Hola amigos! Time for another update for the students of Mayan Medical Aid from this past weekend. The pictures are all uploaded and posted on the Picasa site so you can look through them and ogle them in envy. Sooo here we go:
Friday, June 13:
So some of us decided to take this day off from clinic because for the first time in a longgg time - it was a GORGEOUS day. Kristen, Christina, Shannon, Kina and I all headed out to Casa Del Mundo which is basically this beautiful isolated swimming hole at the lake. The water was a lil cold...the soldiers had to retreat for a bit if you get my drift...but it was actually really nice. We got some awesome pictures with Kristen's underwater camara so you guys can see. Then Shannon and Christina stayed behind while Kristen, Kina and I hiked 2 hours to San Marcos. Two hours included stopping for pictures b/c we seemed to come upon a Kodak sight every 50 meters. San Marcos is just a little town on the lake that is more resort-like and it was just nice to walk around and see it. After that we picked up Shannon and Christina and met up with the rest of the estudiantes to head out to Antigua! Laurie and Jeremy also joined us to begin their journey back home. If you haven't read about it - read the post below.
We arrived in Antigua at about 6pm and met up with a new student named Megan (she's Canadian eh and goes to school w/ Kina). The first thing we did (surprise surprise) is go eat at Panza Verde. It was basically this really elegant, fancy restaurant that cost us each $25-30 a head...but totally worth it. The food was excellent, the music soothing and the company was even better. After dinner, we met up with Kina's new friend Fernando who's a local from Guatemala City. He took us out to a local bar where there were a bunch of people dancing to anything from salsa to electronica. We attempted to have a couple of drinks there but it was quite crowded and so we ended up leaving there not too long after we got there. Then we went to another salsa/meringue bar where we danced the night away and finally ended up at Reilly's the Irish bar for a couple more drinks before calling it a night and passing out in our BEAUTIFUL hotel. Quite a welcome change from the mosquitoes and scorpions of Casa Rosa.
Saturday, June 14th:
So the gang woke up early (all except Mitch who had to run) to get to the coffee plantation tour we had scheduled at 9:30. The tour included a presentation on the Mayan instruments that are used in villages and towns today and it was really cool to see everything they used to make music. What was even better was the Kindengarten teacher who spoke Spanish to us in the slowest way possible. Very awesome for understanding. Then we had the coffee tour itself and learned a lot of cool things about coffee (one plant only makes one pound of coffee or 40 cups!). Then we got to sample coffee and it was pretty much the best coffee I've had in my life (3rd best quality in the world according to the guide). After the tour we all came back to Antigua where we had lunch at this local place that was recommended in Pai's guidebook. Well - the food was delicious but those corn tortillas didn't sit well with me and I wasn't feeling so hot the rest of the day. But after lunch, we all kind of split up and were being tourists in Antigua. Some of us shopped (and bought 2000Q hammocks), others went to practice conversational Spanish and then the rest of us pretended to be Asians and took pictures of every church we could find in Antigua (That'd be me). Then we all had dinner at another fancy restaurant called El Sereno where Fernando and another new student (Liam - from NYC, Osteopathic Medicine) joined us. Very fancy restaurant, awesome sunset view and even a proposal room with rose petals and candles all around the table...put it on your list those of you that are close to gettin married..it'd be real baller. After dinner we all came back to the hotel to have AMAZING cake that we bought in the market and then passed out because we had another busy day the next day...
Sunday, June 15th:
So at 6 in the morning everybody except for Christina and Lisa woke up to head out to the Pacaya Volcano near Antigua. We got there and were immediately hounded by kids trying to sell us walking sticks and horse rides to the summit. After all that, we began the 1.5 hour hike up to the volcano itself and when we got up there it was absolutely amazing. You could still see lava coming out of the crater every once in a while and our group walked over the volcanic rock to a lava flow which was awesome. It was really hot, lots of phosphorous and sulfur, but we got to roast marshmallows and they tasted delicious =) So after the volcano we all came back to Antigua, spent the last 2 hours shopping, hittin up the bank and eating (we ate at this place called Pollo Campero which is the Guatemalan equivalent of KFC) and then we hopped back on the shuttle to Lake Atitlan. Sunday night we were all pretty much tired but we still welcomed the last student to join us this week - Nick, from the University of Wisconsin.
