There were only 16 of us in the group with an interesting diversity of professions and former professions including, as always, teachers and librarians. The couple next to me at dinner had met in my hometown of Brookline and the wife's cousin owns the Booksmith on Harvard Street!Small world!Julio, our tour leader, is Honduran, educated by British and American teachers at a school run by Chiquita Banana. He has been doing this for years and is very well organized. He made it clear clear that we will also be organized, but not in a hostile or off-putting way.
I started the first official day with a problem. I discovered that lens attachment on my camera was damaged. I was able to make it work, but I had to hold it firmly in my hand or it wouldn’t function. That made it impossible for me to ask other people to take pictures of me, although as the trip went on a couple of people offered to take pictures and send them to me.
Apart from that, our introduction to this part of the world was delightful.We had a very nice breakfast buffet in Belize City and hit the road to go to the Belize Zoo.The zoo is small, and exhibits only animals native to Belize.In some cases they are trying to preserve endangered species, in others the native animals and birds are there for people to see and in some cases they are “rehabilitating” jaguars that caused problems for farmers by killing cattle or pets.Rather than kill the marauding cat, the farmers notify the authorities who tranquilize the animal and bring it to the zoo.
We saw jaguars, deer, iguanas, tapirs – very strange looking relatives of the elephant – peccaries, pacas, macaws which were gorgeous, harpy eagles which are terrifyingly huge, a couple of different kinds of monkeys, pumas, pheasant relatives and a crocodile.Our local guide, Luis Godoy, was very knowledgeable and interesting.
After the zoo we drove to San Ignacio Resort, small and quite lovely. I had to avoid a silly mistake that I had made the night before involving the clock radio in the hotel room. I had tested it and it seemed to work well so I set it to get up in the morning. It all looked correct but I failed to see that the clock was set for AM and not PM, so the alarm didn't go off.Fortunately I woke up anyway, but I decided to use my own travel alarm from then on.We also suffered a couple of brief power outages during our stay.They seemed to come with a certain regularity at roughly 6 AM or 6 PM.not a problem unless you needed to wake up or were in the shower!
After lunch we went to a village called Bullet Tree when we met a curandero (herbal medicine doctor and healer) named Heriberto Cocom.He looks ancient, but told us he is 71.He spoke to us about his history, how he became a healer and learned about the herbs and then walked us along a trail lined with different plants and told us how to use each one and for what purpose.The general approach seems to be grinding or chopping, boiling in a specified amount of water for a specific number of minutes and the administering measured doses over intervals for a specific number of total doses.After that, as Don Heriberto put it, the patient is once again “normal.”
He showed us plants that cure diabetes (several of those), gastric distress, cataracts, hemorrhage after delivering a baby, prostate cancer, hernia and many other conditions or diseases.He also spoke about research by the American Cancer Society, in which both he and Luis participated, which led to finding that these plants did in fact contain compounds that really do have an effect on the conditions for which they have been used by curanderos for generations.
Saturday broughtGood news and bad news.The bad first.I stepped into a fire ant nest while visiting the ruins at Caracol.They swarmed all over my left foot and leg.I was wearing hiking pants that zip off into shorts so I ended up standing there with Julio, Judy and Irving taking off my shoes to shake out the ants and unzipping the pants to shake them out and off my legs and then Julio had to help me zip them back on again.I was cursing like a street thug the whole while I was brushing them off. Nice way to make a good impression. Fortunately when we got back to the hotel I discovered that I only had a couple of bites and they weren’t bad at all. Later in the day a couple of other folks, including our tour leader Julio, did the same thing but after my episode they were spotted quicker before they did too much damage.
Now for the good part.Although the road to Caracol was the bumpiest road I have ever been on in my life, everyone took it in good spirits, making jokes about bucking broncos, rock tumblers, washing machines, etc.Luis told us wonderful stories about how his family got into the orchid business, starting with a collection he made when he was 10 years old and a chance meeting with an American botanist.And he talked about trips up to Caracol when the roads weren't even as “good” as they are now.He's a really interesting guy who clearly has a genuine love for his country and for the heritage of its people.He is mestizo – Spanish and Maya – and looks like the faces of every Mayan carving I've ever seen with a round face and a large, semi hooked nose.
