Guatemala

Video del viatge a Belice i Guatemala en menys de 2 minuts amb un segon al dia.
Video of trip to Belize and Guatemala in less than 2 minutes with one second everyday.

[ENGLISH FOLLOWS]
La primera parada a Guatemala és la illa de Flores, un poble que esta a una illa dins d'un llac, unida a la terra per un pont. Aquí m'esperen el Luis i la Sara, arribo a l'hostal i només em dona temps de deixar la motxilla i marxar pitant perquè ens esperava una furgoneta per anar a Tikal, un assentament maya molt gran a la selva. A Guatemala i Honduras, ja hi havia estat fa una mica més d'un any amb un bon amic, l'Ivan, però aprofitant que sempre em deixo coses per fer volia aprofitar ja que passava per aquest fantàstic país i, perquè no, repetir algunes coses que m'havien agradat molt, com Tikal.

D'allà vam anar fins a Semuc Champey, unes piscines naturals al mig del riu on un altre riu els passa per sota, l'efecte és maquíssim, i el millor de tot és que t'hi pots banyar. Quan tornàvem de Semuc a l'hostal, un home ens va deixar unes camares de pneumàtic per baixar pel riu fins allà on ens allotjàvem, ell vindria més tard a portar-nos les motxilles i a recollir els pneumàtics, va ser molt divertit anar pels ràpids. Dormim en hamaques a un hostal molt bonic a vora del riu, despertar-se pel matí i veure aquestes vistes no té preu.

 

Arribem a Antigua, una ciutat colonial molt maca on ens esperàven molts bons moments. Cada any faig un trosset del camino de Santiago, ja només em queden 100km per arribar però aquest any no podrà ser. La setmana santa de fa 4 anys va venir a fer el camino la Laura, una noia de Tudela amiga de l'Anna (una amiga meva de Barcelona), i resulta que està vivint a Antigua des de fa temps, així que li vaig enviar un missatge per veure'ns quan arrivés. A Semuc gairebé no hi havia internet així que no li vaig poder dir quan arrivaba, però al baixar de la furgoneta a Antigua el primer que veig és a la Laura saludant-me. Resulta que la furgoneta ens va deixar davant de l'AECID, on treballa la Laura, a l'hora que sortia a dinar.

A Cuba vam estar viatjant amb una noia turca, la Zep, amb la que em mantingut molt la relació. Pensavem que dificilment la tornariem a veure al viatge, però es va quedar un mes encallada a una ciutat de Guatemala, així que ens vam donar una mica de pressa per interceptar-la a Antigua abans que agafés l'avió cap a Colombia. La Zep estava fent un voluntariat uns dies a un hostal d'Antigua, així que cap allà vam anar, i quan ens va veure va començar a saltar d'alegria. Tothom a l'hostal sabia que arribariem i vam passar uns dies increïbles amb ella. Tinc la sensació que els nostres camins es tornaràn a trobar durant el viatge.

Ens disposem a pujar l'Acatenango, un volcà inactiu de 3976m, des d'on s'observa el volcà de Fuego, que està just a la vora, i si que està actiu. Acampem a uns 300m abans del cim per poder disfrutar de l'espectacle de la lava, que només es veu de nit. L'altra vegada que vaig estar a Guatemala ja vaig pujar al volcà la nit de cap d'any i va ser de pel·lícula, en intervals de 5 a 30 min el volcà feia una erupció, calia estar atent perquè el so tarda una mica més que la vista en arribar. Véiem com sortia un xorro de lava cap a totes direccions i poc a poc anava baixant pel volca i tornant-se negra, acompanyada d'un gran tro volcànic. És de les típiques coses que veus a un documental però mai t'imagines que ho veuràs amb els teus propis ulls. A més, de tant en tant véiem focs artíficials de les poblacions celebrant el fi d'any. De ben segur que és dels millors focs artificials que he vist mai. Aquesta vegada el volcà estava menys actiu durant la nit, però el dia següent vam poder pujar fins el cim, cosa que no havia pogut fer l'altra vegada perquè plovia, vam veure una sortida del sol espectacular i el volcà va fer tres erupcions gegants amb columnes de fum que tenyien el cel.

El dia següent, ens despedim de la Sara, la italiana, perquè continua el seu camí per Guatemala per tornar cap a Mèxic. Després, anem a Chimaltenango amb camioneta (bus pollastre), és el bus típic que porta als nens a les escoles americanes (o així m'ho imagino jo del que surt a els Simpsons), li'n diuen així perquè hi cap de tot dins del bus, fins i tot pollastres. Allà quedem amb un amic guatemaltec del cosí del Luis, l'Atún o Antonio. Ell ens porta a menjar al mercat, a veure el Maximon, una divinitat ancestral venerada com a guardià protector, que és blanc, amb barba blanca i barret, i la gent li fa ofrenes d'alcohol i tabac. D'allà ens va portar cap a Antigua de nou a menjar torrades d'estomac de porc, segur que mai ho haguèssim probat sense ell, i he de dir que estàven molt bones! I vam acabar a una cantina molt local, plena d'homes borratxos, mariachis i un "jukebox" que feia sonar cançons de desamor, tot plegat ben divertit i autèntic. D'allà vam anar a un concert molt bo d'una parella mexicana, makila 69, amb la Laura i els seus amics.

