Antigua

Antigua has grown on us.  The setting is beautiful.  It´s set in a valley ringed by three volcanoes.  One of them is active.  We saw a plume of smoke come out of it for a moment yesterday when we hiked to this lookout point that overlooks the town.  The climate is just what Goldilocks would like.  It feels like a different continent here, like Europe.  Of course this also has to do with the large number of expats studying Spanish, operating businesses or taking tours of the colonial architecture; which was all built by Europeans. 

The other beauty of it here is the quiet.  Low season rules.  In the morning since we are always up early, we head out and it feels like we are the only people here. This is also because every house and business is behind walls, and there are no glass windows, only big old wooden ones.  Things open late and close early.  The locals have it good here.  I don't think we'll stay here too many more days as our hotel will be booked for the upcoing Day of the Dead kite festival.  That's their like their Hallowe'en, only it's the day after and without candies, but with kites instead and no costumes and you go to a big field instead of knocking on people's doors. 

The food is good.  If you go local you can get a full lunch for less than 3 bucks. 
If you want Thai or Indian or any other specialty well then you pay 5 or 6 bucks.  And is it ever good.

Adios!

el niño effect

Fortunately for us there was a bike AND another 3 year old at this restaurant

It´s been several weeks now and things have started to smooth out.  Eating out for the first couple of weeks was nightmarish; one parent quickly ate while the other chased after the boys.  Neither of them could sit still and eat with all the distractions of open air restaurants.  Three house rentals later with an opportunity to sort out dinner routines and finally eating out is much better.  Upon arrival at a restaurant we don´t sit down, we just let the boys run around and play until the food arrives.  Twice we have found restaurants with playgrounds in the yard and sometimes there are even toys to play with.  We strap Shane in his cloth seat or tie him in with the Ergo belt and put his plate on his chair if there is no high chair.  We still eat faster than most people but we all eat together!  Takeout is key - right now we have a beautiful shared kitchen in our guest house that has plenty of room to relax and eat.  We don´t actually cook, since that takes work which would defeat the purpose of this trip.  Affter all, eating out is much, much cheaper than buying all the ingredients to do it ourselves.

Sharing one room has been a challenge, it took a good month to eliminate complete chaos and bedtime failure.  Now Shane is settling to sleep in his tent without a peep, our new strategy is for Drew to take Logan out of the room while Shane is fed, read to and put to bed.  Logan enjoys this big brother privelage of staying up later.  And if Drew and I aren´t completely bagged we sneak out of our room and enjoy some rare alone time on our porch or common area.  The boys are used to each other´s peeps in the night and Logan usually sleeps through Shane´s wakeups and early rises. 

As the saying goes... babies eat, sleep and... poop!  The bus ride from Coban to Antigua was smooth sailing for the first leg.  Moments after we had rolled on from our lunch break Shane had one of the biggest explosions in months - leaked right through his pants onto mine.  At least we were on a direct shuttle bus and not a chicken bus, because I have no idea how we could possibly change a diaper when we barely have room to breathe.  (In fact, the last chicken bus ride we took I ended up sitting on the stairs of the bus on top of firewood with both Shane and Logan on my lap while Drew stood hanging out the doorway.)  Shane lay in Logan´s seat, Logan came to the row behind where he squeezed between me and our fellow passenger who amused him. I leaned over the seat and held Shane´s legs up and Drew did the dirty work. We were caught with no change of clothes so Logan´s spare shorts turned into capris for Shane.

A month ago in Tulum we were caught big time.  We headed out for a quick jaunt to the internet cafe, and left our diaper bag in the room.  In the internet cafe, Logan tells us he has to poop.  The internet cafe washroom had no toilet seat, let alone toilet paper.  I take him to the park across the street.  Toilet seat, but no paper.  There was no time to get back to the hotel.  I ask the ladies at the park for something, but was met with shaking heads.  We haven´t left our room without our t.p. since.

We left home with about 0.5% of the toys we own.  Surprisingly this has sufficed, in fact Shane doesn´t even play with his toys.  Yesterday´s toy of choice was a pringles can.  It has been a nice break to only clean up one ziploc bag of toys instead of several rooms full.  We also realize how little we need to keep them amused!

