Our second trip to Guatemala, featuring visits to Mixco Viejo, Chicoj, Semuc Champey, Chilasco Falls, Antigua, the Lake Atitlan area including San Juan de Laguna and Santiago de Atitlan, San Francisco el Alto, Zunil, and Xela.
Monday, June 8 - Welcome to my Guatemala journal. My name is Phil. I am 52, overweight and out of shape. My wife, Sheree, is the same age as me, but keeps herself in much better condition. This is our second trip to Guatemala. Last year, we took the packaged group tour that Caravan offers, but this year we wanted something customized for us. We are both college educated, and both speak some Spanish. Sheree is a teacher, so we travel in the summer. She also makes and sells jewelry, and one of our aims on the trip was to find a good selection of Guatemalan woven beaded jewelry.
Sheree and I woke up at 5:00 AM for our 8:15 AM flight from San Antonio to Houston. We let our son, Brendan, sleep an extra 15 minutes before getting him up. Brendan is 22 and he was not going with us on the trip. He had the chore of taking us to the airport and then watching the house and caring for our two cats, Tiffy and Forrest.
Brendan got up and got dressed, and was ready to leave the house within plenty of time for our 5:45 departure from home. Sheree had left Brendan a bunch of notes on how to do laundry, when to take out trash, and everything else he might need to know for the next two weeks. Sometimes I think that Sheree forgets about Brendan's mild ADD, and that too much detail is not necessarily a good thing.
Coincidently along with our departure for Guatemala, this was to be Brendan's first day at a new job, as a tech support person. His training was scheduled to start at 8:00 AM. After taking us to the airport, he planned to have a leisurely breakfast. We had spent part of Sunday scoping out potential breakfast and lunch locations for Brendan. We had found a few likely candidates on the route between the house and his new work location.
We arrived at the airport shortly before 6:15 AM, as planned. We had not checked-in on-line, since we were planning on checking a bag. It turned out that we could have checked-in on-line, but we were soon to learn that not checking-in on-line gave us a great opportunity.
The check-in line moved along very quickly, and when we reached the counter a very helpful Continental representative got us through the check-in kiosk process. As she was pushing buttons, a miracle happened - we got offered the chance to upgrade to first class for the Houston to Guatemala City leg. It would cost $150 each, but as we had paid less than $350 each for our roundtrip tickets, this additional cost for first class did not seem overly extravagant. My eyes grew wide as I turned to Sheree and said, "Yes, we want the upgrade." She agreed, and there we were, not even out of San Antonio and already $300 deeper in trip costs than we had planned.
The flight from San Antonio to Houston was full, so our strategy of booking an aisle and a window seat did not pay off. We were joined in our row by a nice gentleman, who, it turned out, was an insurance adjuster taking his family on a trip to the Florida Keys.
We got into Houston and we did not find the breakfast burrito place that we remembered from last year's trip. Instead, after looking around, we decided to try Famiglia. They had breakfast stromboli that was just yummy.
After our nearly two hour wait and the requisite documents check, we boarded our plane to Guatemala, and settled into seats 1A and 1B. The flight was fine, and the crew was very attentive. I had four airline-size glasses of sauvignon blanc on our flight; Sheree had two. Our movie was supposed to be Last Chance Harvey, with Dustin Hoffman, but that film did not want to work in the airliner's player. We wound up with Paul Blart, Mall Cop. Sheree's headset did not work well, and she was not interested in that movie anyway, so she used the time to read. I usually enjoy silly comedies and I decided to give this one a shot. I had brought my folding Sony Studio headphones along, and they sounded great with this movie. The plane food was great, featuring a beef and chicken mix with what seemed to be a marsala sauce.
We arrived in Guatemala City, and exited into what appeared to be a brand new area. This was our second trip to Guatemala. We had been there just about one year ago, leaving us with expectations from that experience. The arrival area was beautiful but it was not cooled.
We made our way to the customs and immigration areas. We had to fill out one form at the airport because Guatemala had not supplied Continental with the form. We breezed through the airport and made our way to the exit, to look for our shuttle.
Our time in Guatemala City was the only part of the trip that caused me to have heightened safety concerns. I remembered the Guatemala City airport as having an exit which puts you into a crowd of guides with signs for their clients, and all manner of other folks trying to make a few dollars or quetzals helping you with your bags or picking your pocket. I was wearing an inside the pants money belt to alleviate the pick-pocketing concerns. We made it through the crowd to the barricaded-off shuttle waiting area, just as our shuttle was leaving, full. We called to the driver who said he'd be back in ten minutes. After about fifteen to twenty minutes, the shuttle driver returned and took us to our hotel, the Biltmore Express.
Unfortunately, a name can create expectations. Having lived in Phoenix for several years, we were familiar with the opulence of the Arizona Biltmore. We had researched the hotel, and we had no preconceptions about the opulence of the Biltmore Express. It looked on paper like it might be a hotel roughly equivalent to a Holiday Inn Express. But, unfortunately, it was disappointing. Here is what Expedia says about the hotel:
Biltmore Express Guatemala offers a bar or lounge, a poolside bar, and a swim-up bar. The property provides 24-hour room service. The full-service spa features beauty services. In addition to an outdoor pool and a seasonal outdoor pool, Biltmore Express Guatemala also provides a health club, a steam room, and a fitness center or room. This property offers a business center and secretarial services. Meeting facilities include conference rooms, a ballroom, exhibit space, and banquet facilities. This Guatemala City property also offers a casino, wireless Internet access, and high-speed Internet access. The property has a 24-hour front desk.
* Swimming pool - outdoor seasonal
* Swimming pool - outdoor
* Poolside bar
* Swim-up bar
* Full-service health spa
* Steam room
* Complimentary breakfast
* Complimentary newspapers in lobby
* Health club
* Fitness equipment
* Bar/lounge
* Coffee shop or café
* Room service (24 hours)
* Parking (secure)
* Meeting rooms (small groups)
* Ballroom(s)
* Business center
* Banquet facilities
* Exhibit space
* Conference room(s)
* Event catering
* Audio-visual equipment
* Cell phone/mobile rental
* Secretarial services
* Internet access in public areas - surcharge
* Business services
* Computer rental
* Internet access - wireless
* Internet access in public areas - high speed
* 24-hour front desk
* Porter/bellhop
* Security guard
* Safe-deposit box - front desk
* Multilingual staff
* Number of rooms: 116
* Number of suites: 4
* Number of floors: 4
* Translation services
* Hair salon
* ATM/banking
* Gift shops or newsstand
* Tour assistance
* Currency exchange
* Medical assistance available
* Beauty services
* Dry cleaning service
* Grocery
* Shoe shine
* Coffee in lobby
* Casino
* Air-conditioned public areas
* Elevator/lift
* Wedding services
This description, however, is quite misleading. There is no coffee shop/café, casino or ATM. The pools and spa facilities, and most of the other amenities listed above are not found in the Biltmore Express. These services are available at the sister property to the Biltmore Express, the very first rate appearing Westin Camino Real, which is around the corner from the Biltmore Express. But, you cannot get from the Biltmore Express to the Westin Camino Real without venturing out onto the streets.
We had hoped to just stay in our room at the hotel on this first day, as we had been warned about walking in unfamiliar areas of Guatemala City. On our trip last year, we were given detailed descriptions of safe and unsafe places to go. I knew we were in Zone 10 of Guatemala City, a reasonably safe area, known as the Zona Viva, but I also had this warning in the back of my mind:
Guatemala City, Zona 10: An adult male was approached by two individuals on a motorcycle while driving his vehicle. The individuals attempted to rob him of his cellular phone and shot at his vehicle when he did not turn it over.
I had seen several reports of this type of thing including beatings that occurred in the Zona Viva. While it is viewed as generally safe, being the first day of the trip, I did not want the vacation ruined by one criminal. Nonetheless, as there was no restaurant in the Biltmore Express, we decided to venture out into the Zona Viva. The street in front of the Biltmore Express lobby looked a little dodgy. Up from the hotel, there are crowds of folks waiting for what turned out to be eye exams needed to get a driver's license. The other direction leads to a main thoroughfare which has a split walking area, making it hard to feel that one is walking in the safety of the public's eye. Still, we were determined to make the best of it, and we rounded the corner to head up the main street. At the next corner we found the Westin Camino Real, which was on a street that looked a little better suited to a tourist's walk.
We were hoping to find bottled water on our walk, and we eventually found a farmacia that sold cold bottles. The restaurants on Westin's street looked pretty good, but most wanted between 100Q to 200Q for dinner. At a rate of 8 Quetzals to the dollar, that translated to between $12.50 and $25.00 for an entrée - not exactly budget food territory. We eventually happened upon an upscale tacqueria directly across from the Hotel Intercontinental. Their menu had prices from about 50 to 80Q. It was called Mexico Lindo.
After a little more exploring, we decided the area did not look very dangerous, and we made our way back to the Biltmore Express. At dinner time, we walked back to Mexico Lindo for dinner. It was excellent. They serve a variety of soft tacos called gringas. They are a sort of cross between a soft taco and a quesadilla, loaded with meat and cheese. Sheree and I had the gringas and a queso fundido for dinner, along with several bottles of the local beer, Gallo. When it was all said and done, we still wound up with about a $40 bill.
By the time we left the restaurant, the darkness was settling in. Being closer to the equator, it actually gets dark earlier in summer than it does at our home in San Antonio. By 7:00 PM it is quite dark. We made our way back to the Biltmore Express, on streets that seemed even more dodgy in the darkness, and settled in for the evening.
The TV had a Latin American Hallmark channel, which broadcasts in English with Spanish subtitles. I find watching TV this way is a great way to refresh my Spanish. They were showing Anaconda. It seemed like a perfect way to end our first day.
Day 2 Mixco Viejo, Salama, Vera Paz
Jun 09, 2009
Tuesday, June 9 - This morning, we are scheduled to meet our driver at 9 AM. We got up at 7:30 and headed downstairs for the continental breakfast. The Biltmore Express had a few tables and chairs set up very close together, making it a little tough to get through to the buffet. We managed to get coffee. I saw bread and cold cuts, and gathered the makings of a ham and cheese sandwich. I also had some pineapple and an orange juice. Sheree had a snack bar and orange juice along with her coffee. We checked out and sat down to wait for our driver, who arrived early in a Mitsubishi SUV. We learned his name is Sergio, and we loaded-up the SUV. Sergio turned out to speak perfect English, which gave us a bit of relief as we were not guaranteed an English-speaking driver.
We told Sergio that before heading out of Guatemala City we would like to hit an ATM, and stop to load up on water, and, if possible get a few nighttime beverages. Sergio asked the desk to point him to a nearby ATM, and we learned that the ATM is at the Westin, around the corner. After getting some Quetzals, we headed to the supermarket, which, it turned out, is a Central American division of Walmart. We were able to get water, beer, wine, Coke, and even a bottle of rum. But, they did not have any ice chests available. Sergio seemed reasonably certain we could find another store with a cooler.
We headed to the ruins at Mixco Viejo. On the way to Mixco Viejo we passed through the Guatemala City suburb of Mixco. In Mixco, we found an Ace Hardware store that had coolers. The prices were high, but a six-pack size cooler set us back about $10. We picked up two and we headed out to Mixco Viejo.
