tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21767876664031694952012-02-16T09:29:34.704-05:00Tales from my travels.JungleJimnoreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-56963851467003973552011-02-23T23:32:00.000-05:002011-02-23T23:32:47.160-05:00

Defintely a touristy day but Liz and I are due to depart 9:10am from Guatemala City Airport tomorrow. We're just about all packed so the only thing to do is spend our last cash. Not very difficult. Liz says the correct way is to go through an indiginous market co-operative at first where they have fixed prices and then go to other places and see if the prices are different. David and I are

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-81003106834927519382011-02-23T23:08:00.000-05:002011-02-23T23:08:17.264-05:00

Max did not wake up feeling very well. He asked to be dismissed from having to go shopping in Chichi. No problem. Joni and Jackie were planning to stay in San Pedro anyway. More volunteers were returning from Chichi to San Pedro after the day of shopping was over. The rest go on to Antigua after Chichi. Breakfast is at Hotel Mikaso Resto. All I can put down is a simple ham/cheese mini omlette

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-68756283203836945842011-02-23T22:14:00.000-05:002011-02-23T22:14:55.604-05:00

Just as I'm getting comfortable with the city that is Quetzaltenago (Xela) it is time to move on. For the sake of nostalgia ( 8 days and you have nostalgia?) I get up early again and walk into the center of the city to another bright and sunny day. The sun is actually just getting over the taller richer buildings of the square. Purposefully I did not sign up for the breakfast at our usual place

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-3390613321768974802011-02-23T21:28:00.000-05:002011-02-23T21:28:41.331-05:00

Tom asks which mason I might work for? I told him I've not worked with Don Juan before. Great. Don Juan has been afriend of Tom and Rita from the beginning of Guatemala Stove Project. He was the first mason that said that he could help with the building of cement cookstoves for the indiginous people like himself. As with other masons, he is also contracted for carpentry and other work. It was to

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-34082322664786743002011-02-23T20:47:00.001-05:002011-02-23T20:52:45.569-05:00

Second-last stove building day. Im feeling less cough-like all the time. Dr. Bob said that you can leave a 6-day cold run it's course or you can take precautionary measues and medicines and it will only last half a dozen. But the only medicine I really needed was a cough suppressant vand that was only necessary just before bed. (Good thing I had a room to my own at Casa Argentina otherwise I

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-7867232207349151132011-02-23T20:08:00.001-05:002011-02-23T20:16:09.617-05:00

                                                      This is our Casa Argentina in Xela...Quetzal Trekkers Welcome Today everyone is scrambling and looking over their individual to-do lists of what to do around Quetzaltenango. Don't forget that this is a somewhat travellers destination with many backpackers camping in our Casa Argentina. The semi-official band in our Hotel call themselves

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-82763570842013325632011-02-23T19:22:00.001-05:002011-02-23T19:32:12.888-05:00

It was stressed that volunteers should go out and see Guatemala. Antigua would be too touristy. Panajahel would be too expatriate driven. But there had to be other areas of interest as well. Tikal the largest asnd most famous Guatemalan Mayan archeological site is way up in the north and takes time to get up and back. Some people obviously fly up to and back from there. Our shettle mini-bus

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-79921842527154987732011-02-23T17:21:00.001-05:002011-02-23T17:24:00.510-05:00

Panimaquim is not even on most Guatemalan maps. It might be called by some people as the small village before you get to Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. Both these places are off the Pan-American Highway Number One......very close to the highest point of elevation of this highway.The whole of Panamaquim is set for this day. Outside small villages have also set representatives because many area

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-6333132874357336492011-02-23T16:53:00.001-05:002011-02-23T16:59:27.217-05:00

I'm still not going to take a sick day. So I've wondered what I learned from day one. Breakfast is at Le Merced Restaurant not too many steps to the right of Casa Argentina. Today I try the mountainess fruit on top of a waffle breakfast. The fruits are papaya, bananas and pineapple mixed in with a light coating of yogurt. That and cups of caffeine make for a substancial meal. The team today is

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-45320016284750021742011-02-23T16:18:00.001-05:002011-02-23T16:26:20.404-05:00

When I was not feeling well the last few days in Comintacillo, I vowed to take at least one day off from stove-building. So as groggy as I was, there is such a team spirit that one cannot excuse oneself unless you're flat-out very sick. Here goes nothing. So they're very good to me to put me in a group with Marg Lee, John Holland and Marvin the Mayan Mason. (How's that for alliteration.) Marg

