Perhaps the best time of day in Montericco is 5:30 in the afternoon. This is when el Torutugario (Sea Turtle Sanctuary) releases the baby turtles into the ocean. the babies that have hatched over night are saved until 5:30 and all released together with great ceremony and best wishes for a safe voyage. The engery of hope at thsi daily event is completely excellent.

 It works like this: The workers at the Tortugario set up a line in the sand at 5:30. The tourists line up for the launch. If you like, you can sponsor a baby turtle for 10 Quetzales (~$1.25US) and then you get to let it go yourself into the sand. At the ‘Go’, everyone puts their turtles down and they walk SLOWLY down the sandy beach and are swept up by the tide as the sun sets in Montericco. This is completely fun.

Hotel Posada de San Pedro was a real score. Really beautiful gardens, a nicely appointed room with nice tiles, and a SUPER hot shower with three fluffy white towels. Horray!!!

Funny thing, as I was checking in, someone called my name. It was Sarah and Dan, the same couple from San Francisco that I had been randomly running into all around Guatemala. We got caught up and agreed that now that we had run into each other 3 separate times in Guatemala, we surely would never see each other in our neighborhood in SF. Time will tell.

Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s Guatemala. Today was a series of nice people. Travel books and travelers themselves often talk about rip offs and tricks to avoid them. What about tricks to attract nice people? My advice would be to just allow people to be nice. Give ’em a chance. Believe them.

I woke up in El Capital, and wanted to get to the Montericco, a beach town on the Pacific coast, about 4 hours by buses. I was tired. I wanted a cheap but easy way. I asked at the front desk about buses to Montericco. They didn’t know, but called someone and figured it out for me. Then they called me a taxi for the bus station. The driver picked me up and delivered me to the right bus station. We chatted on the way. I told him (in Spanish) that El Capital is much nicer than the guide books say. He was pleased. He not only took me directly to the right bus station, but he drove around and found the exact chicken bus and got out of his cab to make sure it was the next one leaving for Montericco.

The guys working the bus took my backpack from the cab driver. I had to wait about 15 minutes to board the bus, and by that time I was fast friends with Antonio, the sandal salesman. Antonio is 70 years old. He was from El Capital, but about 10 years ago, when all of his EIGHT children were well grown up, he separated from his wife and relocated to Montericco and opened a sandalario (sandal shop). Antonio came back to Guatemala City every week or so to load up on flip flops for his shop. He had 3 HUGE bundels on the roof of the ckicken bus. For the 4 hour journey, Antonio took great care of me. We shared a seat. We talked about his history and whatever kind of conversation my Spanish could manage. When the bus stopped at other stations, he bought me a snack (which tasted oily and yucky but I ate it anyway). When we had a 30 minute wait in Taxsisco, he took me to his friend’s shop for a cold coke and insisted on paying. This shop was run by this little OLD Guatemalan lady. She was really old, with long white hair and bandaged up ankels hobbling around, but she was working and smiling. When we got to Montericco, Antonio insisted I share his pickup for the 2km ride to town.

Once in Montericco town, I was not immediately impressed. They had a wind storm the night before and the place was a mess. Within about 2 seconds a man and his YOUNG son asked of I wanted to take a mangrove tour in the morning and if I wanted a hotel. They recommended Hotel Brisas del Mar. Not following my own advice, I didn’t trust that they were recommending me to a good hotel, so I looked at about 4 more. Brisas was by far the best in town. I gave the young kid who had been following me from hotel to hotel a tip. He couldn’t have been more than 5 years old, but he was workin’.

I got a pretty decent cement bungalow for about $6 US, and then headed right for the hammocks with the ocean view. The waiter came right up and got me a BIG FRESH OJ in about 2 minutes, we chatted for some time. Ruben is 22 and from Lago de Atitlan. He’s just a really cool guy and great with all the guests. We helped each other learn spanish and english. We spoke several times over the next 4 days. Ruben is great.

Later in the evening, I searched out the happening bar in town, Johnny’s. Jonny’s isn’t exactly happening, but it’s the most happening in town. I watched the sunset with a papaya banana smoothy in hand. My stomach was upset, and I was planning my next move, when a pretty Guatemalan tourist sat down close by. Mina is Guatemalan, but now lives in Switzerland. She and her American boyfriend and his friend were on a 2 week holiday in Guatemala. They were really friendly and fun. We struck up a conversation with a couple, Vilma and Podrick, from Ireland, and their kids. Vilma is Guatemalan. She used to live in Milbrae (near San Fran). She met Podrick in Milbrae, and then lived there until 1990 when they moved to the Aran islands in Ireland, where Podric is from. All these people were really fun.

Today was one of those days where it was to be sola.

Between traveling from Poptun to Montericco, on the pacific coast, I decided to spend a night in El Ciudad (the city). My 6 hour bus trip from Poptun to Guate ended up being 8.5 hours and I just couldn’t handle another hour to Antigua.

My experience in El Capital was just fine. The bus parked at the Fuente del Norte terminal, about the most chaotic bus station I have ever experienced. According to the Lonely Planet, there were about 6 perfectly fine hotels with 3 blocks. I picked up my bag and as often happens, the other gringos on my bus, a family of 4 with two young girls, and myself gravitated together to find lodging. It was dark, and not a pretty city, but I felt quite safe.

The only hassle we encountered was a man who said he was from Honduras and spoke very good English. He said he was just deported from the US and had left his 2 daughters there. He insisted on guiding us to the hotel that we were heading toward anyway and then was very pushy about getting a tip. This was the only person in Guatemala who ever asked me for money.

The hotel was quite fine. There was a TV and hot water. It was super noisy, but so was everywhere, and I had earplugs. On the way to the hotel I spotted a restaurant with big pots of great looking food. After dumping my bag, I went right back there and loaded up with a plate of beans, rice, steak with stewed tomato salsa and platanos. YUMMY! This was the best meal of my entire trip. It was a huge plate of food for less than $4US.

In the morning, I had a look around my neighborhood and picked up some supplies and more cash before heading to Montericco. Granted, I just had a look around Zona 1, but Guatemala city is just fine. It’s a bit dingy, but it’s clean, the streets are wide, and normal people are just going about their business.

After a look around and a good desayuno simple (simple breakfast) of scrambled eggs, salsa, beans, tortillas and chamomile tea, I grabbed a cab to the bus station for Montericco. I’ve very glad that I gave El Capital a look.

The Finca is a Guatemalan style resort and farm located in the lush wet Peten. It’s located some kilometers outside of town and is not posh, but a really nice place enjoyed by both gringos and Guatemalans. The Finca was originally run by an American couple, Mike and Carol. In 1990, Mike was murdered by the Guatemalan government, an act which prompted the US government to suspend aide to the Guatemalan military. Carol has stayed on and is running the place, though things run so well here, that it seems the Finca is running itself.

After a very easy, though overpriced, minibus bus ride from Flores, we arrived at the Finca. It’s a very green and pretty place and there were gringos running about. The staff is a mix of travelers and locals, everyone really helpful and friendly. They have a couple of pet macaws in the front yard. It’s great to sit in hammocks and just watch the macaws. Hamocas (hammocks) are one of my very favorite past times.

We arrived in time for lunch, which is a good thing because the food is great. No shortage of vegetables here; in fact the Finca grows its own vegetables. The service is great as you rock on up to the kitchen and order food when you are hungry (no waiting for table service), and then they bring it out to you on long picnic tables situated along the many porches.

The tree houses ended up to not be all that, so I changed to a bungalow con bano compartido (with a shared bath). For $10 US, I had a great large rustic room, with a big porch with more hammocks, very close to hot hot showers. So happy.

There are a bunch of activities to sign up for daily. Inner tubing, horseback riding and caving are the most popular. My cold was back with a vengeance and my stomach just wasn’t right, so I didn’t sign up for any activities. My plan was just to sit in the hammocks and drink papaya banana smoothies for 2 days.

The plan was to spend New Year’s Eve here at the Finca. Guatemalans have a reputation for being obsessed with firecrackers and fireworks, and I was a bit intimidated to go to a big party in a city, for fear of being accidentally blown up. As it turned out, the Finca is an excellent place to celebrate new years.

The New Year’s party started out a bit stiff out by the bar with loud harsh British music and a bunch of gringos sitting uncomfortably around a bonfire. The bar was decorated by the gringo staff very festively with much attention to detail and looked super great. Before long some locals arrived, happy Latin music was playing, mostly salsa and samba, and everyone started drinking. A great party was born. We were out in the woods, in a log cabin bar, with about 60 people all dancing and just having a sweet time. It wasn’t loud or smoky or crowded. The gringos and locals all mixed and danced together. There were fire dancers, and at midnight, fireworks for our very own party. We all danced ’til dawn. It was one of the best New Years I can remember.

From Coban we negotiated some good minivans, and in combination with well timed motion sickness tablets, we got to Flores without much of a hitch. I even got to ride in the front seat for two out of the 3 micro buses, yeah! Flores is up north in Peten, the northern and low region of Guatemala. It’s lower in elevation and much warmer and also more wet. We’re in the jungle.

The island of Flores is not impressive. I recommend skipping it entirely, but it’s the typical gateway to Tikal. Tikal is a major Mayan ruin site, which was begun about 500 years BC. The most remarkable thing about the site that it is situated deep inside the jungle. So deep inside the jungle that the jungle has grown over the ruins and very tall trees are found growing right out of the stone temples. Much of the drama of Tikal is that they have peeled and beat back some of the jungle around the site, but it’s still a jungle, with parrots and toucans and monkeys and big beetles all doing their thing along side these great big temples. You can see and climb up many temples here, but there are loads more small mounds or hills with tress growing all over them and you know there are temples and structures under all of these waiting to be excavated.

