Guatemala, Part II: San Pedro/Lake Atitlan and Antigua

Read Part I: Coban, Lanquin, Semuc Champey and Xela here. 

Before we hit the road again, Doug and I started our third day in Xela with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast:

Breakfast usually includes eggs, refried beans, corn tortillas, plantains and a piece of local cheese. The sausage on this plate was a little something special. The tortillas were probably my favorite part. Loved that they were so fresh and thicker than you find in the States.

After breakfast, it was time to start the trek out to the beautiful Lake Atitlan. We had been splurging (if a few extra bucks counts as splurging) on nicer Greyhound-ish buses but Doug thought I needed a true Guatemalan travel experience and decided we should take a chicken bus for the first leg of our travels.

Chicken buses come in the form of school buses that have been given a very colorful coat of paint. They get their name from the fact that Guatemalans often use them to transport live animals, including chickens. Three people to a seat is the usual—Guatemalans don't mind getting a little (or a lot) cozy.

We took our chicken bus to Panajachel (aka Pana), a small town on Lake Atitlan, and then hopped on a boat for a 45 minute-ride across Lake Atitlan to San Pedro la Laguna, another small town.

A touristy town, San Pedro tends to attract the "hippy" brand of traveler. The town is filled with cobblestone streets and winding little alleyways that, though charming, made it difficult for me to get my bearings. Good thing Doug had been to San Pedro several times previously and knew his way around.

After checking into our hostel, it was time for some drinks. First stop, The Buddha Bar for a beer.

The Buddha Bar offers pool tables, bench seating and a large bar downstairs with more seating and big, open windows on the second floor. After Xela's chilly nights, the more tropical climate in San Pedro was a nice change.

Our next stop was a lake-front hotel for sangria on their patio.

Beautiful view but the place was buzzing with little gnats. Let's just say our sangria definitely came with a little extra protein in it... gross.

By then it was time for some dinner at Hummus Ya, an Israeli restaurant also located on the waterfront. Fun fact: many young Israelis come to Lake Atitlan after finishing their mandatory military service, so there are quite a few Israeli restaurants and it's not uncommon for signs to be written in Hebrew. Huh. 

After din, it was back to The Buddha Bar for some very sad attempts at playing pool. Mostly by me.

Our second day in San Pedro started with some kayaking on Lake Atitlan.

Kinda fun but I'm an idiot and forgot to put sunscreen on my left shin. Major burn. Oops.

After all that paddling, we needed some sustenance so we enjoyed some Por Que No-like tacos at a small taco restaurant...

... followed by a freshly-made smoothie from a little street-side stand. 

Since there's not a whole lot going on in San Pedro on a Monday, we spend the rest of the day bumming around the free local public pool which boasted its own full bar. Sweet.

After two days in San Pedro, it was time to hop on yet another bus, this time to our final destination: Antigua.

Doug described Antigua to me as the Disney version of Guatemala and I think that's certainly accurate.

It's the only city where I saw tourists who were pushing 40 and up and though it was certainly picturesque, menus in English and a dearth of dining options offering traditional Guatemalan food do take away from the fun of visiting another country.

We ate a quick lunch at Luna De Miel, a crepe place, and spent the rest of the day walking around the city unsuccessfully searching for souvenirs for my mom (although she does not really deserve them seeing as how she has yet to frame and hang the paintings I got her on Mykonos last summer.)

We stopped for dinner at an Italian place followed by a round at Reilly's Irish Tavern. Yeah, not so Guatemala-y but oh well.

Our final stop of the night was a little bar that featured a secret (kind of) mezcal tasting room. When we entered the bar, I could see through some small windows that there was a second room but there was no obvious way to get into it. Since Doug's all knowledgeable and such, he knew that you enter through an inconspicuous little door that required us to duck down low to get through it. Tricky! 

The next morning it was back on the bus for me for a quick ride to the airport in Guatemala City.

Obviously, the parts of Guatemala that I saw were more touristy areas, but I really enjoyed my visit and hope that I get to see more of Central America in the future!

Guatemala, Part I: Coban, Lanquin, Semuc Champey and Xela.

A few weeks ago I made the trip down to Guatemala to visit my friend Doug (check out his blog here). Doug is interning for Semilla Nueva, an organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture development, but he took the week off to show me around the country.

I should probably let you know from the beginning that we were not very good about taking pictures of our meals. Oops. So this is going to be more of a "look at what I saw" than a "look at what I ate" post.

