Last day

Today is my last day in Guatemala, and I am quite ready to be on my way back.  I didn't explore much more of Flores today and mostly sat around and read, and updated this blog.  It was a nice relaxing day.  I am waiting for tonight's night bus back to Guatemala City, where I'll have time to grab a shower, a couple more hours of sleep and then get ready for my flight back home.  Another epic transportation adventure begins to get back home. 

Tikal and Caverns

Today was Tikal day.  I got up at 2:30 to get ready for the journey to Tikal.  We got to the park and it was still nighttime, so we had a rather dark walk all the way across the park where we viewed the sunrise of Temple 4, which is the tallest building in Tikal.  A lot of it remains unexcavated though, so you climb wooden steps to the top and sit and wait for the light to come.   Unfortunately, it was foggy and the sunrise was unspectacular.  We just stared into brighter and brighter fog, and couldn't get a view of the other buildings.  Later in the day, I had to come back to see the view, which ended up being pretty cool.  The tour guide took us along the major sites of the park and gave us a few tidbits of information here and there.  The tour wasn't great, but we did see most of the main buildings all before about 9:30 in the morning.  I felt like I had a full day of exploration before the time that I normally get up on any other day.  The tour group was rather large but I ended up meeting someone to hang out with.  Later, we hit up one of the temples that the tour didn't lead us to and a couple of the museums. 

In the afternoon, we explored some nearby caves, which were surprisingly more impressive than I expected.  Unfortunately, the entrance fee only covers us opening the gate to the caves, and it doesn't cover lights or a guide or anything, not that there was an opportunity for these other things.  So, we ventured into the cave with our headlamps and cellphones alit.  They worked pretty well, and we spent quite a long time exploring the underground rooms.  Luckily, there are signs to keep people from getting lost.  There were a ton of bats in the cave, and I caught a glimpse of a gigantic spider that I didn't really care to weed out. 

Flores

Since I got in super early this morning without a whole lot of great rest, I decided to take it easy.  I did end up walking around the whole town, which took about 15 minutes.  There is a nice walkway that was made on the perimeter of the island.  Some parts of it are flooded though, which is a bit strange.  Then I went over to San Miguel, which is a boat ride across the lake for about 5 minutes.  I did the hike to the top of the small hill there to the Mirrador and got some nice pictures of the lake and the town of Flores.  There are also some ruins over there of the Mayas but they are mostly covered.  In fact, I don't think I recognized any ruins in the area. 

I went to bed super early because I have to get up at 2:30 am for a sunrise tour of Tikal on Thursday.

Last day in Panajechal

I am catching up with the blog so this is a little bit late.  Wednesday was my last day in Panajachel.   I am now on my own since Liz is on her way to New Jersey.  Today, I decided to do a tour of the lake.  We went to 3 different places around the lake:  San Juan, San Pedro, and Santiago to see these small towns each of about an hour or so.  It's a short time, but most of them don't have very much.  Each has a unique flavor and unique things that they are selling to tourists.  The best parts were actually next to the water, where you could get a great view of the lake from different vantage points.  My favorite of the towns was San Pedro, which had a nice vibe.  It seemed to be a place you could easily stay overnight, if not making your home Panajachel.  Santiago had a couple of interesting items.  Besides the church, there was also another San Simon shrine, which was in someone random home.  It was a lot less gaudy than the one we saw in Zunil, but had the same flavor, and there was definite money collecting going on just to see it.

Wednesday night, I made the epic journey from Panajachel to Antigua to Guatemala City to Flores and arrived Thursday morning by bus. 

San Marcos

I have to catch up on yesterday and today in this blog. 

Yesterday, Liz and I went to Ixchimbe ruins, which is near this town called Tecpan.  A lot of the day was spent driving there, but the ruins were pretty extensive.  They had been excavated so that we could see the outline of the entire city.  The main buildings weren't as high as Zaculue but the grounds were larger.  It was a really nice day for the trip and our driver was super nice.  We had lunch at a nice restaurant near the highway, and headed back to Panajachel where we stopped at Liz's new favorite restaurant in town, which serves the vegetarian cuisine that she craves. 

