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Latinoamérica 2017
  • About a girl who travels
Dec 2016 – Dec 2017

Latinoamérica 2017

A 355-day adventure by About a girl who travels Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 28, 2016
    About a girl who travelsLatinoamérica 2017About a girl who travels

    Good bye Germany

    December 28, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    So this is where it all begins!
    After one last night in cologne with my friend Alena she dropped me of at the airport. It was nice to get a personal good bye, thank you Lenchen :)
    The flight was long and due to the low cost there was no entertainment - which made it even longer. But I met a few other backpackers on the plane and as this was gonna be the start to my big adventure nothing could spoil my good mood!Read more

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    2

    Cancun

    December 29, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Cancun is not as bad as i expected but I also didn't see much of it.
    I managed to check into my hostel without switching to english (ok, I didn't have to say much in spanish but at least I understood everything they said ;)). Then had an nice and authentical first dinner at a street food stall in parque las palapas - burrito con pollo - and a beer with some guys I met @ my hostel.
    After a good night of sleep I'm now enjoying a sweet breakfast of the roof top terrace of my hostel before heading to Tulum later.    Read more

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    Tulum

    December 30, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Tulum was the right choice as the first proper stop of my trip. The hostel is nice and relaxed and the free bikes make it easy to get around.
    The first night I went out with a funny crowed of people from my hostel. We had tacos and beer (covered by paper tissue) on the street. The fun part was that we all put a lot of what we thought was guacamole on our tacos before trying it first ;)
    Later we went to a bar called "Batey" for mojitos and were surprised to find some really good life music there.
    I spend the next day on the beach to catch my first sunburn and get adjusted to my new way of life ;)    Read more

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    Zona Arqueologica de Tulum

    December 31, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    I had been to the ruins before last time I was in Tulum 8 years ago. But as I remembered them being set at the coast really nicely I wanted to go back there anyway. Yesterday I took my time getting ready and having breakfast and when I made it to the entrance around 10:30 it was already really crowded. So I decided to get up early today to go to the ruins right around 8 and save breakfast for later.
    But when I woke up the rain was pouring heavily. I thought about just staying in bed but figured it might actually be good to go - as nobody else will get up early in the rain, right? And it turned out to be the right decision - I was almost by myself.
    Even though it was raining on and off the whole time the sun also came out. It was nice to see the ruins in another "more dramatic" setting than last time. And of course the sun and the rain came together for a nice rainbow.    Read more

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    1

    Feliz año en Tulum

    December 31, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I was still hanging out at the hostel with a few people trying to figure out where to go for the night when the hostel stuff showed up asking us to join their New Years Dinner. One of the girls from the hostel had her family from Argentina come to Tulum - her mum, her aunt and her grandmother (they reminded me so much on the golden girls). We all sat together along one big table and got a nice home cooked dinner :)
    After we had finished our delicious meal and half a bottle of tequila with juice we got on our bikes to get down to the beach.
    Even though (or maybe because) we didn't find the big party down there it was a great experience to spend new years at the beach with a lot of stars and nice people!    Read more

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    Bacalar

    January 2, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    When I got of the bus in Bacalar it felt like I had finally made it to mexico. Tulum was nice but still quite touristy. Just walking from the bus stop towards the hostel I already really liked the little town. But when I then caught the first glimpse of the lagoon, i was hooked.
    My hostel is situated right at the lagoon with it's own pier. I decided to extend my stay right away and just enjoyed my time...    Read more

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    Bordercrossing to Belize

    January 3, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Usually getting around is quite easy when you are traveling. But sometimes it's just hard to find out how to get somewhere and you are not quite sure if you gonna make your way to wherever you wanna go.
    So today was one of these days where I would answer the question "Where are you going today?" over breakfast with "I will try to make my way to Belize...".

    I wanted to go to Caye Caulker. A small island just of the coast in Belize. I knew you could go to Belize City first by bus and then take a boat from there. But there was also one boat a day leaving from Chetumal in Mexico straight to the island. I had seen a sign for that in the bus station saying "buy you ticket here" when I got to Bacalar. But when I went back there yesterday to buy my ticket they only gave me a phone and the guy on the other end told me he would put down my name. But as he had asked me to be in Chetumal by 11 am (even though the boat was not leaving before 3 pm) it sounded like he wouldn't be able to actual hold my ticket without payment. But what was really weird about this call was the guy saying the ticket would be 200 pesos which is like 10 euros. Everywhere else it said tickets were $55. Another girl at the hostel who wanted to go a day later had gotten the same answer on the phone so maybe the guy was telling the truth?
    I wasn't quite sure about the whole thing but decided to go to Chetumal in the morning to see if I could find this guy and his cheap tickets and, if I couldn't make it on the boat, just go to Belize City and take it from there.

    I went to the bus station with Annarieke who I had met at my hostel and who wanted to go to Tulum with the 9 o'clock bus. There was supposed to be an hourly bus to Chetumal so 9 would be a good start to make it to my ticket before 11. It probably mean I would have a few hours to spare in Chetumal before getting on the boat but that should be fine, right?
    At the Busstation I found out there was no bus at 9 and I had to take the one at 10. Bus the bus was only supposed to take 35-40 minutes so nothing to worry about.
    When the bus arrived all the seats were taken but luckily the bus driver let me sit on the steps at the entrance so I didn't have to stand all the time.

