POPTUN - We left San Ignacio and took a short bus ride to the border. We were immediately swarmed with money changers and after we got through without any hitches we were swarmed again with money changers and people wanting to drive us wherever we wanted. They wanted 50 US to take us to Flores, where we'd connect with a bus to Poptun. However, we knew that we could jump on a 'collectivo' minibus and get to Flores for 20 Quetzales each... there are 7.5 Q to the US dollar, so that's a hair under 3 US dollars. Of course, heaven forbid, we had to walk less than a kilometer over this bridge to where the collectivos come to pick you up.
Now, granted, the taxi would have been much more comfortable but taking a collectivo packed full of locals was part of the adventure! It takes a little while to get used to the collectivos here... I was in the waay back between two sleeping locals and tried to take this shot of the inside. There are 16 people in this small toyota van right now... well, the driver got out for a moment, but you get the idea. At one stop we had 18 people in here! It was tight, but it worked... down here folks don't need a suburban to shuffle 2.5 kids to soccer practice!
The other thing that takes a while to get used to is the fact that 1 in 5 men walk around with handguns strapped to their hips. The collectivo to Flores stopped at one point and as the man in front of me leaned forward to get out I saw a US made .45 with an extra large magazine tucked into his back. It was at first very unsettling. Guatemala reminds me of what the frontier towns in America must have been like in the 1800s. The guys here are very friendly, but it's odd to see them hanging around with guns and extra clips of ammunition in plain sight... often right next to the cell phone that's often also clamped to their belt.
After about two hours of sitting in a completely cramped and unnatural position, we arrived in Flores. I shouldn't complain because Anna had it worse... they have 5 rows of seats and the end seats flip up so people can get in and out. There is a gap between these end seats and the wall so there are these little wooden boosters to fill it. Sometimes the booster is even padded! Anyway, Anna had to sit half on this booster thing and half on the flippy seat that was bent and pressed into the small of her back... while the extra large hips of the guy next to her squished her against the wall. It was still a fun adventure.
When we got to Flores we immediately found another collectivo to take us to Finca Ixobel in Poptun. Finca Ixobel is an ecotourism farm Anna found that you can stay at and do all kinds of things. They've got horses, caves, jungles, hiking and the food is absolutely amazing. Oh, and Guatemala has full sized 350ml beers unlike the 268ml stuff in Belize. The farm is run by a German guy and gets quite a few visitors, a lot of whom are 'volunteers' who work for a minimum of 6 weeks in exchange for free room and board - the girl working the desk was a student from North Hampton Mass named Lianna who was taking some time off before going to college! The best part about this place - besides it's beauty - is that it is not expensive... our double room with a shared bathroom was 13 US a night, and it had the most comfortable bed I've slept in yet! We immediately felt relaxed and right at home when we arrived. Here's a shot of our room...
Here's a shot of us at breakfast... feeling fat and happy. We're eating fresh fruit with home-made granola, fresh baked bread and fresh squeezed orange juice. I think it cost us about 2 bucks.
We took a little walk around the farm in the morning and got an idea of how big the place was. It has acres and acres of farmland, horse fields, banana fields and on and on. Here's a shot from our hike...
We saw all kinds of cool animals and plants while walking about. We saw the usual things like chickens, horses, and cows, but Anna found a bunch of lizards that we think were 'skinks', and then she spotted this GIANT grasshopper. You can't really get an appreciation for the scale but it was almost as big as my hand.
We didn't realize this place was so cool, if we had we'd have planned to stay for a week! We may swing back up on the way down through southern Belize, but if not we got word of other similar farms to check out. We'll keep our fingers crossed that they are as nice!
