So since Ive last updated, weve come back into Guatemala, but not before spending a few more days on the Caribean, partially celebrating Sonya´s birthday. On our way from San Ignacio, to Hopkins, on the bus, we had to get off in these crossroads that had a feel of middle America rural are with a tropical feel, maybe somewhere in Georgia or Florida... there were thousands of orange trees. We hitchhiked into Hopkins and found it to be a quaint little beACH town. We stayed in this hotel crossed with a drumming center, where at night many people came and tranced us to sleep with their intricateGarifuna drumming.
After a night in Hopkins, we headed for Placencia where we rented a gorgeousbeach front cabin, splurging a little for sonya´s birthday. We found the town very relaxing, a nice beach to swim on, but there were many tourists, the kind that have Placencia as their only destination, a few resorts lingered on each end of the beach. We hopped around town to a few bars on sonyas b day and hung out with some locals when they all closed (her b day was on a tuesday golly gee).
A few nights later, we woke up to head on the bus for punta gorda, where we would then boat back to Livingston GuatemaLa, en route to discover more of the country. We stayed in a new, cheap, and not that nice hotel, named Hotel Viajeros, and just hung around, planning our trip to Rio Dulce where we are now. When we arrived, a boat took us to our hotel, which is not accesible by road, off a lagoon in the jungle. Everyday they can shuttle you into town, where we are now. Rio Dulce is right on the highway and today (probably everyday) it has a huge market going on. Coming from Belize, not to mention the jungle, the high paced atmosphere with heavy traffic and no sidewalks is a bit of a culture shock. It is alot like urban mexican markets, but somehow multiplied in comotion and everywhere. Soon we will be in Antigua (we wont want to linger there) and then Atitlan, hopefully for MY birthday.
Its my birthday!!!
it is a huge relief to be in guatemala where we can afford everything, Belize was impossible to budget in, and we regret lingering so long.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Sweatiing, splunking, and hunting
Sonya and I just got out of the jungle today, and we ar e glad to be out... not that we didnt love the atmosphere of huge leaved trees and orange groves... it was mainly the place we were volunteering at... so let me file my complaints first off...
First of all, the people that we were volunteering for at Barton Creek Outpost were very American and americanized the jungle. They were very keen on making lots of money to support "THEIR LIFESTYLE".... which includes, running 2 gallons of gas everyday to power a freezer and ru the washingmashine constantly. If they had their 3 kids wash their own clothes, then they wouldnt have so many damn clothes (which we were forcred to fold for them, totallying a time of about 2 hours... gross). Not only did they not have a very sustainable farm, but they didnt even buy food sustainably, buying imports and from grocery stores. Their 2 year old was on disposable diapers, creating more waste in the nearby makeshift landfill!!! On top of that they were barely there "to take care of their business" and didnt have much respect or appreciation for their volunteers, keeping a stricktly business attitude to their relationships. For opur first week, there was no days off and working from morning to dark (against wwoof rules if they dont pay you) until they organized a schedule. But all complaints aside I had fun picking oranges, cutting jungle trails, planting palm trees to sell at the market and harvesting bromilliads and orchids.
On one night, we were walkiing to the village to play soccer, and it takes about an hour through the jungle trail. (village name is El Progreso 7 miles) On our way back it was dark and we decided to go down a private road owned by this grumpy Canadian guy named Mike who is not to fond of other people... he is summed up, an Ogre. So when we saw him pass, before we were on his property, we thought we could make it before he came back... not! As advised by the locals and the ranger, Dennis (our friend) they said we would hide if we heard his truck... and when the alert from someone said "VEHICLE!!!" came we went reunning and hid in the bushes...
now to understand this guy mike, he claims ownership to everything, takes other, competing business's signs out of the ground, and shouts gunfire into the air when anyone unfamiliar gets near his property. Sov imagine if he found us when we WERE hiding, versus us just innoocently walking down his road... obviously knowing we were on his property....we survived but had to cut into a jungle trail when he circled back around....end of story.. but weird jungle drama.... this guy has famous resort connections with the cCopolas and his children are allowed to play with the other children at the outpost but the adults dont see eachother.. he on ce had Van Morrison at his house listening top and playing to the youngins...brown eyed girl.. WOW!!
we did get to go into the cave with our friend, and very good guide, the ranger DENNIS. He took us in at night for four hours, taking us longer and further into the cave than anyone else ever would. We got to get out of our canoes and hiked to the waterfall, which normal tours arent allowed to, and we saw many Mayan pots (all brokem after ceremonies) and skulls and bones!!! also many beautiful rock formations aging 100000 years plus.
Another fun anectdote, and Ill make it the last since I am gettin tired. One day the dogs were chasing something and made it jump in to the water, whjen we went to see what was going on it looked like there wasa monster from a japanes horror movie in the water swimming, about 6 or 5 feet long.. when we figured out what it was, a male Iguana, aka a Garobo, I asked Edwin, the resident Mexican, if we could eat it. Of course we could so we started shooting slingshots at it, but when the accuracy failed with the wet rubber, we went for the canoe and machete.... i was paddling while Edwin was striking it with the Machete and eventually went under with a dive mask to finish the kill and collect the fruits of our labor. Pictures can be seen on sonyas blog of this beautiful creature, orange aand black striped. A few hours later we were eatin Bamboo chicken (or rooster i guess) as they call it. Below i will post instructions on how to prepare it.\
HOW TO KILL, PREPARE, AND COOK IGUANA OR GAROBO (male iguana)
1. The Kill: Machete, Slingshot, or Shotgun, strike to the head is the best.
2.Take off the Iguana's head, then put on an open fire of dried coconuts until the skin startys to pop and peel.
