Authentic Guatemala

Chisec is off the road for many travellers but I wanted to go there to see the Candeleria caves which are supposed to be very beautiful caves partially filled with water that you can tube down or just explore. So after spending the night in one of the 2 hotels in Chisec, I checked out of my room, stored my backpack at the hotel´s bag check and caught a public minibus to Chisec. It was a nice ride through some of the countryside but when I got to the Candeleria caves I wasn´t able to enter because the caves were completely underwater because of all the rain they had in the night. So that was a bust and I decided to go and visit the Lagunas Sepalau, 3 lakes which my guidebook says are beautiful tourquoise lakes surrounded by steep limestone walls. I waited for a mini bus back to Chisec by the side of the road but when I hailed it and the door opened, it was full of people already. There were people standing in the trunk of the van, kids were crammed in the aisles in front of seats and people were standing in the little hollow near the door. I was motioned to climb in and I wedged myself into a tiny little space near the door. The helper who takes money from people on the bus actually went and rode on the back bumper of the van! There are 15 seats in a minibus and I counted 33 people crammed in there. It was really fun and I couldn´t help smiling to myself that I was crammed into this little van like a circus car filled with clowns. When I got back to Chisec I wasn´t able to find a bus out to the lakes so I caught a tuk-tuk (miny taxi) up the very bumpy dirt road to the lake. When I arrived at the lake, the guide seemed very surprised to see me and I was the only person there. But the guide was nice enough and paddled me around in a little wooden canoe for a while. The lakes were pretty and peaceful. The water was a lovely tourquoise colour in which you could see the reflection of the surrounding steep vegetation. (I never saw any limestone walls that my guidebook mentioned though). I did see 4 tucans fly overhead though. The lake was okay but I kind of wish I hadn´t gone to Chisec, it wasn´t really worth a day in Guatemala.

After I left the lake things got a little better, sort of. I had to wait by the side of the road for an hour for not a bus, but a pick-up truck before the guide came down and suggested I start walking 20 minutes up the road so at least I could buy a drink at a little store. Just after I started my walk a pick-up truck came by and they stopped to let me climb on. That´s right mom, I rode in the back of a pickup truck. Not just any truck though, a big truck with metal bars up the sides and a long bar running lengthwise down the truck for people to hang onto. I rode standing up, gripping these bars for the 9km down the bumpy dirt rode with a little boy and his grandmother. All the locals that we passed in the area pointed and laughed as I passed by or else the kids gave me dirty looks. The area I was in was very rural and poor. The people there spoke the indigenous languages and seemed to be fairly anti-white-people. One little kid shouted ¨tourismo¨ at me, which is my first experience of that kind. It was definetely authentic though and I got to see an area of Guatemala outside the tourist swath.

When I got back to Chisec I picked up my bag from the bag check and caught another public mini-bus into Coban, from where I planned to transfer to a bus to take me to Semuc Champey, a river with beatiful limestone falls. The bus I was on arrived at a traffic jam, pulled over and the nice driver told me to get off and join another van of tourists who were unloading their stuff from their van. I wasn´t too sure what was happening but I got off and the driver of the other van took my backpack and motioned me to follow him. I soon saw why the traffic jam was there. The rain from the hurricane had flooded the road and there was a stretch of about 200 meters of flooded road. I followed the driver and waded into the water which soon reached my waist. The rest of the people on the tourist bus waded in after with some hesistation. It was hilarious, a real adventure. Then we all climbed into the back of a huge truck, I don´t know what to call it but it was an industrial truck with a flatbed sort of. I rode in the back of the truck with the wind in my face for about 10 minutes having the time of my life. We reached another area of the road we needed to fiord and then we finally reached a van that was waiting to take us to Semuc Champey. We drove and arrived in Semuc Champey at night time. The delay in the road had cost us some time and we were driving in the dark which was freaky because you´re really not supposed to drive at night in Guatemala. All along the road were political signs for the upcoming election (which are spray painted all over the country) but these had been crossed out with competing parties symbols which is the only time I´ve seen that in Guatemala so far. We began to psych ourself out in the van before arrived in this tranquil little town where I was dropped off at my hotel. (If you´re thinking this is a long post... it was a really long day).

