July 31: we finally got money in antigua, and got a mini-bus for panajachel. while waiting for our bus, we bought matching bracelets from a little girl called rebecca in the main square in front of the cathedral. antigua really is a very pretty place.
August 1 - 3: we stayed at "mario's rooms" in panajachel, an absolutely fabulous place, very friendly, clean, and an excellent value. from mario's we could walk to the waterfront of lake atitlan to eat at the delicious restaurants there, or we could shop up and down the street right out the front door, or we could walk out of town to reserva natural atitlan, where keeana and dad did ziplining with our new friends marc and mel.
August 4: we took the water taxi to santa cruz, another town on lake atitlan. a long walk up the hill took us to the main town, where we met lots of kids coming out of school, and found a local artisan, pablo, with a small gallery. we came down again by a beautiful path that eventually led us to bistro jacaranda, where we had a fantastic lunch and then waited for the water taxi with a british boy who has lived in pana most of his life. back in panajachel, we started on an annoying trip to flores that included getting ripped off big time by a stupid travel agent, whereby we learned another important rule to travel latin america by: when in panajachel, never use a travel agent to get to flores. just take a chicken bus to guatemala city and buy your own bus tickets on the nice comfy overnight bus from there.
August 5: flores -- a small part of santa elena, which juts out into Lago Petén Itzá; we squeezed into a three-wheel taxi and then explored the restaurants and finally the lake.
August 6: TIKAL! Our first pre-columbian "ruins". Tikal has been studied for several decades, yet is still under much of the jungle cover that overtook the city.
We enjoyed learning the archeology of this site. It is presented well and is easy to follow - for us, a highlight of this site.
August 8-10: A few days of laid-back Caribbean lifestyle on Caye Caulker, Belize. (See also the next note Diving in Belize.)
August 11-12: PALENQUE - our first stop in Mexico! Palenque "ruins" are smaller but as impressive as Tikal. It is much more commercial, but with little of the archeology explained. Palenque was the site of the Maya's god-king's palace.
It contains some of the finest architecture, sculpture, roof comb and bas-relief carvings the Maya produced. The most famous ruler of Palenque is Pacal the Great whose tomb has been found and excavated in the temple of the inscriptions. One of the nicest souveniers of our trip came from here - a picture of Pacal burned onto a leather scroll.
While at Palenque we stayed at Margarita y Ed's, absolutly the best hostel ever. It is located between the town and "ruins" of Palenque in an area literaly carved out of the forest.
August 13-14: Oaxaca (Pr: Wah-hah-kah) was our next stop in Mexico. We skipped the "ruins" and stayed right in the city. At its center is preserved the picturesque colonial-era town, full of colourful street markets and performers.
In one market, we bought a pocketful of whimsical cartoon-like creatures (a penguin, a hedgehog, and a fire-breathing dragon). In another Katt fell in love with a funky, hand-woven basket in the shape of a pig. She bought it and proudly carried it throughout the rest of our travels!
August 14-16: Mexico City. You could spend a month here and never see the same site twice. We had three days... how to get the most out of it? Well, we found a nice five-storey hostel near the Cathedral, right in the classical area of town. We walked around that area a bit, seeing plenty of sights. To go farther afield, we rode the subway - it was free for grampaw! On Sunday we took a side trip out of the city to Teotihuacan (pr: tay-oh-tee-wah-kan), site of the third largest pyramid in the world.
The Sun Pyramid at Teotihuacan:
The Moon Pyramid from atop the Sun Pyramid:
In the parking lot there was a very tall pole with ropes dangling from a flimsy looking platform at the top. While we watched, four men climbed to the top of this pole and tied on to the ropes. We learned later these daredevils, called "Valadores de Papantla", are a Mexican tradition. One stood on the very top and played a haunting tune on a small pipe and hand drum. Next they launched themselves off and slowly descended, rotating around the pole while the ropes unwound. An unexpected thrill on this visit to Teotihuacan.
August 17-19: Perhaps the biggest thrill of our trip - a reacquaintance with Cousin Anna and her family in San Miguel de Allende, four hours by bus north of Mexico City. The family's hacienda:
It had been thirtyfive years since Anna left Canada and took up a new life in Mexico. For thirtyfive years, Grampaw K had drempt of this visit, seeing her in her "new" life, and getting to know her zany husband Billy and very personable son Joel. It was an almost magical experience for all of us.
Thus opened a week of visiting. We left San Miguel Wednesday morning heading for Guadalahara, arriving late in the afternoon. K&K's friends Michael and Jonia met us at a conglommeration of fine mexican restaurants centered on a stage where live music and dancers entertained.
Michael and Jonia dropped us off at the bus depot at midnight (still Wednesday) and we caught the one AM bus bound for Torreon. We reached Torreon mid-afternoon on Thursday, had lunch at a fancy hotel, then went off to find K&K's friends Ian, Synthia, and the little princess Alixe. Here's Alixe with Grampaw K (the last photo before the beard left his face), and her entire family at our dinner together that evening.
Friday morning we blew out of Torreon with our longest journey ahead, through Saltillo, Monterrey, across the Rio Grande (where the US border patrol can be seen in their fast motorboats) to arrive in Houston Texas early Saturday evening. This last leg of our trip is of note for the distance covered. In three days, which included two visits, we covered about one third of the total distance travelled in eight weeks!
Finally, perhaps for posterity a photo of Grampaw K at home. Not quite fully shaven and (sort of) emulating Billy.
