Getting to Guate (aka Guatemala City!)

So after our 3 days in Copan, we booked a place on a small shuttle bus headed for Guatemala City, so we got on board at 6am and tried to enjoy the 5 hour bumpy journey in a minivan. Traveling by bus really doesn’t bother me that much when I think about it, I just can’t stand it when everyone is cramped on into one great big bus, when I have a little bit of space, I am happy, but to be honest, in these minivans the seat are so close together that no one really has space regardless of where they sit!

Anyway, when we arrived in Guatemala city we were dropped off at this restaurant called ‘Los Antojitos’ where we ended up having breakfast after calling our hostel and arranging for someone to come and pick us up from ‘Quetzalroo’. So shortly afterwards, our lift arrived and it was packed with other travelers as Quetzalroo hostel had just finished their city tour and were on their way back when they came to pick us up. So we soon arrived at the hostel and were greeted by one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in, run by such a nice family and everyone their knows their stuff about where to go and what to do! We asked Manuel (the man who runs this joint, who also looks like a guatemalan Jack Black) what we should do whilst in the city and he gave us this map and pointed out the locations of a few museums and other such places and even a great restaurant that we should go to. So Ally went ahead to all the museums and I went around to explore and do some shopping as I wasn’t really in a museum-y kind of mood, so we agreed to meet at this restaurant later in the evening for a bite to eat. However, with me not being the greatest man to trust for directions, I soon got lost in amongst their ‘calle y avenida’ system, much like New York’s block system, but different due to the fact that not every single avenue or street is signposted, anyway, it transpired that I was actually about half an hour late for when we arranged to meet for dinner. After a very big apology and finding out about each others day we had an early dinner and headed back to the hostel (about an 8 minute walk away), we then decided that we should go out for a drink or something and make the most of Guatemala City’s Zona Viva, however when we were walking down the street, we were very shocked to find out that we couldn’t get a taxi to stop for us, so we were waiting and trying to get one to stop for about 10 - 15 minutes before we went back inside to ask if Manuel could call one for us, however he said that a big group of them were all heading out for something to eat at the restaurant we went to earlier and that we should tag along, which of course we did, and just sat and had a beer or two.

This dinner was great as we got to know everyone staying at the hostel and also got to know some of the staff really well. We met a great australian couple called Mitch and Claire and also an american girl called Cindy. All seem really cool and such great people. One of the best things about traveling is just meeting so many different people and hearing everyone’s different stories, about where they started, where they are going, what was their favourite place e.t.c, and even just bonding over the fact that everyone is doing roughly the same thing as each other. So after dinner we headed out to a bar and had a few beers in a very overly packed bar, where all (i think) 7 of us were squished onto this one table at the very back of the bar, oh well, still very enjoyable ... even more enjoyable when we got up to leave and got a taxi and managed to fit all of us into this one cab which normally held about 4 people, including the driver! Quite a feat I may say!

The next day we organised to go on the ‘Peligroso Tour’, Quetzalroo’s city tour, which takes us through the old section of the city, through some central parks and into the best market I have ever been to. This thing was about 2 floors, and about the size of a football pitch! Massive! We even stopped at one of Manuel’s favourite food stalls where he made everyone try traditional Guatemalan cuisine, starting at level 1. Of course Ally and I are not ones to turn down a challenge, so we went all the way up to level 3 (the highest) and during our time we tried fried pigs stomach, liver and ‘Chile Rellenos’ (a sort of stuffed pepper like thing, with meat, onion and pepper all chopped up into a ball and put into a batter type thing ... actually now one of my favourite things I ate whilst traveling, these things are all over guatemala!

Anyway, we spent the rest of the day just chilling out, watching some much missed TV with the rest of the hostel and even having a roof top party whilst watching some amazing fireworks (for the guatemalan equivalent of KFC’s 50th birthday, this place is called Pollo Campero), and eating some amazing Guatemalan Hot Dogs whilst chilling (and trying to warm up) in my newly purchased PONCHO!! Yeah baby, a proud and happy owner at last! This night was great and I wish I could relive it, hopefully if I get the chance to go back once again. Sadly there isn’t really any pictures of Guatemala City as I really didn’t want to take out my iPhone as we had heard that ‘Guate’  (aka) is very dangerous and don’t even bother taking out anything expensive!

