My Guatemalan family

Helga, the mother of the CS family had given me directions to their house and I found it after some looking, in a slightly nicer area, near the market. She had stayed home to welcome me and showed me to my room and around the house which surprisingly reminded me a lot of a German row home. Helga was trying to get some work done and I lay down for a nice siesta before the kids came home from school. Juan Miguel, the boy and the middle child, and I got of to a very good start playing Hacky Sack and talking about football. The two girls, Maria-Sarah and Olga, were a bit more quiet but very sweet once I got to know them a bit better. All of them were growing up speaking three languages, Spanish, German and English and were learning the Mayan language at school. Helga is a real power woman who manages her work as a psychologist and English teacher and is involved in community work next to being a great mom to her three kids, her two cats and her big dog.
I played a lot outside with the kids, teaching them how to hack the sack or just kicking football around. They invited me to share their meals, which is not at all to be taken for granted and I was involved in their family life right from the start. I walked the dog Lobo with Helga who was a very pleasant conversational partner, helped the kids clean the dishes after a meal and looked after them when Helga was at work. It was a great experience and I am really glad, that I met this wonderful family that reminded me a bit of my own a few years ago.
I went for a first swim in the lake which was refreshing but not as nice as I had thought because the water was quite polluted and I had to was it of under a shower back home. My bank gave me a headache and didn't let me withdraw money from my German card which was very annoying because the Australian bank charges me a lot more and I don't even know, what the problem was and I still haven't solved it...
I walked around town a lot, having a look at all the different vendors and bars that are far too many for the number of tourists passing through because the prime time of Panajachel is long over. It is almost sad to see all those colorful and nice looking places go down, seizing away with the tourism and the numbers of tourists in this area.
I made a veggie quiche on Saturday night and once again I was surprised by the low prices for produce in this country. I bought 3 big carrots, 2 zucchinis, spinach, 2 red peppers and a head of broccoli for about 1.50$ at the local market and each of them tasted better than the ones you buy in the supermarket! Helga had invited another German friend over to play some Skat which made me very happy because I hadn't played in a long time and it was one of my favorite games back in Germany. Unfortunately I had a bad day and lost to both of them by at least a hundred points...
On Sunday morning I joined Helga on a walk to Santa Catarina, a village about 4 km away. It was a nice little walk on the road along the lake offering great views onto the lake and it's surrounding volcanoes and villages. The highlight of the trip was a house on a cliff right above the lake that had a balcony extending out over the lake with a breathtaking view. We stood there for a while and I realized that this was when I actually fell in love with the lake. I had read a lot about it and that people had called it "heaven" and "one of the most beautiful places in the world" but I hadn't quite seen the beauty for myself. I have been to a few truly beautiful places and this was nice but not quite in the same league. Standing on top of that cliff overlooking the lake and it's surroundings everything changed for me. It was beautiful and majestic and it was only now that I could comprehend what the people I quoted before had meant.
We had very nice breakfast, delicious french toast made by Olga and my first coffee since I left the US, and a relaxing Sunday. In the later afternoon we visited a friend's dog and I went for another swim in the lake with Juan and when it got dark we played hide and seek outside.
I left them on Monday, one day later than I had planned, and I was sad to leave this beautiful family already because they had been so kind to me and offered me a wonderful time. Even the kids attempt to adopt me as an older brother didn't work (we were unsure about the legal issues) and so I had to say goodbye already but I was invited back whenever I was around in the area and I might even see them some time in Germany. Hopefully!

First steps

After a long and well earned sleep in a comfortable bed I had breakfast with Ancer and Katalina, packed my stuff together and followed Ancer a few blocks down the road to the next bus stop. He invited me to come back to his place when I was back in Guatemala City to pick up my check and showed me to the right bus.

