Have progressed from El Salvador via Guatemala I am now on a tiny island just off the coast of Belize.
Some border crossings are easy others are not - El Salvador was a shining example of both.
To get in from Honduras I crossed at a remote border point in the north east of the country. Usual thing, 5am bus and within a couple of hours got to the Honduran border point, got passport stamped and into El Salvador for a look at the guerrilla headquarters (the civil war is over now though, honest) and asked where we could get stamped into El Salvador. ´Not here!´ was the reply. Apparently the area around the border where I crossed is disputed so El Sal will not recognise anyone who crosses there. I was told I would have to go to the border with Hondras in the East of El Sal to get a stamp. Luckily it is a small country. It took several buses and several hours to get there, and, after queuing, I got stamped in without problem. But as soon as the border official stamped it she decided that the exit stamp from Honduras wasn´t an exit stamp at all but just a control stamp. After arguing the case unsuccessfully, I had to walk across the bridge back into Honduras, join another long scrum and try and get an exit stamp. The border officials there were confused as I didnt have the Tourist card I should have had as it had been taken from me at the original Honduran exit point. So after explaining it all and filling in more forms he was then happy. Except that he then noticed I had already been stamped into El Sal and so didnt require a Honduran exit stamp. Try explaining to a border official that you have been stamped into a country by mistake and you will get the feel of what followed - but he eventually stamped me out and, after walking back across the bridge (all the time carrying all my stuff), and joining yet another mob of people trying to form a line, the El Sal people let me in (again!). Only most of the day wasted. What a farce.
Exiting El Sal to Guatemala was slightly different. On both sides of the (inevitable) bridge are border officials from Both countries. There was no queue. I had to fill in a form, was stamped out in seconds and walked 5 metres to a Guatemalan official, who took even less time over stamping me in (even though I wasn´t ´in´ Guatemala yet). And that was it. The moral of this must run something like -If you ever go to El Salvador, only exit, never enter it!
Apart from that El Sal should be noted for:
- The island of Cashew nuts. Just in case you didnt know (and I didnt) they grow on trees with the fruit the same size and colour as a red sweet pepper except that it is upside down. Where the stem should be (underneath) is a cresent shaped pod which contains one single cashew nut. The fruit can be eaten straight away and is very juicy, although with the volume of even cottage industry production (which it is) there are far too many fruits for the few islanders to eat. The pod is very tough and has to be dried in the sun for 3 days before it is cracked open between a rock and a hard place, dug out (hopefully still whole), cleaned a bit and then baked. All that for one single cashew nut - now you know why they are so expensive.
- A new volcano which was flat land until 1770, but is now over 1000m high. Next to it there is a slightly taller volcano where a hotel was built in the 1950s so people could watch the volcano erupting from above! Unfortunately, the day before the hotel was finished, the volcano which had continuously erupted for nearly 200 years, stopped and has stayed stopped! A marvellous black cone is the result, and of course, a great view of it from the (closed) hotel.
- In El Sal (and only here) they have bottles of ´Salsa Ingles´ (English Sauce) which has in tiny writing on the bottle ´Worcestershire Sauce´. Marvellous!
- Coffee - large portions of South and Central America are famous for their coffee and I have tried it in various places, but ... the locals always serve it black, weak and with loads of sugar. Thats how they like it (and normally the sugar is already added).
- Worst though is the litter - it is everywhere including beauty spots - every few cms is a piece of litter, some foil sweet wrapper, a piece of blue plastic. It is really difficult to express just how bad it is. I could walk from one end of the country to the other without ever touching the ground! At first it is dissapointing in what is otherwise a beautiful country; after a few days it became depressing. And no-one here could care one bit - I guess it is too far gone for that - and they really do have other priorities.
- Best is the people - really friendly.
Enough of little El Sal - Guatemala is much more interesting ....
- Transport is so cheap here - US$1 for several hours of travel usually. It is really uncomfortable (old US school buses - just like on the Simpsons), they are crammed worse than any I have been on ever, you have to get up in the dark to catch them and the roads aren´t always the best, but some of the scenery is pretty impressive (if you can see out of the window).
- I think I mentioned last time that the smaller and more insignificant the town you are in, the earlier the only bus of the day leaves. One evening I arrived in a remote mountain village, with one very basic hotel, and realising that I would have to stay the night, checked out the bus times the next day. There was only one bus east I was told and that left at 3am - but was advised to be there at least half an hour beforehand as it got really full !!! This must be the earliest a bus can leave - as if it were any earlier it would be a really late bus! Luckily, by good planning and ... er ... luck, I was heading west and had a choice of two buses. I chose the 5.30am bus. The other one was at 4am.
If you do ever get to catch the bus there are some great places to see though -
- Tikal - a Mayan site now resting in the jungle. It contains several pyramids (tallest 44m high) and many other buildings built between 200 BC and 700 AD. The civilisation collapsed around 900 AD although it is not known why.
