Izabal or bust

From Mango Creek-Independence we took a bus to Punta Gorda and from there, a boat to Livingston. We were going to go to Rio Dulce that same day and stay 2 nights there, but our boat from PG left about an hour late, thus we missed the last boat to Rio Dulce. No biggie, we stayed in a nice place in Livingston and took a boat the next morning. 

When our boat landed in Livingston it was madness of everyone trying to get us to follow them to some hostel or another, but first we had to go to immigration. While in the immigration office, we decided where we were going to stay and then jetted for that place, but we were still followed by a couple guys trying to get a commission from our stay. Thankfully the guy working at the hostel asked me if they'd brought us, I said no, they followed us. In the whirlwind of guys trying to get us to go with them, someone asked us where we were from. Erin said near Seattle. He said, "Oh, Seattle, WA....or Seattle, WA DC?".............ummmmmm, what?! I was really impressed that he knew the state, and then he killed it. Haha! 
Our night in Livingston was the first night of our trip I felt cold. It was weird! The city was pretty cool, it was like a halfway point between Guatemala and Belize....it was a little strange and interesting. Otherwise I didn't see a whole lot to do in Livingston, Belize was better for just hanging out on the beach I think.

The Kangaroo had a cold jacuzzi

Well on our boat ride from Livingston to Rio Dulce, the owner (I guess) of our hostel called the boat driver to talk to me. She said I didn't pay for the room. She said that the record said I'd paid for the food and boat tickets, but not for the room. I definitely paid. I explained to her that I paid the room in USD (it was actually cheaper than paying in Quetzales!) and the rest in Quetzales. Apparently the guy who I paid didn't write that down, wasn't at the hostel anymore, and his phone wasn't on. She apologized and told us to have a good trip. But what could they have even done if I really hadn't paid?! I was on a boat on my way to another city and my only information that they had was my name and country of residence. I think they need some administrative help.
We got to Rio Dulce, did a lap of the Castle San Felipe in the boat and headed to the main dock to get picked up by our hostel. The Kangaroo Hostel is owned by an Aussie and you can only get there by boat...which means their restaurant is your only food option. Good thing it wasn't crazy crazy expensive. While at the Kangaroo we found an Aussie crossword book and felt so overwhelmed. It goes to like 400 something!! And a lot of the clues were very Aussie specific so we had no clue! But it was cool. We also made a new friend, Ross, here for 6 weeks surveying all of the public hospitals in Guatemala. He says we should try our hardest to avoid having to go to one as a patient. But he was a cool guy and had his own driver and offered to drive us to the hot waterfall and the canyon (we were only going to barely have time to go to the waterfall if we went by bus, in order to make our shuttle for Lanquin). The hot waterfall is, apparently, the only one in the world like it. It's hot water cascading into cold water and it feels really weird to be sitting in cold water with hot water falling on your head. But it was amazing....also hard to find. I guess we passed it and ended up at the canyon first. We decided it was a good thing though because the canyon was cool, but not that cool; the waterfall was way better! So it was good because we did the canyon and then we took our time at the waterfall instead of rushing from the waterfall to make it to a so-so canyon. So we have a new friend now, and now I know who to ask if I have any ears, nose, or throat problems (it's cool being friends with doctors).

Ross getting bombarded to buy "banana bread"

Top 10 things I WON'T miss about Guatemala

So we know I'm going to miss this place like crazy when I go home, but there are some things that I will not miss at all.....ever. Here's my top 10 (again, in no specific order):

1) The terrible roads

Guatemala is a small country (60% the size of Washington state), yet the roads are so terrible that it takes 6 hours to go 150 miles. This makes traveling for work suck because I spend way more time on the road than actually teaching, it also makes the rides not the most comfortable because there are speed bumps every 30 meters or so (in some places, but still on the highway!!) and I usually get stuck right on top of the back tires of the bus (that means it's extra bumpy for me)...not to mention all of the potholes here. My friend told me a joke: The president of Guatemala (Otto Perez Molina) is commissioning a project to widen all of the roads in Guatemala.....so that there's room for more potholes! But it's so true, the potholes are big and deep and everywhere! And when there's road construction they don't bother with orange cones, they just put a pile of rocks to show that the road is closed!

