Guatemala: Monterrico, Lanquin and Rio Dulce

The highlands of Guatemala and around Lake Atitlan are frequently rainy and chilly in the evenings, so after a week or so of getting wet feet every evening, we decided to move further south and check out Guatemala's main beach resort, Monterrico. Getting to the coast proved a bit complicated. Simon is a massive fan of taking chicken buses everywhere (the more the better). However, Guatemala is one of the few countries in Central America to offer easy tourist shuttles around most of the main attractions. Having taken heaps of chicken buses in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I was looking forward to taking it easy on some touristy shuttles but in this instance, the chicken buses won out. So, we ended up taking SEVEN chicken buses AND A BOAT to get to the coast. Ok, it wasn't as bad as it sounds, and it was an adventure.

Monterrico is a very quiet beach resort, comprising one main street, a dramatic black sand beach and a wildlife reserve for the hatching and release of sea turtles. The waves are HUGE, resulting in quite a steep beach, with sand at odd angles. I ventured in to swim once, and was duly dumped on by the waves and was lucky to stagger out in one piece! Our aims in visiting Monterrico were as follows: a) find a hammock b) have some cocktails c) enjoy the beach. Turns out this was easily achieved and before we knew it, three days had passed in a heavenly haze of sunsets and snoozes, although we did go on an early morning boat tour of the nearby mangroves. Possibly one of the most interesting parts of Monterrico is the fact that it has only emerged as a tourist destination in the last 15 years and we had some good conversations with locals about how the town has changed, affecting their livelihoods in both positive and negative ways.

From Monterrico we were lucky enough to catch a lift back to Antigua with the hostel owner and from Antigua we took a tourist shuttle (I won that time) up to Lanquin, in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Lanquin a tiny town popularized by its proximity to Semuc Champey, a valley of natural crystalline spring water pools. There is also natural limestone bridge over a giant waterfall flowing into the river through large caves that can be explored.

From Lanquin, we launched into an epic day of travelling on chicken buses (in this case, 3 buses and a taxi) - a full 11-hour day of adventure.. perhaps too much adventure. In any case, we finally arrived at our next destination, Rio Dulce, on the edge of Lago Izabal. This town is a haven for yachties, deemed one of the safest places to dock in the Caribbean. Most backpackers stop by Rio Dulce mainly to undertake the river trip to Livingstone, where ferries can be caught to Belize and Honduras. The river trip was fantastic - we chose to do a day return trip to Rio Dulce, stopping at a castle and hot springs en route. The river meanders through the Guatemalan highlands, winding through riverside villages and limestone canyons before arriving in Livingstone, a curiosity in Guatemala due to its strong Garifuna, or Black Caribbean heritage, making it seem much more a part of Belize or Honduras than Guatemala. We had to sample the garifuna specialty of tapado, a seafood and coconut soup, as well as guifiti, the local liquor soaked in various roots and herbs, said to have healing and potency powers.

Guatemala: Antigua, Chichi and Lake Atitlan

Guatemala was always going to be a highlight of my trip, with its colonial and highland market towns, volcanic crater lakes and natural spring pools nestling in the mountains. The fact that this blog post is seriously delayed shows just how busy I've been since arriving in Antigua around 2 weeks ago.

Antigua is a gorgeous colonial town hidden between three volcanoes - Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. With cobblestone streets, terracotta roofs and lush courtyards everywhere you look, this is the sort of place people can get stuck. Many travellers make a beeline for Antigua and use it as a base to do a Spanish course, or volunteer in some of the local communities. A busy tourist destination in its own right, I mostly used Antigua as a jumping off point to visit many of the sights in that part of Guatemala.

First up was the highland market town of Chichicastenango, which hosts vast markets every Thursday and Sunday, with locals travelling hundreds of miles to sell their handicrafts at the market. This was by far one of the most pleasant market experiences of my life, with very little hassling or aggro. The market is situated between several large churches and many religious processions take place right through the market which was quite a sight. I took some fab photos of Mayan market traders against a backdrop of misty churches but unfortunately these photos are no more (see below).

