Not quite Fifty Shades of Grey...

...but this is my FIFTIETH blog entry! 


What do you mean its not as erotic as the novel...?! ;-p


I wanted this blog entry milestone to pay homage to Queenie celebrating her Jubilee but then foolishly realised that she has been reigning sixty years not fifty - still I guess the intention was there...


Anyway moving on, having finally managed to tear myself away from Antigua I set off for my next destination in Guatemala - Lake Atitlan. The lake is famous for being the deepest in Central America - 340 metres! I was excited about visiting as my aunt had spent the best part of her honeymoon there. She had also been around my age when she visited so I felt like I was on a pilgrimage on her behalf.


The journey there got off to a late start as our driver got lost and then had to pick up lots of other people en route. By the time we arrived in San Pedro (The side of the lake we were staying on) I was massively tired, nauseous and with a headache from all the fumes coming into the bus. Guatemala it seems has never heard of catalytic converters or unleaded fuel. 


For most of the journey we were stuck behind a chicken bus which was emitting so much black smoke you could barely see. The way our bus was being driven also didnt help the cause. Despite the road being tarmaced it felt like we were on a boat in a storm - the way our driver pressed the accelerator intermittently but not consistently meant we were chugging back and forth.  This mixed in with the fumes made for a nauseating ride.


Thankfully the view from the vertiginous cliff roads was worth the drive. San Pedro resembled an Italian seaside village but obviously without the sea. There was mist rising from the lake which made it look very ethereal. 


Waking up the next day the beauty of the lake was in full view. Walking around I couldnt quite believe how much of it had flooded the shore - there were entire houses almost covered by the water. Who knew a lake could flood?! 

Lake Atitlan - worth the drive

Locals doing washing in the lake

House flooded by the lake!

San Pedro was a warren of tiny paths connecting all the hostels, bars and eateries. Being so narrow I assumed that they were just for pedestrians, that is until I was very nearly mowed down by a tuk tuk as it came hurtling around a corner. It seems where there is a path in Latin America, there is a mode of transport willing to make its way down. 

Tiny paths

Jesus is THE man according to this wall sign...

Local tuk tuks up close - they all try and rip you off

I spent a few days in San Pedro before popping over on a boat to San Marcos which was the next town across the lake. I only spent a morning here as it was a little too hippie chic for my liking. There were space cakes and mushrooms being sold pretty much on every corner and I saw way too much tie dye walking around for my liking. 


My tuk tuk ride back to San Pedro went via San Pedro which itself was rather a non entity but did mean I saw awesome views of the lake. 

Catching the boat across the lake

I assumed this was someone's house but then the tuk tuk driver informed me it was a clinic. Guatemalas answer to The Priory...

Volcanoes which surround the lake

Local political propaganda

more political propaganda...

From San Pedro I did a day trip to Chichicastenango which is famous for its bi-weekly market. Id visited markets in previous Latin countries but they didnt rival ChiChi in terms of character, hustle and bustle. There were stalls and people everywhere. I came away with a rather interesting pottery double skull candle holder. However being the accident prone person that I am I managed to decapitate the top skull within 30 minutes of carrying it around. Im hoping when I get back to Blighty Ill be able to super glue it back. 


I wanted to capture as much of the market as I could on camera but the locals had another idea. Every one I asked to pap just shook their heads at me and glared. I guess they are fed up of tourists like me oggling them. I did manage to get a few pics but not as many as I wanted. 

The church in the middle of the market

Inside the food market

Dried white bait anyone?

Chillaxing

In the middle of the market I saw a guy holding the most unusual looking video camera. It resembled a Victorian concertina camera crossed with a polaroid. It turned out he was a professional camera man taking footage of the locals (clearly with better luck than me!) for a TV programme in the USA. He was very open in telling me that the camera was worth $50k and was 5 x High Definition (HD) in power. He had just come from filming Ridley Scotts Prometheus with the very same camera! Awesome.


I left the market and caught a shuttle back to the womb that was Antigua. I stayed here a night and then the next day made my way to Lanquin which is the starting point for visiting Semuc Champey - a series of limestone water pools you can swim in.


My accomodation that night consisted in staying in Zephyr Lodge which resembled the Shire out of Lord of the Rings. The lodge was a series of buildings all with thatched roofs in the middle of a valley with amazing views - especially when I took a shower!