    We got to the first big bus station in Chetumal just before 11 but I had seen there was another one closer to the ferry. I managed to ask the bus driver if this was the final stop or if there was another one and was really proud when he understood what I wanted and told me to stay on the bus for the next stop.
    When I got of at the final stop I had a look around but couldn't see any sign for ferry tickets being sold here so I decided to head to the ferry terminal. Probably I gonna meet my guy there. I thought about walking but a guy I had talked to on the bus asked if I wanted to share a taxi. It was already after 11 so better hurry up.
    Down at the ferry terminal I could only make out the normal ferry ticket office with the big sign saying $55. Where was this guy? He had given me his number so I called him. He answered and could even remember me from the day before. Unfortunately he told me his stand was at the bus station! I must have missed it. But he might have cheaper tickets and I had some time to spare anyway. So i walked back to the Busstation for about 10-15 minutes. At least I saw a bit of the town and even found a place were I could sit down later for lunch while waiting on the bus. When I made it to the bus station I still couldn't see his stand. I called him again just to find out that he was at the other bus station. The big one out of the center where I had stopped first.

    After talking to 3 different collectivo drivers (collectivo are mini vans functioning as the public bus system around town. They are easy to use in a small town like Tulum where you have only one street with 2 directions. But it gets more complicated in bigger towns like this one) I found the right one who brought me back to my first stop in Chetumal. When I walked in I could see the blue stand right away and was greeted by a guy with a big smile saying: "It's you, isn't it?".
    2 guys standing beside him looked pretty disappointed to see me. As it turned out there were only 2 seats left and the guy had told them that he had promised me to hold the ticket. I was really relieved to find out that i got one of last 2 ticket but when I asked how much I owed him he said 1100 pesos. $55.

    The moment you figure out you spend over 1 hour getting around town from bus station to bus station to ferry terminal and back and forward again just to find out that you could have gotten your ticket for the same price right away is usually a point for a breakdown. But when I had made it back to the boat terminal and was sitting on the pier with a beer in my hand and the view over the blue ocean i had to laugh. It was already 1:30 by now and they were gonna start immigration and check in around 2. This was not the way I planned to spend my spare time in Chetumal but it was still fun :)

    After this adventure the whole bordercrossing by boat went pretty easy. Even though it was pretty funny. For example we had to put down our handluggage in 2 rows on the floor for customs to check it. But the dog was much more interested in other stuff than our luggage. When we got to San Pedros (our first stop in Belize before Caye Caulker) we had to form a line according to a number they had written on a post-it and put on our passports at check in 3 hours earlier.

    And after a long day of traveling I had finally made it to Caye Caulker!    Read more

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    1

    Caye Caulker

    January 4, 2017 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I had somehow expected Caye Caulker would be smaller and probably less touristy but I was still struck by it's colorful houses and nice little outlets along the beach.
    It's a place to chill and relax and definitely a place for party. I had met Anneliese from England on the boat from Chetumal and together we had a great time here.
    We stayed at Bella's Backpackers (the first night I actually stayed in a hammock on there patio as everything else was booked) which, with it's laid back vibe, was the perfect home on this island.
    We went on a snorkeling trip to the reef and swam with nurse sharks and sting rays.
    The typical night would start with sneaking into Dirty Mc Nastys (another hostel) to get some of their free rum punch and end at the sports bar where everybody on this island ended up. Which means you would meet everybody here who you had met during the day. One night we even made it to the Reggae Bar - the club where everybody goes once the sports bar shuts down.
    I stayed for 3 nights and figured after just being at the coast so far it was time to head inland now...    Read more

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    San Ignacio & Actun Tunichil Muknal

    January 7, 2017 in Belize ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I had decided to make only 2 stops in Belize on my way to Guatemala. San Ignacio should be a good contrast to the Beach & Party Island Caye Caulker.
    I took the boat to get to Belize City which I had decided to skip as a full day stop. Just the 15 minutes walking from the boat to the bus station proofed me right. Belize City is just another City and even during the day it felt pretty sketchy.
    After the fancy ADO Busses in Mexico i actually enjoyed getting on the local bus to San Ignacio. For shorter trips they are really ok and you get to learn more about the country and the people on a local bus.

    The first surprise in San Ignacio was to meet Dinesha again. A girl I had met in Caye Caulker under some weird circumstances. Let's say... even though we are complete opposites - we seem to attract the same type of guy ;)
    Anyway it was nice to meet her again to actually get to know her and laugh a lot about this strange night in Caye Caulker.

    San Ignacio is the starting point to some tours you can take to the caves in the area. Even though I'm not a big fan of guided tours I should take the chance to see Actun Tunichil Muknal - an ancient Maya Site in an three-mile-long cave.

    You are not allowed to bring a camera (we got some pictures from the agency afterwards) and as you have to swim to get into the cave you actually just go in your swimsuit and watershoes. You have to swim and climb trough an amazing landscape of stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave in complete darkness with the only light coming from your groups headlamps till you reach the main chamber where you find tons on relicts like old pots and the skeletons of the sacrificed mayan people! It's incredible they are not taking away that stuff to put it in some museum.

