Miraflores Peru

We're staying just outside Lima, Peru in a district called Miraflores (population 100,000), a gorgeous city butting up against the Pacific Ocean and about 10 km from downtown Lima. 

The district is full of hotels, cafés, pubs, restaurants and shops. For tennis lovers, there are red clay courts right next to the ocean. And it is said that Miraflores is a great training ground for surfers.

How did Mirflores become such a great place? The story goes that Lima had a good side (wealthy people, mainly ancestors from Spain) and a poorer side called Rimac where there are 'shantytowns' created just outside the city by immigrants and rural workers coming into Lima for work. They built 'shanty' homes on the side of mountains just outside of Lima. With the decree that staying on property for 5 years entitled you to the land, the upper classes started leaving the city center in the 1960s for the seaside suburbs of Miraflores (and elsewhere) to get away from the 'less than' folks. Hence, a lot of this district is quite new, vibrant and full of life.

We're going down to the ocean now!

The Future for a Girl Like Kata

We've spent almost 2 weeks in San Marcos visiting other towns/ villages by boat and hiking around Lake Atitlan. Throughout our time here, I kept looking at the kids and wondering what their future holds. Take this little girl.

She could be one of hundreds of thousands that will be affected by malnutrition or poverty- or her parents could stop her education for the need to help her family- let's call her Kata.

                        

According to World Health, she is living in a country with one of the worst rates of chronic malnutrition in the world. The basic diet is beans, corn (in the form of tortillas) and coffee with little use of fruits, vegetables or meat. Food shortages aren't the main problem as many children are getting enough to eat, but their food lacks the necessary nutrients.

In theory, there is education for Kata: primary school six years, secondary school three years and high school two to three years, depending on technical training. In reality, Kata might not even attend school, but instead start working at a young age to sustain her family. Many don't see the long-term benefits of schooling, and many others simply get married. Many parents think girls should not attend school since they should be preparing for motherhood. More than half of all girls in rural Guatemala become brides by 18. Many begin having children when they are still children themselves. 

Kata lives in San Marcos- a very poor part of Guatemala- so her family is probably in the 14% of population living below $1.25 a day. For the country as a whole, the average wage is 11 quetsalles or about $2 an hour. The wealthiest 10 percent of Guatemalans earn 47.5 percent of national income, while less than 20 percent is allocated to the poorest 60 percent. Indigenous Guatemalans like Kata, who represent the majority of the country’s population, account for an estimated 80 percent of Guatemala’s poor. Roughly one-quarter of them live in conditions of extreme poverty.

For Kata, the future might not look good. But there are a lot of people through NGOs and individual contributors that are here to help. Romi, who owned the first guest house we stayed in Antigua, has dedicated her last 24 years in helping indigenous young women through scholarships. Dianne, another lady we met in Antigua, runs Sharing the Dream, an NGO helping Guatemaleans with sustainable projects to help themselves. Our Spanish teacher here in San Marcos- Andrew- has spent the last 3 years helping indigenous women (maybe even Kata's Mom) with learning skills to get a job. And we met two young women at lunch today- one from the States, another a local- who are teachers for a new non-profit school here in San Marcos that has individual and group sponsorships to educate the poor here. That said, when you look at kids like Kata, it makes you want to pause and hope she will have a good life.

We're leaving Guatemala tomorrow and will be in major travel mode for the next few days en route to Peru.

Guatemala has a New President

President Morales is the new President, a comedic actor believe it or not, and he won the residency of Guatemala with the slogan "not corrupt, nor a thief". There had to be a new election as the past President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti were arrested on fraud charges and are now in jail. Also, there are more than a dozen ministers and deputy ministers that have resigned &/or been jailed.

The general atmosphere is negative to this new comedic President. Apparently he's taking office without a party, without well-qualified people he trusts and with a state apparatus that's really in financial and institutional ruin.

But the country is rejoicing nonetheless with parties everywhere. Here in San Marcos, there is celebration and a new major but the major benefactors are the people- they're getting free food and beer after all the speeches!

Third World Reality

With being a Canadian and used to the material benefits of what 21st century North America offers, I've found myself mentally taking a step back in digesting Guatemala. Our new home here in San Marcos in the Lake Atitlan area has the beauty of the lake but the reality of third world. 

The owner of our guest house summed it up candidly... "as far as third world, it's not bad here". Certainly the people are friendly and happy. But the conditions in which they live is hard to comprehend. 

Walk down the street at dinner time and you'll see doors open with families sitting on the floor with food on a tablecloth on a bare floor sharing. The room beside the kitchen could be a living room or bedroom but there is no furniture, certainly no wood cabinets or tables or bed frames that we are accustomed to. Another house would be bare except for the baskets of fruit by the front door for sale but you could see a colour TV on in a bare room.

Yet they are happy and this is the quandary we are facing when grasping the reality of third world living. You almost have to see it to understand...

It is so vastly different to subways or freeways or even paved roads. 

We got to our new place from Antigua to San Marcos after a 3 hour 'shuttle' service in a small van with 12 people followed by a Tuk Tuk ride.