Caracol is impressive.I missed some of the explanation while I was fighting ants, but the structures that have been uncovered are marvels.I never cease to be amazed at how people built these places with little or no technology – no winches, no wheels, no metal tools. As a quick impression, Caracol pales somewhat next to Machu Picchu or Mitla but that's in part because not as much of it has been uncovered or restored although they know what is still there below the surface.It was a major community with several thousand inhabitants and we saw rocks that indicated where some houses were, a ball field, plazas, and some lovely carvings.
After lunch we had a short visit to the Rio Frio Caves, and the Rio On pools – rock pools in a step-like series are reached by walking down a fairly steep trail and then doing some scary looking rock scrambling.There were a lot of young people wading and splashing and having fun, but looking down from an overlook was fine with me.
From a certain point heading into the Caracol site and until we left the caves we had an armed escort of two Belize soldiers who drove ahead of us.It seems that there have been some instances of bandits boarding and robbing vehicles, taking money and valuables from the passengers!The soldiers looked to be teenagers and after they left us we saw them playing at the pool.I guess I felt secure, but I'm not sure how much use they'd have been if there really was a problem.
Sunday after breakfast we went to the archaeological site at Xunantunich.We went part of the way in our van, driven by the intrepid Mauro, crossed a little river on a winch driven ferry and loaded into two small vans to reach the site.
The site is smaller than Caracol, but the buildings are just as impressive.As always, there is a central plaza with several large buildings surrounding it.The largest of the structures here looks to be the equivalent of maybe 15 or 20 stories high.There is a stairway part of the way up but it was rainy and the going was too slippery, so Luis advised us to skip the climb.
He told some more great stories about the lives and customs of the Maya in these places – how the elite controlled information about the seasons and movements of the sun and moon, etc. in order to keep the populace relying on them.
It fascinates me is that buildings like these probably took 100 years to finish, so the great-children of the original builders may have been the first to see them completed.
The crossing from Belize into Guatemala was interesting.We showed our passports to leave Belize and then walked a few feet down to show them again to enter Guatemala.Julio then collected all our passports for some reason and went off to do something or other with them.We boarded the bus and headed off to our next destination – Hotel Peten Esplendida in Santa Elena.
After lunch we drove to Flores and walked around town a bit.We saw the Plaza and cathedral, small but quite lovely with very nice stained glass windows and a black Christ. The Plaza has gazebos, a bust of the person after whom Flores is named and a Peace monument that consists of two hands almost touching, commemorating the end of the 36 year long civil war. Then we took a boat ride around Lake Peten Itza.We were in two wooden boats with outboard motors and the drivers kept them close to each other so we could all hear Julio.We got to see several interesting birds – cormorants, herons, egrets, kingfishers and more – and the scenery was beautiful.
On Monday we went to Tikal.It is less restored than Mitla or Machu Picchu, but the structures are towering.It is also in a rain forest that remains untouched in much of the area, so walking from site to site involved traversing narrow jungle trails with all sorts of exotic plant life lining our path.We had been given an option of riding to a central point and one of our group chose to do that.Unfortunately, given the rain and mud, the truck couldn’t make it up one of the hills, so several of us piled into the back to add weight. Once we reached the top we climbed down and continued our walk while Claudette continued her ride.
Our guide for Tikal was Willy Attili, a Creole Nicaraguan who moved to Guatemala in the 70s during Nicaragua's political upheaval and the overthrow of Somoza.He was wearing a Survivor: Samoa crew shirt and it turns out that he has worked on several of the Survivor seasons. We met his wife, also a guide, who was leading another group that hit a rest area at the same time we did.
