El Mundo Maya

Huzefa / Reena Mehta

“We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism. “

Rigoberta Menchu, a Mayan refugee from Guatemala before she received the Nobel Peace Prize

Prologue

Most of the inpiration is from the October 89 issue of the National Geographic titled ‘La Ruta Maya’. The cover article describes the land of the Mayan Indians whose civilization spread over Central America mostly over four countries Mexico (Yucatan peninsula), Guatemala, Honduras and Belize (There are some areas in El Savador too). The Mayans had a thriving culture before the Spanish conquest and built excellent monuments and had colorful rituals. Presently about a million Mayan descendants live in this region and practice similar rituals to their ancestors.

Independent travel for an Indian citizen requires complicated visa logistics. We needed visas to go to three countries. Almost all of these countries issue visas only a month before departure. So we had to rush to get our visas within the first few weeks of December. Belize requires pre-authorization for Indian nationals which takes about two weeks from Belmopan.

I did not need a mexican visa but Reena had present herself in person to the Phili Mexican consulate to get her visa. Guatemalan visas cost the least. However they also have the same rule of issuing visas only a month before departure. If you just plan to visit Copan,Honduras you may not need a visa. Most immigration authorities are confused by an Indian passport and hold you for sometime (though this is mostly because they dont see many Indian tourists). Lastly in Latin America border officials usually request a ‘mordida’ (bribe) and is normally done in an official tone and only for a couple of ‘dallahs’. If you dont want to pay you should ask for a receipt or show some unknown currency (piastas, rupees).

Viernes 15 de Diciembre

The flying time from Philadelphia to Cancun is only three hours (plus an hour gain). Our 8:00am flight reached Cancun at about 2:00pm with a halt at Rayleigh Durham. Cancun is developed for the ‘gringo’, the tourist out there with the dollars. Cancun is structured to lure the dollar and leaves little hope for the independent low budget traveller. Officials in information booths at the hotel were hotel representatives. We exchanged about $50 outside the airport. Cardinal rule: exchange money in little amounts and as further away from tourist places. The official rate of the peso is in the range of 7-7.50 per dollar. Touts inside the airport offered about 6.50 pesos per dollar. We spent about half an hour getting our bearings. There is a monopoly of the orange colored buses (shared taxi) which charged about 30 pesos for a ride to the city. While we were almost ready to walk the 27km to the city (and hope to hitch a ride in between, a taxi outside the airport zone may not be operating in an expensive zone) a shared taxi offered to take us to the city for 40 pesos. We accepted. The minibus goes through a line of top notch hotels whose rate per day was equal to our trip budget. Our destination and saviour was Hostelling International at the end of the hotel zone. The rate at the hostel is about 30 peso per person, but if you have a tent and are willing to camp on the beach the rate is about 15 pesos per tent. Since we had carried our tents and sleeping bags we camped on the beach under a coconut tree. We could use the shower and toilet facilities of the hostel. After setting up tent and freshening up we walked along the beach, and when we came back joined some people playing beach volleyball in the hostel grounds. We continued playing till it was dark and then played beach soccer till all of us were exhausted. Took the bus to the center of the city (3 pesos) to look for dinner. The row of outdoor restaurants served steaks and chicken filets while all we wanted was burrittos and tacos. The restaurants serving typical Yucatanean food was exhorbitant. Finally found an ‘cheap’ place which gave us a free margarita drink along with the dinner—some beans, rice, chicken and some corn tortillas (50 pesos). The margarita had too little tequila. After dinner we returned back to the hostel. One of the halls in the hostel was rented to a Mexican party (probably someones birthday) and they played Michael Jackson till about 3am.

Sabado 16 de Diciembre

It rained that night which made backpacks damp but the wind dried that up quickly. The sun woke us up. After getting ready and checking out, we took the bus to the center and then walked about 20 mins to the bus terminal. Bus transportation in the Yucatan region is excellent. The second class busses are extremely good and comfortable and we wondered what luxuries the first class busses would have. We took the two hour ride to Chichen Itza (26 pesos per person). The bus passes through a lot of little villages which attempt to attract gringo dollars. We reached Chichen Itza about 12pm and the place was hot and teaming with scantily clad tourists and vendors merchants. The entrance fee is about 26 pesos. Checked our backpacks. The entrance also has a nice little model of the region. A path with colorful vendors lead to the center attraction of Chichen Itza—El Castillo. We learnt our first complicated words “es baratte” (its cheap!) from the vendors. The quandrangle is exceedingly mowed and there were vendors everywhere. Mucho gringoes here. Climbed to the top of El Castillo. The view was good. This is actually a Mayan pyramid formed in stone. The four stairways have 91 steps each, plus the platform (91x4+1=365). The light and shadow of the sun during equinoxes form the creep of the serpent. There an older pyramid inside El Castillo laid in jade. The inner sanctum holds chac-mul figure—we saw this later since this sanctum is only open on certain times.

We walked to the group of thousand columns and temple of warriors. The temple stairway was closed evidently due to some restoration work. There is a mayan sweathouse inside. We walked then to the principal ball court. This is one of the biggest ball courts in all of Mexico. The field is flanked by temples and has little cemented stone rings. The game was a soccer like game/or with some bats and if the player of the team hit the ball through the hoop the team was declared the winner. History has it that during the Toltec period the losing captian and his losing teammates were sacrificed. However during the Mayan period this situation was reversed and the winning team was awarded the honor of being sacrificed. This is because being sacrificed in the Mayan world meant being honored and a respectable thing to be done. We walked around and saw the sacred cenote. Interesting around the turn of the century a harvard professor had bought a hacienda (an estate) which included Chichen Itza for only US $75. A lot of gold and other artifacts were recovered from this cenote.

When we finished around 5:30pm there were no plans to see the light and sound show—we knew how washout and touristy the show was for the claimed best light and sound show in Giza. There were no buses to Merida. No transportation to Piste a village close to Chichen Itza. We decided to walk it to the village when a taxi with a Mexican family offered to give us a ride to Piste. It turned out they too were going to Merida. A mother, her daughter and her niece travelling around Yucatan from the Oxacan region. We waited for the bus till about 8:00pm which gave us a good opportunity to use our phrase books to carry out complete conversations. The bus was full when it arrived and the ride was uneventful. Reached Merida and made our way to the cheapest hotel. Found a room at the Hotel ?? costing about 55 pesos. Eating in Merida was great. The cuisine was great and was not catered towards the gringos. The day ended without any events.

Domingo 17 de Diciembre

The plan was to spend the day in Uxmal and on the Pucc route. But after getting up lazily and having a beuno desayuno mexicano con heuvos, cafe con leche y hugo de naranga, and spending time at the Plaza Mayor (the center), we decided that we should spend time in Merida instead of going to Uxmal. Decided to buy hammacas and after shopping around we found good deals for two hammacas (about 100 pesos each). Decided not to buy Panama hats since we already had a sombrero. Also found that there was a bus taking a special bus which catered to the Pucc route (Uxmal, Labna, ) which we decided to take the next day. Back at the Plaza Mayor the atmosphere seemed lively this being Domingo en Merida and also the fact that it was close to Navidad (christmas). The cathedral on the east side of the plaza had a Baroque facade built over a Mayan temple. In Spanish town planning scheme every town in the New World had to have a large plaza for military exercises and other ceremonies. On the north side of the plaza there was to be a palacio de gobierno or government headquarters. On the other side preferably the east there was to be a church (if the town was large enough to merit a bishop then it was a cathedral). Other sides had civic buildings and mansions of wealthy citizens. At 12:00pm near the palacio de municipal there was a Vaqueria regional dance a mixture of spanish and mayan music and typical dances and dress (saching also mentioned in his trip regarding this—and we were lucky to have this same performance). A bald elderly gave commentary in spanish describing the dances and introducing the orchestra. The dances were by men who wore white shirts, red hankerchiefs and panama hats and who whistled and shouted something which sounded like ‘eh chalo chalo chalo’ and the women who wore the traditional Yucatanean Mayan huipil (a white blouse with floral embroidery at its edges). In between dances a person interspered with some poetry and regional folklore. The elderly had an baritone voice which he kept saying Merrrrida en Domingo, Yucaattaan. There were tap dances and then they danced on inverted coca-cola racks and carried bottles over their head. The most interesting was the one in which they revolved around a pole carrying colorful ribbons and then they untied the pole by reversing their footsteps. Later on there was a comedy show at the other end of the park. Although we could not understand the verbage it was still pretty funny.

