RIO DULCE

Rio Dulce is a river in Guatemala and has become a popular cruising sailboat destination. It starts where is flows out of the lake Izabal. The river is spanned by one of the biggest bridges in Central America. There is a little village right next to the bridge with local vegetable markets on both sides of the street. Huge trucks, buses, tuctucs and motor bikes cause a big traffic jam every time because the street is so small. By the time the trucks go down the bridge towards the village the use the engine brake and that is a horrible noise, it sound like a plane crash! (unfortunately the hostel is next to the bridge but it is funny) The traffic rules are simple here: Toot and go! ;-) Everyone is running around no one cares about anything and you need to be careful not to get run over by a truck or a tuctuc. Tuctucs, the littel taxis are very common here:-) look at these pictures... awesome, isn't it?

TRAVEL PLANNING

The plan is, see what happens;-)
There is only a rough idea where to go but you never know if it will work out the way you thought about before. That is the challenge! By the time you start in the morning you only know where the bus station is, maybe. Then you ask the people when the bus is coming. Maybe it will be there, maybe not. Then you maybe only find a minibus and they say the are going to the place you want to see. There are only locals on the bus and that is the only possibility to go somewhere. So get on the bus and hope that is works out well:-) It will be fine. They are all very friendly here and I never got robed yet. It would be very stupid to rip off tourists because that is what they earn money with. Well, you only need to pay more than the locals:-) it is only a few Dollars, or Quetzales in Guatemala, but if you pay in Dollars everyone is going to have their own exchange rate to earn one Dollar more;-) I hope they will spend it wisely! (no, I know)
If you hop on the minibus you never know how many people are going to join the bus on the way.. have a look here:-) this bus is made for 12 to 15 people and I think we were about 24 people including the ones standing on the door step outside ... any questions? ;-) haha!

The only thing I really need for travelling is my computer, my camera and the internet. So far it worked out well. While I am travelling around I work online to earn money, do graphic jobs, photography and advertise accommodations and cool spots on my way! :-) 

NERIAS PLACE IN UAXACTÚN

Neria is a Guatemalan Woman from Uaxactún. She spent her whole life there. She has got a little accomodation, very simple but lovely and again awesome local food. The place is called Campamento El Chiclero. Thank you very much Neria! I would like to go back another time with more Spanish;-)
I never heard about Ramón before. It is a nut and they make really good cake out of it or mix is up with coffee, it is very tasty. I already bought the flour of Ramón on the market to make my own dessert! They also make natural chewing gum. It is an old Maya tradition. It simply tastes like tree:-)
Here are some impressions of a wunderful time in Uaxactún:

Nerias Place

Neria and I

Grandma making corn tortillas

her family 

on the left: chewing gum (no bread), in the back: Ramón the nut and

on the right: Pepper fresh from the garden

MAYA HISTORY

In the meantime I have been to Tikal in Guatemala where you can explain all about the Maya history. It was very interesting and I have seen a lot of temples, ruins and tourists;-) I don't like too many tourists so I went further into the jungle to find the real exiting stuff! Again I went on a local adventure bus to Uaxactún, a jungle town with more exiting ruins and history but no tourists at all! I met some wunderful local people and spent my time at Nerias place. With Antonio I got a really good introduction and a tour around the area to see all the ruins and temples. They still dig out Maya temples there and they are still looking for the whole secret of the Mayas in the jungle. I think I got a rough idea now and I can read some of their signs, have a look here;-) 

MELCHOR DE MENCHOS

Impressions of Melchor de Mencos directly next to the Rio Mopan

Hola amigos!

The basic and the fancy stuff in the back

Making corn tortillas on the road

Gaming in Guatemala! 

 My litte green friend is with me again! Find more information about it on www.wellness-bummler.de

School bus

AWESOME FOOD

Wow, I really love the food on the road. It is all about food here. Many people do nothing else than cooking the whole day and sell their food on the road or they sell fresh fruits or sweets. It is really good stuff. The bus stops somewhere and there are street sellers jumping on the bus selling food or they sell through the window. On the bus stops you will always get something sweet. Here is one example: it is caramelised sugar with coconut and pineapple bits in it! This is awesome!!! :-)

And by the way, I can nearly eat everything here! I can not eat gluten, but gluten hardly exists here. Everything here is made of corn. I love corn tortillas, fresh or toasted with vegetables or black beans. I eat fresh tropical fruits every day. Like we have apple trees at home they have banana and coconut trees in their garden.

I realized it when I arrived at Marcos and Dethlevs in Melchor, Guatemala. They have really good fresh homemade food: hot tortillas with vegetables and cheese potatos and meat if you like. Or the second one: cheese omelette with blackbeans, the weird looking mush, and hot tortillas.

Marco has a lovely place called Rio Mopan Lodge directly next to the Guatemalan border and the river Mopan. He is from Switzerland and lives there for about 35 years now built up his own hotel with a little private jungle around. It is a wounderful place to stay, enjoy the river, canoeing, swimming or walk trough Melchor, the town center. Thanks to Marco, Dethlev and their family! Here are some impressions:

ADVENTUROUS BUS RIDES

First I want to tell you about the adventurous bus rides you can get here. I always choose the local bus because it’s popular here to travel by public transport and in the end it is the only choice to go somewhere out here. They don’t have trains and most people can’t effort a car so they all travel by bus and taxi. I only spend 15 US Dollars to go from Cancún, Mexico across Belize to Guatemala. Exciting stuff! Haha! 

What is going on here? I never had so much fun riding on the bus because it is a challenge! There are no time tables and no one knows exactly when they arrive and where they are going to. It either comes or it doesn’t! Then they transport everything by bus, chickens, washing machines and other stuff and it is not tied to anything so you need to catch it before it reaches you in any kind of way or you get bruised. So don’t fall asleep in the bus, be aware! The bus also has no suspension so it also hurts if it crushes into the speed bumper all along the way! It really bumps and you will fly high if you don’t hold on to something. They always have fun and loud music in the bus, there seems to be party everywhere you go. Sometimes the buses really struggle to go up the hill. Today it seemed that the bus is rolling backwards because it couldn’t make it. If you take the express bus you think you are on the rollercoaster! The bus driver doesn’t make a difference between gravel road and normal broken road. He thinks it is the highway!

To get an idea of the buses please find the photo below. These are old buses from the USA, seems that they continue driving over here until they break down one day! But they all look really cool and rubbishy!;-) I love it! 

INTRODUCTION

Hey, here we go! J This is going to be my official travel blog about a lot of experiences and impressions I will get on my trip across Central America. I try to give you an idea of travelling around, meet local people, work and live together with them to learn about different cultures. I would like to invite you to follow me and share great impressions and I am happy about questions, answers or comments. 

I started last Sunday and I already feel like I am here for ages because I have already seen a lot of places. I needed a couple of days to get used to the heat and I was really confused to begin with: I crossed three countries, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala and I had to handle five different currencies, Euros, US Dollars, Pesos, Belize Dollars and Quetzales in two days. Now I am in Guatemala and I also need to improve Spanish, because no one here speaks English! But I am getting there soonJ The most exciting thing: I am really tall here!!! (1,63m) Haha, people here are so tiny! J