Guatemala
Guatemala

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Top 10 Travel Destinations Guatemala
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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • Day 49

      Chicabal

      March 12, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Aangezien we in het weekend vrijaf hadden van de Spaanse les, beklommen we op zaterdag een vulkaan met bovenaan het prachtig kratermeer Chicabal! Door de nevelwolken die over het meer glijden heeft het iets zeer bijzonders en mysterieus. Het is dan ook makkelijk te begrijpen dat dit meer heilig is voor de lokale bevolking en er absoluut niet in gezwommen mag worden. Er worden regelmatig religieuze ceremonies gehouden aan het meer, maar wij zagen enkel de mooie bloemen die ervan overbleven en het meer versierden.

      We maakten een nieuwe trouwe vriend die ons de volle 7 km heeft gevolgd en we tot "Walky" hebben gedoopt. Jammer genoeg konden we door de aanwezigheid van Walky niet erg dicht komen bij de magnifiek mooie vos die op ons pad verscheen, maar Tom kon nog net op tijd een leuke foto maken!

      Op de terugweg kregen we een lift van een vriendelijk gezinnetje waarbij we in de kofferbak van hun pick-up truck mochten zitten, super plezant!
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    • Day 10

      Antigua

      March 18, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

      We debated heavily whether to drive the highway route through Guatemala city to reach antigua. Or to take smaller roads through the mountains. Opted for the latter and it was a very scenic drive zigzagging up and down mountains. Long drives have never neen so enjoyable.

      Eventually reached the very rough cobblestone streets of Antigua and its massive volcano looming over it. Antigua is all colonial style buildings and with a very large mayan population selling their wares in every shop, on every street corner, and in every park.

      Had lunch at the rooftop patio of the Antigua brewery and then wandered the streets, for some photos and a bit of shopping here and there. Very fun city to just wander around.

      Got back to the hotel to rest up before dinner for a bit. Just before heading out for food, alexa wasn't feeling well, so her and I stayed back at the hotel and called it a night. Something didn't agree with her and she had a rough evening. Hopefully all out of the system now.

      Off to a beach town next...
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    • Day 11

      Monterrico - Day 1

      March 19, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      In the morning, Alexa still wasn't feeling well, so i let her sleep until 11am while i did a bit more shopping in antigua before the drive to the pacific coast. Abdel and family decided to stay in antigua for lunch and we would meet them in monterrico later that day.

      The roads south were not mountainous at all and much easier to navigate. A nice change. We were 10km from monterrico when we got stuck in a huge lineup of cars for about 20 minutes. I drove up to the front of the line to find out what was going on... road work and at least another 30 minute wait. So we crashed a nearby resort and had some food and beverages rather than waiting in the car.

      Eventually got to monterrico and followed google's directions and ended up at a run down property with a pool and nobody was there. We were all so dejected. But after a while i decided to ask a local across the street and we were in the wrong spot.

      Finally arrived at the correct spot and its another slice of heaven. Lovely property, pool and huge beach. The sand here is volcanic black sand... very different than anywhere else i have been. There is a big undertow here so we just played at the water's edge. Then dinner and drinks, plus a few with the owner too. Everyone is so nice here.
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    • Day 12

      Monterrico - Day 2

      March 20, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

      Had a lazy morning in bed, which was a nice change from several early mornings. Alexa and I decided to head north up the coast to a surf town called El Paredon. And everyone else stayed back at the Monterrico resort.

      The drive took 2 hours and with our late start we didn't have a ton of time. Found a hotel/surf shop near the beach, rented some boogie boards and jumped into the ocean. Nice big rolling waves here and no undertow. Rode waves for about 90 minutes and then went back to that hotel and had some food and relaxed for a while.

      My plan to leave at 4:30pm to get us back before dark didn't quite work out as i hoped. Being a sunday, the roads were full of cars heading back to Guatemala city, which slowed us down quite a bit. And we got a little bit lost driving through Ixtapa. And once the sun went down, spotting speed bumps, pedestrians, dogs, and bicycles became really difficult. Most roads have very little shoulder and towns rarely have sidewalks so there's a lot to watch for in the streets. Including chickens, dogs, cats, pigs and the odd cow.

      Once we finally got back, played with the newborn kittens here, had an awesome paella for supper, and played cards with the kids.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Republic of Guatemala, Guatemala, Guwatemala, ጉዋቲማላ, جواتيمالا, Qvatemala, Гватэмала, Гватемала, Gwatemala, গোয়াতিমালা, གྷོ་ཊེ་མ་ལ།, Gvatemala, Guatemala nutome, Γουατεμάλα, Gvatemalo, گواتمالا, Gwaatemalaa, Goatemala, Guatamala, ગ્વાટેમાલા, Gwatamala, גווטמלה, गोतेदाला, Գվատեմալա, グアテマラ, გვატემალა, ហ្គាតេម៉ាឡា, ಗ್ವಾಟೆಮಾಲಾ, 과테말라, گواتیمالا, Gwatémala, ກົວເຕມາລາ, Ngwatemala, Goatemalà, ഗ്വാട്ടിമാലാ, ग्वाटेमाला, ဂွာတီမာလာ, Cuauhtemallan, ଗୁଏତମାଲା, ګواتمالا, Watimala, Guatêmälä, Guwaatamaala, குவாத்தாமாலா, గ్వాటిమాల, Гуатемала, ประเทศกัวเตมาลา, Kuatamala, گۋاتېمالا, Ґватемала, گواٹے مالا, Gvatemalän, Orílẹ́ède Guatemala, 危地马拉, i-Guatemala

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