We left Guatemala via a small town called El Florida. Much easier leaving Guatemala than entering. Earlier in the day, we drove through Guatemala City, which was a real white knuckle experience, and we'd probably still be there if not for a good samaritan named Osvaldo who took pity on us when we stopped and asked directions, and actually rode halfway across the city with us to make sure we got on the right highway. We'd spent the night before in a motel in a small city called Chiquimula.
We got to the town of Copan Ruinas, and started looking for my sister Jen and her family. Through the typical comedy of errors, we missed each other several times, then finally hooked up. On Saturday we went to the Copan Ruins together. Very impressive structures and carving. Macaws and Tapirs wandering the grounds. Went out and ate Honduran food a couple of times with Jen and George, with every meal you get fried bananas and heavy cream to dip them in. Jen, George and the girls had to catch a bus at 5:15 this morning, hard to believe that they'll be sleeping in their own beds tonight.
It rained off and on all morning, and Jane and I hadn't really made any Honduras plans beyond Copan, so we're having a lazy day today. Jane did a little school with the boys this morning, then we went for a walk out beyond the ruins, did a little shopping, and now we're heading back to the camper. Tomorrow we'll get up and drive to Lago . . . something, it's got a funny name, and it's the largest natural lake in Honduras. About 125 miles southeast of here. Our guidebook tells us that some zany Oregonian and his Honduran wife have a Hostel/Microbrewery there, so of course we have to check that out. There are some hotsprings outside of Copan that we had hoped to visit today, but they are quite a drive down a dirt road, and with the rain this morning, we decided not to chance it.
Tortilla update: Very thick in Honduras. Sometimes stuffed with beans, meat and cheese and called pupusas. We haven't seen a tortillaria yet, it seems you just have to find the market and get them there. Two tortillas for a lempira. Eighteen lempiras to the dollar.
We're staying in the very nicely landscaped parking area of the Hotel Casa Marias, just on the outskirts of town. Our other option for camping was the Texaco station right next to the ruins, which was somewhat lacking in ambiance, so we're glad to have found the Casa Marias. It's a kind of upscale place, with extensive grounds including coffee bushes and banana trees. No electricity or showers, but still better than the Texaco station.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Into Guatemala
Our last internet access was at Lago Catemaco, on the east side of Mexico. We woke to some raucous birds, had a leisurely breakfast, did some shopping, and left town around noon. Then, in an afternoon, we drove from (near) the Atlantic to the Pacific, traveling from north to south across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Across the continent in about five hours of driving.
Quite a difference - the Atlantic side is humid and densely populated, while the Pacific coast is drier with more wide open space between towns. Still plenty warm though, we stayed in a motel in a little town just east of Juchitan Saturday night, and used the air conditioner almost all night. Sunday we got up and drove down the coast. There was a huge "zona de windmills" with the tall spindly electricity generating windmills like you see around the U.S. Mid-afternoon we drove out to a little mexican town called Puerto Arista, right on the ocean. There we stayed in a campground under the coconut trees for two nights. Ah, finally a little vacation on our vacation. The wind blew day and night until the morning we left - see note above about wind farms down the road - but the ocean was warm, the beach perfect for sand castles, and the breakers just right for the boys to finally use the boogie boards they got for x-mas.
Thank goodness we had bought a machete earlier in the trip, we were able to open some coconuts. The campground was part of a sizeable grove of coconuts with a few orange and lemon trees as well.
We left Puerto Arista intending to do as we had been advised; go to a small town on the Mexican side of the border, spend the night, and cross first thing in the morning. The one thing we weren't going to do was cross near the Mexican town of Tapachula, a notoriously bad crossing everyone had warned us against. Yet, while driving through Tapachula to reach the highway that would take us south to our destination, somehow, like a moth to a flame, like Bill Clinton to a chubby intern, even though we knew better, we were inexorably drawn into crossing the border here, now, by a fast talking "border crossing facilitator" named Lorenzo, who assured us that the border was only five minutes away and that the crossing would take only a half hour.
Three and a half hours, and a surprisingly large amount of dollars and stress later, the sun was setting, and we were bidding a fond farewell to Lorenzo and his merry band of co-conspirators, and finally crossing into Guatemala. It was a fond farewell because we knew beyond a doubt that we would never return to this place. Any time you want to raise Jane or my blood pressure, and be entertained for half an hour, ask us to tell you the story of our first crossing into Guatemala. Make sure you mention the mis-place passports.