The road to Mixco Viejo seemed long, but beautiful, up and down mountains and around switchbacks and through villages. We were quickly reminded that distances in Central America couldn't be covered as quickly as they can be in the U.S. We saw many women dressed in traditional Mayan clothing. Just as the ride seems to be too long we arrive at Mixco Viejo.
Mixco Viejo is amazing. We have seen nearly all of the "major" Mayan sites in Latin America - Chichen Itza, Tulum, Palenque, Tikal, Copan, etc. This site has no one incredible photogenic feature, but the setting is incredible. Mixco Viejo is a mountaintop fortress. I am reminded of photos of Masada. The cliff around the site drops off at least 500 feet to the valley below. The site appears to occupy about ¾ of a linear mile on the mountaintops.
Sergio pointed us in the direction of the ruins, and we were off on our own. Only one other small group was at the site. They were also Americans. We crossed paths with them a couple times, but we were virtually alone. We spent about 1 ½ to 2 hours at the site, and we hiked back to Sergio and the SUV.
It was a fairly cloud free day, and the heat and humidity had me sweating through my shirt. I found I had to take my time when hiking up the hills, and I was already thinking about our volcano hike next week. I hoped that guide would let me take my good old time as we try to climb San Pedro.
When we arrived back to the SUV, we found that we were parked in by some repairmen. But, Sergio had been chatting with them, and when we were ready to leave, after having downed a bottle of water, Sergio asked them to move and we were on the road.
Sergio was excited because the repairmen told him of a beautiful sugarcane plantation and museum that we could visit in the direction we were headed. It sounded worth looking into. Sheree and I were both ready for lunch, and we assumed Sergio was heading to a restaurant. We were wrong. Sergio had planned a route to have us avoid Guatemala City on the way to our hotel. What an adventure that was!
For the next several hours, we traveled on roads that went from excellent highway, to areas partially blocked by landslides to areas that were totally washed out. Now we saw why we needed the SUV for this part of the trip. We traveled across two stream bed crossings and over a beautiful bridge spanning the Rio Negro. We eventually arrived in Salama. It was about 3:30 and we were beyond hungry.
In Salama, Sergio took us to a Pollo Campero. We had wanted to try Pollo Campero on our last trip, but as the meals were all included, we never had the chance. Pollo Campero was fine. It also had Wi-Fi, and we were able to use our iPod Touch to send Brendan an email. After Pollo Campero, it was too late to visit the sugar plantation, so we headed off to the hotel.
Sergio made a wrong turn on the way to the hotel, but checked his itinerary and turned around to head toward the correct mile marker. We got stopped at a construction zone, but eventually made it to the Hotel Ram Tzul on the road to Coban in the Department of Baja Verapaz.
Ram Tzul has a beautiful lobby. The main lobby/restaurant/bar building is a giant bamboo lodge. The rooms are separate cabins. We were away from heavily populated areas. There is no TV in the rooms. There is also no A/C and no ceiling fan, and it is very warm. But, we were told, at this altitude it will cool down very quickly.
We enjoyed our dinner at the hotel. I have something called Bell Creole, a chicken breast will red bell pepper, pineapple, banana slices and bacon. The combination seemed a bit strange, but the flavors were great. The soup was also excellent - a yellow vegetable soup that reminded me of acorn squash. There was no black pepper on the table. Instead we were given a red, roasted, dried pepper as a condiment. The chili pepper really added some zing to the soup.
Sheree had Cak-Ick, the local turkey stew that is a specialty of this region. It was a feast for one, with fried turkey pieces, along with a spicy broth, and a selection of vegetables. Sheree could not finish it, and she let me have some. It was excellent.
We never did buy ice for those two coolers. I asked for ice, but the hotel did not have much. They gave me a couple pieces, which I was able to use to cool a Diet Pepsi. When it cooled off, I poured equal amounts of Diet Pepsi and 5-year old Botran Rum into a glass to make a diet Cuba Libre.
It did cool off, and the rain started up. It rained heavily. We had planned a hike on the hotel premises for the morning, to visit a waterfall. We realized that we might have to reconsider if the rain keeps up.
Day 3 Ram Tzul hike, Coban coffee tour, Hotel El Recreo
Jun 10, 2009
Wednesday, June 10 – Sergio, Sheree and I had a talk last night about options for activities this morning. There were three possibilities. We are just outside the Biotopo de Quetzal, where the quetzal, the beautiful bird, has a protected habitat. There is farm nearby, where a pair of quetzals are said to visit around sunrise. If we choose to visit that area, we might get chance to see the quetzals.
The second possibility is a hike up the mountain at that Biotopo entrance, just across the road. Again we would get an outside chance of happening upon a quetzal, and the trail goes through beautiful vegetation, regardless of what else we might see.
The third possibility is the hike on the hotel’s property. This hike takes you down the mountain to a waterfall. Again, the beautiful vegetation is guaranteed, but it is unlikely we would see a quetzal on that hike.
We decided to opt for the sure thing and take the waterfall hike. The visit to farm would require us to get up before 5:00 AM, and the hike up the mountain would not have any definite payoff for the effort.
But, it rained very heavily last night, and we awoke with concerns about the conditions we might find on the trail to the waterfall. From the sound of the storm and length of time it lasted, I estimated we had at least 2 inches of rain last night.
We asked about the trail at the front desk, and we were assured that it would not be very muddy. We decided to go forward with the hike on the hotel premises. We grabbed a couple small bottles of water and met with our guide, a local man named Ernesto. Ernesto was wearing rubber boots, which gave us a clue that the hike might be muddier than we were being told.
The trail was supposed to be a 2.8 km loop, but I am certain we traveled much farther than that on the hike. We first walked through a spectacular bamboo forest, from which, I gathered, the hotel had taken its construction materials. It was nearly black inside the walls of bamboo, and I quickly saw why a guide was needed for what I thought was to be a leisurely stroll upon the hotel grounds.
We descended toward the river, passing several small falls. When we arrived at the bottom, we were looking a 180 degree bend in the Rio Cafetal, known as the El Bano de la Luna – the Moon’s Bath. We had seen no large waterfall, but, I surmised the water probably changes with the season, and we had passed the small falls on the way down.
After climbing back to “the top” of the trail, we went to a viewpoint, “El Mirador” from which we could see a large falls seeming to come out of a mountain. Ernesto led us to a split in the trail, and explained that one path led to the base of the waterfalls, and the other was the return. We decided to try to proceed to the base, although I was quite winded from the climb back to the top. After about ¼ mile of hiking, we reached a sign warning us of the difficult terrain to come. Looking back, my instinct should have told me that for Guatemalan’s to post a warning sign, the dangers must be very severe. But, Sheree was doing so well on the hike, I did not want to deprive her of the chance to see the waterfalls, and we decided to travel on.
After a bit, we reached a very steep slope with about a 20 meter descent. It was rocks and mud, and looked like a likely place to die. I asked Ernesto how much more descent we had left, and he estimated we had about 30 minutes more downhill travel to reach the river. I have made many hard long hikes, and the terrain we were on seemed to be at least as steep as the trails I used to cross the Grand Canyon. On that hike, for every 30 minutes we went down, we needed about 2 hours to get back up. I looked at our water situation, and we only had about ¼ of a bottle left. It would not be wise to proceed and then attempt to get out with no water. We decided to turn back and still we faced a brutally difficult climb up the trail. We must have taken at least 10 rest breaks, all of them for me. Sheree wasn’t fazed at all, and I felt great for her. We made our way back to the hotel’s cabin, and we took the time to shower and clean up. We paid for our trail fees and checked out of the hotel. We loaded Sergio’s SUV and headed off toward Coban, the largest city in the Department of Alta Verapaz.
Sergio had never been to the coffee tour that we were to take in Coban. It was at a cooperative just on the outskirts of town. We asked around and found it. It was called Chicoj.
We checked in and were greeted by our guide, Gloria, a very small Mayan woman, who was very articulate in Spanish, and very knowledgeable about her co-op’s coffee operations. We first toured the growing area, learning how trimming and shade are used to produce good beans. We climbed a bit into a pine forest, and learned that pine in an inappropriate shade source, as the pine needles would produce too much acid in the soil.
Maria led us to a zip line, which is a part of the tour. The zip line was billed as 400 meters in length, so I did not expect there to be very many different lines to complete. This was my second zip line experience. The first, in Costa Rica at Canopy Carpinteria, outside of San Jose, had been a great morning long adventure. On the last line of that experience, though, Sheree had injured her hand trying to slow her speed. We had seen several other types of zip line gear on TV since then, and several of the systems appear to have a better designed breaking feature. The set up at Chicoj was the same type of gear that we had used in Costa Rica, and Sheree decided to opt out of the zip line. She hiked ahead with Gloria to a good viewpoint for getting pictures of me.
The Chicoj zip line had 4 lines. Line 1 goes over the coffee farm. Line 2 travels through forest. Lines 3 and 4 travel over water.
One thing I remembered about Canopy Carpinteria was that the lines were quite taut, and did not drop a great deal regardless of the weight of the traveler. Chicoj did not have that much tension on its lines. The lead guide zipped down line 1 and reached the platform at the other end. He had stayed well above the coffee. He explained that I should watch him for a signal to apply the brakes at the right time. When it was my turn, the line drooped enough that my feet were hitting the tops of the coffee plants. This caused me to spin, and I was looking away from the breaking area and the landing platform. I managed to spin myself back around just before reaching the breaking point. I got the signal from the lead guide, and applied the breaks to enable me to stop on the platform. I had twisted my wrist a bit with this maneuvering, but I was fine. The other three lines went fine. The last two, over water provided a certain thrill. On our last trip to Guatemala, we had seen quite a few crocodiles in ponds and lakes, and I keep waiting for one to appear here, to jump and swallow me whole like the shark did to Samuel L. Jackson in Deep Blue Sea. Fortunately, there was no such excitement.
After finishing the zip lines, Gloria continued our tour, leading us to the coffee processing area. We saw the sorting area, the fermentation vats, the depulping area and the drying area. The machine shop containing the roasters and grinders was locked. We enjoyed a bottle of water and a cup of coffee.
The co-op had a small gift shop, and we bought a bag of coffee and a pair of earrings made from coffee beans. We loaded into the SUV and headed for lunch at Vivero Verapaz. Vivero Verapaz sits at the edge of the developed area of Coban, and is a large orchid nursery. June, however, is not a time for very many orchid blooms. We had a nice lunch, and we walked around the grounds of Vivero Verapaz taking photos of anything we could find in bloom. After a few minutes, we loaded up for our drive to Lanquin and the Hotel El Recreo.
The drive to Lanquin is on a dirt road, traveling about 65 km from the paved road to Coban to the hotels of Lanquin. Crews were working on the dirt road, leveling it.
We arrived at the El Recreo. It has a very nice setting, but it is not the best maintained place. Its pool is unusable, green with algae. It is a shame, because the heat had me looking forward to some place to cool off, and the pool would have been ideal. It was late afternoon when we got into the El Recreo. Of course, it has no TV, as it is set down at the bottom of a canyon. Likewise, there is no A/C, since, I assume, everything here must work off generators. We do have a fan, and there are screens above the windows.
