money, recrossing the border, navigation and rental car

$0.20 - twenty cents american

we ended up not changing any money as we were able to get around using our credit cards and american dollars.  i had filled the gas tank in guatemala so i wouldn't have to in Honduras and that worked out great.  we ended up with a few lempira notes as change for coffee in one shop [give them american dollars - they give you a really crappy exchange rate - you get change back in local money] 

driving back to the border the road had dried out enough in washed out places that traffic was moving quickly.  

we all had valid stamps for Guatemala in our passports and since we had not been stamped out [just stamped into Honduras] i drove past the immigration buildings and to the Guatemalan border gate.  i get challenged by someone in the car who was either just thinking out loud or wanted to go stand in more immigration lines.  i say let's see what happens and let's not make it more complicated than it needs to be.  it takes a minute for the guard to walk out of his shack and he lifts the gate and waves us through.  i shout a 'muchas gracias' and it was that easy.  i don't believe we did anything improper but remote border crossings are always unpredictable so someone else might have a different experience.  

the route we took back was not the same because of a navigation error.  i had fallen asleep in the back seat and when i woke up we were off route.  so, not a big deal but driving in remote areas does require both a skilled driver and some with navigation skills.  roads are poorly marked and google maps/waze was not 100% reliable.

when i return the rental car there is of course a final surprise, the contract is in US$ but when you return the car if you don't pay in US$ cash then they convert using a very bad exchange rate and charge your credit card at the much higher Guat quetzales rate.  this pissed me off because it's just a blantant rip off but i need the transaction to go on my cc for coverage reasons.  i told them i would dispute the added costs with my cc company - which i did because i had a contract in US$ and didn't pay the extra amount.

this was a great adventure and i had a wonderful time.  i hope that my travels take me back to Honduras.

violence in Honduras & Guatemala

this topic is toxic but this is my opinion  -  i try very hard not to make it worse than it is but to see it how it really is.

competition to be the most violent country in Central America is fierce.  the top contenders of the moment are El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  Honduras has been in the news at the moment because of the violence and protests surrounding the recent elections.  in my time there i was cautious but did not see any evidence of violent crimes in the area i visited.

image from theindependent.co.uk

from my short time talking to people in Honduras there are bigger problems than the protests around the elections. it's the narcotics industry that is impacting the country.  due to flight logistics the major drug producing countries of south america need to land their planes in Honduras then move the drugs over land from there to the US.  hundreds of airstrips have popped up creating a new crop of narco warlords.

likewise, the same trends are visible in Guatemala as that money creeps north.  they aren't going to target expats or tourists but it is still possible to get caught in the crossfire.  

the narcotics industry and ultimately poverty are systemic problems that need to be addressed by sustainable economic solutions in developing countries.  

on security, i don't trust expats or other travelers because everyone's security experience, exposure and risk tolerance is different and just as important every culture has it's own nuances.

the real experts on the level of danger in a country are the insurance guys  [and the O&G sector]. they pay people to evaluate the social, political and economic stability of a country to make sure they aren't overexposed.  in my experience that list is far more valuable than what comes out of the state department in the US. 

asked recently by a Canadian about security in Guatemala this is what i said:

death, violent attacks and sexual assault - yes, it's possible but easy to minimize this risk by not going into the specific regions known to have high levels of related activities.  specific zones in Guat City and a few rural areas.

home property theft - yep.  expats are a big target here and the longer you live here the risk increases.  in my opinion, this is usually not random so it's just makes sense the longer you are here to more service providers will be in the house and it's just a matter of time.

street crime - more than most countries and being a gringo i know that i am a bigger target.  i minimize risk by carrying limited amounts of cash, don't wear expensive jewelry, expose my camera or phone on the street, carry technology [other than a phone] or walk alone after dark.  where i live it's easy and safe to use taxis/ubers after dark.  risk goes up during holidays.

in Guatemala i feel more safe here than in Africa, less safe than in Asia or the US.  still, the only place i have ever been robbed at gunpoint or had my home robbed is in the US.  

the copan ruins

the ruins in Copan are considered as important as those at Tikal because of the abundance of stone with Mayan writing that document the civilization at it's height between 300AD and 900AD.  it reminded me of visiting first the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and then later seeing remnants of that same civilization 500 miles away in Vietnam. 


the more time i spend in the region, the more i am learning of the Mayan civilization and how advanced they were.  right after i arrived in Antigua i met an american woman who had been living in Guatemala for about 30 years.  she spent her career studing Mayan civilization.


whenever i get by for a glass of wine i learn a little bit more about the ancient Mayans.  she believes that Mayan medicine was so much more advanced that the arrival of the Spaniards set back medical advancement by about 500 years.  that's not something you are going to read about in the west.

we find the main site and a guide [arranged by the Hacienda] and as we walk to the gates we are welcomed by a very large group of wild macaws.  more on the macaws in the next post.  

