Advertisement
Published: December 27th 2011
Edit Blog Post
We had 70 hours in Guatemala and probably a little over 20 of them were spent in transit from place to place, and let me tell you, we used to rest of them VERY well.
We took a boat from PG to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala in the morning of the 23rd, and oh my goodness someone didn't really want us to leave Belize. It was POURING when we were able to leave my apartment, after cleaning it and locking it up for good. Imagine the pair of us, with our bags on our backs, backpacks as frontpacks and arms full of left over spices, food and housewares I was dropping off at my friends' house. It was pretty ridiculous. By the time we got to the dock, we were soaked through. Luckily it got dryer before the boat left so we didn't freeze for the hour crossing.
Puerto Barrios is a busy little town, and we made our way the few blocks to the bus station. We took the fanciest bus I have ever seen - nope, no chicken buses this time- for $12 each for a 6 hour bus ride to Guatemala City. It was double decker and
had those nice leg rests that put your legs at a 45 degree angle. Luxury I tell ya. Beautiful scenery all the way. We switched to a shuttle bus, just in time, to make it to Antigua that night.
Antigua was so busy with chrsitmas tourists, that I was glad that we could make plans to get out and do things outside the city. So out of the city we went!
Christmas eve morning was spent in a market in town, where I remembered how much I ADORE Latin American markets. "Barrato, barrato - venta especial, para ti, barrato barrato!" The smells and sounds and colours and the food and the flowers and the socks and the toys and the birds and the clothes .... markets rock.
In the afternoon we climbed the volcano Pacaya! What a cool experience! We climbed for about an hour, to about 100m away from the crater of the volcano (which last erupted in 2010!). At first there were pretty views of the valley and other volcanos but the trail was pretty disappoint. I thought, oh this is just like walking up a hill. Then you go around a corner and BAM!
Summit of a volcano. It's all black and ashy, and the rocks are light and crunchy like hard styrofoam. You can still see the rivers of lava from eruptions over the past few years. Once we got to the spot we could reach, we stopped and roasted marshmallows from a vent in the earth where heat escaped. Definitely once in a lifetime stuff. Pictures will come when I get back to Canada and develop the sweet disposable camera we brought with us, it's like junior high - waiting for pictures...
On Christmas day we took a shuttle to a town called Panajachel on Lago Atitlan. Yes. For one day. Pretty much everyone we told berated us for not spending more time there. But you do what you have time for. We had time for one day. It was a great day.
You drive through the Highlands area to get there, so we literally drove through clouds, and seeing the landscape change was really interesting and beautiful. We eventually got the lake and it was incredible. So breathtaking. It is huge, with three volcanos surrounding it. We were originally worried the town would be dead for Christmas but it
was busy and brimming with Guatemalans on vacation. We walked down to the rocky beach and stood in the lake - the deepest lake in Central America! We spent the early afternoon reading and chatting on the beach, enjoying the atmosphere and the amazing view. A wonderful way to spend Christmas if you're not going to spend it with your family (sorry again family!)
We returned home, packed and went to bed early so we could leave at 3 am for our flight. We made it to Mexico City safe and sound and are all ready for two more days of adventures here before we head to Guadelajara.
So the last 70 hours were pretty amazing - it's easy to see why everyone loves Guatemala. It's definitely on my list of places to visit again, preferably when I have more than 70 hours.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0261s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb