so now we're on the road. after two and a half weeks in xela, we were itchin to put on our travel shoes and hit up the gringo trail amongst other areas. with 2 weeks of spanish class under our belts, we were a little more prepared to face the camionetas (chicken buses), bargaining at markets, and actually ordering food (as opposed to just pointing at the menu and saying, "este, por favor" (this please)).
we left beautiful, mountainy xela for lake atitlan, a gorgeous lake surrounded by volcanoes. so far, it's been our favorite area we've visited and we're already wanting to go back :)
anyhoo...we've got about 2 + weeks of actual travel under our belts and here's some pictures to tell the story...
before we left xela, we had to grab a picture of our favorite beer from guatemala, moza. actually, it's basically the only beer we like :) the rest (gallo, brahva) are simple lagers...but they also do the trick when you need a nice cold one.
a funny thing about moza is that my professor AND our guide to chicabal both told us that moza is known as a good beer to drink while pregnant and after giving birth. they were both serious. apparently it has lots of vitamins. suuuuuure.
this was our view from our breakfast spot in san pedro la laguna. it was gorgeous. we've never seen a lake that compares. everywhere you look has spectacular views. we spent a day/night in san pedro. we enjoyed san pedro's atmosphere a lot (lots of restaurants, bars, kayaking, dreadlocked travelers), but we heard that san marcos la laguna was more low-key and a little less built-up. so...we took a lanchero (little speed boat) over to san marcos...
san marcos was such a unique place. it's a small town that is set in the jungle, among banana trees and other jungly foliage. this is a picture of what you see whilst walking on one of the paths around town. there is really only one main road through the center of town which we were only on in order to go to the grocery store. otherwise, there are just little paths among the jungle to get from place to place.
this is a typical guatemalan sauna that was at our hostel. unfortunately, we didn't "splurge" the $2/pp it cost to use it, but it looked pretty awesome.
san marcos is well known as a place for holistic therapies, yoga, massage, reiki, and most importantly, the meditation center called "las piramides." most of the people staying our hostel were doing a course at the center or elsewhere in the town. it was interesting hearing about some of their classes and also about why san marcos is such a center for these kind of activities. they actually heard from a teacher that there is a temple in the bottom of the lake, giving the lake area a strong spiritual energy. interesting for sure.
the view from the san marcos side of the lake was probably even more gorgeous. and even better, you could actually swim on this side. the dock area was disgusting (full of trash bobbing up and down in the water!) but "the rocks" area (from this view) was wonderful and a great little swimming spot.
we had many little lizard friends joining us at our sunny rock. this guy was the most colorful.
after a couple days in san marcos, we grabbed another lanchero over to panajachel. pana is the biggest town off the lake. for that reason, we decided to hit the road the next morning to antigua. it seems that we've decided that we like to avoid the built up areas and lean towards the smaller towns. in that respect you feel less like a tourist in a big city and more so just a person enjoying the small town guatemalan lifestyle.
but before we left pana, we did take some time to enjoy our awesome terrace view from our hostel. we also got to enjoy celtics/lakers game 5! we won't discuss game 6 or 7 though.
before leaving pana that morning, we had one more last good view of the lake.
a remnant from agatha. roads all over the southwest part of guatemala were so badly damaged by the storm. this is the main 4 lane highway from the lake to antigua. it seemed that every 5 minutes or so, two lanes of the road would be closed due to landslides on the highway.
after a slightly longer ride than usual due to the damage from the storm, we made it to antigua. after being in xela and the lake for a few weeks before antigua, it felt strange coming to such a well developed city where trash wasn't sprawled all over the street and dogs actually had owners. it was a beautiful city. the architecture is incredible and there is so much to see. this is the catedral de santiago on the side of the parque central that had some awesome ruins inside.
ruins inside the catedral. the church had fallen apart several times due to many earthquakes.
one of the many beautiful buildings in antigua.
a huge artisans market in the city. just one of the many times where we wish we didn't have to carry everything we bought with us in our packs :) for that reason, no purchases.
the market did have a great display of the traditional mayan attire for all the different departments of guatemala (along with prices if you were interested in buying a set :) these were from the department of chimaltenango.
some traditional mayan women near la merced.
just knockin' down some ruins at la merced. no big deal.
our room at the yellow house hostel in antigua. this is what our room typically looks like...clothes drying above our bed on our awesome clothesline.
a huge table of platanos (plantains) at the market in antigua. we've learned to cook two awesome platano dishes. our favorite...rellenos de platanos. mushed plantains formed into an empanada-like shape stuffed with refried beans. yes...it's good. especially with a little sugar and/or chocolate.
