Lake Atitlan

I don't know where to start with Lake Atitlan. It's such a magical place it's hard to describe to anyone who hasn't been there. It has this calm relaxed feel to it that takes away all your stress and troubles. You can mediate on things on top of mountains with amazing views. Or re-energize yourself with a hangover by swimming in the waters of the lake. It's no wonder there's such a huge hippie community living around it with meditation and yoga retreats. There's also wild parties in San Pedro and festivals. Jose, my amazing couch surfing host, whom Mariela from Guate city introduced me to, told me everyone knows where they are in the year by how far away they are from the Cosmic festival in December. It's like the highlight of Atitlan's calendar where everyone gets together and does free work shops for a specific skill combined with some big raves.

There's just something about the lake that makes you want to do good things and help people. Like when i was considering moving there to keep myself busy i thought i might offer free cleaning, free computer lessons, free hugs whatever really just because i felt it might make other people happy. I decided not to stay though as although it was amazing it was something i felt i had to come back to perhaps but first i needed to return to my country and do something more directed towards my career, study or work. But currently getting involved in volunteering projects that were not associated with what i wanted to do wasn't something i wanted to do right now.

However, the project that Jose hit me involved with at La Barona was an amazing thing to have done. It showed me that if you ever need a break from your normal life there is always work you can get involved in to help less fortunate people than you.

José in his amazing psycadelically painted flat overlooking lake Atitlan 

The Indian's nose

San Pedro Volcano, we almost climbed it but didn't wanna pay the 10.q ebtrance fee, i think natire should be free! 

The amazing graffiti art in San Marco, an exceptionally chilled place where you can see views of all 3 volcanoes 

The beautiful peer in San Marco, where me and Mariela dived off and swam in lake Atitlan recovering from our hangovers

Me on the boat to San marcos

Swimming in San Marcos

Fisherman on Lake Atitlan trying not nottnotto get wet in inthe pouring rain

The mountain where the author of the Little Prince was inspired

Just another sunrise over the Lake from the Lancha to Panajchel 

The amazingly dressed women of lake Atitlan, so much colour

The Mayan ceremony stone ontop of the Little Prince mountain! 

All the women were dressed exactly the same as if in uniform. Their dresses cost up 1000q each but last forever 

The morning mist infront of Santiago on the way to Little Prince mountain 

The men also dressed well with colourful shorts with birds embroidered in in them 

Rio Dulce

After the awful time i had climbing Acatenango, i headed straight to Rio Dulce, where i new Tomasz (whom i had met in Atitlan and to rebuild some houses in La Barona) was and i could hang out with him and perhaps stay on his boat. I had no idea what to expect of Rio Dulce. I imagined a sleepy port town by the lake. When i arrived i got off an air conditioned bus into stifling heat, with huge juggernaut trucks thundering by and torrential rain pouring down. I immediately thought this is shit i want to get out of here, i almost did get on a bus to Peteng. But i had to look for Tomasz who told me he was in the Sundog cafe/bar. No one knew where it was so i was wondering around the hot, wet streets with my heavy backpack for about half an hour. Eventually i found The Sundog and Tomasz and we had a few beers, watched the torrential rain storm and then attempted to get back to his boat, without getting too wet! The only way back to his boat was to get in his little dinghy and row to his boat that was anchored in the middle of the dock. I really thought, what on earth am i doing in the pouring rain with my backpack in a rubber dinghy, totally shattered from the previous night, i was just wishing i was asleep in a hotel room!

However, the next morning after a good sleep i woke up to explore Rio Dulce. Basically what's cool about this place is the community of traveller sailors that live there. They are either travelling through or they live there semi permanently. They range from French guys who have sailed the Atlantic, to Americans who travelled through Mexico, a Spanish guy who transported people between Rio and the Bay Islands in Honduras, and some Australians who are about to set sail for Indonesia. And then Tomasz a Czech Bio-chemist/software entrepreneur who has traveled for 2 years and decided to buy a boat a year ago to live on and sail around the Carribean,  whilst running his e-commerce platform from his boat. It turns out that having a boat and being a sailor isn't just a habit reserved for the rich and famous (you don't find these kind of people in Marina's usually) , but it's also a way many people choose to travel and see the world. And what a way.

