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My last chicken bus ride in central america

Sat, 1 Mar 2008 20:45:31 -0700

After spending nearly three months in Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, and traveling a thousand miles in old school buses imported from the U.S., I was ready to put the experience behind me and end my trip with first-class buses and direct shuttle service. However, after staying overnight in Santa Rosa de Copán in the Western Honduran Highlands, I found out that the only buses traveling to the famous Mayan ruins of Copán on that Sunday morning were exactly those old chicken buses I was trying to avoid.

Fortunately the bus was not very crowded,
and I had a whole school bus bench to myself.

I remember how excited I was when I boarded a brightly painted school bus several months ago in Guatemala for the first time. It was an entertaining cultural experience to sit in the crowded bus amid colorfully dressed Mayans with their sacks of produce and, of course, chickens. But the initial excitement quickly wore off as I continued to travel to remote areas in Guatemala on overcrowded buses and vans. At one time I counted 26 passengers in a minivan with 12 seats.

Here I am back in November, equipped with my camera and a newspaper,
as I take my first chicken bus ride in Guatemala.

Since the end of my Central America trip was drawing near, I knew that this would be my last ride on a local chicken bus, and I decided to make the best of it. I boarded the bus with my large backpack, after the driver told me I could take it inside. Large baggage is usually tied up on the roof rack, but I was glad to be sitting next to it for the next three hours, especially since it was raining that morning. After a few minutes the bus pulled out of the bus terminal and were on our way. Low clouds covered the mountains and the visibility was bad, due to the rain and fog. The bus slowly tuckered along the road through the highlands, stopping every mile or so to pick up new passengers and to drop off others. Every time the bus stopped I wished I could have taken a direct bus, especially since I had spent ten hours on buses the previous day.

Many families in rural Honduras supplement their income
with a small general store, called a pulperia.

To keep myself entertained on the long, uncomfortable ride, I took out my small camera and began to take pictures and make sound recordings. I wanted to make the trip memorable as my last chicken bus ride. I was lucky that the bus was not overcrowded on this Sunday morning. Usually the local buses are filled up way past capacity, with three passengers sharing a bench originally intended for two school children, and with the aisle filled with standing passengers and their goods.

Although Honduran buses are as old and uncomfortable as in Guatemala, the roads in Honduras are remarkably good for the second-poorest country in Central America. I first thought that the multinational fruit companies had something to do with the good road infrastructure, since fruit needs to betransported to the ports by road, but I learned that the U.S. military was largely responsible for the good roads. There was a large U.S. military presence in the country during the 1980, when the U.S. trained and equipped insurgents to fight the Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua. These roads are probably the only lasting positive legacy of the U.S. involvement in Central America’s civil wars.

After passing through the mountains that surround Santa Rosa, the bus continued past low forested hills that rose on either side of a wide and fertile valley. The rain lightened as we reached the lower elevations, and the sun began to appear from behind the clouds. Passengers waiting by the road were no longer drenched from the rain, and the mood in the bus became more cheerful, as we continued down the road under partly sunny skies. I also noticed another component that

The bus stopped about every mile to let off and take on more passengers.
Not all of them were able to walk straight down the aisle on the bus.

helped the passengers feel more cheerful and chat in loud voices: the more passengers got on the bus, the more I noticed the smell of alcohol, and I noticed how many of the male passengers had trouble walking straight down the aisle. When the conductor made his round to collect the fare, he had an argument with a young man in front of me, who had apparently spent his bus change on liquor earlier that morning. The discussion continued for quite a while, until the drunken man finally got off the bus. I was not sure if he was forced to get off, or if it was his intended stop. Loud music from old speakers installed in the ceiling together with the loud engine blocked out the discussion between the conductor and the man. I was glad not to overhear the argument and stuck my head out the window and watched the scenery go by.

Click here to listen to a sound recording from the bus ride:

Rural poverty is a widespread phenomenon all across Central America, and passing through the Western Honduran Highlands was no exception. Many of the huts along the road were built with wattle and daub, a mixture of dirt and branches, with simple tin roofs and no electricity. Many brick houses were unfinished, a common phenomenon in Central America, where families continue to build their homes over a number of years, whenever they have extra money.

Unfishined homes are a common sight along the roads
in Honduras and elsewhere in Central America.

Billboards along the road announced infrastructure projects by international banks, such as the Central American Bank for Economic Integration , to help development in a region much in need of aid. Instead of small plots of agriculture the road led past large pastures with cattle, suggesting that the land was owned by wealthy ranchers, as opposed to small farmers.

The fertile land near Copán is mostly used for cattle pastures,
and small, family-owned agricultural plots are rare.

Finally the bus passed a sign announcing the Mayan ruins of Copán, and a few minutes later the bus pulled into the company’s small terminal on the outskirts of the town of Copán Ruinas. I had made it through my last chicken bus ride.

The center of the town of Copán Ruinas is situated on top of a low hill
in the Western Honduran Highlands.

the western honduran highlands

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:49:32 -0700

From the Caribbean town of Trujillo it took ten hours by bus to get to the Western Honduran highlands, my last destination in Honduras before returning to Guatemala.

After months of traveling in small vans and overcrowded chicken buses, which stop every half mile to pick up or drop off passengers, I decided to travel to the Mayan ruins of Copán by direct bus, and if available, first-class. Unfortunately I missed the last connecting first-class bus to Copán, and so I decided instead to travel to Santa Rosa de Copán, the capital of the department of Copán, not far from the famous Mayan ruins.

The main square of Santa Rosa, the ‘Parque Central’

After spending all day on a bus, I felt the need to move my body and so I went for an evening stroll in the center of Santa Rosa. After five weeks along the Caribbean coast in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, visiting the Honduran highlands and the small historic town of Santa Rosa, was a much-needed change in climate, scenery, and way of life. I suddenly realized how tired I had become of beaches, palm trees, and the all-too-relaxed lifestyle on the Caribbean coast. Santa Rosa is in many ways exactly what the Caribbean coast of Honduras is not: it is located at a higher elevation and surrounded by mountains; it is much cooler and not as muggy as the coast; the residents are more traditional and conservative; the standard of living is higher and it is noticeable that the town had achieved prosperity not through tourism, but through the effort by entrepreneurial locals, who grow coffee and tobacco in the mountains surrounding Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa is slowly coming to life on a Sunday morning.

The town center was very quiet for a Saturday evening, but after strolling down the cobbled streets for a few blocks, I was lucky to find a few places open, where I could have a drink and a bite to eat. The next morning I decided to explore the town center a little more before taking a bus to the Copán ruins. The old center of Santa Rosa is situated on a hilltop, and steep cobble stone streets lead up to the center from all directions. The center was quiet on this Sunday morning, and there were few people on the streets except churchgoers on their way to the cathedral, which overlooks the main square.

There is little in terms of tourist infrastructure in Santa Rosa, and I was probably the only foreigner in town on this Sunday morning. I strolled along the cobbled streets and well-kept historic buildings in search for something interesting to explore. Looking down one of the streets that descends from the main square, I noticed a lot of people about five blocks downhill. Curious what I would find, I wandered downhill, and after turning onto a narrow street crowded with pedestrians and street vendors, I finally came upon the local Sunday market. After visiting a number of colorful Mayan markets in Guatemala, the Santa Rosa market was a distinctly different experience. More than a display of local food and culture, it was a display of cheap clothes, items of daily use, and a selection of locally grown vegetables. No traditional crafts or textiles were on sales here, and the shoppers wore western clothing, in contrast to the traditional costumes worn by the villagers in Guatemala. The stalls were makeshift wooden frames covered with sheets of tin roof, and some vendors just had their merchandise piled on tarps on the ground.

