Sunday, August 19, 2012

Marco vs. Ernesto

Sitting on a morning flight from Hotlanta to Guatemala, I decided that I should probably decide where I was going and what I would do for the next week...

Guate City
My original plan was to go to Rio Dulce and up the coast of Belize to Tulum, finishing up in Cancun for a wedding... so my buddy Ernesto decided that he was going to be in Belize/Mexico at the same time... 3 days of rain and wind and being in my first hurricane did not sound like vacation for me, so yes, my route changed. Still a great trip.

Literally the first person I asked directions to when I was waiting for a bus from the airport in Guatemala made me think the trip was going to turn out ok after all.  A university student named Oscar ended up getting me on the right bus, getting me off at the right spot and then showing me around dtown Guatemala. Nice people like this make my freakin' day.

I didn't have much interest in Guate City (another massive, dirty city), but it was actually quite pleasant and similar to other huge cities in CentroAmerica.  I spent the day wandering, eating tasty food and even found some live music near the university that night. There was also some serious excitement in Guatemala that evening when someone from Guate won the first Olympic medal in the country's history! A silver in speed-walking... yes, I learned that is an Olympic sport... interesting, but good for them! The guy turned in to a national hero overnight in Guatemala.
Xela view
Xela festival

San Andres
Ruins
The next day was an early bus to Quetzaltenango (Xela). Xela is the second largest city in Guate, and was quite amazing. I spent a couple of nights there roaming the city, visiting surrounding villages, hiking a bit, visiting hot springs, enjoying the festival in the town square, the zoo, eating tasty food and having some cerveza.  The city is surrounded by awesome volcanos and beautiful mountains. A very easy place to lay-low for a while.

From there Huehuetenango, where I spent a night.  Another very beautiful city, far less touristy than Xela. Pretty sure I was the only white boy in town, but again, very nice and welcoming people.  My main excursion in Huehue was to some cool Mayan ruins in the outskirts of town.

From Huehue, I was off to the border with Mexi... going through a surprisingly not shady border town called La Masilla. On my way to the border (only road there through this amazing river valley), I had a little hiccup when 10k out of Huehue the bus I took to the border stopped unexpectedly and let everyone out in the middle of nowhere... then we all started walking... (it was like another 75k still to the border btw). A bit down the road a group had blocked the roadway protesting something or rather. It was really quite  scene and no one was going anywhere. So I started walking, probably walked 5k until a man picked my up and took me another 15k down the road to his house where I could wait for the next bus going to La Masilla.  When I finally got on the bus, it was  special 50k+ of standing and being really jammed in a chicken bus (old American school bus).

Tacos for breakfast! Amazing idea
I was happy to get to Mexico, as buses there get much, much nicer! From La Masilla, I went to San Cristobal de las Casas, which was an amazing city that I must go back to to spend some more time... note the pictures. It did rain some of the time I was there, but I really enjoyed exploring the city.




From San Cristobal I took an unfortunate 18 hour bus ride to Cancun. Yes, 18 hours... 5pm to 11am... I really have nothing positive to say about that experience, but I doubt I will ever have to take a longer bus ride again in my life!  Once in Cancun, roughing it was over. I met up with some Drake friends and attended a very nice wedding for Lauren and Josue. After much travel and Ernesto avoidance it was really nice to relax, eat, drink and enjoy the beautiful weather in Cancun (at one of the nicest resorts I have ever stayed at).