To Latitude 0°0’0” - Stories from GUATEMALA
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Welcome to the land of Mayan people, beautiful handcrafts, lush mountains, and immense lakes
Welcome to Guatemala!
May 17, 2010
After departing from Belize we headed to the entry point for Guatemala. The paperwork for getting the car is was extremely easy and you did everything in one place, so there was no running around from point to point as there was in Mexico and Belize. We paid a small fee of USD$6.00 for the paperwork and a few Quetzals to the local guy who helped us out (then a bridge toll for crossing the bridge that took you out of migration and customs haha this is the story of our time here in Latin America) and we were on our way in about 30 minutes. It was very easy and everyone was very helpful! So if you're crossing the border in to Guatemala from Belize wtih a car you just need copies of your car title, your driver's license, and your passport. They will have you pay a fee at a window that is all of 20 feet from where you're doing your paperwork (about USD$6.00) and then they will give you a sticker to put in your front window and a piece of paper to hold on to until you leave the country. VERY simply and straight forward! And all of this was at the same desk where we stamped our passports so we made sure we all got legal entrances in to the country.
Then we were on our way in to the heart of Guatemala! It continued to pour rain for most of our drive and some of the roads hadn't been fully paved yet so we decided to top in a town called Flores for the night. I pulled the description for this town from the Lonely Planet guidebook " Flores is built on an island in Lago de Peten Itza... Its church, small government building and municipal basketball court surround the plaza which sits atop a hill in the island's center. The narrow streets are lined with charming, red-roofed houses."I can't imagine being here for more than an afternoon and to stay the night. There's really not much to do here and it appears to be more of a stopover for those looking to go to the Tikal Ruins (which we decided to skip because you have to pay USD$20 per person to get in! Yes, we're cheap!). However, it is a very cute town and was a great choice for a stopover for us.
One of the views we had when the rain let up as we were entering Guatemala
The road we took in Guatemala when leaving the western border of Belize and Guatemala (this part hadn't been paved yet)
This was what we drove through for the majority of our drive today... rain, rain, rain! Plus, this road hadn't been finished yet and was all mud!
A side street in Flores, Guatemala (it was a VERY wet evening for us!)
Becky and me being rain ninjas in Flores, Guatemala... we had to do something to try and fight off the rain!
We opted to stay at a cheaper more rundown hostel, but it was worth the savings after 3 days of expenses in Belize! We paid 120 Quetzales for our room (USD$15) which works out to about USD$5 per person. There are lots of hostel and hotel options in Flores, so if you're looking for a stop over and don't care if you're staying in Gringolandia this is a great choice.
Tomorrow we are off to Lago Atitlan and we will spend a day and two nights in either in Panajachel. Bueno, a la camita! Hasta mana todos!
For more pictures from Guatemala click here (si quieres ver mas fotos de Guatemala da un click aqui)
Total mileage driven so far 4,276
Total miles traveled so far 4,559
162 miles from Belize City, Belize to Flores, Guatemala
Average gas price in Guatemala - $32.90 Quetzales per gallon
(approx USD$4.11 per gallon using an exchange rate of 8 Quetzales/dollar)
Note: Guatemala's gas is not nationalized so prices will vary from gas station to gas station as they do in the U.S. However, they do not vary enough to shop around. Also, if you have a newer car (we have a 2004 Jeep Liberty) you will want to get the premium gas because the regular's octane levels will not be high enough for you to get good performance from your car. We found that we got better gas mileage when we used premium so it was worth the extra cost for us.
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Arturo, good karma, and are you serious?, were the words of the day!
May 18, 2010
I'm not even sure where to start talking about today's events and adventures. You know you have those days that when they're done you look back on them and go, really? Did that just happen to me? Well, today was one of those days for us! If it can happen on the road it happened to us today. Seriously.
