A First And A Third - The End Of Our Caminos

From the thirtieth of May to the fifth of July, the Wife and I walked across northern Spain from Burgos to Fisterra, completing the Wife's first Camino and my third.  I think the Wife had a similar experience to what I had on my first Camino.  Doing anything that you thought you couldn't do is life changing and I think I'm right to say the Wife's life was changed.  My third Camino, for me, was very different, and this post will dwell on that a bit.

When you leave Burgos you start the meseta.  The meseta is a region of Spain similar to Kansas – flat, featureless, and covered in farm fields.  Some pilgrims skip the meseta, but that would be a mistake in my opinion.  It is a part of the Camino where your mind is allowed to wander.  For the nearly two weeks we were on the meseta, I felt two things: "Been there, done that" and "My second Camino had completed my experience. Why was I doing this again?"  My thoughts went to more sad things I associated with the Camino, namely G_v's death.  It was a rough time for me.  I tried my best not to let my feelings interfere with the Wife's experience but I have never been very good at suppressing my feelings.  Even so, we managed to visit some of my favorite spots on the meseta and the Wife has said the meseta was her favorite part.

By the time we reached the unofficial end of the meseta in León, I had come to realize that I was looking at this Camino wrong.  This was not my third Camino, it was the Wife's first Camino.  From that point on I thought of it solely as that, the Wife's first Camino.  My role was to support her and ensure she experienced the whole Camino.  From then on I felt better and the Camino experience felt right.

I was in charge of planning the daily stages.  We were walking shorter stages, averaging 10.2 miles (16.4 km) per day – I averaged 14.3 miles (23.0 km) per day on my first Camino.  Shorter stages allowed us to visit more places along the Camino.  We visited places that I'd enjoyed before as well as places I'd never been to before.  We had the albergue experience (pilgrim hostel experience) as well and the private room with/without a private bath experience (we indulged in more private room experiences than I'd had on my previous Caminos combined).  We had short days and inadvertent long days (I took a wrong turn leaving León and added 3.4 miles to an already long 13 mile day – our longest day on the Camino.).

The Wife handled the walking like a pro.  This was her first multi-day, multi-mile hike.  We were concerned with her feet as they had stopped us in 2023, but with a wider shoe, the Wife had no issues at all.  Well, she did have very large blisters on the outside of each big toe, but she said they didn't hurt at all.  After consulting a pharmacist, we drained the fluid.  We had to do this twice, as I wasn't aggressive enough in my treatment the first time, and the blisters refilled.  After doing it for a second time, the blisters were gone and didn't return.  As for my feet, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't lose any of my toenails. This was the first long hike without losing any.  I credit that to the shoes I was wearing.  I may post about them later.

I have to say that I am very proud of the Wife.  Even on the hard days, days when it was hot, humid, or cold, she never complained.  Having said this, we both have concluded that this will be our last multi-day, multi-mile hike ever again.  We still have a lot more things to see in the world that don't require us to walk ourselves into the ground.

The Wife's Camino - Part Two - Getting To The Start (Burgos),

The Wife's Camino is starting on a good note.  Our Lyft driver was early, our flight to Chicago and Madrid were on time, and we managed to get on an earlier bus which got us to Burgos two hours early.  On top of that the weather is over 80℉ (27℃) and while there is rain in the forecast over the next few days, it is afternoon rain which means we have plenty of time to get to where we're going before the rain starts.

I definitely didn't pack well this time.  It seems I have more stuff and not enough stuff sacks.  I also think I have a lot more weight which doesn't make since.

We are both strangely sore and stiff after getting here which I'm sure will not make tomorrow very fun.  We are walking just under 8 miles (12.8 km) which isn't too long but will surely kill us.

I hope we don't look and feel like this guy in Burgos.

After today, WIFI will be sketchy at best and cell data will be slow, if not non-existent.  Posting will be unpredictable.

Weekly Ephemera #141

I skipped last week's Ephemera post because I was out of town last weekend.  Time to catch up.

• Last weekend we went to Minneapolis, to celebrate one of the Wife's cousin's First Communion.  We stayed at the Matron of Honor's (MoH) and Best Man's (BM) new house.  Their new house is very nice and is perfect for them.  The long weekend was full of family and conversation and I had a good time.
  
  The first communion was nice and the after-party with family was fun and full of food.  The Godson's and Deacon's families are great and fun to be with.
  
  On Monday we joined the MoH and BM and went antiquing and booking in Stillwater, MN.  It was a bit drizzly but we had a great time looking for treasures.  Sadly, none were found.
• I finally took pictures of the rest of our magnets.  Naturally, a day later I came across three more magnets hiding on my desk in the den.  I will be posting a couple travel magnet posts later this week.
• Our travel agent called this week and told us the September tour dates for our Greek, Albania, Macedonia trip fell through.  Fortunately, there are dates in early October that will work so she is reworking all the hotel reservations and Athens tours.
• Moving the trip will let me go to Rilo Kiley's reunion tour at the Astro.  Looking forward to that.
• I walked three times over the last two weeks.  I walked a total of 27.9 miles (44.9 km).   I skipped a couple walking days to get some chores I'd put off far too long.
• I started watching "Andor" season 2.  I like it so far.  Also watching the current series of "Doctor Who".  I'm also working through a show on Amazon.  "ALTER Collection" is an anthology horror series where each episode is themed and consists of four to ten short films.  They are a bit hit or miss and some are surely movie school projects but they are holding my interest.
  
  On Friday the Wife and I went to see "Sinners".  I have mixed feelings.  The music, setting, and ambiance were spot on but the horror felt a bit off.  There are many layers in the movie and it's worth a view.
  
  Since the conclave is this Wednesday I figured I'd better see "Conclave" so I watched it today.  The three cardinals vying for the position of Pope reminded me of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Visually stunning at times, loved Ray Fiennes, but the final twist was not necessary.

P.S.  Happy Anniversary to the Wife's Niece and Husband!  To everyone else, I hope the 4^th was with you today.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Thirteen And Fourteen - Ending On A Good Note

Saturday - 02/22 - Tikal

Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and watched the oddball attendees of the Tikal Convergence who were staying at our hotel.  The people attending were shamans, shaman wanna bes, and shaman cosplayers.  The colorful costumes and flowing fabric was an overload for the senses and common sense.

