Hammockeering Around: Across Guatemala

It was a short and pleasant trip across Guatemala. I traveled with Max across the east side of it from Belize to Honduras. The first stop along the way was to the city of Flores. Flores is situated on a small island in a lake. It was a cool little town, as I suspect any town is that engulfs an island. In the lakes were clothes washing stations. Mounds of stones stacked in shallow water with a flat rough stone for scrubbing clothes on top. It had been a while since I've been able to wash clothes thoroughly so I joined on with the ladies already there. Swimming in that area made bubbles in the soapy water.

Traveling south took me through a landscape of short steep mounds of earth rising sharply out of the flat farm fields. It was a landscape I've never seen before and it captivated me as I traveled through it. The world was lush there. I was surrounded by a deep greens the whole day through. Rivers flowing to the Caribbean cut through the landscape, frequently forming wonderful pools for swimming.

The food was great too. I picked fresh grapefruit from the trees my hammock hung from. I could get bananas for just a few cents, mellons were sold at every small town and the avocados were the largest I have ever seen, as big as the grapefruit! I bought a lot of fresh corn tortillas, formed by hand and cooked over a wood fire. They were fantastic.

The people in Guatemala were as friendly and helpful as everywhere else I've been. Smiling and waving as I pass, always curious where I came from and where I am going. I think my Spanish is just good enough to be able to answer them though that is not always true.