I broke out my guitar and played for a while. This attracted our neighbors who turned out to be an interesting group of characters. They are traveling through the Americas hoping to reach Patagonia, in their Toyota camper. They are making a film as they go. They call themselves Los Cazadores de la Chupacabra. Their leader is from Lubbock, TX. We visited with them for awhile, and gave them some of our hiking food, as they indicated they were running out of money. They talked about filming and interviewing me, but they left for a visit to the hotel down the road, El Retiro, and did not return until after we were asleep.
The heat made it hard to get a good night’s sleep, and it did not cool off very much at night
Day 4- Semuc Champey, Coban, Hotel Ram Tzul
Jun 11, 2009
Thursday, June 11 – We didn’t really like Hotel El Recreo. We were not able to figure out how to get the hot water to work, if there is any, so showers amounted to something resembling sponge baths. The mattresses had no padding causing us to feel the coils like a sofa bed. We figured we’d ask Sergio if we could change hotels, possibly to something in Coban after we visit Semuc Champey. Breakfast, though, was what really made me want to leave El Recreo. When I lived in Las Vegas, I had a friend who used to live in the high desert of California, the Victorville area. There, he said, businesses had this high desert mentality, like they were doing you a favor to be in business rather than you having any value as a customer. I am not going to accuse the whole of Lanquin of having a Lanquin mentality, since I only dealt with one business there, the El Recreo, but, the El Recreo certainly has the high desert mentality.
Breakfast was included with our rooms. At breakfast we were told we could only have two of the choices on the menu – a continental that cost about 25Q or a cooked choice, which was 27Q. What we both really wanted was the Chapin, which added fried bananas, for 3Q more. We asked if we could pay the difference and get what we wanted and we were told no. I have real issues with rewarding businesses for that kind of behavior, and did not want to see any more of my money going to the El Recreo.
Sergio arrived a little before 10 and we explained our dissatisfaction with the El Recreo. After considering the options, the Via Ventures offices recommended a second night at Ram Tzul, indicating that, if nothing else, it would at least cool down for sleeping. We accepted, and we checked out of the El Recreo, and headed off to Semuc Champey.
The road to Semuc Champey was another 10 km over dirt, or really, over rocks. It seemed to get worse the further we went, and again I was glad that we had a 4-wheel drive and an experienced driver. At some places the road was improved with a pair of parallel concrete strips providing a road surface, but mostly, it was rutted dirt. The 10 km trip took about 30 minutes to complete.
We arrived at Semuc Champey, and headed to the pools. Many people regard Semuc Champey as the most beautiful place in Guatemala. It was not exactly what I had expected, but it was beautiful, nonetheless. The river enters an underground break upstream of the Semuc Champey pools. It emerges near the pools, which are formed by groups of limestone outcroppings. The water flows over a series of limestone shelves, with deep pools that develop between high and low portions of these shelves. The water teems with tiny fish that swim close enough to you to get caught by hand. I caught and released several. They also tickle you by nibbling on your skin. Facing upstream you see a series of waterfalls. The view reminds me of pictures of Havasu Falls or of Maui.
After playing in the water for about an hour, Sheree and I decided to try the summit hike to see the overview of the pools. It was very hot and we had a planned time to meet Sergio. After climbing for quite awhile, I felt signs of heat exhaustion coming on, and told Sheree we had to turn back. We climbed down over the difficult terrain without injuring ourselves. We were both wearing our water shoes, and I think had we been wearing our hiking shoes we would have had a much easier time.
We made our way to the exit and met Sergio. There, we each drank two large bottles of water and had a snack. We felt refreshed, and loaded up for the trip back to Ram Tzul.
On the way back, we stopped at the other hotel in Lanquin, El Retiro. Sergio had stayed there the night before, and he was trying to buy some chocolates he had ordered from a local woman. He could not find her, but he left word to have the chocolates forwarded to Antigua.
This morning, Sergio had apparently done some serious injury to his ankle. He believed he had a torn tendon. The ankle was very swollen and Sergio was walking with a pronounced limp. He said it had swollen up to the size of a baseball. He had gone to a local clinic in Lanquin and had been treated before meeting us at the El Recreo. We were concerned for him, as he told us of a trip he had planned to Cuba, which was to start on Sunday.
We decided not have lunch in Lanquin, opting to wait until we reached Coban. Going out the 60 km plus dirt road took a couple hours. Sheree and I had kicked around a couple lunch ideas, and I was surprised when she said she wanted to try McDonald’s in Coban. It was great! The restaurant was very clean and the service was excellent. I learned that “plain” is, apparently, “plen” at McDonald’s in Guatemala. Sheree and I both had quarter pounders. Sergio had a double that took too long to make, so he got a free pie. We left Coban, and, a couple hours later, arrived at Ram Tzul. After making a call regarding our revised arrangements, the clerk showed us to our room. It was fine. We found we could open a window to the outside to get some cool air in. The hot water system still baffled us, but I was able to get it to work when needed. I am hoping we do not see one of these electric shower head heaters again on this trip.
My Panasonic camera seems to have quit working, but I am hopeful it will spring back to life. I guess both batteries could be bad, but that seems unlikely. I am concerned that maybe I sweat on it too much and something is shorted out. We will have to be extra careful with the Nikon, as it is the only camera we have left.
Tomorrow will be our last day with Sergio, and we also have another waterfall hike. I hope it will not be overly demanding.
We had dinner at the Ram Tzul with Sergio. I decided to try the Cak Ick with “pavo.” Sheree had it the other day with “chunto.” Both are words for turkey, but we were told the difference lies in how the turkeys are raised. The chunto is free range and the pavo is not. The chunto was better, but really, I think, it was more the pieces we were given. When Sheree had the chunto, she got some large breast pieces. With the pavo, I got part of a leg.
The room at the Ram Tzul has very little light for reading. I joked that the overhead light was not as bright as the light I used to have in my darkroom. I have enjoyed this portion of our trip, but I am ready to settle into gringo-ready rooms in Antigua.
Day 5- Adventure at Chilasco Falls, Antigua
Jun 12, 2009
Friday, June 12 – This was our last day with Sergio. Sergio is fairly young in appearance. He is married and has a wife named Amanda. He has two daughters, Sophia and Sabrina, ages 10 and 8, and a baby son, Carlitos, age 10 months. He has traveled extensively in the U.S., having visited California, Florida, Hawaii and Nevada. He has been to all of the countries of Central America except Costa Rica, and he has visited Mexico. His father is a doctor, who saw to it that Sergio got private English lessons as a child. Sergio ran his own businesses, trading coffee, performing heavy equipment construction work and being a part owner in a restaurant. He also works his guide job, which gives him great travel benefits. His shared many stories with us on our long drives, and we hated to see him leave today.
This morning started with breakfast at the Ram Tzul. They let us upgrade to the Chapin, and then did not even charge us for the difference. They are great guys at this hotel, always offering to be helpful. After checking out, we traveled a few miles down the paved road and then 12 km up a dirt road to Chilasco Falls. A visit to Chilasco Falls was planned as an afterthought. We would be traveling from near Coban to Antigua, and we were looking for something to see along the way. In retrospect, had we stayed at the El Recreo, this would have been a very long day. By staying at Ram Tzul, we cut about three hours out of the trip.
This was not supposed to be an easy hike, but after this day of adventuring we were to have three nights in Antigua with no planned activities. We stopped at the tourism shack on the way to the Chilasco trail head to get our guide. I surprised when Sergio exited the shack with a little girl, Wendy, who would be our guide. She was probably 11 or 12 years old but to me she looked like she was 8. We arrived at the trailhead for what was to be a four hour hike.
The trail set off straight down a hill. There was no forest canopy in this area, and it was very hot. The trail had a rocky surface over clay, and it was easy to slip. Next to one side of the trail there was a coffee farm, and that side of the trail was separated from the coffee farm with barbed wire. On the other side of the trail, there was a dirt road surface that was lower than the trail, varying from about three to seven feet below the trail. The road was in awful condition, as this was rainy season. It might be passable for strong horses, a Hummer H1 or a strong tractor, but it was not anything that a car could handle. After walking for quite awhile up and down several hills, we reached a split in the trail. There a sign showed that there were three viewpoints for the falls, Miradors 1,2 and 3. A trail to the right would take us to Mirador 1 and to El Saltito. Going straight ahead would get us to Miradors 2 and 3. I asked Wendy if we would see the same falls from Miradors 2 and 3 as from Mirador 1. She said that we would. I asked her about El Saltito, and she explained that was a different waterfall. We decided to take the path to Mirador 1 and El Saltito. I was already getting tired, so I explained to Wendy that we would just go to see Mirador 1 and El Saltito and we would not continue on to Miradors 2 and 3.
At Mirador 1 we were able to clearly see the falls. It reminds me of Yosemite, except it seems to come out of the mountain, not over the top of it. The water exits the mountain and drops hundreds of feet into the valley below. It is a majestic sight.
Next we continued on the trail to El Saltito. This may have been the highlight of this trip to Guatemala. El Saltito is not a huge falls, it drops 70 meters from its top to this viewpoint. The falls creates a beautiful pool, fit for swimming. But water has to exit somewhere, and it does, flowing out of this pool to its own several hundred foot drop to the valley below. We enjoyed watching Wendy play around on the rocks surrounding the falls. I took the opportunity to soak my hiking hat to cool me off. When I put it back on my head, you could see steam coming off me, even though it was quite warm.
We knew from the outset of this hike that the trip back was going to be difficult. We had climbed down a significant amount, which meant we had to climb back up the same amount. Several places on the trail looked particularly bad. On our hike to the falls, I had made a mental note of one particularly muddy section, which we had to climb up on the way in. On the way out, I knew it would be extremely tough to get through this mud without taking a fall.
When we reached the split between trails to Mirador 2 and 3 and Mirador 1, we were surprised to come upon a pack of dogs. They were not in a friendly mood. Several growled at us, and I was concerned that they might attack us. Wendy waved a stick at one that seemed like a leader, and it seemed to keep them at bay. I was holding my hiking stick, ready to strike one or more of the dogs if they moved toward us. After several minutes, a local man appeared, hiking by. The dogs were his, apparently, since they went off with him as he passed us by.
We started to head back toward Sergio and the SUV. I was not looking forward to the final climb out. My knees were already telling me that I was past my limit for the day, but I had no choice. As best as I could tell, it was walk or die.
When we reached the muddy section, Wendy pranced right through, without a care. Sheree followed her, and had no problems. I planted a foot and positioned my hiking stick for my next move, and boom, I was down. I didn’t feel hurt, but I was muddy mess. I knew I’d have to change when we reached the SUV. But, it turned out, on the way down my left arm had caught the barbed wire side of the trail, and I had several skin deep cuts, which were bleeding. We had no way to treat the cuts. I knew we had a first aid kit back in the SUV, and decided we would just have to wait until we got there. We continued on, reaching the last two sections of the trail – a descent on the rocks over clay trail to the bottom of a hill, which would be followed by the long climb back to the parking lot where Sergio would be waiting if we had taken enough time.