2) The exhaust from the buses
I walk a lot here....usually if I'm not going to work, I walk. The only problem with that is that when buses go by they leave behind a HUGE black cloud of exhaust and you're left choking down the street. It's even worse in the terminal where there are a ton of buses coming and going and you're trying to find the one that you're looking for while holding your breath and trying not to get run over. Every time I blow my nose it's black...I don't think snot is supposed to be black.

3) The music on the bus

I don't know where the drivers find the music that they play on the bus, but it's all terrible!!! Plus, keep in mind that these buses are old USA school buses, so they engines are loud (plus they're trying to haul 100 people up giant mountainous roads), this means that the music has to be that much louder so that everyone can hear it. If someone calls you on the phone while you're on the bus you can forget about it! Just text them and tell them you'll call later. Thankfully, I can sleep almost anywhere in almost any atmosphere, so the loud music doesn't prevent me from sleeping, but if I'm not trying to sleep and I'm trying to plan a class or think about something else, there's no way I can focus. If only they could pick good music!! I mean, I'd be fine with pop, I don't really like it, but it's better than the music they choose on the buses.

4) Guatemalans walk ssssooooooo slowly!!
I've been told that I walk quickly, like a European (or something like that)....I blame my long legs. Little steps just don't cut it for me. But I understand that the lifestyle here is not as fast-paced as in the states and people can take their time walking. I'm totally fine with that, but even when I don't have to be anywhere at any specific time I'd like to walk at a normal pace!! Most of the people here walk incredibly slowly, like uncomfortably slowly. Even the young people!! Sometimes it makes me crazy because the sidewalks are only so wide and the cars aren't going to stop for you if you step into the street to pass someone and the people walk in groups and they spread themselves out so that they take up the whole sidewalk. I just don't understand why they walk sssssoooooooo slowly, I can't do it! And it's even worse when I'm actually in a hurry to get somewhere because then I'm trying to walk fast (by my standards...which apparently is the equivalent of running down the street here) and I get even more frustrated with the people meandering down the street.

5) Concrete, concrete, concrete
Xela is like a concrete city. There are lots of parks, but these parks are concrete parks with tiny patches of "grass" and a few trees. I miss the big fields of grass and trees everywhere! My friend took me to this cafe that's part of a seminary here in Xela and it was amazing!! It's a huge green space with trees and grass everywhere and when you breathe it's like breathing in green...not black (like the bus exhaust). Unfortunately we couldn't stay long because I had an appointment, but being there made me realize just how much I miss seeing green everywhere. I don't think I could spend the rest of my life in a concrete city.

6) Sharing a kitchen
Uuuuuuggghhhh! I know I already made a whole post about this, but really, how hard is it to wash your one plate after you finish eating instead of bringing a huge stack of dirty dishes accumulated throughout the week and just leaving them in the sink?! But not only that, I like being able to use everything in the kitchen and being able to store my food in the kitchen; I don't like the fact that we have 4 of everything because everyone has their own oil, seasonings, honey, etc. It saves space and the stress of: is this mine?? to be in a family kitchen where everything is everyone's.

7) Not being able to do my own laundry
If you're my friend on facebook, you may have noticed that I've had a few dreams about doing laundry when I get home. Here in Xela I have to take my laundry to a laundry place where they wash, dry, and fold my clothes for me. That's totally fine, the guy who runs the place is super nice and it's really not that expensive to do. The problem is that they're only open from 8AM-6PM and between the gym, my work, and other activities that I do away from home it's really hard to find a day when I have 3 hours between 8 and 6 where I can be in Zone 1 (I live in Zone 1, but work, exercise, and do most of my activities in Zone 3...about 20-30 minutes by bus each way). Either I leave before they open and then get home too late for them to be able to finish before they close, I'm gone the whole time they're open, or I'm only home for 2 hours or an hour and a half during their business hours. I hate having to plan my life around when I can do laundry, it's so much better when you have a machine at home where you can throw it in, go do some stuff, move it to the dryer, and maybe you don't take it out until the next day, but it still gets clean and you don't have to purposely take out a lot of time to get it done.

