Today we will start our trip from Guatemala. Our first stop will be Bogotá, Colombia.

Last week we enjoyed the beach in Monterrico, Guatemala and regained our strength after 2 weeks of wedding preparation, welcoming guests from all over the world and celebrating our wedding, followed by a 1-week “honeymoon” tour around Guatemala with family and friends. We have had an amazing time!

I come back home to Guatemala City at least once a year and always try to squeeze in a short trip and get out of the chaos of the capital (which I must admit, I quite enjoy despite the traffic). I had almost forgotten how beautiful this time of year is. I arrived on the last days of October. On the 1st of November we celebrated “Dia de los Muertos”, one of the most important festive days. Originally we planned to go to Sumpango to see the “festival de los barriletes” (a festival where you can see huge and colorful kites) with our guests, however we left late and got stuck in traffic. While standing still we were lucky enough to experience a parade and we danced on the street until we decided to turn around instead of attempting to go to Sumpango. We went to La Reunión  – a beautiful Golf course nestled between the volcanoes Fuego and Agua. There we ate the typical dish which Guatemalan families prepare especially for this day – “Fiambre”. Fiambre is a dishes composed of different vegetables, sausages, ham, egg and many other different ingredients which make this cold dish unique. On our way back, we saw the cemeteries decorated with colorful flowers and families gathered to picknick next or even on top of their families’ graves. And even though we didn’t see the big kites, we saw smaller ones flown by young children (the kites are believed to communicate with the spirits of the dead).

Tobi stayed in Antigua from Tuesday until the wedding with family and friends, where he perfectioned his tour guide skills while performing many city tours around Antigua. I on the other hand, went back to Guatemala and did the last preparations for the wedding and enjoyed some pre-wedding time with family (especially with my 6-month old niece) and my life long school friends who make me feel like I never left.

On Thursday I made my way to Antigua. It was wonderful to wander through the hotel Casa Santo Domingo and see friendly faces all over the place. I felt as if someone had thrown a weekend party and invited all my loved ones. Even though we had our civil wedding in the summer in Switzerland, I still felt everything pretty surreal.

We had a small welcome dinner for our out of town guests in the restaurant Como Como where Suzanne and her husband delighted us with a flying dinner. The food is a great mix of Belgian and Guatemalan cuisine in a beautiful charming colonial house just steps away from the Parque La Unión.

The wedding was Saturday and I would need more than a blog post to write all about it, but I’ll summarize it as an unforgettable, happy and beautiful day! It was everything we imagined and more.

The Monday after, we started our Guatemala tour. We first headed out to Lake Atitlán, considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and I agree. The lake is surrounded by 3 volcanoes – the Atitlán, Tolimán and San Pedro. The setting is stunning and the Hotel Atitlán where we stayed 2 nights has one of the best views. Before sunset, 2 motorboats (so-called “tiburoneras”) picked all 24 of us up at Hotel Atitlán and we headed to the pier of the hotel Casa Palopó. While planning the trip, I read that Mario André Miralles was the chef at the restaurant, so I wrote to him and asked if he could do a tasting menu for us. We started off with a steep hike (of course they have stairs) from the pier to the hotel. We had some cocktails enjoying the view before moving to the other part of the nicely decorated terrasse where we had dinner. The tasting menu was amazing – a wonderful mix of Guatemalan and International dishes with a very personal note. My favorites were the “Cannelloni filled with Hilachas” and ice cream made of “Canillita de Leche” with caramel popcorn.

The next day we took a double deck boat  which took us across the lake to Santiago. In Santiago after several attempts we found Maximón, a local folk saint which represents the mixture of the local beliefs with Christian religion. It’s venerated by the Maya people but not approved Catholic Church. We were able to visit Maximón who was accompanied by 3 “cofrades” and take 3 pictures for Q10 – the money was subsequently placed under Maximón’s scarf. Afterwards we headed to San Juan La Laguna where we visited a women’s “cooperativa” and learned about the process of how they create their textiles – from the cleaning of the cotton, the dyeing of the threads with natural colors to the weaving using traditional “telar de cintura”. On the way back to the hotel we experienced a beautiful sunset on the lake. The third day we headed to Iximché to visit the ancient city of the Kaqchikeles, before heading back to the capital. In the evening we had a really nice dinner at the restaurant Poeta y Villano. That evening, we said “hasta luego” to some friends who had to get back home.

From Thursday to Friday we flew to Flores, Petén in the north of Guatemala. We were picked up by our driver and tour guide for the next 2 days. We arrived at 7 am so we started early visiting the National Park of Tikal. Tikal is one of the most important Mayan cities and also the most vi
sited by tourists and most often portrayed in post cards. Not only were we able to admire the ruins, but we also saw 2 types of toucans, howler monkeys, “pizotes” (=coati in english) and turkeys. We sadly (or luckily) didn’t see any jaguars. However, the “Gran Jaguar”, or Templo I, was as always very impressive. To finalize the visit of Tikal, we went up to Templo IV and admired the view of the pyramids jut out above the vast rain-forest, Cortez’ Hell. We spent the night at the Hotel Camino Real in El Remate on the shores of the Lake Petén-Itzá.

The second day in the jungle, we headed to Yaxhá under heavy rain. After packing ourselves in raincoats and plastic bags, we entered the never-ending green and after 2 minutes had to remove all the plastic because the sun came out and so did the heat. Yaxhá is my favorite archaeological Mayan site. It’s nestled between 2 lakes and it has beautiful views from the top of the pyramids. It is also less touristy and therefore you feel like in an Indiana Jones movie – just my thing! We concluded the trip by flying back to Guatemala City with the group. We were all really tired and probably also a bit smelly from sweating the whole day, but happy. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to travel with such a big group of friends and family and for me, it meant a lot that so many were interested in getting to know my country and also enjoyed it.

So the week after was all about relaxing at the beach, meeting my friends and family from Guatemala, going to a wedding and packing.

Now sitting at the gate at the La Aurora Airport in Guatemala City and waiting to board our flight to Bogotá, I’m really excited. Tobi and I have been planning this trip for such a long time and it’s now finally starting!

Hasta luego,
Karin