March 24, 2007, Victoria, Canada
Well, it was a great trip but it's also great to be back home. The trip home was not without excitement, but I made it. I've uploaded the photos and videos from the trip. Enjoy!
If you are thinking of visiting Guatemala do it now before everyone else finds out about it. You'll find friendly people and stunning scenery.
March 20, 2007, Flores, Guatemala
Tonight weīre staying on a little island in a lake. The town is called Flores. Itīs very nice and very small. I just finished swimming in the lake with a couple of backpackers and a couple from Colorado. The locals said donīt swim in the lake but we are not sure why. Maybe crocs, or maybe the lake is actually for the sewage! Either could be true. But, we lived and my insides havenīt turned to liquid yet.
The last couple of nights we have been in Tikal. Tikal is a huge national park and the site of the largest yet discovered Mayan city. It was really awe inspiring. The huge pyramids are partially restored and tower above the dense jungle below. Once you make it to the top you see nothing but the canopy below with a few ruins poking into the sun. Birds are everywhere - parrots, toucans, and may others that I donīt know what to call. Besides birds, there are lots of monkeys swinging from tree to tree. But, these monkeys have a dark side! If you get to close they will chuck shit at you! I kept a hat on!
We stayed at a small lodge type hotel in the park called the Jungle Lodge. It lives up to its name. It's rustic but quite nice in a safari kind of way. Being totally surrounded by the jungle at night is amazing. The darker it gets, the louder it gets. The first night a troop of howler monkeys spent the night in the tree in front. At the sun started to come up they started really howling! The noise is deafening and like nothing I have heard before. It is not a howl but a blood curdling, unearthly sound that I canīt even describe. The first time I heard it I almost jumped out of my skin. Once the started there was no chance to sleep anymore. The park, the ruins, the monkeys, and the birds were an amazing experience.
Now, Iīm making my way back home! Tomorrow I fly back to Guatemala city and spend one more night in Antigua, about 45 minutes from the airport. On the 22nd Iīll be up at 3am to catch a bus for the long jouney home.
Itīs been great down here but Iīm really looking forward to getting home and seeing Dee and all my hard working friends! Jeff, did you get me a hockey ticket yet? See you all soon.
March 17, 2007, Antigua, Guatemala
Wow, has it ever been fun to hang out here in Guatemala. We are still here in Antigua and really loving it. The town itself is old and almost looks like they got a special decorator in for old towns. The food is great, the prices are cheap, and there is lots of great markets and stuff.
Yesterday, I went up a nearby erupting volcana called Pacaya. It was a WOW experience and ranks up there with something to cross of the life-list. About 2pm I left with about 50 others on a school bus for a 2 hour trip to the volcano. The bus was full of backpackers and I think I was probably the oldest on the bus. People were literally from every country from the world.
We wound up a dirt road for ages going through hairpin corner after hairpin. Finally we stopped at a very dusty village at the 1700m level. The bus was instantly surrounded by hordes of little kids selling walking sticks. I didnīt really want one but bought one anyway (70c) just to help the local economy.
Ahead of us was an additional 800m vertical on foot. It was a tough 1.5 hour climb. We were promised great views of the lava. How great it was actually to be I couldnīt imagine! I did hear that the volcano was currently erupting. So, off we went up the mountain. Of course, being competitve I had to be up at the front of the pack. The climb was very tough since the trail was always steep and since we were already starting at over a mile high!
Eventually we came out of the jungle and could see the barren and blackened smoldering peak of the volcono. Off to one side we could see the glow of a lava flow even though it was still light. We started climbing over the black lava following a poorly marked trail. This is where it gets different from visiting a volcano back home - this lava was still very hot.
As we climbed higher every once in a while we would be hit by a blast of blazing hot air coming up through the rocks. It was so hot, in fact, that when some sticks were dropped in a particularly hot spot they caught on fire! Holy shit!
Eventually the trail ended and we could see lava flowing down towards us only a couple of hundreds yards away. It was quite steep so every few minutes a bunch of the sluggish lava would break away and red hot rocks the size of a VW would come tumbling down the mountain. It was absolutely incredible.
A few of us were inching closer and the guide didnīt seem to care to we used our 70c sticks to carefully test for hot spots as we inched our way closer to the molten lava. The hardened lava on the surface was not solid and instead was boulders of all shapes and sizes. They were razor sharp and very light so would shift underneath you. A couple guys ended up with wicked scrapes!
Eventually we made our way right over to the lava! I canīt even describe what this was like. Right above us on the hill a huge red flow slowly made its way to us. After each step we looked up to see if we had to dodge boulders. In front of us a large flow of black and red lava inched along. The ground underneath was blazing hot. Of course, we had to pee on the lava (itīs a guy thing) and it evaporated instantly. Several times we could see molten lava through cracks as we walked along.
Unbelievable is the only way I can describe the experience. It was obviously very dangerous and there is now way this could ever happen in a more organized country.