The Santa Rosa market is not nearly as colorful as the markets in Guatemala.

Although there are several indigenous communities in the department of Copán, namely the Chortí Maya and the Lencas, they are few in numbers and live mostly in remote villages. In this sense the Santa Rosa market aptly characterizes the main cultural difference between Honduras and neighboring Guatemala: while Guatemala’s indigenous people make up xx percent of the population and have a dominant cultural presence, the indigenous people of Honduras are a minority that is largely marginalized and participates little in public life.

After visiting the market, it was now time to move on to my last destination in Honduras: the famous Mayan ruins of Copán, about 60 miles to the west.

The map shows the location of Santa Rosa de Copán in the Western Honduran Highlands:

Trujillo--some caribbean history at last

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:24:27 -0700

Before leaving the Caribbean coast and heading for the Western Honduran Highlands, I had one more destination to visit: the town of Trujillo, located on a pristine half-moon bay, some 120 miles east of La Ceiba. What interested me most about Trujillo was its colonial history and former importance as a Spanish port. I had grown a little tired of the many rather dilapidated towns along the Caribbean coast, without any interesting historic buildings to speak of, and I was looking forward to visiting Trujillo. Although Trujillo turned out be as run-down as many other Caribbean towns I had recently visited, there was at least the old Spanish fortress that provided some welcome change from the ramshackle neighborhoods that surrounded it.

View of the Trujillo beach with its small seaside restaurants and the mountains in the background.

For history buffs like myself there is something exciting about visiting locations that witnessed great historic events in the past. In the case of Trujillo, I was excited to learn that Christopher Columbus made a landfall nearby on his last voyage in 1502, his first landing on the American mainland. The town was founded a few decades later, in 1525, by an expeditionary force sent out by Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico. The settlement was named after the Spanish home town of the expedition’s leader, Captain Francisco de las Casas.

View of Trujillo, as shown in a 17th century Dutch engraving.
However, from its very beginning the new settlement was plagued with a number of problems that threatened its very existence. Several epidemics and frequent attacks by pirates led to its abandonment several times throughout its nearly 500-year history. It was not until the late 18th century that Trujillo was permanently inhabited. The remains of the Santa Barbara fortress bear witness to the town’s history as a shipping port that was constantly threatened by pirate attacks.

View of the Trujillo beach from the Santa Barbara fortress.
The center of Trujillo consists of several blocks of buidlings, built on a bluff that overlooks the long stretch of sandy beach below. Near Trujillo’s main square, there is a small park that overlooks the crescent beach below. A fairly recent statue of Christopher Columbus adorns this spot, with his raised arm pointing out at the sea. I was wondering if he was pointing at the distant land from where he started his discoveries, or if he was pointing at the distant land where he wanted to return to as quickly as possible. The ambiguous gesture of the great explorer sums up the Spaniards’ ambiguous attitude toward Trujillo. They wanted to settle here and establish a permanent port, while being forced to abandon the city several times due to diseases and pirate attacks.

Christopher Columbus, pointing out at sea from a bluff in Trujillo’s center.
Trujillo is also historically important for another reason: It is the location where the Garífuna people, exiled by the British colonial government from the Eastern Caribbean to the Bay Island of Roatán, first reached the mainland in the late eighteenth century. It was from here that the Garífuna eventually spread out all along Central America’s Caribbean coast, from Nicaragua all the way to Belize. While most of Trujillo is home to Honduran mestizos of mixed European and indigenous descent, the seaside neighborhood of Barrio Cristales is still home to the Garífuna people and their distinct and lively culture.

The Garífuna people are trying to preserve their culture, and local children regularly participate in dancing and drumming workshops.
I spent several days in Barrio Cristales, at a pleasant hotel, owned by a Garífuna family. The hotel’s palm-thatch restaurant was located on the beach and provided me with great views and a peaceful place to catch up on my writing. I was also able to sample some great seafood and more of the typical Garífuna dishes, which the hotel owner prepared for me. Among my favorite dishes is Machuca, or Hudut (in the Garífuna language), a rich seafood soup made with coconut milk and served with mashed plantain.

Machuca, or Hudut, is a delicious seafood soup, served with mashed plantains.

Visiting the Bay Islands of Honduras

Fri, 8 Feb 2008 08:12:53 -0700

The Bay Islands are the most popular tourist attraction in Honduras, next to the Mayan ruins of Copán. Since I was already in La Ceiba, I decided to visit Utila, the smallest of the three islands and only an hour-long ferry ride away. Utila is a fairly flat island, with only one small hill rising above the mangrove forests that cover large parts of the island.

Approaching the ferry dock in Utila.

I found a simple and cheap room along the main street not far from the ferry dock. But the term ‘main street’ needs to be understood within the context of the Bay Islands. It is little more than a narrow pathway that stretches along the south shore of the island and connects one end of the village with the other, leading past mangrove forests and several small beaches.

View of the main street of Utila, where electric golf carts are a common form of transportation.

The island is made up of the remains of an old eroded volcano and is surrounded by a fringe coral reef, which is the island’s main tourist attraction. What brings most foreigners to Utila are the plentiful and cheap diving schools and the diverse marine life at the adjacent reef. There are only a handful of small beaches on Utila, but the water is crystal-clear and calm. With the reef close to the shore, it is possible to go snorkeling here from any of the beaches without taking a tour on a motorboat.

Utila only has a handful of small beaches, but they are very pristine.

In contrast to the Honduran mainland, the main ethnic group of the Bay Islands are black creoles, and English is the predominant language. And while Latin music is commonly heard in the rest of Honduras, it is mostly Reggae and Caribbean tunes that are played at bars and restaurants in Utila. While the locals converse in perfect English with foreign visitors, they speak a unique local form of Creole English among themselves, a language that is quite difficult to understand for outsiders.

A party on a diving boat near the Utila dock.

While Utila is little different from other beach destinations and islands along Central America’s Caribbean coast, the island has a laid-back and pleasant atmosphere, while offering a good selection of guest houses, restaurants and bars to keep visitors entertained and well-fed for a few days. Staying in Utila is quite a bit cheaper than Belize, even though the food is expensive compared to the Honduran mainland.

The locals regularly gather on the streets for a chat and for people watching.

After spending a month on the Caribbean coast, Utila did not offer me anything new, but those visitors who make it their main island destination will do doubt have a great time and will find plenty to do for a few days, be it snorkeling, diving, kayaking in the mangrove forests, or just relaxing on the beach. And the seafood is of course quite remarkable as well.

Local fishermen at a beach in Utila.

along the caribbean coast in honduras

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 11:25:15 -0700

After leaving the Rio Dulce and Livingston in Guatemala I traveled to Honduras to explore Central America’s Caribbean coast a little more and to visit the Honduran highlands. The conductor on a local bus to the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula asked me where I was headed, and I told him that I wasn’t sure yet. He suggested La Ceiba, a lively city on the Caribbean coast, and for lack of a better plan, I decided to follow his suggestion. After a nearly twelve-hour trip by boat and bus I finally reached La Ceiba at night. Most foreign visitors just pass through La Ceiba on their way to the well known diver’s paradise of the Honduran Bay Islands, but I decided to spend a few days here, enjoy good seafood, and absorb the city’s Caribbean flair before moving on.

Dilapidated huts line parts of the beach in La Ceiba.

