So Far

Driving through Mexico

All we are trying to do is get to Guatemala by Friday. What’s against us is our original delay, plus, Visa hassles, creative rather than accurate maps, sleet, hail, rain, high winds, being clueless at times... And most of all, just simply not enough time.

All trips have their travel hassles and in general, they are not the heart of the matter but one it’s by products. Alas, all we are doing is driving, everyday, all night, so travel hassles are most of the trip. So you can insert your own memories of your last endless driving experience here and it will be more or less what we have been doing. The things that were new to me were how more than one road is called the same thing. For example, you’ll get to a fork in the road and you’ll see, that BOTH ways are called 180. 180 left to one town, 180 right to another town. Which way do we go? The roads are small, traffic rules are guide lines and speed limits... And then there are speed bumps, every where. Because jerks like us drive and crazy speeds, ignoring the speed limits, they put up speed bump after speed bump. What will wake you up in a hurry is hitting one of those babies when you’re speeding!

To give our blast through Mexico a fair shake, there was some great scenery. But the endless driving, the lack of sleep and junk food eating made this part more of a trail than a life forfilling experience.


Got There

Finally we reached the Guatemala boarder. Boys on motorcycles drive up besides you, tap on the window and yell, “Guatemala, Guatemala?”. If you respond, they then lead you through the town of HIilago to the check point. I sat around chatting with the soldiers at the border while the paperwork got processed. I spoke english, they spoke Spanish, but I figured out they were paratroopers and they really liked the Earth Roamer. The paper work took forever because the good old DMV back in Colorado put the wrong license plate number on the title. If it hadn’t been for our guide from the Guatemalan board of tourism we would not have made it into the country. The big question is whether we can get the Earth Roamer OUT of Guatemala. Without a corrected title, the car will be presumed stolen and It will have to stay here. Our guide, Walter, says he is willing to take it.

We headed down the road only to get stopped by the police in just a few blocks. The Earth Roamer gets pulled over a lot. The problem is that it is army green and looks very aggressive. Everywhere we go heads turn. I think the police and the soldiers just want to check it out.

As it turns out Walter had requested a Police escort into the town of Antigua. So off we went with the police behind us. As we went from one county to another, a new police car would drop in behind us as the old one peeled off. Strange to have the Guatemalan police, with their lights on and not be going, “shit, shit , shit.

In Antigua we parked at the police station, loaded up a crap load of gear and went off to film the Good Friday Processions.

Bear with me, as I am not a Christian, but here’s what went on. The procession, has hundreds of people in black robs, swinging incense burners, hand carried statues of life of Christ and then, comes the actual procession.

How to describe it? It’s a thirty feet long and ten wide, box. And I say box, in desperate need for a better word. Four rows of, maybe, thirty people carry it on their shoulders. It’s built of wood with very ornate cravings. On top in a glass case is Christ. In the gloom of dusk and the haze of the incense, it comes slowly swaying back and forth down the street. Laid on in the streets are the “carpets”. The carpets are made of colored plants and leafs making pictures and designs. The procession walks right over them and so they are destroyed. Drummers march behind it making a slow, deep, booming note.

The camera is a powerful thing. Well maybe, an influential thing. The camera got me and Don right into the middle of the street, right before the precession. MInd you the streets were packed, mobbed. People made way for us. (Then again we still had the police escort, on foot now.) My job was carrying the tripod, making sure Don didn’t fall off a curb or run into anyone when filming and, in general, being useful.

The light soon faded, and although the event was still in full swing, the filming was over. We headed back to the police station. I tried not to club anyone with the big tripod I was carrying over my shoulder. There was a full moon rising over the Volcano, Agua, which dominates the skyline. I was lusting after the idea of flying off of it.
Back at the police station, gear was repacked. The car was unlocked and I was getting a bit of grief as the last person out of the car. The police had just brought in a thief. From the anguish in his cries, I was guessing that his life was about to really really, start sucking.

We left with our police escort to Walter's sisters house to spend the night. It was a hot evening, in the eighties. There we found out the power lock cable was not attached to the rear door lock of the Earth Roamer. I was exonerated on the not locking the door charger. As it turns out it hasn’t been locked all trip. A big deal? Well, there’s is $13000’s of video tape and a $65000 camera.

Pacya

On the second day of filming we went to volcano Pacya. Seeing a real live volcano has been high on my list of thing to do, so I was excited for the day.
Start with a drive on the hiway, wind up the road on the volcano that goes from good to bad to real bad. We continued with the maniac passing of slow moving pick up trucks with a lot of people, that we have become so good at. We took horses from the parking lot. I felt a little wimpy about this. I should carry my own gear not have some beast carry me and it. The gear to shoot the show it too much to get up and down in any reasonable amount of time, so it was horses.

I hadn’t been on a horse in decades, but all I had to do was not fall off. The trail was very eroded much like I’ve seen in Yelapa Mexico. That means in the steep parts you were riding through a deep slot. We where warned to bring warm cloths. However, those of us that started this trip in a snow storm, didn’t fine the sixty degree temperatures, “cold”.

We came to a shoulder of the volcano where we got off the horses. Before us was a huge sloping laval field, the cone of the volcano rose thousands of feet yet higher. At first I saw a slanting slope of dark gray rock, cool but not amazing. Then I started to see the hot glowing red of the lava here and there. Parts would damp up and cool then bust loose and expose oozing, brilliant lava dripping in great globs.

Here’s the part I didn’t expect, the sound. The lava is constantly moving, tumbling the light lava rock. The sound of the rock falling and clonking, stirring and scrapping along ebbs and flows.

Keith, Don and I hiked down on to the lava flow in’s self. Hey! molten rock is really hot! Duh, right? But when you are there it’s amazing. You try to get close, wondering if you shoes are melting off, but the heat, (and what’s left of your common sense that hasn’t been suppressed by your excitement.) keeps you back. Don started rolling tape as Keith did his thing. The camera worked it’s magic again. People would hush as we rolled tape, move aside to make space for us. (As it was one day after the processions, everywhere was very crowded. ) We couldn’t get the sound of the lava with all the people so I went out on the flow and rolled rocks around for the microphone instead.

Anyway the pace is brutal and I need to sleep.

Think we are off to the coffee plantation tomorrow.


Bill