The other thing we were repeatedly warned about was not to drive at night in Guatemala. Fortunately it was still twilight when, after only one wrong turn, we found a Motel with a camping area which Jane had jotted a note about off of the internet. We had the whole campground to ourselves, and the boys really enjoyed the water slide into the swimming pool. Big sigh of relief for Jane and I.
Yesterday we drove to Lake Atitlan, to the town of Panachel, we're camping right on the edge of town, on the grounds of what was once a grand, but now run-down, hotel. This morning, on the way back from the tortilleria, the boys and I walked along the shoreline and saw some fishermen pulling some fish that looked a lot like crappies from their nets. Their boats were short little slab sided canoes, Tiny boats for such a large lake.
Lake Atitlan is as scenic as promised. Ringed by perfect conical volcanic peaks and extremely steep mountainsides. Panachel is definitly a tourist town. Last night we camped next to 20 Germans traveling on a modified Greyhound style bus with seats in front and a canvas slideout dorm room in back. More gringo faces in this town than we've seen since we left Texas. But to us it is still totally exotic, because it's Guatemala! We don't even know how to buy tortillas here! (More on this problem later).
We're doing a layover day here in Panachel, then tomorrow we're off to (shudder) drive through Guatemala City on our way to meeting Jen and George and Sarah and Meredith in Honduras.
Quite a difference - the Atlantic side is humid and densely populated, while the Pacific coast is drier with more wide open space between towns. Still plenty warm though, we stayed in a motel in a little town just east of Juchitan Saturday night, and used the air conditioner almost all night. Sunday we got up and drove down the coast. There was a huge "zona de windmills" with the tall spindly electricity generating windmills like you see around the U.S. Mid-afternoon we drove out to a little mexican town called Puerto Arista, right on the ocean. There we stayed in a campground under the coconut trees for two nights. Ah, finally a little vacation on our vacation. The wind blew day and night until the morning we left - see note above about wind farms down the road - but the ocean was warm, the beach perfect for sand castles, and the breakers just right for the boys to finally use the boogie boards they got for x-mas.
Thank goodness we had bought a machete earlier in the trip, we were able to open some coconuts. The campground was part of a sizeable grove of coconuts with a few orange and lemon trees as well.
We left Puerto Arista intending to do as we had been advised; go to a small town on the Mexican side of the border, spend the night, and cross first thing in the morning. The one thing we weren't going to do was cross near the Mexican town of Tapachula, a notoriously bad crossing everyone had warned us against. Yet, while driving through Tapachula to reach the highway that would take us south to our destination, somehow, like a moth to a flame, like Bill Clinton to a chubby intern, even though we knew better, we were inexorably drawn into crossing the border here, now, by a fast talking "border crossing facilitator" named Lorenzo, who assured us that the border was only five minutes away and that the crossing would take only a half hour.
Three and a half hours, and a surprisingly large amount of dollars and stress later, the sun was setting, and we were bidding a fond farewell to Lorenzo and his merry band of co-conspirators, and finally crossing into Guatemala. It was a fond farewell because we knew beyond a doubt that we would never return to this place. Any time you want to raise Jane or my blood pressure, and be entertained for half an hour, ask us to tell you the story of our first crossing into Guatemala. Make sure you mention the mis-place passports.
The other thing we were repeatedly warned about was not to drive at night in Guatemala. Fortunately it was still twilight when, after only one wrong turn, we found a Motel with a camping area which Jane had jotted a note about off of the internet. We had the whole campground to ourselves, and the boys really enjoyed the water slide into the swimming pool. Big sigh of relief for Jane and I.
Yesterday we drove to Lake Atitlan, to the town of Panachel, we're camping right on the edge of town, on the grounds of what was once a grand, but now run-down, hotel. This morning, on the way back from the tortilleria, the boys and I walked along the shoreline and saw some fishermen pulling some fish that looked a lot like crappies from their nets. Their boats were short little slab sided canoes, Tiny boats for such a large lake.
Lake Atitlan is as scenic as promised. Ringed by perfect conical volcanic peaks and extremely steep mountainsides. Panachel is definitly a tourist town. Last night we camped next to 20 Germans traveling on a modified Greyhound style bus with seats in front and a canvas slideout dorm room in back. More gringo faces in this town than we've seen since we left Texas. But to us it is still totally exotic, because it's Guatemala! We don't even know how to buy tortillas here! (More on this problem later).
