Sailfishing in Guatemala

Players
Me-Dave S
Chuck-Charles S, my brother
Paul- Paul W, Chuck Father-in-Law
Brian-Brian P, Chuck's friend since 9th grade
Devin-Dave's friend from Austin

We all needed to get to Dallas by 5PM for the flight to Guatemala City (GUA). Are we even going to get there? Chuck, Brian and Paul all had cancelled flights due to bad weather. Devin and I woke up to 3 inches of snow and an Austin airport with no snow equipment.

Chuck and Brian sweet talked their way into a flight cutting it close and getting to Big D around 4:40. I got a text that Paul would make it. At some point I heard the phrase "Every man for himself".

Devin and I were scheduled to get to Dallas at 4:20 but did not get to the gate until 5PM. Like the old OJ commercial, I found myself RUNNING full bore down the terminal toward the plane to GUA.

We all got on the plane to GUA only to find that, being the only plane, they were holding on for 50 or so other late passengers. It felt good to see all 5 of us on board and there were smiles all around. Chuck and Brian drained all the bourbon on the plane for that flight and the next one the plane had scheduled. Devin and I had a few beers. We all hit the ground in GUA feeling fine.

Our rep from Great Sailfishing, Jeramy, was waiting for us and was the passenger for a shuttle ride to the villa. He spoke English and filled us in on whatever we needed to know or asked. The ride from the airport to the villa was only supposed to take 90 minutes, but we had horrific traffic. After an hour we travelled only 4-6 miles and we drank the case of beer provided in the shuttle van. Chuck asked if we were still only 30 minutes out? No. So we stopped and bought more beer through a bullet proof window and slide out tray at a gas station and were back on our way to the villa.

Villa was very cool. We went swimming in the pool. We went swimming in the ocean. Chuck tried to run to the ocean and face-planted in the black sand. We were having such a good time, that I lost track of time. I looked at my watch to find it was 2AM and breakfast was to be served at 6AM. Here is a view of the back of the villa. Pool, then sand then pacific.

I laid down, blinked and it was time for breakfast. I was startled to see our chef and waitress already hard at work. Osomar the chef saw me looking a little rough and got me started on fresh cut fruit and a couple of bottles of water. Later we had pancakes, bacon, eggs and toast. Pretty much the perfect fuel for a long day on the boat.

Our driver was there to get us at 6:30. We took a 15 minute drive to the boat and met the owners of the Great Sailfishing company, Wes and Carlos. They led us to our 37 foot boat and we met the captain, Chico, and the crew, Harry and Tony. The boat left promptly as it apparently had been waiting for us. We headed out to sea and about 2 miles off shore I realized I may have woken up before my hangover. As I was thinking, "I may need to lay down", I looked over and saw Chuck in one bed and Devin in the other. Oh well, I would have to grind this one out.

Around 6 miles out, the boat throttled down and the crew put the baits out and we started trolling for Sailfish. I swear, 5 minutes in Tony was trying to explain how to hook the sails when the captain started hollering "LEFT TEASER!" Tony grabbed the closest left pole, did something and put the pole in my hands as I was the closest. I felt the tension growing, the reel started spooling and BAM! A huge sailfish jumped clear out of the water apparently attached to my line! I was beside myself. We had planed this trip for months. I did not want to let my expectations get to high regarding actually catching one of these fish. And here it is, 10 minutes after we started fishing and I have one on! The captain does a lot of work getting the boat turned towards the fish so I did not fight the sailfish for more than maybe 10 minutes. We got it to the boat and Tony freed it. 10 minutes later same thing, but we caught 2 at a time. Paul had one when we hooked another, so I grabbed the pole again. I was fighting mine off the left and Paul had his off to the right. It was unbelievable. After we released our two sails, I sat down as I already caught two and neither Brian, Chuck or Devin had the chance to catch one yet. A while later the captain starts yelling "RIGHT TEASER" and a few seconds later Brian had one hooked. As I was watching Brian, the captain starts yelling "LEFT TEASER. RIGHT LONG. LEFT TEASER. RIGHT LONG", next thing I know, Chuck and Paul also both had one on. We had a triple hook-up! Three sails jumping around the pacific at the same time. It was very cool. I think we lost one after a pretty funny ballet between the 3 big dudes at the back of the boat trying not to get their lines tangled. But we did get two to the boat. I caught a dorado for lunch. Devin had a monster dorado on, but Tony cut the line while trying to gaff it. We wrapped up the day hooking 16 sailfish, getting 14 to the boat and getting a few in the boat for pictures.

