18.6. - Tierradentro
We got up early, had breakfast and started our walk at around 8h. We first went to El Alto de San Andres. The guard there sold us the entry ticket and told that also the other guards via radio. The tombs there were nice but not exciting with just very little paint. We continued the steep, hot and long climb up to the highest site. There were more tombs and also one that featured nice, colored, animal decoration. We continued the steep 500hm descent to the museums and had a break there. Then we had a break with fresh made juice and went to the museums. We continued to the main site up the hill with many tombs. There were very nice ones with interesting, colored, decorations. We wanted to tip the guard – as recommended in the Rough Guide, but the guard refused and said that everything was included in the ticket anyways. We continued to the next tomb site which was also nice but not as impressive. However it featured a very deep tomb. We went on to El Tablon again, where the guard was just about to go home. He opened for us and we had a brief close look at the stelae. Then we went to the hostel and had another nice dinner. We played cards (Schnapsen) and had beer.
19.6. - Tierradentro – San Agustin
After breakfast we were ready for the bus at 8am which did not arrive before 8:30. It was a busetta (a pick up truck with two benches on the platform and canvas as a roof. After the first stop we managed to get seats in the front which was much more comfortable. In La Plata we had to change to another one. The driver was nice and even had a break for me to go to the ATM to get enough money for the journey. He only went until Garzon where a guy talked us into taking a minibus, which was more expensive than the other taxi driver told us before. Well, not much, so we agreed, although they also told us that an equal bus would take us on the last leg of our trip. We sis not pay everything at once, as it sounded a bit vague. In the bigger town near San Agustin the driver told us we should switch to a old busetta and there was only space in the back. He also told us that it would be only 15min. Well we left and we expected that we would have to pay the rest to the new driver. However, it turned out that the guy had paid for us the last trip and we did not pay him the rest. So finally, by chance, one time we took advantage of a taxi driver instead of the other way round. Well he also lied to us in many ways and it were not 15min in the back of the truck but almost an hour. On arrival in San Agustin, touts approached us and Carlos was the one to guide us to the hostel of our choice – El Hogar de San Agustin. It was good in a way, as the address in the Rough Guide was once more wrong. The hostel recommendation was good, though. A really nice hostel and the woman of the French couple owning the place, looked almost exactly like Jamie Lee Curtis. We went to eat in a recommended place – El Fogon – and it was very good indeed. After that we had Maracuja and Chocolate pastries in our hostel, as our hostel-woman also runs a small pasteleria. Then we had a nice conversation with our hostel-woman. Later Carlos returned and succeeded. We booked the horse-riding trip and the jeep tour. Then we had some beer and played cards again. Later an Argentinian girl joined us and we talked with her for quite a while before going to bed.
20.6. - San Agustin
The breakfast was simple but the home made jam was very nice. At 8h, Carlos picked us up with the horses. So first we rode the horses out of town, with my horse first going very slowly and then starting to run, crossing a crossroads quite fast, to catch up. Carlos then showed my how I could (at least try to) steer the horse. It was quite fun to ride the horse and the longer the trip lasted the more the horse seemed to accept my steering. We had several stops at sites of the mysterious statues and saw many plants and fruit that Carlos explained to us. At one of the stops where we had a nice view over the river, Radka found a small rat-like animal caught in a barbwire. We had to cut it off to hopefully safe its life. The trip ended at the archeological park where we first had a coffee and some cake, before entering the park. The site was nice and we really liked the statues! We also visited the museum and then took a collectivo back to town. Then we walked through the whole town to get to every of the three ATMs to find out that none of them worked for us or had money. Luckily we could at least buy the bus ticket to Bogota with credit card. Then we went to eat at El Fogon again. Again very good and again we had the nice maracuja cake at our hostel. We also had a nice conversation with our hostel-woman. Later Carlos came by to show us some of the ceramics he pretended to have dug up from some graves he supposedly looted. I did not buy it … also literally. It was a bit tirng as he really wanted to trade one of his simple ceramic objects, which could be done by his children, for something from us (eg. the jacket or the shoes). Well he was a bit sad but we at least wrote something in his recommendation book. Then we had some beer and continued our card playing tournament.
