At 6:20 am on Dec. 18, 2008 we, the Klanderman family and our adopted parents/grandparents Greg & Gail Malczewski (Mall-chess-key)--who are also our host family for this year, left on an adventure to explore some of this amazing country we currently call home. The day was beautiful about 60 degrees or so a little cloudy and perfect for driving. After only two potty stops and many semi-trucks to pass (only one construction zone...you should see the vendors at that stop in traffic) we arrived at our first destination, Rio Dulce (it's called Castillo de San Felipe on our map)about 1pm and that's when the rain began! We found a sign for a turn to the place we were staying at called Hacienda Tijax...but the winding road led us to a dead end. So after some Spanish pantomime with a nice gentleman we understood that that was the right road but we needed to find another entrance. So we drove back the way we had come in and found a road that seemed to lead in the right direction and seemed the same concrete consistancy (lesson #1 in Guatemalan navigation...signs mean nothing...use all visual clues to find your way) and when we followed it back to where there seemed to be no more road...there we were following a little very rutted 2 track through a gate labelled Hacienda Tijax. This 2 km road led us to a parking lot, which lead to a walking suspension bridge through a swamp. (Did I mention it was raining at this time?) The very slippery wooden hanging bridge meandered through the mangrove swamp for quite a ways (all the time you are wondering...where are we going?) and then you come down the last bridge to a concrete path way and find yourself in a very jungle type area with little buildings around every turn. We found the main desk which after some more poor communication in Spanish found our reservations and the lady who did speak English led us to our living space. (Notice: These pictures were taken the following day after the rain stopped.)
Here is the path that led to our Bungalow...Through the bushes (which were soaking at the time)...
And you enter the bottom living area which consisted of an open area where we could rest in a hammock (the bathroom was just to the back and to the left) and
....there was an area for eating and a kitchen area for cooking (with no utensils...we had to ask at the front desk).
Upstairs we had two bedroom areas (each with a double and 2 twin beds complete with mosquito netting...thank goodness) and after Amy killed the very large spider in one corner of our sleeping quarters they were clean as a whistle. We had sandwiches for lunch, played games most of the soggy afternoon, and ate breakfast burritos for supper. After which we played some more games and then went to bed. The rain (which we did not expect at all because we figured since it was dry season in Guatemala City, it must be also in other parts of the country...wrong!) continued on through the night and was very loud because the roof was tin. Also there were these huge bangings on the roof during the night that woke us up and scared us out of our wits. The next morning we realized that this was the culprit...
...a large coconut tree growing over our roof...lost a few of its precious fruit during the night. Must have landed right above our heads. Quite an experience. Not something we experience everyday in our neck of the woods.
This is our bungalow from the outside. (Great birding...which I'll talk about in our next blog.)
And despite the many unexpected things of the first day and night of our trip we really did have a great time and especially enjoyed the hammock and sharing in this day with family & friends.
At 6:20 am on Dec. 18, 2008 we, the Klanderman family and our adopted parents/grandparents Greg & Gail Malczewski (Mall-chess-key)--who are also our host family for this year, left on an adventure to explore some of this amazing country we currently call home. The day was beautiful about 60 degrees or so a little cloudy and perfect for driving. After only two potty stops and many semi-trucks to pass (only one construction zone...you should see the vendors at that stop in traffic) we arrived at our first destination, Rio Dulce (it's called Castillo de San Felipe on our map)about 1pm and that's when the rain began! We found a sign for a turn to the place we were staying at called Hacienda Tijax...but the winding road led us to a dead end. So after some Spanish pantomime with a nice gentleman we understood that that was the right road but we needed to find another entrance. So we drove back the way we had come in and found a road that seemed to lead in the right direction and seemed the same concrete consistancy (lesson #1 in Guatemalan navigation...signs mean nothing...use all visual clues to find your way) and when we followed it back to where there seemed to be no more road...there we were following a little very rutted 2 track through a gate labelled Hacienda Tijax. This 2 km road led us to a parking lot, which lead to a walking suspension bridge through a swamp. (Did I mention it was raining at this time?) The very slippery wooden hanging bridge meandered through the mangrove swamp for quite a ways (all the time you are wondering...where are we going?) and then you come down the last bridge to a concrete path way and find yourself in a very jungle type area with little buildings around every turn. We found the main desk which after some more poor communication in Spanish found our reservations and the lady who did speak English led us to our living space. (Notice: These pictures were taken the following day after the rain stopped.)
Here is the path that led to our Bungalow...Through the bushes (which were soaking at the time)...
And you enter the bottom living area which consisted of an open area where we could rest in a hammock (the bathroom was just to the back and to the left) and
....there was an area for eating and a kitchen area for cooking (with no utensils...we had to ask at the front desk).
Upstairs we had two bedroom areas (each with a double and 2 twin beds complete with mosquito netting...thank goodness) and after Amy killed the very large spider in one corner of our sleeping quarters they were clean as a whistle. We had sandwiches for lunch, played games most of the soggy afternoon, and ate breakfast burritos for supper. After which we played some more games and then went to bed. The rain (which we did not expect at all because we figured since it was dry season in Guatemala City, it must be also in other parts of the country...wrong!) continued on through the night and was very loud because the roof was tin. Also there were these huge bangings on the roof during the night that woke us up and scared us out of our wits. The next morning we realized that this was the culprit...
...a large coconut tree growing over our roof...lost a few of its precious fruit during the night. Must have landed right above our heads. Quite an experience. Not something we experience everyday in our neck of the woods.
This is our bungalow from the outside. (Great birding...which I'll talk about in our next blog.)
And despite the many unexpected things of the first day and night of our trip we really did have a great time and especially enjoyed the hammock and sharing in this day with family & friends.
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