After a short taxi ride and walking across the first of many very confusing border crossings in Central America, we took a colectivo to Flores where we successfully squeezed 3 people + luggage in a tuktuk to get to our hostel.
It was pouring down that afternoon & evening (for the first time since Mexico City!) so we just went for dinner and a drink. The next day we went on a day trip to Tikal, one of the largest Mayan cities. We finished the day by following our tour guide’s recommendation and went for dinner at the street food stalls on the bridge between Flores and the mainland. We paid £3.5 for 7 plates of food which was enough to fill all 3 of us up! 🤑
The next day, we embarked on what we were told was going to be a 6-12 hour bus ride (depending on who we talked to) from Flores all the way to Lanquin to stay near the national park of Semuc Champey for a few days. Whilst the driving distance is only 250km and Google Maps led us to believe we might actually get there in just over 6 hours, it actually did take over 10 hours in the end – including a River crossing, but not including the 45-minute ride on the back of a truck afterwards to get to the actual hostel.
At Semuc Champey, we went on a really cool cave tour in complete darkness, only carrying a candle each for some light. We also tubed down the river, swung of a huge swing, jumped off a 12m waterfall and visited the famous pools in the national park.
After a few days rest we felt in need of another long bus ride, so we left Semuc Champey and headed west to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. Whilst the drive over multiple mountains was very picturesque, we were quite glad to get of the bus after a 13-hour trip.
The next day was Christmas Eve and the hostel had organised a day of games and activities to give all the foreign travelers a space to celebrate. Even the hostel baby (not a hostel dog or a hostel cat, an actual hostel baby!) joined in for the fun around the Christmas tree made out of beer cans.
We ended up spending 7 nights at 3 different places around the lake to experience the different vibes each of the towns. This included a couple of nights in San Pedro, where our hostel had an inflatable water blob. Needless to say that we spent hours catapulting each other into the lake…
From Lake Atitlan, we went to Antigua where we celebrated NYE. Like most things in Central America, this was quite unorganised, with fireworks and an LED sign lighting up to display 2020 all being a minimum of 10 minutes late. To start the new year with some exercise, Joe and Julian went on an overnight tour to hike up Volcán Acatenango – giving Eliza a much needed break from the constant annoyance of the guys. Whilst difficult and exhausting, the hike was very rewarding, including views of the continuously erupting Volcán Fuego.
This concluded our time in Guatemala and on the next day we started a tour from Antigua all the way south to Granada in Nicaragua, going through Honduras and El Salvador.
Adventure Unknown 