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First of all: The Earthquake. We have been in remote areas in Belize and Eastern Guatemala and news is scant. Apparently the quake was in the Pacific and the major damage was to El Salvador and some to Western Guatemala. There was no damage or even tremors felt here in the East. We have no other details. Most of you will know far more that we about it. We had a good flight to Belize from Seattle via Houston. We were near the rear of the airplane and joined one of two lines for immigration. Our line was slow and by the time we got to customs they just wanted to go home, so they waved us on through without looking at anything. We were relieved because we had six bags, mostly full of boat gear. We were picked up by Ben Butenshcoen and driven to his place in the jungle, 80 miles west of Belize City. Our trip through Belize was fun. Belize was called British Honduras until 1986 and the languages are English, Creole and Spanish. It now has its own government but is still part of the British Commonwealth. It is a small country of about 200,000 people, more expensive than any other Central American country, but still much less than Seattle. We did not see Belize City, but will check it out when we sail up there in April. We were pleased to find that they brew Guinness there and also have a local Biliken stout, pilsner and lager that are very good. Wine is imported and very over priced, so we stuck to beer. Ben was the first of many characters we met. His last name is not pronounceable by the locals so he is called Mr. Ben. He is 59 years old now and arrived in Belize in 1972, with his 2nd wife, from Iowa. They bought about 1,000 acres of land in the jungle along this creek, cleared it and farmed it organically. We cannot imagine the work they did. They had very little money, and had to carry everything from a dirt road several miles from the town of San Ignacio a mile and a half down a trail to their homestead. This marriage lasted about 15 years. They had two children, one they adopted, and one of their own. Today, Ben is living with a Guatemalan woman called Celia. She was introduced to Ben by her father, who kept encouraging Ben to "get to know her" because she was light skinned. She is 19, and has two children by another man. She was pregnant when she was 14. She told us about her life and it has been pretty horrible, and her future does not look too good either. I suppose it will be better for her to be married to a 60 year old than to be on her own with two kids or with her previous boy friend who beat her….however, her choices are bleak. She has no education, has no money and is completely dependent on Ben and his moods, and he does not have any money either. She says school is an option for her but she would need money, and I don't think Ben would like the idea of her away from the house because he is afraid she will take off with a younger man. They intend to marry this February. Slate Creek Canyon has Ben's home on it, Mayan ruins, orange and grapefruit groves, wild horses, a house occupied full time by a local Indian family, two cabanas, one in construction and one we stayed in. The cabana is square shaped. It has a big room with a large table, and two beds, separate shower, toilet and sink, modern fixtures complete with toilet seat, and a large porch with a magnificent view of the jungle surrounding a pasture hosting wild horses and their companion egrets. It has no electricity, but it does have warm water for showers. Three meals a day were cooked by Celia and delivered by Ben. She is a very good cook. We took two-day trips there. For the first trip, Ben drove us 30 miles into the jungle to look at the ancient Mayan ruins of Caracol. The trip took 3 hours in Ben's 4-wheel drive. The road climbs through pine forests, believe it or not, in the middle of the jungle and is passable in places only using the four wheel drive. The pine trees are native to this area. At this time, many acres of pines are dying because they are infested with a beetle that peels the bark off the tree and kills it. Caracol, the ancient city site, is as big as Tikal, which is more famous and 60 miles to the North west. Caracol conquered Tikal for 125 years during its existence. The city was strongest from AD250 to about AD900, then abandoned and left to the jungle. We climbed the largest pyramid temple, 120 feet high. It has three levels. From the ground only one level can be seen. The second level appears at the top of the first and the third at the top of the second. The view is magnificent, it is possible to see for over 60 miles. Most of this site is unexcavated, and as you walk through the jungle to get to it, shards of ancient pottery lie under your feet. It has a lovely small museum at its entrance, with information about the city and its rulers and the graves that have been uncovered. There was an army vehicle parked there and two soldiers "on duty". They had set up a field radio and antenna and had their machine guns ready on tripods and their rifles propped against a palm tree. They, however, were ensconced in their hammocks waiting for orders that apparently never came. Our second day trip was up the River Macal. Our guide was a handsome man 27 years old, with a ring in his breast nipple, eye glasses, and a kerchief on his head. He spoke perfect English, and his favorite saying was A-Hmmmmmmmm. He is married with a little boy, 5. We met him at about 10a.m., and he paddled us 7 miles up the river in a canoe, through 7 rapids. He is in great physical shape. He walked us through one rapids, and Colin paddled