The Fab Four... in guatemala
i felt the pressure to plan and go on vacation while incubating a baby. i think it was the thought of carting 2 li'l boys post sept 2010 that made me go all out and on this vacation. might as well explore the world when one is safely(?) tucked in you...
easter bloc was my first choice. croatia, hungary.. but the thought of sitting with a ballooning belly and an active 4yo in cattle class for all that flying time enticed me out of there. so pure logistics narrowed our desination to central america. and yes! it had to be central america and not the united states of america as not using your passport(as much as a pain it is!) doesn't count as vacation in my mind.
then came the shortlist - guatemala, costa rica, nicaragua. costa rica meant beaches and relaxation.. which sounded great.. but we just did that. decided on guatemala as it would be a balanced blend of culture, tradition, people, natural beauty, the MAYAN ruins..!!!! and most importantly, i knew locals there. also, other important factors included.. the diet of the people.. corn + rice! yeah baby...! this meant that i did not need to carry an additional 20 lbs of food to ensure that N was all taken care of during the trip.
i got lucky and was able to get N & L tickets on miles. and then my full time job for a couple of days was to nail an itinerary. that would involve soaking in the history and culture of the country, making sure that N has interesting things to look forward to and that preggie has a good balance of activities and r&r. and here's what happened.
thursday may 22nd: L is in NY. N wakes up with a cough. I pump in home-meds and send him to school. His teacher calls me at 3pm saying he has a 'whooping' cough! argh! pick him up right away and hearing his cough, i'm certain we aren't going to board the plane the next night. he is injected with turmeric, tulsi, milk, ghee, warm water, lemon, honey, all sorts of magic powders and benadryl so he sleeps thru the night. i stop packing as i've lost all hope of making it. he cough isn't getting better.. saving grace: he isn't running a fever and had good dinner.
Friday may 21st: N is better. Hope returns. he has been instructed to sit down and play/watch TV/do whatever the heck he wants. but cannot move! 10am. we decide that we can make the trip. 10pm. we get dropped to the airport for a midnight flight heading to houston. N is excited.. i am too. i'm hoping all goes well. L has no clue where he's going or what he's doing. i'd love for someone to do that for me :) 3 hr wait at houston and then onward bound to GC.
Saturday may 22nd: get to GC at 10:45am. N is better, but still not 100%. i have jose victor at the airport to pick us up. he knows no english and i am yet to start de-rusting my espanol. we do manage to have some conversation about WOG, business in general, my current role, aj quen's business model, etc. i think he understands what i'm saying :) our plan is to head to chichicastenango. it has centro america's largest markets on sundays & thursdays and i wanted to be sure we're part of that. so, the plan is to directly head to chichi spend the night there, head to the market next morning. chichi is 3 hours away. first stop is Chimaltenango. exchanged monies! boy! its took only 30 mins to exchange $300. inefficiency at this highest. the chic stares at the paper for 5 mins, then types something on her computer.. stares at it. only to say that my passport number doesn't work. JV jumps in and tries to speed up the process. next stop, aj quen office... though L REALLY wanted to lunch before we headed there. they must have read L's energy as there was a simple but very delicious meal waiting for us. jugo de pina.. that was so fresh and sweet. we drank up like parched earth. JV & troup must have thought we were crazy. ensalada and tortilla + a potato sabji-like this. chicken for the meat-eaters. it was SO good.. and my love affair with the li'l corn tortilla started. N had idlis..! anyways.. chilled a bit. and then wrapped our luggage in tarp at the back of the pick up.. preparing for the rains. heard and read that it rained everyday at 4pm. and were ready for the windy way to to chichi. 2 hrs away. it was a beautiful drive.. corn fields, farms, farmers, li'l children, apple orchards, villages, the misty drizzle.. the WF crystallized ginger helped L, but lifesavers couldn't save N - who did get motion sick.. to add to his already congested state. finally, got to chichi about 3-4pm. to the lovely hotel santo tomas. a really nice hotel. the architecture of the place was so pretty.. the decor was very eclectic.. drums, pianos, statues of saints, lamps, antique chairs.. and they had a gorgeous courtyard, fountain and pool. our room was on the 1st floor. nicely done. with fireplace and a li'l balcony overlooking a street and the mountains beyond. was very happy with my choice of hotel. we jumped into the pool.. splashed around.. played piano.. and stepped out in to the village about 6pm. small li'l place. and as we were walking, i spotted 'de colores'! walked in hoping to see juan jose, but he was gone for the evening. should see him tomorrow. espanol started improving. had dinner at this dabba in the center of town. pretty gutsy for a first meal.. but was very tasty. L LOVED the chicken. i was excited to see women