Imagine a slow Vespa with a two seater-front seat and back seat and our two 26 inch bags banging our heads behind us going over dirt roads for about 3 miles to our final destination.

It's hard to comprehend living in a villa-type environment with warm showers and fridges and stoves while over the fence the neighbor has chickens on their property to sell you eggs.

I'm just finding it really hard in comprehending the dichotomy of North America versus third world reality. I didn't think this reality would hit me as hard as it is. For me, there's a huge difference traveling the world on business going from international airports to 5 star hotels and what we are doing now. Am I enjoying it? Absolutely!! But huge differences to life in Canada.

First Stop- Antigua, Guatemala

Our first stop and a welcome oasis is a tiny guest house in Antigua. This was the capital of Guatemala for some time until about 150 years ago.  The city is situated between Guatemala City and Escuintia. We were quite surprised with the mountainous region- at 5,000 feet (vs. 7,000 at the tip of Whistler) we're pretty high up. As such, it cools in the evening but is absolutely perfect weather in the day (20-25 degrees).

We're staying at Condominia des Rosas, run by an American named Romi who built this guest home about 24 years ago.

As you can see with that little white animal to the left of the center of the garden picture, she has about 5 cats... Not my favourite animal but they shoo away nicely.

There are some sobering facts about this country. At 15 million, this country is the most populous in Central America. Almost half of Guatemala's population is under age 19, making it the youngest population in Latin America. About 60% of the population is 24 years of age or younger with a median age of 21 for the entire country. Of this, 60% are illiterate. The civil war, that started in the 1960s lasted about 36 years and they are only now getting out of the depression. There were over 200,000 Mayans and Catholics (including priests also) that were killed during this time and elementary schools were bombed and flattened by the Military.

We don't realize how great we have it in Canada and that our mundane government has kept us free and democratic since federation. Here, you just have to see the police with machine guns to recognize where the banks are. And for anyone who has been to the Caribbean, Guatemala is noticeably much poorer in comparison.

More later. But one thing is absolutely clear- we should have learned Spanish before coming!

And We're Off!

After hours and hours of reading, planning, talking to friends- and their friends, meeting new people who have already been on the safari or tour or just came back from wherever- after all the foreign currency calculations and translator software packages and sun tan lotions- we’re on our way for our trip around the world!

The expression “it’s the journey, not the trip” is very apt for us now- we have no idea how we’re going to feel one month from now or three continents from now. But we do know we won’t have to use an alarm clock every weekday and we won’t have to rush and get as much packed in on a weekend.

Hopefully we will actually enjoy travelling! Cathy says she loves travelling by train- I wonder if she’ll say the same thing 11 months from now. We'll also be doing a lot by bus… like going through the Patagonia in Argentina and probably a lot of Asia. And let's not forget the 38,902 air miles we just booked; we have a lot to travel.

I just hope we can capture the essence of different nationalities, cultures, history and people and explain all of this in the blog! 

Hola mondo, aquí venimos (hello world, here we come)!!

OHIP, Visas and Other Surprises!

I was amazed at how many of the 22 countries we’re visiting require separate Visas to enter the country and on top of that, the various limitations. For example, going to Vietnam requires a Visa. But you need to identify if it’s less than a month or more. Also, you need to declare if it’s a single entry or in/ out (which you need if you’re going to Laos and Cambodia before flying out from Hanoi). In all, we need about a dozen Visas including Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Tanzania, India, Vietnam, Laos and even Australia. And Visas are not cheap; for Tanzania, it’s relatively inexpensive at about $75 but for Bhuttan, it’s $200 U.S. even if it’s just for a few days. And for some countries, you need to apply months in advance. Literally as I’m writing this, the Brazilian Consulate has our physical Visas and we need them before we leave on Friday- YIKES!

Another pleasant surprise was the requirement to contact OHIP and identify you would be out-of-country for more than 183 days. You are only allowed to do this once-in-a-lifetime. Plus, if you already have an OHIP card that extends past the date you're coming back, they take it away and issue you one for the date you are returning. Not to go into too much detail here but apparently the Canadian and Ontario government computer systems don’t talk to one another and the only way to guarantee your exit/ entry is to limit your OHIP coverage to ensure you come back!
A Drivers’ licence is another surprise that you might have to manage around. My Driver’s licence is expiring mid trip and when I asked Service Ontario for an extension, I couldn’t get one!! I had to wait for 180 days before my expiry to get an extension (and there was no way to get around the rules). So on Dec. 10th first thing in the morning I was on their website applying for an extension so that I could drive when I’m out of country July- December, 2016.

And getting all the relevant needles was another surprise. Depending where you’re going, Hepatitis A&B, Tuberculosis, Yellow Fever and Typhoid shots are necessary/ mandatory and you need proof to enter certain countries. Plus you have to have shots staggered over a period of months to take effect. It’s the planning that was the surprise. Oh, you also need to take Deet for mosquitoes, Florastor for the runs, Immodium if you can’t go (sorry)…. the list goes on.

Just thought you'd be interested in knowing that there can be quite a few surprises if you're ever planning to do this. Planning is crucial.