Guat's Up?

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Antigua, Guatemala

The shuttle from El Salvador to Antigua was uneventful. We were the only two on the mini-bus and the journey only took around five hours. We arrived late in the evening and were fortunate to find a room for the night. Antigua is a very touristy city, with loads of ex-pats and a Spanish school on every corner. This is probably due to the fact the city is quite spectacular. Antigua is surrounded by three volcanoes, the colonial architecture is the finest we have seen to date, and the climate is not the stand-there- and-sweat environs we have become accustommed to.

We spent a day wandering aimlessly through the city, finding that around every corner there was another interesting church or building. Antigua has a little cosmo feel to it too, with cafes everywhere and fancy restaurants to suit any taste. We splurged one night and had an amazing Thai meal with drinks, apps, and all for about $35. We just about shat when we got our bill. In our current travel mindset that was a ton of money to spend on a meal, thank goodness the food was excellent. We have both lost touch with reality and the fact that a similar meal back home would have cost us at least double, and we would have paid for it without batting an eye. Regardless, Antigua is relatively expensive for Central America.

While wandering the city the following day I found a breakfast joint with breakfast for under two dollars. Feeling the need to equalize the previous night's food bill I convinced Becky this would be good, plus, it was filled with locals and no Gringos. We ate the standard breakfast of scrambled eggs, frijoles, chunk of white cheese, and bread. It was tasty and I loaded mine up with the bowl of salsa picante on the table. After we finished and were satisfied, me pounding my chest over the fact we just each had a nice breakfast for under $4, I noticed the hombre that had seated us was spraying Combat bug killer all over. Thinking this was rather bizarre to be doing inside a restaurant I continued to watch and pointed out this anomaly to Becky. We watched and laughed until he started spraying the tables, without removing the bowl of salsa picante I had previously lathered my eggs with. Becky found this very humorous and that meal has since been referred to often as the "Combat Breakfast". Fortunately to date I have experienced no ill effects from consuming the insecticide laden salsa-whew. I have also lost my right to pick cheap breakfast places.

Flores and Tikal

We left Antigua early in the morning and headed to the Capital, Guatemala City so we could catch a bus north to Flores and the famous Mayan ruins at Tikal, close to Belize/Mexico border. This was a helluva long way to travel North, especially since we originally had no plans to visit Guatemala, but we figured what the hell, we may never again have this opportinuty to visit this amazing site. The bus ride took 11 hours and took us way East near the Caribbean, crossing the Rio Dulce. It was amazing scenery the entire way, yet the route didn't make sense because our map showed a road headed straight North from Antigua to Flores. Let's just say this round about way all made sense a few days later.

Flores is a great little island town in the middle of Lago De Peten Itza. We found a sweet little hotel with a nice rooftop terrace for taking in the sunset over the lake. We chilled a day in Flores, numerous times trying to get money out of an ATM with no success, and eventually just bought a bottle of Rum. I must add at this point in our travels I've personally consumed enough Rum (aka my new best friend "Ron") to have achieved full-on Pirate Status. Becky has endured me and Ron enough to achieve full-on Babysitter Status.

The following morning we headed out to Tikal. Our guide's name was Nixon, and he educated us on Mayan history the entire hour ride to the ruins, fortunately in broken English. Upon arrival we paid our entrance fee, approx. $20/person, yet only $2/Guatemalan (this is the only negative we have found about Guat., they constantly fuck the gringo, for most things we get charged way more than the locals). Tikal was absolutely amazing and we both share new respect for the ancient Mayan cultures. In a nutshell, Tikal was occupied by the Mayans from 700 BC until 1300 AD. It covers over 550 sq. Kms and in it height its occupants numbered 100,000. It contains over 4000 known structures of which less than 100 have been uncovered. What makes it different than other Mayan ruin sites is that it lies deep in the jungle with its temples soaring 200 ft. above the jungle floor. We walked from site to site under a thick jungle canopy with Spider monkeys swinging in the treetops. After centuries of dormancy the site was discovered in 1848 and archeological work has continued to date. We spent the night in the National Park at one of the three hotels so we could take in a sunrise tour. The sunrise event started at 3:30 am, but got us to the top of Temple IV to catch an amazing sunrise over the other temples. We learned a lot of Mayan history on these tours and are happy to report most Mayans don't believe the world is going to end this Dec. 21st. After some rest we retreated from the ungodly heat of Tikal and landed back in Flores for another evening on the lake.

