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Guatemala

March 2022
Jungle, waterfalls, caves, temples, mayans, monkeys, volcanos, and beaches Read more
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  • Guatemala
    Day 1

    On the road again

    March 9, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    The 30 days being travel-free since returning from Argentina was too much to bear, so I'm spreading my wings again haha. This time bringing along Alexa, Ron, Abdel, Rachel, Caleb and Max

    We are renting two vehicles in Guatemala city and going on a huge drive all over the country.. can't wait

    A brief stop in Washington DC, and then straight to Guatemala.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    1
    Day 1

    Guatemala City

    March 9, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Very brief stay in the capital. Arrived at our hotel after midnight. Flight was an hour late. Took about 30 minutes to get through the airport and another hour to get our rental vehicles. And then straight to bed

    Wasn't a very good sleep. There was no insulation from the street noise below. And the church across the street rang its bell at least 100 times around 6am. But its only one night in the capital and then its a number of stays in more jungly environments coming up.

    A quick breakfast here and then hitting the highway towards the Atlantic.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 2

    Rio Dulce

    March 10, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Today was mostly a travel day to get ourselves to the eastern side of the country. But what a beautiful drive it was. The center portion of Guatemala city has wonderful colonial architecture everywhere and once outside the city, there are endless huge mountains and valleys on both sides.

    But we weren't alone. We had to contend with a littany of truckers coming and going from the eastern port as well. And oh boy, there were a lot. Managed to find a really cool restaurant alongside the highway for a late lunch and then back to battling truckers for the road.

    Along the way, we stopped at the remains of a mayan city called Quirigua dating back to 476AD, which apparently was the commerce center of their world. Not much remains here but lots of massive stone carvings, and stonework from some smaller temples and their grand plaza. A very lush area with banana, mango, and almond trees, and lots of really tall palms, making it very scenic among the ruins. Also found a 200 foot long vine from a crazy tall palm that most of us did a small tarzan swing from.

    Our hotel is situated on the river near the town of Rio Dulce and requires a very wet boat ride to reach it. I think I easily got the most wet out of all of us.

    All the buildings are thatch huts on stilts in the river connected by elevated decking paths. Arrived late, so finished our evening with pizza, beers and a game of Catan.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 3

    Livingston

    March 11, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Woke up to howler monkeys in the treetops making a lot of noise around 6am. Its possibly the best way i can think of to lose sleep :)

    Zero driving today yay. The only way to reach the altantic coast town of livingston is by boat down a river. Abdel managed to hire our own personal boat and driver who also agreed to take us to a waterfall and a nice beach in the Livingston area. Livingston is a garifuna population which is comparable to jamaicans and is the only place in Guatemala with garifunas.

    The boat ride to livingston was beautiful. Jungle lining both sides of the river, and mountains as a backdrop. And there were also lots of hidden canals of tiny islands in the river hidden by dense vegetation with homes and cafés popping up behind huge leafy plants everywhere. Also came across a floating store, meaning a couple in a dug out canoe selling jewellery and hand crafted items. Large cranes and pelicans were everywhere too.

    We bypassed Livingston and went to the Seven Alters, which is a series of cascading pools of water feeding into each other in a jungly setting. Climbed a million rocks and jumped in and out of different pools of water, and for quite a while we had it all to ourselves.

    From there we boated to a gorgeous white sand beach with really warm waters. Spent two hours here relaxing by the ocean before backtracking to livingston and finally checking into our hotel. Spent a few more hours lounging by the pool and then took tuk tuks into town for dinner by the ocean. There's no cars in this city, just tuk tuks. I had an insane local soup where i almost expected half of its ingredients to crawl out of the bowl. Then back to the hotel for another hotly contested Catan game.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 4

    Poptun

    March 12, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Chartered the same boat and driver to take us from the atlantic coast back up the river to the interior, saying goodbye to hundreds of pelicans and egrets (cranes). And back into our SUVs to start making our way north.