I passed on two chances to climb structures and get a bird's eye view of plazas because the combination of rain, slippery footing, height, narrow ledges and sheer drops took me way out of my comfort zone.I was quite happy looking at the structures from the bottom up. The big central plaza that we visited for the longest time had a bunch of very pretty ocellated turkeys strutting around.They seem to be very used to people and let everyone get very close for pictures.
The whole Maya system of building ceremonial buildings “onion” style – one enclosing another as new rulers took control and wanted their own glorification – is amazing.And Willy made the analogy that the Maya custom of defacing stelae and other monuments to overthrown or disfavored nobles is no different from the toppling of Saddam's statue when the US troops took Baghdad. Plus ça change and all that.
After we left the site we stopped at a gift shop with a small workshop for carving wooden souvenirs.I bought a CD of marimba music that Julio said was by the best marimba player in Guatemala, and a lovely carved wood owl puzzle box.
The next day we flew from Tikal to Guatemala City, but Mauro, our wonderful driver, made the 6 or 7 hour drive to pick us up at the airport in the morning. We had to be ready to leave at 7:00 to get to the airport for an 8:00 flight to Guatemala City.Julio pre-checked us in so that went fairly fast.For some reason, one carry on and one knee replacement triggered alarms, although both two others had knee replacements and they sailed through.One of group was wearing metal toed hiking shoes that also caused a bit of fuss, but we were on our way on schedule on our 44 passenger propjet.
Flying into Guatemala City my main impression was of the mountains around the city – very tall volcanic cones, and many deep ravines that split the area into mesas that seem impossible to connect one to the other.From the ground you can see the roads, but from the air it looks like separate areas with no way to get from one to the other.
Mauro was at the airport to pick us up and we also met our new local guide, Manuel Ramos. Because we were a bit ahead of schedule we got a little tour of Guatemala City including a stop at the central plaza.It's clearly a poor city with narrow side streets and the same type of garage-like shops I've seen in China and Peru. Quite a high percentage of the population is Maya and even in the city many wear traditional dress.
The ride to our next location, Lake Atitlan, was long but scenic.There is a lot of agriculture despite the mountains and we saw small plots of corn and other crops on impossibly steep slopes.They do use terracing but in some cases the terraces are so narrow as to be almost invisible.
We made a couple of scenic overlook stops en route and also stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the road.It was very nice and the big treat was hot chocolate at the end of the meal. Then back on the road to Posada Don Rodrigo Panajachel.
The hotel overlooks Lake Atitlan and has lovely gardens and all kinds of wonderful touches.My room had a fireplace and lovely decorations – pots, baskets, a woven wall hanging. And some odd things.There was a liquid soap dispenser on the wall next to the sink and a shampoo dispenser inside the shower, but no bar soap.So how to take a shower and get clean?
We got here around 4:00 and we had no commitments until 6:00 so Judy, one of my fellow travelers, and I walked down a nearby street lined with little shops.I got my first poetry book – dual language Spanish and Mayan by a local poet
We had a lecture by a woman named Elisa Garcia about the lake, how it was formed, the people who first came here and some local customs. Some of it was more scientific and geological than I really care about, but it was interesting.And her discussion of local people was quite informative.She had a woven dress that had been given to her years ago by a woman she taught to read.It was amazing!The work is so detailed and the weaving is so tight that you don't even see it on the back of the fabric.She said a similar piece today would cost about 2000 quetzales or about $250.
The next day we walked down the dock and boarded a small boat for a trip across Lake Atitlan to one of the small towns across the way.When we landed we were immediately surrounded by kids and little ladies selling beaded key chains and small woven strips that I guess could be used as bookmarks.Manuel introduced us to two ladies who told us that they were 66 and 50-something respectively.They were wearing the traditional headdresses of the Tzutuil Maya – yards and yards of narrow orange fabric with elaborate embroidery on the last couple of feet.They removed and unwound them and showed us how they do it.The fabric is wound so that the shape is sort of like a bowl sitting on their heads, open to the top and the embroidered section shows on the outside edge. It took them just a minute to rewind the headdress into perfect circles, stacked the right way and fastened so that it looked right and would stay. Then we rode in a caravan of 3 person tuk-tuks up a bumpy cobblestone hill and began our tour.