La Ceiba is a slightly chaotic and run-down city, but it grew on me over the next few days. The city center was deserted when I arrived little after 8 pm, but when I stepped outside my hotel the next morning, the streets vibrated with the unruly hustle and bustle of a Caribbean city. The sidewalks were lined with hawkers selling anything from shampoo to pirated DVDs, and the city center revealed the colorful signs of American restaurant chains: Wendy’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Dunkin Doughnuts. Who would have imagined that? After decades of domination by the United and Standard Fruit companies, the small Banana Republic seems to have given in to another form of North American domination: fast food restaurants.

American fast food restaurants are dominant in the city center.

But only a block away from the central square with its American fast food signs, the market and commercial streets have a truly local character. Small wooden stalls line the streets, and shoppers flock to the market area to barter for anything and everything. The local people are a colorful mix of mestizos, black Creoles, and Garífuna, who give the city its vibrant character.

Wooden stalls line the streets around the market offering a large variety of cheap merchandise.

La Ceiba was once a major banana shipping port, and the remains of an old banana railroad now adorn a nicely kept park in the center, including a steam locomotive and a few freight cars. Even some railroad tracks remains around town, but a part of the old jetty recently collapsed during a storm. Very gradually, it seems, the relics from the days when Honduras was little more than one huge banana plantation are beginning to disappear. But still to this day, the coastal lowlands are mostly covered by large plantations, with bananas, citrus fruit, and oil palms that stretch along the highway for miles.

A nicely kept park in the center is home to a railway museum.

This freight car of the Standard Fruit Company bears witness to the country's history as a banana republic.

While the city center is busy with commercial activity there are a few quiet and shady parks, where people can get away from the surrounding hustle and bustle. The main square, called Parque Central is cluttered with food stalls and arbitrarily placed statues of Honduran heroes, but the large shade trees nonetheless provide a pleasant environment for relaxing and people watching.

The main square, known as Parque Central is a favorite hangout for the locals in La Ceiba.

Well-groomed river banks invite for a leisurely stroll.

After recovering for a few days in La Ceiba from my arduous and long trip from Guatemala, it was time to move on and visit one of the main tourist attractions of Honduras: the Bay Islands.

Exploring Guatemala’s Rio Dulce

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:27:28 -0700

Since the Guatemalan town of Livingston, where I spent a few days, is situated at the mouth of the Rio Dulce, it is a good base to explore the river system. After meeting the owner of a small jungle lodge, some 10 kilometers upriver, I decided to visit his place and start my explorations from there. The Rio Dulce is the main attraction on Guatemala’s Caribbean coast, and for a good reason. It is home to a large nature reserve, the Biotopo Chocon Machacas, and several other forest reserves, which protect a large area of pristine lowland jungle, mangroves, rain forest, and the region’s endangered manatee population.

View of the Rio Dulce Canyon.

Traveling from Livingston upriver on the Rio Dulce is a spectacular experience. Just before its confluence with the Caribbean Sea the river runs through a narrow gorge, which meanders toward the sea for several miles. The forest reaches down to the riverbank on steep rocky slopes, and travelers can spot white egrets and other water birds resting in the trees by the bank. The river is just narrow enough to get the sensation of being completely enclosed by dense rain forest.

Chris, the owner of Hotelito Perdido, picked me up in Livingston to take me to his jungle abode.

There is no trace of human settlement throughout the entire canyon, but as soon as the boat reached the lower forest just upriver from the canyon, small thatched huts began to appear along the shore. Although this area is part of the nature reserve , Mayan settlers from other regions in Guatemala have squatted all along the river banks to create a new life for themselves. Since the region has no roads, the settlers depend on their dugout canoes to get around locally and on motorboats to take them to town. The livelihood of the Mayan population depends almost exclusively on fishing and subsistence farming.

The local Mayans depend on fishing for their survival.

In response these threats to the local ecosystem on one hand and the needs of the settlers, there are now several non-profit and community projects that work with the local Mayan people. One of them is Ak’ Tenamit, which runs a free health clinic, and operates a basic jungle lodge. Another one is the community development project Qana Itzam, which operates a small hotel in conjunction with several initiatives to teach a small Mayan community how to live sustainably inside the manatee reserve.

A typical Mayan home along the Rio Dulce.

After a twenty-minute motorboat ride we reached the small jungle hotel, situated just upriver from the Rio Dulce on the narrow meandering Rio Lampara. The Hotelito Perdido has three guest rooms, one with private bath, as well as a large and comfortable common area. All huts are made from locally available materials and have a thatched roof, which creates a very rustic and pleasant ambience.

One of the cabanas at Hotelito Perdido.

Chris, a British expat and owner of Hotelito Perdido, is committed to sustainable practices. His hotel is powered by solar energy, which provides enough energy to charge laptops and other devices, provided it is sunny. He also has a septic tank to reduce pollution of the river. The food is a welcome change from the ordinary Guatemalan fair and includes a lot of delicious vegetarian options.

View of the Rio Lampara from the dock at Hotelito Perdido.

While the property is small, there are a lot of interesting destinations in the vicinity, among them waterfalls, hot springs, the nearby manatee reserve, as well as hiking destinations, and native riverside communities. There are several dugout canoes and fiberglass kayaks available for guests. Chris is very flexible and willing to arrange a variety of motorboat excursions for his guests. In my case, he took me 8 kilometers upriver on the Rio Dulce and dropped me off in the Manatee reserve, so I could paddle back on my own. I enjoyed getting lost in the mangroves in my kayak, but without my GPS, I would not have should ventured into the mangrove forest alone with its maze of channels, inlets, and lagoons. Without the help of a GPS, the easiest destination to reach are the waterfalls several kilometers upriver from the Hotelito on the Rio Lampara.

Exploring the nature reserve by kayak.

Getting lost in the mangrove jungle.

While most travelers merely pass through this area on a motorboat either from or to Livingston, the only way to get a sense of place of this unique ecosystem is to spend a few days here, meet the local people and explore the rivers by canoe or kayak. After spending a month in the Guatemalan highlands, visiting this nearly pristine jungle and mangrove environment along the Rio Dulce was a great conclusion of my visit to Guatemala.

If you are interested in staying at the Hotelito Perdido, check out their website:
http://www.hotelitoperdido.com

The morning mist rises over the Rio Lampara.

Guatemala’s Caribbean Coast

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:58:39 -0700

Having reached the southernmost settlement in Belize, the Garífuna village of Barranco, it was inevitable to leave Belize. And so on my way to Honduras, I decided to stop in Guatemala for a few more days. I took an hour-long ride in a small ferry that went from Punta Gorda, Belize, to the Guatemalan port town of Puerto Barrios, which is a typical port city: diry, run-down, and unattractive. After another twenty minutes by boat, I reached the only other Guatemalan town on the Caribbean coast: Livingston. Named after a Garífuna leader, Livingston used to be a stronghold of the Guatemalan Garífuna culture (see my recent blog, ‘Visiting a Garífuna Village in Southern Belize’, to learn about the background of the Garífuna people).

Approaching the small town of Livingston.

In recent years however, there has been a steady influx of Mayan people and Guatemalans from elsewhere, and Livingston is today a lively melting pot of Caribbean and Mayan influences. Still, the town still maintains its Caribbean ambience, in stark cultural contrast to the Guatemalan highlands. Unfortunately the Garífuna people have taken the backseat during the recent wave of change. You see them talking under shady trees, they are the hawkers at the dock offering to guide you to a hotel, and you may see them drumming at a bar, but the shops are owned by Mayans, and the restaurants and hotels by middle-class Guatemalans.

A view of the colorful Livingston ferry dock.

