Guatemala! Hasta Luego

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Once everyone got back from Caye Caulker and met at Cucumber Beach on the outskirts of Belize City the run was on to get to Tikal, Guatemala.
Each location of ruins in the Yucatan offers another point of view and another set of stones arranged in an order that shows us how great Mayan Civilization was.

Palenque, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Lamanai, now Tikal, and soon Copan.

Chichen Itza was no longer open for public climbing. Tulum was by the sea with turquoise water that had to be swum in.
Lamanai was at the end of a long lagoon ride thru the mangroves. A woman had fallen to her death from one of the steep temples. No one was allowed to climb up.

We arrived late at the entrance of the park that held the Tikal ruins. A camp ground with showers but no electricity. Two restaurants with good food, WiFi, and limited electricity. Road side signs warned of snakes, cows and turkeys. The turkeys wandered along the road beside the campground. Was saved the encounter with snakes.

The truck had no sooner stopped when a guide came towards us and made a pitch about seeing the sunrise from the top of the Mayan temple. Only I agreed to get up at 4:30 in the morning to be brought by truck to the foot of the temple deep in the rainforest. Lots of other people from other groups also showed up in the dark.

I sat in the front of the pick-up. We went far in the ark with the headlights illuminating the massive trees and ruts and dirt. Finally after much climbing we reach the foot of the temple only to be faced with more climbing. This time up wooden steps no wider than a ladder.

It was so dark everyone use a flashlight to climb. And the climb continued for a long time … in the dark…so I really did not see how high or steep it was …until daylight.

Everyone that came up to watch the sun rise sat quietly after guide reminded all especially the loud ones that this was a once in a life time opportunity to be in touch with oneself. And it was a moving experience… but the sun rose behind mist and only a faint hint of pink showed on the horizon.

The climb down was slow but not as frightening as I thought it would be. IT WAS STEEP.

By nine o’clock the tour of Tikal was complete. The guide was excellent and had a lot of interesting facts to relay. He did mention the book ‘Guns, Germs and Steel”. Sorry that I do not have it with me. On the truck is a book about the Mayans but reading it I came across some dated ideas. Am not wasting my time on that.

The Pyramids of Giza are apparently lined up with the three stars in Orion’s belt. The temples at Tikal are set in a pattern that matches the Big Dipper.

I came out of the Rainforest as the rest of my group went in. Spent the day in the restaurant on WiFi eating, drinking and enjoying the cool air under the fan.

Once away from Tikal went on the curviest road ever …even greater than the stretch from Mazatlan to Durango.
Camped on the side of the road. Nothing but concrete. How does he find these places? Must write a descript of all the “bush camps” without bush that we have endured.

Next day we reached Lake Atitlan. He surprise was we were staying here for three nights. When the boat came out of its spot on the truck the mystery of the triple nights stay was solve.
Never mind….better for me… laundry to be done, Lake to be crossed, towns to be explored.
The showers here were underground with a cold water stream and no doors. The place had evidently been quite the holiday spot 25 years ago. Even the swimming pool was too dated…wet bar was missing stools but the electrical plug still worked. I found it before the electric hogs this time.
An absolutely lovely place, Hotel Atitlan with a beautiful garden and top notch décor, is just own the road. Had to pay 40 quetzals to get in. Was able to put the money towards my coffee and cake purchase.

When I awoke in the morning the Volcanoes of Lake Atitlan are in my field of vision.
One day was spent going by local bus to ChiChi and Solola. The jostling and cramped conditions on the buses was worth the experience. Have since learned that three people are squished into each seat because it is against the law for people to be standing on the bus. So there’s three to a seat and the aisle which is only wide enough to pass thru sideways is all full of standing passengers. For once my generous behind came in handy. Was able to sit straddling the aisle… one cheek on each of the two adjacent seats.
The lake crossing was uneventful until the motor gave out three times on the return journey. That’s the second time the motor on a boat stopped. The other time was during the lagoon ride to Lamanai in Belize… tank ran out of gas.
The end of the ride thru Guatamala came when we stopped in Antigua …are you ready…for three hours. Here is a wondrous town that could take up a week of ones time. There is a great maze of market lanes, numerous cafes, a little old lady who sells marzipan and does not have change for a five quetzal note, deep cool courtyards, an artisan shop so large baskets are provided for purchases and ruins that have stood since the last earthquake so to remain as a reminder of the catastrophe. The market was such a myriad of in and outs that Ii had to get out an reorient myself so as not too lose knowledge of where the truck was parked.
When arriving and staying for just a few hours there is no time to find the tourist bureau and get a map. Cannot even copy the map from the guiebook… no photocopier…not much advance notice about the length of the stop… dismal organization… much illogic!
This will be a great place to return to when coming for a second visit to this part of the world.

