On the road again . . . From State of Emergency to Semuc Champeck

 

Well, we finally got out of Antigua, made it past Guatemala City (where there remains a state of emergency after recent police killings) and are on our way north, towards the famous El Mirador hike in the jungle,

But first, we had to experience a bit of the not-so-well-known sights around town. Having covered the top things to do as a tourist in Antigua, here's a quick look at the other great locations we discovered in town that just don't seem to have the same advertising budget.

Cerro del Tenedor

So there are a LOT of hills to clime in Antigua. You could climb a different one every day of the week and still have more hills to climb. But the one that blew our minds away was the Cerro de Tenedor (peak of the fork, as my best translation), which features art from some 1960s/70s to modern day Guatemalan artists. 

The site is now managed by a famous hotel chain, and the area has been transformed into one of the most beautiful natural and artistic vistas in the city, complete with a museum dedicated to the famous Guatemalan artist, Efrain Recinos, a top restaurant, hotel and event space. 

Art outside the museum

One of Recino's murals in a series called "communication"

A sculpture in the garden (there's another sculpture inside)

Monkey dogs

Recino's famous Volkswagon

The thing is, it's essentially free to pack a picnic and head to Cerro del Tenedor to enjoy all the art, gardens and museums. We paid for transport, but the hotel (which has another hotel in town) runs a free shuttle to and from town. We loved it so much we visited and picnicked there twice. Once with Olly, Amanda, Marla, Goldie and Orry, and once again with our friend Jay and Annie, whom we met a year ago at Blue Skies. 

Installation near the bathrooms

Wooden stylized Quetzal (I think)

Cerveceria Quatorze

I do love a great brewery, especially one in a jungle. We met a couple in Mexico who basically travel around and help set up breweries, and this is one they had recommended to us while we were back in Mexico. 

You take a shuttle from Antigua and ride on a very bouncy Chicken bus to get there. On the weekends, there is live music, drinks, views of the sunset and lava-spouting volcano. Even food trucks. 

We ran into a Guatemalan couple there who were celebrating their 11th wedding anniversary and had come out to see the singer, Di WAV, a famous Guatemalan-Swiss chanteuse who was playing that night. They were so happy to see her!

Stage at Cerveceria 14 with DiWAV

Fuego at sunset

Happy place

Visit with Jay and Annie

We also had a blast visiting with Jay and Annie, who had a lovely, secluded AirBnB near us in Santa Clara. 

We went to various restaurants, played Euchre, shared dinners, had a picnic at Cerro del Tenedor. The fun culminated with Ivan and Jay watching football at a local bar while Annie and I did a very Antiguan photo shoot, followed by my nephew James arriving Sunday night from Iqualuit - despite the national state of emergency in Guatemala and "generational" storm hitting North America shutting down a majority of flights . The boy was born lucky.

Ivan, Jay, Annie and I in their AirBnB

Vagamundo Camping

We were self-exiled in Antigua in part because of the state of emergency, but mainly because we aimed, for the first time ever, to meet our accountant's January 24 deadline for submitting our business taxes before leaving. We also wanted to watch the football playoffs with Jay. And - full confession - we loved, loved, loved our campsite, Vagamundo. 

We met the "locals", many long-term residents, who sleep in converted trailers, VWs, trucks, boats and even a helicopter. Plus a ton of travelers like ourselves who came in and out of the campground sharing information on the Pan-American Highway. All would gather around the fire pit at night, which was "guarded" by a giant  black wooden jaguar. Mark, a long-time resident, would keep painting the jaguar's eyes and claws . The staff would routinely remove the paint shortly afterwards. And so passed time in Vagamundo...

Vagamundo campfire, with converted buses behind that visitors can rent.

Lika, the queen dog of the campground.

Ivan's homemade vegan sausages - just had to put them out there.

Abuelo serving tamales and sausages at the nearby square

Antigua to Posada Montana del Quetzal

We finally managed to drag ourselves out of Antigua thought to head into the jungle. Full disclosure: leaving was a bit of a shit show. We left an hour later than planned, then got lost on our way towards our destination, and ended up staying at an isolated restaurant/cabin location off the highway called Posada Montana del Quetzal. 

It's crazy how here in Guatemala even a road stop hotel is stunningly beautiful. 

