What's up - the first week in Guatemala!

After our canoe adventure, we "rested" in the breathtaking Maya city of Tikal. We started at 5:00 in the morning, which may seem very difficult, but due to the temperatures from 11:00 onwards, it's not a bad idea.

Hard to imagine how the Maya built these tall and impressive buildings over 1000 years ago. During the heyday of this culture, over 16 million people lived in the entire "of central low-land maya" area. Due to a long dry period, they eventually had to leave this fascinating landscape.

Although we had enough water supplies, we also decided to leave the area and went on a journey deep into the jungle of Guatemala, to Semuc Champey.

So the next day we took a taxi at 7:00 that took us to Flores, and then we had almost a luxury trip to Coban, as we were the only ones in a shuttle bus for 6 hours. After a typical Gringo lunch station (McDonald's) we changed buses and according to the driver we were still 2.5 hours away from our destination. This estimate would have been quite accurate even for Guatemalan standards - 10 minutes can sometimes turn into an hour. But then we got a flat tire after 500m on a road that does not deserve the name road. A look at the roof of the bus gave us hope, because there we saw a spare tire hidden among all our luggage. Easy, we thought, and prepared ourselves for a short break. However, we were a little surprised to find that the spare tire also had a hole, and a 10-minute break turned into a long 2-hour wait for a small blue pickup with the longed-for intact tire, although with extremely little profile. 1.5 hours later, in the dark, we finally made it to Lanquin. Now we just had to wait 10 Guatemalan minutes for another half-hour drive in a pickup truck. From there we went another half hour with a guide through the jungle, across a suspension bridge, whose condition we fortunately could not judge precisely because of the darkness, to our hostel for the next few days, Chibokol, a community hostel in the middle of the jungle of Guatemala. We were warmly welcomed by the few travelers who could empathize with our state of mind, and finally fell into our mattresses on the floor of a simple hut, looking forward to the view that the short but intense hike promised us.

When we woke up, we saw a beautiful hill landscape interspersed with small rivers, waterfalls and corn fields cultivated by the local population.

Despite all this idyll, the life of the population seems hard and lacking. There is no running water, no electricity, and no medical care. But as a taxi driver once told us: For a happy life, you don't need more than "arroz, frijoles y mucho amor (rice, beans, and lots of love)".

Our host Mike from Texas also seems to have a lot of love for this country. He left his old life behind and, with the help of the local population, built a hostel in the middle of the jungle without a road. All materials had to be carried along the same path we had taken in the evening before. It seems that this place also attracts its own kind of travelers. We cooked together, exchanged our travel experiences, and had a really good time together.

After four beautiful days and another 12-hour bus ride, we arrived in Antigua. We already have a volcano tour in our legs and will soon tell you about it.

Hasta pronto

Matthias and Lisa