Canadian Nomad

Groggy with waking up at 6am on Saturday the breakfast was delicious, watermelon, strawberries, and bananas on banana pancakes, mmmm. A nice walk to the bus station on the other side of town, to take a 20 minute chicken bus to a small town where we would start our hike.

With introductions and setting the ground rules we were informed that one of our two guides forgot the money so one would have to head back to get it. With sunscreen applied and bags all loaded we headed for the hills.

It was a fast paced hike up the first hill and as I soon discovered whenever I had reached the last peak of the mountain, there was sure to be another much higher. With views of Tajumulco, Central America’s highest mountain, and various volcanoes around us we made our way peak after peak and ridge after ridge to our first break spot a field at 2900m. And on higher we went reaching about 3100m a couple times. Just before lunch my left knee started to hurt. I couldn’t figure out what was causing it to hurt. There wasn’t pain going up or going down, there were no sore spots, and no positions I could move it into where it hurt, just lifting it sometimes. I took some IBU Profen and grabbed a walking stick. Finally we reached Santa Catalina a small hurricane stricken town in the middle of the mountains. We set up our sleeping bags one of the rooms and a few of us headed out to the town bar. After a few beer and some chatting with some very colorful local people we headed back to our lodging.

By this time the local sauna was warmed up. Three at a time, we could enter the small garbage bag covered alcove. It was barely big enough to crouch in and there was a bench to the back. To the left when you entered there was a black metal bucket, and further to the left was a pile of rocks kept hot by a wood fire below. Closer to the bench was a red bucket with a smaller bowl inside, and a large green bucket under a tap. The idea was to take water from the tap and heat it in the black metal bucket then mix it again to a palatable temperature in the red bucket using the bowl, and then to pour this mixture over yourself to get clean. Also you could pour the cold water on the rocks to make steam. Our first attempt at this led us to the point of gasping for air as we crawled to the exit. Future attempts we much more pleasant and my knee was feeling quite a bit better. After about 20minutes each group had to head back and could then enjoy a pasta diner. I went straight to bed after dinner and despite the hard ground and uncomfortable makeshift clothing pillow, I kept my knee raised.

The next day at 6am, still sore from the previous day’s exertions, we headed to a small restaurant to have a rice, black beans and egg breakfast. It was quite good if you ask me. When we were all finished we got back on our way. My knee was a little sore from the previous day, but generally feeling fine. There is a part of the trek that they call Record Hill because they time everyone who goes up. It is a bit of a challenge and the fastest anyone has done it is 9minutes(or so they say) and they can do it in 12 minutes on a good day. The average was just around 20 minutes. I managed to do it in 26 minutes, and my knee was hurting again. Now, though, I had a better idea of what was causing it. Those tight narrow passes and twisting of the leg. It wasn’t until after lunch(more beens and rice anyone?) that we reached some streams where we were instructed to dawn our sandals and I dawned my Vibram 5 Finger Shoes. It felt good to be walking outside of the constrictive hiking boots. After a while though, I noticed that my knee wasn’t hurting anywhere near as much. Ultimately I decided to wear the Vibrams for the rest of the hike. I won’t give them full credit for my recovery though. Here is what I think was happening: I think that when I was walking on the narrow paths the hiking boots with full ankle support were preventing my ankle from absorbing any of the shock and instead passing it on to my poor knee. The Vibrams with no ankle support let my ankles do what they do best and absorb that shock allowing my knee to rest protected. Regardless I’ll keep this in mind next time I go hiking.

We ended up at Pedro’s House, his private residence and friend of the trekker group. We had a wonderful meal of more rice, beans, potatoes, vegetables, and chicken or spaghetti as well as fresh squeezed pineapple or strawberry juice. It was very yummy. Since we had to get up at 3am the next morning to catch the sunrise over Lake Atitlan we went to bed very shortly after dinner.

At 3:30 we walked 15 minutes to El Mirador where we pulled up our mats and watched over the lake as shooting stars flashed though the night sky on a regular basis and the dark night broke into day. After breakfast we made our way up to the Indian Nose where you could see another view of the lake, San Juan, San Pedro and more. In San Juan we had lunch at a women’s shelter that is supported by our trekking group. Afterwards we were free to go. I collected my bags and headed to San Pedro to stay the night. Next stop, Mexico for Christmas.

Tags: El Mirador, Guatemala, Hiking, Indian Nose, Lake Atitlan, Quetzaltenango, Santa Catalina, Steam Bath, Tajumulco, Travel, Vibrams, Xela
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This part of my journey has been purely about slowing down in this speed obsessed world.  No pressure mon!

Once all my papers were in order and bank accounts restored I headed down to Tulum, Mexico via Valladolid.

Tulum has beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters that are just made to look that much more exquisite by the  ancient Mayan temples in the background.  Here I spent a few days soaking up sun and piña coladas.  It’s a hard life, luckily no sun burn 🙂

From there me and a few travel companions headed south to Belize with the goal of going straight to Caye Caulker.  Instead the bus arrived late to pick us up, and had many long stops along the way and arrived half an hour later then the last water taxi to the islands.  With our late arrival in Belize City and having heard nothing but horror stories about the city we quickly got ourselves to a hostel.  Now given the state of Belize City tourism and the general apprehension even the most experienced travelers had about even going in the first place to Belize City you would think that the prices for the hostel would be less then American prices, but such was not the case and we shelled out more then our fair share for the beds.  The city itself was pretty nice, though the poverty was quite apparent.  We went out for a traditional Belizian dinner and enjoyed a bit of their nightlife.  Country karaoke anyone?

First thing in the morning we had breakfast and took an early water taxi to Caye Caulker.  The moment I saw it, I loved it.  The first thing I noticed was that there were no paved roads, only white sand roads.  The only cars were those of the police and if you really felt the need to motor around you could take golf cart style taxis to get from one side of the island to the other.  Prices were back to normal and the people were friendly.  As soon as I checked into the hostel I found my way to Raggamuffin Tours where I got the last spot on a snorkeling sailboat out to the barrier reef.   I wish I had an underwater camera with me.  I saw fish of all sorts of amazing variety, pet a nurse shark and a sting ray, free dove to see in underwater caves, and witnessed endangered turtles in a marine reserve swimming around.  Breathtaking and beautiful.

Slightly tipsy from the rum-punch they served on our way back I went out for dinner.  Later me and a few friends went to a bar/restaurant called Herbal Tribe where we had a few drinks and talked with some amazing local characters.  I had a long philosophical discussion with a gentleman called ManDingo, a self proclaimed prophet and generally interesting person.  I look forward to seeing him again.

I spent the next day just lounging and exploring the island and left the next day for Flores, Guatemala.

Flores is a small town on an island in a lake surrounded by Santa Elena a town of slightly larger population.  It is about an hour from the famous Mayan ruins of Tikal.  I explored the island, had some down time and visited the ruins.

What set these ruins apart was the jungle backdrop.  With howler and spider monkeys around as well as birds of all types, crocodiles and other fun wildlife chasing after me.

Also just the sheer area that the multiple ruins covered.  It was certainly an impressive site.

So now I am in Quetzaltenango(aka Xela), Guatemala for the next month to focus on language learning and business.  So probably less excitement and relaxing and more self development stuff for the next little while.

Later!

Tags: Barrier Reef, Beaches, Belize, Belize City, Caye Caulker, Country Karaoke, Crocodiles, Flores, Free Diving, Go Slow, Guatemala, Herbal Tribe, Jungle, ManDingo, Mayan Pyramids, Mayan Ruins, Mexico, No Paved Roads, Nurse Shark, Philosophical Discussion, Piña Coladas, Quetzaltenango, Raggamuffin Tours, Santa Elena, Snorkeling, Spider Monkeys, Sting Ray, Tikal, Travel, Tulum, Turtles, Underwater Camera, Underwater Caves, Valladolid, Wildlife, Xela
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It is harder then it seems to drag yourself away from hammocks, ancient temples and crazy hitchhiking trips on the back of pickup trucks in South Eastern Mexico, so bear with me as I try to catch you up on my adventures.

Having lost my wallet at the Tijuana Airport was and continues to be quite the hassle as I finally just had to head to the Merida airport and it had arrived for me that day.  What luck… But as fate would have it, none of the pin codes worked.  (The bank had no reason why) so I am now having to wait for a new code to be sent to me… Still waiting.  In the meantime my Visa works for most non-pin requiring actions and a combination of eChecks and Western Union is taking care of my cash needs.  Besides that, I think the wallet and cash problems are merely stressful and time consuming for me, but otherwise relatively uninteresting.  Needless to say it is all working out, albeit slower then I would like.

So where to start…. Merida is a small city in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula a few hours away from Cancun and about an hour from Chichen Itza.  It is quiet, safe, festive, and has lots to do.  Not a bad place to be stuck for a while.  The hostel that I am staying at is close to the Historical Center and has a pool and hammocks all over the place.

With El Día de los Muertos coming up the city was in full festive gear.  Alters to deceased loved ones were erected all over the city and in the main square.  Dance, buskers, and generally lots of local involvement in making it a fun time for all.

I visited several Mayan Ruins and pyramidal sites which were all fascinating in their own ways.  Some, like in Izamal were part of the towns themselves, incorporated into buildings and used as structures to hang their clothing from.

In Uxmal it was quite separate from the nearest town and as me and a few other traveling companions arrived fairly late so we had to run through the site and take photos as it started to rain.  At 5pm the park closed and we went to catch the bus that was set to arrive at 5:30.  By this time the rain had turned into a downpour and we were informed that the bus usually came between 5 and 5:30… We may be too late.  At 5:45 it was beginning to get dark out, along with the rain at the side of a highway.  At about 5:55 a truck rolled up and talked with a local woman who was sitting at the bus stop with us.  She hopped in and told us that we could come too for 10 pesos — same price as the bus.  Given the scenario we decided that it was better for the four of us to take the truck ride into the nearest town and wait for another bus there.

About half an hour later, standing under a tree in a small town at an intersection where a different buses might be caught heading to Merida, the bus we were supposed to originally catch pulled up to the curb.

Almost every night there is a local busker/clown show.  I have made it a point to go every night and do my best to understand what he is saying and with any luck pick up some Spanish.  He has a set of shows that he usually does, including getting volunteers/victims from the crowd and making them do silly things.  One is an intelligence contest, one pictured above where he gets some girls to essentially hold each other up, and then wait till they all fall down, and another where he selects a girl and a couple guys to compete to kiss the girl, and vice versa, and a few others.

There is a huge market nearby where all the locals go.  It’s like the Granville Island market only bigger, more hectic, fewer sanitation rules, and way more stuff.  I usually will buy my produce from here and cook it up at the hostel.

Beyond waiting for my stuff, enjoying the local culture and nearby activities I have of course been enjoying the food for which there as been no lacking in good quality 🙂

I’m sure there will be more to come, so I’ll sign off for now.

Tags: Buskers, Chichen Itza, Chocolate Cake, Dia de los Muertos, Found Wallet, Hammocks, Hitch Hiking, Izamal, Language Learning, Local Market, Lost Wallet, Mayan Pyramids, Mayan Ruins, Merida, Mexican Truck Ride, Mexico, Travel, Uxmal, Western Union, Writing, Yucatan
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