We also met a young man named Roberto who was weaving thread around ballpoint pens to spell names or other words someone might want.He stuck with us as we toured the town and finished each pen in maybe 10 or 15 minutes while he was walking.Manuel told us that a group of Israeli tourists had challenged him to weave Hebrew letters and it took him a bit longer, but he did it.Roberto also ook it upon himself to warn us when tuk-tuks were coming so we didn't get hurt.He should really try to become a tour guide!He has the touch.
Our first stop was at a cofradia or town council place where we saw a shrine to Maximon, the spirit or god to whom some people pray for healing from illness and who is appeased with cigarettes and liquor and worshiped appropriately to ensure a good harvest. There is a great deal of mixing of Mayan worship and Catholic worship and Maximon even shows up in the décor of some churches.His big celebration is on Good Friday.
We visited a lovely church where the pastor, a German, was killed during the Guatemalan civil war of the 70s-90s.The study where he was assassinated is now a shrine and there is a placard explaining how many from the village were massacred during the war.All along the walls of the main sanctuary are statues of saints, some draped with scarves the same as Maximon to thank them for answering some prayer.And we saw an altar where Mayan and Catholic symbols coexist. It really showed how intermingled the two faiths have become and how the church has accepted that the Maya need to retain their traditional beliefs and practices along with adopting the Catholic faith.
Later we rode back across the lake and stopped in another village where we met a family that still lives in a very traditional home – bamboo and adobe for the kitchen which is a separate building, stone for the sweat lodge and shower, also a separate building, and a large single room that is now a workshop where the man of the family weaves reeds into fans and mats and the women, using a backstrap loom or a foot powered loom, weave fabric for scarves, huipiles (traditional blouses) and so on.
On Thursday we said goodbye to the beautiful scenery and view and Posada Don Rodrigo Atitlan and headed off to Chichicastanengo. The ride was a little hairy – up a steep mountain over very windy roads.I learned a new Spanish expression: gancho peligroso, which means dangerous hairpin turn.And they were!But we made it, distracted for part of the ride with more information about the local Mayan groups, their culture and customs.
When we arrived we set out through the crowds to see a few things in a group before we were turned loose in the market.First stop was overlooking a basketball court that twice a week is transformed into the produce market – row after row of tomatoes, carrots, corn, squash, beans, melon and so on.The vendors were almost all women, all in traditional dress with their wraparound skirts and huipil blouses in bright, gorgeous colors. Some carried babies wrapped in blanket slings.Many were barefoot.
Then we visited two small churches across from each other near the main plaza.The first, San Tomas, was a bit larger. The steps were covered with people burning incense and candles and laying flowers outdoors as offerings to the Maya spirits.Inside the central aisle was lined with thirteen flat slabs on several of which people had placed thin candles, some in the traditional Maya colors of red, black, yellow, white, blue or green, and flower petals.We saw one man light candles and add rum to his offering and a woman who took out several yams, ears of corn and other produce, laid each on the altar for a moment and then put them back in her blanket.Manual said she was probably praying for a good crop next year.
The smaller church, Calvary, seems almost entirely Maya.We saw the same small altars down the central aisle and a Maya shaman praying with several people on the main altar.We also saw the shaman's “office” where he casts beans to tell what will be.Julio told us a story about having visited the church with a group, one of whom wanted the shaman to cast beans for her.He refused, but as they were leaving he came up to Julio and indicated by gesture, “One of three.”The next day Julio's wife lost two of the three triplets she was carrying.
The market is typical: lots of stalls, many carrying much the same stuff, lots of tiny Mayan woman and kids following anyone who even glances at the goods they are selling, and some really nice crafts at bargain prices, especially if you negotiate. I did pretty well with a few purchases, averaging between fifty and sixty percent of the original asking price for most of the items I bought. (We had been told that the vendors start with a price that is a huge mark-up from its base cost.)
