Back                                                                                                        November 2009 Guatemala Trip

                                                                                                                                                       by Greg Vandiver

Day 1 - I met up with Gaye Greenwald and Ron Worley at the departure gate in Atlanta as needed and we all flew to Guatemala City. Once there, we were met at the airport exit by another member in the group, Merlina Barnes, and also our driver; Santos. We were all hungry, so decided to eat lunch in Guatemala City at Restaurant Los Antojitos de Don Jose. The food was very good, as well as the atmosphere. We went onward down CA-1 Highway and finally arrived 3 hours later to the city of Chichicastenango. This would be my first visit to this particular area of Guatemala and I enjoyed every minute of it, since the population in Chichicastenango is 99.2% Indegenious Maya. That is my kind of of city!

After checking into our rooms at Hotel Chuguila for $20 USD/ night, we all walked around the city to see all of the locals putting up their handcrafts which they were selling earlier in the day at supposedly the largest artisan/handcraft market in all of Central America. We walked into Iglesia Santo Tomas to see that the locals were in the middle of worship and we could see Maya people crawling on their knees, very slowly, towards the front of the church, while praying. The people there are extremely serious about their religion and we did not want to interfere. For those who might visit the area in the future, DO NOT take photos of the inside of the church and also DO NOT walk up the steps at the front of the church there. If you do either, there is not telling what might happen to you! Fore those who want to enter the church, there is a door at the right side of the building which you can enter through.

Afterwards, we ate dinner at Restaurant Las Brasas Steak House. The food was great and so were the cervesas. I actually tried two new beers; Monte Carlo and Cabro. Ron really liked the Cabro, but it was too dark and had too much flavor for me to enjoy. We did go into a souvenir shop there which was selling some original Maya artifacts. The Maya artifacts were kept locked up in a display case. I could tell by looking at them that they were not replicas and they should actually have been in a museum somewhere. One of the items they had for sale was a obsidian knife blade which was about 6 inches long. I know from looking at similar obsidian knives in museums all across the Maya World that it indeed was "The Real McCoy", so to say.

Day 2 - After eating breakfast at a restaurant in town, we were met in front of out hotel by Giovanni Mendoza from Chichi Turkaj Tours, which is owned by his father; Victor Mendoza (office telephone # 7742-1359 and email: chichiturkajtours@yahoo.com). Giovanni spoke very good English and was very informative during the trip. We went to the city of Santa Cruz del Quiche and entered the Maya ruins of Utatlan just outside of the city there. The site was not restored very much at all and was not appealing to the eyes. However, it was a very important site to visit, considering it was the ancient Capital city of the Quiche Maya. We were very lucky to see (4) different Shaman performing ceremonies there. They were burning incense and candles, and at the same time, were offering all sorts of things while chanting and praying in their native tongue; Quiche Maya, the entire time. This was definitely a first time experience for me, for those interested. I did not take any photos of the ceremonies out of respect.

We went afterwards to the town of Zacualpa and had lunch there near the town square. The others in the group had some sort of Oriental dish, while I had carne asada. After lunch, we went to visit the un-excavated Maya ruins of Zacualpa, and had to do so with the help of a local guy, since our guide did not know where it was located just outside of the town. There were only two mounds there, so we did not stick around very long for exploring. After arriving back to Chichicastenango, we ate dinner at Restaurant Tziguan Tinamit, which seemed to be the only restaurant in town that was still open for the night. Afterwards, Ron and I decided to see what was going on in the city square and decided to buy some cake a local lady had for sell. The cake was great, whatever it was and was also very cheap. It tasted similar to chess pie, to me anyways.

Day 3 - Santos arrived at 8 a.m. to take our group to view Lake Atitlan on the way to Antigua. It was the first time I had seen the lake and it was very beautiful. We went onward to visit the Maya ruins of Iximche. The Post-Classic site of Iximche was the ancient Capital city of the K'aqchikel Maya. The site was very well restored and it was a magical place to visit. There were (2) Shaman performing ceremonies at this site as well. After visiting the site, we went onward towards Antigua and stopped to have lunch at Restaurant Chichoy. The restaurant was very nice and the food was good as well. After arriving to the city of Antigua, we all checked into our rooms at Hotel San Jorge for $53 USD/night. Not only was I pleased to find that the hotel had a large purified water dispenser for free use by their guest and had free wireless internet available, I was also pleased to know that a free breakfast was included each day as well.  

We walked around the city a bit and decided to have a nice dinner at Restaurant Fonda de la Calle Real. The food was very good but the restaurant was a bit warm. 

Day 4 - After eating a nice breakfast at Hotel San Jorge and seeing Merlina off, Gaye, Ron and I decided to walk around the city on this day and take in a few museums and cathedrals in the process. The "La Merced" Cathedral was very beautiful, inside and out. There were people praying inside, as I figured they would be. Casa Santo Domingo was stunning! They had a very nice assortment of museums onsite, in which two had a lot of Maya artifacts. 

