Kachchh of the Day: GUATE Megapost

I know many of you have been awaiting stories and pics from my recent travels to Guatemala. Be prepared, this post is long (but there are pretty pictures). So, here we go:

DAY 1: We arrived in Guate to a brand new airport, only to exit and find a flock of drivers shouting "Antigua?" at us. Not to fear. What we quickly discovered, and what would be theme #1 of the trip, was that "Guatemalans are THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD." (Note: it's possible this distinction could last a mere 3 weeks until I arrive in India and designate Indians the same) Within seconds of saying No, gracias, the tour operators were quick to ask us where we were going and pointed us in the direction of the No. 83 bus we were trying to find to take us to the Parque Central, or the center of town (Lonely Planet would guide us from there). Alas, we never found the bus, and opted for a taxi for 50 Qs (Qs=Quetzales, the Guatemalan currency), a ride that would last 30 mins. and which set us back approx. $6. We spent the night in a massive old colonial style hotel, dubbed, you guessed it, Hotel Colonial. My fearless travel companions Josh (Josue) and Marina at dinner, Day 1, right.

DAY 2: A 5-hour bus ride directly eastward to Puerto Barrios ends 2 hours short, as I ask the bus driver to drop us at the foreboding "Trincheras Junction". Now we are in the thick of it. Rural, jungle, Guate. I ask a nearby pick-up truck driver how to get to the small lakeside town of Mariscos and he points to the Guatemalan woman and her two children sitting by the side of the road (left). Una camioneta viene ahora. A shuttle is coming now. So, we sit down and wait. And then comes the shuttle. Officially, it had 15 seats. Unofficially, there were 30 people in that shuttle. Thus we reach theme #2: "where local transport holds X seats, 2X people will be found." Nevertheless, the ensuing 30 minute ride through Guatemalan jungle was memorable. I talked to the man next to me who turned out to be a tour guide and who would eventually help us reach our lodging for the night. After a short wait at the dock in town with a dog named Poporocho (I swear it was that grey weimaraner from the WinXP backgrounds), we arrived at our resort Denny's Beach, where beer-bellied, Canadian Denny met us and showed us to our room, overlooking the docks, cabanas, and hammocks outstretched into Lake Izabal (below). That night we swam in the 80-degree lake water, while it was raining and thundering above us. Paradise.

Day 3: We awake at 6am to a 1-hour boat ride across the lake to the northern side, and a 20-minute ride in the back of a tractor, all en route to Finca Paraiso - the only hot waterfalls in the world (right upper). Yup you read it. We climbed to the top of the waterfall where 90-degree hot water pools awaited us, and then swam underneath the waterfall in cold water, while the hot water fell from above. It was pretty sweet. Our next big step was taking our first "chicken bus" in Guatemala. These are the local, cheap buses aptly named because travelers will bring their chickens on the bus with them! No chickens this trip, however the 15Q ($2) ride was pretty bumpy. We caught the bus on the highway between the falls and our next stopover point, Rio Dulce. We stayed just long enough in Rio Dulce to eat lunch, and then caught a lancha (motorboat) for the 1.5 hour ride on the river down to our next night's lodging. Finca Tatin was advertised as an eco-lodge. It was an amazing little place right smack in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle, with swimming on the river, and kayaks for rent to explore the numerous little tributaries extending into the jungle. Needless to say, the humidity there was unbearable. Although the place was a sanctuary in the jungle (right lower), our excitement quickly gave way to fear after finding not one but two of these massive wolf spiders (right mid) in our cabana for the night. Theme #3: "things found in the jungle are 5-10 times larger and scarier than normal." We quickly called upon a member of the Guatemalan staff to rid us of the spider. Ensuing dialogue:

Guatemalan (upon seeing the spider): Ohhh, no hace nada! (they don't do anything). Guatemalan then attempts to grab spider off wall. Spider leaps away. Marina screams. Guatemalan steps on spider and kills it. Guatemalan picks up spider.
Guatemalan (with spider in hand): hmm, estas matan caballos. (these kill horses)
Me (in Spanish): And you just grabbed it with your bare hands!
Guatemalan (smiling): Con estas, hay que tener carino. (with these, you have to be tender). Guatemalan leaves. We remain, trembling.

What was originally 2 of us in single beds downstairs and 1 in a double bed upstairs, quickly became all 3 of us upstairs for the night, as we quickly jettisoned the downstairs area to the spiders, huddled together under the mosquito net, and, sweating profusely, gathered around the fan and the only light until the generator turned off at 10pm and knocked out both, leaving us in complete darkness with nightmares of spiders crawling everywhere. To quote Marina: Worst. Night. Ever. (at least of 2009).

