Tikal

Yaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn... more Mayan Ruins... but these were different. They are deep in the Jungle. They are huge, well preserved and surrounded by amazing wildlife. Welcome to Tikal, the best Mayan ruins i`ve been to by far.

Straight out of an Indiana Jones movie (although a scene in Star Wars was shot here), this site is north of Flores and is well known to be one of the best. Along with a bunch of other backpackers, we hopped in a minibus at 4.30am and hit the road. We arrived around 6am just after sunrise in the hot, sweaty jungle where we were met by our guide Cesar - a Brooklyn born Guatemalan.

Tikal was one of the most powerful Cities of the ancient Maya and was at it`s peak between 200 & 900 AD. The site has a selection of well preserved/restored pyramids, some of which we were able to climb. Once at the top, you are above tree-level and the views were spectacular, across to the other Temples and Pyramids and far out across the Jungle. The air was filled with noises from the Jungle, the most eerie being that of the Howler Monkeys, who scream at each other across the treetops.

I`ll spare you the detail, but if you`re interested, find out more about Tikal here.

Back in Guatemala...

From the beautiful Belice Cayes I hopped on a rickety old bus with no AC and headed back to Guatemala. The mission, to check out the northern lowlands. So I crossed the border and made a bee-line for Flores. A beautiful little town on a small island on lake Peten Itza. The plan, along with my fellow backpacker friend "Shane the Aussie", was to find a nice Hostel and set up camp for a week and do some more Spanish Study. And long story short, that`s what we did.

It was the perfect spot to relax and focus on learning a bit more of the lingo. All in all a great week. Days were filled with study, laying in hammocks sweating in the boiling heat, swimming in the strangely warm lake, watching documentaries, chatting to locals about stuff and chatting to fellow travellers about their adventures. As always when studying, the week flew by, so now i`m en-route back up to Mexico to catch a plane to Vegas for Will & Lyd`s Wedding next week - via a selection of beautiful beaches and towns to enjoy the World Cup in.

The meaning of 'Tenango'

Many places here are called "something"- tenango. This is because the word Tenango means 'place of'. So where I am now, Quetzaltenango, means - place of the quetzal. The Quetzal is the rare national bird of Guatemala and also the name of the currency here. Places where there are many tourists out here tend to be known to the locals as Gringotenango.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson.

Quetzaltenango (Xela)

At an altitude of 2300 meters, Guatemala´s second City took a couple of days to acclimatise to. I´m here for 2 weeks, studying more Spanish at a great little school in the town centre. When I signed up I also signed up to stay with a local family. I was picturing a staying in a stunning colonial house with a beautiful central courtyard bursting with plants and fresh fruit. Perhaps also a couple of hot daughters in their early 20´s to practice my conversational skills with too... Instead, I ended up spending a week in a cold, damp, windowless ´space´out the back of a small shop that sold hammocks, footballs and boy scout uniforms. My host lived alone and was an ageing local lady, however her 5 kids and 8 grandchildren lived nearby and were always around. It was great for a week to learn Spanish and chat with locals of all ages, but one week was enough. Now, i´m staying in a great hostel and am fending for myself without having all my meals cooked for me every day.

Adventure Sports Ego's

Whilst working my way through the north western highlands of Guatemala, I have encountered many adventure travel companies selling myriad trips and tours in the surrounding countryside. Some of these are Guatemalan owned and run, but most are operated by tourists/expats (who think they discovered the country). Most of the time the 80/20 rule applies, where 80% of the staff are very cool, approachable and helpful. However, you can guarantee that there will be that 20% or so who usually conform to the following generalisation/category/tribe:

Usually in their late 30's/early 40's (sometimes older) these people are socially inadequate and cannot converse about anything beyond their job and how great they are at it. Back in their hometowns they are not popular and don't have a large social network - they are very small fish in a big pond. So to become a 'big fish' (in a small pond) they get into Adventure Sports, to express how cool and edgy they are. Then they find a remote spot in a small developing country to work on cultivating an oversized ego and an attitude to customers that would resemble that of a Parisian Couture House's response to me entering their store in a pair of pants and a tramps overcoat.

By placing themselves in a transient environment, where backpacker spass through daily, these people further their ability to massage their ego's because not only are they the key to an 'adventure', they also know everything about the town/area that they're in. Thus inflicting the countless lessor mortals (tourists/backpackers) with a weak attempt at being the 'cool connector' in town.

I had the pleasure of experiening the pinnacle of this observation last week with a company called Quetzaltrekkers in Xela, where the unnescessarily large crew of staff flipped the 80/20 rule on it's head and are currently commanding a strong position of almost all staff being rude, arrogant, unhelpful and dangerously self adoring.

