A Caribbean dream, Tikal and first days in Honduras (thoughts about The Travel.)
Karoliina, the lovely blond-rasta Finnish artesan I met at Lago Atitlàn, and I, went to Antigua to buy jade and jewelry making materials and from there (since artists are not allowed to sell in the streets) continued up north to the carribean coast of Guatemala, to Livingston.
Livingston is a beautiful town on a peninsula which you can only get to by boat. It`s populated by beautiful blacks, decendants of people who escaped from shipwrecked slaveships and started their own settlement, with their Garifuna culture and language which is a mix of African, Creole English, French and Spanish. Sarrounded by beautiful beaches dotted with palm tree, with really friendly people and coconut with every meal (coconut bread, coconut rice and beans, and straight up from the tree) - the stay could not have been more pleasant. We worked really hard, sitting on the street sometime for 12 hours with our jewelry, but since it was semana santa - the holy week for the catholics before easter - there were many people in the streets and it was good. We stayed at a hostel which is run by Ivan, a slim Chilean with very arabic features (he told me his father was Palestinian). Under the hostel he runs a library for kids, with books in all languages, the only children's library in the town. Holy work! We swung in hammocks, ate delicious seafood soup and hiked along the beach, where the Garifunas live in Baba-yaga-type wooden huts with roofs made of palm leaves, until we reached "los siete altares", or "the seven altars" a series of mineral pools that cascade into the sea. Leaving Livingston by boat, again, we sailed for 2.5 hours through the canyon of Rio Dulce, seeing beautiful river birds, mangroves and fishermen. Amazing.
Some pictures from the semana santa procession - I forgot to mention they all wear purple! -
ttp://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5457613958571712018
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5457614047951397090
Live music at night at the beach - notice the drum made out of 3 turtle shells in different sizes: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458578257408666274
Sunrise from the sea: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458581564603443538
General Livingston views, wooden houses and palm trees:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458581825431050834
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458582115370728498
My favourite Guatemalan dog picture:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458581963220228402
Classical carribean beach and I
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458582363141814546
Vultures at the beach: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458582666317869682
The pools in the 7 altars:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458585394475233298
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458585881482074098
Mangroves and river pics from the boat ride from Livingston to Rio Dulce:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458588685013058738
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458588399345892994
For the rest of my photos from Livingston, look here: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#
Tikal
Sadly leaving Livingston and the delicious Garifuna cousine we went to Flores, a town on an island in a lake which is the main exit point to Tikal, the most famous Maya ruin in the world and the one best restored. The was beautiful with tiny green islands, and small boats (or funnier yet, wooden dug-out canoes with motors attached to them) taking passengers across it. It was great to go swimming there every day, and we even found (by hearing rumor and asking around with the locals) a beach with beautiful turquoise water which we had completely to ourselves!
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460170630631360290
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5458589086158613346
Flores from the viewpoint:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460171039233825506
Flores also supplied some of the best sunsets I have ever seen! Sitting on the promanade eating ice cream with friends and watching this:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162351893331298
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162063252700930
Tikal, with temples towering through the jungle treetops, was beautiful but outrageously expensive, close to 20$ (Americans) to enter. I am upset that they charge foreigners so much to see the ruins, whereas in Israel you pay 1/3 of the price for any of the natural reserves. The locals pay much much less. Nonetheless, it was beautiful, I climbed all the temples and we saw some toucans, howler monkeys (they roar like lions!) and Ceiba trees!
Ceiba is the alleged Tree of the World, sacred to the Mayans. Towering sometimes to 70 METERS tall, it was allegedly connected to the 4 winds of the world, its roots in the underworld and it's tops in the heavens. It is HUGE. It was completely impossible to take a picture of all of it whole, and seeing it from above was incredible. You can see by the size of the roots, with are higher than me:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460163288597698690
bottom - http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162721486770082
top - http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162751454806818
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460169082741847826
Other photos from Tikal:
Karoliina and I and the temples rising over the treetops: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460165746359860642
The huge amazing temple, which looks like a picture in a magazine but I was there at the top: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460168648723489394
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460170156558444162
Jungle roots! http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460170357384667074 :D
Or view all the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#
At this point we got right on the tourist route, in an area where the tourist shuttles are more common than local transport, so obviously more expensive. There, and also in Lanquin - the next site I went to after Flores - I encountered many, really too many tourist who didn't know where they were, didn't bother to open a map, didn`t bother asking about local customs (ones were disappointed and angry that the local bus didn't have air conditioning (I seriously didn't see ONE air conditioned building in all of Guatemala, what were they thinking?)). I got me really upset and kinda sorry for the locals.
