Getting there.. througth Mexico.

While there are many entry points into Guatemala, I have mostly chosen one that allows a gentler passage. This route is loosely called the Gringo Trail. 

This route involves experiencing part of Mexico. This gentler approach to me involves more of a connection with the people and a way to see some of the differences between Mexico and Guatemala. 

The Gringo Trail is a loosely string of popular places through central and south America. It wanders and meanders in around the Yucatan of Mexico, Belize and parts of Guatemala heading south. 

When some people say they have gone to Mexico a lot of them mean that they have stayed at resorts. Yes that is still Mexico but in reality a resort is a protected part of Mexico, a gated version. Here people stay on the resort playa (beach). Some take those small very escorted trips in air-conditioned buses that travel in over secured experiences into some minimalist market. I personally try to experience the real Mexico, ground level and with the real people. That involves stepping off that well marked trail. That involves getting away from tourist areas and into places where you are the only foreigner around. 

Mexico is a thriving country with so many facets to enjoy and experience. My route through Mexico and into Guatemala involves some of that experience. I usually fly in through Mexico City and then on a domestic flight to an international airport called Angel Albino Corzo. 

Angel Albino Corzo International Airport is situated just outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez and here stepping out of the plane, it is the first time you will experience that heat that Mexico has. It is that heavy heat one does not readily experience in Canada. Airport gantries are not air-conditioned so as the airplane door is opened this is the first experience of Mexico you will get. It hits like a hot wall of warmth up front and in your face. Not that it is unbearable as the humidity level here is not high as it is in coastal areas of Mexico.

A word of caution here.... taking pictures of any part of the airport is strictly forbidden. They can and have that ability (power) to take your camera from you. 

Take it from me.... I was personally warned!!! 
My camera stayed with me as I feigned innocence...


US dollars not used here!!!

Mexico is Mexico and they reserve the right to use their own currency only. 

Now there are exceptions, but be prepared and take some pesos with you when you travel. Make certain that the pesos you purchase at the bank or money changers at home are in pristine condition. Any bills that are torn, cut, marked or damaged in any way at all will not be accepted.

So you arrive... (yeah we landed okay) and from the arrival level you go downstairs where you will find many shuttle buses. Prior to boarding that shuttle bus you will need to purchase a bolito or ticket. They are not sold on the shuttle buses. 

I remember my first experience (a few years ago) with that shuttle bus and purchasing that bolito. As my first trip was going to be a short trip through Mexico, I had decided that I would just carry a few US dollars as they would be accepted everywhere, right? 

Wrong!! 

I was travelling with just US dollars which to my amazement were not accepted as legal tender in Mexico. They are actually not accepted in many places in Mexico.

The ticket seller wanted pesos and Mexican Pesos and nothing else. The ATM bank machine did not work. I had not taken the preparatory measure to purchase Peso's before I left Canada and so I felt at a bit of a loss as what to do. Checking over my shoulder I could see that the driver of that shuttle was getting impatient to leave. 

Luckily for me at the end of that very long counter was a car rental agency. The care rental agency told me they would exchange the US dollars I had into Peso's. I remember that it took four people and two languages to make it all work. 
They wanted to give me a fair rate of exchange and all I wanted was to find a way to purchase that ticket for the shuttle bus. To make it all happen and yes fast, por favor. 

That shuttle bus was my first adventure with Mexican drivers. 

Solid double lines it seemed, meant nothing on winding mountain roads. Drivers raced towards each other, their vehicles gliding past missing by mere centimeters. Paved shoulders of roads widening making passing spots. It all seemed to somehow work, as if some unwritten language of sense and reason was controlling everything. 

San Cristobal de la cases was originally the capital of Chiapas a state in Mexico. San Cristobal is alive with movement in many forms. Tourism is rampant. People travel to San Cristobal to learn espanol yes, but also to just be there. It is vibrant and carries its own spell. It has a funky, arty side to it. Interesting pokey little shops, bars, restaurants, hotels and hostels, tattoo parlours. There was such a relaxed feeling to the place. 