¨getting ready for school¨ time; our small selection of toys

Happy reading new books from the Caye Caulker library

Logan traded 2 of his old toys for a new transformer, everyone wins!

Antigua

Antigua is the top destination in Guatemala.  It's the type of place where people wear all sorts of jewelry and even though it's 21 degrees they wear sweaters and scarves with pants, and cameras and have cameras dangling full view off their necks.  Basically, they are doing everything that Donny Don't does, because they are in a third world country and blissfully unaware.  Ok, so I had low expectations for this place before we got here, but then we got here and I then I really didn't like it.  Now this was partly from the crappy room we had last night that simultaneously broke records for the most we paid, most child unfriendly garden area - those cement ledges on the walkways look great at night, but try leaving a one year old unattended for more than two seconds - and the most mould.  We weren't even sure if there was mould in the room or not....at that level.   

We pride ourselves on getting by for as little as possible.  What would you do in this situation - insert a question mark that I can't figure out on this spanish keyboard- probably not what we did.  We went to the even better and MORE expensive places to find something the next morning.  The shi-shi spots with receptionists who are better dressed and smell nicer than us.  Quiero mirar, quiero mirar and quiero mirar and you start to figure out what the going rate is.  Sure, there's loads of greying tourists who look like they got lost on their package tour to Santa Fe who are busily spending their pensions, so there is a demand for these spots, but there is such an hotel overkill and it's October and it's not even Hallowe'en.  And we have the power of Shane.

We are now comfortable in an historic hotel that Logan thinks is a church.  We are actually paying LESS.  I will detail the costs of this country later when I explain all the reasons to retire in Guatemala.

In summary:
I found that the UNESCO designation as historic city was well deserved and that the sights and attractions have definitely quenched our architectural thirst.

pimp my ride

There are so many glorious things about this cab.  The screwdriver and the plastic spoon ACTUALLY serve a purpose.  Even the blankets covering the worn out were also worn out.  I think I gave myself a colonic on the springs when I sat down.  The fact that this man is licensed to be a cab isn´t the real miracle, it´s that this car is licensed.  Manual steeering for extra wide corners, brakes worn beyond the squeaking stage but that was ok with the zero acceleration so he just coasted around corners.  He did a Hail Mary when he turned one of them.  The door handles were rebar attached by string.  They don´t make em like they used to!  

The pools of Semuc

Semuc was worth every bit of effort to reach.  There´s a rushing river that cuts underneath the limestone rock.













On top of the limestone rock there are slabs set up like a staircase that are filled with the turquoise water.  Each pool is deep enough to dive into and gets shallower at the edge where it flows down into the next pool.  You enter, swim to the edge, jump into the pool below, repeat until you come to the end.

The end - all of the pools flow out as a waterfall where it rejoins the underground river water again.


Very refreshing.  Could have stayed all day, but naptime approached.









At night, we went up the road from our hotel to watch the millions of bats fly out of a cave at dusk.  It was amazing how fast they dart out.  I have now idea how they move so fast - I kept ducking thinking they´d hit me.  It wasn´t so much a swarm that blackened the sky, but more like a thick stream that flowed out.  Next day they turned on the lights for us and we went in the cave.  Most of it has yet to be explored.  The half hour in we travelled was impressive.  Also great being the only ones there. 

One big ride

The map didn´t show a highway, or road, just a red line.  Everyone I asked about this route gave a firm “No.”    

The muffin top: bringing sexy back.

“…. but,” I countered, “es posible si?” 
After a hesitated, “mmmmm,” I got a drawn out “siiiiii” as though they still might change that si into a no.  The lady at the café told it was no problem and that a bus would leave at 9:30 that could take us through the mountains to a midway town, and from there transfer buses to get to Lanquin.  To us, it seemed common sense to take the crow´s path instead of the four hour detour the highways appeared to take.  Just figuring out where and when the bus departed was enough of an ordeal.  Everyone gave me a different time, everyone pointed to different locations and everyone swore they were right.  The trucks with loudspeakers blaring the latino rap didn´t help communication, but having Shane with me did.  Two minibus drivers in their early twenties told me they´d drop us at the crossroads and then smirked at each other. I knew they would leave us stranded.  We put our trust in the lady at the café.  She claimed the driver ate there before leaving, but it was already 9:55 so weren´t so sure.  An hour later our minibús showed up.

