So there we were, a small human convoy laden with our
bags, having left the last accommodation in Mexico and negotiating the long set
of steps back down to a single long boat waiting for us on
the Usumancinta
River.
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| Loading our bags onto the boat |
We clambered aboard hauling our bags with us and then set off
for the 9 km trip upstream to our border crossing point into Guatemala, a
country with a very concerning and dubious reputation.
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| Heading upstream to the border |
This was to be one of the more unique border
crossing experiences for us, first that we were making it in a long boat and secondly
because there wasn’t a border guard or Customs person to be seen when we
arrived at the small village in Guatemala and disembarked.
There were however, quite a few men waiting and offering their
help, for a tip, to carry our bags up a scrappy dirt slope to the village
itself. Here a lady waiting for us, a
bulging leather bag strapped across her front, a hopeful look on her face and a
lot of Spanish spraying out of her mouth.
Lula explained that she was the currency exchange service, so we
converted a few Mexican pesos into Guatemalan quetzals in case we needed them.
Lula introduced us to Giovanni, who
would be our guide for this section of our travels into Guatemala, then bade us
a fond farewell before she headed back to the waiting long boat her trip back into
Mexico.
With everything loaded into our small
bus, we drove about 10 kms before stopping in a parking area and entered a very
ramshackle looking building. This was
the local Customs office and the sole officer behind a glass window, slowly
took his time to check passports, enter our details into his computer and then
asked each of us for a payment of US$5. Prior
research indicated there is no entry fee for Guatemala, but Giovanni quietly
advised us it was a local payment, just for this location. Welcome to the country.
Good time to share the map of our
travels in Guatemala, which consisted of spending a few days in the north of
the country before a flight down south to spend a few days there, not very long
at all.
Despite his name, our enthusiastic guide Giovanni was a Guatemalan local from the area and was very keen to teach us a lot about his home region, which he did over the next 2 hrs travelling the 140 kms to Flores on a very bumpy road.
We had been warned by our friends in
Madrid, not to visit Guatemala at all and certainly to stay right away from
Guatemala City (the capital). It has a reputation for being a very dangerous
place, especially for unwary tourists and this same warning was also reinforced
by Giovanni and others whilst in country.
It wasn’t long before we were asking
about Guatemala’s reputation for drugs and violence. Giovanni was quick to assure us the extreme
violence was a thing of the past, but like any country, we did need to be
careful. As we drove, he also described
the many large ‘farms’ located in the area, owned and operated by multiple
members of the same family.
The ‘farms’ are protected by heavily
armed guards, cover vast tracts of land but don’t produce very much, apart from
the cattle we could see roaming around and are allegedly part of the money
laundering activity of drug cartels. The
cartels are still very active, especially in the area we were travelling, as
evidenced by a few armed army patrols we passed. He also told us the locals were not very keen
for the bumpy road to be fixed, because it makes it harder for the army and
police to move around too rapidly.
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| Flores (thanks to Google photos) |
It was hot and quite humid as we checked
into our hotel for the next few days overlooking Lake Petén Itzá and the Island
of Flores.
With a free afternoon, we
were soon walking across the causeway to explore Flores, originally a Mayan
town founded in the 13th century.
It was the last Mayan state to hold out
against the Spanish when Hernan Cortes visited in 1524, the same conquistador
who lead the expedition causing the fall of the Aztecs. He was en route to Honduras, but needed to
move on so did not try to conquer it. But
in 1697 the Spanish marched in, attacked the island by boats and destroyed
it.
From the ruins rose the current colonial
city we wandered through, with its narrow streets and central park, also regarded
as one of the safest places to visit in what is known as Guatemala’s ‘wild
north’. The locals in the hotel also advised
us it was very safe to walk around Flores at night, unlike the other towns
around the sides of the lake.
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| walking through colonial Flores |
Now with all this commentary about
safety in Guatemala, we were visiting Flores for a reason. Giovanni and driver met us early the next day
for our 1 hr drive to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tikal. Tikal is regarded as one of the largest cities
of pre-columbian Mayan civilization at 16 square kms and contained 3,000
structures.
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| Tikal |
Brief history time! Tikal was regarded as the capital of a
conquest orientated state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the
ancient Maya.
Some of the architecture In
Tikal dates back as far as the 4th century BC, but it reached its power zenith from
200 to 900 AD and during this time the city dominated much of this Maya region
politically, economically, and militarily.
The Mayan here also interacted with other
areas such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan where we saw the Sun &
Moon pyramids near Mexico City.
For whatever reasons, there was a gradual
population decline, culminating with this huge site’s abandonment by the end of
the 10th century.
We were only able to truly appreciate
just how ‘massive’ the Tikal site is by looking at a relief model of it at the
parks entrance. With a mere 15%
currently excavated, most of Tikal is ‘guarded’, almost protected by the dense
jungle still covering it as can be seen below.
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| There is a building under here |
Giovanni’s local knowledge came to the
fore as we started exploring the massive site of Tikal because he combined an
archeological investigation with a wildlife search by taking many small paths
through the jungle other visitors weren’t using.
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| 'friendly' spider monkeys |
On the wildlife front we had multiple
sightings including a rare event of two spider monkeys mating in the trees
above us, a family of coati crossing our path and even a toucan or two to
admire.