Walked on Calle 60 and the atmosphere was quite lively and parques active with music and restaurants. El Cascanueces (The Nutcracker) was playing at the Teatro Peon Contreras produced by the Compania Provincial de Ballet and we bought muy barato bolletos for the 3^rd balcony that evening (about 15 pesos).

Walked to Paseo de Montejo the place where the rich had built huge mansions. At a point in time Merida was reputed to have the largest number of millionaires in the world. We returned back to the Plaza and had our food from the stalls (salbutes—fried corn tortillars topped with shredded turkey meat and panuchos—with refried beans, papadzules—that with hard boiled eggs). Reena had her egg sandwich and after getting refreshed we went to see the Ballet. We felt out of place when we arrived at the theatre—the only couple in worn jeans and t-shirts while the rest of the crowd was in three piece suits and evening dresses. We had never been to an opera house before we realized how painful it was to view the show from the third balcony. The show lasted about 2 hrs, we applauded at the right times. but by the time it was over we were quite tired of peering down the balcony.

Lunes 18 de Diciembre

The next day the bus left on the Pucc route at 8:00am. After having a desayuno mexicano we reached the bus stop and took the bus leaving for the Pucc route (25 pesos). There were a couple of tourists with us. The first were the ruins of Labna. There is a well preserved arc (El Arco) and a pyramid (El Mirador) and the Palace & Chultuns(cisterns). The Pucc architecture is the late classic mayan architecture and they are known for their ornate designs rather than their proportions. We could identify this style by noticing that each style had a bland solid base with its function the next and ornate designs on the top. Ornate designs to the Mayan did not mean extreme detailing as is present in other styles (Islamic, Baroque or the temples in India). Rather the suggestions and designs were coarse hinting mostly by stiching together solid rectangular patterns (fretted geometric lattices). An arc in this style was not really a nice curvature but a series of rectangular blocks arranged in a manner hinting at the arc. The Mayans especially in this region of the Yucatan worshipped Chac the rain god since water was scarce in this limestone plateau. Most of the Pucc architectures have Chac masks at the edge and sometimes even at the opening of the building. Next was the place called Xlapak. The only thing to see here was the palace. Decorated with Chac masks and typical Pucc style architecture. Next was Sayil about 6km west of Xlapak. The palace (El palacio) was had a typical Pucc facade and we climbed to the top of palace where we could see several chultunes burried in the walls of the mountains. Next was Kabah about 5km north of Sayil. The palace of the masks was covered with Mr. Chac so much that the entrance to the rooms represents the mouth of Chac. Saw the El Palacio and Temple of Columns but not as impressive as Sayil.

The entrance fee to each of these was around 8-10 pesos per person.

Reached Uxmal around 1:00pm. The entrance fee was about 20 pesos. As one enters the complex we could see the the Pyramid of the Magician about 39m in height. It was much steeper and constrained in a smaller place than El Castillo of Chichen Itza. Climbed to the top of El Castillo and the view was quite amazing. All around the site were forests and the view was stupendous. The dramatic effect of pyramids in the forests was similar to the pyramids rising out of the deserts of Giza. As we were to see the dramatic effect got better with Palenque (Chiapas) then Copan (Honduras) and then Tikal (Guatemala). The nunnery quadrangle was quite impressive. The facades are much well preserved than the other sites on the Pucc route. Chac is present everywhere.

The ball court was much smaller compared to the one at Chichen Itza, and we walked on the ledge which led to the governors palace. quite huge. There was another 32m pyramid which was restored only on one side which we climbed which had a house of pigeons on its side. We returned back to Merida around 3:00. We booked our tickets for the night bus leaving to Palenque. Went over to the center, had food and visited a museum just close to the center. The museum was good however the explanations were only in Spanish. Returned back, had our dinner and went to the bus station. the bus left around 11:00pm. The ride to Palenque was very comfortable.

Martes 19 de Diciembre

We arrived at Palenque about 9:00am. After having a desayuno where Reena could not decipher what corne de vaca meant in heuvo corne de vaca, she got eggs with beef which she really liked and I didnt tell her until she had finished. Checked into the hotel after freshening up decided to go to the ruinas. There were a bunch of collectivos at the corner of our road and they took us to the ruins. The ruins at Palenque were quite admirable. The temple of inscription provided the best view of the sites below. We also took the steps from the top to see the tomb of Pakal. Lots of jade colors. As in terms of setting Palenque is also set in the forest, however the forest is more green and wild. Creepers growing on ruins and grasses not trimmed. Temples set in backdrops of mountains from which huge trees and creepers rise. We sat at the top for a while and since it was slightly overcast and breezy it was excellent at the top. There were very few tourists. Most of the visitors were from Mexico itself. Walked over to the palace which had a maze of courtyards. There were temples of the sun, temples of the cross which have narrative stones at the top enclosed by roofcombs. A road from the back of the ruins leads into the jungle and we decided to walk these and there were several unnamed temples near the path and the stream. After we were done with the ruins we decided to walk down the forests to a waterfall (suggested by Marc) instead of taking the collectivo. We searched for the waterfall for about 45minutes and it was getting dark so we retreated back to the main road. Flagged down a collectivo to take us back to Pallenque. It rained quite heavily that evening and when the rains did not stop for about 2 hrs we decided to brave it look for dinner out on the streets. At Palenque we saw the first signs of native mayan indians who come down from the highlands to sell their goods. Found a restaurant and using our guidebooks managed to order a dinner. We had tortilla soup and I tried the daily special of higado while Reena had torilla con frijoles.

Miercoles 20 de Diciembre

Its about 140 kms from Palenque to San Cristobal however the bus ride took almost 5 ½ hrs. The ride was quite spectacular and the jungles quite dense in some areas. The area close from San Cristobal down the Central American Highway down to Lake Atitlan and Antigua Guatemala has a lot of indigenous villages. Very colorful and since each village has its own color depending on the San or Santa they believe in. Some of the places along the cliffs it was impossible to imagine how they had terraced the cliffs for agriculture. Reached San Cristobal around 2:00pm. In Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas, San Cristobal is the centerpoint of constellation of Indian villages which display their resilient Mayan traditions in scarlet and indigo dress of the women. Simple Spanish colonial inns provide lodging. In the first week of January 94 San Cristobal was beseiged by Indian Rebels of the Zapatistan National Liberation Army (EZLN) hiding their faces in black ski masks and demanding justice. At every bend of the street we could see EZLN—Viva Marcos—the subcommandante Marcos the dashing rebel leader who has become almost a national hero. There are photos of him on T-shirts and even on condom covers! The Indians craftsmen have also absorbed the Zapatistans into their work. In the evening while we were strolling the street a little girl shouting “Marcos—cinqo pesos” came towards us. We got three dolls of Marcos in traditinal long black wool holding a rifle with their ski-masks. We saw the radiant facade of Santa Domingo Church one of the best we had seen. That place had also been a place of a minor uprising much before the 1994 revolution, when thousands of Chiapas Indians on October 12 92 (Columbus day) marched in silent protest through the streets of San Cristobal. The city is named after Bartamo Cristobal who spent most of his life protecting the indigineous Indians from the cruel treatment of the Spaniards.

We had an early dinner at a nice little place. The food was good. I had chicken and the food made Reena slighly sick. The restaurant had batiks pasted all over the walls which made the place look quite bizarre.

Thurs 21 de Diciembre

We were up by the roosters around 3:00am. San Cristobal is very pretty in the morning. The sun just creeping through the mountains and the wood smoke from the huts and the slight mountain chill. The desayuno was good. And hoping that we should see them ‘manyana’ gave us couple of narangas. We arrived at the center to look for Mercedez. She was suggested by the LP to be extremely knowledgeable about the area and since was part Indian (mestizo) and grown up in the village we were about to visit, she would be able explain us the customs and the culture more elaborately. We found her at the Mercado waiving her colorful umbrella. Exchanged some more cash (The exchange rate in SC was about 7 pesos). The minivan took us and couple of other gringoes to the first village San Juan Chamula. We did not really enter the village. Mercedez, our guide first gave us information on the area and the geo-politics.

