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XELA PAGES GUATEMALAN NEWSLETTER http://www.xelapages.com/ Issue #6, June 1, 1999 Current Subscriber - 784 ============================================== Copyright 1999 By Tom Lingenfelter -- Xela Pages NOTE: This Newsletter is sent to subscribers, friends, and business associates. This is NOT UCE or SPAM everyone on this list has contacted me in the past or subscribed to this newsletter. Xela Pages will NEVER provide its subscriber list to ANYONE. We respect
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Please visit and bookmark the site! Current Exchange Rate: $1.00US = Q7.25
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My trip began at 7:30am April 6, 1999 I boarded a 2nd Class bus in Quetzaltenango head for Guatemala City (cost 13Q). Roughly a 5 hour bus ride. Once in Guate I boarded another bus headed for Chiquimula. I did not have a guidebook but I asked around and found out that the buses for Chiquimula were located across a major road and behind a large domed church. Once I found the bus I paid 13Q for a 2nd class bus (1st class was 18Q) and headed out. We arrived in Chiquimula a little after 3pm so I had to stay the night at the nearest hotel. I found one up the street a ways with a restaurant in front 35Q for a private room, bath & TV. From Chiquimula you must take a bus to the border of Guatemala & Honduras. The terminal is located in the square by the market. Ask for the bus to Copán. I paid 8Q in the office and the bus left at 6am. Current exchange rate in Honduras 1Q = 2L(Lempira.) The journey is slow due to the fact that the road is unpaved. We reached the border about 3 hours later. I paid 20Q leaving Guatemala and 20L entering Honduras. You can change money here as bank rates are not that great. Try to ignore one very persistent hawker! You can get a pickup ride from the border to Copán Ruinas for 20L or pay 40L for the bus. Accommodations in Copán range from 40L to 200L/night. La siesta were I stayed was 60L easy to find, adequate with communal showers. The Copán Ruinas (famous ones) cost $10 US entry fee and $5 US for the museum. I also suggest you visit the Mayan hospital for children (Zola) & other ruins in the area. You can hire horses to visit these other ruins with a guide, they also have baths there that you can use. The normal cost is $20 US in total, however, I meet a young lad named Miguel (look for his white hat). He is 12 years old and the son of a guide who will charge 100L or $8 US for the lot. Miguel is in Cental Park Square after 6pm each evening. Buses leave Copán for San Pedro Sula each morning starting at 6am. You will find them just beyond the ruined bridge on the far side of town. I don't remember the exact price but it is less than 30L. We reached San Pedro about 10am. The terminal for La Ceiba is 4 blocks down and one block to the left from where I was dropped off. A bus left very soon after for La Ceiba again roughly 30L. We arrived in La Ceiba at 1pm and took a taxi to a hostel (Amsterdam) the taxi was 20L and the hostel was 50L/night. If you can get a group together and use a taxi to take you to the ferry terminal, it is much cheaper this way. I did this and it was only 20L each for the taxi ride. At the ferry terminal there are two boat services of equal size. One boat leaves at 9:30am the other about 1/2 hour later. The first boat cost 105L the second 125L. I could see no difference in the two boats to justify the higher price. The boat rides to Utila take 1 hour. All of Utila's restaurants, hotels & dive shops are on the shore facing you as you arrive. Good accommodations can be found for $5US/night and upwards. So of the dive shops have their own accommodations for $4US/night outside of course. Utila offers both quality diving and the cheapest diving likely to be found in the Americas. There is little difference in dive shops. For fun dives I recommend Captain Morgan. They offer a package of 12 dives for $100US plus accommodations for $4US/night. Their boats are small meaning smaller groups more pleasant and they dive frequently on the north side of the island (best side). The bigger boats ride high on the water, no extra protection for the sea roll & herd divers like cattle. If you want insurance it is $2/day extra (except for Utila watersports which it is includes). All the dive schools offer 10 dives for $100US (except Captain Morgans with 12 dives). For courses (all padi) Bay Islands College of Diving is the best, but all schools have courses from open water to divemaster. Bay Islands & Utila Watersports are both well equipped. Bay Islands is to the left of the pier several 100 yards, Cpt Morgans is dead ahead with plenty of others on both sides - Happy Shopping!! The journey back to Quetzaltenango took 3 days by bus but I did not overnight in Chiquimula. Overall it was a great trip that I would highly recommend to anyone, but especially those interesting in diving!! If you have any specific questions feel free to email me. John Dennis
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You can buy these guides directly from Amazon.com simply by clicking on the Web Address. (URL may be too long, make sure you copy entire URL to find guides) Lonely Planet Central America : On a Shoestring (3rd Ed)
Lonely Planet Guatemala, Belize & Yucatan LA Ruta Maya (3rd Ed)
Rough Guide to Guatemala by Rough Guides, Mark Whatmore
The Rough Guide to Guatemala and Belize (3rd Ed)
Fodor's Belize & Guatemala : The Complete Guide With Beaches, Maya
Ruins and Dive Sites (1st Ed)
To see all my recommendations goto: http://www.xelapages.com/guides/ =======================================