Tomasz has offered me the opportunity to sail through the Caribbean with him from November. First we would go to Mexico then Cuba, then through all the Caribbean islands to Colombia. What an adventure that would be... However it all depends on whether i go back to Amsterdam to study or i find something useful to do. I'm over traveling and seeing nice things. I love adventure but you have to mix it up with doing something useful, using your skills and your brain else is just a pointless existence, for me at least. Fortunately Tomasz has offered me the opportunity of working at his company. He needs people to sell his e-commerce platform, Koongo, to UK partners. However he only wants to work with people who have the same mindset as him, i.e people who also want to enjoy life a bit and travel. Everyone he works with works from home or remotely, because that's how he lives. I'm currently investigating what his platform is, trying to understand it, so i can get an idea of how i can get people with e-shops in the UK, agencies who make e-shops for people in the UK to use his software. I'm not sure how i do this currently, but i might hang out a bit in Rio Dulce so i can get an idea of what i need to do. If it works out this could be perfect as it could allow me to go back to Amsterdam and study and make a bit of money to help support my studies.

Other than all this amazing opportunity, Rio Dulce is another gem in the crown of Guatemala. It's far bigger than lake Atitlan, hotter, less hippy, more full of sailing travelers or extremely rich Guatemalans who own huge houses and yachts. Like Baldizon, the president of Guatemala. I swear we saw his helicopters flying overhead today. Today we just sailed to Dennys Beach, a place that feels almost very Carribean, but there's no sea just lake.

 

The beautiful sunset from Dennys beach. 

A death defying feat, i climbed to the top of the mast of Tomasz's boat 

Tomasz at the helm 

The boat after my attempt at sailing... Broma! (joke) Just an abandoned boat! 

Tomasz's gf eating sandia

Dennys beach 

Tomasz and Danielo rowing to shore, i swam! 

Some cowboy game at Dennys beach where they charge on there horse towards a piece of paper on a washing line. 

Climbing Acatenango

What a nightmare. Basically the mistake i made was climbing at the wrong time of year. If you climb during rainy season you are guaranteed to have rain clouds on the top swirling around with their cold air making it impossible to see anything, let alone a Volcano Fuego, and freezing your ass off!

It was the hardest climb i have ever done. At one point in the ascent the path was so steep, plus the fact the volcanic soil slides you back with every step you take, i was literally crawling up at a snails pace, one step after the other. The path felt like it would never end and went up and onwards into the blackness of the swirling fog howling in the trees. The fact that i couldn't see and had had no sleep (we woke up at 11.30pm to start hiking to reach the summit before sunrise) took any enjoyment of if it. If the guide had told me about the seasons for climbing (rain clouds descend on volcano peaks at this time of year, it usually rains in the afternoon you see, being rainy season) i would not have climbed. Or i would have climbed later in the morning because it was impossible to see anything at night, i could barely see my feet the clouds were so thick. When we attempted the summit the wind picked up till i felt we were actually running a risk of getting blown off into the pitch blackness of the side of the volcano. It was quite scary not really being able to see what's around you. We stopped behind a rock for shelter and rest at one point, but the freezing wind got to us so we couldn't stay still else i felt like we were going to get hypothermia.

At one point on the descent i had to really watch my step as i couldn't see where i was going, and my guide kept disappearing off into the blackness so i felt almost totally alone up there (what a shit guide he didn't deserve 200qs!). Occasionally he would stop though so i could just make it the headlight of his lamp so i knew where to head without falling down the black volcanic slopes!

It wasn't the experience i wanted. I didn't to see Fuego, i wouldn't do it again but it was a bit of an adventure i guess.

Political parties in Guatemala

It's funny the political parties in Guatemala. On the Saturday night in San Pedro there were lots of political rallies for all the parties. Each presidential candidate had there own March with people dressed up in t-shirts for the candidate, everyone chanting or playing instruments. But something about it felt a little fake. It felt a bit like they were not totally there through choice but had been paid. I just get the feeling that who ever can pay enough people to support them gets to be president and the people don't think to look at what that politician actually stands for. For example the was a band with a whole stage and everything but no audience. It's just put on as a spectacle. I'm sure it's again another case of richer powerful people, the politicians taking advantage of the poorer, less educated people by paying them for their support. There definitely didn't feel like there was the genuine support like i have seen in political demonstrations against corruption of the president. There you get real people coming along because they genuinely are upset with the state of things and want change.

