Hiking Through Guatemala
- Hester van den Berg
- Dec 3, 2018
- 10 min read
Driving from Flores to Cobán we had to cross a river with a ferry, and it’s not one like the regular ferry’s. Let’s just say it was a special and exciting experience, but, I got the car safely to the other side. In Cobán we stayed in an AirBnB with a local family. The lady of the house was a business woman, and very excited to talk with us about our travels, Guatemala and other things. First thing she told us was, well there is no power today! They were doing maintenance to the power grid, which meant no power for the whole town. She recommended us to visit the local outlet center since they had a generator. We decided to make a stop there to go to the supermarket, and it was indeed the only place with power in the whole town. But, a side effect from the big generator was that it sounded like an airplane was taking of from the parking lot.
From Cobán we drove to Semuc Champey to visit the famous turquoise waterfalls in the Rio Cahabon. The drive there was pretty exciting, and at one point it almost seemed we drove there for nothing. A big truck got off the road in a steep turn, blocking the road from both sides, and wasn’t able to get himself back on the road. Finally, they decided to use the excavator that was on top of the truck, to kind of push the truck out. With the road being open again, we drove the last part to the waterfalls, which was also the most difficult part. It was a very steep, narrow and slippery road. The waterfalls were nice, but I’m still not quite sure if the drive there was worth it. Timon took a swim there. It didn’t take him long to get back out of the water, since it was like being in a Dr. Fish tank there :). On the way back we settled for a McRib burger from McDonald’s, because we saw a very attractive advertisement for it. That was different for a change, but, very disappointing so we will never do that again. Driving into the driveway of the Airbnb we were staying, I noticed a strange sound. Walking around the car learned us that somehow we got a flat tire! Well, at least now we had something to do to burn off the McRib calories!
The drive to Panajachel, the place we wanted to go to next, was a bit to far from Cobán to drive in one day. The distance was not even that far, but the route was mostly off-road. And since we had a flat tire yesterday we first wanted to find a new tire. Unfortunately, our tire size was unavailable in town, but luckily Timon had decided to keep the good tire from the time in Nashville when we had a damaged tire. So that was an easy quick fix, but now we don’t have a spare tire anymore! We drove halfway to Uspantan, and stayed in one of the only hotels in the area. It was a small town, where they don’t see tourists that often. Young children were running after us, shouting “Hola Gringos!”. A nice experience to be in a place that’s not so touristy, since people are acting totally different around you. They’re even more friendly, and you don’t feel you’re being trapped with tourist prices. From Uspantan to Panajachel we had another off-road day, but it was not too bad.
When preparing for Guatemala, we read somewhere that the Quetzaltenango (Xela) area is ideal for hiking. We researched it a little more and found a 3-day hiking tour from Xela to Lago de Atitlán. Since a multiple day hike was high on my list, I convinced Timon to do this. It was very promising; walking through coffee plantations, corn fields, mountains, cloud forests and a view on the sunset over lake Atitlán. It was rated as difficult, but we were sure we would manage. The only problem we had was were to park our car during that hike. The organization did not offer parking and the hike ended in a different location, so how could we organize this logistically? We decided to look for an AirBnB in Panajachel, a touristy place on the east side of the lake where the busses go to anywhere. We found an AirBnB with parking, and they were so friendly to let us park the car there during our hike as well. From there we would take a bus to Xela and after the hike we would take the ferry back to Panajachel.
Panajachel was very touristy but down at the lake we had a beautiful look at the sunset over the lake. The Atitlán lake is named one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. It is a crater lake, surrounded by 3 volcanoes. From Panajachel you were able to see all three volcanoes, and the sun setting behind them. What else could you ask for..
Before dinner we wanted to figure out where the busses to Xela where going from, so we turned to our friend Google Maps. We walked to what we thought was the bus station, but all it actually was was some small busses at a crossroad. No station, no signs, no bus stops, no ticket counters.. Luckily, one of the bus drivers was friendly enough to explain where we would need to catch a bus. It basically meant going to the main road and figure out where the bus exactly stops. With some help of the locals we learned that the bus starts at 5am and goes every 15 minutes or so, and we found the stop location as well. Happy to have figured that out, we went for dinner with a view on the lake.
The next morning we took the bus at 6am, so that we would arrive early in Xela. The bus stop was apparently not exactly where we were waiting, but we saw the bus stopping 500 meters earlier down the street. Not wanting to miss the bus we ran over there, the driver laughing at us. We always see the busses stopping, pushing the people in and driving away again as fast as possible. So we assumed that it was just a quick stop, but apparently this was the first stop and the bus stood still for 20 minutes or so. The buses here are called Chicken Buses. It’s just old American school buses, with a new colorful paint job. The music is always on, sometimes you feel like you’re in a club. The bus dropped us off in Xela, right in the middle of the local Mercado. There were so many people, it was almost impossible to step out of the bus. With our backpacks on we made our way through the market towards the hostel. After settling in we walked through Xela for a bit. It’s a nice, not too big, colonial city with a few pretty architectural buildings. At 6pm we had to be at the Quetzaltrekkers office for a pre-meeting for the hike. We chose for Quetzaltrekkers because they’re a non-profit organization. They support local education and kids in a homeless or low-income situation. During the pre-meeting we got to know the rest of the group. With a total of 16 (including two guides) people, we formed a mix of Dutch, German, French, Swiss, Americans & Australians. The guides prepared us for the trip with a short summarization and gave us some food to bring. The next morning we had to come back at 6am for breakfast before we would start the trek. After breakfast, we were told that the plate, cup and spoon we just used were for the next days as well. And there was some more food to bring. As if my backpack wasn’t full and heavy enough..
