Wandering Homestead

Back on the road

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Henry

When we talked to people in and around Tikal, they all agreed that it would take about seven hours to drive from there to Antigua, our next destination. We had arranged to spend a week in Antigua, attending one of the many Spanish schools in town, and were already a day behind schedule. So we set out bright and early (for us) and got on the road, confident that we would arrive in Antigua before nightfall.

The Guatemalan countryside is in general quite lovely, but it doesn’t go by nearly as quickly as one might think. Or plan. Or hope. All of the roads had only two lanes, and were populated with vehicles of all descriptions and velocities. Some went faster that we did, but most went slower. We spent a lot of time waiting to pass on twisty mountain two-lane blacktops.

Eventually we learned the local technique of passing slower traffic just about anywhere, regardless of curves, hills, or painted lines. If oncoming traffic appeared suddenly, well, everybody just did their best to avoid collision. It works surprisingly well, if somewhat nerve-wracking.

Still, at 4:30 PM, about an hour before sunset, Guatemala City was still a long way off, and Antigua another hour beyond that. We increased speed to warp ohmigod, with E displaying some truly impressive moves, but it soon became clear there was no way we’d make it before dark. I looked through our various books for a place to stop for the night, found some possibilities only a little out of the way, and we watched for a sign of the road there.

But nothing here is easy to find. Eventually, as dusk approached, we stopped by the side of the road, staring at the map and trying to find out where we were, in the middle of Guatemalan cowboy country. Literally.

Then Joe noticed that we had stopped very close to, of all things, a water park. With a motel next door. In Rio Hondo, Guatemala. W. T. F?

The motel turned out to be perfectly reasonable, if a little more expensive than we’d like, owing to its proximity to the water park. Nor was the park particularly inviting, as the weather was chilly (at around 6500 feet in altitude). But the room was fine, the food not bad, and the internet connexion quite possibly the fastest we’ve encountered in this journey. Huh?

Up early (for us) the next morning, and back on the road. Made it into Guatemala city by 2:00. Nothing to do there but zip right through and on to Antigua.

Uh-huh.

I’ve decided that in Purgatory, people are forced to drive through Guatemala City. In Hell, they do the same, but they’re given maps. There are no street signs, and nothing in town bears any resemblance to what the map shows. We were completely lost in town for at least two hours, got lots of directions from a number of very nice people, and finally managed to get out of town in the right direction.

We arrived in Antigua just before dusk, only forty-eight hours late for school.

Posted in Guatemala, Itinerary | 4 Comments

Quinces

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Elizabeth

Quinces in Central America are very small; they are the size of apricots, unlike our grapefruit-sized quinces in Michigan. They taste the same raw, though, as Joe discovered when he bit into one. They’re called manzanillas, which is, indeed, the same word as that for chamomile.

Aren’t they cute?

Posted in Food | 3 Comments

Tikal at Dawn

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Elizabeth

We had set out from San Ignacio early in the day (well, early for us, anyway), and had crossed the Belize-Guatemala border with no trouble at all. Although a visit to the ruins of the Mayan city of Tikal is often billed as a day trip from Belize, it’s actually not very close to the border. As a result, it was quite late in the day by the time we got to the entrance to Tikal National Park; late enough, in fact, that if we waited another 45 minutes, our entrance fee would cover the next day too. Surprisingly, even though we were in the middle of nowhere, there were a couple of cafés right there, and a few other facilities to help you while away the time. Joe partook of the ziplining:

While we were waiting, we somehow got involved in talking with a pleasant but loquacious gentleman who happened to be hanging around. (His name, he said, was Abel, as in Abel K’nabel.) He told us that his family had been workers in the original excavations of Tikal (plausible) and that he had grown up in the area learning all about the site (also plausible). He seemed to have some actual knowledge, and his English vocabulary was interestingly sophisticated, so when he said he worked as a guide, we hired him to show us around.

As we drove the 20 km through the jungle to the main archaeological site, Abel told us a number of interesting facts about the wildlife and so on. Once we got to the site itself, however, his information started to break down. He mostly seemed to want to show us photo opportunities among the ruins. Admittedly, there are plenty.

We also came across a herd (?) of coatamundi hunting for dinner.

