it's so hot

Lobsterfest was a week ago, boy this time is going to fly. I’m lying on the top bunk of the ‘Los Amigos’ hostel in Flores, Guatemala. It’s hot, humid, no air conditioning (rarely will you find that here) but the ceiling fans are trying their darndest. We just had a sunshower which cooled things for a good 10 minutes, but now it’s back to hot white light and too hot cobblestones and the bright colours of the street, which, due to my doxycycline-induced photo sensitivity, makes me seek shadier parts during the afternoon.

So, Belize. I was there for maybe 5 days. It was astonishingly beautiful. Pretty sure all 90s video clips which feature singers wearing white clothes walking along a white sandy beach happened in Belize. So that was a definite perk, boosting the morale, walking along the same shore as J.Lo in ‘My Love Don’t Cost A Thing’. Or Rico Suave.

But yeah, not my caper, at least not when I’m alone, poor, full of energy and pressed for time. My impression of San Pedro was that it was full of rich white couples and families, or 18 year old American kids on their first trip sin padres. Not really any middle ground. But just walking along the street I’d get called at, which was a shock to the system. Maybe it was more offensive cause it was in English? But yeah, just so not down with that. There’s something about Latino culture which (I think) is based on respect for other people, and people are generally warm, friendly, and inoffensive. But I had a few instances which soiled my walk along the beach, such as :

‘Hey girl, where you going? Come here I’ll show you a good time’.

‘No thanks, I’m heading home. Have a good night’.

‘I’d have a better night if I could DO YOU’.

...aggressive, uncalled for, not good. Made me angry, but how do you respond? It’s a fine line. I want to be friendly, and not cold, but that friendliness can so easily be exploited, and it makes me crazy. My guidebook says that women travellers should ‘use common sense, don’t walk alone at night’, and it’s been a long time since my ‘common sense’ needed to extend that far. Is it common sense that you should assume everyone is going to harass you?

That said, Lobsterfest was fun. The block party involved all of San Pedro’s finest restaurants competing to cook the best lobster, and the one I decided to eat from (Elvi’s Restaurant) took out the title, so there you go. The place was booming. They had a big stage with live music, and a Garifuna band taking us into the early morning. The San Pedro population were on the dancefloor in full force, responding to the tourists, and upping them. And what surprised me was the mix of ethnicities. Garifuna (hear creole everyyywheerreee!), Latino, white (and white from all over the world) have chosen to make this little town their home, and it’s all inter-mixed. There seemed to be no sense of hierarchy between locals, and to have three totally different, strong cultures coming together, I’m not sure if I’ve seen it work so well before.

So yeah that was fun, I didn’t bust a move but just sat on the sidelines and ended up talking with a guy called George who had worked for the Belizean government securing fresh water infrastructure. Pretty rad snakes. Then I left at a reasonable hour, went back to my hotel, and finished off the second season of Mad Men (so far behind, yes, but savouring every minute).

The next day, woke up early, checked out, went for a walk and found a place to hire bikes, then rode to an Eco Yoga Retreat, a few miles north of San Pedro town. I met a girl the night before who told me there was a class at 10am, and I got there just in time. Smashed out a yoga session in a palapa – one of those open-air shacks- at the end of a wharf on crystal blue water. Think I took a photo, cause boy! Best yoga location evahhhh. It was nice- I needed stretching and also just some chill time, but I hadn’t eaten Breaky so always a bit tough. Then I went back and grabbed my bag and caught the ferry to Caye Caulker –  supposedly a spitting image of paradise.

Caye Caulker was waaaay more relaxed then San Pedro, and no annoying hawkers. I just decided to spend one day there, cause I was getting impatient, and there was only so much lying on the beach on a remote island that I could take, especially within a 4-week time period. If I needed to chill, cool, but I wanted adventure.  Went out with some people from my hostel that evening which was fun, but relaxed, being Sunday night and all.

The next morning commenced a long trip to arrive in Flores, Guatemala. Going with a girl from my hostel, we hopped on the ferry at 7.30am, then chilled in Belize City for our bus at 10am. The bus was like 1.5 hours late, and was totally packed. The road up to the border was fine, but then Guatemala hit us in all of her shitty-road-glory.  The border was fine, way easier than expected actually. But the roads in Guatemala switch between asphalt and the boulders/cow/pothole/chickens combo that you never know what to expect. We were all so sweaty, bouncing everywhere, bumping heads, jarring tailbones, that we were a sight to behold.

But made it to Flores, and quickly upon arrival here at the hostel, got asked by an Israeli couple if I’d be interested on heading to the jungle for 3 days.

WHY THE FLUP NOT? They seemed pretty cool, and I did want to do some hiking. Luckily there was a French girl who wanted to come too, making our party of 4, and before we knew we were booked in for a 7am departure.

We headed to El Peru, the site of some Mayan ruins which are still mostly covered in forest. The trek to El Mirador, which is a massive Mayan site, would take 5 days in total, which was longer than what I wanted to spend. So this it was. We drove for ages, and through a really deep river- real fwightnin stuff- and then caught a boat to our campground along the San Pedro river. The next few days consisted of many jungle walks, seeing peacocks, deer, tarantulas (yikey), snakes, the Guacamaya Roja- big deal for the Mayans, beautiful big red parrot- the macaw in English?, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, everything in-between.
Walking through the jungle was beautiful, so green, so muddy, brimming with sounds and colour and animals and smells and life. Mosquitoes were absolutely mental- even my crazy strong DEET-ridden repellent did little to curb their excitement. We were covered in repellent, covered in sunscreen, covered in sweat, covered in itchiness, for the three days. Our guides were great- we spoke Spanish with them, and learned about their lives and listened in awe as they spoke Ka-Chi (sp?) with each other. We couldn’t swim, due to the large crocodile presence, but that made the whole earthly struggle enjoyable. At night they cooked us delicious food, we were in bed by 7.30pm with the sun, and waited for the nightly thunderstorms to approach. Loudest freakin thunder of my life- it sounded like the sky was getting torn in half. And the sound of the big rain drops hitting the rainforest leaves was even better than rain on corrugated iron.

The four of us got along really well, and last night, once we had returned to civilisation (after a shower, shave, last change of clean clothes) we went out to a local joint and watched the lightening way out over the jungle go crazy for the third night.

Today I awoke at 4am and took the tour to the Tikal ruins. Tikal was beautiful, though our guide was so-so, and not heap$z informative in the way of the Maya. But then he took me on a private tour to some prohibited areas cause I told him I studied anthropology. So that was good. I still need to do some research about the importance of that site. Only 15% has been uncovered, and the site was occupied for 1800 years, and 150,000 people lived there.

One thing I know is that I know very little about the Mayans! Talking to some travellers, a lot of people learnt about it in high school, but alas, we did not. But their knowledge of astronomy, medicine, architecture, etc, just mind-blowing. Imagine what they could have taught us.  

So now it’s almost 4pm and I might take a nap, or go and get some food. I have a few choices for the next two weeks. I could either find my way to Honduras, and go get my diving license, and then return to Guatemala, or I could just chill and spend some good time in Guatemala and maybe do a Spanish course. So many decisions!

Until next time,

G

Ps ‘Di One Dala Deal’ – is ‘The One Dollar Deal’ in Garifuna

AND ALSO

‘Tings’ for ‘things’ actually is legit. Happy days.