The Lasts of Guatemala (in 2017)

It's a new year, and I'm back in Guatemala for another stint of teaching and enjoying this beautiful country. The first month has been extremely busy with all the new changes being made in school (we rewrote the curriculum of the English program), and on the roof (we got a renovation!). Last year's vacation was also relaxing; I spent a week in Mexico plus a few days in Florida followed by a night in New York before flying back to the Philippines and staying home for one and a half months. Needless to say, not much blogging was done. So before I start up again, here are a few pictures of the last couple of months in Guatemala last year. :)

Before we had our mid-year break in June, we decided to take a roof trip to Monterrico, a nearby beach. We were able to leave a little early on a Friday after work, and several buses and shuttle van rides later, we arrived in Monterrico.

One of our van rides to Monterrico

Situated along the Pacific cost, Monterrico is one of the more popular beaches in Guatemala, and known for its black volcanic sand. We got two rooms at El Delfin, a nice cozy hostel right by the beach front. It was lovely, but unfortunately, the area we were in had more trash than I cared for.  The waves were actually really strong, and the spot is also one for surfing.

To save a little money, we packed some food from home, and cooked it on the beach with Chadd's camping stove. It became a fun little adventure when it started to drizzle; we set up under a lifeguard station and were able to cook dinner.

Chadd's camping stove

While dinner was cooking we gathered some sticks and started a bonfire as well. Great to keep a little warm, and help keep the the mosquitos at bay (there were tons!).

Dinner by the bonfire

The next day, we set out in the morning to explore. We walked around the streets; it's a small town with not much going on.

 

The first thing on our agenda was to go on a small tour of the mangrove swamps. Our boatman was a local guide who told us a lot of information about the mangroves, and also shared some stories about the town and his life.

Mangrove boat tour

We had a leisurely boat ride along the swamp, and even went for a short swim.

Cooling off in the water

Back at the hostel, we spent a bit of the afternoon chilling at the pool and the beach. Then a little later on, we went to the marine sanctuary in the town. Monterrico is known for its sea turtle conservation efforts, and they even release baby turtles into the sea. We didn't catch the releasing, but we had a nice visit to the sanctuary.

The weekend made for a quick but really relaxing beach trip. We were also really luck with the weather. It had been raining pretty much the whole week (we were in the middle of the rainy season), but the sun was out the whole day on Saturday; it only started to rain when we were having dinner. A great trip with great company. :)

For the mid-year June break, I traveled with a friend, Andrew. We first went to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and since we had mutual friends in Guatemala, ended the trip with a few days in Guatemala. On our first day back, our friend Rafa drove us to Iximche, an archeological site about 2.5 hours from the city.

While it's no Tikal, it was still nice to wander around. There were a lot of informative stations as well, and we learned quite a few things about the Mayan civilizations that lived there.

It rained on and off throughout the day, but at one point the skies cleared up, and we snapped some nice pictures. :)

We ended the day in Antigua where we had dinner with another mutual friend Fofo and his wife. We had all met 12 years ago when attending a summer camp in Germany, so it was a nice night of catching up and reminiscing.

Mini reunion

After that, life went back to normal, and the months flew by. Before Marlene and Jose left, we had a "last supper" up on the roof to say goodbye. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to two people who had become such good friends.

Marlene and Jose's last supper

One day, I spotted my favorite fruit, mangosteen, at the market. It was a little expensive, but I couldn't turn down the chance to have some.

mangosteen at the market

On one Saturday, I helped Natalie out and chaperoned two kids to an art school. While they were at class, I got to wander around the building a bit and scoped out some lovely art.  

On another weekend, we went out with some people from the community to explore Villa Nueva. While the area we live in is part of Villa Nueva, it's so close to the City that that's where we usually go out to, and so this was actually my first time to see Villa Nueva. We first went to the local market in downtown Villa Nueva. I loved it because it had one whole section which was essentially a food court. 

There were a lot of mouthwatering options, but I settled for some pupusas and a licuado.

