Back to Guatemala

After crossing the border at El Ceibo, we were in a great position to see the rest of Guatemala. We visited the area Las Flores in the northeast the first time around, and now we made our way from El Ceibo to Antigua Guatemala by driving each day and staying one night in each place. It took us five days.

Guatemala is beautiful! Nature is stunning, we have seen so many incredible views on route that it is difficult to say what is the best part. The roads are good, mostly, and some are winding and up and down mountains, so you just hope nothing will happen to the vehicle! When there has been a landslide, the road in spots is hard to even see, and at one point we had to drive through a river as the bridge had gone. The townships are the messiest you can imagine, and the people (well, the women!) are dressed in traditional skirts and blouses which are very colourful and beautiful. We saw only one man in traditional clothes. His dress was colourful too, as was he while walking along on unsteady legs on a Friday afternoon.

We drove through La Sierra de Las Minas, with unspoiled forests in the valleys and on the mountain tops. Then in some areas it was obvious that humans had been active, with the mountain sides completely destroyed by deforestation and efforts to replace vegetation with pine trees. When talking to locals they said that the hills were on fire because of people actually setting fires for no reason. All those areas were depressing to see, and you realise just how big the environmental problem is. There is also acute water shortage in many places, with wells the only source.

Our route was El Ceibo - Sayaxché - Santa Cruz Verapaz - Huehuetenango - Panajachel - Antigua Guatemala. We tried Quetzaltenango but it was so messy we just had to get out! Nos dimos por vencidos :-).