21.6. - San Agustin
After the breakfast I ran again across town to find try out the ATMs and luckily was successful with the second. At 9:15 Gustavo picked us up for the jeep tour. First we went to a river which was nice, but the stop lasted quite a while. Then we visited some graves which were nice and continued to El Alto de los Idolos, which also had many nice statues. After that we had some lunch and went on to another statue site. Then we went on to waterfalls. The biggest of the country and at the same time second biggest of south America. Unfortunately, it was raining by the time we got there, so it wasn't that exciting. The other one was quite a bit smaller but by then it at least had stopped to rain. At around 5 we retourned to the hostel where we had orange cream cake this time. At around 7 we caught our night bus to Bogota which was freezing cold and in which we got to see a really boring film about a dog. We soon fell asleep.
22.6. - Bogota
At 4:15 we were woken up by the bus assistant because he collected the blankets. Still it was almost Antarctic conditions but we did not arrive before 5:15. At the terminal we queued for a taxi and took it to the Alegria hostel, where we booked a room. Then we had to wait there for 2h, drinking coffee (at least) and reading the guide book, until they showed us a room in the second part of the hostel half a block away. It was quite a „hole“ again. It was quite humid, small and with shared bathroom. We had a croissant and another coffee and went downtown. The museums and the bookshop where we waned to go were still closed so we visited the church on the main square. Then we went to the arts museum and the joint Botero museum. The arts museum was quite nice but in the Botero museum we mainly focused on his modern art collection. Boteros works depict anything in a really fat version. First it is funny but after a while it looks a bit disgusting. Then we had some national soup or stew which was ok but quite expensive. Then we went to look for a guidebook on Central America but were not successful. Back in the hostel we looked for flights and found a really cheap one back home from Alaska. So we finally have a flight back, end of September. We also booked a flight from Mexico to LA. Then we went downtown again and still did not find a guidebook. We had a burger and some nice but expensive ice cream. We took a taxi back to the hostel and continued searching for a flight to Guatemala until we went to bed.
23.6. - Bogota
Having breakfast we talked to a couple form Cali who were in Bogota for a Christian convention. We went down to the tourist information and asked for directions to the post office. We did not really get if it was the real national postal service or if there even really exists one but also our guide book recommended this company. So we sent a 4kg package home to Austria, to get rid of some weight and volume. It was expensive though and cost around 65 Euro. The postcards would have cost 3 Euro each, so they have to wait again to be sent. Then we went to Airline offices and again did not find cheap flights. They were even more expensive. So we went to an internet cafe and booked the most expensive flight of our trip. 560 Euro to go one way to Guatemala City. After that we went to the Museo de Oro. The gold museum. It was huge and impressive with thousands of beautiful pre-columbian pieces. Then we walked around the city and caught a bus heading towards a shopping mall. The mall could have been in Europe, it was crazy. Everything so equal and boringly “beautiful”. We had to leave soon. We also went into the local beer pub, but left right away, the beer cost almost as much as in Norway. We took a bus back and got off at a Bata (a Czech shoe company) store we passed, where Radka bought shoes. There was also a nice church and we had a perro caliente (hot dog) in front. We took another bus which was very full but it went close to our hostel. However it was quite a fight to get off the bus and when I managed to get through, I did not set my foot properly on the last step an slipped. I landed hard with my hip on the edge of the side walk. Luckily my head did not hit anything an my hip just hurt and nothing was seriously hurt. We went up to the hostel and relaxed. Then we had to walk to the ATM. It was already dark but the guys from the hostel said if we walk along certain streets it is safe. So we did. On the way back we were looking for a place to eat, but it seemed quite expensive. In front of our hostel we saw a sign down the road which looked like a place to eat. So we wanted to try there. When we were just about to reach the