Planning to Mexico

From all accounts we should be able to get a seat on the chicken bus to Huehuetenango because it originates here in San Pedro. The chicken buses are made by the Bluebird bus company, the same company that makes our school buses. These ones are generally a lot better built and then fancied up. Not bad when not overcrowded which is usually at the starting destination only and the driver has his testosterone under control. Not sure how they manage some of the roads and the town streets.

We will have to change buses in Xela for the continuation to Huehue. Xela is the 2nd largest city in Guatemala so finding the right terminal to go on from will be a challenge. We now have a guitar added to our baggage. Thats's a concern.

In Huehue we are staying with couchsurfing host, Carlos Moino. He is 41 speaks english, is a baker and goes to university. We are planning on a visit to Zaculeu, a smallish Mayan ruin in the area.

Heading from here to Comitan de Dominguez a well known town among the locals. Again doing a cs with Karen Guardino is 23 and studied political science in Puebla. Should be good for some interesting conversation and a Mexican view point on the world. Leaving  here for another colonial town San Cristobal de Las Casas which is more famous and quite touristy. Don't have a cs host here yet so maybe we will grab a room. We need to be in Palanque for March 7th as I have booked rooms already at Kin Balam CabanaS

2 nights double with private bathroom for $46us and is right in the Palenque archaeological grounds . We may rent a car and also do a day trip to Bonampak and Yaxchilan.

Reflections on a month stay in one place.

We were wondering how we would hold up for a month in one place , whether there would be enough to do, would we get to know some locals, how would it all shake out. We had stayed in Havana once for a month. We were ready to leave by months end. I went to a Lithography schools so I was occupied . Lou went veggie shopping from the street vendors every day.

At this house we have one English language tv channel which plays movies only, and not too bad of ones.We have our computer for news, music, movies, gmail, and of course Facebook. The house is far too big for our needs but that is what was available for the month.  We have an entire second floor that we do not use.  Although we did have a couple of friends stay for a few nights. So we feel a little over indulged.  We are the only gringo's in this area half way up the hill so I think we are a bit of a novelty to our neighbours - but since this is a rental I guess they are used to all kinds of weird visitors.  After about three weeks of carefully transporting bags of eggs from downtown to our house by tuk tuk we discovered a store about 20 metres (like next door!!) that sells eggs.  How did we not see this store?!  We think they just opened.

The roof top at this house is amazing.  We can see the entire lake after the mist lifts for the day and in the evening we see the lights of all of the surrounding villages. We think that this house offered the best of both worlds.  We have the most fantastic view of Lake Atitlan without the bustle of the tourist area but the accessibility to that area (10 minute walk) when we feel like it.

We go for a walk everyday downtown to Gringoland, maybe just to hear some English. We have also been sneaking out to Gringo bars for supper. Meals are about 70% less than at home and a litre of beer is about 3 dollars. Certainly breaks up the day. Amazing how you start to develop routines. So far we feel the best restaurant is the Alegre Pub which is right on the main corners from the boat launch (upstairs). Great specials and 20% off for seniors before 4 p.m. and the food is excellent.  We had a chicken pie which you had to pre-order.  It came with mashed potatoes and the best garlic green beans ever oh and gravy.. Every special we have tried there has been excellent. There are so many restaurants in San Pedro that I do not think we will be able to sample them all but we have 3 days left so we will try.  Since we have a house with cooking facilities we have endeavoured to be frugal but sometimes it is simply more feasible to purchase supper at a restaurant.  We do not buy meat here (we are skeptical Canadian shoppers-there is something about the flies getting the choice parts) so we close our eyes and order meat at restaurants.

The locals here are very friendly and to use an often heard adjective," warm". The kids are one of the most impressive things about Lake Atitlan. They are very cute, shy, behaved and you seldom see them crying or misbehaving. They are carried around in blankets when small, sit on parents knees on buses and never wiggle or fuss. I think it must be the water. In general the locals who are Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel seem happy with very strong family ties. There doesn't seem to be any assimilation of the locals into the gringo community. You don't see local girls in western garb or in bars. You don't see many local men in bars either. Haven't seen any locals at all smoking. Church of course is important in the communities.

