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Belize
We arrived in Belize City last evening and were welcomed by swarms of mosquitoes, thus the "Mosquito Coast." This morning, slathered with Deet, we began with a river boat ride guided by a naturalist. I suspect that at one time he operated a chicken bus because he drove the boat like a chicken boat! He did have an amazing ability to spot wildlife along the way and would bring the boat to a halt to explain what it was that we were trying to spot in the tangle of growth along the bank.
Some of the birds we saw included the Mangrove Swallow, the Tropical Kingbird, the Northern Jacana, and the Belted Kingfisher.
Can you find the Yellow Headed Night Heron in the vegetation below?
We also passed a Mennonite Farm. Mennonites make up the third largest ethnic group in Belize.
Here is the Belize National Flower, the Black Orchid.
This is a Snake Cactus.
This is the exotic Provision Plant, used for medicinal purposes.
Our destination was the Lamanai Mayan site. Here we saw a pyramid that had carvings influenced by the Olmecs, an earlier culture. The masks reveal features common to Olmec sculpture - here the carvings have been restored.
Charlotte bagged another pyramid!
I did her the favor of remaining below so that I could photograph her when she reached the top.
We encountered more Black Holler monkeys.
And so the tour comes to an end and we head home tomorrow. It has been a fabulous trip, made even better under the leadership of our terrific trip leader, Walter.
And we could not have had better travel companions to share our discoveries with.
Tikal and Yaxha
From Antigua, we flew to Flores in the north of Guatemala where we encountered jungle terrain. Part of Flores is located on an island that has tropical charm. The buildings are much different from highlands.
We first visited Tikal, the largest of all Mayan sites and one of the strongest ruling centers of the Mayan world. We visited a number of pyramid temples, residential centers, and ball courts. We emerged from the jungle happy, drenched from the humidity, and surrounded by the aroma of Deet.
We climbed Pyramid 4 and looked over the jungle canopy to see the tops of Pyramids 1 - 3.
Our hike through the jungle included glimpses of Spider and Black Howler Monkeys.
The next day we visited Yaxha, a satellite Mayan site, not far from Tikal. Here Charlotte bagged her first Mayan pyramid - her new stainless steel hip functioned perfectly!
Casa Santo Domingo
The ruins of what was once the grandest convent in the Americas has been converted into a hotel/museum and before we left Antigua, we spent a morning exploring it. We entered from the parking lot through a long underground tunnel that had display cases in the wall containing Mayan artifacts. When emerged from the tunnel we found ourselves surrounded by ruins that have been incorporated into a modern hotel, restaurants, shops, museum, chapel, and archaeological site - all seamlessly working together.
This is the chapel that is often used for weddings. The curtain behind the altar is covering an elaborately carved altarpiece.
Hanging from the overhead beams of this covered walkway were delicate clusters of orchids.
Areas of the ruins have been added to or converted into galleries displaying collections of Mayan artifacts, Spanish silver, early Guatemalan religious art, as well as contemporary art. One fascinating exhibit paired artifacts with pieces of contemporary fine art and crafts from around the world. I was delighted to encountered a glass sculpture by Dan Dailey whose studio in New Hampshire I had a chance to visit last year! (Dailey is the artist who created the fabulous chandelier in the Providence Performing Arts Center.)
The theme of the old and new was carried out elsewhere on the grounds. Here is a metal and glass sculpture that caught Charlotte's attention.
We next flew to Flores, Guatemala, to visit Tikal. Stay tuned for the next post.
More while in Antigua
We have also visited a coffee plantation, a macadamia nut farm, and a museum of local musical instruments. The guide from the museum demonstrated instruments dating back to 900AD and followed the evolution of percussion and wind instruments up to the arrival of the Spanish who introduced stringed instruments. She explained the purpose of each instruments as related to local celebrations both religious and secular. She showed us the early examples of the marimba which had gourds for the sound chambers. Then in the evening the group attended a special dinner and music/performance demonstration where many of these instruments were played.
Later on, the group attended a performance of Guatemalan dances and music at a dinner theater.
On Nov. 1, All Saint's Day, there is a special event that takes place in only two villages in Guatemala, one located not far from Antigua. So, the group was able to take advantage of this annual event and traveled to a village where huge kites are flown from their cemetery. This brings hoards of people!