A ceiba tree.

Our bus picked us up and took us to Tikal national park, home of one of the larger Mayan complexes.  I'd been there twice before back in the 70s.  Things had changed a bit.  It is better organized and accessibility to the temples has been improved.

Our tour guide spoke great English and we were in a small group.  We entered the park and walked past the enormous ceiba trees to the main temple complex.

It felt a bit smaller than I remember but I was a bit smaller back then so everything felt bigger.  Our guide gave us time to wander around the two main temples and the adjacent structures.  Since I was here last they'd built a wooden staircase and platform on one of the temples to make it easier to climb.  It started showering while we were there but it didn't interfere with us enjoying the temples.

The temple complex seen from the top of one of the temples.

We met back up with the guide and we visited other temples that were only partially uncovered including one that gave you a panoramic view of the jungle and the tops of temples.  All in all the tour was very good and it was a great ending to our Guatemala trip.  Tikal was just as magnificent as I remembered it.

The top of the jungle with several temples poking above the treetops.

We stopped for lunch in the park before heading out through the gift shop.  The bus dropped us off at the airport.  I remember it just being a grass strip but it is now an international airport.

We returned to Guatemala City and spent our last night in Guatemala.

Sunday - 02/23 - Returning Home

We had a relaxing morning at the hotel before going to the airport for our afternoon flight home.  The return was uneventful.

Epilogue

I was somewhat concerned about visiting the country where I'd grown up.  My memories of this place were a messy amalgamation of good and bad.   My high school years were not the best for me.  I worried I would sink into a gloomy place but that never happened.  I found myself enjoying return to my old haunts even if I couldn't visit my old house.

Things change and a lot has changed in Guatemala.  Most of the changes, I suspect, are more a result of foggy memory than actual change.  The City definitely was more built up but the countryside, besides the fast food signs, was what I remembered.  The roads were better and towns had grown.  The influence of tourism, especially in the western Mayan Highlands, was more pronounced.

The new parts, for me, were disappointing.  The eastern part of the country still hasn't been prepared for foreign tourism yet.  As a result, our experience during our second week was a bit lackluster.  It was also unfortunate, and beyond anyone's control, that the rain in Rio Dulce ruined what could have been a highlight of the trip.

The Wife dragged me kicking and screaming back to the country of my teenage years and I am very grateful she did.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Eleven And Twelve - One Good ... One Not So Much

Thursday - 02/20 - One good day.

We had breakfast at the hotel and caught a boat to the mainland.  Today we would go to Quiriguá, a Mayan site known for its carved stela.  Originally we would have visited Quiriguá on our way from Copán to Rio Dulce but ... things happened so we made the roughly hour and a half trip from Rio Dulce.

A carved altar at Quiriguá.

It was a really warm day when we got to Quiriguá.  We started in the small but well marked museum.  Our 'guide' tried to explain things but we pretty much just read the signs instead of listening to his broken English.

A procession of leafcutter ants.

A Quiriguá Stele.

After the museum we walked through the ceremonial, commercial, and royal Mayan complex.  The highlights were the stela.  The whole complex is rather small - considered medium sized for a Mayan community - but it was interesting.  We also managed to see a little wildlife, namely iguanas and leafcutter ants (who paraded across the path with their bannerlike leaf fragments held high.

We bought some items at the tiendas outside the museum before heading back to Rio Dulce.  Here we stopped at the castle of San Felipe de Lara.  The Spanish fort is situated at the narrows where the Rio Dulce connects to lake Izabal.  The fort was used to stop pirates sailing in from the Caribbean into the lake but the fort was also a target for the pirates as well.  It was relatively small but it was pretty cool.  Definitely worth the visit.

The canons of fort San Felipe de Lara.

After a very satisfying day we returned to our hotel for the evening.

Friday - 02/21 - Why are we doing this?

A parting photo of the hotel bungalows.

Today we were scheduled to take a boat right along the Rio Dulce from the city of Rio Dulce to Livingston.  Along the way we would see a lot of nature, wildlife, and get a view of the fort from the water side.  I was really looking forward to this but, five minutes out from the hotel, the rain began to fall and the Wife and I had to retreat under a large black plastic sheet to keep ourselves dry.  It came down pretty hard.  The water was a little rough and now I know what it's like to be in a garbage bag, in the rain, while being spanked - something I really didn't need to know.  I peeked out from under our plastic covering and saw several things that, on a rainless day would have made incredible pictures (for example, five cormorants skimming the water with reeds in the background - looked awesome) but it was not rainless and my camera does not like water.

We arrived in Livingston, a town with a mixed Mayan, Afro-Caribbean, and Latino population.  It was still raining and we had our umbrellas (our unprepared 'guide' did not have an umbrella or any rain protection at all).  We walked up the main street looking at ... nothing in particular.  After a while we stopped at a hotel to use the facilities and our 'guide' suggested getting drinks at the bar.  The Wife and I looked at him like he was crazy.  We asked if there was anything in Livingston we should see and he said no (!?!).  At this point we asked to go back to the boat.

Even the Livingston sign looked tired and weary.

We got back in the boat and covered up against the rain.  The 'guide' and the boat captain tried to point things out to us but we both had had enough.  We remained covered through most of the return trip even when they tried to show us birds and iguanas on various islands while it continued to rain.  They suggested going to see the fort from the water and we said no.  The rain had washed away any enthusiasm we had left.

The fact is, any guide with any experience would have looked at the weather forecast and would have canceled this boat ride.  It was a total waste of time.  If the weather would have been good I know I would have thoroughly enjoyed it, it would have been a highlight of the trip, and I would have had dozens of awesome pictures to post but the weather sucked.  Our 'guide', once again, had no plan B and hadn't even checked to see if we wanted to continue with the bad weather coming.  Very disappointed.

Lake Petén Itzá through the jungle from our hotel balcony.