place 7 guys approached us rapidly . It did not look good, but in that moment it was already too late to run away. The next moment they, pulled out knives and robbed us. We were shocked. Radka at first ran away but then turned around, it would have been to far and they already had me. All the time they kept repeating to say tranquillo (relax), which I also repeatedly said. They got my wallet but luckily did not find my credit card in my pocket. They took my passport though and I was horrified just having bought a very expensive flight for the next (early) morning. Well, then they wanted my jacket. And I said to the guy, the jacket for the passport, and begged for the passport. He was nice in a way, as he gave it back to me. Then he wanted to have my watch as well, but the other guys were already running, so he did not manage to take it off me and ran after them without it. We ran up the hostel, and were shocked and though unlucky being robbed, very lucky that they only got money, and well, my very expensive jacket. We met Ruben an employee in front of the hostel. He called the police right away which did not help anything of course. But he was nice and helpful in the situation. We also met Alegria the owner of the hostel who offered us a vodka right away and who invited us to go out with kind of the whole hostel to another hostel for a big party. She said that everything we will drink will be on her that night but she did not remember when we actually arrived at the party. It was a crazy party, with many people, but after having two beer, which we paid with the money, the hostel lend us, we decided to take a cab to an ATM to get some cash and went on back to the hostel to get some sleep. There we had a nice conversation with some other Colombians and went to bed. The neighbors of the hostel unfortunately had a party and so we did not sleep much in the few hours we had.
24.6. - Bogota – Flughafen – Guatemala City
We got up at 4:45 and took the taxi at 5:30. At 6am at the check in the lady there told us that we need a flight out of Guatemala or Mexico if we fly into Guatemala. This they already told us once, but we had the booking of our Mexico – LA flight with us. Unfortunately, the payment was not through yet and thus the flight was not in the system and just a reservation. We had to book another flight, which we did online. But also this did not work because it takes 24h for credit card bookings to get through. Again the lady did not let us check in. So we had to run to American Airlines. They could only print the reservation, which again did not help and thus we could not board. We were really pissed. The lady at the counter was everything but helpful and told us very cool, to just change our flight right now to a later time and buy another flight out of Guatemala or Mexico. I was really pissed and swore that the whole terminal noticed that I was pissed at this stupid airline personal. I was furious. So we asked to change the flight to 7h later. It cost a bit more than 350 USD. Then we went to American Airlines and paid for the flight there (which was much more expensive than the initial flight plus surcharge). If the stupid lady would have told us to do that initially we wouldn't have missed the flight, nor have lost 7h and hundreds of USD. At around 11 we finally had some breakfast. They also fooled us there and we paid almost double the price the usual breakfast would have been just for having extra cheese and ham, we almost couldn't finish. I told them but we didn't really care anymore. Then we went to the police, as we had time, to report the robbery. This, only is possible online, and they helped me fill in the form. They told me that it wasn't possible to get a stamp on that, but that this was the official thing. Then we had a quest to buy something to drink with just a credit card. In the end we managed to buy some in the pharmacy. After the security check we had another quite expensive lunch, a burger, and finally took off at 15:10, 7h late. In Costa Rica we had a stop and the next plane was late. We finally arrived in Guatemala at 19:30. Oscar was not there and most of the airport was closed. Also the part with the ATM. So we took a taxi to an ATM and then also had to buy credit for the drivers mobile phone, as he had to call to Oscar for directions, as he did not know the address. That worked out and so we finally arrived at Oscars place in Guatemala City where he lives with his sister, Luana, and their mother. We had some small things to eat and some rum (“Schnappi”). It was very nice! We enjoyed being at a private place again for the first time after almost 3 month.
