After my experience at Acatanenga and my time in Lake Atitlan, I was feeling disappointed with Guatemala. It was fine but far from the paradise I expected after so many people raved about it. Maybe my expectations were too high which is why I felt so underwhelmed up to this point. Perhaps it was this realization and a purposeful attitude adjustment because of it, or maybe it was the places themselves, but I finally started to enjoy and appreciate Guatemala the last couple of places I visited.
I made my way to the town of Lanquin which lies 10k away from Semuc Champey, a nature preserve in the mountains in a valley that lies between two of them, where beautiful blue pools of water cascade down from one to another.
I stayed in Lanquin and in the morning walked into town to catch a colectivo to the nature preserve. By colectivo I mean a small pickup truck that was loaded with not just 16 of my closest Guatemalan friends, but about 10 large grain bags and many cases of soda. As I stood in the truck bed holding onto the bars that criss crossed over the back of the truck, I appreciated this was the Guatemalan version of an overly packed commuter bus at rush hour. However, unlike a commuter bus, while shifting my weight for balance with every turn, I not so confidently hoped, the obviously overcrowded, overweighted, pickup didn’t tip over.
That wasn’t the strangest thing about the ride though. Even more so was the fact that people in Guatemala generally are not tall, and I was by far the tallest person in the truck. I mean I was towering over them. That made this ride feel even more unusual.
After hiking above the pools for the panoramic view, I headed down to soak in the refreshing blue ponds. My feet had been pretty beat up after walking in sandals for so long but they got a nice cleaning while in the pools. Small fish swimming in the pools had a field day nibbling on the skin of my feet. It was better than a pedicure.
From Lanquin I took my next shuttle to Isla de Flores. This is a small island connected to the town of Flores in northern Guatemala. The island was great and had a New Orleans French Quarter feel to it.
While there I did a day trip to the Tikal ruins, a Mayan city dating back to 400 bc. The ruins were very impressive and the sheer size was amazing. They purposely have only uncovered a small amount of the ruins (several dozen within a 6 mile area), leaving the vast majority covered to preserve them, and prevent looting and damage. Over the years nature grew over the city and although the landscape is flat, it looks hilly for miles because of the untouched ruins. While walking around we saw all sorts of wildlife including howler monkeys and toucans.
Lanquin and Flores were the highlights of my trip to Guatemala and my visit there ended when I took a shuttle from Flores to Palenque, a town in Chiapas, Mexico.
The thing to do in Palenque is visit their Mayan ruins, which I did. These ruins are also Mayan (hence why I called them Mayan ruins) but incredibly from about 1000 years later, 300+ ad. These too were impressive although I think Tikal was my ruin of choice.
Palenque was a good welcome to Mexico that just kept getting better after I headed up to Oaxaca.
Bubbles Up!!