Our first stop in Guatemala was Flores, a tiny little island in the middle of a lake, not too far from the Belize border. Flores is beautiful, with a nice waterfront and tiny cobblestone streets it has small seaside resort feel to it. I will admit, the small-town feel was quickly forgotten once you crossed the bridge to the mainland and the first thing you passed was a Burger King! Still though, once you were on the island you were very much away from any feeling of being near a big city.
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| The island of Flores |
It's a great town for relaxing by the water, drinking cheap mojitos and cubra libres and going for a dip in the lake to cool off.
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| Dusk at the lake. We ended up swimming out to the island in the background - it wasn't until we were half way there that one of the guys mentioned that we should have asked if there were any crocs in the lake, I think he was just trying to make us swim faster. |
From Flores, we headed for a day trip to Tikal, some of the most famous Mayan ruins in Central America. We set off at 4.30 in the morning (I'm still not quite sure why we left at stupid o' clock) to wander around the huge archeological site, taking photo after photo, awing and gasping at every monolithic temple towering over our heads.
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| Temple #1 in the background. You used to be able to climb this but it's now closed off because people kept falling to their death - you see, there are safety standards in Guatemala! |
There's thousands of ancient structures in Tikal, only a fraction of which have been excavated. Of those are some huge temples, the biggest of which being Temple IV. Climbing to the top presents you with an amazing view (and heart palpitations!)
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| The view from the top of Temple IV - check out some of the other temples poking above the forest canopy |
From Flores, we headed on a fun eight hour bus ride to Lanquin. We stayed at a cool hostel with some great views of the surrounding area.
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| the view from the deck of the hostel |
And while myself and Nico, ended up spending the first night sleeping in hammocks in the bar
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| Nico and I in catching some zzzs while the night continues in the bar |
the view from the dorms (and even the
showers) the following night definitely made up for it
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| view from the dorm room |
From Lanqin we did a day trip to Semuc Champey which has some amazing lakes and cool caves. While the caves may not have been as spectacular as the ATM caves in Belize, what made this trip was the fact that everyone was given just a candle to light their way as we swam and climbed our way through the network of caves. I wish I had a waterproof camera with me, as the words can't describe how sureal it is to be deep inside a network of caves, and just seeing the path ahead of you lit up by candlelight.
After the trip through the caves, we crossed a bridge which our guide told us was good to jump off. Of course we didn't need any encouragement and were soon throwing ourselves into the river below like lemmings.
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| Nico posing mid flight |
Just incase we hadn't had enough excitement that day, we headed for a quick hike up the hill overlooking the beautiful turquoise lakes below, where we'd spend the afternoon relaxing.
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| Check out out the lakes below |
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| Going for a dip to cool off |
What's a amazing about these tranquil lakes is that there's a raging torrent of a river flowing right beneath them! The huge river splits in two, the majority of which creates a world of nastiness flowing underground and the rest of it creating some beautiful, peaceful lakes.
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| The view from just above the lakes. |
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| James, Elke, Nico, Edgar and I above the lakes |
The evening after the trip to Semuc Champey, Nico and I went in search of a rafting trip which we heard might be possible nearby. He was hoping to go rafting while I was hoping to find a kayak and tag along. After we had been quoted outrageous prices we had pretty much given up hope and were heading back to the hostel, when I spotted a pickup truck outside a restaurant with a kayak strapped to the roof. Without hesitating I headed inside in search of the owner.
We met the owner of the kayak, Paul from the US, and the owner of the pickup Roberto from Guatemala. Together, they had set up a rafting company in Guatemala over 15 years ago. The rafting company finished up quite a while ago and Paul moved back to the US, while Roberto spends the summers as a raft guide in Colorado and the rest of the year in Guatemala. Paul had just returned for a quick trip. After chatting to them for a while they told us they were putting together some footage for so promote the conservation of rivers in the area and invited us to tag along for a rafting trip on the Rio Cahbon the following day.
That night, it turned out there was a bunch of Irish folks staying at the hostel. And of course, when Irish people get together (especially this bunch), it's only polite to have a few sociable ones.
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| Myself, Neal (from Cork) Jill, Anne, Alana and Bronagh (all from Dublin) doing what the Irish do best |
The next morning I managed to crawl out of bed and head for a day of rafting.
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| Roberto our guide with Edgar, Nico, Justin and I ready for our first day rafting |
None of us had been rafting before, but Roberto had over twenty years experience as a raft guide and we were soon paddling down stream with Paul kayaking alongside us. The river was pretty easy with some nice big water class III rapids, perfect for our first time rafting. While I'd have preferred to be in a kayak, I must admit it was fun to see the river from another perspective.
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| Full steam ahead! |
It was a great day out on the river - huge thanks to Paul and Roberto for taking us out. All we had to pay for was the park entrance and give some money towards the shuttle driver - cheap cheap. Unfortunately the guy they'd organized to drive shuttle neglected to take the handbrake off while driving to the take out and ruined the brakes on Roberto's pickup. The drive back to the hostel became a class V shuttle as we drove through torrential rain with practically no brakes!
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| The rain bucketing down as we slowly make our way back to Lanquin |
And so after a great start to Guatemala I hopped on the bus for another eight hours heading further into the country in search of volcanos and Spanish lessons...!
Lots more pics
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