    Detoured off the main road to a really pretty spot with many small waterfalls called Las Conchas. Perhaps even prettier was the drive there. Dense jungle on both sides of the highway and very mountainous with tall palms everywhere.

    The river seemed to come from several different directions at once and each location had a similar cascading waterfalls with different pools above them. So we all jumped into the river and spent a couple of hours climbing the small waterfalls and exploring the pools above them.

    From there, kept driving north to our hotel just before the town of Poptun. Drove through a wild rainstorm that made it nearly impossible to drive until it slowed down.

    Finca Ixobel isn't really a hotel, but a large estate in the jungle with cabins scattered all around it. Very rural feel to it. Had a nice open air meal at the main building and then donned our headlamps to find our way back to our cabins for an early night under our mosquito nets. Big day tomorrow at Tikal.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 5

    Tikal

    March 13, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Forecast was calling for rain all day and night at Tikal which was disappointing as this was one of the biggest highlights of the trip. And the 2.5 hour drive to tikal from poptun was exactly that - non stop rain. Boooo.

    But when we arrived at the park gate, the rain fortunately stopped. Very grey and overcast but much better than the alternative. The park guys didn't accept credit card, nor American dollars (weird!!) which quickly posed a problem to pay for the two day entrance. Fortunately abdel was able to exchange american dollars with one of the nearby shopkeepers, and ron and i pooled our quetzals to make it work. Phew. Its literally jungle plus a few barebone hotels... no atm's. And the nearest town was at least 30 minutes away.

    As soon as we left the hotel and walked toward the entrance gate, the wildlife became abundant. There was a crocodile in the nearby creek. Adorable coati roaming around everywhere. Strange exotic birds too.

    It took about 20 minutes hiking uphill to reach the grand plaza and the astonished look on everyone's faces was priceless as the dramatic temple I and II were towering over us.

    Climbed the stairs to the top of temple II for some amazing views and pics. And those views included a small flock of toucans in a nearby tree. I followed them around for a while trying to get a good photo despite all the grey clouds muting their colors in the camera shots.

    Then made our way to the gigantic temple IV and climbed to the top with views of the tops of the other temples and mist over the jungle canopy. Amazing sights. And even better, a few parrots were flying by us a few times and nesting near the temple top.

    Eventually made our way back to the hotel. Got in a game of catan, and supper before they shut everything down at 9pm. So nice to be back here! Magical spot. Hopefully tomorrow is drier.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 6

    Flores

    March 14, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    It rained all night and the next morning so we had a lazy morning lounging in our cabin and an extended breakfast. Saw a toucan fly by while lying in bed too. Such a simple thing brought a huge smile to my face.

    Around 11am, the skies finally took pity on us and we had sunny weather most of the afternoon as we wandered back into the jungle to see more temples and wildlife. Tikal is 60,000 sq km, so its quite a walk between a lot of the temples and pyramids. And its crazy to know that the mayans first started living here around 600BC.

    Made our way to seldom visited Temple VI and then to the residential palace which had tunnels and small bedrooms throughout. And then to towering Temple V which dramatically appears as you emerge from the jungle. And finished our hike with a climb of the Lost World pyramid and one last view from the top of Temple IV. These things are absolutely massive and jaw dropping views from both the ground or temple tops. And even better is all the wildlife everywhere. More toucans, coati, and today finally saw some monkeys and also could hear the roar of the howler monkeys in the distance.

    Left tikal around 4, stopped at a side stand for empanadas and eventually arrived at the very pretty island town of flores. All the buildings are pastel colors with cobblestone street throughout and views of the lake from many different locations. Stayed at a really unique hostel that is part jungle inside with crazy trees and vines growing in the middle of all the restaurant and lounging areas. And had a fantastic Guatemalan meal lakeside. Finished the evening at the vibrant hostal pub area.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 7

    Raxruha

    March 15, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Had a lazy morning and didn't hit the road until 11am. Was a 3 hour drive to the Raxruha area. And the last 20 minutes of it we descended into a really tight valley in lush jungle mountains. Our hotel is a huge gorgeous estate in the middle of nowhere/jungle. And we are the only ones here.