The initial descent almost ended my trip, if not my life. We were moving along carefully when I started to slip. The non-barbed wire side of the trail had wire strung from tree to tree, with occasional fence posts scattered every three to six feet. As I slipped I reached to grab one of these fence posts. The post I grabbed was not sunk into the ground. It had either rotted through or had been cut off at the bottom. My momentum carried me headfirst through the two wires. Somehow I spun onto to my back and was going feet first by the time I hit the mud road. When I got to the mud road I was still moving downhill. I was reminded of Romancing the Stone, except this was not funny. I slid several feet and came to a stop. I felt pain in my tailbone and lower back and a felt a stinger travel up into my neck. But, I seemed to be okay. Everything was moving, and I had not suffered any significant lacerations. I tried to regain my footing, and again, boom, right down onto the mud road. I could see the bottom of the hill, not terribly far ahead, and I considered my options. I could walk and fall down the mud road, and hope I didn’t do serious damage before having to climb out the final section, or I could try to make my way back up to the trail and continue behind Wendy and Sheree. I looked ahead and saw a place where the climb up was only about 4 feet and it appeared to have enough going nearby to allow me to reach the trail. I made my way to that spot and pulled myself up. Now I was an even muddier mess and my left arm was covered in blood. I must have been a gruesome sight.
While I was going though my ordeal on the mud road, Sheree lost concentration on her footing, and she also took a fall. She managed to stay put on the trail and was not hurt.
When we reached the top of the trail, Sergio was there. I went to the back of the SUV and washed up with bottled water and soap. Sergio had some Neosporin-like anti-infectant and we applied that too. Sheree thought I might need a tetanus shot, but we could see nothing other than skin deep abrasions. I changed clothes, wrapping my muddy stuff into plastic bags. After drinking some water, we headed back to the tourism shack and dropped off Wendy. She gave Sheree and me each a kiss on the cheek. I think she felt badly that we had fallen.
I paid a pretty steep price to see El Saltito, but I am glad that we did it. This is a great hike for anyone fit enough to handle it. Chilasco Falls were among the most beautiful sights we saw on our trip.
We have one more hike planned, up the volcano San Pedro. It is also supposed to be very challenging, and I am now wondering if I will be able to get through it.
We headed out the dirt road from Chilasco and hit the black top to head toward Guatemala City and then to Antigua. We were troubled on our last trip at having to go through Guatemala City to get anywhere. But, looking at the map, it appears that there is not much choice. There are not roads around Guatemala City. Everything goes through it.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Las Montanas. I had a whole fish. I think Sheree gets creeped out by the fish eyes when I do that, but it’s not something I eat very often.
Sergio had been hoping to get to Guatemala City before rush hour. We did not make it. We crossed the city slowly but steadily during the evening rush hour, and made our way up the mountain to Antigua, home to Sergio. Sergio dropped us off at the Hotel Aurora, which seems to be very nice.
After saying our goodbye to Sergio, we get checked in and head out for a little exploring before nightfall. We are only two blocks from the central square. We hit the ATM off the square and found a store with beer and water. We dropped off our purchases at the hotel and went to dinner at a restaurant next door. It turned out to be another Mexican place. We had chicken soup and nachos, then headed back to the hotel next door.
Day 6- Antigua
Jun 13, 2009
Saturday, June 13 – We were more than ready for a nice easy day after yesterday’s events, and we managed to have a fairly easy day today in Antigua. We got going around 8 AM. Our hotel includes continental breakfast, but they also have a menu, which allows you to get additions to the breakfast. I added eggs, and Sheree added fruit and eggs. We both had very nice breakfasts before heading out to reacquaint ourselves with Antigua.
Antigua was one of our favorite spots from our trip last year. Unfortunately, we only got to spend a little more than a day here. We had arrived in the late afternoon. The next morning we had a city tour and then our goodbye dinner. The following morning everyone left for trips home. This time we would have two full days here by ourselves, plus an additional afternoon and evening at the end of our trip.
We headed down to the ATM and got 2000Q. We had located the Internet café next to our hotel, and we took the time to send Brendan a status update. We needed to check our e-mail fairly regularly, as we were hoping to meet up with our guide from last year, Jorge, sometime during our time in Panajachel.
We walked to the local market. After shopping around, we found keychain animals for $1.50 ea. We also got bracelets for less than half of the price we paid to our wholesaler back in the U.S., so we were feeling pretty good about buying things here in Antigua.
We also went through the market looking for the great chile powder we had used to spice our soups at Ram Tzul. We were told it is called chile Coban. We visited several stalls in the market and finally came up with the correct term to find our chile. We needed to ask for chile molido (ground chile) to communicate our request. We bought a one pound bag for about $5. I wonder how the customs folks will react to this.
In the afternoon, we went to Sergio’s restaurant, 7&7. We tried to get dumplings, but the waiter misunderstood, and we would up with BBQ wings. They were excellent. Sheree had Kung Pao chicken and I had ceviche. The meal was by no means cheap, but it was good.
After lunch, we headed to the artisan’s market next to the main town market. We found some good prices on bracelets. After buying a bunch from one woman’s store, her neighbor tried to sell us more. Initially, we said no, as we though we had enough. We had paid 30Q for the first bracelets. When we walked past the second woman’s stall, she offered them for 25Q. We went through her inventory and found 12 that were large enough, but then she raised the price to 35Q. She came down to 30Q, but we walked away.
Later, we went to the camera shop on the square to see if we could figure out if we could get the Panasonic to work. It seems like it takes photos, but I can’t see the display, making it virtually useless.
For dinner, we decided to try a place that holds itself out as a dive bar. Its advertisement says every dive needs a town. It is called Café No Se. We are finding that just as we in San Antonio can put anything into a tortilla and call it a taco, here in Guatemala anything can be put into a taco and called a gringa. I had Carnitas Gringas that were just amazing. If I were to make them at home these would be the ingredients:
Smithfield Pork BBQ (where can I get that?)
Mexican Oaxaca Cheese (or Fontina to dress them up)
Pineapple
Guacamole
Cilantro
Soft corn tortillas
I had these and Sheree had tortilla soup. We both had “cheap red wine.” It was excellent. I also tried a mescal called illegal Mezcal. It was recommended I sip it:
First impression – Patron mixed with kerosene
Second impression – Patron and Vick Vapor rub
Third impression - Patron and Vick Vapor rub, with black pepper
Café No Se gave us ice. We dropped the ice off at the Aurora, and then stopped in at the restaurant Cinq, diagonal across from the hotel. They have 2 for 1 happy hour until 8. We each enjoyed two perfect margaritas for 30Q each including tip.
Later we enjoyed chilled drinks in our room, with English TV. And, we were able to take hot showers!
Day 7- Antigua
Jun 14, 2009
Sunday, June 14 - I did not sleep well last night. My right leg was very sore, and I could not get comfortable. My tossing and turning kept Sheree up as well.
I woke up at about 5:30 or 6:00 to a mild earthquake. I felt the bed moving and when it stopped the overhead light was still swaying. But the earthquake must not have been very strong because no one talked about it all day.
We got up before 9 and had our continental breakfast at the Aurora. We decided to go exploring, looking for a classic rock bar that was supposed to be nearby. We found it around the corner, on Avenida 3. The Aurora is on Avenida 4. We decided to walk down Avenida 3, to head toward the ATM. As we walked down Avenida 3, we came upon an Indian Market. We shopped and got excellent deals on bracelets and necklaces. We ran out of Quetzales, so we had to head to the ATM. The ATM is on the main square and it is close to the Arch street, where Nim-Pot and Frida's are located.
After visiting the ATM, we decided to see if Nim-Pot had jewelry for a reasonable price. This was a great idea. We found some items for better prices than we were getting on the streets. I picked up two t-shirts for me, stamps for my friend Ken, and a doll for my friend Peggy who had jokingly asked that I bring her back a baby. Nim-Pot's prices were excellent, plus they gave a 10% cash discount and accepted dollars at a full 8 quetzals per dollar, which was a little better than the bank rate we could get during our visit.
After, we went next door to Frida's for lunch. I had Pulled Pork Tacos, hoping to replicate the flavors I had last night at Café No Se. It didn't quite match up, but it was still very good. We headed back to the hotel after lunch, and napped while the NASCAR race played on the TV (with Spanish commentary.)
After our nap we took a nice walk to the Rainbow Café, where they have a "book swap." Sheree got only a 10Q credit on a brand new best seller toward a 28Q beat up older mystery best seller. I asked her if we got kissed, too. We were heading toward the square, and we decided we should probably get more bracelets at Nim-Pot, since we don't know what time we will get back next Sunday, our final night in Guatemala. We found a few more to add to our growing jewelry collection/inventory.
It was just about 6 PM and we were right next to Reilly's - probably the most popular ex-pat and tourist bar in Antigua. On Sundays, they have a Pub Quiz, a trivia contest. Right outside of Reilly's, we ran into "Los Cazadores de la Chupacabra." When we left them in Lanquin, they were hoping to find one member of their party, the brother of the guy from Lubbock, who, we learned, had gotten angry with the group and separated from them up around Tikal. Somehow, they had managed to get word to each other, (I presume via the magic of the Internet), and they were able to get back together in Antigua. The Cazadores encouraged Sheree and me to enter the Pub Quiz.
We had to pay a 20Q entry fee, but Reilly's triples the total fees to give a great prize to the winners. The total pot tonight would be 660Q, about $82. Each team is allowed up to five members, but Sheree and I were the only two on our team. We did great in round 1, scrambled movie titles, getting 9 out of 10. The 10th title came to me just after we turned in our answers. Round 2 was Middle East facts, and we surprised ourselves getting 7 of 10. Round 3 was photos of celebrities with a list of real names at the bottom. We had to match the real name to the photo and come up with the stage name. Again, we were awesome, getting 8 ½ out of 9. Round 4 was our downfall. There were really weird questions with a wine theme. We only got 1 ½ points, but the best score for that round was 3 ½, so we were still in the thick of things. In round 5 they play short bits of songs, and the teams try to come up with the artist and title, for ½ point each. We got several but missed several, too. When it was all over, we came in 2nd out of 11 teams. If we had remembered Deliverance in time, or if we could have come up with Lord Byron and Cadillac, and if we had stuck with our first guess of Richie Valens for the version of La Bamba that was played, we would have won. But, as is tradition, apparently, the winners bought us a 20Q liter of beer, and our bill for the whole night was only 200Q, so it was quite an enjoyable evening.
We returned to the Aurora, before 10PM, to find the front door locked. We tried pressing the red button near what looked like an intercom, but we got no response. After a little while, we decided to go around the corner to see if we could get in through the car park. We got to the car park just as a car was leaving, and the lot attendant said we could get in through the lot. He was very apologetic about not hearing us at the front bell, but it was not real problem as we were now in.
We repacked for our departure to Panajachel (Pana) in the morning. I couldn't seem to find my cell phone, but since we couldn't use it here, we agreed it would not be a huge loss if it did not turn up.
Day 8- Antigua to Panajachel
Jun 15, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009 - We checked out of the Aurora and our driver, Alfredo, met us right on time for the ride to Pana. He told us yesterday's earthquake was a 5.2 centered at Coban, so it was not so small after all.
We passed several familiar points on the way to Pana - the lookout for Lake Atitlan, and the restaurant that serves as a potty break for the Caravan tours. We talked about our Caravan tour with Alfredo, and we learned his wife is a tour leader for Caravan, along with Jorge, who we hope to see in Pana, and Jorge's wife Virginia. Alfredo spoke English with a distinct British accent. It turned out his wife is British, and he had lived on the Channel Islands for eight years.
