Guatamala - Crossing the country
Door: Marielle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Marielle
11 Februari 2019 | Guatemala, Flores
San Marcos is a little hippy town with many inhabitants from western countries in special dress. I do like the atmosphere since it is non-judgemental and open to anyone. The Hostel del Lago where I stay has spectacular views of the lake, especially in the morning when mist surrounds the vulcanoes. I meet nice people in the hostel and Ellen and Bianca from the hike turn up on the last evening as well :-) After 2 days of relaxing I leave for Antigua. First with the boat to Panajachel and than with a shuttle which takes me in 3 hours to Antigua. Travelling is really easy in Guatamala with the shuttle-service for tourists. The shuttle picks you up and drops you of wherever you need to be, no need to walk kilometres with my heavy backpack :-) Local transport in the form of chicken-busses is much slower and also reported to be unsafe. At some stops of the shuttle there are armed guards, it makes the choice for a shuttle even more convincing. I check in at the Cucuruchos Hostel in Antigua, the most beautiful hostel ever! And I visit the supermarkt, the first one in ages. We are spoiled in Amsterdam to have one at every corner. The next day Suzanne arrives safely in Antigua and it is very nice to see eachother again. I have missed having good friends around and while sightseeing in Antigua we cannot stop talking. Antigua is a beautiful city with many old buildings of which some have been destroyed by earthquakes. We visit few of these half destructed churches and convents. Also we visit the market and enjoy the conversations with the local people. We hikeup to Mirador del Cerro de la Cruz with Nathalie whom we met in the hostel. The view over the city and on Vulcano de Agua are beautiful from up here. We also spend half a day climbing the Pacaya Vulcano. This vulcano is still active and we can see hot lava coming down the vulcano. Quite spectacular and also worrying. A few days later we hear that the trips to the Pacaya Vulcano have been ceased due to the higher activity... Guatamala is familiar with vulcanic eruptions, only very recent (in June 2018) the El Fuego vulcano errupted which killed 200 people and 200 are still missing...
With the shuttle Suz and I go back to Lago Atitlan. The hastling for a proper price for the boats is annoying... Tourists are overcharged quite a lot. We stay in Hotel Isla Verde which is extremely luxurious compared to the hostels I normally stay at. We have our own cabin with a view of the lake and the surroundings are decorated with green plants and flowers. It is a little paradise :-) The 3 course dinners are also delicious. A big treat to stay here for a few nights! We enjoy the sun and we visit San Marcos (nice to be back), Santa Cruz (we can walk here and see not many tourists which makes it more special) and Santiago. Santiago is situated at the other side of the lake and on the day we visit there is a huge market with many women in authentic Guatamalan dress. They are very friendly which makes it extra nice to walk over the market. When we are sitting in the church viewing a ceremony, everything starts to tremble... we are immediately aware what is going on, an earthquake! Within just a few seconds we are outside. All Guatamalan people remain in the church, they must be used to earthquakes and apparantly this one was not of high intensity though it felt quite strong. Later on we hear that the epic centre was located in Mexico City (6.6). When we take a boat back to Panajachel we are again overcharged (25 instead of 15 Quetzales pp). After an extensive discussion and being threatened that he will call the police, I walk away without paying since he does not take my 15 Quetzales. I have ofcourse not seen any police but am happy to be back in the hotel and when I do not need to depend on these boat services anymore...
Since my backpack is very heavy Suz helps me to reorganize and is so kind to take quite some things home for me (the remaining countries are only getting warmer :-)). This saves me 4 kg! Incredible sweet!
It is hard to leave such a magical place as Lago Atitlan but Suz is only visiting for 2 weeks so we need to get moving to the east and take a bus to Lanquin. It takes 10 hours to complete almost 400 km. The roads are just not very good, especially close to Lanquin we reduce our speed to an average of 25 km/hr... Our Hostel El Muro is the opposite of our previous hotel with loud music, a marihuana smoking Mona Lisa in our room and a terrible smell.... It is no surprise that the password for the Wifi is "Fucking bueno"... Though many tourists visit Lanquin to go to Semuc Champey, the little town seems to be unchanged with a small market and women sweeping the roads every day (we wonder about the added value of this activity since there is dust everywhere and some parts of the roads being swept are not even paved...). In the back of a pick up truck we travel together with a family and a cook of a local restaurant over the rough roads to Semuc Champey, an adventure and we discover a habit of the local women who put every valuable they own in their bra :-)
Semuc Champey is beautiful, a river with a set of cascading pools in a turquoise colour. From the Mirador high up the view is beautiful. Temperatures are much higher here since we left the highlands and after the descend it is refreshing to take a dip in these natural pools. You need to be careful though since the limestone is extremely slipery!
