Where's the Gravol!?

OK, we were finally leaving Lake Atitlan. It was fun, but we were getting antsy so we booked a shuttle to a town called Retalhuleu (I have no idea how to pronounce it so I keep pointing to it on the map in my guidebook). The ride was only supposed to be 3 hours or so, no problem. Yeah, wrong again, big problem. While Jason had gotten over his bout of the flu, the rest of us were just getting it. I had downed a couple of Aspirinas before we left, but the girls seemed fine, so they had nothing.
Let me first just say that the roads in Guatemala are in quite good shape. The ones we are usually on are newly paved. The only little glitch is that they meander all over the place over and around the mountains, lakes or whatever is around. The girls were whining, but that seems to be common with these long rides. I had just told them both to be quiet when all of a sudden I heard Lena make a noise that I knew wasn't good. I told her to stick her head out the window, and the rest was not pretty. She did feel better afterwards. Reed apparently didn't because he puked about 4 times before we finally got to our destination.
So no pics of this post, but let me just say YUKKO!!

Zip lines and Spider Monkeys

After a rather quiet Boxing day (in contrast to Mr. Ashby??), we had considered leaving the lake and heading onward. We were supposed to stay here for New Years, but we aren't really loving either our hotel, or Panajachel (the village we are in). As our hotel required 24 hours notice to change our reservation and we hadn't made any other arrangements, we decided to stay one more day. Good Choice!!

After breakfast we hit the bank machine .... again .... because you can only get $200.00 out max at a time. After that our traveling girls hailed a tuk tuk and we were off to the Lake Atitlan Nature Reserve. Our tuk tuk stalled on the way there (seriously, what's new??) but we made it safe and sound. As we were paying the entrance fee, I saw something in the parking lot moving around. Lena and I went to have a closer look and it was 2 peacocks! They were just hanging around, jumping on vehicles and snacking on bugs. Very cool.

We started our nature tour off with a pit stop to see a couple of spider monkeys and then over some wooden bridges past a couple waterfalls via coffee trees getting their fruit picked to the summit of the walk. It was really hot and my attempt at going native with this stupid Guatemalan baby sling torture device crap added to the heat. But when we got to the top, we saw a zip line. Jason, of course had to go past the "Do not go past this sign unless you are with a guide and have the proper equipment" sign with Lena and Jade. Luckily I was holding Reed in the stupid torture device and got to pass on checking it out. Jade was all over going down the zip lines so we made our way back to sign up.

I am afraid of heights. I don't think I used to be, but life with Jason changes A LOT of things. Jason thought it would be more likely that Lena would go if I went. No way, I was not watching my babies go flying through the air on a cable. I had tried it in Costa Rica ... enough for me, thanks.

So, Jason and Jade signed up for the zip lines but Lena didn't want to go, so we didn't push her. Jade and Jason were getting their gear on and all of a sudden Lena wanted to go with them. Atta girl!! I watched my 2 babies and their crazy father get all ready to sail through the jungle on zip lines and I kept a smile on my face the whole time. After they left, Reed and I walked back to the spider monkeys where Reed fell asleep and I watched 4 monkeys swinging from their tails trying to get my attention. Pretty cool as no one else was around. And then all of a sudden I heard the zip line and saw Jade flying way up in the air. SOOOO COOL! I got to watch them do 3 zip lines and Jason saw me, too on the last one. The girls were riding tandem with either one of the guides or Jason.

An hour later they were back and had such a great time that they wanted to go again. But, no, the baby had had enough and we had to move on. A very fantastic experience for everyone (and much better than the one I kept playing over in my head about 3 Canadians falling to their deaths on a Guatemalan zip line)

Christmas in Guatemala

I woke to the whispers of Lena & Jade begging Jason to let them get out of bed and open some presents. Although I was very excited for them, I was a bit tired from trying to get some sleep on a twin bed with Reed “Starfish Bed Hog Don’t Touch Me While I’m Sleeping But Don’t Leave Me” Adams. Yeah, loads of sleep for the Mommy last night! Oh yes, there was also the hour of firecrackers starting at midnight last night. Apparently Guatemalans like to welcome Christmas Day with a little fire and gun powder.... Actually it is 10AM Christmas day and I just heard more firecrackers. As you can imagine, Jason is in absolute heaven.

