Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
GUATEMALA 02/03/2008 UNTIL 15/03/2008
From Palenque in Mexico, we took a microbus to the border, and then a small motor boat took us on the side of Guatemala. There, another bus was waiting for us and we were driven on a dirt countryside road, to the immigration office...
A few hours later, we were in Flores, a quite small town by the edge of a lake. We enjoyed a nice relaxing day, drinking cocktails and eating nachos by the lake. The day after, we were ready for an early start (3 H 30) to the archeological site of Tikal, made of Mayan Pyramids spread in the jungle. We first met a Mygale spider, big and uggly. We walked in the dark, until we arrived on the top a pyramid. Here, everybody was silent, listening to the sound of the jungle that slowly awaked in the fog... Monkey' s shouts were impressive ! We walked around this ancient Mayan site, in the forest's heat and humidity...
To reach the South of the country, we chose to travel off the beaten track. That means unconfortable and long journeys on dirt or bad roads, But this trip took us in the heart of Guatemala and got us to meet and talk with people. Along the way, we saw hilly and green landscape, small and sleepy villages with wooden houses...
We arrived in the mountain city of Coban before heading to Quetzaltenango. We spent a full day on the road, packed in several buses.
Further East, we liked Panajachel, on the edge of the lale Atitlan. This little town is very touristic but the climate is good and the lake, dominated by three volcanoes is beautiful. A boat trip on the lake with stops in colorful villages was very nice.
At the end, we traveled to Antigua, its colonial buildings and its volcanoes. We went on a tour to the actif volcano Pacaya.
An early start and a walk in group to avoid being robbed by bandits !
The effort was worth, we had wonderful views of the area and more volcanoes. We walked on a solid lava, but were surounded by the hot fog produced by the volcano.
Not far away, in some places, red, hot lava was leaking.
And opposite, we heard a big sound, another volcano was waking up. Impressive !
Here is the end of our adventure in Guatemala...
- comments