Here’s what she said ---

The people from San Juan Chamula are Tzotzil Mayans. The next village we were going to visit was also of Tzotzil. The other few types are Tzeltal, Chols etc.

The Spaniards when they arrived in the 1500’s first enslaved most of the Mayans and confiscated their lands and hence were driven off from most of the concentrated lands where they had settled (mostly around San Cristobal) into the highlands all the way to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The Mayans had symbolisms like the ceiba tree or the world tree which was shaped like the crucifix. When the Fransiscan friars arrived and the Indians had to venerate the cross, the symbolism was easily changed. Similarly sacrificial bloodletting ceremonies translated into ‘the blood of Jesus spilled for the common people’ and the symbolism was easily understood. In this time though the church members gained strongly hold and did not attempt to alleviate the suffering. “Its ok to be poor my friend, in suffering is true salvation”.

The activities of the village is centered around the fiesta. Depending upon who the guardian saint of the village is the appropriate day is celebrated.

The way the cargo is assigned is that a respectable person from each of the paraje of the central village registers himself (no herself) and after extensive deliberation by the elders the cargo is chosen. The cargo responsibility during the Mayan year is to make sure the fiestas are organized and that gods are kept happy. There are prayers three times a day. The cargo holder is also responsible for a lot of happenings such as no rain or lack of crops and hence is supposed to make sure that no calamity befalls the village. One of the demands in the EZLN manifesta is that women allowed to carry the cargo. Another interesting politics are the church-wars which go on. Chamula is strongly Catholic however in the past few decades other churches (Protestants, Seven Day Evengelists etc) have tried to convert each of them taking advantage of liberal politics. Mercedez explained that most trouble happens due to the church wars. Some days ago a couple of people were killed in Zinacattan after they were banished from the village when they had converted.

We walked to the top of the hill of one paraje where there were two crosses and could see the village of San Juan Chamula. We walked down into the center courtyard of the church. Since this was the San Juan was the center only the persons honored to carry the ‘cargo’ had residences around the church. The sign at the entrance of the gate said no photography. The church was different than most churches we had seen. There were no aisles nor the benches to kneel. The ground was covered with grass and pine leaves. Candles and incense was all around the place and devotees were squated on the ground. There were coke bottles everywhere. The modern invention mercedez said. Devotees offer coke bottles to their patron saints. Also there were witch doctors in corners consulting their patients and fanning the air with leaves. mercedez said the witch doctors sometimes give their patients ‘coke’. It makes them well. Also sacrificial hens with blood lying around to absorb the evil. Another theory she said was that maybe the coke makes them burp and removes the gas.

We walked around the village to the place where the cargo was being exchanged. To celebrate this there were firecrackers and the house holds a little arc covered with leaves. This is the symbolic indication of the exchange of cargos. Following the exchange, the new cargo member has to make sure the dieties are kept happy and there are prayers three times a day. We walked around the village and went to a cargo members house who gave us some liquor ‘poche’ (made of fermented pineapple) and said that we should consume it in moderation else it would make us very happy. The liquor indeed was quite potent. Thats how the cargo members make their money he said. We had our lunch in the restaurant in the mercado of the village. Little girls kept pestering us with ‘un peso’ and ‘mil peso por photo’. We walked around the market and when it was it was time to go to another village. We went to Zinacattan. The church was destroyed due to an earthquake a couple of days ago and we walked in a makeshift church at the side of the church. Photography is completely prohibited here. ‘We are not monkeys in the zoo’ they say to which I agree. We walked around the center. The cargo selection process is complicated. Each respected person of a paraje affliated with the mercado (center village) is a prospective candidate for the cargo. Previous cargo members decide on who they should make this honor to. After this is decided on certain fiesta days they gather around at that village and give them the hat (and the rod). We bought some little curios from this village. The interesting thing is that most members of the village have no idea of the neighboring parajes. Most members of Zinnacatan do not know of San Juan Chamula a mere 13km away. Its mostly the leaders who know about the various different paraje affliations. We returned back to San Cristobal and then went around to the mercado. The church at the center is brilliantly yellow and radiant baroque. We walked back to the top of one little hillocks (forget the name of the church which was at the top) and we could see most of SC. It was getting colder and the burning pine and wood was filling the air..we got back and after freshening up found a veggie restaurant. This restaurant turned out to quite poshy with vegan stuff and all that. Some markets had excellent book shops and found a used book “Basta - Land Rebellion in the Chiapas”—highly recommended. Interestingly has the photo of Marcos and one of his buddies wearing an NBC cap. Nothing interesting that evening.

Viernes 22^nd de Deciembre

We had to leave the place early to get anywhere within Guatemala the next day. Busses from the airport stop catering in the afternoon so we had to make sure we reached the border early during the day. The ride to the border was uneventful and fast. We passed through the most troubled region of the area. Most guerilla camps are situated around Lago de Montebello down to the Guatemala. Reached Ciudad Cuauhtemoc that afternoon. After exiting the Mexican immigration, a taxi driver charged us five pesos each to cross the no mans land to go to the Guatemalan border (Las Messila). The Guatemalan border was something I had never seen. There were no indication of guards and we werent even sure when we had entered Guatemalan territory. There was lot of confusion at the border amidst cattle and sheep who were i(e)mmigrating illegally. AFter we found the immigration post at the side of the road. Surprised to see an Indian passport, he went through the process of entering us in complicated forms and charged us 20 Q for the whole process. The rate of quetzales is $1 = 6Q. A bus was leaving the border and before we had inquired to where we were already inside. Guatemalan busses have character. Multicolored and floralled they are old US school busses converted into efficient internal transport. Most of the bus operators are collectivos. These collectivos operate small segments of the country but they have covered the whole area quite efficiently so that we did not even have to wait for more than five minutes at the change of busses. The travel was mostly in the highlands and the countryside was very interesting. There were minor problems at one place where there was a landslide, but after about an hour or so delay we were on our way. We reached Huehuetanango (hu-hu-te-nan-go) in couple of hours. The names in Guatemala seem quite forbidding at first, but the sylabbles are properly partitioned that it is not difficult to pronounce. There was absolutely no wait. Managed to find myself in the company of this traveller from Holland and being in the computer industry we were immediately discussing the prospects of the internet! Reached Quetzaltenango and we changed busses again—the lugguage is transferred by the bus operators. Took couple of hours to reach Solola (in spanish this means ‘only there’). Our night destination was Pannajechel (remember j = h hence pa-na-hetch-chel). Pannajechel is one of the villages (the most touristy) around the lake called atitlan (lago de atitlan). This is a lake surrounded by three volcanoes in the heights of (3000+m). The lake is extremely beautiful and changes colors during the day. The water looks crystal clear and complementing the natural beauty are a number of traditional Indian villages rich in indigenous culture sprinkled along the shores. We made it to one hospadaje (pensions) called hospadaje ramos. About 60 Q per day they said and we agreed. We were only a minute away from the waterfront and did not care too much. Had our dinner at a curious chinese restaurant called chinitos a twist of the word antojitos (little whims). The owner of the place was an Malayasian lady who we became quite familiar as we stayed there more days.

And since we had almost 9-10hr of bus ride that day, we slept well.

Sabado 23^rd Decembier

Woke up quite relaxedly around 9:00am. The first view of the lake was so good during the already lit day that I immediately rushed to get my camera. In the mood to order desayuno tipica of that region, we ordered desayuno guatematecan (note the adjective for guatemala is not guatemalan). Didnt know that the guatemalans are a great consumed of bananas themselves they eat fried banana chips for their breakfast. After we had freshened. We went down to the waterfront again found a launch operater who agreed to take us around the lake for about 15Q per person. The first village was San Juan La Laguna. A village situated at the foothills of Vulcan San Pedro (2995m). The village is really cute. People normally use this as the starting point to climb the mountain and since after climbing 10minutes up on the village, the views were so great that we decided if we should take a day to climb the mountain on the lake. The side shops were very colorful. Reena decided to do some shopping and got some blankets. The market was very colorful. Had coconut milk. And found one artist who had nativity scenes of christmas from a mayan perpective. We bought a couple of cards and paintings from him. We were supposed to meet at the launch at around 1:00pm which we did. The next point village was on the other side of the volcano and was called Santiago Atitlan. This village sat on the foothills of volcan Toliman (3158m) and volcan Atitlan(3537m). It was quite picturesque as we neared the village from the lake. We could see a lot of fishermen on their boats who thought we were crazy when we tried photographing them. As we entered this village we were as usual accosted by zillions of vendor children. After no luck they would try a normal stunt. Un photo, un quetzal (take my photo for a quetzal). If you try to take photo of one of the little ones all of her/his friends will want to be photographed. We bought a little handbag after a little bargaining. Another interesting fact we noted here was that the natives who interacted with the tourists had good command of English. The side shops were even more colorful. As Mercedez had explained the natives wore a different color code.Bought some Guatemaltecan music from the native market. Reena did some more shopping here. The trick to use here in Santiago Atitlan for a good bargain is the following. Items are sometimes so good that tourists are always willing to pay double the price. But if you are poor starving students like us you want to know what the real price is and really enjoy bargaining you should do the following.

