Belize and Guatemala

This month we had a fantastic opportunity to escape the dropping temperatures in Chicago to spend three weeks working on some international stories with a vacation in between. Our first stop was the Feria Internacional de Barriletes Gigantes, or the International Festival of Giant Kites in Sumpango Sacatepequez, Guatemala, about 30 minutes from Antigua. The festival is part of the Day of the Dead celebrations, put on by the indigenous community in the region. Residents

spend months building the giant kites made of bamboo, tissue paper, glue and twine.

See Alex's collection of photographs here.

Coming soon... a joint multimedia project produced by Tu Multimedia and Chance Multimedia.

After one week of work in Guatemala City, we headed out on one of our most ambitious road trips yet. Alex drove straight for 12 hours through dozens of small towns, over countless potholes and we even shared a makeshift ferry with a semi to cross a flooded river. We arrived in Bullet Tree Falls, San Ignacio, Cayo, Belize, late at night and were looking forward to visiting our old friends at the Cohune Palms cabanas next to the tranquil Mopan River. When we stepped out of the car, we were surprised to find the place eerily deserted. Exhausted and disappointed, we headed toward the lights of riverside lodge across the road. Colin, the owner of Iguana Junction informed us that the town (and most of Western Belize) had been wiped out by flooding a month earlier and many of the lodges were now only beginning to rebuild in preparation for tourist season. Colin and his wife Dawn graciously offered up the only place fit for sleeping--a room with five mattresses on the floor. Luckily they had fixed up their kitchen and we had a delicious dinner of Ramen, fine conversation and even an after-dinner drink (We started off with a cooler full of beer that the Belizean boarder patrol helped themselves to. At least they didn't take the rum.) Good thing we were traveling with three of our awesome friends, which made a potentially disheartening situation into a laughter-filled adventure. That night, our floor accommodations felt like the Four Seasons to us. :) We even ended up staying an extra day to relax by the now bloated, rapid river. We didn't much care that someone's washing machine floated by on what was once a clear blue and very swimmable river. Our friend Jessica and I tied vines to our waists and splashed around--just to make sure we wouldn't be carried away by the current. What a difference great friends make.

The next day, Alex drove us four more hours to Placencia, Belize. The pictures speak for themselves. We spent four days in a house just minutes from the beach and even had time to hang out with the local school kids. Our final stop were the ruins of Yaxha which were less-developed, but just as stunning as Tikal with a fraction of the tourists. We were treated to a territorial dispute between howler monkeys and spider monkeys--the uninhibited wildlife is unlike anything I've ever seen. I'll excuse the 100+ mosquito bites I got that day. A week later they still itch, little reminders of a wild vacation.

  

Our Audio Slideshow at the Newseum!

If you happen to be in Washington D.C., check out our audio slideshow about the Knight Brothers at the Newseum. You can watch the same slideshow on our Web site, here. We are thrilled to be a part of journalism history.

Shrinking the Food Desert

There's a new farmers market on 61st and Dorchester in Woodlawn. It bustled with shoppers, the beets were fresh and going fast and the nine vendors nearly sold out of everything. This is one great step toward building healthier communities, especially because of the scarcity of fresh produce in this area. We can't wait to see how this market grows. Enjoy the sights and sounds!

Antigua, Guatemala

Tu Multimedia’s annual trip to Antigua for Holy Week is a great excuse to travel, shoot some pictures and do what we love to do—experience life first-hand. It’s also a reminder that while Alex seems to have shot ever inch of the 10-by-10-block city, there is so much more to be captured.

Our primary purpose was to wrap up Alex’s second book on Holy Week. Check out his first one, available to purchase online here. The book, which will be released during Holy Week of 2009, is different in scope than the first, featuring the preparations and celebrations of Escuela de Cristo, one of the largest and oldest churches in the city.
Once the bustle of Semana Santa slowly dissolved into the Antigua pace we’re used to, we discovered the one place that refused to take a vacation: the market.

We set out early-morning, reminding ourselves that two of Antigua’s greatest charms don’t wait around
past 10 o’clock: the early-morning market and a cloudless view of the volcano (especially during rainy season.)

Now when I say market, I mean a you-can-find-anything-from-carrots-to-car-parts, outside bonanza where buses from neighboring villages cram merchants and shoppers in the seats, and the roof with bundles of whatever is selling. They flood the dusty parking lot and lug, roll or drag their bags of wares toward the flower aisle, the vegetable row, the cure-everything with-one-sip section. Some vendors scowl if they see you trying to take their picture, but most are too busy to scold you, especially if you click the shutter, smile and move on. Which is exactly what you should be doing, because nobody likes a photographer standing in the way of a cart full of tomatoes, when backs strapped with avocadoes shuffle left and heads balancing mangoes turn right.

Tikal and Belize

Please press play to hear the sounds of the Oropendola.


Patrick, one of Alex’s old Peace Corps buddies, met up with us for a trip through the Mayan ruins in Tikal and an adventure through the western part of Belize. The Tikal photos speak for themselves—it amazes me that we were still allowed to climb up monuments that are thousands of years old. I brought my sound recorder to collect the distinct sounds of wildlife in the rainforest, specifically the oropendola, that have made a community of basket-like nests on a tree in the Grand Plaza. Sitting in the Grand Plaza at sundown, when the Temple of the Jaguar is bathed in golden light makes the Chicago winter we escaped from seem like a distant memory.




The next morning we headed for the Belize border. The heat makes everyone a bit dreary, add a barely-held-together Nissan-turned-taxi, on a scorched, makeshift dirt road, and we began to wonder if we would find the paradise we set out for.

We wanted a place to stay that afforded some natural beauty, while not being too far away from the city of San Ignacio, where we could get our necessary staples. Alex knew of a small town named Bullet Tree, that he’d been to once before, so we headed down another rocky dirt path, where rows of elementary school children, in their pink and blue uniforms, held classes in the shade.  A few more twists and turns, passed seemingly empty lots, and we end up at the Cohune Palms, an intimate, family owned cluster of thatched roof huts, owned by a local Rastafarian and his wife from Idaho. We shed our luggage, and hungrily dove into the Mopan River that was the perfect shade of green. Home-cooked meals, good company and tubing down the river made our week satisfying at our own pace. Plus, iguana sightings, especially during the morning hours (they sunned themselves on the grass next to where we ate breakfast!) never got old. After we found our own secluded paradise, a trip into San Ignacio for dinner and drinks seemed touristy and all too unnecessary.

Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

Climbing up a volcano in a developing country is an adventure for anyone, especially when you find out the rules and regulations you are used to in the states don’t apply. You are responsible for your own safety, which means the closer the better for most people!

Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

The trip from Antigua to Lake Atlitán, is best taken in a car, a tourism van if you don’t have your own vehicle, or the chicken bus if you want to play Russian roulette with your life.  The three-hour drive offers a great view of the terrain and the indigenous communities that live along the highway. Just when you think you can’t take another bus passing you on a blind curve, a lush valley and a pristine blue lake winds you down to the village of Panajachel. A few rickety boats wait for villagers and tourists to fill up before embarking on a 20-minute ride to several villages across the lake. It is best to make the trip before 2 p.m., as the lake becomes rocky later in the day and the ratio of passengers to life jackets is 2-1. San Pedro, one of the villages, is a hippie enclave where you can find motels for $10 a night or a yoga spa for $100. if you want to learn Spanish on the shore in the sun (and play a game of futbol with the local school children!), this is the place!