Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Finca Ixobel


Hey kiddies.

We spent two nights and an approximaely two days at Finca Ixobel which is near the city of Poptun which is in the northern region of the country. It is the country (ya know, not city like) if you catch my drift.

What to say about Finca? Well, let's do a good, bad, and the ugly...

Good
We heard a ton about this place going in, so we had high expectations. Word on the street was that this place is pretty awesome. The perks are that it is set on a farm, kinda feels like a kibutz (look it up if you don't know), and it brings together travelers of the world.
When we got there, we were greeted by friendly faces, good smells, and a room with plenty of mosquito netting and a hammock outside. Good start.
Ya don't have to pay for anything up front. You keep a page on log what you eat,drink, etc, and tally it up at the end.

Bad
Remember, this is my (sometimes Roni's too) blog, thse are my opinions, they don't necessarily reflect the truth, right or wrong, or divine providence...
I was disappointed with Finca. It was really close to being something really cool in my opinion, but just fell short on a couple of things.
1.) It's a farm, but I didn't FEEL like we we're growing all that much here. I could be VERY wrong, but it just didn't feel like a farm, or at least an overwhelmingly productive one.
2.) It seems to depend HEAVILY on tourists, it's out in the middle of nowhere, and well...I'm not sure if I'm big on going to a place soley because it's cool for tourists.
3.) THe food wasn't that good, and you almost had to go buffet style.

Ya know, I feel bad karma harping on this place. There's a lot of history and a lot of unknowns on my part, so I think I should stop bashing it. But by all accounts, I was a trifle disappointed and felt a tad empty being there.

Ugly
Hey bloggers, this is when you decide you really like me or like my writing, etc. So it happened, it was due to. No travel experience is complete without a fun bout with some stomach/intestinal issues. I made it about 11 days! THat's good for me. Let's just say I abstained from going on the caving expedition, figuring it was good to be close to civilization. I felt much better by the end of the night, though I was scared of the beef dish we were served.
Oh, well, I guess the bill was ugly. After a two day span of not paying, it hurt to get that bill.

Ok...I'm tired, we're off to Tikal tomorrow morning. Tonight we are in Flores, which we are enjoying very a lot, much to our surprise. I will add pictures tomorrow of past experiences and hopefully have some very special Tikal shots.

Do yourself a favor, Wikipedia search "Tikal" and you can save me the trouble of giving a poor explination.

Also, if there are any experts or knoweldgeable people out there with some background about Guatemalan political parties, I'd be SUPER interested.


4 comments:

trixieb said...

Hi,
I was glad to hear about the good,bad and ugly. I mentioned on the phone what I knew about Guatamala, but that is history. I had a friend, a social studies teacher who spent a year there. I will check political parties.

I started teaching again this week.

Love mama

trixieb said...

Adam,
The president is from the Gran Alianza Nacional or Grand National Alliance Party. His name is Oscar Berger Perdemo. The VP is Eduardo Stein Barillas. This party is actually an alliance of several parties: Patriotic Party, Reform Movement and National Solidarity Party. There are many more parties but too much to send.

If you go to Guatemala City, stay away from El Gallito.
Love, Mama

Unknown said...

Requerde ustedes, Che............

Adam said...

Mom,

Thank you. Youd find the political campaigning fascinating here.

Political signs are posted EVERYWHERE, but seem to be a bit more present in the South than the North. What was most interesting is that in the North, in Flores, only one party had a monoply on posting. I was trying to get an idea of where this party stood in relation to the community, which seems to be a bit better off than other parts.

The party is UNE which is apparently center-right.

The elections I believe are on Sept. 9, so pay attention!