It was when he mentioned Teotihuan as a Mayan site that his credibility really started to crack. It was all downhill after that, information-wise, and all attempt at actual fact fell by the wayside. That didn’t stop him from talking, though. He didn’t even seem to need to take a breath between gusts of hot air. Eventually we were willing to pay him just to shut up. We gave Abel some money and got rid of him as politely as possible.

It was also starting to get dark, and we were realizing that driving all the way to town and then driving all the way back in the morning would be difficult. The popular thing to do, moreover, is a dawn tour of the ruins, and the likelihood of our being able to rouse ourselves in time to get up and out and drive a half an hour before dawn was, well, slim.

There are several lodges right near the entrance to the site, and also a couple of campsites. The campsites thoughtfully provided little palm-roofed cabañas where your tent would be protected from the heavy jungle dew, but sadly, these were placed on concrete slabs. Therefore, we opted for a very expensive hotel room with electricity only until 10:00 p.m. and no hot water. The price did include meals (perfectly adequate) and a guided tour of the site at dawn. The tour turned out to be fantastic, and totally worth the price of the room.

We gathered at 4:00 a.m. in the lobby for a cup of coffee by flashlight before setting off. Tikal is very far from any city and is located in the middle of miles and miles of jungle, so it was very dark indeed. It was not, however, quiet–howler monkeys were screaming like banshees. Literally. Howler monkeys have an additional loose bone in their throat that vibrates, and a pouch that acts as a resonating chamber, and their eponymous howl is so loud and terrifying that recordings of it were used for the t. rex sound effects in the movie Jurassic Park.

The predawn part of the tour was quite extensive. No, we couldn’t see much, but somehow we got a very good feeling for the size of complexity of the ruined city. (The dark did not stop one of the tour participants from taking lots of pictures with the flash on his camera. It’s hard to see how a single flash could illuminate a temple 65 meters tall, but chacun à son gout and all that.)

The sky began to lighten, almost imperceptibly at first. The very faint contrast was fascinating to see, but hard to record.

Our guide, Eddie, led us to Temple IV, the tallest of the extant buildings, where we climbed an extensive flight of wooden steps nearly to the top. There we took seats on the east-facing stone steps, together with twenty or thirty other visitors, all silent and waiting.

Little by little, the sky continued to lighten, until suddenly, a sliver of sun blazed over the horizon beyond the Temple of the Jaguar. It was stunning.

I didn’t expect the experience to be as moving as it was. It truly was transporting.

After the sun had risen fully, Eddie took us to a number of other interesting spots. It would be impossible to see the whole site–the known extent of the city is 25 square kilometers, and ruins hidden in the jungle probably extend beyond that.

Eddie was particularly knowledgeable about the Mayan calendar and explained it very clearly. Unfortunately, the lack of breakfast was starting to have its effect by this time, so I still can’t explain it to you.

So that’s where it is!

Posted in Buildings, Culture, Guatemala, Itinerary, Mayan, Nature | 4 Comments

Belize City

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Elizabeth

Belize City is crowded, dusty, and disorganized. It reminded me very much of smaller cities in Kenya and Eastern Turkey.

The people of Belize City, however, were just as lovely and friendly as the people in the countryside. We ate lunch at Carmita’s, a self-serve lunch counter with picnic tables overlooking Haulover Creek, the river that runs through town. (It’s not so much a river, really, but more of a canal and thoroughfare for boats, such as the ones that ferry people out to the cayes.) I chose a styrofoam box with barbecued chicken, beans, and coleslaw; it was, perhaps, the very best barbecued chicken I’ve ever had. An employee stood by while we ate (well, chowed down, really), ready to bring us more paper napkins or whisk away our empty paper plates. The boss came over to check on us and ask how the food was. When we said unequivocally that it was terrific, he replied, “You were hungry, so it tasted good–come back later and try it again–then you can really judge!”

There is a lovely eclectic little museum in town. It has a history of the country, including a video of the transfer of power from Great Britain to an independent Belize that is surprisingly moving. The very first flag raised in independent Belize is on display as well. Its crest depicts two laborers at work, one an African mestizo, the other a native mestizo, in order to show the foundations of a country that has a startling array of diversity.

There is also an extensive stamp collection, a fascinating insect collection, a history of the building itself (which was a prison until quite recently), and a display of Mayan artifacts. There are a couple of wonderful dioramas that prove the existence of prehistoric lounge singers.

