So let's go back in time a month to just before Semana Santa and our big week off. The Friday directly before SS we all went to pick up our renewed passport stamps from the immigration office (a surprisingly hassle-free process, destroying my illusions of Central American beauracracy) and then popped into Guate's botanical garden for a look around. The garden was actually closed but the 'gringo factor' and some gentle pleading got us in to the deserted garden. It really is a beautiful place, and forms a surprisingly effective sanctuary in the middle of the city. While you can still hear the car-horns, you can at least imagine that you're elsewhere. I have a couple of pictures that I took.
(L to R: Andrea, Me, Jasmine, Alice, Theo, Ben)
Following this we went for our usual Friday tacos & Gallo session, which was complemented by a procession. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate, but I took some photos anyway.
If you flick back through my blog posts, you'll notice that a few weeks before all this Andrea and I had dinner at our taxi drivers house. We thought it would be polite to return the invitation, so for Saturday lunchtime we invited him and his family around. We had assumed in would just be him, his wife and his Grandson, so we were slightly surprised when no less than 10 people turned up. Still, a quick trip to the butchers later and beef stir fry for 13 was underway. All in all it was a reasonable success, though the stress of the cooking rendered what little Spanish I speak useless. Still we battled through the awkwardness and made it out the other side.
After this, it was time to say goodbye to a couple of housemates who were off to Coban (though weirdly, it was us leaving for Coban the next day). Cuatro Grados Norte was the destination of choice, followed by Cien Puertas. Basically, drink was taken and a good time was had by all. The highlight was probably the ride home in the back of a pick up. Photos:
(In order: 1. Drunken Greg, 2. Me doing my collie impression, 3. Alice & Theo (Goodbye!))The following day I woke up around 11, having been informed we'd be leaving for our holidays in Coban "before 12". Given the way I was feeling and the state of my director the previous evening I thought I'd have at least an hours grace. Thus, I stumbled out of the door to hunt for eggs and bread, to be confronted by my directors truck pulling up "I told you before 12!" he yells. Ugh. This was going to be a long day. We woke housemate Greg up and told him to pack (it took him an impressive 5 minutes) and hit the road to Coban, via a quick pit-stop for Gatorade and sandwiches. Jasmine opened a box of warm red wine which did nobody any good. The drive through Guatemala is pretty impressive. Baja Verapaz, which features the lowest point in Guatemala is pretty much a desert and was a little hot for one so pasty as I.
As we climbed back up towards Alta Verapaz we broke to climb to a waterfall in the hills just off the road. Accompanied by the dogs from the local farm we climbed up into the forest as you can see from these photos. It was rather peaceful apart from the dogs, who were intent on fighting with each other and also biting Greg's ankles. Heh.
Having got to Coban and had a delicious dinner in Casa de Acuna, we spent the following day Quetzal hunting. The Quetzal is Guatemala's national bird, a symbol of freedom (it dies in captivity) and highly prized by the Maya and Aztec cultures. It's also extremely rare. The biotopo de Quetzal is a reserve set up to protect their cloudforest habitat and to give people a chance to see them. However, unless you get up very early in the morning it's almost impossible apparently. Unfortunately, so it proved for us, though the biotopo nevertheless sports some beautiful forest, though not much wildlife apart from lizards (one of which is pictured below). We see two birds the whole time we're there (not quetzals) and so we have to be content with the stuffed quetzal at the end of the trail (also pictured). Still, it's a fun day I guess. We hail a 'shuttle' to get back to Coban. These are small minibuses which drive around the country picking up and dropping off locals. They are extremely cheap and outrageously uncomfortable. At one point, our 12 seater minibus has 25 occupants and is still overhauling articulated trucks around the outside of blind bends. Travel in Guatemala is very much not for the faint-hearted. We survived though, and having eaten a delicious Cuban BBQ meal for dinner, drank some cheap rum and hit the sack.
That's it for this post, I'll further cover my adventures in Semuc Champey and San Rafael Chilasco, as well as later travels in Rio Dulce and Antigua. This afternoon I'm debating whether I'm well enough to climb one of the highest volcanoes in Guatemala. More on this later.
Grev.
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