Day 4: Ah what relief to leave Finca Tatin and the fist-sized cricket that greeted me on my way out. A quick return trip on the Rio Dulce brought us back to the town of the same name, and to an 11:00am bus to Flores which didn't actually leave until 12:15pm, bringing us to theme #4: "Guatemalan time means any scheduled bus/tour/meet-up actually takes place and/or departs up to an hour after it's posted time" (sounds familiar :cough: Spain :cough:). So we sat. And sweat some more. We were all dripping wet just waiting for the bus. Anyway, four hours later we arrive to a beautiful little peninsula town called Flores, jutting into Lake Peten Itza. Our lodging for the next two nights would be Posada Dona Goya #2, which had a beautiful terrace complete with hammocks and a lakeside view of the sunset (below). The town was small, touristy, and had a nice air about it. We met up with Ralph (Dutchman) and Sarah (Brit) and walked down the cobblestone streets to our new favorite dinner spot, a restaurant overlooking the lake where we had our best meal of the trip: shish-kebabs! An early night ending at 9pm was set because the next morning would be a wake-up call at 4am for Tikal.

Day 5: Star Wars Episode IV. Yavin. Rebel Base. Ring a bell? It was shot at Tikal, Guatemala. The Rebel base is tucked away in a jungle with large ancient looking stone pyramids shooting out from the canopy all around. This is the #1 thing to see in Guate, and we were there. 4:00 alarm goes off. 5:00 minibus arrives. 6:00 we arrive at Tikal with the sunrise, to the sound of howler monkeys. 6:30 we enter the park, and walk for 4 hours in the jungle, humidity at 100%. Massive rat-like rodents, monkeys, and a large tarantula awaited us. But so did the ancient Mayan temples dating back over one thousand years. Of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya, the Maya are the only ones technically still around. Guate's population is 60% Maya and has 19 different Mayan dialects. We climbed the highest Mayan pyramid at 60 meters for a view of the jungle canopy (right). Josh and I also got a nice round of hacky sack in at the bottom of the pyramids (below). Although pictures do not do this place justice, I will let them speak for me here. After Tikal, we went back for one last relaxing evening in Flores.

Day 6: We had our own private shuttle for a cool 150Q each ($18) for the 8-hour ride to our next stop: Semuc Champey via Lanquin and Coban. The ride through the Guate countryside was a bit scary considering the extreme speeds our minibus driver was reaching, and his consistent passing of cars on hills and blind curves. Then I read the little blurb in my Lonely Planet guide under the transportation section about the "Guatemalan bus that goes over the side of the cliff every once in a while, killing all passengers on board." We arrived in Lanquin to a crazy Guatemalan downpour, and so we have theme #5: "when traveling during the rainy season, expect torrential downpours every single day." A friendly guide named Leo took us to El Portal in Semuc Champey, our lodging for the next 2 nights. Unfortunately, it was another "eco-lodge" in the middle of the jungle, which, although much less humid, came with a new batch of oversized insect friends including a massive mosquito alien thing, spider, moth, and grasshopper. I employed Josh to kill a few of them; his only request was that he use my shoe to do the deed. We named the spider in our shower Teddy, and you better believe it was scary as hell sitting on the toilet at 3am with Teddy on the wall 5 feet from my face. No more jungle eco-lodges for me. Ever.

Day 7: One of our most anticipated days of the trip! Semuc Champey is a series of 12 turquoise colored warm lagoons formed by some crazy natural phenomenon, atop a raging underground river, ending in 3 beautiful waterfalls. We started our hike into the national park at 9am with a group of 9 Americans and Canadians, led by our fearless, impeccably bronzed, 5 foot tall Guatemalan man Toto, who had 2 large ominous looking ropes slung over each shoulder. A 1.5 hour hike through the tropical forest ended in a spectacular view of the lagoons from 150 meters up (right). We then descended through the jungle to the pools themselves and I was forced to ditch my camera as we waded in the warm, turquoise lagoons. We saw the mouth of the raging river (right mid), where we learned that over the past 10 years, seven people have accidentally fallen in, no survivors. The current is so powerful that only the limbs and other body parts of the people were found floating in the river days later. We followed Toto from pool to pool, jumping off ledges and diving into each one, until we reached the main waterfall. Toto jerryrigged one of the ropes to a huge rock and dropped the other end down the waterfall. We're going down there?? Oh yea. And I was first to go. I grabbed the rope and put my feet into footholds hidden somewhere beneath the raging water, and slowly, somehow, roped down a 20 foot waterfall (right lower). With Toto shouting below me, barely audible over the water, I went down with each foot, derecha, izquierda, derecha, izquierda, then, metate en la cueva! (get in the cave!) he shouts. What cave?? Suddenly, out of nowhere, there appears a cave and I drop in. Stalagmites and Stalactites galore. I wait in the mouth of this cave for the other 8 to join me. Toto then jumps down with the other rope, ties it to another perfectly placed rock fixture and we proceed to descend another 15 feet, on our bellies to a lower platform farther into the cave. Bats up above just 50 feet from us hang from the ceiling. We ascend via rope once more and find ourselves on the precipice of a 30 foot rock... with only one way down. Jump! And we do. Into the current, and swim hard to get out of it. Then catch your breath, and swim under the big waterfall to the far side. One last rope climb up another 30 foot embankment and we are back where we started, an hour later. Awesome. The only thoughts we can muster are that if we were in the US, there would be safety gear galore and a few waivers to sign at the beginning. If my mom only knew what I was doing. We retreat back to El Portal for a massive spaghetti lunch, followed by tubing on the Rio Cohabon. Then a night of dancing and a few Brahva beers each. I even slept semi-soundly knowing Teddy was waiting for me in the bathroom. Great day.