Semuc Champey

We headed out of Flores early the next morning on a packed mini bus headed on what we thought (were told) was a five hour trip to Semuc Champey in Central Guat. After about 1.5 hrs. and driving over no less than 100 speed bumps (tumulos) we arrived in Sayaxche. At this point I need to inform the reader that in Guat. there are no speed limit signs and absolutely zero police. As a result they use an ungodly number of speed bumps everywhere. One would think that as one enters a small village (which there is every 2-5 miles) there might be a speed bump at the entrance and the exit of the village. But no, they are every frickin' 50 ft. One could go from A to B anywhere in Guat. in half the time were it not for the speed bumps. They also account for one sore ass after riding in vehicles with no padding in the seats and no suspension. We have learned to despise those damn tumulos.

Anyway, back to Sayaxche. Upon our arrival we discover that we need to take a car ferry over La Rio Pasion (hence our reason for heading way East to get to Tikal since large buses don't fit on the car ferry). When we arrived into the town there was a mile long line of traffic leading up to the river that we buzzed past up towards the front of the line, and then we stopped. Lucky for us it turns out that the local indiginous folks had taken over the car ferry at 7 am that morning in protest and were not going to let it operate until they got a new road to their village school. Unfortunately the ferry and protesters were on the opposite bank of the river so we didn't get a first hand view of the take over. We got bits and pieces of info to find out what was going on and eventually the Governor of the province showed up with his armed guards. Upon his arrival and his ride across the river to the ferry being held hostage we heard roars from the opposite bank and after 45 minutes of talks we finally saw cars driving onto the ferry. By the time empty promises were made and the conflict came to an end we had been stopped for 5.5 hrs., but fortunately had passed the time talking and listening to reggaeton with fellow Dutch, British, Italian, and American travelers. We finally crossed the river and continued our way South. Since we were so far behind schedule the driver had his foot to the floor to make up for lost time. He apparently wasn't going to let anything slow us down, not even the already dead and bloated dog in the middle of the road, which we ran straight over, tearing the muffler off. After a quick roadside repair we were again on our way.

After driving over dead dogs and another 100 tumulos we came to a crossroads and switched buses. By this time all twelve of us crammed in the mini bus were wondering why this bus didn't drive an hour further to get us and not make us hang in the blazing sun and blowing dust for 5.5 hrs? Regardless, the humor of the day was soon gone needing to spend another 7 hrs. to reach our destination! We finally did arrive in Semuc Champey at 11:30 PM, our five-hour trip had become a 15-hour ordeal, that culminated in an hour ride standing in the back of a pick-up. We awoke in an amazing valley over the Rio Cahabon. We went on a tour that day that took us into the Semuc Chapmey Nature Reserve. We had an amazing hike to a viewpoint where we saw a significant river disappear under the valley floor and them re-emerge 1000 ft. later. It was kind of like the Colorado River going underground for a spell-naturally, then reappearing. Above ground lied a series most amazingly clear limestone pools. We spent three hours hiking and swimming in the pools. At times diving off cliffs into the next pool and swimming under the natural caves, truly an awesome experience and one of the most beautiful natural things either of us has ever seen. Later that day we went on a super freaky cave tour where we swam through water holding a lame ass candle, climbed underground waterfalls with a rope, jumped off underground cliffs etc. This was followed by a leisurely tube float down the river and a couple bottles of Ron later that night. Celebrating the journey to where we were and the crazy shit we witnessed/did that day. The next day we traveled back to Antigua, 7 hrs.

