Day 69 (March 20) – Tapachula, Mexico
Only 70 degrees in our camper this AM. It is amazing how cool it feels. Off to the races; another border day. Speaking of races, we drove by a number of bikes having one. The scenery throughout the day was very beautiful if you discount the smoke from sugar cane burning. From fields of sugar cane to palm, banana, papaya and nut trees, where the hills and valleys continuously change. There was a cow chewing a black plastic bag, pigs, horses and cows tied along the roadside with no water in sight. Guatemala has many beautiful rivers and creeks. Most of them have water flowing and people knee deep doing the laundry. One woman I saw today had a homemade shelter in the water so she was shaded. The size of some river beds and dikes makes me think Bill and Gerry better start growing webbed feet!! I'd just made a note of how great the road and not five minutes later the pot holes became the norm. Must be in Mexico!! Overall, through out the day, the roads were really quite good. The living fences serve several purposes. Fence, beautiful flowering trees and wood for the house. I observed two men trimming the trees, then cutting the branches into firewood lengths and stacking. Along the way were a lot of places drying tobacco leaves. Also several buzzard conventions. There were the usual topes. I figure we should have them at home. Just think of all the people that could be employed selling stuff at teach one. The fruit stalls were numerous as were the little stores in the towns, all selling pop, gatorade, chips, cookies and a few incidentals.
We've all seen lots of little shanty homes made with tin, cardboard, black plastic or whatever and it makes on sad yet so happy it isn't' them. Today, however I saw what appeared to be three families that looked truly homeless. Big and small, they were all dirty, sitting on the ground around a s small campfire. They had a ripped piece of black plastic with some sticks holding it up. I could see a few possessions and two old tents. Very sad indeed.
The funny thing for the day was an 18 wheeler with his tinted windshield. In the middle of each side was a clear spot. They were each shaped like half a pair of cat eye sunglasses. For those of you too young to remember cat eye glasses, believe me, it looked hilarious. Border towns are usually crowded and dirty. This one was no different. However, getting through went quite quickly.
Arriving at Sam's Club, most went shopping. Several of us decided to sit in the parking lot and share pizza, which was enjoyed. However our group of seven grew to seventeen. Ed topped the evening by supplying ice dream for one and all. A great end to a nice day.
Rig #18, Gail and Tim
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Day 68 Amatitlan Guatemala
Friday, March 19, 2010 (Day 68) Amatitlan, Guatemala
Free Day – Turicentro Automariscos
A pretty relaxing day, up at 7:00 AM, temperature was 13 degrees Celsius or 56 degrees Fahrenheit. All was peaceful and serene until 8:00 AM when the first busload of teenagers pulled in. Seventeen additional busses arrived over the next hour or so and several busloads were dropped off at the gate.
The music was turned on, the water began flowing down the slides and kids were running, swimming, laughing and horsing around.
Most of our group spent the morning catching up on laundry and doing maintenance on the rigs. The afternoon was more laidback – groups congregated to our end of park as the other side was taken over by the kids. Fridges were cleaned up in preparation for the next day’s border crossing. Food was brought over to Rigs 1 and 2 to contribute to the “Stone Soup” that was to be served that evening.
By 4:00 PM all the kids were gone. At 5:30 PM the Social began, followed by a travel brief, the Stone Soup and cake in celebration of Ron R’s birthday.
Duncan and Rita, Rig #17
Free Day – Turicentro Automariscos
A pretty relaxing day, up at 7:00 AM, temperature was 13 degrees Celsius or 56 degrees Fahrenheit. All was peaceful and serene until 8:00 AM when the first busload of teenagers pulled in. Seventeen additional busses arrived over the next hour or so and several busloads were dropped off at the gate.
The music was turned on, the water began flowing down the slides and kids were running, swimming, laughing and horsing around.
Most of our group spent the morning catching up on laundry and doing maintenance on the rigs. The afternoon was more laidback – groups congregated to our end of park as the other side was taken over by the kids. Fridges were cleaned up in preparation for the next day’s border crossing. Food was brought over to Rigs 1 and 2 to contribute to the “Stone Soup” that was to be served that evening.
By 4:00 PM all the kids were gone. At 5:30 PM the Social began, followed by a travel brief, the Stone Soup and cake in celebration of Ron R’s birthday.
Duncan and Rita, Rig #17
Day 66 Antigua Guatemala
Day 66 (March 17) – Antigua, Guatemala
In the cool of the morning we began our bus ride to the old colonial city of Antigua. After we turned off the Auto Pista, we began a steady climb through a poorer residential area. It was disparaging to see open drain pipes coming from the houses and emptying into the road ditch. There too join bottles, cans and plastic bags in a pilgrimage toward the sea. Soon small fields of vegetables began to fill the landscape as we descended into Antigua.
