Semuc Champey!!!

Saturday 17.02


Action day:We have booked a tour to the beautiful pools of Semuc Champey. We pack our stuff, we eat a rich breakfast and we depart from our hostel together with 20 more people. Again the role of the bus plays a track, with a lot of people on the back standing. The feeling is like going for a safari... of wonderful moments!
Unexpectedly the first visit is inside the caves of the area. We enter only with our swimming suits and a candle in our hands.. Tzoum, tzoum, tzoum, tzouuumm! Underground water is evident from the first moment, and specifically cold underground water. As we enter in a row with our candles, it looks like a strange ritual. And it is a kind of ritual. We try to swim and keep the candle out of the water at the same time. The beginning is easy but, some "stable" ladders follow, a rope climbing against a small waterfall, huge rooms work as swimming pools and for the end a wonderful dark 3 meter dive in the last room. The dim light of only 3-4 candles makes the scenery unbelievable unique. On our way back, a slight change in our route involves a small slide through a hole in order to pass to the pool of the next room. This is one of the last things before we seriously start to getting really cold. Facing again the light of the exit, as we are going out of the caves, and putting out our candles means the end to a ritualistic tour. And everything worked perfect: the colours of the nature are much more vivid and
intense and our little group, much more bonded than before. And the fun just started!

In order to enter to Semuc Champey we have to pass from a bridge standing over than 10 meters from the river. People take advantage and jump from it, in the river. We seriously think about it but no.. In the end we back off... PUSSIES..!

Normally you have to pay for the entrance to the place, but (un)fortunately not for us. The story common more or less: Government wants to take over the local peoples´ land and take all the income from that place. They were supposed to give a 70% of the earnings, to the 4 local communities around Semuc for the past years. Surprisingly, you (that you know read this post) received the same amount of money with the communities: Nothing at all. And if I remember well they want to reduce this  percentage to 7%. This is a huge reason for strike. Around 60-70 people are gathered and demonstrating for that reason. However they don´t allow as to take photos of them. We respect and we continue.

The uphill hike to the viewpoint just started. Quite tiring but the view pays off back.. And after every uphill, a huge downhill follows, leading us to a dive in the pools. A majestic scenery of turquoise waters, so clean that you can see every detail in the basin of the pools. Watery (it!!) slides, dives and a lot of fun in order to pass from one pool to the other. This is happiness! A bit cold happiness but sooooo big one!! And it is evident in every face, if you look around.

Back to our beautiful hostel we continue the fun with the nice people! A nice dinner, few beers and a beautiful campfire..!  The end of a majestic day is close, and our bodies completely tired!

Heading to Utopia!

Friday 16.02

As we have one week free, we decided to find a place where you can relaaaax and at teh same time have a loot of things to see around. During our stay in Antigua, we have seen a beatiful poster of a hostel called Utopia, and we trusted the name and the beautiful description...!
So yesterday we got on several buses, full buses, extremely full buses, with people hanging out of the door, behind, on top etc.. And try to reach the place were it is supposed to be located the 8th miracle of the world: Semuc Champey..And always, the way to paradise it´s hard!

As we arrived late at night we couldn´t really assess the landscape around as. But we could understand everything in the morning... Pure paradise: In the middle of the "jungle" next to the banks of the river Cahabon a huuge wooden "tipi" works as our hostel. We are staying in dorms and private rooms which are all open to the fresh air and sometyimes the refreshing rain, with around 30 people with a super friendly staff ready to make every wish of us truth (always for the right price!!!) Our relaxing week just started...

This is what I saw from my bed when I woke up....                               

El Rabinal y Río Negro

Wednesday 13.02

On Wednesday we headed to El Rabinal, one of the three cities of Baja Verapaz Department. Here we were hosted by an organization who works in rescuing native seeds and distributing them among communities. One of its members is original from a community called Río Negro, settled in the river Chixoy.
Río Negro has suffered a very sad story... back in the 80, in the middle of Guatemala's civil war, the government and the electrification company of Guate wanted to build a dam in the Chixoy river. 33 communities would be affected by this plan, and were supposed to be relocated to another smaller and less fertile land...The inhabitants of Río Negro refused to leave their beloved and fertile land. As a result, the military committed terrible massacres accusing them as guerrilleros (you can read more detailed information of internet, just google Rio Negro Massacre ).
From 800 people, around 177 people were assassinated and many disappeared. The same day of the last massacre, the dam got approved. The people that survived run to the mountains, to feed themselves out of leaves, fruits, roots and whatever they could find. Some people stayed up to 5 years in the mountains. Finally, they accepted the relocation to the settlement created by the military to control guerrilleros in Pacux.
In 1994, some families went back to start up their community again. Nowadays, 16 families live in the new Rio Negro. Although the most fertile lands remain under water and the community is almost isolated they are back in their land and claim justice for the lost relatives.