Last night (Christmas Eve) Jason couldn’t help himself, so he bought some firecrackers from one of the street vendors. We weren’t sure where to light them so Jason asked the vendor to do it. The first one was a bottle launcher (so Jason tells me) but the guy just lit it in his hand in the middle of the intersection. The next thing we knew this thing was flying all over the street screaming and hitting all the store fronts. Everyone around us was having a great time. The next one was a huge roll and the guy laid it down in the middle of the street. All the people on the street stopped to watch as he lit it. This one little Guatemalan girl hid behind a stone pillar with the crazy gringo family. It went off for about 2 minutes and by the end of it Reed was crying and we had lost Lena. After all this excitement, we headed home.

We weren’t sure how the whole Christmas morning thing was going to go over, but it was fantastic. Santa does come to Guatemala. The fact that there were only 2 presents per kid was absolutely irrelevant as Lena told me this was the best Christmas ever. Yep, I guess we don’t have to sell her.

We haven’t been doing much the past few days. We are now in a town called Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. We took a boat from Santiago where we had spent 6 days. The boat ride was great as it was really wavy so the kids laughed the entire way. We got splashed and tossed around for 25 minutes straight and the kids loved it. We have found that the best way to get Reed to sleep is to go over the bumpiest road or waviest lake possible. I kid you not, you can rock him for an hour and he won’t fall asleep, but 5 minutes over bumps so hard you almost fall off your seat and he is out.

Panajachel is the main town around the lake. All of the buses come here and then you hop on a boat or ferry if you want to stay or visit any of the other villages. It is also the main shopping village so the girls and I have been having a fantastic time here. Jason has been sick for the past few days which has been OK since the girls and I are having fun just checking the shopping out. And get this, we did all of our shopping for under $100.00 and that included dinner! These girls are getting good at bartering!

Well, that’s it for now. We are off to find an internet connection so that we can contact our families.

Merry Christmas!!! Feliz Navidad!!

Boat Tour of Lake Atitlan

We all went on a little boat tour of the lake we are on right now. The lake is surrounded by volcanoes, and we are closest to San Pedro. There is also a town called San Pedro, so we decided to get a boat and check out the village. The first village we stopped at was San Marcos. It is known for its spiritual ambiance. It was a cute little village with 1 tiny dirt path and a few hostels as well as spiritual centres. Lots of gringos in bright orange pants chanting ... whatever. The girls and Pedro found a playground to hang out in for a while. Pedro is the 11 yr old boy who has been “guiding” us around. A really great kid and he is fantastic with Reed !! The girls seem to like having another kid around to play with, too.

Anyhoo, we left San Marcos and cruised past all of the beautiful lake houses on the way to a couple other villages (San Juan and some other San). We got out at San Pedro to have a look around. It is quite a backpackers hangout with lots of Spanish Schools and cheap places to stay. Lena picked up a glass pipe and asked what it was...I guess we should be happy our first conversation about drugs is here, and not after finding said pipe in her room!! It was really steep walking around, over very uneven cobblestone with a sleeping baby thrown over my shoulders, so we didn’t stay too long.

Every day from around 2~3 there is a really strong wind on the lake called Xocomil and it comes every day at exactly the same time. Sure enough, right around 2 it started to get stormy so the boat dropped us off right in front of our hotel instead of in town. Then we asked to have the hot tub fired up. I wasn’t sure they were going to heat it up because Jason had just turned off a hose going into the hot tub and caused a huge watershed in one of the pool buildings!!! Geez Jason.... Luckily, they did and we were all boiling in a short while.

After all that hot water everyone was ready for bed. The boy fell asleep right at dinner time ... yeah, no screaming in the restaurant! Tomorrow is market day in Santiago, so we are going to check that out.

Adios for now...

Horse Riding with Jim

Lena and Jade are going to add their tale in this section. It sounded like a great time!!

Lake Atitlan

We are now at Lake Atitlan. We had a very brief overnight in Antigua, but we are planning on staying there longer later in our travels. We took a shuttle here and have been spending our time in one of the villages called Santiago. This is the only part of the trip that we have booked accommodations for. We are currently staying at the Posada de Santiago. It is absolutely beautiful (I know I keep saying that, but it really is). We have our own little stone cottage with a fireplace and huge stone bathtub. The owners are an American couple and are really nice and helpful. They built this place and then had to leave for 10 years when the area was taken over from the military. There is quite a history and David (the owner) has a great synopsis of all the questions people keep asking him that he is tired of answering ... so he wrote it all down. It is just so very easy to be here.

Yesterday we toured the little village with an 11 year old boy named Pedro. He lives here and makes some money guiding any gringos around that he can. It has been very eye opening for the girls to have Pedro around.....

Today the girls are off horseback riding with Daddy while the boy and I hang out for the day. I am just on my way out to the hammock in front of our cottage while the boy has a nap (they even have a cot for him here!!)

