We arrived in
Guatemala City around 7.30pm and headed straight for our hostel for 1 night as
our plans were to get out of the city as quickly as possible. The hostel was terrible (felt grubby, no
English, no way of getting any assistance) and we weren’t allowed out as it
‘wasn’t safe’ according to the staff, so we had Guatemala’s version of twisties
and a beer for dinner before calling it a night. The next morning we headed back to the
airport and caught a shuttle (pretty much straight away) to Antigua – our first
planned destination.
Old town
Antigua became obvious as we hit the cobbled streets and had views of multiple
historic and beautiful looking buildings.
Our hostel was a breath of fresh air (esp. after last night). We spent the rest of the day familiarising
ourselves with the very quaint and pretty town, organised our 9 days here, and
relaxed knowing everything was sorted as Antigua was to become our base for the
next week or so.
First thing the
following morning (7am) we were on a shuttle to the highlands and our first
stop, Chichicastenango. Chichi (as it’s
affectionately known) is surrounded by valleys and mountains but is known for
its huge Thursday and Sunday markets.
Went spent a few hours wandering the narrow cobbled streets, visiting
the church of Santo Tomas, and just people watching at the Mercado. It was Sunday so it was absolutely going off
and we enjoyed nearly an hour inside the two story food market where you
literally could see everything below you in real time.
The absolutely amazing colours of the
vegetables for sale as are the characters that sell them, from 8 to 80
intriguing and exciting to watch. You
could have stood here for hours watching life unfold - amazing people and way
of life. The people are tiny (Lesley was
a giant) and the colours unforgettable.
A very special place to visit on our way to the final destination for
today, Panajachel.
Panajachel is
the busiest and most built up lakeside settlement on Lake Atitlan and has an
amazing volcano panorama (apparently – on day 1 we couldn’t see it). We’re here to get up close with the beauty of
the lake and a glimpse at the Atitlan world.
The first evening we arrived we wandered down to the lake front to see
what it’s all about, and walked the main cobbled street before calling it a
night (unfortunately not before Lesley managed to slightly twist her knee on a
slippery step!). Day two consisted of a
lake tour and a visit to three Lakeside villages. We were collected around 9.30am and headed
lakeside for our 30 minute boat ride to destination 1 – San Juan. Unfortunately the seasonal “mist” that has
enveloped Guatemala is playing again today so we still couldn’t really see the
three volcanos that edge the lake, although are assured they are there (and
even saw so on a map, along with the 34 others Guatemala has claim to).
San Juan (pop
6,000) was a tiny traditional village edging the Lake. The walk up the hill side took us through
their main street edged with handmade paintings, arts and crafts. The colours are something else – Guatemala is
nothing if it’s not colourful. We headed
into a Women’s Cooperative where they are working together to bring back the
Mayan traditions (e.g.; weaving) and contributing donations and sales towards the
education of the village children.
Another 5-10
minutes by boat and we were at San Pedro – home to Volcan San Pedro and 14,000
people. A really cute place and a little
more set up for tourists with cafes, restaurants and hostels. Still nice and small though so a lovely
hillside homely feel, again with lots of colour.
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| Coffee - from start to finish |
Our final stop
was at Santiago (Atitlan). This town is
much bigger with a population of ~60,000 and the initial feeling when we
arrived was way too much concrete. It
really didn’t feel like a lakeside village as it was much more built up. Here we visited the Catholic Church which was
really pretty inside and plain outside. A special treat outside the church was
a 75 year old lady who took the time to show us how the traditional women wear
their headdresses – it was amazing and she was so quick winding yards of fabric
perfectly atop her head – and with a big smile at the end she looked exactly
that, beautiful and perfect.
Back to Antigua
for an overnight stay as we departed again at 8am the next morning on our
Volcan Acatenango trek. After about an
hour mini bus ride we reached the small village which is the treks starting
point (2,250m) and began walking at 9.30am.
The trek goes through different stages of scenery – the first being the
agricultural fields of the village, of which most villagers have their own
plots to manage. Within a very short time we had great views of the village
below and the mountain looked pretty ominous.
Focussed on
putting feet first however we headed into the cloud forest (this one was a bit
more cloudy and damp feeling) and then out into the open before heading into
the pine forest. The three areas are
very distinctive as you climb and going out of one and into the other very
obvious. The trail was pretty loose
gravel most of the way which made for some pretty tough uphill and Lost City
memories resurfacing (thank goodness for the sticks we borrowed to literally
put a stake in the ground). After
stopping for lunch for an hour, we arrived at base camp (3,578m) 4 hours and 45
minutes after we began, and we were the first ones there – so easy pickings for
tent sites.
The site has
fantastic views of Volcan de Fuego – 3830M (again in the cloud we couldn’t see
it at first) which we had heard rumbling on the way up. It’s famous for “going off” regularly and
spitting out red hot rock and ashes. We
were hoping for a bit of a spectacle but on this occasion it wasn’t to be. We sat around a roaring fire with other
trekkers, guides and porters admiring the changing scenery and cloud formations
before it got dark. It did clear up in
the evening (after about 15 mins of rain) and we got to see two other Volcanic
peaks (Pacaya and Agua at 3,766M and the lights of the towns below and the
incredible stars above and the full moon.