- Semuc Champey - In the middle of nowhere a series of fantastic limestone pools containing turquoise water with a raging torrent swirling through a tunnel directly beneath. Great for swimming in (the pools that is). Nearby we went cave exploring with a guide and candles (which tend to go out when you get them wet - there is a design flaw there) and ended up climbing underground waterfalls (with the help of a rope), squeezing through gaps and jumping into (hopefully) deep pools -not quite what I had expected but great fun...
- Mountain towns where everyone wears traditional dress, almost like a uniform. The women always manage intricately woven and embroidered jackets with long wrap around skirts. In Todos Santos, the men also wear an unusual outfit - all the men were in vertically striped red and white trousers which made them look like either prisoners, or as if they had just got out of bed. In places like this you have little option but to eat where the locals do, so had weak hot chocolate and sweet sponge cake for breakfast - odd!
-Watching/feeling thousands of bats scream out of a cave just after sunset. I just stood there and trusted them to fly around me. They did.
- Lake Atilan -beautiful. Lake, volcanoes etc. Very nice but be careful on sunny afternoons ... and be prepared to run. Fast! (see Easter Extra post)
- Antigua - Fantastic colonial town full of ruined churches (ruined in 1773 earthquake and never restored), cobbled streets and colonial houses. And they go mad over Easter (Holy week to be precise) when there are almost endless religious parades walking round the streets, day and night. Even the tablecloths in the restaurant are purple for the duration. The locals prepare carpets made of coloured sawdust, flowers, fruits, vegetation etc depicting scenes from bible and animals. The procession contains thousands of participants all dressed similarly, copious amounts of smoke and usually a very large plinth with a religious image on it (Jesus or his mum are the favorites) carried by up to 80 people staggering under the weight. They all walk straight through the carpets, so destroying them. And then the locals start making another one for the next procession. The amount of effort put in is incredible!
However, they do NOT have chocolate easter eggs. So save me some!
Guatemala is the most interesting place in Cental America by some distance - not without problems though.
Unfortunately I have managed to get ill again! (3rd time this trip) which is a real pain, but have managed to scrape myself over the border to Belize and onto a small island about 200m wide, surrounded by part of the worlds second largest barrier reef. More about that next time ...
Only 3 weeks left of this trip now, so will be trying to cram in a bit of Mexico before flying out of Mexico City and getting home on 10 May.
Luv Pete
Tuesday 20 April 2004
Saturday 10 April 2004
Where 25 and a Half ! --OR-- Running for MY Life!!
HI Peeps,
I guess that it had to happen sometime. But when I think back to a total of 2 years worth of dark alleys that I have trod, streets wandered during the early hours, dodgy cities stayed in and dubious situations faced, I still cannot believe that it happened like this.
It had just passed 3 o´clock in the afternoon, a bright sunny afternoon at one of Guatemalas top beauty spots, Lake Atilan. I taken a boat across the lake at 9am and had been walking back round the lake ever since. It is a volcanic crater filled with beautiful blue water up to a depth of 350 metres, surrounded by steep cliffs and dominated by several volcanoes. There were plenty of people about, mainly villagers from the clusters of houses around the lake. I had finished the most interesting part of the walk along the steep sides and through the small vegetable patches the locals farm when I made it to the main road, the only one that leads way from the lake, and which skirts one end of it. The road, which led all the way back to San Pedro,the town where I was staying, was a proper road i.e. tarmaced and with pickups and lorries along it every few minutes. I had decided to get a ride on a pickup back to San Pedro but after walking along it for 15 mins all the traffic seemed to be going the other way.
I reached a straight part of the road. It was quiet. I passed two guys up a tree, cutting branches for cooking on (and occasionally heating if the weather demanded it). Piles of logs outside the wooded houses are a feature here, reminiscent of European alpine homes, although the level of neatness is significantly different. I walked on about 50 metres before I heard something behind me, I glanced round and saw the two guys from the tree running after me.
Here comes trouble! I thought, no doubt they want to try and sell me something or ask me for money. When I turned properly one of them was only a few metres away and approaching rapidly. He was screaming something. I couldn´t make it out entirly, but caught the work dinero (money) and saw that he held his machette (everyone here carries them) in a very aggressive position high above his head. The other guy was a further 5 metres behind but held his machette with similar intensity. I looked at the nearest guys face and was shocked at the wrath and anger dispayed on it. From this I gathered fairly quickly what they wanted.
But I thought ´You´ve got to be kidding, there is no way that you can be trying to rob me here, in broad daylight, on a nice sunny afternoon, on a main road, with so many people nearby. What do you really want?´
I stopped and they both ran around in front of me blocking my way forward. One stood about 4 metres away - I guessed he was only about 14-15 years old. The other was just two metres away and was a couple of years older, both with machettes poised in attack mode. He screamed out again, and I froze momentarily. I knew I only had about Q70 (Pounds 5) with me which I was (reluctantly) willing to hand over although I wasn´t really keen to give them the things in my daysack.