One of the paths at the hotel

A view of the pools and our bathrooms

There were cabanas, with fireplaces (how we envied those), a playground made of tire and wood, two pools - all surrounded by jungle, woods and trails. 

We ate dinner at the restaurant where we tried the local dish, Kaq'ik, which is basically a boiled turkey leg with a bowl of turkey broth, half a chayote squash and tamales. Surprisingly delicious, though I was smelling and tasting turkey all night.

We decided not to park by the road, in the safe, drained parking lot. Instead, we parked beyond the cabanas, a little too close to the cliff, despite warning on iOverlander that it might be tough to get out in the morning. How bad could it be, we thought?

A lovely, isolated spot

Then night came. And the rains fell. Hard. 

I could not sleep a wink, imagining the newly-tamped dirt underneath us liquifying, our van being swept into the jungle. Then our roof started leaking, and water splashed on my face just as I started to drift off. We rigged up a temporary solution to catch the rain, but both of us had various van subsidence nightmares and woke up cold, unrested, and ready to move on. But not before a good breakfast, the best of which, fortunately, was literally around the corner at our hotel restaurant.

But don't take my word for it. A constant stream of locals kept coming into the restaurant for the restaurant's breakfast.  The parking lot was packed, and I saw at least three Guatemalan ladies in their embroidered finery leap out from under the tarp-covered backend of a pickup truck to grab breakfast before work. Clearly, this is where you eat on the highway here.

Coban

The day was wet, but we made it to Coban relatively easily enough. We had read of the city's famous cardamon (the city's production is the largest in the world), and its coffee culture, and were excited to see the city everyone was raving about. 

But we'd set our Google Maps to take us to pick up groceries at their equivalent of Food Basics, so I guess our route passed by the scenic, tourist locations and instead traveled through your everyday-Guatemalan streets, which - like all everyday streets - is not so exciting in endless drizzle.

Our campsite, though, was unexpectedly wild. At the north end of the city, the National Parque de los Victorias is a wonderful nature reserve with jungle walks, lagoons (with crocodiles!), and gigantic trees full of local birds with the most melodious calls. Then again, some bird calls were so screeching-ly awful I thought they were monkeys. Regardless, it was exotic, despite being able to hear the rabid soccer fans cheering at the nearby stadium as we made our way through the bush. 

Campsite on the edge of the city in National Parque de las Victorias

Jungle walk

The crocodile warning

Ivan looking for quetzals

Hard to see but it's a crocodile!

The signage, shown below, was a bit lacking however, and we ended up getting quite lost (the story of our time in Guatemala so far). Luckily, an armed man directed us down a very suspicious short cut. We made it back with about 10 minutes to spare before sunset. We were walking pretty fast by then, I can tell you.

The site map. Yes, this is all there is to take you through the jungle and "crocodile habitat".

Leaf cutter ants! (Will post video to Instagram.)

 Semuc Champey

Which brings us to today. We slept late under the constant jungle drizzle in the park, but finally hit the road at 11 for what we thought would be a short, paved 2-hour drive to Semuc Champey. 

Only ... we ran into a dense fog along the way. This cut our our GPS, and we ended up driving WAAAAY out off the highway. Suddenly we're on these pot-holed dirt roads, no other vehicles in site, with locals staring at us wondering where the heck we'd come from. 

The fog descends and GPS gets cut out

However, we soon realized our error (before Google did) and turned around, only to run into yet another GPS error that had us winding through cobblestone streets following the other gringos-in-cars-following-google before being turned around by a cop, one vehicle at a time, and sent back to the highway towards the alternative route. Which, to be fair to the cop, was actually properly signposted and a way easier route. All to say, we got here late but safe and sound. 

We turned into the only campground in the area that our van could (barely) make it to, Camp Rana (no website, only a facebook post) and managed to squeeze the van into a mud-slicked parking lot above a riverfront campground and behind a tienda. We only barely made it in. Still waiting to see if we make it out.

Parking lot of Camp Rana

The walk to the viewpoint at Semuc Champey is muddy, slippery but well trod. Not for the faint of heat, but what a view! Turquoise pools, cascading down into a cloud-forest valley. 