If you are offered a first price of say 100Q. The real price is around 45Q to 50Q and they are willing to bargain you till there. You can easily get to the real price by walking away in the midst of the deal shouting “muy cara”(too expensive) and see how the price is quickly lowered. But walking away everytime is not good for your face too. So the good formula for determining the real price is 0.5xP - 5 Quetzales. Where P is the initial price. So its not good to start with 45Q because they will say ok make it 75Q and you will converge to a price not quite the real one. So if one starts at 100Q you should quote about 25Q which will raise an eyebrow from them but they will pull the price up and you can get to about 45-50Q. This works and you will know the real price from the way they will stick to it—refusing to budge. After getting back to the boat we went to the last village which was Santa Catarina Palopo. This was the best villages we had seen judging from its location. As we approached we could see a white church situated on the cliffs(reminds of the catarina island in the Aegean—was this why it was named like this?). When we approached the church was the only prominent building so we climbed to it using little side stairways. The view from the church was really great. The dress of the people was also great. It was a red and blue striped alternating shirt (they also called it kameez). I was offered about 5Q from a little one at the base of the hill and when I said no, she said when you come back down I will offer it to you. An excellent marketing team of a mother and her little one accosted me at the village. Since I was interested in buying it I brought the price down from 60Q to 30Q using the same techniques, but they refused to budge beyond that. When I mentioned that someone below had offered me about 5Q they repeatedly said ‘is mentirey’ (which we confirmed is “shes lying”). They did not go beyond 30Q but offered me a little additional curio to keep the deal still on. I thought the little one below would keep her promise but when I offered her deal of 5Q she said not 5Q but $5 to which we said no. She then went away shouting “Five Quetzales— you crazy”. Since it was late to go back up to rejuvinate the deal we left without an excellent kameez.

The ride back to Pannajechel was uneventful but the sun was setting and the lake was changing colors. After freshening up with cafe con leche went back to our roadside eating of big tacos and chinotos and papas con frijoles (beans). That night while we were sitting at the edge of the lake we managed to strike up an interesting conversation with the natives of that place. Uptil then we never had full conversations we had learnt useful questions and phrases. Its a totally different ballgame when you try to explain what work you do using phrasebooks and trying to understand the what problems affect that area. His two kids who were quite amused by our repeated looking for answers to what they knew as simple questions also joined in. We were exhausted after an hour and half, it is quite strenous when you play dumb charades which include miming and speaking gibberish and you know you have won when you see them vigorously nodding their heads or saying si si. The kids were so cute we told their parents we wanted to take them to eat helado(icecream). To which they lighted up, but most places were closed by that time. We said our “muchos gustos” and adios’es and left.

Well you wonder such a great place and though we had yet to see the indigenous had such a advanced culture and yet they are one of the poorest sections of their society. The last Mayan king was going down when Boston, New York or Philadelphia were not even fully established. The people are strongly divided between the ‘European blood’ and the indigenous more than that in Mexico. The harshness of the Spanish rule which enslaved the indigenous and confiscated their lands and moved their control to the hands of landlords of the Spanish natives. As the lands regained freedom from the Spanish the land did not go back to the natives but to the hands of corporations such as United Fruit Company. The peasants now suffered under hands of these big corporations which turned nations like Guatemala into a banana republic. The following excerpt is directly from LP.

“As late as 1870, the first year that bananas were imported to the USA, few Americans haad ever seen a banana, let alone tasted one. By 1898, they were eating 16 million bunches annually. In 1899 the Boston Fruit Company merged with the interest of the Brooklyn-born Cenral Aamerican railroad baron to form the United Fruit Company. The aim was to own and cultivate large areas of Central American land by well-organized modern methods, provided predictable harvests of bananas to which the baron transported back to the USA. Central American governments gave the United Fruit rights to large tracts of undeveloped jungle for which it had no other use. By 1930, it was the largest employer in Central America and hence exercised its influence not only on commerce but on the politics also. United Fruits treatment of the indigenous ‘were supposed to give right of way to the Whites’.Meanwhile the politics in Guatemala paved the way for a liberal military coup Dr. Juan Jose Arevao Bermejo, aa professor who sought to remake Guatemala into a democratic liberal nation guided by ‘spiritual socialism’. As the Guatemalan government no longer willing to be bought off, demanded more equitable tax payments from the company, alarm bells sounded in the company’s headquarters in Boston where the company officials convinced Washington that the rulers of Guatemala were bent on making the country communist. CIA planned a invasion from Honduras to remove the countries leaders and plant their own leaders. This set back the socialist movement in Guatemala by atleast half a century.”

When Guatemala is in the news these days, the report is typically about civil strife, military violence, or allegations of U.S.-supported terrorism. If you haven’t been there, you might think the country is an armed camp, lacking in beauty and warmth. This is not the entire picture.

Domingo 24 December 1995

Christmas eve. We had plans to go to Chichihastenago (Chichi) that morning. One of the biggest markets in the region meets every Jueves y Domingos and marcados are good where you can buy native goodies -- woven bags, clothing, pottery. The natives in their indigenous dress along with the kaleidoscopic goodies makes it very colorful. We left for Chichi early that morning and we were in Chichi by 8:00 am. Had our desayuno in a nearby restaurant. And off to the market. The markets sort of compared to the Arab markets of the Old City Jerusalem. First we tried to figure ourselves out from a complicated maze of walkways lined with colorful craftwork. We walked and reached a church in the center of the market. The interior was some what like the one we had seen in San Juan chamula. A person at the entrance told us, this is an auspicious time. If you want to see the sacrifice of a hen you can come with me. After evaluating our options we declined. The church also had candles all around the area. Saw some gringoes in the church here who asked a devotee who was praying to kneel again so the she could get her photo. There are tourists you see in this area—whose sensitivities leave much to be desired. The steps of the church was very colorful. With a lot of flowers and color from the womens dress it made a spectacular sight. We bought some masks and two kameezes and a sombrero. Reena also got a huipil (a embroidered blouse which a mayan woman wears) after usual bargaining. We roamed the market and found a strange drink .. hugo de naranga with two raw huevos (freshly squeezed orange juice with two raw eggs). I had a version and tasted nutritious of course..and Reena had the plain hugo de naranga. We roamed around in the area and went out of the market to go to the banos and happened to catch one procession with lot of colorful costumes. Went back in and went back to the poultry section of the market. Well there were turkeys and pollos all around the place and women hugging their pollos and gossiping about the weather. We took the bus back and made our pleasanteries with a very colorful couple from Italy/Spain who likened the ride from Chichi back to Panajachel to the ride to Ooty. It was quite exciting when the bus stopped midway upslope and the conductor/helper ran out to the nearby stream to quench the steaming engine. All you miss here are shouts of “garam moongfali” he said. Back at Chichi we had a couple of eggrolls at the familiar Chinotos. Back for a siesta we woke up at seven with burst of firecrackers. After we got out most restaurants were getting ready to be closed and go home to celebrate their christmas. Santa claus passed with the familiar “feliz navidad—i wish you a merry christmas” songs and leading a procession in the car throwing sweets out to a big following of little kids. We had our food in little taco stalls. There was nothing for us to do except go to a local bar at the end. The locals celebrate here by eating grapes and tamales (corn with meat stuffing). eating one grape at every strike of the hour. No wonder there were so many people selling grapes and tamales. After it neared midnight it became quiet with occasional burst of crackers from the nearby vicinity. We went home—promising ourselves that we would wake up and stroll around at 12:00. We woke up at 11:30. The caretakers of our hospadaje were having a little celebration themselves. They had the whole courtyard lined with continous crackers and at midnight the whole area was bursting with fireworks. After we walked out..it seemed like most villages around the lake were doing the same...after hearing little echoes of fireworks. Tamales y grapas. Feliz Navidad.