    On the way out of the cave we were by ourselves with just our group of 7 people. Our guide made us turn of our lights and let us walk through the waistdeep water in complete darkness (you really couldn't see anything).

    This tour was so worth its money. Definitely recommended!    Read more

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    Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve

    January 8, 2017 in Belize ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    I was planning to leave San Ignacio the next day to head over to Guatemala when Sandy asked me to join them the next day for a road trip to Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. I knew that Maayan, a girl from Israel, had been looking for people joining her to get a rental car and go there but hadn't really thought about it as my plan was to just go to Actun Tunichil Muknal and not spend any more time in San Ignacio. But now that I was asked again I figured - isn't this the upside to have 6 month for my trip? So that i could just change my plans like I wanted and just stay longer whenever there was an opportunity for some adventure?
    So checked with the hostel if I could stay another night and told everybody I was in.

    We were 10 people all together and got 2 4WD for the trip. There were 4 places we wanted to go to inside the park and we decided to drive to the one furthest inside the park first and stop at the other ones on the way out. So the first one should be the Rio Frio Cave. We even found that one in maps and used my phone to guide us there. After the while the phone told us to leave the main road (which was already just a gravelroad) and take a small path towards the river. We followed these directions without a doubt. After a while the street got smaller and bumpier and due to the rain there was a lot of water in the street. At one point the street was completely under water for at least 20m and we didn't know how deep it was. But the phone had told us to go this way so Justen gave it a try and started into the water. We did pretty good for the first half but somewhere in the middle the car got stuck. By trying to get out with a lot of gas Justen gave our car a nice camouflage look :) He probably should have closed the window first.
    As the car wouldn't move we all got out and started collecting wood to put it in front of our wheels for better grip. The guys from the second car came to help and we all stood on the side cheering him on when Justen got back into the car to give it another try. There was a lot of flying mud again but it worked! The car was free and Maayan, who was driving the second car, managed to get through the mud without any trouble.
    We kept on going down the road till we got to a pretty steep hill with again a lot of water at the bottom. So we decided to give a closer look to the map and figured out what the problem was. We hadn't logged in the parking lot at the cave but just the closest "street" - which wouldn't bring us to the hiking path and was divided from the cave by a river 😬
    We send Tassilo and Peter to check out the way beyond that hill and used the time to start eating our food while listening to some raggaton music from a CD we had found in the car. Even though we still hadn't made it to any of our touchpoints we had a lot of fun and this trip was already worth it's money!

    When Tassilo and Peter came back they told us it would be pretty hard to cross the river and get to the cave from this side so we jumped back into our cars and made our way back toward the main road. When we came back to the flooded part of the street Justen made us get out of the car first and drove through the mud with a lot of noise (partly from hitting a tree) but he made it. This time it would be Maayan who got stuck. But we already knew how to get a car out now. At least now both cars looked alike.

    After this adventure track we found the rest of the streets to be pretty decent and there were actually signs telling us where to go.

    The Rio Frio Cave was huge and there was even a little beach inside. Of course it couldn't beat Actun Tunichil Muknal, but it was still pretty amazing.

    The next two stops were Rio on Pools and Big Rock Fall. Two spots at the river with pools and waterfalls. Unfortunately it was still pretty cold due to the rain the night before so we didn't actually go for a swim. But it was still fun to walk around and spend some time near the river watching the water fall. And there were never really a lot of other people around. Really nice.

    Our last stop was a fancy resort with an outside terrace from where you could watch another waterfall. We didn't quite know if they would even let us in the way our cars looked. But they were just smiling. Actually everybody we passed kept laughing at us. Stupid tourists not knowing their way around ;)
    We treated ourselves with an expensive drink and enjoyed the view.

    After that we headed home and were surprised to hear that the owner of the car rental was really happy to hear we had a great time and didn't really care that the cars looked like they did. He only asked us for a good review on TripAdvisor and even wanted us to share our pictures and videos.

    After that eventful day we enjoyed the end of the day in the hammocks on the roof of our hostel. It's gonna be a day to remember...    Read more

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    Bordercrossing to Guatemala

    January 9, 2017 in Belize ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After our adventure in Mountain Pine Ridge the whole group was leaving San Ignacio to different directions.
    A lot of them were heading towards the coast but Dennis was joining me on my way to Guatemala. It should be my first bordercrossing by foot.
    We took a taxi to Benque and from there a taxi to the border. I thought it would be more exciting but it was actually just like walking through immigration at an airport. You enter the building on one side and once you leave it on the other side, you are in another country. The only weird thing was that we could have missed immigration in Guatemala. You had to walk to a shelter to get your stamp but you could have just walked past it without anybody realizing. From Melchor we took a collectivo to Santa Elena and from there a TukTuk to Flores. This was definitely the trip with the most different ways of transportation.    Read more

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    Flores

    January 9, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Everybody told me you only go to Flores to make your trip to Tikal from there. But I actually quite liked it. Flores is just a small island in the lake Peten Itza which is connected with the main "city" Santa Elena by a bridge. It's a cute little town with colorful buildings and my hostel had a rooftop terrace with a really nice view over the lake.

