Xela - Lago Atitilan Trek.

Day 347.

Having done only one afternoon trek in Guatemala so far we certainly hadnt prepared for this 3 day, 50km hike across mountainous terrain to reach Lago Atitilan. This distance itself wouldn't be the challenge, the number of climbs plus the fact we'd be carrying our own water, food and sleeping gear however might be.

Being a volunteer organisation it also meant all our money on this trek was going to a good cause. It was time to get packed and kitted out, we divided up the food to pack amongst the group which landed us with Tacos (enough to feed a small village), along with accompanying salsa of course.

After a hearty breakfast with our fellow trekkers we headed out at dawn to catch a chicken bus out of town. Never to be disappointed by a local bus yet, this driver pulled off a solid 15 minute reverse up a 40 degree hillside, not an actual road in sight - I think he enjoyed the challenge. Worth highlighting to tough lives of these guys, our bus driver works 15 hours a day 7 days a week and is currently saving $12k to pay a cartel to smuggle him into the US. Madness.

After waving fairwell we headed straight up, and up, and up, for hours in fact. Until we broke through the first clouds. The weather was on our side, miraculously for Guatemala it was blue sky all around, with mountains and Volcanoes in every direction! We trekked 9 hours on day one, until we arrived at a remote Mayan village, Spanish here is rarely spoken, a form of Mayan only - those Spanish lessons are paying for themselves already...

This town virtually live in the clouds, they would be giving us their town hall to rest our heads for the night, roll matts down and pasta on the go we headed out to the local saunas that had been pre prepared for us, but these weren't just any saunas. These were small cement shed like buildings, just tall enough to sit in, inside it was pure darkness with a burning open fire smouldering in one corner. The process goes roughly as follows, enter carefully (avoid standing on the burning coals) take a seat, locate the steaming bucket of water, again in the dark, and carefully begin to mix with cool water, once complete simply wash one another. All whilst trying to avoid inhaling too much smoke, surprisingly it felt amazing after a day trekking and boy did we feel clean after.

The luxury was shortlived and come 6am we were up again and off the hall floor, stringing those boots back up once more. This trail itself isn't your typical hike, in fact we wouldn't see another tourist on this trail once, it was purely the route to link local Mayan towns and transport wood via donkey, therefore it was all mud, lots of corn and plenty of trips and falls! But that's all part of the fun apparently, especially when Ellie catches you fall for the 3rd time in a row.
I was so close to saving myself on the 3rd...

Full up with plenty of rice and beans for breakfast we were ready for Day 2, a solid 10 hours of trekking, with plenty of river crossings and more climbs than I care to recall. But everyone made it, no evacuations this week thankfully (which apparently are rather common). If we had ever wondered where all the corn comes from in Guatemala, well now we know, its literally everywhere!

On night 2 we arrived at a Don Pedro's house, a local man who has been housing trekkers on this hike for 15 years. We dumped our sleeping bags in his dining hall and tucked into the fresh dinner he had waiting for us. Unlike the previous night alcohol was not banned in this village and therefore everyone indulged around the campfire. Limbster showing off her skills at lying and manipulation in a game of town with the rest of the group, even had me fooled. After a few smores around the fire, (yes smores!) we hit the hay ready for the 3am wakeup.

Thankfully the rain was still nowhere to be seen and so we were up and out at 3am to reach our sunrise view of the Lago - our final destination. The second we arrived everyone was back into those sleeping bags, hot chocolate in one hand, banana bread the other waiting for that sun rise to peak through. Just as it seemed too peaceful the
Techno music started coming from the trees behind, local drunks - maybe, kids still out - unlikely, in fact it was neither and actually appeared the two armed police who had been organised for our protection. I guess we could live with the techno if they were happy to guard over us, not only that they accompanied us for the following 3 hours of trekking, something about us being easy targets - I personally think they just enjoyed the free hot chocolate..

It was time to descend, finally - we had made it, Next up we plated how many gringos can you fit in the back of a very old pick up truck, turns out 13 plus luggage if you really squeeze. And by squeeze it meant me and two others clinging on for dear life as we raced through the local towns to our final destination.

We would end at a local restuant right on the lake, one that conveniently had a nice 15ft jump jumping platform attached which certainly helped with the celebrations. Well the unlimited supply of Rum from our Colombian amigo had a small part to play too.

It wasn't all success stories and fun however, it's still a sore subject but Ellie has left behind a part of herself as she would say, or you and I just one of her trusty walking sandals, unfortunately she just can't remember where. My bet is right on top of the mountain, but hey. Luckily she's taken it in her stride and hasnt mentioned it much to me or the rest of the group...Read more