Antigua is in a beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains and three distinctive volcanoes. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1542. To put this into perspective it is somewhat less than a century older than any North American city. Although Antigua was the capitol for a time, it was preceded by Santiago de Guatemala. After Antigua's destruction in the earthquake of 1773 the capitol was moved to Guatemala City.
Upon arriving in the city, we were greeted by cobblestone streets, narrow sidewalks and flowering Jacaranda trees. Antigua once had 38 Catholic churches. Although the population has risen from 9,000 to 38,000 over the years, only 7 Catholic churches remain in operation.
The city tour (by foot and bus) led us mostly from church to church, all which had been destroyed or practically destroyed in earthquakes over the years. Some have been restored but not always back into a Church. One we toured had been both a church and a cloister, but now is a 5 star hotel and restaurant.
The San Francisco Grande Church was restored, but the accompanying Monastery and Monks living quarters is still in ruins. There were some preparations being made for Easter festivities. Our guide, Hugo, gave us some insight into what happens during Easter week.
First the streets are closed to all traffic. Than the streets are covered with flowers and beautiful mosaics made from colored sawdust. These are approximately 50 meters long and 5 meters wide. Huge floats are made weighing around 5000 pounds, with Jesus carrying his own cross, riding on top. Up to 100 men carry this through the streets in one block shifts.
In the early 1900s anyone could help carry the floats. But in about 1960, the church brotherhood began selecting men of equal height. Those selected also had to pay for the privilege. It was also considered penance for their sins. Several people in our group share my sentiments, Easter would be a great time to come back to Antigua.
We then proceeded to the largest church in Antigua – La Merced. This church was kept up very well. Toward the front on the right side was a sample of the street mosaics. This one was changed every week. It kind of reminded me of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD which has huge mosaics made with Indian corn decorating the outside of the building. These are changed every year. Then we were off by bus to the Macadamia Farm. En route Hugo told us a little about the “chicken” buses. He said they are privately owned and each owner has multiple buses. Most of already knew they were old US school buses but it seems in Guatemala they can get around 100 riders in the 60 capacity bus plus some chickens, dogs, bikes or whatever on top.
Arriving at the “Nut” farm, we were greeted by its somewhat eccentric owner. His message of co-oping with the indigenous people to provide a crop that was low maintenance, nutritious, and very environment friendly with the potential of being a good cash crop was probably quite correct. His style of delivering the message was to say the least quite different.
Several in the group got facial massages and came out looking at least 20 years younger. We also got to see a couple of different things they made from the nuts all of which were for sale.
He also showed us a couple of his inventions to husk and grade the nuts. In that respect he reminded me of some of our farmers back home who are also inventive.
Coming back from the farm to the hotel we passed a market which didn't appear very large but as I later found out was huge. I managed to pick up one of the last things on my list there.
It was about 6 or 7 blocks from the hotel and there were many restaurants, bars and shops along the way. I saw one of the nicest McDonalds ever, tucked into a rustic old building with a large courtyard in the rear.
The hotel was another quaint old building which contained several courtyards sprinkled with antiques. From the area we ate breakfast in you could look across the courtyard and see one of the volcanoes towering above.
The rooms were old Spanish style and although they were all the same price, several were much larger than others with King-sized instead of single beds some also had a patio. I think Ed and Sharon must have gotten the honeymoon suite. They did look a bit the haggered the next morning.
All the meals I had in Antigua were quite good. Our evening meal at the hotel was accompanied by live music and a folk dance troupe. Several members of our group ended up joining the foray and a couple of the ladies were dancing with the devil – fork and all. The TV in the rooms had a few English channels which allowed me to see what was happening in the rest of the world once again before sleep took over.
Rig # 15, Carol and Ron
In the cool of the morning we began our bus ride to the old colonial city of Antigua. After we turned off the Auto Pista, we began a steady climb through a poorer residential area. It was disparaging to see open drain pipes coming from the houses and emptying into the road ditch. There too join bottles, cans and plastic bags in a pilgrimage toward the sea. Soon small fields of vegetables began to fill the landscape as we descended into Antigua.
Antigua is in a beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains and three distinctive volcanoes. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1542. To put this into perspective it is somewhat less than a century older than any North American city. Although Antigua was the capitol for a time, it was preceded by Santiago de Guatemala. After Antigua's destruction in the earthquake of 1773 the capitol was moved to Guatemala City.
Upon arriving in the city, we were greeted by cobblestone streets, narrow sidewalks and flowering Jacaranda trees. Antigua once had 38 Catholic churches. Although the population has risen from 9,000 to 38,000 over the years, only 7 Catholic churches remain in operation.