    There was some kind of festival going on in town with a stage and live music in the main plaza and many little stands with stuff to buy and street food.

    Dennis and I went there for dinner and ended up dancing with the locals and drinking with some other backpackers. The next night we went back there and saw some kids doing traditional dances. It tells you so much more about a country and there people if you are just part of something like this.    Read more

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    Lanquin

    January 11, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Zephyr Lodge in Lanquin is a little paradise and the perfect place to get stuck for a few days. It's a little over my budget but the 4th night is for free - so it didn't make any sense to leave after just 3 nights :)
    It's just a 10 minute walk from the little town but as it's placed upon a mountain I was happy they pick you up. And the drive on the back of a pick up truck with a bunch of other backpackers was already an experience.
    The view from up here is ridiculously beautiful. And as the building is right on top of the mountain, you have a nice view everywhere. Even on the toilet and in the shower. I could even watch the sunrise from my bed, if I would wake up early enough (might do that tomorrow). But instead I saw the full moon rise from behind the mountain yesterday!
    As almost nobody wants to take the walk to town, everybody comes together at night for good food, cheap drinks and some funny games in the main restaurant.
    I spend the whole day yesterday at (and in) the pool. Today it's raining a little so I'm probably gonna spend the day in the main house making some travel plans - still with an amazing view :)    Read more

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    Semuc Champey

    January 12, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    From Lanquin I took a tour to Semuc Champey. It's a series of natural pools in a "bridge" from lime rock over the Rio Cahabón. Which means the actual river is running below the lime rock. Just some water runs over the rocks forming clear pools which are connected by little waterfalls.
    The tour actually started with a jump of a bridge just outside the parc. I knew if i start thinking about it, I might not do it. So I just climbed up on the railing and jumped. Free falling for 10 meters takes longer than I thought. I even had enough time to think about how best to touch the water. But not enough to actually change my position.
    Inside the park we first made our way up to a lookout point overlooking the pools. From there we climbed down to jump into one of the highest pools and then slide down the little waterfalls to the lowest one. I always thought it must hurt to slide down natural stone slides. And yes, it still does 2 days later. But it was still fun ;)
    To get to the park and back to the hostel later we took the pick up truck again. Why don't we do this at home? You can fit a lot more people in one car, if they are standing on the back of a truck.    Read more

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    Rio Dulce

    January 16, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    The day started with one of these situations I will never fully understand. I wanted to take a bus from Lanquin to Rio Dulce from where I would then take a boat to Livingston on the caribbean coast.
    I had already bought my ticket for the bus in Flores. I was a little worried as I had heard that sometimes tickets bought elsewhere are not accepted. But when the hostel called the travel agency in Flores to confirm the date of my departure (I had bought an open ticket) they said everything should be fine.
    So the pick up truck brought us from the hostel into town where all the shuttle busses with different destinations were waiting. I found the bus to Rio Dulce and showed my ticket to the driver. But he said he couldn't accept this ticket. I told him to please call the number on the ticket as they could probably confirm that the ticket was valid. But he only asked "Where do you wanna go?" "Rio Dulce." "Which hostel did you stay?" "Zephyr Lodge, but I bought the ticket in Flores. Please call that number." "No, it's the wrong ticket!" (and of course all this was in spanish).
    Another guy showed up and I had the same conversation over and over again. When the bus driver finally called the travel agency there were already 4 people there telling me I had the wrong ticket. And they still asked me every now and then where I wanted to go. Seriously? Still Rio Dulce.
    After the bus driver had spoken to the travel agency he made 2 more phone calls. All the while even more guys walked by asking me where I wanted to go, telling me I had the wrong ticket.
    But suddenly after a few minutes the bus driver put down his phone saying "esta bien!". He took my ticket, put me on the bus and suddenly everything was fine.

    The bus drive to Rio Dulce took about 5 hours. The first 4 hours over really bumpy gravel roads. The streets in Guatemala are definitely the worst I've seen so far. Never felt such an relief when we finally reached the paved road.

    But the journey from Rio Dulce to Livingston made up for everything. We got to Rio Dulce just in time that I could hop on the public lancha (small boats who work like collectivos) to Livingston. These boats make a few stops in between and give you a few informations about the area. Finally the sun came out again and it was a really nice tour. The river ends in the ocean and I was back to the Caribbean.    Read more