this UNESCO site is well preserved and much of what has been uncovered remains in it's original position.  the stones tell the story of the dynastic rule in Copan [today we would call it political propaganda] and the rituals that help historians understand the belief system.  the stones show a special reverence for animals.  those that live both above ground and below ground were believed to travel between the living and the dead.  the dead dwelling being inside the earth.  those that fly above were revered as carriers of the sun and responsible for the sunrises and sunsets.

the ball court here and it's importance in the rituals is all new to me.  at some mesoamerican sites the ball courts were used for gaming.  no so here.  the leader of the winning team was sacrificed and this was considered an honor.  the sacrificed winner would decend into the dwelling of the dead to apease the gods and become a communicator with the rulers of the living.  

the temples, the writings, the construction all point to a very sophisticated civilization and as more secrets of this ancient world are uncovered many people theorize they were more advanced than other civilizations like the Egyptians.

here comes the preachy part .... coming from a culture that places little value on animals beyond a food source it's really hard to wrap your mind around how much the Mayans respected the animals, the earth and worked with the cycles of the year to live in harmony with the environment.  there are really important lessons to be learned in the telling of their story.  it is now recognized that the decline of the civilization was in part caused by over population and poor use of the land.  they could no longer produce enough food to sustain the large centers of population.  the land surrounding the Copan ruins had been completely deforested and it's impact is still present today as the old growth trees aren't present to protect the valley from mud slides.  

back to Copan, the ruins and town are not as commercialized as most UNESCO sites which is good to see but reflect how out of the way and less visited they are.  it's a minimum of six hours by road and most trips are longer than that.

i feel so blessed to be able to see these amazing ruins.  El Mirador is next on the amazing ruins list ... but it is only accessible via a multi day hike or via helicopter.  the first being scary to me because it's on horses through the jungle and the second option being a bit pricey.  

off to Copan in Honduras

this is no short tale and will require multiple posts for the telling.  

there are currently two major sites that tell the story of the Mayan civilization.  the most well known is Tikal in the north of Guatemala which i previously visited on a different trip.  it was phenomenal and ignited my interest in the Mayan history.

the second site is Copan which is in Honduras just a few miles over the Guatemala border.  it's a bit of a trek but one i know i must do.  after much debate a few friends and i decide to rent a car and drive Antigua to Copan.  i'm as excited as a kid at christmas.  i got quite a bit of noise from both expats and locals who thought we were crazy to get a rental car and drive.  i hate when you tell someone about what you are going to do and they start projecting your fears onto you but i digress.  security and decision making is a different post.

there is a third, very exciting site emerging named El Mirador which still has limited access.

but there is a second reason i want to visit Copan.  there is a guy there growing vanilla.  when i was at the macadamian finca [Valhalla] Lorenzo had called him to introduce me because of my passion/fixation/experience with vanilla in Africa. 

the drive is fantastic... we avoid the traffic and an uncomfortable ride in a van and get to see a lot of the southern part of Guatemala just bursting with color ... until we hit the border.

i was expected by the vanilla guy so i was anxious to arrive but as we approach the Guatemala/Honduras border there is a very long [like 1 mile] line of semis [what we call 18 wheelers in the US].  after waiting a while and chatting up a bunch of miscellaneous people [did i mention none of us was fluent in spanish?] at the border we hear there is a washed out road on the the Honduras side causing delays.  what?  washed out roads in Honduras ... i expected it so i wasn't surprised.

being resourceful [like i think i am] i follow a tourist shuttle as it weaves in and around the semis to and over the border.  this is a good strategy and we avoid hours [or days] of delays.  

after driving on the wrong side of the road for a mile dodging oncoming traffic to the border, customs and immigration was for us no problem.  we parked, entered a building were 'fingerprinted',  stamped and paid our $3 in less than 10 minutes.  i say 'fingerprinted' because the machines don't work and i watched as the agents would eventually give up and stamp the passports and wave people through.  Honduras is part of a C4 coalition [guatemala, honduras, el salvador and nicaragua] which makes the borders less formal like in the EU.  except they all keep their own money - so we went in with american dollars to exchange not knowing exactly what to expect.  at the rental car agency we had paid $28 border fee for paperwork to cross the border with a car but no one wanted to see the documentation and we could have easily crossed the border without either a stamp or the car paperwork.  

turns out there was a spot on the Honduras side where where the road was washed out and they were using a massive tractor [like a front end loader] to pull the semis up the muddy hill.  i follow the tourist shuttle and make it up the muddy, rutted, washed out hill.  i don't recommend this for everyone.  i have years of experience driving off road in the mountains of Colorado in winter and driving in Africa.  that seems to be the right balance to be comfortable navigating in 3rd world countries. 

the biggest hassle was dealing with the car rental agency in Antigua [Budget] which was typical gringo BS but that is a whole different post.