3. Carefully peel offall the skin, andsnap off the feet, and maybe cut off the tail for easier carrying, but save it because it is tasty.
4.After skin is gone, make a rough incision from chest to groin are, and empty out the guts. The liver and heart can be delicous morsels saved for eating alone or in a stew. Give the gallbladder to the dogs to enrich their hunting instincts.
5. In the two back legs and the base of the tail there is a white, meat-looking flesh called the scent, or the musk, which you dont want to eat. Remove this.
6. Clean and scrun Iguana in soap and water, rinse well.
7. Chop meat into pieces and soak in lim juice for 45min to 90 minutes. Throe onion, garlic, salt, or anything else tastey to marinate.
8. Cook with a good chicken recipe, preferably spicy or with red ricotta powder for color. Fry or bake for 2- 4 hours, occasionaly adding water and basting.
And no joke, this is some of the best meat Ive tasted, tender if cooked right, with no fat, pure muscle, it tastes very much like shicken.
First of all, the people that we were volunteering for at Barton Creek Outpost were very American and americanized the jungle. They were very keen on making lots of money to support "THEIR LIFESTYLE".... which includes, running 2 gallons of gas everyday to power a freezer and ru the washingmashine constantly. If they had their 3 kids wash their own clothes, then they wouldnt have so many damn clothes (which we were forcred to fold for them, totallying a time of about 2 hours... gross). Not only did they not have a very sustainable farm, but they didnt even buy food sustainably, buying imports and from grocery stores. Their 2 year old was on disposable diapers, creating more waste in the nearby makeshift landfill!!! On top of that they were barely there "to take care of their business" and didnt have much respect or appreciation for their volunteers, keeping a stricktly business attitude to their relationships. For opur first week, there was no days off and working from morning to dark (against wwoof rules if they dont pay you) until they organized a schedule. But all complaints aside I had fun picking oranges, cutting jungle trails, planting palm trees to sell at the market and harvesting bromilliads and orchids.
On one night, we were walkiing to the village to play soccer, and it takes about an hour through the jungle trail. (village name is El Progreso 7 miles) On our way back it was dark and we decided to go down a private road owned by this grumpy Canadian guy named Mike who is not to fond of other people... he is summed up, an Ogre. So when we saw him pass, before we were on his property, we thought we could make it before he came back... not! As advised by the locals and the ranger, Dennis (our friend) they said we would hide if we heard his truck... and when the alert from someone said "VEHICLE!!!" came we went reunning and hid in the bushes...
now to understand this guy mike, he claims ownership to everything, takes other, competing business's signs out of the ground, and shouts gunfire into the air when anyone unfamiliar gets near his property. Sov imagine if he found us when we WERE hiding, versus us just innoocently walking down his road... obviously knowing we were on his property....we survived but had to cut into a jungle trail when he circled back around....end of story.. but weird jungle drama.... this guy has famous resort connections with the cCopolas and his children are allowed to play with the other children at the outpost but the adults dont see eachother.. he on ce had Van Morrison at his house listening top and playing to the youngins...brown eyed girl.. WOW!!
we did get to go into the cave with our friend, and very good guide, the ranger DENNIS. He took us in at night for four hours, taking us longer and further into the cave than anyone else ever would. We got to get out of our canoes and hiked to the waterfall, which normal tours arent allowed to, and we saw many Mayan pots (all brokem after ceremonies) and skulls and bones!!! also many beautiful rock formations aging 100000 years plus.
Another fun anectdote, and Ill make it the last since I am gettin tired. One day the dogs were chasing something and made it jump in to the water, whjen we went to see what was going on it looked like there wasa monster from a japanes horror movie in the water swimming, about 6 or 5 feet long.. when we figured out what it was, a male Iguana, aka a Garobo, I asked Edwin, the resident Mexican, if we could eat it. Of course we could so we started shooting slingshots at it, but when the accuracy failed with the wet rubber, we went for the canoe and machete.... i was paddling while Edwin was striking it with the Machete and eventually went under with a dive mask to finish the kill and collect the fruits of our labor. Pictures can be seen on sonyas blog of this beautiful creature, orange aand black striped. A few hours later we were eatin Bamboo chicken (or rooster i guess) as they call it. Below i will post instructions on how to prepare it.\
HOW TO KILL, PREPARE, AND COOK IGUANA OR GAROBO (male iguana)
1. The Kill: Machete, Slingshot, or Shotgun, strike to the head is the best.
2.Take off the Iguana's head, then put on an open fire of dried coconuts until the skin startys to pop and peel.
3. Carefully peel offall the skin, andsnap off the feet, and maybe cut off the tail for easier carrying, but save it because it is tasty.
4.After skin is gone, make a rough incision from chest to groin are, and empty out the guts. The liver and heart can be delicous morsels saved for eating alone or in a stew. Give the gallbladder to the dogs to enrich their hunting instincts.
5. In the two back legs and the base of the tail there is a white, meat-looking flesh called the scent, or the musk, which you dont want to eat. Remove this.
6. Clean and scrun Iguana in soap and water, rinse well.
7. Chop meat into pieces and soak in lim juice for 45min to 90 minutes. Throe onion, garlic, salt, or anything else tastey to marinate.
8. Cook with a good chicken recipe, preferably spicy or with red ricotta powder for color. Fry or bake for 2- 4 hours, occasionaly adding water and basting.
And no joke, this is some of the best meat Ive tasted, tender if cooked right, with no fat, pure muscle, it tastes very much like shicken.
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