 Santiago Atitlán , the largest of the lakeside communities,  is noted for its worship of Maximón, an idol formed by the fusion of traditional Mayan deities, Catholic saints, and conquistador legends. The institutionalized effigy of Maximón is under the control of a local religious brotherhood and resides in various houses of its membership during the course of a year, being most ceremonially moved in a grand procession during Semana Santa. Several towns in Guatemala have similar cults, most notably the cult of San Simónin Zunil.

The second day here at the house my back spasmed. Never fun but fortunately we were at the house so  I didn't have to try and carry my backpack or ride buses. Found that drinking a lot of beer with Tylenol was as good as anything. Then as I was recovering Lou picked up a bug. Severe chills and cough. I think it was bronchitis. She is getting better but still has the cough a bit after a week or more. I got a slight case but not too bad.

The towns that we have visited have all been similar in building and layouts and have been able to absorb the Gringo influence and manage it quite effectively. One thing that is surprising is how many gringo bars are owned by gringos managed by gringos and have gringo staffs. Most of the bars staff are backpacker kids or older people stretching pensions. They all work under the table. Don't know any pay scales but I am sure tips are the biggest part of their pay. It is surprising that no Guatemalan officials seem to be checking on employment issues. Never get away with this for long in Costa Rica.

Staying a longer time in a place has some benefits like never being in a rush or hurry. Always tomorrow. We are starting to see many of the same people as we travel around downtown and we know the best convenience stores, who has what etc, best veggie vendor at the mercado and prices of things. 

An interesting thing here is seeing litter virtually everywhere but they have a recycling household garbage program. You separate your garbage into, recycle, organic, garbage like plastic bags and toilet paper waste. Not knowing this ,when the garbage truck came to the door, I took the garbage to the front door. 2 ladies started to separate our garbage at the door. Kind of an embarrassing event in a strange way. Also we were informed by Mr. Wilson (who manages the house for the owner) that we were fined a hundred Quetzals because we hadn't separated our garbage properly. Of course Mr. Wilson never informed us of this but has said we should have known as we have recycle in our country. He expects the 100 q from us to reimburse him for paying our fine. Don't know if it is a scam or what but I think we should have been informed ahead of time.

One thing I did here was buy a guitar. Just a cheap one and a tuner for about 100 dollars US. That is something that has been a good investment. have learned to adjust my chording hand to suit the guitar.The action is much higher than my guitars at home. Plan on leaving it at Ben's if it makes it that far in one piece.

We are looking at transportation out of here. Chicken buses from here to Xela (Quetzeltenango)
are about 20 Q or $2.50 US that is half way to Huehuetenango. Pullman buses or shuttle buses I think are around 100Q. If our packs can go on the roof, then chicken bus it is. The buses leave at 4;45 am to 10;30 a.m. and take about 2.5 hours. Huehue is about another 2 hours.


We will be couchsurfing here and planning on visiting a Mayan ruin before heading to Mexico.

I think we are both of the same mind that for our next winter stay if any more than a couple of weeks, we would pick a place close to a beach.  It doesn't have to be on the beach but close. Or just travel like gypsies and book accommodations as we go.  Sometimes booking online prior to arrival is very disappointing.  Actual rooms are certainly not always as shown in pictures.  We have only had one incident on this trip where we were scrambling a little to find a room upon arrival. (Puerto Veijo, CR).

So to try and sum up a month at San Pedro, I think we were lucky and picked the best of the towns for an extended stay. The weather was good always hot during the day warm to cool in the evenings and very windy at night. Our house had a thousand different sounds but never bothered us as we were locked securely in our bedroom at night.

Would we return here? Maybe but not for a month. We are not into the mountain hiking , kayaking, meditation, yoga etc. Very little swimming is seen in the lake possibly due to concerns about pollution in some areas and there only seems to be one small beach.  Miss the beach. Looking forward to Mexico.