Lago de Atitlan

After a brief overnight in Antiqua, we headed West to the Lake. After a treacherous 2 hr. ride to the lake we arrived in pouring rain in Panajachel. We waited 45 minutes then boarded a lancha (small boat) to cross the Lake. We were both scared shitless as we crossed this 1100 ft. deep lake in pouring rain with waves crashing in over the edge of the boat. Becky was white-knuckled the entire way and I was trying to play it cool. On arriving in San Pedro De Laguna we sheltered from the rain for a bit then found a place to stay. Four days later we realized we hadn't done shit other than enjoy our surroundings and a little kayaking/fishing. It is a beautiful lake set at a mile above sea level surrrounded by three amazing volcanoes and numerous small villages dotted around the lake. After feeling über lazy we jumped on a lancha and headed to Santiago de la Laguna for an adventure. It was here that we were exposed to Maximón or San Simon, the dude goes by many different names. Maximón is a deity revered throughout the Guatemalan highlands. He is housed in a shack, with 24 people (12 men and 12 women) who take turns guarding him and accepting offerings. Annually, around Easter he is moved to another location, with another family tending to his needs. We ran into a traditionally dressed man, Francisco, and he offered to take us to see Maximón for a small fee. After ten minutes of following this guy through narrow alleys and starting to think maybe this wasn't a good idea, we came upon the shack. We then were informed we had to pay 25 cents to see him and $1.50 to take a picture. The picture enclosed shows Maximón and his two guardians at the time. These guys light a cigarette every 1/2 hr., place it in his mouth, and ash it for him. They also give him a shot of Ron every hour-awesome. Supposedly our money/offering goes to feed Maximón's habits. We hung out in the shack for a bit, took some pics, watched Maximón have a smoke and Fransisco told us the history of Maximón-all in Spanish of course. We walked away both giddy with what we had just witnessed.

Quetzaltenango (Xela)

We decided after close to a week of chillin' on the lake it was time to move on. We took an extremely scary chicken bus ride up from the lake, heading further West to Xela. Xela is another beautiful highland city surrounded by three volcanoes, one is which, Tajumulco, is the highest point in Central America. We spent a day wandering around Xela and taking in the sites. The following day we headed out early to San Franscisco El Alto, about an hour away, to check out the biggest market in Guatemala. I don't think words or our photos can truly reveal the magnitude of this market. Its focal point was the cathedral/park central, but spread out in all directions, closing street down completely and going on for blocks and blocks. The amount of fresh produce, corn, beans, chickens, clothing and shoes was absolutely mind boggling. Look at the pictures and then imagine those same images going on for blocks and blocks and blocks. It was very impressive, yet taxing to be in such a crowded environment for a few hours. We hoped back on a chicken bus under the direction of a very friendly old toothless man, in hopes of cruising to another small local village, San Andreas, to check out the crazy cathedral there. Somehow it all worked out after getting off one bus in the middle of nowhere, hoping on another, then a tuk-tuk, we made it to the cathedral. The ride back to Xela only involved two buses and a mini van. Our whole day of travel, six different segments, cost us about $2.

Panachel

We still had a couple of days to burn before we needed to get back to Antigua to catch our bus to San Salvador, so we blazed out of Xela and headed back to the Lake. We spent a couple days hanging out in the main tourist town on the Lake. It was not as nice or chill as San Pedro on the other side, but a place with more to do than Xela. We hit the markets there and bought some sweet textiles, paying 20%!o(MISSING)f the initially quoted price.

Antigua again

Spent one final day in Antigua taking care of business. We shipped the items we had purchased at the markets home. Not surprisingly, the shipping cost was almost double what we paid for all the goods. We also had a much anticipated FedEx delivery of a new ATM card for Becky. It turned out that when we were in Flores we were the victims of an ATM card cloning scam. Fortunately no money was withdrawn from our account and Charles Schwab had picked up on the suspicious activity very quickly and shut down Becky's card. We didn't know this for a few days and once we found out we made the arrangements to get a new card sent and I was advised to not use mine anywhere in Guatemala. We survived this ordeal by using our credit cards whenever possible and really watching our budget for our last week in Guatemala.

San Salvador, El Salvador

We left Antigua at 4 am and had a rather long and unpleasant/frigid 7 hr. bus ride to San Salvador. We plan on touring around the city tommorow, before hoping on another bus at 4 am to take an 11 hr. trip back to Managua, Nicaragua. We then catch a flight early Friday morning out to the Corn Islands in the Caribbean. This has been a much anticipated part of our journey and we are both looking forward to unpacking our packs and sticking our feet in the sand for a few weeks.

We have had a wonderful three weeks in Guatemala. We are both delighted we took other travellers advice and headed North to explore this beautiful country. We saw most of the highlights and would highly recommend a visit here. The Mayan culture is amazing, the scenery spectacular, and the people are delightful.

So, we are off to the islands for a few weeks to flyfish/snorkel/dive and chill. Probably won't have much to report for awhile so we hope everyone enjoys the end of their summer and the start of Fall. Take care.

Sky and Becky

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Photos

Insane Cave Tour
This would never be allowed in the US.