It was an early night as we were up at 4am to climb another almost 400m
upwards (on loose gravel scree) to the top of Volcan Acatenango for sunrise
(3976m). The body was definitely not
wanting to play ball (particularly Lesley’s knee) however we made it up just in
time to see the most beautiful sunrise and the two Volcanoes in all their glory
above the clouds. Fuego was very special
as the sun came up high enough to light it up – the colours very reminiscent of
Tongariro in NZ. The view was worth
every ounce of pain and sweat to see – really stunning and very special. The
temperatures at the summit were freezing made worse by the very high winds. Not
wanting to leave, but the temperature dictating so, we headed back down to base
camp for breakfast and shortly thereafter (7.50am) our departure back down the
mountain (not before Fuego decided to put on a smoke stack display though :o).
The walk down
was pretty slippery and Lesley’s shoes appeared to lose all grip and we slipped
and slid our way down with a couple of short stops thrown in. We were back in the village 2 hours after we
left base camp, much quicker than the 3 hours and 45 minutes of walking it took
us to get up. A quick celebratory
cerveza (beer) and we were back on the bus heading again towards Antigua arriving
around 11am we were lucky that our room was ready (everything is unbelievably
dirty and dusty) so priorities were definitely sorting laundry and
showering.
Our next
adventure was to catch the overnight bus (8.5 hours / 490km) to Tikal. The bus was unbelievably cold (way too much
aircon) so very little sleep was had but we arrived safely into Flores around
6.30am where our taxi was waiting to transfer us to Tikal Inn inside of the
National Park. Tikal is an ancient Mayan
city within the rainforest and is set on a low hill – at the time to avoid the
surrounding swampy grounds. It was
settled between 700BC and 900AD because of its location and abundance of flint,
allowing the Mayans to trade for other goods.
The National Park was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in
1979. After checking in to the hotel we
departed on a guided tour of the ancient city taking in specific key areas like
Gran Plaza which includes temples 1 and 2 as well as Acropolis del Norte. The Gran Plaza was a highlight of the ancient
city and as well as the amazing structures is riddled with beautiful wildlife –
coatis, toucans, parrots and turkeys amongst others –well over 30 degrees now.
That afternoon
round 4.30pm we took ourselves out for a bit of a sunset wander back into the
forest and immediately were treated to the sounds of the jungle and the
wildlife literally coming to life now the heat is slowly retreating from the
day. We saw multiple spider monkeys and
howler monkeys on the walk in and then upon heading up Temple 2 in the Gran
Plaza were treated to an eye to eye encounter with multiple Toucans (Tucancillo
Collarejo) in the tree alongside.
Absolutely amazing and Lesley had to keep pinching herself that we were
that close to these beautiful creatures.
The time in the
park at sunset was priceless – peaceful and quiet with only a few brave souls
still exploring the site. We sat and
reflected for some time before heading out just after 6pm (the park closes at 6
and no-one is allowed in after that, and you are encouraged to leave before it
gets too dark).
The next day
bought an extremely early start as at 3.30am we arose and headed out for
sunrise. Back into the Gran Plaza and
then we headed to Temple 4 (~70m high and 741AD) to witness the jungle awaken. The sounds of the howler monkeys and birdsong
was quite something and much more spectacular than the sunrise itself –
although being awake at that time of the morning and witnessing the sun rise
always makes you feel lucky and very alive.
The morning tour consisted of visiting the residential area and temple 5
(reconstructed in 1996). This side of
Tikal is a little more raw with less reconstruction in general and again the
wildlife and birdsong making the visit very special. The estimate is that only 20% of the site is
uncovered and as you walk around every “hill” or mound you see is pointed out
as another structure hidden away beneath the growth of the jungle. After our third and final visit to the site
we made it back to the Tikal Inn and their very welcome pool where we spent the
afternoon before catching our shuttle and flight (wasn’t about to do the
overnight bus again this time) back to Antigua.
Our final full
day in Antigua (and Central America) we decided to complete the Lonely Planet’s
walking tour. After walking to the edge
of town and seeing multiple ‘chicken’ buses we started uphill to the town’s
viewpoint – Cerro de La Cruz. Great
views of Antigua and the volcano directly behind it (Volcan Agua) – although of
course with the seasonal haze we’re getting used to. Can only imagine what this area and Guatemala
would look like on a clear day! The walk
took us in and out of a number of cobbled streets visiting the old ruins of the
city – churches, temples, convents, markets and of course Parque Central. Walking around these old cities is a great
way to get to know them – the old ruins are everywhere and are quite
beautiful. They remain following a large
earthquake in 1773 (at that time Antigua was evacuated and the capital was
transferred to Guatemala City). That
evening we headed back to Parque Central to get the night-time view and pic of
Palacio de los Capitanes Generales – much more stunning at night lit up. Then it was a really nice dinner at La
Estancia before an early night and preparation for our departure.
Our final day was about chores, catching up
with emails, photos and notes as well as relaxing before the long haul to
Thailand. Guatemala has been a pleasure
to visit, whether it was our association with Antigua as ‘home” or the country
itself we’re not sure – but it’s been a wonderful experience.
Best moment – Making
it to the top of Volcano Acatenango and seeing the sun rise
Worst moment –
Lesley twisting her knee 2 days before the Volcano trek
Most special – Tikal
at sunset change of light with the “Toucan” tree
Most surprising
– The colours at the Chichicastenango market – amazing!
Most
disappointing - Volcan de Fuego not spouting red hot rock (although it did
smoke for us)
Things we’ll remember about Guatemala;
Volcanoes
The bright,
beautiful and traditional colours
Antigua
Roof riding
(utes/trucks)
Taxi trucks
Altitude
Traditional
markets
Tiny people
Firewood
Small
agricultural blocks
“Chicken” buses
– painted, colourful and character vehicles
Roadside stalls
Tortillas
Pot holes
Judder bars
Children with
children
Traffic
Street food
Roadside stalls
