Archive for May 2014

A Week Apart — Pana and PA

Jen and Quinn left early on Sunday morning to fly back to Philadelphia for Jen’s Aunt’s funeral. That left me with a whole week of bachelorhood. Fortunately my new job kept me busy and out of trouble.

On Wednesday the whole town was without power, so I rented a mountain bike and did a 3-hour ride visiting the lakeside towns of Santa Carolina and San Antonio (not Texas). On Friday I hired a guide for a hike up San Pedro Volcano, one of the three volcanoes on the opposite side of the lake from Panajachel. The five-hour hike (round trip) was quite steep, but I was rewarded with clear skies and great views from the top. The hike back down was more painful than the hike up, and I’m still sore from it 4 days later! On Sunday a friend and I rented bikes again, took a boat to Tzununá and rode from there to San Pedro and returned to Pana by boat. The ride was easier than the one we did the week before with Jorge, but was still very scenic.

Gone Fishin.

Gone Fishin.

The lower slopes of Volcan San Pedro are covered with coffee plantations, avocado trees, and fields of veggies. Yum.

The lower slopes of Volcan San Pedro are covered with coffee plantations, avocado trees, and fields of veggies. Yum.

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This cool bug has transparent wings. Yes, that's a little bug riding on top of the big one.

This cool bug has transparent wings. Yes, that’s a little bug riding on top of the big one.

I finally got to see a toucan!

I finally got to see a toucan!

There are lots of amazing houses with spectacular views of the lake.

There are lots of amazing houses with spectacular views of the lake.

Jen and Quinn had a really good trip back to Pennsylvania. Despite the sad reason for the trip, it was an amazing opportunity to see everyone on Jen’s side of the family. Along with the mourning of Aunt Judy’s death was also a respectful celebration of her life. Everyone came together for the occasion and the result was both beautiful and touching to experience.

Quinn all dressed up for the funeral (thanks to Aunt Heather for the spiffy clothes)

Quinn all dressed up for the funeral (thanks to Aunt Heather for the spiffy clothes)

In addition Quinn got lots of quality play time with each of his cousins and Jen got to visit with relatives and friends that she doesn’t get to see very often. All-in-all it was a very pleasant and successful trip!

Oh and not to toot my own horn, but if you didn’t notice our new banner image, scroll back up to the top and take a look. I think it’s pretty cool!

Life in Panajachel

We don’t have as much to share now that we’re not traveling and seeing new things every day, but we’re very much enjoying being in one place for a while and having room to spread out.

We had a huge rainstorm one night, and the street we live on turned into a river.

We had a huge rainstorm one night, and the street we live on turned into a river.

Quinn loves going to school. He’s found some friends, and we’ve met some of their parents. One of them teaches a yoga class that Jen attends, and another couple invited us to their house for a barbeque last weekend. It’s almost like normal life!

Our new friends even have a trampoline!

Our new friends even have a trampoline!

We signed up for Spanish classes last week and studied for an hour each day.

The main town market is about a 10 minute walk from the house. One day I walked home with what felt like 20 pounds of fresh fruit and veggies for about $10. Since there are so many expats here, there are stores that cater to them providing lots of imported specialties. When you’re getting mangoes for 5 for a dollar it’s hard to spend $15 on a bottle of real maple syrup!

Although the restaurant food isn’t as good here as it was in southern Mexico, we’ve been very happy to cook most of our meals at home.

On Sunday I rented a mountain bike, and together with Tony, another dad from the school, went for a mountain bike ride. We met up with a local named Jorge who was kind enough to show us to some fun trails. There’s no such thing as a guide book to the trails here, so having local knowledge is the only way to find the goods. We rode for about four hours and got some really spectacular views of the lake.

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In sad news, Jen’s aunt passed away a few days ago. Jen and Quinn are flying back to Philadelphia next week to attend the services.

We’ll be here until the end of June, and are talking about what to do next. Stay tuned!

Settling in for Some Rest

We’ve experienced many changes this week.

Shortly after we arrived almost 2 weeks ago in Panajachel, Guatemala, (which is located on the eastern shore of Lake Atitlán), we realized that we were tired. Very tired. Road weary. It happens to all travelers from time to time.

Usually road weariness hits after a stretch of covering a lot of territory in a short amount of time. That’s exactly what we did during our previous few weeks in Chiapas. We saw lots of wonderful places, but we did it quickly – changing where we stayed nearly every night. Moving so quickly means having to search all the time for places to meet your basic needs, like where to buy groceries (probably not all in one large grocery store) and where to sleep.

We had planned to take a bit of a break when we arrived here, and once we realized how tired we were, we decided to plan for a longer stay so we can see how we feel once we’re rested.

