Guatty

We have now been in Guatemala for about 2 weeks and it has been amazing.
Our first stop was to see these huge Mayan monoliths near the Honduran boarder at a little site called Quirigua. From the town we walked down the highway to the ruins and passed huge Del Monte banana planations. Traffic was stopped because a conveyor belt was passing bananas from side of the road to the other. When we arrived to the ruins we had the place to ourselves, except for the landscapers. There were about a dozen huge statues that had really detailed depictions of Mayan royalty and zoomorphic creatues. It was cool. That afternoon we started towards the Lanquin caves and Semuc Champey. We took an evening tour of the caves and watched thousands of bats fly out at dusk to eat. It was cool, also a little creepy. Semuc Champey is this amazing place where there about 7 crystal clear pools of water that are very calming and relaxing. Underneath the pools is an underground cave that has river rapids rushing through it. From Semuc Champey we went to Antigua which is super-duper touristy. There are cafes on every block and half block. Lots of fast food restaurants hidden on the colonial streets. Tour agencies, hostels, and everything is twice as expensive as in other places in Guatemala. All that aside, the town is very pretty and has some really beautiful churches. Our main purpose for staying in Antigua was to do a trip to Pacaya which is an active volcano with LAVA rivers. Apparently, a week before we did our tour the volcano errupted and spouted new lava so we actually were able to see moving, molten hot lava. We brought marshmellows but it was to hot to get close enough to roast the marshmellows...so they were kind of just warmed.
From Antigua we spent one day at Lago Atitlan where we rented kayaks for a couple hours and paddled around. The lake is beautiful and it was a shame we couldn´t spend more time there.
Next, we traveled to Xela where we have not actually spent much time in Xela. Instead, we´ve used it as a launching pad for day trips. First, to the Chichicastenago market which dates back to Mayan times and is full of weavings from many of the different indigenous groups in Guatemala. Second, we also took a full day trip (4:30am till 6pm) to the highest point in Central America, Volcan Tajumulco. The trek was not strenuous but it was strange feeling the affects of altitude again. The path up to the summit was really pleasant. It was a mixture of pine forests and meadows. From the summit, we couldn´t see much because there was a blanket of clouds surround us which was in itself really cool. We were kind of anticipating being the only ones at the top but there was a group of high school students who were there on a kind of motivational retreat with their school. The students are in the year before they declare their ¨major¨ so the teacher holds this activity of climbing the volcano to show them that they can do anything if they set their minds to it. The students were really excited and giddy about seeing tourists and started taking pictures of us and then with us. It was an extremely awkward experience but was all in good fun.
Now we are about to go to Mexico. I´m really excited about getting to see Oaxaca, Mexico City and returning to Cuernavaca. I´m most excited about getting to eat al pastor, gorditas, chilaquiles, sopes, mole, corn on the cob, horchata, enchiladas, molletes, tortas, and the list continues...