At the top of the climb, with the pools below us,

The climb to the mirador (viewpoint)

The Semuc Champey pools

The walk, reportedly 30 minutes, took an hour in the poor conditions, but we were rewarded by a swim in the softest water I've ever swam in and a free manicure from the local fish.

Swimming in the pools and getting fish pedicures

Now we're in the camper van, praying for no more rain. But no one here is listening. The hope is that the rain eases early and we make it out of here with minimal squealing tires, so we can head towards Flores, where we're planning to hike the Mirador with James. 

Eating Chef Ivan's Pumpkin Lentil soup out of the drizzle

Stay safe, and warm, and we'll let you know when we make it out of here and up north!

Guat's up? Volcanos and Views in Antigua

 

I had no real expectations for Guatemala, to be honest. It was a volcano to climb, a ruin or two to look up, and a country to pass through on my way further south. But that was before we arrived in Antigua mid-December, and now we're having a hard time bringing ourselves to leave!

The first thing I noticed about Guatemala? The bathrooms. They  had toilets that flushed - at least most of the time. This was a huge improvement over most of Mexico. 

Second thing I noticed? The many, many auto "love" hotels on the highways, with names like "jardin secreto" (secret garden) or "toro fuerte" (strong bull). These usually had hearts all over, closed garages where you could hide your car from view of prying spouses, "promises of reliable wifi, and some very reasonable hourly rates. 

One of the many auto love hotels on the highway

Ivan's favourite urinals in Antigua at the Hub

Sadly, the third thing I noticed was the masses of migrants, mostly Indigenous, making their way through the highlands towards the Mexican border. I'm not sure I would have noticed if Ivan and I hadn't spent the last 18 driving hours listening to a book on tape about the immigration crisis in central America.

I have no photos, as most people don't like their pictures taken when they are at their lowest, but there were hundreds of people, many in their beautifully coloured and embroidered traditional clothes, weaving on makeshift looms by the side of the litter-lined road while camped down amid the plastic McDonald's drink cups crumpled chip wrappers thrown by passing cars. Their children would stand at the side of the road in clusters waving at passing motorists. They had with smiles on their faces, trying to look friendly and (I guess) flag down drivers. Which made me so sad, especially having just learned that less than 1% of the few Guatemalans who make it to the US will actually receive asylum - or at least that's roughly what the statistics were a few years ago. I can only imagine that the odds are even less in their favour now.

stock photo of Guatemalan Indigenous clothing

(Sidenote: Throughout our idyllic stay here we've also met several Guatemalans who had recently been deported back, some who had lived in the US for years. It's one thing to read about the crisis in the news, another to see it for yourself. For anyone truly interested in this issue, I encourage you to read Everyone who is Gone is Here: the United States, Central America, and the making of an American Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer.)

Speaking of books, fun fact: for fans of Le Petit Prince, the author crashed in Guatemala in 1938 and spent several months recuperating here. Legend has it that it was this ancient city of Antigua, surrounded by volcanoes, that inspired the Prince's home, asteroid B-612. If you'll remember, he swept his planet daily - much like the street sweepers still do here in Antigua, given the amount of volcanic dust that settles here every day. And I know this is true because I was often woken at 6 am by the sound of cane brooms sweeping under our Air BnB window.

With that image in your mind, let's get into some highlights from our time in the fabled city of Antigua, where Ivan and I have been staying this past month. 

Recommendation: Play Guatemalan Sunsets in the background to get ready for the spectacular Guatemalan pics to come...

Living in a Fairy Tale

The town is indescribably gorgeous - and (thanks to the diligence of street sweepers) remarkably clean. Unlike elsewhere in Guatemala, where we saw people throw bags of garbage out of their windows while driving (I'm looking at you, Lake Atitlan), the streets here are cleaned all the time. The gardens, too, are constantly  and carefully tended. Everywhere we went we were blown away by the beautiful tropical blooms and cacti, with Olly and I having to stop all the time to try to identify them. 

(Ursula - this series of photos is for you!)

Nopal

Parrot flower - largest flower in the world

Hanging lobster claw

Golden Shrimp Plant

But beyond the forever-flowering vines and trees, Antigua has got the absolute best views. Situated in a high valley, the city's rooftops yield vistas of green hills, blue and purple volcanos, rolling columbous clouds, and  - best of all - erupting Fuego. At night, you can even see the lava light up, a bright red and orange flame, when Fuego explodes.