We picked up our bags and went back to the mainland where our 'guide' handed us off to another driver who would take us to Flores and Tikal.  The drive was three hours and it was a nice ride.  Our driver spoke better English and the hours passed by quickly.  We arrived at our hotel on the shore of lake Petén Itzá.  The view from our room looked out through the jungle to the lake.

Tomorrow we would be going to Tikal and hopefully we would have a better last couple days in Guatemala.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Eight, NIne, And Ten - Things Move Sideways ... To The East

Monday - 02/17 - On the way to Cobán.

We'd reached the halfway point of our trip.  Behind us were all the places I'd been before.  Behind us was a surprisingly good week.  The second week would be a new experience for me.  New places and new experiences.  I couldn't wait.

We were picked up at our hotel in Guatemala City.  We had a new guide.  He was quite different from our previous guide.  For one, his English was very sketchy (at best).  Based on the confused look on his face, he was having difficulty understanding me as well.  Over the next five days we would become unsure if our 'guide' was a guide or just a handler.  He took us out to our bus ... yes, an actual short, forty-ish passenger bus ... for a driver, a guide, and two guests.  It was very comfortable but way too big for the places we would be going.  The driver spoke no English.

The only bird we saw at the bird sanctuary ... not a Quetzal.

We left Guatemala City and headed east.  I'd never been east of the city before.  I was looking forward to seeing new things.  Our first stop was the Ranchito del Quetzal.  Here we would see the Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala.  The first thing we discovered upon arrival is that none of the local guides spoke English.  The second thing we discovered is that there were no Quetzales at the Ranchito del Quetzal.  Apparently at this time of the year the Quetzal moves to higher altitudes.  For the next hour or so we followed our local guide as he whistled bird calls and pointed out the types of venomous snakes in the sanctuary (not very comforting to the Wife), large hummingbirds (the only actual birds we saw here), lizards, and waterfalls.  I did my best to translate the local guide's explanations to the Wife as our guide didn't do squat.  We ended up going through the shop (no magnets!?) and purchased a very nice painting of Mayan women.  I wanted a t-shirt but they did not have my size.

Waterfalls ... without Quetzals.

My question, at this point is why were we brought here?  Our guide was surprised that there were no Quetzals and that the local guide did not speak English.  One phone call from our guide would have fixed that.  Was it worth our time to stop there?  Was there an alternative?  I truly doubt our guide took the basic steps to ensure it was worth our while.

A tiny little orchid dwarfed by its leaf.

The next stop was Orquigonia, an orchid sanctuary.  The sanctuary is in a restored forest surrounded by clear cut hills.  Orquigonia has over five hundred varieties of orchids that have been painstakingly gathered from all around Guatemala.  The sanctuary is known for having the White Nun orchid, the national flower of Guatemala.  Of course we arrive here to find that the White Nun does not bloom at this time of year.  We also find out that the local guide ... doesn't speak English.  Once again I translated everything for the Wife with no help from our guide.  We did see a lot of orchids and the view from the sanctuary lookout tower was pretty so visiting the sanctuary was definitely worth it.  I learned a lot including how small some are (they give everyone a magnifying glass at the beginning of the tour).  We bought a very nice homemade magnet before leaving.

Another orchid, similar to the White Nun ... but not the White Nun.

We arrived at our destination for the next two nights, Cobán.  Cobán is a working class city.  When you read about what there is to see in Cobán, the first thing they do is have you leave the city.  Our bus stopped at a hotel and we got out.  We tried to check in but it turned out to be the wrong hotel.  Once again, our guide (and driver) didn't have a clue.  You would think they would have checked the address of the hotel before we arrived.  We got back on the bus and drove another five minutes to our actual hotel.  Our hotel was split in two by a busy street.  One side had the main desk, restaurant, gardens, and rooms.  The other part was a small number of rooms around the parking lot.  Guess where we ended up.  They told us it was the quietest part of the hotel but that kinda fell flat with us.

We ate dinner at the hotel and went to bed hoping the next day would be better.

Tuesday - 02/18 - Semuc Champey.

Usually your guide would let you know where we were going and what we would need for the day.  Our guide, for some reason, did not want to talk to us about anything.  We knew we were going to the natural pools of Semuc Champey.  I had an image of a resort/spa where we would rent towels, change in nice changing rooms, and swim in the pools.  What we actually got was not as nice as I'd imagined.

Spring water fed pools.

Our bus dropped us off at a convenience store where we got in a pickup.  The pickup had been hired since the road to the pools would have been difficult for the bus to handle.  The pickup dropped us at the entrance of Semuc Champey.  There were few amenities here.  Rough bathrooms.  No towels to rent.  Only street food to eat which, in Guatemala, was an invitation to Montezuma to have his revenge.

The Cahabón river flows under the pools to the lower left.

We walked down a muddy, rocky path which took us to the pools.  The pools are actually pretty cool.  The Cahabón River passes underneath/through a limestone bridge/tunnel 984 ft (300 m) long.  On top of this bridge/tunnel are spring fed pools that flow into each other.  The water is bluish green and very clear.

We changed into our bathing suits in a rickety changing room with muddy floors.  Our guide kept our stuff as we entered the sun warmed pools.  Every surface near and in the pools was smooth, slimy, and very slippery.  This would never pass muster in the US.  The liability alone would shut it down.  I explored the pools and looked at where the river went under the pools.  It was pretty cool.  The Wife had water shoes and I did not.  I just wore my hiking shoes.  I was able to keep my feet under me until I entered a pool to join the Wife and totally lost my footing.

With 20-20 hindsight I should have taken the scenic trail we'd passed on the way to the pools that went up a strenuous half kilometer trail to a viewpoint overlooking the pools.  I think getting a picture from up there would have been more enjoyable for me than slipping and sliding around the pools.

We returned to Cobán for showers and dinner at the hotel.  I can't say I had the best time at Semuc Champey.  The whole place felt like a let down but I don't know if the issue was Semuc Champey or my attitude at the time.  If my expectations have been calibrated properly and I'd done my own research, I think I would have enjoyed it more.  The place is going to change in the next few years.  A new, nicely paved road now leads to the entrance to the park and it is just a matter of time before it becomes more resort/spa like.  Good?  Bad?  Time will tell.

Wednesday - 02/19 - On the way to Copán Rio Dulce.

