ANTIGUA GUATEMALA

Last year we talked about going to Guatemala.  We both had to leave Mexico and return to get our new six month visa in September.  But Jennifer went to Canada to see her mother who was turning ninety (nice to know someone is older that I am) and so I went to visit my friends in San Francisco. So this year we were determine to go.  I have a friend at the gym who has made many trips to Guatemala and said he thought I would love it.  He also recommended several hotels in Antigua.  My Mexican friend Elvis said, "Oh, Larry you must not go to Guatemala".  It is too dangerous, many gangs and crime"  I told him that is exactly what my friends in The U.S. say about Mexico, so I was not deterred.  Guatemala has always been sort of a poorer step child to Mexico (sort of like what Mexico is to The U.S.)
I was to check on flights and Jennifer was going to take care of the reservations, so I gave her the names of the hotels that I had checked out.  They were both charming old colonial buildings and very cheap.  But Jennifer wanted a more luxurious vacation and decided on a two bed, two bath fully stocked house at more than twice the price.  I suspect it might have been because I snore. It did look nice so I agreed although I was already worried about what the trip was going to cost me.  I could not get a flight plan that would take us from P.V. through Mexico City to Guatemala City and the shuttle to Antigua in one day.  There was one flight, but it gave us one hour and a half to planes for an international flight.  Not possible we figured, so it meant an over night in Mexico City (more money)  We had the same problem on the return flight, so Jennifer decided we should stay two nights in order to see Mexico City.  I had not been there in almost 50 years, so I said Okay..

But I still had to book a trip from Antigua to Tikal to see the pyramids.  Jennifer was not interested in that especially when I told her it was an 8 hour bus ride each way.  My friend at the gym gave me the name and number of a driver for Antigua and he gave me the name of a guide in Tikal.  I figured I would work that out when we got there. My friend recommended an over night there, but I did not want to stay by myself in a town I did not know anything about.

A few days before our flight I decided to go back to Santandar Bank to draw out pesos from my American account, put some in my Mexican account and also I needed U.S. dollars.  For some reason our hosts wanted dollars for the house and so did the driver.  After pulling out a bunch of cash from my U.S. account I went in the bank to deposit more in my Mexican account.  I thought it might be easier and safer to use that when in Guatemala.  No teller speaks a word of English and though it is obvious I do not understand a word they way they continue to prattle on in rapid fire Spanish.  He carefully inspected each peso I was depositing.  After that was complete I told him I wanted to purchase U.S. dollars.  With a  quizzical face he asked for my passport.  WHY??  I was taking out less than I had just deposited, but after my last losing battle with the bank I decided to return home to get my passport.   I gave it to him and pushed across what I thought was sufficient pesos for the dollars I needed.  He pushed it back and said something.  Luckily the man next to me told me he wanted to take it out of my account.  Okay, so I gave him my card.  The dollars were in his drawer, but it still seemed to take forever while I signed multiple papers.

But then I had to deposit more pesos to cover what he had taken out.  Not trusting what my credits and debits showed, I wanted a copy of my statement.  He sent me to another lady and after handing her my card and passport she produced a statement.  It was correct.  I was elated and left the bank, but had to stop at the store for some groceries.  After unloading the groceries I began pulling cash (both pesos and dollars) out of my gym shorts.  NO BANK CARD!  Panicked I went back to the store. They had no card.  So for a third time I marched to the bank.  Mind you this was one of the hottest most humid days we have had.  I went to the desk where I had last used my card and she was gone.  I found the manager (the only one in the bank who speaks any English).  I told him my sad tale and he said she was at lunch.  I tried to impress upon him the urgency of my request so he went to the lunch room to find her.  He came out and said she had given the card back to me.  I had just put all that money for my trip into an account I could no longer access.  How long to get a new card?  A least a week he said.  I was about to fall apart when I man walked into the bank and over to the manager and handed him a card he found outside..  It was mine!  This was just the beginning of the trip.