We arrived in Pana at the Hotel Dos Mundos, and it is wonderful. Our room has a double and a single bed, decent cable TV, and, or course, no fan and no A/C. The hot water appears to be OK. I sure hope it stays OK, as we will be here for six nights.
We finally had a chance to unpack. Unpacking makes a trip feel more civilized to me. Obviously, it is not practical when you only stay at a hotel for one night. But, since we would be here six nights, it made sense to empty out the suitcases and start to organize clean vs. dirty clothes.
We went for a walk up Calle Santander, the main street of Pana. One purpose of our visit to Pana was to go to the local Friendship Bridge office and drop off gifts for the children at a day care center supported by Friendship Bridge. Friendship Bridge provides micro loans to Mayan co-ops and provides assistance to the co-ops in the form of family assistance and marketing support. We found the Friendship Bridge office, but it was closed for lunch.
We were hungry enough to eat lunch, too, so we checked out the choices on Santander. We would up at Guajimbo, the Uruguyan place, and had a dish described as slabs of steak on a roll. The rolls were small hamburger sized, and each of our plate contained 4 of these. Sheree could not finish her plate, and we had no facilities for taking it back to the room.
In Pana, the Mayan street vendors can be incessant pests. Even when you are in a restaurant, they will come right to your table and try to sell whatever they are hawking. While we were eating two little girls came by the sell us weavings. Woven personalized bracelets are a common item in Pana. Vendors will make one for you while you wait. One of the little girls had a basket of bracelets, all with one name on them - Obama. The girls spoke broken English and broken Spanish. I bought one of the Obama bracelets for $1, but, unfortunately, it came off my wrist undetected at some point later in the day.
Shoe shine boys also will not leave me alone. My New Balance black walkers got filthy during the Chilasco ordeal. On Saturday, I had them shined in Antigua, and they looked fine. Then, on Sunday, while sitting in the Park in Antigua, another boy had offered to polish them, and since I noticed some mud spots remaining on Saturday night, I agreed. We settled on a price of 3Q. They boy did a great job and gave an even greater sad story about being hungry, so I gave $2 when he finished.
But, today, I was not going to have them polished. I explained to the boys that I never shine "sneakers" in the US. I had these shined twice in the last two days, and I now had the most beautiful shoes in Guatemala. I did not need them shined again.
Still, while we were eating, another shoe shine boy approached. I did not want a shine, and Sheree did not want her last beef sandwich. I offered it to the boy who gladly accepted and then left to enjoy his lunch. It meant nothing to us, as it would have just gone to waste, but we did get funny looks from the restaurant staff.
While at the Guajimbo, we were treated to jazz guitar playing. Signs posted at the restaurant indicated that lesson were available for 70Q per hour. The guitarist seemed to be very cool, and I thought about visiting with him at a later time.
After our lunch, we went back to the Friendship Bridge office and delivered our gifts - storybooks, coloring pads, colored pencils and sharpeners. The staff was very appreciative.
We headed back to the Dos Mundos to relax. It started to rain at around 5 PM and continued into the evening. We used the rain as an excuse to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant, La Lanterna, the best Italian restaurant in Pana. It was delightful. I had a Beef Saltimbucco - an excellent rolled beef filled with prosciutto and cheese. Sheree had Raviolis. We split a nice bottle of red wine, and our bill with tip was under $50.
Day 9- Solola Market and Pana
Jun 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 16 - After a nice breakfast at the La Laterna, we went to the front desk to inquire about getting a cab to take us to Solola. Tuesday is market day in Solola, and we were looking forward to seeing a non-tourist market. The owner of the Dos Mundos was working the front desk, and he told us a cab would cost 50Q each way. If we wanted to have a cab wait while we went to the market, there would be an additional 25Q charge. He asked if we wanted that cab, and we told him we did.
The cab we got was a transport car used by the hotel, and the driver was an employee of the hotel, Jaime. Jaime explained the rates to us one more time, and we were on our way. It is a short drive to Solola. It is the next town up the road from Pana on the way to the Pan American highway.
Just outside of Pana, there is a nice waterfall right next to the road. Jaime stopped and let us get pictures. We also saw the entrance to the Nature Reserve, which Jorge had told us was worth a visit if we have the time.
We arrived in Solola, and Jaime asked whether we wanted him to walk along with us, or just wait in the car. We opted to have him come along, and we were glad we did.
The Solola market is clearly intended for locals. You can buy chickens, both alive and dead, beads from the Czech Republic used to weave jewelry, thread for embroidering, all manner of fruits and vegetables, clothes by the pound from the United States, shoes, and anything else you might need. It is busy, crowded, and has distinctive smells, especially around the fish stands.
While getting out of he car, I somehow managed to twist my back. I am sure I just aggravated the injury from the Chilasco tumble, but the pain was really intense. We sat down on a bench in the park, and waited for Jaime to park the car and meet us.
While we waited, we were approached by a Mayan vendor. We have now learned that we should not ever pay more than 60% of the starting price. This vendor had very nice aprons. She started at 100Q. When she finally hit 60Q, we bought one. Jaime had parked the car and had met up with us, just as we were closing the deal. He approved of the 60Q price.
We had hoped to find some woven material by the yard (or meter), but the only pieces would could find were about 2 feet wide, and Sheree was looking for something closer the standard 45" width we find at fabric stores. We wanted something at least 36" wide. We later learned that the narrower widths are made by hand on back strap looms, and the wider pieces we wanted are made on pedal looms. We did find one piece we considered, but we could not get a price in the range we were willing to pay. I thought we could get better deals at Nim-Pot if we still wanted something. In general, the costs of raw materials seem extraordinarily high in Guatemala, compared with the price of a finished good. People really do seem to work for close to nothing.
We enjoyed the chaos of the market. I had a water bottle in my pocket, on top of my wallet, and having it there did give me some sense of security from pickpockets.
After a while, we happened upon a jewelry stand. The starting prices were excellent, but when we inquired about getting a quantity discount, we got even better prices.
The Solola square has a very nice church adjacent to it, and also has a beautiful train station on one side of it. Unfortunately, Guatemala got rid of its trains, so the station now serves other purposes.
Jaime had led us around the church at the start of our visit to the market. It has an old stone baptismal font from colonial times. The windows are very nice, with a modern design.
Jaime left to get the car and told us to meet him at the corner. We had a little bit of a hard time getting out of the market, but eventually exited to the square. They were only two corners where we could meet, and after watching traffic, we decided only one made sense.
Jaime eventually rounded the corner in the Toyota, and picked us up. He dropped us at the hotel, and I overtipped, paying 200Q for what was contracted as a 125Q trip. I explained to Jaime that the rest was for his excellent services as a guide. We had great conversations with Jaime to and from Solola. He talked of how he liked President Obama, and we even kicked around a couple of economics and labor issues. This was not our first instance of having positive reactions toward President Obama expressed to us. It seems that the Guatemalans we met tended to view him as a compassionate man of the people, who really does care about the plight of the common man.
After dropping our purchases off at our room at Dos Mundos, we headed out to lunch. We decided to try Casablanca, based on a recommendation from Alfredo. The outside is a wild collage of brightly colored murals, so we were expecting an eclectic, trendy, fairly inexpensive menu. But, inside, the restaurant is clearly a fine dining venue, with white tablecloths, tasteful music, and well-dressed servers. The menu was a little pricey, but we found good lunch dishes for about 50Q each. I had a Hawaiian toast - ham, pineapple and cheese on a thick slice of toast. Sheree had a Chile con carne. The food was great, and we got out for under $20.
We walked around the upper end of Santander, and did not see much of interest. Directly across from Casablanca was a place called "Posh Bead Shop," which Sheree believed she had seen on the Internet. We went in and wandered around. The inventory was very well organized, but the prices were not clearly marked, so we assume they are negotiable. The owner was busy with a tour guide, working out a bounty deal, so we did not get a chance to price anything.
We walked down Santander and stopped in a couple of larger jewelry shops. In the first, three European girls in swimming garb were unable to make a deal on the piece they wanted. The next shop we visited, right across from Guajimbo offered us good prices and we will likely go back. A little further down the street we found a store with a nice selection of wine, including the Sarmiento we had bought in Guatemala City and enjoyed during the visit to the Verapaz. We picked up two more bottles.
At the third jewelry store, we hit pay dirt. We found nice multi-strand necklaces which we negotiated down to a great price. Likewise, we got great prices on earrings and bracelets. We continued adding to our collection, and when we were done we dropped off the purchases at our room. We reached our room just as the afternoon rain hit. I played guitar for a while, working on chords for one song I had written while on the trip and for another that I had finished.
I was able to get ice for my little beer cooler from La Lanterna, so I may actually finish this twelve pack before we head out to Antigua.
Around 5 PM, we left the hotel and headed toward the lake, to the Sunset Bar. It was a cloudy evening, but it was still beautiful in its own way. We had one beer and one margarita each, along with and order of nachos and a plate of fajitas. It started to rain lightly while we were finishing our dinner.
We left the restaurant and decided to head up Santander to the Internet café, to see if there was any word from Jorge. Right out in front of the Internet Café, we once again ran into the Los Cazadores de la Chupacabra. They had taken our suggestion, and had decided to visit Lake Atitlan. They said they would be staying a couple nights and they indicated they were planning to visit the Chichicastenango market on Thursday.
There was still no word from Jorge, and knowing the itinerary of the Caravan tour, we figured that we would not get a chance to see him.
Day 10- San Juan de la Laguna, Santiago de Atitlan, and Pana
Jun 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 17 - The adventure continues. We got up at 7:30 to be able to have breakfast and meet our new guide at 9. My back pain has gotten no better, and the rain has kept up everyday. We have decided the ask the guide to contact Via Ventures to make arrangements in lieu of the San Pedro volcano hike. Hikes in Guatemala, we have decided, are not the best idea in the rainy season.
At breakfast, it was busier today than it was yesterday. A youngish gringo couple sat next to us, and they asked the waiter how to say "knife," holding it up, and were told "cuchillo." They said they needed a cuchillo "muy grande" for a piece of fruit they had. I overhead and corrected them to "mas fuerte," as a butter knife is already quite large, and what they really needed was something strong or sharper. They told us what they had was a dragon fruit, and that the dragon fruit grows in the nearby area. The Spanish name is "pitaya." They offered us half of their dragon fruit. We explained that our only knowledge of the fruit was via a drink sold at Costco. The fruit has a thick rind, that when cut reveals a beautiful purple or fuchsia colored pulp which is edible. It tasted wonderful.
We made our way to the front desk to meet our new guide. As had been the case with the first two Via Ventures guides, he was early. His name is Hugo. He is a bit older than the other guides we have had, appearing to be at least our age (50s) or a bit older.
We explained that the volcano hike scheduled for Friday was going to be a no go due to my lingering back problems. I asked if he could suggest something else. He asked that I first call the Via Ventures office to see what they might suggest.
Via Ventures offered us kayaking on the lake, which I did not think would work out much better with the back. I asked if something less active might be available. Hugo indicated he had an idea, and I let him talk to the office.
