Guatemala Trip - First Update

Well, I am more than 2 weeks into my 25-day journey through Guatemala, and this is my first blog about the trip so far. It has been a fun, exciting and sometimes challenging adventure, full of new people, places and experiences.

When I first got into Guatemala City, I met up with a new friend of mine, Claudia, and her brother Fredy. They are really friendly and helpful people, and I have had a great time getting to know them. They invited me to stay at their house in Guatemala City, and we got along so well that I ended up staying in the capital for three days instead of just one!

I left Guatemala City and hopped on what the tourists call a "chicken bus." I heard that the name comes from the fact you might find yourself sitting next to someone transporting chickens (or a goat or some other type of animal). Basically, these are old school buses from the U.S. that get auctioned off once they are too old or have too many miles. Somehow they end up being used as transportation for most locals in Central America. Once they are auctioned off, they are given a fresh, new paint job (and hopefully re-inspected), and put into action.


These buses, which are designed to seat about 40 children, are crammed full with 60, 70 or sometimes 80 Guatemalans. During my ride on the chicken bus, every seat had 3 people in it, and the aisles were full of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder, from the front door to the emergency exit in the back. I was crammed next to the window (which I guess was better than being stuck between people), and my foot began to fall asleep since I could not really move or stretch. We were weaving through narrow, curvy mountain roads going about twice as fast as I thought was safe. I began to wonder how carefully the brakes had been inspected, and how crazy our bus driver might be.

Thankfully we safely arrived at Lake Atitlán, a beautiful lake surrounded by volcanoes. It was created by a large volcanic eruption about 80,000 years ago. This is probably one of the most gorgeous places in all of Guatemala, and one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.




I stayed at a nice hotel called Hotel Casa del Mundo, which has the most amazing views of the lake. The interior was small by American standards, but nicely decorated and very clean. Outside the hotel was a wonderful garden with lots of plants and flowers.













































During my stay at Casa del Mundo, I got to know some of the employees and one of the guides that was accompanying his Canadian guests. We decided to go have a few drinks in the little town of Jaibalito, about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We sat in the restaurant patio, had some drinks and chatted for a few hours. They helped me with my Spanish when I didn´t understand something, and we all laughed when I still didn´t understand, haha. The radio was playing ranchera music, and we all started practicing our gritos (ayy ayy ayyyyy!!!!). Was a fun, relaxing night and a great experience hanging out with some of the locals. I definitely hope to come back and visit them soon!


My next stop was another lakeside town called Panajachel (or "Pana" as everyone calls it). There is a nice market with lots of souvenirs here, definitely a good place to stock up on t-shirts, bufandas (scarves), ceramics, or any other type of souvenir.

Artisans making ceramic bowls

After Pana, I headed out to the well-known and popular town of Antigua. Tons of tourists here, but also a pretty good night life. The cool thing about my hotel was that it was right above the club, so I could go dancing downstairs, then just go upstairs once I was ready to call it a night. The down side was that my hotel was right above the club, so even when I wanted to sleep, I had latin or hip-hop music blaring into my room.

Many of the people I spoke with on my trip recommended hiking Volcano Pacaya. This is one of the few, if not the ONLY place in the world where you can get within a few feet of real, flowing lava. The hike up there wasn´t too bad (only about 2 hours), although it did get very cold and windy once we got near the top. Actually getting to walk up to the lava and feel the intense heat from it was absolutely incredible. Definitely one of the most memorable moments during the trip.

Hiking Volcano Pacaya. It was so hot near the lava that I could barely open my eyes...

After that was Quetzaltenango, visiting the small town of Almolonga, and my 2nd visit with Claudia and her family. However, I am running out of time and will have to discuss these in the next blog. I am currently in the town of Cobán and have lots more exploring to do, so I might not post another update until after I get back to Austin.

Anyways, that´s the update for now! The trip is going wonderfully and I´ve had a blast so far. Thanks for reading!