public pilas in antigua. pilas are stone sinks/washing areas, usually with 2 or 3 chambers (one for fresh water, one for washing). we love when hostels have them for use because they are great for washing clothes.
after antigua, we headed to chichicastenango for the famous sunday market, one of the largest markets in guatemala. we enjoyed it, but again, it would have been a little better if we would have actually let ourselves buy something :) (although lauren did buy a pair of jade earrings). the church steps right off the market were pretty awesome.
just some of the beautiful colors of chichi's market.
one of our favorite sounds...the clapping of mayan women making tortillas.
among the beautiful textiles, jewelry, and smells of comida tipica at the market, you find shoe/converse stalls. you'd be surprised at the number of kids wearing converse.
joe and i on the hostel terrace in chichi (complete with my new jade earrings:) our experience in chichi will be forever instilled in our minds because of our awful hostel. do not stay at hospedaje salvador in chichi! we got to the hostel after the market and heard some sort of "music" outside our window. we thought it was just market day stuff so we figured it would stop by dinner time. nope. it lasted until about 8 pm and then woke us up at around 5 am. come to discover the next morning, it was marimba being played in a tiny little room by an old man...from 5 am to 8 pm. in addition, there were M-80 like firecrackers being set off at all hours of the day/night, including at 430 am. anyhoo...we learned to always check to make sure marimba music is no where near a future hostel.
after chichi, we had a 3 bus ride day to get to our new destination, coban. this included the most crowded bus we had been on so far. normally, this bus would hold 15 semi-comfortably. i think at one point this bus had 23 people on it, with two on the top of the bus. pretty standard for camionetas/minibuses.
it was a beautiful ride from chichi to coban, but due to the tight quarters (we could barely move our arms), this is about the best picture we got of the drive.
on the other hand, on this bus from coban to lanquin (the town famed for semuc champey and the caves) we were riding right in front and got some great views and were able to move our arms enough for a few pictures.
we were so happy to arrive in lanquin at el retiro, a great lodge-like hotel with little bungalows spread about the hillside. el retiro was set right off the river so you could take a dip in fast moving river with cool water...which was necessary due to the jungle-like climate.
this was the view from el retiro. gorgeous hillside everywhere, complete with loud cows in the afternoons.
most people staying at el retiro, or in lanquin in general, do so because of the trip to semuc champey. we took a tour because we also wanted to do the kan-baa caves which were right next to semuc champey. this was the view along the way.
our first stop of the day was the kan-baa caves. it was awesome. it wasn't just a nice little path through the caves like we experienced with carlsbad...it was usually swimming in pitch black water just putting your faith into the guides that it was safe. we were so glad we did it. also...the main light source was a candle for everyone. since we had our headlamps, it was great because you could actually use both hands when climbing/swimming. the tour here involved jumping 6 feet into a pool/black hole, sliding down a hole where you couldn't see the exit, and climbing up a rope up a waterfall. this was our first effort using our waterproof camera too and it did quite well. although only a couple good pics because of the cave lighting. here's joe spelunking.
another good spelunking photo.
after the caves, we hiked to semuc champey and then did the grueling 20 minute climb to el mirador (viewpoint) to see the pools of semuc champey. the view was incredible. semuc champey is a series of pools that lie above the raging river. the pools are usually more turquoise/blue but because of all the rain, some of the lower pools are more brown due to the mud from the mountain.
we hiked down the slippery path and made it to the pools. so necessary after hiking in the jungle. this is in the first pool, where the river goes underneath the pools.
a double rainbow in the flowin river.
this is the view of poza una (pool one).
view of poza dos.
joe with his awesome jumping face going into poza dos.
the view of the 3rd pool looking over the hills. this one had the steepest drop into the next pool so everyone just stayed in the first 3 pools.
a lovely picture of joe and i in the 3rd pool
una mariposa posing for us
our way back from semuc champey to el retiro. this was our "tour bus" both ways, aka a pickup truck that we all crammed into the back, standing for the 30-40 minute, 4 mile drive. it was pretty awesome.
relaxing at el retiro lodge. wouldn't be complete with some hammock time.
well...that's about it for now. yesterday we left el retiro and landed in flores after an 8 hour shuttle bus ride. we'll be leaving shortly to go to the more remote town of el remate, which is about an hour away from the tikal ruins. we'll be heading there this afternoon and then tomorrow morning bright and early. after that, heading south to rio dulce.
hope everyone is doing great back at home! today is the anderson family reunion so we'll be thinking of all of you! miss you all!
tallyho,
lauren and joe
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