Grooving in Guatemala

I just Peten Breakfast

I've been waiting for that pun! Yesterday we set off for Rio Dulce from Tikal. On route we had a stop at an island called Peten. We had a lovely breakfast here (£3) and a walk around. The lake waters are quite high and the island flooded recently. The waterfront patios of many restaurants were still under water and it will take months to go back to normal levels. The island is really colourful and pretty but quite small so easy to walk around. We managed to find several houses in green and yellow (obviously a nod to NCFC colours).

In a while Crocodile

After this we had a 4 hour drive to Rio Dulce. The drive gave us a good view of Guatemala; lots of colourful houses and a big change of scenery going up into the forests and hill areas.

The hotel is on another island (transfer by boat) and a series of cabins built over the water. There are lots of signs warning us not to feed the crocodiles, luckily, we haven't seen any yet. The island is like a mini jungle. It has a great pool but the water was really cold and it took a decent amount of time before getting used to it. We didn't see any crocodiles during our stay and all the group made it out.

Livingston

We stopped at an old fort and the bird island. Both quite interesting and then headed to lake of mirrors before Livingston. The town was "okay" and a festival was taking place so a good time to be there. Not much to really see or do but locals were dressed up and seemed to be having a good time drinking and dancing. Although compared to the rest of the tour it didn't give our particularly welcoming vibes.

On the way back we had lunch at a place on the lake next to some hot springs. The water at the top was really hot as it came from a volcanic spurt but as your feet got deeper cooled down. On the journey we saw great egrets, cormorants, black vultures, manatees and iguanas. The benefits of having an expert on our trip is great, basically we see a bird or animal and she will say what it is, despite insisting they aren't her area of expertise.

Antigua, we'll be back

The next day was a long bus day but thankfully in our own minibus. We saw a decent amount of the country before we arrived in Antigua, still in Guatemala. This is a very pretty little town. We have a bit more time here at the end of this trip which we are looking forward to. We had time to walk up the Cerro De La Cruz and get some great pictures of the town and the surrounding scenery.

We then went for a drink at a local brewery, initially we saw people going into a secret bar and assumed it was a speakeasy type place. It may have been, but that evening it was a private party we were politely kicked out. We then found the roof top bar with a great view of the smoking volcano.

Panajachel and Chichicastenango

The following morning we headed towards Panajachel. We had a few stops the first was a scenery one, with great views over the mountains. The were wooden structures for the photos with a small fee to go on. One had a 360 degree camera holder which was quite fun.

The road had become very steep and bendy and the driving quite scary. At one point a motorbike coming the other way was overtaking a lorry but was on our side of the road. Our driver had to swerve into the verge to miss it. The constant overtaking on blind bends is frightening and I think we have both stopped looking in front.

Our next stop was at the market in Chichicastenango. This was a massive market and we hit it on the busiest day of the week. Too crowded for us so we didn't do any shopping. We had a visit to a shaman, this lasted 90 minutes and was surprisingly interesting. Finishing with a calming ceremony where he said he took the bad stuff out and replaced it with positive energy! He then blessed us all and during this seemed to recognise Karen was a midwife and I was calm, enjoying control! He was being translated by our guide so not sure how much she was adding!

We then then drove to Panajachel. This is a busy town and full of fellow tourists, lots more than we've seen elsewhere in Guatemala. It's been nice looking round and we saw a great sunset.

Tomorrow is the homestay which will be something different to what we've experienced so far.