Sunday, March 15, 2020

Belize came and went in the blink of an eye - HELLO Guatemala!

I last left off at Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Jungle Lodge where Joan, I and the kids stayed at 9 years ago.  I recommend the place to anyone traveling to Belize that want a great jungle lodging and adventure experience.  It was a nice night of luxury!


A few photos of the murals in my bungalow.  Pretty cool!






Then off to Placencia to visit an old friend for a couple days.  It was nice to reconnect and chill out a bit!







I then stopped off at the Pelican Beach Resort owned by a now new fellow Sportsmobile owner.  Unfortunately he was still in route down from the states with his new ride so I didn't get to meet him, but did get to meet his wife and daughter.  Nice resort if you're looking for a get-away.  They also have a resort out at the barrier reef on an island.


I found info on Davis Falls further into the jungle in Belize and thought I would venture to them for a night.  Well, I quickly learned what mud 4-wheeling in the jungle is like and finally hit a point that forward progress just wasn't possible (unless I winched myself the rest of the way in).  







Once I got out I found a sign to falls that were a short hike from the main road so I did the short hike and swim to wash off the jungle.


I called it a day and made a run for a camp near the Guatemalan border.  Stayed next to another nice couple in a much larger vehicle.  People do this kind of travel in about any kind of vehicle you can imagine!  I spent the next morning taking care of another leak (ac condensation found some openings in the passenger side fire wall and was soaking the carpet) then off to the Guatemala border.




Exiting Belize was easy, but took a bit longer getting into Guatemala.  To top it off it was Africa hot and off the chart humidity.  During the entry process I had to leave the van in no mans land and walk about a mile to the bank in the Guatemala border town to pay for my Temporary Import Permit (TIP).  I must have looked old and lost as the guy directed me to the line for old / pregnant / disabled people.  I didn't take offense as it got me in and out quicker.


Once in I went straight to Yaxhá National Park to camp for the night.  Was a fun night listening to the howler monkeys.  I'm told they are harmless but they sound down right vicious!  In the morning as I was sitting having my tea and looking at the lake an 8-10 foot crocodile swam by shore.  Guess that explains the no swimming signs.





Next morning was spent roaming around the Myan ruins of Yaxhá.  I was the only tourist there so got to look around without anyone else getting in photos.  






In the afternoon I made my way back to the ruins of Nakum.  I had two "officials" tell me I needed to take a guide with me but I insisted that I was camping there for the night and I could find my way without a guide.  So they noted the stupid gringo was heading in solo in his camper van.  I had some comfort in knowing at least 2 people knew I was going in by myself in case I didn't come back out.

  • Note, I'm not adding photos of the trip to Nakum here.  I have a video I will post as soon as I get better connectivity.

Nakum is about 10 miles into the jungle on a track that is impassible during the wet season and as I found is marginal in the dry season.

It took me about 2 hours to work my way in to Nakum having to winch out of one mud patch that sucked the van in and having to cut some branches to fit through.  Once there I discovered I was all by myself.  No tourists, no officials, just me and the monkeys.  Perfect!

Nakum was very interesting to me in that it has only had a little excavation work done.  Most of it is still just raw ruins taken over by the jungle.  I spent hours just wandering around and dodging branches I was sure the monkeys were throwing at me from above.

Had a very peaceful, but extremely hot and humid night sleep.  Could only hear some howler monkeys way in the distance and other jungle noises that I don't know what kind of animals they belonged too.  I made an early start out of the jungle thinking it would be easier than coming in.  Well, I made it through the mud I had to winch out of the day before only to get stuck in the next one and had to winch again.  The fallen tree I squeezed under the day before I couldn't fit under going the other direction so it required removal.  I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life.  The humidity was just off the charts.

I finally made it out to where I had camped before to take advantage of the rudimentary showers that pull water from the lake.  Cold lake water never felt so good.  A local tour guide shared his tacos with me, we chatted a bit, he gave me his card in case I ever needed anything in Guatemala (kindness of strangers again), and I was off on my way to Semuc Champey.  Google maps indicated a pretty long time to get there but the tour guide guy said I'd be there by 4pm.

After a lot of low land driving the road made a turn and I started climbing some beautiful mountains.  Very windy and steep.  Then the pavement disappeared and it became rough rocky road.  Still steep.  Then it narrowed to a single lane.  It was stunningly beautiful, but my forward progress slowed to a crawl.  Sometimes due to the tuk-tuk in front of me.  These little 3-wheel "taxis" I found should not be underestimated.  Yes, I had my big off-road camper van with custom suspension, a big diesel engine, and 35" tires but I could only go marginally faster than these little vehicles with tires not much larger than those of a wheelbarrow.  It was amazing to me that these things could handle this road!







As the sun was just about down, I found on iOverlander that others had stayed in the a village football (soccer) field.  I found my way there, pulled in, asked the family across the road if I could spend the night which, as expected, was yes, please!  Later in the evening the "owner" (I think) came by to say hi.  A super nice guy that showed me where there was a water pipe if I wanted to shower in the morning behind the building.  Again, the Kindness of Stangers!  He collected his bull from the field and wished me a good night.




I finished my trek to Semuc Champey in the morning.  It didn't get any easier.  It's funny I never really researched getting there so was a bit shocked at what an adventure it turned out to be.





I set up camp in the main parking lot paid my entrance and walked down to the main feature.  Semuc Champey is really a natural bridge (very wide bridge) with a raging underground river beneath it, but on top are natural cascading aqua blue/green pools that are simply beautiful.  I spent a while swimming, then hiked way up to the overlook, then way down for more swimming, then just kind of took it all in for a while before hiking back out to the van.











Kids just love looking around the van!


Local home made chocolate.  Good, but WAY too rich for me.

