Texas Tea Time

So we've been hanging about in Texas while the in-laws (my in-laws that is) have been up in Seattle with Kirsten. Bart and Lauren are there too, but let's not get any funny ideas about why they went up there. If Kirsten weren't up there they'd still be around here this Memorial Day.

So what is "Memorial Day"? It seems that it is roughly equivalent to Remembrance Day (Nov. 11th) in the UK. Strangely it seems to be an official 'movable feast' (similar to Thanksgiving) celebrated on the last monday in May. The main point of which seems to be the granting of a long weekend in a similar fashion to 'bank holiday mondays'. Unfortunately this means its significance is lost to all except military families - even in this military age.

Anyway, federal holiday or not, we've been getting ready for the return of the Thompsons. I'm in the process of trying a second batch of bread (the first batch was an unspectacular failure) and Tracy is looking at travel options. We're still unsure of what we are doing, but we're certainly sure of what we don't want to do - so that narrows things down a bit. More details as events warrant...

So I think that my visa issues will soon be behind us. Basically when we left the USA for Mexico, the border guard (who was a bit of a 'jerk' to be honest) didn't take my little white form. When I came back in, the guard didn't really check anything - just ran my passport though the machine and waved us though. Spot of advise for anyone wanting to smuggle stuff into the USA - go through Laredo at night... Unfortunately this left me with a stamp in the passport that expired in April and no new one. When we asked the immigration people at Houston airport they seemed confused because they couldn't find me in the system. Eventually we got squared away, but I still need to write a letter to the immigration people with proof I was out of the country. Also they said that next time I leave the country, I need to impress upon the US border people the need to take my white form off me. I just figured they would know how to do their jobs... You will be pleased to know that in my letter I refrained from expressing my varied opinions on the organisational abilities of the US border patrol and also refrained from directing them to the nearest brewery with instructions on how to arrange some festivities.

So - news will be posted here once we figure out what we're up to!

Back in the USSA

Howdy folks.

Yes, we're back here in the USA. Seems I've broken the immigration system here (again - see earlier) but that's a whole nother story. Maybe later...

Anyway, we're currently house sitting for Tracy's folks while we figure out what we're doing. We're either headed for Alaska and Canada or back down to Honduras, Nicaragua and all that good stuff. Decisions, decisions... We're mainly here because we got a bit jaded with Central America. We found we weren't enjoying it like we should and decided that we should really take a break rather than tick places off the list without really appreciating what we were doing. We're going to have to have a bit of a think this weekend about what our plans are going to be for the next 6 months and what we'll need to do.

So that's the latest from us (and partly why we've been silent for the last few days). News will be posted here once we figure out what the news will be.

Huehuetenango - Todos Santos

Well, we stuck around in Xela long enough to have some Mothers Day communications. Then we got a chicken bus to Huehuetenango...literally a chicken bus; this woman had some chickens along with her, and they kept escaping her bag to wander around.

We got to Huehue a couple hours later and had time to grab some rice and beans at a local comedor before we got another chicken bus (figuratively speaking this time) to Todos Santos. The drive was a bit scary at times, with sheer drops to the side, but the views were lovely. We drove through the highest point in Central America, the Cuchumatanes mountain range. And we passed through lots of wee pueblos with such colourfully clothed people to be seen, as well as spotty pigs snorting all around the place.

So many people told us how beautiful Todos Santos is, with lovely mountain views and local people with gorgeous traditional outfits. Sure enough, we saw lots of both there. Unlike many other Mayan villages we've seen, the men in and around Todos Santos wear traditional outfits too. They wear bright red stripey trousers with colourful tops, and the women wear really brightly coloured skirts and tops. The clothes shops are filled with so many bright, beautiful colours. Iff liked the trousers so much, he bought a pair!

We found Todos Santos lovely to look at, but we only stayed there for one night. There wasn't much to do; we didn't yet fancy hiking, volunteering, or learning more Spanish. Plus there wasn't much exciting in the way of food, and there was no running water at our hostel. Having to go across the street and down two flights of stairs every time nature called got a bit tedious! But we look forward to exploring more of the Mam (the branch of Mayan people living in this part of Guatemala) territory.

So this morning we got a combi back to Huehue, where we're staying the night. Time to figure out what comes next...

HAPPY MUMS DAY!!!

Here's a shout out to all the muthas, especially the following stars:

Sharon Thompson
Shelagh Noden
Alice Swarbrick
Lauren Thompson
Mary Adams

Keep up the great work, you muthas!