If you are asking yourself, why do we want to go there to do our study? Well, the answer is that the people that lived in the mountains developed a knowledge about edible wild plants out of "trial and error" method and following the advise of their grandparents. Nowadays, it is preferred to cultivate food plants or just purchasing them in the market, rather than walking in the mountain to gather them. No one is blamed for that, but this pattern changes are worth to study and to document a knowledge before it is completely lost.
And how can the community benefit from the study? Well, I want to believe that the information we will gather about what they can find in their surroundings is valuable and they can use it sometime. From the other side, their story spreads a little bit more as now you know about it, so it doesn't sink into oblivion. Plus, having two guests living with them generated some good revenue.

As it is quite difficult to arrive to the community and we have to wait for a permit to get there. We have to wait one  week to depart... so we have decided to explore new places in this spare week... ;)

The Pacific!

Saturday 09.02

Today we decided to celebrate Nere´s birthday on the beach! We woke up and we took some buses with direction to Puerto San Jose, being the one closes to our city.
The sea was wild and the beach nothing wonderful. Even if we have been told that this was a really turistic spot, the turists in whole the beach were less thatn ten!! Most likely kids with clothes, and young people taking their bath.

The interesting fact of the day was that, there were a lloooot of biiiig fishes in really low prices! So we decided to eat fgish for once!
Here´s a picture of the birthday girl!!

The second community

Friday 08.02

Today our appointment was early and worked perfect.. 8 o´clock in a 4x4 pick-up car, with me outside on the trank of the car to visit our second community with Kumi. The travelling time was much more and taking into account that the road was really bad, the bumps on my ass was a fact!!
The community was much bigger than the previous one, inhabiting around 900+ people. The family of Don Anastasio that we visited was maybe the bigger that I ever met, as except him and his wife they had also 17 children...!! Unfortunately we met ONLY the 8 of them!  The scenario was set in a mountainous area close to a forest and Don Anastasio´s "garden" was inhabiting the whole hillside.
He was pretty explanatory and it is a pity that we didn´t record his knowledge as we thought that we would come back...
He and his family treated us with so respect and gave us to try his medicine that according to him can heal every aliment that he encounters. Indeed it was so powerful and as we tasted it, we woke up and stand still with eyes wide open immediately! When we asked him the synthesis of it, he told us that contained over 40 different herbs from his garden! Astonishing! And when Nere suffered after a while with urine infection, he reliefed her with a herbal tea from his garden! They offered us a tasty lunch with yuca, peanuts and tomato sauce (all from the garden) and believe me it was more delicious, fullfilling and nutritious than you can imagine!! Ah and for the end , we drunk the super sweet-sour sugar cane juice that we made our own!!

They also accepted us to leave with them, btu we still have to see one more community to decide..
In the end of our day there, we took Don Anastasio, and his 8 children and went for a tour at the Maya ruins lying next to that community. The ruins of Mixoc Viejo..
The photos are speaking on their own!!

After the first excitement...!!!