Happy to leave our hostel in Lanquin we travel another day (9 hours) with a shuttle to Flores. A beautiful drive through a changing landscape which I can enjoy this time since I am not drugged with a motion sickness pill :-) It is very cosy in the shuttle since we share again with Sabina and Lena from Germany and also meet again two Dutch ladies whom we saw before at Lago Atitlan. Guatamala is a small country and with all tourists we take the same route ;-) The lush green hills are exchanged for a more flat landscape though still very much green. Flores is a small island which is fully equiped for tourism and Hotel Peten even has a pool so the last days of Suz her holiday we spend in luxioury again ;-) From Flores we visit Tikal (rise and shine at 4 am...), one of the biggest cities of the Mayas which was inhabited from 400 BC to 1000 AC. On our tour we meet Sabina and Lena again :-) Our guide Luis is fantastic and tells us many details. The pyramids are not all uncovered (80% is still covered by soil and trees) but the ones that have been revealed are spectacular. Especially with the rainforest surrounding the pyramids. All is built by hand and in line with the sun at the change of the seasons. The Mayas already applied our current calendar of 365 days! We also see many animals like toucans, apes, birds, raccoons, etc. When the tour ends after 4 (!) hours we continue with Sabina and Lena to see another part of the site. Impressed by the Mayan culture we return to Flores and in the evening have a nice dinner with our new friends at the Los Amigos Hostel.
Across the water (only 5 Quetzales pp to cross) lies San Miguel where a mirador gives a beautiful view of Flores. We do have some issues to find the right path and instead of 10 minutes it takes us half an hour to reach the mirador. Luckily people are extremely helpful in Guatamala otherwise we might still be wondering around ;-) The Playa El Chechenal on the other side of the peninsula is almost empty and with the blue water gives a Caribean vibe. In the evening Suz and I celebrate our fantastic journey together with a nice meal. The next day Suz leaves for a long trip home via Guatamala City, Mexico City to Amsterdam. I leave our luxurious hotel and settle in at the Los Amigos Hostel. I really have to get used to being alone again... In the evening I meet nice people in the hostel which helps and have some beers. We visit the local disco and I try to keep up with the smooth movements of the Guatamalan women. Relaxing days here in Flores but tomorrow it is time to move on. On my way to Rio Dulce I am stopping at Finca Ixobel, not sure what to expect but I have heard it is beautiful and peaceful.
Fully energized by the visit of Suz I am looking forward to the final 4 months of my adventure which will take me to Belize, Mexico (Yucatan), Costa Rica and Nicaragua (as is now my plan). I did book my flight back from San Jose so my return is scheduled for which is reassuring in some way and also excites me a lot since all the things I have been thinking of during my travels are than to be executed... But for now I will keep enjoying my freedom :-)
Stay in touch and hasta luego!
With the shuttle Suz and I go back to Lago Atitlan. The hastling for a proper price for the boats is annoying... Tourists are overcharged quite a lot. We stay in Hotel Isla Verde which is extremely luxurious compared to the hostels I normally stay at. We have our own cabin with a view of the lake and the surroundings are decorated with green plants and flowers. It is a little paradise :-) The 3 course dinners are also delicious. A big treat to stay here for a few nights! We enjoy the sun and we visit San Marcos (nice to be back), Santa Cruz (we can walk here and see not many tourists which makes it more special) and Santiago. Santiago is situated at the other side of the lake and on the day we visit there is a huge market with many women in authentic Guatamalan dress. They are very friendly which makes it extra nice to walk over the market. When we are sitting in the church viewing a ceremony, everything starts to tremble... we are immediately aware what is going on, an earthquake! Within just a few seconds we are outside. All Guatamalan people remain in the church, they must be used to earthquakes and apparantly this one was not of high intensity though it felt quite strong. Later on we hear that the epic centre was located in Mexico City (6.6). When we take a boat back to Panajachel we are again overcharged (25 instead of 15 Quetzales pp). After an extensive discussion and being threatened that he will call the police, I walk away without paying since he does not take my 15 Quetzales. I have ofcourse not seen any police but am happy to be back in the hotel and when I do not need to depend on these boat services anymore...
