Hiking Nebaj to Todos Santos – Part 4
As you may have surmised from the end of our last posting, the next day started with a climb from our accommodation to the top of La Torre, the highest non-volcanic point in Central America. This climb was, amazingly, one of the easiest of the trek, our accommodation already being pretty high up the side of the mountain.
Hiking Nebaj to Todos Santos – Part 3
The day following the Altiplano was somewhat calmer in many ways, but rewarding nonetheless. It was on this day that we made our way into the Cuchumatanes range proper and enjoyed some hiking through some pretty high and beautiful mountains.
Hiking Nebaj to Todos Santos – Part 2
The next leg our hike after Xoxocom was up onto the Altiplano, by far the most interesting part of the trek. We got up at around 4 am to stumble our way up the hillside against which our sleeping quarters had been perched in order to get there in time for the sunrise. We barely made it, in fact, as the 700 meter climb turned out to be rather strenuous.
Hiking Nebaj to Todos Santos – Part 1
We decided that simply hiking from Xela to Atitlan was not enough to quench our outdoors thirst for this leg of the trip, so we decided to take one more hike before our 90-day tourist visa expired and headed for the Cuchumatanes mountain range near the Mexican border. This was a wonderful hike, taking us through Central America's highest non-volcanic mountains, with visits to villages of the Guatemalan Altiplano (not to be confused with the more famous Bolivian one) that have no roads, electricity or any other modern amenities.
Walking from Xela to Atitlan – Part 2
The second day of our hike from Xela to Atitlan kicked off with us struggling up a sizable ridge again, but on much more reasonable trails this time. We stopped in a few villages on the hillside, watching people harvesting coffee, sorting and shelling the beans, and laying them out to dry in the sun. We had lunch in the home of some villagers, talking about the corn and bean harvest, watching the chickens, pigs, horses and goats roaming about nearby. The women cooked more tortillas than we could possibly eat, starving as we were, and had a good laugh at our entirely vain attempts to make the tortillas ourselves. People we ran into spoke at least some Spanish, though most probably spoke a Mayan language, such as K'iche towards Xela, or Tz'utujil near the lake (those interested can read the sign in the pictures below).
Walking from Xela to Atitlan – Part 1
There is nothing like walking up and down big hills all weekend with a pack on your back to remind you that you had been spending too much time sitting in an office in the last few years! The advantage of big hills, though, is that they usually provide good views. And the advantage of a backpack with a tent in it is that it helps you get places where fewer people go. So "no pain, no gain", we thought, as we tackled the hills between Xela and Lago Atitlan, through what must be some of the most beautiful scenery Guatemala has to offer.
Salcaja
Another little afternoon trip took us to the town of Salcaja, just a few kilometers out of Xela. First and foremost, Matt got his fill of old piles of stone looking at the town's main attraction, a charming little colonial church, which, mind you, was not just any old church, but the very first one in Central America. Founded in 1524, it boasts an interesting facade and some of the original frescoes inside.
San Andres Xecul
One recent afternoon, we took a brief trip to the town of San Andres Xecul, located just 20 minutes north of Xela and billed as having "the most famous church in Central America." I don't know if that is true or not, but since I was unaware of any other churches in Central America before coming down here, I suppose that it is as good a candidate as any.
Chichicastenango
Yesterday we decided to give the challenging stuff a rest and spend a slow day at the market of Chichicastenango, about a two hour bus ride north of Xela. Chichi is, in fact, quite famous for its market, which has focused on textiles for a couple generations, but is also a good place to find whatever else you may need. The town also has a nice 16th century church where Maya traditions are stronger than Christian ones.
Santa Maria and the Santiaguito eruption
Well, we decided that we just could not leave Guatemala having climbed only two volcanoes, so we booked another guide yesterday to take a day trip to Santa Maria, just outside of Xela. Aside from being 3,770 meters (12,400 feet) tall with incredible views of the surrounding area, Santa Maria also overlooks the much shorter but very active volcano of Santiaguito.
Tajumulco: Venla’s birthday above the clouds
Venla had the good luck of having a weekend birthday this year, and we decided to celebrate it by going on an excursion. After doing a little looking and reading we decided to book a guide with Kakchiquel Tours to see the sunrise from Tajumulco, a dormant volcano that marks the highest point in Central America at 4,200 meters (13,846 feet).
Olintepeque
The other day we took an afternoon to head out to the small town of Olintepeque, (relatively) famous for being the site of decisive battles in the struggle between the Spanish conquistadors led by Pedro de Alvarado and the K'iche' Maya led by national hero Tecun Uman. We don't need to tell you who won...
Rest in Peace, Chumpipe
This is the tragic story of our friend, El Chumpipe. He was misunderstood but brave right to the end. May he rest in peace.
El Dia de los Reyes
It turns out that Guatemalans do not celebrate the Dia de los Reyes (the arrival of the 3 Kings) on January 6 the way the Spanish or the Mexicans (or Belgians) do, but have their own Catholic festival dedicated to the image of the Black Christ of Esquipulas.
Moctezuma, we surrender.
As we were looking back over the posts that we had put up over the last month, it occurred to us that we had not yet mentioned anything about Christmas Day or the week before New Years. Well, let us tell you, the days which followed Christmas 2009 will not be remembered by us as the most wonderful time of the year this time.
Trip to Almolonga
We took a little afternoon trip with the school to a suburb of Xela this week, to the town of Almolonga. Almolonga is known in Guatemala for its vegetables. This struck us as a bit weird at first, but when we got to the town and started to walk through the fields, we understood.
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New Year’s Part 2: Tilapita
The next leg of our trip on Saturday was to the remote beach of Tilapita, a small island (really just a glorified sandbar) off the eastern Guatemalan coast near the Mexican border. The trip there was surprisingly quick: in just five hours, which included three buses, one pickup and one boat ride, we crossed half of Guatemala from Fuentes Georgina to Tilapita to arrive in the early afternoon. Remote as the beach is, however, New Year's Day is one of the few days that almost every Guatemalan has off, and so we were surprised to find that once we arrived, the only hotel in town was full.
New Year’s Part 1: Zunil and Fuentes Georginas
Well, we are back from our little New Year's trip, and it was a blast. As mentioned earlier, we went on a two part trip. Today, we are going to talk about the first part, our trip to the hot springs of Fuentes Georginas and the town of Zunil, and tomorrow we'll talk about the trip to the beach at Tilapita.
The Ruins of Takalik Abaj
Takalik Abaj (or Abaj Takalik, depending on who you ask), was a site occupied from the 9th century BCE until the Spanish invasion in the 16th century. It reached its zenith during the Maya's late preclassic period (from 300 BCE to 250 CE) and much of the art and architecture at the site dates from this period. The site is particularly interesting because it is does not really belong to any of the major cultures of Meso-america, but was in many ways a culture of its own.