Finally managed to post this update from an ecolodge in Central Guatemala. We are now staying at the beautiful El Retiro lodge in a village called Lanquin in the Verapaces region where we are chilling out for a couple of days before heading northwards to our final destination of Tikal.
We left San Pedro last Sunday after completing our third week of lessons at the school. It was quite hard saying goodbye to those we had spent so much time with, especially our teachers and family. On Saturday, we had our last meal of pizza as prepared by our US friend Caitlin and then on Sunday headed by boat to Panajachel where we would head towards Todos Santos for the annual drunken horse race and Day Of The Dead celebrations. Joining us for the ride was Joel, an Aussie with an eye for sarcasm and a fiercely competitive card player.
We made such good time that we managed to reach Todos in the evening and we arrived to a surreal scene. The small highlands village was shrouded in fog and in the small central square there were two antiquated ferris wheels along with some fairground stalls that looked like they could have been pulled from the Victorian era. It was like something out of a Stephen King novel and if an evil clown had turned up he wouldn't have been out of place. Coupled with this, all the people here where the same traditional costume/uniform so the square was filled with groups of men and boys all wearing the traditional red stripey trousers, white shirt and straw boaters who all turned to watch us as we walked across the square to try out the rustier and most dangerous looking of the two wheels.
Sticking to backpacking principles we found the cheapest place in town, a barn at Casa Mendoza (Q30 each) where we spent a freezing night, vowing to find a hotel the next morning.
Monday:
The next morning the cold mist had dissipated leaving behind it a beautiful springlike day.
We spent some of the morning trying to find alternative accommodation, eventually settling on Hotel Mam, where the three of us found a room to share that was warmer and had a shower.
After lunch we checked out the local Spanish school for learning or volunteering opportunities as there was still over two days until the actual race, but had no luck what with the fiesta and all.
Mel and I explored the village in the afternoon, a very small but pretty village nestled in the valley at 2500 metres up. We walked a loop around the village passing a slaughterhouse on the way just as the butchers were pulling the entrails from a cow's carcass. The crazed smiles of the butchers and the pack of snarling dogs waiting by the entrance just added to the feeling that this place wasn't quite right...
The bizareness continued into the evening where we attended a crowning ceremony at the local vilage hall. It was a kind of beauty pageant in which the local girls took turns solemnly parading themselves down the hall with a strange shuffle like dance before being crowned on the stage. We stayed for what seemed like an eternity whilst these expressionless girls walked past all the while being filmed by their proud parents and accompanied by an hilarious 3 piece marimba band (The marimba, by the way, is the national instrument of Guatemala, is similar to a large xylophone and normally played by 3 people).
It got a bit boring so we went back to the hotel to play more cards and have a beer in the hope that when we returned events would have livened up a bit. But no, now it was speech time and every girl took her turn on the mike thanking everyone first in Mam, the local Mayan language, then in Spanish. We left after the first one had finished having congratualted ourselves on experiencing some of the local culture. At least the food was top notch!
Tuesday:
The next day was spent just chilling and waiting for the race although we did go on an interesting tour of the local pueblos. Later that night we stayed up drinking the local firewater quetzalteca and playing cards.
Wednesday - Race Day Nov 1:
Every year on this day the Todos Santians hold a spectacular all day drunken horse race (the riders, not the horses) that starts at 8 in the morning and continues all the way through to 5 stopping for 2hrs at lunch so the riders can refuel with more beer. This tradition started hundreds of years ago following the invasion of the Spanish Conquistadors who introduced horses to Guatemala that were stronger and had more stamina than the indiginous animals used at the time. The Mayans resented the Spanish mastery of their horses and consulted their Shamans if they could use the horses too. The Shamans said that the nature of the Mayans was not in harmony with the nature of the horse but if they could show that they could master the animal then this would show that they too possessed similar strength to that of the invaders. Out of this arose the ritual of the race whereby the potential riders would drink copious quantities of beer before being introduced to a horse they had never ridden before in order to prove their mastery and manhood. The riders ride in teams and spent the whole of the preceeding night at the captains house drinking beer and singing as it could be their last night alive (20 riders have died in the past few decades). The race and accompanying fiesta are so important to the locals that they will spend their entire years savings on the one day which may include the hiring of the horse, and all the drink and lavish food.
We watched the race unfold during the day as the riders got more drunk and we witnessed quite a few falls, some hilarious and some that looked wince-inducingly painful.
See the pics here.
Thursday and Friday:
We left the morning after, nursing our sore heads and saying our godbyes to Joel, with the intention of getting as a far as we could towards Lanquin where we had heard there is a beautiful lodge by the river where we could relax a couple of days after the Todos madness. We took a microbus to Huehue then got another to Uspantan, a miserable place with an all year round light drizzle, where we had to spend the night in a dinghy hotel. The weather took a turn for the worse the following morning as we made an early start towards Coban. This involved a treachorous and highly stupid journey over the mountain pass where we were forced to stop for over 2hrs whilst the road was cleared of a boulder the size of a small car! I did feel quite nervous...
Well, we finally made it to the lodge in Lanquin in the afternoon which is as amazing as we were told.
Films we have seen update:
The Motorcycle Diaries - wonderful film about an epic journey around South America by Che Guevara and friend by motorbike
Crash - the best film I have seen in years. It is about racial tensions and stereotypes and follows the story of several LA residents over a 24hr period.
