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Published: January 16th 2010
OK OK There is absolutly no excuse for this. I know its been like 4 months or something since my last entry. Let me start with Guatemala:
((((I do not know how to correctly retrieve the url for pictures from facebook on a mac.... grrr..... so I uploaded all these picutres scuse the mess!)))
So last I wrote I was in Xela, Guatemala taking spanish courses and living with a local family. That was informative but only somewhat useful as I traveled with only English speaking friends from here on. Next I was off to San Pedro, Lago Atitlan. When I arrived I happened upon a cute little hotel which ended up being the cheapest yet and since. I ran into Lucila an Argeninean girl I had run into twice previously and two chill friends Dani a kiwi and Martin also from Argentina. The boys had been on the same path for a while so it was about time we met up... San Pedro was very chill and most of our days were spent swimming in the lake, diving off the rocks and eating great foreign food from the ex-pats' restaurants. And then going home to our hostel with
private rooms over looking the lake and paying 15 quetzales per night, thats under $2!! Dani, Martin and I hiked up the nariz de indio one day and had spectacular views of the entire highland Lago Atitlan and all the surrounding volcanos. We decided not to pay the hefty entry fee to hike up and snuck in the back way. This resulted in us getting kicked off the nariz after only a few minutes view, thats OK there was another lookout just down the way!
After about a week there I was ready to move on and bussed it over to Antigua. A very westernized and touristy town, I was only there for Mt Pacaya. Another volcano nearby which has active lava flows! It was quite the experience to see flowing lava close up, we even roasted marshmallows up on the heat of the molten rocks. Powerful mother earth!
I didn't waste time in this colonial town, so after running into Dani again we caught a bus to Semuc Champey. On the way there we met two nice Israelis including Emmy, just about to do her obligatory military service for her country... We arrived in Semuc Champey in
a very popular tourist hangout called El Retiro. It was situated on cow roaming hills next to a river downstream from the falls of Semuc. El Retiro was quite the party place every night and I may have been spotted dancing on the rafter beams above the bar once or twice during my stay there.
One action packed day was on a guided tour, usually I am particularly adverse to these tourist traps, but this one came well reccommended. There was about 15 in our group and we started by going through a cave river, swimming through the deep parts holding onto our candles. We climed up, went under and slid down waterfalls inside the cave, we even jumped off small cliffs into the cave river pools! Very exciting 😊 After we were out of the cave we went to the bigger river and jumped off a big swing, swimming quickly to shore in the fast current. Then it was into tubes and floating down the river, a short but relaxing trip. The next part of this action packed day was to jump off the bridge into this river, maybe 7 meters. What a thrill especially considering a local
had died jumping there about 4 days previously! Stupid, you say? Well thats all part of the excitement, hey I wasn't the one diving off into the unclear water. Anyway we all survived, and now were off to the hike to el mirador, the lookout of Semuc Champey. It was pretty much straight up the side of this ravine to the top! But what a view! Beautiful crystaline blue-green water cascading into several pools. A geological phenomenon from very heavly mineralized water. But what is even more impressive is the river underground beneath the pools for a length of 200 meters. This river was very impressive in both its entry and exit into this cave. Roaring rushing white waters on both ends, I would not want to fall into this river! I heard a story of how one man had a couple years ago, no happy ending on that one... So after much enjoyed diving and floating around in the pools our group was off to the downstream end of the pools to where the underground river re-emerged, we repeled off a waterfall and into a the cave where the water was gushing out into the light of day after
its tumulchuous passage under the serene pools above. Finally, after scaling back up the waterfall and wondering how much the insurance bill for an equal tour guide company in the states would be, the tour was finally over. El Retiro brought many friends together for the first time and reunited me with others I had met along the way.
In the next day or so I met a strange group of guys, one Israeli, Canadian and a Belgian. Nimrod, Matt and Thijs had been traveling together on and off for the last couple of weeks, hiking and surfing together. They were a cool bunch and had plans of going to El Mirador, the mayan ruin in the middle of El Peten, Guatemala known for its isolation and grandiose nature. Only reachable by three days hiking through the jungle, El Mirador had been written about in National Geographic and I was somewhat aware of its exsistence. When adventure presents itself I go with the flow, plus these guys were quirky and funny so I thought it would be a fun group to be with for a while. Both Matt and Thijs were using walking sticks, Matt had Jimbo an african
looking head on a stick and Thijs had Hippo, looking more like a horse head to me, but upon his insistence Hippo it was! We were all headed for Flores the next day and then to Tikal so it worked out perfectly that I should tag into their El Mirador hike afterward.