Since Livingston can only be reached by boat, there is little traffic and also little development. Life is slow and quiet here, just as in the other small towns I visited along Central America’s Caribbean coast. Livingston itself has little to offer visitors, except for a lively main street and a series of good seafood restaurants, but I found it enjoyable to stay for a few days and enjoy the slow pace of local life. When I walked uphill from the dock, I was attracted by an old two-storey building, which turned out to be a hotel and the oldest building in Livingston, dating back to around 1900. It had a cozy lounge, a nice front porch facing the main street, and a spacious balcony on the second floor. Although the single room was rather small and dark, I still decided to stay for the otherwise pleasant ambience of the hotel.

The Hotel Rio Dulce is the oldest building in Livingston.

While the Caribbean coast of Guatemala cannot compete with the white-sand beaches in the cays of Belize, there are several natural attractions near Livingston that are worth exploring. There are a few worthwhile destinations in the vicinity of Livingston, such as waterfalls, and several small beaches, but the most interesting natural attraction is the Rio Dulce, with its nature reserves, rain forests and extensive mangrove jungles. I will talk a little more about the Rio Dulce in my next blog post.

The main street in Livingston with view of the bay and coastal mountains.

The beaches near Livingston are narrow, but they still provide a nice getaway in a pristine natural setting.

an eco-lodge in southern belize

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:55:57 -0700

When I stayed in the Garífuna village of Barranco, I met one of the owners of a nearby ecolodge, who had brought tourists from a National Geographic tour to Barranco for a Garífuna drumming performance. He suggested that on my way back to town I should visit his Cotton Tree Lodge for a day. Since I had no other plans, I followed his suggestions and a few days later I took the early morning bus from Barranco, which passes the entrance to the eco-lodge. I had to walk for a mile to get to the lodge, and from a distance I could already see the huge ceiba, or cotton tree, rising above the rain forest, which the lodge was named after. It was one of the biggest ceibas I had ever seen, rising majestically above the surrounding low vegetation.

A view of the silk cotton tree with its huge buttress roots.

After a week in Barranco and sleeping in a simple thatched hut, arriving at Cotton Tree Lodge was a bit of a culture shock. The grounds were neatly groomed and shaded by trees, and a clean boardwalk connected all the buildings and cabanas. The lounge and reception are housed in a huge round building with a thatched roof. The walls are open and only covered with mosquito screening to let in light and a slight breeze. The building had a rustic look, with the natural wood furniture made from branches, stucco walls and paintings with Mayan motifs. Soon after my arrival, Chris, the owner showed up at the reception, and he welcomed me to the lodge. Over breakfast he began to tell me about the history of the lodge, which only opened a year ago. I had never been to an ecolodge in the jungle before, mostly because I prefer to stay with the local people and explore the rain forest on my own, but also because these lodges cater to a clientele with a much higher travel budget than my own.

The eco-lodge consists of several comfortable cabanas that are connected by a boardwalk.

The story of Cotton tree lodge is essentially the story of an adventurer, who, during the days when he ran a sailing charter business, discovered a pristine piece of jungle on the Moho River and decided to buy it. The property consists of hundred acres, ninety percent of which are rain forest. The lodge was built along the river, where the previous owner had already cut the forest and established a small plantation. Chris told me that the ninety acres of forest are a nature reserve, and that he has plans to join with surrounding community members to create a larger reserve to protect the rainforest from being burned and turned into rice or cornfields.

Songbirds are frequently seen and heard in the trees around the cabanas.

What fascinated me most about the lodge was its ideal location. Situated on the navigable Moho River, the lodge can be reached from the nearest town Punta Gorda both by road and by boat in about an hour. The guest cabanas are strung along the bank, allowing visitors to enjoy the views over the pristine river and enjoy the abundant birdlife. Iguanas are also commonly seen, as they sunbathe on trees and in bamboo bushes along the river. The lodge has kayaks and canoes, which are available for guests to explore the jungle river, and the rain forest reserve has several marked walking trails. The area teems with birds, especially small songbirds, which start their cheerful whistles early in the morning and spend the day in the shade and fruit trees of the lodge. In the mornings and evenings howler monkeys gather in the nearby jungle canopy and start their raucous calls.

The rain forest reserve behind the lodge.

Another interesting aspect is the strong ecological component. The term ‘eco’ is taken seriously here: Cotton Tree lodge has an advanced septic system, partly uses solar power, composts all organic waste, hosts an organic agriculture project, and has an organic cacao plantation, in addition to preserving its 90 acres of rain forest.

An iguana sunbathing on the banks of the Moho River.

Over the two days I spent at the lodge, I had the opportunity to travel up and down the Moho river by boat and kayak, and explore the rain forest. The lodge also offers daily excursions to other attractions in Belize’s Toledo district, among them caves, Mayan ruins, and cultural visits to nearby Mayan and Garífuna villages.

Guests enjoy a paddling trip on the Moho River.

While the resort prices are prohibitive for budget travelers, those who can afford to stay at the lodge will no doubt have a great nature experience in a pristine jungle setting. And Chris is a friendly and helpful host.

To find out more about Cotton Tree Lodge, visit their website at http://www.cottontreelodge.com.

visiting a garífuna village in southern belize

Mon, 7 Jan 2008 08:53:26 -0700

Traveling south along the coast of Belize, the town of Punta Gorda was my last stop before before continuing on to Guatemala’s Caribbean coast and then Honduras. Punta Gorda is a small town near the Guatemalan border, and has little to offer to visitors, except for being a typical and very laid back Belizean town. This is the only area in Belize with tropical rainforest, and it is also the wettest part of Belize. Even though it was already the dry season it rained every day for the entire week that I was there. What attracted me to Punta Gorda was not the town itself, but an ecotourism project that offers village stays in a number of Mayan and Garifuna villages. The Toledo Ecotourism Association was founded in the 1990s with the idea to enable visitors to explore both the rich ecosystem and the way of life of the local people. I was particularly interested in the mall Garifuna community of Barranco, located on the coast south of Punta Gorda near the border with Guatemala. The Garifuna are descendants of African slaves that mixed with the Carib Indians in the Caribbean several centuries ago. After being expelled by the British colonial administration, they were sent to one of the Bay Islands in Honduras (Roatán), from where they reached the mainland of Central America and eventually migrated along the coast, all the way south to Nicaragua and north to Belize. Although the Garifuna people are ethnically predominantly African, their language and culture is mostly Carib in origin.

The village guesthouse in Barranco.

In Punta Gorda I was fortunate to meet one of the villagers involved in the eco-cultural tourism project, and I made arrangements with him to visit Barranco a few days later. He told me that the village guesthouse was being restored, and that I might be asked to help them finish covering the roof with palm thatch. And surely enough, when I arrived in Baranco a few days later, I had my first opportunity to learn about how palm thatch is put on houses. It was also a great opportunity to meet some of the villagers, as there were about a dozen people involved in finishing the roof. Although some of the houses in the village have a tin roof, the art of thatching a hut is still widely practiced. Just like the Mayas in the neighboring villages the Garifuna use an abundant local palm species, known as comfra, for the roofs of their huts. The leaves of the comfra palm last a lot longer than the leaves of other local palms species--up to 15 years, I was told. We spent the entire afternoon up on the roof, laying down the palm fronds and tying them to the rafters. Just before sundown the roof was finished, and I moved into the guesthouse.

Several villagers helped finish thatching the roof of the guesthouse,
including the resident French anthropologist.