Okay so that was believe it or not the short version of it all but I got it all in there. If you don't understand the joke in the title it's cuz Chris called a small kid in Central Park "Hey Nino" so he could give him the rest of his disgusting brownie. The "Dime El Billo" part comes from Shannon's attempt to ask for the bill at El Sereno on Saturday night. Classic...even though my Spanish teacher probably is writhing in pain from reading it haha. Okay - that's all for now, till next time!
ESTAMOS TERMINADOS!
Neil
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Hey Guys!
Sounds like you had an awesome weekend in Antigua and a crazy week! I really hope Jeremy is doing ok…my thoughts are with them.
I had an absolutely wonderful time traveling around Guatemala last week. As much as I love Lake Atitlan and all you fabulous med students, it was cool to see the rest of the country and meet other travelers and actually use Spanish on a regular basis outside of the classroom! I wish I could upload pictures right now, but I'm in the back woods of Wisconsin where the dial-up internet connection is way slower than anything in Santa Cruz. Aside from a few shuttle mishaps the whole trip went really smoothly and I did not end up in a ditch by the side of the road somewhere. Plus I saw some INCREDIBLE things that I would really really highly recommend if you get the chance!
I said goodbye to Halie and started out from Antigua at 8:30 am on Saturday morning. The day before I had reserved a space on a shuttle to Coban for $24…of course then as I walked around town I saw the same trip offered for everything from $18-24 so my first piece of advice, which I should have known, is to go to the travel agencies a little further from the main square in Antigua and you’re more likely to get a better price…though not always. If you want to get there for cheaper you can take a shuttle to Guatemala City and then a big bus to Coban. The shuttle to Coban took about 4.5 hours and brought me straight to my hostel, Casa D’Acuña, which was strongly recommended in a bunch of guide books for good reason. For 50Q I got a bed in a dorm room but I ended up having the room to myself for two nights because I think the staff felt protective of a girl traveling by herself. After hearing that it’s always misting in Coban year round, I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually a gorgeous day when I arrived. I walked around the main square and headed up to the church on the hill that provided great views of the city. Then I set out walking to the Vivero Verapaz, a famous orchid farm about a mile out of town. Because it’s the wrong time of year for a lot of orchids I’d say this was pretty missable. A nice lady gave me a 10Q tour of the gardens but not that many flowers were blooming and the hostel actually had an equally impressive display for free. I thought I’d try a Chinese restaurant for dinner, but although it looked the part I don’t think anyone associated with the restaurant had ever been anywhere near China or even somewhat authentic Chinese food. I had “chicken with vegetables and Chinese salsa”, nothing to write home about. After looking around the market I went to bed to try to rest up for the big day ahead.
Sunday I took a tour to Semuc Champey and the Lanquin Caves from 7am-7pm that I scheduled through the hostel for 290Q including breakfast and lunch (apparently you can sign up for the same tour around town and it’s the same price). Breakfast was at the hostel and then I got on a big shuttle bus with a very nice, English speaking guide and about a dozen other people including a family who had adopted two sons from Guatemala 10 years ago and was now coming back to visit, a Vietnamese couple, a Spanish couple, a guy from Holland, etc. etc.. It took about 2.5 hours to get to Semuc Champey through some very impressive mountain scenery and some very unpaved roads. There are some hotels and the town of Lanquin closer to the caves where you can stay, but it’s a lot easier to organize everything from Coban. Semuc Champey is this unique geological formation where there’s this big river that goes underground beneath all of these beautiful limestone pools filled with crystal clear water from the mountains and then the river comes out like a 100 meters later. It is super fun to swim in the limestone pools and jump from pool to pool (or out of trees into the pools) and apparently sometimes you can also swim in the river itself into the cave but we couldn’t because the water was way too high and raging (I value my life). Still it was a great way to spend the afternoon and I’d say this is one of the things not to miss in Guatemala! Around 4 pm when everyone was exhausted we headed to the Grutas de Lanquin, a big cave system about a half hour drive away (I think almost any tour you find will group these two places together). It’s recommended to bring a flashlight into the cave, but not totally necessary since the part where we went had lighting and there are lots of slippery areas so it’s nice to have your hands free. We walked for about half an hour into the cave and saw lots of cool stalactite and stalagmite formations that have been given imaginative names. Afterwards I left my tennis shoes outside the cave because after the dirt of Pacaya, all the flooding from which they never dried the week before and now all the mud from climbing a mountain overlooking Semuc Champey I think something was growing in them because they smelled absolutely rancid. We got back to Coban around 7 pm and I had a lovely dinner at the great restaurant El Bistro that’s in my hotel.
