Shay and I are happily ensconced in Antigua for the
week. It's a really beautiful old town, ringed by
volcanos, which was the capital of most of Central
America until an earthquake really wrecked the place
in the 1700s and the government moved to the present
site of Guatemala City. Most of the old buildings are
still crumbling but it's amazing that they are still
there at all. I read that it was completely ignored
for one and a half centuries until it was "discovered"
again. The streets are all cobblestone so things move
slowly. (The van makes a fine racket here!) Unlike
the last three countries we've been, parking is
readily available on the street and, while I'm never
far away from it, it seems very safe. And more
importantly, so do I.
We're staying in beautiful, inexpensive, Hotel San
Jorge (with parking lot) where all the rooms look out
on interior gardens dripping with flowering vines and
trees. There are many citrus trees, loaded with
fruit, the flowers of which perfume the air at night.
The birds find the gardens very attractive and are
always there, squawking, singing, bathing in the
fountains. Every so often, you can hear the pealing
of church bells and the squawking of the neighbor's
flock of geese. It's heavenly. They have a shelf
full of English books and I've decided to read Gone
With The Wind again while Shay is in school. That
should take me long enough to be ready to face the
road again.
The storage box on the back of the van is mounted on a
Paulchen rack, the best bike rack you can get for a
vanagon, but definitely not strong enough for the
metal storage box. I've had problems with the rack
for the whole trip. Actually, the biggest problem is
that the box makes it impossible for me to see out the
back of the van. I'm not a terrible driver but this
handicap has caused me to back into any number of
objects hidden from my view in the rear view mirrors,
bending the rack at times and, occasionally, bending
the van! The name of my van, courtesy of Shay and
Tyler, evolved from VanaJeanne to GrannyJeanne to
Dent-A-Gon. I'm hoping to find a good body shop in
Mexico to knock the wrinkles out. Oh, well. I found
a metal worker here in Antigua who banged the Paulchen
back into shape today so that, with any luck, Shay and
I and the storage box will all arrive in Texas in
June.
Thanks to everyone for the advice about Belize. One
more thing: Some people have told me that there is no
road going all the way through from Belize City to the
Mexican border. Is this true or is it just that part
of it is dirt road? If it's dirt road, how many
kilometers of dirt? And what are my chances that the
dirt road will turn into axle deep mud? I'm not too
worried about a short stretch of dirt but if I never
drive through really deep mud again, it'll be too
soon.
Jeanne
