The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 180

ThePaddler 180

For me this

was very intimidating and
looking at James and Tony’s face as well, they felt the
same but Matt who’s had this experience before in his
travels in India said I will deal with this and calmly
stepped out of the car to start the negotiations. An
hour later we finally had our passports stamped and
about 40 dollars of negotiation fees we was on our
way. Looking back at this for the fixers this is the norm
they are not there to kill you they are just doing a job
and as long as you stay calm, smile and haggle a fee
then everybody’s happy but it does annoy you that the
officials are sat there turning a blind eye to it all.

“we are from
Grande Britannia,”
They loved the phrase

which would always get a smile and
thumbs up and even a handshake
off the local police

Our first few days we stopped in a hotel in a town
called Malacatan in Guatemala and even though this
was a fairly pleasant town it became apparent that
there is a lot of hired security around. Every bank or
shop that sold high value goods had an armed guard
on the door; taxis are how most people get around.
The infrastructure is still not as good as it could be yet
as there is a lot of rubbish around, buildings are
roughly constructed with n ?????????????????????)??????????????????????????????L???????????)??????????=???????????????????????????e??????)????????????????????????????????????????e?)?????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????)M????????????????????????????????????)????????????????????????????????????q?)???????????? ????????t???????????????????)?????????????????????????????????????????)?????????????)M????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????)??????????I???
????????????????????????(??????$??????????????????????
???????????)???????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????L???????????????)??????????????????????Q????????????????????)??????????
????????????????????????????)??????L???????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????????????????)Q???????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????)?????????????????????????)????????????????5?????????????????????)????????????????????????I????????????)????????????????????9??????????????????????)???????????????????]????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????)U????????????)????????5??????????????)????????????????????????????????Q??????????)??????????????=????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????)?????????()]???????????((0