Next day I got up and tried to go to the coffee plantation that was right next door, but apparently although it opened at 8 the tour guide didn’t arrive till 8:30 and I had to catch a shuttle to Flores at 9 (125Q). Boo. Since you guys already toured a plantation I think this is totally skipable for you but it is a chance to buy really cheap good coffee from another region of Guatemala. Then I got back to my hotel to find out the person I bought my shuttle ticket from the day before hadn’t written it down properly so no shuttle was coming to pick me up! Eventually a guy did come, but he just brought me to a hotel across town that had a shuttle leaving at 10. Overall it took about 6 hours to get to Flores including a stop for lunch and a ferry ride across a big river. It was really interesting to watch the scenery change because it went from super mountainous to incredibly flat with lots of palm trees. I was going to find a tour group to Tikal and a shuttle back to Guatemala City when I got into Flores, but a tour guide actually boarded our shuttle and told us all about the tour to Tikal and helped reserve a bus ride back to Antigua (I was talked into just completely avoiding Guatemala City for the sake of safety). The guy was selling sunrise tours to Tikal with a special guide who is allowed to let you into the park before it actually opens (150Q and then you also have to pay the 150Q entrance fee). If some guy doesn’t get on your shuttle, you can sign up for the same tour at San Juan Travel Agency and probably elsewhere. There’s only one sunrise tour so you’ll end up with the same tour regardless of how you get there. I decided to stay in Flores at Hospedaje Doña Goya 2 which had single rooms with bathroom for 70Q and a great covered area on the roof with hammocks overlooking the lake. There’s also a popular youth hostel called Los Amigos if you want to go cheaper and more social. You can pretty much walk all the way around the island of Flores in 15 minutes so nothing is very far from anything else. It’s a cute little town with plenty of restaurants, internet cafes and shops (though I think in general the stuff is more expensive than around Pana). So I went to bed early to get on the shuttle to Tikal at 3:10 am (they picked me up in front of the hotel). It was about an hour and a half drive and when we got there we met up with like 30 other people and trekked to the jungle (along paths) in the dim light to get to Temple IV, the tallest temple in the complex), before sunrise. Of course it was incredibly foggy and there was no sunrise, but it was still cool to sit there listening to the jungle waking up around you. Our tour guide was pretty cool, he spoke English and had worked for Survivor Guatemala. We toured around pretty much all of Tikal, climbing steep temples and holding tarantulas! Throughout the morning the fog cleared and there were some amazing views from the tops of temples over the jungle. So much of Tikal is yet to be uncovered so there are lots of guys working away at excavations. Not surprisingly this is also one of the must see things in Guatemala. However, I’m not totally convinced you have to do a sunrise tour to fully appreciate it. Supposedly the main benefits are the seeing the sunrise and more animals and avoiding the heat and the crowds. But we didn’t see the sunrise and it never got all that hot or crowded since it’s the off season. In fact, since the sunrise tour is super crowded you feel like you are there with a bunch of people regardless of how many people total are in the park. And if you’re me you’re kind of tired from getting up so early which might make everything a little harder to enjoy. Still it was a great experience! I left Tikal on the first shuttle back at 11 am, but there are later shuttles back if you want to do more exploring by yourself. I spent the rest of the day wandering around Flores and trying to catch up on some sleep in a hammock. My overnight bus to Guatemala City left at 10 pm but I was supposed to meet it at 9 pm in front of a hotel on the main street of Flores. I paid 300Q for the big bus to Guatemala City and then a shuttle to Antigua which didn’t seem that unreasonable, but after talking to other travelers I found out I’d been mildly ripped off, so ask around! I passed out pretty much the whole bus ride but I was aware of all the fast curves the driver was taking so sleeping seemed the best way to get through the night. We arrived in Guatemala City around 5:30 and got on a shuttle to Antigua that after some delay got there around 7:30. This is when my first big problem came up…
