Sophie is taking over the writing, once in Guatamala

December 1, 2014

We arrived in a foggy rainy afternoon in North of Guatemala, just coming out of the clouds and seeing the runway at the last moment, thanks to the instruments and excellent pilots.

The lodge called Las Lagunas was on a lake, wonderful, very “out of Africa”, a Guatemalan version with european sub-titles.

The owner was a big game hunter, and after shooting everything exciting you can shoot in the world, chose to invest in nature and fauna conservation, creating a big reserve. So we were greeted by an arch of Noah of huge trophies, all sorts of deer, antilopes, kudus, buffalos, and to my effarement a rhinoceros and a jaguar!

Imagine a pictorial view over a lake, surrounded by huge dramatical trees, sitting in comfortable sofas, the noise of the tropical rain, a glas of white wine, “last days in Kenya”, … and even the tiredness feels nice.

Las Lagunas Lobby

We slept in a sort of luxurious wooden cabanne on the water, asking ourselves why a Jacuzzi in each room, but after a day climbing the hundreds of very high steps of all Tikal temples, we understood the necessity of a warm bubble bad.

les cabannes

Our guide was a descendant of the Mayas, with the amazing profile we saw on the old ceramic figures. He was a wonderful happy soul, talking from the the spirit and the values of his people, he knew the jungle like his pocket, having to hide there as a child with his family (9 brothers and 1 sister!) during the long civil war, trying to escape either the communist, or the military milices.

profiles mayas

It seems that the Mayas were peaceful farmers, between the bloody Aztecs and Incas … They used only wood and stones, no metals, so no gold, that’s the reason, they survived the Spanish conquest. Their only precious items were from jade, but not of the same quality and transparency as Chinese jade. So still 60% of Guatemalan population is Maya.

Temple du Jaguar

He told us about the Maya calendar, the what that after your death, you travel to an other level, their philosophy of life … We bought some lovely crafts, especially I fell in love with a little wooden jaguar who reminded me to the bronzes of Barye. It was then Harry who teased me saying, it comes all from China …

vue en haut du temple de la tortue

Due to my enthousiasm, we drove all the way back with Maya music in the car, Harry asking if something was wrong with the engine. In fact, it sounded a bit like jingle bells and Xmas music on London streets … It is funny, how difficult it is to take a different culture just as it is, and not trying to find similarities to our own culture or something we know.

Urs et ma pomme

We are now flying to Guatemala City, the pilots are quite relaxed, short flight, beautiful volcano’s scenery.

Viva!