The Shire?

Showering al fresco! I wonder if the locals have cottoned on to this happening yet...?

The next day I signed up to do the tour of the Semuc Champey limestone pools and was told that there was also some caving and a hike involved in the day trip. Fine I thought, all sounds good. The cave itself used to be a ritual site for locals until it was discovered by someone from a nearby town who came up with the idea of opening it up to tourists. It is now owned by a local hotel proprietor. 


I should have taken our mode of transport to Semuc Champey as a sign of things to come. Everybody was squeezed standing onto the back of a pick up truck, clinging to a metal bar to keep themselves on board during what would inevitably be a white knuckle ride. Having seen this standard mode of countryside transport elsewhere in the numerous Latin American countries I've visited, I knew that there was always a spare seat up front with the driver. I immediately asked the tour guide and was promptly buckled up in a comfy seat. Moral of the story: if you don't ask you don't get.


Having survived the bumpy ride there, the tour began with a rope swing into the river - which I avoided like the plague as the current was too strong and I knew my swimming wouldn't be up to it (I never mastered front crawl so my swimming repertoire consists of just doggy paddle and breaststroke). Then came a twelve metre leap from a suspension bridge over the same river. Again I refused politely. 

The view from the bridge

The brave ones

Next came the caving. I was a little apprehensive given that Im not the greatest fan of the dark and also enclosed places. I had managed to wangle a life jacket to wear over my swimwear - I thought not only would it keep me afloat if I started to panic, it would also give me some warmth in the cold damp cave. The minute we entered the cave we (there were eighteen of us with just one guide...) were up to our torsos in deep water. We then had to swim through the water whilst holding a lit candle in order to see where we were going. Not a mean feat I can tell you but it did mean the cave looked very romantic and thus calmed me down somewhat.

Says it all really 

Once we had succesfully crossed the stretch of water we had to scale the sides of some rocks and then crawl (the ceiling was so low you couldnt stand) through an opening in the rock. That is until we came to a waterfall which our guide Marcos said that they normally scale with a rope - no hard hats of safety harnesses here. Fortunately for us the water volume was too much for us to scale so instead we had to walk through it and around again. All very straightforward until I suddenly found myself panicking. I was struggling to breath and open my eyes due to the volume of water cascading above me. Thankfully after some quick intervention from our guide Marcos (he literally held onto me and walked me through) and some pep talking from my fellow travel buddies I managed to calm down. 


The journey back to the entrance went as well as could be expected. I managed to jump the two metre drop off the rock ledge which we had previosly climbed a ladder for. What I hadnt envisaged was my head would go under the water - I had assumed (naively) that wearing my lifejacket would prevent me from doing this! But it didnt and I went straight down and then bobbed up again with lungs and ears full of water. Needless to say I wasn't amused by this at all but I was overjoyed at having managed to launch myself off a rock into pitch black water, all pretty impressive for me. 


I was grateful for exiting the cave in one piece. As much as the tour was interesting, it was far from safe - we had no hard hats, safety harnesses or head torches - and Im certain you would never be allowed to do this back in Europe. Travelling I have discovered makes you do lots of things you would never dream of doing back home but somehow seem perfectly acceptable whilst you're on the road!


The climax of the tour was hiking up a steep incline towards a mirador (lookout point) which gave a stunning view of the limestone pools of Semuc Champey. The ascent and descent was one big sweatfest so we were all grateful for the cool water pools at the end. However our relief soon turned into frustration once we realised that the pools were full of jagged toe and leg breaking rocks everywhere. I discovered that swimming backwards was less lethal to my shins but did mean my enjoyment was overtaken by concentrating on avoiding being hurt. 

View of Semuc Champey limestone pools from the mirador

One of the pools I swam in

Overall I had a really good day and felt glad that I had managed to complete it all without suffering any physical injury. As for my mental well being, lets just say I shall not be going caving again any time soon!

Latin American Love Affair Part III

My first Latin love affair began with Palermo, a district in Buenos Aires in Argentina. The shops, the bars, the graffiti...I couldn't resist. 


Then came along San Carlos de Bariloche, also in Argentina. Palermo became all but a distant memory in my now love sick heart...

Weeks and months went by but no new place ever took the place of my beloved Palermo and Bariloche.