Casa del Mundo to Xela

So, as Iff mentioned, we went from San Pedro La Laguna to Casa del Mundo, a wonderful retreat also on Lake Atitlan. (I suppose it's a hotel technically, but it consists of really nice cabin-type buildings spread throughout gorgeous gardens on the side of a mountain.) We'd heard it was a welcome break from the touristy aspects of San Pedro, a place to chill out completely.

And that's exactly what we did. We slept a lot and read a lot. I finally got to try a book by Jodi Picoult, which I really liked. We enjoyed the lovely view of mountains, volcanoes, the lake itself, and all the retreat landscaping. We could have gone swimming, kayaking, hiking, etc. But we didn't bother! We simply enjoyed not having to study, do homework, have set meal times, entertain a two-year-old, or think in any sort of productive capacity. We had one night in an economy room and one night in a more luxurious en-suite room. Lovely!

But soon enough, it was time to get back to the real world. We got a boat back to Panajachel, where we first arrived at Lake Atitlan. We then got a chicken bus to Xela, a few hours away to the west. Upon arrival here, we were a bit baffled. We'd gotten used to being in small villages or towns. Even Antigua had a small town feel to it. Xela (or Quetzaltenango, its full name) is huge. It's big enough to be split into zones. We actually had to get a taxi from the bus stop to the hostel we chose from our guidebook. Mental!

We'd heard that Xela is a good base for hiking and volunteering, both of which really interested us. A funny thing happened, though. Since we've been here, we've felt pretty lethargic. We've spent a fair bit of time chilling in our huge, very comfy hostel room. There's not much to see in the city itself, but we have found some excellent food at various cafes and restaurants. We're writing these few days off as recharging our batteries. We've both been a bit run down (and bruised, in poor Iff's case) lately, so it's been really nice to take it easy. Really easy.

We did venture out for a half-day tour yesterday, though. We wanted to see a Mayan archaeological site called Abaj Takalik, not far from Xela. It's famous for being older than (though much less restored than) Tikal and for including stone heads with Olmec features. Reading about stone heads being unearthed in coffee plantations really piqued my interest, so off we went. We were the only two people on the tour, so we got loads of attention and information. Good thing we learned as much Spanish as we did!

Getting to the site was educational. We drove for about an hour along windy, mountain roads past fields with every possible fruit and veg growing. (The fresh produce is amazing in Guatemala!) Then we had a few hours at the ruins themselves, and they're fascinating. There's so much left uncovered still, but what they've unearthed was well worth a look. There are huge stones carved a couple centuries BC. The Mayans living there liked to have statues of big, fat frogs, people, and even an owl. There are no big temples restored there, but that was OK with us. One cool thing was seeing people working on the site. One guy was cleaning dirt off a huge altar stone with water and a toothbrush. Talk about dedication!

So we did do one productive thing while here in Xela: we increased our respect for the ancient Mayan civilisations. And my respect for them was already high!

Today we head for Huehuetenango and then possibly to Todos Santos, depending on the availability of public buses. Perhaps there's some hiking in our near future...we'll see what happens!

Photo clean-up

The list of photos has been shortened somewhat with some added from our most recent exploits and the following links removed:

Chetumal

Tulum

Uxmal

Merida

Chichen Itza

Playa Del Carmen

Isla Mujeres

Cancun

Palenque

San Cristobal de las Casas

Oaxaca

Zitacuaro

Guanajuato

Puerto Vallarta

Mazatlan

El Fuerte

Creel - Divisadero

Creel - La Bufa

Chihuahua

Monterrey

Hillary

Houston

Vancouver Island

Kirsten Thompson

Gettin' to Texas

Beth & Mark in Ohio

Washington DC

Chez Butlers

Boston

Vermont

Baby Shower

Seattle

Hopefully the lack of photos in posts is behind us for a while as we are now in Xela where internet is abundant and cheap.

Adios San Pedro

Our time in San Pedro is over for now. We're now hanging out in Casa Del Mundo – a cool little hotel on the edge of the Lake. It's a little slice of luxury before we're once again thrown back into the maelstrom of Guatemalan travel. It's a little indulgent – a lot indulgent considering how we've been living of late - but I'm pretty sure we deserve it. Casa Del Mundo is a tranquil spot on the edge of the lake with a wonderful view and a quiet garden – perfect for relaxing! There are also various hikes to do, but that's not why we're here. Besides, I think I bruised a rib or two playing football this past week (“me duelen las costillas”), so I'm using that excuse.


