Guatemala, Belize and Yucatan

The day I had so dreaded arrived, 27/01/05, we set off with the alarm at 4, a good trip (KLM) and arrival in Mexico City on time. Here the bitter discovery that in the airports and at the borders of Central America the concept of a luggage trolley doesn't exist, you almost get the impression of witnessing a settling of scores: you have the money so you pay and you bow down to me, poor stamper of stamps (frustrated official). Transfer to the Monte Real hotel (poor) and getting to know a nice young couple from Bologna just before setting off again for Guatemala City. On our trip we constantly made use of the holy bible (Lonely Planet), very useful but not always truthful!! And so we headed immediately by taxi (70 q.) plus chicken bus (20 q.) to Antigua, a beautiful city, former capital of Guatemala and destination of many tourists, European, North American and Australian alike.

On arrival, thank God, we were able to count on the help of a person who offered himself as appointed by the municipality to help tourists, and here I must open a necessary clarifying parenthesis: at the beginning I spoke of a day I so dreaded because I am a 53-year-old kidney transplant recipient and the thought of third-world hygiene conditions, lack of specialist medical staff, polluted water and so on literally terrified me; when it came to the test, though, the thing I suffered most were the transfers with all the luggage, too much and too heavy, A REAL NIGHTMARE!!! This nice and kind person therefore picked us up from the bus station and on the comfortable flatbed of a pick-up drove us to the city centre where we found a decent place to stay, "POSADA DON TONO", first and organized our following days then.

The costs: the posada, double room with shared bathroom and hot water at 90 q., transfer by 10-seat minibus Antigua-Chichi / Chichi-Panajacel / Panajacel-Antigua / Antigua-Guatemala City-Flores (night trip with first-class bus) all for 704 q. The first evening in Antigua, dinner at a restaurant specializing in Antigua specialities, ate well, various meats and vegetables washed down with beer and agua pura (evidently nobody drinks it, what a struggle to make them understand I wanted it in a sealed bottle and without ice and without gas, so I discovered that you have to ask for "agua pura al tiempo") 110 q. The next day a visit to the market of Antigua, beautiful, there's everything but above all fruit, of which I am particularly fond; the market is the hub of the nearby villages, lots of people but above all lots and lots of children.

The next day departure for Chichi where my wife and I went wild with purchases, a shame though that instead of haggling I was softened up and even gave these young girls a tip. Very interesting are the churches and the rites that take place in them, they have something pagan about them, or rather they are strongly influenced by Mayan traditions.

Having left Chicchi in the afternoon and having noted the disorganization (more seats sold than available!), we arrive in Panajacel on Lake Atitlàn where, following the advice of an Italian-Australian guy we met at Don Tono's, we immediately take the boat (30 q.) to a small village called San Marcos where we stay at the posada PANABAJ for 50 q. a day, hot water, semi-open bathroom but a nice spacious and sunny room in a new house run by the children of Lucas, a very kind Maya with whom we were able to have a nice chat. Dinner at the Paco Real restaurant run by an Italian woman and her partner, ate abundantly and very well 110 q.

The next day a visit to the village, we sunbathe by the lake where there are even people swimming, for example a Maya with his white wife and their child (the first example of a mixed couple of this kind, we didn't see any more afterwards) and in the evening, since Paco Real is closed for rest, we eat at "Mi Marduensita" 50 q. located next to the playground. The next day we also have coffee at Mi Marduensita, locally grown, good! (30 q.) then we go down to the pier and return to Panajacel. The splendid day and the calm lake allow us to take some beautiful photographs.

In Panajacel we buy some postcards, they cost from 2.5 to 3.5 q. so be careful or haggle, something you can't do with the stamps, 8 q. At 14:00, right on time, we return to Antigua, great, we already missed it. We still have two days left, we visit the various cathedrals: La Merced, San Francisco and many others. The characteristic they share is destruction; here you really understand why all the houses are one-storey, earthquakes follow one another with ceaseless continuity over time, so there is a profusion of ruined churches and a few rebuilt ones. In the centre of the city there is a beautiful square where there are banks, cafés, restaurants and life literally swarms and where in the evening musical and theatrical performances take place.

Here I was struck by the shoe-shiners, they are children, the youngest are maybe 5-6 years old, and on the last day, despite my sandals, I gave something to the youngest of them who promptly spent it to buy himself an ice cream; it made me feel immense tenderness to see this child covered in shoe polish, from his clothes to his face, enjoying that ice cream sitting blissfully like a normal child of that age. I remember this square well because I took a nice photo of two tiny Mayan girls for 5 q., the first and the last because they don't like being photographed and I don't like disregarding their customs and traditions.

