Final Post
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2010
1
11
Trip End
Feb 11, 2011
El Remate, Guatemala
Monday, February 28, 2011
I left Granada shortly after my last post and took a direct bus back up to San Salvador. I had time left to kill until I needed to meet up with Andrew, but I decided that I needed to use the time to rest before he flew in and we jammed as much in as we could the two weeks he was with me. So back to El Sunzal, El Salvador for 5 more days on the beach.
Monday January 24th I met Andrew at the airport in Guatemala and immediately we caught a bus north to Coban. We stayed in Coban a night and the next day took a bus east to a natural monument called Semuc Champey. The monument consisted of the Cahabón River, some bat caves, and the actual park of Semuc Champey with limestone pools. Andrew and I tubed down the river and had some fun with a rope swing, but we were excited to get up to Tikal so we left right away the next day.
We took a 8 hour shuttle ride up to Flores, Guatemala the next day (packed in with 15 other passengers...it was a long trip). Along the way on one of the two lane roads we came to a complete stop in traffic. We sat for a while but it appeared that no one was moving forward and no one was coming from the opposite direction. Some people in our shuttle got out and tried to figure out what was up. There were a few rumors for the reason behind the hold up including a kid that either ran away or was kidnapped, and another regarding a woman on a chicken bus that wouldn't pay her fare and was literally thrown off the bus and was now hurt and waiting for an ambulance. I know us backpackers don't have a great grasp on Guatemalan culture, but we really didn't understand why either of those situations would involve the road being blocked off.
I'm not sure how long we waited, probably not more than an hour, but our shuttle driver began working some magic and suddenly we were cars away from the hold up. There was a crowd of Guatemalans from the nearby village blocking off the road and demanding money from each car that wanted to pass through. I guess road blocks are quite typical as our shuttle driver had no problem paying the 40Q or whatever it was. We were lucky to have made it through so soon, I imagine some of those cars waited all day.
We made it to Flores by early evening. Flores is an island city on Lake Peten Itza. Its definitely the biggest tourist destination in northern Guatemala so along with lots of tourists there is a travel agency, internet cafe, and souvenir shop on every street. Lots of tourists also mean a nicer and cleaner city with better places to stay and better restaurants, which was nice. That evening Andrew and I walked around the island a bit (it only takes 20 minutes to walk the whole thing), got some dinner, and turned in. The next day we headed straight away on a bus over to El Remate. It's on the other side of the lake from Flores and is the closest city to the park of Tikal.
We found an awesome place to stay in El Remate. The owner was super hospitable and was also the driver for the shuttle to Tikal every day so he knew the ins and the outs of traveling through Tikal. He gave us an electric burner, pot, a couple of bowls, and silverware to use while we were there so Andrew and I jumped on the opportunity to cook our own food during our stay in El Remate.
The next day we took the 5:30am shuttle to Tikal. The park opened at 6 and we heard that if you get in right away and hurry to one of the taller temples you can catch the sunrise. We did get in right away, we were probably the third car in line at the entrance, and we did run to one of the best and tallest temples, but it was cloudy so no sunrise. Since we kicked booty hurrying out to the temple, we had the opportunity to climb it, sit at the top admiring the beautiful view and listening to the menacing howler monkeys with not a single other tourist for probably an hour. Then we hiked our way through the entire park, climbing every temple that we were allowed to climb.
We spent two more days in El Remate on the lake, and Sunday the 30th we took an overnight bus down to Guatemala City. Then we caught chicken buses down to the Guatemalan/Salvadorean border. We intended to take chicken buses all the way to El Sunzal, but at the border I ran into a shuttle driver I had rode with before and he offered us seats in the shuttle to Sunzal for a low price, so we hopped in with him. We went back to my favorite hostel, Rancho San Patricio, where Patti (the owner and "hostel mom") gave us a room and cooked us a delish meal. I showed Andrew around the beach and the beach towns and we grabbed some surfboards for the week. We had a perfect weather week on the beach surfing, reading, relaxing in hammocks, playing cards, eating pupusas, and drinking liquados.
Saturday afternoon we took off for Antigua. Sunday we watched the Super Bowl (sat next to a man from Dowagiac, Michigan), and Monday we explored the city checking out the ruins and tracking down fresh coffee beans to travel home with. Tuesday morning I left Andrew back at the airport and began my journey north to Cancun where I had a flight out on that Friday. Immediately after leaving the airport I took a direct bus back up to Flores (arrived at 10pm), another bus the next day direct to Chetumal, Mexico (traveled through Belize and then North to Chetumal, arriving at 4:30), and then another bus to Tulum, Mexico (4 more hours). In Tulum I split a huge hotel room with 4 other travelers and spent one last day on the beach. And Friday was my farewell! I had an afternoon flight up to Denver where my sister, Emilie, waited at the security gate (the only person waiting, ha) with a sign reading, "Bienvenidos a su casa, Liz!"
I spent two weeks out west with my sister. We took a road trip (what?! 13 more hours on the road?!) up to Stevensville, Montana to visit family, help my Aunt Martha prep her new yoga studio for its grand opening and do a day of skiing for my cousin Joe's birthday. Right now I'm back home in Holland. I can't figure out why I don't wake up until 11am. My dad laughs and tells me that's what happens when you don't sleep in your own bed for 5 months.
I'm home for a week, and then I'm flying back out to Denver to live with my sister and her husband and go to yoga teacher training school. I look forward to going to class and learning, getting a job, and spending lots of time with my sister, her husband, and their two goofy dogs. After that, who knows.
Thank you everyone for following me on my travels. It always made me smile to get on my travelpod and see how many more readers have been following my blog. Happy Spring!
