Travel Chapter 28-Guatemala and the Panama Canal

Pictures for this chapter can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Guatemala12009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNyh35LkpMzb8gE&feat=directlink

We docked early in the morning of April 28th in Puerto Quetza, Guatemala. The ship schedule originally had us arriving in Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific coast at 11am. We complained that this late arrival would mean that the day would be half wasted so they agreed to speed up to arrive earlier. Customs and immigration formalities were handled smoothly. The US embassy sent a couple of junior officers to do a diplomatic briefing which told little about the country other than that everyone was killing everyone else and that one should be street smart. This tracked the warning that the SAS leadership had given earlier. These had even Emmett traumatized about going ashore in such civil war-like conditions. They really do an excellent job of scaring the kids but I suppose their lawyers advise them to give all these dire warnings to cover their asses just in case some kids get into trouble. “We told you so”. It puts all the kids in a defensive mode and I am sure many of them did not even leave the ship because they were afraid for their lives.

Sure, it is true that there are killings and that there is corruption and that there are gang wars and that there are drug wars and that there are muggings. But, that is also the case in New York, Washington and LA. By now these kids are pretty street smart having gone around the world so they really do not need to be made too scared about that these things. By now the kids do not even take the warnings seriously because they have heard them so often that they are starting a new game of bingo where the blocks are made of the standard litany of warnings made at each port. At the briefings, if they go, one hears all of a sudden someone yell, Bingo. They have touched all the buttons on their cards. I agree that they should be made aware but not made scared. If they get scared they are not street smart and they will not enjoy the visits to these countries. If the management is so scared about the situation in a country they should not stop there. A level of violence could be posted and left at that. I one cries wolf too often, no one listens.

We were off the ship by 10 am but then had to wait for an hour and half until the Ecuadorians could find the key to the lock on some gate to let us out of the port area. The ship was parked in the industrial part of the port as the one passenger terminal was taken up by the condo ship The World. This meant we had to be bussed around the port to what is called the passenger terminal where cars, taxis and busses are allowed to await passengers. It was very irritating to be sitting around but then we were back in Manana country. What kind of a bad impression to give to 800 arriving persons that they are so disorganized that we cannot even get out of the port.

We finally were given the go-ahead and the busses took us from the commercial port where we were parked over to the passenger terminal. There we ran into Wally and Sonia. After greetings all around, we jumped into their car and headed up the hill. We went from Sea Level to 1550 meters. It was a nice drive and up the hill to Antigua. When we arrived after an hour and half in Antigua and opened the car door in front of Wally
House, it was such a pleasant change of cool air after the stifling heat at the port.

The house itself was only 3 years old but it had been in true colonial style as were all the houses in this development. Even the roof tiles collaborate and grow moss within a year giving them a sheen and a look of a Spanish colonial time house. Inside, the house was spacious and nicely laid-out with a lovely courtyard with a fountain and running water. It even had a nice Guatemalan hammock. Wally and Sonia had collected a lot of art from around the world and he house was decorated with many fine pieces. Wally has his house on the market and you can see it at:
http://www.century21casanova.com/view_detail.php?propID=A88

Having seen it, I would recommend it and I am not even getting a commission…

We headed out to lunch at a small restaurant nearby called Epicure and had a light lunch at this very nice and airy place. It is run by a former farm equipment salesman who bought a farm near Antigua from which is supplies most of the food for his restaurant.

In the afternoon, Emmett and his extended shipboard family along with their extended family parents, Sage and John had planned a trip to a nearby coffee plantation which had a zip line operation. We dropped Emmett off in front of the Cathedral and the whole family of 10 set off in Jeepmog’s to the plantation.

We decided to go to the same plantation to see it and to have a cup of coffee. We found Emmett’s group ready to head into the mountain for their zip lining. We enjoyed a fine cup of coffee on the patio of the main building looking off in the distance at some of the local volcanoes. Antigua was the second capital of Guatemala after the first; Ciudad Vieja was totally destroyed by water flooding out of a collapsed volcano. Then in the 18th century, Antigua itself was destroyed by a major earthquake and the capital was once more relocated, this time to Guatemala City. Antigua was abandoned and fell into total disrepair until the middle of the 20th century when people started to return to the city and rebuilt what had been destroyed. Today, it is the jewel of Guatemala and the home of a lot of the money of Guatemala and of many expats who decided to settle there. It is about 1.5 hours from the capital so it also serves as a week-end place for many from the huge bustling Guatemala city. We were told that traffic in the city on week-ends is impossible. The city it self made us immediately think of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where we spent several weeks last winter. The layout is the same with a large Cathedral off the main square and city hall off on the main street. The main difference is that Antiqua is smaller and rather flat compared to San Miguel with its very steep streets. The city is a major centre of Spanish language schooling with hundreds of little schools throughout the town. It is a big business which has also developed a parallel housing business for the students who stay there. As the Guatemalans speak a soft Spanish without the lilt and accent of places like Mexico or Cuba, it offers foreigners the possibility to study the language while living with local families.

