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Last time I did this trip in 2014 it would have been nice to see these ruins near the Mexican-Guatemalan border but it would have been very difficult due to the fact that I had very little cash, only credit and debit cards. Fast forward 5 years armed with the experience of the last attempt and I made sure I would be able to see Yaxchilán this time. The name has been translated into several different meanings but eventually settled on "Green Stones" by a 19th century Mayan archaeologist.
$US ≈ 19 Mexican
pesos ($M) ≈ 7.6 Guatemalan
quetzales (Q)
Frontera Corozal
Back of beyond border crossing into Mexico from the equally back of beyond in Guatemala. Did this trip in 2014 with very few
pesos in my possession (traded for some on the bus with another passenger) and no bank to get more. This year came much better prepared so I would have enough
dinero for the trip to the ruins at Yaxchilán, a night in town, and transport to Palenque. All worked to perfection.
Accommodation and food Don't remember the name of the place I stayed but it was around the corner from the full
Pension Elisabeth. I paid $20 for my own room with absolutely obligatory AC, fan, cable TV, and a private bathroom with a great shower (hot water totally unnecessary) to rinse off the grime and grit covering me from head to toe after the all day journey in buses/pickup beds/semi cab/ferry.
Next to Elisabeth is Comedor Maya Ch'ol, ~$M75 or so for a huge plate of typical Mexican fare and another $M25 for large glasses of
aguas naturales. Been getting kind of addicted to tamarind. For breakfast before heading to the ruins, Nueva Allianza seemed to be the only place open early. $M80 or so for a good breakfast with real coffee, no Nescafe,
gracais a dios.
Transport $M100 for the
colectivo to Palenque (~2½ hours). If it's late, might have to take a share taxi to the main highway ($M120 for 4 pax, $M60 solo) and wait for transport coming from Benemérito de las Américas which is what I did first time crossing here. Q15 or equivalent in
pesos to cross the river to La Técnica, Guatemala.
Yaxchilán Ruinas I met a German couple by the office to arrange the boats and they already had another party
of 3 lined up. The 6 of us were each charged $M250 for the round trip boat ride including 2 hours at the ruins. Surely longer can be negotiated but 2 hours was definitely enough for me as it was getting very
muy caliente by the time we left the site. Try to leave as early as possible as there were several tour bus loads at the site when we left. It is becoming very popular to do Yaxchilán and Bonampak as a long trip on a tour from Palenque. We left Frontera Corozal ~8:15 am and were back in town ~11:35 am. Pay the $M70 entrance fee at the office in town before taking off in the
lancha.
Palenque
First city of consequence coming from northern Guatemala. Has everything a traveler would need and a
muy tranquilo atmosphere presumably because it was 100°F every day and more than a little humid.
Accommodation and food Looked at a few places before settling on Hotel Kashlan again but this time took a room with AC and super clean private bathroom for $M400. Also had cable TV so I could watch the Boston Celtics get mercilessly crushed yet again
by the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA playoffs. Ada, the proprietress, let me use the fridge and utensils so I could methodically eat my kilo of chilled mangoes purchased at the market for $M10.
Took a couple of massive breakfasts at La Oaxaceña for $M80, highly recommend eggs with
enfrijoladas. Cafe Campo around the corner from the hotel has crazy strong iced cortados for $M35. Half a grilled chicken with fixins from innumerable
asaderos runs $M70. Taqueria Express serves 5 tacos for ~$M45, 1 liter
horchata for $M25, and near there is one of the ubiquitous La Michoacana juice/dessert bars with huge $M20 slices of flan Napolitano. Street
tamales $M10.
Transport Buses to all quadrants of Mexico from the new ADO terminal but for Playa del Carmen or Cancún, much cheaper is the company based out of the office for the Ocosingo
colectivos. I took that bus in 2014 and it had to be the most arctic AC ever. For Cascadas Roberto Barrios catch a
colectivo from the market for $M50, takes about 45 min. $M30 entry to the falls, mid-week will be practically deserted.
Overland to San Cristobal via Agua Azul and Toniná Left Palenque 8:00
am on an Ocosingo bound
colectivo arr Agua Azul (a.k.a., Blue Water)
crucero 9:25 am, $M50.
Share taxi to Agua Azul for $M25 pp. and the driver did not feel obligated to stop at the first
caseta saving us $M50 each. Stop at second
caseta, $M40 each. Free bag storage at the info office.