And of course there are vendors along the way. Below you see black tortillas which are made for this special occasion.
And this vendor is selling corn on the cob with special condiments. First it is covered in mayonnaise, then sprinkled with cheese, and finished off with red pepper sauce. It's called "crazy corn."
This is one of the large kites.
These kites are launched from the top of a large mausoleum.
Usually they end up airborne, but sometimes they come crashing down on top of spectators.
Even larger kits, 50 feet across are constructed and raised with a great deal of team effort to be displayed along the wall of the cemetery. They are supported by 50 foot high poles.
The kites are made of paper and paint. The decorative areas are made with bits of colored tissue paper.
In the evening we visited another cemetery where friends and families were visiting the resting places of the departed. The tombs were decorated with lots of real and artificial flowers.
Just outside of the cemetery was a fiesta/carnival. There many food stalls as well as childrens' rides, games of chance, and music.
Day 1 in Antigua
We are staying in a B&B while in Antigua - a B&B with 11 bedrooms. It is a private home where the owners only stay part of the year, so our tour company convinced them to put up tourists when they weren't here. Although quite grand, it feels homey.
From the second floor balcony, we can see one of the three volcanoes that are in the area. Yes, this one is active.
Today we hopped on to a chicken bus and traveled to a village outside of town to experience "a day in the life of" - something the tour company arranges in all of their tours. Our guide encouraged us to interact with people on the bus. (This bus was not as hair raising as our previous chicken bus ride.)
When we arrived in the village we visited a school, and although school was not in session, a class of preschoolers came to meet with us. They sang several songs for us, including their national anthem, and then danced and performed for us. They were delightful! Our tour company supports the school by providing $10 for every traveler on their tours to Guatemala - 150 tours per year.
We then broke up into two groups and separated for lunch with families of two of the kids. My group ate lunch with an extended family of father, mother, aunts, grandmother, grandfather, and kids and cousins. The kitchen was in a lean-to next to the house and we ate outside. Our mean consisted of roasted chicken and steamed veggies with a sauce made out of pumpkin seeds and spices.
Although no one in our group could speak more than a couple of words of Spanish and they knew no English, we did quite well communicating.
Guatemala has a problem with keeping kids in school because the families put them to work in the fields or the markets at a young age. So to encourage school attendance, the government, with aid from Brazil, began a program for preschoolers where they would receive a free lunch. But this meant building more schools and hiring more teachers, and soon the money dried up so out of 80 schools, only a few remain open today.
From the second floor balcony, we can see one of the three volcanoes that are in the area. Yes, this one is active.
Today we hopped on to a chicken bus and traveled to a village outside of town to experience "a day in the life of" - something the tour company arranges in all of their tours. Our guide encouraged us to interact with people on the bus. (This bus was not as hair raising as our previous chicken bus ride.)
When we arrived in the village we visited a school, and although school was not in session, a class of preschoolers came to meet with us. They sang several songs for us, including their national anthem, and then danced and performed for us. They were delightful! Our tour company supports the school by providing $10 for every traveler on their tours to Guatemala - 150 tours per year.
We then broke up into two groups and separated for lunch with families of two of the kids. My group ate lunch with an extended family of father, mother, aunts, grandmother, grandfather, and kids and cousins. The kitchen was in a lean-to next to the house and we ate outside. Our mean consisted of roasted chicken and steamed veggies with a sauce made out of pumpkin seeds and spices.
Although no one in our group could speak more than a couple of words of Spanish and they knew no English, we did quite well communicating.
Guatemala has a problem with keeping kids in school because the families put them to work in the fields or the markets at a young age. So to encourage school attendance, the government, with aid from Brazil, began a program for preschoolers where they would receive a free lunch. But this meant building more schools and hiring more teachers, and soon the money dried up so out of 80 schools, only a few remain open today.
From Panajachel to Antigua
We left Panajachel by a different route than when we arrived because of a detour around an area of the highway that was covered with mud, dirt, and rocks from mudslides that took place a couple of weeks ago. It was passable yesterday.
Along the way we stopped at a mercado where I saw some interesting things.
Do you think that this is a preserved chicken?
