Time for Coffee

One thing Central America is famous for, is its coffee! Many coffee bars in the Western world sell coffee or beans from Guatemala, El Salvador or Costa Rica.

As a coffee lover, one thing on my list was visiting a coffee farm to know where it originally comes from and how it ends up in my cup :)

In Antigua, Guatemala, we visited a farm, where we learned about the full process: from picking the 'fruits' on the coffee plants, to the peeling and drying and export of the beans. Thanks to the homegrown coffee, Central America is full of nice coffee shops and cheap or free coffee can be found everywhere. We wanted to visit another farm in Costa Rica but that was insanely expensive and touristy, so we skipped that option.

 Yes.. our coffee comes from these plants!

Hand-picked :)

 Drying of coffee beans - I just want to jump in

The coffee got us HYPED UP!

In Costa Rica we found this coffee shop with coffee plants in their frontyard!

Hablo Espanol!

The past week-and-a-half, we stayed near beautiful lake Atitlan. The lake is by origin a volcano, which got its shape from a massive volcanic eruption about 85.000 years ago, and is surrounded by another 3 volcanoes forming a very picturesque view!

Panajachel
We arrived by bus from Antigua to Panajachel, which was pretty easy to reach. In Panajachel we went hiking in a nature reserve with lots of hanging bridges, a waterfall and monkeys!

San Marcos
After two nights in 'Pana' we went to San Marcos, a small and very quiet 'hippie' town known for its meditation courses. We had a nice hotel on the lake and rented kayaks one morning (kayaking is only possible in the morning; the wind in the afternoon is too strong to kayak) and a great restaurant called 'Blind Lemons', owned by a retired American, where we watched American football while eating a burger.

Funny enough the towns near the lake are full of foreigners (extranjeros or 'Gringos') who decided to retire (sometimes very early) here and often started a restaurant or cafe. We had some great Japanese and American food, and found a funny coffee bar in Panajachel called 'Cafe Loco' which is ran by a Korean who makes amazing coffees. When people want a change from tortillas with beans, foreign food is always nearby in Guatemala.

San Pedro
San Pedro, another town on lake Atitlan, is known for its Spanish schools. The school where we took our lessons was la escuela Cooperativa. They offer a combination of private lessons with homestay (staying with a local family) for $200 per week, per person. We decided to take the unique experience and see where we would end up!

Sunday, we went to the school to register and we got picked up by our host family: familia Alejandra, who we called madre (mother). She lives in San Pedro with her husband and two kids, who are normally in Xela, another city in Guatemala attending university. Since it was vacation for them they also stayed in San Pedro. The son loved to talk about football - he likes Ajax :) - and the father was full of stories about his work as a doctor and the development of Guatemala. The family has had estudiantes from the school for over 10 years, and everyone in the town knows them! 

The family was extremely friendly. Alejandra cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for us every day - always with homemade tortillas! They get the corn themselves from the plantations in the mountains, then dry them on the roof and make tortillas out of them. In a few weeks during the dry season, they get all the corn for one full year! The homemade tortillas were DELICIOUS!

The family didn't speak any English, which was a good practice of our Spanish. At the school we had 4 hours private lesson per day, in a beautiful garden with amazing - sometimes a bit distracting - view over the lake. The lessons were in the morning (8-12) and in the afternoon we would chill by the lake, bike to a nearby town (quite a challenge in these mountains and bad roads) or just chill in a coffee place.

Alejandra making tortillas the authentic way

Mais for one year!! 

Our teachers.. we spent 4 hours a day talking to them in Spanish last week! 

Final days in Guatemala
Our school finished on Friday, so on Saturday we took a bus to Antigua. Another typical adventure was about to happen.. after a delay (probably the busdriver overslept, he was 30 minutes late and we were the first passengers he had to pick up) and filling the bus with passengers in San Pedro and San Marcos, the bus went uphill through the curvy mountain roads towards the highway to Antigua for about 45 minutes. When we almost reached the highway, the engine overheated..

It appeared that the cover of the cooling fluid was gone, and no one had cared to put one back on - so after driving on bumpy roads there was no more cooling fluid. A mechanic came who put about 10 liters of water into the cooling system, but the engine kept denying.. after a delay of almost 2 hours in the middle of nowhere, another bus finally came and brought us to Antigua, where we had lunch with Mario and drove to Guatemala City. And because it was our final weekend in Guatemala, we wanted to end it in style.. we went to a show with Dutch DJ Hardwell this Saturday night! Guatemala knows how to party !!!

Representing the Netherlands :)

After 4 amazing weeks in Guatemala, we will leave to Honduras to continue our travels. Guatemala has been a fantastic adventure, and we can recommend everyone to go there. People are extremely friendly, the nature is gorgeous, the climate is fantastic and the coffee is delicious! Last but definitely not least, a giant THANKS to our friend Mario and his family for their hospitality and showing us their country! 

Guatemalan adventures part 3: Volcanoes!!

In Central America, lots of volcanoes can be found. In Guatemala alone there are around 36.5 volcanoes (the exact number depends on who you ask), out of which a few are still active and many continuously blow smoke. Some inactive volcanoes have beautiful lakes in the crater. Most cities are right next to one or more volcanoes - which already makes for a beautiful scene - and one of the most popular tourist attractions here is climbing volcanoes. Having never really seen a volcano before (that's Daniel), climbing a volcano was on top of our to-do list here :)

The first volcano we climbed was during Christmas: volcano 'Ipala' which is all the way in the south of Guatemala - next to Asuncion Mita (where we celebrated Christmas). The climb up took about 45 minutes and was do-able but pretty warm.. what a change at the top - suddenly there was a lake, and a strong wind made it very chilly! Clouds literally sheered past us right in front of us. This volcano has been inactive for a long time, which is why it's full of plantation on the slope.

