I spent the first ten days of June visiting one of my old college roommates, Ted, who is currently doing Eco-Tourism with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. I flew into Guatemala City on the evening of the first of June and upon arrival was easily spotted out of the crowd of Guatemalans by Ted who is also over six feet tall and thus a monster in comparison to the general Guatemalan population. (To give a quick idea of how odd we looked, when we went onto crowded buses the children that were sitting next to their mothers on the outside edges of the seats would begin to cry and duck under their mother’s arms for protection.)
We quickly left the airport on a small bus down to Antigua, which is an old colonial town and at one point the capital of Guatemala. We arrived late in the evening and after a short dinner and a quick sampling of the local beers, we headed to the hostel for some sleep.
A church in the center of town in Antigua
The next day we walked around the city as I tried to get acclimated to the new and foreign surroundings. We took a tour of a local coffee plant and met some rude 19 year old tourists who were studying for a month or so from Duke University. After meeting them we decided to keep our distance as not to be mistaken for friends of theirs and made haste for the opposite side of town where we met a tour guide that told us he’d take us up an active volcano which we were both quite excited about. The hike took place the next afternoon and over a glass of tequila and a few Gallo’s (Guatemalan equivalent to Budwiser) we became excited over the idea of getting to see some lava.
The next day we met the tour guide at which point he led us into a bus and we were off with about 6 other foreign tourists, none of which were the rude kids we met earlier at the coffee factory. After about an hour of driving through the rain and up a steep dirt road, we got to the volcano named Pacaya, and began hiking through the thick overgrowth to the summit. About halfway up a cloud rolled in and the air became really thick and difficult to see through. After another hour of hiking we made it to the lava river that poured from the top of the volcano and proceeded to throw rocks at it assuming that if we hit the bright orange lava that the rock would instantly melt or at least cause a sizable splash. It took about a dozen or so tries to hit it (as we were standing at a safe distance and I can’t throw very well) and we were incredibly disappointed with the results. Upon impact, the rock just sort of stuck there and nothing really happened. Plan B: we took one of the small sticks we had picked up in the forest on the walk up and got to poking the lava. Much more interesting results stemmed from this idea, though they were quite predictable. The stick caught on fire instantly and we quickly retreated from the river to avoid falling lava rocks and melting shoes. High fives were spread all around. The British travelers we hiked with one-upped us and brought marshmallows and when we found a spot that overlooked an opening in the rocks we gathered around and roasted the marshmallows over the lava. All in all, the volcano was a very memorable experience and we were glad to get out there and see it. It would have been impossible to get as close as we did anywhere in the states, but as I quickly found out, the rules in Guatemala are merely suggestions and even at that, there were no rules on the volcano.
Lava river running down Pacaya
On the following morning after our volcano hike we took a bus to Todos Santos, which is populated mainly by indigenous Mayans and about 8 hours from Antigua. Ted had heard about a hike from a fellow volunteer and while we were tromping around Antigua, a friend of his, Dave, was setting up the trip for us and waiting for our arrival into Todos Santos. We arrived in the late afternoon to a rainstorm which made quick work of our dry clothes and we just accepted that until we could find our guide, we were going to be soaking wet. We caught our bags as they were thrown from the top of the bus and trudged up the hill to where we were instructed to meet our guide. About 200 meters up the hill Ted asked one of the people standing outside of a local shop if he knew who Roman was and sure enough, he did –he was Roman, our Swiss tour guide for the two day hike from Todos Santos to Nebaj. He led us up the hill to his house which we were to stay in for the night and we followed him around the town picking up supplies for the long hike the next morning. Later we met up with Dave and we set a meet-up time of 5AM so we could catch the early bus out to the trail head and get started on our adventure. 5 in the morning came far too soon and the next thing I knew I was sleep-walking with my pack down to the bus stop and we were on our way.