 

When the driver and his tout threw a mud encrusted tarp over our bags on the roof I got an idea of what we were in for.  At least we were first on the bus so we could choose the best seat.  Switchbacks in the mountains, picking up more and more people roadside, human pressed next to human, squirming kids.  Logan was not dealing with the ride very well - he gets sick on the 400.  An hour in the tout grabbed my shoulder and signalled that Logan was vomiting. To be honest I didn´t notice since we were all so hot and slimy to begin with.  I was already on the 2nd day of my inside-out shirt day.  We wondered if this ride would push the kids too far, but we didn´t really see any other route that made sense.  After I cleaned things up he curled up and went to sleep on my lap.

We climbed up the edges of steep mountains quickly leaving the developed villages with corrugated metal rooftops to the remote houses made of bamboo.  It was a window rattling, bumpy ride.  You could probably jog faster than our bus travelled.  It was hard to believe people lived up here, and even more that crops were growing on the almost vertical hillsides.  As soon as we reached the top of one wrinkled mountain face, the road opened into even higher and more scenic mountain ranges.  Fortunately for us, Shane had a 3 hour nap and Logan slept for 2 hours, taking up much of the ride.  They were both happy and relatively relaxed for the rest of the way.  It was late afternoon when we reached the transfer town.  One look at where we were and we agreed we had to push on.  People weren´t even speaking Spanish - only Qechi.  Good call, we later checked our guidebook and it was mentioned as a don´t go there destination that gets dodgy at night.  It was dusk when we reached our final destination of Lanquin - another 2 hours to travel just 24 km.  We gave out a family cheer to celebrate.   

Logan said a few times in the last few weeks, “I love travelling,” and sometimes he asks “Are we travelling right now?”  He really enjoys getting to a new hotel and checking things out.  He has a few Spanish words now and is more comfortable approaching kids and saying Hola!    

El Estor

We were standing roadside, Logan sitting on our bags in front of the farm waiting for any westbound vehicle to pass.   It was only a few minutes before an old clunker school bus rolled up and a man walked off with a box filled with live chickens.  Logan was more than enthused for his first "chicken bus".  There were lots of stares as we boarded.  The serious faces of the Mayan villagers quickly turned to gold-toothed smiles at the sight of Shane.  People let out a surprised “Que lindo!” and sometimes, “Que linda!” as his bald head gets him mistaken for a girl.  It was a short and very comfortable ride passing the lake on our left and the mountains on our right to the town of El Estor.  Of course Logan decided to fall asleep the minute we reached the town, while Shane was already asleep on Ali tucked in the Ergo baby carrier.  If you have kids and are considering travelling, then you need one of these.  No, I do not own shares of Ergo. 

Our procedure for these golden scenarios is to gently carry Logan off the bus, grab the stroller first and transfer him.  Then we dangle our carry-ons from the stroller back and I collect the backpacks. Ali keeps Shane on her front and I hoist her pack up.  I carry mine and push Logan around.  We look something like this photo, but we are actually more intelligent and better looking in real life.  You will have to put on your thinking cap.   

We used to just take the first hotel we saw, but we´ve found it pays huge DIVIDENDS to seek out what we´re looking for.  Some places try to charge us for the kids, since Guatemala is a per person country and not a per room country like Belize.  In Estor, we got tired of strolling around town with all our gear.  Ali isn´t able to secure her hip straps, so after awhile I end up muling it which makes me feel like, a mule.  We found a spot in the shade, threw our stuff on the curb by the lake and Ali stayed with the two sleeping boys while I jogged around to find our room “con dos camas, una cama matriomoniale porque mi esposa duerma con el niño.”  I prefer settling out the details and paying the tab before the recepción can see that we have two kids.  