Later we picked up Emmett in town and went out to dinner at an Argentinean restaurant. For a small town, there is an amazing number of restaurants. The town itself still shows the ruins of many churches, hospitals and convents which were never rebuilt after the earthquakes. It adds an eerie feeling to the city and the ruins are considered part of the heritage of this city.

At 0400 the next morning, Emmett and I were picked up by a microbus to transfer to the airport in Guatemala city for a flight to Flores in the north of the country. From there we were again picked up for an hours drive to the site of the Mayan Tikal site. Emmett had studied this site in school and was very interested in visiting it. B and I had been there on our previous visit so B opted not to do the visit again. This turned out to be a wise decision on her part at the visit is rather strenuous. It takes one along jungle trails for about a mile to the main site, then along smaller trails to other ruins which are very impressive but by 11am it got very hot and the trails got smaller with boulders and roots making walking difficult. We visited the whole site and Emmett climbed up every pyramid available which was no mean feat. After walking for 4 hours, we were given a good lunch and we headed back to Flores for our flight back to Guatemala city and then on with a microbus to Antigua.

We got back to Antigua at around 8pm tired but it had been a great day which is certainly worth the effort. We had dinner at home and we all hit the beds early to catch up on the sleep we did not get that day. It was nice to sleep in a house after so many months of ship cabin life broken only occasionally with nights on trains or in hotels. Home cooking and being in a house is totally different from canteen food and spaces shared with many others. Of course, the attraction on the ship is that there are always people with whom one can spend time talking, chatting or discussing. Also the academics on board do offer a rich tapestry of knowledge from which one can learn. There is usually someone on board who, if not an expert on a matter, at least knows a lot about subjects under discussion. The kids also offer a lively forum for talks and discussions and views. This is why we went back to the semester at sea formula as it offers a unique time and type of voyage not found on the standard cruise ships.

The next morning, Wally produced some of his signature pancakes which were well appreciated. We visited a jade museum con store. Guatemala has some of the best jade and the Mayan tradition of using Jade as jewelry is alive and well in Guatemala. The Mayans worked jade which was revered as a good luck stone. There are theories that maintain that the Chinese learned to work Jade from their contacts with the Mayans and also theories that the Mayans learnt it from the Chinese who visited this area in 1421, long before the Europeans arrived. The fact that the chickens used by these people are Asian breeds is one of the indications of contacts between the Chinese and this part of the Americas.

In the afternoon, after a nice lunch overlooking the ruins of the Antigua capital, we headed down to the coast to rejoin the ship. Sonia and Wally left us at the passenger drop off point and we returned to the ship after a nice visit.

We headed south for the next 2 days towards the Panama canal where we were promised a day passage. We had gone through twice before but each time at night so this was a new experience. The students wrote their last exams in those 2 days so there was still tension in the air.
On the third day at 0800 we were heading into the Mira Flores locks on the Pacific side of the Canal. I always find going through a canal with locks is a special experience as I am impressed to watch such huge bulks like ships rise and fall within the closed area of the locks. The crossing of the inside lake Gatun was like boating down the Amazon as the lake is surrounded by very heavy tropical forests. At times, the canal in the lake is very narrow and there is work now being done to widen the channels. Also, one can see at both ends of the canal that work has started on building the new locks which will allow the canal to accommodate the larger and newer ships.

On our crossing which took very little time (the shortest ever according to Captain Jeremy) we saw only 4 ships going west. This explains our fast crossing as there was no waiting at either the Pacific or Caribbean locks. This is no doubt the result in the dramatic drop in shipping due to the recession which has reduced shipping by some 25% worldwide. The Canal authority is so sensitive to this drop in tonnage that they are currently reducing the canal fees.

We are now underway to Fort Lauderdale our last stop. We will be passing just west of Cuba tomorrow morning and we will be docking at 0800 May 6th. The trip is really over and everybody on board is now packing and getting ready to disembark. Goodbyes are everywhere and one sees a lot of hugging going on as friends made on the voyage say good-bye. Emmett is running frantically making sure he sees his whole fan club before the end. He has been busy all day with various activities. He will miss his networking which he has developed to a fine art. But everybody on the ship will have to readjust to their normal lives after 3 months of travel together.
I will write a final contribution when we get home to Virginia and I have some time to take in this wonderful experience which I would hope to do again in the not too distant future.