Guatemala: Antigua and Tikal

When Opportunity Strikes.

Since moving to Costa Rica, we are not traveling anywhere near as much as we could in China.  We came into some money from our appearance on a reality show, and decided to use it for our last long weekend of the school year.  Since we have beautiful beaches here, we wanted to do something different. Ainslee has been learning about the Mayans in school, and we had heard from friends that Guatemala is amazing, so we booked the flights.  They were right.

Antigua, Guatemala

Right after arriving in Guatemala City, we were able to get an Uber with the help of a stranger who lent us their wi-fi, and when we couldn’t contact the driver, we met another guy who happened to know the driver, so he called him for us.  The kindness of strangers always amazes me.  That driver, ended up driving us whenever we needed a lift for the rest of our trip.

After about an hour, we were at our hotel in Antigua.  It was late, so we didn’t do much.  I took the kids to Wendy’s, which was in an old house, like everything in Antigua. It’s a city that takes you back in time, which is where I am assuming the name comes from.  I have never seen anything like it before.

The first morning we saw most of the city.  It is an amazing place to walk around if you are an adult, but not the most thrilling if you are a kid.

We decided to go check out the Pacaya Volcano.  The tour was cheap, and I got to witness the best salesmanship I have ever seen.

Pacaya Volcano

When you get to the base of the volcano, they tell you it is a 4km hike up, and they have horses if you would like.  We got horses for the kids (mainly to avoid hearing them whine about hiking) but we wanted the exercise.  Even though we said no, the guys with the horses still followed us up the trail, which struck me as odd.  Every time you paused, they would say , “Taxi” or “You look tired, the horse is way more tranquilo.”  There were five empty horses when we started, and they were all full by the top 🙂  I’m proud to say I did not give in.  I don’t know if it was because of pride or frugality. 

Taxi!

The volcano erupted four years ago, so near the top we walked trails made entirely of volcanic rock and ash.  We were in the clouds so it felt like we were walking on the moon.  I did not take many pictures because frankly, you couldn’t see much.  Luckily for me, Jen did.

You could hear the volcano erupting, and we roasted marshmallows over a heat vein under the rocks.  It smelled just like a sauna, and the rocks were burning hot.

Tikal

We were on the fence about going to Tikal.  It was either an overnight bus ride, or fly.  A good friend of mine who lived in Guatemala for many years told me, “Fly, or don’t do it.”  It was great advice.  After two days in Antigua, we took the night flight to Flores, and took a shuttle to our hotel in El Remate.  The resort was really nice, but it was one of those situations where there is no place else to go, so the food isn’t great, and everything is expensive.  It is the pretty typical, middle of nowhere so we’ve got you, experience.

We were upset because we were told we could book the sunrise tour when we got there by a receptionist on the phone, but that was not the case.  (She also told me to take an uber, which is not available in the area.  Not to mention that the hotel has a shuttle that picks you up.)  I am  sure it was a blessing in disguise, because I am almost positive we would have been too tired, and the mosquitos would have been vicious at dawn.  We did the standard, pick you up at 9am, give you a guide and lunch, tour. 

The ruins were maybe one of the most awe-inspiring sights I have seen in my life.  There is something about the scenery in the jungle, and the height of the temples that made me feel small, and maybe even a bit inferior to a civilization that perished over 1000 years ago. While it was a lot of walking, and it was extremely hot, the views from the tops of the ruins made it all worth it.

After our day of touring, we had a nice lunch, then went back to the resort to swim in the lake.  I met a new friend, and carried on a good 30 minute conversation is Spanish, which is the first time I have actually felt like I am gaining fluency.

The next day, it was a flight back to Guatemala City.  Having had enough of traveling around,  we went to go see the new Avengers movie, have dinner, and get some sleep.

It was a lot to do in 5 days, and it was totally worth it.