The one hostel I enjoy staying at, is owned by a Canadian Mexican couple. 

I found Le Gite del Sol http://www.legitedelsol.com like many of us do these days, online. I have returned to this hostel on several trips through Mexico and my way to Guatemala. 

San Cristobal de la Cases is a charming town and I like to stay at this hostel in San Cristobal because partly I know the route and that makes it easy for me and partly because I am treated so well there. Check it out for yourself... Le Gite del Sol. 

One of the things I like to do anywhere I visit is to check out the architecture around me and see what stands out a little or a lot. I look for interesting details.

Just walking by I found a stage theatre. Since I have had a background in theatre, I thought why not ask ask and see if I could take a look inside. I was pleasantly surprised at their hospitality and off I went to explore it.

Street dogs are everywhere south of the USA... 

They are usually well fed and love to enjoy their life just lazing about...

Ummm an interesting building for a fast food outlet

Getting there, wherever you're going to, can be fun, and an adventuresome time and yes and so very interesting.

Get off the bus and walk the streets, rub your face into the culture and experience the real Mexico.

Proyecto: Casa Para Con Personas

Homes for People

Hello my name is Gavin
Hola, mi nombre es Gavino (in Guatemala).


Back in 2010 I journeyed to Guatemala to study and to learn a language, namely Spanish. My plan was then to travel south to Nicaragua volunteering working with children. I had it all arranged. I even had a school in place where I would be volunteering and working with children.

Plans changed as I fell in love with a people and its country and yes I stayed.

Guatemala is a forgotten land, lost in distant history with people yes all over the world not knowing where it is and still believing it is embroiled in some horrible and never ending civil war. 

Guatemala's a very long and protracted horrendous civil war back in 1996. 

So where is Guatemala?
Guatemala is situated just south of Mexico and Belize and north of both El Salvador and Honduras.  

It has two coastlines the Pacific and the smaller Atlantic coast. In Guatemala you can experience the very hot black sand beaches (volcanic) on the Pacific side. You can watch strong surf waves with equally strong rip tides. So if you venture into the Pacific, swimmer beware, the rip tides are very strong and only really recommended for very strong swimmers. Even strong swimmers though need to heed the warnings and no one can swim against a rip tide.

On the Caribbean side of Guatemala are steamy jungles and the Garinagu people who are mixed descendants of Carib, Arawak and West African people. Places there, such as the town of Livingston offer a lazy easy going sun drenched lifestyle. 

There are many Maya ruins in Guatemala. Well known incredible Maya ruins like the ones in Tikal in the north offer splendours unbelievable. There are also less well known ruins like El Mirador in the northern part of Guatemala near the Mexican border. Here to visit El Mirador involves a swift but expensive helicopter ride or a hike or pack horse five day round trip. 

Then there are the western highlands holding valleys crested in waves of hills and high mountains where volcanoes, some very active that dominate the view.

Lago Atitlan rightly names the most beautiful place in the world

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_de_Atitlan

by Aldous Huxley is a deep vast lake rimmed with small villages and towering volcanoes. 

Maya villages and small towns rim the lake from (gringo-ville) Panajachal ...    http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/_Panajachel

Santiago ...    http://www.santiagoatitlan.com/indexeng.html


San Marcos and the trendy .... San Pedro... 

Guatemala's cultural differences are played out in colourful costumes and beliefs dictated by region with the incredible Maya people. Crafts and art works carefully hand crafted present an array that dazzles the eye..

Guatemala is also second to Haiti as the poorest country in the region with countless people living without the basic human  rights of clean water and safe shelter. Safe housing in a land with too many fault lines, eight in total, making it a shaky place to live. I personally experienced countless tremours and earthquakes while living here... 


While there are many NGO's mostly operating out of Antigua a beautiful city the needs there are less. Comfort for volunteers seems more paramount in Antigua. While many do provide people with the basics of water and shelter, what I want to accomplish is much more than that. 

"Safe Housing" 

in a land that shakes a lot.  

