GUATEMALA

December 2021 & January 2022

To celebrate the start of 2022 we went to Guatemala! We were looking forward to this journey so much, after being 'trapped' in Costa Rica for almost 2 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 'Trapped', because we are extremely grateful to have passed these difficult times in this beautiful country. In Costa Rica, life is generally lived outdoors and during the restrictions it was such a privilege to be able to still spend time in nature and in our beautiful garden.

What we were looking to find in Guatemala was culture, crafts, Maya temples, colours, volcanoes, new flavours and vibrant towns. The pics below form are a small recap of the experiences we lived in Guatemala and we feel like we have really gotten the most out of this two week adventure.

We started off at 'Guatefriends Hostel' in Guatemala city. Our flight arrived very late at night and it seemed to be the best option near the airport. We were welcomed with Christmas cookies (we arrived in Guatemala on the 24th of December), moiled beans, tortilla chips and a home-made tomato sauce. Their cute little garden instantly made us feel at home.

Since many people had told us that Guatemala City can be dangerous, we decided to head off to the city of Antigua straight away. So around midday, we arrived at the super sunny central park where families were strolling around, street vendors were trying to sell their goods and pigeons were bathing in the fountain...

The colonial city of Antigua has photo genetic scenes, interesting (souvenir) shops and lots of hidden bars and restaurants to offer. A perfect mix to just roam around through the linear streets (we think we crossed all the streets around the centre about 6 times! :-) , enter different places, try all kinds of foods and drinks and enjoy the sunshine.

The pics below show restaurant 'El Comalote' where we enjoyed a delicious traditional Guatemalan meal. The tortillas at 'El Comalote' are handmade with different types of (ancient) corn in a variety of colours.

We decided to take advantage of the outstanding weather and head straight to 'Hobbitengango', a place up in the Guatemalan mountains North-East of Antigua where you feel like they just dropped you off at Frodo Baggins front door in 'The Shire'.

The best part of Hobbitenango is the stunning view of 3 volcanoes: Volcán de Agua, Volcán de Acatenango and the active 'Volcán de Fuego'. We got to witness an impressive sunset at Hobbittenango, as 'El Volcán de Fuego' was throwing its ashes into the air every now and again. The shades painting their contrast against the colourful sky...

Above: Volcán de Agua (3760 m)

Below, left: Volcán de Fuego (3763 m). Below right: Volcán de Acatenango (3976 m)

From the volcanoes at Hobbetenango we jump to the chickens on the rooftop of our AirBnB in Panajachel at Lake Atitlán! We reserved a 'homestay' at an indigenous Guatemalan family. They offered us a very cosy room in their house, located in a neighbourhood where a network of small alleyways ('callejones' in Spanish) connect the front doors with the main streets. They owned a big, black Labrador dog named 'Oso' (Bear) and he was always happy to accompany us to share the view from the rooftop and scare away the pigeons.

Time to take off and explore Panajachel! Through the small 'callejones' we arrived at the main street...

To take a wild Tuk Tuk ride to arrive at Panachajels immense arts and handicrafts market....

But first of all, we ate a delicious meal at 'Deli Jasmin'. The red an yellow flower on the picture below decorates the ceiling of this restaurant. It's called 'Zapatito de muñeca' that means 'little doll shoe'.

Our first sunset view over Lake Atitlán...

One of the most popular activities around Lake Atitlán, is to visit the small towns located around the lake by shuttle or boat. There are towns around the lake, some of them named after Jesus' disciples and every single one of them has it's very own style, culture, handicraft, traditional clothing, etc. One town specializes more in weaving fabrics, other ones make ceramics, and so on.

In the town 'Santa Catarina' weaving is the main activity. All over the town, woman are weaving new fabrics day in, day out. At the cultural center, the woman showed us all kinds of handmade products like table runners, pillow cases, traditional clothing, belts... and they dressed us up in traditional clothing!

At this small local shop, we bought a handmade table runner in bright colours.

Santa Catarina is painting all the walls of all the buildings in town in a colourful way and with different patterns. Though the project hasn't finished yet, here you can already see the playful result in one part of town. Bright and powerful colours give towns like Santa Catarina such a happy appearance and it makes it immediately enjoyable to spend time there.

We arrived in the next town, San Antonio by public shuttle. In San Antonio, we bought some very pretty ceramics and we enjoyed a stroll down the small boulevard alongside the lake.

Woman washing their clothes in Lake Atitlán following the Mayan tradition.

From Lake Atitlán, we took a day trip to a nearby town called 'Chichicastenango', where twice a week a huge market is held. Vendors sell handicrafts from near and far and farmers sell their fruits and vegetables. The colourful scenes at the fruit and vegetable market in combination with the bird's eyes perspective make up a perfect playground for a photographer.

The vehicle that we can see on the picture above, is one of the famous Guatemalan 'Chicken buses' that don't only transport people from A to B in a high speed tempo, but most often also pigs, chickens and other farm animals. :-)

After starting the new year in San Pedro de la Laguna, watching the fireworks with an incredible view over the lake, we went to our last stop in the region: San Juan de la Laguna. A nicely decorated, steep boulevard lead us to the last views of this beautiful lake...

Like about 15 hours later, we stepped down our night bus in Flores Petén to discover the mystic grounds of the ancient Mayan city Tikal in the North East of Guatemala.

Since we arrived at about 5AM, we sat beside the lake to view the sunrise.

Before heading out to Tikal, we visited the 'Blue Crater' (El Cráter Azúl). This magical place consists of a couple of springs with the clearest water we have ever seen. We brought our diving masks to watch the spectacular under water world. The visibility is just unbelievable. Millions of small fish dingle around and in the meantime, the colourful plants at the bottom of the Blue Crater are doing their photosynthesis effortlessly.

Time for Tikal! Tikal inspires because it leaves us with a lot of questions: How? Why? And who were the people who made this?? What drove them to construct this???

Of course historians give us answers to these questions, but still it's hard to capture and imagine how it must have been to actually have lived in Tikal. Compare the size of the people with the size of the buildings in the following pictures and take yourself on a travel through time and imagination...

Besides Tikal, we also visited Yaxha, the off the beaten path ally of Tikal. This spider monkey put up a short show before we enjoyed a stunning sunset on the top of temple number 216.

Bye Tikal, Bye Yaxha, Bye Atitlán, Bye Antigua, Bye Guatemala! Thanks for all the inspiration, colours and beauty!