Guatemala - Highlands and Tikal

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I had just a week in Guatemala. I based myself in Antigua and did some day trips to the highlands and to Pacaya volcano. After spending 8 hours on chicken buses to get to Lake Atitlan I treated myself to a flight to Flores close to Tikal. After the cool highlands the tropical plains of El Peten felt quite sticky. And then the rains - which arrived about a week too early this year - caught up with me in an impressive thunderstorm in Tikal. Guatemala is definitely a great country. Unfortunately with a quite bad crime record but everything was fine for me while I was there.

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Photos

Antigua sunrise
Early morning in Antigua, the old capital. The sun just comes out of the haze behind the mountains.

Antigua - Parque Central
Nice view from hotel terrace before Antigua wakes up.

Posada Rodrigo...
...used to be a colonial mansion. Now it's a posh hotel.

Colonial style
hallways, courtyards,...

Market day in Chichicastenango
This small mountain village comes to live twice a week when the locals cart their goods to the market.

Chichi church
Flowers are sold for offerings and shaman like priest cover the church in incense.

Market scene
Flower sellers on the church stairs with highlands in the background.

Pacaya volcano
An active volcano in the highlands with pockets of lava flowing all the time.

Posing on (cold) lava
Pacaya only erupted a few years ago so this lava is not very old at all...

That's how far...
...the lava got.

Devil's kitchen
Stir the hot lava and your walking stick catches fire!

Flowing lava...
...close enough to feel the heat but in a save distance.

Congestion....
...on the Central American highway. Construction works to add new lanes hold up the traffic and cause a bit of waiting time.

Before...
Temple of the Gran Jaguar before excarvation.

...and after
That's more like it!

Tikal
Temple of Gran Jaguar in this massive Mayan site in the middle of the jungle.

Thunderstorm in the making
It gets darker, howler monkeys make eerie noises and then a lot of water accompanied by thunder and lightning falls out of the sky. Strong winds rip out trees. The next day the soil is completely dry and all the steam is in the air.

Dense forest....
...around the temples in Tikal.

Michi and Gran Jaguar
On top of Temple II overlooking the Gran Plaza, the central site in Tikal.

Ceiba tree
The national and holy tree of Guatemala with branches growing horizontally out of the trunk. Most of these trees are overgrown with some kind of furry plants.

Comments

[TT]

Very nice :)
;)