Lunes 25 Deciembre 1995

We woke up quiet leiserly, knowing that the locals would not be also up early. Had our desayuno and to the bus which was leaving for Antigua. We boarded the bus at around 11:00am. But it left only after 1:00pm. There were no regular busses today and hence this was a non-obligatory service by them. Charged us a hefty 15 Q per person. Reached Antingua later that day. Antigua is supposed to be one of the places where serious tourist comes to learn Spanish and then travel the area. Wish we had done the same. Also known for spanish courses popular abroad for overseas programs. We found a good cheap place in our first try a little distance from the bus station. We thought there may be more cheaper away. Found one Hotel El Pasaje and the urgent need to go to the bano made us decide right away. After some seista and freshening we left for the main square. There were excellent churches along the way. Antigua (mean old) was the capital of Guatemala but because it is so earthquake prone the capital was shifted to Guatemala City. There are evidences of so many baroque churches being destroyed in this manner as we noticed atleast two on our way to the parque central. The cathedral de santiago and the palacio was great. We went to La Merced which was the most striking colonial church we had seen—excellent facade. Outside the church there were vendors cooking queso relleno (cheese, flour, stuffed with minced meat and spices) a sweet dish akin to our Gulab Jamuns. the flour stuffing tasted slighly uncooked and the syrup was not very sweet. Reena wanted to have some tamales so we rushed back to join the big line. The vendor knowing that us gringos were not her regulars seemed to favor the locals and we got the last little remaining ears of corn. The restaurants were closed that day. Managed to fill ourselves on the roadside restaurants. Beunos noches.

Martes 26 Deciembre 1995

The next day was the first day after a long holiday for the locals. After a desayuno and reserving a space with the local guide for a hike up volcan pacaya that afternoon, we left to see Casa Kojom (House of Music). It started out as personal study by the curator of the mayan musical instruments and he turned his collection into a museum. The slide show was excellent and so was the musuem. After we finished from the museum a nearby cemetry seemed to interest us. Lavishly decorated tombs and masoleums which seemed quite peculiar to us. After about an hour strolling the cemetry we returned back to the main city. We saw several other churches some of which were functional and some where so decapitated by the earthquakes that it was abondoned. Iglesia de San Fransisco, Iglesia de San Jose, Convento de Santa Teresa and lot of other churches. Returned back to the parque where we got our bolletos ($10 per person)for the volcano hike. The area really has perfected in the art of bakery, considering the fact that there were so many bakery shops serving excellent cakes and breads. After the bus arrived to transport us to the bottom of the volcano, we found that we did not get seats even though the bolleto said so. A minor tussle and we managed to squeeze in. The bus went about an hour outside antigua and then for about an hour on dirt roads. We suddenly realized we had lost our bible (the lonely planet) and that got us into immediate panic. Its not possible to visit these places without this guide. Hopefully we had left it at one of the places we had stopped for a drink or so. Reached the bottom of the volcano where we met our guides. Two armed guards one in the front and the back. There has been increased security since the area has armed guerilla activity and several people have been accosted and people (hikers) have been literally stripped on the volcanoes (i guess they know about hidden money belts). The first two and half hours were just going across several fields and hillocks till we actually reached the base. The last part was quite treachorous and tiring. Every two footsteps we came down one footstep, trying to struggle through the volcanic ash. When we reached the top we were covered in volcanic dust. The rim of the volcano was quite scary especially since our guide was trying to show us how shaky the rim by trying to create minor mudslides. Coming down was easy. Its exactly like walking down a snow mountain. Heels first. Every now and then we had to stop to remove all the stones from our shores and bodies. It was dark when we were descending. Our guides had lights and we made it safely. Guzzled cervezo gallo ( guatemalan beer) after we reached the bottom. AFter we reached Antigua we looked around for our bible and did find it in one of the restaurants just before it was closing for the day. Had our dinner at the same place. It was tiring and we slept well.

Miercoles 27 Deceimbre 1995

The next morning we got up pretty early to go to Guatemala city. By 5:00am we were at the bus stop. Interesting outstation busses do not leave the city till the bus is full, hence they keep circling the city to pick up passengers. After we got into the bus, we circled the city atleast thrice till the bus was full. We reached Guate (as the conductors call it) at around 6:30. We got the next bus out to Chimitenango. Thinking it would be atleast a six hour ride we slept soundly till we reached Esquipulas around 10:00. We had overshot our mark(Chimitenango) by about 45 mins. People offered to take us to the Honduras border but not El Florido which is where we wanted to go. So we backtracked and went back to Chimitenango in a minibus. After we reached Chimitenango, the last bus had left just a few minutes ago, so we had to wait till 1:00pm till our next bus. Found a Belizian who was teaching English in Honduras. He managed to give us a good feel of the region. The travel to El Florido was really rough and dusty. It took us two hours to reach the border. We did not have our Honduras visas and we just wanted to visit Copan (another of the big Mayan cities). The exit official at the Guatemalan border gave us an exit visa with a nominal fee. At the Honduras side the official stamped on a empty paper and signed it and said “ten dallah”. surprised why it was so costly, he just waived his head and said. You should have got your visas earlier. Walked over to the honduras side. Most of honduras is unpaved road. Hence there are a lot of 4WDs. One driver offered us to take us at $5 apiece. Since some other passengers said yes. It was difficult to get the price down so we agreed. We reached Copan (the village) sometime in the evening. The bank was still open so we exchanged a few lempiras. After finding a place to stay we freshened up and had dinner. MAde our acquantences with a swiss guy. We slept early that evening..

Jueves 28 Deceimbre 1995

The next day we left early after a quick desayuno to the Copan about a kilometer walk from the village. There were little to no tourists here. About 30 lempiras fee and we were in. The main road had a couple of toupes and a monkey howling. The grand courtyard was just marvellous. The place was full with stellas of kings of that era. The kings had interesting names like Rabbit 19. The stellas were most interesting. There was a small but pretty ball court. There were some archaelogy students from Berkeley photographing the details of the stellas. There was a temple of inscriptions which was very impressive. Almost all the kings had their history and fame transcribed onto this 20feet staircase. In 1989 researchers from National geographic uncovered another tomb under the temple of inscriptions. This place is supposed to be the place for kings and commoners.

We finished with Copan around 1:00pm and we got back to the village. A 4WD agreed to take us to the border for about $6 (40Q), you will miss the bus to chiqimula he said. After a bit of haggling he lowered the price by about a dollar. Reached el florido in about half and hour and after he had charged couple of lempiras to the natives we were enraged and refused to pay. With our inability to communicate effectively we were unable to express our rage and left the place paying the full price. The honduras immigration official accepted the little piece of paper we had received. We saw the bus leaving for Chiquimula just as we were getting to the guatemalan border. The guatemalan official tore of the entry visa he had given us earlier. The next bus to Chiquimula was at 3:00pm and we had to wait about one and half hour at the border. The border is interesting. Besides a honduras flag and a little shop (advertised by coca -cola) there is little evidence that this is the border. Farms were straddled accross both areas and we wondered whose jurisdiction they fell in. After guzzling couple of gaseosas(fizzled drinks) we took our seats in the bus and waited. The bus finally left around 4:00pm. At one place when we had to change busses, the conductors forgot to switch our sacks. Luckily we realized before the bus had gotten far and forced the driver to return back to pick our bags.

We reached Chiquimula comfortably.

We were in quandry. The bus from Esquipulas leaves Guatemala and reaches Guatemala in three hours. We werent sure when the bus from Guatemala city was to leave for El Peten. If we did miss the bus then we would waste a whole day in bus travel since we would have to take the bus in the morning. Another idea was to go down to Rio Hondo and small stop on the InterAmerican Highway and flag down a bus going to El Peten. It would only stop if there were seats. Its almost a 12 hour ride from Rio hondo to Santa Elena. Since it was already dark, and some people had suggested that Rio Hondo was a center for some guerilla activity we were in two minds. We reached Rio Hondo in an hour and to our surprise there was a bus waiting going to El Peten. As we entered we found no seats but the conductor vacated some seats for us and we settled comfortably. It was strange to find two armed guards on our bus and they stayed with us all the way to Santa Elena. One explaination was that there was increased guerilla activity in the last few weeks since Guatemala was going to election on January 7^th. The bus stopped at a nice little roadside ‘dhaba’. We filled ourselves with tortillas and beans and papaya juices. The rest of the ride was uneventful, although since the bus was stopping to pick every passengers (including turkeys and hens) we had an interesting ride. The road was unpaved all the way but we got used to the rocking rhythm of the bus and we relaxed.

