Mayan Pacific Hotel Retalhuleu

... i could neither hear or see) all for a very reasonable $8 a night, just a short boat ride through the pitch dark!! sceptical... Hmm yea right!!

...of course i followed...

Low and behold, she was telling the truth!
I awoke on sarurday morning after continued tropical stroms throughout the night to the rumble of the pacific ocean, finally....
Stunning, a really uplifting sight, i strolled out onto a black sand beach that is probably 100 ...

... owned lands to further expand the coffee cash crop and dislocated the indigenous people. This lead to one of the biggest land distribution disparages in the world, with two percent of the population owning 80 percent of all the land. (The current situation really isn't that much better) When Arbenz was elected president in 1954 he implemented sweeping land reforms which distributed much of the farm land back to the campesenos. Then the CIA ousted him ...

... as the rain set in, making the rocks more slippery and the footing less secure. The ascent of this volcano was, in John´s mind, perhaps one of the most nerve-wracking activities of his life. There was definately some real danger involved along with the extreme difficulty of the hike/climb. About halfway up the volcano, John met his physical limits. Or, in marathoning, we would say he hit the wall -- more specifically, he hit it hard. Every five steps, he ...

... find it hard in some rural areas of Guatemala, being a woman of child bearing age. This is because there is a frightening rise of black magic especially amongst the mixed blood people or Ladinos, which has resulted in some barbaric things happening and also there are rumours (based probably on truth) of babies being snatched from villages by Gringos. Although Guatemala is catholic, their religious beliefs are very intermingled with old Mayan customs and practices and ...

... him from the van, he brought her over to meet us. It had been a week since they had seen each other, but they cut their reunion short so that we could hit the road again. Along the way, we stopped to buy the cutest miniature bananas I have ever seen. Even if you have never thought of fruit in this manner before, you would have to admit they are adorable.

After a short drive, we entered a town dedicated to Ma'Ximon, the Mayan saint ...

... is not as cheap as it was when I came here 6 years ago - admittedly then I had come direct from the Cancun area and this time from cheaper Chiapas, but it is actually cheaper back in Mexico at the moment. First day in Xela spent climbing up hills to look for good views of the city with Carla a Guatemalan I met in the plaza - we were watching it being decorated for a saints birthday celebration later that day. Everything here is hard ...

As we left El Carmen, I was excited to finally be on the road again. Although I had driven over 2000 miles away from my house, I felt as though I was finally home! Maybe it was the Guatemala sign or the flags. Whatever the case a sense of relief overcame me...to soon. By the time we reached the next town, both Juan Carlos in the Jeep ahead and I had let our guards down. As we approached a bridged I witnessed something strange with the Jeep. It jolted ...

As offered in a previous entry here, there are many questions that I´d like to explore with the inhabitants of this newly founded cooperative community. I had attempted on several occasions to inquire how they felt about the changes that had happened in their lives over just the past 19 months. The response I´d get was that it was difficult, but that they now were earning so much more money now with all the new projects. It was difficult for me to have them get to ...

(Pictures to come) I arrived at the finca (plantation), La Communidad de Nueava Alianza, with no hitches early Tuesday afternoon, the 22nd of August. I immediately learned that the volunteer I intended to meet before he left had left that same morning. Bummer. Havier, the coordinator of the community was away as well. I was on my own. The first couple of days was getting used to not knowing what was going on and being as busy as I could make myself usually cleaning dishes in the kitchen ...