I woke up very early this morning in Flores (around 5:30, I swear we're on vacation, really we are!) and put my flip flops on to get up and use the restroom only to realize that the floor in the corner of the room that my bed was covered in water! I quickly woke up Arturo and Becky to make sure that all their stuff was off of the floor and we tried to salvage as many of my things as possible. Luckily my backpack with my clothes was on the nightstand and my computer and the camera were off the floor (phew!). We realized that it was the toilet tank that had leaked (I know, gross), so I had to wash out all of my stuff. The lady from the hostel switched us rooms so we could rest a bit more, shower, and get ready, but none of us could really get back to sleep (except Becky, she can sleep any time any where).
We got up and hit the road around 7:30 and tried to find breakfast (since the bread we had strategically bought the night before had been ruined by the toilet flood). We stopped at a minimart to buy some essentials like plantain and yuca chips and what I thought was orange juice which ended up being something like SunnyD with real orange pulp put in. Why would they even bother putting pulp in something like that, right? That's what I was thinking too! However, right after we made our minimart run we came across this amazing BBQ restaurant (like a little street side stand, but bigger) that was cooking already and serving what Arturo called a "trucker breakfast". So, we endulged in a trucker breakfast and had BBQ chicken, rice, beans, and tortillas for breakfast for a grand total of 40 Quetzales (USD$5.00) for all of us! What a deal!
Note: Before I get in to the actual driving bit of the story, let me explain, as the navigator, what my route choice was and the reasoning behind it... After our experience in Mexico City we all agreed that our best bet is to avoid big cities (and capital cities) at all costs. So, using our trusty map (which I am very good at reading... for the most part) I selected a route that used roads that were marked either "highway" or "principal highway". Now, the symbol on the map for a "highway" and "principal unpaved highway" are exactly the same. Our total kilometers for travel today were no more than 600 (around 375 miles) which is VERY doable for one day of highway driving and can easily be accomplished in about 6 or 7 hours depending on the number of stops you make.
Okay, on with the story... Then we were on the road again, heading to Lago Atitlan. Our first road block was a group of cows. I love the cows here! They have really long ears and small humps like a camel. I really want to touch their ears, but I'm sure it wouldn't make them very happy...
Road block #1... cows.
That didn't take too long to clear up and then we continued our drive. Not too long after the cows we hit a river and a great little ferry we got to ride on! It was fun to drive on to the ferry and see how it worked via a cable under the water. It was a nice alternative to a bridget, but like everything else in Guatemala, it had a toll. I can't remember how much it was, but it wasn't much, maybe like 15 Quetzales for all of us and the car (approximately USD$1.90 for everything).
Our car while on the ferry
Our car getting off the ferry
After driving for two or so hours we decided we were making excellent time! (Someone had told us the drive would take 8 hours) We were moving along so quickly we decided to stop and have coffee at this great tropical retreat near some caves (we even considered doing an hour and a half tour of the caves but decided against it... good life choice!). This place was great! It had some rooms and a wonderful tropical feel. It blended in really well with its natural surroundings. We all decided we want houses like this one!
The restaurant at the place we stopped for a coffee break on the way to Lake Atitlan
The view from the restaurant where we took our coffee break on the way to Lake Atitlan
We drove for another two or so hours without any type of occurences and then decided we wanted lunch. Arturo saw this place that raised turkeys and we thought it would be nice to have some turkey and try the traditional Kiq Ik soup. It's a turkey soup with a giant hunk of turkey in it and lots of cliantro. Oh, and we had lunch at this place with the Guatemalan mafia! They had guns and spare bullets on their hips in plain sight. We didn't know they were mafia until they left and Arturo asked the waitress if they were police. She told him no that they were the drug cartel, mafia members. Crazy!
We continued on our way and then our good luck with great highways ended. We hit the town of Santa Cruz Verapaz and started on highway 7W in order to avoid Guatemala City and hit a dirt road. We all voted on if we should continue or not and we all decided that we wanted to keep going. So we continued for a while and then we hit this...