25.6. - Guatemala City
After breakfast Luana drove us downtown and dropped us at the cathedral. The cathedral was very simple but nice. On the main square, a guy, Hector, started talking to us. He helped us find the post office and told us that he was a teacher and is not a tour guide. He just wanted to practice his English. He also showed us a bookstore which was closed and lead us to another one, in the Centro Civico, to find a guide book. Unfortunately, we did not find anything like that. We invited him for a coffee in the shopping center there and then he asked for money to buy some food for his parents. Well, it was quite a bit he asked, we gave him part of that. Then he walked a bit more with us and then supposedly took a bus to go to his parents. On the way along the Avenida principal in the center, which is pedestrian only, I bought a cheap watch and a battery for the other one. Then we walked to La Merced, but the church was closed. Then we walked again to the bookstore which was closed but it was still. We had a burger as we were acutely hungry and then walked to the tourist information. This was again quite far away but unfortunately closed. We were tired and took a taxi back to Oscars home. Later we had a really nice kind of dinner. We had a lot of tomato with olive oil and balsamico. It is unbelievable, how incredibly great this can taste if you did not have it in month. We also had some beer and rum. A nice evening.
26.6. - Antigua
We had a very fast little breakfast and walked to a street for buses going along the periferico. At a big intersection we changed to a bus to Antigua. Antigua is really nice! We walked through the center and had another big breakfast in a nice courtyard. We again searched for a guide book. This time we found one. It was however quite expensive and we went on to another place and there got a used one, though a bit older, very cheap. We had a lemonade there and walked to the ruin of la merced. A nice site and from the roof I spotted the language school where I once took a one week course when I was here with my mother. Then we followed Oscars advice and went to the 5 star St. Domingo hotel. They also operate a restaurant on a hill above the city and provide a free shuttle. Waiting for the shuttle we took some photos of the ara macao parrots in the court yard there. On the hill there was a park with sculptures and then we also went to eat there. The food was not really cheap, but delicious! I had a great steak! And Radka great ravioli. Then we had great desert. :) We went back with the shuttle and then walked to another road to take a bus back and do the reverse journey, which was a bit more crowded but worked out well. Back home, Oscar told us to get ready to go out to a book presentation. It was taking place in zona vida, where people go out, in a very new shopping mall. Very artificial again. We were late and it was a small book store, so we decided not to go in. Oscar knew the book anyways and just wanted to meet a friend there. We went out to have a beer. In a place they had drought beer, but in really funny glasses. It was good though! Then we went back but all people were gone. So we had another beer and burgers there, before going home.
27.6 – Guatemala City – Copan
In the morning, Oscars mother prepared pan cakes for us. Really nice! Then it was a bit stressful, as we found out that we were supposed to be 45min early at the bus terminal to buy a ticket, plus there was a lot of traffic. Oscar drove us there, and we arrived 20 minutes before. Of course it was still possible to buy tickets, and some bought one after us. In the end we left 10 min late because we waited until all people there bought their tickets and they were very slow in selling them. Then we said good bye to Oscar and left in the nice aircon bus, direct to Copan, with armed guard standing in the corridor. The ride took much longer than expected. There were quite some construction sites. The border crossing was easy, we just had to pay some entry and exit fees. In Copan we were looking for a hostel when a guy approached us who finally convinced us to take a look at a the Mar Jenny hostel. We agreed, as we did not really have favorite anyways. The place was reasonable and so we stayed. Manuel, the guy, was actually a horse guide and wanted to talk us into a horse-riding trip. Well, we did not have time for that anyways. After getting some money from the ATM we paid for the room and were happy to find out that it was even cheaper than Manuel had told us. Then an incredible thunder storm went over Copan. The steep street transformed into a small river and we had to put a towel in front of our door to prevent the water from the open corridor (in the second floor) to enter. Then also hail came down. When it was over we went to the restaurant Llama del Bosque, where I always went when I was in Copan. The owner had a small stand selling food already when my parents where there the first time. However there was no electricity still and so we went on a terrace across the street to have a beer there. There, we started to talk to, Ronen, an interesting Israeli and later a US couple joined us. He did a master in spiritual psychology (or sth. like that) in California and said, talking about voluntary work, to be in service, is the highest form of being. We also discussed about the ego issue. Later there was power again and so we went over to Llama del Bosque. Unfortunately, they did not have the Pollo a la Naranja any more. The alternative we chose was good as well. We also met the owner and I told her that it was a pity, that they don't have the Pollo a la Naranja any more. She told me that they could still do it if we wanted. So we will try tomorrow. We got some beer to drink in the hostel. We were sitting on a small table as everything else was still wet.
