Jun 2007

Our luck changed pretty drastically after we left the lake, which is good, as things were getting pretty bad. We left the lake and went for the cool of the mountains again, staying just outside a little town called Zunil that has a plethora of volcanic activity that creates enough hot water for a multitude of different sauna and hot spring options. We picked one that had three relaxing pools and plenty of views to keep us relaxed and happy.

After much persuasion and a relaxing day at the hot springs in Zunil, I was able to convince Christina to head to the beach for a bit of a surf. We found a place where we could drive right to the beach and stay just off the surf break (Los Pinos) outside of Sipacate.

We had a surf the evening we arrived, but it wasn't until the next morning that it shaped up enough to catch a few waves. Although I was frustrated with the quality of the beach break, I had a blast catching waves and riding right up onto the sand. After a couple of sessions, we decided that we were pooped enough, and motivated to get closer to the airport for Christina's departure in the morning.

Although we tried to stay away from Antigua, we ended up back there after getting a little lost trying to find a village in the hills above the city. We were disappointed to return to the city, but ended up enjoying it much more than our previous stay, considering that McKenzie was well, we stayed in a nicer hotel, enjoyed a nice dinner outside of the tourist area, and even had a bit of time to pick up some souvenirs on our way out of town.

I got Christina to the airport in time for her flight and promptly returned to Antigua (7th time in/out of the city) to collect Lizzy to head to El Salvador (8th and final time in/out of Antigua). We didn't quite make it to the border, but instead decided to stay the night back at Los Pinos before making the charge for the border...

After a fast border crossing, we headed down to El Zonte to meet up with Sean and Erin to continue the surf journey.

Sean and I had a sunset session at El Zonte, but decided that it was not worth sticking around for unless it got much better in the morning. When it failed to get better, we got on the road to head down to La Libertad to outfit, and then try El Sunzal to see if it is handling the surf any better than El Zonte.

Wow...can you say BAD LUCK? We left Antigua after feeling as though our luck was going to change with Kenzie feeling better, but little did we know that her illness was just the tip of the iceberg. After getting stuck in construction for hours on our way to Lago Atitlan, we finally arrived in San Pedro la Laguna with just enough time to find a place to camp for the night. Little did we know that the streets in this lakeside community are BARELY big enough for Desperado to fit down.

When we found ourselves stuck behind a large truck making a delivery, we decided that we would have to back up the hill that we had gone down and wait for him to move before we could pass. Easy, right? Well, it turned out that it was easy until the very end, when I backed the side of Desperado into probably the most expensive car in Guatemala (actually, without a doubt), that belonged to one of the local politicians running for mayor, who apparently could afford the Volvo truck because he is running drugs with it (we found that out later, but it makes good sense).

The damage was actually pretty severe, with one of Desperado's legs having left a 18 inch scratch/dent down the bed of his truck. Of course, it was parked outside of his political office, so he and all of his cronies were there to witness the event and ensure that we didn't try to get away. This is where it really gets interesting...

No insurance is available to people traveling through Guatemala. They must figure that all the cars (excepting this one) are so shitty that there is really no need to repair them in the case of an accident anyway. Just my luck that I found a nice car, eh? So, with no insurance, it became my responsibility to take care of the damages through monetary reimbursement. After much arbitration, we finally arrived at the following agreement:

1. 2250 Quetzalis (equivalent of $300US)
2. my Ipod and all attachments (equivalent of $200US)
3. my favorite hat (right off my head)
4. a promise to return to San Pedro and enjoy the place more the next time (yeah, fucking right!)

With that behind us, we finally did have some time to enjoy the town, although Christina had not been feeling herself. A quick check with the internet and she isolated that the lack of sensation and ability to move the muscles on the right side of her face are indicative of Bells Palsy...a VERY serious condition caused by stress. She has begun a regiment of drugs that will hopefully clear the symptoms up here shortly...we hope!

Ok...our luck has to change, right? After a couple of days enjoying the lake with little in the way of drama, we are out of here and heading further into Guatemala in search of tranquility and a illness, accident-free lifestyle!!! Wish us luck!

We left Placencia hoping to make it near the Guatemalan border before dark, and did just that. We actually made it across the border and stayed in the middle of the jungle at a little known archaeological site just across the border along the road to Tical. Although we hit the sack SUPER early, it made no difference to our nights rest once the Howler Monkeys realized that we were around and spent the entire night making us pay for our intrusion with their satanic war cries.

On a positive note, the Howlers did get us up and on the road early, with out earliest start yet at a quarter after six. Lizzy and I made it to Antigua after our longest day of driving yet. We had planned to stop at Tical, but with an estimated 10 hours of driving ahead of us, we decided that the prudent route would be to leg it directly to Antigua to secure decent accommodations for the night. Due to widespread road construction here in Guatemala, the trip took much longer than expected, especially getting through Guatemala City.

We arrived just in time to meet up with Sean and Erin at a little place called Cafe No Se. Our patron there, Steve, took us under his wing that night and was nice enough to educate us about Agave and its "medicinal" benefits, much to our chagrin the next morning when we woke up on the street outside of Sean and Erin's pimpin' pad.

The night was a blast, with many large first stories having been told and a basic education on agave having been gleaned. The biggest lesson that I took away was that Agave is equally as dangerous as its older and "more cultured" brother Tequila!