With lunch down, we drove around Lago Amatitlán, stopping at one point to take a picture.

Gustavo, Reyna, Chadd, me, Natalie

Then we headed down to the actual lake. We rented a boat, and rode around for a while.

The lake is not as pretty as Atitlán (that is hard to top, after all), but it was a lovely afternoon hanging out.

Before I knew it, we were down to our last month in Guatemala, and Natalie and I were the only two volunteers left. On our last weekend together, Natalie and I decided to take a short trip to Cobán. We left on a Saturday afternoon, and after a little over 7 hours, arrived at night in the city. We had a little problem with our hostel -- we rang the doorbell and nobody answered -- but luckily, our taxi driver helped us find another one. We called it a night, and got a good night's sleep for the next day.

Cobán is probably best known as the gateway to Semuc Champey (which we both really want to visit, but since we were short on time, we decided to just enjoy Cobán). That aside, it's a highland city located in the department of Alta Verapaz. The dominant Mayan group (and language) here is Q'eqchi'. The language really is widely spoken; we heard it a lot while we were walking out, and we even attended a mass in Q'eqchi'.

Mass was our first agenda of the day, and since we had only had a small breakfast before mass, the next thing we decided to do was get an early lunch. We tried kaq'ik, turkey in a tomato-based stew, usually served with rice and tamales. The name kaq'ik comes from Mayan words meaning "red" and "spicy." I had had it twice before, but I especially wanted to try it here since the dish is native to the region. (It lives up to its hype!)

Our next stop was the Orquigonia, an orchid sanctuary, located a little outside of the city. It was easy enough to get to, and we signed up for a tour (we were the only ones there). We learned a lot about orchids, and it was a beautiful and peaceful place.

The rest of our afternoon consisted of two things: people watching at the park....

Parque Cenrtal

...and eating! We tried a variety of street food, my favorite of which was tayuyo, a tortilla with spicy beans inside. Definitely a fun food trip!

The next day we headed back to the City, and Natalie caught her flight home the next day, while I spent a few days in Antigua with my boyfriend.

I spent my last day in Guatemala (for 2017) at Santiago Sacatepéquez at the Barriletes Gigantes (Giant Kite) Festival. The festival is celebrated in the neighboring towns of Santiago and Sumpango, and it is their way of celebrating Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

At the cemetery in Santiago Sacatepequez

We left Antigua in the morning to beat the traffic, and once we arrived in Santiago, we were told to just follow the people. So follow the people we did. The streets leading up to the cemetery where lined with vendors selling a variety of things including small kites (both for souvenirs and for flying), and there were more than plenty food stalls and makeshift eateries. We kept our eyes peeled for anything interesting, but mostly just walked along with the crowd. We knew we were nearing the cemetery when it got more crowded, and we were soon standing in the middle of graves and tombs. And then, we saw the kites.

I had heard of them, and seen pictures, but they were so magnificent in person. The kites are huge and colorful, made of cloth, tissue paper and glue, and mounted on bamboo frames. In Pre-Columbian times, the root of the festival was that flying the kites was the people's way of sending messages to the dead. It has since evolved into a tradition. Nowadays, the kites depict religious, folkloric and cultural themes, as well as current events.

There were a few kites that were already standing, but there were still several more waiting on the ground. We didn't have to wait long to see one of the kites go up; almost as soon as we arrived we positioned ourselves and soon after one was in the process of going up. It takes a lot of manpower and teamwork to bring them up, and it is quite the sight.

We stayed for a couple of hours, and watched as the kites were hoisted up one by one, above the graves and tombs. As each kite is successfully hoisted up, the crowd reacts with cheers and applause. It was definitely a fascinating experience, and the kites were simply so beautiful to stare at.

Colorful giant kites

We spent the morning walking around admiring the different kites, and watching the smaller ones fly above us. As the day turned into afternoon we walked back, and hung out in the town center (which had kites on display that were part of a contest), and then finally headed back to Antigua.

And that's a wrap for 2017! More soon for 2018. :)