    After settling in, we went to the caves a couple of km away and that was easily the craziest road i ever drove on. Rough, uneven dirt road winding up and down steep descents, one car wide with dense jungle on both sides. So happy i rented a jeep!!

    At the caves we had the option to walk 1.5 hours through one cave or do a river tube through another cave, also 1.5 hours. Abdel wasn't feeling great and the kids wanted to do the inner tubes, so it became an easy decision.

    We created a link between all of us in our tubes by wrapping our feet under the next person's tube. Sounds awkward, but was easy and worked well. This cave system had several "windows" where there were openings and sunlight would shine through. I counted 7 of them. We had to portage our tubes several times to avoid small rapids inside the cave. And finished our tour walking our tubes back through a mayan village.

    The kitchen back at the hotel closed at 7pm and we had to be out by 9, so it was a very early night. Completed the night falling asleep to the roar of howler monkeys in the nearby jungle.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 8

    Lanquin

    March 16, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Google maps said our trip to lanquin was 3 hours to travel 84km. Which we immediately figured had to be a crazy road through the mountains. I cannot describe how insane that drive was. But i guess I will try. It was up and down a number of mountains over the craziest terrain imaginable. I would not have thought a vehicle could do such a thing.

    Literally driving over huge rocks at 5-10 km an hour for 4 hours on treacherous roads. And another hour on a beautifully paved highway to arrive at our hotel in 5 hours instead of 3. We also got stuck in a small town completely full of tuk tuks and no one could move anywhere for a really long time. It was surreal as well. No way we could have done this with out 4WD jeeps.

    But once we arrived, we laughed at what we just went through and started unwinding at another gorgeous hotel spot. This one has cabins on a hill and two restaurants overlooking the river.

    We saw some people floating by on inner tubes in the small rapids next to our hotel. We inquired within and 20 minutes later we were in a truck taking us to a river launch spot in our own tubes. The funny thing about tubes... they don't follow the river. They want to go in a straight line but the river winds all over. So you have to paddle with your arms vigorously to keep yourself away from the branches and rocks near both shorelines and keep yourself centered in the rapids. They also gave us beer to enjoy as we floated downstream for 4km for 40 minutes. What a great way to release the stress of that bonkers drive.

    Then went to the lanquin caves to see the thousands of bats that fly out every evening at sundown. Insane how many bats kept streaming out of that cave. I am attaching a pretty crazy video of bats flying right at alexa and i while inside the cave.

    Finished with beer, food and more catan. Had the most amazing seafood ceviche ever as well!! What a day.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 9

    Salama

    March 17, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today we visited the gorgeous waterfalls and pools of Semuc Champey. It was a 45 minute drive but the road was again extremely rough terrain most of the way. On the way there, our drive was interrupted by some sort of mayan ceremony going on, and the streets of Lanquin were filled with mayans to the point we could not drive forward for quite a while.

    But we eventually got there and were amazed by the teal coloured waters at the falls. Several tiers of pools to swim in, and waterfalls connecting all the different tiers. So we jumped in and swam the different pools and climbed a bunch of the waterfalls. Perhaps one of the prettiest places i have ever been. Was very hard to leave. Could have easily spent the whole day here. Definitely a number of places where i wish we had more time to explore.

    But we had another drive and had no idea what kind of roads lay ahead. Fortunately the roads this time were in great shape and the drive over a number of mountain ranges were just spectacular (as usual here). This country is just so gorgeous at every turn.

    Arrived at our hotel and the hotel said they weren't expecting us until tomorrow. And they had no rooms left for today. Uh oh. So angry Abdel made an appearance and after a lot of back and forth, somehow they found 2 room for us haha. Phew.

    The hotel was nice but ultimately just a stopping point en route to Antigua. Not much of interest here. But a very nice spot to relax the evening away.    Read more

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