Guatemala, bottom to top! Day 1

Most of you know that Kylee has been in Guatemala for the Semester going to high school in Guatemala City and living with a very nice family that we met through a family in our ward.



This is Estrid, Mama, Kylee and Heather. Estrid and Kylee share a room:





This is Louis and Sariah. They belong to Estrid's sister and live a couple miles away but they stay with their grandparents a lot because their mom works long hours at the hospital. When I stay with Kylee they laugh at my futile attempts at spanish and then try to help me understand by talking really slow and di-st-i-nc-t. They don't realize that as long as it's spanish, it doestn't matter how they say it...I'm not going to get it. Better off with charades.


This is in Antigua at one of the ruins. They are pretty cool. That's Kylee, Estrid, Heather, and Mama. And yes, my 16 year old is a giant, even when she's slouching.

As luck would have it, Kylee had the week of April 26th through May 4th off of school. A little thing called Semana Santa (Holy Week.) This is a very serious celebration in Central America. Thank heavens we don't have it in the States or I would have to call it "Holy Cow, Can You PLEASE Go Back to School" Week. Yep, no work...no school. I was worried about Kylee having nothing to do for a week (except party with her school friends) so I took the opportunity to go entertain her. I planned our trip to start in southern Guatemala and work our way to the far north while seeing all that we could in between.



This is going to be long, it's a travellogue. I wrote it as we travelled.

Day 1 - Antigua & Pacaya Volcano

This is central park in Antigua. You can see the volcano Acatenango in the background.

Today we got up at 4:00 so that we could be in Antigua at 6:00 for a tour/hike up Pacaya Volcano. Guatemala is full of volcanos. Literally. It seems like everywhere you look, boom, there's a volcano. To me, they are especially cool when they are active. The active ones have smoke poofing out of them like a factory. They also make the occasional loud boom. It is fascinating.

I wanted to see lava. Bad. So I booked us a tour up Pacaya. We met our van at 6:00 (lucky because we never solidified our reservations and were just lucky enough to slip in) and left our bags at the office...always a little scary...then squeezed into a 12 passenger van with 12 other people. Worse than an airplane it is so tight. The hour it takes to get to the base is bumpy and windey so you have to pay attention or you will be laying on the person next to you. The drivers drive fast and the traffic in Guatemala is CRAZY. Seriously CRAZY.

At the base of the mountain, we bought walking sticks for 5Q each ( .70 us) and boy were we glad.



The walk is occasionally steep and the rocks are loose. We had a woman in our group that was older (58) and a smoker. She lasted about 10 minutes before she opted for a "taxi" which was really a horse guided by a young boy. They follow the groups and wait for someone to wuss out. Thank heavens too...we would have been really really slow if she tried walking. Our path went through pretty greenery and past a lot of farmland. The view around every corner was amazing. There is a sister volcano called "Acatenango" (I think) that was like a postcard.



Pacaya last erupted in 2006. When you get about half way up the trail, it is all lava rock. Once we got there, you can't take the horses any further so we had to slow down. The most surprising thing about the lava rock was the sound and feel of it. It feels hollow, like you are walking on fake rocks. It was cool. Kylee kept asking if she could just sit and wait for me. Her little face was all red and sweaty and she was not having a good time.



I kept telling her it would be worth it. It is probably the only time in her life she will be on an active volcano and see real live lava. She pushed through it and made it! Dirt trail + horses = dirty and sweaty. Seriously dirty and seriously sweaty. In spite of the very pleasant breeze and beautiful weather. And it really was beautiful. Once we got to the lava flow it got really really windy. The lava was flowing out of the side of the mountain like someone had punched a hole in the side to let it out.



It was so amazing to see! As we got closer and closer the air got really really warm and then hot. When the wind blew our direction it blew toxic fumes from the lava. I think those fumes could actually kill you. You can't see them, but they are so so strong that you can't actually breath them. You have to take short shallow breaths until the wind blows some fresh air your way. It makes you cough and singes your nose hairs. I got close enough to throw a rock on the lava but it was so hot that my legs were burning and my necklace was burning my neck! Crazy!

I had to try several times to hit the lava because first of all, the rocks are really light, and second of all, they are burning hot. I had to find rocks that were not facing the direct heat and then throw them very quickly. When a rock hit the lava it floated on top because the lava was so thick. It was so cool to see. The rock just floated over the top like a log in a stream.

Check out my hair blowing in the wind. You can't see how hot it is right here, but it is HOT.

She's hiding it, but she is super excited.

