Guatemala – August 17-25, 2023

[Martin Hash]

Gwynne & Martin Matching Shirts.jpg

Gwynne & Martin Matching Shirts

Entering Guatemala

We sweltered outside in the high humidity during the hours that we waited at the Guatemalan border to process our vehicle. On the plus side, there was a little bar serving cold beer. It was dark when we finally got back on the road so the driver made arrangements at a nearby truck stop to let us stay in the overnight parking area. It was a muddy, dirty, noisy place but they had rudimentary flush toilets & cold showers, plus a rudimentary all-night bar. The place also had armed patrols; while we were waiting, a white Toyota truck drove in with 2 men in the back brandishing machine guns; a young woman holding a baby hurried over to greet them. They were probably being paid by the local businesses for protection, and seemed benign enough but, unfortunately, the night patrol guy shined his light directly into our tent, peering inside at us. I was naked, sweating on a sheet, but luckily my wife, Gwynne, was under hers. I yelled out, “Hey! What are you doing?!” which caught him by surprise. “Securidad! Securidad! Securidad!” he exclaimed as excuse as he backed away from the opening. Sure, buddy, I thought to myself. I stayed up the rest of the night watching the watcher.



Jaguar

The next campsite was a bush camp: it was 100% humid even in the cold; our tent was wet, and the fly was dripping water; our sleeping bags, pillowcases & sleep-sheets were damp; my body sticking to anything made of nylon; there were 2 dozen boys playing soccer, the grass was long, and there were no toilets. About 2 am, a dog from across the street went off, barking in a paroxysm of excitement. I was immediately wide awake. Soon other dogs, further away, began a similar litany. Through all that cacophony I could hear what sounded like someone walking through the grass behind our tent which was on the outside perimeter. Perhaps it was someone out to relieve themselves, but the grass was tall there and the steps were furtive rather than clumsy. I wondered what it would be like if it was a bear and jumped on us but, luckily, there are no bears in Guatemala. However, in the morning we heard that a jaguar had been hunting nearby.



Semuc Campey Falls

One of the ways we stay motivated to get up in the morning of a long drive day is to anticipate the next water stop. We’d been told that the waterfalls at Semuc Campey were fabulous so even though it took days to get there and we had to arrive early in the morning, we kept focused on the goal. From our vehicle, we had to ride standing up in the back of a pick-up down winding roads for another half hour to get there, then walk 10 more minutes. What we found was well worth the wait; low cascading falls from one blue pond into the next; deep enough to both swim and stand in. The water temperature was also perfect. We spent a couple hours there, Gwynne modeling the bikini she had just purchased, then we retraced our path back to focus on the next adventure.



Refilling Water

The overland vehicle we travel in has two 100-gallon water tanks used for cooking & cleaning. Every couple of weeks the tanks have to be filled. Normally, there’s places to do that but occasionally we have to fill up with any water we can get. We were driving down the mountains on an unmaintained road when Gwynne saw a natural spring spilling onto the roadway ahead; she predicted we’d stop, and she was right. What followed was a Chinese fire drill of two-dozen people ferrying water in cooking pots from the springhead to the water tank spouts. We were quite the spectacle to the local traffic of cars, buses & motorcycles; many waving & honking. In less than an hour, we were happily driving away with a full load mountain-fresh spring water.



Tzanjuyu Bay

Atitlan Lake in Panajachel was the next body of water so it became our focus. We arrived at our campground, the backyard of a 100+ year old lakeside resort, just in time for it to start raining, then because it was Gwynne’s & my turn to cook for everyone, walked in the pouring rain for 10 minutes to a supermarket. I had an umbrella, but Gwynne was forced to put a food sack on her head. We spent 2 nights there, burdened by our cooking duties but the grass we were camped on was perfectly manicured, there was wifi & places to charge our electronics. I slept well despite nearby snoring; in the morning, the snorer kindly told me that I was snoring.



Antigua

Our last stop in Guatemala was Antigua, which claims to have been the capital of Spanish Central America for over 200 years, and it looks it; the roads are cobblestone, the buildings of primitive construction, and the city was elegant in a deteriorated empire kind of way. We were told this was intentional; there was electricity power lines were not visible, and the toilets flushed, though you weren’t supposed to put toilet paper in them, instead putting it in a nearby waste basket. (This is common in developing countries so not a surprise but, unfortunately, not only does it smell but it’s very unsanitary. They need use toilet paper that dissolves in water.) Gwynne messaged her friend in the States who had grown up in Guatemala that she was in Antigua, and her friend told her about pastry-based candies unique to the city, so we had to search them out. The cap came off of Gwynne’s tooth; she Googled a dentist who was only 10 walking minutes away so I accompanied her to get a root canal. Because of her sore mouth, we ate clam chowder without any clams for dinner at an Irish pub. This might seem bad but considering our companion who had to fly home to Japan with dengue fever,she knew it was just how it is.



Street Market

Gwynne & I have been to street markets all over the world, and the one in Antigua rivals the best. It was huge: clothing, shoes, hats, toys & other goods from local artisans. I especially enjoyed all of the produce & flowers for sale. The poorer the merchants got, the worse their placement. Indigenously-dressed women, who obviously brought the contents of their home gardens, were all located together; their meager quantity of vegetables carefully laid out in small piles before them. Some of the spaces were empty; I fervently hoped it was because they had sold out. Raw meat hanging in closely packed aisles was the most remarkable but I'd seen that kind of thing in otther markets. The place was speckled with little food stalls, often serving ceviche, raw fish preserved only by lime juice that spoils quickly but is fabulous if eaten fresh. It looked appealing but Gwynne didn’t want to take the chance when we had 2 camp days ahead of us. The market was so large & crowded, all the jostling from women carrying large loads on their heads, that I was exhausted from the experience in a couple hours. Gwynne bought matching shirts with images of things we’ve seen in Guatemala.