8) Chsh! Chsh, chsh!!! Hola mamita!!!
Apparently I'm a pretty girl...or at least that's what they tell me. Almost everytime I walk anywhere (which is multiple times everyday) at least one guy whistles, makes a comment in Spanish, attempts to say something in English (usually something like "I love you baby"), or just tries to get me to look over by doing what everyone here does to get someone's attention: Chsh! Chsh!! Chsh, chsh, chsh!!! As much as I appreciate the compliment (ok...but really I don't), I would love to be able to walk past a group of guys and not feel like if I wanted to be polite and say hello that they'd all think I wanted to sleep with them. Mostly I just want to be able to walk places and not be bothered. One time I was walking home from going out with some friends and there was a guy peeing in the middle of the street (I'm not even kidding you!) and as I walked past he was trying to start a conversation with me.....ummmm, I'm not going to miss that at all!

9) Not drinking from the tap
I know that not all regions of the USA have great tap water, but Tacoma has delicious tap water and I love being able to go to the sink and fill up my water bottle whenever I want to. Here in Guatemala everyone drinks filtered water, which means that they buy a lot of water (most people buy the 5-gallon jugs and have a water cooler in their homes). The place where I live doesn't provide us with pure water, we have to buy our own, which isn't a problem for me because I get pure water from work and the gym for free, but if I want to wash my bottle or have a friend over for a meal and offer them some water to drink, I have to have some of my own water on hand to refill to bottle or fill a glass for a friend. And I always have to remember to fill my bottle before I leave the gym or work at the end of the day so that I can have something to drink with my dinner....just like with my laundry, I don't like having to plan around having pure water to drink and worrying that if I wash a fruit with the tap water I could potentially get sick (I haven't yet, thankfully, but there's always the risk). 

10) Claro
In Guatemala there are 3 cell phone providers: Tigo, Movistar, and Claro. I have Claro because when I first bought my phone my friend told me to get it because it was the best. It's true, they have the best coverage, which is good for when I travel for work. But they're also the most expensive. Most people here have prepaid phones and I am no exception. What I can't stand is that I feel like I'm always adding more credit to my phone and I receive about 3 texts (sometimes more) everyday from Claro or from different things like "Enter your number into the running for Q.50,000 cash" blah blah blah!! Not only that, but for the first month I had my phone apparently there was some promotion where I got 10 free texts every day, but they sent me a message every night at midnight to tell me that my packet of 10 messages was active for the next 24 hours....when I have to get up at 5:30 for work, a text about nothing important at midnight is not a welcome visitor. So it's expensive and really annoying....I'm looking forward to going back to At&t (which I guess is way more expensive than Claro, but at least I'll only pay once a month instead of once a week and I won't be getting annoying texts all the time).

The Unbelizeable Placencia

Waiting for some nice soul to pick us up

The Goodwill truck!

Here's how we got to Placencia from Hopkins: pick-up truck out to the main highway, another pick-up a little further, from which they told us to get into the one in front of them because they were going somewhere else, from there a school bus (like with children going to school on it!) to the turn-off for Placencia, and from there a Goodwill truck all the way to Placencia. I love that our mission on all our trips is to go to as many thrift stores as possible, and we got picked up by a Goodwill truck!!! Well we got to Placencia, found our hotel, dumped our stuff and went swimming, of course! You could definitely tell that Placencia was a much more touristy town than Hopkins; the beach was nice and raked, there were gift shops all over town, lots and lots of signs directing you to all the hotels and restaurants, and tons of tour agencies. But since it's still the low-tourist season, we basically had the beach to ourselves! 
The layout of Placencia is really easy: it's a thin-to-win peninsula with the Caribbean sea on one side and a bay on the other (maybe 1/2 mile from each other, but probably less), there's a road and a sidewalk that parallel each other that go the length of the town and everything is either on the road or on the sidewalk. Easy. 

Erin contributed to the ceviche

Lunch!