But that momentary pause for thought was too long for them. Too late I registered he had a metal chain in his left hand. I didn´t see much of a swing as my attention was focused on his machette, but I saw something coming and twisted sufficiently for it to crack diagonally across my back. It hurt like hell, but now I had turned and was facing the open road back the way I had come. I wasn´t gonna stand there and be hit, and I didn´t need many microseconds to be in full flight. For some reason I thought I would be faster than them - I had no doubt about that even in sandals and with a daysac - although what I based that on I´m not entirely sure. I'm no slouch over a few metres, but they were a lot younger and could have been real fast. But there was no way they were gonna catch me. I was gone.
Fifty metres down the road I glanced back, pleased to see that they were not swishing at my back, but were rapidly leaving the scene in another direction. I kept running for another minute in case they tried to cut through the trees and head me off. Then I met a pickup coming the other way and scrambled on board. If only it had come a couple of minutes earlier. If only! That pickup was the best Q1.5 (10p)I have ever spent.
I´ve always said that it is more important to be luckily than to be careful. I´m normally pretty careful. Now I know that it also helps to be fairly fast!
More soon.
Pete
I guess that it had to happen sometime. But when I think back to a total of 2 years worth of dark alleys that I have trod, streets wandered during the early hours, dodgy cities stayed in and dubious situations faced, I still cannot believe that it happened like this.
It had just passed 3 o´clock in the afternoon, a bright sunny afternoon at one of Guatemalas top beauty spots, Lake Atilan. I taken a boat across the lake at 9am and had been walking back round the lake ever since. It is a volcanic crater filled with beautiful blue water up to a depth of 350 metres, surrounded by steep cliffs and dominated by several volcanoes. There were plenty of people about, mainly villagers from the clusters of houses around the lake. I had finished the most interesting part of the walk along the steep sides and through the small vegetable patches the locals farm when I made it to the main road, the only one that leads way from the lake, and which skirts one end of it. The road, which led all the way back to San Pedro,the town where I was staying, was a proper road i.e. tarmaced and with pickups and lorries along it every few minutes. I had decided to get a ride on a pickup back to San Pedro but after walking along it for 15 mins all the traffic seemed to be going the other way.
I reached a straight part of the road. It was quiet. I passed two guys up a tree, cutting branches for cooking on (and occasionally heating if the weather demanded it). Piles of logs outside the wooded houses are a feature here, reminiscent of European alpine homes, although the level of neatness is significantly different. I walked on about 50 metres before I heard something behind me, I glanced round and saw the two guys from the tree running after me.
Here comes trouble! I thought, no doubt they want to try and sell me something or ask me for money. When I turned properly one of them was only a few metres away and approaching rapidly. He was screaming something. I couldn´t make it out entirly, but caught the work dinero (money) and saw that he held his machette (everyone here carries them) in a very aggressive position high above his head. The other guy was a further 5 metres behind but held his machette with similar intensity. I looked at the nearest guys face and was shocked at the wrath and anger dispayed on it. From this I gathered fairly quickly what they wanted.
But I thought ´You´ve got to be kidding, there is no way that you can be trying to rob me here, in broad daylight, on a nice sunny afternoon, on a main road, with so many people nearby. What do you really want?´
I stopped and they both ran around in front of me blocking my way forward. One stood about 4 metres away - I guessed he was only about 14-15 years old. The other was just two metres away and was a couple of years older, both with machettes poised in attack mode. He screamed out again, and I froze momentarily. I knew I only had about Q70 (Pounds 5) with me which I was (reluctantly) willing to hand over although I wasn´t really keen to give them the things in my daysack.
But that momentary pause for thought was too long for them. Too late I registered he had a metal chain in his left hand. I didn´t see much of a swing as my attention was focused on his machette, but I saw something coming and twisted sufficiently for it to crack diagonally across my back. It hurt like hell, but now I had turned and was facing the open road back the way I had come. I wasn´t gonna stand there and be hit, and I didn´t need many microseconds to be in full flight. For some reason I thought I would be faster than them - I had no doubt about that even in sandals and with a daysac - although what I based that on I´m not entirely sure. I'm no slouch over a few metres, but they were a lot younger and could have been real fast. But there was no way they were gonna catch me. I was gone.
Fifty metres down the road I glanced back, pleased to see that they were not swishing at my back, but were rapidly leaving the scene in another direction. I kept running for another minute in case they tried to cut through the trees and head me off. Then I met a pickup coming the other way and scrambled on board. If only it had come a couple of minutes earlier. If only! That pickup was the best Q1.5 (10p)I have ever spent.
I´ve always said that it is more important to be luckily than to be careful. I´m normally pretty careful. Now I know that it also helps to be fairly fast!
More soon.
Pete
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