Stay tuned :o)

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey is a beautiful spot to go swimming and hiking. We had seen all of the pictures and decided to go on a tour. It was another early morning with our shuttle arriving at 6:30AM to pick us up. We stopped off for some breakfast and then joined all the tour groups for the 2 hour drive. It was a typical winding, steep cliff, crazy driving Guatemalan road. However with no Gravol, a lot of folks in the shuttle were feeling a bit icky. We had a pit stop at a little hostel where the girls and Jason found a swing to play on for a while.

We arrived at Semuc Champey and all got right into our swimsuits. We had to hike about 20 minutes to the top of the falls and then we got to go for a swim. We had 4 hours there and it was so much fun. Jade was jumping off the cliffs with all the guys while everyone cheered her on. All that rope climbing has definitely paid off! Lena climbed up, and then decided to jump down a little closer to the water. The little fish kept on swimming under everyone and popping up to surprise them. I had the boy, so we sat in the shallow water and watched the crazy jumping folks.

We all walked/swam through the different levels of the pools and then Jason went with the rest of the group down a rope ladder into a cave way under the falls. They were gone for almost an hour while the kids and I stayed in the pools on top of the caves. When Jason and the rest emerged from the caves, some of them jumped off of a huge cliff. Apparently the rope was so freaky that Jason chose to jump off the cliff and walk back instead of climbing it again. Oh, not only did he jump off, but he did this big not so graceful swan dive into what I assume was the river below because all we saw was the flailing arms and legs. Lena couldn’t look and we all wondered if we would ever see him again.

After that we all hiked for 1 ½ hours to the look-out to see the falls and pools from above. It was quite the hike but well worth it once we got to the top. Jason and I took turns with Reed in the pack. That little boy grabbed every single thing that came near him. I had to walk behind to remove all of the jungle bits he kept trying to eat!

On the way back, we stopped off at a huge cave and arrived just in time to see all of the bats flying out at dusk. The cave was covered in bat poop and so were we. Fun fun fun, slippery bat poop through a steep cave and flying bats in the dark. Don’t even get me started on the toilet!! We really need to get a better flashlight.

Coban

Because we really needed a day to chill out, we decided not to go on any tours for a day. We just walked around Coban .... all the way to the shopping mall complete with a stop at Rotten Ronnies!! The girls and I checked out the clothing stores and Jason hit the tool store. We then proceeded to the arcade as a treat to these little trooper girls of ours. Reed and I sat and watched while all the Guatemalans asked if they could hold the baby and take his picture. This baby boy is a star in many a Guatemalan home.

In order to incorporate our requisite amount of culture into each day, we took a tour of a coffee farm. Had you just explained the whole process to Lena and Jade, they wouldn’t have remembered a thing, but because of the interactive tour, they can tell anyone how coffee goes from tree to pot like no one’s business!!

Where to find some pictures

I am having a bit of trouble trying to upload photos, so if you want to have a look at some pictures, just click this link. pictures

Guatemala – Tikal

We left Belize for Guatemala in our private shuttle. The border crossing was easy if a bit sketchy. We had an entire van to ourselves all the way to Tikal (about 3 hours). The driver waited while we decided which hotel we wanted to stay at in the park. There are only 3 choices, so it wasn’t much of a wait. We chose the Tikal Inn because it had a swimming pool (which is the golden rule when travelling with kids). We bought our entrance tickets to Tikal after 3pm and they were good for the next day, too. Tikal is absolutely amazing. You walk through jungle trails up to huge Mayan ruins. You are allowed to climb almost everywhere and check things out. Absolutely amazing! Tikal is where one of the Star Wars movies was partially filmed (Return of the Jedi -- Jason just told me).

After dinner, we booked our Tikal sunrise tour. This meant we had to wake up at 4 to meet up with our guide to watch the sunrise and get a tour of Tikal. Sounds easy enough, but add waking up at 4am to absolute darkness because the power isn’t turned on until 9am and things get a bit hairy. We finally made it out the door and into some sort of vehicle (I think it was a truck, but seriously, there is no light anywhere and you are in the middle of the jungle!). We drove for about 60 seconds to the entrance to the park and then all piled out. There was a family of 3 from Holland with us. It was quite chilly and we weren’t completely dressed for the weather. To add to the adventure Jade was feeling sick the night before and as it was really still night time, so she was still pretty queasy. Just to add to the fun, Lena started feeling sick, too. Anyhoo, when they offered to drive us instead of walking the 45 minutes to our destination we said “Oh Yeah!!”