This has to be the least appetizing stew I have ever encountered!
Another stop was at a cemetery where family members were cleaning and repainting the tombs in preparation for All Souls' Day. There was a vendor at the entrance selling Sherman Williams paint in an array of wonderful colors.
For part of the way we transferred to a chicken bus. It passed every vehicle on the highway and took curves at incredible speeds. I held on for dear life so as not to slide to the floor. It was like a an exhilarating carnival ride!
Our final discovery for the day was a visit to a brick factory where a young man molds 700 bricks per day by hand. The bricks are then fired in a kiln for 24 hours.
The pictures are light today due to a miscalculation on my part - it's not your computer.
Santiago Atitlan
Yesterday morning we boated across the beautiful Lake Atitlan for a visit to the village of Santiago Atitlan. This area is known for its colorful and intricately woven textiles and we saw them in stalls and worn by the local women, but not so much worn by men.
I am also encountering lots of masks and have acquired 5 more (so far) for my mini museum.
While in the village, we visited an Ah Pop, a Mayan spiritual guide. He performed a ritual honoring Maximon, a Mayan god who is blended with Catholic meaning. The spiritual guide spoke in a Mayan language and our guide explained that since we were not Mayan, the Ah Pop was forbidden to translate what he said.
First he lit a bunch of candles, then put a cigarette in the mouth of the effigy, then gave him some spirits to keep Maximon happy. Then he chanted and swung a pail with burning incense. To find out more about Maximon, go here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximón
Panajachel
Yesterday we left Guatemala City for Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan. The lake which is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes and is spectacularly beautiful. We are in Mayan territory.
All along the way throughout Guatemala there are posters promoting the two candidates running for the presidency - elections are on Nov. 6th. What is incredible, is the number of posters! They seem to appear on every telephone pole, and some poles even have several posters. The country is plastered with them! Then there are the billboards where the candidates try to out do each other with larger and larger ones!
There is quite a bit of controversy over the two candidates running for the presidency since both have histories of involvement in the civil war in the 80's and 90's and the genocides that took place. We are also learning about how wide spread corruption is here with bribes being a way of life. (It only took us a few minutes to cross the border instead of 4 hours.)
Because 47% of the population is illiterate, the ballots are printed with symbols for the political parties and candidates. You see these symbols everywhere.
Chicken buses are also everywhere. They are souped up and decorated American school buses that speed like lightening. Driving one of these in Guatemala is one of the most dangerous occupations one can have - not from the danger of crashes, but because the drivers must pay fees to organized crime people, and if the fees are not paid on time daily, there are fatal consequences.
When we were leaving Guatemala City, there was backed up traffic for miles. Our guide tweeted and learned that a bus driver and passenger had been shot up ahead. Below is the bus.
Guatemala City
Today was a long day on the road. The highlight of the trip was an ice cream stop where I had the best mango ice cream I have ever had! (SC - eat your heart out!) Tomorrow we leave for Antigua Guatemala where I might not have access to the internet for several days. I'll catch up when I can.
Copan, Honduras
Today was a fully day of adventures. The group of 11 tourists, guide, apprentice guide, and bus driver set out at 8am for the Mayan ruins of Copan, the site of 16 ruling kings. The complex of structures consists of several pyramids with temples on top and burial chambers within. There is also a ball court, an amphitheater, royal living quarters and a huge plaza. I was most fascinated with the elaborate stone carving. We had a local guide who was terrific!
Below is a model of the site.
Within the grounds of the ruins were many scarlet macaws, the national bird of Honduras. Very showy, indeed!
After lunch we visited a village of Mayan people where the kids speak their native language, Spanish, and are learning English. Although they live very simply, they seemed very happy. Charlotte and I were a hit with the kids because we brought stickers that we pasted on their elbows, cheeks, and foreheads!
To get to the village, which is located on a hillside, some in the group rode horses while the rest, including myself, rode in tuk tuks, a three wheel motorized rickshaw.
There is a school in the village, but the three children in white shirts have scholarships to attend a school in the town. They walk two miles each day to get there, leaving home at 5 am while it is still dark.
The countryside is incredibly beautiful. It is lush and green with a backdrop of distance mountains. We had another beautiful day.
Tomorrow we are off to Guatemala.
