Cemeteries can be Alive!

Went further north to visit the most famous ancient Mayan city, Tikal. On the way, stopped at Finca Ixobel, a lovely peaceful farm ranch, with well-groomed gardens, wooden huts, hammocks and organic, farm-made delicious food. Woke up in the middle of the night to catch a ‘Camioneta’ (local minibus) to Flores, and then finally arrived to Tikal.

In a midst of a jungle, well hidden within huge trees, harmony of Gritan monkeys, varied bird species, raccoons and other animals, lies one of the Mayan wonder cities. The buildings, palaces and plazas architecture is impressive - with only a small portion discovered thus far. You see a typical jungle hill on one side, which actually turns to be a palace when looked from the other side. The jungle has simply grown upon the city and covers it. The entire site looks like a film set (well, in fact ‘Star Wars’ was filmed here at the time).

What’s even more fascinating is the fact that bigger sites are still being discovered these very days, like El Mirador, which seems to be much bigger and impressive then Tikal when fully excavated.

Back to Antigua, was happy to find my suitcase intact with laptop still in the place I left it (after all, I was ultimately heading to USA for a business trip).

My last day happened to be a special one – the “Day of the dead” festival, where families are uniting with the beloved dead ones. Loads of colorful kites are up in the air, as the locals believes the string to be a symbol that connects them with the soul of the dead. Custom food is called ‘Fiambre’, and includes pretty much all you can think of -vegetables, egg, meat, chicken, corn, rice, and more. Everyone seems to be visiting the cemeteries which become a big happening with ‘Mariachi’ singing (Latin guitar players), food stands, flower market, and people with ladders to rent for placing the flowers on high level graves (some graves are 5 floors up) . I have never seen a cemetery so crowded, happy and full of live.

And with this optimistic point of view, my trip came to its end.

The African Rhythm of Guatemala

Livingston, a Caribbean-like island close to the Belize and Honduras borders, has a unique combination of African people (once brought in as slaves) Ladinos and Indians. The majority are black, called Garifunas.

Music is heard on the streets - the local Guatemala Marimba, Caribbean Reggae and black music. People seem to be always out, sometimes dancing to the rhythm, families are opening their kitchen to sell typical food - so kind that you immediately feel at home.

The village is small enough, so after few days you pretty much know it all, and get to meet the people, like Señor Oscar, who had a restaurant chain back in a city called Coban, and decided to relax (high blood pressure…) with the village tranquility, so now owns a tasty Churasceria (aka ‘mangal’ J); or Ada , a school maestro (teacher manager) who invited me to talk with the school children about the Tierra Santa, Israel. I gladly accepted the offer and found myself in front of an entire class... the kids were fascinated (maybe due to being a tall bald white man with funny Spanish accent… :-)) and showed me their school – they have very few old computers that are out of order, and no computers at home. In stead they use old typewriter machines. Shame!

The next day went trekking on a nice trail along Caribbean beaches with picturious coco trees and Garifunas villages with private beach houses. The path arrives to Siete Altares - 7 waterfalls with pools surrounded with rain forest, where the first Tarazan movie was filmed.

Champaign of Nature

It was not easy to leave the beautiful peaceful Lago Atitlan, but eventually decided to drive north to a mountain village called Lanquin. Slept in El-Retiro, a green valley ranch with huts and hammocks next to a flowing river with cloud forest around.

Went to see the famous, long waited for, Semuc Champey. It’s basically a river, one of many, yet at some point the water go under a mountain rock and fiercely row down till they go out from the other side of the rock. On the rock top, around 7 beautiful natural turquoise terrace-like pools, forming an incredible sight. Thinking of it, 'Semuc Champaign' is a better name, as I truly find it to be a superb ´Champaign of nature'.

Went down with a rope ladder to reach the other side of the rock, where you can watch the mighty water current flows intensely out of the rock - back to the river. Aside to Semuc, the day was with full with water activities – tubing down the river, jumping from a 15m bridge, and exploring caves with water and waterfalls inside. Definitely the best day I had in Guatemala!

Around Lanquin there are lots of caves, some of 30km length, some with water, other with stalactites, and all with loads of fruit bats that are hanging from the cave ceiling all day and fly out in masses towards sunset – an impressive phenomenon to watch. Road a ´chicken bus´ (a small local bus, dirty, smelly, noisy and overloaded with local men, women, babies, elderly, goods, fruits, vegetables, fruits, chickens, pigs - you name it...), on a shower rain and road blocks caused by a demonstration of the Maestors (teachers afraid to loose their job next year).

