I have yet to see a Guatemalan speed limit sign.
Speed signs are overrated, apparently. Here, the problem is solved by large speed bumps in the middle of the highway.
Yeah, warning signs are overrated too. Nope, no sign in front of a speed bump here- you just have to hope the driver's paying attention, especially if:
-You're a giant truck piled with sugar cane- I mean seriously... I'll show you a picture.
- You're a family chatting in the back of a pick-up.
-You're on a motorcycle. Picture road construction in the U.S.- a big orange sign somewhere in there says 'MOTORCYCLES, USE EXTREME CAUTION'
Do you see that in front of the speed bumps here? No... all over Antigua? Noo.... (Antigua, remember, has cobblestone streest.) (I should show you a picture of the sidewalk) And does anybody mind? Nope.
So anyway, I got to experience these speed bumps first hand, not flying over them, but seeing them, driving from Antigua to a town called Sipacate on the Pacific Coast.
Our boat was great. Black plastic tarp roof- chipping paint... REALLY cool to ride in. It took us and two friends down an estuary- oh boy. The estuary was. So. Pretty. Calm water, mangroves! Mangroves- ever seen a mangrove? Prettyprettypretty- writing can't even give this estuary credit. Pelicans, spiraling, slow streams lined with the mangroves branching mysteriously away from the main channel. Sandbars, and in many little nooks a wooden boat tied to a tree. Occassionally there are people in the boats, poling their way down the water. At one bend there was a group of happy people swimming.
Our destination was a lagoon- a lagoon where Pacific Green turtles come for safety.
Those turtles don't show themselves much, but every few minutes a turtle head splashes to the surface.
In this calm, quiet place, what I didn't know was that a fine sand beach, waves, warm water, palm trees, was about a couple thousand feet behind the mangroves. Going past the dock we'd launched from, our boat became a ferry to a small hotel on the beach, accessible only by boats like ours. Swinging under a thatched roof were a dozen or so colorful hammocks, and some tables to eat at. A few cabins were set back a bit from the beach. Seriously, the quiet estuary and the cheerful surf were about two hundred feet away from where the hammocks were. Totally breath-taking, in an exciting way.
Driving home, we survived all the speed bumps, and remember the smoking volcano? Well, it's real name is Fuego, meaning fire, and it's one of the three active volcanoes in Guatemala. Well, on the way back to Antigua, we were a lot closer to it, and it erupted several times where we could see the smoke even better, and it was really, really neat to see that.
Sunday, or yesterday, was our last day with our host family, except we didn't see them then, so our last day in their house. We moved this morning to a 'casa nueva,' new house, this morning.
We're excited to have hot showers, have lots of windows and natural light, walk in a garden, and I even have my own house. :)
I think we moved into paradise.
Many pictures coming your way! The blurry ones or ones with weird things are probably either taken by me, or from a moving car, but I thought you guys might like to see them anyway.
Missing everyone,
Anda
Speed signs are overrated, apparently. Here, the problem is solved by large speed bumps in the middle of the highway.
Yeah, warning signs are overrated too. Nope, no sign in front of a speed bump here- you just have to hope the driver's paying attention, especially if:
-You're a giant truck piled with sugar cane- I mean seriously... I'll show you a picture.
- You're a family chatting in the back of a pick-up.
-You're on a motorcycle. Picture road construction in the U.S.- a big orange sign somewhere in there says 'MOTORCYCLES, USE EXTREME CAUTION'
Do you see that in front of the speed bumps here? No... all over Antigua? Noo.... (Antigua, remember, has cobblestone streest.) (I should show you a picture of the sidewalk) And does anybody mind? Nope.
So anyway, I got to experience these speed bumps first hand, not flying over them, but seeing them, driving from Antigua to a town called Sipacate on the Pacific Coast.
Our boat was great. Black plastic tarp roof- chipping paint... REALLY cool to ride in. It took us and two friends down an estuary- oh boy. The estuary was. So. Pretty. Calm water, mangroves! Mangroves- ever seen a mangrove? Prettyprettypretty- writing can't even give this estuary credit. Pelicans, spiraling, slow streams lined with the mangroves branching mysteriously away from the main channel. Sandbars, and in many little nooks a wooden boat tied to a tree. Occassionally there are people in the boats, poling their way down the water. At one bend there was a group of happy people swimming.
Our destination was a lagoon- a lagoon where Pacific Green turtles come for safety.
Those turtles don't show themselves much, but every few minutes a turtle head splashes to the surface.
In this calm, quiet place, what I didn't know was that a fine sand beach, waves, warm water, palm trees, was about a couple thousand feet behind the mangroves. Going past the dock we'd launched from, our boat became a ferry to a small hotel on the beach, accessible only by boats like ours. Swinging under a thatched roof were a dozen or so colorful hammocks, and some tables to eat at. A few cabins were set back a bit from the beach. Seriously, the quiet estuary and the cheerful surf were about two hundred feet away from where the hammocks were. Totally breath-taking, in an exciting way.
Driving home, we survived all the speed bumps, and remember the smoking volcano? Well, it's real name is Fuego, meaning fire, and it's one of the three active volcanoes in Guatemala. Well, on the way back to Antigua, we were a lot closer to it, and it erupted several times where we could see the smoke even better, and it was really, really neat to see that.
Sunday, or yesterday, was our last day with our host family, except we didn't see them then, so our last day in their house. We moved this morning to a 'casa nueva,' new house, this morning.
We're excited to have hot showers, have lots of windows and natural light, walk in a garden, and I even have my own house. :)
I think we moved into paradise.
Many pictures coming your way! The blurry ones or ones with weird things are probably either taken by me, or from a moving car, but I thought you guys might like to see them anyway.
Missing everyone,
Anda
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| Very full truck |
 |
| A boat identical to the one we went on |
 |
| Pelicans! |
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| Me, on the boat |
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| A motorcycle and boats on the shore |
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| The beach |
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| Fuego |
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| I like hammocks. |
AWESOME pictures! I love the birds...and the volcano, of course! Mom and I are kind of laughing at the contrast, because it's dumping snow here, and there has been evidence suggesting that we'll be recording freezing rain to knock our power out. Great post as always!
ReplyDelete-Luna
Love the hammock shot!
ReplyDelete-Liza