This looks like a good place to stay for awhile

This looks like a good place to stay for awhile

We searched for apartments to rent during our stay. This took awhile as we first had to decide in which town on the lake to reside. There’s several from which to choose, each with its own unique personality.

We also searched for schools for Quinn. Lately he’s been wanting more time to play with other kids, and when we mentioned the possibility of going to school he got really excited about it.

So now we are all settled into a really nice apartment in central Panajachel. It’s got a lot of desirable amenities – it’s clean, comfortable, quiet, and modern. All utilities are included, including great wifi and a loaner cell phone. We’ve got views of one of the volcanoes right from our deck. We’ve also got access to a nice rooftop deck with more views. Daily housekeeping is included.

Yep, we’re living it up!

It's nice to have a real kitchen for a change!

It’s nice to have a real kitchen for a change!

Quinn started school on Wednesday. While he isn’t eligible to start kindergarten in Colorado until this August, he was able start here a few months earlier. He loves it. He’s already made some new friends and seems to be really getting into it. They even had a Mother’s day event today that involved the whole school and was quite impressive to watch.

All ready for Quinn's first day of kindergarten

All ready for Quinn’s first day of kindergarten

Quinn made this lovely flower vase for Mother's Day

Quinn made this lovely flower vase for Mother’s Day

On top of all of that, Witt is now gainfully employed again. He just started his new software-contracting job on Tuesday (thanks, Ed!) and has already completed his first (albeit a rather small) task while working over the internet from our new digs.

That leaves me more time to work on our KA Lite software installations here. We have one installation that is ongoing and it’s looking like we’ll have at least 3 more to do while we’re in the area. We’re taking the water taxi to San Marcos tomorrow for our next installation!

With scenery like this, relaxing won't be too difficult

With scenery like this, relaxing won’t be too difficult

Are we done traveling? Who knows? Even if we decide to drive north after this break, we’d still have about 3 weeks of tough driving to do before we can rest again. So, we rest now and then see what we want to do. Stay tuned!

The Frankenstein Shower

After 10 months of camping we’ve come to appreciate the quality and variety of campground bathrooms and showers.

We’ve experienced everything from bushcamps where the toilet is a spot that you choose behind some trees a little ways away from the van to $30 RV parks, where, disappointingly, the quality can still vary. Bathroom quality is definitely a factor in deciding whether to stay somewhere longer or head on down the road.

When you show up at a campground, the bathroom is one of the first things you check out. Is it clean? How many hooks are there near the shower for hanging my clothes and towel? Do I need to worry about that spider in the corner? How many mosquito bites am I likely to get while I’m naked or partially dressed? Is there a place to sit down? Can I get my clean pants on without dragging them through the dirty water on the floor?

These questions and more go through your mind when assessing a shower in a new place. Next comes the water itself. Unless you’re in a hot climate where a cool or even cold shower feels good, hot water is very nice. The guy in reception said with a smile, “Sí, hay agua caliente!” (yes, there’s hot water). But what does that really mean?

Is there enough water pressure? How long will the hot water last? Until entering Guatemala, most of our hot water has been heated either by solar or gas or a combination of the two. These usually yield pretty good results.

Here in Guatemala, we’ve entered the land of what I like to call the Frankenstein hot water heater. This is a shower head that has a heating element in it and two electrical wires running to it from a dodgy outlet high on the wall. Connections are secured with liberal amounts of electrical tape, which makes everything very safe when you’re naked and wet underneath this contraption.

Confidence inspiring!

Confidence inspiring!

Once you decide to brave the 110V hanging above your head and go in, actually getting hot water from these things is an art. They’re either on or off, controlled by an automatic switch. Too little water running through it and it shuts itself off to prevent overheating. Too much, and the heating element can’t heat the water fast enough.

It really helps if there’s an incandescent light bulb in the room. Then you will know by the bulb dimming or becoming brighter, when the heating element turns on and off. Turn on the water slowly, just until the bulb dims. The heater is working. Wait for the hot (or warm) water. Get in the shower. Uh oh, the light got brighter! That means the heater turned off and the water is going to quickly turn cold. Turn up the water pressure a bit to get it to come on again. But not too much!

We’ve just rented an apartment near Lake Atitlán with a nice, high pressure, hot shower. It’s immaculately clean and there are no bugs. Ah, the luxury!

Our bathroom in Panajachel

Our bathroom in Panajachel

Guatemala!

We finally left Mexico and entered Guatemala on April 24. By this point in our trip through Africa, we had already had to stop at a US embassy so Jen could get extra pages added to her passport to accommodate all of the various stamps and visas we’d gotten. Canada didn’t even stamp our passports, and we’ve only been to three other countries – Belize, Mexico, and now Guatemala. It’s kind of disappointing in a way!

