March 2006
 


15-40.525N
088-59.592W

Monkey Bay Marina
Rio Dulce
Guatemala

Monday, March 27

George and Mecca Manz, new friends from Monkey Bay, another reward from this wildness we call cruising.

Cruisers make new friends faster than a lap at The 500.  We meet casually, maybe over a beer, at the marina, usually in company with others.  We ask where they have been, where they are going.  Sometimes, schedules, plans and personalities match, leading to something more special, in this case a trip to the Honduran Mayan ruins, Copan.  They have a car here, a wonderful benefit for short term exploring.  We left Tuesday, relaxed in Las Ruinas (name of the nearby town), and we went to the ruins next day for a guided tour. That night, we again relaxed (a loose use of that term), and had a conversation to kill all conversations.

Mecca and George own Sailabout.  When it sells later this spring, their cruising life will end, but they have ambitions for land travel that will take them throughout the world.  They met when Mecca was a teenager.  George was in his thirties and married.  Mecca's father suggested that Mecca crew for George and his wife over a tough east coast passage.  Twenty years later, George got a call from Mecca's father saying that Mecca's husband had died in an automobile accident.  Her father suggested that the time was right for a phone call.  Their mutual life long love of sailing was and is the oil for love and fun.  

George is a marine engineer specializing in nuclear power.  Mecca is a health care administrator, having first managed a federal research grant within a hospital.  After that, she helped to establish MRI imaging centers in many communities. Meanwhile, she is as comfortable with  a hammer or GPS as with business accounts and casseroles.  Fine people.  Great fun.  We hope to see them again some time, perhaps at their Mississippi River, Minnesota, natural home, largely buried in the side of a hill, heated and cooled by nature.


Saturday, March 11

Only one way to tell it all--montage:

Plane lands, Flores, March 1--up next morn at 4, trip to Palenque, one hour on pavement, four on dust and dirt, 45 minutes by launcha on the river, two hours to Palenque, Mexico, where next day we see

A SPECIAL PLACE

The Mayan Ruins of Palenque
tranquil, historic, ingenious, humbling, relaxing


Then four hours by first class bus to San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, charming, colonial, fast moving.  Hotel Cerrrillo, watching The Academy Awards, trying to listen to one language, not three, lips, English, Spanish interpretation.  Can't do it.  We miss most of the Jon Daley jokes, but enjoy the awards, for we have seen most of the movies honored.  Next,

A PROFOUND PLACE

San Juan Chamula

The church appears to be a Catholic Cathedral, but, it is not. The only Catholic ceremony taking place there is baptism.
Thousands of candles.  No exaggeration.  Thousands
Each placed by a devout person or family, who kneels, chants, worships, oblivious to the several hundred tourists.
Candles heated at the bottom, and stuck to the floor, after pine needles moved out of the way
Workers watching for fire in the needles, removing old candles
No photographs allowed
Candle smoke everywhere
Tourists everywhere
No other religion permitted in the county.  
Evangelicals politely asked to leave, then encouraged to leave, then forced to leave
62,000 people live this way, with this church as their center
No services, some special celebrations during the year
No pastor or minister, but elders who administer, and healers who meet with families, on the hard floor, with the candles
John, eyes 8 inches above the tops of every head, having the view of a barber
Chichi buys candles, we kneel, we feel, we cry.

A profound memory

Day trip to El Canyon del Sumidero near Tuxtla Gutierrez.  Fine experience, outstanding for those never having seen The Grand Canyon.

Back to San Cristobal, then to Palenque by first class bus, with movie.  Next, back to Flores, by cambi (small van holding 15), to the border, by launcha to Guatemala, by cambi (same size) to Flores, windows open, dust everywhere, 25 persons inside, two on top, frequent stops.  Most difficult ride ever. Relaxing night, and back to Rio Dulce, by first class bus, with movie.  


Indianapolis
Sunday, February 27

Our trip home has been exciting.  

Expert witness at a trial  And we saw fine movies:  "Capote," "Brokeback Mountain," "Walk The Line," "Matchpoint," time with family and friends.  Though intense, we value these experiences.