Getting Started and Copan Ruinás!

Well, it was December the 5th and we awoke very early in the morning, very excited so we would be able to reach the ferry port in time for the 7am ferry. Our journey started, having to climb over the school gates with our bags, and being attacked by some dogs on the walk down the road. A bit of a dodgy start, not gonna lie ... but hopefully things could only get better right?? Oh Hells Yeah!!

This whole day was spent on busses, waiting for busses and buying coffee to keep us going. After the ferry we had to get a bus to San Pedro Sula (one of many stops here on our travels!) which took about 5 hours, grabbed some lunch before then taking a bus to Copan Ruinás, another 7ish hours due to the very bumby and windy roads through the mountains, which meant, we didn’t really get to Copan until about 7 o’clock at night, where we managed to bargain down the price of a private room as the man had promised us some dorms beds, but all of the dorm rooms were full! Go us, so our first stop of the holiday was spent in relative luxury for a traveller in one of the most gorgeous towns ever!

Copan Ruinás is a very quaint little town, filled with cobbled streets and little cafes surrounding a beautiful central square. The next few days were amazing, spent time visiting Macaw Mountain, a great little bird sanctuary in a coffee plantation, where they had macaws and parrots and all sorts of other birds, some of which you could even hold, which of course we did (Macaws are actually pretty heavy, and when you had three on you at once, with your arms out, can get a bit tiresome ... i’m not weak! ... I promise!). We also of course visited the famous ruins, and had the pleasure of having a great guide who claimed to have discovered half of the ruins himself, and even claimed to have about 5 different degrees in everything ranging from Anthropology to Mayanology (????), anyway, he was very funny and we had a great tour around the site, which was amazing! Everything was spectacular, these structures were huge and just looked like something built out of Alien Vs. Predator ... kind of got a bit scared when I saw the sacrificial room full of slimy eggs ... just kidding!!

Some of the nights in Copan where definitely enjoyable, always walking around trying to find somewhere to eat for the night, we stumbled across some great places. Places that had back packer specials ($8 for a 3 course dinner), some great ‘tipico’ or ‘asada’ (traditional or typical food, and grilled meat respectively), but one of the best places we came across (well, Ally came across really) was when we were approached by a local women on the street asking us if we had heard about the german restaurant in town, and saying that she could take us there, However, myself and Mageli (a girl we had met and spent the past couple of days with, and who had become a very good friend) needed to head back to the hotel to drop off some shopping or something, so Ally subtly passed me his remaining money and camera, for fear of being accosted by this women and came back from his venture raving about this place, and saying that it had its own brewery and that the man who ran in, Thomas, was pretty much a mad scientist, inventing all of these different flavoured beers every night to sell to his customers. Anywho, we all agreed to head back there later for a meal and we were lucky to have some great traditional german food and were surrounded by some great company, people from all over the world, there was even a BRIT!! A girl from bristol who I became immediate friends with due to the connection of us being from the same country. The evening continued as we had more and more of this mad scientist’s home brewed beer (not actually that bad!) and eventually we were both quite drunk as we stumbled back into our hotel room and crashed!

Copan was just amazing and I really don’t want to bore you with everything we did, will save that for when I return, but I will just say that one of the weirdest moments was while eating breakfast in their central market, an old local man came and sat next to us and started to talk to us about Sophocles’ philosophies (in spanish I might add), of course, we were both quite startled and didn’t really know how to reply, apart from the classic nod of the head whilst saying ‘Sí, Sí’. 

If anyone gets the opportunity to visit this place ... DO!! Some honestly great food, surrounded by fantastic scenery and some very nice shopping to be had, only slight down turn is that there is of course a lot of ‘gringos’ there, due to it being Honduras’ second biggest tourist attraction, which also means it is a little expensive for a travellers budget, but you can really overlook that fact when surrounded by such a beautiful place and such friendly people!