The flight to Mexico City was short and uneventful.  Since we booked separately, Jennifer was in the front and I was in the back.  The plane landed a long ways from the terminal. They said there were no gates available.  Okay, that happens and we waited for a bus to take us to the terminal.  Finally people started to move and then it stopped.  We all stood there waiting, but nothing moved. Finally someone translated for me that they said they had no more buses and we had to wait.  I was on the plane on the tarmac for longer that the entire flight.  How could they have no buses in an airport as large as Mexico City??  Jennifer who had gotten off first was panicky wondering what had happened to me. At last I joined her and we hailed a cab for our hotel.  He had never heard of it, but luckily Jennifer had the telephone number.  The driver called and got directions.

The hotel was listed as an Airport Hotel, but turned out to be 20 minutes away in a run down industrial area.  As the driver weaved through smaller and smaller alleys of nothing but closed garage doors, I turned to Jennifer and said,  "This does not look promising"  He finally arrived at the back of the hotel so we had to enter through the parking garage.  The hotel turned out to be very nice but not a good location.  It was a convention hotel, very well appointed, very clean with a nice dinning room. Fortunately for I would not step outside at night in that neighborhood without an armed guard.  There was no coffee pot, but coffee was available in the lobby.   However since there was no smoking anywhere in the hotel I went outside and sat on a bench to drink and smoke.

The next day we flew to Guatemala City where our driver met us with sign with both our names on it.  She was very nice and spoke some English and explained a lot about Antigua on our way in (about an hours drive).  The house was a really cute little casa.  There was a small court yard entry with heavy wood doors onto the street.  Not really little as it was a tri level with two bedrooms and two and a half baths.  It was fully stocked with everything we needed so we could cook breakfast and dinner thus saving money.  It also had a washer and dryer which I really liked. The house had a wonderful roof top deck with a view of the three volcanoes.  (Well on the one morning when the clouds lifted above the volcanoes).  One wonders why the Spaniards decided to built the capital of Guatemala in a valley surrounded by three volcanoes. One is still active periodically spewing flames into the sky.  It was not the volcanoes that destroyed the city, but an earthquake in 1773 that leveled the town.  So the capital was moved to what in now Guatemala City.  Parts of the ruins of the 16th Century churches are still visible.  It was slowly rebuilt mostly of one story colonial houses.  Except for the churches which are huge and very baroque.

It is a very walk able  town with lots of parks and plazas.  A very beautiful place.   Antigua is more expensive that Vallarta.  Drinks and food is almost twice the price.  Why? I wondered.  Most mornings I went out while Jennifer worked on her computer.  She is a contract writer for several companies and had to product a certain amount of writing a day.  My first day I came upon a market spread out in the street in front of the facade of a ruined church.  It is mostly textiles for which Guatemalan are famous for.  I was going to bring Jennifer back as she was more interested in the textiles than I am.  But I did buy an oil painting of the arch with the volcano in the back ground.  It was only about $12.00.  Why are drinks so expensive?  Unfortunately for Jennifer the market is only there on Saturday and Sunday so she missed it, but still bought a ton of stuff in other stores.  I heard there was a beautiful garden nor too far from us.  (You know how I love plants).  It was like a mini botanical garden with orchids and gorgeous hanging vines,  It had a little cafe where I had lunch.
The number of scooters and motor bikes was amazing.  I have not seen so many since Rome.  But with the tiny streets, they only allowed parking on one side.  Some streets had no parking at all and there are no parking lots or under ground garages, so cars are limited.

We found a bar just off the main square that we liked and went back several times.  The bar tender flirted with Jennifer after asking if we were married.  I thought that was a little insulting to Jennifer since I look more like her grandfather.  In any case he got no where.  Our favorite restaurant was a pizza place we chose mainly because we could smoke in the patio.  It was the best pizza I have ever had and Jennifer who lived many years in Italy agreed (with a possible exception in Italy).  It was a thin crust covered with Parmesan and then fresh thin sliced ham, arugula, and large peels of Parmesan cheese.   We bought two of them. Two nights Jennifer cooked pasta with what was already in the kitchen.  I was too exhausted and sick from my trip to Tikal.

