Lake Atitlán

The last part of our trip is Lake Atitlán. Lake Atitlán is the deepest lake in Central America and one of the most beautiful in the world. In ancient times, it was thought to be a spiritual center, much like the Pyramids in Egypt. Today, the traditional indigenous people that live around the lake have found a way to co-exist peacefully with the dreadlock-wearing, pot-smoking, wonky gringos that also seem to be drawn here. There is a strong ex-pat population in a few of the cities!

Our base is the town of Panajachel, the biggest on the lake. From here, you can take a public boat and visit other towns around the lake including San Pedro and San Marcos la Laguna. We paid the 25Q fee (much higher than what the locals pay) and hopped on the boat for a 50 minute trip along part of the lake. We decided to get off the boat at San Pedro to explore the city across the lake. While in San Pedro we tasted some Guatemalan coffee and walked around the small town, all the while trying not to get run over by the Thai-inspired tuk-tuks that populate the streets:

We even saw some of the local ladies doing laundry in the lake:

We also saw some coffee plants, as well as a small processing plant where the fruit is removed and the beans are dried:

On the boat ride back to Panajachel our captain was a crazy gringa!

We were pleased to find that the food in Panajachel is much cheaper and more delicious than the rest of Guatemala. Dinner has been running us about $4/night here.

On Thursday we took a shuttle with Daniela (a fellow Pacaya climber) to Chichicastenango for their big Thursday market-the biggest market in Central America. We saw a variety of goods including: handmade blankets, hammocks, scarves, placemats, traditional clothing, various wooden masks, and plenty of food. In front of one of the churches was the flower market:

We said goodbye to Daniela, who is headed back to Croatia, and now we are enjoying the last bit of our time here together with some chocolate fondue:

Volcanoe Pacaya

I think climbing the active volcano Pacaya, located a few hours outside of Antigua, will be one of my favorite memories from Guatemala. The trip required an hour trek uphill until we hit the tree line and then another hour scrambling through volcanic rock of various sizes until we hit molten lava. Especially near the end, it was very slow going, in the words of our guide, “se necesita caminar como niños,” or “you need to walk like little children [using hands and knees]”. It was quite cool until we got within forty feet of the lava. We could feel the heat radiating beneath our feet well before we could actually see the lava. We were so high up, mists of clouds swirled around us.

Our group consisted of eleven young people from all over the world – Canada, Croatia, Germany, Czech Republic, and the USA. We bonded over the experience and even took turns roasting marshmallows over the lava.

The trip back down was also tricky, especially because the sun had set for the majority of it. Luckily some of the other travelers came prepared with headlamps so we didn’t have to feel our way down in total darkness. We celebrated our successful climb with Guatemalan beers on the bus ride back.

Monterrico

Our last three days have been spent relaxing in the little beach town of Monterrico. Both of our guidebooks agreed, Monterrico is the place in Guatemala if you are in need of relaxation and some time on the beach.

After the shuttle from Antigua dropped us off, we trudged down a sandy beach path in search of our hotel, El Mangle. Our heavy suitcases, combined with the hot sun ensured this was not an easy task. Luckily, for a few Quetzales (the Guatemalan currency) we were able to procure the assistance of one of the locals.

When we arrived at El Mangle, we were told it would be a three hour wait for our room. We decided to spend the delay lying by the pool and grabbing some lunch at what would soon become our favorite restaurant, Las Brisas. When we returned to El Mangle, we were quoted a room rate that was much higher than we agreed to previously on the phone. Dissatisfied by the smelly room and the high price we decided to return to the hotel attached to Las Brisas for a sunnier, cleaner room at a better price.

CECON, a local turtle preservation group was hosting a baby turtle race in order to raise awareness and money. We decided against sponsoring a turtle in the race since our guidebooks mentioned that these races might actually be detrimental to the turtles’ survival. We were surprised at how dark the little turtles were – they were completely black!


After the race, we grudgingly returned to El Mangle to get some pizza cooked over a wood fire. We had seen a man preparing the pizza dough from scratch while working out the room problem and we couldn’t resist sampling it! Luckily, this is one aspect of El Mangle that didn’t disappoint.


