Groundhog Day!

"Groundhog Day" (you know the movie, right?) feelings have probably hit many of us to one extent or another in recent weeks.  For me, I wake up every day in the van, open the door and say to myself "yep, I'm still in Guatemala".  Don't get me wrong, I am in a little slice of paradise with people I've come to think of as family, but come on!  I really want to go somewhere!  Again, I know I'm not alone in these feelings.  There are many many people traveling similar to me all over the world that are stranded.  Some in great places and some in not so great circumstances.  I view myself as one of the lucky ones.

So, yes, I feel like Bill Murray at the beginning of most every day, but each day brings something different here.  Joan, my wife, reminds me when we talk that I am very lucky to be able to interact so closely with the people here.  Since we are a closed community of ~30 people who have been together for at least 5 weeks, we are confident that we are "rona"-free here.  We have parties, pot luck meals, poker nights, movie nights, pancake breakfast, random gatherings, trivia nights, chess games, private veggie market, gardening, etc.  There are many a discussion on what our future will look like as overlanders (I don't know why, but I still hate that term to describe me).  Where will we go from here?  Continuing our individual journeys as originally planned seems not in the cards for the near future.  When will the virus be eradicated, when will travel restrictions be lifted, when will borders open, when will parks and recreational areas open, will locals be accepting of foreigners everywhere, etc.  For many the answer came a month or so ago as people found places, wherever in the world they were, to store their vehicles and fly home.  For others, like me, we found a place to hunker down and see what path things take.  Over the last week or so I have come to the realization that for me continuing the adventure I'm on to South America this year doesn't look promising, so it is time to figure out where to go from here.  The natural conclusion is to head back home.  This isn't quite as simple as packing up and just hitting the road (or is it?).  All the travel restrictions that are in place and the potential rejection of foreigners by some locals along the way makes for a lot of research, monitoring, and planning.  Luckily this little app called Facebook has some wonderful groups of people in situations just like me looking for or offering information to help each other out.  You hear of the success stories and some challenging stories, but it all helps put the puzzle pieces together to reach a decision.  I'm not there yet though, so here I sit, in paradise with great people.  Not so bad!

Oh, and I'm actually getting a bit in shape with running stairs every other day and using the TRX and slack line.  If my shoulder stops hurting and they open the lake back up to activities I will get back on the paddle board.  So, whenever I do get home I hope to be in much better shape than when I left!

A little sampling of my life here lately.

Easter pot luck dinner

Random party

Our own private vegetable market.

Going away party for one of our own flying back to California.

I have yet to win at chess!

Pancakes!

Walking to town to buy food.

Movie nights

Farmers Jen and Denise.

Random evening gatherings (the blue light made for interesting faces)

Living vicariously (again) through DirtSunrise video blogs.

My jungle trek to Nakum

In a previous post (see here) I mentioned I would upload a video of my trip into the jungle to Nakum when I had faster service.  Well, I don't really have faster internet access, but I certainly have time to wait while it took the better part of a day to upload!

My trip to Nakum was one of the highlights of my journey for me so far.  Traveling into the jungle solo and to find out I was the only person back there was very fun for me.  Just me and the monkeys (and whatever critters were lurking about).

According to Wikipedia:

Nakum ("House of the pot") is a Mesoamerican archaeological site, and a former ceremonial center and city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the northeastern portion of the Petén Basin region, in the modern-day Guatemalan department of Petén. The northeastern Petén region contains a good number of other significant Maya sites, and Nakum is one of the three sites forming the Cultural Triangle of "Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo". Nakum is approximately 17 kilometres (10.6 mi) to the north of Yaxha and some 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) to the east of Tikal, on the banks of the Holmul River.^[1] Its main features include an abundance of visibly restored architecture, and the roof comb of the site's main temple structure is one of the best-preserved outside Tikal.

This may not be the most riveting video, but gives you an idea of my trip in.  Traveling this would be impossible (IMO) during rainy season or in a vehicle much larger than my van.

Enjoy!

Home Sweet (temporary) Home!

Today marks 2 weeks at my new COVID-19 home here on the shores of Lago Atitlan in Guatemala.  Me and my new family members are settling into life here.  We are both both sad to have lost but happy for those that have left us to be in there real homes around the world.  I imagine in another week or so we will be at our final count of those that will ride this out for the long haul.  I have, from time to time, considered if I should try to drive home but always come to the same conclusion that I am very safe here in a nice environment surrounded by great people and to leave this place and try to make my way through Guatemala and particularly Mexico in these times may be risky.  Sooo, here I will stay for an undetermined amount of time.  The Guatemalan government has extended border closures and curfews until at least April 12th.  My hunch is it will be extended again but time will tell.

So in the meantime, life goes on here!  Here's a sampling of my now current life here.

Food delivery!

Movie nights.

Group meals & parties.

Late night piñata construction and the joy of kids breaking it open.

Great people!

Laundry days (no es divertido)...

Scenery and fun photos

Flora and Fauna

Sauna (wood fired) night at the lake.

A short video tour of my new surroundings.


Until next time, stay safe and let's get through this little world blip so we can get back to whatever it is we all want to get back to.