making the corn tortillas. a 30sec on the process: the tortilla maker wets her hands, grabs a handful of masa - the dough, and skillfully rapidly pats and slaps the masa between her palms to form a perfectly round tortilla of even thickness. The tortilla is then placed on a comal to cook and turned over once or twice during the process. she slaps out tortillas one after another and usually has six or eight cooking on the comal at once like a production line. the typical comal has a cooking surface about three feet square and is heated with firewood (leña) which gives the tortillas a faintly smoky taste. ah yummy!! even the 'tup tup' noise as she's making the tortillas sounds so good to me :). N started his regular arroz con frijoles y soda. frozen fruit dipped in hot chocolate seems to be omnipresent. there's dedicated stores.. down to the man selling them out of his li'l 1ft x 1ft thermacoal box. so, had a mango con chocolate for dessert. yum! tried some local chips, got some DVDs for N. spongebob, cars, et al in espanol. back to our room and we decide to get the fireplace going. L spends 1 hour trying, after which his wife calls reception for help and in 5 mins.. vola! we have a fire! three of us sit in front of it and tell stories - taking turns. it was certianly one of the nicest moments :) N is excited that he has his own bed! hee hee! and we all smoke haldi..lloyd's ensured that we are equipped thru the trip and ensures that his family smokes twice a day! phew!! overall a lovely first day.
Sunday may 23rd: the market is HUGE! aisles and aisles of crafts - primarily for the touring crowd and then aisles of everything else - freshly cooked food, live poultry, corn, toys, clothes, home goods and all else - for the local trading population. the chichi market is the meeting/trading point for all the local villages. so, locals travel from afar to buy/sell goods here. was an interesting sight. also, lots of florists! and beautiful flowers. i'm guessing that a mayan house must be really pretty and fragrant with these flowers. N is tired after a while, but we get him a li'l drum and it keeps him going for a li'l bit. we then head to the church. simple, elegant structure. churches have mayan influence. while there were tons and tons of textiles and crafts, wog has spoilt me... as nothing was really new and exciting for me. if i had visited this place pre-wog, i would have certainly spent a few hundred $$ easily. now, i just, looked, observed, absorbed, studied and learned.its so much less stressful this way :). On the way back, I stopped at de colores. Juan jose was summoned immediately and he was SO nice! While N & L headed back to the hotel, I went out to get a drink with him. Ofcourse it was jugo fresca! He shared a lot of insight about the local indigenous crowd. For someone that was born, raised and still lives in this li’l village, he is very aware and tuned into the world. It was so promising to see that. He has a vision for his town. He says that the maya constitute 90% of the mountain population. But the 10% ladinos are so much smarter than them that they are taken advantage of. Compounding this is the maya’s resistance to change - very high. They live like the rest of the world lived a 100+ years back. Very soft spoken(which we observed). Believe that TV, telephones etc are unnecessary evils. Maya speak several different languages and every 20-30 miles, there’s a different dialect/language that is very different from the other. He found it fascinating that it was the same case in india. Women + men’s roles are very defined. Crafts is a very woman thing.. though typically they don’t do the selling. Trends are changing in the weaving style and some styles are lost forever.. as a result of new types of threads, dyes, etc. learned about maya every-day life, their temescals, After a lovely 2 hour conversation, we walk back to the hotel. he has started a school for the maya kids and I wanted to give him some supplies that N & I had packed. In no time his wife, 2 sons and twin daughters joined us! It was so cute! To add to the fun atmosphere, there was a troupe playing the marimba and some drummers as well. We spent some happy time with them and soon it was time to leave for Pana. Tio Oswaldo was waiting for us and after snapping 10’s of pictures of the fabulous hotel and its environs, we pack up for pana. Its about an hour away. Up in the mountains. Absolutely scenic route. You can see the clouds decent on lush green mountains. Its misty but not cold. We cross Solola – and its crazy market – and are in Pana. I picked Panajachel as its on the shore of Lake Atitlan – a HUGE volcanic crater. There are 2 active volcano surrounding it.. Atitlan and Tomas. We’re now at Dos Mundos for 2 nights. Nice clean rooms, N loved the pool as it had a kiddie section. Fab location – right on calle Santander. Restaurants, stores, the docks.. we strolled a bit and then N got addicted to cartoons in espanol. the drizzle started and thought we'd need to resort to food we'd brought along for that rainy day, but it did clear up and we headed to sunset cafe. great location. on a cliff by the water. you can see the twinkling lights afar.. lights from all the surrounding villages. excitement level is soaring. Next morning was the much anticipated boat ride and village hopping.
