Monterrico

Our last three days have been spent relaxing in the little beach town of Monterrico. Both of our guidebooks agreed, Monterrico is the place in Guatemala if you are in need of relaxation and some time on the beach.

After the shuttle from Antigua dropped us off, we trudged down a sandy beach path in search of our hotel, El Mangle. Our heavy suitcases, combined with the hot sun ensured this was not an easy task. Luckily, for a few Quetzales (the Guatemalan currency) we were able to procure the assistance of one of the locals.

When we arrived at El Mangle, we were told it would be a three hour wait for our room. We decided to spend the delay lying by the pool and grabbing some lunch at what would soon become our favorite restaurant, Las Brisas. When we returned to El Mangle, we were quoted a room rate that was much higher than we agreed to previously on the phone. Dissatisfied by the smelly room and the high price we decided to return to the hotel attached to Las Brisas for a sunnier, cleaner room at a better price.

CECON, a local turtle preservation group was hosting a baby turtle race in order to raise awareness and money. We decided against sponsoring a turtle in the race since our guidebooks mentioned that these races might actually be detrimental to the turtles’ survival. We were surprised at how dark the little turtles were – they were completely black!



After the race, we grudgingly returned to El Mangle to get some pizza cooked over a wood fire. We had seen a man preparing the pizza dough from scratch while working out the room problem and we couldn’t resist sampling it! Luckily, this is one aspect of El Mangle that didn’t disappoint.


The next morning at 5am we met Sender, a local guide, for a tour of the real Monterrico Mangle (Mangrove in English) by boat. The early start time maximized our chances of seeing a variety of fish and birds and also allowed us to catch the sunrise over the swamp.


Mangrove shoots are harvested by hand and used to make roofs for people who want a fancy alternative to the palm-thatched hut. Mangrove roofs are expected to last up to 25 years.


We also saw a bunch of “mud-skipper” fish, that the locals call “cuatros ojos” (four eyes), jumping along the water’s surface. They looked a lot like snakes, however they were much too speedy to be caught on film.




Our boat ride lasted two hours, allowing for ample siesta and beach time for the rest of the day. The beach at Monterrico has beautiful smooth black sand. The only drawback is the vicious riptide that makes swimming too dangerous for many. Luckily our guide, Sender, met up with us and went for a swim with me while Eva looked on. I use the term “swim” loosely as it was more a vigorous exercise in wave dodging and being thrashed about in the sandy waters. It was exhilarating all the same and the water temperature was perfect.


We also checked out the turtle hatchery museum but were discouraged by the dirty, small appearance and the 40 Quetzal ($5) price tag, especially compared to the $1.25 price for locals. Our guidebook did tell us that the hatchery has an unwritten deal with local poachers - they don’t turn in the poachers as long as the poachers donate 12 turtle egg nests for every one they sell.

One night we caught the sunset over the beach and were quite amused by the creatures that come out at night at Johnny’s, a local bar:




This character is actually from Chicago, and he claimed to be a writer who has a play that is in production in London starring Joan Rivers. Seriously!?

I also tried one of the local dishes, ceviche. Ceviche is marinated in a citrus-based mixture, usually with lemons and limes. In addition to adding flavor, the citric acid causes the proteins in the seafood to become denatured which pickles or "cooks" the fish without heat. It was interesting and delicious, a little like pico de gallo.


All-in-all, Monterrico was just as beautiful as we had hoped and we really enjoyed our time there. Now we are back in Antigua for two days, a change in plans due to missing out on our first opportunity to climb the volcano Pacaya (more on that later). After that it’s off to Lake Atitlán for the last leg of our journey.

Antigua, Part I

Our first day in Antigua was spent exploring the city. We stumbled upon a tiny kitchen with local women making tortillas by hand. They were happy to sell us four for 1 Quetzal (about $.13).

We also checked out the city square and some old cathedrals.

We took a tour of the most famous jade factory in Guatemala. It was even visited by Bill Clinton during his presidency! Eva custom designed a beautiful jade necklace and picked out a matching ring and earrings, all for about $100 US.

