Santo Thomas de Castilla, Guatemala Narrative

27th January

Today our port was Santo Tomas de Castilla, which is a major port on northeastern Guatemala.

The Maya people lived in southern Mexico, northern Belize and Guatemala as early as 1500 BC and began building magnificent cities. However, the Maya people declined very rapidly and were already a spent force by the time the Spaniards conquered the region in the early 16th century (1524). Antigua was the capital city of Guatemala until it was virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. Guatemala City then became the new capital.

From 1839 to 1997 Guatemala had more than its fair share of coups, human atrocities, revolutions, brutal military rule, and powerful and corrupt dictators. The wealthy aristocracy became more powerful and influential; the downtrodden Maya suffered particularly badly.

Attempts were made in the early 1950s by more liberal and benevolent leaders to improve the lot of the ordinary people, including land reforms and providing some form of education for the masses. However, such revolutionary ideas, at least in the eyes of many rich and powerful people, were not acceptable and were abandoned. The situation in the country went from bad to worse; military-led governments did little for the people and guerrilla groups created a campaign of terror and violence. By 1960 civil war raged between military governments, right-wing death squads, vigilante groups and leftist rebels. As a result, many thousand of innocent people were killed and murdered.

Finally, in December 1996, a peace treaty was signed by the government and the warring factions, including the National Revolutionary Unit. Hopefully the people of Guatemala will benefit from the changes to the economy and the electoral system. Corruption and high crime rates remain a serious problem and marked contrasts still exist between the powerful landowners and the Maya Indians of the mountains.

Fewer than 14 million people live in the mainly mountainous country of Guatemala (42,042 square miles), which is slightly smaller than England. Guatemala is bordered on the north and west by Mexico, on the northeast by Belize and on the southeast by Honduras and El Salvador. It has coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Coffee, sugar and bananas are the main exports.

Today’s excursion entitled Castle and Countryside did not indicate the thrilling day we were in for. Although the first 1.1/2 hours coach trip through the lush tropical vegetation was interesting, the real excursion started when we arrived at Lago de Izabal. Lago de Izabal (228 square miles) is the largest lake in Guatemala, fed by the Rio Dulce. Here we decamped the coach and boarded our new transport for the next two hours, being a lightweight fibre glass boat powered by huge Yamaha outboard motor. Each boat holding about 18 people. We left the quayside and sped at great speed to our first destination Castillo de San Felipe, a small fortification on the side of the lake in scenic surroundings. After a short stay we again boarded our boat and sped back up the lake under the Rio Dulce Bridge to a small island, where we saw the nesting ground for cormorants and white egrets, populated in their hundreds. We then travelled further down the Rio Dulce River past luxury property and yachts to a shore side hotel, where we disembarked and received some light refreshments. Whilst Doreen explored the few market stalls Geoffrey explored the hotel area, which consisted of thirty five riverside chalets all air conditioned and with their own berth. A very nice location for a holiday. Doreen, in the meantime was negotiating hard with the local crafts people, where they were weaving beautiful tapestries. All too soon we were on the move again for another thrilling ride on our boat back to our coach for 1.1/2 hour trip back to our ship.

Apart from the 1.1/2 hour coach trip each way this turned out to be an exciting excursion. Even Doreen enjoyed the thrill and speed of the boats as they raced each other down the lake. Continuing Doreen’s fixation on snakes we found out there were some 200 different types of snake, many of them venomous and one with a French sounding name even feared by the local population.

Tomorrow we go to Roatan.