But then, Guatemala came along. More specifically Antigua. It was dark when I first caught a glimpse of it but it was enough to get my travel juices flowing again. The minute I stepped outside my hostel into the morning sunshine I knew I had encountered my new love affair :D


My aunt and uncle had spent their honeymoon here in Guatemala and visited Antigua and many of the other places I am schedule to see. I was therefore quite excited to see the sites that they had talked so lovingly about over the years, especially Antigua as it was here that they had spent much of their time. 

My first day in Antigua went by in a blur and I think I floated balloon like around for most of it. I say think as I was so relaxed I really didn't even noticed how much of the city I walked. I discovered so many interesting shops (I had to refrain myself from buying numerous statues and furnishings for the house I currently don't have), galleries and ruins that before I knew it my Casio was saying 6pm. The weather was also just right - not too hot, not too cold and more importantly there wasn't any humidity in the air. Trés important when your hair is prone to le frizz as mine is.

I wanted to buy him so much...

and these guys...

How cool is he?!

I WANT this lamp base

Antigua, is beautiful mix of colonial architecture from its hey day as the old (interestingly antigua is Spanish for old) capital city of Guatemala. The Spanish colonial style permeates every part of the city, from the houses, churches and arches of buildings. 

The famous arco in Antigua

The cathedral in the Parque Central 

One building in particular - El Palacio de los Capitanes - reminded me of the arches of the Palacio Municipal in my mamas home town of La Coruña in Spain. Interestingly both cities are known as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Locals walking through the arches

The arches from the outside

Antigua was once the capital of Guatemala, however a disastrous earthquake in the 1700s destroyed much of the city so the Spanish Crown (it was still part of the Spanish empire at that point - Olé!) decided to create a new capital an hour or so away. This new city was called Guatemala City and still exists today. I only went through it en route to Antigua so I cant comment on whether it is better or worse although I hear its not as nice. 


The hub of Antigua is the Parque Central (Central Park). All the streets lead into this main square so it became a good reference point for me. However even in a city comprised of grid pattern streets I still managed to get lost. I blame all the buildings looking the same...

Gridtastic layout

During my first night in the city I went for a few drinks with some of the other travellers in my hostel. Whilst in a local bar we met some Americans who got chatting to us. Randomly one of my friends discovered he had been to the same high school as one of the Americans. The American was older than my friend but they discovered that his cousin had been in the same year as him. What my friend didn't divulge to the American guy was that this cousin also turned out to be the girl who he lost his virginity to! Seriously what are the odds of that happening?! I initially thought the odds were small but then having spent a few days in Antigua it transpired that the place was literally jam packed full of Americans. I think they fly here on vacation / to study Spanish in the way us Brits jet over to Spain.


As with other Latin American cities, Antigua has a rich history in trading cacao and coffee beans. You may recall I stayed at a coffee plantation in Colombia so I was well versed in how this popular drink was put together. I had also visited a chocolate museum in Granada in Nicaragua, however I hadn't partaken in the chocolate workshop there. Luckily that same museum had another branch in Antigua so I took it as a sign to make my own chocolates. Unfortunately so did seventeen other tourists. We were all crammed around the marble worktop watching Pablo our chocolate guide explain the process which whilst interesting was also a logistical nightmare. Given the museum had clearly oversubscribed the workshop (the word greedy springs to mind) there wasn't enough chocolate to go around nor pestle and mortars to grind the cacao beans with. Thankfully I am quite adept at ensuring I always get my fair share of things (growing up with a sibling helps you to do this!) so I managed to get one of the few pestle and mortars going round. 


I witnessed (and partook where I could) the fermenting, drying, roasting, grinding and pressing process of the cacao bean to make chocolate. The assortment of choccies I created were a medley of the following ingredients (not all together mind!): salt (I was attempting to recreate the delicious salt chocolate bars that the New York based Mask Brothers make), macadamias and raisins (my attempt at making Cadburys fruit and nut...) coconut, chilli and finally coffee beans. They all tasted delicious, even if I do say so myself.

Drying & roasting

Everybody peeling the cacao beans

Prized pestle & mortar to grind the cocoa beans

Pablo showing us how the husks from cacao beans can be used to make a hot choc drink

Grinding the cacao...

