Healy-Guttman Blog

It’s not often I wear a tux, but for my Dad and now wife Cheryl, I made an exception in the fashion department.  …not to mention lugging it all the way down to Guatemala for the wedding.  As it turns out, this trip turned out to be fantastic in so many ways - spending time with family, seeing old friends and meeting new ones, and traveling to places like this beach in Santiago Atitlan:

Why Guatemala?  …well, click below for the rest of the story and some great photos.

Back in July of 2007, I got a call from my father asking if I would have any objections to his getting married to Cheryl Eden (who I had known for some time).  Objection?  Of course not!  When’s the wedding?  ”March”, he said.  OK - no problem, we’ll be back from New Zealand mid-March.  Where is it?  …pause…  “In Guatemala - do you still own a tux?”.  Wait a minute - back up - where?  …and so it went…

As it turns out, Cheryl has a nephew that lives in Guatemala City with a beautiful wife and daughter and lots of extended family.  She has been traveling to this country for 40 years and really wanted to get married there.  …so what do you do?  Yep - buy another tux since the old one doesn’t fit anymore, use some miles for tickets and put it on the calendar.

We arrived on a Wedenesday evening after an uneventful flight through Dallas.  We were towed for what seemed like ten minutes to our gate (the airport is undergoing major construction), picked up our baggage, wound our way through customs (fairly easy in this country) and found Dad who was meeting us there.  We were staying at the Hotel Vista Real and they greet you with champagne at the front desk (I immediately liked this hotel!). 

It was late, so after some time catching up with my Dad, we turned in.  The next morning, we met some friends of Cheryl’s in the restaurant (great buffet!) and discovered they were going on a “city tour” later that day.  We signed up, spent some time changing rooms (long story) and headed out in a van with a partially English-speaking guide to see a Museum of textiles (Museo Ixchel), the President’s Palace and a market.  The museum was actually pretty cool and weaving and clothing style is a big thing in this country. 

I won’t bore you with a lot of palace photos - but some of the “street scenes” are what caught my eye.  …like this enterprising entrepreneur:

…or guys like this that seemed to be guarding just about everything - even appliance stores:

And a huge market with stalls like this one:

My face was pressed to the window like a 5 year old on the outside of a candy store.  This was all new to me and incredibly fasinating. 

Later on, sister Kimberly arrived and we had a great opportunity to catch up.  We got to know the restaurant, bar and pool fairly well as you really didn’t want to venture outside the “bubble” of the hotel - well at least, we didn’t.  …something about armed security at the entrance put a damper on things like going for my usual run (so I settled for the workout room)…  Friday was a day of relaxation followed by the “wedding rehearsal” - yeah, no kidding - this was a formal affair.   …so I wore my “formal Hawaii garb” much to my Dad’s consternation:

Looks like he’s thinking “elope you fool!” (naw, just kidding Cheryl). 

We went through our paces but half the wedding party wasn’t there.  …another long story, but sadly Cheryl’s brother’s mother-in-law passed away the day before and everyone scrambled to get to the funeral earlier in the day (you have 24 hours to bury the deceased in this country).   All the schedules for the day were tossed and there was a lot of scrambling to get things together.  After the rehearsal, we were treated to a wonderful dinner at a private home just a few minutes from the hotel.  Things relaxed a bit for the bride and groom:

We had a chance to meet a lot of the family in Guatemala like Jose who I really enjoyed talking with:

Bill & Susan from Napa Valley:

The next day was more “bubble time” at the hotel enjoying the pool, some great internet, meeting friends from America and family in Guatemala - and then - going to a little wedding (yes, all at the hotel).  The site for the wedding was outdoors in a beautiful grotto but required some stair climbing to get up to the “altar”.  I got to accompany Carlita up the stairs:

…she was probably hoping for somebody a little better looking - you can pick your friends but not your family!  The wedding was conducted by a pastor and his wife and included some interesting Guatemalan quirks such as the reading of some formal “legalese” followed by a few of us having to sign a very formal looking document (Hah!  …they’ll never be able to read my signature…).  Sister Kimberly read a touching poem written by Cheryl and after some typical wedding vows and ring exchange the happy couple tried not to trip down the stairs:

…and then it was picture time… 

The reception was - you guessed it - at the hotel.  …and it was fantastic!  Kimberly looked great:

Dad looked relieved it was almost over:

There was all the traditional stuff including the cake cutting:

And some great dancing:  …yeah, right - like I’m going to post photos of us dancing…  I’ll skip that part but suffice it to say that everyone seemed to genuinely have a great time. 

The next morning, 25 or so of the Americans joined Clark Tours for a 3-day adventure to see some sights in this incredible country.  We loaded up the bus and headed for Day 1 in Chichicastenango - a highland Mayan village with unique and rustic charm.  Our bus:

…OK, I couldn’t resist - our bus was a little more modern…  The bus above is called a “chicken bus” and they are everywhere in many different bright colors belching tons of black soot into the air.  The name comes from the chickens that are often found on the roof like this little guy:

These buses are the main transportation around the country.  If you have moved up in the world, you might get to roll like this:

But you want to avoid these guys:

Travelling to “Chi chi” as it’s nicknamed was the first time I had been out of Guatemala City and as we climbed out of the city into the picturesque countryside, we were impressed with the beauty and ruggedness.  There were several volcanoes in the distance and scenes like this “wild market” on the roadside:

We worked our way into Chi chi with a few challenges (like the size of the bus on roads that were never designed for anything larger than a go cart).  Due to this problem, the bus was parked and we had to walk through a crazy open air market to get to the hotel.  Hundreds of Mayan Indians from the surrounding countryside had their wares on display and it was crowded.  I had a little guy named “Victor” follow me the entire way saying “my name is Victor”, “I am a friend of Charlie” (our guide), “I will see you later?” (and repeat, repeat, repeat).  Victor really wanted to be our guide through the market!  The rough cobblestone streets took it’s toll on a few of our fellow travellers who weren’t quite prepared with the proper footwear, but we finally made it to the Mayan Inn Hotel:

We were assigned rooms and found that there were no locks on the doors but that we each had a guy that would look after us and be our “right hand man”.  …that and some pretty severe consequenses for theiving in this village meant that we could leave our laptops and anything else in the room with no problems.  The rooms were like a throwback to the ’40’s complete with no hot water (apparently we didn’t let the water run long enough), no phones, no TV - just the basics.  As it turned out, we spent only enough time in the room to catch some sleep so this was no problem.  We immediately dumped our bags and grabbed lunch with the assistance of this colorful character:

The outfit he is wearing is traditionally worn by only the Mayan religious leaders and are very expensive.  An interesting fact about this area is that most people don’t make it past their 40’s, so this guy is a very rare exception and one of the oldest people we saw while here. 

Lunch was followed by an interesting tour of the town which included this colorful cemetary rich in history:

We also managed to find some interesting things in the market helped by one of Victor’s friends and followed around by little “Rosa” who’s English consisted mainly of “you buy for your mother?” ”I like this one” (as she held up a headband) or faced with my constant “no’s” - “you buy for your enemy?” accompanied by the sweetest smile.  After we got back to the hotel, Suzanne and I finally rewarded her persistance and bought a headband - guaranteeing that she would treat the next foreigner with an equal effort. 

That evening, most of our group reconvened in the hotel restaurant for dinner, but friends Mike & Diane Mosalf, Suzanne and me decided to venture into town and eat at one of the local restaurants.  We were not disappointed and found a great place with local fare, no tourists and a lot of hand motioning and “pidgeon spanish” to indicate what we wanted to eat.  A great time!

