Jake's Latest News
Honduras - Tuesday 29th July 2003
Soooo tired! Had to wake up at 3.45 this morning to get the bus to Honduras, and couldn’t sleep on the bus because it was a bit skanky and nothing to rest my head on. Oh well, got to the border eventually at about 11am and had to do the whole stamping passport thingy. That took a while because some idiots had about 15 passports with them to get stamped, no doubt for tourists who wanted to stay for longer than the allowed stay in Guatemala and couldn’t be naffed to go to the border themselves.
Then there was a bit of a traffic jam incident when we got to Copan. Narrow road and some lorry had broken down. So our bus driver decided to grab his baseball bat and run out the bus and chase someone screaming at him. After that, he sat in his cab and honked his horn continuously. Hilarious stuff.
Didn’t particularly want to stay in Copan because I just want to get to some beaches and scuba etc. on the Bay Islands in the north of Honduras, but the bus to get me to the next town is broken down or something like that, so have to stay here for a night now. Then tomorrow probably get the bus to San Pedro (not the same as the Guatemalan San Pedro… obviously) and from there buy some wings to Roatlan to save some time. Gonna go there rather than Utila, at least for now, because there’s a big party on Utila on Saturday night so the place is jam packed and it’d be hard to find cheap, or even any, accommodation then.
Almost Dead - Monday 28th July 2003
But I’m not, which is good. Climbed Volcano Agua just south of Antigua yesterday, camped out at the top, then climbed back down again today. Quite a bit tougher than San Pedro volcano, about an hour longer to get to the top of this one. Went up with Mossi, some Irish bloke. We started the hike at around midday, and it was pretty hard going. We had plenty of supplies with us though, which was good, although also made our bags heavier. Went right through the clouds about half way up, and stayed in them all the way to the top. Which was damn cold, and its a good thing we got there when we did, because it got much worse straight after.
At the top there were radio masts and little huts - we knocked on one of the doors and asked how much it would cost to stay. Just a quid each, in the same room as him, whilst he played/worked on the two way radio. Pretty damn cool! Played cards loads, and practiced my Spanish… I was quite impressed with that.
At 5.20am we woke up for the sunrise, having not seen the sunset because it was so damn cold and cloudy outside. Sunrise was sweet. Although not as spectacular as the one at Lake Atitlan a week or so ago, this one was experienced above the clouds!!!
The Lonely Planet (aka ‘bible’) said to take a guide (at a cost of around 10 squids each, yeah right!) partly because we were likely to be raped or robbed by machette wielding armed bandits along the route. Thankful none crossed our path, although we made a ’slight’ error on the way down when we kinda lost the path and decided to go down the marginally steeper part… which got steeper… and steeper, etc. Crap! We were climbing down these stupids rocks, rocks as soft as anything, and falling away as we stepped on them and grabbed them for support. And it just kept getting worse. Plus the fact we could only see about 10 metres what with being in the clouds and all. Well, we got down to one bit, and we looked down and no bloody way were we ever going to get down there. So we looked the other way and were about to start climbing a 10m sheer face when we decided we didn’t particarly want to die today, so bit our lips and had to climb back up the daunting rocks we’d just climbed down… without all those loose bits of rock which we’d already kicked away. Bliming scary stuff, but we eventually got up to a bit then crossed over to some grassy type stuff.
Oh, but that wasn’t the end! We had to climb across this shit for ages. At first we were climbing down, hoping we’d rejoin the path at some point. But then we got to a load of trees and bushes which not even Indy himself could cross. So we had to go all the bloody way back up again. Argh! And the path just wasn’t there. So we decided we’d just sit there and let nature take care of us… then decided that was a bit silly, so kept on climbing. Finally, after about an hour’s detour, we found the path!!! Needless to say we were pretty damn happy about that one. We were alive and in once piece, and you can’t complain about that. We sorta decided to take the easy route the rest of the way.
Going to Honduras at 4am. Hopefully won’t be quite as silly as I was today.
School’s out for summer!!! - Friday 25th July 2003
Well, I’ve just finished my week’s intensive Spanish course, and whilst I’m not exactly fluent, at least I can speak a few words here and there and understand more than I could before. The family I stayed with was a bit of a joke really - I was the only one in the house as the other students left because it was crap! Hardly spoke any Spanish with them at all, and the meal times were very weird and awkward, just sitting there eating whilst they basically stared at me. Bizarre.