The city tour (by foot and bus) led us mostly from church to church, all which had been destroyed or practically destroyed in earthquakes over the years. Some have been restored but not always back into a Church. One we toured had been both a church and a cloister, but now is a 5 star hotel and restaurant.
The San Francisco Grande Church was restored, but the accompanying Monastery and Monks living quarters is still in ruins. There were some preparations being made for Easter festivities. Our guide, Hugo, gave us some insight into what happens during Easter week.
First the streets are closed to all traffic. Than the streets are covered with flowers and beautiful mosaics made from colored sawdust. These are approximately 50 meters long and 5 meters wide. Huge floats are made weighing around 5000 pounds, with Jesus carrying his own cross, riding on top. Up to 100 men carry this through the streets in one block shifts.
In the early 1900s anyone could help carry the floats. But in about 1960, the church brotherhood began selecting men of equal height. Those selected also had to pay for the privilege. It was also considered penance for their sins. Several people in our group share my sentiments, Easter would be a great time to come back to Antigua.
We then proceeded to the largest church in Antigua – La Merced. This church was kept up very well. Toward the front on the right side was a sample of the street mosaics. This one was changed every week. It kind of reminded me of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD which has huge mosaics made with Indian corn decorating the outside of the building. These are changed every year. Then we were off by bus to the Macadamia Farm. En route Hugo told us a little about the “chicken” buses. He said they are privately owned and each owner has multiple buses. Most of already knew they were old US school buses but it seems in Guatemala they can get around 100 riders in the 60 capacity bus plus some chickens, dogs, bikes or whatever on top.
Arriving at the “Nut” farm, we were greeted by its somewhat eccentric owner. His message of co-oping with the indigenous people to provide a crop that was low maintenance, nutritious, and very environment friendly with the potential of being a good cash crop was probably quite correct. His style of delivering the message was to say the least quite different.
Several in the group got facial massages and came out looking at least 20 years younger. We also got to see a couple of different things they made from the nuts all of which were for sale.
He also showed us a couple of his inventions to husk and grade the nuts. In that respect he reminded me of some of our farmers back home who are also inventive.
Coming back from the farm to the hotel we passed a market which didn't appear very large but as I later found out was huge. I managed to pick up one of the last things on my list there.
It was about 6 or 7 blocks from the hotel and there were many restaurants, bars and shops along the way. I saw one of the nicest McDonalds ever, tucked into a rustic old building with a large courtyard in the rear.
The hotel was another quaint old building which contained several courtyards sprinkled with antiques. From the area we ate breakfast in you could look across the courtyard and see one of the volcanoes towering above.
The rooms were old Spanish style and although they were all the same price, several were much larger than others with King-sized instead of single beds some also had a patio. I think Ed and Sharon must have gotten the honeymoon suite. They did look a bit the haggered the next morning.
All the meals I had in Antigua were quite good. Our evening meal at the hotel was accompanied by live music and a folk dance troupe. Several members of our group ended up joining the foray and a couple of the ladies were dancing with the devil – fork and all. The TV in the rooms had a few English channels which allowed me to see what was happening in the rest of the world once again before sleep took over.
Rig # 15, Carol and Ron
Day 65 Amatitlan Guatemala
Day 65 (March 16) – Amatitlan, Guatemala
“A free day” - under ideal conditions. We're in a full service RV Park with mild temperatures and a waterpark. Today was for washing rigs, rig maintenance, laundry, assorted things to ready us and the rigs for the last leg of this trip.
In the afternoon many of us took to the water park to play on the slides and enjoy the pools.
At 5:30 the pink team put on a poolside cocktail party with horsdoeuvers and Guatemala Ron (Rum) Punch.
The day ended with everyone packed for an early bus ride and an overnight in Antigua tomorrow.
Rig #14, Ron and Barbara
“A free day” - under ideal conditions. We're in a full service RV Park with mild temperatures and a waterpark. Today was for washing rigs, rig maintenance, laundry, assorted things to ready us and the rigs for the last leg of this trip.
In the afternoon many of us took to the water park to play on the slides and enjoy the pools.
At 5:30 the pink team put on a poolside cocktail party with horsdoeuvers and Guatemala Ron (Rum) Punch.
The day ended with everyone packed for an early bus ride and an overnight in Antigua tomorrow.
Rig #14, Ron and Barbara
Day 64 Amatitlan Guatemala
Another border crossing day, so we are up and out early, leaving our lovely beachside campsite, through a herd of cattle. We followed the coastal highway north, getting great views of the pacific along the way. The road was very good except for a couple of bridge detours, (Damage from the last earthquake?) And there were 5 tunnels to pass through as we climbed toward the border.
