Guatemalan Adventures

I’ve just spent the last two weeks living and traveling in Guatemala. It was a tremendous experience…at times hilarious, challenging, eye-opening and so much more. The basic trip itinerary was:

Saturday March 31st: fly from Monterrey to Guatemala City via Mexico City and take a shuttle bus to Antigua
Sunday April 1st - Friday April 6th: live with a family in Antigua while having 4 hours a day of one-on-one Spanish classes
Saturday April 7th: fly to Tikal to see the Mayan archaeological site and stay overnight in the Jungle Lodge
Sunday April 8th: spend the night in Flores, an hour from Tikal
Monday April 9th: fly back to Guatemala City and spend the night
Tuesday April 10th - Friday April 13th: stay in Panajachal, on the shores of Lake Atitlan and do day trips to surrounding areas
Friday April 13th: return to Guatemala City
Saturday April 14th: fly back to Monterrey

Each day was filled with all sorts of adventures and I’ve got pictures to go along with many of them. I’ll try and give you some of the most memorable highlights…

Flight troubles:
We arrived at the Monterrey airport the appropriate two-hours before our international flight. I went up to the check-in counter first and was told that I didn’t actually have a seat on the flight (even though I had paid for it, had picked out a seat on-line, and had all my receipts and document to prove it). Strangely, Abby was called up the counter a few minutes later and she did have a seat. We had booked our flights on-line within minutes of each other so we were thoroughly confused, and a little panicked at what this might mean for the start of our trip. Fortunately, I was put first on the Waiting List, and made it on the flight, but had to wait until departure time to know this, so it was a couple stressful hours. Once on the plane, things went fairly smoothly… except that Abby’s bag didn’t arrive until Monday afternoon. At least she is a very prepared traveler and had put all her necessities into her carry-on (Guatemala and Mexico do not have the same limitations on carry-on items that the USA now has).

Antiguan Family:
Abby and I were assigned, by our Spanish school, to a local family. We would live and eat in their home for the week. The family actually consisted of 13 people (I think - I’m not actually positive about that number) living together. There were the grandparents, and then several of their children (4?), of whom two were married and had their spouses and children living the house as well. There were 3 different kitchens so each sub-grouping cooked their own meals, for the most part. In addition to the human members of the family, there was a dog, a parrot and a rabbit. All three animals seemed to have free-range of the house.

Semana Santa celebrations:
Antigua is known for its huge Easter celebrations that take place during Lent and continue until Easter Sunday. Easter week consists of daily (or twice-daily) processions around the city in which 90 men carry this tremendously heavy wooden platform on which a scene from the end of Jesus’ life is depicted. There is a band that follows the scene as well as guards and people carrying incense that precede it. The music that is played is fairly somber, but the overall atmosphere in the city is more celebratory. The city prepares for the procession by creating “carpets” (alfombras) made of colored sawdust on the streets. These alfombras take hours to prepare and then are walked upon by the men in the procession. I really don’t know that I can accurately describe these events, as I think they are something that you need to see to understand. I’ve put in some pictures to give you a little sense of what I was seeing all week long. The family we were living with were heavily involved with the entire week’s activities. They created an alfombra in front of their house and most of the men took part in the processions (which sometimes started at 4am!).






Volcan Pacaya:
On Good Friday, we went with a travel company to an active volcano 1.5 hours outside of Antigua. We hiked up the volcanic mountain and got close enough to see parts of the eruption. I guess my expectations were based on what I might have seen in the movies, so at first the small trickle of lava seemed a little disappointing. Thinking about what I was actually seeing, and realizing that I was climbing on igneous rock that had erupted not that long ago, changed my perspective. As we climbed up the last section, you could feel the heat on your skin. It was definitely the first time I’d ever climbed a volcano!




Mayan Ruins:
In order to get to see Tikal during our trip, we decided to take advantage of the hour-long flights from Guatemala City to Flores (1 hour from Tikal). Otherwise, we would have spent many many hours on a bumpy bus ride. Our flight left Guatemala City at 6:30, and this meant we had to leave Antigua at 4:30am - quite an early morning! Upon arriving at the Flores airport, we were greeted by someone from the Jungle Lodge Hotel where we would be staying. We took an hour-long shuttle bus to the hotel and got to quickly drop our bags off in our rooms before meeting for the group tour of Tikal. The ruins were definitely impressive. It is amazing to think that they could have gone undiscovered! Even now, apparently Mayan ruins continue to be uncovered. This was my first time seeing any of the Mayan ruins (there are other sites in Mexico and nearby Honduras) and I now know that my appreciation could be heightened with a better understanding of some of the history of the era.