I collected Christina from the airport the day following the agave night and was lucky enough that she was as bushed as me after nearly 24 hours of traveling to get here. We returned to Antigua after collecting lost luggage from the airport and found a decent little spot to stay for the night.

Our plan was to get out of Antigua straight away, but McKenzie fell under the weather with what turned out to be a pretty serious condition, so we have been in Antigua for a bit longer than planned, which is definitely not all bad, as this city is absolutely incredible. Definitely the gem of Central America!

With McKenzie on the upswing after a heavy dose of antibiotics, we are on our way to the peace and tranquility of Lago Itatlan.

We have been in Placencia for four nights now, and have REALLY begun to enjoy the pace of life here. For fear of wanting to stay forever, we decided that it was high time to get the rock out of here!!!

Our time in Placencia was SUPER chill, in part due to the chill atmosphere here, the cost of the Belize in general, and partially due to a wicked ear infection that Lizzy developed from too much time in the water. Poor thing...apparently the doctor was winging when he took look inside her ear canal due to the exorbitant amount of blood and yuck that had developed and the state of hear ear in general.

Despite those factors, we managed to enjoy our time, relaxing, walking the path into town, doing a bit of fishing, and a LOT of swimming. We ate good food, played with the local children, enjoyed the mellow atmosphere that prevails around here, and generally just CHILLED out after a couple of weeks of traveling.

We decided that it is time to get moving, as we are about 14 hours from Guatemala City, and still have some sites that we would like to visit between here and there. Therefore, we are back on the road on our way north, and eventually west, and then back south to get to Guatemala City and Antigua, where I will meet up with Christina and Lizzy will hopefully meet up with Sean and Erin again for the coming week.

We are staying about 15 feet from the sea under a couple of palm trees on a beautiful stretch of beach just north of the Placentia Center (if you can call it that).

We stayed in San Cristobal for the next few nights, as we got rained on pretty much the whole time, but wanted to be able to experience the area at least a little bit. After a few short sessions in town between rain storms, we finally saw some of what we had come for and hit the road heading north to take in some of the other attractions of the area.

After leaving San Cristobal, we headed further up into the mountains, and then back down the other side to a sweet place called Agua Azul, complete with waterfalls, rope swings, rivers with overhanging trees, etc.

We spent the night there after a long drive, enjoyed the sights and activities during the day, and bolted to head up to Palenque, the Mayan Archeological sight in the middle of the State of Chiapas.

Before heading up to Palenque, we made a stop at an incredible waterfall in the Misol-Ha park, and swam our little hearts out, jumping through waterfalls, off rock cliffs, and around the pool at the bottom of a beautiful 100 foot waterfall in the middle of the jungle.

After a LONG day of swimming and messing around, we headed up to Palenque and found a place near the archeological site to stay so that we could visit it in the morning for a day of tourism! Yeah!

Palenque turned out to be better than we thought, much to our surprise, and with the assistance of a guide that we hired for an hour "quick paced tour" through the site, we were able to invest a minimal amount of time with a maximum amount of "trourism." This turned out to be a good decision, considering the heat and the usual "bore" of archeological sites!!!

After the morning at the site, we made a last minute decision to head to the Caribbean coast and down through Belize before entering Guatemala, whiich would require a long day of driving but allow us to see another country, not to mention another ocean.

With a little luck, we made it all the way to the coast, and to a little dot on the map called Bacalar, which was on a BEAUTIFUL lagoon. We stayed in what was probably the most idealic setting that I have experienced thus far, before continuing north and east to the REAL Caribbean coast.

After doing a bit of laundry and getting things dry in Bacalar, we we set off up the coast and east to a Peninsula that looked to be a piece of heaven. I even had dreams of surf near Majahual, but I soon realized that this was totally unrealistic as we WERE in the Caribbean.

We blazed all the way down the Peninsula to Xcalak, where we stayed for part of the night until we were chased out by heavy winds and forced to move north closer to Majahual.

We had a best a fitful nights sleep, and so Lizzy and I were both motivated to move on from the peninsula, although without the gale-force winds this part of Mexico could easily be one of the most beautiful we have seen.

We shot down to Corozal with the intention of crossing the border into Belize, but we found that we had missed our opportunity, as the mexican Aduana was closed for the day by the time we arrived. It worked out well, though, as we stayed just north of Chetumal on another lagoon, where we enjoyed evening and mornng paddle sessions on the water.

The next day, we were all set to cross the border, but had NO idea of what we were in for...

Despite shenanigans at the border, including about a hundred bucks to get Kenzie into the country, we finally were on our way south to Belize City, with the intention of a night in the city to get our party on!

We located an excellent place to park the truck (thank to Lizzy) right beside the Radisson hotel, which provided us with luxury items such as pool, a/c'd toilets, etc. for the evening and the next morning before we continued further south.

We had a bit of trouble finding a decent place to have drinks, but finally stumbled upon a pool hall that had decently priced beers and some interesting characters to chill with. This gave us the green light to get our drink on, especially with chilled Belikin awaiting us...we paid for it in the morning, though!

Although a bit hung from the night before, we managed to get ourselves all the way down to Placentia the same day, but that is about all we accomplished, aside from finding a camping spot that is right up there with the best. We are staying about 15 feet from the sea under a couple of palm trees on a beautiful stretch of beach just north of the Placentia Center (if you can call it that).