It´s been pretty hectic these past few days but I have free internet at this hostel so I figured I should take advantage.
I´ll go back a few days to run through everything that has happened in Guatemala so far...
Our stay in Flores was brief but it allowed just enough time for a sunrise tour of Tikal. This amazing Mayan city lies deep in the Guatemalan jungle. We awoke at about 3.00 am (I can´t find the colon on this) keyboard so bare with me if things look a bit off) so we could make it to Tikal in time to hike up Temple IV to watch sunrise. Trekking in the dark is something I´ve never done before but luckily enough of us had flashlights to help guide the way. We found our way up to the viewpoint just as the sun began to creep into view behind the clouds. It wasn´t a glorious sunrise since it was quite foggy and made for some blurry photos. However the best part about being at Tikal for sunrise was the jungle. The guide told us to be quiet so we could just sit back and listen....I didn´t know what he meant at first but as soon as everyone was still we could hear it--the jungle was waking up. The howler monkeys were growling all over the place and the other birds in the jungle seemed to fight to be heard over them. I was so overcome with the incredible sounds of the jungle that I grabbed my cell phone to record a minute of it. It´s absolutely unreal to witness the jungle come to life in the wee hours of the morning. It´s not easy to wake up and head out into the jungle at such an early hour but I´d do it again in a heartbeat. After attempting to take many photos of the temples in the distance we hiked back down the temple to spend a few hours exploring the Mayan ruins. Again, since I can´t upload photos at this time and if you are interested please look up ¨Tikal¨ in Wikipedia so you can see the impressive site. However, after much discussion Trish and I decided that while we enjoyed the tour of Tikal it doesn´t quite compare to Angkor Wat. If any of you remember the rebel base camp in Star Wars, then you have seen a glimpse of Tikal.
The following morning we rose early once again for a shuttle bus to Coban. We arranged transportation through the bus that dropped us at the hostel and figured they were a reliable, trustworthy source since they were from a legitmate travel agency. Unfortunately though we were scammed. We paid 120Q for a ¨shuttle bus¨and yet when we were led to the bus we found ourselves staring at a chicken bus. The man motioned to the bus and said it was going to Coban. So we boarded...tired and feeling ripped off. If we wanted a slow chicken bus ride we would have only paid 60Q. Oh well....The thing about a chicken bus that bothers me most is how often we stop and how the journey seems to take forever. However six hours in a school bus provided many hours of drooling out the window as we gazed at the misty pine covered mountain landscape. Unfortunately our journey wasn´t hassle free. There was a Danish girl sitting in front of us that turned around half way through the journey to ask if we had anything stolen from our bags. Trish and I looked down at our untouched bags and told her we had all our belongings. Heidi informed us that her camera was taken. She took a photo of the landscape and then set her camera down between her legs only to find it was gone a moment later. She said the boy that most likely took her camera was looking at me so she thought I may have been robbed as well. Fortunately I wasn´t. We got into Coban and checked into our hostel for the night. We found ourselves staying in the same room as the Danish girls from the bus and decided to join forces as we walked the town. Coban is a hilly, rainy town set in the mountains. I was quite comfortable wandering around the rainy streets suddenly feeling a little bit at home. There´s something comforting about misty weather and hills now...I guess I can blame that on spending 7 years living in San Francisco.
Anyway...our mission was to find the police station so Heidi could report her stolen camera. We stopped many people on the streets to get directions yet everyone seemed to tell us something different. After asking several people and checking a map we found an office with police guards standing around. Since none of the officers could speak English we all pulled out our respective phrasebooks to convey there was a robbery that we wanted to report. Finally after many minutes of wild gestures and pointing to phrases in our books we were motioned to go next door to the official police office to file the report. This ¨official¨ office consisted of two desks against one of the four concrete walls. In addition to the mystery of this station I caught an almuerzo menu on the wall. Hmm...odd. Heidi eventually convinced the officers to file an official report for her so she could claim insurance money. It was wild to sit inside a police station surrounded by gun toting officers grinning their gold teeth at us as we tried to report a robbery. Heidi thanked us for coming along in her time of need. So that was my first and hopefully last experience at a Guatemalan police station. Now I really feel like I´m watching everyone that walks or sits around me and am guarding my possesions with my life. Plus I don´t trust the kids anymore. They seem to be the ones that grab things off foreigners.
Unfortunately Trish came down with a cold a few days ago so we used Coban as a stopping point for her to rest up while I took the time to visit Semuc Champey. This beautiful spot nestled miles down a bumpy, slow road from Coban provided for a day of hiking, swimming and caving. Semuc Champey consists of a series of pools of cool water flowing from the river. After a hot climb through the trails up a steep slippery hill the cool, emerald green water was a welcome afternoon treat. We spent a few hours enjoying Semuc Champey and then moved on to the Lanquin Caves before heading home. The cave tour was fairly brief since the lit path only covers a few hundred meters. At the end of the tour most people turned around to head back the way we came. However our guide said if we had a flashlight and were not afraid of large spiders we could return via a different path. I was intrigued. With my mighty bright in hand I joined a handful of people that followed our guide through a very dark, slippery journey into the caves. We had to slowly climb around since it was extremely slippery everywhere so we took our time winding corners. A few minutes into our adventure our guide disappeared above us. He turned around to shine his light on the path since we needed to climb up to get back to the entrance. However two of us (myself and a Dutch girl) were saved the pain of climbing since our guide yanked us up through the crevices. It was quite interesting to squeeze through jagged rocks without having to do any of the work. Before leaving the cave our guide, Rene, had to show us the gigantic spiders that lived in the cave. Within minutes he found a few climbing the very walls I had been using as support to guide myself along the path. These spiders were easily the size of my hand...body and legs. It was about then that I decided to stop touching the walls of the cave. We emerged from the cave sweaty, dirty and thrilled. By the time I returned to Coban I was beat and almost immediately fell asleep.
We left Coban the following morning to head to Antigua. By chance we caught an express bus instead of the usual chicken bus and had a comfortable four hour journey into Guatemala City where we changed buses for Antigua. Roughly 45 minutes later we were jumping off the bus with our backpacks and greeted by herds of people in Antigua. Since we arrived two Sundays before Easter there was a huge procession passing through town.
Antigua....ahh, a beautiful cobbled street town that is extremely confusing to get around. It took almost a half hour to find the hostel we wanted and yet had to turn back since it was full. Since Semana Santa is rapidly approaching places are filling up quickly. The hostel recommended another place to try just down the road and fortunately they had 2 beds left in a dorm room. It was nice to know we wouldn´t have to sleep in a hammock for the night. The procession went on all day and night (or so it seemed). Men dressed in deep purple robes accompanied sculptural images from the city´s churches that represented Christ´s Crucifixion. The procession wound its way around most of the streets leaving sawdust and flower petals in its path. The city was uncomfortably packed with foreigners and visiting Guatemalans to witness the parade. Í think I managed to take a few good photos of Jesus through the dense cloud of incense that I will show you all within due time.
Since Antigua has been a madhouse since our arrival we are cutting our time short here. Instead of spending a few days in town we are heading to Lago de Atitlan for a few relaxing days around the lake. Alyssa, I had every intention of contacting your colleague while we were in Antigua but since we are leaving so soon I didn´t bother.
So tomorrow we depart for a few days of yoga, long walks and bike rides around a peaceful lake. I can´t wait. Adios!
