GUATEMALA!!!

After dropping my dad off at the Tuxtla Gutierrez airport and handing off that fabulous rental car, I was on my own again for the next two weeks. I had been thinking for a while that a trip to Guatemala might be an interesting diversion, and something quite new and different. So instead of heading east to the yucatan peninsula, as previously planned, I had one layover night in San Cristobal, and then took a shuttle bus across the border the following morning into Quetzaltenango (aka Xela), in the western highlands of Guatemala. I thought of it as an adventure within an adventure for two weeks, little did I know that I could have used twice that much time in Guatemala!
The first two nights in Xela I was couchsurfing, and during the full day that I had there, I went up to Fuentes Georginas, a hot spring way up in the cloud forest. My travel companions that day were a rugged mother-daughter duo from Vermont, who were very well-traveled and we shared a lot of great stories. On the way back from the Fuentes, we stopped in a small indigenous village for lunch, which included queso fresco, the freshest blue corn tortillas ever and mangos! Then we took the chicken bus back to Xela and spent another few hours talking over some fancy hot chocolate concoctions, theirs even had ice cream floating in it! Unfortunately I didn't try the hot cocoa ice cream float because the second I crossed the border, I came down with a cold, so I had my own Fuente coming out of my nose for the next week.

Fuentes Georginas

Afterwards I went to a pretrip meeting for a backpacking trip. I heard about a group called Quetzaltrekkers before coming to Guatemala and their three day trek from Xela to Lago Atitlan sounded super fun and worked with my schedule! Quetzaltrekkers is the only guide service that donates all of the profits to a local school for children of low income families that otherwise wouldn't be able to attend school. At the meeting we divided up the group gear, and the next morning we met up early and took a chicken bus to the trailhead. The first day of climbing was more difficult than we thought it would be, but the cloud forest was gorgeous! We arrived in a small mountain town just as the afternoon rain was starting and we had the opportunity to use a traditional temescal (Mayan sauna) before dinner and then sleep! I woke up with a really sore right knee, and this proved to be a problem for the next week and a half. 
The next two days we continued hiking through gorgeous mountains and I had a lot of fun chatting with the other hikers in the group, who were from Mexico, England, Australia, Nicaragua, Kenya and Germany. Other highlights included staying with a family in their home on the second night, where we were serenaded by kids around the campfire and fed a delicious meal. We woke up really early the next morning to try to catch the sunrise over Lago Atitlan. Unfortunately it was too cloudy at first, but as we descended to the lake, the sun came out and we had a really nice last day of hiking. We ended with swimming and lunch in San Pedro, a hippie hangout on the lake. Most of the group headed back to Xela that afternoon, and I decided to take a ferry across the lake to the tiny town of Santa Cruz. 

Cloud forest true to form!

Second day photo break

Group shot done with a self timer!

Looking down onto San Pedro and the lake on the last morning 

(this was also done with a self timer!)

The Vermont friends that I had met a few days earlier had recommended an amazing hostel in Santa Cruz called La Iguana Perdida. I was really excited to explore more of the lake over the next few days, but the next morning my stomach was upside down and I spent the following two days resting at La Iguana. I was so sad to have an injured knee, head cold and stomach illness all at the same time, but fortunately I was at a perfect place to just relax and the owners of the hostel took care of me and got me antibiotics. After three mellow nights there, it was time to press onto another nearby gem...Antigua. I spent one rainy afternoon seeing the town and hiking up to an overlook, where I met a nice Canadian lady and we got soaked in the rain hiking around and chatting. The next morning I took another shuttle bus north to the town of Coban, and met up with my couchsurfing hosts Astrid and Evan that evening. They were really fun people and brightened up the otherwise minimally exciting coffee town that I came to in order to see nearby waterfalls. The next day I took a bus and rode in the back of a truck to the waterfalls of semuc champey. It was a bit tricky to get there, but it was so worth it to see this stellar sight, and I met some other fun travelers there, including an Israeli family and an Aussie who insisted on only speaking in Spanish with me! I got back to Coban in the evening and met up with Astrid and Evan after work. Astrid took me to a local film festival that night and then the next morning I went to an awesome cafe with very unique chocolate and coffee drinks with crazy spices. I met a fun group of five travelers from Colorado who had all met each other while working at REI in Denver! I caught a shuttle to Flores after breakfast, and met more interesting travelers and companions. 