I took one of the famous so called "chicken buses", old US school buses, that were very colorfully painted and decorated and by far the cheapest way to get around Central America. But the low price has a reason: Those buses get filled up until there is literally no space left at all and you have to share your seat with at least three other people and the drivers go nuts on the narrow and bendy roads. Most of the luggage gets  thrown on top of the roof where it sits during the hell ride without being tied down or secured at all. It definitely isn't something for the faint hearted or for someone who doesn't like to come close to other people (you are cuddling with strangers all the time) or expects some comfort but it is authentic, a real experience and quite amusing once you get over the being sat on.
The first bus I took wasn't even very full and the one hour ride to La Antigua Guatemala cost me just over 1$. I got off somewhere where I thought that it was Antigua (I was lucky that it actually was Antigua because there were no signs, it just felt right to get off) and started walking in the direction of the "Parque Central". I checked in at the "El gato negro" hostel close to the town center where I shared a dorm with a Norwegian and an American. I had been walking around with my backpacks for quite a bit  and that makes really hungry so I went to the market to get some fresh fruit. I scored 5 medium sized Mangoes for about 60 cents and feasted over them back at the hostel. The belly full with delicious and healthy fruits it was time for a siesta before I took off for a walk through town. Antigua was the old Spanish capital of Guatemala and it's beautiful houses and churches line the narrow streets and are overlooked by two majestic volcanoes in the south. The town is laid out in a logical grid system (like every planned city) with straight roads but it wasn't logical to me and every corner looked exactly the same to me and the fact that I couldn't find any street names made it very hard for me to to find my way around without loosing my orientation.
The Norwegian guy, Torbjorn and Nic, a girl from New Zealand joined me for dinner at a place that sold yummy mediteranian style like food. It felt good to be together with other travelers again, to share stories and give advice to one another. On our way back we stopped at a local bar for a Mojito from a nice English bar tender and heard a story from a guy who had been robbed that day, trying to climb one of the volcanoes on his own.
I had decided to leave the next day because, even though Anligua was pretty, I was looking for something different. A family from Panajachel on the shores of lake Atitlan had replied to my open couch request and invited me to stay with them for a couple of nights. The mother was from Germany and looking for someone who would speak German with her kids. I had been wanting to speak some German for quite a while (I felt that it was slipping my mind a little) so I accepted the invite gladly.
After a huge breakfast with Nic and Torblorn the latter joined me for the bus ride to the lake. We had to take a combination of different chicken buses and I was glad to have someone with me after all the stories and articles about robberies and kidnapping on public buses that people had sent me... We had to transfer three times and this time the buses were packed with locals but we made it in about three hours. Unfortunately I didn't look after my bag well enough and had my camera stolen out of the pocket. I only noticed it too late and I was really bummed about it. The camera had still been quite new and I had fallen in love with it, especially with the underwater mode. That explains the lack of pictures in this and the coming blog entries but I'll try to get some of other travelers  and the internet.

From Devils and Angels

It was my first day of traveling again after almost 2 months when bad luck hit me with what seemed to be all its might.
After only two and a half hours of sleep my alarm went of and I had to force myself to get out of bed even though my whole body was fighting that move. I showered and packed the last of my belongings into my bags before I woke up Dani and Michael who had agreed to take me to the airport. The drive there was horrible because my body was still protesting the fact that I had gotten up and I felt sick but my mind was exited and a bit anxious about the coming day and everything that was lying ahead of me.
Saying goodbye to Dani was very sad. During my month long stay we had built up a nice dynamic, almost like brother and sister, and we had really gotten used to each other being around.
I waited in line for a while and when it was my turn the lady at the front desk told me that I needed a ticket out of the country before they would let me board the plain and that I only had half an hour to get it before they closed the check in. Still tired, shocked and very annoyed I went to look for Internet but my search was unsuccessful and I returned to the ticketing counter where I bought an expensive (350$) but fully refundable ticket from Guatemala City to San Salvador.
A little bit more relaxed I boarded my flight and was surprised by pancakes and Yogurt for breakfast which lifted my spirits and made at least the hunger go away that I could try to sleep a bit.
After four hours I arrived in San Salvador where I waited for my connecting flight to Guatemala City. There was something wrong with the wheels of the plane and the stopover was more than an hour longer than it was supposed to but the flight itself was very short. We popped up through the clouds for only a very short time before the nose of the plane pointed downwards again and we touched down in Guatemala City.
I wanted to get the money for my ticket back as soon as possible and went looking for a TACA office (the airline I flew with). I only found the check in counters and the woman working there told me that I had to go to one of the TACA centers in the city to refund my ticket. She wrote down the locations and I had to take a completely overpriced taxi for the extremely short way to get there.
At TACA the next blow wasn't far. They didn't have any money and said that it would take at least two weeks to get everything processed and that I would have to come back then to pick up a cheque. There was nothing they could do about it and it was getting close to sunset so I had a look for a wifi hot spot to check the net for a cheap place to stay. I had hared and read a lot of warnings not to travel at night and especially not around the capital and to be honest with you I was getting a bit nervous and anxious with the night closing in and without a place to stay. The CS host who had already accepted me didn't get back to me about his address so I looked for hostels near the airport from where I could easily take a shuttle to Antigua the next day.
Checking my e-mail I then stumbled upon the invite of another CSer from Guatemala City who had contacted me while I was on the plane.
This is when things turned around and my usual luck kicked in that I had missed so badly...