This trend got me thinking about tribes, not in terms of Maya tribes, but traveller tribes. So I think this may be the first tribe of many that i'll identify throughout my trip under the new category heading 'Tribes'.

Other tribe thoughts so far include; Flashpackers, Gap Yah's, Aging Hippies, Mid Life Crisis's, Decision Makers, Shipwrecked Cast Wannabe's, and a few more.

Lago De Atitlan

So I have just spent the week in the stunning Lago De Atitlan as I start to move towards Mexico. Surrounded by hills, mountains, jungles and 3 Volcanoes, this warm volcanic lake is the perfect spot to relax and explore. I stayed in a great little Hostel called La Iguana Perdida in a tiny village called Santa Cruz, which was a perfect base for the week and had a steady stream of interesting people passing through.

My week was filled with a little study, some hiking, kayaking, zip lining, yoga, rock jumping, swimming and exploring the villages surrounding the lake. Mayan culture is in full effect in this area which is very interesting to see and begin to understand. Western culture is also well established around the lake in the form of some epic houses on it´s shores, where Westerners who have settled here live and wealthy Guatemalans come to relax.

All in all it´s been a great week, a perfect rest after the tiring 6 weeks in Antigua and it has set me up for another couple of weeks studying in Quetzaltenango (Xela).

Yo Hablo Español

Ok, stage 1 complete. 6 weeks of Spanish school in La Antigua Guatemala finished today and it feels great! It`s been a real challenge, I wasn`t expecting it to be so tiring and all encompassing. I feel like i`ve just emerged from solitary confinement, with the added bonus of being able to speak Spanish now. I`m not exactly fluent (yet) but I now understand the language structure and form and can hold a good basic conversation.

Next stop, Lago Atitlan for a week of Kayaking, Hiking and Chilling. Then I think i`ll punish myself with another couple of weeks of Spanish lessons in Quetzaltenango (Xela) en route to San Cristobal De Las Casas in Mexico and the beautiful beaches beyond...

Shreddin`Trail. Moto X.

After the previous days adventures on a mountain bike, we decided to hire some Motocross bikes and take them a little further than we went on the push bikes. With our guide leading the way, we headed to Volcan De Agua and (almost) scaled this beast in around an hour via a pretty technical track that took us up to 2700 metres, which was as far as we could get on the bikes. The landscape, views and terrain were amazing, making this a very good Saturday in Guatemala.

Shreddin` Trail. Pedal Power.

Last Friday afternoon I ended another savage week of studying with a Hike and Mountain Bike trip through some local jungle territory with a few people i`ve met out here. We hopped on our bikes and rode around 1km out of town to the base of a valley at the side of Volcan De Agua. Then we dropped our bikes in the back of a local guys pick up and he drove them halfway up for us whilst we hiked through the cloud filled jungle. When we got to him, we hopped in the back and he took us to the top of the hills. Next was the fun part, a 15 min high speed descent through the clouds and jungle which ended at a swimming pool at the bottom, where we sat back and enjoyed a couple of cold beers. A great way to end the week and start the weekend.

Monterrico

After a month of being locked away in a Spanish-language-study-bubble I thought i'd take a weekend break on the Beach. Billed as the best beach in Guatemala and only 2 hours from my current town I hopped on a bus to Monterrico on the Pacific Coast. Having been told it was a cool place to hang out by many guide books and locals I thought it was a no brainer. I guess it depends what you think is cool, but for those of you that know Magaluf in Mallorca, i'd say that Monterrico is the Guatemalan equivalent. The outskirts of the village however were very nice and peaceful and this is where I spent most of my time.

Highlights were; the booming nightclub the other side of my (paper thin) bedroom wall, the immense amount of rubbish scattered along the beach and the masses of passed out drunken people on the beach. In short, it wasn't the chilled spot i'd been hoping for or led to believe - and if you ever make it to Guatemala, without question, avoid Monterrico (on the weekends atleast).

The one thing that made the trip worthwhile was getting up for another beautiful sunrise and hopping on a boat ride throughout the mangroves of the Monterrico nature reserve for a couple of hours, of which there are a couple of snaps above.

Roll on the Carribean coast.

Sunrise on Pacaya Volcano

It's taken me a while to get around to it, but i've finally uploaded a video I took at sunrise when I camped on Pacaya a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful spot looking down into the valley with Guatemala City, Antigua Gutemala and a selection of other Volcanoes and smaller towns covered by low early morning clouds. Check it out here.

