The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1905-07-07
WAY DOWN IN GUATEMALA
r. A. HARRISON OF NEBRASKA,
WRITES TO THE NEWS.
TRIP OF "oFF AolN, ON AolN''
Train Runs Once a Week-Jumps the
Track Frequently and Goes Very
Deliberately over the Mountainous
Country-YeIow Fever Scare.


country-Yelow Fever Scare.
Zacapa, Guatemala, C. A. June 1G.
Special espondence.-l want to
give you in brief form story of rap
Id transit, showing how one may start
for somewhere and land somewhere
else and how, like the immortal Fin
negan, one may be "off agin, on agin,
gone agin" many times and never sur.
prise anyone.
We left New Orleans on June on
the fruit steamer Olympia, original in
tention being to land at Porto Corte2,
Honduras, and go thence inland to
Santa Barbara and Santa Rosa. Vel
low fever scare at Port Cortez made
it impossible to land there and go in
land, so we disembarked at Fort Bar
rios, Guatemala, Monday, June II.
Yellow fever at Livingstone, three
miles away, and quarantine inefficient.
We took the train Tuesday morning
for the interior. Train runs only once
a week, so there was a streak Of luck.
Barrios would not be a popular place
to wait week for train.
At s o'clock we ran over a hand
car and dumped six Jamacans into
the ditch. At 10 we came to river
where the bridge had been gone four
years, and was just rebuilding
Transfer took three hours. At train
jumped the track, and we slept on
the car and around on the ground un-
til daylight, while they were rebuild
ing the road and dragging the cars
back on. Took five hours to rebuild,
arrived here. At home perhaps you
can imagine the trip, the little mar
row guage road, the little cars, a jolly
crowd of eight Americans and about
fifty natives, little dry grub bought
at Indian huts, and a final safe arrival
here, 101 miles from Barrios, after
81 hours on the train. 1t is quite us
ual here, so no one was surprised or
made complaint. 1t is fair to say,
however, that the road is being re.
paired as fast as possible, and some
day the trip across Guatemala will be
a delightful one. At present the road
from this side extends only to FL
Rancho, and there is a 60 mile mule
ride to Guatemala City. The man
who made the maps show a road
clear across, had lively imagination.
assisted by copious drinks of aguar-
diente.
We are pleasantly located here at
Zacapa. 1t is a quaint old town in the
mountains, with about 5000 inhab-
itants, of which not half a dozen are
foreigners. 1t is the dryest spot in
Central America, as rain falls only
during two months. Vegetation is
not luxuriant, and all the people are
compelled to labor to make living.
This makes good citizens of them all,
and troubles that exist at coast towns
are unknown here. The people are
kind to strangers and view them with
much curiosity. The houses are of
the adobe Spanish style of construc-
ton, and the streets are % feet wide.
A large proportion of the people are
pure descendants of the Aztecs.
There is no trouble in government
matters here, and the people seem sat
isfied and happy. The only fault a
foreigner can have in this locality is
with the financial system. Fiat money
prevails, and at present an American
dollar buys Is Guatemala dollars.
This ratio changes somewhat from
week to week. Last year I bought 10
dollars with one American silver
piece at Barrios, and in the interior
could have bought 16. The postage
stamps of the country follow the pa
per money, so that ii takes so cents
in stamps to carry letter to Nebras-
ka. letter from me now would be
a great find for a stamp collector.
In our party are myself and wife,
o. w. Pope of Lincoln and ]. A. Mar
tin, formerly of Gotherburg and st.
Edward We are likely to be COM
PEELED to remain in this country until
the quarantine is raised in November
so those who have compassion for
exiles will write or send newspapers
to us here. We are already nine days
behind on the Jap war and the other
things, and do not expect to see an
other American newspaper for a
month. F. A. Harrison.
The envelope which brought Mr.
Harrison's letter was carried by TWEEN
fu rara Euatap,aIap or nf diff