We set off again in the evening, at 18:00 transfer to Guatemala City, arrival at 20:00 and departure at 22:00 with a first-class bus to Santa Elena - Flores where we arrive right on time at 5, we settle into the posada Santander, 60 q. a night for a double room, also mentioned in the Lonely Planet, well, forget it, it's really an eyesore, take a taxi, there are some even at that hour, and go to Flores, for heaven's sake!!!! Here we stop for two days, because Tikal is best seen early in the morning. First day a visit to Flores and an attempt to change euros at the bank, unsuccessful, all day long there are a thousand people queuing to pay for taxi licences.

They invite us to come back on Monday, it was Friday, I gave up and so I tried the ATM, "peso el tacon del buso", let's say it in Venetian, clear no? We then dedicate ourselves to organizing the trip to Tikal for the following morning; the recommended agency is San Juan Travel, but we don't even have time to go in before they stop us (they sell with the same vouchers as the agency but we'll find that out later) and convince us to buy from them for 40 q. per person the trip and 50 q. per person for entry to the park (the guide 10 $ but it's optional). Well, change agency, if nothing else you'll save yourself the slow, dirty and horrendous bus that fell to us. For the record, they run the only bus (called first-class but it isn't!) direct to Chetumal via Belize City, it costs us either 20 $ or 150 q. each plus 10 q. of taxes to leave the country.

At five o'clock sharp in the morning they pick us up in front of the posada and we set off like turtles with the dirtiest and slowest bus of all, left first and arrived last. Anyway, later the park with its flora and fauna and with the ensemble of its temples amply repaid us for everything.

With Tikal one of the most beautiful and interesting days of our trip comes to an end. To bed early because the alarm awaits us at 4, or at least that's what we thought!! Instead at two o'clock loud male voices wake us up and keep imperturbably chatting away until the alarm goes off. You should know that at the posada Santander there are no windows and the guests are also locals who seem never to sleep. Now awake, bags and baggage ready at five, we confidently await the arrival of the minibus, which will be rewarded at six thirty, when by now our hopes were lost.

In the end we set off slowly, slowly with various stops to wait for those who don't come, detours to pick up those who instead have to leave with another carrier (rival linea dorada) and crazy roads!!!! But in the end we arrive at the border; if you think you've done the worst, we're disappointed, the worst comes now!!? Everyone off the bus including the luggage, which logically has to be carried by hand for about half a Km.

There are taxes to be paid at a counter, immigration forms to fill in, all surrounded by beastly confusion and by the luggage which, besides being heavy, is also all covered in mud because the locals, to avoid dust, thought it was a good idea to wet the ground, mind-blowing!!! After a forced Km, naturally always on foot, you can get to the bus and finally drinkable roads but still a jolting journey; there are in fact three stops due to police checks, one of which to check all the passports one by one, and to think we had just crossed the border, what a torment!!! In the end we arrive in Belize City, a ghost town, it's almost midday. Everything closed, not a living soul to be seen, thank goodness there's a taxi that takes us to the pier for Caye Caulker, 5 Belizean dollars for a hundred metres but we really couldn't go on any longer.

Immediate boarding and after a forty-minute very fast crossing we arrive on this beautiful island. Here, luckily, an enterprising young boy loads our bags onto his bike-taxi and takes us to our new accommodation, recommended by him, the "Tropical Paradise", where we make use of a nice bungalow with three beds, bathroom with hot water for 294 Bel. For four nights (remember that paying by credit card there's a 5% surcharge). This island has the peculiarity of being 6 Km long and at most 600 m wide, but the hurricane split it in two, causing a cut that isolated the inhabited part (about 800 people) from the part declared a nature reserve, almost completely uninhabited, a kingdom of varied fauna, mangroves and palms throughout its territory. The inhabited part is made up of dirt roads travelled only by electric vehicles and bicycles or on foot as we did, having covered it far and wide.

Nice little houses, lots of greenery, hotels and restaurants in the right proportion to welcome the tourist flow. On this island there also lives a community of "rasta", the followers of Bob Marley, good and easygoing people who live off odd jobs and handicrafts, listen to music and bring cheer to those around them. Naturally the most beautiful thing here is the coral reef, which by extension is the second in the world after the Australian one. 290 Km long, it is dotted with cayes (small islands) where you find agencies and boats to reach the coral reef and do various activities such as snorkelling, diving and water sports. After two days of beach, sun and relaxing reading we did our trip to the Hol Chan Reserve and Shark Ray Alley by sailboat accompanied by reggae music, a real spectacle of corals and fish of incredible colours.