Although Barranco is usually a very quiet village, with only a handful of visitors per year, the days after New Year’s turned out to be very busy for everyone. A group of students from the university of Vermont arrived to stay for a few days, a Lonely Planet writer showed up, and a National Geographic Expeditions group arrived one afternoon to tour the village and watch a performance of local dancers and drummers. One of the National Geographic organizers also invited a Belizean musician, <a href="http://andypalacio.calabashmusic.com/" target="_blank">Andy Palacio</a>, who grew up in Barranco. Andy Palacio recently rose to stardom as one of the new World Music sensations. His latest CD, Wátina, has been rated among the best world music albums in recent years, and some critics even say that it is among the best world music albums of all times. Originally faithful to the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/belize/music.html" target="_blank">Belizean Punta Rock</a> genre, Andy Palacio moved beyond his native musical traditions by incorporating a great number of musical elements from all over the world. He was also recently nominated the UNESCO artist for peace, which further put him in the spotlight of global media and music fans. Unfortunately, two weeks after I visited Barranco and met Andy Palacio, he unexpectedly died from a heart attack and stroke.

Students from the university of Vermont grate cassava roots during a bread baking demonstration.

A village lay demonstrates how to bake cassava bread on a wood stove.

With all these visitors and events I simply chose to blend in, mingle with the crowds and observe the activities and commotion around me. I took part in a boat trip into the nearby Sartoon-Temash National Park, watched the drumming and dancing of the Garifuna people, and participated in the local tradition of making cassava bread, which are flat pancakes made from the peeled and grated roots of the cassava plant.

Drums and calabash shakers are popular musical instruments in Barranco.

Local Garífuna girls perform a traditional dance.

Once the Vermont students were gone, and the National Geographic travelers had left, the village returned to its normal languid pace. Life moves slowly here, and I had lots of time to hang out with the local people to chat and learn about their culture and way of life. At first I only wanted to stay for two days, then I extended my stay for another two days, and ended up staying for a full week. Life is good in southern Belize.

exploring the monkey river in belize

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:58:06 -0700

From the northern Cayes in Belize, all roads (or waterways rather) lead back to Belize City. Although there are other interesting destinations south of Belize city, among them national parks, nature reserves, and Mayan ruins, I decided to take a bus further south to the village of Placencia, located on a narrow peninsula and the only place on mainland Belize with beaches. My main reason for not stopping on the way was that the parks and natural attractions are mostly accessible by tours only, making it expensive to visit them on your own. Placencia is a small and pleasant village, but there is little to do other than lie in the sand, swim, or go fishing. It was much more quiet here than on Caye Caulker in the north, and I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the village. 

Placencia is a small beach town in southern Belize

What brought me here though, were not the beaches or the fishing, but the proximity to the Monkey River, whose confluence with the sea was only ten miles to the south. I had read about the river before and knew that it was a sanctuary for wildlife with a large diversity of birds, reptiles and especially howler monkeys, which gave the river its name. Although there is an overland route to the Monkey river, the easiest access is by water, and so I signed up for a boat tour on the Monkey River.

The monkey river leads through dense forest and open bush land with small sandbars, where crocodiles like to bask in the sun.

From Placencia the boat traveled south for half an hour, past dense coastal mangrove, until we reached the mouth of the river, which is home to a small Creole community. We picked up a local guide before traveling upriver. It had rained earlier in the morning, and as the sky was clearing the birds started to come out. Although we were traveling on a motorboat, the skipper went upriver very slowly as to not disturb the animals and allow us visitors close-up views of the wildlife.

A great white egret.

Soon after we left the village, we saw the first large wading bird, and the list of bird sightings grew quite long throughout the morning, among them ibises, egrets, storks, ospreys, herons, and kingfishers.

An osprey sitting on a branch in the river A little blue heron.

Among the highlights of the trip was an hour-long walk through the swampy jungle bordering the river, where our guide was on the lookout for howler monkeys. We were lucky to come across a small group of monkeys who were sitting on trees in a small opening in the forest. Our guide tried to provoke them into howling by banging his machete against a tree trunk, but the howlers had apparently done enough howling earlier in the morning, and they remained silent. I was actually surprised to find these monkeys so close to the river, where the tour boats stopped. Our boat was the first of about four or five that toured the river that day, and I asked the guide if he had noticed a decrease in the howler monkey population so close to the river, since they were regularly disturbed by visitors. He told me that the monkeys moved around, but that they regularly came back to this area.

A crocodile by the bank of the Monkey River.

On the way back to the river’s mouth it was noticeably warmer and the reptiles were coming out to bask in the sun. I saw several crocodiles, iguanas, and turtles, as well as an otter that was swimming along the bank. In the end I have to admit that I was positively surprised by the rich diversity of wildlife I saw in only a few hours on the river. Going back to Placencia the boat stopped near a mangrove island so we tourists might be able to spot manatees. These large aquatic mammals are especially endangered all over the world, because they are slow, non-aggressive, and easy to catch. motorboats often plow through the mangroves without the slightest consideration for these endangered animals.

A green iguana.

To my surprise, after about ten minutes of floating on the water, several manatees began to surface. They are hard to spot, since they often just hold they large snout above the water to breathe, and then with a graceful movement of their tail dive again. Just like the monkeys, the manatees didn’t seem to mind the presence of people, and I began to wonder if the environmental impact of these tours is perhaps smaller than I expected. Perhaps the many nature preserves and national parks really help protect the fauna and flora of Belize, and guarantee the survival of this rich ecosystem.

welcome to belize, yes mon!

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 12:05:15 -0700

After almost six weeks in Guatemala, coming to Belize was a bit of a culture shock. I sat down to eat at a waterfront restaurant in Belize city, where the locals were gathering to enjoy a beer on a leisurely Saturday afternoon. It did not take long, before I was already involved in a conversation with the locals, and it turned out to be the liveliest lunch I had had in a long time, which was, as it turned out, not atypical for the rest of my time in Belize. After being served mostly corn and chicken in Guatemala, I immensely enjoyed the fried snapper I was served for lunch. Belize would be a welcome contrast to Guatemala, I realized early on. I would be eating fish every day, and I would be traveling along the Caribbean coastline.

The main street of Caye Caulker.

I had decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s on the coast in Belize, and I first traveled to Caya Caulker, a small island near Belize’s barrier reefs, and among the more affordable tourist destinations in northern Belize with its many upscale resorts. Caye Caulker offers little in terms of typical Belizean culture, other than its rich culinary tradition centering on seafood and the laid back lifestyle of the locals. Otherwise the small island is just a Mecca for sun seekers, divers, snorkelers, and a wide variety of vacationers from all over the world, who come here to relax during their vacation. Restaurants, dive shops and souvenir stands line the main street, and a party atmosphere is present everywhere on the island, except for its mangrove-overgrown southern end.

A palm-fringed beach on Caye Caulker.

Still, there were a few great discoveries to be made here for a curious traveler like myself. In contrast to the mountains and jungles of Guatemala, the first thing I noticed was the immense wealth of birdlife on the island. On a walk along the shore I saw at least twenty different bird species in the first half an hour. I watched cormorants and pelicans as they skillfully dove for fish, saw a variety of egrets, ibises, and herons wading along the shore in search of crabs, and followed the skillful aerial maneuvers of the frigate birds, which circled above the docks where fishermen cleaned their catch.

A school of fish at the nearby reef, the second longest barrier reef in the world.

Another treat was a snorkeling trip to the nearby barrier reef, where I had the opportunity for the first time to take underwater photographs. The reef close to Caye Caulker still shows the havoc wreaked by hurricanes in the past, but the reef was quite obviously coming back to life. A variety of coral species were growing on the dead coral debris, and slowly but surely, the reef was becoming colorful again. My half-day snorkeling trip took me to three different locations along the reef, not far from the island of Caye Caulker. Although these locations would disappoint serious divers, it was still fun for a snorkeler to float around in the warm water and observe the marine life below. Marine species and fish populations were not as abundant as I had seen at other corals reefs around the world, but I still got a few great snapshots of schools of colorful fish and manta rays.