Wind!!! And a big lake in the crater!

On 31 December we climbed volcano Pacaya, which is the most popular active volcano in Guatemala to climb: it's only 1 hour away from Antigua and a 1.5-hour climb, which is not a lot compared to some volcanoes that take 5-8 hours to climb. This volcano is more 'volcano-like' than Ipala: the way up is mostly a black sand (ash) path. From the start, a few men with horses walk with you to wait for the ones that don't make the climb and pay a small fee to reach the top on a horse (AKA taxi). Luckily we were both able to make it. The view from the volcano was truly amazing! Unfortunately we didn't see any lava.. But there were some "sauna" holes which you can get in and feel the heat from the volcano!

The walk up!

Sauna hole! 

Volcano sunset, unfortunately with lots of clouds!

We are currently near lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. It is the deepest lake in Central America surrounded by, guess what, 3 other volcanoes, which makes for an amazing view!!

We will stay here for one more week to attend a Spanish school while we stay at a family (homestay) so we can get the full experience. Indeed, the family doesn't speak English! More about that experience in a next blog!

Feliz año nuevo!

To all our followers, Happy new year, Gelukkig nieuwjaar, 新年快樂 !

We spent the xmas and New Years holidays travelling between 3 places: Guatemala City, where we stayed with our friend Mario; Asunción Mita, where Mario's parents live - they were super welcoming by inviting us to spend xmas with them; and Antigua, where we spent the past few days including New Years eve.

These towns are very close to each other and yet extremely different from each other. Asunción Mita is a small town in the South of Guatemala, very close to the El Salvador border, where we met the Guatemalan Christmas tradition: stay up till midnight on 24th, countdown for Feliz Navidad, light up fireworks (Guatemala LOVES fireworks) and exchange the xmas gifts!

This is Kendy loving the xmas fireworks!  

Christmas between the palm trees.. strange feeling :)

This is where Guatemalans buy fireworks: hundreds of small shops next to busy streets. Very safe in sunny 25 degree winter weather. 

Then there is Guatemala City, or Guate, which was described by Lonely Planet as follows: "Depending on who you talk to, Guate is either big, dirty, dangerous and utterly forgettable or big, dirty, dangerous and fascinating".

Indeed, Guate is known for high crime rates, and a huge difference between poor and rich. The poor live in shelters or on the street, while the rich live in separated areas, guarded 24/7 and spend most of their free time in shopping malls - also high on security. The brand-new cars (all with 100% tinted windows) drive next to 20 year old cars hold together by duct tape, and even the book stores are guarded with shotgun carrying security personnel. Not really a city we would recommend to travelers but an interesting experience for us.

Guate from a viewing point on a mountain, overlooking the city and the volcano next to it

Then there is Antigua, a beautiful old town which used to be Guatemala's capital until several earthquakes destroyed many buildings in Antigua in the 18th century - which is when Guatemala City became the capital.

Present day, Antigua is a beautiful small Spanish-looking town, popular by tourists and very safe compared to Guatemala City. It's also a Unesco site, which is why the city is clean and preserves its historical buildings. The streets are made of old big stones, which gives you a foot massage if you walk on flip-flops :) The colorful streets, many good restaurants and coffee bars, numerous activities nearby and surrounded by 3 volcanos make Antigua a perfect tourist destination, and it was a great place to spend New Years eve!

Beautiful colors in front of the volcano

 Antigua's central square (left) 

Even they have to adjust to the color coding rules!

Sunset in between the volcanoes

Steve Aoki

How lucky can you get.. already in the middle of a fantastic adventurous trip, we got into Guatemala city, entered a contest of a local beer brand and won tickets for a show of one of our favorite DJs: Steve Aoki! 

Guatemala knows how to party!!!

Clearly sponsored by a beer brand.. smallest option = 1 liter !

Steve Aoki's famous 'caking' was also included in the show

The beaches in this town are black because it's volcanic sand! It gets superhot!!

Guatemalan adventures: part 2

After visiting the Tikal area we drove to Coban, a city in the mountains in the middle of Guatemala. It was surprisingly cold (14 at night).. and beautiful, it could have been Switzerland or Austria! We arrived at night in a beautiful place with huts in the middle of the nature:

At night (PS, gotta give a shot to the amazing Canon S120 pocketcamera!)

The next day we realized that we were really in the middle of nature:

On the first day, we visited the caves of Rey Marco. We were told that there was a little bit of water in the caves due to the rain from the previous days (yes, heavy rain in the dry season). We were nicely surprised by a survival tour in the caves, in which we had to walk through water which reached our hips, crawl, climb and crossing a under-cave river by only holding a rope while there was a strong current moving towards a black hole. All of that in super dark caves with a simple light on top of our helmet :)

DARK!!

 Outside the cave.. glad we made it out :)

On the second day in Coban we went to one of the highlights of Guatemala: National monument Semuc Champey. But before we got there, we had to take a 2 hour busride, after which we got dropped on the back of a pickup truck which drove for another 45 minutes through extremely bumpy roads. Again, we were sitting on the back of a pickup truck (without a proper seat of course). We have been in more comfy situations.. but for sure it was worth it!!

Semuc is a collection of natural, beautiful turquoise colored pools in between two mountains. We first walked up to a viewing point (not an easy climb), had a quick sandwich and then checked out the pools and waterfalls, in which you can also swim and jump from pool to pool. We noticed again that safety is not really an issue in Guatemala: the tourguide led us jump from trees and rocks, dive in small caves, slide down on stones and check a 10 meter waterfall holding a rope. But we were safe, and enjoyed it to the max!!

View from the mountain of the different pools

Having fun at Semuc

From the back of the pickup truck! 

On the way there we stopped at this viewing point. Guatemala is amazing !!!!