Since my backpack is very heavy Suz helps me to reorganize and is so kind to take quite some things home for me (the remaining countries are only getting warmer :-)). This saves me 4 kg! Incredible sweet!
It is hard to leave such a magical place as Lago Atitlan but Suz is only visiting for 2 weeks so we need to get moving to the east and take a bus to Lanquin. It takes 10 hours to complete almost 400 km. The roads are just not very good, especially close to Lanquin we reduce our speed to an average of 25 km/hr... Our Hostel El Muro is the opposite of our previous hotel with loud music, a marihuana smoking Mona Lisa in our room and a terrible smell.... It is no surprise that the password for the Wifi is "Fucking bueno"... Though many tourists visit Lanquin to go to Semuc Champey, the little town seems to be unchanged with a small market and women sweeping the roads every day (we wonder about the added value of this activity since there is dust everywhere and some parts of the roads being swept are not even paved...). In the back of a pick up truck we travel together with a family and a cook of a local restaurant over the rough roads to Semuc Champey, an adventure and we discover a habit of the local women who put every valuable they own in their bra :-)
Semuc Champey is beautiful, a river with a set of cascading pools in a turquoise colour. From the Mirador high up the view is beautiful. Temperatures are much higher here since we left the highlands and after the descend it is refreshing to take a dip in these natural pools. You need to be careful though since the limestone is extremely slipery!
Happy to leave our hostel in Lanquin we travel another day (9 hours) with a shuttle to Flores. A beautiful drive through a changing landscape which I can enjoy this time since I am not drugged with a motion sickness pill :-) It is very cosy in the shuttle since we share again with Sabina and Lena from Germany and also meet again two Dutch ladies whom we saw before at Lago Atitlan. Guatamala is a small country and with all tourists we take the same route ;-) The lush green hills are exchanged for a more flat landscape though still very much green. Flores is a small island which is fully equiped for tourism and Hotel Peten even has a pool so the last days of Suz her holiday we spend in luxioury again ;-) From Flores we visit Tikal (rise and shine at 4 am...), one of the biggest cities of the Mayas which was inhabited from 400 BC to 1000 AC. On our tour we meet Sabina and Lena again :-) Our guide Luis is fantastic and tells us many details. The pyramids are not all uncovered (80% is still covered by soil and trees) but the ones that have been revealed are spectacular. Especially with the rainforest surrounding the pyramids. All is built by hand and in line with the sun at the change of the seasons. The Mayas already applied our current calendar of 365 days! We also see many animals like toucans, apes, birds, raccoons, etc. When the tour ends after 4 (!) hours we continue with Sabina and Lena to see another part of the site. Impressed by the Mayan culture we return to Flores and in the evening have a nice dinner with our new friends at the Los Amigos Hostel.
Across the water (only 5 Quetzales pp to cross) lies San Miguel where a mirador gives a beautiful view of Flores. We do have some issues to find the right path and instead of 10 minutes it takes us half an hour to reach the mirador. Luckily people are extremely helpful in Guatamala otherwise we might still be wondering around ;-) The Playa El Chechenal on the other side of the peninsula is almost empty and with the blue water gives a Caribean vibe. In the evening Suz and I celebrate our fantastic journey together with a nice meal. The next day Suz leaves for a long trip home via Guatamala City, Mexico City to Amsterdam. I leave our luxurious hotel and settle in at the Los Amigos Hostel. I really have to get used to being alone again... In the evening I meet nice people in the hostel which helps and have some beers. We visit the local disco and I try to keep up with the smooth movements of the Guatamalan women. Relaxing days here in Flores but tomorrow it is time to move on. On my way to Rio Dulce I am stopping at Finca Ixobel, not sure what to expect but I have heard it is beautiful and peaceful.
Fully energized by the visit of Suz I am looking forward to the final 4 months of my adventure which will take me to Belize, Mexico (Yucatan), Costa Rica and Nicaragua (as is now my plan). I did book my flight back from San Jose so my return is scheduled for which is reassuring in some way and also excites me a lot since all the things I have been thinking of during my travels are than to be executed... But for now I will keep enjoying my freedom :-)
Stay in touch and hasta luego!