Roman's House
We hit the trail head about 6 in the morning and started walking. The first couple miles crossed in and out of small towns around rock fences that kept livestock. The surroundings were incredible with big white glacier rocks and wide expanses of green cultivated land. We later found out that the first day consisted of 25 kilometers (~15 miles) of hiking and that we started at an elevation around 10,000 feet. I think not knowing the elevation and the distance was a good thing and it allowed us to keep our heads down and walk without consideration of how far we had gone or how high we climbed. The main challenge of the day was walking about 2000 feet down into this enormous ravine…and then up the opposite side. There was a river that separated the sides and we took a quick breather down there before heading up the steep opposing bank. We made it to the top around lunch time and decided to stop for a quick bite. Shortly after stopping we had to scramble to get our rain gear on because the looming clouds opened up and continued to dump rain on us for the remainder of the hike into Chortiz, where we would spend our first night.
The hillside we walked down and then back up
Once in Chortiz we stashed all of our packs in the local school where we were going to sleep and made a fire in the little hut outside the main school house to help dry off and warm up. After about an hour or so of sitting by the fire we were called out for dinner with one of the local families and were glad to get some warm food and coffee. On our way back to the school from the family’s house we were greeted by some of the local kids and got invited, but more like foced to join in their soccer game though we were all incredibly sore from the day’s hike. A half hour passed and we decided that was about all we could take and so we headed back to the fire and then to bed.
Me on the trail before sunrise
We hit the trail again at 5 in the morning the following day and began the descent from Chortiz into Nebaj. The first couple miles took us down about 4000 feet winding back and forth along the mountainside through tight switchbacks. When we were slightly over half way through the day we stopped at a cheese factory owned by an Italian guy and ate grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas. It was a much needed rest for our tired feet and we stayed there for an hour enjoying the scenery and the taste of the fresh cheese which was a blessing considering we spent the last two days eating hard boiled eggs and beans at every meal. We left the cheese factory and started on the last climb over the ridge into Nebaj.
View at breakfast
Route for Day 2 (over the furthest ridge and along the trail on the bottom)
Cheese Factory
Ted and me resting up at the cheese factory
Another hour or two had passed and we finally made it into Nebaj where we went into the hostel and took a very necessary shower. The hostel was owned by an old American named Popi who had been there for the past 15 years or so and he fixed us up a solid American meal of hamburgers, French fries and Mexican beer (though it doesn’t sound very American when you say it all together). It was perfect.
Morning came earlier than expected and we went back to Todos Santos to pick up the remaining gear we left behind and to stay one last night with Roman who had started on his way back when we got into Nebaj. Also, while in Todos Santos we arranged to go into a Mayan sauna. Basically it was a small rock walled building with a fire in the corner and a large tub of boiling water on top of it, surrounded by hot rocks. We crammed all three of us (Ted, Dave and me) into the small rock hut and relaxed our weary muscles until the coals underneath the water pot were completely out. When we got back to Roman’s house he quickly hopped out of bed and made us try the apple strudel that he had baked that afternoon. It tasted incredible and it was fantastic to have something sweet to complement the small glasses we had of this twelve year old rum Dave had picked up during previous travels in Mexico. Sleep came shortly thereafter.
Ted and I left the next morning and said our goodbyes to Dave, Roman and his family. After another 7 hours in a bus we came to Laguna Atitlan and took a boat taxi over to Santa Cruz where there was an Americanized jungle-style hotel by the name of ‘La Iguana Perdida.’ The hotel was right on the shore of the lake and we were surrounded by massive volcanoes and picturesque hillsides. On the first morning we were there we went down the shoreline a little ways to a cliff jumping spot with an Australian tourist and took the plunge off of this massive rock that was about 45-50 feet high. After a couple jumps we decided that was enough and figured we should just lie around in the sun for a little while before heading back to the hostel. We stayed at La Iguana Perdida for two nights and hung out with the other visitors and had a great time relaxing and decompressing after the countless miles of hiking we had done in the past couple days.
Panorama of Laguna Atitlan
By the time we left Laguna Atitlan I had one day left before I had to fly back to the states and instead of going all the way back to Guatemala City where the airport was, we decided to spend the last night in Antigua and head out in the morning. I left for the states that next morning incredibly happy that I was able to visit such an incredibly beautiful and diverse country.