Probably going to stay here in Antigua for another couple of nights before moving on to Honduras, whilst I’ll probably do with a couple of Irish guys here. Met loads of people here from the Spanish school and also met up with loads of people I’ve met before in other places. Climbed Volcan Pakaya yesterday which was pretty damn amazing, although we didn’t make it to the top because we were caught in a thunder storm… and I mean caught right in the middle of it, in the clouds, with lightning striking the volcano just a few metres away from us… hell yeah!!!
Saw the film Frieda a couple of days ago, she’s some Mexican woman who painted and was pretty weird. Extremely funny film, especially when she has sex with that dirty old man Leon Trotsky, God bless his communist soul.
Gonna go out again tonight for a few drinks and games with my friends here, as I’ve been doing every day since I got here. So much for the not-go-out-at-all-take-spanish-seriously idea. Balls to that one.
Yo Hablo Espanol - Monday 21st July 2003
Well, a little anyway. Started the Spanish course today. Its four hours, from 8am to 12pm, with about a half hour break. My teacher is called Rosa (ahem, that will make my mum laugh) and seems okay. Her English isnt too hot, but seems quite good at teaching me Spanish. Ive got a load of -ar verbs to learn this afternoon… the excitement! The famiy im staying with isnt too fantastic, in that its more just like a hostel and then eating meals in a room with them, although they dont actually seem to eat with us. A bit stupid really, and all the other people living in the same house have moved out to go in more family-type houses. Well, to be honest, I dont really care. Im only going to be here until Friday afternoon anyway, then Im gonna be doing some scuba in Honduras!!!
Saw a film here last night, Tears of the Sun, with Bruce Willis. Very pantsily pro-American, war, Americans are great, Africans need Americas help etc. Tripe. The cinema was weird, very very dark, and the projector wasnt very good, and it was in English but I had to use the Spanish subtitles (good for learning Spanish) because the acoustics were dreadful. Went with Margot, who I met in Santa Cruz the other day - shes doing a whooping 8 weeks of Spanish… complete mentalist.
Big up the rest of my family whove gone to the Isle of Wight.
Twin Peaks - Sunday 20th July 2003
I haven’t updated in a few days because I’ve been staying in a fantastic hostel in Santa Cruz, on Lake Atitlan for the past three nights, and it didn’t have Internet access there. The lake was quite spectacular, with a couple of volcanoes/mountains along the side - one of which I climbed yesterday. That was great fun - a 3 hour strenous trek to the top, and then a one hour run back down! The view from the top was breathtakingly amazing. And the day before that, I did a scuba dive in the lake. Whilst not the most scenic dive I’ve ever done, it was good to get back into it having not dived in over two years.
I’m in Panajachel at the moment, going back to Antigua in half an hour and I will probably do a Spanish course there for a week (yes mum, you are reading correctly!) and then do some scuba in Honduras.
‘First Class’ Chickens - Wednesday 16th July 2003
The night bus wasn’t exacly ‘first class’ as they’d claimed - there were a few cockroaches here and there, no curtains and a it on the skummy side. Now I don’t normally mind all that, but for a night bus the idea is to sleep, and I didn’t manage to get much of that last night. Similarly, what I forgot to mention yesterday was that the leaky bus was also, apparently, first class. Hmm. Anyway, thy call the crappy buses here chicken buses. Either because they’re yellow (they’re the US’s old buses) and/or because everyone gets packed in like chickens. Well, I found another reason ot call them chicken buses - the driver on the nightbus was a complete nutter. It was almost as though he was playing Crazy Taxi, with some kind of a death wish out for himself and all the passengers. That said, not quite as mad as driving in India.
I forgot to say the other day, but got heldup by groups of, ehem, ‘terrorists’ on the way to the waterfalls. Basically, local villages put a rope across the road and try to sell you things. Also, one guy told us it cost 5pesos to pas him… very scary terrorist he was. He had a notepad and pen and all.
I saw Guatemala City for about ten minutes. Smelly (well, I was in the bus depot with all the fumes everywhere). Then went to Antigua and I was a bit disappointed, especially with the accommodaiton, so I headed straight off to Lake Atitlan. This took another four local buses, fantastic ‘local’ route though which reminded me a lot of India. Bustling markets in the towns.