What a sweet find in a very scenic town.  We´ve been to some very chilled out towns, but El Estor is beyond tranquillo.  I don´t think we heard one vehicle after 9 p.m.   Our hotel is on this road in photo.  Early afernoon and voila no traffic.  It felt somewhat like our early years in Hualien, Taiwan but this place was many many steps back in time. 

Lots and lots of stares and comments.  When I say lots, I mean on a level that everyone sitting curbside makes a comment, people are taking pictures of us on their cellphones and passing vehicles beep and ladies point and we hear something about los niños.  It is on a level easily comparable to China; the difference being that in China people just stare expressionless like they are watching tv, but the people here interact, smile, some talk to you, some come up and rub Shane´s head or grab a cheek, shopkeepers sometimes ask to hold him.  It´s friendly and open, despite the violent history.

       

The room cost 150 Q, less than 20 bucks.  Our dinner was ridiculous.  Two steak dinners with rice, beans, tortillas, bananas, two beers.  I went to pay the bill and I thought I heard her say 50, so I looked stern, stifled my inner laughter and replied “50 por todos si?”  

 “Si.”  That´s $6.50 cdn folks.  For two.  Including beers.  Last time I was out in T.O. one pint cost more than that.

After our cheap dinner, we walked to the central park square which was across the street from our hotel.  The kids playing basketball were extremely patient with Shane and Logan.  They not only generously donated their ball to the boys for use, but took the time to play with them as well.  Logan idiolizes older kids so this was such a good experience for him.  The girls who were 8 or 9 years old pick up Shane and knew exactly how to hold Shane on their hip.  Afterall, they have many other siblings at home who they help with daily.  Kids help kids here.

If you know me – and you do – then you know that I am prone to blurt out things like “I could stay here forever, maybe!” and mean it, maybe.  We usually love a place for the first day or two and then things start to grind on me like a rusty thing that is rusty and that grinds, then we are ready to move on.  We always get to wondering what may be around the next corner, but not here. We are enjoying our time here; increasingly.

Finca El Paraiso

Let´s move up! 
We left Rio Dulce not really knowing where we were going other than we were headed towards Semuc Champuey.  We grabbed a collectivo to a place everyone said was a half hour away (one hour by the time you stop to let every villager on or off with all their gear) called Finca al Paraiso (Paradise Ranch).  We heard there was a waterfall there.  As soon as we stepped off the bus an old cowboy walked up to greet us.  He told us "there is a town that way on the lake with many houses, only a restaurant here.  If you walk on this trail you can find the waterfalls."

The hospitality we´ve found with local people here is amazing.  It really reminds us of how people treated foreign visitors in Taiwan.  He told us we could store our backpacks at the restaurant while we swam.  Great.  This filled our goal of morning activity and then we could hit the road while the kids were all tired out.  Another experience we´ve worked through is asking people the right questions.  I asked the cook if she had any breakfast.  "No" she replied.  And then she went on and on about something I couldn´t understand.  Much later, after we got the kids ready an American-Guatemalan who was sitting at the only other table with his family told me in English that the lady gave a funny answer.  She had no breakfast and nothing to eat, but if I wait a while, she will prepare something.  Good thing, since we were about to walk to the falls.  The boys amused themselves during the wait with the animals on the farm.  Great backdrop of scenery with limestone peaks covered with trees.

The cowboy sat and watched us while we ate.  Then he guided us and showed us the way.  It was very clear - as in, follow the road to the trailhead with the girls selling stuff.  I said to Ali  "I´m pretty sure this guy wants money."  Now we wanted to lose him.  I politely told him, ok senor, we know the way, we´re ok from here on.  He said buenos dias shook our hands and turned around.  Big surprise for us after all the places we´ve been where everyone wants your money - and I guess that´s what we expected Guatemala to be like.