The snorkeling trip included a part of the reef where manta rays live.

The snorkeling and diving locations around Caye Caulker and several other cayes along the coast in Belize are part of marine reserves and marine national parks that were created to protect the coral reefs from fishing and from the destructive impact of boat anchors and dragnets. Although these reefs are frequently visited by snorkeling tourists and divers, local guides and residents assured me that they were protecting and preserving these natural treasures.

The reef adjacent to Cay Caulker, damaged by a hurricane years ago, is slowly coming back to life.

As mentioned above, another key attraction on Caye Caulker is the delicious seafood, which is prepared in all imaginable ways. Over the Christmas holidays, I enjoyed barracuda steak, lobster, grouper, shrimp, and snapper, usually served with the Creole staple of rice cooked with black beans. After a few days of eating and drinking well, and of taking endless stroll across the tiny island, it was time to move on in search of a part of Belize that was perhaps a little more typical and where I would have more contact with the local population.

Fresh grouper, with rice and beans cooked together in coconut milk, and with roasted breadfruit--a specialty of the small restaurant on Caye Caulker where I ate.

winter solstice at the mayan ruins of tikal

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:41:35 -0700

To round up my visit to Guatemala I decided to visit the Mayan ruins at Tikal, a city and temple complex located in the middle of a vast rain forest reserve of northern Guatemala’s Petén department. The Tikal National Park covers an immense expanse of jungle, and there are many different ways to visit and enjoy Tikal. I expected a ruin site overrun with tourists, but I discovered a place grand and large enough to wander off on your own, to let your imagination wander, to connect with the dense jungle and its wildlife, or to rekindle your spiritual connections with the earth by learning about Mayan astrology and their complex cosmology.

Howlers monkeys are quite common in Tikal, but their howls are only heard at dawn and dusk.

I stayed in the town of Flores, located on a small island about an hour from the Mayan ruins, and when I found out about the solstice celebrations taking place at Tikal, I decided to move closer to the ruins and relocated to the village of El Remate, located to the north of Flores at the shores of the same lake. I came across a group of people who were participating in a Mayan meditation and spiritual seminar during the week leading up to the solstice celebration at the Tikal ruins. I learned from them that a sacred Mayan solstice ceremony would be held on December 21, and I decided to join the event. I arrived at Tikal with several people from the meditation seminar, to watch the sunrise and listen to a flute concert held at the Gran Plaza. This was a terribly early time for me to get up, but it gave me a chance to watch the majestic ruins slowly emerge from the morning mist, as the daylight spread across the sky. I also had a chance to listen to the sounds of the forest, as the resident animals began to wake up. The most famous and noisiest of Tikal’s residents are the howler monkeys, which start their competitive howls as soon as the day begins to break.

Click here to listen to the howls of the howler monkeys at dawn in Tikal:

On my way to the first ruin complex, I passed close to a competing group of monkeys, as they alternated they imposing and slightly threatening growls, which reverberated across the dense rain forest that surrounds the ruins. It was an impressive spectacle to listen to, especially from a close distance. If I find a way to upload audio files with the WordPress blog software, I’ll post the howler monkeys’ duet here in the near future. When I reached the Gran Plaza, which is home to some of the most impressive and intact temples, everyone in the group climbed the temple to listen to an early morning flute concert, offered by one of the participating members of the solstice ceremony. While I enjoyed his playing, I was more drawn to the sounds emerging from the jungle around me. Pairs of parrots gathered in the treetops around the Gran Plaza and began their raucous greeting call of the new day. For them it did not matter if it was the winter solstice or not. They were just getting ready for another day in the rain forest.

Mayan shamans prepare the ceremonial fire in the form of a circle.

The actual solstice ceremony did not take place until later in the afternoon, and so I soon left the Gran Plaza to explore the outlying areas of Tikal, which have fewer ruins but are densely covered in rain forest. On these long and winding jungle trails, visitors have the great opportunity to get a taste of the rain forest, its sounds and smells, and its intense humidity. If you walk through here at the right time, you can spot parrots and parakeets, as well as toucans, and the playful spider monkeys, which skillfully moved from tree to tree with their long prehensile tails.

A musician blows into a conch shell during the preparation of the fire.

When I returned to the Gran Plaza in the early afternoon, several shamans were already preparing for the sacred fire ceremony. The main square of the Tikal ruin complex, known as Gran Plaza, has a designated fireplace in its center, used for ceremonies. The fire ceremony is a sacred Mayan ritual of healing, where people form a circle around a fire and listen to prayers and songs, performed by shamans and elders. At first a circle was formed on the ground with sugar, and the circle on the ground was divided into four parts by straight lines formed with pieces of cedar wood. A number of offerings were now added to the fireplace, such as herbs, incense, spices, seeds, and cigars, which provide the fuel for the fire. Then colorful candles in six colors were placed in the circle, representing the six cardinal directions as well as all continents and nations.

After all offerings are added, the shamans are ready to light the fire

While the shamans prepared the fire, several musicians began to play, and the sounds of flutes, drums, and a long horned instrument echoed from the walls of the tall temples that surround the Gran Plaza. Once the fire was lit the shamans performed the ceremony with prayers, songs and dance, honoring their ancestors and giving thanks to the earth for providing for them. The offerings burned in the fire were made to receive blessings for our families and the earth, and to pray for healing and understanding between the people of all races and continents.

The ceremony participants formed a circle around the sacred fire.

All visitors at Tikal were welcome to participate, and the circle around the fire grew quite large, as people from all over the world joined the celebration. As our contemporary world continues to be torn apart by misunderstanding, prejudice, war and violence, what better way is there to begin a new year than for people from all continents to come together, join hands, and pray for understanding and healing? I feel privileged that I had the opportunity to participate in this event. May the shaman’s prayers come true.

A shaman prays during the ceremony.

The sacred Mayan fire ceremony took place in front of an impressive temple.

A Mayan Village in the Jungle

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:22:10 -0700

I finally managed to descend into the lower regions of Guatemala. After a day and a half on the bus across the northern highlands I reached the small town of Cobán, located in the low Sierra de Chamá mountains at an elevation of about 1,320 m (4,330 ft). Cobán is fairly cool this time of year, but the vegetation is noticeably more tropical than in the pine forests of the Cuchmátan mountains I had just left. Cobán is in itself not very interesting, but it is a great gateway to explore the region’s many natural limestone features, such as caves, lagoons, and natural pools. The region is also one of the largest coffee growing areas in Guatemala, and the local coffee shops in Cobán serve excellent cups of Java, which is in itself a good reason to come here.

Our temporary home in Rokjá Pomtilá.

But what attracted me most was the opportunity to explore Guatemala’s rain forest environment for the first time. Just north of Cobán the mountains drop down to the low tropical plain of Petén, giving way to vast expanses of rain forest. I found out about a local community and ecotourism project that offered homestays with local families in remote indigenous communities. After finding out the details, and I teamed up with a Dutch traveler, who had a similar sense of adventure, and we headed into the jungle together. After four hours on a minibus mostly on a bumpy dirt road, we reached the remote community of Rokjá Pomtilá, a jungle settlement of about 120 families. We first talked to a member of the village council, who told us a little bit about the area and its attractions and then he found us a host family in the village. We walked to the outskirts of the settlement and after meeting our host family we went for a swim in the nearby Iko Bolay river, a deep green jungle river that drains the southern slopes of a low limestone range. We were welcomed to the jungle by a flock of squawking parrots and the strange sounds of howler monkeys from across the river.