Thursday  07.02

After the first excitement on our blog and the urge to write everything that we experienced, the pace went down a bit... But also because we didn´t spend so much time on the pc. And is natural. Actually I feel a bit guilty being in such a country and spending time on the pc, but still is a necessary bad thing to happen, if you don´t want to be separated from the whole world!
Anyways, on Friday we visited for the first time the city of Guatemala, for which we heard sooooo many bad things. So we were prepared at least to be robbed!!! We left all of our precious belongings in the hostel, we took only a small amount of money, our little camera and a lot of force to face the "dangerous city". Actually we had our first appointment in the university of San Carlos with David.
The things that we encounter was not much as we have been told though. The buses that took us there were colorfull, and the destination of the city made them FULL of people. The travel with these buses however is pretty much the same for all destinations. 4 seats in a row of a bus, where at least 6 people were sitting, and many many more standing! Quite an experience to be squizeed in that buses!
As we arrived in the university, there was a familiar smell and feeling. Most of the students were dressed with normal western clothes, and looking curiously at us, that we were dressed with colourfull "hippie" clothes!!! And additionally we were quite lucky to encounter a small demonstration of students, demanding no cuts in the badget of the university as well as no reform to be done! Yes as you understand same story here as well... Multnational corporations want to enter the university and "fund it" for their own benefit.. The sounds of Manu Chao spread on the whole university, transmitting from a squatted building, bring in the mind the passed years (and the years to come, i hope) in Greece. However the students that were manifesting were dressed with the typical cloaks of the university and ALL of them wore fullfaces in order to cover their characteristics. As you will see in the pictures to follow the scenario is quite familiar.

Our appointments worked pretty well, and we met some new people, researchers. professors and everybody were so happy to talk about their projects. However, sometimes more than we could bare..!
But is ok, as that is the fate of university people! The outcome of this was another appointment to follow for next Monday, in order to investigate the possibility of us working in another commuinity in the northern part of Guatemala. And the only thing that we knew by that time was that the Northern part is muuuuuch more green...
                     Todo bien!!

First visit to an indigenous community

Tuesday 05.02

On Tuesday, Kumiko introduced us to a community, where possibly we could carry out our ethnobotanical research. There we met Don Fidel, a 70 year old man who could be our key informant as he has lived long in the village and knows about wild plants.
He receives us in western clothes and sunglasses, he is approximately 1, 60 meters tall and welcomes us with a smile. We explain him the nature of our research and he shows us his garden. He is an agriculturer, and probably he doesn't understand why we are focusing in wild plants. Looking at the surroundings, all the mountains have been converted into croplands. Why to walk kilometers to find wild plants when you can domesticate them and plant them in your backyard? Our research seems to fall, no nature around, no study! Although not everything is lost, he can tell us which plants were found in the mountain before, and which of them are cultivated now, this might be of interest!? And there are still wild plants growing on the edges, mainly weeds, but edible weeds! Ok, we can work on something here :)
Kumiko asks him if we can live with him and his wife, live like them, eat with them, help in the garden, help with whatever they might need. He has to ask his wife, I liked this :)

Pacaya Volcano hiking

Monday 04.02

As Nere discribed you in the previous post, our new hostel has sounds, has visuals, has life, and a lot of stories behind it! And the ambient in it represents effectivelly the travelling sounds and the psychedelic atmosphere of the album of Pink Floyd. We definately found our base!

After a nice breakfast in the city, we depart for the Pacaya Volcano.

Unfortunately we are in the same van with some posh turists from the States, but nothing can stop us from having an amazing experience. Upon our arrival on the mountain, our guide awaits us, with some company and some horses for the tired people, and we start walking. The uphill path of 4km sounds more easy than it was, for people that are away from the mountain, and smoke a considerable amount of cigarretes every day!. The landscape was amazing, something that we haven´t seen before, and the warm land close to the top, quite an experience...

Unexpectedly, on the other side of the mountain, on our way down, regeneration of everything was evident.

An abundant forest and our first encounter with medicinal plants, thanks to our guide Ervin, is a fact!
And we are so happy about it!

Umma Gumma and the lost mayans

We have found a very cute and cheap hostel where to live, it's named UmmaGumma, it is the land of hippies, batik t-shirts hang on the dryer, psychedelic decoration, a rooftop for chilling with bar and open kitchen... oh yes, this is the place where to establish first!
We have visited the different markets of Antigua, you can find everything you need on the streets, fabrics, crafts, books, food.... We have eaten our first "comida chapina" (chapín=guatemalteco) at the market, a nice enchilada, a ball of fried banana with frijol dulce (sweet beans) inside, something with chicken, and we have not experienced any sickness :p yesss!!

Even though you can find Thai, Japanese, Greek, Italian, etc food here, there are still some typical places with very cheap and nice food: you can have a whole meal, including a just made orange with papaya juice, for 3 euros, even cheaper if you eat at the market, could be an euro for 2 people!