Let's get started: 

Doug met me at the airport in Guatemala City and, since Guatemala City is not a very safe place for anyone, let alone gringos like ourselves, we immediately set off for our first destination: Lanquin.

Coban/Lanquin/Semuc Champey

Lanquin is about a 6 hour bus ride from Guatemala City. We started out a little bit late so we ended up staying in a city about 2 hours from Lanquin called Coban.

Not much happening there but I was introduced to a unique Guatemalan method of soda consumption: sipping from a plastic bag.

Doug explained that a lot of vendors prefer to put soda or juice in a plastic bag when they sell it so they can then return the plastic bottle for cash. Makes sense to me.

After our quick overnight stay in Coban, we met our tour guide for the day, Tony, and drove out to Lanquin. We dropped our bags off at our hostel and then headed out to Semuc Champey, a series of small pools on a natural land bridge that crosses the Cahabon River.

Before we hit the pools, we first took a tour of the K'anba Caves. I really wish I had pictures of this because it was probably the coolest adventure-type thing I've ever done.

Before we entered the caves, we were instructed to strip down to our swimsuits and tie our flip flops to our feet. Hmm. It made sense later. At the entrance to the cave, we each received a candle to hold and then followed our guide into the darkness. A few feet in, we came to a pool. In jumped our guide, swimming through the pool with his candle raised in one hand. We followed. So went our tour through the various caverns. There were rope ladders to climb up, narrow rocks to squeeze through and even a 14 ft. jump from the rocks into a pitch-black pool. Pretty awesome stuff.

Following our tour of the caves, we took a leisurely float down the river in inner tubes. Super relaxing.

Then it was back in adventure mode as Tony scampered up to El Mirador, a look-out point, with Doug and me in hot pursuit. It was only a 30 minute hike but by the end I could barely catch my breath and was sweating buckets. It wasn't pretty. But the view from the top was: 

After a quick pre-packed lunch at the lookout, we made our way back down the mountain and finally it was time for a (much-needed) swim in the pools of Semuc Champey. So refreshing. I could have stayed there swimming around for hours but, all too soon, Tony said it was time to go.

We headed back to Lanquin and got a little cleaned up before making our way over to Las Grutas de Lanquin caves to do some exploring and try to catch the mass exodus of bats from the cave's entrance at sunset.

We almost gave up but eventually the bats came out in full force. One of the Guatemalan guides leading another group explained that if you caught and ate 100 bats, you would be able to fly. Doug and I agreed that it probably wasn't worth the trouble.

After that, it was time to head back to our hostel, Zephyr Lounge. Not a bad place as far as hostels go. Delicious food and drinks and a great view.

Xela (Quetzaltenango)

Following our big day in Lanquin, it was time to head to Xela, where Doug lives and works. Xela is officially known as Quetzaltenango but is more often referred to as Xela, a shortened version of the city's Mayan name, Xelajú.

We took a bus from Lanquin back to Guatemala City and then from Guatemala City to Xela. It turned out to be about 11 hours of traveling. Long day.

Doug and I quickly grabbed some street food for dinner around Parque Central (see below) and then met his boss Darren for tequila shots and a few beers before a group of us headed to La Rumba, a local theater that has been converted to a dance club. There was a lot of good salsa dancing going on (from the locals) and a lot of bad salsa dancing too (me and the other gringos).

Photo by Douglas Franz

The next day, Doug showed me around Xela. Our first stop was the zoo. This lion was my fave (outside of the squirrel, of course.) Regal but so sad. Love him.

Then it was off to the markets...

Photo by Douglas Franz

... followed by a stroll through the very colorful cemetery. 

We also sampled some more street food. Guatemalans love their fried food and mayo.

Doug had been raving about tortas so I obviously needed to try one of those too. Tortas in Guatemala are sandwiches filled with chunks of hot dog, ham, chicken and chorizo topped with mayo, salsa, tomatoes, and jalapenos. The one we got from this cart was not that good but Doug assures that me that it did not accurately represent tortas as whole. 

After snacks and our long walk, we needed some refreshments so we stopped at the liquor store to pick up some Quetzalteca, a super cheap Guatemalan rum, and I whipped us up some drinks using limes we had picked up from the market.

Not the best cocktails I've ever made, but when enjoyed on a rooftop with an excellent view of all of Xela, they certainly weren't bad.

Stayed tuned for Part II: San Pedro/Lake Atitlan and Antigua!

P.S. You might have noticed that two of the pics I included are official "Douglas Franz" photos. Yep, he's super fancy. Read more about Doug's upcoming photo show here.