Architecturally designed homes 

professionally engineered and constructed 

with local materials 

&

volunteer labour. 

I already have professional and skilled people for this project

 They are ready with your help to build

Homes to with-stand the tremours and conditions that are common.

Proyecto: Casa Para Con Personas

Project: Homes For the people.

In these uncertain times  

I still believe in miracles
Do You? 

With your help we can do this.

Charity sometimes gets stretched too far

so why not experience not charity but an exchange. 

 Take a Trip of a lifetime
Experience of a Lifetime

Learn Spanish

Learn about Guatemala 

plus

 Help Build a Home

Your time will give you the opportunity to help build an impossible dream and a home for a family. It also will give you an experience of a lifetime, to delve into a culture with ancient roots, the amazing past of the Maya people, a chance to salsa your legs off, to taste hidden depths...and so much more, so what are you waiting for .... join us.

A home-stay experience with a Spanish family and three meals a day and yes 3 hours of Spanish classes per day (can be arranged) Wow, this equals full immersion.

Join us, we really need you

Learn Spanish, an amazing language 

Experience Xela, Guatemala an amazing place

The very best place to learn Spanish

Xela does not cater to English speaking tourists 

so more immersion

This is not a charity project. People will work and purchase their homes. First we will train them to become self sufficient. We will school them so that they will become independent. Each home will be provided with a small tract of land for micro-farming. Skills for both men and women will be taught. 

Give a person a fish and they will eat for the day

Teach a person how to fish and they will eat for their lifetime.

For more information write me

Gavin Jones

gavjonessm@gmail.com

GUATEMALAN Affordable Accomodation

Accommodation!!

Where you stay and how you stay will depend entirely on your budget circumstances.

If you are only here for a few days then there are many different hotels and hostels that are available to suit anyone's budget and with a very wide range of options.. Hostel prices range from Q 35 to Q 75 a night (dorms) in Xela. Monthly rates can range from Q 600 to Q 1200. Hotels can run from Q 150 to Q 1000 a night.

If on the other hand, you are committed to a longer stay, say a few months or even longer, perhaps a year even, then your options can change considerable. Here you have the option or renting a room, an  apartment or even a house. All of these choices come with a bountiful of options and and yes different comforts. 

Renting a room will mean sharing both bathrooms and the kitchen. When you rent an apartment or house you will have everything just for yourself.

Someone once asked me what was the best way to find a place that would be considered long term accommodation that suited their limited budget ?

Here you have several choices. 

There are many rooms, apartments or even houses available at very affordable prices. Some are rented furnished and others completely empty. If you are staying for at least six months or more, then renting a small apartment or house is your best (financial) option. 

I prefer to rent an unfurnished space rather than one that is furnished. 

Most places when they advertise that the apartment of houses are furnished, well that can mean many things. Some are fully furnished yes, but others are somewhat limited in furnishing. That means that they have basic or very little furniture. There will be a bed (no bedding) and maybe somewhere to hang your clothes. Perhaps there will be a couple of (plastic) chairs, and a table. There will be a kitchen area, with a two burner hot plate, and a sink. Possible a fridge.

The difference in price is big. Rent a furnished place for one price and an unfurnished place for a lot less, sometimes half the price.

Furniture for me has a personal touch to it, so I prefer to rent an unfurnished place rather than one that someone else has furnished. For instance, I prefer a bed that no one else has slept in. 
There are always problems with beds other people have slept in. Problems like bed-bugs or fleas... and problems I just do not want.

A new matrimonial (double size) bed can be purchased for as little as Q 800 in a market. You will have to haggle that price to where you want it. Haggling that price is part of life in Guatemala.
It can be fun and it is certainly educational as to what you can get 
from one shop to another.

Okay now you need a place to live in.

Here is the very best way to find that ideal place (for your tastes) and within your very own budget.

First of all ignore all those posters plastered everywhere on notice boards and ads in those free publications. 

Yes you can search out places endlessly online, but I would never suggest to anyone renting any place they could not physically see or better still walked through. So forget about the Internet.

