I am in love.....

.......with Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce made in Belize! I bought a bottle and now wish I bought more. Avocado, lime, fresh tortillas and Marie's goes with everything!

Chocolate Factory

We also went to a small chocolate production place. See pics in side bar. The chocolate is some of the most  cacao tasting I have ever had. Very fresh - and such a small operation. They do only 150-200 3.5 oz bars a day. It takes three days for the chocolate to be mixed. We have been enjoying some interesting fruit slushies as well. Some fruits we have never heard of. All yummy!

Punta Gorda- Belize

This morning at dawn we got up and headed out from the jungle where we have been for the last several days. It rained last night and in the morning giving our last hours here at the agroforestry and permaculture farm a solid rainforest feel. The place is stocked with a huge number of food, medicine, fiber, and lumber trees. Its basically a rainforest filled with useful plants. The farm swirls with birdlife, many kinds of hummingbirds, parakeets, toucans, warblers, oropendulas etc etc. One night an agouti (smallish herbivore, a big rodent) came out of the jungle edge. The owner shot it and we cooked it up; quite tasty. We've been eating coconut, bananas, corn, greens, cabbage, cacao, and some other fruit which I cant remember names of. The project hosts students coming to research tropical agriculture and agroforestry. Its all to show that we can provide for our needs, quite easily in fact, and still have room for all the other plants and animals too.

Yesterday a young man led us through the jungle to a nearby Mayan ruins called Lubaantun. It was a smallish city sitting on a hill surrounded by villages and "suburbs". The remaining ruins of the city center were impressive, with temple mounds, the ruler's palace, ball courts (for the ceremonial ball game), market area, and various other buildings. We imagined the bustle and pomp of the city center with parades, ceremony, trading, incense, color, sound, all supported by the surrounding area. Very much like an urban center today. I bet the residents couldn't imagine a time when they weren't there, and yet now, 1000 years later its just empty except the stone structures and jungle. So much for permanence.

Tommorrow the boat back to Guatemala. Our last few days here.

Parrots at Sunrise

Woke to parrots over our palapa. Here is where we are - http://www.mmrfbz.org/Welcome_to_Maya_Mountain_Research_Farm.html

Check it out!
More later.

Next day in Livingston

We are too polite sometimes when we really mean no. Locals take our “tact” to mean we can probably be convinced to buy whatever they are selling.

Bus rides: With chx buses you know what you are going to get. Cheap, slow, crammed conditions – but full of local “flair”. We have been booking on the Primero class busses. When we asked about the amenities on the bus the “nice” bus has air conditioning, TV, bathroom and nice seats. Also there is the “primero” class for a little more money. We asked what you get with that. They said air conditioning, TV bathroom and nice seats. We then of course ask – what is the difference between the two? They say “the air  conditioning works on the premero class”.

Forests home-work is going OK. He is not too psyched to do it at times, as there are far too many other more interesting things to do, but is enjoying the journal and sketch part of it. We take “tourist” breaks and settle down somewhere and do work. Helps to slow us down a bit – which is nice. Forest is also becoming interested in birding. The birds here are pretty amazing. 

Of course during the course of this trip Jono and I are keeping our permaculture eyes and brains awake. We would love to take over the black water system in some of these towns. The sewage system is basically a pipe that runs to the nearest water source. It would be great to see a change but it is also so clear that they have many many other problems that take priority over that. Safety and security is one. The government does not have a handle on crime at all and we have heard a number of stories of the local “militia” (or maybe that is the local thugs) “taking care” of thieves and other trouble makers. Most people view this with caution as these same “helpers” can be indiscriminate in their targets and quick to judge. There is a mafia type relationship with the bus drivers in some cities where the drivers need to pay for “protection” and if they don’t…… As well, there is a healthy drug trade with its attached drug lords and minions. Some places just leave them alone and all is quiet until some competition comes in – like the ZETAS from Mexico which you may have been hearing about.

There is a strong hierarchy in class here. The whiter richer ladinos own most of the land and economic wealth and as peoples skin color darkens so do their prospects. The indigenous people are at the bottom. We have seen some indigenous people doing well (regularly employed that is) but it is hard to say if that is a continuing improvement or an anomaly. The complexity of the condition of the people is one we are not going to figure out this trip. Most of the locals seem to look at some of the “eco” projects with humor or simple acceptance while others are clearly fully on board with some progressive ideas. It is clear that there have been many “improvement projects” financed from outside that get going and then disappear due to lack of funding or lack of popularity in other countries. It is a case of the “yauda’s” – ya auda do this or you aught to do that. Lots of advice from outside with little stability within.

Our camera took a tumble on top of temple IV in Tikal so it is functioning intermittently. We hope it holds out for the duration.

Today Forest and I took a trip to a river with a section of 7 waterfalls. We walked up a ways and enjoyed a dip in a lovely pool. The jungle was so tall and thick all around – it was moist and cool. After that the boast took us to a small clean and quiet beach with hammocks, soda, beer and lunch. We stalked around and found  some pig-like tracks, some really cool lizards and beautiful shells. The plan was to go snorkeling but there were no boats full enough with folks wanting to go. We will try again on our return trip through this area. It is one of the best snorkeling/diving areas in the world outside of the Great Barrier reefs in Australia. Hope it works for us to go!!