in the bow through the others. The remainder of the way Henry paddled solo. He pointed out iguanas and many birds along the river's banks. The iguanas are bright orange, and large, about three feet long. We saw an osprey, herons, kingfishers, egrets, tanagers and bats. The bats were along the side of the river on rocks, and looked like mud splashes until we got very close, then they flew when startled, and they looked like small birds. At 1:00 p.m., we arrived at our destination, the Ix Chel Medicine Farm. This farm was founded by Rosita Arvigo, a doctor of Naprapathy, natural healing. The farm is dedicated to the memory of a Mayan Shaman, or traditional healer, Dr. Don Elijo Panti, who lived in this area until 103 years of age, and who was sought after by many for cures of their diseases. All of the medicine this doctor used he gathered from the plants and trees in the jungle. He had great success. We took the nature walk through the jungle to look at the 25 identified jungle plants and trees of more than 1000 he used for medicine. These plants have been tested and proved for their effectiveness by the New York Botanical Garden Institute of Economical Botany. They are still used by local peoples because medicine made in USA is scarce and expensive. For our third trip, we left Ben and traveled another 30 miles across the Guatemalan border to El Remate to visit Tikal, an ancient prime city of the Mayan Indians. We stayed in the attractive lodge of La Casa de Don David, on the shore of Lake Peten. This lodge serves good food, and has good beer, making Colin happy, and is operated by an old gringo, David, who also arrived here in the 1970s, and who is now married to a Guatemalan woman, Dona Rosa, half his age. It appears a common thing. Tikal is magnificent. It is extensively excavated which enables the traveler to have an idea of the scale and skill of the culture. It was strongest from AD200 to AD950, and then mostly abandoned to the jungle. It was discovered in the mid 1800s, but serious work was not until the 1960s. Many of the structures have been rebuilt and several are in progress. Many more remain buried. There is a paved road to the site and two hotels there. We arrived at dawn, and climbed to the pyramid top of Temple 4. It too is 120 feet in the air, and looks over the tops of the jungle and the other pyramids. Marvelous views. We saw keel billed toucans, brightly colored turkey like birds, white face and spider monkeys in the jungle trees around the ruins, and were visited by pizotes, a small brown furry animal about the size of a cocker spaniel with a long nose and a long tail, and a raccoon looking face. The two museums were very interesting with examples of pottery, jewelry, stelae and statues removed from graves in the pyramids. Tikal is a large site with trails cleared between the structures. Unlike other sites we have visited which have been totally cleared, you cannot see one group of structures from another at ground level. We had a great day and returned to El Remate to relax and rest after our long day of walking. The next day we took the bus to La Fronteras on the Rio Dulce and hired a launch to take us up river to El Tortugal Marina, where Alcyone is moored. The weather here in Guatemala is lovely. It is 85 degrees with a light wind in the afternoon, cooling to 70 at night.. There has been some rain, but not enough to make life difficult. The marina where we are moored has been remodeled when we were in Seattle and has new wood docks with pavilions of thatched roofs to sit under in the breeze or to swing in the hammocks provided by the management. These pavilions also have a stove where we can cook, so we eat our dinner there each evening under the lights and the stars on the edge of the river. We listen to the night sounds of the jungle and visit with other cruisers from Sweden moored next to us. The only thing to make it better would be to share it with all of you. Our marina is home to a soft blue-green parrot with a red spot on his wings, about the size of a big chicken. He is friendly but only likes women, he snaps at men who try to talk to him. Patricia would love to have a parrot in Seattle, but these birds need a lot of attention, and would suffer in our absences. Maybe when we get done traveling. Patricia enjoys bird watching, there are so many colorful varieties. Colin is having a great time talking to other cruisers, drinking the dark Moza beer and mending Alcyone. He loves the nice weather, and enjoys the traveling. His back is bothering him some, but hopefully that will mend soon. Alcyone withstood her eight months of jungle weather well. She is dirty and many items are covered with mildew from the high rains and humidity, but the equipment tests O.K., and we can deal with the mold. All problems have been solved with elbow grease so far. Our faithful old dingy (1968) has many patches. One is over a rather large gash and it has been very difficult to get that patch to stick. We have tried two different special glues, 3M 5200 and epoxy. The epoxy lasted about a year, but the patch leaked before we left. We brought two new glues from Seattle and the first one failed already. We hope the other will stick. There is no road or trail access to here, so we depend on the dingy to get us to where we can get groceries, do e-mail and use a telephone. Well, enough ramblings for now. Time to go work on the dingy so we can get this e-mail sent. We look forward to hearing news from you all, but please no attachments unless we know the contents in advance. Patricia and Colin, |
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