Guatemala - Pick your Nose carefully

 April 2-5

Hello everyone!

About eight-and-a-half hours after leaving home, we rolled up to our AirBnB, situated a little bit east of one of Lake Atitlan’s larger villages: San Pedro la Laguna.

Sunrise over Lake Atitlan

We stayed at these two places, as well as visiting
San Marcos in the northwestern corner

You’d think that a day of relaxation and taking it easy would be in store after a long and mildly stressful journey. That would be preposterous. Why recover when you can wake up at 3:30am to go hiking?

The view at about 5am

It is a popular and well-advertised walk

The hike in question is up the Indian’s Nose, and is said to be the best place at which to watch the sun rise over Lake Atitlan. We were collected at 3:50am to be taken up some devilishly tight switchback turns in a minibus to Santa Clara la Laguna, from where we walked (I can’t call it a hike) up towards our vantage point.

The peak is 2200 metres above sea level

It is a popular activity, epitomised by the number of people already sat on the purpose-built bleachers. Hannah and I quickly realised that we were possibly the oldest tourists there, which possibly highlighted the lake’s appeal to young backpackers.

The platform was packed by the time our group arrived

There are many popular and
slightly treacherous 'photo spots'

People of any age would have appreciated the sunrise, which illuminated the lake and its seven surrounding volcanoes. In the far distance was the ‘Fuego’, a volcano which has been spitting and spewing smoke for a number of years.

Boats start moving across the lake at dawn

Guatemala's more famous volcanoes are visible
here on the right, the southern side of the lake

Having seen it from up high, it was now time to explore the lake itself. It’s a crater lake which only exists due to rainfall which has occurred over millions of years. As I’ve alluded to earlier, San Pedro is seen as a backpacker town, with bustle, bars and a lively atmosphere.

San Pedro is a very steep and narrow town -
this was probably the widest street!

View of San Pedro from a nearby jetty -
its namesake volcano is situated behind

We stayed nearby in a cute AirBnB with water access. The main reason was to be able to use our new toys…

We bought our inflatable paddleboard and kayak from Pricesmart
in San Salvador. They were a key reason for us wanting a car on this trip.

Kayaking around part of the lake is a pleasant and calm way of getting a different perspective of its features. The main feeling I got was how ominous and dominating the nearby volcanoes are.

The kayak worked well but I had pumped one side slightly
more than the other, causing it to spin 180
degrees if I decided to stop paddling

Though it measures 19 kilometres across at its widest point, it takes a lot, lot longer than you would expect to drive from one village to the next. This perhaps explains what we were told on our walk: at one point there were 22 different languages spoken around the lake. As it is so difficult to get from one inhabited location to the next, it is unsurprising that these languages stayed intact for a while.

As with many places in Central America, San Pedro
was preparing for Semana Santa: Holy Week.

Many different Mayans strongholds around the lake

After two chilled days next to San Pedro, we briefly stopped in San Marcos la Laguna on the way to the eastern side of the lake. San Marcos struck us as having a more ‘hippy’ vibe, and certainly felt different to San Pedro.

One narrow lane filled with wellness shops and clothing
stalls connects the main village to the lake

Dreamcatchers such as this one burnish
the alternative vibe of San Marcos

Lots of art depicting Mayans is available to buy

We were next staying in San Antonio Palopo, a very small and quaint settlement on the eastern shoreline. Staying here showed a different pace of life. Almost no other tourists outside of the hotel. The only food option aside from the hotel’s chicken and rice (though the breakfast was phenomenal) was a takeaway pizza parlour. Hastily-built houses of a variable quality leaning over one another on the hill above.

The village backs up onto the flank of the hill

The item on the left is a maize tortilla

The main reason for staying on this side - getting an incredible sunset - didn’t really materialise. Wisps of cloud haze the view across the lake and the Sun itself gets blocked by land - possibly the Indian’s Nose - on its way down at the end of the day.  Still, the light on the lake is a nice view for a beer.

Mayan influence is advertised on this shop

Sunset from the eastern side of the lake

San Antonio’s nearby neighbour is Panajachel, colloquially called ‘Pana’. It’s the biggest town and the one which draws daytrippers from the big city to the east. It is also different from other villages in that it seems to be the main shopping destination. Fabrics of vivid colours adorn a plethora of shops which line and branch out from Calle Santander, the main street which slinks down to the jetty.

Many people and many, many shops selling
a variety of clothes and knick knacks

Mangoes in a wheelbarrow. We actually bought the
little red balls in the basket - they're called
jocote and had a citrus, mango taste.

