[RioRico]

Now coming to Gringotenango! On the shore of incredibly gorgeous Lake Atitlan, which looks rather like Lake Tahoe with volcanoes and Mayans. Aldous Huxley called it the most beautiful place on Earth, but maybe he got laid there. Anyway, imagine ten days of bike jamboree!

NB: I was a bike messenger in San Francisco, as was my father-in-law a generation before, and my sister did the same in New Yawk City. So it's familial. Oh, I remember the mass bike streaks... but I digress.

I haven't been back to Panajachel (paw-naw-haw-SHELL) since I got the K20D, and I sure miss the beauty, the cheap living, the great people and food, the volcanoes over the lake, all that stuff. I might just go for this event, burn out a few lenses, breathe the clean air. Y'all are invited.

[Wait, you're wondering, how cheap? Well, you can book into one of the language schools there, room and board and one-on-one tutoring, for about US$125 per week. Decent rooms can be had for US$20 a night, cheaper by the week. Good meals for US$3. Aguardiente (cane rum) for US$1 per liter. Something like that.]

Oh yeah, within a couple km of downtown Panajachel are a couple little nature preserves where you can walk Indy Jones-type suspension bridges, hang out with butterflies and hawks, closely watch the spider monkeys closely watching you, etc. And the circus won't be in town, so you won't be spat upon by a llama as I was. Hmmm. Inexpensive PADI scuba training in the lake, boats and/or trails to lakeside towns without roads, the weird Maximon cult over in Santiago de Atitlan, incredibly beautiful handcrafts at amazing prices, and much more.

OK, here's the press release:
________________________________________________________________

Cycle Messenger World Championships Panajachel, Guatemala - September 3rd to 13th, 2010 - PR.com

The Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC), will take place in Panajachel, Guatemala from September 3rd to 13th, 2010.

Toronto, Canada, March 27, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Now entering its 18th incarnation, the Cycle Messenger World Championships is an annual event which pits speed and endurance against experienced messenger skill. It is also a celebration of messenger’s lifestyle, culture, and history.

The CMWC has a long tradition of unique events formatted to actively represent the Bicycle Messenger Industry. The main race is a simulation of a real workday with deliveries and pick-ups organized in a mock city core where routing and decision making becomes as important as speed and performance.

First held in 1993, messengers have been making the annual pilgrimage to some of the worlds major metropolis’ who’ve played past CMWC hosts including: Berlin; London; Toronto; San Francisco; Barcelona; Washington D.C.; Zurich; Budapest; Copenhagen; New York; Sydney; Dublin; and most recently in Tokyo last year.

Making its first stop in Central America, one of the goals for this year’s CMWC organizing crew is to have Latin messengers meet, connect and participate with the rest of the world. Bringing this prestigious event to Panajachel, Guatemala has excited both the global Messenger Community and the Guatemalan government. “The municipality of Panajachel will provide its full support, collaboration and assistance to the CMWC in its development.” pledges GERALDO HIGUEROS, Mayor of Panajachel.

The Organizers are making it a priority to give back to this impoverished community, which is still suffering the effects of 2005’s Hurricane Stan. By employing local residents, plus the resulting tourism from the hundreds of visitors to Guatemala, the CMWC hopes to make a lasting social and financial impression in Panajachel, with event proceeds helping fund local community projects, including the rebuilding of the local soccer stadium.

Make plans now to attend the Cycle Messenger World Championships and be in Panajachel, Guatemala from September 3rd to 13th, 2010 to catch all the festivities of this World Class sporting event.

2010 CMWC PANAJACHEL, GUATEMALA
media@cmwcguatemala.com
106 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1H6 – 416-538-1203
_______________________________________________________________

EDIT: Oops, this should be over in General Talk. That's what I get for not paying attention. Situational awareness: zero.

---

Last edited by RioRico; 03-28-2010 at 02:48 PM.

[tpeace]

Rio,

You may be in for a rude awakening...

http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2009/11/30/harmful-algae-bloom-threat...e-atitlan.html

"Normally a picturesque blue lake surrounded by steep volcanoes and Mayan settlements, Guatemala’s Lake Atitlán acquired a film of green scum in October and November 2009. "

Also: http://www.lakeatitlanhealth.com/

The outbreak has recessed due to the cooler winter weather, but given the September dates for the bicycle messenger competition, it could be building back up by then. (It is expected that it will come back stronger for the next several years due to the high nitrogen rich nutrients levels in the lake.)