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| a coati |
Tikal was our last place to visit
ancient ruins whilst in Central America, so we took our time to explore the
visible very large and impressive buildings, clambering over and through them,
which invariably lead to another stone monolith sided pathway or building.
Its ruins include the giant, ceremonial Lost
World Pyramid and the Temple of the Grand Jaguar. At 70 meters, Temple IV is
the tallest pre-Columbian structure in the Americas.
It was in admiration as we continued to
recognize the Mayan’s skill in building with stone.
It was only a short flight before we
were landing into Guatemala City, which seems like it was built atop multiple
canyons in a very haphazard fashion.
We were met by our driver for the next few
days and soon whisked out onto the freeway for the 90 minute drive into the
mountains and Antigua.
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| a chicken bus |
The freeway was both busy with traffic
and ‘decorated’ every kilometre or so with either McDonald’s or Pizza Hut or KFC
or all of them!
Talking about KFC, it
was also the first time we saw a ‘chicken bus’, which are retired USA school
buses, re-born after the addition of bigger motors, better brakes, vigorous
multi-coloured paint jobs and colourful lights all over the exterior.
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| chicken bus helper at 120+ kph! |
Whilst we were sitting on the speed
limit with most other vehicles, these buses crammed full with people, literally
charged past us, the large V8 motor exhaust sound roaring goodbye.
We were staggered whilst watching one going
past, to see a man open the bus’s rear emergency exit door, climb up onto the
roof, organize some bags for the next stop and climb back inside... all at over
120 kph!
Each bus has a ‘helper’ for the
driver who collects fares, shouts out the next stop, organises luggage and
ensures the bus is packed full, just like a truck taking a load of chickens to
the market, hence the name… ‘chicken bus’.
Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site is
a truly beautiful city of around 35,000 filled with classic Spanish colonial
buildings and cobblestone roads.
It was
founded in 1542 and for 200 years was Guatemala’s colonial capital until an
earthquake in 1773 destroyed much of the town.
Standing sentinel like near the town is the Volcano de Fuego, its
classic cone peak occasionally appearing amongst the clouds. Guatemala is well endowed with 33 volcanoes
within it, not bad for a small country.
Malbi, our guide for a walking tour
around the city, met us and soon had us enjoying the multiple things to see in
this delightful city including its famous and much photographed arch…
…the central park filled with locals,
some in traditional dress and around the park the major buildings of the city
like the cathedral, town hall and government buildings.
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| locals in traditional dress in the central square |
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| the cathedral |
As one of THE destinations in Guatemala
for tourists, Antigua contains lots of shops of all sorts including some really
good jade shops, a favourite gemstone of the Mayans for centuries. Malbi was a local and taught us a lot about
Antigua, its history, its reputation for growing food and fruits and was able to
take us to a fabulous café for great coffee and lunch. It was so good, we visited it a few times!
Over the following 2 days, things got a
little more physical for us. First was a
drive to Lake Atitlan, regarded as one of the more beautiful lakes in the
world, perched at an altitude of 1,562 mtrs in the Sierra Madre mountain
range. Before reaching the lake, we
stopped to visit a very vibrant Mayan village in a small town, where the
diminutive and traditionally dressed Mayan locals, especially the women, have
no qualms in pushing you aside if you were blocking their way.
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| local Mayan market |
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| San Antonio Palomino on Lake Atitlan |
Lake Atitlan however during our visit,
was covered with mist and looking very dull as we travelled by boat to San
Antonio Palompo, a small village clinging to the slopes around the side of the
lake.
All the houses seemed almost
perched on top of each other as we climbed through the narrow streets to reach a
local business weaving very colourful clothes and table runners.
The ladies running this business, also in
traditional dress, spoke very good English and had a very playful great sense
of fun.
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| local weavers at work |
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| and one of their products |
On our final full day in Antigua, we
drove to one of the most active volcanoes in Guatemala called Pacaya, which first
erupted ~23,000 years ago. It has
erupted ~23 times since, the last being in 2015.
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| surveying Pacaya volcano and latest lava flow |
Pacaya reaches an elevation of 2,552 mtrs and
it was a very steep climb indeed to reach the still warm lava flow from the
last eruption, so warm in fact, we were able to enjoy marshmellows cooked in crevices
at the face of the flow.
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| cooking marshmallows using a lava flow |
During both our climb and descent, we
would occasionally catch partial glimpses of men standing off the track in amongst
the bushes. This seemed a bit strange
until we learned of the Pacaya Volcano’s prior reputation for the robbery of
tourists climbing the track and that the men in the bushes were now acting as
guards.
It was a very very early start and drive
back to Guatemala City the following morning for our flight out of Guatemala
and as we waited at the airport, we all commented on how much of a surprise
Guatemala had been, compared to its historical and violent reputation. We enjoyed our visit, albeit for only 5 days,
meeting very friendly locals, as long as you pick the right places to visit. It is also a country with a rich history and
beautiful scenery to enjoy.
Well our time of visiting ancient ruins
and cultural immersion was coming to an end as we boarded our flight towards
the next country on our itinerary, so until our next post, go well!
For a few more photos covering Guatemala, please click on the link below.
Giovanni was totally on the take 😀
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