Good times in San Pedro la Laguna

I´ve spent two wonderful weeks in San Pedro la Laguna now. This is my spanish scool! It doesn ´t look quite like the usual scools, kind of better actually.

Thanks to Hurricane Matthew hay mucha lluvia, it rains a lot.

A proper Tyrolian hikes the mountains. Even if it makes no sense. I probably picked the worst day of week one to hike volcano San Pedro with my spanish teacher Nicolas.  Of course it was only training for my hikes in Perú...

When it´s cold and rainy, there is not much more to do but to hang out at Yo Mama´s, just like Juanita is doing here in the picture. The little adventurer found a stock of spacecakes and could only be stopped after having already eaten two of those tasty cookis. Poor thing, I hope she doesn´t turn into a wild animal!  Taking a closer look though, it doesn´t seem that bad, I kind of get the feeling...

After a hard day of spanish school and chillin´ out we definately earned ourselves a cool Brahva Extra and some candlelight...

... which can lead to a blurry vision. Sometimes you can´t find your dormitory emediately and end up at a full-on fullmoonparty. It doesn´t happen every day... but every other day.

My time in Guatemala is almost over now, tomorrow I´ll be leaving to to Antigua and from there take a transport to El Tunco in El Salvador! Leaving this beautiful country isn´t easy, only the fact the beaches and surfing await me in El Salvador can compensate.

Final tip for Guatemala-Travelers: whatch for Gremlins under your breakfasttabel!!!

News from Guatemala

I met some awesome people in Lanquin, namely Tino, Lina, Matt and David and we had a terrific chenga-night at Zephyr! My next stop was Antigua, didn´t do too much there, just made plans to leave to Zipacate at the coast of Guatemala. This is the Chickenbus that brought us there, quite a fancy ride...

This is surfcamp El Paredon in the village El Paredon. Not much going on here, the camp was empty and we were the only tourists in town. Had the best burgers and licuados (milkshakes) for 18 Quetzales, equaling 1,8 Euros! This was our hideout, five hammocks under a palapa, about 20m from the shore!

Main activities: random strumming...

...getting smarter...

...surfing the slackline...

...and of course doing the real thing...

...and somehow another day has gone by!

After five days of chillin´ and good workout in the waves we decided to head twoards Lago de Atitlán. Yo Mama´s Casa in San Pedro is the place to be right now!

The view from the ´Nazri´ is quite a good one. The lake is formed by a gigantic ancient volcanic crater. There has been a lot of rain during the recent weeks, causing landslides, blocking roads and leaving parts of the lakeside flooded. We avoided the hassle by staying in Zipacate, right now there´s no need for worries in San Pedro.

The surf generally isn´t the best in lakes, but you can always try and find a boat captain that´s willing to tow you behind his lancha! Probably the most expensive quarter of an hour in my whole trip, but it definately left a smile on my face...

Yo Mama´s is actually quite a safe place, I got a shot of our security guards off duty...

Finally I have to say, I´m still having the time of my life! After one and a half months there is no boredom in sight! I´m doing a spanish language course for the next two weeks, hoping to gain more abalities to comunicate on my further travels. The odds of getting gringoed (ripped off due to beeing a gringo) get less and the fun with the locals even more... Greets! Harry

P.s.: ...thanx to the crew, good times, FARAUT BRA!

San Crisóbal was a very nice place to stay. A beautiful town inmidst the mountains of Chiapas, a lot colder than Puerto Escondido due to it´s altitude of 2100m above sea.  Since it was cold and it rained a lot it reminded me a bit of Tirol. Didn´t make me feel homesick though...  I did a daytrip to the small villages of Chamula and Zinacantan. It was an interesting experience to see how the Tzotzil, who are indigenous Maya people, live an practice their religion, which poses a mixture of Christianity and Mayan rituals. The Tzotzil are quite an independent group, they expelled the bishop from their church in the 60´s an he´s only allowed to show up on invitation. They have their own transportation network and even their own policemen. I have no photos of the villages, for the Tzotzil believe that taking photographs takes away the spirits... and  because my cameras batteries were empty.  What  impressed me was the way the Tzotzil approache people from other villages with other traditions and foreigners with a completely different culture. They do not judge other livestyles or traditions, they solely see them as different from their own. A Tzotzil could never live in western style, but he would also never try to convince someone to live in his style or even convert to his religion. I guess that telling other people what is best for them and therefor thinking ones way of living is superior, is quite a western habit.

Doing a trip to Chiapa de Corzo in the Steemer with Sarah and Tom. Roadworkers cleaning up mountain roads after landslides is quite a common view these days.

The Canyon Sumiodero reveals an impressive view on waterfalls, rock faces up to 1000m high, crocodiles...

... and a magnificent ammount of trash, swept in from Tuxtla Gutiérrez!

Next station Palenque! Stayed at El Panchan, a nice hideout for travellers and alternatives close to the ruins of Palenque. The ruins were impressive and the setting inmidst the jungle breathtaking.

A common appearance in the jungle: waterfalls!

...waterfalls...

 ...and more waterfalls!

Tempel I of Tikal!  After leaving Palenque for Guatemala I visited Yaxchilán a very beautiful Maya site that can be reached via boatride on  Rio Usumacinta and the Maya site Bonampak. The next day I crossed the boarder to Guatemala.  Eric and Niki, two Americans I met in Palenque seemingly had problems crossing the boarder due to a missing stamp in their passports. Obviously minor problems like these can be solved by the magic of 100 pesos all around Mexico...  We proceded to Flores, a small Isand in the Lago Peten Itzá  in Guatemala and from there  did our trip to Tikal.