A group of six of us from El Retiro stuck together and camped out just outside of Tikal. We bought park entry late in the afternoon so we were allowed to re-enter the next morning. Our plan was to sneak in to watch the sunrise from the top of a pyramid... However the guards were on us like flies on shit before we even left our site predawn the next morning, looking for their bribe of course. They asked too much but after a stand off we talked em down to 50 Quetzales each, a bribe of about $6... well worth it to see the Guatemalan sun rise over the pyramids of Tikal!
Our group was splitting up, two off to Belize while the four of us and two sticks were headed to find information on our El Mirador trek. We stayed in El Remate a
relaxing little lakeside town just outside Tikal. We gathered that the best deal we could get for guides to El Mirador was from the town where the trek started, Carmelita. We had some troubles getting a bus to such a remote and small town but found one at 5 am and by midday we had secured our guide for our trek. So we hung out watching the chickens and pigs run around while our guy was buying us food and rounding up the donkeys and mules to carry our packs. Thijs and Matt played a futbol game with the local children, Omar the best of the little players was very sure of his skills and was doing pushups in the middle of the field midgame! Omar also showed us the way to the swimming hole where we could bath while he was busy jumping off trees doing bellyflops!
The next morning we headed out donkeys and all toward our first stop in a place called Tintal a small ruin on the way to El Mirador, the first day we walked 28 km, about six hours. We climbed to the top of Tintal just as the sun was setting and
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Hero Twin retreiving his fathers head from the underworldcould see all the way to our next days destination El Mirador. Early next morning we packed up after breakfast and left for El Mirador. We walked 33km, 8hrs, along an ancient road from Tintal to El Mirador, it was overgrown only distinguishable from the jungle by the landscape. It looked like a flat raised way in the jungle. When we arrived to El Mirador with plenty of time to set up camp and watch the sunset over the jungle of El Peten. We decided that we wanted to camp on the top of the El Tigre the smaller of the two pyramids at El Mirador. Luckily the head Archeologist whos been working there for years along with his team were gone. The entire park was for our group and a few guards! So all four of us crammed into one tent that just barely fit on the very top of a pyramid in an ancient city in the middle of El Peten, Guatemala. The stars that night were amazing, absolutely no light polution and it was new moon! Very special.
The next day was for exploration of the site, 26 square kilometers. We started out looking at some
pristinely preserved and recently uncovered art. Supposedly this was on the wall of house of the king in his bathroom. It is a sculptural dipiction of the Popol Vuh. The mayan story of the creation of the universe.
Here is one of the hero twins, Hun Hunahpu recovering his fathers head from the underworld, Xibalba after he was slayed his rival. Some believe the Popol Vuh is a mythical explaination of astrological events charted over thousands of years. It counts the change in understanding of the center of the universe from the North Star to the center of the galaxy. The Milky Way is also depicted as a white road or sacbe. And the causeways between these citys were called sacbeob, the plural form of this word. Probably the cities themselves alligned themselves with particular constelations in accordance with the sky. Absolutely, there were other Mayan cities which did so. Also the Popol Vuh predicts the allignment of the December solcitice sun with the center of the galaxy in 2012... what amazing astronomers!
Before we knew it we were up on top of La Danta, the largest Mayan pyramid in terms of volume. Its base is 18,000 square
meters and its height from the forrest floor is 70 meters. The view from the top was amazing!
Next we were off to explore a tunnel built by the mayans underneath another structure. The guards let us in with a minimal bribe and we saw some great art
Later in the day we came across a whole pack of spider monkeys! They were generally displeased with our presence and did everything to make us leave. Mostly shaking the tree branches and screeching away. They even threw fruits at us! Luckily it wasnt poo!
The next day was a shorter hike to Nakbe, only 10km, we walked for about 3 hours. Nakbe is the oldest known Mayan city. There we could see where they cut the limestone blocks to build the pyramids. That night was I did not sleep well... some problems with ants and Thijs telling me he liked me. 😊 I had a crush on him for a while and was wondering how he felt cause he only flirted a little. We made plans to go to Belize together, he was headed that way anyway but I was excited! So after very little sleep we all
got up the next morning for the longest hike of the trip. That day was 45, yes forty five kilometers!! That was a nine hour day and I was beat! The last night was in a very small site called Florita and the next day we returned to Carmelita after a 15km, 3 hour walk. All in all it was 6 days, 5 nights and 131 kilometers. Thats 82 miles yo!
After parting ways with Nimrod and Matt, a sad goodbye especially for the sticks, Thijs and I headed back to El Remate to relax our final days in Guatemala. We hit it off and have been together ever since!
So this was Guatemala. I think its enough to read about for now... I will continue with the rest of my journey inbetween our managing this hotel. If you dont already know, Thijs and I are living in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua managing a place called Surf Zone
Check it out and become a fan on our facebook too!
Hasta luego!
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crystal
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I love reading about your adventures
Thanks for blogging!!!