Most of these places will be "gringo" (foreigner priced) anyway. So most will be well over priced for what they are offering you. You can and will be able to get a place at much lower pricing. Yes a place you can call home and on your terms.

The first step... 
Sure you have learned some Spanish, enough to have fun with and to use in everyday life... You maybe able to converse fairly well. But I want you to forget all of that and yes (your pride) and find a local person you trust that is totally fluent in their (Spanish) language and that can also speak English to you pretty well. 

Then you locate a neighbourhood you like and one that you feel comfortable  in. This where your local translator will be very useful to you.

Both of you will walk the area of town that you like and start knocking on doors. 

You will be amazed at what you will discover. None of the places you will find, will be advertised in the conventional way. Some landlords of these places may have other locations that you can also discover. Or they will know someone else that is renting a place.
Most are known through word of mouth only. These are the ones you need to find.

So now you have found that ideal place, but it is empty. It is bare. What do you do? 

The next step..
Furniture.
Cama doble (double bed) as I mentioned before can be purchased new for as low as Q 800. A brand new plastic kitchen table will run you around Q 500. 

But here is a little something I found out for myself, a pure gem of information. You can have a wooden table built to your own specifications for very little. I had one made (36 inches long by 24 inches wide) and that right height made for me for only Q 350. It was precision hand made for me. I met the carpenter and with the carpenter I chose the wood. I felt it my hands. I chose the exact boards and its thickness. It was an incredible experience. AS great way to speak in Spanish as well... They built it more on less on time and or Q 10 they even delivered it.

You could also have shelves made for very little as well. Plastic chairs range from Q 60 to Q 80 each and plastic stools for Q 30. A two electric burner hotplate brand new can be bought for Q 185. Buy all of this in a market. Market prices drop the further away you get from the down town core. Yes you have to factor in delivery, but that should be part of the price. Arrange for that when you barter for the price. Yes barter. It is a way of life here. They will respect you more buy of you barter. It can be a fun experience and yes the price can drop drastically.

Okay it is possible to live without a fridge. Our ancestors did it. But if you must have one, the least expensive new fridge I could find was Q 1200 brand new. It was a 8 cu ft model with the freezer inside the main compartment. These models are not the best as the freezer controls the temperature of the fridge itself. You are better off to get a refrigerator with a separate freezer compartment. These can run you more money and depending on the size will run from about Q 2000 and up. But remember with a proper (separate) freezer compartment  life becomes easier and you can buy food in bulk and freeze it. That translates to cheaper living. 

Buying a used fridge can be problematic  The saving in the purchase price could be doubled in repairs. Not worth it, so buy new.

 Lights are super cheap to buy and you can make hanging (swag) lights for as little as Q 15. The markets are a treasure trove of things to decorate your place with and to give it your personal touch. The markets are also great places to find kitchen tools, pots and pans and those handy kitchen gadgets. 

That said and done what are the costs?

I know of people that rent small one bedroom (row) houses for as little as Q 800 a month. For a little bit more say around Q 1300 you will get a two bedroom house. A 3 or four bedroom house will go for around Q 2000. 

1 dollar = 7.5 Q (approx) CAD... it fluctuates.

So there you have it. Affordable living at yes very reasonable prices.

Good luck in your searching, it is after all just another adventure and one that will give you great satisfaction, your new home and a chance to experience new neighbourhoods and special people.

Have fun.

Paying It Forward

I started the blog Heartquest Guatemala to help people. 

To Pay It Forward in small ways, each and every day I am here and in other ways should I need to leave temporarily. I want too make life better for people in what ever way I can.

The blog Heartquest Guatemala does that effectively in many different ways. It helps me to help the people. It allows me to reach out to people all over world like you with my simple messages. It explains my purpose. It helps create homes for people. It shows people what living is like here in Guatemala for those seeking a special and affordable retirement paradise. It has given me such wonderful contacts through people that follow and communicate with me. Whether they do that directly through the blog or email me. I am constantly astounded on the number of people the blog reaches throughout the world. People sometimes just want to travel here and they are reserved about coming into a country they know little about. The blog has allowed me to reach these people giving them travel information and guidance so that their journey here is safe and comfortable for them.  