Semana Santa 2010

Continuing on with my specialist subject, religion, last week I witnessed my first Latin American Semana Santa (Holy Week). Similar to in the UK where we stuff our faces with chocolate eggs for a reason only few understand, over here they have a week long of extravagant religious processions and events of which the entire community are a part of. Further to this, where I am in particular (Antigua Guatemala) gets flooded with tens of thousands of tourists, making the town a bit like a week long religious version Notting Hill Carnival, minus the Red Stripe, Jerk Chicken & Reggae Music.

The main features are processions where effigies of some dude called Jesus along with his wife and mates are carried around the streets day and night on giant wooden 'carnival float' type things. These are carried by local men (usually between 50-100 people per float) from Church to Church and sometimes from surrounding villages into town. The processions can last for hours and at times throughout the night and it's a great honour to be a part of one. Another tradition during this period is the Alfombras (Carpets), which are created on the cobbled streets and signify a variety of different meanings. They're beautiful, colourful pieces created using coloured sawdust (I think) and often also vegetables. They're also often shielded by barriers to protect them from drunken tourists walking across them.

All in all it's a really amazing sight and experience. To see such passion for a religion and to see the entire community functioning together to create what to me was a well planned, designed and executed integrated marketing campaign. A campaign that engaged the community for almost a year in advance, that had a beautiful identity and colorway that adorned the streets and houses, the TV Channels dedicated to pumping out processions from across the country, the magazines & newspapers dedicated to the cause and a series of events that drew hundreds of thousands of attendees. It achieved on a grand scale what is the 'Holy Grail' for brands today, community interaction and advocacy through to a series of engaging brand experiences across multiple touchpoints. I've never really experienced religion with such passion and being the non-believer that I am can't help but summarise the past week in such a way, so I apologise if this offends you in any way.

Sounds Interesting...

Saw this ad in a local English language brochure the other day. Sounds like I might hear something interesting. It reads:

The Light of God is in Everyone. Join us for a silent meeting in the manner of friends (Quakers) on the first Sunday of the month.

I didn't make it to the meeting.

Lava, Tents & Tarantulas.

Last weekend I embarked on a camping trip like never before. On a live Volcano. Pacaya isn't the largest Volcano in Guatemala, but it's definitely pretty active and history indicates that it's about 4 years overdue for a major eruption, so it was spitting and blasting all night long. We hiked up with all our kit on Friday afternoon, set up camp before sunset on a stunning ridge just below the main crater, then we carried on up the mountain over hardened lava for another hour or so. This is where we came to a couple of amazing lava rivers, pumping out 2000 degree molten lava at quite a speed. A really amazing sight at dusk through to darkness, where the sky had an amazing eerie orange glow when the clouds came in. To spare you the long version, highlights included, roasting marshmallows on the lava, hiking the amazing landscape, the Tarantula that crawled out from under our groundsheet and joined us for breakfast and sunrise at 5.30am. More pics here .

Earthquake Update.

We had a little beauty of an Earthquake at around 11am this morning. It happened whilst at school studying. I thought someone was behind me shaking my chair, such a weird feeling, but amazing at the same time as it was only a little tremor/wobble so it was kinda exciting. You could hear the whole town go 'wooooaaaahhhhh!'.

Volcanos

Antigua Guatemala is surrounded by three Volcanos in close vicinity and more within a slightly longer drive. The three around Antigua are, Agua, Fuego and Pacaya. The pictures above are shots I took from the town centre of these Volcanos. Next weekend I`ll be hitting Pacaya on a camping trip where we`ll be based roughly 250 metres below the 2552 metre high peak for the night and surrounded by molten lava. Should be alright... sorry Mum.

1 Week, 2 Earthquakes.

Had another early morning earthquake this moring. Chill out.

Antigua Guatemala

If you hadn't noticed on my posts yet, when the text is blue, you can click it to link to a story/image elsewhere. So, i'll let Wikipedia do the talking about Antigua Guatemala.
I arrived two days ago in this stunning old colonial town and am staying in a nice little Hostel filled with others in a similar position to me. If you didn't know, this place is well known for being the place to learn Spanish, so that's what i'm doing. Tomorrow, I start a 3 week course at a local school and I move in with a local family too. 5 hours of lessons a day, for 5 days a week - can't wait.

Adios Miami. Hola Guatemala.

My time in the sunshine state is over, time to venture onwards to Central America. First stop, Guatemala. For a bargain price of $250 I got a flight from Miami to Guatemala City via San Salvador in El Salvador, which was booked for 5.30pm. I got to the airport after being kindly dropped off by Ilysa at 2.45pm to be told their were seats on an early flight, direct to Guatemala. So, by 3.30pm I was in the air and en route. Shortly after departing Miami International the views were amazing as we passed over what I assume were the Florida Keys in the Mexican Gulf, it was like a giant piece of work by Richard Wright. The picture above does the sight no justice, i've never seen a landscape like it from the air, it was beautiful.