The falls were incredible.  We just expected a waterfall, but our expectations were blown away.  At the bottom left of the pic there is a narrow river from the mountains with cold water.  The falls themselves are thermal hotsprings that rush down and mix with the cool water in the pool area.  Standing under the currents of hotwater was like a turbo jacuzzi jet.  We also could swim under the waterfall, where there was a small cave.  There was also some small cliff jumping (6-7 feet) into the pool.  Ali and I took turns taking Logan around in the pool area while the other played with Shane in the river shallows.  The Guatemalan-Americans helped Logan swimming for a bit.

After we walked back to the restaurant we asked the cook if she had any lunch.  "...like a chicken sandwich or something?" I asked.  "No," she stated.  A few minutes later she came out of the swinging doors and put down chicken noodle soup on the table.  "For the kids," she said.
And that´s how it is here so far.  Hospitality and generosity.   People are polite to each other as well.  When someone gets on a bus, it´s not uncommon for them to look around and give a "Buenos Dias" to everyone.

Livingston and on..

Well, Shane was a big hit with the local kids. We got many friendly stares in Livingston.  We were treated to really amazing streetside drumming on our first night in the village.  It reminded of us Yangshuo, China in some ways, just how it is very convenient and set-up for tourists.  Our room cost $24 bucks a night.  This is two rooms, one with queen, other single, that are connected and also have a mini sitting area where we set up Shane´s tent.  Guatemala is very, very affordable.  After two days we decided it was time to move on and booked a boat ride-tour upriver to the town of Rio Dulce which is located in Lake Izobal. 

The boat ride felt very prehistoric.  Going slowly through a gorge that is draped with lush vegetation, passing locals fishing from their dugout canoes. We even passed kids canoeing to school in their school uniforms.


Our boat was filled with other travellers - no locals, including a couple from Canmore we´d been on the same route as for awhile.  Our driver asked us if we wanted to stop at the hot springs.  Of course, we all said yes, except for the weird Belgian guy. 

There was a hole in the riverbank where steaming hot water rushed out to mix with the river water.  Locals had built cement retaining walls to keep a blend of the two temps.  It was entertaining to watch all of us backpackers oohhh and ahhh at different times as we hit extreme hot pockets.

Things have been tough at moments - oddly, when we rented a house iin Belize it was difficult to get Logan off the English TV kids programming.  But it is starting to feel like we are getting into a travel groove now.  We know that we should travel around Shane´s nap and that Logan is not a fan of fast boat rides.

Rio Dulce was a dirty town with a gorgeous backdrop.  If it weren´t for the massive amounts of traffic using the only bridge across the lake it would be a semi-paradise.  Our room cost us 12 bucks.  For all of us.  Yes, financial goal achieved and surpassed.  There are tonnes of boaters from around the world -(mostly N.America), since this is apparently the only place in the Carribbean that insurance will cover any damage caused by hurricanes.  Many texas twangs and many Willie Nelson look a likes with zz top beards amidst the buses and mufferless transport trucks.

Adios for now...

Livingston, Guate

We are now in Livingston, Guatemala - a boat accessed tow on the carribbean coast. We took a lancha speedboat here from punta gorda Belize. Very nice scenery here. Lush jungle, mountains and ocean. Much more convenient in guate than Belize due to the larger population. Shops everywhere and more set up for tourism whereas in Belize it's assumed that you are living there permanently like most retirees, so you've already figured everything out.

To Placencia

Another bus ride out of Dangriga to the town of Independence.  Ali takes Shane on her lap and hopes that he falls asleep, I sit with Logan.  We generally sit in different rows of the bus.  When you sit on the same one, the kids get poking each other and squirm around.  Add in two carry-on bags and a water, then sit it on your full bladder and you are getting the feeling.  Remember that there is another local passenger sitting next to you.

Since Placencia is at the bottom of a peninsula, it is faster to get dropped off on the highway and take a water taxi across the lagoon.  The $5 we paid for this river boat through mangrove swamp would be worth it on its own as a tour.  On the way in we passed some seriously big sailboats and catamarans.  Lots of expats have set up here.  Good location with Guatemala and Honduras just a couple of hours sail away - plus all the cayes offshore where you can just fish to your heart's content.

