From Baja to the Land of Fire #5: Guatemala

Caye Caulker (Belize) - Tikal - Flores - Livingstone - Antigua - Santa Cruz - Xela (Quetzaltenango)

9 Dec 2001


Guy and I left Caye Caulker early in the morning and while waiting for the bus to Tikal, Guatemala, we ate breakfast at Big Daddy's Diner in Belize City. Just as we were finishing our meal there was some commotion at the door, and as I looked up seven girls of all skin colors walked in and sat down at the table next to us.

I recognized them right away from the local paper I had been reading: they were the seven candidates for Miss Belize 2001. It was the final day, and they were all very nervous. We weren't allowed to take pictures, unfortunately, but I hope they will fix their website www.missbelize.bz soon so I can see if my favorite won.

The bus ride ($8, 6 hours) to Tikal was interesting as the scenery changed from green, swampy flatlands of coastal Belize to the hilly rainforests of eastern Guatemala. After all the other gringos (backpackers) left the bus at Flores, the driver speeded us to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Guy took the smallest caba�a I had ever seen (50 quetzals) and I slept in my hammock under a palapa (40 Q). It is the night of the full moon, and we are going to sleep in the middle of the jungle, yes! After a guard told us he saw jaguars every night I thought I would probably not be able to sleep well, as I would be thinking not only of those big cats sneaking up on me, but also the monkeys, tarantulas, vicious mosquitoes, and many more critters. But I was so tired I fell asleep very quickly, although when I did awake in the middle of the night I didn't dare to cross the big field and go to the bathroom.

At 5:30, in a light drizzle of rain we walked through the jungle to the Mayan ruins. There are many ancient grey buildings everywhere, sometimes only just barely excavated, which you can see through the jungle. There are several higher than 50 meters (164 feet) and can be climbed so there are several great views over the top of the forest, especially from Templo IV. It was a great city-empire once, being settled between 800BC-1200AD. It is not known why it was abandoned. We think we heard a jaguar far away and saw some monkeys high up in the trees, and a friendly pizote, like a cross between a cat and a raccoon (not really, it just looks this way).

That night we stayed in the island town of Flores, where most people stay when they visit the ruins, so we could catch the bus the next morning to Livingstone, a Garifuna village on the Caribbean coast.

After a short bus ride (3 hours) we arrived in Rio Dulce village, from where we would take a lancha (taxi-boat) across the Rio Dulce river to Livingstone. The 2-hour boat trip goes through the Biotopo Chocon Machacas, a hilly, jungle landscape which actually made Guy think of some Asian jungle landscapes. The village of Livingstone was not especially attractive. It is mainly interesting because a large group of Garifunas live here. They are a mix between Caribbean black people and the local Maya Indians. So the next morning we took another lancha to Puerto Barios. Finally I was able to use my rain gear (jacket and special backpack bag against rain) since it was pouring down hard. During the hour ride I stared at the passing coastline, with dark lava sand beaches and a green jungle coming right up to the sea.

There was a bus going within five minutes of our arrival to Guate (Guatemala City). Now the landscape changed from the wet rainforest to the drier highlands. From Guate we finally took a real chicken bus (an old American school bus) to Antigua, our destination. This is one of the major destinations for backpackers in Latin America, mainly to study Spanish here at one of the many language schools. The town itself is nice, with mainly many yellow, green and blue one-story buildings lining cobblestone streets. It sits at an altitude of 1500m (4,920 ft) among several volcanoes. After several hours I had seen the town, and we arranged for a hiking tour of the active volcano Pacaya for the next day, the most famous day trip in Antigua. With a group of about 16 people and a guide and a security guard (against robbers) we walked up the volcano. In the second hour we were walking through a surreal landscape, with black lava rock under us and our heads leaning into the windy and misty clouds. Since the top was covered with clouds we couldn't see any lava, which sometimes is visible.

After returning late in the evening, we went with Josee from Quebec, Canada, and Elke from Stuttgart, Germany, to eat some pizza. Tired from the hiking, but feeling good about the heavy ordeal of the hike, we had a good time discussing the advantages of having a hotel with a warm-water shower. I have not had a warm shower since we left Belize. The next morning the four of us had a great breakfast at Cafe Luna, a little new place, still unknown to the Lonely Planet guide, so we felt like we had discovered something special.

After taking four different chicken busses we arrived 2.5 hours later in Panajachel, the major town on the Lago Atitlan. Traveling with chicken busses really adds to the flavor of traveling. You sit, squeezed in tight between the locals, sitting sometimes with six people per row (meant to seat four children), old and young, men and women, modern and traditional and... yes... sometimes with chickens as well. Your backpack is thrown on top of the bus among the very varied baggage of the locals, and you pray it doesn't fall off or worse.

At Panajachel Guy left for San Pedro, and I left for the small village of Santa Cruz de la Laguna. Guy would spend a few days there before heading to Costa Rica to meet up with some friends. I took a room all for myself at the Iguana Perdido, needing a few days of privacy. The view from my room looked out over the terrace of the hotel, with the clear blue lake and the three volcanoes towering on the shores.

I stayed four nights here, and I enjoyed it very much. There were a lot of other solo travelers here, both men and women, and I finally met several other long-term travelers. There actually seem to be more solo travelers than people traveling together, and of the people traveling together many just met each other on the road. The atmosphere was very relaxed, and because we all ate our meals together at big tables it was very easy to make contact (like Margarita's in Creel, Mexico).

The first day I visited some villages on the lake. The second day I went to the nearby village Solola to visit the big Friday market. This was amazing, I felt like a giant walking among the short, colorfully dressed Mayan people, with almost no other gringo to be seen. I first had to get used to all the pulling and shoving, and after finally falling over completely on a bail of cloth, to great amusement of all around me, I joined in the action.

The third and last day I just sat on the terrace the whole day, reading and talking with Mieke and Floor, two great girls from... from... Amsterdam! They are also traveling long-term, solo, and they had just met each other in Antigua where they were doing a language course. Especially with the barbecue and many bottles of wine that evening (as happens every Saturday there) it was just what I had been waiting for, one of those days when you fully enjoy traveling and meeting like-minded people. Although I was not feeling well enough the next morning to eat breakfast, I was fit enough to travel the very curvy road to Xela (Quetzaltenango). I said my goodbyes to Mieke and Floor, maybe meeting them sometime later, and then I took my last lancha back to Panajachel and stepped on the first of the four chicken busses for that day (today).

As soon as I arrived in Xela I went to one of the language schools an Australian girl recommended to me yesterday, and signed up for a full week with homestay at a local family. Tomorrow I have to go to school at 8 o'clock. I choose Xela to do this because there are not very many gringos here, giving it a more authentic atmosphere, and because of the good reputation of the schools here. The town itself is nothing special, although it is the second city of Guatemala and the capital of the Maya people.

Traveling in Guatemala seems to be much easier than I expected. It seems the roads have been greatly improved since the last time the writer of the travel guide was here, no more unpaved roads. There are many types of transport to choose from, from high-powered lanchas to luxury busses. The big danger is mainly the maniacal drivers of the busses. I hardly dare to sit in front and look at what the driver is doing anymore, and I know from the covers of the local newspapers that they do crash! I am very impressed by the colorful clothing the Mayan people are still wearing (mostly the women); each village has their own colors and designs.