Week 44 - Lanquin, Chisec, Flores, Finca Ixobel (Guatemala)

We felt a little worse for wears after a night of cuba libres and spent the morning relaxing in the gardens of El Retiro, by the river. Around lunchtime we ventured in to town for ice cream before heading back to the lodge for a 2pm tubing session. We were picked up in a truck and driven back to the Grutas de Lanquin where we climbed in our tubes and began our trip down river, beer in hand. The current is pretty strong and you get swept along at quite a pace, every now and then having to paddle at speed away from a fallen tree or overhanging branch. We had a good group of people, including the Kiwi’s Louise and Jason, and had a great laugh. At the lodge that night things were a little quieter. After watching the bats from the cave whizzing down the river next to the restaurant we ate, played poker and had an early night.

Rhys was up stupidly early and was nagging me to get up and pack so we could leave and head to our next stop. We walked to the bridge in the village and after about half an hour managed to catch a micro back to Coban. This time we had space and the seats weren’t broken so we traveled in relative comfort. Once in Coban we asked a few locals and a policeman and found ourselves at a bus park where we caught another micro to Chisec, our journey only held up by the passing of the president and her entourage. We checked in to a hotel and headed into the town to explore and use the internet (we’ve had very limited access for a while now). There wasn’t much to the place and even the main plaza was pretty plain but it was a necessary stop over since we wanted to visit B’omb’il Pek. That night we ate at a little local place and had one of the best meals we’ve had in a while for a bargain £1.70 including a bottle of Coke.

We left the hotel early to squeeze in a trip to B’omb’il Pek before check out - a sink hole that you can rappel into and a cave with ancient rock paintings in. We caught a micro heading out of town and asked to be dropped off at the site. Having read the guide book we expected there to be an office or something on the main road and were a little surprised to find only a sign and an open gate. Nethertheless we took the path and walked for about 25mins through woodland and maize fields trying to find the office where you could organise guides (you can only visit on guided tour). After reaching a plague of mosquitoes we decided it was getting a bit silly and turned back. Finally we ran into some locals and worked out that we needed to head back to the main road and walk to a local community to get a guide. We walked a little way, realised we still had no idea where we were going and gave up, we’d already spent over an hour trying to find the office and didn’t fancy retracing our steps with a guide - it’s just a shame we didn’t continue for another 20 minutes along the path as we would have reached it anyhow by ourselves. Back at the hotel we packed our bags and waited on the main road for a micro to Raxruja. 

We originally wanted to stop on Raxruja to tube through the Los Nacimientos cave system but having decided that the chances of us getting the group of 4 together necessary for the tour to go ahead were slim (we’d already checked ahead with the tour guide earlier in the week to see how busy they’d been lately), we planned to head straight to Flores. Luckily for us the next bus that passed Chisec actually went all the way to Sayaxche which meant one less buss change for us. Once in Sayaxche we hopped on a little boat for the short trip across the Rio Pasion and found a bus to Santa Elena waiting on the other side. Another couple of hours later and we were at the bus terminal in Santa Elena. We loaded our bags into a tuk tuk and headed off, across the causeway to the tiny island of Flores. First we checked into a well known hostel called Los Amigos. After we’d thought it through though, we figured our platform room, above the bar and without walls was a bad idea and would offer little protection from mosquitoes. We repacked our bags, bearing in mind how badly Rhys reacts to mosquito bites, and headed to a different hostel across town where for the same price we had a private bathroom, room for four people and four walls. As soon as we’d checked in we heard Jason laughing in the street outside and popped out to say hello and make arrangements for a drink later that evening. 

Flores is a small island in Lago de Peten Itza with a slow pace and laid back atmosphere. We spent an hour or so walking around the island and poking our heads in the various bars and restaurants before stopping at a roof terrace eatery for a quick dinner. After food, we headed to Louise and Jason’s hostel and then onto a cheap bar, Tipico, they’d discovered the night before where you could get 2 mojitos for a bargain £1.30 - highly recommended not only for the cheap drinks but the super friendly and welcoming bar staff and the lake view. Since we’d all booked on to a 4:30am trip to Tikal the following day we didn’t stay out late.

It was an early start for our Tikal trip. We’d decided to skip the sunrise trip which costs significantly more and means you arrive with hoards of other tourists to sit at the top of the same temple, and opted to get there as soon as the gates opened to the public at 6am. Tikal is a vast Maya site dominated by six giant, pyramid shape temples, the largest being a height of 64 metres, scattered in dense jungle. Among these main temples there are ruins of literally thousands of other structures, some uncovered or peeking out from between giant roots and some discernible only as tree covered mounds. The first known settlement at Tikal was in 900BC with the city reaching it’s height in 700-800AD when the five great temples were built. By 1000AD Tikal was abandoned only to be ‘officially’ rediscovered in 1848AD. 