The two guys accompanying us, among other marvels, took us to see the rays and the nurse sharks, a unique experience to be able to swim among them, so close you could touch them!!!! (price of the trip 85 Bel. dollars from 10.30 to 18, practically the whole day with lunch and drinks included). Another trip that I recommend but that we weren't able to do is the "Blue Hole", according to those who went, it's an indescribable marvel. To crown the splendid day, in the evening we went to dinner at our restaurant, naturally based on lobster, very good, and we spent only 45 Bel. dollars for 2. The last melancholic day dedicated to photos, a bit of filming and beautiful walks favoured by this warm and breezy climate, typically Caribbean, then the departure with the usual very fast boat (20 Bel. dollars) and then the wait at the pier for the arrival from Flores of the linea Dorada bus (10 Bel.

dollars as far as Chetumal), the one with improbable and unbearable schedules since their journey depends on too many factors (rough roads, customs, police, on-sight stops and so on!!!!). Around midday the departure, arrival in Chetumal two hours later, complicated completion of customs formalities (always with the classic unloading of luggage to be carried on your back across the border!!) and finally the arrival in a "civilised" bus station; here we finally refreshed ourselves, toilet, armchairs, air conditioning and proper services. Here they even check in your luggage for the Ado coach and we set off again for Playa del Carmen where we arrive at about 21:00 and for 170 pesos a taxi takes us to the "Mayan Palace" hotel, about 25 Km along the carretera 307 that links Playa del Carmen to Cancun over a total of 66 Km, very similar to our toll-free motorways.

We arrive at our 5-star hotel, truly deserved, immense, luxurious, friendly and helpful staff, galactic swimming pools and what else can I say, even too much for our needs as poor tourists who until then had been "backpackers", and I can tell you our first reaction, we already miss Guatemala and Belize!!!! From here, anyway, we often moved around with ease to reach our destinations each time. In fact, thanks to the frequent, fast and inexpensive public transport, mobility is guaranteed. For the record, Mayan Palace Playa del Carmen 25 Km, both with the colectivos and with the Mayan bus, 10 pesos. Mayan Palace Cancun 42 Km, 20 pesos, and they all stop if you raise your hand!!!! In this way we organized our trips to Cozumel 30$, to Chichen-itza 35$, to Isla Mujeres 200 pesos, while in Tulum we paid 36 pesos for entry to the site and for transport we went with the public bus.

Naturally the same trips offered by the hotel agency would have cost double. Of these places we recommend: Cozumel didn't interest us all that much; in fact for 30$ we did a boat trip with a glass bottom (you can hardly see anything), had three very quick snorkelling swims in a sea that was not exceptional either from the point of view of the fauna or that of the water's clarity (we missed Caye Caulker). The island moreover is only touristy, restaurants and souvenirs, nothing characteristic that could distinguish it from any tourist place. On the contrary Isla Mujeres, lots of very colourful fish including even barracuda, an interesting coral reef and a very cute little village worth visiting.

We booked the boat trip there and it was much nicer both for the service provided and for the places seen, lunch included, in a nice fish restaurant that grills over the embers, always the guy from the boat, delicious. (200 pesos). Chichen-Itza transfer by air-conditioned and comfortable minibus, almost 300 Km, visit with a guide in Italian; this site is truly exceptional, incredible that thousands of years later those men could do all this with only their arms without the help of anything else, it's a must-see!! Good lunch in a restaurant along the road, a stop for a refreshing dip in a cenote (they are underground caves with clean water because filtered by the ground but warm enough to have a quick swim) and a last stop in Valladolid, a town of colonial style, nice but not exceptional. From 7 to 19 for 35 usa dollars.

Tulum is a beautiful site that deserves to be visited because besides being very nice, the castle is perched on a beautiful sea with white sand and the possibility of access for swimming, bring your swimsuit!!! We organized this trip with the public Mayab bus for 52 pesos one way and as much for the return. Entry to the site 36 pesos (it should be specified that it's not true that the sites in Mexico are free, we were able to verify this in person since we went to Tulum on a Sunday!!)

Our outings end here, the rest of the time we spent in the luxury of our hotel resting between swimming and sun until 24 February, the day of departure at 11:00. Transfer with more than an hour of waiting on the runway on the airbus A319 of Messicana Airlines, so we discover that there's traffic in airports too, seven planes to be precise. Arrival and completion of formalities in Mexico City, here too an hour and twenty minutes of delay due to overcrowding on the runway, and finally return to Amsterdam and then Venice at 21:35 on 25 February. Very long!!! I hope this diary of mine is useful to you as the ones I consulted were useful to me. What I can say is that for us it was the first "do-it-yourself" travel experience but that, if our health allows, it certainly won't be the last...