Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

We are back in Guatemala and it was such a great feeling to be back in the Guatemalan highlands.  This area of the country is so spectacular.  Most of the places we have been lately have been dusty, brown and brittle due to the lack of rain (it is the dry season now).  Somehow this area has remained greener than any other place.  Over 50% of the population of Guatemala is indigenous and you are constantly confronted with the Mayan tradition and colorful clothing, weaving and textiles.  I think it is by far one of the most interesting areas of Central America. 

After leaving Guatemala City we stopped in Chichicastenango.  There is a renowned textile market that takes place every Thursday and Sunday in this town.  We got there on Wednesday evening and watched the town transform itself into a bustling lively market.  Matthias isn’t so into these markets, but I sure am.  He let me out in the morning (with an empty wallet) to scope out the goods.  I came back with a list of a few things that I wanted to by and he came back out with me and did the haggling.  I’m terrible at it, and Matthias was able to talk all of the vendors down to a price he was sort of ok with. 

The next stop was Quetzaltenango – more commonly known as Xela.  We spent two weeks in Xela in October taking language classes.  We met up with Matthias’ old teacher and did some shopping.  Up in the highlands it is really cold – like highs in the low 70’s and lows in the 40’s.  For the last several months we’ve been in areas where the temperatures are always in the 90’s (and sometimes higher).  Honestly, it is too cold for me, and I’m looking forward to getting back into warmer climate.  However, Xela is such a great town and we’ve really been glad to have a second chance to explore it some more.  We’ve found a nice hostel (next to Neuroticos Anonimicos – Neurotics Anonymous en español) with parking, wireless internet, and the cutest group of 3 little Mayan kids that William and Julian have been playing with.  Xela is working out for all of us.  We have been able to take care of some errands and today we went back to some hot springs near here, set high up in the mountains in the cloud forest.  The drive up there is jaw-dropping and I think it was just what I needed to get over the cold I got since being in this frigid weather.    

Next we are off to Huehuetenango.  Huehue (pronounced way-way) is close to the Mexican border and we plan on spending two nights there.  It is rumored to be one of the most scenic stretches of the Guatemalan highlands.  We’ll take a small day trip on a chicken bus and after that we’re off to Mexico again.

Despite being in the same city for over 2 weeks, every day is filled with amazement, new experiences and new things to see.

Saturday was our last day in Xela and we decided to join some of the teachers, Paul and Bonnie (the 2 nurses) and their daughter Mary and drive down to the coast. There was a water park and an amusement park and we wanted to spend the day there and then continue on to the coast and spend the night.

Inspired by the public transportation in Guatemala, I was confident, that 8 or 9 people in the Yoda Van shouldn’t be a problem and I offered to drive them.

The next morning it turned out that we were 11 people, plus we were going to meet Paul at the water park and he would join us for the ride to the coast. I had serious doubts if we would all fit in the van and I was glad that I was the driver and had the most comfortable seat on the trip. In true Guatemalan style we stuffed ourselves into the Yoda Van, two Guatemalans sitting shotgun, 2 kids in the back, Julian on Allison’s lap and the rest sitting or kneeling on the floor.

On the way to the water park we had to stop at an auto parts store. I had picked up the van from our secure parking the day before and decided to park it on the street in front of the school for one more night. The next morning both rear view mirrors were smashed. The one on the passenger side was only slightly damaged, but the one on the driver side needed to be replaced. At the auto parts store they didn’t have a mirror, but we happened to have a small piece of mirror in the car (about 6”x 4”) so I bought a roll of duct tape instead and taped our mirror over the smashed mirror. It worked as good as new. I also asked at the store if they had a new window handle (remember, ours broke right before our off-roading adventure in Mexico) and believe it or not the guy pulled out a cardboard box from under his desk filled with window handles. I only had to try 3 handles before I found one that would work. It’s much bigger than the original one and it scrapes the speaker every time we have to open the window, but it does the job. The only advantage about not having the handle was that at military or police stops, the officials got a good laugh when they asked Allison to open the window and she could only show them the broken handle.

We were ready to hit the road and head to the coast. It was about a 30 mile trip to the water park and we would descend 7500 feet. It was all downhill and the Yoda Van ran beautifully until we noticed a strange smell and the car wasn’t handling well anymore. I tried to pull off the road which was harder than I would have wanted it to be. I was having a very hard time braking and I knew the brakes were in bad shape. When we looked at them they were smoking and glowing. Awful smell. There was also no time to let them cool off, because we had stopped in a tight curve and we had to move. I decided I would let the engine do the breaking and we kept driving in 1st gear for the next few miles. Driving slow at least got us to the water park and down to sea level.

                                                  
Matthias and Paul                                    View from the front seat
at the amusement park                            of the Yoda Van.

The water park was awesome and so was the amusement park right next to it. Everyone had an awesome time, but at about 5:00 PM I was starting to get a bit nervous, because I was told several times to not drive at night in Mexico or Central America (good advice). The teachers assured me that that this stretch of road was safe so we ended up staying another 2 hours. Despite their assurance I was only worrying about the 1 to 2 hours we had ahead of us. The Guatemalans said it was about an hours drive, an hour and a half maximum. But that was Guatemalan time, and with our brake problems it was not unreasonable to think we might have a 2.5 hour drive ahead of us. Not only was it pitch black outside, we also had one more passenger: Paul, the 250-pound male nurse. We climbed into the Yoda Van again. We loaded the car with roughly 950 pounds of Americans, 200 pounds of German and 550 pounds of Guatemalans. The drive was a nightmare. Streets in Guatemala are not lit, full of potholes, speed bumps (in Guatemala they are called Tumulos) and all kinds of animals. The worst however was that there were also a lot of bicyclists, none of whom had lights or reflectors and were almost impossible to see. The drive was much shorter than expected (only about 45 minutes) and the road was nearly entirely straight without any hills. We made it fine, except one close call with a group of cyclists. When we arrived I decided that I had to decrease the passenger limit from 12 to 7 people. The beers that we had in the hotel made me relax real fast and they were the beginning of 2 great days with Paul, Bonnie and Mary. If Allison lets me use the computer one more time in the next few days, I want to write about the discussions I had with Paul. Our opinions couldn’t have been more different, so I couldn’t have been happier that I was finally able to have endless useless discussions again, with a guy who is even more conservative than Allison’s dad.