It was 9 degrees when we left The Dalles on March 5th to fly to Guatemala, 'The Land of Eternal Spring'. We flew from PDX
through DFW to Guatemala City, then headed to Antigua for the night. In the morning we had breakfast at our favorite spot Fernando's Kaffee, steps away from our favorite hotel, Casa Cristina, had time for a quick walk around town, and headed to San Pedro La Laguna.
One of the angels in our room
Breakfast
Dark chocolate/mango ice cream sandwich - breakfast dessert, it's a thing :-)
Misha the restaurant cat is 14 years old, same as our Seven
Cobble repair
The parque central and cathedral repairs
Santa Catalina Arch
Shopping for folk art at Nim Pot - this one is definitely not my cup of tea :-/
La Merced
2 scenes from the hotel roof
The new road cuts out some of the worst traffic...
...but not all of it
Truck takes out house accident :-(
Mike and our driver, Mario
On the boat crossing the lake
On Friday, March 8th we left on an adventure with our friends Mynor and Josefa and their 8-year-old son Antonio. We hired a private driver for efficiency and so we could pick the schedule and take photo, bathroom, food, and leg stretching breaks as needed.
The first day we left at 6am and arrived at our destination around 3pm. Here's a view of the lake from a viewpoint half an hour from San Pedro, the town on the lake peeking out from the trees on the right.
Our hotel for the night: Ranchitos del Quetzal
This private reserve offers one of the best chances to see resplendent quetzals in the wild; we had 3 wonderful hikes in the cloud forest, saw lots of birds and orchids, and enjoyed this wonderful naturalist, Bardo, but weren't treated to quetzals. Some day!
Bardo showing Mike how soft a male quetzal tail feather is.
Guan
Micro orchid
The next day we headed to Lanquín - 3 hours away on mostly gravel roads with a stop in Carchá, a city of ~250,000 where we wandered around for an hour and never saw another caucasian.
We stayed 2 nights at El Retiro which offered a beautiful garden setting on a river, good food, and onward transport we needed for the next step of our adventure.
On Sunday we headed to Semuc Champey in the back of a pickup, a rough 35 minutes from the lodge.
First event was a challenging climb to the mirador - view point - above the river.
Surreal
We headed back down to the pools and spent most of the rest of the day exploring and playing in the water.
The river goes underground for hundreds of meters before popping up again.
Chocolate sellers
Rock rainbow :-)
Monday we spent 12.5 hours in transit, a looooong day with a variety of rough roads, construction delays, and heavy city traffic but also good company, stellar views, and good food.
We had a great time but were happy to arrive back in San Pedro.
Beca Project family visits are always a highlight of our time in San Pedro. We have 7 new students this year and visited each home, then a few returned the favor. It's incredibly powerful and emotionally draining to hear their stories of struggle and survival and to learn about favorite subjects in school and dreams for the future.
I count on Mynor to lead me everywhere - I'd be lost without him. Here are a few of the places we visited to invite families to shop with donated money.
Here are a few photos from the grocery store, Super Mercado Andy. Such joy!
And here are a few from clothes shopping.
Shopping completed, we send those who live outside of town home in tuktuks.
We had a fun last week - a nice balance between being active/exploring, and relaxing. Here are a few (fairly random) highlights.
School kids running up our street (you can see a bit of our turquoise home away from home at top center)
A Cuaresma (Lent) procession, feet away from where the 1st photo was taken
Always a highlight - running into current and former Beca Project students in the street and working in local stores
We toured the local coffee cooperative, FEDEPMA, and learned about the process right down to composting the pulp waste
A few interesting things from our walks: a locked gate with no accompanying fences
A bull just chillin'
Neighborhood cats
Rock math
Mike's favorite coffee shop, Cristalinas
A couple of Sunday market scenes
Cute girls in the park
Women's basketball in the municipal area
A local soccer game - home team won 3-0
The neighborhood mill grinding chocolate instead of corn - I can almost smell it from here.
Tourists asking a cute old local guy for a photo.
An obviously super gas station
I see something new in this photo every time I look at it
Kayaking (we walk up and rent by the Santiago dock)
Hiking on the volcano, around town, and out the Finca Road to Mynor and Josefa's construction project by the lake.
The fruit! Wonderful mangos are about a quarter each - we're going to miss that.
A few keepsakes
Saying goodbye to our Ti Wachooch ('little home' in the local Maya language, Tz'utujil).
Crossing the lake
Heading to Guatemala City
The view from our room at Villa Toscana near the airport in Guatemala City
This trip flew by but was 100% time well spent: adventure, new places and faces, beloved friends, great food, and time to relax and reflect.
Icing on the cake! First time ever I remembered to look up in time to get a decent Global Entry photo. :-)
Icing on the cake! First time ever I remembered to look up in time to get a decent Global Entry photo. :-)
For a collection that includes 6 sets of photos from this trip, click HERE. HAPPY TRAILS!
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ReplyDeleteHi! Just curious on your thoughts on how safe the country is for 3 women in their 30s traveling there. WE are considering travel to Guatemala as it looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI travel to Guatemala every year, sometimes 2 or 3 times. Sometimes I travel alone (smallish woman in my 60s), sometimes with one or more of my kids and/or my husband, sometimes with a group in tow, sometimes the group has kids. I have never had a safety issue. There are places best avoided, esp in the larger cities and it's good to keep your wits about you as is the case in any country. Happy trails!
ReplyDeleteHi, I followed your information about getting into Tikal to enjoy the jungle experience while visiting the ruins. If we arrive in San Ignacio around 1:00 PM, is it possible to get into Tikal, get our hotel and still get a sunset tour in? We would like to get the next AM sunrise tour and then spend the day exploring. Also do you advise to take a shuttle or Taxi to get there faster (2 people). After 2 nights in the park we are also trying to get the ATM tour in before we leave the following day. Thanks in advance for any advice you have. Your travels and pictures look amazing!
ReplyDeleteHi! Arriving in San Ignacio around 1pm I don't think you'd make it to Tikal in time for the sunset tours which - I think - gather between 2:30 and 3:00. I'd figure 2 hours for the drive + whatever time it takes for the 2 stops at the border + time to buy your tickets; there could be a line for that. I also don't think it's feasible to sleep in the park at Tikal, do the ATM cave trip, and make it to the airport in one day if that's what you're asking. You can find me on the Trip Advisor forum as 'hopefulist' - maybe better to use that message system if you have more questions. Happy trails!
ReplyDeleteGreat pics! Thanks for posting.
ReplyDelete