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-54586270538867448512011-02-23T13:20:00.001-05:002011-02-23T13:24:30.033-05:00

Very important day because we are meeting with AMMID to talk about Guatemala Stove Project's working relationship over the last year as well as our mutual plans for the future. Liz and I eat at the pleasant breakfast place at the far end of town. It is three stories up but they are always ready for customers in the morning. We order huevos revoltos (scrambled eggs) again that are mixed with

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-60997901728774395212011-02-23T12:18:00.001-05:002011-02-23T12:23:19.723-05:00

Our guide today from AMMID is a young man by the name of Erwin. Liz knows Erwin from the year before and he's a very helpful person. He soon dons on his cowboy hat and when I say that cowboys in Argentina are gauchos he says that Guatemalan cowboys are boceros. So I think of Bocero Erwin. About 20 built stoves to review today. The reason I say approximately because there is often one or two

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-85370169186442500022011-02-23T11:39:00.001-05:002011-02-23T11:51:21.846-05:00

Four of our friends are having their last day in Comintacillo. Joni, Jackie, Margarita and Karen return to Xela later this afternoon. (Liz and I venture on for 2 more days....auditing stove-building and attending an important meeting with AMMID.)Another bright and beatiful day especially since it is weekly market day in town. Villagers come from miles around. Possibly they will sell wares and/or

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-63983968606060795542011-02-23T10:34:00.002-05:002011-02-23T11:05:54.457-05:00

In February it is always cool (6degrees C.) at night and warms about to 20degrees in mid-afternoon. There is no heating in the hotels, of course, so it is similar to camping in Algonquin Provincial Park. Bed-bugs were the worry but as long as you have a vinyl bedsheet cover and/or a contained sleeping bag most of us suffer no bites.Today I try for the second time to use an internet cafe. I do

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-84888824667548916062011-02-21T10:25:00.002-05:002011-02-23T11:12:09.645-05:00

As we are in a breakfast restaurant, the TV reminds people that this is the 35th anniversary of the Big Earthquake that killed more than 20 thousand in 1976.Huevos revoltos, frijoles refritos(refried beans) and a little fresh cheese with instant coffee. Since I need the caffeine I make sure to put an extra teaspoon of Nescafe instant in my hot water.We are lucky that Rube'n himself is driving us

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-17351296456752948632011-02-21T09:46:00.003-05:002011-02-23T09:49:18.594-05:00

Breakfast in restaurant (El Mezon?) right beside Posada La Merced Hotel. I have an Americano breakfast and we order our eggs scrambled. (Huevos revoltos is the correct Spanish) The meal comes with papaya, a bit of fresh youing cheese and slices of plantain bananas.Six of us volunteers in a shuttle with Eric the driver. I'm sitting beside David and he is quite the story teller. Here is the title

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-1184483645667996562011-02-21T09:02:00.001-05:002011-02-21T09:04:30.985-05:00

A. drives me to train station not far away from home. Whoops, forgot some papers. Take a cab quickly to go home again pick up papers and back to train station in time. Ottawa to Montreal by Vial Rail as snow storm is now underway. Liz and I are eary-early at Montreal Trudeau Airport for our flight to Miami at 12:30. Since planes are landing and taking off we are hopeful to get away. And, yes, we

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-67409787077486120762011-02-21T08:42:00.000-05:002011-02-21T08:42:03.364-05:00

Biggest snow-storm accross the continent in a while. We were to fly Ottawa-Chigaco-Dallas-Guatemala but even late Monday Jan.31 our flights were cancelled! So we had to re-book. Many people had to rebook. We were on the phone with American Airlines (on hold) for hours to finally get Montreal-Miami-Guatemala. How to get to Montreal? Take the Ottawa train to Dorval Station.     We were hoping

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-65221321715291062882011-02-01T14:56:00.000-05:002011-02-01T14:56:00.790-05:00

Twenty-four travellers all taking different routes and using different air carriers. Hopefully meeting up in Xela. Some of us leave tomorrow(Wednesday) so we'll see if the flights are going. (Cross our fingers.)

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2176787666403169495.post-173014809256223842011-01-30T12:55:00.001-05:002011-01-30T12:55:27.117-05:00

To be continued in Guatemala!

JungleJimnoreply@blogger.com0