Stayed just over an hour. Was a bit overrun with tour bus crowds and very touristy. Liked Cascadas Roberto Barrios much more.
Back to the
crucero, 11:25 am catch
colectivo to Ocosingo arr 12:55 pm, $M50. 15-20 min walk to the market for
colectivo to Toniná, $M15 takes 20-30 min. Entrance fee $M60 free bag storage at ticket booth. Amazing pyramid can still be climbed, insanely hot. Nice museum. Retraced back to Palenque
colectivo staging area (same for San Cristobal) with a stop at the market for a $M60 lunch. To San Cristobal $M80 in a share taxi left 4:45 pm arr 6:50 pm.
San Cristobal de las Casas
Mega hyped up colonial town on the gringo trail. If I didn't score an unbelievably cheap flight from here to Guadalajara (far from here but close to Puerto Vallarta from where I'm
Black Howler Monkey
Waiting for the boat in Frontera Corozal. They normally don't come down from the tree canpoy.flying home next week) I'm not sure I would have missed much by skipping it. Good transport links to Oaxaca and Guatemala's western highlands.
Accommodation and food Found Casa de Toño on booking.com but did not reserve because I wasn't sure if I'd make it here in one day from Palenque with the 2 stops en route. By the time I got here all they had left was a twin room for $M150, share bathroom and kitchen, drinking water, and WiFi. Next day I changed to a single for $M100.
Took a couple snacks, i.e.,
quesedilla or plate of 4 tacos, at the small restaurants at the crafts market, $M30 for either, $M10 for 3 piping hot
empanadas. Hit 2 really good restaurants near the market on Insurgentes, Restaurante el Sol and Caminante las Casas, the latter $M45 breakfasts with bottomless coffee, first time I've seen that anywhere outside the U.S.A. Can grab fresh squeezed OJ in the street for $M15. Dozens of cafes litter the town... including the reviled Starbucks.
Transport Fastest way to Palenque is on
colectivos with a change in Ocosingo, $M100 each trip. Can occasionally get a really good deal on the OCC
night bus for ~$M160, takes 9 hours via the indirect route. OCC also runs a few buses a day to the Tuxtla airport, a ridiculous $M200 for the 1¼ hour trip.
Guatemala City
Never stayed in the edgy capital during my 2 previous trips to Guatemala. After staying here for 2 days last week, it's fairly safe to say I did not miss anything. Did the tips based free walking tour but I didn't think there was much to see aside from the frenetic market where Q5 buys a bag of sliced sweet mango, not too shabby.
Accommodation and food Reserved 2 nights at Capsule Hostel in Zona 1 for the sole purpose of being close to the buses for Cobán. Also in that 'hood are the luxury night buses to Flores/Santa Elena. The hostel is nice, probably the best showers in the entire country. Breakfast is really good pancakes, fruit, and real coffee. Paid $15 total. Café Nawal has an odd name but I'm pretty sure it's run by Arabs as Shwarma Nawal is across the street. Cross cultural distinctions aside, the place had an amazing array of delicious pastries, large coffee ran Q5.
Transport Semuc Champey
From the mirador, i.e., lookout, after a stout hike from the bottom. Monja Blanca has hourly service to Cobán from dawn to late p.m. I was initially told Q50 or 80 in a small/big bus so I bought the Q50 ticket when asked if I wanted a Q70 ticket. Nothing was making any sense as all the buses were small and we left at 9:00 am. Trip should have taken 4-5 hours but at the stop at the Centra Norte mall the Q50 passengers were transferred to another small bus. I think the Q70 ticket is more or less an express. The Q50 bus stopped everywhere and that road is still not in good shape so the trip to Cobán took 6 hours. Fortunately there was a brief pit stop about halfway where I grabbed a
chile relleno for Q16. Ate again in Cobán then caught the Lanquín bound bus at 4:00 pm, Q20, taking just over 2 hours.
From GUA airport I took the Transmetro bus line which involved a very long walk from the departures terminal to the bus stop at Acueducto on the other side of the runways. Fare is Q1 to the edge of Zona 1 which was ~15 min walk to the hostel. Alternatively, can catch
local bus 84 (stops close to terminal) for Q2 to Trebol then the Transmetro from there. Also chicken buses towards Antigua and Lake Atitlan depart frequently from Trebol.
Semuc Champey
One of the most beautiful places in Central America. My second visit, did not disappoint.