Fuego volcano erupting behind me at the Hub brewery rooftop patio

Ivan looking at Agua from another bar rooftop, Sky View

Our Air BnB rooftop view. We saw all three of the top volcanoes: Agua, Fuego and Acatenango - while sitting on our patio chairs.

Our sunset view - yes, every day was this beautiful

The Ruins 

The flowers are gorgeous. The volcanoes are stunning. Now throw some ruins in there - actually, throw them EVERYWHERE - and you have the fantastical, Disney-like Antigua aesthetic that makes you feel like you are living inside a fairy tale.

 

Most of the ruins are colonial buildings destroyed in the 1773 earthquake, which was so big - magnitude 7.5 - and so devastating, that Spain moved the capital from here in Antigua (which was then called Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala) to it current location at Guatamala City. And yes, knowing this fact did make me nervous every time I heard Fuego erupt, which is pretty often.

Colonial ruins abound in this city. They're behind the basketball court, inside the resorts, over the fence, under your feet. I've lost count of all the ruins we've seen so far and still, every day, we discover another. Here's just a selection of a few of them. 

The famous Antigua Arch

The streets by the square with Acatenango Volcano behind

A seventeenth century cathedral ruin

Amid the rubble

A former monastery I think. To tell the truth, it's hard to keep track

An old school and hospital - and popular picnic spot

My favourite store selling herbal remedies

Fountain in town square

The old church by the basketball courts and outdoor gym

A month of visits!

But the best part of our time in Antigua has been all the visitors we've had. We're approaching four months on the road, so it was a joy to see Cohen for Christmas. Then came Ivan's brother Olly and his partner, Amanda from Australia for New Years. Our friends, Marla Segol and her adult children Goldie and Orry, joined us early in January.

Cohen packing for our hike

Merry Christmas in Antigua!

Olly and Amanda

The Bolliger Boys and Amanda

Ivan with (from right) Goldie, Orry, me and Marla with Pacaya volcano in the back

Now onto some of the amazing adventures we had with everyone!

Adventure 1: Climbing Volcanos

After a week acclimatizing, Ivan, Cohen and I took the "adventure" package to hike the famous Acatenango volcano where you treck an arduous 1,500 m to stay overnight near the peak. At camp, you can watch the adjacent volcano, Fuego, spurt lava. 

(There's a livecam that runs 24/7 if you want to see for yourself. As one of the most active volcanos in the world, you're likely to see something if you wait long enough - eruptions are every 5 - 15 minutes. The guides told us it was most active between 10 pm and 3 am, though I can't think why a volcano would be affected by sun and could not verify that fact.)

The hike (operated through Trek) was close to six hours, and we reached almost 4,000 m above sea level. Unfortunately for us, the day we booked a storm was heading towards Mexico and its winds were passing through, making it too windy to walk the ridgeline that would have brought us even closer to Fuego. 

Also, having chosen the non-glamping "adventure" version meant being in a nylon tent on the exposed side of the mountain as opposed to being snug in a canvas tent on a raised cot. The winds were so strong the night we stayed that one tent collapsed and Ivan and I kept getting woken up by the tent slapping our heads. The wind and sleet were coming at us almost horizontally in the early hours. 

Then, to top it all off, despite the training Ivan put me through running up the nearby hill for a week in preparation, I still got altitude sickness and had a rough, insomniac night unable to feel my pinkies followed by a headachy descent and a day prostrate in bedm rehydrating. 

But it was a total blast (literally). My only regret is not getting the "glamping" package. That and not drinking another litre of water. Lesson learned.

Ivan and I - note the tree leaning in the wind behind...

Fuego erupts! The whole point of the hike.

Ivan in the cloud forest

Our guide and a well deserved rest at the top

Ivan saving a fellow hiker locked in the bano with a machete

In the could forest

Passing 3,500 meters

Fuego the next morning - clouds cleared and winds gone

Descending in the calm morning

The next volcano we climbed was Pacaya with Marla and the younger Segols. You used to be able to see lava flowing all the time at Pacaya, which suddenly became active in the 60's. But the lava hasn't flowed in recent times. A private geothermal company has been generating energy in the region to sell to Mexico and elsewhere, which  locals suspect may be hindering Pacaya's activity. So, we still roasted marshmallows in a lava oven on the lava fields, but they weren't really roasted so much as warmed. But everything else was amazing - especially drinking hot chocolate and watching the sunset above the clouds.

