Guatemalan Hospitality Abounds!

We had a pretty uneventful overnight passage from Puerto Madero, Mexico to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. It was good to be moving again after the long wait for the package that never arrived in Tapachula, Mexico...

Guatemala, our first new country in nearly a year and a half! We thought about passing it by as it costs $100 for port fees for 5 days and $45 for immigration fees just to enter and $20 per day after five days for port fees. That's expensive for our budget. But we needed to find out about our package back in Mexico and we wanted to keep making our Southing, so a stop in Guatemala made sense, even if expensive. The port fees charged are for the service of the Navy guarding your vessel at anchor and allows you the freedom to do inland travel, which is a must if you are stopping in Guatemala. In the end Guatemala turned out to be the highlight of our five month journey from La Paz to Costa Rica.

First, the Port Captain and Immigration arrived via panga to inspect us and process the paperwork for our entry into their country. They were extremely gracious, friendly, and were our welcoming committee to their wonderful country. Puerto Quetzal is a very modern, organized and clean port -- nicer than any port in the United States.

We arrived right at the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week), which posed somewhat of a problem for inland travel, exchanging currency, and even finding places to eat while inland, but we managed. We first visited the lively third world town of Puerto San Jose. Puerto San Jose was a pretty chaotic and busy place, especially with all of the Guatemalan City residents arriving for the holiday celebrations. It was a definite cultural experience to stand in a segregated line at the bank -- men in one line, women in the other. I asked a Guatemalan about it later and they said it was done because the women would be harassed by the men if they were intermingled together.

Jay met a local Navy fellow, Orlando, with whom Jay had a delightful conversation. They discussed our sailing trip and Orlando had actually helped sail a boat down to Costa Rica and back -- so had some first hand experience. He was one of the many amiable people whom we met during our short visit in Guatemala.

Jay and I ventured into Guatemala City and the city was pretty much shut down for Semana Santa. However, the street vendors were still working, so there was some activity. It'd be hard to imagine what chaos would reign if it wasn't Semana Santa. We found a quaint little hotel for $20 per night and it was clean, well kept with very friendly staff. One of the differences we found in Guatemala to Mexico, was there is a pride about the people and even the cheap hotel was well finished and decorated.

One of the charms of this colorful and culturally rich country is the warmth and openness of the people. Tourism is not a big industry as yet, so people are much more receptive and inquisitive about foreigners. It was a surprise for us to be helped by so many different people and they not expecting any kind of compensation for their assistance. A definite change from Mexico.

One of the unique qualities of Guatemala is the Mayan Indian population being the majority, unlike any other Central American country. The Mayan Indian women are famous for their hand-woven textiles in bright colors. It was encouraging to find that the Mayan culture is still well established with the Indians speaking their indigenous languages, practicing many of their ancient traditions and wearing their traditional clothing. Some in the highlands can't even speak Spanish. It's like stepping into National Geographic. The sad thing is that though the Mayans are the majority, they are also the poor people. On the bright side, however, is they are rich in heart and generosity -- at least that was our experience.

The highlight of our journeys into Guatemala city was meeting a Mayan Indian woman of the Cakchiquel tribe, Maria. I bought a couple of woven items from her and we hit it off having animated and interesting conversations. Jay and I returned the next day to where she was selling her goods as I wanted to get a picture of Maria, our new found friend. After chatting with her some more and meeting her sister Vitalina, she invited us to come visit and stay at her house near Antigua. Wow, what an opportunity! Jay was heading to Tapachula Mexico to pick up the finally-arrived package the next day, so this was a perfect time for me to join Maria and meet her family.

Maria, Vitalina, and I took the buses (three in total) at the end of their vending day to Maria's home. We stopped in Antigua for a brief tour before continuing on to San Antonio, Maria's hometown. It was night by the time we arrived, and their home is humble by any standard. Their floors are dirt, the walls are cinderblock for about the bottom 3 feet, then bamboo up to the ceiling, and the roof is tin. The kitchen is open air more or less and they cook on an open fire as they cannot afford propane, even tho' they have a propane stove. The furniture is minimal and functional. The toilet is a quasi-outhouse, somewhat plumbed -- you use a bucket of water to flush to the sewer system.

