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ANTIGUA - November 16-November 17, 1999 (No entry - covered in
Panahanchel Entry) Saturday, November 19, 1999 We arrived in Guatemala on Tuesday, November 16, 1999. Rather than stay in Guatemala City for the night, we took the lead from some Italian guys to go straight to Antigua, which is a smaller city outside of the nation's capital. In fact, Antigua is the former capital of Guatemala. It was demolished by the earthquake of 1773. However many of its structures still stand partially. We spent Wednesday sight seeing all over Antigua. You must see the photos in 2 Go Photos: 2 Go Antigua when you finish reading this entry, as the photos give you a small idea as to how awesome the sights were. We visited The Catedral de Santiago, which is on the Plaza Central. A large portion is still in major disrepair from the earthquake, as aside frm the front part of the Cathedral which has been partially restored, only a shell of the structure is still standing with columns laying on the ground and missing arches and domes, but that was the most beautiful part. We also visited an old convent named Las Capuchinas, which also looked like a shell of a building remaining after a bomb had hit it. But walking around the convent with the map which showed where the nuns slept, worshipped and ate gave me enough to imagine a beautiful place of worship with sweet and tranquil sisters walking the corridors. We visited many other sites, as you will see in the photo page. It was probably our most productive sight seeing day of the trip, besides of course, Machu Picchu and the Galápagos Islands.
The following day we signed up to climb the Volcan Pacaya, which is the only active volcano near Antigua. This exciting day included a thrilling ride on the top of a bus as it sped up a steep mountain, a difficult hike up a volcano, much of which is made of volcanic rock which makes for a very unsteady climb, walking on burning hot coals hoping that I would not slip, and hoping that I would not be murdered like the people mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide Book. But seriously, it was a great day. I have never ridden on the top of a bus (they kind of do not allow you to do that in the United States), and I have never climbed up an active volcano. Both of these activities scared me to death while we were doing them, but as soon as we were done, I wanted to do both again. The safety thing was not an issue since our $8 tour included two men with radios and machetes. The whole experience was fabulous! We are now in Panajachel, which is a beautiful lake town on the Lago Atitlán. Friday morning, the day after our hike up the volcano, we left Antigua for a three hour bus ride to the lake. After arriving, we had to look for a place to hang our backpacks. We walked around for a while comparing rooms and prices. A man came up to us to show us a hotel along the beach. I really liked it and we decided to stay, even though it was a little pricey at around $9. The room has a great view with a private bathroom and a cable television which is great for watching late night movies with Spanish subtitles. It is also nice and bright and roomy. During our first day at the lake, we took a boat to the small village of Santiago. They were having their well known Friday market. However, when we arrived at 2:00 the market was winding down and the townspeople were packing everything up. Rich and I sat on the curb for a while just enjoying the day and taking some incognito photos of two men sitting on some steps, when some bratty little kids threw rotten fruit at my back. The mood turned at that moment. We decided to leave the sorry little town. It took me an entire day to again trust the little children that passed my way. Back in Panajachel we did a little shopping along the streets at a lot of the craft booths and then ate a delicious dinner at an outdoor restaurant where we could do a lot of people watching. The people watching is great in this little beach town, as it is inhabited by the original indigenous people in their customary clothing, wealthy people from the big city taking a weekend holiday, backpackers and hippies from the 1960s and 1970s. Saturday in Panajanchel was bumping. Many tourists came in for the weekend and the streets were festive. We took a boat over to the village of San Pedro. We explored the town, which did not take long as it is very small. Many recommend that you go horseback riding or hire a local to take you hiking up the volcano while in San Pedro. We opted for neither since the horses all looked emaciated and we had just done the volcano a few days earlier. Instead, we decided to return to Panajanchel where the action was. We had fun walking around the town and, once again, had a great dinner. Sunday, November 21, 1999 Today has been a wonderful day! Rich and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to catch the bus to Chichicastenango, better known as CHICHI. Sunday is the best day to visit Chichi because it is Market Day! After our very crowded bus ride, we arrived in the small town a little before 8:00 a.m. Many of the booths were setting up, and the locals were running around with large bundles of goods to prepare for the big day. The Chichi market is definitely the largest and most colorful market that Rich and I have visited so far! It is very large and offers booths with crafts for tourists and chickens, pigs, grain, fruit and other more domestic items for the locals. The streets were crowded with locals and tourists alike. On the church steps sat many Guatemalan women in their colorful, indigenous outfits along side the male elders burning incense as part of a Mayan ritual. Rich and I actually purchased a few Christmas gifts for our families which was the greatest part....I love shopping. Tonight, back in Panajachel, we ate at a great restaurant called Las Chinistas which serves great Asian food. It is pretty late now, and we are back in the room watching "As Good as it Gets" with captions in