After lunch we set out for Antigua.Posada de Don Rodrigo Antigua is just gorgeous.It was built in and around a four hundred year old home.The doors are heavy wooden colonial style doors with huge iron keys and the rooms are grouped around flower and fountain filled plazas.Judy and I walked into the town a bit and it reminded me very much of the walk in Oaxaca from the hotel to the zocalo.
Before dinner we met Elizabeth Bell, an American ex-pat who is the tour coordinator in Antigua, She showed slides of various places in Antigua that we will not get to see and talked about various reconstruction and restoration projects with which she has been involved.She seems like a ball of pure energy. I was excited to learn that one of our “lectures” is a Maya spiritual ceremony.
Friday began with a visit to Casa K'ojom, the House of Music.First we had a little tour of a section called Mayatenango.We had learned that all the places with the -tenango suffix mean “place of something or other,” so this was a little reconstruction of some typical Maya residences, similar to the one we had visited the other day. Then we went into the music museum and met Samuel Franco, a sound engineer who has dedicated himself to preserving Maya music and dance through film and recordings.We saw instruments dating from pre-Columbian days – percussion, rattles, rasps and some wind instruments and ocarinas.And we saw more modern instruments.For example, there were several marimbas, ranging from the oldest ones that covered a single octave, had gourd resonators and were balanced on the knees to up-to-date ones on legs with a double row of keys to include sharps and flats. The presentation ended with a short video showing dance and music from various Maya regions.Some of it was very primitive and unmelodic, basically shuffling to a beat, but some was more elaborate and melodic.I bought two CDs and yet another owl!
When we returned to the hotel we met Carlisle Johnson, a journalist who has lived in Antigua for years.He has a weekly radio show called Good Morning Guatemala and seems to have interviewed anyone who is anyone on his show.He seemed pretty pessimistic about the future of the country, not particularly in favor of preserving Maya culture which he sees as holding back the people, very critical of the government (“scoundrels”) whom he said he would not be sad to see assassinated.I asked him a question he said he had never been asked before:What efforts are having a positive effect since everything he mentioned he identified as corrupt, a failure or worse.He actually did come up with a few – Habitat for Humanity, CARE, Catholic Relief and a couple of others.
He told us that there is total freedom of speech but also that he has had death threats and has been shot at.One funny note was a lawsuit that he recently won, brought against him for sexual harassment.It seems some government official publicly criticized him very harshly and he got so many calls and letters that sent her roses to thank her for all the publicity.She sued, claiming that the roses were faded and therefore she interpreted them as a threat! The consensus in the group is that there is a lot more to his history and experience than he told us.Some of the group thought he might have had some connection to the CIA.
After lunch we met Elizabeth Bell again for a walking tour of Antigua.We saw the main plaza, the cathedral, the mayor's conference chamber, the governor general's palace, a cathedral partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1773, the Jade Museum (interesting, but the pieces for sale were overpriced) and two wonderful small museums on the grounds of a big hotel.The first had religious statues and other artifacts from the 1600s.Very nice, very similar to things I've seen before.The other was really fascinating.Each case displayed a Maya piece of statuary or pottery side by side with pieces from other cultures – African, Asian, etc.-- and very modern pieces, mostly in glass and mostly by European artists from Sweden, Czech Republic and so on.The figures were similar and the idea was to show the universality of our visions over time and distance.It was a really, really effective approach.
Saturday was a really interesting day.We gathered after breakfast for a short presentation about Maya textiles given by Alex Long, the son of American ex-pats.He showed us a few pieces and spoke a bit about the work that goes into creating each one – sometimes 4 or 5 hours a day for several months to complete a single piece. As a result, the complexity and skill that goes into each piece is a reflection of social status.Wealthy woman can hire someone to mind the house and kids and spend their time weaving.Poorer women have to do it all themselves and so they don't have the time to do really complex pieces.