After fishing we headed back to the villa. I was so exhausted, I walked straight through the front door, out the back door. and walked straight into the pool not bothering to remove my shirt, shorts or Tivas. I rolled onto my back to relax in the pool for a few minutes, it felt great. When I turned back over I saw the cutest teen-age Guatemalan girl with a plate of chicken wings in one hand and a cold cervesa in the other heading out to the swim up bar. A vision to be sure. Most of us spent the next hour eating snacks and drinking beer in and around the pool. Oscar, the evening chef, fixed us some grilled fillets of beef that were excellent. After that, I called it a night. I wasn't staying up until 2AM again.

2nd day of fishing was not as productive as the first. We had a new captain, Ponch and new crew, Carlos and Geo. But we did land 6 sailfish and a dorado for lunch. We had dorado sushi for a snack that was pretty tasty.

At one point, a crew member asked Brian if he wanted to get IN the water to take a picture with the fish. Brian replied, "Hell no! Why would I want to do that?". But I piped in, "I want to do that!" After considering what I just committed to, I told him I would, but I did not want to sit in 'salt water underwear' for hours. No problem, he had an extra pair of swim trunks. He holds them out for me and I knew they looked a little small, but would try to get them on. I managed to get them but could have used a crow bar as they we as tight a pair of shorts as I think I ever got on. Paul caught the next sail and Carlos the crew guy jumped in the water. I jumped in too. I got to the 'tail' end of the fish as Carlos handled the 'business' end for a quick picture. We got back on the boat and a few minutes go by and I had to pee. So I went to the head and that's when I realized just how small these shorts really were. I am trying to stand up in the head and pull my shorts down, but I could not get them to budge more than a millimeter. I yanked down the front a mm, then the back and get them down a mm, front down a mm and then back down a mm. I repeated this about 10 times and finally freed myself of the wet shorts and was able to pee. Then the fun started all over again as I tried to get them back on before heading out of the head. I am wrestling with the wet shorts in the head. The boat is rolling left and right. I am slamming against the left wall and then the right wall trying to wedge these damn shorts on. This may seem ridiculous, but the only thing that kept me at it as I knew it could be done. I was fighting that battle for 3-4 minutes. Finally I emerged from the head victorious, only to realize what I had done. I still needed to get them off to get back into my dry shorts. Oh well, that would need to be later. Maybe after the shorts had a chance to dry out a little. Here's a pic of me in my tight shorts with Paul's sailfish.

That night was the Super Bowl. We watched in Spanish and brought the dinner table over so we could see the TV. We feasted on swordfish and some braised pork ribs that were the best I ever had. The Packers won and Paul was very happy.

I may have consumed too many beers because day 3 of fishing was much like day 1. I started off way too hung over to get on a boat. Just when I thought I needed a nap the captain throttles down again. I remember thinking, "This does not feel right, we are only like 2 miles from shore". But just like day 1, we had sails on immediately. We had the first one on 30 minutes from the dock. We caught 10 sails before 10AM and I jinxed us by saying, "We should get over 20 today for sure". Of course, that's when it slowed down. We did get few more. Right around 3PM when the day was almost over, Chuck and I both hooked into sails for and end of trip double. We ended up with 15 sailfish caught for the day.

Grand total: 50 sailfish in our baits, 40 hooked and 35 brought to or into the boat.