The next morning at 5am we met Sender, a local guide, for a tour of the real Monterrico Mangle (Mangrove in English) by boat. The early start time maximized our chances of seeing a variety of fish and birds and also allowed us to catch the sunrise over the swamp.


Mangrove shoots are harvested by hand and used to make roofs for people who want a fancy alternative to the palm-thatched hut. Mangrove roofs are expected to last up to 25 years.


We also saw a bunch of “mud-skipper” fish, that the locals call “cuatros ojos” (four eyes), jumping along the water’s surface. They looked a lot like snakes, however they were much too speedy to be caught on film.




Our boat ride lasted two hours, allowing for ample siesta and beach time for the rest of the day. The beach at Monterrico has beautiful smooth black sand. The only drawback is the vicious riptide that makes swimming too dangerous for many.


We also checked out the turtle hatchery museum but were discouraged by the dirty, small appearance and the 40 Quetzal ($5) price tag, especially compared to the $1.25 price for locals. Our guidebook did tell us that the hatchery has an unwritten deal with local poachers - they don’t turn in the poachers as long as the poachers donate 12 turtle egg nests for every one they sell.

One night we caught the sunset over the beach and were quite amused by the creatures that come out at night at Johnny’s, a local bar:




This character is actually from Chicago, and he claimed to be a writer who has a play that is in production in London starring Joan Rivers. Seriously!?

Kelly also tried one of the local dishes, ceviche. Ceviche is marinated in a citrus-based mixture, usually with lemons and limes. In addition to adding flavor, the citric acid causes the proteins in the seafood to become denatured which pickles or "cooks" the fish without heat. It was interesting and delicious, a little like pico de gallo.


All-in-all, Monterrico was just as beautiful as we had hoped and we really enjoyed our time there. Now we are back in Antigua for two days, a change in plans due to missing out on our first opportunity to climb the volcano Pacaya (more on that later). After that it’s off to Lake Atitlán for the last leg of our journey.

Antigua, Part I

Our first day in Antigua was spent exploring the city. We stumbled upon a tiny kitchen with local women making tortillas by hand. They were happy to sell us four for 1 Quetzal (about $0.13).

We also checked out the city square and some old cathedrals.

We took a tour of the most famous jade factory in Guatemala. It was even visited by Bill Clinton during his presidency! I custom designed a beautiful jade necklace and picked out a matching ring and earrings, all for about $100 US.

On the way back from the jade factory, we stumbled upon a crowd in front of the church. Soon there were very loud fireworks and confetti as the Cardinal of Antigua (we think) and procession of people with candles exited the church.

Last night for we rang in the New Year in style in our new friend Ricardo’s Tabacos y Vinos (Cigar and Wine) shop. He was kind enough to provide us with some delicious wine and a Cuban cigar.

Some of these pictures may even show up online on Ricardo’s website: http://tabacosyvinos.com

For our New Year’s dinner, we went to Ricardo’s friend Hector’s restaurant. Hector went to culinary school in the United States and returned to Guatemala to turn his home into a restaurant. The tiny place consisted of a few tables with the kitchen in plain view. Even though Hector doesn’t have a sign, or even a name for his restaurant, word of mouth ensured that the place was overflowing.

We feasted on homemade pasta and duck with crème freche and choclat fondant for dessert. It was heavenly and very reasonably priced.

The streets were filled with people, especially in front of Ricardo’s shop right under el Arco de Santa Catalina, the famous arch of Antigua. There were musicians and people dressed up as old women dancing in the streets. There was also a little boy wearing a bull costume covered in fireworks that went off as he pranced around the street.

After Ricardo’s shop closed we hung out in the doorway safe from the jostling of the crowd and the spontaneous fireworks that kept going off in the streets. We friends with the other people sharing our nook. We were lucky because they were willing to share the bottle of champagne and flask of whiskey that they had brought with them.

These ladies really knew how to ring in the New Year!

The next morning, we enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in for the first time during our trip. Needless to say, not everyone was so lucky.

Flores and a Jungle Trek

Unfortunately when we woke up on Tuesday morning for our jungle trek, it was pouring rain outside. We were able to delay our reservation until the afternoon, allowing us to relax and grab some lunch while we waited for the rain to clear.

We met up with Adam and Dave (the SF boys) and after a short shuttle, we arrived at Ixpanpajul. The boys wanted to do zip lines, while Kelly and I were more interested in the Skywalk above the canopy, so we parted ways – but not before taking a picture!