Hugo told us that we could go to a Friday market where animals are sold, and we could see the part of the country around Quetzaltenango. This sounded great to us, and Hugo set it up. It will cost us only an additional $40, but that beats just canceling the activity for a day and just kicking around Pana. It is also much less likely to kill me.
Hugo indicated he had an umbrella, and that he was prepared for and expecting rain. He asked if we had brought rain gear. We had not, so Sheree headed back to the room for her raincoat and my jacket.
We walked to a private dock, west of the public dock in Pana. There, waiting for us, was a covered launch, with 3 rows of seats. It was fiberglass, 18 or 20 feet long, with an outboard motor, operated at the stern.
We headed across the lake to San Juan de la Laguna. San Juan is a beautiful, very clean city. The main industry is coffee, followed by other agriculture. But the third largest industry is artisans. The influence of the arts is clear. There are many murals, and the city is home to many craft cooperatives.
We were met by a local guide, Raul, who showed us around town. We were taken to a couple weaving co-ops, that used both the pedal and the hand, or back-strap looms. We went to a school for the arts, where children learn painting, weaving, jewelry making, and English. We visited a holistic natural medicine and midwife co-op, which grows herbal remedies. We headed toward a coffee farm, and I explained that we had already visited a coffee co-op a few days ago, so we skipped the one in San Juan. At each co-op, the local presenters seemed sincerely appreciative of our visit.
One co-op was a painters' group, and we loved the pieces. We could not decide how we would be able to get something home. The co-op offered to deframe a painting and roll it into a tube, if we found something we wanted. One artist had several pieces with a musical theme. We liked one, and we were told the price was 400Q. Hugo asked about a discount, and was told the best price we could get was 350Q. I really felt that with the risk of deframing and the added costs of mounting in the US, I did not want to pay more than 300Q. The co-op continued to insist that the best price was 350Q, but when we said we would just then pass on the piece and thanked them for their time, they met our 300Q bottom line.
The last co-op we visited in San Juan made clothes and recycled old clothes. Their method of recycling was fascinating. Rather than just cutting clothing into pieces of cloth to make quilt-like new pieces, they actual unravel knits and reuse the thread. It is a really cool process, but we did not find any pieces that we wanted to buy.
We left San Juan after receiving another warm thank you from Raul. We headed toward Santiago de Atitlan just as the rain started to hit. Hugo asked if we were ready for lunch, and we were. We ate lunch at the Posado de Santiago, at the west end of town. Hugo ordered guacamole and chips for the table. The chips were freshly made blue corn tortilla chips, thick and still hot from the oil. Sheree and I both had a three Taquito Combo, a mixture of filling on three more blue corn tortillas. The meal was served with a selection of hot chile sauces to try. One seemed very much like a honey based chili that we get at a favorite restaurant at home in San Antonio, Habaneros. Another was a mild tomato salsa. The third was a smoked version of the Coban chilies, like chipotle. The fourth choice was pickled serranos.
It was raining fairly heavily as our lunch progressed, and Hugo asked our desires for the rest of the day. We could tour Santiago, as it has a beautiful church. We explained that we had visited the church last year, and though it is beautiful, we did not need to see it again. Another choice was to go visit Maximon.
Maximon is a statue, said to be of Saint Simon, but also representing Maam, a Mayan god of the underworld. He is the saint of gamblers and drunkards, so I thought we ought to get along fine.
A cofradia, or brotherhood group looks after Maximon. In Santiago, it is a great honor to look after Maximon, which requires keeping him at the host's home. Maximon is moved from the church to homes at various times throughout the year.
I told Hugo that it would not be right to visit Lake Atitlan without stopping in to see Maximon, and he understood. We finished our lunch and hailed a tuk-tuk to take us further west out of Santiago proper, where Maximon was now being housed.
The rain was falling in sheets. Sections of the road were washed out and looked barely passable in a 4x4, let alone a tuk-tuk. Our driver, who looked to be all of 13, did not know exactly where Maximon was. We traveled about one kilometer too far west, and the driver stopped to ask for directions.
The tuk-tuk was not large enough to let Sheree, Hugo and I all sit in the back seat, and the local police were enforcing a prohibition on passengers riding with the driver in the front seat. Hugo chose to stand, hunched over the back seat to the front seat during our entire ride.
After turning and asking one more tuk-tuk driver for directions, the driver drove back across the washout and arrived at a dirt path leading to house where Maximon was being kept. Maximon was dressed in many layers of shiny acrylic garb. He had several ties on, and under one, several denominations of Quetzal bills were showing. I got the hint, and took a 10Q note from my wallet for Maximon, and offered it to one of the caretakers. We were allowed to take pictures, which we did, and Hugo asked if we wanted anything else.
Maximon was in the house with a shaman and his two assistants. The owner of the house was also present. I asked Hugo if he could ask the shaman to make my back feel better.
I expected a few words, a prayer, or the such, but instead a conference ensued between the shaman and his assistants. I was told they would need to buy cigarettes, alcohol and candles. It would cost 30Q. As my back really hurt, I felt I had nothing to lose and it seemed like it would be a really wild experience.
We paid the 30Q and the ceremony commenced. The shaman asked my name, and spoke a number of rhyming lines in Tzutuhil, with Felipe showing up here and there. Seated directly in front of Maximon. A hat with a blue veil or shroud was removed from Maximon's head and placed on mine. One of the assistants had left the room with the 30Q and returned with candles, cigarettes and a bottle of something that seemed to be Everclear or aguardiente. The ceremony proceeded and I was asked my age, after which I heard more rhyming Tzutuhil lines and "cinquenta y dos." The shaman asked where I was from and there was more Tzutuhil with Estados Unidos mixed in. A wonderful smelling bucket of incense was passed around and under me. I was asked my wife's name, and we heard more Tzutuhil with Sheree thrown in. Finally, a bottle of alcohol was opened and was poured into the mouth hole in Maximon. A couple ounces were poured into a glass, which the shaman mixed with some of the ashes from the cigarettes. The shaman lifted my shirt to expose the part of my back that was sore. He rubbed the alcohol and ash mixture into my back and onto my arm that had the scratches from the barded wire. After applying the alcohol, we were done. I thanked the shaman and shook his had and we were on our way.
Hugo clearly believes in the power of Maximon and believed I would be cured. I actually did feel better, but rubbing alcohol usually does some good on pain.
The rain did not let up. Our tuk-tuk driver had waited for us during the healing ceremony. He took us to Santiago, and I got drenched on the way. We went to the Hotel Pescador to look for the jewelry operation. No one was making jewelry, probably due to the rain. We looked at some finished pieces and we noticed that the items appeared to be of a higher class than the things we had been finding on the streets. It turned out that the jewelry gets sold at a shop in Pana. The gentleman who showed us around the Santiago operation will be in Pana on Saturday, and we agreed to meet then.
We headed toward our boat in Santiago. It was downhill and very slippery. I slid once, but caught my balance, and felt only a slight twinge of pain in my back - good juju.
We reached the boat and headed through the rain to Pana. Upon arriving in Pana, Hugo suggested we take a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, but the caretaker at the private dock said not to use the tuk-tuk driver who was nearby, as he was drunk. Hugo said he van was very nearby and that he would take us to Dos Mundos.
As we walked up the street to the van, the tuk-tuk stopped and one of its two occupants jumped out to urinate. We were right not to take it - more good juju.
Upon arriving at Dos Mundos, Sheree and I both took nice warm showers and then headed out to the ATM. We loaded up on Qs and headed back to Dos Mundos to wait for dinner time. We had talked about Pizza. At 6, we went out to a pizza place. It was not raining when we left Dos Mundos, but as we ate, the rain picked up. We saw the Cazadores' Toyota motorhome drive down the street, and we wondered where they might be headed, as parking is at a premium in Pana.
We finished our sauce-less Hawaiian Pizza, which was very good. We had each had 2 beers and our tab was only about $20. As we headed down Santander to our hotel, about 100 yards north of the hotel we saw the Cazadores parked on the street. I doubted that they would be able to stay there for the night, but they are leaving early for Chichi so they might be OK.
Day 11- Santiago de Atitlan
Jun 18, 2009
Thursday, June 18 – Today was a fairly easy day. Hugo called us last night to ask if we knew where some of the co-ops we were scheduled to visit were located. We pulled out our papers and found that the most interesting ones were in Santiago and in San Juan, where we had already visited. Adventure Travel had recommended a paper mache place in Jaibalitos, but Jaibalitos has only 900 residents, and the locals were not aware of a paper mache co-op.
We met Hugo at 8, and he said he remembered a jewelry maker in Santiago, on the street where Maximon had been before being moved to his present location at the edge of town. We crossed the lake to Santiago and spoke to a local guide. The local guide said he knew of a jewelry making place a couple km east of town. We traveled to that location by tuk-tuk, and found the factory, but no one was working. We had arrived too early. I suggested we go get a coffee and come back in a little while.
Hugo hailed a pick-up truck, and he and I rode standing up in the back, while Sheree sat in the passenger’s seat in the cab. We got out in downtown Santiago, near the road to the docks, and started walking up the main street, toward the Hotel Pescador. We happened upon a family jewelry business.
Hugo asked where the jewelry was made. We were told that family members made it inside. We asked if anyone could demonstrate what they did so we could take photos. Out came their young daughter, with a jewelry loom, which she worked in front of us. We took some photos and bought two dozen bracelets.
We walked up the street a little farther and stopped to buy bottles of water. I had wanted some keychains for gifts, and after getting our water, found a shop with keychains and a moderate selection of more jewelry. Hugo made a deal with the owner for me to get a dozen keychains for 70Q. We asked where the jewelry was made, and the shop operator, a young Mayan woman, said it was a couple block away, and offered to take us.
There must have been some miscommunication, because we wound up at her house, where no one made jewelry. But, it turned out, she did wholesale jewelry from her house, and she had quite the stash of jewelry in an armoire in her living room. We negotiated through Hugo for a good price.
After finishing buying from this young lady, Leticia, we hailed a tuk-tuk for the ride back to the larger factory we had seen earlier. We still wanted to get photos of working age people weaving jewelry. This time, we were in luck. There were about 15 women working. We got good photos which we will be able to use in out display when we set up for sales at craft shows.
Hugo asked if we wanted to lunch in Santiago. As it was starting to rain, I suggested we head back to Pana, to try to beat the rain.
We were successful. We told Hugo we were done for the day, and planned to meet at 7 for our ride to Xela in the morning.
We hit a nearby restaurant in Pana for Gringas and Taquitos. They also had Caldo Tlalpeno, which was excellent.
We killed the afternoon relaxing at the hotel. I played guitar for awhile.
We left the hotel at 6 to hit the Internet café. We checked our e-mail, but still had no word from Jorge. We sent Brendan a note reminding him of a concert in San Antonio tomorrow night, by one of our favorite bands, Skindred. I won’t be able to catch them this time around, as we’ll still be in Guatemala.
We walked up Santander, thinking about going back to the Uruguyan place, but we didn’t see it. Instead, we went to the Pana-Rock, a bar/restaurant that hosts live music and which has a logo roughly resembling that of the Hard Rock Café. Inside they had a row of booths that looked like they came from a chicken bus; it even had the Bluebird plaque that said "Made in Central America". Pana-Rock had decent margaritas, and interesting Nachos made with cheddar cheese. Sheree had a Tortilla Soup that was excellent. I had a beer and Nachos. The café showed great classic rock video of CCR and the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon concert.