On the way out of town, we drove through an enormous cemetery. I mean it when I say “through”–the highway bisects the cemetery. They’ve even made use of the median.

As we neared the western town of San Ignacio, we saw a sign for Hot Mama’s hot sauce factory, so of course we stopped. It was locked up tight, but we rang the doorbell and were ushered in for a tour. Hot Mama’s is a small but growing operation; the cooking facility is spotless, and very organized. Our guide, Michelle, who had a lovely warm smile and a nice firm handshake, gave us a tasting session of all of Hot Mama’s products, which include three levels of habañero sauce, a mango hot sauce, and habañero fudge. It was all fantastic and we bought a ton of stuff to bring home; whether any of it is actually left by February remains to be seen. Hot Mama’s does not have a U.S. distributor, but man, do they deserve one. Business opportunity, anyone?

Almost uniformly, the people of Belize were friendly and kind to us. We hadn’t planned on spending much time there, and we barely scratched the surface of all this lovely little country has to offer. I’d go back there anytime.

Posted in Belize, Culture, Itinerary | 5 Comments

Belize humor

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Elizabeth

Belize has a lightness to it, a humor, an enjoyment of everyday life. For example:

Posted in Belize, photos | 1 Comment

A-Caving We Shall Go

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Henry

When I was fourteen, my family visited Mammoth Cave. We went on several tours, and saw many outstanding geological formations. It was thrilling, but quite safe. There were smooth paved trails, metal railings, and electric lights strung throughout.

As an adult, I visited Carlsbad Caverns. They’re not as large, but with even more spectacular formations. And just as safe. Later, I returned to Mammoth Cave, but this time went on the Wild Cave Tour. A small group equipped with headlamps, hardhats and kneepads went off the easy, established trails and spent most of a day doing something rather more akin to actual caving. This was more like it. Far cooler, quite strenuous, and miles of fun. By the end of it, we were all soaked, exhausted and filthy.

Two years ago, Elizabeth and Joe and I spent five days at Mammoth Cave. Joe’s age prevented us from repeating the Wild Cave Tour, but we did take its little brother, the Introduction to Caving. This lasted only half a day, and was not quite so demanding, but still acres of fun.

Today, we blew all of that away entirely.

We took an excursion to Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre), near San Ignacio, Belize. From the center of town, the guide drove a van with seven guests about thirty miles east of town. From where the van parked, we hiked another forty-five minutes to the mouth of the cave.

Water flows out of the cave, into Roaring Creek. A lot of water. So much, that to enter the cave, we first had to swim about fifteen feet to the beginning of the trail. No matter, we were already wet from the waist down, having forded Roaring Creek three times on our hike. Most of our walk through the cave was in water at least ankle deep, and required swimming in several more places. Other passages required twisting and/or contorting into various interesting postures, just to get through.

The cave’s formations, while not the most amazing I’d ever seen, were certainly impressive enough. Stalactites, stalagmites and splattertites, sheets and curtains and all the usual configurations, with lots of colors and sparkles. And most of them were within easy reach, protected from our touch only by the guide’s admonitions and our own desire to protect them. This protection included the exclusion of all cameras from the cave, as dropped or fumbled cameras have in the past caused significant damage to its contents. So this post is without photos.

As an aside, there seems to be a strong effort in Belize to make protecting the environment, wildlife and historical artifacts a matter of national pride. The more-developed world could take a few lessons from the campaigns here.

After an hour or so of trekking through the water, we climbed out and up, took off our shoes, and continued in stocking feet. This afforded some protection to both our feet and the cave floor. Though thoroughly wet, we were not particularly chilly, lending credence to the claim that the air temperature in the cave was in the low 80’s.

As we climbed, we began to see more of the other big draw of this cave tour: undisturbed Mayan artifacts. Apparently, this cave had been used by the ruling and religious elite up until about 900 CE, for various rituals. And the various visiting archeological teams have not taken up their leavings, but left them all in place. There were the remains of many clay pots of varying sizes, all intentionally broken to some degree after their single use. Rocks in many places were arranged for heating these pots over fires. But the high points—presented by the guide with an appropriate degree of suspense and showmanship—were the several occurrences of human skeletal remains. Most likely, these were sacrificial victims, and one was a complete skeleton, stretched out on its back, with a coating of calcite deposited by the cave’s water over the past more-than-a-thousand years.