One square with arches over a water basin is where the early inhabitants got their water.  There are a series of basins where women still wash their clothes.  The main cathedral on the square still had remains  of the original church which you could visit.  While I was in Tikal Jennifer visited a convent which had rooms set up as there were hundreds of years ago for the nuns.  Antigua is a beautiful city with narrow cobble stone streets.  It is not as elegant as San Miguel de Allende which must have been a much more prosperous city in the 18th and 19th century, but it is very charming.  Because of my ordeal in Tikal, I was unable to see as much as I would have liked to.  Maybe I will go back at Easter when they have processions of flower carpeted floats with life size statues that are carried through the streets.  This is much to long already, so I will write about Tikal and Mexico City later  (when I feel like it)

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BANCO SANTANDER

When I arrived here seven years ago, my friend Richard told me not to use the many ATM's along Calle B. Badillo or Restaurant Row.  They were not good or safe, but to cross the river to Banco Santander.  After a few years of doing that I thought I should open an account in Mexico.  That way if I ever had to use a credit card (debit card) and it was compromised they could not get to the cash in my American Bank (not that there is much there either).  It was a horrible ordeal to open an account and took hours and a couple of trips.  I knew they would want a pass port, but an electric bill?  Everyone wants a copy of your electric even though it is not in my name.

As it happens, I never have an occasion to use a charge card here.  Most places do not take them (even a Mexican one),  Basically I forgot about the account. Years later I thought to check and see how much was in it.  You never get any statements here.  They would not get through the mail anyway.  I found that the account was locked.  I went in the bank and after waiting for an hour was told that the account was inactive and therefore blocked.  In order to unblock it I had to go home and bring in my passport,   As I recall this took a fair amount of time, but it was finally done.  After that I decided to occasionally pull money out or make a deposit.  Every thing was fine.

In a few weeks I am off to Guatemala so for months I have been adding deposits every month and not taking any out.  Thank God I had to foresight to make sure it was okay.  (It really wasn't foresight, it was because I have lived in Mexico)  Also, I had tried to buy tickets to the Frida Kahlo museum in Mexico City and the card was turned down.  Sure enough the account was "restricted"  Again I went in the bank to complain.  First the teller looked at the card and shoved it back at me.  I shoved it back to her and complained (not that it does any good here)  She pointed a woman seated at a desk across the room.
I stood patiently for about 20 or 30 minutes  before she acknowledged me.  I told her of my problem. She kept looking at the card and turning it over as if she could spot the problem.  Finally the manager came over (who does speak English) and told me she would escort me out to the ATM kiosk.  Of course it said "Restricted" just as I had been telling them.  The manager took over and told me I needed to bring in my passport.

The following day I returned with my passport and a copy of it.  I remembered the hassle Noriko and I had trying to cash her U.S. dollars into pesos.  Again I waited for the manager.  He greeted  me and took me to another desk and a woman who spoke no English.  She kept typing something on her computer and occasionally spoke to someone on the phone.  It seemed like an hour, but probably not quite that long and nothing was happening.  I told her I would be back later and she said "Uno momento"  (that can be an interminable amount of time here).  Finally the manager strode by and I asked him if I could come back later.  All they have to do is strike a couple of codes on the computer. Right?   After speaking to the no English woman, he turned to me and said that they may wish to speak to me.  WHO??  I have the card, I know the pin number, they have my passport and I had the receipt from my last deposit.  What is the problem?   With a perfectly straight face he said,  "They may decide it is easier just to issue you a new card"  ARE THEY JOKING??   How long would it take?  He said, "Maybe a week"   Well I have lived here long enough to know what that can mean, so I insisted they unblock my account.  I wanted the card for the trip to Guatemala.  I then asked him if I had to make a charge or withdrawal every month.  He said "Yes or the account is deemed inactive and is frozen"  Even if I am making deposits every month.  YES!  Does this make any sense to you?  BUT IT'S MEXICO !

The woman continued typing on her computer with the phone in her ear.  I knew whatever she was typing had nothing to do with me.  She would pick up a file, put in a couple things in the computer then write something on it and turn it over on the other side of her desk.  Finally she motioned me to get up and follow her.  She asked if I knew my PIN number.  Of course I do, how stupid does she think I am.  (Do not go there!)  Sure enough it worked, but the balance was at least 1,000 less than what I thought should be in the account.  I asked her if I could get a statement.  She either did not understand or did not want to answer.  I said,  "I need to know what the debits and credits are to this account"  She looked at me like I was asking for the code to the bank vault walked away.  I did not want to reenter the bank again that day.  Maybe Never !


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