God in central America

God is big here. Everywhere you go on the streets you just see signs in Spanish for God. It's actually pretty good practice for me learning and translating Spanish. So basically my theory about why God is so big in Latin America is just because of lack of education so people don't question whether what they are told is correct.

I think the worst abuse of people's ignorance is when the church makes people, who are already poor, give a quarter of their income so they can sit nearer the front of the church, feel more important because they are near the preacher. One evangelical church leader, Cashluna, is building a really tall sky scraper in the middle of Guatemala so people can get closer to God. Then he is going to charge people to go right to the top so they can pray and be the closest to God. It's just so wrong especially because when you look at it you realize that the church is not doing it for the good of the people but for themselves to make themselves richer. It sucks.

Also the church here makes people pay for miracle healing. So when someone is too poor to pay for medical care, and desperate to survive, they can pay the church to perform a miracle on them. Whether or not the church really believes in the power of God, who knows, but what is true is that they pay some people to have fake miracles performed on them... So they are lying to already poor and desperate people that if they give more of the little money they have left then they will be cured. It's terrible really.

I guess though when people have little to hope for, no money, basically a rather shitty life God at least gives them hope that there might be something better for them in heaven. Also in the crazy sometimes violent world of central America perhaps it keeps society from falling completely apart. I just don't like anyone being exploited because of their ignorance.

Rebuilding homes La Barona, tribe lab

So after spending the weekend with my amazing new couch surfing hosts in Lake Atitlán, they asked me if i wanted to come and help rebuild some homes on the Pacific Coast. A large wave had hit the coast around the time of the Nepalese earthquake in May. The wave destroyed many homes and polluted the water. The first line response from the military and charities like Unicef helped but they have no expertise in rebuilding homes. This is where TribeLab came in. It's run by a Polish girl called Sara who is an architect and who saw there weren't enough home building charities after disasters.

So anyway Jose, my amazing host in Atitlán is an architect on this project in La Barona. His idea is to rebuild the homes from locally found materials. So we came here to build a community bathroom. It was a long journey. A boat and a car drive from the lake to Guate. Stayed overnight in Guatemala city at José's parents house, left early in the morning to get 2 buses, a boat over the river (because the bridge fell away) and then a ride on the pick up truck of these hilarious locals who stopped off at every bar on the way and bought us a beer!

La Barona is a fishing town of about 125 families. It used to have some tourism, which you can see the remains of as there is a hotel with no customers. A night there costs 300quets! They're trying to make up for lost business! They are really cut off here. No one has a toilet or running water, and the drinking water can't be taken from wells anymore as it got polluted in the disaster. Unicef cane here right after the disaster to set up a water cleansing machine, to clean sea water into drinking water, it's all but run out of the chemicals it needs now. The river here, which is where they fish from, seems filthy. There are pigs and ducks drinking out of green stagnating water. I'm sure the river is heavily polluted with sewage too seeing as no one has a toilet. We had to dig a hole in the sand and then cover it when we needed to go, I'm sure this causes disease.

There's not much going on here apart from a church, and a restaurant, Rositas. She isn't used to having guests, but she is basically like our grandma who really looks after us because she knows we are here to build this bathroom so we have amazing breakfasts and lunches (shrimp, ceviche etc.) . I swear I'm getting a tortilla belly.

Rosita, it turns out, is also helping to bring up 4 little girls. Their mum was shot dead in the closest town to here over a phone when she was being mugged. It's terribly sad but when you look at these girls they don't really show it in their faces. The oldest girl, who can't be more than 12 seems to have taken responsibility for her youngest siblings. She helps the girls make food to sell. Like today they were making toffee apples. Then the girls go out and sell them to local people. In this world the kids have so much responsibility from such a young age, they have to mature fast. It's almost impossible for them to enjoy being children.

The first day was spent digging up and filling the foundations of the building. We then had to build a steel lattice with bars criss crossing each other tied together with metal ties. This was to give the concrete floor we were going to poor over it a solid base, and make it less likely to crack.