Day 4 saw us saying goodbye to Paul who left for the airport. The rest of us headed to Hotel Atitlan near the town of Panajachel on the beautiful Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan is 5300 feet above sea level and is surrounded by volcanoes. The van was equipped with a fresh cooler of beers, water and sodas. Of course we dumped out some water and sodas to make room for more beer. We were told the ride was going to be 2-1/2 hours. We tried to pace ourselves but the ride lasted closer to 4 hours. On the way, we saw a volcano 'erupt'. Basically it vented a small billow of smoke, but it was still very cool. Here is a pic about a minute later after I fumbled for the camera. It looks like a cloud, but we saw it spew out of the volcano.

The ride was not without some adventure. At one point we told the driver we needed to use the facilities. He dropped us off at a Burger King in Chimaltenango. When we came out the driver was gone, along with all of our stuff. Some of the participants got a little nervous until Brian spotted the guy out back getting gas. An hour or two later we crest a volcano and got our first glimpse of the lake. This isn't it, but as close as I can find (this was taken next day)

We got to Hotel Atitlan around 3Pm. Our hotel was about 2/3 a mile from Panajachel, right on lake Atitlan. Our room was a good room, but all air conditioning and heating was au natural. No AC no heater. But that's OK, the weather was perfect. Our rooms had great views. Lake and volcanoes in front and this waterfall out back. It was a beautiful place to be sure.

In hindsight we could have just visited the town closest to us, but we were feeling it and decided to take a private boat across the lake to San Pedro. Right off the dock we ran into Juan the tour guide. He tried to sell us a tour, but I told him we needed to get a beer and relax before we made any commitments. We got about ten steps off the dock and went into D'Noz, which I believe was short for The Nose. There was a painting in the bar which apparently was inspired by a volcano that looked like an indian's nose. Here are the pics, you decide.

During our meal, the vultures descended. Tour guy Juan trying to sell us a tour. Guys trying to sell flutes. Aztec women trying to sell necklaces and scarves. Then, what I consider to be the funniest part of the trip happened

As Aztec lady came by trying to sell a one size fits all blue shirt to Chuck. Anyone who knows me (2X) or Chuck (4X) know neither of us will ever fit into a one size fits all shirt. Chuck pretty much tells her to beat it. She did not get discouraged and tried to sell the shirt to the rest of us. As she looked at me I was all smiles. I told her I would buy one if she could find one that fit Chuck. With a potential sale in hand she went off to find a shirt mas grande for Chuck. She came back and proudly showed a slightly bigger shirt to Chuck. He glared at her and then me and said, "There is no way in hell I am trying on that shirt". But no sooner had the words come out he changed his position. "I'll try it on". So our group starts to chuckle as Chuck takes off the shirt he is wearing and takes the blue shirt from the Astec woman. He has both hands over his head and sticks them up through the shirt and announces, "It's getting a little tight already!" But he manages to get the shirt on and modeled it for us. There was a full 4" of freeboard between the bottom of the shirt and the top of his shorts. We are laughing pretty hard at this point. But Chuck had a few beers and was not done. He starts to put on a show. He starts with, "Hey, I need to grab something off the top shelf!" as he reached as high in the air as he could exposing 60lbs of his pure white belly and a 8-10 inch gap between the shirt and his shorts. Then he says "Hey, I need to grab something off the floor!" and bends all the way over exposing 1/2 his back, the top of his crack and about a 14 inch gap between shirt and shorts. We were howling at the display. Remembering that we were in a public place I glanced around. The DJ, chef, waitress, Juan the tour guide and 8 other patrons were all laughing and enjoying the show. Even the Aztec woman was laughing. Needless to say, we did not buy a shirt.

After a few more beers we needed to get back to our hotel. When we got to the boat, there was a couple from Sweden that was stranded as they missed the last boat across. We offered them a ride as their stop was on the way. Here is a short video taken on that ride.

We needed some dinner so we got some Tuk-Tuks to take us into town. We needed x 2 as these are tiny, 50cc 3 wheeled contraptions. Here is a picture of one for your reference.