The next morning after breakfast, we returned to the bus pausing at this 400-year old Church of Santo Tomas:

As we loaded the bus that morning, little Rosa was there to say goodbye and try to sell more trinkets.  As I got on the bus her smile was rewarded with a few more “Q’s” from yours truly just because I could…

We headed out of town to Lake Atitlan and a motor launch to the Indian fishing village of Santiago Atitlan - one of the 12 lake-shore villages surrounding the lake.  Unfortunately, there was  a slight snag when we got to the town where we would catch the boat.  Due to this being “Holy Week”, the market which is normally closed today was in full swing.  This resulted in a crazy detour down impossibly tight roads and tight turns.  The police got involved and we ended up becoming the bottleneck for traffic.  The locals were amused - sort of…  Finally, the bus burned up half the clutch and most of the brakes reversing up a hill and out of town.  We headed for a different town - Panajachel - and caught this boat:

I wasn’t too excited about this part of the trip but it turned out to be pretty cool with some great views of the volcanoes:

 

…and amazing sights along the way like this:

The photo at the very top of this blog was also taken at this remote little village of Santiago Atitlan.  Suzanne and I decided to take a 10 minute “tuk tuk” in one of these:

And careened up streets like this:

and this:

… to another church where this guy was taking a siesta:

After checking out the church in record time, we jumped back in our 3-wheeled death machine and screamed back to the pier.  Along the way, I snapped one more photo of a typical scene in Santiago:

…and ten minutes later we were back in the boat speeding back to Panajachel.  Phew!  From there it was a 1/2 mile walk to our lunch at a great restaurant:

…finally we loaded back on the bus for Guatemala City where we would be staying the next two (well, later, three) nights at the Westin Camino Real Hotel.  …back on our “city tour” at the beginning of the trip, I remembered the driver saying “this hotel is for rich people” as we passed by the Camino Real. 

Suzanne and I were pretty tired and in desperate need of a shower, so we said “goodnight” after a light meal and retired early to catch up on email and get some sleep.

Day 3 of our tour was to Antigua - a beautiful and enchanting colonial city founded by the Spaniards in 1543.  When we arrived, we were treated to views of buildings like this:

The consensus of the group was not to spend too much time in more churchs but to do a little shopping and enjoy the lighter side of Antigua.  …however, Carlos our guide did manage to fit in this antique cathedral:

and the obligatory kodak moment:

One of the first shopping stops was “Jades Imperio Maya” - the jade factory.  Here they cut, shape and polish their own jade and make some incredible jewelry:

…this was a very expensive stop…  (just ask Suzanne)

Lunch today was at an exquisite hotel - Casa Santo Domingo.  This hotel is world class and the grounds, atmosphere, and restaurant were a rich contrast to some of the rustic places like Chi Chi that we had been on this trip.  Some of the grounds:

The restaurant:

…and another kodak moment for Jack & Cheryl:

After lunch we strolled over to the monestary attached to the hotel.  The parrots were better looking here than at the Mayan Inn:

Yeah they were as colorful as the chicken buses:

Casa Santo Domingo has a large collection of colonial and religious objects.  Many of these are in the Colonial Museum next door including this angel:

The museum is right outside the church that was used as a burial ground for children.  Kind of creepy, but a few of us ventured down a spiral staircase to the crypt:

After this we went to a coffee farm that also housed an interesting museum with old instruments including the drums used in this part of the country.  Of course this interested me and I made my only purchase the entire trip - a $26 drum found in the adjoining store.  A Kodak moment for our group:

 

We hit a few more great stores, a market, more old buildings and then loaded up once again to return to the Camino Real.  Suzanne and I aren’t much into tours, but this was probably the best way to get an introduction to Guatemala and spend some time with Dad, Cheryl, friends and family. 

After a 5 AM wake up, we headed to the airport for our return flight home but found out our flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Dallas.  …oh well - “that’s the way it is in Guatemala” (famous phrase repeated several times by our guide Carlos).  We took advantage of the day to regroup on email and go through photos.   We did make it home the next day and we’re now recouping on Whidbey getting ready for more upcoming adventures.  ….stay tuned…