San Francisco

We arrive after a somewhat dull flight - COPA Airline food is not exceptional, nor is their service and there are only about a dozen movies.

We took the BART into the city where we are staying not far from Union Square and the famous trolley car. I did this when I had a day on the way to Panama last year but we did it again as My Friend hadn't. It was crowded and tiresome waiting in the bitter cold (can you believe it?!) but My Friend was very interested in the workings of it. The forecast for tomorrow is wet so I figured this afternoon was the best time to do this. 

We got out before the end - the traffic was backed up and the trolley had come to a stop at the top of the last hill before it continues down to the bay. We got some nice views of the water, the bridges, Alcatraz and the posh houses as the light was fast disappearing.

We had some yummy takeaway lobster bisque chowder at the Embarcadero (waterfront) and caught a bus back into town (Frank at our hotel was very helpful about this and it was as 'cheap as chips' compared to the trolley car).

I really like San Francisco. I feel comfortable here and it's easy to navigate. We were headed for a restaurant I'd read about but somehow passed it and, as we were near a large hotel, I popped in and asked them. They recommended another place nearby (the Wayfare Tavern) which turned out to be great! Wonderful service. We sat at the bar and ordered food. It was an ENORMOUS meal. My Friend couldn't finish his. Unheard of!!! I had the BEST chips with my hamburger. And we chatted away to people on either side - they are so friendly here!

We walked back to our hotel. I really like it and am very pleased with my choice. Apart from being right in the downtown and the staff being friendly and helpful, it is an older style building - which I like: we have a great room - small, but nicely appointed - with windows on two sides looking out high above the street. Quiet. Windows that open(!!).

So after a lovely relaxing morning and the rain starting to drizzle outside, we checked out about 11 a.m. and HIT THE SHOPS!!!! Wheee!

When we were OVER that, we found Mazarine - a coffee shop I had read about - and had a deeelish coffee and Rueben pastrami sandwich.

Off then to SFMOMA, an internationally acclaimed modern art museum where we whiled away a couple of hours. Tremendous!! Especially wonderful were the Diego Riveras and Frida Kahlos. Very exciting.

As we walked back towards Union Square (near our hotel where we have left our bags for the day), we passed through a park with a nice waterfall memorial to Martin Luther King. Prescient are some of the words on the plaques:

Had a couple of drinks 'for the road' (keeping those liver enzymes stable ...) at the Cable Car Bar (where else?!) and had long chat with a father and son from the UK (the son is living in LA; dad is visiting - and they have just done the road trip up from LA to San Francisco for the weekend but were detoured off Highway One due to the Oroville Dam spillway crisis and catastrophic flooding in California at the moment).

Then off again on the BART (the local rail system) out to the airport - now for the long haul home. We left late due to a carton of oranges being dropped on the tarmac in the boarding process and the union having to be negotiated with as to who and how to deal with the problem... the Captain sounded very exasperated.

Panama days

And so we pass our time ...

Regis has tasks around the house for My Friend like getting the bikes operational which we are more than happy to do as that means we can get out and about.

We play with Sophie who is The Head of the Household, although she gets sick with a bad cold and misses 'school' for 3 days and is miserable - poor thing. No doubt we'll end up with the same thing. We are amazed that Kathryn and Regis can contact their paediatrician by phone in the evening and get a list of drugs from him to go to the local pharmacy before it shuts that night - all without a Rx or any cost for the call to the doctor ...

Before Sophie's cold peaked, Kathryn and I both spent a day in bed sick with some nasty stomach illness. Glad THAT didn't last too long!!

We go out for coffee with Kathryn a couple of times (there are a couple of lovely local patisseries) and My Friend and I return to one of these of our sorties out on the bikes. The Car is King here so we stick to the sidewalks - such as they are - power poles in the middle of them, HUGE potholes.

There is the swimming pool in the estate where they live but we only get there once with Sophie unfortunately - due to her cold.

I plant Regis's herb garden for him but he'll need to get the shade cloth over it fast before everything dies in the heat.

And Bobba the Dog gets walked everyday - always with 2 poop bags in my pocket for his super large doggy dumps!

My Friend has fixed a few door handles, put together Sophie's trike for her birthday (but her feet don't reach the pedals yet much to her mom's disappointment) and he installs a kids' table and chairs for her room (14 screws per chair he tells me!).

