El Remate

After a long, lazy morning we decided it was time to move on from Flores. Mike had told me about a sleepy little town called El Remate about an hour from Flores which is the closes town to Tikal on the lake. After the hike with bags in tow to Santa Elena, we baked in the sun on a street corner until the nearest colectivo, a shabby old charter bus, came by to take us the rest of the way. To our confusion, it dropped at a seemingly remote crossroads called Ixlu. Not knowing what to do, we asked the nearest passerby which way to El Remate and he pointed up the road.

Is we followed the road in the throbbing mid-day sun, a guy of maybe twenty came along on a bike, and began to engage me in conversation. I normally just ignore kids like this, but he seemed genuine, so I humored him. It turned out his family ran a hotel on their property and it only cost 30 quetzales a night (about four dollars) per person. Not really knowing what to expect, we decided to take a look. The family property was set on a hillside on literally the first street as you get into town. The "hotel" was just three rooms made from raw wood obviously procured from the surrounding forest covered by a thatched roof. Not wanting to keep looking and, at least in my case, wooed by the price, we decided to stay.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Not bad for four bucks a night"][/caption]

Next thing, we tore off our clothes and hopped in the lake. It felt ssooo goood to go for a swim. The water was lukewarm and we had a little dock to ourselves. It turned out the guy, Juan Carlos was also the in charge of the town's tourist information office. After lunch at a touristy place with a tempting pool, Beth went back to the room and Lori and I wrangled Juan Carlos to help us rent a kayak. We launched in the pouring rain but by the time we were a good distance out in the lake it let up and we were in a blue paradise with miles of lake out on the horizon.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="View from our room in El Remate"][/caption]

That night we decided to try a restaurant recommended in one of our tour books. A road off the main route took us along hotel and restaurant row for what seemed like forever before we finally arrived. The place looked closed, but when we rang the bell they beckoned us in. After sitting at a table and reading the menu, Lori and Beth decided they weren't pleased. I made up a cursory excuse and we absconded with our heads down. Where we decided to eat, there turned out to be several very drunk men who made a scene and seemed to take forever finally to leave, loitering loudly and drunkenly with their motor bikes in the entryway.

Back at our room, it started to rain and to leak through our thatched roof. Luckily I had a poncho which I draped over the mosquito net before drifting off to sleep.

Charlie + Laundry = Fail

My new housemates have finally arrived! They came in last night around five in the evening and promptly went to unpacking their bags, of which each had more than I, and bigger. Stacey and Jessie are from Virginia and have both graduated from Washington & Lee thereabouts. This won’t be the first they’ve lived together.

Around noon today I had Don Chomo come and teach me to wash my clothes in the pila. As we took them from my laundry bag I noticed they were imbued with a certain foul aroma. Chomo set to work, showing me just how to bunch up the pant legs and rake them across the washboard surface. I tried and tried, and time and again he would show me and have me grab and wring just so. By the time I was finished my knuckles were raw and ever so slightly bleeding. As I hung my clothes up to dry my nose caught a whiff of a certain smell. I was the same funk which I had set out to oust.

I finished washing clothes with just enough time to meet Miguel Angel at Enlace to go to a nearby swimming pool. We caught a “bus” (a van-like vehicle that can be found just about everywhere, scurrying about the narrow streets and honking at anything that moves) for three quetzals and paid three more at the door for a total of 76 cents. It was rather cool out, so we had the outdoor pool pretty much to ourselves. Some other guys were there and presumably had swum, but all I saw them do the entire time I was the was stand on the platform at the top of the diving board and dare each other to jump. After a few minute we decided to leave. The trip back was another 3 quetzals bringing the grand total of the afternoon’s entertainment to $1.16. Not bad!

One more thing... The FTP server here is kind of hit-and-miss, so in order to test whether or not it's up at any given time, I threw together a little webcam that updates once every minute. You can view it at: http://oregonstate.edu/~thompcha/webcam/