We got to the park at 7am, well before the herds of tour groups would arrive. Klaus and I did not opt for the guide this day, so I can’t really tell you heaps about the Mayans except that they were obsessed with time and all the architecture is about measuring time. They had a few different types of calendars for keeping track of different historical things such as the birth and death of rulers. Their calendars and solar calendars are very accurate. No one really knows what exactly put the Mayans into decline, but it was likely a combination of things like population density and disease, drought, and too much war.

In the morning Klaus and I walked around the major large temples before the crowds hit. Once the reams of people arrived, we took a break for breakfast. After breakfast, it poured down rain, and I really enjoyed myself walking in the rain out to the remote temples. There was hardly anyone out there and I saw a group of howler monkeys run across the jungle canopy. Nice day.

The group was a mix of gringos and Guatemalans on vacation. I like this mix. Our guide, Renee drove the minivan, which was not so crowded, and everyone had a seat. By this time I’ve learned the proper timing and skills to get the front seat in just about any minivan.

After a 2 hour drive, we we first stopped at the Languin caves. Nice big caves, but the once beautiful white limestone is now covered with black soot from 500 years of burning candles and torches in the caves. We piled back into the minivan and arrived at the very pretty Semuc Champey park. It’s a river set in a green jungle-y mountainous area. The river cascades down through a long set of clear calm pools. It’s a little sweet paradise. Mother Nature did a great job. Great for swimming, walking and picnicking.

After lunch and a swim Renee asked the group who wanted to go down under the waterfall. Not knowing any better, I said yes, and a Swiss couple came along as well. Renee led us as we swam and jumped down from one pool to the next. Perhaps I should have been suspicious about the long rope Renee was carrying over his shoulder, but it just didn’t occur to me at the time.

We jumped into the final pool and there was a 35 foot water fall between us and the river below. Renee said to wait here. We innocently swam around the pool while Renee disappeared and returned minutes later with a giant rope ladder. My practical mind, (apparently not present until this time) got suspicious. Renee asked if we wanted to go down the waterfall. The 2 swiss and and I look at each other with fear, but clearly none of us wanted to be the one to chicken out so we all said yes. In a flash, Renee wrapped the rope ladder around a rock and threw the rest over the water fall. Before I could change my mind, Renee was down and the 2 Swiss were telling me to go first. I peaked over the ledge. Renee was waiting 25 feet down there on a rock in the middle of the river below at the bottom of the waterfall, getting pummeled by water. No time to chicken out. I had to go. I just held my breath and went down the wobbly wet rope ladder and thought, ‘This would never be possible in the US. Far too unsafe.’ Then I made it. As soon as I got down, and before I got my bearings, Renee was yelling at me over the water fall to go inside the waterfall and wait. What? For the split second I had, I looked at him like he was crazy. How do I wait inside a waterfall??? Renee turned me around and showed me through the waterfall and into the big cave inside. What a surprise. How amazing. So beautiful. Mother Nature’s secret.

Under the gentle cascading pools we had just been swimming, and behind this scary waterfall was this big cave with a raging river running through it. We had one river running over us, and one river running under us. I’ve never seen anything like this. Only problem was it was cold, dark and I was standing on a narrow wet ledge 15 feet above a raging cave river. I crouched down in the raining darkness and waited for the swiss to climb down and in.

Once all down and in, Renee led us a little further inside the cave. He tied the rope around his should to a stalagmite and then we shimmied through this narrow hole (my butt hardly fit) to a bit deeper inside the cave to get a better view of the cave and where the raging river was coming from. It would not have taken much of a misstep to send any of us off the ledge and into the swift river and rocks below. We had a look around and then made our way through the hole and up and out again and then up the rope ladder. Whew!

Too wet for pictures, so you will have to take my word on this one. It was certainly the best scary adventure for me ever.

According to “The Book” (Lonely Planet), it would take 8 to 9 hours and 4 buses to get from Panachel at Lago Atitlan to Coban, our destination north. We left Casa del Mundo at 6:30am, caught a boat to Panahachel and then waited for a chicken bus to Los Encuentros. The bus came, we very quickly hoisted our backpacks on top and then ran around to board the bus. Yikes! The bus was completely full. Three people in every seat and the isle full with no standing room. With our bags on top, it was too late to wait for the next bus, so we stood next to the bus driver who turned out to be an aspiring race car driver. The bus sped up the very windy steep road out of the volcano. This ride lasted about 30 minutes and I was out of sorts. SEASICK. We were quickly dropped at Los Encuentros. Not a nice place. It’s a dusty 3-way intersection with about 2,000 people waiting for buses, some food stalls and no bathrooms, everyone and everything covered in dust and diesel exhaust. Buses and minivans screeching in and the ayudantes yelling the destination. A bus leaped in for Chichitenango, ‘Chichi, ChiCHI, CHICHI!!!’ That´s our bus! Hurry hurry, hoist the backpacks up and pray for a seat inside. The bus was just as full as the first. The road just as windy, but this time the ride was 2.5 hours long. To make a long story short, I stood up for 2.5 hours with my head spinning focusing very hard on holding back the vomit pushing at my throat and wondering why I was not sitting a beach in Hawaii with the other normal vacationing Californians.