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    Livingston

    January 17, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    At the end of the boat ride down the Rio Dulce I arrived in Livingston. Livingston is a Garifuna town unconnected by road from the rest on the country. Garifuna people were brought to America as slaves but revolted and lived independently along the Caribbean Coast.
    The town felt a little run-down but still had its charme.
    I stayed in a hammock at Casa de la Iguana - a party hostel run by some nice people who engaged the party atmosphere by promoting drinking games and the "guifiti challenge". Guifiti is rum infused with herbs and the challenge was to drink 4 shots in a row. After you have mastered the challenge you can raise the number behind your country on a board. The number behind Germany was 99. But i figured there are enough crazy drinking germans traveling that will raise the number over 100. I think it's a nice place if you wanna party but to me it felt a little overdone.
    The hostel was also organizing some tours to beaches and other spots in the area but I decided to explore by myself. I took the walk to the nearby waterfalls Los Siete Altares which took me through the whole town and along the beach. The beach here was not to beautiful but nice to walk along in the water. The water was pretty warm but every now and then there were little rivers with fresh water running into the ocean and then suddenly the water would be really cold.
    Los Siete Altares was a series of waterfalls and pools which you climb up from the lowest pool just before the river connects to the ocean. It was nice to be there completely by my self but I was still happy when I met a couple with their little daughter at the highest pool as the guy showed my where to climb up here to jump down from the last waterfall.
    After I had made it back to the hostel a nice surprise was waiting for me: Sandy, Courtney and Peter who were with me on the adventure road trip through Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in Belize had just arrived. It was great meeting them again and catch up about what we had done since we last met.
    Later that night a Garifuna Band was performing at the hostel playing some traditional drum rhythms. Again it was nice till it got a little to much when they made people come in the center one by one dancing in front of everybody. But it was still a nice night and we danced quite a lot.
    The next day I took another Lancha across the bay to Puerto Barrios to catch a bus from there to Guatemala City.    Read more

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    Ciudad de Guatemala

    January 18, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    I probably wouldn't have spend any more time than necessary in Guatemala City if I wouldn't have met Ines in Lanquin.
    Her parents are german but she was born and raised in Guatemala and she invited me to stay with her and her family for a while. I was really happy about this invitation as it is an opportunity to get to know a city in a way not a lot of backpackers will.
    After Ines and her brother Thomas had picked me up at the bus station we went back to their mums place for a typical german "Abendbrot". It was delicious with good bread, cheese and ham. Ines and I finished 2 bottles of wine and talked till late. What a nice evening to start my stay in the city.

    The next day I got the complete Guatemala City Tour. I guess most backpackers only see Zona 1 and the historical buildings around Parque Central but with Ines and Thomas as my local tour guides I got to see a lot more.

    We started at Mapa en Reliefe (see extra post) but already on our way there we passed by a lot of buildings and areas Ines and Thomas would point out and explain to me. From there we continued to Zona 1 and the historical buildings mentioned above. We also strolled down 6 Avenida a bit to check out some shops around here.

    Our next stop was Ciudad Cayalá. We had lunch and some Micheladas on the terrace of La Playa. From up here you have a good view over the whole city. It was a bit cloudy but you could still make out a lot of the areas we had already visited and also saw the volcanoes in the far.
    After this we made our way to Plaza Berlin for another nice view and to see some pieces of the Berlin Wall - I wonder who brought them here? :)

    On our way the two kept showing me more stuff and we made some stops to buy necessities for me - things you need to do when visiting a big city.
    For sunset we went to an empty apartment Ines family owned on the 14th (or 15th?) floor of an building close to the airport. Even though the sunset was partly covered with clouds it was really cool being up there. Ines pointed out the volcanoes to me and I caught my first glimpse of Fuego erupting (I'm super excited to go to Antigua now!). Also we could watch the planes land right in front of us. It was crazy how loud you could here them up there once they were in the right spot.

    For dinner that night we went to Cafe Saúl. Not the typical backpacker dinner but definitely the best food and wine I had on my trip so far. And I really liked the design of the restaurant! A place to remember.

    The next morning Ines and her mum dropped me off at the bus station to catch the chicken bus to Lake Atitlan. And after 2 unusual but most amazing days in Guatemala City I jumped back into the backpacker world with a stomache full of good food, a backpack full of freshly washed and good smelling clothes and a mind full of nice memories of a city most backpackers might skip. I'm really thankful to Ines and her family for this and hope I can return the favor one day!    Read more

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    Mapa en Relieve de Guatemala

    January 18, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    The Mapa en Reliefe is a huge relief map of Guatemala at a scale of 1:10000. But as I read later the height of the mountains has been exaggerated to 1:2000 to make it look more dramatic. The map was build over 100 years ago.
    Belize is also part of the map as it technically still belongs to Guatemala (in 1859 Guatemala gave Britain rights to the land provided that the british build a road from Guatemala to the Caribbean Coast - but this road is still not finished).
    I think every country should have a map like this. It gave me a much better understanding of the country I have traveled to see it like this. You can walk all around and on two sides you have little towers to view the map from above.
    The funniest thing though was the guy cleaning the map who would just walk over the mountains like a giant :)    Read more