We got up early because we had a long driving day ahead of us.  We would be crossing the border into Honduras and spending the night near the Mayan complex of Copán.  We left with bag breakfasts and a warning from our guide that there were rumors of protests along the way.

Not long after leaving Cobán we slowed to a stop in some small town where, sure enough, they were protesting the state of the roads.  As part of their protest they blocked the road.  Going around the obstruction would have required a four wheel drive vehicle or nine hours of driving.  It took our driver and guide three to four hours to figure out what we would do.  Once again, our guide did not have any plan Bs.

Finally, after sitting on the bus for hours (except when we went to the convenience store for a snack), we turned around and headed to Rio Dulce.  Copán was officially off our itinerary.  Rio Dulce would have been our stop at the end of Thursday.  Instead we would stay there for two days.

The setting sun with a bungalow similar to ours silhouetted.

We arrived in Rio Dulce shortly after 5:00pm after eleven hours on the bus.  We caught a boat that took us to Catamaran island where our hotel was located.  We ended up in a bungalow on pylons over the river.  The hotel was very nice and full of American expats.  The first one we met was from Council Bluffs, IA - across the river from where we live - small world.  The 'Yacht rockers', as the Wife referred to them, were a bit cliquey and lost interest in us once they found out we hadn't gotten there by boat.

This whole day was a bust. We spent most of it stuck inside our too-big bus watching the countryside go by.  In the end we ended up in a very nice hotel watching the sun go down and the lights of Rio Dulce turning on for the evening.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Six And Seven - Antigua

Saturday - 2/15 - The night of the candles.

We left lake Atitlán and drove to the old capital of Guatemala.  Antigua was the Spanish capital of the region from the 1500s until 1773 when it received major damage from an earthquake.  Three years later the capital was moved to where Guatemala City is currently located.  Our guide/driver dropped us at our sprawling hotel.

A small part of the plaza filled with candles.

The Wife wanted to go to early Mass the next day so, after eating dinner at the hotel, we scouted out the short route to the central plaza where the cathedral was located.  The sun was going down and the central plaza was filled with candles.  This was part of the festival of candles where the plaza and some side streets are lit up with candles, food and crafts are sold on the streets, and people mingle.  We did some shopping just off of the plaza before heading back to our hotel.  The candles would have been prettier if we'd stayed until it was darker but we are reverse vampires and are rarely out when it is dark.

Sunday - 2/16 - A walking tour of Antigua.

The Wife got up at 5:00am and walked to the cathedral for Mass.  When she returned around an hour and a half later we went to breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and met up with our driver/guide.  He parked the van closer to the central plaza and, from there, we started a walking tour of Antigua.  We visited churches, former churches used as hospitals, tree lined streets, old colonial buildings, and earthquake damaged ruins (both old earthquakes and the big one of 1976).  Antigua was much more touristy than I remembered.  Homes in some areas were very expensive.  Everything felt bigger and more crowded than what I remembered.  As we walked we noticed Fuego volcano burping smoke and ash.

An earthquake damaged church.

We ended up at the central plaza where we took a short break in the shade  before we visited a jade factory.  Everything at the factory store was beautiful and expensive.  We decided not to purchase anything there.  We did stop at an indoor artisan market not far from where our van was parked.  We didn't find anything we wanted there either.  I looked at a 'jade' mask but I don't believe it was actually jade and the seller said it was and priced it as if it were.  I walked away when he showed be a cheap looking reproduction of a reproduction.

An arch used by cloistered
nuns to cross the street.

We stopped at a food place and bought some sandwiches and snacks for the road we got back in the van and headed back to Guatemala City.

Up to this point we'd visited places I 'd been before.  We had a great guide who knew his stuff and was very talkative.  The weather also cooperated.  We really enjoyed what we'd seen and done and it was interesting to me seeing how things had changed and how my memory played tricks on me. Next week we would be going to places I'd never been before.  I'd never been in the eastern part of Guatemala and everything we saw this week was in the west.  I was really looking forward to seeing new things.  Unfortunately the luck we'd had the first week did not continue during our second.  

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Five And Six - Lake Atitlán

Friday - 02/14 - Arriving to Lake Atitlán

We left the market in Solola and drove to Guatemala's second largest lake, Lake Atitlán.  On the way we stopped at a viewpoint.  From here you could see the volcanoes on the south side of the lake.  In the middle of the picture are the twin volcanoes of Atitlán and Tolimán.  To the right of those is the volcano of San Pedro.  The lake itself is a collapsed caldera and is very deep.  The viewpoint also had vendor stalls and we bought a few treasures.

Lake Atitlán and its volcanoes.

We left the viewpoint and headed to our hotel on the shores of the lake.  We were too early to check in so we had some lunch out on the veranda overlooking the pool and lake.  As we ate a pretty good lunch several helicopters came in and dropped off guests with their luggage.  Nothing says 'Income Gap' like arriving at your hotel in a helicopter.

The view from our balcony.

We checked in and went to our room.  Our room's balcony looked out over the lake, pool, and the extensive hotel gardens.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the gardens admiring the flowers, going to the water's edge and dipping our fingers in (it was a cold lake), and chilling at the bar.

Saturday - 02/15 - A boat ride around the lake.

There are eleven towns and villages on the shore of the lake.  We would be visiting three.  The first was Panajachel.  Panajachel is a tourist place and we didn't spend much time here.  We parked our van, took a Tuk Tuk (something introduced to Guatemala after I left) to the harbor, and got on our boat.

One of the many San Juan la Laguna murals.

A short boat ride took us to San Juan la Laguna.  Several of the towns around the lake compete for tourism quetzales and San Juan is no different.  The town has decorated its streets with murals, bright colors, and hanging street decorations.  The mural artists from around the lake are famous and do commissioned work all over Guatemala.

Decorated streets.

After visiting some of the better murals we stopped at a cooperative where we learned about the local Mayan weavers.  I left with a hand woven T-shirt.  From there we went to a chocolate factory where we learned about cacao.  The Wife discovered that white chocolate is not really chocolate (I've told her before but it took a Mayan chocolatier to convince her).  We tasted various levels of dark chocolate.  The dark chocolate in Guatemala is sweeter than in the American dark.  I would say 80% Guatemalan chocolate is about the same as 70% in the states.  I tried 100% which was obviously bitter but not nearly as bad as I expected.  We left with some white chocolate, 70%, and 80% bars.

We returned to our boat and went to a town that we added to our itinerary, Santiago Atitlán.  The Wife wanted to visit the church here where the heart of an American martyr is kept.  Stanley Rother, known as Padre Apla to the local Mayan people, ran the mission in Guatemala from 1968 to 1981 when he was murdered by the Guatemalan army who accused him of rendering aid to the rebels.  In 2017 he was beatified by Pope Francis.

We returned to our boat, returned to Panajachel, and tuk tuked back to our van.  We left the lake and headed to our next destination, the city of Antigua.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #134

• On Tuesday I went in to have a kidney stone removed.  Recovering from that procedure pretty much knocked me out for the rest of the week.  To clarify, one of the drugs I am taking to facilitate passing of any small stone remnants easier, has a side effect of reducing your blood pressure.  This has resulted in me being a little dizzy and lethargic.  I have to take it for two weeks and I'm sure those will be a fun, lethargic, and dizzying two weeks.
• It snowed overnight after my procedure.  I would have loved to clear the snow but couldn't so the Wife had to.  This Winter is turning into a bust for me.  Barely any snow at all and the most we've had happened while we were in Guatemala so missed the fun.  It doesn't feel like we had a Winter at all.  Next week we're hitting 75℉ (24℃).  Phewy!
• On Friday I purchased plane tickets, bus tickets, and made a hotel reservation for the Wife's Camino part two.  We are flying into Madrid late May and will take four to five weeks to finish.
• Hope you sprang forward today.  I had a hard time getting to sleep on Saturday night and I woke up a zombie today.  I don't remember Daylight Saving Time hitting me this hard before.  I wish we would just stay on standard time.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Four And Five - Market Days In The Mayan Highlands

Thursday - 02/13 - Chichicastenango

We Checked out of our hotel and left the city.  We were the only people with our guide/driver Marco.  We had a two to three hour drive to the town of Chichicastenango (Chichi for short).  Chichi, located in the Mayan Highlands, is famous for their market.  Every Thursday and Sunday the town fills up with stalls selling handicrafts and food.  I'd been there several times in the 70s before it became too dangerous due to the civil war.

A display of Mayan rituals.

The drive up to Chichi, located at 6,500 ft (1,965 m), takes you through Guatemala's mountainous countryside and is very twisty and turny, especially near the end.  The Wife has been known to get a little queasy when she's on twisty roads.  At our first rest stop where we bought some snacks and used the facilities, the Wife brought up her issue with the driver.  He suggested a 'home remedy' which consisted of putting a folded newspaper on your lower abdomen over your belly button.  We all smiled at this, including the guide, but the Wife did it anyway.  For the remainder of the drive the Wife had a lively conversation about politics and religion with the driver.  By the time we reached Chichi the Wife realized she felt fine.  Was it the newspaper on her abdomen or was it the fact the driver kept her distracted the entire drive up through the hairpin curves?  We may never know.

The Chichicastenango market.

We checked into our hotel, located in an old convent, before walking a hundred feet to the city square.  The square was filled with market stalls.  Originally there were two Mayan temples on the central plaza - roughly on the east-west axis.  The stairs of the temples still exist but churches were built on top by the Spanish.  The 'church' of the west is primarily used as a Mayan temple where locals worship using a mixture of Catholic and Mayan rituals.  The church on the east is an active Catholic church though some Mayan rituals are also performed there as well.

After visiting the churches, our guide left the afternoon for ourselves.  We ate a good lunch at the hotel restaurant and admired the gardens, parrots, and decor of the historic hotel.  Then we got our shopping on.  We walked through the stalls looking at huipiles (Mayan embroidered blouses), carvings, Mary figures, and of course, magnets.  We came out with a bag full of treasures.

The colorful Chichicastenango cemetery.

The fireplace in our room.

We dropped our purchases in our room and then walked to the nearby colorful cemetery.  The cemetery is known for being the most colorful cemetery in Guatemala.  The mausoleums and crypts are painted in vibrant colors.  Sadly the trash between the graves was a bit distracting.  I mentioned that Guatemala City is very clean but the countryside, and this cemetery, has a major litter problem.  On the way back we grabbed some snacks from a tienda and went to the hotel bar.

At Chichi's altitude, it gets pretty cold in the 'winter'.  Our room had a wood burning fireplace and we took full advantage of that fact.  We spent the evening sitting in front of the fire and eating our snacks.  It was a near perfect evening.

Friday - 02/14 - Solola

We were picked up by our driver/guide after breakfast and we headed to the town of Solola.  Here we were visiting another market which was more of an everyday food and grocery market with some handicrafts on the side.  It was really crowded and I didn't really handle it so well.  I didn't take any pictures and we didn't buy anything that I remember.  All I remember was I was happy to get out of the crowd and back into our van.

We ended our day in a very nice hotel on the shores of lake Atitlan.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Zero Through Three - Getting There, The City, And A Volcano Or Four

Sunday - 02/09 - Getting there.

We had a very early flight out of Omaha.  Our Uber arrived at 3:45am and dropped us off a couple hours before our flight to Houston.  Our original connecting flight departure in Houston was too close to our arrival time so we changed it to a later flight a week or so before we traveled.  While we waited in Houston we got a call from the tour company in Guatemala asking where we were.  Apparently our travel agent didn't tell them about the change.

We arrived in Guatemala and breezed through immigration and didn't even have to wait for our bags.  Our driver, who had wasted a lot of time on us took us to our hotel and got a sizable tip from us.  I recognized a few things along the way but I could see things like traffic patterns and the number of big buildings were drastically different from when I lived there.

Our hotel was the Camino Real which was a nice hotel back in the 70s when I lived in Guatemala.  It is still a nice hotel.  Strangely enough the orientation of the hotel was turned 90° from what I remember - another quirk of my faulty memory.

Monday - 02/10 - Exploring my old stomping grounds.