Leaving Lake Tziscao, we drove the short distance to Comitan, the last big town in Mexico before the Guatemalan border. We were hoping to find a supermarket to stock up on some stuff, not knowing what we’d be able to get in Guatemala. Do they have soy milk there?

Sunset on Lake Tziscao

Sunset on Lake Tziscao

At home we sort of snobbishly shun Wal-Mart, but when we saw the big, friendly blue and green sign on the outskirts of Comitán we were psyched! That meant we didn’t have to drive into the center of town and potentially spend all day hunting around in various stores getting everything we thought we needed.

In the parking lot we met Fortunado and Teo. They had a truck with Nevada plates and were living in a town outside of Comitán we chatted for awhile, and they generously invited us to camp in their yard.

Our shopping done, we followed them to their house, where we spent a fun evening sharing a fruit salad and chatting. Quinn loved their son’s remote control car and had a good time playing in the house.

Fortunado and Teo gave Quinn the remote control car as we were leaving their house the next morning. Amazing generosity from people whom we spent about 12 hours with!

Fortunado and Teo gave Quinn the remote control car as we were leaving their house the next morning. Amazing generosity from people whom we spent about 12 hours with!

The next morning we made one final stop at Wal-Mart, having heard rumors of people coming to Mexico from Guatemala to get stuff like toothpaste and mouthwash. Fully stocked up with dental hygiene supplies for at least 6 months, we headed for the Guatemalan border.

We arrived at the border at about noon. The Mexican side was super easy, especially since we didn’t have to complete any paperwork for our car, since we have a 10-year import permit.

The Guatemalan side took a little longer, but was still not a big deal. We’d heard stories of pushy border “helpers” who would try to get your documents and then extort money from you to get them back. There was none of that – even the money changers were polite and pretty chilled out.

We were on our way South again by about 2pm, but we had no idea where we were going to stay that night. While Mexico is fairly well stocked with campgrounds, Central America is less so. Our first “real” destination was Lake Atitlán, but that was too far to make in one day. On the recommendation of another traveler, we decided to make for a place called Fuentes Georginas, a hot spring outside of Quetzaltenango (known as “Xela” (shā-la)).

Fuentes Georginas hot springs are set at about 7000 feet in a cloud forest. The nights were cool, making a soak in the hot pools very welcome!

Fuentes Georginas hot springs are set at about 7000 feet in a cloud forest. The nights were cool, making a soak in the hot pools very welcome!

Guatemala feels less developed than Mexico. The cars are older and the busses are all fantastically decorated ex-American school busses careening along the roads at speeds I would not think they’d be capable of. Gone are the fancy “executive” class busses that ply the Mexican roads, and gone too is Wal-Mart. We’ll miss you.

Some things are familiar though. With Mexico’s state run oil company fully in charge of all aspects of the motor fuel supply chain, we haven’t seen anything but a Pemex station in 5 months. In Guatemala we saw the familiar Shell and Texaco logos for the first time since leaving California.

We arrived at the hot springs shortly before dark after negotiating a very narrow, winding road up a steep canyon. The camping consisted of a spot in the parking lot, but the hot springs made it worthwhile. After a long and stressful day, we enjoyed a good meal at the restaurant and a quick soak in the thermal pools before turning in. We decided that we liked it enough to warrant staying another night.

There was even a pool at the perfect kid temperature. Quinn looked like a raisin by the time we coaxed him out.

There was even a pool at the perfect kid temperature. Quinn looked like a raisin by the time we coaxed him out.

The steep hillsides around Xela are home to numerous vegetable farms.

The steep hillsides around Xela are home to numerous vegetable farms.

After two nights at the hot springs, we left on Saturday morning bound for Lake Atitlán. We stopped first in Xela to buy a sim card for our phone, putting us back on the grid once again. After crossing some passes as high as 9000 feet, we descended via a very steep road to the lake at about 5000 feet. The lake is meant to be one of the most beautiful spots on earth, but for our first few days there things were pretty overcast and dreary looking. Still, we had a nice campsite on the lake, and spent some time looking around the area.

Our campsite on the lake by the pool

Our campsite on the lake by the pool

Some kids visited our campsite. The looked so cute I couldn't resist giving them a Quetzal to take their photo.

Some kids visited our campsite. The looked so cute I couldn’t resist giving them a Quetzal to take their photo.

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Quinn and I went for a hike and arrived at - yep - the lake!

Quinn and I went for a hike and arrived at – yep – the lake!

There's a nice nature reserve close to our campground, and they have a small butterfly enclosure.

There’s a nice nature reserve close to our campground, and they have a small butterfly enclosure.

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