I found a small restaurant for lunch called "La Cocina" which was cheap and had great food as well. They had a small buffet at the restaurant, from which to choose your meal from. The lunch plates were extremely filling and cost only $35Q. We were all very full when we left that place, and for those interested, the restaurant is located on 4ta. Calle Oriente and is between 1A. Avenida Norte and Callejon de la Concepcion. To further help someone trying to find this place, there is a Dominoes Pizza Restaurant next to it. By the way, Restaurant La Cocina only serves breakfast and lunch, for those interested.    

Ron and I decided to go back towards the hotel and visited the Convent of Santa Clara on the way. The convent was home to around 250 nuns at one time, before an earthquake destroyed most of the place in the late 1700's. Later in the evening, we decided to eat dinner at Cafe La Escudilla. I had no complaints about the restaurant.

Day 5 - After a nice breakfast at the hotel, I walked nearby to a plumbing supply store to buy a 110 volt a/c adapter for my netbook. Luckily, I did find one there for 25 cents. Afterwards, I decided to check out the market in Antigua and that place was nuts! I have visited many markets in Mexico and Central America during my visits to that part of the World, but none were previously as loud and busy as this one was. Once I went in, I had a little trouble finding my way back out. 

I found Ron in the Central Park and we sat on one of the benches to pass the time, until our shuttle arrived to take us to Guatemala City later in the day. While we were sitting and waiting, all sorts of vendors asked us if we wanted to buy things from them. That is one of the things I hate about visiting this part of the World...people will bother a person continuously to try to sell them something that they have for sale. I know they are only trying to make a living for themselves, but it gets old after a while. 

As Ron and I were sitting there, we felt the ground start to tremble and watched the chains on the barricades start to shake. Everyone else in the park acted like nothing happened at all, but I know Ron and I had not imagined it. We had sat through a very small earthquake tremor. That was definitely a first time experience for me! Once at the airport, Ron and I decided to eat at McDonald's and as healthy as we could, while Gaye decided to eat at Subway. 

Our flight was on-time and we all flew to Flores with Taca Airlines, for the rest of our trip. My good friend Lente was not waiting on us at the airport exit, as I had asked him to, so we made arrangements for another driver to take us to Hotel Mirador del Lago in Flores for checking into our rooms there. Once I dropped my bags off to my room, I was immediately met there by Lente and he was apologizing to me for not being at the airport as needed when we arrived. He had ran into a problem and was actually on his way there to pick us up when the other driver took us to Flores as needed. The alternate driver charged us twice the amount that Lente would have, but that is the way it goes I suppose. We all had dinner at Cafe Yaxha and talked about the plans for the next day with Dieter as needed. 

Day 6 - I decided to do some fishing in Lake Peten-Itza for some blanco, but only had a couple of bites. I think I had waited too late in the morning for trying to catch some fish, since I knew I was using the correct bait. It is called fishing...not catching. Ron, Gaye and I were joined by two Germans and an Irishman for our trip on this day. We were to visit two sites with Dieter Richter, so we all left out at 8 a.m.. We visited Nakum first and I actually saw a couple of things there I had not seen before. Dieter is a very good guide to visit Nakum with, since he had worked there as an architect in the past and knows the site quite well. We decided to eat lunch there at the entrance, which consisted of turkey sandwiches, fruit and cold beer. It was a wonderful lunch, especially the sandwiches. 

After leaving there in the early afternoon, we went onward for another 45 minutes to arrive to the Maya ruins of Yaxha. The site is one of my favorites in all of Guatemala and I have been there 5 times in the past. The site has so much to offer, even though it is a good bit smaller than the famous site of Tikal which the majority of tourists flock to visit each year. Dieter actually got permission for our group to view a section of some graffiti which was inside one of the structures there AND which was something I had never seen before, while visiting the site. 

We all toured the site and climbed to the top of Temple 216, for viewing the sunset over Lake Yaxha. Dieter and Lente even brought a cooler of cold beer to the top of the Temple and we enjoyed a few of those beers as well, while we waited. By this time, my good friend Raul Noriega had joined us and I was glad to see him once again. Raul and I always have a great time talking. The sunset was more beautiful than any I had experienced before and it made a good ending to a wonderful day. I will never forget that day as long as I live for it was fantastic in every way.

Day 7 - We enjoyed sleeping in on this day, for we were to visit one more site, before returning home. Since this was Ron's first time to visit Guatemala, I felt it would be a shame for him not to experience the mighty ruins of Tikal, before going back home. So, we caught a San Juan Travel Agency minibus and went to visit the site as planned. I actually saw some things at the site, on this particular visit, which I had never seen before. The site is so large though, it would take a week or more to see all there is to see there. We did see a few monkeys, coatimundis, turkeys and a acouti while there. 

After visiting the site for a few hours, we decided to grab some lunch at Comedor Ixim K'ua. The food was decent, as well as the price. I thought the service could have been better but one cannot expect much at ANY restaurant in this part of the World. When we paid our bill, I could tell the owner was having trouble adding up the amount each person in our group owed to him. Thankfully he finally got it all straightened out and we all caught the next available minibus back to Flores. 

Back in Flores, I decided to see if Dieter was at his restaurant and was very happy to see Walfre Chi smoking a cigarette outside the entrance to his restaurant. He gave me a hug and we talked for a bit. I also saw Oscar Quintana while there, who is a Guatemalan architect that has been doing work for many years at the ruins of La Blanca and San Clemente.    

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