Viernes 29 December 1995

We arrived Santa Elena (El Peten) at about 3:30am in the morning.

We thought the bus was going to continue but shouts of Flores woke us up. After disembarking at Santa Elena we took a taxi to Flores. He said 10 quetzales. Flores is a small island catering to mostly tourist linked by a small road from the mainland inside Lago El Peten. We checked couple of hotels and found most of them full. After one of the hotels the taxi refused to start. I got out of the car to help and before I knew we both were pushing the car down a ramp into the lake. Before I could shout or let him know that we ought to let Reena know and remove our lugguage before he junked his car he got into the car just in the knick of time and turned on the engine. He backed his car up the ramp finally we found one hotel for about 30 Quetzales for double with bathroom. We accepted. We were all dusty from the ride and figured there was no water in the bathroom. Went down and woke the caretaker who promptly went up the terrace and turned on a few taps. Still no water. Wait amigos he said and rushed back up. After he did not turn up for half and hour. We slept. Woke up at around 7:30 and went back to complain to the caretaker. Problemos he said. Otre room. We transferred our stuff to where the water was. After freshening up, we had a bueno desayuno at a hotel nearby. Signed up for the bus to take us to Tikal. Tikal is about 2 hours from Flores. the Flores—Tikal is the only paved road in the whole of El-Peten. The government discourages building of ‘pakka’ roads fearing that that would encourage settlements and deforestation in the protected rainforests of El-Peten. The governnment has declared a biosphere around Tikal and expensive entrance fees (15 quetzales). We were in Tikal at 11:30.

Tikal was something like we had never seen (as was with everything else). The setting of the rainforests is unbelievable. As we entered the howling of the monkeys seemed unreal. There were different types of exotic birds. We found some animals in that region (toupes) a big rabbit like creature with a huge snout. We mistook it for an armidillo first but after checking the guide book confirmed its identity. The rainforests provide canopy for the ruins. A little of the forests around have been cleared but it is not difficult to imagine what it would have been. Its easy to get lost in Tikal as there are absolutely no signboards. Tikal was getting in shape by the time of Christ. IT was an important religious, cultural and commercial city with large population. Yax Moch Xoc is the founder of the dynasty of Tikal and eventually rulled by Great Jaguar Paw and Smoking Frog. There was a renaissance around 700AD when Lord Chocolate (Ah Cacau) ascended the throne of Tikal. Most of the great temples were built by him. In another 200 years Tikal collapsed and archaelogists are still trying to find out why it collapsed.

With many sidepaths not given in the map—we ended up not reaching the Great Plaza. Walked through slushy and explored little complexes—one which was impressive was which had twin pyramid complexes—climbed up to the top of one of them and found it was inhabited by two vultures and did not like my being around tried to scare me off. There were little pyramids and stones scattered all over the place. We reached Temple IV which is supposed to be the highest pyramid in MesoAmerica. ITs about 64 meters in height and is not like the usual pyramids. You begin by climbing little pathways and finally to the base of the roof. We climbed the top of the roof by a little metal ladder on the side and the view of the jungle canopy was just great. We could see the most of the temples from here. Finally arrived at the Great Plaza which has Temple I and II facing each other. The first built to honor and bury Lord Chocolate. Temple I is extremely slippery and there were warnings of “do not climb” in addition to the scaffolding. There were two deaths by people trying to climb Temple I. Instead we climbed Temple II which is exactly opposite Temple I. The view of Plaza and the Acropolis is simply great. There were lots of birds mostly wild turkey and touce. When we descended back to the plaza we saw a little fox trying to make its way to the Acropolis. the acropolis is a palace of the noble family provided lodging to the archaelogists too. Next was the West Plaza (slightly north of Temple II). There is also Temple III but it is not yet uncovered. We also went over to El Mundo Perdido where there were lots of different buildings from different eras. We climbed to the top of this pyramid and spent about an hour listening to the sounds as it was getting dark.

Sabado 30 December 1995

The earliest bus from Flores to Belize City leaves at 5:00am. The uneventful ride in the morning was on the ‘kaccha’ road however since there was a little bit of rain that morning there was less dust. Reached the Belize border at about 8:00am. Checking out of Guatemala was fairly easy. We were supposed to pay around $2.50 per person exit tax. The bus was supposed to meet us at the other side of the border. The Belize immigration official looked at us suspiciously after handing over the passports, faxed some pages of our passport and asked us for authorization letter from the Belmopan (capital of Belize). Luckily having we had carried this tiny piece of receipt of our visa and after about half and hour we were allowed to go with a two week authorization. After the bus passengers regrouped at the other side of the border and exchanging some dollars ($1 = 2 BZ) and having coffee and we were on our way to Belize city. The first stop was Benque Viejo the first major city on the western border of Belize (About 12km). Western Belize is extremely beautiful. We did not have much time exploring this part of Belize since we spent most of our time on the Cayes. Belize could not be easily colonized by the Spanish because of the barrier reefs. The only people who could get here were the British pirates. The African slaves who later arrived married with the pirates and are called creoles. The creole dialect (spanish creole) is quite colorful. There are some spanish and english words mixed together and slowed down in a carribean fashion. Its only a spoken language though there exist some phrasebooks and comics in Creole. The advertisements are in Creole and one which we saw was quite funny—

“If you wa me love you gotta wea glove”.

There is native mayan population but mostly near Corozal town (northern Belize). There is also significant amount of European and Indians from the sub-continent who arrived in Belize to do business when it was easy for people from commonwealth countries to migrate. We reached Belize city around 11:30 and the driver took us directly to the ferry locations. Belize City is relaxed smaall town and there is aan interesting slow pace about it.

Belize is costly compared to other Central American countries. It is also not considered Latin American by neighboring countries and Belize citizens require visas to travel to other Latin American countries while Latin American countries can travel to each other countries freely. The ferry ride to Caye Caulker (pronounced as key corker, is the cheapest islands compared to neighboring resort islands—san pedro, caye ambergis) cost us around 15 BZ per person. After about an hour wait (you are here in Belize you have to forget about time—our boat driver said) we were on our way. Reached Caye Caulker around 1:15. A small beautiful island of which only the lower half is inhabited because Hurricane Hattie cut the island into half. The island is about 250m in width and about a km in length. There are no paved roads—and we did not see a single vehicle throughout our stay—but there are still “Stop” and “Go Slow” signs. There were little open air bars, shops and quaint restuarants. After searching for about an hour for good places we found a good place at about 20 BZ for double owned by one Mrs. Daisy and also called Daisies Hotel. On Belize it is easy to know the owner of the place—everyone names it after the owner. After removing our shoes we never wore them again for the next three days. Had lunch (chicken korma—cooked carribean style) and after about an hour of siesta we went back around the island to look places which would take us to dive. Diving is a costly business. There were two dive shops on the island and we found one called Frenchie. They were going to Hol-Chan the next day—an underwater marine reserve. We signed up for it. The cost was exhorbitant ($60 US per person for two dives). Went to the cut and swam and snorkelled around. there must be more coconut trees on the island than people easily..and it was not difficult to fallen coconuts full with milk. Trying to break it open by hitting it on the side was of no use, when we heard someone saying “Bring it hea maan, I wiel shaw ya haw ta brake de cawcawnut”. If you havent ever noticed the coconut has two ends. One sharper than the other. The easiest way to open it up without using a knife is to hold the coconut with both your hands the more pointed end in your palm. Then hit it on something solid like the trunk of the tree or an old ship anchor and turn it slightly after every hit. The coconut shreds and ruptures and you will get the seed which is much easier to break open to get to the water and the meat. The swimming area was quite nice although since it was close to the cut there were strong currents which pulled one through the cut. There were luckily some lines protecting individuals from straying out in the path of high speed motor boats.

Domingo 31 December 1995

The next day we were supposed to report to the Frenchies dive shop at 8:00am. The only restaurant open around 7:00am was one on the beach serving american continental breakfasts with CNN blaring on TV. Packed some liquids and some munchies for our dive and after getting our equipment sans snorkel and mask (bc, tanks, weight belts, fins etc) and loading our equipment on frenchies boat we sat on the boat till mr. frenchy arrived with his group of dive masters. it was getting quite hot so we removed our wetsuits while the boat moved out into the sea. The barrier reef is about 200 mile long coral necklace. It stretches from the Yucatan peninsula to Guatemala and its the longest living reef in the western hemisphere—second only in total length to the Great Barrier Reef of Australiaa.

Reached Hol chan in about an hour—there were tour boats snorkelling just inside the reef. Frenchie managed to take the boat outside the reef without damaging the corals. There were some coral canyons here he said at about 80ft. After donning our equipments and with flip entries in the water—frenchie asked us to descend and get a head start and wait for him at the bottom. I had my underwater camera. Not a disposable but not a Nikonos either and I was told I could get good pictures till a 30ft depth. We descended using the boat anchor line—Reena found it difficult to equalize. We ascended till she could get her ears equalized. Could get some pictures of reena and some marine life—The problem with underwater photography has been mostly corrosion and good strobe lighting since color of the surrounding changes as one descends deeper, it is difficult to get the natural colors of underwater flora/fauna. The first problem has been solved by having good casings, but good strobe lighting is expensive. Our camera had a little flash not good enough as we realized after the photographs came back. The basic Nikonos cost to the upwards of $1500+. The canyons were good but not too impressive, saw some angel fish and butterfly fish and also a lobster.

Reena had problems with equalizing most of the way. After realizing my air had been leaking due to a defective octopus regulator, mr. frenchie asked me to ascend to the boat while Reena continued. I arrived when my air was about in the 100psi range. Could not get many photographs after we had descended beyond 30ft because the shutter jammed inside the casing and it was difficult to get it up. After we all got back into the boat we went back into the reef where we got back into the water to snorkel around. We did some snorkelling—saw a barracuda and a needle fish—lots of colorful corals -- . Got back into the boat, and after our lunch we went back outside the reef—this dive was supposed to be at 60ft to see some coral gardens. Reena descended again using the line and this time she had less trouble with her ears. The gardens were excellent and we saw a midnight parrotfish. Really huge (about 4 feet in length) and colorful. Saw a row pore rope sponge—a red colored coral and after about 40mins we descended. Again I had to descend early because of lack of air. After getting back into the boat went back to Caye Caulker and after doing the necessary cleaning up and paying went to sleep. Woke up at around 7:00pm. We had to find food before the restaurants closed up for the night. Went back to our favorite place. The Belizian beer—Belkin is not so exciting but thats the only beer you will find here. Prices for packaged items such as drinks and eateries werent so costly. The island was supposed to gather around at the cut, so the locals said. There is a small open bar at the beach. We were still tired so we decided to take about couple hours of sleep and get back. Woke up around 11:00pm and rushed down to the cut were most of the locals and the foreigners were dancing around. Ordered a drink with some coconut rum and found it had no effect on me. The place got more vibrant as the midnight hour approached and after midnight they changed the music to belizian rap which left only a few locals dancing at the beach. At about 1:00am we headed back.

Lunes 1 Enero 1996

Woke up quite late. Since we did not have anything planned today. Frenchies did not dive today. Diving with a hangover is not a good idea he said.

Lazily had our breakfast and hung around the beach. When we decided to kayak there was only a single person kayak available (about 10 BZ an hour). I took the kayak and went towards the reef (its about a km out from the island) and then went back up to the cut where I meet Reena and hung around and had coffee. Returning back to the kayak place was difficult because the currents and winds were not too cooperative. After relaxing some more went back to the cut to snorkel and swim around. The cut had an interesting mangroves little out into the sea. While snorkelling one could see schools of fishes underneath the roots of the mangroves. We found a new hobby of collecting conches—brought back about 2 of them. After going back to the hotel and freshening up again and a little siesta it was back to dinner time. Experiment with garlic sauted lobster—a delicacy of the island while Reena had pasta. The lobster was quite rubbery and did not have the juicy flavor. Went back to Daisy and slept.

Martes 2 Enero 1996

We were diving the Blue hole today, and frenchie had advised us to get there by 7:00am. The cost to the blue hole is quite high ($150 US per person) --- the reason is that it is almost an hour and half ride into the open sea. Blue hole just off the light house reef and its a shallow water of lagoon. Measures about 1000ft in diameter and goes to about 480 feet. Its believed to be land cave about 15000 years (mine shaft?). And since it was first dived by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970 and in the scuba world it is supposed to be the ultimate diving experience. Packed our sandwiches and managing a quick breakfast collected our equipment we were on our way with Tico (Frenchies assistant) as the driver. The sea was quite rough and hour and half ride seem quite long. Managed to see a lot of flying fish --- amazing distances these fish manage to fly almost 100m. They used the wind to get some help. Reached the Blue hole at about 9:30am. There were some dive boats around. Its difficult to see the blue hole from the surface, the only indication was the little reef surrounding the hole. Tico anchored the boat inside the hole. The hole is about 1000ft wide is a deep well inside the sea. Divers usually dive to about 40m where they can see stalactites from the caves. As we swam on the surface it was extremely clear. We could see, butterflyfishes, angelfishes and damselfishes as they swam the coral. After Frenchie told us to descend. Tiko (who was supposed to be our dive leader) descended quite rapidly—and after about 15m it was so dark it was scary. Lost sight of Reena. Frenchie again appeared with Reena who was having equalizing problems. Reena held the side of the wall and Frenchie helped her descend. We could see bubbles of the divers coming out of the corals who were beneath the caves below. At about 90 feet I could only see about 5 feet in front of me and there was thick plankton all around. When we reached about 110 feet we saw the stalactites. Reena indicated she did not want to descend any further and since I did not know where Tiko was, I did not want to go into the cave. So we started our ascend. We did not get any photos of this dive since the shutter jammed beyond 30ft and it was too dark for the camera to take any sensible pictures. Reena began to relax on our ascend took our normal 5 minute halt at 15ft and then got back up. Got back into the boat and after about 15 minutes we saw a dolphin at the hull of the boat. We got back into the water again. The dolphin was hiding at the underside of the boat evidently try to take shade from the scorching sun. The dolphin then came out swam amongst us waiting to be touched and patted and then it dived down again. After about 1 minute he/she returned and seemed to be watching and after a contact again, left us. Quite a exciting and pleasant surprise. Got back into our boats again and went to an island called Half Moon caye. Half moon caye is a paradise island. There was only one inhabitant of the island called Whiskey ,a dog which came immediately to the boat as it anchored to the jetty. the island is a delight. it has been declared a national island by Belize. On one side of the island is the protected reef and on the other side of the island is the open ocean. Hence, waves occur on only one side of the island. There is an old lighthouse at the edge of the island and we could see some ships (Spanish evidently) which were party sunk on the reef. Wondered how interesting it would have been if the Spaniards had sunk the ships completely. It would have made a great recovery dive. Collected our coconuts and this time we were quite successfull in opening the coconut. There is a small bird reserve about 500m away from the jetty which is famous for pink-footed booby. Went back to our boats around 1:30pm. Frenchie took us to the southern part of the island called the lighthouse reef. It was not supposed to be a deep dive which consoled Reena. In about 10 minutes after descending, we came accross some of the most beautiful sights we had ever seen. There were little caves in the corals which went out to a wall which we did not want to descend. The caves and these little passages were such fun to explore, we really had a great time. It was kind of scary at first to go into little holes which we could not see the end of. But in couple of minutes we would see the end and we were amidst all sort of colorful fish. The depth of the dive was around 70ft. Since we were still below 30ft there were no photographs. Reena had problems with her bouyancy control too, partially because she was not letting all the air off from her BC and she had problems with equalizing. We got back to the surface and then to the boat. Came back to Caye Caulker at around 3:00pm. The last dive was the best we had ever dived. The Blue hole in Sinai was much more colorful and we had seen more fish from the surface than we did in Belize. And to get to the colors in Eliat and Sinai we did not have to take a boat, just dive from the shore. We were exhausted, after the normal cleanup of the equipment we went back took a shower and to sleep. We woke up around 7:00pm. I tried garlic sauted fish. Was better than lobster. We were also running out our Belizian dollars and we did not want to exchange another $100 TC since we would lose atleast $15 in the conversion.