I wrote down his number and went back to the TACA office where I asked to use their phone. After a brief chat with the CSer who still wanted to host me, I asked the woman who had brought me the phone and who's name was Ana Lucia, if she could talk to him to get the address because his directions were very confusing to me. She wrote it down and told me that a taxi would cost about 15$ and that if I wanted to save the money I could wait until the office closed (in two hours) and get a ride with her. I couldn't believe that she had just offered to take me, a complete stranger, in her car and drive me there and happy that things started to work out  I sat down and waited.
At about eight o'clock we left with another college in the back, whom Ana was giving a lift as well. The two of them gave me a little city tour through zone 1, the historic part of the city, with the cathedral and the huge presidents palace which now is a museum and that everyone calls "the avocado" due to its greenish color.
We dropped of her college and went through the drive in of a fast food restaurant (I hadn't eaten since 6 o'clock in the morning) where Ana insisted to buy me a burrito and a drink. I was baffled by the friendliness of this angel and offered her gas money and to invite her to the food but she said that she was just happy to help and that my destination was on her way back home. I left her with only her e-mail and the promise that she would always have a place to stay if she ever came to Germany which felt like a weak thank you for all she had done for me.
My host, Ancer, was a really cool guy with good English, a nice apartment and a beautiful Swedish girlfriend. After a refreshing shower we had a nice chat until 11 o'clock when I fell into bed and slept like a stone until Ancer woke me up in the morning. Unfortunately he was very busy and couldn't host me another night because I had a good time with him and he seemed to be a good guy.
Looking back that day was just one of those travel days that I already wrote about in an earlier post. It started off horribly and at times I thought that it couldn't come much worse but at the end of the day I was safe and snuggled up under a warm blanket with new friends. It really couldn't have been too bad...
I also realized once again that day, that a lot of problems come from the systems, the rules and the guidelines that our society has established but not from the people. Most people are really nice and even if they stand in your way sometimes it mostly is because they have to and not because they want.

One lucky man

On Monday I finished most of the preparations for my trip, went by Kenny's place to say goodbye to his parents and met up with a bunch of people for a farewell dinner in the evening. I was surprised and very happy to see how many had showed up and I felt so lucky and privileged to be surrounded by all those awesome people. Almost everyone from the LB area came. Dani, Kenny, Brenna, Lauren, Chris, Lindsay, Mike, Tom, Michael, Ivy, Mike, Leo, Eli, Shawn, Brianne, Bridget, Johnny and his partner were there to say goodbye and it made me very proud that I could call all these wonderful people my friends.
With a smaller group we went back to Dani's place, where I could have a beer too... and we had a partly sentimental but beautiful evening together. I also went to say goodbye to Della, Dani's mum, Joei, Kara and the dogs (Kaley wasn't there) who had taken really good care of me during my time here and had lovingly integrated me into the family.
It was not easy to say goodbye to every single friend in SoCal but I am sure that it won't be very long until I see them again.

Dave's Music Club

I have to apologize once again for not being up to date after such a long time doing not much but I am working on it. To prevent this from happening again I will skip the next two entries so that I can continue from where I am now. I will then try to stay up to date and eventually finish off the last posts about my time in the US which are already in the making but not quite done yet.
I also want to use this little post in between to promote the blog my brother Till created. It is a great platform for people who love music, music clips and the art of the written word to talk and share their thoughts. If you are into stuff like that I strongly recommend to take a good look. I love it!
http://davesmusicclub.wordpress.com/

Yosemite

Has it already been two months?