Sophie gets entertained with books, etc.

Plus a ride with her daddy now that the bikes are pumped up and oiled - and to make up for her own being too big yet.

Niah works in and around all this - she is a quiet delight and it is lovely to get her on her own - she falls asleep being gently rocked on your knee; or she wiggles around on her play mat surrounded by toys which she swats at haphazardly. And there are some little smiles.

We are up early our last morning (Friday). Evelio gets us out to the airport - traffic is good at that hour but is already building up in the opposite direction going towards the city - Carneval is starting.

Alison and Alex arrive Monday - hopefully the traffic won't frustrate their plans.

So it's goodbye to Kat & Regis and Bobba; Niah and Sophie are asleep - another restless night for Sophie and mum and dad due to her bad cold.

Despite allowing 2.5 hrs for checkin, it took 1.5 hours queuing to get to the boarding gate where we were security checked a 2nd time (!).

Flight is 7 hrs to San Francisco where we will overnight it before flight home tomorrow night. We fly back over Guatemala and Mexico where we have spent a good part of the past month and into the US of A.

Niah & Nonna

Birthday Girl! Sophie is 2!!

Birthday Boy: Fishing!!

More ...

We have arrived in Panama City

Chichicastenango

Also known as 'Chichi'! Famous market town - our Guatemalan itinerary was organised around being here on a Thursday!

We get away at 8:00 a.m. - I suspect Maurizio wanted to go later but I insisted that we stick with the time on the itinerary as we have a big day and I don't want to get into Antigua late. He has been a good guide, but they all seem to suit themselves ...

We were pleased to leave 'Pana' as it is known - very over-rated in my opinion. It is over an hour to drive to the Thursday market at Chichicastenango.

On the way up the steep descent away from Panajachel Town to Solalá at the top, My Friend and I comment that this climb would be good training for aspiring Tour de France riders - only to get to the top to find vehicles loaded up with some very good bicycles on their roofs! (Maurizio has no idea what we are on about; afterall, we've seen nothing but old 'clunkers' in Guatemala so I don't think cycling is high on the agenda of the average Guatemalan). We pass many more vehicles laden with bikes; obviously there is a big comp. on today.

Maurizio has just told us the price of petrol is PER GALLON. That means Super works out at roughly Q5 to Q6 per litre which is about $US0.75 per litre. It is CHEAP here, not expensive (I thought the Q21 was per litre!!).

I tried to find out from Maurizio about the inroads that the evangelista churches have made into Guatemala but all he said was that they are more common in rural areas. I suspect people 'play things close to their chest' here - as suggested in the book Silence on the Mountain that I read. But even that book didn't go into much detail. I have just looked up an interesting article: 'The evangelical church arrived in Guatemala with the so-called Liberal Reform of 1871, during which the Catholic Church was expelled and its properties expropriated, to reduce its economic influence in the country - Catholic convents were converted to secondary schools, for example.'
https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/interviews/a-discussion-with-monica-ramirez-world-vision-guatemala

Chichicastenango is a large indigenous town at an altitude of 1965 m; 98.5% of the municipality's population is indigenous Mayan K'iche.

Many apples apparently are grown in this area and exported. In fact we buy a couple in the market.

Next to the market is the 400-year-old church of Santo Tomás. It is built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform, and the steps originally leading to a temple of the pre-Hispanic Maya civilization remain venerated. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense (copal) and candles. The Maya priests or shamans perform several rituals here.

My Friend, the shaman! -

The market did not disappoint - it is huge (reputably the largest native market in Central America) with many, many corridors choc-a-bloc with everything - we saw tortillas being made, fruit, vegetables, beans, poultry (some alive), puppies, kittens and of course the usual bags, cushion covers, masks, jewellery. I've never seen carrots, watermelons or avocados the size of the ones here! Loud bombas (firecrackers) go off sporadically, adding the smell of fireworks to the incense. All very colourful!

We also visited the very colourful cemetery and 'lucked' on a shaman ceremony.

We were away by 11:45 a.m. to return to Antigua where we stay the night before a transfer in the morning to Guatemala City for our flight to Panama City.

We wind through many curves steeply back down to Tecpán which is known as the "first capital of Guatemala". This claim is based on the fact that the first permanent Spanish military centre of the nation was based here.