Having seen the crown jewels of Actun Tunichil Muknal, and received much information about it all from the excellent guide, we turned back. Though we knew in advance we were going only about a kilometer into the cave, the inward trip had seemed like much more. The return seemed like less. Very soon, we were back at the mouth, then trekking through the jungle to our box lunches, on to the van and dry clothes, and finally back to San Ignacio.

Posted in Belize, Culture | 2 Comments

A Zoo Story

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Henry

For most of my childhood, my family lived about a mile-and-a-half from the main entrance of the Detroit Zoological Park. I loved the zoo, and its proximity made me feel some sense of ownership. I learned its ins and outs, where all of its many exhibits were located, and betimes I would skip school and hang out at the zoo.

More recently, Elizabeth and Joe and I have visited the GarLyn Zoo in the UP, whenever we get the chance. Its much smaller, obviously, but all the animals are special. It’s a rescue zoo, populated only with animals who can’t make it in the wild. Some were found sick or injured, some survived hunters, some had been the pets of people who thought they could care for exotic animals, and soon learned otherwise. It’s a wonderful place, and I recommend it.

Now, enlarge that zoo two or three times in size, tenfold in budget, and translate the whole thing to the tropics. The result will be something very much like The Belize Zoo. It too contains only rescue animals. But here, these are jaguars (including a rare black one), a puma, ocelots and margays, parrots, macaws and toucans, tapirs, coatimundis and capybaras, and many others.

Set in the middle of the Belize jungle, the zoo’s mission is both to rescue and care for all its residents, but also to educate the populace, both of Belize and the rest of the world, of the value of protecting these wonderful animals and their environments. A tall order, and the zoo engages it with vigor and style. And because it has many nocturnal animals, the zoo offers night tours. Small groups walk with flashlights and a guide after dark, visiting the tapirs, the big cats, the owls and a few other beasties.

It’s been called the best zoo south of the USA, a claim not difficult to accept.

Posted in Belize, Nature, photos | 3 Comments

Into Belize

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Elizabeth

Crossing the border from Mexico to Belize was not as complicated as it could have been, except for the part when, due to confusing signage, we tried to go through the military section, and also when, due to no signage, we almost busted through Mexican customs without getting our exit visas (and paying our generous exit tax).

On the Belize side, which we arrived at after an extensive no-mans-land, we were taken to a little hut where we paid several more fees and taxes. The officials (at least, they looked like officials) at customs laughed very hard at us when they learned we had paid these in US dollars, which are worth twice as much as Belizean dollars. We didn’t mind so much having overpaid (it wasn’t much money), but the laughing was annoying, since a) it was their fault for not specifying the currency anywhere on the signage and b) it’s always tacky to tell someone they shouldn’t have done something that it’s too late to do anything about. The customs and immigration shed was a huge, official building, almost completely empty; a customs official (who was either so bored or so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open) stayed awake long enough to interrogate us pretty thoroughly (albeit slowly) about our car and its registration. He finally decided we could pass, mumbling some instruction in a voice so lazy that we couldn’t understand even after three repetitions.

And then we were in Belize! It’s lovely here. The little villages are tidy and welcoming, and the cities are dusty and disorganized and also welcoming. The foliage is gorgeous, and the variety of wildlife is incredible. Everyone we’ve met has been friendly and warm and relaxed.

Our first night was spent in the Crooked Tree wildlife reserve. Its center is a creole village (said to be the oldest inland European settlement in Belize), which is accessible by a bone-rattling dirt road and a causeway across one of the several lagoons in the area. The preserve is huge, encompassing swamps, forests, savannahs, lagoons, and creeks, and is home to bazillions of species of birds; it is one of the most important wetlands in the world.

The crooked tree itself is a cashew tree; the area is full of cashew plantations. Very sadly, it was not cashew season.

We stayed at a lovely place called the Crooked Tree Lodge, where we opted for the most comfortable camping so far.

We woke up at dawn to watch the avian activity. Had we been actual birders, we would have been in hog heaven; birds of all description were everywhere. Despite being armed with binoculars and two different field guides, we were completely unable to identify a single bird. The birds in the field seem to have mutated somehow from the ones in the books. I saw a beautiful little hummingbird with a green neck and red tail; there are three pages of hummingbirds in the book, but not one that looks like that. I saw a water bird with a yellow mask and yellow legs; there were water bird with yellow masks and black legs, and black masks and yellow legs, but not both.

