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Published: January 1st 2011
La Casa de Don David
A wonderful place to relax, which we would recommend to anyone visiting El PetenMuch to cover in this blog! On Christmas Eve we took a bus from Guatemala City to Flores, up in the northern rainforest of El Peten, a journey of about 500 km which took 8 hours. We then went on to the small village of El Remate, about halfway between Flores and the Mayan site of Tikal. Our hotel was La Casa de Don David, a charming collection of small casitas in a lush garden backing on to Lake Peten Itza. We could fill a whole blog about our stay there, but as well as Tikal (of which more later), we went horseback riding through the rainforest while our guide taught us some new words in Spanish. If anyone could have heard us chanting ‘pajero / pareha / pareho’ (‘small bird / a couple / smooth or level’) it would confirm the ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ bit. On another day we went on some swinging bridges over the tree tops, which was great for spotting birds and howler monkeys. The monkeys sound really loud, like in old jungle films, but are in real life are quite small (phew). We also took the chance to zip line through the forest canopy, which
Zip liners!
Taken by our guide, going backwards on the zip line was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time!
Christmas Day was really special. We left Casa Don David at 5:30am in order to reach the national park at Tikal at 6, when it opens. Tikal is one of the largest Mayan strongholds in C America. A lot of archaeological work is still going on and much is still covered in jungle. It is now thought that the Maya were far more advanced than formerly thought. They had a 365 day calendar and tracked the equinoxes and solstices just like we still do now, for example. Tikal was a centre of scientific learning. What an experience it was! We climbed Temple IV first to catch the early morning sun over the canopy. In fact we did quite a lot of climbing that day, most of it seemingly vertical. The tallest one is over 70 meters – great photo! We explored till 2pm, by which time we were ready to retreat back to the Casa where we had turkey and all the trimmings. (Don David is an American who has been in Guatemala on and off for 45 years and utterly charming)
After a 10 hour bus ride back south
Sunrise at Tikal - Christmas Day
View from Temple IV - 70 metres up! across the country we had one more night in lovely Antigua and then set off for Chichicastenango, 3 hours or so further west into the highlands. Chichi, as it’s generally shortened - for obvious reasons - is on the altiplano at 6,000 ft and cold enough to need a fire and / or coats at night. It’s claim to fame is a huge, chaotic, twice-weekly market where the indigenous people bring in their produce and handicrafts to sell. The fruits and vegetables are a riot of colour, and the aisles between the stalls are crowded, narrow and twisting. There are some beautiful fabrics, bags, beadwork and necklaces as well as all the day-to-day needs of the community: pots and pans, clothes, lamps, batteries and everything else you can think of. So far we have resisted any buying (no space) but the fabrics are out of this world! One hears less Spanish spoken here. The local language is Quiche but the market traders use just enough English/French/German to do business with the tourists. Chichi has the most indigenous feel of any part we have seen in Guatemala. The church of Santo Tomas, dating from 1540, shows the most complete and obvious
Chichcastenango Market
A riot of colour in the fresh verduras area mix of Christianity and Mayan worship we have seen. We are staying in the Hotel Santo Tomas, which has some incredible wooden religious statues and every other kind of religious artifact on all the walls, which we thought should really be in a museum.
Tomorrow, the 31st, we head to Lake Atitlan for for four nights covering New Years. Our very best wishes to all of you for a healthy and happy 2011.
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Leigh
non-member comment
Love those smiling faces!