By clicking on this post you are agreeing to retain the confidentiality of the ideas expressed herein and to ac knowledge the sole propriety of ownership to all information and ideas expressed within by the author

Our experience with couchsurfing is still somewhat limited but so far we have found that sometimes the places available are difficult to get to or very far out of the way for the touristy stuff. Some hosts seem to have methods of requesting hosting as a defense against being used for just a room. Most hosts seem to have a strong desire to have some interaction with their guests. Initially we had concerns that hosts would be using the service for selling you something or looking for sexual shit. The other major concerns we had were around security, privacy and what is appropriate to give to the host for their hospitality.

In the overall I think couchsurfing is a great program especially for the younger footloose and fancy free crowd and it has given me an idea I want to work on when we get home.

Going to look into the complexity and feasibility of starting something similar but with a focus on the over 40 crowd.

Looking at the service as exists the main 2 strengths of it is the desire of people wanting to meet with other people from other countries and to cut costs when travelling.

I think for the over 40 traveler these same things apply. Older travelers, at least like us put a little more value to considerations such as security, privacy, their obligation and show of appreciation to the host.

What I want to design is a service aimed at addressing these items for the over 40 traveler.

First  you must be over 40. The over 40 crowd is a little more well heeled so a  small fee, and I am thinking $10/room/night,would be charged with 3/4 going to the host. This helps to remove the obligation aspect for the guest and gets a commitment from both. Once booked if you don't show up you loose your deposit and if you show up and the host isn't home you get a refund. Hosts that "no show" more than once will be removed from the service. Of course there would also need to be a cancellation policy.

Second the room provided must be a private room with a locking mechanism. A private bathroom would attract more traffic to your casa but you can't charge more because of it. The same principal would apply to allowing kitchen or laundry access. I think it would be acceptable to offer and charge for meals like breakfast but they would have to be clearly identified as to what the price was and what was included.

Thirdly an insurance would be in place for thief and breakage. This would be a part of the $10/night fee. I have not fully investigated this issue and I am not sure whether your homeowners insurance would cover you. I know that there are some concerns and issues around this with Airbnb and other companies of this nature. Having strangers in your house can expose you to these risk as well as for the guest.

So basically if you were going to Toronto for 3 days then on to Kingston for 2 days and then Montreal for 3 days, you would send your travel plans to the website. We would send back our lists of hosts that are available and willing to host you in those cities for your selected dates with some picture, amenities, reviews and general location. Your hosts would also receive your information page. You would choose your hosts and send the required fees. We would then provide you with host contact information. After the completion of the trip the hosts would be paid their fees. Both parties would be able to write a review on their experience which would be available to other host and guest members. Any extensions to a stay would require the fee in order to provide insurance coverage.

All website members would be required to pay a one time fee of $30 via credit card. This would establish to some degree that they are who they say they are and live where they say they live. They must be over 40 years of age. People could join to become members and not have to offer to host to be guests.

So that in a nutshell is the idea,. the name I like at the moment is "Mi Casa Su Casa" Home away from Home with new friends for the adventurous over 40 traveler.

Would appreciate your comments or thoughts.

Arrival San Pedro Laguna

The shuttle dropped us off downtown. Very intriguing place. Filled with winding cobble stone streets, dogs, people, tuk tuks and a cacophony of sounds and smells. First impressions stimulated the explorer gene immediately but our mission was to get to the rental house called Casa Merrel and meet with the caretaker guy Senor Juan Wilson.

He had advised us to grab a tuk tuk and not pay more than 5 quetzals each for the ride. So after ensuring the price and clarifying the address we took off. Now the anticipation was mounting. We left downtown which is Gringo land and started up the hill. The hill turned in more hills and then more hills and then back alleys and secret paths. It took what seemed like an hour to get here to the house.

Sr. Wilson was here to greet us and immediately notice or concern and dismay. After dismissing the idea of abandoning the house, we 
decided that we could walk downtown being assured it would only take about 15 minutes and spend the $1.50 for the tuk tuk back. Good exercise for us anyway. So we turned that frown upside down ( I don't think I have ever used that phrase before) and had a look inside. The view we had from our rooftop alone was worth staying.

The house was all as described, nice kitchen, 2 bathrooms, one on each floor, 8 beds, nice linen, suicide showers 3 tv's. All in all we were very happy with the house part. The distance and location were still somewhat unsettling.Pictures of the house found here
https://www.google.com.gt/search?q=casa+merrel&oq=casa+merrel&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3735j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

After the usual snooping and getting acquainted with the place we took off for downtown. Needed to scout out bars for the Super Bowl Game. We noticed a path cutting down the hill and filed it away for future use. It only took about the prescribed 15 minutes to reach Gringo land and about half way there we came upon the mercado for vegetables and stuff.

We decided to pick up some essentials so after locating the biggest and most stocked store we could we quickly filled our satchels. Amazing how much room beer takes up. Lou found her wine in a box so life was again all good or as they say here todo mas.

No discussion was required to decide on walking or tuk tuk, especially loaded down with a few days worth of provisions. We set off in the tuk tuk after explaining where we wanted to go. We could never have directed the driver but he seemed confident that he knew were it was. The return home took a fraction of the time that the first ride here had taken. We later found out that a lot of the drivers avoid the last big hill to the casa and take the extremely circuitous route the first driver had taken.all our anguish and concerns about distance and location now simply evaporated. Todo mas.

Guatemala surprise

We seem to have good luck meeting locals on the buses who help us and the bus from Santa Ana to Guatemala City was no different.Whether it is because Lou looks like a deer caught in a car's headlights in some of these situations or my charismatic charm I don't know but anyway a nice young man name Dustin (now a Facebook friend) attending University in El Salvador to be a doctor offered us some advice and help. Dustin was heading home to visit his parent he hadn't seen for 26 days for one day then heading the 4 hours back to school. Sitting in front of us we got talking. He ended up calling his dad on that marvel of marvels,the cell phone,who then met us and gave us a ride to a safer part of town to a bank to get some local money then helped negotiate and direct a taxi to the address of the couchsurfing address we had with us. Addresses don't seem to be as straight forward as they are at home,even the locals are mystified. Rule of thumb here when asking directions are always to ask 5 people and go with the majority consensus. Even if a person doesn't know where the place is they will never say that but will tell you something.

Once we got to the area of the address we were confronted by armed guards and barricades to the condominium which seemed more like a guarded compound. Once inside, the taxi driver having to have his ID scanned, it took around 20 minutes to find the house we were looking for. There seems to be a number of other compounds inside the first one. Once again we entered through barricades and by security guards at the entrance and finally found the casa.

It was quite a surprise. We were originally slated to stay with Charlene but she had a surfer from Germany so she sent us to her mom's Helga who is also a couchsurfer and about our age. Back to the house. It was beautiful, 3 bedrooms lovely sitting music room, kitchen, dining room, a couple of atriums and a beautiful patio with attending gardens.

Helga is of German-Guatemalan extraction and her and the family speak German as well as Spanish and English. We had a lovely bedroom and private bath at Helga's. She has 2 daughters, one a dermatologist and Charlene a psychologist and a son who is a music conductor.

We enjoyed a family night as the girls all came to visit as well as Charlene's boyfriend and niece.Helga is an avid reader and classical music enthusiast.

We had a few Guatemalan coffees and a few Hockey Pops and a lot of enjoyable conversation. It was an interesting insight into middle economic Guatemalan society. Maids and gardeners and security concerns. The house was lovely but walled in as all the houses are and security measure evident everywhere.

Last month 18 bus drivers were murdered on the job by extortionist. These were private bus companies and if they didn't pay the extortion their drivers were shot. Now there are 2 policemen on every bus in the city.Much like San Salvador, everyone warns you about the dangers and places not to go. Doesn't really appear to be so bad but sometimes you need to listen and take the advice.

We went downtown without incident and can't say we were impressed. The last time we were here about 12 years ago it seemed more interesting. Usual down towns, lots of markets selling the same things. I think Guatemala has a 20 year supply of this stuff. 

Next morning we had a Guatemalan desayuno courtesy of Helga, a fried egg,a type of porridge and lots of fruit and excellent coffee. She insisted on giving us a ride to a safer place to catch the chicken bus to Antigua about 25 minutes away. We left her with a copy in Spanish of Hemmingway's 

 El viejo y el mar. Another new Facebook friend. I think we will learn some Spanish by deciphering

some of her posts.