We set out to find a snorkeling tour that would be awesome and wouldn't break the bank. It seemed like we were looking at about $75US person for a full day (which means leave at 9AM and return around 4PM) with equipment and a bbq chicken lunch on one of the cayes (pronounces keys) included. The problem was, there was always a group minimum and since it's the low season there aren't a ton of people trying to snorkel, plus it was Saturday afternoon and we wanted to go on Sunday, so lots of places were already closed. On top of that, all the guys who asked us if we wanted to go snorkeling were really creeper and we didn't want to spend a day on a boat with them. Well, we talked to this lady and she said they had a 4-person minimum and there was already one other person who wanted to go and she'd let us know if she found another. Sunday morning came and we hadn't heard from her so we decided to walk around to see if anything was open. While walking on the beach this guy, Francis, nearly hit us with his boat while beaching it (ok, not really, but it was a big beach and he could've beached anywhere!) and asked us if we wanted to go snorkeling that day. The difference was that he greeted us with a smile, told us how much he loves Guatemala because the hospital in the city saved his sons life, told us about his wife (so clearly not hitting on us!), and instead of a chicken lunch he was going to spear fish while we were snorkeling and cook up what he caught....and only $50 a person. Ok! So we got our stuff together, found some coffee (Erin has a serious problem), and headed out with Francis. The other people on the trip were super helpful and fun, we had a blast seeing the entire world that lives under the surface of the water, we got to watch Francis and some other guys spear fish a bunch of lobsters, fish, and crabs, plus they brought up a bunch of conches....it was great! There was enough lobster for almost 1 per person, a ton of conch ceviche (sssooooo good!!), great rice that Francis' wife made before we went out, a shrimp veggie mixture of goodness.....the food alone was worth $50! Hahaha! But it was so amazing to get to do that and see everything that we saw! I imagined David Attenborough's voice narrating everything that I was seeing under the water, haha! 
So if you find yourself in Placencia looking for a good snorkel tour, visit Francis next door to Goodies on the south-ish side of the sidewalk. He's also getting a glass-bottomed boat that will be ready for tourist season, so I might have to go back.
After our snorkel trip, our time in Placencia was pretty much just chilling on the beach, looking for stickers to bring home, and trying trying trying to find a tank top that would fit Erin that said You better Belize it! She said her biggest regret of the trip (or her life, I don't remember) was not having enough time to find that shirt. I mean, there were a ton, but she wanted a tank top...and a small one. I think during the not-tourist season they don't keep their inventory well-stocked. Oh! And another big regret was that Tutti Frutti was closed. It's an Italian Gelato place and everyone says it's the best, but the owners close around this time every year so that they can go to Italy to get their supplies. Dang it! Now I double have to go back. But we did try seaweed drinks, apparently they're pretty popular over there. I thought it would taste seaweedy, but the one I got was chocolate peanut butter cup....so I was basically just drinking Reese's, mmmmmmmmm!!!! And we got another one that was peanut flavored, also pretty good.
To leave Placencia we had to take a water taxi to Mango Creek-Independence (just across the bay), but when we arrived at the dock there was a guy sitting in a minivan who called us over and told us we had to buy our tickets from him. How did he not realize how sketchy that seemed?! We got a good laugh out of that one. Back to Guatemala!

