Lago de Atitlán

Lake Atitlan is one of the most spectacular places in Central America, located in the dramatic highlands of Guatemala. The lake is a collapsed volcanic cone filled with water (in some places as deep as 320 metres) and is surrounded by colourful mountains and several volcanoes.

Too cool for school

These are pictures from the spanish school and the family I was staying at.

Don't study at this school. The teachers were ok but the owner was dishonest. You would like to promote good and friendly schools so avoid "Guatebuena" and look for any of the other 70.






Family

Volcan Pacaya

From Antigua, you can climb the volcano Pacaya on a half-day tour. I attempted this one day (you have to go in an organised group for security), which was an interesting experience. Unfortunately it rained heavily during the whole climb, which made us all very wet (my boots weren’t completely dry until a week after). Also, some books and papers I was carrying with me in my bag got damaged as water found its way into every bag, every tiny space, every pocket and even every compartment of my wallet, adding a new dimension to the term ‘money-laundry’.
As it is a highly active volcano, several visitors have in the past suffered serious, and even fatal, injuries when the volcano unexpectedly erupted when they were near the summit. It is therefore important to go on tours with established agencies only.
Near the summit, we came across a two-metre wide flood of red-glowing lava floating down the slope of the volcano. It was a marvellous sight and the only place it didn’t rain (as the strong heat from the lava made the rain evaporate before it touched ground). It was dark, humid and hot and unfortunately to extreme conditions for my (wet) camera being able to focus. It probably had water in the lens as well.
At one stage the guide got very worried when some people decided to ignore his plead that it was very dangerous to approach the lava, and instead walking towards it in an attempt to lava-toast marshmallows (who comes up with all these ideas?). When getting too close, they quickly had to re-think their approach and retreat as the burning heat appeared to melt raincoats and polyester clothes; the punishment for not listening to the guide. But they were Israelis so they probably deserved it anyhow.

Up the rainy volcano we go

Beach in El Salvador

Before returning to Guatemala, we had time to visit a beach on the south coast of the tiny country, only slightly larger than Wales.

Very beautiful place

This is not me but one of my crazy friends. This guy should be happy he lives in Guatemala and not Sweden, or he would risk being locked up by small men in white coats.

Crazy Party in El Salvador

From Antigua to El Salvador in a weekend trip sounds a bit crazy but it is actually not that far. Someone said that Guatemala City and San Salvador were the closest two capital cities in the world, which I had difficulties to believe as they are still separated by some 110-130 km. I thought of other potentially close capitals such as Vatican-Rome, Zagreb-Ljubljana, Tirana-Skopje, Bern-Vaduz, Luxemburg-Brussels, Riga-Vilnius or maybe some in Africa. Maybe someone who is bored and have internet can check this (happens all the time at Scotts).
However, the party was crazy and I enjoyed it a lot with my new friends from Guatemala, who organised it all and invited me to go with them.

They wanted to order a bottle of Finlandia but I taught them to drink the real stuff and not the pee-water.







This is my new Salvadorian hat.

Antigua

Antigua, Guatemala’s favourite city, is famous for its around 70 official language schools. As private tuition is much cheaper here compared to across the border to Mexico, Antigua is the prime destination (with Guatemala’s nearby Xela on second place) for language students looking to cut a favourable deal. While here I thought of taking the opportunity to enhance my Spanish skills and signed up for eight days/40 hours of 1:1 tuition with eleven nights in a homestay, three meals per day included (except Sundays). The whole shebang cost less than £150 and still I chose one of the more expensive schools in the city. This kept me busy for a couple of weeks and the lack of internet access in the family’s house didn’t quite bother me as I didn’t have much to write in the blog anyway.

I you are on a really tight budget, it is also possible to visit nearby villages inhabited by (considerably poorer) indigenous Maya people (for example any of the villages located around the lake Atitlan) where schools often offer the same deal for half of less. The drawback with these places is that the teachers speak Spanish as a second language only and they are often only able to teach the more basic levels of the grammar. But you get what you pay for. Many people who are looking to combine learning Spanish with smoking marijuana (of all things) head over to the village San Pedro on lake Atitlan, where there are drugs available on every street corner.

Antigua is a stunning colonial city, beautifully located at the foot of Volcan Agua.

MEW Picture Challenge

The Mexican photo-vote is now live.

Go to http://mewpictures.blogspot.com/ and vote for the best Mexico-picture.

Rio Dulce

One of the most sought-after journeys in Guatemala is a river cruise through the jungle along the river Rio Dulce to the quiet little Caribbean town of Livingston, which is reachable only by boat.

Livingston has only 6000 inhabitants, which mainly are of the Garífuna race (descendants from black African slaves) and speak some weird accent, which makes you understand just as much of their traditional Garífuna language as their Spanish or English (that means pretty much only the sign language). Furthermore Livingston enjoys severely contaminated waters, unsafe swimming and the town recently needed to beef up its police force due to many robberies and assaults. There is a clear Belize-warning about this place and I wonder why so many tourists come here.

Tikal

Chichén Itzá and Uxmal in all honour but the Guatemalan site Tikal easily kicks the other Maya cities’ arse, at least twice per day. Tikal, located deep in the jungle, is famous for its tall temples raising above the trees. It is in fact so remotely located that to ease research, an air strip had to be built on the site in the 1950s. The road to Tikal was not improved and paved until the 1980s and before this the city could only enjoy visitors in form of research teams.
The area contains traces of more than 4000 structures, of which the highlights are Temple I, Temple II, Temple III, Temple IV, Temple V and Temple VI (easy). To visit all major building complexes, one has to walk between 10-20 km on jungle trails and it’s therefore best to arrive in the morning with lots of time to spare. The following pictures should illustrate why Tikal is so special.

Temple I is magnificent and is located on the “Gran Plaza”, facing several impressive structures. One is not allowed to climb this temple anymore since at least two people have tumbled towards a certain death by falling down from its steep steps.








Temple II is located just opposite Temple I and is slightly lower. There are beautiful views over the plaza and Temple I for the ones who dare ascend the steps after hearing what happened on Temple I.






Temple III is not yet excavated and this is how the first Tikal explorers saw the city, forgotten and reclaimed by the jungle.










Temple IV, 64 metres high, is Tikal’s highest building and by climbing this, the visitor can enjoy stunning views of other high-rising structures as seen from above.






Temple V has the most breath-taking climb up a steep wooden structure that is more a ladder than a stairway. Again, nothing for people suffering from fear of heights.

Malaaaria

Have you ever tried to say the word “malaria” with a Greek accent? You should try, it sounds hysterically funny.

Merrily walking around in the Guatemalan jungle, I suddenly realised that I had entered a malaria contagious zone without taking any precautions whatsoever. Not so good, I thought, and hurried to the pharmacy to buy some pills. The type of malaria they have up here is a nice one (that means nice in comparison with other malaria types, not that you will enjoy getting it) and it’s enough taking a cheap Chloroquine pill weekly (more or less £0.40 per week). Across the border to Panama and South America, the type of malaria they have there is resistant to this substance and one have to go on more hardcore medication taken daily. I am not looking forward to that.