At this border, we sat in our lawn chairs, in a shady area, near our rigs, in a reasonably clean area, waiting as our paperwork gets processed. No standing in long lines on hot dusty gravel…..Nice! Because of Jorge, our El Salvador tour guide, we were through in record time! Thank You Jorge!
Hello again Guatemala. As we drove toward our RV Park, we passed a most remarkable sight. A semi over on it’s side in the ditch on the wrong side of the roads, with it’s trailer sides cut open and people scooping grain into sacks…quite a crowd! Have no idea what happened to the driver….or the cause but there was a very battered pickup on the otherside of the road. And to top it off….walking down the road was a man with a rooster dangling by it’s feet, head still on but no feathers! What a sight!
Our stop tonight is the Turicentro Automariscos. It’s a Waterslide RV Park! What fun!
At this border, we sat in our lawn chairs, in a shady area, near our rigs, in a reasonably clean area, waiting as our paperwork gets processed. No standing in long lines on hot dusty gravel…..Nice! Because of Jorge, our El Salvador tour guide, we were through in record time! Thank You Jorge!
Hello again Guatemala. As we drove toward our RV Park, we passed a most remarkable sight. A semi over on it’s side in the ditch on the wrong side of the roads, with it’s trailer sides cut open and people scooping grain into sacks…quite a crowd! Have no idea what happened to the driver….or the cause but there was a very battered pickup on the otherside of the road. And to top it off….walking down the road was a man with a rooster dangling by it’s feet, head still on but no feathers! What a sight!
Our stop tonight is the Turicentro Automariscos. It’s a Waterslide RV Park! What fun!
Day 63 Cost del Sol
Day 63
On Sunday March 14, 2010 we started our day with a travel meeting at 7:30 with our wagon master to prepare for our border crossing from El Salvador to Guatemala, ending our great 4 day stay at Tesoro Beach Hotel on the Pacific Ocean and a great swimming pool. Then our guide Jorge Martinez took us on a great (air conditioned) bus to San Salvador (The Savior, Jesus Christ). There we walked to the Metropolitan Cathedral,( burial place of Mens. Oscar Romero, Arch Bishop of El Salvador) and the El Rosarto Church, was very beautiful. We then went shopping at San Magulite where you could buy everything from meat, fish, bread and beautiful flowers. Time for lunch at the National Handicraft Market, food was good and the shopping even better. Everything you could want from earrings to tables and shirts.
On the way back to the beach we stopped for Pupusas (the national food for El Salvador). We also stopped when Ron Reinhardt spotted a delivery truck he sold in California, for sale in El Salvador. Take a break #54 was for sale here. It deserved a picture. We then headed back home to a supermercado at Costa Del Sol for a few items and some ice cream. We learned more about the Myans today. A great learning experience, thanks to Jorge. We arrived back to our rigs about 4:30 after a great day.
Clif and Joan #12
On Sunday March 14, 2010 we started our day with a travel meeting at 7:30 with our wagon master to prepare for our border crossing from El Salvador to Guatemala, ending our great 4 day stay at Tesoro Beach Hotel on the Pacific Ocean and a great swimming pool. Then our guide Jorge Martinez took us on a great (air conditioned) bus to San Salvador (The Savior, Jesus Christ). There we walked to the Metropolitan Cathedral,( burial place of Mens. Oscar Romero, Arch Bishop of El Salvador) and the El Rosarto Church, was very beautiful. We then went shopping at San Magulite where you could buy everything from meat, fish, bread and beautiful flowers. Time for lunch at the National Handicraft Market, food was good and the shopping even better. Everything you could want from earrings to tables and shirts.
On the way back to the beach we stopped for Pupusas (the national food for El Salvador). We also stopped when Ron Reinhardt spotted a delivery truck he sold in California, for sale in El Salvador. Take a break #54 was for sale here. It deserved a picture. We then headed back home to a supermercado at Costa Del Sol for a few items and some ice cream. We learned more about the Myans today. A great learning experience, thanks to Jorge. We arrived back to our rigs about 4:30 after a great day.
Clif and Joan #12
Day 62 Costa Del Sol Free Day
Today was a free day. Rita and I took a walk along the Pacific Ocean in the morning, where we saw several other Caravaners out walking. Most of the day was spent lounging around the pool or the beach, going for frequent swims, as it was very warm. Those who didn’t get enough sun yesterday were able to turn a delicate shade of pink at the pool edge.
In the evening we took our hot dogs to a potluck, which we would call an “American supper”, in England. The potluck was followed by a sing-along staring Brian on vocals and Ron on guitar.
Lindsay, Rig 11.
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