As we left Rio Dulce we couldn’t help but to think of the
lovely people we met there and really wish that we could come back and visit
them some time in the future. Some of the kids were really sad to see us leave
and really wanted us to stay and live there! I gave one of my 4 conch shells to
Denny before leaving so he could remember me. A conch shell really sounds like
an ancient Viking horn!
On our way to Antigua we got lost as usual (signs suck and we
didn’t have the Central American maps on our gps yet) and ended up going
through Guatemala City by accident. Needless to say it was a hard drive with
Cubby behind us. People are nuts like in each of these countries so far and
many times I had to make evasive maneuvers not to crash with someone.
Before we even got near the city of Guatemala, we found ourselves stuck in a
traffic jam in the middle of the highway! We didn’t even know what was going
on. After like 15 minutes of not moving at all, we asked around and apparently
there were 3 theories: A person got electrocuted trying to steal electricity from
a power line pole by the road, 3 people tried to rob a bank in the town that we
were soon going to drive by and the cops blocked the road, and finally, the
people of that same town had blocked the road to protest the high prices of
electricity. The last theory ended up being the right one and we got stuck
there for about 2 or 3 hours before the road opened again, and we could see the
people still on the side of the road holding their signs.
It was getting really late and we were not even near Antigua
yet when we finally managed to leave Guatemala City and head to Antigua…the
hard and steep way. This had been, so far, the most stressful drive for me! The
road to Antigua is steep as shit and I was forced to put the car in 4wd low,
because there were big trucks going up the steep road as well and they were
going like 1 mph, no joke! When we finally made it to Antigua, which is a
GORGEOUS town by the way, as we realized the next day, it was night time
already and we couldn’t find a place to safely park without blocking the roads.
At the end I found a futbol (soccer) field in the town and we parked right on
the side of it, accompanied by a bunch of young guys sniffing glue (they
actually just permanently held the bags to their mouths). That was something
pretty sad to see. A couple of them asked me if I needed help setting up the
camper and I politely but strongly declined the offer. That night I slept with
my bear spray (that I still have from our time in Yellowstone) very close to my
pillow, hehee.
The next day we discovered how pretty this city is! Antigua
really has been one of the highlights of this trip, although there have been
many. This city was the actual Capital of Guatemala until the 1700’s, when they
changed it to the one we all know now. That actually helped the city maintain
this beautiful colonial isolated but big town kind of air to it.
We walked most of the day discovering the city and it was
great! We found out at the Tourist Info Office that the Policia De Turismo had
their headquarters right in the middle of the city, and that they allow people
in tents and campers to stay inside their facilities (which is a huge parking
area in the back of the building, completely secured by big walls and with a
controlled gate to enter) absolutely for free! We could not believe it so we
first walked there to ask…and they said to go ahead and bring our camper! So we
did, and we found out that most people driving camper trucks and vans were
staying there! We met some really nice people from Canada, US, France, etc. A
French family, at the end of our stay there, graciously gave us a garmin map
with all of the Central American countries in it!
The last day of our stay there, I decided to have a big
barbeque and invited everyone at the campground. To my surprise, ALL of the
people there came. We had a great time and some of us enjoyed the time, and the
local beer, a bit too much. It was great!
On the third day at the town we took a tour to a volcano
called Pacaya, which ended up being a trip that really challenged our fitness.
It was great and really gorgeous, but it was steep as hell and it was two hours
of going up like that with not a single minute of rest. Our group consisted of
about 12 people, and most of them got really far behind after the first hour,
so it’s needless to say that the whole group got separated and the guide
couldn’t really do his job of guiding well. The view from up there though made
it all worth it.
The next few days we spent exploring the city and visiting
museums and restaurants with friends we made during the volcano hike and on our
own. This town is amazing and I completely recommend it! Before leaving after
about 6 days in Antigua, we met a Hippie couple that also arrived at the
campground the day before we left, and that apparently remembered me from playing
the bagpipes at that famous Rainbow Gathering in Palenque right before the end
of the world that I have told you about. Well, they asked us where we were going.