I received 25 responses to the poll question and every single one of them said they believed Guatemala was a safe place to visit. I did not have 1 person answer negatively, which actually surprised me due to all the bad press I have heard about relating to Central America. Some said use common sense, which is true, no matter where you are traveling. Here are a few comments: Why is only BAD news considered NEWS? My partner and I spent
our second winter in Guatemala this year--2 months in Xela and Panjachel,
with a side trip to Mexico. We always feel safe in Xela, but a little
less
"Amy Fehringer" <a_fehringer@hotmail.com>
"yes, just don't be dumb" H.M "yes, with some precautions" J.P. Thank you to everyone that answered the poll question and especially those who sent comments about their experiences. +==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+
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In August 1998 I traveled to Cuba to film a documentary about the Cuban people, about what they love, what gives them hope, and how they see themselves in the world. We were a small crew, only 4 people, so having intimate conversations with the locals was possible. One morning we set out to do street interviews with local youth, and along our journey we stopped by a book shop that looked interesting to all of us. As we were about to enter the shop, an older man, tall, lean, nearing 70 years of age approached me. In his hand were 2 books, he showed them to me and told me he could offer me a good price. At that point I still had not made eye contact with the man, so I kindly thanked him in Spanish and moved away. While I continued to look at the book shop window he approached me again, and this time I looked up ready to be a little firmer in my tone, but as I looked into his face I saw a beautiful man that reminded me of my grandfather who passed away when I was only 6. My face broke into a smile and I started to speak with the man. Soon the crew I was with came over and I signaled that he had agreed to an interview. He was perfect because he was a wealth of knowledge, and interested in our project. Now 6 months later, that old man, Roberto is the narrator of our documentary, and one of our hero's. I have chosen to share this story because Roberto reminded me that I
need to appreciate all the opportunities, all the new faces, and all the
'not scheduled' events in my life. When we travel, we can only genuinely
learn about a place through our interactions with the people that live
there, by the stories they share with us, and by learning to
Samples of Cuban music, pictures of Cuba and scenes from our documentary called digame can be found at To find out more you can also email Susana mailto:unicef@hotmail.com
There is direct bus service each morning from Xela to San Pedro it is about a 3 hour bus ride maybe a little less when the road is completed. You could also catch any bus heading to Guatemala and switch buses at km148. Another way to get there is to take a boat from Panajachel. The boat will stop at several small villages before San Pedro cost approx. 15Q/person. We left Friday morning taking the Pan American Highway east toward Guatemala City. At Kilometer marker km148 you make a right heading toward Santa Clara La Laguna. You can't miss km148 it has several stores selling food, drinks and handicrafts, plus a huge sign. It is my best guess that you could wait here for a pick up truck to come by. We saw plenty of them shuttling people on the road. I did not find out how much it would cost but my guess is less than 5Q or so to San Pedro. I could not tell if all of them were going to San Pedro but we did see plenty of them leaving San Pedro so I would image they return sometime! We stayed at Villa Sol a very nice, clean and comfortable hotel on the other side of town from where the boat drops you off. If you arrive by boat ask the driver to take you to the other dock in San Pedro. There are plenty of hotels in San Pedro ranging in price from 20Q to 80Q/night for a double room. We paid 40Q for a room with a private bath. We meet the owner and her son while we were there and they told us they want to sell the Villa Sol. So if any of you have an interest in a 20+ room hotel, with (2) 2bedroom bungalows, restaurant, lots of lake front property email me. They are asking $300,000 but I am sure they would look at all offers. mailto:tom@xelapages.com We only stayed one night but we are headed back in a couple weeks for a longer stay. The most common things to do while in San Pedro are, swim in the lake, rent horses or climb the volcano. There are several nice beach areas with walking distance of anywhere in San Pedro. We rented horses on Sunday morning it was 15Q/hour. Kain our almost 3 year old son had a wonderful time! I did not climb the volcano or even get a price for you all but I will have more for you soon. One other thing about San Pedro was cheap food! Breakfast lunch or dinner without drink 12Q. That is for a full meal. Most everything else was less expensive. Beers 6Q, Soda 3Q We were pleasantly surprised that everything was so cheap. So if you are ever at the lake or in Panajachel take a quick trip over to San Pedro, you'll love it!! Tom ===============================================
Xela Pages Guatemalan Newsletter is published online from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. If you would like to advertise in this newsletter send request to mailto:xela@trafficman.com
Cost will be
Have a great trip!! Tom Lingenfelter - Editor
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