The blog has allowed me to experience the goodness in people.  
We all get days when things seem a little tough in life. Heartquest Guatemala keeps me inline realizing that there is always another way to accomplish and overcome challenges.

There is a young Guatemalan girl here that I repeatedly see on the streets and parques (parks). She is perhaps eight or nine years old. I have seen her and helped her in a single simple way now for almost three years. She sells colourful lollypops or suckers as they are sometimes called. She asks for one Queztal or about 12.5 cents in exchange for the candy. I always give her that Quetzal but in that simple way of giving her more than just a sale I never take the sucker. She can sell it again. Her smile is always captivating and she is a constant reminder of why I am here and doing what I do here.

I am not a rich person in monetary terms, but certainly rich with the people I know. Recently my pension was reduced by the Canadian Government presenting yes more difficult and challenging times for me. In the process I have been forced to reduce what I give to some people. The little girl with her bright smile and gleaming eyes and her bag full of candies I could never give anything less. She is my inspiration for Heartquest Guatemala.

What I am proposing is a 12.5 cent challlenge. No candy exchange but a chance to help where help is needed. I have only used this blog to reach out to people. I have never used it to search out funding. As crazy as it might seem, I want to build a small village. A small village on a tract of land that will house 50 families. A village of hope complete with a school, and a source of clean drinking water and a waste disposal system. 

It it not a charity plan. I want to give people pride in a home they will live and yes work for. Each family will be trained in skills that they can use to support themselves. The home they live in will become theirs once they pay off its cost. 

This is a simple 12.5 cent challenge.

A true Paying It Forward challege times a lot of people can make this all happen. 

Please spread the word, please make it happen, and in a really simple way Pay It Forward.

Heartquest the beginning

Life is so much more that just existing.

Life is a constant exploration of the senses, a development of thoughts and ideals and a striving to make a connection between the state we call reality and the spiritual. 

I have spent the better part of my many years searching for that connection. I cannot without chasing some dream believe in that organized concept that faith has, that yes holds people together with some innocent hope. I am not a true Christian but yet certainly believe in and follow in some greater entity that we and this existence are. My ancestors built Stonehenge, mapped the stars, made sense of the reality about them. 

They perhaps made that connection. 

There is an existence of energy, a force and a source power for all of this that we are. I have felt it, engaged ideas and ideals with it, realized it in some obscure way and felt its actuality believing that we are all in our corporeal simplicity a part of it, that it exists past the concept of just faith.

Heartquest Guatemala, the title for this blog came from a single awareness. My journey was that and still is, my quest. It was simple. 

I got that part of the message correct.

How would I know back in 1997 when I painted a picture of some pyramid shaped object, that what I perceived as just some visual idea for a painting would lead me eventually to Guatemala. 

I had literally painted a picture of the non active volcano Santa Maria that sits some 10 kilometers away from the city of Quetzaltenango, without ever knowing of its existence. 

People often comment when I relive that experience with and to them. Comments range from "really how absurd" to "you obviously must have seen a picture of it somewhere."

I am amused at their human need to qualify my small miracle. Back then I had now idea where Guatemala was, let alone the existence of some volcano and wasn't there a war going on there in Guatemala or something?

I do believe that for whatever reason that I was meant to travel and to live in Guatemala. 

It was like receiving a tip (perhaps from some higher power) and one that I did not understand at all... Perhaps the message was telling me to go to Guatemala now right now! I did not of course.
My mismanaging of what that message meant to me... had me painting a picture of some pyramid shaped structure instead. I just  though at that time was that was what I needed to do... paint some concept and nothing more. The true message was perhaps lost within the translation between my known reality and perhaps a higher spiritual entity.

