Guatemala 2008

Greg and I traveled to Guatemala in the last week of May, first week of June in 2008. Here are initial impressions:

• Everywhere along the way, we met fellow travelers from all across the world (and even close to home!). It was so wonderful to connect with people from such diverse backgrounds (but with a common love of travel and adventure). My favorite memories of the trip are associated with the incredible people we met.


• The Guatemalan people are very friendly and welcoming. The language barrier stood in the way of significant connections but even with that, we found wonderful people along the way to share many laughs. Spanish skills beyond "cerveza and banyo" are a goal prior to the next Latin adventure.


• Many of the Guatemalans are helpful out of kindness. Many are helpful for monetary reasons. Sometimes it takes a few beats to figure out which kind of "helpful" is being offered.


• The "rainy season" is called that for a good reason. Travel during the dry season is better suited to outdoor adventure trips.


• The chicken buses are awesome! You need only take a "shuttle bus / micro bus" once to realize the vast benefits of chicken buses, especially if you have any tendancies towards clostrophobia or aversion to sitting in the laps of strangers.


• The Markets are really amazing. The local markets are vastly culturally superior to the tourist or artisan markets. I found the fruits and vegetables at the local markets to be the most engaging - everything is so fresh and colorful. And don't skip the grocery store - always fun in different countries.


• Guatemala has the most "topography" of any place I have traveled. The land undulates like goose-bumps. And the country is incredibly lush - every shade of intense green.


• Sadly, the Guatemalan people do not yet understand the value of the beauty of their country - there is garbage everywhere that there are people, the roadsides and even remote trails are covered with litter.


• Also sadly, the poverty in the country leads the people to slash-and-burn the forests to create farmland. This is bad because of deforestation - but even worse because of the topography of the country. Much of this slash-and-burn is taking place on dramatic slopes. The loss of soil stabilizing forest fauna results in dramatic erosion, landslides and loss of topsoil.
  
  Here is the trip story with pictures (abbreviated by necessity). To see all of the pictures, follow this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/kathylangcrowell/Guatemala2008

For the sake of cheap airfare, we took a circuitous route to Guatemala City. Denver to LA to Mexico City to Guatemala. Travel took about 16 hours each way - good time for reading and napping.

Upon arrival in Guatemala City (they call it Guate), we took a random hotel van to a place called Los Volcanes. At breakfast, we met a guy from Fort Collins (30 minutes from our house). And a Guatemalan local who is fluent in English - he gave us some great advice on travels in the country (most notably, don't spend too much time in Guate, and don't pay more than 60% asking price at any street market). On his advice, we hired a taxi to drive us around the scenic parts of Guate and then take us to the bus stop headed for Coban. Here are pictures from Guate.

We took a "first class" bus from Guate to Coban (which means that you have an assigned seat and you get it all to yourself!). The ride was appr 4 hr. In Coban, we stayed at an amazing hotel , Dona Victoria, with a beautiful courtyard and antique furnishings. And we met a wonderful Australian gentleman named Bob with whom we had dinner and great conversation. We also met a Peace Corp volunteer named Laura who gave us great advice on travels - we met up with her later in the trip in the village where she lives. Here are pictures of our hotel:

From Coban, we took a shuttle bus to the village of Lanquin. In Lanquin, we stayed 2 nights at El Retiro - a hostile termed by our guidebook as "the hippest place in Guatemala". We were curious what "hip" meant... The first day we mostly relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere. We ate an amazing dinner (which is sort of family style) and greatly enjoyed meeting both the fellow travelers and the staff.

