02/11/2016
Another perfect weather day in Antigua today. Every day of the year, the high is around 80 and the low around 60.
Tomorrow we will cross the brder into El Salvadore and stay the night in San Salvadore.
Kids at school
02/12/2016
Our three days in Antigua, Guatemala were wonderful. The home we stayed in was beautiful and just a few blocks from the main square in downtown. We were able to walk throughout the town each day, Finn was able to play basketball at one their many parks, and at night we were able to walk to great little places to eat. Our pictures do not do the town justice. The city of Antigua is very artistic... full of old ruins, brightly painted homes, and quaint stores to shop in. The best part was hands down the volcano erupting on our first night! As much as we loved Antigua, it was time to head south this morning.
The Google Maps "lady" has officially lost her mind. She takes us down roads no vehicle should go, she says to turn right when it is clearly a left turn and she refuses to reroute us when we want to take a different road that she suggests and thinks that unpaved, rutted, one-way roads through the mountains should have a faster travel time than the highway. ... I think she must be tired. ;)
So anyhow, we ended up accidentally taking a wrong turn and off the main road and it took us about 4 hours to go 75 miles, 2 hours for the first 20 miles. We finally made it to the El Salvador border crossing around lunchtime and spent three for paperwork to be completed so we could enter El Salvador. The road from the border to San Salvador was very good and 4 lane on the Panamerican Highway, we found our hotel very easily and it is in a nice part of town across from the Porsche dealer.
Tomorrow we will cross the border in Honduras, which according to Google maps is about 3 hours away....
Now on to Nicaragua....
(02/06/2016) We are now in Guatemala. Our internet is very, very slow and spotty, so photos will have to wait until we move on.
The border crossing from Mexico took about 2 hours, mainly because our entry into Mexico was, um, unconventional, so we had unusual paperwork. All the officials were very nice and helpful and we eventually got through. On the Guatemala side, we had to go through a series of trailers, back and forth, until we had all of the required stamps and certificates. Money exchange is done informally with men standing in the street with huge wads of cash under the eye of soldiers with machine guns. We got a really good rate, remarkably. The trip to Tikal was fairly easy, even though google maps keeps trying to send us on unpaved shortcuts that can be rough. We had to turn around once when we ran out of road, but overall the trip was easy with no difficulties.
Tikal is a very interesting Mayan site still emerging from the jungle. They are made of limestone, so preservation is difficult due to the fact that limestone is porous and deteriorates easily. The local people do their best to preserve this UNESCO site, but raising funds is a difficult task. Japan has offered to help provide financial assistance, but this could come with a price. Japan has been known to assist in communities and then require these same locals to give them special privileges. For example, the Japanese built large docks for the Caribbean islands and in exchange, they were allowed to fish their waters. This has become an issue because Japan will not abide by local fishing regulations and have cause great damage to the environment. The Mayans built these temples even before Christ! The temples were mainly built to show status and power or to celebrate something special. They were designed to coincide with the spring solstice. Temple #4 was featured in Stars Wars Return of the Jedi. We have seen toucans, howler monkeys, weird turkeys that look more like peacocks and very large humming birds. However, there are many animals found locally that we have not spotted including the fur-de-lance snake (one of the most dangerous snakes in the world) and jaguar. The food is good and rooms are nice but you have to go with the flow. For instance, hot water is only available for 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening, and water is totally unavailable after 11pm. Power is shut off throughout the main hotel at 9pm and there are no Tv's or radios in the rooms. Internet is not provided, except very slow connections in reception building. We are staying at a hotel inside the park. We will stay for 3 nights and then, probably head towards Honduras.
Today is Ella's 13th birthday. We had cake which Clare spent 4 hours locating in the town of Flores, about an hour away. We did our birthday shopping at the local craft market. Ella found the "cutest purse ever". Currency is in Quetzals and is valued at 7.6Q to 1US$. We are learning the Spanish language slowly, but the locals have been patient and understanding!
Day #35 (02/10/2016)
2 days ago we left Tikal and drove to Chiquimula for the night before continuing on to Antigua, Guatemala.
Northern Guatemala is very different from Mexico. Cars were rare. People either traveled by horse or motorcycle or walked. The women wear traditional dress with bright patterned long skirts and dresses. Everyone seems very friendly and wanting to talk. A lot of the homes have grass roofs.
The kids were thrilled that Chiquimula had both a McDonalds and Taco Bell. We had both. While there, we went to a Guatemalan traveling circus. It was much like the circuses which come to Carrollton, with a couple of differences (see video).
Antigua is a beautiful city. It was the colonial capital of Central America for over 200 years and is full of old churches and buildings. There are many ruins as the city was largely destroyed in late 1700's by an earthquake. We were treated last night to continuous loud booms like thunder or a loud truck running down a rough road coming from Volcano Fuega which is about 10 miles west of us here. We were brought outside by shouts of surprise from Finn. We all came outside to see the volcano with large plumes of fire shooting into the sky and rivers f fast moving lava running down its sides. We sat out on our porch for a long time watching the show.
And, yes, that is electrified razor wire around our back yard.