self and we saw maybe 6 police all day there in what could have been many thousands of people. How many people can you put in a ¼ square mile? And maybe they were that many more in town. If you want to come and see this beautiful country remember what I said. If you need help getting on a bus with a pig in a sack, Someone will help you and you can get hurt in almost any city in the states if you’re not careful. So leave your Rolex at home, behave your self and remember if you want to go out in the arena and pull the bulls’ tail at a bull fight. “They may let you.”

Kites on display

Getting ready to send up a kite

 

One kite in the air

 

Street in Antigua

Good looking chicken bus

 

Waiting

For any one keeping up with our blog, maybe we can give you and up date on what it’s like being here with my hurt hand. In the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. Waiting out the hurricane season. Trying to rebuild one of our motors and paint our boat. Working in the Western Caribbean on your boat can be trying at times with the rain. Going shopping with people in the stores saying, No make and you have the part in your hand or manana. As for my hand being hurt. I cut off one of my fingers and had to go get it sewed back on. It was a stupid mistake and I still can’t believe I did that but I did. We put how, when and why in out last blog but this week the stitches came out and in a few weeks the pen comes out that holds the bone straight. I now have the ugliest middle finger of any one I know. A friend of ours has a saying he likes scars better than tattoos because of the stories that goes along with them. If I am showing this one off they will know there a story to be told. As for the motor we are rebuilding, we have waited for weeks for the parts to come in air mail from the US but when they came in one of the oil rings was broke. We think they opened it in customs with something and pried against the ring in the box and broke it. They’re easily broken and its is so easy to find someone to blame down here so far from home but how dose that help anything. Who is at fault just doesn’t matter any more. In the Caribbean you just get use to things happing that will set you back like a holiday that you have never heard of. A wedding every body is going to and after its over it takes a day or two to get over. Maybe a little up rising or it just manana. Manana is the Spanish word for tomorrow but when they use it, it means not today. Maybe it means not this week but for sure it is not happing today. We have ordered more rings. Now we wait. Maybe our son can bring down the rings when he comes along with lots of other stuff like maybe grits. He is flying in soon. I am and old southern boy and I love my grits. If there is something you love bring it with you. If you like beans and rice, you will be in good shape here but any thing else, like I said “Bring it with you.” What is it like here waiting most days. I am writing this tonight and its 7 o’ clock. The thermometer is on 84 in the boat. It rained a little today. Its raining a little now. It will rain a little tonight . You just get use to the rain. Life goes on at a different pace down here. We watched a friend buy some peanuts from a little girl maybe 5 years old today on the street. Her mother was with her.  The little girl was doing all the selling and all the mother was doing was keeping up with the change. The little girl did every thing else. They start young here learning how to make a living.

Selling peanuts

There is a lot of every thing sold on the street here. It may be possible that you can live here and never go to a store. Just live on what you can buy on the streets. After you have been here a little while You learn where and when you can buy what and remember this. If you find something you really like buy all you can because you may never see it again. Its been that away in all of Central America countries we have been in. If you turn on the radio its all most the same. You never know what going to come out maybe a song in of coarse Spanish but so good you may wish you could by a tape flowed by rap in Spanish so bad its hard to leave the radio on. Music is better at night best later at night but some of the good stations go off at 9 or 10. Sunday forget the radio. Religion is big down here. When they come to me I don’t know if there begging or preaching but they both want money. There are beggars on the street down here. I give a little change to a old man that’s blind and sets on the street. The other day as I was coming out of a store and he was setting on the street drinking from a bottle. He put it back in his shirt. Took of his hat and sat there holding his hat for people to put money in. I left some change and went on. Who am I to judge a man that is blind old and sets in the street all day trying to get by? There is no welfare down here and I am sure no one has ever traded food stamp for beer in the US. What will it be like when we leave and go on is maybe why we like being here so much. There is something new to see every day and most things you need to do is a challenge to get done. This drives some people crazy. Some how this makes me feel alive. I don’t know how to explain it but maybe if you read our blog enough you may can get the feel of this place. Deep in the Western Caribbean but can any one tell you what it’s really like. I will keep on trying.