A les 2 de la nit sortia el nostre bus cap a Nicaragua, així que vam anar directes a agafar-lo d'aquest gran últim dia a Guatemala. Decidim saltar-nos el Salvador, hi ha gent que ens han dit que està bé i d'altres que ens han dit que no és massa segur, així que com que tampoc anem sobrats de temps, tirarem pel dret cap a Nicaragua.

[ENGLISH]
The first stop in Guatemala is in Flores island, a town in an island inside a lake accessible by a bridge. Here, Luis and Sara are waiting for me, so when I arrived, I only had time to leave the bags and leave quickly because a van was waiting for us to go to Tikal, a very important maya site in the jungle. I already travelled in Guatemala and Honduras more than a year ago with a good friend, Ivan. But taking the advantage that I always leave thing to visit in the future and I'm passing by this fantastic country, I'd like to visit them and, why not, repeating some things I liked a lot, like Tikal.

From there we went to Semuc Champey, natural springs in the middle of the river where another river passes underneath, the effect is so beautiful, and the best is that you can swim on them. On the way from Semuc to the hostel, a man borrowed us some tubes to go down the river until our accomodation, he said he would come later to bring our bags and get back the tires, it was so funny going through the rapids. We slept in hamacks in a really beautiful hostel next to the river, waking up there and seeing these sights is priceless.

We arrive in Antigua, a pretty colonial city where many good moments were waiting for us. Every year I walk a part of the "camino de Santiaga", I only have 100km left, but this year I won't be able to do it. In Easter 4 years ago, Laura came to the camino, a girl from Tudela friend of Anna (a friend of mine from Barcelona). Laura has been living in Antigua for a long time, so I sent her a whatts to meet when I would arrive there. In Semuc, Internet wasn't working well so I couldn't tell her when I was supposed to arrive, but when I went down from the van in Antigua, the first thing I saw was Laura saying hello. The van left us just in front of AECID, where Laura works, when she was going out for lunch.

In Cuba we were travelling with a turkish girl, Zep, who we still keep in touch with. We thought it would be difficult seeing her again during the trip, but she got stuck one month in a Guatemalan city, so we hurried up to catch her in Antigua before she takes the plane to Colombia. Zep was doing volunteering for some days in a hostel in Antigua, so we went there, when she saw us she started jumping of happiness. Everyone in the hostel knew we were arriving and we spent some amazing days with her. I have the feeling our ways will cross again during the trip.

We are ready to hike the Acatenango, an inactive volcano of 3976m, from where you can observe the volcano of fire which is just next to it and it is active. We camp around 300m before reaching the peak to enjoy the show of lava, which is only visible at night. The other time I was in Guatemala, I already went up the volcano on news years eve and it was like a movie. In intervals from 5-30min the volcano was erupting, you had to pay attention because the sound takes a bit more than the sight to arrive. We were seeing how a source of lava was erupting in all directions and slowly was going down the volcano to turn black, together with a volcanic thunder. These are the typical things that you see on a documentary but you never imagine you'll see it with your own eyes. Moreover, from time to time we were seeing the fireworks of the towns close by celebrating news years eve. All in all, some of the best fireworks I've ever seen. This time, the volcano was less active during the night, but on the next day we could reack the peak, which I wasn't able to do last time because it was raining. We saw an amazing sun rise and the volcano did three huge eruptions with smoke columns that were dyeing the sky.

On the followign day, we farewelled Sara because she was continuing her trip to Guatemala and coming back to Mexico. After that, we went to Chimaltenango with a chicken bus, it's the typical bus that takes the american children to school (or at least that's how I imagine it from what I see in Simpsons). They call it lke this because anything fits in the bus, even chickens. There we met a guatemalan friend from Luis cousin, Atun or Antonio. He took us to eat in the market, see Maximon, it's an ancestral divinity adored like a protector bodyguard. He's white, with white beard and the people offers alcohol and tobacco. From there, he took us back to Antigua to eat pig's stomach toasts, probably we'd never tried that without him, and I must recognize they tasted really well! We finished in a local canteen, full of drunk men, mariachis and a jukebox playing songs of broken hearts, everything so funny and authentic. After Atun left we went to a really good concert of a mexican couple, Makila 69, with Laura and her friends.

At 2am our bus was leaving to Nicaragua, so we went directly to take it from this fantastic last day in Guatemala. We decided skipping Salvador, some people say it's nice and some others told us that is not so safe, so due to the fact that we don't have that much time we will go directly to Nicaragua.