In town we were pretty hungry and ate at the first place that looked OK. It was pizza. It was not enough food for the 4 of us. And after 3 days at the villa eating American style and a pizza, I needed something a little more local. I asked around and was pointed down the street towards where we may be able to get some tacos. We found a place that served tiny tacos 3 to an order. I talked to the waiter and told him. "You know, dos carne, dos, pollo, dos asada, dos pastor, dos everything." "Si, Si" He understood what I wanted, I thought. A few moments later he brings out a pizza sized platter of little tacos. AWESOME! Just what I needed. But then another guy had an equally large platter of tacos. Umm...OK, better too many than not enough. And then a third guy showed up with yet another huge platter. Now we had enough to feed the whole town. So after 50 or so tacos and plenty of beer we decided to call it a night. But we still needed to get home. We went to main drag to flag down a couple of Tuk-Tuk's. But the first guy who showed up waived all 4 of us in. Now there was no way in hell we were going to get all 4 of us in there.....but we were pretty drunk at that point. The driver slid over for Brian and Chuck, Devin and I got in the back. Devin did not really fit so he stood up and leaned out the side. This arrangement worked in town, but there was a slight hill before our hotel. The driver down-shifted twice, but the Tuk=Tuk had no chance. Next thing I know Devin and Brian are each pushing the Tuk-Tuk along with one leg each skateboard style. This was still not enough. I got out and started to push. Not a good idea after 15 beers, a pizza and 15 or so tacos. But we finally got that thing up and over the hill and back to our hotel.

The next day we had a motorcycle tour with Juan the tour guide up a volcano. Here are some pics on the way over in our boat.

The motorcycles were pretty much the very worst bikes I had ever seen. It was a miracle those pieces of crap got us up and over the volcano. At one point I think mine topped out at 12 MPH going uphill. But it was a lot of fun. At the top of the volcano, we went zip-lining. For those who have not done this. You sit in a harness. The harness is attached to a SINGLE length of pore the diameter of my pinky finger. That rope is attached to a wheel/handle assembly that goes over the main cable. Chuck said flatly "I dont do zip lines". After seeing the set-up I was thinking he may be right. Not wanting to be called out by Devin for being chicken, I decided to go anyway. We zipped from one ridge to another. Then we needed to hike up 500-700 yards up the side of the volcano to zip back. That would have been OK, but we were at a 9000 feet elevation. My lungs were burning, my legs were burning, my whole body was burning. The little guide passed me at one point and I remember thinking, "I woder if he has enough air to breath? Or am I taking it all?" I sounded like a freight train going up that little trail.

We zipped back over to where we started. On the way back I was traveling at mach 1 when I noticed the landing pad was not finished. There was rebar sticking up in several places. The guy is signaling me to slow down by turning the wheel in my hand. This made my body twist left and right but did not slow me down in any meaningful way. I just kept my eyes on the rebar and then noticed the wooden wall that is the final stop. If I did not get slowed down, there was a good chance of death or two broken legs. I lifted my legs over the rebar and the guy slowed me down with a piece of old tire slung over the main cable. I let out a "WHOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" That's when Chuck said that the main cable rigging was not done correctly. That done the way they had it, it would never pass code in the states. Oh well, we made it. The ride back to town was all downhill which was much easier on the bikes.

The rest of the trip included a trip to Antigua and a stay at a 500 year old palace. Here are some Antigua pics. One is the famous arch. One is an old church and one is the little girl who translated our breakfast order.

The last day we went to Guatemala city. We got to the hotel and checked in. There was a taco place across the street. We got some tacos and beers and decided to take a walk. The crowd was going one way past our hotel, so we followed them. Right behind the hotel there was a comotion. There was an SUV partially up on a sidewalk and it was cordoned by police tape. It did not look very serious so we kept walking. We got about a block and decided to go back to the hotel. On the way back, we still could not figure out what the comotion was about. I heard a guy speaking English and asked him what was up? He said, "Did you see the car?", I said I did but did not see the big deal. He said to look closer.

So this is what we saw. Some guy was gunned down 1/2 block from our hotel. The pics are 2 of the car and 1 of cops putting down the little numbered tets over the shell casings. They were on number 73 when we left.

We had a fantastic dinner of meat with a side of meat and left the next day.