Advice on taking a trip like this

From Iain: We traveled in Peru, Guatemala, and Belize for six months with our daughters, ages 9 and 11, and had an absolutely wonderful time. If you have the opportunity to do something similar I recommend that you do whatever you need to make it happen. Here are a few words of advice based on our experience.

• Give yourself enough time to get to know a few places at a deeper level than the casual visitor. We were able to spend extended periods in a number of different destinations, which slowed the pace of the trip to something more manageable, allowed us to explore more fully, and made it easier to connect with local people. We were able to reduce our costs considerably too by taking advantage of long-term accommodation rates and cooking for ourselves more often than you can when you're continually on the move.
• That said, there were times when it made sense to keep moving, when traveling overland across large distances, for example. We generally interspersed long travel days with rest days so that we would stay in some locations just one or two nights. On a trip like this, traveling becomes an integral part of the whole experience and in some cases the cliche is true, it is often more about the journey than the destination.
• To keep our travel costs down and to get closer to the authentic heart of South and Central America, we often took local transportation but not exclusively. It can be pretty grueling traveling long distances in local buses, so as a treat or when feeling a little under the weather we sometimes went for the costlier tourist transportation option (the main advantage being the guarantee of a seat). We ended up striking a pretty good balance overall, so I suppose I would advise mixing it up like we did and using both local and tourist transportation options as needed.
• A major part of our trip was taken up with food, not just the eating part but also finding places to eat or food to buy to cook ourselves. And when we weren't doing this we spent a lot of time thinking about food. As with transportation we mixed it up a little and ate at both local and tourist restaurants (although more of the former) and cooked for ourselves using both local ingredients and more familiar global ingredients. We also ate food prepared in local markets, which in hindsight was perhaps not the best decision we made. On a trip this long it was perhaps inevitable that we would have stomach problems, but we may have been able to avoid them by being even more careful about what we ate. To minimize your chance of getting sick, eat only at restaurants where you're certain that basic food safety practices are being followed and make sure that any food you prepare yourself is safe (e.g., use a biocide solution on fresh fruits and vegetables). We didn't always follow these suggestions at the beginning of the trip, but by the end we certainly were.
• We were much better about consuming only purified water, however. Including for brushing our teeth. To avoid buying and lugging around an endless supply of bottled water, we invested in a high quality water purifier before we left. In places where we had access to a kitchen we also used water that we'd boiled and then cooled.
• Make sure you have adequate medical insurance and be prepared to deal with medical problems as they arise. We were fortunate to find good English-speaking doctors even in remote parts of Guatemala. We were also able to make changes to our travel schedule when one of our daughters got sick.
• Consider doing some voluntary work while on your trip. There are organizations crying out for help everywhere and it is easy to make a large, positive change in many places with just a little effort.
• Try to connect with local people wherever you travel. It can be easier on one level to experience a place as a tourist - taking the organized tours, staying in the tourist hotels, eating at the tourist restaurants, talking with the other tourists - but you'll get a whole other experience of a country by breaking out of the tourist bubble and engaging more intimately with local people. It isn't hard to do this either, whether through eating at local restaurants, visiting local markets (not the big tourist ones but the smaller ones the locals go to), taking tours with locally-owned operators, volunteering with local organizations, and interacting with local people (three brief examples from our experience - the girls often played with the children of the managers of a hostel we stayed at; Tanya traded English and Spanish lessons with a local market stall owner; I played pickup futbol with some local taxi drivers).
• Don't assume that you'd never be able to do something like this. Many employers can probably handle you taking a leave-of-absence. Most schools can probably handle your children taking a long break and most children would be fine with this too (if not, do as we did and find a school for them to attend in the country you're visiting). A trip like this needn't be that expensive - we spent about the same as we would have spent staying at home (and that includes the cost of the flights). To make it more affordable consider renting out your home, as we did. And if you give them this opportunity, your children may surprise you - they can handle new foods, long journeys, unfamiliar surroundings, and challenging situations far better than you might think.

It's good to be home

From Iain: We arrived home on Saturday after a two-hour ferry and ten-hour drive from Vancouver Island.  The drive was particularly long because we'd forgotten to put our winter tires on our car before we left (it was June!), so we had to drive particularly cautiously over the snowy passes.  We carried chains as a precaution but didn't end up having to use them.  It's strange to be back in Nelson again after being away for so long, but it sure is nice - we wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

If you've been a regularly reader, I hope you've enjoyed our blog.  I'll make one last post with some thoughts and words of advice for anyone feeling inspired to do something similar.  I'll end now with a plea for donations.  Please consider making a monetary contribution to either Kusi Kawsay, the Peruvian school that Bethany and Sierra attended from August to October, or Grupos de Mujeres y Hombres por la Paz, the Guatemalan community organization that we volunteered with in November.  As a suggestion, one way to honour the incredible work being done by either organization would be to make a donation of $1 for each of the 60 or so blog entries we've written.  Your generous donations can go a long way in Peru and Guatemala.  Of course, if you've been amazed and astounded at the sheer literary genius of our writing and swooned at the gorgeous photos, donations of more than $1 per blog entry would be very welcome too.  Details of how to donate are available at both the websites linked above.  If this is something you are able to do, thank you!

