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Published: August 18th 2009
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We knew that Guatemala had volcanoes, lush tropical jungles, and some gorgeous lakes but over the past 2 very hectic weeks Lindsay, her friend Katie, and one of my best buddies from Uni, Sandy, and I discovered it had a lot more to offer too...
After being told the capital, Guatemala City is not really worth visiting we spent the first two nights in Antigua. Antigua is matrix of narrow cobble stoned streets surrounded by volcanoes. It was a good place to get over the culture shock and for Lindsay, who landed the role of chief Spanish interpreter and negotiator extraordinaire, to have her first crack at navigating our little possie through a Spanish speaking town.
Day two saw us hike two and a half hours up one of the nearby volcanoes to experience molten lava first hand. I’m still hoping to reap the benefits of my offering to the Volcano Gods - my banana peel, but regardless the toasted marshmallows tasted great!
We took a shuttle (a minivan full of tourists packed in like cattle hurtling around mountainous hairpins at break-neck speed, narrowly dodging livestock, other traffic and pedestrians) to Lake Atitlan. We stayed 3 nights in
a cute little bungalow with a loft and open-air bathroom, getting a taste of the hippy hangout town of San Marcos with vegetarian food, kayaking, cliff jumping, and cheap massages.
By the end of Day 6 we had learnt once and for all to double any travel time quoted by a local. We crammed back into the cattle class shuttles to wind out way back to Antigua and then on to the remote town of Coban. We were told 5 hours and it took more like 8 to go a mere __ kms through the mountains. Not far from Coban is Semuc Champey, a group of 15 or so cascading waterfall pools, where we stayed in a hostel that only had electricity for 3 hours a day. Aside from swimming in the pools as the heavens opened up and dumped 20 or so minutes of torrential downpour, the highlight has to be the caving tour. It began with rope swinging into the gushing river followed by 3 hours of caving requiring us to swim while holding our little candles above our heads. Our guide, who spoke no English, also coaxed us to climb up a cave waterfall by rope
(through the actual plummeting water unable to see a thing), jump off 4 meter rocks without being able to see what’s below, and slide down metre diameter black holes into unknown abysses Goonie-style! It was adrenalin pumping that’s for sure. After the cave we each grabbed an inner tube to float all the way back down the raging river to our hostel (via a quick jump off the bridge).
On day 9 our 4 hour “shuttle” trip turned out to be a 6.5 hour our pick-up truck ride. It was a dual cab truck (Cohen-style) where 3 people actually had to sit on a seat on the back. Six and a half hours of winding around narrow mountainous roads in a cattle class shuttle seemed gruelling from the outset but this truck-ride on unsealed roads in the rain turned out to be in another ball park again.
The destination was another hostel out in the boonies, only accessible by boat not far from Rio Dulce on the Dulce river. It was in real jungle territory requiring us to sleep in mozzie nets and again had electricity on a few hours a day. With dozens of hammocks, rope swings and
communal ‘family dinners’ it was a great place to recharge (although I actually spent one entire day in bed sick - the bacteria had to catch up with me eventually). We also spent a day exploring the Caribbean town of Livingston, which is largely populated by the more African/Caribbean looking Guatemalans. Katie and Lindsay assured us it was not typical of the Caribbean after walking along a dirty smelly beach covered in rubbish and dead fish. It was a cute town with lots of cute little market stalls though.
North of Rio Dulce is much flatter terrain so on Friday we caught a local coach bus to Flores, a town not far from Tikal. We spent Saturday exploring the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal (on at least one of the ancient wonders of the world lists) and enjoyed a couple of nights with (almost) consistent electricity, hot showers, and no mozzie nets.
Yesterday we flew from Flores back to Guatemala City in preparation for today’s pilgrimage to Peru. We briefly explored the Central Market indulging ourselves on 3 course meals of street food for 10 Quetzales (approx $1.50 AUD) - a chicken tamale, followed by mayo, salsa and
cheese covered white corn on the cob, topped off with a choc-nut dipped frozen banana on a stick - gormet!!).
Today the four of us take 3 different routes to meet up again in Lima, Peru. Because of my Round-the-World ticket I have to fly via Miami(!?!?) while Sandy detours via Panama and Lindsay and Katie stop off in Costa Rica. Madness! So it’s goodbye heat and Mayan culture, hello cool temps, high altitudes, trekking and Inca culture. At least they still speak Spanish! Adios for now...
Quick update for the 18th August: we all made it to Peru! Oh and the pics take a while to upload so I apologise but they'll be a bit segmented...plenty more to come!
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