After changing few similar local buses, finally (10 hrs drive…) arrived to Rio Dulce - a tranquil village on the shores of Lago Izabel. Slept in a simple basic cabin with hammock on a wood wharf deck going inside and just above the lake water and planned the next day’s boat ride to Livingston.

How an Active Volcano Looks Like? (from the inside…)

Getting back to the Latin world feels like coming home in a sense, like I’ve never really left. The Spanish language is quickly getting back, open doors and barriers, and the soul wide opens.

First stop was Antigua - a sweet colonial town surrounded by the Agua, Fuego and Pacaya volcanoes, and embedded with colorful painted houses, lots of coffee shops and tourists to accommodate those. Funny to see ‘Tuktuk’ taxies on the streets, a fashion arrived some 4 years ago which somehow gives a slight scent of Thailand...

The main attraction is by no doubt the Pacaya volcano - one of few active volcanoes that can be explored. Couldn’t resist climbing the volcano - hiking on muddy soil, turned into gray ash, sandy and finally become a beautiful solid gray lava formation, underneath which lies hot red-yellowish lava – rather spooky… At the peak a striking actively flowing, sizzling and bubbling lava stream – Legs and body feels the heat to the point your soles are starting to melt down... Then, when descending in the dark, looking back on a spectacular red aura surrounding the peak. Nothing short then amazing sight!

On my way to the famous Lago Atitlan, stopped to visit the local Sunday market at Chichicastenango - a large, lively and diversified market where one can find pretty much everything he needs. Nearby cemetery holds big colored graves and ancient shaman ceremonies ongoing by Mayan people - where fire, smoke, praying and crying takes place.

Arrived to Panajachel, the urban center of Lago Atitlan, where boats leaves to nice little lake-side villages like San Pedro, right beneath the San Pedro volcano. Naturally, went up to explore the mountain – a vicious ~50 degrees constant climb up to 3489m, where a spectacular view of the lake and surrounding volcanoes is waiting to be revealed.

A boat ride under a shower rain to arrive (soaking wet…brrrrr) to San Marcus - A unique spiritual village, the hall of massages, yoga, sauna, meditations and tranquility of mind and body. Slept at Las Piramadas – a spiritual center offering a lunar and sun monthly courses, and an option to join a portion, which I did and had the chance to yoga on sun-rise, learn the secrets of reaching lucid dreams and (tried to...) meditate on sunset.

Guatemala - The Center of Central America

Back on the roads… mochila (back-pack) packed ready to visit yet another piece of the exciting Latin world. Just before a chicitito niño is about to join the family, I went to explore the ancient Maya cradle, Guatemala.

From a first airplane-window glance, Guatemala soil seems green-brownish-red-loam. From a closer look it is extremely rich with a slew of corn fields (black, white and yellow), rice terraces, cacao and coffee bean trees. Mountains and valleys are topped with endless green carpet, well nourished by the frequent tropical shower rain – all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the skies are openning wide literally spilling loads of water.

Guatemala consists of an interesting ethnic blend with a majority of Ladino origin called ‘Guatemaltecos´ and some 5 million Mayan (45% of the population, the largest Mayan community). The Mayan are kind, modest and peaceful, live mostly in villages and still speaking the Mayan native languages. Mayan men are dressed up with the typical white colored stripe pants, cotton belt and gaucho-like hats; Women wear multi-color skirt, shirt and funny wool hat, usually with a cotton carry-on child and round straw-made food bags.

Speaking of food… the food is (surprise surprise :-)) rather latin - usually basic rice and fried or cooked spicy chicken, with a strong Mexican cuisine influence - Tortillas, Tamales (cooked corn flour with spicy chicken and vegetables) Burritos, Tacos, Tostadas – made of corn or wheat flour.

Local food highlights include Chile Rellano (spicy meat with rice, fricholes, guacamole and fried banana) , Pepian de pollo (chicken with spicy cafe sauce), Pupusa de queso (fried corn with cheese and chili sauce). Local deserts include Rellanos de platano (fried banana with sugar and fricholes), Bunoelos (deep oil fried flour with egg and sugar) and delicious tropical fruits like Jokote (tastes a bit like mango but smaller, sometimes boiled with honey – delicious!). Local drinks include Horchata (cold milk with rice and cinnamon - yammi!) and Atol (hot sweet milk with egg, sugar, and either corn, rice, or flour).

Just before sunset, food-stands are popping-up right outside (or inside) the local houses, where women prepare and sell fresh empanadas, fried chicken, horchata, atol, and of course my favorite Enchilada (tostada with avocado, fricholles, egg, lettuce, onion, carrot, chicken and spices). Those stands usually offer the best typical local food, fresh, cheap, and on top of all - an opportunity to get to know the families.