Very nice calm beach here in Placencia.  Good for kids.  The kind of sand that is so hot at midday that you have to run to get in the water.  A couple of jellyfish at this time of the year - but the shore is basically empty, as are all of the houses along the beach.  Locals tell us that the busier tourist season in Belize starts to pick up in November.





We know that half the enjoyment in travelling for us is how cheap we can pull it off for.  Like if you spend thousands on your holiday then it is expected that you should be totally gratified by the experience and people should have served you grapes while fanning you.  If not you got ripped off. 

We are very pleased with our current view from the porch of our 2 bedroom house with hammock for 50 bucks a night.   The lot across is empty - so we are basically beachfront.  Did I mention that we have cable TV - in English? This was not an easy find as we walked up and down the sidewalk with many wrong turns carting children both at their wit's end.
We have to do this since we need to spend several days to a week at each spot and there is no point in settling for dumps if you are staying for a while.  Dumps are only good when we are trying to complete a big leg to the next spot.

We would be achieving our goal of 100 bucks a day, but by putting down a little bit more coin in Belize, we can get some really, really good Creole seafood.  I plan on making up the deficit by bargaining hard and squabbling over pennies in Guatemala.  Even if we are already under budget.

Retirement

Belize could possibly be the best retirement spot for canadiens.
Why?
1. English speaking. Unless you're from Quebec in which case you can also speak Spanish which is basically French with a lisp.
2. British colony means you can gain residency. You need to live here for one year straight with only a 14 day trip allowance outside if the country.
3. 300 thousand people in the whole effing country. That's like Hamilton living next to the great barrier reef in australia.
4. Close to home. Much closer than australia. Much cheaper to fly to.
5. Good cultural mix. You get a little bit of everything here : Latino, indigenous maya, garifuna, expats from canada and us.
6. No Euros in thongs. Who needs to see elephants in dental floss on the beach? Not me.
7. Scotiabank. It's everywhere. Even here in placencia population 1000. This is useful if you don't want card use fees and still want to do a trade or two while having coffee on the porch.
8. Cheap land. Seriously. You've been to Mexico before and wondered what if? You know that Asia is out of the question, and that everywhere in central America has Marxist laws that prevent you from ever owning your land since you have to start a corporation and then are taxed as such. But I can't figure out why it's so cheap here.
9. No capital gains tax. This is good. Very good.

Reasons not to: sketchy sketchy Belize city as your hub, but flights only cost 40 bucks one way to the next place. TOPS 100 bucks anywhere in the country.

Moving on

We had to leave Caye Caulker.  It was very easy to sloth, but we were paying 85 a night for our house.  On our last night, we were lucky to be treated to a Garifuna drumming session.  The Garifuna people were freed slaves from the 1700s on the isle of Roatan who kept much of their African culture intact.  They now live all up and down the Carribbean coast.  It was someone's birthday so many folks gathered on the beach in front of a bar and got the rhythms going - turtle shell moraccas, and bongos with very tribal sounding singing.  It was neat after spending a week here that there were some familiar faces we had gotten to know. 

Boat to Belize city took an hour going from the Cayes back to the mainland.  Belize city is a SUPER dodgy place.  Locals take taxis to go 5 min. distances.  An expat on our boat got a cab for us to get to the bus terminal.  The schedules are posted in paper on the wall and impossible to understand.  Departure times are just a suggestion.  I asked one of the employees where to catch the bus from, "Over dere," he replied. 
"Which gate will it leave from?" I asked. 
"One of them over dere.  It'll come sometime." 

We headed into Belmopan, which has absolutely nothing there at all for a capital city - literally a bus station, a gas station and a few random shops.  After picking up many more passengers on our already full bus, we headed south down the Hummingbird Highway.  This would be the best place for a bike tour.  No traffic, perfect winding hills, beautiful scenery with mountains and lush forest.  It reminded us of the countryside in Taiwan and the Philippines.  Ironically, Belize City also reminded us of how sketchy Manila is.