We had a great guide who fed us just enough info and gave us plenty of time to explore each area by ourselves before moving to the next complex. The tour finished after 4 hours at the base of Temple IV. After climbing a wooden staircase wrapping around the temple we emerged at the top where the views across the jungle covered park were spectacular with the cones of other pyramids just breaking through above the tree line, accompanied by the sound of howler monkeys it really was quite incredible. Along with Louise and Jason we then spent another couple of hours wandering around some of the smaller areas, climbing temples, admiring stelae and looking out for wildlife before catching a 12:30 shuttle back in to Flores. The whole place had been spellbinding and being able to actually climb most of the structures and temples, even having some to ourselves due to our early arrival time made you feel like an intrepid explorer.

Back in town, after finding out our new nephew had arrived that morning and meeting him on Skype, we spent the afternoon relaxing with a quick dip in the lake to cool off before meeting Louise and Jason back at Tipico for more cheap drinks, joined by Lewis (who we met in Lanquin) and his mate Nick. After a while we decided to head to the Plaza for some amazingly cheap taco/burrito combos before returning to the lake for a late night swim, bombing contest and other water based frivolities.

We spent the best part of the next morning in our room catching up on sleep and chilling. Rhys headed across the causeway for a Burger King and I sat in the plaza with another taco/burrito combo before heading out for a short boat ride across the lake to San Miguel on the Peninsula Tayasal. With very brief and bare instructions we found our way along some peaceful country tracks up to a mirador with spectacular views out across the lake before continuing along another track to Playita El Chechenal where we found Jason, Louise and Lewis. After a swim in the clear water of the lake we walked back to San Miguel just as the heavens opened and took refuge in the mirador shelter. We slipped and slid our way back to the dock and caught a boat back to Flores. That evening we ate at a lovely little restaurant over looking the lake before meeting up with the Kiwis one last time to say our goodbyes and repeat our promises to catch up in Melbourne. As we were all pretty tired and they had an early bus we didn’t stay out long and turned in for the night.

The next morning we packed our bags before heading out to a little cafe called Cool Beans with a lovely tropical garden on the lake for breakfast. It was very peaceful and a great start to the day. Back at the hotel we checked out out and flagged a tuk tuk to take us to the bus station in Santa Elena. Straight away we managed to get a micro to Poptun and arranged to pay a little extra for the micro to continue a further 4km past Poptun to drop us at Finca Ixobel. We checked in to a little tree house with no electric and headed out to explore. The finca is a working farm surrounded by pine forests in the foothills of the Maya mountains. There are a couple of self guided trails and we decided to tackle the ‘Pyramid’. It wasn’t so much a walk as a rock climb. We scrambled up the face of an extremely steep pyramid shaped hill only to find that the trees at the top blocked most of the view (otherwise it would have been beautiful). After the Pyramid we stopped by the natural lagoon for Rhys to swim and spotted a few toucans. When we got back to our treehouse the family in the accommodation next door had their music blaring and we ended up asking to move to the other treehouse located at the very bottom of the field surrounded by trees and giant spiders. After sitting on the veranda for a while we headed to the main building for dinner and slept with the sound of the forest and our creaking treehouse.

This morning we were up early and headed to the main building to wait for our guide for a short 45 minute walk to the Ixobel caves. After waiting 30 minutes for another family to eat breakfast we finally set off. The walk was pretty, through lush green fields and woodland and the sun was shining. We arrived at the caves and spent about an hour exploring and admiring the stalagmites and stalactites and the little limestone ridged pools before heading back to the finca. It was pleasant but not mind-blowing. After hand-washing all our laundry we ate lunch and relaxed at the main building and are now enjoying the hammock and the veranda at our treehouse before dinner.

Temples at Tikal in the central plaza.

Tarantula in Tikal.

View from Temple IV with Louise and Jason, Tikal.

Me on top of a temple, Tikal

Bombing contest, Flores.

View of Flores from Peninsula Tayasal.

Our treehouse, Finca Ixobel, Poptun.

Hike to Cuevas Ixobel, Finca Ixobel, Poptun.

Week 43 - Xela, Coban, Lanquin (Guatemala)

After a tuk tuk ride to the bus stop to leave San Pedro La Laguna, we wished we had explored further than the lakeside tourist streets into the town during our stay. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We didn’t fall in love with San Pedro as some people seem to but enjoyed our stay and the western bars and restaurants.

The bus journey was straight forward with a direct chicken bus to Quetzaltenango, known to everyone as Xela (pronounced Shey-la). We checked into a decent hostel with a lovely courtyard and amazing roof terrace views over the city and went out to explore. The main square of Xela is quite attractive with columns and band stands but there’s not much else to see. Rhys popped in to MacDonalds for lunch and I went to a coffee shop next door then we headed to the market to buy ingredients for dinner. Buying food from the markets is always a great experience, the people are so helpful and friendly and it’s as novel for them to see you shop there as it is for you to go there. We ate dinner on the roof terrace before watching a film and heading to bed.