Monday, May 24th: Up early, knocking on the restaurant door for bfast. A quick bite and we hail a tuk tuk to take us to the san pedro dock. n had such a fun time on the short ride to the dock. as we walk towards the dock, there's guys wanting us to head to san pedro. i had my plan - san marcos: the prettiest of the villages with a li'l tranquil (almost hippy) touch to it with fruit groves, etc. san pedro: more commercial, san juan: relatively untouched and non-commercial and if possible san antonio: almost as touristy as pana. and no lancha man was going to change my plan. got on the boat to san marcos. about 30 mins of jetting. stopped at about 3 docks enroute. was FUN! the lancha is pretty low.. so, you can lean over and touch the water. the water was fairly tranquil and the entire atmosphere was heavenly. serious. the lake is a crater lake. surrounded by a dozen mountains of which 2 are active volcanoes. they are all lush, dense green with wispy clouds descending and moving in on them. villages are built on the slopes.. upto about 1/4th of the height. the docks are all tree trunk and branch construction - adding such a rustic appeal. other than the jet lanchas, there are mayas who are paddling their wood & grass boats. beautiful site. there are no roads going all around the lake as that would need heavy investment. so, boating across is the way. and then we got to san marcos. great li'l village. cobbled streets(again) groves everywhere! li'l yoga centers too! we walked to the middle of the village and then took a tuktuk to jinava. which was an absolute treat! the plan was to chill out for a bit with a drink/snack. a lot of walking.. but if we didn't we'd have missed all of natures treats! all kinds of bugs, ants, plants, flowers, leaves, the colors, textures, activity drove N & me crazy. of the lot(banana, papaya, avocado, etc.. etc..) N was most excited about seeing a cotton plant. he was fascinated to learn that his shirt was made from that flower. he wanted a picture next to it and take a flower back home.. to school for 'show and tell'! the mind of a 4yo! trekked down further absorbing a lot more and got to the pit stop. we sat outside! gorgeous view.. N started his thing for taking pics of his amma + appa making silly faces. then we all chilled in different areas.. traveling off peak has its advantages. most places we go to are not crowded. the wait staff is genuinely happy to see you. you can do whatever you want, wherever you want.. and no questions asked. lovely! we need that with an active 4yo. a jugo & crepe later.. we climb back all the way back through the plantations head down to the village and towards the dock, pausing for a local chips and soda break. love it! we wait at the dock for a few minutes and there comes the lancha to san pedro. and in abotu 10 mins we're there. as we walk up to the village, we're stopped by a tuk tuk guy that tells us he can conduct a tour in is tuk tuk for a 'special price'. i've been bitten by this special price too many times and am not interested. more over.. its time to lunch. we ask the dude to recommend a place to get local food.. weren't gringo food (that's what we saw as we ascended into the village).. he recommended a restaurant in san juan - in the neighboring village a 10min/$3 ride away. we merrily jump in.. absorbing more views as we head towards san juan. we're in a restaurant that looks like its catering to the touring crowd, but i believe its hard core local.. their infrastructure and supplies are low. its an interesting place.. almost like a maze and has everythign from a pond of fish to statures of jesus and a few saints, lots of trees + plants. all seating is in private booths and there's an upper level to some of them. lloyd had the mean pescado con camarones that dude recommended. i stuck to arroz, frijoles, verduras. and for some reason, i always get an egg as well! and ofcourse gallo & crush. it takes FOREVER for them to get our food. luckily N is very busily occupied. we switched him to jam sandwiches before he says "not again" :) a happy meal later we hop onto the waiting tuk tuk. he picks lunch at this streetside vendor. the vendor has his spread in steel & enamel dishes laid on a table. the food here is SO simple. guess that explains the height and girth of the people. we drive around in san juan. small li'l village. simple and very clean. we noticed that everywhere. everything's just so clean. and comparing it to india, the place is seriously underpopulated! they have the infrastructure to support 5-6x the current population. isn't that nice?! wide cobbled roads no streetlights ANYWHERE. i don't think any place other than Guate