Flocks of small parrots came to our host’s hut every morning.

Our host family was very friendly and welcoming, and especially the five children were delighted to have some entertainment in the form of two tall gringos. The eldest son took special pride in showing us around the village and acting as our guide. And of course we had to play soccer with him and his brothers, which is one of the favorite pastimes of the local kids.

The sons of our host family engaged in a serious soccer match.

The family gave up two of their beds for us in the common sleeping hut, and all the kids slept huddled together on blankets on the floor, while the parents shared another bed. Although the wooden beds had no mattresses, just a thin blanket on top of the wooden planks, we were at least provided with the comfort of mosquito bed netting.

The wife of our host served us freshly made corn tortillas every day.

While our accommodation was simple and rustic, there are nonetheless certain standards that are followed to cater to foreign visitors. We were offered purified water, and the food was not just tortillas, the main staple food of the locals. In addition to huge piles of corn tortillas we were also served eggs, chicken, pasta, and beans, which was a varied enough menu plan to keep us happy and well fed for a few days.

The following morning we embarked on a boat trip upriver to visit the ‘birth of the river’, the place where the river bubbles out from under ground through fissures in the soft limestone. Our host Felipe and his sons were also down by the river, getting ready to paddle upriver for a few hours to reach their plot of land within the community property, where they planted corn and cardamom, the most common cash crops in this region.

The boat trip upriver was a great experience. The river is mostly lined by pristine jungle, and the tall trees send their branches out over the water, with vines and other vegetation dangling from them. Epiphytes grew high up on the large trees, kingfishers chattered away on the shore, and several large herons and egrets took to the sky, as our boat approached. After about a forty-minute ride upriver on a wooden boat with a small outboard engine, we reached a series of waterfalls, which dropped into the riverbed from several directions.

The boat trip upriver leads past old-growth rain forest.

We had reached the foot of the low limestone range, which was the source of the Ik'bolay river. We climbed ashore and our guide from the village, Javier, took us on an overgrown jungle trail further upriver to reach the ‘rebirth of the river’. The rain forest was dark and damp, and we had to make our way up the gentle slope over large roots and under fallen trees and dangling vines. After about twenty minutes we reached the point where the river forms from a series of fountains bubbling out of small fissures in the soft limestone. The water gathered in small channels at first and then formed small waterfalls, before plunging into the riverbed. This was the place called ‘Renascimiento del Rio’, or ‘rebirth of the river’, since its course is underground for a distance, before it reemerges here. Seeing the water bubble out of the rock from under ground is like watching geysers at natural hot springs, except that the water was not hot.

Our boat ride ended at a beautiful waterfall.

The jungle boat ride, the hike, and the reemergence of the river are the mainstay of the community tourism project in the village of Rokjá Pomtilá. It is the proximity to the river and its natural features that gave rise to the community tourism project in 1992, initially supported by international donors. A trail was built, together with a thatched rest area and interpretative signs along the trail. It was quite obvious that the inauguration of the project lay a while back. Several of the signs along the trail were being eaten by termites, and the shelter was already missing a good part of its thatched roof. The locals are obviously too busy tending to their crops to spend much time on trail maintenance here. Although around 10-20 visitors a month provide some income to the community, the corn and cardamom crops are a much more predictable source of income (even though small) than tourism, with its seasonal variations.

At the 'Rebirth of the River', the water bubbles out of limestone fissures and drops into the riverbed from all sides.

We stayed for a while to observe the spectacle of the clear water emerging out of the ground all around us, and plunging down into riverbed. The entire area was densely overgrown with jungle, and it was obvious that little or no logging had taken place here. The rain forest here is part of the community property of Rokjá Pomtilá village, a total area of about 7.7 square miles (4,908 acres), half of which is a forest reserve the community members protect from logging, and the other half is divided into individual plots for the resident families. The forest reserve is adjacent to Laguna Lachuá National park, and together with the protected forest of adjacent communities it is part of a buffer zone around the national park, which provides additional protection and habitat for the resident fauna and flora. Staying at the village is therefore not only a great cultural experience, but it also gives the locals further incentive to protect the forest as an ecological treasure that attracts visitors and brings in some funds to the community.

The irresistable guatemalan highlands

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:39:48 -0700

I have almost had enough of Guatemala’s mountains by now, almost. I decided to make one last side trip before gradually descending into the rain forest to the northeast toward the Yucatán Peninsula. I had read about the traditional Mayan Mam village of Todos Santos Cuchumatán, which was more or less on my way across the highlands to the lower coffee growing region of the Verapaz provinces.

Todos Santos is about three hours away from the nearest city of Huehuetenango, on a winding road that climbs the Cuchumatán Mountains up to about 10,000 ft before dropping down into a lush valley with its main village Todos Santos. On the minibus ride there I only heard the local Mam language spoken, and the local Mayan people only speak Spanish, when addressed in Spanish. The only words I could understand where numbers and the days of the week in Spanish in between long phrases of very guttural and hard sounds, which were entirely incomprehensible. Todos Santos is among the most traditional villages in the Cuchmatán Mountains, in part due to its inaccessibility. Both men and women still wear their colorful traditional costumes, which are known to be among the most colorful and beautiful in all of Guatemala.

A View of Todos Santos Cuchmatán.

There are a handful of small hotels in the village, and none of them offer much comfort. Still, I had a nice room overlooking the village, with steep forested slopes that abruptly rise on the other side of the narrow valley. The v-shaped valley is somewhat confining to the eye, and I did not enjoy the same openness and vast views that characterize the volcanic highlands to the south. When I arrived I found myself as the only foreigner in the village, and I wondered how I would spend my time in this remote mountain village. ‘Just hang out’ my guidebook suggested, but where and how and why? There were only a few dark eateries and a few even darker watering holes with more than tipsy local men. Hanging out was not really an option, I realized.

But as it always happens on my travels, my moments of doubt and apprehension quickly passed. A small store selling locally made clothing and handicrafts advertised ‘hiking guides’ and I asked the woman about the possibility of exploring the surrounding mountains. “You have to talk to my husband,” she told me, and shortly after the mountain guide arrived, not in the shape of a traditionally clad local, but as a former aid worker from Switzerland, who had married a local woman and now lived in Todos Santos.

The hike to La Torre leads up a steep mountainside.

It only took us a few minutes to agree on a challenging route for the next day that would lead us up to Guatemala’s highest peak that was not a volcano, at an elevation of 3,828 meters (12,560 ft.). The peak is commonly known as La Torre, named after a few communication towers built when the United Nations was observing the peace accord in this region between the Guatemalan army and the local Guerrilla groups in the late 1990s. With a challenging hiking itinerary planned for next day, and the attractive local market taking place a day later, I knew that I had plenty to do and see for the next few days.

A shrine at a cave entrance, used for ceremonies.

Without going into all the details of the strenuous hike, I have to mention that it was a great experience. We took the steepest and most difficult route up the mountain, which also was the most rewarding. For a short while we followed a marked trail leading up past small waterfalls to a series of small caves that are used by local shamans as entryways to the netherworld. Beyond this small amphitheater bordered by pinnacles and towering boulders, there was no longer a trail. We bushwhacked our way up the mountain for another 1000 meters, past huge outcrops of bedrock and several precariously steep climbs over barren, slippery rock.

A view of the valley with the village of Todos Santos in the distance.

The steep slopes were covered in dense pine forest interspersed with imposing limestone outcrops, which reminded me of the European Alps. I expected tall volcanoes and tropical jungles in Guatemala, but I surely did not expect an environment that so closely resembled the mountainous regions of Austria, where I had grown up. To my surprise the mountaintop was not a jagged peak, but a gently sloping high plateau with meadows, lakes and scattered trees.