Passing into El Salvador we made for the beach at La Libertad.

“Bush Camped” without the bush. Actually in a gas station with an armed guard to watch over us all night. It rained and there was nowhere to hide to go to the bathroom. It was especially hard in the morning trying to get out of sight. Details would curtail too much information. I slept on the truck in my seat. Have made a decision not to put up my tent in the rain. Roadside does not equal “bush” in my book!
There is no bush to camp in here in Central America… there are fences everywhere. It only needs one gun and we get to danger number five on the list of dangers… violent robbery!

Got to La Libertad in the daylight. Cecilia’s Place was chosen for our stay near La Libertad, supposedly the best surf somewhere. To be honest ..it was worse than dismal…stones, garbage, mud and brown waves. YUK!!
The yard where we pitched our tents can be more likened to a messy recycling station…small and messy ... than a farm compound. The roosters, the chickens and the rabbits all ran and hopped about.Luckily the garbage did not move. The bed she wanted 6$ or quetzals looked like it could move. The shower was cold and had plenty of water. The toilet had no basket or bag for the toilet paper. She was a nice person an worked ard. In the evening a full table was seen under a thatched canopy. Theplace looked quite romantic in the dim light. Then in the morning and in fulll daylight the true nature of the disorder hit one between the eyes. How do they find these dumps??

Have I mentioned that no where in Central America or Mexico does one flush toilet paper down the toilet. Big and little job papers are deposited in a basket beside the toilet bowl. Multi-star hotels, gas station restrooms, cheap hostels and clean toilets in hovels all have the same rule.

In Sunzal, where Cecilia’s is, we stayed again an extra day. This time a boat was hired to go out to the sea. For the first time fish were caught for dinner the next day.

On the 6th of Aug. we leave Sunzal and go to Suchitoto. We stayed at a lovely restaurant run by Rene, Vista Conga. It is written up in the Lonely Planet. We were welcomed and camped here. Cooked the fish in a smoking oven. The shower had such a flimsey curtain was forced to put up my sarong as the whole group sat right outside the toilet an shower drinking beer into the night. Seems we slept ere two nights because some people went on an excursion to the falls in the morning. Suchitoto has the most beautiful church I've seen in a long time. The inside of the church is all made out of wood.

By the time we were off to Honduras we had once more to endure a “bush camp”experience. This time amidst peoples houses by the side of the road. Families came to see what we were up to…cooking, setting up tents (not me… I am on bush camp strike!!), building the fire.

And the people returned. This time we gave the rest of the raw fish away to one family. Next morning Min gave her sleeping bag to the woman who had a house across the road and up the slope.She ha come down to check on her cows who were parked a spit from where we had put up the tents.

She was so thankful she went to her knees and pointed to the skies ...more than once. As we were about to leave she reappeared with something in both hands. More than one person told me to go to her and I did willingly.
She reciprocated with a small cabbage and homemade cheese on a plate. I took the cheese and left her the plate and the cabbage. Don’t know if anyone ate the cheese As I was off the truck next day. I did taste it and it was good.

Once camp was struck and the truck rolled down the road we headed for El Salvador

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Photos

CleanToilet at the Border
Between Belize an Guatemala the crossing took long enough so that some tacos and drinks were enjoyed. Restaurant also clean.

First Stop in Guatemala
It is a beatiful country. Do not even remember the name of this sad dirty town

The Best Curve
Many times we saw where we were going before we knew where we were at.

Comments

[donnagriffith]

trip
your trips sounds interesting but some parts are hard to belive people live like that. The country you describe seems to be beautiful.