Wandergliding

December 8^th-9^th, 2014

A red shuttle van pulled up to the travel agent where I had bought by ticket. I hopped on along with five other women and there were still a number of seats left. It looked like I was going to be riding in style but we stopped at another agency and one of the women said to her friend “Oh no, it’s those guys from the other night!” Five American guys stepped into the van and the laughter immediately started. It turns out that they all attended a full moon party a few nights before and there had been some interesting interaction between them. The ladies were Megan from California and Jenny, I think from Colorado. The guys, jovial Willis, Tony from Texas, Daniel and a couple of Bretts. It was immediately apparent that we were in for a very entertaining ride, and it was, many laughs along the way, enough so that we decided to meet up for dinner and drinks in Antigua that night.

I had a reservation at Holistico Hostel which was a nice place and they were super helpful with all of my upcoming travel arrangements. And most amazingly, Sergio the owner said the beer was free! I had read online that they had a fridge with beer for sale so I questioned Sergio, was it just the first “welcome beer” free…no, have at’er!

We met that evening at an American sports bar type place called Monoloco but after a drink headed off to Angie Angie’s for a lovely dinner outside with a fire on what looked like a massive round barbecue.

Texas Tony happy with a firework he just bought:

Megan and Tony:

Willis, Brett and Brett:

Daniel and Jenny:

After that we moved to the next door drinking hole called “Café No Se” (Café I don’t know). It was a dark, dingy establishment, almost more like an opium den than a bar. The place was split into two rooms with a “midget” door separating the two and above that portal it read “2 Shot Minimum”. The founder of the bar, Bo, is dead but his ashes are in an urn up on the wall. There’s also a poster which states his intentions with the place. It read:

The Mezcal Bar

Bo was one mean son-of-a-bitch. You wouldn’t mess with him. You wouldn’t have a snow ball’s chance in hell. He had some rules:

This bar is for drinking.
2 shot minimum of Mezcal – Joven or Reposado.
Or 1 shot of Anejo.
This bar serves Mezcal and beer. That’s it.
If you want to drink the minimum for your candy-ass friend that’s ok.
Loose women only.
If Bo was to steal your woman it’s because he was more bad-assed than you could ever dream of being.

The bartenders try their hardest to do his memory justice. If you have a lick of sense, you’ll drink and learn a thing or 2 from him.

Bad Ass Bo's Creed:

The infamous midget door:

And I thought I let my candles burn down a lot in Victoria...hard to tell perspective here but they are almost four feet tall!

Classic! Needless to say the evening got a bit messy however I did leave before the Americans really let loose.

The next day I wandered around Antigua, checking out some of the beautiful old buildings. The town has a European feel to it with cobblestone roads, the town square with a church and even underground wiring in parts. I have to admit though that with the quality of the cobblestone streets that most locals would prefer if they paved the whole place. While I was taking a picture of the church I heard someone say “Buenos tardes” to me and figured it was probably someone wanting to buy something or teach me Spanish, but no, it turned out to be this dapper young many with a big microphone and another guy with a portable TV camera. I was asked where I was from and if I spoke Spanish. “Soy Canadiense, y hablo un poco Espanol” I responded. He queried whether I would mind being interviewed for a local TV channel and it was okay that my Spanish was minimal. Sure, why not. So the camera rolled and he asked me my name and where I was from and then whether I recognized this item he held in his hand. It was a wooden kid’s toy, a kind of stick with a string with a wooden ball connected to it. I had seen similar before and the idea was to get the ball to rest on the top of the stick so he had me try and like a boss, I got it on the first attempt. He then turned the stick around which narrowed to a point and showed me a small hole in the ball and I was to attempt this much more difficult task and even though I came close on the third attempt, it wasn’t going to happen. I wonder if I will end up on “Aztec TV”…

The rooftop of the Holistico Hostel:

At the main square:

The church:

The Aztec TV guys:

Knuffle and the Arch:

Lunch...cheating and having a burger (hamburguesa and a big beer):

That afternoon I hopped in a shuttle van for a 5 hour tour to Pacaya volcano, to the southeast of Antigua, and by chance the American guys from the day before were on the bus. We began the supposed 4 kilometre hike around 4pm. As you would surmise, it was mostly uphill and it was a great way to sweat out some of the previous night’s poisons. Within an hour of wide trails that wound between trees and bushes we rounded a corner and saw the conical volcano for the first time. It was, as you could imagine, a barren landscape. The slopes of the volcano must have been at least 40 degrees steep. The guide explained that we would not be climbing to the top which is good as it would have been impossible to get even halfway up before darkness would set in. We stopped at a vent and he passed around a handful of warm volcanic pebbles. We continued on for five minutes around another corner and down to an area of recently form rock. A lava flow had occurred just this past March. The rock was brittle and relatively light and very sharp. The guide had brought some sticks he had broken off from some bushes earlier as well as a bag of marshmallows which one could roast in one of the vents. On our way back we were treated to a spectacular sunset, possibly in my top 10 ever, definitely in the top 20.

The start of the hike:

Our first glimpse of the volcano:

Hiking around to the left:

The new lava flow that occurred this past March:

Heading down to part of the new lava flow:

I have to admit, I posed for this marshmallow roasting pic with no intention of eating it...in fact I borrowed the stick and the mallow from the guy taking the photo.

That shack is a proclaimed "Volcano Shop" that sells jewelry and trinkets...thankfully it wasn't open.

Starting to walk back...you can just make out a person to the left on the trail:

God is about to speak:

The sun started to poke through the bottom:

It got better and better:

This is a pic through a building where I went to pee and noticed that the view through one window to the next framed the sunset beautifully:

Back in Antigua I met up with the Americans for dinner at an American sports bar place called Monoloco and then we had to hit Café No Se one more time. Once again I was the first to leave but I had an early bus off to Semuc Champey, my last major stop in Guatemala.

December 5^th-7^th, 2014

The bus from San Cristobal into Guatemala was an all-day affair, from 6:30 in the morning until 6:30 in the evening. The Mexican leg was about 5 hours, then we had a one hour wait at the border as we changed shuttle buses. The terrain at the border was gorgeous with tall, round, tree covered green hills. Rolling into Guatemala for my first time I discovered that it’s the land of speed bumps. There seemed to be enough potholes in the roads to negate the necessity of speed bumps but there were still tons of them.

The white pylons represent the border:

Sweet...a new country:

Once in Panajachel, the main town on Lake Atitlan, I found a hotel (splurged to have my own room for the first time on this trip) and enjoyed a nice pizza dinner. Since it was dark, I would have to wait until morning to see the big lake with its three inactive volcanoes on its shores.

The next day I walked down to the lake which was stunning. I paid 25 Quetzals (about $4) to take a full boat taxi across the lake to San Pedro, where many backpackers end up. The boat ride was slow as the lake was already pretty choppy from the wind. I was happy that I had unknowingly picked one of the best seats on the boat, near the back, as splashing waves soaked some of the other passengers near the bow. It took me a while to find the Mikaso Hotel but it was worth the effort as it was a gorgeous place right on the water…literally. Speaking with the French Canadian woman who was working the front desk, she explained that the water level had risen significantly in the past few years and some houses near the hotel had been abandoned as the bottom floor had 3-4 feet of water in them.

Knuffle at Lake Atitlan:

An abandoned house:

My first chicken beer:

That afternoon I took another boat taxi over to San Marcos. A small hamlet which I read was described as a place for “hippies with purpose”, and that was an accurate description. There were small posters for yoga, reiki and energy healing. I get yoga, and it does the body good and I know with my back injuries from paragliding that I need to do more yoga but reiki, hmmm, nope, don’t get it. I walked through the village, up some incredibly steep roads and walkways. The native people living there must have strong hearts and leg muscles. Most of the houses were pretty rudimentary with waste water just running down the open gutters by the side of the road. Nevertheless they have a pretty wicked view of the lake and the volcanoes.

The view from San Pedro towards San Marcos:

A garden by my hotel:

The entrance to Mikaso:

A lovely sunset:

My kickbutt breakfast at Connections, next door to San Pedro Spanish School. I returned the next day for the exact same thing:

On the boat to San Marcos. The front row is holding up the tarp...but they didn't always do the greatest job.

The shores of San Marcos:

At the pier:

The view from up in the village:

A common tourist activity is to watch sunrise from a viewpoint called the Indian Nose. I signed up for this even though it required waking up at 3:15am. I met my guide Santos and we hopped on one of the infamous “chicken buses”. I was surprised at the number of people on the bus at 4 in the morning as the seats were more than half full. It took about an hour to wind around part of the lake and then drive a curvy road up the hill. An almost full moon helped light our way up the fairly easy trail to the lookout point with a small wooden shelter and some benches. The sky was beginning to brighten and the view was gob smacking. Santos pointed out the seven volcanoes in the distance and amazingly, as one of them was silhouetted by the yellow light from the rising sun, a dark plume of smoke rose from the top, the volcano was spewing smoke. Sweet, the first time I have seen a volcano in action…well worth the price of admission!

The early morning glow:

The volcano farts:

Looking down to the lower viewpoint:

The viewing structure:

The volcano farts again:

Well worth the price of admission:

A cemetery in Santa Ana, the village over the back:

After sunrise we walked into the little town of Santa Anna and caught a shuttle van down to the lake and then a tuk tuk from there around to San Pedro. Yup, a tuk tuk…made me feel like I was back in India!

Some cute kids and their mom who shared the van ride with us: