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Published: April 16th 2008
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Electrical Storm
Not the best pic, but its the only one i managed to get. Tis a hard thing to predict you know, lightning.... So....
we left Flores tired, hot, but at least we didnt miss the bus, and we got to witness the most amazing electrical storm!
we headed South, away from the heat, which was recorded at about 37 celsius. We also escaped a jaded, dope fiend Canadian at our hostel, AND, another Canadian, who had a story for every occassion as he reckoned he was a travel writer....i have sold a picture, that doesnt make me a travel photographer....you'd understand if you met him...so what is it with the Canadians!!
We stopped off en route at a little petrol station at this junction that reminded me of those limestone islands in Dr. No, in thailand, jutting cliffs clad in jungle, just sadly no sea to jump in. The journey down made me think of what Africa would be like, say Rwanda or Ethiopa, not in the poverty, but the greenery, the huts dotted along the side of the road.... and all the washing, everyone always seems to doing washing. You can tell the show-offs as well, with satellite dishes the size of sheds dotted around....just like early 90s England, pretty funny. Just a shame such poverty sits alongside rare wealth....best
Flores
A calmer view of Lago Peten Itza qoute i've stumbled across is the poor would so kill the rich if it wasnt for religion...
We crossed a river on a car ferry - no more than planks of wood connected to two weeny looking outboards, which made for a hope for the best experience. I was earwigging to some English guys talking to a few Argentinians, and we do seem to be sooo negative about our country...myself included! Its easy to do in the tropics i suppose.
I think i have mentioned before how some places are wither Coke or Pepsi towns.... theres a new addition to this heady mix, Super Coke and Mega Big Cola. Awesome. oh, that reminds me, Gallo, the most famous beer here, actually does seem to own most of the country, ads are everywhere, there is no getting away from it!
after some pretty gut wrenching switchbacks and climbs, of which Ms Gill was not very happy about, we arrived in Coban, and waited around for what seemed like ages for no reason, until it became apparant we were switching buses for the last leg, which should have taken a few hours. Our driver however had other ideas, and
Antigua
Chicken Bus and Volvan Agua in the distance...that thing was ever present where ever you went. seemed scared to use the peddle on the right, more intersted in jolting everyone with his featherlite use of the brakes. Awesome scenery in the Verapaces though, hills in the valleys like green waves, bounding up the larger swells behind them, sunshadow playing a dance of breaking white tips as we trundled along.
We got to our destination, Lanquin, just as it was starting to dusk, only to find that the hostel was full.... the bus driver didnt seem to have much of a plan B apart from his friends hotel, a sleazy shirt undone type, so we went with this kid who promised us the land of milk and honey just 10 minutes away.
20 minutes later, we were on the back of a pick up, hurtling down windy roads, warm air scented with what i thought was cardomom and coffee, but smelt more like something else i'd never smelt, it was delicious. We screeched to a halt just 10 minutes from the whole reason we had come to this remote part of the world, the limestone falls of Semuc Champey, and thankfully the hostel was nicer, and cheaper, than the one we had been told about.
Chicken Bus of Doom
Its coming to get yooooouuuuu.... Damn those Guide Books i say, nothing but bother, lies, and wrong numbers!
We had a big feed, accompanied by a tarantula crawling around on the floor...albeit a small one, but it wasnt in a cage, and the gaps in the walls of our cabin didnt make me very confident... a night of torch under the bed action lay ahead..
In the morning, we joined a small tour of Semuc Champey. we climbed throught the jungle clad gorge for over half and hour to the Mirador overlooking the pools, and what a sight. Various hues of turqoise and blue, framed by a steep lush green valley. If they had had a zip line or bungey, i would have taken up the other right there, we were all so hot dirty and sweaty..but we had to hike all the way back down again. Diving into the water was worth the wait, although the guides claim of the water being a balmy 22 celsius was about as far wrong as you can get, think he meant farenheit. Ms Gill went waterfall clambering a few hours later, but all the sharp stones and swimming meant i had the worst cramps and
so i just wallowed around like a loafer, Perfect afternoon.
From here we went back to Coban, just as the sun was rising through the mist and fog of the Verapaces. A rainy not very interesting kind of town that gave T and our American friends some tummy trouble, Coban will now always be famous for the Gallo beer girls, who came into this bar and just started doing booty shaking and suggestive thrusting and giving away things like hats and tshirts. Funny and a bit painful at the same time. The hostel was nice enough, but it was more like an afterthought, it was obviously just a shop and high end restuarant with a few dorm rooms tacked on, but still, it served its purpose.
Next stop, Antigua.
In the U.K, i think subtitles have won the day over dubbing, but not here unfortunately, so all the films on the better buses are dubbed really badly...
We had to go via Guatemala City to get to the former capital, a much hyped town overlooked by Volcan Agua. Guat City is, sorry for putting it bluntly, a shit hole. I'd clasify my brief glimpse of it as
a city totally out of control, a manic, smogged sprawl of depression that i hope to never have the misfortune of going too again. The chicken bus experience didnt help either, crushed in 3 to a seat, the psycho bus conductor running alongside nearly using bodily force to get people on his bus not the one behind, not mattering where they were actually going. See, now i am all for a little bit of 'rules', it seems much easier! And after the theft of my ipod, i am now music-less for longer than i care to imagine, and i am still bitter about it, the sod!
It took me two days to find the Police to report my robbery, but failed spectacularly, so jumped at the offer of a brazilian from our hostel who was fluent in spanish and pretty darn good at english, to take me to the station, and i am so grateful as i think we all know what idjuts insurance companies are!
Antigua was nice enough, but cold and full of wealthy Guatemalans, oh, and european lesbians it seems, very strange mix... we also got to watch Utd stuff Arsenal at 9am which was
Verapaz
From a moving bus. different, and OH MY GOD, experienced an Earthquake!!!!
For a city that has been levelled a couple of times in its history, feeling some pretty strong tremors, and the whole ground moving underneath you, is a pretty crazy thing, really exciting but also a little bit scary.... i was straight under the doorway packed and ready to run for the hills! Not too sure how strong it was, but strong enough!
At the moment, we are at Lago de Atitlan, in Panajachel, a calm little town with the only slight on it being the persistance of hawkers and drug peddlars! Got offered morphine today....
With a great panorama of 3 volcanoes, san Pedro, Atitlan and Tomilan, a really awesome sight, it is really like something out of the books, and nature at something near its grandest. And yes, i have chekced around the lake for wakeboarding, but no luck, so that is going to have to wait MUCH longer than i had anticipated...it better still be warm!
First impressions of the Lake are good, and tomorrow we are going to see about a spanish school in San Pedro La Laguna, and i have found a paragliding
Semuc Champey wideangle
Trust me, its a long way up. guy, 35squids for 30 minutes tandem, so i'll have to see if i can get in touch about that, least if it crashed it would only be water eh......
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