Killer Tomatoes

With temperatures nearing the unbearable range we decided to cap off our springtime sailing adventure with a bus trip to inland Guatemala. Mountains, lakes, cool evenings...  they all sounded great compared to the heat and humidity of the Rio Dulce river. We started the trip with a long, air conditioned bus ride to Guatemala City arriving late in the evening. As I have noted Guatemala appears to be a little more dangerous than some of the other countries we have visited on this trip.  An embassy travel advisory noted that Guatemala has one of the highest violent crime rates in Latin America and that “rule of law is lacking”. Nowhere in the country is night time travel advised and if you should arrive at a bus station after dark make sure the cab you get is radio dispatched and in good condition, don’t hail cabs, and avoid the numerous red buses that transit the city and are referred to as “Killer Tomatoes” (probably for the quantities of exhaust they emit as much as any other dangers). Andrea told me all of this shortly after I had hailed a parked cab that we then had to push down the street to jump start.  But our hotel was clean and modern and, excepting the two guards with shotguns stationed at the door it might have been anywhere in the U.S.

The following morning we took the opportunity to walk cautiously around Guatemala City (at least the small area of the city near the clean, modern hotels) before we made our second travel faux-pas.  We decided to take the “chicken bus” for the three hour trip from Guatemala City to the market town of Chichicastanengo where Andrea was eager to see the largest vendor’s market in all of Latin America. We have ridden the chicken buses in several countries usually with good results and interesting stories, but this bus trip was an adventure to itself. We were packed in three to a seat on both sides of the ancient, colorful school bus. In the aisle riders sat on paint buckets, and then they loaded the standees. There must have been 100 people on the small bus at one time. Baggage went on top of the bus, and whenever anyone boarded along the way the bus assistant would grab their packs, climb to the top of the bus and then (because the bus never actually stopped moving) re-enter the bus via a window. Our driver was absolutely crazy.  He never slowed down, passing everyone on the highway in ditches, on curves, in stalled traffic, even causing two oncoming vehicles to dive off the road to avoid the head on collision. We decided that Curvas Peligrosas did not actually mean Dangerous Curves but could more literally be translated as this is a good time to pass while everyone else is using their brakes. We had visions of a newspaper headline “American tourists among dead in chicken bus tragedy”. So what was the faux pas you ask? Another part of the embassy advisory said, and I quote, “Avoid low-priced intra- and inter-city public buses (recycled U.S. school buses). They are often attacked by armed robbers and are poorly maintained and dangerously driven.” You don’t say.



Chichicastanengo was worth the trip however.  The town is the center of commerce for the very heavily Mayan population in this rural area. Everywhere women in the traditional, colorful Mayan outfits offered goods for sale. Many of them carried their embroidered cloth, blouses, scarves, and other hand made items on the top of their heads. The biggest market is on Sundays and on Saturday night we watched as they set up market stalls in all of the streets surrounding the central church. Small  holes are permanently set in the cobblestone streets to hold the wooden supports for the tarps and roofs that will provide protection from both sun and rain, and small men and boys carried huge loads of goods and produce into the streets on their backs. A torrential downpour that cascaded water onto the table of our restaurant that evening delayed the setup only briefly. Sunday morning the town was bursting at the seams with crowds of buyers and sellers. Everything you would need for daily living seemed available. There were food vendors, farm produce, livestock, meats, pots, lots of hand made textiles and art work and, of course, a great amount of mass produced goods like T-shirts, bags and backpacks, shoes, clothing, etc.  Wall to wall people, wall to wall booths, wall to wall bargains, however we have no pictures of this colorful market because SOMEONE forgot to recharge the camera batteries.

The Catholic church in Chichi is located in the center of all of the activity on Sunday mornings.  It seems that the Mayans and the Pope have reached an understanding regarding their religions, and the Catholic church in Guatemala incorporates many Mayan beliefs and traditions. We saw large quantities of flowers and incense being burned on the steps of the church as offerings, a distinctly non-Catholic tradition.  This compromise arose when the Spanish priests arrived to teach the Mayans their new religion.  Unfortunately the Mayans could not speak Spanish and the priests could not speak Mayan so neither really understood what the other believed and a compromise of “you do your thing, I’ll do mine” was reached.  But the church did provide the basis for one very distinct cultural icon, the Mayan tradition of colorful weaving. The church was the source of a very strict dress code under which the inhabitants of any given village were required to weave and wear a style of clothing unique to that village. Mayans still wear clothing particular to their village, but few visitors to Guatemala realize that the bright, distinctly ethnic clothing one sees everywhere evolved out of an edict from a most non-Mayan source: the Roman Catholic Church. After an interesting conversation with two young Mayan women we found we were able to identify the colors particular to the nearby town of San Antonio La Lago. We got smiles all around when later we would meet someone from San Antonio and correctly identify their village.

After Chichicastengo we took a van (no more chicken buses for us) to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan for our final 3 days in Guatemala before heading home. Panajachel is a lakeside tourist town (although not many American tourists apparently) that provides access via boat to several other Mayan villages on the lake. We took advantage of our stay here to visit several villages, walk the cobbled streets, shop, and generally relax.
We noted that much of the population of Guatemala and many of the workers seem to be a very young. We took a canoe trip where we were guided by a thirteen year old boy and we had a long conversation with a very mature thirteen year old Mayan woman selling goods in San Juan La Lago. We met another thirteen year old accompanied by her five year old brother selling in Panajachel. It seems that this is the appropriate age in Guatemala to begin contributing to the support of your family, and there are children working everywhere.

Our springtime trip for 2012 ended with one more night in Guatemala City and a memorably romantic dinner. The restaurant (Kacao) served Guatemalan traditional dishes and was housed in a beautiful palapa constructed in the middle of the city. Kacao had been recommended to us while we were still in the Rio and it was a great recommendation. Costumed waiters, delicious food and a beautiful setting combined to make this one of the best dining experiences we had ever had in any country.  

Our two month trip covered over 1200 miles of sailing, and we were in and out of four different countries (Panama, Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala). We got to figure out our expenses in four different currencies (dollars, pesos, lempira and quetzales), and we saw so many different places and lifestyles. We love it. It is sometimes difficult to leave friends and family for such an extended period of time, we sometimes worry about our safety, we’re sometimes confused trying to cope with day to day happenings in a foreign language, and sometimes we even get on each others nerves in our small floating home, but the adventures, beaches, bars, boats, islands, jungles, people and leisurely pace make it all worthwhile (at least for a little while).  With that said we are definitely looking forward to CA for the summer.

Tom and Andrea