Can you imagine what I felt thirteen years later in Guatemala when reviewing some pictures I had taken, when one picture just jumped out at me. It was a startling event for me. It felt as if time was standing still, for there in that simple point and shoot digital camera was the picture I had painted thirteen years ago. I felt a cold shiver as the hairs on the nape of my neck stood rigid. I remember saying to myself "this is impossible, it just can't be happening." But impossible or not, the fact was that there it was right before me.

I have had several spiritual connections over my lifetime that I cannot explain. Nor now do I wish to explain any of them, accepting what I see and feel and experience for something very special.

Several years ago I remember briefly an experience that had me alone and seemingly lost in my life. I was standing on a small beach near the University of British Columbia. Everything about me was actually very beautiful but through my gloom and doom I could not see it. 

Then I noticed a log on the beach mostly submerged in the sand. Growing out of that log was a single small flower. I slowly crouched down to see it better and reached out my hand to touch the petals. From out of nowhere I felt something present. What ever it was, it wrapped me like a warm blanket. I felt love. Standing up and parting from that flower the warmth around me stayed. I remember clearly looking at the sand, sea, sky and trees near me. Everything I saw, I saw with perfect clarity. I saw every grain of sand, every sparkle of water, all the leaves on all the trees... and everything was so incredible very beautiful.

Then the feeling of warmth that wrapped around me was gone... Gone and as fleeting and as quickly as it had come to me. But what I felt in those small moments of time was incredible, for it was pure love. I knew then and still know today that there was a path I needed to follow and that small moments of that path would be shown to me along that journey. I have felt that warmth since then and it is some incredible experience. 

Years later when working within the hospitality business on a management level, I used to say to upper management... "I only have one boss.."their confused stares reflecting what I meant."

Now one journey leads to some other in this jigsaw illusion called life. It is my journey to make my connection. So far so good.  

Okay Boss?

Xela, Guatemala so affordable

I do not usually write about anything too commercial here on this site. 

I have another Blog <http://www.experiencemyxela.blogspot.com> which you can take a look at if you want and see what that is all about. That site visits places I find in my walks and exploration of this amazing city called Xela. I guess I just got a little too excited to let it just sit in one place. So if you are interested here it is for you to explore.

 ___________________________________________________________________________________

LUXURY ACCOMMODATION at an AFFORDABLE PRICE.

Coming to Quetzaltenago (Xela)?

Why not experience something truly unique. We offer luxury accommodation at a bargain price.  The room which includes a queen size bed cozy quilts, soft comforting pillows also comes with a luxurious continental breakfast. 

We are located in a secure expansive apartment with lofty open beamed ceilings (yes there is even a hammock in the living room).  It is steps away from Parque Central, fine restaurant and bars, a market, yes truly close to  everything.  If you are coming to learn Spanish we know of and can arrange excellent Spanish schools or private teachers. If you are just here to spend some quality time in Xela we can offer you private personalized tours, outings with a difference and a chance to experience Xela and surrounding areas in a more personal way.

Rates: Q550 person or Q800 a couple.

Reservations by email. 

deliciousxela@gmail.com

Verification 48 hours prior to arrival is required.

502-5987-0574 or 502-4711-1038

But do not take my word for it, check it out for yourself.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Enjoy

Nirvana en Guatemala

Nirvana... is the state of profound peace of mind.
That is what I found by living and experiencing Guatemala.

It is said that Costa Rica now being so overcrowded by expats and foreigners that the country has become very expensive to live in. The climate and the beauty of the country remain but you must experience that at a higher price.

The next place that became popular for people to retire in was Nicaragua. It was that hidden jewel. Now people are discovering Guatemala, a country with eternal spring. Antigua and Panajachel both have healthy and growing expat populations. But there are several hidden areas still untapped, still very affordable.

Mmmm now should I tell you where they are, or leave that unspoiled beauty alone... because we all know what happens over time. The prices will go up, the local people will move out and the expat colonies will rule as they do in Costa Rica. That is already starting in some popular places here in Guatemala. But over time all will know the secrets that Guatemala holds. All will come...

So if you want to get in while the getting in is good, maybe you should contact me.