We're doing a layover day here in Panachel, then tomorrow we're off to (shudder) drive through Guatemala City on our way to meeting Jen and George and Sarah and Meredith in Honduras.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Lake Catemaco
A lot has happened since our last post. We went to the El Tajin ruin South of TAmpico, near Poza Rica. Quite spectacular compared to the ruins we have in the Gila. Pyramids, ball courts, fancy stonework, all that Mayan jazz. We spent the night there, then drove to a little town called Xico just outside Jalapa. We´d had a guest at the lodge who owned land and had friends there, so we had someone to get inside info from. Spent a foggy night driving around the quaint cobblestone streets of the town looking for gringo´s and a place to park the trailer. Finally ended up at la cascada (the waterfall) outside town. Very lush cloud forest kind of place. Met up with the locals yesterday morning, got some travel tips and made it into Lake Catemaco (south of Veracruz) last night. Slept next to the Lake and woke up to some very noisy birds at daybreak. We´re doing a little shopping, then we´ll hit the road again, probably heading across to the Pacific coast. Today we´ve been on the road for a week, and it seems like all we do is drive, but we´ve slowed down a bit. We don´t have to meet Jen and family now until the 25th or 26th, so the pressure is off a bit. More later.
Dean
Dean
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Tampico
I noticed that Dean forgot to mention our first mishap after crossing the border....we of course took the wrong road and saw the road we wanted off to the left, so he quickly veered to the left on a little street heading that way. It turns out it was a one way ramp onto the road we were on and we proceeded to block traffic for the next few minutes while no one would let us out onto the main road. Finally some policeman stopped traffic and flagged us out and we took off. A bit later, they pulled us over and told us to go to the police station and that we would have to pay lots of money because we were going the wrong way and we didn't stop when they tried to pull us over. After a few minutes of talking it out, it was obvious they wanted a bribe. So, $50 later, we were on our way. Bribes are alive and well in Mexico. Next time I'm going to hold out for $20. We're still in Tampico, getting ready to start heading toward Jalapa. We're going to try and hook up with some friends of a guest that live down there. The boys are complaining about another day of driving, but we need to make some time if we're going to be all the way down in Honduras in 10 days.
I haven't heard from anyone from my family....are you out there? Could someone make sure mom and dad have the blog address? If we can ever figure out how to work our own computer (this is Chip's), we'll try to send photos too. When we actually start taking photos, that is.
Jane
Aah yes, la mordida (the bite) an old Mexican tradition. $50 seemed excessive, but on the other hand, we had actually broken the law, and I didn't have to even get out of the car - just hand over the $ and we were on our way. The funny part to me is that we had only been in the country for ten minutes and already we were in trouble with the law.
The kids aren't the only ones complaining about another day of driving. Chip said Tampico is about 1200 miles from Silver City, and it looks like it's roughly half way to Honduras. So what that means is that we still have many days of driving too go. . . And we have to find a bank and change some money this morning, so we better get going.
Dean
I haven't heard from anyone from my family....are you out there? Could someone make sure mom and dad have the blog address? If we can ever figure out how to work our own computer (this is Chip's), we'll try to send photos too. When we actually start taking photos, that is.
Jane
Aah yes, la mordida (the bite) an old Mexican tradition. $50 seemed excessive, but on the other hand, we had actually broken the law, and I didn't have to even get out of the car - just hand over the $ and we were on our way. The funny part to me is that we had only been in the country for ten minutes and already we were in trouble with the law.
The kids aren't the only ones complaining about another day of driving. Chip said Tampico is about 1200 miles from Silver City, and it looks like it's roughly half way to Honduras. So what that means is that we still have many days of driving too go. . . And we have to find a bank and change some money this morning, so we better get going.
Dean
Monday, January 14, 2008
Tampico Mexico
Oh my, it takes a long time to drive across Texas. We got the traditional crack of noon start from Silver City, made it to Van Horn Texas the first night, then to Eagle Pass (near Laredo) the second night. Sunday afternoon we crossed into Mexico and did all our paperwork with the Mexican Government, then crossed back to the U.S. and spent the night. Got an early start (for us) this morning, crossed over and drove to Tampico, on the Gulf Coast.
Chip, our friend from Silver City, and his son Lucas are living in a very swank apartment in a quiet part of town. We went out to dinner, then to the beach where the boys and Lucas went wading in the dark, then to DQ and back to Chip & Lucas's apartment. Sorry we haven't been keeping in touch very well, we haven't had time to do much but drive and sleep. Which is what I'm going to do right now. Sleep, I mean.
Chip, our friend from Silver City, and his son Lucas are living in a very swank apartment in a quiet part of town. We went out to dinner, then to the beach where the boys and Lucas went wading in the dark, then to DQ and back to Chip & Lucas's apartment. Sorry we haven't been keeping in touch very well, we haven't had time to do much but drive and sleep. Which is what I'm going to do right now. Sleep, I mean.
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