My finished choccies - they tasted better than they looked!

Having spent a good few days in Antigua (its easy to get trapped here...) a trip outside the city was in order. I decided that Earth Lodge which is an eco friendly mountain lodge and avocado farm up in the hills overlooking Antigua would be a happy medium - it was just far enough (twenty minutes away) and came highly recommended by my friend Heather who had visited some four years ago.


Heather had really enjoyed her time at Earth Lodge so I felt I ought to visit and see what the fuss was all about. A lot has changed since Heather visited, there are now several huts to stay in alongside the original dormitory. The main lodge has also been extended and from what I can gather they have invested rather heavily in garden furniture and gone hammock crazy. All good in my book. I spent most of my time here lounging in a hammock gazing at the view of the city beneath me and marvelling at the volcanoes of which there are three in the area. The first called Agua (Water in Spanish) which is dormant, the second is called Fuego (Fire in Spanish) which is constantly active and finally there is Acatenango which has two peaks. 

The stunning view of the coffee plantations & Antigua city below, volcanoes are shrouded by cloud unfortunately...

New garden furniture!

Doggies chillaxing

After gazing at volcanoes and hiking in the hills I had all but used up my time at the Earth Lodge. I came away thoroughly chillaxed and healthy from all the veggie food that I ate family style every evening. Its just a shame that it wasn't quite avocado season as I had wanted to try their famous avocado smoothie... :(

Check out the lava!!

Returning to Antigua, I was reminded once again of how the influx of the Americans and other tourists has unfortunately made it quite an expensive place to visit. The city, Im sure, is also not the truest representation of the rest of the country in terms of daily life. I decided it was Guatemala's version of Disneyland: It was perfectly safe there, everything revolved around tourism and all the locals spoke surprisingly perfect English. Despite all this, I fell in love with its cartoon like quality and shall most definitely be returning again one day when I am antigua (old) : D

Agony Ant!

When I decided to continue travelling through Central America, I hadn't planned on visiting either El Salvador or Honduras. This was mainly due to safety reasons as Mr Foreign Office had told me they weren't safe right now. What I hadnt factored in was that in order to get to Guatemala - somewhere I really do want to go to - I would have to go via El Salvador or Honduras. Given I am no longer flash packing it, flying unfortunately wasn't an option. After much deliberation I decided to go via Honduras as I figured the Mayan ruins in Copán which are near the Guatemalan border would be worth a visit. The border crossing into Honduras from Nicaragua turned out to be very straight forward and my first impression of Honduras was that it looked like the love child of Bolivia and Colombia in that it was very poor in places but with an abundance of rolling green hills. 


I stayed one night in San Pedro Sula which instantly blew my theory of all of the country being poor out of the water - the owner of my hostel picked me up in his new VW Beatle car and drove me to his really nice hostel which incidently was, in true Latin American fashion, razor wired up to the hilt. 


From here I was supposed to catch the bus to the Mayan ruins of Copán, however due to there being more than one town in the area called Copán(?!), I ended up going to the wrong one. Not a good start. The bus company I had travelled with had stopped running a service that day to the correct Copán so I had no choice but to get a local chicken bus (the second hand American School buses I told you about) to the next big town where I would have to get another local bus to the right Copán. All fine, except the last email update I had received from Mr Foreign Office had said the following:


"We advise against travel on public buses (i.e. repainted US School buses) for security reasons. There has been a marked recent increase of armed attacks by local gangs in bus drivers and conductors, often resulting in serious injury or death. There have been reports of violent muggings, including assault against foreigners on these buses."


Needless to say, had I had the option of travelling on the same gringo friendly luxury bus I arrived on then I would have taken it, but given I didn't, I had no choice but to once again go against Mr Foreign Office's wise words. Thankfully I wasn't travelling alone, but either way the journey was a little apprehensive. 


We had no issues, other than my foot getting hit by a massive bag of rice by some locals who were loading the back of the bus up with their groceries - they were loading it up as the bus was pulling away so were a little frantic in getting everything on board.


The second bus we caught was in worse condition than the first - you could see the road through the floor in some places - but again nothing major happened other than a tree falling and blocking the road due to the thunder storm that was taking place outside. 