We hiked down the volcano at a slow pace because old smoker woman was without a taxi. Kylee and I had to purchase water at a little hut on the side of the path because my daughter who in her words "hardly ever drinks" drank the entire camelback full of water by the time she got to the lava. :) Lesson learned, haha. Luckily, some guatemalans had a little booth set up selling water and snacks for this very reason. The water is cheap and plentiful, thank heavens, and we also purchased little apple cookies because by this time it was noon and we hadn't eaten anything. We were hungry! As we chatted with some of the other hikers, we talked to a girl that was in one of the Jesus processions in Antigua (that's what they call them) and had her wallet stolen. She said 2 little girls squished in on each side of her and sliced the bottom of her backpack with a knife, then stole her wallet. Huh? Note to self...be more careful.


This is a Jesus Procession. Those are real flowers decorating the walkway for the procession to walk on. A big truck follows behind and picks up all the smashed flowers. Such a waste!

After the hike, we rode the van back to Antigua and were determined to get food. We had to pick up our suitcases first and they were at the travel agency/hotel office. We had just decided to find a hotel with a swimming pool and stay the night, thus skipping our planned trip to Lake Atitlan and instead head straight to Coban in the morning when the van dropped us all off in the middle of the city and we had no idea where we were or where our suitcases were. Kylee paid 3Q to use a public bathroom (.50 US) and then we exchanged some of our money at a crowded bank and started walking down the street to where we were told our tour agency was. We got there safely and were just pulling our suitcases out of the office when a lady came up to us and told us our "bus" was here. Our bus? Apparently Astrid had made plans for us to go straight to Lake Atitlan and the "bus" was waiting for us. Kylee and I looked at each other like "hmmm, what are we going to do?" The little guatemalan lady was quite anxious for us to pay for the "bus" - which I told you was really a 12 passenger van AND we didn't want to get back in one! But we looked in it an there were only 5 other people in it so we said what the heck, let's go to Atitlan! You have to appreciate the timing of everything and see what a miracle it was that we ever even went to Atitlan. SO glad we did!

Know how we thought we had just 5 other passengers? We picked a few more up on the way. Yep, all 13 of us in a 12 passenger van for a 3 hour ride. And there is me and Kylee in our dirt covered clothing and sweaty, dirty hair. We had dirt rings around our ankles and eyes. It was pretty. It was especially nice when we picked up the smokers (I think people smoke more in foreign countries...not that there's anything wrong with that...) and the DOG! Yep, a big slobbery dog. It was fine though, not as bad as we expected. We just sat there and read our books.

When we got to Atitlan (that's the name of the lake, the actual city is Panajachel) We didn't have a hotel so we looked at a couple of billboards and decided to try one. A guatemalan tour operator grabbed us the minute we got off the bus and wanted to arrange our transportation so we let him grab a "tuk tuk" for us.



This is a tuk tuk. The inside of this thing looks like a scooter, handlebars and hand brakes and all.

When the tuk tuk driver realized we were debating about a hotel, he jumped in and suggested a hotel that was "very nice, on the lake" so we got in the tuk tuk and gave the driver 15Q (almost $2) ...and he drove us around the corner. LITERALLY around the corner - about 10 steps. So funny. But he was right, we loved the place and it was $10 cheaper than the other places we were looking at and included breakfast. It cost $64 per night which is expensive for Guatemala, but compared to the States it is a steal. Our room was quaint and comfortable and all we cared about was the fact that it had a shower! A shower! Woo hoo!! When we were all clean, we went out to the hammocks and relaxed by the lake.





We thought it was funny that our room had an actual "key" just like the olden days, so we took a picture. After our 3rd or 4th hotel with the same key, it became normal and we began to wonder why we took this picture...

It was an absolutely incredible view. The hotel is Jardines del Lago which is gardens by the lake and it really was. Every time we go outside I can't believe the place!





We were starving so we went exploring. Down the street and around the corner was a huge market place so we chose a restaurant at random. We were so lucky. Yum. I have to say though, chips are weird, thick and deep fried and tortillas are thick and made from corn. Don't bother asking for a flour tortilla, they will look at you like you are a foreigner, which you are, and like you're crazy, which you might be. I have found that their guacamole is always good and salsa is always a 50-50 chance of getting straight hot sauce, like tabasco. Salsa dulce is ketchup and it is WAY sweeter than our American ketchup.


This is their idea of nachos. Yes, it has liquid cheese on it.

While we were shopping we decided to start collecting bracelets. It is not unusual for the Guatamalans to have bracelets all the way up their arm, so to fit in, we decided to pick one out in every city we visited. In Panajachel we got one for Antigua and Panajachel. We had a blast shopping and went to bed exhausted.