Then we drove out to the textile cooperative at San Antonio Aguas Calientes, saw more pieces and got more information about how to tell a high quality piece from a middle or low quality piece.Two of us volunteered to be dressed in Mayan clothes – me and Irving.I got a wrap skirt, a gorgeous huipil, a woven belt and a fancy headdress of twisted fabric.
Then we shopped.This was my big purchase for the trip – two gorgeous pieces that are used as shawls, headscarves and ways to show weaving skill when a girl is looking for a husband.They are beautiful shades of blue embroidered with quetzal birds and other designs – similar but not the same. I had a combination of dollars and quetzales but was still short of the final price..Since we were planning to have dinner at Alex's restaurant (called Fusion, and delicious!) he said I could give the money to him at dinner.The women at the co-op gave me my pieces and a cute woven bracelet for luck, even though I hadn't paid in full.I thought that was really amazing
Back at the hotel we had a lecture on Maya agriculture, given by Isolda Fortin.She talked about the traditional crops – corn, beans, squash – and the non-traditional ones – sugar, cardamom, coffee (of course) and cacao, along with some non-traditional on legal crops that also are, sadly, a source of income..She discussed subsistence versus market farming, a very, very hard life for the Maya subsistence farmers.
After lunch Judy and I went wandering and visited a partially ruined monastery called Las Capuchinas.We could see that the building once was beautiful. We had the added pleasure of seeing a lovely girl all dressed up in a green gown there to celebrate her quinceañero. Then we returned to the hotel for a Maya ceremony conducted by Calixta Gabriel.
We sat in a circle around a small fire and, after going around the circle and introducing ourselves, we were given branches of rosemary and told to hit ourselves all over from head to feet with the branches to open our pores and release bad energy which we then symbolically threw into the fire.Calixta also sprinkled us with flower water. We each had 7 candles. The first one was yellow tallow and stood for ancestors.We said the names of ancestors who had died and then threw the candles into the fire.As the ceremony went on we did the same with the red, black, white and yellow candles, each signifying something in nature, parts of the body and directions of the compass.A blue candle stands for water and we were asked to express a wish having to do with water.Green stands for trees and forest and we were asked to express a wish involving trees and then each candle was also thrown into the fire.Finally, we stood facing first east, then west, then south and then north, hands held out palms up to receive while Calixta thanked the spirits for various things and asked their help in obtaining various blessing.We closed by holding hands while she offered a final prayer and then everyone hugged.It was really quite moving.
After the ceremony Judy and I set out again, this time to the San Francisco church, which Julio had recommended.We got there too late to see the ruins, but the church itself was lovely.One large painting especially caught my eye – Jesus on top, then St. Francis and at the bottom, Mary surrounded by lots of people, many in traditional Maya dress.There was also a really interesting cross on the wall which did not have the figure of Jesus, but instead was covered with objects associated with the crucifixion – a crown of thorns, spears, a hammer, dice, a small robe and so on. On the way back we found the bookstore where we were able to purchase Calixta's book of poetry, in Spanish and English.
Sunday was a long day of driving but not much other activity.We traveled from Antigua, Guatemala to Copan, Honduras – about 6 hours on the road including two gas station pit stops and a slightly delayed border crossing just because it was busy.
The highlight of the ride, aside from lots of interesting scenery, was seeing hundreds of motorcycle riders heading for a motorcycle rally commemorating the death of a biker called El Zorro.At one stop Judy posed for a picture with three somewhat scary looking but very nice guys.We also had an armed guard following us to the border to make sure bandits didn’t attack us.Their car followed us all the way with a driver and the guy with the gun literally riding shotgun. Once we hit Honduras Julio assured us that we could walk anywhere, day or night with no fear of being robbed or attacked. En route Julio gave us his take on the former president of Honduras and his ouster.It was significantly different from what the Times and network news had led me to believe.