It's interesting to notice how I have changed during the trip to have a much better idea of what I like and who are the people I appreciate and want to spend time with. I remember I used to spend way too much energy into people who were never worth it, and that was only a few months ago. I did change much...
Anyway, Lanquin was were I went alone after having sadly separated from Karo. I'm sure we'll meet again. It is a small village in a tropical valley sarrounded by more mountains than I have ever seen in my life. It has many banana, coffee and cacao plantations, with local kids selling delicious home made chocolate bars really cheaply.
I made friends with a group of Canadians living in Belize, really nice folks, we went together to the amazingly green mineral pools in Samuc Shampey, which in the local language means "The river that is hidden under the rocks". We went on a tour in a cave where the river flows underground, holding candles and sometimes we had to swim with the candles in our hands, in otherwise complete darknes, with salactites hanging overhead. It felt like indiana jones!
I ate the first cacao bean in my life. It is delicious and right now I am drying the seeds so I can make chocolate! There also happened one of the most amazing acts of kindness anyone has ever done to me, but that`s a different storey and will be told separately.
View the beautiful green clear pools in Samuc: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#5462240923837591394
where the river goes underground: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#5461917847766819826
a HUGE beautiful beetle in my hostel:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#5461915057198724002
And more here: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#
All in all quite exciting times... From Lanquin I crossed Guatemala, on a 10 hour trip and got to HONDURAS in the afternoon of Sunday, April 18th. I was planning to stay in this town, Copan Ruinas, which is right on the border, for 2 days and then continue to the Carribean to do a diving course in the Island of Utila. I am really excited to go there still, but so far I am in a hostel with great people, I like the town a lot (although there isn't much to do here really), I have made friends and learning from the local artesans, selling in the streets in the evenings and having a relaxed time. It is really hot here and rains heavily in the evenings, but it's tropical rain which only brings mosquitos and doesn't chill much. Still, the time here is good and there is more to tell about in my next email.
It`s just interesting how it is so easy to write about where I have been and what I saw but so hard to describe this amazing feeling of freedom when you travel... I want to put it into words because there`s no feeling that compares to coming alone to a foreign country and choosing a hostel on a whim and finding yourself an hour later talking with 3 people all of different nationalities and languages, all sitting and talking about God or the world and the energy that passes between all of them and the moment is incredible and undescribable, and even though tomorrow you might not remember exactly what it was that you talked about, you are left with an amazing feeling of connection, as if anywhere I`ll go in the world I will find people to be one with, people who try to be free, and I hope that it will never change.
Enough for now.
Be well!
Livingston is a beautiful town on a peninsula which you can only get to by boat. It`s populated by beautiful blacks, decendants of people who escaped from shipwrecked slaveships and started their own settlement, with their Garifuna culture and language which is a mix of African, Creole English, French and Spanish. Sarrounded by beautiful beaches dotted with palm tree, with really friendly people and coconut with every meal (coconut bread, coconut rice and beans, and straight up from the tree) - the stay could not have been more pleasant. We worked really hard, sitting on the street sometime for 12 hours with our jewelry, but since it was semana santa - the holy week for the catholics before easter - there were many people in the streets and it was good. We stayed at a hostel which is run by Ivan, a slim Chilean with very arabic features (he told me his father was Palestinian). Under the hostel he runs a library for kids, with books in all languages, the only children's library in the town. Holy work! We swung in hammocks, ate delicious seafood soup and hiked along the beach, where the Garifunas live in Baba-yaga-type wooden huts with roofs made of palm leaves, until we reached "los siete altares", or "the seven altars" a series of mineral pools that cascade into the sea. Leaving Livingston by boat, again, we sailed for 2.5 hours through the canyon of Rio Dulce, seeing beautiful river birds, mangroves and fishermen. Amazing.
Some pictures from the semana santa procession - I forgot to mention they all wear purple! -
ttp://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5457613958571712018
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5457614047951397090
Live music at night at the beach - notice the drum made out of 3 turtle shells in different sizes: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458578257408666274
Sunrise from the sea: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458581564603443538
General Livingston views, wooden houses and palm trees:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458581825431050834
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458582115370728498
My favourite Guatemalan dog picture:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458581963220228402
Classical carribean beach and I
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458582363141814546
Vultures at the beach: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458582666317869682
The pools in the 7 altars:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458585394475233298
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458585881482074098
Mangroves and river pics from the boat ride from Livingston to Rio Dulce:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458588685013058738
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#5458588399345892994
For the rest of my photos from Livingston, look here: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Livingston#
Tikal
Sadly leaving Livingston and the delicious Garifuna cousine we went to Flores, a town on an island in a lake which is the main exit point to Tikal, the most famous Maya ruin in the world and the one best restored. The was beautiful with tiny green islands, and small boats (or funnier yet, wooden dug-out canoes with motors attached to them) taking passengers across it. It was great to go swimming there every day, and we even found (by hearing rumor and asking around with the locals) a beach with beautiful turquoise water which we had completely to ourselves!