Antigua is a very nice Spanish colonial city with cobblestone streets and very colourful casas. It is probably the number 1 area for taking Spanish lessons. a week of 4 hours/day,room and 2 meals a day with a Spanish family start at less then a$100 a week.We were able to catch a bus on to San Pedro so only stayed a few hours. Again, we had been here a number of years earlier. It was here at a bank it took about an hour to cash a $100 traveller"s cheque under the watchful eyes of 3 armed security guards. We also remembered the Pollo Loco across the street and figured they must have really good chicken because they had shotgun armed guards at the entrance and exit.

We grabbed a shuttle to San Pedro for the 2-4.5 hour ride. Turned out to be 4.5 hours but everybody seemed to have a different opinion on the time thing.Sitting ahead of us were some young Americans with the ugliest tattoos. The guy had a bull or cow or dog or something on his leg and about 12 other individual ones as well. The girl sitting beside him had similar tastes in tats and added a nose ring which to my taste is about as ugly as you can get. Didn't care for the adornments but they were nice kids. They were heading to San Marcos which has the reputation as the healing yoga spiritual centre on the lake.

So after an arduous ride through mountains and around hairpins cutbacks and other forms of roads that don't even have names we arrived in San Pedro Laguna. Now to meet up with Mr. Juan Wilson the caretaker of our house rental.

Couchsurfing in San Salvador

Our first couch surfing experience was in San Salvador at a young man's condo in the suburb of Mexijanico. We took the bus from the shuttle dropoff headed downtown in search of a place to contact our host. He had given us the address and left the keys to his condo with the security man at the complex. A young couple on the bus gave us some advise and helped us get a taxi who knew where the condo was. We arrived and asked a guy on the street which complex was the one we were after. Turned out he was a friend of Raphael and called him at his work. Raffi told us to make ourselves at home. Later by email he let us know he wouldn't be home until after midnight. This was about 2 in the afternoon. It was kind of strange being in someones house alone who you have never met.

We wondered out about 8pm for a little supper. We were going to buy some food and cook supper for us all but not knowing what he liked and him not coming back till after midnight we retuned from a chicken repas and just went to bed instead. We locked up and kept the keys effectively locking the poor guy out of his home. Didn't know he didn't have another set of house keys. Raffi said he knocked on the door quite loudly but I guess his door knocking just blended into the neighbourhood noises of tv's, barking dogs, crowing roosters( even at 2 in the morning) and a host of other noise. We both were suprised to wake in the morning and discover he had come home. Apparently he was able to manipulate the latch with a stick through the window glass slats.

He turned out to be a very nice and trusting person. He gave us a little history of the civil war and current events in El Salvador. People are constantly mentioning the crime and violence and dangers. Raffi has 2 boys, one lives with the ex and the other with his grandfather. He has hosted over 30 people and after a breakfast of pancakes another surfer showed up. A young girl from China who has been travelling for about a year. She hitchhikes around and couchsurfs. Raffi is planning a trip next year to Europe and plans on surfing while there. We left a contribution in his travel jar.

From here we headed downtown to see the centre of the city. There is a very famous church here.Unfortunately for us it wasn't opened.Pic on left is from Google.

The downtown was amazing for the amount of vendors on the streets in front of the regular stores. I wonder how this works,who controls who goes where etc

Eventually we caught a bus to Suchitoto and planned on staying a couple of days before heading on to Santa Anna. Suchitoto is a small town with cobble stone streets.There are plates embedded on the steeple.

After a couple of easy days in Suchi  and having enjoyed a couple of local pupusas we headed on to Santa Anna. We grabbed a room in Casa Verde, the best hostal we have ever stayed at. It was clean with a kitchen a chef would love. Lou liked the wine storage in both small and full sized bottles and varieties. I unfortunetly had only choices of beer in litre sizes. Water was freely available as well as coffee,spices and condiments.