It certainly is a beautiful place - I had the opportunity to visit twice back in the 90's while I was working in GC.

Regards,
-tom

[johnmflores]

Wow, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun!

[Parallax]

I'm moving this to GT, as it really isn't about photography, pr se.

[Ratmagiclady]

Now coming to Gringotenango! On the shore of incredibly gorgeous Lake Atitlan, which looks rather like Lake Tahoe with volcanoes and Mayans. Aldous Huxley called it the most beautiful place on Earth, but maybe he got laid there.

Heheh. Huxley? He might have done something *else* there that could have made that kind of impression.

Anyway, imagine ten days of bike jamboree!

NB: I was a bike messenger in San Francisco, as was my father-in-law a generation before, and my sister did the same in New Yawk City. So it's familial. Oh, I remember the mass bike streaks... but I digress.

Heheh. I don't think I'd have made the Boston team.

Except maybe in the 'Avoid The Spinning Lugnuts' and 'Counter-Road-Rage Maneuvering' events.

[Parallax]

I wonder if the people who labeled crab fishing as the deadliest job had ever actually seen a bicycle messenger ride through the financial district of San Francisco.

[Ratmagiclady]

I wonder if the people who labeled crab fishing as the deadliest job had ever actually seen a bicycle messenger ride through the financial district of San Francisco.

Heheh. 'Avoiding certain doom' is a specialty.

I've never seen San Fransisco, but, actually, I think I'd classify it more as 'Dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.' People can get really hurt, (NYC's apparently pretty bad like this, with all the cross-streets.) but it probably *looks* more dangerous than it is; (not to dispel any mystique ) A courier can see more than you can from in a car, thinking like a car-driver. It usually takes a combination of factors at once to make up an accident, you just don't want to move where you might get your options boxed in.

You can go fast, you just don't want to get in a position you can't control if and when a random element pops up. Two or more random events at once can mean a crash, (like getting squeezed against a line of parked cars: that's an equation for getting 'the door prize' if a driver gets out without looking, ) so you don't want to be there.

What I hated the most was around some Big Dig construction areas: they kept changing the traffic flow, (with big plywood panels to blind you, no less) ....so you not only had a lot of out-of-town drivers getting confused, gawking, and behaving erratically as usual, and *locals* more or less taking the route for the first time, not to mention having to keep a real good eye on the busted-up pavement, or no going home tonight. I always felt like telling dispatch 'If you want to get me killed, do it *before* a day like today, not at the *end* )


If you ever see a courier take the whole lane in front of you, there's probably a very good reason for it, and very likely, the most expeditious place you could probably be in that situation is just behind them. Or at least they'll appreciate a moment's patience while they accelerate.

[RioRico]

I wonder if the people who labeled crab fishing as the deadliest job had ever actually seen a bicycle messenger ride through the financial district of San Francisco.

I'm the first person I know to get a ticket for Reckless Bicycling. And I deserved it. Yes, on Monky St in the Financial District.

Then there was the time I was on my one-speed clunker with the big basket in front, and the big heavy canvas bag used to protect shipments was folded into the bottom, no load this run. As I cruised through the crowd at the cable car turntable at Powell & Market, a woman holding a young baby, facing away from me, turned almost into my path. Startled, she dropped the baby... into my basket. I went on about 20 feet before circling around and returning the kid, unharmed by the canvas padding. No ticket that time.

But back to Panajachel. Even if the lake water isn't pristine, it's still absolutely gorgeous. (Skip the SCUBA lessons, I guess.) Great country for walking and rolling around, and photographing. And then it's just a few miles up to the PanAmHwy and on to incredibly exotic Chichicastenango [CHEE-chee-kas-tay-NANG-go], site of the bigest indigenous market in Central America. A few miles, but a couple hours, on good, modern, but very twisty highways.

And then it's an hour over to Antigua Guatemala, former cultural capital of Central America, another amazingly beautiful place, where the chief industry seems to be inexpensive language schools. I could rant for a few hours about La Antigua, but I'd better stop now. [/me remembers the great Nim Po't emporium, and cheap/clean Posada La Merced run by Gail the Kiwi, and oh so much more. /me sighs.]