Some Questions Answered

Q: Who would win in a race between bus drivers from Peru, Guatemala, and Belize?
A: The Peruvian bus driver since he is able to make his bus go a little bit faster by honking his horn every few seconds.

Q: How many people can you fit in a collectivo (public minibus)?
A: One more than there is currently, no matter how full.

Q: How much does a taxi cost?
A: Twice as much as the guidebook says.

Q: Which are itchier, mosquito bites or bed bug bites.
A: Bed bug bites since they typically come in threes.

Q: How can hostels best annoy their guests?
A: By charging extra for children not needing an extra bed, claiming lukewarm showers are hot, and serving fruit loops, freeze-dried toast, and instant coffee for the included breakfast.

Q: What is the most annoying late night/early morning noise?
A: Tie between barking dogs, crowing roosters, fireworks, and pounding stereos.

Q: What is the most well-known quality of Canada among Latin Americans?
A: It's cold.

Q: What is the hardest thing to readjust to on returning to Canada?
A: Tie between being able to rinse your toothbrush under the tap and remembering to chuck used toilet paper in the toilet instead of the trashcan.

The Best and the Worst

Top Threes:

• Meals: Squeaky cheese, sweet finger potatoes, and broad beans (Peru); Fried plantains, frijoles, and tortillas (Guatemala); Bean and cheese pupusas and coconut empanadas (Belize)
• Restaurants: Trattoria Escondida (Pisac); Hearts Cafe (Ollantaytambo); Rainbow Cafe (Antigua)
• Drinks: Hot chocolate in Chivay; Pisco sours in Pisac; Fruit smoothies in Pisac
• Accommodations: Virginia's house in Arequipa; Pisac Inca Hostal; Lebeha Cabana in Hopkins
• Accommodation breakfasts: Virginia's house (Arequipa); Hotel Pukara (Puno); Hotel Nuestro Sueno (San Antonio, Lake Atitlan)
• Fruits: Chirimoya; Maracuya; Guayaba
• Journeys: Boat to Uros Floating Islands; Train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes; Lancha (boat) across Lake Atitlan from San Pedro to Panajachel
• Places in Peru: Colca Canyon; Lake Titicaca; Machu Picchu
• Places in Guatemala and Belize: Antigua; Tikal; Hopkins beach

Bottom Threes:

• Foods: Cau cau (cow stomach stew); Papitas (hairy pig's feet in a sauce); spaghetti with spicy tomato sauce for breakfast
• Journeys: Bus from Puno to Cusco (with violent movies playing and street protestors throwing rocks at the windows); Collectivo from Nebaj to Santa Cruz Del Quiche (jam-packed, crazy driver, covered widows you couldn't look through); First-class bus from Guatemala City to Flores (late, cold, and disfunctional toilets)

Flowers and Fish Heads

With acknowledgement to Nelson's Express newspaper Fish Heads and Flowers column, here is our take on the good and the not-so-good aspects of our trip.

• Flowers to Nelson Waldorf School faculty for agreeing to Tanya's leave of absence.
• Flowers to Carron Mulligan for helping make our trip possible (by taking Tanya's class while we were away) and giving us good travel advice.
• Flowers to MaryAnn and Rick for transporting us to and from Victoria Airport and looking after our car while we were away.
• Flowers to Christine, Michelle, Sean, and Veronika for taking care of the house and Shadow while we were away.
• Flowers to Max, Juana, Fabricio, and Pedro at EDEAQ Spanish Language School in Arequipa, Peru for helping us get started learning Spanish.
• Flowers to Virginia for giving us a gentle introduction to Peru.
• Flowers to Delfin on Taquile Island who helped us so much while Bethany was sick.
• Flowers to Pisac Inca Hostal for nice people and cheery, clean rooms and a lovely garden.
• Flowers to Lili at Pisac Inca Hostal for being our friend and working hard to make our stay so pleasant.
• Flowers to Kusi Kawsay school for welcoming us and giving the girls three months of immersive Andean culture.
• Flowers to Rosaura, Yessica, Fielding, Roman, Hugo, Rene, and everyone else at Kusi Kawsay.
• Flowers to David, Abraham, Patrona, Jacinto, Miguel, Gaspar and all the other members of Grupos de Mujeres y Hombres por la Paz in Nebaj.
• Flowers to accommodation managers everywhere we went for helping us with arranging tours and other accommodation.
• Flowers to Tripadvisor for consistently providing better information than our guidebooks.
• Flowers to the makers of sea bands for helping to limit travel sickness on the speeding buses.
• Flowers to the doctors in Guatemala and Belize who helped us when we got sick.
• Flowers to the makers of the medications that made us better and kept us well.
• Flowers to the makers of the gizmos and gadgets that smoothed our path and kept us entertained, in particular our netbook computer, iPod Touch, Steripen hand-cranked fluorescent light water purifier, digital camera, moka pot (caffettiera), hand-cranked flashlight, Swiss army knife.
• Flowers to Nelson Public Library for providing us with an endless supply of free audiobooks and ebooks.
• Flowers to Tanya for arranging the focal points of our trip - going to Kusi Kawsay school in Pisac for three months and volunteering with Grupos de Mujeres y Hombres por la Paz in Nebaj.
• Flowers to Iain for organizing all the trip details.
• Flowers to Bethany and Sierra for being good sports and their enthusiasm every day of our trip no matter what we were doing.