Day 8: An 8-hour all day trip to Antigua, the most metropolitan city in Guate. Cobblestone streets, huge volano looming, old Spanish colonial style buildings. However, it was just a stopover point. We stayed the night in Hostel Ummagumma, which claimed agua caliente showers, and which, of course, did not have them. Thus we have theme #6, "where agua caliente is claimed, there never actually is agua caliente." We stayed one night with a broken toilet and broken shower and early the next morning hopped on a shuttle to San Pedro La Laguna on Lago Atitlan.

Days 9, 10, 11, 12: The next four days we found ourselves in a beautiful little lakeside Mayan village called San Pedro La Laguna; the lake was called Lago Atitlan. The whole area is a gem right smack in the middle of Guate (left, right upper). Ringed by 3 volcanoes, the lake consists of 7 small villages which are mostly only accessible by motorboat. Panajachel is the main town and since I had read it was extra-touristy, we opted for the more low key San Pedro. San Marcos La Laguna, another one of the towns, is a yoga/meditation sanctuary full of hippies, but we didn't have the chance to get there. In San Pedro we stayed in 3 different hostels, testing each one out until we found our golden one, Hotelito El Amenecer Sak'cary. Perched right on the edge of a hill, our room overlooked the lake and we watched fisherman on dugout canoes each and every morning with the sunrise as a backdrop. We had semi-hot showers for the first time all trip, and relaxed on the hammocks for the better part of each day. Josh and I kayaked in the lake and got sunburned central. On Thursday night we visited Buddha Bar where we played pool (right mid) for a few hours with some Guatemalans and Aussies, losing at the last second and having to buy our Aussie winners 2 beers as payment for our loss. On Thursday we took a 2 hour bus ride to the town of Chichicastenango way up in the Mayan highlands to visit Central America's largest outdoor market (bottom right). Colors galore, traditionally dressed Mayan women selling handicrafts and textiles of all sorts, beans, chilis, fruit, veggies, masks, pottery, shoes, shirts, everything, all hand made. We bargained hard. I got a hammock for about $18, bargained down from $30, and a tablecloth for $13, down from over $45 (yea, the first prices were pretty outrageous). Our last theme of the trip was thus solidified, theme #7: "ALL prices are negotiable". All in all, our trip to the market was a great day trip and we were able to see the traditional Mayan marketplace and culture first hand. Our last day we hiked to a small beachfront area on the lake, whose water was again a cool 75 degrees. Swimming ensued. Niiice.

Day 13, 14: Our last 2 days, we returned to the old city of Antigua (below right). While the first day was mostly travel and uneventful, our second day (and last day overall) saw a hike up a volcano. Volcan Pacaya is an ACTIVE volcano and we hiked straight up the cooled lava flows, turned a bend and then Bam! There we were, right next to real live lava flows. Some careless 18-yr old Canadian guy who for some unknown reason had decided to wear shorts, took one wrong step and a gust of hot steam coming out of the mountain singed all the hair off his leg. Of course, the only logical thing to do next was to put his other leg right back in the path of the steam and equalize the hair loss. While the hike up was chilly and extremely windy, once we got within 100 feet of the lava, the temperature soared to over 100 degrees. I tried to get as close as I could to the lava, but only got within 10 feet before the temperature was overwhelming. I did get one good shot off though with the camera (below left). On the walk down, it started raining and got dark, so I switched on my headlamp for a crazy descent down the mountain, dodging horse poop at every turn. Our group of 15 made it up and back in a cool 7 hours (!), with no injuries (except for the loss of leg hair). This rivaled our dip in Semuc Champey as the best activity of the trip. A great way to end it all.