The entire mountainside had slid down (we're guessing between 6 and 12 months ago or so) and destroyed the roadway, so in its place they had this winding road that was all dirt going right through the landslide area. It was an extremely intimidating drive and just to get to the end of the slide area took us a good 15 to 20 minutes. The road remained this windy and unstable for HOURS! It took us 4 hours to drive 55 kilometers (34 miles)!!!!!! None of the roads were paved through this 55km stretch, or if they were it was more like someoe had paved them 20 years ago and hadn't been back to look at them since. Becky and I are SO thankful for Arturo and his amazing driving skills! Without him we don't know what we would have done!
What it looked like driving through the landslide
On we went, driving and driving on curvy dirt roads and through small towns. Let me tell you something about Guatemala, they love their speed bumps, they love them more than Mexico and Belize combined! They have an average of 10 speedbumps per small town. We're talking 10 speed bumps in a 2 mile stretch! The highway we took not only didn't take us on the outskirts of towns, but it literally took us through the towns. Then once you got in to the town there were not signs telling you how to get out! It was like the Hotel California had opened up a highway in Guatemala and would let you come in but wouldn't let you leave haha.
When we reached the town of Uspantan (which we thought we had reached several hours before) it started pouring rain. POURING! The streets turned to rivers and there was water everywhere, including on me because we kept having to roll down the window to ask people how to get out of the town.
Rain in Uspantan, Guatemala
And more rain in Uspantan, Guatemala
The best part of our drive through Uspantan was that there were electric wires laying across the road. We were following a truck and both of us had to pass, so the guys in the truck in front of us decided they would hold up the power lines using a wooden ladder leaning against a nearby house (keep in mind it is still pouring at this point). Then they couldn't get their car to go through because it kept getting stuck in the mud, so Arturo had to get out and try to help. This, of course, was all very comical to the gringas who were sitting in the car taking photos (Becky and me).
Arturo attempting to help the Guatemaltecos get their car unstuck
After Uspantan we hit better roads and were finally on our way again. We crossed small town after small town on a two lane highway. (warning, Nicole and Kayla, if you're reading you may not want to read this part) Right before we reached one of many small towns Arturo passed a truck full of cows. The town came up shortly after he passed so the truck was still very close behind him. All of a sudden a beautiful rooster walked out in to the road. You would think it would have seen us coming and would have flown away, run across the street, or turned around to go back... it had lots of options, but it didn't choose any of the good ones. The chicken did not make it across the road, instead, with a giant truck full of cows right behind us and no where to go, we killed the poor rooster. Arturo assures me that it died instantly and that someone came along and picked it up and used it to feed its family.... I'll just keep believing that.
So after our cows in the road, landslide, hurricane-like storm, 55km in 4 hours, and a dead rooster, we thought we were most certainly done with our issues on the road and were more than ready to be in Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan. But the road gods had one more fun item in mind for us... We crossed a big town called Santa Cruz Del Quiche around 5:00 and after finding out that Panajachel was only another hour we all decided to keep driving so we could spend two nights in the same place. It was getting dark, Arturo and his amazing eyes were doing a great job of avoiding the unlit pedestrians on the side of the road, and we were only 20 or so kms outside of Panajachel when there was a backlog of traffic and police shining their lights in to cars. We all were grumbling about what a horrible place this was for a police checkpoint (curvy, hilly roads in the dark). However, a truck's crown and axel (or at least that's what Arturo said they were and I'll take his word on it) had broken while attempting to climb the hill and it was blocking most of the only 2 lane highway leading in to Panajachel and Lake Atitlan. We all looked at one another and said "are you serious?!". And yes, they were serious. FORTUNATELY the police were helping small cars (ours qualified) get through. HOWEVER, two cars before we should have been able to go through they decided to try and let a trucker pass... BAD idea Guatemalan police, bad idea. The trucker got stuck and we were SURE we would be sitting there on that dark curvy road for the rest of the night. Thankfully there was just enough space for small cars to still get by and we made it through! The backup of cars on the otherside was about 50 cars long (remember it is dark and this is a windy, hilly two lane highway that is pretty much the only way to the town we were coming from) and we all breathed a sigh of relief that we were headed in the right direction!
