Continuing my Maya quest in the north of Central America I could not let the impressive ruines of Tikal pass me by. After already have seen a lot of Maya sites though, these large temples, pyramids and plazas completely surrounded by jungle did not fail to impress me once more. Being there at dawn (6h) I booked for the first time a guide on a maya site in the hope of learning something extra that I didn’t know already about that ancient culture. I must say that it was a complete waste of money (even my footprint described this site more in detail).The guide only did what he was getting paid for and did it with
no passion or feeling what so ever. This was in huge contrast with the guide I had in the ATM cave. That guy was so passionated by the Mayas that he made us feel the atmosphere of 1500 years ago. During that ¨guided¨ visit I also spotted wildlife amongst them the Quetzal bird (Quetzal=currency of Guatemala), howler monkeys and spider monkeys. After 6 hours of walking, I stopped and looked for the last time at the last Temple on a Maya site I will visit on this journey: Temple I.In the afternoon, I returned back to Flores starving to death. Luckily Burger King came to my rescue. At night I was going to look for some food and saw the spanish-Canadian couple Javier and Dana again (they also did the ATM tour with me) sitting in a restaurant. I asked if I could join them for dinner and got a positive response. So, we had a couple of beers, discussed the Spanish football and again said our goodbyes.
The 16th I planned to go south to Semuc Champey. This turned out to be a very long bustrip with following adrenaline kicks:
-On the road to Coban we were driving behind a large truck when suddenly his engine broke down on
a hill. No problem we thought until the vehicle started going backwards downhill. We also started driving backwards first thinking he was going backwards on purpose because he missed the previous exit but when the truck started going down faster and faster we knew something was wrong. He was getting closer and closer until he nearly hit us frontal (he broke off the right mirror of our little shuttle bus) and finally ended up in the ditch. His brakes did not work anymore.-At the last part we had to switch from the shuttle bus to a jeep. Standing on the back of that truck going up and down on an unpaved road (really sharp rocks) for 30 minutes, I had to make sure I wasn’t thrown out of the vehicle due to the bumps and world class driving of the driver.
After these events/incidents I arrived in hostel Las Marias situated in the middle of the jungle next to a beautiful river where I did some summersalts in by means of a swing. That night I played a drinking game called Snake eyes with some Australians and Englishmen. However as every action has a reaction (Newton), it was hangover time the next morning. Being recovered after an early morning dive in the cold water, I visited the wild river of Semuc Champey and climbed onto a difficult trail to the viewpoint el Mirador.
The next day I left for the pitoresque Antigua (famous for its cobbled streets). This used to be the Capital of Guatemala but because of a series of earth quakes, the capital was ¨transferred¨ about 20km to the north. In the morning I bought a Machete for only 2.5 euro on the local market. I can´t send it home though so Maarten or you can take it with you in October or I have to carry it for 4 months.
In the afternoon I visited the Pacaya Volcano (active volcano!!) and moon wandered this thing of nature. It was advised to climb it in the afternoon so when you reached the top you could see the lava flow in the semidarkness. I took a bus, changed over to a jeep and finally started climbing the volcano at 16u. First the landscape was green–grey coloured when suddenly the ground changed to a black coloured sharp rocky landscape. This was truly amazing. Again I was astonished by what exists on mother earth. Carefully trying to reach the top without cutting myself on the razor sharp rocks, I reached it at 17u30. During the climb it had begun pouring rain, and you could see it evaporate onto the lava and form islands of fog. My clothes were
soaking wet, but the heat of the lava dried it in an instance. When we started getting down it wasn´t only raining like hell, it had already become dark. Descending a cutting sharp black coloured volcano at night when it is pouring rain isn´t something you do everyday. Getting in the bus at the bottom of the volcano we drove back to Antigua where taking a hot shower rarely felt that good.The 20th I left Antigua and got driven to Lake Atitlan. This lake is according to Aldous Huxly (who the **** is that?) the most beautiful lake in the world. Arriving in Panajachel, I took the boat to San Pedro La Laguna and witnessed this beautiful lake surrounded by volcanos. This will be my last destination in Guatemala.
Tomorrow the 22nd I will take the bus to San Jose (Costa Rica) which will take me 2 days to get there. I wish I could stay longer but time is running out and I still have to see so much more interesting things in other countries.
As a conclusion on Guatemala I can say this:
It was one big adventure from beginning to end and I loved it so much. I didn´t think nature could overwhelm me like this. Also everything is possible in this rather poor country. People are surprisingly friendly and I didn’t notice any kind of hostility.
Adios
Privateer Clint
Some say the ghosts of the sacrificed mayas still wander the cave at night (didn´t see that though).
Ik kan dit ec