There are many heavily laden trucks and long yellow school buses from the US; and multi-coloured buses lights flashing and generally being driven by lunatics and belching black exhaust smoke.

We arrive back into Antigua about 3:00 p.m. and head straight for our favourite coffee place Cafe la Parada where we chat to the barista, a guy from the US working in Antigua and a young Antiguan guy who has been training to be a barista; then we wander down to the main square to sit and watch, before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

I have finally caught up with Frida! Frida Kahlo that is. The only connection with Guatemala and Frida that I can find is that just weeks before her death in 1954 at the age of 47, she participated in a demonstration against the U.S.-backed overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala. But tonight we went to Fridas the restaurant - a very lively place popular for drinks and food. The restaurant’s owners are great fans of Frida’s work and have decorated the dining space with their own collection of posters and reproductions of the artist’s paintings. We had a really nice meal and Tequila Sunrises - spending the last of our Guatemalan quetzals.

Across Lake Atitlán to Santiago Atitlán

The town of Santiago Atitlán (1556 m) sits in a bay or inlet of Lago Atitlán between two volcanos: Volcán San Pedro which rises to 2846 m west of the town and Volcán Toliman rises to 3144 m southeast.

Boats connect the numerous communities around Lago Atitlán.

The majority of the residents are indigenous Mayans. It was the capital of the Tz'utujil people in pre-Columbian times. The Tz'utujil had been in this area for generations when the Spanish arrived. Santiago was established by Franciscan friars in 1547 as part of the colonial strategy to consolidate the indigenous population.

Santiago Atitlán was the site of considerable state-sponsored violence during the country's civil war (1960-1996), particularly from the 1960s when, in a campaign against mainly Mayan ethnic groups, 40,000 to 50,000 people 'disappeared'. In the 1980s, left-wing guerrillas had a strong presence in the area, prompting the Guatemalan army to kill or 'disappear' hundreds of villagers. Altogether, probably 200,000 died and 'disappeared'.

This town is the largest of the lake communities and has a strong indigenous identity. Many atitecos (as its people are known) proudly adhere to a traditional Tz'utujil Maya lifestyle. Women wear purple-striped skirts and huipiles embroidered with coloured birds and flowers, while older men still wear lavender or maroon striped embroidered pants.

It was almost half an hour to cross the lake. First up, we took a little 3-wheel taxi/tuk-tuk (cramming into the back seat with our guide Maurizio) up a steep climb through the town and then we walked between residences (we'd have NEVER found this without a guide!!) to a house where a local Mayan folk saint or deity called Maximón (also known by its Catholic alias San Simón) resides with a caretaker, receiving offerings. He changes house every year. The shaman we saw here we then saw later at the Catholic Church lower down in the main plaza. The town's cofradías maintain the traditions and rituals of Maya Catholicism.

Here in the plaza, Maurizio introduced us to a local woman with traditional headdress (I think it is called a cinta) - she undid it and then showed us how she wound it round her head - 20 m of multicoloured tape! She is aged 75 by the way.

Then I had a go trying on the Mayan blouse or huipil which are made of cloth woven on a backstrap loom and heavily decorated by hand.

Maurizio was a great guide - lots of information and didn't expect us to buy stuff at places where he had 'friends' - AND we had an EXCELLENT coffee (best by far the entire trip) at Cafe Rafá.

We enjoyed a very colourful walk back through the market.

When we got back from the trip across the lake, we declined the drive back to our hotel favouring a walk along the lake shore instead. When we were done with that, we headed away from the water but avoided the 'main drag' Calle Santander and we were rewarded with an interesting view of local life - plus a proper supermarket where we bought water (and a bottle of the local rum which is meant to be OK - $US7).

Then a late lunch of hamburger which was delicious and the local beer Gallo at La Palapa in the main street - great for watching life pass by. And a 'proper' mixed drink (gin and tonic) for me - not watered down.

One other table of 4 turned out to be 'Deplorables' from the US judging by their conversation about Trump - "change is good!!". This what Trump supporters from Ohio look like -

Then back via the 'main drag' past a large funeral procession, dozens of buses and 'tuk-tuks', people everywhere.

Finally, our hotel -

After a break, we walked down the road to another spot on the lake to watch the sunset. It IS very pretty - I'm just not sure I agree with the hype about Lake Atitlán: Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it in his 1934 travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."