While I was in Coban I decided that I had enough time to go down to Monterrico and I could definitely use some beach time. So, while I was in Flores I had searched online for a shuttle to get from Antigua to Monterrico on Wednesday right after arriving in Antigua from Flores (the thing to always remember is that most shuttles to somewhat far off places leave Antigua pretty early in the morning so you need to book them the day before). I found a shuttle that seemed totally legitimate, reserved it online, and was scheduled for it to pick me up outside El Hostal at 10 am Wednesday…I even e-mailed back and forth several times about this. But of course, I get to El Hostal on Wednesday and nobody comes to pick me up! I call the number I’ve been given and they say that they had hired a different shuttle service to pick me up and that driver must have forgotten. Boo. So I crazily ran around Antigua trying to find a shuttle to Monterrico that left later in the day but the only ones in the whole town leave at 8am and sometimes 10 am during the week with an extra one at 1 pm on Fridays so I was totally out of luck. I asked about taking chicken buses to Monterrico but apparently it involved three transfers and a boat ride which I didn’t feel ready to deal with since I hadn’t really gotten any sleep since 2:30 am the previous day. I was stuck. Still there are worse places to spend an extra day than in Antigua. Fortunately, two of the friends I had made in Tikal were there too so we could hang out. Also I got to go to the cool museum in the Santo Domingo Hotel (40Q). The series of museums covered everything from Mayan artifacts to colonial carvings and contemporary art work. If you haven’t been there yet the Santo Domingo Hotel even without the museum is definitely something to see. It’s this gorgeous hotel on the site of an old monastery with elegant ruins and parrots and a really pretty outdoor chapel area where I’d love to get married…and you can see this all for free!
Yay! A shuttle actually came to pick me up the next day ($10) and it only took about two hours to get to Monterrico. I know you guys were thinking of doing it as a weekend trip and I think that’d be a great idea. I had been hoping to spend two days there but even a little over one was well worth the trip. I stayed at the Hotel Atelie del Mar which was recommended by my shuttle driver and was run by a nice Finish guy and his Guatemalan artist wife. It wasn’t right on the beach but it had cute rooms (125Q for a single) and the largest pool in Monterrico so I decided to splurge. There’s tons of other hotels and atleast during the week none of them are crowded. The black sand beach was gorgeous and I basically had it all to myself! (I think it gets more crowded on the weekends but while I was there the town seemed almost deserted) The only problem is the waves and undertow are super strong so swimming is not really encouraged. Just dipping my feet I got knocked down and almost dragged out to sea and there was no one around to rescue me. It was a beautiful sunny hot hot day and even with tons of sunscreen I managed to get somewhat sunburned in a little over an hour and a half. I spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool (in the shade) and eating at the restaurant in the hotel (super fresh shrimp)! On Friday (my last day in Guatemala :( ) I got up to go on a sunrise tour of the mangrove swamp in Biotopo Monterrico-Hawaii given by the gardener at the hotel where I was staying (50Q). I was the only one on the tour which was pretty cool and it made me feel good about my Spanish skills because I could communicate well and actually learned a lot about the swamp all en español. It was so peaceful punting through the swamp at day break…I actually got to see the sunrise. The water was perfectly smooth and we saw tons of birds and the mangrove trees are pretty awesome. After a long nap I went back to the Tortugario Monterrico (8Q) where most unfortunately it’s the wrong time of year for sea turtles but I did get to see some cool green iguanas and some scary looking caimans. Then I just relaxed in a hammock and waited for my shuttle to arrive at 4 pm (there’s another one that leaves town for Antigua at 1 pm…but I wanted every last minute I could get at the beach…they both cost 90Q). From Antigua I caught a 6:30 pm shuttle to Guatemala City and my nice Dos Lunas Hostel right by the airport (155Q including a 3 minute ride to the airport early in the morning). If you have an early morning flight like I did I totally recommend staying there but otherwise it’s probably easiest to just stay in Antigua. Goodbye Guatemala!
Haha…so (somewhat briefly) that was my week of travels in Guatemala. The shuttle system works great when it shows up and it makes it easy to efficiently get from place to place and haul a lot of baggage too. I think a really smart thing to do (which I didn’t) would be to have the phone number of a shuttle company that you trust and when in doubt call them for a reservation. Usually it’s easy to just arrange the next place you want to go from the place you are, but it’s always nice to have a back-up if you run into trouble. If you have any other more specific questions I’d love to try to help and hopefully I’ll be able to post some pictures soon! Hope you’re having a great time at the clinic…it’s good fun reading all the blog posts! Have a great trip and keep in touch!
Best wishes,
Lianna
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