Guatemala Birding Trip, November 7-21, 2006: Summary

Now that it’s been almost two months since I returned from Guatemala, I am ready to summarize my adventures. Trip preparation, including packing lists, luggage, and immunizations, were covered in this journal’s overview. The photos are not of a very high quality, as they were taken with an inexpensive Flatfoto camera. The camera was tiny, though, and very convenient to carry around. Also, the order of the photos helped me keep track of dates and events.

My two-week trip cost $1,566.45. Below are the individual expenses, rounded to the nearest dollar:

Would I go back to Guatemala?

Roundtrip airfare to Guatemala City from Ohio,

(including insurance): $504

Internal flight from Guatemala City to Flores, one-way: $139

Ground transportation: $150

Hotels (one included 3 meals): $386

Food and Beverage (including water): $155

Entrance Fees: $49

Misc. (souvenirs/internet/medicine/phone calls): $100

Donations of cash (not including $122 of goods donated): $83

Experiences with various hotels and locations are listed in individual journal entries. All but one of the hotels charged about $30 a night. I opted for the mid-range hotels, but still had a problem with bugs and noise.

I ate street food, dairy products, leafy greens, and peeled fruit, all of which were discouraged by most sources. I felt nauseous on the last day of my trip, and for several days after returning home, but I can’t pinpoint the reason. I wouldn’t change my eating habits if I returned. Most of the food was delicious and prepared from scratch. I bought chloroquine (Aralen) from a pharmacy for a couple of dollars and had no ill effects from taking it. Since I prefer to spend my time doing other things than sitting in a restaurant waiting for a large meal, I would pack more food for a subsequent trip—especially nutritious breakfast food. I saw no grocery stores on my whole trip. The only snacks sold in the few shops I visited were cookies and chips. One shop had tiny packages of nuts.

The heat was overwhelming, and I was there in the cool season. I never knew the exact temperature while I was there, but I picked up a local newspaper on the day of my arrival, which I brought home. The temperature for Flores was listed as 34 degrees C. I just now looked up the conversion on the Internet. It was 93.2 degrees F. That’s hot. And it was hotter still in El Remate. I was always drenched with sweat. Nevertheless, I dutifully wore long sleeves, long pants, and socks with my hiking boots. I also dutifully slathered on insecticide and suntan lotion daily. I had very few mosquito bites and no sunburn.

Keeping enough cash, especially quetzals, was a problem. Traveler’s checks were a hassle. Even when there was a bank around to cash them, there were long lines that took up valuable time. Credit cards of any kind were not widely accepted. There were no ATM’s at Tikal or El Remate, where I spent most of my time.

Transportation was another problem. It would have been wonderful to have a car to travel to the remote birding sites. However, the routes to those sites (and to everywhere) were congested with traffic. I’d heard that cars’ windows were often smashed and the contents stolen when left unoccupied. Dealing with authorities and insurance companies in a foreign language in the even of a mishap didn’t thrill me either. That left buses and taxis. There were good buses between major cities if you could plan ahead and reserve a seat, and if you could leave in the morning. If you arrived somewhere in the afternoon or evening, there usually wasn’t a good bus leaving for your next location, meaning you would have to stay overnight in a hotel. There were night buses to a few major locations, but then you would miss the sights along the way, and you might not be able to sleep on the bus. There were minivans and minibuses, sometimes called camionetas that were reasonably priced and convenient. These usually had to be reserved a day ahead, however, and left very early in the morning. Taxis were not cheap. As a matter of fact, I found that most taxi and bus drivers were willing to charge more than the going rate if they thought they could.

Keeping in touch with family and friends was difficult, if not impossible. I don’t have a cell phone, but most of them didn’t work in Guatemala anyway. There were Internet cafes in good-sized towns or cities, which I found to be the best means of communication (unless they were down for some reason, which happened). There were few pay phones anywhere, and they took a special phone card. I didn’t know where to buy the cards, nor did I care to expend the time and energy necessary to learn which card to buy or how to use it. Only one hotel I stayed at had a phone, and my Spanish wasn’t good enough to allow me to go through the desk clerk to use it. I mailed postcards (expensive to mail) to family and friends early in my trip. Only one was received—a month later.

I speak Spanish reasonably well, having had four years of study, living in Mexico three months some years ago, and taking a refresher course before my trip. However, I still found it difficult to communicate. Speaking was easier than being able to understand what was being said. Guatemaltecans use slang and idioms, just as we do here, and many speak rapidly and with various accents.