Views of Lago Atitlan

A drizzly Antigua street 

Semuc Champey waterfalls from above

As soon as I got into Flores, a rain storm started, so I showed up to the well-known Hostal Los Amigos soaking wet. This was one of the first places that I stayed that was a real backpacker party hostel, however even though I was in the cheapest dorm room (and the only one left) the noise was under control, and everyone else there was really easy-going and we had lots of fun walking around the island eating street food and swimming in the lake. On my first morning there, I got up at 4am to get to Tikal very early, and the tour I went on was fabulous! I liked I even more than Palenque and got back to Flores in time to swim in the afternoon and go on a market adventure with a German friend who also insisted on only speaking in Spanish, which I really enjoyed. She had worked at the school that is run by Quetzaltrekkers in Xela, and it was great to hear about her experiences at the place that the trek profits support. On my final night in Guatemala, we swam, ate street food and watched a far off lightning storm. What a perfect way to end this part of the trip! I was surprised by how much of Guatemala I was able to see in two weeks, and I think traveling alone allowed me to meet more people and join up with other travelers to go to different places. It was really rewarding to be able to stay in backpacker hostels, couchsurf and even go backpacking. Almost all of Guatemala was mountainous and I saw mostly clouds and rain, unlike the Mexican sun that I was used to. On the last day of May I crossed from Guatemala into Belize to meet up with my mom that afternoon, and I was so happy that my path had turned south for a little while, it definitely made me want to come back again and see all of Central America!

The Mayan ruins of Tikal in the early morning

Don't make me leave Guatemala!!

Mayan Ruins and Waterfalls

Continuing our tour of Chiapas state, we drove north from San Cristobal for a few hours to Agua Azul waterfall, where we hiked and swam before the big hoards of tourists showed up. We pressed on a bit further along the highway past impoverished families in the countryside who were holding strings across the road to stop cars and try to sell their bananas. But there are really only so many bananas that you can buy, and most of the time you´d have to honk loudly to get them to let you pass. Instead of bananas we opted for mangos, because we were in the midst of delicious mango season.

Dad eating a mango flower at Agua Azul

I really enjoyed swimming at our next stop, the waterfall Misol-Ha. After lounging there for a while and attempting to swim directly under the flow of the waterfall, we drove a few more miles into the town of Palenque. We arrived and quickly found the best hotel option with a pool, as the climate is very hot and humid there. When we came back to our hotel pool after dinner on the town´s main square, we found that it was filled with 500 unsupervised children who had come in off a tourist bus while we were out. But the temperature was hot enough to make us want to swim around them!  

Misol-Ha waterfall

The following day we drove southeast along the Guatemalan border to our first Mayan ruin, Bonampak. This was probably one of the most isolated places that I visited in Mexico to that point, as there were only small indigenous villages and jungle surrounding the site, on both sides of the border. there weren´t many other people there, but we did meet some Chiapaneco families on a day trip and local Lacandon people. On the way back to Palenque, we stopped at a beautiful set of cascadas for a picnic and refreshing swim. We were so lucky to find this spot, which was off the highways a ways, down a dirt road, and not well described in the guide book. This day trip was also the first time I tried out being behind the wheel of the rental car, and while I was over-cautious at times, I did minimal damage to the underside of the car when going over unmarked speed bumps! My dad was fairly disappointed that missionaries had saturated this remote corner of Mexico and most of the towns along the border highway were dry, so there was nothing refreshing for him to sip on while I drove home! After getting back to the hotel and enjoying the pool and AC quite a bit, I checked my email and found out that I´d been accepted into the University of Washington School of Medicine!! Best of all, I got to share my excitement with my dad, as we celebrated with a seafood feast and lots of hugs that night in Palenque!

Dad welcomes you to Bonampak, which we had almost to ourselves!

Bonampak murals that are incredibly well-preserved

The following day we saw Mayan sight number two...Palenque! We got an early start, but it was still plenty hot at the sight. We found the energy to climb almost all of the monuments and trek around through the jungle. This was a much anticipated day for us, and Palenque did not disappoint! The blue sky + green grass + black and white stonework made for a surreal setting, and we had fun exploring different passageways and thinking about Mayan times. After spending the morning walking through the palaces and patios of palenque, dad and I stopped by the museum briefly and then returned to our hotel to relax for a bit and enjoy the pool, sans young and wild hooligans! It was nice to have a relaxing afternoon and some down time, after we'd been going non-stop for the previous 2 weeks. Some shots of Palenque:

The next morning we headed out early and climbed back up into the mountains to the town of Ocosingo, which is about halfway between Palenque and San Cristobal. There we had some breakfast, bought incredible "doble crema" cheese that is specially made in the region and our usual daily supply of tortillas, which always consists of a hefty stack for 2-3 pesos. We drove a few miles outside of town to Tonina, another Mayan sight. While it is a bit more off the beaten path, and not as visited as Palenque, Chichen Itza or Tikal, we were informed in the parking lot by an overly confident tour guide that Tonina has The Best murals in the entire Mayan world, and those other ruins are crap by comparison! We had a good laugh over his persuasiveness, then decided not to pay him to give us a tour, as we sensed a little too much bitterness. He was indeed correct that Tonina was impressive and had nice stone carved murals. It was also a monster to hike up, with seven levels of pyramids running up the hill. On the way back down, we stopped at a snack shop, which was run by a Zapatista family. My dad was very excited to buy a t-shirt from them and we heard more about the Zapatista's current control of the area and what has occurred since their uprising in 1994. Later in the afternoon, when we were driving down the back roads to the town of Comitan, we passed through more Zapatista towns and were stopped on the road to pay a fee to locals who were repairing the road. The price was of course dependent on how you looked and what kind of car you were driving, but it was nice to have a landslide-free road!

