Guatemala, Land of the Rainbow

At dawn on a hot August morning, my adventure companion Ilaria and I wake up in a coma to rush and catch the Malpensa Express, destination Terminal 1. We walk up onto the plane (there isn't even a shuttle bus), and the captain informs us that a downpour will be waiting for us on arrival in Miami. The flight is a disaster because the onboard service is totally non-existent. They even forget to serve us food. Luckily the poor pilot gets it wrong and, after 9 and a half hours, we land in Miami under a blazing sun. Ila and I wait in line for more than 2 hours at customs, even though we're only in transit. The funny thing is that even though we're in transit, we can leave the airport and even stroll around Miami since we have 7 hours between flights. So much for security.

Our brains can't function anymore and once on board we fall asleep like rocks, so much so that we don't even notice we've landed. When we get to the hotel in the evening (but is it evening or is it the next day??), we're informed that the wake-up call is set for 4:30 am because of the excursion to Tikal.

Practically after barely brushing the bed, we leave for Tikal by plane. Tikal is an archaeological site hidden in the jungle. The site is undoubtedly very beautiful, there are few people (mostly locals), but it has a strange smell. The dilemma is solved quickly. The ground is completely covered with a cedar leaf that stinks of stock cube. The place is then infested with venomous snakes, jaguars, howler monkeys that make a sound similar to that of a jaguar when it's angry, cicadas that sound like electric saws when they sing, crickets that make the sound of the cicada as we know it, crocodiles, in short, whatever you can think of and more… Anyway, jokes aside, the site is immense and quite interesting. Too bad it's so hot, humid and torrid.

After leaving the site, we quickly pass through the beautiful little town of Flores, located on the edge of a stunning lake the color of the Caribbean Sea.. In the evening we go back to sleep in Guatemala City, but they advise us not to wander around it, apparently there's a curfew and it's apparently very dangerous....hmm....

To go to the market of Chichicastenango we have to travel the legendary Pan-American Highway, which had struck me so much last year in Peru- Well, I must say that the Guatemalan version compared to the Peruvian one is definitely easier, it looks like a 4-lane highway. The stretch we're traveling, however, is on the Santa Andrea fault line. The roads of Central and South America always offer very interesting material. Along the way we find the famous and super colorful local buses decked out for a party, even by the people on board themselves. Practically they get you on, but never off given the number of people on board.

In the middle of all this, a kind of all-purpose conductor, Superman version, manages to maneuver through the crowd, inside and outside the bus, above and below, on the roof, standing still or on the move, to see that everything is fine, even the recovery of the luggage that often and gladly, due to overload, detaches from the roof of the bus while it's moving. Superman also serves as a rear-view mirror and GPS satellite antenna, telling the driver when it's appropriate or the right moment to overtake. Obviously the best moment for such a maneuver is, if possible, on a curve, with a solid line, and if there's a bump so much the better. Needless to say, we risk a head-on collision practically at every curve. The peak is reached when we experience a triple overtake (you heard that right, while one overtakes us, another overtakes him in turn), on a curve, with a bump.

Well yes, the Guatemalan Pan-American Highway (like the rest of the roads) is a succession of single, double and triple bumps, roads with mega-slopes and differences in elevation, curves and ganchi muy peligrosos. For this reason evidently, once again, the edges of the road are a succession of crosses. As we approach the market we see along the edges of the road, in obviously crazy and unthinkable spots, little carts with fruit and vegetables arranged harmoniously, following color tones and respecting shape and size. Enchanting, they look like paintings!! The market of Chichicastenango is very touristy, but it's not a suffering for that reason, in fact we go wild, haggling and squandering our belongings and buying everything, even things we don't like. Guatemala is above all this, the country of the rainbow and of handicrafts.

To get an idea of a real market we go to see another one, whose name I don't remember, only for locals. The difference is immediately noticeable because here nobody buys anything. There's mainly food, like meat hanging in the air with flies incorporated and a mouse on the counter, chickens squawking imprisoned in nets, pigs on leashes, seeds, grains, shrimp, all strictly on the ground without protection, flowers, raw fabrics different from the ones we bought. The children are afraid of us, you can see they're not used to tourists, who knows what they think of us with all those technological gadgets hanging around our necks??? They laugh…and then run away.

We move on to Antigua, the city I liked most in Guatemala. It's simply splendid, full of little houses of at most two floors (it's an earthquake zone) in a thousand colors (my favorite is aqua green). It feels like being in Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius…the city seems deserted, there's an unusual peace and quiet. The tranquility is soon interrupted by the temporary eruption of one of the volcanoes surrounding the city. Anyway, everything under control, no Pompeii-style disasters! In Antigua, of course, cultural visits alternate with a visit to the coffee plantation and one to the handicraft market. In a little church that partly survived an earthquake, a phrase strikes me: "there's only one soul, what happens if you lose it?"…Think about it, people….

We, on the other hand, thought about the fact that in the evening they didn't let us go out because after 9 the police are no longer on duty and become corrupt, and about the fact that there's a curfew for tourists because "there are crazy people around"!!! Maybe…the city had seemed so peaceful to us….

Atitlan, today's stop, is a small town located on the edge of a beautiful lake surrounded by a series of volcanoes. The most important ones are 3, and they greet our arrival with a little puff of smoke (just as scheduled). Double eruption in 2 days. There's no shortage of stalls anywhere in Guatemala, super colorful and inviting…more purchases here too…you just can't resist.… From Atitlan we take a boat and go to visit 2 real villages, in the sense that they've remained intact (and decadent). I don't remember exactly the name of the first village, maybe because it's nothing special. In the afternoon we go to Santa Catilina, a more picturesque town where the women are busy weaving super colorful panels and tablecloths. Anyway, the beauty of this country, nature aside, is these market villages in a thousand colors.

Still traveling along the PA we pass through Huehuetenango, and then through a remote little village called San Andres Xecul, where we come across the little marzipan church of Hansel and Gretel. In the courtyard of a house we enter by chance, they even show us how cotton is dyed. It's a very fascinating process.

We head toward the Guatemala-Mexico border, and for the occasion we're escorted for safety by the police (and the thing doesn't give you the slightest sense of safety). Apparently it's mandatory because it's a remote and poorly controlled area, where local gangs enjoy fleecing passing tourists. It's a police force just for tourists called Politur. The legendary Politur after a few km loses us, or maybe we shake them off and lose them. Either way it went, we're on top of the world and we feel truly safe. Not even the police can keep up with us.