Today was a free day for us with no tours scheduled.  We stopped at the front desk after breakfast and asked how safe it would be to walk to my old neighborhood.  They assured us that it would be safe as long as we didn't make ourselves obvious targets and we should watch for pickpockets and people on motorcycles snatching bags.  This hadn't changed much in the forty-eight years since I lived there.

Simon Bolivar.

We left the hotel with nothing but our phones and some carefully stashed cash/cards in case we needed to buy anything.  I used to live in zone 14 not far from the hotel in zone 10.  We passed what used to be a large congested traffic circle that now included an underpass and a drastic change/improvement in traffic flow.

From the traffic interchange I started to look for landmarks that would help me navigate.  The building where my dentist was was still there.  The sports fields where my brother used to play pickup basketball games was still there (but larger and with a fence I didn't remember.  Our grocery store was replaced by a multi-story shopping center with a theater.  The Hardees, the first fast food joint to open in Guatemala, was gone ... replaced with a Burger King.  [When I left Guatemala in 1981 there were only two fast food places - Hardees and a KFC.  Now there are fast food places everywhere.]  Overall there were so many more tall buildings in zone 14.

I was a bit lost until I saw a Shell station.  It was across from a former traffic circle (no longer open to traffic) with a monument that looked familiar.  It was where my school bus dropped us off at the end of each school day.  This told me I'd missed my turn by a block or so.  We backtracked a little and walked through a church's parking lot and arrived at the entrance to my neighborhood ... now blocked by a gate.  It turns out my old neighborhood is now a gated community.  We talked to a couple of guards.  I explained I once lived here and wanted to show my house to the Wife but their response was "No es permitido" - It is not permitted.  I guess you can't go home again, as they say.

We returned to the main drag and crossed to the wide-park like median separating the boulevard and walked back along the statues and monuments built along the Avenida de Las Americas.

After returned to the hotel we went to the pool.  The Wife would make many visits to the pool.  I only made one serious visit where I took a dip in the pool and read my book under the shade of an umbrella.  Despite this shade my face and the top of my feet and my shins were burnt to a lobster red.

We realized the tour(s) we were on didn't include a tour of the city so we arranged for a city tour on a second free day we had.

The lesson for this day was that Guatemala City has changed a lot since I lived here.  It was a lot cleaner than I remember.  Things were built up a lot more.  Traffic was just as heavy as it was before but it flowed better ... sometimes.  US brands were everywhere.  Walmart was even here.  While I would say a lot of this growth was good for the city, the foreign capitalism probably wasn't that great.

Tuesday - 02/11 - Visiting the Pacaya Volcano.

When I was a kid we joined the neighbors and went to see the Pacaya volcano.  I have some pretty cool memories of that day but no photos.  We climbed up an inactive cone and looked down into the shorter active cone seeing molten lava and feeling gravel rain down (yeah, it was probably not very safe for us to be where we were).  Today we went on a tour to see how my memories held up.

The big three volcanoes - From right to left - Agua, Acatenango, and Fuego.

We were picked up at the hotel (along with a lady from Argentina working in Guatemala) and driven up to a small town not far from the volcano.  From there we started a 1.9 mile (3 km) hike up.  The Wife opted to ride a horse up the trail.  It was a steep hike and I was a bit pooped when we reached the top.  The altitude didn't help.

Along the way we had views of other volcanoes like Agua (dormant) and Fuego (very active) - there are thirty-seven volcanoes in Guatemala.  The Wife was amazed at how 'volcano-like' they looked.  She had seen volcanoes before - namely the Hawaii ones - but those didn't have the classic truncated cone shaped peak of most of the Guatemalan volcanoes.

The trail ended at an overlook where you could see Pacaya.  It had changed a lot since I saw it in the 70s.  There was only one cone now - I assume the active cone grew and merged with the dormant cone we had climbed.  There was a wisp of gases and smoke coming out of the cone as we took pictures.  As you can see, the weather was perfect.  The days before and after were overcast - our one day of weather luck.

Pacaya volcano.

We started the return trip on another trail.  We stopped briefly to roast multi-colored marshmallows over a steam vent near the volcano's base.

The drive back to the hotel was longer as we had to divert to Antigua (which we would visit at the end of the week) to bypass a traffic incident on the main highway.  Traffic hasn't changed at all.

The Wife went back to the pool while I chilled in the room - I didn't need to be any redder.

Wednesday - 02/12 - A Guatemala City Tour.

 On our second free day we were picked up for a short tour of Guatemala City.  There really isn't much to see in the city.  We visited an overview (with no views today because of the low clouds but with pieces of the Berlin Wall), the National Palace, the Basilica of Santiago, and the 'new' market (the original was destroyed by the 1976 earthquake - I was there but I don't remember the market being damaged).

The (former) National Palace.

After a few hours of walking around the old downtown you realize there weren't that many old buildings mostly because of the 1976 earthquake.  The result is a rather ordinary downtown area.  While Guatemala City is the biggest capital city in Central America, it doesn't have very much to see while you're there.  The interesting stuff is outside of the city which is where we would go next.  We were both ready to leave the city and see the countryside.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #133

• We returned from Guatemala late Sunday night.  Guatemala is in the same time zone as Nebraska so no jet lag.  We both returned without catching anything which is always a plus.  We both had a good time in Guatemala.  While I was in Guatemala I decided not to read Bluesky.  It was nice to have two weeks of no doom scrolling.  The Wife, who did monitor the news on Bluesky, did keep me informed though.
• While we were gone we missed winter.  While we were in Guatemala - Land of Eternal Spring - there was snow and below zero temperatures (one day the high temperature in our backyard was 1.8℉, -16.8℃).  It bounced back into the 50s when we got back so we missed it completely.
• On Monday I had a pre-op exam in preparation for my kidney stone removal this week.  Everything went well.  The procedure is scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon.  It was going to be early on Tuesday morning but they called to reschedule.  Not exactly happy about this but it is what it is.
• On Wednesday I started catching up on a few movies that came out during our trip.  I started with "Captain America: Brave New World".  I really liked it with its many, somewhat obscure, call backs to previous Marvel movies.
  