After lunch Julio took us around a lovely small museum filled with objects found in and around Copan. Then Judy, Irving and I hiked up a fairly steep hill to a fort that is now a museum.We had a lovely panoramic view of he town and had a little conversation with a woman and a three year old boy who might have been his grandmother. Before dinner we had really interesting lecture about the discovery of two major tombs at Copan.The lecturer was David Sedat, one of the archaeologists involved in the excavation.
On Monday we drove for just a few minutes to get to the Copan ruins.Very quickly it was easy to see why, while Tikal is compared to New York because of its towering buildings, Copan was compared to Paris.The structures, at least so far as they have been excavated, are not as tall as the ones we saw in Tikal, but the artwork is astounding.There are stelae depicting various rulers and glyphs giving dates that correspond to the 8th century.
I'm not sure what impresses me more – the artistry of the stone carvers or the complexity of the technology required to quarry and transport the stone, develop tools to carve it with such precision and delicacy and then place these pieces in and around huge buildings. The two go together to result in a truly marvelous symbiosis of art and history.
We walked from one part of the site to another and at one point climbed up a building with a rather narrow path and a very sheer drop.There was a fence, but even the steps on the other side were so forbidding that I was close to tears with fright, but I did it and I’m glad I did.The view out over the land was spectacular and the bird's eye view down into the plazas of the site was equally spectacular. Getting across was pretty hairy, but one of the men in our group, Julio and Mauro at various points held my hand, which helped tremendously. (And to my great pride and pleasure Mauro said I speak Spanish well!The trick is that I have a good accent even though I can't actually say that much.)
After lunch we went to the sculpture museum on the grounds of the ruins and saw more spectacular pieces, some original, some reconstructed and some combinations (a reconstruction of a building facade but with original sculptures decorating the front or top or whatever.)
When we got back to the hotel Judy and I went to the bank where I sort of had a conversation with the guard while she changed some money.I understood maybe one fourth of what he said – that there is another archaeological site, that there is a bird and butterfly sanctuary, how many days I'd been in Copan, where else we had been... We spent a little time and a little money in a souvenir shop (another owl and a tee-shirt), and stopped for a lemonade at the hotel bar.
On Tuesday we had two very interesting visits.The first was to the Mayatan Bilingual School, a private nonprofit school that currently has pre-K through 10th grade, but will go all the way to 12th as the present 10th graders advance.We got to walk around the grounds, visit several classrooms, where we were enthusiastically greeted by the kids, and met a few of the teachers.Much of the present success of the school is due to the money and effort of a man who first visited on an Elderhostel trip and then came back and spent two years helping them set up a smooth running program.
They still need a lot of help.We heard that they have an Amazon wish list, which I have checked out, and I will send my netbook to them for their computer program as soon as I have replaced it.It sounds as if they could use some help writing English language curricula since their English native speakers are all volunteers who come for a year or two and then leave.But nonetheless, the kids we spoke to or heard speaking were doing very well indeed and the tenth graders seemed completely fluent.They will finish in two years with a Honduran baccalaureate, a US high school diploma and at least the start of their requirements for certification by the tourism bureau (language, history, hotel management, etc.)The goal is for them to attend college in the US. Roughly one-third pay full tuition, one-third pay half and one-third are from the aldeas, or surrounding villages, and pay nothing.We got a handout after the visit telling us what costs are per student per year and also how to contribute through a US foundation that is registered as a non-profit.
After the school we visited the home of David Sedat, the archaeologist, where we learned a little about how cacao is grown and harvested and what is done to prepare it – soaking, husking, drying, grinding.We tasted some ground cacao (very bitter) and cacao beans covered in crystallized sugar (very yummy.) David told us about a plant he learned about in Hawaii called the noni, which is supposed to be antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and basically good for whatever ails you.Several of us bought bags of Noni Tea and we'll see what it does.David and his wife have done a great job of turning their interests (preserving and regenerating native products) into a profitable business.