Went a short ways out of town to see a Mayan ruin called Tazumal and to sample a local delicacy called Yucca con Chicharrone. Much like eating wallpaper paste and pig skin.The ruins were small and unremarkable. There is some speculation that this is were the mayans originated.

The highlight of the trip here turned out to be the cemetario. Was quite large and very ornate. 

We both thinking El Salvador has a lot to do before it becomes the so called "hidden gem" of central America. We found Nicaragua a lot more vibrant, clean and interesting.

Catching up, From Costa Rica to El Salvador

We never did get to meet Elizabeth. Had a little belly rumble which is usually a good precurser to situations advising one to run for shelter or isolation or best yet a bano privado. However was just a belly adjustment but we had elected to jump of the bus in Granada and avoid returning here from Managua.

Caught a room in a lakeside hostal with a beautiful view of the lake if you walked five blocks down the street.Not much of a hostal with way too many rooms attached to the shared bathroom I think there were 5 rooms sharing but for one night not the end of the world unless of course the belly rumble reappeared. It is funny how much of a concern those issues become travelling down here.

Granada is a very nice city to visit, certainly the most tourist friendly we have been to in our travels in CA. It is filled with restaurants and shops and a tourist walking street just off a beautiful central square.

The bus on to Managua cost around 70 cents each and was about an hour away. Went to look for water as Lou was yelling at me from the bus window as it was leaving We drove by km 15.2 but didn't see the signs on the roads for Elizabeth's. Probably would still be out there wondering around.

Arriving in Managua was a little daunting as the bus terminal is on the edge of the city and filled with a whole carnival like atmosphere. Again we were talked into a taxi and taken to a hotel he recommended. I had seen it on Bookings.com so had some idea about it. Yeah the guy got our taxi fee and a commission from the hotel but it simlified our lives. Had originally figured we would just go downtown and find a place but gotta keep the crew happy. Turned out to be a good thing as there is no cuidad centro or old downtown. It has all been destroyed in the last earthquake and been replaced with a childrens park and sports parks and walk ways.

The crazy thing about Managua is the tree sculptures that line the main street and all along the water front. Seems to be the city symbol. They are very pretty at night when illuminated. 

1. Then the park trees around the government buildings are all decorated with lights as well.

Leaving Managua meant heading back to the same bus terminal area as we arrived at but had to go around back where a plethora of buses where parked getting ready to embark for somewhere. We just found our bus as it was pulling out and had to chase it down. The driver seemed somewhat displeased by the gringos interrupting his plans. He got even by doing a good imitation of a Nascar driver but not as good as the bus driver on a later bus driving on a much more twisted hilly road while engaged in a very heated discussion with a passenger whom he seem to be required to maintain eye contact with. I thought at one point that Lou was going up front to help him steer.

Leon is a nice city in its own right. We stayed 2 nights in a hotel run by a very nice couplewho had just purchased the place and were still very eager to help their guest. Only problem here was a neighbours dog that liked to bark for 5 minutes every other hour all night long. The roosters are not so bad but dogs are very annoying, especially at 2 and 4 in the morning. Gave the owners some info on anti-bark machines they could try. Can't see people staying here if they don't solve the problem. I also suggested hamburger with a warfarin filling but I think they rejected that. Barking dogs and dogs in general are all over the place in Latin America. Part of the culture along with litter and barred windows etc.

From Leon we wimped out and took a shuttle bus to San Salvador. Picked us up at 2am. Lou didn't like having to rent a room for a short time like this but not much of an alternative but to sit on the street. The owner was nice and got up to sit with us to make sure the shuttle came. Our biggest fear was that the shuttle would be packed and we would get lousy seats but not the case as we were the second group picked up so the 10 hours to San Salvador wasn't so bad.

Crossing the border went simply and we were  in El Salvador. It seemed a little more impoverished and seemed more littered than Nicaragua . We both were very impressed with Nicaragua and less so with El Salvador especially after being warned 100 times about the violence and dangers in San Salvador.

Arriving in SS the shuttle dropoff is on the edge of the city so for 25 cents american, which is the currency they use, we headed off downtown to find a cafe and wifi to contact our couchsurfer host.