Guatemala

Two other countries I visited on my trip to Central America were Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The Mayan city of Tikal is huge and different to all the other sites I have seen.

We were not allowed to climb all the buildings and for some they had erected ladders to the top as the steps were too dangerous for climbers.

The site is situated right in the middle of a rain forest which meant it was nice and ‘cool’ to walk. The temperature was still in the low forties though.
Most of the pyramids in Tikal are only excavated on two sides, but the whole site is very impressive indeed.
After a few very interesting hours we were taken to the airport in Flores for the flight to Guatemala City. From there we made our way to Antigua. This is a very charming city, surrounded by volcanoes.  The custom in Antigua is that all the hotels are hidden from view by very big walls.

If one does not know where the hotel is, it is very easy just to walk past and never see the beautiful buildings inside.

We spent a day exploring this lovely city and really had a good time. The markets are something else!
From Antigua it was a bus ride to Lake Atitlan. Many, many prayers were said on that bus. It was a hair raising experience. The mountain road was very narrow, the traffic quite busy, with busses and trucks coming the other way. But I am still alive, we made it safely to our hotel.
Lake Atitlan is very pretty, or so I’ve been told. There are volcanos all around it which we could not see.  
It was here that hurricane Dean finally caught up with us. The rain was heavy and  relentless.
One of the side trips that we made from here was to Chichi Castanango. Again the driver must have won his licence in the lottery. He overtook other vehicles in curves, over double lines and in front of an oncoming bus. I was scared!
Chichi  is known for its Church with the steps leading up to it. Many pictures have been published from here.

We thoroughly enjoyed the markets, luckily they are under cover.
The next day we were booked on the 4pm bus back to Antigua and then on to Guatemala City. Because of the rain, I had the bright idea to ask if we could take an earlier bus. We could and we did.  How lucky were we? There were 12 of us plus the driver in a very small bus. We were picked up first so our luggage was inside the vehicle, most of the other cases were on the roof.
It was the most uncomfortable ride I have ever been on. We were practically sitting on top of each other. But there is always a bright side. This time we had a very good and careful driver, but that did not stop the idiots coming the other way. One time we were nearly collected by a bus. Everybody screamed!
On the way we had a long delay because of a landslide, but we made it safely to Guatemala City.  It rained, no it poured all the way.
Looking back and writing this – I must have been crazy, but I so enjoyed Guatemala.