Physical stamina was important. My stamina is not what it once was, and I became exhausted from all of the necessary walking and climbing. Both the extreme heat and the extreme cold (in the mountains) bothered me. I dislike noise, especially when I’m trying to sleep, and there was too much of it for my comfort. Loud traffic…loud dogs…loud music. Take earplugs if you go. I also dislike strong smells. Why do people who are going to take a bus or plane ride pour on strong perfume/cologne without any consideration for their seatmates? Of course that problem is not limited to Guatemala. Perhaps I live a pampered life, where I have been able to avoid or escape such things. But I can’t understand why everyone wouldn’t choose to live in peace and comfort, with nothing distasteful infringing upon the senses.

By the way, I got used to being double-checked by security guards in airports (“wanded”). I think it happened every time I went through security. I either forgot to remove something objectionable (like a metal hair barrette) or I wasn’t given enough time to do so. I saw lots of others being “wanded” as well, so I lost my embarrassment.

That brings me to the subject of safety, the major concern on most travelers’ minds. I tried to be as careful as possible. I tried not to go out after dark. Still, one cannot guard against every situation, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. As far as I am concerned, the best defense is to have a strong relationship with God. He is over all. Whatever happens to me He either causes or allows to happen. How I handle every situation will be judged by Him. Death, although certainly not to be sought, is not to be feared. When He chooses to take me to heaven to be with Him, I will be in a better place than here—and with those I love who have gone to heaven before me. In the meantime, He is giving me the opportunity to lay up treasures for eternity. Everything that I do matters.

I re-read the entire trip report before I typed this summary. It seems that most of the problems I had were due to my impatience. Before I left home I’d decided to take it easy and stay in just two places, spending the days in a hammock if I couldn’t find anything else to do. Being there, though, I didn’t always remember to do so. My worst day occurred when I made the rash decision to leave Tikal before I’d planned to do so—without checking travel resources or relying on the advice of obviously informed people. I don’t know why I hurried. Hurrying isn’t fun. Besides, I have forever. All I need to do is deal with every situation that arises in the way I know God wants. He’ll take care of the rest. Even with my faith I sometimes forget. Ah, this human mind.

The primary purpose of my trip was to see birds. Hopefully, lots of birds. But especially birds I’d never seen before. Any other wildlife would be a bonus. I filed a detailed birding report (species seen, date seen, where seen) before I ever got around to this trip report. Birders can find this report at www.birdingtheamericas.com, Blake Maybank’s wonderful repository for birding trip reports for North and South America. Just follow the links on the main page: North America-Central America-Guatemala. Surprisingly, I only saw a total of 121 species on the two-week trip (I’ve seen almost 100 species in one day on birding trips to sites in my own state). However, 73 of those 121 species were life birds (birds I’d never seen before). I’m usually excited about finding one new life bird on a day’s outing. Incidentally, the unidentified birds I saw on the hill near Antigua were Black-eared Bushtits (discovered after some research).

I was very fortunate to see as many animals as I did. The highlight was the unusual, catlike animal I saw at Tikal on November 12. After a great deal of research at our local library, I identified it as a Jaguarundi. In addition, I saw the Gray Fox, Coati, Agouti, Howler and Spider Monkeys, Fer de Lance, many beautiful butterflies, lizards, spiders, hornets, bats, and (yuk) cockroaches.

As for my best experience, it would have to be the evening I spent sharing God’s Word with the two young backpackers at the hotel near the Biotopo del Quetzal. I might have been privileged to lead the girl back to God (and to have influenced the boy as well). It was certainly one of those opportunities to lay up treasures for eternity.

I got much more for my money than a two-week vacation. I thoroughly enjoyed the six months of planning prior to the trip. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reliving my trip as I’ve prepared this trip report. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the comments from those who have read my trip report on the Internet or by my sending them a typed copy. Altogether, I figure I have had eight months of enjoyment for my $1500. That’s pretty good.

Would I go back to Guatemala? Yes, I would…unless there are so many other delightful places calling to me that I don’t have time to return to those places already visited. As my son read my journal entries, he commented, “Mom, I can’t tell if you are trying to convince people to go to Guatemala, or not to go.” “Neither,” I told him, “I’m just telling my experiences as they happened.” When I first returned home I was exhausted and sick. I truly thought I might never travel again, especially to Guatemala. When I walked in the door to our home, I commented, “We live in a palace!” Of course, we don’t. Really, our home is quite humble, and very small; but in comparison to the temporary rentals of those past two weeks it felt like a palace. After a week of being back home I felt much better. After a couple of weeks I started wondering where I would go next. I wouldn’t let myself plan another trip until I completed this journal. This is the last entry.