On the way down it was dark so we stopped for a snack. One guy brought some marshmallows so we toasted them over the lava! I brought some meat wrapped in tin foil. Again, some molten lava near the surface provided a great stove. I donīt think Iīll ever get to use lava as oven again!
Finally, exhausted and exhilerated, we all made our way back down in the dark. As we looked over our shoulder we had spectacular views of the volcano and the many lava flows making their way down. The few of us crazy ones who went and played in the lava celebrated with beers back in the village. What a day, wow!
March 15, 2007, Antigua, Guatemala
Were you wondering if I got home from San Salvador safe? Thanks for worrying :) I did make it back safe and sound after taking two wild city buses and then one long distance bus from the Terminal Del Sur in San Salvador back to Bahia Del Sol. By the way, now I know where all the old school buses go. No kidding, it is true. There are thousands of buses here and they are all old school buses. Some are repainted in wild colors and some still have the name of some small town in Wyoming painted on the side.
This morning, we left Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador and headed to the small quaint town of Antigua, Guatemala. It's a very historic and well preserved town. While I saw only four other caucasians the whole time in San Salvador I have seen a ton of them here. We just arrived so haven't checked out the town yet but I can tell you that it is full of colonial buildings, some ruined, and is a beautiful valley near Guatamela city. Itīll be great.
To get here we had a couple of options. Choice one was to take a long list of chicken buses and worse, arriving here after about 12 hours of travel. When I say arriving, I mean if we were lucky.
The distance we had to travel today was about 400km and that is HUGE on Central American roads, if you can call them that. If you think that Mexico backroads are dangerous then Guatemalan roads make them look like a freeway. Dodging cows, trucks, open manholes, and people just walking along is normal. One minute you are doing 100k the next second you have slow to 5k.
Instead of trying this huge trip on a bus we hired the cook from the little hotel where the boat is moored to drive us. It cost us $200 US for the 7 hour trip for the three of us. He has a very nice clean van! I feel bad for him as he now has to turn around and drive all the way back!!
There are many more stories from this trip but they will have to wait until some other time!
March 13, 2007, San Salvador, El Salvador
We have a day or two to kill before we head inland to Guatemala so on the spur of the moment this morning I decided on a solo side trip to the big city of San Salvador. The Lonely Planet didn't recommend it as a tourist destination but it would be a shame to miss it since I am so close.
As it turns out there is a direct bus right from the Marina to San Salvador, about 2 hours away - how convenient. A bunch of us all boarded the bus. Everyone but me was going to a small town nearby to hit a bank machine and look around. The bus was not too bad, like an old beat up transit bus but it had padded seats (sort of.)
We were off and screaming down the road. All seemed fine on this 'direct' bus until it pulled over in the middle of nowhere and the bus helper guy picked up my stuff, mumbed something in spanish, and ushered me very quickly out the door. How dare him! I even showered. As it turns out this bus does NOT go to San Salvador. From what I gathered I had to change busses. The other cruisers chuckled, wished me luck, and waved as the bus drove off leaving me on the side of a dusty road. The only thing around was a piece of sheet metal shading some very sad looking fruit for sale. I scratched my head, wished I was home in front of the TV and crossed the road...
I figured that there must be some other bus around. Luckily I spied a couple of red toyota vans nearby. I asked if they went to San Salvador and he nodded and then spoke so fast I couldn't understand him. I was very skeptical if he was really going to where I wanted to go but I figured than anywhere was better than were I currently was.
I climbed into the van with about 8 other people and wished everyone good morning as is the custom. It was full but not too crowded... or so I thought.
Very soon we headed off down the highway, actually in the direction of San Salvador! Then, it got interesting! Every mile or so he would stop and pick up MORE people. I was chuckling to myself, while chewing on my kneecap, when the van suddently had 17 passengers. It was unbelivable. As we drove on he kept honking at people inviting more on board. Just when I thought there was no way that more could fit in he load up again. Now, we're at 26 people but lucking 4 of them are very small childern. No problem, yeah sure. But, can we fit more???? As I found out, the the answer is always yes. The four tiny childen got off and 5 (count em, five) huge samoan mama's climbed in. I'm sure the suspension would have compressed if it wasn't bottomed out already! Unless you have been there you can't imagine how crowded the bus was! People were on top of people, on top of people. It was so crowded that the sliding door couldn't close. This is how we careened down the freeway passing trucks left and right. Since I am writing this I guess my time has not yet come to leave this world. Oh yeah, the total cost for a ride about about 60km.... a grand total of 68c.
Now I'm here in the big city. It is big indeed and very, very poor. It looks like an extremely huge and beat up version of a Mexican city. The centro square and market are packed with people selling all kinds of stuff, most of it very used. Many of the shirts for sale were hand offs from other countries. Everything is very cheap.
But I have found another side to the city. Over in the University District there is a ton of money. It's clean, nice, and every american fast food chain is here. The exact opposite to centro. It's quite head spinning.
Tomorrow I repeat my adventure getting here and try to find a way back to Bahia Del Sol. Wish me luck on finding a bus that actually goes where they say...