Life in the Jungle:
From our hotel room (which was lovely and so luxurious especially after living in someone else’s home for the past week) we could hear howler monkeys. The sound that these animals make is not at all what I expected - it sounded more like a lion’s roar! We went on a “canopy tour” which meant flying through the jungle on zip-lines. While on the zip-line, I couldn’t really appreciate the lush vegetation, as I was moving too quickly and my heart may have been slightly racing. However, on the platforms between zip-lines (there were 8), you could look around.

Public Transportation - aka “The Chicken Bus”:
I managed to convince Abby that we needed to experience travel the way the Guatemalans do - on the colorful-school-bus-type buses that zip around the country. From our hotel near the airport, we took a cab to the downtown bus station (in Zona 1 - an area we were told we would not want to spend any longer in than we needed to). I’m not sure what comes to your mind when you think of a bus “station” but what we found was definitely not what I expected. As is common in many places, we were greeted by an armed guard and inside we found… well… nothing. No ticket booth, no schedules, no signs, no other passengers. There was a woman frying up tortillas - another common site in Mexican and Guatemala. The bus did arrive at the time we were told and several men performed, what seemed to be, routine maintenance. Abby and I got on the bus (still the only passengers) and were informed that we needed to lie down so that we couldn’t be seen from the windows, until we got out of the central part of the city. Why? We still aren’t quite sure… I think that the bus isn’t actually supposed to pick up passengers downtown, but it does, and then just gets the passengers to hide… Sketchy? Yes, but I did manage to find some humor in it. After about 10 minutes we were allowed to sit up and the bus continued its way out of the city, picking up passengers along the way.


We traveled on this type of bus several times throughout the second week. Each time there was some sort of an adventure, whether it was jumping on to a bus that was driving away, using the “emergency exit” at the back as an entrance, or being taken advantage of in terms of bus fare. Though I can’t prove it, I am pretty sure Abby and I were charged one fare for the trip from Pana to Guatemala City, while the others (Guatemaltecos) were charged another fare. I’m basing this on the fact that our trip one-way cost 20Quetzales and on the return trip we were charged 25Q and seemed to get a little smirk from some of the surrounding passengers. Not a big deal financially, but I was more frustrated at the thought behind it. We also encountered some cab drivers who clearly tried to over-charge us, but thankfully we had already been quoted an appropriate fare so we could use that as a bargaining tool.

You don’t get anywhere too quickly along the Guatemalan highways. The trip from Guatemala City to Panajachel is approximately 140km but takes more than 3 hours. The roads are very windy and narrow, and the old school buses aren’t meant to go top-speed. Nonetheless, the “chicken buses” (I’m still not entirely sure why they are called there) provide a great people-watching opportunity.

The Kids:
I am in LOVE with Guatemalan children. I wish I had pictures to show you, but we didn’t feel overly comfortable taking pictures of the children, or the adults, for that matter. These kids are just adorable, especially the girls in traditional dress. Many of the kids we saw, especially in the smaller towns, were helping their mothers at the market. Some of the kids, more often boys than girls, would occasionally approach us and ask for money. I can’t even fully describe my feelings about these children, but there was definitely something special there. I’d like to look in to the possibility of doing some sort of volunteer work in Guatemala in the future.

El Mercado (the market):
I didn’t anticipate that this was going to be a shopping trip… but the markets are quite amazing. Guatemala is known for its textiles and jade. I returned to Monterrey with both! In fact, I had to buy an extra bag to accommodate my purchases. Some of my purchases were rugs, placemats, a necklace and earring set, a table runner, headbands, wall hangings and more (not all for me, of course! Some will be gifts). My Mexican apartment is going to become much more colorful!





Espanol:
Of course, a large reason for this trip was to attend Spanish language school for a week. The language school I attended in November consisted of group classes; this school was private classes (for about the same cost!). Four hours a day of one-on-one is mentally exhausting! I can’t really measure my improvement, but I do know that I am becoming slightly more fluent… I can bargain with market vendors, argue with a cab driver, inquire about bus schedules, make hotel reservations - all in Spanish! It may not always be pretty - but it is functional.

I’m sure there is so much more I could tell you… In a nutshell, it was an amazing two weeks that exposed me to a totally different part of the world. Though it is relatively close to where I am living now, it is so different in so many ways. I’ll try and let some of the pictures do the talking, and if there is something more you want to know about it, let me know. ☺