At the top of Pacaya

Our local guide, a 62 (or 72 - my Spanish isn't great) grandfather of six who hikes Pacaya at least 3 times a week

Me and a wet horse in the middle of a cloud

View from the peak of Pacaya

The Pacaya lava fields

Sunset begins...

Descending Pacaya after sunset

The Segols, readying to descend

Sunset from Pacaya

Antigua Holiday Celebrations with Family

Being able to celebrate with family was the best gift I got for Christmas this year! As I wrote a few posts ago, it is VERY noisy and busy during Christmas season here, so we all kind of adapted our usual traditions to where we were.

Cohen got seriously into tortilla making (and all things Masa) during his time in Antigua. He is perfecting his form back in Hamilton. Here he is presiding over our Mexican-inspired Christmas dinner.

Christmas dinner: Mexican Christmas Salad; homemade tamales; spicy sweet potatoes; mango pico de gallo; salsa verde; and creamed swiss chard. For dessert, my favourite cake - Carlotta con Limon!


We celebrated New Years with Amanda and Olly following a Guatemalan tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one for each ring of the church bell. We did it an hour early so we could hit Antigua town square.

Antigua square at New Year's Eve. At first we were confused - it was the only time we didn't hear fireworks and the crowd was relatively tame, until... 

Ivan, myself and Olly ready for the fireworks...

BANG! Antigua did NOT disappoint on New Years.

More fireworks - it was crazy loud and fire cracker dust was raining from the sky. Madness!

Then the lights of 2025 went out, and those of 2026 turned on, and suddenly it was the new year.

Short Visit to Lake Atitlan

We did not stay long at Lake Atitlan. Only one night, as a matter of fact, which is definitely not enough. To be honest, I wasn't super excited to go there. I mean, I'd heard it was beautiful but I thought that was all hype. Until I got there. 

Wow. 

The lake is surrounded by volcanos (more volcanos!), including the Cerro de Oro, which many say was the inspiration for the shape the Little Prince draws representing a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant. 

Panoramic of Lake Atitlan, with the Cerro de Oro centre

View of Cerro de Oro from the hot tub

Evening on Lake Atitlan

Fisherman using a cayuko (flat-bottomed boat carved out of a single log) to fish

Ivan and Olly in the hot tub

While there we enjoyed one of the best meals I've ever had in Guatemala, sat in a hot tub under the stars, sauna-ed, kayaked the lake, and ended it all with a visit to the local market where Marla got tapped on the butt by an elderly woman who chastised her for blocking traffic. Gringos, beware and keep moving - abuelas don't have time to waste on Sunday when there's dinner to cook.

We also accidentally walked into a gang club house, but that's a story best told in person.

Monterrico Beach

It's pretty cool, temperature-wise, in the mountains and Antigua. So before we sent Cohen back to snowy Canada, we decided to drive the rather treacherous three hours to the coast and hit the beach.

We stayed in one of Guatemala's top beaches - Montericco. Think hot black sand, sudden drop offs, crashing waves and miles and miles of views. Not to mention ATVs. All day, all night, teenagers riding up and down the beach on gasoline-guzzling, exhaust-exuding four-by-fours. So not a place for relaxing exactly, but great people watching and wave diving and especially sunset ogling. 

The day we arrived, the storm front was still making its way up up the coast. In the sunset, we could see the storm funnel pretty clearly, as well as flashes of lightening bolts in its centre. 

Playing pool at our beach "resort", the Hotel El Delfin. Think cots with mosquito netting hanging from the ceiling, padlocks for room locks, and communal bathrooms. We're pretty sure this is where Cohen and I caught our brutal illness, which hit us both hard the next few days.

But this made it all worthwhile.

Here you can see the storm funnel  I was talking about 

I'll leave it there for today. I have a lot more to share - market going, street food, concerts, campground living and (if I play my cards right) maybe even salsa dancing. But the temperature's just dropped and the Ivan's making me vegan sausages on a charcoal grill, so got to go.

Wishing everyone a happy January and hoping you are all well!