Guatemala has been one of my most favourite places so far. Not quite sure why - a lot of it probably has to do with how long I spent there and some cool people I met.
First off, the scenery is immense. Rolling hills abound in all directions, often flanked with larger volcanoes and always covered with an amazing mix of clouds. There are all sorts of crazy clouds in dark grey/blue and white - it´s like a constant battle between the forces of good and evil. (I had rums for lunch today).
The transport is another very interesting facet of Guate life. Like most of Central America, the 'chicken buses' rule the road. Often privately owned, these madly-driven old US school buses collect anyone and everyone and stop everywhere and anywhere. What happens on the buses is of course the most interesting part though. Of course in a country like Guate there are no (enforced) safety laws which restrict the number of people on transport, so you're mostly cramped up beside several locals (which is sometimes not a bad thing). This is of course normal for all buses in this part of the world - what is really interesting are the non-passengers that get on. The people that are trying to sell something. The Guatemalan infomercial. I'm not talking about folks selling food here, that's fine, often very appreciated. I'm talking about, for example, evangelical preachers who stand right in front of you reading from the Bible in Spanish at the top of their lungs. I'm sure one particular guy thought my leg represented Satan's power on earth with the amount of force he exerted against it to stay upright on the bus through the windy roads.
My favourite place in Guate was a national park/area called Semuc Champey. It was one of those places that made me think "why haven´t I seen this in a film before!?" It is basically one very long waterfall in the middle of lush jungle. The 'waterfall' is divided up with amazingly clear crystal blue swimming pools and natural limestone caves and bridge formations. It´s so hot right now. We spent a whole day climbing in and around the caves and swimming in the pools - part of that with a local guide which was cool as we were able to use ropes etc. to get to more remote places.
A finca, Finca Ixobel, was another top spot for me. 'Finca' is a Spanish word for estate/property and it generally means some type of farm/plantation. Finca Ixobel however was more of a very well organised backpacker resort, but without being over the top, well almost. There was an organised buffet dinner which felt a tad like school camp. But that aside, which was actually always great, the finca was a cool place to hang out and explore the surrounding area. Horse riding, caving, hiking - those sorts of things. They also have these very cool tree house style things.
Among a few other places, I also had some time in la capital, Guatemala City. I always find it interesting to see how the top 5% live, and in Guate they are so far removed from the average local that it really is a spectacle. I was lucky enough to stay with a very hospitable couchsurfer so she was able to show me the cool parts of town, which in a massive city like la capital, can be very hard to find. So yeah, not too much to say, there was all the usual big city stuff like multiple McDonalds, malls, men in suits and woman with fake boobs.
Sadly as I have said in another post my camera battery was dead and I was charger adapter-less for most of my stay in Guate. Damn. So the few pics I have are in the Guatemala Set on my flickr profile.
More to come soonishly...
I´ve just uploaded some pictures on my Flickr site. Check the Mexico and the Guatemala sets. I have been tending to deliberately under expose some of the photos in order to more easily fix them up later, and as this particular screen is rubbish, I can´t tell what state they´re in.
I´m really guttered that my camera battery was dead for some of the best scenery in Guatemala! There was about 4 days there where I couldn´t find another adapter or suitable wall socket. I will get some pictures later though from a friend I was with, so that´s all good.
Hey all...just getting in with a quick update on my haps. I´ll do some more proper posts and images in a few days...just been in remote areas recently and haven´t found much time to do things like this.
So Guatemala is fairly awesome - good food generally, friendly people, amazing landscapes with endless rolling hills, mountains and volancoes and lots of beautiful natural wonders to feast the eyes on. I´m in Guatemala City (la capital) at the moment - seeing how the middle and upper classes live. It´s the only place I´ve been in so far where there are made-up people - e.g. skinny girls trying to look like Paris. It´s quite a different Guate here than the rest of the country.
My journey south down the country has been fairly action packed. Lots of cool things seen and done, and I´ll write some proper blog posts in a few days about these along with photos.
Given I only have 10 days to reach Costa Rica, I´m having to cut short my Guate experiences - out of precaution really - missing the flight to Peru would be a real pain. I´ve spent longer in Guate than I thought due to travelling with some people (one in particular) and finding some amazing places, so it´s all good.