Hi Guys,
I finally found the time to tell you about my Guatemala Trip! My past few days were so busy - in general, the time between Black Friday and New Year is always the busiest if you work at a company that sells stuff. Just a quick note about myself I work as a Marketing Manager for a beauty school and as you could imagine over the holidays it is always the busiest.
Like every year we are going away for Thanksgiving and this year we decided to go to Guatemala City. The destination wasn’t planned but we were looking for something that is not too far away and a something we haven't been before.
We arrived early on Thursday morning and from the airport, we went to our hotel. The hotel called Grand Tikal Futura And it's located next to the shopping mall. The hotel was super nice very fancy but it was very affordable. On our first day, we decided to visit the zoo. We are both suckers for animal and nature.
Before the day was over we went to the shopping mall because they have two of my favorite stores Pull & Bear and Bershka. Because the food in Guatemala is not the best we decided to get room service every single night. Living the fancy life - just kidding it was really affordable.
Our first tour started on Friday super early in the morning - we woke up at 3 a.m. in the night. I booked a tour to the Copan Ruins in Honduras. Traffic in Guatemala City is insane so it took us around 5 hours to get to Honduras. Let me tell you the trip is worth it.
The ruins are located a few miles behind the border and since it’s November the tourism is pretty low. We were the only once in the tour. We visited the Mayan ruins - loved the guide he was so knowledgeable. For the first time ever we had the chance to go inside the ruins - I didn't take any pictures but you were able to see different carvings. The weather was perfect not too hot but sunny and blue sky.
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| Mayan Libary |
We also visited the museum to learn even more about the culture. Everywhere at the ruins, we were able to see papagayo. What a beautiful moment. After a few hours, we drove back to our hotel.
Next day we woke up again in the middle of the night to catch a tiny airplane to go to Tikal. If you know me you know that I hate small airplanes especially when they are a propeller machine. The aircraft had a capacity of around 20 people so you can imagine that you feel every tiny wind bow. I pray 10 Ava Maria and thankfully we arrived safely. The only way to reach Tikal from Guatemala city is by plane but guess what on this 40-minute flight they served free snacks and drinks. Now, that's what I call service.
The tour guide picked us up but this time we weren't the only ones in the tour. Tikal is one of the most famous ruins in Guatemala. From the airport, we drove for another 30 minutes to the ruins. The ruins are located in the rainforest which I wasn't really aware of. For this trip we didn't do much research we just booked the vacation and go - We love the element of surprise.
Tikal is absolutely ginormous. It's amazing to think what people build back then without machines. The highlight of the tour was definitely all the different types of animals we were able to see. We saw playful spider monkeys, a few toucans, and a falcon.
In this Mayan site, they actually let you go up on top of a few ruins. Love the view from on top! The tour ended with a lunch before we flew back with a tiny airplane.
The biggest difference between the ruins in Honduras and the ones in Tikal is the attention to detail. Tikal is way grander and build within the rainforest whereas the ruins in Honduras have more attention to detail. So when you look at the carving in the stones they are way more interesting and beautiful. In Copan Honduras, they actually have a Mayan library. Each stone has a carving and tells a story - fascinating!
Our last day started at 5 a.m. in the morning. We got picked up by our driver who drove us to the pacaya volcano. Guatemala has so many volcanoes and this one is hikeable. It takes around one and a half hours to reach the top. But don't be fooled you are not going to look inside the crater of the volcano this is way too dangerous. Our tour guide actually told us that a few months ago a tour guide and a few tourists died because they were hit by the rocks (lava) thrown out by the volcano - it’s important not to go too close to the volcano.
While we were hiking up, we could hear the volcano spitting out rocks and it sounds like fireworks. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see magma but the landscape looks like you're somewhere on another planet. It looks like the planet Mars for some reason. The latest eruption was in 2014 so the landscape is made out of lava rocks and dust.
We were pretty surprised when we saw a souvenir store on top of the volcano. The store called the lava store and they sell artifacts made out of lava. Of course, we have to buy a few things.
Another fun experience was also roasting marshmallows over the heat from the volcano. While we were up there you can feel the volcano and you can see all the smoke that is coming out. It was definitely something I haven't seen before.
After our hike, we visited the Thermal Spa. Within the spa, they have five different pools that get heated from the local volcanoes which are supposed to relax your muscles. After lunch, we made it back to our hotel in Guatemala City and we enjoy the last few hours laying at the pool.
Our flight was supposed to leave at night with a 9-hour layover in Mexico City but thank God our flight was overbooked so the airline offered us to stay an extra day and to take the first flight back from Guatemala City straight to LAX. The airline booked us a hotel and provided some food vouchers. Unfortunately, the hotel wasn't as nice as the one we stayed previously at but at least the food was good they have a buffet.
In my opinion, if you want to go to Guatemala City you should like nature. This place is definitely not for everybody but if you're interested in culture and nature than this place is definitely for you. Keep in mind not everyone speaks English there but we are always pretty lucky because my husband who is Mexican speaks fluent Spanish.
Thanks for stopping by!
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