There are packer fans everywhere

Candelaria on the left and Concepción (aka La Ratón) on the right. Concepción got her nickname when we were eating at a restaraunt last year. My food came (spaghetti I think) with bread and she just started eating my bread - boy can that girl eat. Today Candelaria and I ordered spaghetti and Concepción ordered burger and fries - she ate her burger and fries and finished my spaghetti.

llegé a Guatemala

I landed in Guatemala at about 12:30 and had previously arranged by email with atitrans to catch the 2:30 tourist shuttle to Panajchel. The construction at the airport is still going on and is somewhat a mess, but I think it will be nice when its done. I miss the old though - the first time I ever came here I felt like I was stepping into the past - no more.
My shuttle came after waiting forever (which I knew was going to happen) and I was the only one in the van on the first leg to Antigua. In Antigua while I waited I went across the street for a coffee and the owner of the cafe spoke perfect English - there is a reason I went (and go) to Huehue to study Spanish. Again I was to only one going to Pana so this time I was in a private car. 10 people or 1 person the ride is $22 - not a bad deal. I had a great time talking with my driver and last night it made me think why I love this place so much - to be able to communicate in a different language with people from a different culture is such a trip. We talked about family, life and the upcoming (Sept) Guatemalan election. Not that my Spanish is good, but I can communicate.
Once we got to Pana and were going down Calle Santander (main drag) to Mario´s Rooms (my pension of choice) we passed Candelaria and Concepción (my 2 friends here) and I yelled out the window, ``hola chicas´´ (you must understand that it is impossible to travel more than 10 mph in the evening on Calle Santander) and they both yelled out ``Roger´´. I was only about 40 feet from Mario´s Rooms and they waited while I checked in. We then went out for dinner (stopping buy to say hi to Candelaria´s mom on the way) and had a great time - they are such neat kids.
well I guess its time to go

The Airport and the greatest tragedy ever.

Wed I go up at 3:30am after a shitty nights sleep and had a driver come at 4:00 to take me to the airport. My flight left at 7:12 - sin problemas. The following pictures are taken from the airplane.










I again had to switch planes in Panama (came in and left from the same gate - when has that ever happened??). I dislike the airport there, its great shopping - if you are rich, but just try and find a bar, a newspaper stand, or a place to buy gum - doesn´t exist. There is one very crazy cafeteria that is packed and both times I was able to buy a bottle of water ($2.00).

Now for the tragedy - I had the stomach flu on monday and tuesday - finally puking (yeah, I know you wanted to hear that) on tuesday night. Wed. I felt better (and feel almost normal today - thurs). Anyway on the flight from panama to guatemala beer was free, yeah thats right - free. No $5 a can of miller products, free central american beer. And I had to pass - shit, I hate it when that happens.

Hostal Chicago

I haven´t said anything about the hostal in Quito. This is the only picture and its taken from the bell tower. I circled it in pink but it doesn´t show up well. The part on the left is the ``old´´ side and the part on the right is the ``new´´ side. It is 4 floors high. A single room with private bath and a breakfast included is $7.50. The new side is a tad noisy at night till 11 pm which is not a problem unless you want to get up at 3:30 am as I did my last night. The rooftop on the left is nice with tables, but is cold at night. Downstairs in the reception area is a tv, computer and beer (.6 Liters for $1.25). Definitely a great place to stay in the old town.

La Basilica

The Basilica is a huge and relatively new church. I am guessing it was built in the early 1900´s as they have some old photos of the construction - I suppose I could do some research. Typical of the Catholics to spend so much effort and money on a church like this while the people being ministered to go hungry - I will never understand that, but of course I don´t understand organized religion anyway. Be that as it may, its a beautiful building but in some neglect. One is able to climb the belfry (I think that's what it is called) tower on the right and the clock tower on the left (the one nearest in the photo) for a mere $2. Safe?? Not sure, but you best be careful.


La Basilica









The inside of the church - it is something - notice the ceiling - a few pictures later you will see it from the other side.











Continuing up the belfry tower (on the outside) and these are steep stairs.









A better view of the stairs









From the top of the tower looking at the clock towers - in between at the top of the hill is ``la virgen´´. I climbed 2 or 3 floors above the clock - which have not been functioning since the early 1990´s.







To get to the tower you must walk across the ceiling of the church - well here it is - at least if this collapses you don´t have far to fall.











This is taken on my way up the clock tower. This was a tad safer, normal steps most of the way and then ladders up the last few flights, but the farthest you could fall is maybe 10 or 12 feet.

















The belfry tower









the ladders working my way up to the tip top of the clock tower.









Yours truly at the top of the belfry tower.

Sunday

Sunday I went to Ibarra for 2 or 3 hours - all the artesian shops were closed. Much bigger than Otavalo but it was not real exciting. The north part of town is old with a lot of plazas and sort of a laid back feeling. Might be fun to spend a night or two there in the future. Its 22 km north of Otavalo and the bus ride was 43 cents there and 44 cents back - go figure. Other wise I just kicked back and read.

As soon as I am done here its back to the hostal to get my pack and then off to Quito. I want to get there before 1pm as they sort of shut down from 1 till 3 for siesta.

ciao

Lagunas de Mojanda

South of Otavalo there are 3 lagunas out in the middle of nowhere on top of some mountain. I talked to the owner of the hostal and he said that the road is easy to follow and its all downhill heading back to Otavalo. Well not thinking I took a taxi (Friday) to the lagunas and it was all uphill. It cost $10 for the taxi. I walked around for close to 2 hours. It was quiet and peaceful, actually quiet is not true because the sounds of the birds and insects are quite loud - there just is no sounds of civilization. I only went to 2 of the lagunas - the first is supposed to be the best and it was a long walk to the other. I met 4 guys from Quito - 3 on mountain bikes and the fourth driving the sag wagon (pickup) - they offered me a ride down and I should have taken them up on it - although I am glad I did what I did. Riding down with them though would have given me the opportunity to get to know some more people from Ecuador which is really what I like to do. The lakes are at 3700 meters which is about 2 miles. I forget what the elevation of Otavalo is. The guide book says the lakes are 17 km south of Otavalo and given that my hostal is sort of in the north central part of town I figure I walked 20 km - but maybe more as I walked steadily down which means I was moving at a decent clip yet it took me 3 hours 15 min to get back (Its Monday and I still hurt).

The big laguna



















The second laguna - much smaller



















me









The 3 cyclists and me. They were taking turns taking pictures with only 3 people in them so I offered to take their picture together.







The road for the majority of the way is stone - very hard to walk on.








It was cloudy but the scenery on the way down was gorgeous.









my road