News from Guatemala

I met some awesome people in Lanquin, namely Tino, Lina, Matt and David and we had a terrific chenga-night at Zephyr! My next stop was Antigua, didn´t do too much there, just made plans to leave to Zipacate at the coast of Guatemala. This is the Chickenbus that brought us there, quite a fancy ride...

This is surfcamp El Paredon in the village El Paredon. Not much going on here, the camp was empty and we were the only tourists in town. Had the best burgers and licuados (milkshakes) for 18 Quetzales, equaling 1,8 Euros! This was our hideout, five hammocks under a palapa, about 20m from the shore!

Main activities: random strumming...

...getting smarter...

...surfing the slackline...

...and of course doing the real thing...

...and somehow another day has gone by!

After five days of chillin´ and good workout in the waves we decided to head twoards Lago de Atitlán. Yo Mama´s Casa in San Pedro is the place to be right now!

The view from the ´Nazri´ is quite a good one. The lake is formed by a gigantic ancient volcanic crater. There has been a lot of rain during the recent weeks, causing landslides, blocking roads and leaving parts of the lakeside flooded. We avoided the hassle by staying in Zipacate, right now there´s no need for worries in San Pedro.

The surf generally isn´t the best in lakes, but you can always try and find a boat captain that´s willing to tow you behind his lancha! Probably the most expensive quarter of an hour in my whole trip, but it definately left a smile on my face...

Yo Mama´s is actually quite a safe place, I got a shot of our security guards off duty...

Finally I have to say, I´m still having the time of my life! After one and a half months there is no boredom in sight! I´m doing a spanish language course for the next two weeks, hoping to gain more abalities to comunicate on my further travels. The odds of getting gringoed (ripped off due to beeing a gringo) get less and the fun with the locals even more... Greets! Harry

P.s.: ...thanx to the crew, good times, FARAUT BRA!

San Crisóbal was a very nice place to stay. A beautiful town inmidst the mountains of Chiapas, a lot colder than Puerto Escondido due to it´s altitude of 2100m above sea.  Since it was cold and it rained a lot it reminded me a bit of Tirol. Didn´t make me feel homesick though...  I did a daytrip to the small villages of Chamula and Zinacantan. It was an interesting experience to see how the Tzotzil, who are indigenous Maya people, live an practice their religion, which poses a mixture of Christianity and Mayan rituals. The Tzotzil are quite an independent group, they expelled the bishop from their church in the 60´s an he´s only allowed to show up on invitation. They have their own transportation network and even their own policemen. I have no photos of the villages, for the Tzotzil believe that taking photographs takes away the spirits... and  because my cameras batteries were empty.  What  impressed me was the way the Tzotzil approache people from other villages with other traditions and foreigners with a completely different culture. They do not judge other livestyles or traditions, they solely see them as different from their own. A Tzotzil could never live in western style, but he would also never try to convince someone to live in his style or even convert to his religion. I guess that telling other people what is best for them and therefor thinking ones way of living is superior, is quite a western habit.

Doing a trip to Chiapa de Corzo in the Steemer with Sarah and Tom. Roadworkers cleaning up mountain roads after landslides is quite a common view these days.

The Canyon Sumiodero reveals an impressive view on waterfalls, rock faces up to 1000m high, crocodiles...

... and a magnificent ammount of trash, swept in from Tuxtla Gutiérrez!

Next station Palenque! Stayed at El Panchan, a nice hideout for travellers and alternatives close to the ruins of Palenque. The ruins were impressive and the setting inmidst the jungle breathtaking.

A common appearance in the jungle: waterfalls!

...waterfalls...

 ...and more waterfalls!

Tempel I of Tikal!  After leaving Palenque for Guatemala I visited Yaxchilán a very beautiful Maya site that can be reached via boatride on  Rio Usumacinta and the Maya site Bonampak. The next day I crossed the boarder to Guatemala.  Eric and Niki, two Americans I met in Palenque seemingly had problems crossing the boarder due to a missing stamp in their passports. Obviously minor problems like these can be solved by the magic of 100 pesos all around Mexico...  We proceded to Flores, a small Isand in the Lago Peten Itzá  in Guatemala and from there  did our trip to Tikal.

 Ancient Skyscrapers in the jungle! Seven hours at the site were barely enough, but the heat, the humidity and the mosquitos set limits to the duration of  ones stay!

There´s loads of animals to see in Tikal, I kind of liked this fellow...

...  until it started chewing on my pants!!!

After a chillout-day in Flores I took a bustrip to Lanquin close to Cobán in order to see Semuc Champey. It is obviously rainsaison in Guatemala  as this photo taken from the bus reveals.

Lanquin is beatififul!

And the Zephyr is the place to stay! Met the coolest people there, greets to all you crazy Australiens, Americans, Canadians, Germans, Sweeds...

I´ve heared that Semuc Champey is one of the most beatufil places in Guatemala, now I can understand why people say that!

And it´s good fun too!!

As you have noticed I have switched languages to english, since the majority of people I meet on my trip aren´t too familiar with german. I´ll probably stick with that for the rest of the blog. Good internet connections have been rare during the last two weeks and I´ve been on the raod most of the time, so this was the first and best chance to uptdate my blog. I´m in Antigua right now, by the way. It´s about to rain and I have my mountain shoes out for drying, so I´ll end my writings now...
Greets! Harry