The next day we were up early and headed to the plaza to find a taxi to the Minerva bus station. Our taxi driver helpfully dropped us off next to the bus to Retalhuleu and we hopped on for the hour and a half ride to Xocomil (pronounced Shoc-co-meel), the biggest water park in Central America. Having told the conductor where we wanted to get off they stopped by the roadside seemingly in the middle of nowhere and shooed us off the bus. There were no signs along the road and nothing at the main gate other than a car park entrance to suggest we’d reached Xocomil. After tentatively asking the car park attendant if it was the right place he happily allowed us in and pointed us in the direction of the ticket office. It was 9:30am on a Thursday and the park had just opened. The massive car park was empty but for 4 buses and about 20 cars (and wouldn’t get any fuller all day). We paid our Q100 entrance (about £9) and headed to the changing rooms. It was brilliant and wouldn’t have been out of place in Europe or North America, it was incredibly clean and well maintained. There must have been about 20 different slides, some that we went on together on blow up rings, one that we raced down with foam mats, one that was like a giant toilet bowl, one that was like an inflatable log flume, one with a capsule and a trapdoor that was incredibly steep and of course the obligatory lazy river. We spent 4 hours at the park stopping only to gulp down our picnic. We left about 2pm and caught a bus back to Xela. From the terminal we walked back into town and back to the hostel. 

We were up early again the following day for another early bus, this time to San Francisco El Alto for the Friday market. Supposedly the largest market in Central America you could buy absolutely anything. We were the only gringos we saw the whole time we were there and passed a couple of hours strolling through the food stalls and wandering around the animal field full of pigs, cows, multi coloured chickens and puppies, all thrown in sacks when bought and tossed over the buyers shoulder. Then we ventured into the haberdashery section to admire the cloth and after finding out how expensive some of it was we discovered a bargainous piece that we couldn’t resist and will make a beautiful bead throw when we get home. We ate lunch from a street stall before jumping on a chicken bus back in to Xela. After stopping at the market to buy food to cook for dinner we headed back to the hostel to enjoy the roof terrace and the views over the city and the hills beyond.

Another early start and we were at the bus station and on a bus by 7:45am heading to Huehuetenango. From Huhue we caught another bus to Sacapulas. Our next bus took us as far as Uspantan and the final bus, a micro took us to our destination Coban. The last leg of the journey was hellish, we were squashed in the back row of a minibus with two other people, Rhys had someone leaning on his legs for the 3 hours and I had half a seat and my shoulder out the window because there wasn’t enough room in the van. It was a tough trip. We got to Coban after dark and jumped in a cab to a hotel we’d been recommended only to find it was full. Luckily the owner called ahead to another couple of places and found us a bed at Casa Acuna. It was a blessing in disguise. The hostel was beautiful. The rooms were ok but the restaurant in the courtyard was stunning and wouldn’t have been out of place in Antigua, a little candlelit courtyard scattered with orchids and a little fountain. As we’d had such a hideous journey we treated ourselves to a meal in the restaurant before heading to bed for an early night. 

The next morning we relaxed in the hostel before heading out to explore the town. Coban is pretty small and there wasn’t much to see. We walked around the square and stumbled across a beautiful park on the edge of town with massive trees and a little lake. Next we headed to the shopping mall where we grabbed lunch and bought some new shoes, a real treat! Back at the hostel we chilled in some armchairs, enjoyed some great coffee and cake in the restaurant and generally kicked back recovering from the hideous journey the day before. 

After a walk across town with our bags and a couple of kind locals we found the stop for micros to Lanquin. The trip wasn’t as bad ass the previous day although the last 11km of the road was unpaved and pretty bumpy. In Lanquin we headed straight for El Retiro a lovely hostel right on the river with little huts spread around the garden. We checked in to a little hut with a river view and booked on to a trip that night to the Grutas de Lanquin, a bat cave tour. 

We left the hostel for the short drive in the back of a truck out of town to the cave entrance. Once there we spent an hour or so exploring the caves with our guide. They were massive and very impressive. We slipped and slid our way around through the bat poo to see weird and wonderful rock formations and spider-scorpions before squeezing through a crevice and heading back to the mouth of the cave. We chose our perches and settled down to wait for dusk and the exodus of the bats. It was incredible, i’ve never seen so many bats, they swoop around you and dive out of the cave and you can feel the wind as they whistle by. After about half an hour we headed back to the hostel for buffet dinner in the lodge bar.