On the second day, we went to Semuc Chempey National Park. El Retiro organized the tour and roughly 15 people were along. We figured out that "hip" probably means 20 something and really fun. We didn't fit the 20 something - but we sure had a great time with them all and might have been at least honorarily "hip" for the day. The tour started with a short hike through the forest to a place with a rope swing that dumps you into the river below - really fun! I had a great dismount, but my entry needs A LOT of improvement. Next, we went spelunking in a cave with a river flowing through it. We had only candles - what great ambiance! We had to swim through sections of the cave holding our candles out of the water. In the States, this cave tour would be a law suit waiting to happen! After the cave, we intertubed down the river for a time. Then we went to the park itself. In the park, a big river goes into a cave and disappears for about 500 meters before it comes rushing out again (2 tourists have fallen in above the cave... it took a month for them to come out the other side...). Above the underground part of the river is a limstone shelf with travertine pools of crystal clear water. We spent the afternoon playing in the pools. The last activity was to climb down a rope ladder that is slung around a boulder and hanging in a waterfall. At the bottom of the ladder is the river outlet to one side and a roughly 20 foot drop into a deep pool at the bottom of a waterfall. Again... in the US, lawsuit waiting to happen! We got to jump into the pool and then rock scrabble back up for another go. The day ended with the wonderful family style dinner with all of the great people with whom we had such a great day of adventuring. If I had to pick a favorite day on the trip, this was it - both from an activity standpoint and from the wonderful people we got to know.

The next day, we headed to the town of Usbantan (the village where Laura from the Peace Corp lives). We took a shuttle from Lanquin back to Coban. Then took a shuttle from Coban to Usbanta, roughly 2.5 hours - this was the most traumatic ride of the trip. The road is under major construction - there are frequent closures and the ride is punishing. We had the pleasure of sharing the long and brutal ride with 26 other people in a 15 passenger van. Really, there were only 26 people actually IN the shuttle, 2 others where hanging on the outside. This is the experience that convinced us that chicken buses are the best (chicken buses are old US school buses painted wild colors).

Here are some pictures of the chicken buses that became our preferred method of transport:

Usbantan as a sleepy village which is the home of Rigoberta Menchi (a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts on behalf of the native Mayan people in the area). There are some great hikes in the vacinity but we only had time to enjoy the village. Laura gave us great advice on how to manage the bus trip for the next day. So the next morning, we were off on an epic chicken bus adventure - we took 4 of them to get Xela (Quetzeltenango) with a stop in Chichicastenango on their Market Day. The Market was an amazing experience in color, texture, and local culture. Unfortunately, the vendors were a bit pushy and even I was ready to flee after just over an hour. But I got some great pictures in between "NO gracias"

We eventually made out way to Xela (Quetzeltanengo) and were very pleasantly surpised by the atmosphere of the town. It is an intriguing blend of colonial and Mayan culture. Greg and I are not usually "door" people... but we really loved the doors of Guatemala - most notably in Xela.
The next day, we did a 1/2 day trip to a natural hot spring just outside of Xela called Fuentes Georginas.

It seems that about the time we were leaving the hot springs, a Tropical Depression came to call. Just in time to join us on our 3 day trek from Xela to Lago Atitlan. We trekked with Quetzel Trekkers - a non-profit organization that puts its profits into supporting a school for street children. Really a great organization! Were very fortunate to be on the trek with a great group of people with excellent spirit and a good sense of humor (both were important as the adventure unfolded).

The first day, we began the journey in a light mist. As the day progressed and we moved into the "Cloud Forest", it got ...cloudy... the clouds were so thick that it frosted hair and beards.We walked through areas that had to have been incredibly beautiful - but we mostly saw clouds, and then the mist turned to rain. Here is a break in the rain - our fellow adventurers with the mist in the background: left to right Jess (US), Steve (US), Michael (Canada) -our awesome guides. Laura (Ireland), Greg, Dee (Ireland), Tom (Isreal), Vilma & Darius (Lithuania but currently Philidelphia).

That night, we stayed on sleeping mats in a municipal building in a very small and remote village. We had the opportunity to go to a Tomascal - which is kind of a Guatemalan Sauna. It is about the size of 3 large dog houses, there is a fire build inside, a metal bucket of water is set by the fire. You crawl into what feels eriely like an oven and pour the hot water on yourself (there is a bucket of cold water too for temperature modulation). It was a cultural experience but the smoke made the experience less than good for me - it was hard to breath...