The adventure continues: Entering Belize & Hopkins

Wow, wow, wow! So from Flores we started following the directions of the awesome travel agency guy from our hostel. We got on a bus bound for the border, took a taxi from the border to the next bus, and then the adventure really began. Crossing the border into Belize was like entering another world: the signs were in English, the houses were made of wood, people actually had yards, people are speaking English and Creole, basketball is more popular than soccer, and most of the people are black (I'm not being racist, but in Guatemala there aren't really black people...like, none). If you've ever been to Guatemala you know that the buses here are many and they run to every part of the country very frequently. Well apparently when you go from a country populated by 15.5 million people who take the bus everywhere to a country of  340,000, the frequency of the buses significantly decreases. So our trip was like this: a micro-bus from Santa Elena to Menchor de Mencos (G-malan side of the border), taxi from there to Benque Viejo (Belizean border town), bus from there to Belmopan (the capital city), from there we had to wait in the terminal for like an hour for the next bus that was going to Dangriga and then down to Punta Gorda, but they said they'd drop us off at the junction for Hopkins. Cool cool. Naturally we assumed there would be a bus coming soon that would go into Hopkins (because it's like 5 miles from the highway junction into the town), plus there were a bunch of kids waiting there too. Well, we waited for like half an hour and then a pick-up truck came by and all the kids jumped in the back, plus some other people who were waiting, and then the truck took off. We quickly learned that the spotty bus service is supplemented by hitch-hiking (something I'd never done before) and about 10 minutes later another truck came by and we hopped in. [Side note: it's really hot in Belize! I had a plastic bag from a grocery store in Santa Elena and the ink on it melted and started transferring onto my leg!!!] Once we got to Hopkins we started walking toward where we wanted to stay (did I mention that we didn't make reservations anywhere, because it's the low season so there's always space...we hoped!) and we had a little difficulty finding it. It was a bit further down the road than we thought because there was a confusing sign...and I really had to pee! Well we finally got there and immediately went swimming in the warm Caribbean sea (apparently we're the only ones who go swimming at night!) then we went in search of food. We went to this little place a few steps down the beach from where we were staying and asked what the special was. "Fish balls with coconut rice, beans, and salad." "Fish balls? Like....the balls of a fish?" "Hahaha! No, they're like meatballs, but with fish." "Oh!!!! Ok, we'll have 2 of those please." THE RICE WAS THE BEST RICE I'VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But anyways, all the food was awesome and when we got the bill it was only $30BZ for both of us (the Belizean dollar is fixed at a 2-1 exchange with the US dollar), and it was so much food!!! We were happy. :)

We planned for a few days in each place in Belize, so in Hopkins we got to just relax, go swimming, see the town using the hostel's bikes, eat some delicious food. It was super chill! The first day I got really really really sunburnt! The worst I've ever gotten in my life! From the tops my thighs down to the backs of my knees was the worst, but also my back and shoulders and the little strip on my stomach and back that my swim-suit doesn't cover. Apparently re-applying sunscreen is really important when you go to the Caribbean! So we bought new sunscreen from the store (by the way, every market-like store in Belize is owned by Asians, I'm not kidding!!) only to discover the next day that it had expired a year ago!! We still used it anyways, we just re-applied more often. And we struggled to find aloe vera, but we went to a school bus converted into a store/home called Sew Much Hemp where the lady had some hemp oil, aloe, avocado, something cream that we bought and that seemed to help....but then all my clothes started to smell like that stuff mixed with sweat and it wasn't the best combination. But it definitely beat laying in bed at night trying to decide which position hurt less....I couldn't lay in a hammock for a couple days, you never realize how it puts all the pressure on your shoulders and legs until you're sunburnt in those places. Haha!
 
The next night we went to this little place on the side of the road and ate our fill of salbutes and fry tacos (they're just little 3-4 bite yummy things) and the whole bill came to $3.50BZ (so cut that in half and you've got USD)....that's cheaper than eating in Guatemala!!!!!! 

Here's something we quickly noticed about the men in Belize: they ask a lot of questions! Ok, let me back up. In Guatemala the men are always whistling or tch-tch-ing or "Hola mamita!"-ing foreign women. But they just do it as you walk past and that's that. In Belize the men follow you/walk next to you/ride their bike next to you and ask you a ton of questions with a completely straight face: "Where are you from? How long have you been in Belize? How do you like it? Where are you staying? Do you like to party? What's your name? How old are you? What do you do in the states? Are you two cousins?" In Placencia (I know, I'm getting ahead of myself, but whatevs) this guy road up next to us on his bike (we were walking, so he was biking super slowly) and said, "I saw you when you came into town." That doesn't inspire me to tell you where I'm staying!!!!!!!

Anyways, Hopkins was pretty chill. Not super touristy, which was cool, with awesome food!! Then we mentally prepared ourselves for the trip from Hopkins to Placencia (see above map to orient yourself).  