Despite the storm that had been raging all night we woke and decided we’d risk going on the Semuc Champey tour. We had intended to visit the park by ourselves but once we realised just how much hassle that was going to be with the lack of public transport and Spanish skills we decided to join the daily tour from the hostel. After moving into a 14 bed dorm because they’d double booked and were trying to make us take an ‘upgrade’ to a horrid concrete room away from the river, we left at 9am, again in the back of a truck for the 12km bumpy journey to the park. About 3km from the entrance we drew to a halt behind a number of other trucks carrying tourists. A tree had fallen across the road and the locals were trying to clear it with nothing but their machetes. After watching for 20 mins we decided we’d walk the remainder of the way int he hope of getting to the Kan’Ba caves before all the other trucks. A few hundred metres down the road and our guide unexpectedly veered off into the fields for 25 mins of cross country walking. This would have been fine but the rains meant it was ridiculously muddy and Rhys only had his birkenstocks on. Finally, after a lot of cursing we made it to the caves, just at the same time that all the trucks arrived - someone had turned up with an axe and made short work of clearing the tree. The cave tour started with the guides handing out candles before we waded in to the river in the cave holding them aloft. At some points you can’t touch the bottom and have to swim and at others you’re clinging on the the sharp rocks and the odd rope trying not to be swept downstream. There were a few slides and a jump and then we were back out in the daylight. It had the potential to be a really good trip but as all the trucks had arrived together it was a bit crowded and noisy with lots of people telling you to ‘vamos’ (let’s go!!!) all the time to speed things along. Before we left the cave place we stopped at a big swing over the river that you flew off and winded yourself when you hit the water and then we did a pointless 2 minutes of tubing. 

Our next stop was the Parque Nacional Semuc Champey, one of the biggest tourist draws of Guatemala but suprisingly out of the way and uncrowded still. The park shelters a series of idyllic turquoise pools that have formed on the top of a suspended limestone bridge carved by the Rio Cahabon that disappears underground emerging at the other end of the staircase of pools. First we headed up through the dense jungle to the top of the gorge to the mirador to admire the pools from above before descending to see where the river rushes under the bridge. Then it was time to swim. Unfortunately we only had about an hour in the pools and could easily have spent a whole day there but it was enough time to try out the natural water slides and to swim through a tiny cave behind a waterfall and to generally admire the place. Once back in the car park to wait for our truck the heavens opened, we had been incredibly lucky and had amazing weather while in the park. Back at the lodge we showered and spent the evening in the bar drinking a few too many Cuba Libres with Lou and Jason, a lovely Kiwi couple who had been on our tour.

Xocomil waterpark, near Xela.

Chicken buses at the 'terminal' in Xela.

San Francisco El Alto market, near Xela.

Ducks for sale, man bargaining at San Francisco El Alto market.

Rhys in the Grutas de Lanquin.

Exodus of the bats, Grutas de Lanquin.

Us with our candles in the Kan'Ba Caves.

Us at the mirador overlooking Semuc Champey.

Week 42 - Antigua, Panajachel, San Pedro La Laguna (Guatemala)

As we didn’t really know where we’d be on the 15th for my birthday we decided to celebrate it a couple of days early while we were in Antigua. The day started perfectly with presents in bed and breakfast at the hostel on our private terrace overlooking Volcan Agua. After breakfast we headed into town for some sightseeing. Antigua is a beautiful, atmospheric, colonial, cobblestone town speckled with grandiose ruins, remanents from the 1773 earthquake that destroyed most of the city.

Our first stop was at La Merced, a church with an ornate white and yellow facade and a pretty cloister with monumental fountain and a little garden. Just along the road from La Merced we stopped at Santa Catalina, an arch spanning one of the roads that was used by nuns to walk between two convents, neither of which remain. Our last stop of the morning was at the ruins of Las Capuchinas, once the largest convents of the city dating from 1726. The nuns living there weren’t allowed any contact with the outside world and the ruins, with fountains and courtyards, include a tower in the centre with little cells and stone recesses. There was also a little museum funded strangely by the Taiwanese government.

After Las Capuchinas we headed back to the hostel to pack our bags, chill for an hour on the terrace and check out. From the hostel we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed to Meson Panza Verde, a luxury boutique hotel and my birthday treat from Rhys. It was breathtakingly gorgeous and reminded us of the hotel in Morocco where we got married. We had a welcome drink in the bar area before being taken up to our room which had been upgraded from a double to a junior suite. The room was huge. We had the biggest bathroom i’ve ever seen with a bath tub you could actually swim laps in, candles and a cupola roof. The bedroom had feather pillows (oh how I miss feather pillows!) and the comfiest bed we’ve been in since the Hard Rock hotel for Rhys’s birthday. Then there was a living room with a leather sofa and huge TV and a log fire and then we had a private patio area on the terrace. Every little detail was incredibly beautiful and the hotel really was a little slice of heaven. Before we locked ourselves in our suite for the night we decided we should make the most of the day and headed back in to town.

After grabbing a sandwich and a slice of cake at a coffee shop on the main square we headed to the third ruin of the day, the Church of San Francisco, by far our favourite ruin of the day. The church must have been colossal, during the colonial period it served as a religious and cultural centre that included a school, hospital, music rooms, a printing press and a monastery, the church has been restored and the only ruins that remain are of the monastery. Once in the grounds we headed for a picnic bench where we sat and enjoyed lunch with the sun shining and the fallen arches and giant pillars laying around us. We spent some time exploring before heading back to the hotel to make the most of the facilities. Leaving Rhys to chill in the room I headed up to the roof terrace with the newspaper, a beautiful flower filled area with lots of little hidey holes and seated areas with views of the volcano.