The driver took us somewhere and then dropped us off in complete darkness. He asked for 10Q each (about $1.30) and then took off. We had no idea where we were, but we did have 1 flashlight between the 5 ½ of us (the Mom from Holland came with us, too). With my sketchy Spanish I understood that the others, including the guide, should be by in 45 minutes or so. So we hung out wondering where we were and what the heck those noises were.

Finally we saw some others coming and eventually our guide and group. We were told to climb up these really steep stairs and then wait. We all got to the top and it was the top of Temple 5. It was pitch black and the guide told us we were not allowed to talk as some of the folks like to meditate while waiting for the sunrise. Yeah, right! 2 freezing cold, sick girls and 1 very gassy baby do not make for easy meditation. The gassy baby butt got a few giggles and the girls were fantastic considering they were both in desperate need of a toilet.

As the sun started to rise behind the clouds, the jungle started to wake up. First the birds and then the howler monkeys. I have a video clip that I will try to post. Absolutely amazing. Even thought it was cloudy and we couldn't actually see the sun rise, it was pretty fantastic to listen to the jungle get out of bed!!

Due to the stomach issues facing our crew, we missed the rest of the tour. We did get to cruise around the site for a while climbing all over the ruins. Next, it was back to the hotel and a ride into Flores about 40 minutes away.

San Ignacio

So, we booked a tour at our hotel to go caving in a canoe and swimming in some waterfalls. We were on the road at 9:30 in a blue Suburban which made Jason feel right at home. Our guide for the day was Edward, a young fellow with no kids.... and perhaps after a day with us he never will... just kidding... the kids were great .... well greatish.

We had to drive through orange groves and through bumpy dirt roads to get to our destination. Part way up one of the hills the Suburban stopped and wasn’t going anywhere. I thought we were stuck on a rock, but no, we were leaking transmission fluid. Jason had a look and as he has had this problem in the past (surprise, surprise) he helped Edward out. There was a little half full bottle of transmission fluid in the back of the truck, so the boys emptied the bottle into the truck and we were off again .... for a while.

Along the way to the caves, there was an Amish community. A bit strange to see in the jungle of Belize, but there you have it. The next time the truck died, we were right in front of a shed belonging to the Amish. There was a Belizean fellow working with them, so we asked if he could call our hotel to send another truck as ours was barely moving. We waited a while and then we decided to try our luck. If we went really fast up the hills, we seemed to be OK, so that is what we did.

We arrived at the caves and the owners had a little surprise ... a baby spider monkey! His name was Mango and the girls just loved him. He was only a year old and just like a baby -- that is a baby that you can tie to a chain.

After our visit with Mango, we were off to the caves. Jason, Reed and I in one canoe – Edward and the girls in another. We entered the cave, hooked up a couple of flashlights to the small car batteries in our canoes and off we went. It was pretty amazing with the stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. We were the only ones in the cave for 99% of the tour. There were parts of the cave where we had to lay flat in our canoes to pass through. Yeah, try doing that with a baby crying in your arms, paddling and holding a flashlight connected to a giant battery ..... oh, all while listening to your daughter crying in the other canoe. Yep, it was heaven.

It was actually pretty cool and after the baby had a big poop, he stopped crying. Lena .... not so much.

We had some lunch and were off to our next destination which was to see and swim in some waterfalls. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it that far because just as we got to the entrance of the park, the blue suburban had had enough. So, we coasted "home". 7 ½ hours after we left, we were back at our hotel. Thank goodness for those fantastic swimming pools!!

The Belize Zoo and other wildlife

Today we left the island of Ambergris Caye in Belize to head inland. With no plans regarding transportation or accommodation, we were a little bit uneasy about how the day would unfold. We left Banana Beach at 9:15 to make it into town for our 10AM flight. It was a beautiful morning, perfect for a flight on a 12 seater across to the mainland. We decided to fly into Belize Municipal instead of Belize International because it was exactly 1/2 the price - even though the plane stopped at the international airport first.... whatever. I was crossing my fingers that there would be some sort of tourist booth at the Municipal airport.

We arrived on the ground to find not much more than a little office at the airport. One of the folks from Maya Air asked where we were going and we vaguely mentioned we wanted to go to the Belize Zoo and then San Ignacio but had not transportation or any clue how to get to either place. But as luck would have it, a fellow named Jeff said he would drive us in his minivan with a stop at a zoo and lunch on the way to San Ignacio. Perfect! not to mention he was 1/2 the price a tour guide was quoted to us via our resort.