The plan was to head to El Salvador after visiting Lago Atitlan and a couple of
other towns. They asked if we could give them a ride to the lake, and we
agreed. They ended up staying with us for 10 days and ate all our food, drank
all our coffee and sugar, etc. We also had to pay for all their meals during
that time because, as it is expected, they had no money. Note to self: Never
give long hitchhikes to hippies or at least make sure that, although I love
hippies, they clearly understand that if they are asking for a ride, that is
ALL they will get, and that they need to get the hell out of the car once we
arrive to the previously discussed destination. I am a nice person and don’t
get me wrong, they were nice too, but abusing people’s kindness is not a good
thing, and we can’t afford to pay for our trip, and also others while they are
with us. We have invited other people to travel with us for a couple of weeks
since then, but they have always helped with the expenses.
Anyway, Lago Atitlan was gorgeous and if it had been for me,
I could have stayed there for a few days.
From there we went to Chichicastenango (yeah, say that one while
drunk!), which was actually a really beautiful little town, famous for its huge market. We only spent half
a day there, and we had to be very careful when taking pictures because the
local indigenous people are very concerned about their souls and they really
don’t enjoy tourists taking pictures of them, cause they believe a picture
takes a bit of their soul away; and they are also very concerned with
pedophiles and the kidnapping of young children so they really don’t want
anyone to take pictures of girls and boys, or any of them for that matter, so
you have to be kind of casual about it. Legend has it that a few years ago a
Japanese tourist was there taking pictures of everything, and after being told
to stop, he continued to take pictures. They ended up lynching him and then
burning his body. That is the story, but I don’t know if you will find it on
Google.
Before leaving Guatemala, we traveled to the beautiful city of Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela. Now, I know I have said this before, but the cities of Guatemala are simply gorgeous! This is a much bigger town and don’t ask me about its history, because though I knew it all then, I don’t remember any of it now. All I know is that it is a very old colonial city that was already inhabited by the indigenous people before the arrival of the Spanish.
While in Xela, we
decided to try the world famous “Quetzalteca”, which is a local drink that
can’t be really compared to anything I know. They say it is kind of similar to
brandy, but of much lower quality and much more poorly distilled. They call it
“Aguardiente”. After hearing from everybody about the drink and asked to try it
over and over, we decided to give it a try. Our hippie couple was separated
that night. She went to visit some friends so it was just the 3 of us. After
drinking about 3 beers at a pub, we agreed to get one glass of Quetzalteca
each, which comes in a tall glass, almost full of the drink, and then some coke
on top of it, merely just to add some color.
Now, understand that this was the first and last drink we had
that night…and we hardly remember anything after it!!! I kind of remember
playing pool…maybe, but none of us has any recollection of leaving the pub and
walking to the cub. None of us remembers pretty much anything about that night.
Once we got to the cub, our hippie friend could not wait for us to find the key
and enter, so he just collapsed on the pavement of the sidewalk right by the
door and fell asleep! We had to pick him up and bring him inside. Both the
Hippie and Jocelyn got sick from the Quetzalteca. I have drunk many different
kinds of liquor in my life, and the three of us had this conversation the next
day, and none of us ever remembers drinking ANYTHING that would knock you down
like that with one glass. I can tell you that none of my friends was feeling
remotely human the next morning. Damn you Quetzalteca! You kicked our asses big
time! I will surely NEVER try you again, but I recommend you my readers, if you
ever travel to Guatemala, to try it at least once. Just make sure you are among
friends, what happened to us happens to you and you don’t remember anything the next
morning!
After recovering from that night (it took a couple of days) we left Xela to finally head to El Salvador, which was the country we had promised our hippie friends to take them and say goodbye. All that will be on our next post. Guatemala, you surely are an amazing country and I hope to visit you again before I kick the bucket. I will not try your Quetzalteca again though, but I yearn to return to your beautiful cities!
By Ricardo
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