Once I got back to the room we had a drink while watching some TV before Rhys went off to run a bath for me. It took forever, the bath was MASSIVE. It was worth the wait though, he’d lit the candles and sprinkled in rose petals and put some music on the speakers, gone all out in the romance stakes. I spent a blissful hour wallowing in the tub using all the posh smellies before it was time to get dressed ready for our dinner booking at the restaurant on the ground floor. 

We had a table by the pianist and enjoyed an amazing meal and a bottle of wine listening to the music before heading back to our room. We ended the night with Rhys building a fire in our living room. The only shame is part way through the night Rhys woke up with his allergies playing up caused (we think) by the feather pillows and ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room. It was the best birthday ever (up there with my monster theme party when I was a kid), Rhys chose the most amazing hotel, I couldn’t even dream of a way to make it better.

The next day we woke and ate as much as we could at the delicious buffet breakfast before spending the morning in our room, on the roof terrace, in the onsite gallery and checking out literally 5 minutes before check out deadline. We walked back to the Yellowhouse hostel and checked back in to our volcano view room, glad we’d booked a nice place so we weren’t on too much of a come down after such a luxury hotel. We spent the day chilling at the hostel and wandering (Allie, I spelt it right for you that time) around the markets where Rhys bought a sack of strawberries for 90p. That night we ate at Ocelots again before heading back for an early night.

Our last day in Antigua we had a leisurely start to the day before heading to one final ruin, the Colegio de San Jeronimo. Considering the price was 8 times the price of most of the other places we visited we were unimpressed, it’s quite small and there’s not much to it. It was originally used as a church for the friars of the Merced order and is just a little cloister centred around an octagonal fountain. We didn’t stay for long before heading back to our favourite sandwich shop on the Plaza and back to San Francisco for a picnic lunch. After Rhys headed back to the hostel I hung around the central plaza waiting for Casa Popenoe to open, a renovated colonial mansion open to the public. I got some bargains at the artisanal market (if we could carry more or had someone visiting us soon we’d have bought ridiculous amounts of cloth and cushion covers, it’s so beautiful here), and explored the ruins of the Cathedral de San Jose, which were spectacular with the towering arches and sections of the domes still standing. The house museum never opened so I gave up and headed back to the hostel. We met up with Adrienne (who we originally met in Nicaragua) and spent the night touring the pubs and dancing salsa with a Guatemalan surgeon and his group of friends.

Needless to say we weren’t too bright and cheery the next day but we were up early for a shuttle bus to Panajachel, a town on Lago Atitlan. I think it was only the first or second shuttle we’ve got since we’ve been away but with the alternative being 4 chicken buses we thought the $10 was well worth it. The lake located in the western highlands is set between three volcanoes and steep hills and the lake shore is dotted with traditional Maya settlements. We arrived just after lunch and headed out to explore the town, one of the most cosmopolitan on the lake. It’s a busy market town aimed mostly at tourists but we quite liked it. We stopped for a drink at a lakeside restaurant before exploring the markets some more, stopping for coffee and cake and heading back to our hostel. 

The next morning we were up early and took a tuk tuk up to a mirador on the way to Solola. The view was spectacular and the walk back into town wound down passed a beautiful waterfall. Back in town (dog in tow) we picked up our bags from the hostel and headed to the dock for a boat to San Pedro La Laguna on the opposite side of the lake, the backpacker hub of the area. We checked into a hostel and headed out to get our bearings and to visit the weekly BBQ at a pool bar near the docks. We ordered a meat combo to share and I have never seen so much food. It was a meal for 1 and it came on 3 plates and we had enough left over for dinner later that night. We spent the evening playing pool at the hostel and chatting to other travelers before a bonfire was started in the garden. 

We woke up on my actual birthday having intended to do a 6 hour hike along the the lake shore and decided we’d only attempt half the walk. It wasn’t as scenic as we’d hoped and lead along a road from San Pedro to San Juan La Laguna, San Pablo La Laguna and ended in San Marcos La Laguna. San Juan is a small village with lots of little shops selling local weavings. The next village, San Pablo, was a little more off the tourist trail and the kids would giggle and wave to us as we walked by. After San Pablo we ended in San Marcos, a bohemian, hippy village with a definite spiritual/holistic lean. We stopped for a falafel lunch before wandering through the dirt streets down to the dock for a boat back to San Pedro. Back in town we grabbed dinner and got an early night.