 We had to change buses and give the boys some running in Dangriga.  Once we got walking around in the sweltering heat we decided we'd just stay the night and got a dingy overpriced cabana that looked like no one had stayed in for quite some time.  Boys still had fun playing on the beach and underneath the cabanas.
 

More of the Caye

We've been enjoying Caye Caulker and basically doing nothing.

Most of what you can do here is on boats out at the reef, which is 500m offshore, but there is some very decent snorkelling at the split where I saw a stingray the other day - on top of all the schools of fish.

The water clarity is incredible.  Logan has enjoyed spotting all the different types of fish.  The island is surrounded by protected seagrass, so there are only a few choice swimming spots.  No problem for the boys though since the shallow spots with bathwater temps. are great spots where we can relax while they splash around.

The island is also so narrow that you can see sunsets and sunrise by simply walking  three blocks.
These three streets have the clever names of: Front St., Middle St., and Back St.

Sunset on the west pier, where we go to watch the freighters unload their goods each night.  Lots and lots of construction machines lifting stuff, fishermen coming in and other various local activities the boys enjoy. 

 

But the real and only action is at the split, which also serves as a reggae bar from around 11 a.m. - at which time we leave.  Boats use the split to pass through the island itself en route to fishing, snorkelling, or trips headed down the coast.  Picnic tables are half-submersed in water filled with needle fish and tetras, where sunbathers from various countries at various stages of their skin cancer career show off their tattooes and talk loudly about where they are headed next.  Snorkelling is great here.  This is where you feel that you are in the Carribbean and near the 2nd longest barrier reef. 

Idiot of the year

When you travel, you are usually lucky enough to witness stupidity on a level that would be near criminal at home.  The kind of stuff that gets people fired, or that forces an inquiry to be held.  This guy in Mexico is our winner thus far.  Everything about this scene from Sanchez with his 10 a.m. quart of beer, to the onlookers who yell without helping, smells not only of village idiot, but a village full of idiots.  The fact that it took place in the empty lot next to our cabin made it much more enjoyable to watch from our veranda. 

Let's call him, Jose the taxi driver, decided to take a little drive out to the lake with his wife to park for a little afternoon delight.  What he didn't bank on was the tropical storm combined with the fact that the lakeshore is pretty well mud on a dry day.  It took me all of 5 mins. after being there to figure that one out.  Logan even commented on how squishy the ground was.  But not the locals!  They aim to amuse all passing travellers with their mastery over nature.

On the first day I actually tried helping him out as he spun his tires deeper and deeper into the muck all while turning the wheel sideways to ensure the rut got bigger.  I tried explaining not to hit the gas, but to no avail - machismo was on the line.  Later, when the rescue tow truck got stuck as well, the shouting and lack of any leadership from anyone made it clear this wasn't going to end any time soon.  We could hear him tinkering away under the glow of his flashlight with his son and wife watching on while we put our boys to bed.

What is even better about this whole event - is that pretty well everyone in town knew about it or came to help push him out.  Why is this so good?  Well the very next day another truck rolled up.  I suppose this next driver saw the deep ruts of mud filled with water and thought, "Maybe I can handle the Mexican Monster Truck Challenge!"  This lake is like some sort of Excalibur's Sword I guess.  When this one got stuck the amusing thing was his kid swinging like a monkey from a bar on the back of the pickup while they lunged from reverse to forward. 

I have a feeling that Guatemala may pose some competition for Jose.

I hold the conch!

Well today was the first official day of conch season.  Picked up a pound of conch for 5 bucks from some fishermen I watched come in and clean on their dock.  The ceviche is marinating at the moment.

Went for a swim at "the split" this a.m.  A spot where the Caye was split in two by a hurricane in the 60's and now mixes up a lot of nutrients.  Lots of fish thrashing around and frigate birds and gulls diving down to pick them up.  Ali and I took turns snorkelling in between watching the boys who played with conch shells in the shallow water.  We listened to a rasta guy talk about conch to some German travellers.  It was straight outta Forest Gump:  "Conch Fritters, Fried Conch, Conch Ceviche..."