has street lights. but its very orderly. back to san pedro and we walk along the streets - the fun part. stop by a church, an old woman selling raw mangoes! that chilli/sal combo she had rocked!! and meandering along, we reached the dock. i made a call to head back and chill in pana instead of adding another village to the itinerary. so, back to pana it was. the weather had changed. it was windy, overcast and the lake was certainly not calm. which made the boatride a blast for N & i was just praying that we reached the other end ASAP. i quickly eye-balled for the life jackets.. while N was busy spraying himself and everyone else with water. he had SUCH A blast! once we were back the boys decided to chill with TV and in the pool and amma had some 'me' time. strolled down to see stores, handcrafts, textiles, local toys, et al! was so relaxing.. chanced on this cool store - k'frans - definitely designer. clean cuts. nice colors. contemporary patterns. if i wasn't with a ballooning belly, i probably would have picke dup more, but for now, i got myself.. treated myself to a nice green top. i LOVED a jacket there.. it was a beautiful red, but... don't know what shape i'd be post baby. anyways.. continued my walk and enjoyed it! finally picked up some jalea for N. ambled along.. was tempted by the ceramics.. but knew it would go straight to storage. joined the boys for dinner at what we originally thought was pricey. but it was the amongst the best food we'd eaten so far.. and wasn't that expensive afterall. with full bellies, we walked back in the drizzle. i love the fact that it rained when we were there. it added such a beautiful twist to the atmosphere and experience. more espanol TV for N, chill time and then.. all of a sudden i realized that until now we were operating on Houston time! that's one hour ahead of Guate time! i was following my iphone which was stuck in houston time. now.... that explained a LOT of things! the restaurant wasn't quite open when we go tthere this morning, the conversation with juan jose seemed longer than what clocks indicated.. etc.. etc..! wow! the noros are actually up and ahead of time!
tuesday, may 25th: heading to antigua!
to be continued...
may 26th: exploring antigua
may 27th: to peten!
may 28th: in peten
may 29th: tikal
may 30th: reeling in tikal!
may 31st: bye bye guatemala, hello belize & back home.
easter bloc was my first choice. croatia, hungary.. but the thought of sitting with a ballooning belly and an active 4yo in cattle class for all that flying time enticed me out of there. so pure logistics narrowed our desination to central america. and yes! it had to be central america and not the united states of america as not using your passport(as much as a pain it is!) doesn't count as vacation in my mind.
then came the shortlist - guatemala, costa rica, nicaragua. costa rica meant beaches and relaxation.. which sounded great.. but we just did that. decided on guatemala as it would be a balanced blend of culture, tradition, people, natural beauty, the MAYAN ruins..!!!! and most importantly, i knew locals there. also, other important factors included.. the diet of the people.. corn + rice! yeah baby...! this meant that i did not need to carry an additional 20 lbs of food to ensure that N was all taken care of during the trip.
i got lucky and was able to get N & L tickets on miles. and then my full time job for a couple of days was to nail an itinerary. that would involve soaking in the history and culture of the country, making sure that N has interesting things to look forward to and that preggie has a good balance of activities and r&r. and here's what happened.
thursday may 22nd: L is in NY. N wakes up with a cough. I pump in home-meds and send him to school. His teacher calls me at 3pm saying he has a 'whooping' cough! argh! pick him up right away and hearing his cough, i'm certain we aren't going to board the plane the next night. he is injected with turmeric, tulsi, milk, ghee, warm water, lemon, honey, all sorts of magic powders and benadryl so he sleeps thru the night. i stop packing as i've lost all hope of making it. he cough isn't getting better.. saving grace: he isn't running a fever and had good dinner.
Friday may 21st: N is better. Hope returns. he has been instructed to sit down and play/watch TV/do whatever the heck he wants. but cannot move! 10am. we decide that we can make the trip. 10pm. we get dropped to the airport for a midnight flight heading to houston. N is excited.. i am too. i'm hoping all goes well. L has no clue where he's going or what he's doing. i'd love for someone to do that for me :) 3 hr wait at houston and then onward bound to GC.