Walking back to the Dos Mundos, we spotted the Uruguyan place, Guajimbo. We didn’t see it because it was closed for the day, and it was covered in huipils and T-shirts. We then realized that several businesses were closed, possibly because so many tourists went to the market in Chichicastenango.
All in all, we had a nice easy day.
Day 12- San Francisco el Alto, San Andreas, Zunil, Xela
Jun 19, 2009
Friday, June 19 – We got up early to meet Hugo for the planned 7:15 AM departure for San Francisco el Alto. We had our coffee, and Hugo was there, right on time. He asked us to leave our valuables behind due to the crowded conditions at the market, and the possibility of pick pockets. Off to the market we went, with only about 25Q in our pockets.
The drive was beautiful, taking us up to over 9000 feet above sea level. This part of Guatemala is called Alaska by the locals, because it is the only place in the country that occasionally gets snow.
We arrived in San Francisco el Alto at about 9:30. Hugo had a parking location planned, but the police would not let him take his route to it. We parked in a lot on a street headed directly away from the market.
The market was quite a bit like the Solola market, but it was much larger. We climbed up several streets and we were made to go through several areas where we had to push our way through the crowd to make a turn. There is no concept of personal space here. Every time I left so much as a foot between Sheree and me, it was filled with a Guatemalan.
The market had all kinds of vegetables and dried fish, but the highlight of the San Francisco market is the live animal section. There, people sell cows, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, cats, dogs, and rabbits. I even saw one vendor selling turtles.
On the way out, we stopped to look at beautiful cloth by the yard. The pieces came in 5 yard sections, and were wide enough for Sheree to use. But, each piece cost from 250Q to 750Q, much more than the 25Q we had in our pockets. The colors were beautiful, and it was a wonderful day at the market. I was glad that we had found a good substitute for the volcano hike.
After San Francisco el Alto, we headed to San Andres de Xecul. There is a beautiful yellow church there that I had seen in some guide books. This is really off the beaten tourist path. I loved the friezes on the church, as two showed cherubs with guitars – cool! San Andres was very small; it didn't have a hotel or restaurant.
From San Andres, we drive through Zunil, a vegetable growing area. There, large trucks were being loaded with cabbages, beets, leeks, radishes, potatoes and more. Considering that all these crops are produced and harvested with hand labor and almost no machinery the size of the crop is amazing.
We had noticed a large number of children out of school and working in a number of jobs throughout our trip. Hugo told us that one reason was saw so many children working was that schools were closed due to the H1N1 virus. The kids were on “swine break.” The President had ordered the regular summer break to start a couple weeks early because of the virus.
Our last planned market stop with Hugo was in Almolonga. There, the vegetables that we see growing in Zunil are for sale on Friday mornings. We arrived at around noon, as the market was closing, but we were still able to see several nice fruit stands. Two little boys saw my camera and asked to have their picture taken. I showed them the photo, and they seemed excited. They ran off, and then ran back and asked for sweets. Having only that 25Q, I could not help them.
We went for lunch in Quetzaltenango. Quetzaltenango is called Xela by the locals. Xela is the old Mayan name. It is also a much easier name to put on the side of a chicken bus. We had a great lunch at the Bonipaz Hotel, right off the main square. Hugo indicated that Via Ventures had given us a very large allowance for lunch, and recommended we get the Filet Mignon. We did. It came with squash and a brown mushroom sauce and a small amount of mashed potatoes. It was excellent. At Hugo's recommendation, I had dessert. I tried a Chilean pie, which was also very good.
Hugo suggested that Sheree and I walk through the square and wait for him in front of the façade of the old cathedral. There square was very nice. There were shoeshine men who did not attempt to accost me to shine my black walkers. We took our photos and headed to the façade to wait for Hugo.
While standing there, we heard a loudspeaker going on about something. I could not make it out, but figured it was either political or religious, as every other loudspeaker we had heard here had been. But, this time there was something different.
Rounding the corner, came a car with the loudspeaker. The car was painted with tiger stripes. Behind that, a truck pulled a cage with tigers. Then another came with camels, one with llamas, another filled with both lions and tigers. It was a circus – Circo Rey Gitano. Hugo pulled up shortly thereafter, and we told him about the circus. We caught up to the circus again, while driving out of town.
The ride back to Pana provided a good opportunity for a nap. When we got back to Pana, we arranged to meet Hugo on Sunday at 8, for our ride to Iximche and then to Antigua. We took at little time back in room to rest and regroup, and then we headed out to a side street off Santander, where Hugo had told us there were some jewelry wholesalers. At the end of the street, we found a fellow who made and sold robes. He also had some jewelry for sale, and we were able to get several pairs of earrings for 6Q each. Sheree was quite pleased.
Dinner was at the Sunset. The Sunset Bar has the best margaritas that we found in Pana. Yum! It was a clear night, but the sun and clouds produced no colors.
Day 13- Relaxing in Pana
Jun 20, 2009
Saturday, June 20 - We had no plans for today, other than to meet the gentleman from Santiago at his jewelry store up Santander. We got up well before store hours and had our Chapin breakfast at the La Lanterna - eggs, beans, fried bananas and coffee.
Afterwards, we went for a walk down along the lakefront, from the Sunset to the public dock. We saw several shops and restaurants that we had not seen before the walk. We also saw the boat that we had used last year when we were on our Caravan trip. The morning sky was clear, offering great views of the San Pedro, Atitlan and Taliman volcanoes.
We stopped back at the Dos Mundos, and around 10, we headed up Santander to the store, where we were to meet the fellow from Santiago. The store had several styles of jewelry that we had not seen before, but Jose was not at the store. We browsed a bit, and I explained to the clerk on duty that we had met Jose in Santiago, producing the card that Jose had given us, and that we had planned to purchase moderate quantity of jewelry to take back to the U.S. The clerk understood, and immediately pulled out a catalog of items with wholesale prices. We shopped for quite awhile, and we ended up spending about $200, without having to go through the whole negotiating process. We talked about ordering from home, and the process was explained to us.
We dropped off our purchases at the Dos Mundos, and it was approaching lunch time. We had decided to go cheap for lunch, and Sheree had suggested Pollo Campero. But, I remembered seeing an independent local restaurant that had meals for 25Q to 50Q. We went with my suggestion.
Sheree had a Carne Asada for 25Q and said it was very good. I opted for a bass fillet
At 50Q, as we hadn't really had any lake fish, yet. In retrospect, I should have gone with the carne asada, or Pollo Campero, as the fillet was not really filleted; I was continually dealing with tiny bones while trying to eat the fish. With sodas, water and a tip, our tab still came to less than $15, but we probably could have found something better.
The rain started a little early, so a visit to the Nature Reserve did not seem like a great idea. We headed back down Santander to Comunidad, a store supported by the Friendship Bridge. In general, the prices there were higher than at other stores, but we knew that the organization tries to see to it that labor gets compensated at fair trade values, so we accepted the higher prices as part of the package. We passed on the basic necklaces and bracelets we had seen elsewhere, but we did find beaded ropes that cane be used as necklaces, bracelets or belts.
The rain continued through the day, and judging by the rise in the hotel pool's water level, we must have had 2 ½ to 3 inches. We used the time to relax, read and repack. At around dinner time, it slowed and stopped entirely.
Since this was our last night in Pana, and since we planned to go to Reilly's for the Pub Quiz tomorrow night, we decided to splurge on an upscale dinner. We already knew of the La Lanterna, which is great, and the Casa Blanca, which certainly appeared like it had potential to be at least very good. We took a look at the Lonely Planet guide, and found a place called Chez Alex, which was described as offering upscale cuisine. When 6 o'clock rolled around, we decided to give it a try.
The restaurant was excellent, but we really should not have sat at an open window. The street vendors, will not let you eat in peace. The food, though was excellent. I had a Lobster Bisque, which had large chunks of lobster in the bisque. Sheree had a French Onion soup, which was a little lighter than the typical offerings we get at home at Outback Steakhouse or TGIFridays. For the main course, I had a Beef Tenderloin in a nice brown sauce. The sides were green beans, carrots and potato croquettes. Sheree had Pork Tenderloin Medallions in a white wine and mushroom sauce. Everything was great! We split a bottle of an Argentinean Malbec, which was very good. We considered a chocolate fondue for dessert, but we were stuffed.
My knee started to act up after dinner, so we took a tuk-tuk ride back to the Dos Mundos for 10Q. With only two of us in the tuk-tuk, it was a comfortable ride.
We realized this was our last night in Pana, and we had not seen the Cazadores for a couple days. We wish them well on their trip to South America. We also realized we had not heard from Jorge. I guess our schedules just did not match up.
Day 14- Pana to Antigua
Jun 21, 2009
Sunday, June 21 - This was our last full day in Guatemala. We had our breakfast at the La Lanterna, did our final packing, and got ready to meet Hugo by 8. Hugo had told us that he might not arrive until 8:15, if there were any issues with the road heading to Pana. He arrived right at 8:15. Hugo explained that he had a flat tire, "llanto pinchado" and that we would pick up the repaired tire on the way out of Pana.
The tire was just about ready at the tire repair shop. It was raining lightly, and we waited in the minivan. After the tire was fixed, Hugo had to unload all of our luggage to mount the spare in its holder. It took several minutes and the rain remained steady. After we got going, Hugo wished me a Happy Fathers' Day. Fathers' Day in Guatemala was on Friday, and Hugo had been able to spend Saturday with his daughters.
We headed on to the ruins at Iximche. Hugo explained that Iximche was a Cakchiquel stronghold during the conquest. It was conquered by Pedro Alvarado, who had built a fortress at nearby Tecpan. Hugo explained that Tecpan had been the first capital of Guatemala, followed by two capitals in Antigua, and then the present capital of Guatemala City.
By the time we reached Iximche, it was raining heavily. We visited the museum, but then went into the ruins site only briefly, just long enough to take a few photos.
We left Iximche and headed on to Antigua, arriving at around noon. There was a bike race going on, which had several streets blocked. It was also Corpus Christi day, which meant churches had celebrations going on, which also blocked some streets. We winded our way to the Aurora, checked-in and dropped off our bags. We then went to eat with Hugo, as lunch was included with our trip, today.
We went to Antorchas, an Argentinean steakhouse just around the corner from the Aurora. It looked familiar to us, and we realized that it was one of the restaurants at which we had a group meal last year, while we were on the Caravan trip. We both had Chapin Churrasco - grilled beef with a piece of grilled sausage, bananas, rice and beans. We also had an order of garlic bread and a bean soup. As we were finishing eating, Sheree spotted Jorge entering the restaurant. This was a total surprise. We had not heard from him, and we had made no plans to meet.
Jorge's wife Virginia was at the restaurant, too, having just finished leading a group. We had time to chat and discuss our trip. We pretty much saw eye to eye with Jorge regarding the lack of facilities in the Lanquin and Coban areas. The areas are beautiful, but they would not be places to attempt to travel to with large groups.
Jorge asked if we stayed in touch with anyone else from last year's group, and I let him know that we still heard from a young man from Houston, Russell. Jorge, Virginia, Sheree and I exchanged hugs, and Jorge asked that we send his best wishes to Russell.