My first impressions about what is maya are confusing. You can see "maya restaurant", "maya this", "maya that" everywhere, but what does that really mean? So far I see it as a marketing issue rather than cultural. The mayas were extinct long time ago, and most of the current population hold the catholic, protestant or evangelic religion, don't wear the tipical clothes and don't consider themselves as indigenous. And currently, there are communities that try to maintain their culture or rescue it.
In general, it's very difficult to assess who are indigenous and who are not, unless they are pale, then it's easy. And the ones that wear the typical clothes are the conservative people, the ones are selling crafts on the streets or fruits on the markets. But, I would like to know how do they live, and what makes them conservative, do they still maintain their religion? practices? We will know more about this further in our trip...

Our first touch

Sunday 03.02

Our Arrival, was late and tiring but so happy that the first step is done! Our contacts David and Kumiko, were waiting for as at the airport, and they took us to a nice safe hostel in a neighbourhood protected.. First realisation how dangerous it can be, for a lonely night in the ourskirts of Guatemala city. Straight to bed..

After a wonderful sleep in our beautiful hostel in Guatemala city, our helpfull contact David comes to pick us up to bring us in Antigua. Unfortunately (?) we don´t have time to take a look around the city, but no worries for that. We will find plenty of time in the near future. First signs of western "civilisation" are obvious everywhere. I couldn´t believe that I would see so soon the sign of our hateful chain Pizzeria opposite from our house. McBullshit and CocaRiola in hand with the local corporations , introduced to a society that have learned to live differently, creates needs to people that they are not able to cope with them. The evergoing vicious circle of Capitalism.
However our arrival to Antigua, literally the "antique capital" fulfills our most beautiful thoughts for the country. Small houses, rocky roads, warm people kissing on the street, and a market full of colors hand, crafts, fabrics, smells. Two things: First, I shouldn´t have taken any clothes with me, second, I think we will not face any problem for choosing presents for our friends. I would rather say that we will have problem to bring so many stuff back!! A lot of new things to see, learn and taste...
 Bienvenidos a Antigua!!

Changing flights!!

Saturday 02.02 Puerto Rico


First target accomplished!! We manage to enter the "land of freedom" without any problems, well at least nothing that can keep us concerned. Judging from the result if the people in Copenhagen didn´t help it would be possible to lose our flight. But no harm done, no bad feelings! The sun is welcoming to the new continent. First thing the changing of the clothes (as we were dressed with Copenhagen rules), a cigarette under 27 degrees and a short communication with friends and family to ensure that everything went well (how couldn´t?) and our transti time finished. the conversion has been made. It was about time...
Tenemos dos enormes sonrisas!!!

The trip starts!!!

Saturday 02.02 Copenhagen airport

The trip starts!! With some worries though, but starts! Fuckin´Puerto Rico makes our intestines move a lot, but not for a long. Two beautiful ladies at the check-in of our airline* willing to help us and push away - or at least set at the minimum - our worries for our trip. They check-in our bags straight to Guatemala (!!) so we have muuuch more time to take our boarding passes in Frankfurt. The negative plans of the customer service of Condor (our overseas airline), that we will lose our flight are close to fail...!!! We are thrilled, for the kindness of the service. Now we are convinced that if a person really wants to help will find a way. And as a new and good friend says: The problems that you are going to face, are as much difficult as you can trespass them, with your moderate effort! And after uphills there is always a biiiig downhill following!
Here we go...
                                          ...with a big smile!


*I will not post the name of the first airline, cause It´s a kind of positive advertisement. I believe that was the people that helped us and not the airlines. However in the Condor situation is a negative advertisement, and in the end... to the hell with the companies!!! 

Introduction

Hola Amigos!!

We finally found out how this blogspot devil works! And we will be able to keep you updated with our beautiful adventure! A little bit of explanation though: Because we don´t know when are we going to be able to write in the blog, we will pubñlish a date wqith each post, which will be the real date that the post was created (at least in our diaries). Please send us feedback, if you cannot read something, or u cannot see the post etc. in order to develop the blog better. And of course feel free to comment or ask anything. Like this we will not have to send individual mails all the time!
You will understand who postred what from the different accounts!
Ah, and don´t forget! We love you and we miss you a loooot..!!!
So, here we go...