The next day, the rain was harder... We hike through more beautiful scenery here's one of the overlooks:

Our guides did a great job of describing the scenery. We also got to hike along and through a beautiful moutain steam. That night was our favorite cultural experience of the trip. We stayed in the home of the Quiche family. They are a prominent local family who support the efforts of Quetzel Trekkers and who love to share their culture and home with foreigners. We arrived in the afternoon to a wonderful fire under a covered courtyard. We were treated to a delicious and typical meal of chicken, rice & beans. After dinner, the patriarch of the family - Don Pedro brought out his accordian. His 16 year old son played the guitar. They sang and 3 grandchildren danced for us. After dinner, Don Pedro told us a fable told in the region about an evil donkey spirit that was driven off. And he told us a heartwarming story about a Catholic Priest who came to the region roughly 50 years ago, he helped to education and uplift the people including Don Pedro. Our guides translated for those of us who could not speak Spanish. It was really a magical evening.

The next morning, we were to awake at 3:30am to hike to an overlook to watch the sun rise over Lake Atitlan. The good news is, we got to sleep in. The bad news is that it was raining really hard. We still hiked to the overlook which was another test or our guide's abilities to describe breathtaking scenery and our somewhat soggy imagination. Picture a volcano to the right kind of closer that the volcano to the left, with a crystal blue lake in the middle of the picture... or maybe its a bunch of crazy gringos standing in puddles in the rain - but still smiling :-)
After this picture; Tom, Steve & Michael hike for another couple hours to the town of San Pedro la Laguna. The rest of us took a shuttle.

So, the weather didn't cooperate. The hiking probably would have been beautiful. But as it stood, the terrific people in our group and the Quiche family made the trip memorable and well worth while. I would do it again!

After the trekking trip, we made our way to Antigua (via our favorite mode of transportation - chicken buses!). In Antigua, we met up with Greg's sister and her family - Terry, Lisa, Morgan, Darby, Tatum and Katty. They were accompanied by their dear family friends - Keith, Sue, McKinsey, Kye, and Aleah. They had spend a week volunteering at Casa Bernabe - an orphage on the outskirts of Guatemala City. They had a spectacular experience (read more on the Ellis blog: http://www.ellisfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/.

The original plan was to go hiking and/or mountain bike outside of Antigua. The continuing rain led us to modify the plan to a walking tour of Antigua. Antigua is a beautiful city that was once the capital of Guatemala - after it had been fairly destroyed by earthquakes, it was abandon and the capital moved to Guatemala City. In time, Antigua has become a significant tourist attraction and a "World Heritage Site". While we were sad to miss the "active" tourist options, the walking tour was great - 4 hours or so of any trip to Antigua should be spent just wandering the town. Here is a picture of the whole crew at the ruins of the cathedral.

The following day, we loaded up the van and headed to the Mayan Ruins of Iximche. This is another erstwhile capital of the region. The ruins were in varying stages of excavations so it was really cool to see how time had hidden the treasure. And it was a great place for the kids and adults alike to climb and play on what was a sizable and important city in its time. Here's a great picture of the crew on top of one of the temples with ruins in the background:

And so ended my adventure. I left that evening for Guatemala City in preparation for my all day travels back to Colorado. Greg and the others continued on to visit Panajachel/Lake Atitlan and the Rio Dulce area after my departure. Greg really enjoyed the rest of the trip but is leaving the blogging to Morgan.

A few final thoughts:

The people of Guatemala are truly beautiful and I wish that I could have taken lots of wonderful pictures of them in their native clothing and enviroment. However, they are sensative about having their photos taken (I suppose I understand...). But here is one priceless photo of a little girl who was selling chocolate to the tourists outside her home near Semuc Chempey:

The food was excellent. Preservatives do not appear to have taken over Guatemala like the US so everything was fresh and delicious. And the hot chocolate is to die for! I can't swear to know the recipe, but it appears to be pure Cocao and sugar. It is much darker and richer than what you typically find in the states. And don't skip the "liquados" - basically fruit smoothies made from super fresh tropical fruit, yum!

Now we are home in our beloved Colorado. All of our gear has been dried - rapidly in the glorious sun and low humidity. And we have made our way back to the mountains - it's glisade season, we climb the mountains and slide down on our behind... it's like a super long slide at an amusement park without the lines or the cost. I love to travel abroad but it is always a pleasure to come home to Colorado, the mountains, and the sunshine!