We didn’t have the chance to take a boat but this is the most common way of people moving between villages. Much faster than a car, anyway, which has to navigate steep hills, steeper speed bumps and inexplicable ‘taxes’ for driving through different mountain villages.

Boats leaving San Antonio Palopo were rare

The winding roads also led to the journey taking a long time

I can see why Lake Atitlan is such a popular spot to visit, not just for Guatemalans but also for visitors from farther afield. Whatever your holidaying preferences, there’s a strong chance you’ll find what you’re looking for. What they all have in common is sitting on the edge of this stunning and seemingly not-yet-spoilt lake. 

One of many colourful buildings in San Pedro la Laguna

Taking the inflatable kayak for a literal spin in the lake

On top of the Nose: hope it doesn't sneeze!

Love you all,

Matt

Guatemala - Hide your Wine!

 April 1

Hello everyone!

Buenos dias from El Salvador’s bigger northwestern neighbour. A place with more volcanoes, more tourists and more potholes in the roads. Bienvenido a Guatemala!

Our ultimate destination: Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Border sign: not overly prominent

The April break has given us an opportunity to explore Central America for the first time. A perfect time to put use our car to drive around-

Frijoles is currently with its...fifth...sixth mechanic?

Oh. I haven’t written in a while so you may not be aware that our car, Frijoles, is…well, as close to being dead as possible,frankly. It decided to stop working in the fast lane of a motorway about a week after we had booked everything for Guatemala…which relied on us using a car. The result was needing to find a car to rent which we could take across an international border.

This conversation explains that this rental car company - recommended
by someone who recently used them to rent a car to travel from
El Salvador to Guatemala - don't rent cars to go between
El Salvador and Guatemala. Of course!

Step forward this Nissan Sentra, which I collected the night before we set off on a long journey to one of Guatemala’s seemingly many jewels: Lake Atitlan.

Our rental car for the week

It's a long drive from home to here!

Knowing it would take a while, we set off a little after 8am from Santa Tecla. After navigating city traffic which seems to never cease, we were making solid progress, only to be halted for a while by a broken down lorry in the middle of a narrow stretch. Being just before the only river crossing for miles around, we had to patiently wait to squeeze by. It wouldn’t be the last truck we’d have to squeeze past.

Stuck in Salvadorean traffic

To the border, then. This was fairly straightforward, in spite of the fact that there were no parking spaces. We both have a ‘green book’, allowing us easy movement between four Central American nations. Our car was subject to a brief check before entering Guatemala. I had enough Spanish to explain enough of our trip, before playing dumb when she started asking about the car. Through we go.

There are many 'fronteras' between the two countries -
this is the southernmost of them, called Hachadura.

We had to park behind these cars -
luckily the process didn't take long at all

The magical green book also gives us easy
access to Honduras and Nicaragua

Unlike trucks going the other direction, it seems. Hundreds of them, a snake of immovable objects waiting to get into El Salvador. Some drivers had resorted to tying hammocks to the undercarriage of their vehicle so they could chill in the shade. 

As you'll see from the video below, this situation lasted a while...

This didn’t prevent many cars - and the occasional truck - passing the snake of trucks to get to the border. A tricky scenario when there is one lane in each direction, with one of those lanes taken up by hundreds of stationary lorries. Mild carnage and an interesting welcome to driving across the border.

We had another, more direct welcome soon after. A police officer, resplendent with dark uniform and enormous gun, motioned us to pull over. This car check was more thorough, including asking to see proof that we could actually drive this car, which had El Salvador plates, in Guatemala. We were prepared for this and handed over the documents, as well as our passports, whilst another officer rummaged through the bags in the bag. 

Well I'm obviously not going to take a photo of a police officer!

I had been calm up to this point as I had everything under control. When the man pulled out a bottle of red wine and started asking questions, my heart rate raised a jot. I’d forgotten that many countries have a limit of what can be brought into the country, and that alcohol is often subject to scrutiny. Was this the case here? “Vino tinto,” the man says. “Necesita,” Hannah replies with a smile. The man with the gun laughs. Panic over. We move on about five minutes later.

Vino: muy importante

The drive was pleasant and easy enough, though I hadn’t expected it to take us up into the clouds…

355 km in total

The lake is situated at a height of 1,562 m above sea level,
but you have to go up and over mountains/volcanoes in order to reach it

Much of the route was very green

A successful border crossing, a successful drive and now time to relax at one of the most spectacular volcanic lakes in the world.

View of the lake from our AirBnB

Much deserved!

Love you all,

Matt

El Salvador - Feeling Fresca

February 18-20

Hello everyone!