The hostel I chose to stay at was very cool. It had little cabins all over and a very open atmosphere with internet and a communal dinner and a bar all set up for travellers to meet and chat. It was also fitted out with eco-toilets so it had a bit of a hippie traveller vibe but I didn´t mind. Soon after I checked in though, I discovered that my travel pouch with my passport, credit card, bank card and some money was missing from my backpack. I figure it was taken from my backpack while it was in the hotel bag check because when I called my hotel they claimed that it was not left in my room. The other option is that it was taken while I was on one of my many buses, but I kept a very close eye on my bag during the trip, and was lucky enough to travel with some very nice drivers and I don´t think it happened on the bus.

So I freaked out because my flight was on Saturday and it was now Thursday night. I was also unable to make calls to the embassy or airport or to my credit card from the hostel so I was forced to do nothing. Everyone at the hostel was very nice and if I ever have a chance I will go back to that hostel because I imagine that under better circumstances I would have a very good time there. I calmed down after a little cry and hung out in my hammock and down at the bar listening to some travellers playing guitar before I turned in.

I left early the next morning to head to the Canadian embassy in Guatemala city without ever getting to see Semuc Champey which is a real shame. At a short break in the bus ride I was able to call the Canadian embassy and ask them to start the process of making up a new passport but the phone call was cut off and I couldn´t reach them again so I just had to board the bus. The bus ride was about 7 hours and when we got close to Guatemala city and it was nearing 4:00 ( I thought the embassy closed at 5) I asked to borrow someone´s cell phone to make the call. A few very helpful people lent me their phone and helped me track down the number for the embassy, which was impossible to find. When I finally got the right number I learned that the embassy had closed at 1:30 and wouldn´t be open on the weekend. My biggest regret of the whole ordeal is that I didn´t stay in Semuc Champey and see the damn river, oh well. So I skipped Guatemala city and headed to Antigua where I am now. I was able to reach my parents, credit card and to change my flight for a measly $21 to this coming Wednesday. More ordeal with the whole process followed today though. My wonderful parents wired me some money through Western Union. However, since my passport had been stolen I visited 3 out of 4 Western Union locations in Antigua that told me that without id they could not give me any money and I should go to a different bank. By the time I tried the fourth back I had bust into tears in one office and had tears running down my cheek as I waited in an enormous line in the street to get into a bank that closed at 1:00. Oh yeah, it was 12:30 and I´d already spent the rest of the morning waiting for ever in other banks. It was not a good moment. Thankfully, I explained to the woman at this bank what had happened and showed her a photocopy of my passport, and she processed the transaction with very little fuss.

I now have enough money to get me through the next few days, and maybe even book a tour or two. I´ve paid for my hotel in advance just in case and I am finally relaxed. Oh, and this afternoon I filed a police report, lol. First I went to the tourist police office where they were very nice and I filled out a form. They then drove me to the national police station where I told the police officer my story and he filled out the offical report. I told him that I thought that theft occured at my hotel in Chisec, but could have happend on the bus. From that he told me that he wanted to write that the theft had occured on the bus from Guatemala city to Antigua, which it definetely had not. I said no, it happened in Chisec and he wrote a report saying the theft occured on the bus from Chisec to Cabon (no mention of the hotel where it probably happened). The whole thing is just a formality really for the embassy and just in case my passport is turned in. But they say the police are corrupt in Guatemala, and I can definetely verify that they aren´t always truthful. He gave me a copy of the report and showed me the door and I had to find my way back to the main town though it wasn´t far. I prefer the tourist police.

So anyways, I am now staying in Antigua until my flight on Wednesday and will go to the embassy on Monday to apply for a new passport. Antigua is my favorite city in Guatemala so I´m really not too unhappy with the whole situation. It´s been stressful but I´ve managed and I´m staying in the really cute hotel with cable tv and breakfast included for $9 a night. Not too bad really. Anyways, later.