• Fish heads to amoebas - you make us sick.
• Fish heads to bedbugs for making sleep itchy night after night.
• Fish heads to the stray dogs all over the place (although they'd probably just scarf them down).
• Fish heads to the Tikal tarantula for ambushing Sierra.
• Fish heads to speeding bus drivers.
• Fish heads to the handful of scam artists we encountered (although there really weren't too many).
• Fish heads to locals trying to touch Sierra's blonde hair, which was cute at first but got old quickly.
• Fish heads to ultra sensitive guests of Pisac Inca Hostal complaining about the girls making too much noise while they played in the middle of the day.
• Fish heads to western hippies trying to sell their junk at local handicraft markets.
• Fish heads to Lonely Planet for publishing disappointing guidebooks with outdated information and misleading advice (when traveling 20 years ago Lonely Planet books were the gold standard and worthy of their reputation, now not so much it seems).
• Fish heads to Hospedaje Beho in Pisac for dark, dingy rooms, cold showers, and scary decorations.
• Fish heads to U.S. Immigration at Fort Lauderdale Airport for being rude to visitors and making the immigration process as miserable as possible.

Return to Canada

From Iain: On the 23rd we spent a comfortable night at a bed and breakfast near the Guatemala City airport (despite the presence just outside our room of, remarkably, our first cockroach on this trip).  We then flew to Fort Lauderdale, anxious about our onward connection to Las Vegas, particularly since the plane ended up departing an hour and a half late.  On landing, we fairly whizzed through immigration (a complete contrast to our previous experience here), baggage claim, customs, baggage re-check, and security (where we had our explosive peanut butter confiscated), making it to our connecting gate with time to spare.

An uneventful flight got us to Las Vegas late on Christmas Eve, then a high-tech taxi (TV playing in the back and metered!) took us to our hotel, where the girls laid out their stockings (actually a pair of my hiking socks).  Incredibly, Santa Claus managed to track us down in Las Vegas, filling the girls' stockings with edible Guatemalan goodies.  We then spent a rather odd but fun Christmas Day - picking up some groceries for an unusual Christmas dinner, wandering around a few of the hotels and casinos on the strip, and relaxing in the outdoor pool and hot-tub (despite an outside temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Boxing Day, we woke up early for our dawn flight to Vancouver and I sent my stress level sky-rocketing when we tried to check in and I discovered that we'd left our passports in our hotel room safe.  A frantic taxi-ride back to the hotel, then back to the airport, and we got to our plane on time.  It seems as we get closer to the end of the trip that my brain is reaching its limit for processing organizational details and by the time we're back in Nelson I'll be capable of little more than crawling into bed and sleeping for a week.  Not quite there yet, however.  After a connecting flight from Vancouver to Victoria, we're now staying with Tanya's friend, MaryAnn, near Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.  Home in a few days!

Back to Guatemala

From Iain: After spending a pleasant night at Hanna Stables near the border, we crossed back over into Guatemala on Thursday 20 December.  We stayed at Casa Amelia in Flores again, which was busier than it had been two weeks previously, due both to tourist season ramping up and the gathering of all manner of new age mystics for the "end of the world."  Mayan sites like Tikal and Caracol were allowing people to camp out overnight to communally experience the astronomical alignments signifying the ending of a particular major cycle in the Mayan calendar and the beginning of a new one (known as the 13th b'ak'tun). So, not so much the ending of the world as a kind of millennial new year's eve with some astronomical phenomena thrown in.

We made our way down to Poptun on the morning of the 21st, traveling in relative comfort in a remarkably laid-back microbus that wasn't crammed to the gunnels with people. They dropped us off at Finca Ixobel, a self-described hotel ecologico, where we stayed for two nights in a "deluxe treehouse," essentially a cabin on stilts. Bethany and Sierra were excited to have a large, furry tarantula camped out just beside our treehouse for the duration of our stay, and also to see the two large resident parrots.

Parrots at Finca Ixobel

Then on the 23rd we caught a 1st class Linea Dorada bus to Guatemala City, which proved to be less grueling than the reverse journey had been due to fewer delays and less extreme use of air conditioning, but perhaps also because we knew we were on our way home now.