Had a burger at Greengos (a very hip hotel / hostel further back in the jungle) at the recommendation of another hostel owner I met.  Then called it a night (another very hot and humid night).


The next day I changed my mind on staying a second night and decided to make my way to Antigua.  This proved to be the longest days drive yet.  Went through about every ecosystem there is (jungle, pine, arid, etc.).  The absolute worst traffic I have ever had to deal with going through Guatemala City during a Friday afternoon.  It was HELL, pure and simple.  11 hours after starting my day I pulled into Vagamundos who had room for me.  Had a pizza at their restaurant, a beer and passed out from the long drive.


Vagamundo's was a very quirky little place to camp.



A side note on Auto Hotels.  They are all over Central America (at least so far).  They rent by the hour and each room comes with a garage to put "hide" your car in.  It's rather comical how many you see and where they are sometimes.


Timing of my visit to Antigua was to rendezvous with my friends Eric and Anita who had arranged a guided overnight hike up Volcan Acatenango to camp across from active Volcan Fuego.  They showed up later the next day and the next day we headed to meet up with another French family they also had talked into the trek.

Some sights around Antigua.











I even got a haircut.  First of the trip!


The tour was through ASOAVA.org.  This is a sort of co-op tour group made up of a few families.  We slept in the football (soccer) field of Catalino's village (San Jose de Calderas) after a wonderful meal prepared by Catalino's wife at their house.






Next morning we met for another good meal prepared by Catalino's wife (I wish I knew her name), met another nice couple from Bavaria that joined us, piled into the back of a pickup truck to go to the trailhead.  We got our backpacks on and started the ~4 hour straight up hike.  I don't think I've ever hiked that steep of a climb before much of it on very loose volcanic soil (2 feet up - 1 foot slip back).  We were in the clouds most of the hike with strong winds.  The cold was actually nice to hike in given the effort level.  We made it to camp which is directly across from Volcan Fuego (much closer than I expected) and is cut into the side of a very steep slope.  Camp is pretty rudimentary.  They set up our tents for us, got sleeping bags in and we just kind of all lingered around.  We could hear Fuego erupting, but being in the clouds could only occasionally get a glimpse of it.  Many of us (myself included) crawled in our tents to take a nap out of the cold and wind.






One of the camp dogs that hiked up with us.  No problem for him to nap.

Once it got dark the clouds started to thin out and we could see red lava shooting out of Fuego.  It was certainly something I had never experienced before.  Simply amazing!  We were offered (for an additional fee) a hike late in the day over to Fuego underneath the cone that was spitting out lava and rocks.  We all passed but later in the night could see the head lamps of other groups that had gone over.  I personally wouldn't have wanted to be under the erupting volcano.
  • A side note, Volcan Fuego had a very large eruption in June of 2018 that killed hundreds of people and shot ash and rocks for many miles.  One of our guides said he was on the mountain (Acatenango) when it happened.  So, as beautiful as it was to watch the eruptions, it's sad to know what the volcano had caused so many deaths not too long ago.





After capturing a few good pictures on my Pixel4 phone camera (it really is quite good for being a phone camera) it was off to bed.  There was an optional 4am summit hike for those that wanted.  I didn't know if I'd do it, but as I was laying in my sleeping bag at 3am listening to the eruptions and rocks hitting the side of the volcano I figured, why not.  I got up around 3:30am to watch more eruptions (it was crystal clear now) and wait for the others to get up.  Turned out to just be me and the Bavarian couple with a guide to head up.  We passed some other groups from other tours to summit first (We Win!).  


The sunrise was spectacular at 13,300'.  We also saw the biggest eruption of the trip while we were on top.  It really is quite impressive.  






Shadow of the volcano looking west.

Our guide showed us some steam vents just off the edge that we warmed our frozen hands in.  Looked around a little more than made quick time back to camp to join the others, eat, pack and head down.




The down part was rather painful on my old(er) knees and I was really glad to get back to the waiting pickup to take us back to our vans.

What a spectacular experience with great people.  If anyone reading this wants to do the same trip I highly recommend ASOAVA.org.  They are about half the price of the large companies and give much more personalized attention from what we witnessed on the mountain.

After eating a bit it was off to settle in at a knew location for 5 days of Spanish lessons.  I REALLY need to get much better!  I'm able to communicate, but it is a challenge most of the time.

My home for several days.  The view doesn't suck!

As far as progressing south, that is a bit up in the air with all that is going on in the world.  I was going to go through El Salvador, but they closed their borders a couple days ago.  After wrapping up Spanish lessons I'm going to try to get into Honduras.  There is a lot of mixed information on if their borders are closed to US citizens or not, so I'll just go give it a try.  If I'm successful there, I'll try to get through Nicaragua and into Costa Rica, but all depends on what each country does with borders.  The situation seems to be changing every day.  There is a pretty good chance I may end up stuck in Guatemala for a while.  I'll keep you posted!

New things I've learned:

  • If you want to get a bull to move, grab them by the balls.  No, I didn't do it, but learned from watching the "bull handler" kid at my Panajachel camp.  There are 3 resident bulls and 2 resident horses.  
  • Guatemalan's are extremely friendly!
  • Guatemala is a very beautiful country with a lot to explore.
  • Not all types of avocados are good for guacamole.  There is a type here in Guatemala that just don't seem good to use.  It's a third world first world problem I guess.
  • Traveling during a pandemic is interesting.  The thought that I may not be able to move to the next country for an undetermined amount of time is just weird to me.  Not scary, just weird.
Until next time ....


2 comments:

  1. Times are strange for certain but glad to see the hospitality of all the Worlds people are treating you well. Hopefully you will avoid the madness here in the U.S. coming to a peaceful part of the World.

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  2. Phil, your photos of the crystal clear water and volcano are jaw dropping gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete