Archive for October 2000

The end of everything

Oct 25, 2000 in Central America 2000

The end of everything

The day I got back we had nothing in particular planned. Mike and Aasta, with whom we had climbed Volcán San Pedro, were in town, and me, Moh, Mike and Mark, a Canadian who we’d met, decided to go for a bike ride. Having hired bikes, we set off down dusty roads, through small villages, [...]

Towering temples at Tikal

Oct 24, 2000 in Central America 2000

Towering temples at Tikal

It was a very pleasant bus ride up there. A few years ago the road to Flores was notorious for (guess what?) armed robberies, but the road has recently been paved, which speeds up the journey enormously and has cut incidences of robbery to zero. I arrived in Flores safe and well after a nine-hour [...]

Market madness

Oct 23, 2000 in Central America 2000

Market madness

The next day, we went to a mountain town called Chichicastenango. Apart from having a fantastic name, Chichi is justifiably famous for its markets. Local people converge on the town from the surrounding countryside every Sunday and Thursday to buy and sell fruit and veg, and many stalls sell fantastic Guatemalan handicrafts, bought mainly by [...]

Best sunrise ever seen

Oct 21, 2000 in Central America 2000

Best sunrise ever seen

We had been told that the temperature at the summit was usually around -5°C just before dawn, and we could well believe it as we emerged from the tent at 5.30am to find an awesome view before us. Pre-dawn colours dusted the sky, towns and villages glowed far beneath us, and a mighty plume of [...]

Very high

Oct 20, 2000 in Central America 2000

Very high

Volcán Santamaria stands 3772m tall, just south of Xela. It had never been known to erupt before 1902, but in that year it underwent the third-largest eruption of the 20th century. The cataclysmic explosion ripped away the southern flank of the volcano, leaving a huge gash in the side of the mountain. After 20 years [...]

Highlands

Oct 19, 2000 in Central America 2000

At an elevation of 2330m, Xela is noticeably colder than Atitlán and Antigua. It was near here that the decisive battle in the conquest of Guatemala was fought in 1524, and the city was founded on the site of the capital of the K’iché Maya. You would have no idea of this if the guidebooks [...]

Evil saints

Oct 18, 2000 in Central America 2000

Evil saints

After two days we were sufficiently restored to leave the hammocks and get on our way again. Our next point of call was to be Santiago Atitlán, another lakeside town. There are two more volcanoes not far from Santiago, but if I’m honest we had no intention of climbing them. When I go back, perhaps…
No, [...]

Quite high

Oct 14, 2000 in Central America 2000

Quite high

And so long before dawn on October 14th 2000, we set out for Volcán San Pedro. We climbed in the enjoyable company of our group of 11, which consisted of me and Moh, Ashley from Australia, Mike and Aasta from Alaska, Will and Chad from Oregon, Greg from the UK, Steve from Canada, Julie from [...]

Down to the lake

Oct 13, 2000 in Central America 2000

Down to the lake

When we woke, though, we found it was really not a nice day. We decided not to climb that day, but we didn’t want to hang around in Antigua any longer. We decided to leave for our next destination, and hope to return to Antigua with a couple of days to spare at the end [...]

We climb our first volcano

Oct 12, 2000 in Central America 2000

We climb our first volcano

Another grey day followed, but we didn’t have the time to wait for sunshine so we decided to climb Volcán Pacaya. This is another spot notorious for armed robbery, and I may now be giving the impression that Guatemala is a gun-ridden nightmare country. Well, it’s probably not the safest of holiday destinations. . From [...]

Antigua

Oct 11, 2000 in Central America 2000

Antigua

When the Spanish conquered Guatemala, they founded their first capital in 1527 at a site known today as Ciudad Vieja (Old City). Situated on the fertile flanks of the huge but extinct Volcán Agua, it seemed like an ideal place for a city. It lasted for just 14 years, though, before disaster struck. After weeks [...]

Latin American driving

Oct 09, 2000 in Central America 2000

Latin American driving

All our travel up until now had been on local buses. We were a little daunted at the thought of the Guatemalan bus system, having been advised by the Foreign Office that fatal crashes are frequent, and by other travellers that the buses are unbelievably crowded. We were also not too keen on negotiating our [...]

Copán just fine, thanks

Oct 08, 2000 in Central America 2000

Copán just fine, thanks

The Maya were one of the three great ancient civilizations of the Americas, along with the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico. The civilization began to emerge at least 4,000 years ago, was advanced by 300AD, and reached its peak (the so-called Classic Period) from around 600 to 800AD. During this time, they [...]

Across Honduras

Oct 07, 2000 in Central America 2000

Across Honduras

We left before the sun was up the next morning, and thus failed to see Tegucigalpa in the daylight. I am told this is not a great loss. We were headed for Copán Ruinas, some 500km away, and we needed to get a bus first to Santa Rosa de Copán, 400km up the road. We [...]

Border nightmare

Oct 06, 2000 in Central America 2000

Border nightmare

The next day it was time to brave our second border crossing. While we were in Granada, the news had been that a bridge on the road to theborder at Guasaule had been washed away. This was indeed the case, and the bridge was still down, but by now the floodwaters had subsided somewhat, [...]

Silent cyclists and snakes

Oct 05, 2000 in Central America 2000

Silent cyclists and snakes

The next day we wanted to go to one of the most active volcanoes in the chain, Cerro Negro. It didn’t exist before 1850, when a steaming crack in the ground suddenly began to exude lava, but now stands 600m tall, black and steaming, above the surrounding countryside. We took a bus to the town [...]

Through the volcanoes

Oct 04, 2000 in Central America 2000

Through the volcanoes

We decided then to abandon all hope of climbing up Volcán Masaya and move on instead. Our next destination was Nicaragua’s other old city, León, and to get there we needed to get a bus to Managua, make our way across Managua, and get another bus across the outside. We had heard horror stories about [...]

Returning to Masaya

Oct 03, 2000 in Central America 2000

Returning to Masaya

The next day dawned fine, and, with an Australian traveller called Ashley who was staying at the same hotel as us, we got an early bus out to Parque Nacional Volcán Masaya. However, our luck was not in and by the time we got there it was once again hammering down with rain. We nonetheless [...]

Granada

Oct 02, 2000 in Central America 2000

Granada

It wasn’t raining but the streets were wet when we arrived in the historic town of Granada. Founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, the Spanish conquistador of Nicaragua, it is the oldest city in Nicaragua. The city of León, in the north of the country, was founded in the same year, and these [...]