We were up the following day at 3:45am for a 4am tour to Indians Nose. After a 45min drive we were at the trail head in Santa Clara. It took us about 45mins to hike to the first viewing platform where we sat and watched the sun rise before heading up to the second viewing platform a little higher. It was one of the most stunning views we’ve had since we’ve been away with the three volcanoes around the lake and further away, Volcan Fuego near Anitgua. After about an hour we headed back to the car for the drive into town. Back at the hostel we jumped in to bed for a quick nap. That afternoon we decided to walk the other half of the hike we’d hoped to do the day before. We took a boat to Santa Cruz La Laguna where we walked along the wooden walkway at the lakeshore to a lovely little tranquil, ecochic resort with a cafe, called Isla Verde. After another healthy lunch we started the hike. It was so much prettier than the previous day. We walked on footpaths most of the way following the lake shore and passing over the hills. The trail passed first through Jaibalito, an isolated lakeside settlement which remains resolutely Kaqchikel before passing through Tzununa, another small cluster of buildings where we picked up the dirt road back to San Marcos. From San Marcos we took a boat back to San Pedro and back to the hostel.

Our last night in San Pedro we had a few drinks and games of pool in the hostel before heading to ladies night at a bar on the lakeshore. We didn’t stay late and headed back to bed before the after party started.

Fountain at La Merced, Antigua.

Santa Catalina Arch, Antigua.

Meson Panza Verde Hotel, my birthday treat, Antiqua.

La Cuerva, Meson Panza Verde, my birthday dinner, Antigua.

The ruins of San Jose Cathedral, Antigua.

The massive 3 plate BBQ, Deep End, San Pedro La Laguna.

View from Indians Nose at sunrise, Lago Atitlan.

View of Lago Atitlan from Indians Nose.

View of Lago Atitlan from San Pedro La Laguna.

Rhys on the walkway in Santa Cruz La Laguna.

Week 41 - Santa Ana, Juayua, Antigua (El Salvador, Guatemala)

We left El Tunco and headed back to the main road for a bus to La Libertad from where we caught a second bus to San Salvador. A quick bus change and we were on the third bus heading out to Santa Ana, El Salvador’s second city. As always seems to be the case here, the bus dropped us off at a random bus garage on the outskirts of town and we had to catch another bus going the other way in to the terminal (only to be dropped off a few blocks away in the middle of the market). After asking a few locals for directions we made it to a hostel, Casa Frolaz recommended by the Rough Guide. It was a beautiful hostel but they’d turned the ground floor communal area into a bistro so it was a bit awkward using the communal kitchen and they only had space left in the dorm so we didn’t have any chill out space. After a short walk into the centre of town, where the locals loved to wave at us and point at my blue eyes, to see the unremarkable square we ended up in the Metro Centre (the shopping mall) for a fast food dinner.

The next day we left the hostel with a Taiwanese girl who was sharing our room and caught a bus to Cerro Verde and the Volcanoes National Park. After an hour of sitting in the cafe in the car park chatting with a group of 5 girls from one of the other hostels in town, the compulsory guide arrived. Along with two tourist police, who tag along with the group to scare off the muggers, we headed off hoping to make it to the top before a storm hit. The hike was pretty easy, after dropping down to a saddle between Volcan Izalco and Volcan Santa Ana we started to climb and reached the top of Santa Ana within a couple of hours. Volcan Santa Ana is the highest volcano in El Salvador and one of the most active last erupting in 2005. The clouds were very low and visibility was poor, we couldn’t see more than a couple of metres in front of us and we definitely couldn’t see the crater. The walk was pleasant and we met some great people which made the whole trip worthwhile.

Back in Santa Ana we intended to met up with people from the hike at their hostel and made it halfway across town just to decide we really didn’t feel overly safe and we turned around and headed back to our hostel.

The next day we left Santa Ana on a bus to Ahuachapan where, with some help from the locals, we managed to find a bus to Juayua. Juayua is a pretty town, not as beautiful as Suchitoto but still has a pleasant central park and cobbled streets lined by brightly painted one storey buildings. The town provides an ideal base from which to explore the Ruta de las Flores, a stretch of the Cordillera Apaneca covered in a patchwork of coffee plantations and pine forest. As soon as we got off the bus we decided we liked it, everyone there is so so friendly and we checked in to a wonderful hostel run by an English guy called Casa Mazeta complete with two dogs, a huge courtyard garden and a great homely feel, in no time we were walking around bare foot and lying on the bean bags in the communal area. We popped in to town for one of the best sandwiches i’ve had in a long time before spending the afternoon relaxing in the hostel garden playing with the dogs.

We were up at 7am the following day to meet our guide for the ‘Seven Waterfalls Tour’. Along with Cedric from Switzerland we headed out for a short walk to the outskirts of town before winding up through coffee plantations to the ridge from where we had stunning views of the volcanoes in the distance. The path then dropped down into the valley through forest to the first of a number of waterfalls. The first couple we were fine to just paddle through but then we got to some of the larger falls and Carlos had to get out a rope and tie it to trees so we could rappel down to the river below. It was great fun but i’d hate to think what European health and safety would make of it all. After one of the dogs who had accompanied us on our walk had caught a squirrel, the hike ended at Los Chorros de la Calera, a waterfall where the base has been turned into a pool to allow for swimming. After a quick dip in the cold water we had a delicious panini lunch prepared by the guide before walking the final 30 minutes back into town tom complete the 5 hour circuit.