FINALLY we arrived in the right Copán. The town itself is one big nightmare for high heels - its cobbled streets all the way and the hills are almost as steep as those I saw in San Francisco in the USA. Not that I had anything to worry about, its been six months and counting since Ive slipped my feet into anything other than a flip flop. With the exception of the six inch heels I tried on in the Panama City branch of Zara...*sigh*


I got up too late the next day to visit the ruins in Copán - its best to get there early as it gets too hot in the day. So instead I went to Macaw Mountain which is a park and sanctuary for Macaws (Parrots). The sanctuary was started by an American who found out the birds were often killed here and/or smuggled out of the country only to meet a similar fate. The park now rehabilitates birds coming from harsh situations.
The birds are awesome to watch albeit they are all in captivity. That is until the staff let them out to show us tourists. I was just expecting to see them up close but before I knew what was going on I had two Macaws standing on me. The bird handler then decided that one wasn't enough and place another one on me. I had no idea each bird weighed as much as it did, my arms were shaking with the weight of all three. They were also digging their claws into my arms which was actually pretty painful. Much to the dismay of the bird handler I couldn't wait to get them off of me which made me feel bad as its not every day you get to experience these exceptional birds of paradise.  Im clearly never destined to be a committed Twitcher. (Thats Birdwatcher to all you non British folk).

Smile for the birdy

The look like they have big 80´s shoulder pads!

Spread´em

The rest of the sanctuary was also interesting. In addition to Macaws, there were a wealth of other exotic birds. Naturally I felt obliged to capture them with my camera. What I hadn't noticed was that in my attempt to take a picture without the bird cage wire showing, I had leant in and unknowingly trodden on an ants nest. You can guess the rest. The little terrors obviously defending their territory set off to attack me in full force. I managed to shake the majority of them off but a few managed to go up my trouser legs and one even managed to make its way on to the little finger of my left hand?! I cant tell you how painful ant bites are. They sting like you cant believe and the affliction seems to go on for eternity! I have learnt to watch where I put my feet from now on...

I think the final pic was worth the pain : )

The drama of the day unfortunately crept into the night. My hostel was up on a hill and had an amazing view over the valley. I went to bed almost as soon as my head touched the pillow. At about 11:30pm (Copan isn't a party town so I was in bed by 10pm!) I got awoken by what sounded like gun shots. Now I cant be certain but my fellow traveller also heard the noise. The pair of us were sat in our beds anxiously waiting to hear whether they would sound again. They didn't, that is until 2:00am that morning. These shots were even louder than before and sounded like a rifle going off. Needless to say the pair of us couldn't sleep and spent the rest of the night arming ourselves with whatever weapon like item we could find. All probably useless if a gun is aiming at you. After what seemed like an age the time to get up finally came around. We immediately spoke to the owner of our hostel who laughed it off and said it must have been firecrackers being set off by the locals. He seemed to think that overlooking a valley the noise would have ricochet and sounded even louder and closer than it was. That may well be so but upon doing some further research my friend Mr Google told me that other travellers had also heard gun shots on several other occasions. Just saying that's all...


The next day despite not sleeping much I managed to get myself out of bed early enough to go and visit the ruins in Copán for which the town is famous for. Luckily the owner of my hostel also turned out to be a tour guide at the ruins so he expertly showed me around. The ruins themselves are prized for their carved statues of ancient rulers of Copán and the well preserved hieroglyphics found on the stairway which is one of the main attractions of the site. You can climb most of the ruins, which whilst strenuous at times in the heat was actually worthwhile as the views were stunning. 

Immaculately kept lawn

The sites famous hieroglyphic staircase

Interestingly there were wild macaws flying around the ruins. Their rainbow coloured feathers looked surreal against the vibrant green of the trees above me. 

Pretty Pollys

The museum at the ruins was actually quite impressive - on the inside that is. The entrance to get in was tiny and completely inconspicuous. 

Blink and you´ll miss it entrance

This temple exists underneath another temple on the site & apparently made a cameo in the fourth Indiana Jones movie!

One of the famous statues of previous rulers of Copán

Other than the ruins and the Macaw Sanctuary, there really isn't that much to do in Copán. Within a few days I soon made my way to Guatemala. 


Once again the border crossing was straightforward and after seven hours and a quick change of vehicle at Guatemala City, I arrived in Antigua - my first taste of Guatemala : D