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Published: September 24th 2006
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Tikal, from pyramid IV at "sunrise"
A cloudy day, but hey we still made it before first light..... I know, I know, this is really really late in coming out (blame the publisher!).... But here it is (better late than never I say).
Tikal
Okay, so to get to Tikal, (one of the largest Mayan sites) I used a small town called Flores as a base.... this was a pretty small town (about 200km from the GC/Belize border) and arriving with only about $20 USD hoping for a bank was a bad call (it was Sunday and they were all closed or broken) BUGGER! So, I used my trusty supply of travellers cheques (backup cash basically) and managed to get through the next day or so. Anyways, I booked in with the two Aussies and the French guy for the Tikal Sunrise Tour (yeah, up at 5am!) which I nearly missed because I slept in (they were banging on my door actually...).
Tikal.....hmmmmm I am not really sure what to say about Tikal, I mean the location is excellent as it is located deep in a jungle reserve. However I don’t know, it just didn’t really grab me. I was more impressed with Palenque and Chichen Itza. Although there are some 4000 buildings (most not
Tikal, pyramid IV with Supermodel!
A pic from Pyramid IV tikal, complete with SUPERMODEL. excavated) in Tikal, I think it’s over-rated and over-priced. One thing I will say though is that the jungle canopy and howler monkeys were great. We got back to town in early afternoon and booked a bus "outa there".
Back in Flores, I had to pass an afternoon drinking beers on the lake with the fellas, and well waiting for a bus which wasn’t leaving until 10pm (overnighter).... there was really nothing else for it (really).
Moving right along.....
Guatemala City - GC
The overnighter to Guatemala City was uneventful (luckily as the types of events are usually crashes or robberies) it was a 10 hour run, so we would arrive in GC at about 6am (before light) ... I set my trusty alarm (not that trusty as I slept through it the night before) for 5.15am, plenty of time to be awake for GC. As it turns out, I could trust my alarm, as I woke as we were entering the city limits. Now the words that come to mind to describe first impressions of GC at night are probably "war zone". Although I have never been to a city that is at war, I
More Tikal....
A shot from the Acropolis.... think it may look like this. Half finished buildings, roads, pavements.... piles of dirt, burnt out cars etc etc, not pretty. Actually I have never felt so unsafe travelling in any city ever before as compared with GC. As we were nearing the city centre and bus terminal(s), all you see is razor wire, loitering males (in small groups) and lots of police with shotguns. When we finally entered the security of the bus terminal, the “bus station security guards” firmly shut the gate (behind the bus) and wielding various fire arms, stood at attention outside the gate. It was now safe to unload (people and luggage).
The bus terminals in GC have the highest rate of crime, including armed robbery and hold ups. The silly thing is that there are about 6 terminals within a 10 block radius, which house the various providers so you need to navigate between them if you want to get from A to B. Now we waited until daylight, but I asked the staff is it safe to "foot it" to the next station (only 4 blocks away), they said definitely no (not for foreigners!). The difference between GC and other Latin American
Xela City
Mountainous Xelx. This old fella, just made it over the hill.... cities is that it is not safe day or night (as apposed to just at night in some cases).
Well the Aussies were going in a different direction and found a taxi, in hindsight I should have piggy backed and got them to drop me, but I didn’t think of it at the time, so I found another taxi who scalped me for a miserable 4 blocks! (I shouldn’t complain, as I did get there safely). Anyways, as I entered the terminal and sat down (I was heading for a town called Xela) I was the only foreigner, but about 5 minutes later, two girls from Switzerland walked in, and were looking a bit flustered... .well I said hello and they explained that their bus from Xela (where I was heading) was just held up, and well everyone was robbed, they pretty much took everything on their person, but didn’t get to the luggage compartments. This does not bode well and the feeling you get is difficult to put into words, (paranoia doesn’t cover it) but they (the girls) did take a night bus and the roads to Xela are windy and steep (compared to the roads from Flores).