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460170630631360290
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5458589086158613346
Flores from the viewpoint:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460171039233825506
Flores also supplied some of the best sunsets I have ever seen! Sitting on the promanade eating ice cream with friends and watching this:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162351893331298
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162063252700930
Tikal, with temples towering through the jungle treetops, was beautiful but outrageously expensive, close to 20$ (Americans) to enter. I am upset that they charge foreigners so much to see the ruins, whereas in Israel you pay 1/3 of the price for any of the natural reserves. The locals pay much much less. Nonetheless, it was beautiful, I climbed all the temples and we saw some toucans, howler monkeys (they roar like lions!) and Ceiba trees!
Ceiba is the alleged Tree of the World, sacred to the Mayans. Towering sometimes to 70 METERS tall, it was allegedly connected to the 4 winds of the world, its roots in the underworld and it's tops in the heavens. It is HUGE. It was completely impossible to take a picture of all of it whole, and seeing it from above was incredible. You can see by the size of the roots, with are higher than me:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460163288597698690
bottom - http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162721486770082
top - http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460162751454806818
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460169082741847826
Other photos from Tikal:
Karoliina and I and the temples rising over the treetops: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460165746359860642
The huge amazing temple, which looks like a picture in a magazine but I was there at the top: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460168648723489394
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460170156558444162
Jungle roots! http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#5460170357384667074 :D
Or view all the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Flores#
At this point we got right on the tourist route, in an area where the tourist shuttles are more common than local transport, so obviously more expensive. There, and also in Lanquin - the next site I went to after Flores - I encountered many, really too many tourist who didn't know where they were, didn't bother to open a map, didn`t bother asking about local customs (ones were disappointed and angry that the local bus didn't have air conditioning (I seriously didn't see ONE air conditioned building in all of Guatemala, what were they thinking?)). I got me really upset and kinda sorry for the locals.
It's interesting to notice how I have changed during the trip to have a much better idea of what I like and who are the people I appreciate and want to spend time with. I remember I used to spend way too much energy into people who were never worth it, and that was only a few months ago. I did change much...
Anyway, Lanquin was were I went alone after having sadly separated from Karo. I'm sure we'll meet again. It is a small village in a tropical valley sarrounded by more mountains than I have ever seen in my life. It has many banana, coffee and cacao plantations, with local kids selling delicious home made chocolate bars really cheaply.
I made friends with a group of Canadians living in Belize, really nice folks, we went together to the amazingly green mineral pools in Samuc Shampey, which in the local language means "The river that is hidden under the rocks". We went on a tour in a cave where the river flows underground, holding candles and sometimes we had to swim with the candles in our hands, in otherwise complete darknes, with salactites hanging overhead. It felt like indiana jones!
I ate the first cacao bean in my life. It is delicious and right now I am drying the seeds so I can make chocolate! There also happened one of the most amazing acts of kindness anyone has ever done to me, but that`s a different storey and will be told separately.
View the beautiful green clear pools in Samuc: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#5462240923837591394
where the river goes underground: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#5461917847766819826
a HUGE beautiful beetle in my hostel:
http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#5461915057198724002
And more here: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/SamucShampey#
All in all quite exciting times... From Lanquin I crossed Guatemala, on a 10 hour trip and got to HONDURAS in the afternoon of Sunday, April 18th. I was planning to stay in this town, Copan Ruinas, which is right on the border, for 2 days and then continue to the Carribean to do a diving course in the Island of Utila. I am really excited to go there still, but so far I am in a hostel with great people, I like the town a lot (although there isn't much to do here really), I have made friends and learning from the local artesans, selling in the streets in the evenings and having a relaxed time. It is really hot here and rains heavily in the evenings, but it's tropical rain which only brings mosquitos and doesn't chill much. Still, the time here is good and there is more to tell about in my next email.
It`s just interesting how it is so easy to write about where I have been and what I saw but so hard to describe this amazing feeling of freedom when you travel... I want to put it into words because there`s no feeling that compares to coming alone to a foreign country and choosing a hostel on a whim and finding yourself an hour later talking with 3 people all of different nationalities and languages, all sitting and talking about God or the world and the energy that passes between all of them and the moment is incredible and undescribable, and even though tomorrow you might not remember exactly what it was that you talked about, you are left with an amazing feeling of connection, as if anywhere I`ll go in the world I will find people to be one with, people who try to be free, and I hope that it will never change.
Enough for now.
Be well!