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    San Pedro la Laguna

    January 20, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The chicken bus to San Pedro was quite challenging as the roads were winding up and down the mountains and the driver didn't give us a break and went through them as fast as possible. I really had to hold on to not slide on my neighbors lap. When we finally arrived I was dropped off on the main road. I checked on my phone which way I had to go and started walking. Like I remembered I took the next street on the right which would bring me to my hostel with just a few little turns. But after the next turn the street turned into a really small alley between two buildings going down the hill pretty steep. This couldn't be right. I walked back to the main road and checked again but it seemed to be the right and only way to go to get to the hostel. This is something you are probably not supposed to do when you come to a new place you don't know anything about. Walk down a sketchy looking alley with all your belongings. But it turned out to be the right way and San Pedro turned out to have a lot of this weird small alleys and just a few proper streets. The buildings were the same. Some of them were really nice but then again unfinished or run down. Definitely not what I expected but still somehow charming.
    I stayed at Casa Felipe which turned out to be a good place to hang out and meet the right people even though it somehow carried on the charme of the town. Toby, a guy I had met in Bacalar, was there as well. I spend a lot of time with people from the hostel just strolling around and hanging out without actually doing anything. I skipped the early morning hike to some lookout point for the volcano as well as taking a canoe to explore the lake. Sometimes you just need a few days doing nothing spectacular. And I still made a few really good memories.
    One night we all cooked together - Toby wanted to make swiss "Röschti". It didn't exactly work out the way he wanted it to but they were still delicious. I also gave it a try and made my own Röschti. It looked quite good but I shut have used salt.
    Another night I found myself dancing in a bar around 7pm, wearing clothes I would usually just wear to a good friends sleep over, a plastic cup of cheap red wine in my hand, realizing that I really don't care if anybody is watching. These are the moments you know life just can't get any better :)    Read more

  • About a girl who travelsLatinoamérica 2017About a girl who travels

    Antigua

    January 23, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Again this post begins with the story about how I got here. My last day in San Pedro we started daydrinking around 3 and went out afterwards. So it would have been very nice to sleep in the next day. But I had decided to again not take the tourist shuttle but a public bus. And I had read there was one direct bus running from Panajachel to Antigua at 11 in the morning. As I still had to get the boat to cross Lago Atitlan to get from San Pedro to Panajachel I got up at 8:30, left the hostel around 9, took the boat and made it to Pana around 10. Enough time to find the bus station and get some breakfast - I really needed some food after last night.

    I went into a tourist office only to find out that the direct bus was not running. But the guy there was really friendly and helpful and gave me three options:

    One - Take a tourist shuttle direct to Antigua. It would be a comfortable Mini Van but this would also be the most expensive option.
    Two - Take a public bus to Chimaltenango and change there for Antigua. This should be pretty easy but the bus to Chimaltenango was only running at 1 p.m. and this would mean wait another 3 hours after getting up so early.
    Three - Take the public bus to Solola go from there to Los Encuentros to take the next bus to Chimaltenango and go from there to Antigua. 4 different busses. Challenge accepted!

    The guy from the tourist office was really nice and wrote down exactly the names of the places where I had to change busses and even drew me little maps of these places so that I would know where to find my next bus. And it turned out to be an really easy task. Of course everybody would see that I was not a local and help me find my way around. The only thing making it hard was that I only found food the last time I had to change busses. Whenever I got somewhere the next bus was already waiting. Normally there are always people coming on the bus and selling their stuff. But today they would only offer ice cream cones - not what I was looking for with a hangover. In Chimaltenango I decided that there is gonna be another bus and just went to get me breakfast before getting back on the bus.

    And after not much more than 3 hours I arrived in beautiful Antigua. I walked through the streets looking for my homestay and was wondering in which of these nice houses I would be staying. The adress I had gotten from the Spanish School was 3 Calle de Rubio. I walked down the street and found number 3. A really nice looking house. I nocked on the door but no one would open. I realized the next house in the row had the number 3b. So I gave it a try. No one opened but a few docks started barking. I was thinking about leaving a old lady showed up at the first house. I told her I was looking for Amanda at 3 Calle de Rubio. She pointed down the street to the entrance of a backyard and told me it's there. I went into the backyard which was full of old stuff and looked more like a big dumpster. This couldn't be right. I wanted to leave when a guy showed up asking me if I was looking for Amanda. He pointed me towards a door in the last corner of the backyard. Seriously? I rang the bell and was happy to find at least something like a courtyard with a few rooms behind the door. But Amanda told me to sit down and wait. As it turned out her place was overbooked and they would send me to another homestay! I was so happy. And the new place I got is super nice. I have a huge room with 2 beds by myself. The bathrooms are big, clean and have hot water. And the best thing: it's a 2 minutes walk from the garden where I had my spanish lessons.

    My stay here was like being back to school. Getting up at 6:45, breakfast at 7. Spanish lessons from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. then walk home to where lunch was already waiting (the other kids had only 4 hours so I always had lunch by myself). Dinner was served at 6 p.m..
    I was told my "family" would sit down with me for the meals so I could practice my spanish but this never actually happened. It's more like a little hostel and the people you talk to are the other students.

    Learning spanish 5 hours a day pretty tough. I think I know a lot but it's still something else to actually apply it in a real conversation. After a while I was able to speak a little with my teacher (it's only one on one lessons) but it was still a completely different thing once I was out in town. I still don't get a word when people talk fast and I mostly know the right answer to a question 2 minutes later.

    In the afternoon I would spend my time strolling around town. As I do not have WiFi in my homestay I usually go to some Cafe with WiFi and do my homework there. I went out a few times at night but unfortunately Antigua was a lot more expensive than I thought. But I still liked it and enjoyed my time feeling at home in a place.