The Volcano
The volcano Santa Maria..... you can see it smoldering away.... I guess reading about it, and meeting someone who has just been robbed sheds a totally new light on the situation. Anyway, they headed off to cancel their cards and phone numbers etc etc.
Never mind, I jumped on the next bus to Xela, and after 30 minutes of razor wire (in GC), the remaining two hours of mountainous scenery, small villages, chicken busses and green greens were wonderful.
XELA (short for Quatzeltenango)
Quatzeltenango, pronounced KET-ZAL-TENANG-GO is actually not called that at all and is really known by locals as XELA (no prizes for the why!). Well Xela is like on a different planet compared to Guatemala City. Stark contrast does not do it justice! Xela is safe, and lodged in the mounts at about 2400M consists of street after street of town houses, with a lovely historical city centre. It gets cold at night here (about 10c) but is pleasantly warm during the day (when the sun is out).
Upon arriving I found hostel until I could sort out some Spanish lessons and home stay (with a local family) which I did the next day. The family I was lodged with were very friendly,
they had three generations of family living under the same roof ( I am not sure how they achieve this and maintain there sanity, but they do ). The director of my Spanish school was a Spaniard that kind of got stuck in Xela while doing a world tour (she has been there for 1.5 years - OOPS!), my teacher (Mario) was a great guy (local), really into music ( he plays lead guitar in a metal band, and we went out to catch his gig one night - loud, but good ). Anyway, I did get a lot out of the lessons ( 1 week ), they were 1 on 1, 5 hours a day so you could really make progress quite fast... even for the not so talented language students (like me).
Volcano Santa Maria
The school organised all sorts of activities in the afternoons and weekends to keep everyone entertained, but the highlight for me was definitely Volcano Santa Maria. We did a 5am start to get to the top (3772m) of this baby by 9am (note that Xela is surrounded by three active volcanoes from 2500 to 4200m). The climb was difficult as
Indigenous people in Guatelamam
Two old fellas carrying their fuel(wood). These guys never retire.... upon closer inspection, they had to be in their late 50's it was short, but very steep (with 60-70 degree inclines in places), however the heavy breathing and aching muscles paid off, the view (la vista) was truly spectacular.... with the nearby active peak puffing away and views of the coast (which was about 60-70km away).
Other Anecdotes
The name XELA is pronounced phonetically, "Sheila"....now when I saw a Bimbo bus in Sheila, I had to get a photo, as this was definitely a Kodak moment..... (I think the Aussies will get this as the word Sheila in Aussie slang is synonymous with "Woman"
The live music was really excellent in Xela.. heavy metal, rock & roll, salsa, flamenco or pan pipes were amongst the options.... I think this town had the best selection of all the places I have been to date. Also plenty of places for great food, from local cuisine to French fare ( I think a few French expats got stuck here )
*** RED ALERT *** Reverse Course!!
Okay people, now my original plan was to continue south on to Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. However, my Nobia (girlfriend) contracted Dengue fever and was admitted to hospital while I
A bimbo bus in Sheila town!
These usually pickup and drop-off blondes... door to door service!! Note that the town Xela is pronounced 'sheila´ (for the Aussies). Thats right, a Bimbo Mobile, caught on camera in Sheila. was in Xela. In the panic I booked my flight back to KL and headed for Mexico City...... (It took 5 days)… upon arriving in Mexico City, she was released from ICU and was recovering well..... Hmmm what to do!
On to ECUADOR!!!
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Yogy
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Highway out of the Danger Zone
Guatemala city sounds scary. It is not surprising that civil disorder has been rife considering the fact that the powers over there have been treating the substantial indegenous population in Guatemala like crap until quite recently. I also understand that there is a "slight" earthquake problem!!! Well, you are out of there in one piece with some interesting if not relatively traumatic memories... thats the main thing, I suppose. Having said that, I must say that Sheila looked good! But then again, they always do don't they?!? Mate, are you going to do the rest of Central America at all or are you saving it for another life? It would seem to be the former considering that you are headed off to Ecuador. Hope the Nobia is better. Haven't heard from her so I suppose all (including your place) must be well. Take care, mein Freund...