Tonina

We arrived in Comitan in the afternoon and walked around town a bit to see the museum and house of Dr. Belisario Dominguez, a political reformer and medical doctor who lived in the city. While I don't think that Comitan really deserved it's distinction as a "pueblo mágico" or "magical city" like others that I've seen, the main attractions were the nearby natural wonders, including Lagunas de Montebello, where we went the next day. Our rental car really came in handy here, and we were able to see all of the sections of the national park and at least a dozen lakes, of so many different colors! We even went to one that was right on the border, half in Mexico and half in Guatemala! Our favorite was definitely Laguna Agua Tinta, where we swam all by ourselves in perhaps the clearest and cleanest lake I have ever been in!

 

One of the many Lagunas de Montebello 

On our last full day in Chiapas, dad and I packed up our stuff and drove to the final waterfall of the trip, Cascada El Chiflon. We were fortunate to arrive there early enough to avoid excessive heat and crowds, and I think it was one of the most beautiful places we went in Chiapas. The mist off of the largest "bridal veil" falls felt so good, and swimming in the lower falls was nice as well. From there we drove the backroads to a little town just south of San Cristobal for lunch, then we drove through San Cris to a hotel in Chiapa del Corzo, which put us within striking distance of the airport for the next morning. We decided to take it easy on our last afternoon and not drive up to the Cañon del Sumidero, or go on the boat ride into the canyon because my dad still has a fear of Mexican boats. Instead we went swimming (again!) and ate a fabulous final dinner of street tamales. We stacked up quite a few plates and it was the perfect way to end trip with my dad!

Cascada del Chiflon



 Mmmmmmmmmmango season!!!!

Chiapas Round One

My dad was able to get three weeks off of work, so we took advantage of the extra time and added Chiapas onto the list after our fantastic time in Oaxaca. We got off the overnight bus at 5:30 AM in Tuxtla Gutierrez and proceeded to attempt a quick get away. This turned out to be difficult because rental car companies didn´t open until 9AM and we had to go to four separate places in different areas of the city because most of their prices were very ridiculous and some were even "out of cars for mother´s day". But after many phone calls and frustrating conversations in Spanish, I somehow managed to get us an upgraded car with automatic transmission for about 150 pesos/day less than what was listed and at the same price that we had in Oaxaca! The fact that my dad and I did not completely deteriorate into blubbering tears after dealing with the challenging rental car dealers on only a few hours of sleep on the bus the night before is evidence of our solid relationship. It was also much better that he didn´t understand all the lies they were telling us in spanish, otherwise a lot more yelling would have occurred! But after killing hours walking around the city and eating at their gigantic market, then walking between rental car agencies while the heat rose into the 90s by mid-morning, we had a clumsy Dodge "Attitude" in our possession by 10AM. That was truly a life accomplishment!

We made it through Tuxtla Gutierrez together!! And we got to see Parque de la Marimba along the way, however no one was playing the marimba at 7AM!

Our first objective after getting out of smoking hot Tuxtla was to climb about 5,000 ft. to the crisp air of San Cristobal de las Casas. Rivaling Oaxaca City in mellow colonial vibes and interesting pedestrian walkways, and also surrounded by wooded hills, I immediately felt at home. And this was great because in addition to spending three nights in town with my dad, I'm also planning to return for two weeks of WWOOFing (volunteering on an organic farm) with Jay in June. This was confirmed on the first day that my dad and I were in town when I went by the restaurant/movie theater/language school/NGO that the farm is affiliated with and met Kippy, the farm manager. Apparently the farm is located about 40 minutes walking distance from where we'll be staying near the center of town. I was overjoyed to finally meet Kippy in person and confirm our plans, as I'd been emailing her since January!

View of San Cristobal de las Casas from east to west

 Main cathedral in San Cristobal (they have another church around the corner that was originally built for only Indigenous people)

We did some other exploring of the center of town that afternoon and discovered lots of places that sold local chocolate! Yes! Our second day in San Cristobal was spent on a sweet half day mountain bike trip to the surrounding hills, including Arcotete church and caves and a cloud forest. During the ride we met two Canadian women from the Yukon territory who even joined us for refreshments afterwards in a cantina. There were plenty of people there celebrating Mothers' Day, which is a three day party weekend in Mexico, with a lot of exuberance!

Canadian friends and our biking guide Joel

Arcotete cave

The following day was spent touring around the outlying areas of interest in our rental car. We went hiking in two different forest reserves, visited the town of San Juan Chamula to see their unusual candlelit church and indigenous rituals and took a trip though the Grutas El Mamut (Mammoth Caves) just as the afternoon rain started. I was very pleased the San Cris lived up to all the good things I'd heard about it, and it definitely got me excited to come back.

The walkway up the hill on the west side of town that has good sunset views on top.

Chocolate and cafe!!