Today, we got up early so that we could fit in a couple of activities before Liz leaves for home.  We ended up starting a bit late though because we ran out of cash and it's rather hard to find a working ATM.  We are afraid to use the ones open all night long because there is a lot of card number theft here and they looked somewhat compromised in the way they were beeping all the time.   After we got the cash situation settled, we hit the Nature Preserve, which was very awesome.  There were some nice hikes to take to a waterfall with some cool suspension bridges.  Also, there was an enclosure with monkeys and coatis.  The family of coatis were in a caged area, but we were surprised to see the baby coatis could fit right through the fence and came right up to see us. 

In the afternoon, we hit the public ferries for a ride to San Marcos, which is a tiny hippie village on the side of Lake Atitlan.  We didn't have more than an hour to spend there, but it's super small so 15 minutes is enough to walk the whole town.  We stopped at a little restaurant called Valerie's, where we met the owner, heard her story, and enjoyed veggie meatball subs.  It was a good place to stop but a complete hole in the wall restaurant, since she just got started with it a month ago. 

Tonight, I said goodbye to Liz as she heads home and I finish off my Guatemala adventure.  Tomorrow, I plan to hit some of the other pueblos on the side of the Lake before going to Guatemala City, and then taking an overnight bus to Flores so I can see Tikal on Thursday and Friday.

Antique and Ancient...It's a Matter of Timing?

View of the parade from lunch,
through iron bars for effect. 

This morning we set out to travel to a new location, but appear to have traveled to a new time as well. We left Xela early in the morning, and by high noon arrived at our subsequent destination, the Western highlands town of Huehuetenango (pronounced way-way-ten-an-go). Shortly after our arrival we discovered that they take the "Western" part seriously. On the shuttle ride into the center of town, our driver was required to wend his way through residential back streets in order to avoid a band of horsemen navigating the main road. As we neared the central park we noted an inordinate number of people dressed in cowboy gear. It turned out, the horsemen were the main attraction of a parade through the city center, and we had the fortunate timing of selecting the very day of the parade to arrive. We viewed the parade from a restaurant along the route where we enjoyed our lunch (huevos rancheros, naturally).

The main temple of Zacaleu

After lunch we ventured to the main attraction of Huehue, the Mayan ruins of Zacaleu, a few kilometers from the city center. The ancient city was once a powerful Mayan jurisdiction, which eventually fell after a two month siege. Surveying the site from atop the main temple felt like a journey “way-way” back in time. The site boasts enough fully excavated and restored buildings to lend a taste of this once thriving city. Meanwhile, the unexcavated ruins partially submerged under grassy knolls remind the visitor of the passage of time.

Huehue, despite giving travelers the sense of temporal displacement, also boasts some modern innovations relative to Xela. For example, the snazzy stoplights here include countdown timers to warn motorists and pedestrians of an impending alteration in the flow of traffic. This considerably diminishes the times required to learn how to cross the street. Additional modern touches include far fewer people clad in traditional Mayan attire and paved (rather than cobbled) streets.

Last day in Xela

Today was our last day in Xela.  While Liz was in class, I went with the other students to a market in a nearby town called San Francisco.  Here, we visited one of the largest markets in the area.  It had everything for sale from vegetables to electronics to clothing to live animals.  We asked how much a cow that we saw was and it's 5000Q, which is about $710.  I guess you just hand over the cash and walk home with the cow.  The way that the animals were treated was not that great, so that was a sad part of the market experience.  Also, the crowds were pretty intense, which was a bit annoying.  There is a church in the center of the market and we all went to the roof, where I got some nice pictures of the entire valley below, the volcano, and the town. 

This evening, we had a farewell dinner with the students from school.  It was a dim sum place where the chef promised us only vegetarian food, since everyone was willing to go vegetarian for the night, and we were brought nohting but meat dishes.  After each plate that we were brought, we complained a bit, and were brought even more meat dishes.  It was annoying, but it made for a lot of laughs about the restaurant and its service.  It was a fun evening overall, and we shared some good stories. 

Tomorrow, we are heading to Huehuetenango early in the morning.  We decided that we couldn't fit in Copan, Honduras into our stay because it is too far away.  I guess that means we'll have to come back some day.