Lunch at a local restaurant was, we were told, typical Garifuna. we started with a bean and sour cream dip and tortilla chips, followed by many types of salsa including one that was a killer with jalapeñas, carrots and onions all cooked together so that even the carrots were burn-your-tongue-off spicy.The main meal was tilapia, rice and beans and green plantain with fresh fruit salad for dessert.I also had tamarind soda that was slightly tangy and very delicious.The fish were served basically whole but with the heads removed.Julio told us that a woman in a previous group was so upset by seeing the head on the fish that she got sick so now he has them decapitated, but the tail and fins put off some folks in our group.
Our last day started sort of badly when a group of church folk from South Carolina who were in Copan to build houses and who had been very, very noisy at night, woke me up at 12:30 AM!When I poked my head out to ask them to please keep it down the answer I got was ”It was two seconds on the stairs!”When I replied that it was enough to wake me up, the response was “I'm sorry you're such a light sleeper.”
However, the rest of the day was fine.We spent an hour or so at another site called Las Sepulturas, which contains the living spaces of some of the elite from Copan. It's small, but still very interesting although all one sees is a few feet at most of the walls of most structures.
Then we hit the road for San Pedro Sula, our final stop in Honduras.The ride took about two hours and the scenery as always was very interesting and diverse.
After we were settled in our rooms Julio gave us a choice of a museum or a market.The whole group chose the market and I think all of us were somewhat disappointed.It had all the same stuff we had seen elsewhere, so jumbled together that it was hard to really appreciate.A couple of people bought stuff, but most of us left empty-handed.
Back at the hotel Judy (because she didn't want to leave me on my own) and I walked up to a bookstore.It turned out to be really a school supply store but they did have a couple of books of Honduran poetry.I chose one that was written by a poet who comes from San Pedro Sula. It's all in Spanish and from what I can tell it's sort of sappy love poetry, but it only cost $6 and it's a souvenir, so that's fine.
Our farewell dinner last night was really special.Julio took us to a seafood restaurant, our first seafood of the trip.The service was a little weird (they ran out of flan at the end of the meal and the last two folks got cheesecake when everyone else was finished, dishes cleared and getting ready to go back to the hotel) but the meal was fun and very lively as almost everyone refilled their wine glasses a few times.There was lots of laughing, toasting and good fun.As a special surprise Julio had put together a slide show of the pictures he had been taking throughout the trip and as an even more special surprise, he had burned CDs of the slide show for everyone!
We had an early departure, but not as bad as I anticipated.Julio picked us up at 7 AM.He was unable to make copies of the email contact list due to a power outage, but promised to email it to all of us as soon as he can.The departure process is a little strange.First counter check-in, then pay the departure tax ($36 and change, which I paid with a combo of leftover lempiras and dollars), then clear security (x-ray carryons, take off shoes, etc.).I set off the alarm, probably my underwire bra, but no big issue.
The waiting area was pretty bare bones – a place to get coffee, a place to get soda or water, a small bookstore and two souvenir type stands.Then we had to clear a more rigorous security check before boarding – they opened and poked though all the carryons and we got a fairly thorough pat down.I never understand that process.We could not have come from anywhere other than the waiting area and we had already cleared security, so why the second check?We had the same thing in Russia and it didn't make sense then either.
All in all, the trip was excellent.The people I traveled with were all very good companions, all the hotels were lovely (with the possible exception of this last one in San Pedro Sula which is very much below the standard of the others and has the phone books chained to the inside of the night table!), Julio was a terrific tour leader, Mauro, our driver with a pretty “cousin” in each place we visited, did amazing things negotiating crazy roads and crazier drivers, and the local guides and lecturers were all knowledgeable and engaging.It was nice to find a buddy to go wandering with on our free time and someone companionable to sit with on the bus, The ruins were fascinating and our glimpses into contemporary life were also fascinating.I sort of wish the trip had been longer so we didn't move from place to place so often, but the drives were so scenic that I didn't really mind.
And what are my lasting impressions?Bright colors, friendly people, poverty, respect for tradition, immense history, wondrous feats of art and engineering, astonishing understanding of astronomy, gorgeous mountains and lakes, fascinating information, beautiful faces…