On the Caribbean

After traveling south from Tikal, we took a boat down the Rio Dulce to Livingston on the Caribbean. The boat ride was beautiful with mangrove forest on the edges, abundant bird life, and rolling hills and cliffs. Brown pelicans, great egret, cormorants, and more. There are no roads in this area, only water traffic. All products and people travel vis the Rio Dulce and ocean. We saw young kids paddling the river on small dugout canoes. We are staying in a somewhat low end place called the Iguana Inn. An open are palapa cafe with rustic cabins around it. Our slatted walls keep out some elements but not the late night bar scene and bugs. But the fan on high helped with both. Forest and I are off to explore the area today with Jono does some work from home.

To the Jungle we go

Food. For a week we cooked our own at IMAP. Beans, rice, bananas, mangos, locally grown vegetables (real local like 10 steps away) – usual things we find in the US and also a perennial veggie called chaya. It is harvested by cutting the stalk and it regrows from that stalk. Salt, lime and other citrus we picked from the property, hot sauce made by one of the local women who cook at IMAP when they have groups, and to pull it all together, fresh handmade tortillas everyday by Andrea. At lunch we would all break work and put all our food on the table to share with everyone. There were some things the guys brought that I couldn’t identify but was wonderful. I asked what was in some of the dishes but my language skills didn’t quite stand up to the task. I made a dish of stewed chicken in tomatoes, roasted red peppers, onions, and some tasty hot chili powder I bought one day at a HUGE packed market. One of the fellows said he thought it would be better with coca-cola in it. I just smiled and said “well, I will try that next time”. He also said pineapple would work too (a more likely addition on my part).

We took the boat from IMAP back to Panajachel and stayed with a new friend Rebecca. She has been living in Guat. for 15 years on the IMAP project and other community outreach and health issues. She suggested we go to a local eatery they frequent. Her description was accurate. “Go down this road past all the tourist restaurants and look for a smoking grill out on the street – just down that ally is the place to sit and eat from the grill” And it was some grill! For 15 Quetzales (about 2 US dollars) a plate we had grilled chicken or beef, grilled young fresh onions, grilled fresh tortillas, beans, fried plantain and of course the ubiquitous hot sauce from the table. The homey local atmosphere added much to the experience. During the day there is no grill and it is simply an alley, by night a hopping joint.

The market scene I just mentioned was intense. Bigger than we could get around and so packed it was hard to see where we were. Most of the people were selling dry beans, rice, corn meals, fruit (we have tried just about every fruit we have come across – most delicious, some curious), veggies (many we did not know) – and most people sell it by weight using the classic hand held scale with metal weights on one side to balance the product on the other. One woman could not find the metal weight she wanted for some chicken I was buying and calibrated with a handful of chicken heads. There were many kinds of meat to buy, some looked like small animals that I think was squirrel – we were not so adventurous in the meat tasting as with the fruit.

I will not go into too many details about the long and overnight bus ride to Tikal outside of the detour road that had us driving through a river, the screaming baby, and a bus driver that seemed to think he had to get there ahead of time. We slept well the following night.

We are in the jungle now in the national park of Tikal, one of the largest of the Mayan cities. We awoke this morning to the sounds of Howler monkeys and Aurupendulas (large loud birds). Yesterday, after we arrived in the afternoon, we went into the park and met a couple who told us about an amazing guide they hired the day before. We took the tour today with that guide starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending around 12:30. It was one of the best guided tours I have ever been on! He grew up in the park and has been leading tours for many years. He was extremely knowledgeable about the mayan ruins and the history as well as the local plants, animals and birds. We saw things we would have missed on our own for sure. 

Our departure date of today is being put off till tomorrow – it is just so amazing here. Forest and Jono are right now watching sunset on temple IV. The top stands above the jungle canopy and you can see for miles as well as some of the other temples peering over the green tops. From there, yesterday, we saw falcons and large parrots. We have seen spider monkeys regularly and today our guide called to a sleeping band of howler monkeys and we heard a hearty response. Not too long after we saw a troop of howlers moving and feeding in the trees in one of the more open clearings within the temple grounds.

Violacious Trogons, keel billed toucans, ant birds (that follow the army ants and eat the insects that the army ants stir up), and a few species of large parrots are just some of the long list of birds we have seen since being here. The more we look, the more we find.

We are learning a few things from the general travel experience too. Like:

-you can go without a shower for longer than you think you can

-Always – Always carry some toilet paper in your pocket (as many bathroom have none!)

-Local people are generally friendlier that the tourists

-Remember that Guatemala time is three times as long as regular time. Everything happens at a much slower pace. Whenever we try to rush it makes us really crazy.

-Plans change

-Sometimes the road is not open

-People here can bend the truth a little to make a good story (or a sale)

-American culture is crazy – but maybe we knew that already.

- Never bring anything with you on a trip that you cant leave behind - like a favorite sweater that I will not need but won’t give away.

-And dirty socks need not be washed – circular file!