The Remains of Guatemala

David and I enjoying Tikal

So in my last Guatemalan post, I told you quickly about a sexy Spanish man….well it was because of this guy that my first visit to Guatemala ended a week early, so I could go and see him again in Mexico….I know, how sweet, love <3, blah blah. But it was all ok as after changing my plans completely and joining David in Spain for Christmas – I know, what was I thinking?! – I came back to Central to continue through the travels I’d already planned (but on a much smaller timeframe).  After my trek through Cuba at the beginning of the year, I had my incredible guy join me in Mexico and my Central trip now suddenly became doubly better (and I didn’t think it could get any better!).

So after 6 weeks (2 weeks in Mexico, 1 week in Spain, 2 weeks in Cuba and 1 week in Belize), I was finally back in Guatemala, my favourite country (so far) in Central America.  We began our journey in the North in Flores and Tikal.  Wow.  Flores itself was pretty and an easy, safe place to relax, but the real attraction was the ruins of Tikal.  Tikal is not even a “town” as such, just existent because of the incredible ruins that are still intact there, which is why we stayed in Flores. 

 

The "main" temple of the Tikal ruins

Walking through the ruins of Tikal, it’s like a big jungle, with paths carefully paved for tourists to visit each site easily.  There are a massive amount of intact areas and in a full day, we didn’t see everything!  But the main temples and attractions were enough to really see Tikal and we spent our time enjoying the green scenery, the monkeys in the park and walking around some of the less “touristic” ruins.  Because the area is so large, you can get lost and feel like you’re the only people visiting Tikal, when in fact, the area is swarmed with visitors every day.  If you would like to learn about the Mayan history in relation to the ruins, I recommend taking a guided tour, but otherwise do what we did and explore and research on your own. 

 

After Tikal we headed south to Semuc Champey, Lanquin.  This entailed a horrendous full day bus trek for about 300km of road, but once we arrived, all was forgotten.  The landscape was just beautiful – and we hadn’t even got to the park yet!! Here we stayed at a hostel called Zephyr Lodge.  Now, the set-up was incredible, with little huts for the rooms and bathrooms opening into nature.  However, the staff were incredibly rude, the food and drinks overpriced and overall a big party place.  It depends on what you’re after during your stay, either way we enjoyed the place but because of some factors, it wasn’t something to rave about. 

 

The next day we took a tour with the hostel into the park.  First we visited some caves.  Full of water, we trekked/swam our way in to the end and got to cannonball into the last opening before turning around again.  A few small spots, but being claustrophobic myself, not too bad!  And then onto the thing we came for, Semuc Champey.  Semuc Champey is a lime bridge with a natural formation of water holes.  It’s incredible to see and wonderful and fresh to swim in, especially after the hike to the mirador (lookout) to view the area from above.  This is definitely a must-see when in Guatemala, despite being a pain to get to – it was one of my favourite days in the country!

Photos just can't do this place justice - Semuc Champey!

 

Down to Lake Atitlan we headed the next day, on another 10 hour journey, yuk!  But we were told there weren’t many people in our bus so there would be plenty of room, and if we walked to the agency instead of waiting to be picked up, we’d get the first seats.  Sweet.  Well, that was a lie.  We were actually the last, leaving me to sit upright in a chair as the “back” consisted of a hard piece that finished around the mid of my back…But, thinking quickly, at the next stop I asked my driver in my broken Spanish if I could jump in the front cab.  He didn’t seem too thrilled with it, but since I didn’t understand what he was saying, I just jumped on up and ended up having the best 10 hour bus trip!! Advice given J

 

We arrived at Lake Atitlan at San Pedro – a little town, re-known for its party nature, but chosen for its accessibility to other parts of the lake and our onward journey.  Now Lake Atitlan is huge, I mean, it takes an hour on a boat just to cross a small portion of it!  One day we took off to explore Santiago, another village on the edge of the lake, and home to Maximo, a strange saint vs. devil monument thing.  Ok, now don’t judge me, this wasn’t my idea – David has some strange liking to these voodoo religion things that I have no understanding of, but hey, got to be a good girlfriend sometimes, right??  But I’m not that good a girlfriend to actually go in.  Well…that was until a drunk Guatemalan guy came to harass me and when I politely walked away, screamed after me “hey, woman!!”…yeah because that’s going to make me stop and listen…

 

Anyway on the way to Santiago, the water was extremely choppy.  I mean, you would think we were in the ocean.  David and I got absolutely drenched.  I stepped off the boat and I could wring out my clothes and water just came pouring out.  Good day to wear white shorts, just saying.  So my advice to you is sit at the very back of the boat, near the driver – they were the only people who didn’t get wet!!

Enjoying the views of Lake Atitlan

Other than that, David and I spent our time at the Lake to upwind, relax and catch up on some R&R time, and what better way to do it than to stay in a hostel with hot tubs.  Mikaso Hostel is a little walk away from the main area (which is great when you don’t want to be sucked into the party atmosphere of San Pedro), and they have two hot tubs on the roof of their place, overlooking the lake.  It was so relaxing, sitting in the hot tub, under the stars, sipping on a beer.  Tough life.  We had some incredible vegetarian food here (I think the place was called Home? – but it was next door to the Irish place, The Clover) – was cheap, delicious and a refreshing change from the Central American diet of rice, beans and meat of your choice.  Lake Atitlan can give you whatever you’re after – some relaxation, parties, much needed vegetable hit and also they have several volcanoes that you can climb – so it’s a place you have to visit while you’re in Guatemala. 

Lake Atitlan rounded out our last day in the country and it was a wonderful way to finish our time there.  Guatemala stole my heart (which is probably half contributed to the adorable kiddies at the orphanage) and it’s definitely a country I can’t wait to return to! We headed on out of the lake directly en-route to the beach in El Salvador J

Stayed tuned for the El Salvadorian news…

xxx