Saturday may 22nd: get to GC at 10:45am. N is better, but still not 100%. i have jose victor at the airport to pick us up. he knows no english and i am yet to start de-rusting my espanol. we do manage to have some conversation about WOG, business in general, my current role, aj quen's business model, etc. i think he understands what i'm saying :) our plan is to head to chichicastenango. it has centro america's largest markets on sundays & thursdays and i wanted to be sure we're part of that. so, the plan is to directly head to chichi spend the night there, head to the market next morning. chichi is 3 hours away. first stop is Chimaltenango. exchanged monies! boy! its took only 30 mins to exchange $300. inefficiency at this highest. the chic stares at the paper for 5 mins, then types something on her computer.. stares at it. only to say that my passport number doesn't work. JV jumps in and tries to speed up the process. next stop, aj quen office... though L REALLY wanted to lunch before we headed there. they must have read L's energy as there was a simple but very delicious meal waiting for us. jugo de pina.. that was so fresh and sweet. we drank up like parched earth. JV & troup must have thought we were crazy. ensalada and tortilla + a potato sabji-like this. chicken for the meat-eaters. it was SO good.. and my love affair with the li'l corn tortilla started. N had idlis..! anyways.. chilled a bit. and then wrapped our luggage in tarp at the back of the pick up.. preparing for the rains. heard and read that it rained everyday at 4pm. and were ready for the windy way to to chichi. 2 hrs away. it was a beautiful drive.. corn fields, farms, farmers, li'l children, apple orchards, villages, the misty drizzle.. the WF crystallized ginger helped L, but lifesavers couldn't save N - who did get motion sick.. to add to his already congested state. finally, got to chichi about 3-4pm. to the lovely hotel santo tomas. a really nice hotel. the architecture of the place was so pretty.. the decor was very eclectic.. drums, pianos, statues of saints, lamps, antique chairs.. and they had a gorgeous courtyard, fountain and pool. our room was on the 1st floor. nicely done. with fireplace and a li'l balcony overlooking a street and the mountains beyond. was very happy with my choice of hotel. we jumped into the pool.. splashed around.. played piano.. and stepped out in to the village about 6pm. small li'l place. and as we were walking, i spotted 'de colores'! walked in hoping to see juan jose, but he was gone for the evening. should see him tomorrow. espanol started improving. had dinner at this dabba in the center of town. pretty gutsy for a first meal.. but was very tasty. L LOVED the chicken. i was excited to see women making the corn tortillas. a 30sec on the process: the tortilla maker wets her hands, grabs a handful of masa - the dough, and skillfully rapidly pats and slaps the masa between her palms to form a perfectly round tortilla of even thickness. The tortilla is then placed on a comal to cook and turned over once or twice during the process. she slaps out tortillas one after another and usually has six or eight cooking on the comal at once like a production line. the typical comal has a cooking surface about three feet square and is heated with firewood (leña) which gives the tortillas a faintly smoky taste. ah yummy!! even the 'tup tup' noise as she's making the tortillas sounds so good to me :). N started his regular arroz con frijoles y soda. frozen fruit dipped in hot chocolate seems to be omnipresent. there's dedicated stores.. down to the man selling them out of his li'l 1ft x 1ft thermacoal box. so, had a mango con chocolate for dessert. yum! tried some local chips, got some DVDs for N. spongebob, cars, et al in espanol. back to our room and we decide to get the fireplace going. L spends 1 hour trying, after which his wife calls reception for help and in 5 mins.. vola! we have a fire! three of us sit in front of it and tell stories - taking turns. it was certianly one of the nicest moments :) N is excited that he has his own bed! hee hee! and we all smoke haldi..lloyd's ensured that we are equipped thru the trip and ensures that his family smokes twice a day! phew!! overall a lovely first day.