Onward.

Posted in Belize, Nature | 3 Comments

In the lap of luxury

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Elizabeth

After camping for several days, we were ready for some civilized comfort in Chetumal. So as not to present too much of a shock to our systems, however, we checked into the Hotel Ucum. (Ucum is a village not far from Chetumal.) Hotel Ucum, in addition to being an astonishing hue of bright bluish green, is quite a bargain. The rooms are very clean, and even with air conditioning and a tv, are only about $25 a night. They can give you this amazingly low price by cutting down on non-essentials, such as night tables, lamps, and shower curtains. They do provide hooks for your hammock, as you can see. Just imagine those yellow walls with pink curtains and red and white tile floors, and you’ll understand how very festive the ambience is.

Posted in Buildings, Mexico | 4 Comments

In and Out of the Jungle

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Henry

Yesterday we pulled into Chetumal in the early afternoon. All three of us were warm and sticky and more fragrant than we cared to be. As we approached, the map had indicated some Mayan ruins very near the road we traveled, but since we saw no signs pointing us directly to Exciting Mayan Ruins and Artifacts Unlike Any You’ve Yet Seen!, the call of hotel beds, showers and flush toilets in Chetumal was much louder. We’d stayed the course.

Two days earlier, Rocinante had taken us way, way off the beaten track, through dense jungle to a compound offering what was billed as eco-camping. When we arrived we discovered a mom-and-pop-and-kids operation run by Fernando and his wife, whose name we never learned, their teen-aged son Juan Carlos, and a couple of very cute little girls, also never introduced. But there was neither electricity nor running water. The grounds comprised a couple of main buildings, one of which seemed to a kitchen, the other the family residence; a large covered, open-walled structure of purpose unknown to us; a latrine building with a men’s and women’s side, each with composting toilets, unsteady supplies of toilet paper and a sink fed by a shared bucket set into the separating wall, with a small spigot on either side and devoid of water for our entire stay; another gender-divided building described as a shower, with equivalent arrangements for water supply; a couple of bungalows for paying guests, a tent or two for guests paying less, and several clearings in the jungle for guests with tents of their own. We occupied one such clearing.

There were also two dogs: friendly, playful and very cute. We enjoyed them, while missing Bruce and Flora all the more.

And for all its off-the-grid primitivism, the place did have its charm. The tent clearings were rich with vegetative matter, providing our bones a much softer sleeping surface than the previous camp sites’ rocky soil. The jungle was beautiful. There were howler monkeys in the trees. Fascinating bird and insect noises abounded. A five-minute hike took us to a lookout tower which rose above the jungle’s canopy and afforded a view of many miles in all directions. The kitchen offered breakfast in the mornings and dinner in the evenings, and the food was delicious. For two days and nights, it was home.

One of those days we spent 50 kilometers to the south, at Calakmul. This is a large, very impressive Mayan city, with about twenty-five square kilometers of pyramids, ball-courts, labyrinthine dwellings and other structures in various degrees of ruin and restoration, apparently unused for the past 1,400 years. We all climbed the tallest of the pyramids, known to the locals as Structure #1, which also rose above the tree line, offering another magnificent view. Joe climbed several others. We all got lost and found again, scratching our heads while staring at the almost-helpful-but-not-quite maps posted about the site.

In addition to the magnificent ruins, there was more wildlife. Walking down the trail, we encountered a group a Great Curassows crossing the road single file, very cautiously as we approached. We definitely got the hairy eyeball from each of them as it crossed. At another point, a huge swarm of ants boiling across the road made it difficult to continue without committing mass formicide.

After three or fours hours of wandering and gawking, we were ready to head back down the road to the site museum, 39 kilometers away, to enjoy the cooler air and very clean bathrooms. Alas, we arrived at four, and found it had closed at three. We just continued in the van, another 50 kilometers to the tents, and the best taco dinner I’ve ever eaten.

We rose at 6:30 the next morning, struck camp, and were on the road by 8:30, warm and sticky and more fragrant than we cared to be.

Posted in Camping, Food, Mexico | 3 Comments

Wandering Homestead

Back on the road

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Quinces

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Tikal at Dawn

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Belize City

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Belize humor

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A-Caving We Shall Go

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A Zoo Story

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Into Belize

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In the lap of luxury

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In and Out of the Jungle

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