Back in Antigua after this foray to the highlands, I decided to head off to stay at Lake Atitlan for a few days, accompanied by a Kiwi, Simon, who I'd met at my hostel and was also heading in this direction. Atitlan is recognized to be the deepest lake in Central America with a depth of around 340 metres. The lake is surrounded by deep escarpments and by three volcanoes. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."

We arrived at San Pedro on the lake in the middle of a storm and trudged with our backpacks through alleyways and drains (never take a shortcut) trying to find a nice hostel with a view of the lake. We finally found one that looked pretty nice although we were later to regret that decision as someone went into my room while we were out at dinner, and stole my camera and mobile phone. However, it could definitely have been worse, as my laptop, money and bank cards were also in the room - although not visible, leading me to think it was a very quick job, with the thief grabbing what he could see. The door was definitely locked so it was clearly someone with a key, which did not lead to a good night's sleep for me that night! Early the next morning I reported the theft to the family managing the hotel who were very apologetic but maintained that as only family members had access to the key, they couldn't understand how it could have happened. I went off to the police station to report the theft for insurance purposes, and thank God Simon came along with me as he speaks very good Spanish. The police were incredibly thorough (in fact, too thorough), as they spent all morning taking down the details for the report, and then took us back to the hotel to grill the staff - to no avail, of course, and it was a very uncomfortable situation for everyone!

After that unsettling start, we began to enjoy being at the lake. One day we hired a motorbike and cruised around the lake, stopping at various little towns such as San Marcos, which had a raised platform of 7m protuding from the jungle into the lake - it was an awesome leap into the water! Certain parts of the road around the lake are plagued by bandits but the route we took was safe and gave us a tour of villages and vistas, pigs, dogs, donkeys and a local football game. We also explored the lake by kayak and found some wonderful swimming spots. After a few more days at the more touristy town of Panajachel, we finally had to say goodbye to the lake, moving on to beach. It's a hard life ;)

Honduras: Utila and Copan

Having survived my brush with the 'dangerous' cities of Managua and San Pedro Sula in Honduras, I finally arrived at Utila, in the Bay Islands of Honduras.

Utila is one of three Bay Islands - Roatan, Utila and Guanaja - off the coast of Honduras and famed for having the second largest barrier reef in the world after Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The Bay Islands remained mostly in the hands of the British until 1859, and English remains the most commonly spoken language whlie the population comprises African, Carib and European ancestry.

The Bay Islands are also one of the cheapest places in the world to dive, so I signed up to do my PADI Open Water Diving qualification at the Utila Dive Centre. This consisted of 4.5 days, with quite a lot of theory and an exam (I didn't quite grasp the concept of a 'course') followed by 2 confined water dives (off the docks) and 4 open water dives out at sea, followed by 2 more fun dives at sea. The UDC is reputed to have trained more divers worldwide than any other centre, and were an amazingly professional and friendly bunch of people. My first lesson of the course was hard learnt - don't dive hungover. This is definitely easier said than done in Utila, which is a great place for partying. Aside from that early mishap, I really enjoyed the course and the open water dives were incredible, swimming under towering coral, amongst shoals of fish, seahorses, eels and rays.

Utila has a transient population but as most people come to learn to dive or to get their professional diving qualifications, people tend to stay on the island anywhere from a week to 3 months. I met up with Amber, a family friend who lives on Utila, and ended up renting a property right on the water for a few days with some Kiwi and South African friends. It was pretty heavenly apart from the Siege of the Sandflies.

After 9 days in Utila, it was finally time to move on and I faced another long bus day to get to Copan, a pretty colonial town with cobblestone streets and terracotta rooftops, situated next to the famous Mayan ruins. While not the grandest or the largest of the Mayan ruins (I'm still getting to those!), the Copan Ruins are famous for its intricate sculptures and hieroglyphics, so much so that it has been dubbed the 'Paris' of the Maya world (according to Lonely Planet). From AD250-900, the city at Copan Ruins dominated the region, and the royal dynasty has been catalogued through the ages on the Hieroglyphic Stairway.

This part of Honduras is absolutely beautiful, with green fields and lush vegetation, horses and cows everywhere, blue skies and gurgling rivers. The ruins were very impressive - I can hardly wait for the 'better' ruins! Tomorrow I move on to Antigua in Guatemala. I have 6 weeks left of this trip and Guatemala, Belize and Mexico are calling!