We left San Pedro last Sunday after completing our third week of lessons at the school. It was quite hard saying goodbye to those we had spent so much time with, especially our teachers and family. On Saturday, we had our last meal of pizza as prepared by our US friend Caitlin and then on Sunday headed by boat to Panajachel where we would head towards Todos Santos for the annual drunken horse race and Day Of The Dead celebrations. Joining us for the ride was Joel, an Aussie with an eye for sarcasm and a fiercely competitive card player.
We made such good time that we managed to reach Todos in the evening and we arrived to a surreal scene. The small highlands village was shrouded in fog and in the small central square there were two antiquated ferris wheels along with some fairground stalls that looked like they could have been pulled from the Victorian era. It was like something out of a Stephen King novel and if an evil clown had turned up he wouldn't have been out of place. Coupled with this, all the people here where the same traditional costume/uniform so the square was filled with groups of men and boys all wearing the traditional red stripey trousers, white shirt and straw boaters who all turned to watch us as we walked across the square to try out the rustier and most dangerous looking of the two wheels.
Sticking to backpacking principles we found the cheapest place in town, a barn at Casa Mendoza (Q30 each) where we spent a freezing night, vowing to find a hotel the next morning.
Monday:
The next morning the cold mist had dissipated leaving behind it a beautiful springlike day.
We spent some of the morning trying to find alternative accommodation, eventually settling on Hotel Mam, where the three of us found a room to share that was warmer and had a shower.
After lunch we checked out the local Spanish school for learning or volunteering opportunities as there was still over two days until the actual race, but had no luck what with the fiesta and all.
Mel and I explored the village in the afternoon, a very small but pretty village nestled in the valley at 2500 metres up. We walked a loop around the village passing a slaughterhouse on the way just as the butchers were pulling the entrails from a cow's carcass. The crazed smiles of the butchers and the pack of snarling dogs waiting by the entrance just added to the feeling that this place wasn't quite right...
The bizareness continued into the evening where we attended a crowning ceremony at the local vilage hall. It was a kind of beauty pageant in which the local girls took turns solemnly parading themselves down the hall with a strange shuffle like dance before being crowned on the stage. We stayed for what seemed like an eternity whilst these expressionless girls walked past all the while being filmed by their proud parents and accompanied by an hilarious 3 piece marimba band (The marimba, by the way, is the national instrument of Guatemala, is similar to a large xylophone and normally played by 3 people).
It got a bit boring so we went back to the hotel to play more cards and have a beer in the hope that when we returned events would have livened up a bit. But no, now it was speech time and every girl took her turn on the mike thanking everyone first in Mam, the local Mayan language, then in Spanish. We left after the first one had finished having congratualted ourselves on experiencing some of the local culture. At least the food was top notch!
Tuesday:
The next day was spent just chilling and waiting for the race although we did go on an interesting tour of the local pueblos. Later that night we stayed up drinking the local firewater quetzalteca and playing cards.
Wednesday - Race Day Nov 1:
Every year on this day the Todos Santians hold a spectacular all day drunken horse race (the riders, not the horses) that starts at 8 in the morning and continues all the way through to 5 stopping for 2hrs at lunch so the riders can refuel with more beer. This tradition started hundreds of years ago following the invasion of the Spanish Conquistadors who introduced horses to Guatemala that were stronger and had more stamina than the indiginous animals used at the time. The Mayans resented the Spanish mastery of their horses and consulted their Shamans if they could use the horses too. The Shamans said that the nature of the Mayans was not in harmony with the nature of the horse but if they could show that they could master the animal then this would show that they too possessed similar strength to that of the invaders. Out of this arose the ritual of the race whereby the potential riders would drink copious quantities of beer before being introduced to a horse they had never ridden before in order to prove their mastery and manhood. The riders ride in teams and spent the whole of the preceeding night at the captains house drinking beer and singing as it could be their last night alive (20 riders have died in the past few decades). The race and accompanying fiesta are so important to the locals that they will spend their entire years savings on the one day which may include the hiring of the horse, and all the drink and lavish food.
We watched the race unfold during the day as the riders got more drunk and we witnessed quite a few falls, some hilarious and some that looked wince-inducingly painful.
See the pics here.
Thursday and Friday:
We left the morning after, nursing our sore heads and saying our godbyes to Joel, with the intention of getting as a far as we could towards Lanquin where we had heard there is a beautiful lodge by the river where we could relax a couple of days after the Todos madness. We took a microbus to Huehue then got another to Uspantan, a miserable place with an all year round light drizzle, where we had to spend the night in a dinghy hotel. The weather took a turn for the worse the following morning as we made an early start towards Coban. This involved a treachorous and highly stupid journey over the mountain pass where we were forced to stop for over 2hrs whilst the road was cleared of a boulder the size of a small car! I did feel quite nervous...
Well, we finally made it to the lodge in Lanquin in the afternoon which is as amazing as we were told.
Films we have seen update:
The Motorcycle Diaries - wonderful film about an epic journey around South America by Che Guevara and friend by motorbike
Crash - the best film I have seen in years. It is about racial tensions and stereotypes and follows the story of several LA residents over a 24hr period.
No comments:
Post a Comment