Here are Kelly and I, feet still planted firmly on the ground:

That didn’t last for long though, we hiked our way up a long narrow path that lead to a series of swinging bridges that allowed us to walk over the treetops and catch the view of the jungle below:

Unfortunately, due to the rain we didn’t see much for wildlife – only a few birds – which was a bummer.

At the midpoint of the trek there was a shelter that had a great view of the jungle.

We reached it just as it started to pour again, allowing us to weather out the storm relaxing in hammocks.

When we met Adam and Dave at the end, they were covered head to toe in mud but had also enjoyed their experience despite the rain.

We spent out last night in Flores eating dinner with a lake view and enjoying some local brews.

Today we caught a flight back to Guatemala City, followed by a 45 minute taxi ride to the beautiful city of Antigua. We’ll be exploring the city, celebrating New Year’s, and climbing a volcano in the next few days but more on that later!

Tikal and Flores

Our flight on the “teeny tiny” plane from Guatemala City to Flores turned out to be nicer and almost bigger than any of the flights we took in the United States. We arrived in a quick 25 minutes (beats the 10 hour bus trip!) and caught the tourist shuttle to Casa Blanca, our hotel in Flores. Our “white house” actually turned out to be more of a dirty yellow color, but for $4 a night, who’s complaining!?

We left on the bus (more like a 16 passenger van) to Tikal, the famous Mayan pyramids located deep in the jungle. It was a ninety minute ride followed by hours of walking to explore all the different sites.

One of the first creatures we saw on our trek was some strange species of anteater rooting around in the dirt:

We also saw the ants he was hunting for marching along:

We took a little swing on some hanging vines:

As always, we stayed out of trouble!

Tourists are allowed to climb many of the Mayan pyramids. We climbed to the top of Templo IV, known for its amazing view of the jungle canopy. We could even see Belize!

Some of the temples, like Templo V, had very long climb!

However, it was worth it for the view of Templo IV and others through the treetops:

The Guatemalan turkeys look a lot like peacocks:

The finale of the trek was the Gran Plaza, once used for ceremonies and sacrifices. It was surrounded by two huge temples, a palace and an acropolis.

We had great weather the entire day except for a ten minute torrential downpour which we unsuccessfully attempted to escape by hiding under a thick tree.

On the bus ride home, we met two American boys on holiday from San Francisco. We talked to them about their adventures in Belize and the four of us have booked a jungle trek for tomorrow!

Tonight we’re relaxing and headed out for some “research” on locally available beers.

We've Arrived!

After hours and hours of travel, and three flights, all of which were significantly delayed due to weather, Kelly and I are officially in Guatemala! The trip itself was fairly uneventful, highlights included talking to a man who has been stranded at O'Hare for three days due to a canceled flight, the standby list being 60 passengers long for our first flight to Atlanta (thank goodness we had a reservation!), and seeing this little monkey get pulled around in style by his parents-

I wish I had a better picture that captured the glee on his face, he was on our first two flights so we kept running into him sprawled out on his dad's carry-on.

Boarding our first flight:

We did manage to get an upgrade for our last flight to Guatemala City. Helloooo first class living! It was a fun experience but honestly wasn't the luxury we were hoping for. What do you mean we shouldn't have expected massages and caviar on our two hour flight? Instead we settled for some roasted potatoes, nuts, warm bread, and a delicious Greek Salad. The highlight was mini bottles of liquor for an after dinner treat....oh, and some champagne to welcome us aboard. We stashed some mini bottles of Bailey's in our purses which ended up coming in handy later for tipping a guy at the airport for helping us find a cheap taxi to our hotel. Ah, commerce at its finest.

Now, we're spending the night at El Aeropuerto Guest House, aptly named for its close proximity to the Airport. Honestly we probably should have held onto the Bailey's and walked, it's that close.

Tomorrow we'll head back to the airport to catch a flight on TACA airlines to Flores. The ticket was $210 roundtrip but saved us a 10 hour bus ride each way so we figured it was worth the expense. Flores is the closest city to the Mayan ruins of Tikal.

It's supposed to be 75 degrees here tomorrow! We don't miss the Wisconsin weather at all!