Sunday may 23rd: the market is HUGE! aisles and aisles of crafts - primarily for the touring crowd and then aisles of everything else - freshly cooked food, live poultry, corn, toys, clothes, home goods and all else - for the local trading population. the chichi market is the meeting/trading point for all the local villages. so, locals travel from afar to buy/sell goods here. was an interesting sight. also, lots of florists! and beautiful flowers. i'm guessing that a mayan house must be really pretty and fragrant with these flowers. N is tired after a while, but we get him a li'l drum and it keeps him going for a li'l bit. we then head to the church. simple, elegant structure. churches have mayan influence. while there were tons and tons of textiles and crafts, wog has spoilt me... as nothing was really new and exciting for me. if i had visited this place pre-wog, i would have certainly spent a few hundred $$ easily. now, i just, looked, observed, absorbed, studied and learned.its so much less stressful this way :). On the way back, I stopped at de colores. Juan jose was summoned immediately and he was SO nice! While N & L headed back to the hotel, I went out to get a drink with him. Ofcourse it was jugo fresca! He shared a lot of insight about the local indigenous crowd. For someone that was born, raised and still lives in this li’l village, he is very aware and tuned into the world. It was so promising to see that. He has a vision for his town. He says that the maya constitute 90% of the mountain population. But the 10% ladinos are so much smarter than them that they are taken advantage of. Compounding this is the maya’s resistance to change - very high. They live like the rest of the world lived a 100+ years back. Very soft spoken(which we observed). Believe that TV, telephones etc are unnecessary evils. Maya speak several different languages and every 20-30 miles, there’s a different dialect/language that is very different from the other. He found it fascinating that it was the same case in india. Women + men’s roles are very defined. Crafts is a very woman thing.. though typically they don’t do the selling. Trends are changing in the weaving style and some styles are lost forever.. as a result of new types of threads, dyes, etc. learned about maya every-day life, their temescals, After a lovely 2 hour conversation, we walk back to the hotel. he has started a school for the maya kids and I wanted to give him some supplies that N & I had packed. In no time his wife, 2 sons and twin daughters joined us! It was so cute! To add to the fun atmosphere, there was a troupe playing the marimba and some drummers as well. We spent some happy time with them and soon it was time to leave for Pana. Tio Oswaldo was waiting for us and after snapping 10’s of pictures of the fabulous hotel and its environs, we pack up for pana. Its about an hour away. Up in the mountains. Absolutely scenic route. You can see the clouds decent on lush green mountains. Its misty but not cold. We cross Solola – and its crazy market – and are in Pana. I picked Panajachel as its on the shore of Lake Atitlan – a HUGE volcanic crater. There are 2 active volcano surrounding it.. Atitlan and Tomas. We’re now at Dos Mundos for 2 nights. Nice clean rooms, N loved the pool as it had a kiddie section. Fab location – right on calle Santander. Restaurants, stores, the docks.. we strolled a bit and then N got addicted to cartoons in espanol. the drizzle started and thought we'd need to resort to food we'd brought along for that rainy day, but it did clear up and we headed to sunset cafe. great location. on a cliff by the water. you can see the twinkling lights afar.. lights from all the surrounding villages. excitement level is soaring. Next morning was the much anticipated boat ride and village hopping.
Monday, May 24th: Up early, knocking on the restaurant door for bfast. A quick bite and we hail a tuk tuk to take us to the san pedro dock. n had such a fun time on the short ride to the dock. as we walk towards the dock, there's guys wanting us to head to san pedro. i had my plan - san marcos: the prettiest of the villages with a li'l tranquil (almost hippy) touch to it with fruit groves, etc. san pedro: more commercial, san juan: relatively untouched and non-commercial and if possible san antonio: almost as touristy as pana. and no lancha man was going to change my plan. got on the boat to san marcos. about 30 mins of jetting. stopped at about 3 docks enroute. was FUN! the lancha is pretty low.. so, you can lean over and touch the water. the water was fairly tranquil and the entire atmosphere was heavenly. serious. the lake is a crater lake. surrounded by a dozen mountains of which 2 are active volcanoes. they are all lush, dense green with wispy clouds descending and moving in on them. villages are built on the slopes.. upto about 1/4th of the height. the docks are all tree trunk and branch construction - adding such a rustic appeal. other than the jet lanchas, there are mayas who are paddling their wood & grass boats. beautiful site. there are no roads going all around the lake as that would need heavy investment. so, boating across is the way. and then we got to san marcos. great li'l village. cobbled streets(again) groves everywhere! li'l yoga centers too! we walked to the middle of the village and then took a tuktuk to jinava. which was an absolute treat! the plan was to chill out for a bit with a drink/snack. a