    Ines, Thomas and his friend from Germany came to Antigua for 2 days. Ines showed me some of her favorite places and we had drinks at Cafe Sky with the perfect view to the sunset over the volcanoes.

    Watching the Volcanoes from even closer now was the most exciting thing in Antigua. One night Fuego went wild and would not stop shooting Lava! So I'm superexcited now to leave tomorrow for the hike up to Acatenango.    Read more

  • About a girl who travelsLatinoamérica 2017About a girl who travels

    Hobbitenango

    January 25, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    When Ines came to visit in Antigua we went up into the mountains to this fascinating place. It's a little Boutique Hotel and Restaurant placed high in the mountains with a stunning view to the volcanoes. Again the most exciting things were the volcanoes and especially Fuego going wild that day but the place itself was magical as well. As the name suggests the place is designed like Hobbiton with 2 Hobbit-Holes.Read more

  • About a girl who travelsLatinoamérica 2017About a girl who travels
    1

    Volcán Acatenango

    January 28, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    I really feel like I've been on top of the world!

    Everybody I met recommended doing the hike to volcano Acatenango as from there you have amazing views to the 2 neighboring volcanoes Fuego (which is still active) and Agua. Everybody said although it's pretty exhausting and freezing cold it's definitely worth the trip.

    I was most afraid of the cold. At night it can have minus degrees. Knowing 6 people died up there just a few weeks ago because of the cold didn't really help. But they were unprepared. So I just had to prepare myself. I brought tight, leggings and jeans. 2 pairs of socks. 2 shirts, one longsleeve, 3 hoodies and a winter jacket I rented at my hostel. Gloves, 2 scarfs and a woolen hat. Additional to that I had to carry a sleeping mat, a sleeping bag and my share of the tent. Also all the food and water I needed. It was actually the first time that I went on a proper hike with my travel bag pack.

    We were picked up at our hostel in the morning (just 45 minutes later as we were supposed to 😉) and drove to the beginning of the trail. At this point we were already at 2400m above sea level. The final elevation on top of Acatenango should be 3950m.

    The hike up was partly pretty steep and the volcanic ground didn't make it easier. But we took regular breaks and I found my pace to walk and just put one foot in front of the other (even though in the deep volcanic earth one step forward meant sometimes half a step back). I was surprised my backpack didn't bother me more. I guess we are a good team after 12 years of traveling together.

    We were 5 people in our group plus our guide. The group was really nice - unfortunately the guide was pretty annoying. For one he had his own kind of humor. Making funny animal noises or repeating the same stupid jokes all along the way (even if no one would be close enough to listen). He would blow his whistle really loud and give us a yellow card if we didn't remember something he had told us. But I could have ignored that part.
    What was really upsetting was that his only goal was to get up there first. He was tracking our time and instead of staying with the slowest person in the back he would just run ahead and tell her to hurry up. Going up I was with him in the front most of the time and he would say things like our group was a tortuga (turtle) even to other people. Seriously, what does it matter if we get to our camp half an hour early?

    It took us exatly 5 hours and 7 minutes (tracked by our guide) to get to our camp from where we would leave early the next morning for the last bit to catch sunrise from the top. I don't remember exactly how high the elevation was here and I couldn't be bothered to ask our guide - didn't want to get another yellow card 😉

    The view from the camp was already amazing! Fuego was really close right in front of us and Agua just a bit further away to the left. And it was so crazy to be above the clouds. Everything else felt so small.
    We took millions of pictures, set up our tents and our guide started a fire to prepare our "dinner" - hot water to pour into a cup with instant noodle soup. I never thought instant noodle soup can satisfy you so much. But it doesn't when you are craving something warm!

    The temperature changing quite rapidly. When we started going up it was still pretty hot. The higher we got the colder it was. But when we got above the clouds and back into the sun it was warm again. But up in the camp we got cold really quick as we weren't moving anymore. And as soon as the sun was down we all put on all our close and gathered around the fire.

    When the sun was down also the clouds disappeared. Now you could see the lights of all the different citys down there and you could even see all the way to the pacific coast. We just sat there and watched the lights down there and the stars up in the sky.

    The only thing that was missing was Fuego erupting. But after his big show a few days ago he was only making a little smoke. Instead Pacaya, another active volcanoe a bit further away was shooting a lot of lava.

    We went to bed around nine as we had to get up the next morning around 4. With all the clothes I brought it actually wasn't to cold in my sleeping back. But I didn't take anything off.

    I slept kind of ok but woke up around 2:30 and couldn't really go back to sleep anymore. Suddenly I heard a loud and roaring sound. It was something I had never heard before but I knew immediately what it was: Fuego erupted! I jumped out of the tent and it was really impressive. There was still no lava but a huge cloud of smoke and ashes. It got bigger and bigger and you could still here this roaring sound.
    I sat there for a while watching it as I knew I was to excited to go back to sleep now anyway.

    Around 4 we got up and actually just brushed our teeth (as we were already wearing all the clothes we brought), grabbed a water bottle and our cameras and started hiking again. On this last bit the volcanic earth was pretty deep but as we didn't have to carry our luggage up there it was actually a little easier.
    After one and a half hour we had made it to the top!