The gently sloping high plateau near the peak of La Torre.

The following day was market day in Todos Santos, which was a great way to end my stay in the village. Starting early in the morning the village gradually filled up with buyers and sellers from all over the region, and it was a colorful and lively spectacle. This was another great market held for the local population, and there were only a handful of foreign visitors. Although the market was devoid of the tourist souvenirs and items so common at Guatemala’s most popular market in Chichicastenango, there were still a lot of colorful clothes and textiles for sale, all intended for local customers from the surrounding villages.

A vendor selling fabrics for local costumes.

The market started out early and was quiet at first, until more and more mini buses started arriving and the locals from the surrounding villages began to poor into town. While the square around the church was filled with stalls selling textiles, the adjacent streets were lined with local farmers offering an impressive variety of fruits, vegetables and dry goods, from dried shrimp to beans, tomatoes, bananas and a number of exotic fruits and vegetables I had never seen before. Not far uphill from the square, women from local farms lined the cobbled street, some of them selling a great variety of produce, while others simply sat on the sidewalk with a few bunches of carrots in front of them. Farming is a tough business in the cool climate of the Cuchumatán Mountains, and the little money earned is often quickly spent on a few necessary items bought at the end of the market day. The traditional costumes are worn by most men and women of Todos Santos, and when I ran into my hiking guide at the market, he pointed out the different costumes of visitors from neighboring villages. Both shirts and pants had different colors from those worn in Todos Santos and the hats were also shaped differently.

T-shirts and baseball hats merge with traditional clothing.

There are of course some western influences in the clothing as well. Baseball hats and t-shirts are also worn, but mostly by the local teenagers and a few villagers that prefer a modern, urban appearance over the traditional costumes. Migration is fairly common here, as arable land is scarce and job opportunities are non-existent, and the returning family members bring new attitudes and a new way of life back to their native communities. Many of the large, new homes here in town were built with remissions sent from migrant family members in the U.S. But these large, ostentatious structures give only a superficial appearance of prosperity, as many of them are empty and unfinished.

The hustle and bustle of the Todos Santos market.

After wondering around for a while and immersing myself in the lively hustle and bustle of the market, it was time for me to leave the Guatemalan highlands. It was now time for me to explore the jungle.

Climbing the tallest peak in Central America

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 16:15:05 -0700

Hiking above the clouds in Guatemala.

My last blog entry was about my experiences in the Guatemalan Cloud Forest and in the clouds. This new post is about my experience of climbing above the clouds to Tajumulco Volcano. I came across a non-profit hiking organization, which is located in the back patio of my budget hotel in Guatemala’s second largest city, Quetzaltenango. Quetzal Trekkers, as they are called, offer a number of great hikes and treks in one of Guatemala’s most spectacular regions. Whichever way you look you see a towering volcano in the distance, and it has been hard to resist my urge to climb some of them.

While it is possible to climb most of Guatemala’s volcanoes on your own, it is not always safe or easy to find the right trail. Maps are non-existent or hard to come by, and most hikes and treks are organized by local tour companies.

A rest stop on the way to Tajumulco.

What attracts most hikers to Tajumulco, is the fact that it’s the highest peak in Central America (4,220 meters/13,845 ft.), even though the hike itself is not among the most picturesque, and hikers never have the same grand view of the peak as they do on other hikes in the area. Still, when I found out that the two-day trek would start two days after my arrival in Quetzaltenango, I decided that it would be a unique opportunity to climb the volcano, and I signed up right away. At the time there were only two other hikers signed up, and little did I know that the number of participants would grow to nearly twenty over the next two days. The largest group I had ever hiked with was six people in Venezuela’s Canaima National Park, and I didn’t particularly like it. My last great hiking adventures in Argentina and the Southwestern U.S. were always with only one hiking partner. I thought about it for a while and then decided to come along after all. Quetzal Trekkers gives all of their profits to a local school and a free medical clinic, and my trekking fee would be used for a good purpose. Besides, the volunteer guides were a great group of people, and I was pretty sure that we would have fun on our mini-trek.

As with any group trip there are always some conflicts of interest. Not every aspect of a large group hike can please everyone. My pet peeve is getting up early, and getting up around 3:30 am two days in a row is about as much as I can handle. As a non-profit organization Quetzaltrekkers prefers public transportation over hired vehicles, and it took us nearly five hours from the time we all met in the morning to reach the trailhead some thirty miles away.

After reaching the base camp, hikers enjoyed Yoga exercises.

The trail starts out amid pastures and fields of corn and vegetables. The forest at the lower elevations has long been cut, and even at 3,500 meters altitude the slopes are used for pastures, and tree cover is sparse. Once we began to climb the mountain our large group quickly split into several small groups, due to the different physical condition of the hikers. A little higher up, the forest became denser, and the pastures gradually gave way to low vegetation with an amazing array of wildflowers in bloom. This was a welcome change from the brown pastures that cover most of the volcano’s lower slop.

The climb continued at a slow pace with frequent breaks so hikers could catch their breath. The is quite thin at this altitude, and hikers who just recently arrived in the Guatemalan highlands had a harder time to adjust to the high altitude.

Sunset at 4,000 meters elevation (13,120 ft.)

After reaching our campsite, which was situated amid a dense pine grove, we had some time to relax, do yoga exercises to stretch and relax our bodies, and enjoy hot soup. An hour before sunset we climbed to a smaller peak next to the volcano to watch the sunset. Clouds were blown against the steep mountain slopes by heavy winds, and the spectacle that enfolded before our eyes resembled an abstract action painting, with colors and cloud patterns changing every few seconds, while the sun slowly dipped below the dense blanket of clouds that covered the valleys below.

Sunrise at the top of Tajumulco Volcano.

The next morning we were up early again to reach the summit of Tajumulco, the highest peak in Central America. At the top we all covered up in sleeping bags and sat in the freezing cold, patiently waiting for the sunrise. Once again we watched a great colorful spectacle and the sky slowly turned from nearly black, to purple, and then blue. The dense cloud cover also changed its color every few minutes as the sun approached the horizon, and then finally sent its first rays our way, as we sat and waited at the peak. I think everyone took a few dozen photos to record the sunrise, and everyone switched cameras to make sure that we all had photos of ourselves before the spectacular backdrop of the clouds and the distant mountain silhouettes.

The early morning shadow of Tajumulco stretching into the valley below.

Our hike continued around the partly collapsed crater of the volcano, and then we returned to camp where coffee and oatmeal were already waiting for us. Then we leisurely packed up and started our hike down the mountain. This time we followed a different trail that led through dense forest along a ridge. This was a much more picturesque hike than on the way up, and I took my time to photograph the flowers and the forest.

Our hike continued around the partially collapsed crater of Tajumulco.

After taking a bus to the nearest town of San Marcos we had a filling lunch before taking another local bus, commonly known as ‘chicken buses’, back to Quetzaltenango. It wasn’t the most spectacular or most scenic hike, but it was still a fun and rewarding experience. I know for sure that I would have climbed the volcano on a day hike, had I been alone, and I would have missed the great sunset and sunrise on the mountain. Getting up early actually afforded me some great experiences I would otherwise not have had.

Our hike ended with a delicious lunch.

On a final note, I have to say that our four volunteer guides not only were great and upbeat company for us hikers, but they were also very professional, well-organized, helpful and considerate. One of our group members twisted her ankle on the return hike, and two guides took turns carrying her down to the road on their backs. Kudos to Quetzal Trekkers.