The Guatemalan Chronicles - Day 2

Click here to read about day 1.

I slept like a log at the hostel. I woke up just before 7, giving almost a solid 10 hours of sleep. Brilliant.

After 30 minutes of wandering around the hostel, trying to find some sort of hot caffeinated beverage, I ended up coffee-less and on the rooftop patio to check out the sights & sounds of Guatemala City. That's when I spied a mini-bus coming down the street with a familiar face in the passenger seat.

It was Jon, he of iFished.com

Of course, I had never met him in real life, but I recognized him from the sailfishing webcast he did with Salty and Captain Tom of Panamax Sailfishing. I quickly grabbed my backpack and rod case and headed downstairs to check out.

The Case of the Missing Salty

After some quick introductions with Jon's family and 'Fish Allen,' we piled into the mini-bus and headed to the airport to pick up Salty.

But he wasn't there.

Fortunately for me (& those around me), at least there was coffee at the airport. So we settled in to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Finally, we called off the waiting to head to the local tackle shop to grab a few items and beg for some internet access to see where Salty was.

At Pesqueros, we also met up with our driver to take us to the coast. Our driver, aka The Puma, was on the job & wrangled Jon some internet access. Salty got hung up in Atlanta due to mechanical issues but was scheduled to arrive shortly.

Back to the airport, with a quick stop for a traditional Guatemalan lunch of McDonald's quarter-pounder with cheese ("Cuarto de Libra con Queso").

Close to 1PM, eight hours after his original arrival time (thanks, Delta Airlines), the elusive Salty walked out of the airport.

Off to the Coast

Salty, Jon, Fish Allen and myself piled our gear & ourselves into The Puma's compact sedan (his van was sick).

The Puma might have the physique more similar to a Latin American Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man, but behind the wheel, his puma-instincts took over. That guy had that P.O.S. car pinned the entire drive to the coast.

A couple of cramped hours later, we were in Puerto San Jose. We checked into our hotel and sampled the national beer, Gallo, at the pool bar (guzzled a few bottles of agua pura, too).

We wandered into the town to grab a few things from the supermarket, eventually meeting up with Captain Tom for a bite to eat.

The town was...interesting. Think of how the Mos Eisley spaceport would be in a developing, Latin American country, and you would have an idea.

However, dinner was pretty damn awesome.

Check out some pics.

Cerveza & agua puras, poolside

Main drag of Puerto San Jose

It was some Saint of Something celebration going on...

Shark jaws

Guatemalan meat fest! 

After feasting from the grill, we called it an early night, for the wakeup call for sailfishing was coming early the next morning.

Note: Salty posted some random tidbits of information about Guatemala; give them a read here.

Random Good Feeling...

Time/Date: 2235 CST, 04-Mar-11
Location: Estado de Guerrero, Mexico

...or two. Or three.

Good feeling #1: I have decided to forego this whole job title bullshit that seems to seep out of the pores of every company.

Hey, I know, I was a part of it before, too. Not this time.

I had to create my email signature and, in seven seconds flat (minus the time spent on Google Translate), wrote the following:

Mat Trevors
Oficina Logistica y Operaciones

Translation: Office of Logistics & Operations. Think anyone will have trouble figuring out what I do? Didn't think so.

Good feeling #2: right after that, I managed to write an email of one sentence in Spanish, with proper grammar and punctuation. It took me 8 minutes, not counting the time spent searching for Spanish punctuation keyboard shortcuts. For reference, this post hast taken 4 minutes so far, one-finger tapping on my iPod. Efficiency rules.

Good feeling #3: talked some fly fishing (what else is new?) with a consultant onsite from Wyoming and mentioned my spur of the moment, barely-planned but very fun & worth-every-second-and-penny trip for redfish last November.

He thought the spur of the moment aspect was pretty cool and said, "F**k it, I'm going to start doing that. Book the ticket and go."

I thought that was kinda cool.

Bedtime reading of a hopeless case

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

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Once Upon a Time In Mexico, Chapter 1

Time/Date: 2050 CST, 27-Feb-11
Location: Estado de Guerrero, Mexico

My pocket-sized Latin American Spanish phrasebook did not have the following useful phrases:

• "I'm sorry, sir, but I am not smuggling a weapon. It is a fly-tying vice. If you sit tight for 8 minutes, I can tie you up a Clouser Deep Minnow."
• "I do not wish to drink Dos Equis, as it is the beer of douchebags back home."
• "Do I receive Aeroplan miles for this hotel stay?"
• "Your food looks very tasty, but I'm worried it will give me the shits."
• "Kidnapping me will embarrass us both. I'm not wealthy, and the food costs of keeping me will be higher than any ransom you will receive."
• "Would you by chance know how to whip-finish this Clouser Deep Minnow?"
• "Do you know Salma Hayek? I have a friend that thinks she is cute."
• "I pray to Jesus you have more toilet paper than this."

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