To get people exploring more of the country, El Salvador’s tourist authorities seem to have devised a system of different ‘routes’. Having explored places such as Apaneca and Ataco Ruta de las Flores in October, this was the time for something new: Ruta Fresca.

View from the top of El Pital

Our little hikers!

The ‘fresh route’ was devised in 2011 and encourages you to visit the northern frontiers of the country. It is comprised of three villages (I don’t think they’re large enough to be called towns): La Palma, San Ignacio and Citalá.

The Ruta Fresca can be found in the north-central part of El Salvador

A wall mural in Citala

We visited two of these places on our return. Firstly Citalá, which is pretty much on the border with Honduras. The little square, with its neoclassical church sitting in front of a looming mountain range behind, is picturesque. As with many places on Ruta de las Flores, walls have been transformed into fantastic and vivid murals to give the place a splash of vibrancy.

The name is from Mayan,
meaning 'River of the Stars'

The colonial village was apparently one of the
main areas of resistance against the conquistadors

We also stopped in La Palma, which is renowned across the country for its connection to El Salvador’s most famous artist: Fernando Llort. His distinctive style of combining bold colours, dark lines and religious symbols has been transported across the country. 

Llort was actually born in San Salvador
but moved to and set up an art community
in La Palma in the 1970s

His art is ubiquitous: this is inside a coffee shop

Llort moved due to the Civil War, which is the other notable aspect of La Palma. This is where negotiations were first initiated between the government and FMLN rebels, which ended with the Peace Accords being signed in Mexico in 1992. This is less obviously seen in La Palma, which I would otherwise describe as a mildly busy mountain village.

Negotiations happened here in 1984...
the accords were signed in 1992.

I imagine the main park is a lot busier than
it was on this particular Monday morning

We didn’t stop in the other location on Ruta Fresca, instead driving through San Ignacio to get to a camping spot called Allá Arriba. Waze, the more commonly used navigation app in El Salvador, took us the very long way round from San Ignacio, which at least allowed us to enjoy some beautiful views.

We both noted that the country's dry season was
far more visible up here than in Santa Tecla

Views for days!

We had camped at Conchagua before but this was a little bit more traditional. The campsite itself didn’t have much - and had even less after our gas cylinder and cooking pot, which were in a plastic bag, were ‘taken by a dog’ overnight on our second night according to the owners - which meant we spent more time exploring.

Mini played chief guard. Well, when
she wasn't shivering from the cold...

Many flowers such as hydrangeas are
grown in the gardens of Alla Arriba

The basement of the main building was very eclectic
- on the left there is a jukebox machine!

Our main adventure was scaling the ‘highest peak in El Salvador’. It is called El Pital, and has a height of about 2,730 metres above sea level. 

It's quite a steep incline from Rio Chiquito 

I had five layers on at this point, showing
you that it wasn't the warmest ascent...

You may be wondering why I’ve put that statement inside quote marks. You see, GPS trackers suggested otherwise at the top…

To the left of the line is Honduras.
To the right of the line is El Salvador.

A cabin near the peak...but in which country is it? 

That blue dot, us, is very much in Honduran territory. Where exactly the ‘border’ is, I’m not sure. 

Probably wouldn't have seen a border anyway with the mist!

At the 'peak area' of El Pital

We definitely started in El Salvador, hiking with Mini and Maxi from the village of Rio Chiquito along a lovely, easy trail. 

A collection of jams and preserves. The lady also sold
large, yellow granadillas, which tasted phenomenal.

Enjoying being in nature

After a reasonable walk - I’m amazed the dogs did it with minimal fuss - we reached what I would call the ‘peak area’. There didn’t really seem to be one peak; rather, there were clumps of trees on less accessible areas slightly above a grassy knoll. The number of cafes and restaurants reflect the fact that this is a popular excursion for Salvadoreans, though it seemed that many had driven rather than hiked up.

Dogs: knackered

There was a boy rolling down this hill

A cheaper method of transport

These photos may give you an idea of how the weather changed throughout the day. Someone had tried to sell us woolly hats in Rio Chiquito. I found it fascinating to discover that this is the only place where snow has been recorded in El Salvador: on one day in 2004.

Also the snow was in April! April!

Thankfully, the grey sky cleared just as we had decided to start our descent. The result were these spectacular vistas.

Whichever country we were in at this point,
that is El Salvador in the distance

This view made our trip worthwhile. The Ruta Fresca is cool in many ways, and worth a wander around if you have a lot of time in El Salvador.

A mural in Citala

Near the top of El Pital

An incredible view

Love you all,

Matt