We also had to go to the opposite bank of the river through a mangrove forests in a small, leaking, slightly unstable fishing boat to collect river sand to make the concrete. This was my least favorite bit because the sand was very heavy. We were putting three huge bucket fulls in one sack and then having to carry it from the river to the building site. The local guys who helped out seemed to have some super human strength and could carry these 50kg bags without too much stress on their shoulders. They wanted me to try but i couldn't be bothered to get an injury. I'm not really cut out for construction work and not that bothered about impressing anyone or myself with any amazing show off strength, so i left it to the locals.

The next day we mixed the concrete. This is the second time i have had to mix concrete in my travels! It's no joke, bloody hard work! You get filthy and covered in concrete mixer dust because you have to mix the sand and the concrete maker into two mountains just shoveling from one pile to the next. Then you need to make a volcano. Then pour water in and mix until it's absorbed all the water!

We also had to cut 400 coconut sticks that day too with one person measuring and several people cutting. At this rate my tortilla belly will be gone in no time!

Thursday 16th July
Today we had a wood sawing competition to see who could saw the wood the fastest. We started off sawing the wood in like 4 minutes then we all got faster and faster. I managed to do it in 21 seconds somehow. Was fun. We didn't get so much done today though as we were waiting for the frames. Mainly we just sawed then ate Grandma Rosita's amazing fried prawn and rice and vegetables with tortillas of course!

After work we went to the beach. Was really beautiful at sunset. Just miles and miles of black deserted beach as far as the eye can see, with huge crashing waves constantly rolling in. I wish i could get out there into the Pacific to see what lies beneath.

Friday 17th July
Today the photographer and Ana-Carina left to return to the lake. I was quite sad to see them go as it had been a fun few days. The most fun thing was last night when we smoked a joint and went for a swim in the Pacific Ocean, or the sea. It's fun being in the Pacific because the waves are big and you can surf them. Also cause i was a little stoned we were laughing and being silly painting our faces with the black pacific sand and doing yoga poses in the crashing waves seeing if we can stand up. Was fun!

Jose and i went to the town early in the morning to get some supplies for building. Unfortunately in the time we were gone the builder decided he was going to build the bathroom in the way he wanted and not how José had designed in his drawings. This pissed José off so much that he decided to leave the the next day and let them finish it, so the rest of the day we spent drinking beer eating ceviche and chilling in the hammocks.

Saturday 18th July

We left La Barona early after a final coffee at Rosita's, to Guatemala city. We decided we would spend a night in Guate and have some fun before returning to the lake Atitlán. I spent most of the journey deciding what i was going to to do. Return to europe and study or work. Or fix my computer, go to the lake and do some programming, become a better dev work workon my Spanish. Defer my masters till next year, and reapply to many different institutions. Then sail around the carribean in Tomasz's (one of the volunteers on the building project) yacht from the end of October. I'm drawn between going back into my comfort zone of Amsterdam and Europe, seeing my friends and family or just continuing to enjoy life see the world. Some people tell me i should do this. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I kinda agree. 

The river crossing to La Barona, the bridge fell down so access by boat is the only way 

You have to take pick up truck lifts to get from the river to La Barona, local people take anyone on their truck for 5qs

La Barona was and still is a very poor place, with no clean water or sanitation

The hut we slept in. We would leave all out stuff in this hut, phones,  laptops, cameras, passports and money and no one took anything. I slept in a Hammock outside every night because it was so hot. There was this strange baby doll head on the neighbours fence, perhaps to ward off foreigners! 

The damage done by the big wave. It buried the houses in sand. 

The beautiful pacific coast with its black sands 

Job Done!

Job Done!

Tortillas, huevos, rice and beans, queso...as much as we could possibly eat!

So many sad stories, but these strong girls lost their mother who was shot in a mugging. They were looked after by a wonderful woman but seemed to spend all their day making food to sell just to survive. There was a strong community in La Barona, despite the poverty.

Mixing cement

Ana-Carina, Jose and Aaron

The Mangrove forest. We had to cross the river several times in sweltering heat to get sand for the cement mix.

Just one of the amazing lunches prepared by the amazing lady we called Grandma! She was everyone in the village's Grandma.

Ana-Carina doing gymnastics ontop of a chicken bus!

The abandoned hotel pool!