Speaking of injuries, I've been troubled recently with an irritated mozzie bite that didn't seem to want to die down. I was worried it had become infected, but after a little home medicine (and a little info from the internet) I managed to remove a little piece of god knows what from my shin and now it's clearing up perfectly. We're still undecided if it was a bug, a piece of gravel/dirt/sand/gunk or something else entirely, but I like to claim it was a worm – usually just before Tracy starts eating. Whatever it was, it's now no longer hitching a free ride around Guatemala and I'm feeling a lot better thanks!

Before we left we had one last appointment. My Spanish teacher's daughter turned one today (4th of May) and she invited us around. It was a particular honour because she didn't invite any of the teachers or (as far as I know) any other students. We spent about an hour at her house with her and a select band of her closest family – although true to Guatemalan form, that consisted of 25 other people – and we got to meet little Shaidy Manuela. We did have a good time although in all my previous experience of education I've never had a teacher breast-feed a baby in front of me before. I guess we are here for different experiences... In fairness the attitude to breast-feeding in public seems very different here than in the West – and a lot more sensible too. After an hour at the party we had run out of Spanish phrases and we managed to extricate ourselves - not before having to turn down some meaty looking food (successfully) and some pineapple juice (unsuccessfully). We made our way back to our homestay, picked up our bags and jumped on the next boat out.


Although we'll always have pleasant memories of SP, I think it's about time to move on. We still have plenty of the world to see and now we're better equipped to deal with it – or the part of it that speaks Español anyway. We did meet lots of interesting people – both Guatemaltecos and extraños – and managed to learn something too. Maybe we'll come back a la Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi to complete what we started. I certainly feel like there's plenty more to learn; I just can't fit it in my head right now.

Paragliding!

This morning I paraglided over Lake Atitlan!!! It was amazing. It's something I've been wanting to do for ages, so when I read that it was possible here and relatively cheap, I had to go for it!

I booked it a few days ago and anxiously awaited this morning. Finally the time came! I was picked up at the dock by the French paraglider Guy (who would be my tandom pilot) and the El Salvadorian paraglider Julio (along for a solo flight). We boated off to San Juan, at the foot of the mountain called La Nariz (the nose). We had a TERRIFYING bus ride up to the top. (Recently the husband of my last Spanish teacher was in a bus when it went over the edge of a mountain, tumbled down for ages, and only stopped when it plowed into a huge tree. Amazingly, no one was killed, but I kept worrying that I'd find out how it feels to careen over the edge and down the mountain...without a parachute!) Luckily we made it just fine to El Mirador, a point way up high.

We hiked a short distance to a wee clearing of grass. In front of us was a gorgeous view of mountains and volcanoes all around the huge lake. I was a little nervous, but I was made more nervous by Julio, who was really cool but very nervous himself. It was his 19th solo flight, but he said every time he's still nervous. It took him about eight tries before the wind was just right, and he ran off the mountain to soar like a bird. I couldn't wait to see what it was like!!!

I got strapped into a backpack. Guy got strapped into his parachute. Our gear was hooked together, and then we just had to wait until the wind was right. He told me that as soon as he said vamos, I should run like hell straight ahead and over the cliff. As you do. We then had the following exchange:

Moi: ¡Por supuesto! ¿Estás seguro que todo está bien?
Guy: Oui!
Moi: ¿Y no quieres suicidarte?
Guy: Non!
Moi: Perfecto!

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, he yelled vamos. I managed to run about two steps before the parachute pulled so strongly that I couldn't move. ¡Vamos! ¡Vamos! He was yelling at me, and finally I managed to run right to the edge. Then before I could even be scared, we were in the air! Woo-hoo!!!

Never in my life have I felt such a thing. There were eagles flying around us and below us. People looked like ants down in the lake and in the pueblos I could see. Clouds and mountaintops were at my eye level. The bottom of our backpacks became seats for us as we soared in big circles and figure eights way up high. I felt weightless and totally secure, even when the wind decided to take us higher or drop us a bit. It was perfectly smooth flying. It was nothing short of maravilloso.

We were up there for about 20 minutes when Guy told me it was time to land. He brought us down really smoothly, and we skidded to an easy stop in the grass in front of where he'd parked the boat. Julio was already down there with a huge grin on his face. There were high fives all 'round; we were all thrilled.

¡QUÉ MARAVILLOSO! ¡Otra vez, otra vez!