    It was pretty windy and definitely the coldest part but we sat really close together and waited for the sun to rise. In this moment Fuego erupted again! The smoke was kind of covering the sunrise for a moment but it was still pretty cool to see it again this time with a bit more light.

    After sunrise our guide wanted to rush down again but we took our time to take each others victory pictures in front of Fuego. When we were finished he was gone.
    But we followed the other groups down and saw how this was going. Instead of taking a long path around a huge surface of volcanic earth we would just run down sinking with our feet really deep into the ashes. I got faster and faster jumping deeper and deeper into the earth. It was so much fun till the moment I realized I had no idea how to stop again. I kind of just let myself fall backwards. And what took a long time to climb up was behind us after just a few minutes.

    Back in the camp we had breakfast and then packed everything back together to start the descent. Forme this part was a lot harder. My shoes weren't the best and I had a lot of trouble not to slip and fall all the time. So going down I should be the tortuga. Again our guide couldn't be bothered to wait and just told me to run. "It's easier that way!" - maybe for him.

    We were back in Antigua around noon and the first hot shower was amazing! Like everybody had said, it was cold and exhausting. But definitely worth the trip!

    I saw the rest of my group again later that night for dinner and even though we had just met one day ago it felt a lot different. We had climbed a volcano together.

    The next day I went to the rooftop of a cafe in Antigua and took a picture of volcano Agua from there. It's peak was stuck in the clouds. It was a weird feeling to know that we had been above these clouds. Really like I had been on top of the world.    Read more

  • About a girl who travelsLatinoamérica 2017About a girl who travels

    Bordercrossing to Honduras

    January 31, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I had decided to take a tourist shuttle and not the public busses to make my way to Copan Ruinas in Honduras from Antigua. The Shuttle was supposed to puck me up around 4 a.m. and I ended up almost not sleeping at all that night as I was to nervous to really fall asleep and miss the shuttle and people from my room kept coming in.
    So when I was waiting for my shuttle I was really looking forward to catching some sleep on the bus.

    The bus arrived around 4:30 which I thought was normal because these shuttles usually pick up different people from different hostels around town. There were 4 people on the bus. I picked a seat in the back and curled together to sleep but as soon as the bus started moving one of the guys started grumbling really loud. He was kind of freaking out about something and first I thought they had all been robbed. But at some point I figured he had just lost his wallet or probably just wasn't able to find it due to his condition. It became pretty obvious that these four had decided to just party till 4 and get on the bus straight away - they were covered in glitter. The bus driver told me later it took them 20 minutes to get this one guy on the bus - the reason for the delay. I don't know how much he drank and what else he took but he didn't stop talking about his wallet till he popped some valium which put him to sleep for a while.
    When the bus stopped again for a little break he got of saying "I just gonna steel someone elses money. That's karma!".
    I think he didn't manage to do that as he didn't even find his way back on the bus without help.
    Around 10 in the morning we had made our way to the border of Guatemala and Honduras. From here it was only 20 more minutes for me to Copan. The others would continue on to the coast to get to La Ceiba.
    The busdriver asked for our Passports to take them to the Guatemalan border and get our departure stamp (I thought it was a little weird that we didn't have to go by ourselves but he said it's faster that way). Of course the drunk guy couldn't find his passport.
    When the busdriver came back I took my passport and went to the Honduran Immigration Office to get my stamp and pay $3 Immigration Fee. Even though the officer took his time and even checked my fingerprints and took a photo of me I was out before the other four even entered.
    The drunk guy had found his passport and joined the group. Unfortunately he didn't get his stamp for leaving Guatemala first which led to the first confusion. The officer got pretty angry because it seemed he was trying to leave Guatemala illegally. He made him go back there and one of the girls joined him so he wouldn't get lost again on the way there.
    While the two of them were gone the guy who seemed to be the least drunk came out and I started talking to him. He was really upset with the other three. He said he barely knew them but they just decided to follow him from Guatemala to Honduras and he didn't like the way they behaved and he didn't wanna be responsible for them.
    The other girl came out of the immigration office saying that she didn't have any cash as well as the two who just came back from the Guatemalan Office.
    Our busdriver told them to take a TukTuk back to the last town to get to an ATM as he wouldn't go back there. The sober guy decided to pay for the three of them just so we could keep going. He made them promise to pay him back as soon as we hit the first ATM in Honduras. I was still pretty happy he paid. The other 3 probably wouldn't have made it otherwise.
    Especially as the drunk guy was still behaving really stupid. Turns out he didn't want to show his passport to the officer "What do you need to see my passport for?!". We tried to talk to the girls and make them aware of what they were getting themselves into. Honduras is more dangerous than most of the other countries. You don't wanna walk through the streets here completely wasted. And your friend shouldn't carry drugs across the border "Why?" - they really didn't get any of it.
    I couldn't believe when everybody was back on the bus and we finally drove into Honduras. I so expected them to search our car. We just crossed a border with someone who was obviously on drugs and probably carried some as well!
    So I was really happy when the bus dropped me a few minutes later at my hostel in Copan and I send the other 4 of for their own adventure.    Read more

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