Back on the Road with Aña's Brother

Two days ago we drove to Guatemala city from Xela. What a drive it was! Under normal conditions the drive would be scary enough. In addition to steep winding mountains roads, there is now debris scattered on the highway from Tropical Storm Agatha. There must have been close to forty (yes that's 40) landslides that had covered the highway to various degrees. In most places only half the highway had been excavated necessitating a reduction to two lanes. Many sites were being worked on with bulldozers and backhoes. In one place half of the highway was gone. It had slide down the mountain side. Another place was still flooded with half a meter of standing water. Glad to be driving a truck.

We made it to Guatemala City after four hours of crazy driving. Unfortunately the craziness level only exponentiated. The first part of our Guatemalan City mission entailed researching a way to extend permission to keep our truck here. We became lost a couple of times on busy one way streets with chaotic drivers. Eventually we landed in a secure parqueo near two of the official buildings we needed to visit. After confused officials tried to find loopholes in confusing policies we decided to retreat. We will have to try talking with some folks in Xela when we return in a few weeks.

The second part of the mission involved finding a recommended Korean restaurant. With more driving in circles, cars cutting us off, and blind buses almost pulling out into us this didn't go much better. We decided to abandon yet another part of the mission.

Luckily the third, and most important part of the mission, was completed with style and panache. We mainly went to Guate. to pick up Aña's brother, Matt at the airport. We arrived a few hours early. We were not allowed into the airport and had no idea to check the flight status. Luckily the vagabondgoddess is on our side. The first gentlemen we asked about this conundrum had a spiffy iPhone. With this he quickly navigated to the airline's website and confirmed the arrival time for us. We spent most of the time across the street at an outdoor food stand eating barbecued chicken tacos and sipping coffee. We were eating amongst airline workers, waiting Guatemalans, and motorcycle police with Uzis and other toys. I also spent some time sleeping in the back of the truck while Aña serenaded me playing Guitar.

Matt arrived safely and on time bringing tons of goodies we'd requested. The most prized goody is a wheel of our favorite goat cheese. Aña had thought the wheels were smaller than the massive one we're now travelling with. It ended up being a $100 5lb. wheel of our Humboldt County Humboldt Fog goat cheese. Just a little more expensive than we had counted on, but it's hard to complain.

We promptly drove out of the insanity that is Guatemala City. Driving at night here isn't the best idea, but neither is staying in Guate. Our plan was to head to the Earth Lodge in the mountains north of Antigua. The drive to Antigua was mostly fine. The only scary part was running into an unmarked flooded stretch of highway. This quickly slowed the truck down from about 50mph to a near stop. At least now I have a better idea of what it must be like to drive into a lake.

We reached Antigua around 10:15pm. We had to stop and ask several times to find a small unmarked road out of town. This road took us up about 300m (1000') to a tiny village. As per instructions we had to locate the pilas (community wash area) and park there. Then a step decent down a dirt path and we had arrived at the Earth Lodge. A remote hippy hostel. We threw some stuff in small dormitory cabin and began work on the cheese wheel. Waking up we realized that the site offered one of teh most incredible views in Guatemala. Three volcanic peaks nearby with one erupting every half hour or so. We'll spend three nights here since the third night is free. Then off to exploring the rest of Guatemala.

Stay tuned for more pictures and vagabond rambling.

Tranquility in a sea of Chaos

I just want to take a moment to assure family and friends of our safety. This might be hard to do considering recent events. However, we are very well informed and in a very safe place to live. Many recent events here in Guatemala have been devastating and ominous. Two recent natural disasters struck this tiny country; the size of the state of Louisiana. An active volcano near the country's capitol erupted killing several people, causing thousands to be evacuated, and created hazardous conditions raining down ash. Right on the tail of the eruption a tropical storm hit causing intense flooding and mudslides across the country. Besides natural disasters the political system has entered a period of turmoil. Drug cartels abound, the crime chief resigned, the attorney was just dismissed over corruption allegations, and in a political stunt some severed heads turned up in Guatemala City.

All this aside, we are in a relatively safe city. Quetzaltenango, or Xela, has a genuine small town feel to it. It only gets a little sketchy at night, but it's safe when walking in small groups. Although we are near the active volcano belt in Guatemala, we are relatively distant from any threat. Our house is also located at a high point so flooding during a tropical storm is unlikely. It was a kilometer away that people were being evacuated by small boats a couple weeks ago. As far as the political situation goes, we are white. Tourism makes up the base of the Guatemalan economy. Thus, we are fairly well protected and privileged over the mass populace. We also have a bad ass 4x4 truck and could get the hell out of dodge if need be. Other than petty threats of theft we generally feel pretty safe. For these we can arm ourselves with mace, our trusted machete, or a quaint hunting knife. It also helps being about a foot taller than most men down here.

We feel safe enough here that we are considering staying until late winter/early spring. We have been busy studying Yoga and making foodstuff to sell. I've even started teaching Yoga and would love to become more experienced. I've been teaching beginner classes in the mornings. My classes are usually in Spanish, but sometimes become bilingual. Aña has also been enjoying the steady Yoga routine. We are really getting into our bodies and making steady progress. We are constantly surprising ourselves with our bodies' capabilities. Along with the practice comes a great tranquility of mind that we are cultivating. Definitely worth sticking around for awhile longer. Of course, we'll see how events transpire.