The fishing in the lagoon in Hopkins has died over the
past 6 months and gotten worse in the Cayes too. I've been suffering severe fishing
withdrawals lately as I haven't fished in almost 2 months! So I may be looking for bluer seas.
Actually I’ve been getting “itchy feet” for some time now. I’m investigating Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua and even Ecuador in South America as places to live. That wouldn’t happen, if it even does, until
later next year. As with moving here I'll take my time and learn what I can
over the web and then go and spend a month or more in the areas I'm most
interested in to see if I like it there. Last thing you want to do is move
somewhere and find out you don't like it.
I’ve been emailing with American expats in the various countries and
reading their blogs to get a feel for what it’s like to live in the country
they’ve chosen to take residence. I’m
getting pro’s and con’s from them and trading what it’s like to live in Belize.
My moving anywhere away from Kismet though will probably
require someone coming and rescuing me because Trish will chain me up so I
can't go anywhere. Leaving here would be very hard. I've loved the place and
love Trish for the 3+ years I've been here.
Another problem is that I’ll have to change my moniker too. I won’t be able to call myself “Fatboy In
Belize” anymore and that will impact my email accounts
(fatboy_in_belize@yahoo.com and Fatboy.in.belize@gmail.com). I guess it’s kind of like being a new bride,
having to change everything that is connected to her old name. So who will I be??? Fatboy In Guatemala, Fatboy In Nicaragua,
Fatboy In Costa Rica, or Fatboy In Ecuador???
I don’t know they just don’t have the same ring to them as Fatboy In
Belize.
So I left my home in Hopkins on Friday July 19th to head for
Antigua Guatemala and a Spanish language school. My feet are beginning to itch
so it may be time to look for a new country to live in later next year. I still
love where I am but I need a change of scenery. Anyway, moving anywhere else in
Central America, it would behoove me to be able to speak a bit more Spanish
than asking for a beer and a bathroom. There are quite a few Spanish schools
throughout C.A. but I've heard the best reviews about those in Antigua. And
it's a really cool city too. So I'm planning a trip south with no return date
so that I can jump into my studies. All of the schools offer home stays with
local families so you can practice what you learn outside of your structured
studies. That way I'll get to learn all the appropriate swear words and how to
use them in context too. So I may be gone a week, I may be gone a month. It all
depends on how much and how easily my tired old brain retains Spanish...
My travel day started on the 2pm Hopkins bus to the
Hopkins/Southern Hwy junction to pick up another chicken bus to Punta
Gorda. Actually today the Hopkins bus
was a “duck bus” because the young Mayan girl sitting across from me had 2
ducklings in a box that kept trying to escape.
Anyway PG is 3 hours away from Hopkins and I had to wait an hour and
change until the PG bus came so I got here later than I planned and got the
very last room in the St. Charles Inn. I
planned to spend the night there because the water taxi to Puerto Barrios Guatemala
leaves at 9am and there isn’t a bus on Saturday, or any day for that matter,
that leaves early enough to make the 9am departure. I hadn’t been in PG for quite a while, not
since I went down to stay with my friend Sheila who was retiring there, and as
I passed places we’d been together I really started missing here more than I
usually do. Dinner was fried chicken and
fries, a Belizean staple in almost every restaurant in the country. In bed by 9 because I knew Saturday was going
to be a long one and I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. One thing I found at the hotel was a coffee
pot in the room with free coffee. I’ve
never seen that in any other hotel I’ve stayed at in this country. So at least my Saturday morning will start
off right.
I arrived at the pier and Immigration at 8:30am to check out
of the country and book my taxi seat. I was
told that the boat left at 9am but in truth it leaves at 9:30 so I had to stand
around awhile. There wasn’t a sea breeze
so it was a pretty hot hour. I got friendly with 3 Brits who were headed there
too and we decided to travel together all the way to Antigua.
The 45 minute boat trip was nice and smooth. We walked 2 blocks to Immigration and got
stamped and got directions to the bus terminal, which was 5 blocks away. We all stopped at an ATM to get Quetzales,
which is their currency, at a rate of 7.5 to 1 US dollar. Unlike Trish’s and my trip last year, using
the chicken buses, we were sent to a different terminal where we found 1st
class buses, air-conditioned and they showed 3 movies, for the 6 hour trip to
Guatemala City. The bus left at 11am and
stopped at 2pm at a roadside food court for 30 minutes so we could stretch out
legs and get a quick meal. In Guatemala
City we transferred to a van for the hour trip to Antigua where we arrived at
around 7. I had a bit of a problem
finding my hotel, called “A Place To Stay”, and ended up taking a tuk tuk (enclosed
3 wheel motorcycle cab). Even he had
problems finding it and had to make 3 calls for directions. But eventually we did though. The hotel didn’t have a private room
available so they gave me a multi-bed room (4 sets of bunk beds) that was empty
and only charged me US$7 instead of the US$10 for the private room. I was only staying 2 nights so it didn’t
matter. I did get a private room on
Sunday though for $10. Much nicer than
the other room. It also had a private
bath.
My 1st full day in Antigua (7/21) was spent trying to
orient myself with the city streets. My
primary objective was to find the Spanish school I will be attending starting
tomorrow in relation to the hotel I’m in.
What makes it hard is that, while the streets are named and numbered,
none of them are marked so you have to look for landmarks on the map and ask
directions often. I successfully found
my way from my hotel to the school and back again so I feel a bit more
comfortable. But tomorrow I’ll have to do
it all over again because I’ll be living with a host family somewhere else in
the city.
My ankles are pretty sore now because the streets are paved
with different sized rocks that are very uneven. And the curbs are 12 to 18 inches high so
it’s kind of like hiking on a trail rather than walking on a street. Most of you know I never where shoes at home
(hey I live on the beach!) and here I have to wear shoes so that’s another
problem. Someone in Orlando said I
stagger around like a baby with its 1st pair of shoes when I have to wear them.
Tonight I’ll be wandering the streets looking for a good European
restaurant for dinner. One of the reasons I chose Antigua is because it’s loaded with
great restaurants, coffee house and bakeries.
I enjoyed my 1st 6 shot espresso on my walkabout today!
So that’s how my trip is going so far. More to come as school starts and I settle
in.
As always practice peace.
Fatboy In Belize In Antigua GT out!!!