Accommodation and food Stayed in the center of Lanquín at El Muro for Q65 in a 4 person ensuite dorm that I had to myself the first night and shared with only one other for 2 nights. Bit noisy from the incessantly barking street dogs and roosters oddly crowing in the middle of the night. Good WiFi and overall vibe. There are plenty of great places to stay away from town, close enough to walk to Semuc or to other parts of the river, but I wanted to be very close to the transport for when it was time to bug out at 0'dark:30.
Like last time took all my meals at Comedor Shalom, still going strong, Q20-30 for huge
platos tipicos, another Q12 for a mango milkshake. Pizza-Café Nel has really good espresso drinks, Q15 for a large americano, and WiFi. Q2 for a bag of perfectly ripe sliced mango
in the market.
Transport Frequent buses from Lanquín to Cobán for Q20 & trucks from Lanquín to Semuc. Foreigner price Q25 to Semuc, can maybe haggle to Q15, but my Swiss dorm mate had a motorcycle so I rode with him. Q10 to park at the pools, Q50 entry. Many people do walk the 10 kms from Lanquín to Semuc but it is hot and you're sure to be coated in a film of dust from passing traffic on the uber dry dirt road.
No gracias.
Epic Overland Trip from Lanquín to Frontera Corozal I asked in Lanquín how to do it and got a bunch of answers ranging from tourist shuttle (only to El Subín and getting there late-ish), bus back to Cobán (hate backtracking even though it was probably easier), or a series of buses starting from Lanquín very early and heading north from the junction at El Pajal where there was allegedly a bus to Fray passing at 7:00 am.
I took the 6:00 am bus from Lanquín to El Pajal (Q10, arr 6:45ish ), talked to some locals there and became convinced that no bus was going to pass. So a pickup truck
then stopped and he took me ~7 km to the next town, Campur, where there would be transport to Fray. He dropped me on one side of the small town which was kind of blocked off because it was Saturday market day. I had to traverse the market to the other side where a bus was waiting and took off for Fray just after 7:30 am. That was quite possibly the worst road I'd ever been on. Going was at a snail's pace until the road finally turned to new pavement. I'd done this trip 5 years ago and now half the road is much worse, the other half much better.
I got dropped at the
crucero between Fray and Raxruhá (Q15, ~9:25 am at this point and already infernally hot) and pretty soon cadged a lift in a truck to Raxruhá (offered Q5) where there were many colectivos headed to Sayaxché (Q30). Downed a couple of bean stuffed tortillas super hot off the griddle and off we went ~10:10 am arriving at the Sayaxché ferry ~12:20 pm.
Like 5 years ago I canvassed the drivers of the vehicles on the ferry to catch a lift and was
very fortunate one of them was going all the way to Las Cruces where I would hopefully arrive early enough to catch a bus to the border. No charge to sit in the back of the truck for the 20 min ride.
Got to Las Cruces ~1:00 pm and finally had a proper meal complete with a massive ice cold tamarind slushy. From 1:30 pm I waited outside the market for the bus to the border and it finally arrived ~4:00 pm just as I had become resigned to staying in Las Cruces for the night (Hotel Dany looked fine). The bus was standing room only but I got wedged in on top of the engine cowling which made for an uncomfortable ride but was far better than standing for 3 hours. Fare to the border crossing at La Técnica was Q30 and the driver stopped at the GUA immigration office in Bethel so I could get a proper exit stamp (no charge and quick). Like before I was the only passenger to require a passport stamp.
We got to the river crossing just after 7:00 pm but the public boats were done for the day as it
was pitch dark. Probably should have stayed in La Técnica for the night and burned thru my last ~$30 in quetzales as the
cambios dudes at the boat launch were extortionate. I did not use their services.
I was quoted a price of Q50 for a private boat to Frontera Corozal, Mexico but I'm certain he meant $50. Fortunately for me there was a small caravan headed across the river in their own hired lancha for Q15/person and they gladly took me. Directly across the river were many taxis waiting to take the boat pax wherever they were headed but I took my own into town for $M50 (could have walked but I was exhausted and the driver took me to a couple of pensiones). Settled on a room in a place whose name I forgot (around the corner from the full, and presumably cheaper, Pension Elisabeth) and I could pay $20 in USD (
cambios nearly non-existent here or
muy castigado as the imm. officer told me) for my own very nice room with blessedly blasting AC.
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Wendy
non-member comment
Another awesome adventure - great read
I got to give it to you Jon, you write a mean blog complete with all the juicy details along the way. I get hungry and thirsty just listening to your descriptions. Way to go, you intrepid traveler ?