 

Let the 2-week madness begin: Flores & Tikal

My awesome friend Erin Sweeney tends to travel around this time of year. She came to Xela and spent a week with me and then went to Antigua to spend a week with her YWAM friends from last time she was here, Eder and Carolina (and their baby girl Sami!!), while I finished up teaching. While she was in Xela we planned our 2-week adventure so that I could go to all the toursty places in Guatemala (that most people go to even if they're only here for a month...I'd been here for 10.5 months without visiting any of them) and go to a beach in Belize. Here begins our story:

I met Erin in Antigua where we had to kill the afternoon before our night shuttle left for Flores. Somehow we managed to go to the arch in Antigua and Tikal in the span of 20 seconds. Haha! Well, night time came and we hauled our bags to the Refuge Cafe to wait for our shuttle to Guatemala City, which would take us to our bus for Flores. Our bus to Flores was the luxury line and we didn't know why until we sat in the cloud-like seats and the attendants quickly brought us each a blanket, a bottle of water, and a hot dog. Then we basically just slept on the bus the whole night. Erin said we passed through some towns with a lot of speed bumps.....I felt nothing.
We arrived in Flores at 5AM and as we stepped off the bus we were surrounded by people trying to get us to stay at their hotels/hostels. We opted to do a lap around the island (this took about 15 minutes....and apparently everyone thinks 5AM is the perfect time to go running, and everyone there goes running!) just to see what there was to see, then we checked into our hostel. We weren't super tired so we decided to book our trip to Tikal for the same day. We arrived in Flores at 5AM and boarded our shuttle for Tikal at 8, just enough time for me to get some good hammock time and take a shower.

  

On her iPhone is the photo of her "in TIkal" from Antigua

Upon arrival at Tikal we had to buy our tickets to get in. Ok, so I knew that it was Q.150 to get in, and the prices for these things are always lower for nationals....but it was only Q.25 for nationals!!! I mean, do I try to ask for at least a half-price ticket since I've been here for so long?! Anyways, they don't even give you a free map when you arrive, it's Q.25 extra. Good thing Erin tore out the Tikal map from her Guatemala guide book and put it in her bag before we left the hostel! It was quite warm when we arrived in Flores at 5, by the time we got to Tikal it was hot, hot, hotter! But we walked around a ton and saw almost everything, there was only one area that we didn't have time to go to because it was way on the other side. But it was super cool, especially because it's the tourist low-season right now, so there were times when we looked in all directions from on top of a ruin and didn't see a single person. Basically we had Tikal to ourselves.

A French woman insisted on taking our picture in the most random place!
And she didn't speak English or Spanish...good thing I know like 5 words in French!

After 5 hours walking around Tikal we got back into our air-conditioned shuttle to head back to our hostel in Flores. Then we were really really hungry. We hadn't really eaten anything since dinner the night before...I mean, I ate my hot dog on the bus and we had a little fruit and some granola bars throughout the day, but that's it. So we went in search of a restaurant and we found a great one that was empty of people and the owner was a super nice chatty guy. The best part was, there were some kids playing with a little toy keyboard and they were playing Jingle Bells the whole time we were there!! Eder apparently has been trying to get that song stuck in Erin's head since it's "almost Christmas." Then we just walked around Flores some more. Our hostel also had a tour agency and so we asked about getting to Belize. I knew they had a direct shuttle to Belize City, but Erin and I weren't headed that far north, so I asked about getting off the shuttle at the highway turn-off or something, but the guy working said it's a direct bus and they can't let anyone on or off along the way. So I thought he was going to try to sell us some other travel package, but no! He asked which city we were going to and then he looked some stuff up on his computer and told us exactly where we needed to go for each bus and where to make connections and stuff like that. He was super nice and really helpful!! So, if you're ever in Flores and you need some travel help, hit up Los Amigos Hostel. :)
That night we went to the Santa Elena mall (ok, maybe this is a little confusing: Flores is a really small island connected by bridge to Santa Elena, both cities would be the best place to stay if visiting Tikal because to actually stay at Tikal is super expensive!) to get some ice cream. I guess when it's still hot and humid out you have to eat your ice cream really fast, otherwise you end up with a puddle on your table. Plus there was a huge screen (as you can kinda see behind Erin) covering the World Cup Qualifier matches (USA-Panama & Mexico-Costa Rica).
The next morning we go some breakfast at Cool Beans Cafe and started making our way to Belize. It seems like we did all of the Tikal, Flores, Santa Elena thing in the span of a couple days, but it was just one long day. We figured we'd start the trip off by trying to kill ourselves the first day.