We piled into the minivan and we were off. Jeff was a great guy and about 45 minutes later we were at the zoo. The Belize Zoo started off when a film crew that came to film a documentary left a bunch of animals that had become tame to fend for themselves. Now the zoo keeps indigenous animals that have been taken as pets or abandoned and are unable to survive in the wild. It is a really great little zoo and the animals looked great in their amazing "cages".

After the zoo we were on our way to San Ignacio, again with no plans. We went to the Hotel San Ignacio first, but the rooms were not big enough for our crew. So, off we went again up the hill to a fantastic hotel called Cahal Pech. There are a bunch of swimming pools with a waterfall and a giant pterodactyl. We have our own thatched roof cabana overlooking the town and we are 10 minutes from a Mayan ruin. And as an added bonus, Lena spotted a giant spider/tarantula??? by the pool while we were waiting for dinner!!

So that is what we have been up to today. Everyone is beat, the boy is fast asleep and Jason and I are going up to the bar to try and make some friends and book some tours for tomorrow. We'll see if planning things out works as well for us as just winging it did today.

Day 3 (snorkelling and sunshine)

I am sitting outside beside our hotel room while the girls swim and the boy sleeps. Jason and Jade just got back from their snorkeling tour. They got to swim with sting rays and nurse sharks and touch them, too! Apparently the guide picked up a sting ray and a nurse shark, but Jason is just telling me that they don’t look that intimidating ... yeah OK Jason. Jade sat out a bit as she was cold and sat on the boat with the guide. The guide was great and let her feed the fish as well as the pelicans. Jade through fish heads in the air and the birds swooped down to grab a snack. I can’t wait to go with Lena tomorrow!

We are going to rent a golf cart after the bo wakes up and go for a cruise around the island. Golf carts are the preferred mode of transportation here, but a bit pricey to rent at $65.00/day. Ah well, they look like a lot of fun! I will write more later.

Day 2 (and Jason is already starting the countdown)

Today we just hung out at the pool in the morning and then the girls tested out the ocean. The beach in front of our hotel is small, but the girls didn’t seem to care and judging from the amount of sand in their bathing suits, I am glad the beach was this small.

We all took a stroll down the beach into town with a small stop at the Crazy Canucks beach bar (yes, Lena and Jade had their first drink at a bar ... OK it was pineapple Fanta, but still...). The people here are so nice and full of info. Apparently their dive boats had run into a few issues, one caught on fire and the other had just hit a reef. Jason and Jade are going to go snorkeling tomorrow out of our hotel so keep your fingers crossed that they use different boats!!

3 Planes and a Banana Beach

Phew, we made it and so far only one of us has decided to spend the night sleeping outside tonight. Hopefully the mosquitoes don’t eat Jade alive out there.

Aside from that, we had a really great trip down to Belize. We were just in time at the airport in Calgary so that by the time we got through customs it was time to hop on the first plane. Our next connection in Houston (which the girls were surprised to find out is in Texas) was really quick as well. When we finally got into Belize City I was sure there would be a problem getting the puddle jumper to Ambergris Caye, but no problems there either. We actually got a better deal than we would have online. It was a little 12 seater propeller plane. All in all, a great way to end this day of flying around North America. The girls were great the entire time and the boy slept through most of everything. So far we don’t feel the need to sell any of them :o)

We arrived at Banana Beach Resort safe, sound and sleepy. So far, Belize is great and the people very friendly. It is a tad expensive, but not much more than Canadian prices. We are all exhausted and hitting the sack early tonight. Tomorrow we are going to get ourselves organized for some snorkelling.

Stay tuned....

The Who What When Where & Why????

There are questions I know everyone is thinking whenever I first mention our latest adventure. Sure I understand it sounds a bit out of the ordinary to take 3 kids (soon to be 10 months, 7 and 9 years) on a trip through Central America for 3 months. But honestly, ordinary is never a word I had hoped would describe my family or our lives (unless prefaced by "extra"!).

So here it is -

Who? Myself, my husband Jason and our 3 kids (Lena 9 yrs, Jade 7 yrs and the boy Reed 9 months)
What? 3 months in Central America
When? Dec '07 ~~ Mar '08 (Yikes! That's 3 weeks from today!!)
Where? Belize to Costa Rica (possibly Panama)
Why? Why not? I'm on mat leave and we are itchy to get back to what we love ... traveling. Let's hope those kidlettes love it as much as we do....

So that is the gist of it. Good bad or ugly we'll let you know how we are doing and where we are doing it.

Wish us luck!