lot of walking.. but if we didn't we'd have missed all of natures treats! all kinds of bugs, ants, plants, flowers, leaves, the colors, textures, activity drove N & me crazy. of the lot(banana, papaya, avocado, etc.. etc..) N was most excited about seeing a cotton plant. he was fascinated to learn that his shirt was made from that flower. he wanted a picture next to it and take a flower back home.. to school for 'show and tell'! the mind of a 4yo! trekked down further absorbing a lot more and got to the pit stop. we sat outside! gorgeous view.. N started his thing for taking pics of his amma + appa making silly faces. then we all chilled in different areas.. traveling off peak has its advantages. most places we go to are not crowded. the wait staff is genuinely happy to see you. you can do whatever you want, wherever you want.. and no questions asked. lovely! we need that with an active 4yo. a jugo & crepe later.. we climb back all the way back through the plantations head down to the village and towards the dock, pausing for a local chips and soda break. love it! we wait at the dock for a few minutes and there comes the lancha to san pedro. and in abotu 10 mins we're there. as we walk up to the village, we're stopped by a tuk tuk guy that tells us he can conduct a tour in is tuk tuk for a 'special price'. i've been bitten by this special price too many times and am not interested. more over.. its time to lunch. we ask the dude to recommend a place to get local food.. weren't gringo food (that's what we saw as we ascended into the village).. he recommended a restaurant in san juan - in the neighboring village a 10min/$3 ride away. we merrily jump in.. absorbing more views as we head towards san juan. we're in a restaurant that looks like its catering to the touring crowd, but i believe its hard core local.. their infrastructure and supplies are low. its an interesting place.. almost like a maze and has everythign from a pond of fish to statures of jesus and a few saints, lots of trees + plants. all seating is in private booths and there's an upper level to some of them. lloyd had the mean pescado con camarones that dude recommended. i stuck to arroz, frijoles, verduras. and for some reason, i always get an egg as well! and ofcourse gallo & crush. it takes FOREVER for them to get our food. luckily N is very busily occupied. we switched him to jam sandwiches before he says "not again" :) a happy meal later we hop onto the waiting tuk tuk. he picks lunch at this streetside vendor. the vendor has his spread in steel & enamel dishes laid on a table. the food here is SO simple. guess that explains the height and girth of the people. we drive around in san juan. small li'l village. simple and very clean. we noticed that everywhere. everything's just so clean. and comparing it to india, the place is seriously underpopulated! they have the infrastructure to support 5-6x the current population. isn't that nice?! wide cobbled roads no streetlights ANYWHERE. i don't think any place other than Guate has street lights. but its very orderly. back to san pedro and we walk along the streets - the fun part. stop by a church, an old woman selling raw mangoes! that chilli/sal combo she had rocked!! and meandering along, we reached the dock. i made a call to head back and chill in pana instead of adding another village to the itinerary. so, back to pana it was. the weather had changed. it was windy, overcast and the lake was certainly not calm. which made the boatride a blast for N & i was just praying that we reached the other end ASAP. i quickly eye-balled for the life jackets.. while N was busy spraying himself and everyone else with water. he had SUCH A blast! once we were back the boys decided to chill with TV and in the pool and amma had some 'me' time. strolled down to see stores, handcrafts, textiles, local toys, et al! was so relaxing.. chanced on this cool store - k'frans - definitely designer. clean cuts. nice colors. contemporary patterns. if i wasn't with a ballooning belly, i probably would have picke dup more, but for now, i got myself.. treated myself to a nice green top. i LOVED a jacket there.. it was a beautiful red, but... don't know what shape i'd be post baby. anyways.. continued my walk and enjoyed it! finally picked up some jalea for N. ambled along.. was tempted by the ceramics.. but knew it would go straight to storage. joined the boys for dinner at what we originally thought was pricey. but it was the amongst the best food we'd eaten so far.. and wasn't that expensive afterall. with full bellies, we walked back in the drizzle. i love the fact that it rained when we were there. it added such a beautiful twist to the atmosphere and experience. more espanol TV for N, chill time and then.. all of a sudden i realized that until now we were operating on Houston time! that's one hour ahead of Guate time! i was following my iphone which was stuck in houston time. now.... that explained a LOT of things! the restaurant wasn't quite open when we go tthere this morning, the conversation with juan jose seemed longer than what clocks indicated.. etc.. etc..! wow! the noros are actually up and ahead of time!
tuesday, may 25th: heading to antigua!
to be continued...
may 26th: exploring antigua
may 27th: to peten!
may 28th: in peten
may 29th: tikal
may 30th: reeling in tikal!
may 31st: bye bye guatemala, hello belize & back home.
posted by transmogrifier at 2:39 PM
0 comments