Spanish. Tomorrow we will be traveling to Guatemala City for a long night bus ride to Tikal where we will see ancient Mayan pyramids and the jungle! Tuesday, November 23, 1999 WE ARE IN PARADISE! This is how I describe the small village of El Remate, our beautiful hostal, Don David, and the Mayan Ruins of Tikal that are set deep in the jungle! Rich and I decided to leave our little beach town of Panajachel yesterday and travel to Tikal to see the famous Mayan ruins there. In order to do this, we had to take a 3 hour bus ride to Guatemala City and then a 9 hour night bus ride to Santa Alena. After arriving in Santa Alena (Flores) at 5:00 a.m., we were faced with the obstacle of how to get to Ramate, where we would hopefully be staying. As we got out of the bus, many people offered us rides...for a large fee. We went with a collectivo which charged us 20 Quetzals per person (under $3 per person) to take us to the doorstep of Don David. Don David is a beautiful hotel with an open air dining room, beautiful white tiled, clean bedrooms with private bathrooms and a porch which overlooks Lake Petén Itzá. There are a lot of trees in the back yard as well as hanging hammocks. At the price of $16, we decided to stay immediately! As we ate a delicious breakfast in the open air dining room, we saw a parrot fly up into the tree right next to us! After a nice rest in our room, Rich and I headed out to Tikal. The Ancient city of Tikal is known as the "Place of Voices". Declared a National Monument, Tikal sits deep in the Guatemalan jungle. The Maya people settled here in 700 B.C. They began building stone structures in 500 B.C. and by 200 B.C., they had built entire complexes of stone ceremonial structures. What Rich and I found so amazing is that these structures are still here and very well in tact. There are many complexes of palaces, pyramids and plazas. The entire ancient city of Tikal occupies approximately 576 square kilometers, so it is very large. It was such an amazing experience to walk through rainforests and seeing dozens of spider monkeys swinging from tree to tree, hearing howling monkeys, experiencing beautiful vegetation and views and then reaching great pyramids that date back over 2000 years. After a full day of visiting pyramids and plazas, including the Great Plaza which includes the Temple of the Grand Jaguar, Temple II and the North Acropolis, we headed for the Mundo Perdido (The lost world) which houses 38 structures and a huge pyramid which boasts two masks on the front and dates back to 700 B.C. Rich and I climbed the pyramid to watch the sun set and the birds. It was amazing....we saw many parrots flying around close to us. They were a beautiful green color and they always flew in pairs. We also saw many toucans flying. They did not fly as close, but they were still amazing to see! Rich spotted the first Toucan, and I did not believe him, until I saw the bird's profile with the distinctive big curved beak. It was my first toucan spotting of my life. Rich and I were having so much fun watching the birds that we almost missed the last shuttle leaving the park. When we came back to our little paradise of Don David, we were greeted with a delicious dinner which we ate with some nice people from Holland, Denmark and Guatemala. We shared travel stories and had a great time. It is now time for us to go to sleep. It has been a long and exciting day! November 24, 1999 Well, another fabulous day in Paradise! This morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast in the open air dining room and tried to figure out what we should do today. We decided to go to the Mayan Ruins of Yaxhá with a gentleman that we just met at the breakfast table, Marc D'Huateville from Paris, France but now living in Madrid, Spain. He works with an insurance company that insures art museums all over the world. The Yaxhá ruins, of course, were not as impressive as Tikal, but they are like Tikal probably was 50 years ago, before they excavated it. Yaxhá also sits in the jungle and is home to almost as many pyramids and palaces as Tikal. It was rediscovered in 1905; however, they just began excavation of these ruins recently. One pyramid was completely excavated and reconstructed. It was an impressive sight. We climbed all the way to the top. We walked on to another complex and met many workers who were in the process of working on another group of pyramids. They let us climb up to the top, which was amazing, as these are archeological wonders still undergoing major research, and they are just letting us play around on them. There were some guys digging underneath to try to discover how many layers of pyramids there were. They looked like coal miners with lights a few meters inside a dark cave built into the pyramid. They let us come in and take photos. This would never be allowed in the U.S.! As we walked around we saw large howler monkeys or Saraguates, as they are called in Spanish. We also saw some more parrots. After several hours of exploring at the ruins, we went down to the lake, which was also a beautiful sight. When we returned to La Casa de Don David, we watched the end of the sunset as it set on the lake while sitting in hammocks. Afterwards, we ate another delicious meal in the open air dining room. As we were getting ready to turn in for the evening, we said our goodbyes as we are leaving for Belize in the morning. All of the staff said Adios. They even gave us their addresses. They were so friendly. I urge all of you reading this entry to go to Guatemala and visit the great Mayan Ruins of Tikal and also Yaxhá if you have the time. And if you go, you must stay at La Casa de Don David. It is Paradise for $16! And so I must go to sleep, as our bus leaves at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning for Belize. I really do not want to leave this place, as you probably can tell. However, it is better to leave a place wanting more! If you would like continue on to my travelogue for Belize, click here.
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