Guatemala Week II

One of the constant adventures while traveling in foreign lands is the eduring struggle to understand what is going on. This is especially a problem when asking questions like, "Where is my hostel that I paid to sleep in tonight but can no longer find?" or when trying to figure out what's on a menu--"What do you mean I ordered shoes with cheese for dinner?!"

Therefore we thought it prudent to hunker down for a week or so and learn some Spanish. And fortunately for us, Guatemala has a glut of cheap places to learn Spanish. For under a $100, we could get 20 hrs a week of lessons and for a little bit more, could stay with a local family that provided 3 meals a day, 6 days a week. No more zapatos con queso (shoes with cheese) for me!

After searching far and wide through the internet and guidebooks we found a great school high in the mountains and situated on a picturesque lake, Lago Atitlan. We aimed to get away from it all, planning on immersing ourselves in the language, culture and customs of Guatemala. Oops! Turns out, it's quite a popular place. Half the town was native Guatamalans and the other half was stuffed with foreigners. The guidebook neglected to mention this small detail. Oh well--we were there, it was cheap and it was actually very beautiful. So we plunked down the money and proceeded to be bludgeoned by torrents of Spanish for four hours every day. Fortunately, our classes were all in the morning which left us with plenty of time to explore the gorgeous lake and nearby volcanoes.

Sort of.

Learning a language is one of those things in life that is more of a function of time put into studying than anything else. For every hour I spent in class, I needed to study at least that amount at night. And really, it was better that I didn't take my nose out of the books at all. But that's boring, and there were fun things to do and wonderful people to meet. I tried to be studious, Mom. Really, I did. But after a couple of days with my nose to the grindstone, I was dying for some fun. And Trish, with her wonderful ability to make friends with anyone anywhere, had found this cool local guy, Henry, who was more than happy to show us around. Taking us to the awesome cliff jumping spots, best local places to eat, and even to the largest zipline in Central America (over 1200 feet long!). The only downside was that his primary means of income was as a drug dealer (which we didn't know at first) and he would stop at various places along the way making shady transactions. That was just a bit awkward. But there were other wonderful people, like the wonderful British Couple that we partied the night away with and Barry, the Environmental-Capitalist whom with we shared many bottles of Chilean wine and politico-philosophical debates.

However after a week of the same scenery--amazing at it was--and with newfound confidence in our ability to get around speaking Spanish, we scratched the itch to move on to greener pastures and meandered our way to the next town down the road, Antigua.

Antigua, unfortunately, is a tourist trap. Full of expensive places to stay, quaint churches to look at, quiet coffee shops and completely chocked full of foreigners. (I think I've seen at least 50 cities like this now) But the reason we came to Antigua is that it's situated near an active volcano--that you can climb! With that sort of activity on it's doorstep, how could we not go? So we quickly hopped on a tour headed that way and proceeded to climb Volcan Pacaya. The only unfortunate thing with this trip was that we had to stay with a group the entire way (it's not safe otherwise). Which means that we had to always wait for the slowest person. And we were climbing a mountain with lava pouring down the side. It's not something you get to see every day and I was understandably a bit impatient (especially since sunset was fast approaching and I was not relishing the idea of climbing down a mountain in the dark). Luckily, the locals are prepared for lazy tourists who can't climb mountains. They will rent you a horse! For a price. So after finding horses large enough for our more out of shape travel companions, we scrambled across boulders, up paths of shifting sand, fought the winds whipping around us, and finally arrived at our destination--flowing lava! Most fortunately I came prepared for this. Roasting marshmallows has never been more fun! And, really, how often do you get to play around with lava? Then when I thought things couldn't get better, the sun set over the lava and into the valley bellow. It's times like this that I absolutely love traveling.

The next day, after having had enough with Antigua (it didn't take long), we booked a bus out to see one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World", the lost Mayan ruins of Tikal--situated in the remote Northeast, jungle-covered corner of Guatemala. Following our long and not so restful nightbus to the closest city, Flores (still about 50 miles away), we opted for camping at the ruins themselves. For some reason if you purchase your ticket after 4 pm you can visit the ruins that night and the following morning. The only catch is that you are pretty much stuck at Tikal after dark and are forced to camp. Oh, and you have to kill a day waiting for 4 pm in a jungle/swamp since the local bus dropped us off at 10am.

But it was worth it! All of the tourists are gone at night and in the morning, leaving the entire place to myself. Which perhaps wasn't the greatest idea after all. You see, Tikal was, in it's prime, a city of 100,000--meaning that the ruins go on forever. And they aren't completely uncovered, either. You have to walk for at least an hour to go from one side of the city to the other following these winding dirt paths that are literally tunnels through the lush jungles of Guatemala. Even in full daylight it's easy to stumble across the most amazing temples and plazas and not even know that they're there until you come around the final bend in the path. You can even climb a few of the temples, which shoot nearly vertically into the sky high above the treetops. At the top of which is the most amazing vista of a few temples peeking out of the canopy in the distance, completely surrounded in a sea of never-ending, verdant jungle. It makes for an amazing sunset and sunrise, too. Especially when the howler moneys start their cacophonous bellowing. Just be sure to bring a flashlight so you can find your way out of the jungle and back to your tent. I'll be sure to do that on my next visit.

Now on to Belize!