  On Thursday I went to see the Oscar nominated live action and animated shorts.  Watching the shorts at our local art house theater has become a pseudo-annual ritual of mine.  They were pretty good this year.  I don't really have any favorites.  Several ended without a definite outcome which was a bit disappointing but otherwise they were all well done.  It was nice that there really weren't any Pixar/Disney entries.
• On Friday I did our taxes.  We owe less than $50 which is the way it should be.  I have to admit, taxes are really easy when you are retired.

Back From Guatemala

We are back from our two week trip to Guatemala.  It was an interesting return to my old stomping grounds.  So much has changed.  I will be posting about the trip and posting pictures over the next few weeks.  I'm not sure of the frequency of posting as I have a medical procedure next week which may or may not interrupt my post writing.

A photo sneak peak: Lake Atitlan

Weekly Ephemera #132

• This week was preparation for our Guatemala Trip.  As you are reading this it is very likely we are winging our way south to Guatemala City.  In preparation we cleaned the house and did laundry so we had all the clothes we needed for our trip and could come home to a clean house.  I also started piling things I needed so that I wouldn't forget to pack them.
• During my prep I reread my Mom's travelogue entries from 1972.  I wrote so much better back then.  I feel like I rush my writing now and do it with minimal thought.  I would like to get back to that more relaxed form of slow writing though the real world is interfering with my stress levels.
• I was going to walk twice this week but, due to sloth, I only did one.  It was 13.1 miles (21.1 km) - not bad.  It was longer than I expected and nearly killed my legs but I survived.
• We bought tickets for Bob Dylan at the Orpheum theater in April.  We sort of saw him once before when we lived in California.  I'll have to tell that story before we go to the concert.  Suffice it to say, I don't remember anything about that concert not because of my crappy memory but because I was completely distracted.
• We have not really had any 'real' snow this winter season so far.  I've missed it and I was looking forward to seeing the first snow.  Naturally it's supposed to snow this coming week when I'll be out of the country.  *sigh*  

A Return To Guatemala

I grew up, from age nine to eighteen, in Guatemala.  I documented our travels to Guatemala back in August 2009.  I graduated from high school in August 1981 and left for college soon after.  I returned to visit my parents during Christmas/New Years 1981-82.  I have not been back since - just over forty-three years ago.  The Wife, who has never been there, and I will be going to Guatemala next week.  It will be interesting to see how things have changed.

When I was there I saw the first fast food place open (Hardees).  Many of the amenities we took for granted in the USA were missing or not quite 'there' yet.  Looking at Google Maps I can see the western world has completely moved in with a Starbucks not far from our hotel.  We will be on a tour - Guatemala is still not a very safe place to be.  When I graduated in 1981 you often heard gunfire in the distance and going out at night was never a wise thing to do.

The two week tour will be taking us to several places I visited as a pre/teen.  The market at Chichicastenango.  Lake Atitlan.  The old capital city of Antigua.  The Pacaya volcano. Tikal.  There are a few places I've never been to including Mayan ruins in neighboring Honduras, Copán, and Rio Dulce, among others.  I was not a good traveler when I was a pre-teen.  I'm sure I didn't get as much out of where we visited as I could have.  This trip will be a second chance for me.

As I entered the trip information into Tripit.com and drafted this post I began to feel excited.  It's been a while since I've been excited before we travel.  Usually I don't get excited until we've started on the trip.  I think this is a good thing.

As usual I probably won't post about the trip until I get back.

PS: The picture above was AI generated using Google's Gemini Imagen 3.

Weekly Ephemera #131

"I will not give into the lies.

I will not give into the fear."

      - Jim Acosta

        ex-CNN correspondent/anchor

• I have spent most of this week doomscrolling.  I have spent too much time on Bluesky watching our great nation starting to corrode and crumble in darkness.
• On Tuesday I had an MRI taken of my abdomen to check for lesions in my prostate.  None were found (yay).  I am not a claustrophobic person most of the time but after nearly an hour in the tight spaces of the MRI machine, I was getting antsy.
• Wednesday was the Lunar New Year.  Happy year of the snake everyone!
• Saturday was the first day of February which is kinda blowing my mind.  Where did January go?
• I walked three times this week for a total of 30.8 miles (49.6 km).  Next week I plan to walk twice.
• My television watching this week was of a scientific nature.  Namely, I watched episodes of "Nova".  I watched one on Quantum discoveries, one on Astrophysical discoveries, and several on the different planets, moons, and other objects in our solar system.  In my early years I had most of this type of knowledge memorized.  I was fascinated with it.  But over the last few decades I have not kept up with the cutting edge research.  These episodes helped bring me up to speed.
• In a week the Wife and I will be traveling to our next international destination.  It's somewhere I've been before - Guatemala.  I intend to post about the upcoming trip later this week.  Stand by.

Another of the old pictures my cousin sent me:

My cousin's sixth birthday.  She is on the right.  My brother is left of her.  I am the three and
a half year old covering his face on the left.  My Mom is standing behind me.
1967, our house, Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.

Weekly Ephemera #129

• This was a medical week as I mentioned in this post.  This coming week I have a dentist appointment which I expect to go smoothly as I have no issues with my teeth at the moment - yay!
• The Wife and I went to the REI outlet on Tuesday to get some stuff for the Wife's Camino this summer.  The Wife is looking for shoes that will work with her bunions.  While they didn't have a shoe in her size she did confirm that she should be wearing a wide shoe.
  
  I broke one of my backpack tie down connectors during the Camino section back in 2023.  I finally purchased a replacement and my backpack is back in working order.  If we finish the Camino this summer my backpack will be retired.  It looks like it's been through a lot ... which it has.
• Even though we haven't left for Guatemala yet, we started planning our fall trip.  The trip will include Greece, Albania, Macedonia, and Malta.  We are still working out the details so I will have to post more detailed plans in a later post once things are finalized.
• Due to the doctor's appointments early in the week I only walked twice this week.  I did 21.9 miles (35.2 km).  I am trying to change up my routes going places I haven't walked before or have walked for a long time.  I still don't understand why a 10 mile walk one day feels terribly hard but two days later it feels merely difficult.  I was hoping, over time, these distances would get more consistently easier.  They are not.
  
  I am considering walking Monday when the high temperature will be 9℉ (-12.8℃) with wind chills in the negative double digits.  This would get me out of the house so watching the inauguration would not be a perverse temptation.  Hypothermia or depressing anguish ... thems the choices.
• I watched a couple of shows this week.  The Wife suggested "The Contestant" about a Japanese game show contestant.  It was weird, fascinating, and cringy cruel at times but in the end it was an uplifting story.
  
  As a light palette cleanser I watched the "Goosebumps" series on Disney.  It was aimed at a younger audience but it felt comforting to me.

A Homer's Travel's Look Back At 2024

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." - Mark Twain

2024 was going to be the year of the nap but instead it became a crappy echo of 2016.  2016 started with the loss of family members and friends and ended with a disastrous election.  This year we lost family members and friends and, once again, gained an incompetent government with a large side of corruption and stupidity.

I feel I was coasting most of this year.  Few things excited me.  Many things left me dumbfounded.  Eight months of this year were all about my Mom.  My schedule revolved around hers.  I think I lost a little of myself during those months.  The passing of my Mother was sad but a bit liberating.  Too bad the rest of the year fell apart thanks to ... stupidity ... selfishness ... apathy ... I guess a combination of all of those.  Overall, 2024 was not a really good year for me.

Let's look back at 2024, shall we:

• January:  The year would be dominated by the health of my Mom. This month she was diagnosed with parkinson's disease. I bought a new GPS. We left on a short vacation to Tampa.
• February:  We had a great time in Tampa. Very relaxing. We tandem skydived which was interesting but a bit of a let down (kinda like scuba was in 2016). Glad I did it though. I filed my taxes and went to see the Oscar nominated shorts.
• March:  The Wife went to New York for the Big East Men's Basketball tournament. We started planning our Great Britain trip. The start of multiple sprinkler system repairs started this month.
• April:  We went to see Omaha Supernova volleyball (one of the Wife's students will be joining them in 2025). We went to the GodSon's school gala in Minneapolis. We remodeled our bathroom.
• May:  The new bathroom was finished. My Mom had her last birthday.
• June: The Wife's student, the one ordained as a Deacon in Rome, was ordained a Priest in Omaha. We cancelled the Wife's Camino trip when we moved Mom's spinal surgery up. Mom's surgery was a success and her back pain diminished soon after her procedure. She would be at a rehab center for a few weeks. We were hit by a big hail storm this month. We would still be fighting the insurance company in November.
• July: Mom fell at the rehab center and fractured her hip. More surgery and more rehab to come. We celebrated our twenty-seventh wedding anniversary by taking care of Mom's finances and having burgers. On the way to celebrate the MoH and BM's birthdays our car got totaled by a semi. We had no injuries but OOF. We took the Wife's car and went to Minneapolis with a side trip to the Dignity of Earth and Sky statue. We tried to distract ourselves by watching the Olympics. July was a crazy a$$ month.
• August:   Mom went home from rehab. She was happy to be home. A week later I found her in her kitchen after she'd passed away. While we prepared Mom's memorial and burial we tried to live a normal life. I got a new car totally paid for my insurance. We went to a political rally, our first. Mom was buried near my Dad's grave. The Wife and I came down with COVID for the first (confirmed) time. Both cases were very mild. 2024 was not being gentle.
• September: Things started becoming more normal this month though this would be a brief respite until the real world caught up to us. We got vaccinated before our next international trip. We went on our trip to Great Britain (documented in October and November) and met with friends.
• October: We returned home from our Great Britain trip, a fun adventure. We voted by mail. The October weather rollercoaster resulted in our first brief freeze of the season. Eleven years have passed since the end of my second Camino. Not being done with us yet 2024 took one of my Aunts and one of the Wife's cousins. I had a follow up CT scan.
• November: One of the Wife's aunts and cousins visited this month and had a nice visit. 2024 had the coup de grȃce when the election crashed and burned.  After one phone call from the Wife we got a check from the insurance company to complete the roof repairs from the June hail damage.  I left Xitter and moved over to Bluesky.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with family,
• December: The house was decorated for Christmas including putting the balls in the oak tree out front.  Our TV died and was replaced.  We celebrated Christmas with family ... and Moose.
• Hiking: Like in 2023 my walking started off strong as I prepared to do the Camino with the Wife. Mom's schedule and our travel disrupted my walking until I somewhat got back on track in October.  I successfully pushed the length of my walks out beyond the ten mile mark.  In the end I managed to hike 605.4 miles (974.3 km) over 69 hikes. This distance ranks in seventh place and the number of hikes ranks ninth place since I started keeping track - an average showing I would say.   Definitely not a bad showing considering I really didn't hike much in the summer months.
  
  In early November I crossed the one thousand hikes recorded over seventeen years of keeping records.  Onward to two thousand!
• Books: I set a goal to read twenty books this year and, unlike last year, did not meet my goal reading only twelve books.  I read nearly everyday including while we were traveling (which is odd for me).  Despite this I think I read less per sitting and took a long time to finish books.  Here are my Goodreads Stats for 2024.
• Concerts, Shows & Music :  We went to a few concerts this year. With the Wife, I went to the Eagles, Peter Frampton, and Melissa Etheridge. I also went to Joe Satriani and The Offspring by myself.
  
  I listened to a lot of music this year - mostly during naps and on long airplane trips. According to Spotify I listened to 2,839 songs from 1,264 artists for 39,710 minutes.  Here is my Spotify 2024 Wrapped if you want to explore what the shuffle button did music-wise this year.
• I posted 96 times this year. Not as many as 2023 but good enough I guess.  I think I need to write more but I'm afraid of either going too dark, too political, or too preachy. 

What will 2025 bring? We are going to Guatemala early in the year to see where I spent my formative years and to visit parts of the country I've never been before.  We will be going back to Spain to continue, and possibly finish, the Wife's Camino in the summer. A trip in the fall is not out of the question but we are still mulling over possible destinations.  Other than that we will be trying to keep our sanity intact and brace ourselves for what 2025 has in store for us.

Here's to a Happy, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year for all.  May you all find happiness in 2025.