We made it to Panajachel around 8:00 and found a decently priced hotel (Hospedaje Jere on Rancho Grande street - it runs about 150 Quetzales or USD$18.75 for a triple room), checked-in, ate some dinner and SLEPT!
Thank you road gods for smiling on us in the end!
For more pictures from our day of adventures in Guatemala click here (si quieres ver mas fotos de Guatemala da un click aqui)
Total mileage driven so far 4,489
Total miles traveled so far 4,772
213 miles from Flores, Guatemala to Panajachel, Guatemala
Average gas price in Guatemala - $32.90 Quetzales per gallon
(approx USD$4.11 per gallon using an exchange rate of 8 Quetzales/dollar)
Note: Guatemala's gas is not nationalized so prices will vary from gas station to gas station as they do in the U.S. However, they do not vary enough to shop around. Also, if you have a newer car (we have a 2004 Jeep Liberty) you will want to get the premium gas because the regular's octane levels will not be high enough for you to get good performance from your car. We found that we got better gas mileage when we used premium so it was worth the extra cost for us.
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A day in Panajachel, Sanata Catarina, and at Lago Atitlan
May 19, 2010
It's strange to return to a place where you were almost a decade ago, wander the same streets, and have it look just about the same. When I came to Guatemala in 2002 with Queens University we came to Lago Atitlan and Panajachel. Everything looks the same and I don't think much has changed. It was fun to wander around and look at all of the artisans that the indigenous women have made. They are all so talented.
We woke up this morning and had breakfast at a restraurant with a view of Lake Atitlan.
Arturo and I had pancakes, let me tell you about pancakes here in Central America (well, in Mexico as well), they are a phenomena! You can find them in just about every restaurant and they're even sold by street vendors. It's hard to konw where they started and if they're a trend that is happening because of gringo tourists or if they're a varation on a theme of a tortilla or what the deal is. Anyway, that's off subject slightly...
After breakfast we all decided we wanted to walk the 4 kilometers to a town called Santa Catarina which is supposedly one of the best places to buy handcrafts in the Lake Atitlan area. We left fairly early (maybe around 10am) and I think we were expecting a lake side stroll. Instead, we ended up walking mostly uphill for an hour (and to start with Lake Atitlan is at an altitude of close to 2,000 meters or 6,000 feet above sea level). However, although grueling, the walk was beautiful! Here are some pictures from today's workout.
Becky and Arturo at the start of the walk
One of the many beautiful views on our walk
Another view from our walk
Finally arriving in Santa Catarina, Guatemala
We did a bit of shopping for artisans in Santa Catarina, chatted with some locals, and then hitched a ride back to Panajachel. We had lunch and then spent the afternoon walking through the market in Panajachel (which is very large, but more expensive than Santa Catarina) and just relaxing!
It's been a nice day here in Panajachel.
Tomorrow we head out of Guatemala.
For more pictures from Guatemala click here (si quieres ver mas fotos de Guatemala da un click aqui)
Total mileage driven so far 4,489
Total miles traveled so far 4,772
213 miles from Flores, Guatemala to Panajachel, Guatemala
Average gas price in Guatemala - $32.90 Quetzales per gallon
(approx USD$4.11 per gallon using an exchange rate of 8 Quetzales/dollar)
Note: Guatemala's gas is not nationalized so prices will vary from gas station to gas station as they do in the U.S. However, they do not vary enough to shop around. Also, if you have a newer car (we have a 2004 Jeep Liberty) you will want to get the premium gas because the regular's octane levels will not be high enough for you to get good performance from your car. We found that we got better gas mileage when we used premium so it was worth the extra cost for us.
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Recapping Guatemala... highlights from the land of the Mayans
May 17, 2010
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Guatemala - Tips for Travelers
May 17, 2010
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If you have any questions about how much we spent, time travels, etc. please let me know. You can email me at rebecca@elnomad.com.