Maria's mother is a dear old Indian woman, with the classic Hollywood looks of an Indian elder. Maria's 14 year old daughter is a bright and vivacious young girl quick to laugh. Maria's 3 year old son was sleepy most of the time, and it is a pity that Maria works such long hours, as she gets little time with her little one. One of Maria's other sisters, Laura, was visiting from Guatemala City. Their native language is spoken in the home most of the time, however they conversed in Spanish with me. They tried teaching me some of their words, but the language is extremely guttural and many of the sounds were impossible for me to pronounce, and of course this often brought fits of laughter amongst this house of women, plus one.

We had a fun-filled evening of conversation, laughter, and sharing of cultural differences. Maria pulled out her hand looms and showed me some of her work in progress. She actually set one up, a very simple loom, and kneeling on a floormat with a rear support, she showed me how they weave the cloth. It is very intricate and time consuming. The piece which she showed me took an hour for about 2 inches of work on a 2 foot wide piece. I took photos of Maria weaving. They then thought it would be a great idea to take a photo of me all dressed up in their traditional clothing sitting at the handloom and weaving. It was adorable -- like playing dolls or house as a kid, the three of them dressing me up. They pulled out all kinds of blouses and skirts and I got to pick out the ones I liked, the biggest problem being my head and arms were too big to fit most of the blouses. We howled in laughter and Maria's mom even roused from bed to have a peak at what all the commotion was about and smiled in approval. It was a sight, I'm sure. The pictures probably won't come out, cuz cameras are not an instrument they are used to and they moved the camera when snapping the picture, but the memories are clear as a bell in my mind.

I told Maria, her house and family was the house of laughter, "Casa de risas". The visit is one I will always treasure and I told her the visit with her family will be my best memory of Guatemala. She appreciated that. It was hard saying good-bye to this wonderful person and short friendship -- Maria in tears when we left. We promised to write and send copies of the photos. I bought some more weavings from her and paid her asking price as I wanted to help her and her family without offending them. Although Maria and her family is poor monetarily, they are some of the richest and most generous people I know in heart.

In the meantime, Jay successfully picked up our now expensive package of boat parts from Tapachula. In the end it would have been easier to just buy the parts in Mexico, but if we hadn't have had the package adventure, we wouldn't have met Maria and her family.

After our whirlwind tour of Guatemala City, San Antonio, and Antigua, it was time to bid farewell to Guatemala. Guatemala is a country that deserves much more time to see it properly -- 7 days is not enough. We'd like to return some day by land, where it will be much cheaper and we can take the time to really see this country.

We left Puerto Quetzal and headed for La Union, El Salvador in the Bay of Fonseca -- a two night trip. We started having problems with Suzi, our beloved engine, sucking down (rather leaking out) oil like a sieve. Jay tightened down several bolts on the oil pan, hoping this was the problem (it wasn't and we still don't know, even now). But Suz' served us well and got us to El Salvador and ultimately to Costa Rica.

We were pretty much assured lightning at night every night since Puerto Madero Mexico, tho' we have only had one minor lightning squall at night -- and it was heat lightning. The second night out, I woke up to do my 2200-0200 shift, and the lightning was amazing. Jay was backlit at the helm and the sky wouldn't turn off.

We also had a needlefish escape some dolphins in the night and land in the cockpit. I thought, "What to do?" -- so I got a rag and covered his head, picked him up and threw him back to sea, hoping the dolphin chasing him was long gone.

We had a beat into La Union, El Salvador caused by a Papagayo most likely. We spent about 5 days in La Union, doing some more work on Suzi and a couple other projects, provisioning, and taking a mini tour to a nearby town.

On our way out of El Salvador, we stopped in for the night at a little island in the Bay of Fonseca called Conchaguita as recommended in the Forgotten Middle cruising guide. This little village is in a most beautiful setting and it is a very protected anchorage, except possibly during Papagayos. The island is volcano peaks and the town is in a bowl surrounded by the volcanoes. There are quite a few pangas and many of the pangas in El Salvador are wooden dugout, and all are painted brightly. Unfortunately, we didn't spend more than a night there -- an anchorage which deserves several days for exploration and meeting the locals. We just felt the urge to continue on.

So now we are in Costa Rica, at last. It is nice to finally "be there" and now we can slow down, smell the roses, and not have to worry about hurricanes. Bahia Santa Elena is the perfect introduction to cruising in Costa Rica.

Fair winds and colorful encounters,
       Leslie & Jay