Guatamala- new country, new people and new culture.
After a successful border crossing with our friends ’The Simons’, we entered the town of La Mesilla with eyes wide open. What a change to our surroundings. This small border town was heaving with people. Were we crossing on market day, was the busyness due to the Christmas season or was it always like this? Silverskin was packed in like a can of sardines! We couldn’t move. We waited for a signal from a man in an orange vest who was blowing his whistle very loudly, and slowly treaded through the masses, parting the crowds like Moses and the Red Sea.
It was fun, it was vibrant and we received many warm ‘Bienvenidos’ from the locals. Our windows were rolled down, high-fives were given and we were ready to hit the road to Huehuetanango.
When we began travelling through Latin America ten months ago, we had agreed that we would never drive in the dark. Unexpected topes, cyclists without lights, and the so-called crime in Mexico were reasons enough to get us to our destination on time, however, we have soon become to realize that sticking to this rule in Guatemala was not going to be as easy. It was already 3 pm when we got going and we hadn’t anticipated being pulled over by the police, more horrendous traffic and the great struggle to find an ATM for that all-important change in currency. On top of that, we needed to stock up on our provisions too, after all, we had made sure that we were empty when passing through customs.
It was indeed dark upon our arrival, but it was all the more fun watching the ‘chicken buses’ drive by with their fancy flashy lights. And getting outstanding meat at the ‘Suma’ supermarket was a very pleasant surprise.
Culot or Puyaso (Picaña) was going to be on the menu tonight!
After two nights spent on the outskirts of Huehuetanango, we got our local SIM card sorted (Tigo network) and were ready to drive to Lake Atitlán. Yes, it happened to be dark upon our arrival there too.
And what a journey! The Airbnb was situated in the San Marcos area of the lake, and with your car, there is only one route to take: the 17km serpentine stretch. This road was actually very dangerous, more because of the risk of overheating the brakes. Richie was amazing, he kept his calm, put Silverskin into 4-low to get some compression going for that all-important engine breaking (although that alone wasn’t enough) and mastered those switchbacks- whew… what a steep descent!
Just when we thought we could relax and soon crack open those pre-Christmas drinks, our next challenge was upon us. There was a major road construction in place down at the bottom of the hill, which meant we had to wait another hour before we could pass, and when we finally made it to our destination, we discovered that it would be impossible to stay at the Airbnb. Once again, our height was an issue. We simply couldn’t park in the allocated parking spot, and there was no space on the road. It was approaching 9pm, what would we do?
Well, iOverlander came to the rescue. A quick glance on the map…and would you believe it? The only campsite across the whole of lake Atitlán (we’re talking huge lake) was situated right next door! What are the chances? We quickly phoned Pierre, the owner, who was just on his way to bed. He graciously opened up for us and in the dark, led us to a perfect corner, where we would spend the next week.
That corner happened to have a most stunning view the next morning. Not only of the waters that lay beneath but of the famous volcano Fuego which stands in the distance 42km away. On a clear night, one can see Fuego erupt, and little did we know that these eruptions we were witnessing would be the first of many more to come.
But what happened to the Simons? Did we abandon them? With a short walking distance to their Airbnb, we were still able to join in with the Christmas festivities that were planned and yet at the same time host some of our own in the back yard of our truck camper. Austrian family Magdalena, Stefan, Laura, Leoni and Laurence, who we had met in Oaxaca, spontaneously popped over on Christmas morning to share pancakes, join us for a dip in the lake and play with all the Christmas gifts Santa left under the tree. And we grilled some amazing beef tenderloin whilst Zoe decorated Christmas gingerbread houses at the Simons.
The following days were spent exploring the lake by water taxi- checking out the hippie town of San Marcos and eating Iranian food at a nearby restaurant.
Lake Atitlán is beautiful. But with its flock of tourists and increasing amount of expats that choose to reside there it is pretty expensive. One week was certainly enough for our budget!
We will now head to Antigua, where we will play with fire- ‘Fuego’ that is. See you there.
Thanks for reading and we’ll ‘meat’ you around the world!