28.6. - Copan
The breakfast was good but a bit more expensive than they told us before. After that we walked to the ruins. The entrance fee was pretty step, 15 UDS plus 15USD extra if one wants to visit the tunnels. Another annoying thing was, that it was for free for students that day, but only nationals, of course. That also meant that loads of school buses arrived that day and the ruins were flooded by students. The main plaza was nice and it was nice being back here. I liked the stelae, however I did not like that they meanwhile had put some of them in the museum and replaced by replicas. They also removed a lot of temple parts and tops just to put them in the museum. Sure preservation is important, but that is something stupid in my opinion. Also the consolidation work on many temples which were not restored is very ugly, as they just poured tons of concrete over the lose stones. They also built concrete stairways for the tourists on top of that. It's a shame. Still I like Copan. Later we visited the tunnels. One was a few hundred meters, showing some old temple parts and foundations underneath current structures. While we were in there, the power was cut and we were left in complete darkness. I had my head lamp with me, so we could manage to go on. 10 min later they managed to start a generator to have light again. The second tunnel, is leading to the sensational Rosalila temple. A completely preserved temple over which a new one was built. The fascinating thing is that they really took care when building the new temple over the old one and so all the stucco work was preserved and also the colors. And that is quite crazy. The temple is all but we would imagine it would have looked like. It is very colorful and intensive. That was why we paid 15USD extra each. Entering the tunnel however was very disappointing. The tunnel is very short and only leads to two windows at the corner of the temple from which one can look along two sides of the temple. Furthermore it was poorly lit and the glass was dirty and humid. Quite a steep price for that! Everywhere in the site trees were lying around and one small temple collapsed under a tree, and another roof over an estela was also destroyed. The thunderstorm the day before was obviously above average. Then we had a coffee and something to eat before we visited the museum, with a tunnel like entrance, where they have a 1:1 copy of the Rosalila and a lot of original parts of the temples. It's nice but should be in sitio in my opinion. Then we took a tuc tuc to the sepulturas region 2 km further. There are some nice parts excavated, almost no people but many mosquitoes. From there we walked all the way back to the hostel. Back there we drank a lot as it was very hot and we ran out of water. Later we went to have the Pollo a la Naranja. Well, it was nice they tried to do that extra for us, but it was more like a try, and had nothing to do with what they used to have, when they were still across the street 15 years ago. Then we bought some beer which we then had in the hostel.
29.6. - Copan – Flores
This time the breakfast was quite small as there were also other guests, and so we kind of had to share what they had in their kitchen. We checked out and took a collectivo to the border where everything went smooth. A bus to Chiquimula left right away and there they showed us to a bus which was going to the intersection where the road to Peten branches. They told us that all the buses to Peten stop there at the gas station. We had to wait for more than an hour there. The bus that came was pretty full, and so we had to stand. We were hoping that many people would get off in Rio Dulce, 1h later or so, but the opposite happened. Many people squeezed into the bus and so it was even tight to stand. Next to me was a Jamaican who started to talk to me. At first I was thinking what this guy wanted from me, as he started telling crazy stories, about girls ripping off rich guys and about the last night he had spent with a nice girl and stuff like that. Later I realized Ivan really just wanted to talk to forget about having to stand for such a long time. In fact we had to stand there for 3h until we got to sit. Then Ivan was sitting behind me and a guy next to me, Nelson, joined the conversation. It got dark outside and the stories became even more crazy. Apparently the guys had both been detained from the US, and both were on their way to the US border. However, Nelson was aiming on entering the US, but just offered a kind of guided tour for people from El Salvador until the border of Texas. From there the people can do whatever they want but he doesn’t want to be responsible for that. He said that he knows a lot of people and with money anything is possible. Other stories of drugs, police, tattoos and more followed. After 6h on this crazy bus we finally arrived in Flores and we took a taxi to the Cafe Yaxha, where we were hoping to meet Dieter, a friend of Oscar and be able to stay. Unfortunately, he was not there but in Antigua and they were full. So we had to search for another place. The 5th place was the first which was not full and as it was kind of ok, we took it. We were just in time to still get a burger before the kitchen closed in a place near by, so we could at last get something to eat before going to bed.