Miercoles 3 Enero 1996

Since we were leaving the island—we had to pack our backpacks and remove the sand from the clothes. Took an early breakfast and the 8:00am ferry to Belize city. Reena only had a single entry visa into Mexico which had been used up her first entry into Cancun. She needed another Mexican visa and we went to the Mexican consolate in Belize City. After waiting for our turn to arrive, the lady at the counter said she could not get her visa from Belize City but had to go back to Philadelphia to get the visa. After explaining her the logistics and the situation on why her visa had been used up. She kept insisting that she had to get her visa from Philadelphia. We asked to see the consular only to realize that she was the consular. While we were still in shock and trying to figure what to do..maybe a wave of pity took over her and she asked for the papers again. She said maybe if we change the request of tourist to transit she could give us the visa for four days. Thats how much we needed. After about 30 BZ poorer and one hour later we had the visa to get back to Mexico. Since we had not money at all we had to exchange another $100 TC. While we were getting out of the bank one person offered us a ride to the bus station. Well what do you do when people offer things like this out of goodness of their heart in an alien country. The car had a texas license. You should not be scared he said. I bring in cars from the US and sell them in Belize.

We reached the bus station in 10minutes. You should visit Belize again and gave us his card and left. The bus to Chetumal was just about to leave and we got it just time and also managed to guzzle a couple of pepsis. The ride to Corozal town and then to Chetumal was uneventful. The only incident was that at one place I was asked by a lady to give her my passports. I was about to do so when someone indicated that she was a retard and so I gave her my guide book instead which she found quite interesting. Took a halt at Corozal town and visiting the banos could not help noticing that the TV was playing a song by Amir Khan and Juhi Chawla. Called Reena from the bus to take a look at my new discovery when the waitor introduced me to the owner who was an Indian. He told us had been in Belize for a long time and after exchanging few pleasanteries we left.

The Belizian border was easy—dont remember if there was any exit tax. At the Mexican border we were supposed to fill out the entry cards and took some more time. Since the exchange touts were offering us only 3.5 peso per belizian dollar (it should have been 3.7) we decided to exchange more money inside mexico. We reached Chetumal around 4:00pm. The bus operator took belizian dollars instead of pesos and we were on our way to Playa Del Carmen. About an hour into Mexico there were some border patrol police. I had no idea what they were looking for but we were singled out from the whole bus to come to the patrol station. After giving him our permits and showing him our passports—he said “No bueno” which was kind of offensive. He then asked us how much money we had. Telling him about $270 US for three days would be more than sufficient. He asked me for my wallet and finding little bills he asked me to show where the money was. I removed the money from my pouch which were mostly in TCs. He waited for what seemed to be around 10 minutes. After another of his buddy came along he explained the situation to him ....maybe we looked like ideal coca smugglers after a haggard travel..i dont know what convinced him but he suddenly made up his mind and told us to go. All this waiting made us want to go to the bano which we asked them if we could visit. Back on the bus the occupants were evaluating us with curious smiles. We reached Playa del Carmen at around 9:00pm. We wanted to visit Tulum the next day but we did not want to carry our sacks with us. So we continued on a free ride from Playa Del Carmen to Cancun. Reaching Cancun we wanted to have a meal since we hadnt eaten almost the whole day. After a pizza dinner. We were so tired we did not want to travel to the youth hostel Found one hotel close to the bus station which charged around 110 peso ($15). Good enough for a night we thought ..staying at the youth hostel would save us about $7. We collapsed into our beds.

Jueves 4 Enero 1996

We woke up at a reasonable hour of 8:00am. There were many cheap restaurants serving to the Mexican clientelle. Had an desayuno with heuvos con hamon y con .... Since I had absolutely no pesos left I went out to look for places which would exchange Belizian dollars. I must have gone around atleast 8-9 changing places including Banks and they had no transactions with the Belizians. Hoping that places further south like Playa Del Carmen would exchange Belizian dollars we got on to the bus. At Play del Carmen the rate was about 3.00peso per BZ dollar. In a desperate attempt we exchanged enough money which would keep us going (about 90 pesos). Reached Tulum around 12:00pm. Tulum is one of the places where the Mayans settled on the beach. The El-Castillo although not as impressive as Chichen-Itza is nice because of its setting. Mucho gringos here at the clothing optional beach below. The setting was nice and beautiful. But we were tired and seen better and grander places. AFter about two hours we left the place and getting back at the highway inquired if they exchanged any money. They too offered a rate of 3.00peso to BZ dollar and then we exchanged all our Belizian money. Waited for the side of the road for the next bus. A collectivo came along and we were on our way to Playa del Carmen for 10pesos. Reached Playa Del Carmen. Its a cheaper place than Cancun. Thats what they say. However amongt the cheapest hotel prices it was not too good. The beaches at playa are topless and also completely clothing optional some where down. We waited at a restaurant to have coffee to find they had run out of coffee. Stripping down we took a dip in the ocean. It was quite nice since the sun was right up and it was pleasant. Walked to the end of the beach returned back and after getting dressed decided to look for food. The road parallel to the beach is quite uppish and has coffee shops and curio shops. Expensive to buy things here. Even a hair braid costs about a $1 per braid. Some of the shops were quite interesting and after wandering around realized it was almost 7:00pm. Had our dinner at the roadside taco restaurant. Little bit of pork and beef sprinked with onions and corriander on taco. We had about 8 tacos before we were full. Got back to the bus station and there was a huge line to get back to Cancun. We waited for about an hour before we got the bus and by 10pm we were back in our hotel. Packed our bags to leave the next day.

Viernes 5 Enero 1996

We were running out of pesos again. We had about 60 pesos till we got back plus a desayuno. Considering the fact busses charge 30 peso per person to go to the airport we used our credit cards at Dennys. The food there was much different. Salsa and chips and frijoles and heuvos. Tipical for the gringos. The hotel clerk said that there was an airport bus which charged only 4 pesos. We arrived at the bus station and the driver said that tourists were not allowed on that bus. We had to go through the expensive tourist bus. After arguing with him for about 2 minutes and refusing to leave the bus, one person offered a practical solution. Go to one of these ordinary busses leaving the city. They will leave you on the highway and you have a 2km walk to the airport. We agreed. The driver charged us about 10 pesos each and dropped us at the exit of the highway. Decided to flag one cars down for a ride we found trucker who was helping someone get a jump start. He gave us a ride to the airport. “Indians—good people” he said and referred to one baba he had met at Cancun. We smiled and he left.

Eplilogue

The places we visited were great. Three weeks+ is an injustice to this area. As one says to really know the people you have to live like the natives. Transportation is easily available and its amazing how interesting linked in Guatemala are the collectivos. They take about couple of minutes to change busses. Most busses of course are discarded of US school busses. Many busses still had rules of the US states they were from written on it. Most people we meet say Mexico must be like India. It is poor compared to the US. MExico has more millionaires than Germany and standard of living was higher than India even in the poorest of places.

Things we discovered..

Beers—Corona Extra, Supremo (Mexico), Gallo (Guatemala), Belkin (Belize),

Verdant (Honduras)

Corona was the best. You do not get a lot of variety in southern mexico. These were the only beer you could find. Coca-cola was as pervasive in Mexico as Gallo (pronounced gayo) in Guatemala. Food—We graduated from pocito picante to muy picante in matter of weeks. We did not reach the habanero levels but after a while we could ingest what the locals could. There is so much disparity in what one views as Mexican or Latin American food here in the US and what is available there. There is nothing delicious than a well prepared tamales.

What we bought—huipil, lots of masks, kameez, miniature stellas blankets, sombreros, hamacas, cassettes Almost sixteen rolls were expended. After a while a ruin here and a church there it finally did not matter whether we saw everything. Hopefully we will remember is how to split a cawcawnut and the the moment when our taxi driver plunged his taxi into Lago El Peten, and the rides from the natives.

La Ruta Maya- Guatemala, Yucatan and Belize—LP

Mexico - LP

Central America—LP

Latin American Spanish Handbook—LP

Basta - Land Rebellion in Chiapas

Yucatan trip—Sachin

Several other local newspapers and magazines.