For dinner we headed in to town to check out the ‘gourmet food festival’. Rhys had rabbit and I had loroco, some kind of local leaf, stuffed chicken. It was delicious and great value although if you came to town solely for the market you might be a little disappointed.  In bed that night just before lights out the furniture and light fittings started shaking, a 5.9 earthquake had hit about 70km along the coast, me and Rhys looked at each other and stuck our heads out to see the other guests in the common area looking just as awestruck as we were.

The next day we decided to catch the bus to Ataco, a little town 30 minutes away. We stupidly let the dog out to walk with us to the bus stop and he managed to sneak on the bus with us. Rhys had to pick him up and throw him off. Next thing we know, 10 minutes down the road the dog reappears from behind a chair having thrown up on the floor, he’d worked out that he could get back on the bus using the back door after we’d thrown him off. We ended up having to take him with us to Ataco and spent the whole time worrying he was either going to get lost or we wouldn’t be able to sneak him back on the bus to get him home. He was very good though. We spent an hour or so wondering the streets, it’s a beautiful place set in the mountains with cobbled streets and loads and loads of colourful murals, mostly by a local artist called Axul. We would have stayed longer to visit one of the many little coffee shops and courtyards and to browse the artisanal shops but we had a dog to look after. Rhys ended up carrying him back on the bus and he sat on my lap all the way back (and threw up whatever it was he’d eaten 10 minutes earlier from the rubbish heap). We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hostel - it was so nice to stay somewhere we felt so comfortable and there were so many nice communal areas to chill in that we didn’t want to leave. Later we stopped by the plaza and one of the food festival stalls for lunch. 

Our last day in Juayua we spent the morning at the hostel then in the afternoon our guide came to pick us up for a quad bike trip to Laguna Verde in Apaneca, the next village along. Rhys drove on the way there and I had a go on the way back. The lake itself wasn’t overly pretty and was quite litter strewn but we enjoyed the journey, only a small part of the road is paved so it’s mostly dirt and rocky tracks. Back at the hostel we had ‘Curry Night’ with Darren the owner cooking a delicious curry for 5 of us. It was a really pleasant evening, just sitting around the table playing cards and eating great food.

It was sad to leave Casa Mazeta, we really loved the place and Darren was the perfect host, not to mention the dogs who we’d become quite attached to. Leave we did though and headed to the border to Guatemala. The first bus took about an hour and got us as far as Sonsonate, chicken buses are hard work anyway but we were crammed into a little space at the back standing up and trying to keep our bags out of the way. The next bus took about 2 hours and got us as far as the border at La Hachadura. The formalities were straight forward, the 1km hike in the heat between the two immigrations was not so pleasant. Luckily a bus was waiting once we’d crossed in to Guatemala and we were on our way to Esquintla 2 1/2 hours away. In Esquintla then we had to wait on a random street corner for a bus to pass through to Antigua, our final stop for the day. By the time we arrived we were pretty hot and bothered and hungry. The hostel we stayed at ‘Yellowhouse’ upgraded us to a volcano view room with a private patio which was so lovely that we’ve booked to go back to the same room after my early birthday celebration on Thursday. 

After showering we headed into town for a drink at the Englissh Sports Bar and then on to a Welsh owned bar, Ocelot were we ended up spending the night chatting to the owner and regulars. Our first impressions of Antigua were great and we found ourselves talking about what we’d do for work if we ended up settling here - it’s honestly the nicest town we’ve been to so far on our travels.

Volcan Izalco, Volcanoes National Park, near Santa Ana.

View from the top of Volcan Santa Ana.

Mural, Ataco.

Mural and sneaky bugger of a dog, Ataco.

Quad biking, Laguna Verde, Apaneca.

Maize field, Cordillera Apaneca.

Rhys rappeling down a waterfall, Juayua.

Waterfall on the 'Seven Waterfalls'  hike, Juayua.

Los Chorros de la Calera, Juayua.

Week 40 - Suchitoto, El Cuco, La Union, El Tunco (El Salvador)

After an interesting breakfast of pupusas, a typical Salvadorian food of maize flour tortillas stuffed with refried bean paste, we packed our bags and jumped in a taxi to the Oriente bus terminal. Once there we jumped on a chicken bus to Suchitoto, a small town of white washed buildings and cobblestone streets. Even the bus journey was great, despite being quite bouncy we passed though some pretty villages with brightly coloured murals and painted lamp posts. The lamp posts are all over El Salvador, the paintings range from simple naive style cherries to delicate landscapes and paintings of birds.

We fell in love with the place as soon as we stepped off the bus and quickly settled in to a little hostel with a fantastic communal terrace - Blanca Luna. After a stroll around town and an iced coffee and bread pudding at a little coffee shop on the square, we headed out to Cascada Los Tercios. After a 30 minute walk along a road leading out of town we arrived at the site of the small waterfall only to discover it was dry. In wet season, the ‘falls’ tumble over a cliff of tightly packed hexagonal stone spires, a geological oddity related to volcanic activity. The rock formation was impressive even without water but not quite photo worthy - I think we would have had to climb to the bottom to really appreciate it. Back in town we paid 25 cents to visit a hostel with a mirador overlooking the Suchitlán lake, an artificial lake formed when the Cerrón Grande hydroelectric dam was built in the 1970’s. The view was spectacular.