30.6. - Tikal
We got up early to catch one of the shuttles which pass the hotels and also did not have a proper breakfast to be ready at the booked time. Of course we could have had a relaxed breakfast because the transport was more than 30min late. While waiting we at least had a nice conversation with our hotel boss in Spanish. In Tikal we had a coffee in the Jaguar Inn and then entered the ruinas. We soon reached my favorite temple, temple #1. Temple #2 was, unfortunately, closed since 2 weeks or so, as they had to take down the wooden staircase. In fact, the only still climbable main temple, is #4 and that also via a wooden staircase. That was quite disappointing. Still it was nice to be there again and to walk around there in the middle of the jungle. We spent a long time in the ruins and a lot of nice memories came back. Later, I visited the two museums, litico and pottery. At half past 4 we took a transport back to Flores. There we had a local fish in a nice place where we were able to watch the lake and the sun set. Later we met Dieter who had just returned from his trip. He recommended us to visit Ek Balam on our trip on, and also gave us some other advice. We did not talk to him for a long time as he was very tired. Then we had a very cheap beer next to the cafe, as this was already closing.
1.7. - Flores – Caye Caulker
We packed our things and bought something to eat before again having to wait half an hour for the shuttle bus to arrive which finally left 1h late. While waiting we watched James Bond with our hotel boss and also talked with him, which was fun. Many people wrote that this shuttle to Belize City was much easier and faster than taking local buses and that it was safe. We however did not feel really safe in a bus full to the last place just with tourists. Furthermore, I doubt that this is faster, as we left really late and we also had stops for washing the car and for the driver to drink a coke, while everyone inside had to watch him drink. The border crossing was very nice, as there were even guys welcoming us there, who were also helping us with the formalities and giving us free information on Belize. They also gave us vouchers for a cheaper ferry ride to the islands with a different company than the one our shuttle was from. We also had a coffee there as there was again plenty of waiting time for whatever reason. When we arrived in Belize City at the ferry terminal, the guys there were really stressful, pushing us to buy a ticket and move now as the boat was leaving. We would get the same price as with the other company and so on. We did not like that and also were hungry and had to use the ATM so we left them. In the other ferry terminal we got something to eat after a guy was giving us a long history class on the origin of the name Belize to get some money. It was interesting and fun but at the same time a bit annoying as we were really hungry. We got to see the last minutes of the Euro Cup final before we boarded our boat. Unfortunately, we did not get a space in the bigger boat and had to enter the smaller one, which was more bumpy than the bigger. That was quite tough, as I had a strong headache and we were bumping hard on the water for 45 min. At the dock on Caye Caulker a guy was already waiting for us to show us hostels. We did not have specific plans and agreed. We took the second place. We had our own bungalow with porch there. A nice, reasonable priced place, though not very central. Then we went up to the split, a channel which exists since a hurricane split the island in two. There was quite a party going on and many drunk tourists, but we only went to swim. It was also the last day of the “Lobster Fest” and many small BBQ stands were grilling hundreds of lobsters. So we each had our first lobster ever. It was delicious and only 12USD for quite a big lobster. The only downside was that is was very windy and a bit annoying to eat there. Later we bought some beer and had it on our porch. A very funny English in Belize btw.
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