On the way back from the jade factory, we stumbled upon a crowd in front of the church. Soon there were very loud fireworks and confetti as the Cardinal of Antigua (we think) and procession of people with candles exited the church.

Last night for we rang in the New Year in style in our new friend Ricardo’s Tabacos y Vinos (Cigar and Wine) shop. He was kind enough to provide us with some delicious wine and a Cuban cigar.

Some of these pictures may even show up online on Ricardo’s website: http://tabacosyvinos.com

For our New Year’s dinner, we went to Ricardo’s friend Hector’s restaurant. Hector went to culinary school in the United States and returned to Guatemala to turn his home into a restaurant. The tiny place consisted of a few tables with the kitchen in plain view. Even though Hector doesn’t have a sign, or even a name for his restaurant, word of mouth ensured that the place was overflowing.

We feasted on homemade pasta and duck with crème freche and choclat fondant for dessert. It was heavenly and very reasonably priced.

The streets were filled with people, especially in front of Ricardo’s shop right under el Arco de Santa Catalina, the famous arch of Antigua. There were musicians and people dressed up as old women dancing in the streets. There was also a little boy wearing a bull costume covered in fireworks that went off as he pranced around the street.

After Ricardo’s shop closed we hung out in the doorway safe from the jostling of the crowd and the spontaneous fireworks that kept going off in the streets. We friends with the other people sharing our nook. We were lucky because they were willing to share the bottle of champagne and flask of whiskey that they had brought with them.

These ladies really knew how to ring in the New Year!

The next morning, we enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in for the first time during our trip. Needless to say, not everyone was so lucky.

I did manage to get a run in. I headed out of the city and ran five miles straight uphill on a road leading up the side of one of the volcanoes that surround the city. Needless to say, it was grueling and I was only able to run the first three before it was too steep and the air was too thin. Even on the way down the road was too steep to run at first - my hips and knees ached even from trying. For those of you familiar with Madison think of running five miles up a hill steeper than Bascom and then running down another five!

Flores and a Jungle Trek

Unfortunately when we woke up on Tuesday morning for our jungle trek, it was pouring rain outside. We were able to delay our reservation until the afternoon, allowing us to relax and grab some lunch while we waited for the rain to clear.

We met up with Adam and Dave (the SF boys) and after a short shuttle, we arrived at Ixpanpajul. The boys wanted to do zip lines, while Eva and I were more interested in the Skywalk above the canopy, so we parted ways – but not before taking a picture!

Here are Eva and I, feet still planted firmly on the ground:

That didn’t last for long though, we hiked our way up a long narrow path that lead to a series of swinging bridges that allowed us to walk over the treetops and catch the view of the jungle below:

Unfortunately, due to the rain we didn’t see much for wildlife – only a few birds – which was a bummer.

At the midpoint of the trek there was a shelter that had a great view of the jungle.

We reached it just as it started to pour again, allowing us to weather out the storm relaxing in hammocks.

When we met Adam and Dave at the end, they were covered head to toe in mud but had also enjoyed their experience despite the rain.

We spent out last night in Flores eating dinner with a lake view and enjoying some local brews.

Today we caught a flight back to Guatemala City, followed by a 45 minute taxi ride to the beautiful city of Antigua. We’ll be exploring the city, celebrating New Year’s, and climbing a volcano in the next few days but more on that later!

Flores and Tikal

Our flight on the “teeny tiny” plane from Guatemala City to Flores turned out to be nicer and almost bigger than any of the flights we took in the United States. We arrived in a quick 25 minutes (beats the 10 hour bus trip!) and caught the tourist shuttle to Casa Blanca, our hotel in Flores. Our “white house” actually turned out to be more of a dirty yellow color, but for $4 a night, who’s complaining!?

We left on the bus (more like a 16 passenger van) to Tikal, the famous Mayan pyramids located deep in the jungle. It was a ninety minute ride followed by hours of walking to explore all the different sites.

One of the first creatures we saw on our trek was some strange species of anteater rooting around in the dirt:

We also saw the ants he was hunting for marching along:

We took a little swing on some hanging vines:

As always, we stayed out of trouble!

Tourists are allowed to climb many of the Mayan pyramids. We climbed to the top of Templo IV, known for its amazing view of the jungle canopy. We could even see Belize!

Some of the temples, like Templo V, had very long climb!

However, it was worth it for the view of Templo IV and others through the treetops:

The Guatemalan turkeys look a lot like peacocks:

The finale of the trek was the Gran Plaza, once used for ceremonies and sacrifices. It was surrounded by two huge temples, a palace and an acropolis.

We had great weather the entire day except for a ten minute torrential downpour which we unsuccessfully attempted to escape by hiding under a thick tree.

On the bus ride home, we met two American boys on holiday from San Francisco. We talked to them about their adventures in Belize and the four of us have booked a jungle trek for tomorrow!

Tonight we’re relaxing and headed out for some “research” on locally available beers.

We've Arrived!

After hours and hours of travel, and three flights, all of which were significantly delayed due to weather, Eva and I are officially in Guatemala!  The trip itself was fairly uneventful, highlights included talking to a man who has been stranded at O'Hare for three days due to a cancelled flight, the standby list being 60 passengers long for our first flight to Atlanta (thank goodness we had a reservation!), and seeing this little monkey get pulled around in style by his parents-

I wish I had a better picture that captured the glee on his face, he was on our first two flights so we kept running into him sprawled out on his dad's carry-on.

Eva was also super excited about her purchase of a neck pillow.  So excited she insisted on wearing it while boarding the flight.  I was embarrassed but decided it was best to let her have her fun....and document it in a photo that will live on for years.

Another highlight was the stewardess on our first flight.  She looked at me like I had a third head when I asked if I could reuse my plastic cup during the beverage service.  She then said something about how adorable I was but that this was unacceptable practice.  I then had to toss my cup into the trash and get a new one when I wanted a refill.  Thanks American Airlines, glad to know you love the environment as much as we do.

We did manage to get an upgrade for our last flight to Guatemala City.  Helloooo first class living!  It was a fun experience but honestly wasn't the luxury we were hoping for.  What do you mean we shouldn't have expected massages and caviar on our two hour flight?  Instead we settled for barely edible "whitefish" and some roasted potatoes.  The highlight was mini bottles of liquor for an after dinner treat....oh, and some champagne to welcome us aboard.  We stashed some mini bottles of Bailey's in our purses which ended up coming in handy later for bribing a guy at the airport for helping us find a cheap taxi to our hotel.  Ah, commerce at its finest.

Now, we're spending the night at El Aeropuerto Guest House, aptly named for its close proximity to the Airport.  Honestly we probably should have held onto the Bailey's and walked, it's that close.

Tomorrow we'll head back to the airport to catch a flight on TACA airlines to Flores.  The ticket was $210 roundtrip but saved us a 10 hour bus ride each way so we figured it was worth the expense.  Flores is the closest city to the Mayan ruins of Tikal.

It's supposed to be 75 degrees here tomorrow!  I'm going for my first run outside in shorts in what feels like forever.  Hooray for escaping Wisconsin winter for three weeks!  And wearing flip flops again!

A Guatemalan Adventure!

Eva and I are off on our next bout of traveling in....six hours or so! Nothing like waiting until the last minute to do the ol' blog update! This time we'll both be spending our first time in Central America...in Guatemala!!!



We don't really have a set itinerary, however we do know we'll be:

• Landing in Guatemala City tomorrow night
• Catching a flight to Flores in the morning to spend a few days seeing the Mayan ruins of Tikal
• Celebrating the New Year in the beautiful city of Antigua
• Checking out the beach and a turtle reservation in Monterrico
• Exploring the deepest lake in Central America, Lake Atitlán and the cities that surround it
• And whatever else we can fit in in the two weeks that Eva will be there!

After Eva leaves, I'll be staying in Lake Atitlán in the city of Santiago Atitlán where my friend Erich will be flying down and joining me for some volunteering/learning time in a local clinic, Hospitalito Atitlán.

In addition to learning about healthcare in Guatemala and helping out wherever we can, Erich and I also hope to rent mountain bikes, do a lot of trail running, and of course some hiking of the volcanoes that surround the clinic.

I'll be back in the States just in time for class on January 17th!