Back at the hostel we spent the evening playing cards with some other travellers heading out for a nice meal just in time to be back and tucked up in bed when the nightly storm hit.

The next day we decided to walk the 30mins down to the lake. Once there we paid 50 cents to enter the tourist centre, an area of market stalls and restaurants. We stayed only briefly as the boat trips were too expensive before heading over to where the ferry was docked to try to take a cheap alternative to the tours just to see the lake from the other side. The ferry wasn’t running anymore that day so we jumped on a bus back up the hill to town for a drink in a little cafe with another great mirador. We’d intended to swim in the lake but decided it wasn’t very appealing once we got down to the shore so instead we stopped off at a posh hotel and paid to use their pool and sun loungers. After lunch Rhys headed back to the hostel and I spent an hour wondering around the streets just soaking up the atmosphere. Another nice restaurant meal later and we made it back to the hostel just as the nightly storm hit.

Our next stop was El Cuco. To get there we had to take a bus from Suchitoto to the InterAmercana, and a guy flagged down another bus for us to get to San Miguel. We missed our stop and the conductor ended up dropping us out of town at a roundabout and another bus driver informed us that we were better heading to El Cuco from there than our intended stop of La Union. We were already pretty hot and bothered by the time we arrived and it didn’t help that the Rough Guide didn’t mention any decent places to stay in the town. After viewing some horrendous options we opted for one that looked abit like Butlins, right on the beach with two pools. We ventured out for a walk along the beach and realised it wasn’t really our cup of tea. However we did enjoy foraging for shell fish on the walk back and giving them to the locals, Rhys is an expert forager. Although the beach is nice with a big arch of golden sand, it isn’t really a backpacker place and is more kitted out for the hordes of Salvadorian day trippers. We’ve later learnt that we should have headed further up the coast to El Esteron but hindsight is a wonderful thing and we’re finding the El Salvador section of our guide book is pretty out of date in a country that’s opening up to tourism fast. 

After a quick dinner before the whole town shut up for the night - I think there were only a handful of people actually spending the night, we were back in our room. The nightly storm hit about 10pm and we decided it would be a great time to test the water slides in the kids pool.

We left El Cuco early the next morning to head to La Union. As we couldn’t find any better bus information our journey took us back to San Miguel, the third time we’d passed through the town. We changed buses at the Metro Centre after stopping there for a Burger King. La Union was scorching when we arrived. Not a pretty town, just a criss cross of streets full of market stalls and shops. We checked into a room with aircon and after a reccy around town to work out where to get the boat from to Isla Meanguero the following day we headed back to the hostel to relax. As soon as we got back I started to feel unwell and came down with a fever, I pretty much went to bed at 4pm and didn’t get up again until the next morning except for when Rhys made me take a cold shower - he was a great nurse. 

By the next morning the fever had pretty much passed but we decided a trip out to the island wasn’t the smartest idea as our intention was to go there to hike and I wasn’t really healthy enough. Instead we took yet another bus, back through San Miguel to San Salvador. Once in San Salvador we took a taxi across town to catch another bus south to La Libertad. From La Libertad we then caught a third bus to El Tunco. Salvadorian people are some of the most friendly people we’ve come across and are really going towards making this one of my favourite countries since we’ve been away, the problem is we’re used to being hounded and expect people trying to take your bag off you to put on a bus to be after a tip when in actuality, here they just want to be helpful.

El Tunco is a little village that has built up around a surf spot. It only has a couple of tracks but has a number of hostels, juice bars, restaurants and surf schools and it’s full of backpackers, most of whom come here to surf and end up staying longer than intended. As we’re not very accomplished at the sport we gave it a miss and took the time just to relax by the pool at the hostel, walk along the pebble beach accompanied by local dogs, climb onto massive rocks and generally kick back. The most active we’ve been is a short hop on the bus back to La Libertad to the supermarket. Other than that we’ve whiled away the days drinking Oreo smoothies and rum (not together unfortunately) and eating Rhys’s homemade blow your head chili popcorm. Although it’s a very pretty palm lined stretch of coast, the beach isn’t ideal for sitting on so we tend to hole up at the hostel, saying that, Rhys is on the beach as I type this watching the last of the surfers with a cold beer. We may have missed Glastonbury this year but this is a pretty decent alternative!

View from the mirador of Lago Suchitlán, Suchitoto.

Graffiti on colonial building, Suchitoto. 

Hostal Blanca Luna, Suchitoto.

Rhys walking along El Tunco beach.

Me, El Tunco beach.

Rhys watching surfers from the top of a massive rock, El Tunco.

Me, El Tunco.