The trek started with a short walk to the bus station, from where we took a bus to a small town at the beginning of the hike. The first two hours were up, and from that moment it would be just small parts more at up and down. Going up is not my strongest part, but we made it to the top not much later than the first part of our group. The funny thing is, when you hike up a mountain for 2 hours, you expect distance views and being literally on a mountain top. Nothing was further from the truth, but it was beautiful up there. We were in the middle of corn fields and looking over a small village. We had some trail mix and started walking again. During the hike we had some amazing views over valleys and forests. After hiking 18 km, in about 8 hours or so, we arrived at our first sleeping spot in Antigua Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. The locals are very friendly, they let the group sleep in the municipality building, and some of the locals provide their Temazcales. No, even better, they created 3 new Temazcales big enough for the Gringo’s. A Temazcal is a traditional Mayan wood fired sauna. Inside they have 3 buckets; 1 filled with water on the coals (steaming hot), 1 filled with cold water and 1 empty. In the empty bucket you can mix the water and wash yourself. Perfect after a long day of hiking. After a good pasta meal, we all put down our mattresses and sleeping bags and went to sleep.
The next day we had to get up at 6am again. A local family prepared a perfect hikers breakfast for us, with scrambled eggs, rice, beans, veggies and tortillas. The second day of the trek started with 1,5 hour steep climbing, which was rewarded with a stop in ‘ice cream village’ (Tzucubal). Having some sort of hallucinating expectations of a village full of freshly made ice cream in all sorts, I was kind of disappointed when we made a stop at a small store where we could buy a Magnum. But I don’t complain, it tasted good. The rest of the day was an easy hike, through small villages and nature. Except for the last 30 minutes, the final stretch to the local family where we were sleeping. They called that part the ‘cornfield of death’, and I can tell you why. Even though it’s just 30 minutes, it is a very steep and slippery path, going through a corn field. Honestly, I was questioning my reasons to participate in this trek more than once during this small part of the hike. But we made it, and we arrived at a local family’s house in a small village called Xiprian. The family cooked us dinner and at night we could sit around the campfire where we made some s’mores. One of the guides even knew how to play the guitar, so we did some singing as well. That night, we slept like babies.
Unfortunately, the next morning came very quick; we had to wake up at 3:30am. After a short walk of 45 minutes through the dark, we arrived at the Mirador, a scenic viewpoint. Halfway this hike we were accompanied by the local police, since this part of the trip was a little tricky and there had been some minor issues in the past with robbers. A stunning view at the lake and the volcanoes, even if it was still dark, immediately made me forget the early rise. We sat there and watched the sun go up. We even were so lucky to see the Volcán de Fuego erupt a few times while it was still dark, so you could see the lava coming out. Very special. While we watched the sunrise, and in my case captured the sunrise on about a 1000 photo’s, the guides cooked us breakfast. From there we went downhill through a coffee plantation. The path down was build by local farmers and they decided that their work had to be rewarded, so they transferred it into a toll path. At the end of the path there was a small tollbooth where we had to pay the toll. Also at the end of the path, there was the coffee factory which we were going to visit and we stayed there for a coffee while waiting on our transport to San Pedro. We finally had to the chance to stand in the back of a pick-up truck! Since we were in Mexico, all we’ve seen people use pick-up trucks for is to transport people. It was a short 10 minute drive, but a fun experience. In San Pedro we ended our 3-day trek with a jump in to the lake and lunch. After saying our goodbyes, we took the ferry back to Panajachel. Exhausted, but very happy with the experience, the first thing we did is take a nap. Also, the car was still intact and at the location we left it, so that’s good :).
One thing that I kept in my head was a small myth that one of the guides told us when we had a view on the three volcanoes at the lake. The myth about the volcanoes around the Atitlán lake is that Volcán San Pedro and Volcán Atitlán used to be a couple. Suddenly Atitlán decided to leave San Pedro for Volcán Tolimán, and they became a couple. Down at the foot of Volcán Tolimán, right at the lake, you’ll see a small mountain top. The myth that’s going around says that San Pedro was so mad about Atitláns betrayal, that he chopped of the head of Tolimán, which then rolled down to the lake.
From Panajachel we went to Antigua, one of the best preserved Spanish colonial cities. Since 1979 it is recognized as a UNESCO Heritage Site. Unfortunately there were a few sick people in our hiking group, and I seemed to have taken it from them. So, the first night I spend in bed. The next day I felt a little better, and we worked a little on the rooftop balcony. In the afternoon we went exploring the city a little. The local mercado is quite big, and the funniest thing was an old women selling her goods while sitting under a truck. Later on, after having seen most of the city, we drank a beer at a nice local bar. We heard some stories about a crazy Dutch female bartender, screwing people over. We were lucky, our bartender was Guatemalan. Before crossing the border to El Salvador, we decided to stay one night in Guatemala City, even though everyone advised us not to go there. We decided to go see for ourselves. A lot of people say it is a very criminal city, even a local policeman told me to put my camera back into the bag. But we never felt really unsafe. The city itself was nothing special, we walked around a bit but decided to go back to the hotel to finalize some things before leaving Guatemala. In the evening we walked to another neighborhood for dinner, and also that didn’t feel unsafe. There is just not much to see and/or do, beside two impressive buildings at the main square. So even though we didn’t feel unsafe, it is also not a city you need to see. You will not miss anything when skipping Guatemala City.
Guatemala surprised us big time, we both really loved it. Tikal was beautiful, the people are friendly, the hike was amazing, the lake and the other nature in Guatemala are beautiful and Antigua was a lovely city.
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