By a stroke of luck, the bus somehow did not drop us at Chichi, but at the next town on our route, Quiche. I suppose when we thought we heard Chichi, we really heard QUICHE. Dun, of course. Very Lucky mistake. It was pretty warm in Quiche, and I slithered off the bus and sat on the ground under a tree. Dear Klaus caught the bags from the top of the bus, located the bathroom and also negotiated our next bus leg. Thank you Klaus. Our next leg to Uspantan, would be in a new minivan. Klaus even reserved me a seat toward the front, right behind the driver. About 20 people pilled in the minivan and we were off. The countryside was really beautiful. Unfortunately, all I could think about was the evergreen air freshener swinging directly in front of my face, already nauseous, I really couldn’t handle the smell (in addition to getting motion sickness, I also have a very sensitive nose). Next thing you know the little girl sitting behind me started throwing up in a little black plastic bag. Nothing can throw you over the vomit ledge like another person vomiting. I spent the next 2 hours fighting back the vomit, thinking about beaches in Hawaii.

Well ahead of our estimated travel time, we arrived in Uspantan. As soon as you arrive at a bus ‘station’ in Guatemala, 5 people come up to you asking you where you are going and then when you answer they quickly push you in that direction. It’s a very efficient system really. The handlers said there was a bus to Copan in 20 minutes. I looked at Klaus and just started to cry. Again, I found a piece of shade and just sat down in the dirt and cried. Klaus said we didn’t have to take the next bus, we could wait a while and he ran off and found me a better place to melt down in the Uspantan town plaza. Once deposited, he ran off and got me some fruit (blood sugar Klaus, good thinking) and then he ran off to a farmacia for some Dramamine. Somehow he came back with anti diarrhea medicine. I pointed this out to him. We tried to look up all kinds of variations of motion sickness in the dictionary and then he ran off again to fix the situation. Klaus is such a dear, he had to go to 3 farmacias and the tourist office and then was able to get the right pills.

The shoe shine boys came by to ask if my Chacos needed shining. The newspaper boy came by to ask if I wanted to by a copy of Diario, the news paper. His name is Juan and we struck up a great conversation. He is one of 9 children. He doesn’t go to school, he sells papers and weighs people in the town plaza. He has two scales. I was surprised that many people bought this service. Men and women. I taught him a bunch of phases in English and told him what a great job he did learning English so fast. He asked me how much I make in one day. He then asked me how much everything I had with me cost. My shoes, backpack, jacket.

Klaus returned from his farmacia trip and I was feeling better. We ate some food and then found the next minivan to Coban. A couple from San Francisco was on board. They live about 10 blocks from me. I started with a good seat towards the front, but then 6 more people piled in and I couldn´t see or breath. The scenery was absolutely beautiful but with 27 people now in the minivan I had to find the scenery behind one persons ear and below another persons underarm. Then the girl next to me threw up. Again, I focused on tranquil Hawaii beaches. Thank goodness for Klaus and the motion sickness tablets.

Right on time we leaped into Coban. We shared a quick taxi to our hotel with the Irish women on our bus. Within minutes I had my own bedroom, a fresh towel, and my ticket to Semuc Champey Park for tomorrow all sorted. All in a good day’s travel.

We have transfered down the lake just a bit to another place. Casa del Mundo is a hotel built into the cliff on the north shore of Lago de Atitlan. It´s an amazing place! The views are face south towards all the volcanos and also west toward the sunset. There is a wood fired hot tub, many small chillout spaces with hammocks and chairs, layers of porches and balconies. They make an awesome banana papaya yogurt shake. I´m still down with this cold and this is the perfect place to recuperate.

On Christmas day we made an excursion by boat to two other towns on the lake, San Pedro and San Marcos.  I don´t recommend either. I´ll stick with Casa del Mundo.

We spent two beautiful days at Isla Verde. Unfortunately, I´ve been sick with a cold the whole time. Fortunately, my bed and little bungalo are very comfortable. Ooh, what a nice mattress! Strong hot solar showers too.  My bungalo bathroom is open to outside. Like a little private bathroom garden. Food is OK, they do have yummy homemade bread.