 Ancient Skyscrapers in the jungle! Seven hours at the site were barely enough, but the heat, the humidity and the mosquitos set limits to the duration of  ones stay!

There´s loads of animals to see in Tikal, I kind of liked this fellow...

...  until it started chewing on my pants!!!

After a chillout-day in Flores I took a bustrip to Lanquin close to Cobán in order to see Semuc Champey. It is obviously rainsaison in Guatemala  as this photo taken from the bus reveals.

Lanquin is beatififul!

And the Zephyr is the place to stay! Met the coolest people there, greets to all you crazy Australiens, Americans, Canadians, Germans, Sweeds...

I´ve heared that Semuc Champey is one of the most beatufil places in Guatemala, now I can understand why people say that!

And it´s good fun too!!

As you have noticed I have switched languages to english, since the majority of people I meet on my trip aren´t too familiar with german. I´ll probably stick with that for the rest of the blog. Good internet connections have been rare during the last two weeks and I´ve been on the raod most of the time, so this was the first and best chance to uptdate my blog. I´m in Antigua right now, by the way. It´s about to rain and I have my mountain shoes out for drying, so I´ll end my writings now...
Greets! Harry

Habe mich entschlossen nach 17 Tagen Puerto Escondido nun zu verlassen! Die Mitfahrgelegenheit in Tom und Sarah`s STEEMER war einfach zu verlockend. Moeglicherweise waere ich sonst noch die ein oder andere Woche laenger geblieben, das Verhaengerpotential ist enorm hoch. Das Buena Onda ist ein heisser Tip fuer alle, die es einmal nach PE verschalgen sollte. 3min zur Welle La Punta Zicatel, unglaublich nette Hosts und jede Menge cooler Leut`.

Wir haben uns also Richtung San Cristobal de las Casas aufgemacht. Mit an Bord Ben aus Frankreich und Sarah aus Panama. Die erste Nacht haben wir beim Playa Bamba kurz vor Salina Cruz im kleinen Surfcamp Leo uebernachtet. 

Was wir vorher nicht wussten, eine perfekte Right bricht am Playa Bamba. Schnell, steil und hohl und sicherlich die schwierigste Welle, die ich bisher gesurft bin. Die grossen Sets waren knapp Overhead und mit einer dicken Lippe ausgestattet.

Nice!

Und gottseidank gab`s auch kleinere Sets, die Sandbank war halbwegs seicht... wahrscheinlich meine beste Welle an dem Tag.

Auch fuer Nichtsurfer is der Playa Bamba sehenswert. Ohne eigenen fahrbaren Untersatz duerfts aber kaum moeglich sein...

Tom und Sarah, denen ich sehr dankbar fuer die Mitfahrgelegenheit bin!

Ben und Sarah, unsere zwei Mitreisenden. Ein lustiges Paar, er aus Frankreich, sie aus Panama. Die beiden haben sich in Monterrey kennengelernt... so spielt das Leben :-)

Schliesslich das Unhappy End des Tages. Alles was mein Board mir angetan hat, habe ich ihm zurueckgegeben. Tja, wenn einen die Lip erwischt, kann das halsbrecherische Folgen haben, zumindest fuer das Fieberglas und den Schaumstof...  RIP dear JC Hawai!

           

   

Naechster Halt Cintalapa. Es regnet, wir schlafen im Auto. No Comment.

Schliesslich und endlich Ankunft in der Zapatistenhochburg San Cristobal de las Casas! Hostel gecheckt, Internet nun bald erledigt und dann geht`s erst mal auf ein kuehles Chela!

La Punta Zicatela in Puerto Escondido! Fast schon kitschig...

Hang loose!

Herrlicher Tag in La Punta! A Runde Kraxln mit den Jungs und danach ab in die Wellen. Habe meine beste Welle soweit gesurft! Knapp kopfhoch, steilen Takeoff geschafft, die Beschleunigung vom Wellenkamm herunter sorgt fuer das noetige  Adrenalin! Der Offshore-Wind blaest die Gischt von der Welle und ich sehe, dass sie vor mir zu brechen beginnt! Mit dem Board hoeher in die Wasserwand, um den noetigen Speed zu holen und ueber diese Section zu kommen! Ich spuere wie die Welle hohl wird und mir die Lippe ueber die Schulter wirft, jetzt wirds richtig schnell und ich kann dem Weisswasser entkommen! Am Ende der Welle lasse ich mich rueckwaerts vom Board fallen und denke ´Wahnsinn!´. Im naechsten Moment taucht mein Kopf aus dem Wasser und mein Board knallt mir mit voller Wucht an den Schaedel! Der Offshore-Wind muss es uebers Wasser geblasen haben. Ich moechte wieder aufs Brett steigen und rauspaddeln und denke kurz: ´Des hat jetzt aber richtig weh getan!!´ Ein kurzer Griff an meine Stirn offenbart einen spuerbar traubengrossen Krapfen und auch ein wenig Blut. Nachdem ich doch die Sterne sehe beschliesse ich ans Ufer zu paddeln. Immer noch mit dem Gedanken ´Die Welle war der Wahnsinn!´. Die Rettungsschwimmer am Ufer bieten mir an die Rettung zu rufen, ich sehe mir die Wunde im Rueckspiegel eines parkenden Autos an, 2-3cm lang ist sie,  und beschliesse mit dem Taxi zu fahren. Im Centro de Sulad werde ich in 20min wieder zusammengenaeht und das gratis!  Sehr sorgfaeltig intracutan, fuehle mich gut behandelt, obwohl keiner hier Englisch spricht!
Jetzt heissts ein paar Tage chillen, bevor ich wieder ins Wasser kann. Langweilig wird´s aber sicher nicht...