We left the restaurant with Hugo, and we went to meet a cab driver to take us to the airport in the morning. We met a man name Umbaldo, and arranged to have him pick us up at 8:00 AM. Hugo took us back to the Aurora, and we gave him his tip, and exchanged goodbyes. He left his card so that we could contact him if Umbaldo did not show up in the morning. We relaxed through the afternoon while the rain fell, and at 5:45 we head out to Reilly's, for the Pub Quiz.
Last time we were at Reilly's we had the Nachos which were very good. This time we tried the Hamburgers which was a mistake. The Hamburgers just didn't taste good; they had an after taste, however the French Fries were good. Next, we tried to get a team together. A couple Australians were waiting for friends, and a group of six students needed to split up. The Aussies' friends arrived, and the students offered us one of their group.
We teamed with Clinton, a medical student from Austin, who is attending Texas Tech med school. He was in Antigua to learn Spanish. Since we were all from Texas, we called ourselves "Remember the Alamo." Round 1 was movie trivia, and we got 8 of 10. We did not know that The Claw was Inspector Gadget's nemesis, and we did not know who had written Sin City. Several teams got al 10, so we knew we were in for a fight.
Round 2 was a general knowledge round, and we did decently, getting 6 ½ of 10. I let myself miss a Thrilla in Manila question, because we chose Foreman instead of Frazier as Ali's opponent - dumb.
Round 3 was a picture round, with outlines of European countries, out of context, which had to be identified. I got only 6 of 12 - they were very tough.
Round 4 was Australian trivia. How I wished we had the Aussies on our team. It was a bit unfair for that to happen, but so it goes. We got 3 ½ of 9.
The music round again nailed us. I got a few, and Clinton helped with a few. We got 2 ½ of 10 points.
When it was over, we had come in 6th, beating the student group by ½ of a point. The Aussies had come in 2nd, losing by 1 point. I know that Sheree and I had a couple that they missed, so if we had been able to team up, we might have won. Still, the Pub Quiz was a great way to spend a Sunday night.
We headed back to the Aurora, in the rain, and again found ourselves locked out. I pressed the red button and got no response. Then, I noticed a black button under the red one. I pressed that and a voice responded, and a gentleman let us in. After taking showers, we settled in for our last night in Guatemala.
Day 15- Antigua to GC to Home
Jun 22, 2009
Monday, June 22 - It is time for the trip home. Umbaldo showed up on time, right at 8. We loaded his Subaru wagon, and headed out of Antigua for Guatemala City. On the way out of town and on the paved road up the mountain, we never got above 65 kph. But, traffic was light, and we were traveling at a steady pace, so we seemed to making good time. When we reached the top of the mountain, I was glad we were not going fast.
Every time Umbaldo hit the brakes, there was a distinct loud sound of metal grinding on metal. His brake pads must have been worn down to zero. I was glad he had a stick shift, figuring he could slow us down with the engine, if he needed to. We made it down the mountain, and reached the airport with no problems.
We made our way into the Guatemala City airport and found the Continental counter. There we had to fill out an exit document. When we finally made our way through to the counter, we found that our large red bag weighed over 50 pounds. But, since we were checking only one other small red bag, we did not have to repack it or pay an overweight fee. After checking in, we paid our exit fee of 20Q and headed to the gate area.
The path to the gate area was not marked very clearly, but we eventually figured out that we had to pass through a set of automatic doors that were made of frosted glass. We opened the doors and saw the x-ray machines and the security personnel. There was practically no line. I went through first, and the screener decided she needed to check my black carry on bag. I was waiting for a question about the chili powder, but she never touched it. The screener packed me up, and said I was OK to go. Then the screener wanted to look in Sheree's blue bag.
Sheree had her toiletries in the blue bag, and the screener decided that the nail file on Sheree's clippers was too dangerous to allow on the plane. She indicated we could keep the clippers if we broke the file off. Then, she decided Sheree's tweezers were a dangerous hijacking device. I imagined that Sheree could use them to pinch the crew, overpowering them and forcing them to permit entry to the cabin, where mere threats of severe pinching could allow us to take the plane to Cuba. The screener seized the tweezers, and Sheree was far from happy. I urged her to calm down, as I didn’t think a pair of tweezers warranted making a further scene and winding up in a Guatemalan holding cell or worse.
We surrendered the tweezers and made it through security. I spotted the duty free shop. Everyone had told us we had to buy a bottle of Zacapa Rum on the way out. The XO cost $80 per bottle, which was much more than I had expected to pay. I ended up buying just one, along with a bottle of Flora de Cana, the highly regarded Nicaraguan rum. I had hoped to just get the affordable 12 year old Botran, but it was not available in the duty free shop. Paying for the rum used up my Quetzals, plus $2. We continued on to the gate, and we passed a couple more duty free shops, which we could not see when we first got through security. We should have waited to make our purchase, since at least one shop did have the 12 year old Botran.
While sitting at the gate, a couple passed by with Caravan tags on their bags. I made my way over to chat with them regarding heir trip. Their guide had been Jane, Alfredo's wife. I let them know that Alfredo had been our driver one day. The couple stated that they had had a very enjoyable trip.
As boarding time approached, Sheree asked me to get sandwiches from the nearby Pizza Hut. We got them with just enough time to eat them before getting onboard.
When it was time to board, we found that it was a full flight. We did not get offered a first class upgrade this time. We made our way to our seats, and the middle seat occupant was already there. She offered to switch seats to allow Sheree and I sit together, but Sheree likes her window seat, and I was not going to give up my aisle.
From time to time, Sheree and I had to talk to complete the customs forms for the U.S. I could tell that it really annoyed our seatmate when we spoke across her. I asked Sheree to fill out the forms, to minimize the need for the crosstalk.
Sheree filled out the form, but when it came time to deal with the money issues, she passed the documents to me, so I could convert the money we spent from Quetzals to dollars. When I was done I passed the documents back to Sheree. Ms. Angry grabbed them, and sharply shoved them toward Sheree, dropping our notebook on the floor. I noticed that this miserable person had no wedding ring on, and I was glad of that, as I would hate for her to be someone's wife. I couldn’t get away from her soon enough.
We arrived in Houston, and the immigration line was very long. I had time to call my office and verify that Brendan had parked our car in the lot. We got through customs, and repacked our bags so the rum could get to San Antonio.
We had planned to eat at Pappadeaux's, one of our favorite seafood restaurants, that had a location at the Houston airport. But, when the time came, we were not very hungry, so we got something from a deli in the food court. We both had a Cajun chicken dish. The servings were huge compared to what we had been eating in Guatemala.
We went to our gate, and eventually loaded for the short flight back to San Antonio. This flight was also full. When we got to our seat, I just took the middle seat, since it is only a 40 minute flight. Our row mate eventually showed up, one of the last people to board the plane. She was happy to trade her middle seat for my aisle seat.
We arrived in San Antonio and gathered our bags. We exited to the taxi line and got a cab. I told the cabbie it would only be a short trip, but I'd give him a nice tip. We had a little time to talk about our trip, and he was surprised that anyone would go to Guatemala for vacation. He was of the impression that the country was a military dictatorship. We corrected him and told him it was a great place to visit.
After our very short ride, we arrived at my office. We unloaded the cab, and got our bags into our Hyundai Tucson. The fare was $8, but I gave the cabbie $15, knowing how the cab line works in San Antonio, and that it would take about an hour for the cabbie to get another fare.
We headed home to Schertz, and we were surprised to find Brendan at home. He had been able to get out of work a little early, and wanted to be able to chat with us before going to bed. We stayed up telling tales of our trip, and sometime after midnight, after sampling the Zacapa, we all headed off to bed.
Our second trip to Guatemala was great, but it was also great to be back home.
Adventure Life was a pleasure to work with. They helped us find different options for our charter and answered a lot of questions with patience and clarity.
Brooke Hopper
1 day ago
The persons I spoke with knew the material. I wont know until I actually take the trip if it was all correct but at this point they were helpful in finding a trip that met my criteria
SS
5 days ago
Creating a checklist was very beneficial and meeting objectives on certain dates helped as well (to keep my trip organized). The Adventure Travel personnel helped keep me on track which is why my trip was so successful. Communication from both travel agencies (AT/MT) was vital.
Iziah Carthens
6 days ago
This is an amazing company to work with. I generally do not use tour companies as I am more of an independent traveller so I was slightly reticent. They were fantastic from the start - 10/10 - from lining up a phone call to discuss requirements, then their ongoing communication in the lead up to the tour and during it (thank you, Franny and Phen). They also explored cost-effective options (eg group transfers). The tour was in Patagonia so Adventure Life organised a pickup from the El Calafate airport to the El Chalten accommodation, two day hikes with a private guide and then to the El Calafate accommodation. A tour coordinator came to the hotel to explain, using the maps, what was involved in each day tour and what should be expected, and patiently answered all questions. The tour guide Marcos was excellent - very professional, knowledgable, communicative and at all times felt very safe with his navigational skills (important in the Patagonian wilderness). On the second day I forgot to take hiking poles so Marcos kindly gave me his. I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing and would happily recommend and book through them again.
Petrina Sta
1 week ago
Adventure Life has been great throughout my planning process for our up and coming Galapagos cruise. Kevin Moore, in particular, was very helpful in assisting me in making choices and providing me with options. He was also very patient, as I worked through figuring out what I really wanted in this vacation.
Lucy Greenway
1 week ago
Adventure Life was a pleasure to work with. They helped us find different options for our charter and answered a lot of questions with patience and clarity.
Brooke Hopper
1 day ago
The persons I spoke with knew the material. I wont know until I actually take the trip if it was all correct but at this point they were helpful in finding a trip that met my criteria
SS
5 days ago
Creating a checklist was very beneficial and meeting objectives on certain dates helped as well (to keep my trip organized). The Adventure Travel personnel helped keep me on track which is why my trip was so successful. Communication from both travel agencies (AT/MT) was vital.
Iziah Carthens
6 days ago
This is an amazing company to work with. I generally do not use tour companies as I am more of an independent traveller so I was slightly reticent. They were fantastic from the start - 10/10 - from lining up a phone call to discuss requirements, then their ongoing communication in the lead up to the tour and during it (thank you, Franny and Phen). They also explored cost-effective options (eg group transfers). The tour was in Patagonia so Adventure Life organised a pickup from the El Calafate airport to the El Chalten accommodation, two day hikes with a private guide and then to the El Calafate accommodation. A tour coordinator came to the hotel to explain, using the maps, what was involved in each day tour and what should be expected, and patiently answered all questions. The tour guide Marcos was excellent - very professional, knowledgable, communicative and at all times felt very safe with his navigational skills (important in the Patagonian wilderness). On the second day I forgot to take hiking poles so Marcos kindly gave me his. I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing and would happily recommend and book through them again.
Petrina Sta
1 week ago
Adventure Life has been great throughout my planning process for our up and coming Galapagos cruise. Kevin Moore, in particular, was very helpful in assisting me in making choices and providing me with options. He was also very patient, as I worked through figuring out what I really wanted in this vacation.
Lucy Greenway
1 week ago
Adventure Life was a pleasure to work with. They helped us find different options for our charter and answered a lot of questions with patience and clarity.
We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website. Continue browsing the site if you're ok with this. For more info, please see our privacy policy.