So I’m now in Panajachel, a big gringo (meaning foreigner) town around Lake Atitlan. Hopefully, Moritz will be able to meet me here in a couple of days, as we had arranged to meet in Antigua (if you’re reading this, I’m staying in Hostel Santo Domingo, and I don’t have your email address!!!).
Last night, my Opa (grandfather in German) passed away peacefully during th night. Alfred Gordon (born Auerbach, name changed during move to England as a German-Jew refugee during the war) was a great and loving man who was a fantastic grandfather to me during my childhood. Always offering to help, for example with a lift to school if I missed the bus, or just generally being kind. Unfortuntely, his latter years were hampered by anxiety, but the real Opa still shone through.
My love and thoughts go out to Oma (my gran) who cared for him so much for so many years.
Waterfalls And Even More Ruins
The waterfalls were pretty funky. It was raining at first, which was a bit annoying, but it was quite spectacular all the same. Went right under and behind this huge waterfall at Misol-ha, and climbed up to some caves with water flowing out of them. After having a bit of a picnic, we went on and got in a truck to the next waterfall, Agua Azul. The pickup-truck ride was the highlight here. Wind rushing past, and a duck underneath one of the benches - apparently one of the local?s dinner. There were lots of medium-sized waterfalls here, which weren’t blue as the name had suggested, but brown due to the rain that morning.
Yesterday was the border crossing into Guatemala. I went with Grace, James, Scott and Charlie, whom I’d been travelling with since meeting them on a bus to San Cristobal. A couple of small minibuses and a half hour boat trip - the second bus ride being quite bumpy, with the roof above my seat leaking during a thunderstorm towards the end of the trip!
Guatemala is different to Mexico - more so than I thought. In general, people are friendlier here, but that isn’t hard, as on the whole Mexican’s were generally quite unfriendly. The country is generally much flatter than Mexico, and much smaller.
I’m currently in Flores, a small island-type bit of land in the middle of a lake. Not particularly pretty, but served the purpose of getting to Tikal today. That was quite spectacular - Mayan ruins set in dense jungle, far less touristy than Palenque, and generally much more impressive. An Italian, Franko, and a German, Moritz, and a Dane, Louise are my latest intrepid travelling comrades.
I have a night bus going to Antigua through Guatemala City tonight. After a night there, I plan to visit Lago de Atitlan for a few days before heading to Honduras and the rest of my trip. Moritz and also Louise and Franko may possibly be joining me for parts of it.
Jungle Ruins - Saturday 12th July 2003
Well I’m in Palenque and this morning I went to see the ruins here. Quite spectacular. It was, I think, the Mayan capital back between 100BC and 500AD, or around about then. Lots of pyramid type things to climb including some fantastic photo opportunities. Spent a good three hours there.
Tomorrow the plan is to go to some waterfalls about 20km away. Its very hot here, so hopefully we’ll be able to do a bit of bathing there. Last night was very uckily hot. We had to pull the beds into the middle of the room where they were under the fans. Sweltered away.
Guatemala crossing should be on Monday, with a trek like this one planned a couple of days after. I’ve heard more good stuff about Cuba, so after Hondurus and Belize I’ll try and get a plane out from Cancun to Cuba for about a week. My plane home is booked for the 25th August, but there’s just so much to do here that I may end up changing it for a later date!!!
Pain In The Arse - Friday 11th July 2003
San Cristobal is lovely. Its smaller than Oaxaca and very ‘cultural’. After a 13 hour night bus the other night (on which I slept sporadically but not very well) my path collided with a huge procession of people holding palm leaves and banners in their hands. Turns out, the area has just got a new priest and so this whole celebration was to celebrate him arriving.
Went on an amazing horse (probably more like big pony) riding trip yesterday which only cost UKP7 for about five hours!!! But a piece of advice: don’t wear shorts and sandles. And wear some kind of bum protection too! The scenery on the ride was ‘lush’ and the horses weren’t afraid to do a bit of cantering. But the trotting was an absolute killer on my arse. The ten of us who did it all have particularly sore backsides today.
Probably heading off to Palenque tonight, although with Grace, Charlie, James and Scott rather than Jack, ‘cos he’s doing it all a little fast for me. I need some more time to chill out, relax and take in the atmosphere.
More news can be found in the archives. I have an RSS feed.
Blog by WordPress (login, register)
